The horse, not my mom, but this picture is awesome.
Turns out Louie's owner Anna has been hunting for a Dressage saddle for a long time too. And it turns out my new Devoucoux is her and Louie's unicorn. It's best-yet-but-still-not-perfect-but-fine-with-a-half-pad on Connor, but it's perfect on Louie. And with the two of us being the same height and about the same weight, it fits both riders perfectly. I told her to give it a try, I had a feeling that would be the case after I saw it.
But!
I am both unwilling to deny a friend an amazingly priced Devoucoux unicorn magically dropping into her lap and hoping for at least a six month break from saddle shopping for myself. So Anna and I made a deal that she will pay me half of what I paid for it and we would share it until Rolex, when I hope to march into the vendor village and march out with an honest-to-god-fits-us-both Dressage saddle. And then she'll buy out my half when I buy a new saddle.
Anna and Louie at our February 2016 schooling show. A few hours after this picture was taken we all almost died in a freak snowstorm and then unexpectedly stayed the night with a fellow eventer because we couldn't make it home in the snow. Let's just say me and Anna bonded that night!
It's great for both of us. We almost never ride at the same time, and if we do, we both have jump saddles to fall back on. And between what I made off my Thorowgood and what she's going to pay me, I will be at precisely $0 spent on the Devoucoux. There may be something to this French backs thing, since Louie's jump saddle is an Antares, Connor's is a CWD, and the Dressage saddle that fits them both best is a Devoucoux.
Now that we're sharing it I may have to rethink the whole "French bachelor" analogy...
On Saturday, we had our annual eventing team party at my trainer's house. We all bring snack food to share, watch a re-run of a show jumping competition and have a good time.
There's also an organized learning activity. Last year, it was watching a Dr. Deb Bennett video, analyzing photos of our horses standing in the crossties to see which shoulder they tend to naturally stand over, and being tested on the footfalls of the lateral movements by "walking" them with our hands and feet.
This year, my trainer had printed out tests on the USEA rulebook, and also provided us with a printout of the relevant sections of the USEA rulebook. We were split into two teams. My team only got one wrong: If you drop your whip on the XC course, is a spectator allowed to hand it back to you?
The cutest Husky says hello.
The answer is yes, but we all agreed it's a stupid rule for a number of reasons. The USEA is pretty strict about not allowing outside help on XC (like a trainer yelling your time to you from the bushes 2/3 way through the course), so what's to stop someone from saying they saw a spectator whisper your time to you as they hand back your whip? And why are we encouraging spectators to come onto the actual track of the course? And is it really worth it to lose 30 seconds over your whip as you stop, call to the nearest person "hey, can you grab my whip? It's over there," and stand there while they search the grass for it and then hand it to you? On your horse that probably doesn't want to stand still right that second? IMO, you should just leave it and go on.
ETA: Hannah pointed out that it is illegal for someone to hand you your whip in stadium. It IS legal on XC, however.
I mean....neither one of us are thinking "Stop and stand around for 30 seconds" right about now.
We all learned a lot. My trainer pointed out that when on XC especially, we HAVE TO know the rules by heart ahead of time, so it was a good exercise, and it got us all thinking about show season in the dreariest months of winter.
Of course, the more fun thing to happen was letting FBR cool Connor out after I rode just before the party. Reminder: the girl is at least 5'9, if not taller, and Connor is 14hh. She was like "I'm going to have to let your stirrups out all the way," and I was like "Ha! Those are childs leathers, they won't even fit you all the way out. I'm taking them off."
It was a lot of fun. She was just going to walk, then she got curious about trotting him, and then she was just going to trot, but she decided to canter in the end. She had fun comparing him to her current ride, a former steeplechaser, then show jumping horse, now eventer, who regularly jumps 4' with his other rider. He's spicy, and a very different ride from Connor.
I'd love to give FBR legitimate rides on him, but she's just too tall, which is so sad. It's really the only thing that makes me sad that Connor is so small.
In team practice yesterday, something was clearly annoying Connor. He was sound and moving normally aside from being slightly more stiff on his stiff left side. His ears told the story though; they have two positions under saddle: on me (focused) or in total radar mode (not focused). Yesterday they were sort of weirdly flat, out to the sides, and I knew something wasn't right.
Pulse, skin pinch, respiration and capillary refill were all normal, so my trainer sent me back to the barn to put a half pad under my saddle and check my girth. The only thing I noticed was that his growing out clip continues to get roughed up under the girth and saddle because my straight girth pulls the saddle forward when I put the saddle back far enough to clear his shoulder. (I finally broke down and ordered an anatomical girth when I got home.)
I'm too sexy for my tail flap. That blanket just needs to hang on for like three more weeks, come on!
I flatted him while my teammates started jumping, but he didn't really snap out of his funk until we started taking poles and fences. While we had our share of wild discombobulated leaps over ground poles that ripped the reins out of my hands, we also had some NICE jumps, lines that flowed. I can tell my trainer has been on him. He jumped every single jump normally, except the first time we did the 2'3-2'6ish? oxer when he launched it, and in midair the thought crossed my mind that was the highest off the ground I think I'd ever been.
We ended up doing the 2'3-2'6ish? oxer several times, and while it improved each time, it never felt normal to me. Makes me think we need to do more at that height before our BN debut. I asked my trainer if he was overjumping it every time, and she said no, we were just getting close enough to the base that he had to rock back and snap his knees up high and fast in order to clear it.
The little guy gets his teeth done today, and some sheath cleaning. My boss asked why I was taking the afternoon off, and I just said, "You reeeeally don't want me to tell you. Just trust me on this one."
My life is seriously turning into a long-running episode of The Saddle Club, how did this happen?!
Last night my trainer had us all over to her house for an evening of unmounted practice. And snacks, oh the snacks.
Dogs spooning. I have no other pictures today!
We watched the first part of the Dr. Deb Bennett lecture from the GM Horsemastership Series in Florida in December of 2013. It's about straightness, and why the horse can get so crooked anatomically, and why that matters so much, and why straightness the only way a horse will ever come round. It's incredible, everyone who ever sits on a horse should watch it. It basically explained to me why Connor's training has come so far in the past two months, ever since the "Every time you think about pulling back on the reins, counterbend him for a couple of strides," lesson from December. He's straight now!
"Some of this may not make sense to some of you right now, but I want you to start thinking about it, and we're going to talk later about how what she's talking about relates to the horses you're riding."
That was not an empty threat - she actually had taken photos of the barn's various horses that week and put those up on the TV with ground lines so we could see which horses naturally leaned on what shoulder. We talked about why horses can lean so much more than humans through their bodies, and about how it feels when Louie leans on his right shoulder with his nose bent to the left, for example. We also got on our hands and knees and leaned to one side and the other while trying to stay "round", and to understand why leaning makes collection impossible.
We went through the basic lateral movements on our own two feet in her kitchen. Leg yield, turn on the forehand, and turn on the haunches were all performed with lots of giggling, and we all learned we didn't have as good of an idea of where our horses legs were in the movements as we thought we did - "Ah! Your inside hind is crossing in front of the outside hind here, not the other way around!" and "See, you can do leg yield without bending your knees, but you can't do shoulder in with straight legs," really helped us understand things in a way it's hard to while you're mounted.
It was an incredibly valuable lesson and a great way to be productive when the weather is still uncooperative. You all should watch at least the first part of the video, she's amazing!
I am so incredibly grateful to Austen from Guinness on Tap for shivering at my barn for an hour and a half during team practice today and taking these videos. It's the first time I've ever really seen Connor jump!
The short version of today's team practice is: 1. Gait adjustability and 2. Remember to ride him like he's green.
The long version comes with videos! Most of them are very short and packed full of cute pony shenanigans. :-)
On the flat, she called out a number and we would have to ride that "level" of the gait we were in, with 3 being a working trot/canter, and 5 being "as much as they can give you." She focused on the hind legs continuing to be engaged in the shortest trot/canter, and not letting them get strung out at the strongest trot/canter. When she asked for a 4 canter the first time to the left, Connor gave me a cheeky little buck, which Austen got on video.
Right lead:
Left lead, with buck (I took the sound out, but I burst into giggles every time Connor bucks with me, and today was no exception. It's just so harmless and tiny when he does it!):
Next, we all tried jumping the hogsback for the first time. Connor wasn't bothered by it, and I found it easier than usual to find a good distance to it. Not sure why.
Next, we did a bending line, the first time in four strides:
And the second time in three. I saw that we could get the three a little late and asked him for it anyway and he superman'd it over, to the delight of my trainer, who said, "Well ridden, that's how it's done! You can ALL get three strides in that if Connor can get three strides in that!" It was a valiant effort on Connor's part at doing what I asked:
After that, we went three times through the course, and the story of the day was passenger riding on my part led to problems, although he was honest to everything - his runout and stop were my fault. In this first attempt, I misjudged the blue vertical going around the corner and surprised him with it, and then didn't account for the liverpool surprising him when we came off the rail, and he ran out. A fellow rider's horse who has evented up to the CCI* level was later also surprised by the liverpool but still went over, which my trainer pointed out and said was the difference between a seasoned horse and a green horse:
She asked the other riders when they knew Connor and I weren't going over, and everyone said back by the rail, a few strides out. Connor wasn't looking for the fence, and got caught off guard. That's my fault.
In the second time through, he got scrambly after the liverpool so I thought I'd trot the line, but didn't have enough impulsion. Add in me committing with my upper body at the same time as I half-halted, and it was a rider-induced recipe for a stop:
Finally, our third attempt I didn't feel comfortable going for the blue fence the first time, so she had me leg yield over to the rail after the hogsback to give myself more room/time to get organized for the blue vertical. Things were pretty good from there, and we called it a day on this one:
All in all, he felt a little tired from the beginning after getting all that energy out at yesterday's lesson, and he was not as sharp on my aids as he has been lately, but he still looked great and had enough gas in the tank for all of the jumping that we did. His canter work was great to see as well, since this time last year we couldn't even canter half of a 20m circle! Slow and steady is producing a careful and confident little jumper, if I will only remember to be less of a pilot and more of a rider.
I often forget that when you're working with a green horse, you have to give them a different kind of ride. Connor has now had three "didn't go over the fence"'s in the past nine months, and all three of them were runouts at skinnies because I didn't follow my trainer's wishes and cantered them instead of trotted them.
"He's the most green out of all the horses in here, you may want to trot that next time and give him a chance to process it,"
Connor napped HARD after team practice this week!
To be fair, our skinny is REALLY skinny. Barely the width of a horse skinny, maaaaaybe-four-feet-but-probably-less-skinny. And the jumps she set and the various courses she made out of them - a bounce on the short side of our small Dressage ring-sized indoor, an oxer with a barrel underneath, a liverpool (first time we jumped one and he was a rockstar, thankyouverymuch!) a bending line, and a line that included the skinny - were extremely technical, requiring us to plan ahead and achieve various types of canter at different places in the course. That was the point of Sunday's team practice, to be technical and picky.
Did I mention we got surprise freezing rain Saturday night? The horses had to be led down the slope in the morning, and some of them went down with splayed legs and big eyes like they couldn't understand why anyone would play such a cruel trick as to remove all traction from the world. Then they got it together.
We miss you, frozen lake of an outdoor. Six more inches of snow fell after this picture was taken.
Solid ice baby.
Connor ran out twice at the skinny, once on each course, once in each direction, and each time we took it slow the second time and he jumped it. I have been lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that he's been locked on and game to every fence we jumped since the skinny on XC at Greater Dayton in May 2013, and wasn't being so much a pilot as a passenger. Still green over some things. Get it together, Cob Jockey.
Over the rest of it, I was pleased as punch. He jumped from the very base of the liverpool like I asked, moved up when I asked, added a stride when I asked, jumped new and scary things like they were boring, and made me giggle when he jumped the oxer the first time like it was massive. My trainer giggled at his hops, too. Sometimes I think about how big 2'9 and 3'0 look from Connor's back, and sometimes I realize that I've probably felt what that type of effort feels like from him many times already, and it probably won't be that big of a deal when we get there.
Cathy Jones-Forsberg told us to work on lateral stuff and to jump a lot of things this winter. After a practice like that, I am feeling pretty good about following her orders!
Team practice was SO MUCH FUN! If you ever want a synopsis of why I love boarding, this is it.
It's the one guy on the team running into the aisle and asking if she wanted us in English tack today (he meant Dressage, but I asked him how his barrel pattern was coming along anyway.)
It's sort of getting to audit five other peoples' lessons.
It's having a coach, and a common goal with all the people you hang out with (kickass somewhere between BN and Training level eventing this year).
A wordy post broken up with pictures of Connor loafing in his field, because nobody was there to take pictures.
It rode like all of our private lessons, but with friends. We started out by working on straight walk-halt transitions, and she told us we were all responsible for making sure our horse was on our aids and in front of our leg the entire lesson. "Whatever you need to do to make that happen, fine, but it's your responsibility to identify it and fix it." Autonomy, so cool!
Next we moved on to riding the first half of each long side in shoulder in, and the second half in haunches in. Sleeping on yesterday's lesson must have done Connor some good, because we got mad compliments for how smooth we made the transition between the two, and were told to quit that exercise early.
After that, canter transitions and then counter canter, long sides only. Turns out it was the first time I've ever asked Connor for that, and we got the wrong (right?) lead the first time. "Imagine you're in the open field and you're going to ask him to pick up the left lead." I did, and he did! "This is what it means to have your horses listening to your aids and not just anticipating and thinking 'Oh she's asking for the canter, she must want this lead,'" she said. The counter canter really did something for him, and he was so straight and on my aids the rest of the lesson.
The second half of the 90 minute lesson was all poles and jumping, and I am proud to say that though Connor was tired, he gave it his all and did really well. We need to work on jumping straight, and he was a little long and flat, but overall he was great through the exercise that eventually became four crossrail bounces in a row. The strides were set for the average stride length of the group, and I felt like he didn't have to work too hard to reach it, though I did have to ride with awareness of it.
It sounds like we'll be doing this once a week on Sundays, and occasionally switching horses. Since we all are required to have at least one private lesson a week already (she doesn't do group lessons), and it's hard to teach Dressage in a group lesson, this will often be a jump lesson, which is great since none of us jump on our own. I am especially excited to switch horses, since nobody but Mary, my trainer and I have ridden Connor the entire two years he's been here, and I haven't ridden any other horses (besides the football shaped (and sized?) ponies Austen has put me on when I visit her) the entire time I've owned him.
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