Busy summer and some horse books

Sorry for the lack of posts -- this summer has been kicking my butt.  With my busy schedule I have actually seen my horses very little, especially since V. has been out of town a lot, so I haven't been out for her lessons either.

Luckily I am off this week, but I've been enjoying writing and cleaning and working on projects around the house (okay, mostly the first one) so much that I haven't actually gone out to the barn yet.
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Gaining trail experience

This past week, both Rondo and V., the 12-year-old who does a partial lease on him, got some trail riding experience, which was good for both horse and rider.

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An appointment with the new vet

Tuesday morning the boys had an appointment with our new equine vet, the one who absorbed my old vet's practice.  There are things I like and dislike (or at least, don't like as well in comparison to my old vet), most of which isn't really a surprise to me but is worth noting nonetheless.

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Remembering what it's like to learn to trot

I put my friend on Rondo Sunday night -- it was about the fourth time he's ridden Rondo, so he tried trotting for the first time.  I put him on the lunge line so that he didn't have to worry about steering, but let him keep the reins in his hands because I trusted him not to pull on Rondo's mouth more than I generally trust kids when they trot for the first time.

It was the first time I'd lunged Rondo in a couple of years, probably, as I don't generally lunge much once training is over and done with -- unless there is a good reason for it.  Panama gets very bored on the lunge line, and Rondo used to really resent being lunged, as I think he viewed it as being chased -- both of my boys have always much preferred being ridden.
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Signs of summer

Less than a week after Mother Nature dumped probably six inches of snow on us (in the Denver area -- the mountains got considerably more), the barn looked like this:

And this weekend it's supposed to get up into the low 80s again.  I think it might be a good time to bathe a couple of very dirty horses...
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May snowstorm, Colorado style

Although I rode both horses on Saturday (which I guess also deserves a post, as it was a very interesting afternoon), I haven't been on them since, partly because of the crazy weather.  May flowers notwithstanding, we had a spring snowstorm roll in late Saturday night, with lots of rain and snow flurries overnight and turning into snow on Sunday.  We got quite a lot of snow on Sunday -- I think I probably cleared at least five inches off my car, total, throughout the day -- and kept getting flurries throughout this morning and afternoon.  It wasn't until late afternoon or early evening that the sun finally made an appearance, but it's supposed to get down to 24 degrees tonight before it starts to warm up again tomorrow.

And all this only days after it was 80 degrees.
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My first time jumping Rondo

On Tuesday I had a riding lesson on Rondo, and jumped him (for real) for the first time.

I say "for real" because back before V. started leasing him, when he was still really green, I hopped him over a jump a couple of times... but it wasn't really jumping.  It was more like kick, kick, kicking to get him over the jump (he wasn't shod at the time and we didn't know yet that he was footsore all the time), and he would either stop right before it and do a little hop over it, plow straight through the poles, or go around.  I don't think I ever did an actual, successful jump on him, and we gave up because he was so green and so obviously uninterested.
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