Staycation

It's been a couple of weeks! I needed a time out, and while a staycation is never going to be an all out break (horses and property maintenance don't get days off) it was really nice to put some responsibilities on hold. 

This was a nice day. Looking towards Vancouver Island way in the distance

The horses are spending a lot of time in their second field, which makes keeping them in summer just that little bit easier. I'll retract that statement once it comes time to mow and harrow, but for now the decreased poo picking and hay bag making is a nice reprieve. 

Happy vacation summer camp ponies

Although, after the experience of owning Bridget, I should have known better. Someone ruined the summer camp field fun for everyone for a few days and forced me to fence this area off with electric. Google had made me aware of the risks of wild cherries but I have never had a horse interested in consuming all parts of fruit and tree (or any of it to be honest). That changed. Luckily the worst of it was a pushed over gatepost and a cleanout of the neighbour's tree (because yes of course you have an unlimited grass buffet but that cherry tree in the neighbour's yard is all you want in life) and some explosive diarrhea for a couple of days. Horses. Such stress free creatures. 

Name and shame. That's Buck stripping my apple tree of leaves. Also a no-no and now he's banned from this area too. If he had his way he'd just browse trees like a deer. It's the weirdest thing, grass is his least favorite food - give him a good tree or some random hedging and he's happy.

Exhibit C. Willow also features as one of his must have trees but is horse friendly. Actually scratch that, this is the tree Sophie managed to run head first into.

looping her into the tree associated shame spiral. She's got a VERY large lump on her forehead now that I'm told should shrink over time, but I'm not ready to show it on the internet. She looks like a really extreme Arabian or something.

Anyway. Despite their antics, my equine mowing crew is in high demand this year, so they have two more fields to graze. The next one is just two driveways down from the current, and actually one I leased many years ago. It is set up for horses and comes with a shelter and auto waterers (and the sole tree is fenced off - yay!), so I might be tempted to just leave them there overnights. We explored purchasing further land in the neighborhood last fall but the deal kind of fell apart and now I'm feeling like maybe it was meant to be. The ponies have more grazing than they can handle this year. We do a fall mow and tidy of the spaces as an extra thank you so everyone is happy. Now word has got around to all the people who bought little acreages in the area but didn't realize the amount of yard maintenance required if you don't actually own livestock or make hay - so I've got a waitlist :).

Mowing is such hard work though, is tired, wants hay now.

For the actual staycation G and I took some day trips to local spots, ate out a lot, and played tourist. There's a lovely island a short ferry ride away that's like stepping back in time 50 years. Every time we visit I am SO tempted to find a nice piece of land to purchase - the riding opportunities would be incredible there. Never mind I'd basically be at the end of the world as far as practical things like groceries...or internet.  You can get me away from my horses, but eyeing up all the quiet fields and unpaved roads for creating beach rides, hacking routes and cross country courses in my mind is a lifestyle. 

so pretty and peaceful

more local beach that I do need to add to bucket list rides one winter

As a very tourist-y bonus, our ferry rides turned into free whale watching tours. Seeing actual results of environmental protections in this lifetime made me kind of emotional, honestly. We saw too many whales to count and it was so incredible.

Next time I will bring the good camera. For now you'll just have to trust my cell phone pic of a far away whale and trust there was a whole pod of humpback whales and it was so amazing I didn't even think to take a picture.

Self improvement plans continue to progress this summer, which makes me incredibly happy. I had set myself some out of saddle riding goals (primarily just to regain lost cardio/balance/overall fitness but honestly I had hope that the scale might be a little friendlier as a bonus). It's been a super rough couple of years outside of horses and that took a mental and physical toll, unfortunately. But, I'm getting there. The scale is friendlier these days, I enjoy being more active again (fingers crossed my body continues to be onside - I feel superstitious about assuming and am still in the wildly appreciative stage) and keeping a healthy balance feels more attainable. The cob boys are going to be much bigger than Sophie and well able to carry an average sized rider, so I'm hopeful with that and my revived activity levels I can put the obsession with the scale to bed and just focus on being fit and healthy and enjoying riding.

They are already quite a bit bigger than Sophie. She still is the boss of everyone, it just looks more ridiculous now (and witchy mare faces make it impossible to line up anyone close to her for nice photos or direct comparisons lol) 

The hair! G says all horse 'haircuts' look dumb, and Buck *technically* belongs to him, so we're rocking the flow while I make vague threats with scissors and making G responsible for learning to braid one day.

Reggie also blessed by the hair gods, but I can't handle it and he gets tidied a little more.

Anyway, kind of a case of not too much excitement happening in this part of the woods, but almost all of it the past while being good things. 

Do you see the deer? This deer basically lives with us every summer and frequently puts my horse training goals to shame. Yes, that's her hanging out with the sprinkler running. The same sprinkler the boys are absolutely horrified by and cannot go within 200' of every.single.evening. (Reggie is also still wildly overwhelmed by the magic of how the ground IS WET HERE BUT IT WAS DRY OVER THERE every time I lead him over the newly watered ring lol)

Either the world's chillest deer, or my horses are not as domesticated as one would hope. Sadly, if they've learned anything from her it is the eating of trees and shrubs horses/deer should not like.

Upcoming, I do have a rescheduled groundwork clinic and camping trip for the boys in the calendar. It's at a different location than the usual, so yay for new adventures! Plus I have some more annual leave booked for other staycation adventures. I'm in a fun place mentally where I really miss riding goals and am refreshed and excited to get back at it soon, but I'm having so much fun with non horsey things this summer that my time still feels very well spent. Waiting a little longer for my body (and the cob boys! They're three next spring!) to be ready doesn't feel like too much of a hardship.

Why are we not surprised he thought the Dairy Queen burger would be 1. for him 2. an absolutely appropriate meal for him to eat. All of my horses are absolutely ridiculous pets (and I love them all)

Day Off

 It's been a bit of a hectic few weeks. Along with volunteering for the WE show and all the work that followed that, it's hay season and of course the yard and property maintenance is also in full swing. Plus I have an office job as well. G had a surgery that means no lifting for a while yet, so the stacking and moving of hay and a lot of the more labour intensive jobs around the place are on me this year. I've been having fun with those gym apps that tell you how many steps you took and how much you lifted in units of animals - a day last weekend was a black rhino, the weekend before one day was a hippo. G's favorite was the time I moved the equivalent of 3 manatees in an hour. I should hire a strong kid, and the temptation to hire a landscaping service was strong for a few days there, but that feels like losing :D One more hay load is incoming in 2 weeks and the vegetation is slowing down so soon I can feel like I won (and be set up until 2026.)

Sophie on mowing duty

I caved to exhaustion and pushed out my work travel day to this week, then took Thursday/Friday off to make a super long weekend.

I had a lot of things to do, but I bookmarked Saturday as MY day, and made sure to avoid any outside plans. I basically hung out with the horses in the morning, then I ended up auditing a clinic in the afternoon centered around how to ride the WE obstacles correctly and a recap of all the rules. If I was better prepared and more motivated I could have participated properly, but I really needed a day off. Walking through the course on foot with an obstacle by obstacle recap of how to ride them and the rules around them was surprisingly useful. An entire new discipline as a whole seems a bit daunting, particularly one that seems like it has a million ways to be DQ'd in competition, but if you break it into little pieces it starts to feel like something that could be doable.

Can see this guy maybe wanting to be a WE horse. He's deceptively quick and maneuverable and really able to sit back and use his hind end.

After a quick social hour with horsey friends camping there, I did a walk/run home through the trails and that in itself made my day...it's been literal years since that was a pain free possibility. While I look forward to being able to jog/run the whole thing again one day, it just felt so nice to be out there and not feel like I needed G on speed dial 'just in case'.

Reggie showing off his pre grooming self. The cob genes are slightly unfair, that shine and dapples make it look like I'm out grooming him daily and that's completely not the case. At least the mane and tail tell the true story ;)

In the evening I again just spent my time outdoors with the horses, doing a minimal amount of things. Everyone got a tidy up at some point last weekend which felt nice. It's been a shamefully long time since anyone got more than a quick dust off and some fly spray.

They care not for my attempts at cleanliness though

All in all, a perfect day. I'm still me and have far too much on the go and way too many projects pending, but all of those things aren't worth doing if I can't have a day to just enjoy life :)

Never fear, consistency not required. These two obviously remember our mounting block practices a few months ago. I'm piecing together the 'over' and 'step up' part to get them to line up properly, but coming up to me/the block is a great first step! Over time with these two I've learned it benefits me greatly to let whichever one I'm not planning on doing anything with tag along and be curious if they want to be - they learn almost perfectly from copying their friend and retain everything even without their buddy there. 

A Weekend And A Half

 It feels like I fit a week into a 3 day weekend. I have a horse show hangover without even riding a horse.

Our local club hosted another regional Working Equitation show this past weekend. In keeping with my promise to do better about volunteering (inspired by Emma) this is the weekend I keep the calendar clear for and donate all the time to. Last year I served as the judge’s scribe, but this year we had someone interested in getting their judging credentials so they were the obvious fit for that job.

The professional photographer couldn’t make it. I have a camera and I like taking pictures of horses, so could I take that on? I’m actually a little proud of myself for saying yes, because everything in me said that was a job way beyond my talents and comfort zone. As a way to keep the pressure off me, I suggested  I’d take pictures of everyone and if they like them, great, send our club a little donation. That way no one is under any obligation to sign up to buy anything if the results of my efforts weren’t great. 

Spoiler, the pictures turned out fine

If you’re a really long term reader you might remember “EC”. I think I called her that as a shorthand for “Eventing Coach” because that was her initial focus.  I boarded Bridget at her barn for a few years ago. When I switched to be able to work remotely, it unfortunately made no sense to keep living there during the week, so B and I moved home a few hours away and it was a very sad goodbye to EC. ANYWAY, there is relevance here because EC switched to dressage, then WE a few years ago and decided to bring some students up to our show. She’s also qualified to represent Canada in the world championships in Spain in 2026…the lady is seriously impressive (with Audrey! Do you remember Audrey, who I used to be lucky enough to take dressage lessons on?). I’d consider EC a friend at this point so it was a lot of fun to have her come visit and meet the boys, catch up on all the things and make fun future plans.

Anyway, back to me pretending to be a horse show photographer. This guy's eyes were super cool

The photography thing went fine, but I learned many lessons. Like I’ll never have enough memory cards, batteries, sunscreen, and water. A chair would have been a good addition too. First world problems, but local means I have lot lot of horsey friends and balancing the people visiting and chatting with focusing on taking and editing photos felt like a bit of a challenge at times. On the flip side, everyone competing came from Vancouver Island or the Sunshine Coast, so I didn't actually know the riders and needed a way of keeping track of who was who for photos. Also, offering to photograph EVERYONE seemed reasonable until I realized we had twice as many entries this year, plus like eventing, there are three phases over the weekend. So, a lot of people riding 3 times each, and a lot of pictures.

These two were goals

My biggest mistake though, was that I didn’t look ahead and really consider how long it would take to edit that many photos. I have a newfound appreciation for anyone doing the job for real. I think I ended up with 10000 photos to sort through, and I’ll be editing them well into this week. I think I've maybe pulled 25% of the riders photos off my camera at this point.

WE might not be my 'thing', but the dressage outfits were on point and much inspiration was gained :)

Lessons learned. But it was fun and I’d do it again next year!

Summer Plans Cont'd

There has been a bit of a shift in priorities in 2025. I mean, it's probably pretty obvious there hasn't been a ton of riding or Sophie related goals going on for one reason or another. It's been a bit of a conscious decision to focus on getting myself sorted and prioritize being in a better place mentally and physically. 

It took a while, but late in 2024, I finally got around to taking myself seriously and following up with a doctor until I got results.  I'm now finally back running (slowly and badly) and able to do almost all the things I used to do pain free. It's really nice to be able to confidently set fitness related goals again. I feel so much more like myself. 

The yellow pony got the memo about time off anyway. In 2025 we've done ulcer treatments, she had a muscle strain in her off hindquarter, and we needed a new saddle. Then, last weekend, she ran headfirst at full speed into a tree. The one tree in a 2 acre field. The only obstacle. She ended up with a banged up face and a several day nosebleed, which was worrying. A minor for a horse nosebleed is still a fair bit of blood - our vet jokes this is why she can't go back to cats and dogs, her tolerance for chaos and gore is is set far too high after years of horses.  Fingers crossed Sophie's on the mend now - still a bit quieter than normal but otherwise seeming herself.

Glad I saw it in real time because it would not have been on my radar as to how this resulted

The trunk of that big willow tree is what she ran into. No idea why that seemed like an idea with all the other space around.

I tentatively had hoped to be back in the saddle for a lesson bootcamp next weekend with my old coach EC, but with the Tree Incident that's not going to happen. We'll have a catch up anyway - it's almost to the point we can start making plans for the boys and I'm very excited to have her on board for that.

As for the boys, they're very much themselves. They feel Very Large all the sudden. People with normal sized horses will laugh at me, but the last vet visit they weighed in at about 900 pounds each and my mind was blown. I think between Sophie and Bridget my default normal sized horse is scaled something like 850-900lbs and 14 to 14.2hh, so the 'babies' being bigger than that already was a moment :D I'd be shocked if either of them got over 15hh at the end of the day, but at 2 and a half years old I'm sure they both still have a lot of filling out to do. I'll be scaling up for sure!

Identifies as a giraffe

Random picture where I was shocked at how low the overhang suddenly looks in relation to the pony (it is 7', so it's just a funky camera angle... but still)

Tolerates being groomed but his friend LOVES a good spa day and tries to barge in. We reached an agreement where Reggie is entertained by holding the dressage whip and Buck respects out personal space.

I've got another weekend clinic spot booked mid July with our visiting clinician and the plan is to trailer in each day with Reggie. I'm really looking forward to it, it's a great bunch of people and a lovely positive atmosphere.

Independent trailer loading practice

I best bring a Folgers coffee can to the clinic anyway ;)

Between then and now, I've been drafted to be the photographer for a regional working equitation show. Exciting, but giving me a bit of imposter syndrome anxiety. This is not something I even pretend to do professionally, but equally it's a smaller show, I'm doing them a favor by stepping in, and it should be a fun opportunity.

This Time of Year

 Just some photos for you this week. I did have some adventures planned this weekend but the weather felt disagreeable and there's always another day.  After being spoiled with a cool and damp spring, summer suddenly arrived in the form of a very hot and humid few days. Everyone (ponies included) was melting. The humans were additionally sunburned and cranky.

Sophie also cranky. They spent Friday mowing across the street and she makes it A Big Deal every time. Mares, like why?  Luckily it is a big area and she gets tired of chasing them after a few initial laps. There is a natural ditch/hedge dividing it into two, so normally the boys stay on whatever side she's not occupying. 

Why not just leave her at home and save the drama, you ask? Because with true horse logic she HATES them but also is convinced she cannot survive with a city street between her and them. If we're measuring distances them across the street would technically be closer than their home grazing arrangements, but Sophie logic doesn't always logic:)

Sophie is normally the reason for the action shots of the boys tho ;)

"She sees us! Retreat!"

The vibe at home where they have their own space is much more chill. They're still pretty playful, but the roughhousing is getting less and less and they're acting more and more like grownup horses. Kind of sad in a way, but also not destroying everything they touch is nice.

This used to be part of my front lawn, but who wants to mow an extra half acre when you've got horses?

This time of year the vegetation is completely out of control.  I think in a perfect world we'd be mowing and weedeating twice a week but I don't have time for that.

My new coworker is so funny, she's like "I moved here last spring and thought everything looked so unkept and I was really judgey about people's yards and gardens. Now half my yard was been taken over by blackberries and I can't keep up and I think might just let it be wild"

Lucky for me welsh cobs are not fussy eaters and are not averse to trimming hedges and fence lines back, plus all those weeds and plants the books assure you horses don't touch.

Everyone had siesta afternoons this weekend. The boys were sweating just grazing in the field. I did get quite a few yard projects completed, but aside from the normal mowing and garden maintenance, it was mostly things that will be more exciting come winter (floodlights for the paddocks, a bunch of drainage pipe added, a few truckloads of gravel spread in the paddocks and some fencing replaced. When I put it like that it sounds busier than it felt!).

Summer 2025 Pony Plans

I'm in that awkward nowhere land of owning two year old ponies. They're good citizens for their age. They're also bored and smart little sponges. 

My own happy place for these particular 2 year olds would be to find things for them to do so they can be involved and challenged, but also keep it 1. Fun and 2. Not physically demanding.

Hanging out in the field of dreams

In an idea parsed out from a bigger conversation with the clinician last weekend, maybe it might be fun to teach the ponies some useful 'tricks'. Both to keep us all engaged and entertained, but also to challenge myself to being more precise and intentional with what I ask for. I've got really tuned in, sensitive horses, why not play with that?

Baby Pony Challenges:

- Instead of the standard taking a feel of the rope or verbal whoa or using my body language to ask for halt, what if I really refined it, even better what if it was something useful under saddle one day. Clinician's example was a deep exhale. From there, could we even refine it further to a square halt? My future dressage test self might like that!

- Same with 'go'. Does it need to be a pointing arm or 'chasing' body language? Could it be a small, specific sound that asks for 'more'?

- Come to me/back up. We practiced using little gestures. Hand up in your standard 'stop' gesture meant stay, standard shoo/go away gesture had him back up, and curling my fingers towards me had him coming to me. 

 - Teaching them to align themselves at mounting blocks etc, and reliably come when called. Sophie comes running and whinnying like we're in a Disney movie, Buck is a little leech as soon as he sees me and wouldn't THAT have been a nice feature to have installed with Reggie last weekend? Until then, I'm going to need to buy shares in Folgers :D

It's a pony leech, they attach themselves to you with their slobbery nose. They're especially attracted to clean office clothes.

Reggie giving a dramatic re-enactment of how catching him was going last week. It got worse before it got better, current status is I can call him and he'll (slowly) come if he's close-ish and put the halter on without dramatics.

The clinician (I'll call her B) comes to us via Germany. In a fun coincidence, once in Canada she had a job training, riding and showing for a Welsh Cob breeder for many years. So it was a bit fun that she immediately recognized Reggie's type and had an inkling that giving the pony a job and rules wasn't going to be nearly as important as teaching to pony to be ok with taking a time out and not trying so hard. She's also well aware of how surprisingly flexible and 'wiggly' they can be under saddle so there were a lot of moments on the ground where she was already trying to get me to be hyper aware of having him completely straight.

when the grass is so long you don't even need to stretch

I was contemplating taking Buck next month and alternating them, but we decided to just focus on Reggie for 2025, and I'll take home whatever I think I want to try with Buck and keep him learning in the background. Next year, they'll reverse roles. I like that because as she rightly pointed out it will be a lot more fun to just be consistent monthly rather than kind of being static every second month.

I really, really enjoyed her approach. If I'm honest, I sometimes I feel a bit like the square peg locally. It's always exciting when we find clinicians with a background in different disciplines and who are open minded to a variety of breeds, especially if they're willing to commit to regular visits!

Looking way ahead, if you've been here a long time you might remember the days of me living closer to the city and boarding and training with Eventing Coach (EC). I really miss seeing her regularly and part of my bigger long term plan is to find a way to get back in her area and on her schedule part time. Hopefully once the boys are ready to be going under saddle (and I finally have a new and reliable truck). Between B and EC and just owning some generally good ponies I'm feeling optimistic we're in good hands for the near future.

Spring Clinic Campout

 There were highs, there were lows, but a weekend with horsey friends is always going to be a fun one.

Tradey/Reggie/Buddy came along. (I give up settling on a barn name! I’m terrible for just calling him Buddy which is not what I wanted to stick. He definitely has Buddy the Elf energy but I do not need that to be a self fulfilling prophecy :D For the sake of clarity moving forward I’m just going to call him Reggie here and hope it finally transfers to my brain in real life too.) 

Life has felt unnecessarily complicated of late, and one of those complications is that our truck died last week and the mechanic shops are completely backed up until next month.  That left me without a way to actually get to said event. Luckily, I have the best friend living nearby, who offered to take us along with her and was conveniently full of faith in my baby horse and his ability to not be an orangutan in her beautiful trailer. I don't mind tent camping and Reggie doesn't need any tack or gear, plus town is only a few minutes away so it wasn't a big deal to pack quickly and lightly and rideshare.

I lucked out and found Reggie a nice outdoor stall neighboured by a tree on one side and a vacant area on the other. Ideal because he had friends around within eyesight, but no direct neighbours to annoy. As more people arrived, he ended up with a front row seat to the main campsite and all the associated festivities for the weekend which I think actually quite suited his busy and social self. 

view from my tent

We had a shared lesson first thing Saturday morning. I had zero expectations…honestly my goals were already surpassed when he took to overnight camping in a new to him place so easily. I just wanted him to have a fun and positive time. As a general background, he’s not done much. He leads, because he goes hiking with me. He does basic horse management related things like standing for the farrier or getting groomed. So we were going in pretty cold compared to the folks that longe and do groundwork patterns and exercises and are a bit more serious about such things. Never fear, though. He’s your typical smart and overachieving welsh cob who reads your intentions like a mirror. There was absolutely nothing presented he wasn’t willing to try to figure out. We had the building blocks just via basic handling. I send him through one of my gates at home before me and so the gap between that and sending him on a circle or waiting for me wasn’t a thing at all. Leading over logs on the trail is the same as poles on the ground as far as he was concerned. Anyway, he behaved exactly how I would have predicted - bold and curious, sensitive and super willing.

Day 2 was a bit rougher. Sleep deprivation and the aforementioned festivities were catching up with me, and two days in a stall was not doing a two year old high energy pony any favours either. He was literally vibrating with pent up energy so we started our day with an hour hike up a nearby hill/mountain. At the top of said summit, the fleeces and hoodies I’d piled on earlier felt a bit much. But when I went to take off layers I dropped the lead rope. Reggie immediately turned for home without me and I immediately aged about 10 years ;)  It’s going to be a super funny story in the future because the ridiculous monkey just walked 1 step in front of me until about halfway back down the mountain. Calm, but ever so slightly out of reach. Just as I was contemplating texting someone a heads up to intercept him on his way back to camp, he turned around and waited for me. Pretty sure he just thought he was leading me for a change, but of course I spent the entire time imaging worst case loose horse scenarios.

Our lesson was immediately when we got back, and there were some super fun moments and cool things tried. He’s so light and tuned in we were somehow making it look like we knew what we were doing. “Leg yields” , shoulder in, haunches in but on his own at the end of the rope just via reading my energy. So fun, I’m really interested in seeing how it translates under saddle one day. We played a little too with cues to get him to just chill out. He’s a pretty high energy guy and obviously nothing good comes from trying to force him to slow down, so I found the parts where we were exploring good places and cues as reminders for us both to pause and take a breath really interesting. 

If I’m keeping it real, there were moments too where he was pretty sure he’s a rock star that knows everything, with some tantrums expressed when the answer wasn’t what he wanted it to be. 45 minutes of lesson time was absolutely more than enough for his brain and mine. I also think I had a little residual anxiety coming straight in from our inadvertent mountain adventure on Day 2 and he's sensitive enough to be well aware of that! 

Everyone (including me) was super impressed with how he handled himself all weekend. Definitely a baby but he far exceeded anyone's expectations. 

The only super low spot for me was heading home - he really didn't want to load in friend's trailer. It has a rear tack which he found a bit confusing to navigate around, plus I'm guilty of letting him turn around and walk out in mine. So I think the combination of being unsure about the corner he needed to turn once in, plus worrying a little about backing out had him flustered. He's a good boy so he'd hop in like it was a straight load, but wasn't fully comfortable turning to walk right up to the tie. Totally on me, he's so confident with everything normally I kind of took it for granted he'd load right up and didn't think to practice ahead of time.  I messed up with my choice of halters as well, because why not (an old leather one that has lived outside for years) It must have been rotten because he pulled back the teeniest bit backing out and the headpiece broke at the buckle. And...guess what, I got to experience the loose horse anxiety spiral one more time :) He's surprisingly independent so he went on a forest adventure and could have cared less about us or his friends in the trailer. Luckily, I have good friends who talked me off the ledge and assisted in wrangling my feral pony. Reggie loves himself a bucket, so when we found an empty coffee can at a nearby home and got distracted with that we were able to catch him. Said coffee can was intriguing enough to lure him into the trailer too.  Another adventure that will be hilarious one day but I need time to get there ;)

Shout out to Folgers for saving my day

He trailered perfectly. Once we got home it turned out no one missed him at all. In fact his buddy Buck was actually Not Impressed to have him back in 'his' paddock. G took care of things over the weekend and before I even told him of our adventures and poor Reggie's homecoming reception he was like "it was the weirdest thing, I thought the horses might miss him but it was SO quiet and peaceful all weekend, the energy around there was completely different". It seems like maybe most of the things I chalk up to 'ridiculous ponies!' at home is actually just 'Reggie!!!' because as you can tell, my weekend contained plenty of ridiculous pony energy :D

Actual clinic photos were taken and going to be forwarded to me, but for now you just get Reggie camping pictures

Filed under 'things you don't know until you know', I really appreciated him living in stall/small pen for 2 days but I don't think that's setting him up for success. Next time I'll trailer in for the day and take him home overnight. I suspect it will be fine once he's older and going under saddle and we can burn off energy via actual work, but for now it's a big ask for where he's at mentally - he needs room to run and burn off steam and be a baby pony for at least part of the day.

Thinks he needs a job, but child labour isn't what we're about here

All in all, a very fun weekend. My good friend who trailered us is hilarious and understanding - "thank God he wouldn't load and made dumb baby pony choices last night, otherwise it would have been weird how perfect he was" :D