Part of spending so much time on a forced break (puns lol) from the saddle means that I want to dive back in with a vengeance. How else can you stay sane while being laid up on the couch other than making grandiose plans?
Plus, it turns out Isabel spent her vacation in a more or less similar fashion. She got healthier and has returned to the work with renewed vigor. Our jumping has mostly been better than ever (mostly lol) and the dressage has been full speed ahead.
This all makes me EXCITED guys. So excited. I want to do allll the things!
dis our "excited" face
Naturally, tho, it's fucking winter, ugh. Our riding facilities at home have very suddenly become unrideable, especially in the dark evenings. And as can only be expected, the weather forecasts only ever call for the nastiest of nasty on weekends when we have plans. C'mon guys, really?
For instance, this weekend will probably be totally shot lesson-wise. That won't stop me from trying or denying that it'll be as bad as they say... But it'll be whatever it's gonna be. Le sigh.
when all else fails, there are still peppermints. thanks again Amanda!
Back to the point, though: I'm daring to make plans anyway.
Specifically, dressage plans. Just this week I signed up for one clinic and entered two dressage schooling shows. The clinic is at the end of the month and (as of this writing) the 10-day forecast doesn't look entirely foreboding. Whether we'll be able to ride at all between now and then tho... well. We'll see.
The shows are part of the same series that we signed up for all last winter but that kept on getting cancelled due to acts of nature. So yea, it's tempting fate a little bit to already be writing about and planning for them. But whatever. I can dream, right?
And really, the way I figure, we pretty much have to haul out to ride at this point anyway (meaning paying arena fees from $20-$40 per horse per hour) so might as well get some feedback while we're at it. Right? Maybe? Idk...
lacking exciting riding pics of my own, i've been collecting exciting riding artwork. this timber racing piece is the latest.
So yea, that's kinda where we are right now. Haven't actually ridden in a week, probably won't be able to ride at all this coming week... but what the hell, sign us up for all the things!
Oooh, and here's one last little tidbit for those of you that like guessing games: The schooling series we're entered in will be held in a small indoor, meaning tests that require a regulation sized court are out of the question. So, what tests does one ride when the goal is first level movements?
Entries are already in, so obviously I've already chosen my tests (and may or may not get absolutely hammered by the judges lol)... But still, I'm curious to hear your thoughts!
As previously mentioned, our weekend plans got all scrambled when Isabel came in from the field lame at the walk. Boo, mare!
Likeliest scenario was an abscess, tho I was mildly concerned when the lameness seemed to switch from one leg to another depending on who was watching, or which direction you turned her. The vet was already scheduled for other horses so Isabel's owner added her to the list in case the shoe needed to come off. Verdict? Not even an abscess, just a bruise. Couple days with bute, and mare will be fine.
I was disappointed to miss the OF lesson considering it was possibly the last outdoors ride of the season, but them's the breaks. The disappointment *almost* compounded when I texted dressage trainer C to bow out of our scheduled lesson too, until she replied offering her own horse. Um, yes thank you, that sounds great!
hard to tell who looks more skeptical lol
Star is a ~17yr old 14.3hh Dutch warmblood with some draft, meaning that altho she and Isabel are the same height, she's substantially more built. She also has some typical WB bounciness, with a lot more movement across her back than I'm accustomed to with Isabel.
Riding-wise, Star competed through 2nd level, tho she has changes and perhaps some other 3rd level movements. Interestingly, C said the mare never scored well in tests, even when everything felt great, tho she has produced a very nice baby.
So anyways. I rode this mare in my lesson. And it was enlightening. As far as mares go, she has very similar mannerisms to Isabel. A bit aloof, and requires her rider to *commit.* She's also wayyyyy more educated and trained than Isabel (obvi), and it provided the perfect opportunity to let some of my flaws really shine. Ha.
looking marginally proficient at the trot (all in pink, natch)
My points of interest:
Needed shorter reins - I was overthinking C's warning that Star will go up if the rider gets too handsy, and reverted to the exact opposite of not enough contact.
Contact needed to be even and steady in both reins; get the mare filling both reins up.
When mare goes inverted (happened often), carry hands lower and wider (with commitment) until she went round again, then soften both hand AND leg (Star has her own engine, no nagging, please Emma).
Star's turning radius is wider than Isabel's - I needed to steer more from the shoulder.
Star's rhythm depends on my post - post slower or faster and she responds accordingly.
getting absolutely tossed about in the tack (no i will not give you a gif, thankyouvermuch) at the lengthened trot
Hahahahahaha lengthened trot... hahahaha... and I thought I couldn't post Isabel's lengthenings.... hahahahahahahahahaha.
Oooh and we did sitting trot too (with even more laughter)... As it is now, I can't focus on my seat, legs, and hands all simultaneously. Goals: back needs to be flatter, with hips swinging up. Butt doesn't bounce, but crotch does. Should feel like a hinge at the belly button, hips flip up every stride. And need to push down into feet every stride. Oh and Star stops if you squeeze your thighs so no gripping!
We did the sitting trot as a set up for the canter transition - Star requires very precise timing for this transition, and I totally biffed it a whole bunch for the left lead but nailed it for the right lead. Yay me!?
canter transition FAIL
It was very apparent how badly I struggle to apply my weight correctly - to step *down* into the side I want to weight. Honestly it took most of the lesson to figure out the right feeling. My tendency is to weight the wrong side.... as discovered last year in the clinic with Grant Schneidman... (yup still a problem).
Same idea carries into leg yields - my weight needs to be down the inside, not outside, with a half halt on outside.
And SAME IDEA into shoulder in - omg I seriously thought I would die of exhaustion. We did maybe 7-8 laps of the entire full size dressage court, working for true shoulder in down each and every long side.... fail sauce lol.
Cue was to bring her around my inside leg (with weight down that inside leg), and my outside elbow back and outside thigh on. Also needed to be WAY less reliant on inside hand, and point my stomach toward the centerline. Think: 'ride the angle of a 10m circle down the long side.'
Once I finally managed to put all my body parts in the right place tho, we were actually able to turn it directly into a half pass. So that was kinda cool (I'd never ridden a half pass before).
no video of successful shoulder in or half pass (Brita had to go get ready for her lesson) so hear's another canter pic
So. Star. She's pretty cool. Similar enough to Isabel that I feel good about rehashing most of these takeaways with the red mare. But, more importantly, she helped me figure out just how much my own positional issues are impeding Isabel's ability to do the things I want her to do.
This lesson was empowering in other ways too: Trainer C sorta just told me to go ride sitting trot and shoulder in and half pass. No big build up or explanation, just 'go do it.' Then I did it and kinda failed, but from there C could tell me, 'ok fix this' or 'add that,' and combined with sheer repetition, I could actually feel my limbs going where they needed to be.
It's easy enough to say "put your elbow here" or "move your hip thusly," to lecture on the technical intricacies of position. But if I never actually *feel* it in action, I'll never figure it out. So I kinda like that C just says - "Go do such and such" then refines it from there. So far it's working for me!
Over the course of the summer, in conjunction with changing tack (puns lol) on our saddle fit issues, Isabel started seeing a new chiro/acupuncturist/former DVM about every 6-8 weeks. The last visit was... in August. Oops. But ya know, broken leg, holidays, etc etc.
hugs to get reacquainted. or ya kow, a poll adjustment. same thing, right?
Just goes to show that any time we have anything all neatly and tidily planned out with horses, something is bound to go haywire. The intention had been:
start Isabel on a more regular chiro schedule to develop baselines
reevaluate at next chiro appointment in mid November (never happened)
determine timeline for moving forward with new saddle (also never happened)
We only got halfway through that plan of action before my injury. Le sigh. That's ok, tho. It means starting fresh again, since Isabel lost a ton of weight and muscling during her vacation and is therefore not really in any proper shape for a saddle fitting. Which works out more or less well enough since I'm still paying off my cat's medical emergency, blargh, and don't really feel financially prepared to buy a saddle.
and shaking hands!
Silver linings though: she has come back into work feeling better than ever. So we are back to square one, establishing baselines. And the verdict? Isabel's in a pretty good place right now. It wasn't just my imagination that she's been feeling really good over her back. Phew!
There are still issues, of course, including residual soreness from our previous saddle fit (which frustrates me to no end)... and she's got the same sticking points as always. But the chiro was pleased with her current physical state.
needle in the 'performance point'
Only real differences this time around were an extra acupuncture point for Isabel's bruised hoof (healing well, btw) and a discussion on ulcers. Readers may recall we treated Isabel for ulcers with a course of Gastrogard just over a year ago. Since then, she's been on daily gastric supplements.
After recovering from my leg injury well enough to get back to the barn and plan our grand return to work, I decided to do another full ulcer treatment. Izzy had lost a lot of weight, and let's face it, she travels a LOT and it's unrealistic to think a horse with her lifestyle (not to mention disposition) wouldn't be prone to ulcers.
needles errrywhere!
This time I opted for the generic form of omeprazole offered through Abler. At the time of this chiro appointment, Isabel was almost finished the 28 day treatment period, tho I was considering extending the treatment a bit before tapering and returning her to her normal supplements. And yet, Isabel still reacted positively to the ulcer points during the work up. Ughhhh.
The chiro thinks that, for whatever reason, the generic form of omeprazole doesn't work quite as well as Gastrogard's formulation, and she agreed that I should extend the treatment and add aloe juice to the mix. I expressed skepticism, thinking that aloe juice only soothes for the brief moments it's actually in the stomach, but she disagreed and said it had longer lasting properties and that Isabel needs something to push her over the hump in recovery.
So idk. I guess it's pretty cheap, and I really don't want to keep the horse on omeprazole any longer than necessary... so perhaps I'll give it a shot.
Big takeaways from the appointment are to keep doing what I'm doing to rebuild strength and top line, and hopefully at some point soon start looking at saddle shopping again (budget allowing). Then reassess in 3 months. Sounds good to me!
Because wow it's cold out now, guys. I knew we had been living a charmed life these last couple weeks, enjoying sunny 60 degree days (sometimes even 70!) with minimal precipitation.... But those days are OVER. So over. Le sigh.
It had to happen eventually tho, and at least I was more or less prepared for the drop. I wrote last February about my typical winter wardrobe, featuring technical running- or yoga-style long sleeve tops (with the ever important thumb holes) and fleece Mopas leggings (literally my favorite thing EVAR). Seriously, these leggings are incredible and I live in them all winter long, and you really can't go wrong for $5... so yea.
There are some additions this year tho. First up, my sister gave me these Volyer fingerless gloves for Christmas, and I've been wearing them constantly ever since.
remind me never to quit my day job for a career in hand modeling...
They tuck up neatly under my sleeves (even shirts with thumb holes!), but go farther up my hand to protect my knuckles. So my hand gets way more coverage, but the fingers are still free to do whatever they gotta do. Plus they fit nicely under my regular riding gloves.
so i might be complaining about highs of 24*... whatever tho. that's COLD in my book!
I couldn't find the same exact pair online, but these from Amazon are pretty close. The gloves are advertised as a cashmere blend and are surprisingly cozy for such a thin knit - exactly what I look for in base layers.
I also wrote last spring about the Mountain Horse Forest Highlander boots I picked up on sale from Tack of the Day. By the time they arrived, we were mostly past the coldest season, so I never got to take full advantage of them. And then after breaking my leg, it became questionable whether I'd regain the flexibility needed to point my toe enough to actually pull these suckers on.
yay for matching shoes!
But FINALLY, this weekend I got the boot on the leg in question!!! Guys. This might sound stupid, but that was maybe the highlight of this weekend (especially after canceling all my lessons with Isabel bc poor mareface bruised her sole...). And now I'm even happier than ever to have these boots. They are comfortable, sturdy, and WARM. Highly recommend.
Of course, tho, when things get REALLY cold out, there's no substitute for staying active and moving around. As demonstrated by Bali, Calypso, and Bali's Teeth. lol
Have you tried anything new recently to stay warm?
A couple years ago, I read a post on Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog that featured a documentary of an anatomical investigation of the racehorse. And then earlier this week, the video popped up again in my YouTube recommendations. So naturally I watched the whole 45 minute video again, because it's seriously that cool.
The documentary is hosted by Veterinary Scientist Mark Evans as part of the "Inside Nature's Giants" series, and covers a wide variety of topics. Particularly, it explores racing history and lore (including details on famous horses), the evolutionary history of the horse, racehorse breeding and training, and extensive discussion of bio-mechanics.
And it all revolves around a full dissection of a 4 year old racehorse. Particularly neat details in the dissection include:
examination of the fore limb joints and soft tissue structures
a cross-section of the lower leg, including hoof capsule (omg so cool)
review of internal organs (such as intestines, larynx, trachea, lungs {HUGE}, heart {also HUGE}, and spleen)
assessment of musculature
screen shot. hope you're not squeamish about this... i just think it's SO COOL OMG
It's hard not to get a little weirdly enthusiastic about the blood and guts too, since the vets working on the dissection are clearly loving their job and are super knowledgeable (plus there's plenty of awkward nerdy banter too, lol).
So I'm sharing in case you're into that kind of thing and have a spare hour this weekend - I highly recommend checking out this documentary!
A few different bloggers have expounded on their true costs for horse showing, and it's been somewhat eye opening to read their posts - especially in how wildly costs vary by region.
I'm chiming in too bc let's face it, we showed a lot this year and it adds up. But what I learned from other posts was that it doesn't add up in my area in NEARLY the same way it does else where. Maryland has the advantage of an extensive calendar of nearby events, recognized or not, as well as scads of top riders and coaches whose lessons are priced competitively.
The following breakdown looks exclusively at my 3-phase events from 2015. We strictly competed in one-day starter trials. Nothing over night, and nothing recognized. Right away that makes a big difference in costs.
Additionally, I didn't compete with a trainer (excepting our first event of the season, Jenny Camp) and I haul myself - frequently with another rider who splits fuel costs (and also brings food bc Brita seriously makes the most bangin' sandwiches ever. #justsayin).
So what did I pay for this show season?
Memberships: $40 (MCTA)
This membership pays for itself entirely if you compete in both MCTA Starter Trials
Entry Fees: $785 (includes coaching when applicable)
Volunteer Credits: - $45
$25 for jump judging at Shawan Downs
$20 for jump judging at Olney's recognized event
Cross Country Schooling: $375
Other Considerations
There are obviously other (extensive) costs associated with my horse hobby. The horse herself. Lessons (and I take a LOT of them...). My stock trailer, for which I still have a monthly payment ($118 if you're intensely curious). Fuel and maintenance for the truck. Equipment.
Etc etc etc, the list goes on and on and never ever ends ever. It's horses. My experience is that the associated costs will balloon to whatever size your budget accommodates. Better money managers can spend less. Individuals with greater resources can spend more.
These associated costs are therefore excluded from my show season cost analysis since they vary so extremely from one person to the next, and since most of it is part of my regular horse budget, not just the show budget.
Bottom Line: $1,155
At the end of the day, I spent $1,155 to compete in 8 shows and school cross country 5 times. That amounts to ~$90 per outing. (And if you're squeamish about my blase dismissal of the other considerations, you can add the value of your own associated costs here. Say, $25-$50 per outing - meaning an additional $325-$650 for the year).
This is by no means an insignificant sum, and I remain ever grateful that I have employment and access to a lease horse on terms that make this possible.
But I also believe that, at the end of the day, we're relatively economical and thrifty in spending those precious dollars (and in taking advantage of opportunities for discounts, like volunteering!). We get an awful lot of bang for our buck.
***
What about you? If you show, are your costs very different from this? Are there specific reasons why (like having goals or circumstances such that you only do recognized events)? Or would you show more often if it was more affordable?
Also, for those of you riding in different disciplines, it's always interesting to hear how they compare!
Lesson day this week was another balmy January day - quite a bit warmer than last week's lesson. And the horses responded accordingly lol. Last week everyone was FRESH and SASSY, and this week we had quieter, more business-like ponies. Isabel was still quite happy tho :)
target acquired!
She flatted *really* nicely, just like our recent epic dressage lesson. And actually, this was maybe the first jump ride since getting back to work where Isabel easily and quickly softened to my hand at walk and trot before each course. That's been missing from recent jump rides, and I'm really happy to have it back bc it essentially indicates whether I'll have a half halt or not.
yes ma'am, i think we can do a 12' stride
And this lesson proved to be all about the half halts. Trainer P set up a neat exercise of roll backs and long-ish straight approaches. The kind of exercise that tattles on you if you have a blah canter or are unbalanced. And also the perfect exercise for working on landing the lead, which you may recall we had been practicing before my injury.
not the prettiest illustration ever, but you get the picture
I kept the warm up to a minimum, just doing a couple pieces from 1-1 (like canter to trot transitions on the diagonal, and the 10m half circle changes of direction at trot, and one itty bitty trot lengthening), to avoid wearing the mare out prematurely. With it being so balmy out, I definitely worried about her getting too tired.
#flying
It was fine tho. We started jumping by working through ground poles that turned into trainer P's favorite: a one stride grid. Then moved immediately into the exercise, with all the fences (all oxers) again staying right around 2'6".
gratuitous slo-mo bc why not lol
Isabel felt really good - we still had all that same forward energy from last week, but having a better half halt this time around meant that our canter was way more adjustable. This proved to be a very good thing bc man, that 18' one stride was tight distance-wise lol.
her canter has so much lift right now, i love it!
I again worked on remembering to half halt early enough in the turn to the fence such that I could ride *forward* (but not fast) to the fence. So far so good on this account, tho P reminded me to not get too forward with my upper body while doing so; I still have to sit UP.
funny expressions all around haha - but i love her listening ear lol
I'm also getting a little overly-rounded with my back over the fences. That part of my position has never been picture-perfect, but it's gotten a little worse. It's partially from general weakness. But also maybe bc I'm trying to be more forward with my hands but struggle to keep my shoulders back while doing so. Also my stirrups went down to accommodate the stiffer ankle, but I think they might be ready to go back up again. We'll see if that makes a difference.
she's totally got this
In all, tho, it was just another round of jumping that makes me feel really good about where Isabel is right now. Her fitness isn't fully recovered yet, so we quit early even while the rest of our lesson mates got in another shot with one of the jumps put up a bit.
We will be ready to jump bigger again soon (hopefully before we get relegated to the indoor for the season!), but there's no reason to push it. Isabel is clearly ready mentally, but I'd hate to exhaust her physically when she's doing such a nice job and getting all the answers right (like our leads - we landed all but one!!).
In the meantime, I'm pretty excited at the prospect of drilling into our dressage work. Especially after seeing the difference in our half halts and canter work between last week and this week, with no real jumping in between.
After telling P about how well Isabel did with that first level test 1, she said it made sense since that test requires a forward ride. Aaaaand there's another 'bingo' moment for me lol. Forward. The answer for Isabel is always, and must always be, forward. Not fast, sure (which Dan always nailed us for), but definitely not backward.
And right now Isabel is feeling so loose and soft through her body - she's very happy to move forward into the bridle and contact; whereas before she maybe was a bit resistant. This is definitely a feeling I want to maintain even was we get into more intense work.
