What's Up Wednesday

 

It's been WEIRDLY warm and lovely here lately. Like high 50's and 60's. Which isn't warm-warm, but for mid November? It's practically tropical. And we haven't seen rain in... I dunno? Weeks? Which isn't good. There are fires everywhere which is not at all common here in New England. Thankfully we're getting dumped on tomorrow. Which is a bummer for horse things, but we really need it. And maybe I'll take the gross day to finally clip the pony. Maybe. 

Thanks to the gorgeous weather, we've been riding outside and not just in the ring! (Okay, yes, MOSTLY in the ring, I am a hunter princess after all.) I love having access to an indoor, but the one at the new place is pretty tiny. So having more time outdoors has been so nice. Especially for Al who prefers the great outdoors. So let's chat about the horses!

I still have very little media, but the between ears photos are pretty great this week, so enjoy those! Let's start with Shiny. Shiny's been a little dull at the new place. But I have a few thoughts on why that may be. I mean obviously I do silently panic that something could be wrong, but honestly, I don't think that's the case. She might be a bit dull, but she's also not angry nor has she done any kicking out. Her ears are up, and she's just super relaxed all of the time. I even spied her having a snooze in the sun one morning this week while she was in turnout. So why do I think she's dull? I think it's possible she's a little body sore. This property has HILLS all over and my horses are zero percent used to any terrain. Even the outdoor ring has a bit of a pitch to it. I can feel both Shiny and Al slow down on the little up hills in there. (Clearly we have some fitness issues to address!) But also? I've been taking Shiny on little hacks around the property and she is MUCH less dull for that. I think now that she's had a taste of the great outdoors she's just not interested in ring work. I know this is at least somewhat true, because every day when I get on (in the ring) she immediately tries to walk back out the gate toward the fields. Not towards the barn! So we've been compromising. A little ring work each day, and then a meander around one of the fields. For Sunday Funday we skipped the ring work though, and walked around the circumference of most of the property. We tagged along with the barn owner and one of the other boarders so we had company to explore the side I hadn't seen yet. There's a very steep hill down to get out there and then up to get back, and I could tell the up part was a bit taxing for my short legged girl. But she made it! The field out there is pretty hilly also, and it's HUGE. It will be so fun to actually ride out there one of these days. (Sunday Fundays are for long walks not working hard.) Also, I decided to take this adventure on in the bareback pad, and that should tell you what a wonderful pony Shiny really is. I wish the boys enjoyed a hack the way Shiny does.

I haven't jumped much lately, mostly out of laziness honestly. But I did a little jump school with her today. She was fine. Slow. I never did get a nice forward canter to have the jumps just come out of stride, but she did everything I asked, so what else do you need?

I've been in contact with Eros' saddle fitter finally about getting his saddle fixed. I have paid that bill so the new panels are officially ordered and I'll send the saddle out in a few weeks to have them put on. I've been using Al's saddle on Eros for awhile now, but he's starting to remind me that it's actually a bit too wide for him. Just kind of going like he had been when his saddle stopped fitting well. My fitter suggested trying some shims to close up some of that space in the too wide saddle. So yesterday I tried with two thin shims on either side. He didn't feel great and it was pushing me back like the old saddle used to do. So today I tried with just one shim on each side. And he felt kind of awful. So I'm going to try without any again tomorrow and see what we have. This horse always seems to object when I try to shim a saddle, even if the shims correct the fit nicely. I think he hates shims. I dunno. I had hoped to jump him a little today but he felt so blah I opted out. 

I forget which day it was, but one of them last week I tried to take Eros out for a little exploring. I've never known a horse to hate nature as much as Eros, but I was thinking he might like the grass ring, since it's fenced, and it's still pretty out in the open, so no trees for him to distrust or anything like that. And well... he hated every second of it. Haha! So maybe we'll try another time with a buddy. It's Eros, so he doesn't do much wrong, but you can just tell he's not happy with the great outdoors. I mean he even only tolerates turnout for so long before he's threatening to pull the gate down with his hulk smash hooves. Lol. I love this horse. Boy knows what he likes! Oh, today when I was on him, there was a deer grazing just down the steep hill. E was like, "Mom! There's nature over there. MOM! NATURE!" And then it went away and he went to work. He's too much. Haha. 

Guys. Al. I might not be able to bring Al home. He's found his happy place here. He's not perfectly perfect every day, but I've had more good, productive rides than I've had in a very long time on him. There was one day that was last week that was ridiculously windy. Sustained winds at 15-20 mph but gusts in the upper 30's. And I rode Al outside in it. Was he perfect? Oh no. Definitely not. But he did all the things. And when he felt like he couldn't keep his poo together he just stopped and took a moment and then went back to work. Now. I KNOW it's not ideal that this horse occasionally decides he needs to halt and collect himself all on his own. Sometimes mid canter... But for the moment, I much prefer this to showing me his best tornado impression. And just a few weeks ago when we were back at home, he wasn't able to pull himself together and get back to work. So I'm counting this as a win. I'm calling this our rebuilding era. 

Speaking of rebuilding, there's a clinic at the new barn this weekend with an event rider named Bevin O'Reilly. I don't know much anything about her, but I'm going to participate with Al. It's less clinic and more guest instructor really as we are all having 45 minute private lessons. Which I think is better for where I'm at with Al right now. Most clinics I've done are two hour group sessions and that's a long time for a horse with a short attention span and questionable work ethic. Plus if things are a total train wreck I'm not holding anyone else up. It's my own 45 minutes to blow up as I need to! The other boarders have ridden with her before and all had really positive experiences, so I'm excited for it. Bonus is that my slot is right after lunch which means I can give Al a little pre ride lunge in the ring we'll be lessoning in. Just in case. I always like to try and set us up for success and sometimes a lunge does that for us. Nice to have the option anyway. 

I haven't really jumped Al at all in a very long time. Just a cross rail or tiny vertical here or there. We did some raised cavalletti last week. So I figured since it was nice today I better hop over some things. I set everything really small, probably 2'? And just clocked around a couple small courses. He was absolutely perfect. A little too slow, but I'm not complaining about that right now. He might have been slow, but he was focused, relaxed, and listening. I'll take it! OH, not only that, but while we were jumping around a worker came by and loaded a skid steer onto a trailer and drove off with it. Right next to the ring. WHILE WE WERE JUMPING! And you know what Al did? Whatever I asked. I know. I was shocked too. I just told him over and over how great he was. Gave him extra cookies before I left for the day. And proceeded to tell anyone who would listen how good he was today. Today is our three year anniversary, so that was the best gift he could have given me. And listen, I know the jumps were speed bumps. That's not at all the point. I know Al can jump a big fence. The jumps have never been our problem. I'm just impressed that he did his job while lots of things were happening around him and he didn't spook at all. Not only did he not spook, but he kept the majority of his focus on me. Which might never happen again so it needs to be recorded here. For posterity. 

And that's about it from here! Stay tuned next week to see how the clinic goes...