The Making of an Event Horse, Slow & Steady

First off, LOL to the fact I legitimately lost followers over my What Do Wednesday post last week. Seriously people? That was tame.

Moving on from that, I’ve had a lovely little break from school, so in the meantime I’ve been racking up OT, gym and training hours trying to get back n the groove of things after essentially being sick 4 out of the last 6 weeks.

I hate winter.

But I loved this last weekend!

It was a balmy 55*, which in winter feels like a muggy summer day almost, and I took advantage of the warmth and headed outside after a little bit in the arena.

Bangor of course came out too, and since he was there, I figured why not play around outside a bit and feel out our XC legs.

B got his massage Friday and I can tell you, I am a believer. I was going to do a whole big post about it, but I didn’t creep and take pics or videos while she was massaging him and reading a whole mess of text is boring AF. So I saved you there. I CAN say, it was incredible to watch. Literally improved right in front of my eyes. He was like a whole new horse on Sunday, for REAL.

We warmed up over some trot poles, in which he progressively got worse. I don’t know what it is about trot or canter poles that get him all tied up, but he clangs, falls over or knocks almost everys single one, no matter the spacing. I think its  TB thing because Yankee generally did the same thing.

Moving on from that, we jumped a single vertical on the centerline about 10 times through, raising it two holes each time.

It was great fun and he felt incredible. Completely on point, soft, and into it. Even nailed his lead changes like a pro, I was impressed.

Without further ado, here's a little video compilation I put together with the most infuriating video editing app known to man. It turned out alright though & I might have to suffer through making more

The galloping was incredibly exhilarating, yet scary. His stride is massive and he takes off like a wrecking ball. I've never had the guts to let him full out, because I think I would need a football field to stop him!

Also, this is a pretty big, yet casual deal....but that was THE FIRST XC jump we have done together as a team. I completely chickened out over the rolltops we have at our farm...they looked monstrous. But this cute little gate was fun and he literally attacked it with pleasure.

Holy knees! Also, check out those lead change in the video too! I counted four of them!

WHEEEE flying changes! We has dem!

I'm slowly coming to realize that this horse is not one to be rushed and I will never have an 8 year old going training or Prelim...but that's fine by me! Slow & Steady wins the race, amirite? WE have been together 2 years in May, he's only 7 right now, and this was our first XC fence together...HAHA. Wow. But still, its OK. He had a lot of mental issues to work through, and I think now he's in a better place both mentally and physically. 

Plus, now he LOVES jumping and he has incredible scope. I'm pretty sure this horse could jump 5ft with ease, but I am too chicken for that type of shenanigans now. Is chill, we probably won't grace a training level event for over a year  anyways. I'm happy to flit over BN and N fences for a while, considering Novice looks terrifying these days!

Overall, an amazing ride on an amazingly warm day. I have a lesson actually scheduled Saturday, and we will see how that goes!