Cob Jockey

I was feeling pretty down after XC.  We put so much preparation into it, and aside from a few fences, nothing had changed.  After how good Dressage was, and how, well, usual XC was, I was starting to wonder if maybe he wasn't cut out for the jumping sports and we should just stick to Dressage.

The dream team trekking from warmup to stadium.  Also, we tiny. Photo by Claudia Slabaugh.

The plan was pretty much the same for Show Jumping as it was for XC: leg, leg, leg.  The course was trappy, with multiple rollbacks and weird lines, and had rode horribly for Training and Novice.  Clear rounds were rare, and rails were flying all over the place.

Connor warmed up quietly, like he did at our last two events, so I had my guard up, since that translated to a wild stadium round in each of those cases.

In the end, he surprised me.  It was the quietest, most normal stadium round this horse has ever done!  It was like he turned 9 that morning and suddenly decided to grow up and be a normal adult jumping horse.

Video:

The jumps aren't quite fluid, but he's not racing through it, weaving before the fences, or really putting his nose down much.  It was so NORMAL.  I was elated.

The one rail we had, you can see in the video, I pushed him to it in the last two strides.  Without that, I think he would have gone clear.  Lesson learned.

Now for myself...

This is really the first horse I've ever jumped.  And my eq has never been good.  And while the saddle has helped on approach, and has definitely helped me get my seat back faster after the fence, my lower leg is still swinging in midair, and I seem to be incapable of folding my upper body.

It's hard to get too discouraged about it, since we focused almost exclusively on Dressage all winter, and as a result, that is now what we're good at.  Now it's time to keep that Dressage progress, but work really hard on jumping.  Trainer is on board.

That said, here are some really ugly pictures of me:

Photo by Lisa Brezina

GUYS LOOK AT HIS EYE.  HE'S BORED!  THIS IS THE FIRST FENCE!  THIS IS PROGRESS! Photo by Xpress Photography

Photo by my mother-in-law

Photo by Xpress Photography

Photo by Xpress Photography

Photo by Xpress Photography

His genetic butt wrinkles are clearly evident here. Photo by Xpress Photography

A element of our three stride combination

B element

Our rail :(

Fence 8

Happy pony

I love accelerating away from the fence photos! Photo by Lisa Brezina

Photo by my mother-in-law

In the end, our rail dropped us from a 2nd place finish to a 7th place finish, which would have been disappointing except that I was over the moon at how maturely he has just handled that round.  Real, tangible progress!

What a good boy. Photo by my mother-in-law

All week, our Dressage had gone from 'bad' to 'okay' to 'meh and pretty heavy', so my trainer put a training ride on Connor on Friday morning, which she reported was "Excellent!", and instructed me just to handwalk him, not to ride him, when we arrived at the park on Friday night.

The next morning, warmup was a circus, and I almost ran into someone.  It took us a while to relax:

I'm not actually sure I'm breathing here... All photos courtesy of Connor's breeder, I am so grateful for every single one!

...but once we did, he was so on my aids.  He was in that very focused frame of mind where he tunes out the world and listens to my slightest cue, and was balanced evenly over his back.  Once I had that, I did not let him stop working until the test was over - going so far as to do 10m figure 8's in the grass outside the ring when I was on deck, dodging spectators.

Sitting trot in warmup

I used a lot of sitting trot in warm-up, because now that I know how much leg it takes to put him together (read: A LOT), I am a lot more effective in getting him on my aids in the sitting trot.  But we switched to rising for the test at my trainer's request, because I can't yet sit his bigger, more impressive trots - like the one we had coming into the ring:

WE CAN DRESSAGE!

For the first time in a test, he was both on my aids and relaxed, not one or the other.  He was so on my aids, in fact, that it bit me hard in this sequence:

He starts to get flat in a trot circle...

I try to develop more impulsion using a fairly normal amount of leg...

...and it was way too much aid for how on the bit he was, and he cantered briefly.

The judge appeared to almost regretfully give me a 4.0 for that movement - she wrote "Cantered - good recovery".  Every other score was a 7, 7.5 or 8, with all 7's in collective marks.  It felt that good, too.

This horse...holding this canter...on a straight line...after completing a 20m canter circle already...am I dreaming?  Years of work went into this picture.

She told us we needed better balance at the canter to the right, and also wrote that in her notes.  I see what she means:

Complete failure to use my right thigh here.

VROOM!  The sound of my horse motorcycling around a turn.

But still  - cannot complain.  I will take that over our former "king of the tranter" title any day.

The only movement I felt we really did not deserve our scores on was the free walk.  It was totally 'meh'.

The clock struck midnight and he turned back into a pumpkin!

But he recovered for the final medium walk to trot to immediate turn down centerline/halt/salute - which I always do sitting in this test.  (And I recommend that you do too.  Hugely easier and cleaner than rising when the turn comes up that quickly, at least for me.)

This picture wouldn't have happened without the last month of trainer rides.  Worth. Every.  Penny. Photo by Connor's breeder!

"Epic beast mode dragon horse picture" - Carly.  Bonnet and pad courtesy of JenJ! Photo used with permission from Xpress Photography.

"Booooooooooooooring."  - Connor Photo used with permission from Xpress Photography.

 More coming, horse show hangover in full swing right now!

Connor has this problem where once we do XC ("WHEE, FUN!") the Dressage rides immediately following go from bad (Tuesday on my own this week), to okay (trainer ride on Wednesday), to 'robot horse will obey but not really be interested in your reindeer games' (my lesson last night).

This beautiful example of bad riding and a checked out horse is from two years ago.

He'll get over it, I just have to get him interested in Dressage again.  Quickly.  He was heavy last night, (Dressage ride, my choice.  I purposely came out in Dressage tack so she didn't even have the option of popping us over a fence.)  She's going to put a light trainer ride on him in the field to work on the heaviness this morning, since that made a huge difference two weeks ago, and then haul him to the HHP, where I'll meet them after work.

More of this, less of that.

I'm not too worried - he brings his A game to shows by virtue of being A) amped up and B) overwhelmed by stimuli, which makes him tune more in to me.  It's the opposite of what you'd expect him to do at a show, but gift horses, etc.

So, ride at the HHP tonight, then I will do all of the trimming and tail bathing I completely forgot to do earlier this week for some reason (the more I show, the less I freak out about showing, which in some ways is not good), then walk my XC course, then clean two sets of tack, then find all of my show clothes (please be clean and not in a ball at the bottom of my garment bag...) and get some sleep before 8:00am Dressage and 3:58pm XC on Saturday, and TBD Show Jumping on Sunday.  Here we go!

First off, my mom read every single one of your comments yesterday and loved them!  Thanks, everyone for all the comments!

Second, a funny thing  happened while I read through that book.

I got to the second page, and I was like, "Man, I miss braiding."

Who loves braiding?  I love braiding.

I got to the sixth page, and I was like "Man, I miss feeling like I nailed a Dressage test and waiting to see if the judge agreed with me or not."


I got to the tenth page, and I was like "Man, I miss skittering around a show jumping course."

(Because that's what we do.  We skitter.)

Skitter, levitate, potato, potahto.

I got to the twelfth page, and I was like "OH MAN do I ever miss cross-country!" and a few seconds later, "I can't freakin' wait to jump XC in my CWD!"

XC in a saddle that fits us both.  Can't wait.

And then I looked at the schedule, and realized that if I skipped Penny Oaks, as was my plan, (since putting him in partial training blows that show budget away), my season would start mid-June!  I couldn't make it that long after flipping through that book and reliving my last show, remembering what it all feels like.

So with a Woodchuck in one hand and my mom's book laying next to me, I signed up for Penny Oaks.  And then immediately volunteered to do a couple of Sundays of stalls at the barn to defray costs, since I'll not only have the show, but also a mandatory off-property XC school right before it. (Trainer's rule, nobody goes to a show without XC schooling about a week or so out from it.  Safety first over solid obstacles.)

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!  Thanks for the reminder of what I love about horses, Mom!

It's hard for me to make a yearly schedule, because where I go completely depends on what everyone else wants to do, since we travel as a unit, sharing the trailer and my trainer.  Every year, my trainer puts all the events that are feasible for us to attend on her Google calendar, and we decide as a group where we're going.

Road trip!!!!!!!

This year, I intend to do:

- 4 rated events at BN
- 1-2 of those rated events maxed out in height for the level
- 1 schooling event, just because
- As many schooling jumper and Dressage shows as I can get a ride to, which is probably 0.

When my trainer asked what my plans for the year were, I told her I was looking at a couple of easy BN's we hadn't been to before, which is when she said we didn't need easy, and that I should look at doing maxed out stuff later in the year.  I could feel her just about to say something about that preparing us for an eventual (really eventual...) move up to Novice, but she stopped herself.  That's something we need to keep in the back of our minds, but not discuss until he's quietly going around a BN course.

The following events are on the barn's calendar as "possible".  We won't go to all of them, but I'd love to know if any of you are planning on being at these events!

May 1-3: Penny Oaks Horse Trials (Hoosier Horse Park, Edinburgh, IN)

Penny Oaks 2014, Starter

June 13-14: Queeny Park Horse Trials (St. Louis, MO)

June 19-21: Midsouth (Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY)

June 19-21: Fox River Valley Pony Club Horse Trials (Barrington Hills Saddle Club, Barrington, IL)

This one is so much fun because my mom grew up in that area, and I have 4 sets of aunts/uncles/cousins, her 3 best friends, Mary, and another college friend of mine that all live up there and came out to watch.  Definitely want to do it again, even though it's a long haul for us at 5 hours.  Unfortunately, it doesn't have Starter, which means half the team couldn't go.

August 7-8: Otter Creek Horse Trials (Somewhere in Wisconsin) (This one would be awesome, because it's in Mary's territory and she will be there with her CWD booth.)

August 20-23: Richland Horse Trials (Somewhere in Michigan) (I can't go to this if Nicole qualifies for the CrossFit Games again)

And let's be honest, I would totally choose being alone in a room with Rich Froning and Nicole again over going to Richland...

September 11-13: Flying Cross Horse Trials (Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY)

September 25-27: Jump Start Horse Trials (Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY)

This one was just fun, and I was so happy to be able to stay on the grounds with my parents in their RV!

October 22-25: Hagyard Midsouth Three-day Event & Team Challenge (Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY)

Any excuse to show at the KHP...

We've never done this one before, but my trainer suggested it as a good maxed out end to our season.

Midwestern eventers, any plans to attend any of these?

In the comments of my RIP GDHT post, Abigail said she enjoyed hearing about our first event, and that she'd like to read more of our early show recaps.  I've decided to replace my show results page (in the top navigation bar) with this.  Being able to read the posts that I wrote during the shows means a whole lot more than just seeing what place we finished.  The numbers only say so much in the journey of a green horse.

Photo by Gingereventer Photography