Buddy's first horse trials are coming up and we're worried about how he's going to behave (or not) on cross-country. No doubt he'll enjoy it. I'm concerned he'll enjoy it way too much.
Not much room here to practice cross-country in our yard, so we went to Jane's farm yesterday for a lesson and some trail riding. I took Lucy (my obese TB) since she never gets to go anywhere.
Lily and Jane went on a trail ride and I sat in the sunshine and did some freelance work, which was difficult because of the scenery that was so distracting and the very large dog heads that kept thrusting into my lap (English Bull Mastiffs -- I think you buy them by the pound.) Nice dogs. Bad breath.
Jane found or set up some fallen trees for jumps and they took advantage of the fact that I was not there. They claim to have jumped 3'9", which is great for building Lily and Buddy's confidence for their cross-country course, but makes my hair stand on end.
Just think about it. I'm sitting there holding my breath because I don't want to smell the dog's odoriferous exhalings and I should have been holding my breath because Goodness! She's out there jumping that horse over 3'9" logs! A great time was had by all. And when they got back, everybody got to make new friends.
Here Buddy is making friends with a 6-month-old foal. Unfortunately, there's a 4-year-old mare in that pasture (no relation to the foal) with some out-of-control maternal instincts and she was not letting Buddy or Lucy get anywhere near that foal. Buddy and the foal immediately started doing some mutual grooming before the self-appointed baby-protector chased Buddy off. Click on photos to enlarge.
And here's Lucy trying not to make friends.
Have you ever seen anything cuter than these mini-donkeys? Jane and her husband are hoping that the jenny is in foal. I might need that foal. Or maybe the whole set. They chase cats but the cat keeps coming back for more.
Lucy wasn't afraid of them at all until Buddy decided they were scary. Here's one of the few times he stayed close enough to the fence long enough to get a photo. Notice how very interested the donkeys are in Buddy.
Looks like a fun day. We are finally getting Lloyd on Friday. Saturday will be fun when we introduce him to the herd.
Posted by: kathyc | November 20, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Buddy is making friends with a 6-month-old foal....what a lovely picture..Wayne x
Posted by: Wayne Jones | November 20, 2007 at 05:22 PM
Buddy is making friends with a 6-month-old foal....what a lovely picture..Wayne x
Posted by: Wayne Jones | November 20, 2007 at 05:24 PM