spookypony
Well-Known Member
As some of you that frequent Soapbox may have surmised, the Spooky Pony has a big move ahead: I've just moved into my first very own little cottage with a wee bit of land, and the pony is meant to be moving in, in only a few weeks! 
Not into the cottage. Into the paddocks. 
The fencing is moving towards completion, hay has been sourced, and I'm in the process of arranging for a no. 2 pony to keep him company! Although the intent is eventually to get a horse that is more inclined to co-operate in my favourite discipline, i.e. dressage, I want to hold off on buying for a little bit, until I settle in and have a better idea of how expensive and time-consuming this land management lark is going to be. So for now, I'm getting a loaner.
Of course, everyone I know has their own ideas about what I should get: my endurance friends want me to get an arab endurance prospect, and my instructor thinks I should get a reasonably educated horse that I could have fun with in the winter leagues (where key desirable ability is apparently to go sideways on demand). Right now, it looks like the no. 2 pony is going to be a chilled-out pony that is easy to manage, can stay alone when needed, can be ridden by random visitors, and is quite probably more co-operative on the schooling front than the Spooky Pony (to be fair, it would be hard to be less co-operative on that front than him). This actually sounds pretty good to me! I hope it works out.
The Spooky Pony's season is winding down. We're meant to be doing two more 30km rides and one Pleasure ride, the first 30km being this Sunday, though I'm having second thoughts about it: apparently, the route involves an awful lot of looping around stubble fields, which I think may just make him loop the loop, as it were...we'll see if I have my brave pants on!
Oh, almost forgot about the solo road-crossing attempt! We were over at the riding school, and the pony was tied up, because I was looking for someone. Some girls were having a great deal of trouble with a bargy pony with whom I'm familiar, so I went to give them a hand, and the pony barged past me too, taking out its whole stable door in the process. I mean literally: the door was torn off its hinges, and the pony trampled over it on its way past me! The Spooky Pony tore himself loose as the pony came trampling out, and immediately left for home through the woods, trailing the loose riding-school pony.
I had trouble getting giggling girls to see the gravity of the situation, there being a major road during rush-hour in the way, but the woman in the office immediately took me in her car to try to intercept the pony. We got back to my yard before him, and gathered some people to try to block the entrance to the woods, where we found him standing, apparently thinking about crossing the road. The cars were whizzing past, and most alarmingly, paid no attention to my hi-viz-clad self leaping up and down and flapping my arms at them to slow.
Thankfully, I managed to cross the road and apprehend the pony. I hopped on and rode back in the direction of the riding school, looking for the loose bargy pony, but thankfully, he'd already returned home. So no harm done in the end, but what a panic!
Anyway, I've been pretty silent lately because of the house move and the start of term, so thought I'd just pop a little note here. White burgundy and gummi bears for reading!
Not into the cottage. Into the paddocks. The fencing is moving towards completion, hay has been sourced, and I'm in the process of arranging for a no. 2 pony to keep him company! Although the intent is eventually to get a horse that is more inclined to co-operate in my favourite discipline, i.e. dressage, I want to hold off on buying for a little bit, until I settle in and have a better idea of how expensive and time-consuming this land management lark is going to be. So for now, I'm getting a loaner.
Of course, everyone I know has their own ideas about what I should get: my endurance friends want me to get an arab endurance prospect, and my instructor thinks I should get a reasonably educated horse that I could have fun with in the winter leagues (where key desirable ability is apparently to go sideways on demand). Right now, it looks like the no. 2 pony is going to be a chilled-out pony that is easy to manage, can stay alone when needed, can be ridden by random visitors, and is quite probably more co-operative on the schooling front than the Spooky Pony (to be fair, it would be hard to be less co-operative on that front than him). This actually sounds pretty good to me! I hope it works out.
The Spooky Pony's season is winding down. We're meant to be doing two more 30km rides and one Pleasure ride, the first 30km being this Sunday, though I'm having second thoughts about it: apparently, the route involves an awful lot of looping around stubble fields, which I think may just make him loop the loop, as it were...we'll see if I have my brave pants on!
Oh, almost forgot about the solo road-crossing attempt!
We were over at the riding school, and the pony was tied up, because I was looking for someone. Some girls were having a great deal of trouble with a bargy pony with whom I'm familiar, so I went to give them a hand, and the pony barged past me too, taking out its whole stable door in the process. I mean literally: the door was torn off its hinges, and the pony trampled over it on its way past me! The Spooky Pony tore himself loose as the pony came trampling out, and immediately left for home through the woods, trailing the loose riding-school pony.I had trouble getting giggling girls to see the gravity of the situation, there being a major road during rush-hour in the way, but the woman in the office immediately took me in her car to try to intercept the pony. We got back to my yard before him, and gathered some people to try to block the entrance to the woods, where we found him standing, apparently thinking about crossing the road. The cars were whizzing past, and most alarmingly, paid no attention to my hi-viz-clad self leaping up and down and flapping my arms at them to slow.
Thankfully, I managed to cross the road and apprehend the pony. I hopped on and rode back in the direction of the riding school, looking for the loose bargy pony, but thankfully, he'd already returned home. So no harm done in the end, but what a panic! Anyway, I've been pretty silent lately because of the house move and the start of term, so thought I'd just pop a little note here. White burgundy and gummi bears for reading!
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