I feel we were a little overfaced and a little under prepared.
Dressage went really well. We had great luck in the timing of our ride- the judge took a lunch break and let the next 2 horses come up and school in the main arena, so we trotted up and down and up and down the outside of the plastic dressage arena and got used to the sand hitting it and the scary pylons. He put in a very nice test and we were in first place with a 30.8.
All photos by Gerald Morse.
Some of the xc jumps looked HUGE! This one had big rocks in front of it, so you had to choose to jump the rocks and the log or try to maneuver exactly between the rocks to get in a little bit closer. I chose to go between the rocks and it worked out well.
There was a long, steep downhill to the water pond. In Novice you had to jump over a small log into it, and I was not sure that was going to be a positive experience. I chose to bypass our jump, run through the water (which he balked at heavily but did hesitantly go in), out the other side, run back through, and then try the jump. It worked brilliantly in that he had no problem jumping the log, but we picked up huge amounts of time faults. Enough to take us from first to last. I'm still completely happy with my plan, though. I'd much, much rather have time faults than refusals and end up with a happy, confident horse.
The other jump we had trouble on was a vertical log jump, then 2 strides to another one. He's never seen such a short combo on XC and tried to dive out of the second one. A strong left rein and he went over it, but hit it so hard with his hoof it left permanent marks. Zoiks.
I was most intimidated by the showjumping phase, and SERIOUSLY got jumped out of the tack 3 or 4 times. It felt like he was trying to jump the moon. I decided that he was probably jumping so hard because he was nervous, which is what makes me think we just weren't quite ready for this height.
This is my new favorite picture. I got an 8x10 and am going to frame it and hang it on the wall. My horse jumped clean in both XC and stadium, and tried his heart out. What more can you ask for?
OK, so my intention was to walk the cross country course and take pics of all the jumps. Apparently I got caught up in the moment because even though I walked it THREE times I didn't get pictures of all of them. Including #1.
First Novice course ever:
#1: Uphill to a big ramp. Not pictured.
Uphill to #2: Inviting Triple Bar
Around a sharp corner to #3: Brushy Vertical
Down a steep hill to #4: Deary Ditch
Up a hill to the GIGANTIC #5: Sneeky Slats
Gradual uphill to scary #6: Rock Wall
Down down down a hill and around a corner to #7: Picnic Table
Another pic of #7 because it's the biggest thing we've jumped. Ever.
Land downhill and take a sharp left to get through #8: Compulsory Passage
Up a big hill then (you can't tell from the pic) down a long steep hill to the log into the water. I didn't get a close up shot because I was too worried about it to take one.
Through the water, then a sharp left to #10: Log
#11 was a big coop set up in the warm up arena.
#12 Betty's Bank Up
#13 was a down bank into the main arena.
#14 A and B were two log verticals two strides apart.
I was worried about these and it turns out for good reason.
#15 was a rail road tie jump
#16 was a nice big ramp of logs that we hit perfectly in stride to end the course.
More to come when I get some pics and video of the showjumping round. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...
I went straight from work to the barn on Friday, soon to be picked up my friend Morgan and her huge fancy trailer. Huge as in she almost wasn't able to get turned around, thank god for goosenecks. We were headed to the Fran O'Reilly clinic at 100 Acre Wood Farm in Princeton, Idaho.
The further south you go in Idaho, the more rural it gets. After two hours you're in the middle of NOWHERE. I was seriously wondering who in their right mind would choose to live out there, I mean, why? The dirt road "driveway" was at least a couple of miles up a fairly good grade, and then we arrived. On the top of a mountain, on the top of the world. 360 degree views of mountains and forests. Beautiful sand dressage arena, rolling green hills with cross country jumps. A beautiful "off the grid" house insulated with straw bales, run by solar and wind power. Lunch on both days was a huge potluck in the kitchen. A bunkhouse (for free!) with a full bathroom.
The morning of day one was a group dressage lesson, a lot of what I learned in my last lesson with Jessica was reinforced. The afternoon was cross country, and everything went fantastic
until the giant 5 foot ditch. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. He stopped but it wasn't dirty, he was just like "what the F*** is THAT?" Fran informed all of us that a horse's stride is 12 feet so they can practically canter over it. (This was after the two horses before us absolutely refused to get anywhere near it for what seemed like hours.) Jasper did not believe her and jumped the hell out of that nasty thing.
On day two we signed up for dressage tests. We could ride any test we wanted any amount of times, and she judged them and we got the sheets back to look over before we tried again. I rode BN A twice and Novice B twice. Our scores basically sucked.
In the afternoon (in the hurricane winds) we got to pick our our own XC course, ride it, get some instruction, and re-ride any parts we wanted to. I asked Fran if she thought we were ready for the bank, and she said sure, just walk up it and drop off. What I meant was did she think we were ready to jump up AND down, and she said sure but if you decide to do it then you have to do it. The side nearest the spectators was 2'6. The back side was an uphill approach (or a downhill drop) so and was quite a bit taller. We warmed up, trotted up the ramp to the bank, and he barely hesitated before dropping off. Picked up a canter and leaped up the back side of the bank. I was expecting a halt, or at least a walk, or some sort of hesitation, but he pretty much launched off the other side. I don't know what I was doing besides flying through the air with no contact with saddle or horse, but in the video you can hear me scream a little. And I don't think I got organized or got my reins back... ever.
THEN in order to teach me a lesson about staying organized and getting my reins back she made us jump something after the bank. The first one was hard but it was a long ways away so we had some time to get it together. Still jumped the second jump badly. Oh, I need to keep leg on before all the jumps? Even when I forget?
The last run we jumped up the short side of the bank and down the BIG drop, then had NO time before a giant black skinny ramp-tiger-trap-ish jump. She told me if I couldn't get my reins back to make a big "V", which is what I tried to do, and did it badly. Jasper, somehow, at the last minute decided we were close enough to jump it and did. It was the second time he bailed me out this weekend. The first time was another skinny tall wooden thing up a pretty good hill. I got him in at a horrible distance (you can hear me say "uh oh!" in the video) and he went anyway.
I don't usually anthropomorphize or put human feelings on animals, but I swear Jasper was pretty pleased with himself after the bank jumping. I can't explain it, you could just tell that he knew he did something pretty great.
The only photos I have are stills from the video, but there was a gal there taking pictures. She's going to make CDs for everyone, I can't wait to get them!
We have a dressage/jumping clinic with Fran O 'Riley down in Princeton, Idaho on Saturday and a derby on Sunday. Fun! We're getting a ride with a friend and are leaving tomorrow straight after work. Ugh. Which means I was at the barn until 8:30 bathing horse and packing up horse stuff, (tack (not CLEAN tack, mind you!), grooming equipment, hay, buckets, feed, boots, first aid, extra halters, extra lead ropes, etc etc etc.) went to the grocery store, and am now home at 10 starting to pack people stuff. Camping two nights, riding clothes, sleeping clothes, clothes in case it gets hot, camping type food, coolers, toiletries, sleeping bag, etc etc etc. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and do something completely non-productive. Like writing this blog. Oh, I need to remember to charge the video camera. I should go plug that in. Right now. Hmm. I'm tired. Maybe if I go to bed now I can get up really early and finish packing.
Jessica and Welsh Cob stallion Cardi showing Jasper the ocean was not going to kill him back in 2010.
Photo by Carolynn Bunch
In 2010, when Jasper was 4 turning 5, I did a working student stint with Jessica Wisdom. I had seen her teach in clinics in Spokane and totally clicked with the way she taught, but couldn't afford to ride with her. I wanted to get Jasper's formal training off to a good start with correct basics. She needed a groom to go down to California with her and then a working student for a couple of months at her barn in Yelm, WA. Life circumstances allowed me to do this, and in exchange I got about 5 lessons a week on Jasper.
Two months of dressage lessons paid off when we went to Aspen Farms and won the dressage phase at our first 3-Day-Event. Since then I haven't had a dressage lesson. Actually I can count the number of lessons I've had on one hand. I decided it was time to get with it again, so when she came to town last month I rode with her.
I will not bore you to with the 45 minute video of our ride as watching dressage is kind of like watching paint dry. Here are some of the highlights:
"Bring the whole forehand to the center as a unit when circling. C-shaped from nose to tail."
"Keep thinking shoulder fore"
"Don't let him splat..."
"I'm looking for a weapon (crop)"
"The left rein is not sacrilege, you can use it but then let it go."
"Even on the straight you need that slight bit of bend of shoulder fore to keep him balanced and onto your outside rein."
"...coiling his power and expanding that trot a little bit."
"He doesn't use as much freedom as he has in his body. He trots for a "6" when I think he could trot for a "7" or an "8" now."
"Working from compression to lengthening. Everything feels right right now, could I power this up a little bit?"
"You post BIGGER. You post like he is FANCIER. POST!"
"Ride him fancier! Tap, tap, tap..."
"When you feel like he's pulling on your left rein is when he's not moving off your left leg sufficiently and you feel you have to upright him with your left rein."
"Just say, I'm not holding you any more pal and you're shit on your own bud."
"...as long as he is not behind the bit. If the poll is a little bit low it's not the end of the world it's just a little bit like stretchy circle. If that gives him more freedom over his back, which it may, then use that. Then bring the poll up."
"Pressure him. Make him step three inches bigger."
"When you get to the show ring the poll should be the highest point. That being said, put his fricking poll down and show lengthening. So it's a little lower than ideal but if you show lengthening that's going to be better than the poll staying up and him running like a chicken."
"Teach him that like a party trick."
"He's not built for a super spectacular extended trot. To a certain extent you're going to have to manufacture the mechanic, and then it will become natural to him. And then sell it to me... yeah, he totally did this all on his own, it's totally natural to him."
