Second verse, same as the first

Last Saturday I got bullied* into going to another hunter pace. This time it was being held by the Cheshire County Pony Club, basically over the same general hunt land we rode in last time just a few farms away.

I was super excited to take Pip out again (this would officially be his second outing to date) and I was more than a little bit curious to see how he would handle himself the second time around. This time we went in two groups, I rode with Pip's owner and his former owner (the woman who picked him up off the track) on their two more experienced mounts. We were one of the first groups out as we got there almost a full hour early and we needn't have worried, because all the ponies stood quietly on the trailers stuffing themselves with hay. One of E's students arrived with mimosa fixings so we all had a little toast before heading out (not a shabby way to start off the ride). Pip was definitely more "up" this time, he took a big look over the fields and seemed quite eager to get going. My team members recognized that I was a bit unsure of myself and gave me some encouragement right at the start and before I knew it we were trotting off down a huge hill and into the woods. This hunter pace was set up a little differently. There were wayyy more jumps right off the bat (including some XC jumps along the way), I would say Novice/Training height... One of the first jumps was at least 2'9" and a big, solid log pile with a huge puddle on the landing (which you didn't see until you were on top it). Well, I trotted Pip up to it and he sort of crawled over it. He wasn't being naughty, I think the puddle just got him backed off... the other two started following behind us but they refused to go over it! Ha! Brave Pip! Since it was the beginning of the ride we didn't over-school the questions. We didn't want to get them all worked up over a silly log so we continued on. There were lots of logs along the way (that we jumped) and some really vomit-inducing fences that I went around. Pip put on a confident face and tackled everything I pointed him at. There weren't all pretty as he has a tendency to take a look before leaping, but he's honest as the day is long. In my defense some of the jumps were wicked solid and I didn't want to over face him or I on our second outing together.

This ride was much different than the last one taking us though the woods for the first 1/4 of the ride. The environment seemed to get a lot of the horses pretty keyed up and for the first half hour we let a lot of groups pass so we could get our horses to chill and just STAND. Even Pip was raring to go on occasion! We got to our first big field and we wanted to let them all have a good canter to clear out the pipes. Riding with spurs certainly helped get Pip's engine revving and he kept up much better than last week! The other big difference on this ride was that the terrain was much hillier than last time. The countryside around there reminds me a lot of Virginia with these enormous cascading valleys and peaks. It was really nice to let Pip figure out his way across the terrain and he was incredibly balanced for being a bit out of shape! At one point we jumped into a pasture and past an old barn to find a big herd of Belted Galloway cows hanging out. I was nervous that our horses were going to freak out, but they took a peek and cantered quietly to the other side of the field! The last half of the ride was mostly cantering/galloping and walking (walking because the hills were MEGA steep). We got in some lovely canter sets and Pip had energy to spare along side his team mates. I was really proud of his effort, he's going to be something else once he gets in shape! Towards the end we got in a solid gallop across acres and acres of land (again, hilly) and I could really feel the gears underneath me. I clucked him on to a gallop and he roared up next to our team mate heading for my friend who was ahead of us on her giant TB. It was such a nice feeling letting him really move out and he never once got silly. He came back down quietly to a walk where they both told me that I NEED to buy him... as he cantered up to the finish line, I was again grinning ear-to-ear with nothing but so much love for my little chestnut friend.

Total ride was about 5-6 miles, nearly all in two-point over lots and lots of hills... I think it's safe to say we ALL got a good work out. Oh yea, I wore my new paddock boots/half chaps and they were really comfortable. A tiny bit of rubbing just behind my knee, but nothing major. The boots feel like I've owned them forever and the chaps will only get nicer over time! Win-win!

We got back to the trailers, I stripped Pip and let him graze on the lovely spring grass in his cooler while we waited for our other team to finish up. We got everyone loaded and headed over the the infamous tavern, The Whip for food and a beer. The ponies stood in their trailers quietly while we relaxed and ate. We got back to the barn and gave everyone a nice bath (it was almost 70 by the time we got back) and they got turned out to play for the night.

I sadly didn't get ANY pictures this time, but I promise you we had an amazing ride!

*By bullied, I mean they basically told me a trailer would pick me up at 10:30am Saturday and that I should be ready. My friends are the BEST enablers.