What's in a name?

That which we call a Butterball by any other name would still be as perfect. Which, thank goodness, because he's got quite a collection of names. 

Oh man guys. When I bought Butterball, his owner gave me his papers with Welsh Pony and Cob Society of America. His name on those papers was WPF Who's Your Daddy. His barn name was West. He had a prior limited registration with USEF as WPF Golden Boy. And he was registered with USEA as WPF Westerlie: a combination of his breeder's prefix Whispering Palms Farm; his sire's name, Westporte; and his dam's name, Lorelei Socialite.

By the time I bought him, Hillary had nicknamed him Butterball, which I felt like had the added personality that he deserved, so we definitely kept that. And I picked WPF Westerlie as his official show name. When I lifetime registered him with USEF I used WPF Westerlie. They merged his prior record. But that was not the end of his name changes though.

I submitted scores to WPCSA for the year end awards last year. But then I got a rather confused email regarding the lack of existence of a WPF Westerlie. So I paid for a name change (with his breeder's written permission) from WPF Who's Your Daddy to WPF Westerlie. But... But... The board met about it and because, unknown to me, he had already had a name change from WPF Westlie to WPF Who's Your Daddy, they declined to allow another. Soooo we went back to WPF Westlie with WPCSA. And given that USEF wants $100 to process a name change, USEA wants $25, and USHJA wants $20, WPF Westlie and WPF Westerlie are as close as we're gonna get to having all his buttery goodness under one name. 

To date, Ben had my favorite registered name: This Way to Heaven. He was USEA registered as Ben'Jammin, but I changed back to his Jockey Club name immediately because I liked the name and on the off chance any race connection wanted to find him, that would make it easier. 

Any of y'all have horses with multiple names? Do you buy into the superstition that you should never change a name? 

When You Just Can't....

Change left to right in Butterball's case. Brain in mine. 

We had a mostly lovely lesson on Tuesday. Our warm up three poles to vertical then oxer went well and our ability to turn left is certainly improving. 

Follow more with your hands

Better

We had another conversation though about not flapping the upper body and instead just using the leg to get pony forward. PW said that the first few jumps I may need to leg off the ground and leg on landing so that we get his motor started earlier. Interesting because I've been playing with different warm up strategies too. Normally we have 3-5 minutes of hollow, resistant stuff before we get a nice forward connection. I've been trying leaving him long and low but forward and swinging and then picking up the reins which seems to be an improvement over insisting on a short connection from the get go. Different things, but same kinda idea. Get the forward from the start. 

Then we moved into course work, doing a few of the pieces first - five stride line down the long side, the first time in six and then subsequent times in five, then the in and out, and then the bending line.

Wish he weren't headless from this angle

The first time we put it all together actually got a little wooly. The quickness came when we missed our change after the five stride line and then I never really got us combobulated (clearly the opposite of discombobulated) again. The next round went better though. Then the third round we were cleaning up the five stride line, which we did, but missed the left to right change again in that corner. Eventually we settled for a simple change. PW was on us about straightness the whole time, and the last time through the one stride we truly got straight instead of anticipating the left hand turn and angling the second fence a tiny bit. I was rewarded with an excellent jump.

After the third run through we worked on the change a bit, but really struggled. The aids should be firm outside (new outside, so on our left to right, it was left rein) connection then swing the outside leg back and ask. I was definitely asking with too much inside rein during the course, but still couldn't get it, even over a pole after. PW got on but struggled with it too. We both agreed that he felt panicky about it as well even though we weren't getting after him about it at all. 

We ended up concluding that maybe he needs shoes back behind or maybe we need to look at his hind end in another way (ie hock or stifle injections). It was a bit weird because historically his right hind is the foot with less heel that I'm more suspicious of, but this struggle indicated left hind. 

I drove home pondering this and made it the complete hour before I realized I'm an idiot. I gave him his EWT WNV vaccine in the left hamstring the day prior. I gave it there since he does react to vaccines and I wanted to see if that was better tolerated vs. his pecs where I have been giving it. We've also done enough positive conditioning work that he will let me poke him in the butt now and will stand patiently waiting for his cookie. I definitely should have buted the poor pony prior to the lesson, rgh. 

So he got bute when we got home and then Wednesday off. Next time I'll have PW start him and see if the changes are better without a sore butt and without me messing up the timing the first go round. 

Happy Birthday!!!!

The world's best pony turns nine today!!!!! 

He got homemade "carrot" cake to celebrate. Which he shared with his friends even though he didn't really want to. 

Then a nice neighborhood snack and hack. 

Celebrating Spring

I considered posting this video without a long wall of text, but then realized there are things to say about it. 

Butterball and I joined two friends at Naked Horse on Friday, which just so happened to be the first day of spring. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Clear blue skies and the perfect temp. And pony pants felt just delighted to be out there. Our rides go best when I have *something* to half half to the fence. Energy has to be there first, then I can half half that energy to keep him from getting longer towards the fence. He came out energetic and maybe a tad spooky, but I channeled the energy to an absolutely wonderful ride. We had two other loops around that aren't on video. First around some simpler lines then went from the baby coffin to vertical on mound down through the crater to the cabin on the other side. 

And while it wasn't perfect, you can see where I let him get too long into the barrels at the coffin and then where I didn't have enough energy for the log in the water, it felt absolutely amazing. Butterball was more than happy to make up for my mistakes and continue boldly through the questions. And similar to our last school at Sweet Dixie we focused on some more technical questions rather than height. Skinnies? Angled ditch? All no problem, he happily ate it all up. 

I didn't realize until I pulled up the Sweet Dixie link that this was our first time out cross country in four months! We had the little trip to Star Farm, but since that was the same week we pulled his shoes, that barely counts. For this trip I put his scoot boots on his hinds just in case they were a little sore given his late changes in our lesson on Wednesday. But the footing was perfect and soft so I'm sure he would've been fine without them. 

Perfect pony

I texted PW afterwards that I wasn't done eventing. This pony is too good and too delighted to be out there to not keep doing this! 

Feast or Famine

Best boy is getting golden! 

We've had multiple lessons over the past week - two jumping and one dressage. The most recent jump lesson was documented, but the other two lessons were not. 

But let's step back to last week. The problem with not getting media of the jump lesson is that my memory of the lesson also isn't great. But it was another check box in the column of jumped all the things, added to confidence bank. We worked on bending lines per my notes. I focused on keeping his shoulders up and straight to the fences. And he was good. Okay, moving on. 

Hi! Once again cool enough for his BOT mesh sheet 

Snoot close up 

Friday we went back to dressaging. These lessons I always take notes via voice to text immediately afterwards. Leads to some funny interpreting of counters and flecks, but it gets the major points down before they leave my brain. The lessons themselves are SO intense and he'll share very important things while I am in the middle of trying to canter for the hundredth minute straight that I have to get down what I remember immediately. 

Anyways, towards the end of the lesson JV shared one of the more important tidbits of the day. Always keep asking for new things. Initially it may just be going a little bit faster between two letters, then slowing down between the next set. But to keep both of you attentive, keep changing it up. Changes in direction, changes in bend, serpentines. Towards the end ask for more lift and extension and then more lift and collection between sets of letters. And end before my attention runs out. Definitely a call out there - it's not just the pony that starts to tune out the aids, it is actually me drifting off and not paying attention for 3-4 strides before coming back to earth. Oops. 

We did a lot of work in the canter with different figures, steering around to try to get suppleness in his body. We started with full one loops. That led to a lot of flying changes and half flying changes. JV's advice if he changed was to just keep riding the next bend and let him fix it. Good call, my cues are not going to be there to correctly ask for the change back. He then changed it to just steering him off the rail a few strides, then back to the rail, then back in again. Not even focusing on making it to the quarter line, just breaking the long side of the arena into several little chunks to encourage suppleness still. 

To straighten him in the canter on a circle, we did outside flexion to capture the outside shoulder, then inside flexion. Turns out the softening I had been working on with Susan had been, as usual, over exaggerated by yours truly in the mean time, and led to an overbent neck. 

We did a decent amount of trot leg yields, cementing what I've always known (and honestly seen when I've scribed): riders, including me, are not insistent about consistency. A few steps of sideways, then the shoulders lead, then we stop all sideways, then pick it up again. Be focused and insistent that the quality is always there. And if he's crooked and you add more energy, he's going to become more crooked. Oh, yeah, that makes sense too. 

His advice re the bit was to unwrap it and add the flash. He said he has a small mouth top to bottom and the bit doesn't need to be thicker than it comes out of the box. He also said the right lead canter is where we never did get suppleness and was where the mouth was an avoidance. I've been using the flash since then, still two full fingers in between, pair with a peppermint. He's not mad on the ground about it anymore or when going for a walk with no contact. But I can still feel when he hits it other times. Who knows... 

Best between the ears view - our 10 mile fitness ride 

Then we got back to PW on Wednesday of this week. We started with our classic warm up - three canter poles to a vertical. While we did this a lot when I first started riding with him, it had been a month or two since the placing poles had come out. Fortunately I still remember how to stare down the first one and fit it in. I think our cavaletti exercises at home have been helpful for that. 

After our first few efforts, PW got after us about two things:

1. The horse must take you away from the fence, not collapse in a heap on landing. To do this, use your legs. Do not flap your arms or upper body at him or drive him with your seat hollow. Your legs. 
2. You must come in with a more energetic canter. Not longer, but bouncier. Shockingly, #2 helps with #1. 

Generating some bounce here

Then we switched to an oxer with the same directives. 

Course work came next. Fortunately we were riding with someone else because my brain could not figure out where he was pointing us. But after a demo we got it. The first course was good other than the first fence. After that course we worked on what is truly meant by going forward and back in the canter before approaching the first fence, you can see a few canter circles in the video. PW noted that when I was asking for forward I was getting up off his back and leaning my upper body. Don't do that. We settled on sitting to the first fence instead, which I've been leary of since he hates to be driven with my seat. But it seems like maaaaayyyybe I've progressed enough that I can sit without driving. So that's what we did for the next two courses. 

I do think the correction of my upper body helped in other areas of the course too, I look less like I'm flailing forward and back with it and my leg seems quieter as well. 

I am VERY proud of Butterball for the moments that start about 2:59-3:00 in the video. It was our only rail of the day and it was a left hand turn off the rail, our bugaboo turn. I botched the turn and really did not get him straight. But he went, punched out the top rail, and then carried forward to do the six stride bending line to the vertical. 

Confidently carrying us over the vertical from the long spot. GOOD BOY. I cut out the audio in the video, but he got LOTS of good boys after the first oxer and this fence. 

Now I am *not* proud of my riding there. But pony pants stepped up and said "that was crap riding, have a rail, but I'll get us out of this". 

He did have a lot of late or missed changes in this lesson. I am keeping an eye on that. Ms. GY and I had taken a loop around the neighborhood the day before and it was the first day we walked out of the grass field or a manicured ring without his scoot boots on, so maybe that was related. His trimmer comes out next Wednesday, and I'll get her opinion on our overall foot health then, particularly his hinds. 

Love this pony so much - and since this photo I have started working on taming that mane that I've let go rogue

First Crack at Training A + Bit Clanking part 3

Butterball and I went to a fix-a-test with Susan Graham-White at Majestic a couple of weeks ago. We signed up for Training Test A. In spite of being nowhere near ready for training level XC and stadium, I felt like challenging us with the training level dressage test (lengthenings and transitions at the letters instead of between letters being the only real differences). 

Inspired by Emma, I tried to take plenty of pics around the event because I knew we wouldn't have any from the ride itself. He got a bath beforehand and it was just chilly enough to be able to put his BOT sheet on after

It turned out to be a wildly productive day, more so than I knew going into it. We warmed up for about ten minutes and then went into the test. He was lovely for all of the trot work, and, as per usual, the canter work kinda sucked, especially relatively speaking. 

After informing Susan that her generous interpretation that the canter work sucked today was incorrect and that the canter work actually sucks every day, she asked me to try something. 

Side note, I've been on such a freaking journey with this horse's canter. When we first met JV he was so deeply behind my leg that we had to fix that before doing anything else. Then we stopped seeing JV and spent 5 months on our own with a forward but hollow horse. Me afraid of pulling him into the contact and getting him behind my leg again. He goes forward from a light touch and has impulsion now (he carries himself forward without me nagging), but that's it.  

Anyways, Susan had me using the inside rein to generate a "space" in his neck, lifting the hand higher and even at one point crossing it over the neck to demonstrate to him just how serious I was about inside bend. The outside hand moved slightly away from the neck to give him a space to move his shoulders into, but didn't get completely dropped. And oh wow, what a difference that made. He was instantly more supple and soft and through. We've been playing with that since then, keeping reaction first in our minds, and I think we're on the right track. I'll break the pivo back out soon to document some of this. 

For the canter lengthenings on the circles, she had me think of starting a stretchy circle, but only letting him out one notch of the reins. That's the feeling, lengthen the frame and stride, try to avoid letting him fall on  his face. 

Hi, yes, I'm really cute

She said at the end that his mouth was gaping open during the canter work. I told her our saga with bits and also told her about my flash trial. JV had recommended a flash to prevent the gaping. When I told him Butterball hated flashes, JV said it didn't need to be tight at all, just needed to prevent a wide open mouth. I had tried the flash the ride prior to the fix-a-test, and it did NOT go well. I could fit three fingers stacked on top of each other between the flash and his jaw. So it really only came into play when he opened his mouth wide. But he felt it while I was tacking up and was mad. I could feel him re-discover it every half-circle or so while we were working and then be mad all over again. About 75% of the way through a 50 minute ride, unintentionally that long, he finally gave up and softened nicely. I'm not sure that a flash is the right answer though, and I haven't bothered trying again since then. Susan wasn't insistent on a flash either, but she did say boundaries were a good thing sometimes. She also caveated that she didn't know us well enough to know if the flash was the answer. She recommended that if I was going to keep going with the flash, pair putting it on with a peppermint, which seemed wise, since he'd gotten mad even before I got on his back. 

Susan ended by saying that if we got the canter work to the level of the trot work we would be winning everything. Kind words for sure. 

Snax before the fix a test

There was the option to work with a bit fitter, Michelle Ryan-Schwartz who is a HS Certified Bit Fitter, afterwards. I don't know enough about the bit bitting world to know if coming from a specific brand means the same thing as in saddle fitting, and we did only try HS brand bits, but she was incredibly helpful, so who am I to judge. While I hadn't planned on trying out bits since we've fixed the clanking, I was prompted by Susan's comments to at least give it a go. We tried 5 or 6 different bits while the fitter and the clinic organizer (also a dressage judge) watched. Which meant I got both of their expertise.

I immediately vetoed the double jointed that was very similar to his prior bit that he clanked so aggressively. 

But we did try 

And this; I didn't know HS is the company that makes nathe bits. 

This one ended up being the winner. We put it in with latex bit wrap on it, so when she ordered the bit, she ordered a roll of bit wrap as well. 

TBH I don't remember his response to each bit. I wish I did. But we were all chatting in between and watching and chatting with riders coming in for the fix-a-test. And our pony participation meter was definitely a bell shaped curve. He generally gets quieter in his mouth the longer he goes, which was true for this ride/day as well. But then he started asking WTF was going on and how many more times was he going to have his bridle taken off and then put back on and then be asked to go trot and canter again. Which was a totally fair question. I kinda was too. Since it was a spur of the moment addition to our day, neither myself nor Ms. GY were completely prepared for the additional 1.5 hours of time. But the fitter and organizer were incredibly generous with their time and had a number of useful thoughts on the matter.  

About two weeks later, I had the bit in hand. 

My attempt at sorting out exactly how far back he would be able to pull it. I think the key here is that the single joint means the middle can pull back, but the outer edges that could get near his teeth cannot. 

My conclusion was that it wasn't a lot especially because this is a 4.5" so fits more tightly in his mouth than the myler I had been using 

Next follows a confession. We ordered bit wrap because they had wrapped it during our trial. $26 for a roll. I watched a video, but it wasn't the exact same type of bit wrap. So I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to get the wrap to stick while it was still attached to the thin cottony layer that keeps it from permanently adhering to itself in the box. Wow guys. Somebody gave me a doctorate at some point. 

Anyways, once I took the cotton layer off, I got the bit wrapped. 

While he definitely still opened his mouth some, he was overall quieter. He also felt much straighter and steadier in the contact and his body. Which is weird because I spent a while feeling the single joint in my hands and playing with it and wondering how on earth it wasn't inherently uneven because one side is longer than the other to put the joint in the center. I still don't have an answer. But it seems he can't clank this bit either, so while the myler hasn't been relegated to the tack trunk yet, I think this bit is an improvement. 

As stated above, the pivo will be coming out at some point soon, and we'll see how busy he is. If he's still gaping at times mayyyyyybe I'll revisit the flash. But even though it was FAR from cranking his mouth shut, I hate to do things that he so clearly hates since he's generally the most agreeable dude. 

I'm also a little surprised that I managed to go through so many bit trials in December and January without trying a single jointed bit and/or realizing what it is about the single jointed shape that would prevent clanking. 

Homework

Butterball and I tackled our own version of the jumper circle and set up four barely raised poles on a 20m circle. 

Seen in the distance here, alternate poles were on the low setting of the blocks, the alternate ones were only raised on the low setting on the outside. All poles were striped to help the pilot. 

We started walking around the circle, me focusing on our track and bend, him dealing with stepping over the poles. EM revealed to us back in the fall how much both of us can struggle with a single pole. So we walked a few circles until we were smoothly stepping over each pole. Then we picked up the trot and went right into it again. Again, sometimes he would end up almost under the pole too much to step up, so we trotted until we got it evenly and smoothly again. 

Sometimes after work you just need to sit on your pony while he grazes

Next was canter, four strides fit smoothly between poles, but it still took a minute to get that. Again, the bend and track were mine, sorting out his feet was his. Off both leads if he had to take a "long spot" over the pole, he was more likely to fling through his outside shoulder, loose the bend, and change leads. I struggled to create the inside bend without just bending his neck. The feel was the same that I've harped on before, aim for the inside-middle of the pole, leg yield out to hit the middle of the pole. We took a break and then worked on five strides. To the left we got it done the first time, but the right took a few tries. As we were going over the pole I needed to be aiming for the next one. 

After that, we took a walk around the field and did a few trot XC fences. He hasn't walked fences in a month or two since PW was doing it with him, but it seemed like a nice day to bring back that idea (I'm not brave or coordinated enough to walk fences that are bigger than 18", but I can certainly trot them). The rhythm and track were mine, "1-2-1-2-1-2", the jump was his. He rolled over his shoulder a bit to the bigger log, but rocked back and jumped the novice roll top beautifully. We called it a day on that note. 

That guy. Confident and lovely over it. 

Throughout this ride (and every ride), I'm desperately trying to keep in mind that every aid should have a purpose and response. I most easily get tricked into tapping with my legs every stride to keep the motor going. But to quote JV, "every aid creates tension", so minimizing unnecessary aids is essential. Constantly running through my head: Am I nudging every stride because? Or am I using a soft leg aid when he slows or needs assistance creating bend or direction. Is he responding appropriately to each leg aid based on the magnitude of the aid? If I had to use anything other than a light touch/brush, then did I go back and test the lightest aid again? NBD, just trying to keep approximately 100 things straight in my head at one time while controlling all of my own body parts and noticing all of his body parts. 

Cutest ears and shadow - I love that you can see his forelock in the shadow

Fresh Eyes

As part of our dental rehab program, Butterball got acupuncture done in early December. He tolerated it waaaayyyyy better than I thought the sensitive soul might. Granted Ben was super sensitive too, but had none of the "OW, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!?!?" feeling that BB has about needles. 

DH and I had in fact hit some of the face points with his dolphin stim, so we were on the right track. But the hard part about the dolphin stim is you have to keep touching, so they basically can't move their face. The electroacupuncture made that somewhat easier. But the needles for the face are quite short, so they did want to pull out during his treatment. 

His vet commented, and I definitely see it in the pictures above, that he was somewhat poorly muscled all over. She said it was everywhere from his masseter muscles on his jaw to his back to his hind end. She also pointed out some spots of regional adiposity. She told me that there is new info that insulin spikes highest in January, so recommended testing him again. I last did that in September of 2024 and he was at 20, which is the highest spot of the normal range. Pending those results, she recommended either topping his feed with a higher protein dressing or switching him to a low NSC performance feed. If he was in the 20-50 range she recommended trying diet alone, potentially KER brand low NSC, limiting grass, etc. If he was over 50, she recommended one of two pharmaceutical options. 

June, when I think he was actually looking his best 

Since moving to Ms. GY's, he has eaten ration balancers of a variety of brands. I think he actually looked his best back when we got the portions right at his old barn, so I messaged that barn owner. He was eating Seminole Equalizer at that point. 

So I went and picked that up. While he ate the rest of his previous ration balancer, I top dressed his food with the Pre-Fuel liquid that EM recommended. It is distinctly NOT Butterball's fave (who really likes the taste of pure amino acids?), but he persists. 

December: A week or two before his vet saw him 

February: I think we're moving in a positive direction. He's got more topline again and, honestly, more weight. I've said it before and I'll say it again, feeding the half-pony is trickier (albeit cheaper) than feeding the thoroughbreds. He is very susceptible to weight swings due to grass, hay, and relatively minor changes in workload. 

Fortunately his insulin results came back well within the normal range at 9! And I feel like he is in fact building topline pretty well now with the grain change. The other change his vet recommended was switching him from Dac Oil to Ahiflower oil. The AI comparison basically mirrors what she said. 

I only just put that one in to play because we had five gallons of Dac Oil to work our way through. It will be hard to assess if this makes a difference because he has really nice dapple genetics and does seem to have adequate insulin control. But the ahiflower oil does seem to check more recommended boxes. 

Anyways, the never ending saga of making sure things are as optimal for the Butterball as possible. But I very much appreciate his vet not just showing up for his coggins, but taking a look at the whole horse and making recommendations. She was the one who pointed out last January that he was standing abnormally after his feet were done; this led to our farrier change and likely saved a whole lot of discomfort for the pony in the long run. 

Current diet: 

• Seminole Equalizer: 1 pound twice daily 
• Purina Outlast: 1.25 cups (0.6 pounds) twice daily; additional serving(s) before a ride or before trailering and then before working after getting off the trailer 
• Ahiflower oil 30mL once daily 
• Coastal grass hay 5-10 pounds per day
• Orchard grass hay 5 pounds per day

Wednesday Walks: The Neighborhood Conspires

Butterball and I headed out for a nice relaxed hack last Friday. He'd worked hard Monday through Thursday, so the plan was to walk our normal loop, mayyyyybee add on the extra 3/4 mile to the front of the neighborhood and then call it a day. However, all the critters of the neighborhood had met and planned to cause the absolute most chaos possible. 

It started off innocently enough. Foggy morning with a light breeze. 

First was the neighbor who always has loose dogs. There's an aussie and a mastiff and while neither seem horse aggressive they always leave their yard to bark at us. This time though there were also loose chickens rustling in the woods, which were kinda suspect but not bad. 

Then we got to the field where there are sometimes cows. There were cows but they were apparently totally freaked by the horse, so they went on somewhat erratic running spurts midway up the field. I think if they were closer they would've been more identifiable and less scary. But we persisted. 

We turned the corner and found a tuxedo cat, apparently far from home

It rustled through the woods and shrubs staying about thirty yards away for quite a while

Eventually we parted ways with the cat without Butterball ever actually getting a close look at it to sort out what it was and that he didn't need to be worried about it. He felt like trotting, so we picked up a trot and were swinging along nice and stretchy until we spooked the flock of turkeys in the field by us. This prompted him to go sideways, fortunately missing the half-assed fence made of metal rebar and a single band of thin rope. 

Then we got to the sheep

These are new sheep, never been in this pasture before. And they had lambs. And we first saw them through the woods. Then they ran away from us. Butterball definitely knew it wasn't a scent he was familiar with. I could feel his little heart pounding and was shoving cookies into the side of his mouth that he was absent mindedly chewing while still staring straight at the sheep. To his credit he only once considered noping the heck out of there. 

Hard stare at the sheep, at least not through the woods now

Then we proceeded. The next property always has cattle and they're sometimes in the woods. At this point not typically a problem for pony pants, but we were on about our fiftieth rabbit by this point, so they were a little freaky. 

But lookit how cute the calves are 

Then we walked past the bull of that herd. I never stop to chat with him because every time I see him I'm reminded how insufficient that fence appears. Then we turned the corner to our friendly cows (the ones that tried to murder me once, but now we know them and are fond of them). 

Wants to lick his face, Butters isn't sure he's into that 

But wait! There's something in the distance. The other cows are coming, fine. But there is a dog that is harassing a cow so the dog and cow are doing a spinning dance and the dog is barking as they approach. Perfect. 

Dog and cow visible in the distance. Friendly cow has also turned to see WTF is happening. 

Cows arrived. Dog opted to remain 3/4 of the way down the pasture and bark a bit before getting called home. 

The second set of cows came over to see what the fuss was about. And were through the woods, again. 

What's going on here? Party time?? 

Thank goodness this pony is a saint. He ate some clover in front of the cows and didn't attempt murder/suicide at any point on this journey. 

An actual cow gauntlet 

We carried on and did the 3/4 mile add on. I let him canter the dirt road in the woods because he felt like he really needed to. He woahed off my voice at both ends of it though, such a good pony. I started our relaxing hack with an entire jacket pocket full of treats and finished with none. Lots of click and cookie for flat footed walk after each scary event. And lots and lots of clicking and lots of deep sighs on my part to attempt him to take a breath while staring down the sheep. He finished with a relaxed swinging walk though, success.