This Saturday...it's MY turn. It's my turn to be the one getting dressed, getting packed, bathing MY horse and braiding MY horse's mane. After years of watching others....after years of HELPING others so that they could be successful...now I get to do it!!!
When I pause in all the craziness of getting ready for a show, I can't help but be grateful for where I am. I've worked hard over the past couple of years to be in a place both in my riding and in my finances so that I can afford to show. I'm proud of that work...and now I get to see it come to fruition. Sure, it freaks me out a bit to think that I'm getting what I want. But, I'm not letting that be at the forefront of my mind. When I swing up on Obe at that show on Saturday, and we march off towards the warm up, I'm going to smile up into the shining sun and be GRATEFUL.
It brings tears to my eyes just typing it. I may be a slobbery mess at the show! That'll make for some great photos! ;)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Moving right along...
On March 24, I went down to Tryon to Harmon Field with Michele and her young OTTB Timber. Normally, if I trailer Obe with another horse anywhere, she is SUDDENLY best friends with that horse and cannot stand to be separated from him. She'll pitch insane fits...like "airs above the ground" kind of fits. That's why all our trailer this year has been solo, and she's done amazingly well! I have definitely hit on a strategy that works for us, so I was a little concerned that this most recent show would be with another horse AND we'd be attempting to ride a test.
When we got down there, we unloaded the horses and tied them to the sides of the trailer. Obe couldn't really see Timber too well even though we had both escape doors open on each side (and the horses were tied on opposite sides of the trailer...right next to the escape doors). I ran to the office to check in and get my number. When I came back, Michele told me that Obe had climbed up into the escape door (the person-sized door on the side of the trailer) and tried to get across the trailer to Timber's side....she did this THREE times. I rolled my eyes and tried to groom my prancing, dancing, shifting around horse. She kept craning around to try to see Timber around the trailer's front. I just knew this was going to be a wasted day.
I finally got her tacked up (it's a little more difficult to tack up a moving target), and had Michele hold her while I got on. Timber was still tied to his side of the trailer (sweet boy...he didn't care where Obe was, but he loves to know where Michele is. She's HIS girl). I swung up, and Obe marched right off towards warm-up. She didn't even whinny for Timber! We walked straight over to warm-up, checked in with the ring steward, and started doing our thing! I was a bit blown away to say the least.
The warm-up was tiny, and I kept swerving around to miss horses that weren't exactly being steered. At one point, one lady was bent WAY over her horse's side tightening her girth, and her horse was just roaming around aimlessly....RIGHT into my pathway as I cantered around. I swerved and shot her a look, but she wasn't even paying enough attention to notice that. Oh well...welcome to warm up.
I think I warmed up a bit too long. I got on about 30 minutes before my ride time since I wasn't sure what kind of horse I'd have once I was on. However, at the 15 minute mark, she was perfect. She wasn't tired, she was on my aids and responsive in a non-blowing-up kind of way. The final 15 minutes kind of pushed her over the edge and she got a bit more dull to my leg and a tad more pissy about things in general.
We went to the show arena and rode our test. I didn't have a reader, and after I crossed the first diagonal (First Level Test 2), I got a little lost. The test is bizarre at that point, I must say, because you're supposed to just trot all the way around to S....which is a long way away. I was lost for the entire short side...not sure if I should leg yield or canter or what. Then, I remembered the trot marathon and continued on down the long side. We had some good moments after that...we also had a few "uh oh" moments, like when Obe kicked out on our canter transition and when she broke while coming back from our canter lengthening. But, she held it together, we rode the whole test, and we succeeded at not rearing/sucking back/acting like a lunatic at any point! Yay, Obe!
Last night, I had a lesson with Debra (and I have another next Wednesday evening) to work on a few issues before the big show on the 14th. Obe definitely needs work on her trot lengthenings, not dying in the lateral work, and staying soft coming back from canter lengthenings. We worked on ALL of that last night in creative ways (of course...Debra is amazing). First, we worked on a 20m circle doing renvers with energy. Then, I'd slide my inside leg back up to the girth and ask for her to PUSH and lengthen out of it. I went back and forth between the longer stride and the renvers until I had her on my aids...completely soft to my leg...fluid through her loin. That sets us up well for the leg yield/ten meter circle figure 8/leg yield part of the trot work in First 3.
We then moved to canter work. I started on the right lead (her easier) on a 20m circle on true canter, then an adjoining 20m circle in canter counter. Basically, a figure 8 without changing lead. That proved difficult for her, especially the counter canter, so I had to play with letting my inside rein open and soften to allow her shoulders to raise and come through. What I loved about it was that my outside rein became the main communication with her so that when I came back onto the 20m true canter circle, I was able to ask for a lengthening in her canter stride and bring her back softly without her breaking. It was all in that connection on the outside rein/seatbone/leg. Wow...seriously, wow. The left lead (the one we broke on in the test) was even softer, especially after I got brave and LET GO of my left rein and fully connected onto my right rein. It was awesome!
So...moving right along. I feel like she's in a good place right now and, given that I have over a week before the big show, I think we'll be exactly where we need to be when the 14th rolls around. I'm excited to have one more lesson with Debra next week...good stuff, that.
When we got down there, we unloaded the horses and tied them to the sides of the trailer. Obe couldn't really see Timber too well even though we had both escape doors open on each side (and the horses were tied on opposite sides of the trailer...right next to the escape doors). I ran to the office to check in and get my number. When I came back, Michele told me that Obe had climbed up into the escape door (the person-sized door on the side of the trailer) and tried to get across the trailer to Timber's side....she did this THREE times. I rolled my eyes and tried to groom my prancing, dancing, shifting around horse. She kept craning around to try to see Timber around the trailer's front. I just knew this was going to be a wasted day.
I finally got her tacked up (it's a little more difficult to tack up a moving target), and had Michele hold her while I got on. Timber was still tied to his side of the trailer (sweet boy...he didn't care where Obe was, but he loves to know where Michele is. She's HIS girl). I swung up, and Obe marched right off towards warm-up. She didn't even whinny for Timber! We walked straight over to warm-up, checked in with the ring steward, and started doing our thing! I was a bit blown away to say the least.
The warm-up was tiny, and I kept swerving around to miss horses that weren't exactly being steered. At one point, one lady was bent WAY over her horse's side tightening her girth, and her horse was just roaming around aimlessly....RIGHT into my pathway as I cantered around. I swerved and shot her a look, but she wasn't even paying enough attention to notice that. Oh well...welcome to warm up.
I think I warmed up a bit too long. I got on about 30 minutes before my ride time since I wasn't sure what kind of horse I'd have once I was on. However, at the 15 minute mark, she was perfect. She wasn't tired, she was on my aids and responsive in a non-blowing-up kind of way. The final 15 minutes kind of pushed her over the edge and she got a bit more dull to my leg and a tad more pissy about things in general.
We went to the show arena and rode our test. I didn't have a reader, and after I crossed the first diagonal (First Level Test 2), I got a little lost. The test is bizarre at that point, I must say, because you're supposed to just trot all the way around to S....which is a long way away. I was lost for the entire short side...not sure if I should leg yield or canter or what. Then, I remembered the trot marathon and continued on down the long side. We had some good moments after that...we also had a few "uh oh" moments, like when Obe kicked out on our canter transition and when she broke while coming back from our canter lengthening. But, she held it together, we rode the whole test, and we succeeded at not rearing/sucking back/acting like a lunatic at any point! Yay, Obe!
Last night, I had a lesson with Debra (and I have another next Wednesday evening) to work on a few issues before the big show on the 14th. Obe definitely needs work on her trot lengthenings, not dying in the lateral work, and staying soft coming back from canter lengthenings. We worked on ALL of that last night in creative ways (of course...Debra is amazing). First, we worked on a 20m circle doing renvers with energy. Then, I'd slide my inside leg back up to the girth and ask for her to PUSH and lengthen out of it. I went back and forth between the longer stride and the renvers until I had her on my aids...completely soft to my leg...fluid through her loin. That sets us up well for the leg yield/ten meter circle figure 8/leg yield part of the trot work in First 3.
We then moved to canter work. I started on the right lead (her easier) on a 20m circle on true canter, then an adjoining 20m circle in canter counter. Basically, a figure 8 without changing lead. That proved difficult for her, especially the counter canter, so I had to play with letting my inside rein open and soften to allow her shoulders to raise and come through. What I loved about it was that my outside rein became the main communication with her so that when I came back onto the 20m true canter circle, I was able to ask for a lengthening in her canter stride and bring her back softly without her breaking. It was all in that connection on the outside rein/seatbone/leg. Wow...seriously, wow. The left lead (the one we broke on in the test) was even softer, especially after I got brave and LET GO of my left rein and fully connected onto my right rein. It was awesome!
So...moving right along. I feel like she's in a good place right now and, given that I have over a week before the big show, I think we'll be exactly where we need to be when the 14th rolls around. I'm excited to have one more lesson with Debra next week...good stuff, that.
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