Day Two!

I have 5 horses to take care of in the mornings--Lilly, Ghost, Razor, Riper, and Frank. The routine goes a little something like this-- Go to feed room. Make feed concoctions (these guys are all about their supplements) for each horse (they each have their own special mixture). Put in stalls. Go get horses. Make sure they all have shoes. Turn on their fans.

Then I had some time on my hands. All of Hickory's stuff is currently living in my car. So I walked passed his field to go get his halter. He chased me down the fenceline. But by the time I got back to the field he wasn't really interested in me anymore. He was NEAR other horses. But when he saw me walk up he had to show me that he had made a friend, so he went over to his new quasi-friend, Mulligan. I took a cute picture on my phone that I'll attempt to get on here. I took him down to the little ring and let him run around in it. We practiced our Parelli some. He was actually pretty calm, for him. He got to see Starlight and that perked him up some. He did a little bit of whinnying but not much. I put him back out to play when I ran out of Parelli games.

Then I watched some people ride. I talked to a lady named Diane who also has a big gray horse--she seemed like a really cool lady. I met somee more people who I probably won't remember tomorrow. Everyone was really nice. Kassidy and I swept and cleaned a little bit. Then we tacked up horses for Martha to ride. I helped set jumps while Martha rode Jenny's horse Jaxon. 9 foot poles in front of cross rails. And some others I can't remember. I'm not the best jump crew, I'll admit. But I did my best. Then I untacked Jaxon and gave him a rinse and cooled him out. Then Kassidy and I cleaned his tack. And repeat for Lilly. We did some more cleaning.

Then there was about an hour and a half gap before we had to do anything else, so, duh, I wanted to go for a ride. I went to get Hick, who, this time, had to show me that he was also the boss of the herd. A bunch of the horses were standing in the shed in the field and he walked into it and made them all move and then stood there waiting for me, with a, "Look mom, I'm the boss!" face. We went for a little ride down the road to the house and around a field, then back towards the arena. We did some trotting and cantering. I was really happy, there were no big spooks or leaping in the air or any type of shenanigans. He was just really curious about everything, looking around a lot. He got sweaty so I gave him a rinse and walked him and then put him back out to play.

They asked if I wanted to put him a dry lot or not. (The pastures here are huge and have SO MUCH grass). I declined. I just don't think he would be very happy in a dry lot. And he's not getting any grain, and I'm going to be riding him every day, and I'll keep an eye on him.

We then re-set the jump course, which I think they do once a week. Lots of lugging around of heavy standards and poles, but it was fun to see the courses and the different jumps. Then Martha taught a lesson of about 5 horses, which was also cool to watch.

Then I cleaned all my tack, the end.

Funny? Note: Hickory refuses to make friends. He has made it very clear that he does not want any friends. I've witnessed on several occasions the following scene-- Hickory grazing. Horse comes into the vicinity and looks at him with a "HEY! Are you new? Want to meet?" face, ears pricked, trying to get his attention. Hickory has his butt to the other horse. He finally just turns his neck and pins his ears and makes an awful "go away" face at the friendly horse who is like "oh, uhhh" and walks off.

Other Note: I will not be posting in such great detail all the time, but for the first few days I thought it would be good to set the scene.

First lesson tomorrow!