By Jennifer Klitzke
I love before’s and after’s. I love progress, setting goals and meeting them. I love challenging myself and seeing how far we’ve grown. Writing about our experiences is a terrific way for me to look back and see where we’ve been and how far we have come.
I’m amazed with what Indy is capable of. In less than six months of owning my Spanish Mustang Indy, we’ve done so much together: two dressage shows, two jumping courses, two riding clinics, a trail obstacle course, many trail rides through beautiful wilderness settings, and even a shot at team penning. Indy is so versatile, so friendly, so calm, and he takes everything in stride. I’m learning that these wonderful qualities are quite typical of the Spanish Mustang.
Week Twenty-Two ended on another high. I took Indy to North Run Farm’s hunter schooling show. A terrific turnout, friendly people, perfect weather, and no bugs. I had only planned on riding Indy in the ground rail course and 12″ x-jump course until we had been waiting for nearly five hours for our first class to begin.
I decided to add Indy to the equitation walk, trot, and canter class because it would be a great way for him to check out the arena, dozens of people and lawn chairs parked along the fence line with umbrellas, children running around, and crinkling chip bags.
There were ten in our class, mainly the sleek bay thoroughbred-type horses and one stocky buckskin dun mustang ridden by a grandma with an unmanufacturered grin. I was amazed with how well Indy took in all the distractions.
I was even more amazed with how well he did in the class. The judge called for a walk, sitting trot, posting trot, and walk to canter to walk. Indy immediately took the correct leads from a walk and settled quickly from each canter to walk. He didn’t speed up along the straight-away, and he stood quietly in the line up when the judge announced Indy as the winner!
Before the class, Indy’s uniqueness stood out, and after the class, many people became a fan of the Spanish Mustang.
Then we rode our eight-fence course over ground rails and the 12″ x-jump course. There were 16-plus riders in each class. I had planned on cantering the ground rail course and trotting the x-jump course but Indy took his canter lead along the fence line and I went with him. He calmly cantered the fences without rushing, refusing, shying or over-jumping. I am so proud of Indy. What a good boy!