The Biggest Day of His Life!

What I grandiose title, I know. But it really was the biggest day in his life so far. I don't think he knew it though, he sure didn't act like it- which was a good thing. He was very underwhelmed by the whole process.

But I was very excited....

He started out like this:

(I guess that was probably a pretty big day for him too.)

And now we've come to this:


Finally!

He's 4 years old, plenty old enough to ride. But he has been a narrow, gangly, growing boy for so long. And frankly, he was a little bit scary and we were a little bit scared to ride him. But he's gotten so much braver, calmer and smarter the last few months and last night we decided it was time. We couldn't put it off anymore. There was virtually nothing more I could do to get him ready.

And he was SO GOOD!

My baby!

Marty is such a good colt rider. He's athletic and confident and he knows how to stay out of their way and not stress them out. He rode him on the line with me giving moral support for a few minutes, but when it was clear that Phoenix completely didn't care that he was being ridden, we cut the cord and they ventured out on their own.

Good job, babe!


I (apprehensively) gave Brynn my camera and she was thrilled to be able to take the pictures of this monumental occasion. They were kind of interesting....

(see that soft halter and nice loose rein? That's what colts need!)

This is my favorite:


We also put her on him for a few minutes and she was pretty happy about that.

And tonight we went on a fairly long trail ride up the wash. He was so good! He stops, turns and backs up almost like a trained horse - out in the big wide world on his second ride! I guess that's what you get with 4 years of preparation.

What a good boy!