This picture is from a couple days ago.  This morning it was snowing.  But on that day the horses were sleek and shiny and the sky was glorious!  And of course my Joseph was handsome.  :)

So much for my plan to ride my horse again today.  I had to wait until John was home, because what if something bad happened when I was alone?  We kind of have a standing rule, no riding colts when nobody else is home.  I say "kind of" because it's a rule I'd really like to break sometimes, so I don't want to admit that it really is a real rule.  :)

Anyway, it was gorgeous out until about noon, and I did get a short ride in on Scout, as well as some mowing and watering of the garden.  But when I got my Joseph out during a break in the very light rain this evening, it decided to downpour.  Joseph was jumpy.  I mean really jumpy.  So I wasn't going to climb on, but I also didn't want to quit when he was scared.  So I didn't.  My good saddle got soaked.  We got to a halfway decent stopping point and I got him unsaddled right in front of the house, John ran my saddle and a stand inside, and I put my horse away.  After I'd changed into dry clothes I blotted my saddle dry as best I could and soaked it with saddle oil.  It's a gorgeous color now.  I don't know what it will dry like.  Can't wait to see it in the morning. 

But I wish I could have ridden my horse!

I rode all three horses today.

Wait.  Did you catch that?  I RODE ALL THREE HORSES TODAY!

Joseph had his first ride tonight!  He had been doing so well earlier in the day, but I had to quit to go to a baseball game.  I came home with a headache and it was getting dark, but Joseph was still in the round pen because I'd planned on saddling up again.  I didn't feel like saddling up again.

When I got out to him, he was so peaceful and sweet and attentive.  I figured what the hay.  I tied his lead rope around like reins and went to the mounting block.  (With lots of treats in my pockets to keep the boogeyman at bay.)

I tried throwing my leg over on the "correct" side of the horse, but my leg wouldn't do it.  After I got him turned around I threw my leg over from the off side, and that time it worked.  I fed him a bunch of treats while sprawled across his back, then slid off the other side.  Grabbed more treats and did it again but sat up this time.  The third time was absolutely awesome.  I fed him treats, scratched all his good spots, and stayed up there long enough to enjoy the moonlight and take a picture. 

I'm glad the picture turned out, even though it's not a good one.  Our first ride!

He is going to be a great horse to ride bareback.  Wonderfully comfortable.  Tomorrow though, the saddle goes back on and we will actually move our feet. 

I'm so stoked I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Snipe is our giveaway winner!  Email me your mailing address - andreav$turbonet;com  (with the proper punctuation) and I'll get the books sent off to you.  Hope you enjoy them!

Sorry for the sporadic blogging, but I haven't had any "me" time in a couple weeks.  Tomorrow might be a better day though.  :)

It's giveaway time!

Thanks to the wonderful ladies at Life With My Herd and Horseshoes and Hearts, I have some books to share with some lucky person.  Once you've won them and read them, pass them on. 

These two books aren't something I would have picked up off the shelf and bought, but they turned out to be very good books!  Having lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, I especially liked the
"Horses of the Storm" book.  I cannot even imagine what it was like in the stinking, stifling heat, with all the death and destruction.  My hat is off to those who fought through the ordeal and those who helped them.

Just leave a comment on this post by midnight on Saturday, and I'll choose a winner this Sunday.  Then I'll mail them off and you can enjoy them at your leisure and pass them on in a giveaway on your own blog.

 I think I'm pretty lucky to live in this neck of the woods.  :) 

We had a lovely ride today.

I caught a picture of Scout being curious yesterday.  He was pretty cute, sneaking up on the mower to see what it was.  If she saw this picture, my mom might be a bit worried he'd eat her motorhome, but he didn't.  I was watching.  I did have to catch him and put an end to his wandering when he got too close to the burn pile.  There are nails in there.

 

While I was letting Scout wander and eat dandelions, Bella was getting her fly spray treatment.  She's such a sweet girl.  She doesn't really like fly spray but she stands still for me anyway.  I had to spray it onto cotton balls and really work it into all of their ears.  We have these little biting gnats that we've never had before.  They're awful.

Joseph got to go out into the less secure pasture for a while.  It's only got one strand of electric for part of it so I haven't left him out there when I'm not home.  I think he'd be fine but I need to be sure before I leave him unsupervised.

He can't help but be handsome.

As I was sitting admiring my horse, it wasn't long before I had company.

They were hiding behind me, also admiring Joseph.

Then Joseph came to say hello.

Then Blue came up doing his ingratiating smiley dance.  I had already told him to stay out of the horses' area, but I'm a pushover when he's acting like a goof.  And he wasn't bothering the horses.  But then he stuck his nose on the electric fence and yiped all the way back to the house and wouldn't talk to me for a long time.  He thought I had something to do with his poor nose getting shocked.

Today we did some very low key ground work all over the pasture.  I've decided to slow down the progression to riding.  He's still so flinchy about stuff touching him.  He gets over it when we really concentrate on it, or at least he seems to, and then next time he's defensive again.  So he's obviously not really getting over it.  We have plenty of time.  I think he needs more time just hanging out, having things be relaxed and friendly.  With some low-key saddling and relaxed schooling too.  We just did circles at the walk all around the pasture, then worked on some trot transitions, and finished up with walking again.  He really relaxed and seemed to enjoy moving his feet in a way that wasn't complicated or scary.  He misunderstood a few times (or more likely I mis-cued him) and got a bit flustered, but I just calmly redirected him and he relaxed again.  At the end he was happy and relaxed.  He looked proud of himself and he was being open and curious.  Very cute.

Here he is about halfway through our work.  He's adorable.

The donkeys got a bit of a hoof trim today.  Pedro is living life in the "fat pen" where he only gets a tiny bit of grass and hay twice a day.  He thinks it's terribly boring.  I tried to put him out on the pasture a little bit and his hooves got sore.  He was laying around more and hardly braying at all.  Looking at the nice tight hoof wall he grew over the winter, I'm really kicking myself for trying to put him on grass again.  I'm sure there's going to be some new evidence of a founder episode when his hooves grow out.  Live and learn.  Can't fudge on his diet, I guess.  Bob, on the other hand, is doing great out on pasture.  Just what the old guy needs, I think.  They're so sweet.  I wanted to take my ass for a walk today but ran out of time, and it's just too darn hot. 

And now for softball!  The girls are doing pretty darn well lately, and they're playing the best team in the area tonight.  It'll be fun to watch.  And nice to just sit for a while.  :)