We are officially entering the dog days of summer here in Florida (the fact that it’s almost July is somehow astounding to me) and the routines of spring have been replaced with new ones. Rides are happening earlier in the morning, we’re keeping things a bit lighter/shorter, and spending more time hacking. My trainer is also still in Europe, so we’ve had a few weeks off from our usually fairly busy lesson schedule. While we’re using it as a bit of a break, I also really didn’t want to just go a month or two without jumping or getting the boys out and about. They both had a pretty light spring, and I don’t want to lose the momentum we got in May. So I set a rough goal of taking both Presto and Bingo somewhere at least once a week, whether it was to trot the hills or do some XC or jumper rounds or whatever.
And so far we’ve been successful with that. The week following the POP show (where I ended up scratching after dressage because Presto’s shoe was about a millimeter from disaster) I took Presto to a XC derby. I looooove when farms have schooling show type stuff on the weekdays, it’s so nice to just be able to pop over there real quick in the morning. The Training division went first at 7:30am, which was perfect for me.
Presto definitely started out a little bit spooky, he’s never been out on the XC at that venue before, but he ended up being good.
I felt like it took the entire first half of the course for him to really get out in front of my leg and not hold tension behind the saddle, but we did get there eventually. I really liked the structure of the class, too… you started with 5 show jumps and then rolled directly into XC, basically like how the YEH classes are set up. The XC starts off softer and then builds in height and technicality as you go along. We had a nice variety of stuff that I thought really covered all the bases – a jump in the water, a drop into water, a coffin, skinnies, going up and down a mound, etc. Perfect little morning.
Bingo has been on a few more outings than Presto has, mostly because I really wanted to use this time for us to get to know each other better and see what I’ve really got. As I wrote about previously, he spent a month with my trainer, which culminated in him attending his first show, and I wanted to get him home and see how all that was going to translate, see how he felt, and start doing more stuff together.
And he really hasn’t put a foot wrong. I think he definitely gained some confidence in the world as a whole during his month away. He’s less horse shy, he doesn’t get worried leaving his friends or when his friends leave him, he’s going to new places like an absolute champ, and most importantly he seems to have a better understanding of his job – and really likes it. He just seems a little bit more settled within himself, in general. That was exactly what I was hoping to achieve by sending him off to school, so I’ve been very pleased with how he’s continued to come along since.
So far he’s been out for a conditioning day on the hills, XC schooling, jump schooling, and to a little jumper rounds show. He’s traveled well, he’s been pleasant, he’s been relaxed… for where he’s at in his training (we’re, what… 6 months in?) I really can’t fault him. His brain in particular.
It’s especially apparent when I switch back and forth from doing things with Bingo vs doing things with Presto, who is not exactly known for his mental fortitude. Presto is a spooky, emotional creature with a flair for drama. Bingo is… not that. At all. I mean sure, he’s a 6yo very green OTTB so a little spook here or a reaction there – totally within his wheelhouse. But his brain just works so differently from Presto’s.
A really good example of this was last week’s jumper rounds.
I took Bingo for a Starter round and a BN round. He’d been to this facility the week before to XC school, but not to the side of the property where the jumping ring is. He unloaded, looked around for a few seconds, then started grazing. I put his bridle on, walked him down to the mounting block, and got on. No fuss no muss. We walked past the jumping ring with it’s little pop up tents and into warmup, where he had one slightly fast trot circle before he settled into his totally normal Bingo self. I trotted and cantered a crossrail and then went over to the ring. He jumped around the Starter easy peasy, with the only dramatic moment being when I tried a perhaps too ambitious (given how gigantic and green he is) inside turn and we subsequently jumped an oxer on an angle, taking the rail. My bad. I had only jumped a full course on him once before so I overestimated his steering.
We came out, waited for a couple other rounds, and then they came and raised the jumps to BN. The whole time we were waiting Bingo just stood there next to the Kubota on a loose rein. Like he does this every day of the week, no biggie.
Then he went back in and jumped around his very first BN round. Well ok, he’d fallen asleep a bit and subsequently walloped the first fence, so we came back around and started the course again (this is why we love the schooling jumper rounds so much). He felt a little bit tired by that point but again, he was just a good boy. He went around and jumped all the jumps like no big deal.
It was a very drama free morning with zero spooks. I mean he’s green, sure, and there were definitely some green horse mistakes happening (keeping track of all 4 legs is sometimes difficult), but there was no naughtiness or drama. He waited happily while Henry jumped around with Kathleen, then we went back, untacked, hosed the horses off, and Bingo self-loaded back into the trailer. Just a really pleasant morning overall.
And then… it was Presto’s turn. To his credit, he is a very good loader and hauler. It’s what he does once you get him off the trailer that tends to vary.
When we got back to the facility they were watering the arena with those big sprinklers. After observing this from a distance for a minute, Presto decided he was going to die. Mind you, he’s seen a lot of arena sprinklers in his day. Even in the past few months. But he’s never seen THESE.
Sooo anyway, he stared at the sprinklers for the whole less-than-10 minutes they were on, and was completely incapable of putting his brain back in his head once they went off. WHERE DID THEY GO? Surely they were still lurking down there, ready to blast him off the face of the earth without warning.
After he finally took a deep breath, it still took me a while to get him near warmup because he was busy spooking at a jump standard. Then it took me a while to get him into warmup because he was spooking at the footing change. Then it took me a while to get him in the ring because of the Ghosts of the Selkies. Then it took me a while to get him anywhere near the corners where the sprinklers had been. It was DRAMA. I just had to keep trotting circles, working our way closer and closer to whatever the current offending item was. He spooked at everything that existed and everything that didn’t. It doesn’t help that he’s had a meltdown at this facility in the past when he discovered that there’s a horse and cows living just across the treeline from warmup. Still… he’s been here for jumper rounds like 4 or 5 times now. I’ll let you know when he runs out of things to be spooky about.
To his credit, I was able to work him out of it and he ended up jumping around the meter with no problem. It just took a while to get there because we had to take a side quest through Dramaland first.
By the time we were done I was getting overheated, so Kathleen and Lija took him to hose him off. I’m told there was only minimal naughtiness, so we’ll take that as a win.
Presto is, without a doubt, the most talented horse I’ve ever owned. He’s also the most challenging. I’ve gotten so used to his idiosyncrasies and the accommodations I make to help his mental state… having Bingo, who requires none of those (although he does have a few little idiosyncrasies of his own, as they all do) really highlights what a handful Presto can be. I love him dearly, and always will, but owning that horse gives me more of an appreciation for one like Bingo. It’s nice to have him to balance out my Drama King. Maybe Bingo is meant to be my emotional support creature?
Either way, it’s fun to have them both, even if (especially if?) they’re so wildly different. And I’m particularly pleased with how much Bingo has really stepped up this month. I’m starting to see glimmers of a really nice horse underneath all the awkward, I think!
The first 3 jumps are him:
Which is why I decided to late enter him for the RRP Makeover. I entered him on Friday and we got accepted Monday!
If we can’t get into one of the jumping divisions I don’t know if I’ll take him, but I do think he’s the right type of horse to mentally handle that kind of show/environment really well. So, we’ll see. Our hat is in the ring, at least! If we don’t go this year, now he’ll at least be eligible for the Graduate classes going forward.
I did start a Make The Makeover page (these funds go directly to RRP, and I get refunds on some of my Makeover fees depending on how much I raise) if anyone is interested in supporting the journey!
As for the smallest member of Team Bay Boys, Neville is still stinkin’ cute.
He is, as of now, definitely the quietest of this year’s crop. He likes a game of Bitey Face, and he’ll run around a bit, but he’s for sure less rambunctious than the other colts. I suspect that this is because he’s currently the only one of the 7 colts on this farm that doesn’t have at least one descended testicle already. A couple of them already have two, most have one, some have just a hint of one, but Neville’s have yet to make even a glimmer of an appearance. Which is very normal in the realm of foals, but I do think it has something to do with how he’s less inclined to naughtiness than the others. He’s also just a clone of his mom’s temperament so far. Which kind of makes me chuckle, because she also really likes this foal. Her first one, she was fairly indifferent, her second one she found annoying, but this one she actually enjoys hanging out with. I think because he’s obedient and polite and acts just like her. Don’t worry, that could all change really quickly, and probably will sooner or later.
For now though, he’s cute and sweet. Please enjoy his one-colt Pride Parade.
In other baby news, Bear is officially sold so that means Tommy is our ONLY remaining available foal out of the 9 we had this year. Pretty crazy! Oh, and unfortunately Fey is not pregnant, so I decided to quit for this season and just start early next year. It’s just too hot here. So now I have many months to decide if I want to buy another dose of Diathletico (it did look really good quality under the microscope) or if I should try something else. We’ll see!
breedrideevent.com 