Henry Adventures

There's only so much I can write about walking and trotting, so how about a cross country adventure? 

Henry and I got to go to Rocking Horse on Saturday. We arrived a few minutes after 8:30 and (mostly) beat the crowds. We still didn't beat the heat, but let's be honest, that's not really a thing in July in central Florida.

As per usual, Henry was a delight. He eyed the coffin like riveted ditch under the upper level trakehner while we warmed up, and I promised him we definitely would NOT be jumping it. Once we were warmed up, we looped across the acres Rocking Horse has to offer and popped a few fences in each area. Henry is potentially the most fun I've had cross country since Zinger. If you ride him anywhere close to appropriately, he is willing and steady.

Pardon the ridiculous background music I put to the video. Avoiding copyright issues.. 

I did mess up twice on our last loop out. We were headed slightly downhill to a fence with a sandy takeoff. He'd been generous with taking the longer spot a few times already, but when I let him lengthen the last 5-6 strides past the appropriate distance to either a cruddy chip or a long spot/big effort, he declined. I repeated the mistake before I wised up and decided if I couldn't ride better I'd at least change the circumstances to make it easier. We picked up the BN size fence on the reverse (uphill) approach, circled around and did the N fence that had been causing me problems uphill, and then called it good. I could definitely feel Henry going "Silly kid, I think she needs to learn something" as he opted to not bail me out and then nodding with satisfaction when I got it right. 

Best boy headed home, Ft Presto ears

He has the easiest, steadiest canter out cross country. He's happy to go a bit more forward or just lope steadily, but really requires very little input from his pilot to maintain set speed and direction. It's a nice change from Ben who did a lot of sideways, Goggles who would've gotten there but was green, and Butterball who doesn't necessarily see the point or joy in a nice long canter-gallop. The joy of a good thoroughbred out for a canter or gallop cross country is truly unmatched. 

Field Trips

Henry and I continue to have a blast (well I'm having a blast, he's happy 90% of the time, the other 10% of the time he's internally shaking his head at me). We played cross country again. 

And then did a couple of stadium rounds a week later. 

He's a different ride from Butterball, but at the same time, the basics of a steady, even stride and having enough canter don't really change. So it's good to still be getting in the mileage there. But it's also just plain fun to go jump around with a willing partner. 

Meanwhile, Butterball got to go on a field trip to the Chi Institute. Ben had gone to their labs several times, but I had not taken Butterball. I was worried that he did not have 4 hours of touching in him. He is a VERY GOOD PONY, but he also has LOTS OF THOUGHTS and does LOTS OF THINGS. Whereas Ben is one of the only horses I know who would have been DELIGHTED to be in the exact same dressage arena every single day of his life. Soooo basically I was worried that we were going to run out of quarters and he was going to become the most annoying, fussy, fidgety pony ever. 

Well, I underestimated my pony-golden-retriever. He had a great time. 

First he inspected their lawn care job and helped out by removing any stray grass blades

His muzzle looks uneven. It was. They worked on it. 

He enjoyed (almost) all the touching and reciprocated by cuddling with every single person

Then he got a nice break and ate some grass

Purposely headed into the long section, full on water buffalo 

Hold on, I can't go back in yet, I'm peeing (and eating)

Definitely would have put himself through the person gate/pass through... definitely a pony 

After his break he got REALLY SLEEPY 

And took a nap

The whole first half was the students reviewing points, but even then he did react to the finger pressure at a few of them. It was very cool to see. 

After the break they did an actual treatment with needles. They decided to work on his qi deficiency (based on his tongue, pulses, and tendon issue). He had many more feelings about his treatment than Ben ever did. He did request that the students slow down at one point when he was hit with a number of points around the feet. It was a good learning moment for them to look at their patient as well. But once the points were in he processed them very quietly. It was the first time that he was still other than when he napped. And after about 5-7 minutes he sorta came to again and had a few big releases and then requested that the needles be removed. 

I took notes on which points they used and added a couple to my dolphin stim treatment plan for him. The TA did some myofascial release on him as well and noted tightness over his left SI area. While she released that myofascial sheet, he had some muscle fasciculations in his left lumbar paraspinal muscles, it all really is connected! The next ride our halts were so much straighter than they have been. 

His new farm is on the way home, so we stopped and did his 30 minute walk there, it was fun to put pony on property for the first time

That grass is for me? 

Henry Adventures

The 👑deserves his own post after two awesome cross country adventures in the past week. 

Saturday we went to the horse park. I had taken Henry XC once before, and it is always a joy. I really hope everyone gets to ride a Henry cross country at some point in their life. He is so straight forward and is also obviously having a great time. At the end I thought the gallop over the bridge to the cabin looked fun. When I believed in it, he was delighted to do it. A few times when there were no fences in sight he did a tiny bit of his trademark porpoising, which is hilarious. Also, this is all done in the side pull hackamore. Perfect boy. 

Then yesterday we went to Sweet Dixie to play. We got a bit of a later start and it was toasty, so we didn't do much, but as usual he was perfect. He's very helpful for continuing to develop the feel of NOT changing the pace the last few strides. Don't push, don't pull, just keep the stride length the same and it all works out. 

As a thank you for continuing to put up with my sometimes questionable choices, I took him to get his hocks done after we left Sweet Dixie. 

Is he not the absolute cutest? 

And since he's probably going to sneak into every single post for a good long while... another Charlie tidbit. After tucking Henny away in his stall, I hung out with Charlie for a few. We did a few "real" things like picking up feet and moving away from pressure. He is just so stinking cute. His muzzle is the perfect size and softness to smooch on. 

Is he even real? 

Mr. Fancy Pants

Butterball and I had a fun extended weekend. We unintentionally put together two of three phases of an event but in a new order. There is zero media from any kind of action, but I did take many, many pictures of the golden pat of butter hanging out. 

We went to Majestic Oaks on Friday with Ms. GY and her guy. Butterbal was, once again, just a delight. Even with his nemesis, the tires. He's found this jump just incredibly spooky, stopping 20-30 feet out to stare before finally jumping it every other time we've been. This time we jumped it on the first go, not pretty, but still an improvement. One of my favorite things about this horse is that once he has learned something won't eat him, he seems to remember (in direct contrast to darling Ben who thought a specific jump panel at JT's was going to kill him every single time). 

We looped around doing 4-5 jumps at a go before taking a break and moving somewhere else on course. We played with a few training fences as well once things were going swimmingly. And he was great, tackling the training roll top to water to novice corner like the wonderful boy he is. Happily, all our changes were there too. 

Palisade, the ground drops away from the backside in a more impressive way in person. He was so good and clever to this, waiting to the base. 

Mane taming in prep for the dressage show the next day

We didn't do a ton since we were headed to a dressage show the next morning. But it was enough for me to feel comfortable planning** to send in my entry for the May event there. 

So GOLDEN

I used to do the North Florida Dressage Association (NFDA) schooling shows all.the.time as a teenager, but hadn't been since then. I thought it would be fun to return and essentially wanted to practice some dressage tests and hear how perfect my pony is for a relatively low cost. Plus my sister in law was showing and it's always nice to have friends at shows. 

So Saturday morning I bathed the poor pony at 7:30 with a pocket full of treats. He doesn't like getting hosed at the best of times and 55 degrees and no pre heating workout didn't help. The other issue is that our hosing spot is a tie up high in a tree over grass and dirt. Normally this is fine, but when you're trying to get a moving pony's stockings white, it matters. Jokes on me though, for some reason he had loose poops that morning, so the hind stockings were spattered brown/green by the time we arrived at the equestrian center. 

The show was at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center, which was another appealing point for going. The Equestrian Center is a little over an hour from us, the same distance as the Florida Horse Park where the Ocala dressage association (STRIDE) holds their shows. It was an easy drive over after his bath. When we arrived, I left him in the trailer, moseyed by the show rings and found the office with no difficulty. Fortunately our number was in the "nice" pile meaning we'd sent in all our documents and payment correctly, so I picked it up and went back to the trailer to get pony out for a bit of a hand walk. 

Most handsome, but spot the poop splatters on the right hind

The grass IS always greener on the other side of the fence

He seemed relatively settled, so I found my sister in law while we were walking. We chatted for a few, and then BB and I went back to the trailer to get tacked up. 

11 usually IS his nap time 

Something caught his attention. Ermagerd he's cute.

Beautiful details on the saddle literally highlighted by the sun/shadow contrast here

I got on about 25 minutes before my first class, training 2. He warmed up like the professional he is, then I had 15 minutes to my class. When will I learn. He's honestly easier at shows than at home. So we took a walk around the barn and then started back up again when the rider before us went into the ring. He had a few moments of sticky I don't wanna and then went back to work. Good boy. Our test was accurate and pleasant, but lacking sparkle. I guess the judge felt like pleasant and consistent was good enough since we ended up with a 72% which put us in first in the class. 

As usual, the canter was the weakest part of the test. We did get a 7 on our left lead T-C transition and a 7.5 on the C-T transition both directions, but got 6's for the canter circles. And 6's for both centerlines. The final halt we were left of centerline which is easily fixable, but he was against my hand in both. The entry was abrupt because I was staring at the letters from the nearby small arena and almost missed the mark at E-B to halt. This led to him almost rein backing as we stepped off into the trot again, but I barely stopped that, leading to the crookedness as we departed. 

He got sponged off afterwards, then got a chance to pee before getting back on the trailer for some more hay under his fan. 

Classic picture

Noms

I watched some short stirrup divisions at the HJ show that was going on and ate some food before heading back to get him tacked up for the second test.  

His little face melts my heart. Especially when accompanied by the nicker he did as I walked back towards him

I wised up and gave us just 10 minutes to get ready for the second test. We did do quite a few canter transitions in that time though, focusing on me moving my back but not driving with my seat through the transitions and the canter itself. 

Then we headed in. The judge stopped me as we were giving them our number and said "It's Mr. Fancy Pants again!" She asked about his breeding and shared that she had bred her hanoverian mare to a welsh stallion and adored the cross as well. The test was again pleasant and consistent overall. The canter work had helped some and we got 6.5s for both our circles this time. Our centerlines also improved. 

Good enough for a 73% for first in the class and high point amateur for the day. 

Thinks ribbon pics are stupid

Hiding his face and refusing to show off the ribbon

Back home a couple of hours later and staring at the other horses while posing

Everyone decided the bareback hack to the barn was the perfect time to gallop up the field as well. Worth his weight in gold, he kept all his marbles while they did that. 

Bestest boy

While I did get told by several people in warm up and the judge how perfect he was, which was most of my stated goal, we should've done first level. I was worried about doing lengthenings and leg yields on cue, but the large arena gives adequate time for preparation, and we both would've been a bit more entertained with those additions. Honestly, the training level tests were a bit the antithesis of what JV has been telling me - always be doing something. And changing tempo is pretty frowned upon in the test, so the diagonals, circles, etc. there was a lot of time for both of us to kinda zone out. But overall it was a fun day with my best bud. 

**Planning to send in my entry meant I got as far as the payment screen then gawked at $330. I texted a few people then made a plan to volunteer at the event and then school the cross country the next day. What I've been discovering this winter and spring is that shows are the most fun when done with friends. So that's what I've been prioritizing. Butters doesn't need the show ring experience at this point. And I'm not trying to qualify for anything this year. Which means we go for fun, and I've slowly been figuring out what makes things the most fun: positive experiences that challenge us a bit done with friends. 

This and That

Butterball and I joined Ms. GY at Sweet Dixie on Saturday morning and had the best time. I used the lessons from earlier that week with PW and didn't drop him, no matter what the distance. My friend came as our ground crew too and pointed out NOT letting him lengthen into downhill fences was helpful. Oh yeah, EM pointed that out too. 

With that feeling, I started asking questions with some skinnier fences and combinations, and he was 100% game on. Not a single hesitation. It is a great feeling.

He looks so little in this picture! 

We did another fun trail ride at Black Prong with Amanda and Hillary. I downloaded a .GPX map this time and we used that to navigate. It worked beautifully. 

He's turning in to such a pro and knows to drink when we get to nice pretty water. Side note, this place must be absolutely soggy during the wet season

Henry got very skeptical when it got deeper than the regulation 11"

Then on Monday BB and I took a bareback hack around the neighborhood. All went well until the herd of five cows SPRINTED at the fence as we were walking by. A car was also coming down the road. Poor pony tried so hard to hold it together as he went sideways and then attempted a spin. He let me hop off though and then walked right up to the fence (granted while hiding DIRECTLY) behind me and sniffed noses with the offending moos. 

This was the trouble maker that ran first 

Ridiculously friendly

He was a little on edge, understandably, after that until we found a patch of nice black jack to munch on 

He and his buckskin BFF can share the makeshift hay feeder

Foggy ponies

Casual Friday

My friend and I met up at Magnolia Sands yesterday morning for a fun little pop around. Per our usual adventure style, I didn't give the best directions and she ended up passing the entrance. The sign had also acquired a lot of vegetation and there was a truck blocking it, so she was doomed to fail on that one. It was her first XC school with her new Irish dude and since Butterball had worked his tail off doing dressage on Thursday, I wanted to keep it low key as well. Plus, y'know, it's roughly five million degrees + five million percent humidity, so the heat index is something special these days. 

Both boys were super brave about the sights - including a new barn that housed longhorns in the corner of the field. Butterball has schooled here before, I think, but I've never ridden him here. There are sometimes a lot of things to see... pasos on one side, baby horses/donkeys/mules, cows in tree lines, etc. But as said, both boys were just excellent. 

And Butterball was just amazing. I rode him in his double jointed happy mouth and never felt like I needed more. He was easy to the fences and just popped over everything. We got one deep spot to a bench where I kinda thought we should've taken the long, but he was all "Nah, mom, we don't have enough energy for that" and he was right. But he was dead honest over the half coffin, which can be spooky because the ditch is in a little valley. We had done it properly and popped over the ditch both directions before presenting it as a half coffin, but I was still impressed. We're starting to ask the tougher questions with combinations, and he took the jump into the water easy peasy as well. 

I'll save ya'll from the blurry screenshots this go round and just share almost all of what we did this morning. I'm going to sound like a broken record, but he's just the coolest creature. 

In the afternoon he got to play pony for my friend and her 7 and 3 year old kiddos. We grew up riding together; her mom was my riding instructor. But she's gotten out of horses for the most part. Until a year ago she did still have her QH that I learned to ride on when I was EIGHT! He was on lease to a family about 1.5 hours from where she lives. So her older son had spent some time with horses, but rather infrequently. Butterball seemed to love the attention from him though. Her older kiddo is a really gentle soul and rather than pulling for grass, Butterball just stood and got a relaxed sleepy look while he brushed him. Then we popped kiddo up on his back in the bareback pad and led him around the ring. At first he was holding on with his heels which led to a kinda confused face from BB, but after a few minutes he realized he was just to ignore that. And we got the kiddo to sit up and relax his leg down. Then it was just happy, relaxed faces from both of them. It was precious. My friend called him a Breyer pony, which fits him perfectly. He got well paid for his time with plenty of low sugar cookies, so I don't think he was too upset about two "rides" in one day. I seriously could not adore this horse more. To go from popping around some new questions cross country to being a kid's pony in the same day? Absolutely priceless. 

BOING!!!

Butterball and I joined two friends and their horses at Majestic Oaks on Friday with Lija as our ground crew/emotional support/videographer. Butterball had just done lots o' gymnastics the day before, but in spite of that was still kinda feeling himself. Both friends were on greener horses, so I let them trot/canter away from us rather than leaving them when we started to warm up. This led to Butterball having some feelings in a hilarious way. He immediately wanted to pick up the canter rather than trot in a civilized fashion, so we did. Then he did a little bit of porpoising when I wouldn't let him canter towards his friends. After we went forward and back, we started popping around some fences which all went pretty smoothly. Shortly after that he decided he was tired and could in fact stand by Lija in the golf cart and chill while his friends went and did things. 

I wanted to just pop over a few lines and make sure our work in the ring would transfer out to cross country fences. 

Ft Butterball absolutely jumping me out of the tack 

Same horse, quietly enjoying his hay in the trailer with his eyes closed. Then goes out on cross country and looks like an absolute rockstar. How did I get so lucky?? 

As seen above, it definitely did translate pretty darn well. I also had an INCREDIBLY HELPFUL GROUNDBREAKING REALIZATION. Like I cantered up to Lija in the golf cart shouting about it. I had just botched three of five fences that I had strung together. As I eyed the last one before chipping miserably at the base, I realized something. 

I have been told to look at the dang fence by both JT and PW. PW explained the nuances of look at the ground rail if you want a deep spot, look at the top rail if you want a normal spot. As I stared at the above fence, my eyes did a freaking polka jumping around from one spot to another on the face and the top rail. I didn't like the way the distance was feeling so I looked at a different spot. Nope, not better, let's change again, nope try the first spot, nope, and so on. 

Didn't botch it the second time because.... 

In the above picture, I stared at the top rail and three strides out realized it was going to be slightly gappy. I sat chilly and supported him and he left the ground at the exact spot I knew he was going to. Fucking magic, ya'll. 

I don't think anyone had bothered telling me to stare at the SAME SPOT because telling me not to take my eye of the fence kinda implies looking at the same damned spot. Unless you're me. And your brain thinks that you can change physics by looking somewhere else perhaps. 

Such a good lad 

Anyways, mission accomplished with a chill school before Ocala next weekend. And hopefully mission really accomplished with my realization on how exact my eye needs to be.