Sundance's Recent Outings

Little Sundance has had three outings the last three weekends in a row. I've been riding him 2-3x per week all summer to give myself something else to do than TC's rehab stuff. And so I decided to bother him with some travel. 

Who is that tiny pony in the warmblood
sized trailer??

Three weeks ago I took him over to our local trail facility, mostly because I hadn't hauled my rig in a long time and didn't want my first haul in all that time to be hauling the four hours to the vet and back in one day. 

Sundance LOVED it and actually tried to delay getting into the trailer to go home. He and I just did this paved bottom loop which, because he's barefoot, he got to walk in the middle of. He was passed by joggers, cyclists, and even some people walking (he is the slowest walker) and didn't mind. He even let me bring my binoculars and look at birds while we were out there. 

Happy pony!

The following weekend, I decided to bring him over to my niece's riding lesson since I knew my mom would be there and I could bully her into riding him. I participated in the lesson on him ("racing" my niece from one end of the arena to the other) and then shoved my mom on him. She walked all over the property and trotted in every arena! Pretty good for a woman who has declared several times that she is DONE with riding. 

It was super cute to see my mom and my nieces riding together (the little one got to have a pony ride). Maybe next year I'll bring both TC and the pony over and we can have three generations riding at once. 

No pictures from that, so here is one
from this last weekend

Then this last weekend, I decided to stuff the pony in the trailer again and take him over to the ranch competition. Now, TC has done this competition several times and performed very well. It got to the point where I'd just arrive after the practice commenced, walk the course on foot, and then go get TC, do the course cold, and still win. 

If there's two things TC likes, it's people and obstacles. And playing with obstacles in front of a crowd of people, all ooing and ahhing over how large and impressive and bombproof you are? His ego has never been bigger than when he has done these ranch competitions. 

Meanwhile this is what we do at home

Sundance on the other hand... is still bothered by normal things. Like he didn't like the pool noodles touching him. And the plastic bags flapping wasn't his favorite thing. And the fact that the bridge was up on a pole so it thunked down as he crossed it caused him to leap off of it. 

I felt bad comparing him to TC because he genuinely did SUCH a good job for a pony who was pretty skeptical of my antics when we met. He made it through the noodles, and he survived the plastic bags. He did walk over the bridge with some clicker training help. And outside of those, he backed through the Z of poles, he let me carry a flag all over, he actually walked through the plastic bottles, and he even let me drag a bag of cans from his back which I was not expecting he'd tolerate. 

And we did it all bareback! 

All the plastic bottles, and he walked
over them!

Buuuut I opted not to compete. First, I had already been on him for an hour when practice was closed and we had to leave. And then it was going to be a full hour before we even started competing. I had other things I had to do that day so decided to pack up and head out. Plus I will admit, TC has completely spoiled me. 

It was a great day though! This weekend I'm out of town, but once I'm back, I think I might keep up the weekly travel sessions with the pony. It's been good to remind myself of what I'm working toward with TC. And it's great for the pony to get some outings in, he does seem to enjoy them even if this one wasn't his favorite. 

An Update on Sunny Horse

I gave the pony the winter off, which TC also had off, because of the crazy weather. In the spring when I started bringing TC back, my work schedule was a bit much to have two horses going. Sunny's feet had also taken a turn for the worse and I expressed that I wanted to yank his shoes and get him more comfortable over the course of a couple of trimming cycles. I didn't know if this was just due to the winter or something else, but he's looking WAY better. 

The many different things I've seen behind these
fluffy yellow ears

And so with that and work calming down a bit, I'm starting to get him out again. He's done a turnout and some longeing so far, with the goal being riding him 2-3x per week and keeping him fit enough to do things with but not prioritizing him over TC given that TC and I are surprisingly doing a lot of stuff this year. 

My primary goal for the year is to prep him for his inevitable kid-horse days. My niece is in somewhat consistent lessons over at Kate's barn to get her more comfortable riding on her own. But the goal will be to transition her back to her Sunny Horse probably in the next year or two and until she outgrows him/he retires or we have the capacity to get her another horse. I am not attached to her riding the pony, but my mom sure is. 

Cows!

Sunny doesn't... love the child. But I think I can get him more tolerant of her. This year, I'm going to focus on two things that will help with this: 

1. Getting him comfortable being ponied off of TC.

2. Getting him more tolerant of shenanigans. 

The ponying is so that I can exercise them both at the same time, take them places (such as trail facilities/obstacle shows/bombproofing clinics) at the same time, and general "you need to get on board with what the humans want" training. 

I want so much to respect my pony's feelings. But I also want him to just tell Riot how shit TC is rather than having to confront TC directly. He feels the need to REALLY drive home how much he hates TC. I think I've got a good plan to get him a little better about ponying, but we'll see. My priority is to keep TC safe of course, both from physical injuries and general bullying by a pipsqueak. 

The ranch from above

Shenanigan tolerance something I work on a ton with my personal horses. With TC, I've wanted him to feel confident in pretty much any situation and I do this by making sure that I subject expose him to things that are way beyond anything he'd be faced with in the real world. 

For example, I rode him with a pool noodle for a while, thwapping him with it randomly all over his body. When I started doing mounted archery, he had no problems with the arrows touching him or flying by his face. Not the first things to touch his butt or fly by his face while I've been riding him. So when he's ridden by a child and they drop their crop or they fling themselves onto his neck to hug him or anything children do, I know he won't care because I've both done it all and much worse on him. 

The pony is not tolerant of shenanigans and that plus the fact that he doesn't consider his rider's safety or comfort when shenanigans are going down, means that I don't super trust him with the kid. The kid is going to be the cause of many shenanigans and he is the only one of us who does not care about her safety. 

Back to the barn!

I saw a video of a person bombproofing a horse for children who would trip and fall in front of them and crawl under their legs and hang off of them and I thought, perfect. 

I tried it on TC and he doesn't care other than his one fatal flaw which is not feeling bad about stepping on squishy things, which we are working on. Do not step on humans (he didn't step on me, he just is not particularly careful with his giant feet). But you can do jumping jacks around him while leading him and fall on the ground and crawl all over him and he does not care. 

The pony cared SO MUCH. He spooked really hard at me when I "fell" to the ground leading him and was pretty scared of my jumping jacks. So that's our homework. And all the other shenanigans I have planned, which pretty much coincides with my obstacle training for TC anyway! 

The trails!

I'm excited to get the pony back and hopefully make some real changes in how he interacts with his world/the child/the gray horse he hates. He's not young, he's 18 or 19 now? But he's a Morgan and is unreasonably sound and spry despite still having silicosis. If he says no or is not doing well in my program, he'll happily retire. But I think he'll find that being a little more tolerant leads him to a much better existence. Or at least, that's what TC would say! Although according to the pony, he's been indoctrinated. 

TC the Warhorse

I've been introducing TC to mounted archery and it's been great! I mean, I expected nothing less, but he was actually kind of reactive to the thwap of the arrow hitting the target at first. Luckily for him, I rarely hit it. 

I started with a couple of ground work sessions where I just had TC in hand and clicked after every arrow I shot. I also rode around with the arrows and did things like shuffling them around, running them all over his body, and throwing them off of his back. But I hadn't yet shot off of him. 

Over the weekend, I got my field target out and decided to try it out!

Literally the most perfect animal

How he looks at me when I'm picking up arrows

We went into the arena and when he saw the target, he made a bee line for it and tried to bite it. I like to think that what's going through his mind is "I don't know what this is, but she HATES it, so I hate it too and I'll also try to kill it." 

I did one round of shooting from the ground and other than wanting to get his nose in between the bowstring and the bow to poke my face (omg TC seriously, so dangerous, luckily I wasn't trying to be quick about anything so I shoved him away), he was perfect. Just one minor startle when I hit the target and then he got used to it. 

At the trot!

Why you hate this thing so much?

Then I got on with just the arrows and did some desensitizing. No need though, he was super chill about it and the only task at the top of his mind seemed to be to go bother the target again. 

Next, I shot very lightly with my arm through my reins so that I didn't fall off the back. I aimed at the ground so that we avoided the thwap. He was super good about it! So I started to just play with it!

We did a lot standing still, a bunch walking, and I even trotted him and shot off of him! Being bareback, he is SO BOUNCY, so I didn't do it much. But I think I could legitimately canter and shoot off of him in my saddle, next time. 

I also started the process of shooting while standing on him, which I really want to do, mostly because I think it's going to look super cool, not for any other reason. 

Don't look as cool just walking but he is cute

After we do archery we roll

In the most ADORABLE news, my niece watched me practice on TC and was VERY interested in mounted archery. She's kind of in this "anything Aunt Mimi does is extremely cool" phase, which I think is going to get her bullied at school eventually given that she mostly wears leggings with her socks pulled up over them to mimic my boot socks. I am not a fashion icon, she will figure this out eventually. 

Anyway, I ordered her a kid's bow and arrows (with suction cups) immediately. The next time she was at the ranch, I taught her how to use it and she has been completely addicted to it ever since. She practiced for hours when we were at the ranch, told me that she wanted to tell Miss Kate and Miss Kenna (her riding instructors) that she *needed* to shoot arrows off of Ginger Pony, wanted to watch Brave all day, and took her bow and arrows home so that she could practice shooting arrows off of her pony at home. 

Almost cuter was my brother googling "archery for toddlers" which did not bring up much. But he wants to see if we can take her to a range to watch and there's also a mounted archery demo at Horse Expo that we'll be taking her to. 

And of course, when she starts riding TC, she can shoot off of him, although she told me that I'd have to help her because she has to hold onto the reins (would not listen to me when I told her that you actually have to drop your reins to shoot). 

So adorable, and she's so good, you can
literally tell her what to shoot and she
just does it... jealous...

Lots of treats of course

For me, there's a mounted archery clinic in early July that I might go to. It's a bit of a haul and comes at the end of my company's week long July 4th shutdown, but we'll see! 

Running I ETS

This last weekend, TC and I competed in our very first ETS! 

ETS stands for Equine Trail Sports and it's basically a way more formal version of the ranch competitions we did last year that TC loved so much. 

We ended up just going up for the in hand class on Saturday, it was super hot and staying overnight ended up being a bit too much to deal with given how my work schedule has been. But it was super worth a long day trip (and TC and I have recovered from it)! 

Hanging with friends! Peep Peony's adorable baby
horse Goose on the end

Since I assume a lot of people who read this blog are here from the glory days of dressage, I'm going to quickly go over what an ETS entails, at least the in hand class. Apologies if I make this even more confusing. 

There were eight obstacles and each obstacle had three levels to choose from. Level 1 was the most basic and Level 3 was the most advanced. Each level is worth the corresponding number of points. To qualify for the Novice division, you need 8 to 11 points, intermediate is 12 to 18 (I think maybe 19) points, and Advanced is 19 to 24 points. You can get 8 points by doing Level 1 for all eight obstacles. You can get 24 points by doing Level 3 for all eight obstacles. 

For each obstacle, regardless of the Level you do, you get a rider score and a horse score out of ten. Then your level is a multiplier, so if you do Level 1 really really well and get a 10/10 on both, that'll be way better than doing Level 2 terribly and getting a 2/10 on both horse and rider scores despite Level 2 having a multiplier. 

They differentiate between horse and rider so that if your horse is perfect and you're screaming like a banshee, they can give your horse a good score and you a bad score. Or if you're perfect but your horse is screaming like a banshee, they can give you a good score and your horse a bad score. If you're both terrible or both great, you can get the same score. 

So there's some strategy to it! We competed in the Novice division, so I aimed to do five obstacles at Level 1 (5 points) and three obstacles at level 2 (6 points) for a total of 11 points.

Went on a walk around the property

We arrived in time to watch the first round of horses and have a friend go over the course with me. Then it was our turn! Here were the obstacles in the order that we did them:

Pedestal (Cross over obstacle)

We opted to do Level 2 for this obstacle and it was a bad idea. For Level 1, you had to get both of your horse's front feet on the pedestal and then have them step off of it. Given that TC likes to stand on things, I think we would have scored better if we'd done Level 1. But I had a tough time deciding what to do, and Level 2 had you walk straight over it. I figured TC would be fine walking over it and I was wrong. We attempted twice but he only managed to get his front feet on it and then straddled it with his hind feet (it was VERY narrow). Oh well! 

For this one, we got a 4/10 for me and a 4/10 for TC for a total of 8 points. The multiplier took that 8 to a 10.40. 

I took *very* shitty pictures the whole day, oh
well, but this is the pedestal

Ring (Turn on the forehand)

Filled with dread when there were options for TC to stand on things that he wasn't supposed to stand on, we decided to just do Level 1 for this obstacle. There was a tiny metal square we had to put his front feet in and then we just had to do a 180 degree turn on the forehand. 

In true TC fashion, he stepped on the sides of the square (it was totally safe, just annoying) but he did do it less than I thought he would! So we ended up with a 5/10 for both of us for a total of 10 points. No multiplier because it was Level 1. 

Watching the competition from his day pen, he was
immediately destructive, apparently he hasn't
outgrown wanting to dig holes and climb
pipe panels yet

Teeter Totters (Cross over obstacle)

I was certain that TC and I could do Level 2 or even Level 3 with any teeter totter obstacle. He is a star when it comes to standing on things, after all. But both Level 2 and 3 used the BIG teeter totter and he's never been on one that giant. I decided that day was not the day to push it and so we opted for Level 1, which was just to walk across the teeter totter. 

TC was absolutely perfect and we both got a 10/10 for a total of 20 points! 

You can kind of see the teeter totter behind the judge

Sidepass 'T' (Sidepass)

TC somehow learned to side pass like a BOSS in the last few years. Like I didn't expect this. I think the belly tickler from the ranch competitions helped him? I don't know. He went years being kind of awful at side passing and now he's so good at it and let me tell you, we did not work on it. 

So I opted to do Level 2 for this obstacle. It was three logs in the shape of a capital T. For Level 2, we had to side pass over half the top of the T facing the bottom part, then at the intersection, do a turn on the forehand and side pass over the bottom part of the T. 

TC did want to stand on the logs instead of side passing, so I ended up having to do a lot of management, reducing our scores to 8/10 for both of us. Because of the multiplier, we got a 20.80. So you can see how even if we'd gotten a 10/10 for both of us for Level 1, doing Level 2 but getting an 8/10 ended up being better points-wise! 

LOL my favorite picture of TC and
Goose

Bridge (Cross over obstacle)

I was unsure of whether to do Level 1 or Level 2 for this. The bridge was quite high off the ground, and Level 1 was just putting your front feet on it and then backing off, while Level 2 was halting in the middle of the bridge. I didn't trust TC's sense of self preservation to not fall off the bridge if he had to stop forward motion, so I opted for Level 1. We each got a 10/10 for a total score of 20.00. 

And you can see the teal bridge, also my horse's
chonky belly

Get on your Soapbox (Forward movement)

For this obstacle, we had to stand on a mattress and send the horse around us. Level 1 was just in walk and Level 2 was at the trot. Level 2 also involved halting for 3 seconds and then bringing the horse toward us. Well, oops. I forgot about that part. But we did do Level 2 and TC was PERFECT and the judge said "you can put him in my trailer any day," but still gave us a 4/10 for each of us because I didn't do the obstacle properly. Oops! Sorry TC! Total score was 10.40. 

Bright and early at the gas station!
Literally the worst pictures

The Narrow Path (Forward movement)

This was another one where anything beyond Level 1 was going to be ridiculous.  There was an L shaped pathway with big metal logs on each side of it. At first I thought it was a rein back obstacle and I think TC would actually be really good at that. But nope, Level 1 you had to walk your horse through it, Level 2 you had to trot your horse through it.

I need to work on trotting TC in hand, he is not a candidate for a breed show. Every time I trot him in hand (not longeing, just alongside him), he thinks it's the most hilarious game and usually leaps into the air, strikes out, and then tries to snatch at me. It does not help matters that I laugh at him every time. So we opted for Level 1. We got a 10/10 each for a total of 20 points. 

We did get a cute picture of them too

Tunnel (Cross under)

Remember that covered wagon from last obstacle show? Imagine that, darker, with logs inside of it, and ANIMAL PELTS ON THE WALLS. 

This is where this sport is sold for me. When we were walking in, TC saw one of these animal pelts for the first time, it was hanging on the gate. He *lost it* and was snorting with his neck all arched and his entire body rigid. We were blocking the way and I quickly tried to shuffle him out of the way (he would not move) to let some people in and some people out. The people trying to come in said "don't worry about it, my horse is going to have the same reaction, just let him get used to it" and the people trying to come out said "oh, it's okay, we are in no rush, let him work through it" and then the judge yelled over to me "you can let him smell it, it's pretty scary if they haven't seen that before!" 

Like literally he'd be judged on his tolerance of these things in the tunnel (which is why I saved it for last) and everyone was so kind about letting me do my clicker training. And the judge still gave me a 10/10 and him a 9/10 when we did the obstacle, despite her watching me clicker train it earlier. Like, wow. This sport is so much "for the horse" and I just love it. I've definitely been told multiple times to "not let him do that" when TC has been nervous at dressage shows. 

Anyway, 19 points to round us out (Level 2 was like, turning around and doing it again and I forget what Level 3 was, we obviously did Level 1). 

The dreaded tunnel

I ended up heading out before I knew what we'd gotten but the next morning, the scores were posted! We got 130.60 overall and that was good enough for THIRD PLACE (out of twelve!!). I am SO PROUD OF HIM. This was our first rated show in this new-to-both-of-us discipline and he was such a star. 

Like, I can't believe this is the same horse who was a chronic bolter and was so spooky. I still remember writing this hilarious post about things I hated because of him. Going to those bombproofing clinics out of desperation eventually led us to this amazing discipline. I'm glad to have something to work towards that isn't dressage. 

Why you house the horse? Horse
hates to be housed

We have two schooling shows coming up and then we'll be back in the rated ring in July. We're definitely camping overnight - a family friend has a solar powered electric fence I can use to keep him contained! I cannot wait, and I think TC is excited for the next one too!

TC the Ranch Horse

I felt bad that TC didn't get to have a fun outing because he was laid up for the mounted archery clinic. Not that he was aware he was missing anything. I considered taking him on a trail ride this last weekend to make up for it, but then I saw that the local horsemen's association was having a play day, complete with a ranch competition! 

I was not sure what that was, but the flyer made it sound like it was an obstacle course! I quickly printed out the entry form and mailed it once I knew that TC's return to work was going smoothly. And then on Saturday, I loaded him up and off we went. 

TC had SO MUCH FUN

We got there with about an hour to go before the competition. I hopped on and went to join everyone in the arena. There were a few hours in the morning dedicated to ring desensitization, but I wasn't interested in getting there too early. I also figured that TC would generally be fine and that we weren't going to be very competitive so there was no point in getting up early to make sure that we were able to practice each obstacle enough to perfect it. 

There were seventeen obstacles in the course. Some TC had definitely seen before or were inherently easy. He's opened plenty of rope gates, I've mounted and dismounted him before, he's walked over a bridge, he's not afraid of crinkly stuff, and he's obsessed with mailboxes (no mailbox is safe from his investigation and the mailman blows his mind). 

Others were different though! I focused on the ones that I thought might get him and then we walked around with the group to learn our course and how we were going to be judged. 

TC looking around at the obstacles trying
to figure out which one he wants to do first

The judging was mostly on horsemanship, how calm your horse remained, and how you performed the obstacles themselves. You got extra points for your horse not spooking, but you lost points if your horse, say, tried to climb on top of an obstacle. 

After we learned the course, we broke for lunch and I hung out with TC at the trailer while he ate some grass. TC decided after realizing that half of his day was going to be eating grass, that he LOVED ranch competitions. 

We waited until our turn and it turned out that we were going to be the last ones in the arena. TC was an eager beaver, not made better by a horse in the pasture next to us galloping around like mad. He came into the arena and briefly considered that he might be a bronc horse instead of a ranch horse, but then a human came up to us and he remembered that his purpose in life is to make humans laugh, so he cocked his head at her and eyed her in the bizarre way that he does when he's excited. 

Best part of the day according to TC

Here was the course: 

Rope Gate

This was just a rope hung between two posts. I haven't really opened a lot of rope gates with TC, but we open and close the arena gate every day, so he was perfect of course! It was a great obstacle to start with to gain some confidence. 

Egg and Spoon

We had to carry a golf ball in a serving spoon around a cone and drop it into a bucket. Most people were able to manage, but I think we did the worst in this one because TC kept stopping so that I could maybe give him the golf ball, which he thought was a treat. I probably should have carried it in a different location, since it ended up being right where I put my hand when I'm offering him a treat. He stopped 5-6 times and every time he did, the golf ball swayed aggressively in the spoon. I thought this was HILARIOUS, so I giggled the entire time. We did end up making it to the bucket, when I put the golf ball in it, it bounced right out because of how big TC was. I think it still counted though!

Tire Maze

TC, climber and destroyer of obstacles, was actually really good through the maze. We were to walk between the tires, which were placed very tightly to give a slight path between them. During the lunch break, they had put some whirling toys in the tires, but TC didn't care about those and marched carefully through!

I've never seen him so focused lol

Dismount + Mount

We had to dismount, pick up the horse's right front leg, then go over to a picnic table and mount back up. This all went well until TC considered following me up on top of the picnic table. I've never seen a horse so confidently pick up a leg to put it on a table before. NO THANK YOU. I stopped him, got on, and we moved along. 

Cowboy Curtain

The wind was blowing like crazy, but we'd schooled this one enough in practice where it was a non issue! He walked right through it even though I felt in his body that he would have preferred to gallop through it, silly horse. 

Belly Tickler

There was a 2x6 laying on the ground with a bunch of pool noodles sticking up. We had to side pass over them and as we did that, they "tickled" TC's belly. Honestly, the hardest part of this was the side pass, since he's never really had to do one for that long (usually just to get to the gate to open/close it) so he kept trying to leg yield. He figured it out though and we got a lot of compliments on that!

Belly tickler behind us, look how excited
this horse is to be on course lol

Teetering Bridge

This was just a bridge with a 2x4 under it so that it wobbled, TC didn't care so we walked right over and kept going.

Weave + Flag

We had to weave through some poles that were a bit close together. Technically we had to trot through it, but it was too tight so we just walked. At the end, we had to stand next to a flag on a loose rein and count to three. TC was great! 

Bridge and the weaving poles (flag was tied up)

Hula Hoop

We were supposed to pick up a hula hoop from the fence, put it on the ground, put the horse's front feet in it and do a turn on the forehand. TC's feet are way too big to put in a standard hula hoop, so we used the bigger one and we were not so great at this, oh well! 

Tarp

Another easy one for TC, he loves walking on stuff! 

Look at those ears, they make me so happy

Nutter

Omg my favorite obstacle. We had to stand quietly while a lady with a wagon full of noisy stuff walked by us. Then she took a folding chair out of the cart and opened it up to sit down in it. Oh, and all of this while wearing a silly headband and tooting a horn. Love it. TC thought she was pretty funny, although he wasn't a huge fan of the chair. But clicker training for the win, he just took a slight step back. 

Trash Crossing

Another one where TC got to walk on stuff, he walked right through a box of plastic bottles. 

Trash crossing, push the barrel, tarp, around the world

Reinback Z

We had to walk forward through a Z and then rein back in it! TC's love of standing on things did us no favors here. But we did make it through.

Mailbox

For a horse who is obsessed with all the mailboxes along the road at the ranch, he did not love this mailbox, probably because I had to open it for us and he was not involved. But he was a good boy! He did have to check what I had to grab out of it though. 

Spider

They had a black plastic bag with stuff in it, eight black pool noodles, and yellowish orange paper plates cut out to look like eyes. We just had to walk around it, TC thought it should be stepped on. 

Can't quite see the spider in this photo, it's in the
back corner of the arena

Push the Barrel

There was a barrel laying on its side with poles on either side of it to create kind of a chute. We had to have the horses push the barrel down the chute. Despite wanting to step on things, I've never really been able to get TC to push things consistently. But the horse loves a crowd, so when he figured out that everyone thought it was great when he pushed the barrel off to the side, then pawed at it to get it back to where it was supposed to be (people clapped and whooped because it looked like we'd lost the barrel), he pushed the SHIT out of that barrel and I had to pull him away from it when we got it to the end of the chute. 

Around the World

This one is hard to explain, basically there were two barrels, one with a PVC pipe coming out of it and resting on the other. At the end of the PVC pipe was a rope, so we had to pick that up and spin the PVC pipe around in a circle and put it back on the second barrel. TC was really good about this one, super easy!

You can see the barrels

When we got done, I was SO proud of TC. He handled every obstacle so well and remained completely chill even in the wind and in his very first judged obstacle course. When we came out, we got a lot of compliments about our partnership and how in tune we are with each other. That honestly feels so good whenever people mention it! I've been feeling like our partnership has completely changed in the last couple of months, I should dedicate a post to it. 

We were all done for the day except for awards. I didn't get a chance to see how anyone else did for the entire course, but whenever I looked up, people looked like they were doing really well! So I didn't expect to place. But that's okay, I was just excited to be able to do something fun with TC! Between the EHV-1 outbreak keeping us home and his extremely minor surgery, we hadn't gone anywhere in so long. 

I untacked him and then walked him back over for awards and let him graze again.

When awards started, we found out there were eight competitors and they were going to ribbon to fourth. I kind of hoped that we had gotten a ribbon! We heard fourth get awarded, but it wasn't us. Then third and second went by and it wasn't us. I started to get TC's head up to go back to the trailer, but then WE WERE CALLED FOR FIRST PLACE!!

Everyone clapped and we got a lot of really nice compliments. I was shocked! We got our cute blue ribbon and I put it on TC's halter, our first ribbon since August 2020. 

He's always looked so good in blue,
maybe he knows that...

I had so much fun at this little playday! I can't believe we won. That little blue ribbon surprisingly meant a lot to me as I thought more about it coming home. TC has given me a fair amount of blue ribbons, but they've always represented our dressage skills to me. This little ribbon represented our partnership, which felt really special. 

I'm excited to hopefully do more of these things, although I think next time, we'll move up a division and try the harder course!

Does He Ever Spook?

I mentioned in my last post that my parents' house is going under construction. The way their property is laid out puts the house in the middle of the property, with the barn, paddocks, and pastures in the back (and the trails in the way back) and the arena in the front yard. I actually have to go through the front gate to get to the arena. 

I've been looking at other barns to move to that are closer to my house but am struggling to make that final decision. I know I can always move back but I don't want to burn bridges or barn hop too much. Plus without going into the office yet, I am able to arrange my drive to and from the ranch to avoid traffic and keep it to 40 minutes each way. I have three main reasons I'd like to find a barn before the end of summer and they are 1) reduce my drive when I'm in the office again 2) avoid the time of year where there is pigeon fever afoot and 3) avoid having to ride during construction. 

Not enthused about losing these
trails but one of the barns I'm considering
has AMAZING trails!

Well, I was too late for number 3 as they got permits a couple weeks ago and broke ground last week. I wasn't sure how TC would be as he used to be VERY SPOOKY: 

Things I Hate Because of TC

Outside Stimulus Control

Spooky

But also at the same time, he's also been weirdly not spooky: 

Bombproofing the Already Bombproof

Amidst Beach Ball Polo

And I've done a TON of work on his spookiness: 

Bombproofing Clinic

Bombproofing Clinic Take Two

2020 Bombproofing Clinic

But the construction... not necessarily something I'd expect any horse to not take a good look at. TC has never seen real construction. They were literally up on the roof, dismantling the front porch during my ride on Friday. This meant turning on and off an electric saw, turning on and off a drill (that would sometimes make horrific drill noises), yanking pieces of the roof and deck apart, and throwing them onto the ground, which more often than not made a loud clattering noise. 

The house is maybe 35 to 40 meters away from the arena across the creek where there are a lot of trees obstructing it. 

Look how sweet Ruby was last week

I rode past the house and TC didn't seem to care about what was going on. Granted, my mom told the guys that when they saw horses walking past the house, they shouldn't throw anything down or make any loud noises. But when we were out in the arena, it was a free for all. 

If TC is going to spook these days, it's going to be due to trigger stacking. So I didn't expect him to spook while we were just walking, but who knows what would happen in the arena when we started to work. 

Two completely bombproof horses who started out
less than bombproof

Nothing happened. My horse is insanely bombproof. Saws turned on and off, things got thrown off the roof, things got wrenched off of other things, drills made that horrible drill malfunction noise. At one point all this was going on and the neighbor had let her dogs loose to run down the road past the arena with her chasing them in her car, all of them going well above a normal speed limit on a dirt road. 

I can't emphasize how much he didn't do. Like he didn't even flinch, flip an ear, startle, or feel the slightest bit tense. He didn't acknowledge that anything was going on that was out of the ordinary.

Now, I, on the other hand, spooked a bit. When the dogs came running by, I gathered up my reins. When the guy turned on the drill, I looked over there. When the guy threw something down, I startled.

TC to me when I spook

I thought that was so funny. Obviously very early on there was no controlling TC's spooking/explosions. But then for a long time, he was manageable with a confident ride, if I could stay calm he would stay calm. But now it seems like anyone could ride him and be petrified and he'd be the one giving them confidence. I've felt like that for a while with him on the trail, but he's always been a pretty good trail horse. Now I feel like there's nothing he'd really spook at even in the arena during work. 

Except bird shadows of course. But that's less of a spook and more of a hilarious pouncing action. And I'm okay with it, it makes me laugh. I'll just have to fully disclose that to anyone else who is going to ride him. Beware the bird shadows.

Riot at the Bombproofing Clinic

A week and a half ago, we had another bombproofing clinic! And this time, I decided to bring my dad's horse, Riot. 

Riot is a nervous nellie and he showed it in the first five minutes I got on him by tip toeing his way into the arena and standing in the middle trembling at everything around him. We brainstormed and this might be his first ever time in a covered arena. He was a trail horse before my dad got him and he's only been ridden at their property and on the trails for the years he's been with my family. 

He would not go near anything in the arena and I could feel his heart pounding as we walked quietly around in the middle avoiding everything. He's a good boy and his go-to move when he's nervous is to stand still and try to blend in with the background, but I was really hoping to get him near... something. 

SKEPTICAL

Noodles

After walking around and observing every obstacle from far away with lots of praise, I did finally get him to walk over the bridge, which I figured would be a good first obstacle because he's walked over bridges on the trail. We did that a bunch and I praised the hell out of him, trying to convince him that if he just held his breath and tried a tiny tiny bit, he'd get rewarded. 

From there, we would try getting closer to an obstacle, then return to the bridge to gain some confidence. Eventually he followed a few horses up to obstacles and would watch them do their thing while he stood and observed. This really helped him relax, and that plus interspersing the bridge, got him a little more curious and less terrified. 

Pulling the cart

He stopped caring after a while

From there, we slowly (over the course of two hours) made our way through almost every obstacle!! I was ridiculously proud of him. He came SO FAR over the course of the day. We kind of did them in a random order, making some progress on one, then going to an easy one, then going back to the original one, then introducing a new one, then going back to an easy one, and so on. 

He slowly gained confidence with each. Going from refusing to go anywhere near the car wash, to slowly following a friend through it several times, to cautiously walking through himself, to then relaxing about it and walking through no problem. 

The monkey in the barrel made him nervous, so at first he stood stock still with his eyes bugging out of his head, and eventually stood with a foot rested while it went up and down. 

Unsure about the monkey

The mattress was very scary and he was rather skeptical. I got him to put a foot on it and he scampered away from it. Someone else worked on it at one point so I let him stop and watch that person for a long time before trying again. Then he was way better at that. 

The tarp went about the same way, he was a little worried and put a foot on it, but then eventually made his way over it! 

The noodle wall REALLY worried him. He did not think he could walk into them. I ended up getting on and off, first making the walls very far apart with one noodle each, then slowly adding noodles and pushing the walls closer together. He ended up going through it with the same kind of relaxation that TC gives me through it! What a good egg. 

Am I doing a good job?? He did not
go in the water though

Walking through the car wash after a while

I was probably most proud of him with the flag, which we did at the end. The instructor carried it around on his horse and I had Riot walk behind him, then slowly we made our way next to him. The instructor carefully transitioned the flag onto my foot and then handed it to me, and soon Riot was carrying the flag without realizing it, because the horse the instructor was on was still close. Eventually the instructor peeled off and Riot realized he was carrying the flag. 

He got a little worried and wanted to freeze and then speed up, but we just kept walking and he slowly started to realize that the flag was not going to attack him. 

By the end, he was letting me do this to him: 

Relaxed and carrying the flag around

Fine with it going over his head

Good boy, Riot

I decided to end on that. I would have loved to get him to do a little more and go through everything again, but going from standing in the middle of the arena LITERALLY trembling with his heart pounding to letting me whirl a flag over him was progress enough. 

I almost wish I were bringing him this weekend, but I do want TC to go to another one for fun. My mom was considering bringing Sunny to the one this weekend but my dad needs to get a COVID test for a routine doctor's appointment and that requires a five day quarantine for them or something like that. 

Hopefully there will be more bombproofing clinics this spring/summer so that my mom can do one on her own and I can bring Riot to another one! I had the best time with him.