Ride 91 + Barn Improvements

 We worked all day on solving drainage issues to the barn, scooping all the hay and poop out of it with the tractor and then hauling gravel into it!!  I'm so excited!  No more wet, muddy barn!!!  I'll be able to keep it mucked out every day now too because with the gravel in there I can actually pick up the poop and hay.  :D  Chrome approves!!  Now maybe his hooves will dry out and not be tender anymore.

 Midway through putting gravel in, he has to be in the middle of everything!

 Yay gravel!  

The hay bale was already in the barn so once they finish eating it we will have to finish cleaning and spread the rest of the gravel before putting a new bale in, but hey it's a start!

Chrome loves it!

I'm improving my redneck barn bit by bit.  This used to be a chicken house that we tore a wall out of so the horses could have a barn... see the nest boxes behind Chrome?  It works, but I can't wait to build a real barn with stalls.  :)

When it got too dark to drive the tractor I rode Chrome.  I put the saddle and halter on him.  Here are the ride stats.

The reason it was only 1.39 miles with an average speed of 1.28mph is because most of the time was spent standing at the neighbor's talking to her LOL!!!  Yeah we got to jabbering on and on.  Chrome was a turd about not wanting to stand still because of the horses in the pasture right next to him, but I just did lateral flexes to keep him still (he even tried pawing at one point grr).  She fed him treats when he was good lol.  When I got cold I decided to ride back to the house (I was in a tank top because it was warm all day) and she followed me in her truck because the traffic was crazy busy and everyone was driving a million miles an hour.  I trotted all the way home (.25 mile) with her following.  Halfway there the crazy chestnut gelding went nuts in the pasture next to us, galloping and being a dork.  Chrome got a little up (when he wasn't trying to slam on the brakes) but he listened and trotted home.  

Then as soon as I walked into my driveway Chrome saw a wagon parked next to it that wasn't there when we left and he did a perfect roll back to face the opposite direction and started to take off, but hubby was standing in his way so he stopped and stood still.  He literally turned on a dime.  That was the hardest, fastest spin spook he's done with me and it about unseated me, but thank goodness for the poly (the tall part in front of my thigh) on the Aussie saddle I stayed on!!  The saddle shifted too because I forgot to tighten it the rest of the way.  If it had been a normal saddle and shifted that much I would have come off.  

I fixed the saddle and then spent a while trotting all around the yard.  We cantered at one point too and it was awesome.  I think he's finally decided to quit doing the crow hopping.... or maybe it's because he was in the halter?  I'll have to go back and look because I think he's only done it in the bridle!!  Interesting.... why didn't I realize that sooner?  He did drop into a trot at the car like he wanted to stop, but I asked him to canter and he picked up the other lead and kept going.

When he got warm and tired I slowed to a walk and cooled him out.  Then I untacked and put him up.  On the way back through the gate I twisted my ankle... :\  It's feeling better already though so I don't think it will be too bad.  

 We seem to be riding in the dark a lot lately...

So I think that's everything.  It was a fun ride and I'm super excited about all the work we did on the barn.  We're about to have a week of rain so we will definitely get to see if it works with the drainage rerouting we did.  :)  Keep your fingers crossed please!