Weekend Wrap Up: Showjumping Lesson

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Britt

I decided to be an opportunist this weekend and scheduled both a jumping lesson and a dressage lesson for Fosterpants, before his injections lay him off for a couple days this week. Because our normal showjumping guru has left town for the winter, I tried a lesson with a trainer that I enjoy chatting to in the aisle when she comes, thinking it couldn’t hurt to have a fresh pair of eyes on us over fences.

It turns out I have several habits that were quickly picked up on. Foster is bulging through his shoulders in both directions because I am using more inside rein than outside aids, and my upper body is getting stiff because I’m not breathing.

We started with a trot pole exercises that was deceptively hard- trot through poles set for working trot, then two strides later trot through another set set up for a more collected trot. This got Foster paying attention to my aids quite quickly and placed the responsibility on him to figure it out. Once we were able to go through this in both directions we moved onto gymnastics- a bounce to a one stride, where I learned that I was leaning left, causing Foster to drift, and I need to think about keeping even weight in both heels.

We then altered the gymnastic to just a one stride, and added on a few other fences to make a course. So one stride, then brick wall, followed by diagonal 5 strides combination ending on the pink oxer that I hate so much.

I got a couple deep spots in, which is irritating, and had a discussion about moving forward to the fence and thinking of attacking it rather than letting it come to me and focusing on the distance. I’m hoping to continue building confidence in this mentality and give it a whirl in a couple weeks when we get back to jumping again!

And also, I need to shorten my stirrups. Boo.

First Level Practice & A Chiro/Hock Update

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Britt

Last night I threw Foster on the lunge and was pleased to note that the not-quite-rightness in the left hind from the night before was definitely negligible, so much that I was hunting for it, so I hoped on and we worked for about 35 minutes on some Training dressage stuff. The only difference was that he tried balancing himself in my right hand, which was rather annoying, and we finished when he was soft and balanced in both directions. Expecting him to be back to 100% tomorrow.

Also, J was able to take some video of us last week practicing the First Level test 1 tear drops. That is, half of a 10 meter circle to centerline, then a diagonal back to the rail. Video is always helpful, and I can easily see that I need to increase his impulsion, more bend through the body, and make sure he doesn’t get tight with his neck to balance himself. Still, for our first shot at it, it’s not terrible, I guess.

In other news, I bit the bullet and signed him up for the hock injections, to happen next week. Assuming he’s back to 100% tomorrow, we will use the weekend to stuff in a couple last minute lessons and he’ll take it easy next week as he recovers from the procedure. Because of the close timing between the originally scheduled massage and injections, I cancelled the massage so that there is some clarity to what helps (and I suppose what doesn’t). Hopefully the injections are what he needs to make himself straight, and will set us up for success as we start doing bigger and better things.

Results are In

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Britt

Pony was a happy pony!

However, he looked NQR on his right hind. I was warned that he might look a little stiff, and for the moment I’ll put it down to her pelvis adjustment, though I do think hock injections are in his near future. I lunged him for 10 minutes before hopping on and doing another 20 minutes of mostly walking, but a little trot and stretchy canter to get his back moving. She also adjusted his right TMJ during the appointment, which I thought was interesting- he foams up on the left side of his mouth to the point of drooling, after just 10 minutes of work, but the right is almost always dry. Last night after his adjustment, with just minimal riding on the bit, I could already see some of that cherished green lipstick. Foster got some bute mixed in with his alfalfa mash and tucked away for the night.

Warning: Crazy horse lunging here

In other news, I’m tinkering around with the blog. I added 2 new pages under the About section, one with our goals that I hope to mark progress with and another with our competition record. Unfortunately I never did a season recap for 2013 and some of my show recaps from the year are incomplete, but I still feel that it’s helpful in following our progress.

Tonight, more light work and tomorrow, hopefully back to a regular dressage schooling. Then Mr. Fancypants gets a massage on Saturday- the things we do for our horses!

Ultium Update and Another Chiropractic Visit

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Britt

As I mentioned before, Foster has officially been on his new diet for a month. In that month, he has been sound but back sore, and hasn’t noticeably increased weight or muscle. If anything, he started looking a bit gangly again, and myself and others suspected a possible growth spurt. Luckily the vet/chiropractor had a measuring stick and we were able to confirm- Foster has grown to 16.2h this year (he was last measured a year ago at a hair under 16.1h). So, the Ultium could be doing its job, but my warmblood baby (who turns 8 next month, ah!) used those extra nutrients to sprout upwards rather than out.

In the interest of consistency, I still took pictures of his backside. Boy, equestrians are weird- I’m pretty sure dog people don’t do this shit.

And from the side…

To me, there’s no noticeable difference, except that he’s standing somehwat hollow backed in the second picture. The only thing this picture proves to me at the moment is that I need to shave off those little feathers; the way they collect dirt is driving me nuts.

In any case, we’re sticking with the Ultium and Performance Supplements, and hopefully it will start to make a difference in some months.

Otherwise, the chiropractor (slash vet) and I discussed at length why he may have gotten back sore and why he is not straight. There are some guesses out there, with treatments that include hock injections and possibly scoping for ulcers. For now, we’re going to see what happens with this second adjustment (many of the same adjustments made), and I’m desperately hoping it doesn’t come to anything more. We hand walked for 20 minutes after his adjustment last night, tonight he gets light work, and tomorrow back to a regular routine.

So what will it be? A happy pony tonight, or a grumpy sore one?

Blanket Fitting and Jumping 3′ Again

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Britt

Potentially the most boring title ever, but it’s Monday and my caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet. Judge away.

I tried the new Weatherbeeta blanket on Foster Friday evening, and while the body of the blanket fits him rather well, the neck attachment is a bit big, and bunches around his withers. I guess he has the body of a 78″ horse, but not the neck? Nonetheless, we’re keeping it- I don’t think the extra fabric will rub him (since it bunches over the blanket underneath, not directly on his neck).

Unfortunately I can’t say the same for the sweet deal on the leather halter. This full sized halter can barely be buckled at the throatlatch, even with the crown piece at its longest. Sad face- but I guess not everything works out.

In other news, it was actually super nice weather this weekend (even if it was on the cold side), and yesterday we made it out to the jump arena. The jumps were already set up between 3′ and 3’3″, so I decided to give it a whirl- with all the rain coming with week, it’s best to make the most of the outdoor while I can.

Foster was an absolute star, especially since he hasn’t schooled this height since the XC schooling a month ago. The course wasn’t complex, two 4 stride lines and some singles, but it was nice to feel competent again over this size fences. For his part, Foster also was feeling good, and definitely felt more up than he has in a while thanks to bigger fences. With the exception of the pink oxer in one corner that I absolutely despise, we got all of our distances and left all the poles up. I did ride with my dressage whip expecting him to be a little lazy, and in the beginning while we were warming up it was definitely handy. Might be trying to incorporate that at shows too, before switching to my bat before going in the arena. Just things to ponder- in any case, the ride left me super excited for the season!

In other news, this weekend marked one month of Foster being on Ultium– looking forward to comparing images of his ~~best~~ back side tomorrow!

Say no to mud

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Britt

This year Foster has spent his time perfecting one skill in particular- that is, the art of mud makeup. Most days I come out to the barn with a silent prayer that my horse will not take 30 minutes to groom, and instead find him caked in every way possible. The mud eyebrows in particular kill us both. My 5’4″ self cannot reach said eyebrows without going into stretch mode and getting a mouthful of dirt, or having to drag in a mounting block and insist he let me scrub them, much to his derision.

Mud eyebrows

I’ve stopped bothering to clean my bridle unless I have a lesson this winter, since the leftover dust and dirt that I missed (and try though I might, I always miss something) transfers itself to the once-gleaming black leather.

Seriously, horse? That’s disgusting.

So I decided to go on a little shopping spree. The target? Neck attachments. Though they won’t help with the muddy face, covering the neck will mean no more neck scrubbing and combing the mud clumps out of his mane, only to mount and see that he’s worked the mud in at the scalp level. And of course since I have only high-necked blankets to begin with, that means new blankets as well.

Pig.

The first addition is a Weatherbeeta Original Medium Blanket that I snagged for a pretty good deal. At 220 grams polyfill, I’m hoping it will be useful in the coming months, since my current Medium blanket is really more like a heavy in actual fill. Foster gets to try on his snazzy new digs tonight, and I hope the 78″ will be a good fit.

Since he has also recently been turned out with his halter on, that too needs replacing. What once was a green nylon breakaway halter is now a brown headpiece that looks like it will shatter it’s so caked in mud. So, thank you Dover for having great deals on halters this month.

Leather halter for $25? Yes, please.

Not to be left out of the swag hunt, I also couldn’t help picking up some winter full seats, since I am both lacking in winter jods and apparently also in self control. No matter. Hopefully as a result of my lighter wallet, I’ll be decreasing time at the barn grooming and increasing blood flow to a good chunk of my body. Post-Christmas deals for the win. Goodbye mud! (I hope)

Throwback Thursday: Ivan

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Britt

Thinking it would be fun to do a mini throwback series on the horses of my past. Afterall, they are the ones that made me the rider and the horsewoman I am today, for better or worse. So starting with the most recent, here’s Ivan, the sometimes terrible.

Name: Ivan
Registered Name: Padi’s Classic Mountain
Breed: Irish Draught (RID)
Color: Grey
Height: 16.2h

Ivan was one of many horses that seemingly fell into my mother’s lap. A friend of hers had a 2 year old Irish Draught stallion, and simply didn’t have a place for him anymore. So we acquired him, at a hefty 90% discount off his weanling price. The intention would be to raise him for another year, maybe breed a couple mares, then send him through the Irish Draught stallion approval process and sell him as a Registered stallion.

I, as silly teenagers ~~who have watched one too many romantic horse movies~~ tend to do, was immediately drawn to this stallion’s quirky temperament. We’d play tag in the field, and he let me play dress up with him on occasion.

Baby Ivan wears the monkey hat

He grew up for a year, then Ivan put on his big boy pants and went off to training in order to pass the rigorous Irish Draught Horse Inspections. After passing, he came back home, was bred to a few mares, then went down to Georgia to go on consignment with a trainer.

Ivan at his inspection

It was some months before things went wrong. All that raging testosterone was getting to his head, and after her latest fall, the trainer’s husband forbade she ride him until he was gelded. We agreed, he was gelded, and he came back home. Where I promptly fell back in love with this quirky big grey.

First ride on a freshly gelded Ivan

As they say, the rest was history. For the most part. I retrained him in a more classical dressage way-of-going (as opposed to dressage in an elevator bit), and slowly we started working on showjumping courses.

Ivan’s second showjumping competition

Both dressage and showjumping progressed somewhat slowly, as sometimes Ivan’s personality could be… unpredictable. I never knew if it was Jekyll or Hyde that I’d be riding that day, and I can recall lessons where the trainer just told me to ‘wait it out’ until he saw fit to stop galloping a 20 meter circle. Once he got going, Ivan was a train, and his bucks were unbelievably athletic for a horse his size. A fractured ankle (thanks to Ivan) and a maybe broken hip (thanks to Ivan) put me out of commission and were part of our slowish progress. Yet still, I loved him.

Showing first level for the first time

Because of this unpredictability, I decided Ivan would be shown as a dressage horse only. We showjumped at home, jumping 3’3″ courses and the occasional 3’6″ fence with ease.

Athletic, and a bit on the exuberant side

Luckily, his dressage was fairly good as well, and we started campaigning at the local shows at First level, and the ribbons started ~~finally~~ coming our way. 1923424_541191201449_618_n

@ FENCE

Even though he had his terrible moments, in his 6 year old year Ivan started to calm down, and which the naughty side still existed, it was only appeared once in a blue moon. 95% of the time, he was a sweetheart, and a great dressage partner. He toddled my 10 year old sister around over crossrails, and even walked and trotted about with my husband (as his can-you-deal-with-horses test when we started dating), who had sat on a horse only once before.

Ivan and his best friend Bo

Ivan was my heart horse, and for the most part was an exceptionally cuddly creature. He wouldn’t let me bridle him without a big neck hug and a raspberry into his cheek, insisted on grabbing the hose at bath time, and had a huge love of water. Oh, and he used to get into everything- the things I pulled out of his mouth! Phones! Pens! Jackets! Santa Hats! (Sound familiar?) What wasn’t to love?

Ivan’s molar marks in a phone he destroyed

But alas, all good things must come to an end. I completed college and was forced to send him home until I could figure out a permanent salary to support my horse habit. Eventually, when no permanent job happened, and not wanting to see his talent wasted, I agreed to put him on the market. No less than 2 weeks after he sold, I received a full-time job offer with benefits. The resultant horse shopping led me to Foster, so I can’t complain, but I am still thankful to the skills Ivan taught me, and certainly happy for the memories of those years together.

Luckily, a piece of Ivan still lives with my family. Of the 2 foals by Ivan, we kept the Haflinger cross, a darling cob sized gelding named Riley. Not a mean bone here, but a quirky disposition, an affinity for playing with dogs, and a horse that I hope will see his true potential brought to light!

Riley

Back to Jumping

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Britt

Last night I donned my turtleneck, and Foster his open fronts, and we headed out to the jump arena in an effort to start building up our stamina again over fences. After riding in a dressage saddle for the better part of the season (and this being my comfort zone in general), I will admit I was a bit anxious to head out to the outdoor for the first time in weeks in the (in my mind) spooky dark.

no jumping pics, sorry

Luckily, I need not have worried. Foster trotted around the arena feeling cool as a cucumber. I had set up 3 canter poles, a basic cross rail, and two 2’7″ish fences- one vertical and one oxer.

We spent much of our time over the cross rail, just going back and forth working on straightness and landing on the correct lead. Then I would take him around the arena, over the canter poles, and roll back to either the oxer or the vertical. I wouldn’t say it was super pretty- we had one long spot, one deep spot, and one hell of an over jump, but for his first real jump schooling since mid-November’s cross country school, I’m not complaining.

breaking up walls of text

Moral of the story? There’s no reason for me to be a pansy about jumping in the outdoor in the dark. Cavaletti and canter poles will become our friends, whether they like it or not. And it will take some time to build back up to jumping training level courses, but we’ll get there eventually.

Since it’s going to be frigid tonight and absolutely frozen tomorrow, Foster will get the next couple nights off- I like having all 5 fingers on each hand, thank you very much.

Freaking cold

We should get back in the saddle Friday, and maybe even get in another jumping attempt this weekend. Until then, stay warm, my friends!

Things to Celebrate

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Britt

A few things to celebrate this week! The first is Foster’s new bonnet he’ll be getting thanks to Amanda from the $900 Facebook Pony, who chose our logo as a runner up in her logo contest!

Runner up logo design

Secondly, the USEF reversed the helmet cam ban! Although event organizers can still prohibit the cameras, I’m hopeful that the majority will allow us to record our rides for learning and sharing with others.

And lastly.. Jurassic Park IV. It comes out on. my. birthday. I got velociraptor induced hysterics when I saw the trailer. So scared, and SO excited.

Also on the good news front, Foster was a stellar boy last night. I finally set up some canter poles in an attempt to get us started with cavaletti, and he was golden through them, even though they were a bit further apart than the 9′ I meant to make them, and he had to reach a bit in the canter. Continuing work on the walk-canter transitions as well, which we’re getting about 50% of the time. After watching back the videos (thanks Ali) I need to keep working on my elbows- it’s definitely the thing that goes to hell in a handbasket whenever things get hard. It’s always something though!

blurry, but the canter is definitely improving!

It’s about to get frigid cold here tomorrow, so I am desperately hoping to get a mini jump school in tonight before everything freezes over. We shall see!

Dressage Lesson Recap: Shoulder-In and Walk-Canter

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Britt

Let’s just say, if you’re Foster, the last 6 weeks have been kind of cruddy from his point of view. Being left for 5 days, then lame 1, then returning to riding, only to get a chiropractic session and be back sore for 6 days, followed by another slow return to work, then left again for 4 days. Poor Fosterpants.

So it’s no wonder that he’s a little out of shape as a result of that mess. But I was determined to squeeze a Doug lesson in before he heads to the winter eventing mecca that is Aiken. After a casual jump school showed me just how not-in-jumping-shape he was, I decided to try a dressage lesson at his farm.

Hustle, son.

After telling Foster he was not going to be a lazy sod, we had a pretty bright warmup before moving into lateral work. Specifically, we worked on the quality of the shoulder-in. Immediately we were called out for getting a little shorter in his neck and in his step. Instead of constantly holding with my hands through the movement, I need to focus on keeping him soft (to inhibit neck-shortening) and think about lengthening throughout so we get more of a ‘swimming’ motion up front, and subsequent follow-through with the hind end. Another consequence of holding with my hands is that he will tend to lean into them, instead of carrying himself (self carriage) like the big-boy dressage horse he can be.

Asking for a bigger trot, then increasing the angle

A few more notes about the shoulder-in work:

Start posting to allow for bigger trot (and less bracing), then start alternating, 4 steps posting-4 steps sitting
Put weight over outside hip- think about bringing the whole upper body over the hip, and not letting myself get crooked
Keep the inside leg at the girth, should not wander back
In a test, one shallow post is a good way to re-incorporate the idea of posting for reach/freedom

Shifting weight over the outside hip

After a brief break where we watched some theatrics from the farm’s residents, we moved on to walk-canter transitions. While we’ve been doing these in a jumping arena for some time, dressage quality transitions are still relatively new to Foster, and so a work in progress. This part of the lesson was somewhat simpler in theory, though just as hard (if not harder!) to execute. The main idea- straightness. We used counter-bend to bring his withers in line with the rest of his body (in the case of him falling to one side), then getting the inside bend before asking for the canter transition. It takes a bit of putting the pieces together before we get a clear transition, but with time and repetition, this is one that I hope will improve quickly. Also, it’s pretty fun to school. Bonus points for fun dressage.

Voila, canter.

Overall, the lesson was beneficial in keeping tabs on the quality of the work we are doing. I learned (er, was reminded) of many of the rider habits that I have that I can improve on, and have new visuals and techniques for improving Foster’s balance and suppleness through these more difficult exercises. Now, practice practice practice.