Epona and Tumbleweed, Off to School

Watching Epona’s session from Tweed’s back.

Yesterday was the first day of Epona’s training, so she accompanied us to the park and went first. It gave me time to work with, then ride, Tumbleweed. 

Epona looks so small here. The photo was taken from atop Tweed looking down. 

Epona did great for her first time, but she needs lots and lots of exposure. All the new horses, and things to see, hear, and smell, had her very distracted. No surprise there. She’s just a young horse who needs adventures and trail miles. 

It was the first time my daughter had met Katie, and she was impressed with her. They have almost exactly the same riding/working with horses styles. Since my daughter works full time and is a mama when she’s off, there isn’t enough time to bring Epona along on her own. She sent Epona off for 90 days training the last couple of years, but it’s time to do the trails here now, and Katie, like with me and Tweed, will supplement her work and keep things going. 

The big question was how would Tumbleweed do with Epona there, and well, he did great. Quite a bit better than when Leah came. There was a small hiccup when he got back to the equestrian park. Epona saw him at a distance and started to whinny out. That got him emotional and wanting to rush back. 

Poor Tweed. It’s like the goofy kid in class who gets the other, studious kid, laughing, and then when the teacher looks, it’s the hard-working kid who gets in trouble. 

Off to the arena they went. Tweed was not happy and began swinging his head around at the gate, but he went back to work for just a little bit and ended on a good note. 

When he finally got back to the trailer, he wanted nothing to do with Epona and wouldn’t even look at her. 

Back home, I put them in their stalls for their supplements, but when I went out later to release them, Epona came out, but Tweed refused and wanted to stay in. 

It appears he is developing an independence.