So Badass

Oh yes we are the best at this

I keep meaning to write some better posts (really I do). Work is insane right now and I haven't really seen a computer, but here's a couple of shots from our adventures today!

Also he stood tied at a trailer and was a star

Trail ride with our kickass endurance friend! Courage and I did our first trot and canter/gallop in the hills and it was way too fun. Kind of trippy riding an uphill horse up a hill, but I'm excited to get used to this new normal.


Oh and if you like sparkles, check the summer sale Dark Jewel Designs is having on their super fancy bowbands!! 15% off with the code FIREWORKS14!!! 

Um yeah I might need more sparkles.

Learning to Go

Plus I had to wear this cute jacket

After watching the videos and reading the summaries of the William Fox Pitt clinic this week, I decided that the little man and I needed to step things up a notch. My goal is to get him on the lesson calendar and haul him over to the fancy trainer's barn, but before we do that, I thought we needed to address a couple of training holes.

My number one concern has been that I didn't feel like Courage had a solid "go" button. I mean, he's always going somewhere. It's just that I don't feel that I can close my leg and say "now" and have him respond.




So I went the most obvious route and threw redheadlins up on him.

Not only is she braver and a better rider than I am, but she's also spent plenty of time galloping race horses at the track. If anyone can go forward on a Thoroughbred, it's her. They had a lovely warmup and then cantered off.

I did my best to scrape my jaw off the arena sand as she effortlessly opened him up down the long side of the arena and then brought him back to do balanced canter circles in the ends. Hm. Apparently the go button is just fine.

Someday we'll have a tail.

Then it was my turn. I got to learn about galloping position, plus shorten my stirrups. We cantered around while I figured life out.

This is probably the most cantering C-rage has done since he came home with me, but in his normal style, he continued trying 110% to do everything we asked.

He is the best at galloping

Finally, I got myself more or less organized in the saddle. We turned up the long side, I adjusted my position, and his stride completely changed. For a moment, I thought he had spooked and was scooting off. Then I realized that I was riding an uphill gallop. I was nowhere near his top gear, and it felt AMAZING.

Oh yes. He has a go button.

I am excited to continue figuring him out--he definitely told me when I hit galloping position and I didn't even have to touch the reins to bring him back. We definitely aren't ready for WFP and we have more work to do before we go to our lesson. That said, THIS HORSE IS AWESOME.

Seriously. I am so excited for what we're going to do together.

Shifting Gears

I spent all morning puttering around the barn thinking, "Why in the world did I enter a show? I'm not good enough, Izzy will freak out, I'll probably just fall off and die."

Yes, completely the most rational thing ever.

Then everyone's favorite Rinsie texted to let me know that I wasn't on the show schedule. My immediate thought: Excellent!! Unfortunately, her note didn't pander to my nerves and pointed out that we were in this together. Rats.

I don't want to beleaguer the point, but I didn't even want to ride Izzy today because I felt like she'd somehow act the total idiot and I'd go flying, which is completely unfair to her. She's really a pretty fabulous horse 98% of the time (thank you Ellie for constantly reminding me of that).

I saddled up and rode.

You know, actually rode. Kept my eyes up, my weight in my feet, and my hands steady. We did changes of bend and flying lead changes (oh yes we can do those).

Specifically, I focused on shifting Izzy's gears within gaits. When we are approaching a jump, Stephanie always wants us to be in a rhythm that allows us to either speed up or slow down without breaking gait.

I'd open Izzy up and GALLOP down the long side (mare loves it!!), then shorten to the tiniest canter we could find at the end, then circle in a medium gait, then do it again. And then a flying change*.

I won't lie--I'm still a little freaked out about the whole going-to-a-ridiculously-tiny-show thing, but I feel better now. Izzy is a damn good horse and I can ride her. We may not blow everyone away with our awesomeness (although that would be nice), but we can certainly go canter around a nice little course.

PS For the fashionistas out there, I totally broke out the CO helmet today. It fits me so much better than the horrid thing I was wearing. Love!

Rebuilding Confidence

Pony mare sporting her navy amigo blanket. Stupid old blanket was rubbing even with a shoulder guard on.


Due to some bad planning on my part, I had to abridge the morning's pony activities, which made for a short ride on Izzy. Good news, though--all I needed was a short ride.

I got on and focused on directing Izzy to do something. We started by walking figure eights to let her warm up a bit. Then we trotted serpentines, again, with me focusing on sitting up and riding. When Izzy tried to get looky about the spooky bush, I took her in should-fore with an open inside rein and made her stay off my inside leg around the whole corner. Ha!

And then it was off to the races. Not only do I need to get comfortable galloping, I need to teach myself to let Izzy maintain her own pace. As Steph says, "Let her take you there". So I did. I asked Izzy to gallop by sitting up and kicking (funny how much more precise that is than tipping forward and taking leg off, haha) and then I focused on balancing over my feet while she went forward. If she backed off, I'd send her more forward. I reminded myself that this was fun on the first lap... and then it actually was.

I always think of Izzy as not being a terribly forward horse, but the more we galloped, the more she wanted to. I'd ask for trot, and she wanted to just shorten her canter. Interesting. I'm excited to develop that more.

We finished up by jumping a 2' vertical a few times. I cantered in slowly, staring at the jump. Izzy halted squarely in front of it. "Right," I said, "I didn't actually want to jump it". I circled and came again, this time at a convincing canter. I thought about what I wanted her hind legs to do on the far side of the jump, and I kept my eyes focused two strides ahead.

Boom. Jump.

Once more to make sure it wasn't luck, and we had another good jump.

My takeaway is this: I am working towards being more decisive as a rider and allowing Izzy to do her job. That's why we gallop, that's why I sit up and kick, that's why I push my hands at the jump instead of take back. It's hard for me to process mentally, but I'm getting there. Izzy is being honest with me, but if I'm going to ride her, I need to want to. Period. No pointing at a jump and saying, "well maybe I think but ummmmm" and then expecting her to go.

Where the WB Wants to be a TB

AKA "conditioning day". According to the schedule that I more or less try to stick to, we were supposed to do trot and canter sets today. I'm always torn about this. I feel like if we do concentrated dressage for a few days, then we make some real progress. The only problem is that the progress comes at the expense of our jumping. Oh well. That's why we rotate, right?

So. Conditioning. I rode Izzy all over the facility today. We did a little warm up work in the big outdoor, meandered around the indoor, walked by the dressage arena, then crossed the bridge and went to the track. Fortunately, Izzy seems to be over her 'I absolutely cannot pass the barn to cross the bridge' phase. She thought about balking today, but a little extra leg convinced her to keep going.

We did a couple trot sets to the left. I let her walk a lap, then we picked up the canter. This is an excellent way to work on forwardness, right? She got rolling along, I got settled, and then I went up to two point to lighten my seat and work on my balance.

OUCH!

I almost fell off the mare. Apparently, even though my hip is now fine, my rump is still pretty sore from our tumble on Saturday. I thought about sitting down again, but my hip improved most when I went running and pushed through it, so I stayed in two point for three painful laps.

I know how long the track is and my goal is to build our fitness while figuring out how to accurately estimate my meters/minute speed. Unfortunately, I have so much to work on right now that I can hardly keep myself out of Izzy way, much less know what's going on.

Here's a typical set: Ok, we are on a corner going away from the barn. Walk to canter transition with much fuss. Check. Correct lead. Check. Elbows bending to follow motion of her head. Check. (Turn) Allow motion to roll from my hip to my knee, not hip to foot. Check. (turn) My left foot hurts. That means I'm putting too much weight there instead of balancing centrally (turn) Rebalance. Butt hurts. Shoulders too far forward. If she spooks, I'm going over her shoulder. One!!

And repeat.

After a few sets left, we switched to the right. On the second set, I finally seemed to get it more or less together. I felt like a race jockey coming around the corner; eyes up, body balanced, hands still, and oh boy, Izzy felt it to. We GALLOPED down the stretch and around the corner, at which point I freaked. Oh shit!! Is this track even designed for galloping? What if she loses her footing? Ack! No! Whoa! Izzy did a flying lead change, then one back.

Ok, I think that's enough for today...