I rode! Both ponies! Saturday was gorgeous and as soon as the kid went down for his morning nap, I chucked the monitor at my husband and told him I was going riding.
First up was the mare. It was windy, so we started in the paddock just walking. Then some short trotting. She was doing well, so we moved to my sectioned off portion of the pasture near the paddock. We did some more walking, tripped in some high grass, but kept going. I had her doing reasonable straight lines and got some times in for 2pointober. My max time was 16 seconds, which is big improvement over my initial time of 5 seconds. I attribute it to our ability to walk mostly straight. I should note that I'm still doing all this bareback.
 |
| On high alert in the pasture. Don't know why. |
Then I got real brave. I hopped off to move the "gate" (a step in post), hopped back on and we wandered into the pasture. She was very looky and alert, so we just did wide slow circles, serpentines and wobbly lines near the pasture. Then slowly worked our way out. We rode around half the pasture, but stayed away from the road. Something kept getting her attention in one corner we couldn't see. Since I was bareback and didn't want her to learn Max's spin and bolt tricks, I didn't take her that far. At one point we were able to see Max locked in the barn and they hollered at each other, but Maggie really didn't try to get back to the barn like I expected her to. Good mare.
I finally got off and left her in the pasture. Last time I put her in the barn and rode Max, she tried to break the door down. This time she just ate grass where she could see Max and me. I just rode Max in the paddock for a bit. We did walking, trotting and stopping. Nothing exciting to report other than he was very good. I hopped off and thought I was done until I spying the extra crib mattress in the barn. I had gotten this thing used when I bought a crib at a garage sale. I refuse to buy anything like that used that can't go in the washer, so it sat in our garage for a while. I've been wanting to use it for desensitization/obstacles, but haven't gotten around to it, until Saturday. I think the pictures tell the whole story.
 |
| The hard part is making him stand. He wants to keep following me. |
 |
| On the teeter-totter bridge. |
 |
| No halter, never been exposed to the thing before today...why the hell
not? Shortly after this the mattress fell off. He just wanted his
cookie. |
This morning, we had a bit of a shock. It's dark outside when I leave for work. I get up, let the dogs out, and go back inside. All is quiet. Go back outside to put things in my car for the day, still quiet. Finally, head out the door with the kid to leave, while my husband goes down to feed and what do we hear? Thundering hooves coming right for me from the opposite direction of the barn. Those shits had broken down the fence and were gorging themselves on grass. We couldn't see them until they were nearer the barn, so I don't know how far they had wandered. I hope they stuck to our yard and didn't venture into the neighbors garden or worse, the road. I know it was the mare. Max is too lazy to try to break anything down. Thankfully Cinderella stayed in the paddock and there weren't any noticeable injuries, though I will have to have a closer look after work. I'm just thankful they didn't get hit and are so greedy for food.
