One year

It's hard to believe it has been a year since I said goodbye to my pony Izzy. She was such a good pony and is missed a lot.  

Two of the pics fom her ad when my friend found her for me. 

That adorbs face of hers. 

We had moved on to work under saddleOne of the many gorgeous head shots I got of her.

Izzy tearing it up and playing.

She looks like a Cow!

Izzy looking pretty thick and playing in the mud.

Izzy's warmblood pose

Love that face

Probably one of my favorite pics of her ever.

Pics from our last show

We were the only horse showing in a bosal that day

And yet we Rocked this score... 

Cowgirl clothes

Since I don't quite have a cart for my pony yet, I figured it's a good time to get on her. I brought out an old western saddle I have hanging around and started using that. She stood like a rock for tacking up, not even flinching or twitching a muscle. Part of this shift in our focus is the fact that the last show I had taken Izzy to (and we rocked it in a bad ass way!),  is coming up at the end of the month. I will go and watch this year, a few of the other boarders may go with me, but it will be a tad bittersweet. 

The miserable woman waiting for a rodeo is no longer at the barn, but if she were, I'm sure she would have been disappointed. There's a lot more there to expand on, but that would be a post of it's own. 

Three weeks ago I got on my pony for the first time. Sometimes there is too much going on at the barn and other times there is next to nobody there. This day the barn owner was there with a few relatives and they were messing with the huge garden, so they were close enough if things got too western they could call 911, but far enough away that they wouldn't be distracting or spooking my pony.

I took Miss Mazy out to the arena and lunged her. I haven't done that in a while and she needs a refresher. It was enough to get the bugs out before getting to work. I put her in the long lines before getting on. My saddle was a little too padded up and kept trying to roll on me. One thing about that- if it ever rolls on her, she won't be bothered by it. She let me get on from the left side, but was a bit hesitant about me climbing on from the right. So I climbed on from the left and got off on the right. Once she figured out the plan, I got on and off from both sides, giving her a chance to stand and process things in her mind in between. She never moved a muscle. She stood like a good pony does and was totally relaxed. I'll take it. 

Pretty A-Mazyng

I take a LOT of pictures of my new baby horse. Why not, right? I have also encouraged others at the barn to do the same. I mean let's face it, it's nice to see her progress and what changes their bodies go thru as they become more fit, learn to use their bodies properly and advance in their training.

And it helps when we get pictures like this. It also helps us see when and how things are going right and even when they aren't. Thankfully we have digital cameras now and we can snap literally hundreds of pics in a short amount of time and don't have to wait for them to develop.  

In this pic above Miss Mazy is starting to resist a little before she gives to the bit and bends to the inside in the pic below. This is part of the softening work that can also be done under saddle.   

In the pic above, Miss Mazy is starting to give to the bit and bend to the inside. She is relaxed, working off her hind end with her shoulders lifted and quiet in the bridle. 

Although the pic above and below look like they're the same pic (and I almost left one out because of this) the fore and backgrounds are different, showing she is moving consistently in the lines.

More green underfoot behind her here. Lifting and really striding out. 

Sometimes they may not move as fancy as other times. But moving fancy all of the time, takes exactly that- Time. They need to build up the muscles to be able to not only lift and carry themselves IN the correct frame, but they need to be able to maintain it too. After all- ballerinas don't take one lesson and know how to be up on their toes from there on out. Body builders don't go to the gym and work out once a week and look sculpted and ripped in a month. Our horses are no different so we need to be realistic in our expectations of them and what they physically can and cannot do. 

While I have only had Miss Mazy less than 4 months, she has seriously started to turn heads and make people take notice. The girl that sneered at her when she came in- is really starting to rethink things. The biggest thing about it all- is that I use mild bits, no extra equipment and I'm not out there beating the snot out of the horses. Mazy is proof that it can be done.    

All the pretty things

In my closet there is a mirror that has a tag I kept off of one of my shirts that says- Made for Me to Look Amazing! Every so often I need a small reminder. Especially in the mornings. lol

I have 2 of the breeching straps and all of the attachments. This is the smaller of everything and seems to be closest to fitting her. I may need to punch a few holes in things. 

Harness saddle and the shorter of the 2 back straps and crupper, that I have. I had bought a harness for Miss Izzy the Wonder Pony and while we hadn't quite dialed in the fit on a few of the pieces, there it was, waiting to make some lucky pony look A-Mazyng.  

Then there's the breastcollar and all of it's attachment gear. I have 2 of everything again. This is the larger of the two. Looks a bit large.

Going with the smaller size looks better. Still may need to either punch a few more holes or get a different size piece holding things up.  

No the bridle was not immune either. I have 2 of these also and 3 nose bands. The crown piece on this one needs to be swapped out, as well as the browband. Both are too close to the ears and will rub if I'm not careful.

Once I quit trying everything on for size, I took Mazy out for a spin with the harness. I had not put the crupper on her in the barn as a safety measure. I didn't know how she would react and there is not enough room in the aisle way if she decided to flip out, or over. Once outside, I rubbed her near the tail, lifted it up and slid the crupper into place. Mazy acted like she couldn't be bothered. 

I attached the lines and went about ground driving her in the arena. We did a lot of walking and stopping while I waited for some level of reaction to the crupper. She did wiggle a little when it slid side to side a touch as the reins passed over her back when changing direction.

Then I started working and Mazy was business as usual. The photo above, she's really using her hind end and pushing off.

Then in this photo she's keeping the front end light and starting to really reach out and cover some ground. I can just picture her with a cart and how lovely that will be. 

Here she's a slight touch heavy on the fore, but soon to balance herself out. 

Lovely uphill motion again although she is a little off kilter still. Notice how her front right and left hind are not quite parallel. Her hind will touch down briefly before the front hoof. She's a baby horse and still learning everything though, so this isn't a big deal at the moment. 

Lovely long and low movement here. Mazy is relaxed, bent in the direction of travel, reaching deep up under herself and starting to cross her hind legs over and looking like she may start to overreach a bit- making bell boots a way of life in her future. 

After all is said and done, she gets to stand and relax as a reward for her effort. She's learning to square herself up in the stop. This always helps the dressage scores!    

Growing up

After spending the first month with the baby horse learning to adult horse, we added some more things to the mix.  She learned to tie, lunge, got her feet trimmed, was body clipped, got a bath and learned how to wear a blanket. A few of these things she still needs to be familiarized with more, but she will when the time comes. 

a little fuzzy but you get the ideaThen came the surcingle. I tried one from a borrowed pony harness, but it was too small. As in about 3 inches shy of the buckle on the girth reaching the end of the billet strap. Bummer.   

We had an audience for our first attempt. The boorishly ignorant and negatively bitter person- otherwise known as MB, the miserable bitch was "hoping to see a rodeo" as she put it. My pony flinched once or twice the first time I put the saddle pad and surcungle on, but after that, she didn't give a rip. She is learning to trust me and figuring out that I'm not there to hurt her. I put things on and took them off her back, multiple times from both sides. She stood like a champ and endured the torture became slightly bored with the lack of entertainment. 

I am just not a fan of the MB and her ways. After some thought I decided that if she ever told me again that she's "hoping to see a rodeo" that I will tear her a new ass. Is she hoping to watch me get hurt? Just  becuase she's afraid of her own horse doesn't mean she should be watching for others to get hurt. 

I graduated Mazy to using a full sized surcingle. I had to if there was to be any long line work going on. As my little princess moved around and got used to the surcingle, she arched her back here and there acting like she may buck but never did. 

 She did get a little playful and spunky but then promptly acted like misbehaving would be too much effort.  Good pony!

She's really starting to shape up nicely and when I look at the photos, it doesn't seem like the same pony She looks a lot thicker in the photos but maybe that's just me.  

            

Standing quietly in the lines. She is learning to focus on me and that Whoa means stop everything now and relax.          

Miss Mazy is  really starting to shine like a copper penny and has developed dapples across her body, mostly on her upper hip, over her back and sides.

Her shoulders are starting to fill out and develop some nice muscling.  

And then I get photos like this one and whle it's not perfect, it shows my pony working in a very relaxed and balaced nature. She's going to make a nice driving and later- hunter pony over fences. 

All this hard work is wearing me out... As usual, my pony gets a few rest breaks in between to help keep her mind fresh and body relaxed. I am really love, Love, LOVING her thick gorgeous tail.