Trail Ride and Farm Fair!

Last night, I was up at the fire pit until 3:30 AM drinking homemade wine... needless to say, when I woke up this afternoon, the LAST thing I wanted to do was go ride.  However, I forced myself out of the house and onto my horse.  My plan was a relaxing, stretching ride in the ring before heading to meet Lynn at Farm Fair, where I'd watch her and Max take on the gymkhana.

First solo trail ride in 4+ years :)

Gali started off in the ring perfectly - he was soft and round and listening and moving his legs, all things that I rarely get at the same time.  I decided to work outside the ring and get him used to trotting around the arena, like we would do at a show.  He stepped up like a brave pony (he is NOT a brave pony!) and didn't change his marching tempo as we trotted around.  I decided to wake him up and let him run a bit down the longer stretch of the path, and despite being in a nice hand gallop, he did not get too excited and came right back when I asked.  After a few runs, I brought him back into the ring to check his brain, and he went right back to dressage work without much asking.

I took him out of the ring again, and he tried to walk up into the woods.  For a second, I forgot how much of a chicken I am, and I walked him down to the short trail on the property.  We walked between a few trees and back to where the road begins before I turned him around and went back to the barn.  It was short, but it was our first solo trail ride EVER, and the first trail ride where we were both totally relaxed.  Progress!

The trail cooled him down and I was able to put him away quickly before rushing to make the 3:00 Fair start time.  I got there and couldn't believe my eyes, there was a ZEBRA in the ring!

Oh wait.. it's just Lynn and Max.

While we were waiting for the Ride a Buck to end, an old friend, Darlene, asked me to take her horse Tigger into the baton "race".  She had never showed, and wanted to just walk him in the event for the experience, before Gale got to run it back with her OTTB.  Darlene's back was bothering her, but she didn't want to abandon her partner.  I ran back to my car and grabbed my helmet and boots, before I hopped... er, was launched? onto the big friendly belgian.

Not really sure how I got there

I know Tig pretty well, but I've never ridden him.  I took him into the warmup and when I asked him to trot, he pinned his ears and kicked at my leg, and looked over at his owner like "MOM! She asked me to move.  How dare she ask me to move?!"

Despite our appearance, speed events aren't our thing.

Tigger was rescued from an amish straight stall at age 18 or so, and he's 25 now.  He's got incredibly arthritic knees, but recently Darlene's vets told her to get him out to fun shows, get him moving, and take him places, because he's not in pain, he's just got a very funky way of moving to compensate for the knees. In our relay race, he picked up the trot on his own, and I just got out of his way.  He was moving like the giant gimpy lug that he always is, but his ears were up and he was having so much fun being in the spotlight.

Unfortunately, the show management wasn't hearing it, and asked us to scratch after our first event because of a few lame trot steps.  I thought it was fair enough - they don't know him and they have to look out for lame horses, but Darlene was heartbroken and really took it personally.  We weren't going to get much more trot out of him anyway, and he had a blast.  In 25 years, it was the very first time he'd been to a show under saddle, and I think him taking the busy Farm Fair atmosphere in stride was enough of an accomplishment.  I had a lot of fun, and I was honored that Darlene trusted me enough to take her boy out for the first time.  I know it was a special day for her.

Oh, and because Farm Fair brings out Jersey's brightest, Lynn lost count of how many people came up and asked if the portly quarter horse was a REAL zebra. I mean, she did a great job painting him, but... seriously?

Even though he's not a zebra, Max is an amazing horse.