Weather is unseasonably nice

[which_chick]

The weather is being unseasonably nice this week (temps in the mid sixties for mid-March) and I feel sort of guilty about that. Is it OK for me to enjoy lovely weather if it's indicative of climate change? Guilt.

Been getting a few spins on the pony. He is a potato so these are marching walks, which he does not love. You can see him marching walk here or here or here but basically it's all a slightly grubby horse marching along in the early spring countryside. Not a lot of thrill there.

Still playing along with my cactus seedlings. Orchid still blooming. Not tons to report, over here.

Comments

[adafrog]

Poor potato having to work. ;)

[which_chick]

It can't be too bad, he's still talking to me. :)

[adafrog]

lol

[rattfan]

It's a hard life [for your horse!] but I'm sure he'll survive. I always wanted a pony as a kid and I would still like to have one, but paying my own costs is hard enough. It's a pity, because I do live on the edge of an area where horse agistments are available, though my fantasy was always to have a horse where I was living.

You mentioned having two horses. Is the younger one still being trained to ride?

[which_chick]

I do not have the facilities to have my horses where I live, but they're only four miles away, which isn't too bad. They live at my friend's aging ex-dairy farm that she inherited from her grandmother. Any vision you have of a classy non-mud horse facility should be quashed with prejudice.

The younger horse is going to be two years old* at the end of March. While he is, kinda, being trained to ride mostly this is currently "master all of your in-hand skills" and "take walks in-hand away from the known while managing your emotions and behaving." Finn (the brown youngster is Finn, the mature, nominally-white gentleman potato is Bird) will not have a person sitting on him until he is four years old. From now until then, it's work in-hand, ground driving (horse wears a bridle with long reins, person walks behind or beside horse, steering him with the reins), that style of thing. I do not expect actual physical work from youngsters beyond understanding the ground skills and being able to manage their emotions in various circumstances. Mostly they need to grow up.

*But don't they race two year old thoroughbreds? I seem to recall that Secretariat was Horse of the Year when he was two. Like, he didn't just pretend race, he raced for real. Yep, they do race two year old thoroughbreds. And the stock horse people ride their two year olds in "Futurity" classes that display pretty darned finished looking horses. And if you have a horse who knows his job at two, then he probably was having people sitting on him as a long yearling.

Uhm. No.

This is two year old Bird:


This is four year old Bird:


As you can see, there is a lot that happens between 2 and 4. The horse just gets more solid, more rideable. I am not in such a hurry that I need to sit on a two year old colt.

[rattfan]

Yes, I know racehorses are treated very differently. I've read a lot of horsy books, in lieu of actually having one, and do know how to ride, or at least I used to. Haven't done so in decades.