I lie. (plus fun with fish-eyes)

So I said I was only going to ride "a few" horses yesterday, and ended up riding 4. I mean who takes a vacation from work to ride horses all day? this girl.

This is Zippy. His attitude makes up for what he lacks in looks. Bless his little heart!

I rode Zippy first. He was much better than wednesday. No spooking, no sucking back and thus no bucks. We walked, trotted and cantered with lots of circles, turning, serpentines, etc. He is really starting to accept more contact in the bridle (he used to flip his head around all the time). At times he even starts to offer roundness. But I don't ask for it, he's still not ready. He needs more miles and better balance yet. He is a big boy (round, but not tall) but quite insecure and while he is "broke" in that he accepts a rider, he is still in a bit of a wobbly stage. Overall, he's going well under saddle. He hates standing tied in the barn tho. Thus I left him tied in a stall while I worked other horses. He made lots of noise, broke out once (just like Noah did the other day. For the love!) ... and he ended up standing quietly for a bit before getting to go back out.

Fun with Zippy and the fish-eye lens!

Next up, is Marisol. We did about 15 minutes of walking. Unfortunately, when I started trotting it was immediately obvious that she was off. Like super foot sore in front. Stone bruise? I jumped off right away and decided to instead give her a haircut (a summer bob, if you will). Here she is:

Marisol. aka "Mare-mare" before her haircut

Mare-mare is an TB supposedly from Argentina. She is about 20 years old and doesn't look or act much older than 10. Rumor has it that she has done nothing but polo her entire life. She ended up here since she was part of the University's polo team. Well, they sold all of their horses and now Mare belongs to the barn. She has a severe tongue injury from a bit. I wish I could get pics of it, but basically her tongue was almost sawed in half. Thankfully, she rides completely off your seat and thoughts. I ride her with VERY little contact, if any. As soon as you take up contact, she hollows and goes faster. She has a lot of baggage from bad riding in her polo days. But remarkably, she is well trained if you ask her nicely. I have found that she leg yields, jumps (quite well) and will do lead changes (hunter style, not dressage style). She has lovely gaits and frankly if she were younger I would say total eventer prospect. But the mare has done her time. She deserves light, kind riding and someone to spoil her. 

Next on my list was Hamper. He was a friggin PISTOL. Not sure why he was so fresh and tense in 88 degree weather but I did manage to use that energy to get some half-steps. wooohooo! Plus solid shoulder in. Otherwise, things were tense and short strided. The left lead canter was still a bit of a hot mess. I am going to video him today so you guys can see. I also put him back on U-Guard as he was doing a bit of teeth-grinding and was so tense that I had to wonder about ulcers ... More on him later.

To finish the day. I rode a barrel horse.

You read that correctly.

The BO offered me a chance to hop on a palomino mare named bubbles. Imagine this. Here I am in tall boots, cute plaid breaches and an IRH helmet. Aboard a palomino mare, western saddle, nylon tie down and all! LOL!!!! It actually ended up being a total blast. The mare can turn and burn. I didn't run the barrel pattern, but I did canter it. :) Perhaps gaming is in my future?

Bubbles and the BO.