March 22, 2014

This past Sunday, Carol Ann and I were planning to head to Maryland to take part in the fun winter Taylormade Games Series.  Everyone rides as individuals, and it is a great opportunity to get some personal practice time in.  It’s perfect for getting Poe out and gaining some confidence on him, and also some miles for him and his skills.  But the weather was creeping in at home earlier than up there, and we would have ended up driving home in the snow.  Kathy, the host, kindly offered to switch us so we could ride earlier, but it was still going to land us in the snow with ponies in the trailer.  So we decided to have a practice at Carol Ann’s house instead.

Before heading out of the barn, I tacked up Poe, and accidentally dropped his rope, while I turned my head.  I turned back around and he was off, galloping around the outside of the fence, with Simon matching him from inside the fence.  15 minutes of him flying back and forth in full tack, and he was finally ready to stop. He loaded up with him bashing around in the trailer, off we went. I mention this because he was full of vinegar that morning.

We arrived at Carol Ann’s and she said, wow, he looks wound up today.  And he was, all spicey and being devilish.  He was trying to walk all over me, which is something I thought we had worked out of a while ago.  I led him to the riding area and mounted up, and right then, Poe’s fire, switched off, and I was sitting on a lump. 

He was like riding a slug.  I had to kick him into a canter for bending, and push him to move out more in two flag.  Finally we did a balloon race, which encouraged him to move out a little faster.

Where was my games pony at?

I am hoping it was just a fluke, and he was just having a bad day.

On a good note, Carol Ann and I had some really spot on hand offs.  Particularly for having so many months off from riding with anyone else, I was really impressed with our awesome-ness.  Hopefully that does stick.

Carol ann invited me to have lunch with her, and I made it back to the barn just as the snow started to stick.