Well, my barn sitting duties are done and I have relinquished control back to Ms. C and Mr. D.  All horses were contentedly eating hay when I said goodbye this afternoon.  You don’t truly appreciate a well run barn until you do it yourself and feel the angst when you close the barn doors for the night and pray that all heads pop out to say good morning the next day.  What a great feeling to walk into the barn and hear every horse nicker and whinny good morning.

It is also fascinating to see the small personality traits of each of the horses when you spend a few days watching over them.  Some are independent, some are feisty when the morning is cool, some will try to bite you as you groom them, some are insecure, and Ike, he begs for my attention as soon as he sees me emerge from the barn.  “Come get me!!”  Why?  Just because I am there and maybe he is a bit insecure.  The weather was ideal today; even Goldilocks would have been hard-pressed to complain – not too cold, not too warm, not too humid, not too windy, and not too buggy.  But Ike wanted to be with me.  It was too nice to hide in the barn all day, so I let him graze around the barn.  Such a Mama’s boy, but it is hard to complain when I look into those big brown eyes.

Had a wonderful ride today.  Forty minutes of fun.  It is a nice feeling when all goes well and you can really just enjoy the ride.  Now I know that my next ride and the ride after that might not go well, that is horses and training, so I’m going to enjoy the “rider’s high” for tonight…at least until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.  Ike and I focused on our stretch down trot for the last 15 minutes of our ride.  I think I’d go as far to say that we had maybe 20 seconds of true stretch.  I’d ask, Ike would snatch.  I’d ask again, Ike would blast through my request and motor along faster.  Maybe it was the weather or the lack of dive-bombing horse flies, but working on the stretch down wasn’t frustrating today.  Enjoyed the challenge and my handsome horse.

The takeaway from the past two days.  If you are boarding at a barn and your horse is healthy, happy, and secure, thank the owners profusely and let them know how much you appreciate their great care of your equine friend.