I decided to take Tux just because this might be his only chance to go to the beach before I get him sold. It was quite the interesting day. First I had class at 9am until 10am. Then I squeezed in an interview to be a student speaker at a fancy dinner (why I do these things I have no idea - speaking in front of 300 people? Yikes!) Then I sped home to get Tux. I basically threw all his tack on and ran down to the bottom of the driveway to get picked up. We have a small driveway with no real turn around area and JF has a big gooseneck so this is our usual thing since normally I take Jazz and she'll self load in anything. I was a tad worried that Tux wouldn't be quite so good but he just snorted and stepped into the trailer like a good boy.
We picked up DC on the way out to the beach. We were the only ones there (of course, it being a Wednesday) and it was actually kind of warm which is very, very unusual. There's a reason that most people call it the coast, not the beach. Tux was very good, leading the way though snorting at every shadow and pile of rocks. We got over the dunes and most horses stop and stare at the water but I don't think Tux even noticed it until we got right up to it.
It's always interesting seeing how different horses react to the water. Katy didn't care one bit, Jetta was skeptical but ok, Grady didn't care, Jazz is tolerant but would much rather keep her hooves dry. At first Tux was quite terrified. He almost fell over more than once. Quite amusing. The first reaction was the "fly backwards into the deep sand until you can't move any more and are basically sitting on your butt". That was fun. Then there's the "fly sideways until you almost get your legs so tangled that you fall over" or the "moving so fast sideways that you almost end up sideways on the ground". But once he got in the waves and I made him stay still, he got used to the feeling of the waves crashing around his legs and we were no longer about to die.
He was actually really fun to ride on the beach. A lot of people are afraid of it because there's so much open space that if your horse wants to run, you can't stop them, but for me I love it. Tux proved to be very adjustable in the trot - we did lots of extended trot and then back to a really bouncy, balanced collected trot. Like I said - dressage horse potential!!! We cantered a bunch and by the end I could almost get him round and he'd move off immediately into the canter when I asked.
He crossed the river with no problem and went up and down the banks quite politely. No launching here (takes too much effort I'm sure). By the end, he was cantering through the waves with no problem! Have I mentioned that I don't want to sell him?
The only "bad" part of the whole day is that we got incredibly lost. I have never, ever gotten that lost at the beach. I mean, usually it's difficult to find the trail through the dunes back to the parking lot, but never that difficult. We went up and down the beach several times looking for it and even went up the dunes a couple times to see if we could see the parking lot. Nothing. Finally we picked a spot and went off roading down the side of the dune and found a trail on the backside. We followed this forever, weaving though all these overgrown bushes and trees, several times having to walk on the very steep edge of a dune when the trail disappeared. It took ages until we finally caught sight of the top of our trailer and got reunited with the trail back to the parking lot. I ended up being super late for dinner, but I was just glad we didn't get stranded on the beach! :)
I did get some pictures, though they aren't that great. But, you'll have to wait for them anyways since I can't find the "special" cord that goes with that specific camera.
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| Delicious cake one of my roommates made me ♥ |
That sounds like a blast! Happy Belated Birthday!!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday! I can't wait to see the pictures.
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