Success!! …it’s the little things…

It’s been wickedly cold.  And on the days it hasn’t been wickedly cold, I have had other obligations (like going to the grocery store because there is no food in the house!!) that prevented me from playing with ponies.Finally, I drug my friend’s Christmas tree to the barn to add to my tree as jump filler!  YAY!It was still bitterly cold, so I just fed the ponies and decided I just wanted to sit on the Fancy Pony while she ate. 

I had donned my helmet and grabbed a halter before heading out with the grain.  I lined them all up, fed the grain, and then haltered the princess for what may be an exercise in futility.

I haven’t been able to swing up bareback since I bulged my L5-S1 disc 2 years ago…  I had thought this through, somewhat.  You see, if the Princess hangs around rather than running off when I attempt to swing up, she is rewarded with more dinner, which is right in front of her face!
Smart, huh? 

I attempted to swing up, and her head came up as she drifted sideways away from me.  When things settled, she stuffed her face back in her bowl.

Take 2: No drift, but that head came up again.  Back to the bowl.

Take 3: I almost made it!  My leg was hanging on just in front of her flank, but she never moved.  The head didn’t come up, either.  She just waited patiently for me to wiggle on or slide off!  I decided it was going to happen today…

Take 4: I finally made it far enough on that I could wiggle the rest of the way!  The Princess Pony was nonchalant and finished her meal quietly.

Once the meals were finished, we practiced cutting some of the other horses away from the herd – just for fun, you know!  By then, I had had about all of the fun in the cold that I could stand, so I documented my success, and headed back to the warmth of “inside.”

I feel incredibly accomplished!

She is *sooooo* impressed...