meatball and the marsh

Things that you should not do in a particular order:

1. Clip an ornery Meatball
2. Take same Meatball on a trail drive to the marsh, immediately following his full body clip.

But that is what we did anyway. Meatball was still a fuzzy mess. I am not sure if minis shed the same or not, but it appears not. So we clipped him. All of it. Also, I am a terrible clipper.

He actually looks like a horse without all that fuzz!

Meatball was tolerant, much more so than his bath or bean cleaning, but still not pleased. Really though, he had to feel better now that his skin could breath and he could feel fresh air and not sweat, right?

After the clip, we loaded up horses to go for a ride and drive at the marsh. I was taking Meatball, Jaime had Dexter, Kyle was riding Clutch, and our friend Anthony was riding Notch. First problem was little Meatball would not load on the trailer. The new trailer has ramps and Meatball was not going up the ramp. What he did do was go to the side of the ramp, hop up, and proceed into the trailer though. Horses are weird. . .

Marsh

We got to the marsh and I had to make a few adjustments to his harness because he lost about 3 inches in hair. We also tried a new bit for Meatball, a mullen mouth half cheek. He was driving in a snaffle half cheek. Everyone got ready and we headed off. 

Can you tell which side I clipped? Yeah. . .the side with the lines (left side)

And Meatball took the lead. He wanted to go and I had to really hold him back, like never before. People were fishing and walking around at the marsh and Meataball spooked at some kid with a fishing pole. Then spooked at a yellow bird.  This horse never spooked while hooked to a cart before. Weird. . .

We were trotting along and leaving our friends behind. And Meatball would not stand still. He had a major attitude. When I corrected him, he took off into an unasked for canter. Jaime stepped in and we switched horses. She is much better at fixing horse problems than me. In fact, I am terrible at it. Jaime gave Meatball a little lesson in listening and adjusted his attitude problem and he was okay after that. 

I stuck with Dexter, who is the best driving pony in all the land. Seriously, he is awesome. 

We got to the water crossing and the drafts went in. And Notch did not want to come out of the water! He was playing, splashing his legs, putting his head in, and just having himself a great time!  

When we finished the loop and were untacking at the trailer, people came up to pet the horses. Then Anthony had an idea. He wanted to know what it was like to ride in the trailer. . .what the horses do, what it feels like. So he sat in a cart and we closed him in. It was only a ten minute ride home. 

We got back to the barn, lowered the ramp, and there Anthony was waiting to be unloaded with a mini! Too funny. He said the trailer was like riding in a Cadillac. It was so smooth and you could hardly feel any bumps. But the horses were looking at him like, WTF? 

It was a fun day, even though Meatball was being a jerk face. I bet he felt a lot better after the drive, since he wasn't a hairy, sweaty mess. Minions. . .