Again Moon and I have been busy visits out here and there and Polly has been doing the majority of the hard showjumping work!
Moon however has had an ‘easy’ time of things mostly just flat schooling and weekends off. Every now and then jumps and poles appear in the school and he feigns terror, spins around and refuses to go anywhere near the ‘Monster’ until rider becomes far scarier (growling and a schooling whip seem to work) and he just trots over it. There was one almost unseated moment where he had trotted over it fifteen times each way but decided this time it was due for a 3ft leap in the air to the right whilst looking down as far as his neck would reach to the left!
His 3rd showing show loomed and after a few weeks at home I thought he needed a trip out before terrorising the show ring so a lovely local friend agreed we could use their outdoor. We arrived at their beautifully kept outdoor arena at the Wades ‘The Grange’ farm and livery Yard and Moon was as high as a kite! Bouncing everywhere and spooking at jumps in the corner and chickens roaming free. It took a good half an hour of bouncing around for him to settle and do some reasonable work in the arena; this did not give me great hope for the show on Sunday!
Nevertheless we exercised bathed after work on Saturday got up early to plait and clean tack on Sunday. . . with a little help from a generous friends Gaynor and our fabulous team Moon groom Caroline we were ahead of schedule when we arrived at the show just minutes along the road from home. With plenty of time we touched up, tacked up and walked around an alert Moon. His class was the first one in the ring and the show field was full of tiny ponies and screaming kids. No horses as yet though . . . Moon walked and looked calmly at first but shortly a squeal was followed by a leap and leg throw. Walking was boring. Trotting and cantering fine and he settled into some lovely work but when we walked he looked around, squealed and leapt about. Plenty of time meant a warm up till he settled a dismount to touch up his pretty face and a remount and walk towards an empty ring. . . He was the only horse in the riding horse class. . . Beautifully behaved he won the judge over to his side, who said he was ‘Mr laid back’. Ha ha ha!
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| Mr Laid back takes a glance at the photographer. |
A few more horses appeared for the next Hunter class which I guessed from the springs on his feet was a bit more exciting! We carefully circles away so the other horses were in behind us (nothing to catch up to) to which some clever sod turned across the school to get some space. Well Moons simple brain said he’s over there, I want to be over there and squealed and leapt in protest! OOPs! A calm turn and a chance for the other horse to get round the corner was all it took or him to forget about that idea. We walked and trotted for AGES and the only other minor disobedience was when he saw a small grey pony in the other ring cantering during her individual show and thought “ I can’t do that – why aren’t I doing that” so tried again, starting with a squeal and a spin. This time the judge was watching. . .
After a mediocre show I felt I had let him down but his ‘Mr loose’ movement and laid back attitude ensured he had won the judges heart and won his second class of the day! Bless him, he just about held onto himself and carried off two red ribbons. To say I was pleased may be an understatement! I was over the moon!
