Friday, January 23, 2015

schooling elsewhere (again)

After our successful outing to ST, B and I were super pumped to try out other locations too. There's another farm FV pretty close by that does a lot of arena rentals for a very reasonable price, and pics of the indoor looked promising. So I knocked out of work early and off we went!


First tho - I wanted to give a shout-out to B who gave me this AWESOME C4 belt as a thanks for getting Wick ready for hauling out on all these adventures!! 

the purple is PERFECT!

Anyways, it was kind of funny - Isabel's field is right next to the parking lot so presumably she saw me pull out the trailer.  

spot the pony?
there she is!!

Silly girl - who could miss your adorable face hiding behind that tree?


The road to FV is one of those old, twisty, narrow deals that I didn't love towing the trailer on, but it's not too bad. There's plenty of parking at the farm tho - so no problems there! The weather was a little better than for our ST outing (ie, no wind), and the horses stood well at the trailer to get ready. 


Once inside, we were very happily pleased with the arena. It's very spacious, and the footing has these weird little rubber chunks mixed in, giving it a nice cushy feel. It seemed a little uneven in some places - but not deep. Definitely workable. 


Plus there were already lots of little jumps set up! Everything from little 12" panels and boxes to 2'-2'3"ish gates. Plus flowers and all different colors and shapes. Good experience for the horses! 


Isabel flatted really well - tho I honestly didn't ask for too much. Mostly I just wanted her feeling relaxed and moving forward nicely, but didn't demand much in terms of contact. I rode in the Bates again (which I'll continue to do while I have it on trial) and decided that I definitely don't hate it - it IS better for both Isabel and me... but nope, still not love either... le sigh. 


Then I started popping Isabel over some of the fences. We started with a tiny 12"-18" panel, then proceeded to do the full outside line from a flowery X to the panels. Next we did all the little boxes (tiny but also narrow). Isabel was jumping everything really well - continuing to find great distances and land on her leads and get the striding done fairly well for not knowing the measurements ahead of time.


There were also two gates set up - one red, one white - that were higher, maybe 2'-2'3"ish. And here's where I get in trouble. This is why I made a rule for myself over the summer that I'm not allowed to jump anything below 2' bc it makes 2' look big again to me. Ugh...


So even tho these gates are at a height that Isabel and I have competed at quite successfully, I wasn't really feeling like jumping them. Thank god for B tho - she pretty much told me to put on my big girl pants and just jump the damn things. So we did. Repeatedly, actually, and very very nicely. Some things needed fixing - like getting the right striding down the line from red gate to X (above), and she rubbed the red gate pretty hard once... but these issues were easily fixed. Good mare!! 

I'm glad we did it too, bc I just KNOW I would regret it later if we didn't... ugh this confidence game requires constant vigilance!!

Isabel is a midget next to Wick lol

We also got to play with loading the horses up at dusk for the ride home - a first for us. They were obviously fine... so that was a relief too. In any case, we're hoping to make our outings to FV a weekly thing - probably through March when the ground and weather are better and the clocks change. 

26 comments:

  1. Wick does make her look petite.
    The purple is so fabulous on Iz.
    Good for B for making you do it, and good for you for killing it!

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    1. thanks!! she may be small but she is mighty lol. and i'm so glad B made us jump the jumps too - since the horse is obvi fine about it, it's all in my head...

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  2. Glad you and Iz have been able to school more this week, sounds like she's handling all the new environments like an old pro! And love that purple!

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    1. thanks! yea getting into the saddle three times in one week feels like a huge luxury right now - i love it! tho sadly it looks like the coming weather will be interfering some more - making even hauling out too dicey of a proposition :(

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  3. The tree pic is so cute! I'm jealous of all your nice arena options :)

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    1. thanks! we are very lucky that there are SO MANY horses in maryland, and pretty much completely surrounding baltimore. options abound :)

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  4. Oooh that indoor is huge! glad you had a good ride :)

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    1. thanks! that arena definitely impressed us - looking forward to going back!

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  5. Cute belt! That is a big indoor, whoa.

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    1. it's definitely a very comfortable size! i'm only slightly spoiled tho bc the arenas we had i rochester were actually much much larger, if you can believe that. imagine full hunter courses where each outside line is 7-8 strides, whereas in this arena the outside lines were 4-5...

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  6. Love that purple belt with your khaki green breeches! And I SO understand the confidence struggle over fences... I was about to pass out before jumping Toby over that 2'6" oxer last week, even though, ya know, I've jumped my pony who is a full 2 hands shorter over 3'6"! UGH. I feel the frustration!!!

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    1. yea the confidence game defies all logic lol.... just gotta keep jumpin i guess.

      and those breeches are funny (and impossible to photograph!) bc they're actually the same 'iron' pipers i'm wearing in the banner pic - where they look more purple than in reality too. lol every pic of them is a slightly different color...

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    2. So weird!! Anyway the belt looks good. :-P

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    3. haha thanks! i'll try to get a more 'true color' pic bc the belt is truly perfect for the pants

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  7. OMG THAT PURPLE BELT MATCHES MY WATCH EXACTLY. I think I need it...

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    1. yep - you definitely need it. it is perfection :)

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  8. Looks like a nice place with some sweet jumps to play over! That pic of Isabel hiding is adorable!!

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    1. thanks - i thought she was being the cutest thing ever - wanting to hide but also wanting the candy canes lol. and yea, i'm pretty excited about that arena and forcing myself to set up some actual competition-height fences... maybe haha

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  9. Loving that you are trailering out so much - the horses will become so accustomed to it that going to shows will be a breeze!

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    1. thanks - that's the hope!! it esp helps me with show nerves - knowing that the traveling bit is nbd is just one less thing to worry about!

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  10. OMG I want that belt. It's so pretty and purple!

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    1. yess you should get one!!! i had my eyes on it FOREVER, and B somehow knew exactly what combo to get me :)

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  11. haha omg hiding behind the tree, wonderful!

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    1. lol she it was like she really wanted to hide... but she REALLY wanted those candy canes!!

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