Danny's First Three Phase Horse Trial

So proud of the rugrat!!!

Got there, unloaded, brushed and got on! 
Crazyness and antics walking up to warm up, but once there, he was great and settled. No scary warm up antics.

Good for dressage just a little distracted and paying attention to his outside surroundings instead of the task at hand. But good. Scored 38.3, but not too bad. 7 on gaits and impulsion. 6 on submission. ;) Judges comment was something along the lines of "lovely pair, will get better as he is more consistent and you are stronger and better able to control his exuberance". hee hee. 
 Dressage
Stadium was fun. Warm up was interesting. He jumped a cross rail great and politely. Then the XC to a vertical politely. Then we did the vertical and headed to the other side of warm up and were going to do the vertical but it was flagged the other way. So I continued to the scary barrels. I felt him suck back and I didn't help him out and close my leg. So... I thought he was going to stop, but he deer jumped at the last second. I ended up whip lashing onto his neck, smooshing my lips. Ouch. So lots and lots of praise and then we came back to it at the trot. He picked up the canter a few strides out and jumped it like a boss! Then we did the vertical and he landed, put his head down, and let out a few bucks, as we careened towards the busy part of warm up. Ooops. I got him under control easily. Kelli said a woman was like "that girl is crazy... her horse is trying to kill her and she's just up there smiling away".hee hee.

So then we did one or two more polite fences and went in for our stadium round. He was awesome!! 
 Stadium Round
Then on to XC. He was pretty darn great. We started off over the first tadpole fence and then headed to BN fence 2, which was pretty big. Dan jumped it well and then sort of took off. I ended up having to circle and bring him to a trot. I tried to keep him to a trot, but he cantered and then took a flyer to BN fence 3. hee hee. We galloped off but I got him back before we crossed the road. He trotted politely over BN fence 4 and then we had a most delicious canter through the woods. Then he got a little distracted with the open field and jump judges and we had a stop at the ditch. He just didn't see it. It' the teeniest of ditches, but he was still a bit taken aback. I'm not sure technically how many "stops" it was, but we got over it after a little looking and snorting, then he sorta of shied at the next log after but went politely when I closed my leg. Then we cantered up to the water and I could tell he was a bit taken aback again so I pulled him to a trot. Unfortunately he was really freaked out at the water. I couldn't get him in it. I'm not sure if it was the excitement, the water, the reflection, or what. I honestly thought it wouldn't be a problem. He was dancing at the edge a good bit and really kind of freaked. The jump judge said I only had 30 more seconds (til what I didn't figure out) so I went over the log next to the water instead and we carried on. He was brave over the big cabin and then very brave over the last 5 fences on course, which were all BN including the last final tadpole fence which was shared with BN. 
 XC run!
More XC 
So yep.. Quite proud of the squirt!! It was so much fun too! We finished 4th out of 10! Although I'm pretty sure technically we should have been eliminated, or at least given two refusals. Well, maybe at least one...

Beth lesson

Danny's a hot mess. ;) He was fresh today. We didn't have much time as I had to get back, but he jumped quite well today.

Things I learned...

He needs some half halts.
I need to let him use his head and neck over the fences, but that doesn't mean I don't ride in between.
Hands on the neck strap over the fence.

We also attempted a few bolts back to the barn, but I won. We turned and jumped. :) Baby horse is getting big for his britches. :)

It was a fun day!

Late Night Dressage

Wow..> Danny was great! He's had four days off. It was cold and windy. Dark. And he was great!

Our best BN test. ;) Ha!! only the third time we've ridden it. ;) Nice work tonight.

then politely cantered and trotted in the XC field.

Our First CT

Dressage was my bad... Stadium he was a super star! he was so smart. Spooked at the camera the first time and then smiled the second time. ;) Educated himself while going around. Good baby boy!

 Add Video Holly

Jump School

Prepping for our first CT. Beginner Novice. Eeeks!!!

Valentines Day

Ready for Rolex!

Well.. Dan thinks he is. :) 

Seriously... Today I felt like some loudspeaker should have been playing his song - Uptown Funk.... "I'm hot, too hot... look at me now!". Hee hee. He was struttin!

He was REALLY REALLY good today though considering. :) We headed to Beth's for a jump lesson and I wanted to do Dan first because Fleck's respiratory meds needed time to kick in. It was a bit chilly still and windy. As I finished tacking up, Mighty and Atlas took to running and snorting in the pasture. And then the farrier showed up and he was spooky up at the barn apparently. And the other horse up by the farrier truck was carrying on in the pasture just out of sight. So... as I got on, I knew I was in for some antics. He went up in the air a few times and piaffed and passaged. We managed to go down the driveway to the jump field at a fairly controlled piaffe. ;) (Or passage... I don't know which is which.. like renver and traver... one of these days I'll learn it ;) ) . And we even had to go into the field with the other horses and he didn't lose his mind. Good boy! 

Once we got into the jump field he settled down and I warmed him up. I think moving his feet really helped. Then we started jumping. We ended up doing some course work and Beth set them up to beginner novice height. :) He was actually quite awesome. The first 2/3 of the lesson he was great. I was actually able to collect him and rock him back on his haunches. :) The first few fences and course was a bit awful. I was riding him like a baby horse and throwing him away and leaning forward into a fetal position. Beth reminded me that he was almost 5... not a baby anymore and I needed to ride him like a more trained horse and start teaching him good habits. So I did. Well, I tried. And it got better. I need to not abandon him in the deep spots and throw him away. But then I also don't need to not release the reins when he does jump. But I started to get the hang of it. And Dan was jumping better when I rode better. Of course. ;) 

He started to get a little speedier and longer... so I had to sit up and rock him back and keep a firmer connection on the reins. He fought it the first few steps but then he settled into and we had a great ride. He really can collect that long stride. :) We jumped a whole course and stayed at the canter. :) :) :) We jumped a skinny, the barrels with a pole over them, an in and out... and he never batted an eye. Well, he jumped the barrels huge the first time but that might have actually been the first time he's jumped barrels. 

Then he started to get a little too big for his britches. :) I went to pick up the canter and he kept running into it and going up and getting the cross canter and fussing when I tried to settle him. So I kept trying and he got more "Up" so I finally just let him go forward and told him to figure out his legs. And he did. He got a little rushy and strung out and made a bid for the in and out and then couldn't jump nicely. So the next time through I got a bit more convincing with my half halts and we finished quite nicely!! 

He was so proud of himself. And I was so proud of him! My little dingbat is growing up to be quite the nice little event pony! :) :)