Mustang Saga

This morning was loads of fun. I took Bella out and saddled her. This is the first time I've done that with her tied up. She was a little worried about the big pad since she hasn't worn that one before, so I had to put the saddle down and re-approach with just the pad. No problem, just a little tenseness that time. Saddled, and she did a little head wiggling when I cinched her up. Then I did up the breastcollar, which she hasn't worn before. I flapped the stirrups a bit to make sure she was really aware the saddle was there and might move a bit. Then we headed up the driveway.

I was really worried about Scout as we went, I didn't know if he'd push against the fence to try to follow us, and one stretch of fence isn't safe for that sort of thing. He called to her once and went back to munching on his hay. We went up the road a ways where I could still see him, then when he ignored us I headed down by the "horsey neighbors." I wanted to get a good look at their new colt. :) He's really cute, a buckskin with a BIG quarter horse butt.

I swear Bella has no real spook in her. She'll look at things a little, but she's so laid back. She was happy to be going somewhere. When we got next to the neighbor horses she seemed a little afraid of them, unlike Tonka who is really interested in them. I turned around and headed back, still a little worried about Scout.

My neighbor was out getting ready to work on his tractor and we had a nice long chat about the horses. He was kind of excited about the Mustang Makeovers and the training incentive program that the Mustang Heritage Foundation is doing. This from a 70 year old rodeoin' quarter horse guy. Pretty cool. He sounded like he was almost interested enough to do it, but with the horse market being what it is... And I don't think they're allowing mustangs that are anywhere near us in the program. He was also very interested in the new trimming techniques he saw on RFD TV with the mustang roll. He used to shoe horses professionally, does a good job, but he's thinking this barefoot thing sounds good. I told him that's how I've been doing it, and it works well, but I do boot the quarter horse and the appaloosa. I'm going to take him my Natural Balance DVD and the Pete Ramey book.

I didn't get to ride Tonka today like I had planned. A cold sideways rain came in as I was coming home from some errands in town. Bummer.