It is my absolute belief that every horse I have ever met is smarter than the average horse rider.

And since I’m a little worse than the average rider (yes, I am Bad Eventer) that means they are definitely smarter than me.

And the new Wonder Pony is no exception.

So………………….

Our first horse trial went rather poorly…………………

And the plan for the re-do was to leave the start box in a snaffle on a loose rein.

OK,

I’ll save you the suspense and tell you up front that’s not what happened.

Here’s the recap.

We did our dressage test (which was a bit improved from the last show. Of course it’s hard not to improve on a 45………..)

We left the ring and the ever picky coach mumbled something about lots to improve on………….and no stirrups for weeks………………………(oh joy).

We were in 2nd place in a division of about 20………………No pressure, right?

So……………we went into stadium on a loose rein in a snaffle, and…………………………….

I was promptly run away with.

In a ring………………

2 rails later, we dropped to 6th. Pressure off…………

Then we made the plan for XC day and here’s the conversation.

Bad Eventer: “Do you think I’ll be OK in the snaffle?”

Coach: “NO.”

Bad Eventer: “What bit should I put on him?”

Coach: “It doesn’t matter.”

Anyone else have a coach like that?

Still determined to get an answer……………….

Bad Eventer: “So………..should I use the 3 ring? What about the slow twist?”

Coach: “It doesn’t matter what bit you use if you don’t ride him correctly.”

After much muttering and swearing to myself, I decided that meant that any choice other than the snaffle would HOPEFULLY not get me in trouble.

We had a good warm up.

I think it was my first XC warm up where I didn’t smash through a jump…………ever.

Seriously.

Smashing a jump to the ground is kind of my pre-XC freak out routine.

So, we left the start box on a loose rein. And we galloped pretty quietly to the first jump.

This was a big improvement over last time…………………

So, here’s where the smart horse problem started……………………

The first jump was the middle jump in a row of several jumps.

No problem.

The second jump was the middle jump in a row of several jumps.

No problem.

The 3rd jump was the far left jump in a row of several jumps.

That’s the point when Wonder Pony let me know that he was absolutely certain that we had to jump the middle jump.

It went something like this.

Me: It’s the left one.
WonderPony: No it’s not.
Me: Really big guy it’s that little one on the left
WonderPony: I’m sure it’s the big one in the middle.
Me: No seriously, it’s getting close and we really are jumping the tiny one on the left!!
WonderPony: No no no no, it’s the big one in the MIDDLE!!!!!!

As we skittered up to the tiny jump on the left, my heat seeking missile FINALLY
unlocked his target (the Prelim jump) and begrudgingly hopped the training jump kinda sorta………… sideways.

A little too smart………………… this horse…………………

After jump 3 the different courses split off from each other and there were no more “which -jump -is -it?” arguments.

We still had some time penalties but the round was less of a near death experience than last time.

Phew!!

Next time………. I’m hoping to let up on the emergency brake!

But no promises.