One week Oliversary

Today Olive and I celebrated our one week anniversary.

I thought I'd celebrate with our first official "between the ears" photo, but that didn't happen. It's probably just as well. This week has been all about relationship building with only a little bit riding. Maybe next week will be different, but maybe not. Either way, "All of Olive" week is over. Tomorrow it's back to the regular mix of model horses, real horses and real life.

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Olive's first name was River.

Michael and Shelly thought about naming her Eeyore, because those ears really are something.

Eventually, however, they settled on Olive.

A lot of people have asked me if I'm planning to change her name. The answer is no. If a friend gives you a pony, I think you should keep the pony's name. Also, I like the name Olive. It's cute and very fitting. After all, she is small, round and green.

Plus, she has her own emojis. This is the Apple Olive, which is my favorite.

Here's how she looks on Facebook...

and Twitter. She hasn't actually tweeted yet, but really, it's just a matter of time.

Anyway, that's the story behind the name. Long live Olive Eeyore River Graham Buxton!

Meet and greet

Ryan reconnected with his elementary school girlfriend last spring, and they have been together ever since. Early on - before I'd even met her - I asked him if Sarah likes horses. He made a pained face, and said, no she does not. She thinks they're too big and too scary, and she doesn't want to have anything to do with them.

Hmmmm.

Not long after that, I saw this meme on Facebook. I immediately saved it and sent it to Ryan. Unbeknownst to me, he was sitting right next to her when he got it. He showed it to her, and that could have been bad, but it turns out Sarah has a good sense of humor. Instead of being offended, she said, "Damn, she got me."

A couple days later, she sent me this. I said, "Damn, she got me."

Since then we have built a relationship largely on sending each other horse memes.

The weirder, the better.

I still don't get this one.

This week, we transitioned from memes to Olive photos.

And today, Sarah met Olive.

I think the exact quote was, "Oh my god, why is it so big?"

Olive was good, Sarah was brave and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Thank you for coming out to meet my little pony, Sarah. You may not be a horse girl, but I still like you!

Birthday party

Tomorrow is Mary Jo's birthday, but we celebrated today.

We met at the barn,

went on a ride...

and then headed over to the Frontier for lunch.

It's the usual birthday routine, except this time, the ride left without me. 

I thought I would mind, but really I didn't. I lunged Olive and held her for the farrier.

She's so cute. This was a fun day, even without riding.

Happy birthday, Mary Jo. Let's do it again - but with me riding! - next year.

The breakfast club

I took two days off to spend with Olive, then it was back to work. Wednesday was a short shift, so I had no trouble fitting in a lengthy pony visit. Today I was scheduled to work the whole day. This gave me two options for barn time: very early morning or after work in the dark.

I chose the morning. It was really cold.

Olive didn't seem to mind. She has a nice, thick coat and her feeder is perfectly situated to catch the morning sunshine.

She also has a new neighbor.

This one is cute and actually seems to like her.

I caught Olive and led her to the turnout. Her first order of business was visiting with the old broodmares.

Olive is a friendly and social horse. I hope to transition her to the mare field eventually, but not until I know I can catch her.

After the other mares drifted away, Olive laid down and rolled. 

Shake!

Shake!

Shake!

All told, I was at the barn maybe an hour. It's not nearly as much as I'd like, but I think Olive appreciated every minute. I know for sure that I did.

Baby steps

I may be a new horse owner, but I am not a newbie horse person. I have a pretty good idea of what Olive needs, so I gave her a day to settle in, and then it was right to work.

"Work" meaning a short bareback ride in the outdoor ring. This was mostly to check the steering and brakes, but also to let her know that riding will be a regular part of her new life.

There was a lot going on outside the arena, and she was understandably distracted. Still, she stayed calm, and I feel that she'll progress quickly, especially now that I've found a wide enough loaner saddle.

We've also gone on a couple short trail walks. I took her to the nearest bridge, and she surprised me by stepping right onto it without any hesitation.

This particular bridge is very clangy. She took a few steps, then stopped with her ears straight up. She paused, took another couple steps and looked down at her feet. She licked her lips and thought about it for a minute or two.

Then she marched the rest of the way across. Good pony.

We walked a little ways. She is very brave and forward and seemed to enjoy this a lot.

I think she's going to be a fabulous trail horse.

But not yet. We've got a lot of work to do before she's ready to hit the trail for real. That's okay. I'm in it for the long haul with this one. I can afford to be patient.

All of Olive

Everyone wants to know about Olive, so here are the details: Olive is a ten year old, fourteen hand Mustang mare. She was born near the Divide Basin in Sweetwater County, Wyoming and was rounded up at about six months of age. She languished in a government holding pen until Michael and Shelly adopted her in November 2016. They brought her to Colorado, gentled her and got her going under saddle. Most of the pictures accompanying this post were taken in 2018 and 2019, which was when Olive was ridden most consistently. In the years since then, Michael and Shelly's business has taken off. Although they loved Olive, there just weren't enough hours in the day to give her the time she needed. After Lucy died, I told Teresa that maybe it was time for me to get my own horse. She knew about Olive and decided to play matchmaker. Yesterday was the happy result. Thank you so much, Teresa, and of course, Michael and Shelly. I am so happy and honored to be Olive's new person. 💚💚💚