Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to me!! The boys gave me hugs before Church. Momma snuggles. Yay. Then after Church I ended up doing some work at the house and then heading out for a ride. Whoo hoo. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and I'm so glad I got to ride. Both boys were great and we had a blast.

Beth lesson

I had to adjust some ponies at Wishing Tree so I took the two boys with me for lessons too. We did Fleck first and then I got on Dan. It was hot and muggy but then the wind picked up. I got on and Dan was a little rowdy but not bad at all. We worked on some transitions and Beth wanted me to keep a more continuous connection with his mouth. My elbows are mine! Not his. He can't fuss and fling and pull me around. And I had elastic supple elbows, but they were mine. So then we started to work on the canter. We got into the first canter and big huge rain droplets started coming down. We decided to keep working  but then it really starting coming down. So we got off and ran into the barn. Shortly after it quit so I hopped back on. We got warmed back up and went to work on the canter again. Then we heard thunder. And saw a lightning streak in the sky down behind the trees. I really wanted to keep going since I had already gotten off once. So we kept going. And then lightning came down just on the other side of the ring and with it came a giant boom. For a baby horse, Dan was awesome. He only leapt sideways briefly at the boom and then went back to work. But it was too close. So back into the barn we ran, this time saving Fleck too. Luckily it didn't last long and we were able to get back out there and finish our lesson. He was super good, especially considering we started and stopped three times. We got some good transitions and I was better about keeping my elbows to myself and creating a place for him to soften into. :)

Silly horse... trucks are for girls

So... Dan is a freak! I'm impressed he didn't grab Sparkles or Woody and play with them. Hee hee. He's such a goofball!

Training Level Debut

Danny and I went to the Rolling Hills Schooling Show today. He was such a good boy. I cut his mane (which was SUPER long) and gave him a bath at home. We got to the show on time (for once!) and he was all sparkling clean. They were running about 20 minutes early, so I took my time grooming and tacking up. However, I was still ready when I wanted to be ready, before the 20 minute delay. But I figured we could take a look around and make sure he wasn't going to be rowdy.
 
And he was! But only for 10 minutes. Goofball. We went into the warm up ring and there was an A/C unit in the corner that was spooking a few. He was a bit of a twit and did a few bucks and scoots in the warm up ring. We were having troubles getting the right lead because in one direction he was spooking and bulging because of the A/C unit and in the other, I was afraid he was going to bolt out of the gate. Because he did! Almost twice. Doh. So... we did what we could and headed down to the ring.
 
And... they were now running WAY behind. Sigh. I sat around for a good 20 minutes or more and then decided to go warm him back up. And then we still were early for our test. So we sat around for another 15 minutes or so before it was finally our turn. I warmed him up briefly but knew I was running out of horse. It was hot! And I had been on him about an hour longer than I wanted at this point.

So we went in and did Training Test 2. He walked right in and didn't spook at the judges tent or anything. It wasn't a bad test, but I rode poorly. I didn't have any connection and rode him like a baby horse. We blew our right lead but corrected it quickly. Denni liked him and scored us well. We got a 64 and change and came in 2nd place. I think out of 3, maybe 4. Not too bad. I'll take it. He got an 8 on his gaits :)

So then I got off and let him have a breather before our next test. I thought about scratching as I knew he was tired. But, I didn't, because.. it was a good experience for him to get in the ring again. And our Training 3 test was bad! Doh. We were both super tired. We missed the left lead this time. And then I pulled him back too early because I forgot that we went across the diagonal. Poor kid. I made him do 3 canter transitions and only one was necessary. And I was tired too so I rode like crap. I think we scored a 57. So still better than some of our earlier tests. ;) But not what he can do at all.

But it's okay. It's more about the experience than the scores at this point. And you know what?! For what it was worth, he was AWESOME. He didn't get spooky or freak out. He went in and did his job despite being tired. And he did what I asked. I can't really ask for more from a not quite 4 year old. :)

Hee hee... I was laughing because while he normally does have a good stretchy walk, this one was good because he was desperately trying to smell the poop! He did keep going though, so props to him for that. :)

Training Level Test 2

Training Level Test 3

Baby XC course

So today was a hack day to counteract all our flat work. It was a beautiful day. We headed out to the cross country field and did a little bit of hill work. Then we walked into the water complex and worked on the in and out over the bank into the water. He did pretty good going down in the water. 

So... since he was so good, and I'm excited about possibly doing the FEH show in August, I decided to just do a teeny little tiny XC course. :) We started off trotting over the ditch and then trotted into and through the water. Then we trotted over a little log and then trotted up the bank. After the bank I let him canter and then we cantered over the little log. Wheee!!! He was a superstar. :) There was no bucking or taking off and being silly. He was great! So then we went on the rest of our trail ride and went to the lake to play.

Horse show readying

We had a good lesson today. We started doing parts of the training level test. He ended up doing all of the movements, just not in order and in a row. It was nice though. He likes the trot serpentines. :)

Such a good pony, putting on his big boy pants! :)

Best baby ever

I am so lucky! Danny is such a superstar. We went for a ride today and I wanted to go into the jump ring to work on some flat work. We were out there by ourselves and literally as we got into the jump ring a truck on the road backfired! It was super loud. Both Danny and I jumped! Danny did the "fleck spook" in that he jumped, but held his ground. Then he walked forward to investigate. The truck was on the side of the road I guess because we could see something through the trees and hear stuff, but it was too dense to really see it. So Dan was looking and his heart was pounding, but he walked closer to investigate and held his ground. After a few minutes, I asked him to go back to work and he did. :) He wasn't stupid. It was just back to work like nothing had happened.

And it was good work!! He was forward and in front of my leg. And we had some REALLY good upward transitions. :) Yay!