Greetings From Mudland

I haven't blogged in a long time because not much interesting happens around here.  Since I've become an older, more solid citizen, I take most things in stride and not much alarms me anymore.  It's all old hat.  Summer in the Northeast has been cool and wet.  It's been so muddy that twice already I've turned my right front shoe into a flip flop.  Brita does not like getting called at 9pm on a Sunday evening to come and help me finish taking my shoes off so I've gotten a new, permanent addition to my equipment.

Italian made rubbers.  Only the best for muck boots.

Another nice thing about the cool summer is that the flies have not been too bad.  Until today.  My gnat hat failed to protect me.  This fly went straight for the jugular.  Nasty thing.

Today Brita and Uncle Dad finally hauled my playground equipment out of storage so maybe in the coming weeks we will have more to blog about.  Mom is usually our photographer and she has been very busy keeping an eye one the newest little horseback rider around here and doesn't have a lot of time to take pictures.  ... of horses.

Mud

Hmmm....  a puddle.

Well, since mud season is here, we may as well enjoy ourselves.

Embrace the Mudness.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas

from WP

Rain + Mud + Sand =

The rain washed all the ice away so we could go out on the side of the road and gallop!  We've been stranded indoors long enough for that to sound like a wonderful idea despite the fact that it was pouring down rain.  When we got back inside I was so itchy.  The water was streaming down my legs and felt creepy in my coat.  My considerate owner decided to let me take care of that my way instead of giving me a hot bath and a warm, fuzzy blanket like a human would think was appropriate.

I feel so much better.  And I've dressed myself up with new markings.

My people made some rather unflattering comparisons about some of them.

This is not my first experience with being rained on and having to dry off with sand.

This marking is a rather common occurrence.  Spiffy huh?

Happy Thanksgiving

Mud

Mud... such a prohibitive substrate to jump from.

It can interfere with your take off.  Sticky stuff.

Hmmm... I don't recall putting my foot here....

The Sweet Spot

I still have a lot to learn about jumping.  This week, my oxer was giving me trouble.

Everything looked fine at first...

But my joints started to feel creaky.  And I began having trouble finding that sweet spot.  My legs just wouldn't do what I wanted them to do.  

Whoops!  How embarrassing!

So, back to the cross rail with it's ground pole to help me find the take off spot.

When I step over the ground rail, I should be perfectly placed.  X marks the spot.

I was finishing up my workout with one last try at the cross rail after totally demolishing the oxer.  I had just stepped over the ground rail and was at the point of no return when off to my left from the barn, I heard a whinny of encouragement from the pony "You can do it William!"  My ear flicked that way, and for a moment I hesitated...  but wait, I was in the middle of something... wasn't there a jump around here somewhere?

So I took a page from the Thelwell Jumping Manual.  I am no quitter.  I have committed to this jump.   From a stand still I jumped as high as I could straight up off all four.  Certainly that would do the trick!  To my right I heard Mom start laughing.  And up above, Brita was sitting there wondering:

#1. Would we ever come back down?
#2. Which side of the jump will we be on?

Not to worry, my Herculean effort paid off.  I had just enough forward momentum to carry us over.  We landed safely on the other side.  And I got to quit because, by golly, I didn't touch anything.
And thankfully, no one got it on on tape so no embarrassing photos will ever surface.  You will have to rely on my description.  I was gazelle-like. In the best possible way.