Cinnamon Strudel's First REAL Trail Ride
Yesterday Mom and I took Ruby, Dakota, and Cinnamon Strudel out on a trail ride. Saturday I had practiced ponying the stinky Strudel horse from Ruby a bit and was pretty satisfied with their performance (Ruby didn't want to kill her nearly so much as the first time!) so we headed off!
We loaded Dakota and Ruby up next to each other and stuck Cinnamon in the back (note that I do jump back and forth on Cinnamon's name and alternately call her Cinnamon, Strudel, Stinky Strudel horse, baby mare, and all sorts of other things). There was a bit of rocking in the trailer as we drove and we pulled over. By the time I walked around the back to check everything out Ruby was standing calmly and Dakota was pressed into the corner, but neither one looked worse the wear. However when we pulled them out Dakota had a good little nick on her neck as well as a set of teeth impressions ... apparently Ruby decided there needed to be some regulating and Dakota didn't listen the first time.
Mom handed Strudel off to me and we were off! We kept it easy, sticking to the broad "service road" path that is pretty much kept clear of any daunting obstacles. I must note that the reason for riding Ruby was to insure that in case Cinnamon got a bit unruly I'd have the weight and leverage to keep her in check. The monster yearling has reached 15.1hh (that's 5'1") since we measured her Saturday and is probably closing in on 1,000lbs. She doesn't have much thickness to her yet, but that'll come as she matures. I didn't want to take her out with Kash the first time who is only 15hh and weighs not much over 950lbs. While I did take her around the neighborhood with him, that was before she out-sized and weighed him!
Anyway, both the filly and the mare did wonderfully. While Strudel did lag a couple of times and Ruby did attempt to give her both barrels once at the beginning (Cinn was RIGHT on the mare's butt and Ruby didn't appreciate it), they did great. If Cinnamon got past Ruby's shoulder the mare would swing her head at her, but other than that once we got going Ruby pretty much ignored her presence and, for the most part, the stinky Strudel horse kept about level with my knee (and she's not stinky in behavior ... usually ... she just hardly ever gets bathed and as such is stinky). We were out for about an hour and it looks like Thursday we'll be heading out again. Because of the success of the first run I'll be ponying her off of Kash (since Dad's coming and we can't really fit Ruby, Dakota, Rowdy, and Cinnamon Strudel together comfortably) and will hopefully not suffer too much from people wondering why I'm sitting on the small horse and ponying the big one, hrr.
Friday I went and saw "Mama Mia!" with Marty and have had ABBA songs stuck in my head since then, which isn't too bad of a thing, but it can get a little annoying. Friday evening Mardy, Dave, Chris and I all went to see "The Dark Knight," which was quite awesome although I do agree with Chris that in some parts the plot got a little sluggish, but apart from that, awesome.
Today the farrier came, I worked Panda a bit, had a lesson in the morning, and then ran a bunch of errands, getting garments, dropping by Tom's to get a bit for Panda's new bridle (which finally came Friday! It looks quite nice on her!), groceries, and a couple other small things. All of our horses are now freshly trimmed and Kash and Chewy have new shoes. The cost of shoeing has gone up a bit, but I can't blame Kevin because he does drive a LONG way and both steel and gas prices have gone up, plus, since we've been with him (four years?) this is the first time the price has gone up. Even with that he's cheaper than a lot of the guys who do nothing more than hang nails and don't really know how to address the hoof.
Things to do this week: passport stuff mailed, finish draft drawing, finish page 24 of Shifting Times, or at least get it mostly done.
Oh, I DO have some video of me ponying Cinnamon Strudel from Ruby in the arena, I'll try and take some time to edit it and post it because it's a enormous file since it is from our actual video camera instead of a piddly little camera that happens to have video capability.
We loaded Dakota and Ruby up next to each other and stuck Cinnamon in the back (note that I do jump back and forth on Cinnamon's name and alternately call her Cinnamon, Strudel, Stinky Strudel horse, baby mare, and all sorts of other things). There was a bit of rocking in the trailer as we drove and we pulled over. By the time I walked around the back to check everything out Ruby was standing calmly and Dakota was pressed into the corner, but neither one looked worse the wear. However when we pulled them out Dakota had a good little nick on her neck as well as a set of teeth impressions ... apparently Ruby decided there needed to be some regulating and Dakota didn't listen the first time.
Mom handed Strudel off to me and we were off! We kept it easy, sticking to the broad "service road" path that is pretty much kept clear of any daunting obstacles. I must note that the reason for riding Ruby was to insure that in case Cinnamon got a bit unruly I'd have the weight and leverage to keep her in check. The monster yearling has reached 15.1hh (that's 5'1") since we measured her Saturday and is probably closing in on 1,000lbs. She doesn't have much thickness to her yet, but that'll come as she matures. I didn't want to take her out with Kash the first time who is only 15hh and weighs not much over 950lbs. While I did take her around the neighborhood with him, that was before she out-sized and weighed him!
Anyway, both the filly and the mare did wonderfully. While Strudel did lag a couple of times and Ruby did attempt to give her both barrels once at the beginning (Cinn was RIGHT on the mare's butt and Ruby didn't appreciate it), they did great. If Cinnamon got past Ruby's shoulder the mare would swing her head at her, but other than that once we got going Ruby pretty much ignored her presence and, for the most part, the stinky Strudel horse kept about level with my knee (and she's not stinky in behavior ... usually ... she just hardly ever gets bathed and as such is stinky). We were out for about an hour and it looks like Thursday we'll be heading out again. Because of the success of the first run I'll be ponying her off of Kash (since Dad's coming and we can't really fit Ruby, Dakota, Rowdy, and Cinnamon Strudel together comfortably) and will hopefully not suffer too much from people wondering why I'm sitting on the small horse and ponying the big one, hrr.
Friday I went and saw "Mama Mia!" with Marty and have had ABBA songs stuck in my head since then, which isn't too bad of a thing, but it can get a little annoying. Friday evening Mardy, Dave, Chris and I all went to see "The Dark Knight," which was quite awesome although I do agree with Chris that in some parts the plot got a little sluggish, but apart from that, awesome.
Today the farrier came, I worked Panda a bit, had a lesson in the morning, and then ran a bunch of errands, getting garments, dropping by Tom's to get a bit for Panda's new bridle (which finally came Friday! It looks quite nice on her!), groceries, and a couple other small things. All of our horses are now freshly trimmed and Kash and Chewy have new shoes. The cost of shoeing has gone up a bit, but I can't blame Kevin because he does drive a LONG way and both steel and gas prices have gone up, plus, since we've been with him (four years?) this is the first time the price has gone up. Even with that he's cheaper than a lot of the guys who do nothing more than hang nails and don't really know how to address the hoof.
Things to do this week: passport stuff mailed, finish draft drawing, finish page 24 of Shifting Times, or at least get it mostly done.
Oh, I DO have some video of me ponying Cinnamon Strudel from Ruby in the arena, I'll try and take some time to edit it and post it because it's a enormous file since it is from our actual video camera instead of a piddly little camera that happens to have video capability.