Another day, another jaunt

I didn't get to spend quite as much time "jaunting" with Dan this morning as I wanted, but that's okay. He did great. I apparently either turned my alarm off or never set it because I woke up late this morning. And since Fleck and I had a dressage lesson in Athens at noon, I only had so much time. I ALMOST went back to bed. I'm tired! But, I figured it would be too hot later, so I manned up and went and grabbed Danny. He loaded up pretty quickly! He won't go in with me just sending him, but he now follows me in and stays instead of backing up as I go out. So yay! Then we headed off. He got a quick groom and we tacked up and headed out. Since I was short on time, we headed straight out to the XC field. He was pretty darn good and much more forward today. We hit the field and he walked over two logs well. Then we went to the bank and he went up and down quite merrily. Then we went to the ditches and he was a little balky at the first one but then crossed over the fake ditch both directions without hesitation. Then he walked over the real ditch both ways fine and then, he even walked/jumped over the Novice ditch like a champ!! He was eying the training ditch but I told him not yet. The we walked past the trakenher and his eye balls got really big! Ha ha.. No, no... not yet. So then we went to the water complex. He snorted at it at first but then bravely walked in without much encouragement needed. Then we walked up both banks. But he still is not quite sure about walking down the banks into water . Which is odd to me... as he doesn't mind the water and he goes down the regular banks quite happily. I tried a few times but then gave up for today. So then we trotted a log on our way to the woods and then walked and trotted merrily through the woods. About half way to the lake we ran into the horse flies. They were bad, so we trotted the rest of the way to the lake. 

Danny got to splash around a bit in the lake and then we tacked back up and hit the path for home. The horse flies were suddenly HORRIBLE! Dan was bucking and cantering and even kicked out because there was about 7 on him. Poor kid. I managed to keep him under control and even got him walking flat footed again but they wouldn't leave him alone. So we alternated between trotting and walking and hit the open field as soon as we could. Then we had to head home. He was better for his bath and loaded great. 

Another fun day with him. He just cracks me up. Such a goofy kid. 

Superstar!!!

I have the best kid ever!!! 

Seriously.. this kid is awesome! We went to Ashland again today to play and he was a star. He loaded up by himself and stood on the trailer like a champ. We groomed and put on his surcingle and long lines and off we went. I still had to lead him down the dam road between the two lakes but after that, he was off. The blue heron (or egret.. whichever it was) made him look but he didn't jump. He's really getting the voice commands too, though he still wants to trot more than I do. And someone had put up standards in the XC field and it was funny. He backed off but then was brave and went through them. We walked into and out of the water. And then we went over the ditches. Hee hee. He was all snorty at first but then was like "look ma!" and walked through them like a champ. And then he did the bridges just fine. We got to the water and he was so cute. He was a little apprehensive but with some encouragement he put on his big boy pants and walked right on through. Then we were trotting along and were going past the slippery water crossing. He stopped and looked at it. And he was going for it... so I let him. He walked carefully over it and was so proud. I had to praise him. It was like his brain said "hmmm... I get "Good boys" when I go through things, so... lets' go through this". Such a cutie. So we went back through it and continued on our way. He was really doing so well. So then we headed to the lake and came to it from the back side. He didn't mind walking between the lake and the valley, so... who knows why the first dam walk bothers him. But he was trotting on and then we saw Judy and Cash in the lake. He was so excited. He behaved for me to untack him and then he went in the water to splash around. About that time Judy decided to do go some work and left. Well poor Dan had a fit! He was so sad that his friend left. So he took off in circles around me, bucking and carrying on. Hee hee. He respected the lead though and didn't try to bolt. He was just mad! Once he got it out of his system, he went back to playing in the water a bit. Then we walked back through the XC field and trotted two little logs and went down the bank. Then he even went down the bank into the water and then up the bank out of the water.

Again.. I'm just so proud of him. He got his rinse and then a good graze and then loaded up just fine to go home. He's gonna be so much fun!!!

Happy Birthday Danny!!!!

My little baby boy is growing up!!! Sniff sniff.... He's 2 years old today! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect kiddo. He's been a dream. Happy Birthday Dan!

He measured at 15.3 at the wither and 16.0 at the butt today. On concrete. So... we'll see how tall he ends up. But even if he doesn't grow anymore... he's big enough. :) Though I'm hoping for 16.3. Though I'm betting he'll end up being 17 by the time he's officially done. 

Love this kid! And.... baby pics... cause he's so freakin' cute!

SUPER Star!!!!

This morning I decided that I would take Dan to Ashland for some long lining. I've been wanting to for a bit but just hadn't gotten to it. So today, I woke up early and we did it. And he was WONDERFUL!!!

Hetook a few tries to load up. He walked right on but didn't get up enough to do the butt bar and then backed off. But on the third time he stayed put politely and I closed him in. We got to Ashland and I groomed him. Dang is that boy dirty!! That white butt is hard to keep clean. Then we put the long lines on and off we went. He was happy to stride out and we headed to the path towards the grey barn. It's between two lakes... and once Dan saw the lakes through the trees, he hesitated. I walked to his head and led him through. He was a little snorty but happy to go with me at his head. Then he walked off again. Until he saw a fallen tree. I had to lead him at his head again. But then.. he was great. He walked off very well and bravely and even crossed the bridges without hesitating. We walked around to the lake through the woods and even did a little trotting. He wanted to trot! But he kept it nice and polite. Then at the lake I undid his surcingle with the thoughts of letting him have a little swim. He went in and splashed a bit but didn't go for a swim. 

So then we "tacked" back up and went off again. He did great... strode right off with a nice big forward stride. We crossed a few more bridges and then hit the creek. He stopped at the creek. It's noise and pretty swift. So I led him through again and then we turned around. He cracks me up... He was like "Oh...what's this?? I don't know about this"... and then once I showed him and turned him around.. he was all cocky and spunky and just barged right on back through like "I got this..I was just kidding before!". Hee hee. Such a little twit. So then we went up the hill and he was trying to canter. At this point, I was getting tired so I wouldn't let him trot as much and he was trying so hard to trot.. he was trotting at my walk speed.. Then he'd put his head down and hunch his back up and try to canter and buck a bit. Goofy! hee hee... But he was really good! So then we ended up in the big XC field and something on the edge caught his eye so I led him again just a bit. Then I drove him through the water complex and back to the barn. He had worked up a sweat so he got a rinse off and he loaded up pretty quickly and home we went.

SUPER STAR!!!!! Man... I love this kid. I was just walking behind him laughing at his little booty jaunt and thinking.. "I cannot wait to get on him"!!

More long lining....

Today we did more long lining. He's getting pretty good at steering when he's behaving. He's also pretty good at not steering when he doesn't want to cooperate. ;) But today was only a very mild tantrum and he gave up pretty quick so I was pleased with that. And he leapt big across the creek but then came back down quite nicely when asked. We even did some more trotting! 

He's almost 2!!! Egads! Where did the time go? My little squirt is growing up! Part of me is so excited and cannot wait til he's old enough to really ride and start playing with. And part of me misses my little baby! He was so darn cute as a kiddo! Not that he's not cute now...

 

But Good when it counts!

Although... he was in trouble about 45 minutes before this picture was taken. I heard the chickens suddenly carrying on and hollering... Went out there and Dan is amongst the chicks.. just slapping the ground repeatedly with his front feet... happy as a clam!! I yelled at him and ran looking for squashed chickees! Luckily there were none, but really Dan??? Though he's very good with Emma so.. maybe he was just playing and knew exactly what he was doing!

More Trouble!

So... this one was Mike's fault. He was helping me try to get my truck turned around because of the mud and left the chain link gate open to the back area where the feed room is. I had left the feed room door open because it was otherwise contained and it had gotten wet in there so I was hoping to air it out as best as possible. Well.. I fed ponies and went to the house. I noticed that I didn't see them but thought they were in their stalls. Then I noticed Fleck's head IN the window of the feed room. Danny does that, but not Fleck. I didn't think enough of it though...

I went down later to grab Fleck to ride and.... they were in the darn feed room. Luckily it appears it was mostly Dan making a mess. I'm now out a whole bag of grow right feed, a bag of chicken feed, three tupperware feed tubs, one feeds coop, and some MSM. Argh! But at least they appeared to not have eaten too much grain. I'm glad he likes playing so much!

Trouble! Trouble!!!