Practice, Practice, Practice!

Yesterday was Monday which is usually sort of an off day. I've really needed to be able to find some time to work on the dressage stuff we've been learning in lessons. So, I tacked up and headed to the indoor. I was just warming up when Martha came in and asked if I wanted a lesson. Duh. I hadn't yet gotten to practice what we had learned in our last dressage lesson (the shoulder-in) and I like to have a session just me and Hick inbetween our lessons to really try to work through our issues. But it was a good learning lesson. It's now time to start putting Hickory in more of a frame when we're walking and trotting, so we worked on that.. having a consistent frame. A lot on posting and keeping the arms very still and steady to maintain a consistent connection, posting to your arms. Also, I'm supposed to start every ride by walk/trot/cantering and doing transitions without stirrups to loosen up and get moving with the horse. Our shoulder-in's at the walk were really good. We had issues at the trot. I couldn't get him to move his body off of my inside leg. When i would put it on him he would say 'oh speed up????' instead of 'move sideways?' So we worked that for a while and then martha left to let us work on our own some. Once I wrapped my head around things, which is a lot of the time most of the problem, we started doing some leg yielding at the trot as a reminder that leg does not always mean go faster, it can also mean move over sideways. Then we attempted some more shoulder in and it was much improved. We did some canter work, also, mainly transitions and one leg yielding pass in each direction and then that was definitely enough for him for one day.

Today we had a jumping lesson with the ladies. Things to work on: having compressibility of my horse. Need to be able to compress and expand him like an accordion between jumps. We had one line that was supposed to be a 6 stride and we kept getting it in 5 and I could not get him to compress to get it in 6. And that's fine for today, considering that everything we've been teaching him has been 'go go go!' But it's something to work on. Also, I need to get stronger and learn to land in more in my heels on our landing. I tend to land on my hands and get pulled forward. So when I come out to practice jumping I'm supposed to take my stirrups off and jump a lot of little stuff with no stirrups to get stronger. I got to ride Denera today which I was reeeeaaalllyyyy excited about. She is one of Martha's clients' horses. She is a gigantic Westfalen mare from Germany that Martha is competing. She is my favorite horse on the entire farm. It's the bay that Martha was riding at the Jan Byyny clinic (Amanda, Audrey, Diane). And she needed to be exercised today so I got to take her for a 20 minute trot. And it was fuuun!

Oh! And Hickory got a boo boo on his face somehow. He has a big lumb right smack in the middle of his face. It looks similarly to what you think of when you hear someone has broken their nose. Pictures to come.

The Morgue

oThis entry is going to be pretty non-horse related, but still cool.

Saturday morning I woke up super early--4:45. I had to do the barn, go back to the house and change/get ready, and drive into Louisville to get to the Dr. Corey's office by 7:30. Dr. Tracey Corey is the state medical examiner--she does autopsy cases. She is also a student of Martha's, which is how I got set up to shadow her this weekend. I lucked out! So I'm driving around, lost (of course), but in the vicinity of where I'm supposed to be.. kind of looking at the buildings, wondering which one is the one I need... and then I see two people rolling a body bag out of a set of doors--found it! I went in, and met one of the interns who gave me a tour of the facility but was told that surprisingly, there were no cases that day. So, you can't really complain about there being no dead people. Not that I was wishing someone would die...... but I really did want to see an autopsy. I left, a little dissappointed, but ready to return the next morning.

(I took Hickypoo for an easy little bareback walk that afternoon, too, since he had such a big day the day before.)

So, same drill this morning. Up early, didn't get lost, though. A wave of tiredness has suddenly hit me, so I'm going to spare you the super gory details (they truly are extraordinarily gorey). I got to see three autopsies--an overdose, and a husband/wife homicide-suicide. I think Dr. Corey is pretty amazing. It was an experience.

Also, rode new horse Marco today. Likely, more Marco stories at a later point in time.

Three Lesson Catch Up

Alrighty. I've had three lessons since last entry.

First, was a jump lesson. It wasn't too eventful. We started jumping a little higher, I think. But, notable things to remember: 1. Toes out, heels down over the jump! 2. Don't curl your back with your horse when you jump, keep back more flat! 3. Don't take your eye off the jump until it dissappears from your field of view on the approach. 4. You have to ride hard into one strides and combinations. That's all I can think of...

Next lesson was a dressage lesson, and it was goooood. Still using the hot dog bit. Borrowed Martha's spurs. We learned all about the shoulder in. At first, when you ask for the shoulder in, it's easiest to start coming out of a 10m circle, because you already have the correct bend. Your outside leg is back a little bit. Your inside leg is under you. And your hands are to the inside, like when it is done correctly, your outside hand should be even with your bellybutton. And you should be sitting on your inside seatbone. It was hard for me to catch onto at first because when I think shoulder in, I think: use outside leg to push shoulders off the wall. Wrong. We get our bend with our hands, and if we need have our inside rein out like a lunge line. Then we use lots and lots of inside leg underneath of us to keep the horse on the track. This is where those spurs came in super handy. Because he is a big horse and that is a big body to keep molded into a certain position. And your horse is traveling on three different tracks. The inside foreleg is on it's own track. The outside foreleg and inside hind leg are on their own track together, and the outside hind leg is on it's own track. And the horse is moving forward. And the thing is, that you can't really tell what's going on down there under you when you're riding. All that 'track' business sort of went over my head. So, we were walking down the wall, attempting this and Martha keeps saying how you need to be looking straight ahead. (This is going on in the indoor where there are these FANTASTIC mirrors on the ends of the arena so you can see yourself. And finally she yells "LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD! LOOK IN YOUR MIRROR!" And voila. I looked into the mirror directly in front of us that we were heading for and saw my horse and saw the three tracks. He looked like a three legged creature from straight on, one front leg moving on its own, the two diagonal legs moving together as one, and then the other hind leg. It was a 'eureka!' moment. But it was sooooo coooool! And we progressed to being able to do it without the 10m circle and could just do it out of our corners. Then we worked it at the trot which was a little rough, but we had some shining shoulder-in moments. And the purpose behind all this is that the shoulder in helps your horse learn to bring his inside hind leg closer to your outside rein, get his butt up under you and develop some hock action. We did some canter-work next, and worked on leg yielding at the canter. Again, with the same purpose as the shoulder-in basically. So we leg yielding and suddenly, when we did it right, he felt amazingly light on the forehand, and his shoulders were lifted, and his hind end was under him. Martha said 'tell him what a good boy he is!! this it hard for him!!' and I did and she commented again about what good work ethic he has. We worked some on leads, also. And she said that at this point, he knows. And that he is a big boy now and its not acceptable for him to keep taking the incorrect lead over and over again. She said to 'make an impression on him' when he takes the wrong lead. Which I did and he said 'oh crap, I really do have to use my brain and do what she asks.' And then she said when he does it right, you also have to 'make an impression on him.' So, when he would take the correct lead, I would lean forward and rub his neck and tell him what a good boy he is! It was a really productive lesson and the spurs were GREAT.

And today we went cross-country schooling at Flying Cross--a beautiful farm 6 miles down the road. Hickory was an ANGEL. We talked about how, when you are galloping along, you are off their back so they can roll under you, but you are disconnected. And then seven or eight strides out from the jump you should sit lightly and start doing the 'hoola hoop' like motion, to engage their hind end. This becomes a signal, the hoola hoop motion says ok, engage yourself, get that hind end under you, there's something coming up we need to prepare for. And you may also have to adjust their balance with your leg and reins but that eventually sitting down on their back becomes its own half halt and they learn what to do. We did some littler warm up stuff. Then we went to a different field and jumped off a pretty good sized drop. I was really really proud of Hick, because we've had jumping off bank problems in the past. And this one was basically like a big ramp you cantered up in the middle of the field and then jumped off. I was waiting for him to stop, but he stretched his neck down and peered off the edge as we got close and jumped right off! And my balance has been great coming off the drops lately, too. Then we had our first refusal. It was a pretty good sized rolltop looking thing and we were galloping a little uphill towards it. And he pulled his characteristic, 'we're going away from the barn/trailer, i'm going to get behind your leg and not go perfectly straight, don't really want to do this,STOP.' And I was very glad he did, because that meant Martha got to see it. She said, and i paraphrase, "He is just being silly. You lose him, he gets lost behind your leg and loses his straightness and it's just silly. He needs to be more trained at jumps like these, in situations like this. Train him. Don't let him stop. Don't let him get behind your leg. Teach him that we will NEVER put him in a situation that will harm him, use your spur and give him that bravery.' So we came up to it again and of course, it was the second time and we hopped right over it. But we then circled around to a pretty good sized log that probably wouldn't be on a Novice course, maybe a training? I will describe it as a fake Trakehner, there wasn't really a ditch underneath it.. but the log was raised up off the ground and there was a 'faux' ditch--like a little box that extended from a foot or two in front to a foot or two behind that you had to clear to clear the jump. It looked big and scary to me and I didn't think we were goign to jump it when we came into the field. But off we went. And I used it for a training ride to teach him. We tore at it and when he started to look a ways back I popped him on the butt and he said yikes! and kept his impulsion and stayed in front of my leg. He looked at it again a stride or two out and I popped him on the shoulder and then used my spurs at the base of the jump and he flew over it, perfectly! Everyone was happy. I don't think they put one strides on novice cross-country, but i'm not sure. So this next one might have been a training level jump. But it was two log stacks on a trail with one stride inbetween. We talked about needing to ride the first fence strong and really be sure to ride inbetween. And Martha commented on his nimbleness as he took the first jump like a champ and then skirted to a stop before the second one. But we weren't mad at him because he really hasn't done very many one strides in his life and this was a pretty sizeable one. So, the second time around I hollered 'Hickory, come on!' and used a little spur on the landing and he said 'oh, she means business!' and went on. He was really scared of the next jump we jumped, but at this point was starting to learn his lesson of the day and so was I. I really started to understand how to ride to cross-country jumps and inspire your horse to get over them. You really just have to ride strong and they learn not to be afraid, that you aren't putting them in danger. So, it was really great. On the way home we talked about how it's been the same in both my dressage and my jumping, that I haven't really pushed through to the horse on the other side, before. It takes some work on both of mine and Hickory's parts, but that there is a whole nother horse on the other side of the 'behind your leg, uninspiring trot, i think i might stop at this jump, i want to curl my head' horse and it may take some effort and work nand a few bucks maybe and some tail swishing to get there, but that's the side we need to be on to be doing things correctly. So, the game plan is to do Gemwood Novice and then maybe do one more Novice at Penny Oaks and then get a Training Level under our belts at Flying Cross and the end of the summer. Yay!

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy

So.

I am so freaking happy. I could try to describe all the reasons why this is such an awesome perfect summer, but I can't do it justice.

No huge new horse news to update you on, maybe tomorrow!

Glass Half Full?

So, today was one of those days that tests you a little bit. Like your life outlook. Kind of. I got up and was worn out. I now set at least 8 alarms on my phone. I got up and sat up in my bed for like 10 minutes trying to make myself move. And I finally did. I was kind of missing home and stuff but once I got moving I started to feel alright. And it was one of those days where I decided that I just wanted to look decent. Not that there is anyone up here to care about how I look, but sometimes you just have one of those days where looking nice makes you feel nice. This was one of them. So I straightened my hair for the first time in a while. I put on my faaavorite purple riding pants and one of those teal sports bra-becomes-shirt shirts. And I grabbed my cute sunglasses. And I looked in the mirror and was like, ah, now this is going to be a good day. So off I go to the barn, good song on the radio. Get to the feed room. Hook my sunglasses on my shirt. The big trash can thing that holds the feed is about empty. So I grab a bag of feed, open it up, and heave it up on my leg and dump it in the trash can. Full trash can of feed now. I scoop out two 1/2 scoops for Hickory and Mr. I, my first feed stop of the morning. I reach for my sunglasses. No sunglasses. I feel around on my shirt. Not there. I pat my head. Not there. I a little more frantically feel around my waistband. Not there. I turn and look back at the door. I look on the floor. I move to a different spot and look some more on the floor. I do the whole body pat down again. Not there. Then, I look at the trash can full of feed. I say, outloud, to whoever controls these things, "You're shitting me." Nope. I shove my hand down in the feed and dig around, coming up empty handed. Really???? I already started 5 minutes late. These are my GOOD, CUTE, prescription sunglasses that I love. Out comes the feed scoop. Scoop by scoop I fill up the first bucket, and then a second, and then a third. Sifting through feed searching for the lost sunglasses. When I run out of buckets I start filling up an empty trash can. Scoop after scoop. "You've got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous." And then I strike gold. Three buckets and half a trash can full of feed later. There were my sunglasses, lost in a trash can full of feed. How do these things happen to me? I wasn't quite sure at that point what kind of sign this was for the rest of my day--a little frustrating and irritating, but then it was kind of ridiculously funny, too.

So, then I'm hanging out at the big barn/stadium ring. Martha wants me to bring Mr. I up from the little barn pasture he's in with Hick so the farrier can look at his feet. So, I walk aaalll the way down there and get him and walk him all the way back up to the main barn. And the farrier had left. Haha. Hahaha. Ok, so I take him back. It's good exercise, I tell myself. It's 10:10, I have a cross country lesson at 10:45. Forgot my socks. Run back to the house and grab my socks and a banana. Eat banana, put on socks and boots and chaps. Saddle-check. Hickory's jumping boots-ehhhh. Flies here are ridiculous. Hickory is stomping his feet and moving from side to side, making it extraordinarily difficult to put his boots on his cute little legs. I would get one on and get the first strap on and then he would stomp his foot and the boot would slide down out of place. I was starting to get frustrated. It was really hot, and it's not really good to be late to your 30 min time slotted lesson. And then adding everything else that had already happened, this was starting to push it. I eventually got the boots on and then his bridle. 10:42. It's about a 6 minute walk from one barn to the other. A little faster if you're riding. But wait, I can't ride, because I LEFT MY HELMET AT THE BIG BARN! Gah! So off we go. So, I really had to work to pull that glass half full person out of me as we walked, before I got on. It's not good to get on your horse frustrated and mad and it's not fair to them and won't lead to a good ride.

And of course, once I got on I felt 10 zillion times better. Martha said "Good for you! Getting his hind end working early and not just settling!" about our warm up which was good. We did some stadium jumps to warm up, and Hickory was FANTASTIC! We did the one stride and the purple oxer and the triple bar to the four stride vertical. I think we did probably about as much in our warm up today as we did in all of our stadium lessons, he was soo good! And he was feeling really good and energetic. We headed out onto the grass. First was a wood panel with brush under it, with a long gallop to a log then a short gallop to another log, turn around and come back, jump up the bank and off the other side. Things went well. We galloped and then collected. Before the jump did the hoola hoop thing with my hips to say ok we're not just flat out galloping anymore, time to engage the hindquarters, there's something coming up! He hopped right up the bank but we were a little crooked coming off it. So back up it and down it the other direction. And then again. And then one more time. I need practice on the jumping down off the bank part, balance-wise.

The next part was kind of cool, but needs a little bit of explaining. So the little grass cross country section is flat but it is on a hill raised a little above the stadium ring that it is adjacent to (and there is no fence separating the grass from the sand, you can from one to the other). So, you can set jumps on directly along the edge of this hill so that your landing is downhill. You jump off of flat and land on a downhill. OR you can set your jump at an angle so that when you jump, you land on flat ground on the other side but your first stride will be going downhill. The latter is what we did. Rolltops generally have 2 pieces to them, and this rolltop was of decent size (I'd say 3-6in taller than the one at home) with a little brush/hedge on top of it), but we only took one piece of it, so it was a skinny-ish, with a standard on each side, angled on the hill. It was decently intimidating. And this is how Martha explained it should be jumped, "Take off as normal, then as you are in the air think about sitting straight up and letting your reins slide through your fingers about 1-3 inches and think about as you are over the jump saying ok horse here ya go, I'll meet you on the other side in about three or four strides!" And you gather your reins as you gallop off. And we were to gallop off into the stadium arena, make a big change of rein and loop around back to a second, real "skinny" that was a log with an uphill afterwards, then loop around to the ditch. So we came at the downhill rolltop and had a pretty good approach, Hickory and I both were a little unsure of it but at the base of the jump we ended up hopping over it! The funny thing was, I slipped him rein but we didn't go downhill! Martha said "He's too smart! He said, hey I actually don't have to land and go right down that hill, I can just turn left and keep going on straight ground!" So we did it again and this time went down the hill into the stadium arena. Had a big gallop around with a change of rein and headed to the skinny, which we were to approach with a "coffin canter"--small but bursting with energy. We jumped it, but it was a tad bit crooked so we came at it again. And this time with more of a transition from gallop to coffin canter. I personally was impressed with our coffin canter, it felt really cool to have that much energy packaged up under you. Great jump. Around to the ditch.. eeeeeeeeert. Refusal, I was expecting it. After about 2 more refusals we jumped across it from a standstill. And then the same thing again. Then we jumped it twice with some hesitation but no stopping. Martha said, "Finally! Something I can kick your butt about! We're going to be jumping sooooo many ditches! Prelim horse in the making right here!!"

So, I was really, really happy. Hickory was having a great time, I could tell. He was really excited to be galloping and playing. It was turning into a good day after all! I had a biiig break until I had to do the barn in the afternoon. Then, catastrophe struck again. One of the horses, Riper, wears a muzzle when he goes out in the field. And it's just like a halter, just with the muzzle on the end. I attached the lead rope and led him out and unsnapped his "halter" and let him go. Off he went like a rocket. Hmm. Walked back to the barn and went to hang his muzzle up on his stall. Wait. That belongs on his head. Shit. So I drive my car back over to his field, hop the fence and walk towards him. He says 'nuh uh buddy I am freeeee and gettin FAT!' and takes off. Again. I say outloud, "You've got to be shitting me." As I wade through the knee high grass. "Damn it to hell." I get close again and he takes off. I gave up. I went to start my car and realized I had no keys. I look around my car. Not there. I look at the field. Nuh uh. I took a quick look around at where I hopped the fence and didn't see them. Luckily, I had another set in my purse. No time to look for keys now, three more horses to turn out and 5 stalls to do. I finished up and had another go with Riper. Had to get the muzzle on him. Otherwise he would probably gorge himself on the rich grass, colic, and die, and it would all be my fault. I took him a carrot peace offering. Which he thankfully accepted. Muzzle on. But never found my keys. Oh well, I've got another set, and I did find my sunglasses.

Then I got a surprise phone call from Diane! Which made me very happy! So, yeah, it was a day full of ups and downs, but it all evens out in the end, I guess!

Melting

So, Romario is the other guy that works for Martha. And he works like 7 days a week and never takes off. He takes care of the main barn and basically everything around the farm. And the night before last he asks Martha for the following day off (yesterday). And she gives it to him because he has a relative coming in. But this leaves just me available to take care of ALL the horses without any training in the main barn--I don't really know half of the horses that live in there. There are 13 stalls in the main barn plus my 5 in the small barn. When she told me I just kind of looked at her with these wide eyes and she looked back at me with a similar expression. And then she tried to give me a rundown of who the horses were and what they got fed 'so and so is the only horse from the barn that goes in this field, this horse wears a cribbing collar..' etc. So, she goes back upstairs and I'm sitting on the bed thinking about what a disaster this is going to be. It would be different if all the horses were in their stalls in the morning with their little nameplates and I could say, "Hello, you must be Jackson, let's put you in the gelding field." But, no. The horses are all out in their fields. And, for example, Jackson is a bay gelding who goes in, I think, stall 8, and lives in the back gelding field. But there are about 4 other bay geldings in that field. Which one is Jackson?? About 10 minutes later Martha comes back down the stairs and says, "Maybe we should draw a map." Good plan.

So, upstairs I went. Got my piece of paper and my pen. Drew out the barn. Numbered the stalls. Martha rattled off the names of the horses in each stall along with a brief description and the field they were in. (i.e. Bay gelding with cribbing collar, bay filly who is biiig for a 3 year old, bay gelding, at dark bay gelding who is just darn good looking). And then we wrote down what each of the horses gets fed. It was agreed, the next day was going to be a looong one. Then we talked a little more about shows this summer and decided to not go to the Flying Cross mini trial. She's taking Denira to Gemwood in Fairborn, OH that weekend and said it would be a good one to go to instead. So, now we'll be off to Gemwood!

I woke up an extra hour early to have time to do both of the barns in the morning. Things went pretty smoothly, I was surprised. I had my little map tucked in the waistband of my pants and I consulted it frequently. The feeding went pretty smoothly. When I passed Martha on my way back down to the small barn she asked how it went and I said pretty well, but she needed to check and make sure I got the right horses, that I was about 90% certain it was Joey in Joey's stall (the dark bay darn good looking gelding) and only about 80% certain that it was really Jackson in Jackson's stall. Romario wasn't there to take the tractor over the jump arena and smooth it over so I got to replace all the footing in front of the jumps the old fashioned way! With the rake! And it's really not bad. Every time I think 'ughh' I stop and think about what kick ass arms I'm getting and then I'm like 'yes! more raking!'

I had a dressage lesson yesterday, too. It went decently. We started working on leg yielding, since it will help with getting his hind end stretching up under him. We decided our leg yields were decent. He would move really well off my leg but his outside shoulder would fall big time in the direction we were going. Our very last pass I finally figured it out and we had some really great strides in there. We worked on coming down the centerline, too.

I was worn out. Came back to the basement, took a little nap. And woke up to feed the big barn again and turn horses out and do the stalls. I was like a walking zombie by the end. Usually, picking the stalls in the big barn involves pulling the tractor into the aisle with the manure spreader attached. But we weren't about to attempt that. So we just used muck buckets and then lugged them around to the back of the barn and heaved them into the manure spreader when they got full. Work out. I also got the "Stall Picking 101" lesson from Martha. I'm not very good at "making the bed."

Man.

Hot, Rain, Hot, Rain, Hot, Rain Some More

Story of my life. So, sweet little Frank and sweet little Ghost drive me up the walls in the morning when I try to lead them in together. Frank doesn't want to be in the barn all day and Ghost can't wait to eat. So there is lots of dragging of me and dragging of Frank and pulling on Ghost and I end up in a really foul mood too early in the morning. So, today, I decided I would just make the extra trip and lead them each in separately. Problem solved.

Guess what's crazy. One of the ladies who rides here and I chat with every morning has a racehorse, too. And not just any racehorse, it ran in the Kentucky Derby and placed 5th! (Noble's Promise). Pretty cool!

I had an 11:15 jump lesson this morning. Diane and Silver joined us. I took a lot of really good stuff away from the lesson. So, you know how you can end up getting a big distance before a jump or getting a short distance if they chip in a stride? Well, if you didn't, you can. And a lot of the time as you are approaching the jump you see that you aren't going to hit the takeoff from a good place at the pace you are going (more or less) and so you ask your horse to either lengthen his stride (getting a big distance) and take a big one to close the gap or sit up and throw a whole nother stride in there before takeoff. One isn't really preferable to the other (that I know of yet) but if you throw another short stride in your horse has to work harder at the base of the jump to get over, and you have to make sure they know that that is a requirement. And so, during our warm-up we were doing "the circle of death" and my strides kept being a little bit off for takeoff and instead of sitting up and balancing before the jumps, allowing Hick to put in an extra stride, I kept pushing for the long distance, and we did like 4 or 5 jumps in a row like that and Martha was like 'stop stop stop.' And she said 'The rule I live by is that you can get away with 3 big distances in a round. But you can't get away with any more than that, something will happen. More than three and you're just pushing it/asking for trouble." And she said she keeps track in her head of how many big distances she takes. I thought that was really cool, and it helped me a lot as our lesson went on to think about sitting up to balance Hick.

We did a one stride and a triple bar again today, too. Martha set it up and said 'Look Callie a triple bar,' because I told her they made me nervous and she said she loves triple bars and sets them up all the time. And I said, "I LOVE triple bars!!!!!" Which was definitely the right response. Everything went well in triple bar land. Then she set up a triple combination: jump, two strides, jump, one stride, jump. The ONLY other time we had ever done a triple (not to be confused with a triple bar) was at Octoberfest last year in our Training CT. And we had a refusal, of course. And I said, "We've never really done a triple before.." and she looked at me. And I said "BUT I'M SO EXCITED TO GO TRY IT!" (we believe in positive self talk here). And came at it in a course off fairly tight right hand turn off another jump and i could not get Hickory turned (forgot the outside aids) but about three or four strides out I finally did and we sailed right through it! It was cool, it kind of feels like you are a little bit out of control through it (I mean you are) because you only have so much time on the ground and that time is so short there's not a lot you can do with it.

And at the end of the lesson I told her about our cross-country issues. She said that we would go xc schooling three days a week if that's what it took to get over our issues! Which was cool. But she said she thought that the dressage work and stadium work that we were doing would really help and should take care of it. She talked also about using my whip: That if we get out there on the course and he's not paying attention or is only half there (if he is running and being nuts, or lagging trying to go back towards the barn) and not focused that he needs to be popped with the whip, and if he bucks, he needs to be popped with the whip again. But that it's not a punishment, and it's not a way to say bad boy. The whip needs to become the cue for "GOOOOOOOO!" And if he is not paying attention and you use your whip, he should go and respect you and what you are telling him to do and trust that your decisions are good ones. And if he doesn't respect your whip and go, and bucks, you have to smack him again until he remembers what the whip cue means. She said 'Now, don't get bucked off, but be prepared for him to buck." And she said it could possibly result in him taking off with me or bucking but that it was necessary and we would be able to deal with it, that it is important that he knows the whip means go and respects it.

And she said she wanted to set up some skinnies for us to jump next time (i'm pretty sure skinnies don't come up in Novice, mainly just in Training and up, so that's cool that we're starting on that, as well as triples). And also that this week we would experiment with a hackamore (which is basically a bitless bridle) to see if Hickory would prefer it, given his tendency to curl and be really sensitive in his face. Sooo it should be an exciting week!

HOT

It stormed big here last night! And so it was very very humid this morning. The ponies were good. Went up to the main barn and swept up the entryway, got rid of a lot of dirt and leaves--that took about an hour. I ordered the feed. They were taking the day off since they just got back from a show, so I went back to the house and had lunch and a nice two hour nap! Then I got up and did the horses again. Took Hick for a little ride bareback. He missed me. But I think he's really startling to settle in finally, because he didn't seem like desperate to get out of the field. We tried to explore the one 'trail' on the farm but it was really grown and we didn't have much luck. So we went up to the jump ring and ran into Kassidy. She took some pictures of us hopping over some little stuff, Hickory-style--you guys back home at the farm know what that is. We were just messing around and it was fun. I headed him at the bank complex that they have in the little x-country area and he was suuuuuch a good boy just hopped right up it like it was nothing! Ate some grass (Hickory, not me :) ). Put Hick up, and Kassidy drove us over to Flying Cross, where two of my shows are going to be this summer. It is like somebody's hobby farm FULL of cross-country stuff. KHP style. I'm now really itching big time to go school xc!!

Brandon--
Dressage (pronounced /ˈdrɛsɑːʒ/ or /drɨˈsɑːʒ/) (a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a path and destination of competitive horse training, with competitions held at all levels from amateur to the Olympics. Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a riding horse. At the peak of a dressage horse's gymnastic development, it can smoothly respond to a skilled rider's minimal aids by performing the requested movement while remaining relaxed and appearing effortless. Dressage is occasionally referred to as "Horse Ballet" (cf. nl:Dressuur). Although the discipline has ancient roots, dressage was first recognized as an important equestrian pursuit in Europe during the Renaissance. The great European riding masters of that period developed a sequential training system that has changed little since then. Classical dressage is still considered the basis of trained modern dressage.

Early European aristocrats displayed their horses' training in equestrian pageants, but in modern dressage competition, successful training at the various levels is demonstrated through the performance of "tests" of prescribed series of movements within a standard arena. Judges evaluate each movement on the basis of an objective standard appropriate to the level of the test and assign each movement a score from zero to ten - zero being "not executed" and 10 being "excellent". A score of 9 is considered "very good" and is considered a particularly high mark, while a competitor achieving all 6s (or 60% overall) should be considering moving on to the next level.
--thank you wikipedia

I'm from Chicago...

I hung out last night with my two best friends ALYSSA and KAI, the BEST future roomies EVER. We sat outside Jessica's apartment, add in Megan. It was really humid. They are SO COOL. We were really glad Brandon wasn't there though.. we don't like him very much. He's kind of smelly. But ooooohhhhhhhhhhh weeeeeeellllllllllll we're stuck with what we're stuck with now... and at least his room is on the bottom floor and not on the second floor with the three of us... I mean, Mertz is probably a lot cooler than brandon and we might even give Brandon's room to Mertz and let Brandon sleep on top of the washer and dryer. We could make him up a decenet enough little bed out of our castaway socks and underwear and tshirts.

But anyway. I'm a little worried about my horse. I hope he is not having a little panic attack, he is used to seeing me every day. :( I feel bad for leaving him. But today is Lauren's weddin! :D It is super hot, though. Laura's coming to do my make-up! <3 It is going to be woooonderful and the reception is going to be lots and lots and lots of fun!

Winning Prelim Pony in the making!

Alright, so the past two days hav been pretty great. I love it here. I love all the people at this barn. Martha rocks. My horse rocks. The weather has been beautiful..

We had our third dressage lesson yesterday. It went really well. Our canter departs were GREAT! Our new cue for the canter is to be on the circle, have our bend, outside sits back, cue with the inside leg at the girth. We were doing figure eights at the canter with simple lead changes in the middle like it was a piece of cake. We did some walk work also. We have been walking too slow and sluggishly. We worked on having a big walk with lots of movement and swagger. We did more "big" trot work also, and started on our extended trot across the diagonal, which felt pretty cool! And his head was fantastic yesterday, too. Everything was just really starting to come together. Whereas before it seemed sort of like oh man this is going to be a project, the few tweaks Martha made resulting in things just falling into place and opening us up to advancing by leaps and bounds! We were really happy, she commented on Hickory's good work ethic. She's a genious. And as I was walking Hickory back to his barn she drove by in her car and stopped to say, "I am just really pleased with the progress you are making!" And I had dinner upstairs last night, which was fun. We talked about horses, and Martha told me some about Lauren's career and horse, and we talked about this organized trail ride put on by the local Hunt Club and she said I have the perfect horse for hunting and if I took him everyone would be trying to buy him from me. Not for sale!!!! Oh oh and we also planned out my show schedule: July 24--> Flying Cross Big Mini Trial, July 31-Aug 1--> Leg Up Horse Trials in Indiana, Aug 20-22-->Flying Cross Horse Trial, and possibly a dressage clinic thrown in there, too. So it was a great day!



Today was a good day, too. I held horses for another one of the farriers. Everyone here thinks I'm 17. I have to keep explaining that I'm 20. I rode Mr. Incredible, well more walked him around really. It was interesting. He has the violent head shaking habit when you go to put his halter or bridle on that is pretty annoying and slightly dangerous, he shakes that head HARD and FAST. And then I had a jumping lesson. It didn't go as poorly as I thought it would. We had some lead issues that we needed to work through, mainly they were coming from me not asking him following the plan we set up in dressage. And I had to pop him once with my whip because I would keep asking him to canter and he would sort of pick it up but he wouldn't MOVE OUT, again like in dressage before, the same concept. We have to work on applying that same concept to asking for the canter when we are jumping. He was being really fussy on the circle and not taking his lead when he really did know better, was wanting to fall out to the left towards the gate and I popped him and he did a HUGE buck and I was like 'woah! haven't felt that one before!' And Martha said that's because you didn't correct him before because when you correct him you create this monster that charges around or bucks and you haven't wanted to do that. But it needs to be done, he needs to be corrected so he can learn what these signals mean, and so we ARE going to create this monster sometimes but its necessary and we're going to also have the means to get the monster under control. So, it's been fun working through these issues, like seeing things get really messy and have Hickory charge around or buck but then start to LEARN and have things fall into place so well and have him behave and give the right response every single time. We worked on setting up for the jump, getting the correct canter, rebalancing. I don't really have the hang of it yet, I'm not sure what canter we need or how to get it. But Martha did the work, she yelled "Now gallop! Now halt!" And I was like 'wha.. ok.." And halted out of our gallop. And then she said "Now gallop!" And we galloped and then she said "Now halt! GALLOP!" And as I was pulling him down from the gallop to what would have been a halt he completely rebalanced and I would ask him to GOOOO as soon as he rebalanced, before he came to halt. It was really cool, kind of like hopping up and down in one place for a second or two. It was a hard lesson and I'm still a little lost, but I think it was a lot like our first dressage lesson, in the next few days some things should start falling into place. Martha was impressed with him, though, I think. She said he was a heck of a horse and if we could get this stuff down we were going Prelim cause this boy can JUMP! I was happy! And I think Hick really enjoyed himself, too. And as she drove off she said, "It's Hickory! Winning Prelim pony! Now we're upping the anty!!" I always thought he could go training, but I'm excited that Martha thinks we, as a pair, can go Prelim, cause I think prelim is a big deal!

Now if only the stupid MCAT doesn't ruin all this for me..

Shh, let the baby be!

Let's see... what interesting happened yesterday.. Did the barn in the morning. Then took a fantastic nap. I was going to give Hickory the day off. But he didn't want the day off, he wanted out! I swear, this horse is just like a baby. If anyone has ever had a newborn sibling, you can relate. You walk by the crib when the baby is sleeping and now matter how much you want to, you can't pick them up. Because they are finally content. This is what it's like with Hickory. Usually he is walking around the field, looking for a way out or standing at the gate begging to be let out. But on the occasion he is happily grazing I have to tiptoe around and make sure he doesn't see me because then he would be at the gate begging to get taken out. And when the baby starts crying, you've got to let them out of the crib. So, the Hickory baby was crying yesterday, so I had to let him out. I was wearing shorts so I just hopped on bareback and we did a little dressage, much better than our ride yesterday. Really starting to get the hang of canter transitions. Then we rode aimlessly around the farm a little bit, postponing the dreaded return to the field. When we got done, I finished cleaning the last water trough.

Then I went for my run, like a good girl. And it was going a thousand times better than yesterday's run. It was cool out, I was feeling good. Got to the end of the gravel road and turned around. Run run run. POP. AHHHH. I was pretty sure for 15 seconds I had broken my ankle. Then I made myself put weight on it. Had a mild panic attack. Was already out of breath, add trying not to cry to the mix--could not breathe. I started to cry like twice and I literally told myself outloud "The only good crying does is to get you attention and there is nobody around to get attention from. SO DON'T CRY IT WON'T HELP ANYTHING." I didn't have anyone's phone numbers to call to come rescue me off the side of the road. It was a dilemma. I sucked it up and hobbled the rest of the way home. I don't think I should get punished with an injory when I'm trying to do a good thing like running.

Nursed the ankle. Shower. Went to Walgreens (ankle brace) and to see Shrek (very cute) with Rachel.

Woke up this morning in excruciating ankle pain. Borrowed some ibuprofen. Swollen like a balloon. Put on my brace. Did barn chores. Ordered feed. Help set jumps. Watered some plants. Ate lunch. Tacked up Denira. Cooled Denira out. Ran to Skylight supply and got: fly mask, dressage whip, curry comb, mane comb. Fed horses for the second time. Caught Roanie. Finished afternoon barn chores.

Oh I forgot. Hickory had to be moved out of the field he was in. I think because he was pretty bossy. So he got moved to a new field by himself where he didn't have anyone to boss. I was really sad for him because he had really just started to get adjusted to where he was. I woke up this morning and he was intermingling with the herd, so I was bummed for him to have to move out of the field with the horses he sort of knew and the big pond into a little field by himself. He didn't want to be by himself either. He paced the fenceline and worried and worried. So I rustled him up a buddy named Mr. Incredible. Hickory liked this present. I think Hickory is much more enthused with Mr. Incredible than Mr. Incredible is with Hickory. But oh well, at least Hickory is being nice..ish.

And I finished off my day with a ride in the evening. Sucked it up and put on my boots and chaps over my ankle brace and rode in a saddle. We had a little gallop andit made Hick happy. Then once I had put him up, I sat in a chair by the barn by his field and read my book and watched my pony. :)

Today (water-trough wrestler part)

So, I was expecting today to be crazy busy, as it's a Saturday. But it wasn't! I think because a lot of people are at a horse show. I did the barn and then went up to the big barn and finished weeding and watered the tomato plants. Then I rode Hicky Poo. Then I got assigned the task of getting the bleach and scrubbing down all the water troughs. This is very hard work, as you must empty the water troughs with a bucket to the point where you can tip it over by yourself to empty it the rest of the way. And then these were reeeallly grimey water troughs that took A LOT of scrubbing and flipping over to rinse out. It took me two hours to do 2 water troughs. One left for tomorrow. Then I finally had enough energy to go for a run today! It wasn't the best run over (it was actually really lousy). But I went down that gravel road and back, feeling like my muscles were going to seize up and I was just going to die.

The end.

Explorers, Gardener, and Water-Trough Wrestler

Yesterday was jam-packed, so I didn't have time to share. Normally, I get done with morning barn chores at roughly 9. It took me an extra hour yesterday as Razor suddenly decided he was terri fied of me. Could not get near him. Long story short, ended up having to get halters for all the horses in the field, catch them, tie them up to the fence, and feed them little handfuls of grain. Razor got interested and I finally caught him. As soon as I was done with that, Martha zoomed by on her scooter and asked me to get the filly ready for her to get on at 10:45. So, I got the little princess ready (I love this horse) and as Martha was getting on she gave me some little projects to do while she rode--weeding and watering the flower bed and the tomato plants. I rinsed off Honour for Sally during this time, also. Then cooled Lilly out and gave her a bath and put her up. Then I started to clean Lilly's tack, but Martha needed help unloading some stuff out of the trailer at the house. We unloaded a massive water trough and about 12 stall mats (which are super heavy). THEN we had to put the guts back in the trailer (the big divider things that make the stalls). Between the two of us that took some serious wrestling. Then I went back and finished cleaning Lilly's tack. THEN it was time to do the afternoon barn chores--feed the horses, put them out, clean their stalls, new shavings, fresh water, throw down hay, sweep up. Whew. Looking back I'm not sure how I woke up today.

And poor Hickory was watching me go back and forth all day long, begging to get let out. So, of course, I had to take him for a ride. The sucky thing about this place is that there is really nowhere to go to get away and get off the farm. There aren't really any trails. And Hick loves trails. So I hopped on bareback and we set out to explore down this gravel road that passes by the house. It was so beautiful. It was 8 in the evening but it was still light out. And we just walked and trotted down this long gravel road and Hickory was so happy, he was looking around at everything. There were beautiful green corn fields on either side of us and forest behind that. Then we came up to a dairy farm at the end of the gravel road. I went to turn us around to go back but Hickory didn't want to go back so we rode down the driveway of this farm. Along the driveway in this grove of trees there was a really old graveyard which was sort of creepy/sort of cool. The creepy part was that it was definitely old but the newest gravemarker read 1996. But, really, it was a darn good lookin place to be buried. It is soooo pretty here. There are black fences everywhere and huge rolling pastures and fields of crops. If you love horses and love the country--this is heaven. We turned around after that and rode back. It was just a great ride, I put him on the buckle and we just walked along and watched the sun start to set. I think it made Hickory's day, it definitely made mine!

I went to eat dinner with Rachel afterwards. We headed into town but got stuck in so much traffic that the only place still open by the time we got there was Steak N Shake. But it was good!

Water Horse!

Frank and I are not going to be best friends. I bring him and another horse down from their pasture at the same time. Ghost acts like an angel. Frank has to stop and stare at everything and snort at it every five strides. I mean, it's not like he passes this stuff every single day of his life, right? Ohh there's a tractor up there, let me stop and look. Ohh we're 20 feet closer to it now, I need to stare at it again. Ohh, we're next to it, must stare. And now we're past it, I need to stare some more to make sure it doesn't get us from behind. Ohh Frank.

Then I went to visit Hick. He was very happy to see me, he chased all the other horses off when they tried to come near us. I loved on him for a while and then he followed me all the way back to the gate and we had a little trot and he wanted to come out but I had to tell him I would be back later!

So this little story was the highlight of my day. I had a pretty long break around the middle of the day. I went up to visit with Hick and he was playing in the water trough. Splashin, dunking his head under, and just having a big time all by himself. I watched him being cute for a while and then got to thinking.. I bet he doesn't know there is a pond in his field or he would be in it right now (the pond is behind a big hill). So I went out and grabbed him and we trekked across the pasture to the pond. He was so excited, I took his halter off and he went right in the water. I think it made his day, too. He splashed and played and I sat down and hung out with him for a while.

I had a lesson about an hour and a half later and when I went out to get him, Hick was still out in the pond! I had to wade out there and pull him in! I'm glad he found the pond, because since he refuses to make friends I think he is a little bored.

My lesson was great--I used the new bit and it seemed to work really well so Martha gifted it to me so it's our very own! It just about completely eradicated the curling issue, he only put his head down twice the entire lesson. What a good boy! We did some work on my sitting trot, which I found out needs a lot of work. Going with the concept of moving with your horse, I needed to move A LOT MORE with my horse, I was way too still. It was a great ab work out! And is also a work in progress. She also wanted to see a lot bigger, more "inspiring," trot. She said it takes him from looking like an old school horse to a winning dressage horse. And we also worked on canter departs which are still sticky but I think we're getting the hang of it--he is a fast learner. We had one really great canter depart today.

No lesson tomorrow, going to take him for a little lazy ride and try to find some Parelli games to play.

"Please tell me you always win dressage." "Uhhhh..."

I did the morning shift by myself this morning. Progress. I only forgot to do one thing--one of the horses gets a beet pulp in the afternoons that whoever does mornings is supposed to mix up. Hickory was staked out at the fence all by himself again this morning.

We had our first lesson this morning, too, at 10! I asked for a dressage lesson first. It went about like this: Martha tells me to warm him up however I usually do. So, we're trotting and cantering around, and she goes "Callie." I say, "Yes?" (thinking uh oh what did I do) and she says, "Please. Tell me that you win dressage every time." And I'm thinking this is going to be one of those "tell me you win dressage every time, that's right, you don't. so you better listen to what I'm going to teach you because you DON'T win because you don't know what you're doing" speeches. So I say, "Uhh, no we don't." And she says, "You've got to be kidding me. This horse is too beautiful of a mover to not win dressage every single time. From now on, you will win dressage."

And she asked why we weren't winning and I first addressed our lead issues saying how we thought it was related to him not picking up the canter right when I asked (thanks Diane!) and she watched me and said that was exactly it. So, our lesson pretty much consisted of the following: we trotted in a roughly 20m circle. She noticed his habit of curling up and getting way too light on the bit (which he was doing a lot of as we were going around this little circle). I ended up with a dressage whip in each hand and every time he curled his neck I would tap him on the butt and say "nuh uh" and his head would come up. It made Hickory pretty mad-- the first time I tapped him he kicked at me.. and the 3rd and the 4th.. and several times after that, he says "DO NOT smack me!" And she emphasized that this where I was riding him with his head today was not where the final product would be--that we were just teaching him "not there." And that it is important to catch him EVERY time he curled, so that there is no gray area of "oohh, I can curl up my neck sometimes, sometimes it's ok," and just knows "I don't put my head there." And I have to work more on riding him every stride as opposed to getting what I want and then zoning out and saying "ok, thanks, now just stay there a while." I have to keep telling him this is what I want, this is what I want and not expect him to do it on his own. And lastly, she talked about how when I ride him he needs to be in front of my leg, especially in dressage. That it should be more like I am sitting back on his butt powering along than sitting more forwards and dragging him with me. He should be doing the dragging! And she gave me a different bit to try for dressage next time-- it's a really soft rubbery plain straight "hot dog" bit. She said the bit I have is definitely in the right category, on the right track, but that this one might be a little better with how sensitive his mouth can be.

And at the end of the lesson she said, "Well. I can see now why you don't win dressage. And it's going to be a little harder than I thought to get you there. But you're still going to win dressage!"

I hung around the barn for a while afterwards, there was an AccuPressure lady who came and was doing therapy with some of the horses. She seemed to know EVERYTHING about horses and what tiny physical signs could tell you about their health. I got put on the afternoon shift at the small barn, too. So, same horses but in the afternoon--feed, turn out, clean stalls, fresh water, hay, throw down hay, rake, and new shavings. So, I learned how all that goes and then went back down to the main barn to finish scrubbing some tack!

Definitely going to bed earlier tonight.

Day Two!

I have 5 horses to take care of in the mornings--Lilly, Ghost, Razor, Riper, and Frank. The routine goes a little something like this-- Go to feed room. Make feed concoctions (these guys are all about their supplements) for each horse (they each have their own special mixture). Put in stalls. Go get horses. Make sure they all have shoes. Turn on their fans.

Then I had some time on my hands. All of Hickory's stuff is currently living in my car. So I walked passed his field to go get his halter. He chased me down the fenceline. But by the time I got back to the field he wasn't really interested in me anymore. He was NEAR other horses. But when he saw me walk up he had to show me that he had made a friend, so he went over to his new quasi-friend, Mulligan. I took a cute picture on my phone that I'll attempt to get on here. I took him down to the little ring and let him run around in it. We practiced our Parelli some. He was actually pretty calm, for him. He got to see Starlight and that perked him up some. He did a little bit of whinnying but not much. I put him back out to play when I ran out of Parelli games.

Then I watched some people ride. I talked to a lady named Diane who also has a big gray horse--she seemed like a really cool lady. I met somee more people who I probably won't remember tomorrow. Everyone was really nice. Kassidy and I swept and cleaned a little bit. Then we tacked up horses for Martha to ride. I helped set jumps while Martha rode Jenny's horse Jaxon. 9 foot poles in front of cross rails. And some others I can't remember. I'm not the best jump crew, I'll admit. But I did my best. Then I untacked Jaxon and gave him a rinse and cooled him out. Then Kassidy and I cleaned his tack. And repeat for Lilly. We did some more cleaning.

Then there was about an hour and a half gap before we had to do anything else, so, duh, I wanted to go for a ride. I went to get Hick, who, this time, had to show me that he was also the boss of the herd. A bunch of the horses were standing in the shed in the field and he walked into it and made them all move and then stood there waiting for me, with a, "Look mom, I'm the boss!" face. We went for a little ride down the road to the house and around a field, then back towards the arena. We did some trotting and cantering. I was really happy, there were no big spooks or leaping in the air or any type of shenanigans. He was just really curious about everything, looking around a lot. He got sweaty so I gave him a rinse and walked him and then put him back out to play.

They asked if I wanted to put him a dry lot or not. (The pastures here are huge and have SO MUCH grass). I declined. I just don't think he would be very happy in a dry lot. And he's not getting any grain, and I'm going to be riding him every day, and I'll keep an eye on him.

We then re-set the jump course, which I think they do once a week. Lots of lugging around of heavy standards and poles, but it was fun to see the courses and the different jumps. Then Martha taught a lesson of about 5 horses, which was also cool to watch.

Then I cleaned all my tack, the end.

Funny? Note: Hickory refuses to make friends. He has made it very clear that he does not want any friends. I've witnessed on several occasions the following scene-- Hickory grazing. Horse comes into the vicinity and looks at him with a "HEY! Are you new? Want to meet?" face, ears pricked, trying to get his attention. Hickory has his butt to the other horse. He finally just turns his neck and pins his ears and makes an awful "go away" face at the friendly horse who is like "oh, uhhh" and walks off.

Other Note: I will not be posting in such great detail all the time, but for the first few days I thought it would be good to set the scene.

First lesson tomorrow!