Updates On My Labrador Retriever

Sophie was kept busy this week! With the cooler weather earlier in the week she was feeling quite feisty and showing off her moves. Sadly, no pictures as I needed all hands on the wheel. I'll just say she's more than a nice enough mover for my goals and seeing the difference that extra energy made in her movement was pretty exciting for me. Also, she definitely knows verbal trot and canter cues, so I can be firmer about them being prompt from my voice on her lazier days.

Knows her words

We also got out for some trail walks, with and without Bridget. She was super good the day my husband came with me and led Bridget while I led Sophie.  I try to simulate a real trail ride as much as possible and have them alternate leading the way. I also encourage G to take Bridget far ahead and out of sight, or far behind and trot to catch up to us...all things good trail horses need to be solid about. I was feeling pretty rough that day and the steep hills were hard for me, so I felt proud that she happily matched my pace and didn't fuss at all about what anyone else was doing. Best moment of the day was that my husband historically prefers to lead Bridget because she just follows along with minimal input, but when we traded on the last bit heading home he didn't want to give Sophie back because she was so polite with him. Progress!

She's still living life in the round pen. I had great plans of both ponies spending the summer on pasture, but Sophie took too much of a liking to scratching her butt on the fences and breaking them, and Bridget's weight exploded. Both their feet kind of fell apart too...Bridget's especially. Being easy keeping ponies, I feel better about keeping them on minimal 24/7 pasture and feeding low sugar hay instead of taking my chances with the super rich pasture currently on offer. I have had people say I'm crazy because pasture is free food, but I think the $50-$100 of low sugar hay each month is worth the peace of mind.

So round.

The interesting side effect of Sophie having her own condo is that my friendly pony is now extra friendly. On one hand, I feel bad because she's likely a little lonely. On the other hand, there are lots of other horses on the farm for her to talk to over fences, and there are people around all day. I fee like its really helping her mature - she's way less silly and distracted by the other horses and a lot more confident in herself.

I got her this ball thingy that dispenses bits of her grain as she plays with it. Best investment ever, she plays with it for hours.

I'm there a minimum of 5 days a week and she gets a good grooming and an outing on those days.  The huge benefit to me of her living alone is that she's super tuned into me. Since the first day I met her I've been her self appointed best human friend, and that bond seems to be extra strong right now.

Has feelings about me making het wear a bit tho.

She gets SO excited when my truck pulls in, and of course follows me everywhere. Its pretty cute. Who needs a dog when I have two extra people oriented ponies?