You know that saying "Grass is always greener..."

Our new baby is testing the theory. He is finding any possible way that he can use to get out of the pasture. Today, my husband came home and found him outside the fence. He put him back. I got home a little later and he was out again. I stopped on the road and called him to me but he didn't come. All he did was stand still and "Baaaaaaah" He had apparently decided that he wanted back in the fence but got stuck. I wish I had gotten pictures.

The riding

It's really weird. I completely enjoy myself most of the time when I ride my young mare. (That's not weird.) The weird part comes when it's time to ride her by myself. I get really nervous and worried that she'll freak out or that I won't be able to control her or something. I guess it doesn't help that I have occasional bad days with her.

Here's what's happened lately. I took her to our church playday. I could not ride her because she was so keyed up. She seems to have a combination of Buddy-sourness, group shyness, and being spoiled. So during the playday, I tied her to the trailer and she managed to rear up and break the lead rope. She ended up being fine and relaxing completely when I tied her to the trailer next to the other mare.

She also freaks now when I try to load her in the trailer. I think it has something to do with the fact that we carry her and the 4-wheeler in the trailer at the same time sometimes. So trailering her to the playday already had her nervous.

Any way. I finally had to submit to the financial crisis and remove a large part of my horse fee every month. I hated to do that. Our 30 yr old mare went home to her real owners. Thankfully, I think they are going to use her to give riding lessons. That eases my mind some. The problem is that she only gets her nutrients from senior feed. That gets expensive when you are having to cut unnecessary costs.

Now, my poor mare, Takoda, now is the only horse on our property. She's not alone though. She has 2 goats to keep her company. But here I am chasing rabbits and forgot the original point of the post.

Back to the weird stuff.

So I took Koda to the 4-H riding club meeting yesterday and tied her in the arena there. The leader had 4 horses there that were penned up just outside the arena. Koda stayed relaxed and calm the whole time she was tied up and then lunged perfectly and rode perfectly. We did turns, rollbacks, walking, and trotting. When it was time to go home, I rode her out of the arena, through a ditch and up a hill. We then went back down the hill, through that ditch again and then through another ditch. When we went through the second ditch, she found a natural, deeper water channel. That made her a little nervous. She went through it though. I really enjoyed the time I spent on her. I love riding.

So, again, why do I avoid riding when I enjoy it so much the times I do ride?

We have a new member at our ranch. I mentioned him earlier. His name is Bryan and he is a Nubien/Boer cross. He is 5 months old and has two jobs - become a daddy, and entertain our indoor-bound kid. (I say "indoor-bound", because the kid can't seem to find the out-of-doors) :)