Fox Hills Pony Club Camp at Caber Farm July 27-29 2012
Fox Hills Pony Club invited the Vineyard Hunt Horsemasters
to attend their annual camp at Caber Horse Farm this past weekend Friday –
Sunday and what a great time we had!
The schedule included arrival on Friday afternoon, dinner
and an evening hack. Sunday started with a breakfast, a lesson on bits, a
private dressage lesson then a jump lesson, lunch and a lesson on tying stock
ties, then an afternoon gallop lesson, then a lesson on stable wrapping. Sunday
was devoted cross country lessons then a lesson on button braiding manes then
pack up and head home. It promised to be a very fun and very busy weekend!
We arrived Friday afternoon and got our horses settled in
stalls and ourselves set up for overnighting. (tents, trailers, horse trailer,
etc). Deuce was quite happy to have a
stall that he could hang his head out of and that neighbored his buddy,
Special. After a wonderful supper from one of the awesome pony clubber mothers,
we saddled up and went out for an evening hack around the property. Dusk was fast approaching but we still made
it appoint to walk the perimeter of the fields and check out all the cross
country course and jumps we competed on last weekend and all the higher level
jumps too. The roll top brush that was in the Beginner Novice division (it is a
2’7” height with brush on top) still had me fairly intimidated and I thought to
myself maybe I would not be jumping that this weekend… haha… little did I know…
After a brief sleep in the trailer Friday night, I woke to
sounds of the barn door being thumped back and forth by one of the barn’s
equine occupants.
I got up to help with breakfast and once everyone, human and
equine both, had eaten and dishes and stalls
had been cleaned up we started prepping for our day of horse filled
education. Our first lesson was on bits, the yonder members of the club were
prepping for a pony club rating and had requested a crash course in horse bits
and their functions.
Soon it was time for our lesson, so I got Deuce all saddled
up and took him over to the indoor arena to begin our lesson on flat work. The
big spotted horse was having a bit of separation issues from his cute bay
girlfriend, but I figured as usual, once I put him to work he would get over
it. So I mostly ignored his neighing while we went through our inspection
/safety check and mounted up and got in the arena. About that point, Special
decided to answer his call from across the barn yard (there was a barn and 15 horses
between the indoor arena and Special’s stall) and Deuce lots it. He knew her
voice and upon hearing her answer, all he could think about was getting back to
her. Fortunately, he is pretty responsive with my aids so I sat up put my leg
on and steered him around to the opposite direction and to the other end of the
arena, where he had a small temper tantrum every time we circled past the arena
door. By that point, my instructor had come in and started giving us some
focused instruction on how to work through his melt downs as we came across the
center line and away from the gate. (He would run through my outside aids as we
came around the right hand turn to head towards X. ) When I got him pointed
back in the direction I wanted, and put my leg on, he would balk then start
backing up. He got a little light in the front end and threatened to go up a
few times, which I gotta admit made me pretty nervous, but my coach said ride
through it, he’s a bully but also a push over if you stay persistent. So I
would bend his neck and send him forward. Then to prevent the issue in the
first place, I started working on counter bending and tuning him up to my
inside leg when things were going well on the rest of the circle. Hands out in
front of me relaxed and tall shoulders when he is being good…. Counter bend
when I start to feel him lock his poll and jaw and speed up. Eventually, we got
a nice steady circle in both directions at the trot and canter too and then it
was time to move on to our jump lesson in the outdoor arena.
We put Deuce right to work with changing gaits and keeping
his attention focused on me and not who or what might be going on around him. We started with hopping over a cross rail a
few times and I could feel Deuce’s entire focus and energy switch from peripherally
worried about his barn mate to completely focused and enthused about jumping.
There is no doubt that this horse likes to jump!
We worked on my position; staying tall and sitting back to
the jumps. It’s a constant project for me… but with lots of practice, we will
get there. We also worked on getting him straight to the fences by using counter
bend to keep him from bracing and locking his jaw and falling around corners. (when that left shoulder pops out, he will run
out left – every time!)
After our jump lesson, it was lunch time and a fun lesson on
stock tie tying. Later in the afternoon, we had another mounted lesson on
galloping and pacing. We talked about bridging the reins for a bit more
control. Then went over where the 350, 400 and 450 meter markers were for the
gallop track. When it was our turn to
go, Deuce was quite happy to jump into a canter and clock around the course, I
found it very easy to settle into his rhythm.
Having already had a Horsemasters lesson on pacing a few weeks back, I
had an idea of what 350 meters per minute (the pace for most Beginner Novice
courses) should feel like; and it is not Deuce’s normal out in the open canter.
I have to work at keeping him at a slower rate of 350. We did a few rounds of
practice each time getting a bit better in hitting a 350 mpm pace. Then we took
a lap cantering side by side with another lesson member. I was impressed how
tractable he was despite the added excitement of having another horse running
alongside him. Then we took a turn at
running side by side with his barn mate, Special. That was exhilarating. Lea insisted
that Spesh would have to work hard to keep up with Deuce, but that was not the
case at all! Spesh was keen on having a horse next to her to race and Deuce was
pretty happy to be running alongside his barn mate too. We made a lap and a half around the field with
huge grins on our faces; it was a fun ride!
It was back to the barn for a lesson on wrapping legs and dinner
and then some of the youngsters too a romp in the cross country field to mark
all the jumps they wanted to practice tomorrow. Apparently there were a bunch
of rocks with googly eyes perched on some pretty big fences out there… how
funny! A fire and s’mores wrapped up the
evening before a final walk through and tuck in of the ponies and then turning
in for bed.
Sunday morning we were up and at em early, anxious to get
out on the cross country course. I
informed my coach, who knows me and my chicken nature well, that the brush roll top made me pretty
nervous and I was not sure if I was gung ho about taking Deuce over it this
weekend… well… that was the third jump she had us going over after our warm up.
Yay…I think…
So we warmed up over the log that I was intimated to take
him over last September when we came up to school (wow we have come a long way
in less than a year!!)
So then we put together a little course from log to ramp
around to scary brush roll top and end with another Beginner Novice height roll
top.
First two, Deuce sailed over with no question, nice and
straight and even paced. Then we circled around to the roll top, I sat tall
looked up…. But was not committed. So he popped his shoulder left and ran out.
I tapped his shoulder with my stick, moved him off my leg and circled back to
come at it again. This time I stayed committed. Sat tall, hands together , left
leg, eye up and weee! That was the first time I really felt Deuce lift up and
really jump with his hind end. What a rush! Huge praise and pats and I felt
like we could concur the world at that point! We circled back and did the entire
mini course a few more times to set it in.
After sailing over the brush roll top with ease and
confidence a few more times as part of a course, we were lit up! I felt like I
could jump anything on course at that point and feeling great!!
So it was off to the ditches for more work. The little BN
ditch was a non issue, we jumped/hopped over it a few times with no trouble (though he does have a
tendency to drift a little left if I don’t keep my hands together to the base
of the fence).
So next it was practice riding over the novice level ditch.
This was a bit more defined with set in poles with an inside width of maybe 2
feet and a depth of one foot. Needless to say, something a little more
formidable and potentially scary. Deuce and I watched the other two in our
group hop over the ditch and then it was our turn. If he chose to drift left, he had a large wall
and ditch to jump instead of just the ditch so we had that working for us at
least… so we came up on it and I remembered to look up and sit tall but not
enough leg, so he stopped and looked into the ditch. Erg. I kicked and legged
and the hopped over it non gracefully and we came back to it again from the other
direction. I had to work to keep that left shoulder form popping out that time
as he had nothing to stop him from running out on that side. We went back and
forth a few more times to make sure he could run and jump the ditch without hesitation
and mostly straight and then we added the novice roll top 4 strides out. Our drifting issues became a major problem
with the short distance to the second fence. He drifted to the left end of the
roll top and thought about stopping, but I kept my leg on and kept looking up
and he made a very ugly leap over. Somehow I managed to stay on, but it was not
pretty on the landing. Erin praised us for staying committed… not sure if she
mean committed to going over or committed to staying on.. I suppose it could
mean both in that situation. Each feat took effort and commitment.
So we ironed out the bumps with the ditch and roll top
combination a few more times and then moved to the back field where we jumped BN
heights log, ramp and bench, all with no trouble at all and I did much better
with hands together and staying straight.
Then we left that field with another practice over the roll
top to the ditch and then it was over to the bank complex.
I have learned that
Deuce LOVES jumping up and down banks. And the higher the better…
So we warmed up over the step up and then turned around on
the bank and stepped down. Deuce really was confused why we were turning around
on top of the bank and then jumping down a short side when we could go in a straight
line and jump off the side 2 strides in front of us (mind you, this was a 3 and
a half foot drop on the other side of a 2’ log that I was not ready to ride
down!) So Deuce showed off is jump up then jump down and our 2nd
coach of the day quickly saw how comfortable we were with banks. So then he had
us go up the novice ramp and jumped off the slightly larger bank…. Again no
problem at all and Deuce was eagerly looking for more. So Marc pointed us at
the training level up bank and down drop (the 3’6” drop that Deuce really
wanted to do!) and said do it. As I cantered past and hollered “it’s the same
size; RIGHT!?” Marc said “YEP” so we cantered up, I sat tall, leg on, hands
together, up Deuce jumped and then canter, and sit back, and launch out and down
we went on the other side! WOOO HOOO! What a rush and how FUN!!! Deuce went
perfectly all the way trough!!! As I celebrated and praised myself and my smart
horse, Marc calmly pointed out what we just jumped was actually about a foot
bigger than the other ditch. I was not surprised… but my chicken self needed to
hear it was the same size before I jumped it to ride confidently and help Deuce…
and so that is what my all knowing coach told me. =)
Our lesson concluded with some practice in the water
complex, in out and drop down in the bank in. Deuce loves water and will go in
at any angle and approach so we had no issues at all dropping down the bank and
into the water.
We ended our lesson with a huge boost in confidence and it
was pretty clear to me that we were ready to move on to Beginner Novice at our
next Horse Trials!
The afternoon unmounted lesson was all about braiding and I had lots
of fun practicing putting Deuce’s mane up in little braids. His white and black
mane made cute button braids with funny zebra stripes in them.. I need to
practice lots to get a decent row of braids in his mane but we’ll get there.
