a true milestone: puppy+pony=success

I tried last year to take Lucy and Cairo out on a trail ride together.

It didn't go so well.

No one died, but Lucy was tightly wound and she expressed her anxiety in an up and down fashion. Cairo thought it was a really fun game and expressed her joy in a zig-zag fashion at a high rate of speed. I just hung on for dear life.

I have been wanting to try again for about a month. Cairo is a year and a half old now and she is a very good listener. She also respects the horses. Lucy has also grown up a lot and is not bothered by the dog being around her.

It went really well :) Kenny came along too! He rode my barn owner's Arab mare Bella, who was a little worried at first but she settled right down and actually enjoyed herself.

The horses even tolerated Cairo taking off like a banshee after two MASSIVE deer and chasing them all through the woods alongside the trail. Lucy was like, "sigh...KIDS these days!". Kenny was convinced the horses knew Cairo was trying to protect them. Though I don't personally think that was their train of thought, I am glad they weren't concerned either way.

Cairo deer hunting, Bella trucking along, and Lucy wondering when we get
to run. Sadly for her, this was a walk/trot trail ride only.

Dream horse.

I am barn sitting this weekend for my barn owner. She and her family went away for a couple of days and she asked me to take care of the barn. I was honoured that she asked - that is a big responsibility! I was there for six hours this morning turning out, doing stalls, scrubbing buckets, filling inside waters, riding, holding a horse for the farrier to tack a shoe back onto, and then I moved all of the outside water tubs into the new grass paddocks that were built last week and filled them all. Very productive!