Envoy and Casper off to Boarding School

We actually had sticking snow this afternoon. Casper disappeared in the falling show. He was just a blue blanket moving around. Envoy came out for a while, but preferred to be in his house watching the flakes fall. Maybe I'll get to ride in it tomorrow in the light.

Must've been a sight....a floating blue blanket going around in the pasture in the snow.....

Today was a big cleanup day. The boys wrecked their stalls during yesterday's storm. I spent a good amount of time cleaning and filling the water tubs. Envoy and I went for a ride, but the snow has already mostly melted. He was happy to go around in the arena and do his cool-down walk in the slightly snowy pasture. Tomorrow, I'll have to spend less time cleaning so I can play with both Envoy and Casper.

I can imagine.

Envoy was playing dead when I got to the barn. He was sacked out in a sun spot and had no intention of moving. I picked around him, and he eventually got up to continue his nap in standing position. So, it was Casper's day to get ridden. I adjusted Envoy's bridle and just switched bits. (Casper uses an eggbutt snaffle that he likes.) We worked on turning and balancing at the walk. He has a long way to go, but he did well. We had a disagreement about where to stop. He pulled up to the gate and stopped. I asked him to keep going and he laid his ears back and got cranky. I said, "Ok. Then you will turn towards the wall and go the other way. He agreed and stopped being cranky. After 1/2 way around the arena, I asked him to stop, and he did well. I got off and stuffed him full of cookies. Good boy! Tomorrow will be Envoy's day.

Been there done that.

Never a dull moment, huh Becky? Just when you think you have the boys all figured out, they do something like this to keep you guessing. Good thing you can still outsmart them.

Literally, the nature of the beast.

Envoy suffered THE ATTACK OF THE ROLLING BUCKET! It is really windy here today, and I was brushing him after our very short ride. He started backing up in the crossties, and snorting. I couldn't figure out what was up until he "pointed" out the door and said, "There it is! What is it???" It was a black, plastic bucket that was getting blown around. It was so funny. I went out and got the bucket, and he was totally over it.

Casper was SO dirty. It took me 30 minutes to brush him enough to put on his rain sheet. We're supposed to get storms later, and I wanted to be sure he didn't get soaked. He's also shedding. Thank goodness! He's very shaggy.

OhNo, the dreaded Rolling Bucket! Pretty smart of Envoy to point out what was bothering him so much. How did he do that BTW? With his nose?
I hope Envoy isn't permanently traumatized, like Sabi was with plastic bags.

He just kept staring into one spot and kind of turned his ears to follow the bucket. He isn't traumatized at all. It was just something frightening that happened with no known cause for him. Sabi's plastic bag trauma came from someone tormenting him to "perform" by shaking a bag at him.

It's still windy. Hopefully, we'll be able to return to normal riding and chores tomorrow. It will be chillier, but hopefully, the trees won't be whipping around and throwing branches at us.

Ah, yes. The wonderful art of airing up

Ohhhhh....kinda like a hunting dogs' style of 'pointing'. I get it. Hopefully there won't be anymore buckets starting up snorting fits.

The wind finally died down, and Envoy and I got to have a nice ride. We didn't do too much since it was about 25 degrees. I've read that cold weather exertion that makes the horse breathe hard can stress their lungs in cold weather. I know it stresses mine. So, we walked and trotted with our wonderful quarter sheet. We stayed pretty warm as long as we kept moving. Nothing exciting happened today, thank goodness. We're all ready for quiet and predictable!

Glad you two got a nice ride in. You may get quiet but I don't know about predictable.

Haahaa! You're right about that. Today's ride was terrific, but unpredictably, Envoy decided to POOP at a dead stop. Trot, trot, trot, STOP.

Saluted the judge did he now?

Well, when ya gotta go ya gotta go..............

Casper had his day in the arena today. He was a little "up" probably because the weather was changing. (It's pouring rain now.) But, he just did his work and even tried to learn. His ears kept flicking back as if he were asking, "What was that? Do you mean this? Show me how, please." He's a cutie.

The funny part of the ride happened when the neighbors brought their horse home from the daughter's riding lesson. The horse was calling to her pals. Casper stopped in his tracks and WHINNIED! He was so into it that his whole body shook. It was hilarious. Once he was done, he walked on as if nothing happened.

What a silly boy . Sounds like he is coming along
quite nicely.

hehehehehehehe.............. he put his all into that. I bet they heard Casper all the way over in the next county!

He is quite a big mouth.

Nahhhh........he's just 'projecting' like they tell you in speech class....so everybody can hear you even in the back of the room. Just think though, if something is wrong like the barn's on fire or there's a coyote in the pasture you will be sure to hear Casper telling you about it! And so will the neighbors.

Oh no! Don't even think about a barn fire.

Tonight was Casper's turn to do some work. He was very quiet about going around in the arena. He's learning to turn, and starting to understand bending around turns. He had one time when he kicked at my leg when I put it back towards his flank. I was trying to keep him from popping his shoulder in on a turn, so one leg was at the girth (middle) and one was back to keep him from swinging his haunches out. He was unhappy with that leg and just kind of waggled his leg at it. I told him that he would just have to get used to it, and move along. He sighed and agreed. Good boy! Many cookies for the Casper Man.

He's also shedding like crazy. I brought out the shedding blade today, and created my own inside snow storm.

You know the only thing that is worse than that is getting hair from a
trimmed bridle path down your bra.