walk into splintered sunlight

Brian and I had another lovely ride last evening. Maizie was so nice to photograph us again. You can click on any image to enlarge. I really like this one of us in the newly cut hay field.

What a great shot of our trails! It looks like "The Secret Garden".

Pie's face is really cute!

Brian must be relaxed on the Sovey boy!

Here is a close-up of the bitless bridle we use. I am going to talk about it on a future post.

And here is our sweet little photographer, Maizie Jane, posing with the Pie.

A snap of the whole group and the ubiquitous blue jug of iced tea! Gotta love Mom's white socks!

Brian and Sovey joining forces against a pink sky.

What a great ride we had. We started in the pastures and made sure Brian and Sovey were walking together safely. Then we headed out a back gate to the hay field and trails. We saw a fluffy red fox run out in front of us on the one trail and Pie was having none of that! He started backing and snorting because he was scared. Brian and Sovey had to lead the way for a few minutes! They did so well together. Early in our ride, Sovereign abruptly bent down to itch his leg and Brian almost went over the top. This sounds crazy, but after that near tumble, Brian rode like a pro. I have noticed this before. It takes a small "incident" and you quickly find your seat and agility. Brian is a runner and very athletic and as I said before, he has had riding lessons. I wouldn't just pop anyone up on Sovereign. After his "wake-up call" he sat deeply and allowed his hips to relax and move with the saddle. It was amazing really to watch the change in his riding. We rode over to the houses and our apple-on-the-fencepost-friend greeted us with his 2 year old son. The father fed Pie and Sovey treats and the son watched in delight! Pie and Sovereign are the happiest of boys, I think. Then, we headed home for a thorough hosing and grazing.

Mom and I also had a great ride on Sunday morning. Right at the beginning there were 11 ugly Turkey Vultures in the field. They flew out of a tree grove near us and Pie almost fainted! He was understandably very frightened because they were so big and loud and out of nowhere came swooping down on us. Sovey watched quietly as Pie jumped and darted and folded up under me. Pie was doing anything to get away from those scary birds. Sovereign doesn't let too much frighten him. After that, Pie settled and we walked around the field and found our friendly apples to munch. Mom phoned later and kept saying how much she loves Sovereign. He looks at her so lovingly all the time and she just can't get enough of his bunny rabbit face. We are so fortunate to be able to ride and love up these two horses!