The Mountain Goat

It's still blazing hot here in Texas, and is likely to stay that way for another few months. Show season has largely ground to a total halt in the dead of summer, and most of us are taking refuge in the AC whenever we're not forced to be outside. Every morning I feed and wash the crusted sweat off of the mares, and if I have time before work, I work O. If I don't have time, I don't even bother considering it. It doesn't cool down until about 10pm here, and our lighting is not good enough at our property to work in the evening. Someday I may put in a small arena and lights, but that's pretty low on my list of current priorities. 

We joke that summer is the time when Texans get seasonal depression, because they don't get enough sun. I'll say this - it's 100% true. When I don't get enough sun, I get grumpy and sad, but going out into the blazing summer sun isn't high on my list of desires. Working outside gives me my daily allotment of sunshine, but I also spent a lot of time indoors, planning for the upcoming show season and the things I'll be able to do when the weather cools off. Texas summer is really just like northern winter - you spend way too much time indoors wishing you could be outdoors. 

O has come back to work good and strong, and feels great. She picked up right where we had left off, and feels great. Currently my main issue, aside from the heat, is wishing I had a studier vehicle. My wooden cart is a beautiful piece of equipment, and I do love it, but it's not really made to stand up to excessive abuse. A lot of tight turns, higher speeds, and rougher ground are going to take a serious toll on it over time, and I worry about that. It's not engineered for that kind of use. If I had a good sturdy marathon vehicle, it would be a different story - those things are built to stand up to torque and abuse. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive. I may be able to find a nice used one, one that can serve me well as a three-phase carriage at the lower levels, but this would take some planning and serious shopping. I also need to take into account the measurements and size of the thing - my truck is a short bed, and my trailer is a two horse. It needs to be able to fit into a truck bed (which is doable with the right carriage). I have no plans on buying a totally new truck and trailer just so that I can buy bigger and fancier carriages - I'm not made of money and we just bought a house! But, I will be on the lookout for something suitable - maybe something will pop up, you never know!

I also don't have many pictures from O's workouts lately, as I don't have anyone to film me a lot of the time. I tried to set my iPad out and record some of our workouts, but alas, this is the best I got:

Fail....

When I find my GoPro again, I will be able to set that up and get better video and pictures. I think it is buried in my truck? I have no idea. 

On a more interesting front, Pax has found out that jumping up and down off of all the rock banks is super fun:

I love this - this is how you raise a good strong surefooted horse. Or a horse with a broken leg maybe, I'm not really sure. 

One thing *is* for sure - babies that can run and play on firm terrain are the ones who develop little rock crunching hooves:

That sure is a pretty sight to behold.