Pass: The Kids Camp Pony

I never thought the day would come when I'd get to write that title.

Last week, Pass became the horse he was never, ever, in a million years, expected to be...below is a quick recap of the week.

Monday: Pass was still a virgin in the world of schoolhorse-dom. He met and greeted 11 kids as I tacked him up for a quick ride during lunch break. I learned he didn't mind kids petting, loving and running around him. Awesome.

Tuesday: Pass free jumps for the kids. This was mostly just for me, so I could see just what kind of jumper I was dealing with. He made it up to 4'6". Who knew he was such a little athlete?

After his free-jumping debut, I decided he could be a good match for the oldest camper, Brooklynn, who is 13 and a very good rider. So after his lunch break Brooklynn tacked him up, pink saddle pad and all, and took him out to the ring for a little flatting and jumping. He handled it like a pro and was even lazy as Brooklynn had to carry a crop to keep him moving forward. She jumped him around 2' for the first day and he looked like a little hunter pony.

Wednesday: Pass got the day off. Lucky him.





Brooklynn jumping and cantering Pass for the first time.

Thursday: Brooklynn rode Pass again, we worked on bounces and she jumped him 3'. Once again, he was a perfect angel for her. Pass also became a demo horse in the barn. We taught the kids how to do standing wraps, treat a "wound" (Pass had a fake boo-boo), worm a horse and even give a horse a shot (Pass got a shot of saline). He took all of this like a pro...even the shot.

Pass and Hallie, she was able to get him in a cute little frame at the walk :)

Friday: Pass got a new rider for the day. Hallie, who is 10, had been sharing a horse all week and since all the campers rode at once on Friday for their parents she needed a horse to play a couple games on. Pass seemed like the logical horse and was awesome. She even accidentally cantered on him :)

Pass with Brooklynn, Kaylan and Hallie.

Overall, I was shocked at just how well-behaved he was. I am now convinced that he could make a good first horse for a kid who wants to do hunters, and maybe even eventing.

This weekend Pass will travel to Hoosier Horse Park for the Leg Up schooling Horse Trials. We are competing in the Beginner Novice division, as he has never seen this cross country course and I want to ensure we have a positive experience. Wish us luck!

Friday:

Pass' first event!

Well...the first one is down and by most standards I would say it was a success! We competed at Novice level, which means the jump height maximum was 2'11". (Normally, I would not have choosen this height at our first eventing, but it was a schooling event and I knew that the height would probably not be at the maximum.)

Our dressage was decent, I would have been happy with more forward movement and better canter transitions, but overall we did well, scoring a 37.8, or 62.2%. Not terrible, this score put us in first.

(I will admit now it was a small event, only 3 people in my division, but like the previous show Pass and I went to, I'm not really competing against others, more than creating a positive experience and working to improve.)

Next was stadium. This was the portion I was most nervous about considering Pass and I had never done a whole course of fences above 2'6". However he jumped around like a pro, finding most of our distances without a problem. We did have one refusal, but I will ignore it as all 3 horses in the division refused this fence, due to a pole that was laying in the grass (which was kind of tall) at an angle sort of in front of the fence. I know Pass saw it and just jumped sideways like "what the heck?!?"

Finally, we got to go out on the cross-country course. He had recently schooled this course, but I was surprised to find that some of the larger obstacles were being used. We ended the course with 2 refusals.
        One due to his bright idea of coming up to a ditch with his nose in the air (he should know you can't see anything doing that)...it was no wonder the ditch just came out of nowhere!
        Our other refusal was basically a lack of communication. This skinny brush came about 5 strides after a large Trakhner placed over a ditch. I really drove Pass to this Trakhner because he had been a little questionable of it when schooling. When we landed we were flying and didn't quite make the right hand turn to the brush. Needless to say we scooted around it and I have to admit I may have been hanging off the side of him.
We finished a little over optimal time (probably due to me having to pull my fat butt back into the saddle)...but was otherwise successful!

Today, Pass goes on Dreamhorse.com. Hopefully I can find him a home soon! Everyone cross their fingers! Pass deserves a loving forever home :)