Recognized Show Recap: Cross Country

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After dressage, it was clear that the pressure was not on to win, and my only goal was to get through what looked like a pretty tough course. Keep in mind that this was Foster’s 3rd Novice, and while we’d been schooling Training level stuff, I still felt daunted by the test of putting everything together.

Before I even got to warm up, I asked B to school me over some fences and basically give me a pep talk before going in the start box. B filled in as student coach occasionally on the dressage team, and I trusted her to give me a both words of wisdom and a positive outlook before going on course. I am so glad she was there to see me off (Thanks B!!!)!

There was a bit of a miscommunication/misjudgment of time leading up to my count down, and unfortunately my time had started before I reached the start box. Nonetheless, I hit the start button on my watch and away we went!

XC time!

XC time!

The fences I was most worried about were #7, the brush before water, and #14, another big brushy fence as soon as you popped out of the trees that invited a left hand runout. In particular, I knew he would be tired by 14 since we had literally just run up a small mountain, and he might not have as much ‘game’ left to tackle the question.

Enjoy the helmet cam and the sounds of ABBA (Hi, my name is Britt and I like Oldies)! I would have included the real audio, but all you’re missing are lots and lots of ‘good boys’ and my making a joke about the people scurrying becoming roadkill.

Anyways, it turns out I shouldn’t have been worried. I’m proud of myself for riding every fence, and for Foster tackling every element with confidence. According to my watch and the video, we came in 31 seconds under time, which just thrills me that my occasionally sluggish pony can actually make a Novice time easily, and that we could both walk away with a spring in our step! So, so chuffed with my Fosterpants.

With the warmup time debacle, I officially came in with 7-point-something time faults. But who cares, we survived! Sunday, onto showjumping!

 

Recognized Show Recap: Course Walk + Dressage

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Because this weekend was long and certainly adventure filled, I’ll be breaking up this recap into sections. Trying to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome and all that.

Thanks B for the photos!

Thanks B for the photos!

So we start our journey Friday morning, where J picked us up in her awesome rig to make the 4 hr trip down to Tryon. Minus one instance of yelling at rude drivers honking into our horses’ ears, the drive was rather uneventful. We settled the boys in briefly before hopping on to school some dressage. Foster had a lovely dressage school, and was attentive and extremely supple in the bridle, and I was definitely pleased with his attitude, and truly looking forward to dressage in the morning!

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Then we headed out to walk the cross country course.

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YIKES.

From fence 2, it was immediately clear we weren’t at a schooling show any longer. Fence 2 was a tactical question, where the rider had to choose their approach carefully- a straightish approach that required a ride around another fence, or a more direct angled approach. From fence 3 on, the course was max height and held still further questions. A combination at 5A and B, four strides from a barn to a log but with lots to look at surrounding it. A 3’2″ (ish) brush fence at fence 7, two strides before the water. A half coffin at 12A and B, ditch then two strides to a fence. A hairpin turn to fence 13. A rather scary fence 14 that just beckoned for a run-out left. This course was going to demand an active ride, and had little let up in between questions.

I was pretty much terrified. So while nightmares of getting eliminated at the brush fence simmered in my mind, I did my best to ignore all and focus on dressage in the morning.

Luckily, a great friend and former dressage teammate came and visited me Saturday morning, which did a lot to distract me from visions of lawn darting on course.  We were having so much fun chatting that I ended up running just a tad behind schedule for the dressage, but still had a nice warmup for the test. He wasn’t quite as supple as he has been the night before, and I think if I had given him 5 more minutes of good work I would have gotten the quality that I wanted. But he was relaxed, and listening, and I felt like he would put in a pretty good test!

And old photo of B and I from our IDA days!

And old photo of B and I from our IDA days!

The test itself did end up feeling pretty nice. As I was riding, I knew there were places where I was maybe leaving some points on the table, so I tried to make the test as accurate as possible. I was a bit bummed with the free walk, as it wasn’t nearly as nice as what I have been achieving at home, but otherwise put in a workman-like effort. I tried to remind myself to keep my elbows by my side and practice better equitation, which ended up paying off.

Drop it like it's hot

Attempts at equitation

As you can see below, there are parts that were super successful (8 on a canter circle! The work is starting to pay off!) and also- my first 8 on rider (ah, that’s me?!), and Foster’s first 8 on gaits (yay pony!). Also an 8 on the medium walk transition. For the rest, I feel confident that we can bring up the 6’s will soon become 7’s and the free walk will become an 8. The test as is earned us a 30, which is also a new best score for us as a team. Our first 70% dressage score since debuting at Intro when I first bought him!

Sorry for the video quality/don’t watch if you are epileptic!

Whereas at a normal show (i.e, no prize money), a 30 would land me near the top of the leaderboard, my awesome-for-me score landed us in a 3-way tie for 6th place. Sitting at the top were scores of 16, 18, 19, and 20 – a couple of these ridden by former professional riders who are now (I’m told, I don’t know these people personally) too scared to move up to Training. But, whatever! My pony put in a great show and now we were out to tackle the daunting cross country course!

 

Photography Friday: Becky & Billy

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As promised, I finally have new material! Last weekend, I took engagement photos for my longtime best friend, Becky. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, so it was so special to be able to take these photos of her and her main man! Also, as promised, Bentley made a reappearance, along with his sister, Bella. These two were so cute in their bow tie and flower collars!

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fb_DSC5796For a while, we were worried that the shoot wouldn’t happen at all, with a 60-80% chance of rain all weekend. Luckily, the rain held off all day Saturday and we were able to wander around Charlotte on what ended up as a gorgeous day!

So, so excited for these guys as they plan their nuptials.. and bonus- I get to be part of their wedding party on the big day!

Congrats again to Becky and Billy, and to everyone else, have a great weekend! Wish us luck at the show 🙂

 

The Pep Talk

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Since I’m feeling particularly wilty today thanks to a very ill-timed cold, I find myself trying to get syked for the coming weekend. Catching up with friends! Pony time! Nice weather! All things to look forward to! And yet, still the little mean thoughts about embarrassing myself creep into my mind.

That’s when it’s time for a pep talk.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m obviously a visual person. While mind over matter is certainly a principle I subscribe to, the quickest and easiest way to regain confidence is to show myself I’ve done it before. Evidence that it has been done is proof that it can be done again. So here are some of the highlights of Foster’s career, my video pep talk for myself!

 

We can do this!

How do you mentally prepare for a show?

Lesson Recap: Dressage

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You know that feeling when you just had a really good lesson? To me, a really great lesson is a mixture of mistakes, so you can obtain the advice that makes the lesson worthwhile, and success. Too much success (not an often occurence!) and you wonder why you paid for the lesson. Too many mistakes, and you get disheartened.

To start with, Eliza hopped on and really loosened Foster up at the base of the neck, which is what we have been striving for over the last few weeks. Lots of changes in direction, and upward and downward transitions insisting that he stay soft and balanced. I was glad to hear (and see) that he was already improving from her training ride, which means I am able to replicate the concept on my own with some success.

Looking snazzy for his lesson in all black

Looking snazzy for his lesson in all black

Then I hopped on and we worked on transitions with the soft neck and balanced connection. Lots of very small releases kept him from getting on the forehand or becoming stiff in the trot and canter work.

Afterwards we headed to the covered arena (mirrors!) to run through the Novice B test. For the most part I was able to keep the quality of work the same, though it was a lot harder in the small arena- transitions come up very fast! I even got to watch a video of it all afterwards, which was super helpful in seeing exactly what she was telling us. I’ve got a game plan for every movement, and if I can replicate that ride at the show, I will be very, very, pleased!

Novice B test

Novice B test

As usual, for my own benefit, here are the main points to remember (yeah, there’s a lot):

  • Warmup: Get him loose in the neck (changes in direction), then collect/balance (transitions between/within gaits), then push forward into the show frame
  • Rider issues: Engage my core to keep him balanced (and at the walk- I let my hips swing too much!), and elbows by my side! No need to look like a durn duck. Keep the reins short.
  • Think shoulder-fore down centerline to keep him straight
  • Miniscule releases to keep him balanced (at canter too!)
  • Following hand in the free walk
  • Push more forward in the 20 meter trot circles to show a bit more brilliance
  • Prepare for every. transition. (Including turns!)
  • Sit into the canter to trot transition, even if it feels like crap
  • Stay a hair off the rail in the free walk to medium walk transition, leg yield to wall, using outside rein to keep him together
  • Leg on in the final halt, don’t let him go splat!

Phew! That’s a lot to remember! (Un)Luckily, our lesson with Doug for tonight was cancelled, so I’ll be practicing the above work instead to really cement it in our brains. Then another jump school tomorrow, light dressage Thursday, and off to the show we go!

Whirlwind Weekend

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Faces from home: Betty, the Trakehner X Dutch Harness Horse jumper mare

Faces from home: Betty, the Trakehner X Dutch Harness Horse jumper mare

Phew! After spending the weekend playing photographer to two different friends, herding rabbits, eating kangaroo, riding green ponies, and much more, I’m spent. They do say there’s no peace for the wicked though, especially when there’s a show the next weekend! And so the sprint will continue through the week, with two lessons to cram in last minute tips, finding clothes not seen in years (where the heck is that stock tie?), and in general trying to not freak out. No big deal.

Riley, my parents' Irish Draught (Ivan) X Haflinger gelding

Riley, my parents’ Irish Draught (Ivan) X Haflinger gelding

Luckily to ease my mind, my jump school with Foster last night went really well. I tried out a new bit to deal with his neck-balancing issues, with some success. Normally Foster goes in a full cheek Waterford for jumping, and the bit I tested was a Waterford with a baucher cheek piece. Not a revolutionary change, but I found that it did help in asking him to break at the poll, but it also lowered his poll pretty substantially. It may be a good bit to consider for showjumping in the future, but I don’t think I would use it yet for cross country at the risk of him getting a little more on the forehand than I’d like. For now, this one goes back and we’ll stick with the full-cheek version.

Waterford Baucher

Waterford Baucher

Beyond that, I worked on lengthening and collecting the trot, and Foster was much more responsive to my cues than in my lesson. I set up a course at 3′ – 3’3″ to include a one stride and a big rollback. The first time I did my made-up course, I went into auto-pilot mode and just let him do his thing. Then after a swift mental kick to the butt, I actually rode the darn thing. No careening around corners, actually attempting to get the leads right, and all that jazz. It wasn’t perfect, but in general much better than the last time I practiced. We even worked on angled fences, taking a 3′ vertical from a 45 degree approach in two different directions- Foster went over it all like a champ!

Happy to see this cutie again !

Happy to see this cutie again !

So that’s my brain dump about last night’s ride. Tonight we have a dressage lesson and I hope to do a fix-a-test type ride so I can eek out a decent score this weekend!

Photography Friday: Ponies

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Yet another archive dump… Sorry again!

Anyways, horses have been an obvious subject for me as a photographer, ever since I first picked up a camera.

From the beginnings of studying photography and developing with film…

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to attempting to take my new knowledge out to the races…

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and all over the place photographing friends and trying to capture special moments. Trying, to capture the elegance,

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the power,

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the bonds,

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and the sheer happiness that horses give us.

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Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride, but I sure do love it!

I’m doing 2 different shoots this weekend, so I’ll have some new material soon! Have a great weekend!

Lesson Recap: Showjumping

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Luckily yesterday the rain held off and we were able to take a jumping lesson with Doug. After such a shitty Monday, I must say Tuesday turned out pretty alright. I got to see a couple horsey friends I haven’t seen in a while, and had a really good lesson to boot.

One of my main takeaways was: Stop babying the darn horse. He’s a big boy, and he’s got to be pushed out of his (our) comfort zone a bit to grow, as well as know that there are consequences when he doesn’t do something he knows how to do correctly.

Somehow looking chubby after having his butt worked

Somehow looking chubby after having his butt worked

To elaborate, though…

After warming up in a surprisingly round trot (Foster is harder to get on the bit in the Waterford in general), we worked on collecting and lengthening within the gaits. At the trot, Doug told me I was focusing too much on the smoothness of the transition, and easing into it when really the exercise was about getting him sharp to my aids- when I say move, he should move! Same thing going from lengthened canter to collected- I should get a clear transition, and insist to Foster that this is possible.

At the canter, Doug threw two poles down on the long side, and we focused on putting more or less strides in between them. After I learned how to count (a very Duh! moment on my part), 5 strides felt like a forward canter, and then we worked on putting 6 in with pretty good success. We then attempted to put 4 in- not so successful, but I got the idea. This is definitely something I need to work on regularly, and incorporate into every jump school, since not only does it help with Foster’s rideability, but also gets him in front of my leg before we jump.

The first jumping exercise we did was jumping on a small circle. My job was to keep him straight through the shoulders and hold the outside rein in particular so that he didn’t overbend in the neck and then fall out. We kept the jumps small since it was a technical exercise, and both Foster and I picked it up pretty quickly.

Next we moved on to a mini course, starting with a related distance that rode in 5 strides with a forward canter. Turn right after and collect him in order to make the turn to the small oxer, and keep the collected canter and do the related distance again in 6 strides. Definitely the hardest part about the exercise was landing on the left lead after coming over the oxer and keep him balanced and collected through the turn in order to get the 6 strides in. All of this to cement in the fact that you establish the canter you want well before going through any related distance (or to any jump), so as to not be scrambling in the middle. Definitely a good exercise in preparation and thinking for me, since I tend to lose sight of these things as I run around a jump course!

 

Trying again with the hard bit, and Foster throwing in a flying change like I planned to do it or something (I didn’t). Thanks buddy for making me look good.

 

And then putting everything back together, with another flying change just for fun?

 

We ended on that, and I was really pleased to find Foster more ‘rideable’ than I had thought. We’ve got a ton of homework to work on, and just for my own benefit, here is the list of exercises to incorporate into our next jump school:

  • lengthened and collected trot
  • lengthened and collected canter (strides between poles)
  • angled fences
  • related distances with varying strides
  • rounder outline within the jumping canter

Phew! So so much to do. And then there’s the dressage lesson tonight! Busy, busy, busy!

Terrific Tuesdays…

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…Or at least that’s my attempt at positive thinking, since the only ‘M’ word I can think of to describe yesterday is Massive, as in Massive-pile-of-steaming-poo Monday.

Random photo from a happier day. Ivan and I on right.

Random photo from a happier day. Ivan and I on right.

Luckily, today is another day, and not only that, but we get another lesson from Mr. Payne tonight!

Sorry for the short post.. will have details to share tomorrow!