...could be the name of someone's blog in California, perhaps. In Texas, it might be more appropriate to name this "I Rode at 6:00 PM and Lived to Tell About It" or "90% Humidity Almost Got the Best of Me"
I usually wait until at least 7 PM to ride, thanks to the awful humidity and heat that Central "Oven" Texas is known for. Saturday, however, a friend came up to ride, so for the sake of his time, and because it was only a balmy 88 degrees vs the usual 108 degrees, I decided to go ahead and start a little earlier.
This friend has not ridden a horse recently- as in, he hadn't ridden since he was a child on a packer trail ride in the Smokies- so the ride promised to be fun. I saddled up Miss Chica Chica, jumped on, and warmed her up (jusssst in case she wanted to be sassy at first) so that he could see how to steer her, voice control her, etc. She was a rock star, in spite of not being ridden regularly. Also, it was the first time I'd ridden her in a saddle in I don't know how long.
Once he got onto Chica, I had him do something "simple" to start off with. I pointed at a tree, and said, "Walk her over to that tree." They proceeded to do the most drunken amble to the tree- she'd start to go slightly off course, he would over-correct, and suddenly they would be headed in the complete opposite direction. "Think of your reins like a steering wheel" I told him. "You don't want to over-correct a car, so apply that thought process to riding". After pointing at different objects for a while so he could figure out the steering process, I left him to ride around and get used to the feel of Chica while I hopped on Sienna.
After giving her (and myself) a good workout, we headed out into the pasture to trail ride. It was fun and made me appreciate having a second horse that a friend could ride (although I think I scared him when I casually (and sarcastically and possibly maniacally) said "I need more horses so that [my roommate] and [my sister, who was also present] can ride with us!"). He handled the "canyon" that we have to cross to get to the other pasture- the one that Sienna likes to take the road less traveled on and leap to the little catwalk along the top of it, surprisingly. The only "ahhhh!" moment we had was when he dropped one of his reins, and Chica stepped on it and popped herself. I maneuvered Sienna in and grabbed it before anything more exciting could happen.
I was very proud of my girls when we got back- they both behaved so well. While my sister jumped on Chica for a few minutes, he tried out the English saddle on Sienna- I asked him later if he preferred the western or English saddle, and he said he felt more masculine in the western, lol- and Sienna was awesome with him as well.
After the others were done riding, we set up a jump for me and Sienna that involved two buckets with a longe whip across them as the jump. I think, after encountering such ingenuity, she will one day be broke to anything and everything. At first, she kind of just trotted through it without any inclination to jump it, but when I cantered her over it, she jumped. We raised it higher, and she cantered over it without hesitation. It was SO MUCH FUN and I think, if I still have her in a few months, I'm going to take her to a HJ show and try it out!!! (I'm excited) Video below!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxMhp5BgxhA
The quality is horrible because for some reason, transferring anything from an iPhone to another medium makes it suck, but you get the gist. Also, I have no pictures from this day, other than the video, so I could have made the whole thing up. You'll never know.
Unrelated to horses, KITTENS! They are getting so big. We've found a home for a grand total of ONE of them, leaving us with six. I have a friend who says that she wants one as soon as she moves to her new apartment, so hopefully everything will work out and we will have "only" five. Eight outside cats total. Oui vey. I can't afford to get all of those guys spayed and neutered, so I don't know what we're going to do.
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| At least they're cute! |
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| This one's my fav-nooooo I can't say that! |
I suppose I could take them to the shelter, but black cats have a rough time of it there. It sucks when you have so many people tell you they're interested in taking a kitten, then not follow through. It has become one of my biggest pet peeves.
Finally (this is getting to be long because it has been quite a while since my last post), I had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid in my friend Kaitlin's wedding. It was SO beautiful, held at a gorgeous facility.
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| Pre-wedding make up and hair |
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| The lovely bride |
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| Bridesmaids |
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| You know I'm going to need a picture on this chaise lounge. |
We had a lot of fun getting ready the morning before, and I only stepped on my dress once during the ceremony (fortunately my attendant kept me from making a scene by supporting me!). I can't wait to see the pictures, or to welcome Mrs. Vincent back from her honeymoon!
