a little help from my friends

Writing anything trying to summarize or encapsulate my time with Izzy is honestly very difficult for me. The last post touched on how hard it was to realize we would be parting ways. And that I chose to continue pursuing eventing rather than shift to pure dressage with Isabel - who arguably could have gone quite far.

What it didn't mention was that I had already followed the mare through one discipline change. Remember, I was still ensconced in h/j land when I first met Isabel and she was meant to be a cheap 6 month lease to get my strength back while her owner was on sabbatical abroad.

Mini Iz & Fire-Eyed XC Iz are with me at every event!

Obviously things turned out very differently... A 4 year journey filled with so many firsts as I abandoned hunterlandia to dive head first into eventing with Isabel - a totally new experience for both of us. And the catalyst for buying my truck and trailer and discovering the trainers who continue to influence me as a rider to this day.

Since I'm a bit of a sentimental sap (shocking, I know!), it makes me happy to know that, in a way, we can still bring Izzy along with us to events - and remember what a badass she always was on cross country, as evidenced by that wild-yet-perfect patch on my skull cap cover.

beautiful and striking in his own different way

That's reassuring to me on a few levels, especially as Charlie continues to progress further in his training, taking me ever closer to the place where Izzy and I left off.

the world's least spooky horse spooked at some new spot-a-pots at OF. like, he doesn't even live there, and was like, "omg no those are new wtf run for your liiiiiiives."

Our next little blitz of summer-season shows starts today - Charlie and I will be tackling the beginner novice tracks at MCTA's Starter Trials at Tranquility.

except, well. it's charlie. instead of running, he basically dialed up the wattage to Majestic Level 10. lol. as evidenced by the fact that i was just hangin there snappin pics of his spooking and snorting lol. watch out, y'all, we got a wild one here!

This obviously makes me a little nervous haha.... I haven't competed at BN in over a year, and actually probably hadn't even ridden a full course at that height since around the same time.

poor guy, he tolerates so much from me and my camera

Sure, I jumped around some bigger 3'-ish jumps with both Gogo and Lion last summer, and, uh, ahem, fell off both times.... But we didn't really do full height course work. Which, arguably, at least for me, feels a little different than just jumping the odd 'big' jump or exercise.

he's so expressive tho, i can't help myself trying to catch all his neat poses

And maybe it was a little foolish entering Charlie in BN before he'd done a full height stadium course too.... We've been right around 2'5-ish for a little while now (why yes, trainer P is in fact that precise lol) but still mixed in with lower fences.

Tho the horse did most of Tranquility's BN xc fences at Jenny Camp. And if it's run anything like the last time I did BN at their starter trials, I think we should be fine for xc.

except the phone is typically in the same pocket as the treats.... making it nearly impossible to nonchalantly grab the phone without him noticing lol

Trainer P put the jumps up for us in yesterday's lesson, tho. Charlie's first full course at 2'7 (precisely measured to be sure). With a two stride line, some deviously tight turns, visually interesting fences (oxers galore, barrels, hog's back, and swedish oxer), and a bending line.

And Charlie didn't even blink. Good boy. For the record tho, neither did I. Sure, we made mistakes and whatever, and hopefully I'll write more in depth about the ride later (alas, no media). It wasn't perfect. But I felt fine. Totally fine. And so did the horse.

So here's hoping for a solid, confidence building outing today at Tranquility. Wish us luck! Hope you're having a great weekend too!