Well I didn't die...

Well I did something I didn't think I'd be doing for a while... I jumped 2'3" with the pony in my last lesson. I'm not what you would call jump crazy, sure its kinda fun but it scares the crap out of me and I don't really like the loss of control I feel. So I try to micromanage everything while still being too scared to actually really ride. Basically I feel like its a shit show every time I jump. So a month ago I didn't think I'd go above like 1'6". I can just trot over cavaletti forever, right? 

Trainer doesn't think so. Fortunately as I progress it starts to feel less like a shit show and more like actual riding. Am I any good? No, of course not I just started a couple months ago. Do I want to jump 3'? Nope, I think 2'6" will probably be good for me. But its progress and as long as my trainer just keeps raising them without telling me how high I'm jumping we should be good! For example she hid the 2'3" into a line so it didn't look as high as it does alone and didn't tell me what it was.

For scale

So I guess I might not be restricted to showing over tiny xs when I decide to do some schooling shows this summer, I might even do a 2' class and there are some eventing shows I might look into as long as everything stays below 2'. Who knows, at this rate trainer might sneak a 2'6" in there and before I know it I'll be jumping 6'.

Proud Pony Mom

Pony had her first show with a the little girl who rides her yesterday and it went awesome! I was working the show (of course) but still found time to hide behind some people and watch their rides and I'm proud to say I only cried a little. Pony was awesome. They got first, third, and fourth place ribbons and I got their ride through the hunter course on video so I can watch it and cry some more whenever I want. I honestly never thought that I would get to see my horse be as good as she is.

The Pony herself on the day I bought her.

When I got Pony three years ago to say she was a project was an understatement. She was supposed to be used for the little kid lessons and I was supposed to get her trained in and ready. Calling her a mess would have been generous. She didn't really steer all that well, her trot and canter were described as an uncontrolled shot out of a canon, and to be honest for our first two rides I really didn't like her. But she has a way of growing on you and I still remember that third ride. She's a smart little beast and on that third ride we just clicked in a way I've never clicked with another horse before or since. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was riding and I knew I was doomed to buy this weird little pony thing. A couple months later she was mine.

Winners!

Now she's better than I ever could have imagined and making more people happy than I could have ever dreamed. No one ever thought she would amount to much, they certainly never thought she'd be as good with kids and as well behaved as she is now, and I can't wait to see where we go from here. Hopefully I'll be riding her in her next show, but for right now I'm happy as can be with where she is.

Sick

If only I could stuff this cute little mouth with treats today

That's right, I'm actually sick. I haven't been sick in years, since I eat a lot of dirt having worked with horses for the last nine years I feel like I have a pretty good immune system. Unfortunately it has failed me now. Since I have a fever I didn't go into work today which is a miracle in and of itself since I don't think I've ever actually taken a sick day before but I still want to see my horse. It seems like whenever I can't go out to the barn is when I want to the most. Like when I'm on vacation or home with a fever and a nose full of snot. So today is boring sit around day and hoping my fever goes down enough that I don't have to go into the doctors office today.

Lesson Time

I'm one of those people who gets stressed at work. Which I assume is most people, since you can't love what you do all the time. So I often times neglect to take my lessons, which is unfortunate because part of my pay is in the form of lessons and if I don't take them I don't get paid the difference, which kinda screws me over and is mostly my own fault but still sucks none the less.

The thing is I'm not able to push aside my stress and frustration before I ride, at least not most of the time. So when I get on and I'm already worked up Pony feeds into that, she gets worked up, and then we end up fighting because I'm tense and defensive and she will fight right back if I'm like that. So most of the time, when I feel like that I don't want to ride because I feel like it does us more harm than good and while I hate to be missing out on money I hate to ride my horse like an ass even more. So I skip them.

She loves her new halter fleeces! 

Yesterday I was a little frustrated but I put on my calming music, took a moment to collect myself and got on and rode my horse. I ended up tuning out my instructor, because sometimes her trying to talk me through things just distracts me and gets me more frustrated because I'm trying but the pieces just won't fall together and I end up over riding and not just doing it like you need to. When I tuned out distractions and just rode it was perfect. She picked up both her leads (which is a miracle because I've literally spent three years trying to get her to pick up her right lead and only in the last few months have we actually gotten it) and we jumped a bit without me feeling like I was dying. Which isn't normal since I'm not really a jumper. Pony, of course, loves to jump. She locks in on them and just has a blast. I think she likes the challenge of having to figure them out, she's very smart and I think if she was human she'd love puzzles.

She also actually changed leads on her own through a little combo across the diagonal which is great, again she really thinks and figures out patterns which is why I think she loves the challenge that jumping provides. One of the ladies at the barn actually complemented me at the end of my lesson and said it looked really good, which is always awesome to hear even though I feel like I'm flopping around all over the place and look like a total idiot all the time.

So in summary it was almost the perfect ride. My instructor was almost speechless, which is very rare, and actually had to change up her lesson plan because we did so well. Hopefully I'll be able to bring the same energy to each ride and we'll really be able to get somewhere. Pony, of course, got many peppermints and chips after the ride since she was such a good girl. Treats are her favorite thing.

Kids and their Ponies

I love my Pony, I really, really do but there's something special about the way a little girl can love a pony that's different than the way I do. They don't see the flaws (would literally kill for an apple and has bucking fits in new places) just how awesome they are. And my Pony is awesome. She really does try, and is always brave for me, and she even tolerates all the silly costumes I dress her in.

She loved her Halloween costume... 

At my barn there's a little girl who's older sister has a horse who is just in love with my Pony. She asks to ride her almost every day and I just can't say no. Not when they get along so well. Its always been a dream of mine to find a little kid to lease Pony and take her to shows and love her just as much as I do and this little girl just might be the one. After all, Pony seems to like kids more than me most days.

Couldn't have anything to do with the hats...

Since she loves Pony so much she's riding her in the schooling show the barn is putting on this month and a day or two ago she told me it was the best birthday present ever. I, being a giant sap of a person, almost cried from pride. To think that three years ago my little girl was deemed unfit for a lesson program and sold to me by people who didn't think she was worth much and probably would have auctioned her off to who knows where if I hadn't bought her. Now she's loved by men and by many children and one of the best horses we have in our lesson program.

I can't wait to see her ridden by this little girl in the show, I might actually cry when I do see it, and I can't wait to see where she takes me and every other little girl who loves her just as much as I do next. Everyone who has a horse thinks their horses is the greatest one in the world, and I know that in the grand scheme of things she isn't that special, but to me she's worth anything and everything.