Longeline Rodeo...

I have learned with Rose to always expect and plan on the worst case scenario. Not that the worst case is usually what happens, but it is definitely best to be prepared for it none-the-less. Rose had two weeks off, so I expected that she'd have some pent up energy. It's also winter here in the great PNW. Apparently Summer decided to take forever to show up...skipping spring altogether, and now we are going to be robbed of Fall as well. Hello 45 degree rain...you are my favorite (not). I do know that it is this delicious winter weather that keeps people from moving here in larger droves than the economy forces. July and August are great and I don't want to be anywhere else, but the other 10-months of the year cause me to day dream of living in Hawaii or Cabo or some such delicious non cold and rainy places.

Anyway, I digress. Summer gone, winter here, which means Miss Rose has a lot more energy than what had become "the usual". We also had a new trainer and 10 of her clients (or horses at least) move in while I was gone. I met one gal last night, and she was super nice. It's great to have some social time at the barn at last. Although it's nice to always have an arena to oneself, it can get pretty lonely. With all of the new boarders the barn is more than full now, which means the horses only get turned out every other day. I understand why they are doing this, and at least she has a paddock run, but every other day turnout isn't something that help's Rose's energy levels at all. My suggestion would be to give them all 3 hours of turnout every day, or pull down some of the hot tape fence-lines and do group turnout (which I would absolutely love), which could also be rotated twice a day. Mares in the morning, geldings in the afternoon, etc. Unfortunately I dont' think I have much say, as the barn owners are also the managers and are not necessarily around during the day to rotate turnout. Anyway, I am fairly certain that yesterday was her stall day. Couple that with the fact that there are a bunch of new horses (geldings) in the barn, and I'm fairly sure that she's in heat this week from the look of the vast quantities of urine in her stall...and boy was she full of herself. Luckily, this is what I expected, and I'm getting very good at not reacting to the behavior and just making her keep going, keep working, and working harder when she does act up on the longe.

As a result, we had a good long longeing session. That was my plan. Let her gallop and buck on the longe until she's tired, then make her work some more, and then ride her. All in all, it was one of her longest workouts ever. The longeing session took about 30-minutes, and then I rode her for about 40-minutes. By the time I got on her, she was focused and was actually really good. I think the time off was good for her. She was bending, and trying really hard to balance properly. She was actually a really good girl and I had a great ride. I am excited for our first lesson with the new trainer tonight. Hopefully Rose won't be too tired after last night!