Riding Colt

Rainbow reins FTW!

See that adorable chestnut face? That's Colt. I finally replaced the memory card in my phone, so no more MS Paint art. (I know everyone is very disappointed.) I snapped this picture of him a couple of weeks ago after a ride. 

Rides on any of the horses have been few and far between, thanks to Oklahoma's bizarre weather (snowing, then 70, then raining, then 40 with 20 mph winds) and increased responsibilities at work. While I'm glad for a fairly mild winter and more money, I haven't been pleased with how infrequently I've been able to ride. I'm doing well to get out once a week and hack one of the horses for half an hour. 

I did make it out to the barn on Sunday and elected to ride Colt simply because he was the first of the ponies to come looking for treats. I've been really impressed with how far his ground manners have come over the last month or so. Before, he was difficult to catch and refused to stand still when tied. He swung his giant butt around, constantly grunted and whinnied for his friends, and danced when anyone tried to handle his hooves. These days, he stands quietly, only looking at me with mild interest when he feels there may be treats involved. He also makes this face:

This is his "durrrr" face.

Sunday was a nice, sunny day and the arena's footing wasn't too slippery. I figured I might as well see how Colt felt about jumping. I've been taking him over trot poles every time I've ridden him and even trotted him over a couple of crossrails about a month ago. He took those things in stride, tripping over the trot poles and gamely lifting his legs in Saddlebred fashion over the crossrails. I set the square up the same way it had been set for Gina two-ish weeks ago.

This is what Gina was freaking out about. 18" verticals.

After some warmup, I trotted Colt into the exercise. He jumped in, jumped out, and cantered away nicely. I gave him a big pat on the neck and nearly fell off from excitement. I put him to it again. He jumped in, jumped out, and cantered away nicely. So I kept going. I made a right turn and took him over the perpendicular bounce. He jumped in, knocked over the pole, and jumped out. I was so pleased with him, I didn't even mind he knocked over the pole. It's hard to see in the picture, but footing in front of the two green buckets is kind of weird. I chalk up the pole knocking to Colt's general clumsiness and the weird footing.

Colt seemed to have a great time! I'm really pleased with how well he's doing and have some exciting news on that front. But that's a post for another day.