Today was exciting! It was our first Novice since we came back to it. We picked the Chatt hills schooling show and we were able to school two weeks ago, so we had set ourselves up for success.
We had great ride times so I didn't have to get up that early to get everything done in time. Dan got a bath and we headed to Chatt. I parked by the XC course and left him on the trailer while I walked XC. It... was kind of big. I mean, it was a lot of big tables and wide table type fences. There was also an open oxer, which I freakin' hate, but at least it had frangible pins. And it was rather small. There was a fun combo with two coops on either side of a pimple, but the coops were small. Then there was the stone wall and a HUGE up bank with a bendy line to another big table. And more big tables. And a big huge table off a sharp turn heading towards the "water". But at least the winged fence was at the finish line instead of fence 3. And... while they were big tables... and some of them were quite wide... I wasn't terrified! I mean... I was a little worried about a few of them but really not terribly so. So YAY!!! That's a win!
We warmed up nicely for dressage. He was a little bit braced and unwilling to unlock that right jaw and wouldn't quite soften the base of his neck, but... it wasn't terrible. We did some fancy moves to help unlock him. And it was nice because Tawn asked what test I was warming up for and when I told her novice, she laughed and said it looked like I was warming up for a first level test. Which, at first, made my day, but then... dang, only first level? I was aiming more for 2nd. Doh! But that's okay. It was a nice thought to hear that we were clearly doing more upper level work than just novice work. We ended up having a decent test. I felt like he was a little braced but not terrible. And our free walk had a couple of moments where he jigged or just about broke into the jig. So he was definitely not reaching down and out. And then our halt was awful. He almost halted and then danced around for about 6 seconds before finally halting square. But I figured that was at least good training. I felt like I should have maybe ridden him more in a 2nd level frame and sat the test so that he would soften but the directives ask for freedom to move forward and swinging of the back, so... I thought perhaps posting and letting him move forward was prudent. But then he got a little rushed and braced feeling. BUT.... then I watched the video and it was actually fairly decent. I didn't want to know how we did, but.... Jacel told me again. 30.5! We were in first out of 6 people, including professionals! Yay!! Good boy Dan!
We had parked up on the hill and there was some decent breeze at times. We grazed a little.. then I put him back on the trailer and shopped a little... I bought an air vest. I think it's about time. Then a storm came up and it was fierce. They called the show temporarily and told us all to seek cover. I ended up taking Dan over to an empty corner of the barns and put him in a stall while it rolled over. It was quick and dramatic and then over. But they said there was probably going to be a 1 hour rain delay. I guess in my mind I felt like the one hour didn't include the time we just spent in the storm, so when the storm started I still had an hour before I rode, so my brain was thinking I had two hours before I would ride. I don't know.... I guess they also had some people scratch and they were trying to catch back up, so... we got caught up quicker than I expected.
I had pulled Dan back out of the trailer and had him tied but then Kelli called so I figured I'd graze him while we chatted. Well... I don't know what got into him but he suddenly leapt straight up, spun, and did some quick circles around me, while leaping about. He managed to slide about 2 feet on his left hind and then held it up in the air for about 10 seconds. Like.. he wouldn't put it down! And then he finally did and was toe touching for about 4 strides. Then, before I could really do anything other than hang up with Kelli, he took off again. He was maybe scared, but of what, I have no clue. His tail was up, he was spinning, leaping, bucking, and just.... freaking out. Another lady who had her horse tied to the trailer near us asked us to leave, as we were freaking her horse out. Um..... not exactly in control here woman... I was trying to get him to chill because the ground was so wet because of the down pour and I couldn't tell if he was still lame or not. But he just got worse! He flat out just had a spazz out. I basically walked him down towards the barns, leaping and spinning. I got him to the open parking area and tried to do a few lunges around me on that ground, since at least it wasn't slick. He did, and then a car came, so we had to move. I thought, since there were only two people warming up in the jump warm up, that maybe I could do a quick lunge in there just to get him to settle. He was starting to get to the point where I was afraid I'd lose hold of him. He was getting a little too unruly. So we started down the hill and he took off again and then spun at the end of the rope and kicked out and managed to kick me right in the stomach. I crumpled... thought I might vomit, and then took a minute or two to catch my breath. I was just sitting there thinking "Breathe.... don't puke... breathe....you're okay... am I okay?.... you're okay".... and meanwhile... now I'm on the ground and he's still in his mood. He stopped being stupid long enough that I noticed a Dad/guy at warm up looking at me. I didn't know what else to do so I just raised my hand... and luckily he started over. He asked if I was okay and I shook my head no. Then Lauren happened to walk by and I had just told her how much of a craphead he was being, so... I basically threw the lead rope at her and asked her to hold him. He spun around her a few times, which was embarassing and rude. She had the guy call the paramedics, but.... at that point, I was able to breathe and realized I wasn't really hurt... just had the wind knocked out of me. I stood up and was okay and so I took Dan back. I was PISSED! We walked off and he started to get ahead of me and I smacked him with the lead rope and backed him up. Then we walked off and I stopped and he didn't, so he got beat again. He finally started paying attention so I walked back to the trailers and put him in it... in time out. I took a minute to simmer down and then decided I would just put his saddle on and ride him. If I had to ride him for an hour before we jumped, so be it. I was not dealing with that anymore. So I started tacking up and then I hear them announce over the loud speaker that they were looking for me in stadium. Wait?? What about the rain delay? So then I panicked a little but.... got him tacked up. I put on his XC gear because while I had originally debated running him since the downpour was probably going to make the footing miserable, at this point I was pissed. If he could buck and rear and spin in the slick grass around me... he could gallop and jump in the mud. Butthole! Besides... after being 3 legged for 10 seconds I didn't think he could hurt himself worse. Sigh..
We warmed up for jumping over 3 jumps and he was perfect! I was pissed, so I was asking for the bold spots. And he obliged. We went in and had a decent round. I think one jump I got a little left behind and popped out of the saddle and the last fence I pinched with my knee and tipped forward. But the rest were pretty good. It was a quick run, but not too quick! We went clean! YAY! Double clean. The only one of the 6 in our group. :)
At this point, he was back to normal Dan. We walked to XC with Jacel and had a good bit of a wait. The footing in warm up was slick as snot, so... we only did two XC fences and then just sat and waited. Jacel said that I would know if I should pull him off course. She said most importantly, if I felt him lose confidence, then it was time to pull up. Ahhhhh.... good point and GREAT way to think about it. For everything... whether it's footing related, course related, or just a bad day. If he's not getting more confident out there... pull up. And then it was our turn. The first fence was a little sticky and then the second one... I don't know what happened. A little of me, a little of him?? I leg yield him to the left because.. that's how I get his barrel loose and counteract the right drift. But I was also aiming to get off center so that we weren't jumping in the muck. And maybe I got more of a response then I expected... or maybe he was being cheeky... or maybe we just hadn't hit our mojo... I don't think he slid, but... he ran out. Little turd! We circled and he jumped it fine. And then the rest of the course was pretty good. I got him rolling and he was jumping most everything out of stride. A few we had some adds, but it was mostly footing related I think. He sort of jumped the up bank a bit tentatively, but.... that was a BIG up bank and I can't ride those very well. But the big tables all rode well. We did add to the winged jump at the end, but it was more of a bad distance than anything else. Even with the stop and being in the slop, we only had 2 points of time. :)
So yeah.... while I'm pissed at myself for giving up first place with that stupid run out... it doesn't really count for anything... and it's a good lesson to learn. Don't overdo the leg yielding at the base of a fence! And don't take it for granted. That was NOT a fence I was worried about or scared of. So... glad I learned this lesson at a schooling show and not at Area Champs, or AECs!! And quite frankly, it was kind of exciting that while it was a fairly substantial (it seemed) novice course... I wasn't that nervous about it. Just the normal excited nervous. And I was able to ride it well, mostly. And Dan didn't get upset or unnerved about it either. I think it built both of our confidences! So yay!!! And too, considering it was our first novice back... not too shabby to have had one stop. Except... that sort of seems like a cop out, since it's not like it's our first ever novice. But, regardless, a mostly good day.
Oh, and... I've also decided that it's time to go back to ground work. Zero Tolerance again. Liz and I were talking and she made a good point that Dan's behavior is quite unacceptable and she thinks it's related to him seeing me as a horse friend and buddy on the ground vs boss mare. He drags me around, he makes me move my feet, he threatens with his body language. And while he doesn't usually cross the line and it's more just rude behavior, then it suddenly escalates and I'm left with a kite who kicks me in the gut. Or like at Virginia, tries to paw me in the face, or Ocala... almost runs into a car. And those two times I blamed it on him being in a stall with no turn out. But... he was out all night last night... and only in the trailer or tied for the day. I grazed him some. So, he really doesn't have an excuse. And yes, I could, and may still, get on him and take him for hacks at horse shows or give him a gallop a few days before every show, the point is... he still has to learn how to behave himself. This was unacceptable behavior and I didn't know how to shut it down. I could have been seriously hurt... other people or horses could have been hurt. Heck, he may have even hurt himself slipping in the mud. So... it's back to zero tolerance, ground work, and carrying a whip. Sigh... He's really not an ammy horse. Or, maybe he would be, had he not been started by an ammy, but... now I've created this monster. So... now I've got to fix it. And don't get me wrong. Other than his 15 minutes of meltdown... he was super. Yes, he was on the muscle, but we hang grazed a good bit and he stood tied to the trailer happily eating hay. I don't think he was aiming at me necessarily, I think I just happened to be closer than he realized. But I still wasn't able to shut down the antics, so.... boot camp! Hopefully I can just remember to stay vigilant on it and not slack off once he's being super good again for a while.
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