King of the Hill (umm....pasture)

So, little Oliver is testing me….

We went to the dressage show (Antares) this past weekend, and he warmed up like a superstar. We went in, proceeded to have a very relaxed test, and then I asked for the first canter transition – buck, buck, buck. Luckily, they weren’t that big of bucks and I was able to stuff him forward out of it and we were okay to the next canter transition – more bucky bucky. Argh! I was surprised at how well I handled it, though – I just sat down, and rode him through. So, Christan came and watched me warm up for my next test (Novice A) and she watched as he bucked in the warmup arena for those canter transitions, too – now I was getting really irritated because he has NEVER done this before. It’s not like I was tense and digging my spurs into him, for Pete’s sake. Christan told me that I didn’t have him connected enough, and that I needed to ride him more “up” and “out”, especially in the canter. We had a lovely warmup – C said that if I rode the test like that, I would be in the 70% range. Of course, that didn’t happen. He tried to buck into his first canter transition – I nailed him, and he was okay. The next canter transition, he fell in around the turn, picked up the wrong lead, and I couldn’t bring him down until we almost completed half a circle. The rest of the test was okay, except that he fell in around the last turn down the centerline and we had a sprawly halt.

OK. I wasn’t expecting great scores, due to the disobedience, but he got the exact same score for both tests – a 39pp. Which, oddly enough, was enough to earn him 2nd place in both classes. I guess the judge was scoring rather high that day, as Christan won one of the classes with a 36pp. I guess there was some improvement as normally there would be no way I could get a 2nd place finish with lots of bucking J. So, now we need to work on connection – we’ve obviously got the relaxation. The judge’s comments were all along the lines of “get better balance and you’ll get higher scores”, blah blah blah, which all mean that he needs to be more connected. As least he’s not getting pinged on “tight back” or “tight neck” anymore.

Christan told me that when I get into the arena, I start to tip slightly forward, and my hands drop and allow him to fall behind my leg a bit. I don’t realize it’s happening, so I decided to download a hypnosis for the eventer MP3 online. It seems to be working – the first one I downloaded was on concentration and focus, and I’ve noticed that even my riding at home has gotten so much better. I had a flat lesson on Tuesday and it was probably one of the best ones yet. C told me that there was nobody in the world who could get their horses through by holding in front and kicking them up behind. She said that the only way to get them to soften over the back was to ride inside leg to outside rein, which meant lots of leg yielding to start. She said that she doesn’t do a lot of lateral work with her horses because she’s ALWAYS riding them from inside leg to outside rein, but when they get stiff, she incorporates it. So, to start, she had me leg yield from quarter line to long side, really focusing on keeping him straight and not allowing him to pop his head above the bit. We did this several times to each side, also concentrating on keeping him forward off the leg, and then we cantered. C had me canter as small as a circle as I could without losing the impulsion, and then allow him to spiral out into my outside rein, again keeping his body very straight. This worked wonders for keeping him solid in the outside rein, and also helped me realize when he fell behind my leg or got crooked. It was pretty intense work, but not once did C have to tell me to keep my shoulders back or to lift my hands – yay! I understand more than ever now why he’s not getting good marks in dressage – I’m too happy with allowing him to stay light in the contact and just passively ride him, instead of riding him every stride. C says that when she rides the little Appy mare she has in training, she is riding EVERY SINGLE STRIDE. She’s probably going to always have to ride this mare this way, whereas I won’t always have to do it with Ollie because he’s built more uphill. He just needs to be ridden that way until he gets strong enough to hold himself there. As far as jumping goes, he’s coming along really, really well. He’s allowing me to half-halt him back onto his haunches without him inverting, and we almost always get a perfect spot as a result. I took him for a hack today to ride the hills out back and to go over the biggish ditch back there. He needs more work on the hills, for sure, but it was really humid and hot and I don't blame him for running out of steam before the top. We jumped a few little Maiden/BN jumps, and then I cantered him up the hill and aimed for the grey bench at the top. Well, I made a mistake - first, that jump is much bigger than it looks at first glance, and second, I need a lot more impulsion up the hill if he's going to be able to rock back and jump it. We came in a little crooked, I took my leg off and leaned, and of course he ran to the side. No biggie - all my fault. I took him back over a little BN ramp a few times, and then attempted the grey bench again, this time with more impulsion and I really focused on keeping my leg on, sitting back, and framing him with the reins. He popped over it, but it was awkward and that tells me that it probably was too big for him. Afterwards, I walked him up to the ditch. Predictably, he stopped and tried to run out to the side, but I popped him on the right shoulder ( he naps to the right), made him face it, and within 20 seconds he went over it without too much fuss. I brought him around, trotted it, and he went right over. Went around the other way, and he did gawk and stop, but I stuffed him over it from a walk and then next time, he went right over, and landed so balanced that I hopped over the Novice grey ramp afterwards. He's such a good boy!

I think I’ve discovered why he’s acting naughty lately. C told me that she’s had to turn on the wire tape around the pasture, because Oliver apparently thought it would be a great idea if he grabbed it in his teeth and pulled it, post by post, off the fence. Not only was he doing that, he also decided to play “King of the Mountain” by climbing his front feet on top of the big Training level rolltop we have in the fenceline (it’s definitely max height, and it’s made of round timbers). He’s also trying to hop his hind feet up there, but it’s too slick. We were afraid he’d get tangled up in the wire – it’s mostly tape, but the jumps have wire across them so you can unhook them easily when you want to jump in and out of the pasture. Oliver is being really cheeky, and I think it’s because he’s out in that pasture with three other young horses, all younger than he is. He’s definitely King of the Pasture, and I think he’s testing his dominance by testing ME. He’s been sort of wiggling one step forward, inch by inch, in the grooming area (he’s ground tied), and so when I realized what he was doing, I had to nail him for it. He’s been much better since then.

Oliver goes XC schooling!

We went xc schooling at Mari Secrist's (here in Southern Pines) this afternoon, and we had a BALL! I’ve never been to her place before (apparently, you have to be a friend of hers, or be with your trainer who is a friend) but I’m impressed - it's a little gem. Nothing too fancy, but there are all sorts of questions, from BN on up, and a lovely, LOVELY water complex and several different sized ditches and banks, with a great big hill for those balance/terrain questions. And everything is immaculately groomed. You should see her barn – it’s nicer than a lot of people’s houses. TONS of land, all beautifully fenced with split rail, and all rolling hills.

I think all the flatwork with draw reins has paid off. We started by walking through the lovely water jump, back and forth, and Oliver apparently doesn't have an issue with water as he was threatening to paw and roll on me, so I had to keep him moving. Warmup in a slightly undulating field went well - he was listening to my half-halts, staying in front of my leg, and really listening. We started by trotting back and forth over a small log pile, then cantered it, staying uphill and balanced and really concentrating on getting and keeping a good canter up to and away from the jump. From there, we did the little ditch between the two feeder trees, which Oliver barely looked at, and then came down to the bigger ditch. Not sure why he planted the brakes on this one, but I guess it was wider than he's used to and deeper, but after a bit of coaxing he went over, and we trotted and then cantered over it several times. I think if I had been more insistent, he would have gone over sooner, but I'm trying not to make a big deal about things. We started to string some jumps together - pick up a right lead canter, over the ditch, right turn over the big log in the field, gallop out and then rollback to the little log pile, and then canter on into the water. He was lovely, just like a hunter, loping along and nailing his spots. After we got bored with the water jump and ditch, we walked up the steep hill to the top, where there was a picture frame (very small, but Ollie's first!). We trotted the picture frame, but I forgot to keep my leg on and we wobbled on landing, which brought us in a bit unbalanced to the bending line over the shale wall, which he's never seen before. He gawked, but I booted him over it, and then he did a lovely "out" over the hanging log. We cantered into this little combination, which is bending line question, a light-to-dark-question (from a sunny field into a copse of trees), and a slight downhill question - whew! Oliver had a beautiful jump over the hanging log in, saw the "out" (the shale wall), and then grabbed the bit and barreled down over it, which resulted in a chip. Argh. Christan had me do it in reverse, which rode very well, and then reversed it. We cantered in - again, lovely spot - I sat up, put my leg on, half-halted and got his butt underneath him, and although it wasn't pretty, we stayed balanced and then next time, I was able to give a slight half-halt with my shoulders and leg, and he rebalanced himself and jumped it like a pro. Yay! We finished with a bank question. Oliver cantered up and down a little bank, and then Christan had me canter up the bank, one stride over a hanging log, and then down the hill and left turn and drop into the water. Oliver has never done a one-stride like this, but I kept my leg on, sat back and the one stride rode beautifully, then gathered him back up and we trotted into the water. I love how he just locks on to the jump in front of him – he did the same thing at the Horse Park over the Novice bank complex. It felt like he sort of scrambled in, but he did go in without hesitating - such a brave boy - and the next time (just trotting into the water), he was brilliant. He trotted down, saw the water, and picked up a bouncy canter of his own accord and just popped in. I was pretty happy with that! So, two little bobbles (ditch and shale wall), but totally greenie moments. The best thing was that he was so rideable throughout the whole thing, so I guess all that flatwork is paying off!

Bella's first post!

I've had so much to write about Oliver and breakthroughs that I've been rather neglecting the Bellasaurus (as Joe calls her). Friday I was reminded of why I didn't want another greenie; today, I'm reminded of why I bought her in the first place.

On Friday, we warmed up in the arena and she was going along very well. She has this new thing where she charges around in the trot on her forehand, going as fast as she can go, and I just have to sit it out and wait patiently for her to come back to me and rebalance herself, because if I try and put her together right away, she tends to screech to a walk - she's got some GOOD brakes on her. So, I am just thrilled with how forward she is off my leg and allow her to truck on forward until she feels like settling down, which usually doesn't take long at all. She is starting to get so much steadier in the contact and carry herself. I can feel glimmers of this light, uphill canter, and I'm very excited when I do because it's going to be LOVELY, just like her daddy's. We jumped a few fences in the arena to warm up, and she stayed nice and light and forward to them, so I headed out for the xc field. The first thing we attempted was the little baby up bank - the larger one (so it was about 1 foot high, as opposed to 6 inches). She sort of noodled towards it, popping her left shoulder, so I tapped her up it and she was fine. Don't know why she was gawping at it. Then, I picked up the canter, and headed straight for the BN hanging log. About four or five strides out, she started to look, pop that left shoulder, and then we piddled to a stop in front of the jump. I probably shouldn't have cantered her towards it, but I guess I took her for granted and forgot how green and young she actually is. I brought her around again, with the same result, so we trotted it and managed to get a silly heap of a jump over it. THen, I took her around to the little red dog house, with a similar result - pop that left shoulder, and then piddle to a stop. I was getting very irritated with myself and with her - she wasn't scared, just testing me. So, I smacked her hard, once, and brought her back around to the trot and we had a lovely jump, landed in canter, and then turned for the BN hanging log again, which we jumped both ways, twice, and the second time was much straighter than the first. I took her over the ditch, which she gawped at, and smack - she went over it. I went back to the barn feeling a bit discouraged and of course, blowing things out of proportion to reality. I mean, really - this is a four year old that I just tried to stuff over a BN fence, in the shadow, at a canter. I would never have dreamed of doing such a thing with Oliver so early on, but then, he was rather spooky. Bella has such a level minded brain that I just forgot that she hasn't been jumping all that long.

So, today, I took her out with Marissa and Goody. We did a quick warmup in the arena, with a beautiful uphill canter towards the jumps, where I could half-halt, sit back, and float the rein at her three strides out and she jumped right out of stride. We even cantered over the rolltop - I thought there was an extra stride there (and Marissa agreed with me), but Bella didn't think so, so we left a tad long, but it was a nice, round, gorgeous jump. Yay! Off to the field. We stepped up over the little bank without a hesitation (good girl), and then trotted the red dog house downhill. Bella started to wiggle on the approach and pop that left shoulder, so we had another stop and a smack on that left shoulder, and then I took her a little ways back, not giving her enough time to wobble, and trotted the dog house - she jumped it well, and then trotted back over it, this time uphill, which she did beautifully, even cantering the last few strides. I think it was the downhill approach that gave her time to wiggle out of it. We went back towards the Hitchcock pen, where they had the Maiden/BN and Novice bike racks. I went down the hill towards the woods, picked up the trot, and then Bella sighted the bike rack, cantered the last few stride, and popped it like a pro. Yay! that was enough for us, so the four of us wandered out towards the field in the back.

I had noticed that Denny had taken down the Weldon's Wall option over by the fenceline, so I decided to take her over the ditch. Since the grass is a bit overgrown, I didn't realize how wide and deep the ditch really was (wide for a greenie, and quite deep), since I had only seen it with the Weldon's Wall behind it. Of course, it was too late to turn back, since Bella was practically on top of it. She predictably spooked at it, planted her feet, and stared, but after a little encouraging, she pitched a mini-fit, which was good because I knew she was going to go. She planted her front feet as close to the edge as she could get, and then leaned as far as she could (it was hilarious), and then jumped it quietly. Such a good girl. We repeated this on the other side (sans mini-fit, but with much leaning), and she popped it again. That was enough; Marissa and I finished our trail ride without incident. I was so happy. She really is quite brave, and I remember now why I bought her. She can be such a fun ride, and it's only going to get better and better the more "broke" she gets.

Oh, and I've decided to call her Bel Canto, which means "beautiful song". it's also the name of my favorite book by Ann Patchett, so it's totally appropriate. I just can't seem to call her Bella Sera -it doesn't mean anything to me. Luckily, I have lots of time before I register her with the USEA so I can change my mind any time I want until then.

Trying to find the brighter side of things

I haven't posted about the show because, well, I'm trying very hard to see the brighter side of things. It's funny - 9 or so years ago, when I first started off in this sport, I considered dressage my strength, then cross country, and finally stadium. Now, I feel like dressage is my weakness, and it seems to be a never-ending battle of frustrating, some highs, and a lot more lows. Sounds rather like golf, eh? Guess that explains why golf as a sport has never interested me all that much.

I think part of the problem is that I had it relatively easy with Miles, my carriage horse turned eventer draft cross. He naturally had that gorgeous high set neck, with the arch, and he was so freakin' steady that he got good scores even though he really didn't deserve them. Yes, I worked my butt off with him, but since he was so steady and consistent, the bobbles didn't show as much. His canter was ever a work in progress, but the judges consistently loved him and we usually ended up 1-3rd after a show, finishing on our dressage score (did I mention my strength was in the jumping portion? How bizarre. I seem to remember a time when I didn't think it was possible to teach me how to jump.) I don't think I truly learned how to ride from back to front, and a score of successive teachers/coaches before Christan haven't helped me a whole lot in that regard. There are SO many people teaching the incorrect way - how to fiddle your horse's head down, etc. etc. etc.. I wonder how people get away with it and still manage to score well in dressage? Do they just have the right "type" of horse at the lower levels, where you can fake it? Do they somehow have this epiphany during all the instruction of "sponge the inside rein" and "keep his head down during the transition" that they realize how to ride from leg to hand?

It all started with Christan watching me for about five minutes ride Della in the dressage arena. She was sort of leaning on me and lugging me around, especially in the canter. I was allowing this to happen, as I was thinking that she was only four and didn't know any better. Christan told me to use a lot more leg into the canter, instead of trying to contain it with my hands. I asked her what I should do if she got quick - just allow it until she found her own balance? - and Christan said that if she sped up, to hold a little with my hands (not by pulling!) until she softened, and then keep my leg on. Ah ha. Lightbulb moment #1. Although I KNEW this cerebrally, it took me all these years to finally be able to put it into action.

My lesson today was epiphany after epiphany. Small ones, to be sure, but they were definitely lightbulb moments. We started off sloshing through the wed, red arena sand, and all the while I concentrated on keeping my hands ABSOLUTELY STILL and keeping my leg on. If he resisted against the bit, more leg and a squeeze of the hands until he softened, and then kept the leg on. Christan immediately got after me for allowing him to drop a shoulder in, or ignore my outside aids and push a shoulder out, and said that this kind of allowance tends to build and escalate, until you have a real issue on your hands. I felt that it was pretty slight, and was mildly annoyed because I really didn't feel Oliver drop that shoulder to the inside, but when I concentrated on it (after Christan pointed it out to me and told me to bend him WITH MY LEG to the inside), I did definitely feel a slight pushing against my inside leg, mostly to the right, which is his stiff direction anyway. In addition to having to concentrate on feeling him drop to the inside, I had to really focus on using my leg only to lift that shoulder, instead of using my hand to artificially create the bend (which is sort of what I've been taught to do in the past). Of course, I also had to keep that outside rein firm so that he had somewhere to take the bend, and keep it lifted so that he didn't drop behind the vertical.


Canter was the first big obstacle. Before we started, I confessed to Christan that I had been thinking a lot lately and came to the conclusion that I really didn't know how to ask for the canter, since none of my horses seem to be able to transition from trot to canter without throwing their heads, which leads me to attempting to pin their head in place with my hands, and then that leads to me throwing my upper body around in a vain attempt to get the canter, which they can't do because I've pinned their head in place. Urgh. Christan asked me what the aids were that I was using. I told her that I got the inside bend, then kept the outside rein, slid my outside leg back and then used both aids together, the outside leg a bit more than the inside. Since that was all checking ok, she asked me to trot and then when I felt that I had a good trot and inside bend, slide my outside leg back and canter. It wasn't too bad of a depart, as far as Oliver goes, but Christan pointed out that it took me two strides to get a canter, during which Oliver managed to throw his shoulder to the inside, lose the bend, and then hollow and stagger into the canter, as opposed to leaping into it. She said that the minute I felt that the trot was good, I needed to get the canter right away, instead of one or two strides later. So, of course the correction was to use the whip, once, smartly behind the leg. I got the trot, went about three strides to establish the bend, slid my leg back and asked for the canter. I could feel him drop down onto his forehand and start to sprawl, so WHACK went the whip behind my leg, and he immediately jumped into canter. No, it wasn't pretty. However, it was an instant response, so I brought him down to trot after a few strides, got the trot, and asked again. Bam - I got it right away, and without any hollowing, either. Christan also told me that it was very important to make sure that after the correction, I needed to ride like nothing happened - keep the reins soft until he gave me reason otherwise. So, that was the key. He needed to canter when I said canter, and not a stride or two later. As long as I didn't make a huge deal of it, he didn't get rattled and we got some very nice trot-canter transitions. In the canter itself, he was leaning on me and pulling me down onto the forehand, so Christan emphasized that the minute he got heavy, I was to ask him to lighten by squeezing that rein and using leg, and if he ignored me, I was to yank on that rein, HARD, and then immediately soften and go back to riding like nothing had happened. It was important that I yanked only on ONE rein, instead of both (a concept I had difficulty executing), and keep the leg on so that he raised his forehand and sat down more behind, instead of just hollowing. I hated the idea of yanking, but then I thought about it and realized that if I wasn't consistent about demanding lightness, and only yanked when it really irritated me (which I was guily of doing), then it was even more cruel to him because he would never know when the abrupt punishment was coming and be taught that ignoring me was perfectly acceptable. That made it easier to bear. Christan apparently demands this level of lightness and self carriage even from the babies, which means that I need to keep on insisting it even from Bella (who naturally carries herself this way anyway, but I need to reinforce it regularly). So, the minute it felt like he was taking me down and forward, I was to sit up, close my leg and hand, and if he pushed at the bit and ignored me, YANK on one rein, and then throwing the rein I just yanked back at him, still keeping my leg on, and allow him a chance to be light. It actually only took a couple of tries before he was listening to me and light as a feather.

Jumping was the next hurdle. Christan and I had an interesting discussion about how horses really don't rush to the jump because they're eager to jump - they only rush to the jump because they are nervous about something, like losing their balance. She said it was this way even with the upper level horses, and told me that she evented Teddy at Advanced in a huge, rubber snaffle. Christan said if I didn't have my horse as light as I wanted coming into a fence, I was to yank him to a stop immediately (keeping the leg on!) even if that meant right in front of a jump. Her reasoning behind this was that it was actually making the horses braver, because even though common belief is that you will teach a horse to stop if you stop them or circle right before a jump, it actually makes them more nervous because if you half halt and they ignore you, they tend to have a bad jump, and bad jump after bad jump leads them to not trust you anymore. If they know that you will never let them get a bad jump, they will trust you more and more and the jumps get better and better and start to build their confidence. They cannot reason that they had a bad jump because they ignored you - they can only reason that the jump was a bad one, so it's up to us to make sure that they have the best jump possible. Made perfect sense to me. So, we circled at the canter, getting a good canter depart each time (yay!), and jumped a little 2'6 plank vertical. Oliver started off by ignoring my requests to sit down and back and consequently, jumped the vertical like sh*t, so I sat him down hard on his butt on the landing side, got the canter back, and asked again, but this time, I made sure that I half-halted quite a few strides out and maintained the canter to the fence, and when he ignored me, YANK and then leg on, circle, soften, and reapproach. That led to some very nice jumps, but he was still sort of careening about on the landing side. Christan said that I was sort of nagging him with my half-halts and not really insisting on obedience, so she got on. What a revelation. She looped the rein at him in the canter, and when he blew her off, she sat him down on his butt HARD, and then cantered off softly. He learned quite quickly, especially when she took him down the line and he tried to run through her hands. After the third reprimand or so, he finally softened and went down the line like a hunter. I realized that if he landed and then proceeded to drag me around, he was never soft in the first place and didn't jump up and around the jump in balance. I didn't get back on afterwards, but it left me with quite a bit to ruminate on during the drive home.

I went and did it...I bought a mare!

Well, a filly, really. She's just four years old. I said I was NOT going to do it...not going to buy another horse....not going to buy a MARE....especially a young one....but then Christan said she was perfect for me...

...you see where this is going. It actually all started about two years ago, when I was in-between horses, and I was perusing one of my favorite sites for "horse eye candy", Mapleshade Farm's website. There was this filly, an Oldenburg by the stallion Donatelli, only about two years old. She was cute as a button and very well-put together, but the price was rather high. I inquired on her anyway, seeing as she had been up there for a while. The price had been dropped to around $10k, but it was still too high for me and I didn't really want a two-year old that would do nothing but sit around and eat its head off before I could ride it.

Right before we moved from off Hollybrook Lane back to Denny's, Christan had gotten in this very lovely, dark bay filly for sale/training. I admired her, but didn't think anything about it as her breeding is quite good and I didn't think I had a chance in hell of buying her, not to mention that I really didn't want to replace Sam just yet, and I was half-heartedly interested in Winny, the little dapple grey TB that Christan also has for sale. Not that interested in him, though - I was pretty happy with working with just Oliver. Fast-forward to a week ago. Christan tells me that the filly is absolutely wonderful, and if I wasn't totally against buying another horse, I should really consider her because her brain was fabulous. Yeah, yeah, I thought - still don't want another horse. Skip ahead to Thursday, for my lesson afternoon. I had come out a bit earlier due to taking a mental health day at school, and ran out of time to head down to Cabin Branch to drop off the blankets, so I was there in time for Christan to suddenly show up riding the mare. Wow. I really hadn't seen her close up, just in the field, and she is beautiful. Very much the Warmblood, with good, thick bone and very rounded. Dark, dark bay, with a small white star and I think two white hind bobby-socks. I was impressed just looking at her, and Christan headed off down to the arena to work her. Curiousity got the better of me, so instead of spending some quality time with Oliver, I took a short cut through his field, gave him a cookie, and then attempted to crawl through the fence to get to the dressage arena (didn't work). Again, wow. As I sat on the wrong side of the fence, watching the two of them, I noticed that she had a nice, sweepy stride that looked quite promising, and her canter seemed nice and rhythmic. Very impressive considering the mare hadn't been doing this all that long. Christan told me to get on her, and of course I couldn't resist, so I grabbed my chaps and helmet and we went into the jumping arena.

She is a nice, broad girl. Her neck seems a little shorter to me than Oliver's, but her shoulder is beautiful - nice and long and laid back. She still doesn't completely understand what contact means, but it didn't take her long to figure out what I wanted. When I asked for the trot, she really pushed from behind and she was very nicely forward, which I didn't expect since she appears so quiet from the ground. Her trot is going to be very, very good - I tried to sit back, roll my shoulders back, and get her to sit down a little more, and even though she couldn't hold it for long, she tried without complaint, and when she tried - wow! She's going to be very, very fancy! She even knows her leads at the canter, and picks them up better than Oliver (probably because she really can push from behind into it). Christan suggested that I pop her over a crossrail, which I didn't want to do since we were riding in her dressage saddle, but I trusted her (both C and the mare) and we headed for a crossrail made of two painted planks, with a plank set in between, parallel to the ground. Not the most inviting crossrail for a baby, but the mare just sighted it, and then hopped over it without a look. Impressive. So, Christan got back on, and took her out to the xc field behind the arena, Keith and Coda following. CHristan trotted her up the bank, dropped her off the bank (you could see the mare thinking about it as she flopped her big ears around, but didn't hesitate), and then popped her over the ditch - she dropped her head for a look but didn't pause), and then cantered on down over a little BN jump. Apparently there was a herd of deer on the other side, but you couldn't even tell from watching her because she never missed a beat. I was about 99% ready to buy her, but I wanted to take her trail riding myself and see if I could push any of her bad buttons (if she had any).

So, on Saturday, Cindy came out with me to ride Oliver while I rode the mare. She was a big, goofy four year old in the crossties - trying to eat the fuel cover on the tractor, trying to climb into the tiny space between the tractor and the stall door, etc. I was beginning to have some small doubts and started looking for reasons not to buy her (did I really want to deal with a BIG, goofy four year old again?), but since we had gotten this far, I at least needed to take her out on the trail. She stood quietly by Cindy's side while I rode Oliver first, just sleeping. I figured that if she were going to be pissy, it would be after standing there, tacked up, just waiting. I got on (no problems) and then proceeded to talk Cindy through riding Oliver from her back - again, she just fell asleep under me. It was time to get her moving, so I started her trotting, and remembered just how green she was - lots of leaning on the bit, popping her shoulder, etc, but it didn't take her long to remember how to move. At this point, I was still looking for an "out", so I trotted over the little x that we had jumped yesterday - she picked up the canter three strides out and jumped it beautifully (I was in my jumping saddle this time), and then I decided to circle around and jump the first vertical on the outside line. I figured that if she wobbled too much, I was going to circle and not try and do the four strides to the oxer out, which was about 2'3 and had the flower boxes underneath. She jumped the vertical nicely,landed, wobbled, but then straightened herself up and did a beautiful four strides out over the oxer with ease. I yelled to Cindy, "THIS is why I'm buying this horse!" because at that point, I knew I was going to. Never in my life would I have considered taking a VERY green four year old down a line, much less to a scary, bright oxer, when I had only ridden her for about 15 minutes a couple of days before. It was difficult to remember that she is only FOUR, and a young four at that.

Cindy and I went into the field and then wandered down the little path into the upper xc field. The mare didn't care if she led, followed, if the bugs were eating her alive (they were certainly bothering Oliver!), and even down the lane between the trees, where the creek is burbling, she didn't get antsy or snorty - just marched on down like an old trail horse. We emerged into the xc field, and I took her into the start box and then out over the big telephone pole "X". She cantered over the x like she had been doing it all her life, and then I went down, turned right (scared up some deer but she didn't even blink), and then cantered over the scary red rails that always seem to spook the horses. She took a longish spot and popped me a little out of the tack, but again - didn't hesistate. That was when I knew I couldn't let this one go. We finished our trail ride around the property without a hitch and I told Christan I'd write her a check that day.

The new mare's name is Bella Sera (beautiful evening), and I'm calling her Bella. Her registered name is Denali, and I toyed with calling her Dani, but I have a friend name Dany and I wasn't sure she'd appreciate the honor. Plus, Bella really fits her. I cannot believe the brain on this mare. Christan made me a heck of a deal and I would have been crazy to turn it down.

So, here's to two-horse ownership again! May it be less bumpy and more fruitful than last time.

Oliver does his first canter test at a pure dressage show.

Well, not much happened. It was such a small show that they put me in with one other BN rider, two Novice riders, and a Prelim rider. Oliver warmed up beautifully and was really listening, but when we got into the arena, Joe yelled that the bell had rung and I already knew that, so I got rattled and forgot to halt at C (too many eventing tests) and the judge rang the bell. Then, of course I was rattled for the rest of the test, and a small herd of horses came up over the ridge and Oliver gawked at that….some jigging in the free walk, anticipating at times…gave us a 57.9%. Yuck. Not terribly bad, but good enough to land us a 3rd place ribbon. I threw that test away. Comments were: lovely young horse with a lot of potential, work on relaxation yadda yadda yadda. Stuff I already knew. The second test, which was BN B, went much, much better. I thought it rode very smoothly, up until the point of where I picked up the wrong lead and it took me half a circle to fix it, so that got me a 4. 7 on gaits, 7s on all the right side work (which is weird since that is his bad direction), and comments of being slightly on the forehand for the left rein work, and again a comment on “lovely young horse”. A 37.9pp this time, which also got us a 3rd place – 1st place was the Prelim rider with a 33. So, all in all, not too shabby. I need to stop letting my reins get too long and start getting his balance towards the rear more consistently, and I think we’ll be scoring in the low 30s in no time. He was a very good boy.

Greg has been out to work on him, and the improvement this time was so much better that we have high hopes that we can continue to work through his scar tissue. Greg said that the 5th or 6th time was the magic number, and he was right - no more short striding on that inside right hind. I rode him today and he was so much more uphill and pushing from behind - I could really tell the difference when I stretched him. His withers stayed more up in front of me than before, and the balance was better. I've done a much better job of not allowing the reins to slip through my fingers - studying the way the upper level riders hold their hands at Rolex really helps, as I can visualize this. We have Foxtrack on the horizon for our first debut at BN, which will be low key and no pressure, and then I'm planning on doing some unrecognized dressage stuff with him for practice and schooling some more XC and possibly a hunter show or two to gear us up for Five Points in September. We're finally heading somewhere!

Oliver remains sweet as always....yells hello when I go and get him from his paddock. It still give me a thrill to hear him. I doubt I'll ever get sick of that.

Oliver rocks at xc schooling at The Horse Park

So, on Friday, last minute I decided to take Oliver xc schooling to the Horse Park, mostly because Marissa wanted to take her pony, Goody, and she didn’t have a ride. I didn’t think about taking Ollie because Christan is at Rolex this weekend and you know how those fences grow in size when you haven’t seen them for a while…well, I didn’t want to school without her (when did I become such a pansy?), and I didn’t have a groundsperson, yadda yadda yadda. But when Marissa said she’d come, and we’d bring MaryBeth along for our groundsperson, I decided that what Oliver and I needed was to gallop around and jump some stuff. It was HOT – around 85, but there was a good breeze blowing so not too bad. I wonder why it’s become so hot so early this year? When I got to the barn, I noticed that I had a VERY flat tire. It seemed that the valve stem on the tire had dry rotted at the base, so was leaking air. Argh. I rigged it with some duct tape and we threw the air compressor into the tack room and hoped and prayed we would make it to the Park. Oliver loaded up like a champ and with Goody installed, we were on our way. We stopped at the end of the driveway to check and see if my redneck valve stem held (it did) and then we immediately encountered a huge crowd of bike racers – I had forgotten that the Tour de Moore was this weekend, and so we picked our way through the crowds. At this point, I was wondering if all odds were stacked against us, but we made it there safely.

On Thursday, I had tried out my Antares again because Christan said something about not being able to put her leg on Oliver riding in her new Devoucoux (she likes her Antares better), and I was wondering if there was a difference between my Antares and my Albion. First of all, that Antares does NOT fit him – it’s too wide, and almost presses down on his withers, and the panels scoop away from him back, which is sort of flat because of how uphill he’s built. Immediately I noticed that I felt very much closer to him, but that could be because the panels are so much thinner and it’s too wide. I also noticed that posting the trot seemed like WORK – I started to feel some leg strain almost immediately and got tuckered out more quickly than I have been. I thought that was due to me being in bed from Wednesday to Monday, but when I started cantering, I couldn’t get my leg on him. The weirdest thing was jumping – that was when the Antares really shined. The balance is effortless over jumps, but I can’t seem to get my leg on him to the fences without lifting my heel up and bringing my leg back – ugh. I also felt a lot of leg and hip strain. I was confused. Do I keep the saddle that seems to be better balanced over fences, knowing that it actually hurts me to ride? I could always replace the foam panels with wool for about $400. I took the Albion with me for xc schooling, since it’s never really been put to the test, and immediately I noticed that the balance for flatwork was much, much better and seemed a lot easier. It also fits Oliver so much better. I borrowed one of Christan’s Thinline Trifecta pads, to see if I could get a bit more close contact feel, and it seemed to work pretty well. It only works because the saddle is a pretty good fit, I think.

Anyway, we warmed up with him stretching for the bit almost immediately, which was a nice surprise as there were quite a few people warming up out there, and it was a great big open field, so I thought he’d be quite distracted. We popped over the crossrail a few time, then the vertical twice, and then the oxer once, and since everybody else had taken off without me (rude), I caught up and headed over to the start box. The first fence was the one you saw when we were there – a simple hanging log on a pedestal. Oliver hasn’t jumped xc since December, but he picked up the canter towards it and then, about 6 strides out, really SAW it and started to wiggle, first one shoulder, then the other, but I put my spurs into him lightly and he jumped it quite nicely, albeit a tad underpowered. We circled around and tried again, but two people cut me off and jumped the jump just as I was heading for it (even RUDER), so I had to circle twice and then come at it, and this time Oliver jumped it nicely. That was when I realized that my Albion lets me put my leg on him. If I had been riding in my Antares, I’m sure I would have to resort to some hand riding since I can’t seem to get my leg on, and it’s possible he would have run out – he wasn’t trying very hard to escape me, but if I didn’t have my legs on, I think he could have wiggled out of it. Since the second jump went well, we went down that hill to the pheasant feeder, next to those HUGE brush fences at the bottom of the hill. I trotted the feeder, but Oliver saw it, started cantering about four strides out, and neatly popped over it and cantered up the hill to join the others. We all hacked up the hill to the spooky feeders (for some reason, they’re spooky and they get people every single show – maybe it’s the way they are angled on the top of the hill), and cantered over them – Oliver looked, but he stayed nice and straight and we had a lovely jump. We took a left and cantered the Hobbit’s Hut. This is where I noticed the benefits of having an uphill horse – the approach to the Hobbit’s Hut is downhill, around a group of trees, so the approach is a bit obscured until about 6 strides out. Oliver was having none of this trotting thing, so we cantered down the hill, me keeping my leg on, softly bumping his sides with my calves, sitting back, with my hands raised but forward, and he saw the Hut and just bounced over it without a look, and then cantered down the hill. Down the hill I had to sit up and really put my leg on and ride him up into the bit, but after a few half-halts, he softened on his own and we stayed in balance pretty much the whole way. The group walked down the hill and up to the sunken road complex, where we had to wait a bit for the group before us (the one that cut me off) to finish. We decided to make it a line of fences - first, the cabins, and then down past the sunken road, over the ascending oxer, and then down by the ditch/Trakehner complex to what is now a red and black barn where the hanging log used to be. Oliver jumped each one out of stride, never missing a beat. He’s so easy to ride to a fence because he rises in front of you, shifting his balance back, and he’s got that Warmblood sense of rhythm where every stride is practically the same, so the spots just appear. The last one was the best – Michelle told me to focus on something at the top of the hill, and I did and he powered it out of stride. We then cantered up the hill, popped the little hanging log off a right turn, and then we were faced with the Novice bank/drop complex. Everybody did it (they were all on more experienced horses), and it looked like such fun that I thought I’d try it. I used to be scared of this when I had Miles, but then Sam did it and made it so easy that I haven’t been afraid of it ever since. So, I wandered down the hill a ways to get some momentum, picked up the canter, and then about 6 strides out, started to showjump the canter. Oliver was a bit confused so he lurched up the bank, but then he saw the “out” log, straightened himself out, and leapt out over the log – he didn’t touch ground until the ground leveled on the other side. It rode beautifully – I just clamped my lower leg on, slipped the reins, and I think I even yelled “yeehaw”, much to my embarrassment, in midair. Of course, he over jumped it, but it was such a bold move on his part and so much fun that we didn’t do it again. SUCH a brave, good pony!!! We cantered over the gray BN bench as a let up/ easy fence for him, and then we walked through the water complex. Oliver barely hesitated through the water, so we trotted though the next time, and then hopped over a tiny rolltop about two strides out. We cantered the rolltop back in, cantered through the water, and then we decided to do the Novice combo – blue and white overturned boat, three strides into the water, jump out of the water over a log pile, and then hard right turn over the Novice cabin. He was perfect over the boat, cantered through the water easily, hopped out over the logpile, but I had to sort of yank him around the turn because he wanted to go straight, but then he saw the cabin, straightened himself out, and had a gorgeous jump over the cabin. I was so proud of him – he’s really starting to think and assess the situation for himself. The group went to jump the big brown table in the field – I opted out of that because it wasn’t necessary to jump it – I’m not going Novice any time soon, and it was just a big brown table. We went into the second water complex – the Duck Pond. It was a splash in, and then you had several options – a largish rolltop out, set at the edge of the water (Novice), or jump in, one stride water, through the water, one stride up over a pimple jump (Training). We did the Training one, foot perfect. By now, Sam would have been huffing and puffing and getting a bit tired, but Oliver had only broken a sweat (not foaming) and wasn’t breathing hard at all. The joys of a purpose-bred horse! We finished by jumping up the bank (Ollie understood the question now), and then bending line over a brown rolltop, then finished by jumping a grey bench out in the first field. Perfect. I jumped off him to walk him back, but he had so much energy that he practically pulled me back to the trailers.

I cannot believe how good he was. He didn’t wiggle to anything except the first jump – everything else he took like a seasoned pro. I had no intentions of doing anything other than a few BN jumps and paddle through the water – I never planned on doing some complex Novice lines! Plus, he’s jumping really well, really pushing off his hind end, rather than just cantering over the fence, and I felt very safe and secure in my Albion, which tells me that the Antares is for sale. I think we’re ready for Lumber River now, but since I’ve never had luck at that show, we’re doing FenRidge instead. Yay for Ollie!