maiden voyage

Phew. I need a long weekend to recover from this past long weekend. Does anybody else feel like that?

Anyway this is mostly just a quickie teaser post as I certainly can't be the only one who is only slowly pulling things together to get back into a normal rhythm. It's just been... wow. Just so much pie. Ya know?

get on the bus, charlie!

As I was saying, tho, here are a couple teaser pics from Charlie's first actual outing in the new trailer (his third outing total with me). We went back to my favorite weekly stomping grounds, OF, but not for a lesson this time around.

Nope, instead Charlie went out for his first little dressage schooling show!!

first setting eyes on the dressage court!

It might as well have been a whole new place for Charlie tho, bc aside from parking the trailer in the same place and using the same mounting block, everything else was different. He warmed up in a new-to-him field, and rode his tests in the new-to-him dressage court. Very exciting!!

charlie already knows how to dress like a dressage horse tho

And ya know what? It was actually pretty fun! Personally my first return to the show ring since the ill-fated Jenny Camp last spring... And Charlie's first 'event' since his final race on Aug 9.

Sure, we had a little bit of tension with Charlie processing all the activity and trying to figure out exactly what in the fresh fuck was about to happen to him. And naturally I had my own nerves too.

chillin at the trailer like a grown horse

But this outing wasn't about the performance at all - it was purely about that experience for him. The rides weren't what mattered (and I PROMISE we are not breaking new ground at Intro, folks, have no fear. not like that's gonna stop me from posting the video anyway tho haha).

Rather, I was most interested in Charlie feeling that build up of anticipation for.... something. But then having that "something" end up being quite easy for him, something at which he can easily succeed (hello, w-t test!). And obviously I wanted him to experience that atmosphere and the hustle and bustle of horses everywhere, plus spending quality time tied to the trailer.

The whole shebang, ya know? But in an easy, laid back and ultimately safe environment. And he was so good!! Actually so good that we even managed to snag some satin in a somewhat crowded intro b class!! More details to come on that tho ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend too - whether it was a long one here in the US (filled hopefully with fantastic food and PIE) or not!