Pee Wee's Big Aspen Adventure

So after only two days of jumping EVER, the "Pup" and I decided to go to the Aspen Farm Derby for our first ever under saddle outing. Yes, we had trailered off the farm once before. But on that occasion I had not been able to get close enough to him to safely put the saddle on, let alone climb aboard. So I kept my goals for the day reasonable:
get there; get on; walk around; and maybe trot a Hopeful course if all seemed to be going well.

Unfortunately, I quickly went from HopeFUL to HopeLESS when we literally kickstarted our show season. After a rather dramatic loading episode at the farm,  Phaolan had two hours of trailer time to contemplate his revenge.  So when I opened the trailer door to unload him, he unloaded on me.

After finding myself lying on the ground behind the trailer,  I contemplated trading in my boots and breeches for more appropriate attire when handling my feral horse.

But in true eventer fashion, I got up, wiped myself off, shared a few expletives with those around me and got on my damn horse! Two of my goals accomplished already!!!!

While it may seem premature to be taking Phaolan to a show, Aspen is a wonderful place to take a green bean. There is a lot of activity for them to experience but there is also plenty of space so they don't feel too pressured. So after some initial antics

the wolf retreated and the puppy came out to play. We went for long walks on the property, we stood calmly and watched the big kid arena, and we CANTERED our first course! As soon as he saw the jumps, I had Phaolan's undivided attention. His tiny 2.5 inch ears locked in on the first fence and off we went. He popped over the 12" obstacles (I feel silly calling them jumps) perfectly and we even tackled the "water complex."

So even though I spent the next few days icing my knee and popping Ibuprofen, I was pleased with the day. By keeping my goals small I was able to not only obtain them, but surpass them. Now I just need to focus on ground manners.

"Phaolan" The Wolf Pup

OK. Back to the business of blogging.
Introducing "Phaolan" the Little Wolf...

Hopefully he jumps this well!

 or "Henry" as was his name when I bought him...
 or "Puppy" as Meika has taken to calling him.

True to his new name the Little Wolf is adorable and affectionate and playful. But like a wolf he is intelligent, brave, athletic, easily offended and quick to strike.

Phaolan is a coming 4 year old TB gelding by the same stallion as my mare Phena. I purchased him impulsively right before quitting my job and moving up to Polestar. He had been at Portland Meadows but had not raced. He was then purchased by a gallop girl after he developed a reputation for being a bit of a handful. I was lucky enough to get him next. After seeing him effortlessly free jump a 4 foot oxer from a lumbering lope I had to have him. Never mind that he looked like a pig-eyed post-legged yak and he tried to kick me when I touched him.

Fortunately body clipping revealed that he does have angulation to his hind legs and he is not microphthalmic.

One of the things I had hoped to learn at Polestar was how to bring along young OTTBs. Phaolan was broke and had the basics but steering malfunctions were common and adding leg elicited either nothing or cow kicking. As Meika says, "All the buttons on the dash aren't there yet". Since I have been here, I have been riding horses with dashes like a modern luxury car, tons of switches to flip to cue various movements. But at his level of training, Phaolan is a lot like my first car

a 1959 VW bug that I had to push to start. The steering wheel didn't always turn the tires and the dash only had two nobs: the choke and the windshield wiper. That car almost got me killed but I giggled every time I drove it.

On other horses I am learning to refine and quiet my commands. On Phaolan I am learning to distill them down to the very simplest ingredient and whisper it to him. And if he doesn't respond to the whisper, yell at him!

So far there are two things with regard to training young horses that Meika has said that have surprised me.
First, not to treat him like a baby.
Second, to hold him accountable for his mistake even if he didn't know he was making one.
At first these seemed unfair to me. He IS a baby. He doesn't know anything so how can I expect anything of him? How can I discipline him when he didn't know what the right answer was?

But it turns out in my attempt to be kind and fair, I was being a nag. When he didn't move off my leg I kept squeezing and squeezing and Squeezing and SQUEEZING!!!! And nothing would happen. I was so exhausted that when he finally did move, I almost fell off because my legs were so tired. I was teaching him to tune me out because there was no reason to listen. So, taking Meika's advice, the next time I wanted him to walk forward, I gently squeezed and when he did not move, I smacked him with a dressage whip. And we MOVED! Fortunately the puppy is well balanced, comfy and inherently lazy so the bucking subsided fairly quickly. And next time when I squeezed he did not wait for me to hit him, he walked forward. Imagine that!