A Weekend of Pony Riding

A lot of up today

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous. Yesterday I was a bit tired, so didn't have much extra energies for stories, even if they are about me. I did pony riding on Sunday. Then again on Monday. Two days in a row of pony riding. We went a new place on Sunday with the Lady in Red and Trevey. I went in the pony trailer all by myself so we could go pick up Trevey, and then we went to the pretty place where I do a lot of my pony riding. I was a bit confused when we went on the trail to the field with all the grasses where the people do lunch eating but we didn't stop, we went up a big big hill. I had to do some stopping on the way up cos for being all huffy puffy and super sweaty. We were going exploring on Manchester loop, and you know what we learned? Cyd hasn't been pony riding that loop properly all this time, she's been going the long way around. Silly Cyd. Lucky we didn't go the long way that day, I would have been so tired. We did lots of trotting, including some big trots. I couldn't always keep up, but mostly I did. Sometimes I had to take a quick break, but then I did catching up, or Trevey waited for me cos for me not being as fit as he is. Also, Asanti the dog came along, and two times I got a growly voice, one time, when he came up behind me and I made angry faces, and one time when he was in front of me and I tried to chase him, but Cyd had my reins and made me do stopping and reminded me how to behave appropriately. Behaving appropriately isn't always the most fun but I'm getting really good at it, lots of people are saying so. We dropped off Trevey pony, and by the time we got back it was getting dark, and it was very dark by the time I got my saddle off and ate my mushy food. We have to go up the road to get back to my house, and in the dark we take a friend with a flashlight to walk behind me so the cars don't bump into us by accident. But we had no friends to help, so Cyd held the flashlight. You know how kitties like to chase laser pointers? Turns out I think it's fun to chase flashlight beams. Cyd was so confused and thought I was doing spooking, which is silly cos for her using flashlights and headlamps around me all the time for seeing in the dark. Maybe they'll make a video of me playing in the dark for you.

Watcha doing over there?

Yesterday, I went pony riding again with Aunty V and two guest peoples with Leo and Indy and Virshima. It was not such a long ride, but still big hills. I was so good at canter that a movie was made as if you're riding on me cos for Cyd borrowing a helmet camera from Aunty V. Thanks Aunty V!! On the pony ride, I went in the back like usual, that way I can take breaks if I need to and don't hold everybody up. When I get tired, I am okay with being left behind by the other ponies. When I have my breath back I can do catching up, so it's just fine by me, and Cyd likes that it's just fine by me. 

I did some super awesome cantering today, even with proper transitions and using my butt and my back and being smooth. Then Cyd had to make me do trotting cos for me catching up too close to the front ponies, not cos I was racing, just cos I do big strides now. I'm getting so strong. She got off to lead me on the down down down bit, and there was some pampas grass, and you know what Cyd did? She put it in my halter to make me a circus pony! I wasn't very impressed, but didn't shake it off or do naughty behavings. See how silly I look? It's hard being Cyd's pony sometimes!

We got back to the pony trailer, and I was so sleepy I couldn't even keep my eyes open to get my picture taken!

That's better :)

And look here's my cantering movie so you can pretend like you're doing pony riding with me!

Just Like A Grown-Up

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am super-fantastic. I am not being big headed, Cyd told me so. I was SO GOOD today, you would think I was a real grown up pony. On our whole pony ride (about three hours) Cyd never had to get off me, not once. This has never happened on our solo pony rides, we always find something for her to get off me for. Today I wore my new martingale from Aunt-E at Hooves'N'Whiskers. Cyd could have put it on me for the last two pony rides, but for various reasons it didn't happen. Today she forgot the reins with the rings on, so drove home to fetch them after me not behaving appropriately yesterday. This is me in my new gear:

And a better view of my new martingale:

It is slidey kind, so you don't compromise your steering, and bad-at-stopping ponies can be one-rein-stopped if need be. I don't need that, and Cyd doesn't like using one-rein stops, but slidey is still a good option. We like it. I started to do my head tossing when I was a bit excited, and got confused cos the martingale made me stop putting my head in the sky. I dropped it low, then slowly slowly stretched my head up to see how far I could go. Cyd laughed at me for being silly, then I put my head back where it should be and off we went. I did this a few more times, but it definitely made a good impression on my head-shaking and giraffing from yesterday.

Our first challenge today was getting me through some puddles. Cyd knew this might be a problem, cos for me hating puddles. The first one wasn't so big as she thought it might be - usually after rain it covers the whole trail. She was pleased to see there was a two foot gap to one side, so I could go around it. I totally surprised her by walking right up to the puddle itself, put my nose in and wiggled it in the muds, did some splashing, and walked right THROUGH the puddle. She gave me lots of pats and told me how amazing I was, and off we went to my next puddle. I only went straight up to that one, too! I didn't go through, this one was much deeper, and there was more trail than puddle anyway, but I went to check it out without being encouraged, totally loose rein, could go where I please.

We're practicing me stopping for snacks ready for when I do enduring. I'm really good at stopping for snacks, but I think I get to choose when, and Cyd thinks she gets to choose when. Today we practiced stopping at mutually appropriate places where it's delicious but I don't snatch the reins to get there cos that is RUDE (or so I'm told). The next bit of trail was actually kinda hard, sometimes Cyd had to lie flat on my neck to get under stuff, and we had to push through a bush where I nearly got stuck but didn't, and I pushed a fallen tree out of the way, and it was slippery but Cyd gave me my head cos I was behaving and told me to figure it out and I did. I put my head down, and stepped super carefully, and didn't get scared if I slipped a little bit, and remembered to leave Cyd's knees room around the trees cos she sticks out farther than I do. We had to go over some stuff too, and I didn't hesitate, or get confused as to the best place to go over. It was really dark in there so we didn't take pictures, plus Cyd had to do concentrating and we know how hard that is for her. Eventually we were back in the open. I had to go over more waters on the ground, but I did really good, just needed a little boomp boomp every now and again as a reminder that I can look at stuff, but not hang out for no reason. Once it was dry we practiced my trotting, and I did a polite big trot like grown ups do. I nearly got to 10mph, which is really quite fast, and it was super smooth and not too hard for me. We practiced switching between slow trot and fast trot, and how to appropriately adjust our speed for bumpy grounds. I was pretty happy when it got to snack time!

Snack

Itch

Yawn

We had a very uneventful ride back to my main loop, except for another tree crossing. It wasn't eventful, but I did really good considering it covered my whole trail, and was the fluffy kind with loads of branches. We went up the big rocky hill. I was doing so good today, Cyd didn't want to jinx us with trying to go across my ditch. I should really wear my booties to go up here, and usually if it's part of our ride we go down so Cyd can get off and lead me, but we went on the side where it's softer. No issues going past my puddles again, I drank from the deep one, and chose to go through rather than around the other one again. We were doing trottings practice when suddenly out of nowhere.... BIRD! Well, I can't be amazing all the time, right? It wasn't even a big bird, but I did spooking jumps to the left, right into a pampas grass bush thing. That spooked me again, so we flew back to the right. I didn't know what to do with myself, so I just jumped in the sky. Cyd can officially report that my new saddle is pretty spook proof, she didn't come close to falling off me, though the spook didn't feel super comfy on her back. We took a minute for me to breathe, and then went on our way to finish our pony ride. I was very well behaved the rest of the time, and barely did stopping in the spot I usually do stopping on the way home. (Cyd took me to the road so I couldn't get on the grass - if I get on the grass I act up. But then a car came way super fast and we had to skedaddle out the way onto the grass, but a little bit of naughtiness is better than any deadness so s'ok.)

All in all a very successful pony ride. Tomorrow I get a day off and a thorough grooming and some pony massage :)

Hang On Tight

Wheeeeeee! Hey everybodies, how are you? Try to keep up with me, k? It's time to go fast!!! Everywhere!!

Cyd is such a spoilsport...

"No Bugsy, you can't trot and fling your head in the sky. Do walking."
"No Bugsy, you can't trot here, it's too slick and you'll fall down cos you're not smart yet. Do walking."
"No Bugsy, you can't trot here, it's downhill and you'll hurt your legs. Do walking."
"No Bugsy, I didn't say you can trot and I'm the bossy-britches who gets to tell you what to do. Do walking."

You know what, Cyd? Walking is boring, and I am strong, and a grown up, and my new saddle feels good, and I WANT TO TROT EVERYWHERE. Or canter! If I can't trot, can I do canter? Nope, no canter either. Though Cyd was very happy that I wanted to do canter, cos for me usually not wanting to. Troubles is, everytime there was a good spot to do canter I didn't do behavings, and if I don't do behavings I don't get to do canter.

We just did a short pony ride cos for it being late cos for Cyd getting distracted with doing people running and Uncle J not feeling good so getting lunch foods for him. She was all confused where lazy quiet Bugsy was. Seems I am getting fit and strong, and instead of my two months off making me out of shape it just helped me get stronger so now I'm ready to GO! Lucky we're going to do pony riding again tomorrow, a bit further this time. Also, we need to practice at selfies without selfie-mode on the camera, we're not very good at it yet:

Finally!!!

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am a SUPERSTAR, Cyd said so, and so did Aunty V. I FINALLY got to go pony riding. Remember how my saddle didn't fit too good? It got to a point where Cyd said 'Enough' and we were not doing more pony riding in my bad saddle. After four weeks of not doing pony riding, Cyd spotted white hairs growing on me behind my withers, which just confirmed to us that it was good I was not wearing my bad saddle any more. But then I had to sit around and wait for a new kind. Finally we spotted a great deal, but we had to patiently wait until it arrived from Ireland. But on Tuesday it arrived. Cyd brought it to my house to try it on me, and we wandered in the field for a second but no time to pony ride. This is my new saddle:

Today Cyd stopped by the barn where my friends live to say hi to my Aunty V, and got talking to her and the guest peoples she was going to do pony riding with. They all said "Come ooon Cyd, bring Bugsy pony riding with us". So she ran to fetch me, and woke me up from sleeping flat out on the ground, and Aunty V got me brushed while Cyd put my things on, and we got in the pony trailer to adventure. I was super excited when we arrived, so did grazing for a minute and quickly settled into finding what things I could mess with, and entertaining everyone by being given a whole carrot, holding one end in my teeth, and banging the other side on the pony trailer to break it into a more bite sized piece! It took Cyd a minute to figure out all the settings on my new saddle, and hop on and off to do stirrup adjusting and stuffs. I had some hijinks walking up the hilly trail at the start, but mostly settled and walked politely. I was huffing and puffing and made sweats right away cos for being out of shape. I was polite at waiting while people did Windy Knoll pictures, and only had one moment where Cyd had to make everyone stop cos for me doing bouncing on a grand scale and not keeping hoofies appropriately on the ground. That was my worst badness of the day. I didn't freak out at the man on a small tractor machine cutting away the coyote brush (though he did stop while we came past at least). I didn't want to do drinking at the puddle cos for it being a puddle and puddles are scary, and Cyd said suit yourself, you'll learn that puddles are good for drinking if you get thirsty. There was a slushy bit of ground and I did reversing uphill to not get my toes wet, and finally scooted around it without Aunty V coming to get me like she usually has to. I did good walking down the Green Gate trail (Cyd led me for practicing), and a giant but polite leap over the fallen tree. I didn't even hesitate over the noisy bridge. I politely waited at lunch time, barely tried to escape, and didn't bother the other ponies. Cyd forgot to save me any m&ms, but I did get some apples and carrots and polo mints and grasses so I did okay. I had to do a full circuit of the spooky mounting log to suss it out before I would stand next to it for Cyd to get back on me. Next trail was Abalobodiah, which is one of Cyd's favourite. I TOTALLY DID CANTER UP IT!!! I have not done that properly all the way before. We had a few planned breathers, but everytime we all did canter, I did canter. I also did some bucking cos for it being so exciting, and Cyd says it's strange to feel me doing bucking (my new saddle is treeless so she can better feel my body doing things) but that it was very secure. We did walking to get to North Boundary trail, and on the way had to go past the puddle. I marched right in there and drank a whole ton! There was a tree to cut, and Aunty V needed help so Cyd hopped off. There was nowhere to tie me so she left me with grasses to snack on, and clipped my rein to a weedy branch. I didn't leave cos I'm good (and starving). I didn't even get scared when Aunty V went "WAAAAAAAHH" super loud for doing Godzilla-style tree crushing. On we went! North Boundary trail is fun, and very very steep in places. Us ponies have to do bounding to get up it easily, and the people have to lean off our backs and hang on to our manes. I got up there with no issues. I have done it one time before, so Cyd knew I could do it, but she didn't expect it to be so good as I did it. Troubles is, there was a tree down that we couldn't cut through. We had to turn around and go DOWN the super steep trail. Aunty V led her Leo-pony down, and Cyd stayed on my back, but kicked her feet out of the stirrups just in case I slipped and she needed to get out of my way quickly. Apparently riding a treeless saddle and being stirrupless down super steep trails and guiding a not-quite-grown-up pony is a good core exercise. I made it with just a few teeny mistakes, and didn't freak out at a little skid, and was good at taking care of us. I got a bit confused when we got to the trail junction cos for forgetting where we parked the pony trailer and thinking Cyd was trying to get me lost after dark again. She wasn't though. The sunset was incredible and the people all went "Oooh" and "Aaah" and did picture taking. Aunty V is going to send us the pictures another day so you can see them. Treve and Rascal decided they should escort us down the hill, and I totally didn't get too bad even when they did trot and canter around us. Only one time I tried to bolt. Cyd was on the ground leading me, and we're not too sure how but somehow she got out of my way, got me stopped, hung on to my rope, and didn't fall down. Reflex ninja kicked in apparently. I was a bit grumpy going down the hill cos for being tired and confused, then saw the pony trailer. I got in pretty okay even though it was really dark in there. I was so ready for my bucket snacks when we got home, and all my hay foods. But Cyd is super duper proud of me, and she has to work all week so I can get my energies back. She is going to come double-check my back tomorrow, but it looks like I'm good to go in my saddle! Yippeeee! We also used our new reins from Aunt-E, and Cyd really really likes them. Apparently next time I get to use our new martingale cos for me doing head tossing, and it's not my head or my teeth or my saddle or my bit. I get carried away when it's exciting sometimes, and need a quicker reminder than Cyd can always give me. Aunt-E made it too, we'll show you next time. Cyd's phone did breaking, which is why this post isn't filled with my pictures, but some will be coming soon. Here's a picture of me in my new reins though, so you still get to look at me. Can't have you forgetting how handsome I am!

Photos Of Meeee

Hello everybodies. How are you? I am fabulous as always. I got my feeties trimmed yesterday so soon when my new saddle gets here I'll be totally ready for pony riding again. I was aq bit naughty for doing feet trimming, Cyd says we have to work on my manners big times. Lucky my trimmer lady is patient with my antics, and we come to an agreement. Remember how I said that I was not appropriately mind-ready to do pony riding for new year traditions? Well, Aunt-T took a ton of pictures of me. So since I don't have much to say, you can look at me all you like. There is 153 of me, so it was hard for Cyd to pick which ones I should do blogging with. Enjoy looking at me, k?

Neeeeooooww

Chaaaarge

Incoming

Emergency stoppings

Bugsy close up

Bunched up

Looong

So pretty

Looking more like something Cyd wants to ride hehe

Snack break before doing proper circles

Sunshine napping

Doing kisses with my bestie

Doing workings

Oooh plasticky

The sweats are in my eyeballs!

Finally

We look pretty good, right?

Aunt-T snuck this one of Cyd

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybodies! Reflecting on my doings and my 2015 plannings is coming soon, as well as my today craziness, but for now, enjoy me in a tiara.