Just Needed to Squee.,.

So today I woke up feeling a little yucky. It was grey out, I was warm and cozy in bed, and more than happy to stay there, but the call of work pulled me out of my warm cove. Usually, I am pretty happy to go to work. I like my job, I get to be outside, I get to be physical and I get to hang out with horses all day. That is pretty cool for me. Just a blah day today, they happen.

I guess I did something right because Karma decided to smile on me because when I got to work I found out one of the riders was off today and instead of just doing sets of two, one of us [barn staff] would be filling in! It was between me and M, but M had only running shoes, so by default I won the vote and GOT TO BE A RIDER FOR A DAY! And not just ride one, on the last set because there wasnt enough time, no, RIDE FIVE horses all morning... FOR MY JOB! HA! How cool is that?!

It was a jog day, but it was still on the track, so that was cool, and in a racing saddle, which is fun. Just in case they ever get famous, I want to be able to say I rode them - I rode Tahiti Pearl, Moon Stalker, Grey Boundary, Wedding Scripture and Like the Look. Moon Stalker, by the way, is the biggest horse I ever rode... he is about 17.2 and he is a two year old! He moves just like a normal horse though, I was surprised at that. I figured he would have a big nice floaty stride, but nope. Flat, boring, had to work to post. Boundary, Pearl and Headlight [Like the Look] were the nicest. Pearl just floats in her extended trot, Boundary is sooooo smooth and flowy and Headlight is just beyond power and comfort!

It was really fun seeing how their ground personalities matched up with their track personalities. Wedding Scripture is EXACTLY the same. She is a total LBI and it was ridiculous trying to get her to just maintain a TROT. And she's a racehorse... figure that one out!  Pearl was a surprise. She always drags her feet when going to or from the paddocks, she is super calm and slow for everything and then she was all floaty wonderful forward and delightful undersaddle. Not runaway, but forwards. Stalker was the same, just medium. He is kind of a giant lummox. He is adorable, and huge [on my tip toes I can barely reach the top of his bum] and not really sure what to do with himself, and that tranferred I think. He goes, but he is very "okey dokey" about it. Boundary was a treat to ride. He is GORGEOUS [ beautiful dapple grey] and I have admired him since the beginning. He is a treat to ride to, apparently! Forward, but not unstoppable and sooooo comfortable. He is one of those horses you stop and stare at when he plays in the paddocks.

Headlight was herself I think. She always wants to go somewhere, do something, has a schedule. She was that way undersaddle to. Strong, ready to go, powering off and I had better come to or have a darn good reason why she was staying slow. Funny horse.

I think I smiled and laughed a lot this morning because lets face it, how often do I get on a racehorse and go ride on a track?! I think thats pretty cool!!!  So thats my story, I just needed to squee.... I have the coolest job ever. Today, clean stalls, tomorrow, ride a racehorse... who knows what the future holds?? I am just glad I keep my helmet and half chaps in the car!!!

:-)
S

Guess What!

Soooooo,..... Today! I rode a racehorse! I thought that was pretty cool! We only trotted, but it was full out in a racing saddle and everything! I found that pretty exciting anyways. One of the regular riders had a doctors appointment for the last set today, so I got to fill in.

In other news, have you hugged your horse today?
I have! I was away all weekend since Friday and missed my ponies terribly [and yes, I called to check up on them on Saturday night.. because I may just be that lame] Hugging them is just the best cure for missing my furry amis. When I got to Aunty's everyone was in the farthest far corner away from the barn and I was so pooped from the weekend and from work that I couldnt garner the energy to go *all* the way out there. Lazy right? Well.. its a big field, and I worked hard today. After hanging out with my cousins and aunty for a while I looked out the window to be delighted by the sight of my loverly ponies.

I promptly ran out to the barn calling out to all ponies belonging to me and lo and behold Mo was happily marching to the gate to say hi and Indy was hot on her heels. I had just enough time to give Mo some tasty treats before Indy came up behind her with nasty looks. Indy got her yummy things as well, plus her hugs. Then I ran out to give Mo hugs to.

Lots of hugs later, I do the typical me thing. I brought Mo into the barn to love on her some more and see if  I could come up with a way to turn her wonderful bowing into lying down. All at liberty :-)

I havent quite figured out the laying down part yet, but our bowing progressed to being easily accomplished on both sides by just tapping her leg a little bit so that was awesome! During that session I was really thinking about Linda's article about motivating a left brain introvert with food, because Mo was REALLY motivated! She kept offering me things in order to win a treat instead of just mobbing me for food, so that was interesting!

After playing with that for a while I grabbed the bridle and played with getting her to put her own head in the bridle by motivating with more cookies around the bit. That was fairly successful! One of the most simple, but amazing things I saw during my course time in Florida was Avery bridling Akiss, she held out the bridle in front of him and her just basically put his own bridle on. He went and got the bit, put it in his mouth and put his head in the proper position to have the headstall slipped over his ears. Simple, but fabulous. I would like to work towards that!

When everything was all set I hopped up bareback and Mo and I set off for a little trail ride. We played with some contact things, sideways and transitions within the trot on the trails. I got SO close to passage!!! Mo gave me this fabulous floating slow collected trot. It felt so amazing! I think we have been spending to much time in the ring and need to get out more! Oops, my bad! Of course, its pouring rain now and I have no clue if the trails will be useable any more! Mo and I had a lovely dash through the rain back to the barn.

Overall, great day I would say!

:-)
S