Finally, today we got out for a ride! Went to Five Brooks at Pt Reyes and headed up the mountain. Today our theme was Thresholds, and we vowed to honor our horses' thresholds by allowing them to work them out. When they were uncertain or fearful about absolutely anything, whether we could figure out what they were worried about or not, we stopped and worked with them until they were confident again. Which made for a very slow start to the ride, but it paid off with happier and bolder horses at the end. Cowboy, in general, is a much bolder horse than Dexter, so he has fewer thresholds but they tend to come with more drama. Dexter tends to just slow down and act uncertain, but you better pay attention, because if you ignore the signs, you get an explosion when he just can't take it anymore! Anyway, it was a good ride, the weather was warm and the horses were happy.

Cowboy was a bit "up" for a lot of the ride (too much grass!) and threw a hissy fit in the trailer when we backed down the driveway. He hates to go backwards, and expresses his displeasure by kicking the trailer with his left hind leg. Today he was really going to town, and we rewarded him by letting him stand in the trailer while we took Dexter's fly mask and leg wraps off, and then brushed him. He finally stood quietly in the trailer but was clearly miffed. We unloaded him and led him and Dex back to my place, carrying all my gear back to the stable. I dropped my duffel bag in the pasture right outside Cowboy's paddock while I put Dexter in his paddock, then put Dex's halter in the barn. Laura was leading Cowboy and had him in his paddock when he spotted the duffel in the pasture. High drama! Clearly it did not belong there and was a major threat! He hit the end of the rope and ran around snorting and staring at it. I went out to retrieve it while Laura handled him--about the time I reached it, he just couldn't take it and launched into one of his most spectacular bucking episodes yet--and I have seen that horse BUCK! It was quite a display, with Laura and I laughing hysterically at his hysterics! We finally shut him down, since it seemed he was just going to launch higher and higher until he reached the moon, and I brought the object of terror into the paddock with him. At which point, he stopped, walked over to it, sniffed it, and then completely lost interest in it. Clearly, it was just an excuse to blow off some steam.

Can't wait to talk to Jess and find out what's going on with her horses! And see how her broken arm is doing. Sounds like Miss Lena is going to be getting some rehab.

Still working my way through Cooking Light. The other night, I tried Chicken with Lemon and Olives and must say, this is a winner. Very tasty. Since I saw "Julie and Julia" again, I feel I must make the Cooking Light version of Boeuf Bourgignon (sp?) so tonight I picked up stew meat and red wine and will be cooking that up tomorrow. I'm going to expand from Main Courses into Side Dishes and Desserts and will keep you posted. Picked up ingredients for Chocolate Custard (made with tofu, can't wait to taste this one) and Baked Tomatoes. At least I'm eating a lot better.