The Fifth Ride/Swim of Christmas

The weather is still horrible. Part of Sophie's paddock isn't draining and is so muddy it's over the top of my boots. Of course that's also the part where she loves to sleep and poop!  I need to invest in some wellies and allow myself more daylight hours for mucking out. I spend a good part of the time doing chores planning in my mind all the ways I could set up our barn at home more efficiently (and with less mud!)

I realize I probably haven't mentioned much about about our building plans lately. That's because they're on hold. We're still waiting for the city to give us the permit, but in the meantime I think we've both lost motivation and are again looking at bigger lots (outside the city, coincidentally, lol) So, perhaps my post about building a barn was premature.

Our only pictures today are from inside because dark and rain do my camera no favors.

Anyway, I did get mud monster Sophie out today. I took her down to the outdoor arena and longed her a little. It's funny how things sneak up on you - she feels petty solid out there all the sudden. I added in some poles to keep it interesting and to up the difficulty and she was great. The only little issue is left lead canter is still a work in progress (it's weak so she swaps leads all over the place when she gets unbalanced or tired - timing is everything) and the poles were confusing that, so instead I used it as an opportunity to do a lot of transitions by trotting over the poles and cantering the rest.

It was getting dark and it was so, so damp out, so we ventured over to the barn with the indoor. Sophie isn't a fan of it over there because the horses that live there are always just out of sight behind some big trees. Also, they never answer her whinnies, so she's uncertain whether they are there and friendly or horse zombies stalking her from the forest.

"DID YOU HEAR THAT!?"

So, it's not her happy place. I got on anyway because I feel like if I start making excuses not to that's the start of a slippery slope mentally for me. Sophie was definitely not as relaxed as I would have liked and had a few opinions about things but I was proud that for the most part she kept a lid on the feelings. There's nothing new to report technically - we walked some shapes a generous person might call circular,  a few laps each direction. Lots of stopping and starting, lots of falling through the outside shoulder (the attraction to the pretty blonde pony in the mirrors at the far end was strong and S of course has only a tiny idea what my outside rein means :) The amusing part to me is that I was working on the same basic things with Bridget yesterday - please keep a consistent tempo unless I ask for different, and please keep your shoulders on the path. Of course, the corrections for B are usually in trot or canter and are very subtle, but it's there nonetheless.

What I was very proud of was that Sophie really tried her best for me despite being uneasy about the surroundings. I think next  we might be ready to add a little trotting to our repertoire of things we can do.

Babies being babies, and Sophie being Sophie, I think her brain ran out of batteries in the indoor because our walk back home was...eventful. A truck drove by and water splashed under the tires and S lost her mind. I'm 99% sure we did not get splashed - I think it was just the noise she took offense to. Then every other vehicle that drove by was cause for drama. Of course one of them was the barn owner who already thinks Sophie is a nut. S did not do  herself any favors by leaping in the ditch when their truck came and then panicking because surprise! the ditch is full of water right now and she was swimming. Oh my. Traffic is one of the things I would have told you she's super solid with, but it looks like we might need to revisit that.

Ah well, two steps forward, one back (and into a ditch). Tomorrow is another day :)

Dancing Like No One Is Watching

We had some nicer weather and the horses were able to go back out into the fields again. It makes me so happy to see how much they enjoy the extra grass and room to run. I took some pictures of some friend's horses enjoying their turnout this past weekend and they looked so pretty, one might even go so far as to say majestic. Then I took some of Sophie. And, well:

I saved the best one for last :D

#rottenbanana

Ms Sophie is back in Pony Jail as of last night. I arrived to find an extremely frustrated barn owner out repairing broken fence boards, and Sophie back living in the round pen.

She's taken to double barreling the fence rails. I think it started as her being a bit stupid about dinner time and thinking she needed a huge neighbour free perimeter around her. Never mind that they're all minding their own business eating in their own paddocks. Typical grumpy mare thing, though.

It's not like they're big beefy rails, but all the other horses seem to be ok with the electric plus the wood fence.

Now I think she's doing it just because she thinks she's pretty hot stuff and isn't otherwise preoccupied. The end game doesn't seem to be escape, because she doesn't go anywhere. I think she just likes to be dramatic and pretend she's the boss of the horses next door. I've worked at and managed barns before, so I'm all too aware that I'm the owner of the pain in the butt horse everyone kind of wishes they didn't have to deal with.

She has lots of space, just chooses to spend a lot of time up against the shared fenceline with her neighbours.

This obviously can't continue. She can't live in the round pen without shelter when the rain comes back.  She also can't keep wrecking stuff. Plus, I worry she's going to get caught up in a fence or otherwise hurt herself.

I've got a temporary 2 phase plan. Part one is to put her in with Bridget for a bit and cross my fingers hard Bridget still feels like being dominant mare and disciplining her for kicking at her.

In jail.

Part 2 is she's going back to work, effective immediately. Tired ponies are good ponies.

Back up plan is to send her back to the full board place I had her at last winter. She lives out in the herd there and there are two geldings there that don't take any crap from her. She's got scars to prove it, which sucks, but neither are unfair to her, so there's that.

We went for a walk to a different lake last week. It was so pretty. Sophie needs to go back soon - its about a 3-4 hour round trip leading her.

A Week In The Life Of Sophie

Monday to Wednesday, it was cold and damp. I was away working in the city, and Sophie was all tucked into a winter paddock with a good rainsheet and nothing to do but eat and grow.

Thursday morning, the sun popped out and Sophie decided the whole winter paddock and lack of a job thing was dumb. It was perfectly dry outside and the grass just outside her paddock has been growing like crazy. Surely some mowing would be appreciated?

The barn owner found her happily grazing on the wrong side of the fence, and Sophie was quite confused as to what the big deal was...surely turning herself out in the morning is helpful?

In jail, and avoiding eye contact

Since Sophie is now a repeat offender, a jail sentence was imposed. Sophie maintains her innocence, and assures me she was wrongly accused.

Sulking when it became apparent I wasn't going to rescue her from her predicament.

Luckily, she's cute and the weather seems to be holding, so by Saturday her parole was granted and she got to go back out to the summer fields.

Freedom!

All the rain we've had has made the pastures pretty lush and green again, and the footing is actually quite good. Fingers crossed Princess Sophie finds these accommodations to her liking and opts to stay a while.

I really want to give her a time out to mature this winter, but she's so easily bored and kind of a troublemaker. We'll see, but she may have to go back to (easy, age appropriate) work.

Quirky Bridget

I almost never put Bridget in the round pen, but with the arena being resurfaced it's been the easiest way to get her moving on the days I would normally longe her.

I've noticed something weird.

Somebody's watching me

Since she stares me down and then gets confused if I ask her to keep moving, I'm wondering if at some point in her distant past someone did the whole NH game where you reward and release pressure when they look at you?

With Bridget's work ethic, once or twice of that would have been enough, lol. Anyway, for whatever reason, this pony is big on eye contact in the round pen :)