Personal Responsibility... For BOTH of Us

This post had about three different titles in my head while I drove home from my lesson on Thursday. Other options included "Wheels Off... And Back on Again", "It's All Adding Up", "A Little Sting to Make it Stick". In other words there were a lot of important lessons learned in one single jump lesson. Also, this is two posts in one day with the pre-scheduled post and then this word vomit. But this blog is mostly for my own reference and use, so getting these words down was important. 

We started with a soft, bouncy trot going into our recent fave jump with placing poles 9 feet on either side. My directions were to not squeeze him off the ground. I didn't and he did the tiniest school pony trot over the fence. I was told to give him a TAP on landing and kick him forward into a gallop away from the fence if he did that again. Got it! But then I completely dropped the contact. We paused and went over the directions again. I was to create a soft, bouncy trot to jump from and then maintain contact throughout the exercise, but it was his responsibility to get us over the fence. The first few were not cute, but after two TAPS on landing, he was taking me to the jump MUCH more convincingly. Cool! 

Then we moved on to stringing things together. 

Very obviously not to scale. I found it easier to hand draw than screw around in MS Paint now that I don't have a touch screen tablet

TBH I'm not sure what the gymnastic line was on the left. I think it was two strides between but each cross rail had a 9' placing pole at the base of it. You would think that meant I hadn't ridden through it, but I did, several times. The pink oxer is a brand new pink rolltop that is pretty spooky that we had done a few small circles around at the walk and trot during our warm up. The first time we headed towards it, I squeezed, but also leaned my shoulders at it. Aaaand suddenly found myself on the ground. I mean, not suddenly, it wasn't a dirty stop, there was plenty of time for me to do something else, but there I was. 

JT trotted over and caught Butterball who had only gone a few strides away. She asked me how I was, I told her I was unsure about my ankle but that it wasn't broken. After a few more minutes of sitting and contemplating life (and discussing how I leaned rather than keeping my shoulders back), I stood up and it felt OK. Not fantastic, but usable. So I popped back on and she dropped the rails over the offending pink oxer. She said "Lean back by a MILE" so I did, and wouldn't ya know it, pony popped right over. Somewhat in dramatic fashion, so we trotted back and forth until it was a non-event. Then we resumed the course, including adding in the direct 4 stride line to the oxer after the placing pole exercise. It all felt AMAZING, he was taking me over the fences and all I had to do was establish the proper canter. The distances were coming up so easily as well and we didn't chip at the base of anything. 

Nothing like a little sprain to really reinforce NOT jumping ahead (or leaning prior to jumping ahead). The sting in my ankle was a steady little reminder to keep my shoulders back. 

It felt like the lesson was the final piece to the work we've been doing recently to make sure everything is comfy and good in his world - the feet, the saddle, my position (for the most part). I had gone through a couple months of feeling like I had taken him a few steps back in his training - he was so EASY to jump when I bought him, why was I feeling like I had to push for every stride and every jump even as his canter was getting stronger and stronger. I think one part of this was that he was the obvious winner in the comparison to how it felt to jump Goggles. But another part was that I was used to micromanaging every stride, and he was happy enough to acquiesce to not going unless I was pushing. But he's a really clever pony, so once we were sure he was comfortable in every way, it was time to remind him that his part is getting us over the fence in a pleasant fashion. MY job, reminded by my ankle, is to create the canter, keep my damn body still/back as we approach the fence, and then press my hands into his neck over the fence. 

The most civilized posed picture I've managed to take of these two

Weekly Reservations

As a follow up to my 2025 reservations post I had typed a rough draft of this post prior to Emma's post regarding goals. After reading that I realized that this post pretty closely aligned with the "process goals". The actual foundation that leads up to showing up to those competitions. Emma's post and the blog posts linked to in it did prompt me to think about what did I want to have as my focus while proceeding through each week. That distinction keeps this post from being more along the lines of a horse version of my annual "Getting it Right off the Horse" post. 

So first we'll zoom in from those grand competition goals* to the weekly nitty-gritty. Ideally each week with Butterball would consist of: 

- Jump lesson with JT, usually a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of stadium to XC lessons over a 4 or 5 week period

- 1 hour bareback walk hack with serpentines through ditches and other terrain questions. This day also involves some footing questions with a mix of pavement, soft sand, hard sand, rocks, etc 

- Fitness day- currently we're at 20 minutes trotting then 3 x 3 min canter, but we will be upping that to 3 x 4 min canter soon

- Dressage lesson OR at home cavaletti work with a 30 minute walk hack to warm up

- Dressage school at home with a 30 minute walk hack to start

- Lunge in Equiband for 23-25 minutes (10 at walk/halt, 10 at walk/trot, couple minutes each way with trot/canter), some weeks incorporate another bareback walk hack to start 

The weekly plan helps us get to those competitions in two ways. First I have always believed that a good amount of walking is the best way to keep a horse sound. And I'm not alone in that belief. So the weekly plan incorporates a lot of that, done over as much varied terrain as possible. Which involves the ditches on the side of the roads and occasionally trailering out to actual (Florida style) hills. Hacking out also helps with desensitizing Butterball to things that might come up at shows - we encountered two flags on a fence noisily flapping in the breeze the other day and had the opportunity to very slowly acclimate to them. He's also learned about open trash cans and now wants to shove his face deep into each one, I think because they smell like food. Culvert openings were another thing that were initially deep dark holes of doom and now are a-okay to him. Second, each week includes instruction and a jump school to keep us heading in the right direction under close guidance. 

As far as my internal focus for each week or month, I liked L. Williams approach from way back when of having a specific position goal each month. It is impossible for me to focus on everything at the same time all the time, an idea JT verified at one point early on in our relationship when I asked "but what about X position fault" and she essentially told me slow down young grasshopper you can only take instruction on one or maybe two things at a time. In that vein, I was amazed at how well Butterball started going when I just focused on keeping my body still and centered and keeping him soft through the down transitions. While I'm not sure I can concretely put each weeks or months focus on the blog because it's going to change based on what is most relevant at the time, I am concretely going to resolve that if he starts doing weird things or not going well on the flat, rather than micromanaging him and picking, I'll examine my own position and aids first. Then I'll take it back to the basics of good, soft transitions and a steady tempo. 

*Grand competition goals = showing up at those specific competitions and finishing on a number, but even the showing up part is sometimes out of my hands because horses are horses

Majestic Movie Monday

Butterball and I met a saddle fitter at Majestic yesterday. She was amazing; I'll talk more about the saddle fitting itself later. She also thought Butterball was so cool, really who doesn't though?? 

Hillary met me there after the fitting and snagged some video and acted as my oh shit dial 911 and catch my horse person (and ended up catching someone else's horse actually).

My original plan was to run the whole novice course from the last recognized there. But it was a popping Sunday and instead I opted for just stringing a few together and then circling back for the training line a couple of times. It was one of those magical days where it all came together. We've swapped saddles, have his feet back on the right track, and have been plugging away at the lessons. Everything just clicked and felt great. He felt so game and confident. I was able to focus a bit more on keeping my hands forward and down over the fence and through his landing. There's plenty that wasn't perfect, as always, but I really couldn't be more pleased. 

Some screenshots if the whole video is too much. 

Butterball was also delighted because he got to vacuum the alfalfa off the floor of the trailer. 

Vacuumed! 

So I'm ready to go home now! 

Later on this week we'll do one more stadium school before Three Lakes next Saturday. I'm on the fence about squeezing in a dressage lesson. But leaning towards probably not since I actually work 40+ hours this week and need to go walk the course and see Three Lakes on Friday. 

Rare Occurrences

I did an entire jump lesson this week while wearing two jackets, a long sleeve shirt, and wool socks. That has got to be a first. Unfortunately (fortunately?) we did not get any of the snow that hit Florida, but did get a lot of verrrrrrryyyy cold rain. I think snow would've been better. Monday morning we went for a bareback hack in the cold at 8 AM because that was when I had time to ride. Pony was MAD!!! Like hopping up and down and insisting this was complete BS. I was quietly insistent though and eventually we had a pleasant hack. 

The jump lesson was quite productive. JT complimented our canter work initially, it seems like the transitions and focus on ENGAGING the hindquarters has been getting us somewhere. We started over fences with a jump with placing poles. We've been starting this way for the past month plus and it has been immensely helpful for my eye. The whole rest of the lesson is pretty well documented in the video. 

We were having some trouble finding the correct spots to leave the ground. He wants to be so careful and was doing a bit more chipping than leaving at the correct spot. We got it by the end though. And what is most important to me in the video is that he looks HAPPY over the fences. Our stadium round in December at Majestic involved a lot of flat pony ears over the fences. Whether that was my riding, the saddle that was way too close to his withers, or his feet, we've made it better. 

We'll keep on chugging away at me learning to see the correct distance and COMMIT to that distance. The first time through the bending line I didn't start counting until stride 3 or so, so putting the 7 in there was my fault. The second time through he thought that since we'd done it that way the first go, why not do it again. Then we got it right. 

When I watch the videos, I feel like I've gotten a bit sloppy in my position again. I'm not jumping ahead, my fave, so there is that. But I'm not pressing my hands into his neck for the release. So we'll circle back to that focus. 

When we finished, he stood very still and closed his eyes in a heavy blinky kinda way. He was most displeased when I woke him up to walk back in. Poor pony. 

I spayed my kittens Tuesday. They were RAVENOUSLY hungry 3 hours post-op, like chew the towels and blankets afterwards in case a morsel had been dropped kinda hungry. I didn't use a benzo in their medications, so I have no idea why. My coworkers were accusing me of kitten starvation. 

They are 100% broken by their surgery onesies. Oh boy do I have a new appreciation for the ask when I tell clients their pet MUST stay quiet post-op. These things are energizer bunny terrorists even on a LOT of drugs. 

Proper Alignment

Butterball and I have been on a bit of a farrier journey lately. Ben has been with his trimmer since August, more on that later as I always promise. But, I swear we're getting close. Butterball however, has been with three different farriers in that time frame. I'm crossing my fingers we've got the match right now with the third. 

I had noticed him standing over at the knee shortly after he was done last time. And he was mildly positive to hoof testers across his frog. He still looked sound. But part of the trick of him and Ben is that they move very well and have large, elastic gaits. So soundness isn't quite enough. Instead there is a constant evaluation of are they moving as well as I know they can. That feeling that he wasn't quite as floaty as he had been, combined with adding spurs while jumping because he just felt sticky, made me start to question his feet. 

My friend shot some rads for us, and unfortunately my feelings had been right. 

The alignment down through P3 isn't great and there's a load of toe there

Ben Ben's right front for contrast of how the angles should look

He's had that little bit of side bone since he was three

Same problem as the right

Ben also got some rads shot. And as shown above, his angles are perfect, but he was still positive to hoof testers. But it did give me warm and fuzzy feelings about my trimmer. She always asks how Ben has been doing and then really listens to the answer and thinks about what we could do better for him. 

My friend tactfully recommended I try out her farrier. I have to coordinate with people anyways since there is no electric at my barn, so we made plans to bring Butterball back a few days later when her farrier was coming out. 

And now he has 3D pads! 

Right

Left 

WW: Ben and Friends

Ben had been trying so so hard to play with Butterball and the others over the fence that we finally gave it another go. And he's been so nice! The babies are a bit intimidated by him still, but it's probably good for them.

They're separate in the morning so Ben can leisurely enjoy his breakfast, but I moved him over shortly after this

And we had our best, most relaxed equiband lunging session to date on Tuesday, probably not a coincidence. 

Sticks and Sand - Lesson Recaps

Two weeks ago, Butterball and I squeezed in a jump lesson on Thursday morning before I headed out of town. It was good, but also frustrating. Like, do I have to be reminded how to ride this pony once every two months? The issue this time was 1. not using leg and 2. jumping up his neck. Which got me in trouble and almost landed me on the ground when pony noped out of the second jump in a combo because see 1 and 2. After that I got myself together and started using more leg. And he jumped great. 

It was quite a fun course, lots of turning. Other than our one oops, everything went great. 

Then last week I had a dressage lesson with a new trainer who is less than 30 minutes from my barn, YAY!!! 

No lesson media so have a picture of the frost/ice in Ben's roached mane Wednesday morning

The take home message from the dressage lesson? Just keep riding the canter. We did the same rapid fire transitions JT has had us doing to strengthen the canter. And she got very exacting about SLOW IT DOWN after the down transition to trot. I'm not allowed to let him trot off in a sprawling, fancy, too forward trot for two circles before I control the tempo. Even if he loses the softness/roundness, half halt IMMEDIATELY and get the slower trot. 

After the rapid fire transitions, we did something she said she likes to use in warm up: walk leg yield into turn on the forehand that is basically a walk leg yield around a point. Ben and I had done something similar to the turn on the forehand/leg yield and it was great for suppling him completely through his back. With Butterball it revealed a few holes in his response to lateral aids. There were a few moments of "I don't wanna". I typically start with very shallow baby leg yields in the walk to warm up. She said those were for four year olds. Not that they're bad for the very beginning, but then move on to bigger. Actually get the hind legs crossing. We didn't quite get the leg yield/ToF feeling right, but I've felt it on Ben and I'll keep working on in before I see her again in two weeks. 

Then it was back to the canter, this time slowing it down. Creating more than one canter. Again, similar to what JT has been having us do (it's really nice when trainers independently have the same ideas). Then once he had slowed down and lifted a bit, softening my hand, letting him know that I will not hold him up there, he has to hold himself. It wasn't pretty and it still feels like I'm doing SO MUCH to make the canter happen. But, perhaps, maybe, I need to do that much right now. Her idea though was also some personal responsibility. He has to stay in the canter unless told otherwise. This is where she differed a bit from other trainers - if he broke he needed to pick up the canter IMMEDIATELY. Her point was that he doesn't understand that he is supposed to hold it if it takes me two circles to get it back. Which makes sense. I certainly sacrificed some quality of the transitions though to make that happen. Something to think about - which school of thought do you fall into? She definitely hit the nail on the head that I've been riding him softly and kindly and that those are fantastic things that I shouldn't change, but that we need to set the bar higher because he is more than capable. And also more than capable of hanging out at my very low bar and being very happy about that LOL. 

2025 Reservations

I heard the idea of reservations instead of resolutions recently on Tim Ferris' podcast. He recommended this as a way to ensure that you are spending time with the 5 or 10 people in the world who mean the most to you and with whom you have the most fulfilling relationships. Funny enough, my two childhood best friends and I have been doing an annual trip for the past four years and have plans to continue it. We're headed to Roanoke, Virginia this summer. 

But this is a horse blog. How do reservations fit in here? Well, for the first time in a long time, Butterball makes me feel like I can plan some things in the future and chances are pretty good that we'll get there. 

Our Winter/Spring:

January: This month (this week actually) we're trying out a new dressage trainer. I'm quite excited about her geographically because she is 20 minutes from my barn. Time well tell if the other pieces are a good fit. A few weeks later the boys get their teeth done. Butterball was due last month, but my lovely dentist has quite a booked schedule so I wasn't able to get her out any sooner. 

February 1st: Three Lakes Horse Trials at novice. I've never been to this venue in spite of it being 1.5 hours away on maps, just like Rocking Horse (where we go a lot). Partially because it just never lined up with my work schedule, but I think we also were basking in the comfort of Rocking Horse. Three Lakes HT is divided into two one day shows with Prelim, Modified, and Novice running on Saturday and Training, Beginner Novice, and Starter running on Sunday. I actually love this. I will have to drive down Friday to walk courses and sort out where to park, where the office is etc etc, so it will end up being just as much driving as Rocking Horse over two days, but the first day I get to take the little car and Butterball gets to chill at home. 

Image from threelakesht.com

February 18/19: Majestic Oaks is hosting another weekday schooling show. We may head there for a quick pop around because the Rocking Horse on the 15/16th that everyone else is headed to conflicts with a trip Ryan and I have planned. I LOVE these weekday schooling shows since my weekends are at such a premium. It would be good to do another show though because next up is...

March 14-16: Carolina International HT. This is another new venue for us and would be our big "away" show for this half of the year. It will give us a chance to compete somewhere with LOTS of atmosphere at novice. 

Image from Eventing Nation

March 27-30: Terranova. I'm not sure on this one. Being gone two LOOOONG weekends in the same month is a bit much. So we'll see how I'm feeling around this time. 

April 5-6: Rocking Horse. If we don't do Terranova, we'll probably head to Rocking Horse for their spring HT. Because next month...

May 10: Training move up at Majestic HT! This is assuming all the wheels are on the bus and things have been going along swimmingly. 

Moving on to summer and fall...

May 31-June 1: Ocala Summer HT to start solidifying out training level feels.

Then we'll probably spend June and July avoiding the heat but continuing to truck along. Because the tentative goal for the fall is the classic series training three day at KHP in October to cap off our season before Butterball gets a nice 4-6 week break with some hacks and relaxation in the last part of October and all of November. 

August 23-24: Bouckaert Equestrian International. This is a tentative plan because this fall is going to involve a lot of travelling. But because the venue sold (formerly Chatt Hills) and I haven't made it up there yet, I 100% want to get up there if they're going to stop hosting events. 

September 26-28: Stable View Oktoberfest. If we didn't make it to Chatt, this would be a good final prep before the Hagyard Classic Series Three Day in October. 

Alright, now I've thrown it all out there, cue lameness, backwards movement in training, etc etc. But I'm feeling pretty optimistic with this pony of mine.