Encore had an excellent lesson with our beloved David O. this morning and I am busy downloading and uploading and sideloading our videos! Thank you to the most awesome Sue for not only organizing the lesson series, but letting Encore and I come up and have a mini-vacation at her beautiful farm. We hit the galloping lanes on Friday to take the edge off, explored the XC fields, and then got to leap (sometimes more enthusiastically then others) over her lovely show jumps.
I can't wait any longer, though, to post a remarkable summary of horse training that David gave during one of Sue's lessons (the woman has THREE horses going right now, I have to nap just thinking about it). Meditate upon it and make it your zen:
Lightning snapped as the stormfront wind brushed, refreshingly cool, across both our bodies. Encore & I, both tired of sweating, welcomed a chance where time & bearable weather finally intersected.
Despite the flashing bolts of electricity, there was no rain, just the breeze, & Encore was bothered by neither. On Monday, Dr. Bob visited to dispense spring shots & had given Encore his first chiro adjustment post-injections. His thoracic spine felt great, he just had some rotation in his sacrum & hips that was easily restored to proper order.
As I tacked up, I felt his left hip muscle & hamstring, both usually tight & in need of stretching. Today, though, both were soft & matched the right side; money well spent.
It was just a short school in the dressage area, but it restored my hope & was not what expected that day. I've been struggling to snatch riding time from our field schedule, so consistency has not been involved in our training much. There has been much sweating & llama-riding & more energy than we know what to do with.
But this time, Encore stepped into the bridle easily, working gorgeously round over his back. I concentrated on not locking my left arm & shoulder -- if I lost my focus tracking left, his head would tilt askew to the inside, reminding me to BE SOFT. Then I would consciously relax every muscle from shoulder to wrist, without losing the contact, & he would quietly move forward, straight & strong.
We only did left lead canter, his weak side (Mr. Anticipation doesn't get to assume we do both leads every time, he's too smart!). I let him warm up his back in two point, then I sat down as much as I could in the jumping saddle & rode with my seat & core. Suddenly there appeared steps of a round dressage canter & Encore flicked an ear as I laughed with glee.
Spring 2012. You won't believe the new body he has now...
The session finished with just three jumps. We trotted back & forth over a 2' crossrail -- he can be quite strong & pasture sour at home so we have been working on that. Today, he stayed in a rhythm & didn't race to the jump.
I decided to go ahead & canter around to a last jump -- about a 3'1" double rail vertical I set up to come off a bend. As he came to the base & I kept my leg on, he curled up & over the jump so carefully, I could feel his front legs not daring to touch wood.
Our entry show of the fall is a schooling jumper show in town in two weeks. Then our first horse trial will take us back the Carolina Horse Park for Five Points HT in September.
I have a good feeling & hopefully this time, it won't be a prelude to disaster...
Yes, I am lax in my posting. Field season pulls me away 2-3 days per week and I've been gone every weekend. I never want to drive again.
I am also a moron because I keep forgetting to turn on my helmet cam. This weekend, I did remember at jump 3 and made a valiant attempt to turn it on there. Unfortunately, Encore had just settled into full TB gallop and those jumps just aren't that far apart at that speed; one handing the XC course did not feel like a good idea.
I know, no cam, what's the point, right? But we did get some good mileage.
Lesson: Encore is great in the dressage warmup; I am finally learning what works for him and I had him soft, responsive, supple, and ready to go. Then we left the warmup ring and entered the dressage arena at A, at which point Encore threw his head up, startled that he was suddenly alone and stared at, and I was unable to unlock his jaw for the next five minutes. To my aghastment (it's a word now), we still scored a 36.09. :-o It felt more like a 45. But baby needs a lot more mileage so he can get comfy and relax his topline in the arena and we will be hitting the dressage schooling circuit this summer, instead of the schooling HTs I had originally planned. Not as fun, but cheaper. The boy already knows how to jump, I'll save those jumps for the fall.
Lesson: I was starting to figure out a few things in the SJ warmup. I kept my leg on all the way to the base of the fence and over, hooking a finger through the martingale strap so there was no mouth catching, and we got some LOVELY jumps. Once we got in the arena though, any place where there were two jumps in a straight line, he charged like a bull and I was left to try to half halt and be soft at the same time. I think I have at least partially created this problem. Basically what happens then is I end up trying to hold him to the base of the fence instead galloping through it, which will almost always mean back rails get pulled behind, and I forget all about keeping my leg on. Hopefully, David will fix us this coming weekend. If there is a turn or corner to use to balance, we do fine and I can focus and get him back. A friend was nice enough to catch the rail bowling jumping round on her phone for your entertainment (I would recommend full screening and maxing the resolution)!
YOU ARE VANQUISHED!!!
Lesson: Encore is getting more confident on XC, yeah! And WE JUMPED THE LAST JUMP. Oh yes, the bright rolltop nemesis was defeated with a holler and a smack. I don't think I would change a thing about his course. It was the same funky course as Longleaf, which I still think doesn't work well for Novice horses in several places, but it made my coursewalk much easier.
The point of SCHOOLING horse trial is SCHOOLING and I am very happy with the experience we got. Encore feels a little more sure of himself each time out and the horse trial itself did its job of showing me where our weak spots were. So to the drawing board we go, to come back in the fall with a big fat BANG!
That was one of the reasons I have always loved Audrey Hepburn's classic Roman Holiday: there is no perfect bow and there is no closure except goodbye. Life doesn't wrap itself up in a nice, neat little package where everyone always ends up exactly where they wanted to be in the first place.
But before we go there, I will give you the answer you've all been waiting for, the question that has held you captive since Tuesday's Hoof Quiz: half of you are right and half of you are wrong.
Hoof A has a robust, heavy wall and a sole that is concave, thick, and hard as a rock. The frog is giant and the heels are strong. There's a teensy bit of a thrushy crack, always a project. Hoof B is narrower, with a sole that is almost flat, has little callous and jerks back dramatically in response to contact with the tiniest bit of gravel. The middle of the frog got thrushy (grrrr) from a muddy pasture.
So who was right? *drumroll* A = Encore and B = Solo. So Val, Amy, Beka Burke, Abbie, Lyndsey and RiderWriter got it right!
This has taught me the huge role that genetics play in hoof quality and integrity. That old saw that OTTB's have crappy, shelly feet? Well, buy one with good feet and you won't have that problem. My QH has wussy, cracky feet that need constant attention despite six years of me obsessing over them.
As for that little horse trial we went to...
Overall things went smoothly. Although, there was this one time, in middle of downtown Raleigh where I clenched the steering wheel and yelled a string of very bad words, realizing in the complete chaos that was my Friday that I had remembered everything....except feed for my horse. Fortunately, there's a lovely feed store in Southern Pines which is open for Saturday morning panic shopping runs.
Encore is a very smart horse. As soon as he unloaded, you could see the lightbulb go on as he remembered the Horse Park and he knew what he was supposed to do in each section we rode into. He warmed up for dressage rather well, but I still have not completely figured out what he needs. More canter? No canter? More suppling? A different rider? I know I slipped into an old habit and tensed up as we rode in the ring. As a result, he never relaxed and rode up into the contact, and we ended up with a mediocre score of 41.
The judge was fair and accurate and I am sure that our results were a mix of greenness and Encore just having a week and a half off due to injury. We had ONE dressage ride in the last two weeks.
Cross country followed and you can hate me because I forgot to turn on the helmet cam. I'm going to start writing it on my arm. I will post a virtual course walk when I get the pictures organized.
Now that we were running Novice, I was finally able to let Encore run a little. Wow, does he have a powerful gallop. It took everything in me to slow down and balance enough for the fences. But he was bold and solid -- baby sunken road, water, trakehner, bank, combination, HUGE brush -- he gave it an excellent run and responded to everything I asked immediately.
Until Jump 16. Three strides from the finish line. The last jump on course. It was a simple rolltop, although a bit narrow, and newly built out of light, treated lumber. I knew it was a steering question and it came off an odd turn, as the whole second half of the course lacked flow in its design. But I aimed for the middle and closed my leg.
See, the smurf has no problem with it.
Encore is a very quick and athletic horse, as I'd already learned in Februrary. He slipped out to the left at the last second. I was stunned. We had already done all the hard stuff!
Then I made the mistakes that did us in. I simply rode at it again, thinking he would just jump it the second time. He didn't. Then I did the same thing the third time with, unsurprisingly, the same result and that was our endgame.
What I didn't do is get proactive fast enough. The second time, I should have switched the crop to my left hand, dug that left spur in and used a right opening rein to close the doorway he found.
But as I walked back to the barn and commenced the "Saturday Pack of Shame" of those who get eliminated on the first day, I wasn't entirely unhappy.
I was unhappy with my failure to get the riding job done, yes. But when we were warming up for XC, I had noticed that while Encore jumped the XC jump very well, he rushed the stadium fences, getting flat, hard, and fast in the last three strides. I didn't like it and I am fairly certain that it is a training issue that I have caused. I have some ideas, but I need some video or sharp eyes on the ground to solve it.
But it needs to be worked out and I did not want to run him around the stadium course like that, as that could potentially make a problem much worse and become a negative experience for us both. As a result, I was thinking of withdrawing after XC and going home to up our show jumping game.
In the end, the choice was made for me. So while I have a bit of wounded pride for an E on Encore's record (it doesn't stand for "excellent," folks), when I take a step back and look at the big picture and what is best for Encore's career, I see that we achieved experience in the dressage arena, got both our leads and were fairly accurate, and had a great schooling run around a Novice XC course for jumps 1-15 on a horse who was at his second real horse trial and his first go at Novice.
The experience matters.
Like Gregory Peck, I didn't get the princess completion I wanted in the end, but I got an invaluable experience for my horse and I feel comfortable knowing that our show jumping round (in the rain) today could very well have not been what it should.
And that is what makes eventing a challenge and a long game if you want to build an eventer who is confident in his rider and knows how to get his job done. It's not all clean rounds and sunshine, but it's the hard decisions and how fast you can roll with the punches that sort the wheat from the chaff.
It is hard when great joy and soul-wrenching grief co-exist in your heart. On one hand, a person I love deeply is gravely ill and it will be some time before a resolution is reached or even in view. I am a fixer; I like to repair people, problems, jump standards...but here, there is nothing I can do. I am helpless to fix what is so much bigger than either of us. I can wish that I was a doctor, or perhaps even better, a wizard, so I could wave a wand, cast a spell, and dismiss the dark cloud overhead. As it is, the only things I can do are love deeply every single day, treasure each shared word and rare moment, and give all the emotional and moral support I have in me plus a little bit more. But that love and support never falters nor wavers, even though I cannot be as close as I would, given my choice. One day at a time has become my mantra.
At the same time, in the same emotional space, there is great joy for the unexpected gift that a young horse brings to the same battered heart. He cannot take the pain away, but what he does offer me is a bright spot in each day, a kind face that always makes me smile, that I can lose myself in for a period of time in the evenings, a balm for the open wounds and a therapy for a mind in turmoil.
Each one abates the other, in small pieces.
Yes, in a roundabout way, you are getting your event report.
It was a gift of a weekend when I towed that bright-eyed young thing into the organized chaos of the Carolina Horse Park on a Trial weekend. Warm, blue, with perfect sandhills footing, the stage was set and we were even lucky enough to have the Amazing Mum with us to capture pictures and help with the endless tasks of shifting things about that events inevitably involve. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let them tell the story instead.
Please feel free to admire and comment on my cuteness at any time, thank you.
Quiiiit, I'm not a stinking barbie!
I is workin' on my mohawk. Check it.
Correct leads! Both ways! No starting gate leap!
All 10's, right??! Look how cute I was!!
He was actually quite obedient. If he didn't have a rider handicap of an oaf hanging on the right rein who would instead just let him flow through the bridle, he would have done very well indeed. There were some lovely trot moments across the diagonal and his rider is slowwwwly learning to sit up straight. All in all, a quite respectable 38.6, not bad for his first recognized show where I ran out of time in warm up and didn't even get to canter.
Encore, of course, thought he was done after what he felt was a brilliant performance. To say he was surprised when the jumping saddle went on is an understatement. So his ears were swiveling twelve ways at once when we got to warm up, leaving me concerned that he would be a bit wild over the jumps.
Arrrrrrggh! I am ready to jump sweet jumps!!!
Er...your jumps do not impress me.
Meh.
Whatevs.
Ok, fine, I suppose I'll put some effort into it.
Then it was time to breach the ingate and start the show. The first 2/3 of the course were like a dream. I kept the rhythm, I re-balanced him, I softened my hand and closed my leg in front of the jump, letting him find each jump and arc over it perfectly.
It didn't last. You see, they had opened the course for walking while I was doing my dressage test. I hopped straight off when I finished and went into walk my stadium course. I knew the course in my head and I had walked up to jump 7 when they kicked me out of the ring to put it back in play. It became our epic fail.
I watched the riders before me, but apparently not closely enough. Jumps 6 and 7 were a line down the far wall, then you made a sweeping rollback to 8. I missed the turn. My eyes frantically searched for the numbers and found it, but we had already passed our line. I sat back and did a desperate, frantic detour and Encore gamely dug in and we found our way back to the jump. Flustered, I lost my focus, and we pulled rails at both 9 and 10 and our detour cost us 8 time penalites as well. But the fault was entirely mine and I still patted Encore for a job well and bravely done.
But can you ask for better engagement than that? As I apparently attempt to climb to his ears?
It was time to pack up and go. We had a sleepover date for the night at a friend's farm. Who also owns the cutest pony you have ever seen. But you'll have to wait for the next post to see the evidence.
Well, actually it was a chilly and windy day, but close enough. I'm short on time, but I'm going to give the rundown of our very, hmm, interesting horse trial on Saturday.
There were some time hiccups and some OMG, the XC course is 47 miles from my trailer and I only have an hour before dressage moments. But it was the first time this HT has been run, so one expects some speed bumps until the process gets sorted out. I tried to take deep breaths and everything worked out fine in the end.
Since the HT was situated at a farm where we regularly XC school, I had not bothered to read the direction on the bottom of the omnibus listing. After all, I've been there heaps of times. You smell an ominus turn coming in this story, can't you?
Oh yes, I get there, driveway is blocked and sign says go around to the back. Which means turning the trailer around and going back to a different road and it's a few miles around. I finally find the correct entrance and it felt so familiar....oh, because we are parking on the Moss Foundation, a massive property where lifehighway and I have ridden many times, as it is managed for longleaf pine habitat and trail riding. So the XC course IS actually about 47 miles from my trailer.
Uh oh.
I had an hour and a half before my dressage time, so I hiked as quickly as humanly possible to do my course walk. I was lucky enough to have bribed asked a friend to come help and I must say to her THANK YOU, CINDY, I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU.
I left the trailer at 9:30, leaving her in charge of Encore and told her I planned to be back by 10:00. At 10:00 I was on jump four of my XC course and I called her and said if I'm not back by 10:10, please tack up my horse. I actually arrived sweatily (it was hilly!) back to the trailer at 10:20. My dressage ride time was 10:43 and I still had to put on boots, helmet, gloves, spurs and GET to the dressage ring, which was only 20 miles away, instead of 47. I was on my horse by 10:32 and I took off at a trot, reins in one hand and eating a Powerbar with the other. Keep in mind, it was 50 degrees with 15 mph winds.
In brief, we arrived, steward said ring was running 20 minutes late. After I restrained my from leaping off my horse and hugging her, we warmed up. Encore was good, I got him round and reaching for the bit and as supple as I could get in that situation. My plan was to only walk and trot in warmup so he would not be anticipating the canter in the test.
This was not us.
That was a horrible plan.
He went in the ring and decided to go the confused llama route. He did not understand the little white chain that made the arena in the grass and he did not understand what his job was supposed to be because it didn't look right. I think had we been in the other arena (covered with footing) he would have been much better. At best I would describe the test as....apocalyptic. You know you're good when you (eventually) halt in the general vicinity of the required location and you salute, then look up to the judge cracking up laughing.
Oh well, I patted him and told him, good try, buddy, but not quite what we were looking for.
Next time, there will be much cantering in warmup to take that edge off! Note: find a place with a grass dressage arena with chains to practice.
I didn't worry -- I was at the HT primarily for jumping mileage for Encore, so I was satisfied he stayed in the ring and we were on course (approximately).
We then ripped off tack, threw on jumping gear (XC gear too, they were back to back) and Cindy was literally stuffing Powerbar in my mouth as I was buckling my bridle. Show jumping warmup was small and crowded but Encore warmed up well again, although that wind had him ready to GO! But he listened when I said whoa and jumped well, so that was good enough. Result:
You can't really tell, but I am about half in control and Encore is going at a great pace...for Prelim. I really thought we had that brush box, even though my steering was a wee bit off. He made it TO the takeoff spot, then did this amazing tango twist around the standard. We were so close to the jump, I saw top of standard about a foot from my face. I almost lost it; if my saddle had been slippery, I would have been a goner. But this situation is why I REQUIRE horses I ride learn the one-rein stop. Encore's only thought was RUN LIKE THE WIND, AHHHHH!!!!! I had no stirrups and just kept my body centered and pulled his head right around. The key was not to rush now, I needed his brain back. I got my stirrups back, took my time, walked calmly to the edge and resumed our course.
It was then straight to cross country from there. The course would be a bit of a new challenge. Designed by Gina Fiore, when I walked it, I felt it the BN course was really a Novice course with some smaller logs thrown in. There were some challenging questions and use of terrain and I felt fortunate that we had jumped many of the complex jumps before (and my horse remembered).
Want to ride it? 5...4...3...2...1...Have a great ride.
The circle mid-course where we slowed down was where Encore took a flying leap of the house and I had NO brakes anymore (someone is going to meet Mr. Elevator bit for jumping at competitions, we must balance, my dear). The next line was a hard right turn and down a steep hill to a suspended log and then a hard 90-degree turn to a bank line. It was not going to happen at Mach 10 on the forehand without a chance of killing us both. I pulled his head hard around uphill and he quickly broke to trot. I said, honey, I need your brain back. We then went downhill at the trot, picked up a much more balanced canter in front of the log, and pulled off a beautiful turn to our bank.
The last three or so years of eventing have taught me, forget the clock, when you lose your horse's brain, you will get in trouble in a big hurry. Stop everything you are doing and get him back. You may get a few penalty points, but they are very low and continuing in a crazed fashion will only end with someone getting hurt. It is critical in this sport to think on your feet and make quick decisions no matter where you are. It just good safety practice and good horsemanship -- your horse learns nothing bolting around unbalanced, every moment you are on his back, you are teaching him something, even if you don't mean to.
In summary, a crazy day, but very educational for horse and rider. I learned what young-OTTB-on-a-windy-day feels like. We achieved our goal of good jumping miles, even the runout taught me something (aim for the middle of the jump, doofus). We kept the rails up and were completely clear XC.
I've already painted one of our brush boxes at home bright white (yesterday) and Encore will be jumping it until he's sick of it. Southern Pines HT is in two weeks and I know what I need to work on, so I better get busy getting busy!
The night before a horse trial is always a tense one -- did I pack both girths? Is my armband where I think it is? Did I remember to make a post-dressage snack for Encore? Are both cameras charged?
Tomorrow's forecast in SoPines is clear and sunny, although windy and since the hosting farm is in the sandhills, footing should be nice -- although you always have to keep an eye on those pine needle patches, they can slip! If I have any lucky at all, that sun will shine on Encore making his 2012 eventing debut. He completed one horse trial last year at the Maiden level, so I'll start him at Beginner Novice this spring to build his confidence and begin to teach him the little routines of horse trial day.
But what will make or break our ride tomorrow won't be weather or footing or gear -- it will be whether I have the patience and calm to warm him up correctly. The KEY is getting the horse supple. You don't have to do x number of 20 metre circles or 5 perfect leg yields or a set number of gaits in each direction. You need to produce a supple and attentive horse using whatever means are most effective to get him there.
For Encore, this means bend, change the bend, bend back, counter bend, change bend again, leg yield on a spiral, bend again -- all the while my goal is to work him softer in the jaw and balanced beneath my seat. If I can acheive that, then I will have succeeded.
We'll be all over the warmup ring -- it's not about staying on the rail or using a common routine, it's about loosening and suppling my horse so he is round and on the aids when it is time for us to go in the ring. It doesn't matter how we get there as long as we arrive.
I'll trot my horse down centerline at 10:43 am tomorrow and as we turn right to begin our test, everyone will know whether or not I've achieved my goal and that moment of truth will set the tone for the rest of our day.
Encore looked at me like I was crazy. You put me on the trailer, we drive 5 minutes, you take me off. I run around for a while, you put me back on trailer, drive 5 more minutes, you take me off. I nap, you want me to get back on trailer? Does anyone else see how psychotic this woman is? Anyone? Bueller?
Despite his skepticism, Encore stepped on with a sigh and we trundled back over to David's farm for YAY, JUMPING! Except before YAY, JUMPING comes OMG, DEATH CIRCLE OF ARM-KILLING WARMUP.
My favourite part is when David said, "Hey, he learned something yesterday!" I don't think we caught it on the video, as he was trying to save my battery, but I was so proud of my brown pony. And I had to laugh at his unconscious clucking when I was supposed to apply leg. As riders, none of us can help ourselves -- we all cluck for horses we are watching.
We didn't catch the canter work, but it was very good and Encore was able to maintain a slow balance. The most important point I took from this warmup, especially the trot work, was that right now, we need to gooooo slooowwww.
You can see that Encore really struggled with the trot poles. This is not because he has never done them -- we have done rows of five poles many times. But he has never done them ROUND AND CONNECTED. I could feel that it was very very difficult for him. We continued to work on them several more times both directions and David assured me not to worry, he just needs to learn to find his feet without sacrificing the roundness and balance.
After this (and me shedding several layers of clothing), we moved on to a massive gymnastic. Our first attempt:
To complete the sentence, David instructs, "When he lands, encourage him to canter away and move forward after the jump." This exercise was difficult too. We've certainly done gymnastics before, but not with an approach in such a slow, round trot. It took us a few more goes to work that one out too; I had to really focus on softening my hand at the first pole, letting him lift his head to look at the jump, and keeping my shoulders back, not changing my position. We did finally sort it out....
I felt like I rode this line rather craptastically, but there is more good advice here. And I'm going to pretend that was one of the dogs belching, LOL.
Completeing the David sentence again: "He a little bit ran out of distance there, but that is just him being green and figuring out where he needs to be. Don't worry about it, that's just a matter of getting out and jumping lots of things."
We then did a myriad of courses, which I do have video of but got too impatient to upload them all. Encore began to work out his footwork. The oxers seemed to go better for us, but the short turn to the perpendicular vertical was very tough for us both (you will see in video). I wanted to lean forward in the turn & hold him to the base of the fence. I think we all know how successful THAT particular technique is. Yep, I just got a hollow jump with a pulled rail behind, my bad, sorry buddy. About halfway through, a woman entered & began longeing her horse on the corner -- I always welcome extra challenges, I feel it is good for the horse to learn from, but it made our turn to the diagonal line quite short & added another unexpected level of difficulty!
This is our final course:
There are many fantastic tips from David in these videos, but I won't retype them all, else this entry would be ten pages long! Leave it to say that I will be watching these over & over. And over. And over.
I can do it, mom!
But that was the end of it. David & Lauren saw us off & I spent the next 1.5 hours on the way home trying to digest all I had felt & heard. I turned my hard-working horse back out in his paddock when we made it back to the farm & went home to nurse that post-clinic funk. Yeah, you know it, when you go, Awww, man, it's over? But that was so amazing, I wanted it to last forever! However, I am quite sure my shoulder sockets would have separated, which does put a damper on one's equitation.
So thank you again, Ryan, we couldn't have done it without your help, and THANK YOU, DAVID (although I doubt he reads this unless he googles himself, which doesn't seem quite his style) for an incredible two days of shoving us over a training hump & untangling my ragged mess of a brain.
Bets on how long before I tangle it up again?
So I shall leave you with that. The red boys saw their vet today for their annual shots & Me Annoying Dr. Brian (Dr. Bob's alternate) With 10,000 Detailed Questions About Everything. So all are resting and we'll see what we have tomorrow!
I had a lot to think about as I drove....around the corner. As I mentioned, Ryan had graciously offered Encore and I berth at the little farm where she works, conveniently located 3 miles from David's. Ok, so it happens to be Charlie Plumb's (quite the family legacy) farm, so this is what you see when you come to the stop sign:
How do you get grass that green in the sandhills in January?
It's a nice enough place, as you pull into the drive...
They have a little arena with a few jumps scattered here and there...
They even let me park my rig where it would be shaded by trees!
What? I haven't shown you my traveling rig before?
I tucked Encore into the barn. I guess it was ok....
Ha, it was, naturally, a lovely place. I only saw Charlie for about four seconds, as he was busy with a clinic, but he offered a friendly hello (and escaped smurf picture recruitment, dangit). As dusk settled, Encore devoured his well-earned supper and settled in.
I sought to digest some of what I had learned that day and fought to retain David's advice and instructions (although I still giggle every time in the video where he yells, "Work it! Keeping working it!"):
-The Duo bit we are dressaging in now is great to introduce babies to contact and great for a finished horse who is light. But we might want to try something a step up for the sake of my jello arms, which will encourage Encore to soften faster and more readily. As he gets stronger and is able to be lighter, then perhaps we can go back to rubber finger bit.
-Keep the pace slow and NO RUSHING ALLOWED. In order for Encore to stay balanced at the stage he is in, he must stay slow and resist the urge to run off his feet and get tense. As he feels more comfortable in his balance, you can gradually ask for more trot. But you have to have that balance before you can have forward.
So...hard...
The journey with Solo and now this new endeavour with Encore has, I think, taught me, more than anything, about what real contact is. We are always told, "Don't pull on his mouth, stay out of his face." That is, to an extent, true. But real, working contact is not a feathery light touch until your horse actually has the balance, muscle, and training to carry himself completely. That doesn't happen at the beginning. Unless you have a freak horse that I just don't want to hear about.
When you see me riding in those videos, none of that is easy. My upper arms are screaming and when David asks us to reverse direction for the last time time, after I comment that I have noodle arms, my brain cries, "Dear cod, NOOOO!" Contact is CONTACT -- you are asking your horse to push power from his hind legs through his body into the bridle and until he learns how to do that on his own, he needs your help at times and the reminders are constant.
As I said before, it's not locked, it's not a pull, it's just a steady, almost a resting feeling against the bit. But it's alive and I am asking half halt with the outside rein, just little bit rounder with the inside rein, just a little bit straighter with that outside rein again. And when he complies, I do not "release" as we normally think of it, not in a physics sort of way. Rather, I go passive -- my resting contact is still there, but my forearm muscles soften and my hands are quiet, saying thank you, proceed as you are. The horse's mouth can feel this subtle difference in energy. The hard part is for the rider to regulate exactly the right amount at the exact right time. I figure I'll have that worked out in about 60 years.
But for now, it was time for both horse and rider to sprawl out and rest for the day to come.
Charlie might have escaped, but his lawn jockey didn't....
I needed an intervention. I was getting all tangled up in my head. Encore would warm up lovely and soft and compliant and rhythmic and then we would take a walk break and then he would be rushy and stiff and hollow and blah. His back didn't hurt. His legs didn't hurt. His saddle didn't hurt. I was very frustrated.
Encore is a poser with Ryan and our smurf.
So I invented Brena's Personal David Clinic, Februrary 2012. I packed up all our excessive crap gear and drove down to Vass on Friday afternoon. As luck would have it, Ryan from the Insanity in the Middle blog works for another trainer at a (lovely) farm three miles from David and she generously offered to allow Encore and I to have a sleep-over there. Ryan rules. Check it on the left. Sadly, her horse, Pop Star, was already turned out, so he missed out on his smurf photo opportunity.
I wanted to do flatwork on Friday afternoon and then jump on Saturday morning. Encore did not get a vote. I also wanted David to sit on Encore and tell me which parts were Encore's problems and which parts were my idiocies problems.
It's about a 1.5 hour haul from the farm to Vass so I had plenty of time to convince myself that (a) David would sit on horse and pronouce him lame, (b) I would not be fit enough to do what I needed to do since there is crazy shit going on in my life and sleep is hard to come by, or (c) I would pee myself with nervousness because even though I love David and he is the kindest person imaginable and we have ridden with him for perhaps two years now, I am still intimidated as heck by his accomplishments and the fact that he is so generous with his knowledge with Nobody Me.
But we made it unscathed, although I did have to pee because I had worked very hard to mega-hydrate myself all the way down (it makes a HUGE difference in your fatigure level in your lesson, try it), slurping down a liter of water even when I didn't want any more.
I will try to let the videos speak for themselves. Not only is David cool enough to pose with a smurf, he is also awesome enough to videotape for me while he taught.
He hopped right on and this is where it began and lasted for about 20 minutes. While you are watching, you notice that he moves the bit A LOT in Encore's mouth. As he explains, which I know I caught in later videos, racehorses are taught to lean into the hand and rely on it for their balance. They HAVE to re-learn how to carry themselves without you holding them up. And if you are tempted to get judge-y and feel that David is being too harsh, remember that Encore is wearing a HS Duo bit (right), which is basically a soft, rubber finger.
Sometimes, it does take a little tough love to retrain a horse how to use his entire body. Training is certainly not always pretty butterflies. The key is knowing what your horse's mind can handle, fairnessand immediately letting the horse know when he has offered you the right thing! David points out that because Encore is stable-minded and has raced for three years, he is tough and sensible and won't lose his shit when you have to make a point. He often prefers the OTTB's for this reason, and says it's a completely different approach than with a horse who has been started gently only a longe line with side reins and knows only quiet paddocks and arenas, who can be a bit of a "delicate flower" without the mental and physical toughness of a horse who has known the ups and downs of track life and didn't break down.
I do want to know how come I get in trouble for riding with long reins! But without further ado -- the beginning:
Then we move to canter. David emphasized afterwards that balance is very hard for Encore right now. He focused on straightness above all else and would give up everything, not caring where his head was, cross-firing, whatever, as long as he maintained straightness and then balance.
Right lead came first, Encore's easier side. You can see at the end the canter work has already improved the trot work from when he started.
Then we move to left lead. This is VERY difficult for Encore to do while maintaining his balance. But David maintained, that if he breaks, fine, if he cross-fires, fine, but he MUST stay straight.
I was enthralled, but apparently, I was expected to remount my horse and replicate what I had just watched. Encore is a fast learner, but you will hear David talk about how hard the new balance is for him. Not to mention for my arms. Ouch. The contact I have here is a very firm, but elastic one. I am not locked against his mouth. When I soften, it is a subtle softening of the arm and elbow -- you CAN'T throw the contact away, he has to have something to step into.
Then we have the left lead with what arms I have left. Thank cod for all that hydration!
Up next.....Saturday, JUMPING day! Will my arms stay attached to my shoulders? Will my horse decide this roundness business is for the birds? Will I throw myself at David's feet and beg to move into an extra bedroom? Anything could happen....
I am thinking hard about transitions right now. They are the key to so many things and can also reveal all of your weaknesses in one step. Maintaining contact, keeping your horse's energy coming forward and through the transition, bringing his hocks underneath him, all of these things are incredibly difficult to package and deliver at exactly the right moment.
I wanted to share with you some passages I have been reading and re-reading from Dressage in Harmony, by Walter Zettl (an excellent book by the way, and not terribly expensive). He has great sympathy for the horse and stresses fairness and patience above all else. He is a Czech trained in Germany under Col. Aust, a master of German classical dressage. After coaching many successful students in Munich for decades, he became the Canadian eventing coach for the 1984 LA Olympics. In this book, he makes some vital points to ponder (excerpts in italics).
The stages of any upward transition: Preparation through improvement of the lower gait, a clearly given signal, and then allowing the horse to move freely into the new gait.
From walk to trot: First, the walk must be engaged enough so that at any point the rider is condfident that the next step can be a trot step...The transition can only be as good as the walk before it. Every gait should be ridden not for itself, but as preparation for the next transition...The key problem is to give forward with the hand without losing the contact...If the rider gives with the reins too much, the horse can fall onto the forehand or raise up the head and hollow the back.
From trot to walk: The downward transitions are always more difficult, because the rider...thinks he must pull back to get the downward transition. In fact, in the moment when the rider is closing and holding with the hand for the half halt, he must already be thinking of giving, and riding his horse forward into the walk. After the transition, the rider should keep the horse on the aids in the walk so that he could immediately ride a transition back to trot...As in all of riding, the rider must constantly change between active and passive aids: active when the horse tries to escape the aids and immediately passive to show the horse everything is OK.
Walk to Halt to Walk: The weight aids for the halt are often misunderstood. Lowering of the heels brings the correct amount of weight into the horse's back in the correct, vertical position. Leaning back drives the seat into the saddle too much and sends the horse forward because of the pain the horse feels in his back...One should not expect that the horse will come to an immediate, perfect halt...Never lose the patience. When the horse comes to a very good halt, the rider should praise the horse so the horse knows he did well. One should praise the horse a lot. One often sees riders fooling around with the hands, both at the halt, and through the transition. When the rider tries to keep the horse round at the halt with too much hand than a correct transition is not possible--the horse is afraid to go freely forward because he expects to get holding aids in his mouth.
Trot to Canter: The preparation for the canter depart...holds the secret for success. The quieter and softer the depart, the quieter and softer the horse will stay in the canter. A wrong lead, aids given in the wrong moment, or aids given too strongly are the most common mistakes.
When asking for the canter from the trot, the rider should collect the trot very slightly--almost unnoticeably. The correct moment for the depart is when the outside shoulder goes forward. The reins should not be thrown away. As soon as the horse lifts himself into the canter, the rider needs to let the stride out with the hand slightly. Through the forward driving aids of the seat and leg, the rider brings the canter strides into a steady flow. Each stride of the canter should be ridden as if it is a new departure stride.
I'm going to keep reading. And re-reading. And reading again. There is so much contained in these passages and the paragraphs around them to think about and to process. I visualize my body doing each thing, sitting calmly centered and creating a shape for my horse to fill. Now we just need to add smidge more patience.....
What do you think? What do you read in these passages? Revalations? Old hat? Blindingly obvious? Complete insanity? Are there pieces you would like to add to your schooling or things you can adapt to the peculiarities of your horse? Share your impressions, I have been reading and absorbing like an obsessed little sponge lately and I've not filled up yet!
Multi-day meetings about mussel ecology and endangered species planning keep me away from my equine musings. Well, at least from writing about them.
My truck hurtles back north at night, escaping the museum meeting-room in the city as fast as possible in its farm-quest. Encore and I are working on contact and connection.
He accepts the contact quite willingly and is steady, but I think he is ready to do more. I ask for more connection, building on what I learned from the video clinic and in our lesson. The first day I tried it, it was brilliant -- his hocks were underneath him, everything was incredibly connected and through and THERE. Replication....is a good bit more difficult.
We walk that fine balance between riding forward into the contact (good) and pulling back into the contact (very bad) and it takes a lot of concentration to stay on the correct side of the line, despite the fact that my brain knows good and well what my body SHOULD be doing.
Piled next to my bed in a haphazard pile of paper and cat hair:
--Training the Three Day Event Horse and Rider by Jimmy Wofford (buy it now, I command thee)
--The Principles of Riding by the German National Equestrian Federation, the same yellow paperback that's been on my shelf since the mid-eighties, cheap glue and all
--Two recent issues of Practical Horseman
--Dressage in Harmony by Walter Zettl
--Henry James' Midnight Song by Carol de Chellis Hill (Hey, even a hardcore eventer needs a brain break)
I pick out passages and read and re-read and visualize and read again. If I can just do this enough times, it will surely stick.
We have a date with David on Saturday for a jumping lesson and a date with UPS on Tuesday for a dressage saddle to try. Rest assured, you shall hear about both.
Encore has discovered his jump. His big, powerful, sit-on-your-butt-and-leap jump. Holy mother of cod, I had a lot more horse under me than I expected on Sunday! But it felt really REALLY good -- he saw a jump, locked on, came up in front of my leg in a strong, balanced canter (where I sat up VERY tall so he was not tempted to dash at it), found his distance, and soared.
His confidence was just plain fun and we even tackled a couple skinny brush boxes, about four feet wide each. It took a couple tries for him to understand, but we got the light bulb and finished with a very proud pony. He is jumping regularly at about 2'4" to 2'7" these days, which is mind-boggling to me since he jumped his first vertical in September.
It was a welcome relief for me, as I had found myself unexpectedly frustrated the last few weeks. Starting out with Encore, I knew he was green, so I expected little and just rolled with it. I was relaxed, it was fun, all was good. Then he made great progress, I started making plans, I got an agenda, and I pushed. It didn't help that stress from other areas of my life piled on. And on and on and on.
Of course, this did not become clear to me until we had a dressage lesson on Saturday, during which Priscilla was forced to give me a mental slap in the head. Everyone should get smacked in the head from time to time, it does a world of good. I felt like I just remembered to breathe again. As Priscilla reminded me, when I am wound up tighter than a tick's belly and trying to shape my horse with sheer willpower, I will only make things worse. For me, I have to take a deep breath and tell myself, "It just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter, RELAX, IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER." Obsessing over the little things, fixating on details, wanting problems fixed now, can put my brain on overdrive. Fail.
I also watched a session from last week's USEA convention, ever-so-helpfully uploaded by John over at Eventing Nation and one section in particular brought everything back into focus. The videos encompass a Q&A session with 4-star riders, open to any audience inquiries. Someone asked how much correctness they should demand from a young horse; does everything have to be right right now or do you just focus on one thing at a time?
If I obey the Law, will my horse do that?
This is my problem, I epiphanied (it's a word now, baby) to myself. This is where I need to refine my approach to youngsters. Buck Davidson summarized it best: make a goal for the day and when you achieve it, be done. Even if it only took ten minutes. Don't go out and do your transitions and then do your ten meter circles and then do your canter work and then do your lateral exercises. You will overwhelm a young mind if you just keep piling on. Leslie Law (at right) agreed and elaborated that, if pony "loses his fizz" after 15 minutes, that's ok, do some hacking instead and just relax.
Clayton Fredericks, Phillip Dutton, and Karen O'Connor also reminded me of the cardinal rule: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS KEEP HIM IN FRONT OF YOUR LEG. He can be counterbent, he can be hollowed out, he can be cross-firing and swinging his head and swishing his tail, but he better be in front of your leg.
For us, that means picking our goal for the day and sticking to it, resisting the temptation to practice everything at once. That means overlooking what is not-quite-right and keeping my eyes instead on the incremental progress. That means not letting Encore get lazy and behind the leg (not much of a problem with that one, who still transitions to canter like he's leaping out of starting gate, ha!). I feel calmer, more focused, and better prepared to go forward from here.
Now if it will just stop being dark all the damn time...
I've made a warmup routine for Encore -- since we don't yet have much of a bend button or a leg yield button yet, I use circles to soften his body and regulate his rhythm. We work in a figure 8 of two 20-meter circles at the trot, first thing, every time. I want him to recognize that ok, it's time to soften and bend through my body and pick up a quiet rhythm.
I think the unicorn horn grows out of his star. See it??
We change directions back and forth until he begins to soften and lower his head, offering moments of pliability each way. Tracking left is markedly harder, I can feel the tightness on the right side of his body, resisting the stretch. Then we spiral the circles in and leg yield back out (in a fakey sort of way) and take a walk break.
Tonight, after our walk break, I thought, let's start some transition work. I put Encore in the bridle at the walk and asked for a trot. I'll be damned if that little horse didn't lift his back, soften his jaw, and step into the softest little trot, perfectly on the bridle -- and stay there. Perhaps you heard my squeaks of glee as we figure-eighted around the arena in this delightful gait. What took Solo a year and a half, this horse just got, CLICK, in six weeks.
And just like that, he had it. We did a few transitions back and forth to walk, a couple of which were lovely and balanced. It took all my willpower to end the session with some brief canter work and not just trot around in that blissful shape for the rest of the night.
It's the first time they experience cross country, the way their whole body comes alive with excitement when they realize that, hey, my job is FUN! It's impossible to hide my ridiculous grin when I feel that joie de vivre pulsating beneath me and the exuberant leaps over tiny logs hardly worth a step. A horse's first eventing experience is indeed an exercise in uninhibited glee. But I will let the pictures tell the best stories -- thanks to lifeshighway and our friend, Cindy, who both manned media recording devices to capture the Encore debut.
Someone thought my hairnet wearing skills were hilarious awesome.
The unicorn is all ready for dressage.
Showtime!
I can't say I was overly thrilled with some of the judge's comments -- I get a little irritated when they write "could be rounder" on an Intro test. The point of the Intro tests as marked on the score sheets and judging guidelines is a horse who moves forward into a steady contact with a clear rhythm. If they know how to go round, then they should be at a higher level!
Nonetheless, I was THRILLED with my boy.
For the photographer's caps of us, you can click here. If that site gets you lost, we actually have pictures under #62 and #63 (62 was a friend of ours who scratched the day before, perhaps the photographer got confused?)
Now I'm jumping poneh.
Tying your own pinney: always an exercise in contortion.
The blue stripey jump
Stadium jumping was quite the adventure for baby Encore! He was so busy staring at the XC horses during our warmup that it took a few tries to get over the oxer, but eventually he managed to pay attention. The course was VERY bright and colourful (you can see the jumps as expertly demonstrated by Solo here). As Encore trotted into the ring, he was game to try but I'm not sure he'd really figured out what he was supposed to do yet! Having never jumped a course before, I just wanted him to take his time and let the course educate him. The second jump on course, though, was the one with the crazy blue striped sail standards (at right, with Solo at Novice) and here Encore picked up a baby stop, running out to the left. I don't think he'd really focused on the task at hand, so I turned him back around to the right and represented. He jumped it very willingly and then I felt him click and go Ohhhh, I get it now! It's ON! And the rest of the course.....went off without a hitch! Giant daffodil standards, pink, orange, black and white spots, even a skinny on top of a mound -- no problem. He had it all worked out.
Which left us....the start box. That crazy Thoroughbred walked in, sighed, cocked a foot, and stood licking his lips as my favourite starter counted us down. At which point I promptly forgot to turn my helmet cam on. Devastated sobs. But for most of the course, I looked like this (sorry for the blur. And what happened to my breastcollar?):
And Encore looked like this:
WHEEEEE!!!!!!! FASTER, MOM!
My goal was to have him finish happily, but not run around like a crazy horse. As Allie Conrad told me, with great wisdom: A quiet mind is a trainable mind. So we attempted to trot each jump (ok, there were a couple deliciously uphill canters) and upon landing, we would return to trot and sometimes even walk.
A few extra great candid shots of Cindy and her Percheron/Friesian Diesel (aka Big D) who also competed Sunday and landed a freaking SWEET 37! We were so proud of these two, they have worked so hard and D is not an easy horse. But he has a good heart, a fun jump, and a really great canter and they deserve all the success in the world!
Big D can turn on the charm.
I'm not sure if this is a smile or a grimace. Oh wait, it's before dressage. Definitely a grimace, then.
Not everyone can rock my awesome coaching boots like this. Don't be jealous.
Big D and Mini D! This pony was adorable.
Don't let the body fool you, this guy can JUMP.
Don't look so excited about the sandbox...
Remember to breathe....
See, mom, I can dressage....
This is what makes it all worthwhile....
I couldn't be more thrilled with our day and I couldn't be happier with Encore's performance. He came through those finish flags high on life (possibly egged on by me yelling GOOD BABY for the entire course, which reportedly could be heard back at the start box...ummmm....) and I gave him a giant hug. I can't wait to see what happens next...
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I tucked Encore into the barn. I guess it was ok.....jpg)
He hopped right on and this is where it began and lasted for about 20 minutes. While you are watching, you notice that he moves the bit A LOT in Encore's mouth. As he explains, which I know I caught in later videos, racehorses are taught to lean into the hand and rely on it for their balance. They HAVE to re-learn how to carry themselves without you holding them up. And if you are tempted to get judge-y and feel that David is being too harsh, remember that Encore is wearing a HS Duo bit (right), which is basically a soft, rubber finger.
Walk to Halt to Walk:
