Pony Ride

Sunday was a big day for us. It was a beautiful day which means perfect weather for saddle fun. I lugged my lighter western saddle up the hill and into the round pen. I brushed Shoni and saddled her up. Once it was mostly cinched I saw that the back end of the saddle was sticking up from the saddle pad (maybe a sign of poor saddle fit?).

Plan B, time to bring out the big girl saddle (pictured). This is my Dad's 16 inch heavy saddle. I saddle Shoni with this one and told her I'm glad she's not a lot taller because I don't think I would have been able to hoist it up there (I think she's around 14hh). This is her 3rd time wearing a saddle and she acting like a pro.

Mom took the camera for a little while and was trying to figure out how it worked. The above photo was the "Whoops" shot.

Shoni was taking everything in stride and I had some man power and decided this would be as good a day as any to step up in the stirrup and lean over Shoni.

Shoni stood still while I climbed on, once on she only moved her head to turn around and look at me or twitched an ear to listen. I climbed down and nothing phased her.

Shoni looks like she has a big smile in the picture above.

Since she was doing so good we decided we might as well go all the way, so up I go.

It was absolutely amazing! We didn't want to over do it for the first time so mostly I sat on her talking to her, though we did walk around some (with Dad leading).

Next came time for the dismount (no worries there) then we were huggin' her and telling her what a good girl she is. We were all grinning from ear to ear.