Thursday, October 8, 2009

Pony party, part 2

Riding Tests, my turn
We were able to avoid hell pony the entire ride. I think the parent leading that pony was careful to keep him away from us.














The tests were really fun, and the little kids did not have to worry about me beating them at anything (except maybe the horse drawing contest).









I was proud of my laundry hanging skills, from horseback, as I hung up the laundry exactly as I would have at home. Ingo asked my man if I had practiced, and my man replied, "Oh, she hasn't gotten the horse into the attic yet!"










The next test was eating a plate of jello with a tiny plastic spoon as the horse was led around.















I ate up that jello so fast and told them it was so yummy my entry fee was worth that jello! (Is putting the plate right up to your face cheating?) MMMM Jello!











In this photo I am showing Ingo my poor pinky finger, that I cut badly that morning while doing dishes. I said, "I am handicapped, I am doing this horseshoe toss with only 9 fingers!"










Shooting a gun on a horse

Yah, this is a problem. It was a problem for all the horses, it turns out. I took the super soaker squirt gun and tried to shoot that bottle down....










and Baasha heard that WHOOSH from the gun, and departed stage left!











I tried again. No luck, Baasha does not like baths, and he does not like high powered squirt guns fired from his back, near his ears.












I relented and gave up. Here I am handing over the gun. Oh well!











I have always wanted to compete in the Trail class at horse shows. The test of compliance to trail obstacles. But sadly, it is only open to western riding. I don't ride western; it hurts my knees.

This was our test! But, my wonderful steed had such opinions about it!

After each obstacle, he would toss his head in a large half circle, as if to say, "Enough of that!" or ..something. He hardly ever tosses his head in this circle with me. Something about this test today put him at his very baddest, and he wanted to tell everyone! He would even jig a step away, head tossing, after each test. My heels were not on him!

What a brat, if anyone noticed. I believe the photographer noticed, with her super camera.

The next test--we had to draw a horse on a notebook as our horse was being led around the cones.










Drawing a horse on the back of a horse is OK, I can do that. But I had to place the folded, drawn picture, into a mailbox that was placed on a big blue plastic tarp. I had never ridden Baasha on a tarp before, but he saw it, said, "Pfft, Tarp, show me something scary." and that was no issue. My issue would be the teeter totter.

I said, "Oh, no thank you, I have never ridden across a teeter totter bridge before, and I don't intend to start now. In fact, if you would like to hear about a spectacular bridge accident...."

Then my man surprised me. He took the reins out of my hands and said, "I will take Baasha over the teeter totter bridge." I said, "Let me get my camera!"

And so he did it. My man convinced Baasha, after a few refusals, with just the press of his hand on Baasha's side, to get up on that thing and walk across it.

No way, here was my horse, a circus horse, walking across a bridge that on the halfway point, went PLUNK, an suddenly flipped down, where he calmly followed. OK....what next?

Gee, can you tell which photos came from my camera, and which came from the professional's? hehehehe









Next: The guys' turn

8 comments:

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

I couldn't draw a horse standing on the ground, much less on horseback! I don't think any of my horses would have been ok with the high powered water gun either.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

How brave you, Baasha, and your man are! By your smiles, it looked like a lot of fun.

Jessica said...

What a FUN day!! That really looks like a blast. That's totally my cup of tea. Just fun things to do with your horse. The squirt gun is a funny idea...something I might want to use to work with Caspian. Good desensitizing tool, me thinks. So cool that your man helped with Baasha and the teeter totter! Funny how that works sometimes. Caspian will be being a total booger for me, but then an angel for my hubby. Go figure. ;)

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Wow! Your man is awesome with Baasha! You must be proud of him and Baasha, too. They looked great together, and so did you with Baasha. The jello pics made me laugh.

Ok, so I must know why Western riding makes your knees hurt. Maybe I will haveto trade in my Western Tack and learn to ride English now that my knee is 'challenged'.

~Lisa

AareneX said...

What a fun party--I want to do stuff like that! Not the super-soaker thing, though...I took Fiddle to a Warhorse Playday one time and she was terrified of the foam-plastic sword. How embarrassing. I can only imagine what she would think about squirt guns!

Great photos, too.

WV: asessest
counting the number of donkeys

Rachel said...

Okay - I'll confess that I've never seen Baasha NOT looking presentable, but he is just gorgeous at a show!

I have an arab-saddlebred... and the ARAB definitely shows up around scary things like tarps... so proud of Baasha! And the teeter-totter - just WOW! Sometimes I think that "I'm so scared" thing is the most intelligent act they play :)

Unknown said...

That is so cool! What fun to see you both dealing with all those challenges.

I don't blame Baasha though. I'm not so crazy about water guns. :)

Amazing how well they did with the teeter totter. Which just goes to show how much courage a handler can give a horse.

(or not. :) )

FlyingHorse2 said...

Oh what you had! It really shows in ALL of the pictures! Baasha is multi talented. Shooting a squirt gun off any of my horses would have probably not been recieved well either! LOL!
I find the stirrup turners to be a big help on my old knees when riding western. In this manner the fender is not working against your knee. Just a thought for anyone with knee strain & pain.
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