Tucker Goes to Camp!: He's here! He's here!

Beth, Cassidy and Tucker arrived safely in Redmond this morning, much to our glee. After we introduced him to camp and his new buddies, Cass decided she wanted to say goodbye. What a brave little rider she is -- definitely showing symptoms of becoming a future eventer!

Once mom and little sister headed home Tucker got right to work with his first day at Camp. First order of business was helping his Aunties select a new saddle. We're in the market anyway for a nice, quality saddle and there's definitely no time like the present. Shanna picked up two possibilities yesterday after work so we were eager to try them out on Tucker. While he didn't seem to have much of a preference, we both agreed that one was more comfortable than the other.

And while we were testing saddles Tucker was working out his ya-yas. Actually, he was very good. Way better than we were expecting the big fella to be since he was at a strange barn inside a dim arena. Tucker's a master at wooded trails and exploring the outdoors, but his experience trotting circles in arenas is thus far limited. And he was a rock star today! (Although it was clear that he couldn't see much point in drawing endless circles in the sand, never really getting anywhere fun....)

With the narrowing down of the potential new saddles done, the three of us decided that in order to help Tucker fit in among his new peers here at Camp, we'd pull his mane. Now Mr. T. is a sensitive sort of fellow so we weren't sure how this would go. Some horses actually have to be tranquilized before their mane can be messed with, but Tucker stood like an absolute gentleman in the cross-ties for over two hours for his beautification procedure. Of course, having his sheath cleaned and his entire body massaged by his Auntie Shanna made the time veritably fly!

We have no doubt that he really gets how handsome and clever he is. He soaked in the attention in the barn like a sponge, introducing himself to Ginger and Hazy and their humans. He acted like he's hung out at eventing barns his whole life! It's clear his Momma has done an amazing job teaching him everything from manners to how to behave like a great horse. He knows right from wrong. He's got three good gaits and a very willing heart. Once we work down that grass belly and start building a little more muscle (for all 3 of us, that is) with our weekly lessons, we're hoping that the three of us can make our Seattle debut at a local schooling show. Oooh, what fun!

After his long first day at Camp we tucked him into his new pasture, which he gleefully checked out. Various bits of poop from unknown horses were ripe for the sniffing!

And there where new neighbors to nicker at!

Clearly we see that Tucker's quite food-motivated, so he was absolutely tickled to discover grain in his bucket! He savored every, single last morsel of it.....