I had big plans for this week. After the last horse show Henry basically had a couple weeks off due to me having non-horsey commitments, and now that we’re less than 2 weeks from another horse show (with the most ambitious classes we’ve attempted to date) it’s cram time. I cleared my schedule for plenty of riding, lots of horsey time, and a private lesson or two. Of course we all know what that means – 3″ of rain on Monday night.

But I am not one to be deterred by simple things like the weather. I figured this was a chance to make lemonade out of lemons, so I pulled out my rain boots and away I went to the barn after work. Side note: these are the fabulous rain boots that I got for $12 on clearance. They combine all of my favorite things: blue, ponies, and shoes. It’s like we were destined to be together. We’ll ignore the fact that I live in Texas and muddy days are few are far between, so in 6 months of ownership this was only the second time I wore them. Alas, I digress…

 

I knew before I even got to the barn that it would be far too muddy to ride in either of the rings. Never fear – I had a plan. There’s a nice long stretch of grass that runs between the road and the front pastures, about 10 feet wide. Even with a lot of rain it stays pretty dry, so I figured I could at least w/t/c up and down the road a bit… it was better than nothing. Plus poor pony didn’t get to go out the night before and wasn’t gonna get to go out that night either, so I thought I was being a very nice horse momma by giving him a chance to get out of his stall and stretch his legs.

As soon as I got him out it became clear that he’d had different plans for his evening in. I’m pretty sure it included a lot of napping, extra hay, and quality time with his giant new salt block. When I put him in the crossties he gave me his best “Dis be bullshit” look and proceeded to pout. (Note from Henry: “Dis really does be a lot of bullshit.”)

I got on and walked out and he instantly perked up. We walked up and back our little grassy lane once, then turned around again and picked up the trot. He thought this was GREAT FUN and proceeded to do a headtwisty thing that might be the wildest display I’ve ever seen from him. There was that one time where he was trying to buck (and failing miserably) and it took me a couple laps around the ring to figure out what in the world he was doing, but this little headtwisting display was a close second to that. Of course, he thinks he’s being terribly naughty and is so proud of his shenanigans that I can’t help but laugh. (Note from Henry: “Why is she laughing at me, doesn’t she know I’m scary?”) The thing about Henry is that he’s just such a solid guy – so steady, so intelligent, so uncomplicated, so chill about life. I never lunge him, he doesn’t need to be “ridden down”, he’s not particularly spooky, and he’s very rarely “up”. So when he tries to be wild, it’s nothing short of comical. He’s just so darn bad at it. His version of naughty doesn’t even begin to register on my Richter scale.

So I did what any self-respecting ex-eventer would do – I shoved my feet a little “home” in the stirrups, bridged my reins, and let him canter, grateful that I had decided to wear my Animo breeches with their awesomely grippy silicone knee patches. Cuz ya know, that terrifying head twist was totally gonna send me flying at any second. We went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, cantering and trotting until he flattened out a bit. (Note from Henry: “She always knows how to take the fun out of everything.”)

What Henry thinks his wildness looks like:

What it really looks like:

 

After our little 20 minute hack we turned and walked back to the barn. Along the way we came across a nice sized puddle on the road and I, still feeling all eventery and bold, (read – delusional) decided we should walk through it. Henry gave me the big ol’ middle finger and said I AM NOT AN EVENTER, which brought me back from my daydream and we walked around it like normal jumper people instead.

All in all, it was not the day I had planned but it wasn’t a TOTAL waste. We’ll see what the rest of the week brings. Of course, we got another 1/3″ of rain last night so I guess I won’t hold my breath. Being fully prepared for horse shows is probably overrated anyway.