May/June Chaos

I have a number of deadlines to meet within the next few weeks so I won't be writing as much until probably the end of June. However, I'm still seeing Calvin but only once or twice a week. Some updates & our plan for the next couple of months:

1. Calvin loves the pasture
He's made a group of two close buddies-- the chestnut gelding and a bay mare. When I go to work him, he's exhausted. Pasture life still blows my mind-- horses are so much more calm vs. living in a stall-- it's like I'm riding a 20 year old horse.

2. Feed & Soundness:
Calvin's doing well on the alfalfa with no further sign of allergies or issues. I don't like that there's minimal variety to his diet and I think I may supplement with beet pulp or perhaps buy a bale of grass hay to feed sometimes. Calvin also is sound 100% and staying that way, we really dodged a bullet there.

3. Longe, Lunge, Lounge
My primary focus is Calvin's top-line and developing muscle around his spine. Slow and steady progress and I can see the improvement. So far I've been doing about 10-15 minutes lunging warm-up with the chambon before riding, or some days I'll just lunge and not ride.

Looking slick

4. Fly season
I bought a gallon size fly spray and proceeded to spill 1/4 of it in my car thanks to it's shitty cap. Now my car smells like poison and I'm pretty sure it's shortening my life, but Calvin will be fly free so there's that.

5. Plan for the future:
I like to rotate months of harder training with months "off" work for horses, especially young horses. I personally think it's the happy medium between hard training babies and not starting a horse until six years old. Plus, I think they're happier to come back to their "jobs" with some vacation thrown in. May was light, June will be lighter, and training will pick back up more heavily in July.