Groomed and rode Magic. He does not enjoy the brush. I did not even think of using the shedding blade on him. The little rubber gripper mitt worked good though. He does not like it either, but to a lesser degree. I thought about trimming his bridal path and he thought about having a fit. He is OK with the mane and tail brushing. I’ll live with those shortcomings since he is so nice to ride. We rode in the arena just a little more and with some variation in the way we did Wednesday. The unusual thing about today was that I let the ponies out thinking they would just graze around the barn. They were no bother when I was grooming and tacking. Matter of fact, they were not even there. When Magic and I were riding to the arena I noticed the ponies were past the house and Scottie was in the Oak pasture. Magic took everything in stride and just walked past Laddie. When we got to the arena, both ponies showed up curious about what we were doing. The would almost follow us around the 20 meter circle but then they would get busy grazing. The best thing was that Magic paid them no mind. If they got in the way he just went around them. Magic did real good at the training ride today. Then we started to ride around the Oak pasture. That looked good to the ponies and they came along. I told Magic that we would make pony pack saddles and they could carry the hay and oats and stuff. After following a while, Scottie thought it would be more fun to lead. Then Laddie joined him and they were both ahead. We came to a fork in the trail and they took the high road. The high road went up on Shirey Mountain. I like to go up there but thought it best if Magic had a few more miles before we went up there. But the redbuds are in bloom and we just decided to follow the ponies. The ponies led all the way to the top, increasing speed of course where it got steep. Magic thought we should also speed up but listened when I requested a more modest pace. Now horses give each other confidence on an adventure like this but it crossed my mind that I did not know what the ponies might do in a stressful situation. If they spooked, Magic would have to make a decision, spook or no? They never spooked and they have a lot of confidence. When we got to the top, I decided Magic and I needed to take the lead and went on a different path than the ponies. They saw we were going the other way and came with us. We rode down the redbud lane I have been cultivating and up to the top of the mountain. I circled back to the path we came up. The ponies kept up with us and we went back down the mountain, through the Oak pasture and back to the barn. Magic never took a bad step on the whole ride. A very nice ride.
Magic got in the trailer even before I could get my clicker ready. He was relaxed as we turned around and stopped and stood patiently before we stepped off.