Lessons. Inspiration. Information.

Handsome horse. Nerd rider.

The schooling show was just the first of several adventures I have planned for March.

Next up - making the 3-hour drive to Indiana for a couple of lessons with my old coach at FHF. I love my coach here in KY, but there is just something about going home to the place that made you fall in love with dressage.

I came with specific requests. I need help developing the canter piros, and I need more polish on the changes.

I left with a TON of information to process. Much improved piros, changes, half steps and a handful of big lightbulb moments. I'm trying to process all I learned the past two days. So, I apologize if this is a bit scattered.

Hampton was a super star. I mean, he could not have been better. Hauled like a champ, and was butter in our lessons. Dare I say it, but the past two days he was an FEI horse. The trick is getting that Hampton in the show ring!

Want a levade lady? I can do that, too.

Canter pirouettes

•  I was coming in too hot. J had me break down the piros into different levels of canter. For example, a 3 canter is a normal working canter. a 2.25 is almost piro canter. A 2 is super collected piro canter. (I didn't ask what a 1 was. Ha). So we would start on a 20m circle. Produce a 3 canter, then 2.75, then bring it down to a 2.50, then let him back out to a 2.75 then bring him back down, in increments, until you have your piro canter, and turn. Go back out in increments, no rocket launching out.

•  From now on, it is ILLEGAL for Hampton to stop and/or change leads in the canter piros. If he stops, he is to immediately resume collected canter. NOT gallop out - because that is a reward. He cannot stop, change leads, or learn he can gallop out.
  
• In turn, I have to be quiet, soft and not surprise him (like canter, ok now collect and TURN!!). It has to be methodical, steady.
  
•  After a good canter piro, CANTER OUT. Do not immediately walk or trot to reward the horse. That is starting a bad habit. Canter out, then find a place to walk or trot or whatever.
  
• After I had control of the canter a little better, J stood in the center of my circle and said, "Ok - make a pirouette around me."  Then she held up her hand. "Advance his hid leg to my hand." .. BOOM. Pirouette. Yes, it needs to come down to be smaller but we had it.
  
•  Do thousands of diagonals with canter pirouettes placed where you want them. 

Pictured: The tall boots that make my feet go numb and left sores on the backs
of my knees. Tried to break them on some more. Now have bleeding sores.

Transitions

•  During any transition, if you do not feel like you can promptly ride back out at any time, do not do the transition.
  
• Forward and back is your friend. J encouraged me to do more transitions within the gait, as my warm up consisted mostly of trot/halts. She said it appeared it was making him more on the forehand, so I need to stay within the gait and instead do forward/back. Like, live in it. 

Half steps

Changes

•  If your horse starts to feel fragile, or trigger happy, move his body parts around. Do not accept that fragile feeling. You all know what I am talking about. When the horse says, "Oh touch me, I dare you. I'll swap leads! Or buck!! or something!". No. Move the shoulders, move the neck, put your legs on. Ride the horse, don't accept that feeling.
• Ride half pass to centerline, then straighten on the diagonal - then change. This produced LOVELY changes for us.
• Ride mini-leg yields in between tempis. This exercises was a major lightbulb. Not only did it produce expressive, clean changes, but I felt I had control. Yes, you wiggle a little on your line - but it's YOUR idea, not the horse's. As I polish this up, I will only need the idea of leg yield. Example, starting on the right lead on the diagonal: Leg yield to the right - change - leg yield left - change - rinse and repeat. 

Not from the FHF lessons but still a nice change.

Whew. So much to absorb!

We also played a bit with half steps, and general quality of his show trot.

After making it safely home, Hamps promptly grabbed some grass and rolled. He was such a good boy. Can't wait to work on this homework!

Ahhhhh nice warm KY grass!

HIS FACE. Look at it.

The value of schooling shows

The wild stallion himself.

First show of 2017 is in the books!

Little schooling shows are so valuable for a number of reasons. For example:

1. You get to wrestle through new tests and see exactly what places are going to slam you.

2. You find out that somehow, over the winter, you calf got larger (was it the running or the cookie dough?). After spending 10 minutes cussing, sweating and pulling - you get your boot zipped. Only to have your ENTIRE LEG go numb during warm up.

3. You forget things. Like, your whip. So have to ride your kind of lazy horse through TWO fourth level tests with no whip.

4. You realize you need to run more.

5. But your horse is awesome.

___

So the longer version!

Hamps and I just did a day trip to the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday. Our classes were at the end of the day, so I got to take my time. It is such a stark contrast being at the KHP when it is pretty much empty, in caparison to, say, Rolex weekend. In fact I parked the rig right next to my stall. Super nice!

The only problem with this show, is that they rent the crappy covered arena and one crappy warm up. I swear these are the only two rings on the property with shit footing. Half of the outdoor was deep, wet sand that you couldn't even ride through. The second warmup is so small that it's difficult even for a Training level horse to warm up in, much less anyone else.

Show arena

But we did our best in any case. Hamps warmed up like a champ. He was attentive, sharp, forward and very very willing. He was in a really good mood! He seemed happy to be on an adventure!

Our first test, 4-1, was pretty good. I am a little rusty in the arena, and the footing was causing Hamp to trip some - so I did lose some engagement and push from behind in places. There were a few moments where he lost energy, too. But overall pretty good for our first test since July. The judge rewarded us with a nice 64+% ... including an 8 on the left trot half pass!!!! Who would have EVER thought?! Lots of 7s, some 6s and a few 5s where we really lost energy and engagement. She is known as a fair, but not overly generous judge so I was pleased!

Before our 4-3 test, I took a little stroll around the park. We snooped around the Rolex arena, and also over to the Hall of Champions where WGC Bono was out grazing. It was a lovely, sunny but cool day. I decided Hamp really didn't need another full warm up. He was being so good.

Bucket list: To show in the Rolex arena some day!

WGC Bono enjoying retirement in the hall of champions

So right before 4-3, I quickly schooled the piros and a couple of canter-halts for our centerline. I won't be doing that again, that was a mistake.

So the test started out great. We can nail the trot work. But once the canter tour started, I knew I might be in trouble. He was behind the leg from the start and there are several movements before you get to do an extended canter. He stopped dead during one of the counter canter 10m circles, stopped dead in BOTH piros, and by the time we got to the tempis, he was WAY behind the leg and downhill, so those were a hot mess of late changes. I must have muttered "fuuuuuck" under my breath 10 times. And with no whip to "tap tap HELLO!" him with .... I had to flat out pony club kick him a couple of times. Because half halts don't work unless you have energy to back it up with!  At least I didn't freeze and hope things got better. (my usual reaction)

Not sure if we were supposed to be over here ....

So yeah, we rode the struggle bus in 4-3. But our good moments were really good, and we still scraped up a 60.7% for our first, rather ugly, attempt at this very difficult test. I suspect he was just starting to get tired and I really wasn't much help. He otherwise was very obedient. I think the stopping was a result of my schooling canter-halts too much in the warmup. So we had some miscommunication there.

Walking back to the barns.

Overall I am very very happy with our first outing of the year! I could not be more pleased with his attitude and willingness. We are just green at the level, and we have until the end of April to make things better for our rated debut.

Plus, once I can nail 4-3 .... out comes the shadbelly.

The Highest Compliment

Adventures are fun!

On Tuesday I had a wonderful opportunity to join a barn friend for a lesson with a local horseman, Lester Buckley. I had not heard of him before, but my friend talked highly of him and said not only was he an excellent "natural horsemanship type," but was also quite knowledgeable in dressage, show jumping, cutting and other sports. He was a "no judgement" type, and respects all horses.

I wanted to work on Hampton's spooking issues - which certainly are not bad, but can get annoying and really bite me in the ass in the ring. He goes "off the grid" and all my aids stop working. I was curious to see if Lester had any advice.

Mr. Cowboy I would like help with my wild stallion please.

So I tossed Porkchop on the trailer and we made the 20 min drive.

It was an absolutely lovely, adorable ranch with plenty of pasture, dry lots, an indoor, outdoor, round pen and trails.

Hamps has not been off the farm since October, so I just assumed he would be lively and up for this trip and hopefully spooky so Lester could help me work through that.

Remember this test when Hampton spooked at the judge,
so I put my inside leg on and he reacted by bucking?

... you probably know where this is going.

Hampton stepped off the trailer like a dead broke kids pony. Stood nicely to be tacked up, and sauntered into the indoor area as if he has been here 50 times.

sigh. Figures.

I am sure Lester must have thought I was crazy as I explained our occasional spooking problems. Meanwhile, Hampton is quietly standing by me basically half asleep.

But Lester started right in with some basic exercises I could use to settle Hampton should he ever be in a more ... exuberant .. mood. Lester uses very methodical, fair exercises to help quiet the horse's mind, and give them a safe space to come to when they are afraid or nervous.

After some ground work, I got on and we went through some suppling exercises (basics are all the same, people). The last half of the lesson we went up to the outdoor and Hamps suddenly had more energy! Yay! Maybe he will spook!

No.

There were even cows. COWS. In the distance. Hamps looked, but never really got tight even. But Lester was great in guiding me through even the mild looking.

After the lesson, I let him graze for a good hour and he thought
IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER.

His theory is, let the horse look. So he knows he is safe, but then "Ok, come back to me." Even if it just for a second, reward - give the horse a "paycheck" - and continue with work. Repeat repeat repeat. This respects the horse's instincts, lets him look and continue to move, and then rewards him for coming mentally back to you.

Certainly worked better for me than trying to override the horse by not letting him look, or "making him listen" that I am pretty guilty of.

Somebody else, who will remain nameless, can also benefit
from Lester's theories.

Basically his theories all revolve around bending the ribcage. Say you have a horse who is tight, looking, maybe feels like a bomb. Instead of freezing, taking your leg off and hoping for the best (GUILTY right here), start doing figure 8s, serpentines, asking the horse to walk on 3 tracks. This makes YOU keep your leg on, because you are hugging him with alternating legs as you change direction. It gives the horse something else to focus on. And it gives the horse is safe place. "Oh, remember that pattern we do at home? Well we are going to do that now." Always keep the horse's eyes tilted at the scary object. Never let the object get into their blind spots.

Make everything your idea. Say your horse snorts and bravely walks up to a scary object. In that moment, YOU turn him around and walk away. Re-approach again after some figure 8s. Make it your idea. That way the horse always thinks "Ok, there are no surprises and she will always keep me safe. I am not forced to face this."

Eventually, when you get in the ring, you should only have to hug that inside leg, and ask for a little inside bend, and maybe even do a tiny little serpentine - like inches - and the horse will come back to you. That's what is supposed to happen anyway. Easier said than done.

A relaxed Porkchop.

But I plan to use these concepts more in daily work. So should Hampton find something offensive in a show arena, there will already be a base of trust, and safety, and perhaps it won't be so dramatic. Like the time he can to a screeeeeching halt in the middle the dressage ring when we were supposed be doing shoulder-in? Yeah.

Back to the title of this post. Lester paid me one of the highest compliments I have ever received.

He said, "You have a really nice working partner in your horse. He isn't submissive like so many dressage horses. His ears are up, moving around. He has this youthful look on his face like he enjoys his work."

I mean wow. I would much rather have a horse who is interested, happy, than one who "assumes the position" with constant sideways ears, working to get it over with. Granted, he does get those focused airplane ears when he is really concentrating, as they all do, but I knew what he was trying to say.

He also called Hampton clever, safe, gentle and a really nice horse.

That I already knew. :)

Not the Tevis Cup

The crew.
(Notice how the other horses are tired from the hills. NOT HAMPTON)

A little group from our barn is getting into a little routine of a Sunday morning trail ride. I am loving it!

An older gentleman who lives down the road also joins us, and since he knows quite a few of the property owners in the area he was able to get us permission to ride to the Ohio River on Sunday.

It was a gloomy day, but that didn't stop us. It was probably best as it kept the horses cooler. There was quite a bit of hill work and countless creek crossings as we made out way down the big hill.

Hamps was in the lead most of the time and seemed to enjoy himself. He likes the "responsibility" of being the lead horse, I think. It's interesting to me. When he is in front, he walks with authority. Marching along at a good clip, ears perked. When he follows, he almost always turns into a plug. Relaxing, has airplane ears, head lower.  I am guessing it is because as a follower, he doesn't have to worry as much. Anyone else experience this? He has always been a protector - both of other horses, and me. Which is why I think he thinks it is his job, his duty, to be out front.

Anyway.

As we made our way out, we passed several abandoned race horse farms. One had this COOL old outhouse on the property. It was crooked, and leaned to one side. I noticed their barn sign was called "Leaning Crescent Farm." It had a picture of the out house on the sign. You could tell the property had been long abandoned though.

The outhouse

Once we hit the actual trail, it started to get a little slick and muddy. Hamps slid a good 5 feet down one hill. Good boy kept his footing and kept trucking!

We had to help the mustang cross one rocky creek crossing. She has spent most of her life as a dressage pony, so trails were new to her. Yes, she was caught from the wild but I believe she came from Nevada so perhaps creek crossings were new to her? haha. Anyway she quickly gained confidence and on we went.

After weaving out way through more creek crossings and some gorgeous flood plains, we finally reached the river. It was a touch foggy and in spite of the gloomy day, was still gorgeous. We stopped to get some photos.

The other horses - including an Arabian who is a multi-champion endurance horse - stopped to rest. Guess who still had a flame up his butt? Yes, Hampton. He would not stand still. Chomping at the bit. Not the least bit tired.

I thought, ok buddy, well the way back is ALL UPHILL so good luck with that.

As we turned around to head back home, Hampton was LIT. He was practically passaging up the hills. I could hear the other horses behind me huffing and puffing. Meanwhile, Hampton thinks this is the goddamn Tevis Cup and is hauling ass up the hill

Once we got back up to the road, I let someone else lead and he calmed down. Boy was he on a mission! He still was not tired even as we got back to the farm!

I don't think fitness will be a problem this year....

One of the few flatter areas

Planning the season in pencil

I've been planning my season this week - mostly because my job requires that we put in THE ENTIRE YEAR'S worth of vacation time into the calendar before the end of February. Annoying, but I make do.

Of course my show dates are in pencil because, well, horses. And life. But here's the general direction I am heading. Royale will also be tagging along this year as well but we will have to see where he is at closer to show time. I think he will be ready for Training level!

This booger may show rated this year for some breed awards.
Still planning with him,
so we will see!

March 4: KHP schooling show | 4-1, and 4-3 (cue crap in pants)
March 18, 19: Musical freestyle clinic (KDA sponsors this, so it's MEGA CHEAP. Why not?)

April 21-23: Either Adult Dressage Camp OR Mid-Ohio Dressage Show
April 27-30 : ROLEX. DRINK. SHOP.

May 13: IDS schooling show | 4-3 and/or PSG

June 9-11: Indy Dressage Classic OR Majestic Farm | 4-3 and/or PSG (or 4th freestyle?)

July: IDS Schooling show | PSG with Hamp, Training level with Royale?

August 5: Hamilton County Dressage schooling show | PSG
August 19-20: Indy Dressage Festival | PSG and 4th freestyle (if qualified)

Sept. 14-17: REGIONALS at Majestic Farm | 4th freestyle and 4-3 IF QUALIFIED
Sept. 30: IDS Ride-offs | 4-3 and PSG

Oct: KDA fall show only if I still have money and am not totally burned out. ha.

Hamp would rather show in the Artistic Body Art class

There are also several other local schooling shows available if I want to hit those up, as well. Kentucky is just amazing in the amount of options you have for showing.

Obviously things may and probably will change some. There is a chance my roommate will move out, and if that happens I will have zero money to do anything (including lessons, possibly eat) until someone else moves in. Frankly as long as Hampton and myself stay healthy and happy everything else is fine. But it's looking like a big year for us. *gulp*

Goals:
Qualify for regionals at 4-3 and 4th level freestyle.
Debut at PSG
Earn my USDF Silver Medal
Not go totally bankrupt
HAVE FUN!

Most improved

My Valentine.

Thanks to a very bizarre and mild winter here in KY, we have been able to work straight through all winter.

(Please don't decide to unload a bunch of ice and snow now, mother nature)

Hampton has made such tremendous progress just in the past 6 months. It's hard to believe that what seemed so impossible last year, we are now schooling regularly and keep getting better. Last year was a "development year" and also a year that I really felt like we were in a plateau.

Moving barns and getting into a super regular lesson program (at least once a week) has been well worth the money. I love working on my own, but I really needed the extra help to get us over that hump. I've been quiet this winter. No schooling shows, no clinics. Just quietly chipping away.

I have no idea where our scores will be this year. I am aiming for a small schooling show in early March to test the waters. I mean who knows, we may not be as ready as I feel we might be? That has certainly happened before. Like, every show season.

Best area of improvement? Flying changes!

Check it out I made another gif!!




Actual video clip ...

Two changes along the wall, 4 strides in between. Keep in mind we could not do this even 6 months ago. The left to right change (the first one you see) can still at times get "stuck." I really have to keep the hind end jumping and typically it is at least clean now. It's a little swingy at times, but we are working on getting that cleaned up now that the change is clean and ON MY AIDS. I need to work on keeping my upper body more quiet and stop trying to "help."

We are really starting to get the tempi changes. We can do 4s and 3s and they are now 90% obedient, clean and actually even pretty! No where close to perfect but holy crap if only I had video of the shit show that was our changes for the past 3 years.

"Yes I know I am good boy."

Anyway, point of this post is to KEEP PERSISTING. (shout out to E. Warren here)

Also, I really have Hampton to thank for being such a patient, kind teacher. Future horses are lucky that I am making all these dumbass mistakes on Hampton, who forgives me and moves on. Maybe I will make less mistakes with the next horse.

The Making of a Freestyle: Part 2 (You have to qualify)

Here's the thing about doing a freestyle. In order to do one, you have to have scored a 60% in the highest test of that level.

So, kids. That means I need a 60+ at 4-3.

Here is my reaction when I read the 4-3 test:

via GIPHY

Now, I cannot find this in the rules anywhere but I have been told that you can also qualify by getting a 60+ in the level ABOVE the freestyle level you want to show.

So, that would mean I could also show PSG.

Again, what happens when even thinking about the PSG:

via GIPHY

Go ahead and read through 4-3 sometime when you have a chance. It is NASTY. Like, it appears easier than PSG. However, I think to start the year off I am going to try 4-3. Even though I said I never would and I would skip this test that is the spawn of satan.

But then ... there is a little part of me that wants to make this test my bitch. Hamps and I school everything in the test. But as we all know, it's a different animal when you try to put them all together in a test that is nearly fucking 7 minutes long. (Thus, why I've also started running in the past month)

And maybe, IF we can pull off a 60 at 4-3 ... then my face will be this:

via GIPHY

Now ... as for PSG?
Still crapping my pants.