Ponies are TO Useful

For everyone who thinks horses are useless, I defy you with this story.

Yesterday the weather was... interesting. Gorgeous, but interesting. Sunday is my day to do stalls, so I went out to do them, marvelling in the WARM that came in over night. Eleven whole degrees. Celsius. That is ABOVE freezing! Snow was melting left right and centre! The laneway was almost ice free, and the sun was almost out. Whoo! While I was doing stalls though the wind picked up... to 100km... WHOO! So obviously... in my infinate wisdom, reveling in the warm, I decide to go out with my handy carrot chunks and spread the orange love.

The pasture was pretty much still an ice chunk unfortunately. But it was ok, because I could sort of jump poop pile to poop pile - gross, but effective! Pride was adorable and met me at the gate. She has decided I am her new best friend and now comes with me eveyrwhere. I think it is so cute. She gets this cute little whuffley breath when she gets happy and she always does it when I am coming now, and she looks at me all perky.

So I crossed the ice after seeing Pride, and she came to. Tucker came to say hi, so he got a little treat and then I got to Crystal and Tripp onmy way to get within yelling distance of Mo [windy...] Crystal was all OH BOY A PEOPLE! but Tripp is always more reserved, so I waited for him to come to me before giving him anything. This approach really seems to be working for ihim, Mr Skeptical, because on my way OUT of the feild later, he walked right up to me and Indy and basically said "cookie please?" which was cool. He is very polite about it, gently takes it and does the horsey equivilant of saying thank you. Cute.

Mo was out in the lower part of the pasture with Trixie and Clarisse, across a huge expanse of poop-free ice that I wasnt about to cross... so I do the clever thing adn start yelling her name at the top of my lungs [which sounds dismally silent in the wake of howling winds] and waving my arms hoping to catch her attention. As if I can possibly adore her even more, Mo looks up and comes over - as far as the fenceline, avoiding the gate where there is tons of ice. I get the "Whatcha got?" look so I give her a bunch of carrots and then go find Indy, since neither of us were crossing the ice right now.

Indy was part way out in the big pasture, so I went over to see her. She came over to me when she finally noticed me so that was nice. We played a little tag-for-cookies for a little while, and a little stick to me which was a FIRST and very fun! She LOVES food, and sort of needs to learn a little decorum when taking cookies from fingers... but I will work on that. I am still just happy with her wanting to be with me - food induced or not!

We wandered over to Mo who was watching us at the fenceline to share some more carrots with her and Candy who wandered over, that was fun. Indy got a little offended that the pony warranted carrots as much as she did so I had to be the leader enough to keep the peace. I actually got her to back up by the nose really lightly to - which is something she has always leaned on me for, so whoo!

Finally, my fingers were getting cold from all the hrosey slobbers so I decided it was time to go in, and Indy followed me like Old Faithful all the way to the ring gate where Tripp met us happily and got some more carrots. More leadership points for Indy because she doesnt like to share.

And then I had to cross the ice. The BIG ice. The ice I avoided by going all the way around the edge of the ring before. *sigh* I started doing the poop pile hop, but soon ran out. Horses arent stupid, they know not to hang out on ice! I was looking around thinking I would really like my Jax about now [he is a good balance board] when there is Mo! She is walking all happy in my direction, l;ooking proud that she navigated the ice to get to me [she is so cute] PERFECT! I spent a few mintues just loving on her and giving her carrots when she got to me and then grabbed mane and asked her forwards. AND WE WENT!

She was a perfect angel, walking us across the ice, straight to the gate. My very own guide-pony. GOtta love her!!! I was so thrilled! And, so was she because of the amount of carrot chunks she got!! Hopefully she will remember the tasty bits next time I need a hand across something.

So there you have it, my pony is not useless, she HELPS. A lot! :-)

:-)
S

Sunday, Sunday

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Not so much in the sense of weather - it was humid and threatening rain, although gracefully breezy - but in the sense of what events came to pass.

Saturday during the day my aunt had told me "If its not raining tomorrow, come over and make me ride!" So Sunday morning when I woke up and things were drying off from the night time downpour, I was quite enthused. I walked into their kitchen and proudly announced "Its muggy, its cloudy, its breezy, and we are going riding!" Turned out all four of us would be mounted this day!

When I went to fetch Indy the funniest thing happened. All of the horses except Mo were down by the lower fenceline, bordering Candy's paddock. Mo was off near the road on the barn side. I had to wade through ponies in order to achieve my goal [Indy] because I have been going out for undemanding time with treats in my pockets so now all of the horses are my best friends. I shared a few treats before starting to protect my herd of two and haltered Indy quietly and calmly.... until behind me I hear thunder. No, not thunder. Mo.

I turned around to see what was going on and I see Mo galloping hell bent in our direction looking right at me. She gallops by and I laugh at her and call her name so she trots over with this "You have the wrong horse haltered" look. It was priceless. She hasnt figured out she will be stuck with me for six weeks straight yet....

I gave her some crunches from my pocket while Indy stands back indifferent, and Mo just looks at me with bright eyes. Aww... I hugged her and loved on her a bit, but I really really wanted to take Indy out so I eventually [softly] asked Mo to move. You would think I shunned her for leprosy or something at the way she took off galloping away. My whole [considerable] walk back to the barn was followed by an entourage consisting of the entire herd, with one dorky Mo galloping circles around us with her tail and head up like an Arab, and then trotting for all her Hackney blood is worth. Jesus. What a goober. A gorgeous goober, but a goober none the less. It was hysterical.

My aunt and Chelsea were standing at the fence post when we got closer and asked me what was up with Mo. I had to answer jealousy, because that was completely what it looked like! It was like Mo had super sonic hearing/eyesight and as SOON as I tied that knot on Indys halter she thundered over.

Before I brought Indy into the barn I called Mo's name again and she came to get more hugs, so I am glad she wasnt offended enough to not want her hugs. After I brought Indy back I brought Mo some treats at the gate to, which she came over willingly for, so that was good. An offended Mo is never a good thing, it behooves one to stay in her good graces.

*Pan back to Indy* I spent some time gussying up Indy and saddled her in the stall mostly just because I was trapped and had to kill time. When I could get out, we did and went to play on the ground in the ring. We played with our figure eights with barrels, and I found out that blocking zone one with the carrot stick works better to slow her down than using the rope, so neato!

Indy offered me some really nice sideways steps as well as relatively fast backwards at phase one. She also offered some BEAUTIFUL vertical flexion out on the circle at a trot, stretching into the saddle and new shim positions again. So that was nice. I switched to my hackamore and felt spoiled because the mounting block was out. I sent Indy over to investigate it and she was so cute. She went over to it, sniffed it, and just stood there resting her nose on it until I came over.

When I climbed up onto the block she actually positioned herself for me to! How sweet! Once mounted we set off at a walk [very energetic] and worked on our follow the rail at a walk and trot, with lots of back up transitions - which are getting better! We didnt canter A) because it was to wet and B) because I have decided she needs more balance before we up our speed.

It was a really nice feeling though when she was responsive off of my leg. Both in speed and in turning. It wasnt long ago that I had neither. What a treat. Our general group plan had been a mini trail ride for our outing. So ring stuff was basically just a warm up. A good one though. I have to be more concious of transtions in the trot though. I get so caught up in her wonderful flowy giant stride that I forget to ask for transitions.

Chelsea opened the gate for us as we headed out down the trail. Chelsea and Tripp were in the lead, with Colleen and Candy second, then Indy and me and Aunty and Tucker. We trotted most of the trail, I had to make sure to give them a head start so Indy's super trot wouldnt just over take Candy's pony trot in two strides. It worked out well.

When we decided the galloping trail was to moist for action we walked up the laneway - some where Indy has never been ridden before. I trusted her with a casual rein, and my trust was returned tenfold - she was a STAR! Indy was perfect! Tripp spooked once right in front of us because Legend was rustling in the bushes and she responded perfectly when I did a one rein stop, stopping and relaxing completely. She had only tensed a little when Tripp jumped, but still, I was very proud!

We wandered up the laneway, wending our way slowly until we hit the road. At the road we decided to make a left and ride out the width of the pasture. A good first road ride for Indy - and Tucker for that matter. Indy looked a bit crosswise at the mailboxes, and one of those electric kid cars someone had in their laneway, but I never pushed her and just let her do her own thing. It was perfect. Indy was perfect. We rode the whole time on a completely casial rein, relaxed, happy and interested! I was SO PROUD!

When we got back to the barn and untacked we brought the horses to graze in the backyard. Chels actually got a leg up onto Tripp, so I got an idea and brought Indy over to get personal with Mr. Trampoline. That went super well and I was able to mount her from the crinkly trampoline! How cool! I was pretty proud of the to - especially since the siddling up/sidepass towards thing Mo does isnt something I have taught Indy yet. So YEY Indy!

When I finally let her go out the back gate, she stayed and waited for me to run and get her another handful of crunch. She even kept her happy look when I ran back directly towards her!

What a spectacular horse... she is so clever! I will have to make sure to play with Mo a few sessions in a row now though to aleviate any residual jealousy *giggles*

:-)
S