End of the year reflections

Well, this year ended up quite different than I had planned at the beginning of the year.

While we did get our qualifying Training competitions completed for a Training 3 Day, we did not actually make it to The Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, MT.

Deuce was ready to go. My financial planning was not fit to make the the journey. So by early June, right after our pony club xc schooling at Wa State Horse park and the Inavale 1 day, I pulled the plug and re evaluated my calendar. Of course I was still going to the beach in August... but in terms of 3 day events. I had to change it up. No T3D in Montana this year.

We ended up going to Caber in August and Spokane the end of September. Both fun xc courses. Dressage still needs work. But not surprising, I did not get in much coaching or training this year.

Deuce rocked the courses, we had mere seconds too slow for time penalties. Need to work on that... but really pretty darn good - big bold clever jumper.

Oh and  I got a new dressage saddle! Its a funny story, sort of. It ended up being the one of Lea's that I loved so much. It is a well  traveled saddle and had a tree fitting adventure. It is all set now; but there were a few months of set backs.

I also leared about a new xc bit from Anna Collier. We used it at Spokane - it really helped with the bracing, stiffness and bearing down trouble we have when galloping.

2018 will be  a year of better planning for horse competitions. I love this horse so very much. He's fun to be around and take out and about! I am such a lucky girl and so thankful he is in my life.

Here are some pics of our year...

Cornering

Today was a pony club lesson with Anne we did course work. Deuce was pretty excited to be riding a pony club! He was quite forward so I had to work on keeping him together with all his forward and wanting to get flat tendencies.

We started by really concentrating on working the corners and getting a good bend. I need to really work on keeping my hand out in front so I don't pull him down in the corners

Going to a jump, Deuce locks on about 4 strides out so I need to have him balanced while still maintaining forward by that time - especially coming through a corner.

Maintain balance before and after jump through corners. Sit tall used my tall upper body to help balance.
Maintain leg all the way to the base.

Dressage = work harder

Today I had the profound realization that in dressage you must work for every good step.
Elbows by side. ride on seat bones hands together, chest up.... think about riding inside leg to outside rein...
Once I did that, i had more good with moments with Deuce. rounder, bendier. more impulsion.

yeay.

Long ride

Quadrille practice night -

got there early enough to get a in a good ride

I am borrowing Lea's Custom Wolfgang Omni - similar to Icon Coda. I like how the seat locks me in quite  a bit.

We started with lots of walk work to warm up. Moved him off my leg both ways and also worked on not bracing/poking nose out  or diving left or right when I pick up the picking up reins

nose to wall leg yeilds, stay straight. turn on forehand.

close legs and send forward with  hands together.

really awesome canter work to right. canter lengthens and on 20m  while staying round and bent.

Left canter is more challenging to balance.

Fight Night

After 3 days off -

I get insistent  - non sympathetic rider... I am braced and stiff and that is what he gives back.
Move off leg turn on the fore, nose to wall leg yields. free walk to medium walk transitions w/o falling in or jigging

I finally got some okay work and called it a night.

I dont like being grumpy or frustrated with this big sweet, giving horse. I get mad at myself.. he always forgives...

Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy

Lea and I had a jump lesson with Anne tonight and the focus was grids.

As typical with grids, we started with a small, straight forward exercise with a cross rail bounce followed by some ground rails. Anne had also put in some ground pole rail road tracks to help keep straightens down the line (a constant effort for Deuce who tends to get a little crooked to make the distance) Then she added to the exercise until we were jumping series of 5 low bounces. A bounce set of fences does not not have non-jumping strides in between them - the horse lands with his front feet over one fence but then has to pick up to take off for the second fence, just as his hind feet touch the ground, having negotiated the first fence. Bounces are an exercise of quickness on feet and athleticism for the horse and helps the rider learn how to keep and maintain momentum through a combination of jumps.

Deuce is quite cleaver with his feet and  pretty good at the exercises, I had to encourage him to stay lighter through the corner and to the base of the fist fence so he would hit the ground lighter after each jump. I also ended up needing to use my voice to rate his speed half way through the exercise, so he would not speed up too fast. We wanted him to work through it, as opposed to throwing himself through.

Another component we worked on was the right hand turn to the jumps. I had to keep a better bend (and prevent a falling to the inside) by pushing out with my inside leg and keeping my hand up off his neck.


So after we worked through the low 5 bounces, Anne stepped it up a bit and made 2 ones strides to a 3'+ oxer.  After going through a few times with placing rails, Anne added v rails on the oxer to encourage Deuce to round over the top - I had to maintain lots of leg and remember to land in my heels. but man o man, he flew! Lots of power!


Pineapple express weather - wet and warm!

Quadrille Team

Julie, Lynette, Amanda and I decided to put together a Qaudrille team  with plans to compete at Summerfield Farm's dressage schooling show in June and July.

Our horses could not be any different in color, shape and size; but that does not matter. 

The focus of Quadrille is rhythm, harmony, and equal spacing. 

That all takes practice. 

USDA has created a Quadrille Training level test. All we need to do is perfect it and put it to music. 

We have started practicing on Wed nights; for the first few practices, we are just riding together and getting our horses used to being near each other and working out spacing. 

Here is the inspiration: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZMgJ7H4MLk

Jump for Joy

Fox Hills Pony Club's  annual  benefit Jump for Joy Jumper Schooling show is this weekend. Its a huge fund raiser for the club and a very busy weekend for all its members since they are responsible for putting on the entire show. (from hauling in all the jumps and setting courses Friday morning to all the work to cleaning up and putting away all the jumps on Sunday night).  Saturday morning, I took some time out of the show work schedule to compete in a few jumper classes. A January show gives us something to work towards  to get the season going and is good practice for getting my nerves in check. 

I had signed up for two different classes on courses 3'3" in height since those are the heights at which we are currently competing. However, one of my dear horsemaster (Pony Club) pals who also happened to be the show secretary encouraged me to switch one of my classes to the Micro Prix (the 3' to 3'3" class) since there was prize money involved and only 2 entries in the class. So I did.

Deuce is familiar with the venue and this particular show . Friday night, we had the opportunity to school the courses. The minute we walked into the arena and before even seeing the jumps on the other side of the wall, he knew where we were and what we were doing.  He picked up his step and locked his ears forward looking for the jumps. 

He makes me laugh. The exuberance and joy he has for jumping is tangible. I can feel him asking to jump things. 

After a good warm up and reminding each other of half halts and paying attention, we felt pretty confident and ready for Saturday morning's classes. 

Deuce spent Friday night quietly at the fair grounds and was ready for work bright and early Saturday morning. The barns we quiet when I went in at o'dark thirty to feed and get him out and walking around. The big spotted horse had a quiet, focused presence. He knew what was coming and he was feeling good about it. 

Warm up went well. I had some assistance and pointers from both Anne and Brooke (since they were there and knew us well). Then it was time to go. 

Deuce and I shot into the arena, nice and forward made our big circle, waited for the whistle then we were off to the first fence. Our course was pretty tricky, it started with an oxer and then a hard roll back left to a vertical.  My task was to keep him forward through the turn and not let him dive down. Then it was on to the wall, bend line 5 strides to a one stride, right hand turn to a skinny 6 strides to a oxer, then a left turn to the long side triple combination (1 stride then 2) then around to a vertical and another right hand turn roll back to a straight up and down solid panel vertical.  Deuce was such a good boy; he looked for the fences and moved off my led when I asked him to. Fussed with him a bit too much in the corner from the one stride to the skinny and did not give him enough leg to the base so he took charge and stiffened and ran to the barrel oxer and took off long (he is quite clever and likes to take long spots, so not pretty, but we were clear). His early departure left me a little unbalanced so I had to quickly get myself back together and balance him up through the corner and in time for the 3 stride. He clunked the first rail, but it did not fall and I kept my leg on  so we went through the rest of the combination in better form and he was more assured that he had a rider that was supporting him and not a monkey on his back.  

The last 2 fences were long trip sweeping left turn to a vertical, then and right turn roll back to another vertical. After his reminder to get myself together and ride, I was kept my leg on to the base and had better rides to both fences. We finished fast and clear. The we had the quick jump off which gave me the opportunity for redemption on riding the line from the skinny to the barrel oxer (which I did) and again, no rails. 

We both left the arena grinning because we have so much fun together. We ended up winning the class and taking home some prize money. (prize money is a first for me!) 

Our second class was a 3'3 course that with more lines and less turns. It was not nearly as a challenging course in terms of turns, but it was still fun because we were together and jumping stuff. I road a bit better in the corners and overall had a better ride. Again we went clear and won the class. 

Then it was cool out and lots of pets and praises for Deuce, snack time and back to working the show for me. 

Snowing!

SW WA got hit with snow in a major way Tuesday night and Wednesday morning!  We woke up to 8.5 inches and it kept falling until about noon Wed!   Needless to say, I did not get out to the barn to do any riding  yesterday. errg. This year has not started off well for consistent riding.

While temps are still below freezing, the roads improved somewhat, although still with layers of ice on the surface streets,  and  my dear sweet Russ said he would take me to the barn to ride this afternoon  and I that meant I could keep my jump lesson, with Anne, too!

Had a great lesson with Anne (as usual).  During our warm up after observing a few lazy canter transitions, Anne got after me for staying consistent with expectations from my horse and the rules of riding. (Meaning expect correctness all the time). She had me trot on a circle and leg yeild out and asking for a canter depart to get the hind end moving better.

We did course work starting with a 5 stride line that developed into a triple with 2 strides between and oxer as the middle fence. She made the oxer gradually wider to encourage Deuce to sit down and get balanced and push instead of gallop through to make the distances. To help him, I have to sit tall to the fences.

The course grew to include bending lines across the diagonals and the take home message is to have a a plan. Ride one element to the next with a clear plan. They all relate. Keep him light through the corners (up in front of my leg) and counter bend in right corners (since he like to pitch his shoulder and fall in).  If he gets "basey" to a fence, kick on - go forward!

Cold night walk in the snow with a full moon

The big spotted horse was still pretty sweaty after I got him untacked in the barn, so I threw on his cooler and took him for a walk in the snowy night. The full moon was brilliant in the clear sky. It was a crisp, and quiet night that only a snow covered landscape can create. The steam of Deuce swirled up to the stars as we strolled down the snow covered driveway in the full moon light. The snow glimmered and sparkled around us. It was a peaceful and slightly magical evening.

Its a good night for a warm soupy bran mash!