XC Bit Search/You Are Not Allowed to Use Your Reins!/Used Boots Anyone?

Alrighty, going to start making a habit of making more frequent entries.

Let's start with this past Monday. Martha and over the half the barn has spent the last few days (monday-friday) at Come Again Farm's Eventing Camp in Indiana. But before Martha left on Monday, we took a little trip over to Flying Cross bright and early. The goal of the trnip was to find out if the fantastic hackamore would double as equipment for both stadium AND cross country. Sadly, it was nixed in the first few minutes of the ride. Another of Martha's students, Irene, who was schooling with us that morning offered her gag for us to try, so we went on with that. Thinking back, I am SO PROUD of how brave Hickory has been cross-country schooling, and I hope that it's the reflection of a good, trusting partnership. We schooled several Training level obstacles. We did one bank, but left it at that as he takes banks like a champ. And if your horse doesn't have problems with banks, it's best to not overschool them to save their joints. We did get to do the Sunken Road, though! A Sunken Road is like an inverted bank.... With a bank you jump up onto a higher level, take a few strides and then jump back down. With a sunken road you jump down into a lower level, take a few strides, and then jump back up and out. Hickory jumped down and jumped out like he'd done it a million times before! I was really proud of him. And as I am more or less a new learner at the proper way to jump off a bank... must remember: let your reins gradually get longer as you approach the drop (gotta trust your horse to stay straight, hard to do) and keep your hands low as you jump off! We went on to the training level one stride logs in the woods that I mentioned in a previous post. Our first run through was succesful but pretty sticky inbetween jumps. The second go around I just did a poor job of riding the correct line and we zoomed on by the second part. And this next part is strange, because I don't remember Hickory being at all overly worked up or nervous or hot to my leg. But we came back around and I stopped him in front of the second jump, I had my reins in one hand and was sort of talking to Martha about what had happened, not paying complete attention. I tapped him on the shoulder with my crop (crop on the shoulder is discipline for a run out, crop on the butt is discipline for a refusal), and a tap was all it was. And seconds later we were airborn over the jump. Completely not expecting that reaction from him, I'm surprised I stayed on. Martha said, "it wasn't your intention to jump that from a standstill was it?" and I was like "noooo!" and she said "I didn't think so." We checked out the water complex which was this time full with water. It was fun, we jumped off a little bank into the water and up a little bank out of the water. We also got to jump a jump where you landed in the water and jump a jump where you take off in the water and land out of it. The gag stopped working about 30 minutes into the ride, though, and at this point Hickory was super curled up and I was having an awful time of steering/stopping. So, the search for a cross-country bit continues.

Tuesday was a rainy day. I hit the barn in my rainboots and rainjacket bright and early. But I was a free lady after that, as everyone was gone to Camp. So I hit the road and headed into Louisville to run some errands and have some appointments. I had lunch with the lovely Megan Reid. My mom was also in town for a meeting, so we had dinner in LaGrange. I was a little miffed at this, because she said she would be in town and could take me out to dinner--I was thinking.. the Summit, Brownsboro Rd. area... nope. LaGrange. The choice was between Ponderosa and Waffle House. LaGrange's finest. And when can you ever pass up a Waffle House waffle? Never. Thanks mommy!

Wednesday morning I had a lesson with Lauren, Martha's daughter. Lauren is a great teacher, I came to find. She got on Hickory to warm him up and get a feel for him. And thinking about it, now, I don't know how anyone ever teaches anyone anything about their horse without first riding it themselves. The take-away lesson for the day was You Cannot Ride This Horse With Your Reins. And Carry Your Hands! There is no fidgeting in Hickory's mouth. He does not accept contact very well. You have to carry your hands yourself and keep them very steady--they are his constant. The hands. don't. move. Except a little tiny wiggle to get a little inside bend and a one-two-three half-halt on the outside rein for a downward transition. I worked on riding him TO my hand with my leg and especially my seat. It was all about the seat. You hear the phrase "Ride him to your hand" thrown around and your like oh yeah yeah, ride him to your hand. But when you actually DO ride your horse TO your hand with your seat, it's like 'ooohhhhhh, ride him TO your hand.' It's a really neat feeling to have your horse a little out of frame and keeping your hands and fingers motionless and constant, and push with your seat to have your horse meet your hands and come back into frame. It's a much better feeling than working his head back down with the reins. We also worked on transitioning back and forth between a BIG trot and a swing-trot using only a change in posting or a change in body position at the sitting trot, no reins or even leg. It was so cool how responsive and in-tune to my body he is. Lauren noticed also that he has a tendency to lean a little on my left rein, especially in the left direction, so we worked on that, taking away that left rein. Also cool body movement stuff. At the canter we would come down the long side and do sort of a mini/shallow serpentine or a "loop" down the long side, but keeping the same bend throughout. We accomplished this using no change in leg and no change in rein. I moved him off the rail and then back onto the rail at the canter with a fair amount of precision using just my seat. So, it was a very information-packed lesson, but incredibly helpful, and hopefully I'll get to take some more lessons from Lauren before the summer's over.

Later on Wednesday, the blacksmith, Daniel gave Hickory new feet! He complimented Rex's previous shoeing job a great deal. Daniel tells pretty good stories, so it's always a nice break in the day to have to catch and hold horses for him. I helped set jumps for Lauren while she schooled her horse she has been trying to qualify for Rolex with, Baaba Creek, over some cross-country stuff. This was actually the first time I'd had a chance to watch her ride him all summer and it was really fun to see. And I stopped and thought to myself. How lucky am I that I am here runnin around helping in a training session for an about four star horse and rider? Really lucky, really cool.

Yesterday was Thursday, nothing horsey occured. Lived in the basement and worked on my med school application all day.

Today was a busy day though! Barns in the morning, then whipped out the ol' tall show boots to try to break in (yes, finally Diane). It was awful. I hate those boots. With a passion. I know they aren't broken down all the way, but I think they are at least a half a size too big. I could not ride in them. It was hot nand one of those days and I had a coming apart and ended up calling my mom crying. Tomorrow is new boot shopping day. I just want a pair or soft, flexible zip up the back boots. If anyone even has a used pair they are looking to sell, let me know--I wear a 6.5 to a 7. I rode Denira for Pat, today. Love that horse. And I love these County saddles that everyone up here owns. They are so comfortable and make you feel soo secure in the saddle. Anyway, we did a 20 minute trot set and man. Twenty minutes of trotting on a big, strong horse like that-- is a workout!!! When I was done with her, I went down to the small barn and fed the horses and tacked up Ghost. We went for a hack and I think we both had a good amount of fun. He has so much personality and really enjoys being ridden. Again, another County saddle. After our ride, I finished up the barn. Lauren K. is staying the weekend this weekend and Martha got home from camp this afternoon so we had a big dinner outside on the patio. Lots of yummy fresh grilled veggies from the garden, steak, Corona, and good stories.