It was a good thing we'd had a great lesson on Wednesday AND that I was sitting next to my coworker who walked me through the process. Otherwise the combo of learning Eventpass and a new Show Management System might've been enough to make me stick to unrated shows and recognized eventing. But we fought through and I *think* I am entered in the December HITS. Sadly we are not doing hunters. Turns out PW doesn't want to be embarrassed by me and thought we should do some ticketed schooling BEFORE we entered actual classes. To the best of my knowledge ticketed schooling, that means you pay a fee (a mere $30 at WEC, but WAIT you have to be entered in the show and have paid all the misc fees to do a ticketed schooling, so $30 is a bit deceiving) to go jump around the jumps that you will be showing over, typically while other people are in the ring and on the Tuesday before classes start on Wednesday. So $267 of entry fees + $80 of my USEF membership + $300 for BB's lifetime USEF registration and we're golden to go to HITS in December and do 4 jumper classes over 2 days. The actual entry fee isn't bad for 4 classes, so now we've just got to play a bit more in jumper land this year to make the USEF memberships worthwhile.
Anyways, back to the lesson and away from the finance (and patience) breakdown. I think this lesson was FINALLY where it clicked, what so many trainers have now told me in different ways. He needs to have enough pace so that I'm not doing much the last few strides. It is FINE if I need to add a bit of spur to support him for the longer spot. But I SHOULD NOT be chasing the last few strides. We got that in lines a few weeks ago working on dividing them into two halves with the GO-2-3-4 and then assesss-2-3 in a 7 stride line. But the feeling hadn't really happened for singles until Wednesday.
It wasn't a super pretty lesson TBH and my position went out the window a couple of times. But we jumped all the things and all the lines on stride the first time.
Progress, slow and steady.
His level of dedication to not peeing in the trailer, good boy
This was 1.05m. PW commented that he jumps even better as the jumps get bigger. I was actually physically tired from this lesson, which isn't normal for me. But the effort BB puts in over the bigger fences means I am having to do more in an *attempt* (often failed obv in the video) to maintain my position.
Butterball and I joined Ms. GY at Sweet Dixie on Saturday morning and had the best time. I used the lessons from earlier that week with PW and didn't drop him, no matter what the distance. My friend came as our ground crew too and pointed out NOT letting him lengthen into downhill fences was helpful. Oh yeah, EM pointed that out too.
With that feeling, I started asking questions with some skinnier fences and combinations, and he was 100% game on. Not a single hesitation. It is a great feeling.
He looks so little in this picture!
We did another fun trail ride at Black Prong with Amanda and Hillary. I downloaded a .GPX map this time and we used that to navigate. It worked beautifully.
He's turning in to such a pro and knows to drink when we get to nice pretty water. Side note, this place must be absolutely soggy during the wet season
Henry got very skeptical when it got deeper than the regulation 11"
Then on Monday BB and I took a bareback hack around the neighborhood. All went well until the herd of five cows SPRINTED at the fence as we were walking by. A car was also coming down the road. Poor pony tried so hard to hold it together as he went sideways and then attempted a spin. He let me hop off though and then walked right up to the fence (granted while hiding DIRECTLY) behind me and sniffed noses with the offending moos.
This was the trouble maker that ran first
Ridiculously friendly
He was a little on edge, understandably, after that until we found a patch of nice black jack to munch on
He and his buckskin BFF can share the makeshift hay feeder
Butterball and I had a very productive jump lesson yesterday. But I'll back up to 5 days before that. Last Friday we took a lovely 8.8 mile hack from the farm. Butterball started out HOT. We did a lot of trotting and cantering, but only on grass and/or the sandy parts of the lime rock. I clocked his excited trot at a swinging 12 mph. We met a woman getting on her horse on her farm who asked if he was an Arabian. We also met a whole lot of annoying dogs. Fortunately all fenced, but one who waited until we had just passed it to charge the gate and lose its damn mind, which understandably caused the pony to spook. Rude dog.
He felt great the whole time. He then had the next two days off since I worked until 4 PM and we're not prepping for a three day anymore so I get to NOT squeeze in a ride in the tiny amount of fading light left after getting home at 4:45.
Monday, through a series of horses being horses, we found ourselves alone at Majestic Oaks. People were out in golf carts taking down flowers from the horse trial over the weekend, so I felt safe popping over a few things. Some things were fine, others were not great. I stopped and put hind studs in because I felt him slip at the base of a fence and the ground is in fact pretty hard and slick right now. He seemed a bit better after that, but was still opting for the pop chip more than seemed right. Although my riding and the shift in plans might've been contributing, I was still worried about his feet after our long hack. I chatted with my friend and we decided that next farrier visit he'd get leather pads behind.
Tuesday we did a dressage ride, but Ms. GY had some small jumps set up in the arena, and I couldn't resist adding in the canter cavaletti on a circle. Fit it in, make him wait. It took a bit, but we got there. It's such a deceptively challenging exercise. Wednesday I clipped him (badly) and then we loaded up and went back to PW's.
Chimney sweep pony. Clipping was needed.
Excessive. My bath kinda sucked too. My poor clipper blades.
PW kindly said my clip job wasn't too bad. I told him not to look too close. Butterball warmed up pretty well and felt relatively soft and springy.
We started with a warm up 2'3" oxer off both leads. We popped over it off the right, but off the left the spot was going to be deep. Naturally I flung the reins at him and took my leg off, and he stopped. PW assessed that he 100% could have jumped the tiny jump from any distance, but that "Jesus take the wheel" is not an appropriate strategy on my part. He explained that when I see the deep spot there but then let go of all contact, his stride actually lengthens further, making it even worse. So, hold the reins, sit up and support with leg. That served us well for the rest of the lesson. We didn't have another stop even though we didn't get beautiful distances to everything. I did think at one point that "if you're not failing, you're not learning." Our previous lesson everything had just flowed beautifully and felt so easy and perfect. This lesson was definitely a lesson of failures and growth.
PW did take it easy on us since we were obviously a bit discombobulated. He started with the jumps pretty soft and then built up the one stride instead of pushing us straight into it. Eventually though the last few jumps were a meter again and we put the whole course together including the one stride.
We've been working on related distances since pre-Kentucky using the strategy of breaking them up into two parts. So for a 7 stride line, land and GO 2-3-4 then assess and half-halt 1-2-3. It works wonders and prevents the long, flat, last minute push to get the strides. We got the leave out 6 in our lesson this week doing that and did a leave out 5 in the lesson at the end of October. But it doesn't look horrifying doing it this way. There's no last minute fling at the fence that causes panic in me, the pony, and those watching. You know the type of ride, you cringe as they leave the ground in a mess. Yeah, we want to avoid that and this strategy seems to work.
I did feel the need to clarify with PW after - a few jumps in our last course I felt like I definitely spurred him off the ground to get the slightly gappy distance instead of the pop chip. PW said that was totally appropriate. But I don't want to create the horse who "can't think for himself" and needs to be told exactly when to leave the ground. But EM and PW have distinctly NOT told me to take all leg off (as Amanda pointed out once out cross country at Sweet Dixie), but instead to support quietly. I need to find that balance. Leg quietly on so I don't HAVE to spur him off the ground.
No lesson media so enjoy the view from the trailer after
Butterball had a total of 19 rides in October, with the majority of those days off coming post-Kentucky. We did end the month with another lesson with PW. I've spent a lot of time pondering what our next goal is these days. I still want to move up to training level on this horse. But while that is a solid goal, it's not one with a timeline on it. And, TBH, both my wallet and I are a bit burned out on travel from this fall (Bouckaert, Stable View, Kentucky). But seeing new courses and venues was SO COOL. I think 1 or 2 destination events per YEAR will be our new norm though.
I did put HITS on my December calendar, so there's that. PW had mentioned a few hunter classes. Honestly, I think it would be fun. I have basically zero experience in the hunters other than a few trips around a local show as a teenager with my appaloosa. But he assures me I have a fancy enough horse to go play some, so why not? He knows my eventing goals, so wouldn't do anything training wise that wouldn't mesh well.
It is the absolutely gorgeous time of year in Florida for more adventures. Mornings are cool and the middle of the day, even if it hits 80, is pleasantly dry, so it doesn't feel too hot. And I'm attempting not to lose the fitness we fought so hard for this fall. Which means I'm forcing myself to pencil in at least a little fitness work.
The other day I evaluated Butterball's topline. Unfortunately even with a different hay plan (stuffing him full of beautiful O&A), he lost a bit of weight and topline during the Kentucky trip. I also think that maybe JV's dressage was a more... user friendly way of learning/going FOR ME. And that we had more lift and push when I was riding him that way as compared to when I focused on softness first. The end goal did include softness. But it wasn't priority number one. So we will try to get back in with JV this month as well, after working on the homework from the last time we saw him (slowing the canter down).
Dolce got to FLY to NC and turned 10x cuddlier without her sister around
What a goof (also my pants are covered in sawdust, she's not that dandruffy)
