Patterns in Training

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I ride with two different trainers, one for dressage and the other for jumping. I find both of their methods to be helpful, encouraging, and effective in improving both the way I ride Foster, and Foster’s way of going. However, they have two very different backgrounds, and very different ways of teaching. So imagine my surprise when recently my lessons feel like déjà vu over and over again.

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A couple lesson cycles ago, the emphasis on the flat and within our jumping canter was on the under neck. Specifically, re-teaching Foster how to balance himself within and between the gaits with a more correct, supple topline. At the same time, again in both lessons, we were also asked to create a much more active canter behind. Coincidence? I think not. Since then, I have been working hard to make his canter ‘bounce’ and not get flat like he wants to do. It was a mark of success to me, then, that when a very talented dressage rider at my barn hopped on him last week while I took a breather she specifically called out the quality of his canter in a complimentary way. An 8 on a canter circle at the last show, and an improved feeling in showjumping similarly confirm some improvement.

Yeah, I'd say our showjumping canter has improved...

Yeah, I’d say our showjumping canter has improved…

Now, in the last week or so, yet again I am hearing similar advice in my lessons. In our jumping warm-up, legthening-to-collected transitions help get him listening and in front of my leg, but I am constantly being told that the transition is not sharp enough, and that he shouldn’t take so long to transition within the gait. On the same note, in my dressage lesson Wednesday, I learned that I need to make him more reactive. Coasting along in a pretty frame is not going to cut it anymore, and I should feel like I have both a halt and lengthening accessible at any point in my ride. Right now, I have those tools, but within a matter of  2 to 3 strides.

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Seeing these patterns within my lessons tells me several things. The first being that these issues are not to be ignored, and that solidifying these skills will make his job easier whether it be over fences or in the dressage court. The second is a sense of confidence in the training program I have, that there is consistency between the trainers I employ even though we are not working on the same things.

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It is now my responsibility to school him in the way they advise, and raise my standards so that Foster and I can continue to grow together and improve our abilities. Time to expect more from him, and myself as a rider/trainer. Adult amateur though I may be, it’s my influence that will over time have the greatest impact on him, as it’s my butt in the saddle first and foremost. It’s our moment to up the ante!

Transformation Tuesday

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Foster was a really good boy last night, even if it took me forever to get his motor running. We jumped around a 3′ course with no ugly spots and concentrated on having a good canter over anything else. What a difference a good canter can make!

So in light of this, and a sweet text from a friend, here are Foster’s transformation jumping videos.

From our days of having to trot everything (Feb 2012)

to actually cantering fences 1.5 years later (August 2013)

and starting to have confidence to jump even bigger things, too! (June 2014)

Tonight, we dressage!

2014 Goals: Progress Check

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Where the heck did this year go? Honestly, times has flown by, and now that we are officially 3/4 through 2014, it’s time to check in and see how we’re doing.

Original goals as outlined in this post:

Move up to Novice! Check!

Move up to Novice! Check!

For Fosterpants:

  • Move up to Novice
  • Final score under 35 at Novice
  • Nail canter transitions (we kind of interrupted this one by changing his complete way of going, so still a work in progress)
  • Trot lengthenings
  • Master trakehner fences
  • Coffin combinations
  • Conditioning work (no conditioning-specific routine yet, but preparing for show by getting fit is still happening)
Wood floors for the win

Wood floors for the win

 

For the House:

  • Landscape front and backyard
  • Kitchen transformation
  • Replace grody couch

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For Me:

  • Calcium supplements
  • Not be Red Bull Zombie  (we’ll pretend. Still have to caffeinate at horse shows)
  • Be more positive (Eh, it’s been a rough year in some ways.. still working on it!)

That’s a lot checked off our list, but still work to be done through the fall and winter. Adding to the list and getting a little more specific, here’s what I would like to get accomplished in the next few months.

Foster, Foster, Foster:

  • Lengthenings, and lengthening-to-collected transitions
  • Keep hacking away at canter transitions
  • School corners – showjumping style
  • Angled fences/combinations
  • School chevron if at all possible
  • Introduce conditioning program
  • Clip all the fur!
Canter canter canter

Canter canter canter

House:

  • Watch the grass grow 🙂

Design:

  • Wrap up current Farm Logo project for client
  • Edit Bridal Shoot photos
  • Create specific blog for Design work

It’s going to be a busy, busy winter!

Another day, another Showjumping lesson recap

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Had another excellent showjumping lesson last night. And not only because of the knowledge gained, but also because of the chance to see friends I don’t normally see! Always a great perk 🙂

As in lessons before, we worked on getting Foster sharp to my aids. Go means go now, not ‘get up to speed when you’re ready’. Similarly, collect means come back to me now, and not when it’s convenient for you. It takes me a few attempts to get Foster listening, but when I finally do it makes a huge difference!

Foster thinks GO should be a subtlety

Foster thinks GO should be a subtlety

Once we had warmed up, we started with some rollback exercises. Balancing through the turns became key, and I got schooled in when to look at the fence versus when to turn to the fence. My timing is not great on this, and we had some super squiggly approaches to start! Similarly, after the fences I am in the habit of getting far too blasé about where we go, and planning (and riding) the back side of the fence is just as important. This became the theme of the lesson in many ways- don’t stop riding just because you jumped the jump!

rollback

One rollback, and landing on the wrong lead like a boss

I expressed the need to jump fences that were a little higher (3′ versus 2’9″) because I have felt a niggling anxiety creep in every time I jump something ‘bigger’ these days, afraid that I will get him deep and underpowered to the base of the fence (PS this is a SUPER annoying new development, since we have been jumping 3′ forever, and even up to 3’6″ for a long time). So eventually we worked up to a 3′ mini course that incorporated both rollbacks and long approaches. I was immediately called out on speeding up to the square oxer, as my anxiety took over and I attempted to throw ourselves into the abyss.

It gets said over and over again, because it’s true: creating a quality canter is the key to successful jumping.

So much to practice!

Lazy is as lazy does

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Which is to say, not much. After the show, Foster got a whopping 5 days off as a mini vacation for both of us. We returned to work this past Friday, and man oh man, is the pony ever lazy. 4 rides later, and he is still not going anywhere fast.

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Two possible theories on why he developed a case of the slows:

1) The weather has been changing from the 80s to the 60s and pony doesn’t like it
2) Pony decided to start a winter coat during his vacation and is hot (but why isn’t he sweating more?)

In any case, I’m hoping Foster gets back to his less-than-lazy self, and give me and my poor calves a break. I do not enjoy pony-club-kicking, and I’m too old for that.

To help things along, I’ll be giving him a Bib clip sometime in the next week. Our next show is two weeks away, and if the past is any indicator, then that weekend it will decide to be 10 degrees warmer than usual, and I want to be prepared. Then depending on what the weather looks like in November, pony will probably get a body clip and I’ll decide whether or not to shave his legs off at that time.

Foster's first clip

Foster’s first clip

Bring on the clippers!

Moving Up

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When I was younger, the decision to move up was solely based on whether or not I could get around a course at that level. Our dressage was crap wasn’t pretty, our skills not confirmed, but I could get around a Training level cross country course without any faults, and that was the measure of success we held to.

Merry at the Ark Horse Trials

Merry at the Ark Horse Trials

Upon my return to the realm of competition as an adult amateur, I decided I was fed up with the days of just ‘getting around’, and redefined success as a competitor. To me, success is putting in a dressage test I can be proud of, jumping around a show-jumping course in a non-scary and tactful way, and giving my horse a confident ride over cross country. That is not to say that mistakes cannot be made, but that at the end of the day I am not embarrassed of the way I rode my horse and that he is better for the experience.

Cross country is supposed to be fun! Photo by High Times Photography

Cross country is supposed to be fun!
Photo by High Times Photography

Since I bought Foster as a just-turned 4 year old, I have had the reins for his entire career. No one else makes decisions about what he does or when he moves up, though certainly I try to be open minded to advice when knowledgable advice is given. Our first event was at the maiden level (video below), and we trotted almost the entire course, and racked up time faults galore, but I could have cared less. We campaigned at the Beginner Novice level for over a year and a half, as we struggled to find confidence and rhythm on a cross country course. When he cantered around a Beginner Novice track with ears pricked the whole way, and came in over 30 seconds under time, I knew we were ready to move up.

And now as I consider moving him up again, I pause. Foster has now completed 3 Novice level events, and proved he can rock around a harder Novice course and still come in with confidence and spunk. He has schooled Training height fences, and training combinations. His dressage is rocking along, and with some tweaks to my warmup, I hope to break into the 20s soon.

Training Jump, yay!

But.

I know that part of me wants to move up to Training so badly, because I’ve always sort of put it on a pedestal. I hated that I didn’t get to compete more at Training with Merry, and in my mind it is the first real test of a non-green horse. Training level demands bravery, fitness, and finesse in a way that Novice only occasionally hints at. And I am more than eager to prove my horse can answer those demands.

There are still elements of Training that he hasn’t mastered. He hasn’t seen corners, or chevrons. He hasn’t got confirmed lengthenings (granted, two separate trainers have commented that he may never have great lengthenings). So do I trust that when asked, Foster will answer the new fence-type questions?

I’ve been hoping and planning to move up to Training in the spring, but I feel at war with myself, trying to judge if he is ready versus trying to judge whether it’s my ambition just saying he’s ready. But if all goes well, we will conquer lengthenings this winter, and I will find a facility to expose him to more training cross country questions. The latter is tough, because I can’t think of any schooling facilities have corners and chevrons available to practice over. We’ll just have to do our best to prepare, and I will have to trust Foster to continue to be confident in his abilities and my riding. And if it doesn’t go well, we’ll come back to Novice without regret. Because at the end of the day, success is still about him, and not me.

How do you measure success? When do you decide to move up?

Just for Kicks: What’s in a color?

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We spent the weekend with the husband’s family, participating in a 5k for the Race for the Cure and attending our first doggy birthday party. I think my canine nephew has more friends than I do, and I’m certain he has better birthday parties.

Drake at the doggy birthday party

Drake at the doggy birthday party

Anyways, onto today’s musings. Just for fun, recently I’ve been playing with the idea of changing my eventing colors. *gasp!*

But why, you might ask? (I amuse myself by thinking people care)

Currently, my color is green. Green was an easy choice of colors when I started eventing, since I was on an Irish horse and we just weren’t the type to rock out pink or purple or some other ‘girly’ color (no offense if your colors are pink/purple/stardust/whatever, just wasn’t my style!). So I bought a nice green Tipperary chest protector, and that was that.

At the Fork on Merry, circa 2004. These old photos make me cringe!

At the Fork on Merry, circa 2004.
These old photos make me cringe!

Over the years, of course, I have started collecting all things green to go along with our color scheme. Green bell boots, green grooming bags, green saddle pads.. you get the gist.

Foster in our green gear, and the same old horrible white Eskadrons before they died

Foster in our green gear, and the same old horrible white Eskadrons before they died

But now that I have a decidedly non-Irish horse, I want to switch it up a bit. I want to add navy. Navy and green, with white accents. The showjumping coat I recently purchased is navy, and I think it looks so pretty against green and white! Of course the designer in me wonders if having a tri-color scheme on a tri-color horse is a bit of a visual overload, before the eventer bit says ‘who gives a crap, I do what I want’. So I invested in a navy sun shirt and a super cute navy/green/white bonnet, and I can’t wait to rock out our new style at the next show!

Navy swag

Navy swag

Eventers out there- how did you come up with your colors? Has it been hard to find gear in your particular scheme? Non-eventers, what would your colors be?

Recognized Show Recap: Showjumping

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After spending Saturday night basking in the glow of our successful cross country trip, and partaking in Blue Moon and pub food (the best kind), our entire party attempted to get a good night’s sleep and prepare for the last and final phase of the event. The showjumping course consisted of a whole bunch of bending lines and a few rollbacks thrown in for good measure, and seemed like it would ride quite nicely.

FENCE showjump 2

When I got to warm up, it appeared to be a circus. Immediately while hugging the rail we encountered issues as another rider blazed up Foster’s bum and sent him (and myself) into a minor tizzy. I tried to regroup, and jump a couple fences, noticing that we didn’t have quite the energy I would have preferred to be jumping with. Since we were several rides out, I decided to let Foster walk around and conserve energy, and when the rider before us went in, we would do a quick hand gallop to get the forward momentum, jump a fence, and go in.

Just as started to put this plan into effect, disaster struck (mildly exaggerating here). I began my canter around the outside of the arena, and noticed a rider playing chicken with me on the rail. In my dealings with this rider (yelling ‘Outside! Outside!’ and attempting to pass on the right as ring etiquette demands), I failed to observe the dog sitting most sneakily just outside the arena. Foster, on the other hand, found the canine highly offensive and promptly threw on the brakes, spinning and throwing his head backwards with impressive velocity, straight into mine. Completely and literally sideswiped by the events, I sat there in the saddle, head in hands, trying to get a grip on the immediate headache that was pounding away under my helmet.

FENCE showjump 6

At this moment, J rushed over and offered me water and helped me get a grip on myself. She also, as politely as possible, mentioned that I needed to head over to the arena, and that if I didn’t, I could be eliminated. Great.

With that, I promptly decided I was not going to fall off, I was going to go forward, and in order to do that, I was going to proverbially light a fire under my horse’s ass. I went into the arena and determined to keep my leg on through the entire performance, come hell or high water, and that was that.

Of course we started out by bringing down the first rail. I needed to have him sit up as well as go forward, so that was my fault. Coming around to fence 2, which looked oddly huge, I did my best to lift his balance and get him really in front of my leg, which was successful, but lacked some of the preparation needed for the rollback to fence 3.  I’m pleased with the way 4 and 5 went, and especially happy with the way the oxer-to-vertical 2 stride rode, since our habit can be to not have enough power into the first element and then have to scramble to get over the second. Turn right to fence 7, another bending line to fence 8, which he left long and got a little flat, bringing down our second rail on course. Rollback to 9, bending line to 10, and done.

Overall, I can’t complain. Half of my division had rails, so I was not alone in my mistakes. For my part though, it’s not the prettiest riding, as I sacrificed a bit of finesse in favor of the forward going ride, but I like the pace set in the video. I know with a bit more preparation I can focus on my equitation, so that will come. And again with fitness, I was still able to come under time in the showjumping phase, even though Foster had run up a mountain the day before. Many, many things to be happy about, and lessons learned for future shows!

Purple tail for the win!

Purple tail for the win!

Final Thoughts
As our first recognized show, I thought this weekend was quite successful. A 30 in dressage, double clear cross country, and 2 rails in showjumping leaves us in a great place to improve for our next outing. We both learned a lot, and I laughed a lot, along the way. Here are some of the tips, tricks, and mistakes I learned not to make from the experience:

  • Not even power cords are safe from Foster’s mouth. His stall must essentially be puppy-proofed for every outing.
  • Too much blue lotion = purple tail. Snazzy, but not part of our color scheme.
  • Give more time than less time for warmups, I’ll thank me later.
  • Helmet cams are awesome, but they have audio- try to say less stupid things next time 🙂
  • Don’t be late for the start box!
  • Keep riding every fence!
  • Balance up, and hind legs under!
  • Bleach pens are white jods’ best friend

And the biggest lesson learned….

KEEP KICKING ON!