Our first Novice Horse Trial part 2 (pic heavy)

Evil cremello death stare

(The pictures are from our schooling session and not our show)

RB4 and I quickly untacked TWH and started walking the cross country course so I knew where to go.  The course looked like it may be rather small according the map, most jumps were pretty close to each other except for 5 and 6 which looked really out of place wayyyy off by themselves.  After some wandering to find the start box, we headed out.  Fence one was an easy coop and two was a stone wall.  Three was a log, 4 was a roll top and then there was a long canter to 5 and 6.  Like over 500 feet, it was a LONG haul back!  5 was a bench with a 4 stride to a ditch.  Great, a ditch.  TWH's favorite jump, not!  

7 was a coop and 8 was a roll top, up a hill to 9 as a log.  10 was go into water and jump up a small bank (yay for practicing during our schooling sessions!) to a corner for 11 and a big ass castle jump for 12.  It was on a slight incline and was very solid making it look huge.  Surprisingly, on the other side it looked like a small, nothing of a jump but from the approaching side, damn it made me nervous!  13 was another corner, 14 was a veggie stand, 15 a log and 16 a wall with a 90 degree turn to the finish and we had 5:15 to get it done.  Oh boy!

We got done with the course walk in time to eat a quick lunch and then get TWH tacked up.  They announced the placings were up so RB4 and I went over to see how dressage went.  My heart sank as I saw we had gotten a 40%, we were in 9th place.  I was disappointed because while I didn't think his dressage was spectacular, I didn't think it was THAT bad.  I kept my fingers crossed as we finished tacking up and made the fairly long trek down to the warmup only to find they weren't ready, warmup jumps hadn't even been put up yet.  After a lot of standing around and chatting with others, warmup jumps were finished and the first horse went out.  I took the opportunity to put TWH over the crossrail with the intention of going over the crossrail most of the time for confidence building, the vertical a couple of times and then the oxer right before we went out.  The issue was that the footing was horrible.  The warm up area had actual standing water on 75% of the grass footing.  As a result the footing in front of the jumps was horrible soft, deep and slippery.  Ugh!

We went over the crossrail a couple of times before trying the vertical as the vertical was very slightly higher and drier than the crossrail.  He took it okay so I put him over the oxer with the intention of calling the warmup done until the ride before us left.  As TWH came up to the jump, his hind end slipped and he twisted in the air over the oxer.  Thankfully he stayed upright and I stayed on, he gave a great effort to help us both stay that way too, but damn, not how I wanted to warm up.

When the rider before us left, I made him go over the 3 jumps again and while they were okay, they weren't great.  No time to fix it and no place to jump anything better, might as well go on course.  Jump one was okay, he took it a little funny as he was unsure of the footing but we went over it and went to the stone wall of fence 2.

Fence 2 he slid to an almost stop as he seriously considered refusing.  I had kicked as we approached and I jabbed him HARD with the spur, we were NOT going to let this be how our cross country run was starting.  He jumped fence 2 from almost a standstill and climbed over the fence.  Oh TWH, way to make us look good.

He got a seriously swift kick over fence 3 but he seemed much more in tune now and I didn't even add leg over fence 4 as we kept cantering along to find fence 5.  He took 5 without a problem but I knew the ditch was afterwards.  I was kicking in the air over fence 5 and he put on the afterburners in shock.  As a result, at the ditch of fence 6 he had way too much momentum to stop and we soared over it without even a blink.  Go US!  

Semi-regular occurrence.  How does one have 4 feet on the
ground in a canter?  And yes, he did/does jump it.

I let him cruise along for fences 7 and 8 and while I was getting tired, I wasn't having to apply much leg and he was jumping well.  The water was a little nerve wracking as I wasn't sure if he would go in but he did and jumped out perfectly.  So glad we practice every time we go schooling!

Fence 11 was easy though he jumped more towards the middle of the corner vs the edge, oh well.  Fence 12 was the intimidating one for me so I sat up and started kicking 4 strides out.  No surprise, TWH jumped it without even looking at it as all of the issues are in my head, not his.  At this point we were both getting really tired and I told him we only had 4 more to go.  13 was easy enough and 14 looked like a starter jump compared to some of the stuff we had been doing lol.  

Fence 15 was a big hanging log and I told TWH we only had 2 left, we could do it!  I kicked him more than I probably needed to to make sure we made it over and we headed to fence 16.  I was exhausted, I had been conditioning TWH but I hadn't been conditioning myself in 2 point.  I had made it up to 4 minutes of 2 point and here we were pushing 5 and still weren't done.  I helped him over fence 15 by sheer will (who am I kidding, I was a passenger at that point) and trotted over the finish line at 5:10, just 5 seconds slower than optimum time.  It was the very first time I have come so close to optimum, nothing like not being adequately prepared!

TWH got a nice rubdown, cookies and some liniment as we hung out for a couple of hours waiting for stadium.  I did a good bit of stretching as the xc ride had really put my lower back in knots, I knew I was going to be sore the next day.  I scolded myself for not being prepared in my 2 point, it was an unacceptable oversight that was unfair to TWH.  There is no reason I should be flopping around and still expect him to perform at 100% so I guess now I have homework. Bad rider.

We started to tack up as the Training level riders made their way over to the stadium course when I heard the scores had been posted for cross country.  I knew at least 2 people had been eliminated during cross country, I wondered where that put us?  I eagerly walked over to see where we were score wise, will stadium make any more of a difference?

Our first Novice Horse Trial part 1

After a dismal xc session several weeks ago, I brought TWH to a second xc schooling session the day after Mia's clinic. If he was still jumping spectacularly crappy, I would bump him down to Beginner Novice for the upcoming show. We got there and went over a ton of small, confidence building starter jumps before trying a beginner novice jump and he was great.  After about 2 dozen jumps I put him towards a novice jump and he was great, not at all like he was at the last session where I shook his confidence. Yay, time to try showing novice!

One of the biggest downsides of moving up a level is that you ride in the morning. That means you have to get up OMG early to make it and I really don't prefer that as I really enjoy sleeping! On Friday I woke up at 5a to start getting ready as I had to also work that day.  I gased up the truck, check the air in the tires, filled hay nets, packed the truck and trailer and the coolwer and went to work.  After work I bathed and clipped TWH and was actually able to take a shower and still be in bed by 8p but boy was I tired.  It is hard work getting it all done in a day! Two benedryl's ensured I fell asleep while the sun was still out but 4a still came awfully damn early. Thankfully the TWH stayed clean in his stall and didn't need a 2nd bath so after some last minute details being attended to, RB4 and I made the 1.5 hour drive to the show.

I was quite nervous of this show for many reasons. It was the first of the season. We didn't get a schooling show to 'warm up' on. We moved up a level. Neither of us had ever been to this facility before, so far TWH and I have always schooled the jumps before competition in some fashion. We also had a 1.5 hr drive to get there, what was I thinking!?! We made it to the show grounds in plenty of time however and despite almost forgetting my number (Thanks RB4!!!), we made it to the dressage warmup. TWH was nicely forward and relaxed however there was plenty of chaos as there were 2 rings going and no ring steward and things were behind. Great! I warmed up and then hung around waiting. When my division finally started, I warmed up some more but gave him another rest as there was still another 15 mins before our ride.  When the gal before us entered the ring, I went for one last warm up lap. TWH gave me the wrong lead in the canter and out of habit I booted him and immediately regretted it. Why did I do that?!? TWH was suddenly heavy and nervous.  He relies heavily on the riders confidence and approval and I had just told him he was a bad horse.  What a bad rider!! At home he would need a good 5-10 mins to settle back down and get his bearings back together and I had only 2. Ugh!  I tried to get him back to confident and relaxed and just could not.

The dressage test went okay, not spectacular but not too bad.  He was a little heavy and really didn't want to bend much to the right.  Finally coming down the last center line he showed me his frustration as he clearly stepped his haunches left through the halt. Ugh! With dressage over, we went back to the trailer and hung out for cross country.

Mia's clinic pt 2 (pics!)

The never ending onslaught of busy has temporarily broke. This, in combination with suddenly having 20 (!!!) followers gave me the time and motivation to blog. Thanks so much for reading!!

After a yummy lunch, SO went home and RB4 and I got Mia tacked up. She was much, much calmer and quieter after the dressage lesson. She only bellowed a couple of times which was a significant improvement. Mia did, however, seem really confused when I hopped back on her, wasn't she done?? Oh poor mare, not when you are to be a show pony! We walked around and hopped over some stadium fences to warm up and she was moving well. She didn't strech and GOOOO over the jumps like she did when we came to school so that was an improvement. We were going over the small oxer when I saw the clinician arrive, it's showtime!

No stretch and go?  Alright!

Mia's thinking cap is on!

This clinician just came back from Ocala, apparently she is riding 2* levels. Cool! She also seemed to like Mia and thankfully, Mia didn't seem to want to take off when I cantered her with the other horse. Win! I said I wanted to go over starter and BN jumps but to work up to it and I think the clinician was very accommodating. We started over a small log and then a small bench.

Jump!

Small bench?  No problem!

We made our way around the course and jumped all of the starter jumps without Mia even looking at them. Yay! I pointed to a BN hanging log I wanted to try and while Mia was a bit crooked to it, she jumped it without a problem AND didn't take off on landing.

Awesome!

Natural

We circled around and jumped a starter jump and pointed to a BN coop, I applied leg and over she went, I think she really likes to jump. We jumped several more BN jumps before I pointed her over a novice level bench. Hmm, would she do it? Novice sized? Not only did she jump it, she didn't seem to care that she did it!

We don't care 'bout no ditches!

Canter into water?  No probs!

After the second novice fence we called it a day, Mia was excellent. She rode well with other horses, she didn't freak when the other horse left us, she didn't freak when we left the other horse, she didn't take off, she didn't have a (serious) refusal and she did everything I asked. I am very happy with my mare!!

Banks aren't a problem

Down a bank?  Easy peasy

I was also happy with the cross country instruction, she wants me to sit up and back more and allow myself to be left behind if needed.  She also wants my hands to be wider to help funnel the horse where I want it. Uh, I had been doing that and had JUST changed my tactics, go figure.  While I often feel babysat with H, I felt this was an honest lesson which I really enjoyed.  Enough about Mia though, the next day was for TWH.

Mia's clinic pt 1

It was finally time to bring Mia to a clinic!  I was actually, in a small way, happy that the May 4th show had been cancelled. Happy for Mia anyway, devastated for TWH but I couldn't change it. The clinic comprised of both a dressage and cross country lesson with 2 different instructors. The dressage instructor is a fairly well known classical dressage instructor, I haven't had a real dressage lesson with a dressage instructor since I had moved over 3 years ago and was actually excited for their comments.

I started getting ready for the clinic by trailer loading training on Saturday. I certainly didn't want to fight Mia into the trailer on Sunday so after I hooked up and got the trailer loaded, Mia got to learn to load onto a trailer properly. Needless to say, I found something she wouldn't do for a treat! There was a lot of standing at the trailer door and then putting one foot in before she said No. Then she just refused. Oh mare! After a lot of strong groundwork and a dressage whip later, she decided to try again. While pointing her into the trailer I tapped her rump with the whip. After a few taps she decided to run me over as she ran between me and the trailer. A hard correction later, we tried again. After a few taps, she decided to again run me over but this time she failed as I was able to block her. She got some pretty stiff whacks with the whip to learn running people over is NOT okay and we walked to the trailer again. I presented her, tapped her rump and she literally JUMPED into the trailer! Yay mare! We practiced unloading and loading a few times and called it a day. Not a bad way to end a session though I would of preferred less trampling lol.

I was very pleased to NOT have to get up at 4a to get to the clinic and hauled out at a comfortable 9a with RB4. Loved my ride time! We got there in plenty of time and got Mia settled. Or tried anyway. She was eating and fairly calm but would NOT stop screaming for everyone/anyone. She was much worse than when we went xc schooling, apparently I have 'that' horse who doesn't hush up. Oh fun. Some slaps did get her attention a tiny bit better and we saddled her up. I had 20 mins to our ride time but if this is how she is acting, I wanted every second to calm her down. Ugh, green horses!

We walked her over to a spot for me to hop on and Mia let out another bellow and jumped on top of me, she body bumped me and stepped/scrapped down half the length of the outside of my boot. In doing so, the damn mare also broke my HS spur!! OH was I mad! I took the reins and went off on her, we had JUST had a conversation about running me over and now she also broke may GOOD show set of spurs?!? I gave Mia to RB4 as I went to the trailer and switched my spurs out. When I came back, Mia was much more relaxed. Maybe all she needed was a beating?

We made it to the dressage area with 15 mins to go and we walked around okay so we trotted. The trot was horrible. Fast, up, crooked, dropping shoulders, diving in/out, no relaxation at all. I tried some circles, transitions and laterals and when that failed I did the best thing I knew, I cantered to wear her out so canter we did. For a solid five minutes!!! Once she started, it was all I could do to keep her from taking off so we just started cantering big circles, little circles, serpentine lines, anything to burn up time. Finally she relaxed and stopped pulling on me to go faster so after a few more laps I asked for a trot and got it and had a very happy, quiet, relaxed mare under me. I can only assume she shipped separately from her brain and we had to wait for it to catch up with her lol.

The dressage lesson went quite well. the clinician really liked Mia's conformation and attitude (Ha! Her attitude NOW). Mia has a very free, natural walk that would get a 6-7 on a test as it is now. Her trot has a lot of movement and we were able to get Mia to relax and really swing through her back fairly quickly, about halfway through the lesson. Her canter has a good amount of drive and while we need to work on connection, she has a good foundation and is at a good spot considering her training. Yay! The most interesting thing about the lesson was the instructors critique of me, she really liked my upright position but actually wants me to lean forward a little to help Mia out. Leaning forward is something I worked hard at fixing all winter grrr!! She also said she would like my hands lower and wider until I reach at least training level. SERIOUSLY?!?! The 2 things I worked really hard to 'fix', this gal says to revert back. Ugh, you can't please them all I suppose.

We went back to the trailer with a much mellower mare and relaxed while we waited for cross country. SO was nice enough to bring us lunch which made it even better! Finally it was time to get ready, let's see how Mia does in a group.

Still here! A quick recap

Many apologies for not posting lately, things have been extremely busy in both my personal and professional life which has left me with little to no time to blog.  The 5 minute recap of the past 2 weeks are:

TWH's cross country schooling went poorly, it started off well and I overfaced him to a jump and really shook his confidence.  BAD BLOGGER!!  By the end of the schooling he was jumping novice fences again but wasn't jumping them as I would have preferred.  I will be going again on Sunday to school, next weekend I have our first big horse trial and I entered him in the novice level.  If he isn't 100% on Sunday, I will bump him down to beginner novice for his first show.

Mia's cross country schooling went amazingly, after explaining to her she should canter over logs and such, she was a rock star!  She didn't run off with me (though we came kinda close), she didn't buck or rear, I didn't fall off (though I did severely sprain my sprained finger) and there wasn't a single spook anywhere.  Win!

TWH's dressage is feeling super sexy, I can't wait to have it video taped so I can watch it.  If it looks half as good as it feels, he will clean up in his Novice show next weekend.  Win!

Mia's dressage is coming along too, we can now pretty comfortably canter both directions, do mini shoulder ins at the trot and are starting 10m circles.  We finally found a copper mouthed eggbutt bit that she doesn't mind for her dressage show bridle.  I only had to go through 3 other bits to get to it, she does NOT like the loose ring french snaffle, the augarian D ring or the waterford.  She is okay enough in a stainless eggbutt to use it for jumping but not for dressage.  What a picky mare, at least we got it sorted out.

I have a clinic with Mia on Saturday with a well known dressage instructor, I am excited!  H is a good instructor but she doesn't kick my butt in dressage like I think she should.  I am really looking forward to another persons perspective on a horse that is well suited for dressage.  We will then also have a cross country lesson afterwards, I am going to put her over starter AND beginner novice jumps.  Go Mia!

I did sprain my finger when going cross country schooling on TWH 2 weeks ago, jumping down a bank my finger got caught in his mane and just bent sideways a bit.  I shook it off and kept riding, I mean it hurt but no biggie.  Well the next day I rode Mia cross country and was dealing with her greenness, she lept into the water the first time we went down a 12" step into the water.  All was good till my velcro butt came into play, I stayed on but my poor finger took the brunt of the force.  I doubled over in pain for over a minute thinking it had surely broken.  Thankfully it hadn't but it was terribly swollen.  I gave it a week off and kept it in a finger splint until last weekend and have been going around fine.  When jumping TWH last night what happened?  Landed wrong and rebent that same.  damn.  finger.  OMG pain!  There is a noticeable, uncomfortable bulge at the last joint of my finger.  :(  I am going to wear the splint again and am going to tape the finger whenever I ride until this is fixed, my poor finger is not doing well.

Hopefully everyone is doing well, I am kinda keeping caught up on everyones blogs.  Hopefully next week will be much slower and I can catch up.  I have tons of pictures and just no time to post them.  Hopefully my next post will include details about the clinic and schooling!

Time for a dental visit!

A few weeks ago the vet was out for spring shots so after a rest in the checkbook, it was time for the dentist come out and took a look at everyone.  I was a little worried Mia, when Dr A was out in Nov/Dec he looked at her teeth and said she had very sharp molars.  He filed them done a little and Mia was quite kicky and tossed everyone around even with sedation.  The dentist I use uses hand tools and doesn't typically sedate horses.  The boys are fine with it but Ms Thang had me worried so I had grabbed a shot of Ace from Dr A when he was out and I gave it to Mia when the dentist arrived.  Time to let her cook!

He looked at TWH first and TWH had some really sharp edges that were creating sores on his cheeks.  Poor guy!  He wasn't nearly as offended as last year though and despite a couple of horrified looks, he handled the procedure quite nicely.  His teeth did take a while, almost double the time of the App's, so I am really looking forward to seeing if he rides any nicer tonight.  The dentist couldn't offer any explanation as to why his back molars were so sharp, it is just a thing and we will need to stay on top of it.  Can do!

We took a look at Mia and she was getting drowsy but was still alert so we moved onto the App next.  The dentist said the App was actually in very good shape, if I didn't want to do his teeth he would be fine.  I had him done anyway, no sense in letting mildly sharp edges get really sharp, but he said the App's teeth are still in very good shape for a coming 21 year old.  Go App!

We finally got to Ms Thang and the Ace had definitely taken it's hold upon her.  She is definitely not a lightweight and needs stronger doses of drugs, unlike the TWH who could just look at drugs and be higher than a kite.  It was enough to knock the edge off, however, and we got to work.  Mia had sharp top and bottom molars, the tops were about a 5 on sharpness from where Dr A had filed them down some in the Nov/Dec visit.  He didn't have a full speculum however and wasn't able to do a full float.  Her bottoms were about a 9 on a sharpness scale, ouch.  Time to file these bad boys down!

Mia was quite unhappy about her visit, she first clamped her mouth shut and refused to take the speculum.   The dentist had to mess with her for almost 2 full minutes before he could get her to open her mouth enough to slip it in.  Then she clamped her mouth down and he had a heck of a time getting the speculum open so he could work, oh mare!  He won out in the end though and got her started.  After he worked a bit, he was about to take a break and Mia actually tried to bite his arm!  He laughed at her and said he knew she would LOVE to tear his arm off but he wasn't going to let that happen with her mouth clamped open.  He gave her a break by closing the speculum but left it on for the entire exam, unlike the boys.  I don't blame him!

Mia fought to keep her mouth shut when he tried to reopen the speculum but eventually failed and we were able to finish her up.  She only tried to get away once and she didn't kick or throw anyone around which is a huge improvement from the end of last year.  The dentist even said to not sedate her next time, he thinks she will be good!  I am happy I got everyone done, just in time to go cross country schooling.  I am gave everyone the night off and am going to ride tonight, I am excited to see if there is a difference in Mia!

Jumping all the things!

I was going to do a dressage ride when I tacked the TWH up however when RB4 came over, she said she really wanted to see us jump instead.  Uh, okay, I am flexible.  Let's jump!  A quick tack change got us ready and we headed to the arena.  We set up a small course (because my arena is tiny) that consisted of an oxer along one wall, a vertical on the other and a vertical in the middle on an angle.

We warmed up alright, RB4 said he wasn't trotting the best but was okay when I was pushing him in contact.  TWH didn't feel super connected and was sloppy in his trot/walk transitions but I also wasn't riding with contact or collection so I dismissed it and finished warming up at the canter.  I started our work by going over a small 18" crossrail and it just kept seeming like he wasn't meeting the jump right even though he should have.  We set the oxer up and when I pushed to the jump, TWH would still not jump properly, adding a stride or taking an extra step before jumping.  This is what he was doing last year when he was actually injured and we dismissed it as inexperience or disobedience, this time after trying to jump for about 5 mins, I hopped off and we gave him a good inspection.  The only thing we found was the inside of his right hock was very slightly warm and may have had very slight fill when compared to his left hock.  He would also very lightly drag his toe in the dirt when walking.  That was enough for me to call the ride, I threw him in a stall while slathered in poultice and given bute for his trouble.  Oh horse, at least we don't have anything going on.  This morning he looked significantly better and wasn't dragging his toe.  I couldn't tell if he had any heat or not (likely not) but he still got more poultice and bute with breakfast.  I am not going to mess around!

After putting TWH away, I figured since the night was still young I might as well work another horse so I grabbed Mia.  I also grabbed my new jumping bridle with another new bit, let's see if she likes an eggbutt better.  After a quick warmup I pointed her at her warmup fence, a tiny 12" crossrail.  She jumped it a bit big but nicely and we moved steadily up from there.  A 18" crossrail became a 2' vertical and the oxer became a 2' oxer with a 2.5 foot spread!  When I can get Mia to the jump at the correct distance and speed she jumps REALLY well.  Our current task is getting her to be just a little flexible, she needs to slow down in front of the jumps overall and to also listen to the speed I request to get her there.  She already has the "locked on" feature and once she locks onto the jump, she wants to just GO.

Our final test of the night was getting her to jump her very first solid obstacle, we put a barrel under the middle vertical and I set her up to jump it.  She looked at the barrel in a confused fashion and tried to go to the left and then tried really hard to go to the right, around the jump.  I was able to keep her pointed at the jump and she came to a nice stop.  Thankfully it wasn't a dirty stop, just one of her fairly typical "I am going and I want to stop now so I just stop" stop's but it still warranted her getting into trouble over it.  She got a yank on the rein and a couple of boots with a spur and when I presented it a second time she jumped to the right and twisted over the jump, but she did it!  Her very first solid jump was easy and didn't have any shenanigans!  We went over it a third time and it was ok, the fourth time I half halted her with my seat to set her up and she listened(!!!), we met the jump perfectly, she jumped perfectly and I called that a night.  What a good mare!

I was very pleased with this jumping session.  She seemed to like the new bit, success!  She also hadn't actually jumped off of a grid before and she saw things she hadn't ever jumped before like an oxer and a barrel.  She still needs to learn how to control her speed and to let me help her place her to the jump but she was amazing.  Cross country schooling is this coming weekend, let's see what we can do between now and then!