Holiday season!

UK got the week after the hunter pace off, due to the weather and Thanksgiving. On the sunday after Thanksgiving I took him out on a trail ride with a couple of the ladies from the barn. He threw a  couple of temper tantrums but I had a tiedown on him, and my spurs on. Once we got a little ways down the trail he started to enjoy himself.

Susan on Vega, & Jen on Cody ahead of us.

But then we cantered, and I got what I should have been expecting... bucking. Someone's ego had tripled since the hunter pace, then with the added energy of his week off, he was rather fresh. Everytime we cantered, he had a bucking fit. I was very grateful I was riding western when he did the last one, as it was a buck-slam-on-the-brakes-drop-my-head-and-buck-again-buck. Our last canter was buck-free so at least he wore himself out.

Later the following week I had some extra time after feeding, and decided to try to trail-ride solo again. He threw his temper tantrums in the road, and started doing some down the hill until he slipped and a back leg went in a ditch. After that he was a rockstar. 

First successful solo trail ride!

Afterwards I spoiled him for a bit, rewarding his good behavior with both banana rounders and a studmuffin. 

Nomming his treats.

Then the farrier showed up and I had his shoes pulled for the winter. I let him have a couple of days off and then tried to ride him in the ring. Because of all the rain we've been having his soles were soft from standing in all the mud, and thus he was a bit ouchy. 

Fuzzy boy!

The barn girls were riding at the same time as me, and I ended up giving them an impromptu lesson of sorts. I let one of them walk UK around while I babysat him, and then another girl practiced her half-seat over poles on him. 

Then I let Mattie get on him. Now, as Mattie is one of my students I made her work. She's so tiny so UK didn't mind doing some trot for her, because it was like there was nothing on his back.

Mattie on UK

She even cantered him a tiny bit after doing some trot work over poles. I let them finish by having her ride UK down the driveway to walk him out while I chatted with some of the other boarders. 

UK adores Mattie, and she loves him too. She dotes on him, and will go into his pen just to hang out with him. And he follows her around like the giant dog that he is. 

Hopefully things will dry up soon so UK and I can go out for another ride. I might try a trail ride again soon, depending on the weather. We'll see! 

Oh! I got a picture from the hunter pace!

Happy Holidays!