Cob Jockey

BO used a blade to clear the track so the horses could get through it safely, and the resulting mountains of snow on the sides went above Connor's knees.

I have the best kind of news.

After two years and four months of a combination of un-/under-employment, my husband unexpectedly landed the job of his dreams.  The exact type of job he wanted when he signed up for that engineering college originally.

HALLELUJAH!

Pony doesn't care, as long as I can continue to pay for his treats.  That's the only skin he has in this game, or so he thinks.

This job will have him traveling to a different client site each week, flying out Monday morning and flying back Thursday evening.  On the horse front, this means:

- I get tons of guilt-free barn time - married ladies, you know what I mean.
- I can feel less guilty about spending money on Connor.  The amount of guilt I've carried these past couple of years is indescribable.
- We don't have to move.
- I can continue to derp around at the job I love (that gives me tons of barn time!) instead of pushing myself and taking a high-pressure/higher-paying job in the city that I had been interviewing for.

So happy!

Picture of what happens during fireworks season, just because.

I seriously could not have asked for more anything for our Dressage test today - he was focused and on my aids when he needed to be, and the result was a test I am very proud of:

Very proud!

And the WHOLE THING is on video!  It's at the end of the post.




And when he gave me some of the best leg yields of his life when we were going around the outside of the ring:

Austen Gage:  dem braids.

We tiny.

Fox River Valley may not be posting ride times until Wednesday (!) but they did post a slideshow of the XC fences we will be facing on Saturday for BN-Prelim, (supposing their website is updated and this is not last year's course).  Now I get to psych myself out over how big they look prepare for the questions all week!  While we can't get a feel for the flow of the course, we can at least know that there's nothing here Connor can't handle.

Inviting ramp.  We like ramps.

Inviting rolltop.  We like rolltops.

Just a bigger version of things we've done before.

The light will make this one interesting.  Be brave, pony!

See fence 2.

See fence 3.

There will definitely be lions under this baby drop, though at first I thought this was a ditch.  When I found out it was a drop, I was like "Phew, just a drop, not a ditch.  Wait, what am I saying?  Drops are hard too!" But ditches are harder.

The pine trees make this almost a skinny, and very inviting for a runout to the left.

Connor's favorite: wide, with no side filler.

Connor's a sea horse, no problems here.

Haybale tray, BTDT.

This will be new and exciting.

Table!

I'm hoping this looks smaller in real life than it does here.

This looks like it's shared with novice, so that top rail will probably come off for BN.

16 efforts!  We'll see if he's actually tired after this one.

OMG!


This will be:
- our first four day trip
- our first BN
- our first event with levels above Prelim (seriously want to get a picture of Connor next to an XC fence that's taller than he is)
- our first event in my home state of Illinois

I'm going back and forth between being really excited and intimidated as hell.  Bigger fences, bigger stage.  But the bigger grown up pony is ready for it.

OMG!

Con and I had SO MUCH FUN this weekend!  I ended up cleaning 13 stalls/feeding/turnout at home each day + showing, so I am wiped.  Here's my favorite photo to tide you over until tomorrow:

He could have cleared the BN jump next to our Starter jump with this jump! Photo by Xpress photo, used with permission.

And here's this too:

We did our first pinning ceremony and victory lap!

What a good pony, I am so happy!

My last two attempts at scheduling a show season were thwarted by job loss, so I've been reluctant to post one this year.  Tempting fate and all that.  But we're to the point where I'm sending in entries, so fingers crossed!

Our first show will be the Heartland Pony Club CT on April 19.   I hemmed and hawed about whether to enter at (move up to) Beginner Novice (2'6) since it is just the Dressage and Show Jumping phases in a CT, but in the end, Cathy's words to "never overface this pony," rang in my ears and I entered him in Starter.  It will be a good chance to knock the rust off without overfacing either of us - 2'6 is still new and big for both of us.  It even looks big from the back of a 14hh pony!  We'll be schooling BN-height XC for the first time afterward, weather permitting.

I mean, he still might have a flower-phobia.  We gotta make sure our shit's together before we move up.  Though the flower phobia did make for some cute jumping photos.  Amy, will there be flowers at Heartland?!

Two weeks later, we're aiming for Penny Oaks, a rated event also at our home course, the Hoosier Horse Park.  Depending on how Heartland goes, that will probably be our first Beginner Novice.

More pictures you've seen before, from May of 2013.

The week after that, May 10, there is a Dressage show held across the Hoosier Horse Park from a Welsh show, so I'll get to enter in both!  Pony's going to think he lives at the HHP by that point.  I'm not sure what to do about braiding for that one, since braiding his flaxen mane against his chestnut neck for Dressage shows off his neck so nicely, but he's not allowed to show with braids for WPCSA.  Decisions...

Making braids where there wasn't a whole lot of hair at GDHT.

That's all I've got planned so far.  I'm looking forward to finally getting to do more than two shows in a year!