Sun Ride

I almost feel badly including pictures of today with what everyone has been experiencing weather wise everywhere else... it was a magical day with fog rolling in through the trees and the sun shining, it felt tee shirt weatherish, almost, was near 50 degrees in the sun, as soon as night fell there's frost everywhere, still cold.



I schooled Lyra and Star some, in another field near here. Then my good friend, Caryn, who actually owns Star and Zypher and rides with me pretty regularly had another lesson on Lyra, then we went out riding on the trails here.



What a spectacular day! I am so looking forward to having Lyra giving lessons in our upcoming lesson program. She is young, yet has this quality about her, she completely takes care of her rider, is extremely considerate, very curious, smooth, and stable (mentally as well as physically) Caryn and I were jokingly singing "Secret Aaaggeennt Lyra... Secret Aaaggeennt Lyra..." you get the idea, for a while down the trails. We encountered a few people out on the trails, Lyra made a bee line for them, dropping her head down for scratches on her forehead and shoulder and standing quietly while we discussed her and her lovely curls and about Bashkir Curlies in general (meanwhile Star was a little antsy). Lyra is such a good girl, very sane and reasonable and very, very people oriented. Star wanted to go home pretty much before we even left and for quite a while worked herself up trying to go back, nothing bad, just not relaxes either; Lyra on the other hand could care less and was perfectly thrilled to be out exploring the woods with her human partners.



Lucky for us the local cross country team uses the same trails so they were cleared of all the brush and fallen trees that came down in the recent storms and flooding. Also, as a public trail system, we have access to many people on such nice days, good experience for the Curlies to have people on their bikes, strollering their little kids, and with their barking Shelties to gain some confidence in any new situation that presents itself.



This evening we took Xandra and Zypher for a star lit walk on the trails, had three of the dogs with us, was a great experience. The horses really don't seem to care one way or another with the dogs running in and out of the woods into the trails, along side them for a time, and then off again. I plan to pony Xandra out on the trails tomorrow, not sure who I will ride, will depend on how those available feel tomorrow (Epona would be my first choice however she is laid up right now with a hoof abscess).
Friday and Saturday I worked with Lyra, Rhys, and Star also, it's been really quite nice getting out every day for schooling and riding the Curlies so regularly again.
Caryn tried riding Rhys last night, turns out he's a one rider horse, which is fine by me. Rhys is very sensitive to any movement or thoughts his rider is transmitting to him, intentionally or not, I think we might see about doing a couple of dressage events this summer, will see. He is just so light and easy, for me, to ride. For Caryn, he was a completely different story, nothing bad, he just wasn't thrilled with the whole thing and was quickly frustrated with minute mixed signals. Funny horse he is, I enjoy that so far all of my Curlies are so free and thorough (although also reasonable) with sharing their thoughts with me. :-)
Thought I'd leave off with this image, shows the frosty air well, well and Lyra being so nice about easily crossing the road to the trails. :-) I really love this mare.