She’s a pony. They keep you on your toes 
Ask me how I know ha ha!
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Bigtime! Based on the other thread about horses kicking downed riders, I bought a gigantic teddy bear on Amazon. I’ve been putting the teddy bear on her back and letting him fall off her and teaching her to stop and turn to face something that has fallen from her back. Bonus of general desensitizing.
While putting the teddy bear back up after a fall, she reached to the other side, grabbed him by the ear, and pulled him off all by herself. What a smart little stinker. She’s going to be mad when teddy gets strapped to the seat. 
Edit: note she is not allowed to TRY and get him off. He’s just a loose goosey drunk teddy bear and he slides off all on his own lol
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Videos when this happens please!
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I’ll do my best to remember to tripod it. My hands will be busy convincing her she’s alright and there’s no need to turn to violence lol
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Im sure you will have your hands full!
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Without ado, we have buckled in drunk teddy. It was a non event, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Teddy was very drunk and floppy, which was perfect - the prep work paid off. I ended up tying his bowtie to the horn so he would sit up and avoid a DUI. (RUI?)
It has been hard to consistently work with the mud and early dark hours.
20250101_091231
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Teddy must have stayed up too late and had too much to drink 
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Hope Teddy wasn’t hungover, riding with a headache is no fun.
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Well, it was New Years and all. LOL
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Teddy…looks hard on your neck
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What??? No helmet?? Let the outrage ensue
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Poor Teddy doesn’t look like he feels good. And Grundy looks like, “Why is there a bear in the saddle?”
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If she ever randomly snatches and disembowels a small child’s plush toy at some point in the future, you’ll know exactly why! 
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Not much going on because of weather and other things. First lesson got postponed to weather, second cancelled because Grundy slipped and slid through a fence and got her cheek right where a halter/bridle would sit. Hopefully third time is the charm this weekend.
It’s the little things though - Sunday I put her out on the pasture to just walk around and get a break from the dry lot. It was windy, and a grocery bag blew through the pasture. I watched her just watch it blow around, she even tried to follow it for awhile. This is huge progress for her mentally - before, that would have sent her running for the hills. Good girl, Grundy.
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We did it! We took our first lesson. We walked and trotted in a big indoor, no round pen, and she really tried hard to make good choices. Only one little fit which was quickly squashed.
I couldn’t possibly ask for more from her. What a good girl.
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Oh I love this! What a good girl!
And such a timely post as I have my first lesson this afternoon with my newly broke pony. Can’t wait!
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I can’t wait to hear all about it! Your guy is way further along than Grundy, so your lesson will bring more than “hooray I didn’t get bucked off and we practiced moving my hands around without losing our cool!” haha
Ha ha! We shall see! It is to be crazy windy (80-90km/hr winds) and the arena loves to make noise (its a fabric arena). But I’m sure we will both do our best. It might be one of those kind of lessons today…interesting
Lesson was just cancelled. Too windy. Its crazy here!! Snow blowing, winds are insane so horses in early. Boo! Its been a rough January in Ontario. We finally just warmed up (-20C the past week) a few days ago. I did not ride at all last week as it was just too cold. Now its a bit milder but some crazy winds in today and some very cold weather for tomorrow.
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Our arena creeks and moans from the wind too. Such fun! Probably good that your lesson is postponed.
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Grundy lies down to nap/sleep way more than any horse I’ve ever known. She naps in the early morning, after breakfast, early afternoon, mid afternoon. I catch her sleeping all the time. She doesn’t seem stressed out, just chillin’. I can walk in and love on her and she stays down and goes back to sleep.
I’m planning on shooting xrays of her front feet at spring vet check just for a baseline (she’s pretty tender on the frozen ground barefoot, I just want to be sure we’re not dealing with something more serious), but is she just… “nappy” (ha, get it)?
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