Legging up -- considerations

Go away snow + mud!

With the worst of winter behind us in the Northeast, it's time to start legging our horses back up. Unless you're lucky enough to have an indoor, keeping a horse fit and going up here has been nearly impossible (even trailering to an indoor has been tough!). In previous years, I remember distinctly seeing groups of riders walking and trotting along the roads near our farm all season long. This winter, the roads were much quieter, either people migrated to Aiken for a few months, or conditions on the roads were just too treacherous (see: ice).  So, with the ice melted and very little snow on the ground, we've finally been able to get our guys going again. *ps. while I could have technically gotten Riley going a little sooner, starting and stopping with him isn't good for anyone!

After a full weekend of what I consider a good start to getting him legged up, I found myself thinking about the process and what I consider when bringing a horse into work after several months off.

Readers! A request.

Hi all,

Just out of curiosity sake... Do any of you live near the route highlighted on this map? If so, I might need a couch to crash on along the way -- in roughly 6 weeks! It would be super cool to meet some fellow bloggers when this little road trip takes place!

Tentative route

Spring forward -- and a lengthy update!

Finally!

The clocks have gone forward, the days are longer and dare I say it, the weather is warming up. Which can only mean one thing...

Spring Mud Season

Yep, all the snow and ice we've had lying around is quickly melting into little estuaries and streams around the farm. There are giant mud pits around the gates and water troughs, but I don't care... I'm completely over winter and I'll take a muddy mess over frozen hands and toes and constant wind burn on my face. The new farm appears to have decent drainage and thankfully the owners know exactly just how muddy the property gets so we're not freaking out that the horses are making a mess.

Winter is good for something

All this horrible weather has found me in serious hibernation mode. As a result, I was able to finally finish some paper cuts I had started months ago (to be fair, a lot of things happened in between me starting and finishing these). I am so happy they are complete and I think they turned out really well. I'm eager to start more and now that things are settled in my life, I have the focus and time to really devote to all my little art projects!

This one is mounted on lovely iridescent paper (it's hard to tell from my photo)

I love how this one turned out! What a cute face!

I am really fortunate right now to have such creative, inspiring people in my life. Even more that, I feel supported in my creative endeavors and I can feel that energy stirring within me again.

Gearing up, so to speak.

While winter beats on mercilessly in the Northeast, I've been starting to think about the year ahead for Riley and I. I have come up some some short-term goals but they are all contingent upon various things falling into place! Looking ahead for the next 4-6 weeks they look something like this:

*Leg Riley back up -- he's been on vacation for roughly 2 months and was ridden very lightly in November. We'll start road walking and hacking followed by some trot interval stuff before I ask him for anything proper.
*Move to new farm -- that's happening soon, so the transition period maybe interesting to say the least (more on this in a minute)
*Look at some clinics/shows to knock the dust off (tentatively, we are thinking maybe the end of April as a rough goal for a baby HT)
*Train him on the Equineciser (sp?) to work on a baseline of fitness even if the weather is bad -- this is going to be a very cool addition to his schedule!
*Re-introduce the Pessoa to help with his topline. He goes pretty well in this regardless, but I want him to have at least a little work under his belt before I ask him to work 'hard'.
*Get Riley's front shoes put back on at his next trim.

Treats go here.

Alright, alright, alright

I'm back. Sorta.

Thank you all for being patient with me (in all regards).

Just a quick hello to say that I am here, Riley is here and we are very excited about all the great things 2015 holds for us!

A few photos to recap the last 5+ months...

Riley back in November, looking pretty nice in his barefoot status

He got clipped preemptively to help with his winter rain rot, success!

I rode some other horses. Anyone in the market for a 17hh beast of a OTTB?

I had an unexpected stay in the hospital in September, but Riley was there to console me with ALL the hugs.

I looked for silver linings and found them.

We rode into the sunset.

The bad boys club did bad boy things.

I took Riley in an indoor a few weeks ago to see how he was feeling. Result = sound and FRESH!

He made cute faces in the snowy tundra.

Best of all. I found my creative voice again... what was lying dormant for years has been awakened in the most wonderful way. I've been shooting film, working on creative processes, and collaborating and it feels great.

 I hope to get back to serious blogging again soon. We've got some big plans for this year and lots of changes in the mix. I hope you'll continue to follow and support us. Thanks again for being patient with us! I have been reading your blogs pretty faithfully and miss all the interaction!

xo
Niamh & Riley.

Your regularly scheduled blogging will resume soon

I'm on hiatus from blogging for awhile. I promise I'll be back and that I am still reading all of yours when time allows.

DVTCA Schooling HT at Carousel Horse Park 8/24/2014

Phew! What a whirlwind weekend.

I'll start with Saturday as that was our prep day for the show. I was determined to have a really good jump school with Emily to feel tuned up for the show. Earlier in the week we had tried putting Riley back in a regular full cheek snaffle and he was dull and heavy in it, so back to the Dr. Bristol which he loves and is light and forward in.

She set up a classic exercise, trot in over an X one stride to a vertical, one stride to a slightly bigger vertical. We worked on maintaining a consistent tempo without him zooming around (he's getting quite keen to the jumps these days*). Emily threatened to punish me if I didn't start releasing properly and I took her seriously and rode like a normal person for once. We threw in a canter circle after the jumps and added a jump or two to make a little course (including a liverpool!)

Some highlights!

Actually releasing!

Our first time over the liverpool together!

Adding in the vertical after the line and the liverpool.

Also, just for fun. This could be a blog hop!

Love looking back at old photos. We've become a team!

I want to see your before and after shots!

WEEEEEEEEE!

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:)

More fun with Jimmy Wofford exercises

I meant to write this post a few weeks ago when I was test riding in the Berney, but it got pushed to the wayside. Life has been hectic to say the least. Emily set up this exercise in prep for the last HT and hopefully we'll do something similar tonight. The only difference this time is that she's going to jump him first and then I'll hop on. I actually rode really well through this series, though I have discovered that my position is much better with my stirrups up another 2 holes! And lo and behold, I am actually releasing in these photos... let's see if I can keep this up.

Lots of fun options

So, the basic exercise is a placing pole to a one stride (started as just poles on the ground and worked up to 2'3" verticals). Once that rhythm was established the next addition was a bending line to a jump three strides away (again we started this as just a pole on the ground and worked it up to a vertical). After that, and the horse thought he had it all figured out, we headed into the one stride, two strides left to a jump on a bending line. One we got that all sorted out we could do either variation and if all went smoothly canter back around to the other vertical (not sure if that makes sense -- I lost the video!) This exercise was terrific for us because Riley has a habit of thinking he's done after the jump even if we canter away. This forced him to keep focused and listen to my aids as I funneled him through each question. We finished the day with the one stride four strides to an oxer. This was trickier than it sounds since the one stride compresses the stride and it forced you to land, think GO and get the four. It actually rode really nicely.

Of course, some photos (I'll look for the video when I get my ipad back!):

the vertical three strides right

Oxer after in and out to four strides

Riley not approving of me changing the game up (I think this was the first time we went left after the in and out)

Cantering back around to the vertical (I stuffed in another stride)

As you can see in this horrible photo!

 I highly suggest trying this exercise! Best of all it only take 5 jumps!

I need to figure out how to join in all this blog-hopping! But to add:

I thought I'd make an in search of list. You know, in case any of you guys have stuff that doesn't fit your ponies any more. I literally have only one of everything except medium and heavy balnkets so I have nothing cool to offer.

But if anyone out there in blogger land has a 78" turnout sheet up for grabs, let me know. Riley's is in pieces:( I still have to try to repair his really nice heavy blanket that just been collecting dust in my garage.

Not much to update for now. We had a shitty jump lesson Saturday where Iw as so off my game, but my leg was rock solid, so there's that. Went for a nice hack around the property after a flat ride. Riley toted Emily's Mom around the farm and was on his best behavior. And we played dress up.

Cutest plaid polos!

Also, I've been very quiet about this on here due to unwanted readership, but I've been going through a very rocky time in my personal life. Amazingly, one I was free of part of it everything in my life felt better. My health, my sleep, my riding, my work ethic, and my creativity came back with gusto. I may never fully explain what's going on, but if I seem a bit lackluster that's why. This week is going to be a particularly difficult one and I am hoping I can keep my game together to get in some good rides before our show on Sunday and not let that weigh me down. It's amazing how having you head and your heart in the right place effects all these little aspects of your life. These were my most recent fortunes and they couldn't be more spot on.