Making New Friends

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous as always. Today I had a fun pony ride with Aunty V and Leopony, Aunt-T and Indypony, and new friend S and Tpony, who is S's own pony come to visit with her. I was really a grown up today, you wouldn't believe how good I did. I was on my own side of the trailer without any fussing while we waited for our new friend to get ready. 

I walked politely, didn't get upset when I got left behind on the big hill, did my trottings and canterings mostly appropriately except for one tantrum where I even managed to inside-out-upside-down my hackamore (we're not sure how...). I didn't wear my go-faster booties today, and I missed them but s'ok cos my feeties didn't hurt. I went in the back the whole day and didn't do complaining, and got on well with Tpony even though I never met him before. 

"No, no posing. Let's ride!"

Aunty V dropped some carrots for me to find

We went down the big hill that Cyd always gets off and walks me down. You know what? She totally didn't get off me, and made me carry her all the way down. I did some stopping to show her that I wasn't impressed. That didn't work. So you know what I did that was super bad? I totally turned around and bit her foot. I am such a bad pony sometimes. In the end I gave up and just walked down the hill.

I did get a bit stuck where there is a tree to jump over, and it took me a few minutes, but then I did it really politely. Before we got back in the pony trailers we went to the creek to get a drink. I went in the front down the little trail, and did good. Then we went around the corner to the bit where we have to do some splashing, and I was still in the front. You know what I did? Totally went in without any troubles. This is a big achievement for me and Cyd wanted to do cheering, but had to wait. Tpony doesn't like getting his hoofies wet (don't worry Tpony, I totally get it!), so we were at the creek to show him it's okay. He splashed around a bit following Leopony for braveries. One time he got a bit nervous and forgot his steering and bumped into me, but it's ok cos for me being a grown up and politely waiting for him to do his learnings. Cyd was super proud of me, and we both thought that S and Tpony did super good too. We had such a good day, thanks for letting us tag along!

Saddle Optional

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous. For once today, our pony ride was harder for Cyd than for me. She was feeling quite lazy today. While I was getting brushed she asked me if was feeling like being a bratface today. I did nuzzling to show that I wasn't but would appreciate a cookie please. Instead of a cookie, I got my bridle on. Well, that's backwards, we do saddle, then breastcollar, then bridle last. Sometimes we do things differently to make sure I don't get stuck being used to one routine, like getting on my back from the wrong side, or cleaning my back hoofies before my front hoofies. Now we do my bridle before my saddle I guess. Oh, wait, why are we leaving? Maybe we're just going for a hike today like when I was a baby pony? But Cyd has her helmet on, oh I'm so confused. Off to the trail we go! Umm, why are we stopped at the mounting tree?

Umm, didn't you forget something?

You know what Cyd did? Wiggled and scrambled, and got on my back! It took me a minute to remember how to help her do balancing. Cyd's not a bad pony rider, but she sucks at mounting, and is really bad at doing pony riding without a saddle. With a saddle ponies find it really hard to make her fall down, but without one it's super easy. Don't worry though, I was good for her. A bit wiggly, but much less than usual. I tried to do some trottings practice a couple of times on our pony ride, but realised it wasn't really very comfortable for either of us.

We don't need a saddle, we're grown ups!

I did a couple of teeny tiny canterings, which we were kinda okay at. But then I did jumping over a puddle that has been there for weeks and I finally learned to walk through but today leaped for the sky. Lucky I have a wonderfully grabby mane and Cyd stayed topside. Her legs got super sore really fast, and we only did my four mile loopy. Apparently we're going to do this more often cos for it being good for both of us. Cyd was super proud of how grown up I mostly was. (We did have a super scary squirrel incident but let's not talk about that, k?)

While You Were Sleeping

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, and totally justified in taking a nap today. You know what time Cyd came to fetch me today for our pony ride? Not even breakfast time. If ponies drank coffee, I wouldn't even have had time to finish mine, it was that early. I was blinking the sleepy out my eyes, and Cyd brought me some extra hays to snack on while I got brushed and got my saddle on. While most of the peoples were all tucked up in their beds, we were headed to my trails for a pony ride. We made sure to keep our eyes and ears open though, so we weren't snacks, or so I didn't get scared and leave Cyd to fend for herself.

I was really well behaved today, a couple of sticky moments walking up the road cos for me being a scaredy cat, but I figured it out and got brave. We got to the woods and Cyd hopped on, and then we were off, quite speedy today cos for us being on a deadline. I did do a bit of spooking at some pictures, but who expects paintings in the woods? We saw one with Aunt-T and my bestie, and we were super scaredy cats then, now there's more, but this time I just did snorting and snuffling and marched on by. Busy ponies don't have time for abstract depictions, we have trottings practice to do. 

 We had to have a quick pause to do some readjusting of my pads. Cyd switched them to the other way round which was much better for me, except for the bottom pad sliding down on one side, so we still have some fixing to do to make it not do that. Since it was a short ride today we didn't have to mess with it much. Since I was being so well behaved Cyd let me doing speedy cantering. I am so fast!!! Wheeeeeee! Before I knew it, it was home time.

Once I got home I had to get my saddle off, and have my legs and feeties cleaned up a bit cos for being super muddy, and it was nearly time for my next appointment. Told you I was a busy pony. Next up, hoof trim. I stood really good like a grown up for nearly the whole time. Sometimes I was not entirely super co-operative, but I didn't do bad stuff, and wasn't wiggly. Once my feeties were perfected, Cyd set me free and went to talk to the trimmer lady by the trucks but forgot to close the tack shed. I know exactly where the cookie bag is, and totally thought an open door was an invitation to help myself for being so good.

Caught in the act

I don't really think it's stealing, cos for them being my cookies, so why do I only get them when Cyd says I can?

Circles?

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, but a bit tired even though I had a super short pony ride. You know what Cyd made me do today? Some fancy pony stuff called dressage. I don't think I like it. It's hard work. We were going to go on a trail ride to test my new pad, but even my shortest loopy takes me nearly an hour and a half. Instead, Cyd decided we would ride in the place I do my circles practice, except there isn't a circle place so we had to use the whole arena. Believe it or not, despite how grown up I am, I have never done pony riding in the whole arena. Before we got to put me in the arena, Cyd had to catch the ponies who live there and tie them up so they didn't chase me. While she was gone I totally broke free and was grazing. Apparently that is Not Appropriate. Oopsies. The first thing Cyd thought we should do was let me get all my extra energies out of my body so I didn't make her fall down from me. Turned out this was a good idea, I had a lot of running around to do.

Trotting politely

Good strides

Legs not going in the right directions

Stream lining myself to go fast

Keeping my eye on you

Neeeooww

During my running around, one of my pads came free cos for Cyd forgetting to tighten my girth another hole. I tried to run away but it chased me until it fell off my back. Cyd went to retrieve it, and gave me another couple of minutes to finish my hijinks before putting my rope on and fixing my pads. Aunty V came to watch me, and was impressed that even though I was a bit hyper, I was fake tied (my rope just hanging over the gate, not attached to anything), and my pad had spooked me, and Cyd still untacked and retacked me without me running away. I really am getting to be a grown up. She stayed to watch me for a minute to make sure I wasn't going to make Cyd fall down but I had my working brain on now. We were just walking around making me be relaxed and doing something called 'looking for contact'. Once I was happy we started doing trottings practice. It's really hard to do proper trottings in circles, and I got tired quite fast. So we took a break and practiced doing turning-on-my-forehand. This is the maneuver that helps me and Cyd open and go through gates, so even though I didn't know the move, I know kinda how to do gates, so I figured it out quite quickly. I didn't get it right away, and not perfect yet, but after just a few tries I could turn all around and only picked up my foot one time (and put it down in the same spot). We also rode through the fallen-down barrels that were a little troublesome for me when I was doing my hijinksing. I was okay but nervous the first time, then the second time Cyd's dressage whip scraped the barrel and made me do spooking and scooting forward. We kept practicing and soon I was able to see that it wasn't scary to go through, and was trotting through with no problems. Then we did practicing of me doing stopping, then going straight to trotting. This was really hard for me, so we didn't do much, cos for Cyd realising that even though it was a short ride, my brain was getting tired. I did some good moves and Cyd said it was time to be done and hopped off me. I got tied up while the ponies who live in the arena got put away and I didn't break free this time. Then Cyd decided to ride me home. Aunty V had to help me, cos for me getting stuck. Thanks for leading me Aunty V, sorry for forgetting to be a grown up for a while!!

So Very Patient

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, and was extra special good today. This day was when the trekking people go on the beach in the morning, then get on the pony trailers for not even ten minutes, then go in the woods in the afternoon. I don't go on the beach, but sometimes Cyd puts me in the pony trailer and we go to collect my friends at their meeting point so I can ride with them in the afternoon. Guess what? I got on the pony trailer with no help from anyone, just walked up, looked in, Cyd told me to hop in after her, so I did! Yay Me! Cyd miscalculated, and I had to wait in the pony trailer for nearly an hour :(

Waiting in the pony trailer

Also, if there are tons of parking spots, and you see a pony trailer, would you park like this? D'oh!

Finally my friends arrived, and loaded up in the pony trailers, and we drove to Simcha, just across the river. We unloaded and Cyd was helping the guest peoples get on their ponies until she realised my new superbud Xingu was being taken away from me for his person to get on and my brain was about to melt. I was better when she held my rope and let me eat snacks to stay calm, then it was time to ride. We divided into long, short, and middle groups. I went with Aunty V's middle group. We took lots of pictures at somewhere called Windy Knoll. Look at us doing posing:

Hey look, no hands!

Ocean-view cuddles

Aunty V and Leo-pony

We got done taking pictures, and set off up the hill to the lunch spot.

Lunch butts, waiting for more friends

Troubles is, I wasn't ready for a break, so to make sure I waited patiently I chewed on my reins, which were Cyd's most favouritist made by Aunt-E which I already broke a bit on Sunday, and now broke some more.

In the afternoon we did a trail called North Boundary, which is super fun and quite a bit steep. I got up it so good, just put my head down and power walked up, not being silly like some ponies can get and bounding up. Then there is a long canter back to Simcha, where I got a bit tired after my steep climb but I tried really hard.

Once we got back down the big hill, it was time to load up on the pony trailer. I went on right away again, cos for me getting so good! I got confused when we got back to my friends' house, cos for me not being in the pony trailer, but seeing Cyd in there.

Watcha doing in there with Indy pony? I'm out here

I had to share Cyd with Rascal pony for bath time, but that's okay. I just made sure that I was in front when we did walking together.

Mash for me first, yeah?

And good news that Cyd gets the weekend off to go to somewhere called Cooley Ranch, where ponies are going to be doing two days of enduring. I might get to go too, and be a volunteer pony, and get an idea of what something called ridecamp is all about. Pretty exciting to be growing up!

I'm A Working Pony!

Hello everybodies! How are you? I am so fabulous, cos for doing a special kind of pony riding on Sunday, and for getting big and strong. Look how beefy I'm getting:

 I did trail guiding, me as the boss pony with me and Cyd in charge of the other pony riders. I did pretty awesome. I was mostly grown up all day. I got on the pony trailer with minimum stopping. I came out politely at the other end, but with a bump on my face somehow. Don't worry, I'm totally okay, and only a few bloods came out.

My owie

I met my new friend Xingu on the pony trailer, and we became great buddies super fast. We stood good with each other waiting for our people to pack their lunches, and he was nice to me and patient when my brain got confused sometimes. I didn't get mad at him at all, even when he bumped into my butt.

Ready for my first day at work

Whilst I was not in the very front a lot, that was actually still a bit hard for me cos for the front pony not always walking slow enough. I could keep up, but my new friend Xingu couldn't, so I kept having to do stopping for him and Cyd was making me do slow walking and us getting left behind a bit. I mostly was okay with this; I did some small bounces, but Cyd said it was important for me to do my best behavings for this pony ride. We started out just great, walking quietly to warm our muscles up, then doing trottings and canterings up the big hill. I didn't have to walk once cos for me getting so strong! We were heading for the Spectacular trail, with all the grasses and the views!

Bugsy the leader

We got our picture taken too

One of my new skills is riding up next to my friend, Cyd getting their camera, telling them where to pose, and then being a good tripod-pony so Cyd could take good pictures. Not all ponies are good at this, but I did pretty well! We had to take a detour to get to lunch time cos for a tree blocking our path, but we got there finally. Us ponies got tied to our usual tree while the peoples went to eat their food. At one point Cyd looked over and thought she couldn't see my butt, just Xingu's butt. Another person said they promised they could see me, so Cyd stayed eating her snacks. Guess what happened when they done and coming to get us? I was totally not where I'd been left, I snapped my reins and took myself off for a snack. The field we were in was huge tall grasses waiting to turn into hay, and I was gorging myself to be fueled for our next bit of riding! Lucky Cyd had some tape so she was able to fix them up good enough to keep riding. (Hey Aunt-E, can Cyd order some new reins please? I broke the yellow bit and now they're quite short!) We went to the creek for a drink, and I was so thirsty and drank and drank and drank, and did some snorkeling of course. Our afternoon ride was a nice walk on a shorter loopy. There were so many pretty flowers, we had to take some pictures.

My new friend Xingu and rider K

Forget-me-nots everywhere

We had so much fun on this pony ride that I forgot that I don't like to get in the pony trailer, and just hopped right in after Cyd. She says eventually I will be so brave that I will go in all by myself. Once we got home we had to be given our showers and eat our mash food. It was a bit chilly to be standing around all wet while I ate my snacks, and Cyd had forgotten to bring my warm fuzzy yellow cooler, so Aunty V found me a snuggly blanky to keep me warm. Cyd failed at figuring it out so Aunty V had to wrap me up. Thanks Aunty V! I think...

Snugsy as a Bugsy

Mash face

Hang on tight!

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, but Cyd says I was not my bestest yesterday on our pony ride. Know why? It was super windy, like a smart Cyd would have left me safe in field, not taken me to the woods where the trees might fall... To make things harder on herself she decided she was too lazy to walk up the road, so hopped on me right away. Well we made it about quarter of a mile before my brains started leaking out my ears. THERE WERE FLAGS! BLOWING AT ME! RUN AWAAAY! Apparently it's okay for me to look at stuff that makes me nervous cos then I can see it's not scary, but I 'must control my reactions so that I am appropriately behaving'. Pffft I don't think so. But don't you think flags are scary, especially super windy flags?

Well, these weren't the flags I was scared of. Cyd might not have been frustrated with me if that was on my road. But apparently these little guys were not going to eat me, and I was being a foolish pony.

She got off, and we spent forever (like ten minutes) getting me past it, but then I was ready to go. We borrowed someone's slopey driveway as a mounting block and up she went. For a whole not even quarter of the same mile. There's a baby pony who lives near my trail, and he spotted me and went dancing and singing around his paddock, and I wanted to stay and watch. So Cyd got off again and led me to the trail, and through the Swamp of Sadness, which I didn't even hesitate at today, cos for already using up my stopping behavior quota. Cyd gets back on, and now I'm really ready to ride. I was feeling a bit lazy, so instead of going up the hill to do my loopy, we went exploring on the dead end trail. The map says it doesn't go anywhere, but we decided to check for ourselves just in cases. It was totally super overgrown, but Cyd lay on my neck, and I squintied my eyes tight, and we barged on through. Sometimes we got a bit tangled, but we figured it out and got ourselves free. It looks like it goes further than we went, but after a bit Cyd said we should turn around, cos it was getting too thick for even the bravest adventure pony. It was harder going back the way we came cos for now it being uphill and us not quite fitting like we did on the way down. 

 

Once we got to the end of the adventure trail, Cyd asked me which way I wanted to go. I picked right up the hill to go on my loopy instead of left to home. I was feeling pretty proud of myself, and had a bounce in my step. We started going down the bumpy trail and I kept asking to do trotting. I always ask, and Cyd always says no, so I should probably know by know, but I'll keep asking. We got to the little clearing, and I suddenly did stopping. There were some deers watching me. We had a staring contest, and then I must have won cos they ran away, or maybe they won cos I ran away too. We were facing down the trail, with Cyd's butt in my saddle, and a leg on each side, as is the appropriate way to do pony riding. Then I zoomed in a teeny circle with no warning and charged back up the trail. "Stop stop Bugsy, waah please stop". I take a peek at Cyd, and am surprised to see her looking up at me, not down. She was hanging off my side with her hands all wrapped up in my mane and only one rein left, and her one leg was dangling and the other was over my back. She was all topsy turvy like I didn't see before. I stood still, and she did wiggling and wiggling and scooting and finally made it back into my saddle. Phew! With how messed up my brain was I might not have waited around for her if she hadn't stayed attached to me, then I would be lost in the woods and be a bear snack. Also, Uncle J would be super mad at me, cos for my job in his eyes being to not hurt Cyd! 

 

We carried on down the trail, and I was on high alert in case those deers came back to finish me off. Cyd did singing at me, cos for me liking when I can hear voices and getting calm, but I am not a great conversationalist. Not sure if I calmed down cos for her singing, or calmed down to make her stop singing! She also leaned over to my face and adjusted my reins from halter level to strong pony level cos for me being ready to go as fast as I can. I finally calmed down and did walking (still at speed though) and we got to where I usually get to do trottings and sometimes canter practice, but Cyd said I was too spooky lukey, and we weren't chancing her nearly falling down again from my antics. I finished my ride with no problems, although some of the trees were making both of us nervous in the wind. We tried to do selfies but it wasn't so good.

Now I have to rest up for my big adventure this weekend. I have to be on my best behaviors for Cyd, and prove just how grown up I can be. I hope I do good!

Bear? What bear?

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous. I'm having a couple days off right now so Cyd can go drink beer in a field at something called BeerFest with Uncle J. Uncle J works at the place in town where they make the beer, so it would be rude to not go show it off, and try all the kinds. We're hopefully doing pony riding on Sunday, I have to not be too wobbly, to wiggle her right off the side. 

Having a chat with my bestie about being grown ups

On Wednesday I did pony riding with my bestie and Aunt-T. We had a lot of fun, doing walking and trottings and cantering. We went for ten miles and a bit extra. Sometimes I did some silly things, but mostly was pretty good. Remember how I hate to do puddle swimming? Look at me here:

 On the first half of our pony ride, Cyd and Aunt-T were talking about bears. Apparently bears are scary cos for having big teeth and claws, but not very scary cos for them being scared of us too, so no biggie. They get spotted sometimes, and sometimes we can smell that they were there just before us, but they hide when they hear us coming. This is the kind we have near my house:

Doesn't look too scary

Cyd was saying how I didn't meet any bears yet, and she wondered how I would react, cos for being kind of a city boy and not seeing anything more exotic than a cow for my whole lifetime. Aunt-T said we would probably be in a group, or all on our lonesome. Cyd said probably the two of us riding like we are now. Well, big surprise, on our way with being nearly done with our pony ride, walking down the hill, Aunt-T goes "Look Cyd, a bear". Cyd didn't see it, but it had popped up on it's back feet like I do sometimes to check us out, then crouched down in hiding again. We did stopping, and it went scooting across to the other side of the trail so it could go back into the forest and hide from us. It wasn't very close, and just wanted to get out of our way for safeties. So there's my first bear encounter. The only troubles is... I didn't actually see it. We had just tried to do side by side cantering, and overtaking each other, and I got a bit carried away. At bear spotting time I was still feeling a bit exuberant, and was so busy looking up at the clouds I didn't actually see the bear. D'oh, silly me! At least we had a super fun pony ride.

Don't ask me to pose amongst such tall snacks!

My booties needed a good polish afterwards