The Repurposed Horse

In central Missouri, 95% of the population forgets how to drive during weather. The combined training show tomorrow has been canceled due to excessive amounts of rain. Sherlock is probs actually ok with this. The hunter/jumper show is still on for Sunday, as of now, though - I'm taking Griffin back for a rematch with the venue.  Last time was his first show ever, and it was a complete disaster - poor Griffy went into full-on emotional saddlebred meltdown mode and we didn't make it through the warm-up because EMOTIONS.  This is my trainer, schooling us through the warmup, at the show.  This is literally the most deceptive picture of all time. HE LOOKS AMAZING. So that should be interesting.  Part of the issue was that we entered him in 2'6 - which he is FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING except his brain exploded that day.  Hence our super speedy crossrails debut at Just Cruising last month, where we got 4th out of 4 in every OF class because...well...yo...

So. Cute.  Sherlock is a 2004 model TB something.  He's not tattooed and not papered, so I guess we can call him grade, but rumor has it he's some sort of cross. His earlier days were spent as a fox hunter.  He's approximately 16.2 hh, absolutely adorable, and owned by an equally adorable 9 year old girl.  He spends most of his time being a saintly 2 ft packer, but his little girl's mom is always wanting him to do more.  We've been working him up to potentially show at 2'6 in a couple of the late fall shows, and in April I took him cross country schooling. please don't judge my eq too much in the following photos, I am fully aware that it leaves much to be desired!!! Scope much? As far as we know, he's never evented.  He's a pretty steady eddie most of the time, but he definitely has a 'go' button!  I'm super excited to see how he does at his (and my) first jumper show next Sunday! He's a bit awkward and uncoord...

After spending a blissful week in Michigan with my family, I have returned to the world of ponies, barn life, and work.  Michigan was awesome. Minus the lack of ponies. But I did get to check out a sweet tack store in Grand Rapids. Saturday was a horse show day! Leo doesn't go to shows yet because he doesn't know very much about the show life, but I got to take two of my favorite greenies! Griffin (show name Lofty Dreams) is an 11 year old ASB.  Physically, he is more than capable of jumping 2'6+, but mentally he doesn't do great at shows.  We tried a 2'6 show about a month ago and didn't make it through the warmup without a full-on meltdown, so this time my trainer had us go back to basics.  And we survived! We had some of the fastest crossrails rounds ever (maybe someday he'll make it as a jumper!) but aside from the speed we did really well.  No meltdowns occurred this time around, and hopefully after another show at the crossrails level we...