Red Hot Horse Peppers

I have been doing well with the whole getting-up-early-to-beat-the-heat thing. Tuesday I rode at 7:30 am! That is an unheard-of hour for I would bet most of my second shift co workers.

But today I caved. I gave both boys the day off. I found Hampton in his stall wringing wet and miserable. So he got a cool shower, grooming, electrolytes and a flake of hay for lunch. I put him back up under his fan.

Went to grab Rex and he was also a bit sweaty and also had flared nostrils. Back to the washrack with horse No. 2. Another cool shower, grooming, electrolyes, and lunch hay under the fan.

I think it is supposed to cool off later this week into the 80s. Much more manageable.

Otherwise both creatures are doing great. Hampton feels stronger after his body work, and his super collected canter is back. The flying changes are FINALLY making progress. It has really helped us to do the changes out of the canter half pass (instead of just going across the ring randomly). The left-to-right change still frequently includes a buck, but he changes so ... I'm going with it. We are aiming for a schooling show in early August and then a rated show in early September (I want my other second level score, dammit). Possibly a small horse trial in October. I just got 4 brand new tires put on my horse trailer so I am going to use the thing come hell or high water. :)

Rex is getting miles. He is also starting to look a bit rounder and no quite so lanky. He is a sweet boy and the other day I introduced him to clippers. He actually snorted at them and his eyes got big. Ah ha!!! So you ARE a normal young horse after all! He was not fond of the buzzing clippers at first, but he was easily bribed with some Mrs. Pastures cookies. After about 10 minutes I was rubbing the clippers on his neck. I even got some of his goat hairs trimmed up under his chin. Good boy! Won't take long for him to get used to that process. (He will be keeping his mane, tail and feathers - don't worry!)

Hope everyone stays cool this week!