There's nothing fun about camping.

I will not be swayed on that point. You want to know how I spent the last five days of my life?

Bitching.

Sometimes in my head, sometimes out loud, but it was non-fucking-stop. Because you know what makes me feel better about shitty situations?

A long stream of curse words.

Curse words I have to mutter under my breath because Hubby's parents are anti-swearing, and I am just too polite for words.

DOES THAT NOT SOUND LIKE BULLSHIT?!

piglets love camping as long as it involves swimming.

First world problems, I know. But spending three days in a constant state of various degrees of wetness from horrible weather, and one day puking my fucking brains out while having to hear from Hubby's mom about about how poor old SIL is pregnant again and has to have a lie-down, so that means I get to be dragged around doing shit I don't want to do is not fun.

Well guess what. I was feeling pregnant with loathing and spite. That deserves a lie-down of its own, doesn't it? (Also, I really was violently ill. I don't know what from. Probably loathing and spite.)

kelpies are much more dignified than crazy spotted dogs.

Anyway, that's all I'll say on that. It's probably more than you wanted to read anyway. Hey, remember I have this horse? He's large and in charge....and also waited for me to come home to show off his latest soundness issue. So polite.

hey there, mr distract-o with the broken hip.

BM told me to check for an abscess in the right hind because Bobby was hopping on it that morning when she brought him in. No problem. I dug around in his hoof for a long while, found absolutely nothing, and got no reaction from him. Then I put his leg down and he stands on his toe. Hmm. BM walked him out for me so I could see what she was talking about, and I instantly saw the issue: Peg Leg Magee.

Nothing but a case of sticky stifles here, folks. Apparently five days of doing absolutely nothing and way too little hill work this year has brought back our friend the almost-locking-but-no-longer-that-bad stifle. Bobby's had this problem his whole life.

I did his feet, curried the ridiculous amount of pee out of his coat (Seriously, this horse loves nothing more than a good nap in fresh pee.), and jumped on bareback for a measly walk trail ride around the barn.

"are you sure i can't eat this?"

He felt great going up and walking around on the flat land, but coming down I could hear the occasional clicking in his right hip. He's not getting any time off for this. That will only exacerbate the problem. Lots of trotting, and walking hills every day is the remedy.

I also switched his SmartPak back to the Recovery EQ and Fat Cat he was on last year. I put him on SmartCombo when I yanked his shoes since he wasn't doing anything but getting fat and standing around. Being back in full work and getting hot enough now to sweat constantly means it's probably past time for a more intensive joint supplement. The sweating also makes him drop weight like it's his job, and the Fat Cat does a great job helping him look not anorexic.

That's where we're at now. I'm sending in my entry for a horse trial at the end of August, and I've got a dressage lesson with Sara Spofford a few days before then. Fun things will be coming to this blog again one of these days!

Friday Footage: Jump School

A few short helmet camera views from Thursday morning's jump school:

Two stride line, around to the four stride line. Bobby got the four easily, then decided to pat the ground just in front of the jump anyway for no good reason. Hence my exclamation of surprise.

Vertical to vertical bending line:

Gate to oxer bending line:

Hope you're enjoying your queued content of questionable quality!

TBT: Half Brother

Because who doesn't love baby horse pictures?! Here's one of Bobby's half brothers (the 2007 model by Oratory) as a two month old foal.

Board: What are you paying?

This is kind of like that fun game we played over the winter about lesson fees, only this idea is stolen inspired by Beka's last post. It will give you guys something to contemplate and come back to stalk while I'm away. Or you can just ignore it and wait for what I'm sure will be fascinating results to come out next week.

Here's how we're going to do this in the spirit of keeping it as simplistic as possible. In the comment section, tell me:

• What state/province you live in.
• Whether you're doing full care, partial care, self care, or pasture board.
• What you're paying.

So if I was commenting, mine would be: PA, full care, $425.....in case your reading comprehension is as remedial as my graph making skills. 

I thought about asking for city names as well, but I don't want to go all creeper on fellow bloggers. That also makes the results easier to input. 

here is a photo of a kelpie just because she's cute.

Let the games begin!

Um, A Title.

After getting the weekend off, I didn't have a firm plan to get out and ride Robert Monday. I spent a lot of time digging through closets trying to locate all our camping shit, and then making lists for even more shit we need to buy. I won't lie; I do love me a list, and I love buying things, so it wasn't all bad.

However, S asked if I wanted to ride with her that evening, and since I can only make so many lists I was in. S was already there and tacked up when I pulled in, and since Bobby was outside BM took my tack and I up with the ATV. I got Bobby ready in the outdoor and jumped on.

amish ponies bobby gets threatened to be sent to live with when he's naughty 

The footing wasn't great--it gets rained on, ridden on, and then it bakes in the sun without getting dragged and turns into cement. Bobby was fine at the walk, but had some objections at the trot. He wasn't lame, but definitely not pleased with having to work over it.

We proceeded to have multiple discussions about what was the appropriate response to moving off my leg, how he could probably uncurl his head from his chest at the walk no matter what the footing is like, and by the way circles can be round.

S is fortunately used to Bobby tantrums and didn't hold it against us when he went flying sideways directly in front of her path. She even complimented Bobby on his lovely piaffe. I was all, "Yeah. Thanks. Totally was going for that." He finally gave in and just went around in a quiet trot, which was all I wanted.

bobby's idea of being crosstied. 

I was thoroughly unsatisfied with last night's ride, so I was determined to make it up to both myself and RuPaul today. To start with, I gave him a monster grooming and fed him half a bag of peppermints. I even took his ridiculous(ly cute) forelock braid out and trimmed his bridle path and muzzle.

Warm up w/t and canter to the left was fine, but cantering to the right was a bit like driving a race car. One with no brakes. And not really any steering. And also it was thinking about throwing a temper tantrum.

It was a very naughty race car.

We worked through it and moved onto some lateral work. Still with the stupid crooked and yet somehow simultaneously stuck like a board leg yields from quarter line to wall tracking left. To the right? Fine. Left? Fucking awful.

Determined not to get frustrated, I worked through the leg yield parts of 1-2. Lengthen across the diagonal, down the long side in a trot, half circle, and leg yield. Well of course he just magically got better doing it that way. I was all, "....whatever. You and your stupid leg yields can suck it. I'll take the correct work, tool bag."

not a naughty bone in his body

In an effort to quickly wrap this up since I have no more pictures:

• Stretchy trot was pretty good to the left, sometimes good to the right. To the right it was sometimes terrifyingly not stretchy at all. 
• After stretchy trot hits and misses, his collected trot work was mind blowing. Man, this horse can be so legit fancy every so often. 
• Same with the canter. We only went left, but it was fab.
• The work on keeping him straight is paying off. The trot is miles better, and the canter is getting there.

He gets tomorrow off because it's going to be too hot, and I'm still undecided about Thursday. He's coming up on a moderately long break this weekend so I might just add another day on. Then it's time to get geared back up for eventing at the end of August!

Three Parts: PN, XC, HS

Penn National

start of the second

Thursday evening was my first time back at a racetrack in years. And as someone who spent most of their time at either Saratoga or Arlington, it was definitely a step down in class. Sorry, Penn. You're still fun. And you're also way classier than Fingerlakes, so you have that going for you.

esquel, my only winner of the night

BM and I took the four advanced camp kids down with a couple other people from the barn. It took a couple of races for the camp kids to get into it, but by the time the night was over, we were placing bets for them, and they were eagerly running from the paddock to the finish line for each race. I think they were most impressed when a race broke right in front of them, and a horse stumbled hard and dumped her jockey.

how cute is this face? sara the great.

It was a long trip back in the dark, and I didn't get home until midnight, but a rousing rendition of "Lean On Me" from a car full of singers with questionable voices and way too much Pitbull kept me awake. BM wants to go to the harness track by my house in the next couple of weeks since I missed that trip with one of the other camps. She's pumped she's found another ex-racetracker, but I'm really just not as obsessed with it as I used to be. It should still be another fun trip though.

Cross Country

Friday morning, BO had invited me to go up to the cross country course also with the campers. I'm always down with a little xc jumping, even if the only remaining jumps up there are tiny. Any terrain work is fine by me, and it was a good chance to test Bobby out on xc with his bit in.

over the ditch

He was fine in it, and he even managed to keep his brain in his head while waiting for the campers to jump. He's not a fan of the whole stop-start process, so that was a big deal for him. Of course, Bobby being Bobby, that was only temporary. BO had the campers jump the picket fence that Bobby never wants any part of, so I sat that one out. Bobby was not pleased to have to sit back and watch other horses jump without him, but I didn't want to start a fight about him not going over near it.

awkward landing picture ftw!

We led the way over a few combinations, Bobby lost his shit being asked to trot halfway down the hill to turn around a jump a fence instead of running, and only two campers fell off (one deservedly so). Bobby and I finished with a romp up the hill because there's nothing I love more than encouraging bad behavior.

And talking to my horse like I'm a fucking douche bag:

Horse Soccer

Also on the "Carly Somehow Managed to Become a Voluntary Camp Counselor" agenda was a game of horse soccer with my giant jolly ball Friday afternoon. Obviously I had to get Bobby in on this as well--especially since he was getting the whole weekend off--so I jumped on him bareback and joined in.

We started off as a stationary goal keeper since Bobby isn't afraid of the ball, but he wasn't really grasping the whole "Kick it!" thing either. However, after my team scored our first goal, he was looking so longingly out at the other horses that we went in for a bit. He did end up giving it a solid kick one single time...and it went directly into our own goal. Oops.

I took my helmet cam off halfway because it was annoying me, but he did get into it a lot more as we went on. We ended up having all three teammates in at once, so whenever the ball headed back to our goal Bobby got to go cantering off to square up in front of it. He took his job very seriously and was happy to whip himself around to stare down the other horses as the ball went bouncing off his side and legs.

T took better video of the soccer, but it's on her facebook so I don't think I can get it on here. If you're my friend on facebook you get to see it. Go you!

Return to Fancy Prancing

The western gear came home with me Tuesday night, had a good scrubbing yesterday, and then got hung back up in the house. And by that I mean I chucked it on a saw horse in a semi-organized pile in the garage and gave it a jaunty little "See ya, bitches!" wave over my shoulder as I slammed the door on it. Because I'm just the sort of person that gives jaunty little waves. Bitches.

Not to say it won't make a reappearance at some point this year, but now I've got to focus on finding all our camping shit. Next weekend is our camping "vacation", and guess what, dudes. I somehow miraculously managed to stall making reservations for so long that we're now having to camp at a whole different state park than Hubby's family. Oh no!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

WINNING.

But anyway, I put Bobby in his dressage outfit today and went for a prance. He. Was. Fabulous.

I set up the ride so he was doing short bursts of super correct work, and then he got big praise and a long walk break before the next set. He seemed to really click with it, and when he was actually working he could do no wrong. Well, almost. He is Bobby.

We ran into an issue with the left leg yield. He wants to lead with his haunches too much--something the judge at our last dressage show called us out on--and while opening my inside rein more to allow his front end some freedom instantly helped out to the right, he took advantage to the left and basically just fell over like a fucking idiot. And also sped up. Because when in doubt, go faster.

I got it sort of cleared up at the walk, but decided since he was being so good with everything else to leave it for another day. That trot though? Oh, dayum. It got me all hot and bothered. His canter was right up there, too, and then BM came down for a minute to watch him and he showed off how well he can actually lengthen when his shoulders aren't dragging on the ground.

basically what we looked like. pretty much the only difference is horse color.
i mean, we probably looked better.

For what a mind blowingly awesome ride it was when I picked up my reins, Bobby was doing his own thing at the walk. There were power guys checking the lines outside the barn and using the driveway to turn their trucks around. You guys know that nothing distracts Bobby more than moving vehicles, and since the top of the side of the indoor by the road is open, he could see the flag guy from certain spots (The road being on a hill, and the indoor being in a hollow.).

He was all, "Haiiii!!!!! Look in here!!! I'm a horse! No, I'm a llama! No, I'M A FUCKING UNICORN!"

And I'd be all, "Bobby, can you not walk on a loose rein and chill the fuck out?"

And he'd be all, "Now I'm going to spook at someone closing their door! LOLZ, UNICORN."

At which point I usually gave up on the walking and went back to work for another round.

I'm headed to Penn National with campers in a bit for a night at the races, and then tomorrow we're going up to the cross country field for a low level frolic. Expect helmet cam! Also expect me to forget the helmet cam at home, so maybe no helmet cam at all!

Benton Rodeo

I have become a bit of a gaming snob. My fellow barn mates had to put me in my place last night by reminding me that I am riding a very large event horse. That fact that he's able to go as fast as he can while making such tight turns is pretty badass. Stop whining.

dressage canter.
fellow barn mates easy to spot by their helmets.

It rained all weekend, on and off Monday, and most of Tuesday morning. BO kept asking us if we were sure we wanted to go if it was raining, and we were all unanimous in telling her, "Well, duh, BO!" There was one final heavy shower right before we left, and then it was done for the night. The best part was that the threat of rain kept a lot of people away so it didn't look like we were going to be there til midnight this year.

classic robert face, hanging out after warm up.

The footing in the ring after getting dragged was pretty deep and sticky. Bobby wasn't too happy with it, so we walked for a long time before doing a single lap of canter each way. When we were done, I went back to change into my stupid required long sleeved shirt and grab Bobby's halter and pacifier lead shank to hang out ringside and eat dinner while we waited for the show to get started.

watching the rodeo chicks arrive.

Keyhole

Amazingly, all the lessons horses had their brains in their heads this year so we didn't have to pony anyone in. Bobby was happy to hang out next to the chute with his amigos and alternated napping and watching the nuttier of horses go in.

The only incident was when the only junior in from our barn not wearing a helmet (because she is "too western" to wear one, and she never does anything that would actually require one anyway--obviously her logic, not mine), fell off the horse she was riding during her keyhole run. Mm hmm. #HelmetKarma

pre-keyhole peptalk.

Bobby had been doing pretty well with his barrels leading up to the rodeo, but I wasn't feeling to great about keyhole. Since he always does worse at shows in keyhole than at home, the fact that he wasn't even doing that hot at home was a little discouraging. However, we spent Tuesday morning at the walk and trot going into the cones repeatedly, and his turns got sharper and sharper.

The footing in the ring was actually better with all the horses that had been over it, so we went for it for keyhole. Anticipating a crappy turn, I slowed him quite a bit approaching the cones, but he did the best turn he's ever done.

We ended up with a 10.61 second run. Two full seconds faster than last year's rodeo, and a second faster than our last gaming show. However, with best horses running a fast nine seconds, we just missed on the top six--the sixth placed pair was 10.4 seconds. Not too shabby though!

Barrels

The adult division was the biggest of the night, so we had a long wait for keyhole to finish before barrels started. I commandeered a friend's step stool while she went to get food and parked it with Robert ringside to hang out.

caution: nutty ottb in the house.

Bobby spent a little too much time napping before barrels, and not being a particularly hot horse at shows anyway meant it took some time getting him "riled up" again. Plus, I'd accidentally poked him with a spur during keyhole (which I probably wouldn't even have noticed if I wasn't super paranoid about riding in these beastly things), so I'd taken the spurs off out of guilt.

sleepy horse says it's past his bedtime

Just like last year, he came running into the ring without really looking for the barrels. He was just pumped he was getting to run. That made the first barrel a bit of a mess, and the lack of spurs made the run to the next barrel super slow, but his second turn wasn't too shabby considering that's usually his worst.

Again, I felt like the whole run was in slow motion, but he still managed to pull in a 21-something run. Nothing mind blowing, but probably the best he's done yet.

Overall, way better runs than last year, and he does keep improving. Plus, yes, he is an event horse that is also doing pretty fucking fabulously in western gear.

AND! I hauled another horse with Bobby down to the rodeo grounds and killed no one. Really not too bad of a night.

Sunday Stills: Barrels

Yeah, I know. Another lackluster post. You know how many fucks I'm giving lately about my blog?

Zero.

I'm feeling exceptionally unmotivated to put any effort forth in making this puppy exciting and gripping, and I know it's showing. I'll get back on the bandwagon again soon.

Probably.

One of these days. Like when the looming threat of in-laws isn't giving me anxiety attacks. Is July over yet?

Anyway, here are some pictures from today's barrel practice. Friday we went on another trail ride and died of heat stroke; Saturday he had off.

dope-a-lope

bad flying change

good flying change

first barrel of the day

see what i'm saying with the sucking of the second barrel?
and this was a good run!

walking 

too close! 

fail

yay, barrel horse!

Let there be light!

We lost power Tuesday afternoon thanks to a monster storm, and we finally got it back late this morning.

Yay! Electricity! I love you!

pig surveys the pre-tornado watch yellow sky.

Naturally I was at the barn the last two days since there was nothing else to do but play Solitaire for hours on end, or work my way through books I didn't actually want to read since my Kindle was dead. I added my cell phone to the pile of those charging; thankfully the barn didn't lose power. Also thankfully, the only tree that went down on BO's property fell directly across the path of where my trailer gets parked. Why is that a good thing? Because I brought my trailer home over the weekend after trail riding.

Yay! No crushed trailer!

the cause for our loss of electric

Soooo, RuPaul's workouts. Yesterday was a dressage school since the outdoor was too sloppy for barrels. My plan was to get Bobby fired up, and then channel his excess energy to produce bigger gaits, a lighter front end, and lots of forward energy. He's been coasting in his flat work lately.

I had to tread lightly because Bobby can very easily go the wrong way, fall over the mental edge, and never come back. I warmed him up long and low before getting the dressage whip out and demanding straightness, working off the rail the entire time. Bobby didn't like be constantly corrected, but aside from just "Whatevs, you need to be straight anyway" it also served to get him super sassy.

He tried flying sideways, ran into the whip, had a minor spaz about meeting the whip, and tried the up and down in place tactic instead. I kept my reins light, my leg on, and resolutely kept posting. It took him the whole long side to get forward again, but once he did he was exactly where I wanted him. Mucho fancy. I let him finish with a lengthening across the diagonal and lots of patties for a smarty, sassy pants.

text break for a berry picking piglet.

Today we went back to Western Bobby. I forgot to bring the longe line up so we just did a whole lot of walking before moving to the canter. That saddle is impossible to trot in. Or really even sit in. At a halt. 

We worked mostly on the second barrel this time around. The first and last barrels are easy for him, but he still sucks at the second. He comes too wide off the turn now, but at least he's not stalling anymore. It helps somewhat if I take up a little more rein, but still not where I want it. He is, however, starting to lay down and get low around the final barrel which is too adorable. My eventing/dressage moose actually thinks he's a legit barrel horse.

LOLZ.

We also worked a little on keyhole and got some good work there. We always seem to get good work at home on keyhole though, and then it falls apart at shows. Hopefully it just magically works out Tuesday.

And that is about it, folks. Now I can go grocery shopping since my fridge is running again. Yay! Electricity! Did I already say that?

Media Dump of Little Importance

This is going to be another cop out of a post. It's hard to make trail riding and western rides sound like scintillating shit. Trail riding and western specific blogs can, and I enjoy reading those, but in my head my ride summations basically go "LOLZ, going for a frolic! Prancey prancey prance!"

And that just makes me sound like a ten year old. One with minor mental issues.

Saturday I hitched up the trailer and drove the fifteen minutes to the next town over's state game lands for a trail ride. I love trail riding, but last fall a former boarder went gallivanting through a land owner's food plot and he put the kibosh any any further trail riding from the barn. So we went from a trail ride almost every single day last year to walking the perimeter of the pastures this year. Which is BORING.

sign says go right, bobby says go left.

The game lands out there are fabulous. Wide, well kept, horse specific trails that went on forever. I pulled into the parking area next to two other trailers, got Bobby tacked up, and headed off as another trailer pulled in.

You have to cross a stream right off the bat to get to the trails and Bobby dutifully plodded through. He walked on the buckle until I felt he'd had enough time to warm up, and we picked up the trot. The trail started climbing and Bobby wanted to go so I set my hands on his withers and he picked up the canter.

nicely mowed trails

He then proceeded to canter uphill for four minutes straight before we reached a mud puddle and I made him pull up. It was a long, winding, gradual hill, but Robert channeled his OTTB and--despite not doing any fitness work in a month--he didn't take a deep breath the entire time. I think he just stood in his stall and thought about canter sets and stayed fit. That's what Thoroughbreds do, right?

the only time his naked footsies get a little ouchy were on this section of
exposed shale base. otherwise he was a barefoot beast.

Just after that we came on a group of three riders. For all the trail riding we've done, Bobby has never seen other horses on trail that he's not riding with. He walked right by them with minimal interest, but as they disappeared and the trail curved ahead, he adorably stretched his head and neck out to see if there was anyone else coming.

We broke up our time in the woods between walking and trotting, and cantered when we were in the open. We came across an offshoot of the creek and played in there for awhile.

"do not mock me for snorkeling."

Overall he was his usual steady trail horse self. Some days I feel like beating him about the head, but other days he earns his keep. He didn't call for anyone, he stood quietly at the trailer while I tacked and untacked him, he loaded right up onto the trailer and backed calmly off both times, and he was happy to go where I pointed him once out.

I had my helmet cam on, but I didn't realize until I got home that there was something nasty all over the lens. It looked like dried sweat, but I have no idea how that got there. So the videos I took are pretty much useless. Nothing exciting happened anyway.

Here's a quickie of us crossing the stream on our way back to the trailer:

After a jump school Friday and an hour and a half hilly trail ride Saturday, he got Sunday off. This morning I dug out Hubby's western saddle and spurs and gave everything a thorough once over with my Higher Standards soap.

Next week is the rodeo, bitches!

last year's rodeo.

The biggest problem Western Bobby has is his first two barrels. He can't keep his hind end up to pace with his front end coming off the turn and it wastes so much time. I warmed him up on the longe because Hubby's western saddle is the most uncomfortable thing in existence.

Once on, I started him off with some flying changes across the diagonal. His first one was downright horrendous. He changed, and then he went leaping into the air flinging his head about and refusing to steer. Yeah. Western Bobby is an asshole.

We had a Come to Jesus where I reminded him he's a dressage horse and he can fucking canter like it. His following changes were lovely.

he got his mane pulled in anticipation.
you know, in case anyone mistakes him for a real western horse.

After a walk break, I turned Bobby in towards the first barrel with a game plan in mind: Walk into the barrel, canter out of it. That way he learns that when he comes off, he goes fast. Sounds good, no?

WELL. I turned Bobby in and....he fucking took off with me! Directly toward the barrel of course, but that was not the plan. I cranked his head into my knee and he went shooting off sideways upset that I'd ruined his run. Asshole.

So I had to push the plan back a bit until he was calmly walking the barrel pattern. Eventually I got to work on what I wanted, but he wasn't really feeling it. He started anticipating getting to canter, but because he was anticipating he'd get too tense and again go shooting sideways instead of cantering forward.

The only other horse I've trained for barrels was Red, and Red was so small that he turned on a dime and went jetting off with zero issues. Bobby is a moose. I didn't know how to make him compress while keeping his brain in his head.

brain not in head.

Feeling defeated and frustrated, I grabbed my saddle horn and just let Bobby rip taking the pattern "backwards" (L-R-R) even though right is his worse direction in everything. Um, apparently that was the secret. He does neck rein, but he didn't need me at all. He whipped around the barrels all by his lonesome without slowing once.

Well, hmm. Who knew not micromanaging Bobby could yield such results?

Okay, shut up.

I let him do it a few more times since we were both finally enjoying ourselves. He was awesome. Now that I've figured out his preferences, I can work on refining his technique a bit. He turns in a little too soon and gets me in too tight which increases the chance of my leg taking a barrel down.

Urghghiegkijlgh, that was long. I hope you learned a lot. Hope you had nothing better to do. Hope you enjoyed boring between the ears pictures.

I tried so hard...

...to make up an interesting title. Something to do with it being the fourth, something about jumping, or the banging weather, or Hubby having the day off and being forced to make up our missed photo sesh from last weekend. (I guess for that last one "Sucker" could have worked. Poor old Hubby.) But I couldn't do it. I am totes uninspired.

So let's just jump right in to a quickie on this fabulous holiday!

Flatted quickly in the wet, half dragged arena for a warm up, then moved right on to a cross rail.

we really are not that good at cross rails anymore.

We went over that a couple of times without any real incidents. Bobby just doesn't feel like putting forth much effort into such small jumps any longer. Hopefully he never becomes as rude as Red Pony who would straight up refuse anything below 3'. He was seriously the naughtiest horse on the planet. Sometimes I wonder why we got along so well.

Anyway, we pretty promptly added in the 3' vertical. Bobby was jumping it with his typical "Clear all the things!!!" enthusiasm, and I got so caught up not fussing with my hands that I just let my leg do its own thing.

look at the cute pony, not the cray cray rider!

Clearly it can't be allowed that sort of freedom because it was trying to bounce. Fuck you, leg. Get the fuck back here.

A couple trips around the vertical from both directions and off to the oxer we went. I didn't realize until I got off and moved the jumps so the arena could finish getting dragged that the footing in the perfect little square of our take off spot was so deep I sank up to my ankles in mud. Bobby, however, gave zero fucks.

we came in a little underpowered and got deep the first time.
but still SO CUTE.

I revved up the engine for another go-round and not-so-surprisingly the trip went a lot smoother. Especially since I was able to slow my spastic brain down a touch and keep my legs on the bandwagon. Those fucks.

oh hey legs. welcome back.

We did it one more time for video prosperity without any issues besides jumping the X looking slightly moronic once again and called it quits. He was jumping great, the weather was amazing, and the footing wasn't really that bad, but I'm not big on jumping a lot. That probably lends itself to how slowly we progress, but I'd rather have a sound horse way, way down the line than a crippled one. Just saying.

good pony britches

Also, I am loving the figure eight and elevator bit set up on him. He's like butter in my hands. I can pick literally any pace I want and he's down with it. Of course, sometimes I fuck up what pace we should be at (Who's surprised? No one!), but when I get it right we're ballin'.

Oh, right. I have video, too.

I think I need to shorten my stirrups about three holes one of these days. You know. When I feel like enjoying the burning sensation of stressed muscles again.

Sooooooo weeeeeaaaaakkkkkk.