With that said, Brooklyn continues to do well. We've been doing a lot lately, and he's really turning into a riding horse and a pet horse. In fact, after a wonderful jump school last night, he excitedly made his first ever "cookie face" as I was unwrapping some treats that a boarder left tucked in his blanket as a surprise. His personality is starting to really blossom and I enjoy working with him. I am sure that he is going to make someone a fabulous horse.
Part of educating Brooklyn has been letting other people ride him. He has gotten very used to the idea that any random human might hop on him at any given point, and that it's his job to figure out what they're asking for.
Cameron, especially, has taken a liking to the little bay. I told her she is welcome to flat him any time she wants, but I also had her jump him around last week. I told her, "Your job is to make him believe that cross rails are sooooo boring," and by the end of the session, she had him loping over the cross rail like a saintly old school horse.
Last week, I also got a pleasant surprise when Kristin and Rachel came to visit. They are home from college (college!) and the barn is not far from where they live. It was wonderful to catch up. Of course, I let the girls take a turn each on Brooklyn. Kristin was on her school's IHSA team last semester, but hasn't ridden since May, and Rachel continued to volunteer at the therapeutic riding center, but hasn't sat on a horse since August. They are both very good riders, but were rusty from their time off. Brooklyn was a pro nonetheless.
Brooklyn got some surprises of his own last week. The first was a new friend:
He is now turned out with Cameron's four year old OTTB, Slang. Despite the fact that neither one of them had previously lived with another horse, they hit it off immediately. They instantly became best buds and are basically joined at the hip all day, every day. I even caught them napping together this week. Luckily, neither one is so attached to the other that it causes any kind of problem. When we pull one out of the field, the other simply looks on as if to say, "Alright, catcha later then!"
Becky also super generously gifted us with a new dressage bridle! I bought a used dressage saddle a few months ago and have been planning to outfit it so that I'd have two sets of tack ready at any given time. When I discovered that Brooklyn goes well in a flash, I started planning to get a dressage bridle to complete the set. Becky beat me to the punch! I'll get better photos once I put a bit on it, but we did snag some cell phone shots of Brooklyn looking very blingy in the barn aisle. Thankfully, there is no video of the giddy, squealy jumping up and down that I may or may not have been doing (but you can't prove it).
We finished off 2015 on a good note with a lovely New Year's Eve trail ride. At first, it was supposed to be just us with Lynn on Pearly, but it turned out that the day worked for April and Kristen as well. I was a little worried about riding Brooklyn out in the open with so much company, especially after a week-long monsoon left us confined to the indoor day in and day out, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to ride with some of my favorite girls. Kristen is coming back from some medical stuff, and it was wonderful to see her in the saddle and get to see Arrow again. As for April... despite an awesome two and a half year relationship, we have yet to actually ride together! It was very exciting.
We were twinning super hard that day.
Lynn came to pick me up (thank you, Lynn!) and we drove over to meet Kris and April at Perrineville Lake. I had seen the park in Lynn's photos, but had never actually been there. I was excited to ride on new trails.
Turns out Lynn has great taste in parks and this made for an excellent second trail ride for Brooklyn. It was much more interesting and varied than our first outing to Colliers Mills, and the ride was about twice as long, but it wasn't too technical or busy. We got to see dogs, some bikes, and even a pair of other horses coming head on, but there wasn't much to spook about. Although, I have to say that Brooklyn is one of the least spooky green horses I've ever ridden. He gets forward and racehorsey at times, but not much scares him.
The parking lot was quiet and we tacked up and took advantage of the conveniently located picnic table for mounting.
As I suspected, Brooklyn was pretty concerned about the other horses at first. Mostly, he was worried about getting left behind, I think. He didn't do anything terrible, but he did do some jigging in the beginning. I simply got down and hand walked him until he was relaxed, then hopped back on. I probably could have just stayed on him, but jigging annoys me and I don't want him to make a habit out of it. This way, he learned that jigging means other horses leave you behind, and walking nicely means you get to keep up with your friends. Plus, it's good for him to learn to stand for ground mounting while other horses do their thing around him.
Shortly after we settled down, we got to our first big, open field of the day. The edges were mowed and I think Brooklyn and I were both thinking the same thing when we emerged from the trail head.
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| Turf course?!?! |
By the end of the day, Brooklyn definitely got the memo that we were just going to stroll leisurely along for the rest of our lives. He seemed perfectly fine with that.
We went on to have a lovely ride. We laughed and chatted and took goofy selfies in the saddle.
We rode along through woods, up and down hills, around fields, past the lake, and through sand, mud, and rocks. Brooklyn led, followed, and went in the middle of the pack. Sometimes we rode together in a cluster, and sometimes we broke off into pairs. Brooklyn got comfortable even when another pair of horses would put some distance between us. I soaked up the mild temperatures, nice landscapes, and good company, and took my mind off the hard news we'd received that morning.
This year, we've gone back to work as usual. I have goals and plans for each ride, but I tend to keep them quiet and adjust as needed. I ride the horse I have that day, not the horse I expect to have, want to have, or had the day before. Sometimes he blows me out of the water. Sometimes we just work on having brakes.
I'm consistently working on getting him quieter and more relaxed to fences. I know the height will be there when he's ready. As we've established, scope is not a problem. We're doing lots of cross rails, lots of trotting in and cantering softly out. Not surprisingly, my posture has improved now that he's jumping less like a deer. (Raising my stirrups two holes and waiting for the gosh darned jump has helped too.)
I made Mike come out on Sunday and take pictures of us schooling in the outdoor for the first time in a couple weeks. This week, the temperatures are well below freezing and I'm back to hiding inside, even if it's daylight when I go to the barn.
O yeah... and I'm making him wear all my ridiculous polo wraps because he's actually a riding horse and I've collected an alarming number of them over the years. These particular ones were gifted to me by one of my favorite clients :)
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| Brooklyn has also learned that cameras=posing. |
