What's Up Wednesday

 

Wednesday already? I'm all confused this week because we had two Mondays with the rain yesterday. It wasn't an overly exciting week that I can recall... so this will likely be a short one! Let's see... What happened the past week? 

Trainer left for Florida early Saturday morning so lessons are over for awhile. She is planning to visit for a weekend in October so hopefully we can sneak in a lesson or something then. But just because trainer is gone, doesn't mean we can't do JOMPIES! So we did some jompies. 

Well, Al did not. He's still waiting for the farrier to come fix his foot so he's been on the easy workload plan this week. The last two rides his crack did not bleed, but I can feel that it's still tender for him. So we're taking it easy. I do need to take a moment to thank him for having a great brain. Especially for a seven year old. I mean, seven is almost a mature horse... but it isn't one. He reminds me often with his goofiness. Lately he's been using his cracked foot to cause all kinds of chaos. He's learned to paw on the crossties which frequently results in me throwing wraps at him. I think he's decided that's a fun game though, so we're not really fixing the bad behavior, clearly. Then last night when I was feeding he started pawing at the door. With the cracked foot of course. (Must not hurt THAT much.) I charged at him waving me arms around and then fed him last. Hopefully that fixed it? Time will tell. He did not try it tonight. So maybe? But those aren't examples of his good brain (obviously). He showed me today. He had a very short walk/trot ride followed by a walk outside the ring around the yard on Sunday. Then he had Monday and Tuesday off. They were turned out, but not ridden those days. He came out today and started snorting and got VERY tall. I wasn't on yet and was contemplating how to handle this Al kite. I decided to hand walk toward whatever it was he was reacting to (I still have no idea but it was toward the end of the arena) and see if he'd get over it. Once we got to the end of the ring, he was back to his old self. I got on, and we had a nice ride. I gotta tell you. When Jamp used to come out like that I either had to lunge, or ride on half the ring. And that was even when he was old! So the fact that this horse just was like oh cool, whatever that was is gone, is SO NICE! So thanks Al for not being an idiot today.  I tried a new workout yesterday and I have some regrets. So not having to hang on to antics was much appreciated. 

In less mature news, I threw a ball out for him to play with while I was doing stalls on Monday. I was hoping it would distract him from dismantling all the jumps (it did not...). While it didn't cure his need to demolish my course, it did distract him for some of the time, and it was adorable to watch him play.

But back to JOMPIES! Eros did get to do jompies this week.

He was great, though oddly a little too quiet at first! I think he was just relieved not to be going through the grid. I put the little white jump up to about 2'6". We've been staying at 2'3" for the most part this summer, but I've been feeling like it's time to bump a fence or two up. I know not to go higher than that though! Lesson learned. Anyway, he was a good, cute boy and we had lots of fun.

I just love him. He's such a good guy. He also enjoyed the ball in turnout. He wasn't as silly with it as Al, but he did push it around and paw at it some. 

Shiny jumped some fences too. 

We've been really focusing on keeping her pace forward through the turns, and when we can accomplish that, everything works so easily! It's for sure a work in progress as she does prefer to stall out of the turn. Why you ask? Oh because I've taught her that. Not on purpose. But yeah. My fault. We're going to get it fixed though!

She's not jumping great at the moment. Kind of just cantering over things and not really picking her knees up. But I've kept the fences low so far this summer and I think she's telling me that she's ready for a little more challenge. I chatted with trainer about it and she agreed. After watching video she says the pony just looks a little unimpressed. So maybe this week we'll put a couple up and see what happens... 

And in naughty pony news, she managed to eat two holes in her hay pillow net. My new hay is REALLY nice for first cut and apparently she didn't have the patience for the small holes anymore. Bad pony.

Things are going well for Pammon over at the sale barn. He's been a perfect boy! The trainer's 10 year old daughter jumped him around over the weekend. The worst he did was get a little high headed to a few jumps, but otherwise was a perfect gentleman. He really is a good guy. Hopefully he finds his person soon.

I've been doing all the fall maintenance on my own body this past week. Had my physical which went great. Best shape I've been in for a long while! Yay! Got my teeth cleaned yesterday (UGH I DISLIKE THE DENTIST SO MUCH!) and got my flu shot this morning. Just waiting for doc to get his covid boosters in and then I should be all set for awhile. I still think they should knock us humans out once or twice a year and just do all the unpleasant things we need done at once while we sleep. Would be a lot less stressful. Also, I'm jealous that the horses get drugs for dentals and we do not. Just saying.

Alright. I think that's it from here. Hopefully Al will get his foot fixed soon and we can have more exciting content. Did you all have a good week/weekend?