Recovering from the Weekend

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Britt

You’ve got to love a weekend packed full of horsey goodness, but damn it can be a bit exhausting in the aftermath.

It’s worth mentioning that the week leading up to it was full of hello’s and goodbye’s with horse friends. While the goodbye’s are always sad, it was awfully exciting to get to meet Sara of Eventing in Color, who spent time being Foster’s human popsicle (his favorite) followed by adult beverages. Sara was just as sweet in person as she seems on her blog, especially for not judging me for my inarticulateness that happens after 5pm most days.

Stealing Sara’s photo!

Saturday was an all day love fest with Foster that featured another jumping round. With the eyes of a friend on us we played around various size fences between 2’6″ and 3’3″. Foster continues to prefer the pokey pace, and in my effort to get him going forward I sometimes cowboy him around, and I’ve definitely got to work on that damn pumping thing I do with my elbows. Trying hard not to beat myself up about it terribly, since was only our 3rd time jumping since February.

I got to work on actually thinking about which lead I’d land on.. yeah that hasn’t been 4 years in the making or anything (Video screenshot- thanks A!)

Sunday I volunteered to ring steward at the big dressage show in downtown Raleigh, and by the Grace of God got to work in the actual coliseum rather than the outdoor arenas. Being in that arena, I saw all the upper level riders warm up as well as First and Second level- exactly what I intend to do at this show next year. As it was, I saw lots and lots of familiar faces, put new faces to old names, and basically just recognized how awesome it is to have been a part of the horse community here in Raleigh for the last 10 years.

New NCDCTA ribbons, aka logo swag

Exciting things happening this week and later this month, with our first XC school since November (third attempt’s a charm?), butt-kicking dressage lessons, and hopefully a trip to Southern Pines to train with a familiar face! 😉

The Competitor’s Toolbox: The Mental Game

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Britt

Recently I have been thinking about myself as not only a horseperson, but also as a competitor. That is, assessing how I stack up and whether or not I am prepared at competitions so that those shows set myself and my horse up for success. I’ve determined that there are three ways to think about the requirements of a good competitor, and these are the Mental Mindset or Psyche of the rider, Equipment, and Preparation of the Horse.

The first then that I want to assess is the mental game. I think a lot of this is knowing your strengths and weakness, and staying mentally focused so that you remain in the moment enough to use your strengths to your advantage, and make corrections (for your weaknesses) as you go along.

For instance, while it’s taken me many years to get there, I think I have a good Dressage ‘game face’. Intercollegiate Dressage in particular taught me to ride every step of every test, and have confidence in my abilities. I’ve practiced and perfected visualizing exactly how I plan to ride each movement in my mind, and now find this process relaxes me whenever nerves try to come up. Visualization comes up again in my day-to-day riding, as when I feel the horse getting heavy or sloppy I picture myself as a Grand Prix rider, tall and elegant and soft but clear with my aids. This in turn tends to correct my equitation and helps my horse respond to me more efficiently.

Game face on.

My weakness, then, is jumping. Because I have been a formal student of jumping for less time, I lack the ability to visualize exactly what I want to achieve, and therefore have less confidence going on course. Looking for riders at the top level as visual examples is, in my opinion, less clear, as I see a bevy of different releases, leg positions, and styles among professional jumpers and eventers. Additionally, not knowing the course until the day of (or sometimes the hour of) the competition makes my mental run-throughs rushed and not nearly as effective. In short, the techniques that work so well for me as a dressage competitor fall short for the other phases.

CHP, October 2014

Instead for jumping, I have started using other techniques to get my psyche in order. The bullet lists you see in each lesson post become mantras that I repeat as I prepare for the competition. I try to find songs that get me pumped. J played this one for me getting ready for the clinic, and I really found it helped me find a groove, even if the only lyrics I really know are ‘like a great white shark on shark week!’ (enthusiastically yelled by myself, of course).

Besides knowing your mental strengths and weaknesses, there are the other responsibilities of the rider to know- speeds required for the level and what that feels like, penalty rules, technicalities (such as what to do if your horse refuses the second fence in a related combination, whoops), and so on and so forth. Any detail of this could be the difference between success and failure (although we never fail, we just gain a learning opportunity!), or a blue ribbon and a red ribbon. Growing our knowledge and becoming a student of the sport is what being an amateur is about, and the more we know, the more we set ourselves up for success.

What mental techniques do you use to prepare for or at competition? How do you handle the stresses of competing? Are there mental aspects that you would like to improve yourself?

Let’s Discuss: Flying Changes

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Britt

Flying changes keep coming up in my training, and I admit, I’m at an internal impasse.

One one hand, and to state the obvious- having a flying change would make showjumping courses ~~less embarrassing~~ much more fluid, as my requests for a simple change mess with our forward momentum. Granted, he is almost amazingly well balanced in counter canter, so it’s not like we are careening around lopsided on the wrong lead, but still. He will offer the change occasionally, but it’s fairly random. Also, I need to work on getting the correct lead over fences and not leaning left dammit.

PC: High Time Photography

On the other hand, we are working towards the goal of a Second level test this year. Counter canter starts at First level test 3. Counter canter gets a lot easier when your horse is not trying to switch leads on you when you change the bend. Again, Foster is quite well balanced at the counter canter.

I have never taught a horse a change, and could count on one hand the times I have sat on a school master, much less practiced a change on a schooled horse. I understand the theory, just have not practiced it. We (as in a friend who knew what they were doing) started trying to teach Foster to change over a cavaletti, but the results were mixed. According to her, he is a tough cookie when it comes to changes. My dressage trainer is happy with not schooling changes (obviously).

PC: J

In Great Britain, they don’t worry about the change as much, and I’ve heard a couple opinions over the years that changes really aren’t required until Preliminary. However, there are other disciplines like H/J where changes seem almost necessary even from the pony stages.

So I ask you, wise readers- what do you think? Forget the change and focus on getting my lead over the fence/Second level wondrousness? Or, get the change and figure out the counter canter later?

Dreaming of jumping

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Britt

2 weeks isn’t the longest amount of time we’ve gone without jumping by any stretch of the imagination, but still, with the impending show season looming in front of us, it seems like we will never have a chance to prepare.

Yesterday we got 2 inches of snow (I’m sure those up north are snickering right now) and expecting (supposedly) another 8-12 inches in the next couple days.

It’s enough that our outdoor arena, which was already under water from the melted ice, will be unusable for some time.

Some time as in, until spring.

Please, spring, hurry. We need you.

Carolina International Clinic Recap: Jumping

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Britt

It seems like it’s been a long time coming, but the moment is finally here to discuss how our first Training course went.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s talk about the warmup. Lizzie Snow handled warmup, and I was glad for it. I won’t lie when I say I was fairly shaking in my boots with trepidation the whole week leading up to this, and visions of destroying my horse’s confidence by landing him in the middle of a meter-high fence plagued my every other thought. So the first thing I did when I got to Lizzie was tell her- I’m anxious about this, this is our first try at this level, and please don’t let me die (OK, so I didn’t say that last bit). Thankfully Lizzie exudes a kind of quiet confidence, and kept us going and talking us through each and every fence.

One thing we talked about before warmup was the approach we would be using that day. Instead of riding the cross rail, then the vertical, then the oxer as I normally do, she wanted each rider to start over to oxer. It could start at a small height and grow to the competition height, but jumping the oxer would help horses start thinking forward, and help the riders not focus on the spot. Also, an ascending oxer would help horses with their shape over the fence, but ending with a square oxer as you will typically see in the ring was key. We would finish over the vertical before going in the arena to reinstate balance, and that was it. A lot of what she also focused on with me was getting the forward canter (Foster feeling quite on the sluggish side, as per usual) and not losing energy through the turns. We also revisited the vertical a couple extra times because I started pumping to it, and Lizzie wanted me to have a quiet upper body and get a balanced ride to it before going in the arena.

After that, we caught our breath for a hot second before starting our course. At this point in time I think we were both a little tired, but I was not going to quit now, and did my best to keep the forward pace through the course. Where I got into trouble was the second one-stride combination coming out of the corner. We lost impulsion at the last stride, making it over the vertical but not forward enough to jump the second element. Totally understandable refusal, and after standing about like a deer in headlights thinking the clinicians would talk to me about it (they didn’t – whoops), I picked up my canter and re-approached.

Following the course, Bobby Costello talked to us about how it went. He thought that Foster was acting a bit like a deadhead (which he maybe was that day) and that I needed to give him a lot of extra support in the energy department. The big observation he made was regarding my elbows. While in my mind I am following his mouth, every time my elbows come back I am actually taking a little of his forward canter away. In Bobby’s words, even if it’s only 1% that I’m taking away, over the span of the course that adds up and eventually saps my forward energy. Instead, I need to think about pushing my elbows towards the fence. He praised Foster for being game going through the one stride on the second go, and decided we wouldn’t revisit that particular element. Instead, we went back through fences 1-6, which included the oxer-to-vertical one stride, focusing on pushing my elbows to the fences.

Although he took out the last fence, the second course was a much better ride. It felt much less sticky, even though Foster ignored my ask for a simple change up to fence 3. Bobby’s advice on this was that we need to get the lead immediately after the fence (2, in this case) and if we can’t get it, canter on. Foster will absolutely be visiting simple change bootcamp soon, because that nonsense doesn’t sit well with me. I also realized that I am not helping with my tendency to lean left, essentially blocking him from picking up that lead after fences. Responsibility on both ends, I guess.

Before we left, Marc also chimed in, saying that it would ride smoother if I remembered that bending lines are like combinations, and not to ride them as completely separate fences. This particularly applied to the ride from fence 1 to 2.

For myself, I think increased fitness would have made this task a lot easier for both of us. Looking back I really did squeeze in just a few jump schools to get ready for the event (my calendar says 3-4 jumping days since November) and that probably wasn’t enough to get us in jumping shape. Foster and I both came off the first course winded, and after the second course we definitely earned our couple days off. But improving our cardiac fitness (and my calf strength, ha) should make getting the forward canter easier, and leave him with enough leftover energy to be more responsive to my cues.

And so we end our recap of the clinic, with a bevy of information to ponder while the winter storm keeps us locked away. All in all, I found the clinic to be a massive success in that we didn’t die, I didn’t wet my pants, and we have a lot of homework that will prepare us for success our next time out. Huzzah!

Media Mania

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Britt

Wednesday night I had the most amazing jump school with Mr. Fosterpants. J came out to be that voice in my head again and was able to take a bit of video. We focused on putting together some related distances, including a 3 stride line and a 4 stride bending line before putting it all together in a Training sized mini course. I shortened my stirrups another hole and really started feeling my mojo come back the more successful spots we had.

Bending 4 stride line 3’3″

Honestly, this schooling was exactly what I needed before going into the clinic next week. While not 100% perfect, if I ride like that I don’t think I’ll feel like a total fool in front of the likes of Will Faudree and friends. This was even an improvement over the jumping we did last weekend, which I also happen to have a ton of videos of!

Last weekend, using 9′ ground poles

Gymnastic 1 stride-bounce-1 stride

Jumping a skinny

Single Oxer in which I pump then he dies

I have even more videos, but at the risk of either boring everyone to death or taking up all the bandwidth, I’ll keep them over here. As a visual person, all of these though have been excellent tools in seeing what is going on and developing the feel for the right canter and position.

This weekend we’re going to do one more jump school, which ideally will cement all this positive juju in place, followed by a dressage lesson Sunday where I am hoping we will pick apart these lackluster lengthenings. Hoping you all have a great weekend filled with happy rides!

The Voice in my Head

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Britt

Saturday’s ‘lesson’ with A and J was a success in that they really helped me find the ‘feel’ for the canter I’ll need at Training level. We dabbled in several different exercises, which I will do a better recap of in the next couple days.

For now, I am trying to allow their voices to fill my head- specifically the following phrases:

More canter, more engagement!

Thumbs on top! (this having to do with a following elbow/hand)

Use your outside rein, dammit! (shoulder popping is for the dance club)

Lower calf on!! (Keep the whole leg on, not just my ankle/spur kicking)

Upper body back! (pumping is *not* attractive)

dammit can I not ride with my mouth closed?

(and most importantly…) You can do it!

A + J (behind the camera) are my ~~new schizophrenic influences~~, er, best friends!

Weekend Wrap Up: Showjumping Lesson

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Britt

I decided to be an opportunist this weekend and scheduled both a jumping lesson and a dressage lesson for Fosterpants, before his injections lay him off for a couple days this week. Because our normal showjumping guru has left town for the winter, I tried a lesson with a trainer that I enjoy chatting to in the aisle when she comes, thinking it couldn’t hurt to have a fresh pair of eyes on us over fences.

It turns out I have several habits that were quickly picked up on. Foster is bulging through his shoulders in both directions because I am using more inside rein than outside aids, and my upper body is getting stiff because I’m not breathing.

We started with a trot pole exercises that was deceptively hard- trot through poles set for working trot, then two strides later trot through another set set up for a more collected trot. This got Foster paying attention to my aids quite quickly and placed the responsibility on him to figure it out. Once we were able to go through this in both directions we moved onto gymnastics- a bounce to a one stride, where I learned that I was leaning left, causing Foster to drift, and I need to think about keeping even weight in both heels.

We then altered the gymnastic to just a one stride, and added on a few other fences to make a course. So one stride, then brick wall, followed by diagonal 5 strides combination ending on the pink oxer that I hate so much.

I got a couple deep spots in, which is irritating, and had a discussion about moving forward to the fence and thinking of attacking it rather than letting it come to me and focusing on the distance. I’m hoping to continue building confidence in this mentality and give it a whirl in a couple weeks when we get back to jumping again!

And also, I need to shorten my stirrups. Boo.

Throwback Thursday: Ivan

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Britt

Thinking it would be fun to do a mini throwback series on the horses of my past. Afterall, they are the ones that made me the rider and the horsewoman I am today, for better or worse. So starting with the most recent, here’s Ivan, the sometimes terrible.

Name: Ivan
Registered Name: Padi’s Classic Mountain
Breed: Irish Draught (RID)
Color: Grey
Height: 16.2h

Ivan was one of many horses that seemingly fell into my mother’s lap. A friend of hers had a 2 year old Irish Draught stallion, and simply didn’t have a place for him anymore. So we acquired him, at a hefty 90% discount off his weanling price. The intention would be to raise him for another year, maybe breed a couple mares, then send him through the Irish Draught stallion approval process and sell him as a Registered stallion.

I, as silly teenagers ~~who have watched one too many romantic horse movies~~ tend to do, was immediately drawn to this stallion’s quirky temperament. We’d play tag in the field, and he let me play dress up with him on occasion.

Baby Ivan wears the monkey hat

He grew up for a year, then Ivan put on his big boy pants and went off to training in order to pass the rigorous Irish Draught Horse Inspections. After passing, he came back home, was bred to a few mares, then went down to Georgia to go on consignment with a trainer.

Ivan at his inspection

It was some months before things went wrong. All that raging testosterone was getting to his head, and after her latest fall, the trainer’s husband forbade she ride him until he was gelded. We agreed, he was gelded, and he came back home. Where I promptly fell back in love with this quirky big grey.

First ride on a freshly gelded Ivan

As they say, the rest was history. For the most part. I retrained him in a more classical dressage way-of-going (as opposed to dressage in an elevator bit), and slowly we started working on showjumping courses.

Ivan’s second showjumping competition

Both dressage and showjumping progressed somewhat slowly, as sometimes Ivan’s personality could be… unpredictable. I never knew if it was Jekyll or Hyde that I’d be riding that day, and I can recall lessons where the trainer just told me to ‘wait it out’ until he saw fit to stop galloping a 20 meter circle. Once he got going, Ivan was a train, and his bucks were unbelievably athletic for a horse his size. A fractured ankle (thanks to Ivan) and a maybe broken hip (thanks to Ivan) put me out of commission and were part of our slowish progress. Yet still, I loved him.

Showing first level for the first time

Because of this unpredictability, I decided Ivan would be shown as a dressage horse only. We showjumped at home, jumping 3’3″ courses and the occasional 3’6″ fence with ease.

Athletic, and a bit on the exuberant side

Luckily, his dressage was fairly good as well, and we started campaigning at the local shows at First level, and the ribbons started ~~finally~~ coming our way. 1923424_541191201449_618_n

@ FENCE

Even though he had his terrible moments, in his 6 year old year Ivan started to calm down, and which the naughty side still existed, it was only appeared once in a blue moon. 95% of the time, he was a sweetheart, and a great dressage partner. He toddled my 10 year old sister around over crossrails, and even walked and trotted about with my husband (as his can-you-deal-with-horses test when we started dating), who had sat on a horse only once before.

Ivan and his best friend Bo

Ivan was my heart horse, and for the most part was an exceptionally cuddly creature. He wouldn’t let me bridle him without a big neck hug and a raspberry into his cheek, insisted on grabbing the hose at bath time, and had a huge love of water. Oh, and he used to get into everything- the things I pulled out of his mouth! Phones! Pens! Jackets! Santa Hats! (Sound familiar?) What wasn’t to love?

Ivan’s molar marks in a phone he destroyed

But alas, all good things must come to an end. I completed college and was forced to send him home until I could figure out a permanent salary to support my horse habit. Eventually, when no permanent job happened, and not wanting to see his talent wasted, I agreed to put him on the market. No less than 2 weeks after he sold, I received a full-time job offer with benefits. The resultant horse shopping led me to Foster, so I can’t complain, but I am still thankful to the skills Ivan taught me, and certainly happy for the memories of those years together.

Luckily, a piece of Ivan still lives with my family. Of the 2 foals by Ivan, we kept the Haflinger cross, a darling cob sized gelding named Riley. Not a mean bone here, but a quirky disposition, an affinity for playing with dogs, and a horse that I hope will see his true potential brought to light!

Riley

Goal Check

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Britt

Thanks to Viva Carlos and Poor Woman Showing, I realized that crap, it’s December, and oh yeah, what about those goals I set at the beginning of the year? Is there any chance of completing the remaining goals in the next few weeks?

The house goals have all been met, and then some- again, update post coming. Design goals- maybe there won’t be a design blog, still fiddling around with the idea so we’ll see.

One goal conquered- this brush fence!

Otherwise, here’s the list of goals I set for Foster for the winter:

~~Lengthenings, and lengthening-to-collected transitions~~ I’m going to call this checked, since we commonly practice it now, and while not perfect, it’s happening. Finally.
~~Keep hacking away at canter transitions~~ Yup, made big progress with this- still not perfect, but hacked away at, it is
School corners – showjumping style
Angled fences/combinations need to do more of this, but we started
School chevron if at all possible still not sure if this is possible?
Introduce conditioning program
~~Clip all the fur!~~ check.

Go figure the remaining goals to be met are the jumping ones. Of course, this is my weak link, especially when in the winter all I want to do is be a dressage queen. Also, if I’m honest, I find it a struggle to get time in the jumping arena after work with the current lesson schedules and Foster hasn’t cared for that arena in the dark which makes me loathe to go up there alone and jump school anyways. Phew, glad I got that off my chest. Time to grow a pair/make jump schools happen on weekends/find a buddy to watch me jump at night, I guess. Ugh.

Why, yes, I do fancy myself a DQ sometimes.. ill-fitting boots and all.

Some other stuff going on that I haven’t decided if I want to share yet publicly.. otherwise it’s all about the house and updating stuff before the weekend! Yay!