The Lost Week

Well, crap. I didn't get to ride this weekly hardly at all! Monday-Thursday was pure craziness, then Friday I longed him over some jumps at the request of my trainer and couldn't ride as long as I wanted to. Today, I went out to go ride and not a soul was there! I'm not a huge fan of riding completely alone when it's this cold; so I cleaned my stall in the hopes that someone would show up. No, of course not. That would just be too easy ;) So I came home. I will definitely ride tomorrow, but this week just feels like it's been a gigantic waste. I'm beginning to realize that our first event is in not very far away... just the 3 weekend in May! The first XC schooling we'll try to go to is in March. I'm getting very excited, but I'm feeling a little unprepared.

Here's hoping next week goes more according to plan.

The no-longer-quite-as-elusive One Stride

For the longest time, one of my biggest issues with Val has been my complete inability to get the typical "horse" stride- 12ft- out of him. The key word in that sentence, sadly, is "my". He has no issue whatsoever with getting a "horse-sized" stride with other riders. So, it's clearly something I'm doing to hold him back.

We've tried many things- my trainer has even watched as I "pushed" him right after landing, clearly asking for him to speed up and take the jump in one stride, and seen him ignore my signals and take it in two. And she got on right after that incident, and he gave it willingly to her! It felt like even if I was doing everything right, he was convinced I wanted two strides. Which, when I was a less forward, less confident rider, I did! I wasn't ready for him to be that forward. That's not the case anymore.

So, today, we tried a different approach- I had a lesson, and after I jumped a simple cross rail a couple times, we turned it into an oxer and built a cross rail in front of it. It was set on a short one-stride distance- 18'. Gradually, we built it up all the way to 22', an-almost-standard one-stride distance, and not once did we get two strides! That was definitely a good moment.

My lower leg position was much better today, and my toes were even pointing in the semi-right direction! Unfortunately, my upper body had become locked and stiff. I wasn't hitting Val in the mouth or landing on his back, but I was like a completely rigid board he had to carry. By the end, I was bending- bending in my elbows, bending in my hips... getting closer to a more fluid jumping position.

The only negative part of the lesson was Val's inattentiveness, at times. He was so excited to be jumping, and so confident in his abilities, he felt that he could go as fast and disorganized as he pleased. He didn't need MY input; he knew how to jump! Well, we set that straight with a few circles before and after the fence, and he had calmed down and was just taking me to them instead of rushing towards them at the end. A very productive lesson, overall.

Yesterday, I had planned to jump some little stuff, but the arena was terribly crowded and both Val and I were sick and TIRED of being inside. It was a fairly nice day, and although it was incredibly muddy, we decided to head off into the wild blue yonder for a trail ride.

There is something about being alone while you're with your own horse that's amazing. When you spend as much time with them as I do, you feel like you know them inside and out. You know when they're tense; when they're going to spook at something. You know if they have devious thoughts of barreling back toward the barn at a gallop. And you also know when you can trust them.

I trust Val. We were out in the open, for the first time in several months, and I didn't even get on or canter him once inside the arena. I took him off the cross ties, bridled him, and hopped on. And I had a fantastic ride. We went in and around some of the light woods at the back of the property. We rode a little near the pond. We even "schooled" water via going through puddles. I even let him canter a little when we turned around. We were on the back stretch; not the actual path that led straight to the barn, but I could feel him thinking "barn!" and I let him pick up a slow gallop anyhow. And when I asked, he came right back down. He thought about not, but the thing is, he did.

Sometimes I wonder if I trust him too much. But other times, I think that a lack of trust in your horse is what causes some of the worst accidents, especially jumping accidents. If you're pointing you horse at a fence and you're simply not sure if they'll go or not, it is incredibly easy to pass your uncertainty on to them. And one thing I know about horses is that they (at least all the ones I've been acquainted with) aren't big fans of things their riders are unsure of. Anyone that rides cross country has got to trust their horse; we owe it to them to not create some self-fulfilling prophecy with our own doubt.

And that's my deep thought of the day, I suppose. Sadly, I have to stay at school very late this week for newspaper, which pretty much means I can't ride, not with the amount of homework I have to do. Best case scenario, I'll get to ride again on Thursday. Ah, well.

Hind Legs and Energy

We had a really good lesson on Monday. Despite the fact that we walked for 95% of it, I feel like I learned some incredibly important things.

I warmed up Val myself for around a half-hour while my instructor, C, was giving the lesson scheduled before mine. I went back into the "he WILL stretch and connect" mindset and got him to stretch and continue stretching even when I collected the reins. D, my instructor's instructor, made a comment I found interesting a few weeks ago. She said, if you have to shorten reins from the walk to the trot, or the trot to the canter, you know they're not stretching forward to and accepting the bit. Their neck shouldn't shrink; they should still be stretching forward to your hands. The rein length you use for the walk should be the same for the trot and canter.

When the other students were gone, we started a pretty simple exercise. We have mirrors on the F-M side of the arena, so we worked on that side. We started at M, tracking right. The idea was to leg yield to X, then switch to haunches in (in to the BEND, so although his haunches were technically to the left/ "B" side of the arena, they were to the inside of his LEFT bend in the leg yield) for a few steps, then straighten to the mirror and turn left, INTO the wall. We circled at that end of the arena until we were ready to go again, then we did it the other direction.

It sounds pretty simple, and it mostly was. The big things she talked to me about were his hind legs and how his energy moved through his body. When we're leg yielding from M to X, his LEFT hind leg is coming up under his body and pushing him forward. The energy is going from his left hind leg up through the left rein.

When we switch to doing the haunches in, although we don't change bend, it's now his right leg that's coming up under him and pushing him forward. At first, that really had me confused. How could that be when the bend hadn't changed? Then I realized it was direction that had changed. He was now just going forward; he wasn't traveling to the right anymore.

C fixed a little hole I was developing in our leg yields- I've always heard her say that you don't want the hip just trailing along, so I ended up over correcting and asking for his hips to move exactly with his shoulders. They're technically supposed to be just a teeny bit behind in a correct leg yield, so we fixed that by either speeding up the shoulder or slowing down the hip. Crazy-technical stuff!

We also worked on getting a really nice connection to the outside rein and using it with the inside leg to establish correct bend, especially on the circles after the haunches in part of the exercise. Val always likes to throw his haunches to the left, no matter what direction we're going. So, inside leg and outside rein, with a light tap of the whip on his hip, would get him to straighten up.

At the very beginning of the lesson, she finally found a way to explain how I should be sitting in the saddle so that I finally get it. I always have a dip inward in my lower back, and that's kind of interfering with my ability to shock absorb. You want a bit of a curve there when you're jumping/in two-point, but when you're riding dressage and trying to sit the trot, your lower back needs to be straighter. It's a feeling of tucking your hip bones under. If you stand up and place one hand on your stomach and another on your butt and push a little, that's how it's supposed to be. It was really hard for me at first to do it at all; I would end up accidentally pushing the entire opposite way. But whenever I did figure it out for a whole circle or so, Val would stretch forward to my now steadier hands and soften to the bit without my even asking, just because I was sitting better! That's something we'll have to experiment with to perfect.

We finished up by cantering a circle, again messing with Val's hind end. We wanted his hips in line with his shoulders, so it was more inside leg to outside rein, with an open inside rein to encourage his hips to come a bit more to the inside. It took a while, but he finally got the idea and it was just amazing to feel his balance shift! He has never been quite that round, up, and balanced in the canter. It truly felt like the beginning of collection.

So, a pretty fantastic lesson from beginning to end. :) We have another scheduled for Friday and I've got to admit, I'm itching to jump at this point!

Actual riding!

Ah, at last! When I finally got the opportunity to put butt to saddle on Monday, Val had a lot less energy than I expected. I even longed him a bit first, just to see if there was anything totally wacky in there. He didn't even buck once, and after just a few minutes, I hopped on. Things were a bit crazy- the indoor was in heavy use by the lesson kids. My trainer was on one end, giving a girl a longe-line lesson over jumps. At the other end, another instructor was teaching a girl to really sit the canter correctly and to do transitions within that gait, and they were on a circle, too.

When you consider that our arena is 20m wide (about) by 50m long (maybe)... it was tight! The other instructor eventually had her girl leave the circle, but still, 4 people going around a small arena with a big chunk cut off by a longe-circle is... tricky. Especially when Val and I hardly ever just stay on the rail, although we kind of had to that day.

The actual rides on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all pretty much the same. Val felt like he was rushing and just not really connecting to the bit or softening and bending at all. My bad habits had come back, as they are wont to do after 3 weeks without riding. I was using way too much inside hand and having trouble keeping it from crossing over his neck. Also, I had major "duck feet" going on, as I usually do.

My instructor's instructor, who we'll call D, was in the arena on Tuesday. I could see her watching me and Val, and I instantly got very nervous. In the past, she's watched me and then told my trainer some things, which I don't mind at all. But I feel like I'm a reflection of how well my trainer is teaching things, and whenever she watches me, I feel instantly like I have to do my absolute best. Val MUST be on the bit every single second. We can't be overbent, we can't have too much bend. We can't have a sluggish transition, too much angle in our shoulder-in, not enough crossover in our leg yields... we need to be perfect when D watches us!

Obviously, that's impossible to do. I can't just magically start riding perfectly when D starts watching, and she's going to see our bad moments from time to time. Either way, the only thing she said to my trainer was that I was posting a bit behind my horse's motion. Not surprising, considering how nervous I was.

Anyhow, after those three mediocre rides, I was supposed to have a lesson on Friday. My trainer ended up not being able to be there on time, so I decided to just ride myself, since I was already on Val and I didn't want to sit and wait for what would've been 40 minutes. D was there again, this time riding her amazing old show horse.

This horse, Breeze, is about the coolest horse I've ever met. He's a paint, and he used to successfully compete at Intermediate! Of course, this means that I worship the ground he trots on ;) He's 25, but according to D, he hasn't changed a bit since his competition days. And I have never seen a horse that has a motor the way he does!

You watch D riding him, doing all manner of complicated dressage moves like 3 tempi changes and canter half-passes and pirouettes and you think, wow, he's so controlled! But under that calm facade, he's got a 1200 HP engine. All it takes for him to go from a nice walk to a dead run is for D to stop giving the invisible cue that tells him not to. He never, ever had problems making Intermediate speed, and he loves to run. D says that he was the most amazing horse XC- he just loved it; he never looked at anything and he really relaxed when he could just go out in the open.

Anyhow, the first part of our ride on Friday was just as terrible as the first three this week. D, fortunately, had her attention taken by Breeze, so I wasn't really being watched. Still, things weren't good. Val had PLENTY of energy on Friday, and he was choosing all manner of ridiculous things to spook at. I started just trying to loosen him up, letting him trot, and canter if he wished, on a fairly loose rein, just asking for him to stretch and bend. I then shortened the reins up after maybe 10 minutes and started asking for more roundness. In hindsight, I think he need more "stretchy" time. We were doing a serpentine and had just reached the place where I was going to change bend when he spooked at the door.

It was a pretty hard spook for him; he squirted sideways rapidly and did about a 60 degree change in direction. For the first time, his spook didn't get my heart absolutely pounding. It didn't even really unbalance me at all! We just continued on and made another pass at the door, with me insisting it was NOT scary and that yes, he could trot right by it. That made me pretty proud. :)

He was concerned at two other places in the arena, but he only spooked the once. It was shortly after the spook that D was done warming up Breeze. She was putting him through his paces, and so Val and I just went into the middle and watched him. He is a fascinating horse to watch. After he had preformed his extensive repertoire, including his super-fast run, D stayed on him for a bit longer and I could just see the change... he was calmer now. After they got off, I started riding Val differently.

I loosened the reins again and I absolutely insisted that he stretch. We worked on that until he was stretching and bending. Then, I did a walk to canter in one corner and rode several circles, working on him being forward and up. He was happy to oblige. Then, I just let him go. He did a couple laps of the arena before he was done, then we came down into a nice stretchy trot and took a bit of a break. He was no longer constantly hopping in the trot, trying to canter. He didn't feel like he was all pent up.

Then, we shortened our reins back up and we worked. We started with another walk to canter on the other lead and did one more lap of the arena, then I collected his canter back and he just did it willingly. I put my reins in a bridge and I refused to pull my inside rein over his neck, which also helped.

We started doing one of my favorite things- walk to canter serpentines. He's just so good at them; he comes down to the walk without a fight and he takes only the softest cue to pick up the canter again. While D was riding Breeze, they worked on canter halfpasses. Val and I can do okay halfpasses in the walk, iffy ones in the trot, and we'd never tried in the canter. We tried today.

We recently got mirrors on the small side of the arena, so you can now see yourself in them head on when you go down the long side. I got a nice, collected canter from Val, and then I just asked him to do a canter halfpass to the right. Imagine my surprise when he did! I could see that he really was maintaining his right bend in the mirrors, and although he didn't have huge crossover, he was bring his hips and shoulders together, not just oozing to the right with his shoulders. Not bad for a first try!

We played with that a bit the other direction, did another walk-to-canter serpentine, and came down to the trot and had a bit of a break. We went back to work and used the mirrors to do haunches in both directions. Then we did some leg yielding and picked up the trot. I asked him to be round and forward, and he was. We did some transitions, and then I let him really stretch down. I gradually slid the reins and he just followed the bit until he was doing our best-ever stretch down trot. I'm usually lucky if I get his poll level with his withers- he held the stretch below his withers for a bit! D actually saw us doing our stretch down, and she commented on how nice it looked. :) My trainer came in toward the end and also saw some of the work and said it looked pretty good, too.

After that, he got huge loves and was done. I walked him for a while so he wouldn't be too sweaty, then I got off. It was definitely our best ride in a very long time. We have a lesson later day, and I've got a feeling that will go well.

Overall, I've learned how important your mindset is. As soon as I decided that yes, he was going to be a dressage horse today and I was going to do the right things with my hands and shoulders and legs... things just fell together. Positive mental attitudes are difficult to beat! I just hope we can summon that feeling for our first real dressage test of the year...

The Schedule

Just reiterating this from an earlier post and adding to it possible XC schooling dates and dressage shows, for my reference.

Possible Shows
May 2-3 Kansas City Dressage Spring Competition
May 15-16 Mill Creek Pony Club H.T. at Longview
May 29-30 Briar Fox Spring H.T.
Jun 12-13 Queeny Park H.T.
Jul 17-18 Heritage Park H.T.
Jul 24-25 Briar Fox Farm Summer H.T.
AECs???
Oct 30-31 Briar Fox Fall H.T.

XC Schoolings
Longview
March 14-15
March 28-29
April 4-5
April 11-12

Schooling Shows
Heritage
May 2
June 20
August 22

Combined List
March 14-15 Longview XC Schooling
March 28-29 Longview XC Schooling
April 4-5 Longview XC Schooling
April 11-12 Longview XC Schooling
May 2 Heritage Park Schooling Show
May 2-3 Kansas City Dressage Spring Competition
May 15-16 Mill Creek Pony Club H.T. at Longview
May 29-30 Briar Fox Spring H.T.
Jun 12-13 Queeny Park H.T.
Jul 17-18 Heritage Park H.T.
June 20 Heritage Park Schooling Show
Jul 24-25 Briar Fox Farm Summer H.T.
August 22 Heritage Park Schooling Show
AECs???
Oct 30-31 Briar Fox Fall H.T.

The End is Near!

Finally, after a very, very long run of very, very cold temperatures... we're going to have a full week with highs above 30 degrees! I'm completely ecstatic to get back on Val tomorrow and start up with dressage again. I feel like shouting huzzah and dancing around in the streets, I'm so happy!

We should get in a solid week of work on our dressage, and then we'll probably have a lesson on Saturday. For the first ride back, I want to keep it simple and just work on our basics, making sure that we have forward and that he's really connected to the bit.

And you know, I did have plans to go on a snowy trail ride, but I couldn't get out when the snow was still fresh and fluffy. It was so deep by the time we came back from visiting family and there was a crust on the top, so our wonderful snow-trail ride plans were put on the back-burner. We'll have to hold on to hope for a nice, light, 3" of snow that we can go exploring in.

Upper-level Dressage and Event Riders Without Helmets

This is something that's been bothering me for a long time. It's my personal decision to wear a helmet every time, every ride. I've been on a horse without one once, for 10 minutes, because my trainer insisted I get on and feel the changes she'd made to my horse. It was almost a year ago, and I honestly think that today I would run and get my helmet before getting on. I doubt 2 minutes would really make that much of a difference. I remember the shame I felt when one of the boarders at my barn walked by and saw me; I was completely mortified and it spoiled any enjoyment I might have gotten from my horse, who did feel amazing: light, up, and forward. So, wearing a helmet is very important to me.

It doesn't bother me (much) when others around me choose not to. I feel it's irresponsible and a foolish risk, but I keep those feelings to myself, because everyone has a right to make that choice. My barn has only a few weird eventers like my trainer and I, and even she doesn't always wear a helmet.

One thing I love about eventing is that most of us are truly horse people who love having a partnership with the horse and enjoy spending the time to make sure our horses are properly cared for. For the most part, that respect and concern for our horses causes us in turn to respect and care for our bodies the best we can. Helmets are required in all three phases, except in upper-level dressage. Safety vests are required for cross country, and we have to wear our medical armband for both stadium and cross country. Helmets are actually required to be worn by anyone mounted on the event grounds.

I realize I'm making some generalizations about eventers, and I also realize that there are people who care about their horses and their own welfare just as deeply as some eventers do. My point is that, while I know it can't be said that all upper-level eventers are of the "every time, every ride" school of thought regarding helmets, I'm willing to bet there are quite a few who are. And if this is true...

Why don't they wear helmets during the dressage phase? If they care enough to ride with one every single time they're on a horse, why don't they do it during one of the competition phases? It seems incredible to me that anyone could set aside such a conviction for wearing helmets for one ride. It just seems that it sends the wrong kind of message to people who look up to them: "Once you get our level, you don't have to wear a helmet on the flat anymore." I also don't think that's the attitude that every single eventer has!

There has to be at least one upper-level rider who cares enough to wear a helmet 100% of the time. Why don't they wear a helmet during dressage? If someone like Karen O'Connor or Philip Dutton showed up wearing a helmet to a dressage test during a 4*, I'm sure people wouldn't stop talking about it for a long time, but they wouldn't be eliminated. EV114 in the 2009 rule book states that a top hat should be worn if tails are worn, but it also says that "protective headgear" may be worn without penalty. I don't know if that means they couldn't wear a shad belly, but either way, it's possible to do!

If there is one 4* eventer out their who believes helmets are to be worn every ride, why don't they wear them during the dressage phase? How could they worry so much about image or be so caught up in the status-symbol of wearing a shad belly and top hat that they put aside their beliefs a couple times a year? I just don't understand that frame of mind.

Also, no one wears helmets for Grand Prix dressage! Why? Sure, by the time you make it to the upper levels of these sports, you're probably not going to fall off if your horse spooks. Still, it's possible. What if your horse trips and falls? What if the judge's stand is blown down by a freak gust of wind and scares the bejeesus out of your horse?

I understand it will never be mandatory at that level, and I do think people at that level should have a choice about weather or not they were a helmet. They do have that choice, though, and no one does.

I would love to know why. And I would be really pleased to find out that I'm wrong and someone already does! Can anyone offer insight as to why no upper-level event or dressage riders wear helmets?

Redesign!

Well, I hadn't messed around in photoshop in forever and I was getting bored with the current layout so, ta-daa!

A product of snow boredom, but I think it's kind of pretty :) School has been canceled for the rest of the week! And although it is kind of nice, I'm getting bored. It'll be over all too soon, though, and then I'll be wishing we were out of school again! Although the way this winter's shaping up, I think we'll have at least a few more snow days.

I went out to take care of the boy and he was very happy to see me. He's definitely bored- he played with the fork while I was cleaning his stall, and when I blew on his nose, he raised it up and nuzzled me very gently in the face. His breath whoofed out and fogged my glasses, but it was pretty sweet. Very un-Val-like behavior, though. He's going crazy too!

Reminiscing...

Since I'm cooped up inside for the next few days, I thought I'd blog about one of our shows from last season: the Mill Creek Pony Club H.T.

The MCPC H.T. is held at Longview Horse Park, which is barely 30 minutes away. We get the opportunity to school there at least twice a year, and they also have combined tests from time to time. It's a beautiful facility, and it really kind of feels like it's our "home" show, more so than Heritage Park.

When I did my first BN there, I had high expectations. I'd ridden there a lot, and I'd schooled the entire BN XC course twice! Our dressage was going well, our jumping was going well... I wanted to win and I felt like we had the capabilities to pull it off. Of course, that didn't exactly pan out.

Dressage didn't go so well. We ended up with a 37.9, and it was just a rushed, blah kind of test. That score pretty much put us out of the running, but I still had hopes to finish well. XC and stadium can really change things up sometimes.

We went off to XC confident and assured. From the very first jump, Val was fantastic. It was the first time I ever felt him "lock on" to the jumps and really take me to them. We went through a whole 2/3 of the course foot perfect before we were flagged down and told we were eliminated.

To make a long story short, we had jumped the identical novice-sized fence that was right next to our beginner novice fence early on in the course; it had taken them that long to relay ahead and catch us! We successfully negotiated the ditch to up-bank combo, which made me pretty proud, as Val had only seen a ditch once before.

Anyhow, I can't even really explain how disappointed I was. One stupid mistake and it was all over! I really wanted to ride the next day, though, and my trainer pointed out that I could probably get a courtesy ride, since it was just a technical elimination.

I went up to the grounds jury, who immediately agreed to let me ride the next day. We had one of our best stadium rounds to date, except the one at the AECs! That show really taught me a lot, and even though we were eliminated, I still had a good time. I can't wait to go there again this year; I really think we'll do better this time.

I think this is pretty much the line up for the year:

May 15-16 Mill Creek Pony Club H.T. at Longview
Jun 12-13 Queeny Park H.T.
Jul 17-18 Heritage Park H.T.
Jul 24-25 Briar Fox Farm Summer H.T.

None of those are over 3 hours away! There was also talk of doing one out of town show; maybe heading back to Lamplight for either Wayne DuPage or Maui Jim, or possibly doing Champagne Run again. My trainer also mentioned a desire to see the Colorado Horse Park, and that falls on Queeny Park's dates, so it's all very up in the air. I'm getting very antsy being cooped up inside. This season is going to be so much fun! :)

Insanity

I honest to goodness feel like I'm being driven a little crazy. We have had some ridiculously cold weather here- the highs have been below twenty for a very long time now, and the temperatures have been too cold to ride. We've had well over 8" of snow and there are some drifts out at the barn that are at least 18"-24" tall! Even if the temperature does poke its nose above 20, the windchill gladly brings it back down to ridiculous.

The poor horses are going stir-crazy locked in their stalls, and I'm going crazy from being home from school for the past forever without the ability to ride! I love snow, but it's keeping me from the one activity I truly love to do.

To top it off, I keep day-dreaming about going to an event and doing cross country again. I can't get the idea of galloping out of that start box, cool, calm, and assured, out of my head. I can't wait until that moment. I hate that my last cross country round was so terrible, and I just feel like I need to get out there and rectify that.

So, I'm going crazy all around. Just for a weather update, if you're curious:
We're getting another 4-6" of snow tonight. The temperature tomorrow will be around 22. It'll be below 10 on Thursday with a low of -15 and the HIGH will be 0 on Friday, with a low of -12. The wind chill on Friday? -35 degrees! I don't even think I can comprehend how that is going to feel. Luckily, that's shavings day, so I'll have plenty of time traipsing around the barn to truly grasp it.

When the moisture in your nostrils freezes and you're reluctant to breathe in the air, you know it's cold.

Rant over. On the plus side, it might be above freezing on Sunday! All the snow might melt, and I might finally be able to ride again. Fingers crossed!

I am incredibly envious of anyone that's able to ride right now. Enjoy it, you lucky ducks! :)