The horses have come home! Darcy, Doug, and Rayna were quite excited to welcome the horses to their new home late last Saturday morning. Since then, they have spent a good deal of time interacting with the new horses and riding them! Darcy has renamed the larger (lighter colored one) "Lightning" and Doug has renamed the darker one, "Begins" (as in "Batman Begins"!).


Lightning is a very spirited pony. He adores Darcy...already follows HER (though none of the rest of us!) around like an oversized dog...but, he has a mind of his own once she is in the saddle. He wants to trot or run, never walk or stop. She has her hands full reigning in his exuberance!

Of course, she would likely find it a bit easier if she didn't secretly AGREE with Lightning that RUNNING is far preferable to a sedate walk. I have stressed to her, though, that she cannot ride Lightning outside of the confines of the little corral until she has shown us that she is fully in control...rather than HER following LIGHTNING'S whims.

Doug's favorite is Begins. Begins is such a sweet mount that even little Rayna rides him independently without anyone helping. He is very responsive to the directions the children give him verbally and through the reigns and he walks very calmly and stops instantly when the children reign him in. Rayna and Doug both can start him back up from a stop again, quite easily, by just making a kissing sound. He is the friendlier horse to all the rest of us. He loves being scratched and petted and isn't at all aloof. (Lightning tends to be aloof with me and the younger two children--he clearly has decided he is DARCY'S horse!)





(Ahhh...if we could just get out of this little corral so we could REALLY RUN!!!)

  ¶ 10/24/2005 01:22:00 PM