Felt so Good!

Today was another good day. I didn't mess much with Sunny. Caught her, put the halter on her and then turned her out into the pasture. Didn't want her thinking that every time I get near means she works.

Instead, Jet was the object of my affection today. I hadn't been on her since before the fair in August. Well, no, that's not quite true. I did mount once earlier this month, but August was the last time I tried to get her to move while I was on her.

But before mounting, I took her out for a walk. Not as long as the one Sunny and I took. This time I went up the road and around the corner and down to the pasture. Normally we take the short cut through the trees, but I wanted her to get out around some traffic. We had three cars pass us and aside from tensing up just a wee bit, she was fine.

Once around the corner, though, she became nervous. There are two horses out in a field over there, and of course they came running over to see who Jet was. Jet was light on her toes, that's who she was! I figured the grooms at the track must feel like I was feeling; Jet is 16 hands tall, after all, and a prancing pony of that height isn't one to take lightly. Thankfully, she's not totally squirrely and managed to focus more on me than the horses. It did leave her a watchful state, however, for the rest of our walk.

At home I worked her from the ground, then went in search of Darling's riding helmet. Once it was fastened securely to my head, I mounted up. I've not got a bridle for Jet, so the halter and lead rope will have to do for now. The paddock has shrunk in size since the barn addition, so there really isn't any place to go, anyway. The last time I tried getting some forward motion out of Jet, it wasn't easy. Mostly just turns and a few steps before she quit. But not today. Today she walked forward, stopped when asked, turned on both front and hind quarters, and backed up. Beautiful! This horse is a dream.

Less than a beautiful dream is the weather forcast for Friday evening...snow...

Desperate Horsewife
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Move over, Guy Woods!

Getting ready to hit the road

Okay, maybe not. Certainly Guy Woods did an incredible job with his mustang makeover horse, but I'm feeling pretty darned proud of Sunny today. Here's the scoop:

I'd been out doing my running around in town and on my way home I heard the weather report; rain moving in. No surprise there. But the sun was shining at that moment, so I took advantage of it when I got home and saddled Sunny up, said a prayer for safety, and headed out down the road.

She was a gem. Didn't try to stop and eat the long grass on the shoulder, just followed me at a brisk pace. We rounded a corner and spotted the UPS truck coming out of a driveway towards us. As luck would have it, we were on the only portion of road that had a small shoulder, so I tried to get her off the road just a bit. She really didn't want to move into the brush, but did managed to get herself off the pavement. Never batted an eye as the big truck went past. We hadn't gone far when a van came around the corner from behind. They swung to the far side of the road and Sunny just kept walking along like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

A quarter mile later, we were at the tree farm. This place used to be the old county dump site, but it's now been covered up. Half of it has a parking lot for horse trailers, the other half has a tree farm. A person can either head up the logging road where there are beautiful views across the San Juan Islands, all the way to Victoria, Vancouver Is., or they can take the short trail and circle the tree farm. I opted for the latter.

The tree farm has a road around it; dirt, with big rocks and grasses and weeds growing through. It's wide enough so that you can get a truck around the outside if you should need to. Plenty of room for Sunny and I to walk comfortably together. I swung the end of the lead rope ahead of me to knock down any spider webs (I hate spiders), an occasionally stopped abruptly when I realized one was higher than I'd been swinging. I didn't want to walk into it, after all, and end up with one of those creepy creatures crawling on me! Sunny had to put on the brakes a couple times to avoid rear ending me.

Halfway around, we heard an engine running. Good! Something to use for training. I glanced at Sunny, who apparently didn't hear anything. As we rounded a corner I saw that they had some sort of rig with one of those people baskets...the things with long arms that lift people up high into the air. Two guys were up trimming the tips of the trees. Terrific! Something really spooky! I looked at Sunny, who apparently didn't see anything. Sheesh...deaf and blind, now, she is! When the guys saw the horse, the cut the engine. That got her attention, lol! She looked to see what was going on, but didn't balk and walked right past. Excellent!

There was only one thing that Sunny hesitated over. Poop. She saw horse poop on the trail and insisted upon stopping at each pile to sniff. She was enthralled over horse poop. Guess I know what we have to work on, eh?

Needless to say, I'm very happy with our hour long walk yesterday. If only I could get on her... She's going to make a terrific little horse...someday...

I wish I'd brought the camera, but as it was our first time out I thought it best to leave it behind. Next time, though!

Desperate Horsewife
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Good Morning, Beautiful!

Spending time with Sunny has taken away from time with Quiet Storm and Jet. That's okay, really, because she's a bit older than they are and certainly in need of the attention over the other two. Still, Jet is jealous. Not jealous in a bitter, mean sort of way. No, she's far to sweet a horse for that. But this is the view that greets me each morning when I look out the window. Jet is always at the gate waiting with a friendly whinny.

And lest ye think she's just talking food, let me set you straight. Whenever I'm in the field or paddock working, Jet is by my side. Yesterday I had the 'tractor' (old lawn mower) and trailer in the paddock so I could clean. Jet was right there, refusing to get out of my way. When I finally made it out into the field to dump the trailer, she trotted along behind so as not to miss out on any of the action.

I can hardly wait to start this filly, just wants to be with people so badly! She's got such a great, long stride on her and seems to enjoy our walks together; I think she'll really love when we can get out on some trails.

Desperate Horsewife

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