Weekend Recap: I Have the Best Animals

I made a last minute decision to take one of my horses cross country schooling Saturday. If you're not a horse person, cross country is basically jumping over obstacles you would naturally find out and about - ditches, banks, logs, ect. But before I could go to the barn, Maizy needed her morning exercise. We headed over to the dog park bright and early. There was one other dog there, who we know quite well, and to my surprise Maizy was actually interested in wrestling with him. These days she normally just wants to play fetch. Unfortunately Maizy couldn't come cross country schooling with me, as we were trailering into a private venue. She stayed home to snuggle in bed with my boyfriend and I hit the road.

My mare, Lilly, and I are pretty out of shape so the goal for the day was to have fun and build confidence. We had an absolute blast and I could not have asked for a better horse - she was listening, willing and an absolute jumping machine. It was her first time schooling cross country so I was very, very proud of her. I've nicknamed Lilly the "Honey Badger" because she doesn't give a shit. If you don't get that reference, take a look at this classic viral video.

My other horse, Calla, can be a bit of a difficult ride and my confidence definitely took a blow during my time riding her. I've been a bit freaked out about jumping lately, but Lilly and I quickly got back into the groove. The amount of trust I have in her is off the charts. Here are some of the better pictures of the day:

Heading out to the jumps - the weather was gorgeous!

Our first fence of the day, a little log pile.

Popping over a coop - I had some problems with
Calla over this fence last year, but Lilly rocked it.

Lilly's first time over a ditch. This type of jump is
pretty scary for horses but she could not have cared less.

A small down bank. Again, Lilly was perfect.

Having a small argument about pace. Lilly loves to jump
and gallop, the bigger and the faster the better.

Our only refusal of the day was at this fence.
Second time is the charm!

Such a good pony.

Could not have been happier with her and she loved it.

After getting Lilly settled in back at the farm, I headed back to Hamilton and took Maizy for a walk. At this point I was exhausted so we spent the rest of the day napping!

Sunday was very low key as well. We went to the dog park for a total of about three hours and boy was it ever a good time. The weather was really nice, some of our favourite dogs were there and I had some great conversations. I'm slowly becoming one of the "dog park ladies", which is a group of great women with some really nice dogs. Nothing better than having a cup of tea, chatting and watching dogs play!

There was one guy who let his dog into the park and then proceeded to go clean his car while poochy caused trouble. The dog wasn't a bad dog, but just very excited and not very well mannered. The other dogs were not impressed and after we yelled at the guy he finally sent his girlfriend in to watch the dog. But other than that, all the other dogs and owners were excellent company. 

All in all, a very good weekend. I'm working on a post about resource guarding in dogs, so stay tuned for that.