When it hasn't been hot, it's been raining. Sometimes it's hot AND raining. Pick your poison.
BO has been hankering to take Ben, her baby OTTB out XC schooling since he's never seen anything other than the odd log. When she gave me sad doe eyes, I gave in, as she needed Solo to be the chaperone to convince young Padi'wan Ben that the water complex will not suck him in and drown him. I'm a sucker for the sad eyes, but at least I'm a helpful sucker.
Pro: It wasn't hot. Con: It was raining. But hey, we're eventers, we gallop on! The owner of the XC course was out there digging a new Training/Prelim ditch/trakhener (oh MAN, I can't wait till that's done!) in the rain and waved and hollered when she saw us: "Y'all are REAL eventers!" Hahahahha, yes we are! And we thanked her profusely for all her hard work, because this place has phenomenal footing, even in the drizzle.
Solo was just THRILLED about being the Steady Eddie: It's raining on me. Which I hate. And I'm just STANDING here, WTF is the point of that? And did I mention I am getting rained on?
Solo: Hurry up, kid, it's only a stupid puddle.
Ben: OMG, OMG, it's SPLASHY and WET and OOOOOO, it's FUN and I'm a horse GENIUS and OMG, I'm so BRAVE and this is AWESOME!
Solo: I'm soo impressed. Really. And I'm still getting rained on.
Solo also shared his great wisdom on banks: See, you just go off. No biggie. Well, actually, you leap off, but for some reason we are walking today. My mom is weird, but then, what's new?
Ben: Ohhhhhh....
Ben, to his credit, took it all in stride and had the time of his short little life. And Solo finally got to move on to his reason for living: JUMPY JUMPY! But, in his opinion, wayyyy not enough gallopy gallopy. Hey, betcha didn't know you could shower and ride at the same time!
And of course, what good's a schooling day without GALLOPY SPLASHY! Hey lady, shorten your damn stirrups already...
And we worked a little on our bank rhythm, including a tricky new line I hadn't tried before, which is drop into water, about three or four strides in the water, and then jump out. Wow, steering is HARD when you slip your reins!! Here's a little bank tip though, that we learned from David O. Jumping off a bank consists of two motions: (1) Your horse rocks back and jumps up and out. You NEED to stay with his motion and ride this like a regular show jump.
(2) Now your horse drops down and HERE you let your hips open as he drops underneath you. Slip your reins so you don't catch his mouth and be ready to follow his motion as he gallops on. Keep your leg wrapped around him and be prepared to add leg because the water will drag him and slow him down.
The goal, of course, being to get the optimal maximum splashiness as you hit the water so you can rinse that sweat off your face.
Oh, c'mon, more splashy, you can do better that!!
I said MORE SPLASHY!
Ahhh, that's more like it! Bonus points if you can make faces as awesome as that at the same time.
BO has been hankering to take Ben, her baby OTTB out XC schooling since he's never seen anything other than the odd log. When she gave me sad doe eyes, I gave in, as she needed Solo to be the chaperone to convince young Padi'wan Ben that the water complex will not suck him in and drown him. I'm a sucker for the sad eyes, but at least I'm a helpful sucker.
Pro: It wasn't hot. Con: It was raining. But hey, we're eventers, we gallop on! The owner of the XC course was out there digging a new Training/Prelim ditch/trakhener (oh MAN, I can't wait till that's done!) in the rain and waved and hollered when she saw us: "Y'all are REAL eventers!" Hahahahha, yes we are! And we thanked her profusely for all her hard work, because this place has phenomenal footing, even in the drizzle.
Solo was just THRILLED about being the Steady Eddie: It's raining on me. Which I hate. And I'm just STANDING here, WTF is the point of that? And did I mention I am getting rained on?
Solo: Hurry up, kid, it's only a stupid puddle.
Ben: OMG, OMG, it's SPLASHY and WET and OOOOOO, it's FUN and I'm a horse GENIUS and OMG, I'm so BRAVE and this is AWESOME!
Solo: I'm soo impressed. Really. And I'm still getting rained on.
Solo also shared his great wisdom on banks: See, you just go off. No biggie. Well, actually, you leap off, but for some reason we are walking today. My mom is weird, but then, what's new?
Ben: Ohhhhhh....
Ben, to his credit, took it all in stride and had the time of his short little life. And Solo finally got to move on to his reason for living: JUMPY JUMPY! But, in his opinion, wayyyy not enough gallopy gallopy. Hey, betcha didn't know you could shower and ride at the same time!
And of course, what good's a schooling day without GALLOPY SPLASHY! Hey lady, shorten your damn stirrups already...
And we worked a little on our bank rhythm, including a tricky new line I hadn't tried before, which is drop into water, about three or four strides in the water, and then jump out. Wow, steering is HARD when you slip your reins!! Here's a little bank tip though, that we learned from David O. Jumping off a bank consists of two motions: (1) Your horse rocks back and jumps up and out. You NEED to stay with his motion and ride this like a regular show jump.
(2) Now your horse drops down and HERE you let your hips open as he drops underneath you. Slip your reins so you don't catch his mouth and be ready to follow his motion as he gallops on. Keep your leg wrapped around him and be prepared to add leg because the water will drag him and slow him down.
The goal, of course, being to get the optimal maximum splashiness as you hit the water so you can rinse that sweat off your face.
Oh, c'mon, more splashy, you can do better that!!
I said MORE SPLASHY!
Ahhh, that's more like it! Bonus points if you can make faces as awesome as that at the same time.