Gypsy takes care of the girls

My daughter had another friend over last night and today; another friend who is also a horse nut! So this time I decided to use good ol' dependable Gypsy. She's such a star.

I caught her, or rather she caught me! She does that all the time now. I think if she had thumbs, she might actually put the halter on herself! That's how enthusiastic she is these days when I come and get her. It's such a pleasure to spend time with her!

After grooming her, I had to do quite a bit of friendly game with the bareback pad. She wasn't intersted in standing still for that, but we eventually got it all figured out she eventually relaxed about it. But because she was a bit uncertain about the bareback pad, I spent more time with the 7 games before I got on.

I had her move sideways toward me (another thing she couldn't do a year ago!) while I was standing on the trailer hitch so I could jump on. At the Parelli clinic this spring, Amy showed us how she gets on bareback by having her horse lower her head, then Amy jumped on her neck and when her horse raised her head, Amy slid down onto her back. Looked really slick! I'd like to start trying that with Gypsy, but not today. The girls were getting impatient!

So I took Gypsy for a bit of a test drive first to see what kind of horse showed up today (first photo). She was my golden girl again today, so after just trotting to the end of the subdivision road and back, I led her into the front paddock to give the girls a chance to ride her. Holly started and she just walked her around (second photo). At first Gypsy kind of stuck to me and wouldn't leave, but Holly finally got her attention (she's about the size of a peanut, so it took some convincing!) and she was off riding around the paddock.

Then it was Katie's turn. Katie even tried trotting (third photo). She did awesome. At one point she started slipping sideways and slowly fell off. In the past if this happened, Gypsy would spook and run off to the gate. Today though, she slowed as Katie started slipping, and then when Katie fell, she stopped completely and waited for Katie to get back up. Like I said: My Golden Girl! (And by that I mean she's pure gold, not that she's old!). And because of how good Gypsy was, Katie did not get scared, but got right back on and tried again. She trotted one more time and then both girls went around the paddock a couple times together (last photo). Smiles all around!