Changing the game on a mare = acting like a monkey

After this weekend's outing, I decided I had to try to squeeze in another Dom lesson before the weekend...with the way this week was panning out, our normal lesson later in the week wasnt going to work. We managed to get in a time today as long as we hauled up there.

Initially, we were going to go XC at Windurra USA again, but the weather had other ideas so we re-routed and rode, for the first time, at Dom's indoor.

I went in explaining to Dom I really wanted more security over those bigger fences when Tillie is jumping large. While this weekend's training out was a good one, I dont want to be in a position where I feel like I need to focus on recovering from getting jumped out the tack, PLUS handling a combo, PLUS terrain out XC.

Mare glare for days

Dom was really understanding and said it isnt surprising with how powerful he's seen her jump. He agreed some of it was most likely do to my ingrained habit of sitting up too fast and jumping the back side of fences like I am jumping a down bank.

So the goal was simple...keep the exercise simple and focus on staying out of the tack. Basically an entire lesson staying in 2-point. I must admit, I was thinking I would get winded or tired really quickly. I am proud to say, I didnt at all but do need to work on the jumping portion more ( I still am having the tendency to lock my knees and ankles on landing).

Dom pretty quickly into warming up suggested I try his saddle - a monoflap Stubben S Zaria Optimum.

Hello goregous 

I was a bit skeptical at first but agreeable (not that Dom would EVER know I was skeptical...unless he reads this blog that is). I tend to feel really insecure in other saddles. Its just more or less that feeling of not knowing it or being comfortable so was pretty certain we would have to switch back. Much to my surprise, my leg instantly felt stabilized. I could feel my body adjusting at first, testing the thigh and calf blocks before settling in right where it needed. It was odd at first not feeling the bulk of the girth and oddly disconcerting, yet really nicely balanced all at the same time.

Dom had me feel it out and set the tone with cantering around in it and then in two point to really establish my weight down in my leg:

Once satisfied with that we moved onto warming up with cavelletti...which I am noticing Dom loves to use alot at first and a training technique I need to incorporate more even if I dislike them (which btw is something i realized today probably because they are freakin hard!)

Here is us warming up over them in a serpentine trying to get our leads...please excuse Tillie's sass at me for making her turn a bit harder (a bit of a theme of todays lesson):

You can hear Dom helping to coach me to stay up out of the saddle without using my hands or sitting too soon...easier said then done! Not on film was a much longer discussion about it with him empathizing as to why I do it, her sass and her past habit if landing downhill and in a heap, but despite her sass, in his opinion he really isnt landing like that anymore so I need to be better about letting her land on her own and figure it out. 

Can you say micro manage too much on my part?!

At least the above video we get our leads consistently and manage to complete the exercise fairly well until the very last gappy one...but hey Ill take it! I realized i dont like these so much because Tillie really badly wants to get flat and throw herself at them, just like the last jump in this video above...I realize by doing more of these, that elusive perfect half halt will come more nicely.

Then Dom added the jumps to the mix with the same concept, just stay out of the tack. Tillie was all fine and dandy, but make sure you wait alllll the way to the end. Sure enough its right after Dom convinces me to be nice and be softer to let her land and figure things out...she pulls her old sass I havent seen in a really long time:

It doesnt freak me out nearly as much as it used to, even if it looks like I get unseated, it doesnt feel that way anymore. In all honesty, she was just really excited and feeling good it felt like.

Dom agreed, if you listen he calls her a monkey! LOL. After filming he said it was a much nicer jump on my part but it was a bit of a longer distance then he wanted hence the excitement and at home we want to get a bit closer while in competition that is acceptable for sure.

So here we get a bit better. But I still am being really hard on myself and see I just dont keep my darn butt up in the air. My lower leg is solid, it isnt sliding, but I still really want to snap back with my upper body and sit my butt in the saddle. At least we start to find a rhythm, but Tillie was a lot sassier today about the change of pace...plus her massage on Sunday I think has her feeling realllllly nicely.

Below, she finally fell into a rhythm over the line but the Oxer we just didnt see the right distance so we started to drift and got a pretty long spot which resulted in pulling a rail and Tillie really getting mad about it:

Unfortunately my videographers had a bit of an issue, so werent able to capture our last but really awesome jump over it...go figure! But they did manage to get the line in one more time, which rode more forward and in a clean 5 rather than a short, added 6:

All in all, it was a tough lesson...and one I am determined to keep working on at home. I am being really tough on myself, but know I have a ton of work to do. I can see my tension in my lower leg on landing and incredibly frustrated with just keeping my silly butt out of the saddle!!! I know it takes time to change an old habit, I just dont like being the student that requires repeating the same thing more than once is all. 

I am glad to know though Tillie isnt hurting after the step up! I am set on doing more conditioning though, but please to know she isnt unhappy or backing off her job. I am starting to consider taking more lessons on other horses so I can keep practicing without over working her. 

weekend recap

I must apologize in advance because I, sadly, dont have a ton of media from this weekend...Such a bummer because I would have loved footage of Tillie's first Training outing.

Sure it wasnt a full training event, but it was a great test! I must admit too, I need to be better like Emma at Fraidy Cat eventing and take pictures of each jump...**sigh** I just dont think that ahead.

All loaded up and ready to go!

The morning of the derby, I had some time to kill so decided to tackle a mini project I was considering and putting interlocking rubber/foam mats in my dressing room of my trailer to make things neater than the grungy old carpet.

I got the mats at Costco for $30 and only needed one pack of them and still have some scraps left over to touch it up when I get another spare moment. But it came out pretty nicely and it only took roughly an hour!

Before....................................after

Once that was done I loaded up and hit the road. I met up with a fellow barn mate I met through being a working student of Dans and we walked the course together. It was nice to have her there since shes been competing her mare at training level for a few years now. Her relaxed attitude about the day helped me stay relaxed, especially because the jumps were pretty giant (I dont freak out about size typically). 

Stadium sized jumps dont because I know we can just knock em down...cross country was definitely a big step up for us and while I mentally noted how large they were, felt really confident Tillie would do just fine. I did have a pep talk with her though and also made a note to maybe purchase some sticky spray for the future. 

All done and grumpy about the bugs

She warmed up quite nicely despite the fences set up not to training level height so I was a bit worried about going into stadium but quickly told myself it was no big deal even if we did take a rail, this was just practice and trying to see how we would do off farm. 

Off we went into our 8-jump stadium...sure enough fence 1 she rubbed with her front legs which ALWAYS is something she does if she doesnt realize fences go up. She slipped a bit around the the turn to Fence 2 and she still hadnt caught on and dropped the rail with her hind end. After that she woke up and REALLY started jumping. Oh. My. God.

Jump #3 was part of a combination with fence 2 and she realllllly over jumped it. The turn to #4 was a roll back turn to a three stride to #5 bending line and boy was she really jumping out of her skin. #5 She literally jumped me out of the tack so hard that I apologized on landing to her (thank god for thinline). She didnt miss a beat though and made the turn to #6 to one more 4 stride line #7 and 8. 

Treats for me!?

They ran the event that upon landing you kept cantering right into XC so off we went! Jump #1 was a GIANT red house. It was wide too but Tillie soared over it. Jump 2 was about 5 strides after and was a smaller wooden roll top looking thing but Tillie over jumped it so hard I lost my right stirrup. 

Thank god I didnt lose my balance or feel shaken in the tack because she was movin and groovin...I got my stirrup back really quickly though and we cantered into water, up the bank to a two stride to a pretty large table. 

Once again, Tillie didnt disappoint...she got a bit long to the bank which isnt ideal, but she made up ground and moved up to the distance well. She landed after the table quite excited with a playful head shake but regained focus reallllly nicely. 

I said TREATS please!!!!

Next was a bit of a coffin complex with a large blue train jump, ditch to a roll top. It was by far the largest ditch we have ever jumped and Tillie jumped it like super man lol head between the knees but did it without hesitation. 

We had a good gallop up the hill to an even larger roll top with grass and we took that out of a gallop which was really fun! On landing though I did have to use my pelham and for a good couple strides to tell Tillie to calm down lol she was trucking to the last two jumps. 

She did come back after a few HARD half halts but still jumped forward over the second to last jump and I really asked her to wait for the last one with it being quite a large trakahener knowing she kinda looked at one the last time. 

She jumped it well, but I over thought it a bit and landed kind of in a heap almost lost my left stirrup ahaha, but Tillie had her ears pricked and was ready for more...She did come back nicely to a trot and boy was she huffing. 

Soooo tired

It was only 10 xc jumps, but she was drenched and breathing pretty good...it was more mental than anything else, but I definitely need to step up our conditioning before our first Training event. 

All in all it felt good, it felt confident. I learned that road studs arent enough at this height and we probably need to try slightly larger ones when the ground is this hard. She got a nice poultice to help with that and a massage the next day :)

Meanwhile, I am in works with Dom to start working on me keeping up with her and not getting jumped out the tack. Stay tuned for our XC lesson we will have this week addressing those! 

So here is to hoping things go as smoothly later this month!

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 :)

no new media but so much going on

I really need to invest in a helmet camera or tripod or something because the lack of media is disappointing...but there is much to be said!

waiting for our lesson - See the giant scalped portion on her tail...

After Tillie's near miss this weekend, I took it real easy on her Sunday and Monday and did a short trail ride with some trot sets and then maybe a 15-20 minute dressage school. One I did in our smaller enclosed ring, the other in our grass dressage arena that we only set up in the summer around show season when we do mini shows for our students.

I have chosen to stay in the smaller rings lately because of the realization that when I ride tests, I get a bit claustrophobic and panic slightly when doing movements at how fast the boundaries come up. My new goal was to get comfortable not only riding in the smaller arena, but ride FORWARD in the smaller arena.

It was a nice exercise since it was during feeding time in the morning before work and Tillie was a bit unfocused to start...not unlike at a show. It was also nice because we did ultimately end up getting relaxed and a nice school in there!

I will supplement photos with all the healthy food im trying to eat

With Training level on the horizon, I am starting to take my own rider fitness more seriously, which includes eating better. The salad above was my take on paneras Asian sesame chicken salad with avocado and boy is it yummy! Ive pre-measured breakfast portions of fruit, really trying to drink more water and seriously considering getting a fit bit to track my steps to force myself to be more active.

This also means being more aware of Tillie's fitness so Ive been conscious of trying to incorporate hills, trot sets and soon to be gallop sets.

strawberry-blueberry basil infused water with pineapple salsa pork roast,
cilantro-lime shrimp green beans and roasted rosemary garlic mushroom potatoes

Why the sudden focus on this? Well, my recent dressage lesson with C on Tuesday really kicked my ass...and while I am getting better at events not getting winded, I know when we go up a level I need to be able to get out of my horses way and help her as much as I can when/if she gets tired.

Waiting to tack up for our dressage lesson

My dressage lesson with C on Tuesday was much needed and by far the highest level stuff we have worked on to date. We spent a lot more time in sitting trot (which I got a "its definitely improved!") and in canter. We really focused on more of the outside aids which is a newer thing/feeling for me because I dont think shes bent enough, but she is...

LONG overdue pics of my dressage saddle

Tillie's work on extending the trot has come leaps and bounds and we worked on riding them more into the corner and not just peeling wheels around the turn. So in essence, this lesson was all about the half halt.

As much as I worry about Tillie getting too strong in canter and not stopping, she kept breaking because of how hard the canter work was. I know its an old out of date fear, so C reminded me that when I half halt I need to make sure I add even more leg to keep the canter going. Part of the breaking at first is her saying OMG this is hard, the other part confused and responding to my half halt.

Front of the saddle!

We practiced cantering BIG and then bringing it back, cantering across our diagonal and at X asking for trot and making sure it wasnt a running trot, but balanced - again really using a nice clean and QUICK half halt.

We did some tear drop exercises and canter transitions were on point.

I worry we cant come close to that at home or on our own without C around...but Ill keep trying!! C is pushing us more and more to do more dressage shows. She thinks we would do quite well...but I responded that I would only go if she could to coach us lol.

So who knows maybe more dressage in our future!!

putting it into words

This season so far has surpassed my wildest dreams. I am incredibly grateful for the support system I have; The blogging community (I know I have more lurkers than commenters but I know you are all there!), my friends, barn mates, family, trainers...the list goes on. I wish I was better at putting it into words how thankful I am to have people in my corner that believe in me and Tillie, even when I waiver. This sport isn't one that can be done without support...as Dom Schramm has said, "It takes team work to make the dream work"

Last year course walking with friends

With that said, I am using this post to sort of relish in just how far we have come since winter and count my blessings. I know how fickle confidence can be and how easy it is for one split second your horse can go from being fine to not fine. You could say this Saturday was a bit of a moment of reflection when there was a moment of thinking we may be out the rest of the season. 

moments like this were quite frequent in our rides for the first few years

Oddly enough, in that moment, I felt positive despite potentially being done for the season. I felt incredibly happy with what Tillie has done, how hard shes tried for me and counted my blessings that I even have a horse capable (the whole cellulitis thing a few years ago still lives in the back of my brain). 

Yep or this...

I almost want someone to pinch me to make sure this is real life. I think back to the first 3 years of owning her...and it was hard. REALLY HARD. 

Not that we dont have hard moments now, we do. But thats just it, they are moments now, no longer entire rides or outings. They have slowly dissipated into a horse that knows her job know and gets excited without the leaping and twisting in the air. 

soooo much of this....

 Its funny how change like this happens. It isnt over night so you dont even realize its happening...every day thats shes been good I have been eternally grateful -

As are my limbs which my left ankle still isnt quite right from two winters ago from this:

I have a hard time really enjoying success because I want everyone around me to be feeling happy where they are too...but such is life and we dont live in a perfect world. I also have gotten so used to feeling good, and then the rug being pulled out and either Tillie would get injured and be back on stall rest or something under saddle felt like a set back. So Ive been extremely cautious to allow myself to fully let my guard down for fear the universe is waiting to throw something terrible my way.

You know like this, or the stitches...

My posts lately, including this one, are trying to be more positive thinking and trying to allow myself to enjoy our progress. I nit pick everything little thing in our rides, every video. I am my own harshest critique which is why most of my posts on social media have the hash tag #progressnotperfection because while I know we are improving, I KNOW we are never ever going to be perfect (despite what Tillie may think). 

Starting to jump like a normal, quiet horse

I have had a lot of really cool things happen to me this year...making doing all the things and the lessons so much more accessible. My truck and trailer purchase was one that initially I had a slight twinge of buyers remorse thinking of the price tag, but now do not regret it at all.

Hello gorgeous

This purchase allowed me to take way more P lessons to get our jumping under control and just something not soooo exciting for Tillie:

It has also meant way more dressage lessons with C, which have gotten my poor downhill-built mare able to carry herself more uphill:

It has meant more clinics and xc schooling...making going places also not such a huge deal, and XC not jumps that are so incredibly exciting for Tillie we have to go warp speed at them:

and of course all the shows we have been to this year:

Tillie continues to surprise me, both good and bad. I am realizing the more and more we progress, the more and more neither of us know. Kind of like the blind leading the blind. I am relying heavily on my trainers to coach us through and really excited at the long laundry list of them that I have that they all are saying similar things or at least not contradicting each others training methods. 

Would NEVER have schooled like this at home before

I know we will always have a ton of work to do. It will never end. Right now, its inspiring when before I used to feel defeated at that thought. I think because I have realistic goals where as last year I was wayyyyy too ahead of myself. Stepping back and working on baby steps has helped us progress way faster this year than before!

So why now reflect on alllll this and get all mushy on everyone? Well, her close call last weekend put some things into perspective, but we also have another move up coming this weekend. I signed up to do a derby at FH at training level which includes stadium and XC only. It isnt timed and basically a fundraising event so mostly a schooling situation....but perfect to test us because these two phases are the ones that really will tell us if we are ready for a full event or not.

Think we can manage this in the dressage training level test?!

I have been really agonizing over whether its the right thing, if I am setting the bar too high too soon again. Novice has been feeling realllllly good. The past few events have been a breeze for Tillie and shes only been getting more confident, but still I dont want to risk pushing too fast too soon. I sightly panicked for a last minute additional jump lesson with Dan in addition to Dom this week letting him know why and I was instantly put at ease by his oddly pep-talk like response: "You'll be fine"

While that may not seem like a great pep talk or confidence instilling...from Dan it is. In the past he would bluntly tell me to wait to go show if he felt we werent ready so the fact he is ok'ing it and saying we will be fine, really makes me believe we will be fine. 

So we are officially on the road to Training level!! We will see how the derby goes this weekend...we also have another starter novice at FH July 2 and one more recognized Novice at Loch moy July 10. If those both go as swimmingly, we are aiming for a move up at our old stomping grounds OF for their recognized trials which I am told their Training is a nice softer one. 

So keep us in your thoughts because all the good vibes are working!! :) 

Friday Fun day followed by a Shitty Saturday

At the last minute I decided to go ahead and enter a starter trial at Olde Hope on Friday night. The thought was, even if we didnt jump around we would go for the dressage experience and use the entire show mostly as a schooling event.

My goals for the event were simple:

1. Dressage: try to recreate more of the magic we can get at home or in C lessons. 
2. Jumping: More forward stadium and XC rounds

The beast all cleaned up for me by my wonderful hubby

My husband never gets to see my ride, so it was a nice treat and the perfect event for him to come watch since everything ran back to back (dressage first, stadium was 15 min after, immediately followed by xc). 

Oddly enough, on the drive home, I realized I didnt have ANY nerves what so ever and was able to actually school her in warm up when she wasnt listening...sure it led to some interesting protesting, but it got me some nicer moments I needed in the ring. 

Maybe I should dressage in my jump tack more?!

I did however realized I am much less patient at shows which leads to a tenser Tillie...she gets upset and takes any correction personally so this is something I need to be mindful of show days and try to not think of everything needing to be soooo perfect.

Either way, it wasnt the most perfect dressage test, but as a rider it felt like one of the better ones. I felt like we were more on the same page, there wasnt as much tension through her entire body or bracing happening. 

a nicer softer moment

We came out scoring a 28.9 and it was a test of mostly 7's with some 6.5's. The judges comments were tactfully ridden, nice expression just a bit tense - lol I guess those can go for both horse and rider!

Here is the entire test on video:

We headed right over for stadium which was a pretty twisty course which I LOVED since it keeps Tillie thinking. With the goal to ride more forward, I new this would be a good course to do that with...it also helped most of the turns were right handed since thats her easier lead to get. 

It was beautiful and Tillie responded well to any adjustments...minus the last fence which i totally biffed, but Tillie was a super star!

Then we moved on to XC...which I felt was pretty soft. There were maybe 3 jumps on the entire course that were novice height, but I wasnt too bothered by it considering my goal of actually trying to go more forward. It was nice too since when I came earlier in the season and walked the novice with Brita, I remember being a bit squeamish about a few of the same jumps, but this time was confident about every single one. 

I also made a point to think about riding certain jumps differently and more smart...not just get on, go and hope for the best like I have done on some not so few occasions. Tillie ate it up and kept a cool head the entire time...I really couldnt have felt more proud or confident.

She flew over the largest jump like it was no big deal and sauntered on home like it was no big deal. We ended up in first by quite a few points and one of the only clear/clean rounds of the night!

Like my new C4 Belt?!

Tillie took the entire event in stride, no silliness just cool, calm collected. I was planning on doing a light trail ride with her the next day, saturday, but upon showing up at the farm the morning feeder asked me stop in the barn - which is never a good sign. 

Apparently, the pony Tillie has lived with all winter decided she didnt want to wait for breakfast and literally beat Tillie to a pulp...scalped the top of her tail bone, huge scrape/kick marks down her right flank and some pretty fun scrapes and cuts littered all over her hind legs. 

sad beat up tillie

Whats crazy is this pony is barefoot...my mare has shoes all around and the pony came out of it completely unscathed, not a single scratch on her. REALLY Tillie!?

Even after 2g of bute, Tillie was unsound left hind in the walk so a call to the vet happened. He was more concerned with her right hind based on the location of her cut thinking possible splint bone injury. 

see the silver spray right at her splint

cut above the hock really swollen and reason for LH lameness\

Luckily by the time he arrived her lameness was slightly better and he quickly ruled out the splint and inspecting the LH said her unsoundness was due to her ballooning up at the cut which wanted badly to turn into cellulitis. So he said keep her out and moving, maybe bring her in to rest a few hours but slather her in antibiotic cream and keep her on the doxy (which she was just about to finish today for lymes) for another week. 

I knew this meant possibly not going to the derby we had planned this weekend which is our test for a move up to training, but I relented that we have had an awesome year so far and if that was the case I wouldnt be terribly disappointed.

getting cold hosed

 

Much to my delight Sunday morning, all her swelling was gone and she was sound sound sound!!! so I decided to take her on a light hack around the farm and on the trails which she was a super star for.

back to work!

So looks like we are still in good shape for the weekend...and now officially looking into insurance for her so I can stress a little less.