OTTB Charm

This weekend, our local barn hosted their first ever true schooling HT. It was a 2-day show, with dressage & SJ on Saturday, and XC on Sunday. Banner and I signed up to do the Beginner Novice! Our dressage test was mid-morning, and there was a storm threatening all day on Saturday. It was definitely brisk, and it was getting to a few of the horses, but Banner came out true to his unicorn status and warmed up like a champ. We are working on improving his transitions, and he gave me some of his best yet to date. His downwards tend to be a bit abrupt, and his upwards tend to start in the front with his back legs struggling to catch up, but on Saturday we got most of our transitions in great form - fluid and smooth! He stayed relaxed and rhythmic in our test and gave me some great work. Our upward canter transitions could have been better, and our free walk could have been stretchier, but I was pleased with our test, and excited about the fact that I still think we have so mu...

Yesterday, I said goodbye to Wonder. I haven't had enough time for 3 horses, and something had to give. I had been toying with the idea of selling him for a little while, but hadn't really fully committed. I lightly marketed him on ISO Facebook posts, but didn't really expect much, if anything, to come out of it. Luckily, I was wrong! The perfect home just happened to come up within a week of me beginning to market him. My all-time favorite photo with him A family reached out to me, interested in him for their 15yo daughter. She loves thoroughbreds, but their current horse is needing to be retired. She can get anxious over fences, so she needs a horse that doesn't feed off of her anxiety. I was happy to have them out to see Wonder, but I really wasn't sure how he would be with someone that young, and with some anxiety when jumping. It turns out that he is a perfect  match for her. He is steady and quiet in all the ways she needs him to be, but he listens and ...