Wednesday (Water) Walks

Butterball and I went back to Dinner pond two weeks ago. We started with some fitness work: 

And then moved on to the best part, the splish splashing. I had my phone in my pocket in a ziploc bag and every time the bag crinkled he thought he was getting a cookie. 

Starting the fitness work

Close to the end, we made a nice little loop (ft the lime rock showing through that probably bruised his feet)

This was a not fully thought out trip so I didn't have his normal rope hackamore in the trailer, but we made do with Goggle's rope halter and long line, creatively placed. And just went bareback without the pad this time

Pretty view of the water between his ears

Took such a long drink after the conditioning work, happy pony

We shared dinner pond with some vultures. Who were probably there for their dinner - someone had left a mostly stripped clean deer carcass. Charming. 

Selfies on horse back are hard 

The happiest butters

Trying to get him out of the lake was like trying to get a kid to leave the playground. I let him wander and swim for about 30 minutes then needed to get on with my day. I'd point him at the edge and he'd make it almost there before U-turning back towards the deeper spots. I'm so happy I've found something he loves this much. He does so much for me, it's nice to be able to do something that I absolutely know brings him happiness. 

Few random pics from a click-and-treat exploratory hand walk around some spookier stuff in Ms. GY's front yard where he was enjoying day after show grazing privileges. 

This wasn't scary, he was munching on hay scraps 

This was a little scary

But we touched the things and got cookies

Does he not have the absolute cutest face?? 

Touch this

Touch that

Touch that... I ran out of cookies at the tarp. He touched this and then stared at me wondering why the cookie button broke. 

HIS DAPPLES 

Finding his own snacks because I ran out 

Who is Counting Anyways? - Majestic Oaks Recap

Butterball and I went to Majestic Oaks on Saturday for the schooling show. A coworker was kind enough to switch with me so that we could practice stadium (and XC!) once before heading up to SC for Oktoberfest. 

He got socks and tail bathed Friday afternoon

I dressaged at 8:28, jumped stadium at 11:15 and then headed over for XC right after that. Since Majestic Oaks is very, very familiar to me, I opted not to go walk the day before. We loaded up in the dark, Butterball and Mr. GY's horse, and headed out. We arrived around 7:45 and I slowly got dressed and tacked. In dressage warm up I discovered that Butterball can actually form significant attachments to other horses. He was bound and determined to call for his buddy every minute or so. Ms. GY kindly took his friend further away and he kept a lid on it in the test. I only did about 15 minutes of warm up because, let's be honest, we were there for the jumping. 

And the judge, while scoring rather generously, called us out on the "more" of everything that was needed. More consistent tempo, more bend, more balance, etc. I don't really like Novice B and did almost lose my way once, so I'll consider it a win that I didn't get lost. Our 31.9 put us in 9th/11 with the first place score being a 26.4. 

Stadium featured a course with a number of related distances - 8 strides between 1 and 2, 9 strides between 3 and 4, and 7 strides between 5 and 6. Then it finished on a two stride oxer to vertical, exactly what we had not executed at Stable View. 

In warm up I remembered my wandering eye that I noticed over the summer and focused on keeping my eye ON THE SAME SPOT on the fence. Wouldn't ya know it, it helped. I'm still not honestly sure of the balance between micro-managing him that EM was trying to fix and acknowledging if our spot will be tight or long so I can add leg or wait a tiny bit accordingly, but I decided in warm up to ride him the way PW had me riding him successfully in May and June. My friend came and set fences for us and when I almost turned back to jump a larger than Novice oxer in warm up, she said "You're not going to gain anything by doing that. Just ride him forward and keep your shoulders up with your leg on, no matter what spot you get to." Turns out that was just the advice we needed because we went in and did that. 

I used the corners to try to take EM's advice (and every trainer before her really) to not let him get behind my leg through the turns. Leg on, surge forward, then softly balance before the fences without sitting deep and driving his back down. We got 10 strides between 3 and 4, I needed just a bit more leg the first two strides of the line and then it would have flowed nicely. And then we got an ugly chip stride in to the oxer at 9A. But I sat up and believed that my very capable horse could get out and we put three tiny strides in and then jumped the vertical just fine. Which, truly, if it had just flowed over the oxer I think I would have gained less confidence. 

After lots of pats for the pony we went over, got booted and vested up, and headed to XC. 

Warm up went well. The course was so-so. The first few jumps I was anxious and DEFINITELY shoved him past the actual spot and got rewarded with two chips at the base. We mostly fixed that by the end of the course, aided by NOT fixing it at the fence before the down bank which was right before the trakehner. The trakehner here has made me nervous ever since I was jump judging when a horse had a rotational and had to be euthanized. So I have a good amount of respect for it and actually channeled it appropriately this time by creating a nice bouncy show jump canter that got us at an appropriately slightly close spot so he could bounce right on over. 

Fence three where I first got it together a little bit

Fence five - corner

Looking towards the half coffin. He's SO CUTE 

Rails towards the ditch 

Getting the trakhener right

Second to last 

With our two clear jump rounds we moved up to 4th

Huge thank you to my friend/coworker and Amanda and Hillary for the media and support. My coworker said after XC she felt like BB was maybe not as comfortable as he could be behind. He's definitely not lame, but now that she knows him pretty well, she felt like he wasn't quite himself. I had the same thought out on XC: He wasn't changing cleaning right to left, and left is usually his preferred galloping lead AND he had a couple slightly crappier than normal jumps even when I did my part. I *think* what happened is I bruised his feet again. We did some canter sets on the edges of dirt roads near the pond we've been swimming in. And around here those dirt roads sometimes contain lime rock. I could hear the hardness change as we went and then saw new bruises pop up on his feet a few days later. It would also explain a lesson last week where he was *not* particularly helpful about leaving the ground. I'm going to see about putting him in pads behind. And also haul down to what I know is softer footing for our canter sets. I do plan on supplementing those canter sets with our water treadmill days as well, which should be nice and easy on his feet. 

Letting Go

So... I've been micromanaging my horse and now he doesn't know how to deal on his own. At least that is the general gist of the lessons last week. Also, GET OFF HIS BACK. Even prior to EM doing several training rides on BB, I had contemplated that we have, in general, a much easier time out XC jumping SOLID fences of the same size that we have been fumbling over or in front of in the ring. I had figured it was because there is less time for me to screw with him... JT taught me the general rhythm of up off the back, gallop (canter quickly at novice LOL), eight strides out shoulders come back, seven strides out, lightly sit, six strides out if the balance isn't up and we're not on a slightly shorter stride, then half halt with leg and hand, then wait for the fence. Cool. Rinse and repeat is about all you do at novice. Combinations are barely related at this level. 

EM said to me, when I related this again after discovered that he much prefers me out of the tack, that she felt like we didn't talk enough about the different paces in stadium, but that same kinda feel should be there. 

On Monday, EM started the ride. She moved him through the paces I had watched several times over the Wednesday through Friday training rides. Walk-halt transitions controlling where each foot lands, no falling to pieces and dropping his back and splaying legs. Then move on to walk-trot. The neck stays long and stretchy during the transition. Then trot-canter, moving legs forward into the canter. The canter has to be flowing forward with a long, soft neck and back before it can be collected a little bit a la rounding up a ball of energy not shortening it back. 

Then I hopped on and we played with those concepts a bit. It took a lot of focus to get the halts right. Interestingly the method was almost the exact opposite feel of the method that JV had me working on. His approach was to focus on promptness. Which had (mostly) created square halts, an improvement on our wiggle into the halt practice we'd had prior. But had also led to him saying I should put a flash on the bridle because he was hollow with his head up and mouth wide open as he fought the bit. He clarified that he did not mean to strap his mouth shut AT ALL, just prevent the WIDE open gaping that was happening. EM's method 

I struggled a little bit with *what* exactly to do on the way to the cavaletti if I wasn't managing every stride. Bring the pace up through the corner, then sit quietly with leg on, hand present, let him sort it out. But he has to stay straight. That is also my job. But let him fall through his left shoulder and then correct it, don't guard against it happening in the first place. 

You can see the marked difference between the first and second course when I got up off his back more. We quit on the second course. 

On Tuesday I started him out. I expressed that I was worried that the warm up, where I was being insistent on him lifting and softly swinging from the get go, was going to lead to him being dead to the leg again. EM said no, he's working differently and correctly, he needs this much support right now. I do feel like with my non pro timing of aids that I need to be cautious that every leg aid still gets a response. Even though we're prioritizing relaxation and long neck over forward energy to begin with, that doesn't mean the impulsion we've developed with JV, that way of him carrying himself forwards without me having to ask every step, can go by the wayside. 

We jumped just two courses on Tuesday again, EM said that she was trying to emphasize to him that although this way of working potentially *felt* harder, it was actually shorter and sweeter when he came out and did his job. The courses felt great, he just flowed around and I didn't have to panic about distances. 

We'll keep playing with this concept during two training rides/lessons in the upcoming week. 

Foto Friday: Okay, the Braids Were Worth It

He's SO DANG CUTE. I think I'm in the middle of saying thank you to the judge tho. 

Stretchy pony 

In spite of my face, I was delighted to be trotting down centerline on a Butterball

All photos by Liz Crawley

August Wrap Up

	Butterball
Training rides	4
Lessons	3- 2 jump, 1 dressage
Hacks	4- 2 with the equiband, 1 bareback
Flat rides	4
Conditioning rides	0- foiled by rain after work
XC school	1- Naked Horse
Shows	2- Notting Hill schooling jumpers and Bouckaert International

Butterball had the first week of the month off while I traveled to eastern Oregon by way of Boise. 

It was SO beautiful and an area of the country that I had never seen. My friend rode him once while I was gone and popped him over a few jumps. With her ride added in, he worked a total of 21 days of the month. September is the month where we're getting serious about conditioning for the N3D in October. 

It seems silly to include notes about Chatt in the wrap up given how recent it was, but sometimes I look back on the monthly wrap up rather than individual posts, so... our one show this month wasn't exactly what we were aiming for although it was delightful to travel out of state with my fave partner ever. However, in stadium I quit riding halfway through, and we ended with our first RF for stadium. 

But there were some nice jumps before that
Photo by Liz Crawley

Given this (mis)adventure, Butterball ended the month with a few days of back to back training rides. The first ride EM described how serious she was about relaxation and a long neck connected to a swinging back. If he started to die (decrease activity) when shortening his stride, then move sideways. He picked up the second ride right where he had left off with the first. She jumped him some in both rides, describing how she went forward away from the jumps and then moved the canter through the corners, and then let him get his eye on the jump and sort his legs out. She rode him to a few tighter distances where he had to pick and be clever. She described it as working with/towards the jump, NOT against it. 

We're starting September with two back to back lessons. Then we'll head to Majestic for a pop around the schooling show on the 13th before going up to Stable View Oktoberfest at the end of the month. Florida has generously given us some lovely fall feel days this month, but this upcoming weekend looks to be back in the 90s. 

6 Hours of Sulking - Bouckaert Farms part 2

Hindsight being what it is... I have a half finished post called "Let me show you the ways" that was talking about how in our lesson the week before the show I managed to demo Butterball's and my sliding into the fence problem. The problem started way back in early spring after several ugly but clear rounds. I also shared on here how we slid into a warm up oxer at Notting Hill. So given that this sliding into fences refusal thing has occurred in 2 of our last 3 jump schools and then 3 of the last 5 if you go back to my post about jumping at home, it is hardly surprising that we demoed this at the far away, very expensive, kinda dream show. What was surprising was that I gracefully, slowly slid down his neck and over his ears. I don't even remember touching the ground although my coat and boots would indicate I did momentarily share the arena footing with my pony's feet and knees. So while I considered us "well-established" at the novice level, things change with horses and we were not on a particularly good run of stadium jumping at the time we headed to the show. 

The kind of ironic part is that this is a HUGE improvement on where we were in the spring. EM (our new event trainer) had me moving his barrel and bending him around my leg through the turns on the way to fences to keep him soft and springy. And that combined with the loads of gymnastic work that PW had us doing had him jumping GREAT. I cannot actually remember the last time I felt him roll over his shoulder over a fence. He is jumping really nicely almost all the time. Jumps 1 through 8 rode really well, with the caveat that on the way to 8, a stand alone vertical, I FELT HIM GET FLAT AND STIFF. Which you would *think* would be the cue to DO SOMETHING. But I didn't. The vertical was fine, but then I cut the turn to 9 and still didn't move his barrel or soften him. 9AB was an oxer, two strides to a vertical, which also gave me some false sense of security because our stoppping problem, thus far, has shown up at oxers. But he jumped the oxer kinda quiet then did a perfect 2.5 strides to the vertical and then slid to a stop onto his knees into the fence, sliding me over his nose since I was leaning at the vertical going "OMG YAY we're doing it! We're almost at the end of the course!!!". 

It was REALLY nice that EM was there to witness it. After kindly asking if I was okay, which was kinda funny given just how gently I fell, she said that it was a flat work problem, which I wholeheartedly agree with. I do think he has lost some confidence leaving the ground as well. It kinda feels like because he CAN jump so well (and he was bred to be careful) that if he has to flounder over something as he did during a couple of our spring shows, he would just as soon not. EM had pointed out in our lesson the week prior as well, that he should be asked to jump from less than ideal distances and learn how to be a bit quicker with his feet. To summarize, I need to FIX the canter when it is gross and he needs to be a bit quicker to sort things out to still leave the ground.

First, I sulked a lot. I REALLY wanted to run cross country (which I'll share pics of below), which definitely led to sulking like a two year old who got told NO they can't go play. But I sorted most of my feelings out by the time I arrived home that evening. For the drive home, getting around the beltway onto 75 south was a little hairy, it felt like every 1/4 mile the right hand lane was ending. I would manage to get over and then 10 cars would zip past me to pull directly in front of the truck and then slam on their brakes. I was so close to straddling both lanes to prevent such assholery, I wasn't particularly in a kind mood at the time. But after making it onto 75 south, it was relatively smooth sailing. Once the traffic and lane ending shenanigans sorted out, I chatted with two friends who were also on their drive home who helped both commiserate and bounce ideas around. One also offered to come back up for a weekend trip when Bouckaert is open for schooling, which did soften the sting of not getting to gallop across rolling hills with fun terrain questions and genuine stone walls. 

Also, can you really be mad about a weekend out of town with your best friend jumping (some) jumps and doing a nice dressage test? Especially since this is very fixable, and BB is sound and game. As Emma said recently, none of what we do is logical. While the disappointment is real, so is the gratefulness for getting to be out there doing this at all. 

By the time this posts, EM will have gotten on him for a training ride. And we have a plan, although I feel like I have said that before. But we have a plan that I believe in. I don't think this totally derails our fall plans, but they do require some restructuring. 

On to the cross country that wasn't... 

The pictures loaded out of order and I cannot be bothered to fix that because I didn't get to jump them. The course pics are also in the Cross Country App if you want to peruse better pics of the gorgeous courses there.