Catching Up on Goals - Summer 2019

Spicy has been truly excellent lately. Even when he's not good, it's been in very good ways. I don't mind when he's barn sour, because it gives me a chance to work through it. When he's a bit too excited and hot to ride, either from weather or time off, I work on long lining or in hand jumping. I've more than accomplished the goals I set for January through March, and after bumbling through April I decided to make plans for summer.

Lots of GIFs from our last lesson!

I played with the idea of sending him out for training or even leasing him while I'm off frolicking in Scotland. Ultimately, I decided to just give him off. He's not the kind of horse you can hop on and ride, and while I find him to be about... I dunno... a trillion times more consistent than he was at the beginning of this year, he can still be a little unpredictable. I'd need a very specific kind of trainer to work with him and I just frankly didn't have time to vet situations so I'd feel comfortable leaving him with a stranger.

The world's cutest buck

It's frustrating, but luckily he is borderline professional at sitting in a field hanging out after nine years of doing so in his former life. He'll be here when I get back. Maybe he'll get fat while I'm gone???

I had my first dressage lesson in months this weekend, and it was amazing and gave me a lot of direction for what I want to accomplish the rest of this summer.

Work on my Damn Hands
Spicy has a very sensitive mouth, and riding him off my hands tends to lead to tension and overreaction to my aids. I need to remember to reach for my seat, legs and body first, and use my hands merely to 'coach' (CC's words).

Do you even long n low bro?

I also post with my hands like a bitch, which means the reins are never still. For a horse who craves a quiet hand, this has been crippling for developing connection. Reminding myself hasn't been working; the moment I start thinking about other things I forget and my hands go back to flapping around. I'm going to try and McGyver a similar contraption to this:

Whinny Widgets Steady Hands

This will keep my hands ACTUALLY guaranteed still instead of fake news what I think is still. It will also prevent me from pulling back when I get nervous and reflexively try to go fetal. I have a strap I think will work and some extra clips.  Pray for me. Pray for Spicy.

Sell my Trailer
If we're Facebook friends you probably saw me fly the flag. This is a long story that definitely deserves it's own post, but it's time to downsize my trailer. It's lovely, it's in amazing condition, horses travel great in it, and I am terrified to drive it. To the point that I'm relieved when something comes up and cancels our field trips. I've been wondering lately how much of Spicy's trailering issues are his fear and how much is him feeling my terror. I have a couple front runners for new Spicemobiles, but first I have to sell the old boat.

:(

Take More Frequent Dressage Lessons
The break in school means I have significantly more free time, and I'd love to take weekly lessons for a couple months to really get Spicy and I moving forward. Depending on my dressage trainer's schedule I may have to settle for 2 or 3x a month, but I can deal with that. I got so much out of my last lesson, I definitely do not want to wait months to have another one.

Get Thee to a Schooling Show
This is contingent on the trailer situation getting resolved, but I've picked a schooling show that I'm going to aim towards. Even if I go just to 'see the sights', I still want to go. This one makes me gulp a little, because I'll have to trailer off the property. My hamster brain loves to play out all the things that can go wrong, or we'll get there and he'll be impossible to ride, but I really want to try. It could be that Spicy in no way wants to be a competition horse. That's perfectly fine, but I'm going to give him a chance first.

I'm feeling really optimistic about what I have planned. I'm really loving working with Spicy. Even though I did all this retraining to make both of us happier and communicate better, I think I'm still kind of shocked it actually worked. I probably wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for myself, so I'm thankful that he showed me.