Penny's Twin!

I have found Penny's twin. And she's for sale.

http://www.csquarefarm.com/lazer-lavender-grey-connemara-cross-mare-2002/

 Penny and her best buddy Zaya. They're sort of an odd looking couple. I wish she'd soak in some of his awesomeness. He has an absolutely spectacular canter and is in general just a good guy. He takes exemplary care of his owner. For anyone looking at those halters thinking "how dare she turn them out in halters!" They both have leather parts.
 

 

 Western Scrub Jay (or so I think.) There have been tons of them down in NM lately.

Down in working student land yesterday I lunged and rode Penny, who was fine. I really think I'm missing something as far as communicating with her is concerned. Something is just not there. Then I rode R. Riding these big dressage horses is like learning a foreign language. I could not get R to trot. He takes the contact with the smallest cue, but getting him to move? Not so easy. I know it's just a communication problem, he obviously knows how. With help from JM's hubby S and a whip I got him moving. And oh, did we move. I thoroughly enjoy that horse. I remembered on my drive home that R's saddle has some of those flexible stirrups on them and when I had normal irons I didn't have an issue. Will be switching them out next ride to see if things go better.

Meatball wonders why I'm not feeding him something

Z's owner wants me to ride him on the days JM doesn't and DC's owner would like the same when she's out of town. I'm definitely not going to turn down a ride on DC, the Grand Prix horse. He's said to be a tough ride, but it's a technical tough as opposed to behaviorally. It couldn't be the latter, as his 87 year old owner does just fine with him.

Argh! Boots

I have been having the hardest time finding boots. I loved the Tredstep Donatellos last summer, until the leather started ripping out from the stitching. I tried on a bunch of boots at a tack shop and wasn't really happy with any of them. So I decided to order Donatellos again in a medium calf size and had a hard time zipping them up. Got the larger size (wide.) I can zip them up, but I can also fit my hand down in them. Nice if they were pull on, highly annoying in a zippered boot. They do not make my legs look at all elegant.

I'm wondering if the zippers on the medium calf were having issues and that maybe they really did fit. But now I'm remembering how well the Ariat Volants with the front zip fit. I talked myself out of them because the Donatellos were cheaper and fit perfectly decently. But now they don't. Of course the nearest tack shop is 4 hours away so I'm doing this all by mail. Argh!

Penny and I have been in serious training for months. Yesterday I decided I needed a pseudo day off where I didn't ask for much. I got on and had a lovely, rhythmic, calm pony. She was using her body, her neck long, if not all pretty. I'm perfectly happy with straight out in front of the withers right now, because she didn't bring her head higher than that until we started jumping. And yes we finally jumped as I brought my standards down. Definite downside of dressage land: no jumps hanging about. Penny was still my awesome "steer and hold on" pony, taking me to the jumps like she does. I also made JM's day because she loves to jump, but has focused on dressage for so long she doesn't get to do it much. She took Zaya over a tiny, tiny jump, perhaps the first jump he's done in his life. I'm trying to get her to bring Rialdi to an event this summer. And darn, I'll have to jump Rialdi too to prepare him.

Hmmm...

Las Cruces Horse Trial has changed their closing date to February 10th. We'd decided not to go, but now...

Whoopsies. I inadvertently lost my amateur status in the horse world by lunging horses for JM. I don't necessarily consider lunging training (it can be of course, but what I was doing so wasn't,) but USEA does. Which means that I was being compensated (in lessons) for training a horse. So, now I'm not an ammie anymore. I was pissed at first, but now I'm thrilled. I was hamstringing myself trying to keep amateur status, having to turn down schooling rides because I'd be being compensated. Now I can ride all the fancy horses and get paid in lessons to do it. Today I rode Penny, her boyfriend Zaya the trakehner, and the always awesome Rialdi. It was awesome.

I cannot count how many times I read the Amateur section of the Rule Book, yet I still screwed up. Oh well.

Caviar next?

Penny Pony has expensive tastes. First it was the Black Country saddle. We tried ten different saddles and it's the only one that worked for both of us. Now it's a Herm Sprenger Aurigan bit. She so obviously prefers it to any other bit. We've tried others and she just doesn't go as well in them. She gave JM her nicest ever canter depart yesterday. Crossing my fingers for a sale somewhere.

Sunset January 29, 2012

Jealous?

Opinionated Pony Toes

"I want to go forward!"
"We're standing here."
"I don't want to stand still."
"Well, you're not going to go forward."
"Fine, then I'll go backwards."

Five minutes passes, with Penny backing up and up and up and up. All I did was sit there quiet, reins proper length, not letting her go forward, since that's what she wanted, above all else to do.

Pony stops moving.
"Is that enough?"
"I'm standing here, aren't I?"
"Yeah, you're standing here, but you're acting like you're going to take off any instant."
"Fine."
Pony relaxes.
"Okay, now we can move forward."
"Finally!"

In other, freaking awesome pony news, today I discovered Penny has no poll pain. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I scratched her poll and if she was a cat she would have been purring. So, it's pretty much confirmed the improper riding/body carriage caused it to begin with. I suspect it will take some time to convince her braiding and bridle path trimming won't hurt, but it will happen.