Overnight Turnout is Magic

You guys! Lex is doing SO GREAT! I can hardly contain my excitement. She's back on overnight turnout with her buddies, we're scaling back the Reserpine to the point that she's barely on any at all, and we're doing tacked up in-hand work. Mostly just walking over courses of ground poles in the ring, but my friend Dale is going to come teach us some cool stuff to keep things fresh and interesting. I think, however, that it will be only a few days or maybe a week before RIDING TIME. It'll just be at the walk for short periods, but I am so excited.

And to be honest, I'm relieved that I'm excited. I've seen her explode a few times now, and my arm knows what can happen when she lets those back legs fly. But I really don't think I'm in for any histrionics under saddle. She seems happy to be getting back to work. Today she even seemed to want to stay in the ring and play.

Zephyr is also doing wonderfully. We're taking a lesson with C tomorrow, so I'll try to be a good kid and recap it. We've mostly been doing flatwork, focusing on having him moving forward off my leg and doing some light leg yielding. I throw in a crossrail here and there and he always does as I ask, although I'm not sure he's got an enthusiasm for jumping yet. I'm really thrilled to say that his canter is coming along great. We can get both leads first try and canter circles in both directions. Until about a week ago, the right lead rarely happened. I have been working hard on gaining more control over his shoulders and hind quarters. Sometimes that means he has to be counter bent in the neck so that he doesn't pop his outside shoulder in. He's such a big horse, he's a lot to keep together, but he is doing so well with stretching into the contact and relaxing. He's starting to build some neck muscles, too. I love this guy. I hope he doesn't get sold soon.

Jethro, I'm sorry to say, is lame, and has to go back where we found him. Ugh. I'll miss him, he's as cute and sweet as they come. I hope he finds a nice home as a trail horse or a companion.

Overall, things are pretty good with the horses. I can't wait to have my horse back in work, but I'm definitely keeping busy. Have any of you done in-hand training and what did you do?