I Love Lucy!

No, not the TV show – the horse! Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous spring day in Iowa. My mom was kind enough to take the boys to the movie “Hop” so I had the night to myself. It was time for a ride!

A friend of mine who hasn’t ridden in 12+ years decided to join me last night. I put her on Black and saddled up Lu for me. The cattle are out of the fields behind us so I decided to head down there. I warned Mel that Black would probably test her but I didn’t realize just how much Black would test her! Black was a royal PITA! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her act the way she did. I asked Mel “are you sure you aren’t squeezing her?” She didn’t think she was so I showed her how to do a ORS to shut Black down.

After a bit if time Black and Mel finally started to work together. There was a plastic shavings bag hanging from the fence a little ways in front of us. Lucy started to get that “look” so I prepared for her to spook – she didn’t! We walked right up to it, she sniffed it and then we moved on. A little ways further on the trail and there was a huge tarp on the ground. This tarp must cover a semi or something because it is big. They have it all balled up and it usually freaks the horses out big time. Again, Lucy went on alert so again, I took her towards the tarp. Even though she was “on alert” she walked right up to it, sniffed it and then stepped on it.

The only time I had trouble with her was the water. Oh that dreaded water! Of course it was a creek and they always seem to be worse then rivers or ponds. It took some coaxing for that but I finally managed to get her over it. Finally – we had acres and acres of open fields in front of us so I let Lu go! It was fun for about 3 strides and then she quickly slowed down. I think she saw how far we could go and said – no way! lol

Her bending is getting better each ride. I’m still amazed at how well she retains things once she learns them. Right now I’m in the process of trying to teach her to pick up a hat. She has the concept to go to the hat but she isn’t mouthy so getting her to actually pick it up could be fun.