Holy Wind, Batman

I didn't realize quite how windy it was until I got on the horse. Groomed Cody outside, tacked him up, added a second thin saddle blanket to his outfit, threw on his hoof boots, and we headed down the driveway. Cody was very indecisive and really wanted to be back at the barn but we plugged along. We made it down the one side of the road in the ditch and crossed over to the other side to go a little further. In addition to the wavering he also spent a lot of time trying to back up. Which just proves that he can back up a lot easier then the lets me think when I ask for it. Luckily he's pretty reluctant to really spazz out so a swift kick to the sides snaps him out of his reverse gear. I'm hoping that he figures out how much nicer it is to just go forward when I want than to fight the whole way. When he was moving forward decently we turned around and went back.

The first few yards he brought out his 2 beat walk, tried a little trot, and then settled in. He sped up again when a car whizzed by us, it was so windy you couldn't hear the cars til they were right up your rear end. About 2 blocks from the barn Cody settled in and walked at a pace slightly faster than on the way out. We went past the driveway, turned around, and then went back to the barn.

I just groomed Axel a bit, still trying to get off some of the red winter hair but it's not all gone yet. He was nice and shiny until I started brushing and that just brought all the dust to the top. Whoops. I managed to get Axel to do some leg stretches which I plan to try and do every time I'm out there. I lunged him a little in the pasture just to get him to move a bit before turning him out and heading home.