Usually I have blog posts written for here about a week in advance, or at least a decent queue of pre-written posts to pull from when I’m not feeling creative.  Maybe it’s the winter or some other stuff going on, but lately I’ve had a hard time writing as much for the blog.  I’m not giving up my Monday – Friday posting schedule, but it is a bit more of a struggle.

However, I do want to share a little funny from my lesson last night.

Since we didn’t get as much rain as originally forecasted, I was able to squeeze in one last lesson before the horse show.  Like many lessons lately, things started off a little interesting.  I’ll just say my horse is a saint and I am thinking about renaming him to “Can Take a Joke”.

We got a lot better towards the end, but one 2’6″ in and out combination with two simple verticals was giving us trouble.  It came up after a left turn off the rail, and the first two times I attempted the in and out… it didn’t go super well.  Nothing bad happened per Simon’s usual saving his Mom’s ass motto, but it wasn’t pretty.

So the final time we went for it, my trainer said to really get a bright pace and cluck to him 2-3 strides away.  For Simon, a cluck is a magic tool that says “RUN LIKE THE WIND THOROUGHBRED” and it almost always works.

Now for those who don’t know, my horse is super sensitive and loves his job.  If I add leg, push my arms forward or cluck he is ALL ABOUT IT.  Coming into that combination, that’s what I was doing before the turn and Simon was all, “Wheee buddy I can’t wait to go oh so forward and do this thing!”

Until he saw the combination.

As soon as Simon knew we were coming up on the in and out that I had messed up so much earlier, his tune immediately changed.

“Your leg says go, but your mind says no Momma!”

Despite my leg and forward hands and clucking, he completely smoothed his pace down and did the most beautiful collected two strides you ever did see.

Essentially he’s the smartest Thoroughbred ever, and despite his shortcomings (which are few) he does a 110% job of taking care of his Mom.  Even with our problems, I left the lesson feeling really ready for the show.  It might not be perfect, but we’re much better than we were last year and at the heights I am entering (2’3″ and 2’6″) there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll have a safe trip.

And after I will shove his face full of cookies, because he is the best pony.

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