Gotcha!

In light of Treenie's latest attempts to take off with Molly, I made an emergency trip to the local tack shop in search of a pony sized pelham. Fortunately, they had one and we were able to try it out on Friday before the horse show. Below is a video with Treenie in her "normal" bit - the double twisted wire...believe it or not, this is not Treenie at her worst. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being horriffic) this this is about a 5-6. Her antics last week were about an 8-9!

Here is some video of the horse show this past weekend - with the pelham. What do you think?

Big difference no? It seems that we have found the answer - for now - until Treenie pulls something else out of her bag of tricks. However, the pelham has really seemed to have given her something that she never really had before - respect. I hope that this is something we can just build upon and will be able to keep moving forward now! Molly LOVED doing the short stirrup hunters.

I had an interesting phone call this morning - it was from the woman we bought Treenie from! She needed a phone number of a mutual acquaintance. Anyway, she asked how Treenie has been and I told her fine. I did tell her about the latest development and the move to a pelham. She told me that would use a kimberwicke when Treenie got bossy. Maybe for a few weeks until she remembered who was supposed to be the boss and then would go back to her normal bit. I felt a lot better because now I know that this is the pony and not us! I also felt that I was handling the problem correctly. So I guess I DO know something!

Molly really held her own in the short stirrup hunters this weekend. She needs to work on the finer points or riding courses in a show - like getting her lead changes consistently, but up until now, the priority has just been to get to the jumps. She has all winter to perfect things. She is definitely ready to move up though - maybe I need to update the title of the blog to Adventures in Short Stirrups?

This coming weekend is our big "local" dressage championship show. I am really excited about it. Molly could take it or leave it. She really does not realize that there are very few kids her age that do dressage. The fact that she is competitive at 9 with adults is a huge accomplishment. I just wish she would appreciate it!

Ladies Who Lunch

Doesn't everyone love to get dressed for a special lunch date? If Molly and Treenie ever get invited to tea at the Plaza, they're ready - boas and pocketbook terrier included!

This past weekend was our barn horse show - it was a long and busy day concluding with a costume class. For once, Molly was ready and had been planning Treenie's costume for weeks - several trips to the Halloween store (fortunately it was in season this time!) several rummages though the costume box and several combinations and permutations of accessories until finally, the PERFECT outfit! If Molly could have figured out a way to get Treenie to wear high heels believe me, she would have had that pony tip toeing around!

By the end of the day, everyone was beat and the whole appeal of the costume class had worn off of most everyone at the show. A few die hards stuck it out to watch and pretty much everyone who had entered had scratched, but Molly had put so much effort into her costume that they found a few girls to fill the class so they could run it for Molly. It was worth it because it made us laugh so hard we forgot how tired we were!

So here's to Miss Treenie - to Molly she truly is "My Little Trinket"!

(I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille)

Devil Pony Rises Again!

Oh Boy, the evenings have been getting chilly and Devil Pony seems to have resurfaced!

We are having a barn horseshow this weekend (at regular show prices I must add). Everyone has been practicing for it over the past month. The course is set and last night the jumps were all decorated - just like a real show!

The really good news is that Molly has been able to sit up and steer Treenie to every jump - no run outs. The bad news is that now the little devil has decided that if she can't run out she will grab a hold of the bit, bear down and just run. Molly seems to handle it well, but it must be a little scary and it is definitely NOT pretty - what happened to our cute little hunter pony?

Molly's trainer said to put her anti-grazing reins and martingale back on - I'm not sure these are what she needs. As Molly was putting her things away, I made an emergency call to one of my sales reps who also happens to be a bit expert. "Hi T - Treenie has turned back into the Devil - the DOUBLE TWISTED WIRE that she currently has isn't working - what else can we do?" Of course T who has become a dear friend over the years, reminds me that she told me a while ago to get a pelham. So, after discussing the pros and cons as well as broken vs mullen mouth, I now have a mission today so that we can try it tomorrow. I happen to agree with T - once Treenie gets grabbed by the curb chain a few times (probably twice to be exact) I am pretty confident the game will be over. She is devious, but not mean or stupid. She is really the queen of evasion. So, we shall see if this does the trick - I wish I had video of last night - it looked like a combination of pony jumpers and pony race horse!

This is cute pony....