Weekend Fun

We had an amazing dressage ride yesterday. Izzy just gets better and better and may I say I love my saddle. It's just a joy to sit in.



I just pretended I was Edward Gal and she was Voice.

Inclement

I literally rained all day yesterday. I know that's normal for other parts of the country, but really and truly, it is unheard of here. I got Izzy out and lunged her in her halter. She was forward and kind of batty, probably because it was so cool that she just felt good.

When I took her to the barn to groom and let her dry out, she was even more batty. Constant wiggling, moving around, spooking at stupid stuff in the cross ties... not gonna lie, I was kind of glad I didn't have time to ride. It's not that she was so very bad, but that she's capable of being so very good that it's hard to be positive when she's even a little bad.

Dressage ride today, then she gets tomorrow off, and we'll see what's going on Sunday.

Also, we're trying out a different jump saddle next week. Cross your fingers for us.

I Did It!

Yep. I dragged out the jump standards.

I set a cross rail and a vertical. However, since the lowest hole on the standard is higher than I was comfortable with, I quickly opted for two crossrails. After all, we haven't jumped in ages. More importantly, if I'm ever going to be comfortable jumping higher, I need to be comfortable jumping tiny little things.

An aside: I hate my jump saddle. Even just walking, I feel like I'm going to pitch off over Izzy's shoulder or slide down her neck. I thought I could just suck it up, but now I'm less convinced. Still no saddle hunt luck, though. Also haven't had time for wither tracings.

Anyways. Izzy remained lovely and forward as we did series of transitions to work on our coordination and responsiveness. We even had a canter-halt within two or three strides.

She loves jumping and thought the little crossrails (probably 18") were ridiculous. I felt better though--I could comfortably trot in and canter out without feeling like I was too dangerous.

Progress made towards one goal. I don't think I'm going to make the dressage lesson goal, though. I haven't heard back from the instructor and I'm quickly running out of April.

Interesting side note: I rode Izzy in our normal jump bridle, not the Micklem.

Since I got a happy mouth bit to play with, I'm back to having a bit for each bridle.

Anyways. I haven't noticed any particular difference in her way of going between bridles, BUT after I took her jump bridle off yesterday, she proceeded to rub her head all over the fence and then come up and have me scratch it.

Interesting... I'll have to ride in the Micklem next time and see if I come up with a similar result.

Hello Blogger World!

We just got back from a lovely vacation on the Oregon Coast. Ahhh.

It may be commonplace to those of you who live close to the ocean, but for land-bound people like myself, it's wonderfully refreshing.

I got out to see Izzy on Saturday. She came with my happily enough, but when I mounted to ride over to the arena, she proceeded to have a massive meltdown fit of near-ulcer proportions. She even backed through an irrigation ditch and almost spun on to the road. I decided it was not the best day to try and ride through it, so I got off and made her stand facing away from her pasture. It took a good 20 minutes of standing, followed by another 20 of lunging to reinstall a brain, but then she was ok.

Yesterday, though...

It's ok to be jealous. She is THAT FABULOUS!!!

I did lunge her briefly, just to see if she was going to be ok. She was fine.

I mounted up and off we went.

Forward.

Engaged.

With impulsion.

WOW.

We're still working out contact issues, but those are probably more my issue than hers. Our right lead canter transition is back with a vengeance. The left lead is improving. Her trot was breath-taking. Her walk was great. Have I mentioned that I totally love this mare? I do. She's the wondermare for a reason.

Folks, I think Izzy is growing up and I love it!

It's Ok to Make Noise Now

Sigh. I'm unstalking the saddle. Link is here if you want to see how pretty. I really like it and if no one else bid, I could have gotten it for the $550.

HOWEVER. It's medium-wide, which we all know is NOT OK for the wondermare. She likes wide. Passier trees are adjustable, so I called around and found someone in Colorado who could do the adjusting, but it would cost $300 + shipping AND it can only be moved about 1cm AND she only does it from wither tracings. I have a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't understand Izzy's whole "must have wide tree" thing.

Oh, and I emailed Passier the serial number, and they said it was originally a medium tree, which means it probably couldn't be adjusted out anyways. Sigh.

If anyone sees a Passier 17.5 wide jump model for under say 1k, let me know. I'm not holding my breath.

However... I remember reading that sometimes Thornhill saddles fit similarly, and I did find this:

It's the Thornhill 24k Platinum event saddle. MSRP is around $1800, so maybe one will pop up used. It does look like it has the balance I want.

Jump saddle issues aside (this is the WORST time of year to saddle hunt), I had an amazing ride on the wondermare yesterday. She just gets better and better every ride. Our lateral work off the right leg is improving, she's getting lighter and more balanced, and I'm more and more in tune with her.

I so want to take a lesson to help us progress more, but I'm taking off for vacation in a couple days and she'll just hang in the pasture for a week. I'm sure she'll be fine.

Be Very, Very Quiet

I'm stalking a saddle. If anyone hears me, they might bid and drive it up out of my price range.

Ssssh.

Ruined

I was super sore yesterday, so it seemed like a good day to do some saddle experimentation. A friend is selling two Ainsley XC saddles and she was kind enough to let us try them out.

Here is my favorite of the two:

Since it's designed to go cross country, it has a steep pommel, very forward stirrup bar, a balance point further back in the saddle and a relatively high cantle.

I've never really sat in cross country saddles. I've sat a lot in treeless saddles, a bit in dressage saddles, and occasionally in AP or close contact saddles, so this was my first forray into that world.

Unfortunately, this is how it sat on Izzy. Absolutely no way it's going to work.

Sigh. I did try lunging the mare in it with a few different padding configurations while she gave me the evil eye. I ought to know better by now, right?

I trusted in the fact that I've been really good to her lately, so I just hopped on really quick to see how it felt for me. Izzy let me know she was disgusted, but I was only on for less than 30 seconds in the round pen at a walk. Not the end of the world.

Unfortunately, those 30 seconds completely ruined me. The balance of this saddle is completely different than that of my Collegiate Alumni and it just works for me. Understand that I have short legs and a long torso, so I need something to accommodate my conformation a lot better.

Two things:

1) I realize now that my confidence issues with jumping probably have a lot to do with constantly feeling like I'm off balance because my saddle isn't helping me at all.

2) I'm going to have to break down and do wither tracings on the wondermare. I simply do not have any options available for trying other saddles and I don't have unlimited income to throw at this. Hopefully, I can draft my fellow dressage-riding boarder into helping me. She likes saddle stuff, too.

So... anyone want to buy a Collegiate Alumni in relatively good shape? I'll throw in a couple adjustable gullets.

FORWARD!!

As per my goals, this is my weekly post on how Izzy and I are tackling our issue of forward lately.

First off, here's a picture of Izzy all gussied up for dressage. She knows she looks awesome.

And another Izzy picture, this time sporting her fancy climatex wraps.

This is post workout, so she is a little sweaty, but not bad. What a lovely girl.

So we have been doing dressage lately (LOOOOOVE my new saddle), but it's finally quit raining constantly, and the track has at last dried up. Hooray! We tacked up and marched across the scary bridge for our first real conditioning work of the season. I tried to keep it simple--4 laps trot, one lap walk, twice each way. That's .8 miles trotting, or 1.6 each way, for a total of 3.2 trot miles. So far, so good.

Then it was time to canter. We did three laps of canter, then one lap of walk, twice each way. Same calculations--.6 miles cantering per set, so 2.4 total canter miles. The kicker was this: I did almost all the canter miles in two point. It was KILLER.

It was great to be out on the track, though. I got to really focus on keeping my balance even on both sides and getting comfortable up out of the tack. When I first went up in two point, I hated my saddle and thought there was no way I could ever hold my balance in it. 2.2 miles of screaming thighs later, I realized that it was not that bad. Not good, but not that bad.

It was a good workout for both of us. We walked about a mile to cool out and return our heart rates to normal.

In other news, our thinline reins worked fabulously. I'll definitely get a pair for dressage eventually. Our thinline pad showed up yesterday, so I'm excited to try it out this afternoon. I -might- be looking at jumping saddles, too. Wish me (hypothetical) luck!

Dressage, Take III

I -almost- had a jump day yesterday, but it was too pretty to ride inside and to uneven to jump outside. Plus, I really just wanted to put my butt back in the Passier. Happy feelings all around. Izzy looked adorable--I dressed her up in her dressage saddle and bridle with black polos, black bell boots, and her black monogrammed pad, plus we broke out the black fly bonnet for the first time this year.

Yes, there are pictures, but they are still on my camera. Tomorrow, my friends.

She was great. I need to work on developing more impulsion in our warmup, which will make our early work a lot smoother. She is moving better and more forward than before, but it's still not quite enough.

In other news, my thinline reins (won on ebay!) came yesterday. I'm putting them on the Micklem bridle today and we're hopefully going to gallop on the finally dry track. If it rains, we'll be jumping inside.

Buzzed

Husband finally got a car on Thursday (YAY!!!) so I got to go out and ride Friday and Saturday.

It was great.

Izzy is doing amazing on pasture board. She's relaxed, happy, and shiny. Oddly, she now also believes she doesn't need her ulcer meds and senior. I tried to give it to her, and she ate about half, then flipped the rest out on the ground.

Oh well--as long as I don't have reoccurring symptoms, I guess it's ok.

Anyways. I was using my new saddle (much love) and my breeches that I got for Christmas and hadn't used yet. They're Kerrits microcord fullseats that are AMAZING. Much butt happiness.

Izzy was great. We still had the lovely forward from our last ride, but I was doing better at regulating it. We did some shoulder in, a touch of haunches in, leg yielded, and even had a right lead canter transition. Plus, I finally seemed to remember how to half halt. Izzy tends to get more and more and more forward sometimes and ends up getting really heavy with her front end. I know not to correct with my hands, because that backs her off the contact, which is not good.

Instead, I used my 'whoa' aids for a couple strides, which brought her back to a smaller gait, then pushed her forward again. Yay rebalance! We did it a couple of times on Friday, but then Saturday, Izzy seemed to remember not to run forward through my aids, and I think I only half halted once. Insane. Love the Wondermare.