The Weekend and A Lesson

Saturday was beautiful but a windy and a little chilly. I put the pony boy out on pasture for a bit then took him out for a hand walk. We played in the creek for a bit, then continued on Coming out of the woods into the back yard, pony bolted.  There may have been a tiny noise from my husband in the garage that spooked him, but it really shouldn't have.  Max was really good and not very forward at all during our walk, so it was completely unexpected. I caught him again and worked him in the paddock for a bit and he spooked at nothing yet again. Otherwise he was okay.

Later that evening, I was talking to my husband about Max and he offered to ride him.  Long story short, Max was very good for him. After a while, I was trying to get him to spook, but he never really did. I tried shaking branches, took a large cone and started throwing it behind him. put the cone on his butt and let it fall off (this got a small scoot), but nothing I did made him really want to spook. Hmmm....this is more confirmation that my anxiety is getting in the way.

See, I rode. Also, the grass has gotten so green :)

Sunday I got up on him with the western saddle and he was great.  We mostly trotted around the pasture. He was all looky towards the north east for some reason, but never offered to spook. I also tried out a new app for recording distance and speed. My part of Indiana is a joke in terms of elevation, so it's not really necessary. Pony boy is sloooowww.....

Looking at the individual segments, maybe our trotting wasn't too bad. Clicking should make it bigger, if you're interested.

Monday, I had my first lesson for the year.  We have a new therapy horse under trial who is still a bit nervous and getting buddy sour.  We worked on leg aids and keeping her on the rail. Every time we'd go past my instructor on her own horse, my horse would bend her neck away, but move her body towards instructors horse. We spent a lot of the lesson spinning.  It was good for my confidence though.

So far this week I haven't been able to ride due to rain. Driving into work on Wednesday was freaky. It was gray, but light, then BOOM. Engulfed in black. Can't see oncoming tornadoes in the dark.  I hate tornadoes. They cause me a lot of anxiety this time of year.

Saturday D and I are going to the Hoosier Horse Fair.  We want to talk to dealers about trailers. Exciting!

Peaceful Weekend

This past weekend was so peaceful and relaxing, particularly Saturday. It rained all day Friday, and I stopped by Rural King to pick up some chicks.   Cute chicks always improves my mood.  My husband also went out of town for the night, so I was alone.

Cuteness!

Saturday was absolutely beautiful!  I put Max out in the pasture and started putting insulators on all the posts for the new electric fence. During one of my breaks, I groomed the pony a bit to help get out that winter coat.

Shaggy pony doubles as a table.

 During another break, I set up some cones on the driveway and rode the pony bareback to work on leg yielding. And he started doing it!  I only rode for about 20 minutes, but by the end, I had a relatively lose rein and he was moving over.  Not well yet, but it's a start. As a side note, the cones I acquired are too tall.  I almost knocked them over with my foot several times as we passed by.  The ground is so wet that I didn't want to tear up the pasture or yard by riding on it, so we stuck to the compact driveway. Also, farrier still hasn't been out and Max was a bit trippy.  Trippy pony + very soft ground = potential for accident. I'm also pleased because Max seemed very relaxed for the most part.  There was very little lip flapping and he stood still for a fair amount of time when I asked.

See! I did ride! Notice Cinderella to the left not grazing down the grass in the garden

After our short ride, I put him up and went in for some lunch. When I came back out, he and Cinderella were napping and I finished the insulator installation.  I'm hoping to finish up the electric fence this week and start in on the barbed wire removal.

Sorry! Didn't mean to wake you.