Beaming!

I have another post in the works (it's my yearly Rolex prediction post) but I wanted to recap my amazing day from this weekend!

My friend asked me coyly if I had any plans for Saturday. She's a constant trouble-maker (of the best kind) so I sorta knew where she was going with it, and I responded, "nooooo". Then she wrote back asking if I wanted to take her 4 year old on a hunter pace with her fellow business partner, E. Um, yes please.



Now, ordinarily I wouldn't be this brave. Truth be told, I am a bit of a nervous nelly. A self-described weenie. I CAN be brave, and in all reality, I AM brave... I just act like I'm more nervous than I am. I had ridden him a few days prior, hopped him over a tiny cross rail a few times, w/t/c and then we went for a hack on the roads and surrounding countryside. Keep in mind, this was his very first time off property at his new barn. He was awesome... even giving another horse a lead when everything-was-so-scary. We bopped along on a loose rein and I felt super comfortable.

First ride. He's such a cutie.

Mostly, I just need someone who believes in me to give me that extra push and then I can pull on my big girl pants and get going. So, push they did and then next thing I know I'm taking him to his first off property adventure. A little bit about Pip... he's a 16+hh chestnut gelding with a big blaze and one white sock. He was never raced (but was in race-training), and he has really impressive sport horse breeding... and I just (like right this second) noticed that he was foaled on St. Patrick's Day!!!!! Ahhhhh! He's got a very cute personality and will do just about anything for food. He's still quite green and steering and bending are not really installed yet, but he tries really, really hard, and you have to love that.

Friday evening I was at my friend's karaoke birthday party so I hardly had a minute to feel worried about Saturday. I woke up really early (because I'm a little kid about horses) and bounced out of the house with only a few hours of sleep! I picked up my friend and off to the barn we went. She was hardly in a hurry to race out of the barn so we took our time doing barn chores and getting the ponies ready. She was bringing her 6 year old TB to give him some mileage (though he's done quite a bit already and he's lovely). By the time we got the trailer pulled up and it was time to load I was much more relaxed and Pip was asleep in his stall all tacked up so I felt very comfortable. For me, I have a tendency to over-think things and worry about the unknown. This has been theme in my life and I have learned many ways to combat the worst-case-scenario thinking process (I promise I am miles better than I used to be) -- but mind still like to wander and think about all the things that could happen, instead of what's actually happening. I digress...

The hunter pace was held in over the Cheshire Hunt land which is in beautiful Chester County, PA (think Plantation Field HT). We pulled up around 11am or so and our other teammates had already checked in for us. *I should mention here, that Pip walked on the step-up trailer first time and dug right into his hay, such a good boy. The trailer parking was in the middle of a corn field so the ground was very weird and there were old ears of corn all over the place. We would be riding with one of E's students and her barn friend, an endurance rider on a 4 year old, feisty arab gelding. Pip stood like a veteran for mounting and I hopped on adjusted my gear and walked on a loose rein to the start box. I didn't know what to expect from him with all the horses (there were 161 riders in total), the wide open spaces and the new atmosphere, but I didn't need to worry. We started off at a little trot and picked our way across the countryside. He's a bit on the lazy side seeing that he's not fit, but he was happy to lope along at the rate of the other horses trot to keep up. There were lots and lots of things to jump along the way. Mostly post and rail type jumps that you might see out hunting and he was game for everything. It was really nice to have E there as she was able to coach me to get the best out of Pip for the day. We weren't concerned about our pace so we took our time schooling things over and over (along with her other student).

We were told that the there would be two major water crossing and they were BOTH treacherous. We got in a little bit of cantering as a group and came to the first water crossing, which at first glance didn't seem like a big deal. E decided she's go in first to see what it was like and then we'd follow after her. She stepped in and her horse sunk up to his hocks, he stumbled forward and was now up to his belly. Keep in mind, this was not water, it was mud... like the Swamp-of Sadness-Never-Ending-Story style mud. She kicked him on and he scrambled out safely, but I felt like barfing. Not only had I never presented this horse to water (of any kind) now I had to convince him that this mud wasn't going to eat him. Everyone else was already through (I think the arab was slight enough that the mud wasn't too bad for him) and we stepped in and got stuck. Pip seemed worried but I looked up, wrapped my fingers into his neck strapped, gave him a loopy rein and kicked him on. He figured it out by himself and I stayed out of his way! Good boy. I was very, very proud of him. As we rode along, we followed and led (he's not even a tiny bit herd bound -- thankfully) and a few time E had me canter off ahead of everyone to get his engine revving. One particularly fun part of the ride was an enormous field with undulating terrain and slightly slanted where she had me ride up next to her horse and get him really going. I could feel him kick into several higher gears and we flew across the countryside and despite being a bit out of shape he was very, very well-balanced.

happy happy, joy joy.

I don't think I ever got a really gallop out of him, save for a stride or two, but after we stopped I was just grinning ear-to-ear.

The nice thing about riding around this countryside is that there are lots of things to jump that aren't technically a part of the hunter pace. E was fantastic at taking me out of my comfort zone and had me jumping all sorts of solid obstacles in and out of fields and we even got some really nice distances from the canter (so happy with this green bean). We jumping a few hanging logs going up hill which was super fun. We're still working on balance and getting his engine going, but once he was motoring his jumping improved tremendously. He was a champ at the second water crossing which definitely wasn't as bad at the first, but it was still wicked deep and very muddy. But he just plodded through like he's been doing this his whole life. Sometimes when you're riding a youngster like this and they are the last to go through a question they can get nervous and panic to catch up to the others. He never seemed to get worked up and just figured out each scenario as it came.

We had a nice uphill canter across a field that meets with Bruce Davidson's property, and E had me go out front and really get Pip going up the hill. We had a nice frisky canter going and the other TBs were getting pretty amped up when I look over and see the cheeky arab bucking his rider off! Bad boy!

We all pulled up, he ran off, but was easily caught as he ran to his trailer buddy. His rider hit the ground pretty hard and fell back hitting her head. We tried to get her to stay put on the ground but she got up and started moving around, walked about 20 paces and then told us she lost her glasses in the fall. So... we spent the next 20-25 minutes looking for a pair of black eyeglasses in an enormous field without a clear idea of where exactly they came off. At one point, I got off to hold E's horse while she looked on foot, which meant I was going to have to ground mount in a field after a big canter. Well, Pip stood perfectly still while I scrambled on board from the ground (I've still got it!). Another A+ for him. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful as we didn't want to get the arab too worked up on the way back to the trailers, but Pip marched along like a veteran and seemed quite proud of himself at the finish line! He also has this really cute way of marching along bopping his head in rhythm with his footfalls, flapping his bottom lip, with his ears flopping to the side!

At the end of the day, I couldn't be prouder of him! I don't think we jumped anything bigger than 2'6" but for a horse who's hardly done anything (and that I've only ridden twice) he was stellar. He led, followed, was able to ride away from the group, crossed water, mud, and streams, jumped everything I pointed him at, and behaved like a gentleman the whole ride. I literally rode the whole day with a loop in my reins!

We finished up, untacked, threw a cooler on him and he practically loaded himself onto the trailer stuffing his face into some hay. We only took a few photos along the way (I'll post them as soon as I get them) and there was a photographer at one of the post and rail fences so I might be able to get that one later too.

Lately, I've been feeling like I need a big confidence booster and I definitely found that during Saturday's ride. I know I have the skill set to really have fun and do some things a little outside my comfort zone and to give a green bean a very positive and supportive ride. I just need to get out there and do them more often! I'm hoping that until he sells, I might get the opportunity to ride him some more and get out to a few more events like this, get my sea legs back, and feel even more secure than I do right now. I've hardly ridden at all in the last year (this was maybe my 5th ride for 2013) so I was pleased with how well I rode all things considered.

His show name right now is Great Expectations (hence, Pip) which I think fits him perfectly!

ps. Follow-up post regarding my XC vest review and my recent trip to Dover Saddlery coming soon.