Locked out

I’ve spent the last month locked out of the blog for some unknown reason, but not bothering to actually do anything about it. February lack of motivation I suppose? But, new month, I figured I’d give it a try and imagine that – I’m back in. Which means I guess I should update the world the happenings of Archibald the Party Pony.

We started the year with Archie’s first Sharon White clinic. We did gridwork, courses and some great flat exercises. Sharon is always outstanding to ride with – she ‘gets’ horses, she’s patient and sets you up fot success.

A few weeks later Archie got to jump his first skinny and corner with me (maybe first ever?). Being the amateur I am, I rode like a nervous monkey, but he said, “Uh, this is what you’re nervous about? K” and carted my ass around like a schoolpony. Needless to say… not an issue. I was beaming ear to ear as we finished.

And that… was the last time we jumped. Over five weeks ago. He’s not hurt, I’m not hurt, nothing of the sort. Just some awful cold weather and weekly dressage lessons taking precedence. We realized the jumping is easy for Archie – he’s essentially point and shoot these days. The flatwork… not quite as easy. So, for the last month+ I’ve focused on taking flat lessons and the difference is already outstanding.

Half the barn left for Pine Top last week so we had the chance to ride with a local dressage trainer yesterday, something that I probably wouldn’t have done before our flatwork bootcamp. It ended up being one of the hardest lessons I’ve ever had, just purely in terms of effort (Archie was SOAKING wet), but also by FAR one of the best. Little horse tried his heart out, even when things were hard and we made some great progress. He got some lovely compliments that had my cold little black heart beaming and we got some fantastic exercises to play with for homework. I’m hoping to make riding with her a more regular occurrence.

In between, we’ve been doing an awful lot of road hacks on the few days it has been sunny and warm enough to get outside, which pleases Archie endlessly. He’s the most reliable little hacking partner, happy to cruise on the buckle while I practice my American Idol audition from the saddle.

We’re both ready for some sunshine and spring weather and I’ve got many other things to write about that have been happening – now that I’m emerging from my winter hibernation, hopefully I can get back on top of it.