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| Enjoying his new life! |
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| Charmer is looking SO GOOD - look at that shine |
I spent most of the afternoon just hanging out in the pasture, snapping some photos and just enjoying life with my ponies.
So back to other news, I have put the first 3 rides on Wonder! Each ride has quickly gotten better and I ask just a little bit more from him each time. Nothing out of his ability for sure, but just one little bit more. He fits in all of Charmer's tack, except his bridle/bit. Charmer has a huge face, and Wonder has a petite face, so Wonder has kind of a Frankenbridle put together of pieces of various bridles I've had for Charmer, and it still barely fits his little face. He needs a cob bridle...but currently I am poor, so he gets to live with Frankenbridle a little longer. And then he actually has the same size mouth (width wise) as Charmer, but absolutely hates Charmer's go-to bits.
On Saturday, I ended up putting the 3rd ride on him, which was by far his best yet!
I set up a fun little series of poles in my arena - a few single poles, one set of 2 trot poles, and 2 lines that measured out to a perfect 5 stride line. Pretty happy with the way I got it set up, considering I only have 8 poles right now - so I make do with what I can.
My plan was to school both horses through the pole exercises, but apparently my body had other ideas. I woke up Saturday morning with a horrible muscle pain in the left side of my neck. Totally fine if I turn my head to the right, or keep it straight, but if I move my head to the left - PAIN. If I move my left shoulder too rapidly - PAIN. Not sure what caused it, but needless to say, not fun. So I decided I could pull myself together enough to school at least one horse. I set up the poles, I had the day off, so I needed to ride a pony. I hemmed and hawed as to which one I would pull out - I grabbed Charmer first, but just decided to groom him (which he loved). And then settled on putting the 3rd ride on Wonder. Micaylah had lent me a new bit to try on him anyways, so it worked out perfectly.
For his first couple of rides, he was very sucked back - his face was never behind the bit, but his body was wayyy behind my leg. I couldn't find his "go button" to save my life. Although I had a sneaking suspicion he didn't like the bit, which was part of his reluctance to go forward.
As soon as I switched him into the level 1 Myler - totally different horse. Well I mean, not a complete 180, but he finally had some forward movement and wasn't behind my leg every single stride. He is not very stoic about telling me what he doesn't like - but that makes it very easy to figure out what he does like. So now I'm on the hunt to get him one of these bits.
Saturday was also his first introduction to poles (at least with me), and he seemed to enjoy the job. It didn't take him long before he wasn't touching a single pole, and figuring out how to adjust his footwork to do so. This kid is smart, I tell you.
Although I will say, at one point during our ride he nearly dumped me from stopping dead in his tracks when he came around the corner and spooked at the mounting block. Yes, the same one that is in that same corner every time we are in the ring. For some reason it was really scary on our 12th lap around the arena. Silly horse. I stuck it out though and continued on.
We only rode for about 15 minutes - see Wonder's yak fur and 62* in February for reasons. He was practically lathered in sweat at the end. He is fairly out of shape, and I've seen ponies that grow less winter coat than he has. So working, especially in 62* weather, is definitely a lot for him. If the weather stays like this, someone is probably getting clipped soon.
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