Lake Sonoma Adventuring

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, though that was not entirely accurate for my whole entire weekend. As you know, I was supposed to go another 50 miles with Cyd to do more enduring, at somewhere called Lake Sonoma. This didn't happen, but I did do a lot of learning.

It was meant to be really hot at Lake Sonoma, and I've been getting pretty fluffy lately, so before my adventure we had to do a new thing to me. Shaving! Cyd bought me some brand new clippys to shave off my fur so I dry fast and not get too hot. We just did my neck so that I don't get too cold when not doing my enduring. First off, I needed a bath to be sure my fur was really clean. This is only bath number two for me this year, cos for the drought sucking up all our waters. (There's no water in the town where Cyd lives, they don't even do dishes in some restaurants). There's a well at my house, but we try to save all the droplets we can so no baths unless it's important, and only sponging for post-ride sweats. Being shaved warrants a bath, so I got scrubbed down and shampoo'd really fast. I was not impressed. Why do I get washed on the only cold day in ages?

Brrrr. Least I'm clean

 Aunty V and Aunt T came to help hold me in case I didn't like to be shaved, but it turned out to be easier with mostly just Cyd. Either way I like to have a cheer squad. I looked a little bit mouse-chewed, but good enough for not being a show pony.

 Early on Friday, my Ticopony friend came with his people D and L to collect me. We were going to share his pony trailer to travel, then I was going to sleep at a different pony trailer when we got there. We quietly drove, and found a good spot to park. It was time to get out. This is where I failed at being a grown up. I was so eager to get out the pony trailer, I tried to go to fast, and slipped and hurt my leg on the pony trailer. I walked around holding it in the air very dramatically, and Cyd told me I was fine even though some bloods were coming out. Once Tico pony was out and settled and we drinks and snacks, Cyd borrowed something called ice boot for me to wear to make my leg feel better. I was quite convinced it was going to take my leg off, so held it in the sky ready for amputation. Apparently I am a drama queen. 

Shiny and wimpy

When I didn't have my borrowed boot on, I walked just fine, so when it was check in time I went to see the vet like normal. Guess what you guys? This time my pulse was 48! It has always been in the 50s before, so I'm learning to be calmer (my resting pulse when not excited is 36). I did pretty good at my vet-checking, and our trot out was not perfect, but vastly improved. I scored all As even with my owie.

Doing my trot-out

Back to the pony trailer to relax and eat up ready for the next day. I was meant to camp with Aunt-E but their pony trailer did not be helpful so they got delayed. By the time they got here there was no spaces and they had to go to a different camp ground. Cyd was going to put on my saddle and ride me over there, but then she couldn't get her camping truck out. We couldn't have me sleep one place, and Cyd another. Some asking around got me two different places to sleep, thank you lovely endurance peoples! Cyd went to her truck, and saw that there was an empty spot on the trailer next to her truck, and they also said I could sleep there, which was the better place for me to be, so Cyd could hear if I had troubles or was a pest. Thank you M and L for letting me hang out on your trailer, we enjoyed meeting you! 

Me posing at my vet check

I was really good all night until 4:30 in the morning when I finished all of my hay. I decided I should probably let everybody in camp know that I had eaten all my snacks and Cyd jumped out of bed making me shush. I went right back to snacking, and apparently didn't wake anybody up. Cyd curled in bed for a while, then took me for an early morning walkabout. I was quite well behaved, and we were very quiet cos for only seeing one other person awake. Back at the trailer Cyd touched my owie leg and it was swelled, and a little bit warm. Uhoh! No enduring for us. We went to let the fabulous organising people know, and Cyd became a volunteer for the day so as to still be helpful and do learnings. I was very behaved in camp even when all the ponies left me, and then they were coming and going all day. I did resting and snacking and resting and playing in my water bucket and snacking some more. I also borrowed the ice boot again, and still didn't like it.

Ice-booting

Lots of people said how wonderful the pony ride was, so we are going to come back next year to try again! After most people were done with the pony ride, a lot of them left, so Cyd could move her truck. I walked with Aunt-E and Elliepony to their campground about a mile away. I started doing my bad behavings, so Aunt-E worked with me while Cyd took Elliepony to teach us some new tricks for when I behave like a bad pony. I quickly learned and did walking on a loose rope. In camp site number three, I went on something called Hi-Tie, which will be on my pony trailer when I get one. It's like being tied up, but with more space. 

On my hi-tie

My leg was a little bit better after my walking, but still swelled. The nice vet man who I met before at my other enduring rides, Dr D, came to check on me. He put a bandage on my leg, and some medicine in my neck. Because I have never been on a Hi-Tie before, I was left on something called 'blocker tie-ring'. It sets panicking ponies free so they don't get hurt. Troubles is, I totally figured out how to escape in the night time. Cyd had heard me walking about, so she came to check on me and I was tied up so she went back to bed. In the morning though, N my trimmer lady said she had to retrieve me from going out and making friends and sampling left over snacks from other ponies. Thanks for bringing me back! Cyd knows not to do that again.

Me and Tico leaving

The next morning D, L, and Ticopony (who totally did awesome at his first LD enduring ride - congrats Ticopony!!) came to collect me, so I didn't have to walk the mile back to their campground. I came to this enduring ride to practice being polite, and I totally did that, even if we didn't get to pony ride. I am totally fine now, just a bit scabby. Cyd took off my bandage this morning and it looks great. 

Even though things didn't go to plan, we had so much fun this weekend. We got to see lots of friends, do some learning, practice my manners, test Cyd's new camper, and just relax. Success!

Making New Friends

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous! Yesterday, I made six new friends. Two were people, D and L, two ponies Tico and Miss Priss, and two were puppies, Sigh and Tilly. I was really confused as to why Cyd brushed me, then got my saddle and her helmet and put them on... the gate? Where are we going Cyd? While I was getting my go-faster booties, a new pony trailer that I didn't see before pulled up by my house and D came to my field to meet me. They loaded my things up then Cyd came back for me. I was very good and didn't even hesitate getting in the new pony trailer, and made instant friends with Tico pony already waiting inside. We were off on a new adventure!

Making friends

When we got out L and her pony were there too, and all us ponies got our saddles on and the peoples got their helmets. None of us ponies had bits or metal shoes on our feeties. There were a couple of really big trucks that came by, and one of them made me nervous, so much that I stepped on my bootie and pulled the cables right out so it fell off. We have all the pieces to fix it, and Cyd just took my other back bootie off to make me even for the ride. The people hopped on and we walked for a whole two minutes, and realised the way we wanted to go was the same way as the trucks, which everybody agreed didn't sound like very much fun at all, and even a bit dangerous. So we turned around, got in our trailers with our saddles, drove to the parking spot right on the other side of the highway, and off we went again on a different loopy. 

My six new friends

To start with I was not a big fan of the puppies too near me, so I made faces at them. Cyd growled at me for being rude and said I Must! Not! Kick! The! Dogs! I didn't, but we still kept a close eye on them and me, and soon I got over it. The peoples did chatting and Cyd mentioned that I don't usually like to be the leader pony but I was walking out good and kind of in the lead. When we started doing trotting, I didn't want to be in the front. So you know what happened? They made me be the leader! Then when Tico pony tried to come past me cos for being a faster trotter, I was Really Bad and pointed my butt at him with grumpy face on. I did this a couple of times and it got me in Big Troubles and made Cyd embarrassed again, and worried that we might hurt our new friends and then they won't want to be our friends anymore. But they were super nice, and we made a game called Pass The Leader. First Tico went in front, and I had to do trotting past him, then he came by me again, then my turn again. We both did looking at logs so sometimes it didn't go super easily, but I was mostly used to it quite quickly. I got to practice my manners, and trying to do my big trot. Now that I'm good at canter, I don't like to do fast trotting. The other ponies have big fast trots that were not easy for me to keep up, so I tried to do canter, but Cyd said I had to practice my big trot. To show my disapproval I did slow choppy trottings, which meant I fell behind, so wanted to canter to catch up. I was pretty good about not losing my brain though when I got left behind, so it was the start of some good practicing. 

Snack break (don't worry, my reins can't fall lower than that to get stuck!)

There were some really big hills on this pony ride, and we did lots of trottings and some canter up them. It was also humid, so us ponies were soaked in our sweats in just a few miles. After going up one of the big hills, the peoples jumped off and took our pulses - no walking time, no water to drink, and no water to wash our sweats and make us cool. My first pulse wasn't easy to count accurately cos for my loud breathings, but it was in the high 80s. Cyd measured a few more times, and in just under four minutes my pulse was down to 56! I'm getting very fit.

Tough ride!

We had lots of fun on this practicing ride, and guess what? D said I could ride with Tico in their pony trailer to take me to my Lake Sonoma 50 mile enduring ride. They are going too and since me and Tico liked being in the trailer together and I don't have my own pony trailer yet, we are going to share. The peoples are going to make sure we can't see each other at our camp site though, cos for us getting too bonded and not riding together on race day. I am going to camp with Aunt-E and Ellie pony. We're going to have so much fun!

Not even a bit tired!

Thank you for coming to get us D, and thank you L! And extra thanks to both of you for being patient when I was being a bratty baby, we appreciate your help very much!

K.I.S.S.

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, of course. Today we did a K.I.S.S. ride - Keep It Simple, Stupid. I've been having some zoomy rides lately, so Cyd wanted us to amble to remind me that we can. So this is what I wore on today's pony ride:

Excuse my snacking, nomnom alfalfa

Not pictured is another very important piece of equipment - Cyd's helmet. She struggles with brain power as it is, don't need me knocking extra cells out. Always wear your helmet!

We walked up the street to the mounting tree, then prepared my very complicated tack to be ready for pony riding. Now I'm ready:

Should we be concerned that out of our last four pony rides, this was the only one that did not have tack, but also the only one that we didn't hit a tree? It would appear that Cyd does much better at pony riding when she just lets me get on with it... She is also a dork:

Look at how good I do!

New Go-Faster Booties

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, like usuals. Today we did a middle length pony ride to check the appropriate fit and adjustings of my four new booties (one for each hoofy obviously). They are mostly the same as my last booties, the front ones are exactly, the back ones a bit different. My back booties were getting a bit snug, even if I wore them right after getting my feeties trimmed. We got me some slightly wider ones and they fit me much better. Today on my pony ride I did walking, trottings, canter, reversing, a big spook, and even some bucking and a nearly-gallop. No bootie-wiggling occurred. We did collide with a tree a bit though, which makes three times on three rides. Oopsies. Either me or Cyd at least needs to pay more attentions to where we're going. Cyd thinks I must think I'm a smaller horse than I really am, since I often try to squeeze through gaps that we don't quite fit through. This time I didn't bump myself, but I did bump Cyd's leg pretty hard, enough to make some skins fall off and it to start turning blue. I deny this is entirely my fault, step up Cyd, you call yourself a rider? You know why we needed to test the new booties today? Cos for going on Wednesday on a long enduring-training ride with some new friends. If the booties weren't right, we didn't want our new friends to think we were nuisances. Also, in two weeks, I am going to be doing more enduring! Yep, Cyd entered me in Lake Sonoma 50 mile pony ride. I'm such a grown up this year. Wish me luck!

Here's my pictures from today. Of course on a boot testing pony ride Cyd forgot to take pictures of my booties. Big fail!

Pampas grasses

Zooming through the woods

Pony selfie

Taking a break to look at the ocean

I even got a shower cos for it being so hot today

Recovery

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous. I am totally recovered from my adventure of enduring for fifty miles. I had some days off to rest and relax in my field, and some days of doing brain work (you know, cos for losing my brain and embarrassing Cyd). We are practicing my yielding of my butt and my yielding of my shoulders, my backing up out of Cyd's space, my politely walking and trotting on my rope, and practicing trotting on my rope in straight lines without biting Cyd's face off. 

On Friday we went for a short pony ride, that was meant to be just walking, but I felt so good I really wanted to go faster. Cyd let me do a little bit of trotting here and there, but mostly we relaxed on a loose rein just ambling. We thought we spotted a trail and started adventuring on it, but then Cyd remembered the time of year and we turned back. There are some special kinds of gardeners in our woods, and they are busy this time of year, and it might be one of their trails. Those people get REALLY mad if you stumble into their garden. We will explore (carefully) another time, and stick to our main trails for now. On our way back from this pony ride, I decided it wasn't time to be done yet. I walked past the gate to my field, looked back at it, then kept going down the street. Once we got to where my friends live Cyd turned me in there so we could visit Aunty V. The people did chatting for a while, then we went off home again. As a test, Cyd decided to see if I would walk past my gate again. I totally did. At some point on our ride Cyd dropped my purple tailing rope. When it's not attached to my halter it is knotted up and clipped on my saddle. Cyd must have forgotten to clip it and it fell off somewhere. She knew for sure where she last had it though, so was going to look for it on the next ride. Troubles is, someone took it. Normally there's never anybody on my trails, cos for it being private properties, but it's been busy there lately. There's a few people who let their dogs run in the early mornings, and two teenagers on their ATV, and there's been lots more footprints and tire tracks lately, maybe from gardening people, maybe from property purchasers. The forest is for sale, and we're a bit sad that maybe we won't be able to ride there soon. Hey, if you found my purple rope, we would please like it back cos for it being so useful! Thanks! 

I was quite bouncy on Monday while I was waiting for my trimmer lady to come and do my feeties. Cyd didn't get my super excited bouncing on video, but she got some. I was totally good for getting my hoofies done (which shouldn't be surprising anymore). Cyd came back later to do pony riding, this time going further more like a normal ride for me. I was really well behaved, and completely the opposite of my morning field self, so we practiced reinless riding as part of my neck loop training.

 We did walking and trotting and cantering (not all reinless...). I didn't wear my booties cos for Cyd being lazy, so I couldn't do trotting on the road like I wanted in case I hurt my feeties. So I decided to make up for lost time, and show Cyd how recovered I was feeling (it has been over a week after all). I did some of my best cantering. It was definitely my best cantering on a solo ride. I did canter for about a mile and a half with just a couple short trotting strides. Cyd video'd a little bit for you to have a Bugsy ride-along. The only bouncing I did is what you see in the video bit, which was at the end of my cantering. How good is that! I did have some bad moments on my pony ride, but they were greatly outweighed by my good moments. 

I picked a pampas grass snack to carry along

Yesterday I did my groundwork practicing, then got a pony massage. I have some tightness in my butt, which is making tightness in my back, so I go hollow instead of lifting, which will give me backache. I also have some tightness in my neck, but we didn't have time to work on that this day, we'll do more today after my pony ride. We're trying to figure out exactly how to make my saddle perfect for me. It's not quite right yet, but we have some experimenting to do, and now Aunt-E is living back in California we might be able to do more really long rides, since I don't get ouchy on my normal rides. We don't want me ouchy, but if it doesn't happen Cyd can't figure out what to fix. Maybe my butt is the problem, maybe my giant shoulders? Maybe I just need to get stronger, I'm still young after all. Who knows! 

Today we will be practicing doing two loopys, doing my short loop twice instead of going home. I'll try to be good but I'm not making any promises!

I Endured!

Short version: I finished!

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am more than fabulous, cos for me now being an official enduring pony. I went to Cuneo Creek, I did pony riding for 50 miles, I passed all my vet checks, I had energy to spare, and I am now an Endurance Horse. Are you proud of me? Caution: we went a long way and this is a long report:

Beautiful views

Pro pic - Boots N Bloomers

I should back up a little, and point out that it was not all fairy dusts and rainbows at this enduring pony ride as far as I'm concerned. I did some of my very worst behavings EVER! Cyd was so embarrassed by me. The first vet lady was the nicest, although they were all very nice to me. My first vetting was also my worst behaving, so bad I didn't even get a number on my butt, cos for nobody, even Cyd, was going to touch my butt with my brain wherever it was. I had to go back to my pen and think about my bad behavings. Cyd put my number on me later when I was calm again, so the volunteers could easily track me. The vet line was a little bit tricky cos for having a long wait, and then a generator right next to us, and then a band playing where we were doing trottings. However, all the ponies had to deal with this, not just me, so it's not forgivable. I will do learning and practicing and be better next time! I still scored all A's, but my pulse was 52. This is okay, but not perfect, cos for me being excited. This day we went on a short pony ride by ourselves, and I got to practice skills I would need the next day, and make sure all my gear was set up just right so we didn't have to fuss with it in the early morning. During the night I ate tons of snacks and drank a lot of waters and laid down to take a nap so I was fresh and ready to go, even though I had no idea what was planned for me.

Feeling small in the Redwood Forest

Death marching up the hill [Photo by MB]

Saturday morning Cyd brought me my mash foods really early in the dark, and told me to eat up and drink lots cos we had a long day ahead of us. After we both ate breakfast she came to put my saddle on me, and my extra gear like my sponge on a rope. There were already some ponies walking around, so about ten minutes before start time Cyd led me out and we walked away from the other ponies near the start line, and we went to a quiet spot without other ponies. I was super hyper but keeping all four feeties on the ground. Suddenly another pony came trotting super fast behind me, and I lost my mind. I did rearing, then I did leaping for the moon, and generally being a poop face. The other pony then did trotting super fast away from me and I just didn't know what to do with myself. Cyd says I did something called "totally checking out", and it took her forever to make me calm enough to even walk to the start. We met a new friend called M and her pony Fetti, so once I was kind of calm we went to the the start line. Most of the ponies had already gone but I was not ready yet. Cyd asked the nice Timing Man if there was a rule that she had to be riding her pony to start the race, but he said it was up to her. So we started just by leading. I got really bad again. As soon as I was quiet for more than one whole minute, Cyd hopped up on my back. This actually made me better, and very quickly I settled in behind Fetti. It took M a few minutes to hop up on her pony and I quietly waited, not like the raging lunatic I had been. Then we were off, and it was just like any other pony ride! M and Cyd hit it off and chatted away, every now and again pausing to growl at us ponies (mostly me) for making snarky faces at each other. I did trotting, even up some of the hills, and I did a lot of being in front. We got to a long down hill and Cyd hopped down to do running and give me a break. It took a while to find a way we were both okay with, but then we were off. We did great at running until we didn't. I did one of the worst things I ever did. I tried to kick Cyd! Lucky she has quick reactions, and my hoof just bumped her knee a bit. It hurt her but not badly and didn't do any damages. She walked next to me for a bit, and then got back on cos for wanting to rest it. I lost running privileges after that, and told we had some Big Lessons coming up. Me and Fetti went back to trottings, and before we knew it we were coming back to camp. The first thing you do is pulse down, which I did in one minute. Fetti took a bit longer than me so I ate some snacks and waited for her so she didn't get sad I was leaving. Once we were both pulsed in we went to eat our lunches at our own camps, and see the vet. Cyd took me to the vet right away so we could both relax the whole time we were there. I scored all A's except in 2 boxes. Gut sounds get 4 scores, and I got 2 A's and 2 B's. Time to eat some snacks, drink some waters, and relax. 

Running down the hill [Photo by MB]

M and Fetti, who is an Enduring Haflinger

After we had rested for 1 hour, it was time to leave again. We had to go back up the same hill like at the beginning, but now it was hot. Neither me nor Fetti wanted to go up, and our people had to encourage us a whole lot. I did a little bit of my stopping, but once I realised Cyd meant business I started trotting more. We had to go down some hard packed downhill, we alternated walking and trotting depending on how steep it was and how much I was concentrating. Sometimes I got a bit carried away and had to stop to calm down so I didn't fall over! Back at the river one of the fast ponies was coming back, and she said we had a massive hill to do next. We set off feeling fresh, and trotted up lots of the hill, only walking the steep bits. Then we came to where it was mostly flat-ish, Cyd and M commented on how that wasn't too bad, and we flew along the trail, both of us ponies feeling gooood. Until it went up. Fetti did much better than me here, I was not enjoying so much up. It felt like it went on forever. Finally we got to the top and took a big long drink. There were some people who we did leapfrogging with on the way up, who basically told us we had to go in front of them now or we had to stay behind them the whole way down. The peoples decided to stay behind them so us ponies could drink. Except the peoples in front were going quite slowly and there were quite a few places to pass. We started out staying back quite a ways, but the front people kept walking. Once we stopped staying way back they kept trotting some more. The downhill went on a long way but it was switch backs and very pretty. Once we hit the valley floor M and Cyd asked the people in front if we could pass. They were a little bit rude, one person saying that she was going to let her horse trot out doing big trottings and we might not keep up. Cyd and M said they had been holding us ponies back for a long time (which was true, we were raring to go even though this was the furthest we had ever been). They said if the big trotting pony turned out to be faster than us they would gladly move out of the way and let her come by. We never saw her again though. Me and Fetti loved moving out fast, and it was so pretty under the giant massive Redwoods. There were no more big hills, and we still had tons of energy, and we just flew through the forest. We had been taking turns being lead pony on this loopy, but for the last little bit I was raring to go. Cyd put me in the front, and I kept asking to canter. I was doing so great at enduring! We did big trottings all the way back until we could see camp. We walked the last bit cos for it being downhill on pavement, though Cyd didn't get off me. Everybody cheered for us when we finished. We have 30 minutes to have our pulses taken but we did it right away cos for Cyd wanting to see how good I did. It only took me three minutes! 

Getting good at downhill trotting [Photo by MB]

Getting close to the finish!

Our super awesome crew people took my saddle back to our camp, and Cyd took me a handful of hay foods to eat on the way so we could go straight to the vet. I still didn't do good at trotting out! My gut sounds had got better, now 3 A's and only 1 B, but I got a B for my back being a little bit sore, and I got a B for my attitude cos for trying to bite Cyd's face off! (Told you I was Very Bad!) Everything else was A's! Now I was all finished and could go to my pen and sleep. I still had a lot of energies left, and when Cyd took me walking later that evening I was bouncing around, and again the next morning. I was relaxed enough in my pen to lay down and eat my snacks. My legs looked great the whole time, and didn't get hot or puffy like happens to some ponies. You know what else we're super proud of? I lost 2 front booties within the first 2 miles, and only 1 was retrievable, so I only wore my back booties for the first loopy. Cyd didn't want to have more problems and the footing is pretty good on this course. At our lunch time vet check, Cyd told the vet I only wore back booties in the morning, and would like his permission to wear no booties in the afternoon. The vet said that since I don't always wear booties at home that it was okay, as long as Cyd was careful with me, and that I came back sound. So I did this ride nearly totally barefoot! My feeties looked great at the end. We went a bit slower over some of the ground than we might have done if I had booties on, but other than that it doesn't seem to have made a difference to me.

Pro pic - Boots N Bloomers

So there you go. Now I am a real enduring pony. I have some things to work on, but other than my camp behavings I did amazing, and never ran out of energy. There was another race the next day and when me and Cyd walked by the vet on our leg stretching walk the next morning he watched me and said how great I looked and should be going again that day too. I totally had the energies to do another loop on Saturday, or another ride on Sunday, but I'm not quite physically ready for that. It would be awful to push me too far and get me hurt. We have lots of time to turn me into an enduring champion! Thank you to our Super Awesome Crew and the Lady in Red, and to M and Fetti for being our besties for the day. We hope you had as much fun as we did, and we'd love to ride with you again some day.

Monday morning - what 50 miles?

Updates for the Bugsyfans

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am fabulous, though you might not have guessed that cos for Cyd never doing my typing for me! I have been going on lots of pony rides though, of all kinds. And we have some big news. Look what got put in the mail:

I am officially entered in my first 50 mile endurance ride! It is at the same place as where I did my LD ride. Some of my friends are going (big thanks to the Lady In Red for lending us a pony trailer for me to go in). Three of my friends are going, and Cyd says some of my other friends will be there too, so I best be on good behavings. Since I was bad last time, I have to have a red ribbon in my tail just in cases. Cyd always tries to keep me in a space whatever we're doing cos I get nervous if I'm crowded, but last time it was when someone ran behind me to make me do trotting for my vet check (I didn't get her but it's Never Okay To Kick!!). We definitely don't want to take chances!!! (Red ribbons mean 'this pony might kick out', just in cases you didn't know.) 

Pony riding attire

Two of my rides this week have been bareback rides. I didn't even wear my bridle, Cyd just put my headcollar on, and my skinny rope called a tailing lead. After walking up the street, Cyd just looped the rope where it clips on to make a circle, and hopped on. I did amazing, you guys! So good that Cyd has ordered me something called a neck loop, so we can be ready to do pony riding without anything on my head. This is a work in progress of course, but I'm doing really well.

I also went on a pony ride with Aunty V. I did really good at going to the creek cos for being a pro at that now. I did get a bit nervous when a big machine on an even bigger truck drove right by. The driver was very nice and came by super slow to try to not scare us ponies, but it rattled and was really close and I didn't like it. I did dancing on the side of the road, while Cyd held my face and a hand on my belly so I didn't spin my butt into the road. My body stayed in the same spot but my legs were moving super fast cos for wanting to run away but knowing that's not what grown ups do. Everyone laughed at me a little bit.

 

I made it really good up Abalobodiah (we just did walking this time) and even got a bit impatient at how slow everyone was going. We took a breather at the top and Cyd needed to duck behind a bush so we trotted away from my friends by myself, no worries. I was even so good on this ride that I did leading for a bit. Unfortunately halfway home I decided I didn't want to lead anymore, so Aunty V took over the lead but instead of taking me to the back, Cyd made me go ahead and do trotting. Once I trotted away from my friends, I was back to my usual happy self, and we rode back to the trailer by ourselves. I'm a strange pony sometimes. 

Looking back to see if my friends are coming yet

Where are we going so early?

 Today's pony ride was a long distance ride for checking my fitness ready for my Big Adventure. Guess how far I went? Nearly 17 miles! Not only that, but I did more than 2400' of elevation gain (which also means over 2400' of descent, that's a lot of hills). We did similar speed to what I will be doing for my race. We didn't do much downhill trottings cos for it being hard on ponies. At my ride we will do more with Cyd hopping off and running alongside. We practice this sometimes, but not today. I was so good most of the time. I was a little backwards thinking in a couple of spots, like when we were going up a really big hill and there was a choice of turning for home, which we always do on this loopy, or going more up the hill to do the loopy a second time. I thought Cyd might be a bit bonkers, but I reluctantly went up and up again. I barely hesitated at the next turn where we could go home a short way or a long way. I looked the short way, but Cyd said the long way trail so I took off trottings. You know the scariest thing on today's ride? Somebody doing shooting! (Don't panic we were safe!) We were trotting along minding our own business when I did skidding to emergency stop and threw my head up. Cyd was wondering why, then heard it too. I was really scared, but didn't run away. Cyd did listening to try and figure out where they were cos for us not seeing anyone. I was super nervous, so she hopped off and led me down to the road that we had to go along anyway. We found the people, who knew there was a trail there so were not shooting that direction. Cyd got their attention and asked them very nicely to wait a few minutes for us to get out of the area. They were very nice and apologized for scaring me. Usually we don't ask people to stop what they're doing even if I'm nervous, cos I just have to learn to do my job, but this is a bit different from normals. Cyd hopped on and we scooted away back on to the next trail. I was still being so good. I grabbed a bite of snack here and there, and Cyd gave me a bit of her banana. I had got a breakfast mash too, since Cyd didn't want me to get a bellyache.

Early morning trails

I was still full of energy when I got home, so obviously my long ride wasn't very taxing on me even with the big hills and all the trottings. I got washed off and then Cyd went to her truck. I came to the gate and did a lot of whinnying. I wanted my second mash bucket. Turns out I was gettting one, but the supplements were in the car not the barn. I wanted to make sure she didn't forget me. 

My elevation chart from the GPS track of this morning's ride!

Phew! That was a lot to catch up on! I'm really starting to be a great little pony, though definitely can be a bit tricky both on the ground and under saddle. Luckily Cyd knows my tricks and I am improving at most of them, but every now and again I throw in a new one. Stay alert, Cyd! It would be boring if I was a perfect pony all the time!