Eventing adventures

While I was not thrilled at setting my alarm clock for this am, in reality, I had so much fun at Eventing Kindergarten today :).   Chilly but sunny and perfect weather.  Today was schooling w the show tomorrow and they were grouping schooling by coach, which was super convenient.

Horses were wired when I got there so we took it easy - just as well as stad was running a little late.  Warmup went well then down to show jumping.  Course was beautiful and there were awesome volunteers there to help adjust fences for the level.  K went first at entry height and they were absolute pro stars!   Then we adjusted to tadpole and E and Jake jumped around.  Double clear rounds - even the skinny :)

Also - can I just say how much fun tadpole is?!?!   Lol what a great idea for rusty riders or new riders or riders who’ve never been outside of a ring.  SO inviting and “trip over it tiny” lol.  Essentially XC will be a trot hack with a few things to step over - except the things are beautifully decorated so they feel like a designed course, not just scraps from the bigger jumps. (Seriously how many PE courses have you seen that are log, log, tires, log, log, log...) but this was even lower than PE and had a wide variety including a ditch and water.  Amazing.

Also loved that the ditch had a skeleton in it - not that my riders would know that since they would *never* look down.   You believe that right?  Lol

So yeah from stad we went straight to XC and other than a little bit of map confusion (based mostly on the map being left at the barn) we figured it out.  Kennedy and Callie were *on* today.  Like the PT course would’ve been a legitimate option.  And while Jake was doing tadpole, there was also some pre-entry and he did both the entry bank ditch like a pro star!!!   

Both horses adopted this mentality today :). It was awesome!

Let’s just hope they have some energy left to do it all over tomorrow ;)

I miss eventing.  What I wouldn't give for a sainted horse to just bomb around the PT course ;).  Doesn't even need to be big or exciting, just PT...  Lol times like this I miss Athena.  Ah well - I'll just have to live vicariously through others for now.

Also - did I mention how jealous I am that the show tomorrow is only stadium and xc?  I expect there will be a lot of ties for first with no dressage to decide things ;)

Peter Gray Clinic with Argo

Those who've been reading this blog for some time will be aware that I have a history of riding somewhat dramatic horses.  They amuse me, what can I say?  Now I find myself with a bit of a dilemma in that I had a lovely weekend at a great clinic where absolutely nothing happened.   And that just doesn't lead to much of a story.  But I'm still being asked for said story ;)

For the non-horsey readers of this blog -- this one may be of limited interest.   Consider yourself forewarned :)

The smile pretty much sums up the weekend

The thirty second background -- after being grounded for two years thanks to the multiple eye surgeries, I started back riding on a part-time basis (3 days/week), two weeks ago.   In that time I've done one mini XC school which went really well, and two stadium jump schools -- both of which were moderately disastrous.   The horse I'm riding has a jumper background, with limited dressage or XC experience.  He is well past the young and stupid stage though and lovely to hack -- like a trail pony on a mission anyway.

So of course it'd be totally reasonable that I'd enter a two-day jumping clinic.   Why not? ;)

Day one started with an hour of dressage.   Our dressage still has a ways to go -- he definitely has the drunken gummy worm feel to him at times, our contact isn't as soft or as consistent as I'd like, and basics of suppleness and rhythm still need work.   But, he's super willing and coming along really fast (yeah hill work!) so I have hopes for us.   And fortunately what little we do have was sufficient for the requirements of this clinic :)

Then the jumping...   Our biggest issue jumping is that by about the third or forth fence in canter he grabs the bit and then we're out of control for the rest of the round.  Like audience watching with their hands covering their eyes kind of out of control.  We started with grids in the trot, and when the second fence went up he stopped on the first try.   Entirely too much work to get close to the base and push off -- much easier to throw himself at it with speed.   Lol.  Peter dropped it so we could get over it from the halt and life continued.   I honestly felt he was horribly behind the leg for most of the exercises, but Peter wanted me to leave him to it, so we did.  Jumps were all tiny sized so really no issue.   Grid ended up being a one stride to a couple bounces to a two stride and Argo had to work for it, but was behaving himself and landing reasonably under control.    Then we did a few different courses that all started with the grid, then would approach every line in trot but let them canter in-between.  He was awesome.  Calm and really rocked back (we stuck 7 strides in a 5 -- for which the comment was "you're really patient" lol).

While we never addressed the charging issue because we trotted every other fence, the line we put 7 in was riding in 4 the other day, so huge improvement.   I also felt vindicated because one of the first things I said after the first time I jumped him was that he needs lots of trot fences *g*.  Charging will get you over little ones, but once they start to get big, I suspect he'll hit the breaks.  Unless we build the strength and confidence first.   Also, I rode in jump stirrups for 2h and could still walk when I dismounted.  We're calling this a win.

Day two is XC!!!   Woohoo!!!   And basically I was grinning like a kid all day.   Kennedy and I went for a lovely trot warmup around the field -- fun start to the morning.   We started with walking over the ditch.   Now "ditch" in this case is really more of a terrain change.  So much so that it didn't matter when Argo chose to walk *in* it instead of over it.   Sheesh.  Ah well, at least it was drama free.   Over it and out over a little vertical, no problem.   The reverse?  Still no problem.  Awesome.

Onto the bank which again failed to provide good blog fodder as, while he was somewhat confused about the idea of walking up it, once we were allowed to trot or canter it all went smoothly.   Jumped a few little things -- I was pleased that he was at least pretending to listen to me when I asked him to come back.   Went and played in the water, jumping in and out over a little stadium fence.   Complete pro - lots of splashing and smiles :)

Pats for jumping in on the first try!

Did some work over a single barrel which took a couple tries, but really -- it'll be a very long time before I have another horse who comes close to Lexi's reaction to a barrel so gonna give that a win as well.   Jumped a course which I interpreted somewhat differently than Peter intended but which he then adopted for the rest of the group :).  hahaha win :).  And Argo was awesome.   Getting in super close to everything and looking at them all, but we canter a whole course with only very minor discussion about pace -- and never (to the best of my knowledge) scary.  I was pretty thoroughly pleased.   Would've liked to have done a little more and jumped some bigger fences, but at least it was 100% positive experience and Argo jigged his way up the hill going home all proud of himself.

So yeah -- was great to see some friends I haven't seen since my abrupt departure from the horse world, had ALL the fun riding XC after entirely too long, and am still able to walk today.  Win :)

Welcome to XC :)

My superstar pony is going to be a XC machine!   OMG I had so much fun.   And no, I'm not lucky enough that he's actually my horse, but for simplicity's sake, we'll be referring to him as mine in the "horse that I'm currently riding" meaning for the foreseeable future :)

And yes, she who hasn't jumped in two years, took her jumper horse who's never done XC, and decided that would be the best way to start back ;-P.  You're not new here.

In his nice, new, loose ring snaffle (lol his "jumper" bit is way too strong for dressage) we warmed up, I decided he was much happier in that bit, and we went out back.  Note, we did not bother with a tack change here.  Worked for a bit on the flat just to ensure the brain didn't get lost when we left the ring.   All good.   Through the water, up and down the bank -- totally pro.  Then we did the baby ditch and the slightly bigger ditch -- baby ditch was no problem but he was a little confused and very awkward about the slightly bigger one.  By the second try he had the idea and by the third try was doing it well though!

Now, I've seen vid of his other pb'r jumping sticks and very out of control (both enjoying themselves and not at all dangerous, just not ideal) so I wasn't sure what we'd get on XC, but I knew he was new to it so figured meh, why not?   We have some very tiny jumps to play with.   So we trotted over a few and he was very confused, but oh so quickly the light went on.   And before too long he was landing and scanning for the next one -- awesome!  Except, of course, he has no interest in letting me have a say in which one is next ;).

I also had no steering and limited breaks.   If I could package him and hold a line though -- all the power and enthusiasm.   So I'm *really* looking forward to the rest of the summer.  But those basics need a lot of work first *sigh*.  I think we'll be trotting our XC fences for a while yet.   But he did all the PE and E course, so not bad for a first day :).  And trotted and cantered between fields with little more than a glance, so that was awesome.

His pilot, however, was a whole lot looser in the tack than I'd like.  Sheesh.  Jump school tomorrow...  Hopefully won't be too embarrassing!

All the fun though.  Still grinning like a kid.

Shakespeare goes XC schooling

Sometimes I find random parts of my life choose to intersect in very unusual ways.

The one that really made me laugh this week was when I was schooling Lexi XC on Tuesday.  I talk to baby horses a *lot* when I ride.  Less so once they know what they're doing, but I usually find the greenbeans responds pretty well to a calming voice.  Or alternately, sometimes a growling or a cheering voice.  And sometimes all three on one jump *g*  Regardless, the end result is a sometimes ridiculous rather one-sided conversation.

Sometimes the conversation is practical.  Counting strides is an old standby of mine.  "Steady" or "wait" are others.  "Good girl" is pretty much a given on take off -- leading to all sorts of wonderful facial expressions *sigh*.  Etc etc.  But sometimes not so much.

So I was riding Lexi toward the baby house, and there was another house right next to it.  What do I find myself saying?  "Two houses...  Both alike in dignity.  In fair Verona where we lay our scene..."  Bahaha yeah it was just random enough that it totally took all my concentration off what I was supposed to do *g*  One of those, where did *that* come from moments.  And then I was even more annoyed I couldn't remember the next line.  Yeah, I'm a geek, what can I say.   But she jumped both of the dignified houses, so it's all good.  And yes, I know it's actually households -- but we were jumping houses!  Work with me here.

Straight and centre -- not half bad :)

And not only did she do houses, but the scary coups, the up and down banks (down took some work), and the ditches!  Super pro-star with the ditch; I was pretty stoked about that.  And then she got two days off to recover *g*   Well more because of the heat than the xc, but still.  She was lots of fun to ride stupidly-early this am.  hahaha ah well.

Lexi over the baby ditch

And with that -- it's off to sleep for me.  To sleep, perchance to dream.  A thousand times good night :)

Lexi learns XC with Blyth Tait

*edited - have to go to the barn, but for those who *really* want the story...  Here's the first draft.  Lessons learned etc will be its own post (maybe tonight) cause this is already long!*

XC day of the Blyth Tait clinic was yesterday.  I had to leave early to get back to the barn in time to teach.  By the time I got home from work and uploaded all the photos (cause let's be honest. people care more about photos than blog posts *g*) I was done.  Really done.

BUT thanks to the absolutely amazing Kennedy who got up early to do the barn for me, I got to sleep in!  Woohoo!  So now you're getting a day-time blog post.  I never write during the day. Partially because I write best at night and partially because I'm always *busy* during the day *g*   So we'll see how this goes.  Meeting the vet at the barn this aft, so I have till then to type (not Lexi, but one of my other horses is 3-legged lame and I'm super worried about him...)

Got there Monday morning with lots of time to feed my pony (which was not so necessary thanks tons to Dani!) and get ready to go.  As I didn't have anybody with me (and realistically, Lexi had a stall and *should* be exhausted so I didn't really need anybody) I begged Sabrina to take photos for me.  hahaha so mini camera tutorial and then go to tack up.  Well I turn around and Vanessa's handing me tack and Sabrina's getting me organized and both Dani and Kitty were there too -- apparently it takes four-five people to get me ready *g*  I put it down to being invited to stay in Arthur's barn -- you get spoiled there :)   Really it was just social hour as nobody else was riding till later, and social hour when comprised of several helpful people gets things done quickly.

Take Lexi out to the arena and all of a sudden she's not so tired...  Spinning in circles, fairly concerned.  Fortunately at just that moment I saw Emily riding Lexi's new best friend (as of yesterday) out to XC.   I called out to her and she very kindly came in the ring to babysit until we were ready.  The spinning came down right away and became more of a pacing -- at which point Kitty magically appeared to help get Lex to pause long enough for me to get on *g*  hahaha clearly need a little more experience before I'll be able to handle my pony entirely on our own.  You wouldn't know she rides alone Every Single Day at home.  Sheesh.

So Lexi glues herself to Mya and we hike our way to the XC course with no major drama.  But once we get there, I asked her to *gasp* go a slightly different direction!  OMG!  hahaha we had a *really* impressive leap in the air and then quite a lovely hand-gallop around the field.  Which didn't actually take us anywhere near Emily and Mya who were walking around like civilized creatures.  But sobeit :)  After our little run which Blyth seemed somewhat bemused by he suggested we not try to stand still and that I just keep her moving around (at a walk preferably) until the others got there.  Right.  

Learning stuff :)

The others arrived and we had a chat -- Lexi and I vulturing the well-behaved horses who were all standing still.   hahaha ah well -- nobody seemed to mind.  (Vulturing - to the uninitiated - is a GRS term for those who pace circles around somebody else...)  Anybody who hadn't arrived with their stirrups shorter than they'd ridden stadium, were asked to shorten them.  With speed, the horse's centre of gravity moves forward -- so too must the rider and shorter stirrups make this easier.  They're also critical for properly absorbing drop fences.  Mine were already cranked up so no worries there -- good thing as I'm not sure we would've paused long enough to fix!

So you'll remember (if my blog post wasn't too incoherent!) - stadium day was all about creating the quality canter.  XC day was all about applying it.  On Sunday Lexi hadn't so much learned about a quality canter as learned about a canter *g*  hahaha but sobeit. So we were to trot around a bit -- mostly to give Lexi a chance to find her brain -- and then canter.

The only picture I have so far *g*  I particularly love the flying mane!

And this actually went really well.  She was super-high, but nowhere near the drama of the Lucinda clinic.  We went forward in the gait I wanted mostly in the direction I wanted :)  And even though our first canter was to the right, she picked up the lead like an old pro :)  Yeah!  And then my photographer told me my camera wasn't working :(  Booo.   Fortunately both Adriana and Kitty had cameras and were happy to document our adventures; unfortunately, I don't have those photos yet!

And then it was time to jump.  Our first task was to trot or canter away from our circle around a mini-trakhener and out over a tiny log that's part of the coffin.  To put this in perspective for those who know my place, I doubt that log's any bigger than the one people sit on in the back field :)   If you chose to trot in, the rule was you had to canter away.  Jumping toward the barn, but with a convenient fence in front of them so they wouldn't be too excited.  Perfect start.  And Lexi's first ever xc fence was beautiful!  YEAH!!!!

Our first XC fence ever!

Our second attempt we were told to canter the approach.  My training with babies on XC has always been similar to Lucinda's teaching -- very slow, very quiet.  But came to learn so go with what I was told and canter gamely on with no questions asked.  Absolutely perfect.  Sweet.

Then we moved on to a "real" xc jump.  There are very few E or smaller jumps on this property but this was one. Totally suitable, but definitely bigger than anything she's jumped with a rider on *g*  Totally inviting little hogsback on level ground.  Perfect.  Get told to canter it as it's a little big to trot.  Ummmm sure, why not? >;-P   Right - well we held our line and we went over it.  I got *launched* -- the photos from that one that I haven't gotten yet will be laughed at and then promptly deleted.  Frig.   Fully expected to do it again, but no, change direction and jump it the other way.   And you know what?  She was pretty much a pro star.  Super stoked at my baby horse.

Here Blyth made a point of reminding people to watch their transitions.  Don't just boot your horse from a halt to a gallop.  Establish a good trot first and then a decent canter transition.  Often the horses get hot on XC because the riders get hot.  If you take your time and give them a chance, they'll respond accordingly.  And with consistent reminders before every start, several horses that had been quite hot settled really nicely.

Then...  *insert jaws theme music here* the tires.  Expected discussion about the scariness factor of tires and how to ride them.  After the barrels at the Lucinda clinic I'd been expecting some serious drama about tires so yesterday on our xc walk I led her up to them to see.  Far less drama than I'd expected (remember the plastic hay bales in the arena?  Couldn't even get her *near* those).   Placed some mints on the jump for her and the world was good.  So today I trotted toward it while the others were still getting organized.  Fairly defensive ride.  And she hesitated -- but totally gave it a solid effort!  I was so proud of her.  Not even any drama!  And since Blyth didn't see it, she got to go again :)  And she was all for it!  No hesitation at all and happily cantering away all proud of herself afterwards.  Woohoo!  Pony likes this game.

What a superstar!

Did another random fence -- one that's slightly more vertical and on an uphill.  We trotted it the first time when Blyth wasn't looking *g*   And then cantered it bravely on the second attempt.  Super good both times!

Second attempt = super confident.

Next was an exercise made out of show jumps, with a vertical on top of the hill then 4-5 strides to a skinny at the bottom of the hill.  Again, the focus was on quality of the canter and maintaining rhythm and balance down the hill.   Equitation discussion about the importance of controlling your upper body -- jumping ahead or throwing your shoulders when you need to land balanced on a downhill doesn't just look ugly, it's very unsafe.   Being the baby group, we got to introduce this one fence at a time, starting with the skinny at the bottom.  Lexi even had permission (more than that, was strongly encouraged) to do it at trot the first time.  Yeah *g*  And she did look at it, but she held her line and popped over it and cantered away.  Next try in canter.  I couldn't believe how well she responded when I asked her to tuck her butt under her and keep it there down the hill.  Amazingly well balanced.  I'm still kinda stunned about that actually -- this exercise was the one that impressed me the most from her response.  Nice and soft in my hands, focused on what she was doing, and in this great collected canter (ummm to put in perspective, still longer than most of the other horse's regular canters, but for her, it was amazing!)  So then the first fence got added in and away we went -- absolutely prostar.  Had a slight serpentine effect the first time, but really not bad at all.  Second try straight and confident.  Woohoo!!!   And all this coming in in canter as well.  Yeah.

The next exercise was the mini trakhener.  I waivered on this one and then opted out.  Part of me is really disappointed and part of me is saying I *finally* made an adult decision.  Being an adult sucks >;-P   You're supposed to finish any training session saying "we could've done more" -- and I absolutely feel we could've done that.  And if it had been an exercise at the *end* of the school instead of the beginning, I think we would've done it.  But at that point I thought we had probably an 80% chance of getting over it.  The problem is, if we'd ended in the other 20% it would've been the kind of drama that makes for great blog posts.  hahaha and at the moment, my horse is tackling everything I ask of her -- I *really* don't want to scare her.  And I know from previous experience that that ditch, while tiny, is deep and houses monsters.   Blyth didn't push one way or the other.  He said he thought she could do it, but as she has so little ditch experience might be better not to.  So we opted out.  

But even opting out was a schooling experience, because to get to the line Blyth wanted them to take, all the other horses were out of Lexi's sight.  I expected all kinds of drama from this -- but I knew the first one would be back in a minute or two so figured I'd just deal with whatever I got...  But no - I don't think Lexi even noticed they left.  She was being sucky with one of the spectators and occasionally munching grass.  And tired.  Did I mention tired?  More cantering in two days than in her entire life.  hahaha  So yeah, standing quietly while the herd left and then came galloping back one at a time -- pretty good schooling.

I am disappointed we didn't jump it though.  Logically I think it was the right choice.  Emotionally, I wanted to do it.  Ah well.

Next was an introduction to corners -- built out of stadium rails.  We were running parallel to the hill and the skinny side of the corner was on the downhill, making it all kinds of inviting.  For Lexi's first go, he didn't make it any narrower, but he put the two wide ends on the ground so the inviting low side drew her away from the inviting runout.   This one had a long canter approach and he wanted us up off the horse's back.  A few people were doing a posting canter -- not acceptable.  To ride xc you have to be fit and balanced enough to stay up off your horse or you make them work far harder than they should.  The other thing he repeated often was "sit up but don't sit down" -- shoulders up and back, but no weight in the saddle.  Use your legs or stick if necessary to create impulsion, don't shove with your seat.  

Lexi's pretty sure she can jump the moon.

He warned me she'd probably break to trot right before the fence to inspect it.  She hesitated briefly but surprising us all, jumped it out of the canter :)  Woohoo!   So then he put the ends up and we went again.  We got to a wickedly brutal distance but she tried her heart out for me and cleared it to tons of pats.  He used this as an example of a couple things.  First, why the adjustable canter is so important.  He said I rode it properly, but she didn't have the strength or the knowledge to come back when I asked her to.  Second, why you introduce things like this with stadium fences or tiny jumps so that if they miss horribly, they don't get hurt.  She cleared it, but potentially...   And third how important it is to reward your horse and that they trust you. She tried her heart out there -- she didn't have to do that.  And if she'd been scared or something negative had happened in her history, she probably wouldn't have.

Anyways, with Lexi having no idea anything wrong had happened, it was time for our first little mini-course.  Tires, over the drop jump through the trees, then up the bank.  Introduced with discussion about how to ride the drop fence (typical ski-jump type, twice the size on landing as on take-off, but tiny on take-off).  Focus on weight in the irons and irons under your body.  Equitation isn't just to make you look pretty, it's important because it's what's effective.  And also about slipping the reins.  Slipping them - not dropping them.  Just allow the horse to take what they need.

So we *cantered* the tires -- and she took me to them!  Was amazing!  hahhaa but then it kind've all fell apart.  You see, to get to the drop fence, we had to go through a fairly thick treeline...  Sucked way back to the slowest trot and zig-zaged  our way through, and then her eyeballs just about bulged out of her little head when she noticed the drop, but a tap with the stick on takeoff had her going (impressive -- she doesn't usually respond well to the stick, but it was the only option I had at that moment.  I certainly wasn't about to take my leg off to kick!).  Then we had a fairly discombobulated canter but did eventually manage to scramble our way up the bank and canter away.  Slightly less than brilliant, but she did do everything on the first try at least!

Pats for the cantering pony

As for the stick -- in later groups Blyth was actively teaching that technique and recommending people practice it before they ever need it.  The ability to take your hand off the reins at the last second and use the stick behind your leg on takeoff when you feel that last-second hesitation.  Esp at ditches, trakheners, drops into water, etc...

The rest of the group next practiced jumping the grown-up trakhener.  This would've been beyond Lexi even if we had done the baby one, so we sat this one out.  Good practice watching everybody leave her again.  We did head over so we could at least try jumping the bank down, which she didn't beautifully and went for a lovely canter afterwards :)

Emily and Mya giving us a lead into the water

Then it was down to the water -- Lexi was so much braver about this this time.  We took a lead the first trip walking and then trotting through!  Woohoo.  Then she got to trot through on her own -- such a star :)   Next it was canter through and jump after (not out of the water -- a couple strides on dry land).  The jump was big by Lexi standards *g*   We weren't able to maintain the canter in the water, but at least had a solid trot.  She started to go towards the jump but then all the other horses disappeared in front of her (they went around a corner) and she hesitated pretty seriously.  We got over it, but it definitely wasn't our prettiest or most confident jump of the day *sigh*.   Then it was jump in, canter through the water.  Warning here that anybody who chose to get ahead of the motion over the jump would be swimming *g*   I loved the surprised tone "are you going to do this?" he asked.  Ummmm sure, why not?  We've already jumped the fence and been in the water.  "You better sit up and be prepared for a stop."

Making a splash!

No problem.  hahaha my super pony jumped the log like she was an old school master.  Came back to trot for the water, but continued through it without stopping.  Woohoo!  hahaha I was so proud of her.  So with lots of pats, we called it on that.   I was sort of amused though that others trotting through the water was okay, but when others cantered through the water she'd have a mini-meltdown each time.  I parked her a little farther away so she was a 'safe' distance from the scary noises and let her hang out while the rest finished their school.  They added in a jump out and then they were done.   

Not 100% sure, but certainly willing to try!

Emily hacked back with me because I wanted to detour via the baby ditch, and she offered to both babysit and give a lead.  Well I tell ya, Lexi was all for this.  I was just going to walk her over it, but oh no - she focused on the obstacle, picked up a canter, cleared it by a ridiculous amount, and booked it up the hill.  I was all set for a wicked buck but it never happened.   SOOOO happy with my superpony.  Of course the walk back was terribly spooky and we nearly trampled a pedestrian or two, but you know, other than that *g*

I'll be grinning like this for days!

So what I found really interesting for me with the two clinics back to back.  Lucinda's methodology is more what I'm comfortable with.  But Blyth's worked way better for Lexi.  Now to be fair, if we hadn't done Lucinda's clinic first, I think this one would've been a bit much for Lexi's first ever outing.  But since she had at least seen a ditch and a bank before, this worked amazingly well for her.  By the end she was taking me to the fences, super eager and super confident and just overall having a blast.  Woohoo!

And then I got to take more photos :)   For those who are interested, links below.  Feel free to pass on to any and all.  Settings are such so that no FB account is needed to view.  Quality is, umm less than professional at times *g*   I'm trying to learn to work the advanced features of my camera, so rapid-fire, auto-mode, and wide "to be cropped later" zoom are all turned off.  Varying degrees of success. hahaha 

Group 2: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152954262205366.1073741833.823765365&type=1&l=55de926d05

Group 3: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152954288795366.1073741834.823765365&type=1&l=1547ac106d

Group 4: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152954308330366.1073741835.823765365&type=1&l=e162ac8e91

XC - Group 2 and a tiny portion of Group 3: 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152958474750366.1073741836.823765365&type=1&l=afacdbb6af

Only an eventer can hit the ground three times in two days and call it a success.

So I got a message from my mum this morning:  "Loved the blog post, but let's not have any more yellow rabbits today."  My mum's a wise lady.  One of these days I'll learn to listen to her.  Today was not that day. And let's be honest, wisdom wasn't exactly the word of the weekend. Sheesh.

If you're just joining us -- the game is, I took Lexi -- basically unbroke, after six weeks off and four rides back, to the Lucinda Green clinic at Eventing Canada.  Right.  If you actually know me in person, you won't be terribly surprised by this *g*  If you don't, you may be considering sending the men in white coats my way.  You may be right >;-P

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled program.  I figured the only thing we had going for us with our utter and complete lack of preparation, was that by XC day, she'd be *very* tired.  And a tired horse is a ridable horse.  Theoretically.

About how I expected to find her...

As with yesterday, my goals were actually *very* realistic.  I wanted her to hack out (something she's never done), with a group of other horses (which she did for the first time yesterday), and not lose her brain.  I also had vague thoughts of trotting her around said other horses and hopefully riding her through the water.  Banks and ditches were in the far periphery of my brain (cause, let's be honest, I'm a xc rider) but were not sincerely part of the actual goals of the day - more of a "maybe if everything else is perfect" variation.

Lexi was still pretty calm and happy in her stall when I got there. This is something I've noticed from day one with her and am *thrilled* about -- she seems to settle easily in new environments. Not that she's been to many -- but when I brought her home, no drama.  Change paddock, no drama.  Ride in the sandring - okay admittedly there was some drama, but not insanity :)   I was expecting a very tired grey mare...  That's not what I found.  Alert, happy, head over the open part of the stall watching the world.  Uh oh...

What's next?

Tacked her up and got on indoors -- needed Steph to hold her for that (thanks again Stephy!).  Our "never get on unless you're standing still" rule isn't terribly easy to apply in a clinic scenario.  If I lunged her long enough to overcome her adrenaline, I'd not have any horse left to ride.  So I made the decision that for these two days, she could be held to mount.  She still had to stand -- but she had help to do so correctly *g*  We followed her newest best friend out where the others were walking around the start of the xc course.  Amazingly she didn't really seem to care about the donkey we had to pass at all.  hahaha now the dirt, and the grass, and the rocks, and the . . .    Well you get the picture.

She jigged her way out but once we were there I was mostly able to keep her in a walk.  When Lucinda arrived the others halted all around her.  I tried to do the same but it was an utter and complete fail.  So though I felt incredibly rude walking around while she was talking, forcing Lexi to stand would've had her standing on two legs.  Her brain just wasn't up to that yet.  So we walked.

The warm-up was, imo, going to be the most exciting part of the day.  I've ridden with Lucinda a few times so was reasonably confident the actual lesson would involve one horse going at a time in an organized fashion through whatever exercise we were working on.  But warm-up?  We'd only just gotten out there and suddenly all four of her buddies were going different directions at different speeds.  Oh dear.

And I have to give her credit -- that's a difficult situation and she didn't lose it entirely.  There was some dancing on her hind legs (I *really* hate that game) - then finally got her at least moving forward.  A couple scoots at high speed when another horse cantered or jumped behind her.  I have to say the other riders were being amazingly considerate and cognizant of the fact that I had little to no steering.   They basically rode around us. I know at least one changed her line when she saw I was having a challenge.  She had right of way, but I couldn't give it to her.  I did at least shout a "sorry/thanks" as they turned away *g*  I love eventers.  Especially eventers who ride babies.  They get it.

But Lexi dealt.  And soon I could at least pick the gait (Trot please!  Walk gives too much time to think and canter too much adrenaline).  She'd go *really* fast then super slow depending where we were or how much she wanted to investigate the footing -- which was perfect, but you know, different colours of grass are a problem.  Steering was slowly coming into play.  It wasn't exactly accurate yet, but I could at least get her going mostly where I wanted to go.

Brain almost reinstalled :)

All too soon we were being called over to start the class.  Fair - everybody else was ready to go.  I would've liked a brain, but really - I wasn't finding it in that field, so may as well ride on!  First exercise -- go between the barrels and drop down the bank.   Right, about that...   Did you read yesterday's experience?  Oh dear...

But I think the outside world was just entirely too fascinating to focus on silly barrels.  Lexi went through them with barely a scoot and walked off the bank like a pro!  We cantered away with more enthusiasm than was strictly required to shouts of "straight line halt! Don't let her learn to run away!" behind us.  Tricky with neither steering nor breaks, but we got there *g*   Going back up, Lucinda let us go first so we could go through the barrels once rather than over them.  She was a star!

First time down the baby bank

Next it was down the bank, right turn, over the skinny.  It wasn't pretty, but we got it done.   Reverse and go back up -- this time *with* the barrel jump on top of the bank.  And she did it absolutely perfectly!   Back over the barrels, down the drop, over the skinny...   And so on and so forth.  By the end she was trotting the bank easily and we were well under control -- getting to the skinny as though we knew what we were doing instead of resembling a drunk but determined snake on speed.   The others in my group did the same thing with a second skinny on top of the bank and the log afterwards, but Lexi was excused from that one.

Did you get this though, cause this was the highlight -- she jumped the barrels like a SANE horse.  On the first try!  Do you have any idea how excited I was by that???  hahaha oh yeah, and up and down banks a complete non-issue.  After Si who always *launched* off a bank, this was pretty sweet too.

We had a stop and group chat about the different issues being faced by each rider in the group and suggestions on how to deal with them.  While this was going on though, Lexi was supposed to be learning to stand still.  At least a little of the edge was off by this point, but this was definitely a challenge.  And I'll admit, far more of my focus was on keeping her still and calm (she'd eat a bite or two but then wanted to be off again) than on the actual conversation.  But she does have to learn to be patient in a group, and when Lucinda says halt, she means it *g*  Eventually I got her to hang out between two horses where there was enough space for a tiny circle every few minutes when it reached the "forward or up" stage of her abilities.  Not ideal yet, but admittedly far better than I'd expected even half an hour earlier.

Okay, next stop - the ditch.  Ohhhh, ahhhh...   Having hand walked her over the ditch yesterday, I wasn't actually concerned about this one at all.  She might clear it by a mile, but I had complete faith we'd do it.  We watched a couple others go and then took a lead from her super-star buddy, Oz.  Great name eh?  :)  Oz is 18 and knows his job, but can be over-enthusiastic about it at times *g*

First ditch ever!

So I rode to the ditch reasonably defensively -- baby horse, first ditch...  Not new here.   She jumped it absolutely perfectly.  I was thrilled.  And subconsiously relaxed the defensiveness a little on takeoff.  I thought she might bolt or buck a little on landing but I was okay with that.  We were over.  Right, my subconsious is no longer allowed to make executive decisions.  She landed, perfectly.  And then I was standing on the ground next to her holding her reins.  Again?  Really???

Just like that.  Really.

Oh dear.   But I pretty quickly figured out what had happened.  You see, our fearless leader Oz had been having speed issues, so Lucinda had been getting them to stop after every fence.  Until this point it had taken multiple strides to make that happen.  His rider though was working *really* hard.  And on this jump got him stopped on the FIRST stride.  Which meant as Lex landed she had nowhere to go *sigh*  So she jumped off to the right in a big way, and I kept my nice straight line.  Classic. Apparently it was nearly identical to the move that unseated me yesterday, except this time she had a reason for it.  hahaha I'm going to have to learn to stick that or convince her to jump straight!  Preferably both :)

So Oz got a new rule - when they're being the babysitter, they keep going after the fence for at least a few strides *g*  After the second try though we got to do it by ourselves and she was an absolute pro-star!  I was so stoked.  Lucinda gave us permission to excuse ourselves then if we wanted -- I guess hitting the ground twice in two days isn't always easy to shake off *g*  But no way, my pony was being a superstar!  The fact that I can't seem to stay on her isn't her fault.

The ditch was then built up into a coffin, using show jumps but with natural standards and rails so it looked xc-ish.  Lexi got to go first.  You remember -- the one who has done gymnastics what, maybe three times?  And not since before she got hurt.  And never been ridden outside before.  And been introduced to a ditch only a couple paragraphs ago?  Yeah that one.  And she did it like an absolute pro.  Both directions, shadows be damned.  You can imagine the grin on my face.  It's still there actually.

Through the baby coffin

The only thing Lexi was having trouble with was standing still while the others were going.  Esp if they all happened to be on the other side of an obstacle from her.  Even though she could always see them, that wasn't allowed.  When the drama really started to present itself we were given permission to resume our walking around *g*  Phew - that makes life easier.  And knowing that she could walk, she was actually willing to stand for longer periods -- although it probably helped that at the same time another horse came through the coffin and joined us.  There'd been a rather long discussion going on while Lex was on one side and everybody else on the other.

So everybody's having their turns and Lexi's being patient, standing slightly off the path in the longer grass.  And then - we're on the ground.  No signs, no pawing, no change of behaviour.  Her front legs buckled, she went down and flopped over sideways.  I was terrified something horrible was happening.  Hopped off her (fortunately kicked my leg out as she lay down, so not trapped or squished). And then...  she starts to roll!  Omg.  I was actually stunned -- my emotions couldn't get around utter fear that something horrible had happened to my horse to dealing with the fact that no, she just felt like a roll.  Frig.  And then I just had to laugh -- what else can you do at this point?  I mean *really*???  I said we were there to provide the comic relief, but this was excessive!

But when Sasha does it, it's cute...

I'm still shaking my head remembering.  Seriously?  Does that even happen?  I'd understand it if we were in the water, or if she'd been pawing and I'd ignored her, or even if she'd stepped way under with her hind legs.  But no.  Nothing.  Just standing still then on the ground.  Sheesh.

Was offered yet another chance to excuse myself from the class -- by this point I was starting to wonder if Lucinda really thought it'd be best if we went home *g*  But she seemed amused when I simply fixed my saddle and accepted yet another leg-up.  Tried to position Lexi so she was downhill but that wasn't going to happen -- however, the guy who was actually giving me the leg-up just laughed.  No problem.  Turns out he's a lot stronger than the hundred-and-nothing pound twenty year old women who I usually get a boost from *g* Imagine that.  So I'm back on and Lucinda's just kinda shaking her head - credit for guts if not sanity.  hahaha   "But Lucinda, I haven't been swimming yet."

"No, you've had your three, you're done."  hahaha oh good.

We went and had more standing still practice while the three more experienced horses practised with the training coffin.  One of the other horses was ditchy and had been an absolute superstar over the baby ditch, so his rider opted out of this exercise and she and I hung out and watched the others play.  Good practice for Lexi who stood still AND stayed on her feet.  Funny, I never thought I'd consider that an achievement!

Then it was to the big hill, for lack of a better description.  They've built two decent sized steps out of nothing, so there's an easy slope up one side of this man-made bank and one-stride steps down the other.  But what Lucinda does is have them climb up the side of the bank, halt at the top, then climb down the other side.  This is not my favourite exercise, having ridden a couple horses who tend to leap off of it.  But Lexi had been *really* sensible so far so...   Yup, she was a pro.  An absolute star.  Only hesitated once at the scary down (one side is steeper than the other) but she still did it without a lead and calmly.  I was pretty stoked.

Up the mountain

Then it was time to jump the actual steps, which I figured we'd be excused from.  But she actually got to play!  Just instead of doing both steps, we climbed up the grass to the bottom step and dropped off of it.  Much bigger than the first bank, but she did it like an absolute pro!  A bit more enthusiasm than technically necessary *g* but she went on the first try.  Super brave!  Lucinda's instructions: "slide the reins to the buckle, grab the oh sh*t strap, and lean back." bahahaha and there we have the real reason for the martingale.  We did not progress to the double steps, which I think was the right choice.  I don't doubt we would've done it, but I'm not convinced it would've been pretty or a positive experience.

Off the bigger bank

So ditches, banks...  The only thing left is water.  Lexi wasn't certain she wanted to go in, but after everybody else went in and a buddy came back to get her, she gave it a go and soon enough was confidently splashing through on her own.  We also went up the bank out several times.  Then it was time to go down it -- she *really* wasn't sure about that, but she gamely made the effort to follow the Great and Mighty Oz.  She oh so quietly stepped down - no wild leaps for her!  And then got her foot caught on the edge of the bank :(  Had a horrible time getting her feet under her and very nearly went swimming :(  Sooo disappointed. She really scared herself and after that there was no way she was going off the bank again.  But I did, at least, get her back in the water -- first taking several leads and then getting her going in all the entrances on her own several times.  So that part's good.  But suspect down drops into water might be an issue for a little while...  I see more wading in my future *sigh*   Will deal with that another day :)

Pats for the brave pony in the water

Finished up with more discussion, which will get its own post, and then hacked back.  This amused me to no end -- pony should be tired.   She doesn't have the best walk in the world and I wouldn't let her jig, so she was having to work to keep up with the other horses.  And yet -- she still had all kinds of energy to spook at the backpack lying on the ground, the rock that was clearly offending her, the mud puddle...  Sheesh.  She was still bouncing when we finally made it back to the barn.  hahaha gotta love her!

Line of the day from Lucinda - "Your mare is *such* a character and I'm so glad you are such a plucky rider!" bahahaha love it!   She also gave me a mini confirmation analysis when I ran into her while grazing Lexi afterwards (she was on her way back out to teach again) showing me what exactly it was about her build that she really liked.  So what a great way to finish the clinic :)

I miss summer :(

Today is the first day of fall.  I'm blaming that for everything that happened today.  You see, I am a summer child.  I *love* summer.  I was born in the summer.  I love the heat.  I love the sunshine.  I love the long days and the hot nights.  I love everything to do with being in, on or around the water.  My job gets easier, more fun, and I have more time in which to do it.  We get to play XC.  Basically everything about summer is good.  And this summer was amazing.  I had tons of fun showing Athena, who got better every time out, and I had a great group of girls competing and had an awesome time with them.

Of course, the flip side is also true -- I *despise* winter with a passion.   And today was the first day of fall. The bringer of winter.  I should've stayed in bed.

Which I very nearly did.  Hit snooze a few times too many and ended up rolling out of bed at 6:10 -- I meant to leave the house at 6.   Oops.   Then I realized I neglected to fill up the gas the night before.  Detour 1.  And by this point I was so late I decided I needed Timmies too.  Detour 2.

But eventually I made it to the barn, and it turns out I am *very* efficient at show-morning prep.  Mostly based off the fact that I have always hated mornings and therefore sleeping till the very last second has been a great motivator.  So I was, in fact, ready to go less than 10 min after the planned time.  And Athena loaded like a saint!  Best yet.   Hesitated slightly and then just strolled on.  Sweet.

So we were off.  And passed through some random time-warp that got us there in record time.  I had an hour before I had to get on for dressage, so I left Athena with Chelsea (who has, after today, been totally promoted to Supergroom.  She was *awesome*.) and went to get my package and walk xc.  Completely forgetting my passport *sigh*  Can you tell it's been a while?  But they gave it to me anyways with my promise to deliver said passport later.

Head out to XC.  Now the night before a friend had texted me the course, so I was a little concerned.  I texted my coach who returned with the short-hand virtual course walk that made me feel a little better.  And as I started to walk it, I wondered what my concern had been.  Fences one and two were super inviting.  Three would require a bit of a ride, but it was really small -- she could easily trot it if we had to.  So no problem.  4-5 would be a *very* challenging bending line for her; until I realized we could angle 4 slightly and jump them on a straight line which she could do reasonably well.  6 was a random house.  Np.  Then the map showed cross the treeline, turn left, and jump the half-coffin.  So I crossed the tree-line, turned left, and found nothing...  Backtracked and walked straight farther -- found an Intermediate ski jump that ran the other way and figured I was misplaced.   Now at the treeline there were two options to go "straight".   It looked like the one on the right connected back at the bottom of the hill.   So, walking backwards and figuring this was the only option left, I decided to take the connecting path and see if the jump was in there.

Short story - it wasn't.  You can skip a few paragraphs now if you want to know about the *riding* portion of today's activities.   Still with me?  So I pretty quickly ascertained that this was *not* the correct route, but it looked like it'd reconnect back at the top of the hill so I followed it.   It didn't.  So I turned around and went back...   And here things get a little fuzzy...   Somewhere, lost in the woods, I made a very wrong turn. Not sure exactly how, but I was clearly not making it back to the xc course.  And I was turned around enough I didn't even know which way the course WAS.  :(   And pretty soon it was very clear I wasn't even on the property!  By this point I'd turned around so many times it seemed turning back would just get me more lost and I stumbled upon a wider, groomed and signed path.  Clearly for snowmobilers and not likely part of the xc course -- but I had hopes it'd go somewhere civilized so I followed it for a while.  By this point I realize I have less than 20 min till I had planned to get on and absolutely NO idea where I was or how to get out.  Less than fun, let me tell you.  And I'm on foot.  And I didn't have my cell phone with me.  And Sasha had no brilliant ideas, but thought this was a really great game :)   So I followed the nicely signed big path for a while and could see a clearing.  Doing most of this at a jog now in an effort to save time. My little brain equated clearing with "xc field" -- or at very least "open field" which'd mean farm of some sort and therefore people.   Yeah.  First day of fall, remember?  The open field was a hydro line path.  Oh dear.   I definitely hadn't crossed a hydro line before so now I knew for a fact I was going the wrong way -- BUT had no idea how to get back where I started, so figured I'd continue.  And then my nice big path disappeared.  Seriously.  But there was a little path that went straight up the hill to a place that looked like it had a good view.   Ok, climb hill and look around.   Straight down the hill a little ways away, I could see a silo.  No idea how far it *actually* would be from there -- distance is deceptive at that point.  But I'd much rather be lost on a road with buildings and, conceivably people, then in the woods wandering aimlessly.

So there's a scrawny little path leading straight down the hill (and these are not small hills!) which Sasha and I mostly slid down...  And a road!  Woohoo!   A dead-end road -- but I had hopes it would lead to another one.  Preferably the one Glen Oro is on!  Oh - and I have 10 mins till I'm supposed to be on my horse.   I see a driveway - sweet!  Nope, it's a construction pit.  Oh dear.  Keep walking and in the distance there's a nicely manicured lawn.  Look and house appears to be absolutely deserted.  But look closer and there's a guy chopping wood by a barn at the back.  I think that's the most happy I've been to see anybody in a very long time.  So I interrupted his work as politely as I could and explained the situation and how lost I was and asked if he could point me in the right direction.  As soon as I mentioned the horse show it was very clear he knew exactly where I was supposed to be, but... "that's the next concession over.  If you give me 10 mins to finish this, I can run you over."

Now there's a life choice for you.  How many times do you get told growing up never to get in a car with a stranger?  But, otoh, I approached him.  And I had *no* idea where I was.  So really, if he were a bad guy - I'd already walked right into his home base.  And if not, then he could really help.  hahaha so I accepted the ride with great thanks.   As we pulled out the driveway, we met his wife (or that's the impression I got anyways) pulling in so he stopped to tell her where we were going, and she offered to take me instead which I thought was super cool of her, but Sasha was with me and def wouldn't've fit in her little car...  But OMG we were SO far away.  That road connected to Horseshoe Valley Rd, which *then* connected to the street GO is on.  It would've taken me a solid hour, probably longer, to walk that.  As it is -- I was pushing it really tight for dressage by this point, but I still thought I might make it.  Profuse thanks to awesome farmer dude and book it back to the trailer where supergroom Chelsea, completely unaware of my drama but very aware of the time, already had Athena tacked up for me.  Just had to get dressed and go.  Trotted our way to warm-up and got tack check and then exhaled.  hahaha we made it.  And even had time to warm up.  And Athena was being *amazing*.

Went in the ring and she continued to be amazing.  Wow.  That test was significantly harder than what she's done this year, although I admit I schooled both the pieces AND the full test at home all week, so she did have some idea what was going on.   She was brilliant.  I wasn't convinced she'd be competitive for training level, but compared to every test she's ever done, this was was awesome.  So I was pretty excited about that.

In dressage

So.  Then it was time to walk XC.  This time I brought a friend!  The first 6 fences seemed still just as nice as the first time around.  And we went to the forest and *still* couldn't find it.  And this time I was getting *really* frustrated about it.  And again, we only had about an hour so not a ton of time to fuss around being lost.  Got smarter this time though - knowing all the *wrong* routes and also knowing where fence 9 was, we went there and worked backwards.  8 I also knew as they were the steps down.  And then I wondered if 7 wasn't really in the woods at all -- pt 7 was in the field beside the woods.  So figured I'd walk back there and see.  And as I did, I discovered it!  Yes in the woods, but not a straight line through the way the map showed...  A swerve and basically a little loop next to the treeline.  So this one was a half-coffin.  Nice little log, one stride downhill to the ditch.  The ditch was def home to at least a few horse-eating monsters -- of the deep and not particularly inviting type -- but my plan was to trot the log so A'd have time to process and I thought we'd be ok.  She looks at ditches, but is pretty sainted about them.  Then back to 8 - two steps down.  She hasn't done that before but we've done a ton of banks so I wasn't terribly concerned about it.  My plan was a super-slow approach, step down off the first and continue.  9 was just a random fence.  10 was a bank into water, but with the water shortage you could actually land on sand for one stride.  Sweet.  11 a small skinny after the water.  12 was a corner - which worried me on the map as GO used to have a *huge* maxed T corner (remember it with Zel) - but this was a tiny and inviting one.  The tree next to it would be more of a challenge :)  Sweet.  Then we have more water, but again can land on solid ground.  The bank up was reasonably substantial, so I gave it a fair amount of respect, and one stride to some logs.  Then a nice run and a little pile of logs in the tree-line.  Bending line to a substantial trakhener.  I figured it'd be ok though (kinda like the one she did at Will O Wind -- the ditch was more dug out, but not as wide) - the only issue really was that the footing was boggy right before it and A *really* dislikes soft footing.  Then a coffin that was about as friendly as coffin's get.  Main issue there is by this point she'd be tired...  And then just one little log fence to the finish.

So at this point I was pretty excited -- I really like technical courses and as a schooling upgrade it'd be prefect because it had some of everything but nothing too massive or scary.  Woohoo!  Went to check stadium quickly and it was open to walk, so did that.  It was maxed.  Seriously maxed.  And any fence that would be a "gimmie" in a normal course had some sort of optical illusion to it for all sorts of fun and games.  And the footing was slick.  Striding was text-book perfect and nothing complicated in the turns.  It was just size and appearance.

At this point I would've liked to have been warming up already, so booked it back to the pony -- who Chelsea already had tacked up (didn't I say she was awesome!) and trotted back to warmup.  She warmed up *beautifully*.  I was thrilled.  Jumping positively and in front of my leg and just feeling good.

Stadium w/u

And then it started to rain.  Is anybody surprised by this?   And we went in the ring.   She was really backed off the first fence which surprised me a little as it was very inviting (or so I thought - I later discovered there were a lot of stops there) but she jumped it well.  Fences 2-3 rode really well (in the right number of strides!) but she was feeling a little hesitant off the ground.  Not looking at things, but just not flowing well.  Fence four -- even watching it on video I'm not exactly sure what happened.  I do know that I got more air time than is legal without a pilot's license.  It looks like she changed her mind and put her front feet down for an extra mini-stride and then took off again straight up.  Got my balance back and 5 rode really well.  I thought she'd look at it as she was *very* backed off a similar fence earlier this year and hasn't seen anything like it since.  But she flew over it -- prob the best fence of the day.  6 though we came in too flat and she got deep and cat-leaped it.  Cleared it -- evidently this height isn't a challenge for her either.  In fact when it went well, she felt WAY better over the bigger fences.  The issue is, when it *didn't* go well...  And I very nearly landed without her on that one.  Again, serious air time -- but this time we didn't land as well.  *sigh*  At least I knew *why* that one was bad.  7 was a triple-bar of decent size that she flew over beautifully.  We weren't as balanced on the turn to 8 as I would've liked, but we managed it.  However, that flowed through in that we missed the turn to 9.  *sigh*  I did manage to get her there and she *started* to take off...  And then her hind legs slid :(   Boo on that.   We demolished the fence - right through it.  Pause to rebuild and then try again.

And she did it the second time.  Serious hesitation though, I could feel she'd had enough of this game.  And the rational side of my brain said "retire."  *sigh*  I have to learn to listen to the rational side of my brain.  It doesn't appear often in competition, but it's almost always right.  Sadly the competitive side of my brain which said "there's only one line left" won out and we approached the last combination.  She propped and spun out and I landed on my feet next to her, still holding the reins.  *sigh*   I don't blame her being scared and unconfident after the way the course was going -- and that line had some tricks to it.  Perfect distances but optical illusions with the poles.  That dirty bastard Hindsight is kicking me for not stopping when the thought entered my brain.  Because really, if any portion of the rider isn't convinced they should keep going, why would the horse?  That's the first round since I was a kid where things got worse as we went.  I'm pretty disappointed in myself for that :(

So I did remount of course and we jumped a few fences in the warm-up area again.  She was still super hesitant and sticky *sigh*  I didn't even try the oxer that she'd been so brave over earlier.   Jumped a few low ones where she felt good and called it a day.   They *did* say we could still go xc (the attrition rate in stadium was rather atrocious so I guess they were letting people school if they wanted to) but I felt that would not be a positive experience and was certainly not about to make the same mistake twice.   The rational brain may not have won out in the three strides I had to make a decision in stadium, but it certainly did in the time between stad and xc!

I wish this weren't fuzzy - she flew over it!

On the plus side -- I was super proud of and impressed by miss Chelsea!  Who took complete care of my pony all day and did an amazing job of it -- as well as doubling as puppy sitter and videographer!   And, tbh, it was a great social day.  I got to chat with a bunch of friends I don't see very often and some of the other riders that I know but rarely have time to talk to.  That part was actually a lot of fun.  Was parked next to a friend riding after me in competition -- I miss that part of competing; the last few years I've always been out on my own -- which is awesome, but I hadn't realized how much of  a difference it makes.  On both sides of the cheering on when things are going well and commiseration when things don't go as well as planned.  Not to mention the always fun gallows humour about the course :)  And just having somebody to walk the course with and bounce ideas off of.  Social outtings are always good :)

So now I know our homework for the winter.  Fix what I broke and improve it to the unbreakable point!  No problem :)  For all today was brutal, I was still so proud of my little mare and how very far she's come.  And next year no fall shows.

Lucinda Green Clinic - Day 2

So. Much. Fun.

Very tempted to just leave the post at that line.  Summarizes fairly well I think :)   But I suspect people might be less-than-thrilled with me for it.  But that being said, I'm known for only writing about day 1 of clinics so even just three words is improvement right?

hahaha ok so on with it.  XC am dawned cold but, thankfully, dry!  Got to the farm with lots of time to feed and water Athena and let her digest before her ride.  She was clearly tired after yesterday given that my somewhat psyc weaver was standing quietly.  Looked good on her *g*

Went to the indoor to w/u.  Knowing that she was tired and had 2-hours of xc ahead of her, our w/u consisted of a reasonable length walk, lots of leg yields, and a fairly short trot set which showed me that she was moving remarkably well and not stiff or sore at all from yesterday.  Sweet!   The other riders seemed much of the same mind as only one was really working in the w/u -- the rest were more wandering...  Fair enough :)

Followed Lucinda out to xc.  She had us do a quick w/u on our own over fences again with instructions to jump some little fences until we felt our horses were leaving the ground and then come back.  No ditches or banks.  No more than 5 mins.  So we all went our own ways -- there were only a handful of jumps that met that criteria, but everybody was sharing nicely *g*  And soon we were all ready to play.



We were originally going to start with some ditch work, but the ditch on that side of the property ended up being a little too intense, so we switched gears and went to play on the bank instead.  We walked up and down, stopping on a straight line as per yesterday.  And then the skinnies came out.  hahaha  bending lines of course with three-foot skinnies balanced on caveletti blocks.  All sorts of combos: log, skinny, bank, skinny and back again.  And every variation you can think of.   Athena tried her little heart out.   You could see she was a little overwhelmed by the idea, but she held her line and figured out what to do with her feet.  It occasionally took us a bit to get the halt at the end, but she did manage to navigate all the questions.   For a horse who really started experiencing skinnies yesterday, I was pretty impressed!


Then it *was* time to go to the ditch.  We had already discovered that two of the more experienced horses really weren't feeling ditches today, so Lucinda asked if any of us could get our horses over.  The other two riders seemed pretty hesitant to commit to it, so I told her I thought we probably could :)   The only ditches she's ever done were at Grandview and they were super-inviting which this one was not entirely, but she's tried everything I've ever asked her so I had high hopes.  One of the other riders threw in his vote for "the little black mare" being the one most likely to succeed, so away we went.  Nice forward walk.  Slip the reins and stay back.  Athena's head goes all the way down INTO the ditch.  And then...  she gamely hopped over it!  hahaha I was so proud of her!   And then we did it a couple dozen more times giving leads to everybody else till she was bored :)   Woohoo!

The ditch got built up into a coffin (using show-jump fences) which she was a little stickier at, but she did it.  Then we worked on a half-coffin by angling fence A and then jumping the wider half of the ditch on an angle.  That she did quite well, but admittedly because she was last to go and was rather frantic to catch the other horses galloping up the hill away from her towards home!   But hey, whatever works right? :) We also got to do it the other way with the ditch first to the vert which she found comparitively easy.


Next step was to move to the *actual* coffin which was far more substantial than anything I've jumped with her xc yet.  Admittedly not saying much since she's only really jumped entry fences and the occasional pt jump, but still.  Walked her over the ditch and cantered out over B.  A little iffy because she's still *really* unsure about jumping out of the walk, so turned around and went the other way at a trot to far more success.  Then Lucinda offered us the chance to school the full coffin.  I was the only one who hesitated a second which drew a puzzled look -- understandably since my super-pony clearly has a good heart and no ditch issues -- so I felt the need to clarify it wasn't the jumps that concerned me -- it was cantering down the hill!  Coordination and balance in the canter aren't our strong suit :(   And really most of what we'd done both yesterday and today so far had been out of a trot.

So Lucinda suggested just cantering down the hill since clearly she needed practice and either skipping the jumps all together or if I felt things were going well to take the B and C elements.

How long have you been reading my blog?  I'm guessing most of you will know exactly what ended up happening *g*  We cantered down the hill, me fighting her all the way for some semblance of balance and rhythm, and... well...  the A element was in the way of B and C...  So of course we jumped all three.   I'm only wimpy till we start moving :)  Once we start going, my brain switches into xc mode and we're good to go.  Pretty it was not.  Effective it was.  There was no way I was going over that ditch without her *g*  She jumped A long and then got frazzled but thanks to the "emergency rein contact" from yesterday when I had to slip the reins over A we were still good to go for old-school pony-club "just keep kicking" methodology which got us over the ditch.   But of course she way over-jumped it giving a wicked chip to C.  *sigh*  Ugly.  Lucinda seemed fairly amused by the whole thing "you know I only *said* do B and C" and just as I was about to apologize for adding in w/o permission she follows up with "but I LOVE that you did all three."  And as I'm all happy with that "very brave of you to attempt that with that canter!   It's a good thing you can keep your balance in the middle of your horse."  hahaha yeah ok -- methinks that was a not-so-subtle hint I'd crossed the line from bravery to stupidity there.  *sigh*  But despite its ugliness I was still super proud not only that she got through it, but that she jumped out confidently even from a tricky spot.  And she landed *really* proud of herself.  So pretty stoked about that.

Next step - Weldon's Wall.  That's right -- a vertical fence with a ditch in front of it.  A ditch they generally don't see till the last stride.  Oh good.  So we all did the little one -- Athena hesitated slightly but jumped it cleanly on the first try :)  Then we were given the option of the little one again or the big one.  Funny how this time the option wasn't really directed at me.   If you're not sure which one we picked, read the above paragraph.  She FLEW over it.  Only thing is, she was once again *very* much focused on catching the horse in front of her, *not* on what she was doing.  A little terrifying as that is not the type of fence you want an out-of-control pace to.  *sigh*  She did clear it beautifully and in stride.  I'm not convinced she even saw the ditch though so less-useful as a schooling exercise.  After that it was determined that she should not follow anybody   Not that it mattered as the rest of the exercises we ended up doing all involved turns so it was never again a case of catch-me-if-you-can.

We moved on from ditches at this point to the fairly steep up-down bank.  If you go up the lesser-slope it's two steps, but we were going up the side which is basically a climb.   Did it once or twice and then skinnies appeared on either side of it.  Who's surprised by that?  Yeah I wasn't either *g*   "But don't worry," Lucinda assured us, "these are wide skinnies.  Five feet!"  Right.  Wide skinnies.  About that.  hahaha but to be honest, after the skinnies we'd been doing earlier, five feet did indeed seem wide and neither fence was an issue for anybody.  My biggest issue was keeping Athena's hocks under her on the down and not leaping off the bank (which would've WAY overshot the skinny).  But she really tried and pulled it off.  Then a little coup-type thing got added in; this one we were given permission to skip.  I'm not entirely sure why - size maybe?  But she landed in balance from the skinny and focused really happily on the coup that we jumped it anyways.  She definitely really enjoys those types of fences.  Big, wide and nicely curved are exactly her thing :)   She's seriously uncertain about anything technical, but just plain solid is np.

Then we got to play in the water.  Walk in, trot out.  Trot in, trot out.  Trot in, trot out over barrels.  Trot in, trot out up a bank.  All no problem.  The first couple walk/trot in she wanted to have a VERY careful look and seemed to have some trouble keeping her feet under her.  I seriously thought we were going swimming.  But she figured it out and was soon gamely trotting through.


Jumping out was np.  BUT then we were to drop off the bank in.  That was more of a challenge for her -- she hesitated and danced around on the bank for a good long while.  But just as Lucinda was starting to ask one of the other riders to give her a lead, Athena gathered up her courage and took a great leap in :)  Woohoo!

Ok...  If you *really* want to!

Such a good heart that one.   We landed with a slightly less-graceful splash but good to go and continued out over our barrels.  After that she quickly gained confidence and by about the 3rd time was stepping off quietly.   After the years of wild launches with Si, it was such a relief to have a horse who figured it out and chilled out about the whole situation.  She's going to make such an awesome school horse next year!

To end the clinic Lucinda gave everybody the opportunity to play and school over whatever they wished.  Athena though was clearly done so I left her on that.  She was still high -- I didn't dismount and walk her as I usually would as I knew I'd have more control on top and she was still bouncing.  But I could feel the high was adrenaline not strength.  She was really tired.  So we watched the others for a few moments and then walked her back.

So end result: I have a horse who feels ready to take on the world, Lucinda remains one of my favourite clinicians, and I had a TON of fun :)   All good really.   She expects her riders to smarten up and pay attention, but if you're on the ball and make an effort you'll get a ton out of it.

Line of the day from Day 1:  "You make ugly look beautiful"
Line of the day from Day 2:  "Wow.  You're *really* brave."

hahaha didn't know exactly how to take either, but both made me laugh :)   And as we all know, that's a great thing to do while riding :)   Can't wait till the next clinic!