The Music and the Mirror

 

Photo by L. Dean
From Meadowlake show. I-2

"You want to know why there are so many mirrors in dance studios? So you can see yourself dance? Sure. But it's more than that. It's to correct mistakes. Mistakes measured in fractions of degrees. Flaws no one else would even notice. But the mirror is impartial. Ruthless."

It's a miracle I have some real live media of Porkchop! 

The change in him and I even since our Aiken trip has been rather remarkable. It's like he is starting to reach a new level. He is MUCH more engaged and better balanced. And my riding has also improved. I am staying more quiet during the tempis especially, and staying stronger in my seat. My half halts and moments of release are proving quite effective. He is a BUS of a horse to wrangle and now that I am adding power it is A LOT to manage. lol!

Here is our line of twos from last weekend: 

From the video I did notice that we need a lot more work on pi/pa. It's just .... not really there. His passage is still way too "trotty" and while he has a good piaffe it needs to be more clear and punchy. 

But have a look at this line of FIFTEEN ones! He gets a little stabby and tight, but I think it's just a balance issue and we can go back and fix that. But they are there!!!

What I really need to work on for the I-2:

Piaffe/Passage: Needs to be more clear, more strength. Work especially on that last centerline.

Canter piro: Needs to stay on the CL. I drift a little bit

The ones: Need to get 11 reliably on the diagonal 

If I can get these things cleaned up, I think we can probably pull a 60 at a rated show. 

But there is still a lot of polish before GP!

Flip it and reverse it

 Dressage is the most bizarre sport I swear.

Just a little more than a week after scoring a 54% in the I-2, Hampton and I went up to the Hoosier Horse Park and tried the test again. 

This time, I had a FAR better warm up. The key is to keep Hampton fresh. Schooling a couple minutes, walk break. Repeat. Focus on making him hot to the leg, a little "worried" about me, straightness and keeping the poll up.

Waiting to go in the ring.
Hampton is so self confident. He seems to know he is a Big Man on Campus now.

We had THE BEST ride to date. (Of course, this is only the third time we've done the I-2) and he was right there for me. We even got 10 ones! The mistake at the end was 100% my fault, I lost my rhythm and we got too crooked at the end. But it's there! That's just greenness. Video to come!

He was outstanding and was happy and fresh and there was no diving or falling behind my leg.

Much to my utter surprise, we scored a 68%.

You read that correctly.

Now, this was a schooling show so yes the scores are inflated. (But the judge was an L grad).  But Hampton really should not be scoring that high at FEI. Do I think he can be a 65% horse? Yes, one day. But a 68? 

Maybe one of the judges needs glasses? But which one? The 54% judge or 68% judge?

No complaints here though. I'll take that confidence boost. 

His body condition right now is straight up BEAST.

A BIG BIG thank you to Jen who let me borrow her shirt. And my other dear friends who know who they are who support me in this journey. It was a rough, emotional week and Hampton knocked it out of the park. So proud of him and the horse he has become.

And now I have a dilemma about which rated show to do next! 

Ralston | May 5, 2010

"A discussion" with Buckley

My sweet cat Ralston left us on Wednesday.

I have talked about his "asthma" episodes, but it was never asthma. He had something much more sinister brewing and while prednisone helped him have many good days, by Wednesday I knew we had reached the end. 

He was very jaundice, not eating, lying in the litterbox and very weak.

I took him to the vet for another blood draw (he had perfect blood work just a month ago), and he got anti nausea meds and an appetite stimulant.

After a few hours, he was even worse. 

I called the vet in tears and decided to give him a peaceful end instead of letting him continue to suffer in such poor shape. She agreed we will probably looking at some liver disease or cancer. "Something big" she said. 

I will admit this one took the wind out of my sails.

Five months was such a short time but he was the sweetest cat, a true Stage 5 clinger and bonded to me right away. The house is not the same for sure.

Rest in Peace Ralston.

Get low, get low, get low

Meadowlake Equestrian Center near Lexington has started hosting these random Wednesday recognized USDF shows and I am all for it. 

I decided to enter their April show to test the waters at I-2 at a rated show. We landed an 8:35 a.m. ride time which made things a little tight but in true Karen and Hampton fashion we made it happen.

Great to be back in the ring!

I woke up Hampton at 3:45 am, lugged him in from the field, braided him, tossed him on the trailer around 5:30 am, hauled for two hours to the show grounds (with friends thank fuck!), plucked him off the trailer at 7:45 am, tacked up, got dressed and was in the warm up shortly after 8 am.

Unfortunately, the footing in the warmup was a little deep and Hampton started off waaaaaay sucked back. And in an effort to get him in front of my leg, I blasted him forward and in hindsight I am pretty sure I used up all my horse in the warm up.

Little throwback to the first time we showed at this facility ...
I think this was 2013? Holy moly is he downhill. Maybe I really have been
able to influence his balance after years of work! 

He was good in the ring, and tried very hard for me. But the spark was gone and I really had to help him around. The piaffe/passage, which is usually solid at home, was nearly non existent. And I think I only got 6 one tempis. 

Even so, this test was light years better than our first go at it in Aiken. I rode much better, and there was no diving down in my hands. Just lack of power and hotness. Everything else I felt was solid, but we got nothing but 5s and 6s. (BUT! Our only 7 was on the twos which was our hail mary movement most of last year! so bam!) With those mistakes it very easily dropped us way under a 60. We landed a dismal 54 to be exact. 

Sorry sideways. 
Also says we had an error at K, but I cannot for the life of me figure out where that came
from and neither can anyone else. It was extended canter, to a flying change at K. Which I did.
So who the hell knows.
5.5 on General Impression (there are no collective marks).
So yeah. Our general impression was shit. lol

I just love when judges and trainers say elevate the front end ... like do you not realize that is impossible? You cannot lift the front, you can only lower the croup. But I get her point, and she's not wrong. 

Yeah that's a bummer score, but I know better by now than to let it bother me. 

First time I tried 3-1? A 53%.

First time I tried 4-3? A glorious 52%

Spotted in the grocery store. I laughed out loud

So no, I'm not disappointed and certainly not discouraged. We just aren't confirmed in that level yet (and holy shit it is hard). And to be frank, I am not sure I was totally fair to Hampton to haul him two hours, yank him off the trailer and make him do an I-2 straight off the bat. He is a Very Good Boy but that is a LOT to ask now that he is showing at such a demanding level. 

However, if scoring that low becomes a pattern then I will reevaluate. 

There are a few options:

A) Just do schooling shows this year and invest more in intensive training.

B) Go back to I-1 - maybe resurrect my freestyle? 

C) Not show at all and just train (but I like showing so ....)

Greetings from Buckley

I know we are capable, it's just sometimes we need more time. 

We have the IDS schooling show this weekend (we get to hang out with Jen and Conner!) and hopefully I will have a fresher horse. I need to try a different warm up and not use up all of his energy.

Then I think I will try one more rated show, and if we are still scoring that low then change up plans at least for the summer. I don't care about the low scores, I just don't want to keep wasting money at rated shows if we aren't ready. I'd rather take more lessons.

Anyway - onward! (and sorry for lack of media. FFS Karen do better)

 

More tools, more schools

Photos by my dear friend K. Young

This weekend I had the pleasure to ride with KSS at our home base. It has ben two years I think since we have had a lesson with her? (Thanks covid). But she is super awesome because she remembers us and what we worked on two years ago ha! 

Kim is a really calm, thoughtful teacher and Hampton was a star both days.

She was really superb in adjusting her teaching to each horse and rider, and what they needed on that day. I wish I had been able to watch more rides but I had to work. #rude But my friends all reported good rides and light bulb moments.

All double cheeked up!

The Grand Prix canter zig zag is not nearly as terrifying to me as it once was. Is it my favorite movement? No, but we can get it done. If I can be accurate I think we could score well on it.

She picked on my position too which I really appreciate because so many times we get to focused on the horse. I need to shorten my reins (shocking) and stay more in tune with my seat bones rather than my lower leg especially in the canter. My lower leg tends to creep too far back in an effort to control his haunches.

I am just loving the progress we have made this year. Grand Prix is not so far off now and it is both exciting and terrifying. As soon as I can reliably get 15 ones on the diagonal, I will go down centerline. 

Here are my notes:

Tap on the inside shoulder in the canter piro

Use inside seat bone instead of bringing my inside leg so far back in canter shoulder fore/in

SHORTEN YOUR REINS KAREN

Slow the tempo. Getting too rushed esp in trot

Good trot half pass zig zag from the I-2

Hands forward, don't get "against" him which is easy to do on downhill horse

More left rein in passage esp tracking to the right

Shorten your fucking reins

Gp Zig zag: 3, 6, 6, 6, 3 (in the test you come off the left lead)

the last flying change is at G, does not have to be at the end of your last half pass. 

Keep even on either side of centerline. Hampton was drifting right

Make him honest - school by changing the bend but not changing lead. Making him wait

Make a "wall" with outside aids

To straighten up the ones - do three, then pause and leg yield if needed off side he wants to lean on

School more of the half pass then wait, rather than the actual GP zig zag. He is smart and anticipates

Tried to wink, but just look dumb

And in even better news I am fully vaccinated. What an era we have lived through this past year. I had really mild side effects (I got Pfizer) and am super thankful to all the scientists and health care workers who helped make this happen. 

Never beg a horse or a man

A very good boi

One of my favorite instructors from Indiana came down for a weekend of lessons. 

It is a ... fun ... challenge for me to work until 8:30 pm on Saturday evening and be on my horse for a 9 p.m. lesson. Plus do stalls sometime in that time frame so that my Sunday morning would be smooth. So yes I had my little office set up outside a stall on my trunk. lol. You do what you gotta do #AmIRight

But, I pulled it off and had great lessons!

on Sunday we wore purple and grey

This instructor is outstanding, but she teaches in a very stream of consciousness way. Every second of your ride she is riding with you and there is very little time to prepare or think. Therefore, you have to ride ALWAYS prepared to do anything at any time. It will kick your ass and I love every second.

Here are tips that I wrote down both from my lessons and a few others that I watched:

• "turn around the middle" ... push the hind end out and turn shoulders in at the same time. Tracking right, send the haunches left and take the shoulders right. Do not use the outside leg. This was hard for me to get the hang of since we are so often told NOT to do a turn around the middle. 

Training is not always pretty. Notice my utter confusion on getting this turn around
the middle exercise. Hamp trying very hard. lol
Photo by K. Young

• Ride your horse to a shape (like Shoulder In). The shape will slow the horse down, so you don't have to hit the hand break so much.
• Horses are pulling animals, it's not their fault. So we are working against that.
• Commit to a reaction! (working with a horse behind the aids)
• Canter pirouette to opposite turn on the haunches. This is what really got Hampton's attention. So, say we are doing a canter pirouette left. Walk, immediately send him right into a turn on the haunches. Then directly back into left canter piro. Pretty soon he was thinking quick with his feet, his legs got closer together and he got a quick, bouncy piro canter instead of a labored one. Bingo! Hampton simply takes too long of a step behind within the pirouettes. This causes him to get slow, dolphin-y, and then start bobbing his head. He needs to close his legs (ha) and jump with more RPMs. But this exercise really made him think quick, and "worry" about me a little. haha

Sort of a weird moment, but you can see him
bringing his hind legs closer together.
Photo by my dear friend K. Young

• Medium canter on 10m circle, to 8m shoulder in canter, bring it to a piro
• Walk 4 steps to canter, to right away flying change. This was on a horse working on better reactions to the aid for a change. So canter ... walk .. 1 ... 2.... 3... 4.. canter right off and change.
• Shoulder-in in medium trot, straighten into passage
• Shoulder-in in passage, straighten into piaffe
• "Walk" my legs and hip in the passage. This really helped me sit deeper and helped keep the swing. I tend to tighten my hips (shocking) which stops his back.
• No outside leg in the pirouettes. Use thigh, outside rein and inside leg. That way the hips don't lead.
• NEVER BEG A HORSE OR A MAN 
• Just because it's a hot mess, does not mean failure
• If he gets strong in the ones, immediately canter piro - does not matter if its good or bad.
• Ones on a 20m circle. Two two at each open side, and each rail side of circle. Then do four. Keep adding on. If you have things together, go straight on rail. Circle keeps both rider and horse from getting too strong

the covered arena at night

• Tap the slow change (touch with whip for Hampton)
• Hampton pushes back with his front legs in piaffe, needs to left shoulder and settle onto hind end
• Canter to walk shoulder fore
• Shoulder in piro canter on the rail to SI piaffe
• Your leg is either active, passive, or resistant
• If ride is a hot mess, pick a priority for that day. For example, all you want is just sharp off the aids, etc. Some days not everything is going to be good at once. But you chip away.

We had a really nice discussion in which she was talking about how so many people have dogs that just pull and pull on their leashes. How do you fix this? You change direction. If you just let them pull, and pull back, it's just a pulling match.

So if Hampton gets strong in the ones, change something right away. Canter piro, something. Getting strong and losing our balance isn't a failure, because we WERE asking for bigger changes off the ground. So of course he would get strong. He isn't being naughty, but you have to change something up to break that cycle up.

And finally, ... shoulder-in is my friend. 

AIKEN 2021: EPILOGUE

 Thankfully the haul back home was uneventful - other than stopping at a couple of VERY SHADY gas stations. One was so shady we were too scared to go in, so peed in the trailer. Rural TN you are sketch.

A good roll back home in KY after 10 hours on the trailer.

Yes, Aiken certainly can be a little hillbilly, BUT it has many good things too! 

Somebody pulling a 2h bumper pull with a MERCEDES CROSSOVER
I realize some of these have a tow rating of 6500lbs but .... BUT .... can you stop though?

BEST OF

Best food: TakoSushi -- Get the asparagus. OMG. 

Best coffee and smoothies: New Moon Cafe ...Also their hashbrowns are FIRE.

Best tack stores: I can't pick one. I loved them all. Aiken Tack Exchange, Oak Manor, Aiken Saddlery and of course Dover.

Best trailer place: Hitch & Tow --  These guys put in a new divider pin for my trailer FOR FREE and were just super nice about the whole thing.

Best trail riding: Hitchcock Woods

Best XC schooling: Hamp and I kept our feet on the ground this time, but our friends had lovely schooling sessions at The Vista, competed at Stable View and schooled at home base Jumping Branch Farm. Also within easy 15-20 minute driving distance is Sporting Days, Bruce's Field and Paradise Farm. And I am sure there is more! Take your pick.

Yours truly photographing K and Odie at the Vista. Gorgeous place! 

THE COST

Stall: $30/night at Jumping Branch (rates do depend on your length of stay. They provide shavings which is a HUGE plus). Turnout included but they are smallish paddocks. Total: $270

AirBnB: Split between 7 horse crazy gals. And this was a NICE house. Total: $284

Lessons: This is going to vary on who you lesson with. I spent a fuckload because I was going to take advantage of the access to such quality instruction, and I had specifically saved up for these lessons. Total: $405

Schooling show: If I lived in Aiken I could show every weekend. No stall fee, no haul in fee. Easy 15-min drive. Sign me up. Total: $35

Example of unexpected expense: When your BFF leaves you unsupervised in Dover and you
buy a pair of super cute purple breeches.

Other expenses obviously include food, fuel, hay, grain, etc that is dependent on individuals. 

And then while in Aiken you will have variable expenses including tack store purchases, emergency purchases, show fees, schooling fees, going out to eat, booze, snacks, etc. Again depending on individuals. The beach was about $30 to go ride there.

While expensive, it's not as bad as some might think. I was able to save up for lessons and use my tax return to pay for most of the trip. Plus the stalls and AirBnB are split up so you aren't having to pay those all at once.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE

I felt the amount of time we spent in Aiken this year was spot on. Long enough to fit it a lot of lessons and fun days, but not so long that I was missing a shit ton of work (although I COULD bring work with me ...) or having to leave the constipated and asthmatic cats with a stranger for very long.

I WOULD break things up differently. Next time I would schedule a rest/hack day in between the block of lessons. Rider and horse need time to process and digest, and muscles need to rest. 

It would also be really cool if I could do a schooling show at the start of the week, and another at the end. But that's not really something I can control.

Stable View has rated USDF shows, too, so perhaps we can align with one of those next time?

I also would not to the beach day so quickly after the long haul down to Aiken. That's a LOT of time on the trailer. And perhaps part of the reason Hamp got tucked up on me. Hard to know, but if we do the beach again maybe it can be in the middle of our time there.

But honestly I have no complaints. Aiken is horse heaven. The weather was perfect. I got a farmer's tan. We learned A LOT. I spent way too much money. My horse stayed happy and healthy. My friends are THE BEST. I really cannot ask for anything else.

I am a lucky girl.

Until next time, Aiken! 

... blogger Aiken trip in the future??????