Weekend update

Well, unfortunately, there is still no media.

This weekend was interesting.  Saturday, I took the day off.

And when I say took the day off, I mean took the day off.  It was 98+ degrees, humid, and I just couldn't.  The dog didn't even get a walk.

It got so hot inside the house that I had to retreat from the regular living room, which used to be the porch and is basically one big window, to the den, which is a cave with no windows.  Even with the AC running, it was 83 in the house.

I worked on Christmas ornaments, and mopped the kitchen floor, and worked on catching up with 12 Monkeys on Demand.  I talked to no one other than the dog, and it was fantastic.  Once the boy got home, we ate left-over chicken cacciatori made by my brother/roommate and watched some Mad Men before heading to bed.

Sunday, I woke at 6:30, dressed, took the dog for a short walk in the rain, and headed to the barn for a lesson at 10.

We have decided the routine will be cross country schooling every other week, and this was that week.  Especially since there was a schooling show on Saturday and the fences were still set up and numbered.

So I tacked up, borrowing Ginny's cross country saddle (thanks Ginny!) and walked a bit waiting for Marcy to get done with a lesson.  She met us in the field with our friends the draw reins.

I trotted behind the golf cart for warm up, to the start box in the adjacent field.  There, we warmed up trotting over the elementary log back and forth, just once to get our feet wet.

Today's lesson was about the three main things you need to remember on course.  Line, balance and pace.  Line I'm pretty good at.  Balance and pace are works in progress.

So we started off over a BN house, right 180 degree turn to the elementary roll top.  That was the first time we cantered, and of course, Violet was great.  She locked onto the roll top after the turn and took me to it.  Then we circled back to the BN roll top that was between some trees and the new mound complex.  Marcy warned that she may try to lock onto any of the other fences she could see, but there was no problem.  I did drop her a little, but only with one hand, and because we had the pace we needed, it was no problem, and I was able to go with her when she took the fence just a little longer than she would have in the past.

We then headed down to fences 3 (feeder) and 4 (coop), which were set as a long combo on a bending line that involved riding a bit through the woods.  Marcy suggested taking the feeder on the left side of the fence in order to square out the left turn to the coop, about 9 strides away.  The whole thing rode well.

Fence 5 was the half roll top that we ended on last time, set on a slight uphill.  We took it out of stride, with no problems.

Then we had a bit of a ride through the woods along the fence line to the white bench.  Marcy said to be careful going through the woods and stand up, as you never know what might move that takes your horse by surprise.  Squirrels are scary, you know.  So I circled by the woods and rode up to the bench.  This is the one fence that we did twice, because Violet slowed down to it slightly and I looked down to see what she was looking at, and dropped her.  She made it over with a chip, so we did that one again, fully supporting her all the way to it.  Marcy said truthfully, this was the hardest fence on the course, because it was white and everything else was dark.  It will cause the horses to look a bit.

Next is a pretty tall mound, just up, over and down.  I was instructed to walk up and down, leaning a bit forward on the up and being aware she would try to trot down because it's easier, and just use a little left/right on the reins to keep her with me.  She took a couple trot steps up it, and started to walk down, but trotted the last few.  No big deal.

Next was the "water".  And yes, I put it in quotes because it's not our usual water complex.  It was basically a depression that they put water in, so it was more like a swampy/muddy area.  Or at least, that's the way it looks.  It's not really muddy, and has decent footing under the water, but isn't really clear.  We walked through that first, then circled back to trot through it and pick up the canter for the 4-bar fence that was about seven or eight (can't remember the count) strides behind it.  I was to concentrate on picking her up into the canter as we came out of the water, since it was such a short distance and we needed to get the pace built quickly.

Next was just a nice coop between some other fences.  We got good pace coming to it on a long stretch, working on the gallop and then balance strides before the fence.

Next is what we are calling the wishing well.  It's really like an introductory trakehner, as it's a hanging log over an open box.  We did this one the last time with no issues.  I was warned, however, that she may naturally slow a little, as the bottom of it, again, was lighter than the other fences, so she may look at it.  That lead directly to the last fence, which was a little table in a line with all the other final fences.  I was to ride the last two as if I was in the class.  It was a pretty decent haul up a slight hill to get to the last.

She took the wishing well with no issues, and we continued to the last fence, which was about 35 strides away (yes, I count.  It makes me breath and relax a little).  Violet was quite literally pulling me to that last fence.  I didn't rate her speed too much on the way up, but put in a pretty good (I thought) balancing stride before the last fence.  Maybe I wasn't as successful in that as I thought, as she rapped the fence as we went over, which I suspect means she was a little flat to it, since we were being speedy.  Then I cantered through the finish flags.

OK, so for most of you out there, this is no big deal.  For me, this was HUGE!  I just successfully schooled the entire BN course, from start to finish!  I wish there had been someone there taking pics or videoing, because there were some great efforts, and I know there was a hell of a lot of grinning. And Marcy was so proud!

She actually posted something on FB about it being a proud trainer moment, because when I came to her, I was afraid to jump a crossrail in the ring, and look at me now.  And this was why she does what she does.

I myself was reminded by FB when I got home of a post I had made 5 years ago about how happy I was that Violet and I successfully completed a walk-trot division at our local hunter/jumper show.  This was back at a time when there were days we chose not to trot in lessons, and canter was not a consideration because I was convinced she was trying to run off with me.

Now I am galloping on purpose, coming at fences with more pace than I ever would have thought, because it's easier, and grinning the whole time.  And I am finally really thinking maybe we can do this beginner novice thing.  I know Violet can.  Now I'm thinking I can too.

Oh, and eating chicken cacciatori, heavy on the garlic, the night before cross country schooling, is not a good idea, especially when you have nervous stomach, lol.