Pony fail part 1

So today I went to catch Pigeon and Riley to see if I could pony Ri off of Pidge. After fighting the two very unenthusiastic mares to the gate, I sent Pigeon through and she turned and waited for me to get Riley through. We walked to my car and they both ground tied fairly well while I tacked Pigeon up.

I got on and turned Pigeon toward the grassy area behind the barn. Riley plodded along happily like nothing was wrong, but every time the lead would hit Pigeon's hindquarters, she would freak out. We walked around a bit and I kept Pidge calm. Once she started doing pretty well, but I could tell she still hated it, I put Riley back in the pasture with Ray.

I got back on Pigeon and we took a 2 hour long ride down the road. We trekked through the remains of a corn field, and she was terrified of a really deep but narrow creek. I got off and led her over it twice, then got back on and slowly encouraged her to go over it. She plodded right up and jumped it like it was no big deal. She did pitch a fit when we rode by the 2 mares, gelding, and stallion that I posted about last spring, then spooked at a man starting up a large tractor and bolted right after. I slowed her down and stayed on, though I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight. 

As we continued, she really got into the ride. She loosened up and started walking faster and really enjoyed being out in the woods. She started to freak out on the last turn, and I didn't know why. Then I heard a dog barking and kids screaming that we couldn't see and understood what that was all about. We talked to the kids, they got to pet her and one rode her a bit, and we taught them a lot about horses before heading back home for the night. 

Bareback again

So I went up to the barn yesterday to work pigeon, but couldn't find them in the bottom field. I followed the trail of palomino hair stuck in the fence until I found where he pushed the fence down in the very corner of the pasture. Luckily they were just in the top field and hadn't broke out.

Riley was being cuddly and a total dork the whole time I was catching pigeon.

After I got pigeon out, my brother showed up with his baby. Zara had her first horseback ride, and she was laughing and having a great time! Pigeon kept her head down and was patient through it all.

After they left, I got on bareback and worked on trotting and even jumped pidge bareback a little! She was being so good, other than being a little unmotivated to go because of ray and riley. Overall I'm really proud of her!

Belated posting

Well I totally forgot to post about my last ride with my birdy girl. Whoops. I had a stomach virus and managed to fight drowsiness after taking my meds enough to ride with Callie some. Luckily the trunk of my beloved camry is just glorious..

So Pidge was super easy to catch, lead, tack, and mount as always. Ray was super jealous of her and Riley was just being kind of dense, running around trying to be affectionate to all of us at once. Pigeon was eager to see the neighbor's mares and resisted walking off down the road, so I tapped her with my heels a few times before keeping constant pressure and I turned her away from the other horses. She eventually walked on with no hesitation.

We met Callie and Two Step, let them tack up, and put sport boots on Pigeon for the first time. She didn't even walk funny and was doing great!

And we were off! We headed over to the ranch for just a quick ride before dinner.

Pigeon let us move gates, even from her back! She was a bit sluggish and when Ray and Riley started up, she just wanted to go back to them. I kept on her and moved her away from them, asking her to buddy up with Two by maintaining the same position and letting her relax. 

We were passed by a tractor and a dump truck full of rocks, and she never even flinched. She's making great progress getting over her fear of cars!

Further back on the property, we spooked up about 15 turkey's. Pidge and Two stayed pretty calm, regardless. 

She was really sweaty and tired when we got back, so she got a treat and cooled off on the walk back to the other horses. 

Enjoy some really belated pictures from like a week ago!