I seriously love this friggin' horse.

It's Saturday morning. It's 74 degrees at 10 am, so I rush to the barn to ride before temps sore into the 90's. I haven't been to the barn since our Wednesday lesson. Rose seems happy to see me when I pull her from her paddock. Her feet look great. She's walking out nice and quickly on the asphalt...sound. I am relieved, I release the pent up breath that I didn't realize I was holding, smile, and head into the the barn. Rose is a bit fidgety. We do some ground work. I put her in the cross ties. She's still a bit fidgety. She finally pee's in the cross ties and then stands quiet. It's clear that she's in heat. I groom her and saddle her up. We ride in the outdoor arena next to all the geldings and the Oldenburg pony stallion. He is glued to the view, pressing against his fence rails, and does not move an inch the entire time I ride. Rose would clearly prefer to focus on the boys, but listens and we have a productive and good ride.

It's really something to me that I own a mare who, although understandably distracted, can easily be ridden while in heat. Granted she'd rather not listen to me, but for the most part she complies with my requests, and falls in line. I'm am very happy that I do not have to resort to hormone treatments to keep her "sane".

If nothing else, Rose is one heck of a great horse undersaddle, and I'm very certain that she would have been extremely hard to replace to that end. It's certainly nice that she's got fancy looks and great conformation that comes with it. Right now I am so happy that it worked out that she never sold!

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
•DS•