View Between Two Bay Ears

I arrived at the stable to see Willy earlier than I have lately.  It was nice to arrive and not see a line of cars parked and a horde of children running about the stalls, don't get me wrong the kids at this stable are well behaved and for the most part, pretty horse smart.  I just enjoy my alone time with Willy and if people are at the stable I'd prefer adult conversation to talking with the children, I'm not really comfortable around kids I don't know.  Steve and I are not going to have any children of our own, just dogs, cats, horses, donkeys and a bunch of goats! 

Anyways, I arrive at the stable and end up having to search for Willy again.  He's no longer with the cute mini ponies but is over at the south end of the property with another bay, and a grey.  I wish I knew all the horses names but I just go with my usual greeting of  "Hi sweetie" whether I know the horse or not.  Willy was content eating his hay but walked off after I made a move towards him with the halter off my shoulder.  I catch him and then bring him into the indoor ring to get groomed up.  This past week my new groom bag arrived in the mail!  It's very nice with one large pocket in the middle, kinda like a bucket and then several smaller pockets around the perimeter.  I've been toting my grooming gear in a Whole Foods grocery bag, the fabric one, so it's nice to have a heavy duty easy to use bag.  Each brush had it's own pocket, the hoof pick was separated to prevent ickifying the brushes and then in the big pocket I stored the four leg wraps, fly spray and baby wipes.

Enjoying his brunch



New grooming bag!

 I mounted up and then Willy and I headed down the driveway to go for a ride in the nearby neighborhood.   Willy reacted a little nervous around the same plastic sheet that was on the ground, still.  He did much better than the previous time we rode out.  We walked onto Eggar Road and started to trot.  I continued the work I had done in the arena, the walk trot transitions to hopefully get him at a nice comfortable pace trotting without hollowing his back.  A couple times he hollowed his back and threw up his head but I brought him back to walk, then back into the trot.  He seemed to understand what I was trying to accomplish and began to more consistently trot at a slower speed with a less tension in his back.  As I was riding up the hill three dogs came flying down from a house barking at Willy and I.  Willy moved a little to the right away from the dogs slightly into the road, I held him steady with my leg pressing him back and reassured him.  A truck was passing on the right side of the road so I didn't want Willy to interfere with them either. 

The view between two bay ears

As we came to Eggar Court a young girl, I would say high school age, was riding a nice chestnut horse with roan splashes towards us.  She was bareback in jeans, a tank and no helmet....in such a situation I think a helmet is even more warranted!  We smiled at each other stating it was a nice day for a ride.  I wondered if she lived in the neighborhood, lucky.  I rode up the Eggar Court, near the top of the culdesac Willy and I heard some whinnying of horses and a man yelling something incoherent.  I couldn't see him but Willy was a little anxious at the sound.  As we turned around the culdesac and headed back down the road we heard the yelling again but this time saw this man chasing a dog out of his horse pasture.  Willy stopped and flicked his ears about but I encouraged him to move forwards, nothing to harm him here.  Just then about twenty feet in front of us a Honda backed out of a drive, oblivious and not looking in any direction, turned and drove off.  I had stopped Willy and stood while watching the person negotiate their car, never turning to look in the direction in which Willy and I stood.  Luckily we were a defensive rider and horse and not an unaware car or a child on a bicycle!

Cute goat at the stable

We continued on the road doing walks and trots.  As we headed back down the road to the stable I noticed the paddock with the donkey and a nice paint horse.  I saw the lady I had seen a few weeks ago and asked her if that was her donkey, I had no idea where property lines were.  She said yes, and had I seen the baby.  I turned quickly to look for a baby donkey but she was talking about a chestnut foal lying in the grass by the paint mare.  I hadn't seen him!  He was so cute! 

Willy and I made it back to the stable where I untacked him and groomed him down.  I brought carrots this time with me and he was very happy to have this treat!  When I moved on to pick his hooves there was an equine muzzle checking my rear end for any tidbits of carrots.  He didn't nibble or anything, just checked me out!  What a cutie!  I returned him to his paddock and rested my arms and head on his back as I looked up at the blue sky.  The clouds have been pretty amazing today, big cumulus clouds have floated about but nothing looked too threatening.  I wish I could see Willy more than once a week, I think.  I gave him a hug and headed home to the hubby and weekend errands, it's Sunday after all and time to start the new work week.