Gratitude

So, my last post was not such a positive one.  I try to remain positive, or at least keep the negativity in my own mind and not on the page, but it was just one of those days.  So I thought I would put something a little more positive out there.

I am so grateful.


I am grateful that I can afford to have my pony be happy.

I am grateful that I have a team that I trust to take care of her like they were their own, especially since I cannot get there on a regular basis.

I am grateful that Violet is such a willing partner that people clamor to ride her.  Marcea loves to take her cross country schooling, since she seems to be figuring this stuff out and is much more game for new experiences.  Jean wants to show her so bad.  A new barn member may just get the opportunity to ride her this weekend while we're all out of town, much to her delight.

I am grateful that Violet does not hold it against me when I am missing for two weeks at a time, and we can just pick up where we were before I left.

I am grateful that Violet now knows SO MUCH more than I do and is teaching me to be a better rider.

I am grateful that the team misses me when I am gone and always welcomes me back when I return. We have such a great group of ladies.

I am grateful that I found this pony that has turned out to be an asset in so many ways: riding partner, crossrails queen, little kid caretaker, eventing pony, trails maven, babysitter of all kinds.

I am grateful that others think as much of Violet as I do.  So much so that she will never be able to leave the program she is in.  If she ever goes up for sale or lease, it will have to be someone in the barn, so that she can keep the place together.  She is the babysitter and sanity of the place, after all.

I am grateful that my husband understands how getting to the barn impacts my sanity.  I don't necessarily have to ride, but I do have to GO.  The horses are important to me, even on the ground. The people probably even more so.  And he pushes me when I just don't seem to have enough in me to get up and go.

I am so very grateful for Rocking Horse Stables and their crew, who keep such a wonderful facility, always have a positive word, and
 don't judge me or the pony badly when she pulls fences down and wanders the property.  She's Violet, she's the good one.  So they put the fence back up and put her back in her turnout and go on with it.

I am grateful that Violet has remained healthy and sound.  With the exception of the one time I tried to pull her away from the current group (I won't do that again if I can help it), she has remained happy, and loves her position as queen.

So while I whine and moan about money and boots and time, I am so very grateful.

Just not the year

I haven't posted anything because I have yet to figure anything out.  Work was crazy at the beginning of the year.  Then just a bunch of stuff has kept me from actually getting to the barn or getting real consistent ride time in.  When you can only ride on the weekends, only getting in an average of 3 rides a month does not allow for even maintaining what we managed to have going before the beginning of the year.  I know Violet is in fantastic hands and will be ready for anything I want to do, and ready for anything that I can afford for her to do without me.  Unfortunately, that is yet something else that is holding us back right now.  I have a rental property that is actually costing me money that needs sold, and plenty of things that need to be taken care of at the house we live in (mostly plumbing issues, lovely), a step-daughter that is graduating from high-school and needed help buying a car, a trip to Italy for two weeks with my Dad in August, and a first anniversary trip in September.  This is all preventing me from doing something like...oh, maybe getting my boots fixed?  I have two pair of custom boots, and have grown out of both pair.  The one that mostly fit (damned bulbous calves) became traitorous and the zipper is now non-functional, so I've been riding in an old pair.  Said old pair were thrown in the trash last night due to the leather cracking and peeling off and the zippers being metal and actually scratching my saddle.  So I'm riding in my river boots.  Or half chaps, which I hate.  Anyway, new boots, a new bridle for Violet, fees for any shows by me or anyone else, all these things are on hold.  I think, as I sit here at work watching Rolex and dreaming of the day when I can actually go watch, that this is just the year that riding wasn't, you know?  And I have to figure out how to be ok with that.  Because let me tell you, the husband is really tired of seeing me be upset about not being able to get there.

On a good note, I did manage to take the dog to the barn once this month, and he wasn't too bad.  I can see other day trips in the future.  And I am making it down this weekend for both days, which will be nice.  Of course, I will die, because I live in AC and it. is.  HOT!  But at least I will die with my pony.

And BOOM, that happened!

I will not go into a whole lot of "sorry I haven't been blogging" stuff.  I haven't, but I am today.

I haven't been able to ride much this year so far, which means I was not prepared to ride in this weekend's event, as we had previously planned.  But the pony did not have such an issue, and I was more than happy to enlist Marcea's expertise to give her a good go, since it was the last show of our season.

BOOM!  I'll just leave this here.

The husband and I headed down Friday after dropping the dog off at the spa.  We were going to make this a mini vacation from everything going on at home.  And we have a blast cracking jokes while jump judging, so we were looking forward to it.

Saturday was a very early day, with jump judging debrief at 7:30.  It was actually nice to be able to sleep until 7am on a show day, at least for me.  The husband, maybe not so much, lol.

We judged until 1, Violet's dressage was at 1:12, so we got there just in time to watch the end of her warm up and get this action on video.

I think the best part of all of it was the smile on Marcea's face when she came out of the ring.  She looked like she had a good time, and she even said she loved that Violet is the one horse she knows she can work with in the ring.  As in, start the movement, push for more, maybe a little less, then move to the next movement, change it up, etc.  That is such an improvement over where we were only a couple of years ago, when she would disappear and you couldn't adjust ANYthing.  And the judge was complimentary as well.

VERY complimentary

So that 27.5 (her best score ever, btw) put her in 3rd.  And this judge is no joke.  I was trying to find my dressage test from the show last year, but I'm pretty sure it was the same judge.  As in, the judge that gave her a FOUR on the free walk last year.  This year, she got a 7, and an 8 on the medium walk before it.  Last year she got a 36 at this same show.  This year was much better, lol.

So she headed to stadium Saturday in 3rd.

A beautiful double clear kept her there, and earned Marcea some recognition from the judge, who complimented her on a very well ridden round.

After chores we headed to Marcea's for dinner with the crew and some sleep before getting up for a whole day of jump judging.

We got to see almost all of the Training Rider and Novice jumps from our vantage points.  For Beginner Novice, not so much.  I got video of Violet going over fences three and four, but the video of the rest of the course was crap, since I was running and trying to video at the same time, and it was so far away.

Let's just say the pony ran around the whole course with absolutely NO issues.  Marcea had to slow her down at the end, because she had moved out so well.  Another double clear and she finished in 2nd.

Everyone from the Market Street Team had a positive show.  Ginny and Pearl ended up in 4th in Novice with improvements across the board.  Caroline and Charlie also showed great improvements in the Novice division, ending up in 7th.  Robin and Finn won their BN division, which is quite the trend for them now, since they have won all but one this year (and they got 2nd then, and still won the TIP award at that show).  Jane and Louie also ended up in second in his first Novice appearance.  Oh, and Marcea and Riley ended up in 6th in their Training division, after neither of them showing in almost a year.

So it was a really great weekend.  Violet finished cross country barely out of breath and very proud of herself.  And qualified for Zone Championships, which opens up a whole other issue.  I have to do some serious budget adjusting to see if I can't figure out a way to get them there.  We'll see.  And I'm still planning on getting back out there myself, probably in November.  Hopefully I'll figure out a way to get back on the girl on a more consistent basis.

I will ride again...some day (Sunday?)

This year has been crazy.  Work has taken over to the point that I have done nothing really, other than work.

Well, that's not exactly true.  I've spent some time watching this big goofball.

Firewood makes a much better adversary than frisbee, which is pretty useless, except to hold rainwater

 And I've done a little bit of cooking.  This was something I made up of onion, kale and butternut squash.  Super yummy, but can only be cooked on days the boy closes, 'cause he won't eat such things.

Super yummy

And there has been some house and yard work.  Like putting landscape timbers out where we want beds to be in the back.  And getting the master bedroom rearranged and curtains replaced and TV hung on the wall.  And we finished painting the master bath.  Now to get the mirror up and fix the spots where the boy hit the ceiling (oops).  And I've started the painting on what will be the office.

Sappy sentiment painted and texted to the hubby.  Now just white.

 And more watching the puppy.  We walk a mile every morning.  And he loves his blue Jolly Ball.  He chewed the handle off the first half an hour, and it now has thousands of holes, but is still the best ball ever.

No handle, no problem.  Just throw it like a bowling ball!

After an exceptionally wearing ball session.

I did get to the barn last weekend, with the hubby in tow.  It was Rocking Horse's first HT of the season, and the boy's first try at judging.  The plan was for me to work the start box and him to judge the first fence, but then the TD asked that he also time as a backup, and it was all too much for him. He had closed the night before, we had to be out of the house at 5am to get there in time for the check-in meeting, and he had 3 hours of sleep.  So I stayed with him and we did it together.  It was a very long day (8:15 - 5:30 with 2 15 minute breaks between levels), and there was no chance to ride. Marcea had 10 students riding, so there was no chance for a lesson, so I just shoved an apple at the pony and went home.

Still need serious help on the selfie action.  But we were still smiling at the end of the day, and he said he'd do it again!

 I do have a lesson Sunday.  I had hoped to go down Saturday, but the boy can't get home for lunch (he's closing) to let the dog out, and I don't like to leave him in the crate all day, so I'll just go down Sunday.  Next weekend, I have plans Saturday to take a cooking class at Roy's Steakhouse with a friend, so lesson on Sunday, and the following weekend is the Monster Truck Jam that I bought the boy tickets to for Christmas.  The weekend after that, though, he's already been warned that I'm spending all weekend.

So for now, I'm spending a lot of time watching the sun set from the office window.

I can say, it's a pretty sun set, even through the window.

And watching the big goober figure out his NEW jolly ball that dad got him last night.  

BEST. BALL. EVER.  IT GOTS A ROPE THAT WIGGLES WHEN YOU SHAKE IT!

Next week I have the appointment for my foot to start setting a surgery date.  And I'm still hoping to ride in the show at the end of March, but we'll see.

Year end shenanigans

Here's an update from what we did over the New Year.  Since this (which I have been writing for a week and a half, though you wouldn't know it), I have been to the barn once and took Violet out for a hack.  Due to work, I will not be getting down there again until probably the 28th, so there won't be much to update.  And I have no new media.

***

Saturday, we woke up to frost.  It was officially our one (last) night of winter in 2016. I had a lesson scheduled at 3, and the boy was off Saturday and Sunday, so we were making a weekend of it.  By the time we got down there at 1:30, it was short sleeve and shorts weather.  So much for winter. Violet was happy to come out of her stall.  I received a text the night before to let me know to tack up for stadium.  A little different, since we usually do dressage on the first day of the weekend, but then again, it's New Year's Eve and we'll likely be hung over Sunday, so maybe that's the plan.

We get put together, I remember to get the draw reins and hop on the pony, marching our way to the ring, with the boy following behind like our own personal accompaniment.

Marcea was in the ring with another student, so I headed to the warm-up ring to start warming up. Violet is feeling good.  As I came around one corner, she startled and spooked a little, but I have no idea what at.  Nothing major, and I just kept trotting in circles, adding a little canter to keep her moving.

The other lesson done, I moved to the ring while Marcy and Ginny adjusted fences, with Rory bouncing around in the grass after bugs.  It was gloriously sunny, with not a cloud in the sky.  And we spooked again.  And again.  Nothing major.  Just enough to make me go "whoa!"  when she went sideways and look around to find the culprit.

Ohhh, there you are!  Yes, that would be your shadow, Violet.  Yes, it is always there.  And yes, it is indeed following you.  I don't know if it's because she's so fit or bored with Mom's circles, but this is the second time she has reacted to them in the last couple of months.

We spent the next little bit trotting into our shadow, trying to dodge the jump standard shadows, watching the pony ears follow her shadow and basically laughing at her.

Then we started jumping and she forgot about her shadow.  Because jumping is fun, yall!  We did several turning exercises, jumping on an S curve, doing rollbacks, etc, working on keeping the outside shoulder on the line and concentrating on the counter bend to get her straight to the fence.  Nothing too big.  After a successful mini course of 4 fences, Marcy was talking to me about what we did right and working on the bend/line, etc.  She paused.  I asked if we were done.  She hesitated and said "No, but we could be" and I told her let's go, what was next.

It was just a line of oxer to oxer on a bend.  Mostly just to make sure I really seemed to get the exercise, since it was fences we hadn't gone over yet that day.  We picked up the lead and did oxer to oxer with our counter bend.  Violet was fantastic.  Marcy just looked at me with a great big grin and said "Yep, that's it!"  I guess when you appear to have gotten the lesson, there is no point in beating it over and over again.  Then, as we marched out of the ring (because, you know, pony dinner time), she said something about being ready for tomorrow's cross country schooling.

We took care of the barn chores.  The boy had not packed properly, so he wandered around being bored because he didn't want to get his clothes dirty, and we get no phone service at the barn.  After chores, we headed to Marcy's to get ready for dinner.  We had a pleasant night of drinking and chatting.  It was the boy's first time really seeing how we interact at the house.  He was especially a fan of Marcy's bartending skills.  He was not aware that she is a certified mixologist.  Could be part of why I enjoy being there so much?

Anyway, none of us made it until midnight.  I knew I had to be up to do chores.  We were sleeping on the air mattress.  The boy had no problem, but I couldn't sleep because I was worried every time I turned over I was disturbing him.  After the two Old Fashions he had, I needn't have worried.

The next morning I was awakened by my favorite alarm clock, Maddie.  I stumbled out of the bed, made coffee and got ready to go, leaving the boy at the house with Marcy's husband.

We got chores done and got Charlie, Riley and Violet ready for cross country.  I could not think of a better way to start the year!

Nothing too spectacular to report on the cross country.  Violet knew where we were heading from the time I put her bell boots on.  Cross country is the only time she wears them to ride, so she knows what's going on.  We started off with a half rolltop, moved our way through the fields, and ended up with a series of 4 smaller fences, ending with the ditch, kind of derby style.  The only time she stuttered at all was heading to the ditch, because it was pretty far away from the group, but when I felt her say "no I don't really want to leave my friends", I said "yes, I think you do" and she simply said ok and kept going.

When we were done, she was barely sweating.

On our walk around the property after we all had a very fun and positive school, Ginny reminded me that she used to watch my lessons when she was deciding to take lessons with Marcy.  At the time, I was just starting to trot.  That was 6 years ago this month.  I know people go from Beginner Novice to Prelim in that amount of time, but I'm not those people, and it still surprises me that we have come so far.

So here's to 2017 and continuing on our "slow but steady" progress.

Happy New Year

No too much going on here.  Christmas has come and passed.  Work is ramping up.  I have Monday off.  Got my little house rented.  We are having our one day of winter today, and I'm missing it. Heading to the barn with the man in tow for lessons and a NYE party at Marcea's tomorrow.  We'll be doing our own good luck dinner at home Sunday night, since he opens on Monday.

Lessons are going well when I have them.  Walk/canter transitions on the flat.  Up transitions are not too bad.  Down is...interesting.  So far, I've gotten canter-trot-walk and canter-halt.  Still working on figuring out the canter-walk, but we're getting closer.  Jumping is good.  Pony loves jumping, and mom's learning to go with it.  Hopefully with boy in tow, we can actually get some video of this weekend's lessons.

I do not do resolutions.  I do have plans, though.  So far they are as follows:

1.  Rejoin Weight Watchers and lose 30 pounds.
2.  Beginner Novice in the April Fools Rocking Horse show.
3.  Pull my credit rating back to the "good" status it has always been by getting the credit card under control.
4.  Paint in the house.

That's about it.  I have a much more detailed list that I put up at home, but these are the big ones.

I hope you all have a safe, joyous, Happy New Year!

Randomness

Before I get started, I just have to say bah-humbug.  It's my blog and I need to vent.

I am not able to participate in Christmas this year, at least not the way I wanted my first married Christmas to be, with a tree and decorations and baking and cooking and coziness by the fire.  My brother is still squatting in my house, and his shit in the garage has blocked the access to the attic. What was supposed to be a short stay when he found himself without a home in April has turned into me spending all the money I have just to get him in a place to be able to share a house somewhere else.  So no presents for basically anyone this year.  No firepit in the backyard.  No Christmas trip with my man.  My candles for the windows are in the attic, as are the ribbons and bows used to make my wreath every year.  It's the first year since 1993 I haven't had my little tree on my desk, because I can't get to it. No show in January because I spent my show money putting him in a position that he would not be arrested for not having a valid drivers license once he's out of my house.  Adding insult to injury, the renter at my other house bailed on me in October, not paying rent and leaving a hell of a mess, and I'm having to spend all my spare time cleaning, painting and getting rid of all her crap. And no, I will not rent it to my brother.  If he can't be bothered to pay me anything for crashing at my house for 8 months, I cannot trust him to actually pay me rent, and I need the money.  I would sell the house, but there is no real market for an 888 square foot patio home.  And while I'm thinking about it, can anyone explain why everything in the world is due in December?  Property taxes, insurance, USEA fees, condo dues, car registrations, etc?  Ok, rant over.  Yes, I feel moderately better.

***

I have no content, since I haven't ridden in, oh, 3 weeks or something, other than a hack after working the start on cross country at the trials last weekend.  But I have some pictures.

Like this one, which shows what happens when the black tornado known as Rory gets a hold of your boots.

And of course the offending puppy.  Can't be angry, he's too cute.  And now they have more character.

Flowers from my now husband received for my birthday.  So cheery!

The strange color change that showed up on Violet's shoulders (equal on both sides) when she was first clipped.  We think maybe the dressage saddle is the culprit?  Changed that up and now they seem to be fading.

The best way to do evening chores..

A shot of Violet's home.  She's so very lucky! That's her waaay out there in the blue and red sheet.

Heading to the farm to do chores tomorrow, since Marcy had her (please god) LAST surgery on her clavicle.  I'll hopefully get in a lesson between helping in the barn and lunging a bunch of ponies.  It's going to be cold (38?) here, but only like for a day and a half.

Saturday jump lesson

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Mine was good.  A little strange, since the new husband and I did it separately, but that's how we do.  I always go home for the big family holiday, and he works retail, so he had to work.  He spent the weekend working in our rental house (cleaning up after some nasty people...ick, and thank you honey) when he wasn't dealing with everyone out shopping.  I did not get to the barn this weekend, so instead, I bring you a post about last weekend's jump lesson...

It was a beautiful day.  The boy and I drove down to the farm, since it was his weekend off.  Lesson was scheduled at 1.

Pony was happily tucked in with her hay in her back on track sheet.

Got tacked up and ready to go for a jump school.  It's not very often we have the jump ring set up with all the fancy jumps left over from the show, so we should take advantage.

The boy and I walked up to the ring, where I discovered Violet was going to be a very willing partner. She just came out ready to work.  I worked on my own a bit on the shoulder in work that we did in our last dressage lesson, while waiting for Marcy to get there.  Of course, as soon as I see the golf cart heading our way, the jump ring is overtaken by a group of four riders and their coach, who were very nice and willing to share the ring.  They just wanted to run through the course, getting ready for the schooling show in December.

We stick to one end of the ring, continuing to work on the shoulder in, and putting Violet into that outside rein.  We did quite a bit of canter circle, down the fence line to the gate, teardrop loop back to the fence and counter canter.  Violet was fantastic.  When we were done warming up, Marcy said something about this being the day we really wanted to be in the dressage ring!

So we started over a small vertical.  Now mind you, this whole time I'm dodging elementary riders that are trying to do the course, sticking to the one fence in the ring that isn't on the course.

Back and forth figure 8 over the vertical, which is going up after each pass.  Concentrating on getting the bouncy canter before the fence.  In front of the leg and maybe a longer stride, but not faster, more up and down.  Concentrating on the counterbend to the fence to keep her in the outside rein.

Because in Florida, we have bugs at the same time clipped ponies wear sheets.

As soon as the other riders each did their course and exited the ring, we moved on, starting with the little vertical bending left to another vertical.  From there we moved to the other end of the ring and did three jumps on a semi-circle, vertical-vertical-vertical, concentrating on keeping her in the outside rein, which put us on a better line.  We did this forward and backwards, then continued to add.

Going to the right, we had the three verticals to an oxer, left hand turn to a vertical.

The first time we did it, Violet about jumped me out of the tack going over the oxer.  I lost all my reins and had to get myself back together for the 6 strides to the vertical.  I managed to get over it, but I lost my line.  We had to do the end of that again,  So we rode the oxer to the vertical again and Violet was spot on.  She is just jumping out of her skin right now.  Marcy said she was really tidy, especially over the last vertical.

I was hoping to be able to see it on video, as the boy was trying, but there was a mix up with the buttons on his phone and we missed it.  So no video.  But it was a great day, and a lot of fun.

A beautiful sunrise over Violet's field.  We are so lucky to call this home.

Show Day 2: Cross country

So after a fantastic stadium round, which left me grinning from ear to ear, we headed back to the barn to get ready for cross country.  A few times, my brain tried to say "I'm nervous" but I just ignored it.

There was nothing on this course we had not done.

There was nothing on this course we hadn't done harder.

It was just one big loop, out the gate to the wishing well/intro trekhaner/mulch box kind of fence, left turn to a bench and out to the main field, right turn up the big hill, left through all the fences around the sunken road, left turn to the edge of the field, back down the hill to the water, left turn and back up to the front field and end where you start.

I lost my map.  I swear I will get the hang of getting all this media stuff for posts in the future.

Roll top heading to the water

My job was to get Violet in front of my leg before the first fence and keep her there.  Know that when we get up to the top of the field around the sunken roads she will be distracted because there are so many fences, make sure I ride each of the fences coming to the water and that the fence after it (about 7 strides) will require me to get her in front of my leg again.  Trot the mound (which was numbered) before hitting the little fence on the other side, which had been moved out further than when we had done the same combination.  Keep my eye up over the ditch and don't forget to ride all the way through the finish flags.

So we did that.

Through the water

I was puffing like a freight train the whole time.  I took a break when I got over the feeder before the mound and trotted waaaaay too long.  And when Violet said "look it's getting dark and I don't want to canter the ditch in the woods since I can't see it" I let her trot again.  So we were over time.

Over the feeder before the mound

I gave not one single fuck.  When I got done, I had a grin on my face.  My girl and I had done something I never thought I would ever do...EVER.  And...we had fun!

In the end, I was way over time.  I finished with 10 time faults, and that dropped me to 7th place. The fact that I kind of let the pony down and didn't get her the placing she deserved hit me on the way home, and there was some personal beating about the head and shoulders (not physically), but all in all, I'm happy.

We finished.  With a score.  And a ribbon.  That was the goal.  Even better, Violet is as confident as ever and I have a desire to try that again sometime.  Due to work, not until March or April, but it will happen.

Success

Show Part II: Stadium

I know, it takes so long between posts.  Unfortunately, I have to do it at work since my computer at home has decided it will no longer recognize any internet connection.  Looks like my Dad bought me a winner last year.  But enough excuses.

So, I jump judged in the morning for the Intermediate, Prelim and Training divisions.  It was a beautiful day and a great way to keep my mind off of the events to come for me later in the day.  After judging (no significant issues on course for any of the levels, really.  A good start for a lot of people, or a good move up for some others), I went back to the barn, watched the Novice riders warm up for cross country and then head off for their courses, and then it was my turn.

We were actually a bit in a rush, to be honest, but I got dressed, Violet got dressed, and we headed to warm up.  Warm up was not too much of an issue.  Violet appeared to be game as ever, and jumping well, and we didn't run into anyone, so that's good.

Ok, so when I walked the course on Friday, I thought maybe my head would explode.  There were too many fences, they were set for Intermediate so they were huge, and I just couldn't wrap my head around them.  We walked it again Saturday afternoon once it was set more to something I could figure, and after watching all the riders ride the course, I wasn't so worried about getting lost.

I forgot to take a picture of the course map, but this is at least close.

The course.  Kind of.  As much as I can remember. 

It started with a straight 7 (for the pony) strides to a bending line, to a single to a bending line to a 2-stride combination, to another single, to a last bending line up the long wall.  There was not a single line that we had not practiced in our jump schools in the previous 4 months.

We got a good pace to the first two, then got a bit of a blooper stride to the third, just because I lost a bit of pace.  I recovered well in the bending line to put in a good jump to 4.  It's a really good thing we practiced all those bending lines.  I concentrated on my line, on staying upright, on keeping my leg on and supporting, on keeping my head up, on keeping Violet in the outside rein and staying soft on the inside, and keeping the outside shoulder on my line.  All those things we've worked on.  And I must say, my brain kept up pretty good.

We got to the bending line to the 2-stride and I was a girl on a mission.  The plan was to go to the outside of the first fence, around the bend to the inside of the combo, in order to get the strides and the line.  Not sure I quite got it, as I got to the first fence of the combination quite close, which meant I had to sit down and push for the 2-stride, to make up the ground I missed from landing short on the in.

This was the oxer before the 2-stride, and I was determined!  We were on a turn, so she's twisted a little, but oh so happy.

WE DID IT!

I swear to God and all that is holy, I had all I could do to keep my brain in my head when we got the 2 strides.  We've NEVER gotten the two strides on the first try.  I guess maybe I'm figuring this crap out, finally.

So, three more to go.  Don't forget to ride all the way through the last fence.

I did it, and as I trotted out of the ring, clean, they announced that I was JUST under time and therefore, double clear!

This may have been the second fence?  Maybe the 8th?  I can't remember.

So that moved me from 5th place up to 2nd, but I did not know that.  I had just an hour to get the pony back to the barn, cleaned up, tack switched, and head out to cross country.  I was riding on a cloud and more and more convinced we would actually get this done!

I promise to have the next update (cross country) done before I leave work tomorrow.

Repost of dressage test

The last posting of this didn't work.  Try this one.

Dressage time - RH Fall show, Day 1

Ok, so We of course started out with dressage time.  I had a good, but not perfect dressage school on Friday.  Pony really seemed to be listening to me.    I was really able to push the trot especially, and worked some on the canter and getting her to give to me a bit.  I'm still figuring out the pressure needed between the reins for her.  Anyway, good school.  Nice night at Marcy's, no need for the early wakeup we usually have because the girls were working this weekend, so morning chores were mostly covered.

My ride time wasn't until after 2, so I spent the day wandering around kind of aimlessly.  Strange for me not to be working, but volunteer duties were covered.  Violet got braided and tucked back in her stall in her BOT and slinky for the day.  It was nice and cool, so she didn't get hot.

Super-pony just needs her cape!

Then came time.  I dressed up, put on my coat (surprisingly quite comfy), hopped oh so gracelessly into the saddle and headed up to the warm up area.  We had a little spook as we came around a trailer and Violet was confronted by her old nemesis, her shadow.  I was to take my test in front of someone I have tested with previously.  She's pretty well known in the area as being a hard judge.  But a fair and consistent one.  Just doesn't really give 20s.

Warm up was good.  Violet was able to ignore the other horses and OMG COWS across the street and pay attention to me, and I was able to pay attention to her and only her and that never happens.

We headed around the ring and then it was our turn.

There were a couple of places her head popped up and she was not as forward as I would like, but it felt good.  It was accurate.  I was able to get her back after a couple of moments of unsteadiness.  I actually smiled during the test.  And when I finished, there was clapping from my teammates that had come up to watch.  I can say I was proud.  There are always things to work on, but we fancy-pranced around in the white sand and actually kind of look like we belonged there.

I have included the video here.  I'm sorry, but I just cannot figure out how to get it to be the right direction.  If you are diligent, and really want to see, you can turn your head.  Sorry, but I'm just not adept at all this stuff.

So after our fabulous test, Violet got her braids out, was fed and turned out and we had a small gathering of people at the barn for a happy hour.  People included team members, parents and the show farriers (who do a fantastic job.  I can say that, since Violet sees them every 5 weeks).  It was nice and low key.

Curly head, post-braid, waiting on dinner

The next morning I got my test.  I scored a 32.3 which put me solidly in the middle of my class (5th out of 10), and was a full 8 points higher than the last test I rode and was easily my best score (Violet has one better score in the 20s with Marcea)!  We got nothing below a 6, and even got a 7 on one of our canters!  And of course, fixed our halt problem from our last test for an 8!

The best part by far was the comment written on the bottom by the judge.  "She has a wonderful attitude - you are lucky to have her.  Good Luck!".  Yes, everyone loves the pony, and it is really nice to have the judge recognize that she is special.

Yes, this special.

Derp.  Give me that apple, woman!

And oh so beautiful.

So that's how our first show experience started.  It's the only sideways video you get, but I do have some kick butt pro pictures already of the jumping, so that's to come.  Beginner Novice was the only division that only did dressage on Saturday.  Sunday coverage will come later this week.

Quick recap (no, I haven't forgotten)

I know.  It was a big weekend, followed by a big week.  So I'll do a little recap before doing the analysis.

A nice start to a show Saturday

Ride times were late.  Dressage Saturday 1:53, stadium and cross country at 3:42 and 4:38 Sunday, respectively.

I had a good, but not perfect, dressage school Friday night, working on pushing for more.

Super pony!

After waiting around with no job on Saturday, watching everyone else ride, we were braided and dressed and ready to go.  Then it was done, and we were right in the middle of the pack score-wise and oh so happy because it was a great ride.

Caroline, Jean, me and the Super-pony, and Jane post dressage.  Lots of reason to smile!

Sunday I jump judged in the morning through Intermediate, Prelim and Training, and made it back to the barn in time to watch my fellow team-mates all have great rides.

Next thing I know, I'm in warm-up and they are calling my number.

Through stadium with my best round ever, double clear.  Moved up to second.

A short break, long enough to take a drink, pamper the pony a bit, retack, and head back out to cross country.  Walk around a bit, warm up with a little bit of stickiness to work through, which was fantastic, then 5...4...3...2...1...HAVE A GREAT RIDE!

The pony and I after successful completion of our first ever BN event together

Yes, I met my goal.  I finished my first ever Beginner Novice.  My first ever...crap, can't remember the word now...rated?  No, that's the hunter world.  Whatever, my first ever big show with braiding and jackets and bit checks and running martingales and solid fences and water and ditches and a 2-stride, etc.

I got through it.  We had time, and finished in 7th out of 10, but we did it!  The pony was spectacular. I didn't feel like I was going to throw up.  I actually know what I did wrong for time and how to fix it. And I'm ready to go again!

Violet ribbon for the Violet pony!

The Market Street team results were pretty impressive:

Jean and Jr 2nd JTR
Olivia and Keebler 1st NR
Lindsey and Willa 2nd NR
Caroline and Charlie 3rd NR
Cameron and Breeze 1st BNR-B
Me and Violet 7th BNR-A

Caroline and I were on an adult team together with a couple of other people whose names I don't even know.  We finished 5th out of 6.

In my mind, she has reached that status.

So, to recap, I am thankful to be part of such a wonderful team, to have a great trainer and two wonderful twins that have taught my pony so much, a pony that has turned into the horse I always knew she could be, and to walk away from this with a smile on my face and a confident pony!

As soon as I find my dressage test paper, I'll post a more in-depth analysis of the weekend.

Lots of lesson info

Yeah, if I thought it would get better after the wedding was over, I was sorely mistaken.  Life marches on, along with kid visitations, birthday, Holloween, work demands, illnesses, and receptions.  I am looking forward to...I don't know...Christmas maybe?  I might be able to take a breath then?

Anyway, I ended up with a sinus infection last week, so had a forced day off, which I guess was good.  Saturday on the way back from visitation with the kiddos, the boy started with a head cold, but appears to be getting out of it after a couple crappy days.

The good news is I have managed to get in some terrific lessons, and this post is all about this.  Lots of words.

Dressage

• Be adamant about getting the result that I ask for, don't nag
• From the BEGINNING of the ride
• Make sure I keep the communication working between both reins
• The more inattentive the pony is, the more movement between the reins
• GIVE on the first stride up into a new gait
• Take the time to set up for the canter transition in the test, especially after the diagonal
• If I have to blow a movement to get the pony back, do it.  Don't let it escalate and take down the whole test.
• Push into the halt

Basically, we ran through the test.  As usual, the two movements I have issues with are the right lead canter after the diagonal, and putting her back together from the free walk.  Other than that, I feel pretty good.  We'll see how she feels on Friday when I school with everyone else in the world around.

Because what's a pony blog without the pony!

Stadium

• Stay forward to the fence
• Use the counter bend on the turns to balance for the fence
• Remember to put the outside shoulder on the line to the fence I would like to take
• The first fence will have to be ridden harder than anticipated
• Make sure to keep head up and heel under hip
• Concentrate on not allowing the leg to swing forward when I sit the canter a couple of strides before the fence

This, especially the leg position, was a continuation of many lessons.  We set up actual courses and went outside the ring and started like it was a real course.  When I got done with the first course, my first words were "well, that was a shit show".  So we did a different course.  That time, my brain was screwed on and we did much much better.

This past weekend, I made a deal with the boy that we would stop at the farm on the way to Clearwater so I could get in that one last cross country school before the course designers showed up and the course was really closed.  It meant getting up at 5:30 after the boy closed the night before, which resulted in him sleeping in the car and not getting to see my awesomeness, but I did get in that much needed last school, even with a sinus infection.

This part has the best grass.

Cross Country

• Get a good gallop going from the start box
• If there is any playing, stop it as soon as it starts
• If there is a missed distance, prop, etc, make sure to ride the next fence that much harder

During this school, she was a bit up.  Marcy says mostly because she was alone.  We had a little bucky, bucky playtime while going over the mound, but I managed to get over it, stop it and go on to the next fence.  We also had a runout, which was probably fantastic. There is a fence that they are calling the wishing well that looks like an intro to a trekahner, hanging log over a base thing.  It was not actually pulled out to be ridden, but was pretty much facing a tree one stride out.  I was to cut around the tree and slice over the fence at an angle (not something I do.  I like straight.  Must be the hunter rider in me), since we know it will be on the course this weekend. Yeah, I got to it and kind of said "oh god, take the wheel" and Violet said, "whee, let's go around it!" It was a good reminder that I actually have to ride every fence, especially those I'm not sure of.  Several of the fences have been repainted and now look different, so I have to take that in account as well.  The good news is that, on the second try, she sailed right over it.  We are both confident and ready for this. I have to say, I think I'm actually looking forward to doing this!

And then on Sunday, after driving to Clearwater Friday and back with a sick man on Saturday, still on antibiotics from the sinus infection, I drove back down for another stadium lesson on Sunday.  

A cool sunrise in the morning.  Violet in her sheet on the right, Finn on the left at his gate.

Stadium

• Establish the forward stride
• Continue the communication between the reins to keep her paying attention, especially when she is distracted
• Make sure, if I move up into a line, that I establish the canter again on the backside of the line
• Keep that leg underneath of me and not in front
• Keep the head up and looking a quarter of the way ahead
• Weight in the outside stirrup around turns
• Counterbend around the corners
• Lighter inside rein on the turns

The quarter ahead.  This means a quarter of the way around a circle, a quarter of the way down the line, etc.  It is simply a way to remind myself to look forward to whatever is next.  This stadium practice was in the grass field, and Violet was distracted, which was good practice.  We worked on ridability doing a figure 8 around a small fence, then moved on to the coursework.  Violet was jumping out of her skin!  Marcy says she's jumping like a horse that really likes her job, and it felt like it.  Yes, she gets a little head tossy sometimes, but is listening for the most part, if I remember the rules.  We are learning the different gears, and I am learning to trust myself.  My first instinct is beginning to be to go forward, not pull, and I'm getting better at going with that instinct.  

We finished up the last two weekends of lessons with a confident rider and a confident pony.  I think we are as ready as we are going to get.

Lessons from days past

Ok, I'm a slacker.  We all know this by now.  I actually outlined three posts for last week and didn't get a single one done.  Partially because I do this at work and my staff is out and I'm picking up the slack (or at least I did...for like three days).  Partially because it was my birthday week and I had other inconsequential things going on.  Partially because I just didn't get back to it.

So here is the weekend recap from two weeks ago.

We had a cross country school on Saturday morning.  It was to be the last one before they close the course before the show.  It was just me, Ginny on Pearl, one twin on Riley and one twin on her horse Jr.  Pearl is going Novice and schooling Training.  Riley and Jr are both working up to Prelim.  And me on the derpy pony doing BN.

They're all like "we jumped the Prelim coffin!" and I'm all like "I cantered through the water!". They're like "did you see us go over that Intermediate oxer?" and I'm like "you know I cantered over my first ditch!"  And actually, they didn't say any such thing, and they told me I did a good job when I did my little stuff, since they've all seen where I came from.  It's just me being jealous.

Can't quite compare, but I did things I hadn't done before.  We started off (after cantering a log and a little house for warm up) by going into the box and learning about how to work the watch.  Marcy's system is to walk in the box between 15 and 10 and face the back of the box.  Start the watch when they say 5, and start to turn to the front.  Then you are ready to go from there.  From the first fence, Violet was ON!

Freshly clipped pony.

We jumped all the things, logs, houses, tables.  Then we trotted up the little bank (haven't done one of those in 2 years) and cantered over the rolltop.  Stopped to watch the bank work of the others, then headed back down to a table, left turn to the dinky coop of death.  I got in my own head and muffed the coop, but we got over it.  Came back, did it from the other side, left hand cantering turn to the ditch in the woods

This was a huge deal for me.

The last time I tried to canter a ditch, I ended up on the ground and Marcy had to school Violet over it for me.

Very satisfied post-cross country pony.

After the ditch, we came to a newer jump.  It's like an open coop, or a triple bar, but the base inside of it is painted shiny.  And it was raining.  It read like there was water in there.  Three strides out, Violet and I saw it at the same time.  She said "huh?!" and I said "mm, do it anyway" and she did.  Then up and over a very steep hill down to another table.  Marcy was happy with my ability to get the fence done and get on with the next thing, but we headed back up over the hill the way we came and back over the new fence just to make sure our confidence was good.  It was.

After that we headed to the water, where we did a little mushroom jump and cantered through the water.  Again, a first for me, although Violet has been telling me for a while now that trotting through the water is stupid.

After that, all that was left was a table right hand curve past the turnout fields back to a table and the finish flags.  Violet slowed down a bit coming up to the fields, but then picked back up heading to the last.  She got a bit flat, so I balanced her about 10 strides out and had a decent last fence.  Again, we had a great time, and walked away from schooling saying "we got this"!

Takeaways include to be prepared for shenanigans for the first three fences.  If she's going to act up, this is where she will do it, going away from the other horses.  And don't forget the last fence.  So there we go.

Maddie, the most perfect puppy ever.  In her own version of heaven, sandwiched between her dad and her favorite Miss Mary.

Sunday morning we had a dressage lesson.  We worked on a lot of the same things.  Work on forward first.  Make sure to move hands between the reins when stopping.  Not see-saw, but more a move of the shoulders.  These movements can be more or less depending on the horse I'm riding.  Give reins right before asking for walk from a halt to allow that first forward step.  The same goes in the walk-trot and trot-canter transitions.

We worked on some sections of the test.  The biggest challenges for me are going to be the right lead canter coming right off the change in rein across the diagonal, and going from free to medium walk.

Prepare for canter off the change in rein with one full stride of straight before asking for the canter. Make sure I set up properly for that one, because it will be difficult (for me, not Violet, she's got this) to prepare without bracing.  After the circle, make sure to support going into the final corner before the long wall in order to keep from breaking to the trot, and encourage a very forward canter down the long wall.

A very tired pony after a great weekend.

In the walk work, I should use the rein opposite the judge (left) to encourage her to stretch her head down.  Start to pick up the reins before hitting the long wall.  Pick them up with purpose and insist on Violet remaining balanced and not throwing her head up.  Not being mean, just insistent that she respond.  While training this move, I should stop as soon as she becomes resistant and insist on her putting her head down before starting again.  By doing this over and over, we got more and more steps before she threw her head.

So these were my take-aways from lessons the weekend of October 15-16.  October 22-23 coming soon.

A nice walk after a busy weekend.