Bareback Excitement

Took grandma out to the barn this afternoon to meet Zoe. She was suitably impressed with how pretty our new pony is and said that she seems kind and gentle.

I hand-grazed for a bit, although Zoe didn't seem too interested in the grass. A night in the pasture must have agreed with her. :) After a bit, E decided to ride bareback in the grassy area around the barns.

E was surprised how easy it was to sit Zoe's trot; she compared it to riding Monte's with a saddle. So either Zoe is incredibly smooth or Monte has a truly awful trot. Probably a bit of both. At any rate, E said it was really fun to ride bareback with her. After a few minutes of warming up, E asked for a canter. Like before, Zoe did not want to go into the requested gait....and she actually bucked this time. Her buck, however, was more surprising than scary. It really was more of a hop, and pretty much straight up and down. E had no trouble staying on, even bareback.

After the buck, E really insisted on getting a canter, which she was able to achieve for a few strides a minute or two later. She then dismounted and after unbridling her, we let her graze for a few minutes before going back to the stall.

So what does this mean? Maybe there is something that hurts when she picks up the canter? Or she is out of shape enough that she just doesn't want to? Or stubborn enough? Maybe she's just testing a new rider to see if she can get off easy? And is this something that is trainable/fixable? Probably. As for possible pain, we'll be going to the vet on Tuesday for a pre-purchase exam so I'll ask about that then.

And if she's still doing this buck thing at the canter towards the end of our trial period but we think she is otherwise great, I'll call the chiropractor out and see if there's something physical that might be contributing to the misbehavior. I really want this to work out.

Settling In

We went out to the barn to hand-graze Zoe for an hour or so yesterday. She's still separated from the other horses and has spent her time cooped up in Monte's stall and run.

Enjoying some green grass

As we were hanging out, C, our friendly barn manager, came over to say how much she likes Zoe so far. She is super excited for us and is really hoping this works out. As we were chatting, E took Zoe back to her stall - which she wasn't too happy about (understandably!). When E turned to leave the stall, Zoe snuck past her and trotted happily out of the stall. E got a little animated and called out for help but in the end it was Zoe herself who helped. She just walked right back to E within a minute. What a good girl!

As we were watching all of this, C got all excited about seeing Zoe's trot. This horse has beautiful foot movement and is wonderful to see. It is obvious that she is meant to be a dressage princess. :)

Zoe got to spend the night in a pasture last night. Today's schedule is a bit wonky due to various events (sleepovers, bbq's, weddings, etc.) so I think she might be relegated to the stall again but I'm hoping that tomorrow we can put her in a pasture with other horses. I know we are being overly cautious about all of this, but we just want to make sure she integrates well - and there is someone around to make sure that that is what is happening. I don't want any meanies picking on my new baby!

Monte fly bite update: He still shies away when we touch the area but I'm wondering if his reaction is becoming habit rather than actual pain. Or maybe it's itchy? Anyway, the reaction is greatly reduced and we can gradually get him to allow us to touch the area. E thinks she might try a saddle on him either this afternoon or tomorrow. Crossing my fingers that all goes well.

Hello Zoe!

Ever since we lost Curly I have been keeping an ear open for a potential mount for me. I haven't actively searched, but whenever someone I knew suggested a horse, I considered it. I got really excited a few weeks back over a Rocky Mountain Pleasure horse named Haley, but ultimately decided she would not be a good fit for our family.

Yesterday was a different story, however. A friend knew of a horse that needed to find a home ASAP and thought that we might be interested. I delayed calling the owner for a few weeks (didn't want to pursue anything prior to leaving for our vacation - plus I have to admit that I get terribly anxious whenever we look at a potential horse!). I finally got up the nerve to call and after a nice conversation with the owner, wondered why I was so anxious. :) I started to get more excited about this mare as we talked; she has been ridden by beginners and her daughter for the past three years, and is generally a sweet, calm horse. Her name is Fancy Favory, but her barn name is Zoe, and she is a Lipizzaner-Arab cross. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? We made plans for us to come visit them that afternoon.

Fancy Favory, a.k.a. Zoe

Zoe was standing calmly tied when we arrived and didn't seem too concerned that all these strange people were swarming around her. Within minutes of our arrival, she let me pick up her feet and was happy to have the girls brushing her. Her owner demonstrated how well behaved she is while being sprayed and even during clipping. Her only real vice seems to be pinning her ears when you cinch her up - but she still stands still while you do it, so hey, I can live with that!

E took a short ride on Zoe and decided that she is almost as responsive as Monte - a high compliment from E! Zoe's first owner had used her as a dressage horse and traveled to competitions up and down the West coast. She hasn't used those skills in several years, but the potential is there.

After a short visit we decided to ask for a trial period - and her owner gave us a generous month to determine if this was the right horse for us.

Unloading Zoe at the barn...

I picked Zoe up this morning (she loaded beautifully and stood quietly for the whole trip) and we brought her back to our barn. She'll be taking Monte's stall for the short term as the barn is pretty full at the moment. I'm sure he won't mind being relegated to the pasture full time. :)

Checking out the new pastures...

Zoe was very nervous when we arrived, looking at everything and unsure about what was happening. She willingly followed us around the facility and into the run of the stall, but did not want to approach the stall itself. R tried luring her in with treats and hay for about 10 minutes, but Zoe just didn't want to set foot inside that scary, dark place! (Later in the afternoon, E was able to lead her in.)

R trying to lure Zoe into the stall...

We made three trips to the barn today to make sure she was settling okay. On the third trip, E saddled Zoe up and had a quick easy ride on her in the round pen.

E says her trot is so smooth. (Anything is smooth compared to her pony, though!) Zoe is responsive, but does need more leg pressure to get moving. That may partly be because they haven't developed a rapport yet, however. After walking and trotting for about 10 minutes, she wanted Zoe to pick up her canter - and discovered that she couldn't get her to do it. After trying and trying for a minute or two, our barn manager suggested E use her inside leg to "hold up" Zoe's shoulder and then put pressure on the outside leg to ask for the canter. And that did the trick - Zoe immediately cantered a few strides.


As E was asking however, she did lower her head - E thought she was stumbling; C thought she was thinking about bucking. Both are totally plausible. I don't think much has been asked of Zoe for quite a while and I'm sure she wasn't too happy to be made to work. ;) It probably wasn't easy for her to give E the 15 minutes she asked for since she's really out of shape right now. At any rate, we'll keep an eye on this.

I'm so excited right now!

Yearly Goodwill Run

Our local Goodwill saves all Western wear donations throughout the year and puts them out for sale just before the start of the county fair. We learned about this practice 3 years ago and have begun to make a yearly pilgrimage of sorts there at the beginning of August. Almost every year we find a great pair of boots for at least one (if not all!) of us, as well as a few other doo-dads.

And this year was no different:

So for just under $60 we picked up 2 show shirts (with appropriate sparkle and bling!), 2 hats, and a pair of gently-used Justin boots for E. Not too shabby!

R, showing off her new cowgirl hat.

E, waiting at the dentist in her new hat.
(Note the braces-free smile! Yeah!)

Pesky flies

After a break from riding (we were on vacation), E had her first lesson in two weeks yesterday. We were both happy to be heading out to the barn and I looked forward to seeing Monte. Plus E really needs to buckle down and practice some of her riding skills before the county fair hits.

Monte was happy to see E and even seemed pleased to see me. At one point E went to get something from the trailer, and while she was away he inched closer to me, lowered his head and gently rubbed his nose on my knee. Too cute for words! :)

Unfortunately, the fly bites on Monte's back are still bothering him. They are not quite as large as before, but he shies away whenever we try to touch them. And he was definitely throwing dirty looks at the person trying to do the touching!

Consequently, E did not ride him for Pony Club yesterday. But she was able to ride another PCer's horse, Sienna. Sienna is a Tennessee Walker - and E was (pleasantly) surprised how smooth and responsive she was. Monte is so light that she often finds other horses a bit hard to cue; Sienna was just about as easy as Monte.

The best part of the lesson is that E finally got her D2 checklist completed and can now schedule her rating. Hoping to have that done in two weeks.....