Carolina International Clinic Recap: Course Walk

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Britt

Obviously the course walk doesn’t leave me with cool action shots or video, but I’m telling you, that doesn’t make it any less interesting. The discussion we had really made me recognize how much detail goes into planning stadium courses, and left both J and I with a newfound appreciation for showjumping in general.

Group selfie after the knowledge drop

Speaking of J, I really must give credit where credit is due and thank her for getting up at the butt crack of dawn to come with me to the clinic! Not only do all these photos/videos exist because of her, but she is probably the main reason why I didn’t pee in my jods before our showjumping time. Big big thanks from me!

J teaches Foster about selfies

Anyways, back to the clinic. We started at the course map itself, and Marc Donovan (course designer) talked us through all the details that go into this small piece of paper. According to Marc, most designers now make the course sheet to scale for the arena, and he takes care to measure every arena he works with. Decorative signs or bushes placed about the arena are also included, as well as a dotted line path that shows exactly how the course was wheeled off.

The Training course

We learned about the parameters designers typically give themselves, such as changes in direction (a good course has 3) and ideally having an equal number of jumps off of each lead. Marc discussed his particular tendencies in his designs, which are often twisty-turny and on the ‘long’ side, requiring a definite forward ride. As you can see above, the day’s course was no exception.

L to R: Lizzie, Marc, and Bobby at fence 6

We then proceeded to walk the course, with Lizzie Snow and Bobby Costello coming along to ask questions or add their thoughts about how to jump a particular fence. Without going into every detail discussed, here’s the bulleted version (also thanks to J! These notes are a testament to her clever multitasking skills during the walk):

‘Hold’ your shoulders to verticals
Anything more than 7 strides is no longer ‘related’ and you shouldn’t worry about counting strides
You can go backwards through the start flags, and through the finish flags whenever, without penalization
It generally takes a horse 2-3 strides to turn, so when you walk a bending line, walk 2 strides straight and then begin turning in the third stride
Mental Technique: Split the course into sections so that you can focus on a smaller section and reevaluate as you go along
Ride each fence individually, even in the combinations. Focus on the first fence first.
Continue riding through all the turns, focus on turn and then the combination
The more you square off a turn, the slower and more ‘snug’ you will get to the fence

Bobby Costello shows us how to use both hands and outside aids to make a turn to 9

Oxer/vertical combination typically rides longer than a vertical/oxer combination
In an oxer, the first rail is the responsibility of the rider, the back rail is the responsibility of the horse
Ride the front rail of the oxer, not the back rail (your eye gets too long)
When adjusting distances between fences for time/positioning, canter should stay the same throughout but the track you take should change (so swing out wider in a bending line to go slower instead of slowing down the canter)
Take shorter lines for more impulsion and momentum (make tighter turns is where this really applies)
In combinations, land and in the following stride, make the adjustment, not 3 or 4 strides after landing

As you can see, we were imparted with an absolute wealth of knowledge. I’m not overstating when I say that this will completely change how I walk courses in the future. I also realized (even though I may have suspected before) that in showjumping, it’s not just about the fences, and every step must be considered just as in dressage. You can be sure I will be studying these notes and trying to replicate these thoughts in our future stadium rounds.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I will be putting together a jumping video for next week! Stay warm!

Carolina International Clinic Recap: Dressage

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Britt

Wow. Let me just say that again- WOW. I feel so much wiser having attended the clinic at the Carolina Horse Park yesterday, and can’t wait to write it all down!

Even though the clinic format was 1) course walk, 2) dressage, 3) jumping, I feel it’s worthwhile discussing dressage first. We warmed up on our own, and while it was cold and a bit windy it remained sunny and the footing quite nice. Foster felt in fairly good form, though a bit short in his neck, so I decided to post the trot to keep his back soft. We did a few transitions, and a couple lengthenings in both trot and canter before heading into the arena.

I thought we put down a fairly good test, minus a couple bobbles. During our canter lengthening, the horse in the adjacent ring spooked, causing Foster to spook in turn. Luckily I was able to get him back to save the next movement, the downward transition at X, but that still unsteadied me slightly. His upward canter departs need revisiting a bit, he almost broke in the medium walk, and he has picked up the fun new habit of rooting in our free walk (advice here anyone?) which brought our normal 7-8 down to a 5.

After the test, Will Faudree, our ring judge, walked us through his thoughts. He was quick to ding us on the bobbles, and noted that he really expected these lower level tests to appear seemless, rather than as punctuated movements. There was also lots of advice on how to be a better test rider- for instance, by preparing and executing the transitions on the long sides of the arena (the walk at H and last trot at K) a little early, since to the judge’s eye they appear late if done exactly at the letter. Also he pointed out that by starting my centerline well outside of the actual arena, it gave him longer to watch any waviness of Foster’s hind end, and suggested starting the centerline closer to the arena so as not to give a bad impression too early. Will then went through each movement of the test and his thoughts as to why he scored the movement as he did, which was of course vastly helpful in understanding the score sheet.

Collective Marks: Gaits – 7.5, Impulsion – 7.5, Submission – 6.5, Rider – 7

This test would have earned me a 66.4%, or 33.6 in an actual event. I definitely walked away knowing that we have homework to do to bring those 5’s up, and I’ll be damned if we’re going to start getting anything less than 7’s on our free walk. However, this is an encouraging start, plus we accomplished our first goal for 2015!

~~Get a 7 on a lengthening~~

They still need help, but apparently 7’s are within our reach!

Warm-up lengthening

All in all we walked away with our head held high, and I can’t wait to put all the wonderful feedback to good use!

Tomorrow- the course walk!

Happy Birthday Drake!

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Britt

It’s hard to believe that my floppy puppy turns 5 today! Ever the veritable goofball, I’ve been so glad to have this ~~little~~ mama’s boy by my side to guard ~~the castle~~ the house on the hill.

Those ears though!

Drake and his first duck

Drake’s first photo shoot

Drake’s first barn visit

9 mo. old 2010

2011 First Portrait Lens model

2011

Family Portrait

Instagram #elliotanddrake for more of this

2013

2014

So now Drake has lots of space to run around!

Fall 2014

Looking back at these photos, it’s amazing how much he has grown up. Happy birthday to my favorite model canine!

Case of the Closing Date Blues

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Britt

Not for the first time in my life, I have been taken advantage of by someone in the horse industry. It’s been on my mind on and off (but more on) for the last several months since this incident, so it’s probably worth writing about, at least now that it appears to be finally on its way to being resolved.

Last August I signed up for the Virginia Horse Trials, a schooling event that takes place at the Virginia Horse Center. I had only heard good things about the facilities, and looked forward to trying out a new and promising venue. Then, a week before the competition, I got sick. Sick enough that I couldn’t work even at my desk job, making the 4 hour drive and subsequent cross country riding look like a really daunting prospect. I noticed that VHT had already cashed my checks, so I gave them a ring and confirmed that if I scratched on the closing date that I would get a full refund. They assured me I would, and so the next day, still no better, I both sent an email and left a voicemail with my decision to scratch. The ride times were posted the next day, without my name on the list- good, they’d gotten my messages.

J rocking the Novice course at VHT last year / PC: Brant Gamma Photos

J rocking around the Novice course at VHT last year / PC: Brant Gamma Photos

Fast forward another few weeks. I started checking the mail with an eye for a letter from Virginia, but none came. I emailed VHT once again, asking about my refund (almost $200, by the way), and no response. Called and left a voicemail, and no response. Repeating this process every 1-2 weeks became an exercise in my patience. I became incensed- if a venue promises a refund on their website by a certain date, they should honor it. Or, don’t promise refunds, in which case I would have loaded up on Red Bull and dragged my sorry behind to the event. My resentment eventually led me to social media.

Virginia Horse Trial’s website

I tried the venue’s facebook page, and again, nothing. Then I cast further, to the broader Virginia eventing association, and found out that I was not alone in my refund pleas.

Virginia Horse Trail’s facebook page

None of my leads followed through. I continued calling every month or so, noting that VHT’s voicemail message had changed- how could they not have received my messages? Friends signing up for their current shows similiarly assured me that their emails were responded to in a timely manner, convincing me that I was purposely being ignored. Around December, I started to give up hope that I would ever get my money back, and vowed to never give this venue money again. I started debating if it was worth having the lawyer husband write them a strongly worded missive as a last ditch effort, and to soothe both of our frustrations on the subject.

J and the VHT Trakehner again (this fence makes me pee my pants) / PC: Brant Gamma Photos

The finally, last month, I had one more brain wave. I emailed Eventing Nation, that hub of all things eventing, thinking that if they didn’t know someone directly maybe they would write a post about it. You know, go all whistle-blower with the business. To my surprise, they forwarded my email to the new owners of VHT, and I got a response the next day.

EN to the rescue

While it seems I won’t be getting my precious dollars back, the new owner has offered me a compromise- a free entry to the Recognized horse trials this May, a $200 value. This gesture, though it requires me to spend money on gas and a renewed USEA membership, goes a long way in feeling like the right thing. Before they can back out of it, I’ve accepted. We’ll see if they follow through or not, but I’m hopeful that the event will be a happy ending to this extremely trying tale! While I didn’t plan on any recognized shows this year- maybe this (and my new USEA membership) will open up other recognized opportunities later this season!

Fingers crossed!

Lengthenings and Counter Canter

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Britt

Well, we did end up schooling over fences this weekend, but several factors, including an odd spike of anxiety on my part, derailed the session and I’m doing my best to forget it and just remember the awesome-sauce practice we had a few days earlier instead.

Otherwise we had a dressage lesson yesterday, and I asked Eliza to get on for the first half and feel out the lengthenings and counter canter. Overall it was nice to hear that he felt better in the connection, a little straighter, and overall a bit stronger behind. Thumbs up from me for justifying spending all that dough on hock injections.

It was super helpful to see what a professional could eek out of Foster’s lengthenings, which I’ve described before as lackluster. Horses of the past loved lengthenings and were more than willing to make the transition with enough gusto to spring me from the saddle. Foster, not so much. So seeing what she could do gave me a visual that I could reference when I’m working on it on my own. He’s still green in them and wants to tuck a bit, or break to canter, but there is some lift starting to happen through his shoulder and definite push from behind. After getting on, I was able to replicate some of the good steps, and I know it’ll get better over time.

Excuse my video skills, I was trying to listen while watching/videoing:

Things I took away from the lesson include another technique for not sticking my elbows out like a chicken, and that I really need to practice holding my dressage whip in my left hand. Foster does not appreciate it bumping all over his body.

The plan is to give us both today off, and tomorrow review a few dressage movements in a light ride so as to conserve energy for the clinic!

Media Mania

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Britt

Wednesday night I had the most amazing jump school with Mr. Fosterpants. J came out to be that voice in my head again and was able to take a bit of video. We focused on putting together some related distances, including a 3 stride line and a 4 stride bending line before putting it all together in a Training sized mini course. I shortened my stirrups another hole and really started feeling my mojo come back the more successful spots we had.

Bending 4 stride line 3’3″

Honestly, this schooling was exactly what I needed before going into the clinic next week. While not 100% perfect, if I ride like that I don’t think I’ll feel like a total fool in front of the likes of Will Faudree and friends. This was even an improvement over the jumping we did last weekend, which I also happen to have a ton of videos of!

Last weekend, using 9′ ground poles

Gymnastic 1 stride-bounce-1 stride

Jumping a skinny

Single Oxer in which I pump then he dies

I have even more videos, but at the risk of either boring everyone to death or taking up all the bandwidth, I’ll keep them over here. As a visual person, all of these though have been excellent tools in seeing what is going on and developing the feel for the right canter and position.

This weekend we’re going to do one more jump school, which ideally will cement all this positive juju in place, followed by a dressage lesson Sunday where I am hoping we will pick apart these lackluster lengthenings. Hoping you all have a great weekend filled with happy rides!

From the [Horse] Husband’s Mouth

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Britt

My oh-so-wonderful husband has agreed to experiment with a possible monthly blog post for House on a Hill! To get the series started here are 10 questions answered from a horse-husband’s point of view!

What was your first experience with horses?
I was on a trip in Costa Rica when I was 14, and we decided to do some trail riding one day. I had never been on a horse, but I expected them to be quite big. These Costa Rican horses seemed tiny compared to what I had imagined: shorter, thinner, and not very energetic. Afterward, I mostly just felt bad for the horses.

Do you have any interest in riding horses yourself? Why or why not?
I do not. I think that having one member of our marriage with a very expensive hobby is enough, but I will always be supportive of her at shows and while filming lessons. I have learned enough about horses up to this point to be of help whenever Britt has to travel for competitions so I guess I can vicariously take part in her riding. However, one rider in this family will do.

The early days- dressage shows with Ivan

Let’s pretend like you ride competitively on your own horse. What would his/her show name be?
I have racked my brain trying to come up with something either witty and funny or obscure and legally related (Britt: Tyler’s a lawyer by trade!), but I have reached the point of over-thinking the question. Therefore, I must resort to my ‘go-to’ name that I know I will eventually assign to something: Bob.

It should be noted that Jackson almost became a Bob, too.

If you could change one thing about Foster, what would it be?
If there was a way to eliminate his occasional need to avoid capture in the pasture, that would definitely be one thing I would change. Not that I have ever personally had to chase him, but I can tell how frustrating it is whenever Britt tells the story later in the evening.

In the House on the Hill you deal with horses, dogs, and cats. What do you relate to best?
The cats – I am one of the few guys that is a cat person. They’re chill, like to lounge, and you do not want to get on their bad side. It is also funny when the two cats “fight” – they’re declawed so they mostly just smack each other on the head and yell at each other which is always entertaining.

Family Christmas Photo

In 3 words, how would you describe horse people?
Competitive, Focused, Crazy – horses are tall and I do not like heights so y’all are crazy to get up there.

Husband and the dog

Are there any benefits of being married to a horsewoman? Cons?
Benefits: makes for very interesting conversations with friends and co-workers who have no interaction with horses; it is therapeutic for her, and I like to see how much satisfaction she gets out of riding; all the ribbons she wins helps out at Christmas time when we are severely lacking ornaments for the tree; her green jumping vest makes her look like a ninja turtle – one of my favorites growing up; go-pro videos are cool to watch when she gets home.

Cons: some days we do not see each other as much as we would like – long practices in the evenings or overnight weekend shows/events; horse smell (although I have really gotten used to it so not really a con any more); cross country always makes me nervous.

PC: Robyn Van Dyke Photography

Describe your role at a typical horse show/event.
I wear several hats at a typical horse event: help load the horse on the trailer with a treat in hand as encouragement whenever he is being difficult to load; shoveling horse crap after arriving; holding him whenever Britt is unloading all her gear; filming when possible and trying to zoom in and out correctly – harder than it sounds; trying to provide verbal encouragement to Britt before each phase of the event

Riding in competition often requires outfits that are, let’s say, a little outside common fashion trends. What piece of equipment (horse or human) caught you most off guard?
Human: the pants. I had no idea you needed a special type of pants to ride.
Horse: the weird ear covering hat – there is no way the horse likes that thing.

PC: Robyn Van Dyke Photography

If you were to describe eventing to a non-horseperson, like a co-worker, how would you describe it?
I explain it to my co-workers all the time as a triathlon on a horse: dressage (choreographed riding like you see in the Olympics), show-jumping over poles mostly, and cross-country jumping (multiple mile course with jumps over trees and other immovable barriers throughout)

I hope you guys enjoyed hearing from the husband’s point of view! Look out for another post next month!

In a Life without Horses

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Britt

As I contemplate the crisp and windy weather, and the joys of staying inside (which I’m not), I start thinking about the projects I’d like to undertake were I to avoid the winter like any normal human being. Of course what I should (and might) do is paint the damn hallway, but what I would love to do is get back to one (almost) non-horsey passion- art.

I was the quintessential artsy kid growing up, trading animal-shaped erasers for drawings in kindergarten, then becoming the sketchbook toting nerd in high school. Of course, horses made up the majority of my doodles.

Pen and Ink Drawing from High School

Then in college, after making the switch from Animal Science to Art & Design, I took a mandatory Painting studio as part of my degree, and found that I really loved the process. I could get completely in the zone for hours, and it was so peaceful and satisfying.

Part of a triptych

Mixed Media Painting

But sadly, the only thing I’ve painted since school is this rooster painting, which was meant to hang in my kitchen but now resides in one of the piles of artwork that dons every closet. Or to rephrase, the only things I’ve painted since school are one rooster painting and a shit ton of walls.

Rooster painting that I would love to truly finish one day!

That is not to say that I don’t satisfy the creative calling in other ways- photography is certainly an outlet for that (see Britt Gillis Design tab), as well as the occasional t-shirt design (or logo contest 😉 ) that comes around. But there is something about a fresh canvas, or a blank sheet of paper, that tangibly physical evidence of the artist’s hand, that those outlets simply lack.

Alice in Wonderland t-shirt design

My best friend N knows how much I miss doodling/painting/being an artiste, and got me this wonderful Disney book full of original animation sketches. I love to look through it, and have been wanting to try Disneyfying Foster for a long time. But other than this random proposed project, the tools that dominate my schedule remain my saddle and reins, and not my paint brush. Maybe when I’ve had so many falls that I’m too broken to ride, I’ll pick up my palette and give it a go again.

The Voice in my Head

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Britt

Saturday’s ‘lesson’ with A and J was a success in that they really helped me find the ‘feel’ for the canter I’ll need at Training level. We dabbled in several different exercises, which I will do a better recap of in the next couple days.

For now, I am trying to allow their voices to fill my head- specifically the following phrases:

More canter, more engagement!

Thumbs on top! (this having to do with a following elbow/hand)

Use your outside rein, dammit! (shoulder popping is for the dance club)

Lower calf on!! (Keep the whole leg on, not just my ankle/spur kicking)

Upper body back! (pumping is *not* attractive)

dammit can I not ride with my mouth closed?

(and most importantly…) You can do it!

A + J (behind the camera) are my ~~new schizophrenic influences~~, er, best friends!

On the Calendar- a Training Debut

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Britt

Last night Nicole asked if there was a training debut in our future, and I have to admit, I’ve been keeping a couple little events to myself. As it turns out, I do have something planned!

The first is a clinic on February 11th. While not a traditional clinic in the sense that you essentially take full lessons with the clinicians, I think this set up will be just as beneficial. First we’ll do a course walk with Marc Donovan (course designer), Lizzie Snow (25 under 25), and Bobby Costello (former Olympian and Olympic selector). Then Will Faudree (2012 Olympic short list) and Robert Stevenson (Olympic selector) will do a judged ride-a-test (dressage) with us. Followed by a showjumping warmup with Robert Costello and then a ‘judged’ jumping round with Marc and Lizzie. Read Eventing Nation’s article on this clinic series here.

Will Faudree @ Aachen/Photo via The Sport Horse

Informal riding attire in encouraged, and so I am hoping to go into this somewhat casually at the Training level in order to fill in any blanks in an actual show atmosphere (clinic is at the Horse Park) before a real competition. I’m lucky to have two great friends willing to come help me get prepared this weekend, and I’m super grateful. *If* things go as planned, I might have photo/video to share next week of this mini-lesson with friends!

Assuming we don’t walk away from the clinic with our tails between our legs (let’s face it- it’s me, so it’s possible), then our first real Training competition will be a Combined Training show in March!