We're (kind of) back!

I'm getting the hairy pony eyeball, because I am taking her picture instead of getting ready to mount up for our first trail ride since the beginning of October!

Yes, that's right, I did remember I'm supposed to be a quasi-endurance rider with an endurance pony.

Dad and I took the ponies out on Saturday. It was the first time we've all been out since October. The past three months have been marked with a lot of stress, anxiety, and sheer craziness that has meant the ponies got pushed to the side. We were all happy to get out again, although disheartened to see the park bureaucreats once again trying to take over and cut off access to many of the trails we have put in the park. Dad and I were sort of the "permanent fixture" park sentinels that kept them toeing the line -- and agreement they made with us -- about not further interfering with our trails. It's rather disturbing now to see them come in and bulldoze a four-lane highway out of our trails, with all the rocks removed for "smooth travelling." Um, no. I want my narrow, 18" wide trails that force hikers and bikers to slow down or not go on the trails at all. I don't want them to try to turn it into a competitive mountain biking track. *grrrr*

Anyway...

We only went our for five miles or so, all walking. Mimi feels good, but again, it was just walking. Her odd movement only shows up at a trot/canter, although the last time I rode her in the arena, she felt good. Maybe it was adrenaline, because she was rather amped up from the cold weather and being stall-bound for four days while the pasture dried. But even that shouldn't effect something like her mechanical lameness, for lack of a better term.

So we'll see what happens. We're going to slowly start bringing them back. Beamer's face is all healed from his encounters with sharp pointy objects. Dad futzed with his saddle pad and created more of a bridge across Beamer's spine, and it appeared to be working to keep the saddle more elevated in the back. And Mimi? Only time will tell. At this point, 50s are out, and will be out for her for her lifetime. I won't ask her for that kind of effort. 25s are enough to keep her satisfied, so I will be thrilled beyond measure if she can come back enough to do that. I don't have the time to keep her in shape for 50s...or myself for that matter!

As it is, so far I've been offered a friend's horse for the Wickenburg Land of the Sun ride at the end of the month. Maybe, if all goes well with conditioning and timing and finances, we may be able to attend the Valley of the Sun ride at McDowell Mountain in February. But, in a shocking move for me, that is as far as my advanced planning goes. Actually, not entirely true...I'm still advanced planning, just in other aspects of my life. I have my entire ideal school future mapped out, I was looking at rental properties and apartments online the other day, and already starting to obsessively plan out that aspect of things. Obsessive-Compulsive? Only slightly. :)