What a wonderful day!

Spent a fantastic night at WIHS last night and had a ball with my barn girls!  Thanks everyone for coming!  :)  Three cheers for my college buddy who was kind enough to take our photo in front of the Puissance wall!

Kevin Babington over the Puissance wall early on

I went to the barn this morning to tape a friend riding in a dressage clinic.  It was a real pleasure to watch and so nice to spend most of the day in the barn.  After her ride, I brought Soonie in from the field (I felt badly because it was a beautiful day, it was only lunch time, and he was actually grazing instead of cribbing), and we went outside to the jump field for a light jump school.  I had my fingers crossed that he would not be a lunatic like last time I attempted to jump him outside.  I had set out a single pole to walk, trot, and canter over in a figure 8, and wanted to use that as a gauge.  If he was not rideable over that, I'd skip the actual jumping and just stick with the pole exercise instead.

HE. WAS. AWESOME.  For the first time in awhile, he was a push ride to the jumps today.  We had schooled trot poles on Tuesday, canter poles on Thursday (which he was trying to jump those, so...I wasn't expecting greatness today), and he was dead-head hunter quiet the whole ride.  Since the figure 8 pole exercise went well at the canter, we moved on to some trot fences, which were very quiet, and then cantered a couple small gates off each lead a couple of times.  We ended with one jump over the triple bar and called it a day.  Every jump was in rhythm, every effort was consistent and soft, every distance was there, and it was lovely.  I was so happy with him!  Hunter Soonie has returned for at least a short time!

Very pleased with himself after the ride

So. Good.

And adorable

I'll just have to keep putting him over poles regularly and jumping at least once a week to keep the rhythm, hopefully that will help reduce the number of Batshit Crazy experiences we have in the future.  He also got a warm bath and his first clip of the season today.  I got tired of the "Let's stay at the barn an extra hour and dry out sweaty horsey with the winter coat and not eat dinner until 9:30pm" game.

So this happened after I finished and everyone else was getting fed dinner.  His flappy lips are pretty much my kryptonite.  :)

"I want my dinner"

Derp.  Dinner.

Soonie with his special trace clip

I modified his trace clip this year, taking a little more off now that we're not going to be hanging out in -30 degree temps on a regular basis, and I also extended a section on his barrel that will hopefully help protect him from getting leg/spur rubs like he did last year.  Looks goofy, but practical!