This was also a good time to talk to Grayson about the weight gaining supplement I picked up at Tractor Supply. Supposedly it will be a high calorie supplement that won't make her hotter (ie I won't need to give her as much grain). Anyway, I think I probably pampered her for about an hour and a half before I put her in her stall with several flakes of hay while I waited for the lady to show up.
And waited.
And waited.
I tried calling the number she gave me, but turns out it is a work phone and not a cell phone number. Needless to say, by 2:15 I decided that I would ride with Janene and simply hope the woman showed up. She never showed, but regardless, the pony went very well today.
It was Janene's first time seeing her go, and boy did she like her. She said she is a smaller version of her old Junior Jumper, the mare she had for 16 years. I jumped the pony around a bit today, and she ran through my hand three times, and each of those times received serious correction. After the last one she finally began listening to me, and waited for each fence. The last course I rode actually rode like a hunter course! Calm, composed, and collected. More of that please!
Anyway, Janene no longer jumps (or hasn't in a while), but she really wanted to see her horse Ritter jump. She hasn't really jumped him in the two years since she got him. I offered to hop on at the end of her ride and jump him around. Ritter is the kind of horse that Janene says she has to beat into the canter. She was so surprised when I got him in front of my leg extending his trot and going right into the canter. I then popped him around the little course I set up. This horse can jump! Taking him over the little green brush box he jumped it like a 3' fence (its maybe 18") and was SO proud of himself. I told her she had to start jumping him! She then started talking about how she would love to see what he would do and how he would do at a horse show, but she mentioned she would never show him. She said, "but I would gladly pay you to do it! And Nina and I could come watch!" Nina is the woman who leases him. I, of course, gladly agreed. We set up a time for the end of the week for me to ride him so she can video tape it. She seemed very excited, as am I!
Tomorrow I'm going to set up the jumps in the ring differently. I'm going to make a gymnastics line that includes all the jumps we have. I think I will recreate an exercise I saw online with six jumps. 2' bounce cavaletti bounce 2' bounce cavaletti bounce 2'. Or maybe I'll end with the barrels. I have been seeking advice from my beloved trainer/pseudo-mom (hey Robin!) on a regular basis, and her advice is what has gotten the two of us so far this summer. As per the advice, I will set the gymnastics up along the rail, and if she does decide to bolt/rush, she will be introduced to that fence very quickly.
I have two lessons set up for this week as well! Both from dressage riders who I greatly respect. Sarah, my big in AXiD, is captain of the dressage team and has shown in the young riders championship at Devon in second level. She is coming out first thing on Tuesday to give me a lesson. Another friend, Bonnie, has shown her Grand Prix mare to the FEI levels, competing at Gladstone among other places. She is coming out Thursday afternoon to also give me a lesson. Yay! I can't wait, these girls are so knowledgeable and they are willing to take time out of their days to educate me and the pony in their discipline. SO excited.
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