Recognized Show Recap: Cross Country

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Britt

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!

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

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Britt

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

The Pep Talk

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Britt

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?

Southern Pines XC lesson

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Britt

Instead of competing in Virginia, as originally planned, I decided to take the weekend off. But when I heard that Doug Payne was schooling cross country in Southern Pines, I had to go along! Since I flew solo on this mission, there’s no videos or pics- hopefully next time!

While the morning did require getting up at the ungodly hour of 5:30, once there the experience was entirely worth it. Doug and his charming wife were both mounted on more green prospects, and the 3 of us headed out to the expansive cross country fields.

Competing at Running Start earlier this year

One of the first things we tackled was angled fences. After going through an in-and-out, we then took the fences at a mild angle, then re-approached the obstacle, creating a one-stride combination of the grid.

Doug emphasized at the end of our schooling that practicing angled fences would be a great tool to have in our back pocket. Pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone in practice would mean if something, heaven forbid, happened during an actual course, such as Foster getting ‘squirrely’ before a fence, that I would have the confidence to take the fence from a less than perfect approach.

Novice rolltop at an angle, then practiced the Training fence beside it

Another way of being prepared, from a technique standpoint, included the advice that I (and assuming lots of other riders) stay back, and if need be, a little behind the motion. If I start leaning at the fence, it puts my weight over his shoulders, which puts him on the forehand and makes any attempt by myself to correct straightness and balance all the more difficult. We practiced this to both a Training ditch and later, to Foster’s first real trakehner (yay, finally!), to positive effect!

Revisited this log into water

While we didn’t go out and jump every fence available (not possible, I’ve never seen so many options before in my life!), we did get to introduce new concepts to Foster. These being, to sum up:

Jumping angled XC fences
Training level ditches
Dropping into water
Confidently jumping over log into water*
Jumping a real trakehner

Foster afterwards- what a good boy!

I also got lots of good advice to keep in mind, and discovered a bit more about my own habits:

If in doubt, sit to the fence
Keep my leg on (as in ON, not kicking or ‘breathing’ as my tendency is)
Keep the canter active (nothing new here!)
Purposely remind myself to bring his balance up about 6 strides out
Dropping into water – allow my hips to go forward but keep my shoulders back, let the reins slip**

All in all, this was one of the most fun cross country schooling we’ve had. The more Foster’s confidence increases, the more I feel confident in him and feel myself relax. We introduced new concepts to him that he handled with lots of maturity- not a single bobble the whole time! Really proud of my boy and the way he reacted.

This week Foster hopefully gets a saddle fitting and a training ride (a first for the both of us!). Next week another Doug lesson, and we’ll see where things go from there as we prepare for our first Recognized event! So excited!

*This we had done before, but not on a super forward ride

** I leaned into the drop the first couple attempts at the bigger drop, and thought I was going to go swimming!

Unofficial Blog Hop: Transformations

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Britt

I’m jumping on this blog-hop wagon (thanks to Life of Riley for the idea!) because progress has been on my mind a lot recently. We’re going through one of those annoying phases where it seems like we are going backwards a bit (mostly related to the whole getting-crazy-deep-distances issue, and my sudden intimidation of both airy fences and fences with crap loads of filler – sidenote: maybe I’m just a chicken shit?)… anyways.

I keep telling myself, this is just another phase, and just like in the past we’ll come out of it the other side and be better than before. Looking back on where we’ve been is one way to assure myself of this. So here’s our transformation post, before and after Fosters!

Foster:

Foster Jan 2011 in his sales pic

April 2012

May 2014

Dressage (trotting):

Feb. 2011

Nov. 2012

April 2014

Dressage (canter):

Feb. 2011

Nov. 2012

April 2014

Showjumping:

June 2012

Sept 2013

Dec. 2013

Cross Country:

Feb 2012 – first XC school

Feb 2012

Oct. 2012

August 2013

November 2013

April 2014

So that’s it. 3 and a half years of ups and downs, but a lot of progress when I look at the first and last pictures in each set. Our bond has definitely grown, and he’s been able to give me confidence that I could never have in my past horses. I’m sure we’ll get through this latest phase and be moving forward again soon!

Show Recap: Fork CT

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Britt

Saturday seems like a crazy blur in my mind, it all happened so quickly! Maybe the time went by so fast because my watch died en route to the show (I kid you not- talk about bad timing, har har), and so I had very little grasp on what was happening when.

Dressage
After getting to the show and letting Foster munch on some hay for a few minutes (he doesn’t eat in the trailer, but digs into the same hay net at the show- weird?), we got tacked up and boogied on down the road to the show arenas. The horse I had for the day was surprisingly fresh, and just a little tense. Still, I liked the energy I had, even though he was being a little fussy in the bridle. I decided to post the trot to allow his back to come up and release some of the tension in his topline, and I think this was the right decision.

Our test felt pretty good. The couple places I know we could improve are in one corner that I didn’t prepare enough for, and those dern canter transitions. The stretchy walk didn’t have its usual stretch either, partially because Foster got distracted by the jumping going on right in front of him. Looking at the test, the judge nailed us on this- just think of what our final score would have been otherwise! Also, you’ll notice that he decided to step out in our final halt- bummer! On the bright side though, I thought the test was more forward than CHP and that in general, he was straighter and more obedient to my leg. The test earned us a 31, good for 3rd after being trumped by a stunning 20 and 24 in 1st and 2nd place.

Showjumping
Showjumping is the most blurry part of the day. After being distracted by the comings and goings of the day, I didn’t find time to walk the course before jumping. Go figure that it was probably the most intense showjumping course we have done to date. Serious bending lines, intense roll backs, and no less than 2 one-stride combinations. What the what?! I thought we were doing Novice! Walking the course was pretty much vital here, but I did without. Where I regretted it most was in the rollback from 5 to 6AB (a one-stride)- you can actually hear my “Geez!” trying to make that turn and get straight into the one-stride. Because of our disorganization, he didn’t find his spot to the first fence and then brought down the second element rail with his hind end. Add to that, a sprinkling of cross-canter, because that’s what Foster does at shows, and that was our course.

Leg needs to be more forward, but otherwise getting better! Also.. does this look big for a Novice fence to anyone?

Cross Country Schooling
After all of the memory-taxing activities were over, we went out to the cross country course! I wasn’t sure how many jumps would be available, since the Fork seems to employ mostly portable XC fences in their course. There definitely was not an endless supply of fences, but there was enough to play over, given that Foster was already somewhat tired from dressage and showjumping. So we played around the water complex for a while, and Foster was an absolute champ over everything. I felt like I was actually riding, instead of coasting around to the next fence like I had done in showjumping. With a smile on our faces, we called it a day and headed for home.

Upbank combination:

Water-upbank-fence:

More water complex fun:

Impression on the parents
I think it’s safe to say that Foster redeemed himself this weekend. He put on his game face for sure, and showed off his chill demeanor and sweet disposition. While you can hear my mother’s gasping and um, other exclamations on the videos, she was impressed by his rideability and quietness. Bonus, that Foster did right by my sister as well, even ponying her back to the barn. I wish my dad was able to meet Foster, but it was not meant to be. Also, unfortunately, Foster managed pulled off both front shoes in the water complex, so he will be having the next few days off anyway- he earned it!

All of us with Foster at the end of the day

Clinic Recap: Day 2

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Britt

Day 2 Cross Country

Day 2 was our second cross country lesson, and I felt really confident after the prior day’s success. Unsurprisingly, when I got Foster out on the field, he felt sluggish- the poor thing was tired! But he put his game face on and rallied (for a while). Since he felt so relaxed, I allowed myself to finally relax too, and felt a big difference in the ride. I could follow with my elbows more, and pay a bit more attention to the task at hand. Because I was feeling more confident, I asked Holly if we could push the envelope a bit, and boy did she deliver! We hopped over this rather large training oxer (right after the rollback in the video), and did a super fun bank combination. Foster particularly loved this, and launched himself off the bank with all the boldness I could ever want in an event horse!

Off the bank we go!

When that went well, Holly asked if I’d like to try the ditch/up bank combo. It’s a bit hard to see in the pic, but there is a shallow ditch behind the ground line- and I was super stoked to try it! Foster flew up it without hesitation- it was very exciting!

Woohoo!

The themes of the day were continuing to allow him to come forward, and keep my elbows soft (though this was improved over the day before). I definitely need to add more pace to bigger fences (such as the bank above, and the training oxer in the video), and keep him straight/allow for a straighter approach to the jump. Also might try lowering my hands, as with show jumping.

Unfortunately towards the end of the session, Foster had decided he had had enough, and put in a couple of naughty run outs. These were all to the left, and it’s my job to pull him right if this happens. No matter what! Things were going so well, I definitely let my guard down and he slipped out on me a couple times. I honestly think these were due to him being fully exhausted, and while that’s no excuse, I’m still proud of him for all the good work he did over the weekend. We ended on a good note, jumping over a small vertical into the water, and called it a day!

Summing it Up

All in all, this clinic was hugely helpful in re-establishing the basics and getting us back to where we need to be with our confidence. It was a nice, laid back atmosphere with fun people, and left us with a manageable amount of homework. I’m excited to hear that Holly will be hosting multiple clinics this year, and I am already looking forward to the next one!

Clinic Recap: Day 1

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Britt

Half Trakehner

Whoo! What a weekend. The clinic was a great success, and Foster and I came away tired, but with some definite goals and advice to keep with us as we practice on our own.

The clinic included 3 lessons of any combination, and knowing my weakest areas (jumping), I opted to do 1 showjumping lesson and 2 cross country lessons. Day 1 was our showjumping and first cross country lesson. And boy, did we struggle at first.

heads up like a turtle!

Day 1 Showjumping

One of the first things Holly pointed out is that I was riding with a dressage seat, and I needed to lighten my fanny for jumping. Needless to say, after about 3 months of doing almost nothing but dressage, that fanny felt heavy, and I struggled to find my balance after being out of practice for so long. She also had me lengthen my rein and lower my hands, to encourage Foster to have a slightly rounder shape and therefore jump with better bascule.

The course included a few single fences, a 3 stride line, a 1 stride, and the biggest grid I’ve seen (in life). Foster has never jumped a grid like that, and normally when we do grids we build them up bit by bit. Not to mention, when’s the last time he did a 1 stride? (I’m sure I don’t remember!) Thankfully he was game, and we struggled through.

This exercise showed us that we could benefit from more gymnastic practice, to get him sitting, me waiting (and steering), and improve balance issues.

Overall themes included getting a more active canter (no surprise there), looking without leaning, and getting him straight to the fences. The latter is one of my biggest issues right now, as I don’t tend to take the time to get his shoulders straight at the approach to the fence, and then we jump crooked, or if it’s a line, drift through it. I will be working on this for sure!

Luckily we did end on a good note where I actually started to ride, but the video is sadly a bit blurry. Just a few jumps together, but beginning to see improvement. I do notice in these videos that my form over fences has suffered some from lack of practice (belly button to pommel!), but hopefully we will be able to get more jump schooling in soon!

Day 1 Cross Country

Figuring out how to turn

After Foster had a quick rest, we headed out to the cross country course. I was pretty excited to see what he felt like, but that didn’t keep me from being tense. I had mixed success with getting the tension out of my elbows, but Foster was an honest, solid citizen the whole time, which helped me relax more and more. Everything stayed pretty small as we revisited the basics… No, we didn’t always get our distance, and tempo was occasionally a mixed bag (though admittedly, mostly on the slow side), but I was very happy and got the confidence boost I needed!

Again themes of more canter and allowing him to come to the fence (this is a trust issue with me, left over from his rushing days), and relaxing my elbows. Watching the video I can see exactly when I lock up and when I start to relax my arms, and generally speaking, he looks relaxed when I look relaxed. Definitely something I’ve been working on for some time, and finally started seeing better results towards the end of the lesson.

Following cross country, we headed back to the barn and Foster got a much deserved dinner and I got to hang out with my fellow participants, some of whom are friends from our old barn! It was so nice to catch up with everyone, and hear how they are progressing with their rides!

Drinking beer after riding all day? Yes, please!

Clinic Preparation

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Britt

After getting back from being out of town for a week (due to Pittsburgh work stuff, then our amazeballs Savannah trip), I wasn’t sure what to expect with Foster. My buddy A rode him a few times and commented on how straight and stretchy he felt, compared to last year when he wanted to be neither straight nor stretch. This is great news, and I really welcomed another opinion on how he is going!

Dirty pony is dirty.

Happily, I can also report that he is indeed gaining some more weight. Still not plump, but definitely not ribby anymore. I am hoping to further encourage weight gain by switching to SmartGain supplements (he was on Cocosoya before) and switching his feed to a higher quality mix. On the flip side, he has a bit of a puffy fetlock, but he’s sound on it, so we’re monitoring it closely. It seems somewhat superficial, thankfully!

Foster’s been going well on the flat, and last night I added some proper canter work in the mix. It’s still coming back, and he felt a little braced through the jaw in transitions, but I was happily surprised at the quality for the most part. He does seem to be slobbering a lot lately (a good sign!), and its been making all his polos nice and green. But I like happy, chewing Foster a lot. Slobber away, buddy.

Trying to share slobber

Otherwise, we are still getting ready for a clinic with Holly Hudspeth. We’ll be taking 2 lessons on Saturday (1 showjumping, 1 cross country), and a second cross country lesson Sunday. So I must get in a jump school tonight, since we haven’t jumped since the last show, weeks ago! I’m hopeful that he will go well nonetheless, as I’m feeling pretty confident at Novice right now. I do want to tackle trakehner and scary type fences cross country if we can, and I’m positive I’ll need work on my eye, straightness, and timing during the showjumping. Ok let’s be serious, I’ll probably have to work on everything, but that’s alright!

Also in the mix for this week is a saddle fitting presentation at Dover! I am very interested to go to this, since as you guys know, I’m in the market for a new saddle! And I may have found one, too! It is the right size for me, but too narrow for Foster, so I just need to decide if I should get it and invest in making it his size… Decisions, decisions! Either way, the presentation should be very informative, and bonus! We get $5 Dover gift certificates for attending! Maybe I’ll go crazy and buy myself… a carabiner or something!

Next post coming Monday- a recap of the clinic! 😀

Running Start XC Schooling

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Britt

So, I am back in Raleigh again, for the time being at least. We did indeed make it to the dinner and reception of the wedding, which was really special! Then Sunday I was able to spend some quality time catching up with Foster, pulling his mane to an actually desirable length and getting him otherwise trimmed up. Then yesterday, thanks to warmer temps melting the snow, we were able to go school XC!

XC schooling last year

I went down by myself (therefore no photos), as my original partner in crime’s horse came up dead lame 2 days prior, and had scheduled a lesson with a trainer I’ve never worked with before. I will admit there were some differences in communication, and I felt like a pretty big dummy at several times. I’ll further admit that I even got a little emotional, as I know I tend to do when I am feeling sick (which I was/am, fighting off a nasty cold and having stomach issues to boot).

In any case, here is what I did manage to learn from the lesson:

Sit into the saddle longer while posting to encourage him to use his backend
Always imagine keeping the hind end underneath me (especially through turns)
Soft, bent knees – no standing in the stirrups!
Make him maintain a rythym (particularly on terrain)
No pulling on the away side of the fence
Ride the canter, don’t just allow it to happen
Swing my hips and connect to him as I ride to the fence (don’t stop riding!)

While I was trying to learn/remember all of this, Foster was thankfully proving himself a mature, solid citizen. He warmed up really nicely, and took to the fences like he’d done it yesterday, not 3 months ago. There was no hesitation at all jumping the Novice questions. The two fences I was most concerned about, the jump over a log into water (he has only done a cross rail version of this), and the trakehner, were ridiculously easy.

What I thought would happen at the water jump

He attacked the water jump. Where I thought I’d be saying Go, I was saying WHOA! Definitely not going to be a problem, and it felt really great to see how confident he has become.

Ali and Baron jumping out over the log jump last summer

The trakehner was also excellent. This was a super friendly jump, where the ditch was not boxed in but still gave the impression of a taller fence and something to look at. There was still a bit of snow on the ground around the fence, so I was a little apprehensive that things might get slippy if he were to suddenly react. Once again, my fears were completely unfounded, and he went over it beautifully. If only I had a photo to prove it!

Because he was so good, and surprisingly peppy even at the end of our schooling, I have committed to the show this weekend. I know we won’t be as prepared as I would like, but I think it will be a good first outing for him at the Novice level. The course will be maxed out technically speaking (there will be a half coffin, bank to pheasant feeder, terrain questions, and of course the water jump), but it won’t be maxed out with height and width. Tonight Foster is going to get an easy stretchy ride and we will prepare as much as possible for a crazy week! Get excited!