My horses' first Halloween party

Today Panama and Rondo participated in their first Halloween party.  (I hung out at the barn's Halloween parties in 2009 and 2010, the last years we had them, but never dressed Panama up for either one -- and I didn't have Rondo at the time.)  The kids I nanny for came too and participated in the costume contest and activities.

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Two great jumping lessons

Yesterday V. and I both had our riding lessons, mine in the morning and hers in the afternoon.  (Look at the difference in the sky in the pictures -- you can see the storm that hit last night moving in between my lesson [bottom] and hers!)
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Pony playtime with friends!

My friends, H. and B., and I went to the barn tonight for a little pony playtime.  H. boards her horse at my barn -- in fact, Rondo used to be in the same corral with Freckles -- but B. has her two horses elsewhere, so we traded off between my two boys and Freckles.
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Horse chiro: Still satisfied...

I've ridden Panama a couple more times finding out that the chiropractor fixed his left lead problems, and I am happy to say that he is still doing great.  He had been taking a lot of steps to transition into the canter, especially to the left, and usually getting faster -- as though he needed that extra burst of speed at the trot in order to launch himself into the canter.  Now that is completely gone -- he picks up the canter the instant I ask for it, every single time.  We haven't done any jumping yet since the chiro was done (though we have been riding in the small indoor arena, which I think is harder than outside, because of the tighter turns and the need for him to carry himself properly), but I cannot emphasize enough how pleased I am with the results of the chiro.
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Panama's first chiro

Panama has had a rough year.  He had been struggling with his weight since -- well, since last spring actually.  He seemed to level off last summer, but he never really became the roly poly he used to be, and over the winter he started really losing again.  A lot of people didn't notice or think it was very bad, because he has (and has always had) a big ribcage and belly, but he was dropping weight along his topline -- to the point that my new (used) jumping saddle, which I bought over the winter, stopped fitting him as well as it had when I bought it.
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Swimming with the horses

My trainer trailered my horses over to a nearby lake so that the kids and I could have a day swimming with the ponies.
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Trail ride firsts

Yesterday morning, V. and I went out on a very short trail ride -- V. rode Panama, and I rode Rondo.  It was my first time out on Rondo, although he'd gone half as far with my trainer a couple weeks ago; and it was V.'s first time out there on Panama, if you don't count the other day when she just went a very short distance with one of the trail riders.
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