I am FINALLY almost all ready to move the horses to the new barn. I am planning on taking them on Sunday. I can't wait to have both horses at the same barn haha! It has been such a pain trying to find time to visit 2 different barns. I went to the new barn today to drop off some of my stuff. I also went and picked up some hay and straw so that i will have it there already when I bring the boys. I didn't get a whole lot because 1.) I am not sure how much I am going to use just yet, 2.) I can only fit so much in the back of my Yukon, and 3.) I am stacking them in front of my stalls at the moment so I can't fit all that many bales there. When I first went to look at the barn, Donna told me that the other self care boarder just picks up 1 or 2 bales at a time and I was thinking that that is such a pain in the ass and there is no way I'm doing that. But when I went to the hay place that she recommended I can see why it works for her to do that. Basically they have 3 barns and there are a bunch of different kinds of hay and straw and whatnot. Each stack is labeled with what it is and the price and you just take what you need. It's self serve and basically on the honor system although they have security cameras throughout. When you've gotten what you want you just fill out a slip with your name and then you write down what you got, how many bales, and the price. Then you just clip it to your money and stick it in the slot where it goes in this big metal pipe that they have labeled as "the bank". It's pretty convenient because it's only about 5 minutes away from the barn so it's quick to just run down there and grab what I need. I got 5 bales of straw, 2 bales of timothy, and 2 nice big dense bales of some really nice looking mixed grass hay. The grass hay was the most expensive but the bales are really super dense and it's lovely 2nd cutting good quality stuff. The prices are a little higher than I was expecting but then again I really wasn't exactly sure what to expect. The straw there is $3.50/bale and to me the bales look kinda small but we'll see how they shake out. I am hoping that 1 bale will be enough to fill up each stall. The timothy was $4.50/bale and the nice grass mix was $5.75/bale. I'll see how this works out and if I need to try something different they have lots of options. They have an orchard/meadow grass mix and a couple of different alfalfa mixes. Donna said that in the future we could possibly all chip in and get a delivery but for now I guess it works just as well to go up the road to Carmar. I am thinking that maybe next time I will hook up my trailer and load that up and maybe get twice as many bales as I got today. I can just leave some of them in the trailer and stack the rest in front of the stalls. That will at least save me a trip.

I am going to try to make it to the feed store tomorrow to pick up grain. They are both getting Nutrena Triumph right now which is a 10/10 sweet feed. I am going to start adding a ration balancer to try and eventually reduce the amount of grain they need. Kristen's horse Tony was always kinda ribby when he was at Kate's but she had him on a balancer here for a couple months and now he is FAT and he's been cut back to 4qts a dayof the regular grain (and this is a huge horse, at least 17.1). I want to cut back Freddy's grain especially because he's showing a lot of the classic ulcer symptoms. I always sort of suspected that he might have ulcers but he's definitely looking/acting worse these days so I am taking action. Amanda had started giving him Alfalfa but he turns into a monster on that so we've stopped that. He's been getting some aloe vera juice in his grain every day and then I've also just started hiving him Calcium Bentonite Clay. I did a lot of reading up on alternative ulcer treatments and that is one that I heard a lot so I decided to try it. Basically it comes in a powder form and you mix it with water to make it sort of like the consistency of mustard. I give it to him in a syringe and it's supposed to coat the ulcers and allow them to heal. Plus the aloe is supposed to be soothing. I first gave it to him on Monday. When I got to the barn that day he had already been fed but he'd left some of his grain and didn't seem interested in eating. Today I went out around the same time and his bucket was completely clean and he was looking for more. I think that's a good sign so I'm going to continue with this for a month or so and see how he looks. I really don't want to spend $1000 on gastrogard or ulcergard so I hope this works. Plus I definitely think it will help for him to get less grain and more hay. The horses don't get a ton of hay at Amanda's so I am looking forward to having control over exactly what my horses get fed.

I am just not getting around to putting these up here. Pics and vid from a visit with the new boy last week. And I did decide on a barn name for him. It's going to be Therin. I chose that because it is sort of a male version of Katherine and it means Hunter. My Grandma, Katherine Hunter, passed away last month and she was absolutely the biggest supporter of my riding and just my biggest fan in every way. I miss her terribly but I feel good about naming this horse in her memory. Now I will see her every time I look at him and hopefully she will be watching over us and cheering us on :) Grandma Kay was the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful woman you could ever imagine and Therin so far has the same sweet easy manner about him.

I am itching to actually start working with him! I haven't been out to visit him since Friday because I've been sick. It started Thursday night and got progressively worse the next few days. I worked an 8 hour shift on Saturday, did the AM and PM shifts at the barn on Sunday, and did the closing shift at work on Monday. By this morning I couldn't get out of bed. Rather than force myself to trudge to class in the cold and rain and sit through 7 hours of lectures I decided to just go ahead and give my body a rest and just stay home. I felt a little guilty at first but it was definitely what I needed. I have finally started feeling better in the last couple of hours thank goodness!

Now for some lovely pics and a couple of videos showing off Therin's lovely trot.

vids:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/kait_the_great/?action=view&current=P1000549.flv

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/kait_the_great/?action=view&current=P1000545.flv

I really need to start updating this thing regularly again. It was really helpful when I was keeping a log of my rides. Not that I've been riding much lately with all of this SNOW but still.

Lots to update about. Most importantly I GOT A NEW HORSE. He's a 4yr old TB and his JC name is Professor Turgeson. I'm not sure what I want to call him but I'm trying to come up with something inspired by my Grandma who passed away last month. The was absolutely the biggest supported of my riding in my family and she's always been an inspiration to me so I thought that would be nice. Her name was Katherine Hunter. Therin is apparently a male version of Katherine. Some names with the same meaning (pure) include Bronwyn, Caden, and Kit. I'll decide on a name one of these days.

Here are some pics I took yesterday. Perhaps I will go into a more detailed update later or tomorrow. I want to jot down some of my plans for the spring. I cannot waitttt for it to be spring!!

Freddy posing.

Oh Hai!

I like his white eye

Shiela sent me this pic of him trotting in the snow :)

I won a free entry to Bruce Davidson's clinic this weekend!!!! I am sooooo excited, but soo nervous to ride in front of him.

Quick recap of Waredaca. 29.5 in dressage in ankle deep mud. Freddy was really good, he stayed relaxed and responsive even though he was slipping every few strides due to the footing. We had a rail in stadium which dropped us from 2nd to 7th (saddddd) but went clean XC and had a blast.

Now I am off to ride before class.

I am very pleased to report that I had a much more successful ride on Fred yesterday than I did on Monday. I decided, just in case he wanted to be naughty again, that I would put the draw reins on him. I find that I don't even have to use them at all but just having them there sort of keeps him from challenging me quite as much. I also didn't ride with the spurs because I don't want to rely on them and I am not sure I trust my leg quite enough. I did carry my whip, however, and I had to give him a couple taps in the beginning to wake him up and let him know that I meant business. He was a little bit slow to relax over his back, but I blame that on the ride the previous day. I definitely argued with him too much and over corrected him a few times and I think that made him a little nervous. I think that one thing I really need to work on is remembering not to keep my leg on all the time. I have to give him an aid, then take the leg off. I think I tend to just squeeze all the time then just squeeze harder when I need to give him an aid. That's why he's not as sharp off of my aids as I'd like him to be.

He wasn't really softening his back at the trot right away so I did a couple circles at canter in each direction and that helped. Once I got him stretching in the trot a bit I really worked on sending him forward and trying to get him really pushing from behind. His trot felt excellent, he felt very swingy and loose and supple. His trot is SOOO much bigger than it was a year ago. Once I felt like I'd gotten his butt underneath him a little bit I played with changing the frame and asking him to carry himself with his neck up and his poll higher. I am just starting to ask him to carry himself up more as I feel like he's strong enough behind now to do it. This step in the training has always been sort of a stumbling block for me because I was never really sure how exactly to get the horse into a more uphill carriage. I realize that all I really have to do is harry my hands a little higher, thus positioning the bit higher, and push him to reach for the bit in its new position. As long as I just keep my hand really soft and keep him in front of my leg he starts to carry himself. I would only ride him in this frame for a minute or 2 at a time then I'd go on a long rein and let him stretch. I was very pleased with how responsive he was and how relaxed he stayed.

I really need to start doing more lateral work with him to really get his hind legs pushing more. He needs to learn to be more relaxed about the shoulder-in and stuff like that so that is our next step. I really think I want to move him somewhere with an indoor for the winter so that I can keep working on strengthening him and keep him at least somewhat fit so we're not starting from square 1 in the spring. I'd like to just go ahead and start him out at training level in the spring.

Kate was in the ring when I was riding yesterday and she thought that he looked really good. She said that when I first brought him there that he kind of always just looked like he was running a bit but that now he looks like he's much softer in his back and stepping under with his hind legs. She said that she thinks his dressage looks about ready for Training and she said that right now she's give his trot a 7 so that's not bad. And I think that if I keep working on it over the winter that he'll come out in the spring ready to be competitive. I don't want to do more than the required 4 trainings simply because it's expensive to compete at a lot of events and also I don't really think he'll need to do a ton. If he's as easy about Training as he was about Novice, I don't see any reason why we can't work towards Prelim at the end of next year. He'll be 6, which is still relatively young for Prelim, but I don't think it'll be much of a challenge for him as far as the movements on the dressage tests and the height of the fences.

Right now I feel as though his dressage and his XC are strong and just the SJ needs some polishing up. I also want to work on that some this winter and maybe go to some of those little jumper shows to practice that.

Tomorrow my first class is cancelled so I am going to head over and ride in the AM first thing. I'm going to jump him tomorrow and I want to work on some of the things that gave us problems at Radnor. I want to set up an in and out off of a turn and maybe a long bending line to a wide-ish oxer to work on not letting him get strung out going down a long 6 or 7 stride line. I am excites for waredaca this weekend, I think it's going to be fa good one!

I rode Fred today for the first time since I think Wednesday last week. The weather was just awful, rainy and in the 40s for 4 or 5 days. I feel awful for everyone who came down for Fair Hill, either to ride or spectate, because it was disgusting outside.

The several days off and drop in temperature definitely had an effect on Fred today. He was awful. I had the hardest time getting him to pay any attention to me. He was tense and very spooky today and I hardly feel like I got anything accomplished.

I was able to get some decent moments but he was just very inconsistent today. By the end of the ride I was able to get some nice swingy stretchy trot with him snorting and lop-eared. I just ended with that and called it a day. I'm going to do my best to rush over to the barn after class tomorrow so I can flat him again and hopefully have a better ride.

My last post failed to mention quite possibly the most important part of the day! Bruce Davidson was coaching a little girl who was riding right after me. I walked past him on my way back from XC and he commented that my horse was beautiful and that he looked great and asked me how my ride went. How nice is that?! I love eventers. Now I hope more than ever that I get chosen in the essay contest for his clinic. I would loveeeeeee to ride with him.

This past saturday was Radnor, Freddy's first recognized event. I had so much fun and I am super pleased with how he did.

When I arrived there saturday morning it was raining and chilly and I had managed to forget my jacket at the barn. Luckily I had a raincoat in the car so I stuck that on to go down and pick up my packet. They had changed my dressage time from 11:35 to 12:19 so that gave me time to walk my XC before dressage. I did sort of a bare minimum course walk because I was so wet and miserable with the rain. Clearly that was a bad idea because I got a little turned around when I actually got out on course (oops!). Once I was done walking I booked it back to the truck to try and dry off a bit before I had to get dressed. My parents came out to watch and show support but they didn't arrive until about 25 minutes before my dressage so I didn't have anyone to help me get ready. It's not like I need a groom but it's nice to have someone who can throw tack on the horse and keep an eye on him while I get dressed so that I don't get all dirty in the process. Anyways, by the time I got on my parents were there and I had about 20 minutes to warm up. Freddy jigged and chomped allll the way to the warmup. I just thought "oh no, this is not going to go well." As soon as we got in the warmup ring he was fine though. I walked him around on a loose rein for a few minutes then proceeded with my warmup as usual. He was all business, completely relaxed and focused on me. When it was our turn to go in the ring steward warned me that a lot of horses were spooking in my ring, especially at A, so I made sure to trot him all the way around before going in. It turns out he was fine. He put in a nice relaxed easy test. He definitely could have had a bit more impulsion, and his left lead canter depart was a little unbalanced but overall it was good and a major improvement over what he was able to put in this summer. We ended up scoring a respectable 34.7 and were sitting in 3rd out of 17 after dressage. Not bad for baby'd first recognized event!

I forgot that they were running behind so I got down to SJ way earlier than I needed to. They were on something like number 78 when I got down there and I was number 112. I watched about 7 or 8 riders go then headed over to the warmup to just trot and canter him around to get him moving again. He was getting antsy so I didn't want to make him stand around too long. He continued to be relaxed and trotted and cantered around long and low and lovely despite the fact that the ring was packed and we nearly had a head on collision with someone who cut in front of me out of nowhere. I jumped a couple fences then went out to watch a few more riders go. The course was tough and it looked like quite a few people were having rails and some refusals. The rider before me had a bunch of stops and got eliminated so I think I sort of got nervous and psyched myself out. I was worried about him being behind my leg so I sort of gunned him around the course and didn't rebalance him very well. Right at the enf of the course there was a 2 stride in and out, a square oxer to a vertical. I got in at an awkward distance to the first fence and pushed him for the long spot when we should have waited. He knocked the back rail of the oxer then sort of died in the middle and had to take off long to the vertical and took that one down too. I felt awful because it was totally my fault. I panicked and left him to figure it out himself. I'm lucky he's so honest.

After that we had to head down to XC. Because I got him so fired up he was a little silly on the walk over. There was a pile of jump rails that were ZOMG so scary that he had to fly backwards in fright. Then we passed a water trough of death and a puddle of peril and he just thought he was going to die. Of course once we got down to the warmup he was his regular sleepy self and all was well in the world. I trotted him on a long rein over the x a couple times and he stayed quiet and happy so then I cantered him a few times over the little rolltop that they had out. Again, he was great so I just decided to let him chill until it was our turn to go. I think I let him stand around a bit too long because when I got out on course he totally hesitated at the first fence. I think he thought he was done and was surprised to be jumping so I should have taken him over another fence or 2 when the ride before me went out. Oh well, live and learn. At times we got a reeeeally nice gallop going and I got a taste of what he's going to be capable of in the future. The one fence that I was a bit worried about was the drop into water because he hasn't really done one before. I decided to bring him back to a trot for that and he did hesitate a little bit but he was a good boy and stepped right off. The rest of the course felt like a breeze and I had a ton of fun riding it.

We ended up placing 7th overall but we would have been 2nd if I hadn't had a brain fart in the SJ. We will definitely work on it for next time, maybe set up some combinations and turning questions in the ring at home. Our next outing is Waredaca on the 25th and if all goes well, hello training level!

A couple pics that mom took. We definitely still need to work on getting him uphill and a little less inside rein..but it'll come.

On Sunday I went with Jac to audit a dressage clinic that her trainer was organizing up in Coopersburg. The clinician was Ulf Wadeborn, a Swedish Grand Prix rider who operates out in California. It was definitely interesting to watch and a lot of what he said confirmed what I have been working on with Fred. I didn’t get to see that many riders but what I really liked was that he emphasized the training scale. He focused a lot on getting the horse ‘aligned’, meaning even on both reins. I find that when I get Fred truly aligned that everything gets really easy. I have an easier time maintaining my position and am able to ride smoother more efficient transitions.

I was feeling inspired so I decided to give Freddy a good flat school on Monday. It went really really well! I ran through pretty much all of the training level movements and he was great. I think that I sometimes cheat a little bit and use too much hand and sort of curl him up at the beginning of my ride, and then later have to really kick him up to get him to take a real contact. This time I started out trotting on a long rein and focused on keeping my hand absolutely stock still and just riding forward and rebalancing with my seat and leg when necessary. Well wouldn’t ya know he stretched right down and started looking for my hand almost right away. I trotted him around long and low for a few minutes then did a quick canter in both directions before really putting him to work. Once I shortened up my reins and got him to where I felt like he was aligned and taking an even contact on both reins I did some transitions just to work on getting him to really push from behind. He’s getting to the point where he really jumps into the trot (or canter) when I ask, which is great. Because he was being so good with the transitions, I decided to work a little bit on getting his poll up and getting him into a bit more of an uphill balance. It’s going to be a long process before he’s strong enough to really maintain that sort of carriage but he tried for me and was able to hold it for a couple strides at a time. He feels the most uphill right after we do a transition up to the canter so I try to memorize that feeling and duplicate it elsewhere in my ride. Really the hardest thing for me is to not allow him to pull on me. When he gets tired or lazy he will try and just lay on the bit and have me carry him. Sometimes he will even dive down and really grab onto the bit and yank, which is really quite naughty. Every time he does it I know I need to boot him forward with my leg but I also have to remember to soften my hand and not give him anything to grab onto. This is especially hard when he gets crooked and starts to fall in on a circle and hang on my inside hand. I want to give with my inside rein, but if I do he just swings his head to the outside and falls in more. He does this to the left a lot which is weird because he was always weaker to the right so I focused a lot on working him in that direction and now he is being more difficult to the left.

I also practiced the stretchy circle with him in both directions and that was excellent. As long as he’s relaxed he stretches really well, but it’s when he gets distracted or tense that we can’t get it done. The other thing that I worked on a little bit was the trot lengthening. I haven’t really worked much on that with him but I think it was pretty good. I have to be careful not to let him just get quick but as long as I really pay attention to my rhythm he’s fine. He doesn’t have a very big trot so there’s only so much we can lengthen but I think it’s good enough for training level.

Yesterday when I rode I jumped him a little bit finally. I really haven’t been jumping him because his canter needed so much work, but now that the canter is better I figured his jumping would be better as well. Show jumping is really our weakest phase. Partly because the turning was difficult for him sometimes and partly because I tend to anticipate the fences a little bit and cause him to rush the last few strides and take off long. Because he’s so good, I sometimes forget that he’s only 5 and he’s green and needs me to help him sometimes. I just set up 3 fences in the ring, but I did it in such a way that I had a lot of options. I set 2 fences 3 strides apart on the far long side and then I set another fence on the diagonal on the opposite side of the ring coming off of a somewhat short turn. I started out just trotting back and forth over a little vertical just trying to do it quietly and land trotting and halt on a straight line. He was a little excited at first and didn’t want to wait. I eventually put the fence up a little bit to about 2’9” and did the same thing and he actually crashed through it one time because he tried to take off long and I wouldn’t let him. He paid much better attention after that and decided maybe I knew what I was talking about. I made up a couple of little courses and cantered him around and he was pretty good, but still wanting to rush the last 2 or 3 strides. I started counting out loud to remember my rhythm and that made all the difference. We’re only jumping novice height so really all I have to do is get a good canter and keep the rhythm the same and even if we don’t get the exact distance we want it’ll be OK because the fences are low.

I feel good about this weekend at Radnor. I was going to go to the barn early today before work and jump him around again but it was cold and rainy and windy when I woke up so I decided against it. I’ll see if I can make it out tomorrow before it gets dark and then I will flat him again on Friday and run through my test a couple of times. I am actually a little bit nervous about this weekend because I haven’t done a recognized event in so many years. I’ve already started packing my stuff because I don’t want to forget anything. Mainly I just want it to be a good confidence building experience for him so that is my only goal for the weekend. A nice quiet dressage test and clean jumping, and if we place that’s just icing on the cake.

I got to the barn just in time yesterday! Right after I finished it started POURING. I decided to bring riding clothes with me in the morning and I changed at work and went straight to the barn from there. Kate was actually there when I got there and she dropped kind of a bomb on me. She said that she is going down to aiken early this year and will be moving all of her horses out in early december so I will have to probably leave by then. Ughh, I have the worst luck with boarding I swear! I have started looking for places to move and I found one place online that is similar in distance from my apt and in price so I think I will drop them a line and see if I can go by for a visit sometime soon. It looks like a nice place and it has an indoor but the thing that makes me apprehensive is that it looks like they teach a lot of little kids there which can always be annoying. Board there is only $25 mor a month than what I'm paying now and honestly since they have an indoor it's totally worth it I think. We shall see.

I had a decent ride yesterday. Fred was a little inattentive but the dark clouds were rolling in and it was getting windy and there were ::gasp:: pinecones scattered around the far end of the ring so there were a lot of distractions. I think I might want to try riding him with my spurs one of these days just to sort of wake him up and get him a little sharper off my leg. He is just so lazy and he is constantly trying to drop behind my leg. Especially in the downward transitions. His upward transitions are getting really good but we always lose it in the downward. I think it's mostly my problem. I tend to tip forward and probably use too much hand. I try really hard to think about it but it doesn't always work. I know that I know how to ride a proper downward transition because I did millions and millions of them on Wuf back when I was at Jane's but for whatever reason I can't replicate that feeling on Fred. It's gotten much better but it's still hit or miss. Sometimes he stays balanced and sometimes we sort of flail and fall into it and it's really ugly. I ended on a good note with him yesterday as we had a really nice trot to walk transition to the left (where he has been weaker lately). Right as I dismounted it started to drizzle and by the time I got in the barn it was POURING so lucky me that I got my ride in before that started!

I entered Radnor today, Novice. Freddy's first recognized event and my first since I went prelim on Cruz in 2006. I'm not nervous because it's only novice, but I have a lot to get done before then. I have to get my boots fixed and my jacket altered (it's like 4 sizes too big).

I rode today after work and Fred decided that he felt like being a chestnut. He was just not into it at all. He was just doing his typical Freddy nonsense that he does when he doesn't feel like working. He was spooking at nothing and being really tense and stiff. We did have some good moments where I got through to him but I basically had to ride him hardddd in order to keep his attention on me. Usually when he's good I only ride him for about 30 mins on the flat because I don't want him to get bored or sour. Today I think I was on him for a solid hour and he was working the entireee time. I got a pretty good workout too lol. I just could not relax for a second or else I would lose him. Since I don't have my truck I can't trailer out to trot hills or anything but maybe tomorrow I will talk him across the street and do some fitness work in the neighbor's field that they let us use. I can do jump position and just get him out of the ring and do something different. We have been doing a lot of flat work lately.

OK, I am going to stop being lazy and get this blog going again. This summer was crazy busy so Fred and I didn't get as much accomplished as I wanted to but that's OK.

We're still plugging along though and his dressage is really coming along. My BO Kate, who is also a dressage judge, commented today on how nice his canter work looked and how relaxed soft he looked. She said that it definitely looked like training level work and not novice. I was so happy to hear that because we have been working sooooosososo hard on our dressage this summer. Honestly, we've barely been jumping at all. Show jumping is out hardest phase and I know that is all boiled down to holes in his flat work so I wanted to really get it right with that.

Sunday we really did have quite a nice ride. I was a bit surprised because I hadn't been onto him all week because the weather was just garbage and he also hadn't been getting as much turnout for the same reason. He was actually rather lazy to start out today so right away I focused on just getting him to march forward and get in front of my leg. One thing that he really likes to do is get a little spooky and looky in the ring to try and change the subject away from what I am asking him to do. As soon as I kind of got him going forward he starting looking around for things to spook at so I had to just put him right to work. I went back to the exercises that Jane gave us to use to establish a connection. I planted my outside hand and bent him a little to the outside until he softened then I used my inside leg to push him out and bend him a little to the inside. He didn't give me any attitude and stretched right into my hand so I went ahead into the trot almost right away. His transitions were reeeeally good today, right from our first transition to trot. He's getting to the point where he can really maintain the connection in his transitions. Pretty much as soon as we picked up the trot he stretched right down into my hand and started snorting up a storm lol. I just trotted him around long and low for a few minutes and did some big loopy figures while focusing on my position a little bit. One thing that I have discovered helps a lot with him (and several other horses that I've ridden) is to canter relatively early in my warmup. After the canter it just seems like he is always a bit more animated in his trot work and a little bit sharper and quicker to respond to my aids.

I went back to old faithful at the canter and did lots of canter, walk, canter transitions. I noticed today that I was relying a lot less on my hand and was able to get some nice balanced easy transitions from him just using my seat and leg. Despite the fact that I haven't really been taking many lessons at all lately, I think my position has improved this summer. I especially notice it in the canter where I am able to hold myself fairly upright and not "pump" with my upper body so much the way I used to. I think that is a big part of why the canter has improved so much actually. We also worked on some transitions within the gait at the trot, which I want to do a lot more of. The one thing that we are really missing in order to be ready for training level is a solid lengthening.

So that's basically where we're at. Our next outing is set to be on October 10th at radnor which will be his first recognized event :)

I haven't posted lately because I've been slacking off a little bit on riding. I am just so busy lately with school and work that it's difficult to find time! Also, Freddy cut the corner of his eye open a few days ago and it was constantly oozing so I gave him a few days off to let it heal. It looks MUCH better now and I rode him today finally. He was actually pretty settled considering I hadn't been on him in almost a week. I just flatted him for a few minutes and just wanted to get him stretching and relaxed. After the canter we got some really nice stretchy trot so I ended with that. I'll give him more of an actually dressage school tomorrow when I am off from work and won't be rushing so much.

Today's ride was a bit interesting. I was planning on doing some raised trot poles to work even more on his engagement. I warmed up normally and did some transitions again. He was being really lazy today and I was having a really hard time keeping him in front of my leg in the downward transitions. Because of that I made a little bit of a modification. Rather than walk I would 'almost walk' then go back to trot. This still worked pretty effectively at getting his hocks underneath him. He was a bit inattentive today which was annoying. He kept spooking at everything for no reason. I had to work really hard to keep him working hard enough because otherwise he'd lose his focus completely.

When I went to try the trot poles he seemed like he didn't understand the exercise. He kept jumping over them every time no matter how nice of a trot I had coming in. Then he'd get all upset when I'd try to correct him so I decided it wasn't worth it and just put the rails on the ground. He still wanted to get quick the first couple of times through but then he finally got better and it actually improved his trot some. I would trot him over the poles then do a 10m half circle and come back down over them the other way. The 10m circle forced me to sit up and ride my outside aids around the turn, then the poles forced him to be a little more active in his steps. Then when we went to the canter he started out much lighter in the bridle than normal. I also can tell that I am getting stronger because I can hold him on the circle with just my leg while keeping my hands an "even pair" as Jane says. I also felt like my body was stacked more correctly. I was reading the new ride with your mind clinic by Mary Wanless and there was a rider in there who had a position really similar to my default. She was round in her back with her leg out in front and leaning back somewhat braced against the horse. During my ride today I tried to focus really hard on keeping my body stacked upright. One thing that really helped was dropping my knee down and closing my thigh against the saddle a little bit. I wasn't gripping with my thigh but keeping a little pressure there helped me keep my leg in the correct position. With my leg in the right spot it was a lot easier to control my upper body. Rather than think about sitting up at leaning back I just thought about opening my chest and keeping my shoulders over my hips and my eyes up. I think in the process of opening my chest my ribcage also lifted slightly but not to the point that I was sitting back behind the motion. I could really feel the difference at the canter because it didn't feel like I was pumping with my seat the way it often does, it just felt like I was right with the motion and balanced. I am very excited to continue to improve on this because I think it is going to make a hugeee difference.

I called Boyd today and left him a message. Hopefully we will be scheduling a lessons for next week on tuesday or wednesday since I am off from work those days. Tomorrow I am heading over to the bucks county horse park to meet Rachel and go for a hack/maybe school some XC fences.

I've had some verrrry successful dressage rides on Freddy the last 2 days. I decided to give him a day off today to think about it haha.

on Friday I started out just riding forward, abandoning everything else, to generate some energy. Then I took a little bit of a feel. He started out sort of sitting just behind the bit and every time I put my leg on he would quicken his tempo rather than take a contact. The first thing I did was think about my position. My leg always wants to creep forward so I made sure my leg was underneath me, my hands were low and out in front of me and my chest was lifted. Then I did a little bit of counter bend to get him straighter and to remind myself to ride the OUTSIDE of the horse and not just the inside. That helped a little bit and he started to stretch down a little bit more. Then I started to do some transitions. I tried my best to push him forward to a walk, walk a few steps, then go right back to trot. This helped A LOT. What's weird is that he actually did this better to the right which is normally his weaker side. When I would sit up and close my thighs I could feel him bring his butt up underneath himself and push into a walk rather than falling into it. Then when I would ask him to trot again, his butt was already underneath him so I got some really nice trot work out of him. As long as I can hold my position he maintains a balanced trot but the second I tip forward or draw my hands back at all he loses his impulsion and dives down on his forehand.

At the canter I wanted to use the counter-canter to get him sitting a little more. This is something I've done with Jane before. I rode the way it goes in one of the prelim dressage tests sort of. I'd pick up the canter on my 20m circle then do a half circle and go down the long side then transition to a trot before the corner, pick up the other lead and do the same thing the other way. It definitely challenged me to hold my body straight and keep riding him forward. If I tried to steer him with my hands rather than my seat and leg he would break to trot. I thought it really improved his canter after doing that exercise a few times. I think I rode him about 5 minutes too long because towards the end he started to get a little fussy and inattentive. Still overall it was a productive ride.

Yesterday he came out ready to go to work right from the start. This time I started right away in walk trying to establish a connection the way I've worked on in the past with Jane. I bend him a little to the outside until he softened then kept a firm contact on my outside rein and pushed him out with my inside leg so that he was bent slightly to the inside. Then he was giving me a nice swinging forward walk and was stretching down so I decided we were ready to trot. Well the first time I asked for trot he tensed his back a little and raised his head and basically just fell apart a bit. Rather than bring him back and try again I just rode forward. I knew that transitions would just make him more tense so I just rode forward and tried to reestablish the connection the same way I had done it at the walk. To the left it was easier and fairly immediately he softened and stretched over his topline and started opening up his stride a little more. To the right it's much more difficult. He's a bit weaker on his right hind so he tends to hang on my right rein and fall to the inside. Every time I try to give with my inside hand he just swings his head to the outside and falls in no matter how much inside leg I have on. I've realized that he's just really not strong enough to carry himself so I can't just throw away the inside rein altogether. I'll soften for a few strides and push him into my outside rein and when we start to lose it I'll tale a little feel on the inside and reposition him so that he's bent slightly in again. It's just really really hard for me to let go of that right rein because I can't hold him straight without it. I need to get some help with that because Jane would always just yell at me to let go of my inside rein but that's really unhelpful because he can't hold himself up on his own yet.

At the canter I did some canter-walk-canter traisitions on the circle and WOW did that make a difference. After doing it a few times he was jumping into the canter, pushing off his hocks and he felt very very balanced and light in front. We had some lovely transitions to walk and as long as I didn't draw back with my hands he continued stepping under all the way through the transition. It seems that transitions are the thing that really works for him to get him pushing from behind more. I just need to keep working on my position so that I am not getting in his way. I am very excited about this progress.

Volunteering.

Yesterday was the event at DVCTA. I was a fence judge for all divisions. I was at the drop fences for Novice, Training, and Beginner Novice and the little Ramp for elementary. Training and Novice all had no problems with the drop. Lots of people trotted because it was a downhill approach, and most horses confidently stepped right down. The BN division had just a downhill log as their "drop". I had a few stops and it seems as though most were from either the rider getting ahead and taking the leg off or because the horse had already had previous stops on the course and maybe had lost a little confidence along the way. Elementary was pretty horrifying to watch. Several riders didn't make it to my fence and we even had one rider whose horse stopped at EVERY FENCE. It was so obvious that the horse was just taking advantage of her because she wasn't riding forward. She even approached some of the fences at a walk...just asking the horse to stop basically. It was painful to watch and I was happy that everyone finished the day in one piece.

Amanda was also there volunteering so I talked to her for a bit. She said that she just finished up a week at Phillip Dutton Camp. Lucky girl! Sounds like she had a great time and is looking forward to moving up to training level in the not too distant future. She also filled me in on some of the goings on over in sleeper-land. Sounds like it's pretty busy over there but everyone's having a good time and having some success.

schedule

The other day when I was at Bit of Britain Mary Schlachter approached me and asked me if I would be willing to volunteer this weekend at the DVCTA horse trials. Of course I said I would do it so she e-mailed me the details today. I need to be there by 8:30am and I'll be fence judging. They're proving lunch as well. Apparently I will earn "DVCTA dollars" which I can use toward any DVCTA sponsored event in the next year. I went to the website and checked out the calendar and what do ya know there is a Ryan Wood clinic coming up in August. It's only like $100 for a dressage session and a show jumping session so I might just have to sign myself up for that!

I was also thinking about what events and whatnot I want to enter in the next couple of months. I am still unsure about what I am going to be doing as far as lessons (except that I will def get Kate to help with the dressage) but I'm still just going to make a tentative list of things I am thinking about entering

July
29- Cecil County Jumper Show (Hopeful jumper/level II jumper)

August
2- Ryan Wood Clinic
14-16- Waredaca (YEH and maybe also Novice or NT)

September
13- Bucks County HT (Novice)
or
18-19- Marlborough (Novice)
26-27- Serra Valley (YEH)

October
10- Radnor (Training?)
15-16- Fair Hill (YEH Champs...ya know cuz of course we're gonna qualify lol)
or
17- New Jersey HT (Training?)

I guess that's about it. Now I need to quit procrastinating and get back to the real reason I'm up at 3am...writing my paper for International Marketing...ughh.

gridwork

I decided last night that I wanted to do grids with Freddy today so I moved the jumps around and set up a simple grid, x-18 feet-vertical-18 feet-oxer, going across the diagonal. He warmed up pretty well except for spooking violently at ::gasp:: the gate laying on its side! I took down the gate jump but didn't feel like moving it to the side so I just left the gate laying on the ground. He had a fit over it so I made him trot back and forth over it until he got over himself.

He went through the grid a few times with it set at about 2'6-2'9 then I put the back rail of the oxer up and had it set at about 3'. He did that well so I put it up to 3'3. When he breezed right through that I decided to be ambitious and put it up another hole. Mind you I have not jumped this high since I had Cruz. He went right through like it was nothing. He didn't even feel like he was trying! I wish someone had been there to take pictures but I am sure this is the first of many times he will jump a 3'6" fence. Still, I am very excited that he is finally becoming a "real horse" lol. The pic up top is what it looked like the last time I went through.


And here is the man enjoying the hay buffet outside of his stall. It's good to be Fred lol.

I trailered over to Jane's today to trot some hills. Fred was good, no major spooking fits lol. I guess he really is growing up :) We trotted twice up the big hill and I made sure to keep the rhythm the same and not just let him power up it. He was great, he stayed relaxed and stretched over his topline exactly the way I wanted. There were a few times where he wanted to blow through my right leg aids so every time he bulged to the right I would ask for a right shoulder in until he softened and then I would put him back straight. I find that he really needs the lateral work incorporated into every ride. Not only does it help to get his right hind engaged but it helps me get him truly connected and STRAIGHT.

After I was done riding I made a quick trip to bit of britain to get some fly spray and I saw Syd. She congratulated me on our win this weekend :) Mary Schlachter was there working also and she asked me if I could volunteer this weekend at DVCTA. As long as I don't have to work I'm going to do it, I'll just have to give her a call and let her know tomorrow when I get my schedule.

I had e-mailed Doug Payne a few days ago about some lessons but unfortunately he is too busy to take any students right now. He referred me to Sinead Halpin so I might be schedueling a lesson with her sometime in the near future. I've never met her but I like what I've seen on her website so we shall see. I just want to really work on improving my riding so I can give Freddy the best shot possible at reaching his potential (and mine too of course!).

Pics from the event. I am buying all of the ones from GRC. Must document our first win!!!

http://gallery.me.com/kdtay#100071