Christmas Eve Trail Ride!

Yesterday Alanna and I went on a Christmas eve trail ride with our boys. They were both excellent like always. We actually went pretty far and up a few hills so Mystics legs had a hard time keeping up, but where he lacked in the up hill he made up for in the down hill! Man can that boy truck right down a hill! He was quite tired and sweaty by the time we got home and was very happy to see his stall and more importantly his food :) For Christmas he got a Likit toy, some hair products, hair ties to keep all the hair under control, and an adorable blue saddle pad! I will get pictures of him modeling it today!

Short update

My oh my, life has been busy! Between basketball, two horses, work, and beginning of OHSET its been crazy. Mystic is doing great! I seem to frequently forget he is only 3 because he is so good. Although very spoiled so I am cracking down a bit more on him now :) Everyone loves him who seems him and just wants to play with his face so he has gotten a bit mouthy, understandable for a 3 year old, I just need to get people to stop messing with his face. Lunging is going great, w/t/c is all there! We are starting long lining this week and then will start more with a saddle and more riding arena work after he gets that down. There are a couple shows in January I might take him to depending on our progress. He will also be going to our OHSET practices to fill in for some stuff! Overall he is doing great :)

Little snow = Lots of fun!

Took Mystic on a trail ride today while it was snowing! We got the day off because of bad ice and a little snow. He was great! We were out for about two hours and he just kept truckin along! Here are some pictures from the other day with an english saddle on.

This is embarrassing!

Kickin it into high gear

Just found out yesterday that Tolo is going to need some time off and most likely will not be able to attend our first OHSET meet. Disappointing for sure. So now I REALLY need to kick it up a notch with Mystic so he is ready to hopefully take over some more of Tolos events than what I was planning on. We will see how far he is by then and go form there. He got an english saddle on him yesterday, I think it was a bit embarrassed to say the least :) Today I will lunge him with the saddle on and maybe hop on him for a little spin. Will get some pictures on tonight!

Bath Time!

Today Mystic got a warm bath! He was all dirty and gross from our trail ride that he continued to splash in water and splashed dirt all over his feather and belly. And his mane was getting grimmy and gross so he got a nice bath and is now all soft and clean! Hopefully it keeps up for more than a day :)

Lunging

Id rather just cuddle!

Why do you keep putting these things on me? Im scared of them!

Add on to last post

I have found my new trail horse! He was a star :) Hauled him up there, threw a bridle on and hoped on bareback and he didnt question me once. Well except for when we were going uphill, he might have questioned my sanity then haha. He faced hikers and a group of kids that came running over to him screaming 'mommy its a horseyyyy' and stood there while they loved on him. Then he walked right into the lake and begun splashing up a storm! When I took him out of lake he turned around and took himself right back in and didnt want to leave (thats a nice change!). He led the way there and back and loaded right back up in the trailer to head home! Now I have a chore ahead of me tomorrow to give him a warm bath to clean his feather out from the lake but it was well worth it. Now he is one pooped out pony!

Trail Ride

Today Mystic is going on his first trail ride here! I hauled him to my house and put him in an area with some grass for a couple hours then am going to hit the woods with Roz! He has been working really well in the arena. I even lunged him the other day with no lunge line! He just stayed on a circle and still listened great. He is not a fan of cantering, I think I get just as much of a work out as he does getting him to canter! I do LOVE that he loads like a dream! Its so nice! Hopefully our trail ride goes uneventful!

Some pictures :)

Here are some pictures I got on my phone tonight! He was cute, playing with the jolly ball a little. Then I would hide treats on it/under it and he would dig and find it. He is very fond of that game :)

Doing SO good

Mr Man had the weekend off as I was at my dads house. My mom went over and played with him a bit and came back to say he is super sweet, has a lot of hair, and is really lazy :) I pulled out the lunge line expecting to be back a few steps because he wasnt lunged the last few days but he was great! He has walk/trot/whoa down great and we started canter work today. It is a little hard for him but he kind of got the hang of it by the end! I brushed his hair out and am planning on washing his tail tomorrow. Any suggestions on how to keep a 10 pound 20 inch thick tail clean and off the ground so it grows more?! I would love any advice! I think he mane is still growing so im trying to keep it up as much as possible so it continues to grow as beautiful as it already is! He still is working on the whole steering thing so I think ground driving him some more would be helpful. I might start long lining him at least at the walk and trot so when his canter is better on lunge line he can go right to cantering on the long line. Will hopefully get some more pictures soon! Maybe even a little video by the end of the week if I can get my mom out with me!

Short Ride

I have been ending most longing lessons with a quick cool out bareback ride for him. Today I took him out of the arena and walked down the driveway and he was really good! He gets his pace going (a very nice forward walk that is!) and just keeps truckin right along down the road. I think next week I will take him up on the trails and see how he does. I am also hoping to take him to the Extreme Trail course after the competition is over. I took Tolo last year and it was a blast! Im sure there will be many many pictures along with it also :) He really enjoys his time outside and I worked out a deal with another boarding to turn him out in the day when she is there and then I do also when im there. Everyone just loves him and thinks he is the cutest thing (which he is, I don't think im even being bias on that statement either!). Payday is Friday so im going to get him some toys and some hair supplies also. Just the sweetest boy, I can call him from the pasture and he comes right up to the gate to greet me. Last night he came full up cantering up to me it surprised me! Here are a couple pictures from my phone tonight.

I know they are blurry but he kept moving around begging for treats!

"Maybe is I grab onto the longe line I wont have to do this!"

Looking cute as can be

Im Still a Baby!

This boy just cracks me up. He isnt just his fairy tale looks, calm temperament, and big body he has got the personality to boot! Always up in your pocket begging for treats or some pets. I had him tied up, with his halter too loose apparently and he rubbed his head and got it right off! It was not even that loose either! But did he move? No he just wanted to prove he could be a big boy and stand for his grooming with no halter on. I do have to say he looked quite pleased with himself. He is still at the mouthy stage and likes chewing on things, he quite enjoyed untying him self also :) Once again longing was not an issue. A few things to keep working on but its only day 2 right?! Only so much I can ask of the boy! His 'whoa' button worked AWESOME today and most horses cannot longe as good as he does after only two days. He is solid walk trot and whoa now. Cantering is harder for him, especially after trotting some and he is tired but he did a little each way.
I switched his and Tolos treats because Mr. Picky didnt like the carrot treats I got him and Tolo will eat any treat you offer :) I think I am going to pick them up some berry treats, everyone seems to like those. Thats all for today. Tomorrow I work late so I will just go out and brush him and let him play for a little bit. No work for him!

Seriously Smart

Its not like ive been at the barn at all today right? LOL Nope just pretty much lived there! I went and visited him this morning. He was just hangin out eating some hay and came to say hi to me. So I left and went to Albany to go to Coastal. Picked him up a bag of treat, some rubber bands for his hair and a bag of shaving to mix with his pelleted bedding. I then went back to his barn and took more of his stuff over there. I took out his braids as he was rubbing a little bit and brushed him all out. I wasnt going to do much with him today but he really settled in great and acted like he had been there his whole life so I put his bridle on and took him to the arena for some longe lessons! He was super good! He didnt really understand everything that I was asking (although he did know the whoa word from driving!) but tried really hard. He got out onto circles both ways and by the end when I said whoa he wasnt coming to me he was staying out on the circle and would go right back up into the walk when I asked him. He even did some trotting either direction (which he also knew the trot word, thanks to the driving again) and didnt pull on my hands to much, and if he did once he hit the end he came right back onto the circle. Seriously a FAST learner and super willing. I believe with that attitude you can go anywhere! After his longe lesson I just hoped on bareback to walk him out. He was great as usual and we ended our lesson seeing how he would react to me sliding off his butt, yeah he could care less! I love this horse so much!
So I brushed him out, cleaned his stall while he got to roll in the arena then took him outside to graze for 15 or 20 minutes before putting him away. He is such a ham! Loves everything and everyone. If people are there he could care less about food or anything else he just wants to be with you. Here are some pictures from today.

"You expect me to be good for our lesson AND have a good hair day? Lady your crazy!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ok I can let the hair thing go if you give me a treat!"

"I know im gorgeous but can you please stop staring at me?!"

"I sure do love the grass here!"

The Beginning

Today marks day one of our journey! Spent the morning hanging out with relatives and riding some ponies around before having to pack up at hit the road before the weather got bad and it got dark. I would stay there forever if I could :) Mystic loaded like a champ, hauled like a champ, and settled in like a champ. Really couldnt be ANYTHING else I could ask for from him, especially only being a 3 year old! He got to stretch his legs in the arena a little bit but was mostly concerned with being by us and getting some loves. Once his stall was all fixed up I threw him some hay and let him rest for a little bit. I just got back from checking on him and he had his hind leg cocked and his head peeking out his door content as can be! He has already had many visitors and im sure many more in the days to come! What a good boy he is!