May 7, 2015
I saw this on Facebook and it made me laugh. Enjoy!
All posts tagged pony
Adult Horsey Content – 2015
Posted by riderofchaos on May 7, 2015
https://blueridgepony.com/2015/05/07/adult-horsey-content/
Summer Camp and Slumber Parties
May 6, 2015
At the end of this winter I found myself with two ponies (Simon and Poe) that needed to get into shape for the competition season. I also had one pony (Spike) who needed to get into shape and who I needed to get to know. I also needed to focus a little on his ground manners and getting him into a general routine.
I failed.
I was successful with Simon and he is in excellent condition.
Poe came out in the middle of the road. Not in horrible condition, but certainly not as fit as I feel he should be.
Spike was sitting on the back burner.
Time is an issue. Now that Simon is in decent condition, keeping him going is pretty easy. Adding in getting Poe into better condition is a bit of a challenge, but manageable. Trying to add a third pony into the mix is just not happening.
Mean while I discovered my saddle fits Poe very poorly, which is most likely what has been causing it to roll when I try to mount up. Although Its still passable for conditioning. Unfortunately it doesn’t even come close to fitting Spike and was pretty much laying on his spine. Big problem.
I discussed this, in utter frustration, to my friend Lindsey. And being the amazing friend she is, she came up with a solution. I would drop Spike off with her for a few weeks, and she would get him into work for me. Lindsey has two well trained and rock solid ponies, as well as one long term project and she was enticed to take on a short term project that she could send back when she was done (sort of like barrowing a friend or family member’s kid to go to the circus. You get them for the fun part, then get to give them back all sugared up when they start to get cranky.)
So this past weekend I took Spike up to Lindsey’s for summer camp. I also took Simon and we had a bit of a slumber party, which I blogged about in the previous post.
Ill try to give updates on Lindsey and Spike over the next few weeks. I hope Lindsey has fun with him, and doesn’t hate me in the end.
Oh, and I purchased a super cheap lightly used low end Wintec saddle with changeable gullet. It should be here at the end of the week. I’ll see how that works for now while, holding me over, while I lightly shop for a more Poe suited saddle.
Spike getting his first groom session with Lindsey.
Lindsey gassing up her new tow vehicle! 
Me getting weak and dizzy from hunger while waiting on Lindsey. 
Posted by riderofchaos on May 6, 2015
https://blueridgepony.com/2015/05/06/summer-camp-and-slumber-parties/
Trail Report: Pennsylvania – 5/3/15 – EDITED
May 4, 2015
** 5/9/15 This post has been edited by reader request to remove the location and many of the photos.**
This weekend I drove up to Pennsylvania to drop Spike off for “camp” with my friend Lindsey. I decided to bring Simon along and have a sleep over. Saturday evening we went for a light hack at Lindsey’s farm. Then we had dinner and hit the hay. Sunday we met up with Lindsey’s really cool friend, who is now my friend too, Sara and her horse Yoshi, and headed to Some trails.
This is a popular and populated park which is very out of the ordinary for Simon and I. there was a nice paved and shaded parking area set up near a pool, and running along a pretty stream, surrounded by picnic areas. We mounted up and headed out a fire road, passing a few fishers and hikers.
There were a lot of “do not belong” things in the woods, like small concrete buildings, painted water hole heads and foot bridges. I rode Simon across a pretty neat foot bridge. He is such a trooper. We also crossed several smaller bridges and enjoyed splashing in several creeks. Yoshi was splash queen. Sara also showed her experienced seat several times when Yoshi leaped into creeks from the banks, tripped in her splashing delight, and when she did a crazy deer hop over a fallen log.
There was a nice gallop stretch up a gravel fire road, and Simon really let himself rip, almost keeping up with the other two. almost. He was excellent in his usual pony fashion, tromping along happily, with an occasional jog to keep up with the others.
The ride was particularly enjoyable to have such excellent company. I have gotten used to solo rides, so this was a welcome change. I think Simon enjoyed making faces at the other ponies too. It was also a big change for us to be on relatively level ground. There were no big climbs and only limited grades going down. I also enjoyed the continuous change in terrain and scenery as we went along. It was a really nice ride.
Other than missing my Daisy Dog back at home, it was an awesome weekend adventure.
So who is the cutest pony? Simon! This is Simon, looking his cutest, ready to hit the trail.
Sara’s pony Yoshi sure liked to make a splash. 
Fallen down cabin. 
This was a neat section of trail. 
Posted by riderofchaos on May 4, 2015
https://blueridgepony.com/2015/05/04/trail-report-caledonia-state-park-pa-5315/
2015 Mid-Atlantic #1
May 1, 2015
The mounted games season has started! Mid-Atlantic #1, held at the PG Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland was held last weekend and I was there with my new team, Gone Rogue.
This was Gone Rogue’s first competition and we had a blast. We were laughing and yucking it up all weekend. One rider on the team, Val, who is taking the first part of the season off to have a baby, came to support the team, cheering for us and giving us her sidelines perspective. At the end of the weekend she pointed out some race order ideas that I really agree with. Great points that were hard to see from the saddle.
Clearly I am excited because I am already talking about after the competition, and I haven’t even discussed the actual competition yet! Organize….
Leading up to the competition, rider Zoe was hula hooping and rolled her ankle, spraining it. We scrambled around for a replacement rider and ended up coming up dry. In the end, Zoe healed faster than expected, and with a calm borrowed pony, Boomer, graciously offered by Stacey Calhoun, Zoe assured us she could do it. Notably, teammate Val, who is eight months pregnant also offered to fill in. She is still actively riding, and took part in a polocrosse tournament the weekend before, but felt her balance was off for all of the leaning and remounting necessary in games. Although none of us jumped on her offer, none of us turned her down either. So it was lucky Zoe pulled through.
Saturday morning dawned and we were up and ready to enter the ring in our new dark grey and yellow gear by 8am. Our division had been scheduled to ride with two concurrent heats. This is not the usual format for MGAA team events and requires heats of teams to rotate in and out of the arena before and after every two races. The idea is to ease the labor on ring crew, although I really do not feel like this helped at all at this event. It also meant that we were in the saddle for well over two hours, in and out of the arena with our adrenaline going up and down. Poe in particular got annoyed. About half way through the session he was beyond fidgety. Grabbing everything in his mouth, pacing around, attempting to crib on everything and just generally being annoying. It also meant when it was our divisions turn to work a concurrent session that took nearly three hours, there were 7 teams resetting for heats of three and four teams. Over kill much? It sucked. Out of the five heat sessions we were at the arena for four of them, riding or working, and had one session to untack and recoup. Sunday was ten times worse with more races in the session. I could complain about this aspect endlessly, but I’ll move on.
Session one went pretty well. I rode really conservatively, but ended mistake free, and was happy with myself and Poe. The rest of the team was on their game and we did very well. The second session was also pretty good, with just a few mistakes. I missed a hand off to Averi, totally my fault, and I could not get back on Poe after agility aces race. I played it smart and ran to the mounting block after two quick attempts of him dancing around. Although I feel I made a smart move it still killed us in the race.
We did well enough in our two Saturday sessions to make it into the A final for Sunday. Yea!
Sunday also went pretty well. I had a lack of trust in Poe in one race and did not put my hand out to hand Averi my balloon stick. It was so silly of me. Poe has excellent breaks. Excellent. And I should have just stuck my hand out. But I didn’t and had to circle to her to hand over the stick. I still rode conservatively, which is something I need to work on. Kristin and I talked between races and I said that I felt like I was checking up way too early for skills, and she agreed. She suggested that when I felt like it was time to start slowing down, to go another stride. I took her advice and it played to my advantage in the next race. I need to keep that up and remember how awesome and responsive Poe is. * Trust in the Poe *
It was an excellent and closely played final session. Border Patrol took the win in style. Going into the second to last race, Time Flies, Full Tilt and our team were all tied. In the end Time Flies beat us out for second, and we managed a healthy third place finish ahead of Full Tilt. Chaos took fifth followed by Black and Blue and Groppits. It was a really good division and I think this season is going to be amazing. I am really looking forward to it!
***Trust in the Poe***
Posted by riderofchaos on May 1, 2015
https://blueridgepony.com/2015/05/01/2015-mid-atlantic-1/
The Start of the 2015 Mounted Games Season
April 29, 2015
The 2015 mounted games season kicked off with the first competition in the Mid-Atlantic series. Poe and I started are on a new team this year, Gone Rogue. Here is a teaser photo to hold you until I get the real post about the competition completed!
Posted by riderofchaos on April 29, 2015
https://blueridgepony.com/2015/04/29/the-start-of-the-2015-mounted-games-season/
Blue Ridge Pony 