Thunder

With summer comes thunderstorms, which, if you spend your summer at a barn the way I do, will mess up your day. Thankfully Patrick lives at an indoor barn, so even though the outdoor ring was flooded and unrideable today, I spent over an hour playing with him and staying dry.

He is pretty much the best horse ever. He is a total sweetheart and lets me hang all over him. I groomed him and he loved the attention, and when I was kneeling to work on his legs, he lowered his head to see what I was doing, just to be close to me.

Any time you get a new horse, there is an adjustment period as you get to know each other, because no two horses are the same. And you're used to something else, and the horse doesn't know you or trust you, and you don't trust the horse yet, either. Especially a green one who doesn't understand how to use his legs properly as he canters around the ring. It can be really frustrating as you work out the kinks in your partnership. The last time I rode Patrick wasn't pretty - I was starting to feel sick and sore from what may or may not have been lyme disease, and he hadn't had much exercise lately so he was fast and acting like a bit of a brat. It was a really frustrating ride. It's enough to make anyone doubt, even if just for a second, whether they made the right decision.

But a day like today makes it all better - to be able to hang out with him alone and uninterrupted in his stall on a rainy, nasty day, was just what I needed. He let me pull ticks off of him and I gave him some treats, we hugged on each other and bonded. Having a young horse is a lot of work but it really is worth it, especially when they have an attitude like Patrick - he is kind and wants to please. He is going to be an amazing horse one day and we are going to be an incredible team.