More Photos and Lovely Rides!

Finally I have some photos of Buckshot and I! I am so excited- another boarder was at the farm this past weekend (October 22-23, 2011) and I asked her to take some pictures of Buckshot and I in his pasture! I am so glad to have some pictures of me with my best horse in the world, where you can see my smiles of being around my sweet Buckshot. I told him several times that these were photos for my blog, for his blog really, and that he was a famous horse now that he has his own blog. But, in true horse character, he wasn’t interested at all in being famous or having a blog. LOL!

This weekend we had wonderful weather in Virginia- cool temperatures in the 60’s with lovely sunshine and no rain. It was heavenly! It made up for many of the wickedly hot summer days. I took my father out to the barn on Saturday. He is 84 years old, and retired, who spends several days a week volunteering in a local hospital, and tells me all the comings and goings of hospital life. He asked to come out and see Buckshot and watch us ride, so I have been waiting until the weather wasn’t too extreme to have him visit. He is partially blind, and isn’t really a horse person at all, but I was touched that he wanted to see Buckshot. So I made all of the arrangements, and had extra food and beverages on hand, and drove him out to the farm. The farm was hopping with activity, with three men on the main barn roof installing a new roof. Lots of loud clanging, and big whooshing sounds, and huge pieces of roofing being slid up and down. Despite the noise the horses did very well and didn’t spook at all, which was impressive given the unrelenting noise right next to the arena.

After getting Buckshot from his pasture, and taking him into the barn, I could sense he was energetic. I brushed him and then showed my dad how I swing the heavy 34 pound saddle lightly onto Buckshot’s back. I finished tacking him up and we went out to the arena. Buckshot had good energy right from the start of our ride, perhaps due to the cooler autumn temperatures. After our warm up, which I explained to my dad I had to do first, Buckshot trotted with ease and energy. And then when we cantered, Buckshot was wonderful! Easy and balanced. I did well also at the canter.

At one point, I wanted to trot over to my dad and say excitedly, like a little girl, did you see that? Wasn’t that great? But I caught myself in time! After all, I’m 55 years old, not a little girl at all. How funny. There are times like that, with Buckshot, that bring out some little girl inside of me and make me bubble over with joy, and I want to spontaneously run up to someone and tell them! It’s so funny. When I notice these thoughts, it makes me wonder if I have always had this horse-love, even as a little girl, even though it didn’t blossom and evolve until I was in my forties. I suspect so. Anyway, I caught myself before running up to my dad. I can share it here in my blog, though, and you guys will understand.

We went on to ride in our regular Saturday class, which included a couple of other horses and riders, including my sister on her school horse. Our instructor gave us a pattern to do that included cones, an extended trot and doing a fairly small circle at the canter. Buckshot and I did great – his extended trot was strong and floaty and extremely straight, right on pattern. And we did a canter circle- lovely, not too fast, balanced, perfect. I think it was the most perfect canter I have ever done. I was thrilled that Buckshot did such a good circle. Right at that moment, I thought, that’s it, that was the highlight of my week, everything else can go wrong if need be, this one ride with this dear horse is the best moment of my entire week! And it is true, being with Buckshot is the highlight of my week, every week. I apologize for so much gushing about Buckshot- we had such a great weekend and I am so appreciative of him, and well, this blog is the best place for me to write these things.

My dad’s visit at the farm was a success; he gave me several compliments about Buckshot, which just warmed my heart to no end. And the next day, Sunday, was another lovely day of cool autumn temperatures and sunny, blue skies. Buckshot was again nicely energetic and we had a wonderful ride, doing precision work at the walk, trotting patterns, and some cantering. We went on a trail ride with several other horses. The woods were picture perfect, with sunshine floating down to the green, gold and orange leaves, the horses making only faint crunch sounds underfoot. Just delightful.

Finally, some weather rewards for the many days of extreme heat, and enjoying the horses’ energy as they enjoy the cooler weather as well. I hope you had a good weekend as well!