Happy Anniversary!

River came home with me one year ago today!

Here is Riv's listing photo, which is pretty much the entire reason I got him:

Here's Princess on the trailer ready to go:

I don't have any of him from *today* yet.

Let's see what's happened in the past year...
-various injuries/maladies
-bucking me off
-getting grossly underweight
-moving to a new barn
-lesson with a pro dressage trainer
-first jump
-first canter
-gaining lots of weight!!

Happy anniversary, Princess River!

Pretty in Pink

Saturday Princess got to wear his new blanket for the first time....

Heh heh heh.  Pictures don't really show how pink it is.  Think day-glo, florescent, glow-in-the-dark.

Interesting

I rode Riv yesterday.  He was okay.  Then we cantered.  As we went by the gate, a dog scrambled down the aisle playing with a ball and Riv spooked hard and threw some bucks.  By some miracle I didn't fall off and managed to get him cantering again.  We went past the gate without issue and immediately stopped and I got off.  My nerves were shot.

Today, I had a friend come out and ride him.  We were outside and he was pretty good.  A little scatterbrained, but that's typical Riv.  I put out a cavaletti on the medium side (so like 12" high) and he was SO good.  Going to the right, he trotted up to it and landed in a nice pleasant canter.  Going to the left, the first time he launched it and landed bucking.  After a minute to walk and settle, they did it a couple more times and each one was better.  The last time was so so good.  He clearly wanted to get excited approaching it, but he stayed calm, hopped over it, and settled right down afterward.

 And video...  not from the silly time or the best time, one of the middle ones.

My friend liked him a lot.  She felt the same way I do, that he's so pleasant and agreeable, even if he is a little dumb sometimes.  He tries hard to be a good boy and do what he's supposed to.

And like I told her when she was walking him out...  he did really well for his first time being ridden outside.

:D

River's Last Race

Riv's last race was one year ago today!  He finished 6 out of 10, so...  But all but one horse were at least 5 years younger than him, and the one horse who was the same age finished after Riv.  So really he did pretty darn well considering it was like grandpa racing the grandkids.

Last night I had one of the best rides on him ever.  He was SO good.  He's really getting what I want from him.  He's relaxing forward into the contact right from the start and listening to what I tell him.  Sometimes I'll be asking for something and he's not doing it, so I'll tap him with the whip or something and he swishes his tail angrily, like dude, woman, I'm trying, stop nagging!  Silly boy.

We trotted over poles some more.  Most horses I've ridden, when trotting poles, tend to tense their necks and stick their noses up.  Not River.  He stretches and reaches with his head and neck.

Speaking of stretching... we tried a stretchy trot for the first time.  And he did it!!  It wasn't consistent and it wasn't perfect, but he got it.  I asked him to follow the contact and stretch, and he did.  If he lost it and came back up, I'd ask again for a stretch and he did it.  Ah!  Such a good boy!

 Tacked up and ready to go:

Showing off his equipment:

Pole!

 All done!

Dumb boy.

I mentioned before that River is being a butthead.  He's still being a butthead.

Sunday I brought horses in.  I had River in one hand and The Mare in the other.  We're walking up to the barn and I can't see River on my side.  Turn my head to look over, and there's a cat running away and River flipping out and rearing at the end of the lead rope.  WTF?  Moron spooked at a CAT.  The Mare, however, never so much as blinked at Riv's antics.

Yesterday, River apparently walked the entire way back to the barn backwards/sideways because he was being a pain in the butt.  Gr.

He did it!

He trotted poles without falling over them and messing them up!!!

The first time through, he jumped the first one crooked and half jumped the second before ending up in the middle of the ring.  LOL.  After a couple tries, he was going through SO well--forward and careful.  Yay pony!!  He wasn't as good to the right.  He tends to get tense that way and sticks his head up and gets all jerky and annoying.

So I was getting tacked up last night and I decided to finally use my standing attachment.  I get the saddle on with the breastplate and was about to put my bridle on when I remembered...  Drop Noseband + Standing Martingale = NO!!!  Because I'm too lazy to change nosebands and I put all that effort into putting on the breastplate, I did it the easy way... put the plain caveson on first, almost like a grooming halter, and then put the bridle on top.  Used the drop like normal, put the standing on the caveson.  Success!  Looked a little ridiculous with all that equipment on his head, but it worked.

I would have gotten a picture, except when I got off at the end, my stupid phone battery died :(.  Which also meant I couldn't ride the mare :( :(.  After the whole broken leg thing, I won't ride without my phone or someone else in the barn.  Gr.  But at least it was a really good ride on Princess.

Progress

I rode River on Wednesday.  He's definitely making progress, each ride is better than the one before.  Nothing major, we didn't do anything new, but it was a good ride.

Pink polos courtesy of the BO, who found them while cleaning the barn and gave them to me.  Yay!

His neck is gross, but the rest of him looks good!

Peek-a-boo!!