As much as I loathe the summer heat that seems to be settling in Missouri, it is at least coming at a good time. After being fairly busy with clinics and the show I wanted to give Mort a couple weeks to a month of easier work. I want him to stay fit and not become totally stagnant in our training but he deserves a bit of a break. He's been working really hard for me lately both mentally and physically and I don't want to over work him ever, but especially in this darn heat. Midwest summers always kill me.
Yesterday we started off the easy life with a 20-minute lunge outside on a very slight hill. It got him moving and we did a few transitions each direction but he wasn't even breathing hard or sweating much (which I found rather concerning actually and will be monitoring closely) at the end of it. He got a cool hose-down and parked back in front of his fan. I doctored all of his skin issues and geared him up for battle against the bugs and took him outside to graze.
Since the move to grass pastures he's been really struggling with bugs/skin issues more. He loves the grass and I don't think his hind-end muscles have ever looked better with the extra walking and calories, but other parts of him are itchy and gross. His fly mask is starting to rub so I ordered him a new one to rotate into work. He comes in sweaty from his fly sheet. He's got a ton of tick bites in his forelock, mane, and tail. Thankfully his battle with scratches seems to be about over. I always just feel so bad for the horses this time of year. I know how miserable that I am covered in bug bites and heat rash and I get to go into air conditioning sometimes while his only respite is his daily cold hose. I'm hoping less work will help with some of the heat and itching issues for a while. I'm doing all that I can for the bugs but fall cannot come soon enough.
Anyway, he's gonna get an easy month. I'll do some more lunging like yesterday. We'll do a lot of walk work--both meandering and working on lateral movements. I'm hoping that we can play a bit more with straightness out of the arena since that's a real area where we struggle. But essentially I don't have much planned. I do miss the trails at the old place a lot right now for their shade and relaxing fitness. Hopefully I can convince another boarder to travel someplace for some trail riding in the next month or so if the heat breaks ever. Other than that Mort and I will just be busy trying to stay cool.
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