Pony Camp

With L up in the bay for a month and Nicole's new pony still nearby, we opted to try to have an ACTUAL PONY SLEEPOVER WITH PONIES and it actually worked out. It was hit or miss for a while because of the necessity for it to not be raining. But last weekend, we (L, Nicole, Kate, Peony, and I) rented an Airbnb together near Kate's barn and we hung out for the weekend!

The sunset on the first night was beautiful

On Friday, Nicole left her MIL's place a few hours east of us and headed to L's barn to pick up Dante. Meanwhile, Peony drove down from her house a few hours north of us. And Kate and I drove our normal 40ish minute commute. We all converged at Kate's barn in the mid afternoon. After some excited greetings, we tacked up to ride! Peony rode one of Kate's client's super sweet horses, I rode Flounder, L rode Dante, and Nicole rode Speedy. And Kate was teaching in the ring we were riding in. 

It was super fun to just ride around a bit together! I played with Flounder's dressage moves, Peony got to ride a horse who was not Spot, L got to school Dante over some strange jumps, and we all got to see Speedy go for the first time. After some riding, we swapped horses! L hunterfied the horse Peony was riding, Peony got to experience the wiggliness that is Flounder, I got to play with Speedy, and Nicole got to jump Dante, among many other switches. 

We then went for a wander around the polo field, leading me to get the most amazing video I've ever taken: L trotted and cantered Dante around on the field in the sunset and it was beautiful. It's on her IG if you want to see it! You can probably imagine what it looks like given what the sunset looks like. 

But then Dante decided to become a hill horse and lost a shoe so he just hung out the rest of the weekend. 

That night, Kate's SO brought us Thai food (and picked up Kate's dogs who we got to hang out with until then) and then we sat on the couches at the AirBnb and talked about horses until I think about 1am. It was a super fun day and I always love our conversations when we are all together. 

Kate's barn has a bunch of ducks! 

Saturday morning we got up, got coffee, and headed to the barn. Our plan was to hang out in the morning while Kate taught some lessons and then go on a trail ride! I had to go get my pony from the ranch, so Peony and I headed over there to do that. 

I hitched in record time and then we were on the road! Sunny was good to haul and seemed excited to be somewhere different (he's been on this trail once before). The trail ride was super fun, although the pony did get over threshold and so I had to dismount and help him on the ground. When I got back on, he was much happier. 

Definitely something to keep in mind moving forward with him. I think with all the work we're doing, he's feeling less shut down, but now underneath it all, there's some anxiety, specifically about other horses. I'll be exploring this with Kate a bit this year. I want him to feel relaxed on a group trail ride, he deserves to work through his anxiety and be a happier, healthier pony. 

Trail ride!

L came back with me to the ranch to unload and my brother, SIL, and niece were there to drop some things off! My niece helped me put away the pony. Then my brother and SIL pulled me aside to let me know that they were having another girl (due in July). My niece has no idea what's in store for her: sharing her pony (who she just started referring to as MAH, which is how she lets us know what is hers). 

We headed out to an Indian pizza place and picked up dinner, then went to the barn to help Kate, Nicole, and Peony finish up. We got back to the AirBnb relatively early (for horse people at least lol) and hung out. 

L made the mistake of showing us her journal that night. She has a lot of lists in there and one of the exercises was to list everything she was good at (horse edition). She only had NINE things written down and most of them were duplicates of each other. So we all dished out some good, old fashioned mild to moderate bullying and got her to finish the list with 37 things she was good at. 

I will sit over you and yell at you
to write nice things about yourself
in your own journal, be warned.

Sunday morning, Peony headed home (although promised to come down to ride with Kate and I more often) and the rest of us went to the barn for one last fun day! Kate and L worked with Dante in hand and then Kate rode Speedy and taught Nicole. Kate then taught some lessons. I played with a barn cat and talked to some of Kate's clients, I love not being a trainer anymore (except for some clinics and remote lessons). 

Soon, we all had to get going. Nicole and L hit the road with the ponies and I headed out to get TC out and take the pony down the road and back. 

Such a fun weekend!

It was SUCH a fun weekend. I feel so unbelievably lucky to have such amazing friends and for this weekend to work out so perfectly (schedule and weather wise). We definitely need to do more things like this as a group and we talked about making this (minus ponies since it was just a fun coincidence that L and Nicole's horses were nearby) an annual thing. 

Can't wait for more adventures with my favorite people!