This is How We Do It

Still no show pictures, and a show tomorrow...I'm going to have a LOT of show recapping to catch up on next week.  Boyfriend is attending the show tomorrow and I am leaving him with my phone and explicit instructions to document EVERYTHING.

So, today's post is going to feature one of my all-time new favorite activities: ponying the pony.

everyone's favorite mini
The upcoming Mini-Event is Chalupa Batman's eventing debut.  Unfortunately, the barn has a shortage of extremely tiny people available on a daily basis to condition the little dude so that he performs at an optimal level.

Badass cross-country pony. 
In order to help with his conditioning, a new system has been developed.  Take a real-sized horse, throw some western tack on it, throw a lunge line on the pony, and go for a ride.  My friend C's Appy mare has been the regular torture victim candidate, but she had a lesson scheduled for today, so one of the old man horses stepped in.  

WTF IS THIS THING, HUMAN?!
Mantle is a super special guy.  He's something of a rescue, and it was through my efforts that he ended up at the barn.  He's an old show horse, and has done just about every single saddlebred class in existence.  He can also batshit crazy on the ground, which leads to one of my favorite games - asking unsuspecting people how old they think he is.  Typically the guesses are in the 4-7 year-old range.  Mantle is 23.  He has anxiety problems.  He's also, we've recently discovered, a completely different horse at shows - the second his hooves hit the show ring, he's a total professional.  It's awesome.  But to our knowledge, he's never done any ponying.

not quite sure about this game.
Mantle's main issue is extreme herd-sourness, and we have been trying to find jobs for him that don't increase his already sky-high anxiety issues.  It turns out that prancing around the arena with a pony in tow was actually pretty fun for him.  It was so adorable.

New favorite photo of all time.
I seriously had so much fun with these two!  I haven't ridden Mantle since I brought him to the barn, so it was great to get to reconnect with him, and he and Chalupa were pretty cute together!  I can't wait to take them out for a spin again!

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