Ginger's Big Day

For the past several weeks, we have brought Ginger to GaitWay along with the grown-up horses.  We have done this for two reasons: 1) Ginger needed experience with going new places and doing new things. 2) We had hopes that someday Ginger could do GaitWay as well.  Last time we went to GaitWay, I even rode Ginger around in the arena, and she did quite well.

Today at GaitWay a very exciting thing happened (in my opinion).  Ginger was used in one of the therapeutic riding lessons!  We explained to Grace, Ginger's rider, that this was her first time to give a therapy ride, and that the little girl needed to be gentle and quiet with her. Grace enjoyed her ride on "Princess Gingersnap" and they did a lot of fun things together.  They walked, trotted, played  a game called Red Light, Green Light, tossed beanbags into a bucket, and had a short trail ride at the end of the lesson.  After Grace dismounted, she fed Ginger a carrot.  Now, Ginger has always refused to eat carrots in the past, with only one exception, a carrot fed by a little girl called Lyla.  I fully expected her to refuse Grace's carrot, but she accepted it and ate it.  I guess that Ginger only eats carrots from little girls...

Swimming with the Horses!

Into the pond we go!

 Our neighbor down the road has a lovely pond that is clean and free of obstacles.  It is the perfect place to go swimming with one's horse on a hot summer day, and we gained permission to play there recently.  Annie and I took Buddy and Peg to the pond for a swim on Saturday afternoon.  Momma drove over with us to take pictures and see the fun, and the dogs went with her.  We had a wonderful time. 

This was our first time to actually swim with the horses, although we have gone wading with them several times.  We rode bareback and with halters, and all four of us (Buddy, Peg, Annie, and I) got quite wet.  Bunny the Pit Bull, who loves to swim and wallow in the mud, thought it was fun that we finally joined her in the water.  She became extremely excited and jumped and splashed around in the shallows.


Peg has reached the deep water, and he is swimming.  Buddy is still walking.

  Peg loves to swim, and he is very good at it.  We spent lots of time in the pond.  Buddy thought it was fun, too, and he got a little overconfident.  He forgot that he had never been in deep water before, and he rushed Annie out into the swimming area.  Then....


Oh, no!

 When Buddy's feet could no longer touch, he lunged forward and slipped.  Annie flew onto his neck, grabbed it, and slid off sideways, pulling him off balance.  She ended up accidentally dunking his head under the water.


"I'm getting out of here!" says Buddy.  "I've got water in my ears!"

  Buddy decided that he was through with Annie riding him in the pond.  He swam out of there without waiting to see if she was okay, and she had to swim out alone.  Meanwhile, Peg was just a-swimmin'.  (I think he was laughing at Buddy.)


Try, try again

  Annie was able to convince Buddy that she didn't duck him on purpose, and they enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the pond.


"Sorry, Buddy."



How time flies!

I looked up and realized that I have not posted in a very long time.  So much has been happening in our family lately that I am going to have to write a longer post soon.  However, for now I'll give a bit of a quick update.

Ginger's hoof problem is entirely healed now, and her training is progressing well.  I am able to ride her outside of the roundpen  now, and a friend came over and rode her all over our property, the neighbors' property, and down the road on Monday.  Ginger gave her first pony-rides to children yesterday and seemed to really enjoy it.

I was able to plant our summer garden, and it is looking great!  I am happy with how my plants are doing, and I haven't let the weeds take over yet....  I planted tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, greenbeans, melons, basil, marigolds, and zinnias.

Daddy is very busy at work.  He has been working so hard, and we hope things quiet down at the office soon. 

We took a week-long trip to Fort Collins, CO a few weeks ago.  It was a lovely time, and the weather was beautiful there.  We were able to hike a little bit, and we had a good time together exploring the city.  I'll write more about that later.

Speaking of weather, it has been pretty nice here lately.  The highs have been in the 70s and the lows in the 40s.  Weather like that makes me want to be outside all day long!