Grayson's first impression

The weather down here is so unpredictable – despite the fact that yesterday was well into the 80s, this morning it barely broke 70 (if that).   As I drove in Grayson waved and laughed – “Oh she’s ready for you today!” in her lovely southern draw.  Laughing with her she continued on to let me know that the pony was fairly upset that her boyfriend Ritter was turned out a field different than yesterday.  No worries – this sounds like it would be the pony that I know.  

It already seems to be so good for her head that her routine is constantly changing.   We keep surprising her, whether with a new field, new friends, or a different ride.  Today Grayson watched me ride – it was her first time watching the pony go.  Again she seems impressed!  “Awh, she’s got that long horse stride in that small little body! She’s sure somethin’!” Despite being in North Carolina for over a year, I still love that southern accent! 

Today was another light day, but Pony sure was hot!  I ended up galloping her for a bit as a warm-up so that she could settle down and really start to work.   I did about fifteen minutes of leg yields and shoulder-in in both directions at the walk.  I really love how much she has developed under saddle in the past few months.  If I apply my inside leg at the girth she begins to bend, if I don’t support her with my outside leg she almost looks at me and says “What are you doing?!?”  And she pops her shoulder out to remind me that I can’t just let her fall apart.  

She really does want to learn and wants to try. 

I popped the pony over a few cross rails today so that Grayson could see her jump since she never has.  Zena is the kind of horse that you really have to see to understand.  You can't explain it, but she is so charismatic and has such a brilliant jump to her.  12” cross rails aren’t particularly impressive, but it didn’t matter.  Her first comment was “Wow! She sure does love to jump, you can jus’ tell!” 

Grayson and I started talking today about her friend Marilee who is a judge and hunter/jumper trainer at a farm near Pinehurst.  I mentioned that I might be interested in taking a lesson with her, and Grayson thinks that if anyone has a rider who might be interested in the Pony it would be her.  So hopefully that works out.  There also might be an opportunity for me to help found a 4H club in this area, so that would be a lot of fun! I’m still looking for work in the area involving horses so that would be a great opportunity. 

Tomorrow I’m going to set up a gymnastics so that I can jump Wednesday morning.  There are lots of jumps lying around that don’t get much use, but no worries because I can set everything up however I want!