Off for another adventure

Today I took the heathens for a trail ride at Ashland. I was sad that Peri couldn't join us, but it may have been a good thing as Dan is protective of Funny when she's in heat and she is so smitten with him. They were great on the trails though, but we didn't really run into anyone either. 

She loaded up great but Dan was already on. Given the fact that she was in raging heat I decided that today was not the day to work on distancing and learning to stand in the trailer, so.. I pulled them both off before I groomed and tacked Dan up. Then we headed off. Since the XC field was open I decided to take her there first. We went up the baby bank, and she actually went up before Dan started up. Then we came back down, and again, really no hesitation. I didn't bother doing the bigger one. We went to the ditch and she was perfect there too, and we even did the BN and Novice ones. Then we headed to the water and she went right in and.. then down she went. And it was so slimy. She got up and had globs of muddy water sliding off her! Ha ha! Unfortunately I ended up losing the lead rope cause she pawed over it and then rolled. And Judy had wandered up on Teller at that point and I was a little concerned that if Funny saw him she might want to go say hi and I wasn't sure how that would go, so I didn't grab my phone. But she was SOOOO slimy and gross. She played for a good bit and I finally got the lead rope back (all wet and slimy! Gross) and we went up the bank out of the water. Then we went over the little cheese log and then back down the bank. Then we trotted a few logs and then we headed to the fields. We did a little trotting but mostly walked. They were great and we had fun. 

 

We finished our ride back at the lake so she could rinse the sludge off. She kind of got clean. ;) Oh, and she thought about going for a swim but decided not to. I wondered if she would and am curious if she ever will or if she just wants to roll.  It was a glorious day! She didn't want to load up first and honestly, I was starving so I ended up putting Dan on first and saved that for another day. 

 

 But yeah...so eventing her is going to be fun! I'm going to have to be super careful that she doesn't roll with me in the water every time. :) 

Smitten

 Turned them out in the dog field today and they had a blast. 

Then Funny went into heat and is OBSESSED with Dan. Like... she would have crawled in his lap if he had one. Bumping up against him, chewing on him, flirting hard core... Of course now he's being all protective and not letting Fleck near, which is making Flecky sad. 

Cold weather makes for Pony Kites

 20-30 mph winds. Wind chill of 20. After being in the 70's for a few days. Literally dropped from a high of 58 to a low of 21 windchill.

Soggy Adventures

 Oh child!! Hee hee. She cracks me up. And she is... spicy! Maybe spicy isn't the right word... maybe it is. I don't know... she's something! 

Today was a super cool day. I got done with work at 2 pm and while it was supposed to be raining all week and today being the worst... it actually didn't rain all day other than first thing this morning. yay! So I came home and grabbed heathen #1 and heathen #2. 

Funny didn't load immediately but it didn't take long, especially since Dan went on first. When we got to Ashland I made them both stand on the trailer for a minute while I went to the bathroom. Then I got Dan off and groomed him and tacked him mostly up while I made her stand in the trailer. Ooooh she was MAD!! She was pawing and stomping. But every time she stopped and stood for a few seconds of quiet, I praised her and gave her cookies on occasion. Then I pulled her off and groomed her. She's shedding! 

 

Then off we went. We did 3.3 miles and just hacked around the farm. We saw the barbed wire hay bales... the waterfalls.. we crossed the two big creek crossings. Funny stopped and wanted to play in the first one. Dan was on a mission and didn't want to stop. Hee hee. But we did. We trotted some. And man, she has a big stride!

She LOVES him so!

 

We went to the lake and good gravy... she missed it. She was down and submerged before Dan had even gotten all the way in. She must have rolled 6 or 7 times and was completely soaked. Then she was pawing and splashing and having a grand ol' time. Dan joined in some too. Although he was not as game as she was for sure. She was all in! Hee hee. 

 

Then we headed up the hill. She was a bit feisty at that point and was chomping on Dan and bumper car-ing into us. Children!! We ened up in XC and I was going to just have her walk over the BN ditch. She said NOPE! She pulled up and glared at me and stood her ground. Fine... we circled around and did the baby ditch, which she jumped. Then we did it a few more times and then we came to the BN ditch and she jumped it before Dan even did. Good girl. 

 

Then we went on and she spooked at that white fence in the XC field. Ha ha. She snorted at it but sniffed it and then ate the grass next to it pretty quickly. It helped that Dan was eating the grass next to it while she was still snorting at it. Then I trotted them both over a small log. She was so good. We then found 3 others and I sort of "sent" her over them and just walked Dan next to them. She got the hang of it and almost started seeking them out! Good baby girl! Lots of praises. 

We headed back and checked feet for rocks. Unfortuntately when I was putting the saddle up she snuck underneath Dan's line and they both pulled back. She ended up breaking the hay string. Dan didn't get so lucky but moved back forward finally. And Funny didn't go anywhere even though she was "free". Gracious... I finished up and then loaded Funny first. She said no for a few minutes. And I know not to fight with her. So I just waited her out and bribed her with a carrot. She got bored and came up. Then Dan loaded up and we headed home. It was a FUN day. And exactly what I needed. Probably Dan too. :)

And luckily, by the time I got home she was all dry. Which is good because the temps are dropping to 45 today. 

spicy!

 Running laps around dan... who was the good boy! (rode him in the pasture in a rope halter bareback)

wiped out

quick soggy hack

 We met the geese. they flapped off and she flinched but that was it.