Weekend Warriors

Last weekend I decided to take Sonny over to my boyfriend's house for a few days. I had been planning on it for a while, but it was supposed to rain all weekend so I gave up on the idea. Last minute, I decided to tough it out and make it work. It was my last chance to ride in the fields before they planted crops and I had the weekend off anyways so I figured, why not?

My view from Stephen's window.

We didn't plan it out very well; I'll know better next time. We got there late Friday night and it had just started raining, so I kept him in the "stall" Stephen set up. Stephen has a 3 sided barn where he gated off an area about 30x15. In the back he piled straw and we kept his buckets in the front. Sonny didn't seem to mind the stall, but I think he was worried about being alone.

I got up Saturday really early and let him out in the field. He seemed to do better then, but was still looking around a lot and not very relaxed. Around noon I went out to play with him even though it was raining; I figured the more I got his mind working the better off he would be. The rain had made everything slightly muddy and very, very chilly. Within 20 minutes we were wet, dirty, and cold. This had turned out to be such an awful idea! What was I thinking?

Munching on grass and looking around.

I took him back in the stall to dry him off. I didn't want to leave him by himself, so Stephen put together 4 bales of straw for us to lay on beside him. We all took a nap for maybe an hour or so. By the time we got up it was warmer, a bit sunnier, and at least not raining. He seemed so much calmer and happier that I let him out in the field. He was so relaxed and happy. We went back in the house to dry off ourselves. I checked on him every few minutes through Stephen's window. To my surprise, he kept going from eating grass to back in the barn to relax. Huh. How interesting!

Hanging out in the barn.

I rode later that day once it dried out a bit. We had a great ride through the fields. It was a bit windy, but he was motived and moving! I felt really 'in tune' with him, rather than him being faster or slower and me.

The weather was still nasty on Sunday. But, it cleared up enough for us to set some jumps out and have fun with that!

Giant jumps ;).

Overall, I wouldn't brave another weekend in bad weather. But, we sure did have lots of fun and I think it strengthened our relationship. Can't wait to play at Stephen's again...in better weather!