The Red Pony Finds His Inner Jumper

A couple of weekends ago I hauled Fox about an hour south to the Currituck Rural Center for a day at an Open Horse Show.  They had added a Combined Trial for the local eventers and I thought it would be a great way to get my pony some miles without putting too many on my truck or my check book.  As you can see from the photo I didn't go all out with the spa treatments mostly due to time and energy the week prior.  But despite being a little rough around the edges we did great.

I got Fox a stall for the day(I know all my eventer friends are cringing) but I like having the option of letting Fox loose in a stall to enjoy some hay and companionship of other horses versus tying him to the trailer all day. Not that he actually cares. As long as there is hay available he's content  He settled in like a pro and the day just got better from there.

We were late to the dressage warm-up but there were very few entries and the show was extremely laid back about that kind of thing.  Mostly with the dressage Fox and I need to work on bendiness.  He's very stiff going to the right so as is a common problem with baby horses our circles were less circle-y and more eggish or pear shaped. Not surprising but homework for the rest of the season.

But the excitement came later in the jumping classes. Fox has always been a bit lazy about jumping and a bit looky, as in I will hesitate or pause in front of this fence before I deign to lift my hooves above the ground.  That day he did his "look see" on the baby warm-up cross rail and the next time around I lightly popped him on his furry red butt as we got to the fence.  He flung himself over like it was the Grand National.  And that is how he jumped the two courses in our two classes.  It was like he suddenly decided everything was Rolex height and he would do his best to jump the height of the standards.  He nearly jumped me out of the tack a couple of times.

Fox finally discovered his inner jumper and let that pony fly!  And at the end of the day our reward, other than the lovely experience was this.

Next stop XC schooling with friends at Kelly's Ford before we try to make another assault on that event.  Then I think, if we do well, as in we actually complete the event without getting eliminated for something, it will be the end of our eventing season.  So until my next tale from the back of the red pony keep it between the flags everyone!

Leaping in to the Fall Season

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month. Then again with all the work related traveling and the sheer amount of hours I've been putting in at my evil regular job it's not surprising. So last time you tuned in to my on going saga I had just completed my first clinic with a big name trainer and Fox's first clinic period.  Then Fox got almost two months off while I chased the almighty dollar with which I purchase things like horse feed and electricity.  First I was gearing up for the big work related travel, then I was in Florida for the Navy thing and then I was unpacking/catching up on all the stuff I missed while I was gone. In the mean time Fox got to laze about and be a pony shaped slug.

Between weather and late hours I wasn't able to get much riding time in the last two weeks but I squeezed in a couple of days here and there in which I reestablished what Fox's job as a baby event horse entailed.  That and we're finally getting a handle on the cantering thing. Our first upwards transitions are still rather ugly but we'll smooth it out with time and some lessons with one of my friends who is an up and coming Intermediate eventer.

The last ride I put in on Fox before work swallowed me again and then I had to head off to my Mom's for the Labor Day weekend was in a word FANTASTIC!  There was cantering, there was cantering several laps in either direction of my riding area and there was cantering of poles and twigs on the ground baby logs.  We just need to put in a couple more rides of this same thing and we'll finally be ready to start cantering fences.

And because I'm an obsessive planner I've already laid out lots of shows/HT's to take my baby eventer to for mileage so that maybe, just maybe we could be doing Beginner Novice next spring. So I signed us up for a local open horse show this coming weekend where they offer dressage and over fences classes so we can sharpen our skills. With this in mind I put together a new scary stadium type jump using some stuff I found around the farm.

Unused garden pots make a great filler for a show jump! Fox even cantered away from the big cross rail in the back which is a new exciting thing for him as he is the laziest OTTB on the planet! I am so proud of my little red pony I could explode in a glittery puff of smoke and love.

Then I had to put away horsey things for a few more days while I visited with my mom and sister down in North Carolina.  But while I was gone Superhubs proved once again that he is the most awesome man on the planet.  I've been planning for a long while to build a few XC type jumps of my own since there are no really good schooling areas within less than 2.5hrs away and it takes a monumental amount of planning to go to one of the big ones that are further out.  But I'd never gotten around to it.  Superhubs took it upon himself while I was away to build me an Intro level, 18 inch, super fantastic COOP!

Shown here with the massive brown hippo fabulous Seneca aka High Queen checking out the new addition to her domain.  I cannot wait to try this out this week!

What's on the horizon for Eventing at Midnight? I have several small local outtings planned which saves on time/gas/stabling/lodging and gives my pony lots of miles close to home.  But I have decided to make another attempt at Kelly's Ford. Which if you've read some of the posts from a couple years ago you know was the site of Seneca and I's first walk of shame back to the trailer when we got eliminated on the third fence of the stadium course before we'd even gotten near the XC course.  This time the cows shouldn't be in residence and Fox hasn't shown a lot of interest in cows the couple of times he's seen them at a distance so I'm hopeful he won't think aliens are coming to abduct him if they do appear at Kelly's Ford.  In this plan is a schooling day with a lot of the local eventers to make a big group xc school of it and I cannot wait.  Other than some playing around this will be Fox's first real look at a XC course with water, banks and ditches oh my!

Wish us luck everyone and keep it between the flags!

Challenges

Somewhere towards the middle of last week I had stopped believing I was going to be able to go to the Dom Schramm clinic and I stopped hunting for all those odds and ends and I stopped packing/organizing for the trip.  Friday morning before I left for work Fox still looked hitchy in the front to my eyes but I figured that the Farrier Fairy K. coming out wasn't going to do any harm and she fit me in to her schedule for Friday afternoon.

K. arrived and she looked, she squinted, I walked and trotted Fox for her. K. said she really couldn't see this hitch I had been talking to her about.  Incidently when I'd arrived home that afternoon not only couldn't I see it but the persnickety beast jumped the then water filled ditch that runs down my small back pasture. Seriously?  This is the pony who had been gimping around all week. And now he was calling me a paranoid liar in front of my farrier.  Excellent.

K.  trimmed up his feet and we both discussed the possible work Fox would be doing over the weekend and that he would definetly need to go back in to his Easy Boots arena with footing or not.  I agreed and if it kept Fox sound I'd happily look like a dork eventing in trail boots.

The Clinic Day 1: 

Challenge Number 1:  Finding the farm.  My GPS can sometimes be lets say mentally challenged telling me too soon, too often, or too late when I should make a turn.  So I missed the turn in to Rose Equestrian's driveway the first time and had to find a suitable place for my long rig to turn around. A church parkinglot helped with that and we were soon settled in the trailer parking at the farm.

Challenge Number 2:  There is no shade in trailer parking and it's 11am in the middle of July.  But I have an awning. Which I have only rolled out at home with Superhubs directing.  I can do this!  Out came the awning and my wonderful pony who settled in to his plow horse routine happily hung out in its shade.

Challenge Number 3:  I belatedly discover that I need to change the gullet plate in the saddle I'll be riding in about 30 minutes before I need to be up at the arena.  Fan-freaking-tastic.  Dig for a screw driver, quick change, throw tack and gear on the pony, throw gear on myself, struggle into the field boots I only wear to big shows and off we go. Thankfully I wasn't the only one running late so only a little embarassment.

Challenge Number 4:  Because my horse is the greenest I will now automatically go first for every exercise.  Brilliant!  First exercise trot then canter through these ground poles.  *Gulp*  I've been cantering Fox a bit at home but not over poles yet.  Come on Wonder Pony!  And we successfully manage that.

Challenge Number 5:  This will be only the second time Fox has seen a real show jumping course will Wonder Pony rise to the occasion?  There were a few "EEK a SCARY FENCE!" moments but Fox made it over everything.  We made turns, steering can sometimes still be an issue, jumped things that Fox found scary and generally had a great time.

Challenge Number 6: Will Wonder Pony get back in to the trailer without fuss so I can leave him to watch the other lessons.  I'm quite sure I could have left him standing tied to the trailer without issues but for my own sanity I wanted him back in.  He made a try at being stubborn but after a few minutes he got back in settled in to eat hay and bask under his fan.

Challenge Number 7:  Do I submit to the jet blast of cold water in the barn's shower or go for a sponge and bucket bath?  I braved it, shrieking like a five year old girl, and managed to get all the sweat of the day off and wash my hair.

Clinic Day 2:

Challenge Number 1:  Again as I have the greenest horse we were the trail blazers for everything.  Could we improve on the day before and get Fox out of this immediate break check, peek at the fence then lurch over thing he'd been doing.  YES!  Judicious use of my jumping bat about two or three strides out had Wonder Pony rocking back, lifting his feet and actually producing a big boy jump. Who knew an actually jumper lurked in there?

Challenge Number 2: The Corner Jump.  EEEK! From both me and Fox.  I'd never jumped a corner, not even with Seneca so this was new and a bit scary, but we managed it.  I had to one hand the reins, the other swatting him on the butt but we leaped our first corner!

Challenge Number 3: Remaining silent and unresponsive when a couple of obviously not eventer people started making catty comments about a rider in the ring.  They were awful and the other eventer I was sitting with and I went dead silent and just tried to ignore them.

Challenge Number 4:  Managing to get my trailer turned around in a tight area without having to back up too much, AND without mangling either the truck, the trailer or anything else.  DID IT! So proud of that one.

So over all Fox and I had a fantastic weekend.  We learned alot about jumping, I learned alot about my pony and myself.  Dom was fabulous!  He was funny and informative.  He likes to not only tell you what to do but how to do it and why you're doing it.  As in doing A.  will produce this result and this is why and how it effects the over all ride.  He was tough but fair as long as you listened and tried to implement what he was teaching you.

Fox will now get about a month off as I deal with work trips and other vile things.  There will be grooming thrown in there but that's it until I get back in mid-August. Then we'll focus on flatwork and jumping basics with a goal of trying to go to a starter trial in October or November.

And yes I was an extreme fan girl. At the end of day two along with all the teenage riders I lined up so that Dom could sign my XC helmet.  I'm hoping he will come back again and we can show him how much we've improved.  And my eventing love has been sparked a bit more.  Keep it between the flags everyone.

Plan Meet Hoofprints

And as soon as I started getting all my plans in order Fox's ears pricked up and he threw his hoofprints all over them.  Thank you Amazing, Lame in Millisecond Pony! 

It's true I came home yesterday afternoon from work and while Superhubs and I were putting the groceries away I glanced out the glass inserts in the kitchen door that overlooks Fox's pasture.  Stare, stare, frown, frown harder.  Is he....God no!  He is!  At first he was just very slightly off, a minute hesitation in his walk.  Damn it.  Then I made the monumental mistake of thinking he might like a chance to graze on the lush grass of the front yard since his current pasture is more of a holding area to let the main pastures recover for a couple of weeks before they get grazed on again.

Silly me. What was I thinking trying to be kind to my horse.  Because even though his two best buddies were clearly right across the driveway.  He threw a tantrum and even after he mostly calmed down and stopped racing and leaping around the yard he still threw minor tantrums for the next hour. I finally decided that his screaming was more damaging than letting him have a few flakes of hay to keep him happy.  And when I went to fetch him he was even more off.

I had hoped the magical horse healing fairy would visit him in the night but no such luck he still looked gimpy this morning.  I felt him all over for heat, none, then I palpated his shoulder which he had tweaked once before.  For that I got angry faces, twitching, tail lashing and pawing.  I called my farrier out to make sure its not his foot(I wanted her to look at his hooves anyway he seems to be growing at a rate quicker than my other two horses) and I'm going to cold hose him as well as do some massage.  I am crossing my fingers that this thing resolves before Friday morning.  If it doesn't.  SIGH!! No clinic for us.  It's not like I didn't spend a scarily large amount of money to go which included the registration, the stall fees, the gas, the food, the replacement and augmenting of gear. Naww it's okay Pony Boy it's not like I reallly wanted to ride with Dom Schramm.

I swear he planned this.  Keep it between the flags everyone.  

A List, a Plan, a Journey

I am one of those people that is perfectly happy to do spontaneous things...to a point.  If it involves a long trip, my horse, or packing more than one set of clothing there better be a plan involved somewhere. I haven't been driving my full rig of truck+trailer all that long. Yes I can get it in and out of the driveway which most times is the worst part of any trip and I can go various places with only a small amount of heart palpitations.  But hauling my trailer longer than an hour to a place I have never been fills me with a special kind of fear.  The kind of fear that screams for me to hide under the bed and never come out. A plan, a solid plan with back up plans is the only way that I have learned to keep the brain eating fear demons at bay.

I have a little less than a week until I must load the red pony and trek the 2.5 hours west in preparation for the Dom Schramm clinic. This weekend because I couldn't ride (don't ask just way too many factors got in the way including Hurricane Arthur) so what did I do? I obsessed. I cleaned the inside of my trailer, took out all those things that get thrown in there but really don't need to be there, I organized  everything in to neat and tidiness, I drove to Wal-Mart and bought 2 battery operated fans to keep Fox cool, I raided my hay/storage shed for things I don't use on a regular basis like shipping boots and stall guards.  In short my anxiety got channeled in to cleaning and farm chores.  Whilst the red pony and his barn mates the Crack Beast, and the Brown Hippo(she is so massive right now I cut her grain in half) grazed on summer grass I cleaned the inside of my house, did dishes, put a crockpot meal together, made cupcakes from scratch, mowed every concievable piece of lawn/pasture that needed it and groomed both Fox and Seneca.  Oh yeah and I started doing the massive amounts of horse laundry to include my three best saddle pads, Fox's fly sheet which also needs mending, and a couple of other odds and ends. Plus I loaded both Fox (to make sure he wouldn't spaz about the fan I put in for his comfort on the trip) and Seneca (Just to keep her on her toes and make sure that in an emergency like a bigger, badder hurricane headed our way, that I could load her.)

I did all this on Sunday because Saturday I felt like total crap from having spent the night before tossing and turning trying to get comfortable on the folding cot I set-up in my office for when I have duty and have to spend the night at the command babysitting.  I forgot to grab my camp mat and as I have bony hips and am well past my teens I had a rough night and paid for it on Saturday.

So what does the rest of my week look like?  Well lots more things to do.  I wasn't able to wrangle Friday off of work like I wanted so I could spend a leisurely morning doing the final packing and make a nice unstressed trip to Powhatan. So instead I have to pack my trailer on Thursday evening with everything but the hay I'm taking, then Friday as soon as Superhubs gets home with the truck he'll hitch it up for me so that I when I get home a couple hours later I can just load the pony and go.

Which still leaves me with washing the outside of the trailer, packing my own clothing/tack/gear, double checking that I have things like feed, supplements, water buckets ect, bathing Fox on Thursday evening and throwing Seneca's fly sheet on him to keep his clean for the journey, and oh yeah last but not least actually riding my horse!

I did get to ride earlier last week despite the awful heat.  I did a fitness ride following Jimmy Woffords fitness for event horses plan.  We can easily do 9 minutes of trot with 2 minutes of walk between each 3 minute set.  And, and AND! We cantered! not for huge stretches of time but I asked and Fox gave without a whole lot of fuss.  So now I know where the canter button on my horse is. I just need to ride him a few times this week to make sure that button is fully functioning before we go to the clinic so that we don't embarass ourselves.

A couple of my friends are planning to come to the clinic so hopefully we'll have some awesome photos from our adventure! Until then keep it between the flags everyone!

Hail the Conquering Pony!

Saturday, saturday, saturday how shall I recount thee with appropriate wonder and awe?  As best I can so here goes.  Saturday was to be Fox's first foray in to being an event horse. The day before I really did want to ride him to refresh his memory about being a properly behaved boy but fate is a fickle mistress. While Thursday the weather was clear I put riding to the side so I could get deep in to making from scratch cupcakes for a friend's birthday. I deeply regretted not riding first and staying up late to do the cupcakes because Friday it poured just before I got home. But I decided not to care about it because it was the Intro B dressage test and 18 fences.  Which I decided meant 6 or so little cross rails this assumption would come back to haunt me on the actual day. So I packed the trailer carefully, refreshed Fox's memory of dutifully getting in the trailer when asked, set out my clothes for the next day and went to bed at a reasonable hour.

 The day of the CT dawned grey and overcast. I sent up a hope that it wouldn't pour on us, packed the pony in the trailer and off we went. I wasn't worried about doing the dressage test or the jumping my overall anxiety lay with how Fox would react to being out and about without Cowboy his security blanket for all things off the farm.  But Fox quickly put my fears to rest by happily settling in at the trailer with his hay bag and other than looking around a bit going in to his plow horse routine.

The dressage test went fairly well all the mistakes that were made were mine and Fox stayed quiet, obediant and all four feet where I asked him to put them.  I was crooked on the centerline both times, blew the second halt, my circles were rather egg shaped but overall it was good and we earned a 37.2 which put us 4th.  Stadium wasn't for an hour and half so I untacked and left Fox munching his hay while I chatted with friends and went to look over the jump course.

It was...not what I expected.  The fences were indeed 18inches but they were not cross rails but rather the actual fancy show jumps just lower.  9 efforts in all of panel fences, lattices, flower boxes and every crazy color you can think of. This was going to be a real test to see if Fox could put his big boy pants on. Soon enough it was time to tack up again and head to the warm up area. Fox hesitated over the very first fence put a pop with my jumping bat and he hopped over quickly enough. After that he was great and even cantered a bit.

Then it was time to circle before the in gate.  Fox was a bit up and didn't want to stand still but I didn't mind because his idea of being up is to huff loudly and fidget rather the Cowboy's idea of being up which usually means literally that as in only two feet touching the ground. Finally it was our turn and we went out to do our first stadium course as a partnership.  On the whole it was good with only a few little issues.  I could Fox's eyes get huge at the colorful jumps and for the first one he did hesitate and wimble womble in front of it before finally stepping over.  The second fence though he did a full on stop, no I don't wanna and I actually had to circle and present again at which point he decided to hop over.  The rest of the course went better and he looked but went over everything else without too much fuss.

Afterwards with much praising I left him at the trailer to munch hay while I sat ring side with friends watching other friend's rounds and chatting about horses, lives and various injuries.  While we were sitting there a horse broke loose behind us and from the direction of the "loose horse" calls it was obvious it was either Fox or his nearest neigbor.  I got up to check and the culprit, not Fox, trotted around the end of the row of trailers.  It had been his neighbor but I went to make sure he wasn't trying to make a break for himself only to find him casually watching the fuss and munching his hay.  I so love that horse. I could never have left Seneca unattended and I wouldn't want to leave Cowboy unattended because he can be very naughty when he's bored. But Fox is completely happy standing tied at the trailer and lazing away the afternoon.

Later after the rounds were all done I went to check the scores and pick up my dressage test and I found that despite our refusal we had finished 3rd over all!  Fox's first ribbon! I was esctactic though you can see from the photo that Fox was completely blaise about his win and even somewhat annoyed because it was interfereing with his hay munching.  After much fussing over him I retacked him up and went out to find some riders to school XC with because Fox is still very anxious about being by himself.

We schooled various fences with a couple of younger girls on more advanced horses.  The only fence that was a real issue was the dog house and only because Fox clipped the thing and sent a piece of it's roof in to the grass.  One of the mothers that were supervising the girls put it back and because I worried about Fox injuring himself I took him off to jump something less scary which he did and even cantered away from it. And I made that the end of our day and went back to the trailer to untack, pack up and go home. 

There were bobbles here and there throughout the day but it was a good experience. I feel that trust was created on both sides. I learned to trust Fox to stand quietly at the trailer and he learned to trust me to take him someplace scary and show him that it was an okay place to be. Our goal over the next two weeks before we go off to the Dom Schramm clinic is to work on our cantering.  I need to trust Fox and start asking him for it rather than waiting for him to give it.

So with our yellow ribbon fluttering we kick on and ride forward.  Keep it between the flags everyone.

Crazy Wonderful

This past Saturday was supposed to be Fox's debut in the show ring. We were going to do our best Faux Hunter Princess impression and strut it at a local show.  This time thankfully I do not have to chalk up our lack of appearance due to a certain horse's disinterest in getting in to the trailer.  No this time the weather blew in and the coordinators cancelled the show.

I did however have a fantastic school on Friday. The weather held off and it was pretty decently dry in my riding area. I set up a couple of warm up cross rails, then two cross rails in a line with an unrelated distance because I was sure given Fox's plow horse tendencies we weren't going to be setting any land speed records, making distance a non-issue.

We practiced a lot of walk to trot transitions, something he's getting better about and also trying to get lots of impulsion at the trot, something he's not so great about. We did lots of changes of direction and circles to try and get some softness and suppleness.  Fox is actually getting really good at giving to the bit though Friday he was a little crabby about it because I'd taken more of a hold then I usually do. But once he realized we were jumping he ceased to care about the contact.

The first couple of jumps were kinda eh. More of a wake-up there is something in front of you which you need to step over.  And once I stopped looking at the fence (old bad habit I am still trying to shake) then he was better at picking up his feet. 

The best part though and as usual Superhubs who was cleaning out his truck missed it.  On the last run through of the line Fox actually cantered off after the second fence!  Six strides even!  I was a little surprised but I softened and forced myself not to panic and not to pull.  Which is my standard fall back reaction when my horse gives me an upward transition that I didn't ask for.  This all goes back to my issues with Seneca who could and did try to run off with me at least once a ride. But I'm slowly learning that my plow horse usually (there was that one time at the park when he lost sight of Cowboy) doesn't harbor those kinds of thoughts in his head.  He's more like that surfer who smoked half a dozen joints and won't get off the couch unless absolutely forced to.

But all this is not the Crazy Wonderful for which I named the post.  I found out some time last week when I was crusing the Central Virginia Combined Training Association's facebook page that Dom Schramm was coming to give a clinic at a farm about 2.5 hours from me.  Que the super fan girl squeal! Originally I was just going to go audit. Because I was sure there wouldn't be any spots open, or any stalls available, or a level for which I thought Fox and I could enter with confidence.

But being me I was curious so I emailed the coordinator.  Yes they did still have one spot left. In the INTRO SECTION! And the barn did still have one stall available! I could not believe my luck. I hesitated for a second before telling the coordinator  Yes please! When she asked if I wanted to the spot. 

I am as I told my friends both anxious and excited.  Anxious because when I have to take my full rig somewhere I have never been I always get nervous.  What if the driveway had a really narrow opening? Where was parking going to be? In a nice open field or somewhere less parking friendly? I'm not going to have to back up am I? AM I!?  At which point that more sane part of my brain kicked in.

You can already get your trailer in to the narrowest driveway on the planet that has ugly drop offs in to nasty ditches on both sides.  If you're in a field no problems, if not ask for help.  Backing up, if you feel you can't, again just ask for help.  Eventers are super nice people no need to panic.  Yeah my heart rate is still freaking out just writing this.

Also will the Super Plow Horse and I be able to perform all the exercises and not embarass ourselves? This is where my plan to train for the clinic kicks in. I know it sounds weird but if I expose Fox to grids and say 2ft fences now we should be cracking along by the time we have to do it in front of Dom Schramm.  And there is the whole cantering thing.  I need to strengthen the Plow Horse's butt so we can I don't know actually canter around an entire arena. 

So with all those plans made there is only one more question.  What are Fox and I going to where? Keep it between the flags everyone.