Sometimes I'm Bad

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, of course. Today I went pony riding with Aunty L and Pretty and Tillydog, who is tiny but awesome. She totally keeps up with us ponies, and even goes on long rides. This is Tillydog:

Adventure dog

We did pony riding with Aunty L last week too, and I got super confused cos for her having two ponies. That was a nice easy ride, cos for some spots being slippery, and everyone wanting to do relaxing. I was quite excellently behaved, only having an occasional sticky spot. Today I had a REALLY BIG sticky spot. I had been doing so awesome, I went up the rockface, and did some big trottings, and power walked up a big hill, and was being nice to Prettypony and Tillydog. 

Sharing my hayfoods politely

Then we got to turn on Brandon Gulch trail, and I asked if Prettypony would go first. This made Cyd and Aunty L decide that I had to go first cos for being trained to be a good pony. I was a bit stuck, but we did some of my things for unsticking, and I was brave going around a fallen tree, and marched in the front like a fearless leader pony. Then it was time for trottings practice, and I decided I absolutely totally possibly could not go even a tiny little bit. Cyd did some of my things, and I just planted myself, so she hopped off and ran and made me do trottings that way. She got back on, we trotted a couple strides and I said nopenopenope so off she got again and I had to go fast, and then again a third time of getting off. Cyd was getting pretty bothered by me, and the fact she wasn't wearing her right shoes for running, and had lots and lots of clothes on so was now super hot and sweaty and I was being a bratface. Finally we got me going after some big discussions, and everyone got to breathe for a while. I did pretty good for most of the rest of the ride, only getting momentarily backwards thinking, and very quickly figured out I should just do forwards like Cyd said. Phew! I also did good at letting Prettypony trot away from me faster than I could go, and I even walked on a loosey rein while she did trotting like a good pony. I did some tricky trail too, remember my rock face that is hard for me but now I'm getting good at it?  Today I went up and down it. Down is hard but I totally used  my Big Boy Brain, and carefully figured where to put my feeties so we didn't fall down. I can be grown up when it counts!

When we got back, Cyd took off my saddle and checked my back again. No soreness. This is a good sign. We still need to do a longer ride (we did 12 today, pretty good) to see how it really is for me. Cyd ordered a new kind of pad cos for us not having one that fits, then we can do a super good test, but we think we like it for me. We're also going to be calling a lady who does pony acupuncture here, cos for there being a couple of things Cyd thinks it will help me with. I practiced my trotting out again. I did it super good, two times cos for Cyd dropping her phone the first time and we had to do another to go back to fetch it. I looked perky, and only one time I got a little bit ahead but my rope got swung and I backed off. Such a good day for us today! Thanks for taking us Aunty L, and for being patient with me when I do my bad behavings.

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Fish?

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous. Though it turns out I have been LIED TO! By Cyd, and Uncle J, and Aunty V, and basically anyone who ever told me monsters don't exist. We'll get to that later. 

Umm, why are my ears tied up?

This morning, Cyd came to see me, and did a big sigh cos for me being all wet standing in the rain earlier, instead of keeping dry in my shed. She put my snazzy cooler on me, then got my trial saddle out, and my pink pad, and my bridle, and her helmet. Soon Aunty D arrived with Ticopony's trailer, and he was in it. I got spooked by a neighbour and pulled back and ran around with my tail in the sky, but calmed down as soon as Cyd caught my rope. I hopped on the pony trailer even though there was a puddle right by my entrance step. I was very securely totally latched inside with no open doors, and we set off for Jackson State Forest, one of our favourite pony riding places. When we got there, Aunty E and Waylonpony were already there ready to ride with us, along with Gunnar the dog.

Gunnardog

Sighdog came with us too.

Cyd asked Aunty D to look at my back cos for it being tense, and she doesn't think it's saddle related, but learning to use my body right related. I wasn't painful, just a bit anticipatory. I got some warming up, then we got our saddles on and were ready to go.

L - Waylonpony   R - Ticopony

We did an explory route today, that Cyd thought she maybe kinda knew, and it totally worked (though there was a long bit in the middle of not really knowing where we were and guessing by logic which turns to take, ssshh). Yippee for new loopys. I was in the front for our first trottings, then Ticopony overtook me, then Waylonpony overtook us both. They had a little race for seeing who was the leader and I wanted to race too, but Cyd said Nonono Bugsy, stay here out of the way. I pouted but just did trotting, and even got loose reins for being good. This was my good behavings of the day, whenever there was dramas in front of me, I just stayed out of it and only needed occasional reminders to listen to Cyd instead of copying my friends. Well done Me!

I had a little bridle malfunction...

There were some really big hills on this pony ride. Once we are all fit and strong it will be excellent training for our enduring rides to do trottings up, but we were huffing and puffing just walking today. There were some really slick spots and we all did some sliding, but no pony fell all the way down which is good! I, of course, wasn't perfect. At one point when I was the leader pony, I got myself all jazzed up for no reason, which was getting Tico excited, which made me bounce some more. It wasn't my worst bouncing, but with all the slipperies and other excitable ponies all trying to be good, we just decided to do stopping for a while. This helped my brain get back between my ears where it apparently belongs, and we didn't escalate to crazy pony status.

The biggest adventures of this pony ride happened in the last mile though. I was striding out in front being a fearless leader pony, when I heard a big noise. I spun around to face my friends and they were nervous too. We went to keep going down the trail, when 'whoooooshsmash' went the tree branch. I spun around again and tried to flee, and my friends were scared too. This is called widow maker, and lucky we were far enough away that we were safe, but only by ten strides or so. It didn't hit the road, but imagine how more scared I would have been if it was next to me. I didn't want to go down the road in front anymore, so Tico took over with Waylon nearby for protections. I kept looking for monsters and Cyd was laughing at me, until I TOTALLY SAVED HER LIFE! 

All my friends

Remember how I used to be totally scared of going in the water cos for there being sharks? Turns out, I was right all along. We were on the road above the creek, and something started splashysplashing down below and behind us. I nearly jumped out my skin, and was ready to flee again. You know... to save Cyd... honest... The peoples all laughed at me, and told me it was just something called salmonfish that got a bit stuck in the shallow bit of creek and had to jump around to get itself free. But I know the truth. It was a shark, and without me and my swift action we would have died. I just know it! And you know what, Cyd? Singing "Who's afraid of the big bad fish" is just mean mean mean. You are a bad pony owner and I saved your life anyways! You all lied to me about monsters.

Very grey damp day, with some drizzlies

No more eventufulness after this at least. I did really good at practicing my enduring-style trot out. My back wasn't sore after our adventure. I decided I was starving, and Cyd forgot to bring my haybagsnacks (see, BAD pony owner!). S'ok though, I just stole some of Tico's.

Thanks for taking us riding, we do have good adventures, even if they are a bit rambunctious.

Saddle Testing Again! & A Close Call

Hello everybodies! How are you? I am fabulous, except for one problem. I am hunting for the perfect saddle for me. This is my current experiment that we are trialing:

Excuse my pink pad, it isn't permanent

This is a Podium, the Champion XT kind. I'm pretty sure I'm a champion, and it's my perfect colour, so it should be perfect for me right? Maybe XT is for Extra Tall like I seem to be getting? (It's entirely possible that Cyd is shrinking...) We have done two rides in it so far, a short ambly kind, and a bit more zoomy 9.5 miles with big hills.

The first ambly ride, we used a big black pad called Matrix from Aunt-E. The pad is a bit too big for me:

More like a blanket

Sorry for ditching you

It wasn't much of a test for me, but enough for Cyd to like it enough to ride longer in it. I mostly did patiently waiting for the cutting of trees on this ride. One bit Cyd tied me to a tree, but I freed myself like I like to do, and I started to leave. Cyd was in the middle of trying to toss a branch twice her size into the bushes out the way, which spooked me into going the other direction. I barged through the rest of the trees waiting to be cut, and took myself down the trail. Cyd is so lazy she didn't even chase me. Turns out I was heading the long way home, and there was at least one tree down about half a mile away that would almost certainly be big enough to stop me, so she wasn't too worried about me being gone for long. Pretty quickly I realised I was alone and came back to find Cyd finishing clearing the trail while she waited for me. Do you like my "Sorry I left you in the woods" face? I was quite sproingy this day, but mostly well behaved.

Today newer Aunt-E, who is Waylonpony's person, came to collect me and Cyd to go teach them a new loopy in Jackson State Forest. I had been hiding in my shed all morning cos for it being rainy, which is good cos it meant I was dry to get my trial saddle on. We brushed off my fur and got my saddle on me, and then the rain came back so we ran to my shed, and hid in there watching through one of the holes in the wall to see when the pony trailer arrived. We got me loaded up with no problems, Cyd closed the door, the peoples got in the truck, and we were on our way. It's a short way down my road, past my friend's house, and onto highway 1 to go to our trails. You know what is super really lucky? Aunt-T was in the yard at my friends' house, and she spotted something really important. Her and Aunty V did yelling and running and waving, and lucky we spotted them and pulled over on the side of the road. Aunt-E and Cyd jumped out for all the commotions and you know what they found? THE PONY TRAILER DOOR WAS OPEN!! So many bad things could have happened. My ranch peoples did their yelling and jumping, and another ranch person was even jumping in their truck to chase us down to make us ponies safe. THANK YOU FOR SAVING US! Now Cyd will thoroughly check and be paranoid over doors forever. I was a bit confused as to why we stopped so soon and why I could see out the back. It's lucky I was tied in (a rare occurrence for me), and that we were driving down hill which kept the door mostly closed kinda. Heart attacks all around, but me and Waylonpony are safe! Our day can just get better from here.

A bit high necked, and saddle a bit forward

I was feeling a bit stubborn for some bits of our pony ride today, not wanting to stand by the fence for mounting, not wanting to go around the gate, or on this particular trail. I'm a pain in the butt sometimes. Other times I was really good, and I was actually mostly nice to Waylon, even when he got really close to me, and even when I did emergency stop (shark infested puddle) and he crashed right into my butt. We did some good trottings practice, and good canterings, I did right side kind and left side kind. I even went next to Waylon, and in front, and behind, and a little bit of passing. Go me for forgetting to be mean most of the time. It was quite rainy for the first bit of our ride, but we were under trees a lot, and it wasn't freezing cold. Cyd got to test her new waterproofs in actual rain, and stayed dry - yippee. I looked bedraggled, but it turns out I'm waterproof under my fur.

Eww I'm wet

I moved out really good in my trial saddle, and Cyd was hoping for a sweat pattern to check. Troubles is I was all dry under there. Tonight she's going to wash my pad so we can look for a dirt pattern instead. My back felt pretty good, but when Cyd came to give me my hay tonight she touched me and I was a bit sensitive and tensed up on one side. She touched me again and I was fine, so maybe it was just me being sensitive (I do do that sometimes) or maybe I was a bit sore? More careful testing required.

 On the way home I was being a leaderpony, I wanted to walk in the front and do my big walk, leaving Waylon behind, but then I would get scared of something and have to wait for him to go first. That way, he can be eaten to distract the monters while I flee. Thanks, buddy, 'preciate it!

When we got back to the pony trailer, you know what we remembered to do? Have me do a polite trot out like I was at an enduring ride. I did it super awesome, then Cyd thought she saw me take an off step, so I did it again. I must have stepped on a stone cos I was just fine, but I was a little more sassy on the trot back the second time. We went home uneventfully, and Aunt-E double checked the doors at the top of the dirt road before going back on the highway, just in cases. Thanks for taking us pony riding Aunt-E and Waylonpony, and thanks for being patient when I was being a bit of a brat.

This is my grumpy face, I ran out of goodness on the way home