Road trip!

Saturday we headed out to the Florida Horse Park for some cross country schooling.  We had a mixed group of 2 Training rides, 2 Novice rides, and me.  My goal was far different from everyone else, as it was simply to have a positive experience in a different place, probably just over the elementary level fences to keep it simple.  I was nervous, but kind of excited.

We chose the Florida Horse Park because 1) our cross country is closed the month of July and 2) there was a schooling show scheduled the next day, and the fences were marked, so we could follow the course.

In order to avoid the heat, we planned to be out of our farm by seven.  So that meant I had to head down on Friday night.  Saturday we were up early, got the barn chores done and the trailer loaded up and were on the road by 7.  We checked in, tacked up, and were heading out to the field by 8:32. Being as early as we were, we beat most others, but not by too much.

We started with a quick warm up in the field.  Violet being so worried about being left behind is easier to kind of do this alone, but not.  By that, I mean I warmed her up in the middle of the area, where no one else was, but where Vi could keep her eye on everyone.  I am very aware of her desire to chase, so I work very hard at not following anyone else.  When we stop by fences to school, I keep her separate from everyone else so she doesn't fight me when we leave the group.  We have worked hard on coming up with a workable solution for this, and it's not hard.  She was better than she has been in the past, so apparently it worked.

That's me in the middle

We started at a line of little houses.  Everyone else started at the elementary and circled around to BN, then around to Novice.  Then it was my turn.  We headed to the fence, planning on just doing the elementary, and Violet asked about 5 strides out if I was serious, and I said Yes?  With the question mark, she said, three strides out, yeah, I don't think so and stopped.  I took a breath, walked her up to the fence calmly and let her sniff it, turned away and popped her twice on the shoulder with the crop.

Note:  In the hunter world, I was taught you don't ever use the crop in front of the saddle.  However, Violet takes exception to what she considers a spanking.  If you want her to stop at a fence 10 strides out and refuse to go forward, pop her on the butt.  However, she takes the shoulder pop as a wake up and doesn't take it personally.  I know, strange pony.

We turned back to the fence, picked up a better canter, touched her with the crop on the shoulder to say "YES ma'am, I mean it now" and over she went.  We did it another couple of times to make sure she had the idea, and didn't have another issue.  I have to get that ride to the very first fence.

We moved on to a coop that lead to a bowl.  Lots to look at, no issue for the pony.

While the other riders worked on much more advanced tasks (fence to drop to skinny, etc.  One rider did the one handed drop ride, to which trainer says "you know she rides ponies, right?"), I walked in circles around my little fences.  I started to think, well hey, maybe I should just keep going from my one and do two in a row.  Not that we did, but the fact that my brain said "wouldn't that be fun!" is an improvement.

We headed to the bowl, where we walked up and down a few times.  Then I picked out my two elementary fences on the outside and stood and watched the other school their questions.  This took a while, as they were complex and required more than one ride through.  One horse required a different rider to get him through the question.  I have to say there is nothing more fun to watch than a pony rider get on a horse that is having an issue and negotiate through a question.  These two young women that we have riding our horses are fantastic and always a joy to watch.

Anyway, we got to me.  I took the little tiny house, rode around a right curve to the coop.  There may have been a whoop from me.  I'm pretty sure there was a whoop from those with me, since they all know where I'm coming from.  There is a video.  I, however, am not able to copy it to YouTube or here, because I fail at technology.  If you are industrious enough, you can find it on my Facebook page.

Then we worked on one that was in a shadow.  As Marcy warned, Violet stuttered up to it.  We did it a few times, and by the end it was better, but she always stuttered to it.  I can see we will have to continue to work on those light to dark questions.

There was one other fence, and then we headed to the water at the end.  This was really fun.  The water was murky, as it was not their normal water, but basically a swamp.  We walked through first, then everyone went through.  I was last.  We trotted through the water, picked up a canter as we came out and four strides later jumped another little house.  It was the best fence of the day and a great way to end a successful trip.  Next time, we'll start on the BN fences.

This weekend I'll head out for a lesson on Saturday and then on to my annual vacation at the beach. Since it's actually closer to the barn, I'll probably head over for a mid-week lesson as well.  Give my mom the opportunity to see her grand-pony, if she wants to.  It will be strange to be without both boy and dog until Thursday when he will join me for the last weekend, but it will be nice to settle down in my chair with my toes in the sand and the sound of the ocean in my ears with nothing else to worry about.