So on Tuesday, I decided to trail ride TC, just take him up the hill at the back of the pasture bareback. Once we have a saddle that is comfortable for me to ride in, I'll take him on the real trails, but for now, I can only really do a 45 minute ride (at most) bareback before my back complains. That's perfect for the trails at home!
 |
| Surprise trail buddy! |
I had an idea though, one I've had before, but I finally did it. I ponied Rico off of TC for our trail ride!
See, there are some things I need in place before I get a second horse. Things like, find a new barn where I can have both of them closer to home, comfortably save the amount the second horse is going to cost me each month, and teach TC to pony other horses off of him. Part of having two horses means riding two horses and that's tough to do with a full time job.
As an aside, did I put this much thought into buying TC? Absolutely not.
To help with this, one of the things I decided was that I'd hack them out together at least once a week, if not twice. That means they both get out but it only takes me as much time as one horse would (or one and a half horses). I could do that maybe twice during the week and then alternate their days off on the other days during the week so the only days I'd ride both would be on the weekends.
I dunno, haven't thought too far along, but I knew that I needed to make sure TC is happy to pony another horse before getting another horse.
 |
| I just love this! |
Rico hasn't been ponied before (to my knowledge), but he has been driven with another horse in his youth, and with TC and Rico now being good friends, I figured that they'd be fine together. And I was right! Sort of.
I managed to get on TC while leading Rico, so that went smoother than I thought. Then Rico dragged TC and I over to the grass to graze. Poor TC was just pulled along by my bodyweight leaning off to the side as Rico went to basically yank me off of him to get to food. I managed to get Rico to stop grazing and we headed down the road, Rico in the lead.
About half way down the road I realized that I had no idea how I was going to turn these weirdos around as I had almost no control over Rico. I think Rico thought I'd just invited him along and was going to turn him loose or something. He dragged TC and I down the road and I have to hand it to TC, he was SO GOOD after I told him not to bite Rico's butt as he charged past us.
I managed to get them to stop and then turned TC around and dragged Rico with me. He wanted to stop and stare at something so I got TC out in front of him like normal ponying should go. But then Rico inserted his nose into TC's tail and decided that's what we were going to do now. Again, TC is just the most wonderful creature because he just accepted that without even hesitating. No kicking, slowing down, squealing, whatever, just put his ears back on me as if to be like "is this fine? yes? okay" and we continued. Then Rico decided to trot up alongside us and try to cut us off again, pinning TC and I under a tree near a fence. TC, again, just ignored this and kind of pushed Rico away from him with his shoulder when I steered TC into him. Add herding feral Grand Prix horses to his list of accomplishments.
 |
| Rico charging ahead and TC checking in with me lol |
I took them back to the ranch and we walked around the pasture (not up into the hills, those are too steep for Rico and the trails are a bit narrow for two horses). Rico alternated between ponying normally, getting ahead of us and trying to bushwhack his way through the pasture, and yanking my arm to graze.
We did end up kind of getting the hang of it after a while! It's just the first time and Rico had his leather halter on, we'll definitely use the rope halter next time.
Even so, I had a blast despite the chaos. TC was amazing and I absolutely can see him being the perfect horse to pony my next horse off of so they can get out together. I can even see him being good enough to pony my new horse while my niece rides with me (either double on TC or on my new horse depending on how new horse is with her!). What a good boy, I am so lucky to have him in my life.
Rico obviously had SO MUCH FUN! He was grinning the whole time and seemed to love being a troublemaker. With Rico's driving background and TC's pure soul (I've never seen him kick at another horse), I never once was worried about the situation. Hopefully Rico gets a little more... compliant... as we do this more, but I don't honestly care. He deserves to be a pest!
