Jade update

I have to give S a lot of credit.  She is a GREAT horse owner.  When she offered the mare to me to ride, little did she know she'd get a fair amount of 'advice' by way of this blog ;)  Jade is now on Quiessence and U Gard, and I think that plus the warm (hot) weather has done a LOT to bring Miss Mare down to quiet mare.  I think about the first time I rode her in the upper ring, and it was an Act of God that I didn't fall off her at that point I think!  Spooking, spinning, barging into the rail tracking left, crow hopping ... there was just a whole lotta dram llama going on.

This past Sunday, after persevering for roughly 7 months, Jade won 2 red ribbons for S, and  yellow one for me ... out of 10 ish horses.  Proud would be an understatement!

Jade has gone from tense, generally pissy and unhappy, and pretty dang spooky to relaxed and ear-floppy with barely a spook there.  In fact, it's become a RARE thing for me to have to spin her during a ride.

Our rides used to feel somewhat frustrating and literally painful for my back sometimes because she would get so hollow and quick.  Looking back, I think a turning point for us was when I finally slapped the draw reins on her.  Ever since then, she's been quick to come onto the contact, she's happy to trot quietly with me doing virtually nothing, and the jump work has been pretty darn relaxed and slow.

I took a lesson from the barn owner last week, and it was interesting.  She came right out and said I was not going to learn anything NEW or earth shattering; I already have a strong depth of knowledge and understanding, and what we were able to do was have a philosophical discussion about Jade's brain and her idiosyncrasies (sp?).  The lesson went GREAT.  I jumped her around a full course, and had to circle ONE time; in retrospect, she was tired, her attention span was probably shot, and her tolerance level for being perfect had reached the boiling point.  I pushed the envelope, and ended up extending the lesson by about 10 minutes while I circled and arm wrestled her, but finally got what I wanted in the end, but I SHOULD have left well enough alone and ended on a note that was pretty close to perfect ... for HER.

Sunday morning, Jade was pretty upset about the hubbub atmosphere, and was nervous pooping and barrelling around at the end of the reins.  My ONLY plans were to school her for S, b/c S's trainer KNEW Jade would be upset and that synapse would mis-fire, and she would lose her brain for a little bit.   After being in the thick of the atmosphere, I took her off  by herself to the roundpen to mount, and it's like she looked around, took a deep breath, and told herself she could DO it :)  We walked into the ring calm and happy, and she was PERFECT tracking left, her hard way.  Barely batted an eye.  I saw no point in cantering, b/c S entered w/t classes, so I reversed to track right.  Ruh Roh!  She lost her sh!+.  She spun away, gave a little half rear, a little kick out, and tried REALLY hard to bolt away from ... who knows what she was spooking at.  I didn't have her in any type of martingale due to the fact that it was a hunter show and she was showing in flat classes, and boy, in that moment I sure wish I'd had SOMETHING on her.  I circled around, approached the long side again, and a AGAIN.  She flung her head up and got so hollow that she unseated me, and for an instant, I was SURE I was going to hit the ground.  Somehow, though, I recovered, circled the heck out of her, and continued tracking right, but this time, as a circle.  Gradually, I worked her closer and closer to the long side so that I made a somewhat straight track up the quarter line, and left it at that.

S got on, went to the lower ring to get her bearings for a few minutes, and I talked her through it, then into the show ring they went!  Perfection, that's all I have to say.  S didn't get tense, Jade went around like she was the happiest thing in the world, and they left with a red ribbon :)

I encouraged her to go back in there and do one more, and the 2nd was an even bigger class than the first, and another red!  Amazing, awesome day :)  She encouraged ME to do a class, and I agreed to enter the "novice crossrails".  In the warm up ring, I did nothing but w/t, then just relaxed under a tree for awhile.

I walked into that ring, picked up the world's slowest trot, and approached the first jump.  She was so asleep, I think it took her by surprise!  She jumped around slow and relaxed until the line we'd had issues at in my lesson.  She did a little "run and scoot" over the 'out' of a line going towards her pasture in the last 2 strides, but I quickly reorganized and pointed her to the final line where she basically trotted over the 'in', landed trotting (which I was FINE with), and jumped the final perfectly.  She ended up 3rd with again about 10 in the class, so I was very proud and happy!  She has come a LONG way, and she's now really fun and not stressful to ride at ALL.  It's like when Tiki finally became a "real" horse, and I knew I could just hop on and have a fun, productive ride ... not a fight.  That's where Jade is now; I know the "fights" will still come every now and then when I push the envelope, but she's RIGHT were S needs her to be, so for now we'll just be content to poke along and enjoy the ride :)

Positive Progress!

Look at those shoulders!  Learning to not lean forward :)

I know I'm a fairly decent rider.  I'm certainly no genius, but I'm perfectly competent.  I'm learning that all my years of riding alone has caused me to develop this nasty little habit I don't even realize of pulling ... and leaning.  Hmmmm.  Event trainer actually often rides with other trainers to keep her skills polished and on pointe.  She has been working with me to stop going for the reins FIRST, and to think more of using my legs and seat. I take what I learn on Wednesdays, and then turn around and apply that to Jade.

This past Wed, I had the best lesson I've had yet on Kiara.  She tends to get a little stiff in the jaw and inconsistent through the contact, but by really using what I learned riding Pluto, she stayed so nice and soft for me!  Trainer's thing this week was to really think about ELBOWS.  Outside elbow bent and superglued to the hip, hand down.  Inside elbow pointing to the inside hip, think thumb "out", like a hitchhiker.  Inside hand never pulls back, it can lift slightly, thinking forward, but shouldn't come backwards.

We jumped a crossrail, just thinking about rhythm and not MOVING at the jump.  She had me really focus on staying with her in the approach, then WAIT and let her jump up to me.  It was very eye-opening because I feel like I generally don't jump ahead, but I am ... marginally.  She then set some barrels and said Kiara may look, and to be ready, but she was perfect, as usual!  I was prepared with my crop, but all was good :)  That was it.  Simple, but effective.

Nice, soft mare today :)

Today, I rode Jade and thought about shoulders back, and ELBOWS the entire ride.  Lo and behold, the mare was the BEST she's been, EVER.  It's so nice to start having all these good rides because it means we're making forward progress!  There was NO popping of the shoulder, NO dragging to the rail, NO bucking, NO sassiness whatsoever.  She was willing, obedient, and so soft through the bridle, it was lovely.  I concentrated on NOT pulling, at all, and I never used both reins at once.  I concentrated on posting slowly if she got a little quick, and tried to plug in my seatbones and really connect with her back on the down beat of the trot, which was something else Event trainer worked on with me Wed.  What a good girl!  S was out watching and took a few pics, and she was just so pleased to see her be so good!

She was just a little bit NQR behind, so we took it easy, with mostly w/t and I walked a bunch of poles.  She was so good and quiet I moved up to trotting poles, and it was just so good!  At the end, I decided to let her have a little break with lots of pats, and decided to try a little left lead canter.  It. Was. Perfect.  The transition was nice and relaxed, I concentrated on SITTING and keeping my elbows superglued, and not pulling, and we cantered an ENTIRE lap around the ring without touching her mouth.  I had her on contact, but I didn't have to pull or half halt at all, the entire time.  WOW!  She hadn't been to that point with me yet, EVER.  Right lead, the transition was a little bit sticky because she wanted to pick up the left lead instead, and she tried to pop that right shoulder just a hair, so I did have to help her a LITTLE bit, but it was still the lightest I've ever been able to be with my hands.

Overall, she was a superstar!  It's been a wonderful "mare" week, I have absolutely NOTHING to complain about :):):)

Superglued elbows!

2 separate posts so as not to turn into a novel ...

You can see how loose I have the draw reins.

I know.  My attention span isn't that great either, but I don't like to be un-detailed because you just never know when you may need to read back through something to get ideas!  So.  I'll start with the mare ...

Rode her Saturday in the ghetto draw reins.  I wanted to give her 2-3 rides with the "gadget" just to help her get her muscles working correctly, then go back naked.  She started out very fresh, very tense, and jiggy.  Every time I asked her to trot, she tried to pop her shoulder and canter off, so I spent some quality time doing w/t transitions until she settled in a little more.  I did lots of circles and changes of direction, and finally she began to settle down into the contact and get a little more steady.

I trotted her over a small crossrail set dead center in the ring, and she was pretty good!  She did try to get a little quick at first, so I worked to stay soft and not pull on her, which would then trigger her to pull on ME.  I only did it a few times, halting in a straight line after.  When I landed and kept cantering after jumping it about 5 times, she was perfect because she thought I was going to halt her, so she cantered nice and slow :)  Went to some more trot work, and she did begin to drag me tracking left a little bit, so I stayed well off the rail and counter-bent her pretty hard core until she went straight, not diagonally right!  Finished up with a right lead canter that was super long.  I just kept going, and going, and going.  The draw reins helped her to stay within the contact, and I half halted pretty dramatically, really making the effort to LET GO, which is crucial to the working of a HALF halt.  She threw about 5 lead changes during that final canter, but I didn't care, I just kept taking nice deep breaths and softening the contact as much and as often as possible.

Today, I had a fantastic horse!  I rode her early in the day, and sans draw reins.  I spent about 15 quality minutes at the walk.  You may think initially that would be me copping out, but she is as hard to walk on contact as Tiki used to be.  She wants to jig, get crooked, root, you name it.  I pushed her on, gently squeezed my ring fingers, sat back, took deep breaths, and FINALLY got some super walk on contact!  I had 3 different jumps set with 2 poles 9' apart.  I then had just a single pole thrown in randomly.  The task was not to jump, the task was to trot poles in perfect rhythm while staying straight.

I picked up the trot, and despite swishing her tail a few times, she was good other than being a little quick.  I did loopy, 15 meterish circles until she forgot to try and bulldoze.  I tried super hard to give my inside rein as much as possible, sit back, and not pull on her.  I kept my hands together and my outside leg on, and felt like I really had a nice horse under me.  That lasted until I asked for the right lead canter, lol.  She THREW that head around, and tried to put her nose between her knees while she leaped in the air.  I went back to trot, walked the poles some more, and asked again for canter.  This time, she was good.  Didn't hold it a super long time, but was VERY pleased by how responsive she was on the downward transitions.

Went back to trot, and she was so ready to walk at the poles, I was able to soften my reins, close my leg, and keep her trotting nice and slow over the poles.  I went right then left and straight, just trying to keep her guessing and listening.  Cantered left, and good girl!  Trotted more poles, nice and slow.  Counter flexed tracking left, and she stayed nice and soft.  Tried a new thing at the end; after cantering both leads on small circles, I kept her going and cantered a pole.  Of COURSE I got there long, and she leaped at it.  I patted her, went back to trot, walked some poles, back to canter off the other lead.  Deep and strong, but manageable.  Back to trot, then canter ONE more time over the pole, and got there long again, but she waited!  Good girl:)  Today, she really felt like she could go just like a "normal" horse where you kick and do nothing with the reins.  I know she'll get there; I've already felt such a big difference in her, I know the warm summer weather will help her to be even better :)

A collection of rides

Well, it hasn't been TERRIBLY exciting in the land of riding ... CA has actually had RAIN which means that Jade's barn has been out.  Not to mention the fact that my back has been feeling HORRIBLE.  I've needed a chiro ever since I came to CA, but there were several problems with that.  The first being a lack of $$, and the 2nd being the fact that chiros are hard to find.  You have no idea if one will work for you until you try them out, but since they have the ability to seriously mess you up, it tends to scare you off from trying.

Anyway, I took the plunge, ponied up the money, and got my back all fixed up, so at least that part's taken care of!  Last week, I only rode at eventing barn, and I got to ride my precious Kiara again.  She is the best, I just LOVE her!  If I was in a position to buy something, she would be mine in a heartbeat.  Rode in the dressage tack, and she felt wonderful.  Trainer's assistant was in the ring with me, and she gave me a few tips with her that worked great.  She feels a little bit stiff through the bridle normally, and last week she felt so much more adjustable and soft.  I'm feeling so much better with sitting back and being in a correct dressage seat; trainer's finally rubbing off on me :)

Today I rode Jade first and had made the decision to put her in my ghetto draw reins.   At first I thought she wasn't a good candidate for draw reins because she can get behind the bit when she wants to.  But something I've noticed is eventing trainer has put every single horse in her training program in some type of gadget some of the time.  Often, they're ridden "naked", but often they have SOMETHING to help with head set.  These horses are hands down the most consistent, correct, and pleasant horses I've ever sat on, so the gadgets obviously do some good (when I've ridden, they've all been naked).

Jade hasn't been ridden much in the last few weeks; S went on vacation, my back wimped out, and the rains fell, so I was prepared for battle today.  Good thing, because she was in the mood to pick a fight!  Let me just say ... the draw reins worked GREAT!  As per usual, I kept them on the loose side warming up, but even when I tightened them up slightly, I did NOT use them to 'pull' her head down.  She goes with her head down; the problem I have with her is she will blow through the contact and completely lose her connection.  Today, we kept the connection.  She was quite mareish today, squealing to her friends in protest of work.  I could feel her tenseness, and I KNOW she would have blown up several times.  She tried to violently fling her head and pitch a fit, but I kept my leg on, maintained the contact, and she had to settle in.  A few times she tried to slam on the breaks and not go forward, so I loosened up and pushed her forward.  It only took about 10 minutes for her to actually settle in super :)  She's smart enough to know when she's fighting a losing battle, so she really hunkered down and worked hard.  Yes, she still tried to fling the head.  Yes, she still felt a tad explosive, and she hollered during the entire ride, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

Our biggest issue jumping so far has been keeping straight.  It's worse tracking left; she blows off my right leg and pops that right shoulder and drags me to the rail.  When jumping she will try to pop that right shoulder and drift, so I had set a small crossrail with a takeoff/landing chute set with poles.  It was 100% uneventful!  I trotted her back and forth 4 times and she was absolutely perfect every time, so I left that alone!

I then decided to push my luck and work the canter ... left lead.  I had SEVERAL very good transitions.  She tried to do the violent head fling, but she couldn't, so then she tried to blow my right leg and drag me,so I counter bent her, and then she just STOPPED.  I got after her REALLY good with my right leg and made her move off it.  I then got a great transition and she cantered nicely, so I praised her and reversed.  Cantered off on the right lead and she gave me the nicest, softest, and most perfect canter I've ever gotten from her.  Held it for about half a lap, got a perfect downward transition, and let her be finished.  Good girl!

Today, I rode the smallest pony I've sat on since I was about 17.  I'd be shocked if he's an inch over 13.2; a little chestnut roly-poly thing that's as wide as he is tall named Puffin.  What a sweetie!  He's a former lesson horse from trainer's old Napa barn, and they're looking to sell him as a kid's pony, but apparently he's developed some stinky pony moves.  Maybe I just got lucky, but he was absolutely perfect for me :)  The only thing I noticed about him that's different than every other horse of hers I've ridden is that he was VERY stiff in the neck; totally typical schoolie feel.  I did lots and lots of bends and changes of direction, circles, etc.  He's surprisingly responsive to the leg; I didn't wear spurs and even though I carried my crop, he was great.  He leg yields well, and he did try to bend when I asked him for it.  He has a perfect little canter button, and I had no trouble whatsoever with him.  Yet another great ride at the eventing barn!

So, all is good in horsey land!  There is a combined test schooling show next Sunday I'm volunteering at; maybe the next one I can actually ride in it :)  The spring weather and the time change has been so amazing.  CA has the most perfect weather, I just LOVE it!

The mare!

Good girl!

Better; more relaxation :)

Defensive position, but soft reins.  You can see she kind of barrels through.

Longer stirrups, quiet hands, SHOULDERS BACK!  Go me ;)

2 more rides on Ms. Jade to report on.  Last week, I took her up in the jumping ring again, and she was good!  She's getting much more consistent up there since I've basically told her to get over herself, she's GOING to go up top.  All was well.  Since riding w/ trainer, I have become much more aware of what a horse SHOULD feel like, so I've been riding Jade very correctly lately, and she responds!  Before, I wasn't worried about where her head was, I'd let my arms get stiff, and upon looking at my pics, I see I'm sitting really far forward.  It doesn't feel like it, but pics don't lie, right?

I get on, sit BACK, and put my leg on.  She's gotten SO good about accepting the leg and becoming more steady through the contact.  First time or 2 I rode her, she curled up and got behind the bit, which is why I wasn't worried about her head.  At eventing barn though, ALL the horses go correctly.  Heads down, backs lifted, inside leg to outside rein.  I haven't accepted "no" as an answer from Jade, I put my leg on and ask her to stretch into my hand.  She's a fiesty little mare, so sometimes she will pitch a little fit, but for the most part she's been responsive to what I'm asking of her.  I jumped her a LITTLE bigger last week; over a 2'6ish crossrail (where the poles are set at 2'6 then crossed).  Before, it was the SMALLEST crossrail I could possibly set.  The 'plain' poles jump was fine, but the one with panels caused her to land and buck the first 3 times I did it.

As a result, I'm coming into the jumps a little defensive.  She WILL get you off if you let your guard down, whether it's via a spook, or a sudden hop in the air combined with a flip of the head.  That's why the martingale goes on EVERY time, and I've been asking her to round and come into the contact so she doesnt' spook so much.  She's developed a habit of landing randomly, then DRAGGING me to the rail, pulling right.  She only does it every now and then, but it's a pretty hardcore drag.  When she did that consistently the other day, I dropped it to a pole and made her walk it, staying straight.  Last week was mostly just coming in over jumps.  She hasn't been as good as she was that one time several weeks ago, when I could actually trot in/canter out a line, but she's not been too bad, either.

Today, I kind of kicked her butt a little bit.  She's been off about 10 days due to actual rain (YAY!), so I let her run around in the roundpen.  She bucked and played for a good 10 minutes before I got on.  Rode her in the lower ring due to really wet footing up top, but I'd had no plans to jump anyway today.  She was very heavy; I've been riding her in the waterford and she definitely likes it, but the brakes aren't great in it.  Wish I still had Tiki's little wonder bit, b/c it would probably be good to slap that on her once in awhile to tune her up.  I did a TON of canter transitions today.  She sucks at those, lol.  As soon as she canters, she tries to basically bulldoze you and run off or run you into the fence.  I worked on cantering a few steps, back to walk or trot.  I cantered a LOT today, and right now it's just a fight for every single step.  She gets so heavy and stiff, and she WILL try to DRAG to the rail tracking left.

As I tend to do, I had an epiphany after coming around the corner, and YANK to the right.  Trainer counter bends her horses a LOT.  I've been counteracting Jade's dive to the right by actually turning her into the rail and circling right.  Today, I just counter bent her!  Lol, it made the mare pretty peeved that she couldn't use that method of evasion any more.  I even bent her out at the canter on the correct lead, and she didn't try to drag me once after that.:)    Tracking left she dove to the rail again, so I yanked her little butt up and circled her pretty hard core.  She shaped up after that.  When I walked and she rooted, I used both legs and KICKED her.  The rooting improved.  I finished up by doing about 20 small figure 8's around the poles at the trot, just keeping my shoulders back, posting steady, and constantly asking for her to bend and carry herself.

I wore her out, but when she gets tired, she just gets heavier and heavier.  It was tough!  She wasn't great today, which S and I expected, but I didn't give her the opportunity to be bad, so overall an ok day today.  Probably riding on Saturday, so hopefully she'll remember what we worked on and just improve!

I'm actually kind of proud of myself.

Sky.  Yes, I got to actually ride this today :D

Belle!  She has QUITE the engine.

Kiara.  How cute is she??

Hello from Sunny, DRY CA!  NOT the wet, soggy, and now iced in GA :D  First and foremost, I just got a lovely text from Muffin's new child, and she just wanted to let me know she's done 2 N combined tests with him, and even finished 6th out of 12 in her last one w/ a dressage score of 35!  Yay!  My best dressage score on the red headed goober was a 38.5, and I was DANG proud of it!  They're getting ready to do their first full 3 phase in a couple of months.

Why am I proud of myself?  Because I put myself out there to "cold contact" a trainer that I picked out of the air, and I have managed to score myself some AMAZING rides.  And trainer is AMAZING!  And she's even a super nice and wonderful person too, so SCORE!  I haven't had regular, weekly lessons in YEARS, and I'm finally getting eyes on me consistently.  It's so wonderful.  99% of my lessons have been dressage based so far, which is just fine.  I feel insecure jumping horses I don't know anyway, so I find I'm suffering from a little bit of anxiety at the thought of a "jumping lesson".  I rode Kimmie the pony by myself one evening after work, and I carried my crop, strapped on my spurs, and made her go like a good little dressage pony.  She wears my leg OUT, haha.  Took her over some poles w/out her trying to stop/spook/runout which was good.  I got to ride an ADORABLE chestnut pony w/ a stick up mane named Kiara last week.  She was SO FUN.  And I got to jump her.  It was the first time I jumped a horse w/ trainer, and it was really good.  Sadly, my endurance has just been so LOW, it's weird.  I'm still working out regularly but not cleaning stalls 5 days a week makes a difference I guess.  I work SO hard to get them going correctly, and after 15 minutes I'm just dying.  Kiara had only jumped a hand full of times before, so we began just w/ a little flower box and she was perfect.  It ended up that I took her from crossrails to a little line to a vertical, to a crossrail oxer.  I only missed to one jump at the canter, and I only jumped ahead of her on one trot jump, so I would call the day successful!  Loved her, she's definitely a favorite.  Like Spellbound, she is Morgan/TB.

Today, I rode a fabulous Hanoverian chestnut mare sale horse named Belle and ... THIS GUY: Virginian Sky  Holy moly, lucky me, can't believe it.  He was super amazing awesome fantastic, etc. etc.  I figured I'd be lucky to get to walk around; trainer had me canter tiny circles, PIAFFE, PASSAGE, and do 2 lead changes.  I never in a million years thought I'd get to piaffe or passage.  Sky is so amazing.  He's tricky to handle since he's a stallion and he's pretty big.  My instructions were to carry a whip, and once we left the stall to not stop moving.  He can't walk through the barn, we had to enter the indoor by one of the side doors.

I feel SO good since I've started riding these amazing horses.  They ALL go the same.  Soft contact, super responsive off the leg, and obedient in general.  They're all a little different; one may be lazy, another hot, one spooky, one bouncy, one not as consistent in the contact, but at the core of it, when you ride correctly, they go beautifully.  I still can't believe I rode Sky.  He really was a gentleman.  There was a mare in the ring w/ us the entire time I rode, and we did have a few "lose the sh*$" moments w/ a bunch of noise coming from the barn, and getting a little too close to the mares, but overall I just felt so lucky to get to ride him.

In short, I'm glad I took the chance to reach out to someone I didn't know at all.  She took a chance on me, I took a chance on her, and it's working out!  My only goal at first was just to hang out and watch lessons.  I have gotten to ride ...7 different horses so far, and I fully expect I will sit on at least 7 more in the next 6 months.  I just feel so happy to be here doing this!  I'm glad Tiki is happy w/ his child, he looks GREAT.  Fat, shiny, and looking better and better in the sandbox.  Everything happens for a reason, and I'm happy w/ how things are going right now :)

3 rides; one ok, one awful, and one fantastic!

Naughty mare!

Always so alert ...

Somewhat reluctantly obedient

Ahhh, horses.  So blessedly inconsistent!  That's both bad and good.  Bad, because you never know which horse you're going to get.  Good ... because it's like having 4 different horses, lol :)

Last Saturday, S was out at the barn and snapped a few pics.  Jade went through her typical thing; started out ok, progressed to not so good, ended up well.  I'd decided to put a little more pressure on her, and ramp things up a bit, so I set up the "circle of death" with poles.  (4 poles on a 60 foot circle at 12, 3, 6, and 9.)  My only plan was just to trot those poles.  I set it up in the jumping ring, and she started out pretty stiff and tense.  I spent plenty of time at the walk and walked her over the poles in all different directions.  When she did that well, I moved on the trotting the circle.

Sadly, things spiraled downhill.  She began to THROW her haunches to the outside, blowing by my outside leg, and trying to pop her shoulder and drag me around the poles. She began to rush them, jump them, and became just generally unreasonable.  I took her to the opposite end of the ring and worked her down, growling and spinning her until she shook off her "witch" persona.  Brought her back to the poles and she was better, but still unhappy in general, so I hopped her over another teeny crossrail off a short turn twice and ended there.

The following Wednesday, she was awful.  She just felt peeved off to be working.  I was even riding her in her "favorite" ring :(  Not sure what was going on, it was a very unproductive ride.  I had a few random poles set out to trot over here and there, but no specific "pattern" or anything.  Didn't canter, just trotted one of the tiny crossrails and she again tried to blow off my leg and wanted to lose her haunches.  I ditched the jump and focused on some lateral work for a few, and finally she VERY grudgingly did what I asked.  For the first time, I quit not feeling like I'd accomplished anything.  It was an unproductive AND an uncomfortable ride; my back was killing me afterwards!

Over at the eventing barn, I rode a LOVELY Morgan/Tbred cross I'm in LOVE with named Spellbound.  I rode him in the indoor, and trainer was pretty happy w/ the fact that I'm getting w/ her program:)  I'm holding my hands correctly, using my seat more effectively, and not getting so still in the arms.  She didn't have to tell me to sit back ONCE ... AND I lowered my stirrups 3 holes.  Success!  Today, I rode another lovely bay gelding, Ricky Bobby (yes, lol!  that's really his name).  I realized I'm feeling what it's like to have a horse be REALLY engaged and lifted through the back and on the bit.  Poor Tiki never really got there, probably because I just never rode horses that went correctly.  Ricky Bobby was very responsive to my hands and seat, and my confidence in my dressage skills is increasing daily.

Fast forward to my ride on Jade today.  I'd already ridden RB, so when I got on the mare, I rode her exactly like I did him.  Shoulders back, elbows on top of hips, leg on, supporting outside rein.  I used my seat ask her to lift her back, and my leg to push her up into my hand.  She. Was. Wonderful.  The BEST ride I've had on her ever!  She didn't get fast, she kept her hips behind her shoulders, she didn't root on the reins, she didn't curl up behind the bit, she was on the aids and working perfectly.  I didn't spin her once, she was fabulous.  I think she was so shocked to be ridden ON the bit, she didn't know what to do w/ herself, lol!  I've never honestly FELT what a real dressage horse is like.  I thought I had, but really I hadn't.  ALL the horses at the event barn go exactly the same, it's so cool.  I rode Jade like she was one of them, and it was great :)  I jumped her a TON over both normal sized crossrails, and a super tiny little brush box.  I made long straight approaches, short turn approaches,  AND I did 2 as a line, trot in/trot out.  Her canter after the jumps was fantastic; relaxed, rhythmic, and not hauling on me at all.  She doesn't overjump at all, but she does leave a little long sometimes.  I always work to get her right to the base, nice and slow.  She didn't rush, she didn't get crooked, she was great.  I think I am going to ride her after the event barn all the time, I think riding those beautifully trained horses are helping me tremendously.  GREAT day!

Post holiday recap!

Lots of pats for a job well done!

Cool canter pic

I like this one :)

Perfect example of how "alert" she always is

Walking from round pen to ring

The holidays have kept me a little bit busy lately :)  My wonderful SIL was in town, so I didn't want to abandon her to go ride, but I DID drag her with me one day to take a few pics, woo hoo!  I haven't been to awesome eventing barn in a few weeks because I only have one day to go out, and with Christmas and now New Year both falling on that ONE day ... oh well, it's not going anywhere!

I did ride Jade Friday and Saturday.  She was a doll!  The waterford bit came in, and I actually love her in it (like I thought I would;))  I put that on Tiki's old 'hunter' bridle with a regular noseband, but still paired it with the running martingale just in case ... I LIKE my nose 'as is', lol.  The weather has just been fantastic, great temps and no wind, so I think that probably has had a small effect on Jade's behavior as well.

Friday, S was actually at the barn riding a barn horse and got to watch me ride Jade.  There was a lot of cacaphony going on at the barn, but she handled it pretty well.  I longed her in the roundpen first (with not much action) and mounted in there.  Both days, she stood like a statue and did not MOVE, good girl. :)  I rode her in the lower ring, aka her "comfort zone".  She began pretty well, with me only having to spin her a hand full of times.  From there, she actually tried to throw a little bit of a hissy fit, actually kicking up once or twice in protest to being ridden forward and on the contact.  I stuck it out, spun her around a few more times, and she decided to get her stuff together pretty quickly after that.

I tried to do some more rail work with her that day, so not so much figure 8ing ... she actually seemed like she got a tad anxious working around the entire ring like that; when I DID go to a few schooling figures, she really blew out a deep breath and put in some great work for me.  I was super happy with the trot work, I feel like we're making progress and holding pretty steady.  S has been able to ride her this holiday time, which is GREAT!  Went to the canter, and it wasn't even what I would call GOOD; it was just ok.  She holds the correct lead, which is great.  Other than that, it was fast, heavy, unbalanced, and just overall anxious.  I patted her anyway, though, because it definitely could be worse than what it was!  We ended with walking the little path around the pastures together; lots of spooks and scoots!

Saturday, I rode her in the upper ring with all the jumps.  Leaps and bounds better than the other time I rode her up there.  She didn't spook once.  She TRIED to, but I sensed the tenseness and immediately asked for shoulder in, then leg yield, then shoulder in, then leg yield, just trying to get her mind on ME and not what ever else she could think about.  I rode all around the jumps, making lots of circles, squares, half turn in reverse, trot over poles straight on, trot over poles at an angle, and I finally began to really make transitions.  I tend to get a little "stuck" in my trot work, just doing LOTS of trot all the time.  I did that with Tiki too.  I made her work on w-t-w-t-h-t-h-w, then added in canter. WOW, what a difference in the canter.  The left lead felt GREAT, I really worked on half halting pretty aggressively, then just softening and allowing her to carry herself; that strategy was pretty darn good if I do say so myself:)  Right lead wasn't too bad, but there was certainly some head flinging going on.  Went back to the trot, and was able to actually put my leg on her, and even clucked once!  WOW, lol.  I only had to do maybe 5 spins total with her that day.  In fact ... she felt SO good, at the very end I put her on a short turn, then out of nowhere pointed her at a teeny tiny baby crossrail.  She happily hopped over, making a nice jump for me, landed cantering, and seemed quite pleased with herself :)  LOTS of pats, loose rein, and all was right with the world.

Took today to catch up on some housework, I will ride her again on Saturday since I'm not working.  S rode her today, so hopefully she was a good girl!  Having so much fun, just happy to be riding again:)  Hope all y'all had a great Christmas and New Year ... I can't complain about mine :D

Visions of Rolex ...

I <3 ponies="" td="">

I sure wish I could FINALLY go to the Rolex 3 Day Event this year.  How ironic would that be?  Never could make it when it was a 5 hour drive, yet could FLY there.  Haha.  Not this year!  Hopefully my awesome new trainer will qualify again next year and I can be part of the crew then.  This year I will be sitting here at my kitchen table watching the live feed via my laptop.  Anyway!  As I sit here typing, I feel the familiar burn in my lower back that says I rode today:)  I rode 2 VERY different horses, but both were great!

The morning was chilly, but in the sun it was positively lovely.  Miss Jade came in from the pasture with a positive attitude and only had one "normal" poop in the washrack.  The barn was quiet, and the mare seemed happy.  Gave her a good grooming, then tacked her up in the same setup as Saturday; running martingale and a single joint Myler D-ring snaffle with no hooks or anything of that sort.  I decided today was going to be a low pressure kind of day, so I was pretty relaxed.  Took her to the roundpen, and she was trying to run off before I even had the reins secured, so I growled at her to knock it off.  Let her run it out until she told me she was done, and when I pulled the mounting block to her she didn't move a single muscle.  Yes!  Got on and walked to the 'scary' upper ring.  Kept as loose a rein as I felt comfortable with, and took a nice leisurely walk around that ring.  She spooked twice, all 4 legs splayed out like a statue, but no spin or anything, phew.  Took her out of the ring after that walk, and down to 'her' lower ring.  Just spent some time walking on a relatively loose rein until I felt her take a deep breath.  I then began to walk a figure 8 around the 2 jumps in the center of the ring, using my leg 95%, hand 5%.  I kept my reins pretty long, and just focused on pushing her into my outside rein.  After that, I went to trot around on the rail ... on a loose rein.  Ya know, I did the SAME thing with Tiki.  He would get SO fast at the trot, then he would freak himself out because he was so unbalanced.  With a horse like Jade, it's easy to hang on her face to keep her slow.  What she then does is balance off your hand, so then you feel like you're always in a pulling match.  You have to allow them to balance THEMSELVES.  She has to learn to regulate her pace without me getting in her face.  Enter the One Rein Stop.  Every time, and I do mean every time she sped up, I spun her.  Eventually, they get tired of that!  But it teaches them to have a little self control and balance.  So I did that both ways until I made it a FULL lap of the ring with no spin ... on a loose rein, yay!

After lots of pats and a short break, I put her on contact.  I went immediately to the trot figure 8 around the jumps (which was different).  I've been doing the figure 8's in the far end of the ring, this time I was smack in the middle of the ring.  Back and forth, gentle contact, and a nice outside rein half halt IF she sped up.  There were quite a few times when she came onto the contact and got SO light and lovely, I really felt the horse she has the potential to be!  I then decided to be brave, and picked up the canter and cantered the 8.  I did a simple change through the walk in between.  I did probably 20 8's, keeping my hands up and together, butt in saddle, outside leg keeping her from dragging me out of the circle.  Again, I was very glad to have the martingale because cantering does bring forth lots of head flinging.  I just kept rinsing and repeating until she took a breath and made a few very nice transitions.

After one more break, I trotted on the rail on contact again, then did a shallow serpentine, tiny circle into the rail, finish serpentine, then trot up over pole.  I did that both ways 3 times each then let her finish.  She just got better and better, again giving me moments of true contact and lightness.  I like her in this bit the best so far; she is behind the kimberwicke, she is WAY too mouthy in the loosering, and in this one she takes the contact and even gets a little heavy in it, which is fine.  Trotting on a loose rein will fix that ;)  With the figure 8, I never feel her get mouthy with the bit, the mouth stays shut (ahem, Tiki never figured that out.  He opened his mouth in a HALTER!).  S just got a waterford, excited to try that!  I will put her back in a regular cavessoon when I try it.  Just trying to get her wants all figured out; she isn't a complicated horse per se, she's just super sensitive.  I really enjoyed her today, what a good girl!

At the other barn, I got to ride a pony!  She is fat and furry and white :)  I loved her.  Her name is Kimi, and she's a connemara.  LAZY!  Good lord, I wore my spurs and carried a dressage whip and still I worked myself to exhaustion;)  Trainer came out and made me get her on the bit like a good little dressage horse.  Had some great moments there.  I had to work for every step, but still had a blast.  I would love to take her out and run her around the xc course, I bet she's super fun.  My position was better on the pony, but I'm still having issues keeping my shoulder blades pressed together.  When I was a dancer, NO trainer EVER had to tell me to open my shoulders, but after so many years of riding alone and riding greenies and spookies, I've developed a bit of a softness to my upper body.  The default position is shoulders open, elbows on top of hips, hands up.  Slightly different from the hunter hand position :)  I'm SO looking forward to integrating myself; right now I still only know a hand full of people, but I'm getting to recognize some of them.  Trainer is slowly beginning to throw some responsibility on me.  I think she's been feeling me out to see what I know, and is starting to understand I do know a lot, so is starting to treat me as one of the crew.

So, I appreciate the ache in my lower back.  It means I got to do what I love today.  It reminds me that anything worth having, is worth working hard for.  It gives me hope that some day I will again stand in the start box and hear that countdown.  Incredibly thankful for my life, and looking forward to what tomorrow brings! :)  Peace and love y'all.