More Fun!!

 I'm so blessed! I'm just over here, living my best life :) Today me and a friend went to Chatt hills to go XC schooling. We got up super early and the sunrise was pretty. We made it to Chatt and while we hoped to beat the heat, we did not beat the humidity. But it's okay. It's May in Georgia... at least it took until May. We warmed up and because the grass was dry and cut short, I had put studs in the outside holes. Good thing I did! Dan really needed more. He was slipping a good bit and felt almost lame. I panicked a bit because he was squirrely and stabby behind. But he was game and was sound when we trotted. We jumped some stuff and then moved to the other area with taller grass. Once we got onto the less slick grass, he was normal so it was very much slipping! Phew! Anyways... we jumped a bunch of jumps. My plan was to decide if I wanted to run BN or Novice so... I decided to push it a little. We warmed up over a BN jump or two and then went straight to the novice fences. He was so good. We jumped fence 1, which is always that intimidating log on a platform. Then we jumped the stone wall. He backed off the stone wall a good bit and chipped in but he went. And it wasn't like he was saying no.... he just didn't fire over it. We tried again and it was a little better. Then we did the scary blue and orange table, which he also chipped a little. And then we decided to try the V wing jump. The jump that we had the meltdown at last year.. or maybe it was two years ago.... the jump that he finally said "I hurt... eff you.... I'm done"! And I finally listened. So we started with the beginner novice one and 6 strides back he started saying no. I didn't ride aggressively enough and he was so wiggly, so of course he stopped. I got a more solid approach, with him more in front of my leg and pushed and he went over! We came back a second time and then did the the novice one. He jumped it fine. :) YAHOOOO!!! Big pats for the super star. Then we went to the banks and jumped those. We did the down bank with a log to a coop, then circled around and did the coop to the upbank to a cabin. He slid hard core at the cabin and I jumped up his neck, but he jumped anyways. Thank goodness! GOOD PONY! So that was the point that my friend said "he slipped". That's all it was. We did do the upbank again and rode it much smoother. So, in addition to him slipping, I probably was a little too tentative. What was it Kelly E always said..."when it's slippery/slick, ride like a unicorn on iceskates high on crack". ha ha. They were pretty sweaty and puffing at that point as the humidity was rough, so we headed out to the other water complex as there wasn't much in the big one. The grass was much longer and the footing much less hard over there, but unfortunately it was all upper level stuff. We did splash and canter through the water to cool them off and they had a drink. Then we found the bank complex and popped up and down those. Then we tried to find a table for me to jump out of stride with the better footing but they were all pretty huge! But we did do the training level coffin. It was a full coffin but with novice sized jumps. And he was super. Then we headed back to the big field and did another set of ditches. The novice line after that was tough. It was a dairy barn to a sharkstooth. Yep, the one we stopped at at Ashland and I fell off. I jumped a little cabin and then went to the sharkstooth but my approach was not ideal. And he stopped. It was a BIG jump! It was actually labeled Nov Ch, so... pretty big! We circled and came again and I rode bolder and he did it. So then we circled to do it again but the line was so much better we just did the dairy barn to it. yay! Then we decided to do the last two fences on the novice course, which was a decent sized roll top/cabin thing and then another log on a platform and then we continued up to the winged thing just to confirm. He jumped all three beautifully!!! I was riding much bolder and going for the "long spot" vs the chip and kept my hands low and he just soared over!!! YAHOOO!!! We're back!!! We just keep adding money to the bank. :) 

 

So yep... we've now entered the June 12th schooling show at Novice. That will be good prep for Area 3 BN champs two weeks after that. And then, we'll play and school until before AEC's and find another good prep to do and we should be good. Assuming we go clean at Area 3's and he holds up to two days of jumping in a row. :) 

I'm so proud of him. And so grateful that God gave us another chance to do what we love. I think he had fun too. :)