Pine Top Thanksgiving!!!!!

 Because it's not Thanksgiving without Pine Top, right?! :)  (And I couldn't resist. LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!!!) (so... I'm interspersing all the pro photos in, because.. he looks so amazing!!!! Photo credits to the talented Liz Crawley!)

We rode Training/ Novice. EEEEKSSS!!! Moving on up. :) But he felt ready, I felt ready. And it's Pine top! I was actually a little surprised at how doable the stadium course looked! I don't know if my eye is just growing or the fences were a little on the small side, or both. And sadly, I didn't walk the training XC course to see. I was hoping it was running close enough to Novice to be able to "walk" it, but.. it wasn't. And because I hauled in, I didn't want to walk it twice. BUT.. the few I saw... some seemed doable and easy and some seemed... doable but I'd be a bit ...trepidated. ;) But, I only saw about a third of the course. I will say, the modified looked HUGE! So... there yah go! But yes... My ride times were pretty amazing, so... I ended up hauling in and out both days. Yes, I had paid for a stall and a hook up for two nights, but... it just made more sense to let that go and go back and forth. I rode dressage at 10 am and jumped stadium at 1:13. And then XC on Sunday was at 12:38. So... yeah. Plus I didn't have to clean a stall, hook up my tiny home, unhook my tiny home... and I got to shower in my hot shower with my warm bathroom, I had my nice comfy bed (not that my bed in the trailer isn't, but..) and Dan got to be turned out. It was just... easier considering the circumstances. 

Granted I did get up early because I decided to braid. Partly because Dan's mane was out of control and partly because it's Liz Crawley for the photography and she's amazing, so.. I wanted fancy photos. Luckily despite getting up at 5ish, and it being cold, it wasn't that cold. I put on my puffy riding jacket and was just fine. And Dan had the bemer on. I got him braided and got everything done and was ready to roll right on time. We made good time to Pine Top and got a nice parking spot. I was a little earlier than I needed to be because I had left some room for error and didn't need it. And then of course, I got a little nervous and got on to early because... I don't know, I was bored. ;) ha! It was chilly enough that I figured I could hack him around the property some. So I did. But we still had plenty of time to kill. We warmed up in the side pasture and he was a little trippy, but we had some good stuff. And we were still early. Argh! When will I learn!? So finally it was our turn. We were riding under Carol Kozlowski so I wanted to make a good impression. We started down centerline and it was good. Then we did the half circles, which weren't great. Then we picked up the right lead canter and then started our lengthening circle. The transition was awful because right as I was about to ask, I had to shift him back to the rail. And instead of rebalancing and then asking, I asked before I rebalanced, so it wasn't a great transition. And then as we were going along, I wondered if I had the wrong lead. It looked a bit like he was leading with the outside shoulder, but... it felt very balanced. And then we were lengthening and... I didn't know what to do. So then the lengthen was over and we were doing our regular canter and then it was time to trot. Right before he did the downward, he swapped. I'm not sure if it was just behind or what. But the judge didn't say anything... and apparently we were on the correct lead, so yay for that. And in fact, we did get an 8 on our first canter depart I think, which would have been that one, so... wild! I was a little flustered so our stretchy trot was just okay. Then I got it together and carried on and the rest of the test wasn't bad at all. Except the free walk. He jigged twice and broke into the trot both times for a second. Ugh. Dan! So that was a 4. Oh well. The whole goal was to finish XC and then we'd be qualified for AEC's at Novice. (Not that we'll go as it's in Montana, but... ). Turns out... we ended up tied for 3rd with Mellisa out of 10 total. So not too bad, especially with the 4. It was close too, so had I not had the 4, we might have been in the lead. 

   

I watched a few stadium rounds on my way back and then took Dan back and let him snack and rest. I left him tied to the trailer with his alfalfa while I went to walk stadium. I was hoping he'd be good, since it's the really good alfalfa! He was. The course looked fun. It was tight and lots of tight turns and short lines, but fun. I think it was set for modified when I walked it and there were a few big ones, but... it wasn't too scary looking. So yay!

After a bit of rest for us both and a little snack for us both, it was time to go jump. We tacked back up and again... got on too early. But we walked and trotted around. He kept doing that thing where if I dropped the reins to let him walk, he'd stop. Ugh. NO... keep going. Just walk! It's so aggravating! I can't tell if he's just bored and sore and it's making me panic. But he jumped great! I thought anyways. We even angled the vertical and oxer as practice as one of the lines almost forced you to angle the jump. So then it was our turn!

 

In we went. We started off and jumped the first one great. But when he landed, he tripped and fell almost to his face. I was flung up his neck and lost a stirrup, but luckily, he kept going and picked his head up and I recovered. The judge even said "Nice recovery". I didn't get my stirrup back for fence 2, but it was fine. I did manage to get it back for fence 3. And then I sort of got over it and started riding again. We had a great round other than pulling a rail at fence 7. Dangit. But that's okay. He just rocked a training stadium course at pine top. With only one rail. And while there was at least 2 in our division with no rails... there was also a LOT of people with 3 or 4 rails, so... good boy! That moved us up the 3rd as Melissa had 3 rails and the first two people didn't have rails. After I untacked and unstudded and cooled Dan off and let him graze for a bit, I put him on the trailer while I went to walk XC. Like I said... I wanted to walk the training course too, but.. by the time I walked from day parking to the XC course and walked the course and knew I had to walk back... I kind of wanted to just get home. But the novice course was nice. It looked almost easy. It wasn't very technical nor was it very big. Interestingly, the fences looked small until you were on top of them and then they looked a bit bigger and wider. There was a combo that involved the hill and at the top of the hill was the second fence, with a ditch off to the side on landing. We didn't have to jump the ditch but it could have been spooky. So... yeah, it looked fun. 

We hauled home in good time and Dan was happy to get turned out! And I was happy for a hot shower and a comfy bed. 

 

So, we didn't have to get up super early for Sunday. And... Mike came with me! We made good time to Pine Top and I got Dan unloaded. We hung out for a little bit before I needed to get on. Again... better early than late, but... there's only so much stalling I can do. I took my sweat time, but we still were ready too early. Oh well. Ha! We warmed up after walking out to XC and Dan actually felt a little lame. Tracking to the right, which is odd, as it's usually the right front tracking left. He was happy though and game and other than the stopping when we were just walking on the buckle, he was good to go. I thought about scratching, but... then I thought... I'd just see. If he stopped at any fence, I would bail. But I would at least give it a shot. So we kept warming up and it went away. And he was jumping well. Then it was our turn and off we went! Dan was SUPER!!! The first two fences he sailed right over out of stride. Then we had a few little chips where I held, but nothing major. Just not quite as out of stride. He rocked over the whole course and never blinked or hesitated. He didn't even spook at the sneaky ninja ditch. ;) We had a blast. And we were a bit too fast so I added a small circle two from home. Yahoo!!! It was cool having Mike watch me too. 

 

We ended up 3rd overall. So that makes our novice re-debut a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd. :) Good boy!! Unfortunately on the ride home there was awful traffic... for no reason other than people rubber necking at someone changing a tire. Sigh. So annoying. Mike slept. I drove. But we made it home safe and sound and Dan was happy to go out again! He gets tomorrow off!

Thanksgiving Ride

Today I'm thankful for many things. I'm thankful that I can be thankful today because while I was grateful for all the good in my life yesterday, there was a lot of sadness too. So I'm thankful for hope! And knowing that God has it all under control. 

Thanksgiving was a bit different this year. It was a little last minute knowing what I was going to do. But I'm glad it ended up like it did. Mike and I hung out and enjoyed some time together in the morning and then went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was pretty good. I even got Pumpkin Pie. And then when we got home, I decided to go ride. I ended up just riding at home so that I would have time to bathe before Pine Top. Because it was a beautiful day today and tomorrow was supposed to be fairly chilly. 

We had a good ride. He was really reaching into the contact and felt light. I felt like I was pushing the bit to him versus pulling him to the bit. He was reaching for and maintaining the connection. It was quite a nice feeling! We had some lovely trot half passes too! Like crossing over smoothly and flowing! Our canter half passes were decent too. We didn't ride long, but it was a good ride. 

Then he got a bath and I took him out in the pasture to graze while he dried. It was sunny enough that I thought he'd dry quicker in the sunshine naked but I knew he would roll if left alone for even a second. We were lucky we didn't ride longer because we almost ran out of sunlight. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Making Peace

 Today was another hard day. Same reasons. But I'm finding the good. I took heathen 1 and heathen 2 to the vet school today. Funny got her recheck and she is cleared for turn-out. Thank God because I wasn't sure we could do even one more night! And Dan ... well... Dan looked great! Dr. Eggleston was like "wow.. he looks good". But then he was ever so slightly lame on the right front. And when he flexed his right hind distal limb... you know... like the fetlock we injected 2 weeks ago.... he was a dramatic positive still. We were both like... "Wait, what?!". We basically kind of decided that if he feels good under saddle... just keep on keeping on. Then we got x-rays of his feet because I feel like they are a little bit far in front of him. Turns out, they're pretty much perfect. Dr. Eggleston said he wouldn't change a thing. So.... yeah. But both of them were feral today! Dan even reared up for the trotting on the lameness exam. Both him and Funny were screaming and pawing at their stalls. I'm sure UGA was glad to discharge us! 

So then I brought them both home and turned everyone out. Then I changed clothes and grabbed Dan and headed to Ashland to ride with Kelli. I was hoping we could do a little hack but she ran out of time. And I kind of needed a little bit of a dressage school to take my brain off things. And Dan was super! Yet again. He was kind and tried and just... was awesome. We had a great ride. We ran through our test for Pine Top a few times and it was pretty good. We played with the canter and the lateral work and even played with collecting the canter a little bit. Then we went to the cross country field and cantered to the lake and then walked back. And again... Dan makes me happy and life better again. I do love this special guy. 

thankful for the spotties

 Today was a very hard day. I almost didn't ride today. I wanted to just give up and crawl into bed and cry. But I decided that I was bigger and stronger and I wasn't going to be that person. So... I cleaned stalls. I grazed Funny. She got loose again. I ate lunch. I finished clipping Dan for Pine Top. I drug the arena. And then I took Dan for a ride. He was a super good boy and took my brain and heart off my troubles. He was pretty super. We didn't do much or ride for very long, but it was good for my soul. 

 

Then I took Funny for his cool down walk. She was SASSY! But they were both good. We talked to Jean and Rob on their golf cart for a bit. They were delivering our Thanksgiving poinsettias! 

And now I feel better.

Oh, and... while grazing Funny Dan walked up and she turned her butt and backed into him. His face made me laugh. Ahhh... 

Grid Day with Auntie Beth

 Today was a fun day. Beth came to Ashland to teach and needed some horses adjusted, so... she bribed me by offering to teach me. It worked! We got all 3 horses adjusted and I was able to get a grid lesson. It was fun and super helpful. 

We started out with three trot poles to a vertical to a one stride to an oxer. The first two times, Dan trotted it! WHOOO HOOO! But then he started cheating. So Beth reminded me to sit through the trot poles and don't go in with too much trot. So then I told her that I felt like I didn't have enough trot and he was having to reach for the one stride, which is why I thought he kept cantering. So... she was awesome. She understood what I meant and let me take the time to go through it repeatedly to figure it out. She explained that he is avoiding sitting and pushing with his hind end and it's easier to canter to make the distances. So he was cheating. So she had me do alternating half-halts. AHHHH... I've forgotten the magic of the alternating half-halt. By doing alternating half halts, he can't brace. And that allows me to add leg. So the trick is to get the trot small enough that I can push a little, but not so small that he shuts down. By doing alternating half-halts, I can add leg without him thinking I mean canter. We had some success and then he cheated again. So then she had me stop him if he cantered. So I did. Twice. And he was so mad. Then he did it again and went to canter early enough that I stopped him and then we still sort of had forward momentum so we did the one stride from the walk. Well... I mean... if's harder to walk it then to just trot it Dan. And sure enough.. he trotted it the next time. No one ever said he was dumb! So we managed to get the trot most of the times after that. Then we had to add leg in the grid because... as Beth said.. we've been getting through things with speed and flinging vs sitting and pushing. And because we've taken away the speed and fling... he was now struggling with the distance so now I got to add leg to get more pushing power. Fair enough. It helped and we had some good grids. 

So then we added some single fences on the back side. And I nearly had a moment. We did the grid, then the skinny after the grid, and then came around to the oxer. Beth told me to do my alternating half halts and shorten him. And... every time... We'd get to it, and I would see the long spot and take off.. execpt he still put in one more stride. So it was kind of awful. And I told Beth that I was terrified that I would shut him down and create the issue we worked so hard to get over from. She explained that if I did the alternating half halts and kept my leg on, I would then push his withers up and get more power and push and I would definitely not be shutting him down. She told me to think of the canter in dressage. A 3rd level canter is shorter, but not slower. Right?! Yes... And I understand the theory, I just can't make it happen in real life. So we tried again. And this time, Dan came in a little underpowered maybe? Or maybe not.. maybe he just tripped. But he did the ground poles, jumped the vertical and landed and tripped and went down to his knees. It threw me onto his front end and yet somehow, he ended up getting up and jumping the one stride WITHOUT EVEN PULLING A RAIL!! Um... how the heck?! I thought for sure I was going to eat it or we would take down the entire fence. But nope.. he just got us out of there! Good boy Dan, good boy! He was a bit ouchy as he whacked himself good, but.. he was fine after a minute. So we went again, and this time... I put my leg on as I was half-halting and it was way better. We did it a few times because I wanted to burn that feeling into my brain. It wasn't collecting him or shortening him. It was creating more power! I was packaging him, but even that makes my brain cringe a little. So when I thought of it as creating more power by half-halting alternate reins, so neither of us can brace, and keeping my leg on to encourage power and energy, then it made me happier and I was willing to do it and wait for the add. Or be ready when there wasn't the ad. And he did feel like he was jumping up better. Yay! Oh, and we also worked on having me drop my hands to the side buckles on his breastplaste, just at the base of his withers. Originally, I was lifting my hands but when Beth just told me to put them down, I was still somehow inhibiting him. But when I dropped my hands wide and low and "hugged" him, my release was better and my shoulders stayed up more. 

So yay! It was a good ride. And I think we're just about ready to take that step to putting him back to bouncy again vs just letting him take it out of stride. I have to think of it as maintaining the stride vs shortening it. Because as Beth pointed out... he starts out okay but going up to the fence, he's lengthening his stride a tiny bit each step. Which makes sense why I keep feeling like we're running past our distance. Now the trick will be to not go past "maintain" and venture into "shut down" mode. Because I do NOT want to have to deal with that aftermath again at all. 

Danny takes away the crankies

 Argh. I had a rough day. It wasn't a bad day at first. But I got stuck in traffic on the way home and it just really made me cranky. Amongst other things. Regardless, I was super annoyed by the time I actually got on Dan. I almost didn't ride because I was afraid that I would have a bad ride because I was still riled up. I thought about just going for a hack, but... I had wanted to dressage, so... we did. And... ahhhh... Dan's perfect. He was exactly what I needed. We just went to work and I forgot about my frustrations and my embarassment and irritations and... we had a darn good ride. We played with lots of things and then ran through the training level eventing test a few times. Then he was still excited and go-ey so we played a little more with the canter work and the extended trots. And then we went to the XC field and down towards the lake. We saw a big buck who was limping a little. Poor guy. We sort of missed the sunset and it was starting to get cold so we headed back home. But ahhhh... I'm glad he made me uncranky!