Yesterday we loaded the girls up for the second day in a row and took
them over to ride with some old friends at the agistment property we
kept our first ponies at years and years ago. We then all went out on
a road ride around the suburb I grew up in. I was feeling very
nostalgic!!
I was so.very.proud of them! Allie was rock solid all day - not one
hissy fit or tantrum or anything! She was even carrying the saddle
bags for the first time and after a little lunge with a couple of
leaps she didn't worry about them flapping on her flanks for the rest
of the ride. They had cars, dogs, lawn mowers, kids on bikes, idiot
drivers in cars beeping and yelling things at us, skateboards, soccer
and footy training and a score of other distractions and potential
mind blowing things to think about and process and Allie just took her
ques from the other older horses and like I said, she was rock solid.
I felt like I had a much older more experienced horse under me. :D
Gracie and Nat had a harder day. Grace was very good for Grace, but
the first bike blew her mind - I think we were all too worried about
how she would react to so much stimulation when we should have just
let her deal with it by herself. Poor Nat was tense too. Gracie was
much better when she was way way out infront but when she was behind
or had to stand still she just lost patience, head shaking, stamping,
tail swishing, spinning around, pushing into and ignoring her handler
(when Nat led her and when we stopped for a rest next to a busy
shopping centre and skate park) and generally being a brat. BUT when
she was being good (which was most of the time) she was very very
good. Nat said at first she didn't feel like there was much horse
under her, and she was tense for quite a while at first. Gracie is
just too smart and her little mind ticks over very quickly and as a
rider you need to keep her mind on the job otherwise she has to think
about everything else going on and it blows her mind. I am super proud
of Nat though for sticking it out. It was a hard ride on her but they
did get some really nice, relaxed stuff out of it (like in the video
below). I do have to mention though that if any other horse but Allie
got in her (enormous totally unreasonably sized 20m circle) personal
space bubble then Gracie would make faces, and twice she leapt in the
air and kicked out at one poor adorable pony (Allie tried making a
face at him too, she followed Gracie's lead, it was kind of cute).
But all up, a satisfactory day. And I never though we would be able to
ride Gracie on the streets past motor bikes and trucks on main roads,
through parks and reserves with kids playing soccer or footy, over
pedestrian crossings and through tiny park fences, crossing main
roads and dealing with dogs, and and and she really is a super mare
for keeping her head for most of the day. She is a difficult horse but
I am so proud of them both.
Here is the the video and a couple of pics:
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| Ready to head off. |
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| Wondering where we are going today! |
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| We are off! |
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| About half way through the ride, next to a main road. |
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| She is looking at the kids playing footy in the park. This is her thoroughbred pose. |
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| Belle, Glitter (the poor pony Gracie hated), Eddie and Chelsea outside the shopping centre waiting for Maccas cookies. |
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| Back from the ride before we loaded up to go home. |
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| They were so tired they didn't even fight about being tied to the same tree. |
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| Two pooped ponies! |
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| Wake up, time to go! |
