Photos!

It's about time I introduced you to the barn. Meet the Connected part of Ryan Ranch.

This is the barn:

Here's the view over to the other barn, which also houses the small indoor arena, and the feed area.

This is the current field for this group of horses. We are going to spray minerals this weekend and this field will be rested.

L-R, the grey is Chico, who belongs to Lana, who I am staying with. The dark bay mare is Fonteyn, Peggy's horse. The not-quite-black gelding is Bracken, who belongs to Karen, a CR instructor (and Feldy person!!! yay!!)

Here's Sully in his small section of paddock (just to the left of where I stood to take the photo directly above).
He is Peggy's newest horse. He only arrived last week and is still being integrated into their "herd" (3 existing horses).

All the horses will be moved into the large paddock at the end of this week. This particular place is one of a very few where the horses can be turnout. It is more common for horses to be stalled full time, or have say an hour or two in a larger area (not necessarily a paddock, as we know it) for "turnout". Peggy's horses get approximately 8 hours out during the day.

Here's a better photo of Sully... Quite a handsome boy.

On to today's activities... Peggy collected me early so we could be there in time for the farrier to re-shoe Sully. Unfortunately a scheduling mix-up meant he didn't have time (he thought he was merely tightening one shoe that was loose). Peggy left me to work Sully and Fonteyn. After that, I mixed Sully's feeds for the coming week and biked home (about 20 minutes, mostly downhill except two steep sections that I had to walk).
This afternoon, I got to do a Feldenkrais "Awareness Through Movement" session with Karen. She hosts it most weeks at the house next door to Lana's place. It was a lot different from an ATM with Anna, that's for sure! But I got up feeling like I had froggy legs, so all is good ;)

My focus for the day (and, going forward) was the process of finding rhythm with the horses.
With Sully, I did a lot of quiet, gentle groundwork at a standstill, including lots of work on his shoulders to help him loosen his neck. He needs to learn the voice commands to help him steady within a gait (he tends to rush and get mincey). Lots and lots and lots of out/in transitions to get his hocks under him. I felt the shoulder, elbow and neck groundwork really helped him to release when we started moving.

With Fonteyn, I repeated some of the same groundwork exercises, with extra attention on her left shoulder (she drops in severely if she is not moving through from behind; it is worse travelling to the left). I played around with some pseudo-Ttouches all around her shoulder.