WAHOO! Our trip to the Horse Park on Sunday was a raving success! The ponies – Vida and Jersey – were REALLY good. Nothing unexpected – and everything perfectly reasonable for babies never off the “farm” (unless they were racing)! The cool part is through the power of facebook, and our own big mouths, a lot of people, including upper level riders, knew we were there with CANTER horses, and were watching our babies go. This is really rewarding, of course, and reinforces that we are on the right track, and have quality horses for all levels of riders.
I didn’t know what to expect, after all these are just babies who haven’t gone and seen a lot. But at the same time I know them and didn’t really expect any bad behavior. They didn’t disappoint at all, in fact we left the park with huge smiles on our faces and totally full of pride!
Jersey was the most “on his toes” of the two – He was the first one I got on – so it was still a little chilly out, bless his body-clipped little heart! But nothing completely out of the ordinary for him. He hacked from the trailers really well, and quietly. Once in the warm ups was when his eyes started popping! He sometimes takes a few minutes to work in and settle, and this was one of those times. He was basically just a little tense but TRIED so hard to hold it together – it was adorable! 🙂 Lots of snorting and toe flipping! It helped him relax to have a canter instead of just trotting around so we cantered in the jumping warm-up with people coming at him and he didn’t bat an eye. He just needed some convincing that there wasn’t a starting gate out there somewhere but after another outing I think he’ll be pretty sure that life is all behind him. The learning experience wasn’t just for the horses, though. I really was able to see a whole new side of them, and to take away a what I need to work on more with each one, as well as what to work on less!
He’s one of those horses that no one would look twice at when he was standing in a field. His work in the last month or so has really built up his topline, developed his movement, and he’s suddenly a very sturdy and athletic sporthorse type. I think he has the look and talent to be an excellent eventing partner for some lucky person and be the super-star that I believe he is!
Jersey says “How YOU dooin…?”
Vida was next up. I hopped on at the trailer and she was all” ho hum” about the whole deal…
Once we got into the atmosphere of the warm-ups and rings she woke up a bit – looking around like the JUST TURNED 4yo that she is but then settled right in and was very professional about the whole thing! I did a little w-t-c in the dressage warm-up. She also turned quite a few heads – she is SO cute! I feel like an amazon on her but I was reassured that it doesn’t look that way, but she’s so agile I feel like I’m on a unicycle sometimes! WEEEE! Before we were finished I tooled her around the jump warm-up and she was like, ‘oh ok, this is kewl!” She’s going to be a quick study for the lucky person who takes her home – She’ll be suitable for a variety of disciplines, too, I think – show hunters, a little eventing, whatevs!
“I feel pretty… oh so pretty..!”
Both were super good – no spooking, silliness or shenanigans. So proud of them – next time we’ll cross country school a couple!
CANTER in the Carolinas 