Ride 18! Can your baby horse do that?!

 Heck.. I bet some of the adult horses can't even do what Funny did today! Not only was she a good girl, but she let me open and close the gate without dismounting and then she let me check the mail in the mailbox. :) I'm so proud of her. 

 

She was happy to get groomed and tacked up. I put the jump saddle on her today because duh... I want to stay more balanced and off her back. I mean, yeah... then don't get on her yet... and it's not like I'm sitting the trot, but still. And then suddenly, it was on the floor! UGH. I don't know if I had it sitting off to the side a bit and she shifted or what. Sadness. now it's got a rip in the leather at the cantle. Ugh. I put it back on, and held onto it until I got her girthed up. Jeepers.

 

We walked up to the arena doing our pillars and then once we got to the arena we did a tiny bit more and then I lunged. Mostly so that she was already thinking of a relaxed neck and lifted back. She cracks me up. She makes the angriest faces at me. And I don't know why... I don't think it's pain.. I think she enjoys it.. I honestly sort of think it's a fun game for her. Like Dan. I don't know. But she looks ferocious! But then she trots on and licks and chews. Weirdo! And she's sound. But anyways.. we lunged for a short little bit and while she was silly with her face there were no shenanigans. 

 

I got on and we didn't do much because... she's still young and I'm trying to preserve her as much as I can. We walked and practiced steering and she's still harder to steer left but much improved when I pay attention to my upper body. GAH! When will I learn! She actually was turning off my body a good bit. Yay! So then we trotted and she was so good. We still struggled a bit with some turns to the left but overall, she was lovely. She was much more relaxed and never hollowed out. I'm not sure she was lifting her back as much as when she lunged, but she seemed much stronger and stayed pretty level in her head carriage. Yay! And no fussing in the bridle or slinging her head around. We still didn't get much contact but I'm not asking for it yet. But there were moments of her being quite soft in the connection. Very brief moments, but yay! We did some figure 8's and some circles and some transitions and called it a day. 

 

 

Then I rode her to the gate and she let me open it and then close it. She almost closed it herself but wasn't pushy enough. Good girl! We hacked down Jean's driveway and then stopped at the mailbox. She put her nose on it and then let me open and close it. She was a bit farther away then I wanted but didn't react when it moved. Good girl! 

  

Then I hopped off and let her eat some grass as a reward. She's really gonna be such a nice mare. And I'm so happy with her topline and neck muscles. She's just gotta get that booty filled in. I'm hoping to maybe take her to Ashland tomorrow for a trail ride. 

And um... when did she get so big??? Surely that's an optical illusion? Surely she's not as big as Lyric??? 

Goofballs

 

Goofiest Girl

 Pillars.. so good.

Lunged... immediate snark face... why?!? Hee hee

silly girl playing and flirting

Rowdy

Today was fun! Funny was a feral beasty! I finished up work early and headed to go ride!!! Whoo hooo! It was a nice day actually. And it was going to be the last nice day for awhile. So I took advantage. I didn't want to be too tempted to do too much with Dan and Funny needed an outing, but I wasn't quite wanting to ride her, so... we all went. 

 

Funny was ready to go play and walked right up to me and then when we got to the trailer, I put her on first. She walked right up! It was a party when we got to Ashland. The Gypsy vanner gang was there and Allison. I got them unloaded and we all said hi. And then Sharon and Baylor met us there to ride with us. I had warned Sharon that Funny might be feral. Good thing! 

 

 

I got them both groomed and tacked Dan up and then we headed out. Dan was motoring and Funny kept up. We tried to stay on the wide paths so that Baylor didn't have to be in the back. Funny kept shooting him dirty looks and pinning her ears at him anyways though. And a few times she even reared up and did acrobats for him/at him. I told her that she didn't look good in red so she should probably learn to control herself! I'm not sure she'll be any better without Dan though. I don't know if she's being protective of him, or that's just how she's gonna be. But she was mostly good. And/or Baylor kept his distance. We did a nice long walk and even crossed the little beaver dam creek that shows up when it's wet. She jumped it. Of course Dan sort of did too. 

 

When we were finishing up our ride we ended up in the cross country field and I had wanted to walk her over the ditches and banks. We avoided the water though! And the lake. It was going to be way too chilly tonight and it was getting dark. I did not want a wet pony! She didn't pitch too big of a fit about it either. So we walked down the baby bank and she was super. We walked up the bigger bank and she was good. Then we turned and tried to walk down. She stopped and Dan didn't... so I had to drop the lead rope. Of course then she went around it and she actually ran around a little bit. And by little, I mean a little bit. She didn't stray very far from me and Dan but she did circle around a bit. And then she kept grazing and moving just enough that I couldn't reach the lead rope. Sassy butt! I ended up having to get off to grab her. So I got back on and then I made her walk up the big bank again and then circle back and go down the big bank. This time she did. So then we headed to the ditches. She was super over them and didn't seem phased. But somehow over the bigger one we got discombobulated and I ended up just dropping the lead rope on accident. Dang it! She pranced off and actually jumped the baby ditch twice. Show off!! I had to get off to catch her again! Last time baby girl!! So then we did the big ditch again and then we headed home. 

She loaded up to go home nicely too, although I put Dan on first just out of habit. I think she had fun though!