Stella Sprat and her 'husband'

Yesterday I was able to ride my chunky mustang, and then turned Stella loose in the arena to get some exercise. She really enjoyed herself, running and bucking and even going over the cavaletti on her own volition, and made it clear that she wasn't ready to quit and be led back to her stall for quite some time. (In the end, though, she did her first recall outside her stall. 😍)

After her playtime, I saddled her and led her around the arena. Again, she was uneasy about the tightening girth, but once it was fastened she was good as gold.

The differences between my two horses are particularly striking when worked with in quick succession like that. Lance is a heavy horse for his height (1250# when he was physically fit and in regular training, likely heavier now) and Stella is a wasp-waisted lightweight for her height (which I think, after trying to measure her myself last night, might be a bit more than I was told). She is very sensitive and light on her feet; Lance has great inertia, whether standing still or moving. Lance is highly food-motivated; Stella is NOT. In fact, her indifferent attitude toward food has had me wondering how I'm going to get any weight (preferably muscle, not fat) on her if she won't finish her rations. She has been cleaning up her alfalfa and rice bran pellets eventually, but never eats all her hay – until yesterday. When I did evening chores last night, she met me at the stall door (she's usually out in her paddock) and her feeder was EMPTY! Since then, she's been eating all the hay I give her before the next feeding, and I'm hopeful that this is her new normal – even if the nursery rhyme no longer fits. 😉