He's got bits that dingle dangle dingle

Who's a pony?

Who's a fuzzy fat pony?

You is!  You is a fuzzy fat pony!

Sunday was to be a quiet day.  Fair Hill was building to the managed deer hunt taking place today and tomorrow, so I thought it was best to stay away.  Instead, Peanut and I puttered around the farm for a bit.

We puttered into the ring, and puttered over some jumps.  He knocked down his first rail and earned 4 faults.  When he was definitely looking for a place to roll I decided to head back out and putter up the driveway.  First, I needed to lose my coat as it was pulling at my shoulders.  Peanut didn't flinch as I took it off and unceremoniously flung/dropped it on the fence right beside us.

I was planning to ride a lap of the farm, which would take us in the path between his field and the neighboring mare field, but when we got close Peanut let it be known that he was more interested in talking to the mares.  He walked up to their fence, put his head over, and looked at the wee mare herd in the distance.  They saw him and started to meander their way over and, knowing how rowdy that field can get, I decided that Nut had had enough and took him back the way he came.  If his mind was on mares, I didn't want to have to fight that for the long length of fence that I would have to travel.  Nay, it was to be a relaxing ride.

We walked back, almost to the driveway, and he stopped at a vantage point that let him look over four fields, the ring, the road, and several other properties.  Happy enough to let him chill there, we stood for a while.  Anne-Marie passed us on the way to get Mona out of the afore-mentioned mare field, and she said that the two of us were looking great.

As I looked around, I noticed Peanut's shadow.  That damn horse was dropped.  I don't know if many non-horse owners or even mare owners can appreciate the joy to be found in a dangling dingle, but I was thrilled and kept sneaking peeks to see if it was still flapping in the cold air or had burrowed away.

Why was I so happy?  Because our last several rides had been anything but nice and relaxing, and part of me was starting to wonder if Peanut could find any positives in a ride.  To see him that chill and relaxed really took a load off of my mind.

Anne-Marie and Mona came out, and I started to walk back down to the barn satisfied that everything went well.  As he walked, I watched Peanut's shadow and there it was, just a jiggling away with each step.

I later went on about this discovery and Rick told me that he was dropped in the ring as well.  Granted, I did receive several funny looks and smirks as I went on about Peanut's dangly bits, but tough.

I had not had that nice a day with Peanut in a long time.  Other highlights:

• While I was grooming him, Rick stopped by to ask for my help as he prepared to inject Gene with Adequan.  As I was holding Gene as the needle was being prepped, I saw that Peanut had caught his lead behind his front leg, so it was going from the high connection on the pole, down around the back of his cannon, and up between his front legs to his head.  It was pulled tight as well.  Peanut was just standing still, not panicked, but visions of a desperate horse with a broken leg started to flash through my head.  I gave Gene back to Rick and made my way to Peanut, and he tried to move but the lead kept catching his leg and keeping him in place.  All Nutters did was look at me with perfect calmness, put his foot back down, and stood absolutely still as I disconnected the lead and reattached it properly.  It could have easily been a disaster, but instead I saw my horse being completely awesome.
• Where I was grooming him and saddling him was an open area with just a pole.  He could easily run around that pole and avoid anything he desired, as he did the first and last time I tried to saddle him there. That time he would not stop evading me and threw off the saddle.  Yes, I did a clicker session there later with the saddle, but we had not revisited it in a long time.  This time, he stood like a rock as I brought out his saddle, presented it to him, and then saddled him up.  I could not have asked for anything better!
• He was Spanish Walking like a champ... not under saddle, but, hey, details.

My horse is an awesome horse.  We may have slid back a bit in our riding, but it's giving us a chance to reconnect.