A little background on the GiMonster... My personal horse, Hudson, aka "The Goober" (show name "Octavian") came to me with a very stop-start training background. He was bred to be a jumper, but sadly he didn't inherit a SPECK of bravery from either of his successful hunter / jumper parents. He came with some significant contact issues, and very shut-down gaits. I suspect that his athletic spooking and tendency to unload his riders didn't lend itself to his former trainers firmly riding him past his issues. While we were still in California, a friend took him on, and I did some riding on him to help her out a bit. I did have an opportunity to ride him with my original mentor, Dietrich, and Dietrich's opinion of him was very high, in spite of the horse's equine-ADD. Dietrich's positive opinion of Hudson carried a great deal of weight with me.

Fast forward to our move to Georgia... we moved out here with no horses, and no immediate plans to add any. I had lost my last horse to a horrible colic and successive surgeries ordeal, and was in no rush to jump back in. However, not long after we moved, my friend decided to sell the Goober, and, although he offered challenges, he was a known quantity. I took the plunge and bought him.

Since his arrival, we've been slowly progressing with getting him more honest in the contact, and letting his true gaits re-develop and come through more. He had very little "off the property" experience when I bought him, and it generally involved unloading his rider. I've only had him out to a few schooling shows so far, and it's still a very challenging environment for him - especially covered arenas, with which he had no previous experience.

In November we showed 2nd level tests 2 and 4 at a Rising Fawn Equestrian Center show. The show arena offers quite a few distractions due to its layout, and we definitely had some focus and obedience challenges. But Hudson warmed up well, and when focused and on the aids, performed the movements of the level solidly. Our challenge now is to continue to get him even more confidently on the aids, so that we can ride through the distractions with less drama. It's tough to take a problematic horse like Hudson out into the public eye, but we're simply going to have to get some mileage under our belts until he can handle the show environment in a more workmanlike manner. He's capable of performing a very competitive test, if I can only keep his brain in the ring, and body following suit!

A big THANK YOU to my guy Charles for trucking up there with us Saturday night to school, and spending all day Sunday freezing and taking pics. Thanks to Missy and Abby, too, for making the trek up and cheering us on!