Down to Business

My trainer Laurie was upbeat following the show. But she could tell that I was disappointed and responded with a proactive approach by saying we would start changing things up.

Firstly, she said that she would hop on Hemie more often at the beginning of my lessons (the last time she rode him was in December when I was injured). I really like Laurie riding Hemie - since I only do packages of lessons its as close to "training" as I can get. And since Hemie is a fast learner, these mini training rides actually are quite effective. I like to watch her ride because she is a more effective rider than I am, and she also is able to clearly demonstrate how she gives certain aids so that I can try to implement them. It also makes me feel a little better she says something like "Oh, I see what he's doing here - no wonder you were having trouble with XYZ."

Secondly, she said we should really start including more bit-ups. I haven't done any since we move to Castle Rock last month, and she said that it would be helpful as he understands lifting his back while connecting to the bit.

At our dressage lesson this week, we stared by longing but with the reins tucked behind the stirrups for a very small bit-up effect. Then Laurie longed, but moving all around the arena, ensuring Hemie didn't fall in or out. I'm now doing more of that before lessons - longing him through the water and around scary things, but constantly moving and changing so he has to pay attention to my positioning.

Last week's dressage lesson I asked Laurie to focus on me more instead of on Hemie. Laurie does not belive in equitation - she believes firmly that "form fits function" meaning that you ride in a manner to produce the desired behavior in the horse, not to satisfy any preconceived notions of how a rider should look. In principle I agree, but I think it has resulted on lessons focusing more on Hemie than on myself.

Be careful what you wish for, because then the lesson proceeded to kick my butt. We worked on strengthening my outside rein aid - it seems I have been countermanding my outside rein and getting Hemie's to really come through the outside rein by using too much inside rein. It took lots of focus for me to not use the inside rein. Plus I needed to use much more leg than normal to really create the level of throughness Laurie was looking for. Definitely something to start working on much more!

Hoping everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend! Congratulations to Nicku and Pongo for a great go at Galway this weekend!

Show Recap Part III - Takeaways (& Photos)

This past weekend's show was a reality check that we are not as far along as I had thought we were. You can practice perfect a hundred times, but you must be able to perform on command the day of the show. That is the challenge - doing it right at the right time.

After some reflecting, I think there were 2 chief factors which caused our dressage performance to be sub-par:
1) Hemie not being ridden the week before the show, due to the minor soundness concern.  
Hemie does better when in regular work, and clearly does not do as well when not.

2) Not immediately addressing his tantrum in the warm-up effectively.
It took far too long for me to get him under control (thanks again, Susan Friend!) and it left both of us rattled and very tense right before the test. 

Clearly I'm going to do everything I can to set us up for success in the future, and that means understanding issues and working to prevent them. Without further ado:

My Main Takeaways from this Show

• I need my trainer with me at shows.  If she's not available, I need to approach another trainer about day-of coaching BEFORE mounting. Better safe than sorry. Clearly I do need that support, at least at this stage of our career.
• I need to have a plan ready for when shit happens with Hemie refusing to go forward. For now that plan is the strategy Susan Friend had me use (over flex, then 10m circle, then expanding forwards).
• I need long warm ups. At least 45 to 50 minutes before each ride.
• Soundness concerns notwithstanding, Hemie needs our normal amount of rides, or even some extra rides, the week before a show.

Before Hemie and I even reached the trailer at the end of the show, I already knew that I wanted to come back and do the Meadows derby in April. I *know* we can do better, and I want another chance ASAP.

For now I am abandoning any immediate aspirations for doing a full on horse trials.  I need to be able to compete proficiently at the local shows (for $200 each) before signing up for the bigger shows ($1,000 each). If I'm going to take off work and drop the cash, I want to feel confident about our abilities. And the way to do that is compete in more of these schooling shows.  I'm blessed to have 2 local eventing schooling venues, the Meadows of Moorpark and El Sueno Equestrian Center, as well as a bunch of dressage, ETI, and hunter/jumper shows.

So my immediate short term goal is to do more local shows. As many as I can afford and schedule (with my trainer!). As soon as possible. Here are the contenders:

April 7 - ETI show in Simi Valley (http://www.eti118.org/)  OR Strad Farms Jumper Show
April 21 - ETI show in Thousand Oaks
April 28 - Meadows of Moorpark Derby
May 18 - ETI Dressage ride-a-test in Simi Valley
May 5 - ETI show in Simi Valley
May 19 - Fiesta del Sueno jumping derby at El Sueno OR ETI show in Thousand Oaks
June 7 -  ETI show in Simi Valley
June 15-16 - Dressage at El Sueno
June 23 - Hunter/jumper at El Sueno
July 17 - Jumping derby at El Sueno

On to another topic: mine and Hemie's fashion at the show. Opinions welcome!!

A) Black fly bonnet with silver trim. Thoughts? In my opinion he looked dashing! And he seemed to like its bug prevention.

B) My green show shirt. Is this even appropriate for dressage? Or is this hunter attire? Or neither? Fashion has been my major issue coming to this sport as an adult. I know nothing! My plan for the show was inspired by Karen of Bakersfield Dressage: a white "ventilator" shirt with a (pre-tied) stock tie and pin. I ordered the Ronfh Coolmax pre-tied stock tie, and it arrived just in time a few days before the show. But wouldn't you know it, the stupid button clasp broke the first time I tried it on (tags still on!) so I returned it and wore the green shirt instead. I'm thinking of ordering a regular stock tie, since I bought the stock pin. Thoughts?

C) My helmet cover, black with hot pink polka dots. Too juvenile? Too feminine since I'm riding a gelding? I got this cover when I was riding Spirit and our colors were pink, pink, and more pink. But I never got a chance to wear it due to our issues (and not showing). So I decided to open the package and add some color for this show. Thoughts welcome.

And for those interested in the Point Two air vest, here's a good shot of it. You can see the copper-colored CO2 canister on the right front.

Show Recap: Part II - Jumping

To continue from yesterday's the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly show recap post, I am pleased to finally bring you something a tad more positive.

As soon as we left the dressage arena, Hemie once again slid sideways in a naughty effort to head back towards the trailer. Bah! I promptly did the over-flex exercise and got him moving freely away from that direction. Then I decided it would be safer for me to dismount and walk us back rather than ride through the warm up area. Hemie was a good boy, walked like a gentleman and took a nice drink back at the trailer. He was great for un-tacking, grooming, and tacking back up with our jump gear.


The Good

Laurie still wasn't back by the time I mounted to begin jumping warm up, but my plan was to canter around and get Hemie nice and relaxed. But Hemie was actually quite well behaved, relaxed in his body, and walking and trotting freely. Laurie arrived soon after we started warming up, and we popped over some fences. We had plenty of time for a nice long warm up, and Hemie was acting very happy. Here's a short video from the warm up:

 

I wore my Point Two air vest for the first time, and Sarah B. pointed out that it wasn't attached to my saddle. I said I knew that, and I'd attach it when we headed out. She said "but where's the saddle attachment strap?"

0.o

Uh, the sales lady did not mention this little tidbit. In the end we attached it to one of the saddle pad straps.


The Easy Beginner Novice division had a course of 10 jumps with maximum height of 2'3". It started with 2 stadium fences then 7 solid cross country fences, then ended with one more stadium fence. My goal for our jumping round was to ride more forward than our last jumping derby. When watching the video of myself later on, I didn't want to be clucking at us the whole time.

Well, mission accomplished. Here's the video:

Okay, its not quite as forward as I had imagined we would be. We trotted more jumps than I had thought we would, but that's okay. We got over everything and we both had fun doing it. And I didn't fall off, even when it got a tad iffy after the last fence.

We ended up with 4 jump faults (from circling before jump #6), and 48 time faults for the jump round. Combined with our dressage score that put us in 10th place. Last place. But we avoided the big E (elimination) which is good.

As we headed back to the trailer, I took a moment to dismount. Can you guess what happened next?

POP!  Yep, my air vest. I had forgotten to unlatch it. Hemie barely blinked at it, so that's good.

Anyways, thanks to everyone for their supportive vibes and comments. The weekend didn't go as I had planned, but that's life with horses. I'm still mediating on the takeaways and new goals following this experience. As of now I'm grateful that things didn't go worse, and I am very proud of my horse and myself for coming back from a rough morning to do an improved job jumping.

Show Recap: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Actually, it went in reverse order: Ugly dressage warm up, Bad dressage test, then Good jumping. At least it got better as the day went on.

Firstly, gotta give credit where credit is due. I want to thank my husband for his amazing support. He was a doting horse show hubby. Many thanks to my trainer Laurie for being so encouraging. Tammy and Randee and The Meadows of Moorpark team did a great job putting on the show, and special gratitude to Sarah B. and the other volunteers who make schooling shows possible. And finally, thanks to my cheering section: my mom Barbara, brother Danny, neice Marlie, nephew Bobby, and friends Karla, Andy, Jess, and Jenna. It was nice to see everyone and I appreciate the warm vibes.

Sunday morning was bright and cheerful. I was packed and ready to roll. Hemie munched breakfast while getting groomed up. I took him for a longe and he was very well behaved and not super frisky. I was tired from the previous day's ride (and fall) and thought perhaps he was too. I was wrong.

And so... The Ugly

He was perfect for loading up, for unloading, and for grooming. He was calm walking around, I hopped on him with plenty of time to warm up. We headed out to the open warm up area near the dressage courts. And then my horse started freaking out.

He did not want to move forwards, especially when headed away from the main entrance area. He slid backwards, scooted sideways, and got light up front. I tried putting him to work, but he almost careened into people and horses, so then I focused on getting him to a more open, less populated corner of the warm up area. Once there, I focused on just FORWARD, praising every step forward and trying not to pull on his mouth - afraid of making him go up (or over).

Yep, I was that girl in the warm up. The one you cringe at, while thinking "she needs to get a handle on her horse!" while simultaneously moving away and shielding any small children with your body.

It sucks.

I struggled for what seemed like an eternity. I probably nearly killed at least 6 people. It was mortifying.

Where was my trainer, you ask? She was at a different horse show about 15 minutes away where she had two clients riding. I had known she had another show that day and cocky, stupid me had said "I'll be fine on my own - you can just drop me off and we'll be alright."

Ha. Famous last words.

Finally, someone had the kindness to help me out. That person was well-known So Cal eventer Susan Friend LeTourneur of Goldspirit Farm, who now has a special place in my heart. She gave me some encouragement, and more importantly, a specific exercise which worked to fix the issue. She had me over-flex to the side, then move into a 10 meter circle, focusing on getting the hind feet to move forwards. Have solid rein contact, sit deep on the seat, really driving forwards with the hips. From there, move straight out from the circle. Switch directions if the problem arises again. Pretty soon you'll have larger circles, then figure eights, then you're like a normal person in the warm up. She even threw in a few coach-like, empowering words, which helped my brain to click back into gear. Thank you, Susan - you earned a new friend and supporter today!


The Bad

Moving on to our actual dressage test.  The best I can really say about it is that...it could have been worse. We did stay inside the arena at all times, and we didn't get eliminated.

But to be honest I am very disappointed. I think we could have done much better had I been a more effective rider in the warm up sooner, and a more positive rider during the test. But, c'est la vie. The judge was actually quite generous - she gave us lots of 5s for what really should have been 3 or 4s. Here's the video. Brace yourself - it's painful.

Both of us look tense and why, oh why, didn't I bend my elbows and squeeze the outside rein more!  Seriously people I'm not normally this bad of a rider. So frustrating!

 I went off course twice in the test, but because she didn't ring the buzzer the first time she did not dock me points the second time. Specifically, I added an extra trot circle before picking up the canter each direction. I also got some points off for clucking to him during the test. I could feel him getting stuck and felt I needed to do it in order to help him move forward. I already knew we were scoring horribly anyway, so I just wanted to give him as good an experience as I could at that point.

Here are the scores and comments.

Alright, time to do some de-stressing. Next post will cover the jumping part, ending on a much more positive note. 

And...we showed

To cut to the chase, Hemie fully recovered and we did compete in the local derby on Sunday. It was our first ever dressage test, then we did a combined stadium and cross country jump course.  I'll be getting photos and videos and will do a show recap in another post soon.

But to catch up from the last post...

Following last week's tiny bit of unsoundness, we pronounced Hemie fully recovered Friday evening. I still gave him a short longe instead of a ride, just for good measure. So Saturday was our first ride in...well, one full week. I longed first of course, but he was still hot-hot-HOT. We did dressage, and all was going very well.

Until we worked on a challenging exercise: bending right while tracking left on a circle. This fried poor Hemie's brain, and challenged my physical coordination efforts in being an effective rider with all aids. At one point he took off cantering downhill, and when I gave him a half-halt he started bouncing up and down. I got disseated, hunched forward, and basically rode Hemie's neck as he cantered around the arena.

Laurie yelled at me to drop my whip - apparently bouncing on him. Then she yelled at me to sit up, which I was already trying my damnedest to do. At some point I realized I was not going to be able to fix the situation, so I abandoned ship and rolled off his right shoulder. Surprisingly, Hemie did not run me over, or kick me, or keep running. He stopped a few feet away. I laid huddled for a minute - my abs were fully contracted and tight with pain from the effort of trying to sit up. I had my safety vest on, so that's good.

Laurie hopped on while I caught my breath, and poor Hemie went back and forth between having naughty spells in one corner of the arena to being a hard worker at the exercise in the other areas of the arena. After a bit I got back on for a few minutes, then we ended the lesson and I began the pre-show bath and tack cleaning extravaganza.

Not the best pre-show ride.



As to the the unsoundness last week, there's of course no way to know exactly what the issue was, but Laurie seems to think it was hoof sensitivity. All the walking and driving paths around the barn are made of road base, which is basically gravel with chunks of asphalt. I don't know why he'd show sensitivity now versus, say, when we first moved to the facility. But ultimately I want to be proactive about hoof health and Hemie's comfort.

So I did what many an American would do: search for a product to buy to help solve the problem.

Well, actually, I already had a product in mind, but this incident was the push to actually purchase it. Its Keratex Hoof Hardener. It came highly recommended by a local eventer who does Training level barefoot with great success.  To my shame, she had recommended this product some time back, but since my local tack store didn't carry it, I had bought the Tuff Stuff hoof toughener instead, and have been applying it regularly per the instructions.
 
But I fell for a classic case of buying what's affordable and accessible rather than what's right (or at least, recommended by a great referral).

So I ordered the Keratex on Friday and will start using that instead of the Tuff Stuff once it comes in. The Keratex can be applied to the sole of the hoof and specifically advertises for soundness, whereas the Tuff Stuff seems to be more to prevent chipping of the outer wall. For 3 times the price, I sure hope it will do the trick and prevent any more issues from arising!

And so I leave you with a random shot of Hemie's tail - looking much nicer than when I first adopted him almost a year ago.

Tail is looking longer and fuller!

Lameness update + photo dump

As of last night Hemie seemed to be doing better. If Wednesday night was a "1" then Thursday night he was a "0.5".  He trotted around nice and evenly, without head-bobbing, but every so often I thought I saw a hint of a bad step. According to Laurie that is classic stone bruise or hoof sensitivity. 

The poor guy has so much energy, he danced in the air and bucked and tried to canter off a few times. I got his mind off of things by walking him all around the soft arena, including into the water. He got to sample many tasty bushes, get up close and personal to the jumps, sniff at and walk through the water, and then shake his head and prance like a hot little TB.

Our farrier called me back last night after the longe, and said that hoof-testing would not be helpful. In his opinion it wouldn't indicate if the issue is or is not with his hooves, since some horses are just more or less sensitive in their feet and we have no idea what Hemie's "normal" sensitivity level is. He said we could try putting shoes back on, but I decided I'd rather just give him some time, since he is already showing improvement. He said Hemie could be just a little more sensitivity due to the gravel walkways at our barn and the lack of rain to soften the footing. 

The plan is to check on him again tonight, and then again Saturday, and on Sunday is the show. If he is 100% then we'll still go. Thanks to everyone for the warm vibes - they do help!

Meanwhile here is a photo dump:

My horse is a very messy eater.

This next series is from a random evening when The Birds were at the barn. Hemie was a very good sport - we tried our hand at bird chasing but ultimately the birds won!

Sorry for the blurry photos - handling crazy horse while taking photos is not the best.

Catch Up Post. Lameness

I've been slacking on the blogging front, but hey, that's life sometimes.

Hubby and I went to Pismo Beach for a long weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It was lovely and relaxing.

I got an 8 am lesson this past Saturday before leaving, and it was a great ride. We worked on our usual stuff for now: straightness, slowness. We added in some work on my equitation (still working on sitting up after the jump to better collect and prepare for the next jump). Overall it was a fun lesson and a great start to a lovely long weekend.

Last night I went to the barn, accompanied by hubs. As Rick was getting a refresher on how to longe, I noticed Hemie was ever so slightly off.  Hind left. No, hind right. Left front. Bah!

I hopped on to see if it was just my imagination, and no, I did feel the slight hitch. Poor Hemie had lots of energy and wanted to go-go-go, but we ended the ride and hosed off his legs. No heat, no swelling. I called Laurie whose gut feeling was that it was his hooves and we may need to shoe him again. That was not my gut feeling, but she said she'd take a look at him today and call me. My gut feeling was just a small soreness or owie from his wild bucking (he was feeling fresh), or perhaps a small injury when getting turned out. I've learned personally that there doesn't have to be any heat or swelling for there to be some inner damage (knee issues still ongoing from my fall last Thanksgiving).

Well, today at lunch time Laurie called. She and another trainer, Mary Jo Lord (her website here) checked out Hemie and both thought it was front left. Laurie left a message for the farrier - the plan is to hoof test him and get his professional opinion then take it from there. If we didn't have the show on Sunday, I probably wouldn't even do that - the lameness was so small, I'd be inclined to just give him a few days off and see. So please send him your warm vibes for a quick healing.