Well... guess that's a NOPE!

Windridge......


Got there Friday.... tried to find the dressage arena without the road, so did some trail riding but found it. Lovely fun dressage school..

Grazed...... had a fun night chatting with Cindy and Greg...

Dressage: Great test... broke in the free walk.. ugh.. that's a new thing thanks to riding the training test and him realizing canter comes soon after the walk. also, our halt went rogue.. but a nice test!

Stadium. YAHOOOOOOOO... we figured it out. It helped that they were pretty small. I swear... when they were set for prelim, it looked like what we jumped at chatt for training... but probably not. ;) but he was good!! yay for him.. yay for me...

XC Day: Ugh.... warmed up nicely.. one stop, but may have been because we were sort of waiting for a girl to get out of the way, so I should have circled, so maybe I surprised him... then he was great...
Then we went to do our course.... and he cantered off and didn't stop at the first fence but it was an ugly fence... it almost felt like he jumped onto it.... and then down... I may have popped him with the whip going into it, and I definitely popped him with the whip after, because... GO FORWARD... unfortunately.. he retaliated and did some humpy thing with his hind end and popped me out of the tack and then let out a pretty big buck and sent me flying....

Seriously Dan?!?! Ugh... I dislocated the tip of my ring finger on his neck trying to save myself.. and then landed on my butt and elbow. He took off for the warm up. Luckily Cindy caught him and untacked him for me..... and Marian went with me to the EMTs... they wouldn't let me leave without checking me out.... and then they wouldn't pop my finger back in so... I had to do it. And I did it.. it took me a minute to work myself up to do it.. and it hurt, but not terribly. It made a fun pop noise... and I didn't faint!! I got a little fainty feeling and laid down for a minute... but I didn't faint!

Sigh.... so yep.. that's a big fat NOPE to aec's... as that 3rd clean XC run still eludes me.... I'm disappointed... frustrated that we're struggling at novice for some reason now.. when it was going well in Nov.  I'm a little embarassed..... I don't know...

Onward and Upwards and to the LEFT

Jump lesson with Kelly

Keep it Simple....

He MUST be hot off my leg....  Almost too spicy hot! Surging!

Steady... don't run, but forward... and a few strides out... go forward.

KEEP MY SHOULDERS UP!! No throwing myself at the fence

Hard drift right, so.... press my right hand to his withers and open the left hand but keep them both even and level... pinch the unicorns head off. Close the right leg. And almost over turn the turn so that he's a little counterbent coming to it.

That is all... Do not get sucked into making him round..... IF he is in front of my leg and forward... and i harness the energy... he will automatically go round. If someone tells me to collect him and make him round.. he is behind my leg... and getting him forward will fix it. It is better to make mistakes going forward, than to make mistakes going backwards.

Dressage and quick hack with Kelli

Lovely ride... worked on half pass at the trot

Dressage Lesson with Kelly

Today I managed to have enough time to get in a lesson with Kelly. She thought that Dan looked very sound and even, but... she saw the funkyness I'm still feeling and thinks it's him being behind my leg and/or a bit weak still. So... my homework is to do a million gabillion and one walk to trot to walk transitions... and then do it again. ;)

It was a good ride though. We started off getting him reactive and forward and getting that "sparkly trot" from the get go. And she reminded me to use the "bam, bam, bam" leg aids rather than always using the stick. The key is to then keep my legs off of him, and to not get sucked into constantly asking him. I ask... he goes... he stays until I ask for something different. I can use my leg for bend, but..... not for maintaining the pace. I can use my leg for more go, more forward, or sideways, but not maintaining. So.. then we worked on the trot and getting him to settle. She wants me to keep my hands slightly wide and not knit! When his head goes up in the air or he's not round, do not knit. I need to keep my hands steady and slightly wide and use my leg and push him into the bridle. I can ask for bend and push his inside ribs into my outside rein. And then when he softens, I soften my elbows. If he breaks to the walk or halt... that's too much rein and not enough leg. If he goes faster... too much leg and not enough rein. And he got pretty straight too! We also figured out though that in the beginning of my warm up, to help strengthen that right hind, I need to ride slightly haunches right. When tracking right and left, if I ride slightly haunches right, he's straighter and engages that right hind more. I just have to be careful that he's engaging it when we're going to the left and not just flinging it out there. I need to remember to keep his head squarely between his shoulder blades.

We worked on the canter too and in the upward transitions (and downwards) he flings that right shoulder in. SEE!!!! I was right!!!! So, she had me bring my right rein to the withers and open the left rein in the transition. I just need to be careful to keep my hands even and not raise one higher than the other. Same thing with the downwards. I laughed that he seemed so snappy and dramatic in his downwards. He adds some flair. ;) Kelly smiled and said that he was a bit dramatic but that he was at least doing his downwards with his hind end instead of just the front end, so.. bonus points. :)

Then we did a part of the Intermediare test!!!! What?!? Ha ha... We cheated and made it doable. We did down centerline, then across the diagonal in a medium trot then halfpass out of the corner to X, then 10 meter circle, then shoulder in to the judge. It was hard... especially because I was trying to maintain that big trot. Then we talked about how to ride the half pass. I explained that I couldn't figure out the angles and how to accomplish it. So... she told me that I should ride the half pass like this..... start across the diagonal and put the letter between his ears. Then... add haunches in. :) However, she also explained that this was not exactly the true way... as it doesn't achieve inside leg to outside rein and wouldn't get an expressive half pass. But it could score a 7... just not any better. But... for now, this is a good way for Dan and I to learn it.

So yep... fun lesson. :)

Now to get to doing our rehab/body building rides :)

The Hot Flashes!

Soooooo much fun!!! 

Chatt Hills had a Golden League Team Challenge added onto their schooling show this weekend. We decided to do it. And I'm so glad we did. It was a blast. It was me, Kelly Rousey, Laura Edison and Laura Duhamel. Cindy Phillips was our team captain and Elizabeth Thompson was our groom/cheerleader. :) We were the Hot Flashes!

I got there Friday and Cindy and I schooled XC together. Kelly Rousey hacked out with us and Elizabeth rode the scooter. Dan was WILD!!! Like prancing, jigging, etc the whole way down to XC. I ended up peeling off and doing a little trotting, then a little canter, and then two gallop/buck bolts up the giant hill. His "sprint sets" and then he was still a fire breathing dragon. We ended up jumping some stuff. Some novice, some training. :) :) He was pretty good!! I mean, he was going and going fast and I just directed and he went. We did mostly some novice stuff but the training complex at the bank and maybe another training table or two. Then we went to jump another training table catching up with the others and I tipped and Dan jumped it terribly. Of course, when they were all looking. So.. we fixed it and then went to the water with the others. I went to do the training line and... suddenly... it fell apart. I think Dan finally took a breath and then... he started to listen to me and I wasn't talking. Cindy helped me out and was telling me that I had to keep pressing him forward to the fence. And not tip myself down. But then I felt like I was running him at the fence and she agreed that wasn't what I wanted, so... we decided that I should collect him 15 strides back.. then balance.. then 5 strides out, start pressing forward. BUT... onward and upward!!! #onwardandupward! Not running, not lengthening... but lifting up and engaging. And it helped. We spent the last 15 minutes getting out my head again and had some stops and some ugly fences. But.. .we managed to get it together at the end. Then we hacked back home. They were saying that Dan was tired, but... he was jigging and prancing so.. I think he was just hot and sweaty and looked tired, but he was not tired. Although he did work hard. 




We had a fun cook out and hanging out and then off to bed! We had jogs at 7:30 am! Kelly was awesome and found t-shirts with flames on them and flame tiara's for us to wear. I bought sparkly orange and red toulle for us to put on the horses. And we looked awesome!!! We did the jog and we were all accepted! Then they had mimosa's for us. They were delicious. And then Dan managed to slop mine all down the front of my shirt. Ewwww... so sticky!! We decided to leave their ribbons in and wear our tiara's for dressage. It was fun! I never want to show without ribbons and tiara's again!! 

Dan was super for our test. It wasn't our best, but for our first time doing training A, it wasn't bad at all. The judge told me she liked my hat. :) :) 

Then it was time for stadium. Sigh.... I got down there a little early, which was probably a good thing. The jumps were set for novice, but.. they looked plenty big enough!! Like... I was freaking out a little bit about even jumping them. I started to warm up and it wasn't going well. Luckily Danielle was down there and able to help me. Basically I needed to shorten my reins and package him. Keep my shoulders up. All the things that I know.. and keep hearing.. I just can't figure out how to accomplish that without shutting him down. So.. with Danielle's help we managed to get a couple of good jumps in. Of course we had one terrifying jump where I buried him and then I abandoned him and he died at the base and then jumped straight up and over... He managed to not hit the fence and I managed to not fall off, but... dang! So then they set the jumps up and they looked HUGE and then they raised the warm up jumps and they looked huge. We managed to get a few jumps in and get over it and I decided to just go in. Dan was getting pissed!!! I don't know if he was mad at me or if he was just irritated at all the people and horses in the arena and it being crowded....  So.. we went in. It was ugly. We chipped the first 3 fences.. .got nicely over the 4th, then got into the double but not out. He stopped at the second fence. So... we came back and he stopped at the first fence. Ugh... so I smacked him and we came again and he got over both... then he chipped over the 6th fence... and then we got the 7th fence and 8th fence fairly nicely.. then we chipped into the second double... but got through it.. and then the last fence.. I even saw the distance and thought we had it. But I guess I tipped because Dan dropped down and stopped. Ugh... eliminated.  Sigh. 

But... In many ways I'm glad we did it. In some ways, it was more confidence building to know that we survived and almost got through it.... despite the fact that back in March/April I was terrified to jump even little fences, we had soundness issues, we had very little jumping because of life, we haven't jumped anything of that size... in... maybe ever.... and certainly not a whole course of it.... really, it was kind of a stupid move on my part. I certainly didn't prepare him. It was really kind of unfair. But.. he rose to the occasion and managed to get us through most of it. I don't think I undid his confidence. And to be honest, we were having the same issues at novice and I know it. I do think that perhaps the bigger fences brought it to light and made me realize a few things?? Maybe?? I don't know. After we came out of the arena, Lauren was there coaching some students and told me to not let him quit and go back to warm up and jump. She said that I was fine.. then I'd panic a stride or two out and lift my hands, thus inverting him and making it hard for him to jump. So... she told me to drop my hands. And it worked! It was scary.. and really hard for me to put them down and leave them down! But it worked. And I think it worked because of what Danielle had already helped me accomplish. So.. we did two or three more jumps with my hands down and then we went to go see if we could run XC. They let me. :) 



XC was a blast! It was novice, so... it was kind of a relief. He just clocked through it all. Although the up bank was an up bank then instead of going straight down the down bank, they had you veer slightly off to the right and go down the slope to a fence. He jumped so big into the up bank that he almost bounced right off the down bank so he propped just a little. We lopped over the rest and had a blast. Even the big scary spooky looking blue table didn't phase him. He trotted before the ditch, but part of that was the turn and me asking. But then he picked the canter right back up over it and didn't look. So yay! I don't know what our time was. I didn't have my watch because it didn't matter. I meant to ask the timers what my time was, just for educational purposes, but I forgot. Drats. Oh well. 
 
So yep... sadly we were eliminated, but it was still a super fun weekend. Our team should have done really well too as we all scored well. I felt bad being the drop score. But then unfortunately Kelly jumped the wrong jump on the XC course and didn't go back and catch the novice one so she got eliminated too. Doh! We still ended up winning some socks. :) 

Anyways... feeling a little better about Windridge, but definitely going to need to get stadium figured out. I think there's a jumper show at Silverthorn soon. Guess we'll do a few rounds there!

Morning Fun

 Today I had to get up early to sneak in a ride because I had swapped clients over to be able to get to Chatt. We did some dressage and then went for a quick hack. It wasn't a super great dressage school. He was just distracted and we couldn't get in the groove. But.. it was fine. Nothing terrible, just not super. We then went into the field and did some dressage for a minute but then Nicky and Hattie and another girl came out to hack, so I joined in with them. We just hacked to the lake and around it and then I had to leave to go get ready to work. But it was a nice little breather.