Kicking back, relaxing.. Oh wait, that never happens.
It's been a busy few weeks but I figured I'd pop in and write a little -- commissions have picked up and they are crazy. Busy enough that sometimes I haven't been able to ride before it gets dark. Nice to have the extra money though, cause we all know how well the horse industry pays (hah!).
Holden has been great - we haven't worked as hard as I would like because the footing prohibits it. We had a small bout of snow and then a week of semi-melting days with frigid nights - makes for a nice ice-cake riding ring. We've been taking to hacking around the premises at a walk, working on steering with leg and neck rein only - he's getting good at steering and doing TOH/TOF with leg only.
We went on a nice hack today and Mike came (along with the dog and a samurai sword..). He used the sword to "clear the path"-- Holden was great with the clamor he made bushwacking, though at first he did have other ideas about sticking around. We made some new trails, walked to the high tension wires, went back home, and W/T/C in the circle at the driveway. The circle is small -- about 20 meters, so we didn't do too much but that is the first time we've cantered it. He was fantastic. I'm thinking tomorrow we'll spend some more time working on lightness of aids and cantering to the left.
God, so hard to get a picture of him sometimes. Here was one of the days we spent "westernizing" him - played with roping in and around him. Not impressed, but tolerated it.
It'd be a little cliche to say that 2015 was a whirlwind year. While not much changed in some ways and I felt the year slipped by innocuously, some things changing irrevocably. It was certainly not my banner year, but I have to say I have a very good feeling about the time spent in 2015 with Holden. He blossomed from a very curt, semi-grumpy professional into this inquisitive, willing partner -- my first rides in 2015 were bepopulate with melodramatic whirls, hind hoof airstrikes undersaddle, miscommunications and a general dread to slug through the cold and snow to ride this challenging animal... fast forward to the end of December and I have been chewing at my nails waiting for my shift at work to end to work with this remarkable horse. We've discovered he has a sense of humor, in his own way - he has discovered not all people are going to expect unfair things of him -- and in turn, has converted into this willing, intelligent horse under-saddle. His dressage has improved immensely despite sparse lessons in 2015 (okay, I think we had 6 total!) - despite every obstacle in our way from the icy outdoor to the unforgiving slope of our riding ring, he is as soft and through as ever. He is still challenging, but not in a disobedient way -- my new challenge is providing him with the best possible ride I can get out of myself, not him.
I'm really looking forward to the spring with this guy. I am not the type to set resolutions or goals with myself, but I am setting a goal here: I want to finish the end of the season at a solid Novice, and I'll take some dressage shows in between
Holden's been good - he had a little accident right after our last lesson in October -- he managed to put all four legs between a gate and the result was some spectacular gashes and bruises.. So, he got to enjoy some serious time off. He was ridden sparsely in November, what between the mushy grass soup that is our riding ring and the miserable weather following.. not to mention it took a while for his cut (thanks gate!) on his pastern to seal completely.
The one thing I can really appreciate with him though is that he's the same horse, whether he's had four days off or four weeks.. the first five minutes he can be a little wiggly as he becomes accustomed to your leg, but it's nice to not have to worry about him being an idiot just because he hasn't been worked consistently.
He got new shoes the first week of December - finally put pads on him after x-rays confirmed what I was afraid of.. perilously shallow soles! So that didn't really jive with the whole "work hard and no-stirrup-November" goal that we had going on.. I felt it was unfair to work him with such thin feetsies and he sure wasn't complaining about the lack of serious mileage in November!
Once he got his fancy sneakers (complete with boriums up front) we went for a spin and I can tell he must have been wanting a shoeing upgrade for a while - he was much better over the gravel and uneven terrain that is our spiky driveway. We didn't do much, few trot laps in both directions and called it quits. I figure what with having such an inconsistent month, we could pick up the real work the next day.
And that was a few days ago -- we went for a whirl today and he was saucy, very saucy. Warm-up was okay, he was much better once I did some loopy serpentines and figure eights.. think he just forgot what a real leg aid felt like. Katie came out to snap some pictures (we have an employee photo contest at work) but sadly it was already dusk and my camera didn't agree much with the lighting. You'll have to forgive the quality, as I had to edit the pictures in PS3 because they were so dark. In any event we got enough pictures to figure out what I need to work on -- I even included a less than flattering one for posterity ;)
You know.. for posterity..
We even hopped over the barrels at the end of the ride.. Yup, just as I suspected -- EXACTLY where we left off! Such a good egg.
Maybe next time I rope my sister into snapping some pictures, we can go with a holiday theme..
Today we had our second lesson with the dressage trainer, herein referred to as DT. True to fashion we were kind of running late... so Holden was flown off of the trailer and dressed in record time. He took this all in stride, eagle eyed as he peered down past the trainer to the faint silhouette of horses behind a layer of tree boughs.
Our lesson began with a light chat about what we had done this week -- AKA, nothing. Holden had a pretty easy week, with two days off and some light rides W/T/C at Scarlett. He came into the lesson willing and much more relaxed than last week.
A short clip of our ride. Some things I need to work on is asking more of him in regards to contact. His rhythm was great today but I need to work on regulation. Keeping the contact consistent ("feel like you're keeping the bit in the corners of his mouth") and keeping my elbows bent to my hips, which I have a tendency to let get too loose. Keeping the outside rein consistent while keeping my arms back and up, as well as keeping the inside rein off of his neck as I ask him to bend with a more "open" connection.
Cantering we need to do more of. An exercise we worked on was figure eights - true bend, straight, change diagonal, change bend -- in that order. The four loop serpentine we worked on this week has really helped his responsiveness and my timing.
Monday marked a milestone for the two of us, as we pulled into a solemnly adorned driveway flanked by trimmed hedges and a single spruce of cornstalk. Here, real Dressage horses resided -- and it reflected in every perfectly manicured blade of grass. The ring was scrupulously dragged, the mirrors that reflected its impressive surface clear and devoid of blemish. Even the mounting blocks bore no trace of scuffed boot or fleck of sand. And then there was Holden, ungroomed and dusty as he stepped out of a trailer swallowed by rust.
We walked the span of the ring while our new instructor finished her current lesson. She commented on his bone and substance, as if surprised to see a thoroughbred comprised of such thickness and quality. We set to work, and work it was.
"More bend", she urged, as I opened my inside rein -- "keep your inside rein off his neck, close your fingers" she chided. "Bring your hips to your hands and your hands to your hips - do not pet him!" There were many flaws in my riding and I felt each one laid bare on the pale and raked ring, plain as a hoofprint on freshly dragged sand.
We worked in a circle, focusing on bending him generously to the inside while pushing him equally generously to the outside. "More leg, tap him when he doesn't respond" - he scooted forwards, offended by the suggestion. "Think walk as you trot", "get the walk you want" "keep his inside hind engaged". We worked on walking and halting smoothly, each footstep carefully planted as she monitored our rhythm like a hawk. The trot, he tended to get quick -- she advised me to think sinking my hips down into the saddle to slow him, and thinking walk. When he became resistant to the contact circle him smaller, send him forward into an open inside rein.
At the end of the lesson she shared a few exercises, her favorite one employing a small serpentine on the short side. This kept him balanced and attentive, though the end of the ride I did feel an ache in my arms. Drawing from the lesson, I saw many things I needed to work on - my length of rein and insistence in maintaining the contact first and foremost. She was demanding, but in the good way -- and in the end, I felt she drew a good ride from the two of us.
On Saturday, I took Holden to Scarlet Hill with the ambition to school some dressage and take advantage of the facility's beautiful footing. I feel in part that our dressage has been painfully stunted by overcoming the challenging surface that is our hilly ring. It's nice to ride on a groomed surface and realize that Holden is actually more broke than he feels at home.
Collected canter, anyone?
The session went well - except one annoying thing.. my Thinline pad kept pushing forward out from under the saddle.. Really bizarre. He was good and quiet for most of the ride - he had a serious aversion to this loudly striped pole in the ring that we had to have a discussion about. We fiddled around, did some W/T/C and then walked out to the cross country field.
We met up with the gal that used to lease my old TB and had a nice hack around the cross country field.. and she and Mike teamed up to convince (read: coerce) me to enter our first show..... which was tomorrow. "But he hasn't shown before" I objected -- "We haven't even had any professional help in months" I whined "he is barely confirmed in right lead canter" I insisted -- "we can't even maintain consistent contact somedays" I wheezed.. my ostensible self-deprecating comments were swiftly shut down by both parties, with heated insistence. I wasn't expecting such a deluge of support.
"But we aren't ready!"
So, at 8:30 AM Sunday I woke up, got some extra strong coffee from Starbucks (to steel my conviction I wasn't making a Huge Giant Mistake) and set to braiding Holden. The cool thing about dutch/hooded braids? They take like no time - I was packed up, groomed, braided, and loaded by 10...
Proof that I braided..
Well, we got there and Holden was really up and alert. It's funny, he doesn't do anything bad.. he just gets so upright and snorty that it sometimes makes me concerned. We walked around for about 45 minutes... just "seeing the sights". The warm up was really busy, so we walked around there until he settled enough to snatch a few bites of grass on our way out.
I still wasn't 100% convinced this wasn't a Huge Giant Mistake, but I was already here. Seriously who decides to attend their first show debut in five years the day before? Not like this type of planning has worked out for me in my life so far.. But we were here, so we tacked up at 11 and I was on him at 11:30. Holden seemed nonplussed once the initial "where-am-I" fear wore off -- we hacked around on a loose rein and did some dallying in W/T/C here and there.
"Is it nap-time yet?"
The funny thing is, he felt way more seasoned than he was. In that chaotic warm up he was with me every step of the way -- soft to the bridle, calm and attentive, he even offered some deep long and low at the canter.. we have trouble doing that at home! I couldn't believe the extraordinary ride he was giving me, and he was so "Ho Hum" about all the screaming children and their pony. He was just "there".
Sadly, I wasn't "there" yet. Our test was just awful, but because of me. I clamped up and stopped riding effectively once I trotted down the center line, which made Holden nervous. Holden's the type that needs a hand-hold (but not chokehold) ride -- and when I withered away he got inverted and stiff -- the judge wrote "out of control" on one of our movements... Whoops. It was kind of like that sudden decline that happens when a pilot steps away from the steering wheel.. Sorry, Holden.
I was really disappointed with how I handled my anxiety - I left the ring and instantly went back to the warm up and tried to get a better ride out of myself. Once again Holden surprised me - with all of my anxiety gone (since the test was done) he picked up the contact on his own and "carried" me - I hadn't had such a good ride out of him before. So the age old adage "it's not you, it's me" is dead on... it's not him, it's me.
I walked away elated though, and couldn't stop smiling for a while. For a horse/rider pair that have had less than four lessons under their belt, I really felt like we accomplished something here: confidence. Hopefully that confidence can develop into competence -- but that's what lessons are for. We tackled a milestone that day, and I'm glad we did it - getting it out of the way has made me feel so much more confident in my abilities as a rider (and Holden's sensibility as a horse) despite a less than stellar test. We got a 48.
At least now we know what to work on. On the 20th, I have a dressage lesson with a local Real Dressage Trainer. Seems like October is the month of firsts for both of us.
Well, it's about time for an update -- we can start with my major revelations and the disaster-wreck that was my most recent ride.
Yesterday, after carefully roping an unwilling assistant in the form of a sister (who, may I mention, required extraction from her house the next town over in the form of copious Starbucks fodder), we decided to cross the road in front of barn to school at the farm a little down the ways - about a half mile of walking undersaddle. Said farm is a lovely facility -- indoor with mirrors (so you can see how horrible your position has gotten over the past month!), nice outdoor adjacent to a very busy road, and plenty of capable riders who watch in horror when a rider can't control their misbehaving horse. We hacked over in good spirits, and I was looking forward to having an engaging ride with Holden.
You see, two things have stunted our dressagerly progress: my inexplicable lack of good aids and timing, and the fact that our home ring is based on the side of a hill. This has proved challenging for me because in this stage of Holden's training it's either work on the balance and forget the contact, or work on the contact and hope his extended trot down the hill doesn't end with a faceplant. We thought schooling in a real live ring would help.
"You want me to behave? Yea.."
Well, you know what they say about horses and plans -- I think mice are involved too. It was a disaster -- my kick ride that is W/T/C with reasonable contact mount regressed to 2 year old Thoroughbred before the gates at first call - bouncing, jigging, tenser than a cat suspended over water.. He felt like a keg of dynamite and it was all I could do to keep his trot manageable. We cantered (well, HE cantered -- I hung on for dear life) and worked on walk halt transitions and shamefully made our way home. Of course, the heathen wasn't even remotely repentant -- he even offered a chipper nicker as we crested the rise of our driveway.
I decided to chalk this up as a loss due to fall and greenness, and elected instead to take on a safer engagement -- braiding. I mean, despite the fact my horse is apparently not ready to trot down the centerline without hysterics, I still can keep the delusional dream going and practice braiding, right? Besides, if he's braided at least he looks pretty during his best primadonna moments.
"Mom! What did you do to me?"
I had practiced earlier that week and the braids (which I trusted would turn out spectacularly after watching a few know-how videos on Youtube) came out looking like swollen door knockers. This is why you practice, right?
I watched a few more videos, got some helpful critique (thanks COTH powers that be!) and set to braiding - the weather was cool, the bugs were gone, and my horse had reverted to his placid self. In ten swift minutes I had plaited the entire sweep of his braid into 8 neat, Pony-Club inspector improved sections and was just about to start sewing... when the plastic needle broke!
