Monday, April 20, 2015

The Big Exciting Updates You've All Been Waiting For

best at poles
I feel like my blog has a shocking dearth of exciting things to talk about lately. I mean, I wanted to write a riding update last week. I was really excited about all the progress we were making. I started typing "you guys we CANTERED OVER GROUND POLES and Courage wanted to whig out but I rode like a BADASS and we FIGURED IT OUT and F*** YEAH GROUND POLES."

But like... would you read that?

No. No you would not. Not even if you were my mother.

HEADSHOT
In fact, you'd be like "SB, western pleasure horses do that ALL DAY LONG. Can't you try a little harder?"

Ok. So then I hopped on in the indoor and had THE BEST RIDE EVER for us in dressage. Walk. Trot. Canter. Both leads. Direction changes. Courage was soft and uphill and balanced and relaxed.

And I was riding alone, so obviously there is no photo evidence besides a fancy head shot.

So I was going to write a post about that, but then I realized I was literally bragging that my horse could walk, trot, and canter in a 20 meter circle in an indoor, which is like, less impressive than a horse with 30 days under saddle who can do the EXACT SAME THING.

Sigh.

doing it right eventually
I know I'm going slow with Courage because I want him to learn things the right way. I know there's no point in jumping until he's rateable on the flat, then over poles. I know I'm being ridiculous and going too slow and that I could just ram and jam and screw flatwork and I know that makes better blog fodder.

I mean, let's face it: if I was all "HELLZ YEAH JUMPING 3'6" ON C RAGE", everyone would be like "omg you're so amazing and your horse is sooooo cool". But when I say "yep cantering ground poles," even my response is "yawn hella boring moving right along".

but is it fancy enough?
All that to say: Courage and I are working away at the all-important basics. We're making, slow, steady, non-linear progress.

Oh, and I might have some exciting updates soon.

24 comments:

  1. I still write the boring ground pole posts because sometimes I just have nothing better to write about. :)

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  2. Um my 17 year old pony and I are still learning to walk and trot and canter in 20 meter circles like we are competent... Y'all are doing great and I love reading about your progress as boring as it may seem!

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  3. Green horses are a different story. I'm excited when we go down a hill without Nilla trying to rip the reins out of my hands and root. Or when we trot a circle. It's not the most exciting blog fodder, but I like to record it all so I can look back. Maybe in a year, you'll be doing big jumps and look back on this post.

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  4. I enjoy reading about your "small" victories :D

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  5. I like the little victories too! It's much more satisfying to come along with you on this type of journey than it would be to see pics of you jumping huge and cringing. I'm Team Slow and Steady!

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  6. You know what they say about the tortoise and the hare...

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    1. All I know about tortoises is that my teeny dog is TERRIFIED of them. I will have to tell you the story.

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  7. I would probably really enjoy hearing all about the ground poles, actually, because I'm a total nerd and I could talk about flat work and ground poles and basics all day long. It's my jam. (Tucker and I went realllly slow too and he turned out ok I think).

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  8. W/T/C on a 20m circle is a total win in my books :)

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  9. Ain't nothing wrong with trot poles and 20 meter circles. :)

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  10. HELLZ YEAH you are doing w/t/c on a 20-meter circle soft, relaxed, balanced and uphill -- THAT KICKS ASS.

    I AM JEALOUS and hope to get there someday! So write on with your bad self! Because it is an accomplishment and we like to hear about those!

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  11. Congratulations on a great dressage ride! Just take your time, you seem to be doing a good job with him.

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  12. This is the reason my blog has been sort of half-assed lately, nothing interesting is going on. I can't even think of a way to make the ground work and 20 meter circles I'm doing interesting to write about, let alone read about!

    I totally get the excitement over "mundane" things, though. It kind of comes with the territory with OTTBs. I was ridiculously excited when I taught Jack to cross-tie and halt on the lunge line! We haven't really graduated 20m circles yet, they're still more like something a drunk would make with a broken spirograph. Trot poles are a long way off in the future.

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  13. Dude. I got ECSTATIC over walk-trot-canter transitions and circles this past weekend. I mean, walk.trot.canter and so many circles.

    But seriously. These things add up. These are huge wins for us. Just because a horse can jump 3'6" doesn't mean they are doing it well or they're not charging afterwards on the forehand and sideways. You go girl!

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  14. I'm in the se boat as you with my 11 year old & my 6 year old. Please bring on the posts as you've more strings to your bow than I do and I cannot wait to pock up advice from those more educated than I!

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  15. I find that the best training makes for the least blog entries. Glad to hear you guys are moving steadily along with nothing exciting to report. Looking great as always. And that's a helluva head shot ;)

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  16. You completely nailed it, exactly why my blog is so slow most of the time. Good for you taking it slow and doing it right!

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  17. Hey lots of us only have pole posts. Currently I'm rocking the 2' jumps on my 3' horse. I think most of us would rather watch video of you doing piles and x rails than you scaring the shit outa us taking long ones over 3'6".

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  18. Don't be so hard on yourself for giving Courage the proper training foundation he needs! You should be proud of yourself for having patience with him and doing what you really feel he needs to be doing.

    Look at me, I have Klein who can go 3'9" but now I'm giving her time out and rocking the cross rails on my pony that needs to be started from pretty much square one. Starter Division, here we come!

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  19. Fact is, all that flatwork will pay off over fences. Any really good trainer will tell you that. I have ridden in more than my share of clinics with international trainers and good jumping always depended on good flat basics first.

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  20. I think the best part of your blog is that it is real. We can all go read the 4* riders blogs if we want fantastical and amazing. You keep it real and struggle with all the same things I do! Hello, how many times does my trainer have to tell me to stop looking down at my horse?? Does my trainer know how cute she looks from this view? Obviously not...

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  21. So glad to hear you and Courage are having some solid rides and making progress. Non-linear of course because horses. =)

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  22. My biggest fear is looking like a Western Pleasure horse...

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