Back in the Saddle!

Nothing like a little nap in a heap of dirt! Louise was the first thing I saw when I went to see Lilly today. Her little cloven hooves are so cute and strange.

It was so great to see Lilly after two weeks of not seeing her! She is so cute and loveable. Even though when Bill called all the horses from the far end of the pasture, Lilly was the only one to only come half way and then stop. Sometimes she really prances to the beat of her own drum. When she finally did come over and spied the apple in my hand, she became very friendly fast. In the barn I noticed Lilly has some huge and nasty looking bug bites on her. They looked like angry volcanoes. I could tell they were very itchy too because when I touched them, she stretched her neck out like a giraffe like she really really really wanted me to give them a good scratch! Poor Brumby!! I washed them with lavender water and then put some nice healing cream on them. Lilly had also lost a shoe. Bill to the rescue!!!!
Here's a photo in which I am trying show my new crop. I have lost so many crops this year. So this one is my alternative. It just hangs from the pommel--a rope with a little flap of leather on the end. So far, it has been an excellent change. My brumby, who was becoming as notorious for ignoring the hand-held crops as I was at losing them, sees me going for this rope and starts moving faster. She knows exactly what it means. The new crop came in handy--while working in the ring-- for keeping her in a canter. Clinton Anderson says if you want your horse to canter slow and easy, then a lot of cantering must be logged on that horse. The more the horse canters, the nicer a canterer she will be. Clinton also says horses are the laziest creatures ever and he might be right. To keep Lilly in the canter I had to use my newfangled crop, and I had to yell a lot. I kept yelling CANTER! and GOOD GIRL!! and KEEP GOING! and occasionally YEEHAW! Of course she kept scrambling over to the gate and trying to stop. Which was very naughty. When she did that I made her canter faster. (Thank you, new crop. ) I was slipping around in my saddle when she made quick turns, and a few times I lost my stirrup. But I was determined to keep that brumby moving. And in the end I think that, secretly, my brumby liked the excitement quite a bit. Her ears were up the whole time.

Obviously the cantering lesson did not upset my brumby too much because as soon as we got on the trail she was up to her old tricks. Here is one of her ideas of shangra la: Face in the fern patch.

We decided to go up the road and check in on Bill's Hay Project. I was very impressed.

Oh there is nothing more tantalizing than an open gate leading into a beautiful field. Even Lilly looks interested. Even though it could mean more cantering....

I found myself plowing through many spiderwebs on today's trail. Three of them had spiders in them. Eeeeww. There is nothing creepier to me than a spider. I think I would rather see a grizzly bear on the trail than have a spider crawling around on my shoulder. Can that possibly be true? Oh yes.

Look who we found out on the road! It is Elvis with his owner, Jade! Jade told me that she and her mom are selling Elvis and probably by next week he will be gone. This made me sad. I'll miss the ole buttinsky.