My Horse the SUPERSTAR!!!!!

Today was just phenomenol!!! I LOVE MY HORSEY!!!!!!

In a small town near where I live today there was an event called a Hunter Pace. This is basically a trail ride that has some potentially jumps and is ridden by a member of the Hunt to find the optimum time, and then us regular people try to ride it to what we think that time is. Basic rexipe for uber good times!!

Oringinally, there were supposed to be five of us going from my work. This morning when I got to the farm with my pony and trailer I found out it was just going to be me and A. Which is just peachy :-) I am just glad someone was still going to come with me!

Anyway, back to the beginning! I brought Indy in this morning, becuase I finally felt like she was ready to go somewhere in the trailer again. She is finally loading *so* nicely like Mo does when we are practicing, and the Hunter Pace isnt far, so I thought it would be the perfect chance to practice. I cleaned up my dearling half white messy pony as best as I could [I DID try and wash her legs at least yesterday... but she rolled six million times when I let her go...*sigh*]  I loaded up my truck and trailer and then the test came - how would Indy load? I knew my energy was up because I was excited about where we were going, but I was working SUPER hard to control it and make it calm down! It must have worked because my SUPERSTAR walked right onto the trailer! Have I mentioned I love my horsey?

When I got to my work farm I couldnt see anyone, and I was honestly a little worried they left without me! Turns out everyone just bailed... poop! Well, two bailed and one was sick, so that just left me and A. Since it was just going to be us I offered to let Boots [her mount] ride in my trailer instead of hitching up the giant 5 horse for one lonely pony! Indy was showing off her superstar quality right from the start. She didnt freak out, or try to get off or take a single misstep while we loaded Boots [a strange horse!] right up beside her on the trailer. GO INDY!

Once we were loaded up we were off to the Hunt!! Turns out its not even that far away! Whoo! We pulled in, and some people were already leaving, but we werent late because you were allowed to leave between 11 and 1pm. I like that because you dont have to get up at the crack of stupid like when you go to a show!  Indy came off the trailer like a pro! She was calm, neighing a little [she likes to make friends] but for the most part she was excellent and in tune with me and paying attention! I am SO proud! I was nearly certain I would have my fanatical RBE back, but NOPE! She was FABULOUS!

I did a couple of little things to make sure she was paying attention and then saddled her up and did a few more things for girthing up before mounting. More uber superstarness! We walked around a little while waiting for Boots to get finished. When we were both ready we went over to the starting line and off we went! We were team #22, with just the two of us. We started off pretty nice and slow, walking and trotting, there werent to many things to jump in the beginning.


Indy was a star though. I was riding with my hackamore, and for the most part on a casual rein! Pretty stellar for a right brain extrovert if you ask me! Lots of open spaces, chances to bolt etc and she didnt want to go anywhere! I am SO proud of her!! A was in the lead with Mr. Im A Racehorse, and Indy did a great job following! She stayed with him without being a pain or getting to close [most of the time] We trotted the first few jumps, which were smallish, after Boots, and Indy did great! Then we came to this little feild that had a ditch jump, a barrel jump [laying down] and a couple of log jumps. It was a PREFECT warm up! ALL things Indy is used to and knows she can jump!! She jumped them all like a total pro and was controllable the whole time to boot!  Boots did great to!

We moved on and through the ever winding course, through some straw feilds that we cantered through, over bunches of more jumps and always laughing and having fun! Indy was just a STAR! I cant even express that enough, how proud of her I am! She just totally blew me away today! The last few rides have been kind of ishy, then yesterday we had a fabulous trail ride with C and Candy [which was a real treat!] and then today, just.. POOF ! She was ON! She was having a ball jumping and running, but toally willing to walk around on a casual rein when I asked her to. LOVE IT!!!

After flying over one awesome log we landed in the feild with the 3/4 way house - water and chocolate! Indy was completely content to stand and graze while I guzzled my drink and candy. PERFECT! I love that we can pump up the adrenaline one second and then relax completely the next. I really really came to apreciate that today watching A trying to get Boots to stand quiet [he got upset that others were going in front of him!]

There were two jumps through the exit of that feild which Indy completley ignored [and I had to laugh because she was very dramatic about it] and then pelted after Boots when he went around a corner and nearly spooked at another jump. That was about the only drama she gave me for the day, and it wasnt much! In the next couple of clearings there were things to jump and we jumped them all! Indy was a total star! We even went and played in WATER TWICE!!! Usually water is her sticking point, but she just plowed right in both times, sipping some delicately, and splashing around after.

The coolest thing I think was when we went over the hedge jump. Indy WAAAY overjumped it [she thought it was solid I guess] but we survived and the next time she jumped it like a normal horse! YEY! We even went over some of the ..coops I guess? The rounded ones made with slats of wood? Boots rapped it a bit and she was a little worried but she went right over it clear and free. Lots of logs and things to jump! Some of them were big to!!! It was really nice to be able to have confidence in Indy, knowing that if we could just get a confident approach that I knew she could clear these things - I worry with Mo, because she is small and sometimes klutzy. Annnd she jumps like a deer and that is hard to ride sometimes. She is getting better, but Indy is by far the smoother jumper!

So, overall, we jumped baxzillions of things, lived to tell the tale and had a BLAST!! MY PONY IS A SUPERSTAR!!!!!!!! I was worried about being able to just control her away from home... and instead we had the best ride EVER, got compliments on our jumping AND did it all with confidence! Every time we slowed down and walked she was blowing and licking and walking level or low headed. I am just SO thrilled with her! SO PROUD!!!!!!!!!!!!

INDY IS A ROCKSTAR SUPER MEGA STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVES MY PONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-)
S