Quickie

This is a delayed post. I thought it had posted last week, but I guess not.  

I rode Max the other day in the paddock since my husband was home early from work. It was hot, sunny, humid and very buggy, so we kept it short. We went over the bridge several times in different directions. I wasn't brave enough to try it on the teeter totter yet, but I will soon. We worked on leg yielding, which he did somewhat well. To the right is more sticky than to the left. For some reason, he did it well the first step. Then when I asked later, he just couldn't get it.

"Sigh....I want to go that way, not be ridden"

Pony is also very out of shape. We did a slow, slow trot each direction a couple of times and he grunted for most of it. I love his slow trot. It's so easy to sit bareback.  It's not at all correct or pretty, but it feels smooth to me. Next year I need to get him into more of a collected working trot since we've gotten into the slow trot habit. Ooops.

I kept trying to get a photo of his cute face before I bridled, but Max insisted on sniffing my belly.  It was amusing.

Linky Love

How Old is My Horse in "Human Years"? - Originally posted by Dressage Hafl.: Max is well into middle age, but not quite elderly.

King Mufasa's win stirs emotions at Illinois State Fair harness racing -  No matter your stance on racing, this is a pretty amazing story.

An Open Letter To Horse People via Poor Woman Showing -AMEN!  This is why I chose the barn I did when I first got Max and had to board. Actually, before that, when I started lessons. I wanted a no-nonsense barn with minimum of this gossipy BS.  It still goes on, but has a much more relaxed atmosphere than some show barns around here.

My Cubicle - via A Collection of Madcap Escapades - I just think this whole thing is pure awesome!  From outfitting a big camper to the whole idea of the bringing a reduced spay/neuter to low income areas.

Horse Forums...An Inevitable Train Wreck - via The Idea of Order - A web comic that perfectly explains why I tend not to participate in forums aside from reading. 

I did....something....

It's getting hot and humid and is expected to remain this way until mid September. We are supposed to go camping and riding (not taking Max) down in Brown County this weekend, and I'll admit, I'm a little apprehensive about the heat, bugs, and just my general state right now. The husband and I are only staying over one night, thankfully, so that will ease some of the potential pain.  You see, it seems like something bad happens, mostly to me, every time we go down to this park.  One year it was a crazy storm that hit while we were driving up the hills to go into town. There were huge tree branches falling everywhere to the point we had to stop and couldn't get around them in either direction.  Then last year was the horse flies. One attacked a horse I was holding and he spooked onto my foot, which remained extremely painful for the rest of the trip and several days after. Oh, and being attacked by bees while riding. I forget what happened in previous years. Maybe that's a good thing.

Anyways, I did what I said and worked with Max a bit before putting him out to graze.  I pulled that bridge I built in the spring into his paddock. He really had no problems with it. Then I put a pole under it to make it into a teeter totter. After trying to go around once, because I was walking next to, not on it, he got the idea and calmly walked over.  No spooking. Good boy!  We only worked on this for about 10 minutes because I had enough of the sun and heat.

On the teeter-totter. "Can we go out now?"

Tuesday, I did some more. I got him to stand on the fulcrum and was able to get him to shift his weight enough that he could tip it forwards or backwards without moving a foot. Next up will be riding him over the bridge.

We also worked a bit on personal space.  Apparently this is now a huge issue. He was very pushy and letting me know he wanted to go out to the pasture. I think as long as he gets what he wants, he's willing to behave, but when I ask for something different, he gets pushy. I'm going to try to continue working on things every day for a few minutes. Especially the pushy.

Switching things up

I had intended on riding, or at least doing something with the pony on Saturday.  He got to go out to the pasture in the late morning instead of the late afternoon.  It was supposed to rain that evening and we had plans anyways.  So, when he came back in, I was busy scrubbing buckets and other stuff. By the time I finished I was tired and a little sore, and the pony was standing in his stall doorway mostly asleep. I forget that the early afternoon is his nap time. Because grazing for four hours is such hard work. I nixed that idea in favor of my own nap in the cool house.

Old photo. I interrupted naptime.

Now it's getting hot again.  Pregnancy + heat makes for a cranky me, but I am determined.  Today, I plan on working him in-hand in the paddock for a little bit before turning him out to the pasture. I suspect he will not be happy about this as it will disrupt his routine, especially since this routine involves food.  But I also feel like mixing things up would be good for him. I won't be riding since D won't be home until later in the evening. Maybe once he comes home and Max has had his grain, I will pop up. 

Crazy Life

I feel like things are just crazy right now.  I looked ahead on my calendar and there's something going on every weekend through the beginning of October. And I imagine more will be scheduled. This is hard for someone with hermit like tendencies.

We are also trying to redo the main bathroom, having a new fridge delivered, clean, prep for winter, etc etc etc. We are also trying to set up the baby's room, which meant some crazy rearranging of things in the office to try and fit the treadmill. 

Also, our dog is currently missing.  Husband let him out of the invisible fence last night and went back into the woods to weed wack. Poof...dog gone and hasn't come back yet.

There's a crazy highway detour that is going right past our road. Traffic was backed up for miles due to a wreck on the detour and I couldn't get to work. Then I almost got t-boned on campus because of some idiot who tried to run the a very red light and ended up stopping half in my lane. 

Between everything and the hormones, I almost broke down leaving home this morning when Max called out a couple of times to go out to pasture.

I love coming home to this.....

And this....

But it's really hard to leave....

Why Haven't I Been Riding?

Why haven't I been riding?

Because I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

It seems that everyone is pregnant right now. I even have a new nephew as of two days ago.

Anyways, I've been struggling.  I pretty much gave up (temporarily) of riding back in May.  I was trying out a new-to-me saddle (see my post about it here), walked around for a few minutes, got really nauseous and had to get off.  Every time I would even think about riding, or even that saddle, the nausea would kick in hard.  Then that went away and the extreme exhaustion set in.  I would come home from work, sleep for 3 hours, feed the animals, myself, then pass out for the night. That's still going on, but not as much, thankfully.

Now I'm trying to work my mind back into the idea of riding while I still can.  The bugs are bad,terrible, horrendous, the sun irritates me to no end and the pony is just so happy to see me when I get home. It's a little hard to get motivated to do much.

I need this sign for our property. I was inhaling them the other day when trying to collect some water samples from our creek.

I'm also trying to not feel guilty for letting the pony be.  He should be ridden, and definitely could use some respect refreshers, but for now he behaves in a way that is acceptable (and safe) to me. 

The Jumper

So, what does Max do when he misses out on pasture time due to storms, and it's time for grain?  He decides to jump the mud puddle.

The mud puddle that is in the doorway to his stall.

Multiple times.

Seriously. I watched this pony jump that thing several times. Mostly going out of his stall while I was getting his grain. But he also jump into his stall a couple of times. They were nice little jumps (not hops) and he managed to stop before hitting the door on the opposite side.

Old photo.

He also threw in some little bucks while I was walking down to the barn.  He was not pleased with missing pasture time. Impatient pony is impatient.

He ceases to amuse me. And for that, he is worth his weight in gold.