First trip to an indoor

Don't worry bud, no cows where we're going today

It's been raining (sorry, I know all I post about is the weather, but for real winter, give it a rest) for 2 days non-stop. I was really looking forward to warmer temps but the weather had other plans. I brought Riley in right after he ate to give him a break from the rain and pull his sheet so it could dry off in the tack room. By the time my chores were finished it was effectively down pouring and I didn't feel like hacking out in that crap. One of my fellow co-op ladies was around and she mentioned maybe heading over to her friend's indoor. She was only bringing one horse so I tagged along hoping that she'd be able to help me with any shenanigans that Riley might pull considering he hasn't been off the property in months and he's never been to an indoor. *Plus I could jump crew for her, win-win. The indoor is on a spectacular property just 15 minutes from us in beautiful Chester County. Riley was moderately upset about the giant statue of the pig when he unloaded, but he settled down pretty quickly. He followed behind his buddy up to the arena snorting at everything, so exciting for the baby horse!!! The indoor has state-of-the-art footing, it's made from a mix of fibers and is completely swoonworthy. I've never ridden in an arena that nice in my life!

Go away. I'm busy.

I led Riley around for a few minutes so he could take in the lay of the land. His biggest concern was definitely the mirrors.

Who is that cute horse?????

I got on after another stupid discussion about what we are supposed to do at the mounting block. Jerk. We tooled around on a loose rein for a while letting him see everything (spooky cones, lots of jumps, random things in the corner, scary mounting block, his cooler that I stuck on the rail, oh, and his reflection!) My friend gave us a mini-lesson as I was unsure I'd be able to give Riley a confident ride. She's really good at getting me to focus at the task at hand and get me to just sit up and ride, after all, I am going to be the one doing most of his training and I need to feel like I am capable of dealing with his greenest moments. He did give me one or two silly spooks when we were trotting toward the mirrors, but other than that, once I got him in front of my leg and really moving he settled pretty well. She had me plant my inside rein in one spot (and shorten up my reins which are always to long) and drive him forward pushing him into the corners and into my outside rein by simply moving my inside leg. He caught on to this idea quickly and suddenly I had a really nice horse underneath of me! We took it up a notch by adding 10 meter circles at each corner which really helped work on his bend, and also demanded that I sit up and stay balanced, as we came out of each short side she'd have me lengthen his trot down the long side of the ring then balance again and make a 10 meter circle. My takeaway was that the more impulsion I get out of him, the easier the hard stuff (bending, relaxing his back, stepping under himself) will be. Breaking things down into bite size little pieces really works well for him so he doesn't get frazzled. I was proud of myself for sticking with him and not just handing him off when he was nervous. I know I have the skill, I just need reinforcement.

She worked both of us pretty hard and gave us a little break. I hopped off and let her school his canter (she's never ridden him and I was also planning on having her jump him). She was able to get both leads without issue and even got some balanced 20 meter canter circles too! Then, the fun part... She jumped Riley through his first gymnastic and his first "real" oxer! Outside of paper chases and natural fences he's barely done more than a cross rail. I was so eager to see how he'd take to to colored poles! It took a few tries over the X to get him motivated to do much more than a half-hearted effort, but she had impeccable timing with the crop and was able to get her point across that, yes, you DO have to lift up your legs and JUMP! *Sorry about the quality of the photos, it was darker in the arena that it looks and these are screen grabs from some video:)

Wiggly baby through the gymnastic, but boy is he honest!

Knees! Good boy!

So cute.

First time over a real oxer. This had a rail across the top diagonally. Love his expression.

He got a little smack going over this one and locked onto the next fence (MUCH bigger) a few strides away, she had to pull him off it!

Third time around, happy boy.

In the other direction, love his shape over the fences!!!

We didn't over-school him, just ran him through a few exercises (like a vertical on the other side of the ring back around to this oxer)and he went though the gymnastic maybe 5-6 times, plus a few single fences. It was set as trot poles, vertical, one stride, vertical, three strides to the last vertical (none of them were high) and while he was wiggly (he was a little confused that he would jump something followed immediately by another fence, the nerve). My friend commented that Riley has a lot of potential and that he's honest. He has literally never said no to me or stopped at anything (he'll get over the jump no matter how pretty, though it's never unsafe). She said he'll definitely benefit from some free-schooling as well as adding in gymnastics to help him get a little quicker with his feet. She also thinks that XC schooling will improve his respect over fences, he's good with his knees, but is very economical and he'll learn to respect jumps a little more when they don't move:) He's definitely the kind of horse that learns from his mistakes and he came through the gymnastic a little discombobulated one time taking down two of the verticals and the next time around he gave them a healthy effort! After we were both done, we cleaned up the arena and reset the jumps while the horses cooled themselves down. What does that mean you ask?

 Just a couple of 5/6 year old ottbs following me around the arena cooling themselves off. Best ponies.