Lay-Yers....

Onions have them.
Ogres have them (evidently).

And my horses have them. And I mean this in the most literal sense of the word. With single digit temperatures in the immediate forecast, I dug out all of my winter goodies and prepared the ponies. Well,in as much as I put layer after layer of blanket on them....

 All three ponies got liners (though RC's is by far the heaviest, the ponies only have fleece liners on) under their waterproof blankets. RC's liner was upped from the fleece layer to the uber-heavy-duty version to compensate for his complete and utter lack of a coat. Unfortunately, he's too big for the heavyweight blanket I ordered him last year (78", what was I thinking?!?!), so he has to wear his midweight Weatherbeta over his liner. At least he's warm and dry, right?

 The mares, on the other hand, have matching heavyweight blankets over their fleece liners. Mom bought Tilly an uber-heavy-weight liner too, but I'm going to see how she does tomorrow in just two layers. Delight can shiver off a little weight...

Which two are mine?

Moving on to the training side of things.... Guess who's in the double?

That's right! RC has had two rides in the double bridle this week... and never batted an eye at the additional hardware in his mouth. As a matter of fact, he was actually looser through the neck and back all ride than he is when in a snaffle... And no, I am most certainly not cranking him in and rollkuring around the arena with the added leverage the curb gives me...

Yeah, he looks psyched.

Not that the curb is a big huge thing... it is the smallest shank available out there. This was, after all, London's old double, and he couldn't stand any added pressure from the curb. RC, on the other hand, seems to like the added weight that the curb gives the bridle.

Handsome boy, amiright?

Delight has also had a few really good days back to back. I have started my rides with lunging, so that she can get loose and relaxed and warmed up without me on her back... And it really seems to help her focus. Of course, I am not just letting her play around like a marlin at the end of the line; she has to do walk-trot and trot-canter transitions until she relaxes along her topline. Then we work. 

Today we had some wonderful sitting trot and some real half-passes at the trot! Like a real third level horse!Woohoo! Finally we're making some progress... It felt like we were kind of stalled out there for a while... Of course, she still resists the bend at first and doesn't want to be totally straight through her transitions, but it's progress!

And we haven't gotten into a fight in a week! Yay for progress, right?

Of course, I still have the poodles. Tempi is not really a fan of this time of the year, when the snow gets taller than she is... but she's willing to forgive the weather for a few minutes of fetch every day... Bacon is still just happy to be here. With me. As a matter of fact, he's asleep under my chair at this very moment.

Tempi found the ball....

Even black and white photographs can't make Bacon elegant