need a giggle? have some fails.

Busy days with limited horsing and even less media had me feeling like I didn't have much to share.

But lo! It dawned on me that as we approach the one year mark with Charlie, it might be fun to look back on some of our more.... uh.... special moments together. 

That's right, y'all. I'm talking bloopers. Funny moments of FAIL. Because damn, we've got a lot. Like, uh, who remembers this glorious first photo ever of me trotting on Charlie???

The horse is nothing short of a character, after all. And I figure, we spend so much time gushing about what a good boy he is that it's only fair to point out that he's kinda a goof too. Like here, where he just.can't.even with the flies.

Or, uh, that time I stuffed him on my old Calico trailer. Homebody did not fit and was not impressed.

And who can forget our first glorious attempts at ground poles? Much grace. Very elegance.

Of course all along I've been somewhat delusional about the future - like when I photoshopped Charlie's face into one of Allison's fox hunting pics with Dino lol. #notcreepyatall

Really tho, we all know the truth: Charlie's been a refined and sophisticated dressage horse since the beginning - including stunning the judge while winning his first show.

Of course, we can't blame the horse for all our fails. Sometimes (let's be real, most of the time), it's me. Like when I got the horse all tangled up trying to unload him from the trailer. He tried to stop - tried to tell me something was wrong. But noooo, I just couldn't listen. Le sigh, his sheet paid the ultimate price.

It's cool tho. Together, we're clearly an unstoppable force in the dressage world, experts of the upper level "imminent death by face planting" movements - a testament to our superior balance. 

Ha, and for further proof of our prowess, let's not forget that time we went to a fancy pants dressage clinic and basically had to be trotted around in hand by the clinician. Womp. 

Poor Charlie. Sometimes he can barely tolerate being seen with me. 

Sometimes, tho. Just sometimes.... The fails come straight from the horse's mouth. Or, uh, in this case, from Charlie's patented 'dinosaur stuck in tar pit' routine.

Pleasant, no?

Gosh, this really was a golden age for us in our partnership. Sometimes I almost miss it!

Definitely do not miss that whole "trying to teach Charlie to actually care even a little bit about where his feet are" thing tho.

All that hard work paid off tho. Suddenly Charlie became REALLY excited about having feet. And putting them EVERYWHERE! Like the above, when we pretended to drop into Head of the Lake over a tiny oxer. 

Which was naturally just practice for the real thing haha. #basicallyrolex

Ok so actually I have so many shots of us leaping hilariously over tiny fences while I desperately try to cling to his back. It's almost embarrassing lol. Almost.

But we're clearly beyond feeling any shame at this point haha.

These days we're more about world domination, one cross country course at a time. Never mind that the power steering barely works well enough to navigate a tiny 18" box from 5 strides out haha.

But what we lack in steering, Charlie clearly makes up with style. Tail style. 

And more exquisite form in leaping at dem fences!

Uh, most of the time haha. Can't fault the clever boy for checking all possible emergency exits every now and then tho!

Ugh but blast it, there's that stuck dinosaur again. When will this thing go extinct already??? Can we just pretend this is like, a pirouette canter or something??? 

Certainly it's better than whatever this graceful dressage brontosaurus is up to haha. 

Oh Charlie. Can we at least get points for creative expression?

Like that time he offered his own interpretive dance at the water - in a new move called "eliminated on refusals" lol.

He's certainly got a unique style!

And obvi much grace. We are, after all, nothing if not graceful.

And so the cycle continues. Forever and ever, amen. Here's for another year full of fantastically fail-ful moments with the big guy lol!

Oh horses. They're humbling sometimes for sure! Anyone else care to share some favorite moments of fail?