Tuesday was such a beautiful day that I couldn't stay in the cold, windy round pen when the sun was out and shining. I was by myself and wanted to make sure Trinity got a walk to stretch her legs out of the mud and Boo got worked, so I decided to do what I have been thinking about trying -- ponying Trinity.
I've only ever ponied once before. It was Trinity off of Boo and my mom was on her. I didn't think it would be too hard, but there were some things I knew would make ponying Trinity from Boo difficult:
Trinity walks faster than Boo
Boo doesn't neck rein
Boo has been trying to turn back to the barn on trails for the last couple of years even when he's not alone
Boo doesn't stay straight to where I steer him
I really wasn't sure how it would go. I thought it would all be fine but wasn't 100% sure. Turns out I didn't really have anything to worry about.
I lead them up the driveway to one of the fields and got us all thru the gate before getting on Boo. We went up the hill at a little trot, thankfully it wasn't too muddy, and at the top of the hill was the gate to the cow field where we trail ride. As we approached the top, Trinity was turning and stopping to look back at the farm and Boo was walking impossibly slow, even for him, like Trinity would be in front of him, stop, and start walking again and still be in front of Boo who was walking the whole time. Finally, we got to the gate. It was a little difficult opening the gate that only opens towards us, and of course this was the day that the cows were right by the gate. The ponies are use to the cows so once they remembered how to get thru a gate like normal horses, I was able to get on with no problems.
There were only about 7 cows and three calves.
One of the cows was really close to us, and we kinda started heading for her. Thankfully she walked away with an eye on us and didn't charge (which is an option in my mind, no idea if it's a real worry to have or not). As I rode, we past all the cows and they were all eyeing us. One mamma eyed us hard while her baby hid behind her. Trinity was also slightly in front of Boo, pushing us closer to the cows, and she was very close, so close that my leg kept becoming and Boo-and-Trinity sandwich.
There are some wooded areas in the cow field, but I kept to the open field because I was ponying Trinity and knew that she would managed to get us all tangled up, and I wanted to make sure we didn't get into any swampy land. As we got to the top of the hill Hailey named Lookout Hill on our last ride, I saw about four deer grazing. They were far enough away that even when the horses saw them, they didn't spook and the deer ran away long before we got close to them. It was a pretty sighting.
We trotted and even did a few little canters as we went up the hills. At one point Trinity randomly starting going and it looked like she was going to go full out. Boo wanted to go with her, but I pulled them back, easily, to make sure we all stayed safe, but I wonder what it would've been like to go for a gallop with both my ponies at once. I wasn't able to get a picture, but because the sun was already starting to go down there were shadows, and at one point I could clearly see the shadow of me on Boo with Trinity behind us. It was so cute; how ponying is supposed to be.
Trinity moved around a lot, from side to side, from behind, beside, and slightly in front of Boo. They both behaved well though, and it was overall a nice ride. One thing that happened that I didn't expect was Trinity kept trying to graze. She's usually respectful about not eating while I'm riding. Some of the tall plants are harder to keep them from eating, but she kept going to the ground. I understand because there is zero grass in their field, and their round bales were down, so they have nothing to eat while they're out. Surprisingly, Boo was super respectful about grazing like he usually is when I'm riding, and he's the one I would expect to try grazing while we were out and my attention was split.
Other than Trinity's grazing and Boo turning towards the barn constantly and not always listening to my steering, it was a really nice ride.
When we got back, I took the lead rope off of Trinity and the bridle off of Boo so they could graze for a while, and they kept following me down the driveway instead of turning towards the grass. I gently pushed them over to the grass and they grazed for about half an hour.
They enjoyed their grazing time. They haven't had any for a while now. It was a good ride. It was about an hour from leaving the barn to getting back to the barn. It felt a lot shorter than an hour and I wish it could have been longer.
It was a really nice day and I'm so happy that Trinity ponied so nicely off Boo. I will definitely try it again. It's a nice way to get them both worked, especially when Trinity is stiff. I wonder what it would be like ponying Boo from Trinity. She walks faster than him so he won't be in front of her pushing her like she did at times, but I think he will defiantly dive for grass a lot more and it is harder to get his head up. Trinity does neck rein though, so there are some positives and negatives about trying it. Maybe one day I'll try it when Trinity isn't so stiff.
Also, from when I could see her moving and from where I was, Trinity seemed to be moving good.
All in all, it turned out to be a beautiful day and I had a lot of fun with my ponies! Next time maybe Hailey can be there!
What are your experiences with ponying? Do you do it often? Do you want to try it with your horses? Any tips for me?