slush for the lush.

he wanted to hide his nips.

But Sunday morning was all horse.  My regular partner, the beginner rider and I all tacked up.  I'd given them warning that I'd been scared out of the woods earlier in the week by the pigs, but my riding buddy said she'd been in the same woods multiple times since and hadn't seen a single one.

So of course we see a family with four piglets and all three of us immediately about-face.  We kept it at a calm walk, since the pigs were headed in the other direction and we had the beginner with us.  We talked briefly about getting some bells or something, to alert the pigs that we were coming.  It's not their fault that there has been development of their normal habitat.

Since that ride was cut short, we crossed back and went behind the barn.  The beginner had never been that way, so we took her to the river and then to the plantation house, showing her the fabricated shacks, and then I showed her where one would theoretically go to get to the sports complex, but also said that we fell through the bridge there.

Shacks behind the tree on the left.

After riding Archie, I hopped on Big G.  I've still been riding him every weekend.  Normally about half an hour with lots of transitions and some bending/lateral work.  The pasture we'd been riding in is now being used, so I felt like he was frustrated at the sudden lack of open space.  Next weekend, I'll take him into a different pasture and see if he calms down quicker.  But it was a lot of work with gait changes and bending, with a reminder to me that a release is a reward and I need to be better about rewards.

sweaty pony got hosed off.

After exchanging Archie's bags of blankets for his bag of fly gear, I headed home, hosed myself off and D and I went, yet again, to the gym.  This was more work on deadlifts, some pull ups, some wall-walking and ball squats.  I'd spent so much time at the barn that there was barely anything left for dinner, grocery shopping and studying.