The Black Prong HDT is in 3 weeks and we need to get on the ball, get the show details worked out and me driving Romeo, so I headed to Riverplains Farm again Friday night.
Rachel thought a morning of hunting would loosen me up for driving and I know I am uptight so I agreed. I was riding Ritza again, Rachel was on Bella and Erin D was on Izzie and Frank had the Villa Vanner Gypsy's hitched to the Sport Break. We all were riding in the first field with a possibility of dropping back to third when the coops were too big. I think ignorance is a good thing in these situations. I don't really know to be afraid because it's all so new.
Video Rachel took with her Flip while trotting down the road.The day started out much, much slower than Boxing Day. We meandered through the woods at a trot, walk and canter but the hounds were not finding anything. Our first jump was a small wood fence which Bella sort of clunked with her back feet and Ritza jumped it really big, but it was fine. Then we came to a much larger coop that Rachel was concerned about but when we found out 3rd field was jumping we said well I guess we are jumping it then and we all sored over it.
We wandered around in the woods for a while and through a few open fields but the hounds just were not picking up any scents. We went over a big log and ended up on the road where we briefly met up with Frank and his passengers and then we were off again. At some point we had to go down a really steep hill and Rachel is talking to me about the jump coming up and I can tell she's a little concerned. She's telling me to keep my reins short and to hold mane, etc. and I am absorbing this as we slide down the hill and then I see the jump. It's straight down, then a small flat area with a ditch and then a decent sized coop and then straight up the other side. I think they call it Benny's coop. The horse ahead of Rachel refused it multiple times and it threw the energy off for Bella and she refused it. I asked Rachel if she wanted me to go first and she said sure so up and over Ritza went and lunged up the other side of the hill. It was so steep I didn't want to stop and I glanced over to see if Bella followed and she did. Ritza is awesome!
We go up on the road and into an open field where Rachel and I wait on the rider shutting the gate and off we go to catch up. I am galloping in the lead and I am looking at what I believe to be the first field standing waiting on us, when all of a sudden Ritza slams on the brakes and thank goodness for that high neck of hers because I hit it and about came off but managed to grab the breast collar, get my ass back in the saddle and turn up to the left where our field was galloping back the other direction. There was a stand of trees between where we were running and the 1st field going back where we just came from and I didn't see them, but Ritza sure did. She was like yo, that's our group.
So we ran back across the field and through the gate we just closed and down the road to catch up because we again waited with the rider closing the gate. I am pretty pumped up by this point and because Ritza is faster than Bella I am in front. We are running down the road and I am holding onto mane and breast collar because I am flopping with exhaustion and I know Ritza can be spooky especially because she is in the lead now and sure enough there is a big log on the side of the road that she spooks at and we zig zag and I bobble but manage to stay on. That pavement would have really hurt. We see the first field waiting on us in front of the farm. I am spent, I rode in the first field and jumped all of the jumps, and I didn't fall off so it was time to quit while I was still ahead. We also needed to drive and the rain was looming but I could tell Rachel was a little bummed because I wanted to stop but it worked out for the best.
We got the girls settled and Romeo hitched and off we went with me driving. It was raining pretty hard but not terrible so we just stayed on the road and let me get used to the feel of him. He was feeling a little spunky because of the rain but he was very good so it was a nice first time drive with him.
So now I am sitting at Rachel's drinking a glass of wine typing this and relaxing while she and the baby take a nap. I let the poor kid clunk his head on the carpet earlier (no wine involved at the time). He's learning to crawl and pull himself up. I was on the floor with him and I looked up for an instant to talk to Rachel and bonk over he went. He's a really cute kid and after a justified scream he settled down in mom's arms.
Horses, hunting, Gypsy Vanner Stallion, driving and babies all in one day.
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