Prep School Hippie

It has not even been a month since we moved to the new barn, and already it feels like home. Both horse and I have easily slipped into the routine and there was pretty much no adjustment period.

The fellow boarders are all class acts. Just a lovely bunch of gals. Hampton gets more turn out time and he seems happy about that. Other than a very mild case of cellulitis (nothing compared to the scary episode this summer) last week, he's been in good shape and the time off did him some good.

So while the commute is longer, the stress has been reduced. I'll take it.

My very first riding instructor used to yell at me: "Karen - what color is your horse?!" and I would say "Bay!"
and she would say "YES, now you can stop looking at him!"
... I was 7 and didn't really get the joke until years later.
And I still have that bad habit.

We've picked back up a regular lesson schedule as well, much to my relief. I love working on my own, and doing my homework, but if I go too long without lessons I tend to get stuck in my own little world and stop pushing the envelope.

My current instructor is a keeper. She is a friend, but during a lesson we can check that friendship at the gate. She pushes me to be excellent and pushes me to try things that I would normally think was way beyond my skill level. Hampton goes great in lessons and we come away with homework to keep us busy for a while. haha.

We tried the canter zig zag from the PSG this weekend. It was pretty horrible. But that's ok because you have to start somewhere! Because it was horrible, I was able to find a few holes in the training. I'm working on addressing those issues (horse must react to the aids right now or he will hear about it!!) and I bet next time I try it will at least be improved. Maybe even somewhat resemble the actual movement. I have mad, mad respect for people who make FEI tests look so easy and flowing.

Sprinkled in between our hot mess clusterf*ck not-so-elegant moments are other moments of awesome sauce. Hampton is still developing strength, but he is turning into a dressage horse I think!

Stolen change. At least it was clean and beautiful!

Our flying changes are starting to get pretty reliable. Yes he still anticipates sometimes, but now I have the tools to help prevent that and to ride through those moments. There is rarely any bucking anymore and the collection is really improving.

Interesting that while he is anticipating here at least it doesn't look like this:

His trot is still pretty mediocre so my focus has been to direct that energy up instead of forward to try and get some cadence. Hampton has a really good idea of the passage now (I need to get video of that because he is pretty cool). So I somehow need to channel the passage into a hybrid show trot to help improve our scores in the arena.

We are aiming for a few little schooling shows over the winter (weather permitting, duh) so I can work on keeping him rideable in the arena. We'll stay at Third Level. There has been talk of doing Fourth and PSG next year. I love having a teacher who believes in us that much, so we'll see. Never say never.

Also, Florida was great. It was hot and sunny and we rarely sat still. Visited an alligator farm which was the bombdiggity because I love alligators. I think it comes from my love for Godzilla. Yes, yes I am a Godzilla fan.

Paddleboarding was also so fun. Infact we may purchase a paddleboard for next summer and venture into the big bad Ohio river.

I mean, you'd have to dodge barge traffic, and drunks with their cabin cruisers but ... could be fun?

We saw a school of dolphins while out paddleboarding, too! Neat!

Out of the sandbox: Keenland

(I'm in Florida so here's a pre-written post!)

I have lived in Kentucky now for almost 3 years and this was my first time at Keenland. Shame!

But that said, Keenland is as amazing as everyone says it is. Churchill Downs is ... ok. It has always seemed like this glorious, fun place when I watched the Derby in the past. And then I went on just a regular weekend and my opinion of Churchill changed. It is in a terrible neighborhood (a few miles from where I work, and where I carry mace on me at all times). It's a little bit dirty. It's a place to gamble and that is obvious.

But Keenland. Keenland is grand, it has a rich, expensive feel to it. It's clean and very well kept. You could almost eat off the floor in the bathrooms. I did not feel the need to carry mace in my hand there at all. hahaha. Yes, it's also a place to gamble but the atmosphere there is different. Yes you have some skeezeballs walking around, but most of the people are there for 1) the fashion show and 2) to enjoy a nice day and drink. And look important.

 I did go down for the end of the September Yearling Sales. This was a first for me and a real educational experience. Last week I went for an actual race day.

The yearlings are first walked around in one of the holding areas. Potential buyers can look at individual horses, even go up and run a hand over them. Buyers will almost always have the sales book on them - in which lists each horse by hip number (most of them did not have registered names yet but were simply listed as "chestnut filly" or "bay colt."). The book also listed a variety of things about the horse such as their breeding and how much money their sire, dam, grandsire, etc won.

Each yearling also had Xrays on file if you wanted to see them. There were vets everywhere with an iPad handy to pull up the rads, or you could speak to a vet of your choosing to go over the health records and rads if you wanted to.

One of the holding areas

Interestingly enough, VERY few of these yearlings had clean Xrays/records. Many of them had OCD, ridges, saw several with club feet, cribbers and numerous other issues. I am not sure if this was consistent throughout the sale, or if it was just because these yearlings on the last day were slim pickin's.

The size and body type varied so much I was really surprised. There were some yearlings that looked like big strapping 2-year-olds. A few looked like race-fit Quarter Horses. Some were still weedy and awkward and looked like what I would expect a yearling to look like. But clearly, these things were getting walked, muscled up and fed small children perhaps to look like they do. Yikes.

As each horse goes into the auction ring, you could either go into the ring and bid - or there was a small area just outside the door in which you could bid as well. I was careful to keep my eyes and head down when I wondered over here for fear of accidentally bidding. Although there was a chestnut colt I would not have minded bidding on.

Inside the sales pavillion. These seats are normally reserved but we sat down
without a problem since it was the last day.

Last year, this September sale sold $280,491,300 worth of horses to tell you what kind of money goes through this place. I went on the last day this year, and the yearlings on the auction block were on the "cheap" side. The million dollar babies were the week before. But still, I saw a couple of youngsters sell for more than $30,000 - not cheap in my book. And there were those that sold for $2000 or so. I believe there were more than 4,000 yearlings listed.

Keenland hosts an all-ages sale in January, a 2-year-old sale in April and a breeding stock sale in November. However, I don't think those sales bring in nearly the amount of moo-lah as the Yearling sale. There is so many hopes and dreams - and gambling - as people select what they think could be their next big champion.

When I returned for a day at the races, I was not disappointed. It was full of life and some awesome people watching. There were quite a few skanks young ladies who were bound and determined to wear their skirts on this 60 degree, windy day. They had to have been cold. I always laugh at people who suffer in the name of fashion. To each their own. We watched a few races, but didn't bet on anything. I am terrible at picking the winners. I typically gravitate toward the big boned, pretty sport horse types. They don't always win. :)

Possible yearling sales graduate?

I mean, can we talk about this?

Crowd on race day

The saddled the horses in the paddock area as they were walked around.

If you ever get the chance to visit Keenland, do so. You won't regret it.

Plus, there is no shortage of booze.

Dressage shows gone wild

We're back safe and sound from what was a rather wild last show of the 2014 season (unless we sneak in a little schooling show or two in November.)

My friend L came down and picked me and the beast up on Friday. We decided that we would attempt a different route back to Indiana in order to avoid the hellhole that is I65 and pretty much any interstate in the Louisville area. They are building 2 new bridges here and the interstate system is being totally revamped. It is annoying and awful. It better be nice when they are finished.

Can you believe that is INDIANA?!?

Anyway, our new route ended up being ... not so smart. It took us through Madison, Indiana. Which, while beautiful, ended up taking us through curvy roads, up and now large hills, many stoplights. Basically what would have been about an hour and a half drive turned into 2 and half hours. We barely had any daylight when we arrived at the show grounds. But we tacked up anyway, determined to get in a quick school.

Then it started raining. And getting cold. And BLASTING ice cold rain. And then to top it off it proceeded to get quite windy.

So, pretty much the worse environment possible to school your horse in.

There were a couple of tents set up that were whipping around in the wind. The dressage letters in the rings were blowing over. Horses were violently spooking (there were a few other people stupid enough to school during this time like we were). My friend's horse was a little spooky, so I ponied her off Hampton into the ring. I was sort of expecting a wild ride.

But no. Hampton was SOLID. Not one spook. He was so obedient I was shocked. At times he wanted to turn his butt into the wind, but he was not being naughty. I couldn't really blame him for that. We had a slow school with a lot of jogging, easy shoulder-in and leg yields. I kept it rhythmical and slow and when the rain really started to soak me, I called it a day. I think the horse was happy I finally gave up. I could not believe how solid he was! What a veteran! Very proud of his behavior in that environment.

Saturday morning was an early one. Thankfully I had braided the night before (I figured his mane was already wet, might as well put braids in). Our first ride was Third-1. Hampton warmed up like a champ! I think I am finally getting a good warm up routine figured out. My parents also came to watch and I was glad they were finally able to see Hampton look good, and not be snarky and try to launch me. ha. Our test was decent. We did have one little snarky kick out at my leg during one change. I think I surprised him with my spur. But other than that, I was happy with the test. We earned a 63% and some change from a tough judge.

My mom took this picture of us just chillin in the warm up ring.

Our second test was Third-2. Our warm up was good again but I could tell he was running out of gas a bit. I think the sudden drop in temps made him a little gassy (he had extra "sound effects" going on). The test was not our best, but not our worst. I did go off course (I forgot the damn circle where you give your reins at the canter), and we totally biffed one flying change and trotted, but I think I just warmed up up too long and wore him out. He got super buried in the poll as well and I just could not bring his nose out for the life of me. But he was not naughty or snarky and the final 2 flying changes we NAILED. We got a 61% and some change with some major bobbles. So I was happy with that. One of these days it will all come together! haha!

We really held out own against the other horses and riders and I was so pleased with Hampton's behavior and how hard he tried. I totally think we can start scoring more consistently in the mid to high 60s next year with another winter of work. Despite the cold temps and wind, the show was a blast. Our scores were good enough for 2 second place ribbons! I did not get many photos since my friend who usually takes photos for me was also riding at the same time.

My dear friend L and her horse, Lucky, also had a great show.

It's now time for vacation for both me and the horse. I am going to Florida for 5 days and Hampton will hang out and be a horse. He more than deserves it.

After that it's time to get back into a more structured lesson program.

For for now, the beach!

Stir it up

The Hamper and I have moved to a new barn.

This was not a spontaneous decision, as I did give more than 30 days notice to our previous barn and did leave on excellent terms with the barn manager.

I thought about the move and did not take the decision lightly. Our previous barn was gorgeous, convenient and the barn manager was nothing but wonderful and kind to me. She will always be a friend and I will always be thankful for her kindness. It was wonderful to leave on good terms and I wish it was always that way.

Hampton immediately settled in well. He has a huge, airy stall
where he can see everything going on.

It was mostly a collection of little things that ultimately swayed me into moving. The biggest influence was that the new barn has an indoor. It isn't huge, but it's something. And if we have another winter like last, then an indoor is going to be vital.

There will also be more eyes on my horse, and more individual attention. At the old place, the horses were often left alone from 430pm until 8 am the next day. (Yes, the actual owners live on the property but are not involved with the horses). As we all know, horses are quite capable of disaster in a very short period of time.

Moving also opens up a few new opportunities for me and Hampton. They have a couple of extremely knowledgable instructors/trainers that come weekly. It will be nice to be in a more consistent program again, as I cannot keep driving back to Indiana for lessons all the time. I am hoping to limit my Indiana trips to maybe 2 or 3 times a year. The drive is worth it but it's an expensive weekend and time consuming.

Boarding costs will be about the same, and while the new barn is farther away, it is actually only 5 minutes longer in the car since I can just hop on the interstate.

Cute little grooming bays

The new place has a lot of renovation going on (the previous owners let it go to hell), but it's coming along and the new owners are great people. The property also connects to a rather large trail system in the area. I CANNOT wait to explore that! From what I have seen there are well-groomed trails and I believe 25+ miles.  The new place also has an aqua treadmill that is also getting an update. That will be incredibly nice in helping Hampton's fitness!

The other boarders seem like a lovely, laid back group as well. Unfortunately, there was some negative energy at the previous place that also had a part in my move. 99% of the boarders I would call my friends and are awesome. But there are just certain types of people I refuse to be associated with in any manner. (And trust me, I have a high tolerance for all types of cray cray). It's great to escape that and not have to be stressed all the time when I am trying to ride.

So a fresh start for us with new opportunities.

Cheers.

Blog Hop: Other than riding

Now, That's the Spot started this blog hop.

What other activities, hobbies, or sports do you do outside of riding? 

Outside of riding, my hobbies also include:

um.

shit.

This for sure:

And sometimes I attend concerts. And by concerts I mean I follow Phish around. 

Yes, THE Phish.

... and that's about it.

Meaning, I spend way too much time and money on my horse.

Oh well!

From the judge's booth

I had the opportunity to judge a little schooling show back in August. A friend of mine from college has her own farm in Ohio and asked me to come judge. It was an easy 2 hour trip and lovely weather.

The show was filled with all types - from kids on pony packers, to those giving their green horses some experience, to a few pairs at Second and Third level. The majority was Intro and Training Level tests. I have to say, judging really gives one a who new perspective on showing. Not once was I bored, in fact I really enjoyed the job and have started to give more thought into the L program for dressage.

That said, judges do have a difficult job. They can only judge what is in front of them at that moment in time. Sometimes they make mistakes too. (I called one girl off course when in fact she was not. Geez. She handled it well though). There was only one "complaint" that come from a parent who's kid scored lower than someone else's kid and that was "the first time that had ever happened." They wanted a reason, and by that time I did not even remember which pony was which!

Anyway!

There were a couple of specific movements that stood out as a theme for the day on "Where People Throw Away the Most Points."

#1: FREE WALK. I can probably count on one hand the number of pairs that had a somewhat decent free walk all day. Sooooo many lost points here. I understand that sometimes it just does not happen (horse is nervous, rider nervous, etc). But at least make an effort. Show that you are trying. At the very least march forward. This movement can be so easy, but you do need to work on it at home. It's easy points and it killed me to have to keep giving 5s. You do not need to have a fancy, upper level, expensive warmblood to nail the free walk. ANY horse can do it.

#2: HALTS. I am the first one to admit I do not work on halts enough. A square halt doesn't happen all that often for me. That is a detail I need to work on. However, all horses can halt. Again, this is a "non brilliant" movement. All your horse has to do is stop, and stand still. If he is not square, then fine, you can probably still pull off a 6 - possibly a 7 if he is close enough to square and the judge can't really see that well at C. But if you halt, and your horse steps backward, or steps to the side, or jigs, or never actually stands still - well then you are going to get a 4 or 5 at best. Teach your horse to STOP and NOT MOVE HIS FEET. That's a good place to start.

A couple of other things I noticed:

When your horse is naughty - smile! I mean, what are you going to do? First, smiling will relax you and frankly it gave a better impression if you just smiled and kept on going, than those who got angry or frustrated and started getting after their horses. It's ok to be firm, but don't get angry.

Use of voice during your test is a -2 error. The judge can hear you cluck and say "good girl" even when you are down at A. I was not too strict about this since it was just a schooling show, but something to keep in mind.

Also, if you are scribing - try not to fall asleep during a test.

Please, and thank you!

And if you ever have the opportunity to judge, or scribe, do so!

(I've included some links to a few helpful books. Mostly I am just testing out links to Amazon.com, but do feel free to click and buy if you should desire!)

Burn that Bridge

So Harmony in the Park was a whirlwind show you guys.

But first, spoiler alert, it was a total success:

Earlier in the week (Sunday/Monday) I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning (or a virus, or possible spider bite, I'm not sure but I am NEVER this sick).



I had to call in sick to work on Wednesday after coming very close to puking in my car. Thursday I had nothing to eat at all. Friday - the day I had to leave for the show - I finally caved and begged a PA friend to write me a script for some meds to keep some stomach quiet so I could show. She was so kind to do so! Thank goodness for awesome friends!

Hamps and I loaded up and drive up to the Hoosier Horse Park on Friday. The drive went smooth, but about 20 minutes out (this might be TMI people ... sorry) .. my stomach started to act up only it was the other end this time. At this point I am like FML.

I get to the HHP, unload Hampton, make a very unpleasant trip to the bathroom and then felt fine all of a sudden.

We got in a good school Friday evening with my favorite coach from Indiana. She was a great help and Hamps was well behaved. I put Hampton to bed and spent the night with a friend who lives fairly close. I did end up having to take some stomach meds as I was still a bit queasy and knew I needed to eat something in order to function the next day.

Saturday morning was downright cold (43 degrees). So I gave Hampton a morning lunge. He looked good and we got ready for our 11:48 am ride. It was Third Level Test 2. Warm up went pretty well. Hamps was a bit stiff (normal, just some tension in his back) but we did work a lot of it out. But it wasn't quite enough as there was still some anticipating in the ring and stealing flying changes from me. I was actually happy he did that because now JK could see what he does in the ring and help me prevent that for the next time. Even so, we pulled off a 62% in Third 2 (the first time I have ridden that test in the ring, it's difficult!). I was quite happy with that. A major improvement from May when we were getting 53 and 54%.

Warm up. Jumpy canter!

Our next ride wasn't until 5 pm and it was Test 3 in front of Hilda Gurney. No pressure.

Warm up was a little better, but we got in the ring and again he wanted to anticipate the change. The tension ended up blowing our left half pass totally. (clean change though...) Argh. And he got too low in the bridle. I blame myself there as I had not had anything to eat and was exhausted and not riding to the best of my ability there. But still, we got a 58% from Hilda. She had a lot of good things to say, and gave Hamps a 7 on gaits and me a 7 on ride position. I will take it! :)

Shoulder in.
Also, an example of how I constantly collapse my left side.

As I was checking ride time for Sunday morning, some gal was passing out jello shots.



I took 2.

They were good.

I wish this happened at every show, because Sunday morning's ride ended up being awesome! I was feeling better so Hampton was much more uphill and in front of my aids. We did Third-2 in front of Hilda and it was pretty smooth. There was just one little moment where Hampton spooked at something outside the ring and fell behind my aids. He ended up breaking from the canter to the trot for just a moment, but we recovered and carried on. 60.8% from Hilda this time. Yay!

Getting there! This looks more downhill that it actually is.
I think my photog friend tilted the camera because the fence is also facing down hill.
haha.

Our last ride was Third-3 and while Hamps wasn't as in front of my aids this time (I only warmed up for 10 minutes because I knew he was out of gas), the test went smooth and there was NO ANTICIPATING of the changes! yahoo!! Nice changes and our mediums and extensions at both trot and canter really improved over the weekend thanks to some great tips from JK and her assistant trainers. I was pretty shocked to see we earned a 64.7%! That means we are qualified for regionals, plus earned reserve champion high score AA Third Level as well!

It might be time to replace my grungy helmet.

Judges' comments were nothing surprising. We still need to work on keeping that uphill balance. Need more bend in the half passes. Better cadence. More extended canter! I need to quit being so mediocre and start to ask for more. Hampton is not going to run off with me. Lots of good comments like "talented pair" and "lovely moving horse". All 7s on gaits and rider position. Also, after my last test on Saturday Hilda came out of her box and said "Lovely browband!" ... I managed to stammer out "Oh, thank you!!". So that was pretty cool!

But the changes I made in our program back in May were clearly the right choice. This show was such a positive experience. At no point did I feel lost, or like I was floundering in the ring with no idea what to do. Also, no one insulted my horse or shamed me. Amazing how a show is much more fun when people are supportive. I feel like my confidence has been boosted and now I can't wait to show again. After the show in May I almost quit showing for the year.

Better uphill balance!
Just need to keep it the entire test.

 We still have a lot of work to do, and I need to remember that Hampton is still pretty young. Rome was not built in a day. It takes time to develop the balance and strength. Plus I am still learning to ride at this new level. We are figuring it out though!

We are aiming for a schooling show in a few weeks. The more times we can get down centerline the better!

Ok, I'll stop writing now.

More soon!