Summertime Sadness

I'm not really sad that it's summer but I'm currently enjoying this song by Lana Del Rey.

However, I do have to admit that summer is not my favorite season. My favorite temperatures are 40-70. I love the spring and fall for this reason and although I've come to terms with summer and been doing better with the heat since I've gotten fitter it's still not my favorite.

It doesn't seem to be Katai's either. Even though the barn is fairly cool she literally tries to park herself in front of each fan we walk past in the isle. Her favorite is the one that is aimed right at her when she's in the cross ties. Every time I pull her out to groom she falls asleep in the cross ties and gets grumpy when I move her.

The thing pony dreams are made of

We have been spending time bonding while I scratch her itches, especially her udder because she loves that. I've also started to do some massage with her and she gets all blinky and chewy and cute about it. I'm planning to order a book on horse massage and start practicing. She's naturally a tense horse and I think she could use a massage every week if I could afford it. I finally decided that rather than paying someone to do very regular massages I should just learn myself and do some as needed.

I think she's also still getting used to all of the turnout. Her body feels pretty good but I think she's just a little sleepy and a little tired, looser, but tired.

I've been trying to give her lots of breaks from time in the ring and ride outside but unfortunately we've discovered that this barn has LOTS of horseflies. Horrible, nasty, stubborn things that follow her even at a canter on the lunge.

It's very important to get fan time on both sides of your pretty face

After a particularly bad experience in the outdoor ring we'd given up for about a week but we tried it out again yesterday and lived to tell the tail. Thanks to a really adorable ear bonnet we were able to keep them at bay for long enough to work in the ring awhile and then ride on our "trail". It was gorgeous weather and we had an amazing time.

Now I just have to get a picture of my adorable girl in her ear bonnet to share :)