Weekday Morning

The BO and I have this running joke, he sees me at the barn so often during weekdays lately that he asks if I actually have a job or not.  When my reasons for being at the barn are "It's the primary election day, we get the day off," or "I dunno, my boss just told me to get outside and see my pony this afternoon," it's pretty understandable - or unbelievable, I guess.

Today was another one of those days, since I got up early and rode before the visitation.  It was my first time riding in *mumbles* over a week...

Nothing like seeing this face for the first time in a week.  Love him. Also love the people that take such good care of him while I'm gone.

I tried to duplicate my last lesson, thinking a lot about riding soft in my right knee and ankle.  It's amazing
1. How supple Connor was after a week off
2. How much better he goes when I "ride soft"
3. How grateful I am that he's his same old self whether I ride five days a week or zero.  Sometimes as an adult ammie, life happens, and I'm glad I have a horse that's okay with that.

Obviously it's buckle-down time with FRV being a month from now.  With that in mind, we rode in the grass Dressage arena where the big plastic letters had fallen over due to wind, into the arena in some places.  He was spooky at first, but that's what I wanted - riding him in scary places at home is the best approximation of show atmosphere I can get, and he's never been to the facility we're going to next month before.

He also continued to shed out while I was gone and is getting shiny:

Girl look at that body.