The Barbie dream horse

There is something to be said about riding different horses whenever the opportunity presents itself. Sure, I LOVE to ride Gabe, he's my number one guy, but sometimes, a girl's got to shake it up a little bit to keep things spicy.

But today I got to ride the cutest little Palomino mare whose prior life was as a gaming horse. She looks like Dallas, the Barbie horse that every little girl drooled over and dreamed about having: Long, luxurious blond mane and tail and gleaming coat that shone like a brand new golden coin.

She's a sweet, kind little mare who is always trying to please. A pleasant change from a gelding who is more apt to ask "Why the heck should I?" instead of just replying with "Ok! Here we go! More? Less? Good?"

Chipper belongs to a friend of mine and we went for a trail ride early Monday morning. The weather was wonderful, a slight breeze. But the bugs, ugh. The bugs. Poor ponies were absolutely miserable with biting flies and deer flies when we got down near the woods in the bottoms.

This was the first time I've ridden Chipper and it was so much fun being on a gaming pony again. A touch of the rein on her neck and she was OVER there. A shift back in the saddle and she was stopping, an ear tipped back questioningly...Stop? Slow? What do you want? I'll give! A slight tap with my leg and she was ready to go as fast and as far as I wanted her to. She definitely made me aware of how much I use my leg...apparently, too much for her sensitive sides.

She was almost looking for barrels to run and if I'd had some, I'd have let her run 'em as much as she wanted! All I had to do was ask.

Sometimes I miss running barrels and poles with my old quarter pony Blaze or my little quarter mare, Sunny. Such a rush!

I'm definitely looking forward to riding her again. Maybe next time, we'll find a barrel or two and give her a good run for her money. Yeehaw!