Ben and I have had a journey with studs together. Last January we had an unfortunate slip into a MIM oxer at Rocking Horse. We pieced together what happened and then got his confidence back with studs. And they became a part of our XC routine every time. Then in September, I discovered that neglecting your stud holes leads to non-functional stud holes. I embarked on a bit of a journey to figure out what method of maintenance led to the best results. Our competitors (all photos from Nunn Finer):
1. Stud blanks - put in and taken out with an allen wrench
2. Rubber stud plugs - put in and taken out with pointy tool or horse shoe nail. Emma kindly sent me a sample of these to test out.
3. Greased cotton plugs - put in and taken out with pointy tool or horse shoe nail
To be fair, I haven't put any of these things to the lengthy test of months of benign neglect that my stud holes suffered before becoming non-functional in September. We've been out cross country every 3 weeks or so since then in one way or another. So YMMV depending on your footing conditions and frequency of use.
The clear loser? The stud blanks. Ben has a currently non-functional left front medial stud hole because there is a blank rusted into place there. And I was trying to keep things functional. I would clean out the hole a day or two post use and then grease it with silicon grease and then put the blank in. But Florida is WET and the blank became one with the shoe around it. My husband might have been able to wrench it out, but Ben doesn't care nearly as much about his front studs, and the left front is the shoe he likes to lose, so I didn't want massive amounts of torque applied to one side of the shoe. So there it lies, still. If I had been around for the farrier appointment, I could have asked him to take it out while resetting the shoe, but I wasn't, and I didn't.
The cotton plugs have worked well enough, but require some cleaning out before putting the stud in. Little bits of cotton like to work their way into the threads and then sit there, blocking the passage of the stud. The rubber plugs have been excellent and come out easily with shockingly little dirt around their edges that needs to get cleaned out. I will be ordering more of these for sure.
My compact little kit
After removing whatever device has been plugging the hole, the hole is cleaned with the pointy thing above.
Then this tap, also a suggestion from Emma, and compressed air (be sure to avert face, close eyes and mouth) are used to finish the job. Studs are selected and put into place using zip tied wrench above. I borrowed a wrench from someone briefly at a show that was double headed with the two sizes you need for studs. But alas, I could not find this mythical creature for sale and was stuck zip tieing the two sizes together. Works almost as well.
Post-stud removal, the holes are plugged, and the studs are tossed in the metal dish
7 studs, cause, y'know, that rusted in stud blank
Then once we're home, I use:
To soak. They are then dried with a paper towel and plopped back in the dish to be taken back to the horse trailer for the next adventure.
Ben and I made it out to jump around the POP schooling show this past Sunday. We XC schooled at Majestic on Friday, the first time since April. That was when I discovered that completely neglecting your stud holes only works when you're using them every couple of weeks. And I couldn't get his hind studs in. Womp womp. We also were seriously dodging some sketch weather and in fact ended the school by popping through the novice water line, taking the last two of the novice course, and then trotting back to the trailers. Fortunately though, no one got struck by lightning, and we all got done what we needed to. He was super good, but there was long grass and it had already down poured once that morning, so it was SLICK. He slipped once behind, in spite of my best efforts to make long gentle curves, and was conservative off the ground.
My saintly husband and my very patient horse and I spent an hour on Friday afternoon carefully using the blanks to clear the sand out of the stud holes, and so I had usable holes behind and sorta usable holes up front. My husband was game to continue, but I was DONE after an hour of holding up the hind feet. Compressed air was also involved, and Ben was being very good, but I think our quarter would've run out soon. LESSON LEARNED YA'LL, take care of your stud holes.
Anyways, back to the show:
Dressage: Ben was DELIGHTFUL. He is pretty horrified by the rings there, he doesn't like the banners and then there were some irrigation things at the other end that were also frightening. He warmed up beautifully though and we got that relaxation back about halfway through the test. We ended with a 27.2 and might've done better, but yet another dressage judge hates his tongue, and ended with a comment that sounds like a follow up to a bad date. It definitely made me laugh.
I was still quite pleased though, he held it together so well and I managed to stay soft, slow, and light. He didn't forge at all, the tell tale for when he gets heavy in front, and he softened beautifully for the whole second half. It was really nice to be doing novice where we had more time to focus on those basics and I felt less pressure to continually be prepping for the next movement.
Stadium: He warmed up really well and then we went in the ring and did our thing. We did trot several circles through the MoveX standards that they had left up before #7, so he was less shocked when we had to canter through them later. He also did a couple look and chips, but then when he considered doing something other than two strides in the 9AB two stride, I put my spurs in, and he stepped up really nicely. Another layer of rust knocked off. It was far from perfect, but it felt solid.
Cross Country: I couldn't walk the day before, so I walked twice after I got there in the morning. The course flowed really well, so I figured if I couldn't remember where the next jump was, I could just look around and find it.
#1 roll top - get going, jump it, don't do anything weird
#2 - cabin
#3 - wagon - then through the tree line and a left hand curve to #4
#4 - roll top - pointed you through the water
Unflagged water
#5 - brush - I was standing almost in the water though, so you had about 5 strides after the water to this one
#6 - log pile
#7AB - down bank to wedge - if you angled the down bank ever so slightly it sent you straight to the wedge
#8 - cut out table
#9 - Faux ditch wall
#10 - another cut out table then a right hand turn through a crater with some larger jumps
#11- corner and then right hand turn to the half coffin
#12ab - half coffin on a bit of a bending line
Then a left hand U-turn back through the tree line that the ditch is set in
#13 - peach thing
#14 log - then through the water which was a bit mucky at the edge
#15 - brush - basically 14-15 was a repeat of 4-5 with an unflagged water between two jumps
#16 - ramp
#17 - bench - and the finish!
I was a bit concerned about the down bank because Ben was VERY surprised by one at Magnolia Sands one time schooling; he just didn't see it until the last second and then he slammed on the brakes. We also just haven't done one in competition ever, surprisingly. I planned to trot it so he had time to see it and process. The rest of it seemed quite straightforward.
After stadium, we had some help from the barn family getting studs in and getting bit changed out and boots on. Then we were off. We looped over a few of the warmup jumps and then headed out! He was a bit of the Ben of last spring and early fall for the first half of the course. Way less wiggly, but definitely squatting to the base and chipping a bit. Never in doubt that he was GOING though. We did trot the down bank, but he definitely saw it and got the question just fine. Then the second half of the course, it felt like he remembered what we were doing, noticed that he wasn't slipping behind, and got his groove back. He picked up the pace all of his own accord, and we finished 40 seconds under OT.
He only chipped the second table because I was staring at the disturbed flower pot in the cut out wondering if someone had slid into it earlier in the day. He was dead honest over the corner and powered through the second water like it wasn't mucky at all. He did skitter sideways near 16, but it was NOTHING to do with the jump and everything to do with a giant mound of sand they have built for the competitive driving folks. Once I got him focused on the actual jump, he was fine. He is who he is as a person!
I left in the audio on the videos because it makes me laugh listening to JT narrate our jump round.
Overall I was super happy with the day. It felt GREAT to get back out there and gallop around on my friend. And for the second half of the course, it felt like HE was happy about it too. There's no better feeling than that combined enjoyment! We ended up with a pretty purple ribbon too! Our 28 had put us in 9th to start, so a clear stadium round would've only moved us up to 6th.
He got to trailer with Toby, a 19 YO OTTB, who is living at the GY's now. Toby has done 2*, but is now on a lease with a friend who is taking him around BN (and novice soon because they won the open beginner novice on their dressage score of 18.4!!!!!!!) Toby and Ben ADORE each other and thoroughly enjoyed chilling together. Maybe a tiny bit too much because I did have to hand walk Ben back from dressage since trying to ride him back to the trailer was resulting in a fussy, sideways, barely contained jig. To his credit, he gave zero indication of how much he was thinking about Toby in warm up or during the test. The flip side of that bond though is that he stood completely happy next to Toby, lead rope on the ground, while I put on his ice boots. I held him, but really didn't need to, while he iced and then got poulticed and wrapped up for the drive home. Still carefully guarding that cellulitis leg, since unfortunately there's some residual swelling around the fetlock and pastern. He's still wearing a silver sock on that leg other than when he is working. I thought it wasn't doing anything, but the night I left it off the leg was definitely puffier the next morning.
Two dudes, hanging out
Ben's vet came out and adjusted him Monday morning and said he had his usual lumbar/pelvis things, but he felt great in his thoracic spine and adjusted the best he ever has. We're entered in Stable View at the end of September for another run at novice. Then we'll do his hocks in early October with steroids and Arthramid to get him ready for the fall/winter season and a hopeful move back up to training in November at Rocking Horse.
Cross country recap first because we did it! We made it around the training course at Rocking Horse, including the same oxer that we slipped into last time.
We've seen most of this before, so I won't do a full course walk
Very friendly starting log, he jumped it great
1-5 were "canter it, jump it, don't do anything weird". Go here and here for pictures of 2-6 and 8. He jumped 2-5 pretty well, got a little peaky and derpy at the mushroom table, but took the others well. 6A and B was a combination we saw in January, an angled 4 stride line between the ramps. He derped over 6A, but I got after him and we did the 4 strides out of it to 6B nicely this time (January we did the A fine but then chipped to B).
The most interesting part on the course was a sunken road thing for 9 A and B, my pictures don't do the terrain justice, so I did some playing in paint, you're welcome ;)
9A is the red table, you can see the uphill part right after it, but can't see the downhill
9b came after a steep uphill to the top of a knob, you can tell I'm standing at the top of the hill and looking down on it
Basically you jumped the red table, had one flat stride, then went steeply up the small lump to then go steeply down into a depression. If you rode it in a straight line you came back up the hill all the way to the spot where the x is that I stood to take the picture of the corner. Then the corner was a left hand turn that if you rode straight from the top of the knob would put you jumping parallel with the back face of the corner, and in Ben's case asking for a runout since we do love to do that at corners.
JT is super smart and pointed out that if you rode the uphill and then downhill, but then in the bottom of the depression veered right a little bit, you came back out of the depression, but then didn't go all the way up to the top of the mound. Then you had a straight line to the corner to be square with the front face, not the back face. So that's what we did, and it rode beautifully. She also told me to let him pick his way down the steep downhill, and he was super smart about it and did.
Then there was 10
I knew the oxer was going to show up again, but they had added some visual markers to the rails. It did still give me major anxiety driving there Sunday morning, to the point where I was not sure why I spent so much time and money doing this for fun. But by the time we got there I had decided I was going to ride it POSITIVE and with an uphill balance, and it would be fine. They had a white rail oxer in warm up, so we jumped that three times till I got the jump I wanted, forward, uphill, confident. Right after we did that, another person in warm up shouted "WOOHOO!" as she jumped a coop. It was a great reminder that we were here to have fun.
I rode 10 forward and positive and it was FINE. Then I actually took a deep breath and smiled. We were DOING IT!
12 A and B - East Coast - rolltop, also with visual markers added, then a stride to a muddy water crossing
Out of the water and up a small hill to B, rode great
13 was a steeplechase, 14 was a new table that he did peak at pretty hard.
15 was this trakhener that we shared with modified who jumped it in the opposite direction
We've done the trakheners at Majestic plenty, but this one was hiding a bigger ditch, and I wasn't sure if that would make him peak at it. I rode it very forward and positive and he jumped it great.
16 was a bending line from the trakhener to this hut, I was celebrating the trakhener so we didn't get a great spot here, but it was still okay
18AB, the last real question, bending line of wedges
He got a little wiggly to A, but locked his eye on B and did great
Then we were home! With 1 second of time, but that doesn't matter at this point. I also got a tiny bit lost on the way to 17 and if I'd taken the more direct route we would've been fine. He's starting to feel quite trained, when I sit down he's starting to shift back more readily, meaning I can probably shorten the amount of strides out I am starting to do that.
As long as I was forward, confident, and positive, he jumped well. He still did his patented bounce and chip to a few, you can see in the video, but the ones I was worried about rode super well, definitely showing he responds to the positive ride. He feels SO MUCH more confident with studs in too, they're definitely now part of our cross country gear every time. The sand was super loose, deep in some spots even because they need rain badly, and he felt confident leaving the ground. JT and I went shopping after my cross country round to fill out what I still needed between my pre-made kit and lovely gifts from Mr. GY.
Ben and I went to a Majestic Oaks schooling show on Wednesday. We were testing out our studs and getting some confidence back on a very familiar course. I worked until 2 the night before, so very much appreciated that I rode dressage at 2:15, stadium at 4:30 and XC at 5. I've sprinkled more Rocking Horse pics in here because I don't have any from this show. There is a video of dressage, stadium, and part of cross country, but I uploaded it at my dad's and didn't think to divide the phases, so it is a whole lot to watch unless you're super interested.
Dressage: They were running ahead and offered to let us go in early, so I trotted a few serpentines, cantered once each way, took a walk break, and then went in after about 10 minutes of warm up. Usually I add in one more set of trot and canter with one more walk break, but it was bloody hot and we were here for the XC, not for a tired horse after dressage. With the goal of keeping it low key, I let Ben fly his tongue his whole dressage test with no flash and no sugar cubes. The dressage judge was less than thrilled and gave us a 33. To be fair, there was some good, useful feedback in there in addition to the remarks about his tongue, and I gained some insights from riding the test (training B) at a show. Our stretch circle correctly earned us a 5. I've been slacking at home and we usually do about 2 stretch circles to get a really nice stretch. I need to make this more prompt. Also I have been working the canter-trot transitions, but really managed to still slam him down into one of them with no prep.
Stadium: The warm up ring went from empty to packed in a span of about two minutes, and I hate warm up rings anyways. So we jumped a smaller oxer once, chipped to the base of the bigger oxer, then took the long spot. I got left when he took the long one, but he was trying and I was fried, so we went on that. He spooked in the ring a decent amount, but I now expect it so it didn't really throw me off. I did have to ride fairly assertively to a few of the jumps, but if I was asserting, he was stepping up. We did 1 in the 1 stride, 5 strides to the next after it, like it walked, and then 2 in the 2 stride. I hadn't walked the course on foot and was a tad bit surprised by the turn to 9, kinda turning and going "la la la la OH SHIT there's the jump" but I put it in my head to still ride it like I had to sit up and turn again after and he jumped it well. We ticked about 4 rails, but managed to knock NONE of them.
Cross country: Ben was a GOOD BOY. He did not run and spook heavy into my hand, he listened to half halts up, and he TRIED so hard the whole time. I rode like an idiot to a couple of them, but he still went and was trustworthy.
He was a bit squirrely to 9, the one he ran out at when we schooled the first time without studs. But looking at the event entries results, two people had a stop or run out at that. I think the surprise wedge after a looooong gallop up from the water threw horses off a little.
Rocking Horse wedge because I loooooove this picture
If you watch the video to the end you can see a bit of XC. You can also see me pull the distance away from us to a rolltop and the first wedge. Dumb. So I could be riding better out there too.
We ended up tied for 6th after dressage then tied for 2nd after stadium, then winning our division after XC. Good boy Ben! As JT said, it wasn't the win we needed to qualify for AECs, but it still felt nice to come out and put all 3 phases together again. Next up is Rocking Horse the first weekend in March.
To soak. They are then dried with a paper towel and plopped back in the dish to be taken back to the horse trailer for the next adventure. 
