Lately, with the weather so cold and the ground all icy, me and Shyloh have been getting into a little routine. I bring her inside when I clean stalls and she helps by cleaning up the hay pieces and dropped grain from the big guys. It's a win-win, I get extra pony time and Shy gets food.
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| Helper pony! |
She goes into Clutch's stall first because he drops the most grain. It's funny when I need to clean a stall that she is "cleaning", I tell to to find another stall and she does just that. After Clutch, she goes to Isaac's stall. Then she makes her way to Notch's stall and Reba's stall, then back to Clutch's stall. When I empty water buckets, Shy checks each bucket for me before I dump and after I fill.
After mucking stalls, I have been getting brave and hopping up on my horse. At first, it was just sitting on her, but a couple times I have been riding her. Just bareback and in a halter, but hey, it is something!
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| All that mane! |
I rode her by myself the other day (Jaime was in the house) and Shy was amazing! She even backed in the halter, which, I've mentioned many times before, Shy hates backing. But she tried to take me in a stall and I said "Absolutely not!" and backed her right out. I probably used way more syllables than a simple No, but Shy got the point.
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| <3 |
The more I do this, the more comfortable I get and I can feel my confidence increasing. I am ready to do more than walk around the back of the barn with Shy. I think she is ready for more, too.
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| derp photo, but I did have my helmet this time! |
After our little ride, I made a decision to do a little clipping on Shy. This is probably one reason why I should not be left unsupervised with my horse. . .
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| Flash! |
Last year we did a heart, so I decided to give the lightening bolt a try. Shy doesn't seem to mind it. I think it makes her feel fast.
I also took her tail down to see how long it has grown so far. It is back to the ground! Then up the tail went again.
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| Purdy |
But really, this snow and ice could melt any time soon so we can use the round pen to start riding more. Please and thank you.
Shyloh's lightning bolt is fun! I can imagine her helping out around the barn, very precious and all this time you are spending together will definitely translate to saddle time.
ReplyDeleteI hope. I already notice that she is so much more relaxed when i get on her, which makes me relaxed.
DeleteLove the lightning bolt and her help with the stalls! She's so cute. So happy that you're getting your confidence back riding her! I've been there and totally know how you feel. Hopefully the warm-up they're predicting for next weekend is true...
ReplyDeleteWe are having rain! And thunder snow! It's warm, but yucky out now.
DeleteLove the lightning bolt! Come do Willow! :)
ReplyDeleteI love that she's giving you confidence. Horses are priceless most days. :)
Most days, yes! You do not want me to do Willow, I promise the lightening bolt looks not great in person. :)
DeleteLove the lightning bolt and how she "helps" with stalls! Paddy always goes 'round and makes sure nobody left a single molecule of food, post feeding times. Vacuum Haffie!
ReplyDeleteThey are so helpful, right? Hungry beasts, haha!
DeleteOh my gosh- how cute that she helps you clean stalls. That must make the job a whole lot nicer!
ReplyDeleteIt's a little bit of extra time we can spend together in this cold weather :)
DeleteThat lightening bolt is adorable! What type of clippers did you use?
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like a great pony helper :)
They are actually Wahl clippers, for a dog. . .but since I just clip bridle paths and faces, they were working just fine. They are on their last leg now, I need some new ones, bad.
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