Celebration Weekend

 So... I'm back home from my acupuncture finals and have been busting my butt playing catch up, but.. I had the weekend off and I celebrated!

 Saturday I had a lesson with Beth at Ashland. It was fun. We were dusty, but.. it was fun. We had a jump lesson and there was some miscommunication regarding dibs on the arenas, but it all worked out. We started off in the jump field over some stadium fences that were set up. There were two on a circle so we worked on that. Like I said, we were dusty.. rusty.. whatever. We kept losing that right shoulder so he was drifting and hanging his legs and jumping loose. So Beth had me put both hands to the left to help keep him from drifting right and to help secure that right shoulder. And then.. once I got it... Holy moly!! Baby horse has hops!! He was jumping super round and basculing well over the fences. He was popping me out of the tack almost! Yay! Of course then we switched to the right lead and... I couldn't get it together. We were a hot mess. He was behind my leg, throwing the right shoulder out still, falling/leaning on my right leg, and I couldn't stay with him. I kept getting us underneath the fence or taking off from 2 strides away. Sigh. We had a moment of fixing the canter first where I got angry and we ended up doing 10 meter canter circles to get him off my inside leg and in front of my leg. And then it got a little better. 

Then we headed to the arena since it had emptied out at that point. It started out pretty okay but then he got a little tired and behind my leg again. Sigh. I was not helping him out at all. So then I got him a little more revved and we had a really nice round! It's not so much that he's running or fast... but he needs to be a bit more amped up. When he lopes around like a hunter school horse... he gets strung out and flat. But when I get him a little revved and really rock him back on his hiney and ride him into the bit, then he jumps beautifully! It wasn't as obvious that he was drifting but I was riding him in a more collected contact so therefore I kept him straighter. So yay. Lots of fun. 

Then I untacked him and took him to the lake for a swim. I hopped back on and pulled my boots off (as I was tired of them getting soaked too) and we headed to meet Missy at the lake. I figured he was tired enough that I would be brave. So we went for a nice canter along the edge of the cross country field to the lake. Wheee!!! He was great. Then I went to take a selfie and... OOPS!! My helmet was off!!! Oh man. What a good baby horse! We walked back and I got my helmet and then Missy and I had a fun time chilling in the lake. 


Wheeee!! Bareback canterin'


 Oh.. yeah, so apparently Danny doesn't skinny dip. Sigh.. Despite going bareback and hoping he'd go for a swim (as opposed to getting dragged in with the saddle on) he didn't. He did however drop and roll! I had to jump off and as he rolled, his head went underwater. :)












 So... on Sunday we went and picked up Liz and Forrest for a trip to Faussett Farms for a long trail ride. I was hoping that Sat would have tired him out, but nope. So after we got on, I had to do some "suicide Laps" up the hill a few times. Luckily Forrest was chill and just hung out while we burned off some excess energy. It was a great day after that. Danny was actually pretty good, probably because it was intense trail riding! Those hills are steep! I had forgotten how steep. Both up and down. The boys were great and were well matched. They could walk, trot, and canter happily together. The views were great and they had planted 300 acres of sunflowers so we got to ride by those. It was a fantastic day!

Sunflowers!!!

So very good and so very bad

Danny is sooooo good when it counts. And so naughty sometimes. But it's all good. I like sass. :)

After my week in Acupuncture land I didn't have time to ride on Monday, so it was Tuesday for our lesson as our first ride back. He had been off since the Sunday before so.. 8 days. And had only been ridden twice each week the two weeks prior. So I expecting some cavorting. But he was great!

We had a good lesson and he was back to his normal self. I kind of lost our canter leads but I think it was more of a me thing. I really think my leg is more forward than it is. So... once I started thinking about putting my leg more forward, we got it. I was basically asking him to do the opposite of what I wanted. Sigh.. of course.

So then I got to ride Thursday with Kelli. We started on the flat and worked on fixing our leads. Poor guy. He was trying so hard to do it right.. .it was like he knew I wanted the correct lead but was so confused as to why I was asking for the opposite lead. Sigh.. But we got it. :)Or he got it. He really is a tryer and a smart kiddo.

After our flat work we went for a long hack. He was good for the first part and then we hit the sprinkler field. He stayed good.... up, but good. And thankfully the sprinklers were gone! Then we crossed the creek and I asked Kelli if she wanted to trot because he was getting more up. Well... he got naughty. We did okay for a bit but then we hit the moguls and on the first one he popped me so high out of the saddle I thought I was coming off so I had to halt him before the second one. Then he kept doing his little hoppy thing, hopping up into the air, but not quite rearing. So we trotted some more and he got wild and wanted to canter. So then we walked. And he went up in the air more like a rear, so I picked my whip up to pop him on top of his head. And I swear, he knows it's coming. He's bad anyways, but he knows it's coming. So he ducked his head and started spinning. Like legit reining horse spin!!! 6 times in 2 seconds it felt like. I just sat there like "what's happening/!?". hee hee. I was dizzy. So we carried on then. He was trying soooo hard to be good. He was seriously walking flat footed on a loopy rein and then he'd squeal and bounce up and down. Then go back to walking. So I told Kelli that he had to go have a little fun. He was trying and deserved to be able to get it out of his system. So we crossed the bridge and left them behind and I let him canter. We were still in our dressage saddle so we didn't gallop but we did a fast canter all down along the creek, up to the field, and then some more in the field. :) Then we cantered/galloped back through the field and then went to find Kelli. She wanted to have a little canter though the path by the creek too so we stayed behind her. He wasn't horrible, but he wasn't perfect. :) But we survived and then were able to mostly walk back to the barn. It's crazy how fit he is.... Fall is gonna be tough! :)

 So... then today, I had to take Fleck to a vet appointment. Third opinion.... just to see if there's something ANYTHING I can do to get him feeling better quicker. Which means that Danny has to be left alone. I was a little afraid. I mean... he stands quietly and happily in the trailer when I take Fleck off and go ride. And they aren't always even in the same field at home. So maybe he'd be fine. Fleck had already shown that he didn't mind the two times Dan and I went to ride. I had Mike stay and watch. They both got fed and then after I took Fleck to the trailer and groomed him. Dan looked out but didn't call out or anything. So then I loaded Fleck up and drove through and Dan poked his head out and whinnied but didn't seem like he was panicking. So Fleck and I left. I got to the Kroger and texted Mike and didn't hear anything. So after about 7 panicked minutes where I"m picturing Danny jumping out of his stall down and squashing Mike and breaking a leg.... Mike texts back "He's fine". Phew!! Then I was in Canton forever with Fleck so I checked back again and Mike sent me a picture of Dan in his stall, just chilling. Phew...

Huge relief to know that they can both stay home alone. It makes my life much easier for now. And it's good for them. So yep... sooo good when it counts. :)




 But then he had the zoomies after being in all day. ;)

wild ride

Rowdy boy. Apparently riding twice a week is not enough. We got on and had to pretty much do 10 laps at the gallop in the XC field. Then we played and jumped a tiny bit. Then we went for a long hack. Then we jumped and played some more. Then we went for a bareback canter to the lake. Then we came home. And he was still bouncy on the way home. :) But at least he was good. :) 


Down the drop, through the water, and over the coop

smaller bank, throught the water, over the coop

I'm so thirsty!

Coop to the water and up and out

Epic Ride

Well that was an epic ride!! Apparently dan had to get all shenanigans in at once since we haven't been riding as much. We started off at the lake as we ran into judy. Dan decided to go for three seims, which meant my poor saddle was submerged again. Then we did hill work and he was lazy so I was thinking I could have gone bareback and saved my saddle. So then we hit the trails for a quick hack and to show him that the giant sprinklers weren't going to eat him. They were off when we set out. So we get to the field and he's suspicious but being brave and almost to the point of carrying bravely on. And we hear a noise. Yep...the sprinklers one field over went off. So then...knowing what was coming next I'm attempting to get dan moved far enough away but not alarm him...and we get a bit aways and that sprinkler comes on. He spins and bolts but my trusty (albeit soaked) saddle #countysaddlessavetheday keeps on board. So we have a fairly controlled canter romp to the woods, then jog to the xc field where I let him gallop (35.6 mph) and then we went to the arena to simmer down. Then...I get home and toss him in his stall. I've always put your snaps facing in but I guess with him jazzed up from the sprinklers I didn't. So he rubs his face and manages to get caught on the wall....
For being 5, he really really kept his cookies together today!