Woops, my bad.

Today was an epic fail. Well not quite that extreme, however I did mess up today's ride a smidge.

For starters after our last hack in the field I wanted to give him a sheath cleaning just to make sure. I didn't do it that day because it was still chilly. So I of course forgot to do that today before our ride. DARN.

In response to that he was super behind my leg and just generally non-compliant. I even briefly took him upto the ring to see if he would get more into a work mode up there. To no avail. Although once I finally gave up and got off he had his sheath cleaning. Which he was VERY happy about. Two beans up in there poor pony. And it had only been a couple months.

Hopefully next time things will go much smoother.

4 rides with 4 different personalities.

One thing with Poncho is he's got about 7 different personalities. And you never know which one is going to show up on a given day.



Wednesday pony was all down to business. He was forward and bendy. By the end of the ride he was pretty much staying on the bit at all gaits except canter. That's still a work in progress. But he was so cool and calm I even hacked him back up the barn once we were done.

Thursday he had off. My knee was killing me so I couldn't make the drive out.

Friday was our "easy" day. Just a simple hack in the field. He was abit more defiant that day. He was most determined that my right rein would not be accepted and that my left leg would not be tolerated. Gooberhead was most determined to no accept either. Eventually we worked through it enough that I was I guess you could say pleased. I was hoping for better, but I can't always get ahead of myself and assume he's putting his A game on every single day. That's not realistic.



Yesterday he was extremely distracted. He could not and would not pay attention for about the first half of the ride. I eventually got him listening somewhat. And then he put on the brakes and tried to run backwards. Boy did I get after him. He got some well placed kicks and finally got down to work. I guess in his mind he was going to be "bad" but ended up going on the bit the best he's ever done in a long time! At the canter we were an epic disaster he was trying to do a 90 degree turn and run into a corner. So out came my GRRRRR face we got it. But it definitely wasn't pretty. Then we had to hack around for a long time. We went down the driveway then around the field for a while. It took oodles of time after that to cool him out though. He's going to need to be clipped soon.



Today was was HIGH AS A KITE. He was ready to run. It took forever to get him to be not be tense but we finally got it. We were out in the field. A few minutes before we called it quits for the day he took off! We ran straight through a tree. Holy Moly that was a bit too close for comfort. Silly dude.

Attempting to get back into the swing of things.

We're getting there. The week was off to a rough start however. I was out by myself on a cold, rainy, windy day so I wasn't setting up for success. The game plan was to smoothly change his abscess boot. What I did not plan for were his attempts to bolt while I was leading him and then his attempts to run over me to get out of the run-in. I'd love to say that I finally got him in the cross ties BUT I didn't so I tied him to a tree. And it didn't get much better from there. He was iffy at best taking the boot off I rinsed it out and was getting ready to re-wrap it when he slammed into me. I fell, he tried to run sideways (over top of me). I got smushed. I have a nice bruise on my left calf, right ankle, and right knee. After that you would have though I might give up. But I managed to successfully get the boot on so I decided I'd give him a treat. Well right once I got into the tack room I hear hoofbeats. That's right Ponykins untied himself and made a run for it. I did go back out and get and make him listen to me some. Then he acted like a puppy for awhile and I left.



Tuesday I would have loved to go out to the barn but I couldn't manage the drive so I didn't go.



Wednesday it was a beautiful day and I was really looking forward to riding. Thankfully Poncho did not disappoint. I took the boot off, and thank goodness it didn't look like he needed another one. Just to err on the side of caution I opted to ride in the ring just incase the Poncho from Monday reared his ugly head. He didn't though. We got some nice trot work and some lateral work. Our canter work was less than desired but I'm not complaining we're incredibly inconsistent on our canter work.



Yesterday I just hacked around in the field. It wasn't too great he decided that my left leg didn't exist.hmmmmmm. We made due and got some things accomplished we cantered once out there it was a nice forward canter. Until the end when we transitioned back down to the trot since I was in two-point out there he decided to try and bronc a little. What a goober.



Today the spurs and whip came back out I guess I'd been a little to lenient with the guy here lately. Back to the ring. He was much, much more on the aids today. We only had one spook - heck yes. Our canter was little better in there but he protested the spurs a little (only at the canter though).

I don't even know where to start at this point.

Wow! Have I missed a lot or what?!

In summary Pony Man has been fairly fantastical lately. We haven't been doing to much because of some unforeseen circumstances, enter lost shoe and abscess. Booo hoo. However with the lost shoe we were still able to do some work.

We stuck to mainly walking and trotting we have cantered a handful of times. He had some mini bronc sessions very mini. But overall he put his game face on. He's been going on the bit fairly consistently - more than ever before. HECK YESS! I've been pretty much staying out of the ring. So it's all mainly been in the field and the trails. Which leads me to PONCHO has decided he likes trails. The other day he WANTED to go out on them.

As far as the abscess goes it popped out his heel. Poor dude he had been on and off lame a couple of times. But when I say on and off I mean like for 10-15 mintues on two different occasions. So I had no clue. He's not to pleased with wearing his little wrap and makes it known when I'm putting it on.

ALSO dude got a new rain sheet. Since he's outgrown all of his and they have been given to Midnite. He's getting a new wardrobe. So far we have his new Rhino Wug.