Notting Hill with a Side of Dressage

Follow up to my Independence and Assistance post, Butterball and I headed out to a jumper show at Notting Hill Stables last Wednesday. My friend met us there and provided invaluable assistance. I knew when I put this on the calendar that I would be trainerless, but since I was also expecting to be trainerless at Chatt on the 23rd, it seemed important to be able to go jump a couple of rounds at novice height without too much  hand holding. 

We loaded up and then wound our way the hour drive to Notting Hill. I'd never been there before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but they had a nice big grass field for parking and a large grass warm up arena and even larger grass jump arena. I paid my $50 and was told I could do multiple rounds at multiple heights for that price. The only downside compared to Majestic Oaks jumper show that was going on at the same time was the lack of Lisa Madren for fun jump pics. 

Butterball is SUCH a good dude. I never want to take for granted the fact that he self loads, travels quietly, and then unloads with zero drama. He typically tries to grab some grass before his feet have even left the ramp when he is unloading, he is THAT unconcerned about where he has ended up. So he hung out on the trailer under the fan while I walked part of the course and decided on all outside turns that made for a nice loopy course. Then another rider wanted to head in, so my friend and I watched her go, planned the last few fences, and then tacked up the pony. We nailed our first few warm up jumps and then my friend popped up the oxer. And I let him lengthen his stride out of the corner to a deep spot at the base. He went the first two times and then had enough of my crap and stopped the third time. My friend pointed out what was happening and also that maybe, just maybe, when I know it's going to be deep, I should add leg and support him instead of leaning and praying. So I half-halted out of the corner the next go round, and we got it done. Repeat off both leads and then we headed over.

We went in our for our first round, had a tight spot to one, and did some fuckery in the combination. The combination had not been there for the 0.80 and instead of just asking at the in-gate what it was, I guessed. As I rode up to it. Which led to two in a one. If it had been an oxer out he would've stopped. We recovered from that and rode the next several well. We had a bit of a gappy spot in the 7 stride line down the long side. I figured we would sit chilly for the 8. Which meant I made a decision and actually used my legs and had a powerful, but maybe not compact enough, canter, so when we got to the 7 on a longer spot, he went just fine. 

The second round we definitely smoothed out the combination to make for a prettier round overall, but did have a tight distance to fence 5 right after the combination. And I let him be for the 7 which led to actually a kind of tight 7. His canter is SOOOO different now that I'm having to re-sort out how to ride things! I'm not sure what happened with the last fence in both rounds, usually he is such a clean jumper. 

Getting the one stride right 

OUT! 

End of the 7 strides, apparently my release went out the window. I'm sorry my dude! 

Then Friday we loaded up for a dressage lesson. Ms. GY and her guy went with us and he was just the best behaved "baby" thoroughbred that there has ever been. 

Butterball and I did A LOT of work in the canter. Initially he didn't have impulsion (if I took my leg off he broke/died in whatever gait we were in), so we did a lot of cantering quite quickly to generate that. Leg off, let him slow down, light leg, he should go forward, rinse, repeat. After that we worked on some walk-trot transitions, keeping the same connection through the whole transition. It is incorrect to dive forward, heavier, but it is also incorrect to lighten and stiffen. The SAME amount of pressure should be present through the whole transition. We repeated the walk-trot transition until he was maintaining a steady contact through the whole transition. 

Then we moved on to the canter again. But every attempt to slow down the canter led to trotting, so we started with some walk-canter transitions. The first few strides he was actually lovely and light and slow. Then I would start to do weird things with my body and shove at him and he'd speed up. Our homework was to work on the walk-canter transitions and then just sitting and doing nothing if he was in the light, slow canter. If he sped up, ask to slow down. If needed can come in with a light leg to support. Eventually we'll want him to maintain with the leg off, but for the time being, light leg is okay. Then walk. Then repeat. I got scolded for not walking right away in our canter-walk. I asked what I should be doing and, because my tendency is to tense my whole body and not move as I try to walk, I was told to pull back. If he didn't walk, pull back more firmly. Well that just sounds really simple, now doesn't it sir. Shockingly it did decrease the number of trot steps we were taking. 

Some other random notes: Every aid causes tension. This came up when I told JV that I felt like in the right lead canter I had to keep my right spur in or he would dive his shoulders right. He said "let him make the mistake, then fix it." But he also shared that every aid increases tension. If it is a constant nagging aid like my right spur was, then the horse stiffens to brace against it to ignore it. If it is an aid to do something else, it causes a reaction, which causes tension. So the less you have to do to keep them straight and swinging, the less tension there will be. So let him fall in with his shoulders, quietly aid to get them back out, then take that aid off. Eventually it will be like the energy and he will maintain on his own. 

During Ms. GY's lesson, she and I both learned the aids for the canter. Her response was exactly what mine would have been "outside leg back, inside leg at the girth". She also added looking at his inside ear which prompted one of JV's hilarious "don't do that" lines that had me giggling for a minute. So looking aside, he said that inside leg should always be at the girth asking for inside bend unless you're doing something different intentionally. Outside leg moves back to be there to indicate the lead you're asking for, then the inside leg lightly touches. Touch and go. The first aid is the touch, the touch and go. If he doesn't do it, it's the kick, the kick and go. If he still doesn't do it, it is the kick and come in with the whip. 

We're probably not getting back down for a dressage lesson this week, given that we're shipping to Chatt on Friday, but I certainly have homework to practice until the next lesson! 

Independence and Assistance

So...  Real talk... Part of this jumping at home thing is making mistakes and then fixing them. I made several mistakes and rode an under powered canter to an end of lesson height jump. Butterball smartly opted no, said he didn't have enough canter to either take the long spot or pat the ground as he'd done for me twice already. But he's an honest dude and opted no at the last second and slid into the fence, scaring both of us a bit. Two days later we came back to fix our mistakes but I rode underpowered to a one stride with an oxer as the out and leaned at the in. He declined. We dropped the oxer to a vertical, re-approached and got it done. 

Looking like he forgives me for my fuck ups as long as there are cookies

We had another at home session a week later where we started out without enough pace, again, but finished up really well. He took me to the gappy spot at one oxer and popped through the two stride like it was NBD. It definitely gave both of us more confidence. 

I did in fact slowly raise these... started over the block jumps then popped the other ones up two holes after we had successfully gone around twice. Laziness in setting jumps doesn't lead to good results it seems...

Honest adult ammy talk... it took some deep breaths to come back out and fix mistakes a few days later. I, again, had that feeling like I was screwing up my perfect pony. Which is a great mindset to get in that leads to tentative riding and no real decisions. Which he just loves... gives him loads of confidence when I sit up there and go "oh SHIT, I dunno!" But it felt like something I had to fix. And we did. By dropping the fences to BN height, getting around confidently, and then moving them back up. And no one is worse for the wear. 

This week, we had our first lesson with a new eventing trainer. We solidly managed to show her all of the things we do wrong on our first trip around. But hey, if we'd come out perfect we wouldn't have learned as much. Her major pointer was to land and accelerate for two strides and then settle in to that pace to the fence. That way you're not screwing with your stride length once you've got your eye on the fence. THAT makes sense. She also had me using a slightly lifting under his belly leg aid to get him to let me access his back. Then from that swingy, powerful canter everything seems just fine. 

We did the shorter course again, which went swimmingly, then added a few fences including a 1 to a 4. I did start to imagine us stopping at the 1 stride, but I took a page from Ms. GY's book and visualized/felt him popping through it just perfectly. Which is exactly what he did. In my joy at the 1 to the 4, I COMPLETELY forgot about the last two jumps, so ignore the canter mess that occurs around the right hand turn in the last course. 

In of the 1 

Out

To the 4

Still jumped it just fine in spite of the multiple leads around the turn 

I am pretty pleased in the video that I'm not throwing away the contact anymore. When I ask him to go forward, I am, for the most part, there for him which keeps him from flattening and keeps that bouncy uphill canter. It feels like the dressage lessons with JV are also unlocking the instant responses, so when we land and I ask him to move forward, the reaction is right there. Pretty cool stuff. 

July Wrap Up

 

Starting the wrap up for July with some updated conformation pictures. Never mind the fact that these were taken in August and post-ride hosing. Not ideal, but y'know, if I was only willing to take them when he was perfectly clean and not sweaty we really wouldn't get any summer shots. I tried, and failed, to remember to take them the day his feet got done. Because I haul out to my friend's place, once he was done I just tossed him straight back on the trailer. Also, on closer inspection, her mats are over sand and not as even as the wood that this spot at Ms. GY's. 

I keep panicking about him gaining weight, so here's our June comparison. Which I think actually does show some weight gain. UGH! He's more dressage horse round right now than svelte event pony. We've still got a couple months of good grass, but it is sooooo sweaty/easy to create rubs right now that I'm reluctant to put his grazing muzzle on him. I need to either do that or submit another insulin level to at least make sure we're not creeping up there. It would be silly to put all this work into his fitness and supplements and such and then let that happen... 

June 

	Butterball
Training rides	3 flat rides with my friend while I was out of town
Lessons	4- 3 dressage + 1 jump
Hacks	3- including 1 pond splash
Jump rides	3
Flat rides	6
Conditioning rides	2
XC school	0
Shows	0

July was a bit slower of a month with 21 rides for pony pants, which may have contributed a bit to the weight gain as well... I'm hoping so since that's easier to up this month vs. putting the muzzle on. I took my annual summer trip to New York with family. My friend came over and rode him a few times while I was gone. We failed to successfully line up with PW much for jump lessons between my travel and the WEC summer series. We had one lesson that we only got 2/3 of the way through before major thunderstorms drove us to cover. 

But we did manage to get in three dressage lessons, and the changes are absolutely amazing. I was cantering around yesterday feeling like it was the easiest thing in the world, which is such a huge change. Our lessons in July focused A LOT on the canter. We started with straightening it, particularly to the left. The next lesson we introduced SLOWING the canter. Which was a gigantic struggle with lots of breaking to trot and making me feel like I couldn't ride my pony. I asked JV if he did training rides. He said he did, but mostly he wanted me to learn how to do it. He cited people asking him to get on to get clean changes. He said it was useful if the horse didn't understand the concept of changes, but not useful in all other cases. He did say perhaps Butterball was unclear on the concept of slowing down the canter, so a training ride might be beneficial.

Then I went out of town and my friend who rides with the same two trainers rode him while I was gone. And when I got back, we had more easily accessible buttons. Our last lesson in July, on the 31st, we ACTUALLY slowed the canter down and I felt much less incompetent. 

Honestly the lessons with JV make me want to focus on dressage the majority of the time. Butterball feels totally happy when ridden in this clear 2+2 = 4 kinda way. Even when we were struggling majorly with slowing down the canter, JV laid it out clearly for me... if he broke to trot, was the trot slower than the canter had been? If so, then pick the canter right back up to correct the break. But if the trot was faster than the canter had been, then SLOW the trot, since SLOW was what we were initially asking for. Anyways, stay tuned for our transition to dressage and trail pony extraordinaire, at least until I look at the costs of USDF showing... 

Even though we didn't get to many jump lessons, now that we're back with Ms. GY, we have the ability to set mini courses at home. Her arena is a bit larger than a standard dressage arena, so it isn't a full, full course, but we can still string 5-6 jumps together in different ways. It is GREAT to have this ability. The decision to move back to her place wasn't without some angst, especially because our former barn owner took such great care of the difficult to care for Goggles, but overall it was the right move for Butterball and me at this point. 

This.. this is why the pony is getting more and more round, but also tell me you don't want to gallop across that field 

Overall July was a productive month for us. Butterball is still sweating and feels great in his work. This time of summer in Florida always feels just focused on maintaining and surviving, so it is great that we've continued to progress in the dressage work. Knocking furiously on wood, we've only had to deal with tiny little patches of rain rot. And his feet look FANTASTIC! At his farrier appointment this week, at four weeks, his farrier gave him an award for most foot grown. And he grows strong, beautiful hoof, even in the WET summer. Thank goodness for pony feet!!! 

I started August going out of town again, but the rest of the month will be pretty focused on getting to Chatt successfully. We are headed to a schooling jumper show Wednesday and then a dressage lesson on Friday. Ms. GY is going to bring her thoroughbred, and I'm so excited to watch their lesson. I'm aiming to keep up weekly trot/canter sets OR pond rides for the remainder of August. Then in September we start our twice weekly conditioning rides for the three day in October. 

Strategies for Staying Cool (plus lesson notes)

(This isn't an actual educational post... I have no strategies for surviving this brutal heat other than acclimatization and trying to ride in close proximity to storms but without getting struck by lightning) 

Monday, Ms. GY and I loaded up BB and her mostly retired dude, one of Butterball's pasture mates, and headed to a pond/lake to the west of us. 

I have zero pics. The phone stayed in the car which was the right choice because Butterball turned full sea horse this trip. The pond wasn't as clear as the one we went to on our first swimming adventure this summer. But it was still very delightful. Butterball is basically a solo trailerer 100% of the time now, so it was interesting to see him travel with Ms. GY's horse. He basically dragged me on to the trailer after her horse and hadn't pooped in the trailer at all after our short 20 minute drive. So I guess there is a small stress component to our solo trips that goes away with a buddy, I'm sorry kiddo. 

We moseyed from the dirt road where we parked down to the pond. Both boys snorted at the edge of the water for approximately 10 seconds, then Butterball charged on in. The bottom wasn't completely even and it freaked his friend out a bit, but Butterball didn't seem to care at all. He went in and out on his own the same way as he had at the other lake, even spending a few strides here and there swimming. It was so neat to feel him swim!!! He snorkeled some and pawed, although he did less pawing than last time, I think because he was mostly at least chest deep. At one point he even laid down in about forearm deep water. He looked shocked when I jumped off of him and stood right up again when I slid off. I thought he was going to roll and certainly wasn't going to be on him for that! It definitely seemed to be part of his plan to keep me on for his laying down adventure though LOL. I led him out of the water to a nearby fence blocking off the area around the pond and hopped back on. He headed back in and did some more deep water walking. After about an hour of splashing around and standing we headed out of the pond. Both boys had devoured their open hay bags of orchard on the drive over, but survived the ride home without snax. 

He is SO HAPPY in the water, it is awesome. I did encourage him to try the few strides of swimming the first time, but after that he explored it on his own, just a couple of strides at a time. It seems like GREAT fitness as well, and especially since the underwater treadmill facility is 45 minutes away and $75+ for a 15 minute session, this seems like a major upgrade. The dirt roads leading in to Dinner Pond were nicely hilly... might be a great place to park, do a trot/canter set, and then cool off with a quick dip in the pond in September/October when I could at least not kill both of us in the heat on the unshaded dirt roads. 

His fave water source at home because... Horses

The next morning we were supposed to load up at 6 AM today head down for a lesson with PW. It has been 3+ weeks at this point. But when I woke up from my 4 hours of sleep I just... wasn't feeling it... so I texted PW and went back to bed for another three hours. Thursday we did load up, at a much more reasonable hour given my work schedule, and headed to JV's for a dressage lesson. I did a good job listening to my brain on Tuesday it seemed... I thought I had hooked up the trailer completely the night before, but I missed the essential step of climbing into the truck bed and actually LATCHING THE HITCH and doing up the chains and such, but mostly LATCHING THE HITCH!!! Ooookay. So I did my usual peek in the bed Thursday morning and saw it wasn't latched and fixed it before I moved the trailer... sheesh... 

Fortunately there was a bit of a breeze at JV's and it wasn't quite as hot as it was the previous few days. We had an absolutely AMAZING lesson (with no media). 

• Now that we're consistently getting good reactions and have forward, swinging gaits, we're starting to ask for a bit of collection. Collection at the trot should feel like he's bouncing over trot cavaletti. At this point poles on the ground is okay. Soon we'll want raised poles. 
• Get freely swinging forward first. Then half halt. He needs to react in *that stride*. The rapid reaction makes it much more likely you'll maintain the lift vs slowing down over multiple strides just leading to being on the forehand and going slowly. 
• Once he's slowed, has he maintained impulsion? Ie can I take my leg off and he doesn't peter out and break?
• Don't guard against the break. More applicable with canter than trot... Ask for just as much slow down and don't be afraid to have to correct the mistake of breaking. But if he breaks, is the trot actually slower than the canter was? If yes, then pick the canter right back up. If no, slow the trot then pick the canter back up. 
• It was very helpful to work on collecting the trot before we tried collecting the canter. 
• In the left lead where he wants to throw his outside shoulder right, don't get trapped circling where it is even easier to do that. Go straight, use right leg to move the shoulders. If that doesn't work, counter bend slightly. But don't skip using the leg, he needs to learn to yield to the leg aid. Don't be afraid of getting a flying change when he is getting straighter. 

The energy level Butterball had after this lesson. Pony was TIRED.