Cross Country School Recap!

Dargenzio is definitely something special. We started with a nice, slow warmup which went great. He even swapped leads when I asked! Our first few jumps were really "Get your butt over it!" because he thought they'd eat him & really sucked back coming to them. But after the third jump, he started settling in & realizing that this IS his job & he BETTER do it. So, he stopped being a pain in the butt & went over everything else I asked him to. We even schooled a down bank... With me slamming on his neck 3 out of the 4 times we did it. Yay for ponies that leap. My new trick - Hang on to my breastplate for dear life. But, Dargenzio was great & I'm ready to go kick butt at Poplar! We're having a boot camp this week with Katie & the ponies are staying at her place for three days so I can have lessons :D

Chatt Hills, Here We Come!

So, I had a spur of the moment idea on Tuesday this week with my trainer. She was going to Chatt Hills this Saturday (tomorrow) & I was unable to go since my Mom wouldn't be able trailer up. Well, my trainer's Mom is going & can haul a trailer sooooooo that means I can go! Yay! We were unsure of what level Dargenzio would run at Poplar but now we are definitely going to run BN if he is good tomorrow! Super excited since this puts me one step closer to taking Dargenzio to his first Horse Trial :D

Grids.

Grids. Oh, I do hate grid work very much. Hey, but my horse was great & didn't even think about stopping or running out like he did when we did grid work the first time! But I really hate grid work. Like really hate it... A lot. It makes my equitation just go BLAH. Of course, as an eventer, EQ doesn't really matter but then I look at my pictures & think "Oh dear God." I'm releasing now... at least :p

FINALLLLLLLLY!

For the past 5 months, I have been working my BUTT off on keeping my eye up over fences. It wasn't such a huge deal when I was riding Savannah because she had a rather flat jump but now it IS a big deal, considering 1) I'm on a young, stupid horse. 2) He can actually jump, & will jump you out of the tack if you don't keep your eye up. 3) He also overjumps when he feels happy. Since I bought Dargenzio, I've come very close to falling off of him because I was looking down & came unbalanced. But my lesson yesterday, was GREAT. Other than Dargenzio thinking he could run out at a vertical (which I got extremely mad about... he didn't question it again), we had an awesome lesson. Now that my baby boy will be turning 5 next month, we have started making the fences bigger, which he loves. Dargenzio is also learning how to use his hindend over fences rather than just going "Blah!" in the air. I hate hate hate that feeling that we're just dwelling in the air, like he jumped when I first got him. He has been absolutely wonderful since we got back from rally (shocking, eh?) SOOOOOO, we're going to attempt yet another three phase. We haven't decided on level yet but we'll be headed to Poplar in June to see what we can do! I'm excited because I feel like I've become a better rider, with a more secure position & I also feel like Dargenzio is really starting to realize that jumping isn't all that bad. We've definitely had our ups & our downs, but I'm ready to get my career with Dargenzio started :D We will be heading to the Chatt Hills Summer Series in July if all goes well at Poplar, to run Beginner Novice! So, fingers crossed!

Also found this picture, that is my little bit of inspiration for today(: