I did something crazy

Yes, I know once again I have been MIA...life has had a way of taking over. After my horse tried to gain herself a full vacation by severing a vein....we are back at it and cutting the lighter work period short. Luckily she was only out for 2 days with this...and you best believe I am ready to put her new hocks to use and make sure she doesnt get the zoom zooms all over again.

(beware some graphic photos below)

Yes like Tillie severing a vein after getting loose...

Soooooo much blood

Literally started to panic at this point

To make up for it, I decided to once and for all end my saddle fitting woes (hopefully for the foreseeable future!)...you know since we clearly need to do more galloping.

I got us a dressage saddle not too long ago...and decided to leave our jump saddle alone since it was working for us with the help of a thinline pad + shims. It has been working well for us... that is until recently.

This saddle has been there with Tillie and I since the first year I got her.
and all the ups and down since..so its been hard to let it go

The fit for Tillie wasnt poor, but not optimum either. The bigger issue with fit has fallen on me and the fact it puts me in a chair seat like something horrible and my bottom hits the back of the saddle over fences.

You can kind of see the chair seat happening here

I was willing to make do for my own liking as long as it worked for Tillie...but lately she made it clear when saddling up she is not happy with it. After having 2 fitters take a look, one non-biased to Stubben another a Stubben fitter...it was obvious we both needed to move on especially with our goals for next year.

Which should hopefully not include ANY MORE sedation

So long story long, I bit the bullet and placed the order for one of these:

Stubben Zaria Optimum

If you all remember, I blogged about one when I rode in my trainers, Dom Schramm. It was odd at first and I wasnt quite sold. I think the fact it felt so different was part of it. But when the fitter came back earlier this week and had me try a slew of them...I was hooked and I knew I had to have it.

Tillie the first day back after her injury...laughing at my anxiety

So we are a 29cm tree now, 18" seat (who would have thought!?) and regular flap with a soft seat. I didnt do any fancing color or stitching for fear of how it would wear and longevity...so literally the image above is the color I got with it being the ebony brown with the ligther medium brown duo tone.

Tillie says, I so spoiled!!

The 18" seat shocked the heck out of me, but when trying a smaller seat it just want enough room...especially considering when  your out XC and you get yourself into a hairy situation. The Biomax was something I thought for sure I would want, but after trying it...didnt love it enough to warrant the extra cost. I just never felt like I got the close contact feel I did without it. It also tended to hit my bottom right in a spot I could feel the crease of it ending every tine my bottom touched the saddle.

All done fitting!

I also sprung for the crazy looking girth too, (their Equisoft Girth) but what the hell right?! Whats another few hundred dollars?

Stubben Equi-soft Girth

I will tell you I was a non believer in this girth...paying almost $400 seemed insane to me. I did not receive it for free nor am I being compensated in anyway for saying this but holy cow what a difference it made.

I was always of the belief the girth was meant for XC or galloping when the horse was exerted and working...that it would expand with the horse's breathing helping with regulating its heart rate and comfort when breathing became labored.

Stubben's description of the Girth is as follows:

"The Equi-Soft girth, when properly adjusted, effectively deals with the constriction by giving in all directions and markedly reducing the tension.  This frees the underlying musculature, allows better circulation, and decreases the restriction of motion of the gut.  As respiration is enhanced and the horse experiences less discomfort, pulse rate has been shown to be reduced during exercise.  Since the muscles are less restricted, lateral flexibility is enhanced as well as the horse’s ability to employ the external obliques, serratus and other abdominal muscles necessary to support the topline.  This is manifested in greater extension of the foreleg and more active employment of the hind quarters."

It was INSTANTANEOUS when using this girth + the saddle that I felt the difference. This girth plus the saddle were used on the first go round and the final...both times I had a horse that was through, relaxed and on the aids and her striding was open without being tense. This is just flatting her.

I have been told its like this with some horses while others there is no difference at all. If you are ever at all curious, know your horse has been properly fitted, ulcers checked and soundess but still doesnt seem to be quite fluid....this may be something to try.

Tillie REALLY liked it

So once I wrote out my deposit, I promptly cried a little realizing this cost me more than my first car, but find it really hard to regret at all considering how marvelous Tillie felt and also, the kicker, I felt too! I was in a much better position yet solid and not moving anywhere. It was slightly odd at first with the monoflap because the reduced bulk almost tricked my mind into thinking less support. 

But when we tried a few jumps and Tillie got some sass and excitment, I did NOT move nor did the saddle. Not to say I wont have any falls off this saddle...and just for good measure, I found an AWESOME deal on a Hit Air vets for less than half retail value and just received that today too!

I have been putting off getting one...but I have been told by many people that Training level and above you want to start thinking about it. So when I saw this being listed, I couldnt resist. 

So now that I am officially broke...at least Tillie and myself will have the best comfort and safety there is to offer. Heres to hoping if we dress for success...it will follow. You know the whole, "Build it and they will come" mentalitly. 

muscling goes a long way

I recently was chatting with someone who hadn't seen Tillie since I had first gotten her a few years ago...they remarked at how much she's changed in how she looks. They even said if it weren't for her distinctive blaze, they would think it wasn't the same horse at all.

So I got curious, and dug up some old photos of her:

This was the first year I had her while she was recovering from cellulitis

2014: This was the first year I had her while she was recovering from cellulitis

the following October 2014

October 2015

Last fall - 2015

fall 2015

September 2016

Sept 2016

October 2016

October 2016

 Pretty crazy even from last year to this year. I notice it the most in her neck muscling...and her rump. I love seeing transformations of these OTTBs or any young horse that gets put into work and the difference with some weight and muscles. Show me yours!!!

New month, new things

Happy belated Halloween everyone. Can you believe its already November?!

It seems like it wasn't all that long ago when this show season started...and it was this time last year Tillie and I were xc schooling and experiencing more not so fun moments more than we were experiencing fun moments.

Not so fun moment

I have resolved that November will be all about exploring and keeping an open mind. That will include me riding horses other than Tillie and being diligent in my own personal progress, outside of Tillie. (In addition to her too of course).

Tillie snoozing this morning

I have yet to sit down and really iron out a lesson schedule to stick to...but that is part of my plan so I have something to hold myself to. I need to make it a priority, but I am pretty busy with my latest drawings and commissions...I cant say no to them, and I LOVE doing them and the more the merrier! It'll all go in the bank towards lessons and our show season next year.

My latest drawing from last night - if you are interested in one, email me: kaitlyndzn@yahoo.com

My main focus on me right now are:

1. getting a better seat in the canter
2. being more firm with my hands (they will wiggle around when I don't take a firm contact)

For Tillie:

1. Improve the canter so she is less braced, more uphill and engaging
2. Improve canter to trot transitions
3. Keep her on the aids into a halt and from a halt to trot

Tillie after our ride yesterday looking chipper

The good news is, Tillie is happy to work and I am ready to dig in to my own homework. The trick is finding a place I can ride other horses...What sort of things do you look for in a lesson barn?

Bipolar...my horse is bipolar

This past Saturday was the first day Tillie was allowed back into work after her injections. I fully expected there to be some interesting moments...so much so that I even lunged her lightly to let her sort out some wiggles.

Extremely fit horse + 4 days off of work = pshyco mare

Except this is the horse I got

Ok she did let some sass out on the lunge. But when I hopped on her, there was no tension, no jigging or bracing...not even the usual goading me into argue with her when shes been out of consistent work.
She showed up ready to work and was shockingly good...so bipolar in a good way.

Such a hard life

 I was so freaked out about how good she was, I even took her temp a few times...all was normal! Poor Tillie. I do not give her enough credit, but seriously up until this, if I even gave her a day off I would be riding a very opinionated horse the next day.

Tillie isn't sure what the fuss is about

 Her canter felt AMAZING. We were in the smaller ring, so she naturally tends to balance herself better in this one...and tends to stay straighter and better about not throwing her shoulders around. She was slightly down with her left shoulder when we tracked left, but that was also her more positive hock, and the side she is more downhill on.

Sleepy mare...and looking very tiny in this picture

 It didn't take too much to get her to lift that inside shoulder when in the past, it would sometimes be an open door for bolting, head flicking or any number of her antics. She felt really nice and balanced, even willing to sit and engage.

Donkey Ears

Now, I don't think the injections work THAT fast. I have been told they can take anywhere between 10 days to 1 month before feeling the effects. So I am not really sure why the drastic change.

Her canter has been what we are trying to improve the most lately...and she certainly has given me nice moments, but an not usually an entire 2-3 circles.

At any rate, I am excited to get back into our lesson routine and prepare for our dressage debut next weekend. Here's hoping Tillie stays on this end of the spectrum!

Reflecting on the 2016 season

Where do I even begin? I feel like this season, compared to previous ones, was so jam packed with events and things that it makes my head spin...and probably why I sort of called it a season slightly early.

I am a bit disappointed I will not be doing any more events, but with the hard ground lately and my feelings of my own riding...I decided that digging into lessons and really smoothing out the wrinkles is what we need to focus on right now.

This time last year, we still had this happening frequently in every ride

Its incredible to think back to this time last year, where we started this year compared to where we are now. Even with that knowledge, its easy to get caught up in the now and think we still stink...which relatively speaking, we still do in many ways lol. There will always be more to work on.

But back to the point: Our show season in review.

March:
We started off with a dressage fix-a-test trying out Novice USEF tests to see if moving up to novice was even feasible. (Full recap here)

Great way to kick off the season!

April:

Next up, I entered in a Dom Schramm clinic (conclusion and recap here) pretty last minute on a whim and boy did it pay off. I truly believe this clinic was the catalyst to our season and the HUGE confidence booster needed.

Then we had our first event of the season at Beginner Novice at Olde Hope where we finished 2nd! (Recap here):

May:
With the success of the BN event, we moved up to our first novice at the middle of May at EEHC horse trials where we got FIRST!! (Full recap here)

Schooling at home right before our show, this is prob the most confident jumping I felt all year

Then at the end of May we did our second Novice at Loch Moy where we got 5th and finished on our dressage score (recap here):

June:
I decided to try out recognized shows at novice then to start prepping for down the road. Since only a handful of Trainings are starter events...and so we wouldn't have to worry about both that and a move up when the time came. I remember the time penalties being a bit of a shock, but a good learning experience. If I recall, we were 4th after dressage, but stadium time penalties bumped us down to 7th (recap here)

July:

We did a training level derby at Fair hill...which I sadly had no media of, but it was a test for the bigger fences. Tillie ate them up and I felt good about it. We went to another starter Novice event at fair hill and it was probably the most confident I have ever felt (recap here)

Later in July we went to our second recognized event...and I just wasn't on my A game. Tillie carried us through dressage despite my errors and forgetfulness, we woke up a bit in stadium only to run out of gas in XC and misread a fence we both took a spill at (recap here)

So we pressed on with encouragement from our trainers, and it really did feel like we bounced back as we prepped for our big move up to Training.

I returned to loch moy and conquered the fence we fell at plus a few more in POURING rain...definitely made for an interesting story. But I decided to do a CT before we gave our move up a go.

August:
We did a Training level CT at loch moy to determine how things felt and boy did Tillie knock it out of the park. Again, jumping her never felt better and our dressage was one of the best feeling tests Ive ever ridden (recap here)

But then I think the fall started to creep in and by the time we got to our first ever training event at our old stomping grounds (a farm we visit almost weekly) and I slightly panicked when walking the course leaving my headspace not where it needed to be (recap here). Funny thing is, the XC portion was the most laid back and easy thing of the entire day...when it was what I was worried about the most:

So I realized at this point, on an off day, we can no longer squeak by...the higher fence height, width and questions in stadium tattled on me...We were consistently jumping this height and here at this farm without ever touching rails so to knock two, and then blow by a jump all together...well rider error sucks.

So I decided to try again this time at waredaca (recap here). Once again, HUGE rider error in that I totally had prepared the wrong test...and it didn't help the test I needed to have prepared I hadn't even seen ridden before...compounded by the fact that they pushed up all our times but neglected to tell me so literally had 5 minutes to warm up and as the rider before me was halting and saluting, I was trying to learn my new test. Once again, stadium was ok with some weird out of sync stuff...but XC Tillie owned it and it wasn't exactly the easiest XC course!

 Sure we went around soooo slow accruing a TON of time penalties, but Dom reassured us that is what we need for right now and we would work on adding the speed. Which I am pleased after last weekend, I think we found the ticket to do it.

So we aren't doing any more events this year...I would have liked to, but because we ended so strongly XC the dressage and stadium we can iron out in this off season as well as me getting my crap together and learning how to read omnibus'.