Bridges

I was pretty proud of Walker today.  I didn't make it out to the barn yesterday because I somehow managed to throw out my back the day before, my muscles were aching everywhere, and I had weird bruises on the inside of my knees where I can only assume I was gripping my Western saddle on Friday.  Anyway, it was a beautiful day and I knew that he would be outside, so I figured that he wouldn't mind getting the day off to run with his buddies.

Are cameras edible?

Normally on Sundays, I ride bareback, but because my back was still tender, I decided that maybe I should just ride Western (in a saddle) instead.  Not surprisingly, there were a lot of people at the barn, and we had the opportunity to share the outdoor arena with two other girls.  Normally I would not consider this an opportunity; I would consider it a disaster waiting to happen, but it's time to start working out some of his issues.  For instance, he is becoming super attached to other horses which will incite bolting if they are at one end of the arena and he isn't, and because of this, I often find that we get in other people's way, which bothers me the most.  But I was determined to work it all out.

scratching his face up against the fence -
he's the itchiest pony I've ever met

When I got up to the arena, both the girls were off their horses, and trying to find a way to hold their two mares and drag an extremely heavy bridge into the arena that we use for trail class.  The two mares are quite dominant in the herd and so they were getting too close to eachother and trying to attack eachother.  :S  I offered to come over and help, and I was so proud of Walker.  I threw his reins over his neck and just walked away from him.  The girls were worried and one of them, T, said, "Won't he walk away!?", and I said nope, and like the good boy he was, he just stood there and waited for me to help them get the bridge into the arena.

Later, when we were riding, I even did some loping with him (which I rarely do with other people in the ring depending on who it is - unless we're bolting, of course), and not only did he NOT bolt or throw a fuss, he actually loped in a fairly controlled manner better than he had the last couple of times I've ridden him alone.  T and D (the two girls who were riding with me) are really good riders, and T even came over and said that when Walker is good,  he is REALLY good - which made me beam with mother's pride!

After the girls left, I decided to work on Walker's other horse issue - being buddy sour.  He was never buddy sour when I first got him, but he has become an EXTREMELY sociable horse and he gets very cranky with me when other horses leave the ring and he has to stay behind and work.  Even though I was done with our ride, I made him walk/trot/canter around for a few extra minutes until he was done throwing his mini temper tantrum and decided to be a good boy again.

This is when we had our own interaction with the bridge.  When we finally got it drug into the arena, the girls spent a while trying to convince their horses that the bridge would not eat them and that they should follow them across.  They first led their horses over and then rode them over, but I knew that nothing scared Walker so I just rode him over to begin with.  They were laughing because he didn't even think twice about it (another reason to be proud of him today).  After they left and we were doing some canter work, one of the girls brought their horse up past the outdoor arena on their way to the paddock.  We were cantering down towards the bridge, and I had every intention of turning before we got to it.  Walker, on the hand, had a different idea, and he CANTERED over it.  Let's just say that it is not a very big bridge, and you're only supposed to walk over it.  :S  He half-cantered, half-leaped over it, and managed to land safely on the other side.  That's when I decided to call it a day!

"I think we're done now, mom - come on, keep up"

Other than that mild death-defying stunt, I was so proud of how he behaved today - standing still while the others fought, walking over the bridge without fear, and even loping nicely and out of people's way.  I'm a proud mama today!