#RainRainGoAway

Rainy start to JuneWell as far as I can tell, Mother Nature and the month of June must be having one heck of an argument.  I am not sure what June did to piss her off, but someone needs to apologize so that the sun can return.  This has been the view from my windshield for the past 3 days.

Needless to say that there has not been much riding this week.  I did tack up and ride in the drizzle yesterday for 30 minutes, but once the rain started getting more and more steady, I threw in the towel because…1) I could barely see through all the rain drops accumulating on my eyeglasses, and 2) I really didn’t think it was wise to get a brand new saddle sopping wet.

Sad to think that I didn’t think twice about Ike or myself getting wet, but the saddle will be treated with kid gloves for some time to come.  We do not need a repeat of 9 years ago with my last saddle.  It didn’t involve rain, but watching a brand new custom saddle get flung onto the ground because your Thoroughbred won’t stand still for the girth is gut wrenching.  Four times it hit the ground and at least once it was the recipient of a hoof print on one of the billets.  Thankfully, there was no damage but for some dirt.  Also, thankfully, Ike is a bit more cooperative during the tacking process.

Our work was decent for what we were able to accomplish.  We are starting to school haunches in, turn on the haunches, and the countercanter work for the Second Level Test 2 test.  Hopefully by August we will be ready to give it a go.  Our turn on the haunches right now looks more like Frankenstein turning a corner and is not yet fit for public viewing.

Hoping for a lesson tomorrow if the rain will end early enough to allow the arena to drain.  Otherwise, does anyone have four flippers I can borrow for Ike?

The Results Are In

Ike

“So, where are all the peppermints I was promised?!”

Well, we did it!  We confidently rode down centerline in our best collected trot, performed a respectable Second Level test, and then collapsed with exhaustion after the final halt and salute.  We can now officially say that we have entered the ranks of Second Level horses and riders, right?

The test was not bobble free, but the judge commented that we did a fine job for our debut and that we are on the right track with our training.

It has taken me a few days of reflection to come up with the most important “take aways” from this ride:

1) Second Level is much harder than Training or First Levels.  It is much more mentally and physically challenging for horse and rider… at least it is for this rider.  Having ridden my First Level test only 15 minutes before my Second Level one was probably not the wisest move at this point.  Until we build up more strength and stamina for the collected work, I will need to be wiser in my warm up and riding before my Second Level rides.  We need to conserve as much energy as we can to get the most out of our ride. (I honestly did not know if Ike and I were going to make it to X for our final halt.)

2) With a few tweaks, we can easily boost our score another 3-4%.  Of course, those tweaks aren’t overnight fixes.  We need a better medium trot and medium canter.  We need to show a better change on our comebacks from the medium gaits.  We need to eliminate the trot steps into and out of our simple changes.  The judge was kind enough to offer some training exercises to help us with each of these.  Smaller canter loops and circles will help maintain engagement to teach the simple changes.  Train the medium gaits using shorter distances.  We’d better get busy since we are going to try this test again in June.

3) Breathing is very important.  I am pretty sure that I did take a breath or two during this ride, but I really need to practice my yoga breathing while in sitting trot.  I also need to remember to relax my arms and shoulders.  Much like the simple tweaks in our work, it is easier said than done.  I’m hoping that it will get better with my next Second Level ride since I’ve now got my initial fears behind me (LOL).

4) The new saddle was a good, albeit expensive, investment.  The hybrid foam/wool flocking innards and design of the saddle make sitting Ike’s trot much easier for me.  Even more importantly, Ike is more relaxed over his topline with the new saddle.  I am still hyperventilating over the cost and hope that I can get 9-10 years out of this one like I did for my last saddle.

In case you are wondering, the judge gave us a 64.545% for that test, and I have never been so excited to get back a score sheet.  I rarely save my dressage tests once the competition year is over, but I do secretly hoard the one’s that have the most meaning to me.  I do believe I will be saving this one.

Alison

Hang On A Second..It Is Just About Time

Ike - May 2015 - Photo by K. Childers

Ike – May 2015 – Photo by K. Childers

Well, it is just about here…our Second Level debut.  To say that I am excited about it would be an understatement.  It has only taken me 10 years to finally get to this point in my dressage journey.  Yes, that is not a typo – 10 years.  Go ahead and make fun if you must, but I believe that all things and events come into our lives when we are ready for them.

My first years of dressage training were a challenge since 1) I had no clue what a half halt was, and then 2) once I did, I had a horse who thumbed his nose at the concept.  God bless Ms. C for her patience with the two of us.  How challenging it must be to try to teach a concept to a student with a horse that fought every step of the way.  No wonder progress moved slower than a snail’s pace.  Cigar and I were at odds for 6 years before his knee fracture forced his retirement.

If I wanted to get to Second Level sooner, an experienced mount would have been a wise option when shopping for Cigar’s replacement…but those experienced horses were well outside my budget and unfortunately, no one was offering to syndicate a horse for me.  Buying a green horse was my best and only option.  All I could do was hope that my two test rides on Ike were a good indication that we could form a partnership.

Thus far, I have been very fortunate with my green horse gamble.  Ike has very few foibles under saddle and truly does try his best to understand what we ask him to do.  I still clearly recall that steering was optional at the canter and that I nearly lost a knee cap on more than one occasion.  There was no half halting of the outside rein to stop the outward spiral towards the fence.  The inside rein and a prayer were all I had some days.  Poor Ike also had to finish growing before he could finally operate all body parts in a synchronous way.  Truth be told, I didn’t think he was ever going to stop growing!  Thankfully, it appears that he has finally reached maximum height and length.

And, if I am being completely honest, I needed to learn some new skills before we were ready to move beyond First Level.  Moving to Second is like jumping from elementary school to graduate school in one leap.  You can muddle through Training and First Levels with a basic knowledge  of dressage, but you had better put on your big kid boots after that.  Yikes!  The sh#% gets real…real collection, real medium gaits, real transitions in and out of those medium gaits, 10 meter canter circles, simple changes…there is no way you can fake your way through a Second Level test.  I think I can finally identify a collected trot versus a short, choppy trot.  I can finally ask for a simple change and get it most of the time.  I can finally position my horse in a correct shoulder in rather than a “neck in.”  It just took me a little longer since we were also teaching Ike at the same time.  Again, I think I got very lucky when I picked Ike.  Not every horse is so tolerant of learning new skills from a green rider.

So here we are, just a few months shy of our 4 year “gotcha day” and we are preparing for our first centerline at collected trot.  Hoping for the best and trying to remember to breathe.

Alison

Spring Is In Full Swing!

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My flower beds are abloom, the lilac bush’s fragrance perfumes the side yard, Ike is in the final throes of shedding, and show season has kicked into high gear.  It has already been over two months since the forced halt in riding due to the wretched February weather.  Soon enough we will start complaining about sweat in our eyes and getting buzzed by horse flies.  But for now we are enjoying the warmer and sunnier spring days whilst wiping away the yellow pollen that coats everything.

We now have one schooling show and one licensed show in the books.  I am thrilled with where Ike and I are in our First Level work.  Is there still work to do on our trot lengthenings?  You bet, but so many of the things that plagued us all last season are now garnering solid scores.  Our canter work last year was still one part Scooby Doo and one part young dressage horse.  We can now canter respectable 15 meter circles, show a canter lengthening and a come back, and best of all, the shallow canter loops no longer include flying changes or breaking into trot.  Here is our First Level Test 3 ride from Sunday.  It earned us our best Test 3 score to date at a licensed show.

My most exciting news from the licensed show last weekend is that we now have our second First Level qualifying score for the Regional Finals in October.  That is a huge monkey off my back which means that we can now concentrate our efforts towards our Second Level debut.

And speaking of our debut, I committed us to riding Second Level Test 1 at a schooling show on May 24th.  Yikes!  We are now on a tight schedule to improve our simple changes, counter canter, 10 meter canter circles, and our collected gaits.  Oh. My.  Is that all?!?!!  Am I certain that we will have a mistake-free test?  Nope, but at some point, you just have to take a deep breath and give it a go.  If we score in the low 50’s, we know that we have more work to do before trying Second Level at a licensed show.  If we can hit the 60th percentile, then we know we are on the right track.

Our lesson yesterday was fairly intense given our timeline and the work that needs to be accomplished; we have another one scheduled for Saturday.  We practiced pieces and parts of Test 1.  If I can establish a balanced collected trot, then we can actually make it through the first 9 movements of the test with very little drama.  When Ike’s alignment is right, he can rock his shoulder in…if I am off in my aids and Ike’s trot gets choppy, it is more of a “neck in.”  But once we get past the free walk, all bets are off on how the test will go.  Five simple changes means 5 places to pick up the wrong lead, look like a giraffe in our canter-to-walk transitions, and 5 places for a mental breakdown by the rider or horse.  Breathe in, breathe out, move on.

The work is physically and mentally harder now, so Ike tends to get a bit stressed and on the muscle.  He then turns into a sweaty worm that squirms with even the slightest movement of my leg or weight.  More breathing.  More exhaling.  Less tension for me is key.  Easier said than done, but even more necessary.  This is not the time for me to get emotional while in the saddle.  Stay calm, wait out the “worminess” and then get back to work.  I keep reminding myself that progressing up the levels is more of a marathon than a sprint.  There is no Olympic team medal riding on this performance.  There is no prize for being the fastest to get to or succeed at any given level.  We will take the time to do it correctly.  Success will come when the time is right.

Alison

Ike Cracks the Code

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Howdy Horse Peeps!

I need to vent a little about my mother.  I think she has lost her mind.  Yes, that is right, I am worried about her sanity.  Lately, she seems to speak in some sort of numerical and linguistic code.  It could be that she just doesn’t want me to know what is going on, but I fear that she has been sipping a little too much of her adult grape juice.  I will do my best to decipher her codes for you so you will understand the insanity that is my life and show season. 

“Two boards Ike? ” Apparently, pushing the fence boards aside to munch on the green grass on the other side is frowned upon at Ms. C’s farm.  I showed my displeasure about the repair by running circles around Mom.  Just try to catch me!

“70th percentile for First Level.” At the first show of the year, my performance must have been pretty good.  Mom had this cheesy smile on her face.  This appears to be the expectation for this weekend as well.  We shall see if conditions are favorable.

“Ride times are up.” This has something to do with when I will be expected to work this weekend.  It made Dad do a face palm which I assume means that I will have a long couple of days.  I just hope that this performance stuff does not interfere with mealtime…And speaking of mealtime,

“You only get half.” Half of my dinner that is.  Mom likes to show up for a lesson at dinnertime.  Seriously, the woman needs to better plan her days.  None of the other horses have to cope with this withholding of meal rations.  She even has Ms. C withholding food.  They think I don’t know what they are doing, but I am fully aware of the size of my meal.  And Mom wonders why I try to bite her sometimes.  Payback, Mom, payback.

“60th percentile for Second Level.” Mom has introduced this terminology this spring. I am not sure what is on this so called Second Level.  This boy is not getting on any elevator.  It apparently involves Mom bouncing in her sit trot and me “engaging my hindend.” Umm, how am I supposed to do that?  I can’t marry myself!  I will have to pay better attention to figure out what this will mean for my free time.  If my hunch is right, Ms. C and Mom are in cahoots to make me work even harder.

“We want 7’s and 8’s.” I want an apple.  I am still trying to figure out why this matters.

“We got a 9!”  Nine what?  I certainly did not get nine apples or carrots.  This code is particularly difficult to crack. 

“He moves more freely in that saddle.”  Mom seems to think that this new saddle she is trying makes me move better.  Not sure what is so free about my movement.  Mom tells me what to do.  She disapproves when I break into a freestyle performance.  She couldn’t stay on when I really broke free last year.

If anyone can help with the harder codes, I would greatly appreciate the help.  Stop by my stall at the show and slip me a note when Mom isn’t looking.  She is easily distracted so just yell “squirrel” and she will look.  Trust me.

Until next time my friends!

Ike

Working My Way Out of the Quicksand

Ike

Finally, after feeling like we were mired in quicksand for way too long, Ike and I are making some tangible progress toward our goal of competing at Second Level.  The past week has given me a very optimistic attitude for the season ahead.

The schooling show last weekend was just the spark I needed to get the season started on an uptick.  I had forgotten what a wonderful thing a schooling show can be.  It was a low key and white-britches-free experience.  We arrived well in advance of our rides, but I wanted to give Ike plenty of time to “drink it in” as my friend D likes to say.  Instead of drinking anything, Ike opted to bury his muzzle in the grass in the parking area and ignore everyone.  If we’d left after that, Ike would have considered the day a success.

Warm up was a bit of Ike’s wild ride, but luckily we had Ms. C on the ground to comfort Ike with Mrs. Pasture’s cookies.  We’d signed up for First Level Test 1 and Test 3.  The rider in front of me scratched, so we opted to head down centerline early.

I was pleased with our first effort.  I goosed Ike on our first lengthening, and we had a bit of a spook on our left lead lengthening, but overall it was a solid test.  It earned us a 71.11%.  Our first ever First Level score over 70%.  I was elated.  The judge was very generous with both her written and oral comments.  Many of her comments were geared towards what we need to add for our transition to Second Level…I greatly appreciate all of her insightful words of wisdom.

We didn’t have long to wait for our second ride (another bonus for schooling shows).  I was a bit worried that the horses in the adjacent paddock might decide to have another gallop as they did for the rider ahead of me, but we lucked out with 7 minutes of calm.  My apologies, but I have not yet uploaded the second video to YouTube.  But I am happy to report that we received a 70.588% on Test 3 and managed to get a 7.0 and an 8.0 on our canter loops!!  Hallelujah!!  The girl has finally learned how to properly ride a canter loop.  There is hope yet for successful countercanter!

We also survived a visit with the saddle fitter with my saddle still adequately fitting Baby Huey.  She did have to stretch the tree which means if someone’s shoulders muscle up anymore, I am doomed as is my pocketbook…Since it appears that I am on borrowed time, I did test ride in a few of the newer models that Custom Saddlery ( http://www.mysaddle.com/ ) offers to see what my options might be.  There were a few that I immediately cringed as soon as I sat in them (a medium twist is NOT for me), but luckily my saddle fitter had about 30-35 saddles in her trailer.  I’m currently test riding in a Icon Flight model with hybrid memory foam and wool flocking.  It is the new design that will be available on their website soon.  Oooh, it is comfy.  The knee blocks put my leg in a very steady position and I was able to stay in sit trot for more than a couple of minutes.  Ike also seemed quite content with the fit.  He too “told” us when he did not like the fit of the demo saddles.  While I like it now, it will be interesting to see how I feel about it after 7 or 8 rides.

So I am looking towards our licensed show in two weeks with new found optimism; hoping that I can recreate the rides of last weekend for all our First Level rides.  I am also eyeing our Second Level debut for May 24th.  Full steam ahead!

Birthday Boy

Cigar

Happy 19th Birthday to Ike’s brother Cigar!  Today’s birthday celebration will include scouring his paddock for the tender spring grass, playing with his brother, and eating apples and leftover black jellybeans.

Working with Cigar has been anything but boring.  I think in his mind he is still a race-fit Thoroughbred awaiting the ring of the starting gate bell.  It makes me smile to see him frolicking in his paddock.  I cringe when I see what he has taught his impressionable younger brother.  But I am glad that we can provide him a comfortable retirement where he can spend his golden years just being a horse.

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Repeat

Tim April 9 2015

Jimmy Buffett tells us in one of his songs to, “Breathe in, breathe out, move on,” but today I find myself holding my breath and wanting to go back in time.  I catch myself holding the inhale just a wee bit too long and then I must remind myself to breathe out.  It is not my equines causing this lack of oxygen exchange, but the loss of our beloved canine Tim.  We said our final goodbyes yesterday, but it still doesn’t seem real.  I keep hoping his scruffy face will pop around the corner to see me.  I would love to hold him just one last time to tell him how lucky we were to have him as part of our lives.

He was 14 and the gentlest soul.  I think I can honestly say that everyone who met him liked if not loved him.  He was a great ambassador for dogs.  He did a stint as a therapy dog and enjoyed letting children read to him.  He was an attentive listener and they always thought he was reading right long with them.  Little did they know that I hid treats in the books at home so that Tim would stare at the pages…hoping for more treats to fall into his mouth.  If ever there was a dog that needed to be cloned, he was an ideal candidate.  His final days were peaceful and I feel certain that all our family dogs that went before him and my husband’s Dad (Mepaw) were there to greet him with wagging tails and open arms on the other side of the bridge.

But, maybe, just maybe, Jimmy Buffett was right about the “move on” part.  But though I grieve, time marches forward and I must look ahead to our first show this weekend.  Thankfully it is a small schooling show and we are doing two First Level tests that we feel comfortable performing.  No pressure.  Just a fun outing to distract my thoughts for a few hours.

"Mom, I gave myself a mud bath!"

“Mom, I gave myself a mud bath!”

Maybe that is what Ike was trying to do by wallowing like a pig in the mud hole he has created in his paddock.  There was mud in most every orifice, in his forelock, his tail, and covering at least 95% of his hulking body.  Grooming today was a strength and aerobic workout rolled into one.  I curried, and brushed, and wiped away clump after clump.  I used my fingers to detangle his mane and tail.  After an hour, he was presentable.  But for that hour, I did not cry.  I just talked to Ike as he munched his hay.  Perhaps it was his way of getting my mind off the sadness of Tim’s loss.

Ms.C did her best to keep my mind distracted for the next hour as she gave us one final lesson before the show.  I did my best to keep my mind on the tasks at hand.  It really is how I should ride each and every time I throw my leg over Ike’s back.  Be present during my ride just as I expect from Ike.  From there, we are two minds working as one.  We really did have some great leg yields and canter work today.  Fingers crossed that we can replicate the lesson on Sunday.

Breathing will eventually return to normal, but life will be a little different without Tim around.  But though he is no longer by my side, he will always be in my heart.  I will ride with that joy in my heart each time I head down centerline.

alison