Wednesday, August 17, 2016

"PONY" is a four letter word

It was JenJ who introduced me to that phrase back when I first wrote about Krimpet. And naturally she was spot on when it comes to this little baby pony mare. Four letter words. So many of them. Le sigh.

stinkin adorable tho!
Long story short, I took Ms Pony Thang xc schooling at OF last weekend. While it's entirely possible that this horse has successfully been out cross country before, perhaps with her previous owner, to my knowledge she hasn't made it through a schooling without tossing her rider at least once. (in fact her current owner is still on crutches from the last time Krimpet was ridden out in the open...)

Alas we did not break the streak this go round... but it was honestly still a pretty good outing!

a little peek at the candy cane, but up and over no problem!
And thanks to my intrepid videographer Brita, we've got all kinds of fun pictures haha. Ooooooh. And video. Omg. The video guys. Brace yourself - it's coming!

cantering through the open like an adult!
I was a little late to the schooling so we warmed up fairly quickly - mostly just checking on the steering aids since this pony is really terribly herd bound. Everything seemed to be in order, and she managed a couple quick canters without any sass, so we moved on quickly to little logs on the ground (with the aid of a lead horse haha).

pony actually looks somewhat confident out there!
Aside from getting left behind at the first little log, and having to take a peek at another (then proceed to step over at the walk), the pony was actually quite good and we were able to cut the cord with our lead horse for a quick circuit of all the little logs in the field. I gotta say - this horse is surprisingly easy to jump when she's going. The spots kinda just present themselves!

baby banks are nbd
Next up was the water, where we basically just went up and down the banks while the other riders schooled over bigger stuff.

#bossmare
Krimpet went up without hesitation but showed a little more reluctance to go down. It was fine tho - a couple passes through and she was jumping down like a seasoned veteran.

seriously tho, how cute?!?
I almost felt like we could be done with that, simple as it was. Especially since it was SO HOT OMG out haha. But no - trainer P took me to task for not actually taking the pony, who was FINE, over some more appropriate jumps.

clearly not impressed haha
So we did that too and Krimpet couldn't have cared less. Good baby pony mare.

mayyyyybe the nicest trot jump i've ever ridden
Tho for most of the "bigger" jumps I opted to use a lead horse, which seemed to work out just fine.

no problem with coops either
Krimpet was happy to go wherever the other horses went, so we enjoyed some fun little canters through fields and woods and streams and such.

so fierce tho
Then on to the ditches. Where again Krimpet seemed to warm up nicely to them after some initial uncertainty. Tho I got left behind once pretty good, and the next time after maybe was a bit behind too and.... well... pony is apparently not very forgiving.

going...... going..... gone
So that snotty little pony just up and bucked me right off. Ugh. Ouch. Talk about rude!

It was definitely not the most pleasant experience... maybe the worst of the year (physically, at least. my {multiple} falls at that jumper show with Isabel were definitely WAY worse on the emotional scale lol). But the good ol' tuck-n-roll served me well and I as basically unscathed.

she had been going so well!
The pony was maybe slightly chastened when I got back on and got her going again - back over the ditch again (not on the video) and then up and over a few more fences.

slightly looky fence
The next fence up was basically OF's version of a BN trakehner. There wasn't actually a true ditch under it, but it was dug out enough behind that log on the ground to give the idea. We flubbed our first attempt over it but then more or less got it right.

And of course I was taking no chances on the landing side any more haha. Pony had her trust privileges revoked!!!

good over the bench! and let's just ignore that my heels are dug so far into her sides that there's daylight between my knee and the saddle lol
She was fine tho. I was kinda sad not to get the last couple jumps on video but Krimpet was basically perfectly behaved.


You'll see it in the video - she actually looks like a pretty cool little pony. Very green and needs miles. And obviously that buck really fucking sucks (but is somehow oddly mesmerizing to watch lol). But cool none the less.

naughty naughty pony
So perhaps if nothing else, this post will serve as some nice mid-week comic relief lol. I've already had a couple friends tell me they had to watch that slo mo over and over again since it brought all kinds of childhood memories flooding back. Did any of you ever grow up with a pony that bucked you off all the time?

63 comments:

  1. What a naughty little pony! 😂 "Pony" and "mare" are both four letter words, you were double screwed 😉 hahah

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  2. Ouch! But yes, gotta love the pony with a minimal-effort buck. Meatly (first pony) spent about three years bucking at every single canter departure. She was easy to sit, though -- serious air, but straight forward bucks. She was sittable and eventually she quit. Nick (second pony, currently in semi-retirement) bucked for real. Not playing, you were going to eat dirt if she bucked. Eat dirt I did. Eventually she got over it though she'll still pop if I land forward over a jump or something. At this point mostly it's an annoyed buck and not a "GET OFF NOW" buck, but mare is 18. Bird does not buck, or at least hasn't offered to yet after a year and a half under saddle. He does the head-shake of annoyance, visible here: https://youtu.be/kcTbuu_rNqA (This is a mildly-annoyed headshake. It gets bigger if he's more annoyed. If he's very very annoyed, you may get head-in-your-face. I try to do better before it gets that far.)

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    1. lol i'm not sure i'd call krimpet's buck 'minimal-effort' - she's quite willing to put in whatever it takes to get the rider off! goofy ponies ;)

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    2. She's determined but efficient. I was impressed with her timing in the slo-mo, it was spot-on. If only ponies were a little less clever...

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  3. Naughty naughty pony! I didn't ride ponies growing up but I don't know how many times I came off because the cow turned, the horse turned, but I didn't. They aren't kidding when they say cow horses can turn on a dime.

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  4. Fucking ponies man. But I am giggling my ass off at the fall series of photos.

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    1. lol right? did you watch the slo mo tho? it's breathtaking haha

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  5. She reminds me of CP, my little four-letter-pony from a few years back. He was notorious for dumping people and I came off him about once a month for a while there. We did get through XC without him dislodging me, but it was a close call a few times. I LOVE these photos, and I love that your camera person kept shooting when you came off! Great riding and adorable pony effort. I love her.

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    1. poor brita - she's seen me eat shit so many times (including watching my break my damn leg for no reason) that she's pretty much totally inured to shock at this point

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  6. She's too cute (and too naughty)! I've fallen off many at many fences that way, but on a QH/Arabian cross instead of an adorable pony mare!

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    1. oh man... it's still just as rude tho! i wish we could make a rule saying "no bucking for at least two strides after a jump!"

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  7. My pony keeps that buck in her arsenal as well. I love ms krimpet!

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  8. Oh ponies. She totally was planning that over the ditch too, what a snot! Your video is pretty damn amusing though, sorry! The rest looked great!

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    1. definitely amusing. and definitely agreed that she was plotting. she saw a weak spot, she knew i let my guard down, and she went for it. little brat haha

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  9. Man, she has got technique! Never had a pony buck me off but my quarter horse was famous for this and taught me to really ride after the jump!

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    1. ugh yea technique is definitely one word for it! i managed to avert any disaster earlier in the ride over normal jumps, but somehow i guess i left the door wide open over these ditches, since she wasn't being very consistent over them. oh well, live and learn!

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  10. HAHA omg she bucked you off. soooo typical. ponies ALWAYS buck. but they teach you never to duck again, that's for sure. that looked like it hurt too! glad you were okay.

    back when i was 16 (and used to bounce) i got bucked off 4 times in one ride by a pony i was trying to train. his name was pork chop.

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    1. ha we used to have a pork chop too! but yea, so typical indeed lol

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  11. I am so glad I am not the only one to fall off a rather smallish equine this week :) I don't know about you but the bruise I am sporting on my backside is turning a rather lovely shade of purple at the moment XD

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    1. oy, hope you're ok too! my bruise came out looking oddly speckled - maybe from the hard ground? idk haha. also i'm pretty sure there were a few folks who came off ponies recently lol

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  12. Oh man glad you're okay! I'm glad the outing was good despite an incident :)

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    1. thanks - she really is a neat little pony and i think she could turn out really nicely... but that buck is seriously problematic.

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  13. Oh my god shes so cute! Dirty buck though!

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  14. Replies
    1. so shiny! i barely even brushed her that morning too (shame on me not taking care with someone else's horse...)

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  15. Gah, SO CUTE! She's adorable! That buck had me cracking up, such a pony move! I had a Dartmoor growing up that bucked me off 3x in a row one day. Mom made me get back on each time even though I just knew I was going to get dumped again. By the 3rd time she tried to catch me (I don't know what she was thinking) but alas, I still hit the dirt. It did instill a solid "gotta get back on the horse" attitude though that has stuck with me to this day.

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    1. i mean... yea it's a good lesson to learn (and i've been there too).... but damn. those ponies getcha every time!

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  16. No pony experience to speak of but damn i want to screen cap that video and make memes out of it.

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    1. meme away, my friend, go forth and multiply those memes!

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  17. She reminds me so much of the little baby Morgan creature at my barn. Too smart and athletic for their own good, but so cute, can you really be THAT upset when they accidentally on purpose pop you off?

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    1. lol @ accidentally on purpose... this little thing. she knows exactly what she's doing! but i still patted her face after dragging myself up off the ground bc... so cute (never mind that my trainer was yelling "don't pet her, that was BAD!" lol)

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  18. OMG SO naughty!! Yeah, I had a pony named Smokey that dumped me ALL the time. Kinda surprised I still ride....

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    1. isn't it funny how the little ones are the dirtiest but somehow still don't really scare us?

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  19. Replies
    1. sounds adorable. i'm sure he was the worst lol

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  20. Oh ponies! They're a class unto themselves. You can totally see her planning that buck well in advance. Demons. Adorable, fluffy, demons.

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  21. Oh Krimpet... Hope C's knee heals soon and she gets off those crutches.

    As for ponies, not so much bad behavior, but definitely fabulous ponies that loved to test riders. Barney did the whole "drop and drag," Timmy did the bolt and go (though I never actually rode him though I'm sure C did), Bam Bam just was Bam Bam, and Diamond. She liked to slam on the breaks and fences. I landed on a brush box once...

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    1. Yea I feel terribly for her. She's optimistic to be riding again soon tho and the injury turned out to be not as bad as we were afraid. But omg those ponies all sound terrible!! Haha no wonder C feels right at home on krimpet!

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    2. Other than Timmy, they weren't bad (Barney was my favorite--I learned to canter and jump on him and had my first fall but he was still the best as long as you learned to steear--I cried hysterically when he passed a few years ago). They all taught you something important. And, you could also play stack the pony (nose to tail) during summer camp and put the strongest rider on the easiest pony and line them all up and call the campers could trot around forever, it was great. But, they had their moments. Timmy though... One little kid walked in one day for her lesson (she was a good little rider) and proclaimed, "Oh No! I'm riding Timmy the Terrorist!" -- that was who he was. He had teeth and used them too. But, he had a nasty colic and didn't pull through...

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  22. That little brat isn't even TRYING over those fences. I could also see the buck n dump coming, you could see it on her face and you didn't stand a chance on the landing side with the lack of a neck. Great job otherwise!

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    1. She's quite an easy good jumper - I really enjoy riding her. That buck tho. It's basically always lurking just below the surface.

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  23. Boy does she look like FUN!

    Worst part about pony bucks? There's NOTHING in front of you to save you. NOTHING. Neck? What's that? It's a big reason I struggle to stay on Q's spooks. I ain't got shit in front of me.

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    1. omg seriously. i felt that way with isabel too, tho at least she tended to hold her head and neck up pretty high. it's funny - i have helmet cam footage from the ride but messed up the orientation (never turned the lens back to the true horizon after using it to sit on a ledge for a few recordings) so i didn't bother editing it. but you can see the fall pretty clearly and the horse's head and neck just completely vanish from view. it's.... unsettling in the realest sense of the word haha

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  24. When they are little like that, they are so much harder to sit, I think. Violet has developed the shoulder duck and spin move that is almost guaranteed to get the rider off since there is no neck in front of you, although she fortunately doesn't use it much.

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    1. that's good that violet doesn't turn to that trick too often! krimpet definitely has it down to a science... le sigh

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  25. She kinda does a similar duck n buck as Miles... although with such a short neck, I feel like it's way worse lol

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    1. ugh yea the short neck makes it pretty much impossible lol

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  26. In the Olympic spirit: 8.5 for execution, since you ALMOST had the full tuck. :P

    Glad you are okay, and that naughty pony mare was only really naughty that time. She really is adorable.

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    1. LOL thanks! so that pony's show name is 'bend 'n snap' - we like to think she'd definitely be taking home the gold were that an olympic sport hahaha

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  27. Sorry to belatedly read about the spill but you guys still make a super cute team 😍

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  28. What a little shit! Glad you are mostly okay!!

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  29. Oooo what a saucy little pony! Evil, yet cute.

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  30. Oooo what a saucy little pony! Evil, yet cute.

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  31. I always love all the media you have! Sorry about your fall, hopefully you aren't too sore.

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