Leaping in to the Fall Season

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month. Then again with all the work related traveling and the sheer amount of hours I've been putting in at my evil regular job it's not surprising. So last time you tuned in to my on going saga I had just completed my first clinic with a big name trainer and Fox's first clinic period.  Then Fox got almost two months off while I chased the almighty dollar with which I purchase things like horse feed and electricity.  First I was gearing up for the big work related travel, then I was in Florida for the Navy thing and then I was unpacking/catching up on all the stuff I missed while I was gone. In the mean time Fox got to laze about and be a pony shaped slug.

Between weather and late hours I wasn't able to get much riding time in the last two weeks but I squeezed in a couple of days here and there in which I reestablished what Fox's job as a baby event horse entailed.  That and we're finally getting a handle on the cantering thing. Our first upwards transitions are still rather ugly but we'll smooth it out with time and some lessons with one of my friends who is an up and coming Intermediate eventer.

The last ride I put in on Fox before work swallowed me again and then I had to head off to my Mom's for the Labor Day weekend was in a word FANTASTIC!  There was cantering, there was cantering several laps in either direction of my riding area and there was cantering of poles and twigs on the ground baby logs.  We just need to put in a couple more rides of this same thing and we'll finally be ready to start cantering fences.

And because I'm an obsessive planner I've already laid out lots of shows/HT's to take my baby eventer to for mileage so that maybe, just maybe we could be doing Beginner Novice next spring. So I signed us up for a local open horse show this coming weekend where they offer dressage and over fences classes so we can sharpen our skills. With this in mind I put together a new scary stadium type jump using some stuff I found around the farm.

Unused garden pots make a great filler for a show jump! Fox even cantered away from the big cross rail in the back which is a new exciting thing for him as he is the laziest OTTB on the planet! I am so proud of my little red pony I could explode in a glittery puff of smoke and love.

Then I had to put away horsey things for a few more days while I visited with my mom and sister down in North Carolina.  But while I was gone Superhubs proved once again that he is the most awesome man on the planet.  I've been planning for a long while to build a few XC type jumps of my own since there are no really good schooling areas within less than 2.5hrs away and it takes a monumental amount of planning to go to one of the big ones that are further out.  But I'd never gotten around to it.  Superhubs took it upon himself while I was away to build me an Intro level, 18 inch, super fantastic COOP!

Shown here with the massive brown hippo fabulous Seneca aka High Queen checking out the new addition to her domain.  I cannot wait to try this out this week!

What's on the horizon for Eventing at Midnight? I have several small local outtings planned which saves on time/gas/stabling/lodging and gives my pony lots of miles close to home.  But I have decided to make another attempt at Kelly's Ford. Which if you've read some of the posts from a couple years ago you know was the site of Seneca and I's first walk of shame back to the trailer when we got eliminated on the third fence of the stadium course before we'd even gotten near the XC course.  This time the cows shouldn't be in residence and Fox hasn't shown a lot of interest in cows the couple of times he's seen them at a distance so I'm hopeful he won't think aliens are coming to abduct him if they do appear at Kelly's Ford.  In this plan is a schooling day with a lot of the local eventers to make a big group xc school of it and I cannot wait.  Other than some playing around this will be Fox's first real look at a XC course with water, banks and ditches oh my!

Wish us luck everyone and keep it between the flags!