At least I can learn!

 Today I had a cancellation and was able to move my first patient back, so... I got to ride this morning!! Yay! But man alive was it hot and humid. Both Dan and I were dripping and I was on at 8:50. We rode til about 9:45. I just wanted to remind myself what we had learned yesterday. And it was better!! We did our homework and when I paid attention to my seat, it worked. Yay! We didn't hold the hard counter canter every time... we broke once and one time it was a little lean-y, but... we also managed to get it once and it was pretty decent! We also worked on our transitions. The right lead canter to walk is much harder than the left lead canter to walk. So yeah... a good ride!

 

USE MY SEAT!!!! Dan is smarter than me

Poor Daniel. He's way smarter than me. We had a lesson today and I got there a little before Rana. We were warming up and he was moving off my seat well... haunches in, haunches out, etc. We had some semi-decent leg yields. Then Rana got there and we talked about the horse show issues. And then we went to work at the canter. 

Sigh... It wasn't as bad as it had been. But it started not great. He was throwing that right shoulder out and not bending. And I was getting frustrated. As was he. He was twisting and wouldn't give me the outside rein. And I was trying to keep the canter by using my outside leg. At one point Rana said to make sure to keep my outside leg back so it's clear, but to use my inside leg for the bend. She wanted me to make sure he was bent, so she had me using my inside rein giving and taking. And it never really got pretty. It got managed, but not pretty. And then we tried the counter canter and it was a hot mess. He was basically tipping/flinging to the right. Sigh.. At one point, my outside leg was so far back I actually pulled my stirrup off the stirrup bar. Good grief! And even while we had it managed, if I even throught about using my inside spur, he would prop and swap. Sigh. So then... I finally heard her say that I needed to sit to the inside. I needed to keep the canter with my seat. And I tried... but it wasn't until she said to ride him shoulder in that it clicked! OHHHHH.... once I shifted my pelvis so that my outside leg was more towards the girth, vs his stifle, and thought about shifting his shoulders to the inside.... I really think that what happened was my torso/pelvis/shoulders turned to the inside and he coudl actually canter!!! I think MY body was making him fall onto his right shoulder! So once I moved my body, he could then bring his body around and bend properly and lo and behold... we could canter. Properly! Without fighting! Argh!!!!! Why did it take me so long to remember this? And why do I have to remind myself every few rides? In my defense, while Dan was clearly doing what I was asking him to do (inadvertently), he also has a tendency to be a bit combative and sneaky, so.... I don't know.. that's my excuse for not realizing it was me at first. Anyways.. once I rode the shoulders and aligned my seat... we were then able to move on to the exercise of shortening and collecting the canter and then letting it open back up, while not changing his frame. It was subtle... but it was there!

Then we went the other way and it's so much easier that way. Duh, because my body naturally bends that way. I had to focus on using my core and tightening my abs and keeping my belly erect so that I didn't start hula-ing with my belly. That also kept my seat in the saddle and let my leg get longer. And then I could use my seat to influence his gait size. But it's hard. And I had to use my legs to thump him to keep him going because if I got him with the spur, he'd prop and swap. And if I let him get too straight in the neck, he'd prop and swap. 

Anyways... yet again... I felt like we spent a good chunk of the lesson spinning our wheels and feeling incompetent, but... at least we finished with actually accomplishing it. And it's a good reminder to me. Sigh... 

Kelli was sweet and took video for me :) It's actually not too bad. Yes, he needs to be more uphill, but.. he's building strength. And you can see the differences in the gait. They are small, but they are there!

Area Champs: Mission Accomplished!

AEC's HERE WE COME!!!! (Well... shhhhh.... assuming we stay sound and capable until then!, but...we are QUALIFIED!!!!!!!). 

Finally... this has been 4 years in the making.... 5? Back in 2017 I think is when we were set to go and Dan got hung in the hay net 2 weeks before. Then the next year we were rehabbing still. Then the year after that we qualified as far as getting our first place but couldn't get the third clear run. Then the year after that it was the same thing, only to add insult to injury, Dan flung me off over the first fence and I dislocated my finger tip. Sigh. So, FINALLY!!!! Granted, it's Beginner Novice... not Novice... not training.... But still. AECs!!!!

We qualified for Area 3 Regional championships, so I figured this could be my third clean run. And why not? I'm qualified... we stood a chance of being competitive. So we did! I swapped some patients around and even managed to get Thursday off along with Friday! They ran BN Friday and Saturday for some reason, which was actually kind of nice. And, because it was at Stableview... I was able to get Dan a paddock. That was a little ordeal in of itself, but... alls well that ended well.. I got luxury stabling with a paddock! 

I was mostly packed on Tuesday and Wednesday and didn't have that much left to do Thursday morning. But there was stuff to do. Good thing because when I fed... Fleck got halfway through his food and stopped eating. And pawed. And looked at his belly. Oh man, Flecky!!! Luckily he was quite gurgly and then as I was giving him a half dose of banamine, he pooped a normal poo pile and then farted. So I put him in the cross ties and bemered him... and let his banamine kick in. And watched him fart a few more times. He seemed to settle so I turned him out and finished packing. By the time I was done and only had bathing Dan left, Fleck was grazing happily. Knowing him as well as I do, I figured he would be fine. So I bathed Dan and off we went. We got to Stableview with no issues, but once we got there.... sigh. I was a little aggravated at first but... it wasn't that bad. I was just cranky. I found his stall easily enough. And while we were in the workshed, which doesn't have any plugs for fans and is a bit stuffy, he got a good stall. It was perfect actually. He was in the middle row, at the end by the door, so he caught a little breeze and only had one horse he could harass. And they had put big floor fans out but... it was still stuffy. I tried to find his paddock, and... that was my fault. They had a map taped up on the wall, but I didn't pay as much attention and also suck at reading maps, so... I walked around a lot and missed it. And then... they didn't have a map for the camper spots. So... I went to the office to ask. And the office was closed til 3. So they sent me to the other office... which then sent me back to the regular office, which was now open and had about 15 people in line. Sigh... I was getting super aggravated as it was moving very slowly. I think I stood in line for about 1 hour. Which was extra maddening because I still hadn't found my paddock... parked my rig.... no shade... I should have just cut and asked them if they had it posted because once I finally got up to the window, she called someone to show me my spot. (I also had to get my packets though, so.... it was fine). Turns out.. .my camper spot was literally right there in front of the show office. Seriously!?!? Ugh. But whatever, I was just grateful to get Dan in a paddock (they also showed me the paddock) and then get the trailer hooked up and get the AC running. Then it was time to ride. I had a good schooling ride with Jacel. He was a little spicy but not bad. We rode in the grass area that backs up to XC. I asked Jacel if I should sit or post and she watched him go and said that she thought sitting because he was more connected and through that way. Then we worked on the halt through the walk. She showed me a cool trick. When I ask for the downward, she told me to slightly lift my seat and push it back. This tells Dan to do a downward without making him slam on the brakes. It was pretty handy. So we played with that. Then she helped me get him rounder by reminding me to push his barrel out in the corners. After that, we were done but I wanted to play a little on my own with the downward transition thing, so we moved over a bit and played. And Dan got sassy and tried to "bolt" a few times. Goober. But we managed to play a bit more. Then he got a rinse and got turned out again after dinner. He was happy. I went and walked XC which was .... tiny! I mean, really... it looked tiny. The first half of the course was seriously small! It was disappointing really. BUT... there was some serious terrain questions, so... at least there was that. And yay for those fences looking tiny when a few months ago, they looked bigger to me! Honestly, this weekend I felt like we could have easily gone around the novice course and even have done some of the training fences! Anyways... it was a LONG course with a big stretch that allowed a gallop. Yay for Dan! The second half of the course was a bit more solid but even still, not very big. The only difference between us and the regular HT division was fence 10. We had a coop to a narrow shallow ditch and they just had a roll top. sigh. Oh well. I know it's hard to make too many differences when you're also running a regular horse trail and BN to intermediate. So... the course looked fun and like it would be easy. Although I knew not to take it for granted. Then I ate some dinner - chips and salsa! And watched the sunset and welcomed the full moon and cleaned all my tack. Then a shower and bed. I didn't sleep great though... that first night is always tough. 

Dan's digging his digs!

Friday rolled around bright and early. Dressage and XC Day! All the riders showing up woke me up before the crack of dawn, but... that's okay. I got Dan fed and got myself settled. I had a long wait til dressage at 1:34 or something, but... I had things to do. Dan stayed turned out for most of the morning. Then he got another bath, although he wasn't that dirty. Then he got braided. He was actually pretty good for it. I tried to bemer him while we did it, but it was too hot! Even with the fan blowing on us. (I did all the grooming and tacking at the trailer and since we had the hook up, we plugged the fan in and had it blowing on us). His braids turned out decently. And then.... I decided to just get on. It was a little earlier, but... it was either that or... leave him tied to the trailer for 30 minutes or risk turning him out or putting him in his stall and having him mess up his braids. I did put him in his stall for a bit so I could change into my riding clothes and use the potty. But then I sort of panicked and got ready too soon. But I figured we could hack around and warm up. So we did. We walked around a bit and then we went to the grassy area and started warming up. We had a decent warm up and I ran through the test once and it was quite lovely. I even thought to myself "Dang, too bad they couldn't have judged this". We were doing a few other things, but... I still had over an hour until my ride time!!! Whooops! One of the arena stewards came running over asking what number I was and I felt bad that I didn't go check in. So... I rode a bit more and then decided to go check in and let them know I was here. And maybe we could ride in the covered and not be as hot. So we went. And... it went downhill from there. He got all riled up again. It was the same thing as before.... basically bolting, spinning, leaping....  I kept trying to work him through it but it was so crowded and people are doing circles and movements and it's hard to know where to go. And I didn't want to upset anyone else. So we tried sitting in the corner for a bit. We basically went from running around to sitting to running to sitting for the next 45 minutes. I tried one last time before it was close to our turn and he basically bolted.... I was like "it's fine... we're just canter lengthening" as I'm half halting the snot out of him. Sigh... Oh well. Then it was finally our turn. I think I was sort of expecting him to turn it on, like he always does. But this time he didn't. He was not paying attention to me. He was spooky and jumpy and braced. He would do half of the circle at normal pace, then speed up the second half, then the long side was slow. He did all of the things... and in all the right places, but he wasn't showing off. So it was mediocre. If that. And down the final long side he spooked and squirted a few strides because the girl entering the area to do her test was cantering up our backsides. Which... is a little annoying... cause seriously!? But at the same time... that shouldn't really bother Dan. So... that was disappointing. We ended up with a 34.8, which... for us... is awful. It put us in 9th of 19 or so. The judging was pretty tough over the weekend, but still... I felt like that was a pretty accurate score for what we brought forth, if not a little generous. There was a small win though... because the judge wrote "charming pair.... you win best turn out of the day". Ha ha. Yay! Unless that was the only nice thing she could say. ;) 

So... oh well. I hosed him off and pulled his braids and then let him chill for a bit. I had already walked XC that morning and tried to occupy my time by watching some friends and then visiting vendor row. And then suddenly it was time to get ready! But oh yeah... I wanted my helmet cam! Dangit... I didn't think I had enough time and I didn't want to be panicked. So... I didn't use it. I really wish I had. They were running a bit behind on XC so I would have had plenty of time. oh well. Dan was good and warmed up super and was pretty much on point, so... off we went. He wasn't wild in warm up, but... I knew it was coming. He started out of the box and was going!! He basically turned into a heat seeking missile and I just aimed him at fences! I probably could have aimed him at the modified and he would have gone! He was game!! He flew over everything. And granted, everything was pretty small but there was some serious terrain questions and one or two fences that could have been a little looky. Nope! Not for Dan. He just sailed over everything. I don't think I could have stopped him. hee hee. We got through the first 5 or 6 fences quickly and then there was the gallop stretch. Okay... I can't stop you anyways, but you at least have to balance down the hill. Then I had to balance him for the fences which came up quick. Then he landed, spooked at the photographer and rocketed up the hill! He almost galloped through the next tiny fence and I finally was able to get him somewhat back. At that point I realized we were definitely going to get speeding tickets... and for the life of me... I don't know why I didn't check the rules, knowing full well he was going to be too fast....  I managed to somewhat contain the madness and he flew right over the ditch. Again, I think he barely saw it he was going so fast. I did manage to get him collected to a fast canter for the last quarter of the course and despite attempting to 3rd level collected canter him to the last fence.. we still came in way too hot and got speeding tickets. Oh well. We had fun and our dressage was mediocre to begin with. And the goal... the whole goal.. was to finish with no XC jump penalties! So.... almost there!!!! We just had to finish tomorrow.... and not get eliminated in stadium! Whooo hooo!!! It was super fun though. And Dan was ready to run a second time. I walked him back and he didn't want to go back. He pranced around a bit. He got another rinse and a bemer. I was going to ice him, but honestly... he was getting edgy again and I figured he wouldn't stand still and I would just yell at him. And I'm still a little scared of him acting up. I didn't want to poultice and wrap him either because I wanted to turn him out. So... I just put liniment on him and hoped that was enough. Honestly, he probably didn't work as hard as he does when we go schooling. But I still felt a little bad. He was happy to get turned out again. I even fed him out there. I had dinner, got my jump tack cleaned again and got ready for the next day. And I slept great too! 

(photo credits of the ditch combo to Chris Quin!)

Saturday morning was another early morning. Jacel wanted to walk stadium at 6:30 am because we didn't get to walk it Friday. I got Dan fed and then headed over to stadium. It was a fun course. Again, a little disappointing... I thought it looked mildly on the small side, although it did seem to be more appropriately sized the second half.... and then Jacel told me it was set for Novice. OOOPS! Well dang! I cheered on some others... brought Dan inside because it was getting super hot and muggy. I packed up a good bit of my stuff so I could be ready to head home after we jumped. I even got Nancy to fix my saddle billet keepers. Yay! And then finally it was time to jump. I decided that since with our speeding tickets we had dropped to 12th place... I wasn't braiding nor was I wearing my coat. I looked nice though! We matched and he was clean. I bathed him again. We warmed up nicely in the arena although I was sort of wishing I had put on my big spurs. He wasn't behind my leg but he wasn't a fire breathing dragon. But no worries. We went in and had a lovely round!!! It might have been one of our better rounds! The only issue we had is that I got him a little deep to the final 2 stride, so I had to push for the 2 and it was a bit long. But he went and went clean! YAHOOO!!! So we finished in 10th place. (We would have finished 7th without speeding tickets and they only ribboned to 6th, so.. no worries). What a good boy!!! 

Onward and upward! Novice it is.... and then hopefully we'll do better at BN AECs!!! 

Jumping Beans!

 I'm so proud of us!!! And so grateful! I think a lot of Dan's and my confidence struggles were secondary to pain and discomfort, but... there's also the confidence/mental aspect. But now that he feels good.. he's back!!!  And when he feels good.. he's confident, which makes me confident. It's a great feeling!

We jumped today because we haven't jumped since Chatt and we're showing at Area 3 Championships this weekend. It's just Beginner Novice, but still. I want to be competitive. So we did a lesson at Chatt. It was raining all morning and looked very ominous on our way to Ashland, but... the skies cleared up and it was beautiful for our lesson. Hot and muggy, but beautiful! It was a great lesson. We warmed up over a cross rail and then she made it a vertical. Dan was on fire and ready to go. No more need to use the whips or spurs or "shock and awe" even! He's in front of my leg and happy to be there. Then she had us do a little roll back turn and told me to use my inside leg and then move my hands over (both hands the same time same way) and then turn my body... like almost pivot my body. And hey.... that's a handy dandy roll back turn we've got there. I asked on the second one we tried if I needed to use my outside leg and she was like "yes, of course" and I said "oh, so like a turn on the haunches". She laughed and said yes, but.... "can you imagine what you would have done had I told you to do a turn on the haunches?" ha ha... touche!! Touche! But she's right. I would have dressaged it up and made it awful. But this is handy! Almost too handy. Like, our big swooping turn turned into a tight handy little roll back, but... because he was packaged and bringing his inside hind leg up and underneath himself, we could bounce right over the fence! Way cool!

 

So then she sent us over a course. We did it 4 times.. the first two they were set smaller and the second two she made the oxers bigger and wider, because... stableview. And he was super! I messed up some and tipped up his neck a time or two, but... guess what?! He didn't stop!! Granted, I still need to stay upright and not tip because that's what makes him nervous and undermines his confidence. But yay for having money in the bank! And I was even able to sit up and back but push him to the bigger stride and he went for it. YAY! Such a fun feeling. We're back! 

We quit with that as we are showing and didn't want to over do it. We stayed and watched Courtney and Romeo a bit and then we hacked down to the lake. Again, he didn't even want to get his toes wet??? Maybe it's no fun when it's not a party? Maybe he misses Sissy? But we had a nice hack back to the trailer and a nice rinse. oh, and... weirdo! He stopped to lick the dirt again and made a giant mess this time. Hee hee... So weird!

Tomorrow I probably won't get to ride, but I did get a LOT of packing done today. And then Thursday we'll leave for Aiken. We'll dressage there and then Friday is dressage and XC and then Saturday is stadium. :) I am excited!

Sneak Ride

 So... today I had to work on the foxhunters. I normally do about 6-8 and then go to do another horse at another farm, not really close to them, but... not really close to me either and at least in the same vicinity. But then they told me they had 11 horses for me!!! 11!!!! So I told the other girl that there was no way I could come do her horse too. I told her I'd try to find another day, or maybe I could sneak over while I'm at the horse show this weekend. She's basically close to Aiken. So... when I got to the foxhunters barn, they told me that they only had 9 for me. So yay! I managed to get all 9 done by 3 pm, but it was still a two hour drive home. So... I decided that I was going to stick to my original plan and not go do the other horse. It would be one thing if it was just the one more horse, but it was also 45 min away, so add almost 2 hours to my day. And...because of the neck injections, I didn't get to ride all weekend... and the weather for Tuesday was a bit sketchy, so.... darn it, I went home and rode!! And I'm so glad I did.

 

I looked at the arena and it wasn't too wet. No standing water, but I figured it still might be sloppy. Plus, I felt like Dan might need a gallop so he didn't feel the need to gallop at the horse show... Well, not gallop before he was supposed to gallop on XC! So we went to Ashland. It was lovely out! There was a storm brewing so we got a nice crisp breeze and the humidity dropped. And luckily, the storm didn't hit us and we were able to enjoy our entire ride. :) YAY!

 

We did a quick hack to warm up and as we hit the double lake dam, the heron burst out of the edge and flew off. I almost got a photo of him but I wasn't quite quick enough. We were mostly warmed up so we went straight to the trot and canter and then got to work. We ran through the BN B test that we'll show this weekend. That entry is tricky! I'm sure I'm overthinking it but it feels like a lot of bend changes in a short time. (Turns out... yes, you are supposed to go straight, bend left and then change the bend and diagonal and then bend right). So then we went back to the big arena to play. We picked up the canter and once I got a nice canter I just tried things. We did a decent half pass... no swapping! Then we did a shallow serpentine... no swapping. Then I tried a 3 loop, and no swapping!!!! Sure, it wasn't super pretty, but it wasn't half bad. We did it both ways too. We did a lengthen and then a 10 meter circle. Then we played with the canter to walk to canters, to try to sharpen those up a bit. Then we went back to trot and did some leg yields and trot half passes. Then we did some really nice lengthens/mediums and then we practiced the halt again. And then we quit. Because... he was super and I didn't want to over do it. 

We took a hack to the XC field and I let him have a canter and then pushed him into a gallop. He did stretch out and drop a gear, although he wasn't in super high gear. But it was a legit gallop. We went up the hill and then I reined him in. I wanted to take him to the lake and I was worried he might go for a swim as hot as it was and how sweaty he was, so... we went back to the trailer and swapped out the tack for the bareback pad and the halter bridle.  Then we trotted to the lake. He didn't want to go in though! Seriously Dan?! After we got naked even? Oh well. He wanted to go back, so... back we went.