Well hello again blogland. I sort of dropped off the face of the earth there for a little while, but I did continue stalking blogs and keeping up with a lot of other people's journeys.
I've been intending to come back on here for months now - so many fun things have been happening in my life & I have been super excited to sit down and write about them all, but for some reason I kept getting distracted. Finally, now is the time.
My last post was about our Halloween show - approximately 8 months ago! Whoops. I guess time got away from me a little bit there. Lots has happened since then, and I'm excited to relive all of the memories through this post & then actually return to a semi-regular blogging schedule!
Following the KOC Clinic & our Halloween show, we didn't have any big show plans on our radar, with it headed into winter, so we buckled down and got into a regular lesson program with Trainer C.
Banner has this tendency to have a flat, long jump. He's the horse that would rather take one out every time than ever add a stride. And if something didn't go according to plan, instead of jumping up through his shoulders he would jump kind of flat and look a bit like a deer!
When you are just popping a super athletic horse around little (2'6" and under) fences, it doesn't really matter if their biomechanics are wrong in some ways. Obviously its more comfortable for everyone involved if you jump nicely, but you're likely not going to get hurt over those size fences even if your horse jumps like an idiot.
But for me, I would really like to have Banner be a horse that brings me up the levels, and it was downright going to be dangerous if I continued letting him jump like that as the fences got bigger. Trainer C agreed with me wholeheartedly so we buckled down and did some of probably the most monotonous lessons either one of us have ever been a part of.
It started out as 2 or 3 lessons where I did the exact same exercise with him for nearly the whole time. A single fence, with a placing pole and landing pole, about 9ft out from the jump. The whole purpose of this was to get him to separate out the 3 parts of the jump (take off, in the air, landing), and get him to do all three parts with a bit more bascule instead of a flat, long jump.
And then we would go home and work hard on improving the quality of his 3 gaits on the flat, which definitely helped our jump lessons (its amazing what it does when you actually do the homework your trainer gives you!). After a few weeks of that, we graduated to grids. And drilled the same concept over and over and over again in the grids.
After probably a solid three months of these kind of lessons, there was definitely a difference appearing in Banner. He was more comfortable jumping from any place and he really had learned to sit down in order to take off for the jump. But the real question was: how would this carry over into a course?
Unfortunately it was the middle of winter and we were stuck in my barn's teeny indoor (photo not from our indoor), so coursing can be difficult. We made it work by setting up a figure 8 exercise one day, 2 5 stride lines down the long side, and a jump in the very center of the ring jumped along the short side. This allowed us to do straight lines and curved lines (think circle of death style) as needed.
I think Trainer C and I both had our doubts about how this was going to go in all honesty. But we had done loads of prep work, so it was time to see how it paid off. And wouldn't you know, all the training we did WORKED. Banner jumped every fence thoughtfully and taking the deep distance every time he had an option. I was so amazed. And now I had a partner who was thoughtful and had some really good decision making skills!
Fast forward until March and it was time for our barn's first little schooling show! Banner and I had been consistently schooling 2'9" and playing with a handful of 3'0" fences at this time, but I opted to do our afternoon classes and do a 2'3", 2'6" and 2'9" course.
The goal was to see if he (and I) could hold it together for a full 10+ jump course and make better decisions than we were able to make last year at the same heights. Wouldn't you know it? A full winter of work with a great trainer paid off! Banner was consistent and smart in every line. He felt bolder and braver than he did last year as well - I think he feels more comfortable and confident now that we have made it easier for him.
Then something totally crazy happened. I showed up to a lesson a couple weeks after this show andboldly hesitantly told my trainer: "so...if you think its a possibility for us, I'd love to try and do a 3'0" course in the next show. Thoughts?"
To my slight shock and horror, she goes "absolutely! I think that's a great goal!". We had about 3 weeks before that next show rolled around, so she did some work with me through grids feeling comfortable riding the bigger fences, and some course work to help us read the individual questions at that height.
Of course, as things go, the last lesson we had before the show was pretty darn horrible. He was almost too bold and was kind of tuning me out. I was disheartened, because at that point, we were only about 4 days out from the show and I'd signed up for 3'. Of course its a schooling show and I could change stuff, but he had been doing so well over the big fences that I'd really hoped I could debut back in the 3'0" for the first time since 2015!
I came out on that Saturday and just decided to see what horse I had under me. He felt great in the warmup, very straight & square to the fences and bold, but not impulsive. He felt like he wanted to play & was happy to be my partner. We popped around a 2'9" round and he felt really good. We got 2nd in that round!
Trainer was helping another student and hadn't seen my round. I was wavering heavily. I'd done the prep work, my horse felt great, but my #1 question was "am I riding him well enough for us to have a successful 3'0" round for the first time?". Another one of my trusted barn friends had watched our round and told me to go for it. I was still unsure. Then Trainer walked around the corner and asked how our 2'9" round went. I said it had been great and he felt comfortable and happy. She basically told me, "just do it!!".
That was the confirmation that I needed - so I decided to do our 3' round. I definitely had some nerves which caused stupid bobbles. A couple of dumb rails that were 100% my fault, and a stop that again was totally my fault. So I did a second round and cleaned it up a little bit. Once I was done, I felt so incredibly elated. I haven't done that height since before I injured myself in 2015, and I was really having doubts I was going to be able to get back there (stupid nerves). But now, with such a cool partner, I was able to do it and it really ended up going quite well!
This catches us up about 6 of the 8 months that I didn't blog! Since this post is getting pretty long, I'll continue this in another post and get caught back up to what we are up to right now!
I've been intending to come back on here for months now - so many fun things have been happening in my life & I have been super excited to sit down and write about them all, but for some reason I kept getting distracted. Finally, now is the time.
My last post was about our Halloween show - approximately 8 months ago! Whoops. I guess time got away from me a little bit there. Lots has happened since then, and I'm excited to relive all of the memories through this post & then actually return to a semi-regular blogging schedule!
Following the KOC Clinic & our Halloween show, we didn't have any big show plans on our radar, with it headed into winter, so we buckled down and got into a regular lesson program with Trainer C.
Banner has this tendency to have a flat, long jump. He's the horse that would rather take one out every time than ever add a stride. And if something didn't go according to plan, instead of jumping up through his shoulders he would jump kind of flat and look a bit like a deer!
When you are just popping a super athletic horse around little (2'6" and under) fences, it doesn't really matter if their biomechanics are wrong in some ways. Obviously its more comfortable for everyone involved if you jump nicely, but you're likely not going to get hurt over those size fences even if your horse jumps like an idiot.
But for me, I would really like to have Banner be a horse that brings me up the levels, and it was downright going to be dangerous if I continued letting him jump like that as the fences got bigger. Trainer C agreed with me wholeheartedly so we buckled down and did some of probably the most monotonous lessons either one of us have ever been a part of.
It started out as 2 or 3 lessons where I did the exact same exercise with him for nearly the whole time. A single fence, with a placing pole and landing pole, about 9ft out from the jump. The whole purpose of this was to get him to separate out the 3 parts of the jump (take off, in the air, landing), and get him to do all three parts with a bit more bascule instead of a flat, long jump.
And then we would go home and work hard on improving the quality of his 3 gaits on the flat, which definitely helped our jump lessons (its amazing what it does when you actually do the homework your trainer gives you!). After a few weeks of that, we graduated to grids. And drilled the same concept over and over and over again in the grids.
After probably a solid three months of these kind of lessons, there was definitely a difference appearing in Banner. He was more comfortable jumping from any place and he really had learned to sit down in order to take off for the jump. But the real question was: how would this carry over into a course?
Unfortunately it was the middle of winter and we were stuck in my barn's teeny indoor (photo not from our indoor), so coursing can be difficult. We made it work by setting up a figure 8 exercise one day, 2 5 stride lines down the long side, and a jump in the very center of the ring jumped along the short side. This allowed us to do straight lines and curved lines (think circle of death style) as needed.
I think Trainer C and I both had our doubts about how this was going to go in all honesty. But we had done loads of prep work, so it was time to see how it paid off. And wouldn't you know, all the training we did WORKED. Banner jumped every fence thoughtfully and taking the deep distance every time he had an option. I was so amazed. And now I had a partner who was thoughtful and had some really good decision making skills!
Fast forward until March and it was time for our barn's first little schooling show! Banner and I had been consistently schooling 2'9" and playing with a handful of 3'0" fences at this time, but I opted to do our afternoon classes and do a 2'3", 2'6" and 2'9" course.
The goal was to see if he (and I) could hold it together for a full 10+ jump course and make better decisions than we were able to make last year at the same heights. Wouldn't you know it? A full winter of work with a great trainer paid off! Banner was consistent and smart in every line. He felt bolder and braver than he did last year as well - I think he feels more comfortable and confident now that we have made it easier for him.
Then something totally crazy happened. I showed up to a lesson a couple weeks after this show and
To my slight shock and horror, she goes "absolutely! I think that's a great goal!". We had about 3 weeks before that next show rolled around, so she did some work with me through grids feeling comfortable riding the bigger fences, and some course work to help us read the individual questions at that height.
Of course, as things go, the last lesson we had before the show was pretty darn horrible. He was almost too bold and was kind of tuning me out. I was disheartened, because at that point, we were only about 4 days out from the show and I'd signed up for 3'. Of course its a schooling show and I could change stuff, but he had been doing so well over the big fences that I'd really hoped I could debut back in the 3'0" for the first time since 2015!
I came out on that Saturday and just decided to see what horse I had under me. He felt great in the warmup, very straight & square to the fences and bold, but not impulsive. He felt like he wanted to play & was happy to be my partner. We popped around a 2'9" round and he felt really good. We got 2nd in that round!
Trainer was helping another student and hadn't seen my round. I was wavering heavily. I'd done the prep work, my horse felt great, but my #1 question was "am I riding him well enough for us to have a successful 3'0" round for the first time?". Another one of my trusted barn friends had watched our round and told me to go for it. I was still unsure. Then Trainer walked around the corner and asked how our 2'9" round went. I said it had been great and he felt comfortable and happy. She basically told me, "just do it!!".
That was the confirmation that I needed - so I decided to do our 3' round. I definitely had some nerves which caused stupid bobbles. A couple of dumb rails that were 100% my fault, and a stop that again was totally my fault. So I did a second round and cleaned it up a little bit. Once I was done, I felt so incredibly elated. I haven't done that height since before I injured myself in 2015, and I was really having doubts I was going to be able to get back there (stupid nerves). But now, with such a cool partner, I was able to do it and it really ended up going quite well!
This catches us up about 6 of the 8 months that I didn't blog! Since this post is getting pretty long, I'll continue this in another post and get caught back up to what we are up to right now!
Welcome back! I've been happily following along with you on insta, but I can't wait to read more details!
ReplyDelete