I swear at some point I will actually start blogging more than once a month (if that). What a crazy month that it has been for me though! So crazy, in fact, that I will have to write more than one post on it.
To kick off the post, I got to have a really fantastic experience with my barn. They went up to Thunderbird from 6/26-7/2. I have been working at the barn for the last few months and they decided last minute to take me as a groom! I rushed to get my passport together, and make sure that I had everything I would need, and we went off to Canada!
This was my first experience at an A-rated jumper show, and just WOW. The atmosphere, people and horses are all fascinating to be around. It took a couple of days for me to adjust to the environment of these shows and exactly how to keep our barn running smoothly, but everyone at the barn was helpful and patient while I got the swing of things. By day 3 I was having a blast!
We brought 6 horses on the trip and there just happened to be 6 people too - which never happens. I learned the ropes of how warm-up rings work at these A-rated shows, got a pretty good handle on how to time everything out so that all horses and people were ready for their classes, and even got to experience making sure a hunter looked flawless before heading into his rounds (no hunter braiding for me though - thank goodness!).
I met all sorts of really incredible people, and gushed over some fancy horses (1.40 amateur horses - I'm looking at you), but I would have to say that the highlight of my trip was watching my trainer compete 3 times in the Grand Prix arena.
Being able to personally know someone that was riding in that arena, and have them personally know you back, was such a cool feeling. Plus there is an incredible sense of accomplishment and pride knowing that you got that horse ready. You put it's studs in, groomed til it shined, and tacked that horse up. I don't really know how else to describe it, but it was such an incredible feeling.
I loved the whole experience and environment of the show (once I figured out what I was doing) and had an absolute blast. If nothing else, watching my trainer rock it around the 1.20, 1.25 and 1.30 classic, made the whole trip worth it.
The next weekend, after the show, I ended up taking Charmer to Sun Valley, Idaho for a clinic. It was supposed to be a clinic and derby, but the derby was cancelled due to lack of entries, so we just got a couple of fun days to learn in the clinic. My usual trainer was the clinician so she had a really good handle on exactly what Charmer and I needed to work on.
The first day was an arena day (unfortunately there is no media from the first day). We started out with just flatting to warm up as a group. Charmer actually did way better than I expected him to do considering it was our first time trailering out, staying overnight and asking him to show up to play the next day. I knew that my #1 priority all weekend was to give him a job, and have a plan. Or at least to fake it til I make it. When he wanted to be stupid or silly, I gave him a job. Sometimes we did serpentines, other times we did circles, and sometimes we just worked on transitions. Once he figured out that I had a plan (for the most part) and was in control, he settled in really well. He would stand fairly patiently while the other horses went around and did their courses, and he would perk right up to go jump his course.
He still has some racehorse moments, but the better plan that I have, the better he responds. When we have another jump coming up, I will still point him at it and he will figure out his job, and then when there isn't another jump in close proximity, I would ask him to halt or circle to rebalance and check back in.
We both still have a lot of work to do, but we are definitely heading in the right direction.
On day 2, we graduated to the cross country field. I have only ever taken Charmer in a cross country field twice. The first time was in a field with about 10 jumps in it and only 1 other (very experienced) horse on about a 1/2 acre of property. The second time, it was a much larger environment, but we spent the whole time just getting him to calm down, and by the end of that trip we only jumped 2 cross country fences. So this clinic was a big challenge for us in that regard.
First off, we wandered through the water, and he got in by himself, and significantly faster than last time. Then we trotted and cantered through the water for a while just to get him thinking. Honestly once he figures out the game of going through the water, he actually enjoys it a lot. He gets quite sure that he is the best at water.
To kick off the post, I got to have a really fantastic experience with my barn. They went up to Thunderbird from 6/26-7/2. I have been working at the barn for the last few months and they decided last minute to take me as a groom! I rushed to get my passport together, and make sure that I had everything I would need, and we went off to Canada!
This was my first experience at an A-rated jumper show, and just WOW. The atmosphere, people and horses are all fascinating to be around. It took a couple of days for me to adjust to the environment of these shows and exactly how to keep our barn running smoothly, but everyone at the barn was helpful and patient while I got the swing of things. By day 3 I was having a blast!
We brought 6 horses on the trip and there just happened to be 6 people too - which never happens. I learned the ropes of how warm-up rings work at these A-rated shows, got a pretty good handle on how to time everything out so that all horses and people were ready for their classes, and even got to experience making sure a hunter looked flawless before heading into his rounds (no hunter braiding for me though - thank goodness!).
I met all sorts of really incredible people, and gushed over some fancy horses (1.40 amateur horses - I'm looking at you), but I would have to say that the highlight of my trip was watching my trainer compete 3 times in the Grand Prix arena.
Being able to personally know someone that was riding in that arena, and have them personally know you back, was such a cool feeling. Plus there is an incredible sense of accomplishment and pride knowing that you got that horse ready. You put it's studs in, groomed til it shined, and tacked that horse up. I don't really know how else to describe it, but it was such an incredible feeling.
I loved the whole experience and environment of the show (once I figured out what I was doing) and had an absolute blast. If nothing else, watching my trainer rock it around the 1.20, 1.25 and 1.30 classic, made the whole trip worth it.
The next weekend, after the show, I ended up taking Charmer to Sun Valley, Idaho for a clinic. It was supposed to be a clinic and derby, but the derby was cancelled due to lack of entries, so we just got a couple of fun days to learn in the clinic. My usual trainer was the clinician so she had a really good handle on exactly what Charmer and I needed to work on.
The first day was an arena day (unfortunately there is no media from the first day). We started out with just flatting to warm up as a group. Charmer actually did way better than I expected him to do considering it was our first time trailering out, staying overnight and asking him to show up to play the next day. I knew that my #1 priority all weekend was to give him a job, and have a plan. Or at least to fake it til I make it. When he wanted to be stupid or silly, I gave him a job. Sometimes we did serpentines, other times we did circles, and sometimes we just worked on transitions. Once he figured out that I had a plan (for the most part) and was in control, he settled in really well. He would stand fairly patiently while the other horses went around and did their courses, and he would perk right up to go jump his course.
He still has some racehorse moments, but the better plan that I have, the better he responds. When we have another jump coming up, I will still point him at it and he will figure out his job, and then when there isn't another jump in close proximity, I would ask him to halt or circle to rebalance and check back in.
We both still have a lot of work to do, but we are definitely heading in the right direction.
On day 2, we graduated to the cross country field. I have only ever taken Charmer in a cross country field twice. The first time was in a field with about 10 jumps in it and only 1 other (very experienced) horse on about a 1/2 acre of property. The second time, it was a much larger environment, but we spent the whole time just getting him to calm down, and by the end of that trip we only jumped 2 cross country fences. So this clinic was a big challenge for us in that regard.
First off, we wandered through the water, and he got in by himself, and significantly faster than last time. Then we trotted and cantered through the water for a while just to get him thinking. Honestly once he figures out the game of going through the water, he actually enjoys it a lot. He gets quite sure that he is the best at water.
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| Spy that CWD in this photo? That is another fun thing that happened this month |
Then we were off to do a mini course. Various fences from intro height to BN. Honestly the first time we went out it was not great. I was looking down at every fence wondering where I was going to end up, and I had no real faith in him. He was being honest as could be, but without any guidance from me, we stopped at the first half a dozen fences. Finally my trainer handed me a whip. We talked about the fact that all he was doing was asking the question "are you sure?" at the base of the fence and I was whispering "yes? I think?" back to him. The answer he needs is "YES, I'm sure!". So at the base of the fence I tapped him with the whip and sure enough he sprung right over without an issue.
We had a blast around a few more mini courses, and then opened it up to go into another field. Charmer had a nice racehorse moment in between a couple of fences, but he checked back in after a minute or so and then we finished our course.
The fences became more and more actual BN height, but Charmer didn't even bat an eye. As long as I was there, telling him that I wanted to go over the jump, he was right there with me. We had 3 more real racehorse moments during the rest of our XC ride, but at each and every one, he came back in about a minute. We got quite familiar with the use of a pulley rein, but we also worked on the concept of cruising position. It is really hard for Charmer to understand, because when I go up to just "cruise" along and not give him input every stride, he tends to speed up, thinking that is what I want, instead of just staying the same. That will be something really good to work on with him, but overall the clinic in Sun Valley was a huge success! First real clinic for me or Charmer in the books, and I cant wait for when our next one is!!!
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