Morris the Horse Horse Trials!

 Ahhhhhh... I love FENCE so much!!! Or Tryon Riding and Hunt Club. I'm sooo glad that I took Liz's advice and did this show. Do I need a recognized show? Not really. Is it expensive? Yes. Was it totally worth it and exactly what my heart and soul needed... YES!!! Honestly, it was so nice to just get away and breathe. And the mountains and beautiful weather didn't hurt one bit. :) 

Luckily I had already booked that Friday off months ago for Mike and I to finally have a mini vacation. Ha! Um hun... can I go horse show instead? hee hee. I'm lucky he loves me. So while I had Thursday off and was able to ride, by the time I got all of the things done, I didn't pack. So I was glad I had Friday to pack and organize. Plus I had to get Funny done and stalls done. So it was 1ish when we left. But I did at least give him a bath first. I figured the hot water would be handy and the wash rack was much easier than the wash racks with no cross ties at FENCE. We rolled in at 4:30 ish and I got him unloaded and in his stall and then parked my trailer and got my hook ups hooked up. Then I checked in and got my packet, along with a free cute Morris the horse hat and two water bottles. Nice! I decided I would ride first... and then I could walk XC by moonlight. It was a full moon and super bright at the house the night before. So we went for a ride. He felt good... just a little bit runny. Not quite fast, but.. maybe a little on the forehand. I couldn't quite get him to rock back like I wanted and I couldn't quite get him to settle. But we had a good ride. And the sunset was lovely! Luckily he didn't get too sweaty so I didn't have to give him a bath and he stayed clean. 

After my ride, I got him fed and settled and then it was getting dark enough that I didn't have enough daylight to go walk XC. But I figured the moon would come out soon enough and I'd be fine. I did a few little things to get ready for the next day and then I ended up going to get ice and some food at the Ingles while I waited as it was definitely too dark at that point to walk XC. And then I ate. And the moon still hadn't risen! Finally at 9:30 pm it did and I was able to go walk XC. I decided it was probably worth a shot as I wasn't sure if I had quite enough time to walk it properly tomorrow and definitely wouldn't have enough time to walk it twice. So I did. And it was pretty cool! I put on my headlamp and headed out. I gave a ton of a deer a fright... and was a little afraid I might get trompled but they were more scared of me. Later someone mentioned bears but I'm super glad I didn't think of that while I was out there. It was tough finding a few of the fences because I can't read maps to save my life and the path was in the woods some. But I managed to eventually find all of them expect for 15, which I didn't realize til way later. It was cool walking the course by moonlight. And while I do think the fences were a bit on the small side - many were shared with BN but adjustable - I do wonder if they moonlight made it seem less daunting. :) 

Our dressage time was 8:47 or something Saturday morning so I had to get up super early to get ready and get him braided. The trusty headlamp was super helpful for braiding. And he was a really good boy. He's getting so much calmer and better at standing still. I managed to get ready and done in time and once again, got on a little bit too early, but... I always think too early is better than being rushed. He warmed up well and still felt a little bit runny, but not too bad. They did a great job of keeping us posted and funneled me over with just enough time to walk over and head on it. There was a bit of a glare from the sun but thank goodness it was dressage and not jumping! We had a good test. He was very obedient and we did all the things at the right spots. I felt like our transitions were a bit better. He even got a little big across the diagonal. It was a very nice test. It just wasn't our best test. It felt a teeny bit rushed/racy. I said that either we would get dinged for being a bit rushed, or rewarded for our energy. Hee hee. It didn't feel bad... it just didn't feel superb. And now, looking back, I think that's exactly what it was. He was very obedient and soft, he was just not rocked back onto his hind end enough. We scored well. A 29.5 I think. Which put is in 3rd of 12. So while it wasn't our best score.... it wasn't bad either and we were well up in the placings. After our test I only had to rub a little sweat off and then he grazed for a quick minute and then he had to go eat hay and relax while I went to walk the course. Luckily in the daylight I saw that I did indeed miss Fence 15 and was able to find it. The course still looked smaller but there was some fun terrain questions. For whatever reason, I wasn't nervous. At all. I was excited! 

XC time!!! Dan was a little leery of walking to the XC field by himself but we got there. Early. :) We warmed up a little and practiced jumping coming down the hill to the fence as there was some terrain questions. And then we were just chilling on the buckle and I was trying to find out how many ahead of me and a golf cart came out of the woods. Dan spooked and spun and I almost fell off. Whooops! Luckily he settled quickly. We jumped another fence and then it was our turn. It was a super fun course! The fences were small... not just an optical illusion in the moonlight! But good questions. We rocked and rolled over the first 4 and he wasn't sticky to them, but we weren't jumping quite out of stride like I wanted so I asked him to go. And then he surged. Not rocket boost sir.. just more forward! Hee hee. I managed to get him settled though and he jumped nicely after that. He didn't look at anything and wasn't backed off of anything. Well, that's not true. hee hee. The jump judges were all sitting fairly close to their fences so he was looking at them and being squirrely up to the fences. But he didn't back off any of the fences nor did he spook at any of the fences. Just was using the fence judges as an excuse to be wiggly. He honestly felt bored. He was skipping over the fences. And there was a few that he ran past his distances on. He took a flyer on the red cabin and I got left behind. But he nailed the ditch combo and was brave even over the ones that looked like you were leaping off the edge of the world! We cruised and took the long routes but didn't trot any and ended up well under optimum, but not in danger of speed faults. He was barely winded when we finished. (Unlike me.. you can hear me breathing the whole way on my helmet cam!). We had so much fun! 

Helmet Cam for XC

Look at his knees!!!! LOOK!!!!!! And I honestly thought he was skipping around these fences bored. I was totally expecting hanging knees photos again. GOOD BOY!!! :) 

After we untacked he stood in his ice boots and ate his hay. Then I managed to get him to stand in his ice boots one hind leg at a time so he got all 4 legs iced. And then he got a nap while I got lunch. And then I even tried to take a little nap. Then we grazed in the steeplechase field and chilled. And I walked stadium which looked like a super fun course. We grazed some more. Then the neighbors in the RV next door invited me over for cheesecake and then also fed me dinner. That was nice! 

I didn't have to get up quite as early for stadium, but I still got up early so I could braid. Because... you know... good photos. And we were in 3rd still. And the team challenge was going well! It appeared that our team was winning! Dan warmed up great and the course looked fun. So off we went. He was SUPER! It might have been one of our better rounds. He jumped everything nicely. We had a few where we got to a tricky spot but whether I asked for him to leave long or to add one in, he did. And he got us through with no rails! Yay!! Good boy. He did the 2 stride great! Which made me extra happy as it was the "Morris the Horse" combo. :) We ended up moving up to 2nd because my friend had one rail and Fence does a victory gallop so we got to do that. Dan was in such a good move he didn't even try to win the race! Ahhhh... It was so tempting to go hack in the trails after but I knew we had to get home.  Funny (and her stall) was waiting! BUT... they had such a fabulous backdrop we couldn't resist going back to the trailer to get my phone and then hacking back to the backdrop for photos. :) 

Ahhhhh... what a great weekend. Dan and I had a blast hanging out with each other and we had so much fun. Tryon Riding and Foothills club always makes us feel so welcome too. And the views. And the weather. Ahhhhhhhh

Back to Basics, but... AHA!

Today was a good lesson. It wasn't anything exciting. Heck, we didn't even work on the canter half pass. BUT... we had good moments and we were able to make progress on things. :) 

We started off our ride by working on just getting him to use his back muscles and elongate and let go. She told me to watch his WAM and make sure it wasn't bulging. Wait...what?! Oh yeah!!! I know this. The Wing of the Atlas and the Mandible.. that space between the two. They say if you can fit two fingers, you'll have a nice dressage horse. Well.. when Dan is tight and tense, he doesn't open that up. But when he does.. he's reaching for the contact and opening up his throatlatch. Aha! That I can see. Well, only on the right side tracking right because of how his mane lies. haha. So we worked on that at the trot. Getting him to reach for the bridle, let go in his back and underneck and be forward. And it worked. He felt much looser, more forward, and even got springier. It's a tough balancing act though. I'm trying hard to keep him connected but not hanging. And I can't just wiggle waggle him there. And he can't twist in his poll to evade. So it took some skills. Which, I'm kind of proud of because it felt like, some of the times at least, I was actually feeling and reacting appropriately to get him back to the good spot. We didn't stay there. We weren't consistent. And everytime I changed direction, I had to reboot my brain. But basically... we did manage to get a nice pretty trot. Oh, and... big revelation. I know.. I've been told repeatedly.. for years... to keep my right leg out of his stifle. And I'm sure I've even been told why... but today... I GOT IT! Aha! Rana pointed out that when we're tracking right... my right leg keeps coming back. Which is asking him to go haunches out. Which he likes to do anyways. Which is creating a whole slew of issues.. he's flinging out in the haunches, he's not up underneath himself, an and that's making it easy for him to fall in. So she had me do a change of direction and OHHHHHH.... it was dramatically obvious how far back my right leg was tracking right in comparison to how far forward my left leg was tracking left. So once I fixed that.. it made a big difference. Sorry Dan. I know I've been asking you to go haunches out inadvertantly for a really long time, but.... now, now you have to go straight. Which means I feel like I'm riding a little haunches in, but.. it helps. So I must focus on keeping my right leg forward at the girth, especially trackign right, but also tracking left to help keep his shoulder in. So that helped. And I had to make sure to hold the outside rein to keep his haunches straight but not hang on it. So I would occasionally test him and drop the connection. On both reins. If I dropped the inside rein and he lost the bend.. he's not self carrying or truly on the aids. If I drop the outside rein and he falls in or inverts.. he's not self carrying. Then we went to the left and that's a whole other way to ride. That way I have to counter bend him to get that barrel moving. And this was where the juggling really kicked in. He throws me left. So I have to think of shifting back to the right. Even while going left. But that means I'm tempted to sit on my right seat bone, instead of my left seat bone. So I had to almost roll my hips to allow his spine to roll out, but still sit right.. but weight my left seat bone. Which meant some flip flopping around to balance him. And add in counter bend to get his barrel back to bending... and all the other things. Ugh! Tough!

So then we did some changes of directions via serpentines. She told me to make it smooth by really riding the change of bend with my leg. Push him into that outside rein with the inside leg through the turns but don't lose the outside leg or inside rein. And it did help. He stayed more connected when I could do it right. 

Then we cantered. When we went right, I almost had to lift the right rein to get him off of it, while also using my right leg AT THE GIRTH. Then drop the rein back to neutral/supporting.. then lift and leg..  Watch the WAM. It didn't get as pretty as the trot, but we did get it. She also told me to remember to sit right. But then I ended up lifting my right leg and collapsing my right shoulder, so... she told me to think of lifting my right shoulder... which just doesn't seem to compute for me. She also told me to lengthen my right leg and sink into it. OH!! Lightbulb! I remembered what Kimberley had told me about the stepping into the stirrup. And when I did it, I asked Rana if that accomplished what she was trying to get me to do and she said yes. So yay... Stepping into the Stirrup.. or the Stirrup Stomp... helped me sit on that seat bone. Cool. And then keep that shoulder tall. So then we did a little haunches in. And... when his body was straight and he wasn't hanging on the reins, it was easier than in our last lesson. She also said that I was tending to lose the outside rein. The outside rein is what moves the haunches over.  So when I'm cantering right... and coming down the rail... the outside rein is what keeps him straight and adding the outside leg and outside rein half halt, moves the haunches over in the half pass. And I could see it. His haunches would swing out if I didn't have that outside rein. The trick with Dan is that if he gets too straight.. ie loses the inside bend.. he tends to brace the underside of his neck and then props. So I panic and pull the inside rein for bend, but I soften too much on the outside rein and lose that connection. So I have to remember to hold a supportive (not hanging) outside rein but still keeping inside bend. If he has inside bend, he can't brace and invert and the outside rein becomes effective. We didn't do a real halfpass, but... we sort of got a few steps when I sort of tried to do it while mostly trying to do haunches in. Yay! 

So yeah.. after we got a semi-decent canter both ways we did some downwards. She pointed out that he's not allowed to fall into it and do his "reiner" downwards. We have to float into it. And right now.. the best way to do that is to throw him off balance so that he has to use his hind end to balance. So, as I go into the downward, I do it through a turn on the forehand. Which for now means that Dan spins as we downward... vs stopping straight. BUT.. he's sooooo much better in his body for it. And soon enough I'll figure out my aids and be able to finesse it so that he's not spinning but not slamming either. :) And we've worked on that before but I forgot to keep practicing it. 

So yep.. some good homework. And back to basics, but this will make the tricks easier. 

Training Level here was come!

Today was fun! Dan and I headed to Ashland for a jump lesson. We got on only slightly early so we just hacked up the hill to the woods behind the stadium course as our warm up. We did course work because of FENCE this weekend and luckily the fences were set in a fun twisty/bendy course. We started out with two fences.. then added two more... then another two.. and then three more. Which is always nice as it allows us to build on things. Of course we warmed up over a smaller fence first but then she pretty much put 8 of the 10 up to training level height! And.. they weren't scary! Whooo hooo! And Dan didn't back down.

In the beginning he was a little bit sluggish and he jumped everything but I wasn't doing all the right things. I did some of the right things, which is why he jumped, but.. not all the right things. I had my leg on and had created a decent canter. But instead of closing my leg and supporting, I was "sending" him by throwing my shoulders at the fence. So when I fixed that, he got better and more forward and was jumping more out of stride, instead of that labored feeling. Yay! But I was pinching with my knee. So Jacel manipulated my hip to allow it to be more open. Ow!! ha ha. Getting old sucks. She gave me a few exercises to do to keep it mobile. Ugh.

1: bring both knees up above my saddle almost touching without rocking back onto my tailbone. 

2: scissors.... bring the right leg forward, while bringing the left leg back, and swing them back and forth

3: Scissors but instead of front to back, lift the leg/knee up and down. 

4: Lift my knee in step with Dan's shoulders... at the walk, trot and canter! EEEKS.

So anyways... we carried on and it got better. He was jumping pretty super nice over some of them. When we got to the end and did the whole course, it started to fall apart a little bit. I was falling in on the turn, then having to overshoot my turn and cut back to the vertical, which threw everything off. So when I rode my turn better and sat up and kept his hind end moving and my front end from tipping, it was MUCH better. And bonus points, because... while I didn't hold up my end of the bargain, he still jumped. Jacel said that he did it once or twice and was starting to question whether he was going to keep jumping when I sat up and rode and he was like "oh, okay.. you're back to doing it right, so I will too". hee hee. Yay!

We finished with a pretty nice round and a LOVELY amazing jump through the one stride. And... he even got in super tight in two stride, which is awesome, because it means that he is jumping bold and with a big stride again! Whooo hooo!

So then.. because her next lesson wasn't on time.. we went out to the XC field to play over a few. I had wanted to jump the new jumps but instead we did some bending/turning questions on the hill and the bank because she thought that's what I'd see at FENCE. She made me jump the "big" rolltop up the hill. Which, ended up being just fine. Then a sharp turn to the upright cabin, then down the bank, and a sharp hard turn to a coop and then... circle and go up the big bank and over the skinny. So... it wasn't pretty but we got it done after the first attempt. The trick was coming down the bank... the terrain pulled him longer and longer and lower and dragged his right shoulder out. Which he likes to do anyways. So I had to drop down the bank, close my right leg and hold my right rein, and square turn him to the left to get over the coop. I had to half halt him to rebalance him and keep him upright. YAY! We did manage it and then our uphill question was so much easier too.

So then we chatted and she said we were definitely good to do the Training CT at Ashland the following weekend and she even thought I should run Training/Novice at Pine Top thanksgiving!!! YAY!!!

 

Cavaletti Clinic

 Today was a fun day. We hauled to Karen's and did a cavaletti clinic. It was super fun and educational. And so great to see Karen and Liz again. And Lynn too! And then Dan got a massage and is feeling pretty good.

Pointers from the clinic:

• walk poles are 2.5 to 3 feet apart, and you can go in multiples of that. Ie... set them at 3 feet apart, or 6 feet apart, or 9 feet apart... but 2.5 to 3 feet will give you one foot step between the poles
• trot poles are about 4 feet apart (I think.. my brain is so tired and even though it was not that long ago, I may have forgotten). 
• Canter poles are around 9 feet apart, and again.. in multiples
• having properly set ground poles sets your horse up for success and teaches him to trust you

So we started off just walking through walk poles and focusing on not having anything change. Not the rhythm, not the balance, not the speed, and not the stride. Then we did that at the trot. Dan was pretty super. Karen even called him the "poster child". Yay! But ... just wait. ;) Ha! So then she raised the trot poles up to the first hole. And they all knocked some down. She had us focus on the balance and they all went through clean. Then she did alternating raised poles. Ie... first pole is flat on the ground on the left and raised on the right... second pole is raised on the left, third pole is raised on the right. This was a little easier for them all. 

Then we did the circle of death. Ha! It was four poles at noon, 3, 6 and 9 o clock. The goal was to put the same number of steps in each quadrant. Much harder than it looks. Although we all managed to get it. Then to up the ante, you add steps or deduct steps. If they all did it in 9 steps... then make them do it in 8 steps. Then make them do it in 10 steps. Although she didn't have us take steps out because... none of our horses needed that. All of them had pretty reaching strides and she felt that by taking a stride out, we'd just get them flat and runny. She then raised the poles to low cavaletti height, and holy moly that was so much harder. Partly because they tried to jump them sometimes. But we all got the hang of it. And it was a good exercise for Dan because I had to get him rocked back and using his hind end and also elevating the front end. So in theory, this will help his jumping form. 

We quit with that as it was educational but also hard. But then she did set up a canter grid for me. The goal was to canter through it without changing anything and not to jump it like bounces. And... it was a bit rocky (in that the canter was a bit whiplashy) but he did it. And he even actually cantered it rather than jumping it. Wheee!!

So yep. Lots of fun. And then Kathleen said he felt good and that his right shoulder now felt the same as his left shoulder! Yay!

Back on Top

 So... I feel a little stupid for getting so upset the other day and basically shutting down, but... I suppose it was valid. I was exhausted. Not just physically, but definitely physically, and also emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I feel like I'm on this hamster wheel at top speed and I can't get off. I can't keep up. I can't do all the things I need to do much less the things I want to do. And therefore what I do do... I do half-assed, which makes me feel like a failure and guilty...  And basically... my point... I was tapped out. I had nothing left. And then you add in the super lame baby horse... add in the fact that I thought she was going septic in that joint and that because it was too much of a pain to swap my patients around (who all would have happily done it) and I was just too tired to try to think it through, I waited an extra day. So... I felt responsible for "rotting what little functional stifle she had left" while I worked. Then add in Dan's eyeball and feeling guilty for not making more of an effort to flush it the night before... thus basically... creating his ulcer.. And.. that took what tiny little bit left out of me. And now... now that I know they are okay and they will both survive... I'm okay again. I went back into the positive. I may only be at a 0.2, but at least I'm above 0. And now I feel a little silly for getting so upset. And feel a little guilty for not being able to let it go and give it to God. But... oh well. I'm sure I'll go back to that place again since I can't seem to get my "life account" up much higher. I'm working at it, but... struggling. But anyways...  today... life is good! That's my point. I slept. I woke up.. to Dan pawing at the gate, but.. at least it was close to 8 am. I got them all squared away and Dan's eye is looking almost normal! Just greasy and dilated. ;) And maybe still a little red although I honestly wonder if that's from me poking it trying to get meds in. ;) Ha!

Mike and I went to a car show this morning so I walked Funny when we got back and then took Dan to Ashland. That meant we didn't get to Ashland til about 4:30 or so, but that's okay. We had the place to ourselves and we just hacked about. I tried to keep him on contact and through but light in the connection. It's hard. But we got the hang of it I think. We did a tiny bit of trotting to practice. We tried to find all the hills. And then we finished in the arena and just ran through our novice test. He was quite nice. Then we went up to the jump arena for a super quick cool down. He didn't seem bothered by his eyeball and he had his fly mask on, so... we carried on. :) 

Friggin Horses!!!

 Sigh.... Wed was a rough day... Came home from work and Funny was more lame... but her appt is tomorrow am. Then I fed and hung a hay net (UP HIGH) for Dan because he's strewing his hay everywhere and making a mess and wasting it and I'm running out of places to spread the manure/shavings/hay and.. it's annoying. And before I was finished I noticed that he is squinting and has tears streaming down his face. Daniel Floyd Breaux! I tried to look and I didn't see any obvious ulcers.. but his conjunctive was very red. I tried flushing his eye out with saline but he was flinging his head and I was just exhausted and emotionally on empty and it was already 10 pm and I hadn't even had dinner, so I gave up. I probably shouldn't have. I should have sedated him and flushed it better...  because the next morning, Dan was squinting and his eye was swollen. Sigh... I texted Dr. Eggleston and asked if I could bring Dan in too. Luckily, they were able to fit me in.

I loaded him up, with his flymask on, and then got Funny on. We got to UGA and they took Dan back and then they took Funny and then I sat and waited. And Funny and Dan screamed for each other because they went to separate wings. So... we got good news back on Funny (see her post) and then finally got news on Dan. Of course, he has an ulcer. Luckily it's small, under the lid, and no organisms in it yet. Of course, being ophtho and not general practice, they only see the awful eye ulcers so they were being a bit more aggressive than possibly needed. Which is fine. So I convinced them that despite me not being able to flush his eye, I should be able to medicate him and not need an SPL. So we got to go home. With eye meds 4 times a day. Sigh... 

So no riding for us today. And maybe not this weekend. Argh! 

Dressage Lesson Day

 Poor Funny...

Dressage lesson: he's just not through and too heavy in the bridle. I'm holding him up, therefore I can't get him light off the aids. Rana rode. I got back on. I need much less weight in the bit.

Home... Funny super lame....