Pony Ride!

Mon Mar 28, 2005

Turns out today is one of my Great-Nieces' birthday (Grand-Niece? My Niece's daughter!), and I was asked politely by the Mom if the kid could come out for a Horsie Ride tonight, LOL! Sure, why not, I think Quzqo's plenty worn out from his three consecutive days of riding. Besides, this GrandNiece is the one who won a blue ribbon in Lead Line last year, so she's a pro. Might as well get her practicing, she's only 5, so she's got 2 more years of Lead Line ahead of her!

I'm sure Quzqo will enjoy all the apples and carrots he's sure to get...he'll think it's HIS birthday! (it might be, for all I know!)

My niece is also hauling along her other 3 kids too, so Quzqo will be getting a workout whether he wants it or not (well, maybe not, the youngest can't walk yet, and the boy is scared of the horse...he's the one who insisted Tezlu was going to eat him...which may have been true!!) (According to the Bedouins, a horse with four white legs and a white face is EVIL!!! NOW they tell me!)

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Later....

LOL!!! What chaos!!

BTW, my theory that all the teenagers & kids would be at the barn all day due to it being Spring Break was WRONG! They were all there yesterday EVENING! GAAAH (what, were they hanging out at the mall all day???) Madness!!!! My niece showed up with ***6*** children in tow (I forgot she had a baby last year, BWAHAHAA! I'm a great relative, ain't I?) (one kid was a cousin of her kids, so he technically wasn't her child). Oh yes, and her NON-horsey husband still in his work clothes (three-piece suit, leather coat)...he pretty much held the baby and stayed as far away from horses as he could (which meant he eventually went out to the car and sat there, LOL!)

Since the indoor arena was full of teens and adults working their horses (around 6 or 7 at any time), we went into the round pen...I figured that way we wouldn't get in the way of those riding, and it'd be safer all around...those kids don't know how to steer a horse very well, I could just see them meandering right into the path of the girl riding that shire/paint cross! (That thing has a GORGEOUS canter! Whew!)

The Birthday Girl got to ride first (she's now 6!), but she's an ole' veteran, having won a blue ribbon in lead line last year...she had no trouble making Quzqo move, by slamming him in the ribs with her pink snow boots...that's what he NEEDS though, LOL! She rode him around in uneven circles for about 5 minutes before we put her younger sister on board with her, and she did a good job, riding around (they were in my English saddle, at least with that I could make the stirrups short enough that she could actually put her feet in them). Then the youngest girl got to ride and cried for about a minute before she decided it was kind of fun, then she just grinned from ear to ear while the oldest sister (the birthday girl) lead Quzqo around! He seemed content to just meander around at a walk, that's his speed!

Then the Big Brother (he's now 8) got to ride, he's also a lead line veteran, but not as confident as the girl...he wanted (of course) to go FAST! Uh...no, I don't think so. "Make him go FAST!!"...meanwhile he's only got one foot in a stirrup, is holding the reins at the buckle, and is sitting 2" off center! No, I don't think we're going to go FAST right now. He wasn't as good at steering, Quzqo kept wandering over to where I was standing...but damned if that boy wasn't able to make that horse back up!!! GRRRR! I seem to recall he did that in the lead line class (which proves to me that the horse doesn't have a problem backing up per se, it's Operator Error!!).

He kept pleading to "go faster" & my niece & I said "go ahead, if you can make him!". Yeah, of course, he apparently kicked just right and Quzqo broke into a trot!!! Here's the boy holding the reins at the buckle, his hands up by his ears, and Quzqo trotting with his head sky-high! Oh SHIIIT....he only got 1/4 of the way around the round pen before we got up there and stopped him...LOL!

Let's see, THEN the Cousin, who was the oldest (around 9 or 10 I think) got to ride, he didn't want to, he was frightened, kept trying to get out of it, LOL! Nope, we got him up on the horse. The kid didn't know anything (it was his 2nd time on horseback, ever...the first time was on Tezlu a couple of years ago)...it turned out I just walked around the pen, and Quzqo tagged along behind me, so the kid got to ride the horse "by himself" (since I wasn't holding on to anything), yet safely. He couldn't get off the horse fast enough, LOL!!! Not a horseman, that one!

Then the Birthday Girl got to ride AGAIN...meantime the other kids are bored, and thirsty, and had to go PeePee, and my niece tried to have the older kids take the younger ones to the potty or to the car...which meant they had to make their way across the busy horse-filled arena to the gates! LOL...she had the 6 yr old (before she started riding again) take the 4 yr old to the potty, but the 4 yr old started dragging her in another direction, and there they are, basically hiking around the outside of the round pen, and there's people cantering their horses along the rail, heading right for them! My poor niece got a workout herding children, finally she had to round them up and take them ALL to the car (except Birthday Girl). While Mom was gone, I taught her how to lunge Quzqo in the round pen...except she kept trying to hit him with the whip...she seemed to like the whip a little too much!

So she got another ride on the horse, and we managed to talk her down off of him with the time-tested story that it's his bedtime and he has to go night-night now (well, it was around 8:30 by then). I don't feel one bit sorry for that horse, he made out like a bandit with an entire bunch of fresh leafy carrots, and a shiny red apple the size of his head! He did look sort of pleased with himself when I put him in his stall, LOL! Good work if you can get it!

An amusing side note: we basically hogged the round pen for two hours straight! BWAHAHAA! I lost count of the teenage girls who were standing around outside with their horses, obviously waiting to get in there to work their horses! LOL! Tough shitski! Haw!!! Paybacks are hell, aren't they, girls??? They eventually gave up and left...heh heh. Cry me a river.

I think poor Quzqo deserves a day off today, poor little guy!