Gogo Arenawalker

Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk, walk, walk. Waaaaaaalk. Waaaaaaaaaaaalllllllkkkkkkkkkkkk.

Such is our life right now. We tack up, we wander up to the outdoor, we get on. And we walk. We go round and round. And round again. We walk. Sometimes, we SPOOK! But mostly we just walk. Sometimes we walk realllllllllly slow. Sometimes I get fed up with that and give Gogo a boot in the ribs (a little bit of Ace seems to really slowwwww her down). As of late, we walk over some poles! But that's not too exciting. I have to wait a whoooooole half hour to pick up the reins and do a few leg yields, but it's worth it. But with no circles allowed, we're pretty limited as to what we can do. Mostly, we just walk around the arena perimeter. Walk over some poles. And then do some leg yields at the very end. Yep. Very exciting.

But it's all worth it. It will all pay off in the long run. I was able to leave her wraps off for two days in a row - a miracle! - and the legs stayed tight and down, despite the miserable humidity and heat we've had. I opted to put them back on last night, seeing as the footing in the outdoor was a little unstable from all the rain we've been randomly getting, but today they looked as good as ever. This morning was the first time we've actually had to go in the indoor since I've been back on, and let me tell you, it sucked! As per usual, the indoor arena door monsters were hiding around every corner, and Gogo's eyes were bugged out so far I thought they might actually pop out of her head. Somehow, by some miracle, she kept all four on the floor, despite the weather having dropped 30 degrees overnight, the horses outside all running and bucking, and the door monsters reaching out and grabbing her legs (or so she wanted me to believe). Very proud of her.... phew.

It's been nothing but heat and humidity here for the past five days. Every day, random enormous thunderstorms would come barreling through, bombarding us with a few minutes of lightning, wind and sideways rain, but the humidity refused to break. Temperatures soared into the 90's, and even though she was just walking, Gogo broke a sweat every single day. (And so did I... gross.) Finally, the mother of all random enormous storms showed up yesterday to bring a cold front and the end of the humidity, blasting through just as I was returning from lunch. It was a nightmare - a tree branch fell ON my truck while I was driving, and a gust of sideways rain knocked me to my knees as I got out of my car! Horses were still outside and running, refusing to be caught, so we all chased them around while the lightning flashed and the trees swayed. How long did this hellstorm last? Oh, about six minutes. Long enough to soak me to the bone and really annoy me. On the way home last night, there were trees down all over, downed powerlines sparking in the road, and a bunch of firemen bravely putting out a mystery item on the side of the road that was fully ablaze. Hmmmm. Thankfully, this morning it was a chilly 53 degrees when I left my house, and it's still in the mid-60's as we speak. Thank GOD.

Walk, graze, ice. Treadmill, graze, ice. Rinse, lather, repeat. But less than two weeks until we trot!