Time for a swim!

Considering it was 90F out and a billion percent humidity, when I got to the barn I thought better of doing an actual riding lesson with Axel. Steph and I decided to take Kiko, Kalani, and Axel down to the creek and go for a swim. Unfortunately Tricia had fallen asleep and forgot to show up ;) While we waited Steph got on Kalani bareback for the first time to see how he'd react. He was being quite stubborn and not wanting to move. So after she got him moving a bit she called that a lesson and moved onto Kiko. Since Tricia didn't show up we decided just to Axel and Kiko down ourselves.

I made a few feeble attempts to swing up on Axel by standing on a bit of a hill but it just didn't work. I was able to jump up on him but only after we went halfway down to the bridge and Axel stood in a big rut. Guess I have to practice that a bit more. He's a good horse to practice on, he just stands there like nothing's going on.

We decided there was no better way into the creek than where we got Axel in the other day so that's where we headed. Kiko was a little on edge having never walked around in that area before and only being her second time across the bridge mounted. We got to the edge of the creek and I decided to wade in myself to see where the best places were to stand since last time Axel took a nose dive in to a deep spot. We thought maybe I could find a better way in but I wasn't really able to find anything. Axel climbed down the bank without any issues. It took quite a while, however, to convince Kiko to climb down the bank. The water didn't scare her but instead she didn't want to take the big step down the bank. After wading around for a while Axel and I found a slightly better spot on the bank that was more of a slope than a step. After a few minutes of coaxing Kiko to step down in that stop she finally ended up in the water.

When we were done wading around we headed back up to the barn. I couldn't get back on Axel so I ended up walking up, getting my exercise at the same time. Swimming was definitely the best way to beat the heat.