What's Up Wednesday

 

It wasn't a particularly exciting week around here, but it wasn't a bad one either. I have been jumping Wednesdays and Saturdays for the last few weeks, and like that schedule. But it rained nonstop all weekend which was expected, so I moved the Saturday jumping day to Friday instead when it was a beautiful day. I rode Eros first. 

Guys! Look! This brief moment in time, my hands are not in my lap.
Though my reins are still too long... I am who I am.

It had dropped 20 degrees in temp since our Wednesday jump ride, which might invite Eros to be a wild pony, but he was actually quite good. A wee bit more strong than I'd prefer maybe, but very rideable so I'll take it! 

This one is only 2' (obviously) but he jumped it great!

2'3" oxer, we're almost modified adult ready...

I put a couple of the jumps up another hole to 2'3" so we're really going places! Lol... Baby steps my friends. I know it probably seems ridiculous to be excited about 2'3" when we used to jump around at 3'3", but it's been a long road. I want to make sure he stays rideable and, most importantly, sound. And I'm also just wanting both of us to feel confident. So here we are, celebrating 2'3"!

Here is a little clip:

I was also looking forward to jumping Shiny around Friday, but alas... my neighbor ruined it.

I have no idea what he actually did, but I think he was pruning the greenery along our shared tree line. It sounded like he shook a tree. I didn't end our ride there, but she was super distracted so I opted not to jump. I'm not on any sort of tight schedule, and when you're jumping alone, you have to think a little extra about safety. At least I do. She DID get to jump on Wednesday though! AND we jumped our first official 2'3" vertical. (It's possible we've done the height before at the other barn, but I'm not positive. This time, I'm positive.)

I was expecting her to feel a little challenged and give more effort, but she really just cantered over it. It's nice to know it's easy for her, even with her giant old lady human aboard. Maybe we'll jump around 2'6" yet! I think it's just about time to set up some grids for her. I'd like to see if I can get her to use herself a little more and get more round in the air. Might not happen... but it's worth working on. I may wait until trainer gets back since that's something that's easier with someone assisting from the ground.

Here's a clip of her too:

We were rained out all weekend. It did stop for a little while Saturday evening, and I ALMOST decided to ride. But the ring was pretty wet and it was 48 degrees and I was like... eh.... nope. Sunday it never stopped raining. So they wound up with two full days of vacation. Monday was still pretty chilly and they were both kind of awful. Understandable so I didn't argue. Just rode through it the best I could and called it a day. I let them each have a free lunge before riding yesterday and they were MUCH better. Shiny didn't even spook when the neighbor drove his lawn mower through the woods... (Seriously dude.) 

Pammony pony had his move outdoors mildly delayed with the weather. But yesterday he spent his first night out in a paddock next to his new buddy so they could get to know each other. I think today they'll move to their shared field where they'll have a run in shed and plenty of grass to eat. I haven't heard from the barn, so I'm assuming the night went well. I'll go over and visit him later today after I ride. 

In other news, the Custom Saddlery rep came out on Monday to check the fit for Shiny and replace my billets (yay!). Guys, she's also a Master Saddle Fitter, and has this fancy rig:

She mostly works in the dressage world, but is also very knowledgeable about jumping saddles. She marveled at Shiny's shape... lol. Who doesn't. But the best part? She said my saddle fits her quite well, and didn't want to adjust the fit at all. She did add just a bit of flock to one area (on both sides) where there just wasn't any left, but otherwise she only needed to change out the billets. She said the saddle is probably 15 years old but it's in great condition. She even said to call her if I ever want to sell it. I was so grateful she could swap the billets right there in my driveway and I don't have to ride Shiny bareback for the next month. Ha! I rode in it yesterday for the first time, and it felt great. Yay! I'm going to have her back if/when Pammon gets back to work. I'd like her to check his saddle too. I didn't have her look at Eros' saddle since he had such a good report from the body worker last time. The fitter agreed, if it's not broke, don't fix it!

That's about it from here. How was your week? Do anything fun? Avoid the rain?