So Many Adventures!

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous and also super tired cos for going on three adventures in three days! I have done 36.3 miles in just three days. Lucky I have some days off, we don't want me getting tired or sour. I was really happy to go out again, I shoved my nose in my halter and waited patiently for my Hueyfriend to arrive. We went pony riding together yesterday and had SO MUCH  FUN! We only did walking, but it was a twisty turny uppy down slippy slidey narrow trails. I got to practice so many skills, like listening to little squeezes from Cyd's leg to make me sidle a teensy bit to not bruise her knees, and not being scared when she scooted her feet up by my saddle cos for the gap being just too skinny, and mostly doing all my stuff with barely rein contact to practice for our neck loop goal. There was a bit of a snafu when Hueypony got a bit stuck in my pony trailer. He is like me and doesn't like to come out of pony trailers backwards, but unlike me who is sticky, he refuses to do it at all. Silly pony. He wasn't good at turning either. He was stuck! Lucky though, my rear tack room is only held in with pins, so Cyd took them out and folded it up and now he had room to turn around. Problem solved for now. Another problem though, he was meant to come with me to meet Waylonpony today. But he has puffy fetlocks. This is not okay, so he had a resting day. (Any suggestions other than stocking up, which seems most likely, much appreciated.) So I ended up loading by myself like a good pony. Driving out to the forest, I had to pull off the road for a HOUSE driving down the highway! But I unloaded quietly, got my saddle so very fast, didn't freak out when big trucks flew by, and walked off with Waylonpony on a loose rein like a good pony. We did have some adventures on our ride today, like taking the dinosaur trail to cross the creek. The creek was so high and flowing super fast from all our storms lately. After some debating, I got sent first to see how appropriate it was for ponies to cross. I was a very good pony and stepped in, and it was really deep! Turn around, go back to the other route. It was quite deep there too, but a much easier crossing. See how high it is on Waylonpony:

Next obstacle was our rocky steep bit. Guess who was the leader pony? I had a bit of trouble at not really wanting to go through the puddle at the bottom of the trail, but I fearlessly led the way up, picked a great route, paused to take pictures of my friend doing his first time going up, then carried on up like a clever pony. Next was the start of lots of uphill trotting. I got tired on the second leg (that comes immediately after the first, but much steeper!) so had to do some walking, but I did really good and so did Waylon, except he is quite fast. Today I also practiced my jumping, I am actually starting to get a little bit good at it, and each time I do a good jump and get praised I put my head and ears up sharp for being happy. Cyd is going to teach me better in the spring when Uncle J makes us some jumps, then I can do bigger trees. I only had one tiny tantrum, when it was time to leave one of our rest places, and it started raining and I said NO, but I got over it really quickly. I also learned what pocket Aunty E keeps Waylonpony's cookies, and that I should be involved in people tangerine snacking. Something else that happened that is exciting and most people think our riders are strange for being excited: Waylon did peeing with a rider! He never did this before. It took him five hours, but he's learning. We both had big drinks at the bathtubwatertrough near where our trailers were parked. Neither of us drank much more than a few sips on the trail, which is not normal for me. I'm not a fan of puddle drinking, and the creeks were all a bit scary for me today. I need to do better at that. When we got back to my house, Cyd took me to my rolling pit without my blanket cos for me seeming pretty itchy on our pony ride. I rolled and shook and rolled and shook for ten minutes! Now she's going to remember that on days that I keep my blanket on, I should have it off to go do rolling at least a few minutes, and after my pony rides too. We are experimenting with putting my old saddle on me, just cos it didn't fit me before, doesn't mean it won't fit me now. I had even sweat marks, and didn't have any tantrums, so maybe it's good? I didn't feel sore backed when we got back, but usually I don't show that until the next day, so Cyd's going to check me tomorrow. I love going on so many adventures, but now it's time for me to rest, to help me get strong!

Grown Up Adventures

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous. I went adventuring today in Jackson Demonstration State Forest. Guess how I got there? IN MY OWN PONY TRAILER!

Me, Cyd's truck, and my pony trailer in the forest!

It was really windy when Cyd came to get me this morning. I was very curious as to who was in the pony trailer outside my house and kept doing looking. Cyd got some of my hay and gave it to the pony in the trailer. I'm not sure that's okay. I did some running and bucking and snorting and was a little bit crazy. Cyd got me to stop long enough to put on my halter and tie me up to start getting me ready to pony ride. Of course when she wasn't looking I broke free and snapped my tie string. I kinda stood still to get my saddle and breastplate. Then it was time to get in the pony trailer. The door was open and I looked inside to find... no other ponies? Where was my friend for the day? I was not sure about this, and did a lot of looking and sniffing, and jumping when the wind made noises. I thought about it for a good couple of minutes, and finally decided that maybe it was okay to get in. Cyd closed me in (and double triple checked my door). I patiently waited until she was done loading my things, then it was time to go. We drove very carefully all the way to the egg taking station. I did a little jump when we got there while Cyd was parking, maybe cos for a wet branch tickling my butt from the tree we drove close by and made me jump? Once it was time to get out I wasn't too sure again. I was allowed to turn around instead of having to go backwards, as a test to make sure there is room. Hueypony isn't good at backwards, so we used me as a tester that there was turning room so he doesn't get in my trailer and get himself stuck there forever. I turned easy peasy! I looked out the door and did snorting. Cyd laughed cos for me having been here loads of times, but never by myself. Aunt-E and Waylonpony and Gunnerdog weren't here yet, and I didn't think leaving the safeties of my pony trailer was wise.

Luckily I was much calmer now than when I was getting my saddle, and it wasn't so windy, so I patiently waited tied up and got the rest of my things so we were ready. Soon our company was here and it was time to go. We had an excellent ride, with both of us ponies behaving really quite well. Waylonpony and me are a good match for pony riding. We did trotting and cantering up the really big hill, only taking a couple of breaks. I got quite upset on the ridge trail at one point, looking sad, ears back, throwing my head totally everywhere, but neither Cyd or Aunt-E could find what was wrong with me. I was definitely distressed about something, not just being a bratty baby. I also got stuck at one point cos for a tree being in the way. Waylon got around it just fine, but I couldn't possibly figure it out and didn't trust Cyd to pick a good route. Waylon had to leave me behind, and it still took me a while to figure it out. Once I was over though, I didn't panic and rush to catch up but walked along on a loose rein just being alert. Good job, me! 

Taking a break after the big uphill

Our pony ride was really quite uneventful, which is a bit unusual for us, but very pleasant for our peoples. We meandered back to the pony trailer, and I got my saddle off and it got put in the pony trailer, in one of my TWO tack rooms (I have a spare tack room in the back which is why pony number two in my trailer has to come out backwards - great for stashing all my gear when I go enduring! The back one folds down if we want less storage and more pony room.) I got my snazzy cooler on, then we practiced doing my vet check style trotting out on a rope. I did it excellently! I was much faster at getting in my pony trailer to go home. Cyd tried to see if she could send me in self-loading styly and I thought about it but wasn't quite ready, so she hopped in with me and I followed her just fine. It started raining as we drove home, perfect timing. We had such an excellent adventure today!

I'm in my very own trailer!

Happy New Year

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous and very excited for 2016. Happy New Year everybodies! I finished the year with a great ride with my Aunty V and Aunt-T, and a not so great ride when we realised my blue trial saddle was really not going to be perfect for me, so back to the drawing board on the saddle front.

I'm getting very muscle-y with all my training

We had a very casual ride in our group cos for Hueypony recovering from getting an owie, probably from being silly in the bad storm. It is also excellently good for my brain to do relaxing. I was a good leader pony for quite a bit of time. I even walked politely up the steep hill, adjusted my pace appropriately so everyone could keep up, and didn't get excited when Hueypony got a little bouncy right behind me.

Good leader pony, and Hu has antlers for Christmas Eve Eve

I was very excited for my last ride of the year, enough so that Cyd called Aunt-E to tell her what time she should hear from us that we were home safe, I was that bouncy. I did settle down back to my usual self, but apparently jumping in the sky for no reason is not appropriate, especially in the middle of the road. Oopsies.

My last pony ride may have been on Monday, but one more exciting this happened for me before the end of the year. Cyd worked really hard, and saved her lots of pennies, and sold her most favourite truck. Why? To buy us our very own pony trailer!

I didn't get to go in my new pony trailer yet, Uncle J has a little bit more work to do on Cyd's truck to make sure it's totally safe to tow me along, with all the lights and fancy braking system. Safety safety!!! It needs a bath too, but otherwise is in fabulous shape. I have TWO tack rooms to put all my things in, one on the side, and one in the back. There is also space for a friend to go adventuring with me. I have two windows, although right now I cannot go down the road with my windows open because there is nothing to stop me putting my face out, or even jumping out. We don't think I would jump out, but probably all the peoples whose ponies have tried also thought they wouldn't jump out. Safety safety! I can't wait to go on all my adventures!

Of course we had to celebrate the New Year with a pony ride, but it was really cold. Cyd decided we should go bareback so her legs could be warmed up by my body. I was very well behaved, and even did a lot of my ride with my reins knotted on my neck. I am such a good pony sometimes. You can see my bareback hands-free riding movie by clicking here! We hope you have as much fun in 2016 as we're planning to have!

Of course I wore a hat for New Years Day. Cool ponies wear hats