Feelin' Good

Well, that promised ride story still isn't done yet, mostly because I spent all weekend playing with the pony and getting wrapped up in riding her. I'm going to go out on a cautiously optimistic limb here and say that, tentatively, she's back. Based on her performance this weekend, and antics yesterday, she is Feelin' Good!

We rode at the San Tans both days this past weekend. Saturday, we did the big loop, about 12 miles, and were done, including about 20 minutes of potty/water/stop-and-look-at-boogeymen breaks, in three hours. For us, that's really good for a training ride. (Slug Riders 'R Us)

We finally got to see where the back trail rerouted...overall, not bad at all. The new trail is a bit wider, much smoother, flatter, on a higher elevation, and avoids about half a mile of really deep sandwash. The ponies approved, with the exception of the little trail-digging machine they had parked at the bottom of the trail in the sandwash. That got some eye-boggling.

Sunday was a shorter ride, about seven miles. We got hung up in the morning doing a family breakfast for Dad's birthday, so we didn't get out until about 2p.m. It was really quiet out - Superbowl day. Huh? Sit and watch football, or enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors with my pony? No contest! Even if it was my state's team playing. Um, go Cardinals? Even though they lost...big surprise there. (Yeah, that was sarcasm.)

Mimi was gleeful to be out this weekend. After being left behind for Wickenburg, she seems to think she needs to do everything to get back in my good graces, including draining her water bucket on training rides (two full buckets on Saturday!), not spooking at little twittering birds behind her, not reaching for more hay as I'm trying to bridle her, not assaulting and mauling her brother...it's like I have a new Angel Pony right now.

Yesterday, however, I think her halo slipped. :) She was full of herself when I went down to the barn to meet the farrier for their trims. I had some time before he showed up, so I rode both ponies. I tried Mimi's S-hack on Beamer, just to see what he's do...I think Dad has a hackamore horse on his hands. Beams was even softer in his face than with his snaffle. He still one-rein stops and flexes, and he backs up easier, too. The real test will be at speed and in a competitive setting. He was really good for me, especially because it's been over a year since I've ridden him. (Gah, really? It didn't feel like that yesterday.)

Mimi, on the other hand, was jsut full of piss & vinegar. She was shying at the new dirt pile o' death next door, staring suspiciously at the downed barrels in the corner of the arena that have been there for months, wanting to canter instead of power trot, and in general, doing everything she could to exasperate me but show me how good she was feeling.

Then after their trims, they got turned out in the big pasture. They both walked out to the halfway point in the arena, and then, for no apparent reason, took off. Mimi probably took offense to the scary new dirt pile and decided to show it the bottom of her hooves, and Beamer ran beause Mimi was running. They galloped out to the back of the pasture, ran a couple loops around the back half of the pasture, then finally settled down to graze.

Glad you're back, Pony! Now when's the next ride to take the edge off some of that energy?