After giving Bobby Saturday off, I went to the barn early Sunday morning ready to slay some mental demons. Like serious ninja shit here, dudes. Apparently Kung Fu Fighter is my middle name because that business got taken care of.
Setting aside the grid idea for the day, I decided to set up a small vertical on the short side to circle over while essentially doing a dressage school in jump tack. It was like Saturday's lesson kids had psychic powers because it was already there when I went up to the arena. If that's not a sign from the "Get it together, ye who spazzes over nothing" gods than I don't know what is.
I dropped my stirrups a hole for a little more leg leverage and went to work on a quick w/t warm up before moving on to the canter in direct order. With my butt planted in the saddle and my hands starting off up by my boobs, I was able to rock Bobby back onto his booty and lure the front end away from wanting to pull an ostrich.
can we just drool over how amazing he looks for a moment?
Keeping both of us in a dressage state of mind, I cut our circle inside the track and calmly pointed him for the 2'3" vertical. He popped over it NBD and carried on like a proper gentleman. There may have been maniacal laughter on my part at this point. "Fuck you, jumping brain fart!! You're nothing but a blip in my horse's legit dressage fanciness!"
Did my mental rambling make sense to anyone else? No, but when has it ever?
The rest of the ride started to roll along in the same fashion. I didn't even trick myself into freaking out. On the contrary, I only had one very brief thought of, "I think I should be nervous right now" before telling myself to shut up and just focus on the canter, the canter, the canter (Who's clinic-ed with Eric Horgan before and now has his voice stuck in their head?).
I was like, "Wow, am I actually going to be able to write a blog post about how I wasn't a complete chicken shit? That's what's up." Then I proceeded to write parts of said post in my head, laughing about how clever I am (clearly those parts did not make it into this post), and the next thing I knew we were turning into a jump and my second of worrying was well behind me.
it's farming season which means i don't even know what hubby looks like anymore. so here's a jumping pic from the ssj clinic back in march that was never shared.
Bobby did, however, start to come a bit unglued towards the end. I think his "I'm a good, listening dressage horse" brain began to get taken over by his "I'm a mother fucking jumping horse, bitchesssss!" brain. He started to get quite rude to the oxer (3', still set on the diagonal from the other day), so we had a little Come to Jesus about listening to half halts. By his final jump over that fence, he was a total dreamboat.
We also had some obedience issues with the two stride line. The lessoners had taken away the trot poles I had set up and I didn't put them back. That left us with a long approach to the first jump. Bobby's first few strides were lovely and listening, and then he just couldn't help himself and took over like a freight train. That also got sorted out by the end, and I finished feeling like we'd accomplished a lot.
bobby loves bath time! look how pumped he is!
I still need to work really hard on folding my upper body more over jumps. I'm releasing with my reins, but because I'm still so tall in the saddle, it's more like I'm just chucking my hands forward. It doesn't make for a pretty picture, nor is it as effective as, you know, riding like a real person.
But shit yeah for getting a kick ass jump sesh under our belts! We had a very hard dressage school today where I worked Bobby relentlessly on being straight to the right. We were both huffing and puffing by the end of it...at the walk. Being straight is so hard.
Two more weeks of jumping, that is. And then I think I need a hiatus. My brain just can't handle itself right now. I'm all like, "Brain, what the fuck are you freaking out about now? These are just jumps. We've jumped bigger. We've jumped scarier." Meanwhile, my brain is like, "DEATH. WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO DIE. ME, YOU, THE HORSE, EVERYONE. WE ARE DOOOOOMED."
I mean, it's just absurd.
I set up a few very simple jumps to get back into the groove today. I'm entered in a horse trail two weeks from now, and we really haven't had a real jump school in ages. Down one long side, I set up three trot poles to a vertical (2'6"), two strides to an oxer (2'6"). On the other long side I smushed two saw horses together that had been brought out for the show to make a skinny vertical (I think they were about 3'). Across the diagonal was a wide 3' oxer, and down one short side was a single barrel on its side.
None of those are difficult jumps for us. I much prefer oxers to veritcals, and with the 6' standards 3' looks pretty small.
I warmed Bobby up with the hopes that his beautiful flat work we've had the past two rides would carry over to his jump tack. At the trot, I think he did pretty well. At the canter, he was a rage monster. I couldn't get him slowed and I could barely get him stopped. His whole front end just kept getting lower and lower as he went barreling around. Never fear! That's what I set the trot poles out for!
exactly why bobby got jumped in an elevator before switching to the hackamore.
In we trantered, popping over the vertical and getting the two surprisingly calmly. The next time around, Bobby actually deigned to trot the trot poles and it was a much better jump in. However, the was the last of it. It's amazing how well he can compact his giant body to canter through 5' ground poles without touching them, yet he can't package himself to canter up to a fence normally.
We moved on to the oxer when I got annoyed with him ignoring me through the line. I trotted in to it letting him pick up the canter the last two strides. Cantering in just freaked me out for no logical reason. I trotted/cantered the last couple strides once more before trotting into the saw horses. Bobby turned in, saw the jump, and picked up the canter. Then he thought, "Hmm. That's suspicious looking." but hot damn I actually just put my leg on and he was like, "Righto! A jump's a jump! Over we go."
With that confidence boost I let him canter around to the oxer. He was wild. I tried to wrangle him back as much as I could before just turning him loose the last stride.
sometimes we're like fancy ridiculous steeplechasers.
We finished up with the single barrel. He would lock on at the trot, pick up the canter, and then jump....the air next to it. After doing that a couple times, I walked him up to it, he jumped it lovely from the walk and then cantered off. Good pony.
The frustrating thing for me is that when I let him go charging around the ring like a crazy man, his distances are spot on. He doesn't chip, and he doesn't take a flyer. But when he's going that fast he jumps super flat, and 3' is not really much of an effort for him. That I'm not happy with. I love the distances, but not the jump itself.
4' actually requires effort, but there is no way we're schooling 4' course right now. brain says no.
I know a lot of today was that he was just super excited to jump again. The dude loves to jump. The more we work on it, the calmer he gets. But my bitch of a brain has randomly decided jumping is sooo scary. Get over yourself, brain. It ain't no thang.
I'm going to force myself to do at least two jumps schools a week in the next two weeks. They'll probably be grids so Bobby is forced to check himself before I wreck ourselves. I have to get over this mental block. I think time off from jumping after the upcoming show will be a good thing. I get bored too easily to not want to sneak back to fences eventually.
It's that wonderful time of the month where I randomly think to bring my camera to the barn and take pictures of Bobby's hooves. Yay!
He was last trimmed this Monday:
RF
RF
LF
LF
RH
RH
LH
LH
And yes, the WLD is being treated. Stupid hoofers.
Bobby had the last two days off and got back into work this morning with a light dressage school. Despite how much I'm still whining about the dressage show, I did manage to pull a couple of useful things out of our comments. Mostly that I need to stop letting Bobby dope along in his chosen gait--that being "How slow can I go without falling down?" So today's big focus was asking for more energy, more impulsion, and the ever elusive straightness.
one handsome hunk of horseflesh mugging for cookies.
Ugh, my horse can be so dreamy sometimes. He was all, "Ask and you shall receive...receive the fanciest mother fucking dressage moose you've ever seen!" I shortened up my reins, put my leg on, and he lifted himself right up and away we went for twenty minutes of badassery. We finished up with some lateral work at the sitting trot, including one ramrod straight leg yield right.
Let me just say, I love my new saddle. I'd never sat in one before or even seen one in person, and had only read reviews online, but it is literally perfect. It fits comfortably over Bobby's giant Thoroughbred withers; the twist isn't super narrow, but it isn't the awful wide twist like a Wintec; the shorter flap makes it easier to feel his sides, and while I thought I might not like this because of how long my leg is, I actually love it; and the biggish knee blocks aren't obnoxious at all. It puts me in an awesome position, and I'm sooo comfortable in it.
I'm quickly becoming a lover of all things dressage, but I sent in my entry to Burgundy Hollow this morning so back into the jump tack we go tomorrow.
Also, the bald eagle's eggs down the road from us hatched! Cutest little alien birds ever:
Holy shit. I think it's a good thing I didn't get around to writing this post the day of the show because I'd be calling out names, and pointing fingers, and being way more of a colossal bitch than I plan on being now. Instead, I've let it go (a little) and I'm going to attempt to be super mature about the shit show that was this dressage circus. I'll just say upfront that EVERYONE running this show SUCKED.
The show was Sunday. We were supposed to get ride times Thursday (It said this on the show's website.). When we hadn't gotten ride times by 8:30pm Friday, I emailed the secretary. "Oh, sorry, lolz! I'm still accepting entries so hopefully I'll have them out later tonight!"
Uh, what?
Saturday morning, we were finally emailed times. I was set with my three rides in the afternoon, which were nowhere close to my barn mate L's times--even though I'd emailed the secretary the week before, and she'd confirmed that she'd put us as close together as she could since we were hauling up together, and L had to get back to school by that evening.
which meant i blew some time braiding robert while we waited....and waited.
Then I talked to L's mom T at the barn show Saturday where she realized L hadn't even been given a time for her Training 3 test. T called the secretary, the secretary assured her she'd fix the schedule, and then she emailed us all new ride times...three more times Saturday night! Did L finally get her T3 time? Nope.
We loaded up, hauled the hour to the show, and Bobby gets out a sweaty mess because apparently he doesn't like hauling in a slant load. Poor dude. Hubby grazed him while I ran up to check L and I in. The secretary didn't seem to have any recollection of needing to put a time in for L, so she just stuck her in during the lunch break. At least she had a time now!
tasha is bobby's absolute favorite lady horse in the entire world.
Hubby and I went up to watch L do her T3 test where we waited....and waited....and waited....
She finally got to go in an hour after her freshly scheduled ride time, did her test, and then had to hang out in the pouring rain and insane wind for her second test. Hubby and I retreated to the car while Bobby grazed. The rain let up just as L went back into the ring so I took Bobby over to snap some pictures for her. Bobby was all, "Hey! I know them! Let's go say hi!!!" and attempted to walk right over the top of me in mission to be best friends with everyone. I gave him a hearty shank just as a woman walked by, and she gave me a disgusted look. Fuck you, lady. If you want to get run over by a 1200 pound dipshit, feel free.
The rain clouds blew over and the sun started to think about coming out when I went to get Bobby ready. The show was running about an hour and a half late at that point, and by the time I got on to warm up, I should have been riding my last test.
Bobby was pretty fresh warming up, probably bored out of his brains by that point and spurred on by the insane winds. We had a little w/t/c and headed across the way to wait for the last Training rider to go in--we were the first First pair to ride.
I checked with one of the girls standing by to make sure they were wrapping up Training, and she told me yes, but they were doing the Prix Caprilli class next. Uh, what? So I jumped off Bobby, refusing to sit on him for another half an hour doing nothing. Then another woman walks by and mentions that they're about to start the First riders. Wait, what?! There was no one official available (of course not!) so I went with what was supposed to go next--that being ME--and got back on poor Bobby.
Let me tell you, the only thing harder than getting on your dancing 17hh horse in a western saddle while wearing skinny jeans? Getting on your braided 17hh horse in a dressage saddle. I had no mane or saddle horn to grab on to, and while Bobby was standing like a saint, I couldn't heft my giant ass up there despite needing to be in the ring now. I finally dropped my stirrup two holes, grabbed a fat button braid, and hauled myself up.
I checked with the judge to make sure we were all on the same page, and she blew the whistle for me to go in. Finally, right?
Wrong!
Just as I was about to go in, the judge blew her whistle again and called out that she didn't have her scribe back yet. YOU DIDN'T THINK OF THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU BLEW ME IN?!
So we kept trotting until the scribe came back and we were allowed to start.
The test was not great. Bobby felt like a fire breathing dragon as evidenced by his not so stellar (or even really existent) first halt, so I was riding super conservatively trying to keep him looking relaxed and happy. My reins were too long, Bobby does not do the whole "stretching" thing, and it was kind of a mess in general. But it was accurate and he kept a lid on it. The judges comment was, "I'd love to see you on a calmer day! Your horse seems like he's a little on his toes."
My horse seems like he's about as fed up with this fucking show as I am, lady. We ended up in second place with a 60% for 1-1.
I took him back to warm up to do a couple of leg yields, and he seemed more willing to get down to work. A half an hour later, we went back in for 1-2. He was a lot more settled this time around and put in what I thought was a pretty good test. His leg yields were a little crooked, but he's still not great at them even at home. We even got a couple of unsolicited "Nice job"s from spectators.
the camera died before the test finished.
The judge, however, disagreed. I don't think I've ever seen so many fives in my life. She didn't really have any comments besides "not working trot", "not working canter", "no difference shown" in lengthenings. Okay....I'm no dressage judge, and I'm hardly an expert dressage rider, but were we really going so slow that we didn't even hit a working trot? Another second place, and another 60%.
Back in we went for our final test. We circled the arena at the trot. And then we did it again...and again. The judge was busy with someone from the office and hadn't even glanced up at us yet. I brought Bobby back to the walk and we moseyed around the ring a couple more times before we finally got the whistle to go in.
We trotted in down the center line, and as I'm watching the judge, I notice she's busy talking to her scribe and not watching us. Okay...I keep trotting and halt at X. She still hasn't acknowledged my existence.
We sit there at X for an entire minute before the judge notices us hanging out. "Oh, Carly! Ha ha, proceed."
I was so fucking tempted to just walk out and be done with it, but I was a grown up and ran through it. She gave us an 8 for our first halt. Amazing, since SHE DIDN'T EVEN SEE IT. I think we should have gotten a 10 for standing there immobile for so long. Instead, she threw us a 10 for our final halt. We got 8s for both counter canter loops, and an undeserved 8 for our change of lead through trot at X where Bobby scooted sideways two steps in the transition, almost came back to the walk, and then ended up on the rail well before H.
We ended up with a 63% for first.
piglet being a more attentive judge.
I got Bobby wrapped and groomed before heading up to collect my tests and ribbons. When I got up there, they didn't even have the 1-2 tests done yet. Why? Oh, just because some of the scores hadn't been written in so they had to be run back down to the judge to get filled in.
Yeahhhhh.
BO tried to convince me to wait around to see if I got Champion or Reserve, but they were lumping the First riders in with Prix Caprilli and the one musical freestyle, and I was not waiting for that cluster fuck to finish for the chance of one more ribbon.
We'd left the barn at nine that morning and didn't get back until 5:30. I think I can say with confidence that any show being run by that group of people is a definite no-go in the future.
I think it goes without saying that it was overly ambitious of me to think that I was going to be able to put out show posts the day of the show this past weekend. I was so spent by the time I got home each day, all I wanted to do was stuff my face with food and Advil and lay on the couch.
So I did.
On Saturday was my barn's fun show. There were ribbons, and little trophies for division champs, and it was judged my a real outside judge, but it was mostly just about getting out and making a fool of yourself with your fellow barnmates. I think everyone accomplished that. It was mayhem all day, but fun mayhem.
I got to the barn about an hour before the first division went off to find Bobby flat out in his stall snoring away. Nevermind the masses of ponies coming in and out, the horses in the crossties, and the people banging around all over the place. Bobby needed his morning nap. I watered and hayed for BM while I waited for him to wake up, scratched out of the jumping classes, and got my number.
BO's dog and bobby had the same game plan for the day.
Once Bobby was looking bright eyed, I tacked him up and took him down to the indoor to get him moving around and to see how he was feeling. Well. He was feeling quite naughty. We were in there by ourselves at first, and then joined by one other horse, and he was a nutter. I had literally no steering and no brakes. There weren't even any barrels set up down there! He had his rodeo outfit on and was ready to start his own rodeo.
Needless to say, he lost his snaffle privileges. I put him back in his stall to wait for the gaming to start and went up to do ribbon duty.
bathroom break!
After the advanced flat classes, we took a bathroom/food/jump set up break. S and I ran into town to get pizza, and by the time we got back, they had just started the jumping classes. We were supposed to do the gaming division right after the jumping, so I got Bobby tacked back up and headed up to the outdoor to wait.
With a schedule change to do more equitation classes, we waited for a long time. I hate just sitting on my horse doing nothing, so I pulled his bridle and gave him some alfalfa to snack on while we waited for our turn.
just chilling.
We finally got to go in and warm up again quickly while the jumps were removed and the barrels set up. I grabbed T to video our runs and BO volunteered us to go first.
The first barrel is what usually happens to Bobby on the last barrel--he has to wait a beat for his back half to catch up with his front half and he stalls out for a moment. I love it. I think it's hilarious and sums up his giant, uncoordinated moose body perfectly. It wasn't our best run, but let's face it. Bobby is never going to be a champion barrel horse. He has fun, I have fun, neither of us cares how ridiculous we look.
We did keyhole next which is where you're supposed to run down through a set of cones or flags, turn around, and run back. BO was being cruel and set up a box for us to run into instead, and if we stepped out of the box we got eliminated. That was nearly our undoing because Bobby has no problems jumping poles (and has often eyed the fence like he wouldn't mind taking a stab at jumping that as well, which is extremely disconcerting), and he does have a problem stopping.
We made it, but barely!
We did the magazine race next. You get a number, run down, dismount, tear out the page you were assigned, get back on, and run back. I didn't think to take my gloves off so I could barely turn the pages, then Bobby was being a little wild to get back on. We had a helper down there to hold horses, and he was doing a good job, but climbing onto your 17hh dancing horse in a western saddle while wearing skinny jeans is no easy trick. No video of that as T got on her mare to do the trail/obstacle class right after us.
I ended up adding the obstacle class last minute just because it looked fun and chill. We opened and closed the gate to let ourselves in, trotted down to the bridge to cross that, put a flag in one can to another, walked through a zig zag and backed up through it (the backing was tricky), down to the mailbox that we had to open and close, through a very narrow chute of flower boxes (that Bobby took a peak at, but walked through when I gave him a squeeze), and down into a box where we did a turn on the forehand and walked back out.
I don't know how we did in the trail class, but we got a second in barrels and keyhole and a fourth in the magazine race (out of...four?). I only got two ribbons back because I was trying to get out of there to let my poor puppies out of the house, but I'll take any satin I can get!
Overall a really fun time. Not conducive to preparing for a dressage show the next day, but when you have a pro pony like Bobby Magee, it ain't no thang.
My mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday (which is not until June, by the way, but who am I to turn down early birthday presents?), and I jokingly told her that I wanted a new dressage saddle. I'd told her this over Christmas as well, but she was all whatevski. However, she decided that of course Bobby needed a new saddle for the approaching show season. See the different angle there? She'll buy Bobby literally anything.
So after several days of trying to find a store that actually carried a Tekna S Line dressage saddle that wasn't "indefinitely back ordered", Mutti called The Farm House on Tuesday and my saddle arrived today. Heck yeah for customer service!
clearly i need a portable saddle rack next.
I'd already gone to the barn, and as tempting as it was to turn around and drive right back to try it on Bobby, I refrained. I'll just have to wait to give it a spin tomorrow either before or after the barn show and see if I can ride in it on the dressage show Sunday.
Speaking of riding old Roberto, I saddled him up in my western tack today because I'll only be doing the gaming classes tomorrow--no jumping. He was back to his usual exceptionally obnoxious self today, and he didn't get a fever all week, so I feel good about doing both shows.
We practiced barrels and key hole for a bit this afternoon. Mostly this involved me sitting with my legs up past his shoulders trying to get him to slow the fuck down with my seat since he was completely ignoring the slow twist snaffle in his mouth. I mean, I guess you don't really need to slow down in gaming events, right? And you don't really need steering either because he knows the barrel pattern. And technically he does eventually stop. We're totes ready for this!
It does make me giggle riding him western though because he so thoroughly enjoys himself. He even consented to do flying changes on the center line both directions like a total boss. Okay, so they were at mach speed and he took the flying part very seriously, but he was still too fancy.
Hopefully I can force my camera on someone tomorrow to get video or pictures. Hubby will be working all day so my usual photographer is out. Go, go, gaming Bobby!
1. Time dressage warm up.Ten minutes on the longe followed by another ten minutes under saddle before asking for real work is the best formula. However, without a spin on the line first, fifteen to twenty minutes of long and low under saddle is needed. Ten minutes will suffice if he's being generous.
2. Be completely comfortable jumping 3' courses. I half finished this goal...I guess? It just depends on the day. Sometimes I think 2' is terrifying, sometimes I think 3'3" is a snooze. My brain. It is broken.
3. Trot sets. Once a week, every week. He's definitely getting a lot fitter.
4. Solidify leg yields. I can get them when I ask for them now. They're not perfect, but they're as good as they've ever been.
april: winner for most awkward face ever.
May goals:
1. Don't ride differently at shows than at home.Unless it's for the better, of course. That means no blanking during dressage tests, and not too much floundering during jumping.
2. Improve the sitting trot. Self explanatory, no? I'm still getting used to riding in a dressage saddle again, and my sitting trot is still a bit wonky.
3. Plan June shows. The revamping of my previous show schedule left me with no long-term shows. Time to start perusing the omnibus again!
4. Drive the truck and trailer myself. Um, right? The whole point of buying me a truck this spring was so that I was capable of going places alone. So far the only place we've taken Robert with it is to a clinic that Hubby was able to attend so he drove. But the time has come for me to learn. Anyone in the Wilkes Barre PA area, stay locked inside!
That looks relatively unambitious to me, but it's all I could come up with that really needs working on at the moment. That's good?
