Les Bois Dressage I & II

After having done the show a few weeks prior, I was feeling overall pretty excited to compete again, especially because it was at the same facility. I had a slight worry that the last time had been a hoax but overall I knew that it would go well. Les Bois Dressage was pretty much a repeat of Boise River minus the ridiculously generous judge. I was only able to do one test each day, (T-3), so it was pretty low key. My goal was to just have another productive show and get some nice higher scores for Training level.

Because my braids looked so horrendous last time I did something very sinful. I didn’t have the time or energy to pull, so I shaved the underside of E’s mane. It worked out surprisingly well and I would only recommend it if you aren’t planning on having a full show season and your mane resembles that of a draft horse (E is half shire). If I show E next year I will definitely hire someone to pull her mane in spring and just maintain it throughout the year.

Overall I thought my scores for this show were very fair and Saturday received a 66+% (a little low IMO) and Sunday a 72+%. The show was incredibly laid back and fun and I wish I could have been in the running for a champion ribbon! 

The Epic Dressage Show

Saturday June 23rd I packed up my trailer and went to my first dressage show in three years. And who did I have the pleasure of riding? Miss Evita of course!

 All PC: Jannae

I was so exceptionally nervous for this show. I had heard she gets very "up" at shows and I felt I had something to prove and needed over a 65%. I also knew I wanted to set us up for success at our first show together and opted to show training 2 & 3.

This pic and pic below are PC: SB

I tried on my show clothes a few days prior (I'm great at procrastinating) and realized my coat and shirt didn't fit super well so I bought a new coat and shirt (review to follow!). My ride times weren't scheduled for the afternoon so I had a leisure morning acquiring braiding supplies and liquid courage (see: procrastination). I pulled Evita out of pasture late morning and began to bathe and braid.

This is where my anxiety kicked it. E started yelling for Mae after being separated. I thought for sure this was the sneak preview of how the show was going to go. I also kicked myself for not thinning her mane earlier and broke out in tears over how fugly it looked. 

I hastily finished my shitty braid job, realized I was running late, and threw together a sandwich to take on the road. E loaded up ok but clearly was on edge. I checked my hitch job and hit the road for my long 15 min trek. 

We arrived and despite parking arrangements not being idiot proof, I took a deep breath and went to check in. I saw some friends and literally asked them to babysit me because I've never shown by myself and my coach had other clients so would just see me in the warmup. I was advised to breathe and handwalk E around to let her look at the surroundings. I unloaded E and she took a look around, yawned, and lowered her head.

The more I walked with E, the more she yawned and chewed. Apparently she knew right where she was and was completely relaxed to go dance around. I was still worried that when I got on she would be different so I remained reserved. I tacked up a little behind schedule and headed over to warmup nervous. I got on and immediately told E we were here to do the thing. I'm pretty sure if I could have seen her face she would have been rolling her eyes at me. Shortly after a quick walk around I saw Jannae and my parents there to cheer me on. 

My coach gave me a quick warmup and off I went to enter at A. The test itself was easy and although I noticed E gained a small amount of tension as we entered, it was pretty solid. Mare had my back! After  our final salute I was so happy. I just couldn't help but think that omg we did the thing and E is easy and fun at shows! 

I hopped off because I had an hour until my next test and chilled happily with my friends. Next thing I know the score runner tells me congratulations and unsure, I said "thanks?!" before looking up at my placing. First! First? No wait, not just first but 80% first? What?! What!!! "You're the highest score of the day!" Again, what?! I proceeded to freak out (as E napped, naturally) in excitement. I couldn't believe we scored that high, it was unreal. I knew for my next test I didn't want to warmup very long and my goal was to just have fun.

The beginning of the test went great but I noticed I was lacking energy and on my last canter circle and thought my downward transition was two letters before it actually was. My thought process went: "hold on E, our downward is just right there! Hm, we've been trotting for awhile. Oh..look..C...that's where my transition went" so we had a minor mistake, oh well. I finished up my long and low and was just happy to have laid down another pretty solid test. This test wasn't scored as favorably (lol I mean compared to the 80) but we got a well deserved 71%. I hopped off super pony, went to acquire treats (because I'm the worst and forgot some) and cracked open my wine while waiting to see who got high point. T'was me! Hell yes! I thanked the pony numerously for being the best teacher/babysitter ever and packed up to go get her home. Best. Show. Ever.

An Intro: The past month

So my little hiatus lasted a little longer than planned. But that's ok, I'm here now and want to start back with a small intro to the next few posts.

1) I got engaged! Holy crap was this a total 360 in my life. Luke proposed at his birthday party (end of April) I hosted for him after blowing out the candle (I actually forgot candles for his cake and had him blow out a giant yankee candle lol). It was so lovely to have our friends and family there. I am so so thrilled. No, there is no date yet, my focus is my last semester of college!

 

Baby Z's third ride!

2) Ponies are doing swell. Baby Z has been rocking baby boot camp and I've even ridden him twice now! He comes home in about two weeks. Mae has been a little brat and I haven't gotten to ride her yet, she needs to graduate from my stop-being-a-brat-about-work groundwork bootcamp. Vermont has been a super steady guy and very easy for rides. Merlot definitely is showing his green side but so so willing (and gorgeous to look at omg). And finally, Evita has been my rock and so much fun.

3) I finished my second to last semester of college with a fantastic GPA. My work continues to be nice and they even gave me an internship for summer to get some credits knocked out. I'm looking forward to my future outside of college.

Weekend Warrior

YAS MOVE THE SAND

So many good things have been happening! Like the above picture. The arena work was started! It is about 2/3 of the way done and we have pulled out a metric crap ton of excess sand, that has been happily dumped into my once crappy paddocks that were down to the base! Life is going to get so much better out here!

Anyways, I had quite the intense weekend! 

Saturday

Saturday morning after completing horse chores I drove over to CJ's to ride. This was everyone's first ride of the year. She had a light lesson planned for Sunday and wanted me to hop on both Aragorn and Tess (potential new lesson pony!). Aragorn was surprisngly great. You remember me calling him the mule headed thigh master? He was definitely SLOW but took some encouragement quite nicely! I forgot how much fun he can be, his big warmblood gaits are so unique. 

Thats about 2' deep at the center

Tess was a wild card. We haven't done much with her since CJ got her and this would be her first ride under saddle. I knew she had experience with lots of kids riding her but was more of an all around horse. As a QH and 13 I expected to be pretty safe. She definitely acts SUPER green but overall seems safe. She was very insecure in the contact and either bobbed her head down or latched onto the bit and yanked it down. We kept it basic with just a few strides of trotting here and there and she wasn't mean so so far she seems like a good candidate. 

Next I hopped on Evita and I was kind of nervous to ride her. I've mentioned her spooky/bolting behavior in the past and wasn't sure what horse I would have under me after a few months sitting around. Surprise to me, she was PERFECT. Definitely weak and out of shape but nearly the same as what I left off with. It felt like home being on her back again <3

I also got Mae out who presented with some soreness behind and opted to put her away. She was such a good girl though, but tweaked something while being an idiot in turn out. 

Later I went home to show my cousin my place; I haven't seen her in probably 10 years! She has kids now and overall seemed disinterested but oh well. 

Such a good mule head <3

Once they left I hooked up my trailer, loaded Merlot, and hauled a few minutes down the street to Jannae's house (who I just recently learned blogged! Go follow her, shes an awesome person and has kickass pones). Jannae was kind of to host me and my green bean since we are arena-less but the weather is so nice. Mer was kind of a basket case to haul and was extremely apprehensive to load but hopped on like a good noodle. He got himself in a tizzy on the trailer and was shaking like a leaf when I pulled him off. Once I tied him to the trailer though, his little greenbean brain was like "oh tying. I can do this" and cocked a leg and relaxed. 

So hairy but still the best <3

He was on edge again when I lead him the short distance to the arena but once I set him out on the line he got pretty comfortable. Being an adult is hard but I really like this guy is a diamond in the rough. He wants to try so hard, he is just terrified of the world. 

Sunday

Sunday I woke up and kind of felt like death physically. I had TRX Friday night and combined with all the pony shenanigans on Saturday my body was TIRED. However, I did have a personal training appointment with my favorite horsey-themed personal trainer. It was also her birthday so I had an excuse to buy her coffee and a piece of cake from the local cafe. She loved it and gave me a great workout. 

My cousin fed him a carrot and he just played with it in his mouth

After feeling like death warmed over again, I went home to do some homework and house chores. Luke and CJ were continuing work on the arena and moving sand into the paddocks. 

In the afternoon (yay DST even though I love sleep), I went back to CJ's and even though her lesson was canceled she asked if I would hop on the ponies if she tacked them up. I agreed because I can't pass up an excuse to ride. Aragorn was still being fabulous. With Tess we worked more on actually asking her to get on the bit with inside leg to outside rein. She got steadier in the contact and we avoiding some of her anxiety by riding lots of figures. 

Proving we can tie like an adult

Evita was an angel again, but got a little excited when we asked her to canter. Even though she can be a strong and intimidating horse, I actually smiled because it is refreshing to see a horse love their job so much. We got her relaxed and ended in some nice stretchy trot and she was so freaking proud of herself. That mare is becoming my second horse love (behind Ries of course). 

I'm really really excited to see where the year is going, but I'm trying my darnedest to kick ass.

SO FANCY! I think hes going to be a great dressage pony if he hates jumping

Danielle Thomason Clinic Day 2

 

Clearly I'm very late at this..and unfortunately did not get a lot of media on day 2. It was awhile ago so I'm going to attempt to jog my memory.

I rode Evita first and we moved to the full court higher on the hill. I've never worked up there but after a quick look around E was ready to go to work. We had fun with more lateral movement and really worked on super quiet hands and using my seat for most of my aids. I'm fairly new to the whole dressage world so I'm just now starting to develop an independent seat and not relying on my hands. 

We did a lot of voltes and also worked on getting halts. DT commented that Evita's canter is at the stage where it is cute right now but we need to work on gaining more power and ground cover. She wants to see E come up and through her shoulders with each stride. It was a slightly shorter lesson than the day prior, which I was thankful for because man was I sore. E promptly developed an abscess that lasted for ever the day after and had three weeks off. Womp womp.

Next I hopped on Vermont. I could tell he was already feeling better than the day prior. We focused again on walk trot transitions and keeping him straight. There were some fun poles thrown in the mix and towards the end of the lesson I was starting to get Vermont to feel like a normal horse again. DT is very adamant on quiet hands and ignoring his headset. Once we got him working forward and through and reached into the connection and was nearly on the bit! She explained to me her previous work with thoroughbreds and what she has learned. We both agreed that he needed to regain his confidence and then he would be back to normal in no time. We also discussed lunging him in a single outside loose side rein to give him more support and structure while we lunge so he doesn't just fling wildly. (Have since been doing this and hes gotten much much better!). 

Overall I had a really really fun time and definitely got worked hard. I enjoyed her teaching philosophies and each lesson felt like a conversation between me, her, and the horse. I'm excited to clinic again!

Danielle Thomason Clinic Day 1

So I was super nervous for my first clinic ever, but it was SO MUCH FUN! And I hurt so bad omg. Here is my short recap from Saturday.

I was scheduled to ride at 10, and because my shit was most definitely not together, I arrived at 8:45 to clean tack and make Evita super presentable. Right after her I was supposed to ride Riesling, but I retired him last week. I didn't want to be out clinic money so I instead decided to ride my mom's horse, Vermont. If you saw my clinic prep post you'll know how confident I felt about this. I was able to have my mom come around 9 am to get him ready so I could just do a quick swap after riding Evita. 

I got her looking nearly show ready and hopped on. Danielle vaguely saw me ride Riesling at the show in Jerome, ID two years ago. However, she is very familiar with Evita and I believe showed her and rode her prior to the last owner. She commented that she was disappointed how she lost so much muscling before we got her. Immediately she had me ask for a more forward march and more engagement in the walk while lowering her poll and lifting her shoulders. 

We moved on to trot work where Danielle had me really work hard on emphasizing E to lift her shoulders and belly and get her working over her back and through her hind end. 

We moved on to a little bit of lateral work, which E excels at. Danielle was aware of the last owner having issues with changes and knew that when I started cantering her when I first started leasing her she was very on the forehand and plowed into the ground. 

We worked on some exercises to get her to fill up my outside rein and have her body supple before asking for the canter. While I didn't feel as prepared for the transition as I do when I lesson with CJ, I followed her instructions to canter and it was surprisingly not the train wreck I expected with the not perfect transition. 

E gets super stiff in her body at the canter and doesn't push from behind. We worked on getting her to stay connected, have bend in her ribcage, and take a bigger stride. Interestingly, when I first started riding her she would nearly run away with me at the canter. The past few weeks however she has been prone to breaking. I was told this is because it is hard for her to use her body and carry herself. 

We ended the lesson when E wouldn't break and maintained bend and lightness in her mouth. It took a lot of work from me to keep her together and she was quite tired but still wanted to try really hard for me. We were both exhausted but felt pretty accomplished. I jumped off E and handed her to my trainer to hand walk her in the upper arena and immediately jumped on Vermont.

Mind you, this was Vermont's second ride this year. He is incredibly crooked and tense since his last ride was before I broke my foot last year. Luckily, Danielle also had him in her barn for two ish months when his old owners tried to sell him and before I scooped him up for the stellar deal. 

We agreed that he is extremely out of shape and is trying to hard because he has no confidence in himself. We only walked and trotted and focused on forward and straight. When he was straight and seeking the connection he got rewarded heavily. He seemed to remember what this whole riding thing was all about and started to settle down. For whatever reason (needs chiropractor tbh), when we go for a downward transition he throws his haunches to the left. 

We spent nearly the entire lesson working on transitions. When the trot was straight and forward we would slow it down until he started to throw his haunches left (almost to a walk). It was a slow and probably extremely boring lesson to watch but near the end we did almost get a straight transition. 

To break up the transitions, in the middle of the lesson we introduced some poles. There was just two widely set at an unrelated distance. The goal was to keep him engaged and happy and straight over the poles. He perked up a lot at the poles and nearly tried jumping them the first time through. Quickly we got forward, straight, connected, and a steady tempo. We rewarded him heavily. 

We moved back to transitions to end the lesson and he was starting to gain more confidence and remain straight. Compared to how stiff and tight he felt when I first got on, his back was swinging and he was happily relaxed at the end. I was super proud of him. 

CJ's property is situated in the foothills and there is a nice incline on the sides of the areans. Danielle wanted me to get both horses fitness up by walking the hill a few times a day. After my lesson on Vermont, Danielle had me take him up the hill. 

Remember, unconfident, underfit TB who can be silly? Yeah here he came to the party. Walking up was NBD but walking down the hill he couldn't go straight and wanted to side step because he is weak. This defeated the whole purpose so I pushed him to stay straight and he realized it was too hard and his brain started leaving. He was threatening to rear and just overall couldn't horse. Thank god CJ came to my rescue and ponied us up and back down the hill. I'll be leading him up and down the hill until he decides it is NBD then I'll try under saddle again. Don't want to die. 

By this point it had been nearly 3 hours since I first got on Evita. I was exhausted and tired. Luckily my mom was there and helped me liniment the horses and put them away. Holy crap had I just got my butt kicked, but honestly it was really fun and rewarding! 

Which way is left?

I had a super intense lesson last night. I have this problem when I'm focusing so hard on riding I lose my sense of direction. I'm pretty sure my trainer wants to throw tomatoes at me when this happens, but I sometimes forget which way is which. 

"Ok now left bed. Left bend. LEFT. LEFT LEFT LEFT" And it is at this point that I realize that I'm clearly doing something wrong and I'm using my right leg and still trying to bend right more.Whoops. Here is my quick lesson recap;

We warmed up with a nice stretchy trot and CJ had to remind me to A) not let her fall in with her shoulder, B) I control the tempo, and C) Evita is not a canoe and I need to bend. 

I managed to get myself under control pretty well and she didn't have to spend a lot of time getting me to actually ride. From here we criss-crossed my stirrups over the pommel and began some real trot work. The past few lessons we have worked on serpentines to keep her body supple. The main issues we have are I brace too much with my leg and bounce at the sitting trot instead of absorbing the movement through my core and letting my legs relax. Also, around the turns we tend to get to canoe form again and Evita will dive in with her shoulders. I had to work on maintaining bend and wrapping her barrel around my inside leg and holding her shoulder up through the turn. We actually managed to perform this really well after a few tries! Occasionally I'd go across the diagonal and shoot for a medium trot. 

Up until this point Evita remained pretty soft on the bit. CJ reminded me that as soon as we loose bend and malleability in her body, she takes the bit and runs on the forehand with it. And then we steer into the fence to stop. And it isn't fun. 

We moved on to the most difficult canter work I've ever done. The canter work really stresses E out and when she is susceptible to becoming a freight train. We focused on walk canter transitions and spaghetti circles. I've done plenty of spaghetti circles at the walk but the canter was tricky. Basically the idea is just doing random changes of bend. However this was through a change of gait. We would canter on a left bend circle then transition back to a walk for a stride or two, change bend and immediate canter transition. I totally got reamed the first time because I didn't listen to CJ when she asked me to canter. Instead I didn't feel like I was ready so I waited a few strides. And what do you know, it completely fell apart. From then on I listened to her right away and every transition was on the aids and beautiful. 

We actually were able to do twenty meter circles and laps around the arena on a super soft and light rein. It felt amazing! I can't lie that Evita was extremely intimidating to want to move forward at first because I was worried about the freight train and my arms getting ripped out of my sockets. But yesterday's ride was super nice and confidence building. I love this mare! 

Meet Evita!

This is Viva Evita! She is one of my new partners in the dressage arena. Here is her story:

CJ (my trainer) was her original breeder 15 years ago. Her mom, Argentina, is happily retired at my house. She is registered RPSI but half Oldenburg and half Shire (Cowerslane Nomination). My friend/CJ's old student, J, rode her and later purchased her 7-8 years ago. She trained and showed her in dressage up to 3rd level last year. However, E was struggling with changes. J wanted to move up in her dressage career but didn't want to sell E because of the bond she had with her. 

Re-enter CJ into the scene. CJ bought her back to keep her in the family but allow J more capital to buy her next horse. CJ wanted something for me to learn on but she also is planning on breeding her. Win-win for everyone. 

I've officially leased her for a month now and have taken a hefty amount of lessons on her (basically I'm leasing/doing full training in one affordable bundle). My first ride I was extremely intimidated. I deeply admire J and her riding and felt that I wasn't a capable rider to ride this quality of horse. Luckily my trainer knows better and she has given me great confidence over the past month. 

We can reliably do a lot of fun movements but have yet to run through any tests. I guess that is next on the agenda! 

Obviously I still want to ride and show Riesling but we will see if he stays sound! Don't worry, he still gets most of the attention and is kingdom of the land at my house haha

All Ponies, All the Time

I've been doing so much riding lately, it is awesome! I've had 6 lessons on Evita now. Evita has shown up to 3rd level (1 test) and was giving her owner (my old friend!) issues with changes. She didn't really want to sell her but she wanted to develop her personal future in dressage, so she sold her back to my trainer. 

Praying this is just ugly growing phase, at least he is sweet

My trainer actually was her breeder. Tina (Oldenburg who is retired and lives at my house) is her mom and her sire is Cowerslain Nomination, a shire. She is 15 years old and I am leasing her to learn on. My trainer will be breeding her next month, but I'll be able to ride her in between. She is very well trained but that doesn't make her easy at all. 

She is also extremely wide. I've been neglecting my yoga and my gym workouts are mostly cardio, so I managed to pull something in my groin. I went to get on for my lesson yesterday and was struggling to get on. Walking around was ok, but as soon as we went to trot I felt like I was being stabbed with a hot knife. 

Luckily I live close to my body worker (who also does Ries) and she squeezed me in last night. I put off seeing her for so long. Especially with my broken foot, I was so crooked. I learned my lesson and as I continue to push myself in and out of the saddle, seeing her needs to be more of a priority. 

The two goofs who aren't getting ridden are Czoltar (obvi) and Ries. I'm starting Ries slow back into work since he has had so much time off. I also finally broke out my BOT blanket I bought six months ago. He is super sound and ready to work so I'm going to start under saddle next week. 

More fun pony adventures in the coming week! I'm on spring break now so I'll be getting a lot more blog posts up.