Tuesday I bit the bullet and finally went to the tack store to purchase a surcingle and side reins for Johnny. The surcingle is a tool with I have been meaning to pick up for some time now, but I just keep putting it off because, with this being winter and me not grooming at all, I just really haven't had the extra money to throw around. Finally, I did manage to get some extra cash, so after staring at the surcingles on the rack at Big Dees for 15 minutes I finally picked one out and bought it. I've been doing quite a bit of research on the different kind of side reins for some time now and although I really wanted some Vienna side reins (also known as "sliding side reins") Big Dees did not carry them and so I settled for my next choice which are simple leather side reins with and elastic end. I prefer these to all leather reins because a rein with no give can teach a horse to lean against it, and the kind with the rubber donut just seemed much too heavy to me.
Today I drove back up to school to take care of Emmy and Johnny. After turnout and stall cleaning, I set John up with the surcingle and lunged him for about 10 minutes. I first started off without the reins on so that he could loosen up a bit. I let him walk, trot and canter both directions before I put them on. Of coarse, I stared the side reins on the loosest setting so that Johnny wouldn't feel trapped by them. We only walked and trotted, but he went really, really well in them and I got a chance to work on some of the problems that we have when he comes on to the contact, such as him wanted to back out of my leg instead of reaching under himself with his hind end. After his short lung session, I switched his surcingle for my saddle and rode him around a bit. His back was up and he was moving really well! I think that he's ready for his training to be taken to the next level where I can push him a little further in what I ask of him. He is mentally and physically ready for it. I plan to continue working him with the surcingle at least two or three times a week for a short period of time (like our ten minute warm up today) so that he can start to learn to really give to the contact while maintaining his impulsion from behind.
After Johnny I rode Emmy and my friend D was my eyes on the ground while I worked on my equitation. Regionals is fast-approaching and I don't feel ready at all! Luckily, Emmy was being pushy today and wanted to pull me around the ring a bit (you would think that normally this is a BAD thing, but horses that pull and hang are the kind I am least successful riding so I was grateful for her bratty-ness!) We worked through a couple of Eq tests and then D called a flat class for me, including lead changes, dropping stirrups in trot and canter and lead changes without stirrups. There are definitely some things that I need to work on. I may be switching up who E rides this week so that I can get more practice time on Emmy.
Thinking about hauling Johnny to Chagrin Valley Farms this weekend for a horse show...not sure yet!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Showing posts with label IHSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IHSA. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Minor Mishaps
After a lovely weekend in New York with my boyfriend I came home thinking that I was going to get down and dirty a) working out (yes...in a gym! GASP) and riding my butt off to get ready for IHSA Regionals on March 14 and b) whippping Johnny into shape for the ICTA schooling jumper show this weekend.
Of course, none of those things have happened. Over the weekend I had the feeling that I had a bit of a cold coming on and I unfortunately ran out of my Singulair medication which I take daily for asthma....not a very good combination but I thought "it will be fine...I'll be alright without the meds until this weekend when I see my parents.
Wrong.
I woke up this morning feeling a little like I got hit by a bus. My throat was tight and full of gunk and I simply just felt awful. I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep through both of my morning classes. A hot lunch of chicken noodle soup made me feel better and so I went to the school barn for my Hunter riding class and IHSA practice. Bad idea #2...I almost DIED in Hunters. We were working on some exercises at the canter and I seriously thought I was going to have an asthma attack. My lungs felt so swollen (you didn't even know you could feel like that did you?) that I couldn't get any air in at all. My friend L rode up to me to make sure I was alright. I told her no and excused myself early to walk my horse out. After class I told M that I was going to sit out on IHSA practice tonight and she responded that she though that was a good idea.
Afterward I went to the barn thinking that I would just lightly hack Johnny because I didn't want to ride again, but Johnny hadn't been ridden since Friday and desperately needed to be worked. I was brushing him while E brushed Emmy when suddenly she start yelling "Kate...Kate...KATE!" I walked halfway down the aisle and E was standing pointing at Emmy's left hock which was DRIPPING with blood. Back into the stall Johnny went and Emmy left a blood trail down the aisle as we walked her to the wash stall. At first, I could not get her hock to stop bleeding...wads and wads of gauze and paper towels were all over the floor covered in blood. Finally I got it cleaned out good and washed up...I had to cut away a piece of her flapped open skin with scissors because it was literally handing off her leg by a thread of skin. By the time I got her cleaned up and bandaged up it was going on 9pm and too late to do anything with Johnny and I was so mentally and physically drained from the day that I just wanted a hot bath and a cup of tea. I did free lunge him around the arena for about 15 minutes, but it just let him get some yahoos out. *Sigh* hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'll take some pictures of Emmy's leg. I have no idea how she cut it. There is nothing in her stall and the paddock is fenced with that flexible Ramm fencing which is basically like rubber...there is nothing to get caught on because you just bounce off it!
And speaking of pictures, here is a photo of Johnny's new jumper boots for this weekends show. I got them on sale from Dover for $20!!
Of course, none of those things have happened. Over the weekend I had the feeling that I had a bit of a cold coming on and I unfortunately ran out of my Singulair medication which I take daily for asthma....not a very good combination but I thought "it will be fine...I'll be alright without the meds until this weekend when I see my parents.
Wrong.
I woke up this morning feeling a little like I got hit by a bus. My throat was tight and full of gunk and I simply just felt awful. I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep through both of my morning classes. A hot lunch of chicken noodle soup made me feel better and so I went to the school barn for my Hunter riding class and IHSA practice. Bad idea #2...I almost DIED in Hunters. We were working on some exercises at the canter and I seriously thought I was going to have an asthma attack. My lungs felt so swollen (you didn't even know you could feel like that did you?) that I couldn't get any air in at all. My friend L rode up to me to make sure I was alright. I told her no and excused myself early to walk my horse out. After class I told M that I was going to sit out on IHSA practice tonight and she responded that she though that was a good idea.
Afterward I went to the barn thinking that I would just lightly hack Johnny because I didn't want to ride again, but Johnny hadn't been ridden since Friday and desperately needed to be worked. I was brushing him while E brushed Emmy when suddenly she start yelling "Kate...Kate...KATE!" I walked halfway down the aisle and E was standing pointing at Emmy's left hock which was DRIPPING with blood. Back into the stall Johnny went and Emmy left a blood trail down the aisle as we walked her to the wash stall. At first, I could not get her hock to stop bleeding...wads and wads of gauze and paper towels were all over the floor covered in blood. Finally I got it cleaned out good and washed up...I had to cut away a piece of her flapped open skin with scissors because it was literally handing off her leg by a thread of skin. By the time I got her cleaned up and bandaged up it was going on 9pm and too late to do anything with Johnny and I was so mentally and physically drained from the day that I just wanted a hot bath and a cup of tea. I did free lunge him around the arena for about 15 minutes, but it just let him get some yahoos out. *Sigh* hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'll take some pictures of Emmy's leg. I have no idea how she cut it. There is nothing in her stall and the paddock is fenced with that flexible Ramm fencing which is basically like rubber...there is nothing to get caught on because you just bounce off it!
And speaking of pictures, here is a photo of Johnny's new jumper boots for this weekends show. I got them on sale from Dover for $20!!
Nice huh?
Keep you all posted.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A weekend at home
This weekend I elected to stay behind and not go down to OU for our last IHSA horse show of the regular season. Because I had already pointed out of Intermediate and was now in Open, I wasn't necessarily needed as a point rider and it was much easier for me to stay and take care of John and Em instead of trying to find someone to take care of them...plus LEC was hosting a hunter/jumper show this Saturday and Sunday and I needed to work the hunter day for my Management of EQ Activities class. Friday was a late night...I didn't get out to the barn until almost 9:00pm and then didn't get home until midnight. By the time I showered and got into bed it was almost 1:30am. Saturday, J and I worked the hunter show. There was a super low turnout because of the weather so the show was over by 2pm which was SUPER awesome. After that I went to the barn and rode both Emmy and Johnny. John and I worked through his dressage test on a light draw rein so that I could work his inside shoulder a little better through the corners. He was amazingly good :) Maybe we will be ready for either the ICTA schooling show or a South Farm combined test? After him I rode Emmy, who was also good :) Stiff in her old age, but she loosened up and stretched down into her fabulous little hunter frame that she was once so good with.
Today J, L, and I went back to up to the LEC barn to watch the jumper show and to take care of J and C's horses. The show was going really well until one rider missed a SUPER tight turn to an in and out and crashed through the fence. Her horse, in an attempt not to step on the poor girl, tried to jump over her but there were poles flying every where and there was just no place for him to put his feet. In a last attempt, he leaped and kicked out with his hind legs just as the rider was starting to move as if she was going to get out. The sound of his hoof colliding with her helmet was the most sickening sound I've ever heard in my life. His hoof nailed her helmet and the rider fell back down and didn't move. I remember thinking "oh my god, she's dead" as the entire arena seemed to gasp at once and jump to their feet. For a second everything was silent and then the girl started screaming.
There was so much commotion so quickly, people running into the ring, someone grabbing the horse and about 4 people on walkie-talkies calling for an EMT and another 4 on cell phones calling for 911. It was absolutely terrifying. L, J and I all ran down into the ring to let the ambulance come through. The poor girl was rushed away to the hospital on a back board. I have no idea what happened after that....but I'm praying that she's alright. please keep her and the family in your prayers!
I have since vowed to never ride with a naked head again...not that I do very often, but there are times when I get laxed and just jump aboard without one. Not anymore! Her helmet saved her life! I hope that other riders take this warning and pay heed to it...after watching such a thing like this I won't ever ride without one!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Today J, L, and I went back to up to the LEC barn to watch the jumper show and to take care of J and C's horses. The show was going really well until one rider missed a SUPER tight turn to an in and out and crashed through the fence. Her horse, in an attempt not to step on the poor girl, tried to jump over her but there were poles flying every where and there was just no place for him to put his feet. In a last attempt, he leaped and kicked out with his hind legs just as the rider was starting to move as if she was going to get out. The sound of his hoof colliding with her helmet was the most sickening sound I've ever heard in my life. His hoof nailed her helmet and the rider fell back down and didn't move. I remember thinking "oh my god, she's dead" as the entire arena seemed to gasp at once and jump to their feet. For a second everything was silent and then the girl started screaming.
There was so much commotion so quickly, people running into the ring, someone grabbing the horse and about 4 people on walkie-talkies calling for an EMT and another 4 on cell phones calling for 911. It was absolutely terrifying. L, J and I all ran down into the ring to let the ambulance come through. The poor girl was rushed away to the hospital on a back board. I have no idea what happened after that....but I'm praying that she's alright. please keep her and the family in your prayers!
I have since vowed to never ride with a naked head again...not that I do very often, but there are times when I get laxed and just jump aboard without one. Not anymore! Her helmet saved her life! I hope that other riders take this warning and pay heed to it...after watching such a thing like this I won't ever ride without one!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A Long Weekend
This weekend was super long as we hosted our last IHSA show of the regular season. On Saturday I drew one of our really great equitation horses, a bit Level 5 jumper named Skye. He's a tough ride over fences but about as smooth as silk on the flat, plus he's really well schooled! I won my last Intermediate Equitation class and pointed out of my current division and into the Open Equitation (the highest level of IHSA) qualifying myself for our Region 1 Championships which our school will host on March 14 :)
Sunday I elected not to show to give our horses a little less work, and instead schooled jump horses in the morning and flat horses in the afternoon. One of our best IHSA jumpers threw one of my team mates into a jump in the early schooling and broke her hand, so M asked me to get on her. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to get hurt, but spooking is what I'm good with and as soon as I got her cantering I knew it would be alright. I rode her through the Open Eq. course with all of it's roll backs and bending lines and really had a good time. She never looked at anything. When it came time to school flat horses, M specifically asked me to jump on my favorite little horse Cruz and other then one minor little spin away from the wall he was an angel as well. Our team was Highpoint Champion on Saturday and Reserve Highpoint on Sunday! We are still currently leading the region in points :)
Emmy and Johnny didn't get worked a whole ton this weekend so last night they were both a little crazy to ride. I rode 6 horses in total yesterday and wrapped 32 legs! Today, all of my riding classes at the barn were canceled so I got a nice little (and well deserved!) break!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Sunday I elected not to show to give our horses a little less work, and instead schooled jump horses in the morning and flat horses in the afternoon. One of our best IHSA jumpers threw one of my team mates into a jump in the early schooling and broke her hand, so M asked me to get on her. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to get hurt, but spooking is what I'm good with and as soon as I got her cantering I knew it would be alright. I rode her through the Open Eq. course with all of it's roll backs and bending lines and really had a good time. She never looked at anything. When it came time to school flat horses, M specifically asked me to jump on my favorite little horse Cruz and other then one minor little spin away from the wall he was an angel as well. Our team was Highpoint Champion on Saturday and Reserve Highpoint on Sunday! We are still currently leading the region in points :)
Emmy and Johnny didn't get worked a whole ton this weekend so last night they were both a little crazy to ride. I rode 6 horses in total yesterday and wrapped 32 legs! Today, all of my riding classes at the barn were canceled so I got a nice little (and well deserved!) break!
Here are some photos of my schooling Cruz :)
This is one of our Open riders schooling Rambell, he's my dressage horse for class and also one of my favorites:
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
IHSA Update
I am officially ONE POINT away from being qualified for our IHSA Region 1 Championship! This past weekend at our show against OU I won my Saturday equitation class on a very lovely warmblood gelding named Pumba and Sunday I was 3rd after a slightly humiliating class where my draw suddenly stopped dead in the ring, pinned his ears back and refused to go forward. This was an antic he had pulled numerous times already that day...clearly he was cranky after being ridden so many different times by so many different people. Unfortunately, I was the designated point rider for our team (the rider who's placing counts towards team highpoint) and so our team only got 4 points from my placing (at least the other riders from my school, which were also in the same class, didn't place any better.) The third place also left me one point away from qualifying for Regionals. The good news is that we have 4 more days of showing (2 more 2 day shows for this season) in order for me to qualify, so I'm hoping that won't be a problem lol!
Here are a few photo of me winning on Pumba from the show:
He was a great ride! A little lazy off the leg but he was quite a gentlemen once he realized that I was serious about him getting his hind quarters engaged.
In other news, Emmy and Johnny have been very good. They both got the entire weekend off because of the horse show and were happy to get back to work. Johnny had a few good leaps in him but about 10 minutes on the lunge line took care of that pretty quick yesterday. Today he was still pretty fresh and probably should have gotten to play on the line a bit more tonight. His trot and canter are getting sooo much better though! Today he cantered all the way around the ring (balanced!!) on his right lead and he did some bounce poles off the left lead and a set of raised trot poles from both directions. He's finally learning to stretch down and be round, but his stride is still kind of short. Wondering how I might be able to fix that? I think part of it is his conformation...his chest is a little narrow.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Here are a few photo of me winning on Pumba from the show:
In other news, Emmy and Johnny have been very good. They both got the entire weekend off because of the horse show and were happy to get back to work. Johnny had a few good leaps in him but about 10 minutes on the lunge line took care of that pretty quick yesterday. Today he was still pretty fresh and probably should have gotten to play on the line a bit more tonight. His trot and canter are getting sooo much better though! Today he cantered all the way around the ring (balanced!!) on his right lead and he did some bounce poles off the left lead and a set of raised trot poles from both directions. He's finally learning to stretch down and be round, but his stride is still kind of short. Wondering how I might be able to fix that? I think part of it is his conformation...his chest is a little narrow.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A short update
Back at school after a weekend spent at home with the boyfriend :) N and E rode the horses while I was gone...N really liked both Emmy and Johnny. I survived the first week of classes for the new semester, but it sure seems like I'm not going to be able to show my horses at all this winter. Not only do I have a heavy schedule of IHSA shows, but for one of my equine classes we are required to wok almost every single horse show here at the college...essentially leaving me with no free weekends for horse shows :( I'm still trying to work out a spring/summer show schedule.
P.S. for any STB lovers/owners out there...there is not a YouTube blog for us to share our experiences! Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/STBblog
Peace.Love.Ponies.
P.S. for any STB lovers/owners out there...there is not a YouTube blog for us to share our experiences! Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/STBblog
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Back to School
Just time for a short update before I run off the school barn for my hunter class, dressage class and IHSA practice. Emmy and Johnny both made it up to school safe and sound despite the weather and they both seem to be settling well. Johnny jumped right back into the swing of things up here but it's taking Emmy a little more time to adjust in her old age. She's not a huge fan of change so much anymore, but she sure does like being ridden again! She's sound and crazy happy to be back under saddle!
I worked some more on Johnny's clip yesterday...my new clipper blades are a champ! Should be able to finish up the clip in the next two days. I just dont have the time to sit there and work on it!
Here is a picture of Johnny's first day back:
I worked some more on Johnny's clip yesterday...my new clipper blades are a champ! Should be able to finish up the clip in the next two days. I just dont have the time to sit there and work on it!
Here is a picture of Johnny's first day back:
Goofy boy!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Packing, packing, PACKING
The latest weather report shows that our snow storm should be tapering off sometime late tomorrow morning. I didn't ride at all today in an attempt to get the horses packed and ready to go should the roads clear up by tomorrow afternoon.. Tentatively, our plan was to leave Sunday but if the weather turns out alright on Saturday I would really prefer to take the horses then. It would give me a day to make sure Emmy settles before I go back to class on Monday. Not that I don't think she will, she's got TONS of show mileage so she handles change pretty well, but I'm a worrisome mother and I like to make sure she's adjusting alright in her old age.
I got in a fight today with my clippers while body clipping Johnny and ended up having to drive all the way out to Big Dees to get a new blade. I still have the original blade on them and I've had these clippers for at least 3 years, so I figured it was time. Of course, that ended up taking WAY longer than anticipated and so I never did get to finish Johnny's clip. I guess he's just going to have to go back to school looking like he got in a fight with a blender.
I've still got SO MUCH to do to be ready in case we leave tomorrow...about a million pounds of horse laundry, still have to sort through Emmy's brushes and decided whats going and whats staying (do you really need 10 brushes between two horses? I think not...) I have my own people laundry to do, clean my saddles, clean out the car and try to cut down on what I'm taking back to school with me...because of Christmas and the second horse, I'm going back with waayyyy more then I anticipated taking...packing the car should be super interesting.
Did I mention that I have to pack up my fish too? Gosh I hate making that poor thing travel...
Pictures tomorrow if we make it up to school.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
I got in a fight today with my clippers while body clipping Johnny and ended up having to drive all the way out to Big Dees to get a new blade. I still have the original blade on them and I've had these clippers for at least 3 years, so I figured it was time. Of course, that ended up taking WAY longer than anticipated and so I never did get to finish Johnny's clip. I guess he's just going to have to go back to school looking like he got in a fight with a blender.
I've still got SO MUCH to do to be ready in case we leave tomorrow...about a million pounds of horse laundry, still have to sort through Emmy's brushes and decided whats going and whats staying (do you really need 10 brushes between two horses? I think not...) I have my own people laundry to do, clean my saddles, clean out the car and try to cut down on what I'm taking back to school with me...because of Christmas and the second horse, I'm going back with waayyyy more then I anticipated taking...packing the car should be super interesting.
Did I mention that I have to pack up my fish too? Gosh I hate making that poor thing travel...
Pictures tomorrow if we make it up to school.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Goal Setting
Sunday night I finally sat down to renew my USEF/USHJA membership (seeing as how the new competition year begins...oh...TODAY) and while doing so, decided that now would be a pretty good time to set some showing and training goals for this year. This has always been a little hard for me to do because of the job I work in the summer. I'm an "A" Circuit groom for a hunter barn and therefore spend a lot of the summer traveling and not very much of it riding...last year while working the Cleveland show I had a days that went from 4am to midnight...4am-6 or 7pm at the horse show, then home ride 2-3 horses before dark (usually I was on them until long after dark...we have a single light on the back of the barn that makes a good 25 meter circle work able after dark) then clean them up, turn them out (nght turn out) and then clean 4 stalls. I usually got home around 11 or 11:30, ate, showered and went to bed only to do it all again the next day. Not that I'm complaining...I LOVE my job because I get to meet so many great people and work with so many great horses, plus I've learned a ton just by watching the horses go in the ring, but all of that plus traveling to away shows makes it hard to keep up with my own riding, training and showing goals. Since I pay for my horses myself and my parents decided to have 4 children who were pretty bright and therefore went to expensive private colleges, just paying for tuition is hard, which is another reason why I have to work as much as I can. In years past it's been a hard balance for me to find, but this year, I'm pretty determined to make it work.
After getting Johnny, I joined the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of Ohio (SPHO Ohio) and started looking into some of their shows. Since I joined at the end of the year, most of the shows had already passed. I looked back into them this year when the new show list came out, and unfortunatly the closest one for me is over 2 hours away, so I picked one show (The Grand Circuit Classic) within the association that I might like to try and go to, one rated show locally that is my favorite (The Chagrin Valley Classic, better known formerly as the Cleveland horse show or the Merrill Lynch show) and one BIG HONKING goal that is really going to be a challenge, The Standardbred National Horse Show. I spent all night paging through the online prize list from last year, jotting down notes and numbers. There are a zillion divisions that I would want to enter but because the show is about 7 hours from here, I can probably only afford to show in one or two (I also figured that if I'm going to haul Johnny 7 hours I should also make it worth our time to go there...) because of the costs. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to start by setting aside tip money from every show that I work this summer and see where we end up come time for the National. If I can afford it, then were off!!
Goals for Johnny this year include:
- Firmly establishing a right lead canter (which he suddenly seems to have remembered how to do...we've been getting it right away all week!)
- Improving both canters on the flat (stretching down and coming rounder) and to and away from jumps (holding a consistant rhythm)
- Further improvements to the trot (again, stretching down and lifting his back as well as establishing a more forward and reaching "hunter trot")
- Once all of the above is accomplished, competing over fences and staying in the canter for the whole coarse with simple changes if needed.
Goals for myself for this year are pretty much centered around IHSA shows for right now...there are a few position things that I would like to tweak as well:
- Making it to Regionals (already almost qualified!) and qualifying again for Zones
- Making it through Zones and qualifying for Nationals
- Winning at Nationals. I was 4th last year and this year I REALLY want to be champion or reserve...preferably champion! lol
I also want to work on some position things for myself to improve my rides:
- Landing better in the heel over fences...I've been working on it and its getting better
- Keeping the eyes up and looking to the next fence...this will in turn help my shoulder from getting ahead
- Riding FORWARD to decisions.
We will see how this all goes...riding class today (hopefully riding my little buddy Cruz again!) and then a lesson with Kris on Thursday where I will go over these goals with her :)
Til next time,
Peace.Love.Ponies.
After getting Johnny, I joined the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of Ohio (SPHO Ohio) and started looking into some of their shows. Since I joined at the end of the year, most of the shows had already passed. I looked back into them this year when the new show list came out, and unfortunatly the closest one for me is over 2 hours away, so I picked one show (The Grand Circuit Classic) within the association that I might like to try and go to, one rated show locally that is my favorite (The Chagrin Valley Classic, better known formerly as the Cleveland horse show or the Merrill Lynch show) and one BIG HONKING goal that is really going to be a challenge, The Standardbred National Horse Show. I spent all night paging through the online prize list from last year, jotting down notes and numbers. There are a zillion divisions that I would want to enter but because the show is about 7 hours from here, I can probably only afford to show in one or two (I also figured that if I'm going to haul Johnny 7 hours I should also make it worth our time to go there...) because of the costs. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to start by setting aside tip money from every show that I work this summer and see where we end up come time for the National. If I can afford it, then were off!!
Goals for Johnny this year include:
- Firmly establishing a right lead canter (which he suddenly seems to have remembered how to do...we've been getting it right away all week!)
- Improving both canters on the flat (stretching down and coming rounder) and to and away from jumps (holding a consistant rhythm)
- Further improvements to the trot (again, stretching down and lifting his back as well as establishing a more forward and reaching "hunter trot")
- Once all of the above is accomplished, competing over fences and staying in the canter for the whole coarse with simple changes if needed.
Goals for myself for this year are pretty much centered around IHSA shows for right now...there are a few position things that I would like to tweak as well:
- Making it to Regionals (already almost qualified!) and qualifying again for Zones
- Making it through Zones and qualifying for Nationals
- Winning at Nationals. I was 4th last year and this year I REALLY want to be champion or reserve...preferably champion! lol
I also want to work on some position things for myself to improve my rides:
- Landing better in the heel over fences...I've been working on it and its getting better
- Keeping the eyes up and looking to the next fence...this will in turn help my shoulder from getting ahead
- Riding FORWARD to decisions.
We will see how this all goes...riding class today (hopefully riding my little buddy Cruz again!) and then a lesson with Kris on Thursday where I will go over these goals with her :)
Til next time,
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
One good exercise, two good rides
Last week after our IHSA show we took a break from riding for a couple days to let the school horses have a rest. Instead of our normal riding Hunter class, we spent an hour in a "theory" class, watching videos of lots of different hunters and comparing why we thought some were better than others. For anyone who follows the hunter ring at all, you know that Rumba, ridden by John French just won the Hunter Derby Finals with three STELLAR rounds over some really cool jumps. To see the video, CLICK HERE
Anyway, along with that, we also watched some of the 1998 (?) Maclay Finals. We picked apart the course and analyzed how some riders set their horses up correctly or incorrectly for the questions being asked. Last Thursday, we decided to tackle some of those same questions in our class, and M set up a course of ground poles and flower boxes to see where we all were. Let's just say that lots of people had trouble...including myself, although M admitted after the class that she had been the most proud of the way I handled the very spooky horse that I was riding. We decided to ride the same horses again today and work out some more of the kinks. Todays course was a course of jumps that asked many of the same questions. Here is a diagram below (don't make fun of my awesome Paint drawing LOL)
Anyway, along with that, we also watched some of the 1998 (?) Maclay Finals. We picked apart the course and analyzed how some riders set their horses up correctly or incorrectly for the questions being asked. Last Thursday, we decided to tackle some of those same questions in our class, and M set up a course of ground poles and flower boxes to see where we all were. Let's just say that lots of people had trouble...including myself, although M admitted after the class that she had been the most proud of the way I handled the very spooky horse that I was riding. We decided to ride the same horses again today and work out some more of the kinks. Todays course was a course of jumps that asked many of the same questions. Here is a diagram below (don't make fun of my awesome Paint drawing LOL)
We started in a two point or half seat at 1) over a single trot pole and then made a left hand turn to 2) three 9ft trot poles. This was to set up our horses tempo and pace and see if they were behind our leg or not. From the 9ft rails we made a LEFT hand turn around fence 5 and continued down center line to fence 3) a single white plank vertical with a 7ft take off and landing rail, which required a more collected trot then the 9ft trot poles. After landing fence 3, we turned inside fence 7 and trotted up to fence 4) a single yellow flower box flanked by two white plank standards. After 4 we were to canter halfway down the line and then bring our horses back to trot to jump fence 5) a brown riviera box with a rail on top. Landing in canter, we continued over pole 1 again and then turned to fence 6) a single white plank vertical. We jumped that and then rode a bending line back over fence 4 in the opposite direction before continuing for fence 7) which was a single red flower box set right against the rail. After that, we cantered down the long side to fence 8) a white oxer with a yellow flower box and then continued back around to jump fence 5 from the opposite direction and rode a bending line to fence 9) another single flower box. To finish we were to canter down the rest of the diaganol and halt on a straight line.
Again I rode Cruz, the spooky little Thoroughbred whom I have become really fond of. We seriously rocked this exercise...he didn't spook or stop at a single jump and our oxer fence was BEAUTIFUL! I was so happy with my ride and so proud of him! I want to set this same kind of thing up for Johnny and see how he does with it :)
Speaking of Johnny, after class I went out to ride him and worked him in draw reins for about 15-20 minutes, just walk/trot/canter so that he could feel them and figure them out a bit. I didn't want him to get sore, so I didn't ride a whole ton off them (not that I ever really do...) but I just wanted to kind of set a "perimeter" for a frame and then softly encourage him to stay with in that perimeter. I will tell you this though...for the first time ever he really kept his back up and underneith him, and his canter had moments of super round brilliance where he actually got BOUNCY. Not only that, but we also got our right lead canter on the first try :)
I'm home now for Thanksgiving break so I wont get to see Johnny again until Thursday (I'm driving up Thurs, Sat and then going Sunday to see him when I go back to school for the week...we are doing our Thanksgiving on Friday because Mom has to work) but I think I'm definetly going to set up some exercises to work through with him. I think that it's time now in his training to start asking him some harder questions. Clearly, since he did so well at the show, trotting over some small verticals is something that he's got under control and it's time to start teaching him some more things. What an adventure this all is!
More tomorrow...I stopped in to see Emmy, who is super fat and super filthy from living out in the field. I think she's getting bored with retirement though...Dad says she's cribbing all the time (she's always cribbed...just never obsessively) and on everything she can. Not a good sign :( Pookie pony wants to be ridden again? I will have to get down and dirty tomorrow to get all of the ten layers of mud off her and take her out for a hack :)
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
IHSA continued...and some photos!
As promised, here is the second installment for our IHSA adventure last weekend:
Sunday of the show dawned super early as usual. The horses had to be ready to school by 6:30, so all of our team was up before the sunrise (aka: 5 am) to make sure that they were fed, cleaned and prepped before heading to the ring. C and I were running the barn again and had to make many last minute changes to the schedule. Two of our horses had mysteriously come up lame the day before (for the record, we take REALLY good care of our horses...one blew and abcess a few days later and the other was seriously faking it because he was just fine come Tuesday -.-) so we had to sub in some horses that we would have rather not had to use. Before each show, we sit down in the barn and make a saddle fit list for all of the horses that are going to be showing that weekend. Once the list is made, we post it in the barn aisle so that anyone who is tacking up will just be able to glance at the list and know that tack goes on which horse. Many students (including myself) loan their jumping saddles to the club for the weekend so that we don't have to break into the school's stash of Wintecs for the horses that we can't fit in a nice saddle. Let's face it, no one wants to equitate in a Wintec and the school doesn't have enough nice jumping saddles to have one fit every single horse (over 60 horses!) so we all pitch in and bring our personal saddles. This year, we had lots of loaned saddles...almost ten I think! They were all very nice brands, Pinnacle, HDR, Pessoa...we try to get the best saddles we can for people to ride in. The problem Sunday morning was that, since we had so many horse changes, our original saddle fit list had basically gone to hell. C and I spent the entire day running around trying to find saddles that would fit the "new" horses without taking a saddle from a horse in an overlapping class...it was really tough, but our IHSA president, N, complimented our work after saying "I have no idea how you girls did it, but you pulled it off because not a single horse came to the ring late and each one had a well-fitting jump saddle." I was pretty proud about that :)
For my flat class on Sunday I drew Harper, a horse that a) I've never sat on and b) likes to pull people around the ring...my ULTIMATE weakness. I won't lie, I was super nervous going into that class and the way that M (our coach) was talking to me tipped me off that I was point rider. I'm pretty sure that as soon as M saw the draw list she was probably like "Omg...why did I pick her as point rider?" I was pretty determined to pull it off. The first way of the ring was great, I sat up and kept my shoulder tall, and Harper stayed balanced and quiet. Unfortunatly, we got a little boxed in down the long side (I have no idea how that happened...usually I have really good ring management...) and that lit him up a little. He didn't want to settle the second way of the ring and he was literally DRAGGING me around in the canter. I braced my back against his the best I could and used the corners for a chance to rebalance with a strong lifting inside rein and and a big ol' half halt. Once again, going into the placings I had NO IDEA how it was going to turn out...if we pulled off first it would be a miracle. Lucky for me, it must not have looked so bad because we ended up second and I was thrilled! M seemed happy too, she told me after that she had gotten a little nervous the second way of the ring, but was proud that I had held it together :) At the end of the day, LEC was team champion again!! What a come back after our terrible first show!
To change pace a bit, here are some photos that E and S took a few weekends ago while they were riding Johnny. I was home that weekend and so all I have are some photos, but they said he was really good for them :) E is in the blue and S is in the purple (bottom picture)
Sunday of the show dawned super early as usual. The horses had to be ready to school by 6:30, so all of our team was up before the sunrise (aka: 5 am) to make sure that they were fed, cleaned and prepped before heading to the ring. C and I were running the barn again and had to make many last minute changes to the schedule. Two of our horses had mysteriously come up lame the day before (for the record, we take REALLY good care of our horses...one blew and abcess a few days later and the other was seriously faking it because he was just fine come Tuesday -.-) so we had to sub in some horses that we would have rather not had to use. Before each show, we sit down in the barn and make a saddle fit list for all of the horses that are going to be showing that weekend. Once the list is made, we post it in the barn aisle so that anyone who is tacking up will just be able to glance at the list and know that tack goes on which horse. Many students (including myself) loan their jumping saddles to the club for the weekend so that we don't have to break into the school's stash of Wintecs for the horses that we can't fit in a nice saddle. Let's face it, no one wants to equitate in a Wintec and the school doesn't have enough nice jumping saddles to have one fit every single horse (over 60 horses!) so we all pitch in and bring our personal saddles. This year, we had lots of loaned saddles...almost ten I think! They were all very nice brands, Pinnacle, HDR, Pessoa...we try to get the best saddles we can for people to ride in. The problem Sunday morning was that, since we had so many horse changes, our original saddle fit list had basically gone to hell. C and I spent the entire day running around trying to find saddles that would fit the "new" horses without taking a saddle from a horse in an overlapping class...it was really tough, but our IHSA president, N, complimented our work after saying "I have no idea how you girls did it, but you pulled it off because not a single horse came to the ring late and each one had a well-fitting jump saddle." I was pretty proud about that :)
For my flat class on Sunday I drew Harper, a horse that a) I've never sat on and b) likes to pull people around the ring...my ULTIMATE weakness. I won't lie, I was super nervous going into that class and the way that M (our coach) was talking to me tipped me off that I was point rider. I'm pretty sure that as soon as M saw the draw list she was probably like "Omg...why did I pick her as point rider?" I was pretty determined to pull it off. The first way of the ring was great, I sat up and kept my shoulder tall, and Harper stayed balanced and quiet. Unfortunatly, we got a little boxed in down the long side (I have no idea how that happened...usually I have really good ring management...) and that lit him up a little. He didn't want to settle the second way of the ring and he was literally DRAGGING me around in the canter. I braced my back against his the best I could and used the corners for a chance to rebalance with a strong lifting inside rein and and a big ol' half halt. Once again, going into the placings I had NO IDEA how it was going to turn out...if we pulled off first it would be a miracle. Lucky for me, it must not have looked so bad because we ended up second and I was thrilled! M seemed happy too, she told me after that she had gotten a little nervous the second way of the ring, but was proud that I had held it together :) At the end of the day, LEC was team champion again!! What a come back after our terrible first show!
To change pace a bit, here are some photos that E and S took a few weekends ago while they were riding Johnny. I was home that weekend and so all I have are some photos, but they said he was really good for them :) E is in the blue and S is in the purple (bottom picture)
Johnny and I are packing up today and heading over to Chagrin Valley Farms for their horse show this weekend...wish us luck!!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
IHSA Show - Saturday
"Cuz the party don't start 'til I walk in..."
The IHSA show this weekend went really great! Our team rode EXCELLENT and M picked all of the right point riders because Saturday we ended with almost a perfect team score...49 points, over 15 points ahead of any of the other teams. I just so happened to draw a gelding that is part of my Hunter class ride string, so I was really familiar with how to ride him and (as my friend N told me) I "look really good on Cruz." He can be a bit of a spook and because of that, we've never used him before in IHSA, so I wasn't sure how he was going to be. During his first class (with another rider) one of the team banners fell, which sent him leaping sideways and his unsuspecting rider ended up in the dirt. My best friend C and I were running the barn, so I didn't get to see it, but it made me worry a little because I was the next rider on him. As we walked through the ingate, I used my forefinger to scratch his neck. He eyed the wall once (where the banner had fallen from) and then proceeded to be absolutly perfect for the rest of the class! Some of our downward transitions were a little abrupt, so going into the line up, I wasn't really sure how the placings were going to fall. There were 7 girls in the class and 6 ribbons to be had. I held my breath all the way until there were three riders and just two ribbons left. Second place was called. My heart was seriously beating in my ears. Had we really ridden that badly? The announcer came on and called first place...my number! My good little chestnut Throughbred pulled through and we won our Intermediate flat class!
More about Sunday to come!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
The IHSA show this weekend went really great! Our team rode EXCELLENT and M picked all of the right point riders because Saturday we ended with almost a perfect team score...49 points, over 15 points ahead of any of the other teams. I just so happened to draw a gelding that is part of my Hunter class ride string, so I was really familiar with how to ride him and (as my friend N told me) I "look really good on Cruz." He can be a bit of a spook and because of that, we've never used him before in IHSA, so I wasn't sure how he was going to be. During his first class (with another rider) one of the team banners fell, which sent him leaping sideways and his unsuspecting rider ended up in the dirt. My best friend C and I were running the barn, so I didn't get to see it, but it made me worry a little because I was the next rider on him. As we walked through the ingate, I used my forefinger to scratch his neck. He eyed the wall once (where the banner had fallen from) and then proceeded to be absolutly perfect for the rest of the class! Some of our downward transitions were a little abrupt, so going into the line up, I wasn't really sure how the placings were going to fall. There were 7 girls in the class and 6 ribbons to be had. I held my breath all the way until there were three riders and just two ribbons left. Second place was called. My heart was seriously beating in my ears. Had we really ridden that badly? The announcer came on and called first place...my number! My good little chestnut Throughbred pulled through and we won our Intermediate flat class!
More about Sunday to come!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Horsemen vs. Riders
Courage is not the absence of fear. Stupidity is the absence of fear. Courage is the ability to acknowledge fear and then let it dissipate from your mind.
With our second IHSA show quickly approaching (tomorrow is course set, schooling and prepping!) I've been thinking a lot about the differences between horse people. For our IHSA shows, we always braid our Open and Intermediate division horses because it makes them look professional and this year, only three other girls beside myself offered to braid horses for the show. I thought to myself "that's it?" out of a team of 40 girls, only 4 know how to braid? To me, any person who shows should know how to braid a mane. It's part of learning horsemanship. Anyway, it got me thinking. In my mind, there are two types of horse people: those who are "riders" and those who are "horsemen."
Horsemen (or horsewomen if you want to be politically correct) are the kind of people that always put the horse first. These are the ones who forge their way to the barn in all types of weather (be it monsoon, tornado or snow storm) because they can't bear the thought of their horse a) standing in a dirty stall b) not getting turned out or c) all of the above. These are the ones who know exactly how much hay and grain their horse eats, they now how to give shots and manage a deworming schedule...these folks are the down and dirty, the ones who manage every aspect of their horses well-being. These are the ones who, in the saddle, take responsibility when things go wrong, like a missed distance to a jump. Instead of "my horse is being a jerk" they answer with "I dropped my shoulder at the fence." After all, 90% of mistakes are the riders fault right?
Then there are the riders. The type who put themselves first, who want to ride the horse and go home and who don't at all mind skipping a day at the barn when the weather isnt just right, never mind if Tubby is going to be standing in a filthy stall all day weaving from boredom. The rider prefers to pay someone to know how to take care of their horse rather than to know it themselves and in the ring, most mistakes are blamed on the horse. This is not to say that the riders are bad people, but they arn't horse people.
Over the summer, I made a really great friend while traveling as an A circuit groom for a local hunter barn. She is the epitome of horsewoman at the highest of levels where the horsemenship of clients has been replaced by grooms. All summer she traveled with her Junior Hunter mare and a second leased Junior Hunter gelding and even at the most prestigeous of shows, her first and foremost concern was the well being of her horses. Although she payed for a groom at shows, she almost always took care of her horses herself. She was there every morning, sometimes as early as 5:00am, to braid both of her horses manes and tails. She tacked them up herself and wrapped them when she was done. During the day, she made sure that they got out for walks and for plenty of grazing time. She was a little bit of beacon of light for me...living proof that horsemanship is not dead among the junior ranks.
So which are you? I have become a horsemen for two reasons 1) out of my love for the animal and 2) out of necessity. Growing up in a household of 6, money was never truely abundant and although my parents tried their hardest to support and provide for each of their children, we had to learn to be resourceful. My first horse (Emmy) was purchased for $700 from a local riding stable because she was a crazy Thoroughbred that no one could ride. Looking back on it, she was definetly too much horse for a 13 year old kid, but I loved her anyway and in return she threw her heart over every jump for me. When I wanted to start showing, I taught myself how to braid and used to get up early to braid other peoples horses in order to make the money to pay my entry fees. If I close my eyes I can still feel myself standing on a bucket in Emmy's stall for hours at a time, trying over and over again to get the mane and tails braids right. No one ever taught me how, I just watched over a few shoulders and practiced. When Johnny came along, I realized that I couldn't afford to pay and have the vet come out and give two horses their yearly and bi-yearly vaccinations and so I asked a vet to show me how and have been doing it ever since. Sometimes, we learn to be horsemen because we have to be, but it's the ones like my dear friend, who learn because they WANT to learn, that give me the most hope :)
Which are you?
Peace.Love.Ponies.
With our second IHSA show quickly approaching (tomorrow is course set, schooling and prepping!) I've been thinking a lot about the differences between horse people. For our IHSA shows, we always braid our Open and Intermediate division horses because it makes them look professional and this year, only three other girls beside myself offered to braid horses for the show. I thought to myself "that's it?" out of a team of 40 girls, only 4 know how to braid? To me, any person who shows should know how to braid a mane. It's part of learning horsemanship. Anyway, it got me thinking. In my mind, there are two types of horse people: those who are "riders" and those who are "horsemen."
Horsemen (or horsewomen if you want to be politically correct) are the kind of people that always put the horse first. These are the ones who forge their way to the barn in all types of weather (be it monsoon, tornado or snow storm) because they can't bear the thought of their horse a) standing in a dirty stall b) not getting turned out or c) all of the above. These are the ones who know exactly how much hay and grain their horse eats, they now how to give shots and manage a deworming schedule...these folks are the down and dirty, the ones who manage every aspect of their horses well-being. These are the ones who, in the saddle, take responsibility when things go wrong, like a missed distance to a jump. Instead of "my horse is being a jerk" they answer with "I dropped my shoulder at the fence." After all, 90% of mistakes are the riders fault right?
Then there are the riders. The type who put themselves first, who want to ride the horse and go home and who don't at all mind skipping a day at the barn when the weather isnt just right, never mind if Tubby is going to be standing in a filthy stall all day weaving from boredom. The rider prefers to pay someone to know how to take care of their horse rather than to know it themselves and in the ring, most mistakes are blamed on the horse. This is not to say that the riders are bad people, but they arn't horse people.
Over the summer, I made a really great friend while traveling as an A circuit groom for a local hunter barn. She is the epitome of horsewoman at the highest of levels where the horsemenship of clients has been replaced by grooms. All summer she traveled with her Junior Hunter mare and a second leased Junior Hunter gelding and even at the most prestigeous of shows, her first and foremost concern was the well being of her horses. Although she payed for a groom at shows, she almost always took care of her horses herself. She was there every morning, sometimes as early as 5:00am, to braid both of her horses manes and tails. She tacked them up herself and wrapped them when she was done. During the day, she made sure that they got out for walks and for plenty of grazing time. She was a little bit of beacon of light for me...living proof that horsemanship is not dead among the junior ranks.
So which are you? I have become a horsemen for two reasons 1) out of my love for the animal and 2) out of necessity. Growing up in a household of 6, money was never truely abundant and although my parents tried their hardest to support and provide for each of their children, we had to learn to be resourceful. My first horse (Emmy) was purchased for $700 from a local riding stable because she was a crazy Thoroughbred that no one could ride. Looking back on it, she was definetly too much horse for a 13 year old kid, but I loved her anyway and in return she threw her heart over every jump for me. When I wanted to start showing, I taught myself how to braid and used to get up early to braid other peoples horses in order to make the money to pay my entry fees. If I close my eyes I can still feel myself standing on a bucket in Emmy's stall for hours at a time, trying over and over again to get the mane and tails braids right. No one ever taught me how, I just watched over a few shoulders and practiced. When Johnny came along, I realized that I couldn't afford to pay and have the vet come out and give two horses their yearly and bi-yearly vaccinations and so I asked a vet to show me how and have been doing it ever since. Sometimes, we learn to be horsemen because we have to be, but it's the ones like my dear friend, who learn because they WANT to learn, that give me the most hope :)
Which are you?
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Being a "Thinking Rider"
Our first IHSA show of the season is rapidly approaching (just two more days!) and out team held our final practice for the week tonight. I rode first in my hunters class where we worked on being "thinking horsemen" and assessing the root problem that each individual horse was showing as we warmed up. After a quick talk, M sent us all off by ourselves to work on each horses weakness. At the end of the class, we reconviened to show each horses improvement. It was a really good lesson in being a "thinking rider" and coming up with different solutions for each problem and each horse as an individual. Although we didn't jump, it was a good class and a good lesson for us all!
After that, I got my IHSA horse ready. He was a pretty lazy one...not my favorite to ride because he would perfer to just stick his nose out and drag himself around rather than come round and rock back on his haunches, but we did pretty well and got some nice compliments from M. I felt like my sitting trot was definetly better than the last practice. Sitting trot used to be my stong point! What happened? I have no idea....but I've been working on it with Johnny, which I feel like has helped.
I jumped him again the other night. He was pretty good aside from stopping the first time (for which he got his butt kicked...I mean seriously...it was a freaking 18" cross rail...) and after that he jumped very well. He flatted even better which made me happy :)
I took the night off from the barn today because I haven't been feeling so well. Two of my friends have already come down with the H1N1 strain of flu and I'm trying to avoid getting sick at all costs. Tomorrow I will go ride Johnny and then the farrier is coming to do his tootsies :)
More later. Wish us all good luck at our first show! We are leaving Saturday and showing Sunday down at OSU!
After that, I got my IHSA horse ready. He was a pretty lazy one...not my favorite to ride because he would perfer to just stick his nose out and drag himself around rather than come round and rock back on his haunches, but we did pretty well and got some nice compliments from M. I felt like my sitting trot was definetly better than the last practice. Sitting trot used to be my stong point! What happened? I have no idea....but I've been working on it with Johnny, which I feel like has helped.
I jumped him again the other night. He was pretty good aside from stopping the first time (for which he got his butt kicked...I mean seriously...it was a freaking 18" cross rail...) and after that he jumped very well. He flatted even better which made me happy :)
I took the night off from the barn today because I haven't been feeling so well. Two of my friends have already come down with the H1N1 strain of flu and I'm trying to avoid getting sick at all costs. Tomorrow I will go ride Johnny and then the farrier is coming to do his tootsies :)
More later. Wish us all good luck at our first show! We are leaving Saturday and showing Sunday down at OSU!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Let the Process Begin....
My trainer came the other day for a lesson and we worked through our Intro B dressage test to pin-point the problem areas. Overall, the test itself was pretty decent...the spots where I thought we would run into trouble (turn onto/off of center line and the halt) weren't actually bad at all (Johnny wanted to step right a bit in the hault but he corrects himself quickly when you catch him with your leg) but the places that I knew we would have trouble (aka the free walk) definetly needed some improvement. Not only that, but Johnny still has a hard time keeping his consistant 4-beat walk and 2-beat trot because of his weak left hock. From just a normal perspective, he looks just fine, but when an experienced eye (like a dressage judge) really breaks it down, you can see that he pushes harder with some legs than others. For example; his walk is more like a onetwo-THREE-four instead of a one-two-three-four because he swings his left leg in a bit when he brings it forward (to avoid having to fully use his hock.) There is no real "soundness" issue with him, just a weakness that hasn't been addressed prior to him becoming a riding horse...probably a little arthritis as well which I've been trying to manage with joint supplements and some yucca and devils claw. I'm also thinking about trying heat therapy on the area prior to work and seeing if that helps any...my own physical therapist reccomended it for me, and my problems arn't so different than Johnnys.
Anyway, in our lesson we worked on establishing the true gaits through some lengthening and shortening exercises to get his back up and his hind legs working underneith him. We also worked on his sitting trot, which is hard for him because he tenses his back muscles and makes it almost impossible to sit to. K had me work ona circle and move around on him, experimenting with a different way to move my hips to get him to break up his back tension. We found out that if you swing your hips more "side-to-side" for a while, he realeases then tension in his muscles and lets his back swing propery...and his sitting trot is actually quite comfortable!
At the end of our lesson, I rode the test again with a COMPLETELY different horse underneith me and we did really well...we even got a real free walk!
Unfortunatly, since then I've managed to come down with a cold and haven't ridden Johnny in two days. I ran him around (free lunged) in the indoor today and wouldn't you know that he cantered just fine on that sticky right lead. Not only was he balanced, but he also held it all the way around the arena, making circles and such also! I am thoroughly convinced now that he really just doesn't understand the leg cue for it (long story behind that one, but long story short...I am not the cause of that problem...really, I'm not.) because he seems perfectly confortable to canter on it and K's theory about his hock weakness being the problem clearly isnt the problem without a rider on his back. I think it may be more of a balance and understanding issue than anything. I'm sure we'll find out soon at least.
First IHSA show is this weekend...I hope this cold clears up by then because I almost DIED in practice today. Two rounds of no-stirrups with a cold doesn't work so well when the crap in your nose and throat is preventing you from breathing properly. I know you all wanted that visual ;)
Til next time!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Anyway, in our lesson we worked on establishing the true gaits through some lengthening and shortening exercises to get his back up and his hind legs working underneith him. We also worked on his sitting trot, which is hard for him because he tenses his back muscles and makes it almost impossible to sit to. K had me work ona circle and move around on him, experimenting with a different way to move my hips to get him to break up his back tension. We found out that if you swing your hips more "side-to-side" for a while, he realeases then tension in his muscles and lets his back swing propery...and his sitting trot is actually quite comfortable!
At the end of our lesson, I rode the test again with a COMPLETELY different horse underneith me and we did really well...we even got a real free walk!
Unfortunatly, since then I've managed to come down with a cold and haven't ridden Johnny in two days. I ran him around (free lunged) in the indoor today and wouldn't you know that he cantered just fine on that sticky right lead. Not only was he balanced, but he also held it all the way around the arena, making circles and such also! I am thoroughly convinced now that he really just doesn't understand the leg cue for it (long story behind that one, but long story short...I am not the cause of that problem...really, I'm not.) because he seems perfectly confortable to canter on it and K's theory about his hock weakness being the problem clearly isnt the problem without a rider on his back. I think it may be more of a balance and understanding issue than anything. I'm sure we'll find out soon at least.
First IHSA show is this weekend...I hope this cold clears up by then because I almost DIED in practice today. Two rounds of no-stirrups with a cold doesn't work so well when the crap in your nose and throat is preventing you from breathing properly. I know you all wanted that visual ;)
Til next time!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Catching Up
I know it's been a while since my last post...everything has been a bit crazy around here! The IHSA list came out and I am on the traveling (basically like varsity) competition team, which is super sweet! We've had two practices so far and both went really well! I'm very excited for our show season to start :) We kick off next month with an OSU show in October, followed by a home show here in November.
Other than that, riding at school has been going really well. The "post summer butterflies" seem to have abadoned me (thank god!) thanks to a very gracious man and his fabulous jumper mare. (I didn't read though my previous posts before writing this, so I don't know if I wrote about riding April or not...but in case I didn't here is the story: C and I went riding at a local trainers barn because he had hurt his back and I schooled his jumper mare over a 3'3" coarse and it just totally was what I needed to get out of my little jumping funk that I was in.) Today in my hunters class I rode Hawk, who used to show in the working hunters on the A-circut before he got donated to LEC. He's a great boy, but slightly tempermental and definetly can get a little pushy when he wants to. I've only ridden him once before (last year) and he basically dragged me around a jump coarse...needless to say I was interested to see how this ride was going to go. Wouldn't you believe that I actually rode him really well? My riding style has changed so much since last year...even M said something to me after class (our final exercise was a set of working trot poles on the short side (in two point) to a once stride (cross rail to vertical) on the quarter line to a three stride (oxer), lead change, then collected canter up the other quarter line to a set of three short bounce poles, then around to a vertical on the diagnol with a lead change after) Hawk and I had a little trouble getting the bounce poles (his avasion to collection is to be laterally incorrect) but after the third try we nailed it and afterwards M said "A million times better Kate!" she said "the old Kate would have just pulled him to the base of the vertical after it fell apart over the bounces, but you didn't do that at all...you sat up and you fixed it and got a beautiful jump with a clean lead change after...and Hawk HATES his right to left lead change."
Just hearing that made me feel so great! I was really proud of myself. I've always LOVED jumping for after my accident with Emmy I found myself to actually be a little fearful sometimes, something I had never experienced before. I wasn't thinking when I was doing a jump coarse, I was just praying that I didn't screw up. I'm happy to be out of that little funk!
Johnny has also been FABULOUS since coming to school. E has been really enjoying him and today we did some over fences work with him too. Not only did he jump his first one-stride, but he landed the canter in between the jumps on his BAD LEAD and then continued to canter on the bad lead after the second jump! I was so pleased! Multiple times he landed it perfectly! After that I had Erin canter him to a vertical on the diagnol with some flowers underneith it. They looked GREAT jumping together and E really rode him well. Johnny looked beautiful over the jump...he just has the best facial expression and his knees are getting quite tight and tidy. K got it just right the first time she watching him go...he is just so classically beautiful.
Oh, AND a complete stranger saw him the other day while E was riding and came up to ask me what he was. When I told her "Standardbred" was was like "Really?! He doesn't look it at all...he's got the most beautiful head...he's gorgeous!" I thanked her and told her how excited I was to hear that. He's really starting to fill out and look like a "real" horse! yay!
Thursday K is coming to do a lesson and work on his right lead. He actually canters on it just fine...he's just having a hard time associating the cue with the actual canter departure now that he's in a flat ring with real footing instead of a field. Hopefully K will have some better insight into a good way to re-teach him...I'm kind of running out of ideas.
Thats all for now!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
E and Johnny today after their ride :)
Other than that, riding at school has been going really well. The "post summer butterflies" seem to have abadoned me (thank god!) thanks to a very gracious man and his fabulous jumper mare. (I didn't read though my previous posts before writing this, so I don't know if I wrote about riding April or not...but in case I didn't here is the story: C and I went riding at a local trainers barn because he had hurt his back and I schooled his jumper mare over a 3'3" coarse and it just totally was what I needed to get out of my little jumping funk that I was in.) Today in my hunters class I rode Hawk, who used to show in the working hunters on the A-circut before he got donated to LEC. He's a great boy, but slightly tempermental and definetly can get a little pushy when he wants to. I've only ridden him once before (last year) and he basically dragged me around a jump coarse...needless to say I was interested to see how this ride was going to go. Wouldn't you believe that I actually rode him really well? My riding style has changed so much since last year...even M said something to me after class (our final exercise was a set of working trot poles on the short side (in two point) to a once stride (cross rail to vertical) on the quarter line to a three stride (oxer), lead change, then collected canter up the other quarter line to a set of three short bounce poles, then around to a vertical on the diagnol with a lead change after) Hawk and I had a little trouble getting the bounce poles (his avasion to collection is to be laterally incorrect) but after the third try we nailed it and afterwards M said "A million times better Kate!" she said "the old Kate would have just pulled him to the base of the vertical after it fell apart over the bounces, but you didn't do that at all...you sat up and you fixed it and got a beautiful jump with a clean lead change after...and Hawk HATES his right to left lead change."
Just hearing that made me feel so great! I was really proud of myself. I've always LOVED jumping for after my accident with Emmy I found myself to actually be a little fearful sometimes, something I had never experienced before. I wasn't thinking when I was doing a jump coarse, I was just praying that I didn't screw up. I'm happy to be out of that little funk!
Johnny has also been FABULOUS since coming to school. E has been really enjoying him and today we did some over fences work with him too. Not only did he jump his first one-stride, but he landed the canter in between the jumps on his BAD LEAD and then continued to canter on the bad lead after the second jump! I was so pleased! Multiple times he landed it perfectly! After that I had Erin canter him to a vertical on the diagnol with some flowers underneith it. They looked GREAT jumping together and E really rode him well. Johnny looked beautiful over the jump...he just has the best facial expression and his knees are getting quite tight and tidy. K got it just right the first time she watching him go...he is just so classically beautiful.
Oh, AND a complete stranger saw him the other day while E was riding and came up to ask me what he was. When I told her "Standardbred" was was like "Really?! He doesn't look it at all...he's got the most beautiful head...he's gorgeous!" I thanked her and told her how excited I was to hear that. He's really starting to fill out and look like a "real" horse! yay!
Thursday K is coming to do a lesson and work on his right lead. He actually canters on it just fine...he's just having a hard time associating the cue with the actual canter departure now that he's in a flat ring with real footing instead of a field. Hopefully K will have some better insight into a good way to re-teach him...I'm kind of running out of ideas.
Thats all for now!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
E and Johnny today after their ride :)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Johnny Goes to School
Johnny made the trip up to school yesterday evening. My best friend C came and picked him up from his home barn. The farrier had come in the afternoon to pull Emmy's shoes and put fronts on Johnny...I think both of the horses were really confused. Emmy hasn't gone barefoot in about 7 years (I expect her to be pretty lame at first) and Johnny hasn't had shoes in probably just as long. S did a FANTASTIC job with John's feet though. He walks funny, so the medial to lateral balance in his foot is all wrong. S used his special expoxy (I forget exactly what it's called...but he used to scuplt Emmy's feet with it all the time haha) to build up the inside of John's front hooves so that the shoe would sit level on his foot. It's a little bit like a cross between art and carpentry I think...the entire inside branch of his foot is fake now, but it looks amazing...his feet have never looked so good!!!
After we loaded up John's stuff, I said goodbye to Emmy (who seemed a little angry with me) we put John in the trailer. He rode well all the way up and was quite curious when we let him off at the new farm. His stall has a window that overlooks the driveway and the pastures, which I think he really likes. He likes to watch the people come and go :) E and I turned him out in the indoor while we moved the 4 jumps that I had brought into the arena. I figured it was probably good for him to just walk around in there and check the place out...he's never really been indoors before. The arena is large and beautiful with good footing. John was a little afraid of the doors at first, he kind of walked sideways around then, but when he realized that he could stick his head over the gates he was happy as a clam. I wanted so badly to put him out in the big grass field, but there was another horse out there and I didn't know the owner. Today he will get to go out :)
In other news, I have my IHSA tryout tonight and I'm very nervous. I don't even know why except to say that I had a tougher time yesterday in my Hunter class and now am feeling some self doubt. I know that I'm a good eq rider...but right now I feel totally out of practice.
More later to update on IHSA and John
Peace.Love.Ponies.
After we loaded up John's stuff, I said goodbye to Emmy (who seemed a little angry with me) we put John in the trailer. He rode well all the way up and was quite curious when we let him off at the new farm. His stall has a window that overlooks the driveway and the pastures, which I think he really likes. He likes to watch the people come and go :) E and I turned him out in the indoor while we moved the 4 jumps that I had brought into the arena. I figured it was probably good for him to just walk around in there and check the place out...he's never really been indoors before. The arena is large and beautiful with good footing. John was a little afraid of the doors at first, he kind of walked sideways around then, but when he realized that he could stick his head over the gates he was happy as a clam. I wanted so badly to put him out in the big grass field, but there was another horse out there and I didn't know the owner. Today he will get to go out :)
In other news, I have my IHSA tryout tonight and I'm very nervous. I don't even know why except to say that I had a tougher time yesterday in my Hunter class and now am feeling some self doubt. I know that I'm a good eq rider...but right now I feel totally out of practice.
More later to update on IHSA and John
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Home for the Weekend
First week of class didn't go bad at all...like I said in previous posts, I'm DYING for IHSA to start up again (tryouts next week!) and I LOVE my hunter class. I am soooo determined to do well this year and grow even more as a rider. I was 5th last year at Nationals and this year, I want that championship SO badly. If I could qualify in flat and fences that would be AMAZING (highly unlikely, but awesome none the less) and I want LEC to win our region so badly as well. This is just about all I can think about lately.
The good news is that it's been reflecting positively in my riding. I have determination to get things right on the first try...I want M to see that I am clearly making the changes to my riding. The only bad news is that I haven't had a single lesson all summer (ok, one but that was to work on Johnny not me and therefore doesn't count) and I think my equitation has suffered a bit. Last year, going into tryouts I was riding all the time with my trainer on a 3ft school master basically. All winter I worked on myself, and now I'm going into the first part of my season feeling totally unprepared. Although working with John has been amazing and a super awesome learning experience, I've barely jumped over 2ft this summer, but oh well I guess. I'm just going to ride my best and whatever happens will happen.
ANYWAY, as I said, I came home this weekend to pack up Johnny's stuff (he is offically shipping out Tuesday night) and because there was really nothing for me to do at school. I went to the tack shop this afternoon and got some more hoof oil, another tail wrap (because I seemed to have lost my spare...) and a really cute white baby pad with blue trim. I really wanted one of those while square jumper pads with the blue trim, but they were pretty expensive (over $50!) so I settled for the baby pad instead. It's the thicker kind, so I can still use it for a jumper schooling show or combined test. There's no rule against them...hehehe. After shopping, I went to the barn and got greeted by an especially happy Emmy and a decently happy Johnny (we don't have that relationship yet lol). Emmy got to go out first, so I groomed her and saddled her up. She was quite happy to see me and even happier to go out for a hack. After a short walk to warm up, we trotted and cantered down the street to the park (about a mile and a half) and took the loop around the dog park. The trail is nicely mowed grass and so I let her have a short little gallop up one of the small slopes. After that it was into the woods, down the ravine and across a wooden bridge, up another hill and back along the road to go home. Emmy was so happy! She cantered along with her ears flopping back and forth all the way home.
After I walked her out and took her tack off, I sent her out for grass while I got Johnny ready. The weather was perfect for riding...sunny yet cool and breezy so that the horses barely even sweated. Johnny and I did a shorter version of Emmy's dog park loop and when we got back to the barn we did some canter work in the front yard. He threw both leads easily and the canters each direction were smooth! He's getting shoes put on Tuesday afternoon...I'm super excited to see how much better he will move with more support!
Thats about it for today...more tomorrow!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
The good news is that it's been reflecting positively in my riding. I have determination to get things right on the first try...I want M to see that I am clearly making the changes to my riding. The only bad news is that I haven't had a single lesson all summer (ok, one but that was to work on Johnny not me and therefore doesn't count) and I think my equitation has suffered a bit. Last year, going into tryouts I was riding all the time with my trainer on a 3ft school master basically. All winter I worked on myself, and now I'm going into the first part of my season feeling totally unprepared. Although working with John has been amazing and a super awesome learning experience, I've barely jumped over 2ft this summer, but oh well I guess. I'm just going to ride my best and whatever happens will happen.
ANYWAY, as I said, I came home this weekend to pack up Johnny's stuff (he is offically shipping out Tuesday night) and because there was really nothing for me to do at school. I went to the tack shop this afternoon and got some more hoof oil, another tail wrap (because I seemed to have lost my spare...) and a really cute white baby pad with blue trim. I really wanted one of those while square jumper pads with the blue trim, but they were pretty expensive (over $50!) so I settled for the baby pad instead. It's the thicker kind, so I can still use it for a jumper schooling show or combined test. There's no rule against them...hehehe. After shopping, I went to the barn and got greeted by an especially happy Emmy and a decently happy Johnny (we don't have that relationship yet lol). Emmy got to go out first, so I groomed her and saddled her up. She was quite happy to see me and even happier to go out for a hack. After a short walk to warm up, we trotted and cantered down the street to the park (about a mile and a half) and took the loop around the dog park. The trail is nicely mowed grass and so I let her have a short little gallop up one of the small slopes. After that it was into the woods, down the ravine and across a wooden bridge, up another hill and back along the road to go home. Emmy was so happy! She cantered along with her ears flopping back and forth all the way home.
After I walked her out and took her tack off, I sent her out for grass while I got Johnny ready. The weather was perfect for riding...sunny yet cool and breezy so that the horses barely even sweated. Johnny and I did a shorter version of Emmy's dog park loop and when we got back to the barn we did some canter work in the front yard. He threw both leads easily and the canters each direction were smooth! He's getting shoes put on Tuesday afternoon...I'm super excited to see how much better he will move with more support!
Thats about it for today...more tomorrow!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Update
Johnny is coming friday!!! Yay!!!
I've been riding a lot the past couple days at school. Tuesday I rode three horses at the barn and today I had time just to hack one. My back flaired up a bit from all of the riding, but hopefully it will calm back down. I've been doing my phyiscal therapy exercises when I can. Tomorrow I only have one class, which is my hunter riding class out at the barn, which is going to be super fun! I will update after!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
P.S. IHSA tryouts are next week :)))
I've been riding a lot the past couple days at school. Tuesday I rode three horses at the barn and today I had time just to hack one. My back flaired up a bit from all of the riding, but hopefully it will calm back down. I've been doing my phyiscal therapy exercises when I can. Tomorrow I only have one class, which is my hunter riding class out at the barn, which is going to be super fun! I will update after!
Peace.Love.Ponies.
P.S. IHSA tryouts are next week :)))
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Back to School
Sorry it's been so long since my last update. It's been a difficult week, getting ready for school and I'm finally all moved into my apartment. Tomorrow E and I are going down to the barn so that she can try Johnny. I miss him and Emmy already :( The good news is that Monday we have an IHSA meeting, which I am SO EXCITED for and my Hunter class starts monday as well...where did summer go?
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
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