What is a twenty meter circle anyway?

Lots to report over here with another successful weekend of riding behind us. If you live in the Northeast you know that we got an inordinate amount of rain and a freak thunderstorm during the week that left everything a big wet mess. We were able to get the ring sorta dragged Saturday enough to do some flat work and Riley got reintroduced to the Pessoa. In the ring we worked on slightly raised cavalettis and two canter poles set 60 ft apart. I could feel the gears turning in Riley's brain approaching the 4 raised poles like, "Am I supposed to jump all of these"? Luckily he didn't, though he felt like cantering a few of them made much more sense!

I took a trip down to Dover and Maryland Saddlery on the hunt for a few things for the pony and a dressage whip. I was also looking for a new helmet, but they didn't have any of the new ones in yet:/ I did pick out a new whip and also picked up this little beauty that I've been obsessed with (plus 30% off)!

From Dover's site: Because who doesn't love houndstooth?

Let's play catch-up + millions of redundant photos + bonus!

Riley got his shoes back on (since the beginning of December) a few days ago and homeboy was feeling REALLY good about himself. Our new farm is VERY rocky and I was pretty nervous about how he'd cope with the turnout fields (mostly just near the gates). To my surprise, he's held up pretty well for the last two months, at least until the mud arrived. He got a bit sore and popped an abscess, so I switched his turnout schedule so he's in half the time and I think he's appreciating the relief. Temperatures are warming up quite a bit and all of the horses seem to have spring fever! The ring was still sloppy, so i thought I'd hop on him and ride around inside to see how he was feeling... well, that ended quickly as he got all sorts of frazzled and I hopped off and decided we'd do some free lunging -- as a rule, I NEVER lunge or free jump for this sort of purpose, but I had little choice in crappy footing and less than ideal circumstances!

Free bird!

I took a mental health day on Thursday to reset my messy mind a little. I've got lots of exciting things going on in various aspects of my life and I think that taking the time to pause and reflect is important so as not to get bogged down with the details! Horses have always offered me that sort of reprieve and I'm grateful to be able to turn to them when I needed a distraction or support (or just a good laugh).

We're almost snow-free at the farm, but with all that snow melt comes MUD and lots of it. Not to mention the ring is super cuppy and deep right now as it attempts to dry out and drain. It was too sloppy to ride in the ring so we decided to free jump a bunch of the horses (Riley included). Our free jump area is really cool. It was once a ring designed for little kid pony rides so it's essentially a ring with another ring inside it (so that the ponies couldn't dash into the center or run away). It has footing and is large enough for the horses to get a nice pace and rhythm.

Riley heard that Bobby was the fanciest show pony, so he got jealous and struck this sweet pose to show off all his angles.

Turning back time, just a little more.

Thanks everyone for bearing with me while I recap the last few months. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you've seen some of the photos in this post, but they are worthy of a real write up to reflect on a few things.

I'm just going to put this here.

As I mentioned recently, we competed at an event with less than adequate preparation. It wasn't that we weren't ready, but we didn't get a chance to XC school at all and we jumped a handful of times at a neighboring farm. Our last barn had a tiny grass ring and three jumps that I used maybe once or twice. It wasn't ideal, but nothing ever really is, so we made it work with what we had and the opportunities that presented themselves to us. Emily's business partner runs a nice facility close by so we were able to pop over there for a few jump schools. I had decided that if we could jump all her new fancy stadium jumps, that anything at the event would be easy (hahaha, ok). She had just gotten some really cool fences made including stone walls, gates, a wavy jump with boat sail standards and a butterfly jump with wings!!! She also has a little area for xc schooling. But it's a primarily hunter/jumper barn so it's more like a few logs, some stadium jumps in between trees and some hanging logs... oh and a bank jump that no one uses:)

We warmed up indoors and Emily had me ride through a gymnastic a few times to get Riley thinking on his feet. This is going to sound weird, but for whatever reason, no matter what height she sets jumps to in a grid I could care less about them. But you set up some random vertical somewhere and I clam up like a weirdo. She's well aware of this so she'll jack fences up in grids while I'm not looking. Very sneaky.

Love his soft expression

Maybe one day my poor right leg will uncurl itself

As you can see, he was very excited about the whole thing. He's always been a sort of economical jumper. He's gets his limbs out of the way, but he doesn't see the point of going bonkers (until he finds something scary and then jumps it like a deer). We used to joke around when he first started learning to jump because often his front feet were on the ground and his back legs hadn't quite left the other side of the fence.

This particular day, we worked on me landing and GOING. In his conservative state, he will attempt to putter out when he thinks the activity is over... you can see me kind of goosing him to continue cantering over the ground pole in the gif!

So we headed outside, jumped a quick course and then took to the XC field to practice our land and GO! technique.

Heading toward the barn, weeeeee!

This thing looks pretty innocuous, but it's begging for a run out to the right and there's a huge log pile upon landing (to be avoided)

And GO! Riley!

It got to the point that I would land from a fence and gallop away from it to get his engine revved up. If there's one thing I learned from the event (and falling off) it's that Riley jumps wayyy better if he's going. This half-hearted, lazy canter/trot is not doing us any favors. And I know the gears are in there... exhibit A:

Maybe a little TOO much enthusiasm. 1st jump school of 2015.

But there's a balance, and I think we found it. It's important to get him revved up, but not offended. In front of my leg and not teetering in 2nd gear.

He found this lattice especially exciting. *You get a better idea of the bank in this pic.

The lattice gave us a little issue in that he was very backed off the first two times over it. Once I got him back in front of my leg he jumped it beautifully and wouldn't ya know it, when he jumps well, my position improves too. I bet you guys are really blown away by all my powerful insight.

Lastly, we worked on the bank a little bit. We knew for sure that St. Augustine would have at least one bank question on the course and we wanted a little refresher for Riley. He's always been wonderful about banks. Drops/banks in and out of water = no problem. This bank however does not have a "small" side. It's 4 rail road ties high (roughly 32" plus grass). But, like I have for every other bank, I just trot him up to the obstacle, support him and he goes. This is where his default of being a little less exuberant pays off.

Good boy!

Riding down a big bank is such a cool feeling!

Weeeeee! Love the matching ponytails! Jesus Niamh, this isn't the Head of the Lake!

Writing this got me thinking about the kinds of things I'd like to work on in the near future. I think to feel competitive again this year, we need to jump... a lot. it doesn't need to be big, but it needs to be consistent. Riley needs to be cantering course and we need to have adjust-ability. I think we'll start with some grid work and gymnastics to get his foot work back and go from there. Since we have hills again, I think that conditioning and interval work thrown in once a week will get he and I back into shape and ready to tackle XC. *I see a lot of 2-point and no stirrup work in my future.

To move forward sometimes you have to look back

If I have to make some sort of New Year's resolution for my blog it would be two fold:

*Blog more frequently/regularly.
*Set quarterly goals for Riley & I to hold us accountable.

I have a lot of inspiration for this thanks to all of you guys and I hope I can really give this blog the attention that it deserves this year (*for the record, fall/winter 2014, spring 2105 was a very rough time for me personally and many things fell by the wayside). I'm feeling energized and inspired so buckle up readers...

With that in mind, I feel as though I should use the only competitive experience we had in 2015 to help set the tone for the goals ahead. 2015 was a tough year for us competitively. We didn't really have a chance to get going with any regularity because of Riley's head-shaking. And, if I'm perfectly honest, things were looking a bit grim for any sort of future for him as a riding horse. Looking back, I believe that several things came into play that triggered his Head Shaking and this year I am planning to be extremely proactive in order to soften it's blow come spring time. Despite all of that, he remained very game to work with once we had the head shaking under control and he was more comfortable. I was able to keep up with my riding (having access to lots of OTTBs is a good thing) and we were able to get some traction in the fall. We figured it would be a good idea to round out the year with a starter trial the first week in November. At this point we had only jumped a couple of times (less than 5 times, including hopping over a few small xc jumps at a neighboring farm). Our flat work was strong enough and the jumping at the baby beginner novice level is not an issue so we just decided to go for it.

Starting from scratch -- the project pony

So if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you're probably aware that there's a new pony friend in my life. For those of you who don't... let me introduce you to a little pony named Sugar:

Kinda in loooove with her.

When things don't turn out the way you hoped...

hehehehehe I'm still "retired"

What do you do?

Well, if you're a horse-crazed lunatic like myself, you do everything you can to spend as much time around those beasts as possible. Everyone knows ponies are good for the soul.

I started making plans for Riley (shhhhh).

I booked a lesson.

I've been riding all sorts of OTTBs to keep my mind busy.

You change your blog header and background.

And when all else fails, there's the pool -- because a little R & R never hurts right?

And I am sorry for the breaks in between posts, and leaving you guys hanging with an announcement of a lesson cliffhanger, but the full report is coming right up!

Keeping a horse in Area II sure has it's advantages. I am a stone's throw from an Olympic rider in every direction. Like, True Prospect farm is a 5 minute hack. Which is great for training purposes because our neck of the woods is just littered with awesome trainers to lesson with. And with Riley still semi out of commission I thought that taking some lessons might help me get some finesse back (because boy have I lost it). Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked I get to ride all the OTTBs, but they're not doing much for my position on the flat and confidence over fences. It's been a really long time since I had a formal lesson with anyone but Emily. She's terrific and knows me inside and out, but we are super good friends and that leads to me bargaining my way out of doing things that I'm worried about and to be honest lessoning on Riley can be very challenging at this stage in his training. So I was pretty concerned I'd make a damn fool of myself. Plus, I needed to find a trainer who had a school horse or two to teach me on (again, a little bit tricky). As luck would have it, the nearby indoor that we hack to frequently, has a BNR who I've known for awhile. She competes a horse owned by the BO at our old place and she's a hell of a rider... I watched her teach a little last time I rode at the indoor and I really liked her approach so I contacted her for a lesson! She has two horses that she teaches lessons on, her former ** ISH and her former advanced OTTB! Woo hoo!

Spring fever!

View from the passenger seat didn't change much all day!

 You guys... taking care of two barns and 30 horses is a lot of work...

We were farm sitting over the weekend for a friend who has a lovely place about 35 minutes from our farm so we made the most of the opportunity by shipping Riley down and back twice for some real rides!

Dressage work, flat work, real work, whatever you want to call it.

My barn is a mix of riders, hunter/jumpers, jumpers, ex-eventers, dressage riders... we all warm up our horses a little differently and attack each ride with a different frame of mind. It's interesting to see how that pans out with each horse. I would say that Emily and I are most aligned in the kind of training we do with our horses... and mostly that's because she's my trainer. Though, I owe an awful lot to my former instructor too, she gave me a great basis for everything I've accomplished today.

Video still: Practicing our dressage test, this is our change of rein across the diagonal. And hey look, my elbows bend!

Riley is at the point in his life where I can expect a little more from him with every ride. We try to keep our weeks looking like this: one hack day (sometimes with a little real work in the ring) -- hack day can include hill work, canters, or just a nice cruise around for a few miles, a jump school, a trainer ride, and a flat ride. Generally, Emily will ask me if I want her to work on anything specifically during the training ride and we come up with a game plan together. We jump on good footing so I don't think it's unfair to jump him twice a week (especially since we're not doing anything big).

More test work: 20 meter-ish circle (this is where he's getting too deep in the contact). Also, I don't understand why he makes me look so small. he's 16hh and I am 5' 6"+

Anyway, it's no secret that dressage is truly the foundation for all riding, and I really believe that in order to expect your horse to jump or gallop xc he needs to be able to carry himself on the flat, lift his back and engage his hindquarters. Can you jump or event without this? Well yes, but there will come a time when holes in your training will show up and your horse may even start saying no. I want to always feel like I am setting my horse up for success (which I did not do for our first event, not because of training per se, but more my mental state at the time) and it would be remiss of me not to make sure that dressage basics were firmly installed.

For a horse who is built a little downhill he doesn't ride like it! That neck, tho!!!!!!!

That said, I am lucky because Riley is not the kind of horse who needs a lot of loosening up. In some ways he actually prefers that I sit deeper for the first 10 minutes than getting in a light seat. But a normal dressage day might look something like this: loose rein walk a lap in each direction. Gather him into a frame and ask him to use his body. Begin trot work. I ride with very light hands (which can actually be detrimental) and so I let him trot around freely and forward in a light frame and then gather him up a little. He likes contact and seeks it now all the time. We start trotting in either direction and then start adding in some serpentines. Then, we'll add in some harder work like 20 meter circles, and 10 meter circle in each corner (we both hate that exercise!), then I might ask him for some baby lateral work, going off the rail a few strides, forward a few strides and back to the rail. This exercise really helps straighten him out when he wants to throw his hind end around. I've been upping the continuous workload for both of us because I want it to actually feel like "work", we'll usually take a break and walk for a few minutes and then I'll do lateral work at the walk and then ask for the canter. His transitions are coming along pretty well (not as quick as I would like), but the canter itself is lovely. He's still pretty crooked to the right, but at least he can pick up his right lead 95% of the time when asked (and from a walk!) Usually I get off his back for a lap around and then sit and ask for some circles and more collection. I've just started adding in stretchy trot work (which he loves) and yesterday we did this for 10 minutes as a reward for good flat work. We just did figure-eights around the ring and he stretched beautifully down in both directions. He's starting to get a little deep in the Dr. Bristol, so I'm going to try a regular full cheek for flat work to see if that helps. I think the stretchy trot work will help let him loosen up too. Yesterday I added 10 minutes of no stirrup work and we both worked quite hard! Riley has a LOVELY trot to sit and he worked on lengthening down the long sides then collecting at the ends and doing figure 8's on the short sides. Without stirrups I was really able to wrap my legs around him and bend his body around my leg. I'm hoping to add more of this kind of work to each ride, but boy am I feeling it today!

You can keep your warmbloods, I'll stick with my paddling TB any day:)

BTW, this was my second ride in my Middleburg tall boots (my $55 score from the tent sale) and I am in love. They are so, so, so comfortable. I have heel lifts in them now, but they are so supple and comfy!

Emily was nice enough to take some video, which, if you'd like to be Facebook friends with me, you can see here:

Riley got borium on his new kicks yesterday and my farrier warned me that he might be feeling extra fresh and confident now that he knows he won't be slipping! Ha! He also got the bravest TB award from my farrier and he is the only one not afraid of the forge, the smoke, the hot-shoeing, the blow-torch and the sparks! Good boy Riley!

He's um, attractive?

Wonder farrier, working on his hinds. He has a long vertical crack in that white hoof but he showed me that it was only a sand crack that has not worked it's way through the hoof wall and that I could rasp it a certain way to keep pressure off it in between trims. At this point it's nothing to worry about:)

Olde Hope Evening Shade III Schooling Trial (full report) -- lots of photos and silly blabber to follow.

Olde Hope is a wonderful venue not too far from us in Maryland close to Fair Hill and St. Augustine (I know, we are spoiled in Area II). They have a very friendly atmosphere and it's really designed to help inexperienced horses/riders get a real feel for eventing in a very comfortable environment. They run a lovely little series in the summer that hosts the events in the afternoons which makes for a much less rushed prep day!

He's always happy to get in the trailer!

We arrived to the barn with plenty of time to got our boys ready (Emily even has time to ride one of her other horses while I pulled Riley's mane and combed out his tail -- ooh and trimmed the top with clippers to look like more of an event pony). He got a thorough bath where I tried my best to get his sock white again and since I had plenty of time I decided to BRAID! I be fair, it's been at least 20 years since I've braided, but he's a great sport and I only had to re-do his forelock once since he had no idea what the heck I was doing fooling around between his ears. I wrapped his tail with an ace bandage to try to tame it a little and he spent the remaining time in his stall trying to rub it off -- butthead. We headed out right on time and picked up some adult beverages on the way to keep our helper (Emily's bf) happy and to hopefully celebrate after our ride!
We checked in and went off to walk our courses. I was terribly nervous about the giant teepee that was directly next to the first jump on the stadium course! Everything was really inviting (and very small), there were a few fences on stadium that I was a bit worried about including a mock brick wall and two gates. Both stadium and XC are on hilly terrain which was definitely a bit of a problem as many horses were slipping. The XC course was pretty interesting with a bank option (which I took!) and a few looky jumps, but I knew we were ready!

Saddle woes and wins.

I have mentioned in the last few posts that I was going to be looking for a new saddle. I didn't want to give it too much thought yet because I don't have much of a budget, Riley is really hard to fit, and I pretty much need the size/style of saddle that everyone is looking for so I knew it was going to be a bit of a hunt. I've ridden in a few of Emily's saddles and while she's much taller than I am, I really like the balance of the Berney Bros. I thought it would be interesting to post some recent photos of me jumping in both saddles so you can see what I mean (these shots were roughly a week or two apart).

Current saddle. Heritage jumping saddle. Fits both of us well enough. smaller knee block and no thigh blocks.

On the flat, my position is quite good in this saddle, but you can kind of see here that if I want to put my stirrups up any higher I'm going to be in trouble with the knee rolls.

Case in point. The balance of this saddle doesn't allow me much security and I am thrown forward, pivoting at the knee.

I'm still jumping ahead, but my leg is staying firmly at the girth and underneath my body for a better overall balance.

When I am balanced, I'm able to give Riley all the freedom he needs. Having a saddle that gives me this kind of security allows me to find my own balance without throwing him off.

In between fences, love how my leg is in this photo, right where it should be.

 So, with Emily taking a trip down to Virginia for the WEG trials, I begged her to make a stop at the Middleburg Tack Exchange (aka, heaven) to look for my white whale of a saddle. She took a current wither tracing with her, my non-existent budget, and some parameters of what I was looking for.

In case you were wondering where I was instead of going to the WEG trials, I had a super long wedding to shoot on Saturday. While I was in the middle of shooting the ceremony, I got a couple of frantic texts from Emily saying that she found A 17" BERNEY BROS. IN WIDE. What!?! I was able to sneak away during the communion portion of the mass (there were also two other photographers) to go outside and make a call. She said she literally looked at hundreds of saddles and felt like it was a lost cause. None of the saddles fit Riley's wither tracing (did I mention he's hard to fit?) and she was starting to give up, when she saw on the top shelf a lone Berney Bros.

A small cross section of the used saddle inventory at Middleburg Tack Exchange

She pulled it off the shelf half-heartedly and nearly died when she was the size and shape. And then, this:

Like a glove.

Beautiful used condition. Love the balance of the seat and the more forward flaps than my current saddle. I don't have super long legs so I don't need a really forward flap.

Exactly what I was looking for, nice knee block and a small thigh block.

So I made the call, gave them my account info and it's mine on trial for a week. If I like it and it fits us both, I can make the seller an offer against the suggested retail price (all their saddles are on consignment).

So, fingers crossed for us that I have found something suitable! The very kind British woman who works at the shop mentioned to Emily that the Berney's never last more than a few days because everyone wants them and they last forever. What a score! I will post my current saddle for sale if this one works out to recoup the money!

Ps. I got a 17" because Berney's tend to be a bit generous in the sizing and don't usually come standard in half sizes.

Pps. Based on all of these photos its clear I need to do lots of two point work to lengthen my leg and stretch down into my heels. Sadly, I will never be one of those riders whose heels look super flexed (years and years of gymnastic has given my ankles early arthritis!)

Jumping all the jumps... and other adventures.

Riley and I had a busy weekend...

Thursday he got a trainer ride and was apparently a total butthead. Locking his jaw, bulging his shoulder and pretending to spook at the cows he's seen a million times (and is turned out next to). Eventually she was able to get some good flat work out of him, but I think he thought a few days off meant he was now retired. They worked on a lot of transitions and of course, his right lead canter.

Friday I had farm duty in the evening, and I wanted to fit in a flat ride in Emily's dressage saddle. It fits both Riley and I really well.We started off doing lots and lots of sitting trot (he has THE BEST trot for sitting) and he actually moves better while you're sitting the trot for some reason. Serpentines all over the ring using my leg and set to change the bend in his body. he finally getting the concept of moving off my leg instead of leaning on it. One exercise I worked on was walking down the quarter line, leg yielding to the rails, walking a few steps then yielding back off, walk a few steps and then back on the rail. This really got him moving straight and it helped set him up for success at the canter. he was very forward on Friday and the first canter depart was a little explosive, but he picked up the right lead first time after my little leg yielding exercise. We did the same thing again and we got another perfect depart (from the walk) on the correct lead! Hooray! We cantered some more in the other direction and he felt great. I really like riding in the dressage saddle as it really allows me to lengthen my leg and open my hip angles. My plan is to flat in it once a week and do some no stirrup work in my jump saddle every ride.

Finally.

Saturday I jump judged all day with my trainer Emily at Fairhill Starter Trial. We were assigned jump #2 which couldn't have been a better learning experience for me. The first fence coming out of the start box had you heading back towards show jumping and warm up, then you had to make a 90 degree turn to get to fence two which for all levels but elementary, was a sizable red coop of varying heights... then you cantered away from all things familiar and down a hill to a ramp. This was nearly the same type of scenario I was faced with on Riley at St. Augustine so it was incredibly educational to see how everyone navigated it. There were a few takeaways from watching 200 people go (yes, 200!!!). Those that had a sticky jump or a run out at fence #2 nearly ALWAYS had a run out at at #3. The horses that were shaky coming through the turn away from stadium were distracted and really needed a positive ride. I saw a few riders who could feel their horse bulging toward stadium or not paying attention that simply brought the back to a trot and refocused them before heading to our fence. There were a ton of young riders on brave ponies that gave really good rides. It made me want to channel my inner pony girl and get out there again! There were also a couple of riders that seemed completely over faced either with their horse or with their level. One girl in particular was on a bratty grey pony that refused twice at our fence and got eliminated at the next fence. Because it was a starter trial they let her continue but she nearly fell off at our fence and #3. We listened on the radio as it took her at least 4 tries to get over every jump and was overtaken by at least 4-5 riders. I think that someone should have pulled her off course, one because she wasn't going to teach the pony anything new and two, because she was becoming a hazard to the other riders. I have no idea how far around the course she got, but by fence 8 she had at least 20 refusals. There was another girl on a huge black horse that seemed very keen but she was a tiny, wisp of a rider and I would have to guess she was maybe 10-11 years old. The horse was very athletic and they jumped around stadium well, but he had a sticky jump at our fence and he DUMPED her at 3 and bolted. I have never seen a horse bolt like that in my life and he was headed straight for stadium. it was really scary, he was caught pretty quickly, luckily, but it was hairy to say the least. There were some other great rides as well, including Jane Sleeper on a few of her youngsters (she was literally the only person that came off the first jump on the appropriate lead) and Courtney Cooper on some really nice looking horses. All in all it was a really fun day, but it was blazing hot and I am going to have a permanent tank top tank for the rest of my life. Best part? We get a free xc schooling out of the deal! Woo hoo!

Sunday I finally rode Riley as his old paddock was ready again and riding him to and from his field was a royal PITA.

I made a super awesome diagram to show you:

The light blue line is the path I took yesterday. That has you going through into the woods, through a stream and past the cows, around Riley's usual turnout and back to where the new ring is. The green line is the path I normally take when going out for a hack. Both of these are roughly 1.2 miles. So I drive my car and tack over to Riley's old field (marked with a star), grab him, brush him off and pick out his feet, tack him up and ride him to wherever I want to school on the property. It's a bit of a hassle, but I am really not complaining, I promise. *Though I do hate having to mount from an overturned feed bucket. Having 140 acres to ride on and now a lovely ring is pretty incredible. We have even started putting in some XC jumps near the woods including a coop and proper ditch (yet to be schooled).

Also, the red arrow on the left of the diagram is the view I captured in this photo:

Chester County loveliness.

Riley was really good for our ride despite having two weeks off, save for one lunging session where he tried to kill me. The only problem was mounting. He's still doing this thing where he will move sideways as soon as I put my foot in the stirrup and I just cannot tolerate that. he knows how to stand quietly. He got a pretty severe reprimand the first time he did it and stood stock still on the second attempt (thank you jockey whip). Don't get me wrong, I don't like to get after him that much, but again, this is a dangerous habit and he's beyond this stage in his training. Anyway, we had a lovely hack where he was awesome about leaving his buddies. We trotted through the woods and the stream up a hill to where the cows are. As you know, he likes to pretend he's afraid of the cows so I figured that trotting him wayyy before the cows would help keep him focused on me. They were all piled up under a tree and he definitely kept one eye on them and one on me, but he was very brave. We hacked back to barn mostly trotting along the sides of the fields and headed to the NEW RING!

It was such a delight to ride on footing again! I think a few more rains on it and it will feel even better, but it's beautifully level. I also like that the owner decided not to put the fence line right up against the edge of the ring because I feel like that tends to give horses something to lean on instead of truly going straight. We did some trot work which is still challenging tracking right, and some canter work. I got a lovely walk-canter transition and even a few 20 meter circles! He felt really nice! We cooled out in the adjacent pasture and I let him have a nice long drink in the stream. Such a good dude.

Being the bravest.

So, he's back by the barn now and he's coming in during the day and out at night. He had more bites on him then I would like and was starting to get a bit hive-y. So I think the night time turnout will be the best thing for him. He'll get ridden hopefully by Emily one day this week and with me on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and we're thinking about going XC schooling Sunday! Vacation is officially over, mister! We can start jumping in the ring this week and I cannot wait to start making some plans for him.

Test ride -- Unbridled Lad

Yesterday I headed out to the farm to meet my fate. As I mentioned, my friend offered her semi-retired schoolmaster to play around with while Riley gets the kinks worked out with my trainer. Lad is a wonderful, kind gentleman of a horse with plenty of spunk. He always greets you with a happy face and wants to be picked from the field first. In fact, he hates being left out and will gallop around whinnying if he gets left by himself! His owner has even made a facebook page for him that you can see here.

At the Thoroughbred Celebration Show in 2012/13?

I've known Lad almost as long as I've known Riley as he was at our old barn too. What I knew about him was that he LOVED to jump, would tell on you if you rode poorly, and he squeals when he's happy.

At Plantation with his owner in 2011

We loaded up and headed to a nearby indoor to school with another horse and he got off, looked around and took a deep breath. Been there, done that. His owner walked him once around the indoor which was set with jumps from the Jimmy Wofford clinic that happened earlier that day and I got on. It's so neat riding a horse that knows that it's doing! When you ride a green horse all the time, one, you kind of forget how to ride gracefully and two, you forget that horses can do things on their own with little coaxing. We walk-trot-cantered in each direction... and holy crap! Best. Canter. Ever. I was grinning like a fool. Since he's kind of out of shape (and so am I) we started off with a single fence to jump and then added more and we both got to know each other.

The dude LOVES to jump! With that note, his owner warned me to to keep my leg on, stay in my thigh, and GRAB MANE.

Warming up, both of us looking like we know what we're doing (ahem, he does)

First little X. Boiiiiing!

Really Lad? I'm just hanging on here.

Good boy through the combination.

Weeeee! At least I am looking up and I'm not climbing up his neck.

Now I'm sure he probably looks green through all of these, but if you see above, he's just an exuberant jumper. Regardless of the jump height, we were jumping much higher! I not used to a horse taking me to the fences and I definitely struggled with just sitting back and letting him do his job. In the end I think we struck a good balance and he never got frustrated with me. I couldn't get over just how comfortable he was to ride (he's wider, like Riley) and his squealing into the canter was the cutest thing ever. He was so happy to take me to all of the fences and the only one he even considered looking at was a liverpool that I was terrified of and probably made him back off of. We would up jumping it a bunch of times, including as a part of a 3 jump line (I think a 3-4 stride to a 2-3 stride. It also probably looks like I have a death grip on his mouth, but I promise you I was riding with a neck strap and had my hands buried in his thick mane.

I can't wait to ride him again. I feel like he has so much to teach me and I think one of the biggest takeaways was that I cannot stiffen up when I ride him or he becomes unbearably uncomfortable and you just bounce all over him. He forced my hip angle to stay soft and open and to keep my leg long and my core tight. Boy am I feeling it today! Walking up stairs was a real challenge!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get Riley out hacking to work on what my trainer has been practicing with him.

Radio silence.

Where did I go?

Not to worry, I'm still here. Work has been busy, life has been hectic. Riley has had a little time off after his Come to Jesus meeting with my friend. Since then he's had two trainer rides with Emily which were very successful and we've come up with a plan of action.

Oh, there's another reason for the silence... I bet you won't believe what it is?

Weather.

Roughly the halfway point between my house and the barn

Yikes

Yep, it rained for 2 days straight and EVERYTHING flooded. Luckily both my house and the farm were spared, but getting around anywhere was tough. The tack room did flood due to a backed up drain, but nothing we couldn't handle. The roads around the farm were completely flooded, so even hacking was out of the question.

Riley was moved to a new field, which was apparently very exciting for him and his Bad Boy Club, and he's been enjoying every minute of his unintentional vacation.

Muddy Mud Skipper, looking feral.

Emily did take him on a 2 hour hack earlier this week to address some of his nappy behavior. He pulled plenty of shenanigans with her, but she stayed the course and insisted (gently this time) that he do what she asked. He's definitely getting a little big for his britches and thinking that he has better ideas than his rider. She also said that remarkably even when they were miles away from the barn he STILL knew which was to spin to return home. She practiced cantering and galloping him in one of our big fields to check for brakes (still there, thanks new bit) and rode him away from his hacking buddy over and over again until he got the idea that forward is the only answer he needs to provide. Certainly his cheeky/green behavior is not going to be fixed in just a couple of rides, so we came up with a plan moving forward.

Trainer rides will continue (she will hack him out either alone or in company)... I can ride and/or lunge him on the property (140 acres) to practice what I've learned recently with him, but follow through has to be 100% on my end. In the meantime, one of the other women in the co-op has graciously offered her 14 year old school master horse to ride to get my jumping sea legs back. He's a gorgeous dark bay OTTB (Unbridled Lad) who incredibly talented. While he will pack an 8 year old around, he's not an easy ride by any means and will have plenty to teach me. I'm excited to get to know him better and to have another horse to ride in addition to Riley. I'll likely enter Riley in another HT in a few weeks and Emily will ride him there to get some confidence under his belt. Lad and I may even go to a couple of little jumper schooling shows once he's fit.

It's all very exciting and I'm happy with the pace of our progress. I know that if our ring was already finished we'd be much further along in our training, but we'll get there. Patience.

EDIT: I'm going to test ride Lad tonight in a nearby indoor!

St. Augustine Schooling HT -- Recap

Full disclosure: I probably had lofty goals for how things would go (ie, don't fall off, don't get eliminated and have a great time). We accomplished two of the three goals, but what I realized after the show was that we did as well as we could have given where we are with our training. That said, I am always impressed with my fellow blog friends (ahem, Sarah Rune) that are willing to share the good, bad and the ugly with their young horses, after all... we have to start somewhere, right?

All bathed and ready to make his debut

St. Augustine Pony Club is a lovely facility. Everything is set up in a way to be very horse friendly, especially for young horses and/or green riders. It was clear that this was the first event for most people in our area (not surprising after our down right horrible winter) because when we arrived, every single horse was screaming it's head off. Tension was pretty high in the air, but we arrived with lots of time to let our horses settle. We were also really fortunate to have ride times that were far enough apart so that Emily could help me warm up for each division without worrying about her own times.