87% (!!!!!!)

I just have to give a shout out and a huge congratulations to my friend Sarah (check out her blog HERE) ... who did nothing short of whoop ass as a schooling show last weekend. She is an intern/working student at FHF and rides a lovely little stallion, Rocket.

They scored an 87% at Training 3, people.

So, GOOD JOB Sarah!

(Stolen from Sarah's facebook ...)

That is a score and achievement MANY MANY dressage riders will never see. Most of us spontaneously cry if we get a 70%!

Sidenote: Rocket is a Routinier son. His dam was my instructor's Grand Prix horse, who I believe was Percheron, TB. She unfortunately died while in foal to Routinier again, with a filly. :(

Porkchop updates

He ponies off the golf cart now. Good boy.

• I do have some exciting news to share ... as soon as I can confirm that I have certain days off work. :)

• Other than that, the heat has kept Hampton and I at bay this week. It has been good to take a short little break anyway. We have had a super busy spring full of lessons, traveling, and much schooling. I think I was starting to get a little intense on the instructor hunt and had to step back and realize that yes, I can do this on my own with lessons sprinkled about.

• Hampton turns 5 years old today! Happy birthday to my love.

• As a birthday gift for him, we had the chiro out. I was pretty pleased that overall he was pretty solid. His sacrum was out, again, but I expected that. And his muscles were tight right behind where the saddle goes. His usual issues, which were really not that major this time. As is typical Hampton, he made the chiro giggle and laugh with his weird antics and funny faces. He was a good patient though.

• Other than getting some minor kicks and scrapes from a new pasture mate, Hamps is fat and sassy. He seems to be handling the heat well and I often find him chilling out in the run in shed.

• I've decided to skip July shows. We may hit up a mini horse trial or something, but my work schedule is pretty much anti-horse show since I do not get my schedule until the week of. So entering a horse show in advance is futile because I may have to back out at the last minute. Ugh. But I am going to have to request vacation for the rated shows I still want to go to. We will have to make them count.

More of this soon ... but at another location. Where? Stay tuned!

• I am on the hunt for a new cross country saddle. I am pretty sure the one I have is wrong for me and is PART of the reason I jump ahead of the horse. I just feel so insecure in it, almost like I am sitting on an ironing board. I like to be able to sit IN to the horse and I can't do that in this one. It is a nice saddle, but not made for eventing. I hate to sell it though. It has some incredible miles on it! It is the saddle my sister rode in when she won a world championship title with Sparkle. (in 1998!). :)

A bit about ass-kissing.

Photo by my friend Sarah Yawata

Hampton and I took another dressage lesson from yet another new instructor on Saturday.

It was with a person I have heard both very negative, neutral and positive things about. So, as you all know my only rule is that no harm is done to Hampton. Other than that, I will give people a shot. Worst case scenerio is that I waste my money.

You know, this particular lady wasn't THAT bad. We had a nice, solid lesson on the basics which is EXACTLY the ride Hampton needed after camp and after this week of schooling cross crountry and a few rides of working out the kinks. The ride lead canter issue is gone. No trace of it at all.

We worked on right bend and really getting him into the outside rein. We showed off our leg yields and lengthenings and ended the lesson working on trot-canter transitions as a thunderstorm rolled through. We were both soaked at the end but a really nice, connected ride. She was encouraging of both of us and said we should go out at First Level this year. So it was nice to get that "permission" per se.

I feel like I have done nothing but bitch lately on this blog but the amount of ass-kissing in this industry (maybe it's just Kentucky but I doubt it) is really, really annoying. Several times over the day I heard from fellow riders:

"How did you like your lesson? Isn't she WOOONNNNDERFUL?"

"So did you learn anything new?"

"She is the best trainer evar! I wuv her!"

... well, no. Frankly I thought she was average, a tad disrepsectful (when I said "hello, good morning" to her she didn't bother to even look me in the eye) and while I didn't learn anything new, it WAS a good lesson and my horse and I were working really well. Do we have similar rides that happen without someone standing in the middle basically watching us? Yes.

But no, she isn't the best thing since sliced bread. I'm sorry but when I fork out money to you, you better teach me something. Why should I be kissing your ass? I am paying YOU my hard earned money! YOU should be kissing mine! Why do people constantly kiss their instructor's butt? I mean seriously?

So overall the lesson was really good for Hampton. He felt wonderful. He will now get a day or 2 off and then the chiro comes on Thursday. He needs it for sure.

 I am starting to plan out a few shows. I have my eye on two rated shows, one in August and one in September. My goal is to get my first two scores for my USDF bronze medal. I am still debating on whether or not I want to try and qualify for regionals. I am not sure I'll have the money to go SHOULD we happen to qualify.

So, again I am sorry for the amount of bitching on this blog lately. :) Hamps has been so wonderful and it's just the instructor hunt that has me a little peeved. But it's really not a big deal. We are still making progress and having fun. And that's all that counts.

And as far as the barn hunt does, we are staying put for now. The farm is perfectly fine and I'm just going to have to be sure to always have my cell phone close by when I'm out in the boondocks tacking up. Things may change in the winter. We shall see.

Cross country day. And we conquer "the bank."

We went out cross country schooling again today. I feel SO lucky that we are right across the street from this eventing barn with a full course.

Hampton started out ... um, frankly being sort of a prick. He has figured out this cross country game and now gets really excited about it. Plus, we were with a group this time and so when one horse would take off for their jump, Hamps would want to as well. The first 10-15 minutes or so I had a lot of bucking, head tossing and hopping up and down from the Hamper. Even when we were just standing there watching, there were a few times when he would leap up and toss his head wanting to be next!

After a few times through the water complex, he settled and was a good boy the rest of the time. :)

Here's what we did:

• Started out hopping over a  BN hanging log. We kept landing in a heap ... buck, hop, buck. I needed to land and then kick on so we didn't get stuck in napping around.

• Trot through the water and over the little house.

(Photos are from last time, but you get the idea)

• Through the water, over the BN house, left hand turn over a novice house, 2 strides back into the water.


• Then DUN DUN DUN ... a bank.
You may remember our little incident back in October with a bank. We can go up them fine, but going down scared the crap out of both of us last time. And I ended up with a majorly bruised ass.

So this time it was a pretty small bank and I let Hamps take his time. I was ok with him stopping to think, just as long as he did not go backwards. ... And eventually he was brave and stepped down! YAY! We did it 4 or 5 more times just to build our confidence. Then, it was down the bank, down a hill, into the water, out over the BN house, turn to the novice house, back through the water (we cantered through this time! Yes ma'am!) and back up the hill and up the bank.

• A BN scary railroad ties jump that Hampton jumped like a pro. Down a hill, to a little starter rolltop. So our ONLY runout/stop (other than the bank issue) today was this simple little rolltop. Second time around he jumped it great. I found this ironic because at the end of the day we jumped a NOVICE rolltop that he didn't blink at. *sigh*

• Our day finished out with jumping a BN rolltop, left hand turn to the Novice rolltop, right hand turn and gallop to the broom jump (which I NAILED), then straight ahead to a little coop thingie.

Broom jump!

Things I need to work on:
• Ride in the back seat. I did a little better job of not jumping ahead today, but still needs work
• Land and kick on. Don't get stuck.
• My lower leg has GOT to be more solid or I have no hope of jumping anything bigger or technical.
• You don't always need to shut your horse down when he bucks or gets squirrely (like Hamps was at first after jumps). USE that energy and gallop forward.

Cross country is the most thrilling and also most terrifying thing I have ever done. We walked past some of the training and prelim jumps and I laughed at loud because they were crap-your-pants-terrifying! This sport is not for the chicken, that is for sure. Even though a lot of us CLAIM we are chicken, it takes some serious guts to do this.

Back to dressage land tomorrow. :)

The Camp post

CAMP DAY 1: 'Too much electricity'

--Instructor A--

So Instructor A was focused on the biomechanics of the rider. I do like studying how the rider affects the horse, but another part of me thinks some of this stuff is smoke 'n mirrors. But regardless, I did try everything she said to do. And she had a couple of excellent points to make.

• I carry too much energy/electricy in my ankles. It was causing me to post really fast because my ankles would literally throw me back out of the saddle way before the horse's motion would. The moment I fixed this, Hampton's trot slowed down and we developed a more swinging rhythm. This type of posting is VERY common in the hunter world. How did I fix it? Wiggle your toes. It took the tension out of my ankles and then it became easy to just wait on Hampton to bounce me back up.

• I also worked on my "posture nemesis," my shoulder blade wings.

It's not pulling your shoulders back, it's pulling your chin in and stretching the back of your neck. This will take me a while to fix, but she certainly gave me a different way of thinking about it.

This is what happens when you just roll your shoulders back and stick your boobs out. As you can see my shoulder blades are still not together and my lower back is now way too arched. 

My chin is up and out.

This is better. See how my lower back is more straight? My chin is in and sort of down and the wings are not quite as bad.

... and that my friends, was about all I learned for the entire 3-day clinic.

... But here's more information just for the hell of it.

• Legs control haunches. Hips control hips. Shoulders control shoulders. Arms control head and neck.
• At the walk, your hips should swing up and down (think slutty model walk). If your spine is not in alignment, your hips can't swing like that.
• I did like her suggestion to use the horse as your own physical therapist. Hippotherapy helps so many things. Let the horse help loosen your hips, back, neck arms. I have pretty tight hips so it was good for me to think about it.

--Instructor B--

This instructor worked only on how to ride in a group (there were 3 of us).

She talked to us about how to keep the correct spacing between one another and what her teminology meant. For example. "All file" means everybody do the command at the same time. So, "all file - volte" means everyone volte. "Lead file" means the lead horse and rider perform the command and everyone follows along in their track.

So Hampton and I spent an hour trotting along in a single file line. I think we circled a few times.

ALL I could think of was "I learned how to do this shit when I was 8 years old!"

This could have been pretty fun if it was perhaps 8 riders or so and it was an actual drill team practice. I would have been all about that. But with just 3 of us ... and just trotting around not working on anything ... uh ... zzzzz.

Hamps was perfectly happy to jog around in a training level frame
all weekend.

CAMP DAY 2: 'Get on the carousel'


--Instructor A--


We stood around for 10 minutes or so while we worked out how to turn our ribcage. Instructor A stressed that to turn a corner, or ride a circle, it's not turning your shoulders. It's turning the base of your ribcage.

Hard to see, but I collapse my left side and drop my left shoulder when leg
yielding to the right.

We did some baby leg yields, voltes and also some shoulder in. Angle and quality of the shoulder in was not even a concern. Only if we turned our ribcage. I was at this point still trying very hard to try her methods. I did roll my eyes when I was facing away from her a few times. You've had a day to get to know the horses and riders. Now challenge us!! If I wanted to ride a fucking carousel, I would go to the amusement park. Gah. I was starting to hear the phrase "full of hot air" run through my mind sometimes. Thankfully, it did not come out of my mouth!

--Instructor B--


I bet you'll never guess what we did. MORE trotting around and around the ring. We even got to do some 20 meter circles. *faint* I do have to give this instructor a little credit here. She said that as we ride, we need to make sure to take 3 or 4 strides to really work on ourselves. So for instance, pick a quarter of your circle or something and fix something on yourself. This I am guilty of. I work too much on the horse and I should take time to fix myself, too.

Instructor A riding one of the farm's young stallions. It was the only
horse she rode all weekend.

It was Day 2 of camp when I started to sort of hear a few other people (and also, my instructor, J, who hosted the camp) comment on how little the clinicians were doing with the students. Ok so it's not just me acting like a spoiled, stuck up brat. Whew! It's just that I am used to such high standards and expectations, that I felt like we were just mindlessly riding in circles.

Oh wait, we were.

CAMP DAY 3: 'Stand up for what you already know'


--Instructor A--

I think I was a very good student this weekend. I did try everything they said and I did it with a smile (to their face, anyway, haha.). So when I walked in to this lesson and had this chat ...

Instructor: "So, are you sore this morning?"
Me: "nope."
Her: "Well then you haven't been doing what I've said!"

... I was pissed. Like personally insulted and pissed.

I'm going to try and be as tactful as I can here without being a total snob and bitch. But the camp was full of a certain type of amateur rider that maybe rides 2 or 3 times a week. They otherwise are not in the best of shape, and frankly a lot of them were quite a bit older. They started riding after they had already raised their children. So MAAAYBE walking around for an hour while crunching your abs made them a little muscle sore. Possibly.

(note: I do wonder, tho, if some of them were just saying that in order to kiss ass to the instructor)

 Please don't take this the wrong way, as they are wonderful women. But I ride almost every day. I'm also younger and in pretty decent shape. So no, walking around on my horse for an hour did not make me sore. Even twice a day rides. Infact there were a couple of lessons where neither Hampton or I even broke a sweat and it was in the high 80s all weekend.

So I was pretty insulted when she accused me basically of not trying. And in a snooty manner I might ad. I took the high road and did not run my mouth back at her.

Your elbows should be in front of your torso. Here, mine are not.
Bad Karen. But in other news, Hampton looks like a stud!

Moving on, that lesson was about 15-20 minutes of free walking. She encouraged us to really move with the horse and basically pump our arms in order to encourage a bigger walk. I did get Hampton to walk pretty darn big. I did continue to do what she asked. I mean it was easy work for Hampton and not harming him at all so what the hell. We did do some trotting and cantering as well. Mostly 20 m circles, transitions. No new information shared.

I was told not to let me hands get too wide. This encourages the horse to
duck behind the bit.
Funny because I was JUST TOLD by Houston to widen my hands to
encourage Hamps to seek contact and bend.
WHICH IS IT?!?!?!

--Instructor B--


Hampton's ride lead canter has gone to shit so I'll need to fix that but NO ONE said ANYTHING about it until I actually brought it up in the last lesson with Instructor B.

I asked her to help with it and she said the canter was fine. That I was pulling too hard on his mouth and overbending him. This is NOT what I felt was happening.  I felt like he was cantering as stiff as a 2x4 around the circle, dropping his inside shoulder and not bending around my right leg. So yes, when I asked for some flexion with the right rein, he would argue with me - brace his neck and toss his head. The ROOT of the problem was not me pulling on the right rein. I know this. There is something else going on. It might be me, it might be him.

Right lead canter. A good moment.

She told me that I did not know how to turn my horse. That I was having a problem turning on the 20m circle. ARUGH!!!! Lady I am not having a problem turning! I am having a problem bending his ribcage! For the love of God!

I'm not sure what the deal is. I did get it to improve a bit when I ignored the instructor and went back to what I already know. Hampton and I needed to have a "moment" and then we moved on. But I think he'll be spending a few days this week on the lunge. If it's pain or soreness related, I may be able to see it better. If not, he can just fight with himself and work it out. For sure there will be no showing until it goes back to normal.

One of the best parts of the weekend was this last lesson I spent a little time beforehand asking for half steps so I could watch in the mirror. Hamps was so cute! I mean we're not really there yet, but he will bounce his croup around for me. haha. Good boy!

.... so what have we learned.

Believe in yourself and what you already know. Do what you have to do to fix yourself and your horse. Even with a new teacher. I'm such a people pleaser, that I was afraid to get after Hamps about the right bend thing in fear of "getting in trouble." So by the end of the weekend, the right bend problem (at the canter only) had now become a real issue that I am going to have to fix at home now. It's not really a big deal, but they should have helped me with that. There were a lot of people with bigger issues than just learning how to ride single file. They should have been given some tools to help improve things like, oh, I dunno, getting your horse to go forward or keeping your hands quiet. I saw one lady ride around (seesawing her horse's mouth, btw) with her spurs dug into her horse's sides. She never took them off. If it were me, I would address these types of issues. Not if you were capable of following another horse 'round and 'round. We all drive cars, we can do that. :)

Sadly, Hampton and I returned from camp the same horse and rider that we were when we went. I didn't see or feel any marked improvement. That to me is truly sad.

I know when you put a bunch of dressage women together for 3 days + heat that people will get cranky. But the attitude one instructor displayed was pretty arrogant. She also MADE SURE to let us know that she did beat Steffen Peters in a PSG once!! (He was riding a greenie).

Once again: I DON'T GIVE A SHIT.

I am a really great student. Very teachable. I will try all day for you. Hampton is also a great student. He is very trainable. If you cannot make some sort of improvement in one of both of us over 3 days, you FAIL. You don't get any more of my money. Buh bye. You can name-drop all you want. It does not impress me whatsoever. I want to see and feel results. I mean seriously if you are such a big name, then why can't you improve upon a couple of nobody's from Kentucky?

-------

Despite all of this, I really did have a lot of fun. The people are wonderful to hang out with. The horses are beautiful and I enjoyed chillin' with old friends. And best of all, I got to spend it with my horse. :)

Hampton spam!! Dressage camp.

Hamps and I had a safe trip and weekend at dressage camp.

I'm really debating on how to write the next post which will give more detail on the 3 days. I could take it 2 different ways. I could share some of the information that was discussed. Or I could be a bitch. I may do a little of both. ;)

So for now, here are some photos. Hampton was a really good sport about riding twice a day and staying in a stall for the weekend. He was a real champ and never gave me a problem. Such a good boy he has turned into. I could not be more proud of him.

(We shared our sessions with this pair. Kinda a weird moment in time here, but
they were very lovely!)

 

If it makes you happier

I changed Hampton's dressage bridle. I switched him to my "fancy schmancy" brown bridle with tons of padding and a crank noseband (I like them because they are padded). I also switched him over to an eggbut french link, instead of his fat loose ring french link.

The difference. Oh my god.

He takes contact. NO fussing around with his poll. Supple, easy to ride. Quiet with his mouth, soft in the jaw (lots of slobber). I really didn't think I'd feel much of a difference, but there it is people. I mean he was a solid 2nd level horse today. And I'm not delusional. All lateral work - easy. Counter canter serpentine, mediums, 10m circles - easy. Walk - canter -walk like he does it in his sleep. He was going so well I thought do I: 1) quit for the day and reward him or 2) push the envelope. I chose door #2 and ended up baby half-passing from the center line to the rail. !!!!! I love days like this!

We also did the below exercise. Counter canter down the long side. Walk, true canter around the short side. Rinse, repeat. You are supposed to do more transitions than that but I thought I'd keep it easy. A real test of obedience, and a building block for introducing flying changes.

This week I have a lot of stuff to do to get ready for dressage camp. I clipped up the beast today and still have to clean my tack and clean out my very stinky trailer. SOMEONE left a gross, sweaty saddlepad in my dressing room and now is reeks. :)

We leave Thursday for Lafayette! I should also probably pack a bag for myself and find a place to sleep for those 4 days.

And also, WHO are these friggin adorable boys? Check them out nailing this Guster cover, "Happier." Not sure you can get any cuter. They make the band look bad!