Thanksgiving didn't really have an effect on my riding schedule this year. We had a small dinner, just my mom, brother, and me and we ate on the later side so I had plenty of time to ride on the holiday!
Rita came too, dressed appropriately of course.
I opted to have a Sunday Funday kind of riding day in which we kept them all short and very low pressure. It was a holiday after all! Obviously I also dressed appropriately for the day:
The horses weren't sure if they were glad to see me or not.
Just kidding. They're always glad to see me because I am the keeper of the snacks. So it was pretty much business as usual at the new barn even though it was a holiday. It was a rainy day so turnout was a no go. But at this barn, if the horses can't go out, they get hand walked. Like for real, and they actually do it. So despite it being a holiday AND a rain day, all the horses got out. So nice! In the past, most barns I've been at are closed on holidays. Or, if they're open, there's limited staff, so just stalls cleaned and horses fed. And some of the places they don't even do stalls on the holidays, just feed and water.
I'm trying to get back on our regular work schedule in which we do some jumpies on Wednesdays and Fridays. So far it's going okay, though the "jumps" have been quite tiny. We're pretty much permanently in the indoor now that it's ridiculously cold out. Just prior to the arrival of winter it rained for days on end. So indoors it is! I'm so grateful to have access to an indoor, but I will admit that this particular indoor has it's challenges. It's quite narrow so I am finding it very challenging to get the horses MOVING. They all want to pitter patter around with four beat canters and teeny tiny strides.
Photo not from today. But does feature our quarter sheet.
Today I made the mistake of trying to jump Shiny with the quarter sheet on. This shouldn't be a problem... But Shiny needs some encouragement from Mr. Tappy to get the proper canter. And with the quarter sheet on, she cannot feel him. I may or may not have mildly damaged my wrist trying to get her to notice Mr Tappy today. Finally I just took the quarter sheet off. Did we achieve the proper canter? We did not. She was definitely on the double add today. Some days are just like that. Judging by how Eros went today, I'm chalking it up to the weather. Or some kind of outside factor. More on E in a moment.
While Al is a million and one times less angsty in this indoor, he's still not thrilled to be working in it. Currently, our rides start out pretty nicely, but he kind of gets spookier and spookier as we go. My current experiment is to warm him up, then give him a break. Then do something a little harder for a very short time. Then another break. That seems to reset the angst. I dunno guys, this horse is ever changing in his needs. He's still on all the ulcer meds, so I doubt that's what we're dealing with. I think it might just be time to accept that my horse is a little bit of a head case. Which is fine. We'll figure it out. I was a psych major in college, so I should be able to eventually figure him out. Haha. Hopefully.
For today's "jump" school I set two lines on the long sides and then just put a couple flower boxes, one on each diagonal to change direction over. I set the lines at three strides, figuring we'd trot in and canter out in four. At the previous barn, Al was only apprehensive about the one end of the ring, but here, we have doors with windows at BOTH ends. Lucky me. He's pretty confident jumping away from the doors, but not at all jumping towards them. So jumping into the line is okay, but he starts spinning his tires at the out. I made everything ultra tiny today so we could comfortably trot OR canter as needed to everything. It started out really rough. Not dangerous or scary, but definitely ugly. I just kept trotting him over stuff until he started to relax. Then we tried to canter some. Same thing. Keep at it until it's easier. Wash, rinse, repeat. With walk breaks as needed. We never got to the point that we were cantering courses today, but we got to where things were flowing somewhat smoothly and I'm calling that a win for the day. We're supposed to be getting hit with crazy high winds again the next few days, so we may not jump again this week. This indoor is a wood and it makes some crazy sounds in the wind. I like to limit the drama when I can if you know what I mean! We'll still work of course, but we're going to keep the danger factors as low as we can. This amateur prefers to choose her battles.
I was excited for my trot in and canter out lines for Eros today! He was less excited. He switched to field turnout starting on Sunday. Well... he's in the process. He's not used to grass, so we're building him up out there, though it should all be killed off soon with the weather. Anyway, he seems very happy down in the field, but I think the extra calories have him a little spicy! Or he might possibly be a little ulcery. I'm not sure yet. Whatever it is, he's been feeling a certain sort of way lately. He's not being bad per se, but very distracted and mildly spooky. Today when I pointed him at jumps, he actually stopped. More than once. Not dirty at all, and only from the trot. Anything I cantered him at he jumped nicely. But it was very odd that he would stop at all. Especially multiple times. So I have some concerns... but I'm not spiraling yet. Because Shiny was a little weird today, and Al was, well Al, I figure there may just be some reason they were all a little out of sorts. We are getting a light storm tonight, and it's pretty cold. The ring could use a drag, and it's a little hard today. So it may just be uncomfortable for Eros in this state. He does have delicate legs. I'm not sure I warmed him up long enough. I was trying to just get right to it, but I think I should have done a little more flat work to get him looser and get his attention on me.
Is there a small part of me that's worried about all kinds of things (is his eye getting worse, does he have epm, did he get too much grass and he's about to founder)? Of course not, why do you ask?? Ha... Okay yeah, maybe there's some light spiraling going on. But there's not much to do but wait and see right? So that's the plan. We'll see what we have tomorrow. As for the founder concerns, he's not standing like a founder horse, and he's not anymore unsound than normal. So I'm pretty sure that's just my crazy brain finding things to worry about. But like... it is a concern. You never know. ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN. Sorry. I'll calm down now.
Anyway... we'll see what the rest of the week brings with the weather. I have a feeling we'll just be doing a lot of flatwork the next few days. But that's okay. Clearly we have plenty to work on! Monday they're getting body work which I think is much needed. It's probably their last appointment until spring which is a bummer for them but good for my wallet. Ha! Our chiro heads south for winter and we miss her very much. But we're glad to have her out before she goes!
That's about it from here. I'm working on some arts and crafts so we can get our holiday cards done. Running a little late on that... Lol. If you're not on the list and would like one please send me your address!
I had a tackcident during Black Friday/Small Business Saturday.... I had planned to behave myself because I have much less extra money these day (who doesn't amiright??). And I was doing pretty well, just getting stuff on my gift list. But then...
So I was cleaning out the promotions tab in my email and saw the Celeris Black Friday email. I did not participate this year because I don't need any boots, and the chances of me winning the free pair are very, VERY slim. So I did not try. But they had 35% off in stock stuff so I figured I'd scroll through and see if they had any cute belts I had to have. They did not. But they did have something else. Something I was really sad to have had to pass on earlier this summer. There was this REALLY fun color of leather that was super limited and I didn't order a pair because I really didn't have the funds for that. But I was sad about it.
Well. So I was scrolling through their in stock sale stuff and what do I see? A seconds pair of boots in that really fun leather that I had missed out on, IN MY SIZE. Okay, they're a little shorter than I would order custom, but not much. Can you believe my luck? So obviously, I did the very irresponsible thing and ordered them. I mean, it's fate right? They're my size. They're 35% off the sale price. It would be like taunting fate to leave them behind. I paid for them with my apple card which I only have because right before Covid I bought a Macbook AND an apple watch at the same time and saved a bunch of money by purchasing with the apple card. I hardly ever use this card, and I didn't realize I had a pile of available rewards cash. So I applied that to the boots, and so out of pocket (including shipping) I really only spent $300. Which is irresponsible and bad of me. But you know YOLO!
These boots are seconds so they do have a teeny tiny flaw. Which is just that some of the boot color is on the heel. How terrible. (Sarcasm.) Anyway. They've already shipped so I should have them sometime next week I imagine. In the meantime, here's a screenshot of them:
I'm ridiculously excited for them. Happy Chanukah to ME!!!
Any of you have a tackcident this weekend? Be honest. TELL ME WHAT YOU GOT!!
Outfit day! Al really wanted to be the Thanksgiving model and who am I to argue? Here's what we had on:
I'm really enjoying the mirrors in the indoor. I think Al likes them too.
Here's a closer shot of Al's outfit:
Post lunge, pre ride. How about that shiny coat of his? We're loving the new feed.
Bridle: Joseph Sterling Brow band: Made by me
I made these brow bands from a dog leash. And they are ADORABLE. Those are little turkeys on it, which is hard to see without enlarging.
Saddle: Butet Half Pad: Ippico Saddle Pad: Equine Star
Turkey for you, Turkey for me... Anyone else have Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving song living rent free in your brain this week? No? Just me? Okay then... You might now though.
Boots: Equine Star
MORE TURKEYS! I just love a good theme.
So that's what Al had on. And here's what I wore:
I know. Ridiculous. Ridiculous happens to be my happy place though.
Helmet: One K
I brought the brown and rose gold One K out for this week's outfit. Al was less then thrilled to be featured in the photo however.
Sweater: Tipsy Elves
If you're ever thinking to yourself, "wow, I REALLY need to find a holiday themed sweater" then you need to click on over to the Tipsy Elves website. They always deliver.
Belt: Designer Inspired
This buckle is still going strong, but sadly this was the last ride for the strap. It's cracking all over and falling apart. Sad day for my orange belt strap.
Breecches: Dover Wellesley
I love my Wellesley breeches for winter. They're just a bit thicker than say TS breeches without feeling bulky. They do run big though, and I may have to consider replacing my collection with a size down. Although after my gluttony at Thanksgiving dinner, these may fit better by the weekend... #noregrets
Socks: Dreamers and Schemers
Admittedly, these are maybe more Halloween than Thanksgiving with the jack o lanterns on there, but they also have PUMPKIN PIE and that is very much Thanksgiving worthy.
Boots: Horka
Mirror selfies win again! These boots have been great for my current everyday pair at the new place. I hope I don't kill them too quickly! But cold weather is coming so I imagine we'll be seeing more of the sheepskin lined paddock boots soon enough.
And that's it for today! Hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Thanksgiving today! I celebrated with my mom and brother and ate way too much. So I'll call that a success. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
All of a sudden there's so many things to do! This weekend I got to do a clinic AND take in not one but TWO performances of Frozen Jr. Yes. Jr. It was cute. My nieces were both performing, but they didn't have speaking parts in the same show (there were two full casts) so I had to go twice. Aunty duties!
But you're not here for children's theater, you're here for horses. And probably you're most interested in the clinic from this weekend. So let's start there!
I was really hoping we'd get to be outside for the clinic, but alas, it was a rain day. So we were stuck indoors. And while Al is like a million times more rideable in this indoor than the old one, he still doesn't thrive in it. Plus, this one is pretty small. Or rather, narrow. The length isn't bad, but it's only a few strides across. So it invites a big horse to be a little backwards. Especially if it's one who likes to spin his tires anyway.
With Al, you don't always know which horse you'll have until you actually get on and start asking for things. And unfortunately, the Al that showed up to the clinic was Ignore-My-Leg-Al. Which is definitely more preferential versus Spook-At-Everything-Al. But still, not quite ideal.
I really liked the clinician. I was able to watch a dressage rider's lesson before I had to get on, and the clinician pretty much said everything I was thinking while watching the horse and rider do their thing. So that was validating. After being someplace that made me question everything I thought I knew, it's nice to be reminded that I do know some things. Obviously there's TONS I don't know (especially as it pertains to my own horse...) but I'm not a total stupid amateur. Phew.
As for my lesson? I would have liked to have a little bit different horse under me so we could have done more fun things, but honestly, it's probably better that Al didn't bring his best self because that's where I need help with him. I know how to ride Al when he's in the mood to play. But when he's NOT in the mood? That's where we struggle.
He was a little spooky (not terrible, but it was in there) and VERY behind my leg. Which was the first thing our clinician picked up on. She said, "just watching you warm up it's clear he's not on the aids." I don't try to put my horse together in the first laps generally. I usually let them be loose for the first few minutes of trot and canter, and THEN start to put the pieces together and get some connection. So I told her that, just that I hadn't tried to put him on them yet. But she clarified and said, right, but he's not moving off your leg either. Ah. Yes. Busted. Ha! She's definitely not wrong!
So this is where I got the first piece of helpful advice. When he's in that sort of mood, I should kind of skip ahead to getting just a soft connection earlier in the ride. I've often told people that I need to "close the circuit" with Al. Like, he can't seem to hear the aids unless they're all on at the same time. So I need to have some connection with the front end to get the back end going. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten about this with Al. Probably from last year when he couldn't handle being boxed in like that. But we're past that now. (Thank goodness.) Unfortunately, some days, just closing the circuit isn't enough. And this was one of those days.
We did talk a bit about him before starting so she understood that he's not the type of horse you can bully into doing what you want. And when we were having our closing talks, she agreed that he's the type of horse you kind of have to trick into getting what you want. I need to figure out what he thinks is fun and use that to get him moving forward. And hopefully the more we do that and he has lots of fun all the time, the less I should see of Ignore-My-Leg-Al. She also kept saying that she thinks once he's going forward and is less shut down the spook will go away. This is where I think she's wrong because the spook is always there. Even on days when he's moving off my leg and traveling nicely forward. He still spooks.
Even when I was a kid I've had trainers that insist horses don't do naughty things if they're moving forward. But experience has told me this is 100% NOT true. And I won't drink that Kool Aid. Every time I sample it, I get launched through the air. I've seen this horse in turnout run full tilt down the long side and then spook and spin without missing a beat. I'm not sure who these horses are that can only spook or buck when they're slow, but it isn't any of mine! Heck, the times Shiny's nearly bucked me off it comes after she's tucked her butt and galloped off.
But I digress. Even if I think she's wrong about that, she still had some good tips and tricks. She suggested having cavalletti and/or small jumps around for all of our rides so I can find something he finds interesting for him to focus on. Some days that works better than others. Today for example, he was moving pretty nicely off my leg, but he was a little more spooky. (See what I'm saying?!) And ended up just trotting over the obstacles because the canter he was very out to lunch. But at least he was forward!
The other interesting thing she kept saying to me was to keep my reins longer. No one ever tells me this. My reins are ALWAYS a foot too long. But her reasoning was that Al was so sucked back, I needed to give him someplace to go. So that's something I need to work on. It's tricky trying to find that connection but also keep the reins long. When I lose his attention, the first thing that happens is the head comes up which shortens his neck and leaves my reins WAAAYYYY long. And with my reins long, I've got nothing! So that's just something I need to get more comfortable with.
We didn't end up jumping anything at all substantial. I think we hopped over a couple 2' verticals at the end, but otherwise it was mostly cross rails. But the point of this lesson wasn't the jumping. It was trying to get a rideable horse. We all know he can jump. It's all the in between stuff we need to work on. So while it can feel pretty defeating to have a cross rail lesson on my 1.3m horse, sometimes that's the lesson you need. And it certainly was what I needed right now. And THAT my friends, is why riding is hard.
I have a few clips here to watch. My videographer had the phone on portrait so there's a lot of us not in frame. But any media is better than no media!But that's why I just did clips. His one naughty spook is at the beginning and then you can see me trying to get him moving over the little jumps.
When we were talking at the end, she validated me once again by saying it was important to work on all the things we did in the lesson, but finding ways to do them within my comfort/safety zone. As in, I don't need to do things that terrify me all the time. Take small steps at a time that keep both Al and I feeling confident and eventually the scary things shouldn't be anymore. She mentioned how as the pro at her barn, all the naughty behaviors become her problem. And she's learned over the years that there's no shame in grabbing mane! Or a neck strap. Or BOTH! Ha! It's nice to have a trainer understand that fear is a real thing and sometimes it's a thick wall to try to break through. But it can be done safely. And I appreciated that. I wouldn't say I'm scared of Al. But some things are just scary to do on a given day. And that's okay. Which I didn't believe was okay before. So while I didn't really come away from this lesson with brand new information, or a magically fixed horse, I did come away with things to do and try to work towards that fixed horse. And that's all you can really ask for.
Eros suddenly turned a corner this week and is going really well. We've been stuck inside as it won't stop raining. That's how it is here now, it's either no rain for months or rain for days on end. No in between. Anyway, unlike his brother, Eros really likes the indoor. The outdoor sand footing was getting a little deep from the lack of rain (my ring does the same thing!) and deep footing is a challenge for Eros and his questionable legs. But since we've been inside he's putting in some great work. He's engaging his core (which is no easy task with his low hanging dad belly) and really strutting his stuff. I even let him try a tiny bit of extended trot. I won't let him go all out for awhile still, but a little here and there of controlled extension seems to be okay. And it feels AMAZING.
I finally touched base with our saddle rep to get our new panels ordered and I just have to send the saddle off in a few weeks to get that taken care of. In the meantime she suggested adding some shims to his half pad to help Al's extra wide tree fit a little better. So I took that advice, forgetting how Eros feels about shims. Guys, he was DEAD LAME with them in there. So I pulled them out and then he felt amazing. Okay then. Too wide is okay, shims are very much NOT okay. Horses are weird.
As mentioned last week, I clipped most of Shiny finally. I've decided not to do her legs or head. You really can't get the clippers near her face without sedation. I'm not sure why. She stands like a statue for the entire rest of her. But her head? Danger zone apparently. As for the legs? Ugh. They just take forever and I'm not interested. I might do her (and the boys') fetlocks just for cleanliness though. We'll see.
Shiny's extreme dullness seems to have gone away with all her hair. I guess she was just hot? She did have a LOT of hair on her. This photo is just from not quite half of her:
She's been great though! We popped over a little cavalletti mini course today. I should have set some real jumps because she was ready for more.
Maybe this weekend. I do miss just having jumps around all the time. Setting a course and putting it away all in the same day is a lot for a lazy person like me. But it's worth doing. Maybe we can get back outside one of these days. There are a few jumps in the outdoor all the time. Or at least for now. I imagine they'll come in once winter really settles in.
I haven't gotten back in touch with our potential new trainer yet. I think I may just wait until after the holidays, but we'll see how things go. There's just always a lot going on in December, and then the horses will have some time off when I go away with the family. So might just make more sense to start fresh in the new year.
I think that's it from here! How are your horses doing as winter arrives?
Today's confession is about clippers. So, I've had the Wahl KM Cordless for many years now. They last forever because I hardly ever use them. I used them a bit this summer to trim legs, but then they sat for awhile. And when I went to plug them in to charge in preparation for clipping Shiny, they no longer would charge. I've been wanting a second pair, because I'm the world's slowest clipper and I can't get a horse done on one charge. They do work plugged in, so it's not like all is lost, but I find the horses are more at ease without cords wrapping around them while we clip. I took this as my sign to finally get the second pair. They don't make the KM Cordless anymore, but they have a new model called the KMC+. They're the same price as the old ones, so I figured I'd try them. They are wonderful. They clip so much better than the older model. I did half of Shiny with the new ones before the battery died, and then switched to the old ones for a bit so the new cones could charge back up. And the old ones really didn't clip as well. I even put brand new blades on them. So my confession today is two fold. First, half of Shiny looks a lot better than the other half. And secondly, now I want a second pair of the new ones. But I'm not doing it! At least not right now. Maybe next year.
Um... so. I forgot it was Thursday. I was very focused on my main task for the day and forgot all about pretty much everything else. I rode the boys quickly this morning and then got to work clipping Shiny. I only did her body. May or may not do the legs later.... Probably won't bother with her head since she hates that. We're embracing our inner hobos this year. What can I say? Anyway, due to my poor memory skills, I didn't really get photos today. And while I could hunt the archives for today's outfit (as it's a repeat), I'm not going to because I'm lazy.
Instead, I will share you my outfit post clipping in which my very dark green sweatshirt appears to be heathered.
Right? That's all Shiny on there. I made a better choice with the breeches since they match her hair better. Ha! So that's what I wore today. Romfh breeches in Maple, and a big ol' hoody by Hanes that I stuck some embellishment on. The front says Ponies Rule and the back has my logo on it.
I'm sorry guys. I'll do better next week! (Hopefully.) I haven't quite found my groove in the new location yet. But I'm getting there!
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...
