New Grown Up Adventures

Hey everybodies. How are you? I am fabulous, and while my little body is not too tired, my brain certainly is. We did two times of pony riding this week, and they were short rides where I had to learn a lot of stuff. I mostly did everything right, but of course I had some silly moments too!

Ready to pony ride

My first being-a-grown-up day was on Wednesday. Cyd got me brushed which took forever cos for me being super dirty. Then I got my things on, Cyd put on her helmet and we walked to where my friends live. Or so I thought. We totally went in that direction, and Aunty V was in the driveway, and I tried to turn to go in ready to get on the pony trailer, but Cyd made me not do that. She told Aunty V we were going to somewhere called South Trail. There was a man there wearing park uniform, and he said there was chainsawing happening, but he would walk with us and make them stop so I didn't get scared. Thank you nice man for making me not be scared. We went across the highway and down to the trail. I was a bit nervous and did some dancing when it was mounting time, so we did some deep breathing. This made me more calm and Cyd hopped on. I was doing super bouncy walking, and was very looky at all the things. We had to go past campsites and there were big people-sleeping-trailers and tents and small children doing running and fires and just so much to look at. A bit of the trail goes along the road between Lake Cleone (more of a big pond) and where it is all flooded or maybe a pond, we don't remember. I was a bit scared to go through and we discussed it for a while. I still didn't want to go, so Cyd hopped off and let me walk behind her. It wasn't so scary when I could let her go in the front. She got back on and off we went again. Next obstacle - going under a bridge. This was barely a big deal, I was a little confused by the extra noise my hoofies made underneath but it was okay. Then the biggest problem of all - moving off the grey ground to step on the black ground. I decided this was absolutely not okay, and I couldn't possibly step on different coloured ground. Lucky not many cars wanted to come past, and even a motorcycle came by and didn't scare me, but that black ground was awful. We finally ended up hopping the little fence to get to the trail that way, with a promise from Cyd that we would not be going home until I walked on the black ground. I liked going up through the long grasses that came up to Cyd's knees.

We took a grazing break at the top, cos for my brain needing to settle down and process all the things I saw and did already. Our next adventure was not exciting for me, I do walking on woods trails all the time. But we came into a clearing and WHOA! There's the ocean crashing around being all scary. Emergency stop! 

Once I got my breath back, we ambled around the bluffs for a little bit then went back to face my nemesis - the black ground. I didn't want to go again, so Cyd hopped off me and turned my reins into a lead rope. Then she made me do circle practice. What?? We don't do circle practice up here on the trail. Some people started watching me go around. I never noticed that we were sneaking closer to the black ground until "cliphcloph" I was on the black ground. Boing! I jumped right off. We went back to it, and Cyd said I had to follow her. I did a jump and made it on the black ground. Deep breathing Bugsy, s'ok, you can do this. Off the black ground, on the black ground, off the black ground, then Cyd got back on. We did the same thing again, which was boring now cos for me being totally over it. We went all the way down the path back to the road, where Cyd had to have a noisy discussion with a stupid head who was convinced that her kids needing to see the pretty pony were more important than what was appropriate or even safe for all the people involved. The ponds didn't scare me on the way back, and then we walked on a sandy bit to practice for beach pony riding when I'm more grown up. I was a bit looky again on the way home, but super brave when the chainsaws were going. Finally one of the guys spotted me and made the noise stop so I didn't get scared and cross the highway at the same time. I waited patiently for all the cars and when there was a gap I politely walked across to go home. What a clever pony I am!

You know how we're waiting for me to be a grown up before I go to the beach? I'm totally a grown-up now. Yesterday, I went to the beach kinda all by myself, with Aunt-T on foot. She wanted a test subject to practice taking photos and she thought of me cos for me being so nice to look at. She told Cyd we should go walking to the beach, but Cyd had already been planning to ride me to the Haul Road and go on the beach if I felt okay. It would be perfect to have an extra person, cos for in case I make Cyd (or me) fall down. I was much braver going down the trail this time, with just a bit of looking at all the things. I got a bit stuck when the trail went from gravelly path to paved, but Aunt-T walked over and gave me some pets, then walked away so I followed her to get unstuck.

The road was mostly not scary, there was some stuff to check out but I did good. Then it was time to be really good, and go on the sand. I was so brave! I sampled some sand grasses cos for it being important to try new things. I also made a hole in the sand with my nose like a silly pony. We walked about for a little bit, and I did lots of looking, and staring into the distance doing contemplating cos for being a thoughtful grown up pony now.

 We walked over to somewhere called Seal Rock where all the seals do their sunbathing to do resting from swimming and safeties from the sharks. I should probably not go in the oceans so I don't become a shark snack either. 

Seal Rock posing

Basically my beach riding was all uneventful. This is exciting cos for now we can go on short rides and do pony riding more often. Before, we had to go on long adventures, even our short rides took a long time, so when Cyd had lots of people things to do, I didn't always get to go pony riding. Now I have more options for short rides. Yay! Thanks Aunt-T for taking all my beach pictures, I hope I was good to help you practice. Here's my other pictures: