into the tempest

We've been getting some downright gorgeous spring weather lately. In February. Crazy. I'm certainly not complaining, even if it makes me a little nervous about what might be in store for us come summer....

so much green in this picture!

Naturally tho, the forecast for Saturday afternoon was fairly apocalyptic in terms of spring thunderstorms. Scheduled to coincide perfectly with our weekly jump lesson at OF. Curses! We're eventers tho and we don't melt in the rain. Supposedly haha. Plus OF has an indoor so if worse came to worst we'd just pack it inside for the lesson, right?

rather tame rain drops

Tho of course when it first started drizzling, Brita and I headed right on into the indoor... and were promptly labeled 'wimps' and teased into getting our butts outside by trainer P lol. Gotta love it! The weather cleared for the most part tho, we got pretty lucky.

Things didn't truly get ugly riiiiiiiight up until we were finished and hustling back to the barn anyway (at which point it got so ugly that both Brita and I were executing emergency dismounts from our still-jogging horses so we could get inside post haste....)

the storm made for some pretty rainbows tho!

Anyway tho, we had kind of hemmed and hawed about whether to go to the lesson. I had been especially concerned with hauling the trailer across the highway in potentially violent weather. But I am SO GLAD we carried on anyway. Not only did we get a full ride outside, but it was easily Charlie's BEST jump lesson yet!

i'm quite happy with this picture!

I mean, sure, I say that basically every week. And it's honest to god true just about every week too bc we're at that point in Charlie's education where it can really only get better from here haha. It's a low bar, sure, but Charlie's been clearing it with gusto lately!

the impending storm of doom made for very interesting light

I'm crediting the free jumping with Charlie's major improvements lately too. He's got a better sense now about 'Why should I bother picking my feet up anyway?' Funny how face planting can help drive that point home lol....

so fierce tho haha

Anyway we rode through a series of trainer P's tried and true exercises. Starting with catching single jumps from the outside line on a figure eight, then putting the whole line together. Cross rails first, then oxers. Everything in a nice easy five (measured at 60').

go Charlie GO!!

Trainer P again reminded me that if I'm going to canter him into fences, I should establish his canter earlier on than the last few strides. Mostly tho we kinda just cruised around and I let Charlie pick his pace.

#nailedit

And in the meantime I'm trying to make a more concerted effort to get my god forsaken hands forward and following. Definitely still a work in progress haha, but there were a couple jumps in this lesson where I felt like I was finally 'going with' the horse a bit better.

dark and raining and locked on to the grid anyway

Tho that proved a little trickier through the other two exercises: two different long and low grids. Charlie hasn't seen many grids yet and he can be wiggly and weird about striding so.... ya know... I got a little busier trying to micromanage haha. Oh well.

tho admittedly the rain wasn't his favorite haha... sorry buddy! but ya gotta learn sometime bc if i would show in it i better practice in it too!

The grids were great tho. The first was a two stride to a two stride (30'-30') and Charlie somewhat hilariously actually got kinda mad his first time through when he fumbled the striding. We never quite nailed that one tho, as trainer P adjusted it to Brita and Bella's height and moved us over to another grid, a one stride - two stride - one stride (18'-30'-18') that we got to try out a few times.

we mean business through the grid!!! 

And this was AWESOME. Our first few tries were a little awkward bc Charlie was kinda just figuring it out (he hasn't really done grids with me yet), and also bc we started with cross rails when the distances were measured for oxers.

so many pets for a good boy

Trainer P set up the oxers tho and we made it through one last time pretty much nailing the striding. Yay!!!! I was pretty pleased with the effort bc it really felt like the horse understood and trusted himself to push forward to make the striding work. And I actually mostly stayed with him, especially on our last time through.

2min video here - complete with thunder, lightning and rain....

It's just so fun. Charlie has been so great to work with, and especially since we've resolved some of his dinosaur-stuck-in-tar-pit tendencies these lessons have been pretty smooth sailing. I need to keep working on staying with the horse and pushing my hands forward (especially when I don't see a spot, just let the horse figure that out Emma! pulling helps nothing!), and keep allowing the horse to do his thing unimpeded.

Getting a bit left behind on this horse is admittedly safer than getting ahead of him, just bc he still trips a fair amount... But a stronger rider position will only help the situation.

"Scuse me but this isn't my stall!!" - soaking wet Charlie squatting in a borrowed stall and halter to wait out the storm haha

It's reassuring too to see his work ethic improve as he begins to understand the rhythm and ways of these lessons. Starting back up after waiting for our turn no longer poses an issue, but he still hasn't shown an inclination to get strong or rush at the fences. So far it's stayed a nice happy medium. I like it!

"this isn't the mash i ordered either. service here sucks!"

And of course, seeing him actually jump around little jumps like a reasonable horse is a huge relief. I wasn't exactly looking for an upper level prospect when I went shopping, and in fact I knew exactly zip zero about Charlie's jumping ability when I bought him. So... it was a bit of a gamble haha. Obviously most horses can get around 3' and Charlie has the advantage of size... But still. It's nice to see that he doesn't actually totally suck at the sport lol!

it's a bucket of fun in the chuckles mobile!

Anyway. Enough gushing. It was a good lesson. Brita also killed it with Bella, and while former barn mate R hadn't brought her mare out of weather concerns (but still came along to hang out and take video, thanks girl!), she reported having a solid ride earlier in the day too.

We're definitely getting really excited about the season ahead! And obvi had to christen the new trailer by hangin around in it for a post-lesson beer while chatting about all things ponies and the events to come. Bc yea. We basically all want to do all the things this year! And ain't no thunderstorms slowing us down haha!!