Rocking Horse Spring HT 2025: Day 2

Let's course walk first this go round, shall we? 

1- Ramp, tucked at kind of an awkward angle amongst many bright blue ramps

2- Big red, angled away from the parking area, up a bit of a rise

3- feeder

4- Two seater, just a short distance from 3 and in the shade under a tree

5- Mushroom table

6- Coop on mound

7- Yellow hut

8- coop

9- roll top, around the backside of the big oak tree you can see in the pic of 8

10+11- gulf coast aka water crossing to triple bar, visible directly across the water

12- White rolled table, quite a long gallop from 11 to here

13- Log and box

14- Chase aka brushy roll

15- Ditch, set in the shade

16- Rail

17- Bench

18- Table, aka triple X table

19AB- ramp to corner, our first and only combo on course

19B- this walked as a gently curving 9 strides 

20- Yellow hut, that I couldn't be bothered to walk closer to 

*photos courtesy of Xpress foto and their lovely all inclusive package :) 

JT and I discussed in warm up that he needed to leave the ground convincingly. And that if he wasn't and was squeezing in little chip strides, I needed to fix it. Because every time he squeezes in a little chip stride to a super awkward jump, it knocks his confidence. Then we started our warm up. And for him, he felt a little hyped. He's a lovely horse in that he isn't a kick ride, but it takes a lot for him to feel excited. But he felt a little bit that way. We did some forward and back and then looped over the warm up jumps. Each one came up perfectly out of stride, so I didn't have to practice fixing anything. They called us, so with one leaving the box and one in front of us, we headed over. 

He came out of the box feeling sticky and spooky. I felt it the whole way to one. And didn't do much about it. Like yes, I sat up and kept my leg on, but I did not tap him with the crop. So while he didn't ooze over it the way he did four in stadium, it wasn't pretty. I tapped him on landing, and two rode a bit better. Three I missed to so it was a chip distance or leaving from east jesus, so we chipped. Four he felt the exact same way he did to one, and I rode it the same. Except this time he was feeling less generous since I had just missed to three, so he ducked out the right shoulder. We circled around, dodged the hanging oak branch, and popped over it on the second try. 

And there goes my release out the window because *stress*

Five and six rode similarly sticky, with six being another almost run out. That one rode spooky for the whole novice group, so I'm not too fussed about his response, but I am mad at myself for not fixing things sooner. I learned back at Naked Horse that if he is balanced and up on his hocks he is WAY less likely to feel spooky and suck back. But if he does, the proper response goes leg, spur, tap. Not continual pleading with some combo of leg and spur. 

Seven, eight, and nine each rode a bit better than the one before, with him feeling more and more honest. 

I loooooove these gorgeous golden pony galloping pics

He slowed to a trot through the water, another thing we need to work on. In deep footing, he is pretty convinced he CANNOT go more forward. Which meant we almost trotted eleven, but he was trustworthy to it. 

The next several rode pretty nicely out of stride. We had gotten ourselves together a bit and it felt more like I could point him at the jump and let him take care of his job instead of having to micromanage every moment of the last eight strides. 

#13

Brushing the brush and look at me equitating since the ride coming in had gotten easier

Ermagerd, SO CUTE 

#16- Grew a few potted plants since my course walk 

He did 19AB very honestly, but was genuinely a bit surprised by the corner being a corner again. Then we loped over 20 easily. 

We finished with our 20 from fence four and 11.2 time faults - they had done something weird when setting optimum time because very few people made time across all three novice divisions. I had in my head going in to Sunday that if we jumped clear and didn't have any time we would get a second score towards our USEA medal. But thinking like that always seems to end with disappointment LOL. The cross country courses were eating people up across all the divisions. We started Sunday in 7th out of 18 and finished in 10th even with our 20 and lots of time. 

JT and I unpacked afterwards. I asked her if I had created this problem where my previously trustworthy pony now had moments that felt a lot like riding Ben on his worst days - sticky and questioning every stride towards the fence. She diplomatically responded yes, but that we knew what had gone wrong and would fix it. The first issue was pulling the hind shoes and then ending up with sore hind feet and hocks. That led to pain leaving the ground and a subsequent loss of confidence. Then I didn't have the precise timing to correct him in the moment, so the couple of fences we'd crawled over had been another knock to his confidence. She didn't think anything was irreversibly broken. She said based on watching the beginning and end of course, we had done a good job getting ourselves together to finish more confidently than we started. She also said he was still green, this wasn't Ben where he should've known the job after several years of popping around novice; this is all still a relatively new game to him. She felt like a few training rides would likely get us back on the sunny track we'd been on back in November, December, and January. So that's the plan this month - more intensive training rides and lessons till we're both feeling good about confidently leaving the ground every time. 

Rocking Horse Spring HT 2025: Part 1

Rocking Horse was the first recognized event Ben and I did together (part 1, part 2, and part 3). The fall Rocking Horse was also Butterball's first recognized novice and our first recognized event together. And, as I'm sure I've mentioned, Rocking Horse is the only venue that I went to when I was eventing as a teenager that is still going strong today. Long winded way to say, there's always a little nostalgia heading over there. After thoroughly not winning the lesson on Wednesday, there was also a bit of trepidation. But I reminded myself that BB and I have done five novices together at this point and that he is a pretty trustworthy creature, especially now that he is feeling great again (spoiler alert, he's trustworthy if I ride him...)

Friday we did a light dressage school and then he got a bath and dressed in his least favorite mint julep clothing (fly mask, sheet with neck cover). He is going out with one of the two yearlings right now, the other is stuck in with cellulitis. I was a bit concerned he would be wearing NONE of the clothing in the morning, but he was actually wearing all of it. I guess even a yearling can't compare to the deal he and Ben had worked out for instant fly mask removal. 

So cute and squeaky clean! 

He was laying down sleeping in the sand right next to the yearling when I got there at 6:30 to load him up. He ate and popped straight on the trailer, like the good, charming creature he is. 

I walked stadium with JT and then got him tacked up for dressage. In warm up, she got us into slightly bigger, more consistently forward gaits before our test and he felt GREAT. There were a few bobbles in the test itself, the last halt sucked, the canter transitions could have been rounder, and there were a few moments of stiffness when picking up the trot tracking left after the walk and switching to left bend in the first serpentine. But overall I was quite happy with the test. Which makes the fact that JT grabbed video of it super nice (her phone broke it into two chunks to send, so that's why there's a tiny jump in the middle of the right lead canter). 

The scores from this judge were... a bit less than generous... the first place person was sitting on a 29, so we ended with a 34.4. Plenty to improve as usual, but the overall quality is definitely increasing. 

Butterball was VERY solidly committed to his midday nap when I had to pull him off the trailer to tack up for stadium. Butt to the fan, head hanging below the level of the ramp, snoozing. Sorry kiddo!! 

He started warm up feeling exactly like he'd been woken up from his nap, but eventually with some forward and back came around to jumping well. They were running early so we got to head in as soon as we were ready. And... it wasn't great. 

*photos courtesy of Xpress Foto, along with a shout out for super speedy sending of said photos! 

One came up okay, a bit tight, but that was the right spot. I got so focused on the bending line to two and ruminating (but not fixing) the fact that we were on the wrong lead that I just didn't ride him forward. He was not convinced by my effort and did a gross chip to two. 

A bit tight, so why not let your leg slip back and fling your shoulders at him? 

I woke up him a bit to have a nice jump to three, but then got focused on not letting him get under the oxer at four that I, again, didn't ride him forward to have something to half halt. Afterwards JT explained you ARE allowed to half halt the last two strides, but aren't allowed to kick and pull the last two strides. The point is to bring the balance UP and create a couple more inches of room. So no big changes are allowed, but balancing, with leg on, is. 

We took a slightly tight spot to five and then I got more serious about going forward. 

This meant we had a lovely jump over six, an easy lead change, and a nice pop through the two stride at seven. 

His expression, so cute!! 

Eight we got a tight spot to, but it wasn't awful. Same with nine though. I could've been more proactive and created a better canter and we would've gotten a nicer distance with more power. 

The lesson that I seem to need to keep relearning at Rocking Horse is that if you like your canter, kick it up one more gear. The ring is SMALL compared to Majestic and FHP, so there's a lot of turning and it invites backwards riding in me. 

So that ended our day one. Butterball got hosed and put into his carriage with the fan on to keep eating hay and sipping on water while I walked the cross country course. 

(Not) Winning the Lesson

This is a lesson recap without any relevant media. But it was a lesson full of important lessons, so I felt the need to write it down. And when I mush two lesson recaps together I really can't make them flow well. Sorry, not sorry, if this isn't the best blog content. 

At our weekly lesson Wednesday, I distinctly did NOT win. We worked on the supportive and spritely flat work first, including a focus on NOT holding him up and driving the canter. This does not, however, mean dropping the contact. It DOES mean not driving with my seat and legs every stride, capisce? 

Once that was sorted, we started with a crossrail, left hand turn to a vertical, loop back left to an oxer, right hand turn to my fave pink rolltop. And I missed at EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of those jumps (excepting the crossrail, which we trotted, so how could I miss to that...) Ooookay, try again, went a lot smoother except to the pink rolltop. It's not a Butterball problem, he could care less at this point even though I make him sniff it at the start just to prove it. But he is deeply unconcerned. Honestly, I don't think I'm concerned either, but I just kept screwing it up. I was not getting the canter I wanted before the jump and wasn't looking early enough. We did a few chip strides to it, including one that I completely botched. I was shaking my head about it and subsequently screwed up the five to the two that followed. JT got a bit up me for that one, completely fair. 

FINALLY, my brain clicked in, and we got it by me looking early and creating a bouncy canter with his butt engaged and hind leg moving. We we still got an awkward distance but I supported him to it and kept riding. During all this, we were also sorting out my riding in between and during the four to the three stride line that followed the five to the two. I was letting him dive right on landing from the two and then he was flat, and we were struggling with the change. I then kept letting him get long and flat (themes, we got 'em) and a bit under the base of the out fence in the four to the three. I woahed with my voice the first couple of times through, but finally half-halted effectively in the line and got him almost too stood off the base. But because he was back on his butt, he jumped powerfully off the ground from the slightly gappy spot. 

The three main takeaways: 

- Making him hold himself in the canter means not driving every stride, but continuing to keep a soft, communicative contact

- Half-halt until he has come back onto his butt. Thinking you've half-halted isn't enough. 

- If your canter isn't one you could jump out of RIGHT NOW, do something about it and make it one that you could 

When I told JT that danged pink rolltop was gonna be the death of me in one form or another, she said "If you're winning the lesson all the time, you aren't learning and making progress." 

So here's to not winning the lesson! 

For putting up with all my shit, he got a nice looooong barnyard grazing session while I mowed and pulled weeds. He's SO GOLDEN right now. 

Side note: it is SO NICE to have a horse who GETS OVER things. Goggles was NOT spooky, but once he decided he didn't like something, he was GOING TO DIE ON THAT DAMN HILL. You cannot imagine the hours spent with the liverpool (or tarp) for him to still default to FUCK NO when he saw it. So Butterball's ability to initially think the rolltop was pretty suspicious and then progress to not giving a damn is so beautiful. I love this horse so much.