like riding a bicycle

Guys. It's happening. Charlie is actually honest to god figuring it out and is remembering his lessons from one week to the next! I probably sound like a broken record but each time I jump this horse, the idea of eventually eventing him feels more and more real, more tangible!

best canter evar ;)

Today's post is kinda a two-parter, as we started the day at OF with another round of free jumping, since Charlie could frankly use all the help he can get in that department. We then did a more traditional (albeit shortened) riding lesson immediately after.

I could probably split each component into separate posts.... but for the purposes of documenting the training process, the two are inextricably linked. Free jumping this horse is having exactly the impact on his development we had hoped, and it's already showing!

he hung out alllll by his self at the trailer for maybe ~5-10min for the first time too. didn't notice. good boy.

Right away, too, Charlie showed improvement from last week. He clearly remembered the exercise and was prepared to exert a little more effort and be a little more forward.

cherry-picked moment #1

Obviously that's not to say it was totally without blooper moments bc... well. It's Charlie and he's big and awkward and apparently kinda lazy. But in a smart-lazy kinda way where you can see him exploring every possible alternative method to jumping haha.

cherry-picked moment #2. if it happened twice it can't be just a fluke, right??

Really tho I was quite pleased with him. We got him built up pretty quickly to where we left off last week: ground pole to cavaletti to small oxer. He made nice work of that a few times (and less nice work a couple times too haha), then we reconfigured to three low cavaletti in a row.

exhausted from the exertion. 

With plenty of encouragement from the ground crew (free jumping this horse is apparently a team effort lol) he made it through respectably a couple times and we opted to finish on that. Good boy!

video here

my favorite part of this video is when trainer P yells "Leg!" as Charlie goes through the grid.... obviously the teacher's reflex is strong haha

Obviously again there's nothing ground breaking here. He's still often awkward and stilted haha. But the moments when he does just canter on through feel promising.

And I was quite pleased to see a few instances where things weren't quite perfect but Charlie could recognize and adjust accordingly, instead of just crashing into the pole (except for that one time, oops). Baby steps y'all!

a tale of two personalities haha. charlie is snoozing and bella reeeeeeeally wants to know what i'm up to

Then I popped his bridle on, hopped aboard, and we moved outside for the piggy-backed component of ridden jumps. Obviously the horses were already 'warmed up' but we still went through the routine of a little flat work anyway. Practice practice and such.

Plus it was trainer P's first time seeing Charlie go since the seismic shift following switching to the new girth and spurs.

Bella continues to shine too!

It really is an impressive difference in the horse. There was absolutely no dinosaur getting stuck in tar pits. Even when I had to remind Charlie a couple times for more trot. And Charlie has been striking off simply and drama-free onto both leads - and will now execute a totally pleasant jumper-worthy simple change.

friends!!! and a dog that i totally promise isn't actually dead!!

Now I'm not saying the dinosaur is totally extinct -- but as trainer P said, now we know how Charlie is gonna react when something is buggin him. It might not always be the girth. But that's his 'tell.' For now tho we appear to have smooth sailing, yay! 

d'aww good pony!! still so awkward even when he 'nails' it haha

Anyway after a brief workout in trot and canter, we quickly moved on to hopping over little fences!! Alas not a ton of videos bc Brita and I were often working over our own fences simultaneously (it was just the two of us riding). But the two jumps she did catch were fairly representative of the whole ride.

i'm somewhat hilariously left behind Charlie's huge effort at a gappy distance.... but am absolutely loving every second

Charlie had moments of absolute brilliance (or as brilliant as you can be over 2' haha) where he easily and comfortably found the jumps. He jumped from and landed on both leads about equally and even executed a couple changes over the fences.

He also had a couple "Oh Shit" or "WTF" moments too - and we both played a role in some misses (like when I was completely left behind at the above jump lol).

super quick video here

But he didn't touch a single pole and he jumped everything. He rode forward and carried me to each fence (we jumped a number of different verticals and oxers plus the one in the video). And cantering the jumps is a thing we can reliably do now.

Meanwhile I just kinda sat there and let him do his thing, while keeping my left hand hooked on to the neck strap like it was my job (just don't ask what my right hand was doing bc I promise I don't know haha). And that's basically exactly what it looks like: essentially, not much. He's still awkward and I'm still just clinging to his back like a passenger while he works it out.

turned out with no blankets - it's a miracle!

But it's pretty freaking exciting to me, especially knowing that the above ride was Charlie's 5 month anniversary of becoming an event-horse-in-training. Catching up on the timeline: Charlie's final race: Aug 9; First ride Sept 18; First jump lesson Nov 5.

He's had 7 total jump lessons, 2 free jump schools, and 5 dressage lessons. Not a ton in the grand scheme of things, but we've made the most of them and have worked hard on our homework while schooling in between lessons.

The timing of everything just feels really good. Spring is coming. Charlie is getting more and more sound through his body and feet. And he is slowly but surely learning his job. So maybe, just maybe, we may actually put together some semblance of a show season. After the disaster that was 2016's season, I'm pretty excited by the prospect!