Epic Pony Weekend: We Jump!

yup

Pony friends are the best (only?) friends. Redheadlins, Alyssa, and I took advantage of a relatively free weekend to haul all the critters to one of the best little barns on the entire planet and play ponies like 12-year-olds ALL WEEKEND LONG.

It was the bestiest.

We all showed up Thursday afternoon and saddled up for a jump ride.

why helloooooo sexy neck

Courage warmed up well, but veeeerrrry looky for him, which is not terribly looky.


I probably should have worked him a little harder, but the course looked scary and I figured we were just hacking.

Then I watched Redheadlins jump a couple jumps (and Prisoner was WILD) and for some reason, that made me go "well hell, even I can do that".

And we promptly proceeded to demonstrate it.

i call this move "wtf horse". meme forthcoming.

Complete with the wild.

Whoops. Maybe could have left that part out.

Still. Courage was jumping in fine form, I was riding ok, and after we got one classy and non-wild jump, we called it a night.

I felt discombobulated and all over the place, but the pictures show that I actually rode fine, so yay for that!

can't complain

points for a great outfit

On to day two! We planned to jump again. I started by pre-emptively lowering everything in the arena, plus making the triple into a double and taking down the big, scary oxer.

Courage came out on his lazy hunter A-game, and we were off.

And by "off", I mean the little bay horse trotted and cantered around his first course of the year like a total pro. No rushing, no squirting off, no shenanigans.

one stride out!

There was one jump that he took a hard look at, but I put my leg on and we went right over.

AND. Perhaps y'all remember our disastrous history with grids and related distances. (No? Well. Take my word for it. Not our strong suit.)

Anyways. There was a wee little one stride set and once Courage was forward and jumping, I pointed him at it.

He was SO GAME. Right through it, no question. Seriously proud moment there. This horse couldn't deal with placing poles this time last year. He has grown up so much. :-)

You doubt? Oh yeah. I have video too.

And yes, that is literally the first time we have jumped a course in 2015. (If you're really in to video, here's our wild jumps from the day before and our schooling jumps from course day.)

All that to say.

Wow. I am really, really happy with the choices I've made with Courage this year. I feel much better about trusting my instincts to back off the jumping and do other things for a year, because that has completely changed our relationship. I have more buttons. I have a better understanding of my horse. I'm more able to be the rider that he needs.

The fences top out at 2', but I trotted and cantered around that whole course with 100% confidence. We are a team, at long last.

That alone is huge for me. Courage is not the easiest horse to ride or jump.

But we're getting there. (We're just also getting to first level dressage and OMG that excites me too.)

Anyways. You're welcome for Monday-Monster-Pony-Post, but I am really thrilled with my little man and WOOWOO there were still two more days to pony weekend!