Too Hot To Trot

I admit, when I first came out to the prairies to work, I made fun of all the rental/sale ads emphasizing the places air conditioning. All I could think was that Albertans had to be wimps, because they get like two weeks of summer every year. "Tell me more about the furnace or fireplace!" was my thinking :) Now I get it...it's hot, muggy and miserable and I'm totally grateful for the air conditioned basement I'm typing in. Without the ocean breezes I'm used to, I'm suffering. "What's this have to do with horses?", you're thinking. Well, it's Wednesday night and I had a lesson...in the outdoor arena. No stirrups, two point, the usual routine. And it was miserable. I had the ride on Checkers and I just slacked off and let her do her thing at the pace she saw fit. So, your lesson recap is short, because I rode for an hour, yet did nothing notable - the whole thing is kind of a blur, honestly :)Checkers jumped a nice round, some trot fences, some canter - I didn't care. Some nice corners, some more like squares...whatever...as long as she kept truckin in the right general direction it was all good.She's a superstar, and my theory that she would pack someone around with little to no input while still making them look good has been proven true. Maybe we can count this lesson as a win for me too, since I used to like to be control freak rider girl, and obviously I've let some of that go, at least temporarily. Also, riding wise, there is no way I would have been fit enough a few months ago to ride even half the lesson we just had, and certainly not in this heat.

Right now I have the air con set to roughly this.

Old picture of Checkers, in case you've forgotten which one she is - she's a big warmblood type who is more grey than chestnut these days. She's also queen of the barn, and we are all her minions.

In super exciting news, I have a horse to try out on Sunday. Not just any horse, either - a Welsh Sec D mare who lives about 20 minutes away from me. Not the little bay mare in the pictures I've been posting, either - that's another trip in a couple of weeks time. I had put an enquiry out quite a while ago, and finally got a response from a breeder just down the road from here. I knew having a Welsh breeder in such close proximity could prove dangerous :) Honestly, I'm not sure this one is exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm excited about it anyway. If nothing else, I get to go meet a bunch of beautiful horses and ponies and talk cobs for an afternoon.

A baby pic of the pony I'm visiting this weekend. She's about 2 here (sorry, the only picture I could find on the Internet)

Also we're nearing the end of the work countdown - I should be done here mid August, then home to G and the wonderful Gingersnap. I can't wait - while it's been fun here, I pretty much knew about 2 seconds after I accepted the job that I had made the wrong decision and was done with the whole long distance/working away from home thing. Even though the lessons here have been great and the job/coworkers are excellent, there really is no replacement for home.

I'm sure I've posted this picture from my last visit before, but she's cute and it's my blog so you get to see it again :)