Messing up the routine!

This week was a little backwards from how me normally do things.

Monday we hacked out in the fields for a while just meandering.

Tuesday he had off.

Wednesday I went out at about 7:00 that evening (most unheard of for us) and plodded around for about an hour. W/T/C he was pretty good a tad resistant though.

Thursday he had off.

Today I got out fairly early and decided to try out a new bit. Which is not a success. I was super surprised at just how much he protested it. So tomorrow we're going back to our regular bit until I can come up with another one to try. However he still w/t/c fairly politely each direction and we rode with 2 other people. AND he wasn't a jerk. We finished up taking a lap around one of the fields which actually amped him up instead, oh well! Then he had to get hosed off. Poor man was s-w-e-a-t-y I felt pretty bad for him. Of course he thought the wash stall was torture but he behaved.

Fingers crossed tomorrow he's happier switching back to his old bit.

It's like magic!

I believe we have a winning saddle! Thank goodness, the process is so, so, so unbelievably stressful with an extra wide pony!

Today I was planning on hacking out. However when I got to the barn all the horses were out. I guess since it was SUCH a nice day the barn decided to let them enjoy it - YAY! So I had to scrap that plan. I guess that's why I try to never make specific plans for riding. Back to the point though, the saddle. I never said yesterday but it's a courbette alpina - I found it 43% off at my local tack store in an extra wide (it's a 17 inch I need a 16.5 but I'm not complaining!). What are the chances of that happening!!!!!! Yesterday I manage a quick ride in the saddle but didn't really push anything just trying to acclimate myself.

I definitely upped the ante today! We did lots of trotting and the most cantering we've done in a long time (on both leads). I can sit much better in this saddle I'm not constantly fighting to stay in the saddle. Poncho is moving much looser through his back. He was even stretching down into the contact at the canter - which he normally fights to do. Needless to say I'm super pleased with how our luck turned out after such a horrible demise to my last saddle. I really wanted to try and pop over a couple jumps but no one was there so I decided to be a smart person and not (just incase Poncho decided to kill me ;)! )

I even hopped on Mindite for a little today. We have a lot of work to do! She really doesn't want to accept the contact. Everytime I touch her mouth she flips her head. I guess that's what 10 years of no real work or contact will do to you. We'll get there though!

The short version.

Wednesday: After our ride Poncho killed my saddle. Went to tack store got new saddle, fingers crossed it's wide enough!!!!!!!!

Thursday: it rains - no barn - slowly dying inside from anticipation!!!

Friday: Windy as all get out, Poncho was freaking out soooo I just tried saddle on him in the stall (he went bonkers in the cross ties). Looks like it's a good fit, huge sigh of relief.

Saturday: Somehow managed to get off of work at 12!!!!! Go to barn and test ride in new saddle. Seat is flat and hard as a rock, I'm in love! (hopefully I feel that way after a couple more rides, I have 3 more days to officially decide!)

Riding with other and JUMPING again!

Wow, what  whirlwind these last two days have been!

Yesterday when I got to the barn there were two other boarders there. Which meant that would be the first time Poncho has been ridden with other horses (except for Midnite) in nearly 9 months. I had no clue what to expect...

He totally surprised me though - he was a super star. Got straight down to business and strutted his stuff for the others. (Of course we need to look good for a lady horse!) We did mostly w/t. When we tried a little canter he got a bit to show offy, and we lacked some control. So we decided to save that for another day. Instead he had a blast splashing through all the puddles in the ring and watching everyone do their thing.

Today however Poncho was beyond amazing. We did w/t/c. His canter was getting so adjustable today and even on his "bad" lead he was super willing and compliant (not normal). However when we went to canter through a puddle that was a little too much for him (water even hit me in the face - WOOPS!). His trot work was to die for at times. Once we canter around a little his trot work just goes to a new level. I really need to just canter him a lap each way before trotting one day. He immediately accepts the contact and really steps under himself! I love it!!!!!!! Also we jumped today. Nothing big or scary. Just a 2ft cross rail. But he was so excited to do it. You would have though it was atleast 3ft. Goober.

Then after riding I took him back to the wash stall to show him it still isn't going to eat him. He needed a lot of convincing but finally did it - and lived!!!!!

Trying something new.

Today I went out to the barn with a simple plan of hacking out in the fields. When I got there the two fields I used last week had the pasture horse occupying them. SO that left us with a pasture with lots of hills and tractors surrounding it (scary stuff for Poncho). I wasn't too worried though the worst that could happen is I fall - been there done that with him too many times to be surprised.

Onwards we went.

After several minutes of me convincing him that we could in fact walk past the two tractors and their attachments into the field it was smooth sailing. Although he was not a big fan of the hills. They are a lot steeper than I remembered once we were out there. I only did that for about 15 minutes, we'll have to work up to more. Then we went to the ring to do some stretchy trot work. Where he kept tripping over his rubber bell boots (he has a pair specifically for riding that he's fine with I just didn't want to get them all muddy) so we never attempted cantering. He also forgot that he knows what puddles are. Goober. He splished and splashed around in them for a little before he decided that he could trot through it. Then it was a game to see how much water you could splash up!

Pretty simple day all in all. I just wanted him to have a nice refreshing day where he didn't have to really think. So then he got pampered on a bit. Which led to his new job as official rag holder!

Clearly he takes his new job VERY seriously!

Then I just hung out with him in his stall until he was bored with me and went back to eating his hay.

Getting down to business, maybe.

I've been on a roll so far this week! Monday, Tuesday, and today pony has worked his butt off!

Monday was a simple just get out and loosen up kind of ride. After three days in a row off I just wanted to get him forward and free moving. SUCCESS. Also we had tried not soaking his hay for a few days to see how he'd been. Not too good. He was coughing quite a bit. We're back to soaking it.

Tuesday we ramped things up a little bit.  I wanted him to canter more, he's still in the mindset that we only canter a lap or two and then we're done. Not so much though. He was a bit perturbed at first but got over it and really got into the cantering. His trot work got iffy. For a few laps we'd be great then fall apart for a few then get it back. Oh well something to work on.

Today I was planning on jumping for the first time in nearly a year!!!!! However when I got to the barn there were 3 tractors out and about. Then there was the saw and nail gun. ALL surrounding the entire ring. Needless to say I didn't really have his full attention. We managed to have a successful w/t/c ride though. I was really, really proud of him. I remember a time when he would have tossed me and left me in the dust with all that going on. Not anymore though! His trot was much improved today. We mainly worked on getting long and low during it to hopefully get him a little more relaxed. His canter was a little back and forth due to him getting looky. Very forward and the suck back then push forward then suck back. But we finally got it.

I'm soo proud of my baby. I swear even after 7 1/2 years I'm more in love with him now than ever before. No honeymoon phase over with us. Everyday when I get to the barn I still can't believe how lucky I am to have him. He's just absolutely amazing to me!

WE FOUND IT!

On Thursday I decided I was just going to hack out in the fields for a nice change. I also had the hidden agenda of hopefully finding the bell boot he lost on Sunday (?) evening.

He was super duper pleased with getting out of the ring. He just marched on and on and on. For awhile I just let him meander where he wanted to go, it was quite comical to see how he wanted to serve this away and that away. Eventually he had to listen to me though.

After checking out one field we moved to the next one (where he has been turned out here lately). Boy was he ready to P-A-R-T-Y when we walked in there. I did find the bell boot whilst attempting to convince him that we really should just walk around. So I hopped off to grab it, then hopped back on. The second I started to swing over I could just feel him start to coil up to bolt. Luckily I stopped that before it happened, but I have no doubt that he would have done it if given the proper opportunity. Goober.

Today it reached 90 degrees! So even though I really, really wanted to ride I gave him the day. I just didn't think it would be fair to him to ask for real work with an almost 20 degree temperature jump in a 24 hour period. Hanging out it was for the day. I'm sure he was just fine with all the grooming and scratching he got.