Grass Belly Girl

Well, much has changed since our last blog. Maybe instead of changed, I should say, gotten better! Bailey is continuing to grow like a weed. While we were gone on vacation I think her feet alone doubled in size.....AND.....I am pretty sure she grew another hand! Lately I have been really prepping her to be saddled and ridden. She is getting big enough that I could easily sack her out with my body and work up to sitting on her and asking her to do simple tasks like walk forward, stop, turn, and eventually back up. If I don't do it soon she is going to be too tall for me to take advantage of being able to just hop up on her. This week I decided I would get to work! So, we started with the rope around her chest and belly....tightening it up just like you would a cinch. She was such a trooper and just stood there, first with her ears moving around trying to figure everything out and then ears forward and attentive. I couldn't have asked for her to be any better! Next came getting "sacked out" with the bareback pad. I let her smell it and then rubbed it over, under, and in between every inch of her body all the way down to her feet and even over her ears and down her nose. She didn't move an inch and not because she was frozen in fear, she just didn't mind it at all. I also flapped the leather straps and metal rings around to make sure she was fine with the new noises around her and of course, she was. Then came the big test...putting it on and cinching up. Over her back went the pad and under her belly went the cinch. I tested it a couple of times by running the leather straps through the D ring without tightening it up and she was A-ok. I then realized I couldn't cinch it up completely because my cinch was too big...so I left that for another day. I couldn't have been more proud at how she handled everything and can't wait to try it again. You can see her progress in the photos from that day shown below. Also, Del Rio had so much rain while we were on vacation, the grass grew about 2 feet in the 7 days we were gone! Since no one has believed me when I have said that, I had David take a photo of me and Bailey in the grass out back...it literally was touching her belly and then some. The horses are in hog-heaven! I also included a neat, random photo my dad took of me and Scout riding bridle-less. Too fun!

On another note...when I dropped Bailey off at mom and dad's before leaving for vacation she did the most hilarious thing! I happened to look out the window to check on her and saw her standing by my truck and trailer. She was on the far side and Festus (her big-time buddy) was on the near side, closest to me and the house. Apparently, she was either so desperate to be close to him or too lazy to walk around, so she just decided to walk through...yep, right THROUGH the little gap between truck and trailer!! I couldn't believe my eyes! She just looked down and then walked over...all 4 feet...and didn't trip or miss a beat. I thought, how many horses would do that, let alone THINK to do that?!? What a little smarty pants!...a fearless smarty pants! Wish I had caught it on film! Next time.