Rosemary Driving Training Part 4 and Birthday

I was way too tired to post about Rosemary yesterday, so today you get a double feature :)

We were not sure how Rosemary would be while working since she was "IN SEASON." And yes I mean that in cap's. Our little Lolita schmoozes up to anything male, even Comrade who she normally hates.
She was a bit opinionated while the trainer ground drove her and she decided to just hook her up and see what she would do. Once hooked they walked her around the arena for a few laps before the trainer got in the cart. Rosemary was wiggly, but surprisingly cooperative. She is wiggly under saddle so, kind of expected between the shafts. Then the trainer took the plunge and asked her to trot. At first Rosemary knew she was asking for something, but was not sure what. She did eventually trot, tentatively. Unfortunately the arena is a bit small for a green horse to make the turns at a trot. The trainer felt that Rosemary was very happy doing the work and not worried at all. Some horses are just meant to drive. Of course Rosemary is happy doing work, period.
She did so well the trainer ended the session early. Next week we will travel to the trainers home and use her big arena. We had to laugh when the trainer asked if Rosemary worked well away from home. I told her that Peggy's home was away for Rosemary. I can't wait to see how she moves in a larger space.
After we put the driving equipment away, Mom said I should tack her up and take her on trail since she did not work that hard. So we adjusted Comrades tack to her and headed out. With weather, work and driving training she has not been ridden in about a month.
I got on and she walked off. Her walk was amazing. For a 14h girl, she covers ground. Then we moved up to trot. Her trot is still a bit flat, but it is open. When she learns to push, it will have more loft. At one point it felt like she would canter, which is still a work in progress, and I asked for the transition. I got about a stride of canter and then she rounded and went straight up in  the air. It felt exactly how it looks when I see her do it in the field. I think it was an expression of joy rather than disobedience. Anyway we did a bit more trotting and moved onto the trail.
What a difference from Comrade, Rosemary was like "what trot on this uneven ground?" She got better the more we did. Then I had her go over a log at a walk. She easily walked over it. We tried another little pile of logs. She did not feel they were worth much effort. I asked her to trot over them and she trotted then walked over. By the end she did trot over a couple of the jumps in stride. Considering it was her first time going over anything raised I was happy.
We took a tired, but satisfied pony home that night.
Now the second part of this feature, Rosemary turned 5 today. The birthday girl enjoyed her breakfast and a snooze in the barn. She has matured so much since we got her as a 3yr old. Motherhood and a job have a way of doing that :) When we made the long drive from Virginia to Indiana, I had no idea what we would find. I was a little heartbroken when she would not even let us approach her, but over the next few hours she started to grow on me. Once she was home she fit right in with our herd like she was meant to be there. Now nearly two years later, she has a huge personality and lights up our barn.
I am so glad that we took that leap of faith and purchased that young, green, barely broke, pregnant mare.