Winter Ride, II

The second ride in two days was with Shea and Jodi.
Shea’s such a lovely, quiet horse, so ponying the new girl is a Win-Win:

It’s good for Jodi to see new things and good for me to practice that extra juggle.

Jodi has some nice roundpen hours racked up, but stepping out into the neighborhood offers a new and different world to her. For pony2the rest of us, the ride was like any other. For her, I think, those ordinary encounters were extra-ordinary.

  • Scores of egg cartons missed the trip to the recycling plant and lay strewn along the roadside. The wind picked them up and blew them in our direction. They pursued us like heel-nipping dogs.
  • A neighbor decided to fire his gun right as we passed.
  • Cars passed close and fast.
  • Dogs bounced out of their yards to meet us.
  • Once off the road, we found the ground muddy on top but icy underneath. We trotted gingerly and Jodi learned to keep pace without bearing any tension on the leadline.

She learned that trail rides have their rewards. We found grass and stopped to graze for 10 minutes.
Through all of it, she kept her head.

Did quietness flow from me and Shea or is Jodi just a level-headed gal?
To be continued!

road

Posted in On the Trail, Starting Jodi, Uncategorized.

3 Comments

  1. one of the best things to do early in a foals life. Mine was three days old and I had her ponying alongside her mom down the road to a woods road. Then I let her go and she enjoyed it so much; being on her own but us nearby. She experienced so much. Today I can take her through fire. (which I did one time with brush burning on both sides of the road) Latest greatest accomplishment is going over a trestle bridge with fast running water way below. She is totally road safe. I attribute all this to early jaunts with me and her mom all over the place.

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