Back in action with Dom

Like all the other pros, Dom leaves every winter to go south and continue training. That means all winter without lessons which worked out for us since we took most of the winter off anyway. Last Saturday was our first lesson back with Dom since before he left and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly nervous.

Tillie really helped me out by being caked in mud before the lesson

My fitness is not where it was at the end of the season. Tillie's fitness is not up to par either. We have just been back into work maybe a month. It is one of those things you want your trainer to be proud of you and be able to notice some improvement or change for the better after such a long time away right? Normally I am fine with things being a shit show because that is why my trainer is there: to fix it! But for whatever reason, I felt a bit apprehensive and worried we would be a disappointment.

She is so excited

I was pleasantly surprised at how Tillie felt. Dom gave us some pointers for warming up and said he liked what he was seeing. His goal for this warm up was to start installing soft buttons and be able to push Tillie around a little...bring the shoulders in then her haunches without it being a big deal.

Starting to be a bit more through in the bridle

Dom gave us this as homework since it worked well to keep Tillie waiting for me rather than try to take over herself. It also helped alleviate and unwanted weight or tension in the reins. The goal is to gently use leg and thigh to maneuver her and the reins simply supplement. The haunches in was asking for a bit more while shoulder fore was the relief part of the exercise and where the reins should feel lighter.

He also had us add in some counter flexion as well to really ensure the connection was confirmed and she could be pushed in and out of her "box" without too much resistance. He had us spiral in and out using the circle size to increase the difficulty.

After that he asked me what my goals were for this season and the question initially took me off guard. I honestly spent the last month getting on and enjoying my calm, quiet horse and having fun with her. I hadnt really thought much ahead to when our first show would be or even what we would be doing!

She is tracking up superbly well here! Ignore my poor position!

I answered that I hadnt thought too much about it but was hoping to really get confirmed at Training and figure out how to gallop and make time without the adjustability in the gallop /canter being such a huge issue for Tillie. Last season, any half halt once I let her out or gallop a bit would result in a meltdown or straight up zero response and her jaw locked so tight I feared we might never stop at times.

Miss fancy pants

So Dom laughed and said not to worry that starting out the season late April or even May is perfect for us since our season runs later into the fall. He said he would tell us what he thought after the lesson, but so far was much happier with her flat work. We both agreed her hock injections and time off really worked wonders for her and supplied us with a much more agreeable horse.

and quite the overachiever

Naturally, the next exercise he had us do was focused on adjustability in the canter. He set two ground poles 5 strides apart (Well what is a 5 stride 12ft canter). He said this is also homework for us so I can keep my "feel" and eye in check. It will also help me start developing that 12ft canter stride we will need when we compete again without it feeling so foreign. 

I think we were both shocked at how well Tillie handled this exercise. Especially after we pushed for the 12ft stride then asked her to compress and go smaller. I even got a "I am impressed" from Dom when we were able to get 8 strides in there!

Workin that small canter

Dom also commented at this point he was happy with the saddle and how it helped my position, most particularly my lower leg. He said I wasnt nearly as defensive with it. Over fences, same thing. I am now able to stay up on landing and not getting so defensive on the landing side of fences. 

So next Dom wanted to challenge Tillie and keep her thinking a bit with a trot pole to jump grid-like exercise. 

I was really shocked at how well this made Tillie lift and use her own balance. Dom kept saying to not help her and let the poles do the work. Just stay patient with my body at the jump. We started with a low x then bumped it up to a vertical. Dom wanted to sharpen her front end so added a low vertical to the front and instructed me to do this on a few jumps when schooling at home. This would help prevent when we get deeper to a fence and Tillie dropping over her shoulder. 

So we started doing it off the shorter right hand turn as well. Dom really pre-warned to ride the turn very tall and not to lean. He also kept repeating it was important to ensure I rode Tillie very straight through the exercise to make sure she was pushing off evenly.

Finally when she was going through to his satisfaction and stopping straight enough, he let us string the exercise together a bit asking us to think about our lead changes over the fences:

All in all it was a wonderfully education lesson for us both. I got some really great tools and homework and Tillie definitely got a tune up from it. Dom LOVED how she finished up and was excited to see my half halt releasing create a more soft reaction rather than a running reaction we used to get. 

To my surprise Dom said he thought Prelim was a good goal to aim for late fall! I laughed and said maybe I would let him do it on her first...but I was happy hanging at Training and seeing where the season goes. If we get there to Prelim, cool. If not, maybe one day!

Work that booty!! Who'd thought trotting a 3ft fence would be so ok...and not die?!

Dom Schramm lesson prepping for Training Level

So as most of you know, we have our sights set to move up to Training level this year. The plan is to test the waters this weekend and Fair Hill's derby which is basically set up like a stadium and XC portion of an event, but not timed. So I am going in with the schooling mentality: We will jump all the training fences if they feel good...if not we will reroute and do novice.

standing perfectly in cross ties before our lesson

I was determined to get a jump lesson in with Dom Schramm this week to talk over my plans for this event as well as whats coming down the pike...and to jump actual training level sized fences. So I sucked it up and paid for a private lesson with my barn mate on vacation. It really isnt unreasonably priced and totally worth it!

Resting up before lesson time

Tillie was a bit spry starting out in warm up, which came as no surprise with her having the day before off to rest. Dom coached me through how to get her off my hand and had us try some shoulder fore and softening which worked really nicely. He suggested trying more of this so we get more and more strides in a row where she self carries and gets the nicer uphill gait. He also had us work on bending off our leg before using reins and doing it inside, straight and counter bent without changing the rhythm in the trot. It was a bit tricky at first because I still want to ride her like a green bean over exaggerate, but Dom talked me through being more subtle about it.

Hello gorgeous new thinline pad

We warmed up over a small vertical addressing my concerns about Tillie being harder at shows to get the left lead. Turns out I drop my left shoulder and dont ride her straight enough (just like Dan told me in a lesson a few months ago when working on flying changes over ground poles). The smaller jump, Tillie really pulled me to and got strong so Dom addressed the half halt and had us working on the turns to back her off, getting her straight to get the lead and me being softer in my elbows. You can see in the video below a bit of these issues warming up:

After talking about getting her straighter and opening my rein more without leaning...He put them up a bit despite the lead not really coming (he told me not to stress and stay consistent) and VOILA the lead came:

Couple things: I really need to work on my left leg sinking into my heel way more, releasing more..but holy cow can my mare jump!! It felt good :)

We jump at home in the snaffle so its tough at first to get her lighter, but by the time we did this exercise with the higher fence height, she settled into a nice rhythm. Dom complemented my riding and said he saw improvement on my rid-ability and decision making which was really nice to hear.

Tillie digging in and gettin it! 

While Tillie and I caught our breath and Dom was setting the course, he chatted with us about our goals, this weekend etc. He thought my plan was solid and even suggested we try to qualify for the AEC's which means more recognized shows. I dont think that will happen this year with us only doing two unless we manage to kick butt and get 1st at Loch Moy, but I told him I would be really interested in it next year as a goal.

see left heel isnt down, but look at my horses tight hind end!!

He set the jumps to a training course and sent us through...it needed some refining, mostly timing of the half halt and more releasing on my part, but Dom said he liked what he saw and raised the fences again:

The first fence took me a bit off guard, but I felt like I recovered ok...and Dom was super please with how well she was jumping and told us to call it a day on that. She didnt touch a single rail and Dom said he could have raised them another 3" with how well and high she was jumping. He gushed a bit (Ill take that any day!!) about how she was a better than average jumper and said we would have a blast at training level this weekend.

We also will be trying to meet up at our fair hill event july 2nd so we can refine more things at Novice.

It felt really good to have this lesson and it was exactly what I needed before Saturday. Dom loved that we jumped in the snaffle and said to keep doing that at home and was on board with still using the pelham since its been working so well. We talked about possible trying the bit converter again and ditching the curb rein since XC at training level we will have a bank drop combo which means needing to slip the reins and re-adjust quickly.

A little better with my form and heel here

All in all its really exciting. And I really am excited to have a trainer who is excited about my horse. Jumping her at 3ft felt comfortable despite my worries it would be hairy or weird...but she just takes it in stride. I LOVE how game she is.

REALLY big oxer = NBD for Tillie

Finally, I am thrilled with the thinline pad and its just perfect timing now the jumps are getting bigger. I may need to add some shims to the front like my other pad, but the material of the thinline being kinder for Tillie's back makes it a huge win in my book.

So HAPPY FRIDAY everyone! Wish us luck tomorrow :)

Rolex hangover with novice debut on the horizon

So this is a pretty huge deal for me...not only is it Tillie's first novice, but mine as well. I really thought I was destined to be a forever BN rider (not that there is anything wrong with that at all!). I just have set my sights to do more if possible.

First time seeing Tillie since Rolex!!

So my entry went in today for our first novice next saturday...and I was super confident before leaving for Rolex. Our jump schools and XC outing were on point even when it wasnt...we were able to ride through it and just keep on keeping on to get it done.

But since coming back, we just feel rusty.

Isnt she just so cute!?

I didnt waste any time...my first ride back from Rolex Wednesday was a lesson with Dom. Needless to say, it wasnt our best ride ever and was a bit interesting. By the end of the lesson we cleaned things up, but it still just felt a bit out of sync.

Tillie totally loving the spring grass and being in heat

It doesnt help she recently changed fields for the spring-summer, is back out on grass and is also in heat. OHHHH the joys of a mare in heat...when leg = GO but not soften like we have ingrained sooooo much.

Tillie is the angry unicorn while i am and ninja cat

The next day I had a dressage lesson with C and things finally came together a little bit more, but not without the head tossing and sass from Tillie expressing all her feelings.

I tried not to get discouraged by this OR our really shitty rainy weather here....apparently we now live in seattle.

luckily our ring held up ok today

So I was pretty determined to get in a jump school with P being away to get in one more solid school in of coursework at novice height to see if I still felt ready like before Rolex.

Our warm up wasnt spectacular, and I did choose to put her in the pelham (THANK GOD). She was certainly feeling her oats and getting that nice soft canter proved to be a bit of a challenge. Tillie started out with one thing in mind...its DERBY day and we just go flat and fast.

We launch apparently, not jump

But once I checked her a few times, a few things clicked and despite some more bloopers you will get to see, it still felt like we got through it together. I stuck with her and Tillie did honestly try despite having had a less than full workload.

Yea.....3' aint no big deal

Here is our first course...it isnt too terrible, but you can see when she tends to get flat. 

Then she got pissed to have to do it all again and then the bloppers started:

When we apparently forget how to horse....or anything at all:

SO take two:

Not really much better...A for effort....or asinine?

I regrouped and gave tillie a pep talk and said look mare, you and I can do this and despite the footing, we can make a nice clean round right?

Well sorta.....

Not great, but at least we got it done eh?

so I decided ONE more go at it and try to slow it all down a bit. Make tillie not think about getting to the other side so much as just jump the freakin jumps. She was getting a bit tired by this point so slightly heavy. You can see my reins are longer/slipping more BUT it was a nicer smoother round:

All in all I was super excited my position felt pretty good minus a few release issues...thats just a work in progress. I felt like I did a better job looking up and stuck with her despite some of her more powerful launches. 

She had some less than stellar moments, but I am please with her efforts and think if we can muddle through here than maybe just maybe our novice next weekend wont be so awful! 

Gearing up for a busy weekend...

..and trying not to let the stress monsters win. I have a lot on my plate right now and I cant share it allllll just yet as some has to do with life outside of horses (all good things), but I have so much to juggle and its making my head spin.

In addition, I decided to add more to my plate with a weekend thats pretty much booked solid as far as time goes and if I run behind at any point, I will most likely be screwed. I am moving a students pony friday night, saturday am teaching lessons then going right to the Dom Schramm clinic and sunday rinse and repeat (yes I added a second day for the clinic!).

Tillie after our ride last night

I am excited I added the second day for the clinic....I am worried at how tired Ill be from hauling all that time each way, BUT I opted to do the second day after talking with the coordinator that the clinic is going to be geared as a progressive approach...first day grids, second day course work. I asked jump instructor P what level to do and she confirmed we should do the 2'11 - 3' classes, which I am ok with, but suddenly I am feeling nervous (Height usually isnt an issue for me, but this is a pretty public clinic and dont want to make a fool of us).

With that said, I need to not think of it as possibly making a fool of us, but rather why I am doing the clinic which is more experience for us. Those not so great "foolish" moments are what makes us grow right?

You know ones like these

Anyway, I have officially decided to put Tillie on pentosan for preventative maintenance as well as help her with any instances of hind end weaknesses like I felt in our last dressage lesson. She got her first dose Friday last week and Im pretty eager to see if I notice any difference.

Our schooling ride last night she felt pretty darn good even after having Sunday and Monday off. I was really tempted to jump a few things, but decided to be responsible and work on strengthening instead. We did big and small stride rating in all three gaits (I was super impressed with Tillie in the canter for this and how well she maintained elasticity in the trot) and then transitions from walk, trot and canter to the next gait up from the slow collected gait. Tillie tried soooo hard on these and was a good girl!

Her watching me from the corner of her eye....

We did work on lenthenings and at first she struggled and reallllly wanted to break into canter. So I sat up taller and really thought of C's voice in my head and tried to do a few safer ones to show Tillie staying in trot is what we want before going for it all out one last time which she did!

I am hoping with her feet getting trimmed today shell have an easier time at it since I could hear she was clipping let and right. She finished off with some (polite) stretchy trot and I decided to walk her up and down our pretty massive steepish hill a few times before calling it a day.

To cap it all off I dropped my trailer off down to road for some minor maintenance and repairs considering Ill be hauling so much and so far this weekend. Our farm driveway is quite riddled with pot holes and has done quite the number on a few of the fixtures.

poor trailer

But nothing to worry about, its a relatively easy fix thank goodness!! So fingers crossed my crazy scheudle all will fall into place and not drive me too insane in the meantime!

Sunday Funday

I am usually way too exhausted after teaching lessons all day to ride my own horse...but the weather was a beautiful spring - like day in the mid-60's that I couldnt resist. It was so fun too because I had my trusted 3 musketeers to help as jump crew and video...these are a few of my more advanced students that ALWAYS help and are a huge lifesaver many times over.

The end of our ride - all smiles and proud we can not only jump, but we can jump big and keep our heads screwed on:

 I actually used Tillie in an earlier lesson doing this very same exercise just as small x's and was super impressed with her keeping her cool and how well my student rode her (one of my three musketeers). I do always get a bit nervous for both my students and for Tillie because I care about each of them and want to set them both up for success. I was quite proud of them both!!!

So when it came time for my ride, I had the students come down and give me a lesson...I said ok, you tell me what to do and what to fix...what you see happening. I really want them to start being able to talk about what they see. They are great listeners and soak it all in, but I find by allowing them to say it out loud they can start "owning" the information on their own.

Look at those knees! 

I also realized this was my first time jumping outside of a lesson in months....and outside the indoor since before the blizzard. So I tried to remind myself to give Tillie the benefit of the doubt and work towards my goals of releasing more/upper body work and heels down. There was a one stride grid set up made of two one stride fences with the middle fence as an oxer.

So I warmed up while they set the grid height lower(I walked the distances first to be sure!) and started off trotting into the grid. Tillie was a bit excited so I did a few times through halting her at the fence. She needed the check a few times and did blow up on me at one point when she turned one of the one strides into a bounce...but it was for one circle afterwards and to be expected.

Sadly it wasnt caught on video.

Good mare Tillie!

I did school over a skinny a few times around 2-2'3 to start making her look for the fence/get more comfortable with it...my goal for next schooling is to set a few different types out like the barrels on the sides and the mini coops we have. But once she jumped it both ways ok, I stuck with the grid.

But this gem was...not sure whats more awkard, her legs everywhere, her neck or my butt. 

The photo above really captures an awkward moment that really didnt feel all that awkward when riding through it. I had been slowly raising the height in the grid, but wanted to test her scope a bit and my positioning with this last fence and this was the first time jumping it at around 3ft. I dont think she expected it and sorta scraped by with an "UGHHH I WILL NOT TOUCH IT!!" but looking like a lama in the process. But hey, I am releasing and my leg is awesome! And my post worrying about folding...well apparently I can.

WWEEEEEE!!

It felt really good to jump around and feel like I knew what to do, how to adjust and give the kids a few good laughs and let them tell me to release more, heels down!! etc. It actually really helped! I made a point to work on my goals and trust Tillie as she got better and more relaxed.

I mostly stuck to trotting in to keep things slow and because its so beneficial for Tillie but when she would land in canter and give me a nice rhythm I would do that as well.

Watching the footage, I am super impressed with how great Tillie is jumping and lifting over the first two fences...the last one you can tell she still isnt perfect. But I am reassuring myself this will come with time since it wasnt that long ago she jumped even the little fences like that. 

I do think I did a decent job working on my release and could see how it allowed Tillie to stretch more. Heres a clip from the summer over something little where shes jumping not so great like the last fence in the grid. So it does reassure me shell get there!

So heres the entire footage I got from schooling...see if you can hear the one time through that starts off with me not counting properly, yelling Tillie, WAIT....GOOD GIRL!!!! hahaha

Overcoming obstacles (including self doubt)

So here is part two from my Saturday lesson (see part 1 here) - This is the overcoming obstacles and self doubt part. As I said in my last post, I wasnt super excited with my lesson...it wasnt bad, but I didnt feel like we knocked it out of the park either. I know I know...less than stellar rides happen but I am sure you can all tell I am bit of a crazy lady and have a hard time feeling good even when I should about a ride. 

Before I continue, I am sharing some stills from the lesson that made me, in retrospect, feel a lot better about our ride:

Tillie and I getting it!

 ------------------------------ Part 2 ----------------------------- 

So at the end of the lesson, just like P always does, she asked if anyone else wanted to do or try anything else. I usually dont say anything...but I reallllly did want to try the barrels after I saw Emma post about her lesson that she went to on a weekday (I had this pesky thing called work so sadly couldnt go).  

So in true, FOMO I was dying to try...but wasnt going to speak up until, like a true friend, my barnmate did since she know how badly I wanted to try.

warming up before the lesson

P is so sweet and let our lesson run over and started to set up the barrels. For me, doing these barrels symbolizes overcoming a major obstacle and fear...I wanted to do it because neither Tillie or I have done these so knew it would be a test of our relationship and groundwork from the last few months.

Shockingly, as she was setting up, I thought I would be more nervous...the only tiny bit was evident when I asked P to set us up one small barrel on its side to start with just to familiarize Tillie with it.

Tillie Didnt care! 

So after we cantered the small barrel P shouted, ok keep coming!!! Which in hindsight was a good thing since it sort of gave us a rhythm to start with.

Approaching the barrels, my thought wasnt, oh god thats big...it was more or less, thats skinny and interesting looking. I know If I find it odd to look at, so will Tillie so I just breathed it out sat back and allowed her to look at it on the approach:

So we kinda missed it at first...but I LOVE this mare for being so game. She never offered to stop or change her pace. She kept going forward, just got a bit wiggly. So new goal: start jumping low skinnies to teach her to look for the jump rather then look for the other side.

So we land (Tillie seemed not to be too rattled) and around we come for the 2nd try...This Time I was was more prepared and closed both legs around her. She faltered a little again and jumped them a little off to the left this time:

Talk about being brave and getting it done...

Ok so we know we need to try again and hope we get it just right in the middle this time and finally things clicked into place:

Just in case you missed it i have TWO angles of it:

P wanted us to try again...so we did. It didnt end on quite as awesome since we couldnt seem to find the right distance the last two attempts, but I definitely seem to have mastered the eventing equitation of stay in the back seat and let the reins slip:

Tillie was very proud of herself and celebrated around the turn...but it was reasonable and a perfectly acceptable one! HUGE progress for Tillie...especially since landing from a gappy distance like this in the past would send her on a full rampage. 

Pats for Tillie!!

A few things came to light through doing this:

1. My horse is awesomely game and brave
2. We need to work on teaching her to look for the fence itself rather then the other side
3. I need to not get ahead with my shoulders - which is the reason for the gappy distances
4. I need to work on folding and being softer in my hip (being defensive is all great, but sitting that upright just looks ridiculous)
5. Tillie REALLY likes her job

Ears back ready for more!

The majestic tail flip

See - upright position, but hey Tillie is stretching! 

not enough release here, stiff upper body and not folding enough for the height.

just another angle

So all in all I was really excited with giving this a shot. It really showed how Tillie and I have gotten to know each other and faced this obstacle together...this really helped my self doubt in our abilities and talent. While I am sure Ill still doubt, for now I am just happy with how willing she is to try for me!