Lovely January Days

I've tried to make use of the beautiful days we are having mid-winter.
Fancy Pony is all clipped up for serious work and exhibition. Hubby offered to practice with his new camera while I rode!  He brings us this gem:

After I finished my own playing, I offered to share my ride with CG. Here, she is trying to find her ideal balanced position while exploring a new level of confidence! 

 

I totally thought I had already published this post..... 

Rough Edges

Step 1: Retrieve horse from Pasture:

Appreciate the rough edges...

 

Consider all the hair...

Step 2: Remove as much crud as possible!

This is just the start...

 

Step 3: Make sure that mane is out of your way! 

Experimenting with the running braid...

 

 

The forelock is not excluded today...

 

 

She asks: Did we really have to?

 

 Step 4: Clip and clean up bridle path and legs.

Go the extra mile by having your friend pose your horse for pictures!

Thank you, Genny!

Bridle path, ears, and legs cleaned up!

 Step 5: Dive in with the clippers until you like the look!

 

Frist trace clip, EVER!

 Step 6: Show off your hard work while waiting for the inevitable clipper lines to grow out!!

 

Fancy, yet?

 

 

Definitely fancy!!

 

 

 

 

What To Do With Your Christmas Tree (videos)

Cricket and Girl, followed my Fancy Pony and myself...

They also make great fillers for oxers!

Holiday Horse Show - Part 3

The Fancy Pony took me on an adventure!

And we got video!!!!
Sorry for the late posting.  Somehow, I thought I had already published this one...  Oops!

RSA Talk ofthe Street - OEV Holiday Show - hunter round 1:

RSA Talk ofthe Street - OEV Holiday Show - hunter round 2:

RSA Talk ofthe Street - OEV Holiday Show - hunter round 3 (eq):

ENJOY!

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...

 

 

Holiday Horse Show - Part 2

I took Baby Dax to his very first outing!

I had no idea what to expect of him.  When he was unloaded and tied to the trailer, he was obviously confused...
Where are we?
Why are we here?
What am I supposed to be doing??

I knocked the mud off of him, tacked him up, and climbed right up to head to the ring to school a little.

Well, in the ring, lots of chaos was going on and everyone was cluckiong and smooching to keep their horses forward over scary ground poles and cross rails.  And I just wanted Dax to walk around like a sane horse!

He just **KNEW** that everyone was clucking and smooching at *him*.
Baby Dax almost had a melt down...

So, before it got too bad, I hopped down and just held the reins in the middle of the ring, letting him absorb the choas without asking for a thing.  That derpy head finally dropped and he started breathing again.  Luckily, the goal at this show was *just* to get some miles on him!
I had entered him in the ground pole division.

I only managed to lead him over a couple ground poles before it was time to show.
So, in we go for our simple little baby ground pole course.  We weren't even going to make it over the first one!  All the decorations were so scary!  But, Baby Dax trusted that he wouldn't die, and went over all the poles...  although he never went over them straight...

Round 2, we were getting the hang of it on one side, but down the side with the spectators was still scary!

Round 3, though, takes the cake!  We were approaching the line on the spectator side, and we were actually headed straight!!  We were headed confidently forward with quiet purpose...  when a spectator blew her nose just as we came next to her!!!
Poor Baby Dax lost his mind and slid stright sideways!  I started cackling so hard, I don't know how I managed to get him back onto the line and over the pole, but somehow we managed.

We hit the under saddle classes, and he derped along with very little concern.  We lined up, then they announced the placings...  And he just didn't know what to do when everyone started clapping!  When all was said and done, I walked him over to check out the spectators, and he decided that maybe they were OK after all.

Sleepy Baby Dax in the back...

Once his duty was over, he ate a little hay, then promptly fell into a deep sleep...  You might notice his head (behind Cricket) his hanging as low as his rope will allow.  His eyes were closed, and he might well have been snoring...  I was worried I would wake him up if I got any closer, and Baby Dax had definitely earned that nap!!

Ribbon Tree!

Holiday Horse Show - Part 1

What could be better than meeting a fellow blogger in person?
Running into them by accident an a horse show!!


There I was waiting around for my turn to ride the Fancy Pony in the 2'6" hunter division, and a fellow comtetitior came up and said, "Pardon me, what is your horse's name?"
Of course, I had to list them off:
Whisper
RSA Talk ofthe Street
She interjected, "I read your blog!"

No way!  Did I actually just meet someone in our blogging circle?
I was, indeed, talking with A Gift Horse!

I wanted to squeal and jump up and down!

Same place, same time!  PROOF!!

Not that Fancy Pony would approve of such shenanigans...  She is way more sophistocated than that...

So sophisticated...

Of course, it's not real on the internet unless there are pictures...
I'm looking forward to getting together with her again.  You know...  On purpose...
I'm thinking I might need to sway her to the dark side...
I mean, cross-country schooling is a great excuse for a get-together, right??