All is-finally-well.

Rode my stiff pony for the first time since...uh, 2013. :)) I think my last ride was the weekend before New Years? I don't even know. But good news, he's not stiff anymore. Woot! Either the glucosomine is working or the warmer weather has done him good-been in the 50's instead of 1 degree.....-and he was perfectly sound for our ride, very barn sour, but sound. Spirit was barn sour as well. I haven't used a crop in months but I wished I had brought one for that ride. Both of them were so, so, so lazy. I guess that's what no riding in I don't know how long will do. ;)

Bad pony in the wrong pasture!

Red and a few other horses keep jumping to the equipment lot, literally jumping the fence, I believe, to get to the nicer grass. So of course, I found him in there, looking at me like, "Uh, I promise I didn't do this. I was bullied into it. I'm not bad!" he made up for it by leading mostly willingly until he realized where we were going, then he put on the brakes. Then he started going when he saw Spirit. Walked him super slowly on the concrete driveway and he knew the drill, tippy toes.

It took me a solid 30 minutes just to get my saddle on. Stinkin' heavy things and tall horses. (And short people.)



I'm really upset at how much muscle he's lost, I think he's lost a couple pounds, too. Granted, he's fluffy in this and not groomed to perfection-on a time limit!-and he has a pot belly. :)) No work in 3+ weeks will do that to a horse. Back to work now, mostly. It's snowing right now. Again.

We also found Spirit laying down in the pasture...he actually let us sit next to him which was a huge shock. He used to be so scared and didn't trust us at all.

 

He laid flat out for awhile and sunbathed, the beginnings of a lazy Spirit.

 

Anywho, got tacked up quick and headed out to the fruit & berry patch where the ponies were extremely stubborn. Not much to report, they were lazy but it was a good ride. Got a little bit of trotting in but not much because the ground was soggy and slippery.

Trotting by the pond.

Posing! In his new tack. :)

On a complete different note, I'm really proud of my EQ. My heels are staying down really well in this saddle, my reins are low, typically at his wither unless I'm stopping a barn sour horse. ;) A far cry from awhile back.

 

Words can't express how amazing it was to be back on MY horse after so long. Just that made it a great ride, whether or not we established any new things. And seeing him sound again is a huge plus.

 

Then, yesterday I went over for a short visit so my older brother, fresh out of rehab who is doing extremely well, could meet Spirit and say hello to Red. He had already met Redhead about a year ago. He's the only real "horsey sibling" I have. He used to rope a little and rode our old horses almost daily, soon we'll go out for a ride.

Smile!

Red officially has the whole "I smile when I see a camera" thing down. :) He was nudging my pocket with the treats and smiling the whole time I was there, crazy horse.

 

The head that was in my face when I was cleaning his nasty legs and hooves.

I'm really excited about our bond and groundmanners. He's never had bad groundmanners, he's a dream on and off of the ground, stubborn, but awesome. Very sweet, stands for everything, loads without a question asked, loving, but the thing I hated was he never seemed to be excited when I showed up. I'm just another girl at the barn, but lately, he's actually been nickering at me, following me around and he seems to prefer me to everyone. Wrapping his head around me, as usual, and not doing it with anyone else. Plus every time I leave, he either wants to follow after me or whinnies. The other day he CHASED the van in the pasture next to the driveway. (I may or may not have come back, gave him a treat and left again.) And when I'm turning him out, he pretty much refuses to leave me. But he leaves willingly with A or mom.

Mom took this picture when I was outside of the barn. As usual, he's watching loyally.

This post is getting long so I'll end it here.

I love my horse. And he may even love me back.