I’ve been toodling lately. Between moving, travel, wedding planning, a busy season at work, and showing a lot lately, I’m a bit fried both mentally and physically. 3 shows in two months may not be a lot to some people, but I’m just not used to it! So for a little bit, I’m taking a step back from hard training to just enjoy my sweet pony.
And part of that enjoyment is sharing him!
I’ve often mentioned my fav Talented Junior Rider(TM) that hops on Frankie for me when I can’t be there, and she’s been taking some rides on him while I’ve been traveling and getting situated in the new place. She seems to enjoy hopping on him, and I know Frankie absolutely ADORES her! Seriously, he will follow her to the ends of the earth, homeboy loves himself some Devyn. She’s a very solid and hard-working young horsewoman and strikes an excellent balance of making him work while also loving on him. Bonus- she and her mom also clean my tack really well after she uses it 😉
Her mom Kristen is also my barn bestie! That whole family actually is my adopted barn family. They even helped Nick plan his proposal, and were there to take pictures and share the moment. We do Friday barn happy hours, take turns bringing wine, and generally I just adore the whole fam because they are wonderful and supportive and snarky and hilarious and the best.
She also takes 90% of the pics I use here- if it’s adorable, it’s probably from Kristen.
Kristen has hopped on Frankie once or twice- she is a dedicated Pony Mom, but is a lovely horsewoman in her own right- and I’m always encouraging her to hop on more. There’s nothing better than seeing Frankie bop around with my friends! So when we saw that there was a nearby local show coming up, it was quickly decided that Kristen would go take Frankie in the pleasure division to play around, for her first show in 6+ years. Trainer was enthusiastically on board.
These were Frankie’s first flat classes, believe it or not! And as expected, he was just an angel doll.
It was funny- he was visibly confused at the lack of jumps, and kept helpfully pulling Kristen towards them like “OK lady we had our warmup now I know my job is jumpies.” Gotta love that helpful spirit of his.
I hopped on him between classes to work him down a bit, and yes we were all laughing that Frankie needed some “prep.” Homeboy has spent the last two years getting educated to the contact and learning how to fire up, and all of a sudden he had a loopy rein and was supposed to just bop around.
I swear, he thought he died and went to heaven. AT was joking that now Frankie really REALLY wants a Mommy Ammy to drink mimosas off his back and toodle with forever. He got a little taste of what his retirement with me will look like down the line, and now he’s pretty pumped about it. Sorry bud, you’re too athletic for me to retire you just yet. You’ve got some more work to do.
Seriously, what an absolute unicorn- he was doing the 1.15m jumpers all fiery and fancy in a national show up at Lake Placid, and two weeks later he was happily taking a re-rider around some flat classes at a local show.
I’m so grateful to have a horse that I can share with my friends like this! It brings me such great joy to see him so happily take on different jobs and try new things. He’s kinda like a jack of all trades and master of all of them. Because he is a WonderPony.
Between moving Nick in to our third-floor walkup on Saturday and getting up at 5:30a to go to this show on Sunday, I am EXHAUSTED. Time to toodle some more with the world’s best pony ’til I can get some energy back.
hellomylivia 