Val had another day off today. I went out this evening, and when I whistled to him while I was walking to his stall, he absolutely screamed at me, like, "Please come over here and feed me!" Silly boy. To his disappointment, I took him to one of the dry lots. I stayed in there with him, and just watched him for a while.
I think it's so interesting how they choose just the right spot to roll in. It can't be just any spot- it's got to be that one spot with the dirtiest dirt of all. I love that now that he's fit he can actually roll himself over- when we got him, he was too fat to get both sides!
When he was done rolling, he shook off the dirt, and I whistled to him. He walked over to me, poked me with his nose, and I rubbed his face a bit. Sweet boy. Then I went and cleaned his stall. When I was done, he got put back inside, and finally he got his dinner! He lives for that grain, I'm here to tell you. I wish I'd brought him an apple, though. I don't think I've filled the apple quotient for this week yet!
I'm really not sure how long he's going to be on this "reduced" schedule. I'm thinking at least two weeks, but I really hate to not ride every day for such a long period of time. I know he deserves his rest, though. He hasn't had a long break since we bought him; sure, he always gets at least one day a week off, but I think he needs the time to unwind a bit. So that's to be determined.
I've been thinking about this winter, and what I want my goals to be. My summer goal was to go to the AECs, and we managed that! I think I want to aim for doing a 3' jumper class, and getting him ready to go 1st level in the spring. Last winter, we did go to a few jumper shows, and we did the 2' and 2'6 class. I remember one trip where he was so charged up, it was hilarious. He was bouncing up and down with energy, practically. That didn't go so well!
There's two dressage shows in the spring, and we'll probably go to at least one. He's definitely ready to move out of training level, but we're not quite ready to show 1st level yet. We could probably do 1st 1 without make ourselves look foolish, but we'd massacre 1st 4! I think we can make a good push in our dressage over the winter.
I also need to practice braiding and pulling his mane. This should be more of a fall goal, though; that way I won't completely freeze my fingers off!
Finally, I want to take him on at least one trail ride in the snow. We did a very short one last year, but this time I want to go back on the actual trails. I think it'd be fun! Of course, we'd either take a cell phone or a friend with us. I love the snow, and he's always happy to go on a trail ride, so that should be fun. :)
Ahh, winter. I can't wait until the first snowfall! The first snow day where I get to go out and ride my horse on a school day. The first time the ponies get to go out and play in the snow. And of course, riding bareback to keep my bum warm! Winter is such a fun time of year.
