I had a blast watching Dobby figure out cross country and jumping on Friday. It was nothing compared to the feeling of jumping him myself though. Getting to see him as he figured out jumping was reassuring. Getting to feel how much he loves it… that was priceless.
When I climbed onto Dobby myself Saturday I figured best case we would jump some logs. He must have read my mind and then said here hold my drink because he was amazing. There were baubles but nothing we can’t handle. To be honest I was pretty nervous coming into the weekend. I need to CTFO and not get so emotional about everything.
To start I trotted Dobby over a log and it was not exactly graceful. The trot is not his strong suit right now. His canter though – now that’s going to be something special. Once I stopped being so spooky (yes you read that right – me not Dobby) we started to get into a groove.
From there we moved into the woods and Dobby was better behaved than most of his older group mates. I worried he would get antsy but he was a total gentleman waiting for our turn at each section of the course.
Dobby showed us that he is very honest and wants to please. He just doesn’t understand sometimes. Which no duh. It was maybe his 4th time jumping ever and previous attempts were microscopic cross rails. Riding up to fences Dobby gives you a great feeling. He naturally wants to take you to the base of the fence and is actually pretty smart with his jumping technique. I just need to sit back (or die) and keep my leg on.
At one point we jumped into what everyone calls the crater. I kinda expected Dobby to back off. Nope. Full speed ahead with some sass at that. I think that’s one of the moments when we all were like “ok we have an event horse here”. He was clearly having a blast.
To wrap up our school we went to the bank complex. If you know me you know I don’t exactly love banks. Annie always attacked them which didn’t give me much time to worry. Of all the things we did the banks definitely gave me the most anxiety. Turns out if you forget how to ride and throw yourself at your horse going down a bank you might fall off. That my friends is how I ended up taking my first flight Air Dobbins. My first fall off in over 2 years and since having Bea. I AM TOTALLY FINE. Not hurt. Got back on. The only casualty is my helmet.
I want to stress that this was 100% my fault. Like most things. We were schooling banks and I was anticipating a bold leap down… and threw my body forward because I am a creature of bad habits… I ended up somersaulting over his shoulder. Dobby just stopped and stared at me like “umm… that was not my fault… why are you down there???”. I popped back on and off we went. I sat the eff back and what do you know it was super uneventful. I was bound to fall off at some point and this is why I wear a safety vest and helmet. Maybe now I’ll really remember to sit back!
In summary Dobby showed us what a cool horse he is and we learned that I am a dirty stopper that spooks and drops her shoulder 😂😂😂. All in all it was a great weekend. Thank you everyone that helped!
I love his eager ears that also constantly check in with you. What a good boy! It’s so obvious how much fun he is having. I’m so glad all those internet hours paid off and you have such a fun horse to bring along as your partner!
Love him so much! And all the good boys!
I love this update! He seems like the best kind of green bean horse: great brain and so willing. His canter looks so nice and I’m sure it will only get better from here. I’d definitely say stalking a Flatter son was totally worth it. 🙂
He’s a natural! Sorry you fell but the description was cracking me up!
I am sort of dreading taking my babies xc for the first time this year, I can only hope they are this well behaved!
Everything about this post just makes me happy! His canter looks so nice to ride and I’m sure it will only get better from here. I love watching how much he loves to jump. He just has the best attitude. He’s definitely a special one for sure.
Amazing, he is one cool baby horse!
If he goes missing one day, you should probably look for him in CT…
Seriously though, he is SMART! He’s great with his knees, and I LOVE that he looks to get to the base. Even when he’s not sure, he’s still really willing. You guys are going to have SO MUCH FUN!!!
He’s such a good boy! You two definitely had so much fun – you could hear it in your voice! And he’s such a pleaser <3
OMG! You must be SOOOO excited! It’s so cute watching him figure everything out:) His gallop is something special.