Heirloom Equestrian Center Jolly Jumper Night

 The barn that hosts the show series Trainer M runs has a new trainer and he decided to have a low key Jolly Jumper Night last weekend. They encouraged everyone to come out in their finest ugly sweater and had the place totally decked out with Christmas decorations. While Cinder and I are very happy in the hunter ring, I couldn't pass up the chance to show. It also helped that the show started at noon and had a flat fee including a stall.

Trainer M and Cin

I might have had a little mental breakdown in my lesson two days before the show, as one does. I was just way too in my head and overthinking everything. God bless Cinder for not giving a shit about her mom giving her very mixed signals and pulling out at almost every jump. Trainer M rides Cinder on Fridays, and asked if I could make it out to the barn to watch her ride/get on for a mini lesson. I was able to leave work early and watching M ride really helped. I was able to get on and only have one minor panic about a distance instead of melting down over every distance the day before. 

The "presents" were point values for the gambler's choice class

When we got to the show we took the horses in for hand walk to see the giant Christmas tree in the arena. None of the horses cared at all about it. I got Cinder tacked up for Trainer M to school and despite walking around the arena an hour before, and you know showing at this venue three times this year and twice last year, Cinder was convinced the far end of the ring was terrifying. She pulled some lovely spin/rear moves and I was very, very glad M had gotten on her first. They did manage to work through it and M rode her in the first 0.70m class. Cinder did spook a few times, once at the far end and then again at a banner on the wall that she had already passed multiple times. 

After M's round I was supposed to get on and do the other two 0.70m classes, but another of Trainer M's client's horse was having a meltdown and M stayed in the ring to help them through it. This horse has some major show PTSD from a previous owner and does a lot better with another horse (particularly mares) in the ring with him. So Cinder was his emotional support mare. Things were a bit hectic at the back gate since Trainer M had 4 out of the 6 horses in the 0.70s, and they were looking for people to go but the others were still learning their course. I told M to ride in the second round, an optimum time class, and if the spooking was gone I'd take her in the final class. Cinder was much better behaved in the second round and M took a tight inside turn and won the class. 

Supposedly one of the teens at the show was tacking actual pics, so maybe we'll get those later this week and you can see those instead of blurry screenshots

I got on and furiously tried to learn my course. The first two rounds were the same course, but the third was a jump off and a totally different course. I hadn't wanted to confuse myself with learning two jumper courses at once, and then had to scramble to learn the second course. The first two thirds of the course went fine, I was a little tentative and not quite trusting that Cinder wouldn't spook and we were very slow, but coming to an outside line I lost my nerve. The line walked in six and a half, M had told us to do a waiting seven, but when she rode it with Cinder they got eight. And of course I had been watching other horses get anywhere from a five to a nine in the line so I was totally fucked on how many strides it was supposed to be. It didn't help that were jumping it directly towards the "scary corner". I ended up circling before the second fence and then trotting it. We landed on the wrong lead and I panicked again that we couldn't jump on the wrong lead (we totally could have, the turn to the next fence wasn't tight at all) and then trotted the next fence. We did manage to canter the last fence and somehow ended up 4th in the class. I'm mad at myself for not trusting my horse more, but very happy that Cinder was able to pull it together and was foot perfect after her initial silliness. I think we just need more show miles with Winter Cinder to help get over my nerves. 

Winter Cinder

 Cinder is very much a cold weather horse. She's so much more animated and forward once the temps drop below 55. The past few weeks have been a bit challenging and anxiety inducing, for me, in how to manage her. It doesn't help that I didn't ride last year from Thanksgiving-early February so I don't have the memory of Winter Cinder to fall back on. 

We were cantering when this lovely sun spot appeared. She tried to jump it and spin sideways at the same time. I had to grab my martingale to hang on. 

Lunging before getting on has become our go to, especially after a day off. She just need to buck and play for a bit, but won't in turnout because the ground is so wet and muddy, so on the line (or for a free lunge if the arenas open) she goes to play. Even Trainer M lunged her one day when Cinder tried to rear and spin as she was tightening her girth after getting on. 

Thankfully the liverpool was no big deal and she jumped it without a second thought

Cinder has been great to ride, post lunging. She's forward without being too forward (for the most part), and I haven't had to wear my spurs or carry a whip. She has had a couple moments of silliness, mainly when another horse spooks and she feeds of of them. We had one lesson with Maya and her leasee, and when we went to canter Maya took off and Cinder took off after her. We then had to canter one at a time. 

Gratuitous pic of Peebs looking adorable

I will give Cinder points in that she might be spicy and needs to play before going to work under saddle, but once you're working she's really good. In the past when she's worked up or spicy she has almost a manic feel to her once you get in the tack, like her brain is zooming at 100mph. She really hasn't had that feeling this winter yet and I'm hoping it doesn't make an appearance. 

Updated Bucket List

 Last week USHJA announced the dates for inaugural Adult Hunter Finals.  Big shout out to former blogger L.Williams for being on the committee that got this done!!  I shared a post on FB about how qualifying and competing at finals is now a bucket list item, and it got me thinking of my long neglected bucket list I have on the blog. So, let's update my bucket list; updates in bold. 

gratuitous pony pic to break up the wall of text 

• Show 3'6", hunters or jumpers
• Nope, I'd be happy to get to 3' now. No need to go any higher
• Qualify and compete in a medal finals
• Qualified and competed in the 2013 LOH Hunter Medal Finals, placed 6th.
• Qualified and competed in the 2024 OHJA Foundation Medal Finals, placed 6th.
• Show at Thermal and/or TBird, and if I win the lottery, Spruce Meadows and WEF
• If I can't show at Spruce or WEF I'll take watching there
• Traveled to Spruce Meadows in September 2022
• Ride in a Hunter Derby
• Have done a few 2' derbies at schooling shows 2023-204. Updating this to have my trainer show Cinder in a National Derby, and if I have the nerve do one myself.
• Jump the open water
• No thank you
• Clinic with as many top riders/trainers as I can
• Watched the George Morris clinic at Whip N'Spur Dec 2015, 2016, 2017
• Audited an Anne Kursinski clinic Dec 2022 
• Breed and raise/train a baby
• I didn't breed her, but obviously have raised and trained Cinder
• International horse shopping trip!  My cousin's husband's sister has her own barn in Belgium and starts and shows babies.  She's told me anytime I want to go ride with her or go shopping to just let her know.
• Still want to go horse shopping in Europe. 
• Have my own one ton pick up w/ living quarters trailer.
• Meh, I'm kinda on the fence about this. I do like my current two horse and LQ trailers are pretty damn big and expensive. I'm also at the age where I really like sleeping in hotels for horse shows as opposed to staying in the trailer.
• Win a cooler
• Done 2023. Won the MDTE 2'Hunter Series Champion
• Show at Adult Hunter Finals
• Would also check off showing at Thermal on the bucket list

Freeman Farm November 2024 Show

 We managed to make it to one last show this season, at at venue I haven't show at in ten years.  The farm was established in 1921 and was owned by the same family till they sold in 2022, and I'm so happy the new owners managed to keep the same vibes and aesthetic while doing some much needed upgrades.  

Cinder got her first winter clip the day before the show. Not great timing, but at least she wasn't a sweaty mess at the show

I had asked Trainer M if she had trailer space to haul for me, as it would cost about the same in gas for my truck as her mileage fee, and that way I didn't have to get up at 5am. She did, and apparently Cinder took great offense to being loaded at 6am in the dark. She got loose from M and jogged around the front pasture to say hi to M's two year old stud colt. But once caught she loaded fine and settled into her day stall at the show. I arrived about 30mins after the horses got there and she was happily munching her hay. My classes were the last of the day so I helped my barn mates showing earlier and then took Cin for a little lunge in the round pen. Unfortunately the footing was full of rocks, so we didn't do much in there. We then went for a walk around the outdoor that was being used at the warm up ring. There was a pig and a very big rooster in a paddock next to the ring that had been causing multiple horses to loose their minds all morning, but thankfully both were in their shelter and didn't cause us any problems. 

She came into flaming heat on Monday, so that probably explains some of her behavioral issues on Saturday

In typical horse show fashion I thought I had enough time to order a burger from the concessions, but classes ran fast and I needed to start tacking up as soon as I got it. One of the teens from the barn was helping groom, and was helping me with Cinder while I scarfed down my lunch. I was standing about five feet from the stall eating as fast I could when I saw Cinder poke her nose out the unlatched door then take off. So for the second time that day Cinder was loose. She was easily caught by another trainer while I ran after her. She then lost all of her privileges and was tied up in the stall while I finished tacking up. 

This show was jumpers and equitation, and the eq only went up to 18". My main reasons for coming were to support the restarting of this show series, and to get her out to a new venue, since she's only shown at Heirloom this year, and Freeman Farm is completely new to her. I figured she'd be fairly distracted and up, and I was completely right. Trainer M hopped on her first and while she was a bit looney in warm up, she settled once they started jumping. They were allowing schooling rounds so M took her in one since she can't do the eq. Cinder looked great and they had a nice round. 

Spoiler alert

I got on and we went in for the flat. We held it together, but Cinder felt spicy and was very distracted by an open door at the end of ring. I was a little caught off guard in our first over fences round by how forward Cin was and got left behind at the first fence. The rest of the round was decent, but Cin kept building and it felt like trying to keep the lid on a pressure cooker. I dropped my whip before going in for our second round but Cin was even more wound up. I ended up making her do the adds in the lines, to emphasize the point that she has to listen to me and not blast around like a rocket ship. She also missed a lead change and then got mad and we ended up trotting a fence because she was too frazzled to pick up the correct lead. We definitely put the "schooling" in schooling show. There were only three in our division, so we ended up second on the flat and for our first over fences round, and third in the second round. 

To put the icing on the day, Cinder once again protested at having to load in the trailer to go home and got loose for the THIRD time that day. Her and Trainer M had a conversation involving a stud chain, and Cinder walked right on after that. I apologized profusely for my horse being a rank asshole, and we made a new rule that Cin must always have a chain when loading. I was expecting her to be spicy and fresh, what with being freshly clipped and the weather deciding it's really fall now, but I wasn't expecting her to be that bad. We might need to rethink how we deal with showing in fall/winter going forward. 

Spooky Season

Autumn has arrived in the past few weeks with a drop in temps and the start of rainy season. Cinder loves the colder weather and now that's she feeling much better after her abscess we have a very spicy, spooky mare on our hands. 

Halloween jump decoration is perfectly fine with her

She had an absolute meltdown in the outdoor arena a few weeks ago, when jumps that had been used at the horse show returned home for the winter and were stacked in the corner of the outdoor. She's jumped all these poles and the coop multiple times, but god forbid they hang out on the pole rack in the corner. Cinder is fine going past the spooky corner when we're jumping, but as soon as you're walking and not doing anything, she's trying to spin and rear. She got so bad during one of my lessons that Trainer M got on her and had a little discussion. 

Said scary poles and coop

She has thankfully gained all the weight back that she lost over summer so we cut her grain back and M has been making it a point to work her more outside, weather permitting. I haven't been able to ride outside since her big meltdown because by the time I get off work and get to the barn it's dark or and when I've ridden on the weekend its been raining. 

The mounting block was strategically placed there for a certain red mare

But we've also had our share of spooky things in the indoor. M has been setting a lot of gymnastic exercises with the poles/cavaletti/brush boxes and Cinder took a lot of offense at being asked to trot into the exercise above. She thought it would be much easier to go around the boxes than over them. How dare we ask her to use her body and sit on her hind end over two little bounces. I foresee a winter of skinnies and gymnastics in our future. 

The Queen is not Queening

Cinder is a drama queen. She is a redheaded mare after all. She let's you know her opinion on things, especially if its a negative opinion or if she's hurting. So it came as a total surprise when she blew an abscess last week. 

I didn't get my phone out quick enough for the full on mare glare, but I'm sure you can guess her opinion on having her foot soaked

The past few weeks Cinder has been feeling about 98% sound, with just an occasional off step on the right hind. No heat, no swelling, no reaction to palpation. We though it was just a remnant of her issues this summer, and maybe the joint injections were still not taking full effect. The off steps would go away once she warmed up and was really moving out, so we weren't too worried about it. Part of the reason we decided to show her was to work her more and see if the lameness got worse, but that didn't really happen. 

That lovely little line at the top of her hoof was the culprit 

Thursday while I was tacking up for my lesson I noticed she had a slightly puffy right hind. No heat, and no reaction to palpation, but she did have a fresh scrape on the leg. We figured she probably whacked herself in turnout and since she is one to swell at the drop of a hat, it wasn't anything major. Trainer M had me walk for 20mins and the swelling went down so we did a light lesson and she felt fine.

Cinder gets a trainer ride on Fridays, and when M pulled her out, she had a lot of gunk on that right hind hoof. M poked and prodded and "a big ass abscess" blew out the top of the hoof.  M told me with how big the abscess seemed to be, she would have expected Cinder to be way more dramatic and in pain than she was showing. When she had her fist abscess at two and half, she acted like her leg was falling off, so I agreed with M. The drama queen was not drama queening. 

I had to hold up a front leg so she would stand full in the water

Since Cin was still as sound as she had been, M had me ride in my Saturday lesson. We just walk-trotted, but Cinder felt the best she had in a long time. We think the abscess had been brewing for a while and that was what was causing the occasional off step. Hopefully that's the case and she continues to feel sounder. 

MDTE September 2024 Show

 Surprise! We went to a horse show. Cinder is finally feeling good enough that I asked my trainer her thoughts of doing a couple classes at the last MDTE show of year. We were in first place for the 2'3" hunters, and in third in the 2', for the circuit awards and as much as I hate being that person, I wanted to point chase. Trainer M thought a few classes would be doable, so off we went. 

Medal Finals participants got these nice glasses and having my morning coffee in them at work reminds me why I have to have a job to pay for these horse shows

To back things up, Cinder was cleared for jumping only two weeks ago. We had been doing a lot of pole work at the walk, and when we started trotting and cantering poles/cavaletti Cinder was quite enthused. Like, I was getting left behind and slightly run away with when we did a line of four trot poles and the first day we started cantering the 1' cavaletti I almost asked for a bigger bit. It was more funny and exciting that Cinder was so obviously happy to be back "jumping" than scary, but I did pull the ammy card and have Trainer M do the first official jumps back on her. But she was a perfect lady and jumped like she's been jumping all summer and didn't have a five month break. 

quick, pre-lesson power nap

Since I hadn't been planning on showing until the last minute, I had scheduled a dental for Peebs and agreed to feed dinner at his barn the day before the show. Trainer M had space in her trailer so she hauled Cinder and schooled her Friday at show without me. I know that's a fairly common occurrence in h/j land, but it felt so indulgent to me to just show up Saturday to the show and have my horse and tack all set up. I got a report that Cinder was foot perfect on Friday, and was even an emotional support horse to another of M's clients whose horse was melting down in the arena while schooling. 

hot mare morning walk

We decided to have Trainer M take Cin in a 2' class to see how she'd do, then have me do a 2'3" round. Cinder warmed up well. She was moving beautifully and hopped over the warm up fences with no problems. M's round went well, minus one corner when she went to rebalance and Cin tried to break to the trot, but they pulled out the win. M hopped off and Cin got a little break while I finished getting ready. 

Spoiler alert

I got on and did a quick walk/trot/canter and jumped like three warm up fences. M had told me the outside lines rode well, but the diagonal line was a little long and that I needed to make sure she was in front of my leg and that I had enough pace to make the six. So of course in our round I saw the waiting, quiet distance to the in of the line and then proceeded to sit there like a sack of potatoes and not make a decision of moving her up or holding for the add. God bless this horse for making the decision for me and getting down the line in a long six. Other than that the round was really nice. She landed all of her leads, we nailed the other lines and found nice distances to the other fences. There were only two in the class and we won. 

With those two rounds we were able to win year end circuit champion in both the 2' and 2'3" hunter divisions. Cinder won two nice leather halters with engraved champion nameplates. Honestly though, the halters were just icing on the cake at that point. Just getting to jump and show my horse again was amazing, and that she felt so good and was so professional and perfect plus winning two championships made the last five months of vet bills and rehab hell worth it.