I haven't blogged in a while - being an adult ammy has proven to be harder than I ever imagined. I figured I had mastered the blogging while working my butt off concept during college, but alas, I am still learning. My commute is about an hour either way and while I do, as a result, spend a ton of time sitting on my butt, I also don't get to blog or spend as much down time doing things other than riding and laundry.
I have, however been riding. I'll start at the beginning of recently, I guess, as it's been quite some time since I've blogged.
Bailey went to her first show at Roekbe's Run this month. In prep, we took a jump lesson or two with Edee, my trainer, and participated in clinics with Lucinda Green and Jane Braddock. We also schooled the Roekbe's Run cross country course. Bailey was pretty good on Friday when we arrived at Roebke's, and seemed to be enjoying watching people arrive (we got there early) and was only a little nervous and spooky when we schooled around the dressage rings and in the warm up
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Over night, apparently, she was awful and stall walked herself into a lather, and still had quite an edge on her the next day. She wanted OUT of that stall, thank you very much, but was a handful to hold. She did settle and nap a little bit around noon, but turned most of the day. Our dressage test warm up went pretty well, but as it had been raining a good part of the day and the grass ring was very slick and muddy, as was warm up. We went down the center line doing a Llama impression, spooked at a camera person who was admittedly dressed to spook, and had a looky, spooky test. She did stay in the ring, and had a few seconds of nice work, so I'm pretty pleased with her.
I have, however been riding. I'll start at the beginning of recently, I guess, as it's been quite some time since I've blogged.
Bailey went to her first show at Roekbe's Run this month. In prep, we took a jump lesson or two with Edee, my trainer, and participated in clinics with Lucinda Green and Jane Braddock. We also schooled the Roekbe's Run cross country course. Bailey was pretty good on Friday when we arrived at Roebke's, and seemed to be enjoying watching people arrive (we got there early) and was only a little nervous and spooky when we schooled around the dressage rings and in the warm up
Over night, apparently, she was awful and stall walked herself into a lather, and still had quite an edge on her the next day. She wanted OUT of that stall, thank you very much, but was a handful to hold. She did settle and nap a little bit around noon, but turned most of the day. Our dressage test warm up went pretty well, but as it had been raining a good part of the day and the grass ring was very slick and muddy, as was warm up. We went down the center line doing a Llama impression, spooked at a camera person who was admittedly dressed to spook, and had a looky, spooky test. She did stay in the ring, and had a few seconds of nice work, so I'm pretty pleased with her.
Before show jumping she was being super belligerent and was basically shoving people over and being super rude. I understand that she is stressed, but I was quite unhappy with her manners, and laid down some discipline. She reared up a bit, slipped, and flopped over in the grass like the graceful creature she is, and I was pretty thoroughly freaked out. My lovely trainer, Edee, did say later that my horse was being very rude, but I'm still a bit shocked at how pissed off and irrational I was being. She doused me in calming essential oils and packed me off to walk show jumping. Apparently I knocked some ego out of her because she was lovely in the warm up and put in a nice quiet round in the show jumping. She was a bit leery of the bright standards and fence fillers, but jumped each fence and left the rails in the cups. We did do some trotting, so we had 2 seconds of time.
I legitimately wept with pride after her show jumping round - I am so very proud of how confident she felt by the end of that course, and how lovely of a ride she gave me. At that point, I decided that Bailey was just going to need to grow up on her own and that there was nothing I could do to stop her from stall walking short of tying her up, so I sprayed on some Sore-No-More and wrapped her in standing wraps, and let her do her thing. The standing wraps at least protected her from any further dings from spinning, and she did settle eventually - she was wearing some shavings the next morning, so she did sleep a bit. I walked XC by myself and felt pretty confident going into day 3 of the show - its also nice to realized that while your horse is being a freak, she gets her brain back when you are in the irons.
Sunday was more eventful that I would have liked - Edee's intermediate horse was injured after punching through a base board on a corner and getting his hind foot stuck under the jump, and I spent my day ignoring my horse for the most part while I did my best to help her with her other two rides. When it was Bailey's turn to run XC she settled quickly under saddle and while she felt tired, was jumping well and cantering along like a million bucks. Bailey went into the box and seemed to know Something Was Up, and headed out on to course at a trot. The first two fences were bogies all day, but I rode my plan and we got over both, and cantered on. By fence 4 I knew we would need to overtake the rider in front of me, and tried to pass her. She didn't slow down and let us get clear, and trotted a few strides behind us into the woods for jump 8. I wasn't riding with 100% attention and Bailey was distracted by the horse behind us, and we picked up a stop. I was shocked that the girl behind me jumped it as we were turning away, but we jumped it on try #2 and cantered past her. Bailey took me home over the rest of the jumps, and seemed to really enjoy herself. We had another two seconds of time, but I'm not worried about her ability to make time at this point.
All in all, I am, in retrospect, thrilled with her, and feel that I really could have saved her the stop on XC if I had been focused. If I ever need to overtake someone again, I will handle it much better, and hopefully the jump judges will, too.
Bailey had a few days off coming home, and we did an easy flat on Tuesday in prep for our lesson Wednesday. Unfortunately, Edee was in an accident on Tuesday evening, so no lesson on Wednesday or training for a while. I worked on dressage again on Thursday, as I feel that keeping her focused is our biggest issue for the next show - I'd love to be able to ride at least a few strides that look halfway decent. I also tried to start teaching her flying changes, but it really doesn't make sense to her yet. We jumped Saturday morning and Bailey was very good - we had a vertical set up at 2'9 that she was clearing well, but didn't leave it in the cups every time. Big fences don't feel very different than little ones, but they are good for my brain, as I see them and either over ride or stop riding all together.
Sunday brought a heat wave a la last summer (SO. Hot. SO. Humid) so the girls just had baths on Monday. Today I'm planning a dressage ride with Bailey and will hopefully get a ride in on Foxie, as well. She also got ridden Saturday morning, but not for very long as my barn owner needed to move my trailer, etc, etc. She was very sassy that morning, so she apparently needs more work ;)
I might even start blogging again. Maybe.
A, BB and Fox
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