Saturday - 9/12/09

We did the great trail ride today.  A couple we met at Wranglers' last weekend came by to ride with us.  They were a blast and I was glad to meet them.  They have morgans and I've never really gotten to see one before.

I rode Murray, A rode Moon and C rode Sammy.  First off Sammy actually laid down on C while she was putting her boots on.  Talk about scary!  For a minute there, C was trapped under Sammy.  Sam couldn't get up because of the crossties.  C wiggled out and popped the quick release snaps on the crossties.  C was banged up but not hurt bad and went on to ride with us. 

Moon threw a fit in crossties since Blue was turned out without him.  They have a love hate thing going on.  Everybody is scared of Moon's back feet but he loves Blue and follows him around.  Blue is ok with Moon most of the time.  Moon loaded well but got wound up again while waiting for us to get Sam and Murray loaded. 

Poor Murray was all decked out like a Christmas tree.  He was wearing Moon's dark green support boots, Bonnie's red sparkly renegades and a faded blue halter.  I opted to not put the rear boots on him today.  Honestly, it was because I was running behind getting him ready.  They also rubbed him a bit last night.  I think I'm going to have to put some vet wrap on him to keep them from rubbing. 

Moon's 2ww renegades fit him perfectly.  I had to get them cut back since his foot is actually wider than it is long.  Oddly enough, they also fit Emmy and Sailor.  Maybe is a draft thing?  Or a curly thing?  Or a always been trimmed thing?  I dunno.

Moon wasn't real happy about being away from home.  He was pretty upset and sat back a bit when he was tied to the trailer.  A untied him and he settled quite a bit.  He stood to be mounted much better than yesterday.  He learns soooo fast!  He was tense for the first 20 minutes or so.  He didn't act bad at all, he was just ..... tense.  He did settle and drop his head and relax.  He looked at some things but he didn't spook at all.  He was cool with other horses trotting up behind him too.  I was so proud!!  Murray gets all silly when somebody comes up behind him.  A really, really likes him.  She's talking about doing the english thing with him next summer.  Despite having had a bad experience with a trainer, he's really willing to accept new people and new experiences.  With the french link snaffle, he collected up nice for A.  He's got such a big trot, she was able to post on him easily.  All in all, he had a wonderful day.  I think since this was a good experience for him, he'll settle quicker next time. 

There's a local lady who takes the hunter scene seriously.  Her horse is always braided perfectly.  She's super nice and always willing to talk to us rednecks about her horse and stuff.  I threatened to call her to the barn to show us how to braid Moon.  He's very bald.  I think it would be hilarious to bang his 3" of tail too.  I think the lack of mane makes him look elegant and clean but who knows what the general public will say.  

Murray was good today too.  Of course, he doesn't even look at stuff.  He's the least spooky horse I've ever met.  Ok, he's not spooky on the trail.  He still finds stuff to act silly over in the arena.  He *hates* arena work.  He got a little quick especially when somebody came up behind him.  We're going to have to work on an "easy" cue.  He thought the little palomino mare that went with us was damned fine.  He flirted the whole way, lol.  He's quite the ladies' man.  He also stayed round for me.  He can get all strung out sometimes but he did well today.  We also foxtrotted quite a bit.  He's such a pleasure to ride even when he trots because he's so smooth.  We decided that I'd ride Moon when A rides Trace (qh) and I'd ride Murray when she rides Bonnie (twh). 

Neither boy was sore either foot wise or back.  I was really, really proud of them both.  We rode about 3 hours, mostly at a walk. 

When we got back and took care of the horses we all went to lunch.  Then A and I went to a friend's house.  She's got goats, horses, sheep, pigs, donkeys, cows, chickens, guineas, quail, cats and dogs.  We went over there to see the 3 week old piglets.  OMG they are soooo cute!!  I'd never seen a hog up close.  She also had a Great Pyranese puppy that was soo sweet.  I think I'll have to have one some day.  She herded the chickens back into the barn when they strayed too far.  We got to hear the donkey bray.  I laughed so hard, I nearly passed out. 

It was an awesome day and I'm exhausted.  I'm going to do it all again tomorrow!!