Then there was...

chaos... fueled by questionable life choices.

But really, I'm pretty sure this was the best decision ever.

                                                    

My eventing pony (hony) dreams have come true. 

Life is short, buy the Butterball pony that makes you smile. 

Just Beginning

Goggles had his BN debut on Saturday with AT in the irons. The initial plan had been for him to spend the week while I was out of town at their farm and then come home with me when I got back. But then Debby happened. Goggles pulled a shoe Friday evening and was scheduled to get it back on Monday, but that was when Debby was the worst. TBH, it turned out to be a bit more of a storm than I expected. It was extremely slow moving, so we ended up with rain and wind from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning with the worst of it early Monday. This meant that he didn't get his shoe back on until Wednesday. At that point it just made the most sense to leave him until the morning of the show. Also, unbeknownst to him, he wasn't going to go back out with Ben once home, so it wasn't going to be a super relaxing return home for him either. 

Ben and his new friend "Romeo" who is actually a friend. No bites, no kicks, no drama. Just two dudes hanging. 

Mooching for treats 

So Friday he got his mane pulled and got bathed. Then Saturday I picked up a friend and her horse right down the road from AT's and then loaded Goggles up. We've traveled with this friend before and while he enjoys company (and puts in a small protest when he loads solo into a trailer), he absolutely does not participate in buddy drama. It makes him a pretty excellent companion. Goggles marched right in to the trailer at JT's. 

Once at Majestic, Toby and Goggles munched hay and drank water pretty contentedly on the trailer together with Goggles only occasionally trying to eat Toby under the head divider. I took Goggles off the trailer at the same time as Toby and stood around with him. He ate until Toby left and then stood and stared. Which is MUCH BETTER than the kite flying option he has occasionally chosen. 

I think his withers grew again? He's looking more uphill these days. 

AT had three horses in the BN and Goggles was the last one, but they were essentially back to back for dressage. Then she had a short break and then the rotation started again for stadium + XC. I tacked Goggles up and hand walked him to the dressage warm up. I had his rope halter and line over my shoulder just in case, but he actually had all his brain cells installed. He wasn't super duper relaxed, but he was responding and not going up in the air or standing on me, a major improvement from trying to hand walk away from friends at previous shows. 

As they went in for their dressage test, the skies looked pretty threatening. I was reallllly hoping it wouldn't open up in the middle of the test because he HATES getting rained on. I mean, he would've dealt, but we were going for a soft back and some bending and giving, and I know that would've all gone straight out the window if he started getting rained on. Fortunately it just provided some relief from the heat and did not rain, which carried on through most of the day until we were actually leaving with horses on the trailer. 

His test was lovely, he stayed soft and relaxed and really tried the whole time. He even got a 7 on his left lead canter circle! As soon as they halted and saluted, he periscoped up and craned his head/neck to stare at the horse in the arena next to him, he is such a busy body. The test was good enough for a 35.9 and 5th place out of 9. Definite progress!! 

I hosed him off and let him graze for a few before putting him right back on the trailer. Toby was hanging out tied to the trailer and even without him on, Goggles marched right on and started eating hay again. He did have another moment when Toby left for stadium, but he mostly settled after a few. Then Toby came back to change bridles and boots before XC and that time when he left Goggles cared even less. Good! See, he always comes back! 

Times were scheduled relatively close together, he dressaged at 11:10 and then had stadium at 1:15. He was tacked up and ready to meet AT after she finished her second stadium + XC ride. They headed to stadium and popped a few jumps and then headed in. He was super for the round, mostly very rideable, although he didn't lift up quite enough to one half halt and knocked a rail on a small vertical. But overall relaxed and happy again. 

Then they headed over to XC and hopped over the warm up jumps once and then headed off. Again, he was just super! They front loaded the course with horse spooky jumps (blue and white cabin for #2) and rider spooky jumps (trakehner for #3). He did eye the blue and white cabin, but AT said DO IT and he did, jumping it a bit awkwardly, but going. He had a steady relaxed rhythm the whole time and looked confident out there. Really cannot ask for more! 

Overall this was a GREAT show for him. AT does such a good job giving him a calm, confident ride with the right balance of get your shit together sir and praise. He is responding really well, and I'm excited to get back out there with him. 

I think this came at the right time, the first two shows at Majestic, in dressage in particular, he was having a hard enough time just functioning, so he couldn't have dealt with any more pressure. So it was just fine that it was me in the irons, just helping him deal as much as possible. But this time he was ready for more pressure and could handle it without his brain exploding, so having AT ask for more bend and a softer back was perfect. 

It was a great day for the whole crew - two division winners and solid rounds from everyone else. Goggles' 35 and one rail was good enough for 6th! Our friend went and grabbed ribbons while I finished packing up as the rain was threatening, and she came back with a 5th place ribbon. Since the skies opened up as this was happening, I didn't bother going to exchange it. Goggles had a minor fit when Toby got off the trailer, but seemed to calm down once we were back on the road again. If things go according to plan, they'll get to be trailer buddies for Stable View Oktoberfest at the end of September.  

Home and desperately curious about Ben and his new friend. "I HAVE TO GO SEE, STOP TAKING PICTURES AND LET ME OU!!!" 

WW: Ribbons

Insert lead rope

Hm, this seems interesting

Noms

Satisfied chewing

Fine human, I'll "pose"

Full disclaimer, there were four people in the class we placed first in, our one clear round, but there were just two and three people in the other two classes. But he still looks so cute with the ribbons. 

July Wrap Up

    

	Goggles
Training rides	5
Lessons	1
Hacks	2
Ground work, lunge, long line	4- 1 trailer loading and tarp, 3 lunge sessions with trot poles
Flat rides	5
Conditioning rides	0
XC school	1 – with AT
Shows	1 – HSITP jumpers (+ warm up day)

Goggles: Goggles had 15 rides this month, averaging every other day. The big news this month was his trip to do jumper rounds, which he most certainly did.  There was a lot to work on, but he showed up and TRIED the WHOLE time. 

July was also the month when trailering just... seemed to click... and in spite of doing a lot of it, he just... kept walking on the dang thing. Once I'm sure it isn't just a temporary fluke, I'll sum it all up in a post. 

We increased the distance of our hacks down the road. He has continued to get more and more relaxed, to the point that his first ride after the show was in the bareback pad. 

Is trustworthy steed? 

Seems that way...

This month I discovered a pretty large hole in his understanding of multiple ground poles in sequence. I noticed it under saddle when trying to do some raised trot poles and then noticed a lot of anxiety when doing 4 trot poles on the lunge. So we did three lunge sessions just very casually. He wants so badly to be a good boy and DO THE THING so he gets a lot of anxiety about DOING it. So these lunge sessions were just in his rope halter and on the line, lunge whip mostly tucked backwards under my elbow. As a trained horse, he needs to feel confident with the lunge whip, so it is present, but I found that if I moved it much the tension went WAY UP. We'll get there though. Ben lunges sooooo well but does require the presence of a lunge whip but never requires much use of it. Whoever taught him to lunge did a great job, and he's simultaneously relaxed but in tune and responsive to just voice commands. I'd like to get there with Goggles eventually. Our last lunge session of the month he was much more relaxed and seeking out his two trot poles and mostly slowly stepping over them while articulating more with his hocks vs. rushing forward and down and frantically stepping through them. 

He went to JT's at the end of the month since I was headed out of town for 8 days. He's signed up for his BN debut with AT at the Majestic schooling show this weekend, so I felt like it would be most fair for both him and AT to give him the week with her. I also was hoping he was finally emotionally stable enough to deal with moving to JT's barn for a week with his Relyne AND gastrogard to help keep his belly happy. He went XC schooling and had a great report back, just one stop at a blue and white cabin that has thoroughly spooked many horses. 

He also got hind shoes put on this month. He wasn't lame behind, but he was losing a hind foot behind him with some regularity. So back in those he goes. Hopefully once it's winter and dry again they can come back off. We'll see. 

Ben: Ben had a hard month. He did get a few good acupuncture sessions in, including one at the Chi institute. This was my first... not positive experience there though. During the scanning the instructor was emphasizing REALLY digging in with the hemostat tip he was using to scan. Which meant that my sensitive thoroughbred was "sensitive all over". I don't doubt body soreness from his feet, but c'mon, every single point was hot? I've seen other people emphasize the need to find a neutral spot on the hindquarters or shoulder or neck and decide what is just... the fact that you're running some foreign object along their skin with some degree of pressure and what is an actual response. This helps establish the amount of pressure you need to use ON THAT HORSE. I've had A LOT of positive experiences there with instructors I've really liked, so we'll keep going back if we make it into the lab sign ups, but I will request not to work with this particular instructor again. This instructor seemed a better fit for... not a thoroughbred. Ben did still seem to enjoy the treatment portion as well as hanging out with the students and being his usual friendly, social butterfly self, but I was still annoyed and he was certainly uncomfortable for the 5-10 minutes of scanning that the instructor (and then the students after he demonstrated HOW HARD they had to scan) did. 

Pretty wide eyed after walking off the trailer, it's been a minute since he's gone somewhere other than JT's! 

Scoping things out 

His feet continue to be an issue, because, shocker, these things take time, and Florida in the summer is not the most friendly time of year to try barefoot. My husband and I put on EasyCare octos that lasted for exactly a week. 

On the plus side, I found them in the field after they came off and could reapply if I thought they would stay on. They also made him instantly MUCH more comfy. He got a tiny amount rasped off by his usual farrier and was lame at the walk afterwards, so these did get him over the hump of that. 

His hind feet are doing pretty well. I can't assess soundness since he's still so lame up front, but when my husband was helping me with the octos, I had him press all over with his thumbs and the prior soreness from this spring to just finger pressure is gone. 

When Goggles headed to JT's, Ben got to go out with two of the barn owner's mares. They were all most delighted.

Going to make this a permanent set up since Goggles is just too mean.