There is horsey home schooling. This is ongoing. And there is maintenance. There is the general stuff that has to be done, i.e., feeding, cleaning, watering. Doing all this is just a given. But at the same time there are these odds and ends things that have to be taken care of.

Today’s list was short but took a while to carry out. I am having saddle fit issues and we do not know why. I keep listing to the left when riding. We are getting a new Equimeasure pad and seeing if the shape of Raudi’s back is changing. We had the old pad out today and put it on her, but could not see a discernable difference.

We also took the first string, Raudi and Hrimmi, for a walk around the loop because they are supposed to have rest days after working hard. Neither are showing any signs of lameness, and Raudi in particular was very up. And even though Hrimmi’s swelling is going down, we still iced both legs after the walk.

We took a close look at Tinni’s hooves – they are looking good. We need to get some Horse Armor, a product that coats the soles and keeps them from wearing down.

It wasn’t in the maintenance category, but we also took Tyra and Tinni for a ride. We were headed in the direction of Grizzly Camp but did not go all the way there because it was raining. Tyra was full of herself. She’s fearless – she just blasts through muddy areas. This is so unlike the others who will spend considerable time thinking about the pros and cons of continuing on what they figure might be a death march.

I also set up the August agility course. It appeared on paper to be daunting, but I had Hrimmi do it after I finished putting it together. I used the target and lead her though. There is just one thing she’s going to have a problem with, which is touching a cone for ten seconds. She would much rather pick up the cone and toss it, so I am going to use a bucket and a supplement lid.

But in using the target, I had this amazing revelation. This is that I am going to suggest to those who want agility training that their horse first be target trained.

I will then show them how I do this, using my horses. And the same holds true for the agility work itself. This way, I will say, I am rewarding movement, which ultimately is intrinsic.

As with all maintenance, there are long term benefits, be they health or training related.

A few days ago it occurred to me that you can’t tell an Icelandic horse no. Rather, you must present an alternative. For instance, I cannot tell Hrimmi to not throw the cone around. However, I can present an alternative; say a bucket lid on a bucket. There we have it, another maintenance task – find bucket, find lid, and put both in the right place.

Next: 214. 8/2/18: Maintenance Mode