Photo Dump: This sparks joy

 The past 2-3 weeks have been mostly made of dealing with STARI, which I won't bore you with the details of, and a family vacation to the beach. I've got some half-baked ideas of things to write about, but for now, here's a photo dump. 

The week at the beach was beautiful and relaxed. I needed that time "logged off". 

I came home to chonky ponies. There were no ribs to be seen.

That means Pyro got his face jellyfish...

...and Miss donned her Hannibal Lector cosplay. 

I played with my leather war bridle, seeing what Pyro thought of that kind of mouthpiece.

In doing so, I learned that A) he does not know how to *hold* a bit in his mouth, and B) he tolerates me flopping up his neck to help get the war bridle back in position. 

When the war bridle was in the correct position, he WAS quiet with his mouth, so I swapped him to the next closest thing I have: the Winderen flexi eggbutt, sans noseband. Rather than adjusting it high in his mouth to avoid getting his tongue over it, like I have in the past, I let it hang a little lower, giving him the option to really "pick it up". 

He seemed grateful to not have the bit slipping out of position after the war bridle shenanigans. 

While I've not been up to a lot of riding on the contact, we've enjoyed short hacks around the farm. 

Tessa thoroughly enjoys this too.

This sparks joy 💁‍♀️

I truly lucked into the perfect dog when I picked out Tess.

Our little slice of heaven on earth

Good spotty girls

From "resting mare face" to "was that a peppermint wrapper?"

Waiting in the doorway while I grab my Pivo

Hella downhill, but tracking up beautifully with that right hind (which he commonly trails out behind him due to our combined crookedness)

Changing to an anti-inflammatory diet means swapping out my typical seltzer for an unsweetened coconut water... but honestly it was refreshing in the warmer weather we're starting to have. 

This ride was extremely brief, about 15 minutes, as that's all I had in me. However, I played with my stirrup length/position (WOWs have 2 stirrup bars to choose from), and focused on recruiting the correct muscles when posting. My glutes and hamstrings were *screaming* at me after a lap or 2 around the arena. That means it's working. 

Pyro surprised me with how quiet his mouth/head was. I was startled when he offered to reach into the bit and move into a stretchy trot without picking up speed. This is something we've struggled with in the past, and he organically stretched into it. Sure, he was heavy on his forehand, but this neck shape is NOT something I often get to see from him. I'm not sure if it's the WOW saddle, Winderen bit, lack of noseband, extra face/poll/neck/withers bodywork I've been doing, or a combination of the above, but I'm overjoyed to see my boy so comfortable. 

In Nova news, she continues to grow beautifully. 

Her breeder, Jen R., reached out asking if she could take Nova to a cob/draft show. I quickly responded yes, I'd love for her to get that experience, and I only requested photos!

She was "very opinionated" about the clippers on her face, but eventually gave in. Afterwards, she was great for her bath. 

I think she is such a feminine looking filly... and just look at those skyscraper legs! Her momma is 15.2 hands 😬, and her daddy is 14.1. She may be tall like her momma!

Her report card from the show was glowing.

She won her foal class...

...and placed 2nd in the youngstock class to one of her breeder's (beautiful) yearling colts, beating someone else's 2 year old colt.

The best news was that she handled being in the ring multiple times (while both she and her momma were judged) perfectly. Yes, she still gives me goosebumps.

That's all I've got for now. Hopefully I'll be feeling up to more exciting adventures soon! In the meantime, don't forget to see the joy in the little things.