A day of play

I could barely contain myself towards the end of the day at work today, and I ended up taking off a bit early.  Other than that though my last day at the Partnership was great, and in reality it may not even be my last day.  They offered me the opportunity to come in and keep doing some of the same stuff I have been doing, but as a paid part time position.  I of course told them I'd absolutely be interested if its paid, and they all know about my horse so they weren't surprised I jumped at that.  They have to look at the budget to see if they can take me on, but hopefully I will continue working there, and using that to help pay for my Aston.  

On that note I decided to name the beautiful mare Aston.  I'm sure y'all know what an Aston Martin is, and I just somehow thought it was fitting.  She may be plain but she sure is athletic.  Grayson said this morning when she was moving around the pasture that she wasn't sure she'd seen a horse with as nice of a trot as she's got.  She just floats across the ground, as Grayson said, I can see exactly where the dressage is bred into her.



So after work I obviously headed straight out to the barn and pulled my pretty mare inside to start playing with her.  She was NOT happy about being by herself (she'll learn, but it will take time) so I didn't cross tie her.  Instead I put her in her stall, and pulled Prince out of the round pen.  In the two minutes she was alone she sounded like she wanted to kill herself, but the second she realized she wasn't being abandoned she calmed right down.  After Prince was in I brought Aston out to the round pen and let her loose.

She trotted off but quickly settled and just walked around exploring.  She'd take a bite of hay then wander over to the water bucket, then look at the other horses (who were ALL looking at her).  I'm not kidding, I've never seen the whole property of horses so attentive.  Every single horse including Emma, Moose and Ritter were standing as close to the round pen as they could get, watching my girl's every move.  I suppose maybe she has been telling them horror stories about her past life (it must have been REALLY hard to live in a top of the line dressage barn where she would get turned out on huge grass fields.  puh-lease.) 

Anyway, I started to play with her in the round pen in a similar way that I watched Lucy Rees do while I was in Spain, and lo and behold we were PLAYING.  I swear it felt like it was right out of Black Beauty in that scene where Beauty is taunting his owner and running around the field with his bread.  Okay so it wasn't quite that cool, but we were definitely having a good time.   I remember when I was little I would "canter" and "trot" around the house.  Well I did that with her, and by using my body language I was actually able to control her speed, but also engage her in games.  It was amazingly fun!  After a while I took her into our ring and turned her loose.  I didn't want her going crazy but I wanted her to be able to actually move forward in straight lines.  I also wanted to watch her canter.  She may not have been good enough for her old owner but I think I'm going to have a blast with her.  Its going to take time, but all the good ones do.  

Remember what Pony looked like when she showed up?  

And then what she looked like 6 months later? 

And now I'm starting off with something that already is showing potential.  She may not be very broke but she has the mind and athleticism that I was looking for.  She's only been here for a day so far and already you can tell she is settling in and happy with what is inevitably a new and different life.  I can only imagine where this will go with the same amount of time, dedication and effort.  You just have to believe in them and give them a fair shot.  In return they will give you their all.

"Keep your dreams alive.  Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.  Remember all things are possible for those who believe." Gail Devers