Just Trotting Along

Martina / 22 / Croatia. Former dressage/showjumper, now just enjoying my pony. Kikiriki (Peanut) - 7yo Thoroughbred/Gidran gelding transitioning from western to english

[horsesarecreatures]

Designed for the Girls - Quarter Horse Colt

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

@suspiciousmammal I think you might like this name 👀

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

[teacup-labrador]

Last picture you took of your dog thread go

[spitzonthefritz]

[mostly-taxes-and-whining]

[dizziespringerspaniel]

"Hiding" from having her collar put on...

[doomspaniels]

Morning chores done early. Snooze away the storm.

[404-moved-deactivated20250324]

Giant bean bag is actually for the dogs

[prairiedogchronicles]

Moet recent of each of them? In their natural states, of course

[fjordfolk]

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

Some pics from one of our bitless rides! This was a month or so ago, and he's been moving even better since!

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

So, I temporarily moved Riki to the barn I work at about a month or so ago, to give myself more time and space at home to make some changes to his stall and pasture (to avoid any more injuries, like when he scraped his back by eacaping under the fence 😅)

The barn is pretty busy, having both regular riding schools and therapy riding, and also having a café where people can come visit and watch the ponies as they drink their coffee. This meant a lot of children coming to pet him and different workers feeding him and leading him in and out of the pasture, and I have to say, he has been LOVING the extra attention. I'm seriously considering leasing him out for free to one of the riders from this barn once he comes home, just to have a young rider give him some extra attention and variety.

Also, all of his injuries have long healed, and with daily turnout this boy has been FEELING himself.

We did some free jumping yesterday after a long break in jumping, and to say he missed it would be an understatement.

He went to the jump by himself, and even jumped from a walk 😂

I've also been working on riding bitless, and it seems he much prefers working bitless than in a bit. I've gotten some great stretches and had him more relaxed than he ever was in a bit. Now only to find a good bitless bridle or a flower/wheel hackamore and we're making a full switch to bitless!

I'll post some pics from our bitless rides soon 🙈

[whywishesarehorses]

Tis about that season again - looking for LGBTQ equestrians of all stripes! Reblog, say hi in the notes, etc etc

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

Hello! 👋

Not really out of the closet yet, but still queer and here lol

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

So, it turns out Riki's got some serious seasonal allergies. I've been dealing a lot with that lately, and also a few injuries he made to himself which all led to a 2 month long stall rest, which got him quite crazy. Right now I've moved him to a nice little barn where I also work, so I can use an arena with a fence and try and move him away from the plants he's allergic to while I deal with my pasture, and for now he's thankfully stopped coughing and we are slowly getting back into work. He's handled the transition amazingly, and settled in as if he was always there! I'm very proud of him 🥰

So, I hope there will be some more pics and updates on us in the near future!

[hogwartzlou]

you can tell a lot about someone based on their phone background. it shows what’s most important to them

[uss-clairvoyant]

Reblog this and put what your phone background in the tags

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

Popped some "trot poles" (aka the nearest pieces of wood that resembled a pole) for Riki after he had an almost two week break, and was very much not disappointed 😳

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

I'm pretty shit at taking videos on horseback, but here have a clip of Riki being cool

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

Look ma, no hands!

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

I haven't ridden in almost two weeks due to college exams and the peanut boy has started to neigh at me every time he sees me and paw when I'm in the tack room. I feel so bad for not working with him, even though he's got a nice turnout and some toys, but I also really love seeing this behavior, as it tells me how much he actually loves going on trails with me.

Last trail ride we were out for about two hours, but didn't gallop (only cantered a few steps as a reward, but he's unshod at the moment and the trails were frozen solid and hard so I couldn't let him go nuts) and this freaking dude refused to go home

I actually barely convinced him to turn to our street, and when we got to my house he tried to sneakily just continue going on, even though he knows treats and food await him at home.

Man, I just love how eager he is to go out and about and explore with me

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

I just love this guy so much

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

No stirrups, no problems

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

I haven't posted in quite some time, so I just wanted to put a little before and after photo of Riki and I. First is June 2020, second Jaunary 2021. I think we have gone through a nice glow up!

[centaursoda]

Anyway here are some non traditional horse breeds who show that dressage is for the horse and training gets you a long way

North swedish draft horse

Scandinavian cold blood trotter

Standardbred (harness racer)

Saddlebred

Clydesdale

While these horses may not be compete with the elite, they can still be fun horses to show and grow with.

I swiped all the photos from google, sorry

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

I stole the idea from @thehackneypony and tried some apple bobbing with Kikiriki! It was pretty fun to see him try to figure out how to get the apples without getting his nose wet 😂

Featuring the cute little leggy thing he does when he's really excited about food!

[thehackneypony]

ahhhh so cute!!! i hope he enjoyed it as much as my guys did 🥺💕

[sugarcubes-and-apples]

He was mortally offended that I would put the TREATS in the WATER *gasp*

How awfully cruel can I be!? Forcing the poor little peanut pony to work for something???

Then he had the brilliant idea of DRINKING the water so he could drain it enough to get to the apples without getting his nose wet. It worked and he gleefully ate his prize while giving me the stink eye.

...I guess it didn't dawn on him that he could tip the bucket over and spill the water. He doesn't seem to mind doing that to his own water bucket though 🙄

Or god forbid that he should put his head IN the water, blasphemy I tell you!