Once again, it's always the rider's fault, not the horse's.

So, I’ve discovered that I’m the cause of the problem with my horses and their jumping. No surprise there, but it makes me sad. I had a lesson with Oliver Saturday, and I wanted to address some of the pulling issues that I’d been having with him during the xc school where he figured out that he had no brakes. The last time Christan rode him over fences was this past summer, and she was having me ride him really forward as he tends to stall out and not use himself. So, I would practically loop the reins and push him at a good clip towards the jump. Then, we started work on balancing him before the jump, so what do I do? Start to pull. I’ve tried really hard to not hang onto him three strides out, but I guess I do it without realizing it. C thinks the trouble began with Sam – in an effort to balance him before the jump, I’ve sort of held on to him at the last stride and then released, which causes him to jump over his forehand. When I balance and then let go the last few strides, Sam jumps well. The same thing is happening with Oliver. In an effort to get him to reach for the bit and put some weight in my hands, more like Sam does, I’ve been allowing him to hang, because I’ve confused pounds of pressure with hanging (with Oliver – with Sam, I seem to know what I’m doing). So, I’ve let Oliver hang on me, which causes him to not carry himself to the jump, so he grabs the bit and runs at it. After a few aborted attempts where Oliver blew me off and ran past his distance, C got on. She fought with him a few times, and then proceeded to show me how she could canter him to the fence with almost NO contact at all, and he just cantered on softly, jumped the jump, and landed softly without any pulling or change of pace – like a hunter. She put me back on, and I realized that I’ve been carrying him, especially in the canter. What I think of as too light is actually correct on Oliver, as he’s a naturally very light horse. Once I realized that, I was able to lope him to the fence as well, without interfering, and we were able to find out spots.

I think that this started the xc at Denny’s, because I seem to remember hitting every single spot dead on until he realized I had no brakes (I think it’s about when we were cantering down a hill), and then he started to pull on me. So, hopefully this isn’t a long-lived problem and we can fix it fairly quickly. I was disheartened by it, thinking that I’m going to ruin Oliver, but Christan assured me that she would help and that it wasn’t a big deal.

Oliver gets us lost on Christmas Eve

So, you know how they say "give a horse his head and he'll find his way home"? Apparently that homing instinct is not bred into, or rather bred OUT of, Trakehners, since Ellie was lacking it and now it seems that Oliver is, too. Sam definitely has it. Last time I got lost (gee, this seems to happen a lot!) in Weymouth Woods, I gave Sam his head. He dropped it, snuffled on the ground, and then made a beeline towards home, withouth leaving the trail once. Such a good boy.

Oliver and I, and Emma and Austin, all went for a trail ride. It was supposed to be a short one, but somewhere along the way I turned right instead of left (or vice versa) and found myself somewhere I hadn't been before. I gave Ollie his head, and he immediately set off into the woods, off the trail. Since he was so positive about where he was going, I let him lead. Poor Emma and Austin had to follow along, picking their way through some heavy forest underbrush, and we went on this way for a while, until I saw that Connecticut Ave. was dead ahead of us! Exactly the OPPOSITE direction we were supposed to be heading. I have no idea what Ollie was thinking, but I was plenty annoyed and worried about the dogs. I started back the way we came and when we came to a T in the path, one way obviously headed towards the barn and one way the opposite, again Oliver tried to go the wrong way, but I manged to convince him that my way was the better way. We eventually made it back to Bethesda, at which point I took the dirt road back home because of Emma and Austin trailing along behind. Poor puppies.

So, the good things about this are 1) this was Oliver's first time out by himself on the actual trail. 2) He was incredible - didn't do anything wrong, and marched along like he was enjoying himself (and he probably was, up until when we got lost). He even went through the water crossing right behind the pastures. 3) He went down the dirt road with only a little coaxing in a few places (all those scary Xmas decorations). I swear, this guys just keeps getting better and better every time I ride him.

Oliver the XC Rockstar

Took Oliver to Denny's for some xc schooling with Christan yesterday. Being the wimp that I am, I tried to weasle out of it because the skies were dark and grey and it was starting to rain - yuck. Now, I'm not normally this wimp-ish when it comes to rain, but I'm not as motivated when there's nothing in particular that I'm working towards. No shows in the immediate horizon, so wah - don't feel like riding in the rain and getting my adored Antares all spotty. But C was excited to bring Coda to Denny's, and I was her ride, so she told me to stop being a baby and that "eventers ride in the rain". As it turns out, I'm glad I did.

It was warm, so it wasn't too bad that it was misty and drizzling, and it also made me realize that I need to clip more of Ollie's coat (which I accomplished today). Margaret was there on little Fisher, who was a wild child, Michelle on her lovely grey (I'm such a sucker for a dark dappled grey), and this woman Suzanne whom I've never met before, on a nice jumping, but hot, Appendix mare. So, we had a bunch of babies, and Oliver and Fisher were a bit wired, for some reason. Christan thought Oliver looked fine, but he didn't want to stand still, wasn't happy about the misting on his face (kept shaking his head and groaning - how funny) and I could feel some tension when I was sitting on him. This boy needs to go to a LOT more places so he learns to chill like Sam does. We also had a sticky moment getting him into the trailer - apparently he hasn't quite gone through the whole good-bad-good-really bad - good cycle. It didn't take long to get him loaded, though. I wonder if there's something about the trailer that bothers him - I'm going to get some ear plugs and see if that helps him at all. He's never been one to munch hay in the trailer - Sam will suck the hay bag dry, but Oliver hardly touches it. Of course, he hasn't exactly been a lot of places, either, so I'm sure that will change with time. He's such a laid-back boy in every other aspect of life.

Anyway, we all warmed up and trotted around. I didn't want to canter, although Oliver did, because I know his balance is still suspect cantering downhill, and Denny's place is all up and down hill. I also had his Nathe loose-ring in, which he does fine in for flat, but probably wasn't the best choice for a horse that enjoys xc as much as he seems to (more on this later).

Since we all had babies, we started by trotting the timber "x" - Ollie cantered two strides out and popped it with gusto, charging up the hill. Since he did that so well, I cantered the x, then cantered on over to the "spooky" red rails (for some reason, those rails spook a lot of horses) which Oliver could care less about and just had the most perfect jump. For the first half of our jumping, he acted like a pro. He jumped everything I pointed him at, from a canter, with the best spot, and just acted like he was having a great time. I was having a great time - Margaret told me that the look on my face as I was jumping said that Oliver was my Big Boy now. She's right - I get such a kick out of riding him, especially xc - he and I just click, and he fits me so well. She was also surprised that he hasn't been doing this long - really started training in March - as she said that he looked like a seasoned campaigner. Nope - it just clicked early with him and he seems to enjoy it, and he's pretty bold and brave, too. Funny - when I bought him, I wouldn't have used those two adjectives to describe him.

About halfway through, Oliver discovered that he really had nothing in his mouth and proceeded to ignore the "whoa" cue, which led me to pulling on him and not releasing before the jump, which led to icky jumps because I didn't have his canter round and balanced beforehand. I had no brakes. Christan told me that she would have had me jump much bigger fences (we were doing a mixture of BN and Maiden stuff), but I didn't have any brakes and I thought that was wise as I was really riding his mouth more than I like to. Next time, I'm going to put his full-cheek/D-ring back in, and ride him the way the first half of the session went. He did do something that made me incredibly happy, though. We cantered over the log, which is my bugaboo fence, and Oliver did fulfill my expectations by spooking at it in mid-stride, but when I clamped my leg on (instant reaction), he accelerated the last few strides and jumped it neatly. Yay! I love the fact that that was his reaction to my leg on - go FORWARD. Lovely. I'm trusting him more and more every day.

We ended the day by trotting the ditch, which he needs to do a lot, as he is still a tad looky about them, and then had the most perfect leap off the bank - nice and easy, not like a greenie at all. He also did not hesitate going through Denny's water, which is very deep at the moment. I'm so proud of him! While we were untacking, Christan told me that although she knows that I like the Oskar babies, she thinks Oliver may be exceptional even then. I think he's pretty darn fantastic. He's got everything going for him - looks, temperment, movement, size, and most of all, he's the sweetest thing I've ever owned.

So, I'm feeling much better about my decision to sell Sam.

The boys get their teeth floated....

....and wow! - what a difference! Well, I don't know yet about Sam, but Oliver was a completely different horse. Percy Page came out to do the farm's horses, including my boys, and I really liked that he did them without drugging them. There were a couple of painful spots for the boys (sharp edges) but both of them were very good about the whole thing, albeit a tad surprised. Percy spent quite a bit of time explaining to me about what he was doing and why, and I found out why vets tend to miss certain areas.

I rode Oliver afterwards, and he was wonderful. I started off by asking him to stretch into the contact at the walk, which was hesitant to do, but he did eventually give me a decent stretch. At the trot, though, is where I felt the most difference. He would start to stretch, and then back off, and then go a little bit further, like he was testing out the feel, and in no time at all I got great stretching at the trot, with actual weight in my hands - it felt like he was stepping into the bridle and gently tugging at the bit, which has never really done before. I asked for the canter, and on both leads he stepped into it without inverting, and even gave me a decent stretch in the canter! Needless to say, I was thrilled. I think this whole time the bit has been hurting him, which is why he was reluctant to truly trust it. I also rode him in the Nathe loose ring, but I think the difference was really due to the float.

Sam was also very good today - perfect, in fact. I rode him before the float, so I don't know if the float would make any difference, but his canter work was better than usual. I really made sure to get the transition promptly, pushing him into the outside rein and holding it very steady, and he really rounded through into the canter and I even felt him round his back in the canter itself, which is a breakthrough as he always tends to hold his back in the canter. Alltogether a good day.

Gearing up towards Oliver's first HT (with me)...

...and I'm feeling the nerves kick in. Truthfully, I'm more worried about that damn dressage test more than anything, and it's just a walk-trot! Pathetic.

Oliver seems to be taking more and more contact these days, which is good news. The bad news is that he is starting to bore down on the bit, one side, then the other, and it's getting on my nerves. After a good jumping lesson on Saturday, all that was on his mind today was jumping, so he spent the first 20 minutes careening around on his forehand, above the bit (which usually doesn't happen, as he usually goes behind the bit and hovers there). He had a lovely stretch at the walk, really pushing along from behind, but he didn't want to stretch at the trot, because he was too busy imitating a thoroughbred off the track. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. I eventually got him to settle and do some very nice work, but the stretch didn't come until much later, as he wasn't relaxed as he usually is. I played around with a pseudo-dressage test, practicing my turns up the center (and 20 meter circles in general), and halting. Believe it or not, the halt is the ickiest part of my test. Funny for such a lazy boy, but he wants to stagger into the halt and root his nose out like a piggy. Irritating. We practiced a few halts where I kept my leg on and kept him bending into it, and eventually he got the idea that rooting me out of the saddle was simply unacceptable. I should be happy that he's willing to take the bit more assertively, right?

Of course, he has started giving me neck-hugs when I turn him loose, so all is forgiven. He's such a SWEET horse.

Sam is really, really, REALLY coming along well. I'm delighted with the way he's progressing on the flat. The canter is getting even nicer, and he's solidly on the bit and through the back. Yesterday, I took him for a conditioning ride out in Weymouth Woods, and had a blast. We trotted and galloped along for most of it, and since his canter is getting so nice, his gallop is even more balanced - I can get up in two-point and let him rollick along underneath me, up and down the little hills, and over tree roots, and not feel him falter. The Woods are so nice for conditioning. I can't wait to take Ollie out there. I think that once we start jumping Novice height on a consistent basis again, we'll be ready for the January Frostbite. Hopefully, Joe will be home for that. That would really make my day.