I know this is usually what Disney World is called and it make sense. It makes even the most serious adult turn into a big happy kid.
It's not unlike what horses do for people when things go right. Right now, I am in the happiest place on earth and I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever. You know, so when things don't go well I can pull it out as a bit of encouragement.
This photo cracked me up...Tillie's eyes are closed!
Clearly I am still riding the wave from the clinic this past weekend. It totally surpassed all my expectations. While I went into it knowing we would come out with more knowledge, I feel like even more happened while we were there. It was a defining moment for Tillie and I.
Even more media!!
If anyone ever has the chance to ride with Dom, I would strongly encourage anyone to leap at the opportunity. I loved how technical he got, discussing theory but really broke it down in a way that was easily digestible and accessible for anyone, no matter what level, to understand. He is a gifted teacher and not only achieved this, but does it with a certain lighthearted sense of humor that instantly put me at ease.
I easily get nervous or tense up when it comes to jumping given Tillie's past. When things get challenging is usually when the blow ups would happen so she has sort of trained me to anticipate them. I am forever grateful to P for our routine saturday jump lessons because she has gotten us to the other side of that hump and now there are almost never any antics which means a much more relaxed me and that means a more relaxed Tillie...So it is all cyclical and related.
Freeze frame in mid air as Dom would say....thinking about how to land and approach the next fence
I was curious to see how this clinic would impact this nice agreement Tillie and I have come to and if this setting, or new challenging things would bring out the sass again. I really do believe though that Dom had such a great approach to each new exercise and exuded confidence that I felt confident. I also loved seeing how he approached every rider differently. Dom tailored the exercise subtly for the needs of each person and it was cool to see him pick up on that to give every single person a successful ride.
When the pair would come through and struggle and would say its ok, lets try again but keep this in mind...so it was always encouraging and his delivery seemed to allow the rider to take ownership and actually ride it out. It was really cool to see the lightbulb moments happening left and right.
Going into the triple combo
Specifically for me and Tillie, towards the end of the first day something just clicked. Dom said a few similar things all of my previous and current instructors have been saying since the dawn of time to me, but I guess with it being someone new it was the right boost I needed to actually get it to sink in.
The following three are the major takeaways:
Chin up on the approach to fences
Tall shoulders to allow her front end to jump
Forward, 12 foot stride canter
Little bit tight to this one, but she got it done!
Right away the "chin up" reminder instantly fixed and allowed me to achieve #2. The key to #1 and #2 though is #3; knowing and riding your horse in the 12ft canter stride. Finding the right rhythm in the 12ft stride will allow the jump to come to you and happen. All this fussing and adjusting for distances and watching your fence (which leads to looking down for me) leads bad habits and by riding the correct stride and using the turn the get the distance just allows things to just be in the sweet spot.
The 3rd, 12 foot stride canter one has been a bit of a struggle for me as a rider because it always felt too fast to me. The 12ft canter stride in the past has led to the bracing then the sass so I have gotten comfortable living in a smaller stride. Tillie and I consistently at home will do the add on lines and get one additional stride because of this.
HUGE SMILES!
But halfway through day one rounding a turn, Dom encouraged, I sat up felt my seat and leg on Tillie and it just felt Good. I could actually ask for more stride and it wasnt quick or downhill. It didnt feel too fast, in fact it just felt right.
Tillie of course responded by jumping so uphill and powerful that Dom just started raving how much she could really jump! (Totally loving this btw)
Going into the triple but with the jumps much higher!
It was a huge defining moment. You could almost see the light bulbs going off for both Tillie and myself there were so many going off. The entire rest of the clinic into the next day, that 12ft canter stride felt like cake. It was all about finding that ride and when we did, the jumps just were easy and I honestly have never felt Tillie jump that well that consistently.
Id like to say it was because the jumps were bigger (which I am sure that helped!) but I really attribute this to Dom's initial exercises and discussion about the right canter.
Day two I started off a little backed off again, but pretty quickly settled right into a nice rhythm with Tillie. This has also been a struggle for us in the past...getting on the same page and finding the any rhythm together earlier in the ride. Day 2 Dom talked a lot more about how each fence is related to one another in stadium so the precise ride and quick, on your feet, decisions were paramount. Sure a clean round is the goal, but just leaving rails up isnt the only thing that makes a round successful.
More riders struggled on day 2, probably in part to having tired horses but because riding courses means any mistake follows you to the next fence usually. But the struggles were all learning experiences and Dom supported each rider through it and eventually ended every single one with a successful attempt.
My most favorite shot of the day. Look at those knees!
It was really cool to see repeat riders from day 1, including myself, really internalize what was learned from day 1 and apply it to the second day. For me, Tillie and I found our stride really quickly and it finally wasnt 5-10 fences to take being on the same page.
All in all the clinic made me realize sometimes hearing similar things from someone new allows a change to actually happen. Many of what I listed has been and always will be something I need to work on...but Dom being new for us plus his relaxed, playful and encouraging teaching style really let us blossom. I am a bit anxious and nervous to see if this momentum continues and translates into what we do at home!
Going into day 2 of the clinic I was on a high from how well day 1 went...but because of how familiar I am with how highs can also produce terrible lows if you get too comfy up there, I actually was a bit nervous. Tillie was her normal self pulling her out of the field, but I knew she would be tired so brought her in early to let her nap with her Back on Track blanket on.
Yawning tired Tillie getting groomed
The hour and a half drive on day two was just as easy as day 1 despite the ridiculous hurricane force winds we had on the east coast...but Tillie was quiet in the trailer and, I presume, asleep with her Back On Track blanket on. Because of the wind, the morning sessions of the clinic were being held in the indoor...but luckily as we were pulling in, they were in the process of moving the jumps back to the outdoor for the group before us. The wind finally seemed to die down to a more bearable speed.
Taking Tillie off the trailer on day 2, she was much more chill then day 1. Tillie took a casual look around and started munching on hay. I still chose to get on her early with it being chillier and try to go for a relaxing warm up. I got on her and instantly could tell I had a different horse from yesterday. She was still looking around and curious, but was either tired so didnt have the energy to carry on or really just that relaxed after already seeing it all the day before.
so thankful for my grooms :)
I didnt push too much in the warm up since Tillie did feel tired, she kept offering to break in the canter (the footing in both rings were pretty deep so wasnt too surprised). She was more of a push ride and seemed to feel a bit uneven side to side again. But I tried not to stress reminding myself she did work super hard the day before and our new pentosan routine wouldn't kick in until we completed the loading dose phase until the end of the month.
Once we walked out the outdoor when Dom was ready, we trotted and cantered briefly around the entire ring to get a good look at all the new jumps out with fill. I opted to grab my crop after this for added support.since she did feel a bit tired and knowing we would be jumping a triple combo and jumping a liverpool.
WARM UP
Dom said we were the big kids in our group so opted to have us warm up over a single vertical fence rather then an X to see if we all learned a bit about our approaches from the day before. Dom sent each of us through to go over it 2x each direction. He said he sent the fence purposefully to have two different approaches depending which way you jumped into it: One side was a longer approach and the other off a turn. This would challenge your eye early on the ride.
Dom right away commended me on not leaning and staying taller on the approach (me being a silly girl didn't know what to say and just laughed).
Before I went, he discussed with another rider who was struggling to get the right ride off the turn (either too long of a take off or chipping in) how to use the turn to set up your striding. He said too many people worry too much about pushing and pulling the canter when its more about the rhythm and using the path of the curve to adjust the striding.
To remove a stride, take a smaller turn to the fence
To add a stride, take a wider longer turn to the fence
He asked me on the left lead to demonstrate this adjust-ability by going to a more open stride after we did it twice before from the same striding:
LIVEPOOL
Tillie basically ran over it
Next we moved onto the liverpool. Myself and one other rider's horse had not seen one before, but Dom said he wanted each of us to trot into it first, then canter it. He folded it in half at first for it to seem less daunting and spoke to us about desensitizing.
Never assume your horse is comfortable with it
Always re-introduce the liverpool to build confidence
Youll lose more by assuming they are comfortable and wont lose anything by taking it slow
Tillie could have cared less about it and basically ran through it both times earning a chuckle from the crowd.
BENDING LINE - LIVERPOOL - 4 STRIDE OUTSIDE LINE
At this point we started stringing some fences together and we started getting more into riding courses. I noticed many riders, even in previous groups struggled with the bending line to the liverpool to get the right striding. We took a bit of flyer to get 6 strides which Dom commented was a bit of a stretch and not a bad ride, but the 7 would probably be safer and more comfortable for us but to be able to react and make the choice in that moment.
He called it a freeze frame mid jump. He encouraged everyone to be able to take a moment mid jump and know your plan when you landed for how you wanted to ride that next fence. It showed how when 1 fell apart, the remaining jumps tended to get harder to clean up and get nice for some so Dom pointed out how important it is in stadium to have the precise ride.
ENTIRE COURSE
This is where the real fun begins! The jump started going up and despite Tillie feeling a bit tired, she really started to fly. The first time through I dont think she had quite enough canter but she quickly got it together and soared over the liverpool oxer. Dom reminded me to stay tall to allow her shoulders to come up and longer we went the better she went (or I was starting to feel a difference when I sat up!?) Its quite amazing how many trainers have all been saying the same thing, but for some reason the way Dom worded it made a light bulb go off...and clearly it did for Tillie too!
Dom's commentary here again just excites me to no end! He again boasts over Tillie's jumping ability and you can hear him say to the group its quite amazing despite her downhill build. After this course, he was very polite and said "Please don't take this the wrong way, but your horse is build a bit down hill yea?" To which I replied "No offense taken, but yea she is." He said she really is a powerful jumper and does a great job getting really up and over the fence, but the key with her is to allow time for her shoulders to come up. Because when I do she really does jump and quite well. He seemed to be a little bit in awe about it actually lol.
The fences went up again for our final course:
Dom coached me through this course to stay tall and "give her time" to come up under me. I learned my mistake from the first attempt and went larger around the ring before approaching the first fence to wake her canter up. Fence 3 to the triple rode so NICE...but in my excitement we lost it on fence 1 of the 4 stride line. Dom sent us around to try again to get a better approach and ended with discussing how the more up my shoulders are the more up hers will also be.
Honestly, I was so in love with my horse in this moment and beyond excited at how much Dom loved her I am so glad I had the footage to re-watch and re-listen. I am really hoping we can recreate this feeling at home with P and I am actually thinking of trying to see if Dom would come down to me for some lessons - having a trainer/instructor so excited about your horse is just so neat. Of course we all want to hear that, but there is something about when they truly like your horse that makes you get it.
AHHH!!! All in all so excited for this year and feel more confident then ever to go into this season.
Anyone following my blog knows that I have had my doubts about my mare's ability to jump correctly and safely. In this sport of eventing, we all know the risks and it is important to me that both my horse and I are competing at the appropriate levels ensuring some degree of safety. Even when that happens, we know accidents still happen. It has been a bit of a nagging doubt in my mind if my little ottb, who regrettably stalled in her growth spurt with her ending up croup high, could ever jump uphill.
Getting all tacked up on clinic day #1
I entered the Dom Schramm clinic in the hopes I would get more insight and tips on how to help her achieve the uphill jump more. Leading up to the Dom Schramm clinic, I was a bit nervous at whether or not signing up for the novice/training group was the right move and if it would be too much for us. Height of fences usually does not make me nervous, but going into a clinic where both you and your horse will be challenged and expected to be confirmed at that height made me worried.
After speaking with my instructor, she reassured me that Tillie was schooling Novice height consistently at home. I also had many people reassure me that Dom always tailors his teaching to the level needed if we found we were struggling. So that made me feel a bit more at ease.
Eating as much as possible before warm up
It was extremely windy by the time we got to Cedarline Farm and I was glad I gave myself additional time to settle in. I was able to catch a good portion of the BN group riding in the outdoor ring which gave me a good idea of what we would be working on as well. I find the more I know the better I feel...you know the whole knowledge is power thing.
When it was time to get ready, Tillie came off the trailer alert and high as a kite. In the past, these antics would have gotten to me and would have caused a ball of nerves in the pit of my stomach. Despite her restlessness, I talked to her and set boundaries on what was acceptable behavior (no, swinging you butt around every other second and knocking me with your head repetitively does not constitute acceptable behavior) I planned to walk up to the indoor and give ourselves a 20-30 minute warm up to allow Tillie to settle in. I am very glad we did that because every time the wind blew Tillie would get agitated and coil up like a spring ready to explode.
So plan A of walking around on a loose rein went out the window and plan B went into effect. So we just start trotting to get her moving until she relaxed. It took some changing directions and spiraling circles to get her attention somewhat on me. She was still quite spooky and reactive 15 minutes in, but it was as good as it was going to get.
Having the history I do with her, I knew I could predict a lot of it and found comfort in knowing her so well. It was nice to know and be able to predict her reactions which usually constitutes throwing her shoulders and head around in place. It allowed me to stay relaxed and focused rather than get too fussy with her or baited into micromanaging.
When it came time to make our way to the outdoor Tillie seemed to remember she is 7 now and put on her sensible cap and walked politely, yet tensely, down to the ring around the spectators and loud speaker. We took a few laps around the outdoor to let Tillie look around as Dom went down the list introducing himself to the new riders and regrouping with those he previously knew. She spooked and dodged a few times but settled in as good as she could as nervous as she was.
I toyed with putting the pelham on her in case she got too strong, but a quick assessment of the ring size and her tendency to suck behind contact when shes nervous made me opt to go in the snaffle. I wanted to encourage a bit more weight in my reins and I was worried using the pelham wouldn't help achieve that. I did, however, have my helpers that tagged along bring it out in case I needed to switch it out.
Sorry for the long intro, but I am trying to make sure I document everything about this weekend!!!
******Make sure you watch all videos with the audio. I got the biggest kick from Dom's commentary and teaching style and it led to more footage than ever of me beaming from ear to ear********
WARM UP
Once Dom chatted briefly with each of us and our goals for the season we jumped (hehe see what I did there) right into things and warmed up over a tiny grid-like exercise to get the horses thinking about their feet placement. Dom commented how much he liked Tillie and thought she was a nice mare (eek!!).
I also think it was a good exercise for Dom to get a comfort level for how both horse and rider went and be able to see faults pretty easily:
Trot into fences to land cantering to help develop the canter especially for those spookier, hotter or nervous horses. It helps them settle in gradually.
Understandably, I ride defensively because of Tillie's tendency to jump and land downhill, but Dom warned me not to sit back too soon and be against her since that will only worsen this tendency
OTTBs or horses that have the tendency to jump over the shoulder like Tillie did the first time over this, concentrate on shoulders up taller so they CAN lift. Your shoulders match what theirs will do, so if you get too low and ahead so will they. He launched here into a discussion about OTTBs tendency to jump flat like this because their want to get to the other side of the fence and we have to try to help them read it better, ride to the base and sit tall to get a better jump.
CAVELETTI GRIDS
Next he had us each run through a simple caveletti exercise. He mentioned he likes to do these before most of his jump schools no matter what level because it gets the horse paying more attention and thinking about their feet. I was a bit skeptical how well Tillie would do and really thought she would rush through it and build but she shocked me and did pretty well minus the lead change halfway through. Dom discussed how this exercise of the bounce - two stride - bounce - two stride - bounce is great for those that rush because they will essentially start knocking into the caveletti...and not that you want them to hit them and hurt themselves, but you do want them to feel it and not be able to easily knock them over so they learn to respect the gymnastic more. He had each of us do this until it was boring.
Tillie was a bit bunched on my right rein and drifting right so that caused the lead change both times.
DIAMOND EXERCISE (LANDING ON THE CORRECT LEAD)
This next exercise was quite fun! Dom set poles out in a diamond shape around the jump so we approached the jump at an angle. Dom reassured us most horses wouldnt worry about the angle as much as we humans would think and would pretty quickly settle into this exercise without balking. The purpose of this is to jump and be able to change leads in the air rather then rely on simple or flying changes...Dom stressed he was a stickler about this because landing correct allows you to maintain a better rhythm and allows you to set yourself up better for the next fence with more time to think about other things rather than having to get a change, risk cross cantering etc.
Tillie did quite well going left to right, but we had a bit of a right drift problem right to left making getting the left lead a bit more challenging. Once Dom talked about riding her straighter to help get the lead better. Once I rode the turn "straighter" and more of an S shape rather so we went straight the last few strides before take off rather than off a curve she got the left lead every time!
Struggling for the left lead:
At this point he also sorta warned me about Tillie not pushing off with both hinds and taking these out of stride which means a weaker jump. He said trying to get her more to the base would help with the placement poles.
I LOVED how Dom always chuckled and laughed though and stayed encouraging through our mistakes.
DIAMOND BENDING LINE TO CLOVER EXERCISE
We then put the diamond together with a clover pattern really using twisting turns to challenge our balance, distances and leads. We had some ironing out to do after the first try:
Notice a rollback at fence #4. We discussed how rollbacks are difficult and maintaining the forward power through these is essential to get a good jump. Dom admitted we probably wont see one in show jumping for eventing ever, but if we could manage this well the single fence jumps would be a whole lot easier.
I went a bit too deep into the turn in attempt to give myself more space but it ended up making the second half of the rollback more difficult for Tillie.
He recommended to all of us to let the horse figure out the balance and think about keeping the forward, opening rein to guide them through the turn. CHIN UP!!!
CLOVER JUMP BENDING LINE TO 5 STRIDE LINE
This is where things got a bit more exciting...jumps went up slightly and at this point. At this point, Dom really seemed to become surprised and excited about Tillie's jump ability and she (ok me too) ate it up. The key seemed so be the better I was about my chin and shoulders, the better she jumped.
I totally LOVE his side comments about her scope ;)
Dom gave us a good feedback on this round and said the beginning needed more canter and think more ground covering stride...I know I have struggled with riding this but for some reason his comment made something click and we sorta clicked into gear. Tillie was allowing the forward and really working well off my seat and leg without diving and I got braver which led to Dom yelling out "GOOD!" and "Horse has got some scope!"
He had each of us do it again, learning what we learned but put the fences up one more time and rather than feel nervous I was excited to tackle them all!
I went into this one with a bit more forward canter knowing it is what helped us towards the end of the previous round. Tillie actually gave me flying when attempting to ask for a simple...and Dom just kept loading on the wonderfully encouraging remarks about Tillie and, in my own humble opinion, seemed to start raving about her!!! Turns out my little downhill mare, is a "better then average jumper!!"
That made my whole day (ok really more like my whole life!).
The wind was so bad though that half the time riding you couldnt hear what he was saying unless you were close the loud speaker at the end of the ring where we warmed up in so having this video to her the commentary was really nice and an added bonus to hear them!
BIG jumps!!!
It was so much fun and really cool to meet the other riders in our groups...some who are also instructors or professionals so it felt really good that we could hold our own with the best of them with Dom sort of appeasing my fears of Tillie's jump ability.
..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!
