Flying High - Dom Schramm clinic Day #2

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.

When you just cant get on the same page

While I have been staying diligent and jump schooling at home, it was really apparent I havent been to a P lesson in a while...

Tillie was a good girl but she just felt sluggish. Warming her up she was ok, just didnt seem really eager to try like usual. She did what I asked, but she felt more like a gelding rather than my snappy sports car (no insult towards geldings intended there!) where is quick to think. 

It was chillier than it has been during the week, BUT it was humid and Tillie was already sweating after a brief warm up so I really didnt push it too much. 

One of my favorite Stills from the lesson...go Tillie go!

P had us start warming up like usual over some smaller jumps in a one stride line to get the horses sitting and paying attention. Tillie floated through and was totally in line with it. She even sorta woke up here and I had more horse under me again.

Last dence in the one stride lines with the oxer helping tillie to stretch

P had us then break down what our course was a and jump it a piece at a time starting with an outside line. I have an odd phobia about cantering into fences...I know most people hate trotting in and I used to hate it, but I feel like it forces Tillie to push more uphill to jump and keeps her slower. So rounding the turn to come into the first line in canter I know I sat up and just waited rather than moved up to the distance that was required.

Second fence in the line...we had a few striding issues the first few times.

We went through it again and it went a bit better after P suggested trying to allow Tillie to move up to the distance and be better about trusting her...but most of the striding issue she said was just a green bean move and it would sort out.

A litttttttle better

Tillie was fine despite these blips and kept a cool head, she didnt bat an eye and kept going so P had us move on to the opposing outside line. We had a chip in to the first fence which Tillie decided to fix by taking a flier to the second. 

P encouraged us and said it was good riding on my part and it was just a green bean move from her and I did a good job staying out of her way. She did land a bit forward and protested my half halt with some head flinging, but hey no leaping through the air or bolting through my reins!!!

Better approach to the first fence.

Our diagonal fences after the lines tended to be the harder fences for us...trying to get Tillie balanced and sitting on her hind end around the turns is challenging still. She no longer is bolting or diving, but she still isnt quite quick enough to sit up and lift so P had to talk us through the timing of the half halt, how hard its needed and then being soft without dropping her right before the fence. 

Tillie figured it out after a bit and got a nicer uphill jump

weeee

P put the fences up and had us then try putting all the jumps together...

The one stride jumps were nice to have in the middle as a sort of reset and seemed to help tillie figure out oh hey we sit to jump! But the darn diagonal fences after the lines seemed to still post our biggest challenge. Especially after the first line:

Finally getting a better distance, but still not uphill and unable to lift the shoulder.

 Luckily the one stride lines presented a nice thinking exercise for Tillie and as P said, made her have a bit of a light bulb moment.

Last fence in the one stride. 

You could hear P say "thats the fence we have been looking for!" because after that, Tillie jumped uphill and in balance the remainder of the course, even after the long canter stretch to the last fence. 

See more uphill!

Re-watching the videos, it doesnt look nearly as bad as it felt...I felt like we just werent quite syncing up. Some of it P chaulked up to the height being upped a bit which does change your ideal take off point/distances which will require me to balance her sooner and be soft. Soft being the operative word so she cant hang on me like I currently let her. 

Well here are some clips from that lesson:

so much going on and not enough time...

I have been up to my eyeballs...and trying to keep up!!! It is all good, just stressful.

We have snow in the forecast tonight and tomorrow so I am hoping that the warmer weather we have had will make it just be a blip without setting us back. I actually was able to ride 2X this week...thats right, middle of the week rides!!! Woooo!!

How Tillie feels about me riding on a week night.

I was a bad horse mom and totally forgot to give Tillie her depo Sunday so brought it to give to her Tuesday...unfortunately I do think it affects Tillie more than I realized and she was in a meh kinda mood for our ride. She just didnt have the work ethic she has had lately, which given this was our first time riding an additional day could have been just sheer tiredness while we rebuild strength.

Me tired? NOOOOOOO...

I felt a built guilty because I did get frustrated in the ride and realized I am falling into the trap of comparing to well this is what we did and how it felt the ride before. I need to ride the horse I have today and what I should have done is just did a hack around and loose rein work. But I did promise I wouldnt go down the coulda woulda shouldas so...we had an ok ride. **shrugs** they happen sometimes right?

Ah the little things like a dry freshly dragged arena

Tillie just didnt want to get off the right side, she was bending but not really bending. She didnt even really put up a fight when I kept asking for more which, in hindsight, I should have realized meant she was tired. But I tried starting slow to ease her into with stretchy trot and some light canter sooner in the rides like the clinician suggested. 

She was nice and quiet in the transition, just a bit sticky. I tried to start working on some of our dressage homework of lengethnings and Tillie is really starting to understand...it isnt perfect, BUT she will quietly come back really nicely now which allows me to be able to be braver and riding her more forward for that bigger trot. 

Isabelle happily hanging out while Emma sets jumps while we cool down

Tillie had a bit of a hard time maintaining the canter in our canter work when starting the counter canter exercise C gave us as homework...I let her settle and rebalance in the trot before cantering one more time before I just said ok its not our day for this. I finished the ride working towards stretchy trot.

so cut

But I have other big fun news to share!...so remember I was trailer shopping. I have been doing research and window shopping gradually getting more and more serious. 

And I finally decided and put a deposit down on this beauty!!!: 2001 Exiss 2 horse with a dressing room. I ran across it on a classifieds and it was a really good price for the shape that it is in. The tires are brand new, new brakes, new lighting etc. 

 The only downside is now having to wait for it!! UGH sooo hard lol. I am hoping to have it by the end of the month...worst case not until April after Rolex. GAH But either way im so excited!!!!