We (Faren, her mare Dharma, Oliver, and I) headed down to Southern Eighths for the weekend. They apparently have an on-site trainer now, Dom (and his wife, Jimmie), a three star rider from Australia, and I thought it was worth trying once, especially for a chance to school xc at the lovely facility there. Plus, it was only a little over an hour away, so why not? The facility is absolutely gorgeous - Brad has done such a nice job with making things lower-level (Training and under) for us to school. Plus, he has a new indoor arena (well, covered) and new guest stabling completed, which is even nicer than some facility's permanent stabling. The only problem is that it's about a mile away from the main barn, the main grounds, and arena.
We had stadium scheduled first on the agenda, so Faren and I got our stalls fixed up (nice ones with rubber matting and these nice half-doors (more on those later). We then hacked on down to the main barn's arena, where the stadium jumps were set up. We had to go behind the guest barn, down a wooded path and over a wooden bridge (over running water), and then back up into a plowed area which was going to be the future Maiden xc field, and then finally out into the xc area, and then across the vast xc area to the main jump arena. A mile hack, total, and I'm glad Dom showed us the way via Gator or we'd never have found it. Why am I being so detailed? You'll see why, later.
So, Dom asked us what we wanted to work on - Faren said that she wanted to go Training next spring, and wanted to work on riding forward to fences, and I wanted to go Novice at the November Starter Trial, and wanted to work on pace as well. I must have undersold Oliver's ability (or oversold his green-ness), because Dom kept lowering the fences for us - I had to tell him that I was perfectly comfortable jumping the height that he was having Faren jump, which turned out to be Novice height after all. Dom really emphasized straightness over a jump, and he praised the two of us for being so good at looking where we were going (I know this sounds elementary, but Dom said it's surprising how few people do this). He fixed a few minor position things with me - he wanted to me to engage my core better, and think about bringing my shoulder blades together and down, especially on the approach to a jump. He also wanted me to carry my hands higher and shorten my reins - he said that I had a tendency to bury them at the base of Oliver's neck. I've been working on my core on the flat, but was surprised at how stable it made me feel on the approach to a fence - I guess I was collapsing a bit over the jump. The shorter hands thing made me feel uncomfortable because in the past, I had a tendency to pull when my hands were up (and as a result, Oliver would stop). However, as long as I kept thinking "forward" with them, it seemed to be not a problem.
They (Jimmie and Dom) were really impressed with the Redheaded One. They kept remarking on how cute he was, and how much presence he had (Dom called him a "corker"). Dom also said that I needed to think of adding about 8 inches more step to his canter stride - I loved this image, because if I merely think about riding him more forward, I tend to push him past his balance point, but if I think of having 8 inches more stride, I engage the hindquarters and his step just gets bigger. Dom said that at the last stride, I needed to be careful not to hold him, but to really keep my leg on and ride him across the jump to prevent the deep spot hover thing that Oliver and I seem to be so fond of. Dom mentioned that he thought this might be why I was losing time xc and stadium - our stride was too short and compact, and that we wasted time in the air instead of jumping and landing out of stride. I realized, too, that I have to think "lengthen the last three strides" because if I don't, he automatically shortens too much and we lose time. We finished by adding an little corner to the exercise - again, we had to pick our line and really RIDE to it. Oliver and I had a little trouble with landing on the right lead - he definitely prefers his left lead over the right. Dom tried several things, including raising the right of the jump - his theory was that because the right side was loaded, Oliver couldn't free his right lead, so that's why he landed left. That didn't work at all - Oliver couldn't care less about the raised pole, so Dom had me ride a leg yield at the trot, from left to right, and then at the last stride, straighten and jump the vertical. That didn't work - Oliver still kept landing on the left, so Dom had me leg yield left, and then over the vertical open my right rein to "free" the right side - bingo! Worked beautifully. So, I have to think "get him off my right leg" and then open the rein over the jump - I think "free the right side" and then I get my lead. We really should get our changes - would make our lives so much easier, I think.
We bedded them down, had dinner, did a last minute check, and then I headed off to the hotel in Cheraw (about 20-25 minutes away) while Faren stayed in her living quarters in her trailer. At 3:30 that morning, Faren called me in a panic because she woke up to banging, and found a very distraught Dharma atempting to kick her way free of her stall, and Oliver's stall empty. No sign of distress, and the gate is hanging open. The funny thing is that the gates swung INTO the stall, so that if a horse presses up against the gate, it can't get out because it only opens one way. The gates were fastened shut with a zip tie and a double-ended clasp. I distinctly remember seeing Faren wind her lead rope around the door to keep it shut, along with the clasp, and thinking "I should do that, too", but then forgetting. Oliver must have pulled at the gate and snapped one of the zip ties, and then discovered he was free and took a walk. Since it was pitch black outside, we couldn't see a thing and it was pointless trying to look for him in hundreds of acres of black, so I told her that we should wait until morning. Of course, I didn't sleep at all because of worry, but what could we do?
That morning dawned thick and grey with fog, so I had to wait until 8 am before looking for him. I drove all around the roads, trying to see if a particular chestnut horse in the field was him. I didn't know chestnut was that popular a color. Finally, I took the road into the xc field, and there he was - grazing by the little cemetary they have in the middle of the gallops. Luckily, I had a halter and lead in my car, so I parked the car there and hand walked him back, along the same route we took the day before to get to the gallops from the guest barn. Dom drove me back to get my car, and we both noticed that he went the exact same, winding way - we could see his hoofprints clearly in the wet sand of the path, and he was obviously walking along, in no hurry, even across the bridge, in the dark. Such a strange horse. We don't understand why he left Dharma and went exploring by himself, especially through the woods and across a bridge, but he did. God love him. Anyway, he was back, apparently no worse for the wear, which Dharma was exhausted from fretting all night long (along with Faren and I), but Oliver looked quite chipper despite his nocturnal wanderings.
We walked to the gallops and saw that Dom had set up a (what looked to me) large steeplechase fence. It was green, and made of a sort of vinyl material, which was padded, on top of sort of a half rolltop, about 3 feet tall, with about 3 inches of brush sticking out the top. The brush was laid out in sections, so you could remove the middle and then replace it later. Dom had removed the middle section, so it was a TAD smaller, but not by much. Needless to say, it made me nervous. I saw Faren letting Dharma walk up and smell it, so I took advantage and did the same. Dom told us he wanted us to trot up to it, and in the last few strides, really put our leg on and make them move up to it, even if they cantered. The reason for the trotting was that a) almost all of the horses have spooked at it and b) going more slowly allowed the horses to see the question and assess it. Dharma gawked at it, and went, and Oliver also gawped at it but I managed to stuff him over. Dom put the middle brush up, and then had us canter over it a couple of times, and then continue around in the canter around the steeplechase track to the other side, where another brush awaited us, with the middle pieces in place. I let Faren go first, and as I finished the first jump and was rounding the bend, I saw that Dharma had run out and I let her circle and represent, and then I came for it, only to have the same thing happen to me - grrrr. I think Oliver was genuinely worried about it, but since I didn't slow down and let him assess the question first, he chickened out. Dom said that if we needed to slow to trot and then canter the last few strides, we could do that, but of course I didn't realize that and just gunned him at it instead, with predictable results. Second try was a success, and we cantered around and increased speed until we took them both as a "fly" fence. Fun! It was a tad nerve-wracking to take them at speed - Dom told us not to rate them, but just keep our leg on and keep galloping. I concentrated on keeping that "8 inch bigger gallop stride" and I think Oliver found a new gear. This is when I miss my TBs - they just know how to gallop, and I've had to teach Sam and Miles and Oliver how.
We went down to the main xc field, where Dom had us canter over the first BN fence, which was a new one - a U shaped log on a pedestal, with carvings on the front side, the carvings painted black. Oliver took advantage of the run out at the steeplechase fence, and I was riding nervously, so he ducked to the side, and Dom had me represent and keep my right rein open, and I slowed down the canter and he popped over it easily. Dom had me do it once more, to "make sure it wasn't a fluke", and then canter on down over the BN cabin (perfect) and then loop back and slow down to a walk and go over the ditch. It was a very shallow ditch, revetted with round timbers on either side, so it was very inviting. Dharma had some issues, but after a couple of tries, went over it. Oliver actually peeked, but then walked THROUGH it. Dom wanted me to do it several more times because Oliver seemed worried about it. I told Dom that Gina had us sort of "gun" them at the ditch, and that has worked for me, but Oliver is obviously worried about it and it would bite me later on if I didn't relax him over it. Dom said to keep him pointed at the ditch and ride my line, but not to keep legging or smacking with the whip - just keep our legs hugging the side unless they tried to step backwards (and then we could use our leg more strongly), and keep our hands wide to keep them from turning away, and just let THEM take us over the ditch. The idea, Dom said, was that you wanted to feel that they wanted to take you over the ditch, not that you were pushing them over it. We did this on quite a soft rein, and by keeping my eyes up and not looking into the ditch, we could feel with our bodies what the horse was going to do - some gawked into the ditch and then took an almighty leap over it, some almost fell over it, and some would just rush and try to get it over with (Oliver). The next circuit consisted of the Novice U log (easy), over the Novice table, loop back and do the more difficult (deeper) ditch - again, we walked and then trotted over it several times to make sure the horses were relaxed. Oliver is braver than Dharma over these - instead of flat out refusing, he just rushes, but it's still not ok and Dom said that after a few more times, he'd be jumping them quietly.
We took them to the banks next, and Dom asked us what everybody has told us was most important about jumping off a drop - I volunteered the information that everybody says "keep your shoulders back." Dom said that yes, this was important, but the problem is that too many people are taught to lean back off a drop, and then they get slingshotted on the landing because their bodies are leaning back, the horses drop off, and then they hit the saddle and get chucked forward, which causes most people to dislike drops - myself included. I have forever been told to lean back, lean back, and every time this results in me slamming into the saddle and then getting chucked forward on landing, which causes the horse to scoot, which makes the slingshot effect even worse. I have, on my own, observed videos of riders going off drops, and the one that made the biggest impression on me was a working student of Denny's a few years back - she went off the double-drop, and her upper body went slightly FORWARD, and then back as the horse's front feet went down. I tried this on my own and it worked so much better - I landed in balance, over my legs. Most trainers, when they see me not leaning back, panic and tell me to, and then realize that I can go off the drop just fine my way. Dom had us walk off the drop and he said my technique was perfect. We did the small drop, then the bigger one, and then the double-drop, and each time it rode well. Dom complimented us on our solid positions and our good, tight lower legs - yay! We then went and had a splash through the water jump. The footing is so incredible in there that Oliver had no trouble cantering through and popping the wide table on the "out", and then we cantered around, slowed down to a trot, and then popped the small ditch. After that, we were finished - it was a very successful school.
I really like Dom's quiet, methodical approach. Oliver is so willing that he will do anything, even if it scares me - he just goes faster over it. Taking the time to slow things down really seemed to help his confidence (and mine!) and it was wonderful to see that my position is finally stable and secure, and that I think Novice shouldn't be a problem for either of us! I can't wait to go back and have another lesson - it was well worth the $150 for the weekend.
