the little monster is growing on me

And by "little monster" I obviously mean the notorious Krimpet. And by "growing" ... well, she's not exactly getting any bigger haha. But I'm actually a little surprised by how much fun I'm having with her.

Which, well, I've been spending extra time (when possible) with her lately bc... uh... not long after my gushing post about our dressage lesson, she did her mother (my friend C) a real dirty. Naughty naughty pony. C isn't exactly one to give up easy, and she's eagerly plotting her return to the saddle (soon!). But in the meantime, Ms Krimpet and I have spent some quality time together.

she almost looks like a sweet lil thing from this angle haha

One ride was perfectly suited to entice herd-bound, easily distracted Krimpet towards naughtiness. I opted to school her in our medium-sized arena while a lesson of seven advanced students cantered and jumped around. It was very hard for Ms Thing bc she really just wanted to go where the other horses were. And she threw a little bit of sass into things like picking up the left lead. Not quiiiiiiite a buck - but definitely a threat in that direction.

Mostly tho she was pretty good. Never got really soft or straight-ish like she had in our dressage lesson. But never truly abysmally bad either. Plus we took the opportunity to pop over our first little cross rails together. I wasn't entirely sure which of us worked harder when it was all said and done, but it felt like a maybe some progress was made for the pony?

widdle ponykins!!!

I opted to hop on again earlier this week for another school - this time with only two other riders in the arena. That probably made it a bit easier for the pony to focus (she really is just a babyish 5 after all) and she actually really tried in the flat work!

She honest to god started testing out the contact and looking for the answer. Not always getting it right (she got a little bit dive-y when she figured out I wanted her reaching forward for the bit) but much of that is attributable to me. I was just pleased that she was participating and trying.

I shouldn't be surprised tho - she's a very smart pony and is perhaps unusual in her desire to really truly be a good girl (despite what her extreme naughtiness might imply). This is evidenced by the fact that I can somewhat mitigate my sins of timing by lots of positive praise. Saying "good girl" at the right time works nearly as well as a properly timed release (at least for now) - so I spend a lot of time talking to and verbally encouraging her. And she listens!

she can't decide whether she feels proud or like she might keel over and die haha

I did a bit of work on simple changes of lead across the diagonal bc it seems like a real sticking point for the pony is the canter depart. Which is odd bc she's actually pretty sensitive and will happily move forward when made to. So I figured the exercise might help sharpen her up a little bit to a regular canter aid.

And then, mostly for shits and giggles, I revisited the little cross rail exercise again. It's three fences set up more or less down the center line - so you can kinda just loop around them figure-8ing and changing directions and all that fun stuff. And whadya know, this little pony was on FIRE. Moving happily forward to the fences and nailing her lead changes either over the fence or through auto changes right after. Clever thing!

krimpet vs. cole. not exxxactly the same angles, but, uh, you probably get the picture haha

While the idea of jumping anything of size on this little thing makes me feel.... not exactly warm and fuzzy, I'm actually toying with the idea of trying her out in the xc field. Just little stuff. Logs on the ground and such. She needs work out in the open (there's a looong rap sheet where that's concerned) and I somehow suspect she could be a lot of fun once she learns the game.

Or maybe I'll end up eating dirt haha. Hard to tell!

It's funny bc she's basically the exact opposite of what I've been saying I need lately: a forward-thinking, full-sized horse that's gonna take me straight up and over some big fences like nbd. But she's accessible and kinda fun, and at the end of the day I need FUN more than anything else.