DAY 27 - Happy

Yesterday was a little bit warmer, but overcast, so it still felt a bit raw.. I had thought about giving us the day off, but we ended up going out for a bit anyway, because Possum seemed to want to do something.

I had made plans with Donna to meet her and Big Mack up at her paddock to assist her in another riding session. As Ryan has said, a lot of good riding is "muscle memory," so for Donna, who has not ridden much in the last couple of years, the more times she can sit on her horse, the better.

Before I walked up there, a little after 11, I cleaned Possum's paddock, filled his water buckets, and fluffed up his stall. I noticed that he had shavings in his tail yesterday morning, meaning he laid down in the stall for the first time since he's been back. I like that. He seems to really enjoy it when I spend time just hanging out in the paddock with him. It brings him comfort when I'm out there puttering around, picking up poops and pine cones and branches and raking things around. After the chores, I put on his halter and secured him to the outside cross ties and gave him a full grooming. His eyes were very soft, and I made sure I was extra gentle around his ticklish parts, so there was no kicky and nippy behaviors. He was very relaxed and good. I applied some Sure Hoof to the outside of his very long and overdue hooves (I've managed to snag my musician / farrier friend Tommy to come by next week to trim him up... this year, I'm going to go one more round with the front shoes, too.) Then, I took his halter off and let him go again with another flake of hay, and walked up to Donna's.

She and Big Mack were already out in the paddock, and she had been lunging him for about 15 minutes. He looked very good and calm.. I'm so impressed with how much confidence Donna has gained with him! We readjusted his saddle and she put on her helmet, and I took a hold of the lunge line. Following the lesson plan with Ryan on Thursday morning, Donna got on the "mounting block" (a big, overturned muck bucket), and I led Mack up to it and we had him stand square. She mounted and made him stand still, then we walked off. I was just there in case anything went awry, but she did all of the controlling from his back. She was looking much better, and we worked on her form (heels down, eyes up, fingers closed), and also concentrated on keeping Mack's head up and not dragging. Then, we trotted a few times and halted in each direction, then ended on a good note. So cool!

Then, I walked home, and though I had been thinking about giving Possum (and me!) the day off, I could tell he wanted to go out and do something, so I put on my paddock boots and brought him into the stall to tack up. I mounted from the stump in the paddock, and then we walked around there a minute or two, then walked out of the gate and up to the road. I decided to take him up the path across the street this time, for something different, and he was very cool as we walked all the way up to the furthest point of the trail. At the turnaround, I asked him to trot, and then we turned at the end and trotted back again. We came to a halt, we turned, and trotted once more. He was very good.

We took a short detour down another little logging path before walking back down to the road. At the bottom, we turned left and picked up a trot again up to the barking dogs in their giant pen, then we walked down to the Dodge field and worked in there for a bit. Some big long trots around the back field, both directions, and then some canters in each direction. One canter was really nice, collected and rocking, then another one was a little more discombobulated, but that's how we roll! After one more forward trot, I let him stretch his neck, and we walked past Big Mack and down the road a bit towards Lenny's.

Behind Lenny's place on Saturday afternoon.

Donna's son was down there with his dog (I think he was "running away" or avoiding something, because a few minutes later, Donna drove down in her car and picked him up and they drove off), and Possum had his head high in the air and his ears pointed forward as we approached the boy and the dog. We said hello, then I took him for a short spin around the field across the street from Lenny's, then back down and walked around behind the house. Then, we got back on the road and did one more big trot up past the barn, and then walked home. We had been out for about 50 minutes, and Mr. Possum seemed very content.

After I took off his tack and brushed him down, I clipped on the lunge line and took him out to graze for a while. When we came back, we hung out and stood in the driveway talking to Don for a bit, as he was splitting some firewood. I was amazed at how calm Possum was, just standing there, eyes all soft, just enjoying being part of our little family.

I think he's kind of happy! Today is Sunday, and I am going to give us the day off from riding, but I will go out soon and do chores, brush him a little, and take him out for a hand walk and some grazing. I think he'll like that. Then, he'll get his "Sunday suppah" at 2:30, and we will leave him be as we go off to our afternoon gig.