Spring fever!

View from the passenger seat didn't change much all day!

 You guys... taking care of two barns and 30 horses is a lot of work...

We were farm sitting over the weekend for a friend who has a lovely place about 35 minutes from our farm so we made the most of the opportunity by shipping Riley down and back twice for some real rides!



When I returned from Florida I found that everything had bloomed in our area. It's beautiful and weather is perfect for riding, but all that blooming means one thing. Spring fever! All the ponies have been a little full of themselves on the spring grass. I was explaining to someone yesterday that it was like giving a child a bunch of candy and then asking them do some some math problems. I didn't write about this (because there were no photos!) but I had taken Riley on a hack to meet a friend so she could show me some cool trails around our area two weekends ago. It was the most spooky he's ever been since I've owned him and at one point his brain fell out because of a huge group of motorcycles that crested a hill and I actually had to get off and walk him. Then, when I had to mount him from the ground we got in to a bit of a discussion regarding flying backwards when my foot is in the stirrup to which he took offense (how dare I use my whip!) He never got it back together which was very frustrating and I wish I had been able to blow off some steam after the motorcycle incident because I feel like what he really needed was the just move forward and forget it. I'm not a fan of packing it up and going home, but eventually we did when it was clear our ride was only going to escalate as my friends Prelim mare decided to start acting silly too. The side of a busy road is not a good spot for schooling an issue so I just walked him home quietly, but he DID go on the equiciser to think about what he had just pulled:)

Wednesday I really wanted to ride, but the weather did not cooperate so he got stuck on the equiciser with a buddy to stretch his legs. Saturday we decided on our first jump lesson of the year and to give him a little preview, I got to stick him in the free school to see if he remembered how to jump!

Um, yea... I think he remembers. I didn't have to chase him at all, he went around in both directions regardless of what I set up!

This is new -- he's gotten very tight with his hind end!

Really loving his expression.

He's really come a long way in terms of form. There's a phots of him on another tab when he first came off the track and he looks very lackadaisical about the whole thing. He's really learning how to use his body better and he's leaving the ground more evenly too.

I got Riley tacked up (btw, this is the first time I've ever tied him to a trailer -- he was perfect) and warmed him up while Emily was working with another horse. He felt really good, a little fresh but got down to business and settled pretty well. We discovered that the ever elusive right lead canter is not longer a problem, but now our left lead seems to have gone on sabbatical. Emily had me really working on getting him off my inside leg and he threw (as Lindsey would say) a teddy bear fit about having to comply. He got himself pretty worked up about it and I knew then I'd have a pretty cheeky horse on my hands for the duration. I haven't been able to school his canter much at all (this was actually the first official canter work we've done for the year) and he was pretty nice tracking left and exceptionally crooked tracking right. Emily and I decided that she'll work with him for a few rides to get that sorted out some, especially since my right side is my weak point! Hooray for trainer rides!

For our jumping lesson, we did a very simple exercise trotting back and forth first over a pole (which Riley thought was very exciting) and then a cross rail with a placing pole in front. My main job was keeping my shoulders back and over-exaggerating my release even when I wanted to ride defensively. Emily said it was the best she'd seen my hands over fences (and even though they were tiny jumps, I'll take it!) She then had us ride two fences with 6 strides in between to get me counting out loud. The theme for the day?

FRISKY, attacking a tiny X. Also, I am kinda in love with everything in this photo, minus my too-long stirrup length.

Look at his tail! When I watched the videos he was flinging his tail around with so much sass. SO. MUCH. SASS. These are two cross rails don't forget. Homeboy was excited! *If the tail wringing was coupled with pinned ears etc, I'd be somewhat concerned, but this was just him feeling fresh. The funny thing about Riley and jumping is that he gets really full of himself and wants to celebrate after the fence. I kinda forgot about this trait and he took full advantage by crow hopping near the gate and even let out a little buck.

what a butthead

He caught me a little off guard with this behavior and definitely rattled me the first time he did it. Emily stopped filming just after the picture here, but I wasn't as precarious as this image would suggest! I was able to boot him forward and get his head back up pretty quickly. I also realized that I was riding him without a running attachment and with the happy mouth instead of the dr. bristol... whoops! We rode this exercise a few more times until we got the right distance and then Emily had me finish jumping a cross rail in the middle of the ring but turning away from the gate to see if that would help with Riley's cheekiness.

Riley thinks cross rails are boring.

Always nice to finish on a good note. Looks like my release has gotten much better (still needs loads of work), my heel is down and I like where my thigh is but I need to get my hips back more! For the first jump lesson of the year I can't complain too much. Emily made me feel a bit better about Riley's shenanigans reminding me that every year he comes back into work with a little bit of a 'tude and that the grass definitely makes him excitable!

Sunday, I rode by myself and just worked on trying to get some quality flat work done. We had moments that we very nice, but he also threw in some butthead maneuvers that made me very frustrated. I attempted to get some footage so I could show Emily later.

What it came down to was that he was acting a bit nappy and barn sour and when being asked to work in that part of the ring (near the gate) he got mad. At one point when I had enough, I booted him forward and he actually kicked out at my leg!

Being good.

Riley's signature "I'm annoyed move" snake his head and flipping it backwards. His head was completely out of the frame for a seconds of this stunt.

So annoyed.

Me: we're trotting. Riley: lolz, nah.

The video tells a better story of his little fits but most of it is pretty boring because I'm at the other end of the ring or out of frame.

We finished on a positive note, but I was feeling a little deflated like maybe I wasn't good enough to ride him. Working with green horses is tough because you lose your finesse as a rider and it's easy to start doubting yourself when your horse is either giving you the middle finger or trying to take advantage. I'm really grateful that Emily is going to get on him a few times, because what he probably needs (besides someone who can ride a million times better than me) is a little butt-kicking. I'm so emotionally involved with him that it can make it tough for me to make adjustments in the moment without just getting completely frustrated!

Who, me? I'm never naughty.

Hopefully, the effects of the the rich grass will calm down a bit and he'll be more ride-able soon!