The Girl Who Exploded

Alternate title: A Very Expensive Weekend

So I still need to finish up my Rolex recaps but I need some blogger advice so I'm bumping those posts.

This weekend I had a XC clinic with Jessica Phoenix and it was an amazing clinic. I learned so much and had some really great rides. Unfortunately I also shit the bed pretty hard at the corner. Corners cause some serious anxiety in my world (enough that I have always taken the option).

Racing at the scary corner and not committing to both the line and canter is a recipe for disaster even when mounted on a saintly XC machine. See supporting evidence below:

The 6-year-old boy was sad to have missed seeing "the girl explode"

For those who don't watch videos

It's a bit hard to see in the video but I landed face first. The brim of my helmet went straight into the ground and my forehead took the brunt of my fall. Thankfully I am fine, minus a green tinge to my forehead today (2 days post fall).

We did manage to conquer it both directions!

So not only do I need a new canister for my vest (annoying but manageable) I also need to replace my beloved purple CO. Which completely breaks my heart because it was the 100 year anniversary version so I can't get it again. Plus it was in it's last year of service so it doesn't qualify for the replacement policy. So all of a sudden Sunday became a very expensive day.

I lovelovelove this helmet.
So much that even though it hurt my head for the first year I refused to consider something else

And then because the universe has a really sick sense of humor, my day got even more expensive. My red dog tried to eat a bloody porcupine, resulting in a Sunday evening trip to the emergency clinic.

They are in her tongue, gums, roof of her mouth and throat as well

She's fine now, feeling sorry for herself, but fine

Hopefully the vet rides because most of my budget for custom tall boots is now in her hands :(

I'm stopping by a local tack store today to try on Samshields because they are so very pretty but at this point I really need to get a new helmet before our first event on June 3. I have my every day schooling Tipperary so I can still ride but it's way too fugly to show in.

Anyone know of somewhere that has a decent sale or discount that carries Charles Owen AYR8's or the ProII Skull Cap in round sizes? Or Samshields? Or how to go about selling superfluous internal organs on the black market?

Kick Harder-Think Less

I think Emma and I need to start a club. A club for Adult Amateur's Who Are Not Scared of Their Horses But Feel The Need to Pull at EVERY Jump Anyways.


I had a really great weekend, despite setting off my air vest for the first time. I managed to squeeze in a jump lesson with Sam on Friday afternoon. We were outside in her giant grass ring. The line set up was a 3 to a 6 to a 4 to a 2. All simple verticals and set on a 12' stride.

We got off to a rough start because I pulled Dee to the base of everything. Sam very tactfully mentioned that we will never hit a 12' stride if I feel the need to pull her down to an 8' one in front of every fence.

When I managed to let go (mostly) and really ride forward the line rode really well. Sam told me that no matter what happened over the fence my job was to push for the 12' (or even bigger) stride as soon as we landed. This way we were set up for success and if I didn't pull Dee was able to just carry it through.

Sam hiked the fences up (she's short, so they always look huge next to her) and we went through once more each way. I managed to ride FORWARD to every fence and even used half halts where they were needed, not just every stride. It was a great place to end it. Sam then told me to go look at the fences. The first was 3'3" and everything else was 3'6"-3'9"!!!

I love her this much. She tolerates me.

I have no idea when it happened but I seem to have gotten over my anxiety about jump height. They didn't even look big... Considering that a year ago I was barely getting around a 2'9" course I'm pretty stoked.

Saturday I got to head out to the foothills and trail ride with my mama and a good friend. I love riding with my mom and the weather was perfect, making it a really good day. I think we went about 10 miles in just over 2 hours and most of it was hills.

So pretty

Sunday I rode in the Training group in a mini XC clinic with Sandra Donnelly. She had brought some of her stadium jumps to the XC course so we could school some super technical things without having to do tons of galloping (the ground is rock hard because it still hasn't rained).

It went amazingly well while we were doing the stuff around the water. We started off just trotting off the bank. Sandra had me shorten my stirrups a hole and all of a sudden I wasn't getting left behind on the first stride after the drop.

No media from Sunday. So enjoy my superb Paint skillz

We then moved on to the vertical-2 strides-up bank-two strides-down bank-one stride-vertical. this rode really well for us (especially keeping in mind Sam's advice to really ride the first stride)

Then came the barrels. The orange skinnies in my masterful drawing are two barrels standing upright. We schooled them alone first. Dee ducked left the first time. She was a little surprised and not all that willing. A very aggressive ride on the second approach got us over it.

Next we strung it together as vertical, up bank, down bank, hard 45° turn to the barrel (in one stride) and then around the other way which had the turn to the barrel on two strides. The first time wasn't pretty but we got it done. Sandra got after me for not looking until it was almost too late. The nice thing about it was I was so busy worrying about where we were going that I completely forgot about pulling!

Our next course started out over the barrels into the water, through the water to the oxer on the way out. Left turn to the vertical bank line (straight through). Right turn inside the banks, and jump down into the water and up out of the water to the post and rail. Right turn, big gallop around to a cabin. Then oxer up the bank ramp, of the bank, 2 strides, off the bank into the water, hard right turn out over the barrels.

It all was going fabulously until the big galloping cabin. Here's where the pulling got in my way. I pulled, and I pulled, and I got a really crooked line. And then I looked down. And Dee exited stage left. I popped over her right shoulder, setting off my air vest for the first time. It was a simple fall and I was fine. I did need help to get out of my vest though. It doesn't deflate until the canister is removed and it was so tight I couldn't get the buckles undone.

One of the other riders told me that before her first Prelim she was having a minor freak out on the course walk over a giant table. Someone else told her to "Kick Harder, Think Less". This is my new mantra for XC, possibly for SJ too!

I got myself back on ad we did it again. This time I committed to the cabin (which was bloody huge, it was stamped Prelim) and Dee just popped over it like NBD. Damn pulling!

One of the other horses in our group is super ditchy so we headed over to school the big ditches. Dee couldn't care less so we jumped them both each way and then proceeded up the hill to jump the Training corner and wait out the histrionics of the talented but opinionated mare.

It felt really good to know that we could keep up with a Training/Prelim group and I'm beginning to feel good about our move up. I've got another clinic this weekend and then I'm off to BC for Chase Creek HT and the beginning of our season. If it all goes well we will move up to Training at the first AB event in June.

All part of the 'Let's Move Up' plan. More to come soon

Now to find a new cartridge for my vest (apparently everyone's falling off this spring and everyone seems to be sold out).

Dressage Queens For a Day

For the first time I actually rode in an actual dressage show! And had a ton of fun.

Dee and I have spent almost all winter focusing on dressage. This winter will forever be known as Dressage Bootcamp. Since Shimmer-E was taking Ritchie to a silver dressage show, I figured Dee and I should join her, especially since they also offered non-rated classes. Even better, we managed to convince the third musketeer that she needed to bring her pony and join us. For the first time in a long friendship all 3 of us showed at the same show.

We hauled down Saturday afternoon so we could school and bathe the ponies. As per usual, I warmed Ritchie up for Shimmer-E. The unusual part was he bucked me off. I was just walking him around the small ring and the first time we got to the judges table he spooked, reared and spun on his back legs and took of doing his version of bucking (no flying back legs but a giant amount of air time while humping his back). I came off right around X. I had two thoughts as this all went down. "Don't land on your bad foot" and "Shit, now there's going to be a loose stud in a busy arena". Thankfully I managed to land on the knee and shin of my bad leg, rather than the ankle and Ritchie headed right to Shimmer-E.

Double-duty Quick Wraps (I wore it all weekend)

After a solid lunge I got back on and schooled him in both rings before Shimmer-E mounted up and had a tense but successful ride. Since my leg was very sore I elected to just putter around on Dee. She remains Best Pony as she didn't put a foot out of place, no matter what happened (spooking horses and flapping pigeons didn't even rate a look).

I was super pumped to give her a bath. Her last bath was in September. As irritating as it is to have to use copious amounts of purple shampoo, it is rather satisfying to witness the transformation.

I had completely reasonable ride times that allowed me enough time to braid Ritchie, get on him for 5 minutes, watch her first test, braid Dee and then get on for my test.

I stuck with the minimal warm-up that served us so well last year. I was on for no more than 10 minutes before I went in. I mostly walked, did a few walk-trot transitions and did not canter.

We proceeded down centerline for T-1(and remembered the first halt!) and had our most relaxed test to date! I had a solid flat-footed walk. On the video (which my mother keeps forgetting to send me) you can see a mile wide grin on my face while we are walking. I didn't care what my score was, I was super happy with our ride.

The next test, T-2, was about an hour later so I put Dee in her stall to chill. The second tense felt more rushed and tense to me but was still light years ahead of anything from last year. (Except the stretchy trot circle, that was a hot mess).

I texted this to my dressage coach and my very reserved and proper Russian instructor sent me 3 exclamation points!

I was super pumped to find out we had scored 60.4% in T-1 and a 62.5% on T-2, earning us a second. The judge is traditionally a tough but fair critic so I was really pleased with our scores. And it didn't say 'tense' anywhere on our test, for the first time ever.

Look at how white those legs are!

The best part of the weekend was this picture though. Does it get any better than showing with your besties and everyone coming away super successful?
 

Favourite part of the weekend. Smiles, pretty ears and satin

Where The Red Mare and I Part Ways, In More Than One Way

So my last post about the mare saw me falling off when she reared and went down.  After that the mare and I hauled down to Alborak to clinic with Sandra Donnelly.  I hoped that all would go well but I also really hoped that the mare would show her obstinate side so that I could get some help.

Well horses being horses, the mare was a complete rockstar.  The only run-out we had was more pilot error than anything.  On the morning of the second day I also showed the mare in an Extreme Cowboy event, mostly because my mom was doing it and the mare's done it before so why not.  She warmed up well and we were the first ride of the day.  When I went in and asked her to pick up a canter she started bucking.  And I mean bucking, not just hopping around.  My rein snapped and I bailed off.  Turns out, in Extreme Cowboy, you have 60 seconds to catch and remount if you want to continue.  I got back on the mare and managed to complete the course without an issue.  I've never seen her buck before or since so I'm not sure what happened but I quickly loaded up and was off to have a great second day to my clinic.

The mare got a mini vacation at my moms horse before we did the Cochrane HT.  We had a great weekend.  We had two XC refusals but we jumped the ditch and finished on a number!  Things were really looking up.

It's the last fence.  Can you tell I was pleased with her?

The next weekend was the Sidesaddle Clinic at the BarU (which is a whole post on it's own).  The mare was a delight the whole weekend, even jumping aside!

So much fun!!!

And then there was Thompson Country HT.  What a weekend.  I thought dressage on Friday went pretty well but I felt I was tense and our corners definitely lacked polish.  Turns out the judge disagreed.  We were sitting in 1st out of a very competitive division of 30+!!!!

On Saturday we were having a good warm up for XC but it was excessively hot and they were running behind so we just chilled out for a bit.  When we were only a few riders out my coach had me school the vertical and then come to the oxer.  The vertical rode perfectly but the mare stalled out in front of the oxer and then tried to pop over it but just crashed through it.  I popped off, mostly landing on my feet.  After getting cleared by the paramedic I got back on, schooled the vertical a few times and re-approached the oxer.  The mare slid to a stop and spun out left (witness' said it was a very dirty stop) and, you guessed it, I came off again. I landed on my feet again though.  So the ground jury eliminated me after getting cleared by the paramedic.  I didn't even know you could be eliminated in warmup :(


To say I was disappointing would be an understatement.  I had reached the end of my rope.  Between the rearing, the bucking and the stopping I was getting scared and discouraged.  I'm a good rider but I also have a physical limitation with my weak ankle that also compromises my balance.  After the rearing incident I had contacted a trainer friend of mine to inquire about putting some training on the mare.  We had decided that she would head down in August since the trainer would be gone for 10 days to go to Rebecca Farm.  She was at the event and offered to take the mare a few weeks early as she had room on her trailer.  So I loaded the mare into her trailer and wished her luck.

When she is good, she is so good!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

So before my horse went on a week's vacation at my mother's I wanted to get out and school Beaumont x-country one more time. So I convinced my coach that our Wednesday night lesson should be at Beaumont.

Isabel and Martini showing us how it's done, after the incident.

The mare started out really well.  We jumped the Pre-Entry and Entry parts of the train and then our coach had us jump the Pre-Training coop in the train.  Mare sailed over it like it was NBD.  We moved over to the new complex and did the Entry line a few times before she had us do the Pre-Training bench.  I will admit that the bench freaked me out a little so I let the mare duck out the first time.  But the second time I actually rode it and she just popped right over it.

The pipeyard also went superbly until we went for the Pre-Training coop with two half circles cut into the bottom.  I got the first actual fear response from the mare.  About 12 strides out she got a good look at it and started snorting and refused to move forward.  I got her going and she slammed on the brakes in front of the fence.  I made her walk up to it, she sniffed it and then we were good to go.  I planned to trot on the reapproach but the mare picked up a canter 4 strides out and carried me right to the fence.  The other girls also all had refusals at that fence, on much more experienced horses.

We also jumped the airplane on the first try.  Considering last time this jump brought out a rear-and-spin I considered it a vast improvement.

The jump she would not jump...

Then we moved onto the farmyard with the black and red feeder that caused us grief at the event.  Let's just say it caused us more grief.  After 2 run-outs my coach told me to hold onto the right side of her face and keep her moving no matter what.  What comes next is slightly fuzzy but the mare went to go left, I blocked the run-out and she reared straight up, cracking me in the nose.  She then went over to the right.  I think she tried to spin left but I had a hold of the right rein and she lost her balance because everyone says she just kind of crumpled.  Descriptions vary but I think she landed on my bad ankle and I cracked my head hard enough that I needed a new helmet.

Too bad Tipperary doesn't have a frequent buyers card.  This is my third helmet in the past 18 months.

I got back on and rode for another 20 minutes, schooling banks, the ditch and the water all without issue but it was decided that I shouldn't try the feeder again that day.

This day was the straw that broke the camels back.  I don't know how to deal with the mare and her tendency to flip a switch and turn into Mr.Hyde.   The fence is not big, it's not even that scary but once she got it in her head that she didn't want to jump it I was unable to convince her that that is an unacceptable answer.

It's time for me to get some more help than my coach can provide.  The mare is going for training for the month of August.  We will see how that goes and go from there.  It's disheartening to have to send her but something has to give, and I would prefer it not to be my body.

Derby Time!

Sunday was the first cross country show of the year.  Isabel was awesome enough to come out and pick me and the mare up and we were off!  I had entered Entry, knowing we could have some issues but height isn't really our problem, steering and confidence are. So for better or worse we were giving 2'6" cross country  go.

Our course was 7 stadium fences and 7 cross country for a total of 1805m and an optimum time of 5:09.  The cross country fences were very straight forward with the most difficult being an up bank, 2 strides to a down bank.  The up wasn't flagged so there was the option to go up the ramp and jump down the bank.  (This becomes important later)

Stadium course (you know you're jealous of my awesome Paint skills)

Cross-country course

As we were tacking up, the skies unleashed a torrential downpour.  Rivers of water running of my saddle kind of downpour.  Turns out the mare hates rain.  She was fidgety, obnoxious and downright rude about me mounting up.  I was really glad I had corks since our stadium portion was on grass and then we went straight out into cross country.

Thankfully the rain was short lived.  By the time I made it to the warm up area the rain had mostly petered out.  The mare warmed up beautifully, even jumping the verticals at steep angles (inviting a run-out) without missing a beat.

Crappy cell phone photo at an interesting time...

When we went into start our twisty-turny stadium I was feeling nervous but very determined.  Our first fence was an oxer and I was not going to start our day with a run-out.  I rode her aggressively to the fence and she took it like a pro.  The rest of the course was not pretty as she felt very sticky and had a few deer moments but we went clear and were headed out to the cross country.  We had a nice gallop to the first fence and a few strides out I felt her back off.  I grabbed my reins in one hand and used my whip.  Unfortunately it didn't help :( She went left, and I went right.  The fall was minor and I could have landed on my feet if I had tried but since I have no desire to repeat my ankle destruction I tucked my knees in and landed on my hip.  The reins had come over her head and I've never been quite so glad I let her graze with the lead rope dragging.  She'd step on them, stop, back up and continue on.  I caught up and started my walk of shame.




Fortunately we had a second round to redeem ourselves.  The stadium felt great, until we got to fence 7 ad had a run-out.  Truthfully, I'm not sure why we had the run-out but it sure galvanized me into riding her like she was going to die if she went left.  We got over the first cross country fence, it wasn't pretty but I stayed on and we went.  The next fence rode lovely and we were off to the banks.  20 feet from the banks she slammed on the banks and reared.  These are the same banks we schooled a week ago without an issue.  Rather than pick the fight with her I chose to do the ramp and jump down.  We had another attempted run-out at the next fence which resulted in a stop.  I backed her up a few steps and we jumped it no problem on the second try.  Next was a big log pile that caused her to back off but I got aggressive and growled and we sailed on over. Our next fence was a small A-frame right before the water and I just plain ran out of steam.  When she balked I had no legs to back up my desire to go forward so we picked up a stop on the smallest fence out there.  We backed up again and jumped it with one trot stride.  She went through the water like a champ though!  The last fence was also the biggest, and one we hadn't jumped before so I was a little nervous and just rode with all I had left.  She didn't even look at it.  It was the nicest jump of the day and was a good place to call it a day.

Last Jump, apparently we jumped it at an angle

While it was not the day I wanted it still had moments that stand out (like our course had 4 oxers and not one was an issue!).  I have to say it is very disheartening to continue to have the same issue and at tiny little fences.  I'm feeling discouraged and at the end of my rope.  I can't keep falling off because I will eventually get seriously injured and I just can't afford that.  I promised myself and the mare that I would give it a solid year for us to get our shit together but there are people (best friend and coach included) that think it is time to find her a new home.  I'm not there yet, and I don't want easy (safe is a whole different story).  I'm not going to learn anything if I continue to ride the easy horses.  So I'm going to pick myself up and head to the Alhambra derby this weekend for another go at this cross country thing.

I'm not sure why but I love this photo