A day with my guys

It's always a good day when my husband rides with me. He promised to go for a ride with me this weekend, and since I only have 1 rideable horse at the moment, he rode Gussie, and I led Beamer and we headed to the swimming hole to cool off from the August heat.

Beamer has been gimpy lately and I wanted to see if exercise would help. It certainly improved his mood, and he didn't limp as much as I thought he would. I put Gussie's hoof boots on him although they are a size too big for him. He was doing some stud talk to Gussie, but I can't really blame him. He doesn't get out in the company of mares much any more unless it's teasing or breeding.

There were some folks at the swimming hole, bet they weren't expecting to share with horses! But it's a large area and we stayed at the shallow end well away from them. We both rode into the water; I had brought Beamer's bridle, so I took off his boots and bridled him to ride into the water. He quite enjoyed it, a bit apprehensive when it got quite deep but I didn't swim him. Gussie wouldn't go all the way in for Ted, as you can see in the video....

so we switched out and I grabbed a willow branch to motivate Gussie- and we swam! That is such a cool feeling, at least for me. Gussie gets a bit kerfuffled when her feet don't hit bottom but she did swim a few strides for me a couple of times. The water was just right! I hope to go again this week.

On the way back, we switched and Ted led Beamer while I rode Gussie. I didn't put the boots on as they were a bit floppy on him, and Gussie doesn't need them. We were riding on the dyke which is fairly rocky and I wanted to see if Beamer was tender footed, but he isn't . I took this video to see if he was gimpy after the long walk but I think he actually improved.

The plan is to monitor him today and see if he is sore, and if he isn't I will be taking him for walks or turning him out in one of the larger paddocks on a regular basis. 

My guys 

Riding day 55