Thoroughbred Thrills

A few weekends ago, I made my biannual pilgrimage to DC to visit Austen, the floofs, and the horses. It was well-timed, too, because while sun was prescribed for my home forecast, warm temperatures certainly were not! I was eager to trade in my Canaan-Valley-cold-weather card for a weekend in DC's forecast that was a good 20-30°F higher! While we didn't get the sun we thought we'd get, it was infinitely better than windy and 30°F that home had.

In past trips, I have felt ill-prepared for the weekend's adventures. Many folks think I cram a lot into a day/weekend/week so far as activities go, but my abilities pale compared to Austen. Good gracious can she jam-pack a day! My dogs and I always come home tired (and sometimes cursing under our breath.)

Fortunately, this go-around, I asked Austen what she foresaw for the weekend. The answer? Copious horse time with a healthy side of PHOTOS. In fact, she informed me she had a brand new 64GB memory card ready and was clearing off a second as we spoke.

Challenge accepted.

Aside from taking copious photos, the plan was for me to ride not only Pig, whom I've ridden a time or two before, but also Bast!

October 2017, a lesson on Pig I never wrote about or shared. Thanks to some observations Austen shared with me after this
ride, I began really focusing on more yoga in my life. What a difference it has made!

I'm an adept rider. I've got pretty fair balance and proper mechanics. I'm still learning, as we all are, but something about riding someone else's horse these days isn't as easy as it once was! I imagine that's just life when you have your own horses. I catch rode exclusively for the first two decades of my life. But that isn't something I do much any more! In fact, after hitting the dirt hard about 4 years ago, I swore off riding other people's horses unless they were ones I knew well or were horses I could learn something from. Read: their training supersedes my own.

Pig's training far supersede's my own and Bast is trending that direction quickly under Austen's expert guidance. And hot damn are they both SO FUN to ride. I dream of the day I am able to have my horses so tuned into riding off my seat alone. Sadly, my resources and education for learning and training that is in its early stages still. But that's why opportunities like those Austen offers me (full of fun and free of charge), are so very valuable.

Firstly, she worked Bast.

Weee!

He's come so damn far from the last time I saw them ride earlier this year. Such a little adult!

As such, when the moment came and Austen, grinning, told me, "Get your helmet!" I didn't feel any apprehension. And from the moment I climbed aboard, Bast was a complete gentleman.

He's just the cutest

It was so very cool to ride Bast and compare him to past experiences on Pig. My education within dressage has grown leaps and bounds since my last ride on Pig in October 2017. Comparing and contrasting the stage of Bast's training to Pig's 4th level abilities was really cool. I understood the building blocks that made up Bast's foundation and could see how the rest of the training would build neatly upon it.

What a good boy!

Overall, riding Bast was as similar as it gets to riding Grif. They're at a similar-ish place training-wise which lent me a lot of comfort as I rode him around. There weren't a million different buttons or heightened sensitivity to my micro movements in the saddle to worry about at all. Communication was much clearer, which is always a plus! He's just such a cool freaking horse and such a good boy.

After short time, I turned the reins back over to Austen to nab some more fun photos of her and Bast galloping. This one is my favorite.

The epitome of an autumn color palette!

With Bast thoroughly exercised for the day, it was Pig's turn!

Austen gave me an inquiring look that asked if I wanted to just go ahead and jump on to which I rapidly shook my head, "Nope! You!" She laughed and climbed aboard.

Austen knows I know what Pig's shenanigans look like and knows they intimidate me. See, not unreasonably, Pig isn't fond of a handsy rider. And when he throws his little fits, I get handsy in my attempt to simultaneously pull the horse up and curl into the fetal position. Which, of course, causes him to escalate his opinion. And I'll give him that. Totally fair.

No hands necessary!

But my baggage isn't unfounded. I grew up riding a LOT of horses with a bucking problem. The first horse who really bucked - and I mean really bucked to the point where the whole audience of judges, instructors, parents, and riders at our 4-H shows would gasp and gape (ironically, this horse's registered name was Buck Destiny) - could easily be brought out of it if I pulled his head up. Thus, from a young age I've learned to pull heads up as opposed to giving more leg when a horse bucks. But I'm still learning, I'm improving, and I'm moving forward, but shit ain't quick or easy.

So, when it came time for me to ride Pig my mind and body hit a bit of a "block". I know I can ride a horse pretty well, but this horse is just so sensitive and well-trained that I worried I'd screw it all up and hit the dirt. Rational brain decided to take a vacation for a few minutes, what can I say?

Austen is so helpful though. She knows me and the horse so well and put us through our paces appropriately to warm us both up.

Slowly my rational brain returned from it's momentary vacation and my body realized that, oh hey, I do know how to do this horse riding thing. And, in fact, the horse riding thing on this horse wasn't so hard after all. A year's worth of yoga with an emphasis on my hips has done wonders. Sitting with a more open hip angle and making micro-adjustments with my pelvis to cue and communicate with Pig was infinitely easier than it had been the year before. Crazy, I know.

Take this human off of me immediately. - Pig, probably

Regardless, when it came time to canter the red fire engine, my rational brain went on strike again for a few moments. See, my stirrups were quite long and the sensation of having to constantly reach for them at the canter was quite unnerving!

My white knuckled grip is my favorite and tells the story of my insecurity at this moment lol

Austen knew just how to get me to loosen up about it though, joking with me in a way that got me to goof off for the camera before I stopped to adjust them. Once they were adjusted to lend me a much more secure feeling, off we went again to give it a whirl. And I even started to relax a bit!

Except, then Pig decided the day was lost if he didn't express at least one opinion:

I'm all smiles, starting to relax. Pig is about to express himself...
And no, I tried to not touch that curb rein at all. Also, my finger to brain connection about having
two sets of reins was something along the lines of, "?!!!??!"

The appearance of my double-chin demonstrates my realization of how crap is about to go down.

And now we've entered triple-chin territory where I believe death is imminent.
Meanwhile, Pig is like the girls in that Dane Cook skit about dancing, "I JUST WANNA DANCE!"

"Throw my shoes on the floor, stand in a circle and just DANCE!"

Uphill much?

And I mean, honestly, it wasn't so bad in hindsight. But it did intimidate me in the moment. But not so much that I couldn't immediately laugh about it. He's a good boy. Absurd, but good.

Much more focused and relaxed.

From this moment, Austen started niggling me more about really galloping the little fire engine. I was still hesitant though. What exactly I was afraid of at this point, I don't know. It wasn't logical, that's for certain! Just one of those times a part of the brain overrides the logical part and says, "No," while the rational side tries to ask, "But why?" and is ignored.

Fortunately for my rational brain, Austen chose this moment to note, "Remember, my biggest fear with a horse is getting run away with. Pig is not going to run away with you. Sit up and he'll stop."

Cue singing unicorns and sparkling rainbows. My mind immediately clicked back into place in this moment and went, "YEAH! Okay. Let's DO THIS."

And so I did. And I think the photos tell the story from here...

My face. I die.
But seriously, this is the same look all of us wear when we do something that simultaneously terrifies us and thrills us. 

And this is the exact moment joy broke through the fear and decided to rule the day.

Pure, unadulterated joy

It was easy after that. 

And it's funny how relaxation creates better riding. I mean, look! I can even manage to hold both sets of reins like something resembling an adult and not an inept child.

ZOOMIES.

I'm a step above stalker, I AM Austen. I've got the dog. The horse. The tack (the double!). A vest. In Maryland. At her barn.
Austen 2.0. ENGAGE.

Pig clearly loves this job so, so very much. His ears are simply the happiest in every. single. photo.

We conquer! And I didn't even grab mane with at least one hand...

GO, PIGGY, GO!

Oh, I'll GO. - Pig, probably

And a true sign of my absolute relaxation at this point? One hand off the reins. 

It's an understatement to express how much freaking FUN I had. Damn. What a thrill!

And honestly, it isn't surprising. I used to gallop Stan around full bore all the time as a teen. I used to race my friends in their cars for Pete's sake. (As such, I know that a car speedometer clocked Stan and I rocketing along at 35mph for few hundred yards.) And I didn't wear a helmet then. What should I fear now?

Exactly.

And so, I'm really looking forward to springtime when I head back for another visit. Plans are already in the works for a full bore gallop session on both boys in a magically green landscape. I can't wait!

Thank you, Austen, for letting me experience the thrill and joy of galloping a thoroughbred. What a magical experience!

Of Huskies, Horses, Photography, a Clinic, and Happiness

I had a whirlwind of a weekend in the DC area this past weekend!

Austen's magical sunset spot near her new barn

Earlier this spring, Austen messaged me to let me know Janet Foy would be at her barn old barn putting on a clinic. Remembering past blog write-ups of Janet's clinics from other years, I quickly moved my one weekend commitment and put this clinic on my calendar to audit.

From the moment I arrived Thursday evening to the moment I left Sunday afternoon, Austen and I were go-go-go. There was much to do and much to see! Sleep was almost an after thought. My two country huskies agreed that the fast-paced city life was exhausting!

The clinic itself was really freaking cool. I've been to only a few clinics and this one was definitely with the most knowledgeable person to-date. It was really cool to see such a variety of riders and horses who were working across so many different levels.

My favorite pair to watch was one of the young riders and her 6 year old horse who are currently working on second level. Such a beautiful pair!

Janet ended up using this rider as an example for so many things most of us do poorly, picking out key things many riders earlier in the day had done. It was crazy to see how "off" those things were after watching the young rider; sometimes you don't realize how crooked or incorrect your aids are until you see someone doing things so impeccably.

My favorite part was when Janet had the rider scoot way over to the right, collapse her left side, and put her right leg way behind the girth  - a contortion many earlier riders (currently in the audience) had put themselves in while asking for lateral work earlier in the day. As the rider collapsed through her left side for the demo, Janet told her, "No, MORE." To which we all giggled. She then noted to all of us how absurd this was and we could all see how incorrect it really was. Such a great learning moment!

I took away so many valuable tidbits from the clinic. I'm quite new to this world, so my takeaways are vastly different (and likely very elementary) from many others, but that's all part of the learning process! The spectrum of learning is really cool, and it was a true sign of how good a clinician Janet is that all levels of riders benefited from her teaching.

I won't expound greatly on my notes - they're mostly tailor-made to facilitate my work with Griffin and Q, but I've included them below for posterity.

• Half halt is to keep inside hind on  ground half second longer
• When posting keep inside leg on when rising 
• Work at leg yielding then get back on circle and inside hind should begin crossing under body better 
• Don't practice a walk that isn't on the test
• Don't let them trot faster into canter - not good to let their front end pull them into it - when they do that pull them right back down to normal trot and say "no" then try again into the canter without rushing
• Every horse uses head and neck to balance. We have to convince them to trust us to be in charge of their balance.
• Put more strength in your position before asking for something that causes them to pull against you in protest so you can meet that resistance without losing your position (spoken to a rider who was on a horse that loved to forcefully take the reins away from her)

• Inside rein is turn signal for turn on haunches shouldn't have much pressure on it for long. Do square turns not circle turns. Ride on a big square.
• Inside rein keeps the bend, outside rein keeps half halting and getting longer
• Do the above and let the reins slowly inch longer so they stay in frame while getting longer and swinging more through the back - something to do at the end of a ride. Never walk in that stretchy frame tho.
• When transitioning to walk, don't allow long rein until 5 to 6 walk strides in contact at medium walk
• Outside rein half halts to slow down and keep tempo while inside rein keeps bend
• If whatever you're doing causes a rhythm problem stop. Rhythm is the most important thing. Make sure you have it.   
• Headlights (boobs). Point the girls in the direction of travel.  
• Outside rein can touch neck inside rein should not. Stretching into outside rein. Bending away from inside rein.
• Leg should be active! Tap tap relax tap tap relax. Don't move it back and just leave it on forever. Need to reward them by removing the pressure.
• Use a pendulum of trot...long then short, long then short, etc. Remember to keep the rhythm the same!!!

• Haunches in does not have the front legs crossing.
• Shoulder fore going into turn on haunches. Then as you're turning - rein back like you're going to 'whoa stop' then turn. But you have to let go or you hold them there. Timing timing timing.
• Whip behind leg says go more forward. Leg on croup says sit more.  
• Before the rein back the halt has to be settled. Rein back should be fluid and horse should sink down. Diagonal pairs.
• "It's okay, I'm not here to be loved." - Janet, spoken to a horse who was acting out after his rider laughed and noted that he was really hating Janet in that moment.
• You don't need collection without bend.
• Acting out. Stop hard then be nice with reins once they are stopped. Hands low if they are throwing their head. (Spoken to the rider with the horse who liked to take the reins from her; he hated hated HATED when she began correcting his habit!)
• When you come into the ring with rubber reins the first thing the judge says is - oh he pulls!
• The more impulsion you have the more submission you need

As I expected it would, the clinic was a great kick in the pants for me to get back to it with my dressage work on Griffin and Q. I'm really excited for the months ahead!

After auditing for awhile on Saturday, we headed to Middleburg, VA, to the Tack Exchange. I was on a quest for some tall boots at a steal. Unfortunately, I didn't find any within budget - but I did score some Kerrits tights for REAL CHEAP and a great short sleeve show shirt. Now I just need to find some freaking TIME to ride and prep for shows and endurance rides since I've got an expanded wardrobe for these things!

Dogs who roll in unidentified dead/decaying things get cross-tied and bathed.

While in Middleburg, we rendezvoused with Olivia! There was no doubt she knew who we were from a distance considering we had three huskies. #sledteamstatus I quickly passed off Taiga to Olivia and we sauntered down the street, three horse girls with three huskies, to find a lunch spot.

As we sat enjoying our happy hour fair, it dawned on me that Austen and I both had our cameras with us. There had been some casual talk of going to meet Frankie afterward and knowing Olivia had been wishing for some more media recently I threw an offer out there, "You know, we both have our cameras...." And boom, we were heading to see Frankie and become the strangest paparazzi of huskies and cameras he'd ever witness.

Fortunately, Frankie is a freaking SAINT. He barely batted an eye at the crazy dogs our our cameras snapping constantly. Seriously. He is THE SWEETEST guy. Olivia is the luckiest girl ever to have him in her life - and her adoration for him is so very evident in the way she constantly looks at him, smiles at him, and talks about him. I wish a horse like that on every little horse-crazy girl at some point in her life.

I even nabbed some of those "black background" photos for Olivia as she headed to the indoor for her ride.

But seriously, y'all. These two. What a relationship. So many quiet touches and looks between them. They've got their own little language and it's the sweetest thing. Olivia's fiancee was a very, very wise man to involve Frankie in his proposal! It's good to have the big guy on his side knowing how much Olivia adores him.

The rest of the weekend was full of history lessons from Austen and a photoshoot with Lyra in and around her home. The very lovely weather coupled with so many blooms and new leaves made for SUCH a pretty weekend.

We are beauty. We are grace. Well, maybe Austen is. But I'm ridiculous.

All of the photography nerdery with Austen coupled with so much horse time, some hiking, much laughter, and lots of husky-hair made my heart so, so happy. The dogs and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and can't wait for next time!

Twilight Eventing: Stadium and XC

With dressage behind us, my nerves in a remarkably settled place, and a smile on my face, Griffin and I entered the warm-up area for stadium jumping. I just walked him at first, settling us both into the new environment and reminding myself of the night's goals once again. Primary goal 1: Give Griffin show miles; primary goal 2: give Griffin the feeling of success in a new job; secondary goal: finish on a number not a letter.

Emma once again shared some strategy with me and I set off trotting and cantering the crossrail, then trotting and cantering the small vertical, then cantering each the big vertical and the oxer.

With each jump, Griffin seemed to wake up and come alive. Jumping is what he loves most and he seemed to be all too pleased with the realization that he now would now get to jump instead of flatting.

Emma called out multiple times, "He looks great!" "Good job!" "You all look awesome." To each, I grinned.

Happy pony. Also, need to put my stirrups up at least a hole! They've been long as I've nursed yet another ankle injury...

This horse truly loves jumping. And so, without much else to prove, we headed down to check in with the steward and await our turn.

Admittedly, in preparation for this event, I was more concerned about the jumping phases than dressage. Griffin is pretty proven with jumping at home, but new-to-him jumps can sometimes be a cause for pause. I really wasn't sure how he'd handle all of those stadium jumps since they were so much more substantial (fill, etc.) than anything we had at home. I merely hoped that with some verbal encouragement, leg, and the whip, we'd make it through.

When we were allowed to enter the ring, I trotted him in and around a few of what I thought may be "scarier" jumps to let him see them. In mere seconds, the bell was rung to signal us to begin. I knew I had a few more seconds to spare if I needed to let him see things in the ring, but he'd been pretty calm, so I turned him toward the first jump and we were off!

No 7b for our round (as noted in upper left corner)

Grif handily tackled the first few jumps with little issue. He gave them a healthy look-see, but mostly, he was obedient and forward. He knew his job and he went at it.

Around the 4th jump, I realized I needed to really sit up and ride more to help him out. I mean, I was riding before, but I was spending more time encouraging and praising - which wasn't a bad thing! - I just needed to, you know, be more present in the riding sense, too. (Admittedly, the whole experience was overwhelming in the most exciting of ways and my squirrel brain wasn't keeping up.)

And so I got with the program and gave him more leg to push him more forward over the jumps.

Hunt that jump, Grif!

I wondered how he'd take this fan jump...total nonevent! He was in the ZONE at this point.

He didn't like these colors. NO TOUCHY!

It was basically The Most Fun. And honestly, it was over a little too soon!

(Video thanks to Emma's friend Rachael who joined the entourage after her Novice round.)

The whole experience only widened the perma-grin on my face. This horse, you guys. <3

Amidst congratulatory words from Austen, Rachael, and Emma, we headed straight to the warm up for XC and I put Griffin over a few solid jumps.

He was totally game for these and even gave a small buck and squeal which garnered a giggle and, "He feels really good!" from Emma. Yes. Yes he does. Welcome to Griffin the Jumping Horse. He's a different animal, for sure.

Griffin in JUMP ALL THE THINGS mode

Twilight events host a fraction of the people that the same venue's starter trials do, which was a big draw for me. The second draw was knowing that the XC course would be setup so that each division's jump height was in a line at each obstacle. A rider could choose to school any height. As such, during our course walk I had picked a few higher option jumps. (Griffin is very confirmed over higher jumps at home, but the "question" of XC jumps were something I didn't want to push unless it was very friendly. See primary goal 2: Give the horse a feeling of success at his first show.)

Only two fences on XC gave me pause during our walk: a friendly log that had been hollowed out to allow for plants to be grown, and a painted jump with some very threadbare fake brush extending from the top. I had a feeling that the log with vegetation would end up being a nonevent by the time we got to it and had a feeling Griffin would give the janky brush jump a pretty hairy eyeball before considering going over. I didn't fret much in the moment though because I was committed to this being a schooling experience for time and miles. If we had trouble, we'd school it.

Two jumps I thought may give Grif pause. 

Knowing we were plenty warm and ready to go, I opted to head right on over to XC and get started.

Wearing my perma-grin with a healthy dose of Holy Shit I Can't Believe I'm Finally Doing This, we checked in with the steward who gave us the go ahead, and headed out on our first XC course.

The first two jumps were the most basic of basic. Griffin hesitated a titch, but was still forward and game.

As we cleared the second, we had a bit of downhill dip before a very mild uphill approach to the third. No stranger to working on a grass or in a field or on varied terrain, Griffin powered forward into a strong canter on the downhill and I let him carry it toward the third jump.

In this moment between jumps, cantering on this horse that I've trained from the ground up I couldn't help but tear up a little as I smiled at the realization we were out here doing the very thing I'd dreamed of doing since I was a child. I felt a lot of feels in those few seconds before reining myself in to focus on the task at hand.

The third jumps were all stained a near-black. The elementary jump was a simple log and the others were all coops of appropriate height for their division. As much as I wanted to opt for a bigger height here, I was worried Grif would find the dark color surprising, so decided we would stick with the low option so he didn't have to process more than necessary.

In anticipation of him needing a bit more processing, I slowed his canter a notch approaching the dark jumps. He did indeed take an extra moment to process the jump but decided quickly that it was okay and powered us over it amidst copious praise from me.

We accelerated our canter up the slight hill as we headed to the next jump and the subsequent "jump", a quick up-down hummock that Griffin slayed. #endurancecrosstrainingFTW

The next several jumps were easy breezy and the only notable thing between them was that Grif accelerated into a nice hand gallop that had me giggling all the while.

Jump 7 was a hanging log that had been hollowed out in the middle to allow for the installation of flowers. I wondered if this would bother Grif at all to only be proven that nope, he didn't give a flying damn about it. Over and onward we went to, eventually approaching our first water complex where he absolutely took pause to ask, "Um, I'm thirsty, can I drink this?" No, buddy, you can't drink right now, I'm sorry, but MOVE forward. C'mon!

From the water, we headed to jump 10, the one I thought may bring Grif the most pause of any jump on course because it wasn't a natural color (it was lavender) and it had the jankiest "brush" fingers extending from the top of it.

Sure enough, son gave it healthy stank eye and balked a bit as we jumped it. But we were over and off and that's all that mattered!

Between 10 and 11, Grif felt more downhill than he had the whole course. In review of the video, this was because he was taking a dump! Well, I'll take that! Any horse that can take a crap at speed is okay with me.

Jump 11 was a complex of very inviting logs, so I opted for the BN option here and Griffin jumped it the same as he'd jumped the majority of jumps on the course. He was rollin' at this point and it was no big thang.

#creepstar3000 #helicoptermom

From 11 to 12, I needed to take a wide approach to hit my line. I, uh, forgot this until the last minute and whipped out and around to make up for it. In the process of taking this wide and laughing at my near folly not doing so, I looked up to see Austen and Rachael and the orange side-by-side/Gator/ORV that had seemed to maybe be following me during the course - a fact I'd dismissed in my focus on Griffin. In these few seconds of reconnecting with the world outside the one of me riding my horse though, I recognized a particular fluorescent pink/orange in the side-by-side... Emma?!, my head questioned, but I quickly dismissed the thought and focused on the upcoming jump...

Jump 12 was similar to the janky lavender finger brush jump at 10, so I wasn't too concerned about a refusal from Grif. I clucked and added lots of leg and over we went!

We were through another water complex for 13 with less hesitation than we'd had at 9, picking up a powerful canter as we exited and headed for the final jump where I ended with the BN option once more.

From the landing of the final jump to the finish, I congratulated and praised Griffin, my smile bigger than it had been all day. That. Was. AWESOME.

What a freaking thrill! I am honestly not sure who had more fun, the horse or me. Remember how I noted that Griffin came alive during the stadium warm-up? That "aliveness" only grew in an exponential fashion as we proceeded from the stadium warmup through the stadium phase into the XC warmup and finally through the XC course. I had an inkling of an idea before we'd ever tried our hand at this sport that Griffin would be one of those horses that lives for XC, and I feel pretty confirmed in that hunch now that we've tackled our first event.

Ohmygoodnessgracious. Seriously. SO much fun.

Austen, Rachael, and Emma (IN THE SIDE BY SIDE) quickly met up with me at the finish, everyone smiling and congratulating Griffin and I. We all laughed at the fact that Emma had been stalking me the whole ride in the gator like a #creepstar3000 #helicoptermom

So let's review my goals for this outing: give Griffin some show miles, ✓ ; confirm his confidence in this sport, ✓  We tackled each - with ease! And then we went on to go double-clear and finish on our [sub-40] dressage score to boot! All of this resulted in us finishing SECOND of NINETEEN competitors in the elementary division.

Um, WOW. Completely and totally unexpected, but I'll take it. Griffin doesn't know or care where he finished; he only knows I'm PSYCHED with him right now for doing something he really enjoyed. Damn, do I love this horse.

We've got our next even lined up in the very near future, so look for another recap soon. I am, once again, only shooting to give Grif a positive experience, so cross your fingers he has as much fun as he did this time.