Sunday Funday

Yesterday I had a fun day with Kachina. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. 17°C, sunshine, and no wind. This is far from typical March weather but it was a wonderful day to be at the barn.
(Though I hope we get some good rain or snow soon or else it's going to be a scary dry year)

First, we had a good grooming session. Kachina is really starting to shed out and I was covered in her hair.

Next, we went on our first trail ride of the year, a two hour walk down the tractor track near the barn. We went with my friend S and her standardbred mare. Kachina was awesome. She was relaxed, listening, and in her best babysitter behavior. We worked a bit on transitions between medium walk and free walk and Kachina was stretching down in a nicely active walk.

View between the ears

It'll be another couple months until this greens up

Finally, S and I let Kachina and her two horses loose in the big outdoor arena to play. The three horses share a paddock together so there's no worries about them fighting. We call them the three amigos. The outdoor arena is a fair bit bigger than their paddock and has better footing, so they enjoy the opportunity to roll, run, and play. S and I enjoy watching them rip around.

The three amigos

A good roll was first on the agenda - shedding is itchy!

Synchronized rolling

Straight from rolling to full speed

Sassy

When I got Kachina, she would never voluntarily canter, even when loose.
It makes me so happy to see her now offer a lovely balanced canter by herself.

Hi Mom

Not sure what this is lol

This is about as much as Kachina ever kicks up her heels, she's too sensible

Snack break

And they're off again

Vroom!

What we did on Sunday might not improve our dressage scores, but it builds Kachina and I's relationship and we both had fun, and that's just as important :-)