home again home again

On today's ride, a dragonfly landed on Envoy's ear. He carried it around about 1/2 the pasture. It was funny and cute. I wish I had a helmet cam.

We did a lot of trotting today. I didn't get started until about 5:30, and the sun is starting to set. That means that the mosquitoes are coming out. We trotted to try to stay out of their way. We were successful for the most part, but still got a few bites.

With some of those nasty winged vampires even going at a full on gallop wouldn't be fast enough to avoid them!

No riding this evening. Thunderstorms. We'll try again tomorrow.

Good luck....we had bad storms all night here and they're headed for somewhere on the coast. Looks like they might get you unless you get lucky and they go further south.

It's in the high 80's now and we had a small rain shower earlier.

Well... Bombed out again today even though the weather was perfect. I was totally busy with work, then had to bring down some moving boxes for a friend, then had to pick crabs that we got from another friend for dinner. Fortunately, I had time to give Kina her Legend shot. Hopefully, she'll start feeling a bit better tomorrow. She was moving slow today.

The crab dinner made up for everything.

We got some good trotting in today. It was warm, but not too terrible. The mosquitoes started out bad, but they seemed to go away after about 10 minutes. Maybe moving at speed made them give up. Envoy appreciated not being covered in them. We stopped when his fly spray gave up and the flies started buzzing his head. It's giant horse fly time.

Do you ever have problems with deer flies?

We have some. They are worse in deep woods around here. They are worse than horse flies because they're smaller and quicker. I think their bite is worse too.

I use fly predators to keep most flies down. Late summer is bad for the big flies, but I've seen worse in many places. Most of the ones here are smash able even when riding. Envoy likes it when I smash them while we're out. He seems thankful.

You're right about deer flies. Those thing can really bite and they all seem to be worse the humidity is up.

Todays ride was a lot of fun. We finally got the pasture mowed, so the mosquitoes are not as bad. The weather is glorious, and the flies aren't as bad. Lower humidity seems to keep them at bay. So, we got to trot quite a bit and work on strengthening exercises. I hope we can be ready for the trails soon.

Envoy and I are going to a long lining clinic next month. I'm excited. It will be great exercise for us both, and we can do that in almost any weather.

When you say long lines do you mean ground driving or lounging?

Ground driving.

That's great. You and he can learn so much.

I need to purchase some equipment. Oh darn. Horse shopping.

LOL!! I can tell that really breaks your heart. Like me having to go shopping at a bookstore.

Oh! Bookstores are the same. If I have to spend anywhere, I choose bookstores and tack stores.

The horses had today off. I had to drop my car off at the repair shop, and it's almost dark now. I could bring lights out, but we can ride tomorrow. It's supposed to cool down again.

Lights would draw bugs and bats.

Horse shopping go well?

Lights are no big deal. They're shop lights set up outside the pasture fence. I don't mind bats at all. I actually like when they come out.

Today, Envoy went solo down the road. What a brave pony! He happily moseyed along and wasn't even flustered when a pickup truck came down the road. The driver was really nice and slowed down for us. We just waited at the side of the road with not even a tail flick. Good pony!

What a good boy. And I'm with you about bats. I love them too.

We went a bit farther down the road yesterday. He was perfect. We even trotted a little because we ran into a patch of deer flies. We scooted out of the way, and he came back to a nice walk even though we were headed home. No bolting for the barn.

I'm not sure we'll try again today. It's cloudy and humid, which means the deer flies will be worse. We will stick to the pasture, which means it's easier to hop off and go to the barn if the flies get unbearable.

He is such a good boy. Horses like him are few and far between.