Finally a decent week (towards the end!)

Hills in the ghetto draw reins!

Holy Moly, the beginning of the week was COLD!  And WINDY:(  Ugh, GA weather really stinks sometimes.  Thurs and Fri were half way decent though, so I rode my boy!  Thursday was a nice dressage day.  I was trying to build on what LR has been doing with him, and get him to rock back on his hind end, really track up behind, and get that back to come up.  I got him moving forward off my leg first, tracking straight, then put him on the 20m circle to get him bending and listening to my leg.  I decided to simply stay on the circle, and do trot to one or two steps of walk, then right back up to trot.  Worked on keeping contact, not throwing him away, and getting him right up to tempo immediately as opposed to picking up the trot slow then getting up to speed.  This is the exercise we did with Paul.  He was GREAT!  Very responsive.  I tried to keep him lifted through the wither, and deep in the contact.  It was a little stiff at first, but I could feel him finally begin to lift up and get comfortable.

Reversed through a toth, making sure to keep him moving forward through it, then picked up the canter, focusing on not allowing him to take ANY quick, short trot steps.  I had to do the w/c transition a couple of times before I was satisfied, but he did try really hard, so I allowed him to keep cantering.  Did c/one or 2 steps of w, then back to canter.  At first, I did throw him away a little bit, but I mentally kicked my own tail and made myself slow my body and keep a feel.  It worked, and I got a LOVELY transition.  Allowed him to keep cantering, then actually gave him a walk break because he was SO good.  Repeated the other way, and let him stop once I got another stellar transition.  So, simple work, but focusing on correct basics and correct shape so he continues to build muscle in the RIGHT places.

Yesterday, I put on the draw reins and walked hills.  I made his little red butt march both up and down, and going downhill, he tried to bulge that left shoulder like he does at the jumps.  I focused on keeping him absolutely straight nose to tail, and worked my own self hard to keep him motoring forward.  That didn't make him extremely happy, but he was obedient.  In the flat upper part, I w/t/c a few laps, loving the beautiful shape of his neck that the draw reins produce with virtually no effort.  I rode the snot out of his hind end, feeling him reach up underneath me.  Sometimes in the pasture he gets quick and shuffly, so I worked on going big and forward, reaching into the contact.  He did GREAT, and I gave him a long rein to be finished.

I plan to go xc schooling at Chatt Hills in April.  I'm actually thinking of saving a little money and doing the May Chatt Hills event instead of May-Daze.  My friend can't go with me if I go training, and it's just too expensive to cover gas and hotel by myself.  If I do CH, I can just come home each night.  Just something I'm chewing on!

Motivation:)

I set up the gymnastics today!  It was again COLD.  Snow is definitely in the air ... whether it will actually do anything I don't know, but I'm sure glad Muffin has a nice heavy blanket and a snuggly neck cover:)  I worked myself into a good sweat cleaning stalls, and moving jumps, so I actually was a little less bundled up than yesterday!  I opted to tie my stirrups to the girth today since I haven't jumped in 2 weeks, and when I did I could feel the leg slippage a little bit.

I swiped borrowed an exercise from Kate over at Greybrook Eventing which SHE swiped borrowed from Jim Wofford's book of gymnastics.  A trot in one stride crossrail to vertical with 2 different options; a 2 stride bending line to the left to a vertical, or a 3 stride bending line to an oxer to the right.  I used up all the good (and not so good) jump standards, but still had the coop and cavalettis to do something with, so I sandwiched one section of the coop between 2 cavs for a warm up jump.  I had Tiki 'dressed' in his regular cavesson D-ring, and when I went to pick up the trot he actually was nicely forward!  I got him flexed at the poll and kept my leg on, but I didn't have to nag for forward.  Reversed and warmed up the other way at the trot; he swished his tail a few times when the boys in his pasture decided to start running like maniacs.  The pasture doesn't share a common fence with the ring, but there's only about 20 feet between them, so when the pasture horses start running, your horse in the ring has the potential to get a wild hair.

He swapped a few times at the canter, but considering the boys were STILL running around, I honestly didn't care.  Since I'd planned to get up to 3'3 on the jumps, I did just the bare minimum to get him stretched and warm.  I had a crossrail, 18' to a 2'3 vertical.  The left hand vertical was set at 2'9, the right hand oxer was 2' in the front, 2'6 in the back.  I warmed up over the coop oxer and he was just lovely.  Didn't change his rhythm, and I could feel he made a decent effort over it.  Did it off both leads and I couldn't feel any difference going to/away from the barn.  I'm very fortunate in the fact that Tiki seems to be very unaffected by the in gate.  I had to set the gymnastic going towards home, because the footing is a little thin RIGHT where the right hand jump would have to go if I had it set going away.

I went right to the 1 stride, and he jumped it in his usual style; getting a little tangled up in the trot pole coming in, then getting a little long and weak to the out.  I did just that again and he was a little better.  I jumped both side jumps as singles, and he was right there for me EVERY time, so I finally came in as part of the gymnastic.  I think I'm opposite of many people; Tiki can be so inconsistent with the length of his stride that fixed distances send me into a cold sweat on him;)  Just to be safe,  I had both bending lines set 3' short, which theoretically would make the distances easy for him.

I went vertical first, and he did 3.  Of COURSE he did!  Back to trot, then right bend to the oxer, where he did 4.  Lol, such a predictable little Muffin!  I concentrated hard core on ME; auto release, hold the closed hip, eyes up, don't drop him at the base, don't change the rhythm, leg on takeoff, and watch the left bulge.  After successfully negotiating at the starter height, I hopped off and went up 1 hole on the vertical, 2 holes on the oxer.  Again jumped them as singles, he was perfect, then did them as the combo, and I RODE him for the correct striding.  I have GOT to go forward on him without chasing him, that's for sure my achilles heel.  The 2 was riding better than the 3, and I'm sure it was a combo of the gate being to the left, and that subtle left bulge.  When I quit trying to correct the bulge with hand alone and added left leg, the 3 began to improve.  I can finally jump him 3' and not be battling butterflies, he felt GREAT.  Hopped off and reset one more time, so both singles were 3'3.  Tackled the vertical first, concentrating on trying to ride it EXACTLY like I did with my last lesson with Paul Macrea.  Just a nice steady canter, and jump the jump right out of stride.  He jumped out of his skin over it, he felt GREAT!  Came to the oxer and missed.  Like, MISSED.  Got there long and weak, did nothing, he took off and plowed through the back rail.  I slipped the reins to him so I didn't catch him in the mouth, then kept coming straight away back to the vertical.  He jumped that fine, so I decided to do the combo so I couldn't miss so badly again.  Did the 2 to the vertical and perfect.  Came back to do the 3, and even though the distance was RIGHT there, I could feel him hesitate off the ground and I got a little left again.  Decided to go ONE more time to reinforce forward and this time added a little cluck off the ground, and he jumped the SNOT out of it.  Good boy!

I felt great, he felt great, and even though the jumps RODE fairly big, I didn't break out in a cold sweat;)  If I'm going to survive an entire Training level showjumping course, we have to be comfortable at max height, so from now until May I plan to jump him every other week at height.  I see more gymnastics in our future, and some bounces as per Simon Eades, UGH!  I gave him his Adequan shot yesterday, and he for sure felt nice today.  Fresh, but smooth and forward.  Love my boy!  LR will ride on this chilly Sunday, and I will play next week by ear.  I think rain is supposed to be a factor again at some point, yay.

First ride of the New Year!

Looking a little alfalfa like with that silly mane!

Well, didn't go xc schooling today, but I did get to ride my boy:)  It rained ALL day on Tuesday ... like, it was raining when I woke up and it was raining when I went to bed.  Honestly, we can't complain about that, GA is so dry right now.  Makes for some miserable teaching/stall cleaning, but good for the footing!

Speaking of footing, it was picture perfect today.  Wet, soggy, and SOFT.  It was like a little slice of heaven as I swung a leg over Tiki's back; I always feel my tensions/worry just melt away as I wrap down and around and close my leg to go forward.  I love him so much, I feel SO blessed to have that little red headed muffin in my life.

I was watching the live feed of the GHM clinic in Wellington (find it here at www.usefnetwork.com), and of course I wanted to try what they were doing on Day 1.  It was all flat work, and involved shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, counter canter, and lifting your hands up to chest height to get your horse to stretch down into the contact.  Since I've been dying to ride in a simple loose ring snaffle, I put on his old happy mouth mullen loose ring that I retired 3 1/2 years ago.  It's literally been that long since I've used it!

Put it on the dressage bridle and headed up!  Tiki had his brat on a little bit, lol!  He pinned his ears at me and gave me "grumpy face" as I adjusted a line of cavalettis ... he can be a turd;)  I let him walk a good bit before shortening my reins because it was a yucky day; chilly, overcast, and windy.  After walking over cavs and poles and changing bend across a diagonal with my leg, I picked up the contact.  Longish reins, hands up around chest height, thumbs touching.  It was weird!  I've never ridden like that on purpose.  He was going forward very nicely; good marching rhythm with no hint of quickness.  I held the contact and didn't manipulate the bit in his mouth at all; just tried to leg up into the contact and let him flex at the poll by himself.

It didn't work any kind of miracles; he didn't fuss at all but he didn't magically come down into contact either.  I could feel a touch of tension in his neck and back, and he stayed pretty much NOT anywhere near a "frame" of any sort.  Decided to go ahead and pick up a trot since he can be slow coming into the contact anyway, and it did get slightly better but again, not magically 'on the bit'.  I just kept my leg on, alternated between tracking on the rail and on a 20m circle, and trotted poles on one side a cav line on the other.  Lots of back and forth and not staying the same.

After a good 15 minutes of this, I gave up and lowered my hands a fair amount.  I still had a nice bend in my elbow though ... I made sure to carry my hands a LITTLE higher than normal, and did the Gigi 'ask' for the 'frame' and THAT worked.  He finally flexed at the poll, reached down into the contact, and got swingier in the back.  I did the Paul counter-bend on a spiral exercise both ways, the GHM shoulder-fore down the longside, and the Susan leg yield back to the rail spiral out exercise.  He was game for all of them!  He was beginning to feel much more loose and happy, and he didn't touch a pole or cavaletti:)  At one point, all 4 feet came off the ground; it was like a geyser erupting, so weird!  Like I said, just a touch of brattiness today!

On the 20m circle before the canter, I did another Paul exercise; posting trot to 1 or 2 steps of walk, back to trot.  It went well, I was happy with him.  The canter felt super both ways; I SAT, kept my hands higher than normal, and pushed hard to keep his 'frame'.  I didn't do any cantering other than on a 20m circle since he'd only been ridden once in the 2 weeks prior.  Went back to trot and trotted the poles and cavs again, being SUPER vigilant about that subtle left bulge.  Kept contact with the left rein, slightly softened the right one, and made sure he was absolutely 100% straight.  Ended there.

The good news is I'm riding again tomorrow (in the dressage saddle), AND we're still going schooling:)  We'll head out Sunday morning to Calimar, hopefully to nicer weather and picture perfect footing.  Love my boy, glad he's getting a couple of days to work before just going out and running around the field jumping.

Winter break ...

Tiki says Merry Christmas!!

Haven't ridden my boy this week.  Had a lovely lesson with Paul, then have let him sit all week.  Actually WAS going to ride on Wednesday, but I got bitten by Evil Kitty on Tuesday just as I was finishing up.  I mean, BITTEN.  Today is the first day I have been able to type with minimal pain:(  It is the worst cat bite I've ever experienced ... lesson learned!  NO MORE touching Evil.

Today it rained heavily all day (GOOD!)  Tomorrow I have to finish up an IEA show that began last Sunday.  This weekend is getting all cleaned up and ready for our Christmas company, so Thursday is the first day I anticipate sitting on my boy again.

On the up side, I stood on a scale for the first time since I began my weight loss journey, and I'm down 40.5 pounds!  Tiki should feel super!  So happy for my boy's back, and so happy I actually look halfway decent in a pair of riding pants;)

Got a few Dover gift cards, so will be getting Muffin a plain jane single joint loose ring snaffle; just have to find one skinny enough.  Anything else will depend on the final gift card count!  Thankfully, there's not much else I NEED (except a saddle pad, right?  Never mind I have 22 saddle pads and one horse).

Merry Christmas everyone!  Probably won't blog again until after the holiday, so hope everyone stays safe and enjoy your ponies:)

3 lessons in less than 6 months??

I have set some sort of world record here!  3 lessons in less than 6 months, woo hoo!!  I rode with Paul again today and it was a GREAT day.  I had a private lesson, which was awesome.  I showed up a little frazzled; left Joyce's at 10:30, but didn't arrive at MSF until 12, which is when I was supposed to be ON!  At least he's always groomed and ready to go when I arrive.  I yanked him off the trailer, tied him to the side, dressed myself (of course, I had a hairnet malfunction), threw the tack on, and made my way QUICKLY up to the ring.

Thankfully, he was finishing up the group lesson before me, so I was able to hop on and breathe for a second.  Warmed him up on a loose rein, then as Paul came in I began some contact work.  He was moving all the jumps around and setting up exercises, so I tried to just work on being straight and on the aids.  He felt like crap!  In a never ending quest to fiddle around, I put on the xc bridle today with the waterford bit.  I think by now he equates that bit with XC!!!  So he was really all over the place and super fussy with his head and mouth.  I was NOT pleased with my little red head!

I warmed up for around 30 minutes while Paul got things set up, and finally he was ready for us!  First things first, we went on a 20 m circle like last time, but I had to go from a medium working trot/one or two steps of walk then RIGHT back to the working trot.  That was pretty tough and was an engraved invitation for me to throw him away in the contact (but I didn't!).  We then changed that to a working posting trot down to a sitting collected trot, and THEN it was canter/walk 1 or 2 steps ... that was ANOTHER invitation for me to make a mess of things but I did better than Paul thought I would lol.  I was pleased with both of us, we did good:)

He set up a pole exercise, a short one to a long one, 5 strides in between.  It was of COURSE off the right lead on the diagonal, therefore exposing that left bulge.  We cantered the long one first and of course I ran him at it and let him come in bulged.  We did just that one probably 5 or 6 times, just working on me straightening him with my left rein and slowing down everything!  When Paul was satisfied with our hunter-esque one stride, we moved to the short one which was very good.  The turn was much shorter so I worked on maintaining the rhythm through it; only had to do that one twice;)

Finally, we put them together.  Common sense said to do the short to the long; He was a little long in the 5 strides because I sat like a lump after the short, then chased him at the end.  Sigh.  Will I EVER learn??  Came a few more times until I SMOOTHLY opened him up RIGHT after the short and stayed steady.  He never struggled down the 5, it was always right there ... the long 1 ended up steady for me mostly:)  I think I surprised Paul again when I NAILED the long to the short.  I added a stride instead of trying to steady at the end; Paul agreed that was Tiki's best option.  I came into the long on a nice forward stride, then sat, "WHOA", and put in 6 perfect small strides.  I only had to go that direction 3 times, and Paul was happy:)

I feel bad, because he was building up some sort of line with an oxer with planks, and I mentioned I never do many lines, lots of singles and I struggle with his adjustability ... Oh Lord!  He stopped dead what he was doing, tore it all down, and rebuilt a new exercise:)  3 oxers, on a curve with a ground pole on both sides.  My job was to TROT in, canter out, downward to the trot, etc.  That was a HARD exercise.  Began to the right, and we did ok; he was a little bit all over, though.  Again and he was slightly straighter.  3rd time was the charm, we were very straight, prompt in the downward transition, and it flowed smoothly.  Paul was pleased!  Did it left twice and Paul went through and raised and widened all the oxers to a solid 2'6.  He also set a vertical about 2'9 in the canter of the ring and I had to canter that at the end.  Paul's corrections were to get him dead straight, be quicker in the downward transition, and HELP him more over the jumps.  He said Tiki jumped a little flat and weak; he was making it over them, but no thanks to me!  I put on my determined face, closed my leg and added a little cluck in there.  Tracking left was a little tough for us, but he finally finished satisfactorily.  I missed to the vertical a few times because I'd come out of the corner and get impatient OR I didn't have him straight.  I finally sat still, got him dead straight, and we nailed it a few times.  Paul let us finish through the oxers tracking right, and it was better.

That was the end.  I rode for an HOUR and a HALF:)  I feel like we worked harder today than last time, and last time we rode for 2 hours.  I enjoyed the challenge, I feel like Paul helped us a bunch, and overall I know I need to focus on straight and smooth.  Lots more changes within the gaits, and lots more adding and leaving out strides while keeping him rideable.  Love my boy, he was a rock star!  Wish I could ride with Paul on a weekly basis, I've REALLY had fun the last 2 times.  Oh well, got lottery tickets for tomorrow and Saturday;)

SO glad the Muffin got a hair cut ...

LOVE his beautiful face!

3'3, perfect distance, perfect form from both of us!

Tiny fence, just cantering over

I really like this one too:)

For the last week, it's been 60's -70's.  This type of weather is not conducive to feeling the "Christmas Spirit", but it has been lovely riding/running weather!

Rode Muffin Man today for the first time since Sunday.  LR rode him on Sunday and did some good dressage stuff in the pasture.  She's been working on helping him to unlock through his back and really reach and stretch down into contact, but in a LIGHT way.  She's helped SO much on my downward transitions, Tiki really feels GOOD now and doesn't bear down so much on my hands when I ask him to come back to me.  He still doesn't stay round and connected through his poll, but that WILL come, I know it!

Today I slapped on the cc saddle and the "hacking" bridle, and up we went!  I was feeling ambitious, so I set up a cav line at a "normal" 5 strides (which would ride long for the teeny little 12" cavs), and a gymnastic down the center of the ring.  I set 3 trot poles, a bounce with 2 tall crossrails, a pole, and a wide oxer.  To begin with, it was just the trot poles, one crossrail, and the rest were poles on the ground to start.  I didn't realize it, but the "wide" oxer I had set on the ground was actually 4' wide!

I decided NOT to do the Jimmy Wofford warm up, and I actually did spend some time flatting.  What I took away mostly from riding with Paul MacRae is that I always need to make sure he's going forward, and I need to watch that subtle left bulge.  So, I spent some quality time walking on contact, reversed through a turn on the forehand (totfh).  Once I picked up the trot, I just shot him out in front of my leg, then worked on steadying and lengthening the stride.  I went a few laps, then worked a 20m circle at the center of each side; both the long and short sides.  I then halted, totfh, same thing the other way.  Halt/totfh, canter ... canter the 20m circles like I did at the trot both directions.

Holy smokes, the entire last half of this post got eaten:(  OMG, I don't want to type it all out again!!!

To paraphrase a little bit, I alternated 6, 5, and 7 strides in the cav line.  I was careful of the left bulge, and even though he DID it, it wasn't perfect any of the times I did it in terms of softness and obedience.  He did the 7's off both leads, but it was a resistant feeling 7.  The 5 was a 4 1/2 at one point because he got SO flat, but then I did the 7's to get him bouncy again.

The gymnastic, I alternated coming in left then right each time.  I approached in 2 pt each time, and he was not bad.  Stayed pretty straight, kept a good rhythm, and he didn't let me down.  I could feel him reach big time over the "ditch"!  That was a good challenge for him:)  I set the gymnastic gradually, doing first the other crossrail, then the oxer.  The oxer I wimped out on and moved it in 1'!  It was too wide; I was afraid that without a 3rd pole on there, he would put a leg down and "swim" through it.  Coming in, he tried to canter, got tangled up in the trot poles, and took out a crossrail with a hind leg hard enough to land 3 legged.  Good pony though, he didn't try to stop or run out!  I let him walk off the sting, then came again.  He surprisingly came in very well, and bounced his little red butt through no problem!  The last time through, I concentrated on ALL things I've been working on.  Heels DOWN/following hand (per Paul)/body controlled (per Simon)/ no bulge (P) no drift (S) ... felt super!  I could feel him really jump UP over the oxer and use himself, so for that I was happy.

LR will ride this weekend, I will do hills in the draw reins tomorrow, and life is good!  Thank heavens for clipped ponies!  He would have been a disgusting mess otherwise:)

MUCH needed fun afternoon!

Pic from Jeff Cook in '10.  Got pics coming from today...soon!

Wow, I actually made some DIFFERENT mistakes.  My biggest one?  Seems I'm neglecting to get my horse good and truly straight.  Began with a light w/t/c on a loose rein to get warmed up, then we got going on contact.  We had to stay on a circle slightly smaller than 20m, and Paul wanted to see a uniform bend through the body and MORE TROT!  He wasn't too fussy about where he wanted Tiki's head, just that "A jumper should always be in front of the leg".  As we reversed through the center of the circle, Paul admonished me to keep the rhythm and not let him drop behind my leg through the smaller reverse circle.

Did a BRAND NEW exercise today; a counter bend on a circle.  Paul got onto me about looking in the direction of the bend, I was to look where I was GOING and keep my hands to the inside of the circle.  We gradually decreased the size of the circle, then was supposed to change to inside bend and gradually increase the circle back out.  I misunderstood "gradual" and changed his bend too slowly.  I am to change the bend immediately after putting on the leg.  All of that was well and good, and we moved on to the first exercise.

There was a diagonal line set up of 3 sets of jump standards with the poles set as chutes along the diagonal.  This was the R-L diagonal.  The L-R diagonal was a single pole on the ground, then there was 5 trot poles straight ahead to a bounce of crossrails on the right outside line.  The exercise was to trot straight through the chutes, trot over the single pole.  Simple enough!  Tiki did that well with the exception of just trotting the pole on the ground lol.  He wanted to hop over it, no surprise.  Second time through, we were to trot/halt in each chute, trot between them.  Trot over the single pole again.  He did that great, thank YOU LR for helping me work those transitions!  My job was to keep the rhythm consistent and forward:)

Next exercise, he placed the pole up as a small vertical.  We had to canter in to the first chute, halt.  Left lead canter to the third chute, halt.  Right lead for a few strides, then downward transition to the trot, trot the jump.  I did well with that other than getting the left lead between the 1st and 3rd chutes!  Doh!  I couldn't even feel he was on the RIGHT lead.  I felt like my trot jump was decent, and I just did a long crest release so I didn't catch him in the mouth should I happen to get left (as per usual during the warm up trot fence).  Paul actually gave me quite the lecture about giving too much release and completely abandoning the contact.  It makes perfect sense, short story is he wants me to NOT release with a huge loop in the reins.

Next exercise was to turn chutes 1 and 3 into 2'  verticals 5 strides apart.  He raised the single up to like 2'3.  I told him about Tiki's propensity to canter on 2 leads in "fresh" situations, and sure enough, he did!  The first time through, I trotted in/cantered out in a 7 because he landed on 2 leads, I came through the super short turn to the single and bulged left too much, then trotted the trot poles/ cantered the bounce.  My corrections were to have more canter in my turns, get my horse straighter through his body and transition to the canter sooner after the trot poles.

Second time through we got 6 even though (again, as per usual) I "chased" him in the final strides.  I also "chased" him to the short turn, but the trot poles to the bounce was better.  I had a bit of a breakthrough in that I'd put Tiki in a little bit of a "bulge" cycle.  Coming through that tight right turn to the single, I kept letting him go left because I kept seeing an extra stride and I was fitting it in.  Paul said I was probably seeing the extra side BECAUSE I was allowing the bulge in the first place.  Makes sense!  He set some guide poles to help me straighten up, and lo and behold we got some nice forward but correct distances.

Final exercise was to canter the single, canter the line in 5, canter the bounce, trot the poles.  Tiki did that well, I made sure to get him straight through the turn to the single, and it kept getting better when I didn't allow that bulge at ALL.  I got down the 5 early and it was good, and he had no problem trotting out after the bounce.

At the end, Paul set up 4 poles to help us with the l-r lead change.  It was 2 poles set longwise with 2 poles raised up for me to canter OVER.  They were roughly 7-8 feet apart.  I was to canter up to the poles and ask for lead change like normal.  It really helped!  The first few times I AGAIN allowed the left bulge and he ended up on 2 leads, but after Paul set another guide pole to help me get straight, all of a sudden Muffin was doing clean changes.  At that point, we were done, but my riding parter in crime told him I'd REALLY wanted to do some bigger jumps.  Paul said I could if I wanted.  I said I would love to do something at 3', but I didn't have to.  He set the first jump of the line up at 2'9, and I cantered in on a lovely flowing canter, kept my hands up, shoulders back, seat light, and I saw the perfect distance.  He floated over it, I kept a nice following hand, and Paul was pleased.  He put it up 2 holes and I came again.  Again, saw a perfect distance, and I didn't sit up QUITE as quickly as Paul would have liked.  Lol, the difference between hunters, jumpers, and eventers!  That's the only pit fall with riding with ALL THREE types of trainers lol:)  I came one more time and sat up quicker after the jump and Paul and I were both happy.

At the end of the day, despite being EXTREMELY distracted and stressed out, I'm super happy with both my own riding and concentration, and Tiki's behavior.  He's never been to MSF before, and he was perfect. I'm SO glad I clipped him because he was definitely sweaty at the end.  Did his usual head nodding/right hind kicking/add behavior.  Sigh.  He's such a red head!  And on another good note, the boy has decided the last few times he's been anywhere that self loading is cool.  All I've had to do is point him in, throw the lead rope over his neck, and in he goes!  At least that is one less thing to worry about:)  Moving forward, I have no plans.  LR will do a BN with him, we will both continue to work on the fluidity and quality of his flatwork, I will take them xc schooling at Calimar, and hopefully will get back to SC to take a lesson from Carolyn some time soon.  Thanks for reading, hope these write ups are informative!!

Light work and a pending clinic ...

LR rode the Muffin on Sunday and has been working on unlocking his left side.  It's weird; normally he's super soft on that left side and much more stiff to the right, but it seems his body has switched things up.  I actually followed through and clipped him on Monday, yay!  So in 4 years I did a 'chaser clip in Feb of '09, a full body clip in Oct '10, a full body clip in Feb of '12, and now here in November an actual trace clip.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, but I messed up and went too low down on the hind legs.  On the fronts, I followed the natural line of his muscles but that line wasn't as well defined on the hinds and I got a little clip crazy.  Oh well!

It did it's job beautifully because it was a balmy 60 degrees and SUNNY today, and I asked the boy to give me some good work.  I warmed up with a very light medium contact at the walk, and did a lot of circles both directions, concentrating more than usual on using my legs and seat to bend him.  I kept my hands 5-6" apart, elbows bent, and shoulders back.  I called upon an old Practical Horseman article with Anne Kursinski where she talks about "have a conversation with your horse", "tickle" him with the spur, squeeze the fingers, and see where the horse is.  I could literally feel his jaw soften, his body stretch and bend, and his topline relax.  I shortened my reins a little more for the trot transition, and moved up to the trot.

He felt very good; I circled, did a shallow serpentine, trotted over low 9' bounce cavs, and worked on maintaining absolute straightness.  The BO at MSF where I'm taking Tiki tomorrow to ride with Paul says he's fanatical about riders not looking down.  Fortunately, that's not one of my (many and varied) bad habits, but I did practice a lot of trot/walk/trot/halt/trot/etc., and kept my eyes up and forward the whole time.  I dropped my stirrups and sat the trot for a few laps, working on shoulder-in, straight, haunches-in, circle.  I did that a few times and asked Tiki to relax during the h-i because he got a little tense and scooted some.  After that felt smooth and relaxed, I picked my stirrups back up and cantered.  He felt MUCH better than last week, where he resembled a hairy, red freight train;)  Today he felt soft and quiet; in fact, he was almost too quiet!  At times, the canter was very nearly a tranter so I "tickled" him with my spur and he picked it up a little.  I did a counter canter, a few late and tense lead changes, and cantered through the 9' cav poles.  I cantered up the quarter line, and trying to turn before he sped up, I turned into the rail, stepped out, and got a clean change both directions so I quit there.

Excited about tomorrow, hoping for some useful and productive input.  Yay for beautiful weather!!

Paul MacRae

Oxer Farm, Dec of 2010!

Excited to have another lesson coming up.  This one is with a local trainer Paul MacRae.  He used to be the pro rider/assistant trainer for GP rider David Raposa, so excited to hear what he has to say.  After this lesson on Friday, I want to take Tiki out to Southern Comfort (where the Simon Eades clinic was) to take a lesson every other month or so from the owner there, Carolyn Wright.  My dressage trainer likes her.  I have easy access to Susan (just across the street!) but not to a jump trainer.  I fully plan to do May Daze again at the KHP this year, but other than that, nothing planned except for LR's beginner novice.  Yes! She's going to do her FIRST HT on the Muffin Man.  Super excited, I will play groom and nervous pony mom, but I will WATCH my horse rock it out around all 3 phases.  Most likely doing a Feb HT at a venue I've been DYING to ride at, but for now will just have to live vicariously ... Poplar Place.  Of course there will be a full report complete with course walk and lots of pics of the muffin in action, can't wait!

Last week I rode very minimally; did a jump school on Monday where I set up 3 bounces on one long side using the cavalettis, an end vertical set at 2'3, and an outside combination of vertical with a barrel under it, pole, low wide oxer.  Now, the low wide oxer should theoretically not look very intimidating, but put that sucker at 2' and make it 3'7 wide with a pole placed diagonally over it ... it looks BIG!!  Lol.  All oxers look big to me;)  I need to set up a triple bar, haven't done one of those in a while.  I kept him up in front of me and moving forward off my leg.  Did the "Jimmy Woffard" warm up where I did 2 laps of trot each way, 2 laps of canter each way, jump!

Began by trotting the end vertical.  He doesn't take me down to trot jumps at home.  I always feel like I have to nag him incessantly, but I worked on staying in the rhythm, not getting ahead of him, and  keeping my leg on.  It went well.  I jumped it 3 times off the left lead and 3 times off the right, staying on a 20m circle.  He actually landed at the trot a few times, but I didn't stress about it.

Let him look at the oxer from both directions.  Came at it barrel side first, and it was of course NOT a good jump.  He backed off the barrel coming in, struggled to get over the pole in the right striding, then stood way off from the oxer, ewww.  I of course slipped my reins so I didn't catch him anywhere and came straight in again, and this time it was GOOD.  The oxer felt easy as pie, no problem.  The distance between the oxer and barrel was 18', with the pole set in the middle.  Trotted into the bounces and tried NOT to "help" him with my hands.  I went through the obstacles many times, including turning around the oxer/barrel.  The first time coming in oxer first, I missed to the oxer and got super long (no surprise).  Came again and it was good.  I was conscious of the left drift and made sure he stayed straight, at the end of the school I was happy with him.

Did one last ride with honorary little sis Nicole, a dressage school.  She's currently settling into her new apartment with her new husband in the Bronx, NY:(  I will be keeping her ponies looking not too shabby, and hopping on once in awhile to keep them doing SOMETHING.  I will miss that girl, she is a very good friend.  She's the only one that I've even SEEN in the last ... 4+ months.  Oh well, all things happen for a reason!  The ride was very meh.  I wasn't very focused, Muffin wasn't very focused, and he felt stiff as a board.  Got the trot work flowing pretty ok, and then he felt like a freight train through the canter work.  Oh well, doing something is better than nothing, right?

I will do a trace clip tomorrow, and ride Tues and Thurs before shipping out to MSF on Friday for the Paul clinic.  Pics and a full report will of course follow!!:)