So.. it ended well. :)
I ended up opting to meet Kelli for a ride at Ashland and school XC myself since I hadn't heard back from Jacel about lessons. Kelli and I agreed to meet up and I would hang out with her while she dressaged and then we would go for a hack and then I could finish up on XC. I was running a little late and Kelli opted to start without me so... I got there and got tacked up and met her at the dressage arena's. We hung out for a bit while she finished her ride. I did a bit of pillar work while we waited and then got on and walked around. I played with the turn on the haunches with the lightest of leg aids and he was super!!! He moved off my lightest aids!! Yay! Anyways... Kelli finished and was upset with her ride so we were talking. She had gotten off. And I was trying to see if she wanted to go hack and we could talk and walk instead of just standing there talking. But before I could ask... she started to tell me something but before she could get it out Dan spun 180 degrees and froze.. and then tried to bolt! It took my brain about 3 seconds before I could register what was happening. OHHHHH... SPRINKLERS!!! Good grief! Earlier in Kelli's ride Marvin had spooked at one of the Ashland guys popping out around the corner of the arena by the woods. Well apparently he was working on the sprinklers I guess. Lucy had told him to not do anything until she got there but he didn't and just randomly turned them on. Dan was losing his cool and Marvin started to bolt. And since Kelli was on the ground talking, she didn't even have her hands on the reins, so now Marvin was loose. Luckily they turned the sprinklers off shortly after turning them on so Dan was able to stop and stare and vascillate between wanting to bolt vs wanting to investigate vs wanting to just... disappear. And Kelli was able to grab Marvins reins. But then they turned on again. Good grief!! Dan was spinning and jigging. Kelli kept asking what I wanted to do and I couldn't think of what would be best and then they turned off again. So at this point... I told her let's just leave! Let's go to XC and get far away. So we did. Dan jigged and piaffed the whole way to the XC field.. eventually leaving Marvin and Kelli back aways.
Once we got to the XC field I thought he might settle, but nope. Sigh... so aggravating!! I just wanted to feel him out for XC. Sigh. So I started to put him to work. Ha! Well.. I made him move his feet. I allowed him to move his feet. He does not stand still and contemplate. He moves! So Kelli and Marvin were standing at the top of the field while Dan and I did laps. I kept him at the trot but holy moly was he moving. It was a hover trot...like my post took 5 seconds it felt like. He was levitating off the ground. The mother of all extended trots! ha ha. Finally I just let him canter... and then gallop. I made sure that Kelli and Marvin were okay. And we just galloped a bit. At some point Lucy showed up and Kelli was able to talk to her. Dan and I were in the bottom of the field and he was starting to breathe and even took a few bites of grass but trying to go closer got him all worked up again. Apparently Lucy was mad because she told the guy to wait! She apologized profusely but I still feel so bad. It's not her problem that my horse has a sprinkler issue! Bless her!
Anyways... I think it actually put money in our bank. I'm not so sure Kelli agreed with me at first. Ha ha. BUT... we survived... we didn't part ways... and I was actually able to jump him. And yes, he was adrenaline fueled and there wasn't much relaxation in it. But, he was listening to me and we were able to do the things I wanted to do. So, I'm calling it a win. (And I told Lucy so later).
So yes.. we schooled XC. He was awesome. He was game and bold and only once did he feel like he rolled over his shoulders. And that was because he was leaning into one shoulder and I half halted but only with one rein and didn't have any contact in the other (thanks Kelli! She saw it and told me) and thus, I just "broke him in half" instead of collecting him. We jumped quite a few because... rocket fueled! Poor guy was so nervous his neck was lathered and foamy! But we jumped the smaller corner a few times. We jumped the novice narrow coops up the hill on a one stride. He jumped the coffin. We didn't jump the sharkstooth because it was up there near the top of the hill near the sprinklers and that just felt unwise. And... sadly, it felt like the jumps were either BN height or... training height. So I tried to jump all the novice ones I could find. Twice he slipped because he was being squirrely and spinning in his turn. And once he felt like he might almost go down, but he caught himself and we didn't. And there wasn't any slipping at the fences. So yay! And.. ha, not like I could tell, but there didn't seem to be any issues with him being barefoot behind as far as jumping. So yay!!
Afterwards I convinced Kelli to go to the lake with us and dan got all nervous and fired up again. He jigged a bit and then sort of got all rowdy and nervous at the lake. He got a small sip of water and splashed briefly but he was so worried. I finally just got off. He took a deep breath... stood for two seconds... and then got nervous again. We opted to walk in hand back and went through the woods and then the long way home, around the small lake to the back of the parking lot. I texted Lucy that we were heading back and that's what we were doing. She called me to tell me that they had to turn it on one more time in about 10 minutes. I told her that would be fine and also told her that I was so sorry we kept ruining her sprinkler maintenance. I did tell her that I thought it actually helped us a little bit today. She's so sweet about it and I feel so awful that I always seem to come when she's doing it. And I never get to ride on Wednesdays either! Doh! Anyways, once we got back to the trailers Dan was still so upset, so I just pulled his tack off and threw him on the trailer so we could leave before Lucy turned them back on. And she's so sweet she was waiting for us. Poor Dan peed as soon as he got on the trailer. Argh. Sorry bud.
Once we got home he was still pretty worked up and anxious, but he did stand for his bath. I did the liniment bath and then he got bemered. The blanket for 30 and the boots on his stifles, front legs, and back legs for 10 min each. And that little blackbird was getting pissed at us! He kept dive bombing around. hee hee. Sadly I couldn't really get my phone going at the right times, but I did catch a small bit.
Poor dude! I really hope that he isn't sore tomorrow. I know it wasn't a fair assessment given the circumstances, but.. it was exciting that he was so game and bold. :)
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