In search of... jump saddle edition

When we last left off, Riley was recovering from new shoes and body work. While my life got extremely busy with moving and NO RIDING, Riley got training rides, a new set of hinds and a trim all around and he's feeling very good about life. We signed up for our first event this Sunday where we're going to give BN a try at the ever-forgiving venue of Olde Hope. The intro division is really too easy for us now and I think it's time to start putting a little pressure on both of us.

In the meantime, I've been assessing the saddle fit issue that was brought up with the vet. Our current saddle does not fit at all anymore, so although a shimmable pad would get us through the search time to find a replacement it was not a great long term solution... and the last thing I need is him getting sore or sour about his saddle. We took a little trip down to Maryland Saddlery to see if they had any good options and much to my surprise they had at least three for us to try.

4 shoes are better than one

I've had several entries back-logged, but life is very busy right now, so I'm going to force a media/recap post on you guys instead.

Let's review...

So you know how any time I take a day off to ride Riley he does something stupid -- for example, last time I wanted to go xc schooling mid-week he pretended to colic while Emily was pulling in the driveway with the trailer. A few weeks ago, I took a Thursday off to go xc schooling... I didn't even mention it on here so as not to jinx it. I carefully brought my horse in, checked his shoes and made sure he was comfortable. We had a little time to kill before we were leaving and we all joked around about his evasions. Meanwhile he did this:

Snoozeville, pop: Riley.

That lip.

Education and schooling

Emma over at Fraidy Cat Eventing wrote a post recently regarding how you know whether your horse is schooled, or rather, well-schooled. I'm sure the answer here varies wildly among horse people and certainly changes between disciplines. In my world... that of OTTBs working on second careers, I rarely see what I would call a "well-schooled" horse. But Emma's post got me thinking about what that means for me and my horse. And more deeply, what the difference is between education and schooling when it comes to riding (results may vary).

Webster’s defines education as ‘knowledge and development resulting from an instructive process’, or more specifically, the act or progression of acquiring knowledge. Regarding horses, I think that education comes from experience, exposure and being confirmed (or tested) in various disciplines (ie, showing or performing a discipline in front of a judge of some kind). I consider most things that Riley experiences as a part of his education, xc schooling, training rides, lessons, hacking... all of it. If it increases his progression under saddle, I count it as education. Schooling refers to education received, so while they almost fall under the same definition, when it comes to horses, I think they are much more nuanced.

So how do we define well-schooled then? Well schooled is defined as having been well trained or educated sufficiently, and here's where the nuance comes in. What is sufficient? What counts as enough to claim a horse as well-schooled? In my world world well-schooled equates to being "confirmed" in some capacity. As in, my horse is "confirmed on the flat" = he/she can walk, trot, canter in both directions with a rider. Confirmed over fences = jumps willingly/cleanly around a course of jumps appropriate for his education. This is a very basic way of looking at it I understand, and I could go into much more detail within each category, But I'm over-simplifying for a reason.

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!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I'm pleased to announce the winner of my 300th post giveaway!

*please note, there were 25 names on the list!

 Emma from 'Fraidy Cat Eventing!

Congrats and I can't wait to make a paper cut for you!

Support System

I learned a long time ago to know better than to question the timing in my life. It's easy to get caught up in all of life's ups and downs and get distracted by what isn't going right for us vs. finding the positive (hint: there's always something). But I am guilty of getting caught up in negative thinking too... so when everything in my life is seemingly coming together, I look around with bated breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe it's my Irish Catholic guilt setting in, you know the theory that if something good happens something bad must follow???

But maybe, just maybe all of the things ARE coming together in the right way at the right time?

It's possible, right?

I've been given the most amazing support system. I have a wonderful trainer who believes in me, my horse's ability and pushes me to become a better rider and horse woman. I have a family who support my insane love of horses (since I was a wee little girl) from 4000 miles away in whatever ways they can. And now, my wonderful SO has assisted in making more of my dreams/goals come true.

For Valentine's Day, he told me I was going to the MDHT Adult Eventing Camp in May. You see, he knew I was interested in it, but also knew that it was a luxury I probably wouldn't allow for myself (not to mention is would account for a large portion of my yearly competition budget). I am not into Valentine's Day AT ALL and I made it very clear that I felt like it was a silly holiday and I'd rather treasure someone sporadically throughout the year etc. But he insisted in a very sweet way that he was going to do something whether I liked it or not:)

So imagine my surprise when he told me what he wanted to do! I maybe mentioned this camp once to him in passing!

!!!!!!!!

 

300th post! And a giveaway!

Hey everyone!

It's my 300th post!!!

As I was looking back over my blog stats, I saw that my most popular post was my paper cut tutorial!

So, as a thank you to all of you lovely blog readers, I would like to host a giveaway for my 300th post celebration. The rules are simple, just leave me a comment about why you follow my blog and a link to another blog you love -- I'll draw a name at random in a few days and the winner will receive a paper cut of their choice and a few secret goodies!

It's been a crazy 6 years of blogging and I cannot thank you all so much for all your support, advice, laughs, criticisms and feedback. The last few years have been challenging for me both with Riley and in my personal life, and knowing that I always had this place to go to (even if I wasn't blogging) to read about your adventures, live vicariously and get inspired was so important to me. The blogosphere can be a weird and wonderful place and I feel so very lucky to have a group of followers who make me feel like I have a team of people cheering me on at all times.

A big thank you to Pia's Parade for helping inspire this giveaway. Prairie's Mom was so elegantly patient with me while I worked on a few commissioned pieces that got sidelined when my life got a bit disrupted. I put the finishing touches on them and got them in the mail today!

Prairie in all her glory

Prairie's Mom had a cellphone photo of her on the cross ties that she really loved and I was able to make it work!

It's hard to tell by the photos but the paper behind the images is a cream-colored hand made paper with little tiny silver, shiny stars. I feel like it suits Prairie really well:)

2016 is looking very bright -- thanks for following us so far!

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.

#GOALSMET

Handsome man

This weekend was a little bit hectic with both Emily and I have opposing obligations both days with only a little bit of overlapping at the barn. Saturday I met her and we were determined to get two sets in before she had to head out!

We decided to take the two chestnut boys out first, her young prospect and Riley (best buds). Everything was still really snow covered, so we opted for a hack along the bridle path that surrounds the big paddocks. Both boys were very brave hacking into the unknown and with the snow being VERY deep in spots, they were getting a thorough workout. I think I even heard Riley huffing and puffing a little. When we got back around to the barn, we decided to take our hack down the drive (it's about a mile long) and up to the big hill that looks back toward the barn. This hill is going to prove extremely influential in Riley's fitness and for me to get a better feel for galloping up and down terrain! On the asphalt, I asked Riley to really march along because there's simply no reason he can't do some "real" work at the walk!

Heading out on our hack around the pastures

Both of us looking super awkward.

The next set involved two of Emily's sale horses. A lovely mare named Lola (who might be sold) and a 5 year old dark bay on his 5th ride post-track. You have to love the brain of a well-adjusted TB as he took the lead and led the whole way bravely. At one point they were heading under some low branches when one caght on her vest and snapped off landing on him. He scooted two steps forward and realized everything was fine and went along his merry way! He's definitely one of those types that is REALLY going to blossom with his own person.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl...

Turner leaded the way with Emily up. He's for sale!

I had the barn to myself Sunday and I had planned to ride Riley and Turner, but time got away from me and I had some things I wanted to take care of with Riley, so Turner got off the hook. It would mark my first solo voyage on the property (and the ring is a bit of a hike from the barn) but Riley was just stellar.

Heading up the ring, he spotted a buttload of deer bouncing around

Playing the ring, the snow was finally soft again! (also, sweet bedhead Riley)

We mostly stuck to a large oval (probably larger than 20 meters, but I don't have a good eye for such things unless I'm in a dressage court) and it was actually really fun. He felt super, and because of the 6"-12" snow he was taking this big, bold steps that made him feel like a big fancy warmblood! So we practiced bend, riding without reins and using my legs to maintain our shape and of course lots of sitting trot. His trot is generally easy enough to sit, but in the snow he was really getting a lot of suspension, so it was very challenging! I used some of Emma's recent tips and though about pressing down into my toes, which ultimately kept the ball of my foot where it should stay and keeping my elbows elastic. I always try to this of turning my bell button toward the sky to help straighten out my upper body and I felt I was actually doing some pretty solid work!

*Ahem, my core hates me today.

Our snowy playground!

The last goal I had for the weekend was to take a conformation shot for January. Riley's looking a little rough due to some fungus on his face, and I was going to have to do it by myself (HA!), but I wanted to try anyway. Gotta stick to them goals.

But before we get to that, when I pulled him out of his paddock I noticed something kind of horrifying... As in, his tail was half-gone. I nearly burst into tears and as I'm sure a bunch of you know the struggle it was to get his tail long and full...

We still don't know what happened, but it was either eaten by the pony OR some lunatic chopped it off:(

I wound up trimming another 8" off of it to make it look slightly less insane, but I dunno guys, I'm at a loss for words. if anyone has any suggestions to help it grow any faster let me know!

Onto his little conformation shoot. It was moderately successful, but I was just happen he stood very still in a decent position while I snapped these:

Hahahaha.

This was basically the best I could get him to stand up without spooking him or having him walk over to me for snacks.

Tail or no tail, he's super adorable.

Overall, he looks like what I would suspect from having the last 2-3 months off with only light hacking. Under saddle he's been super soft and bendy and he's moving really well even without shoes. they'll go back on in another week or two after the mud disappears. But I think this is a good baseline moving forward. We'll up his workload each ride and get him up to 4 rides a week in the next month.

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.

Now or Never (Q1 goals)

What having dinner with your trainer looks like

In the spirit of holding myself accountable I set some goals on paper last night with Emily. I explained to her what I was hoping to accomplish for the year and we pulled up the calendar and made some notes. Obviously the list pictured above highlights A LOT of events, but it gives us something to strive for every month. Now that we actually have a fabulous ring, I can truly make plans for us!

2016 Q1 Goals:

• Leg Riley back up - conditioning on hills, flat work and jumping
• Look at competition schedule and decide on a first outing
• Jimmy Wofford Clinic (on Riley's birthday no less!)
• Lesson weekly with Emily and once a month with an outside trainer
• Work up to 4 days of riding with Riley (Flat x 2, condition day, jump day)
• Ride a sale horse for every one ride on Riley to build my fitness and skill (the pony counts)
• XC school (Boyd's?)
• Sign up for MCTA and TIP for year end awards (I think this creates a fun incentive for us to do our very best!)
• Monthly conformation shots

I think these are ambitious but attainable goals. I'm extremely lucky to have the opportunity to ride lots of different horses who all have something to teach me. And, as much as I'll get something out of riding them, I'm also able to trade in sweat equity for training rides on Riley.

Boot camp starts this weekend!

You ready Riley?