Week 7 Happenings

Bad news...the saddle didn't quite work. The good news is, it's the right shape and only slightly narrow, and does come in an XW width from the factory. So, options. I just priced out a new one and I'm looking at about 3k CAD, which might not happen soon, but is much more likely to happen than the 6k County Sensation on the demo list. So, we patiently continue to wait for a jumping saddle of our own.

In pony weight loss news, the vet took a look and is not happy with progress. So, pony now gets locked in 'jail' (aka her little winter paddock) at night with just one flake of hay in a net. I'm holding out hope that being in the 'big' summer paddock with the rest of the mares during the day will ramp up her daytime activity and help a bit too. Owning a super easy keeper is actually harder to manage than a thin, more athletic horse.

You gotta love the guy, but yeah. Midge and he might have a bit in common.

On to our fitness happenings for week 7. I've been sick and away from home, so only actually rode twice this week! However, Midge has been busy.

Friday: Last minute vaulting lesson

Saturday/Sunday: Midge got a vacation, because I needed one desperately and favorite working student was away competing.

Monday: Best dressage lesson.

Tuesday: Vaulting class. Midge cantered on the lunge for almost the whole thing. The kids are getting pretty excited, Midge is turning into a legit vaulting pony,

Wednesday: Flatwork, that wasn't really the best. Lots of canter, because she was a bit stuck and tired feeling. 60 min ride, 20 min walk, 20 min trot, 20 min canter (canter in approx 5 min intervals with trot) She's not at a stage where I can time intervals precisely, simply because I still need to insist on proper transitions and balance, and sometimes that just takes as long as it takes.

Thursday: Trainer ride, dressage. Reports were she was super!

Friday: Favorite working student is going to give her a jump school and hack.

Looking forward: I'm going home for a weekend of R&R. I'm seriously contemplating a big change in the work/life balance dept, but want to make sure I'm rested and have thought things through before I make any decisions. Midge is going for a trail ride on Saturday, then having Sunday off. I have a jump lesson on Monday. We have no show plans in the immediate future - I'm too burnt out for the drama that seems to accompany the local series, and it seems others felt the same because they cancelled the latest show due to lack of entries. I'm also wanting to save cash for the saddle situation. Currently, our next scheduled outing isn't until June 29, when we're planning on doing a back to back 4 day horse trials in the interior of the province. 4 full days of competition means I'd better keep up the fitness work!

I Take It Back

The horses were all playing hard out in the field when I arrived at the barn last night. All except Midge, who in typical lazy pony fashion, just stood in the middle of it all looking somewhat bemused by their antics. Seriously pony, you aren't helping the fitness cause if you don't ever move on your own.

I have no shortage of pictures to illustrate Midge being lazy.

I had a new (to me) jumping saddle to try, and on first impressions, it looks promising for Midge. For me, well, it's a lot more beat up than I'd hoped and I suspect will need some $ spent to make it safe and usable (new billets for sure and some adjustments to the flocking. It also looks like it was left out in the rain more than once) EC is going to take a closer look, so cross your fingers for me that it at least fits OK - then even if this particular one is a no go, we have an idea of what might work.

Jeffries Elite. Would recommend if you're looking for generous room in the shoulders for a flatter backed horse. The leather quality is nice too, I'd compare it to the County Innovation in the barn, and it's half the price new (and uber cheap used here in North America where they're not trendy).

My actual ride last night? Not the best. Midge, who was so supremely uninterested in playing with friends earlier, suddenly developed an overwhelming fascination with their activities. She also felt really tired. So, a double whammy...can't possibly be forward, can't possibly focus on the job. We got some nice work, but it was not the best of rides. I take back the whole Second level thing...if last night was anything to go by, we'll see you out at Intro this summer ;)

Like Magic

I had such a nice weekend away! Tack store browsing in Vancouver on Friday, followed by dinner and a movie. Then Hastings racetrack on Saturday because Kentucky Derby day is the best day to go - especially if "local" rider Mario Gutierrez is riding  in the derby! While Mario didn't make it a three-peat,  we still had a blast and I even won enough money to take G out for a nice dinner later. We drove up to Whistler for the rest of the weekend, just for some R&R.  While I haven't skied in years, I was inspired to book a return trip in the summer for some downhill mountain biking lessons and adventures. My horse obsession and getting Bridget fit has kind of taken over all my spare time of late, so it felt good to get away and be reminded of what a fantastic part of the country we live in and all of the fun non horsey things out there. I still have a life and interests outside of horses! Who knew? ;)

Thanks, pretty red mare for contributing to the dinner money. I loved this mare, she was so chill and professional.

Of course, I did miss the ponies and was happy enough to return for a dressage lesson last night. And again, I had the best ride ever. It could be due to the fact we were both feeling loose and relaxed after our nice mini break. There's much to be said for a mental and physical break.

It could also be my magic pants,  which I've blogged about before. They're a pair of super ancient kerrits tights with magical properties - they somehow look new after years  (more than 10!) of abuse. Most recently they became my barn chores/mucking out pants for the last two years. Of course when I forgot my breeches last night, the kerrits were crumpled up behind the seat of my truck and perfectly ready for duty. The secret to their longevity possibly involves being made of entirely of slippery, shiny, synthetic materials...not so great if you're looking for any sort of grip in the saddle. But! I've now discovered they're genius in my dressage saddle...I can move around, and use my seat. I'm never "stuck". Magic pants for the win,  I'm telling you!

Pretty local scenery

More likely, though, my good rides of late are due to remnants of magic trainer dust. EC has been riding Bridget once a week, and I think it shows. EC has an incredible knack for teaching humans and horses, and it seems Bridget has been paying attention in class!

Ginger has a TB look alike in training! 

I did my very best to not let down the team last night, and feel like I rode probably better than I ever have. There's a bit to think about there, because for once I wasn't sore and stiff in my back, and mentally I was not as uptight about making mistakes as I can get. I was truly in the moment and having nothing but fun for the first time in a long time.

B was a superstar. I'm starting to feel like second level is a realistic goal for the end of the summer. We had all the pieces tonight, and I felt like everything flowed and was super steady as well. The day to day consistency is obviously not there yet, but of course that will just take time. I'm excited that right now on a good day we're there! We've also been adding and asking for more engagement and suspension in all the gaits and it's starting to feel very exciting. I'm also loving that I can put her body pretty much anywhere I want and the losses of balance are becoming pretty minimal...shoulder in transitions up and down, changing the bend, spirals in and out with hannches or shoulder fore. She might lose a bit of power and need a bit of help, but it's starting to feel minor because she's gained the strength and education and I've got a better feel for the timing needed for success - we fix it now before things get weird. Obviously we have a ton of work ahead, but living in this moment, I'm super excited that we have a legit collected canter coming along with tons of lift, and the power of her "big" trot is able to be collected pretty reliably now.  When EC tells me to slow down the front end, or activate the hind, or put this leg or that leg here or her shoulders there, I have the tools, and B has the balance.

I'm still in disbelief that my not so fancy trail riding pony has so much try and a hidden aptitude for this dressage thing. Lucky, lucky me.

Fitness Week 6

Still rounder than we'd like, but believe it or not, much progress is being made - I can do up her girth again lol! Also, if my bank account grows substantially in the near future, I'll buy a saddle just like the one she's wearing. It's a County Sensation with a non forward flap. There were some custom alterations to the blocks done for the lesson kids, but it's surprisingly perfect for me as is! Instant love.

Saturday: Epic disaster show. Midge was a good girl, but we only ended up doing 1 round and maybe 20 min in the saddle tops.

Sunday: Mini jump school 30 min and hack (30min, up the big hill and back).

Monday: Best dressage lesson

Tuesday: Vaulting

Wednesday: Fitness hack. 60 min, big hills, walk/trot/canter/gallop.

And it continues to rain...now officially the second wettest spring in 125 years of counting.

Thursday: Trainer ride, dressage. She loves riding Midge and our 'couple of rides' agreement has morphed into another month. No complaints here, she gets way more done in a ride than I would in 10 lessons and the cost is the same as a single lesson :)

Friday: Midge gets a well earned day off.

Looking forward: Mini vacations for everyone! Our event in Vancouver this weekend was cancelled due to all the rain we've had. The XC field was ankle deep in water and very squishy when we were there a month ago, so I'm not too surprised. I'm actually slightly worried the June event will be cancelled too! They're running the May event as a combined test instead, but having just done one of those in April, we decided to opt out. I'm going to use my 3 days off work for a nice getaway with G instead, and Midge is getting a time out too. We're at week 6 of a 6-7 days a week schedule for her, and done a lot of hard work, so she deserves a couple of days off in a row to just chill. I feel even less guilty because this is the horse's first weekend of summer pasture time, so everyone will be running around like idiots and self exercising anyway :) We'll be back Monday with a jumping lesson!

Pointy Equals Round

I had the most fantastic lesson last night! While I do love jumping, I always feel like I get so much more out of dressage lessons.

Warmed up with a quick hack in the sun. First day of T shirt weather for me, and hopefully the end of our rainiest winter/spring ever! 

Before I got on, EC instructed me to switch out the 'princess' roller ball spurs I normally use for my dressage lessons:

Apparently, I am too 'nice' if  these are my 'serious' spurs....at least with Bridget.

And borrow these bad boys:

Cowgirl style.

We started in walk. Even in warm up, our walk should be a light contact - I am guilty of letting her wander along on a loose rein with her neck flat and her nose poking out. Instead, I should always feel like she is lightly in my hand, taking me forward. Nose closer to vertical  We then "packaged it up" and found a nice working trot, then on trot/halt/trot transitions, followed by some baby collected trot, thinking having her trot on the spot with the same energy. I'm loving the amount of power I'm starting to feel building!

We moved on to some lateral work, leg yields in trot. They were a bit wiggly and wobbly until I remembered to insist on keeping that outside shoulder under wraps and her neck straight. We even changed the bend and got a few steps of lovely half pass! So fun. Like earlier, I'm starting to feel her hind end really sitting and working...so my ability to move the shoulders is much improved, and more than slightly addictive feeling! :)

Next, a tiny time out to do travers/renvers on the circle. This is my most hated exercise, because I am silly dumb about where all our parts need to be without a wall to help. The stars aligned, however, and we didn't dwell there too long, instead moving on to some walk pirouettes. I actually like riding these, because quarter/square turns were my go to for so long with the whole drifting shoulder thing that it's almost like we had a bit of a head start.

Finally, canter. So much canter. And, this was where I really started smiling. Bridget is starting to get some 'jump' in her canter, particularly to the right. It's starting to feel pretty fancy and maneuverable, and dare I say dressage like? Especially for the pony who wouldn't canter at all a couple of years ago!

Pretty much us after our lesson . Photo from here :)

Finally, the verdict on the spurs:

I was super paranoid about my leg while using these. Which is obviously a good thing for my nagging self. Combine that clarity with the added annoyance when I do tap her with them and we had a more responsive and honest pony than we generally do. I'm going to continue to keep these in my arsenal for the days when Midge 'doesn't wanna'.

I'm also pledging to be much more mindful with my leg. This was a great lesson for reminding me of the sort of response I should be getting with a minimal ask. Since Midge is a smart pony, I already switch between no spurs/different spurs frequently so as to not have her tuned out to any. I'm going try to work less regardless of what I'm wearing (or not), and enforce more. Especially now that I know she's capable of more!

And...breathe.

When I was a kid, most weekends were spent at the barn. I would catch the school bus to the barn on Friday afternoon and my parents would come pick me up Sunday night. There were other kids of assorted ages who did the same thing. Rarely were there any adults present or any kind of structure imposed on our days. We rode a lot, we worked a lot, but we also spent hours just hanging around doing dumb stuff.

Now that I am adult, my definition of "dumb stuff" is far more comprehensive, and there is a subcategory titled "dangerous stuff" that age has taught me to avoid if at all possible. The part that hasn't changed all these years later is the enjoyment I get from just going to the barn with no agenda, with no plans except to hang out with the horses and see where the day takes us.

Today, since we weren't showing, the sun came out and the weather turned warm. Bridget was very itchy in the remnants of her winter coat, so I spent a good hour with assorted grooming tools, getting as much of the dead hair and winter gunk off her. I conditioned her tail, amd trimmed it too. Spa day!

Next up, I attempted to take some glamour shots of the shiny clean pony. She didn't look as fancy as I'd hoped, but then fancy isn't really her gig. We both more go for the "cute, round" look :)

Then, I puttered around building a "spooky" jump course. B lent moral support by following behind me and keeping her nose in my neck and breathing like a creeper. Must be my shampoo? It's sort of her thing, she loves sticking her nose in the small of my back or my neck and just hanging out like that. Weird, but (look away now NH people!) I let her invade my personal space because she's cute and supremely unmotivated to take advantage of my lack of boundaries. My hair just smells good, I can't help it,  alright?

Finally, I actually rode the pony. We popped around our tiny course, just for fun. We galloped around a bit, we went for a short trail ride and meandered around. No fitness work was accomplished, no agendas, no training at all

And, that's the story of the best days we've had in a very long time. I know having a horse suited to your riding level,  competitive goals, budget, time, etc etc is important.  But,  I'd argue having a horse you just like to be around is the most important thing of all - all the rest is secondary.

Groundhog Day

I know this is the coast and we can expect grey skies and a bit of rain most days, but I'm starting to feel like our local show series is set in some ultra soggy alternate universe. It rains, HARD. Every single time. All day long.

You can also be guaranteed we'll roll in "late" (I will take full responsibility, but at this point its kind of a fact of life given our hauling arrangements and the unpredictable show schedule. I've given up, no matter when we roll in - 8am or noon or anywhere in between, my ride is apparently imminent.)

Essentially, you can be sure we'll arrive, be instantly soaked and miserable, and have someone shouting that you're either due in the ring NOW, or due any minute. I'm 99% sure there is some history/drama between two key people at these shows, but I digress. Let's just say sometimes things are made unnecessarily complicated for the innocent.

And so, we had an OK day. It was cold, it was wet, but Midge jumped around great. I obviously didn't get to warm up or learn the course, and went off course pretty quickly in our first round. So, we did a second unjudged round and got it right, and then had to call it a day because doing a schooling round means you can't go back in the ring ever again,  or something like that ;)

So,  why do I continue to attend these shows? For someone as anxious about showing as myself, they're basically an anxiety dream come true. Super late, and no time to warm up or learn the course? Check. Passive aggressive people? Check. (Today's gem (as I worried about not knowing the course) On the radio to the judge: "We have a member of the entitled generation needing more time before she goes in" To me:"Your pony doesn't look fit enough to jump a full course anyway") Crazy weather blowing the jumps and numbers over...to ensure you're forever lost, LOL. Check. Even the quick look I did get at the course diagram confirmed alternate reality status...the original numbers and jumps were mostly crossed out and the edits illegible.

Now if she had said "and I hear you write a blog with very little media of your pony or yourself. You're failing there!" I might have been sad, because,  truth.

This was actually super good for me, because it's all the stuff I worry about. People judging me negatively, not knowing what I'm doing, being late...probably my top three stupid things to worry about. And guess what? In the real world it's fine. I still don't like the lady at the gate, and I also still don't care what she thinks of me or Bridget. In real life, random people's opinions don't mean a lot to me. Being late means I either miss the class or don't have time to prep. News flash, there's always another class, and if not, the world won't end because an adult ammy missed a 2'6" jumper classes at a local show last weekend :). As for not knowing the course, oh well, but was still actually sort of a good thing...it made me look around and be in the moment, and think things through. A little bit of under preparedness might serve me well in the future.

More sleepy Midge last weekend. I had left G in charge of waking her up, but you can see how well that went.

The other reasons I continue to go is that the cost is really reasonable,  it's just a short haul up the road, and most importantly,  someone needs to test rain jackets! Today's victims: a Kerrits rain shelter barn jacket, and an Asmar City Jacket. To give Asmar their due, they never claimed their coats were waterproof, only water resistant. Kerrits outperformed them marginally, but I was soaked through after a couple of hours in each. One day I'll find the perfect alternate universe soggy horse show coat...but it wasn't today.

Fitness Week 5

This week was a bit all over the place. I caught some kind of death plague, so haven't actually ridden since last Saturday. Never fear, though, Bridget still got things done!

I'm going to have to post some before and after pics. I did opt for the Thyroxine last month and it's helped her loose almost all the excess weight and given her a ton more energy. I'm still on the fence about long term usage on a not clinically metabolic pony, but as a way to jump start weight loss it worked great. The vet thought it was the lesser of the two evils as far as her remaining super overweight, and I have to say now I agree. There was no progress being made with exercise and diet alone since she was just struggling too much with the weight to really work even a moderate amount, and was getting pretty sour about working - it was too hard! The grazing muzzle and hay net thing with this pony simply didn't cut the intake enough. We were also ending up locking her in overnight without food and still seeing minimal progress, only a miserable pony. Fingers crossed we can wean her off it, keep up the strict diet and intense fitness routine, and have her hold her current weight.

Saturday: XC/Pace Clinic. Covered 1.5 km at 350m/min for the pace clinic. (With a short break when I got bucked off lol). Further 2 hours of XC clinic, spent either at walk or cantering around jumping things. Heavy emphasis on jumping/cantering up and down steep terrain. Fitness must be much improved because Midge did all that and did not even think about running out of gas.

Sunday: I was sick, but Midge still got out for 1.5 hrs of XC clinic. Less active than previous day...lots of walking around, then cantering single jumps one at a time. Report was she felt tired to warm up, then gained momentum as the lesson went on. This day sucked, because our 6 hour trip home took 12. I'm counting that as fitness because 12 hours standing in a trailer has to be hard!

Monday: Midge got a very well deserved day off.

Tuesday; Kid's vaulting class. About half hr of cantering in side reins, and another half hr walking in side reins.

Wednesday: Still sick, so cancelled dressage lesson. But all was not lost, Midge got a trainer ride and a dressage workout. Report was it was "the best ride ever!"

Thursday: Still death plagued. Midge got another day off.

Friday: Going to do a light neighbourhood hack. About an hour of mostly walking.

Upcoming: Local show Saturday (Yay for cheap entries and 20min trailer rides!). Entered the 2'3" and 2'6" jumpers, hopefully keeping it fun and easy. Jump lesson on Sunday, dressage lesson Monday.

Scattered/Deep Thoughts

There was a Day 3 of the clinic, but of course by then I was really sick and without an operational truck. We were also outside any service area for help - so I needed to deal with things and find a ride to the nearest city to buy a truck battery. Hence, I was sick, stressed, tired and grumpy and did not ride.

Truck required to get us home on this mountain highway.

The teen who exercises Bridget for me once a week was having her own version of Worst Weekend and was needing to give her lovely Q mare the remainder of the weekend off. That means we were left with one healthy rider and one sassy pony. And so we sent them off for a lesson together!

Wake up Midge! While it sucks that my devices ended up with dead batteries I did hear the kids got some actual action shots I might be able to convince them to send me. It's kind of funny the 6 pictures I have to remember the weekend by are all of Bridget sleeping.

The lesson consisted of a bunch of single xc fences, logs mostly, and was pretty boring and uneventful to be honest. I felt bad for favorite teen - she'd been looking forward to Training level on Q mare and instead did pre-entry with Bridget who reverted back to her lazy self. At least fave teen is a Bridget fan and claims to have had fun anyway :) They did look adorable together.  Also on the plus side, boring with horses is always an improvement over wild and crazy!

So, not the best finish to not the best clinic.

Moving forward...some deep thoughts. I'm still feeling pretty scattered. Our long weekend away didn't leave me as inspired and motivated as I would have liked.

Remember these Deep Thoughts? Or am I giving my age away?

My "meh" attitude this winter has spilled over into my rides the past few months. I ride almost daily, and it's still fun because it's Bridget and I like her, but the real drive to be better as an all around rider and to learn more has sort of receded. I like learning new things, but I'm tired and don't fight as much for it as I used to. I'm still feeling more than a bit directionless.

The big elephant in the room and something I thought about a lot this weekend is that the bigger height stuff for Bridget on XC makes me worried. Not for me, but for her...I'm starting to ponder the risk of potentially misjudging a solid obstacle and hurting her, and I'd never forgive myself if that happened. I love the sport, but I think there's a difference to consider between the horses out there running around and attacking the course because they love it and live to gallop and jump all the things, and Bridget, who runs around out there mostly because I ask her to.

Ginger, however, lives for XC and had a fantastic weekend. Also, here's what a welsh D looks like with their feathers clipped and mane roached.  I like it on her!

I can see us doing some combined tests in the future, but more and more I'm kind of in a weird head space eventing wise with the pony.  There should be a new division...all the "fun" stadium and xc questions and dressage tests of the upper levels, but with like 2'6" fences for those of us with not so scopey ponies. Maybe a mini jumper derby course is what I'm wishing for? I don't know. I want to ride dressage tests with lead changes and lateral work, but I still want to gallop around and jump into water and through tricky related distances too!

For now, we've signed up for a couple of jumper classes at the local show this weekend, and have some dressage lessons on the horizon. We'll keep to our summer eventing schedule, but leave the level at Pre-Entry (2'6"ish height, I think). I'll worry about bigger picture plans come Fall. Seems a good compromise, yes?

Rest up, little pony. We're not done yet!

Clinic Day 2

I was sore, and a bit nervous for day 2. I had waffled a bit about speaking up about my dissatisfaction with Day 1, but apparently my coach had watched part of my previous lesson the day before and did an intervention and asked for me to be in a different group. I had been told the groups were being changed around and I was for sure going to be challenged. I said to G, "How politely do you think she asked? Should I be worried I am now the problem complainer person who's going to get "schooled"?;)"

First off though, I got up early for pace clinic. And again, Midge way over excited once we started. She was great for our first go, but was gradually getting more energetic and inattentive, and was way silly for the second round...and bucked me off. Again. How embarrassing to not be able to stay on just cantering around a field with no jumps! I got back on and did a third round, and didn't die. My barn mates were all in the same boat with crazy excited horses, so it was quite funny when the coach asked if we wanted to switch to the second track and add in some jumps and bigger terrain. We all sort of looked at each other and were all like "NOPE,  we're good!", and started laughing. Sometimes you just don't want to tempt fate :)

Day 2 was pretty crazy in general for rider falls and loose horses...it's always bad there being one of the first outings of the spring, but the cool weather and our late spring made it worse this year I think. Add in the fact the stabling and the horses buddies are almost within view, plus how they all feed off each others energy and things were...interesting.  There was a lot of crazy antics and impressive riding on display. G officially decided that we're all nuts and that he's never riding, and I can't say I blame him.

In our lesson, the group had been switched up. Instead of the 5 riders we'd started with, we were left with myself and the little girl on the world's most adorable pony, plus added in an upper level rider on a green horse.

As promised, we immediately went out into the field.

Our lesson was a lot of fun. We schooled a bunch of logs of assorted heights, then moved on to more terrain type questions, because I had mentioned steep downhill jumps and drops are the one thing I feel uncomfortable with. Not necessarily something we need to worry about at the lower levels, but better to address it now than later!

There's one pretty steep descent in particular that I chickened out at last year. We pretty much walked off the little bank at the top, then trotted down the hill every time. This year though, Midge was on fire and I sucked it up until we were cantering off the drop and continuing on down the hill with minimal worries. Although pony was still feeling far too good and bolted a couple of times on landing, the steep uphill coming out slowed her down enough to stop her before it got too wild.

Trotting it very defensively last year. This year we were flying off the middle log! No media though. Blame the kids :)

We continued on to schooling banks in and out of water, then ditches, but didn't linger there since none of the horses had any problems. We finished with a little course going up and down another hilly area of the property. The slope would be similar to what is pictured above, with a large log placed midway down and some smaller one coming back out at the top. This was the scene of another Midge crime, in which we jumped the log going down beautifully, but then a few strides later, she thought a rodeo was in order and eventually popped me out of the tack, although at least this time I landed on my feet. That makes 3 falls in two days! Bad pony has figured out bucking on a downhill is a good formula for getting me off! I got back on, and the rodeos continued, so I got an extra lesson in riding out bucks...this particular clinican advises sitting deep, shoulders back, and keeping the horse's head up. Opposite to what my understanding of what my current coach teaches, and I think more effective for me and my hands which refuse to slip the reins in an emergency. I won, but my shoulders still protest...pony heads are heavy, especially downhill. We finished with a couple of nice rounds on our mini course.

Being a bad ass event pony is exhausting! This was the scene I found every single morning.

While I was hoping to school more than just logs and felt we were challenged less than last year, if I had to choose between schooling higher or more complex jumps or more difficult terrain, I'd go with schooling and being confident at speed over all the terrain type questions again. It was super helpful for those of us who don't have a ton of open space and are limited to mostly walk/trot on the trails. Also, lets be honest, learning to ride Midge's naughty pony antics in all situations may prove handy one day as well :)

Our little group felt kind of random, but it was so small it worked...we all got time to work on what we needed and were even able to all share some of the exercises. The green horse was way impressive and talented, but a baby and prone to shenanigans, so his rider wisely kept it "quiet and boring" with Bridget height stuff and a slow pace. The tiny pony was awesome and the clinician was creative with providing mini options, and the brave little team was even game for a couple of the horse sized ones. Pony power!

Clinic Day 1

Ever have one of those weekends where it seems like the world is against you? That would be the feeling I'm left with after this weekend's trip. 2 hour traffic jam? Check. Missed ferries? Yep. Horse missing shoe at last minute? Yes. Cold and rain each night of (tent) camping? Check. Dead battery on truck, unable to be boosted? (We left it unlocked at the campsite and the barn kids plugged in for lights and used our handy usb plug in to charge all their devices before we noticed...) Yep. Middle of nowhere with no roadside assistance? Yes. Freak snow in the mountain passes? Why not. I even caught a wicked cold to add to the fun. I'll spare you all the miserable details - we're home, everyone is fine, G didn't divorce me for taking him on the worst trip ever. We obviously didn't get a ton of pictures, since a dead truck battery meant no charging of phones or cameras. This makes me very sad, but there is a possibility the kids took some pics with their fully charged devices ;) Let's get to the riding part - which was more fun, but also a bit of a struggle.

When we arrived Thursday night I tacked Midge up and went for a quick hack around the grounds. The other horses were pretty wild and needed to stay in the ring, but Midge was a good girl so got to go splash in one of the water jumps and wander about the fields.  It's a huge place, but sadly the footing in much of it was not the best this year - the unrelenting wet of the coast has wet has apparently reached even the near desert of the interior of the province.

Still a beautiful place, just a bit grey and mucky.

Self explanatory

Midge being Midge, she settled into her little pole corral, ate her dinner, and made not a peep all night. I had an early morning lesson time, and Midge was so chill I needed help convincing her to get out of bed :)

Not that into it

Our lesson group was interesting. I had done the intro clinic last year, so signed up for starter/pre entry (I think that equates to Beginner Novice in the US). Since the clicicians do tend to have you school stuff above the level you signed up for, I was a little worried when I saw I'd been added to an Entry (Novice-ish) group, but I figured I would have to be brave and that it would be a good learning opportunity.

On the actual day, it seemed like our group was really inexperienced and struggling. We didn't actually get out of the arena, and I admit to being a little unhappy...in the hour and a half ride, Midge and I did maybe 10-15 min of warmup, and maybe another 15 of running through various jump exercises. The rest was standing around waiting and watching others work through stuff. I probably sound like a bad person, because obviously we've all been that person in the lesson and the instructor really had no choice but to focus on them for safety reasons. BUT I paid a lot of money and drove a long way for xc schooling, so I was disappointed.

 This WAS a very tricky exercise tho...not a lot of room for mistakes and requiring a very handy horse (or a not so handy pony, whichever;) The clinician used this as a starting point for all the levels...a great test of accuracy, steering and a stop and go button.

Luckily, I had scheduled our pace clinic directly after so we still had a chance to get out for a gallop. Midge, having used no energy in the previous 90 minutes, suddenly woke up, realized she was outside the arena, and went a little wild.  About halfway through our first lap, she randomly sucked back, I leaned forward and kicked...and she took offense, got her head down, bucked a few times, and bolted. And so I fell off. HARD. It hurt. I got back on, went two more times with some minor antics, and had some fun. Midge started to find a bit of a rhythm and was actually pulling most of the way. Fun pony, although naughty.

I'll end here with two separate questions I'd love to hear your thoughts on:

1. What do you do if you don't feel your clinic or lesson group is a good fit? Say something? Trust their judgement and just hope it's an off day?

2. Riding silly antics. I've been told to slip the reins to help avoid being pulled out of a secure position. Then kick forward. "They can't play if they're moving forward fast enough" I've also been told to sit deep, stay tall and strong, and no matter what, keep the horse's head up. The problem I'm having with option 1 is that most athletic horses are perfectly capable of continuing the silliness at speed. With option 2, an incredible amount of upper body strength is needed...particularly if your pony enjoys letting loose going down hills ;) What's your approach?