A Rash Vow: C-Rage Hits the Open Circuit

After a solid kick in the pants by our dressage clinician, I signed Courage and myself up for an open schooling show. I haven't done a rail class or an open show since I was maybe 14, so I called the show secretary on the closing date and signed Courage up for every single class we were eligible for.

yup

I'm definitely a "the more, the merrier" sort of person so I talked a girl from our barn into going with. (It was hard. Me: "hey let's go to a show!" Her: "yes!"), then we picked up another local friend, which filled out our three horse trailer. 

also finally justified a fancy stitch bridle

Two days before the show, I had the farrier pull Courage's hind shoes for the winter, then tried to practice "english pleasure" on a horse who had no goddamn clue what I wanted but thought his newly-bare hind feet were EXCITING and we had only dolphin leaping and no cantering and I had to get off and lunge. So that was positive? 

I also realized I don't ever ride in my jump saddle anymore and that was going to be challenging. Oh, and while I was making good choices, I said this to a friend:

I mean, let's be real: Courage and I have been failalicious (it's a word. i just made it a word) at shows this year and I had zero hopes of this going anywhere, especially after the dolphin leaping ride. 

I thought maybe we would practice again the next day, but completely forgot a dressage friend was in town and wanted to play ponies, and it takes like .01 seconds to talk me out of riding in jump tack these days. 

Courage was ON IT for dressage. 

And then we went to the show! To do not-dressage! 

First things first, I took too long checking in and completely misunderstood the nice woman in the office when she explained that I needed to be in the lineup for in-hand trail. I thought she meant outside the ring. 

She did not. 

So when Courage and I made it down to the ring to wait our turn, I discovered that our entire class was already in the ring doing their thing and we were too late and not allowed in. Whoops. My bad. Whatever. We took the opportunity to hang out on the rail and Courage was pretty bug eyed about the experience, but he didn't kick anyone or lose his shit, so I counted it a win and stuck him back at the trailer. 

I should mention, it was a super gross rainy day. And I brought the fixings of apple cider mimosas because Courage relaxing isn't the only problem I have. As I told my friends, I was going to drink until showing sounded like a good idea. 

one of many refills

Possibly I lost count of the mimosas, but there were several hours of western and trail for us to chill out during. We needed yeah all of them.

Oh my. And then we had to tack up, at which point I started sorely regretting the chili I got from the concession stand at lunch. 

peer pressure makes it happen!

But Alyssa was on hand to document! And dammit I paid my $40! And mimosas! There was a fortuitous break in the rain, so I threw tack and and handwalked C around the indoor during the open schooling. I expected him to lose his shit about the bleachers, the barrels behind the fence, the corner all the horses were spooking at, and the huge ass steamy mirrors.

He was up and giraffe-y, but he settled in and gave zero shits about those things. So. Don't don't get me wrong--he was still super tense and looky, but he wasn't bothered by the completely new-to-him facility. He was just being green at a show. 

By the time I got on, open warm up was over. I walked some figure eights in the holding area while the class before us ran and tried to find a good place to throw up my chili. Before I settled on a spot, they called us in to the ring along with five other contestants in the W/T. 

Courage was actually being reasonable--he didn't look at the ring steward, wasn't worried about the judge, and really wasn't super upset about anything I expected. I locked my demon right hand into the neckstrap of his standing martingale, basically got full tunnel vision, and would have said a rosary if I were Catholic and knew it. Time to die. 

I really can't explain what happened next. Courage put his little nose down and walked like a pleasure horse. I thought I was dead for sure when they called the trot, but no. He did a lovely transition into a trot I'd say was too on the forehand and not quite tracking for dressage, but it was fine. He even stood in the line up fine and backed on cue fine. I hadn't watched anyone else in the class, so I sat there to see how it placed AND THEY CALLED US FIRST!! IN A CLASS OF SIX!! 

note death grip on martingale

DAYUM was that unexpected. 

Then we had to sit out a couple classes. We did some more figure eights at the walk and added walk/halt transitions. Not gonna lie--I was feeling a little competitive. Didn't know the little guy had it in him, but apparently he does. He even kept his back moving reasonably well and he was starting to let me put a little leg on, which was helpful for steering.

The next three classes are kind of a blur. Courage and I went out there and freaking killed it at the walk and trot. 

But every time they called for canter, no matter how I went slow, set him up, asked softly, and took my time, our canter transitions looked like this:

thank the lord for standing martingales

I'd ask for left lead and he'd leap and bolt onto the right lead. I'd ask for right and have the opposite problem. The first class was bad, the second mildly better, the third pretty bad. The good news was that it was a schooling show with a super nice judge. The bad news was those two Equitation classes we signed up for are pattern classes with an assumption that your horse is broke. Which mine is apparently rather not.

And hey. If I'm going to use the allowed schooling equipment at a schooling show, I like to at least demonstrate to the judge why I feel the need to ride my nice horse in it... so there's that. Also fun fact--I didn't really watch any of the other riders other than trying not to hit them (we never really got close), but in several classes, we actually placed above people. I'd say they must have really screwed up, but even with his canter reactions, Courage was still ON IT walk, trot, halt and back. So. Dunno. We can go from flailing to perfect english pleasure trot, so that's cool.

and sometimes after the flailing, the canter was ok

I told my squad that if I had one class without bolting, C was done. It was our last rail class with just one other rider on a nice broke horse.I REALLY REALLY REALLY didn't want to do the pattern classes under those conditions, but I also can't end on a bolty note. 

Off we went. 

W/T were of course fantastic. Left lead actually also went great. C picked it up and cantered around about half the arena before the judge called a walk transition. We changed direction. You open show folks know the drill--walk and reverse, then canter again. All day, I'd been ignoring the walk/canter transition and just picking it up through the trot. I did that again. C'mon horse--ONE decent-ish transition and our day is over. 

And as a friend described it, "I heard the crowd react and thought 'I hope Aimee is ok'". 

Sigh. 

Yeah. Saved the best for last apparently. We went BARRELING and LEAPING across the arena. The positive here is I totally got my new most favorite flail pic.

uphill much?

I mean, this is not my first rodeo with C and he's not a dirty horse, so I was never in danger of falling off. Despite how it looks, I really wasn't in danger of having my face bashed in either. It was just frustrating because we have these problems conquered at home, but the show environment brings it out in him. Which is why we're there.

Again, it's a two person class that I'm clearly not winning. The judge looks at me once I have C more or less contained and goes, "let's just try that one again". He was a Ray Hunt/Tom Dorrance natural horsemanship dude with a good head on his shoulders and he talked us through another transition and C kept his little brain in his little head and it was totally reasonable. YAY JUDGE. YAY COURAGE. YAY AIMEE.

finally justified this super attractive cooler I bought last year

We made it out of the ring, I slid off, and the tendons in my lower leg promptly seized up from that much abuse. Courage was steaming and covered in sweat, but dammit, we had a class with two good canter transitions. I'll take it.

our barn buddy cleaned up (top row), but we didn't do too bad either (bottom row)

The judge had some nice things to say about Courage and I. We even chatted with another competitor on a super cute, super broke horse and she assured me she'd ridden him through worse before it got nice and that Courage would get there too. 

pretending he's a fancy show horse with Alyssa

So. All in all, it was an excellent learning experience. Courage and I both really need the outings and the ability to just keep going back into classes. Usually this is the sort of thing you can do at jumper shows, but jumps are kinda not our thing and I don't want to go there anymore, haha. We will definitely be looking for more opportunities like this.

Oh and that rash vow? We not only won a class with more than three horses, we also placed above other competitors in more than one class. 

Apparently there's a craft project on my horizon.

Flatwork and Bodywork and Something Works

Daytime silhouette

Courage is a touchy guy, but he generally takes good care of himself. This past shoeing cycle was a little dicey--not only was I dealing with bad feet, but he just has some weird on/offness that looked more like body soreness than a deeper problem. I called our bodywork lady and got a time set up for Monday.

When she came out, she asked what specifically I'd been dealing with.

"He's funky about his right side," I said.

Funny shot, but I liked it

She started working around his poll. "Well that's why he can't turn right," she said as she got some big releases.

And then six inches farther back "and that".

Another six inches "and that".

And so on pretty much all the way down to his sacroiliac area, which was fine. Yay for good hips, I guess.

It did seem to help.

It was probably forty minutes or an hour of solid working on the little bay horse, but it did seem to help him. He covered more ground where he stood and was willing to hold his back legs farther apart. (Don't misunderstand--he still is and always will be narrow behind. His back feet just don't have to be, you know, touching or something.)

After all the work she did, she wanted the little man to have a solid 48 hours of rest. Wednesday was his first day back. I took him for a hack in the field in his jump tack, figuring we'd just do some long and low at all three gaits.

Look at us not falling towards the arena fence.

My immediate impression was "whoa, don't remember his back swinging this much".

After a good long walk, I picked up the reins and Courage tried to stick his head up. I put my leg on, he went on the bit, and the rest of our ride was pretty much magical.

He really stepped things up to a whole new level. I haven't been able to get this kind of connection in his rubber mullen before. As long as I kept him forward, Courage was stepping up from behind and going into the contact like a pro. He moved off both legs and was incredibly pleasant.

I'd say he's pretty fancy

Courage is starting to feel less green and more like a horse that's just straight up fun to ride. I'm thrilled with my horse and happy with how I rode and completely jazzed for how he's going to look when this sort of correct work is an every day occurrence.

Yay for flat work and body work!

Demand and You Shall Receive - Saturday Quickie

Trottin' so fine

(My thanks to JenJ for the title wordcraft!)

After two days of intense good flatwork, I wrapped up the week by actually having redheadlins as a witness to the general badassery.

It wasn't that I did anything so differently--just that I stepped up and wouldn't take no for an answer. For anything. Walk out of the cross ties, promptly. (I absolutely refuse to drag horses around.) Stand at the mounting block. March when I say go. Stop when I say whoa. Keep your body straight. Pick your shoulders up.

ZOOM

Courage and I are just in the zone and it feels amazing. We've hacked away at canter lengthening (not dressagy, but for jumping) for I dunno, months? And yeah, Friday I pushed the reins forward and got this:

BOOM.

DO WORK.

And it totally pays off.

He does this now

After a nice long warmup and then some chatting stretchy walk on the buckle, Courage carried on like a champ, complete with 3 loop serpentines up and down the arena with flying changes both ways.

OH YEAH YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

I'm really getting a feel for that forward, flowing stride that makes Courage stand out and he is making tons of progress.

Cross your fingers for a lesson Sunday. :-D

In Search of Confidence: Seeing Progress

He is the best at series posts.

NOTED: Contest results will be up tomorrow!!

I decided to turn this into a series, because it seems to be an on-going theme for this blog anyways.

Last time, I talked about the things I'm doing to actively develop my confidence so I can be the best rider for my horse. I guess I should maybe do a post about how the MOST CRITICAL INGREDIENT is always always ALWAYS the right horse.

But maybe this entire blog is about that. Let's call that the meta narrative and move on for now.

So with all the work I've been putting in on developing confidence, I scheduled a lesson with our awesome biomechanics teacher on Saturday. I decided to do flatwork because A) I wanted some solid guidance on what to work on and B) my newly-found jumping confidence needed to marinate a little more before I wanted to test it in a lesson. Let's just say lessons haven't been universally positive experiences for me and I want to let the confidence take root before pushing it like that.

downhill over the vertical like badasses

This is more my issue than the instructors' and I know that. I'm not knocking instructors, but I'm playing the hand I have, so easy on the lessons for right now.

Anywho. We did our flat lesson. We worked hard. Courage had brilliant moments and flailing moments (yeah, he still does that apparently) and I rode through it all and made progress and at the end, I almost felt a little bit cheated.

Because at no point was I afraid for my life or worried that I'd get hurt or anything. It was just a lesson. There was no super human feat of courage (ha!) or mental fortitude to just survive the hour. No, I kept my brain engaged and learned the whole time and that was it.

Huh.

yup, did that

Then comes Monday. My mental schedule indicated that it was jump day, so redheadlins set up a fantastic course. She's doing this great thing right now where a course goes from cavaletti up to a large (for my brain) oxer with everything in between. That way we don't have to get off and on all the time and we ride forward and jump and the bigger jumps build themselves into the courses. I 100% approve.

Courage and I had a solid warm up, then rolled through the cavaletti. I was happy with how I was riding and the decisions I was making.

We got close and I wasn't terrified.

And then we jumped. And it was awesome. I had my leg on and eyes up and rode forward and the little man was brilliant. He was balanced and listening. It didn't even matter how tall the fences were. I pointed him at them and rode straight. When he said "are you sure?" I could answer "YES!" It wasn't my best jumping form of all time, but it was hands down the most comfortable and confident I have ever been jumping on him.

I'm completely thrilled. Utterly happy. Can't wipe the smile off my face. It feels so good to be back here.

What a great birthday present.

I Say Flatwork, You Say Dressage

photo via HorselessinHalifax

I think blogging about flatwork on a green horse with no pictures is beyond dull. Especially when it's a really good green horse who isn't doing anything theatrical or crazy or anything--he's just working through the learning curve and figuring out how to be the best at things like bending and trotting and responding to my leg.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

All that is out the window when I ACTUALLY HAVE PICTURES though. :-)



Per our lessons recently, we've been doing a TON of work on adjustability within the gaits. I usually do walk/halt walk transitions and throw in circles as needed until C-rage decides that he can deal with contact. Good news: the tantrums aren't severe and have gone from "an entire session" to "3-5 minutes". I can deal with that.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

Then we trot. Our biggest obstacle right now is that Courage gets a little stuck/locked up in his neck, right about where the standing martingale sits. I can work to remove that tension by doing a lot of forward and back at the trot and bending on a circle. Again, this used to take a really long time to accomplish, but as Courage learns just what it is I want him to be the best at, he's getting more and more responsive.

A big part of this is just taking my time and letting his body develop a new default and muscling. This whole concept is in direct opposition to his years on the track, so I don't get angry or flustered--I just set him up to succeed, day after day after day.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

It's the same in the canter. In order to jump well, I need him to understand (and obey) forward from my leg. NOW. I also need him to come back. S has had us play with lengthening down the long sides and then a small, collected circle at the ends of the arena. What I really love about this exercise (and the many, many repetitions) is that the small circle itself serves to collect the horse--I just have to keep him active and straight.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

And it's coming together. I don't see huge incremental leaps, but I'm getting consistent, steady improvement. When these pictures were taken, it was the first time ever that Courage gave up the brace in his neck at the shortened canter and really made like a ten meter circle. He's getting it.

It just takes lots of flat work.

So much flatwork.

ALL THE FLATWORK.