Yesterday I had my first ride back on Capone since my trip to Japan!! I hadn’t been out to the barn for quite some time because I wanted to make sure I had all the funds I needed for my trip. I’ll be doing a separate series on my trip and what we did, but we had a marvelous time.

I took care of Capone for the weekend all by myself while his owner was gone. He has a couple supplements he needs daily, fly bites that need tending to and he nicked himself playing/fighting his neighbors. I didn’t take him out much the first two days because I had work, but Sunday was our fun day. I took care of his necessities and then turned him out in our little arena nearest to the stalls.

Once Capone got his wiggles out he went back his paddock so  I could eat a little bit, Capone was NOT happy about me focusing on something that wasn’t him. I groomed him, spritzed him with Purvida Conditioning Spray, Marigold Spray, and Bronc Citronella fly spray. He got a pretty blue Navajo western pad, a nice basket weave saddle and man was it comfy!! I haven’t ridden in that saddle yet and I loved it. I led Capone up to the big arena, mounted and figured things out again. I have to be honest I haven’t been riding as often as I could be since leaving my horse job, but I’ve been out to see Capone more than I did before almost. Capone and I did a few walking laps, and trotted around both directions with the smoothest responses. We did pairs of trot poles in each corner and then right down the middle of those trot poles pictured above. I was pleasantly surprised by his ability to take care of me over the poles despite how out of shape I am. We went to the pond to the right of the arena for our cool down and then I jumped off to walk back down to the stall.

Today I woke up with tight groins from my short bit workout of a ride. I was blown away by our ride and I can’t wait for the next one.