Last year over Labor Day Weekend we brought Cisco home to live with Jena since Ben had recently passed away and she needed a buddy. Today marked our 1st anniversary of having him, so we celebrated by going over to Bainbridge to spend the day with the ponies. I feel really bad that in the past year we really haven't done much with Cisco other than feed and brush him. But I guess I have to cut myself a little slack considering that almost 1/2 of the time we've had him I was pregnant and unable to ride. Then once Landon was born it was the middle of the winter and raining all of the time so we didn't visit the ponies too often. I would have liked to have tried riding Cisco earlier this summer but each time we visited the ponies the boys only wanted to ride on Jena or we had limited time and couldn't take both of them out. Today though, both of the boys were excited to try and ride him. I was proud that they both were eager to do so even though he's much bigger than Jena and they'd have to ride bareback since we don't have a saddle yet that properly fits him. When I tried my dressage saddle on him earlier in the summer he wanted nothing to do with it and freaked out a bit by jumping and bucking around after I loosely tightened the girth. Since we didn't want a repeat of that we decided bareback would be best and we'd just keep our riding at a walk.
I got on him first and he was really hesitant and nervous in the beginning. I don't know if it was because I weigh a lot more than he's used to carrying or the fact that no one has really sat on him in the past year, but he was pretty tense. Since I didn't have a saddle in between us I could feel all the muscles in his back tense up and at first it felt like he was walking on eggshells and taking baby steps. I was really hoping that he wasn't going to freak out and buck me off. My dad helped to lead me around for a bit at the beginning and then we opted to have Jena enter the paddock to help calm him down. Once she was by his side he relaxed more so then we decided to open the gate into the pasture so I'd have more room to ride him around. He did really well out in the open area especially considering that I was riding him with a bit and reins. The girl who rode him last summer always rode bareback and with just a halter and lead rope. I wasn't confident enough to try that even though he's been know to have issues in the past with a bit due to a former tongue injury. He seemed to accept the bit for the most part but played around with it a lot in his mouth. I rode him for about a half hour at the walk and was even able to ride down in the woods away from where Jena was and he remained calm for me. It was an odd experience to ride bareback again since it's been ages since I've done it. Until now I haven't even owned that was even remotely comfortable to ride bareback so it was never really an option. Cisco though is like riding a couch! I guess it's good that he's on the chubby side since it meant more cushion between my legs. 
After I rode, Hyrum was anxious to hop on and give it a try. He really loved it which I'm glad since he's really getting too big now for Jena. Cisco fits him so much better. Now I just need to get the saddle situation solved so I won't have to worry about the kids slipping off when they ride especially if they ever want to go faster than a walk.
Hyrum kept telling everyone that Cisco is now his horse and that Jonah could have Jena and we needed to buy another pony for Landon. Sorry Hyrum, if and when we get another horse someday it will be a bigger horse that adults like myself, my dad or Jeff could ride, not another small pony.
Jonah had a fun time riding Cisco as well and he did a great job holding on and not slipping off. I found that once the kids were riding him Cisco was 100% more relaxed and actually having fun with them. He was being really careful and calm and pretty much just followed me around the pasture as I led him around. All in all I was very pleased how our rides went today and wished we would have tried this out a couple of months ago so we'd have more of the summer to play around and ride him. Now that school's starting I hope that we'll still be able to come over as often as we can to visit the ponies and ride.
