April 1, 2019

Saturday Stacey hosted an unscored Pairs fun day at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Ranson, WV. It was just for fun and very laid back which was great for a solid competition setting practice. I was very much looking forward to one more competition style practice with my new pony Possum before the season opener in two weeks and I was very excited to ride with my usual Gone Rogue teammate Jon.

I woke up Saturday morning and when I pulled Possum out of the field I noticed he had a bite mark on his forehead and then I noticed a bigger one on his back. The skin was peeled up and it was right in the middle of the saddle area. I felt around it and he ducked uncomfortably away and there was some heat. From there it took me about fifteen minutes to decided a course of action. I put Possum in the trailer, I took Possum out. I grabbed Simon and put him in the trailer, then I decided to unload all the games equipment and put Possum in the trailer too. With both ponies in the trailer, I stood next to it hemming. So I checked my messages. Luckily Val had responded to my earlier message telling her what I found followed by “should I bring Simon or Possum or both?” And she suggested I just bring Simon. Thank you! I needed that. So I took Possum back out of the trailer and put him back out in the field and headed out with just Simon.

I love Simon but I prefer to not compete in games on him. He has absolutely no competitive drive whatsoever. He enjoys playing games slowly, generally with someone still getting their games skills down or learning to ride. He thrives in that situation. But when asked to be competitive he is a pain.

This Saturday was no exception. He started off like a wild man, giving little rears and leaps at the whistle, looking fierce, then loping off slowly shaking his head. He had a lot of up down movement and I felt like a shook up soda bottle. I spent a lot of time kicking, I seemed to flap my arm a lot (not sure how I think that gives him momentum) and yelling at him to go. Sometimes he went slowly. Sometimes he went even slower. Sometimes he didn’t want to break out of the trot, and a few times he moved out a little.

All in all Simon is exhausting to ride.

video of Jon and I:

For myself I did ok. Not my best but not bad either. Some of it was purely Simon. In ball and cone I put the ball down, then he stepped into the cone, I managed to save the ball back off of the cone but then he took the cone out. In bending he smashed into a pole. Just completely ignoring me. But I was the one who popped three balloons instead of two (which was a race he was actually moving out – Simon’s moving out – for). And in founders race I picked up the wrong letter (we were spelling ICK and stupidly I didn’t preplan what I was getting). It was a complete dyslexic moment for me. I was sure I needed the I but heard Linda in the lane next to me yelling “wait which letter” and I had to really think it through before I realized I needed to switch to the C.

Jon was awesome to ride with as he always is. He is so laid back and at the same time encouraging. For races like hula, I knew he wouldn’t let go of Simon until I was on, which worked well and was a race we did super well in. He also has this crazy stirrup up. I am amazed every stinking time he does it. He is also insightful. When I again told him how amazing his stirrup up is he said that it’s the hesitation that puts you in jeopardy. So when you go to get on, have a second of “ah my pony is moving” that second is what looses your timing. Such a good point. We did not miss any hand offs and had a good time riding together.

I wish I had been on Possum but it was still a really fun day.