Chestnuts everywhere!!!

First off....
The new mare, Red (photo is of her the day after she arrived at our barn), is a little hot from being out of work for months and months. I suspect a little of it, too, is that she's super bright and confused about what she's being asked to do, having been used as a trail horse mostly and a lesson horse secondarily. Now that she's got a good rider on her asking her to DO stuff she's kinda like... huh? And even though she's being ridden quietly and well, now, there are gaps in her training that still make it hard for her to "get it"... and that, combined with her slightly hot temperament, lead to her getting jittery, head-tossing, and so forth.

I will get my chance to test this out this weekend... because I'm getting up on her. Poor little mare hauling our fat asses around. *sigh* I need to go on a serious diet if I'm going to be riding the little one!! Anyhow, I'll ride her at the barn on Sat, and provided it goes fine - which I am pretty sure it will - we plan to trailer her and Serena up to Santa Ynez on Sunday for a trail ride at a friend's house.
This friend is hosting a fun large-group trail ride in two weeks, and wants us both to participate. I sincerely doubt that Red is fit for a long ride, but this will give us an opportunity to look at the trail, and see how she handles herself out there. It's a fun ride rather than a competitive thing, so pace won't matter, but I still don't want her to injure herself or anything!

Uh, not to mention my poor butt.

On to my own horse. My wonderful horse, who between the insane rain last week and my kidney infection this week has just not gotten out nearly enough, but is being sane and sweet anyways. He had his second hoof trim (since he's been mine) on Monday, and I got great news about the right front hoof, the one I fret about. Jimmy says that even though the angle is awful (underslung heel that doesn't want to get ANY height on it no matter what we do), it's not causing a problem for him, the hoof and sole is healthy, and he sees no reason why Boo will need shoes going forward. GREAT NEWS!!! The other highlights are that his frogs have expanded and become elastic and springy (they were sad, shrunken things before) and his soles, formerly super flat and thin, are growing new horn like mad and becoming properly concave and just in general looking like healthy, strong, normal hooves.

It's so rewarding to see that, even though I haven't had a ton of time to put into Boo, nor a ton of money, the little things I've done are making a HUGE difference. He now leads on a loose lead, stops, backs, ties and stands calmly, etc. And I'm not spending a TON on supplements or special food, but what I do feed him has effected a big change in his hooves, his joints, even his pathetic wispy TB tail (it's growing!!!).

Lately I've been thinking a lot about riding him. Really looking forward to it. This is a new phase for me. And while we're still absolutely waiting till April (when he's fully 4 years old) for anyone to get aboard, it means that mentally I'm ready to move on to the things that lead to riding. Hard to explain. But I wasn't there, a few weeks ago; and now I am.