schooling @ Shawan Downs

As a general rule, whenever life has me feeling a little off kilter, or I'm a little bit on the stressed or overwhelmed side of things, my knee-jerk reaction to any question becomes "No."

So when Brita pointed out that Shawan Downs would be open for schooling over their recent MCTA recognized courses this week and that we could head over after work one day... I right away was like, "Sorry, can't!"

Luckily tho, she is a patient friend and allowed me a couple minutes to actually consider the idea a little more fully - at which point I realized that, uh, yea. This was a great opportunity. Jenny Camp won't be at Shawan Downs this year, so this was our only chance to ride there. Plus it's local and cheap, and Charlie hasn't done a proper off-site xc school (aside from the arena schooling in January) since like.... last summer's paper chase at Tranquility.

there are only two actual pictures of us haha. here is one.

So. We went! I had walked the N course over the weekend after volunteering (you already saw pictures of the three main combinations - banks water and ditch - yesterday), so was able to formulate a pretty solid plan of attack.

dis charlie's excited face haha

Tho I hadn't walked the T course, and interestingly all the courses deviated from each other somewhat significantly in track. Like, BN and N mostly followed the same path - except for one little N foray up a hill and down into a hollow for the half coffin. M and P went way far afield in the road-facing field toward the far end of the steeplechase track. And T went off up the hill on the opposite side of the rail past the announcer's tower.

They had taken all the numbers down so we had a little trouble distinguishing some of the M jumps from the T jumps too, but opted to do our warm up by trotting through the entire steeplechase field checking out all the things so Brita could come up with her own ride plan.

also i got my volunteer prize from Sara just as i was walking out the door - felt like a good luck charm!

This also had the nice secondary benefit of getting the horses acclimated to the venue. There were a couple other groups on site - some including up to 5-6 horses - and lots to look at. Luckily tho both horses actually settled really nicely, and Charlie didn't seem inclined to show any of his "HEY LET'S GO BACK TO THE TRAILER, YES??" tendencies haha.

easy warm up through the water

We walked through the main water (which was way way way too deep - they had left the water running for some unknown reason) and up and down the lower edges of some banks just to get the horses tuned in. Then began warming up in earnest!

I trotted Charlie through the water then up and over a small log from the BN course (it was the B element of their up bank combo), then over to a couple houses. The left side house was on the BN course (tho you may remember it from our Jenny Camp intro course last year) and the white N house is from our own home farm, tho I haven't jumped it since the Isabel days.

more warm up: small house then less-small house!

I wanted to get my eye on N early tho, bc.... Ya know. The struggle is real. But I knew as soon as I started pointing Charlie at N things, my worry about the size would dissipate. Bc Charlie sure as shit doesn't share my concerns haha. In fact, he was happy to be aimed at this fence and was in that really nice place where he was taking leg to the jump. Yesss.

we saw this combo in yesterday's post

In my mind we would have tackled some other jumps first before the banks.... but they were right there, so why not. I pointed Charlie at the BN combo first, and he felt slightly noncommittal to the bank, but trotted it anyway then giddied on up to the log. Second time was smoother tho.

And then Brita was there for me when I waffled about doing the N side. Thank god for friends who can be there for the well-timed gentle nudge!

hey look, i jumped it even tho it scared me! didn't scare sir tho ;)

So I cantered right on around, held for an add stride up the bank (rightly or wrongly) that made the 2 feel a little long, even tho I had walked it in 1.5. But Charlie was an honest genuine boy and I just slipped my reins, put my leg on, and he carried us over what is not actually a very small fence at the B element. Good boy!

we jumped the BN version of this table back in march. also apparently i still love left.

One of the great things about having our respective fences of interest on different tracks was that Charlie was able to get a little lesson in "Go Forth and Jump! Now Stand Around and be Chill!" while Brita did her T coffin.

This is the element that has been missing in his training: we've done far far far more competitions than we've done schoolings, and he's just not really aware that sometimes we stop in between jumps haha. He caught on quickly tho, and it really helped keep him rideable after each fence!

N corner was very inviting

Anyway, we kept moving after that to the middle section of the N course - with a couple large single fences: a log table from our home barn that we've jumped the BN version of; a nice corner; and Charlie's first steeplechase style jump.

I was really happy with how he felt too bc he continued to have that feeling where I needed to be adding leg to the fence. I expected this to the log table since it was going away from the trailers, but was pleased to still get the same feeling after looping back toward home for the corner.

Tho, uh, I chose a really shit line to the corner the first go 'round so we came back and cleaned that one up a little bit haha. Charlie didn't care tho!

officially charlie's first brush fence! #nailedit

For some reason, I've kinda had it in my mind these past few months about how "Charlie hasn't really jumped a brush fence yet." Idk why. I mean, he's seen a very little bit of brush on some of our courses, but nothing really big before. But this N steeplechase fence felt perfect.

I esp like how he stayed centered over the fence bc of it's "U" shape despite my tendency to allow a left drift. And again, even tho this jump was heading home, he still took leg forward (instead of me feeling like I needed a backward feel) and easily came back to walk after. The "start/stop" of schooling reeeeeally feels good for him right now!

this bench also scared me, and i need to remember to ride forward even when i'm nervous. charlie don't care tho!

Then we went up a steep rise to a smallish table thingy (on the video but I didn't bother with a snapshot) then down into the hollow to this bench. Idk why but benches often look big to me, even tho I understand that their profile is very inviting to the horse.

And my current issue right now is that even tho Charlie was taking my leg, I wasn't being very good about actually putting it on and pushing him up to the jumps that made me nervous. So our first effort here was.... not great. He jumped it, but it was a little bit of a wake up call for me. So we came around and I actually created a more forward feel and it was perfect. Good boy!

straight forward N half coffin in an easy 3

My first time over the ditch, I just trotted diagonally across it not aiming for the B element, which actually confused Charlie a little bit bc he had kinda had his eye on the log. Nbd tho, he handled the ditch just fine so we came right on around and cantered through easily.

The three was a smidge tight for us but no harm no foul. I appreciate that Charlie is not ditchy haha! And I also appreciate that he's actually looking for fences and able to be drawn through a combination from one element to the next.

f*ing giant N brush table. brita had to convince me to do it, and i didn't ride forward the first time....

After the half coffin we crossed the road again, down a steep little descent that Brita promised me I wouldn't even feel (spoiler: she was totally right) (oh also this happens to be right around where I fell off during my second ever HT when Isabel spooked at some mud...) up to what was probably the biggest fence on the N course: a giant brush table.

I had let Brita know that this jump concerned me a bit, and I wasn't sure we should try it. But she maintained that Charlie would be fine, that the bigger jumps really don't ride much differently from the smaller ones, and that I wouldn't notice the descent leading to the fence. So I gave it a whirl!

second time tho charlie jumped the SNOT out of it omg, look at his shadow! this is easily the biggest obstacle he's ever jumped and he ate it up

Again, much like my first time at the bench, I didn't really ride it with enough forward commitment the first time and we kinda got there on an awkward half stride. Charlie is a saint, guys. An actual saint.

But we came around again and I rode for my distance and Charlie SOARED over it, omg. I think we both learned something from my first mistake. And, uh, I like the way Charlie thinks haha. That was easily the biggest jump we've ever had - both in scale of the obstacle itself and his effort over it. Wow.

inviting N coop going into the small water to a log

Obviously I was thrilled with him! A little disappointed in myself to keep making the same mistake of not giving him a very good ride on our first tries tho, since I don't really want my quarter to run out with this horse, ya know?

So for our last effort of the day - three individually numbered elements of coop to water to small log - I was bound and determined to add enough leg to actually lengthen the canter a bit, but with Charlie's shoulders UP and in front of me. It helped that this coop was pretty friendly bc let's be real, it's all a mental game for me.

we, uh, missed our line the first time after LEAPING into the water haha

And Charlie nailed it over the coop. Jumped it great. Even tho before this day we've jumped very few N fences (just a couple here and there since last summer), he's clearly very comfortable with the height.

We still have more work to do with water tho. Charlie wants to jump into it, which was only exacerbated by the steepness of this water's banks, and he doesn't really jump straight so I totally lost my line to the log.

got it after that tho <3

I was cool with it tho, bc I don't think Charlie realized the log was on our agenda - plus the elements were technically numbered separately on course so had this been a real competition we would have been allowed to circle.

Tho I opted to come back through the water flags again to reapproach (which would have not been allowed in competition but that's the beauty of schooling!). And he was fine, obvi.

helmet cam video here! 

edited for length, so it's a quick watch!

So that concluded our schooling for the day. We didn't do the entire N course. The first three fences were a small log, brush roll top that was smaller than the steeplechase we had already done, and a log oxer that I forgot about, but it wasn't particularly big. And the last two were a simple barrel jump like we've seen at Fair Hill, and another house that also lives at our home farm.

oh and btw brita and bella are KILLIN IT lately!

But I was completely cool with that. I learned a couple important things during this ride anyway. First of all? My eye can and will adjust up once I get to work. The easiest way to make something look less imposing is to remind myself I can do it... by, ya know, actually doing it.

Charlie, for his part, couldn't care less about the difference in height from BN to N. In fact, I'd say he likes it! He was very very rideable during this schooling. I'm not convinced that's actually related to any work we've been doing, or to the addition of a curb chain to our bridle. Whatever the case tho, I liked it a lot.

turns out this big giant TB butt can jump some fences. good boy!

We need to practice more banks, and practice going in and out of water more - esp darker or deeper water. I've been practicing mostly on our more inviting and shallower pool at home but the new pool right next to it is calling our name, methinks! Ditches continue to be a non issue so I may start thinking about upping the ante there soon. We'll see.

In any case tho, it was a hugely confidence boosting ride, and I'm seriously grateful that this horse is such a saint for those moments when I get more defensive instead of committing to the forward. Hopefully I'll learn my lesson about that before he decides it's too much work to keep covering for me! Luckily tho, he does genuinely seem to enjoy this game <3

Plus it was also nice for me and Brita to go out there without our normal coaches (we tried, they were just unavailable) and still be able to show good judgement in producing good schools in each of our horses. Ideally we'll have more professional guidance on hand as we each seek to challenge ourselves, but for now this was fine. Phew!

So I'm feeling a lot of things. Excitement. Relief. Reassurance. And also hope. It's been two and a half years since I rode a novice course, and it's really nice to learn that it means more to me than it does to the horse haha.