April Wrap Up

 

 

	Butterball
Training rides	4 - 2 my friend, 1 PW in grids, 1 PW round at LCT
Lessons	1
Hacks	3 – 1 with EB
Flat rides	9
Cavaletti or jumps @ home	2
Conditioning rides	0
XC school	1
Shows	2 – LCT 3 days + schooling dressage show

The obvious fail this month is lack of conditioning rides. I've been discussing the three points I decided on after attempts to jump meter courses led to a loss of confidence for me and pony pants. And I've definitely failed on the fitness one. I can feel it too. He's blowing pretty hard after a single course, pretty much validating that we don't have the fitness base that I wanted. Rising fuel prices and hard ground have made conditioning away from home and at home challenging. I came up with a solution for May and the next few months, but that will be a surprise for a different post. 

But we still don't feel completely in sync and ready for increasing height even if I had kept up with his fitness. The gap between 90 and a meter is where he actually has to make an effort and where my eyes bug out of my head a bit. Bad combo when there's still bad riding going on. 

If you watch the video at 1:08 and 2:08, you will see a direct contrast at the same fence with the same distance. The first one I flung up his shoulders and didn't support to the deep spot. The second one I stayed back and kept my leg on and supported him. The first one would've led to a stop in December, January, or February. And now he's going. And I desperately don't want to ruin that. 

Said all that to say, while I am fine increasing height in very specific situations (PW on him in grids), I don't think our three month check in due in May is going to end with upping the heights for pony and me outside of a grid or placing poles to a single fence. And it feels good to be a very active participant in this decision. I was chatting with my friend who was talking about the virtues of having frank conversations like PW and I did back in February. PW knows I'm not going to dip just because we haven't made it to a meter by the end of the spring season. He knows that the horse's confidence is my primary goal. He knows that I am sticking with THIS horse and whatever we can do as a team, defining and prioritizing the team, not the end goal. And I haven't gotten any pressure about what I should be doing. And between Ms. GY and my two other friends who ride with him, we have a truly fun and supportive team. 

Anyways. Good things from April: a schooling dressage show; a fun weekend at Local Champions Tour; a couple of reasonably productive jump sessions at home; and a super fun cross country school at Majestic. 

Hoof Update: 

I'm still very pleased with my barefoot performance pony. We are going through a bit of a Scoot Boot issue, more on that later as well, which has also slowed down the hacking out. But I have taken a few walk only loops with just hind boots on. Knock on wood, so far he seems to be handling it fine, although he will put himself in the grass shoulder rather than walk on some particularly rocky spots. 

I think overall the medial/lateral balance is getting better in his feet. As mentioned, his trimmer took off more of his hinds this time to try to get them to stand up and develop his heel a bit more and they look great.

Left hind: 

Right Hind: 

Woohoo! There's some heel on this foot!

Right front: 

Still a little wonky medial-lateral

Left front: 

Isn't it lovely? 

Conformation Pictures: 

In process of self-trimming (I asked if he was chipping up to his nail holes. He demoed his unfortunate pawing habit when we were chatting, his trimmer pointed out he may be trimming his feet himself...) He's a perfect pony in every way except his dislike of being hosed and his pawing habit. Neither of these have anything to do with me letting him get away with things... definitely not. 

You don't want to know how many shots I deleted trying to get him standing square and looking straight ahead. Thank goodness we're not in the days of film still. 

Looking ahead to May... 

- Renewed focus on fitness

- JV comes back into town

- We double down on a few weeks with lessons and training rides with PW

- Plan for a June check in re jump height.