I am falling so behind in basically everything right now! It has just been a blur of house showings (which means constant frantic house cleaning because a family of four plus animals can destroy a house in minutes) all the while trying to do real life with kids, meeting the demands of an ever-increasing work load and sneaking off to visit my horse.
My fluffy yak pre-body clip :) So. much. hair.
Have you ever headed into a clinic with a clinician you did not know? I have been to enough clinics to know that the experience can greatly depend on the style of the clinician and how that meshes with you personally. Honestly, I just need a clinician to simply be nice. I do not learn from tough love--I am more likely to crumple into a fetal position and cry.
Post-clip pony! Do not look too closely--the clip is sketchy :P
So when I found myself on a horse that was possibly doing a magnificent piaf (if only this was a dressage clinic!) mixed with canter sidepass, I was happy to discover Ian Roberts was indeed nice.
He took Shiraz by the rein and led us around some scary things just to get her moving forward. That was enough support to get us both a bit more settled and I was then able to get Shiraz trotting around with the rest of my group.
Trotting through the scattered poles with some pretty cute springs!
Once everyone was warmed up, we started with an exercise over scattered poles. This was geared to getting the horse thinking about their own feet. We were to ride on the buckle and allow the horse to lower their head and figure out their own path. We progressed to riding down the row of poles with our eyes closed to emphasise our role of setting direction and pace, and then leaving their horse alone to do their job.
Settling and thinking while I leave her alone.
Then we tied in a log jump with the pole exercise. Shiraz settled nicely and I noticed the more we jumped, the more relaxed she got.
Heading towards the first jump of the day (AND happens to be the biggest jump we have done together!! What is that, like 2 feet high?!! HUGE!!!)
I was impressed with Mr. Roberts' ability to quickly assess a horse and rider, know how far to push and give clear instructions without making anyone feel overfaced or stupid.
The result for me was a feeling of pushing past my boundaries and seeing real advancement in Shiraz while not ever really feeling like what we were doing was too difficult.
By the end of clinic day one, I was completely exhausted but smiling from ear to ear because we had done the thing, no one got hurt and best of all there would be a day two!!
When you start waking up already anxious before you even have time to make the morning coffee, let alone contemplate all the trials and tribulations in your life, you know there is a problem.
Thank you to those who gave advice and/or support. After my vacation and approximately one month off for Savvy, I suddenly found myself terrified.
Of what, I wasn't quite sure.
True, Savvy had gone a bit feral and had really slipped back in her jumping form and confidence, but really that was not worthy of causing this level of anxiety. She may be a complicated ride, but not a dangerous one at all.
It took a step back for a bit and sorted through what the heck was going on. All the things that I have been dealing with (mostly involving my mother who has dementia) had kind of snowballed lately. I needed to put things in better perspective and let go of worrying about all the little things that did not need immediate attention. I forgave myself for not being able to do it all and do it best (best of who, I couldn't tell you).
Carrots are a girl's best friend.
And with the wonder pony, I grabbed up great advice to break things down and build back up slowly. I am happy to report Savvy is doing great and every ride is getting easier for me. We are still only at about 2 feet but there is real progress happening and we are almost back where we left off in July.
Grid work has been useful for helping Savvy remember what to with her legs (seriously horse, it was only a month!) and helping me focus on body position, counting strides and NOT grabbing mane (I seem to have developed a bad habit of grabbing those flowing locks of Savvy's like its my security blanket).
We have graduated to a nice little course of seven jumps that I have set up in a way that I can change up the order and work on different approaches.
Nine more sleeps until the Manitoba Equestrian Championships! I am really starting to look forward to it and I think Savvy and I are going to do just fine.
I am exhausted, so sore and I think my knee no longer functions as a hinging device, yet none of that matters because pony did the thing guys!! The jump show clinic this past Sunday was a success in so many ways for me and I definitely feel 'progress' which is all any of us really are looking for at the end of the day, right?
All I know is I got a lot of cookies! - Savvy
We started with warmup at 11:30 and got right into our first classes right away at 12:00 which was hunter flat classes and all the varieties therein. There were seven other horses in the clinic and Savvy handled the other horses wonderfully, even when we were asked to halt and a young rider rear-ended us. She pinned her ears but did not get dirty while I moved off to give us some space. Then we got into the hunter over fences classes.
Starting with ground poles, we all did 'Hunt Line' class and I placed 8th out of eight riders. I don't know how I trashed a step-over-poles class so bad, but really to my defence, Savvy was very spooky/looky at all the people suddenly. I think she had become comfortable with the 'herd' and now suddenly we were heading off on our own around the arena and she was worried about that. So the result was much zig-zagging, some calling out for her new friends, and lots of trying to turn her head to look everywhere but forward.
Our first 'hunt line' class placing 8th.
Moving on to cross rails, we improved slightly. I was able to get Savvy a bit more focused but we were still wiggly and she never actually jumped any of the fences, just stepped over at the trot.
We placed 5th this time so yay for improvement?
By this time I was really looking forward to verticals as perhaps I would actually be able to get her jumping instead of stepping over things. I was determined this time to focus on straightening Savvy in between fences and thinking 'forward' and we really improved a ton for the 'low verticle' class.
So much better this round and placed 4th.
By the time we did our last class of 2' Hunter, I was feeling much more confident and thought I would push for as much canter as Savvy could comfortably handle. Neither Savvy or I have the 'eye' for where to take off from at the canter (Let's be real, we only cantered towards a jump for the first time last Thursday so we know nothing) but the only way to develop it is practise.
And then we placed 1st!
Most of our canter through this course happened where I could ask for left lead as that is her easiest, and trotted lines where right lead canter should have been because we never could quite get that right lead. She jumped beautifully though and I was so pleased with how it went.
In all it was four and a half hours in the saddle, nonstop. All of it was great experience for Savvy; being at the new venue with the business of a show atmosphere, exposure to the courses and even down time where she had to learn to stand and wait patiently was great for her. By the end she figured out it was much easier to use down time for sleep rather than prancing and pawing on the spot.
I am feeling much more prepared now for our real show on the 22nd, not only for Savvy's training progress but for my own progress on the psychological front. There were times Savvy was very up and worried and I managed all of those moments easily. I also felt myself spending more time planning how to ride a good, forward round rather than getting caught up in butterflies approaching the first fence.
We may not look very pretty yet, but the progress is real.
My overall plan for 2017 has been to push myself (ever so gently) in all situations horse training related.
My game plan for the past few years has been to set myself up for success which involved breaking steps down into smaller peices to not overface me or my horse. It worked. It was a lovely little bubble. Within the bubble a little bit of work could get done safely and my confidence began to return, bit by bit.
This upcoming year though I want to expand my bubble. This is not going to be easy. I know how to keep status quo very well and I am really going to have to push myself to take that extra step. Really that is all I want from myself at this point--just one extra step beyond my comfortable little bubble and hopefully build on that.
A major success -- although admittedly felt more like a giant leap rather than a little step!
Just about three months in and there have been some successful attempts at this and also some fails. My last lesson highlighted where I am at right now. I do have confidence but it is not infinite and old memories from past horses are still affecting me (aka Miss Tea and her crazy reactions when things went wrong). I immediately knew where my anxiety was coming from when I suddenly could not push Savvy through that grid. I was afraid of what has happened to me in the past when pushing an unsure horse, NOT what I really believed Savvy might do.
I am okay with this. Knowing where my fears are coming from is very helpful. I was gutted at first but that feeling like it is not fixable is coming from a different place, a different horse. This is Savvy and we can work through things. Even though she is anoyingly oppinionated and occasionally tells me off, she does trust me and I can honestly say I know I can handle her opinions.
Status quo has been affecting her too. She has been enjoying that bubble I made for us and will have reactions to me expanding our comfort zone. Which means she will question my authority, and wonder if I have lost my marbles but we will adjust to this increase of expectations.
Following Sunday's accident, I really was not sure about how I would manage my Thursday lesson. We all know when something scary happens, the sooner we get back at it (whether that be driving after an accident, riding after a fall or trailer off-loading after getting kicked in the face) the better.
These things can wiggle their way into your subconscious and make easy stuff so, so hard.
So I set to planning (something I LOVE to do) and tried to create for myself a step-by-step plan for safety, just to get me through the worst of it which to me was the idea of heading back to the same place so soon in the same trailer with the same horse.
Standing still pre-lesson - too unsure to move
First I parked the truck and trailer in my barn yard and started ground work with Savvy in the arena, just to relax us both and make sure she was listening and yielding well in all directions. Then I moved to loading her in the trailer with the idea being that the trailer would be her rest place from working. She is really good about going in, but wants to come out immediately and fast. I would let her come out, but without hesitation, just send her right back in. We did this over and over until finally she was willingly starting to spend more time standing still on her own. At this point, I started to ask for a back-up cue. I decided to use pulling gently on her tail along with the verbal cue of 'back'. She really started to get the hang of it after many, many repetitions.
This was going very well so the next step was to close the door, give her a minute and then at a moment that she is behaving well, open the door, make her wait and then give the backup cue.
After two days (of many hours spent) on this, she still wasn't at a place in my mind I would call safe. Sure, she was doing all the things I asked but even after all of the practice, she was still acting fearful despite me remaining calm, methodical and rewarding her with tons of praise and cookies for her efforts. But it was progress.
By the middle of Wednesday I decided to remove the centre divider. I knew I was being quite stubborn in my head about not doing this earlier. I really wanted her to learn the straight load because I liked the peace of mind of her not being able to leap around when I am driving (like she used to do in my previous stock trailer).
I am glad I did. She was immediately much calmer. I could load her in, close the door and then go up to the front and safely tie her. I was able to walk away and let her stand in the trailer like this with no fuss. Then off-loading was easier because I could put her lead rope on and unhook her from the front tie, then she could turn around and I could get hold of her lead rope by opening the top half of the back door. Then I could open the door and easily make her stand quietly and not come out until I asked her.
With all our practicing I noticed the rubber floor mats that came with the trailer were actually slippery for Savvy. They had horizontal lines in the rubber, that although great for sweeping them clean, made it easy for her hooves to slide. So, I grabbed my large mat out of the tack shed which had tiny bumps instead of lines in the rubber and this stopped her sliding completely.
There was nothing else I could do to prepare, I just now had to do it.
It all went perfectly well! Savvy surprisingly travelled pretty quiet and off-loaded really well. Teaching her the wait after I opened the back door still worked even with the excitement of being somewhere unfamiliar.
And the lesson was a blast! We toodled all over the place and introduced her to jumps with flower baskets. We 'jumped' (stepped over) cross rails and I was so pleased with Savvy's level-headedness throughout it all.
Standing still post-lesson - too tired to move!
When ever she was unsure, she would slow down or even stop and then step over despite my best pony club kicks. It was too funny to get frustrated. She was really trying and I know from our dressage work, when she is struggling mentally with a challenge she will slow down or stop. It wasn't about refusing; she just wasn't sure about jumping flowers. Once she learned she could safely step over, she really got into it and by the end, she actually tried to jump a little. Also, once coach moved the flowers away from the middle, Savvy really seemed to be much more forward and confident. I loved how we did because no matter how unsure Savvy was about something, she would really try to sort out how to do it and never felt scared or unsafe; just confused!
