Winter Weather Blues

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It’s finally starting to look like winter, now that most of the leaves are gone and they sky has attained that always gray cast to it that won’t go away until spring. Foster got the last two days off since we worked pretty hard 3 days straight, with two dressage schoolings that definitely burned off some turkey and then a fun jumping day that went a little longer than intended.

A friend took a couple photos of us, and here are a few that stand out…

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Foster was pretty tired in these photos, but it allowed me to see my position quite well, with its strengths and weaknesses. I would like to see my leg a little more forward, and in the first photo, my heel a bit more down. But I’m happy to see that I’m not roaching my back terribly like I used to and my release has gotten a lot more consistent. Hooray for that!

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This one I’m sharing for two reasons. One, it makes me laugh- because, holy cow did he ever decide to take the long spot (and leave me behind, yes, I’m sorry but it happens occasionally!) but two, he shows what an incredible athlete he has become. Something about this picture just cements the fact that baby Foster really isn’t much of a baby anymore, he’s 6 and he’s got the potential to go a long way. Now it’s up to me to help him reach that potential and, erm, not get left behind!

The weather has yet again turned freakish here in North Carolina, and thanks to the brief heat wave we’ll probably have just a couple long and low sessions this week, and maybe do some cavaletti work to get that hind end strengthened.

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5 day forecast

That’s right, folks, we had highs in the 30’s a week ago, now we are in the 70’s with a 30 degree difference over the weekend. Awesome sauce. But that’s North Carolina for ya!

Do you guys have any great plans this week?

Keeping all our fingers and toes: A successful lesson recap

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The cooking of Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch, the turkey was perfect, the timing worked out, and no one died of food poisoning. Of course, in a small house with 9 people in it, something is bound to happen, but luckily this presented itself just after dinner, when one of the tables collapsed, sending red wine, candles, and leftovers to the floor. But no one died, so it’s OK.

Thanksgiving: Centerpieces, Good food, and English Christmas Cracker Crowns

Thanksgiving: Centerpieces, Good food, and English Christmas Cracker Crowns

Anyways, regarding that lesson… If you really want to watch part of it (and I won’t take offense if you don’t), here’s the video- otherwise pics and talking below!

Though the temps were definitely in the lower 30’s, we did indeed drag ourselves out to the trainer’s farm for a lesson this Sunday. Foster has been making progress with his canter transitions in the draw reins, and I was eager to report this to our instructor and take advantage of her beautiful mirror set up an focus on weaknesses in our trot- namely, lateral work and lengthenings.

Trotting

We warmed up at the walk and trot (and a bit of canter, in which there was minimal bracing -good boy!-) and then started with an exercise to get him thinking about crossing over behind. We were asked to do a head-to-the-wall leg yield, similar to a haunches in but with more angle. At the walk it’s okay to ask for more cross over than at the trot, and it helps stretch the muscles and get him mentally prepared for the real thing. Foster handled this exercise quite well, other than hopping up the bank that surrounded the dressage arena once (XC schooling and a dressage lesson- cool!).

Accidentally schooling banks...

Accidentally schooling banks…

Then we moved on to proper leg yields at the trot. Come down the quarterline, leg yield to B or E. Moving off of my left leg, the instructor describes him as a magnet to the wall, he tends to fall over too quickly. The solution to this, for now, is to break the leg yield into two parts, moving off the leg a few strides, then a stride going straight, then over again. This definitely helped Foster to balance and perform the movement more correctly. Moving off my right leg is more difficult, and I just need to be patient with him and if need be bring him back to a walk to explain more slowly what I am asking. We did get a couple leg yields done in this direction, it’s simply more difficult for him.

Leg Yield Left

Leg Yield Left

After a quick break to discuss we then moved on to shoulder in and then lengthenings. I explained that he doesn’t seem to have that 4th gear that my last two horses have had in the lengthenings- where they would explode off the ground and really enjoy the work, Foster gets a bit worried and rushing. One piece of advice I got is the try to verbally get him excited, which I will be sure to try at home and hope no one mocks me terribly. What also started to help was collecting, asking him to really sit on his haunches, and then drive forward for 12 meters or so. After doing this for some time I did finally feel a burst of impulsion when asking for the lengthening, and I think eventually this will help us get a true lengthening that last the diagonal length of the arena.

Shoulder In

Shoulder In

Overall, it was a great lesson and I have plenty to work on and new exercises to implement into our dressage schools. It was obvious to me that he is still a bit green, but every time he repeats an exercise he gets better. Foster felt great, and was very workmanlike the whole lesson, amazing for a 6 year old in freezing temperatures.

Good boy!

Good boy!

Preparing for madness

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I had a great lesson Sunday, which I am hoping to post about when I get video from a friend, but until then, I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get ready for the invasion guests that will be arriving tomorrow.

These guys, plus 1 more human, plus 1 dog

These guys, plus 1 more human, plus 1 dog

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family. But no one who has ever met my family would say they were boring. I suppose no one thinks their family actually is boring, but sometimes I feel that the individuals that make up my closest relatives have rather a knack for the unusual. Driving London taxis, hiking the Appalachian Trail, and randomly acquiring new species of animals as pets are just three of the most recent activities I can attribute to them.

My sister used to breed hedgehogs. No joke- this was her 'stud'

My sister used to breed hedgehogs. No joke- this was her ‘stud’ hog

In any case, I am doing my best to prepare the house for the inevitable chaos that is to ensue once our house gains 8 more inhabitants. Luckily this means that I have extra incentive to finish the guest rooms, which look like this to date:

The State Room

The State Room

The Carolina Room

The Carolina Room

The Carolina room is lacking a mattress (coming soon) and the State room is lacking paint (what oh what do I paint it??). Our study will also be acting as a guest room, since where else can you put 7 people (and a dog).

Study AKA Man Cave AKA Temporary Guest Room

Study AKA Man Cave AKA Temporary Guest Room

Otherwise, the turkey is ready in the fridge and soon enough the people will be here. Expect a few days away from the computer while we stuff ourselves silly with Thanksgiving goodness. Until then, have a happy Thanksgiving! and God bless!

Coming down from Cloud 9

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Our cross country outing at the Fork was definitely a breath of fresh air and made me feel like doing the happy dance, but now it’s back to business, and the name of the game is dressage.

Cat humor + Dressage Meme... you're welcome.

Cat humor + Dressage Meme… you’re welcome.

Foster got a well deserved couple days off and last night was our first semi-real ride this week. After a discussion with a trainer about his canter transitions, we decided it would be worth trying draw reins to help him understand that he can stay round and engage his hind end to transition rather than rely on his overly developed under-neck.

Under Neck Problems

Under Neck Problems

So last night I tried my hand at them. As one who tends to believe that ‘gadgets’ are to be avoided less they become crutches to true training, I have never used draw reins before and it took me several minutes to figure out how to hold them. Needless to say, I now sport a fresh blister on each hand (gloves next time, duh!) but I do see how they will help get the epiphany I am looking for. Foster had two successful transitions where he used his bum, and the groans he emitted definitely reinforced that he is not used to using those muscles! We kept things pretty short so both of us would not be mentally or physically exhausted, but I see a path forward and that makes me hopeful.

Tonight we will have another go at it, and Sunday we have a lesson in front of mirrors! Today the high is 66, and on Sunday the high is 38 (that’s the high, we will be riding at 10AM, so I’m guessing it will be 32 or so). Needless to say, if I can stay on it should be interesting! That’s North Carolina weather for you though!

XC Schooling

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And so passed another weekend of going 200 mph. Story of my life. Friday night I hosted a get together for a group of lady friends, Saturday snuck out to the barn briefly to see Foster before going bridesmaid dress shopping and then finished off the night at a gala!

My BFF and I dressed up for the gala!

All dressed up for the gala!

You guys are probably most interested in my cross country schooling yesterday at the Fork though!

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We arrived shortly after 1 PM, and it was clear that most of the people there were wrapping up and heading home. We got out to the beautiful cross country course to discover we had it all to ourselves- score! It was decidedly warm yesterday, around 60 degrees, and I was thanking my lucky stars that Foster was trace clipped but still worried he would run out of steam quickly, so we kept warm up pretty minimal.

We popped over one Beginner Novice fence and then proceeded to tackle the Novice course one fence at a time. It was apparent that Foster is slightly less confident (as in, not blasé anymore!) to these fences, but grew bolder as we went on, and felt pretty adjustable throughout. We even tackled a few training fences, including a bending line from a max table to a roll top- he was great!

Breezing over a Novice fence

Breezing over a Novice fence

The courses at the Fork are always relatively tough, and tend to be maxed out in height and width, and it seemed that this one was no different. The only exceptions were when technical questions were asked- such as a couple combinations and in jumping into water, etc.

Overall it was a great learning day with many successes! Julieann conquered her first Prelim fences (badass!) and schooled the training course, and overall Foster showed great competence at the Novice level. We will definitely benefit from more schooling this winter, but this was a great place to start!

Approaching a Training Table

Approaching a Training Table

I should be getting a video sometime tonight, and will be sure to post it so you can see our XC awesomeness! Stay tuned!

Winter Goals for Horse and Home

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I know, I know, it’s not quite winter yet. But it my mind, when the temperature dips below freezing and the fleece jods come out, it’s winter. So sue me! Here’s what I hope to achieve and have planned around the homestead and in the saddle this season:

The Horse: At Home

  • Help Foster understand that transitions happen in the bum and not in the neck
  • Incorporate conditioning day into weekly routine (Jimmy Wofford reference here)
  • Master Trakehner fences
  • School coffin combinations
  • Work on lengthenings (trot and canter)
  • Possibly introduce flying changes advice here would be welcome!!!
Trakehner, you are mine!

Trakehner, you are mine!

The Horse: Competitions & Schoolings

  • The Fork (11/17)
  • Running Start Schooling
  • Why Not an American Ark Novice CT (12/14 or 1/11)
  • Why Not an American Ark Novice Horse Trials (2/22)
Running Start schooling over the summer

Running Start schooling over the summer

The House

  • Take out mini forest and big-mama-jama pine tree in back yard
  • Hang curtains and for goodness sake paint feet of dresser in Carolina Room
  • Paint over wallpaper in half bath
  • Install new light fixtures in master bath
  • Fix fireplace
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I will finally finish those feet, I swear!

The Rest

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Get excited!

As you can see, that’s a lot of goals! I am hoping that most of them are small enough so as to be realistic, but it will be interesting to see where we stand next March. Similarly, at the end of the year I intend to go through my previous goals and see what we have accomplished. Most of the time we are so focused on where we can improve, I want to make sure there is time to celebrate what we have done! That’s all for now!

A Show Recap: Carolina Horse Park and making time (finally!)

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All braided up and showing off his not-so-fuzzy face!

The show Sunday was a success in many ways. While we did have a bit of a colic scare (not Foster, but his trailermate, Jasper) the supportive community of eventers around us helped us find a vet and eventually send us home safely. We are so glad he is okay and ready to fight another day! We were busy all weekend, seeing lots of familiar faces, including that of a Connemara gelding that my family used to own and breed many moons ago! It is so refreshing to see horses end up in forever homes with wonderful people, and at 18 years young, this guy is going strong! I know because he beat me this weekend! I look forward to seeing this pair again in the future!

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Foothills Waterman as a stud at our farm, and this weekend at the show!

Dressage
While there was some tension in our dressage test, we still somehow managed a 32. But the test looked like a giant 7 with a couple 6’s thrown in for the more tense moments, so maybe it didn’t look as bad as it felt. Positive moments included relatively straight centerlines, definitely straight movement down the long sides of the arenas (instead of haunches in!), and a fairly good free walk. We also got straight 7’s in our overall marks, a first for us as a pair! We will continue to work on getting a more active trot and correct transitions, but as always, it’s a work in progress.

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Such a ham!

Showjumping
In our warm up, Foster felt really behind my leg, and I was experiencing an odd shooting pain in my right ankle. As a result I kept the warm up minimal. Luckily Foster’s motor and my ankle started to improve as we started our round, and he put in a solid effort to finish with all the rails up and only 1 time penalty point. The first 4 jumps included two serious rollbacks that we lost a bit of impulsion to, which is I think where we didn’t make time. His spots were also not perfect, but at this height I’m not terribly worried. However, I am pleased with my pony for cantering the first fence (no more first fence syndrome!) and getting through almost double clear.

Cross Country
Cross country was definitely the highlight of the show! The course was very nice and inviting, with lots of room to gallop towards the end, and included a sunken road that was so much fun! Foster had a bit of a spook into the water (which is itself quite spooky, being in the dark with an odd reflection in it) but went through the flags and cantered out. I can definitely say that Foster figured out how to gallop, and I finally felt him kick it into gear and feel like Superman confident coming to all the fences. My 1 minute warning beeper went off at the second-to-last fence, and we came in 34 seconds under time– a huge improvement for us! Also… we didn’t get lost!

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The ORANGE fence I missed at the last show!

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The sunken road

Overall, I am very very pleased with the results. We came in 3rd out of 17 riders and I definitely feel like that he is prepared for Novice- if only we didn’t have to wait till next year to try it! Next weekend we will be heading to the Fork to school their Novice cross country course and I feel like Foster is going to eat it up! So forgive me if I’m a bit quiet this week, and I will post the showjumping video soon and talk cross country on Monday! Congrats to all of the competitors this weekend and thank you to all of the volunteers that put on this great show!

PS if you want to see our photos (thank you High Time Photography!) click here!

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Back at home and taking a couple days off!

Learning new tricks

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This weekend was was one the most beautiful weekends this year. If you have never experienced fall in the Carolinas, you are missing out. The colors on the trees were stunning, and at a lovely 65 degrees, well, you get the idea. 

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Gorgeous.

Saturday my best friend Nikki came out and gave me a lesson on Foster. Nikki is a lovely rider that traded off with me as student coach in our Dressage Team days, so I knew she would give me great advice. I gained a couple very helpful visualization tips to help us with dressage, aiming to reduce the bracing in the upward transitions as well as lift Foster’s back and increase his swing through the walk.

After about 20 minutes or so of dressage, we switched up tack and played around with fences. Nikki has a good idea of what we have been doing, and went ahead and raised the fences so we could really have some fun. Ranging from 3′ to 3’6″, the course we did included a triple combination (one-stride to a two stride with a 3’6″ oxer) and a heck of a tight rollback to a 3’4″ish chevron fence. I was so proud of my boy for handling everything with good grace, and got another excellent visualization tip that will better my equitation over fences. Nikki then hopped on Foster and hopped over a few fences, giggling over each one as she did! Having not jumped in years, it was great to see her have so much fun!

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What are you doing with me today??

After all the fun Saturday, we kept it easy Sunday, with a long and low session that went really well. Then Foster got his bath and out came the clippers! I did a simple trace clip on him, switching it up a bit from last year in that I used more curves than angles.

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Foster’s clip last year, more of an Irish Clip with angles

Tonight we will do a not-to-demanding dressage school and tomorrow he will have off. With all these great tips up our sleeves I am really excited about the horse trials this weekend! At the very least I can say we are prepared for success!

I’ll be tidying up the clip job tonight and will be sure to post photos tomorrow!

Practice Thanksgiving Dinner

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Next month I will be attempting to roast a giant bird and serve what in my head will be a very elegant cornucopia of food to eight hungry people. In preparation for that eventual dining delight, I decided to have a practice dinner with a couple friends.

Playing Suzie-Homemaker in my kitchen!

Playing Suzie-Homemaker in my kitchen!

I have never cooked for more people than Tyler and myself, and I have never had more than just a couple sides. But here is what I made:

Roast Chicken
This was your standard 7 lb roasting chicken from the super market. I don’t do anything crazy to it, besides rub olive oil, garlic salt and pepper into the skin, and make 4 cuts in the skin into which I stuff a knob of butter and a sprig of fresh rosemary. Hot stuffing from the box went into the chicken, and the giblets were turned into gravy.

Creamed Spinach
I love all things skinnytaste, and it is my absolute go-to site for healthy/lightened up recipes that don’t taste like cardboard! Besides the fact that I think I added a little too much nutmeg, this recipe turned out delish! I LOVE spinach!

Green Bean Casserole
This one is a classic Thanksgiving side dish and thankfully oh-so-easy to get ready. After I put the chicken in I got this whipped up and stuck it in the oven at the last minute. I made mine the cheater’s way, using pre-packaged cream of mushroom soup, canned french onions, and cut green beans.

Mashed Potatoes (and gravy)
This is the only dish I gave to the husband to work on. Not only am I somewhat sad to watch with a peeling knife, but it takes a decent amount of strength to mash an entire bag of potatoes! I think I could have sufficed with half the bag for our small dinner party, but it’s good to know he can be useful when the big day comes around and get those muscles moving!

I also made broccoli as a healthier side dish option. All in all I think it turned out to be a good spread of food that touched on a variety of food. While a turkey is obviously a bit bigger than a chicken I think I am confident in not poisoning anyone on Thanksgiving, as well as adding a couple more side dishes (sauteed brussel sprouts, yeast roles, and sweet potato casserole will likely make the menu) without going overboard.

I love Thanksgiving, and am so excited! Anyone else have big plans for Turkey Day?