Getting a new horse has proved to be super humbling. I kind of figured that because Lex wasn’t as green as every other horse I have purchased that he would be easier to ride and we would hit the ground running. I did hit the ground. I just wasn’t running when I did it.
In the past couple of months we have been on so many adventures. We are making progress now but those first couple of months were a bit… rocky. Between Lex being a totally different ride than anything I have owned and then the normal adjustments that come with a new horse we experienced some turbulence. I will try to do a quick update for the past couple of months in a few posts and then maybe (ha, I always say this) I will get in the swing of regular updates again. The blog unfortunately is pretty much the last thing on my list and often doesn’t make the cut. I think about it but don’t actually invest the time to draft anything.
April: This month brought our first attempt at showing together. I entered Lex in a NEH division which is run a bit more like an eventing derby. We had a kind of exciting dressage test where I may or may not have piloted Lex to jump out of the arena… The jumping phase had a lot of potential. The SJ and XC were run back to back so I literally rode out of the SJ arena onto the XC course. Things were going okay until they weren’t. Lex got playful on the backside of a fence at the beginning of the XC portion – I was too far forward and when he spooked really hard he jigged and I jagged. No one was hurt and all in all it was still a good learning experience. If nothing it was a swift kick in the butt to learn how to ride him.
After our less than stellar first go out we did a lot of homework. The rest of April was jam packed with a jumper show, cross country schooling, and then I entered another horse trial. Because why not.
It is kind of embarrassing to admit that I bit it AGAIN. I was once again luckily not hurt but what a bummer. I am an amateur and I make amateur mistakes… Unfortunately coming to a table I saw a LONG spot – like really long friends – I started to crawl up Lex’s neck and he very smartly said “no way, there is another step there lady”. Because I was already jumping for him I was not able to stick with him over the fence. It lead to an entertaining photo series at least.
The weekend after I cemented my title of cheese head by falling off again we participated in a clinic. We got some tough love and I left feeling very motivated to get back out there again…
So I entered Texas Rose… More about that next time!
The hard thing about riding smaller horses is that our little mistakes are amplified. Getting ahead on a big horse isn’t that big of a deal, but on a little one? Yep. Dirt.
You’ll get each other figured out though, I’m sure of it! Lex is awesome, and you ride great!