Splashy!!

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.

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Where Did Solo Go?

I have not disappeared, I am simply buried between long, hard days at work and putting a new floor in my house by myself. Even my fingers are sore at the end of the day, I swear to god this project will be the death of me. But I'm nearly done and will be back soon.

For now, I remain ever grateful to my BO. It's still nastily hot outside, but Solo gets to spend the worst days inside in front of his fan while still getting to spend all night out wandering about his pasture so he is not locked up and eternally bored, but at the same time, not being the active ingredient in a horsey boil.

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Things Are Not As They Seem

I thought Solo had missed me and was so excited to see me as my truck stopped in front of the barn at 7:30 tonight and he neighed a bold welcome.

Then I found out the horses just hadn't been fed yet and probably would have welcomed a monkey as long as it had opposable thumbs and could carry a grain bucket.

I thought I would kill time while the horses were eating by picking out stalls, as the barn was shady and it would be a nice light task.

Then my shirt drenched all the way through with sweat.

I thought I'd take Solo on a nice trail ride a bit after 8:00 pm, as the temperature would have dropped by then. Besides, I was riding in shorts and flip flops, I'd stay cool enough.

Then his sweat blended with mine.

I thought we'd move into the woods for shade and cooler air.

Then the evil deer flies swarmed Solo's head in an eager feeding frenzy.

Solo was excited about getting out and about, so I thought we'd do a bit of trot to get away from the flies and stir up a breeze.

Then the flies started flying faster.

I thought we'd move out into the fields, as the flies generally stick to the woods and shy away from open areas.

Then we lost the shade and got hotter, even in the slanted rays of the late evening sun.

I thought we'd better quit before we both lost our patience. So we did.

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Quite The Quandary

How the bloody heck am I supposed to fit up my horse when the heat index is forecast to be 105 from tomorrow through Sunday????

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Fitting Up

There is no doubt Solo lost some fitness during his month-long break. I still don't regret it for a second because that weariness that hung about him in May is gone. But it does mean that conditioning is our top order of business at the moment.

Our first jump school in a month was on Saturday morning -- and my boy felt so good, he was flipping his nose in sheer delight. I think he would have jumped all day if I had let him, but his panting lungs betrayed him. A bareback hack on the pasture hills on Monday, some transition work on Tuesday, and a short (HOT!) session in the vienna reins tonight complete his week. Before I hooked up the vienna reins, I longed him on the side of a hill at the walk and trot to see if he could balance himself and maintain the rhythm downhill (he did!).  The fitness will come back quickly; I can already tell a difference from Saturday to today in aerobic capacity. Per Dr. Bob, 4-6 weeks will bring us back to peak, which would work out just right, should we decide to enter a Horse Trial I've been eyeing at the end of August.

On a side note, did you know that probably 90% of the time I type "horse," it comes out "hores"? Helluva typo.

What have you been doing with your horses this summer? Hitting your local circuits despite the sweat factor? Enjoying long sessions at the end of the hose? Swimming in the pasture pond? Gearing up towards fall goals? Share your stories!!

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