Who Says Ponies Can't Have Cheetos?

Yesterday I took the kidlets up to Amber's house, with the intention of going for a quick ride; we ended up being gone for over four hours. At first, I saddled up Waska, Bo, and Sienna--well I didn't technically saddle up Siennna!!-- but you get the idea. On a side note, we have a small, western, pony saddle for Sienna, but because she is the size of a large mini, it doesn't really fit her..oh, and her large, rotund belly doesn't help either! I might look into a tiny english saddle, and see if we have any better luck :) Back to the story at hand, we made it about 15 minutes into our ride, when Bo went slightly haywire. He began to piaffe--a favorite "naughty" pastime of Bo's!!--and then he took off at a really collected canter, but only because Eric was pulling back and trying to turn him back towards me.
Mommy and Waska to the rescue!! I cantered up to Bo, grabbed the reins, made sure that nothing was wrong with Bo--it wasn't-- and then he got in trouble. I think that he may have been feeling a little frisky, and being old and smart, decided to take advantage of Eric's inexperience. Once Bo knew that his life would be in danger--if he continued acting the way he was!!--he calmed right down and we continued our ride, with NO more problems.
In this picture, you can see Sienna's HUGE belly. Obviously she never misses any meals!We have always thought that Sienna looks like a Breyer horse model. She has perfect pony confirmation, and resembles the old Merrylegs model form the Black Beauty set...just the wrong color.On our way back, Brad and Amber passed us on the road. They had been shopping for today, as they are having everyone over to their house for the 4th. Brad wanted to go home and take a nap, and Amber suggested that we hitch Sienna to the cart, so both kids could come with us, and then head over to the trail by the creek.
Even though Katie rides Sienna, because she is small enough, Eric and Sienna's personalities actually mesh much better. Sienna loves it when Eric drives her, and Eric always thinks that it is fun. I used to drive once in a while, and I always thought that it was really boring, but hey, to each his own! What is cuter than kids and ponies? Not much.
It was really muggy yesterday, and the kids had to drive in their sweatshirts, because the stinging nettles are about six feet high down by the river. Hey! Where did Eric go?? He really blends in with his Cabelas camo on! In this picture, he was just bending down to retrieve the reins after putting his sweatshirt on. For some reason, Katie looks terrified in this photo...I am not sure why. Eric had a blast driving on this trail ,because in certain areas, there were a lot of obstacles, such as fallen trees and holes. He is great at guiding Sienna over or through obstacles, and he will even get out and lift the back of the cart up for her when she is crossing a large, fallen tree. Of course Amber and I like to jump them!When we got home, we gave the horses their carrots, wormed them, and put them away...all except for Sienna. Katie went in and got a bag of Cheetos, and Sienna the Pony Pig turned into a tracking pony. At first, Sienna thought that the source of the wonderful smell was coming from the trailer (notice Katie approaching with her Cheetos bag).
"Hmmm...I will just come over here and investigate."
"Wait. I think I here crunching coming from behind me. Whatcha' got in that bag Katie?"
"I let you ride AND drive me, now give me some of those Cheetos, dang it!"

"Just one. Pleeeeeeease! What does a pony have to do for some Cheetos around here?""Ahhh...success at last!" Katie thought that the whole thing was really funny.Sienna used to come in our house when we were kids. I will have to post some pictures of her eating left overs off of our dinner plates, and playing with the Barbie house. All in all it was a fun day, and I ended up riding Waska bareback...I even cantered and jumped logs bareback! This was a pretty amazing feat for me, as I have not ridden bareback in over ten years. I guess I have officially gotten my "seat" back! Well, it's off to make potato salad for tonight. Have a safe and happy 4th of July.