A Study in Forward 4: Jumping. Whoops.

attention fear gerbils

After dressage, I stuck Courage in his stall with hay for an hour or so so he could just chill out and I could walk the course. I told myself I was calm, but I was steadily moving into brain-panic-XC mode. Yes, I know they were wee tiny cross rails that we can walk over. I didn't anticipate just how bad taking a green horse XC would kick off the panic function and let all the fear gerbils have a party in my brain.

I mean... Courage does open space and trails, no problem. He's been exposed to all the cross country elements, no problem. He jumps, no problem.

Clearly, I am the one with the problem.

Sigh.

Totally unconcerned

I pulled him out of his stall and put tack on. I had a whole new (normal) horse. He was all "O HAI PLAYING JUMP JUMP I AM THE BEST AT THIS". Seriously. Total 180. We walked out to the jump warm up on a loose rein with no antics and no screaming.

We wandered around warm up.

We watched other horses go by.

I did some walk/trot transitions with him and tried to incorporate the little bit of terrain into my riding plan, but mostly I was in full-on brain panic mode "AHHHH GOING TO DIE DO NOT WANT MORE BROKEN BONES AHHHH GIANT SOLID XRAILS OF DEATH."

No.

HULLO JUMP JUMP WORLD

I can't explain it. I am terrible at emotions and this was a straight-up gut response to fear of bodily harm. Between the deer leaping last week and my on going XC issues, it wasn't pretty. I trotted and cantered over the baby cross rails in warm up while redheadlins said things like "LEG ON" and "DON'T PULL" and probably muttered a string of well-deserved expletives about why the hell she spends so much time helping us if I'm going to show up and not ride, but she's too nice to say those things out loud.

always duck when you re-present

Anyways. It was finally our turn to go. The first jump was going down a slightly inclined plane. Not even a hill. I'd walked the course a couple times with Alyssa and we'd talked about how we needed to ride positively, blah blah blah.

I'd like to say I'm writing a book called "Pulling Your Way to Success: The Way Ammies and Green Horses Don't Get Around XC", but the truth is I just had total brain freeze, took my leg off completely and pulled all the way to the fence.

obviously he was terrified

Shocker, he stopped.

We circled around and hopped over it. He landed cantering, so I pulled some more, though I did manage to kick just in time to get him over #2.

Because this was going so well.

We walked our terrain change (crossing a road) and said hello to our fans, but I never really got him in front of my leg. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

He didn't think it looked dangerous, but I said it was

We made it over the next jump or two, but then we had to turn the corner and head towards a field of cows, which is something we are not the best at yet. He took a hard look at the cows (since SOMEONE was neither steering nor kicking), then decided against the jump.

Oh, and he slipped, which was all "DANGER COURAGE ROBINSON DO NOT ATTEMPT". I presented twice and then was like "screw it, not fighting him over a crossrail and BRAIN PANIC WE WILL SURELY DEER LEAP AND DIIIIIIIIE"

pull, pull, pull your horse slowly to a stop

And yeah, I wish I was exaggerating.

So we skipped the jump. We made it over the next one, then the course doubled back on itself. Here's the thing. If you take a smart, older OTTB and tell him that the little black cross rail is dangerous and then don't ever bother to kick and just let him camp behind your leg, you aren't going to "trick" him into jumping the X the other direction on the basis that he doesn't know it's the same jump. He totally does and you are an idiot.

So we skipped it again.

merrily, merrily, merrily he will bail you out

Not my proudest moment. On the other hand, we were (obviously) not in contention to win and we are trying to accrue calm, positive experiences. Maybe next time we'll go for calm, positive and SUCCESSFUL or something crazy.

So anyways. We trot/cantered the rest of the course and he was a total star even though I continued to not kick and usually pull. I don't know why. I can say quite authoritatively that riding backwards isn't incredibly useful, but I think I'd already done that survey before.

So there you go. If in doubt, kick instead of pull.

I guess I'm not sure where that leaves me. In hindsight, I probably should have put redheadlins in the tack for the weekend because she would have gotten him around and I could have seen him do it and maybe calmed down. I didn't do that and I can't change it.

I'm really frustrated with myself for my total inability to just get out there and ride like I know I can. Courage showed up and did great. I'm not sure what more I could expect from a green horse who was totally guessing on what he was supposed to do... like if I ride completely opposite of how I do at home, is he then still supposed to do the same thing or change?

dat ass

It's a fair question. We'll be addressing it this coming weekend. I signed him up for a cross country clinic at the facility and am practicing my kicking skills in the mean time.

PS If you're asking "wtf sprinklerbandit, don't you want to do hunters? If you suck at XC this much, maybe it's time to give it up. Why are you still trying?"

That is a good question.

I don't know.

A Study in Forward 3: Dressage Phase

FIRST DRESSAGE EVER

Sunday morning bright and early, we hauled in to the show facility. Courage has always been a great hauler and I wasn't at all concerned about how he'd react. I was still thinking I was on life plan A, wherein we were prepping to ride with Hawley Bennett and had been hitting every little show all spring, plus done two more clinic days by now.

Unfortunately, I'm living life plan B, wherein my car exploded and I bought a new one which sucked up my show budget I then I was kind of depressed about that (and poor) and haven't really done anything other than a trail ride recently.

Teeny tiny strides

So there's that. Courage came off the trailer like a giraffe on crack, complete with screaming and jigging and acting like a loon. I hand walked him out to the grass dressage warm up, thinking that he'd stop and eat.

Or you know, rear and paw the air and scream like the freaking black stallion. I practiced my good old fashioned race track skills and got him back on the ground without escalating the situation, but it was sort of a subtle clue that things might not go the way I planned.

Once he settled in on the ground, more or less, I took him back to the trailer and tacked up. I hopped on, rode out to warm up and then I had this almost clairvoyant moment where I was like "Oh. Um. He's about to starting running sideways and spinning."

I WAS TOTALLY RIGHT.

What he looks like with something to do

The spinning progressed to half rears and leaping as I passively sat there thinking "this is really bad".

And then redheadlins was like "KICK HIM FORWARD AND GIVE HIM SOMETHING TO DO YOU DINGLE BRAIN"

Oh right.

She talked us through warm up and he was actually quite lovely. The longer I stayed focused and rode well, the better he did.

ALERT WE ARE IN NEW PLACE

We even had to ride out on to the gallop track, around a scary hedge, and into the arena filled with big XC jumps right before we went in. Again, lins coached us through the worst of it and by the time we went into the arena, both of us were pretty much keeping it together.

Courage didn't spook at the trees or the judge or the dressage arena and he actually gave me a solid effort in the sandbox that only improved as he went along.

I'd give me a 5, but I haven't been watching intro tests all day

Not bad for his first test ever. I had nothing to complain about. (well, except for getting a 4 on what I thought was a great free walk effort. I thought our overall score was fine, but 4? He put his head down and walked forward. What else do you want in a walk/trot test?)

Can't complain about this

That aside. I stuck Courage in his stall and reflected on the fact that when I put leg on and rode forward, he was actually giving me very honest efforts.

You'd think that would sink in a little, but don't hold your breath. The jumping phase was coming right up...

Final salute

A Study in Forward 2: Show Prep

I am the best at stealing video stills off of cameras

Courage got Friday off since both of us (I think) wee sore from leaping. My back needed time to recover, that's for sure. We were signed up to go do an event derby on Sunday, so Saturday redheadlins and I dragged a jump out into the field and decided to spin around out there.

It was good. Magical, even. Courage was slightly invigorated by the new environment and the open space. He gave me the BEST trot work I have gotten--light, engaged, uphill and forward. I was just trotting around smiling and not kicking.

Notice that. It comes up later.

We also cantered around a bit on both leads. Even though I know that Courage runs full tilt through his field and always keeps his feet, I was worried to push him forward for fear of slipping.

I know. wtf.

All was well until we went to jump. I trotted Courage towards the tiny X and focused on steady contact with the outside rein and how pretty and floaty he felt. I never bothered to actually put any leg on...

...which was really obvious when he parked it in front of the jump.

Dammit.

yay cantering!

He's starting to understand what leg is for, but I have to teach and support him and above all BE CONSISTENT so he can get this thing figured out. Sigh. We re-presented the fence and I practiced grabbing my neck strap. I was finding it nearly impossible to grab that strap and do anything else like "steer" or "kick", but we sort of got it together and ended on a really positive note.

I was surprised how nervous I was to jump Courage in the field. I kept expecting him to squirt off and flail or do something naughty, but he never even really offered that behavior.

Still. I coasted on the forward momentum that he generated and didn't worry too much about kicking. It mostly worked out because we were at home and he wasn't stressed, but that's not a really great plan when you are taking a green horse to his first real show in less than 24 hours.

Not that I would know anything about that...

A Study in Forward 1: Lesson

What can he be the best at today?

Lest you think I am completely insane, here's a better write up of our lesson from Thursday. It wasn't all deer leaps and craziness.

We started out trotting through 6 poles set 2.5' apart. If that sounds really short to you, well, it is. The idea was that the spacing between the poles would teach the horses to compress their strides and the number of poles would make the riders actually have to plan ahead.










I'll be honest. I was really impressed that not one single time did Courage leap the poles. That was his MO last year. Hooray for starting to grow up! It was a really interesting exercise because I had to determine the right balance to bring him in with, then figure out how to maintain it without pulling on him. The first three poles were easy, the last three not so much. We did end up nailing it each direction, but it's an exercise I'd love to set again and play with.










Then we progressed to three canter poles. These were to encourage a longer stride while keeping the balance up and bouncy. Not gonna lie, we pretty much rocked them. I felt like a total badass in the saddle. I was like "Courage, go forward! I'm balanced with my leg on!" and he was all "HELLZ YEAH I AM THE BEST AT CANTER POLES!!!"

Of course, then came the grid. It was nearly identical to the one we did in our last lesson with S, except it was a canter in instead of a trot in.

quack quack

We started out with a simple rail to an X. Courage was completely unimpresed. I focused on riding positively to the line, giving with my hands, and keeping my chest up.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to give your hands and not duck your chest. Maybe it's just me?

Anyways. C-rage was being a little rock star. We were cantering in and making some tight turns going to the line and I was THRILLED with how he was able to handle his balance and stay connected through all that. He couldn't have done it two weeks ago.

Our instructor is really big on horses being adjustable. Any time you go to approach the jump, she wants the horse in a place where you are able to send them forward or bring them back at a moment's notice without breaking gait.



Again, I was really happy with how responsive Courage was. He's not all there, not yet, but we had one moment where I was doing a prep circle before going to the exercise and I closed my leg and he just ZOOMED. Go go baby horse!! Obviously (to anyone who read Friday's post) it's not a confirmed response yet, but it's coming along.

I was really pleased with how Courage was able to use his neck and body over the lower jumps. He definitely understood the exercise and was busy being the best at it.







We moved the second jump up to a good sized (for him) vertical, and the little man was still quite debonair. He was straight and committed to the line and forward and rideable. All good things.

Which brings us to explaining the epic deer leaping shots. Once we added the back rail to the oxer, Courage was trying SO HARD to BE THE BEST at... whatever... that he slowed down to look at the question and didn't erspond when I put my leg on. He deer leaped the first time and kind of scared himself. He deer leaped even harder the second time because if it didn't work once, try even harder next time, right?

I totally sympathize with that mindset. Overachiever problems.

We dropped the back rail and added a placing pole on the far side to make the question easier for him.

Jump inspection! Thanks to horselessinhalifax

Then he tried to stop at the X and run out at the vertical.

He wasn't naughty, he was just worried and not understanding how to use his body to answer the question. We were giving him all the tools, but he isn't quite broke enough on the flat for me to tell him how to do it and he's too green over fences to figure it out on his own.

So we made the question even easier. I brought him back to the vertical at the walk and my trainer dropped it to a ground pole. We hop/walked out.

Then she raised it to half a cross rail.

Courage was still unsure and very wiggly, which is uncharacteristic of him. I let him trot in/canter out a few times until he felt more comfortable and confident.

Finally, he started taking me to the jump again. Bold expression, going forward.

We talked about needing to build his comfort zone by starting with easy things, then doing hard things, then doing easy things. He needs to finish every session feeling like King Kong, but he can't always stay there or it will be hard to progress, basically.

Still. We've made a ton of progress in the past few weeks. The fact that I don't consistently ride him forward and he isn't confirmed moving off my leg yet... was just going to bite us in the ass again. Hard.

To be continued...

Anatomy of a Jump: Fail Friday Edition

Some of you may remember the time I broke down frame-by-frame the most perfect jump Cuna and I ever had caught on film. I thought it was a pretty great post.

Well, now we're doing it again. Only like... the other way around. Instead of a "how to jump it right", let's talk about "how green horses jump that sane people wouldn't publicly share on their personal blog".

Because, what fun is sanity anyways?

Let's get going!

The Takeoff

This is Courage and I in a jumping lesson. He's been going through the grid and the jump has been raised incrementally. We've just added a back rail, which means that in order to clear it, he needs to maintain impulsion to be able to jump both up and across.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

Unfortunately for me, Courage saw the new question and backed off while he tried to figure it out. I added leg, but he's not quite broke enough (or obedient enough) to respond yet.

So here he is trying to answer the question by leaping AS HIGH INTO THE AIR AS POSSIBLE!!!

Of course, the more discerning among you are saying, "But SB, if C-rage expends all his energy launching straight up, how does he plan to carry himself forward so you don't land in the middle of all those poles?"

The Airtime

photo via HorselessinHalifax

Not to worry folks! Courage has no intention of hitting that monstrous jump. Obviously.

The only thing to do at this point is to suck his hind end up and LEAP LIKE A DEER!!! It's a little less efficient than, you know, pushing forward off his hind end. Take it from me, though, the little man can get the job done.

Now you might critique my position in these shots. It sure looks like I'm jumping up his neck in the first one and here I'm sort of levitating above his back with completely useless legs and that oh-so-helpful indirect inside rein.

Those are all valid observations. I would welcome any and all position help, because trust me, it's all about to go downhill...

Well, all but me anyways. I stay up about a half second longer than Courage does because physics are (not) my friend!

Ahem. So the reason that upper level jump and event riders advocate for a "bascule" over a jump in which the horse springs up with his front end, pushes off with his hind end and his body describes a lovely arc in the air is because the rider is capable of staying in balance with the horse and equitating all the way through.

photo via wikipedia

If the horse rockets straight up, then generates forward momentum by sucking his ass up to his chin, well, instead of describing an arc, you are describing a roller coaster ride, complete with long uphill climb and then dropping directly out from underneath you at the apex.

You'll notice McClain Ward never looks like this.

You'll also notice that the nice folks on the roller coaster are in fact belted in so that when the roller coaster inevitably plunges downward, there is a limit to how high above the seat they can levitate.

So keep all that in mind as we approach the next stage of the jump.

The Descent

I know you're all thinking "well, it really doesn't look THAT bad. Like, what is she complaining about? Lots of people jump 4' on green horses and it clearly isn't the end of the world."

No. No it is not. 

Here's Courage doing his best roller coaster impression. 

photo via HorselessinHalifax

At this point, I should probably just give it up, throw my hands in the air, and hope for a decent picture. My vanity forces me to point out that not only did we clear this jump, but Courage landed in balance and cantered away AND I STAYED ON, but I probably shouldn't brag about that unless I want to get bitch slapped by karma.

Which I don't. 

So... boys and girls, this is why all that flatwork I talked about yesterday is important. This is what happens if your green horse isn't recognizing you as leader (leg=go now) and isn't broke enough (hm, maybe I should have some impulsion) to save himself. We certainly have a plan moving forward and I will write you a full lesson wrap up later, but for now, I hope you're enjoying my deer leaps just as much as I am. 

Or possibly more, since you just get to laugh at the evidence instead of riding through it. ;-) It's a thrill, that's for sure. Happy weekend!

I Say Flatwork, You Say Dressage

photo via HorselessinHalifax

I think blogging about flatwork on a green horse with no pictures is beyond dull. Especially when it's a really good green horse who isn't doing anything theatrical or crazy or anything--he's just working through the learning curve and figuring out how to be the best at things like bending and trotting and responding to my leg.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

All that is out the window when I ACTUALLY HAVE PICTURES though. :-)



Per our lessons recently, we've been doing a TON of work on adjustability within the gaits. I usually do walk/halt walk transitions and throw in circles as needed until C-rage decides that he can deal with contact. Good news: the tantrums aren't severe and have gone from "an entire session" to "3-5 minutes". I can deal with that.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

Then we trot. Our biggest obstacle right now is that Courage gets a little stuck/locked up in his neck, right about where the standing martingale sits. I can work to remove that tension by doing a lot of forward and back at the trot and bending on a circle. Again, this used to take a really long time to accomplish, but as Courage learns just what it is I want him to be the best at, he's getting more and more responsive.

A big part of this is just taking my time and letting his body develop a new default and muscling. This whole concept is in direct opposition to his years on the track, so I don't get angry or flustered--I just set him up to succeed, day after day after day.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

It's the same in the canter. In order to jump well, I need him to understand (and obey) forward from my leg. NOW. I also need him to come back. S has had us play with lengthening down the long sides and then a small, collected circle at the ends of the arena. What I really love about this exercise (and the many, many repetitions) is that the small circle itself serves to collect the horse--I just have to keep him active and straight.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

And it's coming together. I don't see huge incremental leaps, but I'm getting consistent, steady improvement. When these pictures were taken, it was the first time ever that Courage gave up the brace in his neck at the shortened canter and really made like a ten meter circle. He's getting it.

It just takes lots of flat work.

So much flatwork.

ALL THE FLATWORK.

Wherein Courage Jumps Grids and I Stay On

Radio silence over here. Nothing quite as exciting as flat rides and dealing with life and all that goes along with it. That said, I went all crazy go nuts and entered the little man in the event derby next weekend. We are (of course) in the largest division with the least shot at a ribbon, but no way he's ready to move up at this point.

Anywho. S was back out to give us a lesson this weekend. She liked what we'd been working on and thought it was in his best interests to do some more grid work.

because 12" crossrail=SCOPE CHECK

It was actually quite funny. Courage is green as grass obviously (see: deer leaping over cross rails), but he seems to have a handle on grids. Point down the middle, move feet as indicated by poles. There is some super hilarious video I hope to get soon to share. We started upping the ante a little.

His thing about launching himself into the air over the babyest of jumps makes for great photo ops, but completely precludes "bascule" of any kind. Which you know, we'll sort of want if we ever want to jump clean or make strides or do a course, much less go in the hunters. 

The best at crossrail grids

We started with a placing poles before and after a single crossrail and built the grid up gradually. Courage is a little weaker to the right, recent racehorse and all, so S added some guide rails on the ground to help keep him straight during/after the grid.

It was pretty funny to be able to work on my riding and position while riding the little man. He was quite serious about being the best at grids (even if he's O.V.E.R. flatwork right now), and I practiced exhaling to the base of the jump and keeping my weight in my heels.

S added a final placing pole after the grid to make C-rage actually pay attention and place down over the fence instead of his signature launch into the stratosphere. He deer leaped it the first time we came around because the setup made him a little claustrophobic and contained.. I mean, I was just riding the grid and focusing and feeling the footfalls and keeping my brain slow and all off a sudden I felt like I was 2' out of the saddle and my feet were levitating above the stirrups and my hands were grabbing his ears because his head was in my lap and then he sort of dropped out from under me.

I said something really classy and figured I would be getting closely acquainted with the arena sand in about a half a second, but he landed in a straight line and cantered away quietly and I was still in the middle of him... So there's that.

Jumping like a normal horse. This makes me excited.

We did a couple more lines, and Courage discovered it was possible to in fact jump the jump he was presented with instead of the training/prelim fences he likes to imagine.

Of course, then he decided he ought to be done. 

And S thought he needed to jump a tiny course.

So careful.

The course got done, but not before we "galloped" (aka tried to get his canter going again) several laps around the arena and deer leaped the blue barrels a few times and had some general pissy fits. Still. His brain stayed in his head, I stayed on his back, and we ended on a really good note.

All in all, I think it was excellent prep for our upcoming intro BN debut. Here's hoping, right?

Tack and my OTTB

Because they're pretty cute

One thing that came out of our lesson on Monday was that I need to change my tack again. Hooray! I know I'm a little strange, but I love playing with tack ideas to help finesse the best performance possible.

So. For our lesson, I had Courage go in his micklem bridle with his eggbutt Sprenger bit, which is a very, very soft set up. This has been our default lately--I wanted the soft bit to encourage Courage to go into the contact, plus I figured it would minimize any errors I made over fences.

Mmmm leather and sparkles

Our trainer didn't love it. As she pointed out, he doesn't really mouth the bit or connect at all. He opens his mouth or closes his mouth. He isn't interacting with the bit. In addition, I tend to ride with a very soft contact. With the construction of the Sprenger eggbutt, that means the thickest part of the bit is barely touching the corners of his lips and having no action inside his mouth at all.

To me, this is actually good news. I mean, obviously I want to improve (/have) the connection and quality of the contact, but when we started, he'd just sort  of gape his mouth open and ignore me. Now we're facing a different set of challenges, which means things are changing and we're learning together. It is progress on a microcosmic level.

The prescription for hunter face

She wants to see him go in a plain cavesson to see if that encourages him to have a little more jaw mobility. Even though the mickelm is not very tight, changing up the arrangement (in concert with me stepping up the pressure) might help him learn to be more accepting of the bit.

In addition, she wants to try a thinner bit with the idea that it might give me a little more direct feedback and help him pay attention without having to use as much force.

She mentioned a d bit. Of course we'll try that. I've also had a lot of luck with the baucher and I'm not adverse to trying out a loose ring again, even if I do hate how they look.

I'm excited to play with my toys, that's for sure. Courage and I are doing flatwork boot camp while we bust out the bit box and reorganize the bridles.

Fancy Jumping Lesson Recap

That crossrail is bigger than you'd think

Yesterday we got our first ever jump lesson with our fancy eventing trainer. It was a serious information overload and I suspect that at the end of it, Redheadlins probably wanted to throw a bell boot at me. Clearly that would have been wildly unprovoked and not reflective of me doing the same to her on Sunday.

We started the lesson standing still, with my trainer asking me to drop his head. Courage and I bickered about it, but weren't making a lot of substantial progress. She pointed out two things: 1) this horse had been pulled on a lot (racing, der) and 2) his average is "good enough" that he's getting away with sort of toeing the line without actually doing what he's capable of.

"Right now, his trot is a 5," she said. "He is way too cute a horse to be a 5."

We started out with some concentrated flatwork. She told us that my homework was to do 20 transitions within the gaits EACH DIRECTION, EVERY RIDE. Basically, I need to pick a lot of little fights with him so he starts learning to accept me as the leader, which will make big fights (um, gate of doom, anyone?) less of a big deal. In addition, the transitions will get him more adjustable and accepting of the contact, which are things we don't really do.

I was pleased when I correctly said that he was moving his legs forward while holding his tension in his neck. I was also pleased when we were able to start alleviating that tension by trotting forward and really pushing him into a steady contact. I was even more pleased that C-rage is now at a mental place where he can handle the pressure and doesn't lose it.

Canter circle!

We then added in some poles and crossrails on the logic that flatwork is more interesting if there are jumps involved. For me, it was very much the same ride--leg to hand, stay consistent. The challenge is to hold my position and keep telling him what I want, vs constantly reacting to him and letting him set the tone of the conversation.

We did a couple of different exercises to get him engaged in the corner. We started with a leg yield to the right, but I don't have him responsive enough to my leg yet, so those tended to just cause some sort of unstoppable powerskid to the outside and we even stopped at a couple of crossrails because he was so crooked.

What worked really well for us was to do a small canter circle where I rode him really, really forward while keeping my hands equal distance from his neck (balance and consistency, eh?), then brought him to trot just as we headed to the jump. The circle brought his balance back and up, which then allowed me to relax and breath towards the jump.


Courage, of course, wanted to impress our trainer with his very best deer leaps, so I won't say it was the best jumping he ever did. That said, it was also the most pressure I've ever put on him while jumping and while he wanted to freak out and flail a few times, he kept it together and didn't. I call that a win.

Not my best position, but look who's cute!

At the end of the lesson, we discussed my position a bit--for the next two weeks (until our next lesson), she wants me to lengthen my stirrups and make me default position be down on him instead of two point. I'm quite strong (yay!) at two point, but then I sort of abdicate responsibility for direction and the point is for him to do what I'm asking.

All in all, a very excellent lesson. I have TONS to work on and the work we did in the lesson was some of the best we've ever done. He's taking a break after three hard days and I'm super excited to get back in the tack and start practicing.

May Weekends are the Best Weekends

What.

A.

Weekend.

It started out innocuously enough. My BO and I hauled to the hills to go for a trail ride Saturday morning. Courage is great at trail rides. I mean, yeah, his only bad day last year was trying to get to the ride itself, but we worked on that over the winter and he should be fine.

Or you know, not.

Y U SO HARD?

In order to access hundreds of acres of trails, we have to go through this gate. The green panels are padlocked and the barbed wire fence is well maintained.

The horses just have to walk up and step over the low spot on the little brown metal gate. Until Courage, I'd never had a horse have a problem with it. In fact, the first time C-rage went out there, he stepped over with no hesitation.

Now you can make all the arguments you want about how it looks spooky or is uninviting to horses or is scary or/or dangerous, but the fact is that if we want to trail ride at this location, we have to be able to deal with it.

Let's just say that didn't go well.

Rocking the out of control mane!

Forty-five minutes later, some nice man sent us down the road towards another barbed wire gate that was unlocked so we could move on. Courage proceeded to be foot perfect for the ride.

His only hairy moment was cresting a ridge and seeing three horses standing together.

Courage: OMG ALERT ALERT!!! GIANT THREE HEADED HORSE EATING MONSTER SPOTTED!! SUGGEST POSE DRAMATICALLY AND SNORT.

Me: It's horses with people having a little snack break.

Courage: Oh. Ok.

So despite the beginning, we had a lovely ride on the trails and both came home better than when we left.

The crew! Photo by HorselessinHalifax

Sunday was show practice day! Alyssa went and entered in an event derby, then promptly started pressuring Linds and I to do the same. We set up a time to practice dressage and jumping and hauling out (well, for everyone but Courage, but he hauls fine *knock on wood, fingers crossed*).

Alyssa brought the gorgeous Bacon, Lins brought everyone's favorite supermodel Diva, my awesome fellow boarder rode her 26 year old arab, and of course Courage was decked out.

Practicing my hunter duck. Photo by HorselessinHalifax

We all warmed up together in the arena, then worked on our individual dressage tests. Courage and I did much better than we have been lately, which still isn't fabulous. Ms Bacon was freaking phenomenal. She is going to beat us soooo bad at the show. Motivation to practice harder? Maybe.

Then we set a little course of crossrails, including one out in the pasture. That created a tiny natural "bank" between the arena and the field, so it was actually pretty legit event derby practice.

But he still looked awesome. Photo by HorselessinHalifax

Of course, I didn't think about how I had left his proposed galloping bit on the bridle. It's just a single jointed three ring with the reins on the big ring, so it shouldn't be _that_ severe, but he was NOT IMPRESSED. He did the first jump quite nicely. I took a slight feel of his mouth for one stride to half halt and there was head flinging and running sideways and dare I say we flailed a little? Not pretty.

We finished up our course, but it wasn't nearly as smooth and polished as I would expect out of him with his beloved Sprenger in.

Giant bit does not impede napping. Photo by HorselessinHalifax

But hey. We got around, everyone had a good time, and my (real) mom came out and brought everybody lunch. I think all weekends should be like this.

We're looking forward to a lesson (fingers crossed) today. Rest assured, C-rage will be in his micklem and sprenger and I will try to round up a photographer!