Do I Even Ride Anymore?

I feel like I haven't actually ridden my horse in forever.

This is basically, because I never go to the barn.  Work is all time crazy right now (I think I said this the last 10 blog posts in a row now) but on the bright side, only 13 more work days till summer vacation!

13 days till I can stare at this every night :)

I have all these grand allusions that I'm going to ride EVERY DAY this summer because I will have SO MUCH TIME on my hands without working... but the reality is I'll be working almost as much this summer as I am now.  But hopefully since I'll be living closer to Mollie for the summer months that will equate to more riding.  Which is good because I have quite the line up of lessons/clinics for Mollie and I this summer so you know, we should probably start practicing things.

Chances are the clinicians won't ask how her grazing is going...

I guess you could say one of the "good excuses" I've been making lately is that when I do ride Mollie, she's been freaking awesome.  Between getting her teeth done a few weeks ago and seeing the chiropractor last week (post on that coming soon) her body feels ah-maz-ing.  I was just talking to our BO last weekend and saying I couldn't believe how great she felt.  Around this time last year we were both kind of miserable about riding and I remember thinking, 'this is it, this is as far as she's going to go, and now we're plateau-ing'.

I now realize this is ridiculous.

The more riding I do, and the farther I push Mollie and myself the better she's been.  Not that I expect we're going to get to Grand Prix anytime soon (or ever) but it's certainly nice feeling like there is still progress to be made and this isn't all for nothing.  Just this past weekend, when I did actually ride my horse, there was one moment when she was walking along on a long rein and I wanted to get back to work.  I shortened up my reins, sat up through my core, applied my leg, and she was just there.  Brought her back up underneath me, lifted through her shoulder, and became delightfully soft in my hand.  Moments like that are why I love this horse so much :)  She can be so cool sometimes.

That was a lot of babbling.  Enjoy these random photos from my life as of late.

I bought new boots.  I'm in love.

Also, I saw Tim McGraw this weekend.  Again.