Pony party

On the Thursday before BreyerWest, I drove to the airport and picked up my friends, Christine Jordan and Tara Reich.

Temperatures were hovering around twenty, but I'd promised Christine a ride, so went straight to the barn. Figuring we'd mostly walk with maybe a little trot, I opted for bareback pads instead of saddles. I let Christine choose which pony she wanted to ride first, and she picked Olive.

That was fine with me. I am always delighted to ride Thunder.

We made a couple laps of the ring.

Olive was very comfortable with Christine. The footing was surprisingly good, so I told Christine to have fun and do whatever she wanted.

Christine moved her up into a trot.

This was the first time I've seen someone else ride her at a gait other than a walk. So cute!

Weeeee!

Then Christine asked her to canter. 

It's been a long time since Olive has cantered under saddle, so it wasn't smooth and perfect, but she did it!

The other direction was even better. 

We traded horses.

Of course, I was thinking about cantering. Christine told me to "Do it!" and I did.

Ha ha! If I'd known I was going to canter Olive for the first time that day, I probably would have used the saddle. 

But really, this was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing.

Once I'd cantered, I was more than happy to hand Olive off to Tara.

Meanwhile, Christine was having fun trying out Thunder's gaits.

She was even able to coax a couple steps of canter out of him.

Good boy!

This was so much fun.

I always said that if I was lucky enough to get a horse of my own, I would share it with my friends the way so many people have shared their horses with me. It felt so good to do exactly that. Thank you, Christine and Tara, for braving the cold and playing ponies with me. In a week full of amazing moments, this was the best of them all!