Let the Jumps Come to You

Mo and I had our first jump school of the year on Friday, and it really could not have gone better. 

It started out great before he even saw the tack, because he walked right up to me in the field and stood to be haltered. For Mr. Head Shy, this is news. I knocked the worst of the dirt off (oh, Virginia spring, how muddy you are) and headed up to the ring. By the time M got up there, we had a good trot going. Just like last lesson, she was thrilled with his trot work. As I continued warming up using some of our exercises from the last lesson, she set up some cross rails--two regular cross rails, two cross rail oxers, a skinny cross rail, and then she just put rails beside the liverpool. She had me walk across the liverpool a couple times (no problem, this horse does not give two shits about the liverpool) and then trot his first cross rail of the year. 

He was PERFECT. 

I'm going to give myself a little credit here: last fall when we were jumping him, I would sometimes get a little nervous (not fearful, just like, "don't fuck up your baby horse" nerves). But on Friday I was like "oh whatever he's the perfect creature" and we just trotted around all over the ring all chill. Even the skinny was no big deal--once he got his eye on it, he was like "cool guys" and hopped right on over. I stayed calm, he stayed calm, yay for everyone being calm.

As we trotted over stuff, if he landed cantering, M had me school the canter and then go find a jump out of it. Because both Mo and I were thinking more about jumping than cantering, the canter was really great. Far from perfect, certainly not in any kind of frame, but I could steer, and that is good news.

After we had a couple good jumps over everything each way, M popped all the cross rails up to verticals or oxers (except the skinny and the liverpool). We trotted one jump and then cantered everything once each way. I just found the next jump from whatever lead he landed on, there was always something there. I'm sad that I don't have any pictures of the jumping, but I got some of the jumps themselves (surreptitiously, while M was schooling a client horse and the client/friend was standing there watching).

Wee baby verticals, but my horse does not care what's under them.

 Mo really was perfect from start to finish. I, however, did that thing I do when I'm out of practice and chased my eye. When I've got 100 jumps under my belt this spring I'll be okay (and I have THREE jump lessons this week so that'll happen quick). But I don't want to teach him to launch and then jump flat, because if I let him, he jumps great, all round and knees up. I don't have to ask for it, it's just there. But in the meantime, I have to make like a hunter rider and let the jumps come to me. That is hard!

He doesn't care about the scary rocks next to the jumps either.

 After the ride was great, too. I went on a walk around the property by myself, and he was chill and seemed to really enjoy himself. That's been a tough thing for us, and there's more to do there, paths we haven't taken yet. But he's gonna be a pro at hacking out by the time summer hits.

It's only like 2' but I'm so proud of him that it might as well be 4'.

 I wrote a goals post two months ago, and I think we're getting there. We ditched lunging last week, and after this jump school, we decided it was time to hang up the standing martingale. It could come back, or a running (I hate running martingales, for what they do to the rubber on the reins if nothing else). The canter is coming along, especially in the steering department.

Liverpool schmiverpool.
I know horses who won't go near these things.

So all in all, couldn't be more thrilled with the beast. I was having dinner with M's family on Saturday and her husband asked if I'd ridden Mo that day. "Yup." "Well? How was he?" "Perfect as always." M: "Yup. He's basically perfect." She also said on Friday that I could sell him right now and buy a new car, but who wants a new car when you could have a baby horse who hops over a 2' oxer out of a canter like NBD on his first jump school in months? Not me, yo.

An oxer with a dragon-hiding rock next to it.

He's a genius and I love him. We're really building a great bond.

Upcoming: Our jump school recap from today, my insane but really fun weekend, and Red and Sugar updates (short version: I adore them both).

Gimme Some Sugar

So I've been seriously holding out on you all and you should definitely not forgive me, except for the fact that I'm about to overwhelm you with cuteness and you will get over your outrage immediately.

As you recall, I have the world's cutest nephew, and he is OBSESSED with horses.

<3

So my mom and I have been thinking about getting him a pony for awhile, but there was absolutely no rush on it. If the right pony came along for the right price and we had a stall, we'd go for it. Otherwise, we could sit chilly. He's only two, after all.

Well, as it turns out, the woman who owns the barn where I boarded Lex in Ohio was doing a fire sale on all of her lesson horses, including one I quite liked when I was there. So--and bonus points for you if you'd already put this together--I sent Tracy over to have one more look at her. (If you aren't already a huge fan of Tracy, I'm questioning your judgment. She's an A+ human being and horsewoman.)

The short version is, Tracy told me everything I needed to know about the pros and cons of the pony, and Mom and I decided we could handle the cons and liked all the pros. So now we have a pony! Sugar arrived last night and is now a happy member of the Clawson family.

In case you haven't read Tracy's adorable post yet, Sugar is a 10 year old POA mare who has been used in a lesson program and for birthday parties since essentially the dawn of time. She has a couple habits that come from being a lesson pony, but we can fix those. She's a good girl.

She hopped right off the trailer and put her head down to eat grass. I let her hang out for a minute before we approached the barn. The other horses were like "whaaaaaaaaat is thaaaaaaaaaaat??!!"

Someone left that one in the dryer too long!

We put her next to Ink, my old man. He was pretty obsessed with her. I have a feeling he nickered at her all night.

"The Easter Bunny brought me the pony I asked for!"

She calmly took in her surroundings, found the water and hay, and clearly laid down to sleep last night as she was covered in shavings this morning.

My brother and his wife brought the kids over to meet her. He brought Logan to the barn straight away, and Logan was all: "She needs more water! She needs more hay! Can she come out? She needs an apple." Then we had to go in and eat dinner. He wolfed his food down and insisted on going right back out. Because the adults hadn't even had a chance to take a bite, we had him draw her a picture while he waited.

Who wouldn't want a purple sword-wielding dragon wearing a crown as a welcome gift?

So we finally let the kid go out and see his pony again (he doesn't know she's his yet and won't for another year or so probably). He noted correctly that she needed to be brushed, but we figured it would be best to let her settle in before we let the kid have at her. 

She was very interested in him, though.

This morning, we let her out with Ink. He pestered her for awhile, and she'd just trot away and eat grass. Eventually he got over it and it's been heads down grazing ever since. 

So now we have a medium pony, who's going to be ridden around bareback by 5'8" me sometimes, by the pony club kids sometimes, by lesson kids sometimes, and by Logan whenever possible. We are just thrilled to have her, and I think she's gonna love being at our house (until the grazing muzzle, which might have to happen until spring is over).

Nothing is more fun than a new pony, so expect a lot of pony obsession over here for awhile.

Color Inside the Lines

Last week I didn't see my horses at all, because I was in Florida moving the rest of my stuff out. It all went fine (except when I thought my cat had run away and I spent two hours sobbing and looking for him and then had a headache the entire next day). I'm sad, though. I loved living there and I hope to move back someday. It's a hard place to keep a horse but if I had a real grownup job with money I could make it work.

I did get to see Duchess though!
This is an old pic from when I used to ride her.
She looks a little too thin for my taste right now.

Anyway, I got back late Saturday night, and even though I was so tired I just wanted to lie down, I got on both horses on Sunday. Red was his usual good boy self. Mo was a little tense and rushed, but he'd had a week off and it was hella windy so I forgive him. I did have to ride him for quite some time to work him down to earth, but that's not a big deal for a baby TB.

On Monday I took a fabulous flat lesson on Mo. He was just really stellar. No one was around to take any pictures or anything (I never want to ask M--I need her eyes on the moment-to-moment, and she was sitting on a horse anyway). So you'll just have to trust me that he was a total rockstar.

First of all, M kept saying that he looks fabulous, and he really does. His coat is shiny, he's fat ("he can stay fat like that through training level. When you go prelim he'll need to be fitter." Gulp. "But that won't happen for a couple years?" "Ohhhhh you never know." Another gulp. Ha).

PRELIM?

Mo's trot work was on point yesterday. He's still a green bean and will be for awhile, and he whined a tiny bit about the contact, but we were able to move beyond just "get him to give to the bit" to "keep that feel and go do something else." So we did lots of changes of direction, lots of w/t transitions (he's not ready to stay on the bit through the transition yet).

And we started properly introducing him to leg yields. I liked this exercise and so did he. We started out on a 12m trot circle ("ride the outside edge of your horse around to make it smaller"). The circle would be too small for him to stay on in balance, but he did have to maintain an energized trot and softness in the bridle. Then when it was time to leg yield, I'd just put a little more in the outside stirrup and a little opening outside rein and just think "make the circle bigger." Any more than that was too much, I found. If I tried to ask for the leg-yield with my inside leg timed as you would on a broke horse, he'd get tense and invert. "No no, that's not it. He has to stay in his shape--he has to color inside the lines." That was a brilliant little phrase, because we got it every single time after that. He was even crossing over, because my stripey-face is a genius.

We had some discussions about bend, but nothing serious. He likes to lean on my right leg a bit when going right, so M said something she used to say a lot when I rode Lex: "Make a place for your inside leg by moving his barrel over." That works pretty well, but I have a right-side problem. I sit off to the right a little, especially when cantering Mo. I hang on the right rein. My right leg is just less useful. I don't know what to do about it other than be aware of when I'm crooked and try to fix it. I don't know what the weakness is in my body that's causing it but I'll figure it out eventually and get to the root of the problem. The good news is, Mo was being so fantastic that we COULD think and talk about my equitation. That's super encouraging.

The canter work was pretty good, too, and I made it harder for him at first. He was galloping around like a racehorse and feeling the tiniest bit frantic--and this was after a few attempts to get the right lead. Mary told me to put his canter "at the edge of walk." For whatever reason, this let me relax and sink down onto his back a little more, and then his canter got really soft and nice. We're getting there with the canter. I think it still stresses us both out, but I think the only way beyond this thicket is through. I don't want him to start worrying about our rides, but we can't avoid the canter forever either. I didn't buy him to be a walk/trot horse. That said, I don't know that we'll canter every day until it's a less stressful experience for him. He's a worrier.

So that was all good, but the best part of the ride for me was the very end, when M insisted that we go for a walk outside the ring. Historically, this has not been Mo's best event. But even if he's going to be a show jumper, he's going to have to be ridden in the open. Those bridle paths in Wellington aren't going to hack down themselves, right? I expected at least a little drama based on the last time we tried this a couple weeks ago, but you know what? He acted like we do this every day, and that it's his favorite part of the ride. I don't know what changed, but it was a totally pleasant and fun experience. There will be lots more hacking out in the future.

I rode him again today and he was just as good as yesterday, though I have this gut instinct that he was worrying about the canter. We did it anyway, and I did my best to stay relaxed and let go. We got about a circle of a canter I quite liked and then called it quits for the day and went for a little walk back to the barn. All in all, it was a success.

I rode Red after work last night and thought he felt a little unlike himself. I decided it was most likely that the footing in my ring at home is pretty hard due to lack of rain, and that I'd see how he felt today if we actually got the forecasted rain. We did, and he DID feel better. Maybe the old man will need front shoes for the summer, we'll see. He's so cool. There are a few things to work on with his flatwork still--he feels a little inconsistent to me in his bend and contact, but all in due time. I'm just thrilled that he's stretching over his topline and engaging. I want him all muscley and ready to jump!

So that's the news with my boys. I have a jump school on the books for Mo on Friday. I CANNOT WAIT. We need to break up the flatwork a little bit and I just miss jumping. Plus I need to see how the Royal Rider stirrups do over fences. I've heard they're no help at all in anchoring the ol' leg and that they make some people go to their knees. We'll see, I guess!

Never. Chase. Points.

In my "welcome back to riding" post from the other day,  I mentioned that I won't be likely to point-chase on Mo, in part because of who he is (a baby still, thrives from having a break, stresses out when he feels too pressured--things that may change when he is a grown up, but that's the horse I have today). And in one of my over-used parantheticals, I issued my decree: NEVER CHASE POINTS. Lauren asked me to elaborate.

I don't have any pics for this post, so here are some critters I love.

 This is Duchess.

 It's not as though point-chasing has never occurred to me. I love horse showing. LOVE. If I had the budget, I would live at horse shows and compete as much as possible. I thrive on the environment, I'm competitive but not to the point that I MUST win, and I love seeing beautiful horses and tack and riders all spit-shined and ready to rock it.

Almost ready for his show career.

 But perhaps I need to back up a second. Let's remember that I'm a jumper rider in my heart of hearts. That has two implications: 1. I don't really know a lot about points in any other discipline, though I have to assume that the set-ups are somewhat similar.  2. The way we try to win any given class is different than how other folks try to win. (NOTE: I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT DRUGGING HERE. Topic for a different day.) When dressage folks and hunters try to win, they're putting in their best test that day, and it is subjectively measured. Of course, dressage horses and show hunters are athletes, and in addition to elegance, they must be accurate and powerful. But I think in those two disciplines, riders are going to be at least somewhat less likely to make the horse absolutely crazy in one class, as jumper riders trying to beat the clock can do. Eventers lie somewhere in the middle, as they must start with a dressage score, but they can of course push the horse very hard over fences if they're trying to win.

I miss my Lexi.

 So here's my philosophy on winning, as a jumper rider and former eventer: Don't try.

Okay, what I really mean is, don't try 95%-ish of the time. I will try to win when these three, and all of these three, conditions are met: 1. It is a money class (which I haven't ridden in in a LONG time, having been horseless for a good seven years and in greenie world for the last few); 2. I'm actually positioned to win if I do things right (meaning there aren't 15 other horses in the jump off who could easily kick my ass); 3. Trying to win will not result in frying my horse's brain; in other words, he can cope with the pressure.

This horse's brain fries at the slightest provocation.

That does not mean that I don't care about pulling rails or time faults, because I REALLY DO. I always prepare to ride clean and inside the time, and I typically pull that off. And sometimes I win because other people made more mistakes than I did that day. And sometimes I don't win even though the horse's performance put me over the moon with happiness. It doesn't matter. It's not worth trying to win, because it isn't worth galloping recklessly around a course and taking huge risks that could demoralize or fluster my horse or get one of us hurt. And I know y'all know what I mean, you've seen plenty of those riders.

Another nutty horse I used to ride. She's an eventer now.

Those kinds of "I have to win this 3'6" jumper class!!!!" rounds just kill me, because they violate the first rule of horsemanship: The horse always comes first. Always. Always.

Now, don't get me wrong, I make rider errors that piss the horse off or confuse him or whatever, as do we all. I'm not saying "be perfect or don't ride." I'm saying that don't throw your education and horse sense to the wind the minute you get your sights set on a blue ribbon.

Ella wants all the points if points = toys.

Further, there are entire horse shows that I won't go to because I don't think it's worth it if you AREN'T going to be competitive (Upperville, for instance, which is less than an hour from my house and I have a really nice show jumper, but we won't be going, because he is not an Upperville horse and I haven't shown in a good 18 months). That doesn't mean YOU shouldn't. If you want to do Dressage at Devon just because and you know you're not going to win anyway, that's fine. I just don't, because I don't have any real money, and that's just how I've organized my life.

Back when I was pretending to be a dressage rider, double bridle and all.
This horse wasn't gonna win any year-end awards, as he reared in half his tests.
Still got his rider a silver medal, though.

So if you draw the line from "don't try to win" to "never chase points," you see that it's quite direct. I can't chase points if I'm not trying to win. And I can't chase points if there are some horse shows I'm not going to go to. Points require being in the ring A LOT. That's great! I love being in the ring a lot. But it means being in the ring a lot on the same horse, and here's the thing: not all horses can or should handle that. And even if they can--if you're getting near the high point award on your horse, and you decide to chase points, remember that someone could likely outspend you by going to shows on your circuit that you can't afford to go to, can't get the time off work or it just isn't in the budget, and all of a sudden you've outspent your means and maybe worn out your horse (and perhaps yourself) and... you're not in the top.

Do points = peppermintses?

So. There you have it. That's why I don't chase points. That doesn't mean you shouldn't, and if you get a high point award, you will receive my hearty and sincere congratulations, because I trust that we are all doing our best to make good decisions for ourselves and our horses.

Forget points. Chase naps.

Have the Conversation: A Review Lesson

 I'm lucky in many ways, and among them is that my horse is sweet and smart and wants to be good. I'm also in the very enviable position of being M's working student. One of our mutual friends said to me one day that I'm in a position that A LOT of people are actively envious of, and I took that to heart. Not that I'm the type to take good training for granted ever, but it's good to keep in mind nonetheless.

Among M's many skills is her ability to say things in a way that clicks. If it doesn't work the first time, she explains it a bit. Still not working? She'll find a new way to say it. It sounds small, but not every coach can do that.

Another thing she's just really terrific at is giving young horses a kind and thoughtful beginning to their education. Really, this is why I wanted to work with her. I'm so glad I have Mo and M at the same time. And last week's lesson--our first of the year--demonstrates why. In part, it's because we had nearly the same lesson more than once last year, in which we worked on encouraging Mo to soften to the contact (except last year we jumped, but he's not fit enough yet). And Mo progressed beyond that into actually being on the bit. And then he basically had the winter off. We're certainly not back to square one. For instance, he can move off my leg now (though he's a bit of a kick ride at this point, which may change as he gets fitter). Instead of being all "why doesn't he know this still?" or "why aren't you the perfect rider?" she just went back to that phase of the training and talked us through it like we'd never heard it before. Not in a condescending way, but in the kind and patient way she typically does. And I wasn't making any huge rider mistakes--my horse had only been back under saddle for three or four rides when we took our lesson, and he needed those rides to remember how to horse. But it was time to pick up the reins and ask him to get to work. So what follows are mostly screen shots from the video my mom VERY kindly took, and pointers from M. Most of it isn't revelatory, but it's quite useful, and schooling green horses to the contact is something many of us are working on at the moment.

First of all, she was very pleased with his warm up walk. It was long and in front of my leg. It wasn't into the contact (gotta work on that at the trot first so you don't mess up the walk), but it was relaxed and swinging and happy. Good enough for training level dressage.

Then we picked up the trot, and he was the tiniest bit more up than usual because there were people in the ring looking at him, but I just kept him in front of my leg and established forward. And at last, it was time to pick up the reins and get him schooling.

A little up, but forward.

"Keep your reins. He may not love it, but he'll find his way too it, just like he does with side reins." This is what she means by having the conversation, or starting it. And you need to have the conversation again and again--those are half halts--to make sure he's still with you.

Turkey Trot.

 Mostly, he wasn't nearly as whiny as he has been in the past about the contact. I think there are a couple reasons for this: he understands it more now than he used to, and the winter off was really good for his brain.

Relaxed and soft--good starting ingredients.

 As far as position goes, she didn't harp on me as much as she could/should have (let's remember that I'm riding in an Antares jump saddle, which encourages a closed hip angle, not a dressage saddle or a less forward-going jump saddle, but I do still have that positional sin to correct), but she did remind me that when I take the reins, I need to keep my elbows bent. I give too easily and too soon otherwise.

Love pretty much everything about this.

One thing that helped a lot in the early going was five walk/trot transitions to get him thinking about what I was asking for and to help with balance. Our transitions aren't terribly sharp yet, but that's not the immediate concern. No use in having sharp transitions on a horse who isn't anywhere near the bridle, let alone in it.

There's a pretty nice mover under all that baby stuff.

Also useful was her advice to cut in on the turns and then leg yield out a little bit so he connects to the outside rein more. This helped A LOT, even though we're not doing perfect dressagey leg yields at this point.

Imperfect but finding the outside rein a bit more.

I'm going to abandon the narrative a bit here, because what M had to say stands on its own without a lot of further blabbering from me:

"When you take the rein, keep the rein, until he stops whining, and THEN you can be soft[...]If you give back to him before he's softened, he's never really going to learn it."

Not the moment to give!

 "Hold the reins just as if you were the side reins. The side rens don't get longer if he pulls on them. And he comes really soft to the side reins. So what he has to learn is that you're not going to give back to him until he softens, and then you can be quite soft. But he has to say 'yes ma'am' when you say 'come here.'"

Still nope.

If the horse is too much in your inside rein, you can try changing directions. "When you change directions [to the right], really put that right leg into him so he doesn't drop his shoulder and motorbike around."

Needing a good change of direction here.

He can float behind my leg a little, which makes this exercise hard because I need more horse in the bridle to get him to understand the concept.

Tracking up=in front of my leg.
Much easier to get into the contact from here.

"Stay elastic. You will feel like you've got an 8 or a 9 in your hand. It should feel uncomfortable, and he should whine about it and try to find a release, and that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing! He's trying to figure out what the heck you want. So then when he comes soft, that's what you want, and that's when you soften to him. Because he has to find the right shape. Baby horses get through it."

Getting there, loving the front end.

 "So then, Jess, you're riding from soft moment to soft moment." [The beginner concept of what we were working on with Seneca the Dressage Horse last summer--riding from half halt to half halt.]

Better!

 "Once we get him to accept the connection, then we can ask him to lower his head and neck."

Cuteness.

After about this point in the lesson, my phone ran out of room and Mom had to leave, so she missed the canter. There wasn't much to see anyway--it was the first canter of the year and the whole point was to survive it. But he was good, and there was no bucking or excessive hissy fits. So I'll take it!

The best part of the lesson, and this horse, were moments like this one:

See? Mama's boy.

He licks his lips pretty much every time I pat him now, whether I'm on him or not, and often when I just verbally praise him. To me, this says that he cares what I think and that he wants to do it right. I've had some very good horses who won't do this--Red, for instance--but it's a characteristic in Mo that I just adore and I hope it never goes away.

So we're off to a good start this year, knock on wood. I'm about to go hop on him, so fingers crossed for some good trot work and maybe even a little cantering even though it's cold and damp and gross outside (I thought it was spring? No?).

This Post Might be Jinxy

My sweet Mo has been such a joy lately. I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep everyone constantly updated on how FANTASTIC he has been under saddle lately, but I'm here to tell you that he's a treasure.*

Since I bought him, he's had stretches of time off here and there, and this winter was brutal for riding. But I've found that when it's time to pick him back up, he's always game. This one will be well-served by a conscientious training and competition schedule so he doesn't get stressy. It'll be worth it to show him less and show him well than chase points (NEVER CHASE POINTS) and keep the show schedule up, I think. Good for the budget, too.

The first ride back, I pulled this enormous fat pony out of the pasture.

When are you due, sweetie?

He was delighted to see me, as he pretty much always is, because he's turning into quite the mama's boy.

"Mama's Boy" just means he knows that I know where the cookies are.

And he was proud to show off his coat decorations.

There's a very fancy horse under all that crud.

 He lunged like a school pony for five minutes, and then I made him strike a pose so he could model the saddle pad I made.

We borrowed Beyonce's hair fan.

 
Walked and trotted around for, oh, 15-20 minutes, and then I had a sleepy boy on my hands.

Wow-WEE! That was HARD.

I could have stood there admiring him all day, and we snuggled in the ring for another ten minutes probably.

Treats now. I need sustenance to walk back to the barn.

Anyway, I owe y'all a lesson recap for sure, because we had a great flat ride with M last week. It was largely review, focusing on getting him into the contact at the trot, and then surviving the first canter back of the spring. It all went super great, and he was a doll, even if he fussed sometimes ("I don't mind the whining, he'll figure it out") and I made mistakes ("Don't worry, I will install the skills I need in you"). My mom came out and taped it, and while I can't use the video because I forgot to tell her to hold the phone sideways, I grabbed some stills and I'll be able to listen to it to remind myself of all the great stuff M said beyond the quotes above. For now, how CUTE IS THIS.

He licks his lips pretty much every time I pat him now.

We also had a brief ride last week that I was thrilled with. All we did was walk, but M was jumping one of her horses in the ring and cantering around and Mo plodded along on a loose rein like a freaking A-circuit professional. He could not have done that in November, that's for sure.

On Saturday, as some of you may recall, I was supposed to go to that super cute hunter show. Long story short, by the time we got there, there was no parking and it was a bit of a mess. No big deal, though--we re-routed to my friend's FABULOUS farm (the same place I took Red a couple months ago, and where Mo schooled in the indoor for the first time). This turned out to be a brilliant decision, because he still had to cope with being off the farm but without the tension that seemed to be running thick at the show. And it was much less muddy. It was a scuffle to get his bridle on (this one shall be bridled on the trailer or in a stall when away from home, foreverandeveramen), but other than that, he was just SO good. He had to see the terrifying sheep, the spooky jumps, new horses in the ring with him (just two, and they were quiet, but still). I just lunged him for a few minutes and then climbed up on, and I couldn't be happier with how the ride went. This one is a keeper. I wish I had pics of that day. Even though he didn't win any ribbons, it was a gold medal day in my mind.

There will be rocky rides ahead, but for now, I'm enjoying the hell out of this beastie.

* I realize that writing this means that he'll buck me off tomorrow. I'll take my lumps.