Fix-a-Test Clinic: USDF Intro Test A

A week late, but oh well. I know my adoring fans were on the edge of their seats.

In between scoring, scribing, and riding, I had a great day overall at the clinic, though initially I was disappointed in my test. I knew I could ride it much better, but once I actually got down to the ring, I was a bit nervous and Midnight was in lalaland looking at the clouds...at bits of grass...if it was lookable, he looked at it. So he was very distracted, jiggy and not giving me that relaxed energy I know he has because I was tense myself. It felt like the test went too fast for me to even really focus, though when I practiced it, I felt like I had all the time in the world.

And he has an AMAZING free walk which we didn't show at all because of that tension.

Here is a video of our first time around, which the judge scored a 58 (a lot of sixes and a five for that first circle):
A lot of her written comments on the test were about having insufficient bend, him getting a bit quick, and of course that wonky first circle (more like an egg shape). So after I finished the test, she gave me a sort of mini-lesson on how to get his body (and mind) more engaged when he gets distracted. Practicing shoulder-fore was the theme of the day for many of the people riding, including me. First we attempted it on the circle to get a better bend, without much success since he wasn't listening to my leg and I was a bit confused about what shoulder-fore was supposed to feel like. Then we tried turn on the forehand to get those hindquarters engaged, which clicked much better for me, though it wasn't as easy on the right side.

I felt better about the second test, which scored a 60 (moved up to a six on the first circle and a seven on the second, plus a few other sevens):

Collective marks for both tests were pretty similar. Freedom and regularity of gaits got rated seven on both, which I was happy about since that means his very pleasant way of going shone through. Impulsion and submission, not so much--respectively, a six and a five on both tests.

So although I was in a bit of a mental snit for not doing as well as I thought I could, everyone at the farm (including his owner--who was also nice enough to take video of our warmup and tests!) was really positive and said I should be happy with it since it was my first dressage test ever. I did have fun throughout the day, and by the end of the day I got out of my snit. The wine and cheese afterparty outside the clinician's trailer helped! That is my kind of party, and it was a great way to finally connect names to faces and hang out with other boarders. I even exchanged numbers with an eventer my age so we can go trail riding (the list of people I want to go trail riding with at that farm seems to grow by the day).

So overall, it was an educational and successful day! I'm planning on entering a combined trial the farm is hosting in July (definitely doing the dressage classes, and maaaaybe showjumping if I feel ready), and volunteering at another one.

Deepest condolences go out to L, a pillar of the equestrian blogging community, as she grieves for Carlos, a horse we have all come to love from her thoughtful writings about her adventures with him. Viva Carlos indeed.

Day 02 – 30 Day Horse Challange -Last Time You Rode and What You Did

Last time I rode was yesterday. I was on Joey (the chestnut from the previous post), who is a 16 y/o Hanoverian, though I think he looks more like a TB than anything else--likely because he's too out of shape to look like a beefy warmblood, and he's a little guy, only around 15 hands.

Old picture

He didn't want to move off my leg from the walk, so we did a lot of walk-trot transitions to rev him up and get him more connected. While we were trotting I worked on controlling his pace with my seat and relaxing my inner thighs, which I think wanted to grip since he is so much narrower than Shadow-man.

Then a little left-lead canter from the trot (which is difficult for him--he is much easier to canter from a walk), which was lovely. He gave me that nice, uphill, springy canter I know he has in him--I think because I was helping him to maintain the pace with my seat rather than leg, leg, leg. There is nothing better than a canter that just makes you feel happy to be alive. Then long rein walk, and some more walk-trot transitions.

Had some trouble getting the right lead canter--my trainer was giving a lesson to someone else, but she saw I was having issues. She told me to counterbend and give with my right hand. Took like two tries for me to get it, but then bingo! New trick learned. And we ended on a long rein after he got that right lead for like 3 strides. While he was cooling out I practiced my 2-point since I haven't done that in a long time. Felt funny doing 2-point in a dressage saddle though :)

All in all (since some of the time was spent staying out of the lessoner's way while she was jumping), probably amounted to a good 30 minutes of work. I was certainly tired and it was like 80 degrees yesterday so Joey worked up a little sweat too.

No challenge post tomorrow--I will be traveling to Pittsburgh to get my sangria on with my BFF :) Byron will be picking up our new Siamese kitten, so when I return on Sunday prepare to be inundated with cuteness.

It's a Go!

I loved Midnight! His owner is really nice (though you never know, nice can sometimes turn to crazy-pants) and it seems like he can teach me a lot about dressage.

She says he does half-pass, shoulder in, and a bunch of other things I don't know how to do yet, so that's icing on the cake for later on. Right off the bat I could see that he is very willing, but he makes you work. If you don't ride correctly, he won't raise his back and use himself correctly, but he does have a solid three comfortable gaits that he will maintain without nagging--very different from my lazy therapeutic horses. I don't feel like I rode that well since I was nervous--I was getting into a bad hunter crouch at times, and I think I could have gotten a better result if I had more leg and was a little ligher in my hand (but isn't that always the story?). We did have several moments of reeeeeallllly nice trot strides. I took the lease agreement home to look over with my trainer sometime this week.

I also tried jumping him over a little X--he did great. I haven't jumped for several months though and my release has gotten really sloppy.

Yay!!!! My first horse, starting in May!

It has seriously been such a wonderful day. Found a wonderful horse at a wonderful farm (it was just as lovely as advertised, though the XC jumps are kind of oddly placed along the driveway), had a relaxed lunch with Byron, and the new season of Mad Men starts tonight!

Um...hi again?

Have I really not posted anything since the end of January? Blog hop? What?

...oops?

I don't even have a good excuse. My laptop has been living in a wicker box I use as a cheap coffee table/storage for random crap, and I just haven't had a reason to pull it out aside from one day when it snowed and I worked from home. Frankly I'm surprised it booted up since I had a sneaking suspicion a 5-year-old computer would jump at the opportunity to be left for dead.

But nope. Way to go, Apple!

Anyway. My days have been filled with work, riding 2x/week, watching Parks and Rec, reading a really long book about AIDS for my book club, and taking Beckett for walks. He just has SO MUCH energy and it's a good way to tire him out. It does kind of make me wish I had a yard, though, so I could look like a crazy person walking her cat in private.

But there are some exciting things on the horizon...in the form of new members of the family!

Byron and I had been batting around the idea of getting Beckett a playmate, and he'd been dropping not-so-subtle hints like, "If we did get another kitten, where would we put another litter box?" so when he said he had a surprise that would BLOW MY MIND, I immediately knew it was a kitten.

Specifically, a Siamese. His family has owned applehead or "old-style" Siamese for his entire life, so I knew getting one eventually was somewhat inevitable.

We're picking up one of the three seal point males (the three on the left) next weekend from a breeder his family has known for years. Apparently in real life, they're not as cross-eyed and derpy as they are in the photo, but we shall see.

And....drumroll please....
I've been looking for a lease! A half-lease, to be specific. I've already tried out one, a 20-year-old OTTB owned by one of my trainer's friends. 

When relaxed under saddle, he sticks his tongue out too! A hilarious OTTB habit, apparently.

I LOVED his personality, and his name was Carlo...how perfect would that have been--Carla and Carlo? He had a very impressive "resume"--former steeplechaser and eventer. But he was definitely a jumper who could maaaaybe  (with a lot of work) do some dressage, and I'm looking for more of the opposite--a dressage horse that could do some jumping.

Martingale+giraffe impression does not equal easy dressage mount. He's 20 years old, so I don't anticipate being able to change him much...

I figure it is better for the horse to be more experienced where I am green, and it's OK for him to be a bit of a green jumper since I've been doing that for so long.

So that is where Midnight comes in. I'm trying him tomorrow.

I like that he looks like he's reaching for the bit in a relaxed way.

He's a 12 y/o TB named Midnight. Apparently he has mostly been used for dressage and trail riding, and has very balanced gaits, but his owner wants to start doing jumping gymnastics. I could do that, and it seems like he would be a good teacher as I learn more about dressage. And the facility where he's boarded, based on their website, looks TO DIE for--two outdoor arenas, an indoor, a small XC course and trails. Did I mention that it's only 30 min away?

Ideally I would like to use him to teach Byron too--but I'm not sure if his owner will agree. I can certainly see it from the owner's perspective--letting a totally unknown beginner ride your horse is not the most attractive prospect, and I'm not sure if Midnight is quiet enough anyway. Sigh...this is why I was initially leaning toward buying rather than leasing, but financially I am just too afraid of some kind of expensive accident on top of already-expensive regular costs.

But I'll find out tomorrow and let you all know how it goes! Wish me luck!

Late-night riding

You know those cold, dark winter nights when you go out to the barn, and no one else is there? It's a relief at first to know you'll have the ring all to yourself. But then comes the realization that you're really alone, and every unexplained rattle seems like it could very possibly be a serial killer. Then you feel stupid when you realize it's just the barn cats scurrying around. But it's also quiet and peaceful, with just the horses munching. You can completely forget about everything as you wait, listening to the hum of the arena lights warming up.

50% spooky, 50% inspirational.

Well, today was not one of those days for me.  (To be honest I just wanted to share that picture with you all because I thought it was neat.) I thought it would have the barn to myself, since I got there around 7, but lessons were just winding down and a gaggle of parents were chatting in the aisleway with the barn manager.

They all left though by the time I was tacked up, and I actually did have the arena to myself...but I had yet another "just okay" ride. I got suckered into chasing rabbits, as my instructor would say. I find that I am struggling with keeping my leg back and under me for dressage (not surprising since I had that awful chair seat). If I'm doing anything other than straight and forward with my legs, I tend to draw up one or the other or stand on my toe--and then in the time it takes for me to fix it, Shadow would get crooked or try to cut a corner or slow down--generally just a lot of distractions for me to chase. I think it may be that I'm not using my WHOLE leg still, just my calf or heel. I guess I just have to keep being aware of it and keep fixing it--and reminding myself that even though I've been riding for 12 years, I'm a total dressage newbie.

An-y-way...not much to report. Just slow progress.

I wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has done the blog hop so far. It has been so awesome to see that so many people were interested, and I hope you join me again next week. No more technical difficulties, I promise :) Next week I'll also ask everyone to add a question of their own since that is something I liked in other blog hops.

Can you tell my New Year's resolution was to blog and write more?

Dressage lesson!!!

After carefully budgeting my entry-level salary using mint.com (no, they're not paying me to say that--I just have found it super useful), I've decided that I can afford to take one riding lesson per month. Not ideal, but I do have access to horses I can ride to practice what I learn. Instead of my usual hunter-jumper lessons, I decided to go with a dressage instructor. I'm hoping to go back to basics in a systematic way, and I think dressage is the way to go for that.

Anyway, now I am SUPER excited. It just reminds me yet again of my horse addiction. I find myself daydreaming about the lesson and the whole reason I'm even writing this post is that I need to stop annoying my very patient boyfriend by talking about how this is a great way for me to meet more horse people in the area and people to ride with and maybe even find a good boarding barn for later on and unlock Joey's Dressage Pony secrets because he just nods, smiles, and says, "That sounds great, babe!" because he has no idea what I'm going on about.  I've Google mapped the way to this new barn from my house and from work; I've checked out deals on new breeches online; and I've gotten giddy at an excuse to make my boots shiny-clean before each lesson (don't ask me why; I just find it's soothing and it makes me feel like the real deal). Can you tell I'm looking forward to this?

My riding education thus far has been kind of piecemeal--I have had some great instructors, but I've never worked together with an instructor to really further my "riding education." The instructor I was with the longest (from age 13-18) unfortunately didn't explain much, and as I realized later, was not the most humane to his horses. This  instructor has a good reputation of teaching people about the whys behind dressage so I'm hoping that will translate into me gaining a better foundation that I can build upon in my (slow) path to buying or leasing my first horse.

Also, I'm doing a low-level H/J show this fall. I've done this series several times before, and I intend to kick ass again...just putting it out there in Internet-land just so that dozens of strangers will peer-pressure me into writing a post about my show. The horse I will be riding is kind of far away from where I live now so I need that extra motivation to actually make it out there for some practice rides this summer. I'm hoping that dressage lessons will ramp up my jumping classes an extra notch. It's a schooling show (they mix English and Western in the same class if that tells you how casual it is), but I could still stand to use it as a test of my skills. As a previous instructor told me, I just need to think of the jumping classes as dressage with obstacles, not "stop breathing and tear around the course as fast as possible!" classes.

:)! 

The Future of Dressage?

Let me first clarify by stating that I have taken one dressage lesson ever in my life (didn't continue due to a scheduling conflict). Although I've been reading Build a Better Athlete by Leslie Webb, a blog about the adventures of a green dressage Arabian, and many other blog posts outraged about Rollkur, I am pretty much a dressage noob.

So when I was reorganizing a bookshelf last week and I saw a book outlining the future of dressage--with super brightly-colored costumes, fanciful horse torture devices, and extreme, hyperflexed movements--I was not entirely sure what to think.

It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize that The Official 2060 SuperPrix Fan Guide by Michelle Guillot was intended to be a satire. A satire with eye-hurty oversaturated graphics that doesn't walk the line between humor and descriptions of a dystopian future very well, to be sure. But a satire, nonetheless.

via book website

I only thumbed through the book and took photos of the most bizarre images, but if you ever come across it, it is definitely a trip.

Training pyramid? Why bother?

Though I didn't read it closely, Dressage Today did. The book basically describes how dressage in the 21st century is more popular than pro football (yeah...wishful thinking, huh?) and how freestyle has been glitzed up and technologized as much as any other Olympic sport. The horses are genetically modified weirdos and the saddles clamp the spandex-clad riders into ideal positions to yank, crank, and spank their way to victory.

Click to read the anatomy of the dressage horse of the future

Of course, the author's idea is to criticize current trends in dressage that threaten to reach the extremes she lays out in her book, but as a dressage noob I was overwhelmed by the weirdness. I do think that Ariat's icky Volant boots are a step in the SuperPrix direction though.

Blech. Red? Why? via

 Just thought I'd share my bizarre experience with this book. Has anyone ever read it? It looks like it was independently published so who knows if it is even available anymore.

Riding Other Peoples' Horses for Them: Pro/Con

Pro: Free! Sometimes even paid! Sadly, I have no experience with the latter. The only time someone offered to pay me to ride a horse, I ended up doing a flip over the horse's head, banging my own head on a round pen, and landing in poop. Which brings us to the Con...and I'm not talking about Tegan and Sara here.

Con:

Click the picture for full-size

That would be Joey, the new horse I'm riding twice a week for free thanks to COTH's Riderless Horses and Horseless Riders matchmaking thread. My "interview ride" went great, although I have zero experience in dressage and the ad I answered said he goes better in a dressage frame. I took that to mean--stretch him down, and sit back, which gave us a great first ride.

Then yesterday happened. Horses always seem to know when I need to be taken down a notch. There were a lot of little kids and commotion in the barn, so I figured  that with that and the unseasonably warm weather, I'd try hacking Joey out in a big open field with a couple of power lines to watch over us.

I hopped on, felt that my stirrups were a bit long, thought, "Eh, whatever. He's used to that; he's a dressage horse," and walked around, just checking out the terrain for 10 minutes or so. Tried to pick up a trot and realized I was not used to long stirrups at all, so I dismounted, fixed them, and realized something else--I have to work on mounting from the ground and Joey needs to work on standing still for more than two seconds. So we moseyed over to the stool/table thing that I had used to mount up the first time. No problem--then I asked for a trot, and it was sayonara for Joey.

I'm not exactly sure whether he bucked or what, but all of a sudden I was hanging on his neck, and I knew things weren't going to get any better from there so I bailed. Hard. I must have landed on my back, judging by the bruises today, but he definitely knocked the wind out of me. I mostly remember just trying to catch my breath on all fours in the soggy grass while he hightailed it to his hay and his buddies in the barn down the hill. I followed him--much slower.

The farm does therapeutic riding, and so far it seems like stuff is generally well under control. The farm manager had Joey in hand by the time I made it down the hill. I explained what happened, and she pointed out that my face was bleeding. My glasses had cut the side of my nose.

Great, I thought. I touched the bridge of my nose and looked at the blood on my finger. My boyfriend's going to give me crap about this one. I tried to pick a SAFE horse this time! A THERAPY horse, come on!

Turns out he hacks out great in therapy lessons...with an instructor and sidewalkers. My definition of hacking out is a bit different. So I cleaned up, hopped back on in the indoor, and made that little son-of-a-gun MARCH! ...in spite of the stars before my eyes.

Moral of the story: Don't assume an ex-Pony Club dressage horse will hack out. And always wear a helmet!

PS--I was worried I might die in my sleep from a horrific brain injury (though I did wear a helmet, as always) so I called a nurse hotline. Apparently everything is OK and I should just ice my neck, take it easy, and command my boyfriend to give me "gentle massages." Sounds good to me.