It's Great When....

...You get to ride in 80-degree weather on a sunny day, with the barn doors open. 

What's even better, though, is when you get to ride in 80-degree weather on a warm, sunny day with your friends. Today was one of the most satisfying days at the barn that I've had in a while. Why, you ask? Read on to find out... but I warn you: this is an extremely long post, complete with pictures and lots of stories. =D

I guess I could start by saying who was at the barn and who rode who. When we started riding, Olivia (one of my friends) was on Rascal (you guys remember him, right?); Madison rode Sonny (of course, because her mom, Kristen, owns Sonny); and I rode Tarzan, of course. We all warmed up - Tarzan was a really really really good boy for me today, he kept moving forward and we didn't even once have the stop'n'go problem! - and then Olivia got out some standards to jump with Rascal. Now, if any of you have even seen Rascal, you'll realize that he's simply not a jumping horse. He's tiny, slow, and very very boring (no offense to those of you who think Rascal's cute). After going over the small, foot-high jump a few times, Olivia dismounted, turned the jump into a oxer, and climbed back onto Rascal. Olivia brought Rascal into the middle of the arena, pushed him into his (very slow) canter, and tried to get him to jump the jump. FAIL. I won't go into detail - it's too much of an explanation to put online. ;) 

Anyways! Tarzan was such a good boy; today, instead of wanting to NOT GO, he wanted to go TOO MUCH. Well, too much is better than nothing, right? I was so happy, because everyone that I loved (from the barn) was there.... except for Emmy (but let's not get into that right now). Madison, Isabelle, Olivia, Erica, Eric (Erica's dad), Katie (Erica's sister), Mom, me, Tarzan, the rest of the ponies. Everyone was there... and we all shared a good solid 3 hours together. It just makes my heart fill up with joy to think about it, and how great it was. 

After riding Tar, I hopped off, untacked and brushed him, and went out into the field to get Pete. I brought him in, and somehow got stuck putting medicine on this nasty cut on his side (I won't get into details... it's nasty). This medicine is purple, and if you get it on your clothes, it doesn't come out. Great, right? Well, even though Pete just about knocked over the bottle and nearly got purple medicine all over me, I succeeded in putting the medicine on. I got to use Erica's saddle (the two saddles that I normally ride in are crappy... but I deal with them when Erica's saddle is taken. ;) I got to jump Pete over what was probably only a 8 inch oxer (a type of jump). It wasn't very high, but Pete did well for one of his first times jumping. Erica hopped on Tommy, a big bay Thoroughbred gelding with one blind eye. Tommy used to be an eventing (jumping) horse, but then he got crippled in his back legs and can no longer jump. So Erica just walked/trotted/cantered him around and had a bit of fun on him. After a while, we switched horses and I got to canter on Tommy. 

My last experience on Tommy was horrid - I nearly fell off trying to canter him, couldn't control him, flipped out, etc. - but this time my ride was okay. I got to canter around a few times, and it was great. He's got this real funky canter, it's like a forward-up-back-down motion... instead of just forward-back like normal horses or up-down like Sonny. But I did well - my thighs are going to be extremely sore tomorrow, though - and I think that I'd like to ride Tommy again. ;) He's a nice horse, but he's going to be leaving in two weeks, and we'll have an empty stall at Victory (hoping to get it filled again soon!). 

Then, I had to get off (sad face) because it'd been three hours (wow, time flies when you're having fun!) and Erica was taking me into town. So I put Tommy away while Erica changed into church clothes (she was going to the Good Friday church service). Tommy was a butthead when I tried to turn him out into the field with the mares (he's a total wimp so he goes out into the mares' field), trying to run me over and get to Mona (his best friend, a mare). But eventually I avoided getting run over and I turned him out with no problem. 

That's about it for today's ride (a very short summary of three hours). Below are pictures! Yay!

Erica took a spin on Tarzan before I got on. Beautiful picture taken by Mommy!

Katie gettin Mallory (a.k.a. Medusa) ready to ride. ;)

A pretty silhouette picture of me riding Tarzan. Beautiful day outside! Perfect for riding with friends!

 Happy happy me! Look at my face... and look how awesome Tarzan looks! He's a pretty boy, he is!

Concentrate... and concentrate... Tarzan, stop looking at the camera... and concentrate... and concentrate while smiling....

Circling! Gosh, we need to work on bringing his stinking nose in so that it's tucked to his chest! Goodness, Tar, why do you have so many problems?

Look at that handsome pony! 

A stubborn yet handsome moment, captured in a silhouette. Beautiful. Just stunning. 

Look at that boy's stunning eyes!

Nice butt, Gabby. ;) 

Madison (on Sonny) and me (on Tarzan).

"Huh? What? Taking a picture of me? And my horse? What? Whatcha talking bout?" That's Olivia riding Rascal. =D

Madison on Sonny boy. Today, Madison rode in shorts, and a very open-backed and open-fronted shirt. Great outfit for riding! NOT!

My buddies! In the front is Isabelle riding April (the most AMAZING jumping horse EVER!), behind her is Madison riding Sonny, and behind her is Olivia riding Rascal. MY BUDS!

Very nice picture of Rascal and Olivia. ;) You go, girl! Both Olivia and Madison will be doing 4H this year, and so am I, and so is Katie. It's gonna be a fun year for us horse people! ;)