FRVPC Mini Event

Well the good news is that we ended up 3rd. The not so good news is that I felt like I had zero control in the jumping phases.



She started out well for our school on fri evening, minus a huge spook at the dressage chain racks that were sitting at the edge of the woods. She felt pretty rideable on the grass, and we got to go around the rings which was nice. I still felt like I had more control of her body if I stayed sitting at the trot. so I decided I would probably ride the whole test sitting if she felt the same way the next morning. Walked XC and was surprised at the difficulty for it being (a) a mini event, and (b) so early in the season. The first fence was small, but on a turn and downhill approach, 2nd fence was off a weird turn going away from the barn and twice as big as the first fence. It was nice to see some normal sized Novice fences on the course, but not when the max height is advertised at 2'9".



She warmed up well on Sat AM, despite warmup being a zoo of oblivious riders and almost getting crashed into a few times. She was light in the hind end for the canter transitions, so we did about 15 of them until she settled. Had plenty of time to go around the ring and judge's car when it was our turn. She was very rideable during the test, but I just wish I was able to get that sharpness I have been feeling with her lately. She was obedient, but just a bit dull without that extra spark that can score a point better on each movement. I had a good feeling about the score since she was pretty consistent in her frame and tempo and I was able to ride deep into the corners. If I could change anything it would have been more bend on the circles and riding her into a more uphill trot with more push from behind. She also ignored my half halts a bit and was heavy in my hand on the downward transitions, resulting in me having to pull a bit harder than I should have. Scoring took forever so I had no idea how we did before I went out for XC.



She warmed up excellent for XC, jumping out of stride and bold/forward, but rateable. She came out of the box well, but looking at the first fence from the beginning, trying to back off a bit. I gave her a few kicks and taps with the stick and stayed way back and she popped over the first. Since it was a downhill landing and weird left turn away from the warmup and barns to get to 2, she landed and got much quicker than I expected, and wanted to fall out hard back to the right after she realized we were not jumping the BN fence #1 that was in the way. We avoided a near temper tantrum when I opened my left rein and she saw our fence #2, rode nicely up to it and launched over. She was peeking at #3, but I gave her a few taps again and accelerated towards it and she jumped it fine and landed way fast. I let her keep a quicker pace to #4 since it was so close to 3, and she got close but felt less looky. She was hesitant about going on the path into the woods so I slowed down and let her trot through. The cordwood was next coming out of the woods, and I felt her look so I sat back and accelerated up to it, and she jumped it well but landed going much faster than the takeoff speed. I let her keep the quicker pace to the barrels and she jumped them fine, but I slowed way down for the turn to the slatted ramp going downhill. She got close to it but popped over. At this point my arms were screaming because I was having to haul on her mouth on the backside of most jumps. I made her trot through the turn to #8, then picked up a slow canter and she jumped it nicely out of stride, except the backside when she took off again towards home. I was able to slow down before the turn to #9, but not by much. She jumped 9 well and back into the woods we went, less tentatively this time. Let her canter slowly through the woods and stretch her neck down until we got to #10. She was less looky than I expected, but I was worried about turning after it since #11 was close. I opened my rein and was able to get her to 11, but quicker than I would have liked. Big whoa after 11 and set up nicely to 12 and 13, which she jumped quietly and out of stride. Slowed down again after 13 and jumped 14 quietly as well. Overall I am happy with how she jumped, but unhappy with how she listened to me. She needs to be more rideable and listen better if things are going to be more complicated. I should not have to haul on her mouth after fences to get her organized and in a good rhythm. I can see now why Randi has had some stopping issues if she was coming up to scarier fences at that fast of a canter.



Waited a long time to SJ, walked the course before XC and even got a free massage in the meantime. Found out that we had scored a 32.6 in dressage and were sitting in 2nd behind Jenna Brown! I was happy with this as our division had 22 horses and I did not expect to beat a few of the other people on the flat.

The course was strange because they couldn't use the whole area like they usually do since there was a lot of rain and the ground was too soft. This resulted in all the jumps being clustered together with strange turns to get to each question. She warmed up ok but felt dull and a little tired. She kept wanting to jump across the warmup jumps to aim towards the barn. She didn't touch anything in warmup and felt like she was jumping well, however all of that went out the window once we got into the ring to jump our round. She locked onto the back of the stone wall jump before we went into the turn towards #1, so I felt like she was not paying attention from the get-go. The downhill approach and unbalanced canter to #1 resulted in her having it down with her front legs. She landed ok considering that and did an even 5 strides to the oxer out. I had a big whoa and slowed her to a trot going to #3 since it had been coming down all day and I wanted her to pay attention. I thought we had a nice canter coming to it, but then she started to back off so I had to tap with the stick and she accelerated and jumped it, but knocked the rail off as well. I was frustrated that she was not listening and also standing off the fences so much at this point, so I rode hard to #4, which was a bigger plank oxer going towards home. She jumped it well, but silly me turned left after instead of right and was barely able to slow down enough to correct the turn and get going the right way to #5. We got to 5 ok, but she added and popped over it, so I sent her forward down the line to the big panel that I figured she would back off at. She backed off but jumped it ok, tapping the rail but it stayed up. She landed like a banshee and grabbed the bit going to the stone wall jump, which she got over awkwardly but clean. The turn going to #8 was probably my favorite, because she was actually balanced and listening, although it was a bouncy, looky canter. She jumped it well, but then took off afterward and I had to do some major pulling to slow down enough so we could turn to the double. She added and jumped awkwardly at the first, but i kicked forward and still got the 2 strides to the oxer out. I was unhappy overall with the lack of control I had during the round. She is usually good about coming back after fences at home, but this is obviously something we need to address before the next show. I am thinking a different bit is definitely in order. I was also surprised at how much she was looking at the fences. I felt like I had to ride hard to get her over them, but the result of that was being out of control on the landing side. I was pretty disappointed after the round, but a lot of people had issues so we only moved down one spot to 3rd.



All in all it was a good learning experience, although I've definitely got my work cut out for me before the horse trials in June! Will experiment with bits and update with how that's going. Need to schedule a lesson with Cathy so we can go school some different SJ exercises/try bits out over a course. Planning to keep dressage work going in the same direction, working on more lateral flexion and riding the trot uphill so she puts more weight on her hind end. Our test had some nice comments and even two 8's for centerlines. 7 on submission and rider, which I was happy about. I think it will be easy to pick up points next time for showing more bend on the circles and getting better downward transitions.

Calm before the storm

Well, here we are the day before I get to kick of what will hopefully be a fantastic season of showing Ms. Roxy. I was thinking back about the last good show I had, and it was in the summer of 2008 with Ransom. I can't believe it's been 2 years! The show was only successful because he had not yet gone back into brain-completely-fried-mode about XC yet. He had a slight freakout on XC but I managed to get him pointed at the next fence and off we went. He also did not want to set foot in the SJ ring, but luckily Erin Diserio was there to give us some help getting in the ring. We were 2nd in the Novice. Here's hoping for 3 well ridden, fun phases tomorrow!

Rox was good last night, I jumped her through a gymnastic of trot poles, bounce to one stride. She was quick with her front end and only tapped a fence once. I think doing more of this type of thing will help her learn to think for herself about how to jump correctly and keep her front end snappy. At the end of the ride, Randi took down the beginning of the exercise and I jumped the vertical to vertical coming the other way off a tight turn. The first 2 times through I had her too compressed and rode 3 short strides out of the turn and she got really deep and had to pop up in the air. She was smart with her front end though and didn't touch the plank. I need to be more careful with setting her up well so I can soften the rein in the last few strides before the fence. The last time through I finally rode her up to the 2 strides out of the turn with a nice opening rein and lots of outside leg and she lengthened her stride nicely and jumped in a better arc. This put us too close to the second fence, but she was catty and got over it without touching it. Good way to end a last minute before the show jump school!

On the Rox

So I have decided to use this blog for my riding notes in addition to the random musings. For some background info, I have been given the ride on my good friend Randi's mare Roxy or "On the Rox". I have ridden her on and off for the past few years and I have taught Randi semi-regularly and helped her at shows as well. Roxy is a 9 year old liver chestnut Appendix QH mare, around 15.3hh. Randi has competed BN on her the past few years, and was going to move up to Novice last fall but Roxy had an abscess at the last minute so they had to scratch. I will be taking her Novice at the FRVPC mini event this weekend, and hopefully to some recognized events at Novice this season as well.

Rox is not a difficult type of mare, she can be opinionated, but she mostly wants to be good. She is not an extravagant mover and struggles with stiffness in her body, so the flatwork is a challenge but it is coming along nicely. She moves off the leg well laterally, but could be more responsive to the forward aids. She likes to be "one-dimensional" with her body and not relaxed and bent through her neck and ribcage. She sometimes travels with haunches in at the canter, and the upward canter transitions are a major work in progress as she gets stiff and hollow if she is not asked exactly correct.

She is very willing over fences although her style needs some improvement as well as the ability to lengthen and collect her stride. In short, she needs to become more rideable between fences. She has the tendency to flatten out and become very choppy as the fences get bigger, so we are working to make her more supple and responsive so her style gets better. She is comfortable in a small collected canter, but she does not jump well from it. Learning to jump out of a bigger stride will make her jump much better. She can be looky on XC, so a firm ride is necessary. The balance and adjustability will help her XC as well because she tends to get in one gear and not come out of it for the whole trip. I think the boldness will come with experience, and she must know that she does not have the option to run out or look hard at something, she must go no matter what or she will be punished.

We recently had a dressage lesson with Barry Fript, who I have lessoned with on and off the past few years. We ran through the test we will ride this weekend (Novice A), and it went quite well, although I don't feel as though she was as sharp as she has been schooling for me lately. We did a shorter warmup without any lateral work, so I think this may have been part of the problem. Some of the key things I took away from the lesson:

-sit back more in the sitting trot and let her forehand lift up toward my hand
-push for more suspension at the same time, but not a faster tempo
-keep giving the inside rein every 5 strides or so to make her relax through her neck
-give the inside rein in upward transitions so she can't hang on the rein
-more bend in the 20 m circles, use my body position to keep her on the circle
-give the rein in front of the judge so they can she her stretching to the end of the rein
-push more with my hip in the free walk so she tracks up and is more forward
-use outside rein away from her neck in the corners so she fills up the space
-use both legs slightly behind girth in an upward motion to help collect her and engage hind legs more