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Sometimes the local fauna remind you what they were bred for.
So yesterday evening, lightninged out of yet another ride, I settled for feeding the troops and watching the Girlz celebrate the pre-dinner rush. Ephiny was ringleader of the evening. She's in serious Uglies at the moment--not unusual for a Lipp 2yo, and since she's on the large side for the breed (over 15 hands, which tells us she'll probably hit 15.3 when she's done), she has a lot to be Uglied about. Basically she has these Legs. Huge, monumental, pillarlike Legs. And a Head. Big, potentially elegant, totally horsey Head with wonderful antenna ears.
And that's it. Pencil neck. Barrel's there, she's a mare and a Lipp, she's got some superstructure. The rest is just, well, scaffolding. With very good angles and lots of potential but for now, it's pipes and planks and bits of rope and string. (Or, why no sane person would dream of riding a Lipp at the age of 2. There's nothing to sit on.)
And yet there she was, blasting around using muscles she honestly doesn't have--coiling her back and lifting herself on her hindlegs and hitting warp with absolute ease. It's the hardwiring. At one point I said Boo! and she floated five feet straight up a la the icon (which features a leetle baby, not a 1000lb adolescent with zero topline) and floated down and took off at warp factor ten zillion.
We breed for dressage-caliber movement here (as well as classical Lipizzan conformation). I guess this kid has got it. Three years, she and Pooka make beautiful music together.
The line starts here. Take a number at the door.
This evening the lightning was somewhat more distant--still too close for too long to allow a ride, but Capria got a longe (thinking forward a la the Santa Fe clinic) and then Pook and I went out for a walk at sunset. He was in Explorer Pony mode. Nice aerobic walking for me--Mr. ShortFat&Handsome can pour himself along like a tiger, complete with slipstream. I sort of coast along with him. We trekked on down the road, playing focus games and obedience games at intervals, and he made it quite clear that while we're off the property, I'm his herd and he's a happy stallion. Soon, we add saddle, and me on his back instead of at his shoulder. I'll have me a trail stallion yet.
Always fun to blow people's minds with stallion on loose lead, no stud chain, downwind of assorted mares, doing no more than raise his head and observe casually, "Hey, Mom. Mares up ahead." So much for hormonally crazed equine mania.
Lessons tomorrow. Believe it or not, the school year is beginning here (for some has already begun), and Joni switches out to Sundays when her daughter is in school. I have to admit I'm particularly fond of Sunday horse days. They've been a constant of life in Tucson, somehow add to the magic, and I like it when they pick up again after a hiatus.
So yesterday evening, lightninged out of yet another ride, I settled for feeding the troops and watching the Girlz celebrate the pre-dinner rush. Ephiny was ringleader of the evening. She's in serious Uglies at the moment--not unusual for a Lipp 2yo, and since she's on the large side for the breed (over 15 hands, which tells us she'll probably hit 15.3 when she's done), she has a lot to be Uglied about. Basically she has these Legs. Huge, monumental, pillarlike Legs. And a Head. Big, potentially elegant, totally horsey Head with wonderful antenna ears.
And that's it. Pencil neck. Barrel's there, she's a mare and a Lipp, she's got some superstructure. The rest is just, well, scaffolding. With very good angles and lots of potential but for now, it's pipes and planks and bits of rope and string. (Or, why no sane person would dream of riding a Lipp at the age of 2. There's nothing to sit on.)
And yet there she was, blasting around using muscles she honestly doesn't have--coiling her back and lifting herself on her hindlegs and hitting warp with absolute ease. It's the hardwiring. At one point I said Boo! and she floated five feet straight up a la the icon (which features a leetle baby, not a 1000lb adolescent with zero topline) and floated down and took off at warp factor ten zillion.
We breed for dressage-caliber movement here (as well as classical Lipizzan conformation). I guess this kid has got it. Three years, she and Pooka make beautiful music together.
The line starts here. Take a number at the door.
This evening the lightning was somewhat more distant--still too close for too long to allow a ride, but Capria got a longe (thinking forward a la the Santa Fe clinic) and then Pook and I went out for a walk at sunset. He was in Explorer Pony mode. Nice aerobic walking for me--Mr. ShortFat&Handsome can pour himself along like a tiger, complete with slipstream. I sort of coast along with him. We trekked on down the road, playing focus games and obedience games at intervals, and he made it quite clear that while we're off the property, I'm his herd and he's a happy stallion. Soon, we add saddle, and me on his back instead of at his shoulder. I'll have me a trail stallion yet.
Always fun to blow people's minds with stallion on loose lead, no stud chain, downwind of assorted mares, doing no more than raise his head and observe casually, "Hey, Mom. Mares up ahead." So much for hormonally crazed equine mania.
Lessons tomorrow. Believe it or not, the school year is beginning here (for some has already begun), and Joni switches out to Sundays when her daughter is in school. I have to admit I'm particularly fond of Sunday horse days. They've been a constant of life in Tucson, somehow add to the magic, and I like it when they pick up again after a hiatus.
