January 2, 2010

We had a great horsey day today. Visited Silver Hills and their event training show.

We then headed over to see LBR. The sand arena is still closed and the grass arena is a bit messy, but we made the best of it. Fortunately, LBR had not rolled again so pre-ride grooming was easy.

Gary burned a lot of energy off of LBR before Cindy had a nice ride with "lots" of sitting trot (will she be able to walk tomorrow?). The picture was early in the ride when LBR had too much energy.

January 1, 2010

This is the first blog of the new year and my resolution is to blog every day again (I've gotten quite lazy).

We headed to the stables mid-afternoon after it had warmed up a bit (~55 degrees). We knew we were in for a long grooming session as LBR had taken advantage of this weeks rain to roll and coat him self in mud.

Gary led LBR up to the stables for grooming and I took this picture:

After nearly an hour of work with curry combs and brushes (and a shower for the hooves), LBR looked much better:

As expected, the grass arena, round pen and sand arena were all too wet to be ridden in safely. Hopefully, things will dry out enough that we can ride tomorrow afternoon.

Cindy returned LBR to his paddock after grooming and gave him treats.

December 31, 2009

This week, we had quite the adventures with LBR. Cindy's niece was in town and rode LBR on Saturday (Gary & Cindy also rode). They took things easy in the grass arena though Cindy did canter briefly.

On Sunday, Cindy took a group lesson. LBR was well behaved in the round pen (lunging) and the grass arena for warm up. Unfortunately, LBR did not behave in the sand arena...he was very upset by the extremely poor footing and other horses.

Gary rode LBR on Monday thinking he would be better behaved after an additional dry day and perhaps better footing. Unfortunately, LBR was still not behaving properly at first. After a long ride, LBR calmed down nicely and they ended on a good note.

We got rain again on Tuesday. Gary was able to groom him, but the rain started earlier than expected.

The stables were still a muddy mess on Thursday so we just fed treats in his paddock.

December 19, 2009

It's been rainy in Austin and we traveled to Arkansas last weekend to see the kids so I haven't seen much of LBR lately.

We headed to the stables this afternoon with hopes that it would be dry enough to ride in the grass arena. LBR was filthy muddy (no surprise) so it took a while to groom. He led perfectly into the wash stall to have his feet/legs washed and then we curried off about 10 pounds of mud.

The grass arena was still pretty muddy so we didn't feel comfortable lounging LBR. We did saddle up (Gary's new saddle) and both rode LBR at the walk for a while. He really seems to enjoy being groomed and ridden - even if it was only to walk and work on whoas & backing.

After riding, we groomed and let LBR eat some grass. We returned him to his paddock, gave him treats and repaired his electric tape fence.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice - sunny & warm so we plan on heading over for another ride.

November 27, 2009

LBR is doing great. Gary demo'd a new (used) 19" HDR saddle this week. Unfortunately, he forgot to tighten the girth and when he removed a long blade of grass from LBR's mouth, LBR did a quick sidepass when the blade hit is rump. LBR went left, saddle turned right and Gary ended up on the ground. LBR turned and looked to make sure Gary was okay and then galloped off in the arena. He veered off the rail in the arena to take a jump and then stood at the other end of the arena to wait for us. We tacked him back up (girth tightened) and Gary got back on and they had a nice ride.

The second trial ride the next day in the saddle went smoothly (we're buying it). We had family in and the grandkids (ages 5 - 16) were led around on LBR over the next couple of days.

LBR threw a shoe on Wednesday so we weren't able to ride anymore this week. On Sunday, he "sprung" his other shoe so we removed the loose nails.

November 19, 2009

Last week we had rain and Cindy had surgery so LBR didn't get ridden much. The trainer rode him on Friday and said he was quite the handful and they had an extra long ride.

On Saturday & Sunday Gary rode and LBR was wonderful. LBR got a break (lunged only) on Monday and on Tuesday, Gary had his best ride ever. Gary rode LBR through mini-patterns and they did great.

Wednesday, we visited a neighbors farm to see a young paint mare she was given. Gary rode another mare there and led the neighbors niece around on her for a while.

Because we spent so much time there, we were cutting short time for LBR's ride. There were two(2) trainers working VERY green horses in the arena so Gary had to negotiate patterns well away from them. It was ironic that LBR was the most trained/calm horse in the arena....we were very proud.

After yesterday's ride, we groomed and it was dinner time....you'ld think LBR was starving as he was very anxious to catch up with the food wagon before it got to his paddock.

I found vidoe of his short-lived racing career and have posted links on the right hand side of the page. I'm not sure if they will work for everyone or how long they will work.

November 8, 2009

This week has been a good one. LBR's new shoes and dry weather seem to have done the trick - he's not tender footed.

Gary rode on Tuesday & Wednesday. Gary & Cindy rode on Thursday. Stacie (the trainer) rode on Friday. Gary & Cindy rode on Saturday. Sunday (today), Cindy took a lesson on LBR.

It had been three (3) weeks since LBR had been ridden seriously (other than at the walk) and although he was a little green ornery in the beginning of the week, he progressed nicely.

The lesson on Sunday was nearly perfect. We arrived an hour early to lunge and pre-ride in the grass arena. LBR was spunky (kicking up his heels) while being lunged....he definitely feels much better. Cindy pre-rode in the grass arena and although LBR was chewing the bit a lot, he calmed down nicely.

During the lesson, LBR & Cindy did very well. They did the walk, sitting trot, posting trot and even cantered (although they did it separately from the group). During the canter, a stablemate was led into the arena with his blanket on and LBR thought it was a monster. Cindy continued the canter like it was nothing and LBR regrouped nicely.

LBR & Cindy did their patterns well - he squares up to fences naturally....what a nice trait.

After the lesson, Cindy cooled him down by walking around the pastures and LBR was exhausted/mellow.

We groomed, went into the wash stall, treated and returned him to his paddock. He still had his alfalfa left to enjoy and a small amount of his feed. LBR got a carrot and a cookie and was in horsey-heaven. Tired, happy and eating alfalfa.