Wanted: More Magic

This week has been an even wilder roller coaster of emotions than usual.   After one facet of my life finally stressed me nearly to the breaking point, I thought I had stumbled onto an amazing solution that was going to solve most of my problems at once.  (Albeit one that came with nonstop backbreaking labor, but hey, I was game.)  Alas, it wasn't meant to be, and once again I feel like Charlie Brown to the universe's Lucy... Without fail I take a running start at that damn football every single time.

But this is a happy post.  In the few days I had to get my hopes up, I started to slowly rally the troops, and I was reminded just how amazing people can be.   You all know who you are, and I can't thank you enough for the support.

Back to business, the ponies have been doing fantastically even if I've been running around in a manic haze for the majority of this young year.  I've ridden Willie a grand total of twice since the calendar turned but I'm okay with that.   He's fuzzy and filthy and loving life, and I can't wait for spring so he can go back to being my sleek and shiny butterball.   I do have to say, though, one night it got down into the single digits (or less, with our windchill) and he was completely and totally fine being outside and naked.  I know this because I was out at the farm at 5AM dashing around in the dark to get ponies fed before a long drive to a longer interview, and though the tips of his ears were chilly everything else was comfy-cozy, on him and be-bundled Jabby both.   It's a relief to know that my precious old man isn't completely made of China.  (Though I still treat him like it all the same!)

Other than that one nasty night and a few more cold ones, the weather has been blessedly pleasant and I have taken full advantage of it to put Jabby back into boot camp.  Last Friday he trailered out to a friend's indoor, where we schooled a few pieces from the dressage tests I'm eyeing, and then he got to stand around quietly while I watched my friend take her lesson.   Then he loaded up in the dark, needing only a little reassurance from me.  I'm hoping by the time spring rolls around he'll self-load as well as Willie; for now he still needs a little convincing that he can, in fact, fit into my old and admittedly "cozy" trailer, but once on he stands quietly while I go back to get the ramp up all by myself.

Yesterday he did his first real conditioning ride of the year, where I picked a direction and decided to just go until one of us got cold.   It didn't quite work like that, but instead we were both tired, sweaty, and happy by the time we got back, having taken a new loop through the cornfields and spent most of the ride chugging along at a trot or canter.

Today we had an arts & crafts day at the barn.  J worked the power tools while I finished painting.   I dug out my old flowerboxes, and rigged one set with duct tape to try and prevent the flowers from falling victim to our fierce winds, and stuffed the other with the last of my fake pine branches.   Then I got creative with some other things lying around in storage and made lots of evil hypothetical jumps...  But mostly I just painted and moved stuff around to make it "interesting" but still inviting.  (Read:  Picture 4 did not get jumped. ...Yet.)

 

  

After a slightly longer lunch break than intended, we got back with just enough daylight for me to try a new bit on Jabby, the eggbutt mullen Happy Mouth I'd previously used as Willie's driving bit.   He goes "okay" in his current bits (essentially the same oval-link eggbutt, one in copper and one in stainless), but I'm trying to find his "magic" bit the way I did for Willie, the one that causes an aura of light and a chorus of angels the moment it goes onto his face.

This bit comes close, but it's not quite it.  He was mostly steadier, but when he did fuss it was with a twist of his head instead of just playing with his mouth.  He salivated a TON more and he seemed pretty happy in it, but got a little heavier on his front end, too.  So I'm going to experiment more as much as money allows... I'm thinking the next step is a loose ring version of the mullen Happy Mouth, or maybe a jointed one -- if anyone out there in Blogland has a similar variation in 5.5" or bigger that they would let me try (and possibly buy) give me a ring.

The real good news about today is that Jabby completely blew me away with the jumping.   He hasn't really jumped in at least a month or two, since HJ Lady moved out and took her fancy fences with her, but he didn't miss a beat. We had a brisk warm-up that went from our usual long walk, to a forward trot that detoured rather quickly over some 12" verticals, and then just sort of went directly into cantering and popping over proper (if still small) jumps.  The sun was setting and I wanted to get things done, so we just did.  In our non-warmup I trotted and cantered him right past the new and unusual jumps and fillers, and he gave the pseudo-brush a bit of a hairy eye but kept his body and feet straight past everything.  He chug-chugga-chugged right along at the same steady rhythm, trot or canter, with minimal input from me, and took on every fence without a single look, not even the brushbox of doom.  He occasionally got a wobble behind when landing off his weak lead, but calmly came back and fixed it without any drama.

It was one of those days when I was probably only in the saddle for 20-25 minutes because the only thing left for me to do was screw up.  Days like today are why I struggle so hard to get on and stay on the right track with this horse!  The fences weren't big but it was good, productive work all the same, and I can't wait until we both get to the point where we can start pulling out the fun stuff.

Next on the agenda is more trailering out to different places, including hopefully another trip to the regulation-sized indoor so I can do a full run-through of some dressage tests, an open schooling over fences I did not build, and maybe, just maybe, an itty bitty schooling show in the very near future.   We will keep you posted. :)