Dom Schramm?

So, last night Taylor took me to ride with this guy ↑ right here. His name is Dom and he's from a place called Australia.... I don't know where that is, but it makes people talk funny. It was SO cold and rainy. When Taylor came out to catch me I was soaking wet and it was POURING down rain. She must have made a mistake by coming out to the pasture.... there is no way she actually wanted to catch me.... I made sure to run away from her for a solid two laps around the pasture just to make sure she actually really wanted to catch me (plus, if I have to be soaking wet, Taylor should have to be too.) When she finally caught me she threw my cooler on me and stuck me in a stall to dry. She did that thing again where she rips my hair out. Apparently it's called "pulling a mane" and it makes my mane shorter.... HELLO, SCISSORS ARE FOR MORE THAN JUST CUTTING OPEN FEED BAGS. Anyway, after I dried off a little bit and had dinner (my favorite thing)

Had to make sure Taylor wanted to catch me.

Taylor loaded me on the trailer.... all by myself..... and pulled out of the driveway. When we got to the farm where Dom was, it was sleeting sideways. I've never been so cold in my life!

Where are we?!

When we were riding Dom told Taylor to canter me in a half seat, and not put weight in the saddle. Because I'm young, when Taylor sits on me, I get lazy and add a fourth beat to my canter. I don't know why they care, but for some reason they think that's a bad thing. Whatever. The theme of the lesson was adding and removing strides without changing the canter. That was fun. I learned a lot. Then Dom had Taylor really ask me to move forward and gallop a line of jumps to leave out two strides. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I really liked that. Dom really liked me too, he kept saying "Sooooopah cayoot pony." I'm adorable. I know it.

Soopah!

Dom and his pony jumping a huge jump.... hope I don't ever have to jump that big...

Shenanigans

Taylor has been torturing me lately.... making sure I'm "idiot proof." I don't know how much more idiot proof I can get.... I allow her ride me after all. But it makes her happy when I stand still while she stands on my back and when I let other people ride with her. And, by and large, it doesn't require that much effort on my part, so I tolerate her....

Free Jumping!

Today when Taylor came and got me, she put me in the cross ties and brushed me and put my jumping boots on, but didn't put a saddle or bridle on me. I was suspicious. We walked to the ring and there was a very intimidating set of jumps set up. What on Earth is going on?! Apparently it's called free jumping, and I get to gallop as fast as I want down this chute of jumps. OH, and on the other side of the jumps is a bucket of feed. What more motivation do I need?

Stock horse show.

Standing around with my friends Roanie and Pete.

Now this was my kind of party. I decided to take Taylor's mom to one of those Southern Stock horse shows in Lumberton. You know, the ones with all the cows and cowboy hats and ranch riding classes. I like Taylor's mom, she never makes me do anything challenging. When we got there, Laurie (Taylor's mom), took me into the warm up arena, which scared me for a bit, I thought I may actually have to ride in one of the classes rather than just stand around outside the arena all day like I'm used to. But, as it turns out, my fears were unnecessary, after we rode around we went and stood outside the arena and watched all my friends go in and show. It was my kind of day.

I was exhausted when I got back home though.

Obstacle course.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't think I would like the obstacle course clinic.... I didn't.

I was pretty unfazed by the "spooky" objects....

A SHOW?!

Dear Readers,
Today I got tricked into getting on the horse trailer, going somewhere, and actually having to work. Back when my buddy Jack would put me on the trailer we would go play with cows and not work that hard, that was fun... Today I went to a dressage show. I should have known something was different when Taylor showed up before the sun was up to catch me. I was too sleepy to make her chase me around the pasture like I would normally have done, so I shuffled into the barn with her. She cooked breakfast for me and then stuck me in the cross ties.... SHE THEN PROCEEDED TO RIP MY HAIR OUT. I don't know what on Earth prompted her to do that, but I didn't like it. After that, she took me outside and gave me a bath with what felt like water straight from a glacier. It was way too early for water that cold. I assumed, incorrectly, that she would turn me back out after the bath like she normally does, but no, it was back into the cross ties for me. Then she braided what was left of my mane and put these ridiculous boots on me. They went up over my hocks in the back and were seriously impossible to walk in. Everyone laughed as I waddled onto the trailer..... I'll get back at Taylor for laughing at me...

Trailers make me poop. When Taylor opened the door she was greeted by a pile of poop up to my hocks. I made sure to rub it into the backs of my legs and my tail. Taylor was thrilled, she won't laugh at me anymore. Taylor was all business when we got tacked up. I was pretty unfazed by everything going on. There were several really really dumb warmblood horses warming up with us. They kept spooking and taking off with their riders. I tried to tell them that it was a waste of energy but they didn't listen to me. Then I thought, maybe they know something I don't.... I figured I should give the spooking thing a try. Don't knock it till you try it, right? So right before we went into the arena with the judge I decided to spook at the flower pot in the corner... Bad idea. Taylor made me go touch it. After that, I plodded around with as little energy as possible, not knowing how much of this I would have to endure. We went in to that arena twice and then Taylor said I was done. Phew. She was really really proud of me for some reason. I dunno why, we just went and trotted some circles and walked around a bit. She told me I earned two blue ribbons and high point of the entire day. Maybe that means she'll feed me extra tonight?

She did feed me extra! She loves me.

New Barn!

Today me and all my friends are moving to a new home.... right around the corner. It's very exciting. The pastures are huge and filled with yummy clover. I love clover, it makes me drool though. Apparently it's bad for my kidneys, whatever those are. Taylor told me I have to stop eating the clover if I drool too much. But I really like clover.

Taylor has still been coming out and riding me every day. I'm beginning to discover that she isn't going to give in on telling me where to go and at what speed so I've just decided that I will go along with her for now, it's actually much less effort to do what she asks than to try to correct her. I have also discovered that the one who stands in the middle of the arena and yells is called Lisa. Lisa keeps talking about an "obstacle course clinic." I don't know what it means, but I don't think I'll enjoy it.

I think I hear Taylor pulling down the driveway, I'm going to go lay down for a nap and refuse to get up when she comes over to get me.

I think I'm settling in just fine.

Dressage......

Taylor keeps talking to her friend, who likes to stand in the middle of the arena and scream at her, about this whole "dressage" thing. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but Taylor keeps saying that I don't bend, and that I keep resisting the bit. I'm not resisting the bit, I'm just telling Taylor that it would be better if we went in a different direction. I don't understand why that girl doesn't comprehend that. Today she made me go into the arena and do the same stinkin' circles over and over again while her friend stood in the middle and yelled at her. Taylor kept sticking her inside leg on my side and wiggling her inside rein. Isn't that annoying? I finally tricked her into stopping that by bending my body toward the inside of the arena.

Taylor told me I have a short neck... I don't see it.

Jumping? WHY?

So, today Taylor thought that I had to go where she wanted me to go... again. She got fairly unhappy when I decided that galloping back to the barn from the front field was a good idea. She keeps nagging that I "don't have a stop." I don't know what she's talking about, I clearly stopped when we got to the closed gate. But, I must have made her very mad at me because after she got us back into the field she proceeded to deliberately trot me straight at these "jumps." I was so flabbergasted that she would expect me to expend that much energy, when clearly the easier way was to just go around the jump, but no, she insisted I go OVER it. The first time I tripped all over it and banged my legs on the pole, which made Taylor laugh at me, after that I decided I had better pick my feet up... Taylor doesn't seem like a very smart human, she wants me to go over fences instead of around them, and she kept making the jump BIGGER, what a waste of energy...

After our ride, Taylor gave me a nice bath with fancy good smelling shampoo. I think it'll mix beautifully with the dirt from the pasture. I made sure to roll while I was still wet so that ALL of the mud and manure would mix right in. Aren't I the best pony?

Dot!

Hi guys, my name is Dot. I'm a 2008 model APHA pony mare, and I'm adorable. I was originally purchased to be my friend Jack's calf ropin' horse.... but I didn't really like the cows and I'm kind of a stubborn pony, so I convinced this young girl that feeds and cleans up after me that she should purchase me. I have lovingly named her Taylor. Taylor is really bad about getting on me and nagging constantly about where I should go and how fast I should be going, but I really think that I can break her of that habit. All it takes is a little persistence and I'm sure she'll see things my way. Anywho, I think Taylor has arrived to "exercise" me. Guess I have to log out and go run away from her in the field. She seems like she could use some exercise...