HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!

 Funny turns 1!!! And what a birthday it was! We celebrated and she had a blast! After breakfast, I hitched up the trailer and went and fetched them from the farthest corner of the pasture. (Dan knew!). She came up to me and then we went and got Dan. I put him on the trailer and then it was her turn. Despite not having practiced in awhile and only having done one ride since she hauled from California, she was super. It took about 3 tries to get her on and then she was on. And she stood there while I got back off and did up the butt bar. She hauled well! I could see her little nose looking out the window some as we were going. :) Just like Dan's. 

We got to Ashland and she unloaded very bravely on her own after I got Dan off! Not scared or panicked either. I tied her to the trailer and other than getting a little worried when a loud trailer came down the drive rather fast. It was behind the trees so fair enough. She settled quickly. Then Liz showed up and I asked her to watch them while I ran to the bathroom. Apparently Dan shot her a dirty look and she moved, and then used that as a reason to test the halter and pulled back. She managed to pop the hay string but didn't run off, so Liz retied her. And we got her own hay bag hung up so Dan didn't have to share. I got her groomed and picked her feet and fly sprayed her. She still fly sprays way better than Dan! Then I got Dan tacked up, meanwhile fending her off from sticking her nose in the trailer tack room! Familiar much?! 

I got on and practiced ponying around the parking lot while I was waiting for Liz and Peri to get on. They were having a birthday party/clinic so they had a tent set up with a balloon. Funny and Dan walked right past it like it was no big deal. Then Liz and Peri joined us and we set off. Dan was super and didn't get worried or possessive. He was just in a mood and was power walking! Funny kept up and was a really good girl. We went down the woods to the bridge and Funny marched right over it like it was nothing. Like she cared not one bit! So then we went up the hill and into the open hay field. Man was it gorgeous! As we went through the halfshire field we saw Missy and Indi and Marti and the dogs. Unfortunately Peri was a little worried about how many horses there were because Cuart was still a little on edge so we just waved and moved on. Which... meant that we all met up at the little creek crossing. We stopped to chat briefly and Dan had a meltdown. I'm not sure if he was upset at the dogs, which he's seen before... the fact that he couldn't play with Indi.... the fact that there were so many horses and people... or what!? But he was backing up and trying to turn around and Funny was just standing there getting buffeted around a bit. I quickly asked them to carry on since Dan was getting riled up so they crossed the creek. We waited a few and then tried to take Funny over. Dan was still all jazzed but he went and she hesitated for about a minute or less and then jumped it! The others crossed it too and then a goat in the woods started making goat noises! Wait.... what?!? Since when is there a goat here!? Dan lost it! Poor guy.. his heart was pounding. He was so scared. So liz and Peri crossed back over and we went back over the creek and continued on. Funny hesitated very briefly and then calmly walked over the creek and carried on. :) We went through the fire swamp and then we decided to hit the other creek. 

We let Peri and Liz cross first. Liz was being nice and wanting to stand there and let Funny see, but Dan was fired up and NOT wanting to stand still so I told her to just carry on. Funny walked up to the creek, snorted a tiny bit, but put her feet in and then her muzzle and then calmly walked right through, like it was no big deal. THE BIG CREEK!!! I was so proud! So then we hit the path again and I asked if they wanted to trot very briefly. We got about 4 strides into the trot when Jeff and Beau came up the trail. Sigh... so we walked again and kept on going past them. We then went to the XC field. They were having that clinic so we went to the bank and walked up and down it twice each. Again, she wasn't phased at all. In fact, she came down the bank the second time better than Dan, who half fell off it. ;) hee hee. They were jumping and doing mini courses and one of the horses started to get rowdy so Peri suggested we leave. Which was fine, although I really wanted to try the ditches and water complex, but... we had already done a lot, so probably a wise choice. We did want them to have a sip of water though, so we decided to go to the lake. 

 

Peri let Cuart have a sip and then Dan went in. He didn't get too far in, and wasn't dragging Funny in. She walked up and got her toes wet and then practically jumped in! Then she sort of panicked and jumped again, deeper. Then she stopped and thought to herself for a second... like "Oh snap... what the heck?!?! Well.... maybe this isn't too bad!... maybe I'll just have a roll". Ha ha. It was hilarious! She froze.. then she started to buckle and down she went! She's smarter than Dan and didn't actually roll so she kept the water out of her ears. But then she had a blast! She was laying down... splashing... plodding around. We had a good fun time playing in the water for a bit before we headed for home. 

Afterwards she stood tied while I untacked Dan. Then they both got sprayed off with the hose and then she stood tied again for a bit. Liz suggested I try to self load her, but that Liz would be at the head of the trailer to help. So we did. And she kind of sort of self loaded, but... she went on and stood while Liz got off and we did the butt bar up. Then Dan got on and we headed home! What a gloriously fun adventure!!

Oh, and tonight... I measured her. She is 14.2 and a half at the wither. :)