Spring Roller Coaster

We’re currently on the spring roller coaster.  You know, the one that goes from 70 degrees to 20 and back again, with some high winds thrown in for fun.  Also heavy rain to mix things up.  Above, you see Jet on a 70+ day, sweating and rolling.  Let me tell you, getting him clean enough for a blanket that night was epic.

Other than the crazy spring weather things are going well.  My new trailer is ordered and should be in by early June.  The market for used trailers is so wild that I think I’m going to get 50% of what I originally paid for my 25 year old trailer when I sell it.  My outdoor sand ring is scheduled to go in sometime in the next couple of months-weather permitting!   I’ve been looking to simplify my horse life and found the most fabulous home for my kids’ pony with a lovely family of a mom dressage rider and two little girls 2 and 5.  I’d been looking to place Rose for a couple of years and feel like we got tapped with the lucky stick to find such a perfect care lease.  The pictures of Rose and the girls just melts my heart.  Rose is cherished, getting tons of attention, and so gentle with the tiny girls.  

By having Rose gone I was able to give Jet a double stall that opens into one big field.  Cruise has a triple stall that opens into the other big field.  They can touch and see each other in the barn and the fields, and it really simplifies things for having a horse sitter watch the place when we vacation.  My husband needs to build a kennel in the barn for the dog and we are set.  Luckily for us, a local woman who is highly recommended, with tons of horse experience, has a farm sitting business that we will hopefully be able to utilize soon.

So, my logistics are in place, but what about the important part, the riding?  Things have been moving along on that front as well.  Jet has been averaging three days a week under saddle, basically every other day, and has been doing great.  I’ve been focusing on using the Dave Thind Method to improve my biomechanics while polishing up all the things he knows through Second Level.  Especially focusing on having his weight(and mine!) to the outside of the bend.  Between working on those two things his lateral work is much improved, he has a spring in his step, and he feels smooth and relaxed.  I do notice if I happen to work him back to back days he can be just a little funky on his left canter.  Not lame but NQR.  So I think the every other day rides are where will be and we will see how he does on the new sand footing.

With Cruise I’ve been doing some clicker training for fun.  He now knows, at liberty with tack, how to park himself at the mounting block when I stand on it to mount up.  It’s pretty cute.  His lunging in loose side reins has progressed to being nice and through and his canter is getting stronger.  Under saddle serpentines have been our friend to get him straighter on the circle and his trot circles are now getting more through and balanced.  I’ve been riding him 3-4 times a week all winter for maybe 10 minutes and he just feels more solid and responsive.  When I rode him outside for the first time this year it felt more like driving a sedan than a dump truck.  Soon to be a sports car!  I haven’t been able to haul out to the indoor as much as I would have liked, but the last time I did, after a few weeks break, he was solid.  I walked him around and targeted some stuff, lunged in side reins all over the arena, rode 10 minutes and called it a day.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a lot of this the next couple of months while I wait for my ring to be built.

The plan is to start taking Cruise to a once a month dressage schooling show series starting in May or June.  We’ll do the sport horse in hand class and some schooling lunges/rides until I feel he is chill enough to do Intro classes under saddle.  We’ll see how long that takes.  We have time.

So that’s us.  What is up with you?  Progress, plans, dreams?