don’t go two years without showing

Just don’t. Why, you ask? Your show clothes will shrink in that time.

And now I have a show this weekend, and am wondering exactly how I’m going to pull this off. My plan was to wear navy and cream (cream looks so much nicer than white on the haffies!). My navy show coat fits fine, but the cream breeches are about two (okay, maybe three) sizes too small. They’re lovely pants with an even nicer leather seat, which means they are NOT very forgiving. I have some white breeches that do fit, but I’ve been tossed off in them, I’ve spilled walking taco on my lap in them, and I broke in new boots in them. Stained would be an understatement, and unless it’s pouring rain, I’m not wearing them to a show (it’s supposed to be sunny). But if I did have to wear them, I’d wear my longer black coat that covers up more of the stains. Except that seems to have shrunk a size as well. I can get it buttoned though.

I have one of those nice short sleeve coolmax type show shirts (that fits!), but it seems to have gone MIA since the driving event two weeks ago. So now I’m torn between rush shipping a new one, or sucking it up and wearing an actual long sleeved show shirt (it’s supposed to be 85 degrees).

Saturday I finally managed to ride in my new boots without a problem, and LOVED them. But on Monday night (after sitting in a cube all day at work) they just weren’t going to happen. I finally called the cobbler, and they’re only charging $8 to mechanically stretch the calves just a bit more. The good news is they’ll be done Thursday, so I’ll have them in time to bring to the show. The bad news I won’t be able to ride in them…until the show. My old boots are coming as a back-up…missing sole and all. OMG. I am NOT going to be a pretty picture!

three cheers for fiebing’s shoe stretch-it

No, they’re not paying me. But not only can I now get my boots on and off, they’re not even cutting off circulation anymore!!

As soon as I progress to wearing them over breeches, rather than under pajama pants, I’ll post pictures

anna says….

Loops are HARD!!!

We spent a LOOOOOONG time on pieces of T4 last night, but by the end all but the canter work was lovely. I’d start a loop and come off the rail and she’d say “ooooh….lengthen on the diagonal!” and rush rush rush. Then we got beyond that, I’d make it as far as the quarter line, and she’d say “change of bend? That’s hard!” and rush rush rush. It tooks a while, but in the end we DID get some nice loops! lol

We also had some fantastic stretchy trot circles. I have to remember to post them though.

The canter work was kind of horrible, but I’m really happy with how the rest went

iron horse report

The short version – we did NOT repeat our win

The long version:

Dressage on Friday went very well. One of JanJan and Desi’s best tests yet. She’s getting softer and he’s going behind the vertical MUCH less, AND they’re finally getting a real lengthening. I believe she got a 63%, her mom a 67%, and at the end of the day her mom was in 2nd and we stood in fourth. Same as last year.

Marathon on Saturday. Typically, our first couple of hazards don’t go well. It takes a while to find our groove, and by the third we’re just on our game. Not so this time! Our first hazard was FANTASTIC. It was a boxy hazard with lots of sharp 90-degree turns, but we were still smooth and fast. The last time we had a good first hazard, we blew everyone away and won marathon by a mile. So we were good and ready for a second hazard and the rest of the course! Second hazard was a water hazard, and we FLEW. Desi actually GAINED speed through the water. That horse just loves his job. We won that hazard by more than seven seconds.

Our next hazard was the bridge hazard. We had a couple different routes picked out, and since our first two hazards went so well, we opted to go for the shorter/faster/more difficult route (up a steep hill and immediate left turn down to gate B). The turn went beautifully – and we’ve seen folks get hung up there before. Our last gate was behind the bridge, facing away from the exit. There were several options to get from the gate to the exit, and we had decided to stay on the left turn we’d be on, and gallop well wide of the hazard so we could just FLY out. We were galloping all out on flat land, and I was centered and slightly right, preparing for the sharp right turn we’d have to make after exiting the hazard. JanJan and/or Desi ended up NOT going wide enough, and I saw our path too late and we were going too fast for me to get over to the left. The right front wheel hit a hill on the edge of the bridge. I was still trying to get over when the left rear wheel went up – and then we were over.

JanJan and I were thrown clear, the carriage brought the horse down, and both continued to roll completely over. We were up and JanJan was actually at Desi’s head before he had even gotten up. He was the calmest I’ve EVER seen a horse after an accident, and after circling twice stood quietly while we got him out of the mess. We went down to the right, but since they rolled completely over, the carriage was now on Desi’s left side, with one shaft over his back and the other under his belly. Amazingly enough, we were able to get the carriage off and upright, harness off, and everybody and everything was FINE. Extremely banged up, but no permanent damage. Oh – and for all those that say not to ride with a cell phone in your pocket because you’ll hurt yourself if you fall off and land on it – they’re SERIOUSLY not kidding! Ouch. The cell phone shaped bruise on my thigh hurts WAY worse than the road rash I’ve got everywhere else, and the phone isn’t too happy either!

There are of course 1000 different versions of what happened and why. Some say she was just going too too fast, nothing could have been done. Some say I wasn’t on the right side of the carriage (I wasn’t). Some say that I was, or that even if I had been, I wasn’t heavy enough to make a difference (quite possible!). Some say Desi lost his footing (new studs, on solid ground, and pictures show the carriage took him down – he didn’t lose his footing). And the announcer loves to play up the “rivalry” between JanJan and her mom, so those that don’t know how much they support eachother were claiming that she was trying too hard to beat her mom.

As Sterling told us both after though, “it happens…and if it doesn’t, you’re not trying hard enough!”

We gave Desi some bute and walked him out for a long time. Sunday he was barely even stiff, so we of course had to hitch him right back up. He’s a fantastic boy and obviously no worse for the wear – he dozed while we harnessed and hitched. We walked around and he was fine, trotted and still fine. I watched him move, and he was tracking evenly. Took him to the vet check and they cleared him as well. We were going to do the cones course.

Now for those not familiar with Iron Horse, the cones course is always in the same place, and that’s right in front of (and through) the bridge hazard. To do the cones course, we’d have to go right by the place we flipped. Also a bit disconcerting for us both – riding as groom, I have to stay seated, and on one side. No “navigating” to keep the carriage upright. We went VERY slow (which Desi wasn’t thrilled about…he wanted to go run cones!), but all went well. JanJan was TERRIFIED. It may take her a while to come back. She will, she’s agressive, and she wants to go to the top. But she’s young. And when I equated it to a more dramatic version of getting tossed off a horse, she told me she’s never fallen off a horse either. But she did get back up there. Also good for her, they’ll be spending the next four weeks at Fred Merriam’s place, so she’ll some fantastic training and a good facility to get her feet back. I also told her I WOULD make it down to Indiana at the end of August (I wasn’t planning on going to this event). She’s not sure yet if she’ll actually compete or not, but she doesn’t want to go without me, so I said I make it down there and even if we only school a bit together, or go HC and walk the hazards, or go all out – I’ll be there. And she’s still talking about moving up to Intermediate and doing Live Oak next year, so I don’t think she’s completely lost her nerve

So, pictures!! (I’ll put in a break before the pictures of the accident if anybody DOESN’T want to see those…they’re somewhat graphic, but horse and people are FINE!)

Dressage:









Water Hazard:











Bridge Hazard, pre-flip:

















Pictures of the flip coming
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And a couple from cones:





The end!

ps – I did get my boots off

boots

I have new boots. They’re on. They may never come off….

(Stay tuned for updates – that’s all for now)

anna (or, me learning to ride)

Yesterday I had a WONDERFUL ride on Anna – to the right. Soft, round, super light in my hands but on the bit. Just wonderful. To the left was another story. Entirely. I eventually just got super frustrated with her and myself, went to the right again so we could end on a good note, and got off very frustrated.

Today, going to the right was wonderful again. I figured I DID have to tackle going LEFT though (this seems to be a common theme with me….poor, tolerant, ponies!)

We’re going left, and her nose is going right, and I’ve got my hand closed on the flexion rein, and I’m half halting the outside rein, and she’s got her nose going more right saying, “I don’t CARE about your stupid inside rein”
Me: Need more inside leg
Anna: Then I’ll FLYYYYYYYYYYY off to the right
Me: Shoot, THAT’S probably when my outside leg is supposed to be back and on
Anna: Well I’ll just trot in place then
Me: Right, I’m supposed to be driving with the seat too
Anna: $hit! I have to go light and round and on the bit if you’re just going to do it all like you’re supposed to!

I take it the goal is to eventually apply all the aides at the SAME TIME and not over the course of half a circle, but I DID manage to get her going beautifully to the left. All by myself. Without my wonderful trainer getting on first, and without lunging in side reins first. Woohoo!!

musical equipment

No, not like instruments! I mean rotating and rotating and rotating and WHY can’t the horse just like this bit or that bit?

So, Snow outgrew her cob size bridle at the end of last year. I ordered a horse sized one, and it was far too big. Punched holes for the cheekpieces, but never bothered with the noseband – on the tighest hole I could fit a fist in, but oh well.

I had also been riding her in Myler bit I had around. A level 1, plain, single jointed snaffle of some variety or another. Well, apparently it was of the not-legal-for-dressage variety. Stupid copper stripes that I never noticed before! New mission: find a legal bit before her first show!

I had a Sprenger KK lying around, so I thought I’d give that a whirl. WHEW she HATED it. HATED it. Two days of fighting and I thought maybe she just didn’t like the bean, so I switched to a Sprenger single jointed snaffle. HATED that too. We finally decided it must be the width of the bits. Both HS bits were MUCH thicker than the Myler.

My trainer brought out a bridle she thought would actually fit Snow, and it had a bradoon on it that was quite narrow. Sure enough, Snow went WONDERFULLY in it. And she now has a noseband that fits her. She looks cute enough, and I’m glad we have this all sorted out, but it’s been one painful week in the process!

the banana learns about dressage

I told you she looked amazing, and you didn’t really believe me, did you? Well, either did my mom. I mean, she’s used to seeing this (my friend Lindsay riding, not me):

So who could blame her? But she needed to see this! I asked my trainer to hop on Anna one more time, just long enough for me to get a few pictures as proof. She was pretty happy to oblige (and ride the pony again).

The “after” pictures:

busy busy week

Really, it’s just been exhausting. But both girls are doing well!!

Snow pony has had naughty days and nice days, but I’ve managed to stay calm and push her right on through everything. We’ve been cantering on our own (as in, without the trainer watching just to make me feel better). We do turn on the forehand in front of every scary object in the arena (the wall, mostly). We can leg yield. We ventured outside for the first time, and she was great. She probably thinks outside is the best place EVER now, because I just kept giving her more sugar after everything we lived through. Mount? Sugar. Walk half a circle? Sugar. Walk a whole circle? Sugar. Trot a circle? Sugar. Trot the other way? Sugar. Get off…sugar sugar sugar. Yes, she loved it. We’ll have to move beyond that before her first show!

Oh yes, her first show. I signed up for that. Less than a month away and I go back and forth between thinking she’ll be FANTASTIC and thinking I’m going to die. But it’s August 16th, so there will hopefully be a good update on the 17th, and hopefully it won’t be from a hospital bed!

Anna is also doing amazingly well. I had my first lesson on her EVER last week. The trainer got on just to see what we were dealing with, announced she was VERY pleasantly surprised, that Anna was going to be a piaffe machine, and that she’s a FUN little pony! So that was exciting. Now we’re just working on half halts to keep her round (round as in, almost on the bit and nose in front of the vertical, instead of on the horizontal). Yesterday we ran through First Level tests 1 and 2 and they went amazingly well! Biggest issue is continuing to half halt at the canter (I hear it’s possible), and returning to a working trot after our lengthening to the left (left means GO, apparently). But showing first level at the fall Haflinger shows is looking VERY promising!

So, I’m super excited about the progress we’re making. Maybe I’ll get some PICTURES soon!

three for three!

I have officially had three FANTASTIC rides in a row on Snow. The first one was when I realized I WAS FINE. The second, I pushed it. I was fine, time to get back down to business. So we trotted and trotted and trotted and then we went left (normally a HUGE ordeal). Then we did loads of serpentines/figure-eights/direction changes. All in all, it went VERY well! Yesterday I had a lesson on her, which marked fantastic ride number three. More trot work that went very well, and then we cantered both ways. And THEN we did some turn on the forehand! I’m SO excited!!

Homework is to canter canter canter – five or six laps, both ways – every day.

Anna has been going very well too. She’s starting to come back into shape (again), and is feeling much better and more balanced. Haven’t had a lesson on her yet, but my homework is to SIT BACK (even though I’m riding her in my hunt seat saddle).