Weekend recap -- progress made?

Muddy Mudskipper (click for weird hairiness)

Phew! A bit of a whirlwind weekend there! I have to go out of town this upcoming weekend to take care of my Mom while she undergoes neck surgery (in Florida), so I wanted to get the most out of this weekend as possible. The forecast promised two beautiful spring days and with 4 new horses showing up in the last week, I was needed as an extra hand around the farm to help get the sales horses ready for clients! We were up early Saturday morning, as my trainer was taking a sales horse over to Philly Dutton's for a client. I was attending to the farm chores and putting a couple of our guys on the Equiciser to warm them up. Though it was a beautiful day with temps nearing 60, the wind was HOWLING. We are essentially out in the countryside/woods and when the wind picks up it can be downright daunting (think haunted woods). Gusts of 40 mph meant that our scheduled hack to the indoor was going to be interesting.

Brooklawn Double, Brody.

 Through a series of serendipitous connections, my trainer was going to be showing two of her sales horses to Suzanne of Confessions of an AA Rider, I was secretly more excited about meeting a fellow blogger in person, but also happy to help get the horses ready and hack them over to the indoor. I would be riding Brody who is a 6 year old, 16.2+ TB. it's amazing how those few inches can make a huge difference to someone my size. Riley is a big bodied 16 hh horse, but he's a very smooth, fluid mover and is truly, just the right size for me. Anything bigger and I feel like I'm a little kid! Brody is not only tall, but he's also a really big mover, it's pretty amazing. The effort needed to post his trot is exponentially higher than riding my pony! But, in the crazy wind and the 2 mile hack over, we mostly trotted (to escape the wind) and I was actually able to keep up with his movement! The two boys were both so great in the decidedly spooky weather... it's easy to forget you are riding thoroughbreds when they are just so level-headed.

Legging up -- considerations

Go away snow + mud!

With the worst of winter behind us in the Northeast, it's time to start legging our horses back up. Unless you're lucky enough to have an indoor, keeping a horse fit and going up here has been nearly impossible (even trailering to an indoor has been tough!). In previous years, I remember distinctly seeing groups of riders walking and trotting along the roads near our farm all season long. This winter, the roads were much quieter, either people migrated to Aiken for a few months, or conditions on the roads were just too treacherous (see: ice).  So, with the ice melted and very little snow on the ground, we've finally been able to get our guys going again. *ps. while I could have technically gotten Riley going a little sooner, starting and stopping with him isn't good for anyone!

After a full weekend of what I consider a good start to getting him legged up, I found myself thinking about the process and what I consider when bringing a horse into work after several months off.