This and that

Ben and I have been gearing up for our training level debut together - this Sunday at the Partners of the Park schooling show at the Florida Horse Park, where he did his last event. Most likely it will be over the same course, so we're hoping to ease into our training level partnership. The weekend after that is Rocking Horse, which will be our recognized training debut. 

I ran through training level test B for the first time on Friday and was appalled by having to do transitions AT letters. Ugh. Okay, fine, time for me to grow up a bit. I keep struggling with the left lead canter transition though - it is at K after doing a 15m trot circle at E. It's in the same relative position in the ring as the right lead transition. However, I am not struggling to the right, but I keep shoving him downhill into the corner and chasing him into the canter to the left. We went back out of the dressage ring and worked on the left lead transition till it was smooth and lovely when we were ready for it, then brought it back into the ring and tried again. It went better, but still not as well as the right lead. Huh. Hopefully I'll squeeze in a dressage lesson at some point in the next two weeks to get JT's pointers on the test. The stretchy circle immediately after trot lengthening was also kinda tough, I really need to emphasize coming back from the lengthening to start the stretch. 

My difficulties with the test aside, he has felt FANTASTIC in our last few dressage schools. Just really through and forward and willing and so much fun. He's slipping behind a little bit, but he is also due to get his feet redone on Tuesday. I caved and put him in hind shoes at the beginning of September. Lo and behold he is not sore in his lumbar area anymore for his chiro adjustments. I don't understand it, nor does my wallet appreciate the $350 farrier bill, but if it makes him happy, what the hey. I've been trying to remember to do his hind leg stifle stretches AFTER riding instead of before. Humans they don't recommend stretching "cold", but it is much harder for me to remember to do after because I don't usually pick out his feet after riding (bad owner). 

We're without jump saddle at this time, but fortunately a very generous, lovely friend is letting me use hers on Ben when we're at JT's barn, so that is what we're going to use for cross country schooling tomorrow. 

Last week we took it easy mostly. We had a lunging day where we played a bit with hunting the jump (pole). I discovered a few weeks ago that he was not very relaxed on the lunge and that woah didn't work that well. So we purposefully had a VERY lazy, relaxed lunging session. It was fun, I could visibly see him relax after a bit. He is really very clever with his feet, and moving the circle around picking up our two ground poles at different angles was interesting to watch. He would scope out the pole and adjust his striding a ways away from it to get it right. He also very tidily trotted over the lunge whip where I had abandoned it and forgotten about it. 

He's been super careful and adorable with the GY's new corgi puppy who sometimes is not very aware of horse feet. Ben just puts his nose way down and kind of snuffles him and steps very carefully around him. He is not an incredibly careful jumper in terms of rails, but it is very interesting to see how precisely careful he is with anything on the ground. Maybe part of his spookiness? 

Today we hacked out to where they are harvesting some pines in the neighborhood. He was extraordinarily brave and watched them drop a few very large trees. But he also spooked/flattened himself to the ground twice when the neighbor ponies walked up to the fence while we were leaving the pasture. #horselogic

Also last week I introduced him to the balance pads. He kept shifting weight from side to side when they were under his hind feet - definitely more challenging for him than when they were under the front. I love that he is just barely downhill with the pads added in. 

In addition to remembering to do his hind leg stretches post ride, I'm trying to do the bladder meridian twice a week. There was a Masterson Method post on instagram where he said that for spooky or anxious horses, it is a very useful exercise done regularly to increase relaxation and trust. I have had to repeat the first side both times, he is so busy and engaged externally that I really don't get feedback on the first go round, but the second time he does seem to turn internally and lose some of the focus on the outside world - maybe that is why it is supposed to be useful?  

Mostly a rambling post lacking media, but I did want to get down some of what we've been doing lately. 

Gear Post 2022

Inspired by Emma's post, I'm cataloging the gear Ben and I are currently using. It's still a work in progress, especially saddle, but I'm hopeful we're on the right track. 

Starting with my feet because I'm actually pretty proud of myself on this one. I ride in paddock boots and half chaps. Ever since giving up the shorts and full suede chaps in middle school and high school, I've been a paddock boots and half chaps kinda person. And I've actually never strayed from Ariat half chaps - each pair has lasted me 6+ years, so why change it up? I do try to occasionally lesson in my tall boots and usually cross country school in them just because the feel is slightly different and I don't love getting to a show and feeling uncomfortable because of the boot switch. 

I did briefly try Dublin paddock boots, but I'm back to Ariats there as well. The Dublins I tried were... I think $50? And within the first month were sloughing the non-leather coating around the flex point of the foot at the base of the toe box. In their defense, I am not easy on paddock boots and (formerly) hosed horses and walked through tons of wet grass in them. And I didn't expect $50 boots to last THAT long, but a month? Out of irritation I ended up wearing them for about 2 years. Once they lost the outer coating around the flex point, they kinda stopped degrading there and the zipper and such kept working. Recently though, I got pretty sick of wet feet so replaced them with the $150+ Ariats along with a pair of... 

Xtra Tuffs! 

With the new Ariats

My friend suggested these - they're meant to be boat shoes, so they're waterproof and have good traction. If you're willing to get a funky color (Ms. GY calls them my mint julep shoes) you can find deals on them, these were $80. They do run BIG, I'm usually an 8.5-9, but ended up exchanging my 9 for an 8. But they're sturdy, comfy, and water proof. I've done a lot of walking in them and haven't gotten a blister so far. And for the first time I'm actually being good about switching into these out of my paddock boots right after riding so I'm hopefully prolonging the life of my paddock boots. <-- That's the part that I'm proud of, not the riding in half chaps LOL 

Continuing on the foot part, Ben goes in a short roller ball spur unless we're just hacking out. He is pretty twitchy about the dressage whip, so a spur to reinforce the leg aid works much better. 

For tall boots, I have a pair of Ariat Heritage Contour Field Boots. I neither love nor hate them. The leather behind the laces has broken down after a relatively small number of rides, but it isn't visible so I'm not too fussed about it. I haven't tried on more expensive or more customized boots; there is a whole world out there I haven't experienced, but I have no reason to open that (expensive) door. 

Ft current tall boots, spurs, saddle + pad, breastplate, breeches, and helmet

Breeches... meh not a lot to say here. Like the boots I don't have strong opinions about breeches, which makes me a pretty poor reviewer of them. Somehow I've acquired a large number of hand me down tights, so I wear mostly those in the summer. I have various Smart Pak full seats bought on sale for lessons or schooling shows. For shows the Smart Pak show breeches seem to clean up pretty nicely and go right back to being white without any special treatment after use, so I have two white knee patch pairs. Plus, I have never bought Smart Pak brand anything at full price... I browse my size breeches every time they have a sale and will snag a pair if there's something appealing. 

Helmet is a One K Defender MIPS. I LOVED my goofy One K with the built in flip down sunglass shield, but they don't make those anymore and I had to retire that one since based on the amount of arena material in it, it hit the ground in some way when Leila and I somersaulted. The MIPS doesn't fit quite as well - slightly more oval than my head is, so I do need to make an Ocala tack shop trip to try on some other MIPS helmets. 

Show shirt and jacket are a work in progress as well. I purchased an AA MotionLite in the spring, but then we didn't make it to the May show due to the World's Longest Abscess. So I haven't tried it out yet, but I am excited about the prospect of being a bit less sweaty! 

I have worn Heritage Performance Gloves for as long as I can remember. They're reasonably priced and last me years. I think the last pair I bought was in... 2015-6? Mine recently became more hole than glove though, so I bought a new pair and actually went with non-black (I am boring). For shows I have a pair of black Roeckl Roeck grip gloves. 

Jade! It is a bit more green than this was photographing 

Moving on to Ben... 

He doesn't typically wear boots, kiddo is really very careful about where his feet are going. Out cross country, he rocks the same pair of Majyk Equipe cross country boots that Yoshi wore. 

The most handsome <3 

Saddle wise... well that's where it is a work in progress. He is too narrow for literally every saddle of JT's and the GY's. I have a Forestier Boekelo that a rep assessed last week. The panel change we did in the spring does not seem to be working and he's now got some atrophy of his trapezius muscle that makes me cringe every time I look at it. We have a plan though, saddle is gone and is having several different changes made (making the tree more narrow, cut out for scapula, narrower channel) and then we will check it. If those things look good AND make his back happy, we'll do the same things to the dressage saddle, a Forestier Aachen. 

I have loved the saddle since the moment I sat in it, so no changes needed for me. Hopefully we can make Ben love it too though. 

Until the saddles are fixed, we're using a shimmed Mattes pad from the GY's. I am so spoiled between them and JT, all are so generous with trying things, borrowing things, etc etc so that I don't have to buy things just to test them out or use them temporarily. 

He's not picky on the girth, so for dressage and jumping he goes in a synthetic, padded Collegiate. I did notice while JT was on him this weekend that the billet ends DO NOT want to stay tucked in to this, so perhaps I'll play with some of my other girths. 

He wears a PSofSweden breastplate for jumping. It is very, very pretty. Other than hating cleaning it, which I think is standard to any breastplat, I love it. Like all things PSofSweden, it is not incredibly adjustable and he probably could have gone with a cob, not a horse size, but it works at the horse size, it is just adjusted pretty high on all the holes and has to go around the girth with the leather loop, not clip onto the girth. 

For dressage at home, he wears the bridle that I dyed back in April. It has worn really well. I don't use it for shows anymore so the flash is never on it. His dressage show bridle is the Premier Equine one mentioned in that post. 

He actually wouldn't open his eyes, was seriously committed to napping while I was taking the picture

For jumping he has a PSofSweden Athens bridle. Stadium, he is going in the Nunn Finer Oval Link Shaped Mouthpiece Cartwheel bit that we put him in at the beginning of August. Cross country is TBD at this point! 

Starting to wonder if the eyes closed after bridling isn't some other response, I'll have to pay more attention

WW: Ben is both fancy and adorable

 

Ocala Fall HT - Training level

Ben and JT were AWESOME this weekend. Lots to work on for Ben out on cross country, but overall a very good boy! 

Wednesday I practiced my braids and decided they were decent enough to be seen out in public. Saturday morning, he had civilized ride times of 11:20 and 2:30. I got started braiding around 7 and was done by 8:15 - woohoo! Which meant we arrived early because I had given myself 2 hours for braiding. We went and cheered JT on for her other dressage rides and then got ready. Ben warmed up super nicely but had some feelings about the banner on the fence by the judge's booth. The judge was really nice as JT made a couple of passes by to try to lessen the offense. Overall it was a really nice test. The offensive banner did lead to a "swinging neck" on the first centerline and an "above the bit" in the canter transition. Final score was a 30.8 which put them in 4th place. 

Then we hung out at the trailer for a bit and I tried to eat my oatmeal. Ben definitely wanted to participate in that. Some people might call it being a pest, but he's just so cute and sweet about it that I let him put his face all the way into my space while I sat in the trailer eating. I tried to let him lick the container, but the first thing he tried to do was take a bite of the glass pyrex. Oops. 

I popped him back onto the trailer into his box stall set up and he settled down to eat some hay. I heard him drinking a few times too, yay! At a past show, JT mentioned cleaning tack between rides to decrease end of day clean up. I brought a small bucket and tack cleaning supplies with me this time and cleaned his dressage tack AND oiled his show bridle which desperately needs it but keeps missing out since it lives at home, not at the barn. It did feel much nicer to just unload his dressage tack into the tack room, all nice and clean, at the end of the day. Then I wandered over and helped set up jumps for a few of JT's other rides and then headed back to the trailer to get Ben ready. 

Didn't just catch him blinking, he legitimately closed his eyes and looked like he was starting a nap after I bridled him

Ben warmed up as Ben does. The first jump he got to a funky spot and did an awkward launch. JT got after him a bit to jump like a real horse and the next couple of times he did over the ascending oxer. When I switched it to a square oxer he knocked the front rail lightly both times. JT made the (correct) decision to go in after the second time and he was quite careful the whole way around.

The stadium course was pretty challenging, twisty turny and then a triple of an oxer, one stride to a vertical, two strides to a vertical. JT got Ben over in that area as soon as the rider before her finished - look dude, three jumps in a row, you gotta jump them ALL! Then they jumped sooooooo well. Ben looked like he was a whole grown up horse in there! He did get bug eyed into the triple, but JT sat back and pushed him forward and he got it done and jumped CLEAR! Good boy Ben!!!! 

He got lots of carrots, a hose down, and then popped on the trailer with ice boots on while we walked cross country. 

Preeeetttty spooky second water combo - large roll top about 1 stride out from the waters edge

Through the water and out over a wedge

Whereas Majestic creates nice inviting move up courses, Ocala generally asks some pretty challenging questions at each level. Even their entry courses include faux painted sharks teeth and a few other challenging questions. 

There was a coffin combo I was too busy staring at with wide eyes to take pictures of, sizeable jump in, two strides downhill to the ditch, two strides uphill to a fairly narrow log that kind of angled towards a clump of trees shortly after it. 

Ben got home right at dinner time and got settled back into his fly sheet with neck cover to stay clean overnight. I bought the fly sheet back in April specifically for overnights before shows. It was $48 on Amazon and does its job beautifully. Haven't been able to really test durability, but so far so good. 

Sunday he went cross country at 1 PM. This meant I didn't need to leave the barn till 10:30 for a noon arrival. When I put him on the trailer, he was spinning from front to back and wacked his face in the trailer. Ooookay dude, you get clipped in till the last second when I will free you to turn around to ride slanted backwards. I did that on the way home, and it seemed to work much better. This cut definitely would've healed without staples, but I'm feeling a little staple happy so it got two. 

Once we arrived he was just hard staring out to the cross country course the whole time. He did wander around a bit and eat some grass, but then would pick his head back up and stare more. Cross country was running early, so JT got him warmed up and then they headed out! I only caught the first three and then the last water complex. He spooked hard core at something coming up to the third, probably the random small tree and post that was nearby if I had to guess. Then looked pretty green through the water, which is fair, he is pretty green. About three strides before the roll top he saw the water and spooked enough that he wacked the roll top on the way over. He powered through the water and did the wedge decently though. The next jump was a sharks tooth that JT said was the only one he thought about stopping at. She didn't let him though and so he flailed over it a bit. 

They finished clear, but he got a "green and pretty spooky" report. We're going to try a few different bit and bridle combos to get him up off the forehand because when he spooks he barrels down into the hand and then continues to run scared for a minute. She recommended she take him out at training one more time. Which... I'm struggling with... for obvious reasons. My husband points out I should take the advice of the person I am paying. I just wanna go play though! 

Since they went clear, they finished 2nd in their division and high point TIP for training level. So he won $50 from TIP. How cool is that program?!?!? There were actually only 4 thoroughbreds registered with TIP for training level, so it isn't a giant pool to compete with for money and a super pretty ribbon. 

Overall a positive show. He jumped all the things and looked super professional in stadium. To be fair to him, he hasn't been out cross country since Majestic either, and especially as we make this move up happen, he is definitely a horse that needs to be going out and doing things. September just was not a month that I could make that work. October is much better work wise, so this week we're going to do a flat lesson, then get him out XC schooling somewhere new the next week. 

WW: Braids and Staples

 

First attempt at braiding in 15 years. Practice for this weekend when Ben goes out at training again at Ocala HT. 

Uncalled for practice stapling moving horse's face. 

A non-event

The track of Ian shifting further south left us up here basically untouched. It was about 12 hours of some gusty winds and not much rain. I feel for Fort Meyers and Sanibel and Captiva Island. My husband and I go to Sanibel nearly every year for a few days. Seeing the pictures of the destruction there is so sad.  

Ms. GY and I were supposed to go to a lesson this morning. I almost forgot to set my alarm last night and then was moving super slowly this morning. But when I pulled up (late) 15 minutes before we were scheduled to leave, ponies were still out and hadn't had breakfast. I was surprised because I'm usually the slow moving, running behind part of our duo. Usually I show up and all the gear is loaded, horses are done eating, etc etc I was actually kind of considered something had happened. But I let Ben and his buddy in since Ben is the world's slowest eater/gets a lot of grain, and then Ms. GY came running out. She had completely forgotten. We got the ponies and tack loaded up and then both of us looked at our temporarily abandoned phones and had a ton of missed calls from JT. A horse emergency at her barn had come up and she asked if we could reschedule or move till later that day. Since everything was already all loaded up, Ms. GY and I opted to reschedule to tomorrow and head out for a trail ride. 

We went to Watermelon Pond, part of Goethe state forest. It is all of 10 minutes from the barn and usually empty. Ben was, overall, a VERY GOOD BOY! He started out prancing and jigging, but a long trot got his head mostly screwed on straight. He did start the canter with a few giant sideways leaps over who knows what and then was pretty strong the whole time cantering. Funny enough I had grabbed his dressage bridle to trail ride in, but maybe should've stuck to his stadium bit/bridle. He was GREAT at the walk for the whole second half though. No jigging, just a big relaxed swinging walk. A covey of quail flew up right under his nose at one point and he barely spooked. Horse brains man, no rhyme or reason. 

It was a GORGEOUS day - 60s/70s, clear blue skies, drier than normal. Definitely one of the fall days that makes people love FL. 

Rushing Back

I spent the past week in Maine and was scheduled to come home today, arriving into Orlando around midnight. By Monday this was looking less and less ideal, and I got on the phone with Delta to try to move things around. It involved a loooong hold time to talk to someone and then another looooong hold time to get the change made without charges, but other than that the experience was amazing. They offered a variety of options into Gainesville, Orlando, and Jacksonville and basically just let me pick my favorite. Then because I selected Gainesville, there was going to be an add on charge, but the first rep pushed me over to a second one who went out of her way to make it happen without a fee. This is extra amazing because Gainesville is 45 minutes from my house with 0 interstate minutes whereas Orlando is 2 hours away with a long stretch north on 75 or parallel roadways that were very liable to be clogged with people heading north away from the storm. It doesn't take much on a good day to turn 75 into a parking lot between the turnpike, Ocala, and Gainesville, so add in evacuation traffic? Guaranteed to be hell. 

Anyways, major major points to Delta for that. The customer service reps offered a variety of options and worked extra hard to make sure I didn't pay for the change. Then the flights themselves were on-time and pleasant as well. I'll definitely be intentionally looking for Delta flights in the future. Good move to make the change though, last night Orlando announced that they would be cancelling all flights after 10:30 this morning. At least that would have been before my departure so I could have lingered in Maine vs. getting stuck in LaGuardia, but still, not ideal. 

Hiked "the Precipice" yesterday morning in Acadia before heading to the airport 

You can see the metal hand rail off on the left side of the picture

It did seem a bit silly to be rushing to fly back into the state where a hurricane was about to hit. But I did leave my husband, our newly surgerized cat (sutures came out Tuesday before I left, but she's still getting tube water and meds multiple times daily), pigs, chickens, and BEN!! in Florida. So there was impetus to get home before the storm. Ms. GY has been through quite a number of storms and had the standard grain, hay, and WATER needs taken care of. But I still wanted to give Ben an extra kiss and cuddle before the wind/rain got too bad. We did a bit more than that even and had a pleasant, if a bit spicy, ride this morning before it started spitting rain.

I attached a nifty mane tag with my name and info. Just in case fences go down. Fortunately Ben's pasture mate is also the oldest, smartest horse at the farm. This reassures me that even if fences go down, he'll probably stick around and not engage in too much drama and shenanigans and hopefully inspire Ben to do the same.

And that is that. Not a whole lot else to do - we're north of the projected path, so barring any tornadoes, it is just going to be a LOT of rain and some wind. The strengthening to a Cat 4 this morning right before it is scheduled to make landfall is not exactly ideal, I'm hoping everyone in the direct path weathers this okay. 

Doing the thing at 1m

Ben and I redeemed ourselves at Majestic Oaks yesterday. Well, I redeemed myself, he did that Friday at Sweet Dixie. The Majestic Oaks jumper shows are just so low key and so fun that it is hard to stress about them. It's also the venue we go to the most. Which means that even though their standards and fill are fun (to humans) and spooky (to horses), Ben has been around their course more than a couple of times and no longer eyeballs things inside or outside the ring. 

We drove through some rain on the way and it had turned into a misting/spitting rain situation by the time we arrived, but it all cleared in time for Ms. GY and I to get on our ponies. Ben felt a little stuck and behind my leg in the warm up ring. We did a few gallops forward and then coming back to lift with power to remedy that and it was mostly fixed by the time JT got there to put us over some jumps. He only stuck to one, but felt great to the rest. We headed into the ring and did a 3' class first. 

JT described this as "ride him like you don't like him much." She said it won't always have to be this way, but for now, he NEEDS to learn that he MUST go over the jump, so when in doubt, spurs in and ride forward. He sucked back a bit, in a way only I could feel, to the one stride. So spur in and a growl and he went over it smoothly. Maybe some of that feeling was my own one stride demons coming to haunt me? Either way, we got it done. 

And then took a short break, jumped a larger oxer in warm up, and went back in for our meter round. And we did it!! The rails were times that I needed to stretch up and balance a bit more while maintaining the forward, but that will come with time. By the last line of a two stride to a three stride, I felt like he was trustworthy and I did stretch up and balance better in that. 

It felt really good to go out there and get it done. I am not a worrier exactly, but it did shake my confidence to have our failure at Sweet Dixie, so this felt like putting another deposit in the bank for both of us. 

Next up is a bit of a break for him while I go out of town, and then back to it for a recognized training at Ocala with JT the second weekend in October. If I had not been planning on a week long trip, I would have tried to see if I could make it work for that, but Ocala is spookier in stadium and NOT messing around on their cross country, with some pretty challenging combinations out there. It will be good for both of us to have JT take him around there. 

A legit grown up horse

Pico has had two surgeries and three hospital stays in the past 2 weeks for a stone in her ureter. So I've been a bit absent. Fingers crossed this time she is home sticks. 

Saddle pads make the best cat beds, so I've flung a bunch around the house

But... in the mean time... Ben has been doing AWESOME! 

Photo by Lisa Madren

He and JT had a CLEAR cross country round at training level last weekend!!! He was first after dressage with a 30.2. Could have been higher, but 8:06 AM + foggy, damp morning = really slippery dressage on grass. Which meant being conservative in the lengthenings to keep everyone upright. Stadium made me VERY glad I was not the one on him. He was a bit surprised by the height of the first one and had a green rail there. Things went along fairly smoothly till he tried to NOPE out of the second in the two stride. JT was RIGHT THERE and told him to do his damn job. My husband was watching and said "She was already tapping him a second before I even saw him hesitate." Yep, that's the timing that is needed! He had a rail on the next one because he went AHHHHH a bit after being told to step up and get it done. 

Cross country he looked AWESOME around. Looked legitimately very fun and I wish I had been riding him there. 

He had a chill week and got some chiropractic done and then went back to Sweet Dixie today. He and JT jumped around the 1.0m just fine. JT casually introduced me to Karen O'Connor while I was setting fences for JT and Ben in warm up. And then Karen said he was a really nice horse. Fan girl moment over, but I do love Ocala. A couple other trainers commented on how nice his trot was. A lot of external validation this morning for sure! 

JT said he might not have taken a breath at all in the first round. The second round looked much more relaxed. Both were still smoother than at Majestic, he is learning his job.

Plan is for me to take him in the 3' then the 3'3" at Majestic on Sunday if I am feeling up to going. 

Lesson time

JT and I regrouped post-not moving up to 1m. We decided she would take Ben around his first couple of training level events and then I'd take the reins back. Just so when he asks "Will I, won't I?" the answer is a definite YES. The first show they're doing together is going to be at Majestic in a week. 

She was going to jump school him on Monday, but she threw her neck out that morning, so asked if I had brought riding gear. Something in my head had told me to, so I did have my own stuff with me. The lesson overall went super well. Early on he opted out of the second jump in the one stride. I pulled him to the side because he was definitely going to crash the second jump with his NOPE. JT then said that we were going to do the one stride the rest of the lesson. I got reprimanded once when I chased him the last three strides to the in and felt him almost stop because I had scared him by shoving him AT the jump. But other than that, it was great. She put it up and up and up and we kept going through it. She messaged me after that it had ended up at intermediate height. I thought my eyes were bugging out of my head at it the last few times through... 

The last couple of trips we did the one stride in the opposite direction and then turned through the two stride as well, also set SOLID. The first trip through in this direction, we got a tight spot to the in and I had to boot him in the middle. The next time though, he fought for getting out over the second jump without needing to be booted. 

JT said that is what we are trying to instill - the desire to FIGHT for the jump and FIGHT for getting it done. He's got talent enough to jump from not perfect spots, even at 1m, so I don't need to worry about getting it wrong and him not being able to do it. 

Friday she took him schooling at Majestic. It was SO FUN to watch! 

He's got the most earnest face!! <3 

They tackled the rest of the training level course that we didn't last time, including the up bank combo shown part of above. He was trying very, very hard the whole time. JT said we had maybe made our point about doing the dang thing and he was now trying to be the best boy, but with some anxiety about it. She did a lot of scratching his neck. One of the major (and many, LOL) differences with our riding was how quick she could flip between a DO IT NOW to good boy, you're fine, it's okay. This applied to half halting while galloping and going over fences. As an example, she halted him a couple of times from the gallop in warm up. As soon as he stopped it was reins loose, scratching neck. He tried to move without being asked, immediate woah, then as soon as feet stopped, immediate back to scratching neck. She repeated this four times without an ounce of impatience until he finally woahed and took a breath and could stand there. Same thing out over fences. If he looked hard, it was DO IT NOW! and then as soon as he responded "yes ma'am", it was GOOD BOY, well done! Timing man, it's hard. 

She said he was much better than when she was riding and jumping him right when he was coming back into work. I can feel it myself too, he's much straighter and we're getting the right, forward spot to jumps more and more often, but it was nice to hear that as well. 

I'm SO excited to be horse show mom on the 10th. I work till 2 am the night before; it is really just as well I won't need to be thinking and riding. I can (probably) manage to get him all tacked up properly without much sleep, but making riding decisions without much sleep? Not the best. 

August Wrap Up

 In August we had 23 rides including 

Off property adventures... 

• Novice CT at Majestic Oaks - getting back into the swing of things! 
• An unsuccessful attempt to move up to 1m stadium
• A very successful XC schooling at Majestic Oaks
• 4 jump lessons and 1 dressage lesson with JT at her place 

Trail pony adventures... 

• A total of 5 neighborhood trail rides
• 1 with a friend the whole way, 1 where we left our 2 friends partway through and STILL were super good 
• 1 where we got absolutely drenched and nearly struck by lightning and he was SUPER in spite of all that 

Body work... 

• Ben volunteered as an acupuncture demo pony and LOVED IT!!
• My BFF equine vet came to stay with me for a long weekend and adjusted Ben and he also loved that

Ben also has a slightly adjusted living situation. Like Yoshi, Ben was getting chewed on, so now he goes out with only Ms. GY's older horse and they are best friends. Ben sticks close to him, lets him be in charge, and scratches him, which is really all anyone could want in a friend.  

September we have planned... 

• Majestic Oaks 3 phase with JT at training level on Sept 10th 
• Chiro appt with his usual vet and a check to see if he needs his hocks injected on Sept 12th 
• Possibly a stay with JT? I'm going to Maine for a week to visit a friend and Ben may go to her place for a week of training. But it includes a weekend the barn is going to an away show, so I'm not sure if we'll end up doing that or not. 

We are also ending the month HAPPY and SOUND. So grateful for that. 

Spotted this "friend" meandering around AFTER I'd spent a solid 20 minutes swimming at the springs the other day... glad I still have all my toes! There was another smaller one close by. This one was about 1.5 feet long from head to tail!