Fork CT Show Prep

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Britt

Somehow, it’s June already, and the Combined Training show that seemed so far away is now just days off.

Right now, I’m feeling a lot of pressure, and I know it’s because I will have an unusual audience this weekend- my family. While my mum has come to a couple of my horse shows over the past several years, it’s basically been since high school that my parents really came to watch me compete. It should be noted that my mother taught me almost everything I know about horses, and spent many, many years successfully reselling OTT TB’s, and then running a just as successful warmblood breeding program. Her good opinion means a lot to me.

Mum meets Foster for the first time, about 30 days into my owning him

Add to that, that the last time my mother saw Foster a couple years ago (she’s only met him twice), he decided to be an uncharacteristic brat and actually ran away (kind of) with my sister. So we’ve got to prove that I did not buy myself a crazy, pig headed animal and that he is in fact the awesome-tastic beast that we all know and love.

After his bout of naughtiness, I give my sister a mini-lesson and we ended on a good note!

After being a naughty pony, Foster calms down and teaches sister about stretching.

So, I’m trying to tell myself to keep it simple, stupid, and stick with the plan of having just a couple goals for the show. The first is to again ride every corner, every turn, every fence. While my parents know I can be a ditz, let’s not go showing it off for them! I’m going to change up my warm up a little by doing a little less stretching (like, 10 minutes instead of 20) and incorporate some bright transitions instead.

And then for jumping- maintain a forward but uphill rhythm to each fence. This in addition to last show’s goal of soft elbows. I had an absolutely craptastic jump school this weekend (not his fault, but mine), which has made me lose confidence a bit, so this week I am going to get A to come check me out jumping and make sure I don’t eff up my horse before the show. Ugh.

I is good pony, I swear.

Tonight, we ride dressage!

Lesson Recap

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Britt

Didn’t I say this weekend was supposed to be relaxing? Haven’t I been whining about burnout and wanting a day off? Welp, that didn’t happen! This weekend was filled with much manual labor and design delirium, sprinkled with a *tiny* bit of horses and drinking (no, not together) instead. Anything but relaxing!

Though sometimes horses and drinking do go together, in the form of fancy-pants wine charms, and sipping while braiding…

The little bit of saddle time I got this weekend was in a showjumping lesson with Holly. My main complaint that I brought to her was about the show- I noticed in all of our showjumping pictures (see #6 in particular) that he was jumping over his shoulder terribly. His knees were still tight, but there was no lift in his elbow, and we got around the course mostly by his over-jumping things. The only fence he jumped in good form was the oxer I buried him to going into the 2 stride (picture 13).. so, I wanted her thoughts on what was going on.

To start with, we went over a small exercise of pole-vertical-pole. It was set up on the tight side, to make him rock back on take-off instead of lobbing himself over the fence like a lazy pole vaulter. I definitely struggled with the exercise, which quickly unveiled a habit I didn’t realize I had- squeezing him and throwing him at the fence in the last two strides. So, we worked on my establishing the canter I wanted early and then maintaining it all the way to the jump. Big difference there!

Foster’s best pretend grumpy face

After that, we worked through a one-stride with a pole in the middle with the same canter in mind- forward and uphill at the same time. He was jumping beautifully, so we deduced the over-the-shoulder jumping at the show was likely because he was strung out. Since one of my main goals for the show was to go for time with the forward pace, this makes sense to me- next time, I need to be forward but more packaged in my approach.

The rest of the lesson was spent on a short course that included the combinations, a tight turn, and a long approach, all focusing on the quality of the canter I needed to each element. Foster was extremely rideable, and for once I actually felt confident in my jumping abilities! I remembered the good advice my friend N gave me earlier in the week and didn’t get a single comment on my elbows (score!). Double bonus that my bum didn’t feel like it weight 10,000 lbs and I was able to stay out of the saddle the whole lesson! Woot! Now if I can just keep riding like that, all will be well.

Happy and ready to go back home!

I wish I had photos to share with you guys, but unfortunately I was there by myself! But that’s ok, our next show is only a week and a half away! Can you believe it’s almost June? Crazy!

Moving Mountains

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Britt

After putting in some serious overtime this week, I think I am finally making progress on my giant to-do list. And, husband and I had a lovely date night/night off to boot.

I had an excellent mini-lesson with best friend N, who has coached me in the past and has wonderful ways of explaining things that just stick with me. We revisited ‘belly button to pommel’, added ‘underarm to bra’ (to help my arm/elbow position), and worked on getting Foster sharp to my aids with some rather bright simple changes and crazy angled fence exercises. Lots of wisdom to remember moving forward! We also jumped 3’3″ for the first time in a while, and it’s making me wonder if I could do a Training CT in the near future.. probably not, but I’m thinking about it! I have another showjumping lesson tomorrow with Holly tomorrow, and we’ll see how it goes.

Ignoring my crap position, I think Foster could do Training here.. maybe...

Ignoring my crap position, Foster thinks he could do training here.. maybe…

Outside the realm of horses, I have multiple freelance projects I’m working on and hope to dedicate this weekend to wrapping some of them up. Should have some fun designs to share with you next week!

Remember to thank our soldiers, past and present, and have a great Memorial weekend y’all!

Dressage Clinic Recap

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Britt

Stop leaning forward!

Welp, we did the clinic! After attacking the wind puff with some DMSO based cream, the heat magically vanished and the worry-wort inside me took a deep breath of relief. We got in maybe one decent dressage schooling and then clinic day was upon us!

I definitely cut my warm up time short (let’s be serious- what warm up time?) by arriving a mere 10 minutes before my scheduled ride (um, it was Rolex XC day!), but this gave us a good opportunity to talk to Brendan about what’s been going on ~~or not~~ with Foster. I was hoping to get some confirmation of the lateral work we’ve been working on this winter, but it seems we had bigger fish to fry- the dreaded under neck.

Hot mess moment, displaying his fabulous under neck muscle

After our lesson last year, I worked really hard to get this muscle softer and encourage Foster to use his bum to balance himself instead- then things fell apart a bit. Brendan wanted to see Foster go in a much deeper frame with his nose just in front of the point of his shoulder. We struggled for quite some time, and about half way through I felt some of the tension in his back melt away and he gave in to the new way of going.

Finally getting his head lower (also, let’s ignore how low my hands are and how big my butt looks in this pic!)

While working on getting him deeper (and deeper and deeper), we tried the canter transitions, again asking him to stay round without popping up in front. Mostly we were unsuccessful, but there were definitely a couple attempts that were close. I think it’s safe to say Foster is finally fit enough to do this correctly, and I will be working hard on this in the coming weeks!

Working on roundness in the canter

Lastly, Brendan got us focusing on riding forward and backward within the working trot. This will help us get closer to true lengthenings, although Brendan confirmed what myself (and Eliza, from our last lesson) thought, which is that he may never have a true, exuberant lengthening. If the trade off is a great brain, but no lengthening, I’ll take that trade any day!

Pushing forward within working trot

All in all, a great lesson and it was really interesting to watch the video (props to A) afterwards. A great lesson, even if I felt like I could not ride through most of the lesson, and basic steering flew out the window when I was concentrating on Foster so much! I was having some serious issues with my jods sticking to the saddle (and causing the extra bit of the stirrup leather to bunch up underneath my leg) and with the excess of reins getting in my way constantly. New reins will be in our future I think, as this has happened a lot recently as I ride with a shorter rein! Otherwise though, we have some serious work to do, and I am thankful for the opportunity to squeeze in this much needed dressage lesson!

A video clip from the lesson:

In other pony news, Foster has pulled a shoe. And sometime this week I need to fit in a jump school, to get ready for our first ‘big’ Novice at CHP on the 11th! Gosh, it’s coming up fast!

Good pony!

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! 😀

Keeping all our fingers and toes: A successful lesson recap

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Britt

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

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.

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…

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

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

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!

Cross Country Schooling at the Fork [Video]

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Britt

It is so helpful to see the video, and have a good friend put this together for us! So fun!

Video Critique: Dressage

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Britt

Over the weekend Ali kindly videoed me in lieu of having a lesson. While there is nothing that can take the place of professional advice, it was extremely helpful to have a visual on what our flatwork looks like. The video mostly speaks for itself, but here is a partial critique of myself anyways.

I found watching the video that I was surprised- a few things looked better that they felt, and others the opposite.

Our canter lengthenings leave me with the most frustration. If I feel him coming apart I tend to lower my hands, and I let my reins get long (something that seems to happen throughout the ride). I would also like to see a more precise transition from working to lengthened canter. In the future I think I will practice these after the lateral work to help him swing through his back and get the engine going.

Reins getting a little long in the trot, but happier here with my leg-hip-shoulder alignment

Reins getting a little long in the trot, but happy here with my leg-hip-shoulder alignment

This is better

The lateral work is better than I expected, though the challenge to keep him supple and maintain energy throughout the movements still remains. I am however very pleased to see on video how straight he is moving! Also with my position, my hands tend to be better at the trot but I think I could benefit from a more flexible elbow, shorter reins and lifting my hands slightly to maintain the bit-to-elbow connection. I left out the shoulder-in left in the main video, here it is below:

Leg Yield: Foster is mostly straight, me, not so much

Stepping under in the Shoulder In

In general I will be focusing more on my elbows and trying to wrap my leg around his barrel more. Watching this also really makes me want to pursue getting my knee blocks adjusted to help me keep a longer leg without getting into a chair-seat. Plenty to work on, for Foster and myself!

Compare this to when I first got him- he’s growing up!

Bachelorette Weekend and XC Schooling

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Britt

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend. A friend of mine celebrated her bachelorette weekend by staying in town, and a huge group of girls participated in all sorts of Disney princess themed fun and frolic. We bounced on trampolines, pampered ourselves with mani/pedis, and completed the most intense scavenger hunt ever! Even rode in my first rickshaw! And I am proud to say that I took the individual scavenger hunt challenge uber seriously and won myself a brand new fairy-princess-wand (because who doesn’t need one of those!) and was on the winning team! Go team Ariel! Can’t wait to attend what will surely be a beautiful wedding in a few weeks! PS follow me on instagram!

Bachelorette Weekend Fun!

Unfortunately I was not able to stay for the last couple activities, as I had to get up bright and early ( a 5:35 am alarm is not so easy after a day of running around! ) to go XC Schooling in Southern Pines. The farm we went to has one of my favorite cross country courses, simply because the number of combinations and vast array of fences to jump is incredible!

Getting up with the sun!

This was the first time in a long while that Foster and I schooled with a group lesson, which consisted of two rock star high schoolers on the brink of Novice/Training, and Ali and I with our boys at Beginner Novice/Novice. There were many questions thrown at us that we had never done before, such as jumping downhill, jumping out of water, and plenty of combinations. One such combination was an upbank, three strides to a hanging log which we went over and then came back to the other way (jump to a down bank). Foster handled this, the water questions, and the ditches with great confidence and enthusiasm. We did have a couple tricky moments at two jumps at the beginning of the venture, where he decided to take advantage of my open left rein instead of the fence, but after I focused on riding him straight everything went more smoothly than I could have hoped for.

Our group getting their feet wet.. and me desperately trying to not let Foster roll! He LOVES the water!

Overall the main lesson was to continue to ride him straight through his shoulders, and once again, to allow him to open up his stride and not hold him together so much. Once I gained confidence in him it was so much fun to let him go a bit! While we didn’t get to tackle any serious Novice questions, we accomplished so much and it was a great learning experience. I am excited to take him back in a couple weeks for a horse trials!

Jumping out of the water!

Ali and Baron warming up!

Ali and Baron out of the water! Whee!

Leg is getting tighter! Hooray!

Photos are compliments of one of the sweet moms watching our group school! Looking forward to seeing them again soon!

Showjumping Lesson Recap

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Britt

Foster was a tired boy after our lesson!

So we finally got a lesson in! I trailered over to Equiventure this morning, where Holly trains, so it was even more meaningful because we were able to get off property. Foster tends to travel really well, and was much more interested in eating grass than looking about. But when we got to the arena he found another gear that I haven’t felt in some time!

While I won’t bore you with all the details, I did have some great take-aways:

I have a tendency to bend him to the left over fences, as well as turn my head to the left, which causes him to travel through his right shoulder and occasionally jump over the shoulder. I need to focus on riding him straight through his neck and body and look straight ahead!!
It is okay to let Foster move out a bit. More forward and more energy is not something I should be afraid of!
Don’t hit him with my butt! This one I was somewhat aware of going into it, as I’ve seen it on some of the videos taken of us recently. I need to stay in the air just a beat longer so I don’t punish him by ‘landing’ before he does.
For practicing at home we are going to take 3′ off of the distances, but know and be prepared for shows setting up strides different ways. Even if they use the 12′ stride + 6′ takeoff/landing, the adrenaline should get us moving through it fine.
For combinations, land, sit up, stay quiet, and let the fence come to you

There’s definitely a few other pointers I picked up but these are the highlights! Overall I think I have plenty to work on, and am really proud of my boy for being so workmanlike. We both had a great time; I knew Foster was having fun because he was giving me great walk/canter transitions with a little fun head toss every once in a while.

It was also a great opportunity to school in some wetter footing!
Tomorrow’s a tack cleaning day for sure…

Next week is our XC schooling at a huge farm in Southern Pines. So stay posted for that and maybe even a jumping photoshoot at home this weekend!

Red on the Right

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