Good thing I wore the full seat breeches.

Since the weather has finally cooled off (for a bit anyway), I picked Sunday to work Hampton over some cavelletti. (sp?). They were about 4-5 inches off the ground. At first I lunged him over so that he could find his own balance, and so that I could see if they were going to need adjusted for his stride. Ummm, so the first 5 or 6 times through it bumped them, tripped, basically stumbled through them. Ugh. I made minor adjustments. Bump. Stumble. Unlike the old barn, these poles are the real, HEAVY kind so eventually Hampton began to pick up his feet. Then ... he got it. He trotted a couple of times through without even touching the poles. He used his hocks, he used his neck and back and flexed those joints. Good boy! I left it at that and got on to ride.
Decided to go work in the outdoor since it was so pretty outside. The screaming and dumb behavior has stopped out there. He was his normal self. (cue foreshadowing music ...)
Just as I was preparing for a canter transition, a white van came careening around the corner. (when you drive up the driveway, you can't see the outdoor until you are basically right by it. And horse and rider can't see cars coming up either). Well, we were trotting away from the van, and WHAM ... scares the poop out of Hampton, who scoots HARD and fast. Like, my neck was whipped back and I think I closed my eyes because things went dark for a minute. I said "WHOA" and just as quickly, we were back trotting. I did some small circles just to confirm I had control. But Hampton wasn't shaken up by it. He came right back to me. What a good boy! I was pretty impressed because he could have easily hauled ass back to the barn, but he didn't. I was however, thankful that I had worn my full seats. I stuck to that saddle like glue. lol.

I put us back together and cantered in both directions. It was fantastic. Perhaps the best yet. Slow, perfect 3 beat rhythm. Yes, I need to add some jump and get him more uphill, but it's totally fine for a training level horse. Same thing in today's ride .. except I decided to go for it and try a few strides on the straight-away. Nailed it on the right rein. There was some mild wiggling on the left rein. Possibly my fault for not being totally clear that we were to keep going straight. All in all very impressive. I think I was perhaps underestimating my horse when I set my sights for big bad Training Level 1. I think in about a month I'll see where we are and possibly aim for Training Level 3 or 4. He's got the trot work.

Photos:
• He's a big boy now and standings in the aisle crossties.
• Hampton & his pasture buddy, Earl.