What a crazy time of year this is! A horse event every weekend for about three months straight, lots of farm jobs including no less than 4 broody chicken to be looked after, and the downhill stretch to Christmas and holidays! I have no earthly idea how we will survive the rest of the year, but the old adage 'take it one day at a time' seems to help.
Annie is coming along in leaps and bounds (luckily not literally) and is settling into the Dragonwood lifestyle beautifully. She's a very laid-back girl with a friendly attitude and not as much assertiveness as her foster-sister, Rose. The extra hundred kilos Rose has on her might play some part in that!
I've only started riding Annie the past few days as she is now at a weight where I felt it was ok to give her a bit of work. She's on very good pasture at the moment and is down to daily, rather than twice-daily feeds. I've put her on Hygain Tru Gain which is really helping her gain weight but with no fizz. The sunflower seeds are putting a bit of shine in her summer coat which has started to come through very fast. I suppose as she gets healthier her old dead winter coat will be released and that seems to be happening already.
Her feet are holding up very well and she's already comfortable on most surfaces, including our gravel driveway. She's amazing.
My rides have focused mostly on re-training her stop button. As with many horses, Annie had been essentially taught that bit pressure can mean 'head down' as well as 'stop'. So, when I closed my fingers she just dropped her head and pushed through it. I had to be very conscious only to release pressure when she slowed her legs rather than changed the position of her head. She was very, very hollow anyway and very unhappy in the contact.
Once we established what the bit cue was for (ie only for slowing the legs), I started using some indirect turns to straighten her. Pushing the outside rein into the neck after pushing the outside knee into her side, I waited for two steps to see if she would move away, then opened my inside rein quite obviously when she didn't. She was soon moving away from the rein pressure, keeping her neck straight and softening her outline until she was quite round and forward and straight. Awesome!
After two rides, just doing that at the walk and trot, including lots of slow walk and slow trot to help give her time to think and move her legs, I was really pleased with her progress. This morning, we skipped most of the stargazing tension and moved straight into relaxed forward walk. Go Annie. :)
The Manu trick of halting her and giving her a loose rein has really paid dividends I think. She struggled with the concept of not moving her legs for the first two days, thinking that releasing bit pressure meant go forward. But this morning she moved very little and was completely still after the first two goes at it. She is quite active with stretching her neck, shaking her head, chewing and yawning and blowing. After she's finished, she must stand as I re-take rein contact and wait to be asked to move. She's getting a lot better with that too.
Canter.....was messy but improved. She's a big girl with a big stride, so it will take a lot of balance and strength that she simply does not have yet. The pig-rooting into canter was quite funny but she'll quit that in a while, I'm sure.
Half the farm is quite green and lush at the moment and the other half is good but the grasses are obviously of a different species. We're going to pilot a small area of native grass mix in the next few weeks and hopefully develop that grass across the rest of the property. Low in sugars and high in starch, it's perfect for barefoot horses and those prone to laminitis. Just what we need!
Young Timmy is off at Hillydale being started and is going great guns. You can read about him on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hillydale-Equine-Training-and-Sales/704025642964665?fref=ts Some lovely pics too.
Heidi, our broodmare, is about to be AI'd with Contenda semen and I'm very excited about the potential for this little baby. Should be a truly athletic horse and fingers crossed all goes to plan.
Jedi is getting some good piloting from young Maddy Reisner. They had a good showing at the NSW Eventing Champs last weekend. He really excelled in the showjumping rather than either of the other two phases, so we're going to take him out showjumping for a bit and see if someone might buy him as a showjumper. I really want to move him on to his next home as I've essentially stopped riding him now and I've already emotionally separated, if you know what I mean.
So, a lesson on Annie for me and on Jedi for Maddy at Ben Netterfield's this weekend, then it's a bit of judging, bit of showjumping, bit of dressage and then Berrima Horse Trials in just over a month. Good times!
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Meet Annie
Well, it's been a pretty big week for this little duck and the horses at Dragonwood Farm. We've recovered from Canberra Horse Trials and Jedi is now getting ridden by an up and coming junior at Lynton and is working really well with her. They had a fang around the Canberra course yesterday and she was pretty happy with how that went. Jedi may well have landed on his feet! Let's hope he catches someone's eye at Lynton now he's being ridden in a manner more to his liking....
Timmy the Connemara/TB went off to Hillydale Ponies for foundation training (aka breaking in). Cath at Hillydale uses the Equitation Science approach and the Mclean method of training, so Timmy will be in great hands and should be a super little young dude when he comes home in a few weeks. We got lost on the way there and ended up four-wheel driving through the bush out the back of Bungonia and he just stood like a rock in the float. Even when he got out he parked beautifully (made me look great!) and just calmly went into the paddock to eat in his new environment. Really got high hopes for him going to an ambitious young rider or small adult to bring on.
Which brings us to Annie. Annie was a bit of an 'accidental' purchase. I had gone up to look at her as a bit of a curiousity trial with no intention of buying her. She was well over-priced as a rising 5 year old green ISH mare and the photos didn't inspire confidence. She was even worse in person, significantly underweight with a cut mouth and a big saddle sore. She'd just come back from 4 weeks with a well-known professional event rider so I was pretty taken aback at her condition. Clearly, she was not being fed or looked after well at all.
She rode very green, with a hard mouth and no real understanding of roundness or softness. She was forward with a super big trot and lovely canter. I only worked her for 10 mins as the arena we were on was very deep, it was hot and she was just not conditioned to cope with much. She was getting tired.
Still, I walked away really liking her attitude and her work ethic, not to mention her movement. One day, I thought, she'll be a star in the right hands. But given her asking price, those hands were not going to be mine until her price came down!
My mate Jo, the legend that she is to come traipsing up to Bowral with me, and I chatted about her on the way home. We both agreed that was probably the worst presentation of a horse in the price bracket we'd ever seen and we also both agreed Annie was the sweetest horse with quite a bit of talent. We only hoped she'd go to a good home.
That afternoon, I texted the owner to tell her I really liked Annie but couldn't offer her the kind of money she was looking for. After a bit of pushing from the owner to make an offer, I ended up offering half the asking price, which I still thought was probably a bit generous. To my open-mouthed surprise she accepted straight away. Shit, I thought, now what do I do?? Luckily, I have the best husband in the world and he said, just do it, but you can't have your arena until Jedi and Timmy are sold. Deal, says I.
Vet check was a bit of a nailbiter for me - I really didn't think she'd pass in that condition. But the vet was quite happy with her, at least soundness-wise. No issues at flexion, but anaemic, malnourished, with a sore wither and dull coat. Poor Annie.
So, after dropping Timmy off at Hillydale, the intrepid Jo and I headed up to Bowral to pick up Annie. She actually looked worse than the week before. She loaded great (hoeing into her hay with gusto) and we headed home. We never heard a peep out of her.
This is Annie the day after she arrived at Dragonwood Farm:
As you can see, no topline, prominent ribs and hips, dull bleached coat. But she's already looking a little better on 2 modest feeds a day of Micrbeet, lucerne chaff, Hygain Ice and Equilibrium with sunflower seeds. Not to mention spring grass!
Kirsten the wonder trimmer came out yesterday to pull her shoes and we were pleasantly surprised by the health of her hooves and frogs. This could be an easy transition - no thrush or seedy toe found and a big frog to help cushion those sensitive tootsies.
So, Annie has good feet and should transition well to barefoot. I'll keep you posted on her progress. So far she's been a bit sensitive on the gravel road (completely understandably) but otherwise fine on the grass and dirt. She'll keep landing toe-first for a while but will gradually start moving properly as her feet get less sensitive and her body gets used to the different feel.
Timmy the Connemara/TB went off to Hillydale Ponies for foundation training (aka breaking in). Cath at Hillydale uses the Equitation Science approach and the Mclean method of training, so Timmy will be in great hands and should be a super little young dude when he comes home in a few weeks. We got lost on the way there and ended up four-wheel driving through the bush out the back of Bungonia and he just stood like a rock in the float. Even when he got out he parked beautifully (made me look great!) and just calmly went into the paddock to eat in his new environment. Really got high hopes for him going to an ambitious young rider or small adult to bring on.
Which brings us to Annie. Annie was a bit of an 'accidental' purchase. I had gone up to look at her as a bit of a curiousity trial with no intention of buying her. She was well over-priced as a rising 5 year old green ISH mare and the photos didn't inspire confidence. She was even worse in person, significantly underweight with a cut mouth and a big saddle sore. She'd just come back from 4 weeks with a well-known professional event rider so I was pretty taken aback at her condition. Clearly, she was not being fed or looked after well at all.
She rode very green, with a hard mouth and no real understanding of roundness or softness. She was forward with a super big trot and lovely canter. I only worked her for 10 mins as the arena we were on was very deep, it was hot and she was just not conditioned to cope with much. She was getting tired.
Still, I walked away really liking her attitude and her work ethic, not to mention her movement. One day, I thought, she'll be a star in the right hands. But given her asking price, those hands were not going to be mine until her price came down!
My mate Jo, the legend that she is to come traipsing up to Bowral with me, and I chatted about her on the way home. We both agreed that was probably the worst presentation of a horse in the price bracket we'd ever seen and we also both agreed Annie was the sweetest horse with quite a bit of talent. We only hoped she'd go to a good home.
That afternoon, I texted the owner to tell her I really liked Annie but couldn't offer her the kind of money she was looking for. After a bit of pushing from the owner to make an offer, I ended up offering half the asking price, which I still thought was probably a bit generous. To my open-mouthed surprise she accepted straight away. Shit, I thought, now what do I do?? Luckily, I have the best husband in the world and he said, just do it, but you can't have your arena until Jedi and Timmy are sold. Deal, says I.
Vet check was a bit of a nailbiter for me - I really didn't think she'd pass in that condition. But the vet was quite happy with her, at least soundness-wise. No issues at flexion, but anaemic, malnourished, with a sore wither and dull coat. Poor Annie.
So, after dropping Timmy off at Hillydale, the intrepid Jo and I headed up to Bowral to pick up Annie. She actually looked worse than the week before. She loaded great (hoeing into her hay with gusto) and we headed home. We never heard a peep out of her.
This is Annie the day after she arrived at Dragonwood Farm:
As you can see, no topline, prominent ribs and hips, dull bleached coat. But she's already looking a little better on 2 modest feeds a day of Micrbeet, lucerne chaff, Hygain Ice and Equilibrium with sunflower seeds. Not to mention spring grass!
Kirsten the wonder trimmer came out yesterday to pull her shoes and we were pleasantly surprised by the health of her hooves and frogs. This could be an easy transition - no thrush or seedy toe found and a big frog to help cushion those sensitive tootsies.
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| For some reason my pics won't rotate....but that's her off fore. |
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| Off hind. The squared off shoes were used so the farrier could 'dump' the toe to help stop her forging. |
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| Freshly pulled and rasped near hind. The white hoof makes it easy to see what Kirsten did. |
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| Freshly pulled and rasped off fore. A bit pointy at the toe but otherwise suprisingly good. |
Monday, 6 October 2014
Canberra Horse Trials 2014
What a big weekend! The sun was out in force and the spring weather was just glorious for the event. We had a long weekend too, so I got to pack even more stuff in!
Here's the rundown....
Judging 20 or so Intro juniors from 8am on the Saturday was a pretty sweet gig. The class was actually of a really high standard, considering half the kids looked about 8! Having a good mate pencil with you certainly makes the day go quicker and I received some lovely feedback later in the day about the positive comments I give to riders. The opposite would be keenly felt by me as the rider later in the day and I was once again really conscious of giving riders constructive and positive feedback, rather than just telling them what they did wrong by way of a cutting one word comment.
Which take me to Jedi's dressage....
Let me first say it was a definite improvement on the last few outings. The warm up was better, though still really tense, especially in the canter. I used the two tools Manu had given me at the clinic - the indirect turn to step the front leg out, and the halt on a loose rein - to good effect and I really think both tools made a dramatic difference. I also concentrated on keeping my seat light and forward which also helped.
He was just a complete prick in the canter. The transitions were actually not bad, but then he would be off pig-rooting with his head so high he was practically hitting me in the face! Grunting, to boot. It was NOT fun or pretty and, while he eventually settled in the warm up, he did exactly the same thing through the WHOLE of the canter movements.
The entry was crooked but he was forward and round. The trot work was actually not bad, I thought. Yes, a little tense, but he was working in a nice frame, forward and supple. He even pulled off some nice lengthening across the diagonal, so I was really pleased with over half the test.
Now, you might expect, as I did, that our marks would reflect this improvement and apparent good work. Not so much. Once again, we scored 50%. An average mark of 5. When I got the test back I was not happy that the good work was not rewarded while the really awful work was not penalised. Why not use the whole scoring scale available?? I would have been giving me 7s for the trot work and 4s for the canter work. Instead, I got 5s and the odd 6 for the trot (with a 7 for the halt), and 5s for the canter. Bizarre. Not to mention disappointing.
Anyway, last again...ho hum.
The showjumping course was a very odd design and very difficult given the level of the class. The jumps were not big, at least they didn't seem to be almost a metre, but the first half of the course was like a snake - jump 1, turn right 180 degrees to jump 2, turn left 180 degrees to 3a and b, turn right 180 degrees to jump 4, turn left up the hill to jump 5....it went on like that. Jedi clobbered the first and got quite upset and dropped 3 more for a cricket score of 16. I was really disappointed for him as I wanted him to have a confidence-building round. The last two jumps were quite good, though, so I'm hoping that's what's stuck with him.
So, after dressage and showjumping we were still last. But still in the game!
The cross country course was great - the National Capital Horse Trials Association had built new fences and mixed it up a bit to create a lovely flowing course with some good questions. I uploaded the course onto the Cross Country App if you have it.
The Sunday dawned pretty hot with a hot wind blowing. It easily made 28 degrees and felt like the first licks of summer. Welcome to eventing, Australian-style!
In short, Jedi was a gun and I was a fat blob. He galloped around that track, jumping everything in sight, including the water, the ditch, the drop - the lot. And I got really tired about halfway around and could do nothing to help him. I don't know what was happening - I have been a bit sick this week so maybe that was the cause, but I was so bad I actually thought I might have to pull up. First time ever. But Jedi looked after me and carried me round. What a champion. We got a few time pens but I don't care. He was great. :)
So, yes, we finished last, but this was a big improvement on Harden and his behaviour in the warm up for both showjumping and cross country was vastly improved.
It was a really great weekend and a wonderfully professional event. The organisers run a friendly, fun event with lots to see and do even when you're not competing. And I'm always well looked-after by the Committee when I'm judging and riding. It makes it a pleasure to give your time and energy.
Bring on Lynton!!
Here's the rundown....
Judging 20 or so Intro juniors from 8am on the Saturday was a pretty sweet gig. The class was actually of a really high standard, considering half the kids looked about 8! Having a good mate pencil with you certainly makes the day go quicker and I received some lovely feedback later in the day about the positive comments I give to riders. The opposite would be keenly felt by me as the rider later in the day and I was once again really conscious of giving riders constructive and positive feedback, rather than just telling them what they did wrong by way of a cutting one word comment.
Which take me to Jedi's dressage....
Let me first say it was a definite improvement on the last few outings. The warm up was better, though still really tense, especially in the canter. I used the two tools Manu had given me at the clinic - the indirect turn to step the front leg out, and the halt on a loose rein - to good effect and I really think both tools made a dramatic difference. I also concentrated on keeping my seat light and forward which also helped.
He was just a complete prick in the canter. The transitions were actually not bad, but then he would be off pig-rooting with his head so high he was practically hitting me in the face! Grunting, to boot. It was NOT fun or pretty and, while he eventually settled in the warm up, he did exactly the same thing through the WHOLE of the canter movements.
The entry was crooked but he was forward and round. The trot work was actually not bad, I thought. Yes, a little tense, but he was working in a nice frame, forward and supple. He even pulled off some nice lengthening across the diagonal, so I was really pleased with over half the test.
Now, you might expect, as I did, that our marks would reflect this improvement and apparent good work. Not so much. Once again, we scored 50%. An average mark of 5. When I got the test back I was not happy that the good work was not rewarded while the really awful work was not penalised. Why not use the whole scoring scale available?? I would have been giving me 7s for the trot work and 4s for the canter work. Instead, I got 5s and the odd 6 for the trot (with a 7 for the halt), and 5s for the canter. Bizarre. Not to mention disappointing.
Anyway, last again...ho hum.
The showjumping course was a very odd design and very difficult given the level of the class. The jumps were not big, at least they didn't seem to be almost a metre, but the first half of the course was like a snake - jump 1, turn right 180 degrees to jump 2, turn left 180 degrees to 3a and b, turn right 180 degrees to jump 4, turn left up the hill to jump 5....it went on like that. Jedi clobbered the first and got quite upset and dropped 3 more for a cricket score of 16. I was really disappointed for him as I wanted him to have a confidence-building round. The last two jumps were quite good, though, so I'm hoping that's what's stuck with him.
So, after dressage and showjumping we were still last. But still in the game!
The cross country course was great - the National Capital Horse Trials Association had built new fences and mixed it up a bit to create a lovely flowing course with some good questions. I uploaded the course onto the Cross Country App if you have it.
The Sunday dawned pretty hot with a hot wind blowing. It easily made 28 degrees and felt like the first licks of summer. Welcome to eventing, Australian-style!
In short, Jedi was a gun and I was a fat blob. He galloped around that track, jumping everything in sight, including the water, the ditch, the drop - the lot. And I got really tired about halfway around and could do nothing to help him. I don't know what was happening - I have been a bit sick this week so maybe that was the cause, but I was so bad I actually thought I might have to pull up. First time ever. But Jedi looked after me and carried me round. What a champion. We got a few time pens but I don't care. He was great. :)
So, yes, we finished last, but this was a big improvement on Harden and his behaviour in the warm up for both showjumping and cross country was vastly improved.
It was a really great weekend and a wonderfully professional event. The organisers run a friendly, fun event with lots to see and do even when you're not competing. And I'm always well looked-after by the Committee when I'm judging and riding. It makes it a pleasure to give your time and energy.
Bring on Lynton!!
Monday, 29 September 2014
Another Mclean Clinic - an epiphany....a hard one, but a good one
So, another Mcleans clinic for the history books. This time, both Andrew and Manuela were in attendance and it was such a great couple of days. What a difference it makes having the clinic over a long weekend in spring. Lots of people turned up to hear Andrew's lecture and watch his demonstration with a young horse that pulls back. And it was a good vibe, as always.
My lessons were pretty all over the place and, as I am a firm believer that confusion and disappointment are the great drivers of positive change, I'm going to chalk this clinic up to being a bloody Lamborghini for positive change! The first lesson with Andrew on Jedi was bloody awful. I didn't really have enough time to warm up. Andrew was running late because his plane was late so I thought I had ten more minutes than I did. Ah, well, my bad.
Jedi started very tense and didn't really get better. He was at his worst with his head tossing, pig-rooting, tail-swishing and rushing the jumps. He is really not usually like this and I was disappointed. Andrew, quite rightly, told me I shouldn't be jumping him higher than the piddly jumps he had set up and that, frankly, I was not suited to hot horses. I ride too heavily for sensitive Jedi and am really pissing him off. Sigh. Not that I didn't always know that in the back of my mind but it was a hard thing to hear, especially when he was misbehaving to a far greater degree than normal.
That being said, Andrew and I go back almost 30 years, so he wasn't just being an arsehole. He knows I appreciate honesty and I really think he's right. We worked on me having a more forward seat to be more balanced and subtle, allowing him to round rather than hollow under my weight. Things improved marginally, but it was a pretty crappy lesson. I was on the phone to my two best horse sales contacts within 15 minutes of the end of the lesson letting them know Jedi was up for sale.
Rose was pretty tense to start with Manu, but that soon dissipated as we worked on straightness (equal cheekpieces) and getting a slow walk. Lots of halting and even stepping back as she has a tendency to get strong and haul me around! Manu commented on my seat too, asking me to lean forward more. I was astounded - I reckon my whole riding life I've been told to 'sit up' and 'sit back' as I always had a tendency to be too forward. Now, I've over-compensated (probably from riding crazy Tux and now slightly nutty Jedi), and my posture is too defensive. This causes my seat/pelvis to literally drive down against the wither and into both horses' shoulders, creating soreness and discomfort.
As I started leaning forward (at least, that's what it felt like - I was really only sitting upright!), Rose's demeanour changed and she was less chargey and more rhythmic. It was quite counter-intuitive and will obviously take me ages to learn.
The other really great tool I picked up this time was the 'time-out box'. Manu has been experimenting with halting the horse, holding contact with hand and leg (neutral) for 5 seconds (the same amount of time in a halt/salute or halt at C) before letting the horse stand with the reins on the buckle. The horse is not allowed to move its legs out of this 'box' but may do anything else it likes - chewing, head-shaking, stretching forward, blowing). This opportunity to stretch and relax seems to make a huge difference and, after 15 seconds or so, the horse is ready to move on again. Best results are obtained if you do it in the same place everytime.
The major difference between doing this and, say, walking on a loose rein, is that walking on a long rein is an actual movement in dressage, something that must be trained. It is not really possible to relax the horse by walking on a long rein when it is also something the horse must do at a march, on a contact. I really like this idea and it seemed to have great results with both horses.
We never got out of walk in that first lesson with Manu on Rose! But it was a pretty great foundation.
I was lucky to get another privated with Manu the following day after someone had to cancel. I rode Jedi first as he is usually the most exhausting - not this time! He was practically dopey! I was almost disappointed as I wanted Manu to see him when he is tense. He did turn it on a bit later so she was able to see, but I think she knew what I was saying and could see his adrenalisation.
Leaning forward was one key and I worked on that. The second was active walk into slow trot for 8 steps, back to active walk. I also didn't take a dressage whip. This 20 min repetition of walk to slow trot, gradually developing from a dribbling sitting trot to a good working trot, rising, was genius.
Manu had me do a lot of a particular exercise involving strong indirect turns to the outside. These start when the horse is no longer straight or concentrating. The sequence goes, inside knee pushes in to the horse, followed by the inside hand locking against the wither - pressing the inside rein into the horse's neck. The horse should step out with the outside front leg ie open that leg. If not, the outside rein is opened wide to help the horse get the message. The key is not to release that inside rein, maintaining flexion to the inside. Once the horse steps out, all aids go back to neutral to reward the horse.
After some repetitions of this exercise, both horses started to round, lift through the back, swing across the hindquarter and go 'gooey', as Manu says. It can be repeated as often as you like and seems to really focus them on the rider.
We had a great lesson and I was really grateful I had that opportunity with Manu. I feel a lot less useless!
Rose's second lesson was really a duplication of Jedi's lesson, but Rose has a lot less strength and balance. She also pulls like a train when she wants so we had some serious halting and stepping back to do! I had been having trouble leg-yielding to the left on Rose - she would run, get stressed and toss her head. So, Manu had me slow down, then if Rose got heavy at all during the yield I would ask her to step back a step or two, then immediately push her into leg yield. After a few repetitions she was really quite good.
So, that's another exhausting clinic full of learning and sweating! Lots to work on and Jedi is now officially for sale. We'll be doing Canberra and Lynton Horse Trials in the coming two weeks, hopefully with a respectable dressage score to kick us off. I'm really aiming for calmness and 50%! Like always.....keep you posted!
My lessons were pretty all over the place and, as I am a firm believer that confusion and disappointment are the great drivers of positive change, I'm going to chalk this clinic up to being a bloody Lamborghini for positive change! The first lesson with Andrew on Jedi was bloody awful. I didn't really have enough time to warm up. Andrew was running late because his plane was late so I thought I had ten more minutes than I did. Ah, well, my bad.
Jedi started very tense and didn't really get better. He was at his worst with his head tossing, pig-rooting, tail-swishing and rushing the jumps. He is really not usually like this and I was disappointed. Andrew, quite rightly, told me I shouldn't be jumping him higher than the piddly jumps he had set up and that, frankly, I was not suited to hot horses. I ride too heavily for sensitive Jedi and am really pissing him off. Sigh. Not that I didn't always know that in the back of my mind but it was a hard thing to hear, especially when he was misbehaving to a far greater degree than normal.
That being said, Andrew and I go back almost 30 years, so he wasn't just being an arsehole. He knows I appreciate honesty and I really think he's right. We worked on me having a more forward seat to be more balanced and subtle, allowing him to round rather than hollow under my weight. Things improved marginally, but it was a pretty crappy lesson. I was on the phone to my two best horse sales contacts within 15 minutes of the end of the lesson letting them know Jedi was up for sale.
Rose was pretty tense to start with Manu, but that soon dissipated as we worked on straightness (equal cheekpieces) and getting a slow walk. Lots of halting and even stepping back as she has a tendency to get strong and haul me around! Manu commented on my seat too, asking me to lean forward more. I was astounded - I reckon my whole riding life I've been told to 'sit up' and 'sit back' as I always had a tendency to be too forward. Now, I've over-compensated (probably from riding crazy Tux and now slightly nutty Jedi), and my posture is too defensive. This causes my seat/pelvis to literally drive down against the wither and into both horses' shoulders, creating soreness and discomfort.
As I started leaning forward (at least, that's what it felt like - I was really only sitting upright!), Rose's demeanour changed and she was less chargey and more rhythmic. It was quite counter-intuitive and will obviously take me ages to learn.
The other really great tool I picked up this time was the 'time-out box'. Manu has been experimenting with halting the horse, holding contact with hand and leg (neutral) for 5 seconds (the same amount of time in a halt/salute or halt at C) before letting the horse stand with the reins on the buckle. The horse is not allowed to move its legs out of this 'box' but may do anything else it likes - chewing, head-shaking, stretching forward, blowing). This opportunity to stretch and relax seems to make a huge difference and, after 15 seconds or so, the horse is ready to move on again. Best results are obtained if you do it in the same place everytime.
The major difference between doing this and, say, walking on a loose rein, is that walking on a long rein is an actual movement in dressage, something that must be trained. It is not really possible to relax the horse by walking on a long rein when it is also something the horse must do at a march, on a contact. I really like this idea and it seemed to have great results with both horses.
We never got out of walk in that first lesson with Manu on Rose! But it was a pretty great foundation.
I was lucky to get another privated with Manu the following day after someone had to cancel. I rode Jedi first as he is usually the most exhausting - not this time! He was practically dopey! I was almost disappointed as I wanted Manu to see him when he is tense. He did turn it on a bit later so she was able to see, but I think she knew what I was saying and could see his adrenalisation.
Leaning forward was one key and I worked on that. The second was active walk into slow trot for 8 steps, back to active walk. I also didn't take a dressage whip. This 20 min repetition of walk to slow trot, gradually developing from a dribbling sitting trot to a good working trot, rising, was genius.
Manu had me do a lot of a particular exercise involving strong indirect turns to the outside. These start when the horse is no longer straight or concentrating. The sequence goes, inside knee pushes in to the horse, followed by the inside hand locking against the wither - pressing the inside rein into the horse's neck. The horse should step out with the outside front leg ie open that leg. If not, the outside rein is opened wide to help the horse get the message. The key is not to release that inside rein, maintaining flexion to the inside. Once the horse steps out, all aids go back to neutral to reward the horse.
After some repetitions of this exercise, both horses started to round, lift through the back, swing across the hindquarter and go 'gooey', as Manu says. It can be repeated as often as you like and seems to really focus them on the rider.
We had a great lesson and I was really grateful I had that opportunity with Manu. I feel a lot less useless!
Rose's second lesson was really a duplication of Jedi's lesson, but Rose has a lot less strength and balance. She also pulls like a train when she wants so we had some serious halting and stepping back to do! I had been having trouble leg-yielding to the left on Rose - she would run, get stressed and toss her head. So, Manu had me slow down, then if Rose got heavy at all during the yield I would ask her to step back a step or two, then immediately push her into leg yield. After a few repetitions she was really quite good.
So, that's another exhausting clinic full of learning and sweating! Lots to work on and Jedi is now officially for sale. We'll be doing Canberra and Lynton Horse Trials in the coming two weeks, hopefully with a respectable dressage score to kick us off. I'm really aiming for calmness and 50%! Like always.....keep you posted!
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Spring has sprung!
Well it has certainly been an eventful few weeks in Barefooteventer-land. After the appalling dressage at Harden, I decided to take Jedi to a local dressage club event with Rose, the newly broken in Irish Sport Horse. Rose has just received her very own WOW saddle and looks rather fetching in it, if she does say so herself!
We had a middling day. The sun was bright and the mood was pretty jolly, but Jedi was very hot again and, after about an hour of riding, still pulled off a tense test. Much improved on Harden (we scored about 58.5% and finished 5th), but still very frustrating and worrying. I was convinced I was doing something really awful and was creating yet another Tux.
Rose was truly wonderful, however, just to confuse me even more! Considering she'd been ridden about 20 times ever, she was such a gem and coped really well in the noisy atmosphere. This was her second time in a dressage arena, even! So, she did a lovely test for 57.5% with a 7 for paces and scored herself a red ribbon to boot.
Needless to say, it was a very thoughtful drive home with the two of them as I kept going over my riding, my training, Jedi's reactivity and so on. I decided to simply cut all of Jedi's food out (which is incredibly hard to do - just try it!) and let him just eat grass for a bit. I reasoned I could quickly rule out diet if his behaviour stayed the same, even if he lost a bit of weight while that happened.
Imagine my relief when, only 5 days later, I had the calmest ride I'd had in literally months. He was almost lazy! The one thing that I'd truly managed to eliminate was the lucerne/meadow hay that he'd had for the whole of winter. We'd bought the big bales from a local guy and didn't know they were half lucerne til they arrived. I wasn't happy about it but didn't think it would be too detrimental.
How wrong I was! The horses had literally finished it up the weekend of the dressage comp and were eating only grass and hard feed (Micrbeet, lucerne chaff, Equilibrium and for Jedi, some Gastrocoat). I added Hygain Ice to the mix with no ill-effects. Now he's really quite lazy and calm. The relief is unbelievable. I'm even looking forward to our next event now I feel less likely I'll be thrown off!
We have two new additions to Dragonwood now - call it a bit of a window shopping moment gone awry! I went out to look at a lovely-looking broodmare called Heidi, and somehow ended up with Heidi AND her yearling by Ballycastle Cruisin' called Pocket. He's just a bit cute:
It's also time to complete young Timmy's foundation training and back him. He's three now and I'm quite excited about his prospects. He's growing into a really super young pony with very uphill paces and a real presence about him. Everyone asks 'who's that?' when they come to visit. He'll be up for sale in a few months, especially after I take him to Alastair Mclean's clinic in November. That being said, he's so lovely to have around, I won't be in any hurry to sell him!
 |
| Timmy in the rain |
Then it's Canberra Horse Trials the first weekend of October, followed by Lynton - the NSW Eventing Champs two weeks later. This will be my first time competing at Lynton and I'm very keen to give it a redhot go.
All systems go for summer....bring it on!
Monday, 4 August 2014
I'm back!
Firstly, I apologise for my extreme slackness. It's what happens when you stop being so busy....you get slack about all the other balls you have up in the air. Well, that's my experience.
A little bit has been happening but in the freezing dark of a Canberra winter, it's really not as much as probably should be happening.
Firstly, the Sam Lyle clinic was a good confidence boost and has held us in good stead over the last couple of months of only intermittent riding and some motivation issues. Getting up to go riding in the dark has been a real struggle and sadly that has had quite a bit to do with Jedi.
Jedi had been getting increasingly tense and 'hot' over the past few months. I originally put it down to only riding on weekends, and I do think that has a little to do with it. However, he just seemed to be very stressed, weeing before rides, being difficult to catch and bucking and carrying on when we canter.
I thought it might be the ulcers settling and that has certainly been a noticeable improvement over the past three weeks. I've been feeding Gastrocoat (Kohnke's) and that seems to work well. No more kicking at his stomach and trying to eat all the time. Still a little humpy when I get on but getting better.
Julia from WOW came out to refit both saddles a week ago and commented that maybe I should stop feeding him Easiresult - it can make them a bit nutty. So, I quit feeding that, gave him Micrbeet instead and started on Equilibrium Blue to see if that might calm him down. I'm yet to see any improvement. :)
We had a really great Manu Mclean clinic a couple of weeks ago and it was quite a breakthrough. Straightness was pretty much the only thing we focused on and we tried a new technique Manu is teaching using the cheekpieces of the bridle as a guide. If you can see both cheekpieces, your horse is traveling straight. If one cheekpiece disappears you're heading for trouble and need to do an immediate indirect turn using the rein on the side you can't see the cheekpiece. So, can't see the right cheekpiece? Use your right rein to do a pretty sharp indirect turn. Keep going until the horse's head drops, he softens his body and 'gives' himself under you. Release and travel straight then ask for a bit more forward. It was working really beautifully in about 15 minutes.
Needless to say, it didn't stay that way. I find Manu lessons (or any lessons, now I think about it!) can be like going to the hairdresser. It doesn't work at home like it did in the salon!
But straightness got better. I only had three or four rides until the last comp - Harden Horse Trials last weekend. I think we didn't cement our straightness! Here's how it went down....
Warming up for dressage he was tense for the first 15-20 mins but gradually started to settle. He was coping pretty well with horses cantering past and was actually ok. A bit touchy, but ok. Certainly better than both Berrima and Wallaby Hill. And we hadn't been out amongst other horses for a while so I was pretty happy.
He was really crooked when he was tense but I did a lot of indirect turns a la Manu and he got straighter and more relaxed. Bingo, I thought. Computer says no....
It turns out the Harden officials had kicked off the Prelim showjumping in the arena right next to the remaining Prelim dressage. Like, 10 metres from the dressage arena was jump one. With the cantering and jumping and rails flying and heads tossing....Jedi saw this from a while away and I felt him start to get stressed again. My heart sank. And of course, just as we were walking down the long side to go in the horse in the jumping arena took out the entirety of jump one, right next to us. Jedi's little mind exploded and we just never got back on track.
Needless to say, our average mark was a 4. Probably the worse test I've ever done. He never settled from start to finish and threw in some completely awesome bucks just for effect. I was so disappointed and angry at the end. I just can't seem to nail this dressage thing, and especially as he had started doing some really nice work at home.
Ah, well, on to phase two, which is normally my alltime nightmare phase given how scared I am of showjumping. However, after such an awful dressage, the pressure was off, really. And I've started trusting Jedi to always jump, especially in showjumping. I concentrated hard on leaving him alone, keeping my hands elastic and up, sitting tall (Ben Netterfield) and letting him land and take a stride before steadying him (Sam Lyle).
Worked pretty well, though he was still a bit of a nutcase from the dressage. We had two rails down, both in the double to single related line. He hasn't really got the hang of related lines, yet, and tends to get a bit rattled by seeing the jump after the one in front of him. He gets flat and drops the first element (or two!) but clears the last. More practice required!
We were in last place though I didn't confirm this til the following day when a mate laughingly told me I had claimed the wooden spoon from her. Well, at least we perform a charitable service to other riders!
Cross country had walked interestingly. It was a funny course (as Harden really is), with a lot of twists, turns and drops, and the course designer has been a bit dodgy and simply not flagged combination elements that we really did have to jump if we were to be safe and training our horses correctly. Jump 8A-B was a pop up a little bank, over a rolltop and then down off a little drop less than a stride away. Didn't flag the drop so it was technically a double. Jump 10A-B was a post and rail which led straight to a big drop (at least Pre-Nov) two strides away, but they'd flagged the drop to the right of that (smaller) so you needed to angle 10A quite considerably to get a good line to the drop. Then a wrench around while traveling downhill to 11, a sizeable and spooky 'blackboard'. A bit of a challenge!
Even funnier were the two waters. The first was a little jump in, two strides and up over a little jump out (not flagged for Prelim but part of the course for the lower grades), then a few strides over the B element. Really a treble....The second water was quite technical for Prelim, I thought. A was barrels, two-three strides to a rolltop down into the water (B), through the water and out over a rolltop (C) and then only two strides away in a straight line was the Pre-Nov D element, a bigger rolltop. No way was I pulling Jedi off that - he already had to unlearn that when I did that to him at Sam Lyle's clinic. So, we jumped all four.
The going was pretty good, though I was worried about the mud on the very steep landings and the quick turns we'd need to pull off. I filed 3 'cleats' into each front hoof starting just at the base of the bars and working forward to end just on the widest part of his hooves. Worked a treat. No slipping at all, and there were some horses that fell right over. Go barefoot!!
The course was demanding for both of us - fitness is something I definitely need to work on! Jedi appeared quite fit enough, despite no fitness work (I DO love that about TBs), but he was really challenged by a lot of the jumping. Lots of things he hadn't seen before and not much time to process it. The jumps come thick and fast with no real stretches of easy galloping in between. It was hard work but he really jumped his heart out and we got around clear, though with quite a bit of time. I was happy with that for our first Prelim.
So, that was Harden. An exhausting weekend but great to get that first step up a grade under our belts. I'm going to take him to some dressage comps over the coming weeks just to give him more exposure to comps without the adrenaline of jumping too. No doubt it won't be pretty!! And I'll keep you posted :)
A little bit has been happening but in the freezing dark of a Canberra winter, it's really not as much as probably should be happening.
Firstly, the Sam Lyle clinic was a good confidence boost and has held us in good stead over the last couple of months of only intermittent riding and some motivation issues. Getting up to go riding in the dark has been a real struggle and sadly that has had quite a bit to do with Jedi.
Jedi had been getting increasingly tense and 'hot' over the past few months. I originally put it down to only riding on weekends, and I do think that has a little to do with it. However, he just seemed to be very stressed, weeing before rides, being difficult to catch and bucking and carrying on when we canter.
I thought it might be the ulcers settling and that has certainly been a noticeable improvement over the past three weeks. I've been feeding Gastrocoat (Kohnke's) and that seems to work well. No more kicking at his stomach and trying to eat all the time. Still a little humpy when I get on but getting better.
Julia from WOW came out to refit both saddles a week ago and commented that maybe I should stop feeding him Easiresult - it can make them a bit nutty. So, I quit feeding that, gave him Micrbeet instead and started on Equilibrium Blue to see if that might calm him down. I'm yet to see any improvement. :)
We had a really great Manu Mclean clinic a couple of weeks ago and it was quite a breakthrough. Straightness was pretty much the only thing we focused on and we tried a new technique Manu is teaching using the cheekpieces of the bridle as a guide. If you can see both cheekpieces, your horse is traveling straight. If one cheekpiece disappears you're heading for trouble and need to do an immediate indirect turn using the rein on the side you can't see the cheekpiece. So, can't see the right cheekpiece? Use your right rein to do a pretty sharp indirect turn. Keep going until the horse's head drops, he softens his body and 'gives' himself under you. Release and travel straight then ask for a bit more forward. It was working really beautifully in about 15 minutes.
Needless to say, it didn't stay that way. I find Manu lessons (or any lessons, now I think about it!) can be like going to the hairdresser. It doesn't work at home like it did in the salon!
But straightness got better. I only had three or four rides until the last comp - Harden Horse Trials last weekend. I think we didn't cement our straightness! Here's how it went down....
Warming up for dressage he was tense for the first 15-20 mins but gradually started to settle. He was coping pretty well with horses cantering past and was actually ok. A bit touchy, but ok. Certainly better than both Berrima and Wallaby Hill. And we hadn't been out amongst other horses for a while so I was pretty happy.
He was really crooked when he was tense but I did a lot of indirect turns a la Manu and he got straighter and more relaxed. Bingo, I thought. Computer says no....
It turns out the Harden officials had kicked off the Prelim showjumping in the arena right next to the remaining Prelim dressage. Like, 10 metres from the dressage arena was jump one. With the cantering and jumping and rails flying and heads tossing....Jedi saw this from a while away and I felt him start to get stressed again. My heart sank. And of course, just as we were walking down the long side to go in the horse in the jumping arena took out the entirety of jump one, right next to us. Jedi's little mind exploded and we just never got back on track.
Needless to say, our average mark was a 4. Probably the worse test I've ever done. He never settled from start to finish and threw in some completely awesome bucks just for effect. I was so disappointed and angry at the end. I just can't seem to nail this dressage thing, and especially as he had started doing some really nice work at home.
Ah, well, on to phase two, which is normally my alltime nightmare phase given how scared I am of showjumping. However, after such an awful dressage, the pressure was off, really. And I've started trusting Jedi to always jump, especially in showjumping. I concentrated hard on leaving him alone, keeping my hands elastic and up, sitting tall (Ben Netterfield) and letting him land and take a stride before steadying him (Sam Lyle).
Worked pretty well, though he was still a bit of a nutcase from the dressage. We had two rails down, both in the double to single related line. He hasn't really got the hang of related lines, yet, and tends to get a bit rattled by seeing the jump after the one in front of him. He gets flat and drops the first element (or two!) but clears the last. More practice required!
We were in last place though I didn't confirm this til the following day when a mate laughingly told me I had claimed the wooden spoon from her. Well, at least we perform a charitable service to other riders!
Cross country had walked interestingly. It was a funny course (as Harden really is), with a lot of twists, turns and drops, and the course designer has been a bit dodgy and simply not flagged combination elements that we really did have to jump if we were to be safe and training our horses correctly. Jump 8A-B was a pop up a little bank, over a rolltop and then down off a little drop less than a stride away. Didn't flag the drop so it was technically a double. Jump 10A-B was a post and rail which led straight to a big drop (at least Pre-Nov) two strides away, but they'd flagged the drop to the right of that (smaller) so you needed to angle 10A quite considerably to get a good line to the drop. Then a wrench around while traveling downhill to 11, a sizeable and spooky 'blackboard'. A bit of a challenge!
Even funnier were the two waters. The first was a little jump in, two strides and up over a little jump out (not flagged for Prelim but part of the course for the lower grades), then a few strides over the B element. Really a treble....The second water was quite technical for Prelim, I thought. A was barrels, two-three strides to a rolltop down into the water (B), through the water and out over a rolltop (C) and then only two strides away in a straight line was the Pre-Nov D element, a bigger rolltop. No way was I pulling Jedi off that - he already had to unlearn that when I did that to him at Sam Lyle's clinic. So, we jumped all four.
The going was pretty good, though I was worried about the mud on the very steep landings and the quick turns we'd need to pull off. I filed 3 'cleats' into each front hoof starting just at the base of the bars and working forward to end just on the widest part of his hooves. Worked a treat. No slipping at all, and there were some horses that fell right over. Go barefoot!!
The course was demanding for both of us - fitness is something I definitely need to work on! Jedi appeared quite fit enough, despite no fitness work (I DO love that about TBs), but he was really challenged by a lot of the jumping. Lots of things he hadn't seen before and not much time to process it. The jumps come thick and fast with no real stretches of easy galloping in between. It was hard work but he really jumped his heart out and we got around clear, though with quite a bit of time. I was happy with that for our first Prelim.
So, that was Harden. An exhausting weekend but great to get that first step up a grade under our belts. I'm going to take him to some dressage comps over the coming weeks just to give him more exposure to comps without the adrenaline of jumping too. No doubt it won't be pretty!! And I'll keep you posted :)
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Sam Lyle Clinic, among other things
Time has taken off again and suddenly it's weeks since I last posted! Jedi and I were lucky enough to do the jumping clinic Sam Lyle ran with the National Capital Horse Trials Association at Equestrian Park the weekend before last (lucky because the weather has seriously turned since then!). We went with the Prelim group and ended up jumping Pre-Novice half the time! Big weekend.....
Showjumping on Saturday was really interesting. Jedi felt a bit off on the sand and he normally is like this for the first ten minutes or so. I think his soles are still quite sensitive and the sand is uncomfortable. He was also quite stressed and pig-rooted heaps. Not to mention being a complete tool coming up to the jumps - chucking his head up and getting stressed out!
Several problems were identified - a major one by Sam and two smaller ones by me. Firstly, I have a tendency (from Tux no doubt) to grab at Jedi's mouth straight after we land, rather than letting him travel on a couple of strides before getting him back together. As soon as I quit doing that, he settled heaps coming in to the jumps.
After Heidi the Vet Chiro (that always sounds like a Chiro for Vets to me!) had suggested ulcers, I have been keeping an eye on him for symptoms. This was the day that made me positive he has them. For starters, going out anywhere is stressful for any horse, no matter how quiet. Jedi copes well when we go out but he's a naturally stressy guy so this was no exception. He started humping and pig-rooting even while I was walking him around before I got on! Not a good sign. It got no better once I got on board! Then he was kicking at his tummy, doing very loose poo, wanting to eat grass (which he never does) and generally being grumpy.
But did he stop jumping? Hell no! That horse seems to really enjoy it....
The other thing that has come to light, which may also explain his lameness of a few weeks ago, is a nasty case of thrush in his near fore. His frog is quite manky and clearly sore, with a big crack up the middle that goes up between his heels. Kirsten the Wonder Trimmer put some cool powder in and I'll be treating it for the next few weeks with the same stuff. Will get details of the powder when I see Kirsten again.
We were jumping at least a metre so it was still a pretty awesome day.
Cross country day was even better. He was grumpy but a lot more chilled out and forward. And jumped really well! We had two issues and both were minor. Having never jumped an apex in his life before (well, maybe a small one!) and me having jumped very few of them, we had a couple of issues getting over the Pre-Novice apex. My problem was taking too shallow a line and giving him a big door to duck out of, and his was simply not understanding how to jump the angle. We got it after just slowing it all down and giving him more time to see it.
The other issue was the ditch - two strides- rolltop. We got the ditch (the smaller one), no worries, and the rolltop was obviously no problem for him. But the ditch got 50% bigger and he did an enormous jump over it so I lost all my knitting and pulled him out of the rolltop. Stupidly. Then he just thought that was what I wanted! Took a few goes but we got there.
Great day and a big confidence booster for both of us!
Poor Timmy the Connie/TB has had the worst abscess I've seen in ages. After 10 days of increasing lameness, including 2 days on 3 legs, it finally burst through the coronet band (SO stinky!) and has been oozing for the past 48 hours. He's still a little lame but I've been phlegmon-ing the hole and it seems to be draining well. Poor little dude.
Lots of good stuff coming up. A little unofficial dressage day that I'm taking both Rose and Jedi too. The Berrima XC/SJ day the weekend after next for me and Jedi to fang around a bit of Prelim before Harden in August. Very exciting! And I've finished my degree so I have lots more headspace to think about horses!!! And get my stables finished and some kind of arena sorted. Lots to do :)
Showjumping on Saturday was really interesting. Jedi felt a bit off on the sand and he normally is like this for the first ten minutes or so. I think his soles are still quite sensitive and the sand is uncomfortable. He was also quite stressed and pig-rooted heaps. Not to mention being a complete tool coming up to the jumps - chucking his head up and getting stressed out!
Several problems were identified - a major one by Sam and two smaller ones by me. Firstly, I have a tendency (from Tux no doubt) to grab at Jedi's mouth straight after we land, rather than letting him travel on a couple of strides before getting him back together. As soon as I quit doing that, he settled heaps coming in to the jumps.
After Heidi the Vet Chiro (that always sounds like a Chiro for Vets to me!) had suggested ulcers, I have been keeping an eye on him for symptoms. This was the day that made me positive he has them. For starters, going out anywhere is stressful for any horse, no matter how quiet. Jedi copes well when we go out but he's a naturally stressy guy so this was no exception. He started humping and pig-rooting even while I was walking him around before I got on! Not a good sign. It got no better once I got on board! Then he was kicking at his tummy, doing very loose poo, wanting to eat grass (which he never does) and generally being grumpy.
But did he stop jumping? Hell no! That horse seems to really enjoy it....
The other thing that has come to light, which may also explain his lameness of a few weeks ago, is a nasty case of thrush in his near fore. His frog is quite manky and clearly sore, with a big crack up the middle that goes up between his heels. Kirsten the Wonder Trimmer put some cool powder in and I'll be treating it for the next few weeks with the same stuff. Will get details of the powder when I see Kirsten again.
We were jumping at least a metre so it was still a pretty awesome day.
Cross country day was even better. He was grumpy but a lot more chilled out and forward. And jumped really well! We had two issues and both were minor. Having never jumped an apex in his life before (well, maybe a small one!) and me having jumped very few of them, we had a couple of issues getting over the Pre-Novice apex. My problem was taking too shallow a line and giving him a big door to duck out of, and his was simply not understanding how to jump the angle. We got it after just slowing it all down and giving him more time to see it.
The other issue was the ditch - two strides- rolltop. We got the ditch (the smaller one), no worries, and the rolltop was obviously no problem for him. But the ditch got 50% bigger and he did an enormous jump over it so I lost all my knitting and pulled him out of the rolltop. Stupidly. Then he just thought that was what I wanted! Took a few goes but we got there.
Great day and a big confidence booster for both of us!
Poor Timmy the Connie/TB has had the worst abscess I've seen in ages. After 10 days of increasing lameness, including 2 days on 3 legs, it finally burst through the coronet band (SO stinky!) and has been oozing for the past 48 hours. He's still a little lame but I've been phlegmon-ing the hole and it seems to be draining well. Poor little dude.
Lots of good stuff coming up. A little unofficial dressage day that I'm taking both Rose and Jedi too. The Berrima XC/SJ day the weekend after next for me and Jedi to fang around a bit of Prelim before Harden in August. Very exciting! And I've finished my degree so I have lots more headspace to think about horses!!! And get my stables finished and some kind of arena sorted. Lots to do :)
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