Pony Days of Summer

Yesterday we had quite a lot of good feeling around the stables. Everything went so well!

To start with, we had some great news. @s0u1’s trial period for his new job was up and he received an email saying he’s now a permanent employee! That’s such a relief, in these uncertain times, we didn’t know if he’d be successful or not because of the lockdown and working from home.

He’s had a heap of work dropped into his email this morning, so that’s underlined in BOLD.

Before Bev got to the yard, Mia wanted a drink. We’d forgotten to bring juice etc and she started moaning about being thirsty. @s0u1 got fed-up with that and taught her how to drink from the hosepipe. I know, she’s 8 years old and has never had the opportunity to learn how to do that! Such fun! She kept getting too much and spraying water everywhere. She waited, dried off and tried again – with the same results. I need to video her doing that…

The day before, my naughty pony, Nimbus tried to barge his way past @s0u1 when we let Maverick and Onyx up to the paddock for their feed. We feed those two because they’re both skinny. Onyx will be working soon, and as you know, Maverick has been poorly so they both need building up.

Nimbus is a chunky pony, a ‘Cob-type’ and doesn’t need any more building up, he just needs to muscle up – actually, he’s strong right now, so giving him more muscle and strength may be a bad idea…

Nimbus tried the same thing again in the morning. He took advantage of Maverick going up through the gate and he nipped through. Nimbus has quite a short back and he’s agile, so it was relatively easy for him to accelerate past me while I was trying to keep the others in their field.

@s0u1 caught Nimbus and put him back in the field. He wears each telling-off like a badge of honour and his partner in crime, Aramis is always the first to greet him when he gets back. It’s like they discuss what mischief they’re going to get up to next.

While waiting for Bev, I worked Nimbus. Considering how much effort he put into making a break for it when he wasn’t supposed to be going through the gate, he certainly took some persuading to get him through the gate when I wanted him to.

I tied him up at the yard. He’s a stroppy pony and doesn’t like being tied up. I think he may have had a bad experience previous to coming to us, but we need him to be calm and steady when he’s in the yard, so little and often is the way to go. I tie him up and watch him from a distance.

He’s getting better, but he’s not quite there yet. After a while of being tied up, I tacked him up. A bridle without the reins. He’s learning to work on the lunge rein and flapping reins distract him – actually, anything and everything distracts him.

I worked him for a while without much success, but I’ve been taught to leave on a high note, even when it’s not going great. I told him that he’d be set loose if he completed this one last circuit…

He was a sweaty pony by the time we’d finished. I took off the bridle and put his head collar back on and led him around the field for a while to cool him off. Usually, when we let him back into the field, he takes off like a rocket, bucking and farting. So much energy!

Yesterday, I led him into the field and let him go. He walked away from me. He’d had a GOOD work-out!

Bev arrived with drinks for us all (YAY).

We swapped parts of Onyx’s saddle onto Maverick’s saddle (because of the lock-down, I’ve not been out to buy bits of tack I need and Bev’s kind enough to share with me).

Bev said, “Are you riding Onyx at the same time?”
“Is that a good idea?”
“Yeah, I don’t see why not,” she said.
“Stirrups?”
“Oh yeah…”

Bev rode Maverick for the first time since we started going to the yard – last September.

She’s not been well and Maverick hasn’t been healthy and it just didn’t work out. Yesterday, the joy on her face was a pleasure. She’s really missed riding Mav. He’s 23 years old and she’s had him since he was a newborn foal. There’s a deep bond between them. He trotted up the field with enthusiasm. Then it was my turn. I trotted him around the paddock and then took him into the spare field and we got to canter (trust me, he’s a big horse and he’s been poorly, a canter is a BIG achievement).

Bev walked up the yard and I thought we’d be putting Mia on his back after that excitement, but no! “Take him up the drive, he’ll love that,” she said. “Actually, take him down the road and have a trot back up the hill, too.”

We did just that! He’s a lovely horse. He’s kind and gentle and a real school-master in the fact that he instinctively knows how to give confidence. I felt some of my worries melt away as we walked down to the turn-around. He’s done this route so many times over the years that he took me, rather than me telling him where to go. We trotted back up the grass verge at the side of the road and I knew even if a truck or motorbike came past, he’d not baulk or shy – safe as houses.

Mia’s turn next and we couldn’t get the stirrups quite right for her to rise-trot. We joked about sending her down the lane, the same route I’d just been, but she was having none of it. It’s almost as if she doesn’t believe a word I say.

“It’s your turn to take Mav down there. Turn him at the bottom and make him trot back up, you’ll be fine,” I said.

“Momma!” she says with a tone of admonishment.

She’s enjoying her pony days and I’m so happy to be able to share them with her.

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