The best things in life tend to come along when you are least expecting them...Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith, follow your heart, and do the crazy thing. This is the story of my first horse, a horse named Charlie.
Charlie was having one of those days where he couldn't stand still and would rather jig than walk. I don't know what got him so worked up, but the other horses were looky too so it must have been something.
I'm a big fan of making a horse's feet move more if they refuse to stand still or listen so, since serpentines weren't quite cutting it, I used the big newly cut hay field to my advantage. Twice end-to-end at a working trot and once at a canter (a fast, happy, bucking canter at some points) was enough to get the ants out of his pants. Charlie was quite happy to walk around calmly after that, and when we got back to the barn he got a cool liniment bath. All in all, it was a nice change of pace (haha pun intended). What's more fun than a wide open field?
I'm not sure how many of you have been following for this long and would remember, but back on October 20 of last year Charlie and I participated in our first Spring Hill picnic and games (we had trailered over since I hadn't moved Charlie there yet). It was disastrous. Reading back over my entry from that day (which you can read here) I sounded surprisingly optimistic and happy, but Charlie really was a jerk. He spent most of the time giraffe-style, pirouetting with his head in the air, or standing on two legs.
Not so this year! :) Sunday marked the annual Barn Party and Charlie was an absolute star.
Games are more fun in Western gear
We had a lot more participants this year than last (thank you weather
gods for the warmth and sunshine!) and Charlie and I did every single
game: Simon Says, Musical Stalls, Egg & Spoon race, you name it. We
even tried our hand at barrels and pole bending. Charlie didn't quite
get the point of "go fast, then slow down for a quick turn"...it's hard
to get that long body around a tiny barrel! But we still had a ton of
fun and he didn't give me one ounce of trouble. If anything he was (dare
I say it?) lazy!
One of the games involved putting lots of carrot
pieces on several barrels and then seeing who, in the fastest time,
could make it to all three and allow your horse to eat only two carrots each
time. Charlie loves this game. He loved it so much, in fact, that when
it came time to try pole bending and he caught sight of the barrel
marking the turn at end of the ring he raced right up to it and slammed
on the brakes, searching for carrots. His face when he realized there
was nothing there must have been priceless. Meanwhile I'm kicking and
pulling and telling him "No, Charlie! Move! The poles! The poles!" We didn't
win that one.
Going over the rules. Charlie got bored and started pushing the pole back and forth.
In another game we had to team up and hold a length of toilet paper between two riders and be the last team with an intact strand after a series of Simon Says-type commands. Charlie handled that like a pro and we won easily, even though he was teamed with a very marish mare (she's the cute buckskin). He doesn't care about that stuff. He's like a little kid who thinks the snarling dog is "smiling."
I did switch to my Micklem after a few games so I'd have a bit more brakes
We also won the egg and spoon race which I was sooo happy about. I usually fail miserably at that one, but this time we made it through a canter and everything! Overall, of the 10 or so classes Charlie and I won four.
Everyone had such a wonderful time. Even 28-year-old TB, Prince, brought his A-game and showed everyone how it is done, blowing everyone away with pole bending and barrels. The old guy has still got it :)
Group pic (only missing Cinnamon on the left, couldn't fit everyone in the frame)
I hope everyone got to relax and enjoy their day today. I know I did! Charlie got a chance to stretch his legs in the outdoor ring (which he loved) and share a Killian's with Dan and I to celebrate the holiday. After all he is Irish!
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