the "scary" arena

Yesterday was a relaxing and fulfilling day. We took Ruger and Striker(formerly Gidget) to the Ingalls arena in Norco where the competition will be. They were having a GSPA open show up there and they are really cool about letting people ride in the arena during lunch and breaks.

My mom came with Roxy and my dad even ponied up and rode Carlton!! :)

Now, it's a HUGE indoor arena with aluminum bleachers on one side and smelly bucking chutes on the other, I know for those of you not in california indoor arenas are no big deal, but out here (where the sun is always shining!) we have outdoor arenas and the indoor arena has become a horse killer to those not acclimated to them.

We rode up to the pen and stood and watched all the kids practicing showmanship, and some halter classes. The girls were falling asleep standing at the rail..a lady on a mule rode up and noticed they were mustangs, so i gave her the whole EMM speal and she was very impressed.

The show staffers had added a cart class and there were 3 horses pulling carts around the property..now there are two things that scare any normal sized horse. mini's and carts. We stood on the rail and watched them warm up for their class, then they called a 10 min open arena..mary and i looked at each other and walked into the arena. There was only 2 other people besides us, brave enough to come into an arena with carts. The mares took a second to adjust and look at everything, then it was down to business and we trotted around the whole arena without any problems at all. We followed the carts, walked next to them, and let them pass us without any problems at all. We even handled the other horses cantering by us with no issues.

They didn't care about all the commotion or the loud speakers, people walking up to and by them other horses standing next to them. I am so proud of both of them!!

The mares get a day off today, and they are going back to basics tomarrow in the round pen, just for shits and giggles cause it's good to revisit the fundamentals every now and then. Wednesday we are taking them back out to my grandmas for somemore riding around the property, we might even take them to McCall Park in the mountains.

we will see :)

-Jenn