This update was supposed to come on Wednesday, but is instead arriving two days late. My apologies. As repayment, let me take you back to the 13th of August, 2011. Que the spooky music and some time travel.
Alright, in case you all don't remember (not that I can blame you, it's been almost a month) the Saturday of Glen Oro found me trailering Cadence over to a friend's (G) farm, so we could trailer up to Glen Oro together. The plan was for us to go up together, show, and return together. We would be returning at around 9-10pm, so Cadence would spend the night at her farm and we'd bring her home in the morning. The Mare was a superstar, and hopped right from one trailer to another without a fuss. So different from the fire breathing pony that used to rear her ugly head whenever we'd try to trailer someplace.
We got caught in traffic heading up to Barrie (big surprise... damn cottage goers) and ended up getting there behind schedule. It was pretty close to my friend's dressage time, so she quickly got dressed, tacked up her pony (B), and haeded over to the dressage arena. Cadence and I still had about an hour, so we took our time getting ready and slowly meandered over. We crossed paths G and B as we headed over. They'd had an adequate test, but G thought it could have been better.
Now, I'm not sure quite what caused Cadence's.... attitude. Perhaps it was because we'd trailered up with a friend instead of by ourselves, but my normally wonderful dressage pony was doing things like cantering on the spot (for three whole strides, I kid you not) when I asked for a trot. We went in and rode our test, and sort of crashed and burned. She was tense, and it was all I could do to keep her from breaking. Sometimes we'd get some nice moments, othertimes I'd be riding a jackhammer. Fun fun fun!! I kept her in frame the whole time... it's what she knows and it's what she's comfortable with, but even with that we were still in like 10th place out of 15 at the end of dressage. She's normally first or second!! I mean, the test wasn't THAT awful.... but unfortunately I never got that test so I don't know what the judge's comments were.
Stadium warm up saw me with a nervous and excitable pony again. Our first attempt at a jump ended up in a dirty stop, but thankfully after that we pulled it together. We were the very last people to go for the whole day, and by the time we entered the ring most everybody had cleared off. We halted, saluted, and continued over the first few jumps. A couple of times, I could feel her ALMOST not make it over, but it wasn't till the fourth to last fence that we had a legitimate issue. She had a dirty run out, because she was focusing on the shed we were approaching. To help me explain it better, picture a huge rectangular grass ring. You're standing in the center along one of the long sides. Across from you, on the other side of the ring is a single black fence. This is the third to last jump. To your left, is another single. It's near the far side of the ring, close to the left hand rail. This is the jump Cadence ran out of. We circled and made it over, but she was still staring at the shed/garage/barn thing. Before we could even attempt the third to last fence, we were standing stalk still paralllel ot the jump, snorting at the shed in utter terror. Eventually, we were blown out. The judge offered to let us try a different fence to end on a good note, but I asked if I could just work her around the shed instead. With a "Sure, but don't get hurt" we headed over, and eventually were able to w/t/c on the rail, by the shed. When we attempted the fence, we jumped it fine so I continued on and finished the course.
I decided to ask if they'd let me out on XC, and sure enough I was waved right through with a 3, 2, 1, have a great ride! Yay! She cleared the first fence brilliantly, but then I was faced with a dillema. There were a few (two to be specific) fences on course that I knew she'd have an issue with. They were both in a line of trees that ran between two of the XC fields. After doing the first jump perfectly, I really didn't want to have any refusals. Should I quit on a good note? Should I give it a go and deal with the issues as they come? Or.... should I just skip the scary jumps? We're already out, why not! So that's what we did. I felt guilty doing it, but we made it around the course almost problem free. She stopped at one fence, a small 2'3 log perched just off the ground, but I gave her a boot and we popped right over it from a stand still! So technically, we never had a stop. It was exactly what she needed, a good confidence builder, save the elimination in stadium.
We trailered back (and had an interesting conversation with the coach (who couldn't be at the show) in the truck on the way home) and bedded the ponies down for the night. Her legs looked great, so I didn't bother poulticing. It was the next morning when I came to fetch her that her LH was impersonating a stovepipe.
OH! Tomorrow we've got a lesson, then Sunday we're going to a little hunter show to do 2'3 and 2'6 hunters. Wish us luck!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Update to carry things over till Wednesday
And on Wed, I'll do a full update of the show. Not that there's all that much to write, but c'est la vie.
Had a jumping lesson today. We started out with a little gymnastic set a bit tight so that Cadence would have to actually use herself and push up over the fences. She was still pretty lazy about it. She knows she can do it and unless the jumps are scary (jumps at a show are scary) she isn't really going to put in all that much extra effort. Fair enough, but that's not the purpose of the exercise. Once we'd acceptably made it through the first exercise, my coach set out a vertical then three strides to a bigger oxer. It started off maybe 3'3-6 or something round there, but she got a bit lazy with it (oh, and I should add that there were poles set every 12 feet between the two jumps, and 12 feet is rouhly 1 stride) so my coach upped the height and told me to let her crash through it once. And that we did. She'd never really hit a jump before, only occasionally rubbing things when she was feeling a bit lazy, so this was a first. When I brought her back round to go over it again, my coach said to just sit tight in case she gets rattled and decides to stop before the oxer, thus throwing me into this somewhat imposing 3'9-11 fence. Well, Cadence didn't stop. She hopped happily over it, and we ended the lesson by cantering a 2'6 square oxer both directions a few times. She didn't go near it :P
The 3'9-11 (dunno the actual height, but it was very close to the top of our 4' standards, and if my coach's body part measurement (like 3' is at the top of your hip kinda thing) is correct, it stood just under 3'11) fence was the highest I've jumped to date, so that was fun. However, equally (actually, much much more) important was the fact that my position is now improving from suckish to adequate. So now when we approach a 3'9 fence, I can stay with my mare and her big jump and do it with some semblance of grace. It's not perfect yet; I still feel myself slipping up, and I sometimes round a bit in my back, but I'm improving.
Had a jumping lesson today. We started out with a little gymnastic set a bit tight so that Cadence would have to actually use herself and push up over the fences. She was still pretty lazy about it. She knows she can do it and unless the jumps are scary (jumps at a show are scary) she isn't really going to put in all that much extra effort. Fair enough, but that's not the purpose of the exercise. Once we'd acceptably made it through the first exercise, my coach set out a vertical then three strides to a bigger oxer. It started off maybe 3'3-6 or something round there, but she got a bit lazy with it (oh, and I should add that there were poles set every 12 feet between the two jumps, and 12 feet is rouhly 1 stride) so my coach upped the height and told me to let her crash through it once. And that we did. She'd never really hit a jump before, only occasionally rubbing things when she was feeling a bit lazy, so this was a first. When I brought her back round to go over it again, my coach said to just sit tight in case she gets rattled and decides to stop before the oxer, thus throwing me into this somewhat imposing 3'9-11 fence. Well, Cadence didn't stop. She hopped happily over it, and we ended the lesson by cantering a 2'6 square oxer both directions a few times. She didn't go near it :P
The 3'9-11 (dunno the actual height, but it was very close to the top of our 4' standards, and if my coach's body part measurement (like 3' is at the top of your hip kinda thing) is correct, it stood just under 3'11) fence was the highest I've jumped to date, so that was fun. However, equally (actually, much much more) important was the fact that my position is now improving from suckish to adequate. So now when we approach a 3'9 fence, I can stay with my mare and her big jump and do it with some semblance of grace. It's not perfect yet; I still feel myself slipping up, and I sometimes round a bit in my back, but I'm improving.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Long Time No See
It's been 11 days since my last post, and I'd been doing so well too! I think I broke my personal record for longest period of time without ablog post, so sorry about that.
Anyhow, the mare's doing wonderfully. Her leg came down (after lots of religious work) and when the vet ultrasounded she couldn't find anything wrong. No evidence of cuts, bangs, tears/rips, no swelling (actually, there was a tiny bit of left over swelling in one spot, but it was sub-cutaneous & nothing worrisome. At least that showed us where the swelling was) nothing. Her only theory was a possible fetlock sprain, but that didn't seem likely because it healed so quickly and she was always totally sound. The vet flexed her just to be sure, and she trotted off perfect. She told me to sweat the leg for the next few days and cold hose it after work, just to deal with any leftover stiffness/soreness in case it was a sprain, and we were instructed to do a few days of w/t, then some light dressage, and after a week we were clear to go back to work. Yay!
So we did w/t Tues Wed and Thurs, had Friday off (my first day away from the barn in a week and a half!) and had a dressage lesson today. The lesson was fantastic! Cadence had been a little heavy in her frame, which allowed us to secure the stretch work on Tues Wed and Thurs, but today my coach said we needed to pick her up a bit and make sure she didn't lay on me through her downward transitions. It was a fantastic lesson, and my already light horse managed to become even lighter! My coach also pointed out how beautifully Cadence'stop line had developed. She has some wonderful muscling along her neck specifically, that I'd never noticed because I don't exactly spend a ton of time looking at her neck when I'm riding! She's a little ahead of the game in her dressage work, but she truly excelles at it so we're just going to keep working at her pace.
Tomorrow we're going to go out for a light walk hack, and on Monday we jump!!
Anyhow, the mare's doing wonderfully. Her leg came down (after lots of religious work) and when the vet ultrasounded she couldn't find anything wrong. No evidence of cuts, bangs, tears/rips, no swelling (actually, there was a tiny bit of left over swelling in one spot, but it was sub-cutaneous & nothing worrisome. At least that showed us where the swelling was) nothing. Her only theory was a possible fetlock sprain, but that didn't seem likely because it healed so quickly and she was always totally sound. The vet flexed her just to be sure, and she trotted off perfect. She told me to sweat the leg for the next few days and cold hose it after work, just to deal with any leftover stiffness/soreness in case it was a sprain, and we were instructed to do a few days of w/t, then some light dressage, and after a week we were clear to go back to work. Yay!
So we did w/t Tues Wed and Thurs, had Friday off (my first day away from the barn in a week and a half!) and had a dressage lesson today. The lesson was fantastic! Cadence had been a little heavy in her frame, which allowed us to secure the stretch work on Tues Wed and Thurs, but today my coach said we needed to pick her up a bit and make sure she didn't lay on me through her downward transitions. It was a fantastic lesson, and my already light horse managed to become even lighter! My coach also pointed out how beautifully Cadence'stop line had developed. She has some wonderful muscling along her neck specifically, that I'd never noticed because I don't exactly spend a ton of time looking at her neck when I'm riding! She's a little ahead of the game in her dressage work, but she truly excelles at it so we're just going to keep working at her pace.
Tomorrow we're going to go out for a light walk hack, and on Monday we jump!!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Avoiding a full update
The show went allr ight, but the next day Cadence had a fat LH. She broke free from the trailer at the show and went for a gallop because the other horse she was with kicked out (didn't hit her or anything, she just reacted... strongly to the other horse kicking) and a horse got into the barn she was stabled in Sat night so she could have injured it then knowing what a bossy little thing Cadence can be. Either way, with poulticing, cold hosing, ice boots, etc. it's still not down and it's been 48 hours. Having the vet out to make sure she didn't do anything serious; unfortunately a little heat seems to be coming from te suspenory area. Full post to come when I have a minute.
Gahh, yucky position.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Glen Oro HT
Cadence and I are headed up to Glen Oro tomorrow, so naturally thunder showers are expected throughout the day. My luck sucks.
On a more positive note, our prep for the event (aside from a lack of XC) has been fantastic. We had a great jump school at Touch N Go, and our ride on Wed was perfect. I was on and off in 15 minutes, and fit a full dressage school into that time! Cadence was calm and attentive, and barely put a foot out of line, so we ran through everything we'd need for tomorrow & called it quits. Hopefully we can replicate that at the show tomorrow. My goal for tomorrow is to complete without any refusals, and I think if we can do that we should be well on our way. Actually, there's another event next weekend that (may) have a Pre-Entry course, so if we go clean around this and if we can make it up to Dreamcrest next weekend, then we may sign up for Entry (Beginner Novice) on the 27th. Then if we make it clean around Entry on the 27th, we'd qualify for championships. Now THAT's what I call scheming! Honestly it depends on how she goes though. If she's hesitant and backed off around Glen Oro and Dreamcrest (if we go) but still goes clear there's no way I'm pushing anything more at her. She's got to be totally confident and prove that going clean wasn't just a fluke. If we can do that, THEN we'll upgrade. I'm really not planing on going to Champs, it doesn't matter to me. If we make it round Glen Oro tomorrow (which we will) then we'll be almost a full month ahead of where we thought Cadence would be, and that suits me just fine.
On a more positive note, our prep for the event (aside from a lack of XC) has been fantastic. We had a great jump school at Touch N Go, and our ride on Wed was perfect. I was on and off in 15 minutes, and fit a full dressage school into that time! Cadence was calm and attentive, and barely put a foot out of line, so we ran through everything we'd need for tomorrow & called it quits. Hopefully we can replicate that at the show tomorrow. My goal for tomorrow is to complete without any refusals, and I think if we can do that we should be well on our way. Actually, there's another event next weekend that (may) have a Pre-Entry course, so if we go clean around this and if we can make it up to Dreamcrest next weekend, then we may sign up for Entry (Beginner Novice) on the 27th. Then if we make it clean around Entry on the 27th, we'd qualify for championships. Now THAT's what I call scheming! Honestly it depends on how she goes though. If she's hesitant and backed off around Glen Oro and Dreamcrest (if we go) but still goes clear there's no way I'm pushing anything more at her. She's got to be totally confident and prove that going clean wasn't just a fluke. If we can do that, THEN we'll upgrade. I'm really not planing on going to Champs, it doesn't matter to me. If we make it round Glen Oro tomorrow (which we will) then we'll be almost a full month ahead of where we thought Cadence would be, and that suits me just fine.
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