It's Best Friends Day on June 8?

Today is Best Friends Day. (I think I'll go ride my horse.)

Oh, wait. It's also Upsy-Daisy Day. That may be an issue ...

Update: I rode two today, and they were both sweet. 

First, I rode the younger, greener horse. She and I enjoyed a peaceful and quiet jaunt all by ourselves in the indoor arena. We even tried a few leg yields at the walk, which she willingly performed. 

She's a whole lot smarter and nimbler than I tend to expect her to be.

This little gem is doing all she can to bring me back from a rough spell, even though she is naturally quite springy and still a bit unpolished. This sweet half-Arabian mare fairly seems to read my mind and my moods. It's a little daunting, to be frank.

Then I took the older guy outdoors for some trot work. He gave me some nice serpentines, a few laterals, and even a couple of lazy canters.

All in all, it was not a bad day at the barn. Is it ever?

Cowboy hauls ponies 4 hours to give OK kids free rides after tornado

Volunteers are flocking to tornado-devastated Moore, Oklahoma, to offer relief, supplies, and help with cleanup and rebuilding. 

A charitable cowboy brought aid of an altogether different sort. The owner of Buffalo Creek Pony Rides hauled his ponies from Cheyenne, Oklahoma, to give free rides to local children and youngsters helping in the storm-ravaged community. 

 

“I can’t do much,” the man told Oklahoma City reporter Emma Riley Sutton, who was on-site to assist with unloading and distributing post-disaster supplies. “But I can make kids smile [with pony rides].”

“He just wants to … let them forget the tornado for a little while.” Sutton commented. “We all have special gifts and talents.  All of them can be used to help the folks of Moore.”

Because sometimes a little horsing around is just what the doctor ordered.

The Buffalo Creek Pony Rides organization provides gentle pony reel walk experiences for children at fairs and special events.

Image/s:

Photos by Emma Riley Sutton –

Used by permission

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter. You are also invited to join this writer's fan page, as well as the Chicago Etiquette Examiner, Madison Holidays Examiner, Equestrian Examiner and Madison Equestrian Examiner on Facebook.

Video Prank - Mounting a Horse Can Be a Stretch

Sometimes horse lovers just like to stir up a little fun. 

 

Look at the comedy a slight tack adjustment can make.

(Please don't try this at your barn. Or, at least, don't tell 'em we sent ya. Trained professionals only ... and all that.)

Let's hear it for those calm and compliant horses, who seem almost to be in on the joke somehow.

"Hey, rider. Need a hand? I've got 15."

 .

 .

See? Smart riders check their own tack before mounting up … or even trying to. Is your girth secured? And how about those stirrups?

Image/s:

Video Screenshot

Fair Use

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter. You are also invited to join this writer's fan page, as well as the Chicago Etiquette Examiner, Madison Holidays Examiner, Equestrian Examiner and Madison Equestrian Examiner on Facebook.

Happy Mother's Day to All the Super-Moms and Super-Mares

Moms are marvelous.

'Nuff said.

Miss you, Ash. (And your daughter is growing up gorgeous, by the way.)

Image/s:

Photo copyrighted by Linda Ann Nickerson

 Nickers and Ink Creative Communications

All rights reserved

Feel free to follow on Google Plus and Twitter. You are also invited to join this writer's fan page, as well as the Chicago Etiquette Examiner, Madison Holidays Examiner, Equestrian Examiner and Madison Equestrian Examiner on Facebook.

Share

Z is for Zipping Up for a Zigzag in the Zoup

Z is for Zipping Up for a Zigzag in the Zoup.

Zedonk may be a cross between a zebra and a donkey, but it’s also the sound you make soon after climbing upon a horse in a spiffy new pair of leather full-seat breeches or custom chaps on a muddy day.

Zoom. And zplat.

And that’s the end of those stylish riding clothes. Bet ya feel like a zadonk now!

The Mane Point is participating again in the April A to Z blogging challenge, posting daily with alphabetical entries.

For this year's A-Z event, a month of posts will offer Turfy’s A-Z Rules of Horsemanship, with all due apologies to the original Murphy of Murphy’s Law,  which basically said, "If anything can go wrong, it probably will."

Horse lovers may have heard some of these uncannily true, yet often ironic, statements in various forms in the past. Or not.

Image/s:

Western flair

Smithsonian Institute vintage photo 

public domain

Turfy’s A-Z Rules of Horsemanship

Adapted from public domain clipart

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter. You are also invited to join this writer's fan page, as well as the Chicago Etiquette Examiner, Madison Holidays Examiner, Equestrian Examiner and Madison Equestrian Examiner on Facebook.