Mack is one heck of a horse.

This morning was about as crazy as it gets around here - twenty college students working to fulfill their scholarship requirements. (BTW, what kind of scholarship only requires 8 hours of community service? The other girls who are here every weekend have to have 100 hours...) So they painted fence. We have a lot of fence here to divide this 2.75 acres into as many separate spaces as possible! They didn't make a ton of progress in four hours, but oh well. Apparently we will have another twenty on November 7th, maybe they can finish then.

In the midst of that, someone came to see Charmer. Always the best timing around here... haha. Charmer did very well with the girl. I can see how he would get pissy about hard hands. Hers weren't really hard, but she rode with a lot of contact, and he wasn't crazy about that at the canter. He is so sweet though. They also wanted to see Tracker. He is such a cool little horse. I rode him in the ring and they said they thought he was TOO quiet... so I said, "Just let me take him across the street and see what you think." I think they thought I was just messing with them, trying to get him out of here. They saw the difference though, he is a different horse on the trail. He was so happy. ; ) Tracker does supposedly have a touch of navicular - he wears egg bar shoes - but he is very, very sound, I would not be surprised if some proper hoof care and trimming could even get him out of those shoes. I mean, he has been ridden pretty often this week, and he is out of shape. Up and down a LOT of hills, trotting on gravel, riding on asphalt, all that good stuff and he hasn't taken a lame step.

Leah was here this afternoon and wanted to take another practice ride on Tracker, so Victoria tacked up Burly and I took Mack out. Mack is the QH in his early 20's with the gnarly knees. Talk about surprisingly sound. Victoria kept telling me he was sound, and I will admit I thought the same thing you all probably did - no way can those knees hold up to real riding. Well, was I wrong. Victoria has been telling me all week, "Oh he is so cool! He is such a neat horse! You have to ride him! He is so great!" The first five minutes were funny - he was just kind of whiney, he would pin his ears if I put leg on him at all. (He probably was pissed he had a stinkin' english saddle on his back.) Then all of a sudden he kind of took a deep breath, and you could feel him think, "Oh, ok. I suppose you are WORTHY of being on MY back." ; ) What a proud boy!! We took him up on the loop of the new trails, hills and all, he is sound as can be. We lit them up a bit in the meadow, and he just loped around a little by himself on the top of the hill. On the way back through the woods, Victoria ran Burly up a hill, and Mack really wanted to go too, so V came back down to stay with Leah and Tracker and I let Mack go. Let me be the first to tell you, he is in no way hindered by those knees!!! He can light it UP when he wants to. As soon as I said "whoa" he pulled himself right back up, too. He was very amenable to me being obnoxious and making him walk very close to Tracker. (Leah hasn't been on the trail much and I get worried.) He was so happy being ridden; this is a very, very nice horse who deserves a spectacular home where he will be used. He isn't to be ridden excessively hard or shown any more - he has paid those dues for years. He would be great as a trail/pleasure horse for someone who likes something fun but doesn't want to get killed. He is not for a beginner. He won't do anything nasty but he is well trained and has one heck of an engine. I rode him on a loose rein almost the whole way without a problem. He will be a reliable and safe partner for many years to come. Let me know if anyone has any questions about him.

Someone has requested some Yuri stories, so I may have them tomorrow, Victoria wanted to write a couple... reminder, tomorrow is our National Rescue Ride at Stroud's Run. Everyone's invited! The farm will be CLOSED!! So please don't come visit us here tomorrow - come to Stroud's Run instead!! ; )

Hope everyone had a nice Saturday. What beautiful weather. It did get a little nippy tonight, we lit up the wood burning stove. I promise I will have more pics soon - I keep forgetting my beater camera at home, and I'm not about to take my DSLR out on the trail!!!

Have a great rest-of-the-weekend!