So What Happens Now?

It's a strange feeling to have accomplished all the goals you had set for your work with your horse.

Best mail day ever!

Now that I'm done with my bronze, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what my goals with Pig are, going forward. At the start of this season, I was unsure we would even make it show. Pig was so irregular because of his worsening stifle; he felt like he was rapidly failing.

Clearly neither Pig nor the judges agreed...

After the last show, I had decided to give him time off. A few weeks of only hacking and first level work would tell me what he was capable of, I figured.

There's been an awful lot of this recently.

However, as summer has developed Pig has felt better and better. He starts each ride hitchy and stiff, but generally works out of his issues after 15 minutes of a careful suppling warm up. In fact, he's been feeling better than ever in the contact and much more solidly confident in the 3rd level stuff. We've even been playing a little with 4th level canter collection, plans to take it easy be damned.

So, do I think a push for 4th in our future? Realistically no. It takes this horse so long to be mentally okay with the work, he'd probably be 20 before he was ready to tackle 4th. Plus, our changes are not at all ready for this sort of thing. I've always known he only had as much change in him as I needed to squeak by 3rd.

This is not the sort of change you can get away with at 4th...
Photo by PICSOFYOU.COM

I'm thinking seriously about leasing him out to a dressage newbie. He'd be perfect for someone looking to learn 1st or 2nd level, and really improve their feel. I've been worried about his ability to handle dressage-beginner style mistakes with contact, but I'm feeling more confident after putting him in the hands of someone I would consider perfect for him.

Liz knows hot horses. Pig knows dressage. The results are positive. More on this visit later...

He was a perfect gentleman, coming into contact when she was right and popping out honestly. She was able to push the buttons for shoulder in and traver, and play with half pass feel on a circle. It was just a 5 min ride, really, but he was mentally solid. That gives me hope.

Still, I think I'll finish out this year with him. We'll maybe show again, just for fun. Let's see how much the stress of hitting our goals was actually holding us back.

Plus, I'm not ready to let this face get kissed too much by someone else. Yet.

So stay tuned for some maybe-directionless posts and adventures. I'm looking forward to seeing what we have left. And I'm looking forward to enjoying the time we have left as a pair.