Ahhh! But it Turned Out Alright!

Today is my day to do stalls, and as always, it takes me extra long because I cant help but talk to my girls and scratch and provide cookies as I go. Mo has been super enthusiastic lately, she watches my truck drive in and power walks over to the fence [because she is close already] It is really sweet!

When I finally finished up what I was supposed to do, I rescued my saddle and extras from Reggie [truck] and brought them over to the barn and wrangled me up some ponies... both came in willingly and happily. I stuffed some food in front of Indy and borrowed Mo to get in some clipping prep play that I meant to do last week! She was pretty skeptical in the beginning, but it was no time before she was pushing the massager around with her nose and being all curious. She let me rub her withers and shoulder, but was pretty introverted about it, so after she relaxed and licked I stopped and we went back into the barn to saddle up. Also because Indy was causing a bit of a ruckus, and I really didnt want her to attempt her infamous jump-out-of-the-stall routine.

I tried our two-thick-shim idea with the saddle, and it was perfect. But I am getting ahead of myself. As I was playing with Mo I was trying to figure out if I could be brave enough to suck up the cold long enough to play with both of my girlies today. Being the not very winter inclined person that I am, I decided that probably wouldnt happen, so I came up with a super fun alternative. Given our little stand together and not eat each other session the other day, I thought we could try ponying! Ride Mo and pony Indy so she can get out and get confident to, without having to go alone!

My plan was going perfectly, I had Mo saddled, Indy waiting patiently a little ways away and I mounted... and then I realized I forgot my carrot stick, which I thought might be pretty crucial to keeping dearling Indy out of Mo's personal space. So I jumped down, "ground tied" Mo .. which she is usually a super star at, led Indy with me back into the barn to grab and came back to find Mo wandering away. *sigh*

I quickly put Indy away in the barn and went after my escapee. She had just a halter with finesse reins clipped on, and she had cleverly slipped them all the way over to one side, so as she was curious-ing her way away from me, with her big nose on the ground, she was stepping on the rein, at which times she would stop, back her foot off [look irritated] and keep walking... and walking... and walking!! ACK!

Annnd then she started trotting. Poop. Off down the laneway goes my pony. Time for reinforcements. I grabbed dearheart the second, apologized for the lack in prep and jumped on in hot pursuit of my escapist. We trotted off down the slippery lane, happy to find Mo had stopped not to far down the corner. We slowed down and I tried the catching game with her via Indy, stopping every time she looked and backing up and such, but Mo just snickered and took off again. Still stopping every now and again to address stepping on her reins... By this point Im just shaking my head, and starting to freak out a little inside that she will get hit by a car on the road.

We get out to the road after a merry chase down the laneway [Mo took off in a happy go lucky canter] were she stopped, looked around and went "OH BOY! The neighbours yard has no hoofprints!" *facepalm* So Mo walks over down the neighbours lane [across the street] Every time we got close enough, Mo would go just out of reach so I couldnt grab the reins or her halter, or basically anything I could use to get her attention. Smarty pants.

I almost had her on the laneway, because I could use the garage as a barrier so she could only go in a certain direction, but somehow she got around and plundered her way through the snow around the side of the house [sorry people who live there] and off to the other neighbours... [sorry other people who live there] and then she tramped through the ditch and back onto the road. She was heading back to the laneway, thankfully, but I was worried she might try to dart past it to... and that was when the car turned the corner, just as we were passing the lane, and she WAS trying to squirt past. Indy played cutting pony rather well in that moment and pushed Mo onto the laneway.

Off she went. Galloping down the laneway. *sigh* Galloping on the ice. Indy wanted to take off in hot pursuit, but I was only really open to letting her klutzy highness canter. We caught up with Mo at the corner, where she had stopped to try and dig out some grass and were able to herd her from there into the barn - I had given up trying to catch her at this point, just glad to be back on our own property! Once I got her in the barn poor Mo knew she was in trouble!

She backed her butt all the way to the end of the barn and looked at me with her " Im super cute and you arent mad... yes?" face. Ill be honest and say I was a little mad, but with that face, its hard to stay that way. Mostly I was just incredibly relieved that she wasnt dead on a road smacked by a car somewhere. We are only on concession away from a pretty major road around here, high speeds and lots of volume. Not good!

With Mo finally caught, we returned to our orignal programming, complete with stick on the first shot this time.  And so our actual real planned adventure began. Indy was a little bit more focused on eating Mo in the begining, but I was able to step up and keep her focused on what I was askng her instead, and she gave up that idea pretty quick and just followed along like the super rock star she is!

We walked and trotted once we got to the road, and they were both excellent. Indy was very respectful, and Mo was very good at paying attention to me and not the stick I was waving around to help Indy figure out where to be. YEY friendly game! We went up the road further than I have with either of them alone, so it really seemed to boost both of their confidences that they had moral support of another pony, not just me. I thought that was pretty interesting.

I think I will do this more often, and when Indy gets better and more reliable at her laterals I can pony Mo from her. I found out while trying to get to Mo that while yes, when focused and prepared she is pretty on the ball with little lateral things, she was not so on the ball when not so prepared.  So when I know I can ask her anytime anywhere to do anything...then I know she will be ready to be the leader and not the follower.

 - funny side note - watching Shanghai Noon on tv, and Mo is definately like the indian pony that Jackie Chan gets... the follow you into the bar type of horse, makes me giggle -

Such were my adventures today.. its was almost warm, butnotreally, and it was sunny. That was good. I was starting to forget what that yellow orb in the sky was! All we have seen lately are low and heavy grey clouds!

:-)
S