Webster vs. the fence (vs. my stupidity)re

Well, yesterday was quite a day. I haven't made a new post in a while so I figured sharing yesterday would be an... interesting start back into regularly updating this. Bummer that it couldn't have been a story with a bit of a better ending, but that's okay.

So, yesterday started out really well. I mean, really well. I've been trying this new method with Justin, kind of back-tracking a bit to really get him going the way I'd like him to be going, and we've spent the last week/two weeks just walking, doing some poles and lateral work, and a bit of lunging. Yesterday was the first day I trotted him under saddle since our new approach, and he was fantastic! He's so much straighter, less fussy, more willing, and just overall much

happier to be ridden on the flat. Yay!

Carlos brought Unika over yesterday, too, and while we still have a lot to learn together and our rides are far from perfect, I was very pleased with our ride. She's so different from Justin, but in so many ways she's exactly the same. They seem to have very similar minds and athletic abilities, but of course, Justin is a 14.2 Mustang and Unika is a 16+ Dutch Warmblood with champion ribbons at Level 3 & 4 Jumpers under her belt. She's pretty out of shape, but that's fine by me because it gives me more time to figure her out without fearing for my life. She

loves her long spots, which is something we need to work on together, because there will come a day when she can't get the spot she wants over the fence she's pointed at, but for now, the 2'6" - 3 ft fences don't seem to be causing her problems. I've gotten much better with riding her, especially since my discovery of "the more you pull, the more they pull and the faster they go" kind of thing. Next step is learning when/how to effectively half halt and when it's my time to let go and let her do her job. We'll get there! I have faith, I love this mare. :)

Then had a good ride on Benny. We're trying the same technique as with Justin, only j

ust a bit more elementary school-esque. He's coming along well, of course. Such a sweet, willing pony! I set up trot poles yesterday and put the reins over his head and he just followed me around like a puppy dog. Then he decided he wanted the whip more than I did, so he took it from me and carried it around in his mouth for about 5 minutes. It was so cute!

...Now to the less happy part of the day.

It really was a huge error of judgement on my part, and I knew it the second everything started happening, but there was nothing I could do at that point. I tossed the horses some hay and went to go take Webster's blanket off since it was starting to warm up. I had gotten the leg

straps and surcingles undone, and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw this white blur coming up behind me, and I instantly thought, "Oh, sh*t!" and quickly tried to redo Webster's straps, but it was too late.

Webster took off, blanket flapping in the wind, Benny chasing after him, and Ollie the little Jack Russell trying to herd them both like sheep. I just stood there and tried to coo them to a stop, but every time it would start to be working, the blanket would move or another horse would spook or Ollie would start yapping, and all hope was lost. The field the horses are in is pretty small (I've been trying to move them to a bigger field for months, and had decided just a few days ago to move them altogether to get a bigger field, but I guess that won't be as much of an issue anymore..), so Webster didn't really have anywhere to run to to escape the other

horses. Naturally, he jumped the fence. It really was a pretty impressive jump! With that blanket hanging off he almost looked like Superman. :)

He knocked a board down when he jumped, and it wasn't until about five seconds later that it occurred to me that there is electric fencing around the whole field, so there was no way he could have hit the board without hitting the wire too. That was when I knew I was in for some real problems.

I got his halter and went down to the field he'd jumped into, where he was running around franticly like a maniac. (Understandably!) I watched him for about 10 minutes, trying to calm him down with no avail, so I decided at this point, if he's injured, I should call the vet ASAP. So I watched him for another couple minutes to see if I could see any blood, and low and behold, I

see blood. Lots of blood.

Oh joy.

So I went up to the house and got my phone to call Dr. Gard. Very luckily, she lives right next door and was just getting home anyway so she was able to make it over in no time. Webster finally calmed down and let me catch him, and that was when I finally got a good look at his wound.

It honestly wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was still bad. About 6 inches long and pretty deep, it went all the way up into his groin, which posed a bit of a problem for Dr. Gard when it came time to stitch him.

It took over two hours and a lot of local anesthesia, but she was able to stitch him beautifully and without complications. She got about 20 or so stitches in there, so it really was a pretty good sized wound.

He's doing okay for now, just a bit of swelling and soreness I'm sure, but he's still walking his stall like a champ, just dragging his foot a bit. Hopefully this will heal without problems, but we're taking it one day at a time.

Poor Webster has had a rough year! Fingers crossed that this is the end of his string of bad luck... And needless to say, I think this special guy has found a permanent place in the Monocacy family. (FML? juuuuust kidding!)

Webster says, "Man, that was weird!"

It wasn't you, it was me...

I just had an epiphany. I think I've solved the mystery to Monocacy Gold.

I took Justin to a little jumper show today. We warmed up with the 3 ft. division, and then did two rounds in the 3'3" - 3'6" division. This was easily the highest course I've ever ridden in a show, because schooling shows don't usually set their fences at true height. (A 3'3" class, in my experience, is usually barely even a solid 3 ft. class.)

The 3 ft. division was set closer to 2'9", and thank goodness for that, because I might be dead otherwise. I don't know what happened to me today... We had such a good ride yesterday, we've been making so much progress on the flat! I decided to put him in the snaffle, not the hackamore, because I feel like I'm still sort of learning how to use the hackamore, and I was worried that if I were to go into "panic show jump" mode (which I did...), it would be far more horrific than if it happened in the snaffle. (Mostly because it has happened in the snaffle, and I know that we can still get around a course in that fashion, even if it's far less than ideal.) But I really wish I had ridden him in the hackamore, because I think we would have avoided going into that self-destruct mode.

Which we did not.

We were in "self-destruct mode" every single course. I froze up. I hung on his mouth. The first class we were beyond lucky- the fences were small enough that he could step over them- so our absolutely ludicrous speeds didn't cause the problems we would have had if the jumps had been any higher. We won the class, because we went faster than everybody else, but I walked out of the ring feeling horribly disappointed and embarrassed by the way I was riding. I still had people coming up to me left and right to tell me how great our round was, and how great of a rider I was, etc. All I could do was smile and say "thank you," even though I didn't mean it.

Don't get me wrong, I really did appreciate their kindness. I met a lot of very nice people and I liked them all very much. But I realized what it is that had me so disappointed, and it very well may explain every single problem I ever had with Gold.

Here it is:

Why were these people complimenting me? They were complimenting me because from the display they had just seen, I was riding an incredibly strong and difficult horse, with a lot of "go" and not enough "stop," but a jump that could clear the moon. They were complimenting me for dealing with the problems my horse presented to me.

What these people didn't know, though, was that I was the one causing these problems.

A few weeks before MDHT in August, I had a breakthrough ride with Justin. I realized that I held on his mouth so much because I was fearful of him getting quick, but he only got quick when I was holding his mouth. I was making him feel trapped, and the only way he thought to escape this was to get quick. We were just constantly feeding off of each other in the worst way possible.

When I rode him around stadium and XC at Maryland, though, I did something different. I let him show me where the comfortable rein length was for him. I used my legs and seat, not my hands, to not only steer him, but to slow him as well. And we rode one of the best courses we've ever ridden. We weren't fussing with each other. He took me to all the spots on the jumps and I went with him, not the other way around. We continued that way at Seneca and again at the MDHT unrecognized horse trials.

We had a great lesson last week, but for some reason I just didn't bring what I had learned with me today. We won every class, but that was only because we happen to be a lucky pair. We're small and fast and can get around turns even when, by all laws of physics, we shouldn't. But this is not the way we should be going around the course. Justin could go like a hunter if I wanted him to. The only reason he got so strong and quick was because that was how I was riding him.

I think this was my problem with Gold.

I never rode Gold the way I've been riding Justin. He was so much bigger, the idea of losing control of his front end just seemed like a death wish. Sure, I had several instructors that tried to work with us on more riding from the back and less from the front, but after several years of going around like this with no formal instruction, we had adapted to this way of dealing with each other. I'm sure that is what made it so much harder to train us out of it.

I still know that Gold was a very powerful beast, there's absolutely no question about that. But I don't think that things necessarily had to be as difficult for us as they were. If I had learned sooner that the key to control is letting go, we would have been able to learn to go that way with each other. Instead, we developed habits that appeared to fix problems that I am beginning to question the cause of.

Having this kind of realization is so bittersweet. On the one hand, I am so pleased with myself as a rider to be able to recognize these kinds of things. It really reminds me that I will never be finished learning about my riding, and horses, and the sport itself.

On the other hand, I wonder how things would have been with Gold if I had been able to break us of our habits before they got out of control. And that is kind of a hard thought to deal with. I know Gold knew he was loved, and he had a good life. But I just hate knowing now that I was probably causing him more problems than I was fixing. Gold wanted to be good... He was good... But he wanted to be better.

I suppose there's no use dwelling on the past, simply take what I have learned from this and move forward with it. I really don't think you're ever done learning in this sport, and I think that may be why I am so passionate about it. You have to remain humble, otherwise you're just going to get yourself into trouble.

Enjoy my embarrassing jumper rounds. (Laugh at my awful riding, and be amazed by my incredible pony. Surviving today was all him.)

I love my father's comment, "I can't see a thing!" while his thumb is halfway covering the lens. (He moves it before fence 4.) Also please note that after the last fence we have to go halfway around the ring before we can stop...

Hey Training!

Justin and I just got back from our first Training level event!! We competed in the MDHT Unrecognized this morning, and I was honestly more nervous than I think I've ever been for a show before. He's been pretty consistently good the past few weeks, but the past couple of days have been a bit trickier. We had a lesson with Katie on Thursday, which was good, but I did feel a bit disappointed with how it went. Justin just felt very rushed and not on my aids at all, but I think the problem was that my ankle was irritating me too much to really be able to put any weight on it, so that led to obvious problems.

Katie said she was pleased with the lesson, though. She says that I'm learning how to use my legs and seat much more efficiently, which I definitely agree with. She's finally begun to let me sit to and between the fences, since I can now sit without pushing him with my seat. My biggest thing now is correcting my hands. I tend to tug on him at the wrong times, especially in front of the jumps, so we're working on almost throwing my reins away and letting Justin find all the distances without me. It's hard, because I instinctively want to "hold, hold, hold," when I really need to be letting go. It's definitely a comfort thing, because I know I ride better and he goes better when I let him do his thing. But we're still improving, and we'll get there eventually. :)

I was so pleased with Justin today. Our dressage was at 8:30 and stadium was at 9:30, which seemed a bit crunched to me, but it all worked out. I gave myself about 40 minutes of warm up, and he was feeling pretty good before we went into the ring. He had been a bit fussier and more distracted than usual though, so I wasn't really sure what would happen in the actual ring. It went about as well as I'd expected it to, no awful moments, a few great moments, but mostly mediocre. I did a much better job of not grabbing his face the way I tend to do when I get nervous in dressage, so that definitely helped. We got a 37.7, which is better than our recent string of 40's. Justin even got an 8 on his gaits (along with an 8 on one of our canters and an 8 on our halt/salute)!

Stadium was set up really nicely, although I was a bit skeptical about how a few of the combinations would ride. Fence 5 was a long one stride A/B, which we rode into really nicely, but I ended up climbing up his neck a bit at the B. He took care of me though, as he always does. Fence 1 rode probably better than any fence we've ever jumped in the show ring. Granted, it was the smallest fence on the course, so I wasn't thinking about it as much as the others, but I was still very pleased. We pulled a rail at fence 3, because he chipped in and popped it, but again, that was me being too heavy in my hands. All in all, it was a very decent round. I even had someone come up to me later to tell me how "lovely" our round was and how "fun" it is to watch us go. (And a girl who was with her also complimented us and then said, "This is why I want a pony!") I'm so lucky to have a horse that makes me look good!

I was actually scared silly about XC, but Katie just kept rolling her eyes and saying, "You'll be fine!" And she was right! 1 through 5 rode perfectly, 6 was a big log into the water with a B complex which was an up bank out of the water, and that gave us a bit of trouble. Justin backed off BIG time, which I'm sure was partially my fault since I was definitely anticipating it. He broke to a walk, I thought we'd have to circle and count as a refusal, but I popped him with the bat just to remind him we had to get over it, and he did! Jumped it from basically a stand-still, cantered right on through the water and out the bank with no problem. Fence 7 was an option of a double chevron or a maxed out brush with a ditch under it. I should have taken the brush, but I had been so nervous about that fence after walking the course yesterday, I just opted to take the chevrons. I definitely took Justin for granted on that one, though. He got a bit wiggly to the base, and ended up doing almost a spider crawl over the jump. I think we may have knocked the flag over... Whoops. The rest of the course went pretty well though. I flatlined a bit on the second to last fence, which I tend to do at the end of XC, and Katie has been on my case about. I pulled myself together for the last fence though, and I finished with a huge smile on my face.

We ended up 5th out of 5 with a score of 41.7, but that was definitely a score I'm very happy about. We still have a lot of work to do, but at least having the confidence in ourselves that we CAN run around at training is a good start. We have Rubicon in a few weeks, which will be our first recognized training, so we have enough on our plate to keep us busy until then. But if Rubicon goes as well as today, I'll be pleased. If it goes even better, that would be really great though!

Training Ready!

I just had one of the best rides on Justin that I think I've ever had. I rode through the Training level Test A for the first time, and I don't think I could have asked for much better! The test was far from perfect, mind you, but Justin was SO on the ball, he did absolutely everything I asked him to do and stayed quiet and soft the entire time. The first time I trotted through the canter parts, because we really haven't been doing much canter work, but I cantered him the second time through, and he felt great. It was the first time I'd ever asked him for an extended canter (and an extended trot, and canter/trot/canter transition on the diagonal), but it really felt like we'd done it all a million times before. I'm so pleased!

The tricky part now is going to be keeping him this quiet and responsive and fit until next weekend. I'm going to Boston for 3 days, so hopefully his little vacation won't loosen any screws...

Rain Is A Good Thing!

So it has been raining nonstop for the past 48 hours pretty much. Which I am not in a position to complain about, we've been needing it, bad! But it would have been really great if Justin's stall could have not flooded... I tried to clean it out yesterday, but I filled the wheelbarrow with wet shavings and then it was too heavy for me to dump. :( Perhaps I'll have better luck tomorrow.

I didn't ride yesterday, partly because of the weather, but mostly because my ankle has been acting up, so I used to weather as an excuse to take a day off. I'm going to at least lunge my two today, just to get them out. I'd love to ride, but I really don't want to push it and end up having to take more time off. The other four are out in the back 45, so if it keeps raining I definitely won't ride them, because I feel terrible making Lorenzo go out and get them.

On a more positive note, this time off has given me an excellent opportunity to watch the WEGs! Sadly it's only dressage again today, but it's still pretty interesting to watch. Boyd Martin put in a very solid test yesterday, which I was very pleased to see. He was the only competitor for team USA that I watched yesterday, but I can go back and watch the rest because I bought a subscription to the games on Universal Sports. $30 for full access. Money well spent.

Corbin was SO good on Wednesday! I posted before I had ridden him, so I didn't get to write about it, but oh my goodness! It was the first time I didn't lunge him before I got on, so I was half expecting him to try to pull something funny, but he didn't! In fact, he was better than he's ever been! We walked around the arena three times in each direction, and then trotted twice around in each direction! He stayed on the rail almost the whole time, barely tried to stop at all, and definitely didn't throw any hissy fits whatsoever! He was a bit distracted by the horses in the field next to the arena, but hey, for the three-year-old's fifth time under saddle, I'd say he was pretty damn near perfect!

Dani should be coming out next week at some point, hopefully when we have better weather, and she'll get some pictures of all the guys so I can finally post those and get ad's up for them.

And now I shall return to my WEGs. GO TEAM USA!!

Hackamore Heaven & Rain (finally!)

So after I professed my love for the nathe bit yesterday, I rode Justin in a hackamore for the first time. Katie had suggested it during our last lesson because Justin tends to get a bit quick and tosses his head occasionally. I'd tried a hackamore with Gold a few years ago, but I think the combination of Gold's problems and my inexperience with using a hackamore just led to a big messy situation that made us both more frustrated. But with Justin, it really seemed to be the answer to our prayers!

I literally rode with loopy reins the whole time, and he didn't even so much as take one quick step. I really felt like I could ride him with my legs, seat, and stomach, and we felt more in sync than we've ever been. It makes sense to me that Justin would only get quick if he's unhappy with the bit/rein pressure on his mouth, because even the very first time I rode him I noticed how sensitive he is to the bit. (I actually noticed in the spring that he went much better when I simply rode him in a halter and lead rope than in his normal bridle.)

So I have a newfound love for my hackamore. I also have a newfound love for Flower, the mare that bucked me off a few weeks ago. We has a phenomenal ride today, she didn't pop a buck once and was really focused and willing. She usually gets distracted by her herd that gets turned out right next to the indoor arena, and she will obnoxiously call to them several times throughout our rides, but she didn't do that at all today! We jumped a bit too, and OH MY GOODNESS. This mare can jump! She has a huuuge jump, is honest, bold, and forward, but not too quick at all. I was very impressed. I think she is going to come a long way very quickly.

Benny was a charm today, too. I've switched him into the nathe and a flash, and he is really learning to soften and move into the bridle very well. I was getting worried because he was developing a pretty massive under-neck, but I've been lunging him a couple times a week which seems to be helping. I jumped with him yesterday, which went super! Benny is just such an awesome and sweet pony. I can't wait to find him a little girl in the spring! :D

I also started riding another horse of Alyse's yesterday, a big, young, bay gelding named Piccadilly I believe? He's very cute, big hunter-type. He's very green, but he doesn't seem to have a bad bone in him (knock on wood). I'm hoping to get a few of Alyse's guys to a schooling show or two before it gets too cold, but we'll see how that goes.

Justin's getting today off, still have to ride Lock and baby Corbin. I'm contemplating buying a weeks subscription to FEI TV so I can catch the WEGs, but it's $30, which is an awful lot of money. Oh horse world, why must you be so expensive?!

Ode to the Nathe

Oh Nathe bit,

in all of your wire and rubbery goodness,

how you keep my hands soft when they want to be strong,

preserving my ponies' gentle mouths.

Thank you for teaching me that a hot horse

sometimes simply needs the kindest solution.

No Pelham, nor gag, nor any exquisite bit offering quick results

can please my horses the way you do.

I want to tell the world,

shout from atop the tallest mountain,

"Hello world! Look no further! For the Nathe has come to solve your problems!"

A horse only gets one mouth in his life,

it is time we learned to respect it,

not destroy it.

It is time we learned to ride!

-William Shakespeare

(via Kelsey Siegel)