Eventful

Well that was an exciting ride! So much fun. I could totally be a trophy wife stay at home horse mom! I'm digging this staycation :) 

   

We rode with Kelli today. Marvin can do a short walk so we met and tacked up and put on our dragonflies. :) (They made me and Kelli both so happy... watching them bee bop around as we walked. hee hee. FUN!) Then we hacked down to the lake. Dan splashed and played around and then almost took me for a swim! I really thought he was going to. I was torn... because I really didn't want to have to dry out my saddle and saddle pad, but... someone said "take it in the lake to stop it from squeaking!" ha ha.... And I do love a good swim! Luckily (I guess) he turned around before we got too deep. Then we hacked back up the hill to the trailers and said bye to Kelli and Marvin. 

  

 

Dan and I headed back out and we went around to the cross country field. It was such a pretty day! We trotted and cantered in the field and we practiced the water complex. The August WE show mentioned that they would likely use the cross country field and have us do the water and the bank, so.. we practiced walking the water without snorkling and walking the bank. So hopefully we can get our "eventer points" there and do it like a good WE horse instead of an upper level event horse. He was good though. After we walked through it without snorkling twice, I walked him up to the edge... very obviously dropped the reins and told him "Free Horse"... ha ha. I got that from Liz. She said that one day when she was letting her dog "off duty" and I giggled. But why not? He's smart... he can learn that "Free horse" means you can push the gate open, you can splash in the water, you can frolic......  and when I don't say "free horse" you have to work. :) We'll see. Worth a shot anyways. 

   

We popped over a few small logs too for funsies and he wasn't quite as wild as he can be, so yay. Then we went for a little canter in the field. He put his head down and got slightly bucky for a bit. I called him a cow. Ha ha... Then apologized as he wasn't that rowdy. 

  

Then we headed out and did some hacking. He tripped a few times on roots or sticks but nothing major. However, when we crossed the higher bridge at the beaver dam, he fell down to his chest almost. Well, probably his knee but he felt like he almost went to his chest! He got up and carried on. Seriously dude!! You've got to pick up your feet! But maybe he slipped because those wooden boards can get slick with the rain. I turned to look and see and holy cow!!! The bridge had rotted and his hoof punched through the board. He fell through to his knee at least and somehow managed to pull his leg straight back up and out without doing any damage other than a mild scrape on the inside of his knee. His shoe was still on!! Okay.. sorry buddy...  you are amazing!! And a saint! He carried on like it was no big deal. I was a little afraid to do the second bridge as that second bridge is usually closer to the water than the first one but we did fine. When we got to the cross country field I picked up the trot and he was sound. Phew! Yikes!! I texted Adam immediately since I had seen him earlier that day. (Side note... he was very glad Dan was okay and the next day I saw Lucy and she came over to see how Dan was. I adore them!). 

   

We finished our ride and he got a nice hose off, because he was nasty and it was hot. I checked him over again and really... just a tiny little superficial scrape. Thank you God for protecting us! On the way home I was talking to Liz so I couldn't try to catch it on video but as we were turning onto Dixie road... he was looking at the trailer camera... and then his nose got closer and closer.. and then he opened his mouth and all I saw was big gaping maw with teeth and tongue. Ha ha.. Do NOT eat my trailer camera sir!! Haha. I was cracking up. Luckily he backed off or realized it wasn't going anywhere cause he didn't eat it or knock it off and he didn't try again. Silly boy!