Behind in my blog posts!

So, Friday evening severe storms were expected, thus my decision to keep Suki in. Do I really need to mention that we didn't even receive a drop of rain??? But JW had put her out for a bit and had planned to bring her in. Ultimately he decided to leave her out, since it looked like the storms were dissipating...

Saturday was an abbreviated spa treatment, as I had the child in tow. But Isaiah had a great lesson where he seemed like he was beginning to get the rhythm for posting. Prissy is a mustang, and does 1st level dressage! Isn't she adorable?

After that we went to see the new dinosaur exhibit at the Reading Public Museum. Michael was away fishing all day, so Isaiah and I spent the day playing! Unfortunately I didn't get to ride, but we had a great day!

Saturday night saw reasonably heavy rain, that was not anticipated.....Suki did not melt.

Sunday morning temperatures were in the 60's with low humidity. I couldn't wait to get to the barn to ride! The rain showers over night made everything "POP" green and lush on this lovely, cool morning. The bright blue sky was the perfect backdrop for the mountains and the wild flowers as the new day awakened in the Oley Valley. The Mennonite family that I see every Sunday morning as they travel to church in their horse drawn buggy, waved as I slowly steared around them. The Valley was alive with people running, cycling and walking with their dogs. Can you tell how much I love this area??

I will certainly miss this drive after I move Nikki to Suki's barn, but it is the right decision. It is necessary for me to focus on my dressage and with my full plate (career, child starting first grade, husband, Suki, etc)I need to have the girls together. There have been many days when I finished with Suki that I would have been able to ride, but because Nikki is 15 minutes away from Suki's barn it would eat up too much time. Nikki is being ridden, but I want to ride her! I will still be driving through that area and over my favorite covered bridge as I frequent Leid's (tack and supplies) and Oley Valley Feed (bird seed and horse supplies)so it's all good. I hope that I can have Nikki at VMF in Dec, Jan Feb, but that depends on how full they are.

After watching some of the Olympic dressage (congratulations Charlotte Dujardin, for your individual gold!) I have been thinking quite a bit about self carriage. Nikki does fairly well with self carriage but sometimes toward the end of our session she can get a bit heavy in the hand. I believe this has to do with her strength. She is probably also a bit tired by that point. But if I do a rapid succession of walk trot transitions she lightens a bit. She understands and tries very hard....but she is only 5, so I don't want to over do!

Because Suki had been out in the rain over night I stopped by her barn to see if her sheet needed to be set out to dry. It was already dry, so maybe she and Banker were in the bank barn at least part of the time?? the bandage was in tact, and all was good!

Later that afternoon I went back to give Suki her spa treatment. The sky was overcast and temperatures reasonable, so I decided to lunge her to evaluate her mobility. At first there seemed to be a bit of stiffness, but Suki quickly worked out of it and moved smoothly. The stiffness and hind leg stocking was not a surprise since she had been in all day. While I have not observed acute and profound lameness recently I am not 100% convinced that we have found the cause of lameness....but fingers crossed! After a spa treatment and sunscreen application, Suki was out for the night. She and Banker casually walked out across the pasture....