Finders Keepers

my little man

Courage and I have had some difficulties this past month/spring/fall/year/etc. After his infamous non-loading-incident, I was beyond frustrated. I felt like I'd put over a year of my life into this horse and all I'd succeeded in was making him go backwards in training.

When he came to me, the one thing he did know how to do was get on trailers.

Anyways. I was too frustrated to see straight and there were certainly credible threats of dog food and double deckers to Canada.

adorable even when he's naughty. and tired.

But. I told Courage (and a few trusted friends) that if Courage and I weren't have fun by the end of May, he was gone. I was done fighting with him and I wanted to actually have fun.

JenJ pointed out that my goals needed to be more specific than that.

I said that by the end of the month, I wanted him to hack quietly around the property, jumps small courses without being an asshole, and give me more good rides than bad rides. And I don't know, I had to want to do it again, because right then, I really didn't.

this was fun

So.

I started hacking Courage outside the arena almost every day. I learned to growl at him a little and kick him forward when he wanted to be naughty and I learned that if I do that, he really isn't that bad or dramatic.

I started setting jumps up and incorporating them into our routine more regularly. I learned that Courage is still a fun, kickass jumper who oozes talent.

this picture makes me happy

I kept a tally of every ride for the rest of the month. I learned that while I had two determinedly bad rides with very few redeeming characteristics, the rest were actually average to good.

It was rather serendipitous that our first show was the last day of the month. I did my best to set him up for success by hauling in a day early, but the point was, Courage showed me what he was capable of, and I fell in love with him all over again.

He isn't the easiest and he never will be, but he's the horse that still gives me the confidence to just keep on trucking in the hard times. I love seeing his gorgeous blaze face every day and I look forward to where the future takes us.