Pony Rides

What does one do when you have a skunk in your stable?

I have no idea.

I dislike like skunks. That was slightly an understatement. There is only one animal in the world that I absolutely despise, and that would be a skunk. I would much rather see a mouse or a snake. Skunks, uh no. Luckily the thing left the premises. I decided to put some moth balls in my tack room just to make sure it won't come back. I have no desire to see that guy again...

In other news Lady is becoming quite popular. This past week because it was the 4th of July I had a lot of family in town. Several of my little cousins were begging their parents to come over and see my horses. I said that would be fine and I would give them pony rides on Lady. They absolutely adored her, and Lady was such a sweetheart. She seemed to really enjoy letting them ride her. She acted happy and content. It was very cute.

A fun little fact is that when I bought my western saddle awhile back it came with a pair of kids stirrups. The kind that just fit over the saddle horn. I hadn't ever used them before, but I was able to put them to good use this time. They worked good and helped the kids to feel more secure in the saddle. A great bonus!

Window Shopping

     Window shopping on the internet for horse stuff is a fun way to waste time. I looking through all the saddle pads, bridles, etc. and imagining what that would look like on my horses. Of course sometimes I am actually somewhat realistic in my window shopping. Last night I was browsing and writing down a list of things I need/like to buy for my ponies. Particular both horses need a new saddle pad. An english one for Mya and a western one for Lady. So naturally I was searching for those.

I liked this one a lot. The way it was quilted is really nice and adds a fun touch. I also like the material its made out of. The type on the bottom is supposed to help with moisture and sweating. The saddle pad has that nice piping around the edge too.

This saddle pad is the same brand as the one above but is a different variation. The quilting is a little different and it comes in different colors. I think I like the quilting better in the other pad but I do like the bright color of this one.

I liked the vintage rose color of this pad. Its the same brand as the other two, but once again with different quilting. 

I'd like to buy a half pad to use with Mya. I hear the make the horse more comfortable.

And then I couldn't help looking at polo wraps. I want some that would match the saddle pads above.

I really liked the bright blue color of these polo wraps.

haha Okay, I know I didn't post any green saddle pads above but I just loved the look of these. Green is one of my favorite colors and I love the bright green checked pattern of these.

This was one of the western saddle pads that I liked for Lady. It looks really comfortable and well made. I liked the Navajo pattern and color of this pad.

 I liked how they incorporated blue into this saddle pad. It sets the rest of it off in a nice pattern and color.

And then the last thing I wanted to buy was these leather cleaning wipes. One is leather cleaner and the other is conditioner. These look super easy and quick to use. I've heard some great things about them from other equestrians, so I wanted to give them a try. 

     Of course I won't buy all this stuff but it is some things I had my eye on. Particularly the saddle pads. Like I said before Mya and Lady really need some new ones. Besides who doesn't like to go window shopping?

Lady Earns Her Keep

     I haven't been able to do a whole lot with my horses the last two weeks. Do to quite a bit of traveling I was only able to do stuff with the ponies in between all busyness of life. I should be able to spend more time with them the next couple of days which I am happy about. Who doesn't like to spend time with their horses? I know that I miss it a ton when I can't.

     On one of those days in between I got to put Lady to good use. I had Lady earn her keep so to speak. Lady gave her first official kid riding lesson. She made me excited and proud of her. This is why I wanted her in the first place! I wanted a horse that anyone could come over and ride. Personally I love giving riding lessons which is another reason why I was excited to get her. Lady has quickly become part of my zoo family. ("the zoo" is what I call all of my animals/pets) I really am liking her a lot.

     The lesson itself went really well I think. Lady behaved well and listened pretty nicely to her rider. The rider was an 11yr boy (who is a cousin of mine) who loves horses. This was his first time riding Lady of course so considering that I think they worked together good. I had them start out with just riding around the ring and getting used to each other. Once they seemed more relaxed I had him start do some steering exercises. Basically we started out with a figure eight and then got more complicated from there. I ended up putting a couple of poles in the center between the two buckets I was using for the figure eight thing and I had him maneuver Lady through the poles. Once he could do that I had him halting her in the middle of the poles every time he and Lady went through them. I pretty much had him doing an obstacle course with her.

     The second part of the lesson was a little more fun. In amongst my collection of horse books I have one the is full of just games you can play of horseback. Its a pretty sweet book. I was going through that particular book the other day and I found this game using a catalog. It sounded pretty fun so I thought I would have said lesson student person above play it. The idea of the game was that you would have a catalog (in this case a Dover Saddlery catalog) sitting on a bucket at one end of the arena. The rider and their horse would be at the other end of the arena. I would then give you a number of a page in the catalog, say go, and then you would have to ride to the other end of the arena. Once you got there you would hop off flip through the catalog until you found the correct page number, rip that page out, mount your horse, and ride back to the start. All the while I would be timing you to see how fast you could do it. The game was a hit. I think he (and Lady!) liked it a bunch. I even played it! We had a lot of fun with that one. I'm going to have to try out some more of those games out of that book...

A Treat

     Because Lady tends to over eat, I have been putting her up at night in the paddock. The paddock has been working as a dry lot so that she gets only 12 hours of grazing more or less a day. This way she won't get too fat and founder. Well I went out to get her from the pasture last night to put her up and I had this idea. Wouldn't it be fun to jump on her bareback and ride her around for a bit? (I'm loving the fact that she's a lot shorter than Mya because I can actually get on her without a mounting block.) I caught her and put her halter on and then just tied the lead rope around like reins. I led Lady over to a slope in the hill so it would be easier to jump on her back. Once I was on her I just started by walking her around the pasture. Mya was funny because the whole time she just stood in the middle of the field and watched us while she continued to graze. Then I decided to trot her. That was so much fun. It took me a minute to find my balance, and Lady was such a good horse because every time I started to loose my balance she would slow down. I got used to her trot quickly though and we had so much fun trotting up and down the fence line. She behaved so well, and she was only in a halter! I was practically laughing I was have so much fun. I'll have to ride her bareback some more soon.

     I have tried several different kinds of horse treats, but I've found that these are my favorite. The horses absolutely love them! Not only do Mya and Lady love them but also Henry and even Bear. Yes, my dog loves the horse treats and begs me to give him one every I open them up. Every once in awhile I give in and give him one. What's funny about these treats is that they are actually the cheapest kind at Tractor Supply. I've tried some of the more expensive kind but my horses like these the best. I'm not going to argue about it though! The last time I got the oatmeal and raisin kind so this time we are trying the apple and carrots one. We'll see which one the zoo likes better.

Alien Ponies

     I have several different pastures and each one of them has a "name". Well the names have more to do with their size or location. At the moment the horses are in the front pasture. The front pasture is the second largest and borders our biggest pond. We keep it mowed so they have lots of lush green grass. I walked out there to check on them and they were munching away happily. Because they both have fly masks on I jokingly call them alien horses. I'm not sure they liked that a whole lot...

I call this one synchronized tail swishing. :D

     We also just picked up a horse trailer. Its a two-horse trailer that we are borrowing for the summer from a friend. I am hoping to take Mya to a couple of local shows and I would love to trailer her out to the lesson barn and take some lessons on her. But first I have to get her in the trailer and take her down to the vet to get her coggins done. I don't think she's been in a trailer in a really long time. I haven't trailered her since I got her. I plan on just taking it slow and getting her used to it. Last night we worked a little on it. I used carrots to make the experience more pleasant. I think Mya did okay. She didn't act spooky or crazy. She just wasn't thrilled about the idea of getting in it. But I think if we continue to work at it she'll end up loading fine.

It had just been washed so the trailer was still a little wet.

Mya wasn't quite sure what she thought of it.

My Mares

     I have to admit I had my doubts about Lady in the beginning. She seemed jumpy when I first got her. But I think all she needed was a job and a purpose. Since she's settled in here, she has become a sweet and nice horse. Yesterday I went out to the field to catch her and ended up deciding just to ride her around the pasture bareback. Even though she just had a halter on she behaved, well, like a little lady. She was a lot of fun to ride bareback. I think I'm going to like this horse a lot.
     Mya also got a workout last night. I am trying to build her muscle up so that she can do more under saddle. So last night I had her working in the round pen. We started out by warming up at the walk, trot, and then the canter. (Did I mention this horse loves to canter?) Then I added a couple a poles for her to go over. She passed those with flying colors. (and she was practically flying) I then decided to add a small cross rail jump. It took her a little bit to get the concept of it. She hasn't jumped in awhile. At the start she just knocked the poles down most of the time. But by the end I got a nice jump over the cross rail from her. I was happy with it so we ended the lesson there. All together I think Mya did pretty well and she got a good workout.
    

Cow Pony

     Lady's lesson of the day was working in the round-pen lunging with a bit. Since she isn't accustomed to having a bit in her mouth, I've been slowly getting her used to it. The first time I put the bit on her she just sat there for an hour chewing and chomping on it. This time she seemed more fine with it. Less chewing. One thing I'm impressed with about her is that putting the bridle on her is really easy. She takes the bit right away, unlike Mya who is pretty bad about it. Since she was doing good I decided to saddle and take her down to the roundpen to free lunge her. I thought Lady did really well. The bit didn't seem to bother her at all and she paid more attention to me this time. I have to say Lady looked so cute all saddled up. I said she looked like a little cow pony.