xc clinic @ waredaca!

We’re kicking off the ‘winter bootcamp’ season in style, starting with a super fun destination xc clinic at Waredaca, for one of their ‘expert days’ with Allison Springer!

just a little lakeside cantering! trying to remember to bend my elbows lol

Actually, tbh, the entry page on Strider didn’t really specify whether it was intended to be an xc day, or show jumping. Given the time of year, I mostly presumed it’d be sj… but didn’t really care either way. 

I was just excited to ride with Allison, somebody I’ve admired for years as a spectator and ring steward (where I’ve witnessed her many times, and her good riding students too!).

trust me, there’s a little log back there <3

Naturally, as is always the way with these things, our forecast for the day was the nastiest most wintry day yet this year by far — sharply cold with a blustery wind that would not quit.** But the ground was good and the jumps were still decorated from the past weekend’s starter even. And so we carried on.

And actually, in some ways, the tricky conditions (ie, wind blowing **directly** up the horses’ butts) proved to be the perfect platform for Allison to really zero in on our warm up flatwork.

(**The same cannot be said for my helmet cam battery, which found the cold unbearable!) 

snapshot selected bc of those epic moody wintry trees

Which, go figure, wasn’t about petting the pretty pony and whispering soothingly into her ear that “everything was going to be ok!”, even as literally an entire giant herd of horses galloped around like lunatics for actual minutes on end right next door. 

Like, ok sure — whisper soothingly etc. It does help. But also, ride the horse. Bend her. More. Put your leg on, push her off that leg. Bend and push and disengage the hind quarters. If her ears are pricked like a statue fixated off into the distance, she is ignoring you. Change that. Now. More round, more bend, more leg.

also, jompies!! landing pic snapped here bc my phone was being annoying about pausing on exactly the right frame.
plus. not gonna lie guys. our winter boot camp this year will be all about helping doozy’s technique

And it will actually shock you to learn that this technique worked for Doozy. In fact, it worked for the full duration of the ride!

Remember how I wrote about our recent Windurra schooling that Doozy could “get a little stuck and behind the leg and snarled up in a pretzel every time we pick up for our turn”?? And remember how the xc warmup at the Area Champs was probably our hardest moment from that show? And remember how I literally just wrote about the uncertainty of knowing which phases etc would be on grass contributing to my decision to scratch Plantation?

more lakeside cantering, bc i love it

Yeeeeahhhh. Bc it turns out. This has been a big hole in our training for… ever, basically. And I’m not going to act like we fixed it in one random clinic. But somehow, some way, Allison imposed a new directive that made a difference. 

Tho I also suspect that the “new directive” is also only really made possible by Doozy’s maturation and improvements in overall schooling from the past year.

i always struggle a little with the downhill approach to this line of jumps
this is also a nice example of where Allison would prefer to see more “chin up”

Anyway. Having achieved a warm up, we started in on the jumping. First by trotting a nice friendly log a couple times, with each iteration still requiring the same flatwork to start. 

Then we just sorta moved through the whole field, jumping each jump on its own before stringing together a little mini course.

being brave about this kinda spooky “brewery” log. note the uneven push from behind + less-than-classic front end technique lol

Right away Allison zeroed in on a few positional habits of mine:

- I need more bend in my elbows and shorter reins, vs my tendency to kinda lock my arms straight

- BUT!! I still need to be able to soften the contact, especially at the fence

- Chin up. But seriously. This was a biggie for Allison, and in my mind is reminiscent of my “chest up” directive, having found that “shoulders back” isn’t really enough to truly unfold my torso.

- Stay back and own our distance, no matter what

snapshot selected bc of that epic moody wintry sky <3

That last directive was a bit of a new one for us. Mostly because… Obviously this height is new(ish) to Doozy. But so is jumping from a more steady canter stride. Doozy and I have gotten pretty far in life with letting her raw momentum and athleticism and bravery carry us from one side of the jump to the other. 

But ya know. It might be nice to have a few more ‘tools’ at our disposal, especially when it comes to Doozy’s technique in the jumping. She has a tendency to get a little jittery in her take-off — launching the front end before the hind end quite knows what to do with itself. 

no problems whatsoever flinging herself into the air LOL

None of that mattered much for smaller jumps, but especially as we start introducing spread, it’ll be important that Doozy can organize her hind end up under her for an even and strong push off. My sense is that getting her stronger behind will also resolve some of her less-than-picturesque front end moments too.

Allison also advised, on a related note, that if we landed from a fence super disorganized — she’d prefer we throw in a trot transition, vs spooling out on a circle. She felt like the trot transition would do more to get the horse back on the aids, back on her hocks etc, than just whipping around a small turn.  

one lesson at a time, tho, and she was a super good girl for this one <3 <3

Anyway, Doozy never ended up needing that particular advice bc it turns out you land in better balance when you jump from better balance. And you jump from better balance when you establish the flat work first. Groundbreaking stuff here, guys! lol…

The horse also certainly feels plenty athletic — and made pretty easy work of the various BN fences we tackled throughout the ride — including a fairly tall step up out of the water!! Sadly not recorded bc of cold helmet camera problems, le sigh. 

But all the same, her bravery has always been among her most redeeming qualities. Helping her feel stronger in her form and technique is basically an insurance policy, as far as I can tell. 

even tho it was cold + windy AF dear lord. good girl, little biscuit!

So ya know. Hurray for clinic + bootcamp season! Every week there are new educational activities springing up on the calendar, including a couple future opportunities that might be exactly tailored toward refining technique!

Winter is *not* my favorite, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun and make the most of it anyway, amirite?