A Mare-y Week

If you recall, we left off with Bridget being Bridget - conveniently forgetting she knows how to go forward. I was being me, and got frustrated. We both know better.

The sign above the door to B's barn. I need one on the door to my house some days, too :D

B got a few days off, mostly because our weather has been horrible, but also partly because I needed a mental reset.  Of course, when I popped on her on Friday, she was super forward and pushy and motivated and I could barely get her to slow down and walk. The complete opposite to what she came out with on our no good, very bad ride on Monday.

So cute, so opinionated.

Ponies :) She's so funny. I did very much appreciate the peace offering and just let her blast around and have fun for a bit before we did a little bit of work balancing that freight train canter. She was amazing, so she got to go visit friends ringside.

I so wish I had video, but my horsey friend offered B a bucket of water and B attacked that thing I think thinking it was full of grain. Two giant shark bites of water before she realized and spit it out everywhere. Poor B, we seem disappoint her endlessly.

Out for a walk in the rain and wind.

She had a couple of more days this weekend of just walk/trot hacks around the neighbourhood to stretch her legs, because the weather has been so awful that left to her own devices she just hides in her shelter and doesn't move.

B feels this deeply.

And then there is Sophie, who also had a lot of feelings this weekend. She's got a gelding friend (who is very handsome but I think actually hates her) but she is in love and it's all very unfair when she has to be apart from him.

 Typically, she is aware of other horses, but is quite happy to hang out with her humans and head out for adventures without her herdmates. She found that s little tougher than normal this weekend, for whatever reason.

She had a farrier appointment Sunday, and so I arrived early to groom her and check in with her. That goodness I did, because not only was she filthy, but she had a ton of feelings about standing in the barn away from her gelding friend.

What a lovely sight greeting me at the gate.

I changed the conversation and put her in the round pen to burn off steam and remind her to focus on me. On one hand it was fun, on the other hand, apparently she's the type where letting her move only increases the excitement. Pony does not get tired, lol.

It was pretty fun to see her really showing off and move - again, wish I had video but I was there alone and she's not totally solid as far as consistently knowing my cues so I need to pay attention and help her out a little if needed. At her age, I don't expect anything complicated, but I do want her respectful of me and of my space and to walk/trot/canter/reverse/whoa when I ask. 

It's exciting to me that even just kind of burning off steam in the round pen, her transitions up and down are usually very balanced. She knows how to step under and push and lift through her back and it's her preferred way of moving. She stepped into the wrong lead or a disunited canter a couple of times when my timing was off and I asked as she looked to the outside, but she just sat back and changed leads and sorted it without getting into a muddle. Pretty exciting for me as that balance she already has is something Bridget very much had to build strength for and be taught through hours and hours of repetition.

Princess is not pleased, even with her hay bribe.

Anyway...The farrier. S was a little terror. She just.could.not.focus. To give her her due, she really did try, but pony brain was well and truly fried and just kind of "done". Note to self : keep it simple...sticking her in the round pen to work a bit was fun and productive as far as that went, but it pretty much used up all available data space in the pony brain for the day. I really didn't set her up for success for a farrier appointment.

Awesome farrier was super patient, and had S trimmed up in 20 minutes or so, but there was a reversion back to kicking out with her back legs and generally being a bit pushy and ignorant and having a bit of a temper tantrum. On the plus side, it's been a few months since we've seen that Sophie - I had actually hoped she was gone forever! Fingers crossed we continue to see less of her in the future as she matures further (and I continue to learn to read what she's telling me a bit better and hopefully don't push too far past the line where it's a positive learning experience to where she's telling me her baby pony brain can't cope anymore.)

Somewhere out there her prince is waiting. Youd think she'd want to fix her hair first, lol