chronological collections

I gotta admit - it was pretty awesome this past weekend to settle into our regular lessons knowing that our next event isn't for a little while. Don't get me wrong - I'm freaking thrilled to be able to compete again: I LOVE horse shows. Love. Can't get enough of them.

And at these low levels, with a green horse, IMO it's reeeeeeally difficult to overdo it so long as I keep an eye towards consistency and building confidence. These easy low key show miles are so wonderful for developing the horse (and rider).

BUT. But. Damn, May was busy. And it kinda got to feeling like "prep prep prep" for the shows, at the expense of having time to dive into whatever 'green horse' training issues arose.

i have zillions of variations of this exact shot with isabel. now it's charlie's turn to walk this path!

Being totally 100% honest here, tho: Charlie still really needs steady, slow and purposeful training rides. Like, rides where the biggest focus is walk-halt-walk-trot-walk etc etc etc. Where we're working on steady rhythm no matter where we are in relation to the gate.

trainer P spent about 25 full minutes massaging / flexing / otherwise palpating charlie's poll. bc 10 months post track and his body is still recovering. it's a long road, y'all

And I've had a couple rides in our home arena at Charlie's barn that have sorta reaffirmed the fact that his barn sourness in that arena simply can't be ignored (trust me, I tried). The draw to the gate has been in Charlie's repertoire since day 1, tho it has evolved in how it presents over time.

But it's morphed a bit into an issue of my own creation. My wishes to 'ignore' the gate sourness actually turned into tacit avoidance.... Which only masked the issue but did nothing to resolve it and maybe made it worse by inadvertently reinforcing his idea that "we only go near the gate when it's time to leave so the gate must equal freedom!" And so, the draw grew stronger.

charlie <3's his new stall guard!!! and apparently <3's testing boundaries too. also. all those random buckets are 100% pony club approved, i promise. lolz

So ya know. Green horses are so good at keepin' ya honest! I can go from one day where Charlie's laying down his nicest dressage test yet, to the next where I can't keep a steady rhythm or straight line toward and away from the gate. Lol whoops...

Whatever tho. We carry on as always, just chippin away and trying to work on one thing at a time, in a manner that is progressive and makes sense. Adjusting and recalibrating, forever and ever.

hacking out through dramatic pre-storm skies!

Lessons have been going well tho too - tho stadium jumping continues to be the most challenging for me as a rider. Charlie has definitely figured out that game, thinks it's pretty easy, and will often build in pace on approach to a jump.

It's funny bc he's easier to jump at shows when everything feels just unfamiliar enough to make him slightly less bold. But in the arena at OF? It's a whole 'nother story lol.

Like in our lesson last weekend, when we trotted a small vertical to a long approach to an oxer. And Charlie just built and built and I could feel him running through my half halt but kinda decided to just let him go. Not trying to hold him off the jump, but certainly not moving him up either. And let him run right past his distance and basically clobber through the oxer.

Whoops, sir. Gotta be more careful! Felt like a good learning moment for him tho, haha.

we also resurrected the circus bridle!!!! and i didn't die!!!!!!!

The cool thing about Charlie tho is that he's not a dummy. And while that little moment didn't necessarily back him off or make him easier to half halt (as trainer P says, we kinda need a 'halt' before we'll have a confirmed 'half halt'), it at least reminded him that he's ultimately got to get to a spot from which he can make it over the fence. Preferably without needing to make a huge effort to do so.

We kinda continued that theme by working repeatedly through the same one-to-one grid as the week before, this time with just a little more height at the first element since he still wasn't super respectful.

Those 18' distances are SHORT for Charlie, but really really help him figure out where his body is. Esp with me being more purposeful about straightness after the run out last week, he really had no choice but to compress and jump from his hind end rather than launching flatly. Good practice!

i couldn't pic a favorite. just disregard how bad i am at squaring up a shot lol

Anyway, to finish out the ride, trainer P took everyone out to the freshly mowed xc fields for a little bop around. All their jumps are back from Jenny Camp and one of my lesson mates was dying to get out there, so why not, right?

I was.... slightly less thrilled, but more or less kept my lips buttoned haha.

And actually it was a pretty useful exercise bc trainer P really hasn't seen Charlie jump anything solid since before he started competing. Our first (and only!) couple schooling outings were all before Charlie's first 3-phase, and we haven't been out to school since then.

That's the nice thing about competing so often - the courses themselves serve as schooling. Especially at these low levels and especially at starter trials. The reality is that Charlie has jumped WAY more xc jumps in competition than while schooling, and much bigger (relatively speaking) too.

c'mon tho, what's not to love?

Another big development tho? I've chilled the fuck out, mostly. Relaxed a lot more. Now that Charlie and I have a couple runs in the books, I feel a lot better about what to expect from him, and from myself. I trust us both pretty well to make reasonable decisions and handle the obstacles in our path. It's a good feeling.

That feeling translated directly to this quick little schooling jaunt too - wherein Charlie not only did not require any leads of his own, but was able to give a lead to another struggling horse over some simple logs.

how charlie usually "plays" with his jolly ball (notice it quite literally under foot?)

And then later, when trainer P suggested I try the next level up of something we had jumped before, I just went and jumped it. Or when P saw that little brown Intro house from Jenny Camp but I pointed out the green-roofed BN house that had also been on course, reminding her that Charlie had already jumped that one too. So off we went to jump that instead.

Can I just pat myself on the back here for telling my trainer I'd rather jump the bigger version? For fucking once?? lol.... (it helped tho that Charlie nailed it, good boy!)

but apparently old dogs CAN learn new tricks!

That good feeling might be totally related to another thing I'm learning about Charlie: He's WAY easier to jump cross country right now vs stadium. This horse is not going to clobber through or climb over a solid jump the way he did that oxer in the arena (knocking furiously on wood lol). He regulates himself way better, and you can really feel him using his eye and setting himself up for the xc jumps.

That doesn't mean he doesn't still make mistakes or leave long or get a little underneath jumps too. But for the most part, he quite naturally has a much better read on the solid obstacles vs the airy sticks. So I'm suddenly finding myself game to jump bigger xc jumps than I would stadium jumps. Go figure.

charlie got a new neighbor in his stall block and was so excited he actually played with his ball for the first time ever! (that i've seen, at least)

Whatever the case tho, it feels really oddly relieving to sink back into this nitty gritty thought process of the every day schooling - the routine and mundane ins and outs of bringing along the green ottb in a new sport.

And in the process, I am feeling more and more like my old self as a jump rider. Things are coming a little bit more naturally. I'm not quite as anxious. And I'm making fewer mistakes due specifically to nervous tension, as opposed to mistakes just bc I'm an amateur who makes mistakes. Again, it feels good.

my handsome pony <3

We all know it's a roller coaster tho. Ups and downs and all arounds. So I like to enjoy the highs and good feelings when I get them! This is honestly maybe personally my favorite thing about blogging haha - being able to look back to see how my own mental condition improved or worsened with various riding experiences.

Can you remember moments when things felt like they were finally starting to "click" for you and a horse? Whether because the horse suddenly became more confirmed in his schooling, or bc you were able to overcome some sort of mental or physical hangup? Or maybe the opposite happened - moments where you can pinpoint when things began to disintegrate?