I'm pretty sure I did a show planning post last year and since the reality ended up bearing a passing resemblance to the plan, we'll go for a 2017 version. These are the dates I've booked off work and have budgeted for. Horses and life may have other ideas.
(Also, let's be honest, even if my plans ended up looking nothing like the reality, I'd still write this post because planning the upcoming season is really fun!)
February:
-Dressage clinic
March:
-MREC 2 phase
-Local clear rounds day
April:
-Spring eventing clinic. Possibly x2
May:
-MREC May Horse Trials
- Local jumper show
- Local dressage show
June:
-CVES XC schooling and Dressage % day
July:
-Topline Back to Back HT
-MREC Dressage
August:
-CVES Horse Trials
Sept:
-Local dressage % day
-TBird dressage show
Oct-Dec:
-Sleep in, save $, prep for 2018!
Bonus:
-The plan this year is still to breed Ginger for a spring 2018 foal.
Monday, 16 January 2017
Thursday, 12 January 2017
In Which I Ride...Poorly
The arena was super busy last night, and Bridget was unimpressed. Pony mare was feeling the need to let the others know she is super tough by making nasty faces at each and every one. Obviously that = a pony mare who is less than focused on her rider. Also included for free with every angry pony who doesn't like to share arena space: An extra dose of independence! "I am so bad ass no rider tells ME what to do!", says Bridget.
Obviously we worked through it, but we didn't get to a great place, more of a compromise place where the pony mostly kept her ears on in a neutral manner and went forward politely where I pointed her. Soft and relaxed might have come eventually, but I ran out of time. I'm coming for you again today, Midge :)
I've been feeling a little lost with Q mare of late. The trails are too icy to safely navigate, and it's dark so early that I've been forced to spend most of the time in the arena. I need help in there! So, I chose Q for my lesson mount du jour. As I explained to EC prior to the lesson, the super forward big stride that makes me happy out on the trail is slightly intimidating to try to contain in the arena. Particularly as she's very large and powerful and quick to be offended should you really get after her about slowing the train down...quite the opposite of Bridget pony, really.
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| At least she's cute. |
Q mare was feeling very very fresh last night. You know that yucky feeling where their back is so tight you just know the explosion is imminent? Just like that. On Midge, I tend to laugh about it and poke the bear to see if she'll bite. On giant drafty freight trains, I'm a big chicken. We did a ton of transitions to get her to actually stop/wait/slow down, but that seemed to increase the tension, so we did a bunch of lateral work to try to loosen her up that way. I stuck it out for about half the lesson, rode poorly because I didn't want to press the wrong button and die, then gave up, got off and lunged the sillies out. I got back on to cool her out, but am sort of beating myself up about it. Particularly as the lunging just made her more energetic and excited! Shes 3/4TB, and it shows - she's got an incredible base level of fitness, unlimited energy, and has no concept of quitting. She can be kind of intense! Combine that TB brain with a 16.3 part Percheron body, and I'll admit to feeling overhorsed last night. That's fine, but rather than stepping up to the challenge and using it as a learning opportunity, I backed off and took the easy way out, even though I had EC there to help. Confidence is such a weird thing!
Q mare, I'm coming for you again too. I'm feeling in need of some redemption. (Also, some warmer weather and turnout for the horses so the winter crazies go away. I want my forward, but sane hacking buddy back!)
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| Pretty AND cute :) |
On the plus side, our lesson mate was my hot, quirky Ginger mare and she looked positively straightforward in comparison to my two rides. Good girl! (But, we cannot underestimate Ginger's lease rider, who does a super job with her and makes it look easy. Pretty sure if it was me in the tack we may have had a trifecta of poor rides :) Maybe, just maybe, the big mare is finally all grown up.
Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Defrosting
An entire unfrozen arena for the first time in a month = an opportunity to defrost our jumping skills!
EC has been quite creative about integrating gymnastics and pole work into our lessons, but with crazy cold temps (for here) freezing at least a third of the arena on a regular basis, it's been pretty much impossible to ride "real" courses (or really anything that doesn't fit into about an 80'x80' square) We finally got a good old pacific rainstorm today to thaw us out temporarily, so of course we had a jumping lesson!
We started with my nemesis (nemesises? nemesii?)...bending lines and bounces. Oh, and spoiler alert, we finished with them too ;)
Our course du jour (everything set small, about 2'):
My tasks: remembering where my body parts go when jumping. Planning ahead. Changing leads in a timely fashion (we don't do flying changes yet, saving them for dressage, so one walk or trot stride to balance, then change). Controlling B's outside shoulder.
B's tasks: Going where I point her. Turning those shoulders. Staying in front of the leg. Not bucking, even when it's super tempting to do so.
General challenge: Our lesson was shared with a baby Clydesdale with minimal adjustability in the canter, so the distances were set for her. 2 baby Clyde strides = 2.5 normal Bridget strides. Good practice for me to sit and wait and stay out of B's way when we got to things weird. Also good practice for finding a collected canter on the 2 or 3 stride lines, and a forward one through the bounce! Confidence boosting, because even though I definitely failed a bit, nothing bad or scary happened, just an awkward jump or two.
I'm happy to say our new years restart paid dividends, because generally speaking, the pony was wonderful. Quick off my leg, maneuverable, and forward. Both EC and I were amazed that B didn't even think about quitting, even when she started to visibly tire!
I feel like I was the part of our partnership kind of phoning it in and letting the team down, but as I got back in the groove it got better. It's weird, dressage wise I almost always think I have a good feel for where I need to be and what I need to do as a rider. With jumping, if I go even a few days without I immediately lose what little I have learned and need to fumble around a bit before it comes back. I guess that's normal given jumping is a fairly recent development in my riding life?
At least there's always dressage ;)
EC has been quite creative about integrating gymnastics and pole work into our lessons, but with crazy cold temps (for here) freezing at least a third of the arena on a regular basis, it's been pretty much impossible to ride "real" courses (or really anything that doesn't fit into about an 80'x80' square) We finally got a good old pacific rainstorm today to thaw us out temporarily, so of course we had a jumping lesson!
We started with my nemesis (nemesises? nemesii?)...bending lines and bounces. Oh, and spoiler alert, we finished with them too ;)
Our course du jour (everything set small, about 2'):
 |
| Still not setting jumps in the entire arena as we're supposed to freeze again indefinitely starting today! |
My tasks: remembering where my body parts go when jumping. Planning ahead. Changing leads in a timely fashion (we don't do flying changes yet, saving them for dressage, so one walk or trot stride to balance, then change). Controlling B's outside shoulder.
B's tasks: Going where I point her. Turning those shoulders. Staying in front of the leg. Not bucking, even when it's super tempting to do so.
General challenge: Our lesson was shared with a baby Clydesdale with minimal adjustability in the canter, so the distances were set for her. 2 baby Clyde strides = 2.5 normal Bridget strides. Good practice for me to sit and wait and stay out of B's way when we got to things weird. Also good practice for finding a collected canter on the 2 or 3 stride lines, and a forward one through the bounce! Confidence boosting, because even though I definitely failed a bit, nothing bad or scary happened, just an awkward jump or two.
I'm happy to say our new years restart paid dividends, because generally speaking, the pony was wonderful. Quick off my leg, maneuverable, and forward. Both EC and I were amazed that B didn't even think about quitting, even when she started to visibly tire!
I feel like I was the part of our partnership kind of phoning it in and letting the team down, but as I got back in the groove it got better. It's weird, dressage wise I almost always think I have a good feel for where I need to be and what I need to do as a rider. With jumping, if I go even a few days without I immediately lose what little I have learned and need to fumble around a bit before it comes back. I guess that's normal given jumping is a fairly recent development in my riding life?
At least there's always dressage ;)
Monday, 9 January 2017
Learning to Be Independent (Again)
I'm finding with a great coach at my disposal it's very easy to put off any problems until lesson day. I know I'm going to get immediate and effective help then, so it does make sense that way. The negative side is that I end up being a little inconsistent in my expectations for my rides, and I feel like I've ended up not actively problem solving on my own unless I absolutely have to.
That doesn't mean I don't school things in my daily rides. I do, but I tend to pick things I know I/we can do well, or things we worked on in our lesson. Things where the results are going to be very predictable and I have the tools fresh in my mind.
The past few days, I've made an effort to start changing that. We've been discussing show plans for the upcoming year, and I'm feeling unprepared on pretty much every level. Time to show some initiative and get back to work without requiring someone to supervise and motivate me every step of the way :)
I think I recapped Thursdays ride under the unsuccessful saddle trial label. We don't need to get too detailed, suffice to say pony was unimpressed and there was some very naughty behaviour, partly saddle related, and partly I think pony tude related. Since she is a pony, we did need to work through a bit of it before putting her away and taking the offensive saddle off.
Friday was her day off.
Saturday, I put our normal saddle back on, but the pony of Thursday still returned. Told you she is smart. This time the bad behaviour did not win her any breaks or a shorter ride. She worked super hard. I really needed to reinforce the forward thing, since she misremembered bucking and running sideays through the oursude shoulder as being a reasonable way of expressing her feelings re moving her feet forward. Of course, once she was forward and straight, it was all angry, downhill, pulling, snorty dragon style, so some further reminders were required re carrying herself. It was a really tough ride, but she was going fairly well by the end and was once again the cooperative, cheerful pony we actually like to have around.
Sunday's ride started where Saturday's left off. Generally cooperative pony, but still testing the whole hiding behind the leg and popping the shoulder thing now and then. On a normal day, I might have actually left it as good enough. We have a lesson Mondays, after all. But I was still a little grumpy from the previous days, so we worked on walk to canter transitions ie "Put your body and feet exactly where I ask and go forward to canter immediately" Hard, hard punishment for lazy, wiggly ponies.
Since I'm not all mean, I set it up so we did a 8-10m collected walk circle off the wall, then cantered as we came back to the wall. This is helpful because it sets up the correct bend, it's predictable so she knows she's going to need to organize herself to canter before the wall, and the wall is there to help keep that outside shoulder under wraps in the transition. Her right lead departs are actually already really nice, so we worked to the left the majority of the time as that's where it's harder for her and there's usually a fight waiting to happen since she is not one to enjoy a challenge :)
In typical Midge fashion, it took a few tries and way too much encouragement before she remembered it's not an impossible task, then she steadily got better. The transition itself is a work in progress and a little unbalanced, but we finished with some of the best canter work we've ever done.
As a side benefit, as the ride went on, Midge became really sharp and forward and totally got her game face on. She wasn't even sticky in the bit of lateral work I threw in, which is of course our other regular nemesis.
A huge difference over the course of a few days, and I'm happy I actually worked through it on my own, chose appropriate exercises to help, and didn't get frustrated/give up when it got really hard. Rider education progressing, one tiny forward step at a time :)
That doesn't mean I don't school things in my daily rides. I do, but I tend to pick things I know I/we can do well, or things we worked on in our lesson. Things where the results are going to be very predictable and I have the tools fresh in my mind.
The past few days, I've made an effort to start changing that. We've been discussing show plans for the upcoming year, and I'm feeling unprepared on pretty much every level. Time to show some initiative and get back to work without requiring someone to supervise and motivate me every step of the way :)
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| "Why do you make me work so hard?!" |
I think I recapped Thursdays ride under the unsuccessful saddle trial label. We don't need to get too detailed, suffice to say pony was unimpressed and there was some very naughty behaviour, partly saddle related, and partly I think pony tude related. Since she is a pony, we did need to work through a bit of it before putting her away and taking the offensive saddle off.
Friday was her day off.
Saturday, I put our normal saddle back on, but the pony of Thursday still returned. Told you she is smart. This time the bad behaviour did not win her any breaks or a shorter ride. She worked super hard. I really needed to reinforce the forward thing, since she misremembered bucking and running sideays through the oursude shoulder as being a reasonable way of expressing her feelings re moving her feet forward. Of course, once she was forward and straight, it was all angry, downhill, pulling, snorty dragon style, so some further reminders were required re carrying herself. It was a really tough ride, but she was going fairly well by the end and was once again the cooperative, cheerful pony we actually like to have around.
Sunday's ride started where Saturday's left off. Generally cooperative pony, but still testing the whole hiding behind the leg and popping the shoulder thing now and then. On a normal day, I might have actually left it as good enough. We have a lesson Mondays, after all. But I was still a little grumpy from the previous days, so we worked on walk to canter transitions ie "Put your body and feet exactly where I ask and go forward to canter immediately" Hard, hard punishment for lazy, wiggly ponies.
Since I'm not all mean, I set it up so we did a 8-10m collected walk circle off the wall, then cantered as we came back to the wall. This is helpful because it sets up the correct bend, it's predictable so she knows she's going to need to organize herself to canter before the wall, and the wall is there to help keep that outside shoulder under wraps in the transition. Her right lead departs are actually already really nice, so we worked to the left the majority of the time as that's where it's harder for her and there's usually a fight waiting to happen since she is not one to enjoy a challenge :)
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| Another diagram brought to you by MS Paint |
In typical Midge fashion, it took a few tries and way too much encouragement before she remembered it's not an impossible task, then she steadily got better. The transition itself is a work in progress and a little unbalanced, but we finished with some of the best canter work we've ever done.
As a side benefit, as the ride went on, Midge became really sharp and forward and totally got her game face on. She wasn't even sticky in the bit of lateral work I threw in, which is of course our other regular nemesis.
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| Happy ears |
A huge difference over the course of a few days, and I'm happy I actually worked through it on my own, chose appropriate exercises to help, and didn't get frustrated/give up when it got really hard. Rider education progressing, one tiny forward step at a time :)
Friday, 6 January 2017
New Year, New Ride?
My first rides of the new year went so well, and so terribly all at the same time!
For my first ride, our cold, but sunny weather continued and Q mare and I had just enough light for a short trail ride, our first since mid October. What a treat!
Bridget and I had a great ride in a trial dressage saddle. I actually hated the saddle (it was a nice Custom Solo, just didn't fit me at all), but B LOVED it and went really nicely, giving me much hope that I haven't actually ruined her training, am riding her with undiagnosed lameness issues, or any of the other multiple dramatic scenarios that keep me up at night if I let them :)
We tried a couple more saddles earlier in the week - same thing, pony was happy and super free in her shoulders and back. Almost everything we've tried has fit her reasonably well, which is a relief. Unfortunately, it seems I'm more difficult to fit, and we haven't yet found the perfect match that allows me to actually use my leg and have a place to sit.
Last night, I got desperate and tried an ancient Wintec. It's truly an ugly, awful thing but at least the flap and knee rolls are pretty non existent, so +1 for letting me use my body, albeit in a chair seat. It's literally duct taped together, so I don't blame B for HATING it and giving me the worst ride ever. Actually, that was a bit of a relief, because if she'd loved it and I was ok with it something tragic could have happened to our tack room of beautiful saddles.
We went back to my jumping saddle for our lesson.
Our lesson was good. Dressage, with some canter poles on a 15m circle for an additional final challenge. B was a little less good in her shoulders and back with the return of the jumping saddle, making it more apparent some of of current woes are saddle related. It's really quite minor but it's there - she's slightly less forgiving and I have to be slightly more precise to get the same results so easily found in the dressage saddle.
I do think the majority of the struggle remains her fitness. Luckily, I have a plan for that! At least she's been quite fresh and forward this past week. Cold weather apparently = a short term increase in pony energy levels, fit or not! Dressage is a lot easier when there's an energetic pony engine pushing you along.
Luckily, the saddle fitter is coming this weekend to adjust my jumping saddle, so we'll have that sorted quickly. The wool has compressed a little on one side and it's a bit uneven and pinching one shoulder a tiny bit. She's also a County rep, so I get to try a few of their dressage saddles. We've got another person coming in two weeks, so I'm hoping between the two I'll have some good suggestions for what might work. My budget is about 2k, so sadly I cannot afford to order anything new or custom. Fingers crossed we can find something used that suits us both.
For my first ride, our cold, but sunny weather continued and Q mare and I had just enough light for a short trail ride, our first since mid October. What a treat!
Bridget and I had a great ride in a trial dressage saddle. I actually hated the saddle (it was a nice Custom Solo, just didn't fit me at all), but B LOVED it and went really nicely, giving me much hope that I haven't actually ruined her training, am riding her with undiagnosed lameness issues, or any of the other multiple dramatic scenarios that keep me up at night if I let them :)
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| B looking very fat |
We tried a couple more saddles earlier in the week - same thing, pony was happy and super free in her shoulders and back. Almost everything we've tried has fit her reasonably well, which is a relief. Unfortunately, it seems I'm more difficult to fit, and we haven't yet found the perfect match that allows me to actually use my leg and have a place to sit.
Last night, I got desperate and tried an ancient Wintec. It's truly an ugly, awful thing but at least the flap and knee rolls are pretty non existent, so +1 for letting me use my body, albeit in a chair seat. It's literally duct taped together, so I don't blame B for HATING it and giving me the worst ride ever. Actually, that was a bit of a relief, because if she'd loved it and I was ok with it something tragic could have happened to our tack room of beautiful saddles.
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| Q mare impatient for a ride |
We went back to my jumping saddle for our lesson.
Our lesson was good. Dressage, with some canter poles on a 15m circle for an additional final challenge. B was a little less good in her shoulders and back with the return of the jumping saddle, making it more apparent some of of current woes are saddle related. It's really quite minor but it's there - she's slightly less forgiving and I have to be slightly more precise to get the same results so easily found in the dressage saddle.
 |
| canter poles |
I do think the majority of the struggle remains her fitness. Luckily, I have a plan for that! At least she's been quite fresh and forward this past week. Cold weather apparently = a short term increase in pony energy levels, fit or not! Dressage is a lot easier when there's an energetic pony engine pushing you along.
Luckily, the saddle fitter is coming this weekend to adjust my jumping saddle, so we'll have that sorted quickly. The wool has compressed a little on one side and it's a bit uneven and pinching one shoulder a tiny bit. She's also a County rep, so I get to try a few of their dressage saddles. We've got another person coming in two weeks, so I'm hoping between the two I'll have some good suggestions for what might work. My budget is about 2k, so sadly I cannot afford to order anything new or custom. Fingers crossed we can find something used that suits us both.
Wednesday, 4 January 2017
The Haul
So, what did I buy on our fantastic post Boxing Day adventure?
I looked at and tried on a ton of stuff, which was nice. Normally I need to order things online, so it was a treat to be able to check out things in person. A lot of things that were on my wish list didn't end up making the cut once I saw them in person. Either I was disappointed with the quality, or the fit, or couldn't bring myself to spend the cash, even at significant savings. Here's the list of things that actually made it home with me, with a few being impulse buys, rather than my carefully planned shopping list:
(Bear with me, it's a long list, but it's all pictures and few words :)
Can you tell the Asmar stuff was getting cleared out? Also, can you tell I am a fan?
The best part about this entire shopping spree was that I spent less than $300 all in, including lunch!
We also bought a heap of stuff for the house, so G was also happy with our day. We unanimously voted to make this an annual event. I'm in! Particularly as I didn't buy a lot of things I actually *needed* like, a saddle...a dressage bridle, a new girth...oh well, there's always next time.
I looked at and tried on a ton of stuff, which was nice. Normally I need to order things online, so it was a treat to be able to check out things in person. A lot of things that were on my wish list didn't end up making the cut once I saw them in person. Either I was disappointed with the quality, or the fit, or couldn't bring myself to spend the cash, even at significant savings. Here's the list of things that actually made it home with me, with a few being impulse buys, rather than my carefully planned shopping list:
(Bear with me, it's a long list, but it's all pictures and few words :)
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| Asmar bamboo tees x2 (pink and navy) |
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| BR event pad in black and grey |
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| Mine came with '666' pre installed? |
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| Asmar City jacket. I bought a black one earlier in the fall for riding, but the pink was calling my name for daily use in our dark rainy winters. In my defense, it was the last one and marked down to $75 |
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| Can never have too many. |
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| Bridget approved |
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| Cheap gloves. Again, can never have too many |
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| Asmar polka dot pony sunshirt. This feels too heavy to be a sunshirt, but it's cute and is super flattering on. |
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| Under Armour shirt. The most comfortable thing ever. |
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| BR Halter. Like but don't love because it says 'Horses 4 ever' or something like that all over it. But it was in the 9$ clearance bin and B needed a new barn halter! She's confident enough in her pony tude to advertise her love of horses too :) |
The best part about this entire shopping spree was that I spent less than $300 all in, including lunch!
We also bought a heap of stuff for the house, so G was also happy with our day. We unanimously voted to make this an annual event. I'm in! Particularly as I didn't buy a lot of things I actually *needed* like, a saddle...a dressage bridle, a new girth...oh well, there's always next time.
Tuesday, 3 January 2017
Restart
I was struggling quite a bit this fall to be motivated and present in my riding. Honestly, I've been so busy and my rides have been generally so subpar, that I was just kind of going through the motions and putting in the time because I knew I should.
The holiday season brought me a legit excuse to take a week off. No worries, no schedule to keep, multiple days in a row at home up the coast with G, and a super helpful barn mate to ride the pony in my absence.
In the midst of our week off, we took a trip to Vancouver to do some post holiday shopping. One of the tack stores was having a pretty spectacular sale. I didn't need much, and wouldn't have actually gone if it wasn't for G pushing me to 'just go look'. I'm glad I did! I found some great deals on new apparel for myself and the pony, and as I tried things on and picked out a new color scheme for B I suddenly realized I was excited again for show season. As the days went on, I found myself making a tentative schedule, reading up on all things fitness for B, and generally feeling optimistic and motivated. (Oh, and spending WAY too much money on all the new things!)
Moral of the story: If you're feeling burnt out, take a break. Think about things. Or don't. Come up with a plan. Or don't. Also, retail therapy is a thing, and it helps.
Saturday, 31 December 2016
Wishes For 2017
Amazing: Good scores at First Level.
Super Amazing: Second Level.
Amazing: Finish an event on our dressage score.
Super Amazing: As above, but at Entry (Novice) level
Amazing: Clear, fast rounds at 2'9"
Super Amazing: Comfortable at 3'
Amazing: Spring Eventing Camp
Super Amazing: Ride at both spring eventing camps. And ride well ;)
Amazing: Breed Ginger
Super Amazing: To Cardi. And they make a perfect bay filly.
Amazing: Control the show nerves
Super Amazing: Make the show nerves work for me
Amazing: Get my beginner coaching certifications
Super Amazing: And use them often.
Amazing: More dressage clinics
Super amazing: Arrange with work so I can have time off and sign up for the once a month clinic offered.
Amazing: Better life balance
Super Amazing: G moves here or I find great job there. Or we win the lottery so we don't have to work. Whichever.
Amazing: Better horse and rider fitness.
Super amazing: Literally if we beat anyone in any kind of a race. Disney would have make a movie.
And finally, the most important wish of all: healthy, happy humans and horses!
Wednesday, 28 December 2016
2016 Recap
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| Re: the tent, thank goodness G is one of those people that runs warm and radiates heat even sleeping in sub zero temps. A "talent" I am admittedly less fond of in the summer. |
Jumping wise, we moved from being comfortable over crossrails to being pretty comfortable with 2'6", and even 2'9" on a good day.
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| A terribly ridden course early last summer, but pony has her game face on and wants more. |
We worked our butts off developing a canter. The canter went from not really being a thing, to being somewhat adjustable, and there on demand. Simple changes through trot and walk are now pretty reliable. There's some lift there now too, rather than the scrambly forehand heavy thing of last year.
Dressage wise, we moved up from barely cantering in T-1 to good scores at T-3, and are ready for First Level.
Shows: We got out there and went to quite a few shows. Some were better than others, but with my show nerves just getting out there is a win - the more we do this, the easier it will get. We went to only one three phase event, which is less than I'd hoped for, but it was a good outing and I was happy with our results, particularly as it was our first one ever and a proper recognized one too.
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| We look like we're having fun, right? |
Clinics: All of our clinics this year were eventing/cross country based. All but one were super fun.
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| Go Bridget, go! This pic was the last fence on course and although we both look tired, gives me hope that moving up a level in in the spring will be possible. |
Riding Lessons: I made a promise to myself this year that I would take as many lessons as I could afford. This ended up working out to about two per week. I made a ton of sacrifices to make that happen both time and budget wise, and have zero regrets. Learning is good! I also expanded my comfort zone and rode some different horses, and even picked up a weekly ride on a barnmate's baby dinosaur horse.
Life: I struggled a lot to balance all the things. I missed my husband a lot. Work was difficult. I lost some confidence riding, then gained it back. Bridget's training regressed a little towards the end of the year, but such is life. I didn't ride Ginger nearly as much as I thought I would, both time and confidence being big factors there. I did not go for the testing to get my coaching certifications, simply because I don't think I currently have the time to teach regularly enough to be as prepared/good as I'd like to be at it and keep my certifications current. Perhaps next year. Still, for now I think this is a good place for me, and the short term plan is to keep on keeping on for another couple of years (or however long I can stand my boss...whichever comes first lol). We've got bigger plans on the horizon, but for now it's baby steps, got to put in the work to achieve the dreams!
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Doing Less
I hope the holidays are treating everyone well! G and I are a little bit grinchy and don't really do the gifts and decorating part around our house. This is more a time for us to take a few days off and spend some quality time together doing the things we love, which you could probably argue is more in the spirit of the holidays than we think :)
As for my rides, they've been going alright! I tried a new saddle, amd while it didn't work for me, Bridget loved it and was much more like her old self. So, an appointment with the fitter for her current saddle and some more serious shopping for a dressage saddle is in my future.
We also went back and tackled the angled jump exercise from last week, and actually cantered it. Someone had increased the height of it which seemed to help B figure out cantering it is actually easier than our default during the lesson of throwing a trot step in over the pole and jumping the vertical from there.
In the spirit of holidays, I've also been way more conscious of doing less while in the saddle. Fingers crossed, Bridget has been answering that with some better work. I think EC would want me to ask for more, but for now this seems to be a good mental reset for the both of us. The majority of my rides have just been getting B forward into a soft, long rein. The moment she sucks back, wiggles, or argues, I ask for canter or gallop and just make her go. Since she needs my help a little more in canter,it's pretty easy to establish the feel we're looking for there before we transition back down. I've only been doing collected and lateral work in the canter for this reason as well. Forward and straight and carrying herself is the name of the game. Baby stuff revisited, but I feel strongly it's the right thing to do right now. Keeping it simple and fun for the both of us.
Our other adventures have involved multiple trail rides. It's not often I can ride in daylight this time of year, and the trails are a welcome diversion.
And, one final set of thoughts. Quite honestly, I've been super frustrated with Midge lately. I was discussing my concerns with a riding buddy, and we discussed maybe competing a different horse a few times next season (Q mare? Ginger?). Both are more forward, confident rides who might be a fun change. I'm not ruling it out, but it did get me thinking. Basically, Bridget has zero bad habits. She's easy to have around, she's incredibly easy to care for. She's the perfect size. She's great in new places. She'll hack out anywhere. She never does anything stupid. I can literally hop on anywhere, anytime and try anything and it's never disastrous in the typical way that horses seem to find. At worst, we get frustrated, or maybe even part company, but life goes on, we muddle through and live to try another day with zero grudges held.
She is, however, typically less forward thinking than I'd like. Her work ethic also kind of stinks sometimes and she's opted out and let me down more than once. Maybe I'm crazy, but those are all things that fitness, confidence, and training can help. Even if the perfect dream pony existed, I'd never part with the one I've got. So, there's no point being frustrated and dreaming about other options. I need to work with what we've got and make it the best I can :)
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| This post brought to you by Bridget yoga. Pose 1 - "Upward Sitting Horse" |
That being said, I surprised everyone who knows me and went out Christmas caroling this year! Don't worry, I didn't temporarily lose my mind and turn into an extrovert who thinks they can sing - a group of us went from the barn and did caroling by horseback on Christmas Eve. Horses involved = obviously I'm in, terrible singer or no. Bridget was a superstar, and led everyone through the dark neighbourhood and right up to people's front doors.
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| Demonstrating the difficult "Upside down table" pose |
As for my rides, they've been going alright! I tried a new saddle, amd while it didn't work for me, Bridget loved it and was much more like her old self. So, an appointment with the fitter for her current saddle and some more serious shopping for a dressage saddle is in my future.
We also went back and tackled the angled jump exercise from last week, and actually cantered it. Someone had increased the height of it which seemed to help B figure out cantering it is actually easier than our default during the lesson of throwing a trot step in over the pole and jumping the vertical from there.
In the spirit of holidays, I've also been way more conscious of doing less while in the saddle. Fingers crossed, Bridget has been answering that with some better work. I think EC would want me to ask for more, but for now this seems to be a good mental reset for the both of us. The majority of my rides have just been getting B forward into a soft, long rein. The moment she sucks back, wiggles, or argues, I ask for canter or gallop and just make her go. Since she needs my help a little more in canter,it's pretty easy to establish the feel we're looking for there before we transition back down. I've only been doing collected and lateral work in the canter for this reason as well. Forward and straight and carrying herself is the name of the game. Baby stuff revisited, but I feel strongly it's the right thing to do right now. Keeping it simple and fun for the both of us.
Our other adventures have involved multiple trail rides. It's not often I can ride in daylight this time of year, and the trails are a welcome diversion.
And, one final set of thoughts. Quite honestly, I've been super frustrated with Midge lately. I was discussing my concerns with a riding buddy, and we discussed maybe competing a different horse a few times next season (Q mare? Ginger?). Both are more forward, confident rides who might be a fun change. I'm not ruling it out, but it did get me thinking. Basically, Bridget has zero bad habits. She's easy to have around, she's incredibly easy to care for. She's the perfect size. She's great in new places. She'll hack out anywhere. She never does anything stupid. I can literally hop on anywhere, anytime and try anything and it's never disastrous in the typical way that horses seem to find. At worst, we get frustrated, or maybe even part company, but life goes on, we muddle through and live to try another day with zero grudges held.
 |
| Pony has packed on the holiday pounds, but gets an A+ for posing. |
She is, however, typically less forward thinking than I'd like. Her work ethic also kind of stinks sometimes and she's opted out and let me down more than once. Maybe I'm crazy, but those are all things that fitness, confidence, and training can help. Even if the perfect dream pony existed, I'd never part with the one I've got. So, there's no point being frustrated and dreaming about other options. I need to work with what we've got and make it the best I can :)
 |
| Phew, that was a long post. |
Thursday, 22 December 2016
Out Of Gas
I think we interrupted Bridget's nap time last night. As EC summed up our lesson "It's not that she's unwilling or uninterested, she just has no energy to spare tonight." She's going to put in a call to the vet and pick her brain a little, because she's concerned that Bridget is so inconsistent day to day and so difficult to get fit. In the meantime, I'm going to try not to worry about it too much.
On the plus side, we learned Bridget can easily trot decent sized stuff on an angle, and I'd highly recommend this exercise as yet another deceptively simple pattern that's easy to set up yet difficult to ride well - you need to plan ahead and be very straight with super accurate turns off your outside aids.
All you need is a standard vertical, and 4 extra poles on a bounce in and out. The 'hard' way involved some super tight turns (about 8-10m) so it's an opportunity to let the exercise do the work on the adjustability of your canter as well.
Enjoy!
On the plus side, we learned Bridget can easily trot decent sized stuff on an angle, and I'd highly recommend this exercise as yet another deceptively simple pattern that's easy to set up yet difficult to ride well - you need to plan ahead and be very straight with super accurate turns off your outside aids.
All you need is a standard vertical, and 4 extra poles on a bounce in and out. The 'hard' way involved some super tight turns (about 8-10m) so it's an opportunity to let the exercise do the work on the adjustability of your canter as well.
Enjoy!
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