After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the
Today I jumped Dreamy a bit, in preparation for our next horse trial on August 12. I am very conservative with how much I jump her and how high; at age 21 she doesn't need any extra wear and tear on her joints. Today I figured it was time to raise the jumps a bit (since BN is 2'7", which is pretty much the highest I will jump her). Plus, we needed to school a skinny, since we had a run out at one as the second element of a one stride back in June when we last competed. I shamefully admit I don't have short poles, so I had my dad cut one of my regular 10' poles in half. I figured if we school a 5' skinny at home, the 6' ones at shows will seem easier. She was great over the skinny vertical! She wanted to hesitate the first time through (it was just a small 2'6"ish - though I never measured it) and when I put my leg on she overjumped it. The next time through was much better, and then by the third time she jumped it like all the other wider j