What's Up Wednesday

 

It was a very busy week around here. It was our last week boarding for the summer so I was all sorts of anxious and exited about bringing the rest of the horses home. But before that happened, Al and I made the most of our last two lessons!

Friday's lesson went great and the jumps went up to about 3'3" and a couple 3'6". First time I've jumped that high in a very long time! Al was amazing. Though upon closer inspection from the video, it appears sometimes he puts forth minimal effort:

His belly nearly touched the rail!

Full video of our last course here:

I was feeling pretty proud of us after that lesson. This horse just makes me feel so capable, it's amazing. I love him so much! Saturday he was exhausted. We had a very light hack and called it a day. But I was a little worried I might regret that come Sunday. Fortunately, I needn't have worried and he was great Sunday too. A little lazy for the warm up, but he perked right up when we started jumping. Our Sunday group jumps around 3' generally, but I got to do one last course with the fences up. And this time they went up a little bigger than on Friday. Al was amazing, and I feel like the height is no issue at all for him. He just makes it all pretty easy. 

Full video here:

I don't plan to jump this high on my own at home. That's asking for trouble! But I do plan to have lessons at home, and hopefully we'll continue right on! I'm not setting any lessons up for another week or so. I want to get everyone settled plus my ring is getting regraded in the next day or two which sometimes leaves the footing a little deep. So once all the figurative and literal dust settles, we'll figure out lessons. 

I rode him yesterday for our first ride at home. It was 90 degrees, and the first day someplace new, so we kept it short and sweet. But he was a perfectly behaved boy!

Pammon was his usual good boy self at the boarding barn all week. And we've already discussed a bit about how his move is going... He's still screaming whenever one of the other horses goes outside. I'm not sure how to get him over that. He doesn't seem to care that there is still at least one horse inside with him. THAT HE CAN SEE READILY! Such a weird dude. I did get on him yesterday with a little help from our friends the ace tabs. Listen, I'm here all by myself with no one to call 911 so I need to be safe. And this horse has clearly been feeling unsettled. So safety first in my book. He was apparently exhausted from his two days of antics though. When I first was getting on, I was a little nervous as he was very tense and screaming his head off. But by the time I asked him to trot he was settled and a little difficult to keep moving. I opted not to canter for day 1 and instead just did 10 minutes of easy trot work and called it a day. There's no rush to get back into the swing of things. We'll just play it be ear and see how things go. 

 Eros is doing well! He wasn't terribly affected by the newcomers. Though he was a little bothered by Pammon's anxiety initially. And then by the bugs. That horse HATES bugs. Which worked in my favor because he spends much of his turnout trotting around. So he's nice and quiet for our rides, but he's not running like an idiot and stressing his legs. Smart boy. I popped him over a few jumps last week a couple of times. The first day he was completely perfect the entire ride. The second day I knew he was a little lit. And I hadn't plugged his ears... So when I was cantering at the single vertical and someone on the other side of the woods made a big noise, I wasn't surprised when he galloped at the fence three strides out. Lol. He still jumped it fine, but it was a little exciting for a brief moment. He makes me laugh though, because MOST of the time he just gets strong like that. He doesn't buck or try to deposit you. He does every so often drop and spin, but usually it's something that genuinely startled him. He has a big heart, and I love him to pieces.

Note me laughing at his shenanigans...

With things being a little crazy I feel like Shiny's gotten off the easiest this past week. She's been worked every day that Eros was (they had a bonus day off Sunday when moving day took longer than I planned) but I use the word "work" loosely... Lol. She's perfectly happy with that though. Pony is not the most motivated. I'll get her working a little more today and tomorrow so the vet can get a good idea of how she's going when he comes Friday. I don't have much to report on her otherwise, she's doing fine. The leg seems to be improving slowly and came down to nearly normal after our light ride yesterday. So hopefully that's on the right track. My guess is doc might want to put a little Prostride in it. We shall see!

So the horses are settling in here, and we've survived ride number one on our own! In non horse news, it was a busy holiday weekend. We had a cookout at the barn by the quarry on Sunday complete with a bonfire. (Fear not, the quarry and bon fire are not anywhere near the horses!)

My dad and stepmom arrived home for the summer on Friday, so Monday we had dinner at their house. Then took a walk to the association playground which I didn't realize had been dedicated to my first stepmom. 

My brother and I relived our youth while the girls were playing on the slides:

Side note: it's very difficult to stop a swing with flip flops on. 0/10 do not recommend.

And I think that catches you all up! How was your week/weekend? Do anything fun for the holiday (if you're in the US)? Go to a horse show? Have a great lesson?