Monday, May 20, 2013
Staying Committed: finding lines
Lesson with Erin about finding jump lines and staying committed even when Deuce is a little wobbly on the approach. Keep leg on and send forward.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Baywood Pony Club One Day Horse Trials at NWEC
First 3 phase horse trials of the season, for us; a schooling 1 day at Northwest Equestrian Center put on by Baywood Pony Club.
So proud of Deuce, we get there and he is totally chill and comfortable with the program of arriving, hanging out and eating hay with commotion going on, etc. He's just chill and relaxed and happy to have activity going on around him. After just one one season, he really has settled into his career as an event horse!
I get him all settled and strike out to walk the cross country course and am happy to learn it is the same course as the recognized that happened a few weeks before (which I walked twice already). So its a straight forward and fun ride complete with a true ditch and a nice big run down and up a long hill. Yay!
I start getting ready for dressage and Deuce continues to be mister cool, confident and collected which helps me stay calm cool and collected too. We start warming up in the grass field and then are shuffled up to the brand spanking new upper arenas for warm-up and then our dressage test.
Erin had her hands full coaching a few other riders so she sent Marc over to help with my warm up, which was great because I was getting quite flustered with how to ride in the deep sand arena. Deuce wanted to power through it and I got all stiff and braced and that just makes things worse for everyone.
Thankfully, Marc knew just what to do to get a nervous rider actually riding her horse; he had me focus on just getting forward and then half halting back almost to a walk and then moving forward again on a circle. It helped tremendously on control and focus and we were able to find a nice steady in between tempo. Then it was our turn to go... bless his heart, Marc tried to help me with my nerves up until I was waiting for the bell right outside the dressage court. But as soon as I was on my own in that deep footing again I froze up and forgot everything we just worked on... and Deuce stiffened up and we went into the arena bracing against each other and rushing and me all scrunched up. The test was accurate, but it wasn't where I thought it could and should be and I knew it. The plus of the whole ride was that even though cross country course went for a long stretch with jumps right behind C, Deuce did manage to keep himself and his mind in the dressage arena. He dearly loves to be running and jumping and when he sees others, he gets a bit distracted.
After dressage, we had a short break, to clear my mind of the icky dressage ride and start thinking about stadium. The course was fun, loopy and good footing... but there is that darn raised office and covered spectating area in the far end. Deuce spooked like crazy both directions in that corner last fall. There are always people there and its dark and creepy in the shadows and the course is always arranged so there is at least one approach to a jump at that end. So as I walked the course, I reminded myself that I really must remember to ride those turns and stay focused.
Stadium warm-up was great. He so loves to jump. We were forward, relaxed and straight and feeling good about our ride. When it was our turn, we trotted in smartly, acknowledged the judge started our warm-up circle and on whistle we went.
First jump was easy, then it was a little bit of a bendy line to two. I did not half halt quite at the right time so he was a bit rushy and caught a rail when he got flat over the top. Darn it! So we fixed our mistake, I sat up and half halted, found our lines and kept him straight. He was wonderful! The scary far end came up quick and I kept looking at the jump, and while Deuce did look at the scary corner and side stepped just a bit, he did come back to the task at hand, made the turn for our jump and cleared it with no problems. So one rail, but we were straight and over all a good ride. I was pleased.
We had a bit more down time to munch some grass and then it was time to get ready for cross country. The course looked fun. No banks but yes to water... and a ditch option. We had schooled it before so it was not too intimidating to take it.
1/1/ 2016 - did not finish this post, but wanted to get it up on line. - LS
So proud of Deuce, we get there and he is totally chill and comfortable with the program of arriving, hanging out and eating hay with commotion going on, etc. He's just chill and relaxed and happy to have activity going on around him. After just one one season, he really has settled into his career as an event horse!
I get him all settled and strike out to walk the cross country course and am happy to learn it is the same course as the recognized that happened a few weeks before (which I walked twice already). So its a straight forward and fun ride complete with a true ditch and a nice big run down and up a long hill. Yay!
I start getting ready for dressage and Deuce continues to be mister cool, confident and collected which helps me stay calm cool and collected too. We start warming up in the grass field and then are shuffled up to the brand spanking new upper arenas for warm-up and then our dressage test.
Erin had her hands full coaching a few other riders so she sent Marc over to help with my warm up, which was great because I was getting quite flustered with how to ride in the deep sand arena. Deuce wanted to power through it and I got all stiff and braced and that just makes things worse for everyone.
Thankfully, Marc knew just what to do to get a nervous rider actually riding her horse; he had me focus on just getting forward and then half halting back almost to a walk and then moving forward again on a circle. It helped tremendously on control and focus and we were able to find a nice steady in between tempo. Then it was our turn to go... bless his heart, Marc tried to help me with my nerves up until I was waiting for the bell right outside the dressage court. But as soon as I was on my own in that deep footing again I froze up and forgot everything we just worked on... and Deuce stiffened up and we went into the arena bracing against each other and rushing and me all scrunched up. The test was accurate, but it wasn't where I thought it could and should be and I knew it. The plus of the whole ride was that even though cross country course went for a long stretch with jumps right behind C, Deuce did manage to keep himself and his mind in the dressage arena. He dearly loves to be running and jumping and when he sees others, he gets a bit distracted.After dressage, we had a short break, to clear my mind of the icky dressage ride and start thinking about stadium. The course was fun, loopy and good footing... but there is that darn raised office and covered spectating area in the far end. Deuce spooked like crazy both directions in that corner last fall. There are always people there and its dark and creepy in the shadows and the course is always arranged so there is at least one approach to a jump at that end. So as I walked the course, I reminded myself that I really must remember to ride those turns and stay focused.
Stadium warm-up was great. He so loves to jump. We were forward, relaxed and straight and feeling good about our ride. When it was our turn, we trotted in smartly, acknowledged the judge started our warm-up circle and on whistle we went.
First jump was easy, then it was a little bit of a bendy line to two. I did not half halt quite at the right time so he was a bit rushy and caught a rail when he got flat over the top. Darn it! So we fixed our mistake, I sat up and half halted, found our lines and kept him straight. He was wonderful! The scary far end came up quick and I kept looking at the jump, and while Deuce did look at the scary corner and side stepped just a bit, he did come back to the task at hand, made the turn for our jump and cleared it with no problems. So one rail, but we were straight and over all a good ride. I was pleased.We had a bit more down time to munch some grass and then it was time to get ready for cross country. The course looked fun. No banks but yes to water... and a ditch option. We had schooled it before so it was not too intimidating to take it.
1/1/ 2016 - did not finish this post, but wanted to get it up on line. - LS
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