Rump shaker. Not really.

I went to lunge Hamper before our ride today since it was a bit chilly. As soon as I asked him to trot, I gasped in horror. He was off.

OF COURSE. Seeing as how the day before I dropped my entry in the mail for our first recognized show.

Now, sometimes he has a tendency to get very slightly hitchy on super cold days. I blame that on a tight back. But today it was ... different. It was worse, and I had a hard time telling which hind leg it was. It did start to get better the longer we went and especially as he began to snort and blow and stretch over his back. I took that as a good sign.

I decided to hop on to see what I felt under saddle. He felt normal at the trot. Normal on both diagonals. Willingly picked up both canter leads. No problems at all. Hmmm.

Finally, I asked him to leg yield to the left (so away from my right leg). AH! Some obvious resistance there. Well at least I had found something. He was happy though, and was willingly forward. After I untacked him, he also was a bit of a dickhead about picking up his hind feet for me to pick out his hooves and otherwise root around for any issues.

It concerned me enough that I grabbed the vet (who was already at the farm) for a lameness exam.

I trotted Hamper back and forth. We flexed him. We palpated his back, hips, stifles, hocks. I lunged him again for the vet without tack. He looked considerably better by now.

The vet pronounced him sound. Passed the flexions. NO REACTION at all to palpating his back or hips. No swelling on his legs or any other obvious problems. This sort of baffled me as I maybe would not have pronounced him SOUND at this point. He's not exactly lame, but he is hitchy and off.

The Hamper gets what the Hamper wants.
Massage? Coming right up!

The conclusion is that Hampton needs the chiro ASAP. My gut feeling says his hips and or sacrum is out again. Possibly other things. That appointment, plus a massage for His Highness, will happen ASAP. In the meantime, lots of stretchy work for him and we will back off on collected work. It never hurts to just work on stretching and suppleness anyway. I feel like I should keep his muscles moving.

So much for those new tall boots I had my eye on! :/

Now entering FLCH.

FLCH - Flying lead change hell.

It's time for us to start flying changes. I have purposely not taught changes to Hampton because I really wanted professional help/instruction through this process. Also, he needed a better counter canter. That's established now. So all the pieces are there. I have help. And Hampton is ready.

I could have taught the changes the "hunter jumper way" but I didn't want to lay that foundation on him thinking it may make it more difficult to get the jump and tempis later on.

We made an attempt at them on Saturday (my instructor has also encouraged me to start them).
I will say that it was a big hot mess. Kicking out. Legs flying every where. Cussing. Laughing. But hey at the end we did get 1 clean change. It wasn't pretty but it was clean. You have to start somewhere!

I may try them using a pole next time to help him understand what I want.

It's also time to start shopping for this:

Warning: This post is ridiculously precious!

The barn manager/owner has 2 mares in foal this season to Harley (the cremello WB stallion I have blogged about in the past). One of those mares, Sprite, finally decided to foal last night around 2 a.m. She was TWO WEEKS overdue, had been waxed for days, looked miserable and had started to develop edema around her belly. About time, mare!

It's a colt! He is pretty big and super adorable, as all foals are.

But this video ... is just ... too cute for words. Turn up your volume.

And more photos of the little squirt:

Fresh outta the oven!

Back in the Day: Night Out

Top hat. No helmet. Shame on me in 2002.

Night Out - or Bart - was not a horse my family owned. I was a catch-rider of sorts for him in the summer of 2002 while I was still at college. Bart is a big (by Morgan standards, 16.1) black gelding who had had a solid start at a hunter. By that I mean he did not start out as a park saddle horse and then started wearing hunter tack, as is common in the Morgan breed.

I have video of us showing at the Morgan World Championships in Oklahoma City. It is by far my favorite area to ride in. You have to trot down this long tunnel under a sign that says "Gateway of Champions." The tunnel is dark and spooky and makes for some interesting rides into the show ring. Once you hit the ring, you are almost blinded by the light ... (revved up like a deuce, 
another runner in the night).

I loved it!

Despite the fact that his owner is sort of a loon, we did well. She made sure to tell me that the last time she showed him in OKC, he did nothing but buck. Thanks, lady.

Here is video of the World Champion Amateur hunter pleasure class. It started out with close to 50 entries and they divided us into 2 heats. Unfortunately, I was in the second heat. Which meant that while I was THRILLED to get a call back into the final, we didn't get to rest at all. It was exhausting for both me and poor Bart who was not fit at all.

I had no horse left by the second canter. Poor Bart. He tried but he was so tired.

I was also pooped!

Pretty boy

(My little sister was the one video-ing ... so ... it stinks. haha. Later in the class she actually loses me and can't find me with the camera. I think there were 22 horses in the ring at the time!)

I'm pretty proud of this because not only did I show IN A SNAFFLE on a horse with very light plate shoes, but we actually got a first place vote from one of the judges! Sadly, the other 2 judges didn't put us on the card but what can you do. In today's Morgan hunter classes, it's rare to find a horse in a snaffle. And rare to find one without weighted shoes and long toes. It's sad, really. Not a one would make it over a fence.

After this season, Bart was sold. His new trainer put weighted shoes on him and put him in a double bridle and proceeded to dominate Morgan hunter pleasure for several years. He was a nice horse and a good boy. I was happy to be part of his younger years - and win with him without resorting to riding him like a park horse. :)

Like flying a kite.

As if right on cue, Hampton had a major case of the spring stupids today.
I knew it as soon as I cross tied him. There was excessive RaptorSnorting (Hampton's trademark sound). Dancing in the crossties.
Pooping.
And generally giving me a hard time. (He got several elbows to the ribs).

I did not hesitate to break out the lunging equipment. I lunged him for maybe 10 minutes and he was frisky and tense but not badly behaved. However, when I got on I knew right away that he was no where near relaxed. Also, it was sleeting and snowing. Yay. (Oddly, it wasn't that COLD ... but the precipitation was annoying)

So, I set up the below exercise. Four groundpoles in while we trotted over on a 20 meter circle until I felt a little more confident that my horse and my butt were not going to part ways. He never did anything super bad (except spooking at GOD KNOWS WHAT), but I like to prevent things before they happen.

After I felt his back start to relax, we did leg yield off the rail - over the poles - leg yield back to the rail. This turned out to be a super exercise and almost immedately his back relaxed even more and he was swinging in the trot. I even snuck in some shoulder-in and sitting trot. He was still fresh but I thought hey, for a nasty day at least I was sort of productive and called it quits. Even after our ride he was STILL snorting and dancing in the crossties. DAAAYMN horse! He likes to remind me sometimes that he is indeed 3/4 TB and also not even 6 years old yet. This behavior not even a week after he packed me around at a horse show and slept through a leadline class.

Here is my awful drawing. The red lines are the 4 ground poles. The blue dots are the track we took.

In which we somehow score a 71.5 in Second Level.

So this happened yesterday:

That gave us first in a class of 4 other people - including my own instructor!

We also won the First level group (consisting of people doing First 1 and a couple of us doing First 3). We earned a 69% and some change in that one.

I tacked Hampton up at home, tossed him on the trailer and at the show we unloaded and went right to the warmup ring. No lunging. No nuthin. He was all business and was right there for me every step of the way.

Our First Level test was good ... but I know it can be better. Out first test is always more choppy. Also the footing was deep and wet (with a big puddle by C) and I think Hampton was being a little bit of a footing snob about the lengthenings. But we got it done. We nailed the canter loops and leg yields were decent.

The Second Level test was perhaps the best test I have ever ridden. I am beginning to think that both Hampton and I just do better in more difficult tests because there is less chance for our minds to wander.

(seriously - I have ridden Training Level tests and actually caught myself thinking about what to eat for dinner in the middle of a 20m circle ...)

The test wasn't perfect - in fact I think the judge was VERY VERY generous - but I was thrilled with it. I think at a rated show, we would have pulled off a 64 or 65%. I'm not putting myself down here, the test was great, but I'm a realist and I don't think it was 71% great. :) The judge even complimented me at the end of the test and said my simple changes were "seamless." ...!!! I almost laughed because this is what we struggle with most in that test! Our changes were good, but he was a bit braced against me and somewhat on the forehand. We got an 8.5 on those movements. I dunno maybe it feels worse than it looks?! I wish I had video!

We have a long way to go in Second Level still. As you will see from the photos, he still needs a much more uphill balance. I need to pull my shoulder's back, sit down and point my toes forward. I need to work on sitting the damn medium trot in which I feel like a wet sack of potatoes flopping on his back. Which then causes him to go downhill. Blargh. But it will come. :) I am just being picky here. These are all very normal issues in a developing horse (and rider!).

Ok I done being critical of myself. :)

The day was a total blast. I first saw Hillary with the gorgeous Houston and she immediately told me of their incident that morning when their trailer came unhitched from the truck!! Everyone was OK and it ended up not being a big deal but talk about your worst nightmare! Anyway both of them are always so well turned out. I watched them warm up a bit and they looked great. So smooth and quiet. You'll have to read her blog to find out how they did but I will say they also had a fantastic day!

The other gals from my barn also did really well. A couple more blues and good rides.

The boy ended up winning a blue ribbon in his leadline class, too! HAHA!! This was at the very end of the day. We had started drinking beer and mimosas at 10 a.m. ... and he rode near 5:30 p.m. So ... I was impressed he did not fall off. haha.

Now on the to the good stuff. Photos!!!

Hillary and Houston

Houston looking dapper in his cooler.

First Level test 3 

The Boy told me to wink here ... so I did, and it just looks like I have
something in my eye. Meanwhile, Hampton looks cute. haha.

Hillary hired herself a groom. hahaha :)

It would be nice if I would put my shoulders back.

I love the scenery at this farm.

Hampton's counter canter is awesome despite the fact that I need
to sit my ass in the saddle.

This is just ... priceless.

Second Level Test 3

As usual, Hampton acquired a fan club.

They gave him 2 blue ribbons.

Upcoming

We're hitting up a schooling show on Sunday. It's very local. Maybe 3 miles away?

(we did a mini trial at this farm last summer)

 I still feel so lucky to have so many shows to choose from here in Lville. I mean literally. I have to pick and choose! Back in Indiana I did not have that luxery at all. And there are so many shows that are 5-10 miles away from us here. It still blows my mind. I love it! They range from fun schooling shows to rated horse trials to CDI dressage shows. Take your pick!

Random purty photo from summer. When grass was green.

My only goals right now are to get down the centerline as much as possible before we hit up the rated shows. I need to knock off the rust on my end, especially. Hampton is fine. He is a good boy and I am at the point where I can trust that he will hold up his end of the bargain now at shows. (i.e. he is not going to act like a buffoon).

And I cannot tell you how great that feels.

The problem is me. I need to ride for every point and get better at thinking in the moment during tests. My mind tends to race and I end up either forgetting parts of the test or, you know, forgetting to actually ride. The only way to remedy this is to ride billions of tests.

Our last show was early December 2012.

I picked 2 tests to ride. First 3 and Second 3. I decided to ditch Second 1 because for some friggin reason I find it so hard to memorize (that's the one where I forgot 2 entire circles the last time). It has a choppy, annoying flow and I just generally hate it. Second 3, while BRUTAL, is easier for me to memorize and has a much nicer flow. We can execute all of the movements and while we need polish, I don't feel like we are going to totally flounder around. ... famous last words ...

But ... the best part is that the boy is going to do the adult lead line class on Hampton. He is very excited about "making his debut" (he says) and that afterwards he will now be a "true dressagist" and asks if he gets a card that says so? Do not worry, many cameras will be on hand for this event. He has been bragging to his friends that he is going to a horse show in which I am going to "tow him around" on Hampton. I frankly almost look forward to this more than riding my own tests. Ha!

Also get to hang out with fellow blogger and member of the Giant Big Bay Goofy Gelding club, Hillary and Houston of Equestrian at Hart. Looking forward to cheering them on, too!

(Hillary, your boy should do the lead line class. How hilarious would that be?!)

Schedule for the rest of the week:
Tuesday (today): Lunge day (too cold and windy and all the pasture horses were snorting, bucking and running so I decided to make the wise decision and stay on the ground. Although Hamps was very well behaved)
Wednesday: OFF (I have to work. Hampton gets spring shots)
Thursday: Light ride due to Wednesday's vaccinations? Maybe day off.
Friday: Ride. Do homework (sraightness!!!). Maybe test elements.
Saturday: Lesson? Work on test. Clip. Clean tack. Salvage muddy boots. Try to clean beast.
Sunday: Show!