Pony's first "big" show off property!

Yawn, I'm tired! Colin and I got up this morning at 4:45 to feed the horses, with the plan of being wheels-up at 6:00 a.m. to go to Pony's first "big" "away" show in mixed company (versus her first in-barn show a few weeks ago). Our morning routine went without a hitch and we got to the show grounds and parked at 6:30. I hand walked Princess Fancy Pants around the indoor and let her look at all the flowers and the judge's table before I went to tack her up for a 7:00 warm up. It was a cool, brisk morning, with frost on the ground. My feet and fingers were freezing!

We had a very uneventful warm up with just walking and trotting around the arena with new (horse) faces in the arena. We popped over a few jumps and called it. We were done by 7:20.

There was also an outdoor arena where people were warming up for the bigger classes, and then also jumps set up outside in the pasture. It was a beautiful place and setting for a show.

And then the waiting began. I forgot how much I hate this part of the h/j show world! Wait, wait, wait. Pony was very good in just hanging out while other people warmed up and while the first few classes went. She has declared a nemesis! There is a very cute small Welsh pony who is a bay with a blaze and stockings. Very flashy, very cute. As we were just walking around outside the arena, she pinned her ears at this mare and tried to lunge at her! Oh my! Pony does not want any competition in the cuteness department, that's for sure!



We signed up for just three classes in the "cross rails" division. One flat class and two over fences. There were probably 10 people in the division and the flat class went first. It was just a walk-trot class. Nothing exciting. I thought we did well, but the judge didn't pin us. Pony had to pee, I think, and was chomping her bit for most of the class, so I'm sure the judge didn't like that. But she went around very well and I was happy at how well-mannered she was in the group.



We went outside and Colin gave her a cookie. Then the next class began. Just a cross rails jumping class. Our goals were: straightness, rideability, breathing (for me), position (for me). The plan was to trot the course unless she landed cantering in a line and then she could canter out. Since we're working on the goals above, those came first before cantering the course (remember, we've only had four jumping lessons this year!) - that will come later.

I thought she did great! Most of the other riders were kids on ponies (I think there was maybe one other adult in the class - or at least she was an older teenager, I couldn't tell) and they cantered their courses.

Here's our first round.



And our second. She got a little playful after the first line, but that's okay - this is just for schooling!



No ribbons for Pony today, but I am so proud of her! She needs no prep. No lunging, no riding-down, no nothing. Just get on and ride.

Go pony!

Here's a screen shot from one of the jumps.

Ditch crossing - with water!!

Sometimes I think I'm pretty clever. This spring is one of those times.

As I wrote about earlier, I started taking Pony to the dry ditch that we'd have to cross (eventually with irrigation water running through it) and schooling her in going through it. The first time we went out there I led her through, and then after that she calmly walked through on her own.

I took the day off work today and decided since I had a lot of time that today would be the day to go through it with the water. I outfitted Pony with her rope halter on under her bridle (I know, unsightly, but necessary and functional for today) and I brought a lunge line and wrapped it around her neck for the ride to the water (wrapped in jumping-strap fashion). We had a nice jaunt to the water and got to our first crossing.



I got off, wrapped her reins so they wouldn't drop over her head when she put her head down, and unwrapped the lunge line and hooked it up to her halter. I had my Dublin boots on so I could wade in the water. This crossing is narrower but deeper than crossing #2. I'd say the water is mid-calf high, depending on where I stepped. I eyeballed it so that I presented her with a path straight to the opening on the other side (this is also a narrower "out" than crossing #2), and I stood in the water to the side of that so that she could go by me without running me over. As I stood there, I just opened my leading arm to ask her to go through. She eyeballed it and decided it was narrow enough to jump! I let the lunge line slide through my hand such that she didn't get tugged on mid-air or right on landing and could go forward but I could still hold on to her. Of course it helps that the other times we went through it when it was dry she learned that she'd get a cookie for crossing it, so she stopped on her own and I walked out of the water to give her her reward. We went back and forth three or four times, with cookies each time of course, and then I hand walked her down the trail a bit and put her all back together for riding again and we continued on our loop.

We came to ditch crossing #2 and I got off again, got her all set up, and led her to this water. She eyeballed it and saw it was too wide to jump, but it is also shallower and so she felt more comfortable walking through the water, which she did without hesitation.



I counted the cookies in my pocket and we had enough for a couple more back-and-forth schoolings through the water. She did great! I'm so proud of her!

I decided I'd just hand walk her back home and on the way we came to a place where Colin was doing some fence repair and adding a gate so we (and others) can get through the fence when the ditch paths are closed off in the summer because of grazing cattle (got permission from the grazing lease holder to do so). The cattle will be put out in the next couple weeks, so the timing is perfect.



She gave Colin the almost-hairy-eyeball for a second, but then she recognized him and wanted to go up and have a chat. I gave her my last two cookies and then just hand walked her home.

I'm so proud of all she accomplished this weekend - such a brave and good pony!!!!

Pony is SO BRAVE!

I had a lesson on Saturday and I was looking forward to putting to practice the homework I've been doing, especially with having a larger arena to ride in where there's more variety in little courses I could do. Pony had zero issues in trailer loading, so I'm pretty sure the problem last weekend was of my doing.

Anyway, we had a little warm up on our own and then Trainer came in to start the lesson and warm up. She gave me some pointers on my own body positioning to help me be straighter in the saddle and more secure in my position. After our flat work part of the lesson, we did a course of trot poles, then cantered, then it was time to start some jumps.

And then the unfortunate timing of All The Things Happening began. The time had come for the fencing work to be done. A dirt bike zoomed by, followed by an ATV, followed by a tractor; somewhere in the mix were a bunch of dogs running around and probably a truck, too. The fence work to be done was to dismantle a straight line of pipe corrals. Bang, bang, bang, bang, clang, bang! That was the sound of (I'm guessing) getting the pins out of the connectors and then disconnecting them from each other. Band, clang, bang, bang, clang! That was the sound of lifting them up and loading them onto the front loader of the tractor. Chuga-chuga-chuga-chuga was the sound of the tractor being backed up and moved to the next section, combined with the zing, cling, jangle, jangle of the fence panels as they banged against each other on the tractor as it was being driven around. Oh, and this was maybe 10' or so on the other side of the arena during my lesson. Oh, and somewhere in all that, a chihuahua made its way into the arena and decided to have a lie-down.

Needless to say, we both had a bit of a hard time concentrating.

BUT! Pony is a rock star in every way imaginable. What would have probably sent my 20-year-old TB over the edge was merely a distraction for Pony. Yes, she was a bit amped and distracted by it all, but she didn't use the commotion as an excuse to lose her marbles or do anything naughty. We were able to continue with our lesson and school a few things (pace, straightness, position) and make improvements on each question that was asked of Pony.

At the end, the ATV and dirt bike were zooming around a pasture behind the arena (complete with the dirt bike jumping dirt mounds or whatever they jump), the dogs were playing, and Pony and I stood in the middle of the arena with my reins draped over her neck while she stood looking at it all.

I was eager to get out of there so we just loaded up and came home and went back to a relaxing day of grazing. While it wasn't enjoyable from a lesson standpoint, it was a good schooling experience and a confidence-builder for both of us to know we can count on each other even when there's annoying stuff going on!

VIDEO! Cavaletti work today

I decided at the last minute to set up my video camera to capture today's schooling session. Yay for having a video camera, but when you only have a tripod available to work with, you don't get good following coverage and close-ups.

Anyway, I tried again to focus on keeping my hands quieter and I think for the most part I did a good job. We started out at a walk, of course, walking over poles or doing circles or changes of direction. Then moving up to trot, Pony noticed the deer in the woods behind the arena. Instead of having the boogey-deer lurking in the corner (granted, they were napping, not being rude), I decided we should go chase them away so we left the arena to move the deer and then came back and had a nice ride.

We did some trot work over the poles and I tried to focus on straightness and pace, which are harder than they should be! Sometimes I'm sure I make it harder for Pony. I notice if I let my upper body creep forward in an exaggerated forward-seat position, then she slows down and gets sort of balled-up, so we had some bobbles in that respect, especially at the canter.

Anyway, here's our first round of cavaletti/pole work.



Then we did our first little cavaletti jumps on a figure eight.



And we finished with some more little cavaletti jumps on the figure eight, but this time I focused a little more on schooling the straightness after the jump. She's pretty smart and clever so it doesn't take much for her to get the idea.



We finished with some trotting over the two poles and then had a nice walk cool-out on the trails out back, chasing the deer out of our path.

Just for good measure, I did trailer loading again to be sure I got my body positioning right and again she walked right on!

Such a good pony!

Homework

Even though we had a successful first schooling show over the weekend, I felt like I didn't ride as well as I wanted and the feedback the judge gave was the same as Trainer gives in a lesson (I use too much rein to steer on a course, especially down a line if Pony is wiggly). So I gave myself some homework to do, which was to set up a poles/cavaletti course in the arena to practice on at home.



There's a line down a long side that is three canter strides, then two poles sort of where X is that are on the diagonal, one for each direction, then another two cavaletti on a diagonal that I could do singly or in a bending line. And then I can mix and match as desired.

I started out deciding to be more discreet with my aids. Pony is far enough along now that I don't need any sort of big opening rein movements, and it is distracting. So I shortened my reins and practiced warming up with focusing on little rein movements if needed. We walked around and did some circles and changes of direction and she was just as responsive with my new rein length. Good.

We moved up to a trot and got into the pole work right away. I focused on keeping my hands closer together and my reins shorter so they aren't in my lap and I'm not tempted to make grand gestures with them. It was actually really good! We did all sorts of variations of the poles - down the line (or up the line), across one pole diagonal to the other, then around the empty long side to the shorter pole diagonal, back to the line but only do one cavaletto and come at it through the middle, etc. One of the cavaletto I had up in the highest setting so we could jump it and that went very well, also. I did realize that those that I set on the shorter diagonal made for a hard turn around the corner, so I re-set them last night and swapped out the poles and the cavaletti and put the two middle cavaletti at jumping height.

We also cantered the line and cantered the poles on the diagonal, with a flying change over each pole!

By moving the jumping-height cavaletti last night to the middle of the arena, I think it will be better for actual jumping - that way I'll have a longer diagonal for preparation and landing. And then with the poles I can do a bending line. Sounds good - off to ride!

Take a step back

Since Pony stomped her little pony feet about trailer loading over the weekend, I thought I'd work on it this week. I rode her on Wednesday and afterward did a trailer-loading session. Stomp, stomp, stomp. It had me scratching my head, as the first time I loaded her up this spring (test loading session before our first lesson), she walked right on. Colin says, "that's girls for you." Ultimately, she figured out that getting on was easier and more pleasant than making a big deal out of it and so she did.

Then yesterday I practiced again before I took Mac out for a ride. And she walked right on. Again Colin said, "that's girls for you - it is Thursday, right?" (Meaning, there's no rhyme or reason to Miss Pony Mare's feet stomping.)

But I realized something yesterday. I took a step back in my body positioning. I think the other day I was "blocking" her space to get into the trailer. In my mind there was plenty of space for her to walk between me and the center divider to load onto her space on the trailer. But maybe in her mind if I generally "claim" a certain amount of space around me as mine then she is invading it and doesn't feel comfortable doing that?

Anyway, all I did was take a step back so that I was standing farther away from the trailer opening and she walked right in! I had her quietly load and unload a few times, then I had her load and I put the butt bar up and gave her butt scratches and lots of Good Girls and then I unloaded her. It was less than five minutes. She was perfect. I brought her back to her stall and gave her a bunch of cookies.

Maybe it just was Thursday.

Pony's first hunter/jumper schooling show!

There was a small in-barn h/j schooling show today. Even though we just had our first lesson of the season last week, I thought why not go and give it a whirl? We entered the ittyies-bittiest classes we could. The goal was to have the experience of prepping for a show (got a new fitted pad - yeah!), ride with other horses in the warm up arena and flat classes, go into the arena on our own, and make it through a small course without making a fool of ourselves. We succeeded in all of those!

I signed us up for a "trot-a-pole" class, one walk-trot equitation class, a cross rail equitation class and a cross rail jumper class.

There was a dusting of snow (!?) this morning and the ground was hard, so the show was in the indoor arena, which made for a challenging warm-up/class management, as we did a joint warm-up in the arena, then cleared out into the barn aisle or outdoors to wait, then back in the arena for the class. But it was actually a great introduction to Pony of being well-mannered with horses all around her, waiting, and waiting.

I did a little lunge at home (and then groomed her) before we left since it was chilly and the horses didn't get their normal turnout yesterday due to a crazy wind storm (60-mph winds that knocked over a couple trees/branches - thought they'd be safer in their paddocks in case any fence damage was done in the pastures). She was fine so we loaded up (which she did not want to do - need to work on schooling that more).

When we got there I pretty much just took her out of the trailer, tacked her up, walked into the arena, hand-walked around just a bit, and got on to warm up. There was a fresh horse there who was a little spooky and look at stuff in the corner, so he had a bit of a naughty moment and then someone else's horse reacted and that rider came off. Pony was a little looky about that, but she got over it quickly.

We were then led through a group warm-up of walking and trotting. There's a little viewing area in the corner that is a balcony that overlooks the arena and some people went up there to watch and that really bothered some horses as well. The one spooky horse was spooky about that and did a spin and a bit of a runaway and his rider came off. Pony was near him so she did just a bit of a scoot as well but then stood and the spooky horse came up to her and then he was caught. Both of us riders did some schooling in that corner with the people up there. It wasn't ideal, but it worked out okay.

We left the arena and then the trot-a-pole class started. It was a simple hunter course of diagonal, outside line, diagonal, other outside line. We just trotted it and that was that. Pony was good. I steer too much with my hands so really need to work on that. But I thought I did a good job of picking a line and (mostly) sticking to it. We cut the scary corner a little bit but it was otherwise non-eventful. We left the arena and waited.

Then we went in for the walk-trot eq class. We walked. We trotted. We reversed. We walked. We trotted.

Trainer asked if anyone who didn't sign up for the walk-trot hunter class wanted to stay and I figured riding was better than standing around waiting, so I rode in that one, too.

Then the judge had us all gather around and she pinned each class and gave us feedback for why she pinned the way she did. That was so very helpful! There were no ribbons, but Pony pinned first in the trot-a-pole class (comment was that I had a plan and stuck to it!), second in the hunter walk-trot class (comment was that even though she doesn't move like a hunter, she was forward and consistent and had a nice expression and our turnout was nice). We got fifth (don't exactly remember?) in the walk-trot eq class because I carried a crop (I dropped it before the hunter class, per Trainer's instructions) and that's a no-no. I swear way back in my old showing days that we did carry crops in the flat classes, too, but now I can't even remember. Oh well. She said otherwise we we did a good job in the class.

Some feedback related to other riders that's good to remember was about diagonals (that was for the kids), tack (no twisted reins, please! No martingale in a flat class), turnout (for a young rider to have longer jods, or appropriate saddle pads), consistency of pace.

Then it was time for the jumping classes. Since we were already in the arena we just stayed for a short warm up to pop over two cross rails. Pony was great.

The cross rail eq class was first and the course was the same. I tried to have my plan and stick to it. The cross rails were small enough to just trot over and not really jump, so mostly that's what we did. I trotted after each one because I feel a little claustrophobic in there and didn't want to canter, so that was part of my plan. I thought our round was just fine, but Trainer commented that I needed to open my chest and carry my eyes more. Got it.

Went out after we finished and waited for the next class. Course was a bit different with two more jumps. The first jump was pretty much up centerline. When we landed she veered right and almost ran into a standard for another jump (it was a bit tight)! I got her straightened out and continued and almost forgot where I was going, but we worked it out. I tried to be better with my shoulder and my eye and thought I was successful with that. But we were more wiggly in this class so less good in that respect. But we were done anyway!

I took Pony back to the trailer to untack her and then brought her back to the barn area and put her in the round pen to roll while I had a pee. I'm sure she had to pee, but she didn't. We got the call to come back into the arena because the judge was ready to pin the two classes.

Pony got first in the eq cross rail class - yay! Again, we stuck with our plan, although I need to be more subtle with my corrections. Pony got good feedback for her willing attitude and pleasant expression. In the jumper class we got second. I'll take it! The judge did say she recognizes I'm on a green horse, but I very much appreciate the feedback.

I have been schooling a jump on my back trail, which is fun, but I think it is time to move the jumps in the arena and work on trot pole courses with maybe a jump here and there, focusing on straightness and steering more from my legs.

I consider it a very successful first outing for Pony. Her attitude and professionalism outshone her green-ness and I'm so proud of her!

No pictures or anything, as I didn't have any accompaniment, but I can assure you that Pony looked very cute!

I was wrong

The water is on. There is no more dry-ditch practice time. The real deal challenge has arrived! Maybe this weekend we'll venture our there again...

More ditch crossing

After Saturday's lesson I thought it would be nice to just have a nice and easy walk in the woods. That, and I want to do the ditch crossing as many times as I can before the water gets turned on.

So Sunday we went to the BLM and did the same loop we did last time. I was ready with cookies in my pocket. We walked down the main trail, got to the ditch crossing, and there was zero hesitation. Pony walked down into it, up the bank, and . . . stopped. She knew she'd done well and knew she deserved a cookie! So I obliged, gave her her cookie and we went on our way. We took the small loop back to the other ditch crossing and again she went right in and out and stopped. I gave her her cookie and we continued.

I had two cookies left in my pocket, so when we got to the first crossing area again, we went through, stopped for a cookie, and turned back and went through again to earn the last cookie.

I'm guessing we have one more week or so to do this and then the water gets turned on - then comes the real test!

I've already prepared to ride with my Dublin boots on (I don't know how to classify them . . . tall, but not tall boots; waterproof, but not rubber). I did a test ride in them and they fit in my stirrups just fine and are comfortable enough. If/when I need to get off to stand in the water, they'll do the job.

The power of the cookie compels her!

Weekend shenanigans

Pony and I went for our first jumping lesson of the year on Saturday. Boy was it windy! So windy, in fact, that we had our lesson indoors. This was Pony's first time in this indoor arena, but she did just fine. I got there too early, which was just fine, as we walked around as someone was having a lesson. I'm pretty good at staying out of other people's way, so when the other person was using one end, we'd use the other. When she crossed the diagonal, we'd go down the long side; if she went down the long side, we'd circle at the other end, etc. When the other person started a course of ground poles / cavaletti, we just parked ourselves in an unobtrusive spot and watched - that was actually good for Pony, as the person crossed in front of us and behind us. Pony was great.

At first while walking around, the light rays in the footing on one end of the arena were a little interesting, but she got over that pretty quickly. There was a small flower box on the ground that must have had the soul of a dead monster in it because she wouldn't walk over it - more on that later.

When it was time for our lesson to start we were ready. Since we did a lot of walk warm up on our own, we went straight to trotting and circles and poles and transitions. Then we did a small crossrail to start. That surprised her and it was a bit awkward and wiggly at first, but after a couple times it was just fine.

Next we were to do a trot pole then many strides to the dreaded flower box. NO! Pony did NOT want to go over that flower box. Trainer stood on one side of it and put a pole on the other side for sort of a "chute" and then Pony went over! Lots of praise and big pats for that. Then we came again and again at the trot and then we did it the other way. It wasn't perfect or very pretty, but we got the job done. Funny thing is we also did a vertical with an identical flower box underneath the rail and she didn't even bat an eye at it! We also did a gate, which she was great at. We put it together in a little course with a couple different variations. I need to work on not releasing so much with my body - especially since she's a pony and smaller, it could put her off balance. I also need to work on steering more with my legs. All in all it was a GREAT first lesson back and I'm so proud of her! For our last course we nailed a couple things and it was so much fun! I of course would like to drill and drill for my benefit so I can practice my own stuff; but for her we ended on a good note for what she accomplished. That's the way it must always be for a young horse. Find the good thing to finish on and leave it at that.

When we went outside I untacked her and then had to write a check and bring it to Trainer. We walked through the barn aisle to meet her on the other side and I decided I'd walk back to the trailer along the driveway, not back through the barn. Great. Another training opportunity. It is funny the things you don't even notice as a person, but when a horse brings it to your attention things change.

The driveway goes between the house and the barn. At the house there was a spinning pinwheel with lots of swirly colors on it - of course spinning as fast as it can because of the wind. At the corner of the barn was a flag pole with a big American flag flapping in the wind. Pony wanted none of either of it!

We did a couple episodes of advance and retreat. I tried to remember what Bryan Neubert would do. Take a break. Retreat. Go do something else. Give the horse a break. So we walked back to the back of the barn and stood there for a little while near the company of the other horses. Pats, deep breaths, a break. Then we went back to the driveway - a little farther down this time (but only by a few steps!). Stop. Stand. Wait. Breathe. Take it all in. Breathe. Pats. Breathe. Pats. More pats. And leave again, back to the barn area for a break. After a few minutes, we went back again and walked by the flag and spinning pinwheel and to the trailer. And when it was time to go, she didn't want to leave! But she loaded up and off we went, back home.

Turned her out in the pasture and she was a happy pony!