I also tried to get pictures of her with antlers on, but the only antlers I had were for humans so they were kind of small and didn't show up. Also, the pony was not a fan of the bells.
You will notice that the pony is a hot, sweaty mess in these pictures. I wanted to take the pictures before my ride, but the Princess had a different idea. She's been a DOLL the last few weeks about grooming and standing in the cross ties, but when I went out on Saturday she was in a stall doing crazy eyes and practically humming with energy. She saw me coming and started to dance around. Then she pushed herself against the wall and lifted her tail....and squirted. What? It's December! Pony's don't go into heat in December....do they? I found out the answer is, sometimes they do. So I led the Princess to the cross ties where she left puddles from hunching and squirting while she fidgeted back and forth and back and forth.
I took her to the arena to let her blow some steam off but all she did was spook and then stop. Spook and then stop. So I saddled her up and went and found L.
"She's in heat and she's a hot mess and I'm afraid to get on her. But she's fine on the lunge so I don't have an excuse."
Enter my savior, the teenager that's been riding Tessa for me. She hops on. Tessa is indeed a hot mess. She's spooky and balky and hunched up. Poor, PMS'y pony. I know how that feels! S pushes her through some big bucks and tantrums and gets her going sort of forward. The Pony is still looking at everything with big, bug eyes so I ask her to keep riding.
"I'd like to switch to my jump saddle if I'm going to stay on her." S says.
I remember L and I having this conversation on Thursday about how it's hard for the pony to go forward in my dressage saddle because she throws a fit, hollows her back and then when she tries to canter I am sitting way back on her and it stifles her.
We throw S's jump saddle on her (a really cool Pessoa Military II that I am now in love with) and within minutes the pony is moving freely forward. Uh oh. I mean, it's great. The pony is going forward easily and beautifully. But does this mean new saddle? So, at the end, the Pony was sweaty and tired but forward. I hopped on at the end and did a few twenty meter circles with the incredibly light and forward pony and then cooled her out.
We debated clipping her. S works her into a lather when she rides but I don't even get her sweaty. I really WANT to clip her because I think she'll look less like a yak. As L was walking by, we asked her about this.
"Sure you can clip her with a trace clip...." she walked away and then paused, throwing over her shoulder "but if she's clipped horses tend to have more energy and be a bit hotter." I swear I saw her wink and I KNOW I saw her smirk.
The pony will stay a yak for now. This is at the end of her ride when she should have had her head hanging down to her knees but she was trying to decide if she should spook over the fact that there was a horse in the was rack.
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