Okay, so here are two winter photos taken of my little Ren in his second week of living well at St. George. As you well know, I love this pony. On Monday night when I visited him, he was so cute. He was in his stall and had finished his hay and he and I had a wonderful lesson in the arena. I had gone to chat with some new friends and enjoy the potluck and watch a jumping lesson. Really good fun. And I went back to his stall and Ren was fighting to stay awake. He was all cuddly and cute and sleepy. He put his little face forward and asked for Grams to pet and stroke his beautiful muzzle and kiss his little kissing freckle. He was flat out adorable. I just love him so much.
Anyway, tomorrow Coy, a friend and I are going out to St. George in the morning to play around with Renny and learn a few more training tips for my teenage fella. He's very good about lunging, backing, being respectful of space, wearing his cavesson and surcingle, etc. But now I need a few more arrows in my arsenal so that I can bring him forward a little bit more. Here's something that's nice. I have decided that I am going to be Ren's official trainer and that everyone else can have a supporting role as training consultants!
What else? Well, I'm reading a great book called Riding between Worlds which discusses how horses can help us with our human development because of their keen emotional acuity and availability and their disconcerted unease with emotional incongruity. Really cool stuff. A friend this morning posted a personal haiku to facebook (Laura Guy) which runs thus: Sudden gust of wind/Moonless night, dim stars shine soft/on dry winter grass. I think it's beautiful. Plus the last little spark of news is that I spoke with my sister this week and she made me question my plans about selling Ren in the new year. So, I am at a moment of pause. I am embarking on the adventure of training my wonderful wonderful wonderful pony and I'm letting the new year sort itself out. Here's one last thought: This morning I was thinking about different games to play with Ren to spark his imagination and creativity and I remembered when he was first born how crazy happy he was with his beach ball. How he liked to jump on it and roll on it and hug it. And then when he was just a bit older how he loved to play soccer with it. He was crazy crazy crazy crazy talented at playing soccer with it -- just ripping around and popping it double-barreled with his back hooves while squealing. He could really send that ball launched! Love that pony! And pleased beyond description that he loves St. George. You should see him, in just two weeks, he has filled out with more muscle and elegance because of his regular long daily turnout. He's a handsome charmer!
