Awww, I just love Funbuns! Poor Lyric has been working hard so the last ride or two she walked away from me when I went to catch her. (She was also foot sore, so... fair). And Dan will usually walk to the farthest corner if he notices me prepping the trailer. So... when I go out and Funny comes up to greet me, especially when I've got a halter and especially now that we have started riding.. it makes me so happy!
Today I had the day off (yahoo!) and Mike and I decided not to go kayaking because of the weather and timing, so... I opted to ride Funny. Lyric gets the day off because we cross country schooled and hauled to Aiken yesterday and were planning to haul to Aiken again tomorrow to go XC schooling again. (But now I'm not). Anyways... I went out there and Funny walked up to me, ate her cookie, and then marched all the way to the trailer with me without stopping. She was like "Yep, let's do this! This is fun!". We got to the trailer and once I positioned myself correctly, she marched right on.
We headed to Ashland to meet Kaitlyn and her new pony Popcorn! Funny was a good girl and we got tacked up. I was hoping to get there early to lunge, but was actually a few minutes late. Doh! And then I realized I had forgotten my lunge line again. And the halter I had grabbed had the short lead rope. So I thought meh... let's just get on and see. But I did ask to go to the arena first. So I walked her out to the arena while Kaitlyn was finishing tacking up and got on. She was great and we walked around the arena a few times. The storm last night had the arena all over the place!! Funny was good although she did startle and spook in place about 3 times. I did end up asking for a little bit of trot. We just did two or three small circles and then I figured that was plenty. I wasn't sure if she would be better off getting a little energy off or if it would just excite her. She was a little sassy but responded to the reins/bit when she tried to snake her head down.
So then Kaitlyn joined us. Funny kept looking at Popcorn so we let them sniff. They were polite for about 30 seconds and then I think Popcorn squealed and pawed so we pulled them apart. They were good together though. Mostly! We started off with Popcorn leading and Funny following and then Popcorn let Funny pass so Funny led. Then Funny was going slower so we let Popcorn back in front. And then Popcorn wouldn't go over the bridge so Funny had to lead. And then some horse flies started attacking Funny's belly and she got all humpy and was kicking up at her belly. I opted to hop off as she felt like she was escalating and then I was able to swat them off. But then I had to get back on. Luckily I had opted for the saddle this time so I was able to maneauver her to a hill and scrambled on. Good girl! She stood and was not too concerned about me heaving myself up. So we carried on. Then we let Popcorn lead again because she was making mare faces back at her. We crossed the creek - the one we hadn't done.. which is the smaller one but it had a lot more rocks and was flowing pretty good today. Funny stopped at it and tried to turn around once but then thought for a few seconds and went over it. She didn't jump but she rushed it. But hey, she went. A thousand times faster than Dan's first time over that creek!
We wandered around and then headed to the lake to finish. It was hot and humid and neither Kaitlyn nor I wanted to be out for too long. Neither horse was super fit, especially Funny having a rider for only the 7th time. I warned Kaitlyn about Funny's love for water. Unfortunately Poppy doesn't share the love but she did manage to get her a bit closer to the edge. She drank some too. Of course Funny went right in and immediately went down. It's harder to stay on with a saddle though! She splashed around some and then went down again. Only this time she actually tried to roll and basically went flat on her side with a bit of a twist and got so sideways that I had to throw my hand with my phone down in the water and then I couldn't recover and came off her side. Ha ha... I was soaked, as was my phone! But it had kept recording! ha ha... Funny got up and I got up and I managed to heave myself back on again. And my phone survived! hee hee.
We splashed around a hair more and then headed back. We went via the XC field as the bugs were bad and as we were heading back there was a perfect little "stick" on the ground so I thoguht.. hey, let's trot it. We trotted towards it and then Funny was like "no... I'm gonna walk.. and look hard at it!". I did manage to keep her going at the walk and we did walk over it. And then she bravely walked through the tipped over start box standards although she stared hard at them.
We got back to the trailers and untacked and I hosed her off. She was a bit spicy as there were other horses loading in the trailer making a bunch of noise and she couldn't see them. Then Kaitlyn took Popcorn to hose her off. Funny got upset and was looking like she might pull back so I untied her and then she reared up. No ma'am! I got her settled and Kaitlyn came back. She apologized but I told her it was super good for her! Plus I didn't think to ask if Popcorn would care when we walked off first. And then we went to load to go home and it took Funny a couple of attempts so I was kind and dropped the butt bar on the other side and opened up the divider and she went right in. That works!
So yeah... super successful ride, especially for only her 7th ride and her 2nd trail ride. And first time I didn't lunge her before I got on! Good girl! Plus, she has now ridden with another mare and a gelding and did great. Oh, and a few times when she was behind Popcorn and Popcorn would stop, Funny would too. And she was just chill and stood and waited. Unlike her brother, dancy mcdancepants.
I'm such a proud momma! A soaking wet momma, but proud. :)
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