Post-Thanksgiving activities (and some pre-Thanksgiving ones too!)

I think I've gained 15 lbs in the last 2 days.  The weather has been outstanding - it hit 70 degrees today! I'm hoping this keeps up for a bit although it's supposed to be cooler this weekend.

So let's backup a week and a half.  I once again made the trek up to Amy's for another great lesson.  Focus is still on getting his hind feet to move faster while catching the extra energy in the bridle and encouraging him lift through his back and wither.  We added another component - asking Charlie to step under himself with his inside hind.  He didn't love this.  In fact, he had a couple of temper tantrums which I think are pretty funny.  You can see some of his antics here if you fast forward to about the 3 min mark (please ignore my ridiculous commentary - I'm officially a dork).  Charlie's so funny because he pitches a fit and then he does what you want - I try to tell him that it would just be easier if he did what I asked the first time around but it's almost like he feels it's his responsibility to protest.  Silly pony!

Then we moved onto jumping - our favorite!  Charlie is getting so much more rideable in between the fences - he's never been awful but he's just so much more adjustable now.  All the flat stuff is so paying off!  Yay!!!  Amy is big on related distances and this go around we played with angles.  Charlie was a little surprised the first time simply because I don't think he totally understood why we weren't perpendicular to the fence.  But by the end, he was a champ!  In this run, the first go I didn't whoa enough to the second but we were much better (I think!) the second time through.  It's kinda hard to tell but it's four strides from the wall to the gate and both fences are on an angle.  In this run, the first line is a steady 4 (not sure why I thought it was necessary wiggle through the line...) and then I had a brain fart and forgot that I was supposed to jump the gate on an angle to the wall to the liverpool but we got it right on the second try.  I still need to work on keeping my reins shorter and hands higher - story of my life.

A couple of weeks ago I talked about ordering stuff from the UK.  Megs from Natural Noshing meets Dressaging left a comment about another UK online store, Ride-Away.  Well, like a dummy, I checked it out.  They have some seriously awesome deals - I ended up getting a pair of Woof shipping boots that actually fit Charlie for $120 (that includes shipping from the UK).  That's a $70 savings when compared to Dover.  How freaking cool is that?!?!  Now the shopping is done - I'm starting to freak about finding a job as school is almost over and that means the GI Bill goes away.  I am trying to convince somebody to buy me an Ecogold half pad for my jumping saddle during their post-Thanksgiving sale - Charlie would like brown please. ;)

So I think I mentioned that my fall show season was to finish with a run at Pine Top.  Well, I scratched.  I also scratched from the last Carolina Horse Park show (it was the first weekend in Nov).  My heart just wasn't in it for any number of reasons.  I'm not entirely sure what this means - I've blogged about my quandary before but I've come up with a few plans this time around.  Basically I'm going to spend the winter playing in the jumper ring (as long as I find a job to pay for entries!).  I love show jumping - love the technicalities, love the precision, and love that it's totally objective! ;)  So that's the plan for now and as always, it's totally dependent on Charlie and finances (again, why does everything have to cost money?).

 

Somebody else is getting chubby besides me - 54" girth is getting a little snug.

 

Yup, that's right.  Had to clip the Pony AGAIN only four weeks after the first clip.  This is going to be a long winter...

 

Poor Pony has something on his sheath - fingers are crossed that it magically disappears as quickly as it appeared and there is no need to call the vet.  One can hope, right?

Fence judging at Pine Top on Sunday which should be fun and then a trip to the farrier on Monday.

Oops!  Forgot to say thanks to SuperMom for coming with me to my lesson and videoing - thanks SuperMom!