What a fun day we had.
Marilyn was a trooper to play with her beautiful Haflinger Gabe with her injured elbow in a sling. Gabe was a true blue LBI – handsome and brave and trying his best for her.
Cindy and Ollie continue to win the ‘most improved’ award. I love the way Cindy keys into and releases on his every try. Ollie and Mystic had a blast racing around the trail course – the most exercise Mystic has gotten in a while. Ollie took a stumble when running through the trees, but came up without a scratch on him and just kept running.
Sheral and Baby just keep getting better and better. The two of them make an awesome pair. Baby was also a slut today and Mystic told me in no uncertain terms that Baby was WAY more attractive to him at liberty than I was! Can’t blame him. She is a majestic mare. Mark is so supportive of Sheral and Baby.
Grace brought Casper today and I think she left wondering why she had pretty much been ignoring this amazing horse for the last year. OK, so Namaste was begging for her attention, but still….. She had done Parelli with Casper back then, but he made it clear that he remembered all his lessons. On the ground, in the trail course, the arena or being ridden, this boy was calm and collected – a vision of a partner having a great time with his Mom at the play date. Poor Grace, three wonderful horses to choose from when she goes out to play……. NOT a bad problem to have.
As usual Deb brought both Gabe and Dancer. Gabe is so left brained that Deb was opening an umbrella over his head and draping a bag of soda cans rattling around and he just happily kept munching on the grass. This boy is afraid of nothing. With Deb on his back, Gabe started out a bit right brained, but he settled nicely with some disengagements. Dancer did better than Gabe did at the challenge. That boy is coming along beautifully. Of course, Dancer and Gabe had their customary splash and lie down in the pond time, along with racing around the pasture at full speed ahead. They do love visiting Mystic Ranch.
Susan didn’t have a trailer and she didn’t officially want to ‘borrow’ a horse, but she ended up handling a fair number of horses as the day went on. I’m glad she enjoyed meeting the SavvyRiders in person. Its a great group – supportive and a good representative of Parelli. Susan took a bunch of photos that are up on the yahoo site. Check them out!
The ‘challenge’ proved to be a great exercise. It clearly showed up what worked and what needed some work at home. The horses stayed left brained and the people didn’t become too direct line. They put the relationship first and we all had a heck of a lot of fun as we coached and cheered each other on.
The potluck lunch was delicious as always. I love Grace’s Gaspacho, the chilled potato salad, green salad and watermelon hit the spot and somehow Deb’s brownies just disappeared – even though she thought they might have been a little soft…… no way….. though upon reflection, I think she should keep trying to produce the perfect batch of brownies. Folks left most of the left overs for Ron and me and we enjoyed having them for supper.
Tired and happy and ready for bed. Thanks for coming and having a good time. Mark your calendar for July 10 as the next play date at Mystic Ranch. I’ll come up with a new challenge – maybe two. One for the arena and another for the trail course.