Roberto!

I finally got to ride my pony today! It was only fifteen minutes of walking, but still!

a couple months off the track.

There was a lesson going on in the indoor when I got to the barn and I wanted to ride him in there because of the soft footing, so I gave him a good grooming and put him back in his stall to wait while I rode Spyder first. As soon as I stuck Spyder on the crossties in front of Bobby's stall, he started whinnying until I gave him some cookies and he contented himself to keeping his nose pressed against the bars of his door. Now that he is a bonafide Important Event Horsie, he thinks being in work is imparative and these past two weeks have been too boring for him.

The lesson was just getting done as I got finished tacking Spyder up, so I decided to start him off in the indoor and, if he was being good, finish in the outdoor. He was a bit of a fruitbat the first few minutes, but finally settled in and got to work. We did fifteen minutes of w/t/c--4 minutes of two point at the trot and 4 minutes at the canter--and hacked up to the outdoor. He was not so good out there. I did have brakes this time and better steering, but still no attention span whatsoever. He'd be gazing off in the distance, watching other horses graze while I kicked and kicked trying to get him to move faster than a sick sloth and then he'd suddenly tune back in and be like, "Oh! You're kicking me!" zing!! Then we'd start all over again. I finally finished with some semi-decent trot-halt transitions and a few trips over the trail bridge before calling it quits.

Mr Magee was ready to do some work. He stood like a statue on the crossties while I tacked him up and didn't even make his grouchy faces when I did up his girth. He opened his mouth right up and stuck his head in the bridle, ready to go.

I let him dictate our pace when I got on and he started off pretty hesitantly, like he was afraid it was going to hurt. However, he didn't take a bad step and he was soon striding out nicely and we got to work on giving to the bit and bending. He could walk at whatever speed he wanted to, but he still had to do some thinking work. When we got done he was nosing me for treats, certain that he had earned them for being a sensible pony after two weeks off. He of course got them.

mr magee at his first dressage show last year.

About five minutes in to my fifteen minute ride on Bobby, Barn Girl (BG) came in with Trip. BG has been riding at the barn since she was a kid, like most of the people here, but she hasn't had a horse here for a long time. She seems to come and go as she pleases in phases and rides whatever horse she wants for awhile before she gets bored and goes through a no barn phase. That's the BO's descision, so whatever, but it kind of makes me scratch my head. In the ten minutes I was in the arena, she had done some posting trot, a lot of sitting trot, and had already cantered one way. When I left, she was cantering the other way. Now, I put in a pretty quick ride on Spyder, so warm up is what it is, but Trip's back has gotten so bad that when you curry him, he sits down. Running your hands down his back elicits ear pinning, kicking out, and snapping. The last thing the horse needs is sitting trot work and no warm up.

I feel like I should say something to BO, but BO is one of those people that if she doesn't "discover" the issue herself, than no one else can possibly know what they're talking about and brushes it off. Hmm. At least Bobby is sound. Small win?