09/10/2026
Winter & I were introduced at the beginning of summer. His story was that two years prior this family had bought a cute pony that was way too strong, spooky, and forward for the kids who werel too intimidated to ride him after their initial experiences. He hadn't left their farm in two years as the kids chose to ride different ponies than him.. remarking that even their previous trainer had fallen off his quick spook. They said trail-riding was not a safe option for him.
Winter & I became immediate besties & included outside hacking into our intial routine.
Yes he had a tendency to run through the bit and had traffic fears and insecurities which manifested in him wanting to leave. The first few days of jumping, he saw the jump and ran straight at it. It became clear that his homework was to trot every jump and come back to the trot on the backside for a while. The cool thing was this pony had plenty of bravery and scope to trot jump whatever I asked at any angle. I started taking him to shows - he has won most classes he's entered and every time we showed up at a new arena he was more relaxed about everything than the last time.
I trust this fun little guy A LOT and it didn't take me long to feel very confident in him.. and him in me. Yesterday I encouraged one of the families kids to pop on for the first time and without giving her time to think, told her to go straight for the butterfly oxer: count out loud and trust him. Here is a video of each jump.
It was so cool seeing what a professional Mr. Winter was taking this (shows as a 9 year old) kiddo around jumps as a catch ride.
Annnd.. can we all celebrate what a super cuteee technique he has over these .65-.70m fences?!
