L.E. and Miss Pearl

Yesterday, when I pulled into the driveway, I saw L.E. and Pearl out riding in the backyard and it took my breath away, it was so beautiful. She had just passed by the no-watermelon arch as I pulled in, and they were perfectly framed.

Instead of continuing on to my parking space, I threw my car in park, jumped out, and got all bossy, telling her to do it again! I was hoping I'd be able to take a couple of pictures. I am by no means a photographer, but I needed to take these pictures.

Almost...almost...

... got it ...

... just to be safe, I took another one.

L.E.'s safe space is across the street in the arena; riding outside of the arena causes her some anxiety, so she's been working hard on getting comfortable riding in the backyard. Riding at home isn't new to her, we've done it together for a few years, but it's not comfortable for her. It's funny, because anywhere outside of the arena is where Skeeter and I feel best, and we feel confined within the fence of the arena. L.E. and I are opposite in that way, but because we're opposite, I know what a big deal it is for her to ride solo in the yard.

Eventually, we'll be riding the farm roads. L.E. might never want to ride the mountain trails with us, but it'll be fun to hack out on the farm roads.

And, just because I love the pictures, here are a couple more.

I cropped it a bit closer, to remove the buildings and focus on L.E.

Then L.E. cropped it even more,
and the finished product is incredible.

I'm Not Sure I Deserve Skeeter

It's been two weeks since I've had a chance to climb back up on Skeeter. (As I typed that, it sounded like I was going to confession - ha!)

Maybe I needed the almost two years without riding to appreciate what a gem of a mare I have. I mean, she's still pushy on the ground, and opinionated, but she really is a special horse and I'm glad she chose me all those years ago.

She eagerly met me at the gate when I called her, and remembered her manners as we were leaving the pen. Last time, she got in big trouble for trying to push past me instead of waiting until she was asked to follow. We did have a bit of a discussion about approaching the hitch rail. She prefers to be tied to Pearl's hitch rail, because then she cleans up everything Pearl has dropped out of her bowl. When we walk by Pearl's rail and head to our own, she gets sad and stubborn. It didn't take too much to remind her that she needed to walk up nicely to her own hitch rail, but it's definitely something we'll have to work through.

She stood like a rock star while getting groomed and saddled. Which, she should, being an old broke horse, but we're out of practice.

She still doesn't like the mounting block, and prefers me to mount from the ground, but until she loses some weight and I gain some flexibility, that's not going to happen. I'm super thankful for all of my Estes training, though, since Skeets likes to walk off as I mount from the block. She doesn't when I mount from the ground. Do I know that I should dismount and keep at it until she stands still? Yes. Am I willing to invest the time in that right now? No. That's something that we'll work on when it's just the two of us, not when L.E. and Pearl are waiting on us. Yes, I know that makes me a "bad" owner/rider, but frankly, at this point, I'm picking my battles.

We only rode for about 15 minutes around the backyard, working on serpentines, figure eights around a tree and the mounting block, a few laps each direction. When she wanted to pick up a trot, I let her and kept her going a few more steps when she wanted to come back down to a walk. My body is remembering what it's like to be astride and I was much more relaxed this time. Still had to remind myself to breathe while posting, but that'll come back as well.

L.E. and Pearl

It's not a ride if I don't get a picture of her derp ears.

Our backyard has changed a lot in the past couple of years,
the horses don't seem to mind the changes.

The pallets that make up the walls of the greenhouse used
to be our bridge obstacles for the horses.

The ride was short and sweet, and I asked Skeeter to drop me off at the mounting block. I don't recall the last time I dismounted onto the mounting block, actually, I'm not sure I ever have. After a moment of confusion she stepped right up and allowed me to dismount without moving a muscle. It felt very weird (for both of us, I'm sure).

After our ride, I wanted to take her through the archway in front of the greenhouse. It's something I want to work on, because I want to take our Christmas pictures there and it didn't go so well last year. I had laid cardboard down to kill the weeds, and none of the horses liked walking on the slippery cardboard. This summer, I was able to get the flagstone put down and some creeping thyme planted, so it's more like real ground instead of cardboard ground.

L.E. was kind enough to take pictures for us, and I'm so thrilled with how well Skeets did walking through the arch.

You can see how thrilled she is. Willing,
but unimpressed.

Even less impressed with forced cuddles ...

"Ugh, Mom! A kiss?!"

"Are we done yet?"

Funny how she never balks when we're done riding, and we're headed back to her hitch rail to get undressed after a ride, isn't it?

Someone looks pretty proud
of herself, doesn't she?

"Don't forget my 'good girl' treat, Mom."

She's so out of shape that even the short time we rode, she lathered up between her legs and couldn't wait to throw herself on the ground for a good roll. We'll keep with the short rides for a bit, and gradually increase our time as her fitness improves. Now that we're both middle aged, it takes longer than it did when we were young 'uns.

I Finally Rode My Horse!

The last documentation I have of riding Skeeter was from November 13, 2023 at my neighbor's arena. I rode with the Bionic Cowgirl and L.E. I always take pictures of our rides for documentation, even though the pictures are basically always the same, and kind of boring. However, I'm glad I'm in the habit of it, so I could look back to see how long it's been since I rode.

671 DAYS!

That's almost two years. Holy cow, I feel bad about it. But you know what? I have the most amazing, pain in the ass mare you'll ever meet. I pulled her from the pen, did about five minutes worth of ground work (no longing - I don't believe in it for "getting the wiggles out") with her, to make sure she was paying attention to me, then saddled her up.

The saddle used to fit. It used to fit quite nicely. Almost two years ago. Now that she's been sitting and is chonky, her clothes don't fit at all. 

She is a big girl right now.

Unlike human clothes, though, just letting out the cinches a few notches, and loosening the breast collar, made her saddle wearable. Does it fit well enough for a two hour ride on the mountain? No. Does it fit well enough to piddle around the yard and the farm roads to get exercise to start getting the weight off? Yes. She stood like the well-broke horse she is while I adjusted everything. 

We did just a few more minutes of ground work while we waited on L.E. and Pearl to get home from their lesson. While we were waiting, I thought I'd get her bitted up. Y'all. The girl's face got fat! I had to let out the bridle by a hole on each side. I probably should have loosened her chin strap as well, but she did okay with it, and I'll double check it again next time we ride.

As usual, she gave me some attitude about wanting to use the mounting block. She much prefers me to mount from the ground. However, with her increased girth, the stirrups are about an inch too high for me to reach from the ground, not that they were ever easy for me to reach to begin with. After a few refusals at the mounting block, we got our poop in a group and I climbed on my horse for the first time in forever.

Obligatory between the ears pic.

L.E. was kind enough to take pictures of us.

Ignore the brimless helmet - my hell hat brim
came off and I haven't replaced it.

We rode for only about 10 - 15 minutes, but it was enough to get started. Enough to remind both myself and Skeeter that we can do this. It's hard for me to look back and see all of our great rides on the mountain, and then realize we're back here, not quite to square one, but close.

The plan is to ride at least once a week, now that gardening season is wrapping up. While I don't mind her going into winter a bit on the heavy side, this is extreme, and we've got to get some weight down before bad things start to happen.

Oh, Miss Pearl

Bill always said that horses are born looking for ways to kill themselves. Our horses are pretty good at not killing themselves, and rarely put themselves in situations where they might die. Notice, I said "pretty good", not great, not excellent, just pretty good.

Every once in a while one of them has to remind us that they are still horses, and are still looking for ways to kill themselves.

This time, it was Miss Pearl's turn. Jay and I had gotten home from a quick long-weekend trip, and were being lazy. I was lounging in bed, doom scrolling on my phone, when a text came through: "Pearl is stuck, can you come help me?"

I immediately jumped out of bed and into my jammies to go help L.E. with whatever Pearl had gotten herself into. For some reason, my brain told me that she'd gotten her grazing muzzle stuck on the hay net. I don't know why that image popped into my mind, but that's what I was prepared for.

What I was not prepared for was to walk out of the house to see her standing like a Breyer horse statue - head not stuck by the grazing muzzle in the hay net - by the feeder with L.E. next to her. It took me a second to realize that it was her hooves that were stuck. Miss Pearl is the only horse in the herd that has shoes. Skeets and Copper are barefoot, and until this spring, so was Pearl, but she had some lameness issues and L.E. had fronts put on.

Not one, but both, shoes tightly caught in the net.

The 3 Mustangeers had absolutely destroyed their last hay net, and with all of them getting chonky, we'd *just* replaced the old net with a new, larger, extreme slow feed net. Larger was nice, because it fit so much easier over the round bale, with a little room to grow. One of the reasons they were able to destroy the old net was because when we put it over a round bale, it was basically a stuffed sausage, bursting at the seams. The new, larger net was so nice - no fighting to get it to fit over the bale - but it also meant that there was some excess net that the horses could pull out of the feeder as the hay got low.

I know the risks of shoes and hay nets, but I just never gave a second thought to Pearl having been shod all spring and summer, plus a bit of excess net might lead to the situation we now faced.

Initially, I thought we'd be able to just cut a few strands of the net, to free her up enough to lift a hoof and untangle the rest. Let me tell you, when Pearl does something, she does it well. There was no room to cut just a few strands.

L.E. and I took turns cutting and cutting and cutting our brand new (one month old) hay net to pieces to free Pearl. 

I have never been more thankful for Pearl's training. Jessica, Pearl's Mustang Makeover trainer, hobble trains her horses and that hobble training saved us from a disaster. Pearl got stuck, and then stood patiently while we cut her free. She never panicked. Occasionally, she'd try to lift a hoof and back up a step, but never did anything more. Copper was completely oblivious to the goings-on and continued to eat, leaning into, and shifting the feeder, which was less than helpful. Even then, Pearl was a rock star.

When we got her free, she didn't bolt, she walked off calmly with L.E., showing off her fancy accoutrement on her shoes.

The highest of fashion for horse shoes.

Doesn't she look bothered?

Serendipitously, the farrier was already scheduled to come out for Pearl. L.E. and the farrier had discussed whether or not to continue with shoes, since her lameness has resolved. Pearl and the net made L.E.'s decision for her. When the farrier arrived, L.E. looked at him and said, "get those mothereffers off of her!" He took one look at Pearl's feet, laughed, and said, "hay net".

I was able to temporarily sew the massive holes we'd cut into the net together using baling twine. (What in the world would a horse girl do without baling twine?). I've ordered another extreme slow feed net from HayChix, and Pearl is now barefoot. I think we're safe for a bit.