To All my Friends at Galloping Out!
I apologize – I just realized that it has been a while since I updated you on how well I have been doing! I have just been so busy this spring/summer (more in a bit of what I have been doing), I haven’t had time to write. I don’t know where the time has gone! I absolutely love my life and having my own girl Julie to love and care for me.
I have now officially been off the track for 2 years now, and I have been with Julie now for 1.5 years. Everyone says that it takes time for a racehorse like me to settle in and become a sport pony (dressage and combined training) and develop a bond with my girl. I thought I had adjusted really well, but since this spring I have really taken off! All the little pieces that we had been working on over the first year really came together. I’m developing the new muscles that I need; I’m learning how to use my back and hind end (I don’t have to race forward – I can go slower!); I’m making new friends; and I am much more relaxed, not that I was ever really tense.
Everyone can’t believe how much I have changed – I’m getting stronger and bigger every day.
Here I am from last week sporting my new Flynn-sized Sport Boots. They protect my legs, but they don’t make them hot at the same time! I look quite a bit different from when I first came home Oct. 14, 2014!
My personality is coming out in full force. I think these photos speak for themselves. My Big Brother Forrest just shakes his head at me sometimes. Julie wanted a family photo of us all together. I think she captured us quite well!
I spend my days eating tasty clover and taking romps around my huge pasture.
The other night Julie and I watched the storm roll in:
I love playing Stallion. This is Quinn and I playing Stallion after Dinner. Unfortunately there are gates between the stalls. I just don’t understand why!
I am still just as nosy as ever! I have to know what is going on at all time! My stall is the perfect place to watch what is going on.
After I go for a ride with Julie, I get a long cold bath, which feels so good!
But the best part of baths is rolling in the dirt afterwards!!!! There is nothing like a good roll, and then leaping up into the air bucking afterwards. I highly recommend it!
And then once I get good and dirty, I get groomed again! Julie found the neatest brush at Pets Mart (I guess it is a dog brush), but I just love how soft it is. Of course my nose always needs a good brushing like the rest of me! Oh it feels so good!
As for riding, I am learning on carrying myself and using my hind end. It is a lot of work. But I get to do fun exercises like weave through cones and go through trot polls to make things much more interesting and entertaining. I don’t even realize that I am learning things like move from inside leg to outside rein! I am currently working on step three of this thing called the training pyramid in which I am working on stretching down into contact without losing my Rhythm and Relaxation.
Well that’s a little bit of what I have been up to this past spring! I’m looking forward to the rest of the summer. I’m going to go take a nap now. I will be in touch soon.
Love,
Flynn (Somewhere in Time) & Julie