Well earned rest

Buddy is getting today, tomorrow, and Friday off.  We had a couple nice flat work ride Sunday and Monday and a great jump school yesterday. I didn't wear spurs for our flat work, but he remembered them!  We had some of our best leg yields yet, and some decent shoulder in. Our counter canter still needs work, but we did manage to go once around the ring tracking left on the right lead.  It's a start! Monday we went without stirrups and while the arena was busy, we had a decent ride.

Yesterday I set up three fences to school over.  I set up the vertical going up on the left that caused us trouble in our lesson.  The other two fences were diagonal fences.  I started with an "x" and low verticals then put the two diagonal fences up to 2'3".  The outside vertical was still giving us trouble, and Buddy was really tired and not helping me out.  I had the spurs, but he was pretty pissy with them.  Our diagonal fences were really nice.  I schooled them on a short turn out of the corner, working on keeping him square to the fence and coming forward out of the corner.  We nailed everyone of them!  While we still have issues going forward to the outside fences, I was really happy with the diagonals, so I didn't push it since he was tired. You really learn how to pick your battles with Buddy!

Now he has three days to recuperate.  I was pretty tired after work today so I just turned him out in the indoor and let him roll. Tomorrow I have a 2hr workshop for my job, after I put in a full day so I probably won't have the energy to ride.  Friday my mom flys in from San Diego and we are going to the Brad Paisley concert!  I won't be able to make it out to the barn, but Bud will go back to work on Saturday.

Goals and Plans

Let's see how we did for the January goals:

Ride at least once a week on the flat without stirrups. As in take my stirrups off the saddle once I have gotten on and still do all our normal flat work. (A miss, but only because I was gone for a week taking care of Dad. When we did do stirrup-less, we did most our normal flat work; leg yields, shoulder in, and counter canter.  I was too timid to try flying changes)

Jump once a week, getting up to 2'3" by the end of the month. We haven't been jumping regularly for the past few months due to a variety of reasons, and we need to get back into shape for show season. Depending on weather, if our outdoor arena is usable I would like to be doing small courses by the end of the month. Our indoor arena is only large enough for a couple fences, so if the outdoor is out, I'll be ok with cantering single fences inside. (So we did a small 2'3" course in Feb.  Due to me being gone, then the massive flooding that had both our indoor and outdoor arenas flooded we couldn't jump the last big of January.  But if Mother Nature had cooperated, we would have been ready)

Continue working on our dressage-y flat work; leg yields, shoulder in, lengthening and collecting.

(We did the leg yields and shoulder in, but kinda failed on the lengthening and collecting.  Hopefully the addition of spurs will help us with this one in Feb.)
 

Work on our flying changes, both across the diagonal and along the long side. Our changes across the diagonal are almost there, but he hasn't quite gotten the concept of doing them in a straight line. (Our changes on the diagonal have gotten much better, but we only schooled the ones on the long side a time or two.  They were better than they have been, so I'll take it)

For February:

• Continue the no stirrup work.  On days we jump, start doing some small trot fences with no irons.
• Start schooling single fences at 2'6".  Continue course work at 2'3" adding in more technical aspects like rollbacks and bending lines.
• Again, focus on dressage for flat work.  As stated above, I hope the spurs will help make our leg yields nicer and I know they will help with the lengthening.

Our local show association is staring to put out this years show dates,and I've started tentatively planning our schedule. If I can afford it, and if we keep jumping regularly, I want to take Bud to a little jumper show on March 3.  They have x-rail classes on up, with a relatively small entry fee. 

A big barn in Portland, that my friend (and the girl who started Buddy over fences) manages is having a one day clinic with three time Olympian Kevin Freeman in April.  While I'm mainly a h/j rider, and Kevin Freeman is an eventer, I'm really excited for the clinic.  It's being billed as a fundamentals of jumping clinic for all disciplines. It's right before my birthday and my mom agreed to pay for it as my present.  We will be riding in the 2'3"-2'6" group, so we really have to be coursing 2'6" by then!

Lesson

Both Jen and I had scheduling conflicts with our planned Thursday afternoon lesson, so we moved it to this morning.  Since I haven't been jumping Buddy a lot, I was a little nervous about his lack of conditioning and energy level before the lesson.  He was lazy in warm-up so Jen suggested putting a spur on.  I haven't been using spurs on him for almost a year; I did use them at a show last summer since it's frowned upon to smack your horse with a crop in the show ring.  Buddy tends to get sour with spurs, so I only use them when really needed. What a difference they made!  He was much more inclined to move off my leg and go forward.  I think I'll slowly start using them again during lessons or if he's really not listening to my leg.

We were schooling a right-to-left diagonal fence with a kind of tight turn to a short 4 stride outside line going up hill (for drainage reasons our outdoor arena is on a little bit of a slope).  The footing at that end of the arena is a little deep, and Buddy takes great exception in having to work through it.  Add in the fact that the left is his harder direction, and we were going up hill, and you get one hard exercise for us. 

Jen had me angle the diagonal fence to get more room on the landing, and to help set us up for the lead change.  It helped, but Buddy was trying to move around the deep spots and wasn't too inclined to give me the change.  I really had to sit down and ride him forward up to the first fence in the line, then steady for the 4.  It was tough, and Buddy showed his displeasure by flipping his head.  He can be such a little drama king sometimes!

While that exercise was hard, other parts of the lesson were great.  Jen said Bud's much straighter than he used to be, and we had a lot less falling in and over bending than we used to have.  Once the spurs were on, our pace was nice and we had a decent flow.  I'm glad our flat work over the past few months has paid off!  I'm very happy with the lesson and  can't wait to start doing them regularly.

Getting back to it

Buddy and I have our first lesson over fences in months on Thursday!  We jumped a little on Sunday, and Buddy was great.  I can tell he's missed jumping; he was in front of my leg from the moment I got on. 

After my ride, Bud had a few hours off then Nik rode.  He was better for her than he's ever been.  She was able to get him to trot by herself for the first time.  Since she was doing better, I put her on the lunge line and let her do a little canter.  She's cantered another horse once and was bucked off, and then a different horse took off with her and she fell.  She's understandably nervous about cantering.  Bud was a little pissy at first; he shook his head and Nik got unseated, but stayed on.  When we tried again, he picked it right up and was perfect for her.  She loved it!

Bud had Monday off, then today we did a flat hack.  We had some really nice extension in our trot work.  While he's getting better at extending then coming back, I would still like him to be a little more balanced.  I'm trying to stay tall with my body, and not let him drag me down. Bud had a little meltdown over counter canter.  He wouldn't pick it up, then got cranky when I got after him with my crop.  When he gets mad, he flips his head and tries to pull the reins away.  I'm trying to make a big effort to keep my hands low and still during his tantrum. It seems to be working.  After his tantrum our counter canter was ok, but not great.  We'll keep working on it.

Going in Circles

After lunging three horses today I felt a little dizzy.  Unfortunately, I've fallen a little behind this week.  I got the stomach flu on Tuesday, and didn't do anything for a couple days.  I did manage to get out to the barn Thursday and did quick little ride with Buddy.  We just trotted around the outdoor for 15 mins, but at least I got him out. Yesterday I attempted to ride Blue, but after he reared up and spun with me I decided to lunge him instead.

Today I wanted to lunge Blue again, this time in side reins.  He wasn't as hot today, but had a tantrum when I put the side reins on.  At the end of the session, he was relaxing into them and moving really well for him. Since I had them out, I put the side reins on Buddy next. He always acts like he can't go forward with the side reins on, but I go him to move out pretty well.

After those two I took out Pippin, a slightly spastic Arab/QH whose owner is away for a year long internship.  My barn owner has been working with him, but while she's out of town I said I would do some ground work with him.  Pip tends to be scared of his own shadow and needs a calm, but forceful handler.  We lunged for a few minutes until someone else needed the indoor.  I decided to take him for a walk outside to get him out and despook him.  I snapped the picture and sent it to his mommy.

Hit the ground running

I got back from San Diego yesterday, and after a full day of work today I had barn chores tonight.  My barn owners are on vacation, so a few of us boarders are splitting chores.  I rode Buddy first, then did the evening feed.  Buddy was very lazy, I think he enjoyed his week off!  We didn't do too much, just a little walk-trot-canter.

The rest of my week is jammed packed as well.  I have stalls to clean tomorrow and Thursday as well as feeding again tomorrow.  I'm hoping to make time on Thursday to ride Blue.  He's a 11ish OTTB that my barn's owner owns.  I was riding him a few days a week over the summer to exercise him for her.  He's being part leased now, but the girl leasing him doesn't work him hard and he's very high energy.  He's still greenish, but tries very hard.  This summer we worked on going forward quietly, softening to my aids, and keeping him calm.  He tends to get nervous, and needs a quiet confident rider.  I'll hopefully be riding him 2-3 times a week for a while.

Blue last summer

Western weekend

I was feeling lazy yesterday and decided to ride Bud western. For some reason riding western seems easier than English to me. I guess it's because we just go along and I usually don't have big goals when we go western.

I borrowed Connie's saddle and a bit. I have a head stall and reins, but never got around to getting a western bit. The one I use on him is a plain snaffle mouth piece with shanks. No big port for Buddy!!

We just jogged along, not working on much. Mostly I try to relax and work on riding one handed. It's hard to let go and not have contact with their mouth.

I'm going out of town next week to help take care of my dad who had surgery. Bud will have the week off, and Nik might ride.