Mr. Kid, 31 years-young, enjoying the sunny Sunday in the arena with his pal Bruno.

After getting Ally and family back home to her husband and in-laws, Rick and Dodie, who have graciously agreed to take over the “be Ally-mother to two children” role while she continues to nurse her broken and sprained arms, we visited my mom and then headed home to clean up the chaos created from a crawling baby and a five year-old.

Bruno will return for what we hope is his last visit to Texas A&M on Tuesday.  We thought we would get him out to the arena and start treating him like a working man again.  As I led him into the arena, his faithful friend, Kid, came along as well.  Completing my entourage were Kona and Lula.  At first Bruno was looking around and being a little crazy but he quickly settled into the arena.

So, I had to carry part of my entourage-Lula was just too hot!

We got some lungeing in but boy, Bruno is not in shape (why would he be?) and we only worked a short time in each direction.  If we get the okay to start riding, we will need a long-term conditioning plan. For today, it was enough to see him walk, trot and canter on demand.  I did see what I thought was an occasional spot of lameness on his bad foot.  It was disappointing.  I am hoping that it is because his feet are really long and his current surgical shoe is not a “working” shoe.   I am still hoping for a happy ending.  It may just take a little more time than we thought.

Bruno getting moving!

When it was all over, Bruno enjoyed a cold hose down and unlike all my other horses, loved the water on his face even grabbing the hose with his mouth to drink the cold water.

That’s a long drink of water!