Quite exuberant and a steady eddy all in one?

What an oxymoron Poncho can be sometimes! On Tuesday I actually managed to get a real ride in, in the ring...WHAT?! He was great for his walk work very round and forward. The trot had some sticky moments. However with our sporadic "rides" I can't complain. Since he was being a super star in terms of attitude I said what the hey lets canter some. He immediately picked a super forward and round canter...for about 3 strides. And then the rodeo was on! I was so unprepared I lost both stirrups and was flopping around helplessly for what seemed like forever. I somehow managed to stay on, solidifying the fact that I AM A NINJA! We still obviously had to work out those canter kinks. It took several different attempts to have a canter without a bronc sessions, but since I was ready for it no big deal.

Wednesday was farrier day. He was a jerk face, not horrible but definitely wasn't trying to be polite. I was planning on riding in the ring again BUT the BO turned the other 2 horses out there and left. So no ring. Midnite went into a raging heat so I wasn't to thrilled with the thought of hacking in the field with her. Needless to say Poncho got a day off. Same with Thursday it was just to hot and humid by the time I got out there.

Today I just hacked around the field for awhile. He just baffles me. With how coo-coo he was on Tuesday today it rained this a.m. briefly, got increasingly gusty (20-30 mph), and lots of commotion at the barn across the street. Yet through all that he was perfectly calm! What a perfect little wierdo!

being a meany for the farrier is exhausting!

Just what I needed today!

Today I was only scheduled to work 7-2 SCORE (normally on weekends that I work its 7-4:30ish)!!!! The initial plan was to go home, take care of dog, grab stuff, go to barn. HOWEVER I was beyond, beyond tired so I went straight to the barn from work (have no fear I made sure Bogart would be taken care of first). Of course that meant I didn't have any of my riding stuff. But I did find an old pair of paddock boots to toss on. I looked quite professional in my get-up. Khakis, a bleached out Tee-Shirt, and paddock boots.OH YEAHH. 

I didn't ride for long maybe 15 minutes. I just wanted to get on and relax. Poncho was perfect from the second I got on!!!!! Thank goodness my pants were so slick I know I could not have stayed on during an outburst!

goober blinked right as my camera took the picture :(

I don't even know where to start....

umm.


I guess we'll start with since I've been having to go out everyday to soak the hay and give the ponies their grain. Plus after all that I need to go home and take care of my doggie. It leaves a fairly limited amount of time to ride. Because due to gas prices it's not feasible everyday for me to drive home and then back to the barn. (As is I'm spending about $200 a month in gas) So our rides have been pretty sporadic here lately BUT that's going to change come May 1st! We're moving to a barn 10 minutes from my hourse! HELL YEAH!

However as far as our rides go I've manged  a hack, where thankfully I did survive. And a couple of sessions in the ring.

Luckily right before I decided to hack Poncho I switched out of the loose ring back to the full cheek. I just wasn't happy with how he was going in the loose ring once we started trotting and then forget cantering! So full cheek back in action we headed out (just around the field some). He was going great! UNTIL the deer scared him. Holy moly I though I was a goner! He spun and bolted so fast I didn't even realize it happened at first. Next thing you know I'm only half on him hanging off the side of the saddle while where bolting through a wooded part in the field. Thank goodness Poncho is the saint that he is because as I yelled WOAH he started to slow down right before I hit the tree in our path. So I got myself re situated in saddle and we headed back to the scary spot to conquer it. Which we did.

The two rides we had in the ring were nothing special only W/T because the footing is so hard it's unbelievable. He was very consistent rounding up at the walk. But took a little more time at the trot, of course we did just switch bits again so that's why.

Then this week it's been near 90 every day so no riding. TOOO HOT! I've mainly just been hanging out with him. Wednesday I even had to give him a bath just to cool him down he was just so sweaty and crusty. Poor man. He did enjoy the cool down though. Hopefully today I can manage a little tack walk if the rain eases up and doesn't leave us under water again.

But alas my glimmer of hope is only 19 days away!

Well, we lost a week.

Yup the rain came back. We were under a few inches of water. THEN Friday rolled around...

I finally got to ride. It wasn't the most productive. We switched back to our loose ring so it was still a bit of an adjustment (for me more so than him.). I had to come to terms with loosing a tad bit of control (Poncho had fun with it, though). Really it wasn't that bad he just had a little sass.

Saturday was pretty much a repeat of Friday expect he was extra hyper. Yard work was being done that was most intriguing.

Today we have snow. I wish I had know when I was heading out to the barn that it wasn't doing much there or else I would have squeezed in a quick ride today. Maybe there will be enough snow tomorrow that I can ride. I hate when you have some but not enough to have decent footing.

The attitude is back!

One thing about Poncho that's backwards is that when it's cold out he's extra calm. When it starts to warm up he gets koo-koo. Of course Poncho has to defy the stero-type. DUH.

So after our nice quick ride on Wednesday we had a nice little hack on Thursday. It was chilly and windy. He was a smidge looky but overall a superstar. We only walked because the field was basically a death trap with slick spots everywhere.

Yesterday was considerably warmer and still a little breezy. So we could actually get some work done I headed to the ring. He was feeling good! Very responsive. Tracking left everything went smooth as can be. However tracking right, as per usual the "other side" appeared. He was solid for the w/t work. But the second I asked for the canter we started to run sideways. His signature move. I couldn't work him out of it at the canter so we backed down to the trot for a little. (* in the ring there is a corner that is washed out I refer to it as the corner of death - it has gulleys and what not that instantly drop a little over a foot) Because I didn't want to kill us both. The first time going around again he dove right off the edge. Ohh my word I almost had a heart attack, I thought he finally managed to kill himself. So after a slight over reaction on my part we got out of the ditch and back into action. This time around he dried to dive and I SMACKED him good on the neck/shoulder with the whip. He of course acted like he was going to completely loose it (but did not). We had a few of those episodes then he settled and was a good boy again.

We're going to be getting more rain off and on for the next few days so here's to hoping the footing will stay nice enough to continue riding!

We're finally back on track and ready to G-O!

After having such a hard time getting an appointment for Poncho's teeth we finally got them done!!!! Score!

sleepy pony

Then the rain came. Of course such is out luck. After all was said and done there was standing water everywhere. Needless to say that majorly cut into our riding time. I did manage to have a couple of schools in the ring. One attempted hack on the trails (where we almost got swallowed by a pond, that wasn't supposed to be there).

Today he got his shoes put back on so I had a quick ride to see how he felt. Holy moly! Pony feels good now. With the teeth and shoes he's definitely feeling like working again. He's been much foamier since the teeth too! Drool everywhere. And today with his shoes he was moving out dramatically better, especially at the canter. It was to die for!

The day that just won't happen! TWICE

On Wednesday (2/27) the vet was supposed to come out to do Poncho's teeth and finish up him and Midnites shots.

Being a relatively good pony, waiting in the stall.

Well we get a call at 12:30ish that there was an emergency call that just came in, she'd keep us posted. So that emergency got resolved with-in an hour. Then we get a call about another emergency which would mean that our appointment needed to be changed. Fine I suppose. We settle on the next day at about 2:00.

Poncho and Midnite standing around confused as to why they had to just stand in a stall for a half hour.

 So to accommodate for the new Thursday appointment time I need to get off of work early (only by an hour though). I get off work and everything seems to be going according to plan. Thank goodness. However I spoke too soon. Right as I was leaving work and heading to the barn I got a text saying that right as she left to come to me that there was yet another emergency!!!!!!

"I just don't know what's happening anymore!!!!"

As of now were are planning for sometime Monday afternoon (after work they might not be too happy about me leaving early again!) Third time's a charm right?