When I went to my lesson on Monday, JL asked how it was going. I gave a slightly melodramatic sigh and then lamented the fact that it's the same old crap each week. I wasn't throwing myself a pity party so I quickly added that while it's the same old crap, at least Sydney is a thousand times better than he was just three months ago. I am simply learning to ride him better and better. 

Before, when he did a duck and bolt move, he would get all the way across the arena and have time to throw in a few bucks and rears. Now, I can feel it coming, and I can usually catch it before it's much more than a dropped shoulder. Occasionally, he still gets away form me, but I can put him back together quickly, and there's rarely any fear of actually get dumped (although, sometimes …).

So that's what we worked on. Packaging him up tighter and quicker with fewer and fewer unbalanced strides.

The number one rule is that he NEVER, under any circumstances, gets to look to the outside. If we're walking, he's looking to the inside. If we're standing around resting, he's looking to the inside. He does not EVER get to crane his head around to look at ANYTHING. I've got this part down pretty consistently. JL hasn't had to correct that in a while.

The next thing is to really tighten up the left lead canter. There is no more long neck, and I am not holding him up, EVER. He can carry his own weight, and he does not get to be heavy in the bridle EVER. When he even thinks about leaning on me, I give whichever rein he's heavy on a big old swing to say LET IT GO! I am getting pretty good at this, too.

I am just rocking' it, aren't I?

And now we're working on fixing the unevenness in the right lead canter. JL had me approach our trouble in a new way. We've been working on small circles to get him to let go and bend, but the transition to the canter has not followed well. Instead, she had me separate the two issues: getting an inside bend is separate from a canter departure.

Oh!

That really helped me see this as two different issues. As we prepare for the right lead canter, if he's heavy on the inside rein, I can't get an inside bend which also means that I've lost the outside connection because if I try to use the outside rein, nothing is going to go through to the outside hind. It's a little bit of a case of the chicken and the egg. I can't get an inside bend, and I can't use the outside rein effectively.

So when he won't bend, I insist on an inside bend by really flexing him and moving him sideways. Before Monday, I was just trying to move his hindquarters away. We were effectively doing a turn not the forehand. JL had me think of moving his shoulders out instead while keeping his inside hind in. Then he'll truly be bent around my inside leg.

To get a feel for the movement. She had me do a turn on the haunches to the left while keeping Sydney's neck bent to the right. It was hard! At first, he simple backed up, but with some persistence, he finally stepped to the left while keeping a bend to the right.

So. My homework now is to try to pick up a right lead canter with an inside bend without his hind end drifting out all over the place!

You might remember that I decided to slim down a little at the end of the summer. I am happy to report that I've lost 15 pounds (and counting). I am happy with where I am right now, but my ultimate pie in the sky goal would be to drop 7 more. With my current level of muscle, I am not sure I can get that low, but I am going to keep trying.

This is very dressage related, although probably not the most timely of topics. I am writing this today, the day after our national stuff yourself 'til you're in a coma day to keep myself motivated and on track. 

How again is this dressage related? Simply put, I haven't felt this good in a long time. When I ride, I feel secure not only throughout my core, but my legs feel steady, and my arms feel strong. My seat feels lighter and more balanced, and I have tons of energy. 

I like how I feel so much that I thought I'd share with you how I got here. Not everything I do will work for everyone, but if you get an idea that you can apply to your own routine, yah! If you're at your ideal weight, feel free to skip the rest of this and have a great day.

First, while I was at a slightly chunky weight, I had an established diet that already included nutritious foods without very many of the "bad foods." If you already eat fast food, drink coffee or sodas, and eat frozen meals, my plan will probably feel too drastic for you. The premise can still work, but it might take longer.

I started out with a kind of bootcamp mentality the first few weeks, but that's because I have no self-control. I can't eat one potato chip or a simple nibble of something sweet; I am the whole bag or box. So that meant I ate only what I had planned for the day with no deviations. Since we already don't do fast food, coffee, or junk food, it was more about portion control and not allowing the occasional empty calorie food, like french fries, to be on my plate.

So what did my food choices consist of? Mostly what I had already been eating, but just less of this and more of that, with a focus on adding as many fibrous options as possible. Bagged baby spinach is my new best friend.

Breakfast:
Monday through Friday I eat one hard boiled egg and a sliced apple (which I added about a month ago; before that it was just the egg). On the weekends, I eat breakfast later in the day which means I allow myself two poached eggs served with either a vegetable like wilted spinach or butternut squash, or a Sandwich Thins bun.

Mid-Morning Snack:
Monday through Friday I eat a Dannon Light & Fit Greek yogurt which has only 80 calories, but 12 grams of protein (that's a lot!). On the weekends, I usually don't get a snack because I am too busy riding at the barn, hence the second egg.

Lunch:
Whether at home or work, I usually make a sandwich made from Oroweat's Sandwich Thins (100 calories/5 grams of fiber). I add a slice of cheese (provolone or swiss), thin sliced turkey, and as much avocado, spinach leaves, and tomatoes that the bun can hold. I add a half cup of low fat cottage cheese (90 calories/11 grams of protein) on the side and two Cuties (mini clementines).

Mid-Afternoon Snack:
For the first two months, the afternoons almost killed me because I didn't have a snack. I finally added a quarter cup of raw, unsalted almonds in the afternoons, which actually helped me lose weight. I pre-package a week's worth of almond snacks in individual baggies which I toss into a larger baggie which all goes into my barn bag. As I drive out to the barn, I snack on the almonds which keep me feeling full and energized until dinner. A serving of almonds (¼ cup) has 160 calories with 6 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber making the calories worth their weight.

Dinner:
I cook almost seven nights a week, and we go out for a sit down dinner once a week or once every other week. Dinners are where I get most of my calories, but that's because I really like to cook. I have been trying to cook slightly less savory meals (which include tons of wine and butter sauces), but when we do eat those kinds of meals, I try to throw in the greenest, most fibrous veggies I can. While not green, butternut squash is a favorite with only 63 calories, 2.8 grams of fiber, and a whopping 297% of your daily vitamin A in a single one cup serving.

Beverages:
I drink a caffeine free tea in the morning without added sweetener. I drink water throughout the day, although not enough. At night, I indulge in hard ciders, margaritas (on the rocks), and red wine although not usually all on the same night. Friday nights I might make an exception. I don't drink juices, coffee, or sodas. If we go out to lunch, which is extremely rare, I might have a diet soda.

Exercise:
Reducing my calorie intake wasn't enough. While I ride 5 - 7 days a week, clean stalls, drag sprinklers, and so on, I reached a point where the weight just hung on stubbornly. Knowing I needed to do something else, I consulted my pal, Lori (of photography fame - check out her 365 Day Photography Challenge here). Not only does Lori shoot amazing photos, but she is a fitness and nutrition expert as well. Lori had me actually increase my calorie consumption a bit (the apple and almonds were her idea) and add some different exercises to my day. 

I now start my morning with a 1 minute (and growing) plank, and then throughout the day, I add a variety of one minute exercises. In my classroom, when the kids are at recess, I jump rope for a minute. When students peek at me through the windows, they always smile and wave; they dig watching me! While at the barn, I'll throw two saddle pads on the tack room floor and do 15 push ups. I also try and stop sometime during the day, usually when I get home from the barn, and do 100 jumping jacks. 

Basically, Lori suggested that I change up my routine by throwing in random bursts of exercise. I look at it this way; everyone has one minute to do some form of exercise. I may not have 30 minutes to go to the gym, but I certainly have one minute! And once I found that one minute, I started finding lots of other minutes.

The more weight I lose, the more motivated I am to lose even more. Have I been frustrated at times, YES! Fortunately, my husband has been really supportive and complimentary. When I feel discouraged, he reminds me that what I do today won't be reflected on the scale today, but it will show up eventually. 

So, if you have a few pounds to lose, reduce a lunch portion, choose something else to eat, or find a single minute to exercise. Speaking of which, a hundred jumping jacks are calling my name!

Speedy G is once again fun to ride! When I quit taking it personally, his unbalanced steps and resistance to bend are just things to work on, nothing else.

I followed up Saturday's ride with an even better one on Sunday. It didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely beautiful: clear blue sky, slight breeze, temperature in the mid-60s, and all of that combined with perfect footing. You simply can't ask for more. 

I saw this on Facebook over the weekend; it pretty much summed up the weekend. Not only that, but it speaks a bit to today: being thankful for what we have.

Speedy started out the ride being a bit of a giraffe as a young family had arrived to play around with Bailey, one of the other horses at the barn. Speedy is slightly ADD so it was hard to get him to focus, but I got tough with him and used his distractibility to work on hard exercises that he doesn't like (turns on the forehand and haunches). Those usually get his attention pretty quickly.

Once we were really working, I was all smiles. How did we get so much better in just a few weeks? He hasn't dropped drastically behind the vertical in several rides, and he's really trying to keep the contact. We did all kinds of exercises utilizing the entire arena. It was fun to play around with turns, loops, and serpentines.

I was particularly happy with his canter work. To the right, he gets very light in my hand, but it takes a lot of inside leg. He's stronger to the left, but I need strong outside aids to get him to turn. We worked on riding the canter in a square, which lightened him up even more to the right; man, it was fun! To the left, we did more and more canter loops until I had him put together enough to ride an entire serpentine. I was freaking out happy that he held the canter through the middle loop.

After that successful exercise, I brought him down to a walk and praised him enthusiastically. I hopped off and gave him a big scratch. He looked a little surprised by the hubbub, but I know he knew he had just done something right.

I am really looking forward to several days of riding in the daylight this Thanksgiving weekend.  Enjoy your own friends and families on this day of thankfulness.

When we first moved to this barn, Speedy couldn't see over the top of the wall. He would lift his head as high as he could and peer over with one eye. Since then, he has managed to shove a substantial amount of sand and bedding up against the wall which has created a small mound for him to stand on. 

There's nothing he likes better than to watch me tack up Sydney. He also likes to watch me sweep the cross tie area and rake the loose hay out of the barn aisle. Sometimes I simply clean tack in the shade, and he'll stand there whickering at me while I work.

I shot this photo on a whim while I was grooming Sydney. His face is filthy, but the expression is classic Speedy G. I sure dig this horse!

A few weeks ago, I took Speedy G to a lesson as all of our improvement from the first half of the year had disappeared. He was so heavy on the forehand that it felt like I was riding a loaded wheelbarrow. JL had me shorten his reins a ton, slow down the rhythm, and add leg every single time his nose dropped behind the vertical.

I am happy to report that my little gray pony is making a comeback. I am starting to see glimpses of the horse who was earning scores in the high 60s, the horse that I thought was ready to try First Level, the horse who had finally figured out how to bend. We're not completely back in fighting trim, but we're getting there. 

Saturday we worked on 10-meter figure eights. I love this exercise because it really helps me feel where he is losing his balance. He's more balanced to the left, but harder to bend. He has trouble making the turn to the right because he kind of wants to fall over. I have to really support him with my inside leg to outside rein. I love that I know what that feels like!

Once he feels a little more even in my hands, I change the figure eight into rectangles. I track right at C, track right at B, and come back down centerline where I track left to E. I switch it up all over the arena so Speedy never knows if we're going straight or making a 10-meter turn. And then, just to really shake it up, I'll cross the diagonal and do a few 20-meter circles to let him "rest."

We've also been working on the canter loops from First Level, Test 3. Last December, he couldn't hold a counter canter at all. In June, we could kind of hold it. Now, his canter is so much lighter and rhythmical that I can do the loops even in my short arena (20m by 50m). They're not show worthy of course, but he can maintain the gait. Over the weekend, I crossed X and pushed him to the left in a right lead canter. As we approached S, I felt him shift his weight back even more so that he lifted his front end to return to a correct bend as we tracked right to C.

I haven't schooled the counter canter with a trainer, and I am not 100% sure how the canter loops are to be ridden, but we are having fun playing around with them. They definitely help lighten Speedy's canter. And I think he likes doing them.

My goal right now is to get him as fit and balanced as I can before mid-December when we clinic with Christian Schacht again. That gives me just under three weeks. We've got some more work to do, but I think we'll be ready.

But best of all, Speedy's fun to ride again!

After tracking every single penny I spent on my horses last year, I've learned that I can wait on things that I want. Just because I want it, it doesn't mean I need it. Or that I should buy it.

This time of year is tough, though. Catalogs have been pouring in, including those with handsome equine faces on the covers. Resisting the American Shop 'til You Drop lifestyle can be difficult when it comes to all things equine.

I found myself flipping through the glossy pages this weekend. You see, Louisiana has a saddle, but no girth. I have several dressage girths and a long girth for my endurance saddle, but no girth for a hunter saddle. We borrowed one for the fox hunt, but I just don't feel right borrowing someone else's girth every time Louisiana rides.

So I started shopping. The ridiculous part is that Louisiana might never come back to ride; I doubt it as she has kept in contact, but still … what if? My fear of having a girth I'll never use outweighed my sense of propriety. I HATE borrowing something more than once. So, I bought a girth for a saddle that's not mine for a rider who I may never see again.

That's not to say I went all out and bought a nice girth; I didn't. I started by browsing the Dover catalog and found an Ovation that is in the same style as Speedy's dressage girth: fleece with elastic at both ends. I was all set to order it when I thought I should check out Ebay for some kind of going out of business, buy the last one now kind of sale. And surprisingly, I found the same girth a few bucks cheaper from Mary's Tack and Feed.

I put that girth in my shopping cart, but then thought I ought to go ahead and give SmartPak a quick peek as their barn shipping and return shipping are free. Plus, I get a 5% USEF membership discount off most items. 

SmartPak did indeed have a better deal. It's their own brand of girth, but it comes with 217 positive reviews (with no bad ones) and an unbeatable price, $33.20 for USEF members.

Louisiana is off in Oregon visiting family, but I feel confident that once she returns after the Thanksgiving holiday, she'll be giving me a call wanting to go for a ride. Hopefully the girth will be here and we can hit the trail.

As a little post script, I also ordered Sydney a new dressage girth a few days ago. I currently use a lovely Professional's Choice fleece girth, but after the fox hunt last week, the fleece had a big tear. Not quite sure what happened. I couldn't find that particular girth, so I went ahead and ordered the same one that I use for Speedy G, but in a slightly large size!

This won't be very interesting as it's another one of those here's what I am going through/learning posts. For my own sake, I am going to keep it short as it's not very interesting to write either.

I really need to go fox hunting again. That ride helped me learn a lot about how Sydney works. It also gave me the opportunity to work on ratability, which is a determiner of success in the endurance world. In many ways, ratability is akin to rhythm; I tell you how fast to go, and you do it. 

I also learned that I want to try out a firmer bit for a while. If he's not going to show (in the near future), I don't have to stick with a show legal bit. I want to try something that he can't blast through when he's anxious about the work we're doing. Frankly, I need some whoa! on that horse when I use the brake pedal. When he's relaxed, a deep exhale on my part is sufficient to get a downward transition. When he has checked out mentally, my bit might as well be a piece of dental floss in his mouth.

So all of this was going through my head during our ride yesterday. With the arena being well soaked from last week's rain, I was able to ride more freely at both ends without fighting the dust and uneven footing. The C end of the arena, which is farthest from the barn, has historically been where we have trouble. And as luck would have it, the neighbor was doing some work down there behind his RV and under the scary tree. I actually appreciated the opportunity to work through the noise.

Almost immediately, Sydney pulled his (now predictable) duck to the inside, whirl, and bolt. Even though I was hauling on those reins, I still had to ram him into the fence to get a stop. Once I pulled him off the fence, I dug my inside heel into his side and made him step, step, step, step away with his inside hind. And then I put him back to work. 

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't beating up on him, but I sure as heck wasn't going to put up with him ignoring my aids (any longer). I demanded an inside bend at a rhythm that I chose. I am finally seeing that at least some of his "anxiety" stems from an I-don't-wanna attitude. I don't want to ride him with an adversarial approach, but I think he needs me to be a much stricter rider.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, I got several right lead canters and then some. I was able to ride the left lead canter in a square while really asking him to rock back and lighten his front end. To the right, I was able to canter 15-meter circles while really pushing his inside hind deep. The canter work is improving tremendously. We just need to get the right lead departure under control.

I'll see what I get today!

I know I've written about the weather before, but since it's so relevant to all equestrians, it's worth mentioning again. And besides, each season for riders is newsworthy!

Yep. It finally rained a measurable amount here in Bakersfield. I know most of you are thinking, BFD, it rains everywhere. Not here. At least not very often and not very much. Our (normal) annual rainfall is just over five inches. FIVE INCHES! Some of you get that much in a single day. In the last two days, it's rained nearly 20% of our annual total, just over 0.9 inches. It was impressive.

While I enjoy listening to the rain pound my rooftop, and I love how clean it makes our air, I love the rain for a reason entirely different from the fact that it replenishes our aquifers and reservoirs. And here it is: when it rains, I don't have to haul the sprinklers around our arena!

Boarding Heaven lies nestled in a river bottom so our soil is primarily sandy. Sand is great because it never really gets muddy. I think I've only seen standing water in our arena one time, and that was as it was pouring down rain last year. Rather than floating on top, the water simply percolates through the sand and joins the underground aquifer that stores Bakersfield's water.

While that part of a sandy arena is great, the downside is that dry sand is dusty and gets really loose. Loose sand is deep. I don't like deep footing. I would rather ride on hard packed clay than deep sand. So, I battle the loose sand by dragging a hundred feet of hose around with a giant Rainbird sprinkler attached.

The thing works great; it sprays a diameter of at least 75 feet, more when the pressure is super duper. The problem is that a hundred or more feet of hose is heavy, dirty, and wet. And worse, it takes a good 30 minutes everyday to properly soak the sand and keep the dust down. This time of year, I don't have 30 minutes; I have about 10. 

Enter God's version of the Rainbird - two days of pouring rain!

But it gets better. Last weekend, my barn owner dragged the arena to smooth out the ruts I had carved out at A, V, and P. So when the rain started on Wednesday night, I gave a happy dance knowing that my freshly groomed arena was getting nicely firmed back up for this weekend, and beyond!

I was right. When I rode on Thursday and Friday evening, the footing was beautiful, although still a bit too wet to canter. When the sand is still freshly wet with the water laying just below the surface, it's easy to dig holes so I kept it to a trot. It should be absolutely perfect for today and tomorrow.

It looks just like a wet beach, doesn't it? Now if only I could hear the waves from here ...

The best thing I took away from last Sunday's fox hunt was a renewed sense of confidence. Knowing that I do indeed posses the skills to handle a large, OTTB at a gallop out in the open countryside gave me a fresh sense of power and control. I remembered my endurance seat, and it felt really good.

I took that new feeling with me to Monday's lesson although I wasn't sure either horse would be rested enough for another heavy work day. Speedy looked willing, but he also looked a little tired. Sydney on the other hand didn't look as though he'd done a thing. I grabbed his halter and tacked up.

I was thrilled at his condition, at both of their conditions actually. Neither horse had any filling in his legs, and both had toplines that were free of any tender spots. Speedy needs to lose a few pounds, but he looked as plump as he had on Sunday morning. Sydney had definitely lost a little weight at his flanks, but with having most of this week off, I am sure he'll be back to normal by the weekend.

Both horses were quite dirty, especially Sydney; he had been too wet when we finished on Sunday to even try to scrape off the trail dust. It took a while to pick the matted dirt out of his coat, but by the time I walked over to JL's, he was his regular shiny self.

Jl and I discussed the hunt and how everything had gone. We also talked about bits. She suggested something with a slow twist for the next time I head out. Like this ...

We didn't do anything new or exciting during the lesson, but she helped me focus on making faster and clearer corrections. I could feel the need for the correction before she had time to even say it.

Tracking left, the most he needs is a half halt to maintain the rhythm. To the right, he needs regular corrections to maintain the bend. As I get quicker and quicker at catching him as he even thinks about taking away the inside bend, the less he tries it.

We worked on maintaining an inside bend while tracking right at the trot, but then it was on to the canter work. He fussed a little here and there, but I am able to shut him so down so much quicker now (at least in the arena) that he doesn't get too far. JL had me canter a pretty small circle which is the same exercise we do at the trot. The point to the smaller circle is to almost over exaggerate the inside bend while really pushing his haunches out in sideways motion.

A few rounds of that kind of intense work was about the max that Sydney could do. It turns out that Sydney was more tired than he had first thought. Any sassy thoughts were long gone once I put him in that 15-meter canter circle.

I haven't decided where I'll go from here with him. We're certainly not giving up the dressage instruction; he really needs that, but I also can't just go fox hunting every weekend either. For now, we're still going to the Christian Schacht Clinic in a few weeks. I am just going to wait and see what the new year brings.

The group all agreed that it was definitely time to walk; Sydney didn't hear them. For the next 15 minutes, I fought him to just walk. His desire to RUN was so great that his steps just got lighter and bouncier until I was literally spinning him in circles to keep from losing him. A few times, I had to almost crash into Annabelle to stop his forward momentum. She was very helpful and stuck right by us in an effort to help Sydney settle.

It was finally decided that the best thing for Sydney would be to just take the lead. I wasn't too sure that would work and worried that without an equine butt in his face, Sydney would start looking for the front stretch. But since nothing else was working, I let him get out in front.

It wasn't a complete fix, but it did seem to help him. I still had to saw away on his mouth and circle back quite a few times, but at least his feet were on the ground. The next 30 minutes were the least fun of the whole day. My arms were beginning to ache from keeping my freight train from being a runaway. After what seemed like forever, Sydney's frenetic hurry (defined as fast and energetic in a wild and uncontrolled way) started to ebb away and was replaced by a less feverish pace. 

The truth is, I was beginning to worry about his metabolic parameters. For the non endurance riders out there, you've probably never, or rarely, pushed your horse to the edge of that danger zone. If you have ridden your horse in that zone a few times, you probably know how close you are (or aren't) to the edge. I had never ridden Sydney for that long, nor at that speed. He's pretty fit, but still, I had no idea where his edge was.

He was dripping wet, he has a full winter coat, and had been doing so for more than two hours. His respiration was good though, and he was interested in grazing whenever we stopped to open a gate or catch our breath at the top of a climb. I was watchful, but not worried enough to demand a full-on stop. Fortunately, we came to a deep water trough that was full and clean. With no hesitation, Sydney dove in and drank deeply.

One "funny" aside here: I've done a lot of endurance rides over every distance possible over a lot of years. Not only have I done a lot of rides, but I've done them over and over on the same horse(s). Almost any decent rider can finish a 25 or 50 miler. What's difficult is to do it on the same horse(s), year after year. I know what I am doing. 

As Sydney went in for that deep drink of water, one of the riders cautioned me about not letting him have too much. I thanked him politely (at least I hope it was) and said that I was from a different school of thought. Unless the water is ice cold, or the horse is blowing really hard (like he might already be in distress), I let my horses drink their fill. The rider seemed a bit miffed at my response, but we both let the issue drop.

When Louisiana turned to follow the departing riders, I asked her to remain a few moments longer as both my horses were still interested in the water. The rest of the group had barely paused at the trough. I was somewhat disappointed to see that as my experience tells me that if given a little more time, many horses will continue to wet their mouths or at least slurp a bit longer. When asking your horse to work this hard, every ounce of water can be precious.

The deep drink did relieve some of my concerns, but I still hoped we'd get back soon without any further drama. While Sydney didn't get soft and light, he did get more relaxed. And then finally, he took another deep breath and dropped this head. By this time we were more than 100 yards in front of the group, and he simply power charged down the road in an impressive walk. He was being so good that I felt confident enough to hop off and open the next gate for the group.

Everyone filed through and then waited while I closed and re-latched the gate. I re-mounted, which is a bit of a trick when your horse is 16 solid hands high and you're only 5 foot 3. I managed to find a small rock to give me a bit more height; Sydney stood rock solid while I swung into the saddle. Good boy!

We did trot more back to the trailers, but the worst of the anxiousness had gone. When we arrived back to the trailer, I filled the water buckets and mixed a beet pulp and rice bran lunch. My earlier worries returned however as I pulled tack.

Neither horse was thirsty, but they had drunk just 25 minutes before so I wasn't too worried about that. They both started to eat ravenously, but then Sydney seemed to lose interest in his lunch. He started stomping one hind foot after the other. This is something you'll see with a horse who is thinking about colicking or cramping in his hind end. I listened to his gut, which was producing appropriate gut sounds, and then took his pulse. He started out at about 60, but when I re-took it a minute later, it had dropped to a much more sensible 48.

I took Sydney by the lead rope and asked him to walk around within easy sight of Speedy G. As soon as he was away from the trailer, he relaxed. Even though it was bright and sunny, there was a slight breeze so I tossed a fleece cooler over his rump; he was still pretty damp from the ride. I tied him back at the trailer, but noticed his flanks pulsing in what appeared to be a classic thumps rhythm.  

Here's a brief explanation of thumps: 

Never imagining that we would have ridden this fast, it didn't occurr to me to electrolyte the horses before the ride; I'll not make that mistake again. Without any electrolytes, the best thing for a tired horse is rest. I walked him away from the trailer a few more times, and thankfully, he began to quiet down and the "flutter" seemed to subside. Only when I was confident that both horses looked healthy did Louisiana and I leave for lunch.

Tejon Hounds had provided a lovely lunch with plenty to drink. We enjoyed the hospitality of the group and left with full stomaches and very happy hearts. 

Louisiana and I loaded up our wet tack and repacked the buckets and hay bags. Both horses loaded into the trailer happily and rode quietly the hour back to the barn. When we unloaded the horses, I was relieved to see them looking so healthy. We took each one into the arena for a long drink and a roll in the sand. Both horses were happy to be back home and immediately whinnied for fresh beet pulp and rice bran, which I loaded with electrolytes. When we left the barn, both horses were munching away contentedly.

The next day, I took Sydney to his regular Monday night lesson. More on that tomorrow. For now, I am eagerly scanning my calendar for a free Saturday to do another hunt!