Bareback in the Sun

The sun was out strong even at 8:30 this morning with the temperature climbing rapidly through the 80's into the lower 90's in just the hour we were out. The girls opted for saddles, but I rode Chad bareback. We built up a layer of sweat between us rapidly which made balancing on him a little harder.

After a good canter around one field, we headed over to the jumps. They're all about two feet high & he's jumped them before, but he's barefoot, it was hot, & the ground was hard. He didn't want to do the first one & ducked out at the last second to the right, almost running us over the jump standard.

I pulled him around in the same direction, yelled at him & cracked him with the whip. From a few strides away, we headed into the jump again & did just fine. We circled to the left & went over another jump, then made a larger circle to the left to come into the first jump again from the opposite direction. Again he did fine.

We took a break while the girls did a few jumps & then had Sally on Opal give us a lead over the barrels (55 gallon drums on their sides on 2"x8" bases). Again, Chad ducked out & we actually clipped the standing drum on the right side, but didn't knock it over. Then he bucked a couple of times. This time he got hit twice & we did the jump again from both directions. After that he was fine the rest of the ride.

He's young & was trying to be lazy. He probably also thought he could dump me. It didn't happen, thankfully. The ground really is hard.

Once we were done, I gave him a bath. We use a garden hose with hot & cold running water to it. This was really scary for him the first couple of times, especially as we got up near his head. Today I hosed him down myself without a problem, even his head. He's had maybe a dozen baths now, so it's something they learn to appreciate rapidly.

If we're out at a show without the hose, we just use a bucket & sponge. A horse sweats a lot, so we need to wash them good to get the salt & muck out of their coats & from between their legs or they can get sores. After the wash is done, we use a scraper to get the worst of the water out of their fur.