Since monsoon season shows absolutely no signs of relenting, and we have another event next weekend, the plan for this past weekend was to RIDE at all costs. Since our place is basically under water, on Saturday we hauled over to a covered arena down the road and did a little dressage work. It was the first I’ve been able to ride Henry since Greenwood the weekend before, so he was a little tense but the wicked humidity soon zapped all of his energy right out, nervous or otherwise.
how Henry feels about adventures
There were mirrors on one end of the ring, which was both AWESOME and awful at the same time. It’s great to be able to see things, but it’s also horrible to be able to see things. Sometimes I’d be like “this feels pretty good” and then I’d look in the mirror and be like “Oh, nevermind…”. Mirrors are like having a lesson in and of themselves.
Who dat derpy horse?
On Sunday I decided to take him over to the local h/j show that was happening this weekend and just enter a couple jumper classes. I figured this would be good experience for him – get tossed on the trailer, come out, get tacked up, warm up, then go in the ring. Usually when we go places we have the benefit of taking a day to settle in.
This is my majestic creature. He is very very majestic. Also, I forgot to bring a hairnet. My ears felt so naked and exposed.
I had originally signed up for a 2’6″-2’9″ and a 2’9″-3′ class, but upon seeing how little the jumps were set I decided to scratch the smaller one and add the 3′-3’3″ instead. It ended up being pretty perfect because the first class was more like 2’9″ and the second class was more like 3′ (I think maybe one or two of the jumps was actually 3’3″ but that’s probably it). They weren’t our best courses ever but he clocked right around that spooky ring with no questions asked and was a trooper about it. If I could quit pulling to the short distance that would be great.
No touchy
It was fun to get back to our jumper roots for a while, but it also really made me appreciate eventing and having ride times. Oh how quickly I’d forgotten about the “hurry up and wait”. And wait. And wait. I had to be somewhere at noon so as soon as we finished our second class I jumped off, shoved him full of cookies, stuffed him back on the trailer, and away we went. Although I did stop on the way back from closing out my check to grab his ribbon from the bigger class. Don’t be impressed, there were only 3 of us.
He’s not impressed either.
All in all it was a good weekend with lots of riding time, even if it did require trailering out to get it done. It looks like we’re going to end up having to do the same thing this week too if we want to ride at all before the event next weekend, since this stupid daily rain shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Over it.
Remember that whole drought thing that Texas has had going on for years now? Remember when it used to not rain for months at a time? Apparently it’s a feast or famine type of thing around here because it will not stop raining. And when I say rain I don’t mean like a half inch here and there. I mean like 4-5″ at a time. Enough to flood everything and make lakes where your arenas used to be.
Enough to make the turnouts so muddy that it’s dangerous for the horses to go out. So basically as long as your horse doesn’t want to ever go outside and you don’t ever want to ride, you’re all set. Did I mention I have another event next weekend? Did I mention I haven’t ridden since we did cross country on Sunday? Meh, details. You can tell I’ve been bored by the new stuff in my blog sidebar and the fact that I started a facebook page for the blog. I never actually do housekeeping things like that normally. Luckily I did stop short of a complete blog redesign. At this point I’m considering buying a million tarps and covering the barn with them 100 x 100 feet at a time. That’s not drastic, is it?
I wanna cover everything like this
I think I have secured a truck and trailer to borrow (thanks again Erin for saving my butt, this is becoming a theme) so I can try to haul out to places with covered arenas to ride this weekend. There’s a dressage place down the road, and a local h/j show going on this weekend about 15 minutes away where I could at least do a couple of jumping classes. That might be the only jumping we get to do before the event next weekend. Shoot, at this rate it might be the only riding we get to do before then, since the monsoons are supposed to continue next week. I’m getting tired of always being woefully unprepared for things. Stop raining. Just stop.
To assuage my anxiety and angst I went spur-of-the-moment googling yesterday for some breeches for cross country. I guess the gods are feeling guilty because I happened upon the perfect pair, AND they were on flash sale for 40% off. You’re not off the hook, gods, but thanks for the cheap breeches.
Know what else would make me happy(ish)? A full set of these DSB boots in navy, because they’re beautiful. Sadly I’m out of money because I’ve spent it all on horse shows that I never actually get to prepare for. No bitterness here.
I’d trade a couple of semi-vital organs for a covered arena right now. Who needs a kidney?
Somehow I have found myself with not one but TWO helmets that are past their “expiration” dates. They have served me faithfully and well, but it’s time to mind my melon and move along. Of course, being fit for a Samshield at AETA pretty much totally sold me on one. Damn them and their amazing helmets that basically sell themselves. I also quite like the leather look AYR8’s as well, but I’ve had an AYR8 in the past and found it to be a bit hot and heavy for a Texas summer. The Samshield, however, felt quite dreamy.
I have decided that I definitely need a navy helmet but that’s about where my decision making skills have stopped. I really really loved the shimmer material in the middle when I saw it at AETA, it was really pretty without being super disco ball. But then there’s that crazy eventer in the back of my head going “Match ALL THE THINGS” who wants me to buy this:
I like that Crazy Eventer, she’s fun and ballsy and does what she wants. But is Crazy Eventer a little too crazy? The navy shimmer is pretty safe. It says “I’m a little different and kinda fun, but I still want everyone to like me”. The yellow trim is balls to the wall. It says “I’m here to PARTAY, fortune favors the bold!”. Plus I think it would look pretty freaking amazing with my Equiline coat.
If Charlotte Dujardin and Georgina Bloomberg can have red on their helmets, why can’t I have yellow? If I went with the yellow trim I would probably have to opt out of the shimmer, lest it get too busy and flashy and trashy looking. That makes me a little sad just because the shimmer is so pretty. But yellow. But shimmer. But yellow. But shimmer.
Besides those two decisions, there’s also the question of what type of air vent material to get – black or chrome? Navy isn’t an option, black doesn’t match, and chrome is really shiny. Why you gotta do me like that, Samshield? Now I don’t know what to pick.
That’s basically a mirror.
The price difference between a shimmer or the yellow trim isn’t a whole lot – the yellow trim with regular shadow matte middle would be about $60 less than the shimmer middle with regular chrome trim.
What do you think, guys? My struggle is real, and it’s intense, and it’s confusing. Too many options, Samshield. Too many options.
After Saturday’s adventures I was pretty happy to be done with dressage, but I was still quite worried about the two down banks on XC. Saturday evening I walked the course with a trainer that I had never met before but was recommended to me by my trainer, and she had some good suggestions about how to ride the down banks. Still, mostly I just laid awake and thought about it all night. Figuring out the brain of Henry and what will work best for him can be a tricky thing.
Gimme your hat
more weird licking. Mmmm Animo tastes good…
It was another long day of sitting around, since my ride time wasn’t until 1:32. We were all bored to tears. Finally it was time to get on and head to the warmup. Trainer For The Day came over about halfway through my warmup, watched me jump a few fences, made some more suggestions, and bid me adieu so she could get back to her clients. I greatly appreciate her taking a few minutes to help, it made me feel more confident in my plan. We marched over to the start box, walked a few circles, then wandered in at 30 seconds to go. I faced him backwards until we got to the last 10 seconds, then we turned around and waited for every eventer’s favorite words – “HAVE A GREAT RIDE!”. The best sentence in the world.
I will put the helmet cam footage here first, for those that want to watch it. I dunno what the weird clicking noise is, but if you can endure it there’s a little bit of fun audio. I’ve already ordered a skull cap so I can mount the helmet more securely next time and hopefully get rid of the clicking. I’ll angle it a little more downward too so you can see more Henry. But hey, it was our first foray into the world of Helmet Cam.
He came out of the box all business, looking for the jumps. We popped right over the first three, made our left turn onto the path into the woods, and hopped over 4. Fence 5 had several people standing near it, and he flicked an ear back at me like “Mom?” but as soon as I put my leg on he went right ahead and paid them no mind. The big oxer at 6 was easy, then we wound our way out of the woods, down the hill and into the field for 7. He got a little forward down the hill but I let him roll until I needed to make the turn to 7, told him to pay attention, and he came right back with no problem. Fence 8 was the little Trakehner, which he didn’t even blink at. With every “Good boy” I gave him, he flicked an ear back at me like “I know, I’m amazing aren’t I?!?“.
Then we came out into the big field and made our sharp right hand turn down the hill to the water. He saw it and hesitated ever so slightly, so I sat deep and put my leg on him and he just bounded forward, no further questions asked. He took a little bit of a leap into the water but cantered through and out over the rolltop like a pro.
He got a little too excited with himself on the long uphill gallop to the steeplechase… this was our only icky fence on course. He saw the flyer but I told him to wait (no flyers allowed) and add one more. He did it, but in a very derpy uncoordinated unicorn leap type of way. Evidence:
How he can jump so derpy and still be so tidy with his knees is beyond me, but he gets points for waiting when I told him to. After the steeplechase fence was the big long hill, which he seemed to take great joy in galloping up.
“I iz THOROUGHBRED!!!”
We hopped the log at 12, then I pointed him toward the first of the down banks. My plan was to ride it aggressively, with the “over or through” mentality, and circle after 13 before taking the up bank at 14. You can do this legally without incurring penalties as long as it’s clear you weren’t presenting your horse to the fence before you circled. So I called twice that I was circling afterward, pointed him at the down bank, tapped him on the shoulder with the whip, and wouldn’t you know it – that boy never even so much as thought about hesitating. He was like “Oh look a bank – WHEEE!” and I was like “Well what the hell…”. So much for it being a problem. It was quite the expressive leap off the bank but I’ll take it. We circled around some trees, tried to avoid running over the jump judge, then hopped up the bank at 14. Then it was back down the hill…
To the hanging log at 15, and 3 strides to the next down bank. I gave him a little growl just in case but again he showed zero hesitation and leapt right off. With gusto. Lots of gusto.
After that it was a pretty straight shot to The Decapitator at 17 (thankfully I didn’t decapitate myself on the low hanging branches, and I’m sorry Greenwood for calling your fence that). I slowed down just a titch headed to the last since we were slightly ahead of time, and to do a rideability check I rode him to the close quiet distance, and he politely cantered the flamingo fence like no big deal. We crossed the finish line 6 seconds under optimum time, giving us a double clear XC.
To say I’m proud of him doesn’t even come close to expressing it. You would never have known that it was only his third time out and that he’d never been to this facility before. He did absolutely everything I asked, he did it with joy, he loved every second of it, and he remained totally rideable the whole time. It felt EASY. I totally could have ridden 13 to 14 straight through. This BN course that was pretty hard and technical and had me feeling like we were in way over our heads rode like a walk in the park. I think he would have jumped around Novice if I’d asked him to, and what a great feeling that is, to be sitting on a confident horse. That feeling is exactly why we do this.
Even better – we moved up to 6th after XC. Sadly we were only one point away from that AEC qualifying placing we needed (darn that cheap rail in stadium!) but I don’t even care. I’ve never “lost” and felt so much like a winner at the same time.
Henry really outdid himself this time. I knew going into Greenwood that I was asking a lot of him. He stepped up to the plate in a big way, and I’m so thankful for it. The Best Boy: pro status.
The format for the lower levels at Greenwood meant that we did dressage and stadium on Saturday and XC on Sunday. Since I was in BN Senior (note to self: start entering Horse instead of Senior) my ride times were quite late – dressage was at 2:33 and stadium was at 4:31. That resulted in a very long morning of boredom.
Henry got to walk around and make a new friend with one of the tack shop trailers
Then he stood out behind the barn and grazed while my friend Amy and I enjoyed the sunshine and nice breeze. Granted, he seemed to be more interested in giving me a tongue bath than in grazing. It was a strange experience, he wouldn’t stop licking me, covered just about every inch of bare skin, and I might be a little traumatized.
Then he got braided
Then he took a nap (thanks buddy)
And then finally – FINALLY – it was time to get on for dressage. Since this was only our 3rd horse trial, I’m still learning the best way to prepare him and warm him up. Based on our experience at Pine Hill a few weeks ago where he got pretty tense in the warm-up and had a bit of a meltdown mid test, I changed my entire approach. This time I got on an hour ahead of time, walked for a while, trotted a little, cantered ONCE, and then spent the rest of the time walking and trotting, doing the same exercises that we do at home, and lots of halts and free walk. I didn’t ask him for brilliance, I just asked him for obedience and tried to keep him relaxed. I opted to go without spurs, which I normally wear for dressage work. I knew I would be giving some points away with this approach but I want him to learn that dressage is no big deal and to just relax, so I chose the good experience over trying to get every possible point and risking a brain overload. I didn’t have a trainer with me to validate that decision, but it’s what I knew was the right thing for Henry so I went with it.
He was a little flat and on the forehand and not really pushing much from behind, but he was super chill so I left it at that. When we were on deck they let us into the inner warm-up area to prepare to go into the ring. Again I just walked, halted, did some trot leg yields, and patted him and told him he was The Best Boy.
Then they rang the bell and in we went
We didn’t have much brilliance, and our canters were heavy and leaning on the inside shoulder (I missed my spurs at those moments) but he was very calm and obedient and happy. I was thrilled with him. The score didn’t reflect it (we got a 37) but this test was miles better than the one a few weeks ago at Pine Hill that got a 31. Funnily enough our best score from this judge was a 7 for our halt, which is usually one of our lowest scores. Everything else was a 6 or 6.5, which I’m ok with because at least it was consistent! This judge was harsh, but she was harsh to everyone so it was fair.After dressage we were in a 3-way tie for 6th, and only 2 points separated the second through ninth place horses.
After many cookies, a quick bath, and a graze, it was time to get ready for stadium. I just hopped on and did a quick 10 minutes of trot and canter, hopped two fences, and let him chill by the gate. He went in and marched right around without a single peek, and honestly he was super. The traffic on the road that I was a little concerned about the day before when I walked the course didn’t bother him at all. Sadly, we had a really cheap rail at the last fence. He just barely ticked it with a hind foot (I should have done a better job of keeping the power in the canter going up the hill) and it toppled out of the cup. I find it so much harder to ride these little fences well than it is to ride the bigger ones.
That rail dropped us to 9th, which was both a big bummer and a bit of a relief. On one hand it meant my chances of getting a top 5 placing (which I need one more to qualify for AEC’s) were slim to none. On the other hand, it meant that the pressure was off for XC, and if we had a problem with the banks I could just use it as a schooling opportunity.
I ended the day with mixed feelings about our situation but a whole lot of pride for my pony. So far he’d done everything I asked of him and done it like a pro, no questions asked. You just can’t be disappointed with that, no matter what place you’re in.
