The Dream Team!

All week long Mystic has been on his A + game and has been giving me great work! I think our not so fabulous rides a couple weeks ago was due to the heat, whatever it was I am glad we are back to being the dream team :)

He was so on point in our rides that I felt like I could ask for anything, in that moment, and get it. Before I even said anything Alanna even commented that he looked really good! Yesterday's ride he was a little more behind my leg but once I got his engine revved in the canter work t got better. I feel like his canter just keeps getting better and better. It actually has some jump to it!

Today he had a hair day since his mane was really gross. I ran out of vet wrap so it was just in a running braid, and although it is really gorgeous it just doesn't stay in well. We finally have a lesson in Monday, hopefully our recent rides show in our lesson and we don't look like we haven't had a lesson in 2 months :)

Mylo is also doing well. He has mostly just hung out this week with some grooming sessions. I am happy to report that our feedig issues are no longer! He follows politely behind me, let's me dump his grain, and waits until I move away from bucket till he charges into it.

He has earned mowing privileges throughout our whole property (our lawn mower is broken so what better to keep it down?!). This is how he chooses to spend his time, chasing my car down the driveway and not letting me leave! It's pretty cute until you have to put him away because you literally cannot get him away. I swear he would climb in my car...

Not to take away...

I didnt want to include it is Mylos post because I thought he deserved his own little post because he had to put his big boy panties on for his first show. And it obviously wouldnt be fair to compare him to all of Mystics glory :)

After a long day at the show and wedding yesterday I headed out to the barn to see Mystic. He had Friday off, and I didnt even make it out to see him, and he was looking a little neglected in the hair department. I was too tired to think about putting a saddle on and actually working but I wanted to hop on so I just threw his neck rope on and hopped on bareback and bridleless for a little walk around the field. The same field that has our jumps set up, how tempting is that?! I couldnt resist and ended up popping him over the little cross rail, which of course he did perfectly! So why stop there? Pony never put a foot wrong and packed me over all the jumps with no hesitation, great steering, and reliable brakes in a wide open field where he could have decided to haul me back to the barn! We even got video evidence :) Please ignore the homeless looking hair and the pee stains, they got fixed post ride!

Babies First Show

Yes, I believe I have some of the best boys around! Today was an absolutely crazy day that started out with a friend and I deciding to take our babies to an open show last minute (decided yesterday afternoon) this morning then I had a wedding to attend this afternoon. Needless to say I am pretty exhausted tonight!

Mylo exceeded my expectations in many ways and we also found some things we need to work on. It was a great first show experience for him and considering his major life changes in the last month he handled it all really well. Although I was worried about loading ( big step up with rear tack so only narrow entrance into trailer) he walked right up with no hesitation and jumped right in and stood patiently to be hooked up. Not a bad start to the day at all! We arrived just in time to register for classes, unload, beautify them, and have a quick walk around before our first halter class. Those that know me know I am no halter queen and since it was a buckle series open show some people were decked out in full outfits and bling halters. It was easy to see that we were out of place HA! He listened great for our walk to judge and trotted into line like a pro. For the most part he stood decently with a few small circles and wiggling in between. Overall much better than I thought he might be! For his lack of handling throughout his life I was very impressed! Definite room for improvement, but I wasnt the crazy lady with the crazy baby who was being drug around the arena so I put that in the win column!

After his first class he got to chill for about 20 minutes before his next class and I took this as a good opportunity to let him stand tied to the trailer. I hung a hay bag, tied him up, and let him be. He did baby stuff and would have rather been out and about with me but never challenged actually being tied, just made it clear he was bored by pawing, rubbing, flinging hay bag around, etc. I just let him have his little toddler moments by the end of the day he was standing quietly and eating hay, good baby! I am not one to tie my horse at the trailer and leave them, but I also like to be able to tie them up with their hay and just hang out so it is something that he needs to learn to do.

Look Mom, I can stand like a big boy :)

His second halter class went much like the first except for one thing... little man still has some testosterone running through him and became a little attracted to the ladies. Did he not get the memo about that gelding part?! More specifically he liked the red heads, and if you are a red headed paint you are even better. He was not naughty about it at all but would start talking, arch his neck, and drop. He was easy to handle still and has no idea "what to do" anyways so I wasnt worried but it was a good reminder that he was gelded just a month ago and may need to go out with a bossy mare to put him in his place a little! My friends filly happens to be a pretty red head and also happened to be right in front of us for our class, so we spent the whole class totally dropped but also totally behaved. Ummm... dude, you need to suck it up! He didnt place well in either class, but I didnt expect to place well in classes full of mature halter bred quarter horses. Mylo looked like a little baby, it doesnt help that he is in a totally awkward/angular stage. He did get his first ribbon though and got a 5th place. I told him we will accept that for now but that Mystic and I have a good habit of bringing home the blues. I can take not winning a halter class but riding classes are a whole new story :)

He has the cutest face, everyone comments on it!

Just for kicks and giggles we then entered the novice horse showmanship class. We havent done any haunch turns but the rest of the pattern was pretty simple so I figured one more time in the ring would be good for him. By the time we went into the arena his poor baby brain was fried and we had a whole class of showmanship patterns to stand in line for. We spent most of the time walking circles, standing nicely, trying to roll, walking, trying to drop to roll while walking, trying to rub his head on me, etc. Baby brain had been ejected! It is funny how the little ones just hit that wall and you can tell when they have had all they can take. He did his pattern and besides being less respectful of my space he was decent. The best part is that he would walk out of the arena (and all around the property) on a loose lead with no contact. Well, unless that pretty paint trotted by! He loaded right back into the trailer and was a very tired boy upon arrival back home.

Babies first ribbon :)

Overall, it was a great experience for him! I am looking forward to working with him more so we are somewhat prepared for the next one. The more he gets out and goes places the easier and easier it will get for him. I was super pleased with how he maintained respect for my bubble, for the most part, and was walking, trotting, and stopping with no contact on lead and just by me changing speeds. Some horses really invade your space and walk all over you when they are in new situations but he maintained respect while still looking to me for reassurance. We have a ways to go before he is more like a Mystic but I am happy to report that he is on his way! He loved showing off his new found trick of "smiling" to everyone too, it was pretty adorable :) Sorry for the bad cell phones pictures. We both had babies, and no other person, so I only snapped some while he was tied up.

When you know its time...

Due to a busy June schedule and then having to get back to work with Mystic we havent had a lesson since mid May :( Now that we are back on a regular schedule, and have been for a few weeks, I signed up for a lesson. We had been doing so good prior to our two dressage shows and were lessoning at least once a month and were even on a every other week schedule and we were having great rides. I can always tell when we havent had one in awhile and we start to have sub par rides. Sadly our trainer is not available for lessons next week (she travels to our barn every Monday generally) so we will just have to wait two weeks. What is one more at this point?! It is amazing what a consistent, even if it is just one a month, lessons can do for Mystic and I. We rarely have not great rides and I know that when we start having them, especially more than once, I need some help! I am definitely looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with our trainer!

Good thing he is cute :)

Mylo has continued to do great! He has gotten to just hang out the last few days. He is still doing much better during feeding time and although it pains him greatly he has been on much better behavior for it. His ground work is also coming along and he trots in hand super easily. He is great about stopping when I stop and is pretty responsive to my body language as far as stopping/backing up and does it all without any pressure on the lead. Although standing still is not his favorite thing he is also getting better at that and if he tries taking a step forward he moves it right back if I walk towards him. So far I am super impressed with him and how much he has picked up on since he got here. Although I believe he would be much further along if he had, had consistent handling from a baby on I dont think he is too bad for a baby!

Even though I have a full year until I even think about starting him under saddle I have begun thinking about the route I want to take with him. I do not think he is going to be big enough for me to ride consistently and I am not even sure that I feel good about starting him under saddle myself. Obviously if he shoots up that will be a different story, and I would love it, but at this point I dont know if he will break 14 hh. I will do all his ground work in prep for riding such as lunging, long lining, and ground driving but from there I have a few thoughts as to where to go next. I could get some solid first rides on him and get him going w/t/c decently then find someone small to send him to for a little bit to continue his dressage education (and then maybe even find someone to start him over fences as a 4 year old). I have also thought about finding a talented young rider to bring him along and campaign him which could really be a great situation should I find the right person. He has a great personality for a kid and as he grows up/matures I think he could be a great kids pony. I mean, how adorable would he be packing a kid around the xc course?! Luckily I have over a year to figure it all out but it isnt a bad idea to start thinking about what I want to do with him and his long term future. If anyone knows of any good pony riders/trainer out there let me know :) Its never too early to start planning for your kids college!

No go + no whoa = no pretty jumps

Since it has been so hot here I didn't head out to ride until after seven at night. By the time I got on at 7:30 it was still in the lower 80s but has really cooled off since the afternoon. I threw on his jump tack and headed out to the field for our warm up. I have really been cracking down on going forward. I don't care if he gets a cranky face or lifts his head a little I just want him to respect my leg a little (okay a lot!) better. He catches on by mid ride but hasn't caught on to the fact that he needs to maintain it for every ride so I feel like we start over every single ride. Normally when jumping he revs himself up, but yesterday we were stuck in the middle. I didn't have much horse to push forward but I also didn't have much half halt to balance him. So we were getting bad distances left and right and couldn't get through the grid nicely to save our lives. It was not a pretty ride! I'm not really sure what was up but I hope it was just an off day, it is not often that we have rides like that thankfully. By the end he was taking single fences nicely but was still quite strung out and sucked back. He has been working decently hard so I figure he will get tonight off and hopefully we can restart on Thursday.

 We have had some really nice dressage schools where I really get him in front of my leg and can just feel how effortless (in comparison!) it is to do things like his changes! 

Mylo got to go on his first trail walk yesterday and handled it like a total pro. We have to walk down a road a littl ways before makin it I the trail and he does great with traffic. Once in the trails he was walking over the bridges with no issues!

Today we just had a short in hand session. He got to wear a surcingle and boots for the first time and didn't even bat an eye. I also filled some gallon jugs with some rocks and he carried those around. Since he was so curious about playing with the jugs I crunched one up a little and put treats in for him to play with. He seemed to be really interested in them! I will see tonight how much he has gotten out :)

Spontaneous Spa Day

Today was a day of some hair loving for both the boys. Mylo got his first 'real' photo shoot so that I could have some good 'beginning' pictures, even though he looks worlds better than he did just a week and a half ago when he arrive. He got a bath a few days ago and has stayed really clean so I wasnt planning on bathing him again but he had a small stain and I wanted to wash his tail again so he got a quick bath again. Alanna got some great pictures of him, he is such a ham. He mostly wanted to be right by us but started understanding the concept of standing by the end. Not perfect but he got better.

Learning to smile :)

He was so proud he pulled it all the way off of himself

Then this evening I headed out to see Mystic. I didnt plan on riding because it wasnt cooling off as much as I had hoped and I just didnt have it in me. Its a good thing I had no plans because he was FILTHY! I have never seen him that dirty. I think he was really sweaty which then made him itchy so he went and wallowed in the dirt and covered himself. Lucky for us it was still super warm so he got a bath! Alanna was there and finished with her chores, and thankfully had some shampoo since I took my home for Mylo, so she helped scrub him all up with me.  He got a nice deep body scrub along with his front feather and his mane. Thankfully he cleaned up well and was actually white by the time we were done. He was loving the nice cool bath, I am sure he was uncomfortable. Hopefully he comes in like a normal horse tomorrow :)

He loves when his favorite girls do his hair :)

Overload

Lots of pictures and updates on the boys, nothing super exciting but updates none the less. Mystic has been doing good. We are back in our routine and have begun jumping once a week again. I am really hoping to be able to compete in a 3 day in August (if we can find a ride) so its time to get serious about doing some trot/canter sets, jumping once a week, and dressaging it a few days a week. He may not have tons of miles over fences but he comes out every time like he has done it consistently for years and years. We are far from perfect, he gets heavy on his forehand, flattens out, is less in tune side to side, etc but he is as honest as the day is long. Not only does he need to do trot sets but I need to do them... in two point! I am not in great jumping shape, due to our lack of jumping throughout winter and spring, so I dont always give him the best ride. I think our over fences work will only improve with consistency and conditioning.

Our jumps outside. One line, one bounce, and 3 solid fences coming off.

Tired Pony

Because it was so hot today I decided it would be a good day to have a little spa day. I have not washed his mane or tail in at least three weeks and they were getting dry and gross. If you have a horse with a lot of tail you just try the EquiFuse products! Especially the rehydrarinse and gleam. I mixed them together in a bucket and just let his tail soak in it for 5-10 minutes. Without any scrubbing, washing, etc it came out white, soft, and so pretty! Not only that but the brush ran right through it with no issues. It is probably the best his tail has ever looked.

You can tell only his mane/tail got washed ha!

Still waiting for someone to book him for a hair product gig ;)

Mylo has continued to do great. I feel like in the last six days I have thrown just about everything at him that I want to do and he has been super about it. He is seriously not scared of anything! What a change coming from Mr. Mystic who can be a little chicken about some of the weirdest stuff (but is 99% of the time great!). I have pretty much covered in him tarps, set up a little kiddy pool to walk him in, brought out Mystics big ball, given him baths, clipped him, he ties, fly sprays etc. What more could a baby learn?!

He would actually grab it and pull it off!

Water? No problem.

As good as it sounds it is NOT all rainbows and butterflies. I can deal with (and work on) some of the personal space issues, after all he is a barely handled recently gelded brand new two year old, but he has ended up being a little food aggressive. I am sure it is because he has gone hungry for the last year and a half of his life but it is also not acceptable. It is only when I go to give him his grain and vitamins (treats, grazing, etc are fine) but I am cracking down on the issue big time. Because of his young age and limited handling he doesnt grasp the concept of moving off of pressure which just adds into the personal space issue. I am okay with him being excited for food but I am not okay with running me over then kicking at me when he gets in trouble. Needless to say that was a one time deal as my good friend (aka my dressage whip) has accompanied me since then. Today I feed him both breakfast and dinner with no backup and although he gets anxious he knows how close he is allowed to get and is understanding that he needs to stand (several feet away from me) and not pin his ears in order to get his grain. He has improved a lot but it will continue to be something we work on. I really believe it is due to the fact that he has had food withheld before but I really dont care what the circumstances are he needs to learn that there are some rules that don't ever change or have any lee way. Its tough having to learn all these rules after not having any for the first part of your life!

He is pretty freaking cute! And very sweet (minus feeding time) :)

Transformation Tuesday!

The above picture shows you how much he has changed in just 6 days. The top picture was taken today and the bottom was taken the day he came (last Wednesday). Its amazing what some food and love will do for them! I cannot wait to see what he looks like come fall, I think he is really going to beef out and hopefully grow like 7", is that too much to ask? ;) We got an official measurement on him and he is just 13.1hh at his withers and a solid inch or two higher in his hind end. As long as all continues to go well I think he will make his show ring debut next month at a local open show that has halter and in hand trail classes. If he is really growing well he may even get to go with his brother to the state fair breed show!