The wild outdoors

Well, yesterday was an amazingly NICE day for January ... kinda like a post I blogged about a year ago, if I'm not mistaken. It was in the mid-30s, sunny and just a slight breeze. So, I decided to be brave and ride Gus (no problem there) and pony Gringo. Boy was that a fun ride.

Gus was a saint and could've cared less that he hadn't been outside riding in months. Gringo, on the other hand,  was very insecure with himself and with the whole situation. Instead of walking up Gus's butt, he was even or just ahead of my leg and trying to eat Gus the whole time. Thankfully Gus is a very steady eddy and just kept walking, despite the fact that Gringo was acting like a Thoroughbred in the post parade. Sheesh.

I kept the ride brief ... it was probably 20 minutes total and almost all walking. Once I got the hang of controlling Gringo and his nerves had quieted, we did do a couple trot sets. Seriously, they were like three-four strides each. Gringo was REALLY good. As was Gus, but this was more of a "let's pay attention to Gringo and teach him something" ride then a Gus "ride".

When we were done with that brief ride, I put Gringo back outside and decided to do a few laps in the indoor on Gus. We worked mainly on a 20m circle because there was another lesson going on. But Gus was pretty forward and even, despite the fact I had no spurs or whip on me. Canter work was VERY brief, but we had a nice up and down transition both times. I'm proud of my steady eddy.

Gus may *fingers crossed* have a "date" with a potential new leaser on Friday. I'm trying to find someone to pick up my slack, so I've been advertising locally. Sounds like a younger girl may be interested, so we'll have to see if they end up coming out or not.

And, I did take photos... again, just need to upload them all. :-)