Voice Inside My Head

After some pretty serious searching and re-evaluating of priorities on my part, I think I have finally found the right bridle for Cuna. 

You can call him "Mr. Edgewood"

It's refined enough to suit his face, but classy enough to indulge my taste. I'm oiling and scrubbing like a mad thing to get it to an appropriate level of dark and conditioned, but I like it so far. Rest assured, fellow tack snobs: I have also put keepers on that full cheek. This was just the 'trying things on' cellphone shoot. 

Best view ever

After getting things adjusted, we went out and trotted up a hill. Cuna isn't super fit yet, but he has that thoroughbred heart and lungs, and we chugged right up the hill. We even saw a SUPER SCARY hiker with his dog, and Cuna did nothing more than give them a hairy eyeball. 

So freaking cute

Old man resting this morning. He was chipper enough after a couple of peppermints. I took him out to the arena and saw jumps set up. 

Like this

I decided I couldn't make the poor guy do hill work two days in a row and I've done enough flatwork lately to choke a very large quadruped. I trotted around the arena a few times, deciding whether or not to jump. It went kind of like this:

Scary voice: "No one is here to tell you what to do. You're going to screw up and get hurt. Besides, there are only so many jumps in a horse. Don't waste Cuna's jumps doing something stupid."

Happy voice: "You like bounces. It looks kind of fun."

Scary voice: "There are so many poles. You will freak out and loose your marbles and mess him up. Besides, that second crossrail is probably almost 2' in the middle. Cuna isn't warmed up enough. You don't even own him yet and you're going to hurt him."

Happy voice: "Cuna can jump bounces with one leg tied behind his back. At this point in his career, it is practically impossible for you to screw him up." 

I tried to tune out both voices and trotted a pole on the ground a couple of times. 

Scary voice: "He hesitated and sucked behind your leg. You can't trust him. He's going to spook and something and dump you on your head."

Happy voice: "Well, next time keep your leg on."

I tried to drown out both voices, and took a tight trotting turn to the bounce. We puked over the first jump, landed way too close to it, and Cuna made a long, low jump over the second. I awkwardly bounced on his back and slipped the reins. He gave a mighty head fling and a little buck to put me in my place. 

Ok, more impulsion, try again. We definitely can't quit after a bad run through. The distance still didn't work. Hm. Canter in this time. We made a tight turn, then bounced right through with me staying off Cuna's back and out of his face. 

Happy voice: "I knew you could do it. That was pretty fun." 

The level of drama I can produce over two tiny jumps is ridiculous. It's a good thing Cuna completely ignores my crazy and just does his job. What a guy.