Oh my!!! :)
Danny had Monday off and on Tuesday, Fleck and I had our lesson with Cindy. The ponies were all in the front field so I pulled the trailer up and whistled. Fleck looked up but didn't come so I started out to get him. Danny came galloping up to me. (Be still my beating heart!....awwww!!) He slid to a stop and was like "Hi Mom! What's up?!". I gave him some love and headed off to get Fleck. A step or two away from Danny, I started trotting and Danny trotted after me. :) So I got Fleck and headed toward the trailer. I put him in and he was screaming his head off for Danny. Danny turned and came galloping up to the gate, so I thought... why not?! Let's take Danny too. So in the trailer he went and we were off.
We got to High Point and I tied them both to the trailer while I tacked up Fleck. I groomed him and then put his saddle pad on and went back to the tack room to get his saddle. When I came out, I saw the saddle pad slip off his back and then get flung and whipped around in the air. Doh!! Daniel.. give that back! I got it back on and got Fleck tacked up. Then I put Danny in the trailer with Sunny (Peri was hanging out after her lesson) and went and rode Fleck. (Cindy said she didn't think she wanted to know what happened to Fleck's saddle pad.. ha ha!). During the lesson Danny and Sunny were good and just hung out. Once I finished with Fleck I tied him to the trailer and got Danny out again. He got groomed and then tacked up and off we went. As Peri and I were walking up to the outdoor ring I made the comment that I might be tempted to get on him without the lunge line and walk him around the farm for his first trail ride. High Point has a perimeter fence with a lane between it and the pastures. It makes a loop around the farm and would be ideal as it's only about 6 feet wide and there's no escape. But it's also electric and hot, so if Danny hit it, it might be a bad thing. So we're discussing this as we hit the top of the hill. I'm not sure what got Danny started, but suddenly he was piaffing and passaging in place. His tail flipped over his back and his nostrils flared and his feet were dancing! He was all worked up. He was spinning around and being silly. Um... never mind... I may not even ride today!! He was really worked up! The other girl riding got off and she did swear that she was done anyways. I decided to lunge Danny and burn off some of that energy. And HOLY COW!!!! Beth wasn't kidding... that boy can MOVE!!! I think my jaw hit the floor. I realize that every horse gets bouncy when they are all excited and don't have a rider, but holy cow!!! He was literally floating in the air. It was trot, BOING.............. , trot, BOING.............., trot, BOING....... FLOATING!!! And it was gorgeous! Drool worthy!! Once I picked my jaw up off the ground I put him to work. I let him get his sillies out but made sure that he was paying attention to me. And he was. He was distracted and playing, but he was also paying attention to me and trying. He quickly started listening and I gradually asked more and more of him. I got him to come down to the trot, change directions, stop and turn in, canter, back to trot, walk, etc. And within... maybe 10 minutes, he was listening and trotting normally. Okay... maybe I can get on. But no way in heck am I getting off the lunge line! Hee hee. I walked him up to the mounting block and he was on high alert but stood. I patted him all over and he didn't react, so I got on. He was tense, but did what I asked. He was a little bit in Peri's space (okay, so maybe a lot bit) and was a bit more fussy in his face when I asked him to halt, but really not bad. We stopped, we walked on, we turned right and we turned left. Not too shabby at all considering he is a 2 year old that was a bucking bronco 20 minutes ago. I stayed on him for about 10 minutes and then got off, while the going was still good. I gave him lots of praise and then we headed down to the big barn. I wanted to show him the indoor arena.
We hit the barn edge and he planted. He grew another foot and his eyes got big. He snorted but trusted me and we inched our way into the barn. Once he was in, he was a bit braver and we made it to the indoor arena. I didn't want to disturb the two riders so I stayed on the edge of the arena but we walked up and down. He stopped at the mirrors and stared. And then wiped his drooly nose all over them. oops! Then we walked back to the other end. On our way back one of the horses came up sort of near him and right in the corner of his eye, they picked up the canter from the walk. Danny started but stayed with me and settled down quickly. REALLY not bad for a 2 year old and his first time in the indoor. It was about what I would have expected of Fleck. But he was still up on his tippy toes.
I then decided since he was so sweaty, I might as well try him in the wash rack again. He's been in Beth's but not at High Points. Theirs is a bit more narrow. We pulled off his tack and got him in the wash rack. I held and Peri hosed. He wasn't super good but he eventually stood. Initially he kept trying to sneak out and then he kept picking up a hind leg when she got to his back end. But he settled down and was excellent at the end.
Phew!! That was quite a lot for him. And quite honestly, much more excitement than I expected. I guess I shouldn't have wanted him to be more forward huh?! :)
I so cannot wait until he and I are galloping in the XC field! It's gonna be so much fun.
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of his sexy trot or really.. any pictures. There was just a little bit too much excitement to risk it. But man... I wish I had. It was a great learning day for him.
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