PFEC Hunter/Jumper Show

I've been trying for a week to put videos up from our show last weekend, but Blogger is not cooperating.  I uploaded them to Youtube which makes Blogger happier, but not me. 

I was at an Equine Assisted Psychotherapy training in Helena, Montana for work Wed-Sat, got home late Sat. night, and at the last minute decided to get up and take my unridden, unbathed horse to the show Sunday morning.  He was, um, energetic that morning but it turned out we had hours before our first class, so we warmed up.  A lot.  Did canter (er... gallop) figure 8's in the field, rode in the indoor, rode around the grounds, repeat.  When it was getting time for our first class, sweaty, legs and belly covered in dirt and sand, manure stains all down the backs of his legs, we quietly walked past all the shiny horses in their gleaming tack and went back to the trailer for damage control.

I had a hard time deciding what I was going to do, but in the end entered the 2'6 division with no warmup.  I figured at events you don't get a warm up, you just go in for your one stadium course and that's it.  He was really, really good.  Once he has something to focus on he's golden.  Everything that goes wrong in these rounds is pilot error.  We really need to start working on flying changes.

 2'6 Hunters

The first round felt like the last stride was short in almost every line.  I decided to play around with it and see if we could do some of the lines in 4 instead of 5.  It was fun and he made it easy.  The judge was NOT impressed... but I was. :)

 

2'6 Hunters II

The only other class at 2'6 was a jumper class.  I am not ready to start pushing him for time and tight turns, so we rode it relaxed.  Maybe too relaxed at first, he almost forgot to jump the first jump.

 

 2'6 Jumpers

Thanks to Marissa Carlson for videoing!

First time at 3'

Yves Sauvignon Jumping Clinic

 Roxie and Jasper in their big kid clothes.

Serena and Roxie picked us up Saturday morning and we drove 3 hours to Tulip Springs Eventing Facility in the Tri Cities.  Normally I am not a fan of the Tri Cities.  Spokane is on the east end of Washington State and is forresty and surrounded by mountains, lakes, and rivers.  Seattle is on the other side.  In between is a giant desert waste land, boring as hell to drive through, which is where the Tri Cities are.

However it's spring here in the Pacific Northwest. We had record amounts of rainfall last month and lots of flooding.  Everything is mud and days have been drizzly.  Picture two days in a beautiful eventing facility, 70*, sunny, dry ground, irrigated grass... I got an awesome sexy sunburn on my arms between the sleeves of my polo and my gloves.  The weather was perfect, the people were friendly, the horses were gorgeous.  Serena and I would be like whoa, that's a REALLY nice horse.  Must not be in our group.  Hahaha. 

Jasper was a really good boy throughout except when he pulled back and broke a metal tie ring off Serena's trailer.  And ran back to his paddock.

I thought Yves was a fantastic clinician and would recommend him to anyone.  He didn't have a single negative thing to say all weekend, yet was able to get riders out of their comfort zones and doing things they didn't think they could do.   He really liked Jasper and said he would take him home to his barn.  He said he's athletic, ratable, and has a tidy jump.  Serena heard him say he thought he could go far.  I had a few lightbulb moments about waiting before the  jump (I need a scarecrow in the middle of the arena with a recording that plays, "wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait"), and what keeping leg on before a jump actually means.

 

We begged people to video us.  Unfortunately the girl that was taping the second half of the XC didn't know how to use the camera? because none of it got recorded. :(  However, Jasper did his first Trakehner!  It just had a shallow little ditch but was Novice level and he didn't give it a second look.

One of my friends watched the video on facebook and and commented that Jasper looks "broke".  Someone else commented on how it looks like I'm not hanging on for dear life anymore.  It made me realize that for the first time I'm not questioning IF he's going to jump or not, and then frantically grabbing mane as he launches himself 2 or 3 feet higher than the top of the jump.  I'm now assuming he's going over and am able to wait for him to figure out his distances and let him jump. 

It also made me realize I really don't see distances, even at a nice even pace.  Jasper's going to have to figure that out.  I'm just going to get him into a good even canter, sit and WAIT, and let him adjust his stride accordingly.  In the end, according to Yves, I will have a much better horse.

Icebreaker H/J schooling show

Roxie giving Serena the eye, Jasper standing still for a few seconds.

Jasper got a blue ribbon in a HUNTER class! It was fantastic, he just... flowed. To be honest, just getting around the course was an achievement in itself. The arena is large and industrial and scary, the jumps were decorated and horse-eating. The first two riders fell off in our blue ribbon winning class (at the same fence) and there were quite a few refusals after that.

Jasper jumped every single jump every time I asked. The first jumper round was not pretty. We swerved here and there and ended up trotting into most of them. The second round we knocked over a standard. He was acting green, not naughty. I had absolutely no doubt he would be cantering the courses by the end of the day. And once he settled in and figured out what was going on, and after I quit holding him back and just let him go his own pace, things started to click. We had 3 fantastic classes. The Gambler's Choice class (I think we got 3rd), the 2'6 eq class (2nd), and a hunter class (1st!).

I quit trying to do simple changes each time he landed on the wrong lead. It was chopping everything up and throwing off the rhythm. I decided to just let him canter on and address the changes at another time.



I forgot where I was going and started circling the wrong way. I mean, I meant to.

It was really fun to have Serena and Roxie there, they rocked it. Serena's boyfriend Matt did the video-ing, thanks Matt!

Serena and I are getting ready to take Jasper and Roxie to Tulip Springs Eventing facility down in Kennewick this weekend for a clinic with Yves Sauvignon (sp?). Stadium on Sat. and cross country on Sun.

We're going to a clinic!

Hellloooooooo spring.

I just sent my entry in for the Yves Sauvignon clinic! It's at Tulip Springs eventing facility, about 2.5 hours southwest of here, Saturday and Sunday April 14-15, showjumping Sat. and Cross Country on Sun. I'm a little concerned that there's only 3 weeks to get ready, fitness wise Jasper really isn't in shape yet. And of course the day after I send my entry in I get sick, so I'm now in bed thinking that I'm losing even more time. And it snowed last night and stuck. Helllooooo, spring! It's a good thing he's a young Thoroughbred that has a huge paddock and tends to run around a lot. I figure we'll go and do what we can do. The nice thing about clinics is there are a bunch of riders so the horses get a rest period between jumps.

And the best part? We're going with Serena and Roxie! Woooooot!

Serena loaned me this saddle to try and it seems to fit him quite well. It's a wide tree. The balance isn't bad either, I don't feel like I'm in chair seat like I do with a lot of jumping saddles. I have to say, though, it feels like riding on a postage stamp jockey saddle. I love squishy knee pads and thigh blocks. This has none of those. I think it looks quite elegant... it will make me a better rider, right? If I can stay in it that is.

Words of Wofford

Serena and I audited a Jimmy Wofford clinic today. She kept everyone up to date on Facebook throughout the day, but if you're not "friends" with her here's the scoop:

JIMMY WOFFORD DROVE MEGAN AND I AROUND IN A 4-WHEELER! :D PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF!

Wofford:

"If you get left behind jumping up a bank, your horse will HATE you!"

"You should know where your horse is going to land before he takes off."

"Horses don't WANT to jump badly! They jump badly because of US! Ever seen a horse get loose in a steeplechase? It jumps like a BIRD!"

"Close your knee angle as you approach the jump. Don't sit BACK as you approach. Most trainers teach that you sit back, but they're wrong and I'm right."

‎"I don't teach beginners. Mostly because my nerves are shot."

"I was riding in a warm-up ring with Bill Steinkraus--you know, the greatest rider America has ever produced? That Bill Steinkraus?--and I asked him, on average, how many fences on a course of ten does he get to accurately. He thought about it and said "Seven." I said "Oh." But I was THINKING: "Oh. What does that say about ME?!"

"You are not nervous. I will TELL YOU when to be nervous."

"I want to get to know your horse. It's your job to sit down, shut up, stay out of your horse's way, don't fall off, and don't refuse."

"We're going to do canter exercises! All you have to do is CANTER!"

"Oh, he was doing that last year? Then you should have fixed it!"

"Any rider can be accurate! You think Anne Kursinski got where she is because she always had great horses? NO. When I first met her, she was 17 years old and jumping spotted mules for Jimmy Williams!"

"You, on the grey. Ride over here and have someone pull your spurs off. We have lots of problems to work on today--creating energy is NOT one of them."

"Wait, wait, wait. Why is everyone talking? There is only ONE clinician out here!"

"It's a steady five. Just let your horse go. He's 19 years old and he survived a 2-star--he DOESN'T NEED YOU telling him what to do."

"What went wrong there? You were supposed to go 'one-two-three-four-five!' You went 'one-two-three-OHSHIT!"

"Generally speaking, I wouldn't encourage you to slow down in order to speed up."

"Your heel slid back, along his ribs! Did you feel that? Well, DON'T!"

"Oh! Hit her! HIT HER! She's a BAD girl! Aaaaaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!"

:)

First Barefoot Trim

Jasper had his first 'barefoot' trim yesterday. The farrier was adamant about not taking any frog off, which was fine with me. I'm always worried they're going to take too much hoof off in general and leave him sore. He said there is no white line separation, and that his feet look like they're in good shape, especially for a thoroughbred. He has a little bit of flare on the outsides. He didn't seem sore at all today, even with all the dampness and muck and mud, which I'm really happy about. I'd love input from any 'hoof people' out there- how do they look? Is this guy worth having back?

right front

left front

It's been twelve days since the vet came out to look at Jasper's right front knee. He still has some swelling, but it's localized to the front. The vet said that by this point it's cosmetic, and if I wanted him to come and drain it he could. I passed... no thanks. He did say that if he's off or even just stiff I should have him come back. Yesterday Jasper got his paddock back. It was very, very, very exciting. He's had three of four PentAussie (Pentosan) injections, one more to go and he'll be good for six months.

Here he is today. I took so many clips waiting for him to trot, he just doesn't trot. Walk to canter. Canter to walk. This was as good as I can get, but I think he looks completely sound...?