Circle of Doom - Jumper Version

In keeping with our theme of fixing any holes while keeping the jumps small, Butterball and I tackled the circle of doom exercise with PW on Monday. It was hard. I'd also only ever done this exercise with cavaletti. I guess I'm riding with a true jumper trainer now, so jumps it is LOL.  I told PW at one point that it must be good for us because it felt so awful. It highlighted what I see in a lot of our videos: pony pants is smart enough to have his leads for the turns 90% of the time. But when given the choice, he prefers to jump from the right lead and will even change in a related line that we entered in the left lead to leave the ground for the second fence from the right lead. 

Pony vacuum in the barn aisle with the golden light

The circle was only three of four fences, going vertical to oxer to vertical. We started by jumping one and skipping one, you can see a LOT of different leads happening there. Then we added two in a row then the next time through went for the on stride 6 between all three fences. Eesh. I was also struggling with driving him at the fences this ride. You can see PW coaching me to wait for it. In my head I was indignantly going "I'm NOT driving him", but the video says otherwise. 

He also told me I was the problem not looking early enough and not using my outside aids to get it done when I whined about what crookedness was leading to us struggling so much. TBH, we've spent a long time riding FORWARD and STRAIGHT away from fences that landing and doing so much was a whole new challenge for my brain. Look at the next fence as you're in the air, open the inside rein slightly, close your outside leg and lift the outside hand to create the wall to bring him around. 

We finally did get it both directions, sadly not captured on the video. It was more of BB being a clever dude and figuring out what we were going for and less of me sorting out how to ride the outside of the horse and stick to the inside track after/while jumping the oxer. 

We can definitely continue this work at home. I had put two poles on a 15m circle at 12 and 6 and we were struggling with hitting the middle of the poles every time. Some combination of both of our inherent crookedness means that he wants (or I allow or create) to fling his shoulders right when he leaves the ground, widening the arc of the circle especially tracking left. Correctly doing this exercise goes back to what EM had us working on: creating bend and softness and aiming for the inside of the pole/jump so you can slightly leg yield out to get to the center. Otherwise I end up trying to pull him in which further exacerbates the falling out through the outside shoulder. 

But put another check box next to this ride for jumped all the fences confidently. When he awkwardly knocked the rail on the vertical with a hind leg I gave him plenty of pats and good boys for that. PW suggested moving on to some course work after we got the six strides x2 in both directions. I declared my brain dead and opted out. So perhaps if the weather cooperates we'll go back for a second session this week. 

In addition to a lot of leads there was a decent amount of bucking. I am watching that closely to see if that means he is sore somewhere or if that means that he is protesting the challenge of the exercise. 

Dressage Lesson Notes

Butterball and I got back in with JV on Friday. It was TOUGH. I think that might be part of where his conditioning and fitness (and mine!) went. I've added the notes from that lesson to the notes from a few summer lessons that we had without media. 

7/2/25: To do a turn on the haunches you half halt with both hands to slow down. You have bend to the inside so if you're tracking right, you're bent right and then you turn your hands right. Your left leg does whatever it needs to do. If the shoulders aren't moving over enough, you may use it forward to move the shoulders. If the haunches are swinging out as you go to turn then you may use it further back to keep the haunches in the same spot only. Do only do a few of these at the walk. Do not walk for too long in the beginning, once the walk stops getting better then move to the trot and canter to supple and then work on the walk again. Leg yields help with connection and suppleness. And he must be responsive to light aids even when he is already nice and supple and forward. If you ask and do not get a response then correct. But if you ask and he gets cranky and responds in some way then he may be trying as hard as he possibly can be.

I'm longing for his summer coat, so we're filling this in with throw back pics from last spring/summer of the golden pony

7/10/25: When working on slowing down the canter: You have to decide what is the most important thing that you're working on right now. If he breaks to the trot and the trot is running, then it's not slower than what you were asking for in the canter, so you need to slow down more in the trot. If he breaks to the trot but it's like a nice downward transition, then go ahead and pick the canter right back up. Use your voice simultaneous with the down transition to trot so that he can tell the difference between asking for a trot and slowing down the canter. 

Don't spend too long on any one piece of the puzzle. Similar to not walking too long at the beginning of the ride, can move from the trot to the canter relatively soon. Then back to the trot and back and forth. Always asking what is the most important thing here. Number one is reaction, number two is forward energy. Number three is connection. 

2/20/26: Don't trot from a bad walk, it will carry over to the trot. Get the energy and connection right in the walk and then trot. Hold onto your reins. His heaviness isn't forever, it's him protesting. But if you give and let him get longer every time he finally softens, he's learning the wrong thing. It's okay to ask for inside flexion to fix the counter bend when tracking left. But you have to have energy and connection first. Soft touch to ask for the canter. Follow it up with kick and then tap if needed. But then trot and ask again from the soft touch. 

Tracking left at the canter, sharp turn left for two strides then release the inside rein/ask. KEEP your damned right rein during this process (Expletive mine, not JV's). While he is inconsistent you stay the same. Don't change, don't pull, just be steady there. Imagine trotting over raised cavaletti. Early on when you use leg to ask for more it may just be poles on the ground. But as he gets warmed up ask for raised cavaletti feeling. 

Tracking left I was told to shorten my reins. I moved to the next rein stop. He said of course you don't immediately put your hands back in their normal position, you gradually being your elbows back over a few strides. Of course you don't (literally never knew this/acknowledged this). Then followed multiple laps where Butterball and I both thought this was shit. We persisted though to get a degree of lightness and lift we've never had before. Cool. 

Young Event Horse Symposium

I attended the Young Event Horse Symposium on Monday. It was basically in my backyard, although I did meet people who had travelled from Montana and Delaware for the symposium. The morning portion started with critiquing the gallop of two experienced event horses and then watching four young horses (two six year olds, one seven year old, and one four year old) tackle an actual YEH course. The panel and the riders then shared their thoughts. 

Buck's very nice gelding - the panel couldn't find anything they didn't like about his conformation

The afternoon session was a YEH Masterclass. Peter Gray discussed warm ups while Jon Holling and Leslie Law rode. Then they each discussed their rides. The second half featured Phillip Dutton and Olivia Dutton riding while Phillip discussed what they were doing and why.  

While I'm not sure I'd ever compete a horse in the YEH classes, particularly because they're geared towards future 4 and 5* horses, I did pick up many, many useful tidbits. 

Some of my favorite tidbits: 

• Especially with OTTBS: teach them to push from behind. Means letting them have their head up and out for a long time. Lots of transitions, changes in balance. Teach them to stay in a rhythm so they can soften and the rider can soften. If you have to hold they get tight and don’t follow through behind and have rails behind.
• Generally everyone preferred horses that tried a lot of different shapes over fences. One comment was that "even if they make a good shape if they make the same shape every time, that won't work for UL XC". But also, these are YOUNG horses, so they should be trying different things.
• Lesley Law pointed out that the pros give the same ride every time. No matter what the horse is doing under them, they focus on straightness, but NOT on the distance to the fence. She also said every single fence that a young horse jumps should have a rolled out ground line.
• The veterinarian on the panel emphasized the importance of hoof and distal limb conformation because that is where the vast majorities of unsoundness comes from. He said a longer ilium helps generate more power. He also commented on the thoroughbred's gallop that "desperation burns energy". He was more willing to forgive less than perfect distal limb conformation if the horse was very light on the ground and on its feet. He said that a downhill build will be hard on their SI as they collect.
• Alex O'Neal had one of my favorite comments about his young mare. She was hesitant coming to the first XC jump, but he just stayed balanced and clucked to her and she carried on forward albeit with a funky jump over the fence. Someone commented on his confidence and he said "Since we bred her, she's never been in an impossible situation. So when she says she's not sure, you just keep telling her she's okay and she'll keep trying" (forgive possible paraphrasing there)
• The hand has to follow in the canter. Lots of rhythm deficiencies are created by a still hand and trying to force too much collection too fast.

Even just watching all the riders was educational enough. They all had that steadiness and stillness no matter what the horse was doing.

Anyways, a short, picture deficient post, but it was certainly an educational experience and one I'd repeat again.

HITS - Take Two

Butterball and I went to play at HITS this past week, keeping to the ideas set out for happy horse and happy person. 

Wednesday we signed up for the open 80 with the idea that this should feel so easy. And to one of us it did (hint, it wasn't me). 

In the warm up PW had me focusing on keeping his shoulders up and in line as we turned the corner to our fence. I kinda sorta forgot about that during the whole course. Fortunately pony pants pinged right over things so we got to do the jump off. During which I remembered to ride a bit more. My friend who was watching said at times she had no idea where I was going based on my riding. Same. It's like my brain was so squirrely just getting the numbers right that I completely didn't ride between the fences. But Butterball happily jumped from wherever we ended up. 

We ended up with a 6th place in the class. Not too bad out of 22, especially when the only time I even thought about going quickly was between the last two fences of the jump off when there was a relatively long distance. 

I was chatting with my friend afterwards who made a switch from eventing to jumpers several years ago. We decided eventing show jump courses are a halfway point between hunter courses and jumper courses. Which is apparently taking my brain quite some time to come to terms with. 

Looking ridiculously cute waiting to get tacked up 

Mowing down the clover patches 

I worked all day Thursday, but was back at the show on Friday. 

Golden pony in the golden morning light, headed to the trailer

I drove down there (without music because the truck computer chip died and after replacing a hose and getting the brakes done, the truck is on $ rations) thinking about how I was going to ride. 

• 50% of my weight in my stirrups since on Wednesday I had been defaulting to either getting behind him and driving, which he hates, or tipping forward 
• Using my outside aids to bring him around the turns
• Using my inside leg to lift his barrel up to the outside aids
• Straight to every. single. fence. 

And OMG guys. I did those things. PW said it was the best course he's seen me jump at a show. We were both delighted. It was actually a really fun course and PERFECT for focusing on the turns and getting him straight to each fence. And he jumped so much better than he had on Wednesday because I was getting him straight and not letting his shoulders fall in or out through the turns. Other than the couple of cross cantering moments, I really wouldn't have changed anything. The first one was me not asking for the change, the second one between fences 8 and 9 was me thinking I was turning left and then realizing the jump was to the right.

Saturday was another jump off round. 

I came a little under powered to the first few fences. But Butterball was happy to leave the ground from a gappy spot when it came up. It would've felt a bit smoother if the canter had more energy though. 

I was pleased with our jump off round and could've even done an inside turn between 6&7. 

Bareback hack to the barn from where I stop the trailer. This pony is worth his weight in gold. 

He flipped between sides at least three times. Most delighted by wallowing. 

Sunday morning we moved up to the 90s again. We were the first class to go with a table 2.c. course. This is power and speed except if you have faults in the first half you don't get to do the second half. I was told this is so on the classic day they can get people through the non-classic courses faster. I didn't bother signing up for the classic because our best placing in our 3 courses at 80 was 6th, so we certainly weren't going quick enough to be in the money at any height. 

I got to warm up at 750 for the 8 AM start, and we were the only horse in the ring; it was a delightful warm up by myself. I only had to be told not to shove him at the fence once in warm up. The steward was getting a bit irritated by the time we were headed into the ring as the first pair at 8:09. I'm not sure where everyone else was TBH. Unfortunately we only got to do half the course because we were two seconds too slow. It was really smooth and lovely other than the first fence though, so I'm not mad about it. It also fit with the point we've been making to Butterball: go in, do your job well, and then you get to be done. After I watched the video I told PW I was switching to hunters. He told me I wasn't going that slowly. I did take a long time on my turns as I approached two of the oxers though which could easily be the two seconds. Since we were focusing on straight and steady the whole week, I didn't want to risk getting him crooked and only giving him a stride or two to notice the fence. 

Overall a more successful venture into jumper land than our December trip. And a successful first show barefoot. I gotta admit I watched his trot circle in this last video multiple times. He moves so beautifully without shoes. 

Photo by ESI. They took some beautiful pictures and it was hard to choose, but I have been spoiled by photo prices from Lisa Madren and Xpress Foto

One step forward, two steps back

After our first barefoot jump lesson that went extremely well, the next one was not all sunshine and rainbows. And I don't think it is due to the new barefoot status. The lesson sent me back to the drawing board. I LOVE this horse. 

Yep, that's the face

I don't care if he isn't my 1.10m horse or my training level horse. I don't care if I ever go training level again or jump a full 1.10m course. Want I do care about us that he is happy, that I am mostly happy, and that we are continuing to learn together. I don't want to sell him, and I honestly don't want to send him for full training just so we can jump around a meter at a show. That's not a knock at full training AT ALL. I'm happy to admit it's not a pride thing either. It is a $$ and his happiness thing though. Dude is SUPER happy hanging out at Ms. GY's with his buckskin buddy during the day and then Mr. GY's TB at night where they play extended games of bitey face. And due to the obvious reasons, that's not a situation he would have in training. Plus see prior posts about financial goals of getting to have this adorable face peeking at me from the backyard.

So what does this take? Well, here's what we've come up with: 

• More strength and conditioning. I've slacked since the fall, and as my husband pointed out the pony is not a thoroughbred and *does not* have the base fitness or the will to power forward as much when things get hard. So if canter sets and focusing on a minimum of 5 rides, ideally 6, per week, make it a bit easier for him to do the job, then that's my job to make those things happen. PW echoed this when he sat on him for a tough bending exercise and said he felt pretty weak to the left. 
• Keeping the jumps at 0.90m (novice height) and below for a solid three months while we work on fitness. Three months is admittedly a bit arbitrary, but is longer than we kept them low in the fall when we struggled in August and had it together by October. Come November though, we were increasing the height. 
• When the jumps do get bigger in May, assuming things have been going swimmingly between now and then, either having PW ride him around first or only increasing the height of one or two fences in the course and then calling it a day. 

When I was discussing all this with multiple people, Ms. GY sagely asked "well what are your goals". Which is what made me, yet again, lay out the above (Happy pony, happy person, learning). It's a bit hard to tell a trainer when there's no there there, but PW was very open to listening to me ramble about the above and thinks we're on the right track. Don't get me wrong, I would like to jump bigger fences. It was incredibly fun soaring over the few 1.10m jumps with him. But if that isn't a thing he can be happy doing with an adult ammy who sometimes misses, then that's fine. Or if we only do it in grids where we can both be confident with our distances, that's fine. Or if it takes a training ride every few weeks then that's also fine. 

Video from the first lesson putting all this into play. 

Barefoot Journey - Week 3-4 - The First Cycle

So I'll admit, these posts have turned into a cop out way to just summarize our weeks. Now that we've made it to the first trim, I'm going to just start adding hoof pictures to the monthly wrap up posts instead. 

Monday, Day 14 (1/26/26): 

Fully scoot booted up, we hit the trails with the equibands on. This was a bit inspired by the fat I saw accumulating around his tail base. We did 8 miles in 2 hours, and he felt great the whole time. I was thinking how  he hadn't tripped AT ALL as we were almost home. Then he tripped in a pot hole and felt like he was going to fall on his face. But other than that, no hind leg slipping feeling, and no trips up front. 

Sandy colored pony with the sandy road

My foot and his booted foot. At some point I'll probably stop twisting around to check that he's still wearing all 4 boots. They seem to stay on pretty darn well. 

This mini galloped in and out of weeds like a little demon. I had to hop off because just as BB would get it together, the mini would gallop at the fence again, causing a spin and attempt to bolt. 

See, it's a mini horse not a chupacabra

He spooked at himself as we passed this, so we had to turn back to investigate

Little shop of horrors - demon mini, donkey he desperately wanted to love, and waaaayyyy in the back a goat that thankfully opted not to get involved 

Mini preventing BB and the donkey from becoming BFFs

Slight rub marks on the hoof post ride, but nothing on his skin. I guess the rub on the hoof is normal/okay? It didn't appear to take off much hoof, just the dirt really 

We also got chased by a dog belonging to idiots who didn't close the gate in spite of being in the yard. Fortunately BB is a saint and even though we were trotting by when it left the yard, he cantered for a bit, but then let me stop him and turn him at the running dog. Once we did that the dog retreated. I was pissed, but kept my mouth shut other than yelling at it to get the f*** home. 

Tuesday, Day 15 (1/27/26): 

At this point I'm wondering when I'm calling the child 27 weeks old instead of just 2 years old. But as long as I continue doing a day-by-day log, numbering each day makes sense. 

Very short dressage ride in the arena. It was cold. I was hungry. We did some nice trot work, cantered each way, and called it good. 

Wednesday, Day 16 (1/28/26): 

Jump lesson after which PW gave us his blessing to continue on shoeless. 

Thursday, Day 17 (1/29/26):

Long hack with Ms. GY in his scoots. Then we practiced Training test A on the grass. It was definitely the best run through we've ever done. We still need far more collection after the canter lengthenings, but overall it was good. 

Sunday, Day 20 (2/1/26): 

Well the first chip happened to his right front foot. Just cosmetic at this point. We did a barefoot ride on the grass, and he felt good foot wise. He was kind of hot and spooky, but it was 40 and windy and everything was rustling near the dressage arena. 

Monday, Day 21 (2/2/26): 

We had a lesson, recap to follow. As far as feet go, he felt great. 

It's still very interesting to me to watch how the parts of the foot that were pressed onto the shoe for so long reshape themselves. Again, I'm just thrilled with how hard his feet are. 

Right hind

Left hind

Right front 

Left front

Tuesday, Day 22 (2/3/26): 

I rode him at home in the arena and kept it short and sweet. He was a good boy and felt good. 

Wednesday, Day 23 (2/4/26): 

We went to Sweet Dixie to canter. As mentioned last fall, their footing is consistently soft, so I thought it would be an okay place to add back some fitness work. It was interesting feeling him adjust to feeling the ground barefoot. He slipped once behind coming down a hill, but then not again. He truly has more traction than in shoes, which makes a lot of sense, but potentially even more than in shoes with studs. 

Pony essentials after unloading: pee 

And then get a nice long drink

This is a beautiful place 

Thursday, Day 24 (2/5/26): 

More dressage at home in the arena. 

Friday, Day 25 (2/6/26): 

We kept the cycle short this first go round, and he got trimmed again. His trimmer was thrilled with how he looked. I was out of town for the weekend, so snapped these pictures on Monday. 

Left front

Left front- as I add these, I'm realizing I need to include more of the leg so the HPA can be assessed

Left hind

Left hind

Right hind - tiny bit of bruising at the toe growing out

Right hind - multiple months ago he cut himself in what would have been a heel grab were it not lateral and on a hind foot - that is still growing out. This is the foot that wants to have the lowest heel anyways. 

Right front

Right front

Overall, I would say this is a good path that we're on. I am AMAZED at how hard his feet are. The difference between the crumbliness of Ben's vs. Butterball's rock hard little pony feet is incredible. It looks like we will have all the nail holes grown out before the rain really starts. I've been treating with a combination of Jim Ricken's #1 and Farrier's fix still. I haven't felt the need to Keratex since the feet feel so hard to me. 

His traction feels way better without shoes as well. Which makes complete sense. He does feel a bit weak in his right hind right now in the canter. Whether that is the foot or genuine weakness is TBD. And we truly may never know since we're upping his conditioning work and strengthening at the same time as my trimmer is working her magic on his feet. 

He'll get touched up next on the 18th so that we can keep correcting in tiny increments. 

January Wrap Up

Cozy pony

It is ridiculous to whine about cold weather given what is occurring in the rest of the country, but Florida did see some frigid temps this month. Ms. GY went out of town for a few days and what is normally a fun feeling of practicing having my own farm turned into a literal pain in my hands. I don't cope well with the cold, and I have weird feelings about keeping gloves clean so kept taking off my gloves to do things, thereby defeating the purpose of wearing them at all. I did prep better after the first night: draining the hose didn't work, it needed to be left to drip; pre-dumping the stall water buckets so I could fill them with relatively warm water in the morning for their few hour stall hang out; pre-filling hay nets the night before because even though I don't want to stuff nets when it is 40, I really, really don't want to when it's 26 degrees. It warmed up for a couple of days after she got home and then got icy again. A feels like of 8 is not nice, Florida. Hillary very kindly lent me her neck cover for BB since I clipped him two weeks ago and only own a medium weight and a sheet. So he got his sheet then medium weight with the medium weight neck cover. He seemed fine. But then again he's always seemed fine, he's a sturdy fellow. 

Anyways, back to the rest of the month. 

	Butterball
Training rides	1 – ½ at a time
Lessons	3
Hacks	5- 1 off property at Price’s Scrub
Flat rides	8
Conditioning rides	0
XC school	1- Star Farm
Shows	0

Total of 18 rides. We had two lessons at the start of the month that were split with PW starting him and then me hopping on. Then one lesson P.S. (post-shoes), where I rode him the whole time. It went well. I think the two week break while adjusting to shoelessness was helpful for both of us mentally. 

Shout out to Tack Shack for fixing the fancy Antares after the cheek piece strap on the crown piece snapped. How his skin feels about the bridle is TBD. 

Generally he's been feeling great barefoot. In fact he is "slipping" a hind leg way less behind P.S. And he's only tripped once up front while he was staring at the neighbor's beagles; this is a definite decrease. I thought the Scoot Boots would add more bulk than traditional steel shoes and lead to more tripping, but he seems more sure footed with them on. 

Looking ahead, in February we're actually going back to HITS. I know. I know. I wrote a whole post essentially about how I wasn't interested in doing rated shows. But, y'know, an opportunity presented itself. We're just entered in the 90s this go round and I'm feeling more carefree about the whole thing. As PW says "NO pressure. Be cool." 

And I'd like to go back to JV for a refresher, we're hitting a bit of a wall in dressage where I feel like it would be helpful to get some new homework. 

Photos from when Florida was playing nicer earlier in January.