Going Out with a Bang

Sunday marked our last show of the year and our first competition at Training. It was a very, very fun day and we all had a good, relaxed end to our season. Pop warmed up for dressage very, very well, but despite my meticulous planning I got on too early and ended up taking two walk breaks, which killed whatever good energy we had. I tried to counter that with a good canter around the dressage arena before we went in but for whatever reason, he started leaning on my hands and not going as beautifully as he had in warm-up. After reading an enlightening thread on COTH about the same kind of situation, I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that my riding must change in front of the judge. Either I’m more passive or worried about making it pretty…either way, I thought we performed a decent test, but definitely less soft than I had hoped for. He was good in all his transitions and stayed nice and straight to the right, but our lengthenings were very strung out and when I got my test back, we got the following comments throughout: “fussy in hand, stiff in neck, stiff in jaw, against hand…” etc. I was quite disappointed with the comments but looking back, I know I could have ridden him more through if I hadn’t been concentrating so hard on the movements themselves. I could have prepared him more for the lengthening, I could have half-halted more instead of just setting my hands. We ended up with a 35.9.

We have been working SO hard on our jumping and I was really excited to put it to the test. Well, I genuinely feel like I failed. I never really got him in front of my leg in the warm-up but was worried about overdoing it because he was putting so much effort into his jumps. I went in and chipped to the first, chipped to the second, then pushed for a long one to 3 (which resulted in a big grunt and a huge effort)…then continued to miss the rest of my distances (even getting a 3 in a 2 stride). God Bless him, he goes no matter what. He is SUCH a saint of a horse. C said it wasn’t as bad as I thought and that the distances were fine because he was in front of my leg, but I was really wanting to have a smoother round. Nevertheless, we ended up 5^th and completed our first Training CT, which is something to be proud of. And now we have a nice long list of things to work on this winter before we start up again in January.

We started that work today. I took him on a hack and trot with Bobbie and Mazzie, and I really focused on making him walk forward on a loose rein on the hack to the field rather than letting him schlep along like I usually do. When we got there, we were all business and it was time to go to work. Softened his jaw in the walk and then in the trot, getting him to stretch into my hands while going forward and gradually letting go in his back. He was really swinging and felt beautiful. We did a few leg yields in each direction and really focused on activating the right hind, all with a soft hand and lots of leg. His canter work made me grin from ear to ear; we practiced going from a nice stretchy canter to a more uphill “competition” canter and I really felt like he was through and coming underneath himself and that I wasn’t restricting his gait with my body (as I tend to do). It felt GREAT. I felt like I could put his feet wherever I wanted them at any moment, like I could direct every single footfall. I think this type of warmup could be very helpful at shows for getting him through and swinging before we do any kind of real work. I read an article last night about how important it is to stretch and warm up all the muscle groups before going into real work, and that’s so very true…something I need to pay more attention to rather than just going out, kicking him into my hand and more or less forcing him to soften and go round right from the get go.

I’m excited for a flat lesson tomorrow! Stay posted!

Also started working with a new project today. Champ will be getting the rest of the year off, and maybe longer depending on him. I’ve had an inkling for a while that he was getting sour on his work and he’s confirmed it with refusing to be caught at any cost. So I’m leaving him alone, not even touching him besides pats until at LEAST January. I don’t want him to resent his job. He’s got some more growing up to do and has a nice solid foundation now. No need to drill his resentment out of him, which I highly doubt will work anyway. So…what to do with this extra time? Pull another one out of the field and give her a job.

Meet Sassy:

One thing I really like about these horses is that even though they certainly weren’t bred or built for dressage and jumping, they have incredibly trainable brains and willing personalities that nearly make up for their conformation. This mare is built like a little hot dog, with a very long back, short legs and a short neck. Nevertheless, I like her a lot. Her attitude is willing and kind, and she might question your motives once or twice but she does as she’s told with a smile on her face. I just free lunged her today to get a feel for her and was impressed with her response to voice commands and her natural inclination to go forward.

Short video clip:

I had her pop over a pole on the ground to see if she was willing to do it and careful with her feet. At first she was “Heck no, crazy person” but eventually she trotted and cantered over it with no fuss. Obviously no clue what to do with herself but she was willing and that’s the most important thing.

My goal for her would be for her to be a safe and quiet mount for the girl who would be riding her, and maybe something she could take to local shows and have fun with. We shall see. If nothing else, I’m getting invaluable experience and the little horse has a job!

Thanks for reading!

Delayed Chatt Update!

I just want to first apologize for not blogging right after Chatt Hills when everything was still fresh in my mind! We were so exhausted and when we got home the last thing I wanted to do was blog. I'm finally feeling refreshed again and decided to just check in.

Pop was, no pun intended, a complete STAR at Chatt. We scored a 28 on our dressage test, despite my brain fart in the second canter transition and a very fresh little red horse when we first entered the arena. Something about the cool air and cross country running behind us definitely got him excited and I hadn't seen that side of him before on the flat (haha) so I took my leg off. Wrong thing to do, it turns out, but the test was okay anyway. I'm very lucky in that Poppers looks so elegant and pretty so even if everything isn't 100% correct he still LOOKS so darn nice ;) I know, I know, a pretty picture can only go so far, but we did improve on our trot work from Five Points, and we got a 9 on our halt (YES!). Stadium was relatively close to our test so Lizzie warmed us up (and did a SUPER job) and in we went. Poppers had no interest in the flapping flags that had spooked the previous horses, and he was all business. I thought the course was a lot smoother than our previous courses as far as making good turns and getting leads, but I could have ridden him much more forward than I did, which made for some ugly chips. We hit our rhythm about halfway through and I thought we finished up really well. Three time penalties so we were in 2nd at this point.

Cross country day was beautiful, albeit COLD. He warmed up PERFECTLY, very "on" and raring to get going. So was I. The course walked well and it had a lot of little questions that were in midget form to test us a little bit. He pranced into the start box and took off like a bullet. Thank goodness I had borrowed a watch from Andrew minutes before mounting! From the first fence on, he was so perfect and dead on. We didn't have a single moment where I didn't feel like we were on the same page. I can't even explain the feeling it gave me, but I couldn't stop smiling for a long, long time. He's just a little machine. I've never had more fun in my life.

Scores came in...and based on TIME alone, I snuck out the win. YAY POP! Everyone was so kind in congratulating me (when really, Poppers did all the work). It was so exciting and I feel so confident after the weekend. He was just amazing. After talking with Charlie we've decided to tentivily move ourselves up to Training. We are shooting for a Training CT at the Horse Park in a couple of weeks and we'll go from there. I'm really excited about it! I feel like my trust in him has really built and I can't wait to go again!

We've been working hard on our flatwork since we've been home, and he's been really good. I'm working on not letting my shoulders creep forward, which weighs down his frontend. Today I could really feel the difference and that was encouraging. We're also doing a lot more work in shoulder-in to straighten him tracking right. I am really focusing on not twisting my shoulders and just keeping the angle correct and not losing our forward.

Champ has hit the terrible 2's...which isn't really that terrible, since he's such a good boy, but we've been doing a LOT of roundpen work to refocus his brain on me. For example, the other day he decided he didn't want to be dewormed. He reared, spun away from me and pinned me in the corner. 15 minutes later, I dewormed him in the roundpen without even touching him. Good pony. We've also laid down a PVC pipe in the roundpen for him to trot and canter over, to give him something to hold his attention and also to make him aware of his feet. He LOVES it and will go back and forth over it even when I'm not in the roundpen. So precious. Am planning on getting him back on the trail either tomorrow or Friday...it's been hard with the early sunset, but hopefully we'll figure something out!

I love this time of year! It may be chilly in the morning but by noon we're all in t-shirts and the horses are nakey! If only it would stay this way!

Pictures from Chatt Hills!
http://www.hoofclix.com/Chattahoochee/2011-10-30-USEAHTCCI2/RyanSmithonPop-Star151/19825672_xWDzHN#1560079578_jk4f6Fr

Life after Fair Hill

Life after Fair Hill isn’t much different than life before Fair Hill, except that now my hunger for and love of this sport has tripled. After seeing the quality of horses and riders, not to mention grooms, that was at FHI, I want nothing more than to continue to learn and progress in this sport and maybe, possibly, compete in an FEI event one day. Until then, I’ll be quite content just grooming at them. The atmosphere is unrivaled and I learned an immeasurable amount just by being there, watching and soaking it all up. Even though our week/end turned out to be disappointing, the best thing about eventing is that there’s always another competition to focus on. We’ll be heading to the CCI 2* at Chatt Hills next weekend with Monkee, and this time I’ll have a better idea of what to expect when we get there. Ardy, Benny and Pop are also coming along. I can’t tell you how excited I am to compete again, especially over the beautiful rolling course at Chatt Hills.

We had an amazing jumping lesson yesterday with C. Every time I jump Pop I get a better feel for when he is truly forward and when he’s faking. I also had a mental breakthrough. In the past I’ve usually kept my leg on, kept my leg on, kept my leg on…but then softened my hands three strides out only to get to the fence with nothing. This time, after being reminded by C, I kept a feel of his mouth and therefore packaged the energy instead of letting it get strung out. Voila! He jumped super and I felt very encouraged and happy after our lesson. We jumped a small course of an oxer off the right lead, to a vertical off the left lead, around to a one-stride off the right lead, and then over a skinny off the left lead. His changes were really good and clean (amazing how that happens when we’re not strung out) and he was really listening and we were on the same page. Good feeling! He’s such a good boy. He’s getting quite wooly and will be getting clipped in the near future!

Work has been a mix of trying to get everyone ridden and trying to reorganize the trailer. After every event I have a better idea of how to organize things in the trunks and the trailer. Watching some of the top grooms in our sport is really helpful and I’ve definitely come a long way from when I first started, throwing things wherever they would fit and never knowing where anything was. We seem to acquire more stuff after each show but everything is finding a place. I love packing! For the horses, anyway…I’m not the biggest fan of packing my own clothes!

I’ve been given a huge gift in an entire weekend off, so I’m putting the time into cleaning and organizing in the house (which I never seem to find time to do!) and lots of refreshing of Eventing Nation for Pan Am news. We’re leaving Thursday for Chatt Hills, with the jog up on Friday morning for Monkee. Wish us luck! God Bless!

Lots of good updates from my neck of the woods! First of all, Pop has been consistently sound for six rides now, and we are slowly getting back into our routine (just in time for me to leave for a week for Fair Hill, naturally). We’ve only been flatting on the grass but he feels really good and is working well. Our goal is still Novice at Rocking Horse (FLORIDA!) the first weekend of November. I’m itching to get back out there!

On the Champ front, we’ve managed to make a good deal of progress. The day after my last post, I spent 33 minutes (yes, 33 minutes) trying to catch him. After the first time he ran from me, I began to push him away from me, making him work if he wanted to avoid being caught. It took a world of patience but finally he walked right up to me and lowered his head into the halter all on his own. I haven’t had an issue catching him since. That day I just brought him in, brushed him, and turned him back out so he’d understand that catching him doesn’t always mean work. The next time I worked with him we just stayed in the roundpen and worked extensively on halting and turning. He was very good and professional. The next day I was lucky enough to have my good friend come out to ride Bonita with me and Champ on the trails. Champ was very nervous at first and really trying to avoid the bit, but after a calming walk around the first loop we picked up a trot and he really settled into it and was light and happy to go forward at a reasonable pace with Bonita behind us. We practiced a little bit having Bonita lead, walking two abreast, and passing each other. We also cantered a little bit and he was very obedient. He’s such a smart horse and really grasps everything so quickly. Hopefully Sara can come ride Bonita at least once a week from now on and we can really get Champ used to going out like it’s no big deal. Update from today, his feet had just been trimmed and Bonita had just gotten shoes on for the first time so both of them were a little ouchy, but we just took them on two loops of the trail at a walk. Champ was very easy to catch, patient to groom/tack/mount, and was quiet and obedient throughout the trail ride. Very proud of him! He'll have the rest of the week off because I'll be in MD, but we'll pick up again next week!

Did have a really interesting lesson on Thursday on Noah, one of S’s babies. He’s a 4 y/o WB gelding, your typical tall gangly but amazingly talented horse. He is very powerful to sit on and I was definitely a little nervous about riding him, not to mention jumping him. It’s funny how my confidence was so shattered on the racetrack, and I’ve just now started feeling more capable and confident over fences on well trained horses, but riding a very green and unfamiliar horse over fences was a little unnerving to me. The good thing is my trainer knows my limitations and I trust he would never put me in a situation I couldn’t handle, so I took a deep breath and tried to just breathe and ride through it. Initially I could feel myself tensing up and getting nervous, especially since Noah was being a little spooky and looky and his big stride was throwing me off guard a bit. After we jumped a few fences, though, I started to relax and enjoy him a little bit. He gives you a really nice feel to the fences, and if you just sit quiet but with a light feel of his mouth and close your calves, he trots right up to a good spot and really jumps it nicely. I felt proud that I’d gone outside my comfort zone a little bit and ended up enjoying myself!

Well, I’ve finally caught whatever bug has been going around and just in time to leave tomorrow! Wish us luck, send Monkee good jingles, and I’ll update you all when I get home! Take care!
-Ry

Catching Up Again

It’s that time of year again---Fall, the time where Eventing recovers from its summer hiatus in full force. We are quite busy at the barn right now, with lots of good things going on. First of all, the bad news is that Pop has been lame for exactly one week now. We diagnosed the problem early on to be soft soles, especially in his right front foot. After playing around with hoof packing and Turpentine for a few days, he came sound on Saturday and we had a good light flat session on the grass. Sunday he was quite lame again…today he got reshod and was lame afterwards. I painted the soles with Sole Paint today (wonderful for taking away the soreness but not so great at hardening the soles) and we’ll see how he is tomorrow. I really, really, really hope we can get this under control soon. Our next horse trials is Rocking Horse the first weekend of November and every day we lose another important day of training. Stay tuned!

Flaggy has found a new home as a children’s jumper. We are SO excited about his new career and the loving new home he’s going to. He leaves tomorrow, and although I’ll miss him very, very much, I know it’s what’s best for him. It’ll definitely be hard to fill his shoes, he was the barn clown and has more personality than most entire barns. Best of luck in your new home handsome man!

Monkee is getting ready for leave in a week (with me!) for Fair Hill.This is a huge deal…the Fair Hill 2* and 3* is one of the biggest events of the fall season in North America. I’ve never been but people who have say it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen in terms of the quality of horses and riders and the vending! I’m so excited to go and spend a week up in beautiful Maryland, so close to one of my favorite cities in the WHOLE world (Newark, DE) and getting to see some amazing riding and hopefully score some shopping deals!

Champ has been exploring the world outside of the round pen and doing quite well. Today, after a week off, I for some reason thought it a good idea to take him straight to the trail without longing him or riding him in the round pen first. He’s been so good and willing that I didn’t even think about it until we were on the trail with no brakes and no obedience. He encountered deer, which literally made him shake, and a few scary stumps and trees that got to him today. When he took off (which was well, a lot) I immediately spun him in a circle until he came down to a walk and then we continued on. Let’s just say for the better part of half an hour we were doing circles and walking a few steps and doing more circles. As far as positives, I did get him past all the scary stuff without a fight. And took him through the scary spots several times until he didn’t think anything of it. I also got him to walk most of the way home without trotting. As far as my plan…more roundpen work, especially working on our brakes and turning skills. And I can’t limit him to the roundpen entirely, because the enclosure is like a safety blanket and therefore he tends to forget his skills once in an open area. While I COULD use his paddock to ride in, I almost feel like the trail is a safer choice because it’s lined well with trees and there’s really nowhere for him to go other than forward. Also, the paddock is where he plays and I don’t want him to confuse riding time for playtime. I also noticed today that his ground manners have started lacking again so I need to pay more attention to that.

So…the plan is to try and ride him tomorrow after work, in the roundpen with lots of transitions to halt and working on turning a little bit. Just to refresh his memory. Then we’ll maybe go for a spin around the pond to practice in the open and I plan on being very strict about ground manners and being polite. Then later this week we’ll go back on the trails (AFTER a roundpen session) and see where he’s at mentally. I’m hoping to get my good friend to come ride an older, experienced horse with us so Champ can see there’s nothing to be anxious about. Fingers crossed for that!

Well, tomorrow will be a new day and hopefully Pop will be ready to go and Champers will behave himself! Take care, everyone!

-Ry

Riding Solo

DISCLAIMER: Written Monday afternoon. :)

I have had the barn to myself for the last five days, and it's given me a good chance to reflect on what I've learned as a rider, barn manager and horseperson in the last year that I've worked here. I have immersed myself in this job and this world since I got here and have felt my knowledge and capabilities have truly increased, especially in the last six months as I've had increased opportunities to ride lots of different horses and started competing again. I've learned SO much about managerial duties, organization in the barn and at shows, doing things in a timely manner but quickly and efficiently, scheduling things such as vet appointments and farrier appointments without conflicts to others' schedules, etc. I've learned to fit a lot of work into an 8 hour work day. I've learned where I can take shortcuts and where I can never cut corners. I've figured out a system that truly works for each individual horse in the barn. I've learned an immense amount about nutrition, and with help from my sister and several experts we've devised a "perfect" diet for each and every horse in the barn that gives them optimal amounts of energy, a glossy coat and good weight for their level of fitness and work. I've learned to judge the quality of hay, how to decipher supplements from necessary to a waste of money, how to put weight on a hard keeper, and how to manage a horse's soundness and ulcers through diet.

I've had ample opportunity to observe some of the top vets in the area at work and have learned a lot about diagonosing a lameness, treating it, rehabbing, and preventing injuries. I've learned about caring for various kinds of wounds and foot problems. I've learned a TON about shoeing from the four different farriers who work on our various horses. I've learned about equipment, tack, blankets, and riding clothes and gotten to try a lot of different brands to see what works and what doesn't.

But most of all, I've learned how to ride. It's obviously a forever work in progress, but when my boss is gone and I have five horses to ride on my own, I finally feel competent to do the job properly. Before I got here, I wouldn't know how to ride on my own, work through problems, etc. I didn't have a clue. Finally, I feel like the ability to school a horse on my own is there...obviously needing more development and lots more experience, but it's there. I can get on my own horse and ride him through his problems, loosen him up in a nice long warm up and then spend quality time working him on the flat, ending with a positive result and a good feeling. I can get on a horse who is rehabbing and make his mundane trot sets more fun for him. I can get on the spooky horse who previously I would just fight with (and lose every time), and work him through his spooking and balking and end up getting some pretty beautiful work out of him. Nine times out of 10 I can get off and feel good about my ride, even if things didn't go as I had planned or if there were lots of bumps throughout. I always feel like I accomplished SOMETHING, even if it was small, when I get off. That feeling was NEVER there before. I was always missing that part of my riding. Now I'm just so excited to keep learning, keep soaking up every piece of information I can, and getting a lot more time in the saddle to continue my education.

My dream of being a professional rider is still sitting in the back of my mind. I know I've gotten a late start compared to most professionals, but what is age but a number, anyway? :)

Now, I have also become aware of some key physical issues that are compromising my effectiveness as a rider.
1. My core is incredibly weak. It's always been that way, but I never truly realized it until I started riding correctly with C and physically was not able to sit up and engage my core. I collapse in my ribcage, I creep forward on my pelvis and therefore my position is ineffective and incorrect. I have to be concious of this every single second and literally tell myself to sit back and try to engage those muscles. So far, I'm up against a brick wall. Suggestions welcome :)
2. My back. I've strained my lower back yet again and today couldn't physically sit up. It feels like a jackhammer going straight up my spine as I absorb concussion from the horse's stride. I plan on icing the crap out of it and continuing to ride through it in the vain hope it'll sort itself out. Chiro is out of the budget right now. I know that a lot of the back pain is related to the lack of core strength as well.

And my half chaps have broken..the bottom snaps fell off on both of them. Frustrating as now the zippers unzip while I ride. I've been eying the Ariat Volant paddock boots and half chaps but am scared, literally, to buy them as I'm fairly certain I'll be kicked out of my barn for wearing them ;)

Time for a lunch break. The gang will be back this afternoon after a super successful weekend at Poplar! Can't wait to see them, although it's been really nice to have the barn to myself and to just *be*.

God Bless and have a great Monday!
-Ry

Five Points Recap!

I finally think I’m somewhat caught up on sleep…maybe. It was a very long weekend, with 8 horses competing and all 3 of us (myself, H and C) were riding. We set up the barn on Friday and got everyone ridden, and then the humidity started setting in, happy to hang around until we left on Sunday. The Horse Park is a fabulous venue, truly one of the nicest venues and stabling areas available to us. We got to bed at a semi-reasonable hour that night after giving baths and doing some magnetic therapy on a few of the horses.

The next morning came quite early (3:40 a.m) as we had 8 horses to bathe and braid, 2to lunge, 8 stalls to clean and 16 water buckets to empty and fill by 7:00 a.m. We did it, by the grace of God and a very determined attitude. Everyone had a beautiful dressage test…we were all very excited about where our horses were in the standings at that point! It was my turn after lunch…Pop warmed up really, really nicely. I didn’t do a long warm-up because it was very, very hot at this point and the last thing I wanted was for him to run out of energy before we did our test. Well…it happened anyway. But the test itself was better than last week. My goals for this phase were:

1. Improve my score by 2 points. This would mean scoring around a 34.

2. Improve the comments on my geometry…make circles the correct size, be more
accurate about doing movements on the letters.

3. Keep Pop forward and through during the entire test.

4. Keep Pop’s hindquarters straight in the right lead canter.

5. Improve the halt.

Well, here’s how it went:

1. We scored a 30, which I was thrilled about.

2. My circles were definitely closer to 20 meters than last week and I tried to be more accurate with the letters. I did still have a problem with the turn from B to E to the track, mostly because Pop wasn’t through or going forward (see below!)

3. Pop went down center line beautifully and crapped out as we turned right at
C. I didn’t prepare him enough for the turn or have him bent properly for the turn and as a result he lost his impulsion, his roundness and a few points. This happened again at B, and E..I never truly got him forward and through again, but we did have a few more good moments throughout.

4. One of the comments was “hindquarters right” for the right lead canter, so I definitely didn’t do my job here. I think by this point I was so happy he picked up the canter from the slovenly trot that I didn’t even worry about straightness. MUST BE MORE PROACTIVE.

5. He still had a hind leg too far back in the halt but his legs weren’t crossed this time!

Overall, my feeling was disappointed in myself for not riding him more aggressively and more proactively, but at the end of the day we did make some good improvements from last week and have some more homework to do. He was a good boy and we’ll only get better from here.

Cross-country was much later. I was pumped! I walked the course twice and was especially concerned about 6-7-8; fence 6 was simple but then you had to make a right hand turn 180 degrees to a ditch and then 4 strides to 8. I was worried about
the right hand turn and keeping him forward to the ditch. Goals:

1. Ride up to my distances.

2. Get Pop to turn better than last time. We had a lot of issues with landing on the left lead with a right hand turn coming up.

3. Establish a rhythm earlier in the course.

4. Come in closer to the optimum time.

Here’s how it went!

1. I rode up to no distances. Haha. We took a LOT of flyers because I saw a long one and didn’t have the pace to make it. Poor Pop. He was so good and willing…fence 5 was a wide table and he took off WAY too far away and still cleared it. I rode backwards through related distances…for example, the water was supposed to be a one stride and I did it in 3. I was long on the bank to the coop, also.

2. We for the most part had better turns. We turned well to the ditch, but we almost had a runout at fence 4 because he was flying through the turn without actually turning. Thank God he has a big heart and jumped it anyway but it was close.

3. I don’t think we ever found our rhythm this time. He was wanting to go, go, go and I would let him go and then start freaking out in front of the fence. Luckily for me he’s game and careful.

4. We definitely failed on this one! We had the fastest time on our division by a LOT. Woops!

Nevertheless, we were clean and he jumped confidently. What a rush! Very proud of him and happy the BF was there to watch and cheer us on. He cooled down easily and got poultice and wraps for the night as well as hoof packing. We were sitting in 5th.

Sunday morning dawned chilly but it was soon to warm up a good deal and become BLAZING hot. We again had an early and busy morning with 6 horses show jumping before I rode. All of our boys were very good. Ardy ended up 7th in his second Prelim and Val was 2nd in my division. Pop and I jumped a couple of fences and headed in. To be honest, I walked him into the ring and a sense of calm came over me and I rode the course like the most confident person ever. He was AMAZING. I didn’t worry about distances, I just kept him moving forward and he jumped every fence so beautifully. We had a clean round and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. What a GOOD BOY. We finished up with a beautiful white 4th place ribbon! I’m so proud of myself and of him. GOALS MET for stadium…which was to get around with rhythm and balance.

So what’s next for the Pop Star? We’re looking to run Novice at the October Starter HT at the Horse Park the first Sunday in October. I’m excited about returning to that course and hopefully owning it this time!
Pop will return to work tomorrow weather permitting, and we have a lot of flatwork to do before the Starter HT. I want to really have the Novice tests down pat by then so it’s almost a formality. I also want to do more fitness work with him before then so I feel like I can ask him for more and he’s capable of giving it. I also need to work on getting a show coat before then!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more news on Mazzie (who is doing great!) and the rest of the horses in the barn!