Ahhhh... I love Sundays! Especially Sundays with glorious weather! I got the fields bush hogged and then after a little lunch, I went to ride. I decided to take Funny with us today.
We got to Ashland and I left Dan on the trailer while I worked Funny. He was good! Then she had to get on the trailer and hang out while Dan and I worked. She was NOT as good. :) Ha! But he was. We got some good pillar work in hand. I bribed him a little with treats, but he was really good even when I wasn't treating him. We got some nice walks in pillar 1, some nice pillar 2s, and even some decent pillar 3s in the corner. So, then I lunged him. And he was pretty good. But there was two friends riding in the upper arena and pretty soon after I started lunging him he grabbed the lunge line and turned. I didn't want to drop him entirely because I didn't want him to run into their lesson and interrupt. But I also knew I couldn't hold him. Luckily he went out of the arena into the grass and went around a tree. I used it as a pivot point and that stopped him! But then... freakin' hilarious.. it was like a game of cat and mouse. He kept going around the tree and I kept circling behind him trying to catch up so I could get the lunge line from around the tree. Hee hee.. I was thinking "this is ridiculous"! ha ha. Good thing no one saw us. :) Finally after like 3 or 4 laps he veered off a little and I was able to put him back on the circle. After that he was good. We got some really nice work. And... he had looked a bit off all day today. I couldn't get him to trot long enough to say for sure, but... I was worried. While lunging right... I really didn't see anything. Maybe if I used my imagination he was slightly off tempo... he either kept that leg down longer or swung it longer or something. I just seemed to not be exactly the same timing as the outside hind. But it's so hard to tell. And he seemed happy enough, although he was chewing on the bit a little bit. But, no tongue.. and no flash either.
So then I went back to the trailer and put on his bareback pad. I took the lunge line off and put reins on the cavesson. Like on the sides of the nose piece, not attached to the bit. And then I realized they were both left reins (or right reins.. both had the same buckle end) so I couldn't attach them. Meh.. it'll be fine. So we tried some under saddle pillar work. It wasn't great. I think he's better with going into pillar 1 with the reins on the bit. He seemed more likely to just brace and pull against me this way. But I did get some decent moments. I think. I hope. We trotted some too.
Then I went and got Funny and went back to the arena to see if Kelli was ready. She wasn't so we walked around and then I decided to try trotting some to get in Dan's trots. They are such good ponies. They just trotted around together, happy as clams. Well, until we passed Marvin, then Dan would pin his ears and snake his head at him. Doh!
So then we went on a trail ride with Marvin. We went around the lake, by the barbed wire balls, and then stopped at the lake. Funny and Dan had some spashes and played. Dan went for two little swims. Luckily I only went under to my waste and I was bareback! Aha! I planned ahead! Funny almost went for a swim too! Kelli headed out without us as Marvin didn't want to swim and my two hippos were having fun.
After they had their fill we headed off down Raccoon Loop. We got just around the bend, and I had turned on the video camera anticipating a nice cool walk in the woods with the sunlight filtering through the leaves. Ha ha... I got about 4 seconds in and apparently we had flushed a herd of like 10 deers. I didn't see them in time and both horses spun and bolted. I'm not quite sure who went where, but the lead rope wrapped around my waist... then Funny and Dan slammed into each other... and neither knew which way to run. Then they both tried to run. I managed to keep them from stepping in the hole right off the path and wrangled them in enough that they didn't slip or fall on the bridge, and then I got them stopped. And in the process, my phone flew out of my hand, but bounced off his neck and back into my hands!!! And I kept my whip and the reins and Funny's lead! Somehow!!! Dang. Then we saw the deer. Oh... it's deer!! Jeepers.
So then we carried on and they settled within a minute. We got out in the XC field and trotted the hill up to the top and then headed home. Good ponies!!!!!!
He may be silly and cranky, but... damn he's a good boy!
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