keep on keeping on!

So, after riding my baby dezi girl this morning (was hoping she'd be a better morning ride than Tori usually is; not that i can blame her, i'm stiff & cranky in the morning too ya know), I've officially decided upon a plan for the next few weeks.

On June 15th, Dezi will be attending and participating in her very first under saddle dressage schooling show, and we will be riding Intro Test A.

The things we need to work on:

• choosing a saddle & sticking with it until after the show
• working on my balance in the saddle (its very difficult to balance on a downhill slope)
• circle & corner bending
• straightness
• halting (girlfriend does great up & down transitions; just not ones that involve the full stoppage of the body)
• i need to memorize the test (my current attempt is failing miserably, my brain is not firing on all cylinders at this time)

After the not so heavenly waters...

Idk what the hell happened at this show between this year & last year. But I am seriously disappointed in the lack of ring maintenance that has directly caused my mare's lameness to flare up.

Tori was perfectly perfect in our 2-2 class the day before... But we were robbed on the score. Bitch gave me 4's on my simple changes & said I didn't walk. The hell I did. I surely didn't do any flying lead changes... Because we certainly don't do that on command yet (and with that being said, it's much more explosive than normal movements she does). She also didn't trot. We performed a canter-walk step-canter, but because there can technically be 1-3 steps of walk, so because she didn't take 3 steps of walk, I received a 4... On both of them. There were a couple other things she said but didn't make sense... Like that Tori wasn't submissive and she was the most submissive she's ever been at a show! Friggen sucks. OH! and because i was crooked in my lateral movements, means that my position must be crooked for the whole test, and i received a 5 on that. :c talk about being totally destroyed.

We get no recognition for a well done performance. But I know my mare was the best she's ever been & I love her for it! Even if I only do schooling shows with her for the rest of forever, it's okay because I still have her & I can still ride her (when she's not in pain).

Looks like I'm going to be focusing on my next chapter... Dezdemona, my happy, wonderful, desperately trying to be uphill, 3-yr-old child prodigy.

preparations...

So. Memorial Day Weekend is upon us! last ditch efforts to prepare are under way... already have my preliminary ride times for Heavenly Waters... all late afternoon rides. Saturday: 3 & 4pm-ish • Sunday: 4 & 5pm-ish. (on a side note: it's very interesting how you ask for ride times before noon on sunday & you get 4 & 5pm. what. the. fuck.) looks like i'm not getting home til at least 11pm

AWESOME

so, keeping on with keeping on. Plans to show Dezi under saddle for the first time are panning themselves out quite nicely. I have ridden her 9 times total so far. and she's very easy going. rides in company or by herself. trots around the indoor. does 20m circles. trots around the outdoor, doesn't give a crap. lunges w/t/c both directions, no problem. listens carefully, responds kind of slower than what i would like, but she processes slower i think. because she does do what i want. her timing just needs to be faster. and for not being quite 3 yet, we're doing pretty well i think. she's better at listening to your seat than her mother is (thank god). and she has a natural up-hill tendency even though at present she's built down hill. so both she & i are desperately waiting for her body to grow in the front end... she's about 15.2hh now. and it's kinda like watching grass grow. cute, fuzzy brown grass...

On the aids... or lack there of.

Went to my first recognized show of the year with her redness. Won the warm-up! Drowned miserably in the actual arena (figuratively & actually; we had torrential down pours the day before, so the show grounds were swamped).

I had my trainer coaching me in the warm-up, of course, and I was finally starting to get my act together.

[side note: mare has feet problems, farrier just tacked on new shoes two days prior, mare is 90% sound; previously she was about 75%]

Tori's not used to her feet not hurting, she doesn't know how to trust that there probably won't be anymore pain, and she especially doesn't trust me when she can't trust the footing she's moving around on. So, she shuts me down & goes around like a flaming retard, head straight up in the air & is more likely to damage herself than get anything productive done.

Long story short: horse is not obedient to the aids; the judge put it very nicely and said "horse replaces engagement with speed". Probably had the land-speed record for Second Level - Test 2.

So I've been brooding over this... trying to figure out what I can do, what concepts or books can I revisit, so I can continue to correct this problem under the careful guidance of my trainer. One of my favorite books to revisit is "Riding Logic" by Wilhelm Museler.

[Excerpt from the book...]

A horse is obeying the aids completely if:

• It is totally relaxed. There must be no tension or stiffness at all in the jawbones, poll, lower jaw, neck, back or legs. This applies to joints and muscles.
• It is attentive to the rider's legs, back, reins and moves in equilibrium. This means in effect that the complete moving mechanism of the horse is willingly subjected to its rider's commands. This is only possible if the horse understands the influences of the legs, hands, weight and back and will willingly carry out what those components say to it.

Teaching a horse the aids does not mean:

• That it has to adopt a particular position or carriage.
• That it already understands all the aids that are made up by the various influences.

The rider must:

• Sit, at all times, calmly and with suppleness in the deepest part of the saddle. He must not lurch about in the saddle at every stride, nor should an onlooker hear or see him slapping back into the saddle.
• Keep arms and hands still. He must not work his hands and arms at every stride. His rein contact must be constant. The reins must not hang slackly, or be slack at one moment and strongly applied the next. Nor must the rider saw with the reins to keep contact with the horse's mouth or to keep the horse mouthing the bit.
• Keep his legs still and in constant contact with the horse: they can thus influence if required without the rider changing his position. It is permissible to make a slight movement of the knee, which may need to be bent or straightened ever so slightly.

The horse must:

• Take calm, even, but energetic steps.
• When going forward, be perfectly straight with both ears at the same height; at corners and when turning it must give the appearance of bending of its own volition towards the inside. Stiffness will manifest itself if the horse's head is turned to the outside.
• Mouth the bit calmly and steadily all the time without it being audible. It must not try to spit the bit out, grind it or play with it with its tongue. It should not get its tongue over the bit, let it hang out or make foam.
• Keep head and neck still. It should not shake its head, even at a change of pace or halt or when trotting on from rest, nor stretch it forward or upward or lower to its chest. The neck should form an even, curved line.
• Carry the tail quietly with no twitching or swishing.

From all of that I can gladly say that Tori does carry her tail quietly! ... everything else however... she does not do. >.> BACK to BASICS. always basics... Oh, and I also am not very still... need to learn to be still.

... and it continues

I'm obviously not very good at keeping a journal... (last entry was december 2011? lol).

So enjoy a recap of the last 15 months!

March 2012

Fix-a-test with Debbie Morrison (very productive experience)

May 2012
First rated competition with Tori since October 2007! We went to Heavenly Waters for Memorial Day Weekend. Best. Show. EVER. Everyone was so nice, I was able to warm-up my horse & not get run down, we camped out and had so much fun! In our first time showing Second Level - Test 2 we acquired our highest score as a pair, earning a 63% and qualifying for the CBLM Championships in Lexington, VA!

June 2012

A few weeks after MDW Tori went lame... again. this time from pedal osteitis (inflammation of the pedal bone [coffin bone])

Rode Dezi for the first time. She took me for a 5-minute pony ride & it was awesome!

October 2012

Participated in our first ever CBLM Championship! Total score of 59%. Judge at C gave us a 57% & Judge at B gave us a 61%. It was a good weekend.

December 2012

Went to Jeannie McDonald's farm for a clinic with Jane Weatherwax! Best clinic lesson yet! I actually felt for the first time, that a clinic went well and I actually accomplished something.

March 2013

Rode in a 2-day clinic with Dr. Jenny Susser, the sports psychologist for the US Olympic Equestrian Team. It was a very emotional experience. I have to stop beating myself up ALL the time. Give credit where credit is due. Also, not be so serious about my riding all the time. I need to relax and enjoy it more.

April 2013 to Present!
I have started riding Dezi more. at least twice a week. We lunge both directions in side reins. She's so stinkin' smart; while it takes her a few moments to figure things out, she does so in the most earnest & pure way. We've trotted under saddle at least twice now and she's great. I can adjust my stirrups without assistance from her back. I treat her like a grown horse because I expect her to act like a grown horse and she doesn't disappoint (at least under saddle). In hand she has an evil twin that shows up periodically (damn her being a gemini).