We are so done with this weekend…

Our first CDI this year was a cascade of misfortunes. We were so ready for this show…all three horses. Then Fred showed up at at the beginning of the week with full blown scratches on both hind legs.  Red, angry, weeping and inflamed.  She’s out of the CDI as we need to treat the condition [...]

Dressage is haaard.

Okay…there’s my whine for the week. Fred’s scratches have flared up again.  We had them under control but now her hind fetlocks are swollen and raw.  Scratches were her major issue while we were here last year.  We have got a handle on them again as of yesterday but this will prevent her from competing [...]

This is a movie theatre!!!?????

Saturday morning (our no riding day)…horses done (fed, treadmill, happy), lunch at Jake’s with Curtis and Barb…on to help out with Barb’s quest to see all the Oscar nominated movies in her spare time this spring. A Saturday afternoon matinee sounds great.  The Descendants.  At Luxury Cinemas Carlsbad. This is a movie theatre!!????  Big comfy [...]

Mmmmm Costco cheesecake…

How long have we been here??  The horses arrived the first week of December and it’s now the end of February???  Ok, we made it about 3 months without succumbing.  We’re at Costco regularly…water, fruit and vegetables, wine and we calmly walk by the cheesecake.  Oh we hear it calling.  We have a look, smack [...]

Another morning in the covered…

Oh boy, the horses are looking good!  Everyone is working very hard and it shows. Because of the rain, we’re still in the covered arena (about 30 X 20), lots of us…at one point there were 5 lessons being conducted at once.  Every rider has their own individual headsets attached to a mike on a [...]

A morning in the covered arena…

The rain the night before left the footing in the 2 big arenas too wet to ride in so we were all training in the small covered arena.  Thank goodness there is a covered arena at Arroyo for rainy weather riding! All three horses worked so well yesterday.  Yeah Lindsey!!!  Yeah Shannon!!!  Lindsey and I [...]

A blustery day…

It was a cold, blustery day yesterday.  Let’s get all this wind and rain done with this week so the Burbank show will be dry…okay??? All three horses worked very well yesterday.  Shannon worked with Lance and Fred.  This week’s training plan is “test week” and we’ll be working through parts of the tests with [...]

A Saturday day off

We were up early, as usual.  Lindsey headed to the gym, I tidied  up around the coach and had a nice long Skype chat with Ivars over breakfast. We headed to the stable on a blustery, chilly morning.  The drive down Hwy 101 (PCH, Pacific Coast Hwy) was dramatic with big grey clouds over the [...]

Fred’s day off…

The boys worked hard yesterday…Fred didn’t… The boys both had a lesson with Shannon and worked their tails off (not literally, they both still have very lovely tails…).  Fred on the other hand could not lift her head from her bed.  Those of you who know Fred, know how unusual it would be for Fred [...]

Bossy, bossy boys.

The boys are very bossy and Fred is just kinda going along with it all with a quizzical look on her face. This new level of work has the boys a bit upset.  They were comfortable in their easy chairs, asking for another beer and having the remote close at hand…well welcome to the big [...]