What goes up.....

Okay, this is by far the funniest photo we have of Traveler and I jumping. Can you say overjump? We loaded up the horses - Traveler, my husband's and my daughter's mini and headed over to Tulip Springs Event Center in Kennewick for an Eventing Clinic on their training course. Traveler did the course great - but was a little unsure of this log. And when he finally decided to jump - he did! The spectators said we were about 4 feet over the log which was 2 ft high - so when I was 6 ft in the air I might have said something a little profane because I didn't expect the height.

This was the most difficult jump - asking your horse to canter up to a 3 ft bank and jump off into water. Traveler did it so well and he was so smooth that we actually got our first compliment from the instructor - she said he was turning out to be a pretty good little jumping pony. The pony part is funny because for a Curly he is a good size, 15.2 HH but we are competing with Percherons and Draft crosses so he is a little dwarfed by them.

More fun at the water jump!

I love this picture of him - he cleared this one pretty high as well. At the end of the session he was actually starting to "get" it. He really loves to have a job and it helps to keep him focused. We did have about 40 minutes of the "stud" thing going on the first day - it took awhile to clear his head. I could just feel that he wasn't totally with me and he would occasionally let out a whinney at a good looking mare - so we had a little bit of disciplining and focusing to do. But after we worked through this he got on with the job. He doesn't ever get distracted when we jump - it's just when we are waiting around for other horses to finish or doing flatwork that he tends to get distracted.

It is spring here, the sun was shining and we were around about 50 other horses. We almost weren't allowed to attend because most people have such hang-ups about stallions - but he was a good boy and really, if I hadn't informed the other riders and owners of the facility - no one would have known. But I feel that I need to let everyone know for safety's sake that Traveler is a stallion.

I was talking to my trainer about riding him during breeding season around so many horses and maybe it's a situation of ignorance is bliss - of course, my horse is going to behave around other horses in any situation because that's what I expect out of him and doesn't everyone ride their stallion just like another horse? - but he said that I could put Vick's Vapor Rub in his nose during performances to keep him from smelling the mares. Does anyone else do this? Does it work?

My helpers - feeding the horses. As you can imagine with so many horses, all high strung about jumping - there were loose horses every 5 minutes and someone would yell - get the kids! And they all had to line up next to the fence until the horse was caught. (Not any of my horses though, thank goodness.) My eldest daughter is still talking about the "loose horses".

Traveler - tired and wanting to go home. Until another adventure.....