This weekend brought around another one of our local schooling shows! I entered Banner in at Novice again, as he definitely needs more & more practice doing that level. He is laughably bored at BN, but still just a bit intimidated by some of the Novice questions, so its a great learning experience for him each time we get out.
In our recent show jumping lessons with Trainer C, we have finally unlocked a new level with Banner. He is finally feeling confident & schooled enough at the 3' level that I need to stop "helping" him as much (okay, lets be real, I need to stop micromanaging him). It is super hard for me to learn to just almost sit there in a supportive role for him. I do my part, trying to set him up well & give him a fair chance to make a good decision, but now I need to let him take some of the responsibility.
Banner is loving this new balance we have struck. When I finally stopped fidgeting with him as much, you could almost hear him sigh & say "THANK YOU".
Because of our newfound confidence with the show jumps, I felt really good about that phase! However, that phase comes tomorrow haha. They switched up the show order so that we do Dressage & XC on Saturday and we SJ on Sunday now. I liked this change a lot, the only unfortunate part is that this means putting Dressage on the grass. And Banner is uncomfortable on grass without studs, and we haven't ever had to do dressage on grass, so I knew that would be an interesting learning curve for both of us.
I got him all tacked up nearly 45 minutes before our ride time (for reference I usually only get on about 20-30 minutes early tops for dressage), including small road studs on the outside of all of his shoes for a bit extra traction for my worrier of a horse. I jumped on and started walking over to dressage, and Banner was convinced we were going cross country. In his defense, he has ever only run XC at this facility.
There was a fair amount of prancing & a whole lot of tension in our warmup. I did lots of transitions and bending and we spent an absurd amount of time trotting. Banner was thoroughly confused as to why our XC warmup consisted of so much trotting. I finally deflated the pony a little bit after about 30 minutes of work, but in all reality, it still felt an awful lot like I was sitting on a coiled spring, ready to explode.
I spent a moment reviewing my test in my head and hoping that a brief moment of standing/relaxing would help decompress my tense pony, but it didn't help much.
We headed down centerline and I did my best to push him forward, but I had to be pretty tactful about it, too much pressure would definitely set him off. We had some nice moments and a decent amount of forward but it was definitely more conservative than our last test.
The whole first half of the test is largely trot work, and then free walk, before you canter at all. The trot work, and the walk transition helped relax him just a bit, then we went into the canter. Luckily the left lead is the first one you have to do, and that is his better lead, so we made it through that circle okay, but our downward transition was wobbly and unfocused.
As we changed directions, we came around a corner right before our right lead canter work, and a trailer leaving hit a bump and made a loud bang noise! Banner had a wee little meltdown. I was able to put a lid back on him pretty quickly but it brought all the tension back for the last little portion of our test. Thank goodness for me, the place where he had his little explosion is one of only like 2 places in the test that do not have a score attached to them, so it really didn't affect our score (other than maybe the collectives) and we managed a 37.1 to put us in 3rd out of the 6 riders.
We headed back to the trailer, and I swapped out his tack and studs for what we needed for cross country. There was over an hour between my times for dressage and cross country, but based on how tense my little pony was, I figured we would need a lot of warmup. It turned out to be pretty good that I got on early, for two reasons. One: Banner was indeed a very spicy sausage and needed as much warmup as I could get. Two: The show was running about 30 minutes early and they were trying to get the last group of riders done (which I was a part of).
Our warmup consisted of lots of attempts to run away, little buck/fart/buttscoots away from fences, and me trying desperately to instill some sort of a half halt back into my normally civil horse. I spent the better part of 10 minutes putting him over little warmup fences in a show jumping canter and halting on the backside just to try and get some brakes.
He was so bold and borderline wild that I nearly considered retiring, but after over half an hour of warmup, he became barely civil enough that I decided to just go on course and see what happened. Novice fences are not extremely large for him to jump so it wasn't like we were going to be dangerous, and if it was getting too out of hand, I could just stop and retire on course if necessary.
We left the start box the best we have yet! He actually sprung up into the canter and I was able to give him a short gallop stretch before the first fence. He attacked the hanging log (slash faux trakehner) first fence and then I had to really bring him back because the next jump was a stadium fence. He was grouchy about having to slow down but obliged and we didn't knock it. A nice little gallop down to the Novice rolltop, and he actually listened to my half halt pretty well coming up to this fence.
We were unable to school XC prior to this show, which I was mostly fine with, but the one thing I was hesitant on was what he would do about the ditch. Ditches have been strangely hit or miss for us. Either he doesn't even bat an eye at them, or he thinks they house demons waiting to eat him. We went boldly up to the ditch & I lengthened my reins, put my leg on and hoped he would just pop right over it. Which he did, like a good pony! I'm hoping our ditch problem days are behind us.
This gave us a nice little gallop stretch down to the far end of the field which is where Banner's most favorite jump is set up - the steeplechase fence! For some reason, he absolutely loves this fence, he jumps it beautifully every time and attacks it with forward, happy ears. I hoped this fence would give us some extra confidence for the next fence on course - the maxed Novice trakehner that B is pretty horrified of.
I rebalanced him really well for this fence, set us up super straight and then rode like someone set me on fire. I was determined to give him a super forward, positive, committed ride to this fence! We managed to get a good distance, and even though Banner gave it a half of a peek when we were about a stride away, a light tap of the whip and a cluck gave him the confidence he needed to spring over it right in stride.
With the two questions I was most worried about out of the way, I relaxed just a bit for the second half of the course. I was still riding a fire-breathing dragon, but he was bold and the rest of the fences were not as intimidating to him. Next we had an upbank out of water, then a triple log headed into the water followed by another upbank. He loves water and has no issue with any fences into or out of water. He got a bit bold at the second upbank and took off long, but we recovered and set off toward the big table. We were headed towards home and he got a bit strong, but we still managed a decent jump at the table.
Another short gallop stretch to an upbank then 2 strides to a down. He ate that up! Another max height hanging log, but by this point he was feeling so bold and confident that I'm pretty sure that jump could have been on fire and he still would have jumped it.
Inviting A-frame coup, to another upbank to a downbank and we were done! I was pleased that we made it around the course, and this was the first time we actually made it around double clear! The first time we tried Novice XC we had several stops, and the second time we came in with a fair bit of time due to some trotting on course.
Truth be told, I would have liked to have more brakes for sure, but I was able to get the rebalance when I really needed it, and I'm still learning how to ride such a fit, bold horse at this level. Definitely still need more schooling, but I'm super proud of this ride!
Tomorrow will tell all about show jumping day!
In our recent show jumping lessons with Trainer C, we have finally unlocked a new level with Banner. He is finally feeling confident & schooled enough at the 3' level that I need to stop "helping" him as much (okay, lets be real, I need to stop micromanaging him). It is super hard for me to learn to just almost sit there in a supportive role for him. I do my part, trying to set him up well & give him a fair chance to make a good decision, but now I need to let him take some of the responsibility.
Banner is loving this new balance we have struck. When I finally stopped fidgeting with him as much, you could almost hear him sigh & say "THANK YOU".
Because of our newfound confidence with the show jumps, I felt really good about that phase! However, that phase comes tomorrow haha. They switched up the show order so that we do Dressage & XC on Saturday and we SJ on Sunday now. I liked this change a lot, the only unfortunate part is that this means putting Dressage on the grass. And Banner is uncomfortable on grass without studs, and we haven't ever had to do dressage on grass, so I knew that would be an interesting learning curve for both of us.
I got him all tacked up nearly 45 minutes before our ride time (for reference I usually only get on about 20-30 minutes early tops for dressage), including small road studs on the outside of all of his shoes for a bit extra traction for my worrier of a horse. I jumped on and started walking over to dressage, and Banner was convinced we were going cross country. In his defense, he has ever only run XC at this facility.
There was a fair amount of prancing & a whole lot of tension in our warmup. I did lots of transitions and bending and we spent an absurd amount of time trotting. Banner was thoroughly confused as to why our XC warmup consisted of so much trotting. I finally deflated the pony a little bit after about 30 minutes of work, but in all reality, it still felt an awful lot like I was sitting on a coiled spring, ready to explode.
I spent a moment reviewing my test in my head and hoping that a brief moment of standing/relaxing would help decompress my tense pony, but it didn't help much.
We headed down centerline and I did my best to push him forward, but I had to be pretty tactful about it, too much pressure would definitely set him off. We had some nice moments and a decent amount of forward but it was definitely more conservative than our last test.
The whole first half of the test is largely trot work, and then free walk, before you canter at all. The trot work, and the walk transition helped relax him just a bit, then we went into the canter. Luckily the left lead is the first one you have to do, and that is his better lead, so we made it through that circle okay, but our downward transition was wobbly and unfocused.
As we changed directions, we came around a corner right before our right lead canter work, and a trailer leaving hit a bump and made a loud bang noise! Banner had a wee little meltdown. I was able to put a lid back on him pretty quickly but it brought all the tension back for the last little portion of our test. Thank goodness for me, the place where he had his little explosion is one of only like 2 places in the test that do not have a score attached to them, so it really didn't affect our score (other than maybe the collectives) and we managed a 37.1 to put us in 3rd out of the 6 riders.
We headed back to the trailer, and I swapped out his tack and studs for what we needed for cross country. There was over an hour between my times for dressage and cross country, but based on how tense my little pony was, I figured we would need a lot of warmup. It turned out to be pretty good that I got on early, for two reasons. One: Banner was indeed a very spicy sausage and needed as much warmup as I could get. Two: The show was running about 30 minutes early and they were trying to get the last group of riders done (which I was a part of).
Our warmup consisted of lots of attempts to run away, little buck/fart/buttscoots away from fences, and me trying desperately to instill some sort of a half halt back into my normally civil horse. I spent the better part of 10 minutes putting him over little warmup fences in a show jumping canter and halting on the backside just to try and get some brakes.
He was so bold and borderline wild that I nearly considered retiring, but after over half an hour of warmup, he became barely civil enough that I decided to just go on course and see what happened. Novice fences are not extremely large for him to jump so it wasn't like we were going to be dangerous, and if it was getting too out of hand, I could just stop and retire on course if necessary.
We left the start box the best we have yet! He actually sprung up into the canter and I was able to give him a short gallop stretch before the first fence. He attacked the hanging log (slash faux trakehner) first fence and then I had to really bring him back because the next jump was a stadium fence. He was grouchy about having to slow down but obliged and we didn't knock it. A nice little gallop down to the Novice rolltop, and he actually listened to my half halt pretty well coming up to this fence.
We were unable to school XC prior to this show, which I was mostly fine with, but the one thing I was hesitant on was what he would do about the ditch. Ditches have been strangely hit or miss for us. Either he doesn't even bat an eye at them, or he thinks they house demons waiting to eat him. We went boldly up to the ditch & I lengthened my reins, put my leg on and hoped he would just pop right over it. Which he did, like a good pony! I'm hoping our ditch problem days are behind us.
This gave us a nice little gallop stretch down to the far end of the field which is where Banner's most favorite jump is set up - the steeplechase fence! For some reason, he absolutely loves this fence, he jumps it beautifully every time and attacks it with forward, happy ears. I hoped this fence would give us some extra confidence for the next fence on course - the maxed Novice trakehner that B is pretty horrified of.
 |
| Conquering this monstrosity |
I rebalanced him really well for this fence, set us up super straight and then rode like someone set me on fire. I was determined to give him a super forward, positive, committed ride to this fence! We managed to get a good distance, and even though Banner gave it a half of a peek when we were about a stride away, a light tap of the whip and a cluck gave him the confidence he needed to spring over it right in stride.
With the two questions I was most worried about out of the way, I relaxed just a bit for the second half of the course. I was still riding a fire-breathing dragon, but he was bold and the rest of the fences were not as intimidating to him. Next we had an upbank out of water, then a triple log headed into the water followed by another upbank. He loves water and has no issue with any fences into or out of water. He got a bit bold at the second upbank and took off long, but we recovered and set off toward the big table. We were headed towards home and he got a bit strong, but we still managed a decent jump at the table.
Another short gallop stretch to an upbank then 2 strides to a down. He ate that up! Another max height hanging log, but by this point he was feeling so bold and confident that I'm pretty sure that jump could have been on fire and he still would have jumped it.
Inviting A-frame coup, to another upbank to a downbank and we were done! I was pleased that we made it around the course, and this was the first time we actually made it around double clear! The first time we tried Novice XC we had several stops, and the second time we came in with a fair bit of time due to some trotting on course.
Truth be told, I would have liked to have more brakes for sure, but I was able to get the rebalance when I really needed it, and I'm still learning how to ride such a fit, bold horse at this level. Definitely still need more schooling, but I'm super proud of this ride!
Tomorrow will tell all about show jumping day!
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