Windy Nights...

...and calm evenings.

This describes my two last rides perfectly!  My ride on Wednesday was rather tumultuous, yet it was mostly based in the weather.  When it's cold and windy and feels like a thunder storm is in the air, it's generally not a good idea to saddle up and ride your fairly new-to-you horse by yourself out doors (on property, but no arena).  Koda was feeling very up, doing a jig around the trails.  He wasn't being dirty, just up and extremely alert!  We had one minor altercation where he didn't want to halt, and I insisted to he do, so he went up a touch in a rear (felt like not even a foot), then he went down and halted.  This gave me a quick flash-back to Celtic and some of our crazy rides... not good.  So by now I went to work yard where I had some trot poles set up.  Once we started to get down to it, Koda settled down nicely and gave me some nice work.

Yesterday I had one of those crap days at work where nothing went how it should and was simply awful.  When I went out to the barn, the weather couldn't have been more different than Wednesday.  There was barely a breeze, sun was out, providing golden light for our ride.  The other horses were out in the yard on hobbles, so I got to ride in the field were an old arena used to be - perfect!  Koda was happy to work, calm and relaxed (partly, I'll bet, because he could see the where the other horses were... something we'll have to work on).  When I swung up into the saddle, Koda was ready to go, striding out nicely in a big walk.  I think this is how he goes, starts off very forward, and needs some more warming up to relax into the work.  After a very thorough warmup of walk and trot, we did some leg-yield on the 20m circle, along with asking for more balance and contact from Koda.  He gave me some rather lovely strides and so we stopped there. 

It was such a peaceful night, I untacked him right where I got off and walked back to my grooming spot in the field by the fence.  Koda followed, I set him up with some hay, and we were off for an intense grooming session.  Koda has some dandruf/dry skin issues, so am hoping for some warmer weather to give him a thorough bath. 

There is nothing like a peaceful grooming session to help unwind from a crappy day at work.