Anyway, in whole I was so very pleased with Harold. I mean, I drug him out of the pasture being 11 years old and strictly a pasture/trail pony. And we ended up with ALL THIS in just a matter of months!
I have such a great instructor to help me along and she is always there for me when I need her and that is a huge part of our success!
I was hoping to move us up to Intro C this past show season and also do some crossrail classes, maybe do the lowest combined training level after winter but then I went and got myself knocked up for the 4th time! LOL. So that all will have to wait until next year. I am due in September so am hoping I we can both be back in shape to do some showing by spring season. Our canter is a huge work in progress but it was getting lots better when we were able to work on it and keep him limber with massages from my bestie.
So anyway I usually photograph everything. I'll try and recap through my photos which help me remember what went on when!
He was SO fit August through September. I was getting such good ride time in and he was really muscling up and getting stamina. L rode him a few times for me in lessons over jumps to try and get his timing etc better for me. I'm still so green at jumping myself he really needed someone to know what they were doing to progress him for me.
In September we had our third show. It went really well again! We just did Intro A and B. I think we got reserve champ again in our division. There are few adults at this particular show so it's not hard, lol. Ignore my wonky braids. His mane had grown out a bit too much by this time and I should have cut it before I braided it!
We got to do our first clinic that fall also! Caroline Weaver is her name and she is so sweet and had a lot of new insights, or even just a new way of saying what L had already been saying, that made a lot of sense.
In October my suburban decided to break its tranny so we decided to trade it in on THAT beauty up there! Ive always wanted a truck and I flipping love it. Its an '08 four door Silverado. It pulls my trailer pretty good, although I do wish I had a 3/4 ton. One day!
So the next picture is from our last show of last year. We KILLED it with scores both in the 70's! Two blues baby!! I was so proud of us. It was the perfect way to end the season.
So after dressage season was over I started focusing more on jumping with Harold. We moved up in height a bit and he was doing really well! Jumping is NOT his favorite thing though, too much work, obviously. So I try not to do too much. The last pic was the last time we jumped that winter. It was getting dark and he made SURE he did not touch the pole, haha. I stayed on miraculously! And I was actually very early pregnant at the time, though I didn't know it yet!
So we took a pretty good break after that with holidays and cold and such. In late January we had a fun outing at a place my bestie was boarding her horse at the time. The lady that owns it does a lot of obstacle/Parelli type stuff so we had all kinds of things to play with. Harold did all of it with barely any hesitation. We even did a horse see saw twice! We played in the indoor first and I did my best position jumping yet, I think! Then I got pregnant and stopped jumping, lol.
In spring I did two shows, one this March and one in April. After that it was getting too hot and I was getting too BIG. I already had bought 30 inch used breeches (I wear 28) and had to leave them unbuttoned AND unzipped with a belly band, lol. So both shows went okay. The spring had been SO WET we had not been able to have but one lesson the entire time. It showed too, ugh. We got many comments about impulsion and forwardness etc. So my main goal was to move him out and forward our last show. I still didn't get the score I wanted but it was better.
So! Since then Harold has been a pasture pony again, lol. I haven't even been out to see him hardly at all. With three kids, a house and husband to take care of PLUS this pregnancy has kicked my butt, it has been really hard.
BUT! I'm super excited to say that he will be moving to pretty much right outside my door soon! We are FINALLY about to get the 'arena' pasture fenced in. It has a little less then half the wire up, and almost all the posts. We got some more corner posts this weekend and a few gates so hopefully another week or two and he will be out there! The husband builds houses all day out in the 90 degree weather so I usually don't make him go out and work on it when he gets home, lol. This summer has been brutal so far. Super high humidity and 90+ temps every day makes for a miserable existence outdoors. Even at 7 or 8 at night! Thanks, Alabama.
Anyway, it will be so much easier to get to him and I will be able monitor everything about him. He won't have anyone else stealing his food or biting him etc. Snowy is too small to push him around, lol. And I won't have to deal with the in laws untrained idiotic horses. Can't wait!
I sold my white trailer we fixed up this spring and bought this baby! Sold my other for $2500 and paid $1300 for this one. PRETTY good deal, if I do say so! It's still not any where near NEW but definitely a decade or so newer, lol. It's a Cherokee brand and really neat! It has a decent sized tack room that I can change in, and a ramp and really roomy horse area. Much wider and taller then my previous. It is also definitely a fixer upper, but nothing too major! Needs a paint job, new springs on the ramp (that thing is freakin heavy!) and some new hub covers and new light covers. It is just chilling behind the shop for now since this mama ain't hauling anywhere anytime soon!
Snowy has been doing good too! The girls adore her, well, my oldest will pet her and that is about it. I'm pretty sure I ruined any chance of horse love with her when she fell off her trotting last year, lol. She was never my horse girl anyway, but that definitely put the last nail in the coffin!! My youngest, the last picture, looks to be headed to horse girl land with us, whoo hoo! Sorry, daddy :D. Shelby loves to ride her, brush her, tack her up, anything. And she is so good for her.
Well I leave you with a belly shot and a Harold grazing in his soon to be pasture. Hopefully update more soon!
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