Tuesday, April 24, 2012

You can't take me for granted and smile


Today Pie reminded me that I can't take his good nature for granted. Yes, he is usually a relaxed boy, and yes, he is...ahem...slightly chubby and lazy. But, our cool temperatures and wind had him twirling and whirling throughout the weekend and yesterday. In fact, all the horses have been acting especially feisty. Sovereign has been leading them in races in the pastures and Foggy has been bucking his cute little bunny bucks all over the place. As I groomed Pie this afternoon and tacked up, he jumped and twitched at every little noise. He was covered in mud, but I realized that any real grooming would be impossible. I decided to brush lightly where the saddle goes, and get the rest off later after our ride. I cleaned his feet and did not hurry, but I also didn't expect the sleepy, calm grooming session we usually have.

Once I was on, I balanced him between a slow, relaxed dawdle and a forward extended walk. After 20 minutes with very little sidesteps or shies, I asked for a trot and he was relaxed and happy. Oh, thank you, Pie, for getting your wiggles out and keeping me on! We ended up having a super great 50 minute ride all over the farm and in the woods. And, I was able to get most of the mud off in our post-ride grooming time. Pie was a completely different horse.

I drove home with a huge smile on my face. I am so lucky to have these horses. They take care of me and allow me to ride them almost every single day - even when our conditions are less than favorable. I was still beaming from all my horse love when I reached our driveway and met up with Brian and Maizie as they headed out for a run. They had just got the mail and in it was my acceptance letter into the State Museum's juried art show, Art of the State 2012!!!! My watercolor, Coke, was accepted! Hooray!


10 comments:

  1. Good for you on all fronts. The watercolor is excellent.

    Dan

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  2. What a great day!

    Your patience with Pie was well rewarded. What a good boy. :)

    When I look at that beautiful watercolor, your patience and foresight are reinforced. Watercolor is a challenging medium. Lovely. Congratulations on the show!!

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  3. Congrats! On Pie and your watercolor. Beautiful.

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  4. Congratulations on the watercolor! I never could handle those--big mess. It's lovely and it sounds like your ride was too. Don't they surprise you sometimes? Good boy, Pie!

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  5. Congratulations on your watercolor! It is a hard medium to work with and you did a beautiful job with it.

    Pie is a great horse. Glad you had a great ride that put a huge smile on your face.

    Around here even the laziest of our horses was up over the weekend, bucking and galloping all over the place. Crazy weather.

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  6. Congrats on the watercolor! That is so cool.
    Chance and I had a similar day last week. A little cooler and breezy and she was jumping all over the place but once we got to the round pen, she was ready to work. Love that about her!

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  7. Félicitations! We always go to see Art of the State, and now I'm even more excited to see it this summer. Watercolors are not easy, and yours is gorgeous. My husband also paints, and just got 2 paintings into Art Association's juried exhibit which opens May 19 in Harrisburg.
    Now I'm addicted to your blog...

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  8. Mme Mengel - That is so great about your husband's art in the AAH juried show. Maizie and I will go! Congratulations to him!

    I think you are addicted to the blog because of your horsey love! You are going to have to come out and meet and groom the boys!

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  9. So many reasons to be happy! I love hearing about Foggy and his little bunny bucks. Now that is adorable. This mornign it was foggy out and I found myself thinking of him! Isn't that funny?

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  10. What a cool painting Jules!!
    I actually thought it was an older photograph...I kept looking in older posts for the water color, then figured it out...as i spied the COKE machine in the (what I thought was a photo) picture!
    CONGRATS!!

    Sometimes the mudd...must ride with you. I have had a few of those rides too...the mare having nothing to do with the painful grooming of the brown stuffs.
    Pie, you are so good!Who cares about looking spiffed up for an outing with your girl!
    Kac

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