Coda has been doing great! He has really settled into his work and has been a dream to ride. We packed up the trailer Sunday with six horses and headed to a local dressage show. Poor Coda was stuck next to a 3 yr old Holsteiner baby who was chewing on his face the whole ride over! He just stood there like a good pony. Coda was my last ride of the afternoon, so we rode all the other horses and finally it was his turn. We pulled him off and he stood there ground tied while he was tacked up. Took him to the warm-up and walked, trotted and cantered quietly. The warm-up was a bit crazy, and one person on a mare in heat actually ran into us! Coda didn't miss a beat. he just stopped and waited for her to keep going. We were on a bit early, so we went and fell asleep by the bleachers. When it was Coda's turn to go, we picked up a trot and went in the ring. Coda has never been in a dressage ring at a show before, but he was a champ. he scored a 65% and was second in his class! Then he hacked back to the trailer on a loose rein, got in and we went home! Here is the video,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-nyGx7YXzM

Christan

We packed up Thursday in the freezing cold and headed to the Carolina Horse Park for a schooling show that is held every few weeks over the next few weeks. I was a little concerned because it had rained all week and I hadn't ridden the horses in a few days! When we got to the park the wind was blowing so hard that I thought about going home! We pulled Coda out of the trailer and tacked him up. Keith came over to the park as well and longed him for about 2 minutes and told me that Coda was fine and ready to go. So I bridled him and hopped on. We hacked over from the parking area to the big open pad where the warm-up jumps were placed. There were two jump rings set up, one with hunter brush fences and one with a stadium course set up. We warmed up and COda never put a foot wrong. He was happy to jump over the warm-up fences and they were bigger than we had ever jumped before. At that point, the jumps in the stadium ring were set to 2'6", so before they went any higher I went into the ring with Coda. We started over the smallest vertical and I planned on just jumping a few low ones as we had never done a square oxer, or a one-stride combo, or any bright fences. But as we got going Coda just felt great, so we kept going. And we jumped the WHOLE course!!! He was so amazing. He was clearly learning as he went because he knocked a fence down, but the next fence he jumped very well. The in and out was great also! We then stood by the in-gate sleeping on the buckle, next to a mare. We hacked around and popped over some fences in the hunter ring, but Coda was like an old pro!!! Here is a video of his first ever round at his first ever show!!!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-FACVd0o9w

Christan

Here is a video of Coda's 6th jump school. It was the first time that I asked him to move up to the spots and he handled it very well. Hope you enjoy,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu3aMokcV94

Christan

Coda has seemed to grow up even more over the last 2 weeks. He has started to stretch down to the contact and use his back. The last flat school he has I was really thrilled. I was asking him to reach for the contact, and take it down a bit. WHen he was there I added my leg and Coda correctly pushed from behind without getting quicker. The push and lengthening was amazing! That is his natural inclination, not to hurry but to reach and push and I am sooo thrilled about it. He has been doing a little more over fences also. We put the oxers up to about 2'6 and cantered right down to them. He has been inclined to do his changes around the turns as well, although he hasn't gotten them behind every time, but I am not asking.

 I took him back to Denny's yesterday to school x-c again and he was fabulous! He came off the trailer happy and proceeded to canter around the jumps in Denny's ring, then go out on xc and canter a little course of fences. This was the first time I had cantered him around the course, and once again, he didn't look at anything! He really enjoyed galloping up the hills! He rides so much like Teddy. I know I say it all the time, but I never thought that I would ride another horse that I clicked with and was so adjustable. Like Teddy, all I have to do is bring my shoulders back and think what I want and he is right there. I am going to take him to the Winter Wednesday schooling show this week and actually take him in a few classes! And after the ride, I untacked and put him back in the trailer to ride my second horse. So Coda stood for the next 2 hours all by himself in the trailer with no one else around. And he self loaded and was sleeping when we got back....never a call, or paw or anything!

  Here is a snippet of the video from the xc yesterday. Sorry we didn't get more! He actually jumped into the water over the cross rail and cantered out as well!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqTLDaSiWx0

Christan

I took a group of students to school at Denny's today, and since they were all on their green baby horses (several of them had never been out before either), I decided to take Coda along and ride him while I taught. I haven't ridden him away from the farm before, so I was just hoping for him to be calm and behaved.  One of my students from the farm was going, so Coda hitched a ride in her trailer with her gelding. He walked right in and was ignoring the gelding who was trying to say hi over the head divider. When we got there, I gave Coda to Keith to make sure his brain was in the right place and I went out to warm up the group. After a few minutes, Keith brought Coda out to the back field where we were schooling and I got on. We walked and trotted a bit and Coda was great, other than trying to eat the brush out of the brush fence as we trotted by!!

  After a bit, I decided to try a little jump. Coda trotted up to the cross rail and was so unconcerned with it that he didn't even jump, he just trotted higher over it. Then we continued and trotted away from the rest of the horses up the hill and over a little log jump. Again, Coda wasn't fazed in the slightest.  We went into the other field and jumped a triple log pile. Then to the ditch, which Coda walked up to and popped over both ways. Coda led the group up and down the bank like he had been doing it for years. We jumped another little hanging log, and then to the water, where we walked and trotted through several times.

  One of the horse in the group was a mare, and Coda was a perfect gentleman. I am sure he noticed, but he never ever looked her way. There are two things that really impress me,  well three actually. First, Coda never looks at anything. I have never taken a horse out to school x-c for the first time ever and had them act like they have been doing it for years. He doesn't get fast or slow, he doesn't change at all. Second, he is so athletic. There were several times that he popped me forward because he was so athletic with his hind end. Which leads me to the last thing, and that is that he isn't fazed by me at all. I don't know any three year olds that just canter away from the fence with me having landed hard on their backs after a jump! I wonder how Teddy was his first time schooling x-c?

  Here is a short video from today. Again, please forgive me for the too long stirrups, but my left ankle is still very badly sprained, so I cannot flex it, hence the long stirrups!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qclIk6RVwzw

Christan