I'm here!

Look at that beautiful view on the way to the barn!!

Well!  That was hard.  I've studiously avoided this blog until yesterday.  Sad, I know.  But it's "easy" not to dwell on things when you pretend that they don't matter.

If I'm being honest, I HAVE enjoyed my slight break from horses in general.  That tends to happen to me; I get SO involved, and SO invested and SO embroiled that I burn myself out; it's happened before, 17 years ago.  I was working/riding/going to the barn 5 and 6 days a week, and then I met the man who is now my husband.  BAM!  Stayed away from horses in general for about a year, and then didn't really get super involved again with them until about 3 years later.

If you've never owned a horse before, I'm here to tell you now:  IT'S STRESSFUL!  Vet bill both expected and unexpected, lessons, trailering, clinics, shows, poker rides, hunter paces, trail rides, etc.  Not to mention lost shoes, ripped blankets, destroyed fly sheets, chewed up reins, broken saddle trees, etc!  If you're independently wealthy, no big deal.  Just swipe that bank card, and all is well!  If you're like ME ... you're probably better off not owning a horse.

I'm happy to report that the muffin man is looking fat and happy in his new home!  His weight looks great, his coat looks great, he's getting to compete at Chatt Hills, and his owner is still in love with him :)  I'm so thankful the sale worked out for all parties; it's because of him that I'm blogging from my kitchen table here in the crisp, cool California morning.  It will warm up to around 70 today and will be sunny and gorgeous.  Who can complain about that??

I'm ALSO happy to report that I'm working on a way to get back into things, horse wise.  I got a job that I LOVE working in a dental office.  The work is challenging, it's out of the elements, and it's only 20 minutes up the street :)  On the up side of that job, I have every Wednesday OFF.  Seems like the perfect day to go hang at the barn, huh??  This past Wed I moseyed on over to a barn out in the town I work in, and spent several hours watching the trainer teach/ride and had the time of my life!  It was so relaxing to just BE there, not having to worry about working ... I'm trying to work on a plan that will allow me to do some work for her in exchange for a weekly lesson!  That achieves the goal I had set for myself when leaving GA; sell the horse, and just concentrate on learning and riding as much as I can.  For now, riding once a week will be perfect.  It will be a great escape, I'll actually get to LESSON instead of muddle around on my own, and I won't be all stressed out with being at the barn 6 days a week in addition to my normal life.  I'm not ashamed to say that my apartment is MUCH cleaner than my house was, my laundry room literally has NO clothes piled up in it, my kitchen is clean, carpets vacuumed, and even the ceiling fans are devoid of dust.  At this stage of our life, I just want to escape to the barn once in awhile.  I'm enjoying the time with my boys, I'm enjoying my "real job", and I'm enjoying going to church and spending time volunteering at my church.

I pledge to come back here to "Tails".  I WILL own another ottb someday; Tiki was such a blast I have to do another one!  I will get back to catching up on the other blogger's lives I've neglected in the past 4 months because it was too hard to venture back here.  My life is still very much in upheaval because it took so long to find jobs once we got here; as usual for ME, finances are stretched really tight, but I'm optimistic about getting things in order soon.  I'm hopeful to get something worked out lesson wise so that I have something to blog about in the next week or 2!  I don't know if anyone is still reading, but I'm sorry I stepped away and happy to be back!

Here in the 11th hour ...

My favorite pic from our first show together!

There's finally a little action.  We move in 9 days.  NINE days. I've been preparing myself for the reality of moving Tiki 3000 miles across country since my barn owner is kicking us out, but it's beginning to look like maybe a little girl will get to love on him and spoil him :)  I've moved into actually wanting to sell him, believe it or not.  I was SO sad about my decision to put him up for sale, but upon reflection, I KNOW I'm making the right decision.  We are changing our life, and moving 3000 miles away ... on our own.  Paying our own way.  I have a responsibility to my family to get on top of my finances, and go back to school.  Paying for a horse at this point in my life is irresponsible; for all intents and purposes, I'm 18 years old again, just graduating HS with my entire life ahead of me.  Tiki has been tried by 2 ADORABLE 12 year old girls, and he would be PERFECT for either one of them; they just have to pony up the $$!  Praying we get things wrapped up by the weekend, because this is my LAST weekend in the state of GA.  Wow.

On the upside, having 3 people try him in 3 days means I've actually ridden the muffin 3 days in a row!  He has been a fantastic rockstar, really showing off his good side.  He's even thrown some nice, clean lead changes across a diagonal to prove he really CAN do them, good pony!

I've decided to continue this blog after I get moved ... because 4 Star Eventers will be 20 minutes away from where we'll be living.  I see some lessons in my future!  And I WILL have more horses; I want a pony some day.  And another OTTB.  Or 2, or 3;)  I take pleasure in the fact that I've transformed a skinny, terrified 5yo ottb to a mature, confident 10 year old.  I took him over his first jump, took him to his first show, and taught him trail riding is FUN.  Now I get to pass him along to someone that will love him just as much, if not even more than I do.  Thank you to any of my readers that have passed along his information, it was a hard decision that I'm finally good with.  I'm excited to continue sharing my adventure as I take this fork in the road of Life.  Hope you all are doing great!  I know I finally feel optimistic again instead of sad and terrified:)

Garnering compliments!

All dressed up for his first lesson with Gigi Nutter

Decided to go with a dressage school in Star's pasture today.  The footing was fantastic in the field, and even though Star LOVES to continuously creep closer and closer to us while we're working, he was remarkably good.

Before I ever picked up a trot, I did some leg yields and circles.  He is so lovely and forward in the pasture, I never have to nag him when we're out there.  Unlike the other day, he didn't trip once today, yay!  I swear, he forgets where his feet are sometimes when he's not in the ring.  Upon picking up the trot, he tried to drift closer and closer to his "mare", but I put my leg on and rode him forward into the contact.  If you've never tried to keep a horse straight in a rolling field with no fence ... try it some time:)  It's dang hard!  I did lots of circles, lots of nice tight figure 8's, and some quality work doing shoulder-in and haunches-in.  The first few times I did haunches-in, I lost his shoulders.  Moving forward, I focused on keeping his body straight, then moved his haunches off the track.  Good Muffin!

When I transitioned up to the canter, it was light, lovely, and beautiful!  I engaged in some circles, leg yields, and asked for a L-R change.  Fail.  Back to left lead, asked again, got half.  Back to trot, back to left lead, asked, nothing, asked again, clean change.  No more changes!  Back to trot, did some transitions to 1 or 2 steps of walk then back to trot, and popped off a few small figure 8's changing leads through the walk.  Other than a hand full of scrambling into the canter, the transitions were superb considering we were in a pasture ... with a horse in it!  LR will come out this weekend hopefully, but I will probably ride tomorrow.  Not sure yet what we will do, I'll figure it out tomorrow!

The compliments I was referring to is a boarder that hasn't seen Tiki in a while commenting on how much better he moves now.  She says he's like a different horse:)

Enjoying the 2 week GA Spring

I think we get about 2 weeks of Spring here in GA.  You know, the fabulously sunny days with a nice, cool base to it?  It was positively magnificent today!  Warm, but not hot.  No pollen in the air.  Perfect day to ride the Muffin!

He's been off for awhile.  I didn't get to ride him last week before leaving for IEA National Finals in Syracuse, NY on Thursday, and LR hasn't been out lately, so his fitness level is waning slightly:(  Little booger was tired after his ride today!

I went up to the ring to set some jumps, but the ring was hard as a ROCK, so I changed plans.  I haven't ridden in his pasture since I did some hill work in the draw reins, so I decided to ride back there.  Tacked him up in his normal cavesson bridle, and set off at a brisk walk.  Tiki's pasture is fairly large; about 20ish acres.  I walked the entire perimeter of the pasture, going up and down hill, and weaved through rocks, holes, and ant hills.  After walking a full lap, reversed and trotted a lap each way, then cantered a lap each way.  The canter was tough!  He wanted to break a few times on me, and at the trot he was quite literally tripping over his own feet.  I'm not all that sure he's actually worked outside the ring since his Poplar horse trial.  As I knew he would, Tiki got with the program and finished up great.  As I pulled him up to the walk, I could feel him huffing and puffing.  Poor baby!  It's supposed to rain pretty good tomorrow, so maybe the footing will be good on Thursday.  I'd like to jump around a little bit this week.

Light at the end of the tunnel

First bath since ... December?  Can't even remember!

I'd decided to do a dressage school on Friday, but I stewed as I cleaned stalls, and decided to do a "jumping flatwork" type of ride, and do a LOT of cantering over poles.  Because EVERYONE knows you can't crash a pole, right?

Poles are safe!  Right?

Lol, I most certainly CAN crash a pole, because we did it ... 3 times.  I was so frustrated, I pulled him up in a nice, lovely halt and yelled "FU$&" at the top of my lungs.  I then gave him a loose rein and walked, composing myself.

Geez, what an off week.  I apologize if my last post seemed a little bit poor, poor, pitiful me.  This blog isn't all sunshine and rainbows, people!  I blog about it when it's bad, too.  I KNOW I'm a decent rider.  I'm not a genius, and I don't have a perfect, phenomenal feel, but I'm certainly far from the worst rider I've ever seen:)  I decided to change up my tactic, and began to 'look' for my distance 5 strides out instead of just 3.  I think 3 strides out, it's too late at that point to make a good decision.  5 strides gives you time to make an adjustment.  Not only did I look for 5 strides out, I also counted out loud, 5,4,3,2,1.  It was under my breath, but it was audible ... and calm.  I didn't get wound up and anxious, I let go of my frustrations and rode what was right in front of me.

Miracle of all miracles, I didn't miss another single distance.  I cantered probably 12 additional poles after my little hollering melt down, and even though I had to do a 5,4,3, pole, or a 5,4,3,2,1,2,3,pole once or twice, Tiki and I managed to arrive at the right distance each time.  Yay us, maybe I'm on to something!

As an aside, I have a little ex-student that's a facebook friend of mine.  EVERY single picture I see of her and her fancy show pony show them in draw reins.  I mean ... EVERY picture that is posted daily.  I added draw reins to Tiki's tack today, and by the end of the ride, he was nearing freight train status.  Yes, they help him hold his shape, but DANG they make him pull on me.  The pulling occurs at the canter; the trot work is usually stellar and Friday was no exception.  At the canter, I think it's just SO hard for him to do it in the correct shape, he compensates however he can.  He was really tired.  Every time he crashed a pole, that back would hollow out and his head would come flinging up, fighting me.  Once we took our little rest, it was better, but I had to do a couple of pretty colossal half halts to keep him off me.  That's precisely why I hack in the draw reins MAYBE 6 times a year.  I think I prefer them for the hills, but will leave them off in the ring:)

So, we had an ok day on Friday.  It's hard when he is unenthusiastic and doesn't take me down to the poles.    I will take him to Patchwork either this week or next one day to give him a field trip and give me a chance for some input.  LR will ride tomorrow.  Things will be better, I know it.  I'll just keep taking it one day at the time, starting with a clean slate each time.  If I have to resort to trotting jumps for a while, so be it.  I hate trotting jumps so much, my eye will improve out of sheer desperation!;)

Epic Fail

2 years ago ... I should probably just stay at this level

I'm hard on myself.  Really, all I have to gauge mine and Tiki's progress on at the end of the day is a feeling.  And my feeling from today is that I feel sorry for my horse.  Like, for real.  Why the HE!! can I not see a distance?  I've been riding horses for MORE THAN 20 YEARS.  Wow, I feel old.  I've been JUMPING horses for more than 20 years.  WHY can I STILL not get consistent, good distances?  It's so freaking frustrating.  I count, I sing, I sit up, I focus on the quality of the canter, I focus on the rhythm, I look for the 3,2,1 ... why is it that distances elude me more often than they come to me?  Do I just try too hard?  Not hard enough?  Should I give up and just ride western?  Sigh.

He started out resembling a brick ... but after adding copious amounts of leg, balancing half halts, and slowing my posting down, he began to stretch and slow down.  Before I knew it, the trot felt quite lovely.  Cantered both ways and he swapped behind once or twice; he was a little fresh today.  I last rode him Friday, and LR didn't ride last weekend.  Also, it was the first time he's come out of his blanket all week, and even though it was finally a decent day temp wise, it was STILL windy.  Anyway, I didn't stress about the swishiness, I just began to jump.

Cantered a cav (good), turned and trotted a crossrail (good), came back to cav (good), trotted crossrail (good), jumped cav and stayed straight down my 3 stride line; LONG.  And WEAK.  Did line a few more times, keeping leg on until the 3 started to ride well.  Came into the jump from 2 weeks ago, a coop section sandwiched between 2 cavs.  Epic fail.  Way too long, got left behind, felt awful.  I widened it a little bit, it was 3'6 wide but didn't look it because it was nice and full.  Did the other jump coming into the 3, it was a frankenstein; a barrel put together with the other section of coop, framed by poles and cones.  He could have cared less to look at it, but AGAIN.  Miss.  AGH!

When I finally managed to jump the coop/cav oxer well a few times, I cantered the 2nd jump in THAT line, a 3' vertical.  Nailed it, felt great.  Threw in the crossrail a few times, jumped the 3' again, and he felt like a rockstar.  Did the 3'3 vertical from 2 weeks ago; it was still set on the same diagonal from the gymnastics we did, and he nailed it, it was FABULOUS.  The jump rode big, but awesome.  I came into the 3'3 oxer we crashed and burned  last time, determined to do it well.  Had a good canter, he was straight with NO bulge at all.  Saw the spot long, kicked, and he was not there for it.  He would have preferred the add all the way. So what happened?  Crash.  Again.  He crashed SO hardcore, I very nearly fell off.  On the back side, he tried really hard to buck me off ... 3 times.  I could NOT blame the poor horse.  I got myself organized, and went right around to the outside 3 stride where he jumped it fine.  I got off, and lowered the back pole 2 holes to make it more of a square 2'9 oxer.  Did the coop/cav 3 stride line to the 3' vertical, and he jumped that great.  Did the other outside line and he was great.  Nailed the 3'3 vertical twice more and he was picture perfect.  Came up to the oxer, fully aware even though it was 6" smaller, he may jump the snot out of it, but kind soul that he is, he cantered right up to it and jumped beautifully.

I did 1 or 2 more jumps, then the oxer one more time and again it was good.  Quit there.  It is a miracle I haven't turned Tiki into a stopper yet.  He just doesn't see his own distance; he  lets me pick.  Since I have NO eye, I'm not always right, so I end up lying to him.  I just don't know what to do.  I canter poles, I work on rhythm, I make myself sit still and not throw him away, yet still ... I would say easily 40% of the time, I see nothing.

I think a person that can't ride down accurately to a 2' jump at least 8 out of 10 times shouldn't be competing Training.  I'm really re-evaluating my decision to move up again.  I may just stick at Novice; I can NOT be crashing him through 3'3 oxers in the ring, it's ridiculous.  Maybe today was just an off day, I don't know.  The footing wasn't very good today, it was really hard.  When Tiki took out the jump, he took a strip of skin off his stifle.  Won't surprise me if it's a little big tomorrow, he whacked it really hard.  I just need to spend the rest of my life in remedial lessons, I guess because I just don't learn.

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.

I don't mean to brag ...

Silly satin ear net!

but I am!  I mean, honestly ... raise your hand if you have either an ottb or even a warmblood that can have 6 days off, not get turned out one night, and behave himself with NO fireworks being fully body clipped in low 40's cold and biting wind.  Lol, I know there are plenty of well behaved horses out there, but I'm just so blessed to have found one so ... SAFE.  That's what he is, safe.  He's fiery, he's sensitive, he's hot, but he's safe.

I tacked him up in the dressage tack and headed out to the front pasture (Star's pasture) to do a field dressage school.  Well ... ALL the mares were in her pasture, so I changed course and headed out to the back 15 acre pasture.  It's been quite awhile since I've ridden him back there, and when I do it's usually to walk hills.  I've lengthened my stirrups to the point that I can NOT keep my heels down; my dressage score is usually significantly higher than others, so I guess it's time to QUIT riding like a hunter rider, and learn to ride like a dressage rider!

It was COLD today.  Low 40's, cloudy, and a biting wind that would have cut straight through me had I not been bundled up like the Michelin Man.  I left off the quarter sheet due to the wind; I figured it would be blowing around so much it would just distract him.  What I DID do was put on his goofy satin ear net ... why?  I don't really know.  At the end of the day, I do think it helped him to stay focused.  I'm telling y'all; when his forelock tickles his ear and he's fresh he just shakes his head like a fiend.  Today?  Only once:)  I marched him up a hill to the only relatively flat part of the pasture by the neighbor's fence, and even there it's still pretty rolling.  I put him on a rectangle at the walk, and he tolerated that both directions for about 10 minutes, and that's when he finally got impatient and started sucking back and getting behind the leg.  Rather than lose my temper, I corrected his behavior with a good squeeze of the spur, a growl, then the trot when he reached back into the contact and strided out.

I did nothing difficult.  A simple 20m circle both ways.  I kept my leg on, kept my outside leg back to bend him around the inside, and kept my hands up and floating.  I made sure he was flexed at the poll, and even though it was HARD, he was very forward and willing.  I had to slow my posting significantly and power him forward with the leg, and he finally began to balance on the downhill portion of the circle.  I did a few tiny figure 8's concentrating on changing the bend and keeping the tempo up.  He felt great!  Cantered right, very nice.  Cantered left, and Oh.  My.  Lord.  I have NEVER felt him canter so lightly in a circle in a field with SUCH a nice flexion in his neck.  WOW!  He was SO good, I dropped the reins and walked him out.  It was a little sooner than I'd meant to, I only rode about 16 minutes, but that frickin' canter was so light and lovely, I wanted him to end on that.

Tomorrow I will jump; either the jumps as they're set, or if I'm feeling ambitious I will set a gymnastic.  LR will do a flat school on Sunday, and we'll see what next week holds!

And ... jump:)

No where else I'd rather be than on my boy!

Saturday I got to ride with ... honorary little sis Nicole!  Woo Hoo!  She came home for a visit from NY, yay!  I headed out to Joyce's after a long day teaching, and Tiki man was a fresh little butt head lol:)  He ALWAYS is when riding with his mare ... in the cold ... late ... on a Saturday.  At least when LR rides him on the weekends, it's normally sometime before 2:00pm.  I set up a simple outside line, 2 inside diagonal singles, and a single on the other outside.  I tried to make it "scary".  Barrel, 2 poles above it, ground line poles, and 3 cones lined up in front of the groundlines on both sides.  It stood 3'.

I tried to have some productive flat work, and I feel like I did ok.  He was SO fresh, he got swappy at the canter, and I had a TOTAL lightbulb moment!  Because he was already swappy and swishy, I decided to ask for a change.  Totally unassuming, cantered up the diagonal ... and just stepped out.  Didn't anticipate, didn't wrench my hips to the outside, just looked in my new direction and thought about moving his hips over.  BOOM!  Clean change with absolutely NO change in rhythm or anything!  Good for us:)

I put together a few courses, first time through adding a stride in the line, and he was just lovely.  Jumped great, did his changes, stayed lovely and quiet, and waited on me to tell him what to do.  Other than feeling my leg slip back a few times, my position felt pretty good and solid.  When I cantered him into the big vertical, he didn't even look at it funny, just jumped right over, no issue!  He's so brave, I'm very proud of him.  I really want to haul out to Calimar on March 10 and ride with Mary Bess so we can school around a T level xc course and see how things go.  Sat, it was FREAKING COLD, the coldest it's been that I've ridden in at all.  By the end of the ride, my nose, ears, fingers, and toes were freezing:)  LR rode him and jumped on Sunday, and said he was lovely.  Tomorrow I will do a good dressage school ... Friday it's supposed to be cold and rainy so may not be able to ride then, but I will try if the weather cooperates.  Next week, I will get in a ride during Mon-Wed ... I've started my Insanity workouts again in prep for our Spring Break trip to the west coast.  Exercise breeds motivation, and I'm definitely on an exercise kick again!!:)

Working towards Training

Ahhh ... Home!

Well, had two GREAT rides yesterday and today!  The weather has finally cooperated and I got to sit on Muffin for the first time since Thursday 2 weeks ago!  It has rained, rained, and rained.  This is a good thing ... but a not so good thing!

I posted the following video on the Chronicle forums:  Flat work
I got some very good and honest feedback about it!  To MY eyes, and hopefully to the long time followers of my blog, you will see a HUGE improvement from the early Tiki days.  It's been a  process, as y'all know. Slow and steady and all that.  One poster commented she felt like Tiki was moving more like a lower level hunter than a dressage horse ... Bwa hahaha!!!  I take that as a HUGE compliment, and at least I've been doing SOMETHING right lol.  It'll take too low and quiet over spastic sewing machine any day;)  Another poster mentioned maybe I've hit a plateau in my training, and how maybe it's a good thing.  Ya know, I think she's right!  I've got to kick things up, expect the boy to rise to the occasion, and CHALLENGE him again.  The training test B (the eventer test, not straight dressage) is a little more involved than BN or N, so I have my work cut out for me!

I feel like I really kicked it up.  Both days of course I rode in the dressage tack.  Unless something happens, I'm REALLY liking him in the mullen Happy Mouth loose ring, so that bit's staying on the dressage bridle for awhile.  Both days I warmed up on a long rein.  Yesterday, I w/t/c both ways.  I could feel how much he fell in at the canter, but I had NO contact!  After roughly 6 minutes, I came back to the walk, shortened my reins WAY up, and forgot about riding like a Hunter.  I used my spur, I used my seat, and I aggressively focused on pushing his hind end into the reins.  I actually felt quite a bit of enthusiasm from him, and he agreeably stepped underneath himself.  I spiraled in and out a few times both ways, and could feel when he tried to "cheat" and fall in on the inside shoulder.  Again, I forgot about sinking my weight into my heels and sitting soft and quiet, and pushed him hard into the outside rein.  I kept my reins taut, my shoulders back, and the tempo "UP"!

On a 20m circle, I tried to really ask for variation within the trot.  Sitting trot with collection; LOTS of flexion in the neck, LOTS of leg, seat sitting DOWN and following, shoulder slightly behind the hip.  Rise to posting, and visualize his shoulder REACHING as far as it could.  I have visual evidence he CAN have a gorgeous, open trot:

Sometimes I went right to the edge where he was nearly in a canter, and then I would bring him back down to a collected sitting trot.  In the canter, I went from a regular canter to a "gradual lengthen", and then back.  He felt a little strong, but when I settled back into the "regular" canter, he really sat down and lightened up.  Finished with a few stellar transitions from Canter/walk/ canter/walk.

Today was more of the same, but during my long rein warmup, and just concentrated on going FORWARD, and didn't canter on the loose rein.  For the most part, stayed on the 20m circle.  I worked HARD on that steady contact.  I lengthened my stirrups a hole, and focused on leg 80%, hand 20%.  I think my biggest mistake has been fixating on hand 80%, leg 20%, oops.  Within about 10 minutes, I could feel a nice steady reach through his shoulder, and his neck was "jelly like" in the bend.  I FELT LIKE his back was up, and he felt REALLY GOOD, but I was just going by feel.  

I practiced riding a 15m circle since I realized I really had no idea how to execute it.  I did a 'baby spiral' from 20m to 15m and back.  I practiced on bending him all the way through the body, and not letting him cheat and tilt that head/bend that neck.  Of course it wasn't 100% perfect, but he made an excellent, honest effort.  Good Muffin!  I ended with some big loop serpentines all the way across the ring, and they started a little awkward, but ended pretty good.  I then did about 4 turn on haunches to canter depart.  It was the BEST he's ever done those!  Absolutely NO shuffle/quick trot steps between walk/canter.  He was crisp, prompt, and oh so good.  I love his try and his heart.  I will get in a few lessons with Susan coming up so we can score under 40 at May-Daze:)  I think we have a good start!

The stadium round

Walking, er, marching down to warm up

Final jump!

First of all, here are the pro pics from the weekend!
Horse trial pics

Secondly, here is the recap of the stadium round:  He was perfection:)  LR placed him exactly where she wanted him, and he said, "Sure!".  Her comment when coming out of the ring was, "I can't believe how stinking ADJUSTABLE he was!"  Wait?  No problem!  Go?  Sure!  I LOVED the course; it was a nice, long twisty course that looked like a lot of fun.  I was a little surprised there were no combinations, but that was a nice thing, too.

After watching a few super scary rounds with horses tearing around on the wrong lead and tearing around in general, LR walked in and laid down a trip worth of an equitation medal.  He looked at nothing, he didn't obviously hit anything, and he marched around like it was easy:)  Good Muffin!  A lovely double clear in the grass arena moved them up 5 spots to 14th going into XC on Sunday ...

The Dressage Test

Um ... Y'all?  XC is over THERE!

Well, we are home safe and sound!  Muffin was a ROCKSTAR, LR had a wonderful time, and I am STILL exhausted from playing horse show mom:)

As y'all know, I encouraged her to go BN since she's never done a HT before, and Tiki has only done 2 previously.  She's been preparing now for a few months, but unlike what I did, she hasn't had any lessons on him at all.  She's also only averaged riding him about once a week per month, so NOT much saddle time (on Tiki.  She gets PLENTY of saddle time on other horses).  I'm saying these things in defense of the fact that they were 19th at the end of dressage ... out of 19.

To be perfectly honest, I was VERY shocked they ended up dead last.  I feel like my May-Daze dressage test wasn't any better than what they put in Satureday, and I was somewhere around 9th I think after dressage then?  LR spent plenty of time early Sat morning schooling in a relatively uncrowded warm up ring. She just sat patiently and waited until he came down into the contact, and BREATHED.  Looked pretty good to me!  He was quiet, he was obedient, and he was calm.  No wild eyes, no kicking hind legs, no swishing tail ... he looked really happy.  All was well!

Their test was dead quiet.  THAT'S why they were last.  She's a hunter rider that's never performed a dressage test in public.  Actually, she's a hunter rider that's never performed a dressage test in front of any sort of trainer or ANYTHING, so what she did was GREAT:)  It was accurate, it was pleasant, it was even, and i was steady.  The ONLY thing it lacked was pace, a bit of impulsion, and a flapping, "loud" rider.  Final score was 41, which certainly wasn't bad at all!  Very respectable, in fact.  At least 10 of the horses in front of her was above 35; there were a LOT of 38's and 38.5's.  So despite the last place finish, we were happy with both HIM, and HER.  She shrugged and said she'd go home and work on it.  Lol!  Cool customers make me happy.

I just have to add in here, I had SUCH a good time!  LR's mom, SM (Super Mom) and her good friend MP (Mama P) took care of LR and I all weekend.  MP owns a beautiful little cabin in Calloway Gardens, just 20 minutes from PP.  She took advantage of having SM around, and invited all of us to stay with her for the weekend.  I just have to say, I haven't been so spoiled by even my OWN mother!  I am very grateful for having them there, and for having such a nice place to spend the weekend; made it feel like a little vacation weekend vs. just a "horse show" weekend.:)

Game faces

He was VERY good in the warm up!

Rain, cold, and more rain

Exactly one year ago; popped splint.  Glad to not be dealing with THAT!

Well ... it's been a week since I've posted because I haven't sat on my boy AT ALL!  It's been raining all week long, MISERABLE:(  LR was able to ride Sunday and Monday, dressage of course.  He was super stiff on Sunday, no surprise.  LR worked him through it and ended up well.  Monday he was WAY better, and she had a nice, productive ride.  I hit him with 3 cc's of ace, and she pulled his mess of a mane, lol.  The weather is going to be HORRIBLE tomorrow and Friday, but I need to go ahead and fully body clip him because I'm not going to have time Mon-Wed of next week, and we leave to head south to PP on Friday.  Don't want to wait too long because I want to have time to touch stuff up if I need to.  I will just double up on the blankets if I need to.

He's ready.  She's ready.  Hopefully the weather cooperates SLIGHTLY this upcoming week so I can keep him loose and ready to go.  Already mentally packing the truck and trailer; dropped the trailer off yesterday to get some maintenance on it.  Picked it up today!  Excited about the horse trial, can't wait to see PP up close and to walk the xc course.  I know Muffin will rock it out!

Less than a month!

My little rock star and his LR:)

Tiki's big Poplar Place debut is coming up in about 3 weeks!  Very excited, can't wait to see Muffin and LR in action "for real".

It felt amazing to ride my boy this week.  It was SO hard to watch and NOT be riding schooling last weekend, but at the same time it is ALMOST as fun watching my boy:)

Monday I just spun him on the longe line both ways to make sure he was all good from his big day on Sunday.  He looked perfect and fresh, with nary a head bobble at all.

Tuesday I walked hills in draw reins.  Carried a dressage whip and made him march up, then halted and backed a few times backwards up the hill as I made my way down.  Did something a little different; After walking up the hill 3 times, I then trotted up and down 3 times.  I've actually never just trotted up and down the hills.  If you've never done it, trotting down a steep hill is HARD!  Lots of leg, lots of balance, and some good hard work.

I got on for a quick 5 minutes to force my student's horse into the water!

Thursday I jumped, whoo hoo!  Set up a super simple outside/inside/outside/inside.  One of the outsides was a tall crossrail bounce, the 2 insides were the coop and the cavaletti oxer, and the other outside was a square 2'6 tall, 3' wide oxer.  I simply lined them up along the center of the ring so that I had a nice long approach to each jump.  Tacked up in the 'wonder bit', and warmed up with a little bit of lengthening and shortening of the trot.  He felt super actually.  Kept my leg on and continuously sent him forward, but I worked on staying super quiet with my body.  Warmed up by trotting the coop back and forth and he was completely perfect.  I consciously softened my left hand and paid attention like crazy to that left shoulder.  I'm satisfied he was dead straight each time.  I began by halting straight then continuing on, just to keep him slow and soft.  I trotted the bounce and fought the urge to DO too much.  I HATE bounces lol!  As he jumped the jumps I concentrated like crazy on my position.  Ended up just going and going and going.  I concentrated on that rhythm, that left shoulder, and MY position.  He was GREAT.  My distances were all acceptable, he popped off a few easy and clean lead changes, and he stayed pretty huntery throughout.

Compare knees here to knees of the big jumps:)

All in all, a successful jump school, it felt great.  He felt very adjustable throughout and he was pretty careful about not touching any poles.  I felt pretty good myself; I think I stayed with him well and didn't interfere at all which is really all you can ask for!

Tomorrow LR is going to do some dressage boot camp.  Next week I plan to jump at least once and do hills in the draw reins at least once.  A dressage school of course.  That's all I'm committing to; anything else will be a bonus!

Leading up to XC!!!

Lol, look at that face!  First time over the big ditch.

Muffin's very first time over the train

Lol, the FIRST(and only) time I fell off my boy!

Even though I'm not going to be the one riding, I'm super excited for Sunday!  One of my former kids will ride up there with us and hang for a bit:)  I'm looking forward to seeing LR jump the boy over his favorite phase!  He will love it, it will be a nice break from all the dressage boot camp he's been subjected to lately;)

Speaking of, had another great ride today.  I realized I forgot to mention how he went in his bit yesterday; I really liked him in it actually.  I'm not sure it will be great for any sort of jumping, but he felt pretty nice in his dressage work.  Used it again today and went straight to 'Gigi' contact which is the most effective way of getting Tiki on the bit.  I keep a steady, bending contact with the inside hand, then close the outside hand actively to get him to stretch down into it.  I didn't give him any time at all to be above the bit today, I put him right in the contact.  A'la Anne Kursinski (courtesy of www.usefnetwork.com), I moved him back and forth off both legs before I even shortened my reins.  Once I picked up contact at the walk, I went immediately into shoulder-fore both directions.  Walked the poles and cavs again, then went to the trot on the 20m circle.  Today was very similar to yesterday except that I cantered on the straighaways, I worked shoulder-in/haunches-in both directions, AND did a distinct lengthen/shorten at the trot.  I tried to make it a REAL collection; not SLOWER, SMALLER.  Then for the extension, I concentrated on keeping the same rhythm, but asking him to reach through the shoulder like crazy.  It was decent.  That's now what I need to work on; LOTS of adjustability within the gaits.  I do work on that, but not all that often.  At the end, I couldn't stand it and tried to pop off a few lead changes.  UGH!  I SUCK at those.  I just need to give up:(  He can do them on course when needed, I just need to quit mucking things up.  I will never be able to get a nice, balanced tempi type change, I fear.  My timing is just BAD.  And Tiki gets anxious about it.  Whatevs!   Even if we DO go Prelim some day, the dressage test will have a counter-canter, not a flying change.  Don't want to mess up something he CAN do well (counter-canter).

It was a great day, he felt super.  Very responsive in the bridle, very light off the leg, happy to move laterally, and NO mini geyser eruptions, lol.  I will report back after Sunday's schooling, super excited!:)

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:)

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!!

Back to work!

Sun not completely up before the Simon clinic

I had to come down off my "clinic high" and get back to doing fundamentals.  Thursday was a dressage day, and he worked very well.  I did lots of 20m circles, lots of shallow serpentines working on wrapping around my legs, and trotted him several times around a "circle of death" of poles.  I reversed direction over the 3 cavaletti trot rails, and first time through he did knock them, as usual.  I threw in LOTS of downward transitions, and lots of lateral work.  Our canter work felt VERY forward, but I kept him in hand, and he ended up well.

Friday I decided to walk hills, but I put on the draw reins to do so.  We worked UP, down, halt, back, back up and repeat.  He was a little reluctant to go FORWARD, but I got him there.  I decided to work him for a few minutes in the flat part of his pasture up by the back fence.  Historically, he's BAD right there.  He's not focused, the cars make him crazy, and he tries to be a wiggle worm.  But ... I've never ridden him up there in draw reins.  He felt GOOD, he was straight, and I had a lovely w/t/c both directions.  I even asked for a r to l lead change, and he threw it out there cleanly!  He felt superb in the draw reins, I'm glad I decided to slap them on.

LR is going to do some good dressage work tomorrow, and then I plan to do some low gymnastics on Monday.  Only 2 weeks from our clinic with Paul McRea!