Can't help falling in love

Beautiful fall cobweb in the morning dew

Charlie's been doing really well and hasn't seemed sore at all lately. The weather has been absolutely perfect for riding too, so except for a couple of days where he had some random lymph node swelling under his jaw (vet thinks he ate something) we've been on a fairly regular schedule of 3-4 rides a week.

Strange swelling on both sides

Swollen lymph nodes = grooming day!

This week Charlie got a bit more of a break than I intended. Between farrier and vet appointments for him, several of my own appointments (a few of which were unplanned), and training clients' horses I somehow ran out of free time to ride my own :( I guess that's how it goes sometimes, but I apologize to anyone who was in close proximity to me this week because I wasn't exactly in the best mood as a result.

Looking spiffy

On Friday I swore I'd make sure to have time for Charlie but it was no different: riding the training horses ran long - you can't start a lesson with a young horse and not finish it - so I ended up with only about 10 minutes of free time before I had to leave the barn. And I was going away for the weekend. So I pulled Charlie out of his stall, threw on his halter, walked him over to the fence next to the barn and clambered aboard, deciding it was better to ride him bareback out to the paddock to turn him out than to not ride at all. It really wasn't much, but it was all I needed and I instantly felt better.

That was fun, mom

I started to realize something then: I'm finally starting to love Charlie. That might sound like a strange revelation, but although I certainly liked Charlie when I got him, I wasn't in love. Despite his handsomeness Charlie took his sweet time working his way into that deep part of my heart and we had a lot of iffy days. However, he really is a cool horse and continues to amaze me on a daily basis, especially in terms of the things he doesn't care a whit about: like carefully wading through all kinds of horse-eating construction junk in the barn aisle this week without batting an eye (we tore out all the floors and plumbing in the viewing room) or standing like a statue as I attempted one day to launch myself up onto his back in the paddock from a standstill (yeah, I'm waaay too short. It was a complete failure)...Little by little he's inched his way in.

I don't know if I'll ever feel with Charlie quite the same soulmate-type connection I felt from Day One with Gypsy (an amazing TB mare who I promise I will discuss on here at some point), but who knows. Charlie is certainly something special :)

Silly horse