It’s almost O’Scope:Thirty

So on my list of things that need attention regarding Sir Woods is his belly.  He’s Type-A, he’s a worrier, he’s a sensitive sort.  So next Tuesday we have an appointment to get him scoped for Ulcers.  This pleases me a great deal. 

On the day to day front, things are going swimmingly.  The progress we’ve made in the past couple weeks is, yet again, staggering.  We TOTALLY have downward transitions.  And I don’t just mean we’re downshifting, I mean we’re downshifting with STYLE.  It’s not 100% yet, but it’s getting pretty damned good.

Our jumping is improving as well.  I need to do some practice sans jumps:  just hike my stirrups up, get into two point, press my hands in to his neck and cantercantercantercanter until I am comfortable going the way Woods would like for me to go.  It’s quite a bit different from my default.

I think I’ll wait till it’s not a Code Orange day in our Nation’s capitol to do this.

I have no new pictures or vids.  Maybe I’ll get someone to get some of us in the next couple of weeks.  In the mean time, I’ll update on Tuesday when I get Woody back from the vet.

When it rains it pours

Alright, maybe when it dribbles it trickles?  Regardless here is an additional update.

Thanks to my friend Jen and her generosity and selfless volunteering prowess we went Schooling at Loch Moy yesterday. First let me say that Jen was planning on tootling around with her lovely CANTER mare Cally… Liza was not going to let that happen.

Jen and CALLY were GREAT! Jen listened and took instruction well and Cally was lovely. Besides almost passing out Jen looked giddy and I was giddy for her.

Woody stood on the trailer and was only moderately fidgety. He and Obama (Liza’s other freakshow rockstar) sat there and ate hay and judged me. Woodys judgement was cushioned with love and neediness, Obama’s was just 100% judgement. 

So Liza, one of her friends and I headed out to school around 2:00. It was hot! This did not vanquish the Lord of the Dance routine, but it DID reduce the Tevas Cup warm up to only about 4-5 minutes of cantercantercantercanter…

Woody was great, and I was pretty good. One of the issues I’m dealing with is hard as hell. The line between Woody being forward, on the aids and going to the fence and him running off and feeling savage is about this wide _

The difference in what I have to do to get him to stand on that line is minuscule. I’m not that good yet, but I’m getting there. I’m not a TOTAL white hot mess, I’m just not as good as I WANT to be. It’s a tough ride and I get discouraged sometimes, but Liza knows JUST when to support me. And by support me I mean open me a beer and tell me that I don’t suck. and ya know what? I do believe her. [sub](most the time)[/sub]

I was thinking about entering Waredaca, but after yesterday I said screw that. It’s going to be hot as humping in the trunk of a Kia in august and I’m just not effective in that weather. I have to be 100% to give Woods the ride we both deserve and I’m not going to frustrate myself. So September will come soon enough, and by then who KNOW what sort of progress we will have made. I’m thinking maybe Middleburg and then Morven.

Until then, here is a pic taken by Amy Dragoo at Plantation from Woody’s second novice. Liza told me yesterday that she’s had more people come up to her and say “Who was that little chestnut you were on at Plantation?” She says “He’s Lisa’s and she’s in love and he’s not for sale.”  

When I’m riding like a meat-fisted Ogre I remind myself of that and it motivates me to work harder, focus longer and become half as talented as he is.

Dear Lord

I suck!

Father it has been 14,000 years since my last entry.  Furthermore in the 14,000 years I’m sure there’s a bunch of fun sinny stuff I’m failing to mention.

So, it’s summer.  As a psychologist for an urban school district that means I get my summers off.  My plan was to try to stay out of an office all the while attempting to make extra money.  Additionally I wanted to spend as much time at the barn as possible.  I have succeeded. Not only am I working for the barn one day feeding turning out yadda yadda I’m also working with Liza.  I have given myself the title of her Fischer-Price My First Working Student. 

Liza has a bunch of horses to ride.  I only have one and a lot of time on my hands.  So Liza and I have worked out a deal where I help her out and she works her magic.  And it is Magic.  Woody and I are making some amazing progress.  Don’t get me wrong there are still some days that I say to myself  “For CRAPS sake, you can’t ride one side of this horse, what are you thinking.”

And then he looks at me and nickers and I say “I shall learn.”  And learning I am.  It’s fantastic.  Not only am I learning by doing I’m learning by watching.  I’m so fortunate to be able to do this.

I was hoping to get into Maryland Horse Trials this weekend, but it didn’t happen (cause I’m a flake and didn’t enter in time).  But I’m not heart broken.  As I told Allie, I could go out this weekend and be mediocre or I can go out this fall and make that dressage arena my bitch.

Things I’ve learned:

1. Woody can throw a temper tantrum. 
   • I can, much to all involved party’s chagrin, escalate said temper tantrums
   • I can NOW deescalate aforementioned temper tantrums
2. It’s OK to have some contact.  One should have more than a hummingbirds weight in the reins.  Do not be afraid to touch your horses face!
   • This contact must be constant, reliable and fluid
3. Woody does not NEED one to sit deep in the saddle to make changes in pace/stride length while jumping.  I can take a deep breath, bring my shoulders back and he’ll rate.
   • Woody finds it unnecessary when I sit deep in the saddle to do just about anything whilst jumping.  See Item #1
4.  Working with horses is HARD WORK!

So there it is.  I’ll try to be more attentive to the blog.  My plan right now is to work my ass off and come September trot down the center line like I’m on a mission.

Plantation Report!

Woody won the dressage!  I almost fell over!  It wasn’t a perfect test, but it was forward and the judge apparently liked forward.  The other tests I guess?  Not so forward.  I’m guessing they also didn’t blow a lead, but he blew the lead going forward? 

There was a rail in Stadium because they were jumping out of the Bog of Despair, but our dressage (35.5… who WINS the Novice dressage with a 35.5 these days???) plus the 4 faults was still good enough for second place.

YAY for second place.

Liza and I had SUCH a lovely day.  It was much more relaxing with only two horses going and we had a large time.

Woody’s allergies were bugging the CRAP out of him Saturday.  He hasn’t really shown his head shaking propensity for a while, but I stuck a towel up his nose and twirled it around, itched his face real well right before he went in, and they were off. 

So here are the videos.  Exhibit A.  The dressage test.  Note on the second canter he was ABOUT to pick up the correct lead and said “Eh, not so much.” 

I will apologize for my filming this weekend, I sucked.  It didn’t help that my camera broke:  This malfunction is taking a couple of forms:

•  First the digital Zoom was stuck ON, this makes it grainy and crappy.  SO I turned it off so it was no longer an option.  TAKE THAT CANON!
• Then it became so I could not zoom in and out while I was filming.  This sucks.  I have yet to find a clever fix.

Stadium warm up was a bit for Woody to take.  There were a couple of horses that were kinda crazy and Woods was a little wild to begin with.  He was skeeeeert!  So Liza took a couple of warm-up fences and walked out of the warm up towards the ring trying to find Woody’s happy place.

The footing was pretty squishy, and Woods had a rail at the second fence.  EVERYONE but one rider had a rail in stadium.  Damn that single rider and her blue ribbon stealing clear round!

After his stadium ride some guy who was spectating asked me all sorts of questions about Woods, and told me how much he liked him.  He also told me to tell “Who ever you’ve got riding him today” that she’s doing a wonderful job.  So something nice for Liza and something nice for me.

XC, Liza said he was a machine, and was just going to become a BIGGER machine.  She said the difference in the way he went around last weekend and this weekend was amazing.  He wasn’t bad last weekend, but just a little uptight.  Some of that was because it was his first outing of the year AND his first time at novice (and a BIG novice at that), and some probably because he and Liza had never gone out together.  Whatever the case she said he was a super star out there yesterday.

Here’s the video.  Please excuse my ridiculous exclamations each time he jumps a fence.  I’m just a little smitten.

So there it is.  We don’t know when our next outing is but I’m planning on being the one riding the Little Red Freak!

I don’t want to jinx it, the Sequel…

Clip-Flop-Clip-Flop…

That was the sound of me bringing Woods in Sunday morning… Missing a shoe.

Liza had three horses running (the show farrier tacked a show back on, so Woody makes Three. YAY!) and I swear having three horses running on a one day is enough to keep ya’ busy. We didn’t REALLY stop moving until we got back to the barn.

 Woody rocked it. Dressage was nice and he got a 36.5 in a HUGE NH division. Liza got on, rode him for a bout 5 mins and said, “You’re right… he gets a little Wiiiiiiild.”

So her warm-up mirrored the work out of someone getting ready for the Tevis Cup.

Canter and Canter and Canter

 

Her advice after the test was “Canter him till he doesn’t want to canter anymore… then canter him some more. If you try to get ANY real work done when he’s like that you’ll ruin any chance you have. Canter him till he takes a deep breath.”

And that’s what she did and it worked. He still had a couple of bobbles, but I was AMAZED at the test he put in. There is video, but it sucks because I didn’t want to get too close to the ring. Did I mention he’s got a spook in him?

The whole day was INSANE but we had help from Kelly in the afternoon and another boarder in the morning. Those extra hands are ALWAYS so unmeasurably helpful. Liza and I were grateful.

Stadium wasn’t until 4:50. He was great. Warmed up all Chillaxed…

Who’s standing all flat footed purty?

Leisurely walk in

Warmed up like a hunter… or maybe a polo pony since Liza was rockin’ it all one-handed-y

We jump things all cute like

And then we stop at the first fence.

No big deal. Liza gave him an amazing ride, it was just him being a green bean.  And DEAR LORD!  I know they’re novice, and I know they can only be but so big… but damn, they looked BIG!

But who cares, she finished and it was a cute round. ALSO! Since the stop was the first fence I stopped and started again, so when you watch THIS version of the round, we’ll just pretend that rail was his only transgression.  :p

XC was clean, and it was a BIG Novice course. Including a horse eating ditch (as reference in my soon to be uploaded dressage video). Ask S.Cheese. She’ll tell you; horses were falling pray to it left and right.

There was also a trakehner (you heard me!), a couple of good sized related distance questions, and a big down bank.

And now for the jinx part.  Liza realized that Woody’s got everything he needs to do wonderfully… everything but the milage.  My little brave man just needs to take a deep breath.  And there’s good news and spendy news. The good news is it’s easy to fix, the bad news is it costs a chunk of money to get your horse out there a lot.

However, that’s just what we’re doing. One of Liza’s training horses didn’t get into Waredaca this weekend so she’s taking him to Plantation. On Sunday She deftly pointed out to me that as of Sunday night they were STILL taking electronic entries!

So Woody, Olando, Liza and I are heading to Pennsylvania this weekend. The thinking being two weekends in a row might be EXACTLY what Woody needs.

[MESSAGE REDACTED]

The last part of that message was redacted in the hopes that we can keep the horse show gods placated for just one more weekend. I’m certain they are not pleased with how I thwarted Operation Pull-a-Shoe. Who knows what’s next.

Not that we’re going anywhere, but if we were…

It might be a good idea to have Liza ride Woods for the three days leading up to his first outing at Novice.  It would also be neat if there was video and pics of the jump school.

If we WERE going somewhere, and those things DID happen, I imagine it would look kinda like this.

Woody’s face KILLS me. He’s so earnest (when he’s not spooking at the mounting block)

 

I don’t want to jinx it…

But it is getting close, so maybe I’ll say that it’s POSSIBLE that Woody will be making his Novice Debut at Waredaca in two weekends. 

I will blame my silence over the past few weeks on that.  I mean I’m so excited, there’s NO WAY I couldn’t mention it (IF it weren’t all a hypothetical, which I assure you-and that Murphy guy who is in charge of all the TRULY annoying laws-that it is).  But the entry stats are up, and there he is! 

Even more exciting?  I’ve roped Liza into riding him.  I wanted him to have the best experience possible.  SO!  I get to play owner.  I think there will be a big hat and a cocktail (or seven).  Just so long as the big hat doesn’t get in the way of the braiding and the grooming and the hey-hey.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Therapy sometimes makes you crazy

First, I want to give props to Marlborough Unrec Horse Trials.  I sent them my concerns about Woody’s XC time penalties and they handled it wonderfully. 

Obviously, since it was past the 30 minute protest window they couldn’t change the standings, but they did change the website and offered me some support in return for thier typo.  They did the math and to come in at 2:00 I would have had to tackle the BN XC course at 740 mpm.  In the Cold-Ass Stinging Rain.  Dear LORD.

Anyway, they’re Super nice people and I can’t recommend the event enough.

So the past week has been all over the place.  I’ll summarize:

I rode Ozzy for YEARS.  I bred him and trained him for all 8 years of his too-short life.  He was an Appendix QH.  Mostly TB, but the QH desire to conserve energy is STRONG in his people. 

To call him sensitive would have been obtuse.  There was no whispering to Ozzy…You had to TELL Ozzy.  Unless it was about dinner.  You could whisper “dinner” from 3 acres away and he’d hear you.  Heaven forbid he miss the two handfuls of grain he needed in order to look moderately pregnant.

Woody? Not so much.  There is Whispering.  There is nuance.  There is THINKING about something and it happening.

Then there is me, trying to figure it all out.  I had a lesson last week that made me feel CERTAIN the ASPCA was going to show up at my door.  I could make a bunch of excuses that might border on potentially valid explanations, but while they would make me feel better?  You rarely learn anything from listening to excuses.

So, I allowed myself to feel sorry for myself and to miss Ozzy.  And I DID miss Ozzy.  And that missing Ozzy made the feeling of inadequacy EVEN more intense.  I didn’t miss Ozzy because I don’t love Woody (Man do I love that red little freak).  I missed Ozzy because he’s gone. 

That’s it and that’s all.  While THAT part of it was genuine “come by it honestly crazy”, it in NO WAY made me less thankful for Woody.  They’re different, and we learn from different.  When I spoke to Allie about it she of course, worded it perfectly:

“But look at it this way–he’s a totally different ride, and you get to learn TOTALLY different skills, so really, him being a bit tough and not what you are used to is really good for your riding ability!  You’re going to be like a ninja!”

So THAT’S what I focused on and you know what?  Yesterday and today I harnessed my inner Ninja and Woody and I had two REALLY good rides.  Even WITH him being in for 2 days due to the rain. 

And there you have it.  The barn is my happy place.  It’s my therapy.  It’s where I KNOW I can go to get away from everything; where everything but the barn and all the good stuff it entails, melts away. 

But you know what?  NOTHING is a totally void of the crazy, it seeps in everywhere.  The Crazy is like a ninja.

I’m going to beat that Ninja’s ass.

Woody Breaks 40, but NOT the sound barrier…

Because Allie is a saint she took Woods and I too the Marlborough Starter Horse Trials yesterday.  I don’t know where you were yesterday, but if it was somewhere in Maryland you were cold and wet.  And I don’t mean like 60 and a little misting.  I mean Cold Ass Rain and wind.

So sure, let’s take Woody to his first competition of the year

We got there early so I could walk the course…which turns out took like 15 minutes, but whatevs cause we got to hook up with Jess and the always impressive Dixie. They had an AMAZING day (you should totally go and read all about it).

Woody warmed up well.  He was relatively calm and forward and I dare say moderately obedient.  We put in a decent test.  I vacillate between decent and good.  It was decent by others standards (earned us a 37.4) but GOOD by Woody standards.  Good because he picked up both leads, there was NO head flipping, and I he did not at all resemble a whirling dervish.

For the most part, he rode at the event like he rides at home.  Granted, at home we’re not spending quite as much time above the vertical as we did at the show, but again, he was CONSISTENTLY above the vertical, so I’ll take it. 

Oh, and did I mention we got BOTH LEADS!!!!?!?!  IN THE ARENA?!?!?!  You know why?  Trainer realized that I, as is my wont, was doing TOOO MUCH!  So in our lesson the other day (Oh, how I’m glad she’s back from Florida), she said “Lisa, I want you to ask for your canter depart like and idiot would.  For real, like think of the most dumbed down request you can, and do it.”

So I slipped my outside leg back, just barely, and ta-daaaa! 

So I was pleased with our test.  We went back to Allie’s LOVELY rig, stood around in it’s warm dryness with some lovely friends who came out to see us, and chilled out.  After about 20 minutes, Jess told us that as long as you were riding within your level, it didn’t matter what division you were in; if you were ready you could go.

So we tacked Woody up again (Have I mentioned how cute he is yet? Cause dear LORD he kills me) and headed out again in the wind and rain to tackle stadium and XC. 

Stadium warm-up consisted of jumping 2 cross-rails and an oxer.  He was jumping like his freaky little self and we headed in.  He was LOVELY!  Rideable, adjustable, calm.  He also totally told on me.  Little red vertical, I saw the long one, he said “Um, pretty sure Trainer said I shouldn’t make-out with the long spot anymore, I’m going to do the add if it’s all the same to you thankyouverymuch.”

Like trainer said, If you just sit chilly, and sit up, and wait for the add, you make it look like you MEANT to get that close.  Yeah, there is NO doubt that I did not mean to get that close, but Woody took care of it and was a super star.

On to XC.  The course was small and only 12 obstacles, and Woody handled it like a pro.  Even trotted into the water like a real live event horse.  Jumped the weird fake ditch (which was scarier than a real ditch if you ask me), and finished up in fine form.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the results last night and it says I have SIXTY time penalties.  I looked at the detailed XC results and they said we came in at TWO MINUTES!  Now the course was short, but I’m pretty sure that if Woody could have finished it in two minutes, he’d still be racing and winning a bazillion dollars. 

I contacted the event to let them know about the error.  I came in right around 5:00.  I don’t care about the ribbon (for real, we were 4th after dressage and would have ended up 3rd), but it does look like dangerous riding, and it’s inaccurate.  No biggie, but still, maybe they’ll change it.

So that was our day.  Allie, per usual, was an amazing friend (as is the way of her people), and took right good care of Woods and I.  Oh, and not only did she stand in the wind rain and cold all day, but she took video.  I’ll update with the evidence of Woody making the right decision and teaching ME a lesson when it’s uploaded.

I can’t say enough about what a good job Marlborough did.  The footing held up in the rain, the volunteers were kind and helpful, and it was a VERY well run show.  They have a recognized event in the fall, and I would recommend attending.

Woody Leaves the Barn and the Donkey Behind to go XC Schooling

_

NERDS!!!!!

We headed out for some XC schooling yesterday and I couldn’t have been MORE pleased with how the day went… yes even WITH me busting ass and falling off.

As Jess and I were discussing my inability to defy gravity we decided sometimes you need to bust your ass to get it in gear. I fell into my old habit of CRAWLING down to fences that decidedly should be approached at something other than a western lope.

Anyhoo, Woods, cause he was being a superstar, jumped it. I have a hard time staying with his hind end when he’s NOT compensating for having to jump a training level oxer at a crawl.

So there you have it. I came off on the other side. For a minute I thought I was going to be able to make it. Which was unfair to Woods, cause it led to me HANGING ON HIS FACE! Something he did not soon forget as you can tell by THIS lovely video which was taken after I ate dirt.

I decided to do nothing. So I grabbed the martingale strap. I can’t tell if the twisting is because he doesn’t have enough slack in the rein or he’s compensating by saying “Bitch, you just hung off my face for 10 seconds trying not to fall off (didn’t work). SO I’m going to now protect that side of my face by pulling it away from the offending hand.”

Probably a little but of both!

He’s such an honest willing egg. So other than that display of amateur action, we had a great day. Woody CALMLY cantered down to every single thing I pointed him at.

See, like the big log wagon in the woods!

And the big log into the non-existent water!

Woody thinks while dropping into the water.  His Face!  It kills me!

A picture of Woody’s Butt!

Here are some additional super cute pics.  The day was FILLED with Canter Ponies and they were ALL amazing.  Kelly rode her ass off, adn her and Klondike were AMAZING. 

For Cereal, Kelly and Klondike are too cute. :

Check her blog for more pics and Videos!

And then there is Parker!

What it looked like from his perspective… Or Pants’ I guess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sure Allie will write about his outing, too.  He was terrific!

 

And then, DIXIE!  Be sure to check all the CANTER blogs!  Lots of stuff went on yesterday!

So now that we’ve had a schooling, I’m feeling pretty good about next weekend!  Woody will have his first outing at Marlborough Starter Horse Trials!  I’ll keep you posted