Team Spirit

High School Equestrian team is in full swing- my Stepdad as coach, me as senior member and 2 sophmore members. Little team, I know, but what did you expect from a tiny suburbian school?

Our first meet was fantastic- 86 points for 1st place so far and the team in 2nd place had 59. Whoo!

Theo's been schooling in a full bridle for saddleseat, and OH MY do I love it! We had toe-flinging extensions, split-second half halts, great lateral movement and lo and behold: a decent free walk. Can we just skip to say, 3rd level please?
If only it worked that way...

Looking forward to 2 more good district meets, and hopefully on to regionals! Kickin' the neighboring school's butt sure does feel good.

Update!

Check out the new format and fancy favicon :)

I've officially decided that if we can get to a local event this fall, we're going training level. We've been ready for the move-up, and it's time we get off our butts and do it. There's a couple event derbies in late September and early October in my area, I think I'll try for one of those.

Also, my dressage trainer thinks that this winter she might have us work in a full bridle every now and then so we can get a bit more collection in our transitions and such. I'm not sure we're ready for it, but I trust her judgement so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.


Go Eventing!

Dressage Clinic

I had the wonderful opportunity to ride in a dressage clinic with Karin Offield!  My instructor rode at 10am and I audited her whole lesson, with much success (we share a lot of the same issues/bad habits). I then tacked up and warmed up while a crazy OTTB got his lesson, and from what I heard it didn't go too well.

Theo was wonderful warming up in the indoor ring- we had spotless canter departs, super balanced halts, straight centerlines and really responsive shoulder-ins.
In the outdoor ring we always lose a little finesse, because in Theo's mind being outside MUST mean running and jumping, right?

We did go on to have a very productive lesson, working at 1st level and we even started to school a little bit more advanced lateral movements and we *almost* had a perfect extension! His lengthenings are really coming along though, especially when I don't lean back.
 I really liked Karin's overall teaching style. Very straightforward, little tips here and there about how to impress judges, very persnickety about geometry, and not afraid to remind (or rather drill into your head) those few pesky things you couldn't quite seem to get right at first.

working on shoulder-fore

what I'm NOT supposed to do- lean back!

Karin and her cool boots

medium walk- with energy!

Karin explaining upper body posture to the auditors

His canter work is really coming along!

straight =D

he's such a handsome guy

Some things to note:
     toes pointed farther in
     shorter reins for better connection
     don't lean back in lengthens
     keep slight shoulder-fore for better scores
     work on free walking with contact

We also did a lot of quarterline work, something I should do more of at home.

Go Eventing! (but don't forget the dressage)

Course Walk

Here's a photo for each jump on the 2011 Novice course at Hunter's Run (Metamora, Michigan)

The view from the start box

Simple log, great starter fly fence

at the top of small hill, easy to ride

Angled slightly, right off a left turn. Teeny bit of a challenge

Wide jump, and then BIG hill down after landing

At the bottom of the huge hill, testing the horse's balance/rythm after a gallop

At the top of a big hill, impulsion was important in this one

Small bank up, very nice to ride

Into the water for #8, very wide opening and dyed blue water

log out of the water, on the small side

Log oxer, great ride

The ground here is severely slanted to the right

Slightly tight 2-stride, must be ridden carefully but hard to really screw up

Brush fence- looks bigger but rides super well

Trakahner(sp?), nice breather for horse and rider 

Ditch to Coop combination

The ditch, about 2'6" wide and deep. 

The coop, a forward 5 strides on a straight line, conservative 6,
7 if you really take your time on the curve . I rode it in 5

To the right!

Down the hill

Little logs, and then a good long gallop to the last

Last jump- you can see the finish flag in the background

Studs

Here's the promised post on studs.

First, we have a basic array of the little buggers:

note the various shapes: big squares, small squares, hexagons

I like to use the flat hexagons and the small square blocks for what most would consider to be "good" conditions, like medium, soft sandy soil that isn't hard or slick or muddy.

 

For riding on wet grass, I use the grass studs [often referred to as points or tips]. If the ground is also quite hard, I prefer the longer and sharper of the two for a little extra grip.

NOTE: I highly advise pairing these with a small block [like the one pictured above] on the inside branch of the shoe, because if a horse stumbles or brushes you don't want a sharp stud stabbing into the horse's adjacent leg. 

For very soft that isn't wet and muddy, I love a small bullet. The small pointed hexagons work wonderfully on the front shoes, because it is also very important to always use smaller studs on front feet than on hind feet. The front legs are designed to slip just a little upon landing to disperse the jarring effect of hitting the ground. So, smaller studs on front to keep the knee joints happy longer!

Now for the good stuff- Mud!

When it is raining and you have a cross country course to run and a hundred horses have gone before you- it is time for big mud blocks. Big bullets and big rounded blocks also work exceptionally well, however I find that the simple set I have now are all I need. Smaller ones straight across on front, bigger ones straight across on back. 

The smaller-on-front-rule IS important, if you watch a barefoot, free-lunging horse jump and how the leg slides on landing  it can really show you what the horse's body is designed to do. Often I have competed without any studs on the front shoes at all- And if you're on a bit of a budget don't even bother with the holes and purchasing extra studs and such for the fronts- odds are you won't need them until upper levels anyway. 

Here are rubber plugs, very quick and easy to get in and out, but if your horse is rambunctious in his pasture/stall or if he's turned out a lot they may not stay in as well as the foam style [which are virtually indestructible!]

The safety T-tap is also important, as it aids in the cleaning of the holes and will sharpen the threads. Be careful not to strip the threads, but this is much harder to with the safety style rather than the older versions. Also, if you have a fidgety equine [we've all experienced those days] the flat, rubbery surface is easily stepped on without damage to shoes or hooves or human feet. 

The basic tools for a stud kit: 

spare hoof pick [because the usual one always seems to disappear on show day], 

magnetic bracelet [you don't know how handy these are until you have one], 

adjustable wrench, 

hole cleaner/pick, 

T-tap, 

WD-40 [spray the threads so studs don't rust in and the studs so they don't rust in the box]

Shows!

Now Hunter's Run is over, and I have *finally* unpacked and put away everything.

I am happy, because we got 6th in our division- even on a bad dressage score!

I am sad, because I didn't get my papers in to Richland on time, so I won't be competing there this year.

And soon- I WILL make a post (or possibly 2 part post) about studs.


In other news: I have acquired a new dressage saddle! It's a Ryder Legacy, and it is so incredibly comfy I could ride in it all day long. Sitting Theo's trot is no longer such a chore when the thigh blocks actually fit my legs!  I hope to keep my old dressage saddle as well, I just can't justify selling it when the money it's worth to a buyer is much less than what it's worth to me. I will post a picture of it sometime soon!

This upcoming weekend I will be riding in a dressage clinic wth Karen Offield, it will be interesting to see what kind of progress we will make! And, sadly since there are no more Events in this season's schedule for me, it is time to work on dressage until the winter schooling jumper shows start showing up. I CAN do dressage happily- and I WILL! Which will be easier if I can manage to sell my other horse... C'est la vie.

Go Eventing!

Rain and Grass

Riding in the rain is fun, at least to me. However I do not like getting out of soaked breeches. Or drying out wet tack and saddle pads. Or showjumping on grass in a downpour, which we did last Saturday. He was super though- with his shiny new big-ish grass tips in. We wound up with third place after a double-clear round.

...And here's proof! So proud of him. And again- thank goodness for studs- I got the rear holes fixed & tapped just in time for a rainy show. Somebody up there must like me. Up next: Info on studs- types/uses (because I really wish I could have found info like this when I first started using them, I had a lot of trial & error in the beginning)

Go Eventing!

Show Time!

Everyone loves a good jumper show- and Albion College's Summer show is definitely one of my favorites. Such a beautiful facility, I could live there. Theo and I did great- considering showjumping makes me nervous and it was really stiff competition. We ended up with two 3rds, two 5ths, and an 8th. Had a rail down in a couple classes, and had a double clear round in the pouring rain on Saturday! (Thank goodness for studs) and got to run our 3'3" class in the grand prix arena- with all the gorgeous jumps and 250 by 350 foot of grass to run around on. I definitely prefer large arenas to small ones, that's for sure.

here we are, looking stellar. More photos to come!

Also, I found one of the college-owned horses wandering around the grounds late one night, silly Brighton got out of his pasture. So, George owes me one for catching him. 

I'm trying to sell off any un-used equipment in hopes of getting my new (to me) dressage saddle soon. Bye-bye old western saddle I never use anymore! I just need $400 more and it's mine, so off to work I go.

Getting Kicked

Let's face it, nobody likes getting kicked by a horse.

I have recently had the wonderful experience of getting nailed in the hip by Duke!

BIG BLUE BRUISE. Just peachy. But- it never lasts. I'll be fine :]

Cross Country

By far the best part of Eventing. Anyone can tell you that.
I am extremely fortunate to have Theo, because he is completely point-and-shoot in low-level cross-country courses.
Which I love.
For a Novice level event, about 2 months of consistent work has him ready. Each week he would get 2 days dressage, 2 days hacking/conditioning, one jumping day, one interval galloping day and one day off.
6-8 weeks of this and he is ready to go!
Boy, it is so nice to have a horse that's low maintenance.

galloping at our first event together

Bits

ow, Theo is quite a big guy, and it takes some strength to get him off his forehand and moving forward properly. I've gotten him to the point where it is easy enough to ride him in a snaffle on the flat and over fences, but now that he's ready to move up I'm switching him back to some other bits. I like to switch things up, never letting him get too dull to one bit in particular.

Right now for dressage he goes in either a loose-ring french link or a Myler single-joint eggbutt snaffle, both do just fine.
            


For jumping I tend to rotate more, between a Dr. Bristol full-cheek snaffle, single-joint pelham (I'd like to replace it with a french link), and a french link 3-ring gag (also called elevator, dutch gag, or Pessoa bits)

  

For hacking/trail riding/conditioning I use the full-cheek mentioned above, a french link eggbutt, or a square-twist  full-cheek depending on how full of himself he's feeling. Also, I use another elevator-type bit on him for jumping and whatnot, it has just a little more control than a snaffle. However I'm not sure exactly what it's called...

I'm thinking about getting a french-link true gag bit for cross-country and upper-level jumping, just for that extra touch he needs sometimes. Especially at competitions where he tends to get more excited.
Also, note that with the elevator bits I always use rubber bit guards because they do have a tendency to pinch lips pretty badly.

Go Eventing!