So.... both Dan and I needed a happy fun good ride. Not one that we were both frustrated with. And I honestly felt like his body needed a break from dressaging. So.. I noticed that Laura was going to be XC schooling at Ashland this morning and I thought... let's do it! I almost went to Aiken to school Sporting Days with Ashley, but... that was too far and Mike wanted to hang out and... I haven't jumped at Ashland in a hot minute so.. the easy way won.
It was so cold though when we got there! I had on fleece breeches, winter socks, winter boots, winter gloves, long underwear, a fleece and my safety vest. Plus my jacket, but that came off once I started riding. I got there before them and tacked up quicker. Since Dan felt slightly short at the walk yesterday I wanted to make darn sure that he was sound before we jumped. And I was cold and knew if we got moving we'd warm up. So we headed out and did some walking and trotting up the hills. We did two little canters. And there was some excitement. The canine search and rescue teams were practicing so three separate times cars came driving up, one with a four wheeler on a flat bed behind it. Dan stopped and stared but didn't react more than that. Then I'm not sure if the dogs spooked the deer or it was just a random event but about 30 deer exploded out of the woods and came pinging towards the center of the cross country field! They split into 3 groups and scattered and then panicked. Hee hee. Dan was just watching. Then Laura, Audrey and Jennifer showed up and Jennifer's horse is a bucker, so there was a little excitement there. But no one else got riled up so yay.
We all warmed up again and then off we went. I was feeling a little apprehensive as I haven't jumped XC in awhile and was feeling a bit weenyish. But when we started jumping Dan was so bold and brave that... I got brave! We jumped a few big prelim fences even! And yes, we stopped at most of them once. Well, skirted half over the right side of them. But I knew exactly why and when I came back, we sailed over them. Dan was so game and brave I thought he was a little too strung out. But instead of gathering him with my leg on... I just gathered him and didn't add leg, so he squirted around. But we did the sharks tooth, the big prelim roll top, a prelim coop, and even the prelim doghouse in and out of the water. And he was so splashy in the water! Like... I got drenched! Audrey and Tom went through and weren't nearly as splashy as us. Ha ha. Oh, and we did the cabin to three stride to the drop/jump into water...
Yay!!! Good boy! I'm feeling better now about Stableview! Although I still don't know which one I should sign up for... N/T, just training CT.. or go for a training 3 phase. Eeeks. We can school the day before but...
Then we went on a short trail ride and Dan was all spooky about the dogs and cars being where they weren't supposed to be and was all jiggy and bouncy and sidepassing like a paso fino. Hee hee. Guess he likes his new forage diet! He's spicy!
No comments:
Post a Comment