AIKEN DAYS 7-9: BOOTCAMP LESSONS

The last three days in Aiken we took lessons with SD dressage. She is who I really enjoyed last year and so I wanted to get in 3 lessons with her as a mini-bootcamp.

I'm going to lump these all together in one post since we worked on much of the same things each day.

Here are the big points I took away:

We rode out in the field for our lesson on Wednesday at JBF, and then
the other days we hauled to Sarah's place.

Stand him up on each shoulder. Flex left, stand up. Flex right, stand up.

Flex inside, half halt on outside rein brings poll up.

Inside leg to outside rein! 

Stay dynamic in our work. He must always be ready to do anything, which will also keep his poll up. 

Lots of mediums.

Add more stretching in trot and canter. Really forward riding, access the back. Then pick back up.

Very tricking getting the balance in a horse built like Hampton. Timing must be impeccable.

Sarah's gorgeous arena.

SHORT REINS KAREN. 

Give give give. Even if he falls on his face (which is did, many times. Let him make mistake)

Even lifting his poll an inch, give and go forward

Hands down for poll up

No really, Karen, shorten your reins.

Give the reins so he has nothing to lean on

Think push the haunches out in the corners. Inside hind steps under. Give inside rein

"Wellness frame" - not long and low, but not put together. Think Hunter outline

Find a way to make the horse feel good in his body

Give with the new inside rein in the changes.

Loosen my shoulders and back. Pushing hands forward helps loosen shoulders. Very common point of tension in riders.

Ride him a little off the bit sometimes. Nose out.

Legs away in piaffe

.... just incase you all are thinking Porkchop is the most perfect boy ever, I shall remind you that even Hampton has his moments. On Wednesday, I left him tied to the trailer while Liz and Royale had their lesson. At one point I glanced back and realize ... HE ISN'T TIED ANYMORE.

You can see him glance at me. HE KNOWS.

And as soon as I made eye contact with him he TAKES OFF, Flagging his tail, snorting and passaging around this gorgeous farm. Riling up all the expensive dressage horses worth more than my life.

I was FUMING when I finally caught him. Thankfully, Sarah was very understanding and not at all upset. I was SO EMBARASSED. I love horses?

Anyhoo, I found the differences between Jeremy, Sarah, and other instructors really interesting.

Jeremy told me NOT to add power until the balance is good or I would just be powering him onto his forehand. Like a submarine, if your nose is pointed down and you add power, you are going to go more down.

Sarah had me add power over and over, so that his croup would lower. Interestingly enough, Hampton did indeed start stumbling, falling, getting lower in the poll for quite a while. BUT, I did trust her process and he did improve by the end of the lesson. His entire body and especially his back was really working under her guidance.

Do I think I need to find a combo of the two theories? Yes. Do I need to keep both methods in mind and find a happy medium? Yes. Are there many roads to Rome? Obviously yes.

We really got some good schooling in and having 4 lessons in a row was just the right amount. By the last one, Hampton was definitely getting tired. As was I. 

Lots of information to process. Loved every second of it. 

And sadly, that was the conclusion of our Aiken trip. Time to pack up and head home the next morning.

Round-up post coming up next!

Peanut gallery watching our lesson
The bestest friends

AIKEN DAY 6: JS LESSON

After feeding the boys in the morning, we had *gasp* down time to, I dunno, actually RELAX for a few hours as you are supposed to do on vacation. 

I took a glorious nap which revived me for our afternoon/evening lesson with Jeremy.

His property is nestled in this equestrian community that I really have no words for. Photos do not do it justice. EVERY property has a barn, most have arenas and it is STUNNING. Jaw dropping, right out of your wildest dreams.

Of course his arena has perfect footing and big, clear mirrors. 

This equestrian neighborhood was stunning. No words.

I felt like total riff raff. Like HOW did I end up here?! I'm just a girl from Indiana with a $500 draft cross. HOW did I get here?

But of course Jeremy doesn't treat me any different and was, as expected, HUGE help to me.

Here are some key points.   

Walk break

Give give give. Even if he falls on his face.

His conformation is not his fault, we just work with what we have.

It was a really good thing that I CAN affect his balance, it just isn't consistent yet.

Make the balance good first, then add power. Or he will just power onto forehand.

Down transitions without warning.

In piaffe, try leaning back pressing my seat into his back.

You can see me trying to lean back here.
Probably don't need to throw my head back haha

Piaffe, and bring him backward to me into a reinback. Different from the "traditional" reinback. Different aids.

Piaffe out of that reinback. Loads the hindlegs.

For better passage, lay the whip on his side. If no energy reaction, WHACK!! ... go back to lay the whip on his side. Repeat. After a couple times, all I had to do is lay the whip on his side and his passage got bigger.

Leg yield in passage.

Try to live in "no man's land" more - the area between piaffe and passage.

Hamp felt great and gave me the best passage I've ever gotten from him. I knew there was more in there, but didn't know how to get it.

Royale and Hampton share the ring.
Ha, not sure Jeremy has had such riff raff in his ring!

After our ride. 

Liz and Royale rode after us and also looked great. He taught them after after the sun went down. (Hampton and I loitered around the property. Yeesh. No big deal)

Proof that Hampton does stand politely at the trailer.
 Because later in the week HE DOES NOT.

Arena gazebo

That's one shiny trailer sir

He's one of the most brilliant instructors I have ever seen. His theory is outstanding and his understanding of the bio mechanics of the horse is unmatched. Super lucky to get to ride with him. 

This was a late evening and I do believe I ate dinner immediately passed out.

AIKEN DAY 5: HITCHCOCK WOODS

After a wild ass weekend of trailering, riding on the beach, showing I-2 and finding an unconscious teen in the road, we were more than happy to just have a nice walk day on Monday.

A couple of the other gals had lessons (and there was another unplanned dismount. Ooops. lol.) So we sort of all did our own thing.

Hitchcock Woods is maybe a 20 minute haul from Jumping Branch so we took Hampton and Royale there and had a lovely 70 minute ride. And even though I was randomly picking turns and paths, we did NOT get lost and somehow ended up doing a loop? Since when do we not get lost on trail rides? Weird.

I know I said it last year, but I'll say it again. Hitchcock Woods is stunning. The trails are sandy, well maintained and if you want to play fox hunter, there are jumps for you too! We found some decent hills this year but if you want to avoid hills, you totally can.

The properties that line the woods are dream homes. Quaint barns, cute houses, access to trails. You name it.

Excuse me can we move in?

It's just beautiful and peaceful. The horses seemed to really enjoy it too!

I think I might have gone to bed at 8 p.m. No more fucking around, the rest of the week we have lessons!

LOL Hampton a little over this "get on the trailer every damn day" shit

Enjoyed a warm bath when we got home

Royale enjoy a good roll

AIKEN 2021: DAY 4 | OUR FIRST I-2 ... and a body.

Stable View is so gorgeous!

How to prepare to ride your first I-2 test:

Have sporadic schooling 2 weeks before due to sub zero temps and ice everywhere

Three days before, haul 10 hours to a different climate

Hack two days before. 

Ride on a BEACH the day before and totally fuck around.

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We had an 8 am ride time (rude) on Sunday morning. But honestly I didn't even care. The haul over to Stable View Farm was easy and quick and I gave Hamp a nice long warm up and he felt like a million dollars. He was FULL of himself, but not naughty. It's such a great feeling to have so much energy available! He felt fit and strong!

Stable View is GORGEOUS by the way. The footing is PERFECT. The warmup had Atwood footing with Hampton LOVED and it was perfectly maintained and just heavenly. 

He warmed up great, but sadly we had one of those "we in the show ring lets go to shit" tests which sometimes happens to us especially at the start of the season. He was just dumped on the forehand, and unresponsive to half halts - even my strong, RUDE half halts (yeah, I was floating his teeth at times). He just ignored me and kept diving. Good thing we are here for lessons sir! And this is why we have schooling shows.

Even so, we got most of the things done except the ones where I only got 7 out of 11. That's ok though I wasn't expecting to get those yet. Now we have the first one out of the way and I can start to clean it up. It was so fun to show in such a pretty venue and the VERY VERY generous judge gave us a 61! I'll take that and run before she changes her mind. ha! 

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I ran Hampton back to Jumping Branch and then back to Stable View to watch a couple of the other gals compete in the horse trial and jumper classes. They kicked ass of course and it was SO FUN to be back at a horse show with great friends and amazing weather. 

When the show was over, we had some time kill back at Jumping Branch, so several of the girls jumped on Hampton to do a little piaffe/passage. I really enjoy sharing him and seeing the looks on my friend's faces when they feel those movements. He is the best boy.

I maybe did more piaffing as the ground help than Hampton did

Hamp waiting to give pony rides

Stable View's big covered arena

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We were done with the ponies at a reasonable hour and went back to the house for dinner and showers. At about 8:30 p.m. we decided to go do a night check. Royale had been acting a little odd earlier in the day (flared nostrils and panting. Probably got a little hot). He had gotten better but we wanted to double check on him. 

At first it was just me, Liz and K going out but at the last minute our ER nurse friend decided to drive us (because, um, SOME of us may not have been totally sober). Talk about fate stepping in ...

We pulled out of the driveway and drove maybe 20 yards and ... what's that in the road? ... Is that a ... body? How high/drunk/tired are we? No way there's a BODY in the middle of the road.

It was.

There was a 15-16 year old boy out cold in the middle of the road.

His skateboard was at his feet and he was not moving.

Upon further observation, ER nurse Hero was able to quickly determine he had a head injury. He had already vomited in the road and on himself. He was totally incoherent. And when I say he was white as a sheet, he was WHITE. We called 911 while also trying to find if any neighbors knew this kid or his parents. 

He had his phone in his pocket, but couldn't unlock it, or say the code, or even say his name. More vomiting.

A few neighbors decided to join the scene and were unhelpful to say the least. One dude we dubbed "Big Swingin' Dick" because he kept acting like he knew what was going on here. No you don't sir, put your dick away. Finally, this poor kid starts to come around and is able to unlock his phone and we get a hold of his mom. She freaks out, poor thing.

Finally, Aiken's hilljack rescue department rolls up. They were in gym shorts in someone's personal vehicle. Better than nothing, but ... I think we need a real ambulance. No cops. In fact no cops ever show up I don't believe. No one takes statements from any of us, including the nurse who was first on scene and had assessed him. An actual ambulance does eventually show up. There's nothing else for us to do. His mom had shown up, and he appeared in good hands. Thankfully he had improved and could say his name. 

So we get back in the truck and leave.

 

via GIPHY

 

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So lessons learned:

Always have an ICE contact in your phone. 

Set emergency contacts in your phone that can be accessed without the lock code.

If you skateboard, wear a helmet.

Don't get injured or sick in Aiken?

I mean it's scary to think what would have happened if we had not left for night check. He was starting to close his eyes and wanting to sleep, would he have thrown up and aspirated? When would help have come along?

It sounded like he would be alright, but we never did get an update on the poor guy.

Wasn't planning on encountering a possible life threatening situation in Aiken.

But here we are!

AIKEN 2021: DAY 3 THE MOTHER-FING BEACH

The group!
(yes we all have our Aiken 2021 tie-dye T-shirts on. Like I said, we are nerds)

Saturday was *BEACH DAY* which we were all excited about because we are all 12 year olds stuck in 30-40 year old bodies. 

We left JBF just before 8 a.m. and the route to the coast was ... basically murder valley backroads. I am talking Steven Avery shit. Confederate flags. Abandoned buildings. 

But after 2.5 hours we did make it to Hunting Island Beach!

Except wait ... the drive from the park entrance to the parking lot was straight out of Shit-Your-Pants-Jurassic Park. Tight, curvy roads riddled with potholes. Getting my bumper pull through was hard enough and the other gals has big goosenecks! 

Photos don't do this drive justice. 

But we did make it, although when we unloaded we found that my divider pin had flat our broke. It broke at some point on the drive way. Probably thanks to a pothole. This pin has come loose before, but never just snapped. So we have to lift the divider now to hook up the butt bars. #janky. We added that of Things to Be Fixed before the drive home.

That certainly was not going to damper beach day. So we all got on, and started to walk our way to the beach. Hoping we would not die and taking deep breaths haha. Which horse would freak out? Which one would not care at all? Is someone going to go swimming?

The walk to the beach!

This was quite the environment. The ocean is loud, plus you have people with dogs, kids, umbrellas, other horses. I could tell Hamp was a little worried but remained civil. He walked right up to the water but the white waves coming at his feet was concerning so it took me a while to get him to step in the water. He did get in though!

I mean THIS HAPPENED.

Another semi-group shot

Just unreal.

I can't image what they must think with roaring white water coming at their feet over and over.

Our group was excellent at communicating to each other about who is going to trot/canter so no one got surprised or spooked.

Cantering my horse by the Atlantic Ocean. What..

It was .... as beautiful and cool and special as I had hoped. We saw dolphins, pelicans and seagulls. Each of us took a turn trotting and cantering (and videoing each other because DUH). A couple of gals on their OTTBs got to open them up a little! I wasn't that brave although Hampton was really well behaved. We did go for a canter but not a gallop haha.

Back at the trailer I did notice that Hampton was pretty tucked up, with some mild flank trembling so I knew he was probably more stressed than he let on. He was always very willing to move so I don't think he was tying up, but probably got tense and a little dehydrated on me. By the time he was untacked he seemed better but got electrolytes anyway.

Happy to roll when we got home!

After more Jurassic Park off-roading to get out back to the road, we made it back to the farm safely and Hampton got a nice cool bath and dinner. 

Marine base on way to the beach

Wish I could have explored the lighthouse. It looked neat!

That was a big day. But Hampton and I had our first I-2 to do the next morning. So into show mode I went. Could Hampton pull this off?