Show, part one.

Heat index of 111 here in the Sunshine State! Woohoo! Hahahaha.

Anyways, last night's schooling was AWESOME. We had all our changes and made it over the skeery fences with our dignity intact, had the lovely slow canter. Figured I'd fill you in on that first off.

Turnout was lighter than last year- usually they have to set up temporary stalls, and even then there isn't enough room. Maybe it was just to hot? I don't know.

At any rate, we reserved in our Green Horse division, pinning first in our under saddle class. What a good baby :) Tomorrow we have a slew of flat classes- no jumping. I'm sooo tired of jumping, hahaha. It has never been my strong point.

So I also need to come out extra early to braid. I was skimping and banded her mane, but I mean, what else do I have going on? I may as well have her looking presentable. She has been so well behaved- I really can't get over it.

Mass confusion and widespread panic

Bunny does not care for buzzing objects with sharp metallic teeth droning around her ears. I learned that today. Now, she'll tolerate having her bridle path done, and her muzzle. She'll even sit still while I rub the (turned off) clippers all over her ears. But as soon as those babies come on, she hits the ceiling. Joyous. I refuse to twitch her over this- I'd rather do it the long way and have a few ear fuzzies than a traumatized horse. So la-di-da, another object on our list.

In other news, well, I guess some things just take a little time to sink in, for both of us. She turned off a dime today. We were regular OUTSIDE REIN MACHINES! Even in the canter. What was *not* so much fun was when Troy the Lawn Flunkie turned the new sprinklers on by mistake and I had to cling to a bolting baby who was certain we were in the middle of the apocalypse, what with the water and the spraying and the tch-tch-tch noises and.... things. Awesome.

Also. My equitation. Dear GOD, my equitation! (The lament heard to the heavens.) Hrrrrrrrg, I don't know what to do. I don't. I can ride around without stirrups for-ev-er and look great (thanks Denna), but as soon as I pick them up I just fall apart. It's ridiculous. Shouldn't it be the other way around?? And it's especially great when Allanah is shooting me disapproving glances the whole time. (Not maliciously, I imagine. More like, dear sweet God.)
Yay for trainer rivalry.

So I need to:
-Fix my lower back
-Relax my ankles
-Turn my knee out a little
-Figure out where the angle gremlins have taken my elbows
-Lift my chest.

Whoo. Better get cracking, huh? Again, the show is peachy. I'm not worried about it. I'm worried about my long-term riding abilities and developing my horse. Hrm, boot camp for me.

The inevitable lesson DOOOOOOM

Or maybe not doom. That just makes it sound more dramatic.

Sooo we have our latest evaluation: poneh and I are having technical difficulties with our turns. We are introducing her (or maybe just teaching her my way- I'm sure she already knows) to the lovely turn off outside aids concept. Part of it is entirely my fault- I tend to open my rein rather than taking it straight back, which just confuses everything. I think that will help us soo much with our courses.

Also, because pony thinks she's hot stuff (hahaha), and I curl up into the fetal position and pray for the best, we are working transitions in between fences and halting/backing up/etc. so I'll SIT UP FOR CHRISSAKES, ELIZABETH. Hrrgh, it's the blasted lower back of mine- yoga, my friends. Must.man.up. and go to yoga. I honestly have no idea that it *wiggles* as much as it does. THE WIGGLE. It's like a disease, I tell you. *Le sigh.* But I did finally master the lifting-the-chest thing, which will help. I just have to *feel* it, and then I can replicate it in the future. I'm glad I have a Nazi trainer. It makes life so much easier.

Man, this is all so stream-of-consciousness.

Anyways, hmm. She's a smart little booger, as I have said. When I was trying to do a circle on the outside aids only, she kept swapping leads. She's nice and smooth, I will give her that, but uh, I think she was confused. Maybe a little ouchy somewhere too- she's been worked hard lately. Gonna give her a hardcore massage-liniment-clip-sparkle spa day tomorrow after I ride. I'd like to just let her be a pony, but since I have the show looming in my face and I went for a hack the other day, I should probably school some flatwork- just stretchy stuff and turning, I think.

Six months from now, we'll be rockin' the AQHA circuit (if I can get a job to pay for this endeavor.) Just gotta keep telling myself that.

Ok, so here's our new list:

-Fix my retarded position, from locked ankles to pinching knees to crooked seat to THE WIGGLE to hunchy two point. Whoo, one thing at a time, and lots of bareback and no-stirrups in our future. I imagine once I'm balanced, she'll be much better.

Thank GOD I have nice hands- they're my pride, hahaha.

-Start more hardcore outside rein work. (That sounds painful.) I just mean inside leg/outside rein to save our poor little outside shoulder.

-Make our work interesting. She could care less about little crossrails and the low verticals that make up most of our fence work. But guess what? She's only four. So that's as high as we're getting (nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah :)) until her back is closed. In the meantime, once we're balanced, we're gonna do broken-lines and rollbacks over groundpoles and practice leads and do canter-halt-canter transitions and whatever else it takes to get us ready for big stuff.


As for the show, we're going to stick with our Green classes and our two foot. I'm with Patti on this- she said she doesn't care if we trot a fence or two in the long stirrup class- it's not about the ribbon, it's about learning. She also said we should enter one flat class from every division, right up to the big scary fancy hunters, just to get used to the environment and the competition. I like this idea. I can flip my number up if I need to. BTB isn't rated- it's where everyone locally, from the AQHA to RMI to PSJ to the lower-level HITS stuff comes to cool off and have a good time for a cheap trophy. Just have fun and try to learn, I figure :)

Impulsion vs. Tension

Hrm, not sure where I'm going with this but just wanted to point out that there is a difference between a horse carrying itself with impulsion and a horse who is carrying itself with tension. I guess I was just thinking about this because Bunny was having some patented snot moments where she just wanted to drop her shoulder and run toward the fence, and then she had some nice moments when she relaxed and swung out. Her speed stayed the same, but her stride changed.

Anyways.

All I can think of is transitions transitions and more transitions. If we don't go in the field tomorrow, we'll either school outside or on the dirt road so we can focus on rhythm without too much turning. I have been reading reading reading, and as I suspected, everything comes from wet saddle blankets and downward transitions. Now I just have to get it so she will come back to me without throwing her head around. I use such a light contact (usually), but when she runs through my hands she has consequences, namely a firmer contact on one rein ;) Of course, being the little horse that she is, she anticipates it when she runs through my hands, so she throws her head AND runs. I can and do ride her almost entirely off my seat in our flatwork, but man, the little snot anticipates EVERYTHING, and usually bracing and resistance is involved.

So, of course, we do the exact opposite. I guess until she settles down and realizes that we do things on my terms, it will just be something we work around. In the meantime, she is definitely coming along. It's just irritating, I guess.

See, this is my competition at BTB. Not expecting to place above her, but I at least want to be noticed (and not because my horse is flying around like a maniac, hahaha.)



Now how the heck do you compete with that?? I guess, again, it comes down to impulsion and developing suspension in the trot, and control in the canter. The horse in the video is the same age as Bunny, but I have no idea what background it has. Especially cause my pony's only been under saddle for a year, max, according to Yet. So I think we're doing pretty well- Bunny is a lovely flat mover, but we're still dragging our toes in the dirt.

Anyways.

This is our canter on our bad side. Note the driving seat going on here. I have to pushpushpush her in her rhythm, hahaha. In the second trip down the long side, you can see my more passive seat. I am carrying a whole bunch of tension in my arms- I need to fix that, because even my passive seat is pump-y.





And this is our trotwork. Now that she's carrying her head well, I need to let go and quit trying to funnel her down. Remind me, because I forget how stiff wide hands make me.



And this is our hallelujah trot. This makes me feel like we have hope, hahahaha. And man, for a tubby barely-15.2 baby, she looks tall and skinneh. Wut.

Battle of the Barns.

The anticipation is KILLING me here. KILLING me. So we have nine days left before the three-day show madness. Whew.

Here's my list of things to do:
-Braid her mane down so it will lay flat for the show, versus her signature mohawk.
-Buy a new pair of show breeches.
-Make the trailer sparkly clean since Jax is gonna ride with us.
-Finish tailoring my jacket, because it has been laying across my sewing table with the sleeves half-attached waiting for me for two weeks.

Riding wise:
-Perfect our walk to canter transitions. We can get them, and they are SO much better as a whole, but BTB has some serious competition.

-Fix our flying changes. Yes, we can do them; no, they aren't always pretty. I just have to remember to keep my shoulders square, otherwise we'll botch it EVERY time. Her cadence is lovely, and she doesn't flop around at all when she does them. Yet and Kate did a great job training her :)It's more me than the horse.

-Run through a "scary" course a few times. With our limited jumping, I want to be SURE we won't have any mishaps.

On another note, Patti wants us to start in Green Horse 18" and then do the HUS and *maybe* Open Hunter if all goes well. I feel pretty good, given we jumped four 2'6 fences in our largely 2'-2'3 course yesterday. That's as high as we plan on going until she's five, and we won't be doing that again any time soon. She has such a bouncy jump over the "big" stuff- she REALLY uses herself. Our first few times over the 2'6 ers were interesting. I have been tortured enough that I don't hit her in the mouth or lose my leg, but my upper body got... creative... hahaha. We'd get a long spot coming in, which, go figure, messed up the distances for the whole line and resulted in chippy awesomeness. The long spots are easy to deal with- it's the chips that get me, because she snaps her back so hard and jumps over her knees. (See last jumping photos, hahahaha.)

But it all comes with the territory. She loves jumping, and usually I roll my eyes at statements like this, but I really think she enjoys it. It has to be more interesting than drilling flatwork. Trail work is her favorite, without a doubt, but this probably takes second.

Oh yeah, I was saying something. Uhm.

Duh, leads.

I have some freaky lead anxiety. Maybe just because Berky was always a PITA to get to swap and it always killed our classes. I think tomorrow I'm going to take her out to the XC/big jump field, set everything to poles, and just work patterns and getting our swaps consistently in a more open area. Our little arena has room for about ten strides before you hit a corner, and it makes turning slightly ADHD four year olds difficult.

I mean, it's ridiculous. A fixed wrong lead is better than a chip, so I *should* be freaking out about chips. But I mean, chips last a split second. A bad lead takes at least three seconds of sheer terror and angst to fix, and then by that time you're all worked up and YOU DROP YOUR INSIDE SHOULDER AND HOLY CRAP YOU GOT THE WRONG LEAD AGAIN AND OH NO THAT WAS OUR LINE WE JUST WENT PAST. (Story of my Berky-showing career, hahahaha.)

So really, again, it's all for my comfort rather than her inability. Come on, we got our leads yesterday even when the big fences made her a little looky, so we should be just fine. Whew, hahaha.

Man, I miss my big boy so much. I know I should just get over it, but man. Battle of the Barns was my first show with him, and I can't help but associate it with him. Hrrgh, I wish he was still here :/

Very nice ride today. Sacrificed my equitation today in the name of getting her attention, and while it wasn't pretty, it was functional. For example, she's sneaky- we'll be riding down the long side closest to the mare pasture, and I'll see her ear slooowly rotate toward the field.. and next second, her nose tilts just a fraction of an inch outwards... and the little booger is ogling them out the corner of her eye. If I'm not paying attention, I can lose her focus so quickly, and without even noticing because, again, she's subtly naughty. (Or just normal ADD baby.)

We had a lovely square halt, despite the fact I was adjusting my reins.


Keeping her occupied with the cavaletti. (Holy hock action, Batman!)


I feel like a raptor when I canter. Although my seat is 10000x better. You just can't tell because I'm standing in my stirrups, hahaha. Really, even though she's all kinds of strung out, I'm glad that she isn't fighting my hand. (Or lack thereof.) That's really why I'm posting this.


Left lead is better too. You can definitely tell this is the side she's overdeveloped on.



Extending that trot. Man, we were all but floating. (Yep, definitely a training ride. Lack of elbows, hahahaa.) This trot is made of blood, sweat, and tears, my friend. Blood, sweat, and tears.



Lastly, long and low canter on the buckle. Whew.



So the name of the game today was transitions. Transitions transitions transitions.

She KNOWS her walk to canter depart. Knows it BAM. But, she was blowing me off in an ugly way. I'd sit back and cue and she'd just run into it. So unfortunately, it was crop time. I hate getting aggressive, but it only took one good crack behind my leg before she started behaving herself.

Anyways, it's too late at night for me to say much else.

Today's schooling photospam

First time cantering her over a fence outdoors. Man, this is ugly hahaha.
"Oh, a jump!"


lol deep spot. She was either going to take the long spot waaaay out, or chip. We chipped.



Other way. Man, my form has gotten so "pose-y." But whatever, ya know. I'll fix it eventually. I sat back way early, too. Weeeird, I usually don't do that. Also, my bob sticks out of my helmet awkwardly, hahaha.





Requisite under-the-jump shot.


One day, I will have something constructive to say. But not today. Just more pictures, and blabbering :)

I call it "guerrilla hunter"

Allanah and I were discussing my ultra-defensive equitation. We have dubbed it "guerrilla hunters." That's probably not a good thing, hahaha.

So I introduced Bunny to draw reins yesterday, for just a few minutes.* Mostly to get her used to them, should I ever need them.
Here is what we got.


It just reminds me that, when I restrict with my hand, I need to add leg. The rein is loose, but I imagine it was still restrictive enough to prompt her to go BTV. I like everything else about this picture, however. (Her round, supporting back, active hock, free shoulder.... my eq isn't crap ;P)



This is our more working outline, minus the draw rein. (Excuse the fact that these are all in the same area of the ring ;) I put my camera on the rail and ride while it films.)



Bunny fit. She has mare moments. (No draw rein. Just plain snaffle.)




And this is my favorite.

*Disclaimer- I have worked in draw reins before, and ALWAYS use a snaffle rein. I don't pull into an outline: I fix them at a certain length and use them only as a reminder.

Aw, I found pictures of the Berkmeister :)

After our classes in the February schooling show. That's Claire next to me- she's seriously pushing 5'11. (And God only knows why I wore my blue shirt lol.



When we all rode to Wayne's to hear the holistic vet lecture. I'm to the far right.






His first day back in work when he made himself sore half the winter from playing in the field. You can see my super-special hunch :)



Learning to jump the ex-jumper. One of our first jumping lessons- really, the first time he was strong enough to work that hard. I still don't understand how someone could have starved the poor boy :/

lololol, it's so embarassing to watch that video, but it's ok. I'm just glad I still have it. I miss my big boy, but what can I say? I guess life just works out funny sometimes.

Another lesson, further jabbering

So we're familiar with Bunny's overbending through her neck habit, and with my extreme crookedness. And this is how we are trying to fix it- having her move off my outside aids to straighten her and give her the muscle to balance. This forces me to release my deathgrip on my inside rein (Patti makes me drop it entirely when it gets too bad O.o), and ride square to her shoulders. We aren't looking for bend, to clarify: we want her outside shoulder taking as much weight as her inside shoulder. We'll fix our bend when she can balance her weight (and when I fix my riding... lol)

Inside leg to outside rein, in short, minus the bend.

(and yeah, I am posting super high trying to get lazy pony to move out, hahahaha)

Another thing Patti pointed out: when Bunny drifts, I compensate with my whole body: I lock my whole leg- thigh, knee, calf, heel, into her and rotate my seat to push her over. BUT I am not keeping myself centered- I am collapsing whichever side I'm not aiding with.



Ta-da! This is during our outside-rein turn thing. Whoah, the crooked!



I feel like a lot of this stems from my general hunchiness, as seen in the one above. (Also, darn it my hands are in my crotch. Hrrgh.) I am definitely over developed in my right side as well, so it might be time to start going to yoga with Paige. She's been trying to get me to come, but I've never really given it thought. I'll have to ask her when she's going next. ANNNYWAYS.

Ok, so another homework assignment. We are supposed to work off the rail (not that we ride in the arena that much anyways.) Bunny drops her outside shoulder through the turns and dives to the rail, so I've got to work on riding without that safety net. (This is also why much of our ride looked like this:)




AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm gonna end up on bad_riding, haha.

But there you go, my incessant rambling for the day. Quite exciting. Hopefully, I can get some canter work ( I swear, we canter! hahahaha) on the camera. I hate to canter in the dressage arena because the footing is super gnarly, so inevitably it's never on camera. Maybe I'll set the camera up elsewhere today.

HEY GUIZE

I GOT A TRUCK. HECK YEAH. MY CAMERA IS BROKEN OTHERWISE I'D BE POSTIN' PICTURES.

Yep, an '02 Chevy Silverado, Z1500. It's champagne, and has a turbosuperchargerthingamabob so I can pull a huge trailer. I shall call it Moose, and it shall be my Moose. Now I just need to practice backing it up... hmmm.

Also, had a good ride. Again. This seems to be a recurring theme, hahaha. I have video from my video camera. I just need to upload it.

Yay for jumping!

Ok, two things:
First, the local bridle club has AQHA sanctioned shows. Guess who's competing next season? Moi? Really? :D
Second: Awesome schooling the past few days.

Went to the field and jumped a few lines. Her canter has come so friggin far- it's so comfy now, and I'm not flopping. We set up a 2ft line seven strides apart, and practiced riding it as a six, seven, and eight. And got BEAUTIFUL distances. Perfect every time. We had issues pushing for the six, but she must be remembering her Western youth because I could collect her to the eight soo easily. I really, really wish I had footage.

We did have our first refusal. We have a panel that is yellow on one side, blue on the other. For whatever reason, she was NOT feelin' the yellow side. Nothing dirty, just an, "Uhm, no." She got over it the second time, and then we jumped it every way physically possible, even off a gentle angle, so I think that is settled.

Then, today we had a quickie ride since it looked like it was about to pour. I took off my stirrups, and man, I'm thanking Patti for our two-point torture because I'm so stable in the tack. A squirrel skittered up a tree and sent her into a snorting, kicking-out ORBIT, and I kept my seat :) I've found she spooks at noises much more frequently than scary objects. Interesting to remember.

Anyways, since I was sans spurs, I was expecting today to be pokey pokey pokey trot the whole time. Not so. She was just such a good girl- we got the long, sweepy trot that I've been trying to push her into right off the bat, and she was reaching for the bit and rounding out. It's like riding a cruiser, haha. And I can ride her on a total drape and bring her to a dead halt off my seat. Whew, that's an awesome development. Our backing needs work, but hey, it's like I've had a finished horse lately. I'm not complaining.

Lastly, our "other" canter developments. Whattheheck is up with my seat. I had a beautiful seat without stirrups, and even two-pointed n/s in the canter like Denna used to make us do. But as soon as I picked them up, whabam! Pumping with my upper body. I brace all through my legs, and I just can't seem to fix it. It makes me want to just lose the stirrups permanently, haha.

Stuff.

Hrm, nothing much interesting to say today. Rode Mare through a de-spook course: we set up a pole between blue folding chairs and put cones all around it, set up another "fence" surrounded by empty trash bags and cardboard Capri Sun boxes, one with two neon buckets and polo wraps wound around the standards, and had a super spoooky tarp to walk over. Mostly, it was for Chagall, Paige's warmblood who will spook at anything, but hey, it was fun to put Bunny through her paces as well. She only cared about the tarp- she was a little leery of the grey crinkly monster thing.

We had to ride in the dressage arena (20x40m) and by the time we were warmed up, four other preteen riders had joined us. It got to the point that I had to be mean and remind everyone about left shoulder to left shoulder, as one little girl consistently rode too close and Bunny nearly took a chunk out of her leg. So schooling wasn't very productive.

We HAVE had an epiphany with our canter work, however. I got the niiicest, slowest, roundest canter when we went out to the dirt road to finish schooling. I really think the long stretches help her focus- there's nowhere to go but forward, and she's always so much perkier and attentive when I have her out. Now if only we could take that to schooling on site... hmmmm.... haha. Spurs have helped too- I no longer have to wale on her to get her to move, and my position is a lot more consistent.

Lastly, we are having issues with impulsion. Although she is much more prompt off my leg, she just isn't feelin' the whole long strided hunter thing. We can get a nice jog (haha), and though she carries herself with her back up and all, it's just not even remotely sufficient. But whatever- she's four and spoils me to death with her good behavior :)

Visit to the new barn.

Today we had a trail ride. A looong trail ride, to Twin Gaits to let Bunny sniff around. Here she is at the water bucket, looking very embarassed to have been caught on camera all sweaty.

Maddie and her schoolmaster Jacks are on my left. Hard to believe the little squirt is as tall as I am now (or would be if she were standing straight.) Darn. I babysat her, haha.