Training two troublemakers.

Need more bend for actual pirouette

By some miracle the humidity let up this week and I have been able to get good rides in on both boys pretty consistently. (you know, without any of us dying and all)

Hampton has been feeling fantastic (knocking on wood). The shoeing changes and injections have him feeling great and I am finding some new gears and improved balance. Interestingly enough, his teeth grinding has diminished considerably. Other than fighting some face fungus, he is looking really good - even a little ... umm plump. So I am upping his cardio a bit since I'd rather not muzzle him unless I have to.

Piaffing it

On Hampton's schedule:

* Tightening up the canter pirouettes (totally me, not his fault)

* Keeping the tempi changes straight. He loves to throw his haunches around, which I can manage in the 4s but once I try the 3s it gets a little wild and I lose control. rawr.

* Maintaining the "Wellington Trot" in everything we do. I've been more insistent on this. You must now trot in that balance in half pass, SI, HI, all the time except warm up and cool down. I am sometimes half halting every damn stride. No more diving down. Just no.

* Canter half pass zig zag. This actually goes pretty well but I could be crisper with the change to half pass back to the rail. 

* Miles and miles of centerlines. I know, sounds boring. But this has been a super exercise for days where I don't do much collected work or difficult shit. Sometimes I halt at X, sometimes I act like I want to but change my mind.

* Cardio days including canter sets and lots of stretching at the trot.

He has come so far in just a year. I am so glad he seems to be feeling better! I am still on the hunt for a new saddle, but for now he is fine with a thinline pad with shims. No more back soreness! 

... and who can forget about the skaddlebred!

Royale has been working 3-4 times a week. He is much less bothered by the heat than Hampton is and will not run out of energy.

On Royale's schedule:

* Keeping the same tempo. He runs because he loses his balance, so we are working on half halting with the seat, and teaching some counter bend so he cannot run through his right shoulder. So normal, he isn't being naughty.

* Lifting his back. Sometimes he gets a little too deep (see photo) but I'm not worried about this. His nose will come out as soon as I can lift his belly and back with my legs and seat more. For him (not all horses), getting a little too deep is better than sucking his neck back into my lap.

* Balance at the canter. This is improving a lot! It's not quite so speedy anymore, and he has moments where I am like "Dayam son, FEI will be cake for you." But still a ways to go. Like a LONG WAY.

* Turn on the forehand. He is an ace at this now.

*Baby leg yields. Really improving at walk and trot.

A little short in the neck but actually taking good contact here.

* Many hacks outside the arena. He walks, trots, canters willingly out in the open fields and hills. Does not get wild or stupid.

* Ground poles. Trots over 1 or 2 poles, but cannot seem to figure out 3 just yet. lol.

*Baths. Improving! (thanks 98 degree weather). Still not to the point where I can tie him, but will now tolerate being hosed off even though I still get a major glare from him and snorting.

A little deep again here, but at least his back opens up.

He needs to get out to a show soon so I'll see what I can find locally maybe. He is really growing up, although I still consider him pretty immature for his age. 

Hampton will be back out in August.

AT PRIX ST. GEORGE.

Yeah. I buried the lede. Ha. I'm just going to go for it.

Got nothing to lose (except money but since when do us horse people care about that).

Oh just over here sweating.

Dirty, cracked mirror selfie

Still no word on the contest results. *bits lip impatiently*

Meanwhile, the two boys and I have been sweating our balls off in this horrid KY humidity. I've been riding at 7 or 8 am this week which is much more tolerable, and both boys have been getting showers and electrolytes. One thing is for sure, Royale is getting much more cooperative about baths when it is 95 degrees.

Entire shirt soaked in sweat. Except bra line. So classy here.

They have both been working great.

I've just been busy and exhausted with not much blog motivation lately. Blame the heat.

I did manage to get out and see my beloved Phish. They were playing in Dayton and absolutely smoked the Nutter Center. (literally and figuratively. hahahahahahaha, sorry Wright State)

Phish at Wright State

I love walking around the lot before the show. So many cool things.

Secret's out!

I've been keeping a secret for a few weeks because I didn't 1) want to jinx myself and 2) announce anything that hasn't been "officially announced" yet.

But hey! I am a top 10 finalist in this awesome - AWESOME - Dressage Today contest!

I'm not sure what the judges are looking for, but I had to write an essay and submit a video.

Fingers crossed!

Recognize that bay on the bottom right? :)

No, you can't excuse yourself.

Old photo of Hamp and I at the KHP in 2013.

So here's an interesting situation that came up at the recent KDA/Pony Cup Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. I went down to watch some friends show on Saturday, and ended up meeting a gal who had the following happen to her.

The judge is an extremely well-known judge. One I have shown under several times. She is generally well-respected.

The exhibitor goes into show 4-3. The trot work goes great, but when she starts the canter work she starts to feel her horse is just not quite right. Once she attempts a pirouette, she is now positive the horse is off so she stops to excuse herself.

The judge says no. You have to continue.


.... so this exhibitor, knowing her horse is not right, goes off course numerous times in order to get eliminated so that she can stop the test. Eventually the judge says "That's it!!" and eliminates her. The judge basically accuses her of score chasing, which is why she refused to excuse her when she asked.

We all know score chasers. Those who excuse themselves when they know they aren't going to get a score they deem good enough. This girl is not one of them. But even so, does a judge have the right to just say  no?

If you had been in this position, what would you have done?

Adventures in trail riding

Heading out on the trails!

A couple of friends of mine suggested we head down to Shaker Village (near Lexington kind of) for a trail ride on Monday. Of course I semi-invited myself. I had never been to this particular park and pretty much anywhere in Kentucky is beautiful to trail ride.

I thought briefly about bringing Royale, but since the other two horses going were also green beans, I decided to bring Hamp since he is a veteran and would lead the other two across sketchy areas of need be. Plus it's always good to haul him somewhere and NOT drill him in a dressage ring.

So we hit the road shortly after 10 am and arrived about 1130. The park appears quaint, quiet and has a "people area" where there is a diner and museum. I learned quite a bit about the Shakers. An odd cult they were. No wonder they all died out. That happens when you don't have sex with each other.

Most of the West trail was this wonderful mowed trails where you
could trot and canter. That's Hamp's big butt up front.

Anyway, we were tacked up and on board fairly quickly. We hit the West trail first. Which was the shorter loop. It did not take us to the creek, but it was a good ride of nicely maintained and mowed paths along rolling hills and fields. PERFECT for a little conditioning. We did trotting and cantering up and down hills. I was pleased that Hamp did not turn into a dragon like he did on the hunter pace a few years ago. He was reasonably rate-able and was fine with following and leading. (Don't get any ideas, still not planning to EVER take him on another hunter pace).

After we finished the West loop, we went back out on the Shawnee Run trail - which would take us down to the creek and pond. These were slightly more rugged trails - fairly rocky and several places where you had to cross rock. The green mare wanted to slip and panic on the rocks, so we took our time with her. While as Hamp knows to walk very slow and put his head down.

Hamps: "I splash this for you."

After about 3 hours we FINALLY make it to the creek for a quick little swim. The bottom was a little sketchy, and I did not realize that there was a massive drop down. Hamps, trusting me like he does, ended up stepping down this bank and quickly decided I had made a bad decision. For a minute his front end was down and his butt was still up on the bank, up in the air. hahahaha. Smartly, he backed up out of the deeper water. No worse for wear. Harper, the green mare, actually jumped up that same bank/drop.

It was starting to rain so we left - passing a lovely waterfall on the way out. Then it started to pour, so as soon as we were out of the woods we picked up a canter and hoped we would get back to the trailer soon. Thankfully it was only about 10 minutes away. Not that it mattered, we were all soaked. Didn't really care though as it was still 85 degrees.

We had almost made it back to Louisville when ... dun dun dun .... POP. Tire blows. On the Gene Snyder highway. During rush hour. We ended up pulling over right in front of the most dangerous merging point on that highway (I71 merger).

Shit.

Ok, we got this.

Sarah started working on the blown tire while I got the spare unhooked and ready to go.

Slight problem.

3 of the lug nuts were stripped.

Hmm, ok. So thankfully Sarah's dad fixes jets for UPS planes, and he was on his way out. Certainly a trailer tire would be a piece of cake for him.


Wrong.

After multiple trips to Lowes and Auto Zone, and a variety of tools purchased, he could not get those %&^(%* lug nuts off. It was clear we would need a specialized power tool for this.

So we called AAA. They won't work on a trailer with horses on it. And UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES was I taking those horses off that trailer. Way way too dangerous. Tried multiple other companies. No dice.

Finally - FINALLY Goodyear came out and saved the day. However, the lug nuts were so stripped that two of them got stuck in the lug wrench he used. So, we had to drive home with 6 lug nuts instead of 8. Good thing we only had about 8 miles to go.

TIRE OFF FINALLY. Damn you lug nuts.

We were on the side of the highway for more than 3 hours. NOT ONE PEEP out of the horses. They slept and ate hay. No pawing, nothing. The humans were far more stressed out than the horses. They were thankfully tired from our trail ride and seemed content to stand and nap. Thankfully it has cooled down by then so no one was even sweating.

A friend was amazing and brought us pizza ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, too! LOL! Holy crap that tasted so good. We were all exhausted and hungry. However our clothes were all dry finally. ha.

Pizza party on the interstate people!

This experience makes me seriously consider a membership to US Rider. Very thankful that everyone made it home safe. Hamps seemed just fine Tuesday morning for breakfast.

I am sure he thought it was just another adventure with his moron of a human.

HOME at 10 pm!!! 12 hours after we left!
Hamp is like "omg please put me back in my field"

The big 1-0

OMG I am terrible. I forgot Hampton's birthday!

His actual birthday is June 20, I think I remembered a couple days later.

not funneh you forgot birfday lady

Not to fear though. Here is what Hamps got his birthday week:

MagnaWave treatment
New shoes (farrier adjusting his shoeing. He thinks he may be slipping behind)
Haircut
Sheath cleaning (I was very thorough. He is the cleanest gelding on the farm right now. ha)
New bell boots
Updated SmartPaks (Vitamin E and DMG)

Hampton is 10 this year. TEN YEARS OLD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PORKCHOP!

Photos by Aimee of course. :)

Stop polishing your saddle.

Raise your end if you have ever been told any of the following in regards to cantering:

"Polish the saddle with your seat"
"Don't let him pull you out of the tack"
"Anchor in that saddle"
"Hips like a whore"

I have been riding for 30 years ( christ ) and after watching a webinar by Mary Wanless, I think I may be sitting the canter the wrong way.

HERE is the webinar. It's about 7 minutes, but it's enough information to get the idea of what she is talking about. Worth the watch.

I'll wait ...

So question. Do you guys know of anyone who ends up sitting  way too far back during the "down" beat of the canter? If they are, they are essentially pushing the horse more on his forehand. They are emphasizing the "down" on the front legs, instead of on the hind legs.

Oh maybe this was just a bad moment in time ....

Nope here's another one

And another. Could you  bury your horse any more Karen?

and yet another. In the same class!

Oh I have plenty of examples. Don't test me. I am way too far behind the vertical in a gazillion canter photos. It's pretty horrifying.

Don't get me wrong, they are most certainly times when you need to sit the hell back, and get in the back seat. No doubt. And Hampton is croup-high already, making it quite tempting to sit back in order to counter that feeling.

But in general, instead of rocking back during the down beat, then at vertical during the up - you should be rocking forward during the up and at vertical during the down. Basically I have been thinking "sit with your hind" with my seat during the upbeat, almost pushing back with my seatbones. Think of pushing his hind leg down with your seat.

No more "polish the saddle."

Same down beat, better position on my part.
Now if only I could keep my horse's ears up.

This is not going to be fixed in a day. Or even a week, but I have been thinking of it when I canter and trying to re-do 30 years of muscle memory. Hampton responds well to this. Infact, the first time I tried it he did a canter-walk. No worries, he at least responded! This technique is quite helpful in the pirouettes especially, when I need to really feel where that hind leg is and keep it sitting.

And this concludes this installment of "I've been riding 30 years and yet still do not know what I am doing."

Until next time.