The Whirlwind that was the last few days!

PHEW! So! The last few days have been a bucketload of fun! I learn a whole lot of interesting stuff, abotu me, about my horses, and about ... everything?!

How did this all start, you ask? Well, let me tell you! One phone call from one friend on Wednesday told me about a Radical Jumper competition going on this Sunday. Was I going/did I want to go/did I need a trailer buddy. Hadnt heard about it/YES!/Absolutely! So there you have it. My weekend was planned for me, by total fluke, on Wednesday and I was super excited. A local beautiful farm called Meadowvale was having a Radical Jumper on Sunday [the 13th of May] and me and [horsey] were goping to go.

This is where my brain went a little off kilter. I sort of immediately thought OH BOY! I can take Indy! She LOVES jumping stuff! To which I replied [ yep, to myself...] Well no, you should probably take Mo, since she is going to be doing a whole EVENT in a few weeks, and would do well with the exposure. Hmm. I warred with myself for a little, and then decided to come home and set up a mini course at the Novice requirement height [2'3] and see how it went with Mo. Of course, it rained all week long, and so this didnt actually happen until Saturday.

All week long I was kind of off and on about what horse to take, and I really didnt know what was going on in my head. I am training Mo right now for an event at the Horse Park in Ottawa on June 3rd. How could this not be perfect for her? Why did I have this 'yea but' about bringing her? Saturday gave me my answer.

We set up the jumps in the morning before I had to go to a lesson, and while that was going on, of course the whole herd had to come investigate! All four of them were all over the new stuff. Positively entranced. Darn you, confident, curious Parelli horses. Sheesh. :) It was great. The best part was when Mo offered to jump over the barrels towards me at liberty! I got really excited and stuffed her face full of cookies :D Then we trotted over to the next one where her halter was on the ground and she jumped that one at liberty too! It looked rideable even!

We played on the 45' over the jumps for a little, and then I had to go. She jumped each of the four jumps, and never hit a single one. She looked great. From the ground.

When I got back, D and I adventured stateside [ which was super fun] and so when we came back I went back to miss Mo. We had a nice warm up online again, and then I got on. We had a great warm up under saddle too. She was really responsive and offered to jump the barrels a whole bunch of times. Then I pointed her at one of the stadium style jumps.... and my brain went UMM THATS GIANT! Lets go AROUND! ...

HUH?! I was pretty confused. Mo was to, because she could feel my hesitation and so she was hesitating. At this point, I am thinking to myself, I can point Indy at ANYTHING, big, small, narrow, wide, bareback, with a saddle, whatever, and be confident to ride it. I point Mo at one straightforward 2'3 vertical and my heart get flustered? Really, me,.... really?!

Here is my theory. Indy is a GREAT jumper. I have seen her jump, from a standstill, out of her box stall. I have seen her jump pagewire fence, I have seen her jump green 4 1/2 foot tall farm gates. I have ridden her over tons of jumps, at all gaits, in a lot of places! She is an easy ride of fences. Smooth, not complicated, just gets over it. Even odd things, like last year at the hunter pace, what I thought was just a simple log with another log slightly in front of it turned out to be a rather large spread WITH a ditch under it, and she just cleared it like nothing [ I didnt realise what it was until to late... about halfway over] She is just pro at jumping everything.

Mo on the other hand, is bred to DRIVE. She *can* jump. She can jump the blue barrels standign on end. I have seen it. I havent seen her do it and make it look rideable. She isnt very big [15hh] and while she tries her heart out, jumping just really isnt her most athletic endeavor. She *can* do it, WE *can* do it, it just isnt always pretty. She is somewhat unreliable in her jumping style as well, so that throws me around a lot - ALTHOUGH! It does teach me to just get the heck out of her way and let her get over something. So thats good.

So my theory. I think my brain just overthinks and realizes that Mo is more sporadic and then tries to keep me 'safe' by telling me jumping her is a bad idea. Realistically, its a just fine idea. We just need more practice. My brain is just trying to keep me alive, I cant really hold that against it, I was just surprised to find this iffyness about jumping 'big' stuff with Mo, since I have never once had a second thought on Indy.

Once I figured this out, I just pointed Mo at the jump, gave her the best set up I could, and hung on for dear life. And guess what. We lived. There was only one jump that was dicey, and it was because she wayyy over jumped it and I got left behind [bad me] We still even lived through that one though.

Quite often I find the first time over something is the time thats 'scariest' for Mo, and therefore me as well, so once we get past that initial first time, everything is peachy. I just had to suck it up and get through those first times. Which I did. And you know what? She rocked them all. I have one brown jump that I thought was going to be the scariest one for her, and she jumped it like nothing, like she did it all the time. Rhythmically, confidently, and most importantly, RIDEABLY!

So there brain. I was iffy on the jumping-Mo-thing. I moved closer, stayed longer [ my mom says I Parelli myself into things] and did it. I felt good about bringing Mo to Meadowvale the next day.

Sunday, I got to wake up to a great downpour. UGH, It was raining at home but apparently not the hour or so away where the show was, so YEY! My brain tried again to persuade me I didnt need to go. Its raining, it said, what if your truck and trailer get stuck in the pasture where you park at the show? What will you do then? You have to be somewhere else this afternoon! Or, Its raining! Its going to be slippery for Mo! You dont want her first show experience jumping to be scary like that do you??

Despite this lovely inner monologue, I got Mo [was glad I didnt bother to give her a bath] loaded up and headed out. We stopped to pick up our super trailer buddy and then made it safe and sound to Meadowvale. Both ponies got left on the trailer while I got to do my course walk [twice] and then registration stuff.  By then I had only about fifteen mintues before my class was about to start. Dang. I tried to leave lots of time for warm up, but somehow it got away from me.

My online warm up was measly, just a basic check of can I saddle you please? Which was of course yes. Mo is such a star. We moved into the warmup ring for riding and Mo was scattered. Mostly because I was scattered. I didnt really know where I had to be, or what I had to do, so I was feeling a little lots. We rode around, did some transitions and tried not to get eaten by the Mo-eating-electric-but-not-on-tape that outlined the various areas.

Then my mom came, and gave me a good talking to. Which was great. I needed it. I wasnt worried about doing well for ME, but I was supremely concerned with this being a great experience for Mo, and what if she got scared of the jumps, and how would it effect her, and... and... and... At least, it wasnt about show-stress. I just wanted Mo to get the best out of the experience. By putting that kind of pressure on myself, I was setting up for the exact opposite of what I wanted. DOH

Some deep breathing and a morale boost from mom later, one of the lovely coaches from Oakhurst, an eventing barn nearby, gave me some great tips and advice, and helped set me up for success in my round. How nice is that? It really makes me happy when people are nice. She went out of her way to help me, at my first try in this genre of competition, when she had her own students there, just to be a nice person and make sure everything was successful. It totally made my day. Well, was part of the day-making. Mo made my day. She rocked. But thats beside the point.

When it was finally my turn, we trotted in, around all the scary jumps and over to the judges stand. Mo was very looky on that trot, and I could tell we would likely be doing a lot of trotting. And I was ok with it. I breathed, and finally relaxed, and got down to business.... the business of having fun I mean! After we got the whistle from the judge, we trotted off to the first fence. There were really only three whole fences I was concerned about [out of 13] - the first one, the last one, and a rolltop in the middle. The first/last were stadium jumps, which look scarier to ME, and the rolltop was one Mo never saw before, and I thought it might look scary to her.

Fears unfounded, Mo jumped the first fence like a pro. We just trotted, and I was just fine with that. The second fence, and this was a theme for a few of them, had some Mo-eating-flowers under it, so even though it was maybe a foot tall [MAYBE] she over jumped it a lot. But it was ok. SHE JUMPED IT! Fence three was a log, that went fine. Four was some laying down tires with more killer fleurs, beside a row of tires on end [which is a super cool idea that I want to make] Mo was pretty looky, but again, she rocked out and jumped it for me. Five and six were a sort of combination together, with five being white painted tires laying down with a log over top and six was just some small logs tied together. Five was scary [flowers] six was good, but there were about fifteen predators watching in that corner with umbrellas and chairs that were slightly concerning AND THEN A CLUSTER OF WATER TROUGHS TRIED TO EAT US!

... not really, but Mo thought it for a second, before continuing on. Seven was the rolltop. I pointed, she shot, and poof. Tralalala. Like nothing. What was I worried for? Oh yea, I dont know. Humph. Eight was a bigger log, that led out into a bigger feild, which was no problem. Nine was another log, again no problem. Give me logs! Mo likes logs! Ten was a little baby A-frame, that Mo rocked and even cantered out of! Eelven was another log cluster with some rocks in front, twelve was another plain log and thirteen was a BIG SCARY STADIUM OXER [for me] Mo rocked it. We trotted the whole thing, with a little canter in the outer feild and to the final jump.

I was SO HAPPY! We LIVED! And, the best part, for about the last five jumps, Mo was jumping and then blowing as she went, jumping, and blowing. She was RELAXING! It was so great! I was so pumped that I signed up to go again. I really wanted this to be a solid confident thing for BOTH of us!

While we waited our turn, I gushed about how awesome Mo was. I am sure my poor mom is sick of hearing about Mo. Oops.

Finally we get to go in again! Our trot in was MUCH more confident and connected. WAY better. After saying hello to the nice judges, we took off AT A CANTER! and SOARED over the first fence like a pro. And thats how it all went the second time around. Canter canter canter, jump, canter canter canter. It felt great. Mo was relaxed, she was connect, she was trying her heart out, and she was RIDEABLE over all those jumps!

What a great first outing it was for her! I was and am so so so so very proud of Mo!

Which brings me to this morning. I have been taking lessons to get ready for my first event, with Mo, each Mondy. Well now... since I took Mo to the radical jumper, I wasnt sure if I should take her to the lesson or not. We didnt really work *that* hard, but I figured I would see which horse showed up and go from there.

Well now. I pulled the trailer out to get it ready for loading, and who GALLOPS over.... well Indy. Thats who. I was flaberghasted. Really, spotty one, YOU!? But hey, that was cool, and I'll take that any day!  Such is the story of how Indy got to go to a lesson. My sort-of plan with her was to just get her fit at home first, but how could I refuse such an offer? She loaded great. We played load/unload a bit first, just for her, since we had lots of time.

When we got to the farm [five minutes away] she was a little up, and looky/snorty, but not screaming, and definately still paying attention. I went extra early beacuse I wants sure what kind of horse I would have on my hands, so we had lots of time to play online. We went and explored, touched EVERTYHING, played with some circles and figure eights, transtitions, yo-yos and sideways, and then fifteen minutes later, POOF. I had a rideable horse.

Pardon me? Fifteen minutes? This being the horse [previously] that a forty five minute online warm up just barely got focus and attention from..... wow. That hit me hard, how far she has come! I am so proud of her! We wandered back to the trailer to saddle up, then back to the arena, still online, to finalize things. Then on with the bridle and up I got. She was a total star. I was really impressed.

We warmed up freestyle until it was lesson time, and she was pro the whole time, really thinking and stretching into the walk. The great thing about Indy is that when she isnt relaxed, her stide is about two inches... so its really easy to tell when she isnt! She was great in the whole lesson, she taught me a whole lot about really having good hands for a good connection. Amy *did* say that resting hands are the hardest part.... guess what? Its true! Every time I got it right though, wow did Indy give me the green lights. We rode a whole dressage test after playing with some of the movements separately, and then got to play with some jumping. To cool out we walked in a hayfield, which was gorgeous. She was pro the whole time.

Even when we got home, she was still mellow, drank a bunch of water, wandered away to roll, and came back to check me out again. I love it!

This afternoon, I then had a great time with Mo and Zephyr. I ponies Zephyr off of Mo, and she was an angel. She is really learning how to mirror Mo's gait. We trot, she trots, we canter, she canters. She makes ponying so easy! And she loves to go out and see the world, so that helps :) Such a nice relaxing day for Mo :) And a good outing for Zephyr! We went through mud and water to her belly, and she just trooped right through. She is going to be pro when she is finally old enough to ride!

To finish with Zephyr, I was putting away Mo's bridle and she wanted it, so I got some cookies and played with bridling her. It was too cute. She figured out pretty quick that pushing the bit out of the way to steal the cookies wasnt the answer. She was scooping up the bit and cookies in about four tries. Smart kid that one! I didnt ask her to hold it or anything, just in and out, heres cookies. Just the idea of taking it was the goal. Boy did she get it!

I love my ponies :D

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