Pumpkin's moment in the spotlight

Saturday morning I rode again. I actually thought I would trim both Chico and Cody instead of ride, but Cody's hooves were not long enough to trim...to trim them would have just made them too short to ride on gravel roads. So instead, I decided to ride Cody again and take Pumpkin out to pony her along.

Pumpkin has been the topic of conversation lately as I try to convince D that maybe she needs a little pony mule to cart train instead of her paint mare (she's been working with her to pull a surrey). D expressed interest in her but both parties at her house need to be on board for that, and so far we are mostly just joking about Pumpkin being her future pony mule. But it did get me thinking, so today I rode down to D's house with Pumpkin in tow just to say hi, then continued on some trails before we went home and rode through the pond. Pumpkin was quite a good little girl. She is pretty fearless. We rode along the gravel highway with dumptrucks and a surprising amount of traffic today. Her only vices so far are just her inability to stand still (she wants to get into everything) and related to that, when we are standing still, she often tries to duck under Cody's head. I keep a tight hold on her, but she is so short that the rope needed to keep her head at a comfortable level is long enough to let her try to duck under Cody's head. Thankfully, she is very good when we are walking/trotting, for the most part keeping up with Cody well and staying at our side. And when she does get a bit too far ahead or behind, she responds well to a little tug on the leadrope. I was pleased with her.

Pumpkin is 5 years old this year. She is only halter-broke as far as I know, but I figure if I often take her out with me like this, and perhaps find a pony saddle for her, by the time Wren is old enough to ride, Pumpkin will be a seasoned leadline pony. And I do have neices and nephews that would probably like to ride her and play with her too. She just loves attention. She's always the first animal to greet you at the gate. She follows me around when she sees me with the fly spray bottle and I don't even have to catch her to spray her from tips of her ears to her fetlocks. She stand quite still for grooming because she loves it so much. She is pretty good about her feet, but she does think that she can walk away while you are trimming unless she is tied up pretty snug. She annoys me sometimes because she is so in-your-face, but she is very personable. She also gets along with the big horses really well. She knows how to interact and she also stands up for herself.