In which there is meandering, and Fiddle shows off her monkey lips
All the way home from work today, I planned to ride Fiddle in the pasture, because it's such a delight to have her in the back yard instead of boarded miles away from home!
Sure enough, when I got there, she met me at the gate. She was expecting cookies, of course.
I gave her cookies, (of course), but first I required her to carry me around the pasture a few times.
Look at this weird thing she's doing. Recognize it?
Yes: ITCHES!
Fiddle doesn't suffer much from the "regular" flies that plague Hana. Instead, the almost-invisible black gnats drive her crazy--in early spring she gets a rash of ping-pong ball -sized bumps on her chest and under her mane from those nasty bugs.
By this time of year, the swellings have gone down, but she's still very itchy...and she's discovered that I can scratch her best when I'm on her back. She makes the most absurd faces when I scratch her, with her eyes rolled back and her lips wiggling in ecstasy.
The lip-wiggle is how Fee got the nick-name "Monkey", because she makes such silly monkey-lips.
Hana just meandered along behind us in the pasture. As long as Fiddle doesn't actually LEAVE, she doesn't care what I do with her.
Herd-boundness is a problem for Hana. I'm going to have to deal with it pretty soon, but not today. Today, the menu calls for "meandering". Ahhhhh.
Willy was waiting back at the gate, with cookies. He's promised to take a few lessons this summer...but not on Fiddle, because she is BIG.
Post-ride fashion: the tell-tale dirt marks on my jeans prove that I went riding today!
Sure enough, when I got there, she met me at the gate. She was expecting cookies, of course.I gave her cookies, (of course), but first I required her to carry me around the pasture a few times.
Look at this weird thing she's doing. Recognize it?
Yes: ITCHES!
Fiddle doesn't suffer much from the "regular" flies that plague Hana. Instead, the almost-invisible black gnats drive her crazy--in early spring she gets a rash of ping-pong ball -sized bumps on her chest and under her mane from those nasty bugs.
By this time of year, the swellings have gone down, but she's still very itchy...and she's discovered that I can scratch her best when I'm on her back. She makes the most absurd faces when I scratch her, with her eyes rolled back and her lips wiggling in ecstasy.
The lip-wiggle is how Fee got the nick-name "Monkey", because she makes such silly monkey-lips.
Hana just meandered along behind us in the pasture. As long as Fiddle doesn't actually LEAVE, she doesn't care what I do with her.Herd-boundness is a problem for Hana. I'm going to have to deal with it pretty soon, but not today. Today, the menu calls for "meandering". Ahhhhh.
Willy was waiting back at the gate, with cookies. He's promised to take a few lessons this summer...but not on Fiddle, because she is BIG.
Post-ride fashion: the tell-tale dirt marks on my jeans prove that I went riding today!
how did you get up on her? do you have a huge mounting block out there? i can't even ride in my field cuz the grass is up to my shoulders now. i wish they'd come make hay so i can ride out there again. whenever i used to get on baasha in the field, it took all my concentration to just keep him at a walk, cuz it's sooooo hilly he just wants to run away with me. even though i usually don't have a saddle and he should know better. someday when the hay is cut, i should actually put a saddle on and let him go for a run out there. there's no rush to finish our fence when it's just a hayfield at the moment. but now that it's june, i'm anxious to see it gone.
ReplyDeletelet me know how the separation training goes - i have read so much about it and i'm curious to see it working.
Congratulations on getting your mares home! They look like they're settling in well - how nice to just have a meander!
ReplyDeleteI will eventually have to build a proper mounting block or two, because Fiddle is BIG and I'm not going to get any taller, alas. For now, I just climb up the rails of the panels. Fee is really good about standing next to weird objects so I can get on--it's the very first thing I taught her, because I recognized that it was going to be a problem for me!
ReplyDeleteSeparation training, argh. I'm dreading it.
I knew there was a reason I liked you - you have the same haircut as me. Super short spiky hair ROCKS! And you have a horse tattoo! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Funder, you're totally right: super-short spiky hair is the best! I spent my early years trying to have "good" (i.e. long, curly) hair, and when I saw this style I said, "THAT'S FOR ME!!!"
ReplyDeleteThe horse tat was taken from a photo of my old standardbred mare Story. I got it done a few years before she died...and when she was gone, I was SO glad to have her picture with me all the time.
Do you think we could convince Lytha to chop off that pretty red hair? heh heh heh....