Explosives and Horses. NO.

I feel crappy for failing to post regularly as of late. I stay so busy though.

First off, Amber has decided once again that hunters suits her, and is back to dragging her nose in the dirt (not literally, of course), and just generally being fantastic. Nice, consistent, rhythmic trot and canter. GORGEOUS walk to canter transitions. They are frustrating her less and less. Only thing is, I can't ride as much as I would like to because of the extreme heat. The only time I can really ride is in the morning around 8.

Especially since Amber doesn't handle heat well. She really, really doesn't do well when it's 90+. I rode at 11 the other day and she was absolutely drenched from very light work. When I have the same ride, or slightly longer, earlier in the morning when it's only 80, she's usually a little damp on her neck and a bit under her saddle pad.

All she wants to do is stay in her stall, and I can't blame her. I fed up the barn tonight and I always take out two horses at once...so I grabbed her new friend, Ellie, Victoria's new mare, (it's a CHESTNUT MARE, at that!), and decided to grab Amber on the way out. She gave me the most displeased look and turned away. I'm like, okay, fine, you can go out last.

I literally had to turn her fan off to get her to go out. The good news is she isn't stocking much anymore, if at all. Sometimes on the most humid and hot days it will be slight, and you'd only notice if you knew she had been having a problem. And some others in the barn are doing it as well. So at this point I'm not worrying about it.

Still anxious to see if she will jump again. We both loved it, and she's just a natural at it. Of course, even though we know she'll do up to 2'3" with lead changes (and I be she could go higher), I would never do more than 2' out of sheer caution and common sense.

It's funny how I was so opposed to hunters and it seems to be the one thing Amber and I can agree on. Dressage interests her for about two days and then she wants no part of it. And I'm sure I'd get a lot of protest out of the girls at the barn for saying this, but hunters is really NOT that challenging in comparison to dressage, jumpers, eventing, ect. When you get to the higher levels I'm sure it measures up to other disciplines a bit more as far as challenge is concerned, but the reason I've gone the route of hunters is because, at least with Amber, is because it's nearly effortless for both of us. I wanted to make my riding more pleasure focused, and do something that Amber also enjoyed that we didn't really have to work TOO hard at. Voila.

Now. On the note of explosions...

These kids in the house that's beside Amber's pasture were setting off some of those little Cluster Bees - you know, the little mini "fireworks" that fly up in the air and poof? That also have sharp sticks attached that you stick in the ground that go with them when they launch? Yeah those. Spooking all the horses - a couple gave me a scare with some close calls at the fence line. And then I find several that landed in the pasture. Gee, great call asshole parents.

You,

A) See that it is scaring the large prey animals next to your house.

B) Obviously see that these small explosives are landing IN the pasture, that you do NOT own.

C) Must be too stupid to consider that if a horse ran into the area these were landing, they could be injured when the sharp objects fall from quite high.

D) Must also be too stupid to realize that some horse MIGHT be nearly as stupid as you and decide to chew on these.

And today they were setting off some other loud thing(s). Pests.