Weekend play time

This is what 8 am looks like. 

Two puppies breathing on us to remind us "FEED US!!!!" in a sweet manner

We fed the pups and decided to enjoy the nice Fall day and get outside

We headed downtown Detroit (we live about 20 minutes north of downtown) to this great coffee shop

for a gooey bar, almond croissant, a lavender latte and a regular coffee

 Billy boy has himself a sweeeet tooth!

 The ambiance is fantastic at that coffee shop. Downtown Detroit has a very cool revival and we try to support it as much as we can. Coming from living in Chicago (Suburbs), Detroit was built backwards in my opinion with lack of public transit, and not embracing a water view with international access/view BUT there are fantastic things happening to this humble city, and we choose to support it.

After our caffeine surge, we headed to one of the US's largest farmers market, Eastern Market

There are several large sheds and hundreds of vendors with local produce, cheeses, meats, etc

It's fantastic

 After our Detroit fun day, it was time to drive north an hour to see the pony

Double snuggle with Laz & Pito

They were both convinced I had treats in my belly...uh no

It was SO nice and I'm super sad about not trail riding (I've just decided to pasture hacks for during pregnancy) that I wanted to still enjoy the weather, my horse and the trail.

So....we all hoofed it.
I put Laz's padded slipper boot on his RH just to be extra careful and we were off

 Cutting through the sweet neighbor's pasture to our trail system of heaven

 Laz was funny. He was snorty and prancing for a bit, clearly excited to be out.

He hasn't been on the trail since we rode it alone in April (le sigh)

 It was a good decision to hand walk him, he was definitely not 100% confident and chill and I can't blame him. Lack of constant exposure leads to that but he was great via in halter. He is a pony that does best with repetition so I just set us up for success

 SNORT!

 About one minute after this photo we came  head to head with a cyclist on the narrow path and Laz jumped backwards about 15 feet. Poor guy was just so startled! He almost sat on Billy who was walking behind

The cyclist was super cool and stopped and allowed us to pass by slowly. I'm not sure I would have sat that spook or not if I were in saddle? Maybe...big maybe. Or maybe I would have eaten dirt over his left shoulder. 

 It was a super fun walk, we covered 4 miles and enjoyed the gorgeous trails. I hope to do it again soon

  After we returned home, we enjoyed rustic homemade sourdough toast with fresh MI mozzarella and heirloom grape and currant tomatoes

Pretty much a perfect Saturday!

Spring chill mode

I'm happy to report that Friday evening was the day Laz joined back in with the herd.

Pito joined Tinkerbelle on Thursday with no issues and here is how Laz reacted to joining in

(video below)

Whew! What good ponies!

***

Saturday, the weather was heaven. 50 degrees, sunny, low wind.

I grabbed my pony, cleaned him up and decided to ride.

He was game from the get go

So...we ambled down the road and tried for our 2nd attempt for the trails

Heading down the mowed path on the private property to get to the trail system

It was a lot drier but we hit some soggy spots

 This is when I know I have a good pony between me; when he wants to stop and sniff things

 He would spot a few times to smell and I just would refocus in the distance and urge him on.

He obliged 

 Officially in the trail!!!

 Such happiness! I love our quiet alone rides when I can push my nerves aside

We rode for about 15 minutes when we saw two more riders in the distance...

Laz FROZE. It took a few asks and I got him to circle (breath buddy!) and we just waited to let them approach us. They were two ladies out enjoying the trails on their Canadian Warmblood and a Perch/TB X. We chatted for about 10 minutes, they complimented an OTTB in a halter (nope, it was my bitless bridle) and said he was the roundest TB they've seen. I literally laughed out loud. I take that as a compliment.  They seemed very nice and hopefully we run into them again. 

We carried on our own though today, as that was our mission.

After that Laz was definitely a bit more up, but I put in some trot work and he came back down

Here he is back to normal chill mode

Coming home...

 The two grays in the distance...far distance

This little friend joined us for a ride...

Laz, feeling a bit tired and content I hope, as I untacked/brushed him gazing over to his new herd of three.

What is nice is that Pito doesn't scream after us when we ride away because he feels safe with Tink

After my fantastic soul fullfilling ride, I made this for tomorrow's Greek Easter

A fruit trifle made wtih ladyfingers soaked in strawberries, lemon and condensed milk, layered with freshly whipped vanilla creme and topped with blackberries, strawberries and passionfruit

Pretty much a great day!

Riding solo and 1st lesson of 2014

Some videos of our solo rides/water training

Some days Laz is all this...

But mostly he is this ..

 #ottbselfie

 He was extra snugly and quiet  

So we saddled up and headed out

 Snapping photos along the way down the dirt road

 He was quite and forward so we kept going...

 and turned towards the private pastures to get to the...

 mowed thicket that leads to our trails. I haven't seen these trails since early December 

 We went as far as almost to the trails but alas the footing was SO bad. He was sinking into the ground leaving huge holes about 6-8" deep. I finally gave up when we hit a low spot that had so much standing water and branches/roots that I didn't feel comfortable pushing him through. Laz splashed at it, and I gave him a cookie and turned around to come home

He did great, until we turned to come home. He got VERY anxious and starting tossing his head, curling up to explode and gave a few crow hops and squeals. We small circled our way back to move his ribs, breathe (me too!) and lower his head from a giraffe to a saddlebred to back to his normal relaxed state

We made it home in one piece but it was spotty for a minute. A dog came rushing out at us which didn't help but he knows better and I lost his communication for a minute, and had to fight to get it back

Not terrible for his first outing in that area in months, but not great

Chubbs grazing safely back home with his loosen girth, and muddy legs

 

We also had a lesson last week and I elected to work on the ground with him to start off in a true spot.

We worked on his respect. Not tossing his head or backing up or away when I rub his face. His reward was when he brought his head back to his chest center and low, I would stop rubbing.

We worked with using my body's energy to move his shoulders/haunches

She wants me to give him treats LESS and reward more with quiet time or a pat (I have a tendency which you may have seen in the video to treat the crap out of him! He's a foodie, what can I say?! But I get her point because he becomes so antsy for the treat that it's counter productive often)

We worked on our circle game (where I stand still and send him off in a direction on the lunge) and when he gets snakes his head/neck I use my whip to slap the ground behind him to mark that moment/spot and within twice of doing that, he quit and quieted down. I don't understand how/why it worked and I'm looking forward to seeing how that may translate in the saddle because he often gives me that sass under saddle. The lesson was really about matching his energy with mine vs shrinking back and knowing and using intention for him to respond to

Our next lesson will be in the saddle and putting some of this to work

Ah, Spring OTTB brains

Kensington Trail

Sunday the stars aligned. 

We were able to get 4 girls together for a 4 hour, 9 mile trail ride.

Me on Laz. E on her new leased love Molly (A Paint/Perch X mare), J on Stella (A fleabitten TB mare) and E on Pito (Laz's herd mate)

I went early to tack up. I KNEW Laz was going to be excited to see a trailer and two horses.

Excited was an understatement.

He was jiggy, and squealing, and wanting to rear....so I dismounted and just walked his silly but to see the girls. He settled down a bit. I got back on, we headed out but it took him a good 2 miles to settle down. It was a bit comical.

Riding the dirt road to the trails...

and entering the trail connector to get to Kensington Park

It the beginning Pito was the trail master. He was so calm and led the herd. Laz would tuck his nose into his tail. Sometimes, Laz just needs a mental break and I knew he would submerge again after he took it all in, for a bit.

 We rode the connector for about 30 minutes, crossed the main road and now..KENSINGTON in all it's glory!

So gorgeous.

Riding through the prairie grass

E was giving young Molly (drafty paint x) her very first trail ride!!!

She did so great

Those two mares are boarded together, and Stella is a champ jumper and all around athletic girl. BIG girl, she's 17 hands

 Laz ended up pushing forward and was asking to lead. He lead for a huge amount of time. At the walk, trot and canter!

Entering the large field half way through our ride. Laz always gets jiggy with it in a large open field.

He started arching his neck and telling all the other horses "I USEDZ TO RACE YA KNOW?!"

The girls were not impressed and he quickly settled back down when he realized, there was NO race to be had.

 

 We took the ponies down to the lake, to offer them a drink

Laz threatened to roll about 5 times but I would NOT allow it!!! It was too cold to get wet and suffer for an hour or two

E smiling on Molly

Splashing

 and splashing..and me kicking and yelling "NO NO NO NO"

 and humping Laz , like that will make him go forward?!? and waving my arms in flight.

Seriously??! 

Whatever, the ponies were having FUN

Pito and his old lessor --I love that photo

Pito is such a good boy

One of the many trails we rode

 Oh yes, we were in our myler D bit for the trail ride extravaganza

I wanted to ensure I had breaks for my own safety. Even though we rode mostly on the buckle..there were a few key moments where we were ON THE BIT ;) 

Click below to view the canter video and if you listen closely I screamed out "MOLLY!!" because she ran through a mud puddle and I ate it. Or drank it. And couldn't stop laughing!!!

It was a pretty great day.  We rode and rode and rode.

 I especially secretly enjoyed it, being that ride was on our 5 year anniversary.

Laz and I, FIVE years ago

What a ride it's been

I'm so lucky to have this equine partner!