Ozziversary #9

Friday, May 13th, was my 9th "Ozziversary". He recently turned 15 and I am suddenly feeling like both of us are getting old. I didn't get a chance to sneak a ride in on Friday, but I did make time on Saturday while Mike was at work.

I spent a long time brushing Ozzy and fussing over his mane. He loves being groomed, and being able to bring him up to a real barn to do it is nice. I've been slowly neatening his mane up because I can never bring myself to make big changes to it all at once. As usual, Ozzy didn't start shedding until the beginning of May and he's still pretty fuzzy, but Saturday was the first day that I felt the end was in sight, and I spotted a glimpse of shiny summer coat along his neck and shoulders. In fact, I think I see a touch of dapples on his hind end, something which he's never managed to have before.

After some hemming and hawing about which tack to put Ozzy in, I finally settled on his old endurance gear. I've recently pulled it out of storage for Moniet, and I figured there was no harm in slapping it on my faithful ol' steed. I even wore a matching lime green tank top even though (or perhaps because) there was nobody there to see. Sleeves may be more professional, but they are not going to help with my tan situation for the wedding.

I climbed on Ozzy in the round pen and did a lap in there just to make sure I had steering and brakes in the hackamore. Then we rode all over the horse pastures and the front yard before heading off the property for a hack. I can't even call it a trail ride, but it did beat sitting at home. We wandered down to the end of the dirt road across the way, and then came gaiting back at a quick, smooth rack. I had to giggle at my trotter-bred gaiting machine. Oy! From there, we rode to the stop sign at the close end of the street and then back past our own house a ways. I thought about riding down to the alpaca farm, but decided not to push my luck. The good news is that Ozzy seems to be as bomb proof as ever even though he's seen a whole lot of nothing in the last two years. Traffic, lawn mowers, barking dogs, bicycles, etc. didn't bother him.

I have been scouring local maps and parks and scheming, and I am hoping to get out for a real albeit slow trail ride before the end of the summer. I don't think it's an unreasonable goal.

When we got back, I decided to pester Ozzy some more. I pulled the Jolly Megaball that has been hiding in the barn and tossed it in the round pen with him. Ozzy was, frankly, more interested in the grass than the ball. I was a little disappointed that he wasn't outwardly interested in it, but glad to see that it didn't seem to scare him at all. (Tossing it directly at him resulted in a half-hearted canter).

So I spent about half an hour playing with Ozzy and the ball. It has been a while since I taught him any new tricks (though his still goes through his old repertoire regularly), but he's as quick to learn as ever. It took about half a second to teach him to touch the ball with his nose on verbal command, and then another minute or two to teach him to nudge it forward. I am hoping to teach him to kick it, and I did get him to touch it with his forelegs a few times. *shrug* At the very least, it might make for some amusing photos.

Ozzy seems happy to be getting attention a little more frequently than he was. I still haven't managed to get him on my schedule regularly, but it's much better than nothing.

Young me would be thrilled. I have too many horses to split my time between. I guess it's not a bad problem to have.

(I also made time to groom JR and hopped on him for a brief ride in the round pen just for giggles, but this isn't about him...)