April Showers, Finally

Poor Axel, standing out in the rain.

It wasn't raining when I left the house but the trouble with living 45 minutes from where the horses are, is that the weather can change by the time I get there. I did know it was supposed to rain but I thought maybe it would hold off. Tom opened up the side pasture so all the horses were out grazing on what little grass there is all while getting rained on. I hung around for a while and Beau came up to visit me so I let him in the barn. The last thing he needs is to stand out in the rain and get more rain rot. Axel made his way up to barn so I groomed him a bit, as much as one can while he's soaking wet. Cody hung around for a while as well and let me brush him a bit before wandering back out to the pasture. The rain finally let up so I decided to work with Axel a bit in the round pen. I'd like to teach him how to lunge so we can work a bit on impulsion from the ground. He wasn't quite getting it at the walk, he just kept spinning around. We worked a bit on walk-halt-walk-trot on the lead and he did really well. I actually got him to trot on the lead which doesn't usually happen. And of course Axel's best gait is "whoa." At one point we did get a trot in a real lunge circle but of course at that point it started pouring again.

I let Axel go and ran back to the barn where all the other horses were standing under the overhang. Axel followed be, but of course he didn't go under the overhang. He's so darn timid, I dunno if he thought there wasn't enough room or if he thought the other horses were going to chase him away. I stood there for a while trying to convince him to join the rest of the herd but he wouldn't budge so I got a rope and led him under the overhang. Luckily none of the other horses chased him away and he actually stood there, so I don't think he wanted to stand out in the rain alone. Maybe he went back out there after I left but he was still there before then.

Saturday Tricia and I ran out to the CSDEA tack sale. I picked up a pair of skid/combo boots for Axel and another pair of bell boots. I also got a pair of English style spurs with tiny rowels. We'll give them a try and see if that gets any more energy out of Axel. Hopefully I can use the properly. As of right now it looks like it's supposed to rain again on Tuesday so another day of riding might be postponed.