Griffin & I Clinic with Stephen Birchall

This past weekend Griffin and I headed to Maryland to attend a clinic and ride with Stephen Birchall.

When Stephen was last at Austen's barn in June, I also attended. I had liked the past reviews Emma and Austen wrote of his clinics/lessons and LOVED his teaching style in person when I watched both Emma and Austen ride with him. So, obviously, as soon as I was able, I hopped aboard the Birchall train for a lesson of my own on my own horse!

Arrival Day

I had originally planned to head to Maryland on Friday, but it was the last day work for one of my coworkers; we threw her a going away party - complete with dunk tank because we believe in total shenanigans - that evening. So, instead, I struck out for Maryland with a whopping hangover early(ish) on Saturday morning.

I'd bathed Griffin Friday and left him in the barn in preparation for Saturday's AM departure. He's been really odd behaviorally lately due to the herd dynamic change and a dislike of his job as a lesson horse (this has been/will be remedied this week). He pitched a royal fit about the hose during bathing and broke a lead rope and scratched his nose and also pitched a royal fit about getting on the trailer the following day. But after we had a bit of a knock-down drag-out disagreement over loading, he got on and we were off.

The 4 hour drive was relatively uneventful and Griffin hauled well - minus the whole whinnying EVERY time I slowed down. Sorry residential areas we alarmed/disturbed, he's needy. The worst of the drive was definitely the final two hours when I was into the more urban areas and the temps were HOT. I don't have AC. Kenai and I were a little miserable.

I pulled into Austen's fancy barn right around 1p, found one of the barn managers, and got Griffin settled in his stall for the weekend. Despite swearing up and down that I would take a picture of my janky 2-horse stock trailer hooked up to my 2001 Toyota 4Runner parked at this ritzy mostly-dressage barn, I forgot to take the photo. I did have a really good giggle about it though. Country Mouse goes to the City!

Nicole showed up as I was getting Griffin settled. She lives very nearby and was also interested in his clinic. The more the merrier! We headed to the arena to watch Stephen once Griffin was settled. Austen's lesson with Stephen was at 2p and we knew we could wait for her there (she was getting Pig ready at another barn on the property while we'd been settling Grif).

Uncertain of his living arrangement for the weekend

Austen and Pig entered the arena shortly after we'd settled. Nicole took the role of filmographer and I had my DSLR so we set to work documenting her lesson. I know she'll ultimately tell the story of it, but the nitty gritty was that she got a bit of a personal training session in the saddle and then Stephen hopped aboard to work through some things with Pig. Each intensely focused part of the lesson looked incredibly hard! Both Austen and Pig were sweating bullets by the end (ITWASSOHOTANDHUMIDOHMYGOD), both did AMAZINGLY though.

After Austen's lesson and after she'd tended to Pig, I changed (Nicole didn't recognize me in my tall boots and Kastel sunshirt because I "looked the part" so well. This was highly amusing to us both at the time.) and tacked Griffin for a ride. Goals? Go down to the jump ring (because JUMPS) and then introduce Griffin to the indoor where we'd have our lesson the following morning. Yes, I hiked up my stirrups on my dressage saddle for jumping. #noshame

Nicole and Austen followed Griffin and I over to the jump ring and we proceeded to have a fantastic little session.

Zoomies. Correct lead optional.

The heat was absolutely OPPRESSIVE. Griffin and I were both affected by it. Regardless, we had a great little ride.

This was Griffin's first really big trip off property and first trip out of state. He's never been in a trailer more than an hour! I threw so much at him this weekend and he handled it all with relatively effortless aplomb. He's the very best.

Griffin and I had the very best time (minus the heat) jumping on this day. Nicole played jump crew and changed up the jumps and sent me around a small course while Austen photographed. I felt so spoiled! I cannot express how grateful (and excited) I was to not only have a photographer (I usually set my phone on a tripod at home) and a jump crew (I usually get on and off and on and off and on and off at home to adjust/fix jumps). It was such a luxury to have friends present and to have a legit jump ring instead of a field!

Griffin giving me some try while still saying "WTF"

Griffin wasn't totally certain of the new-to-him jumps/colors at first, but he did jump everything he was pointed at the first time, except for one jump which was totally different in appearance from anything he'd seen before - so I'll credit his hesitancy on that. The only other major problem we encountered outside was that he was not picking up the correct canter lead consistently. I'm embarrassed to admit I have issue telling this quickly from the saddle - it's definitely something directly attributed to NOT having lessons most of my life. Experienced eyes on the ground are invaluable.

Take aways from the session? 1) I need to get more red colored things to jump at home and I need to get other ridiculous colors/obstacles to jump (a fact I've been aware of for a little while now). 2) I can  jump in a dressage saddle. 3) My position is pretty strong over lower heights considering I've still had no formal instruction, but I definitely can stand to tweak and perfect it more. 4) My little grey gelding is a Very Good Horse and he really loves jumping. 5) No amount of light-colored clothing makes this kind of weather easier to endure. The progression of my red face is amusing to see in the photos though lawlz. #redheadproblemz

He really likes this job

With a semi-successful venture around Nicole's course, I lowered my we all headed up to the indoor to see how Griffin handled that.

Verdict? Minus the initial entrance into the indoor, he could have cared less. The windows didn't cause him stress, the other horse riding in their didn't cause him distress, and the mirrors didn't cause him distress - but he was very fascinated looking at himself.

Obligate mirror selfie in the fancy indoor

Austen had me ride him a bit more just to be certain, and I tried to get him to be as responsive and wonderful as he is at home with failed results. Clearly he WAS affected by the new area, even if he wasn't demonstrating that fact very dramatically with his behaviors. He objected to the bit (a French link snaffle vs. the usual Myler combination) a LOT and did NOT want to halt/transition with any grace, additionally, he was still picking up the wrong lead basically every time I asked for it. I became increasingly irate over him casually flipping me the bird (despite trying to correct issues based on recommendations and support from Austen and Nicole). Ultimately, my irate attitude resulted in Austen jumping on Griffin in boat shoes and my sweaty helmet that was way large for her. Because why not?

Griffin did better for her, but didn't LIKE that he had to be better. Still, it was a better note to end on than what I'd been getting from him!

Opinions, Griffin has them.

I let him be done once Austen finished riding. It was hot and he'd given a great effort in a very new place. Good boy, Griffin.

Once the pony was bathed and settled back into his lush stall and I was showered and not the stinkiest human ever, Nicole and Austen and I checked on Pig once more and then headed home for the evening.

Lesson Day

Nicole and Austen and I woke early on Sunday. My lesson was at 9a, Austen's was at 10a, and Emma's was at 11a. We'd originally planned to watch one of Austen's friends have a lesson with Jeremy Steinberg at another nearby barn at 7a, but some thrown shoes overnight eliminated that plan! Instead, we caffeinated, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed over to Austen's barn so I could get Griffin ready for our lesson!

I may have never had a dressage lesson (hell, I haven't had a *real* lesson since I was a child and those were a lot of "heels down, toes in, eyes up" and not much else!!) and I may not be a dressage rider (yet), but damnit we (Griffin especially) were going to do our damndest to look the part! Kid was bedecked in black and white head to toe and looked sharp. White polos (thanks, Austen!), white saddle pad with black piping (purchased used from a blogger years back), black Wintec bridle (purchased used from JenJ years back), black/white browband from his Distance Depot halter/bridle, black Ansur dressage saddle, and Toklat woolback girth. I wore a polo and black tall boots.

He's pretty cute.

I warmed Griffin up outside, working him through every gait and making certain he was moving okay and that the hamsters were on their appropriate wheels for the day. Satisfied he was his good self, I dismounted to walk him into the indoor.

Stephen finished up with his first lesson for the day and then asked me to tell him about Griffin. I told him he was given to me as a project as a long yearling and all of his training was what I'd done myself from the ground up. He loves to jump, has completed a 30-mile ride, and has an absolutely insatiable need to please. I've worked on some dressage concepts with him and I do think he'd be very good at it.

As I told Stephen these things, he looked Griffin up and down and all around. He sympathized with Griffin's rough beginning, sympathizing in the right places and then nodding in accord with all of the good points. He asked about my saddle and I was really surprised to hear how much he approved of the treeless Ansur. "They're so good for their backs," he noted. Agreed. And I can feel the horse more through them - so with Q who likes to be Queen Spazz and Spook I can feel the muscles in her back drop before she actually wigs out. Fraction of a second of warning beats no warning at all?

I told Stephen I really hadn't had a lesson...ever...so far as a formalized lesson goes. I know some, but not a lot in the grand scheme of most people he probably deals with, and I was a blank canvas for him to paint for the day. Whatever he deigned, we'd do.

Attentive learners, we tried to be!

If you're so inclined, videos of my entire lesson can be watched on a playlist on YouTube right here. Nicole is the greatest ever and filmed the whole thing for me. I'll insert screenshots from the lesson below along with photos Austen and Emma nabbed for me. Bloggers are the best because they fully understand the need for All The Media.

Stephen gave me a quick overview of how he usually has his lessons go and it began with me warming Griffin up as I'd usually do so he could see his way of going. As I did this, Stephen praised me for just letting Griffin do his thing - I didn't ask a ton from him, just let him warm up into his way of going without forcing him to accept a lot of contact or go into an immediate frame. He also said that he really liked the base I'd put on Griffin's 3 gaits. He went over the dressage pyramid of training, noting that rhythm is the base of that pyramid and that Griffin's got a good steady rhythm to each gait. Moving steadily along in each gait was one of the first things I really focused on with Grif once he was under saddle - so I'm thrilled it's evident to a professional.

Stiff, hollow, on the fore

Things Stephen noted to me in the beginning are as follows:

• Need to change direction a lot in warm up and keep a steady rhythm throughout
• Hold the reins and keep even contact with a good seat; be passive and stay out of the horse's way, then apply elbow grease and get in there and get those muscles working as you get into their mouth and teach them how to accept the contact
• Ride tall, shoulders back, work on abs
• Always keep him forward and push him on (Griffin's biggest problem was sluggishness on this day)

As Stephen assisted us through our warm up, he lectured about the basics of dressage. I loved hearing this from him. I've certainly read a LOT about dressage over the years, but having those things narrated to me live, by a professional, in a lesson? It was the finishing touch on the house of knowledge I've been building for myself. 

Stephen teaching as we warmed up

Stephen noted how dressage is all about making the gaits better. The idea is always to make the horse more elastic, submissive, and collected to improve the gaits. Take a 5 and turn it into an 8. You want the horse to be more balanced through use of your aids. Add more leg to have him track up more, but pull him back in so he's more collected at the same time. The terms MPH and RPM are used in dressage to mean how fast the horse is moving and how quickly the hind leg is moving. A correctly trained dressage horse is like waterskiing behind a boat. As the boat speeds up or slows down, your connection with the ski rope will change. You want to steady that contact all the time and learn to work with it. A well-trained horse understands steady contact and how to work exceptionally with it. 

I was pleased, though I'll admit a little surprised, to hear Stephen praise both my riding foundation and the work I've put into this grey horse. He liked the way I was sitting his trot and how I was staying out of his way. A theme of improvement for myself throughout the lesson would be to open up my shoulders more and steady my upper body so that I can provide better guidance for Griffin as I teach him (and myself) what I want. Stephen noted that Grif has a great foundation and stays relatively straight, but he needs to work on his topline so that he becomes more dressage and less hunter. He said Griffin was conformationally relatively well put together - not too high or too long in any one area, he is pretty level. To help Griffin be "more dressage and less hunter", I need to close up the contact, make my reins shorter, and do all I can to become a human side rein. Achieving this will help develop new muscles all of his body; the C3-4 are of his neck especially needs to build some new musculature to help him work better in the contact.

Thinking about working through behind more

So, to begin this work to improve the horse, I need to have more bend on my circle, or as they say in Germany, "more inside eye". To do this, I need to squeeze and release with my inside rein to ask Griffin for more bend while we're on the circle. Stephen walked alongside with us at this point, accentuating the point by taking the rein into his hands to show Grif and I how it was supposed to go. Stephen noted that the clip on reins I had weren't the most ideal for teaching Griffin contact as they provide a little gap where they clip onto the bit. This makes TOTAL sense and I should have known better and brought the proper gear! (I have since put better reins onto the bridle for our work at home!) 

Square dancing? Dressage? Verdict is out.

Griffin isn't so sure about this man

"Like this. Right here."

We continued this exercise into our trot. Stephen noted that a horse cannot be round until he is in front of the leg. Griffin needs to learn to take contact and move forward; he needs to be more submissive and soften when he feels contact. This is something that takes time! 

My seat and legs will create the frame in which Griffin moves while my arms and reins will dictate how high or low, long or short, I want Griffin's neck to be. My leg and seat will cycle the energy; eventually Griffin and I will find a "sweet spot". I need to be cautious throughout this to keep my hands steady because my hands going up and down due to the horse's motion breaks the contact which makes learning much more difficult!

Uncertainty on all fronts.

In addition to the squeeze/release of the rein to encourage more bend, I need to keep my shoulder open and add more inside leg. Every time I seemed to apply more inside leg, my inside shoulder would collapse. Griffin has a harder time going to the right than the left, and my shoulder would collapse more to the right than the left. We seemed to feed off of each other's weaknesses. 

Stephen then asked if anyone else had ridden Griffin before. "Yes. I mean, Austen was on him just yesterday." Hell, basically everyone has been on this horse. I trust him a ton - he even gives lessons to a 5 year old! Stephen asked if I would mind if he got on? He noted the differences in learning styles and how sometimes SEEING someone else do something could help drive points home better. I agreed enthusiastically. I am 110% a visual learner. Give me a visual and then guide me through doing that on my own. Seeing and doing are what I learn best from.

And so we lowered my stirrups and Stephen climbed aboard.

Griffin is NOT certain about this arrangement

From the saddle, Stephen was better able to show me where he'd like to see Griffin's neck right now. Griffin would go behind the vertical a lot, but it's because he is weak and he can evade working harder by going behind the vertical. As his strength builds, he'll stay on the vertical more. 

Griffin's uncharacteristic sluggishness was at an entirely new level with Stephen aboard. I'd been riding him with a dressage whip for basically the first time ever, but Stephen declined the use of it noting that Griffin needs to learn what the leg means. He put a LOT of leg on and really kicked Grif a lot. Grif basically flipped him the bird for a good while, kicking his hing legs up at Stephen as if he was kicking at a fly on his belly as Stephen continued increasing pressure and adding vocalizations to encourage Griffin forward. Eventually, my little grey gelding got his shit together and WENT.

Kicking at the evil pressure being applied to his sides

Stephen praised Griffin's forward motion and narrated how a horse needs to respect the leg because leg and seat are what get the horse to truly connect with the bridle. By closing my leg, Griffin's frame should change and he should swing more through his back. This was "the hole" I needed to work on. When I close my leg, Griffin needs to move forward. It will take time, but he will get there. I just need to be patient. 

I noted to Stephen how out of character it was for Griffin to be this dull to the leg - just the other day he was making attempts to canter if you so much as brushed his side with your heel! But, at the same time, I was really happy Griffin was having such an issue today because I was learning how to work through it! And learning that kind of thing is invaluable. 

Stephen continued to work with Griffin in both directions, focusing on having him accept the contact and move FORWARD off the leg. If Griffin let go, he needed to be pushed forward to keep him going. When Grif goes forward and accepts leg, his back swings more and his trot is more comfortable. Stephen noted that he's kicking Griffin so much not because the horse is bad, but because he needs to move forward into the contact and stay there - if he slows, he gets kicked, if he stays where he should be, Stephen rides quietly. Give and take, pressure release. Having Griffin understand everything perfectly can't be done in 20 minutes! (Stephen rode him for about that length of time.)

Working harder, but trying to get out of the contact by dipping BTV

C'mon little grey guy!

Werk it!

Starting to have some break throughs

Stephen dismounted and turned Griffin back over to me. I had a different horse under me already! 

There was a lot of great lecture and the difference in Griffin was so visible, I'll bullet the high points below, but just watch the video of this piece of the lesson:

The high points from Stephen's lecture during the segment above:

• Forward and downward transitions should be INTO the contact. The natural instinct/tendency is to give, but the correct action is to take the contact and use the leg to teach the horse to work INTO the contact and recycle the energy.
• Continue to visualize being a water skier behind a boat and maintaining your speed by maintaining your contact. Cluck, kick, use what you've got to do this! Kick him forward but keep those hands STILL. Ride the horse back to front while keeping your hands STABLE. 
• I've got a much different trot from this horse now! He's listening better to my seat because it means something to him now. Still need to ask for more bend though.
• Once he knows that my leg means something, everything else will come easier because he will work off the leg.

While I definitely had a different horse finally, my body wasn't being as great as it could have been to support that new horse. The fatigue of riding the sitting trot so long and WORKING was getting to me. Oi! 

Before we finished though, Stephen had me take the whip back and use it to reinforce my leg to get a bigger reaction from Griffin at both the trot and the canter. I achieved a much more active trot which made Stephen exclaim, "That's RIGHT! You've got it! You just need a little polish." 

Trying to replicate what Stephen had

There we go!

Even had some happy ears during that active trot

Serious horse is serious...and TIRED.

Stephen noted he'd love to have 5 days in a row to mold Griffin and I because he knew this was a lot to take in in one lesson! I agree. I wish I had 5 days, too! Stephen pointed out how my position suffered a bit during the lesson as I began to lean too far back, but Rome wasn't built in a day and I can't fix everything in one go. The big take away for Griffin was that he was now in front of my leg and much more reactive to the leg than he'd been less than an hour ago. By being in front of the leg, he was a lot rounder - and that's what we wanted to accomplish!

Beginning vs. end of lesson. My upper body needs to be more upright at the end, but Rome wasn't built in a day!

As I finished my lesson and dismounted, Stephen noted to me that Griffin was rubbing the side of his mouth on his leg because those muscles were sore from learning to work in the contact. He likened it to a musician (trumpet, sax, etc.) learning to improve their embouchure the more they played. I'd never thought about this before but it makes total and complete sense to me! I played alto sax for many years in both marching band and jazz band and often had the same experience so far as soreness of the muscles around my mouth went - especially after an intense practice!

Take Aways

I loved my lesson. All of it. It was exactly what I needed and what the horse needed.

I've never been super interested in horse shows because I get really nervous riding in front of people. I knew I'd have some of that feeling going into this lesson-clinic setting, but I was really surprised and please how calm I became once we started working. I was grateful that no one else ventured to ride in the indoor during my lesson (I don't know that Griffin could have handled that) and I was surprised how completely unbothered I was by the 6-8 spectators during my lesson. Overcoming this mental hurdle was subtle, but huge for me.

I love Stephen's teaching style. It works so well for me because in addition to delivering so much knowledge and lending more skills to my library, he makes me feel COMFORTABLE learning and inevitably making the mistakes that come with learning.

Soaking in the learning

Griffin definitely worked harder than he ever has mentally and physically and I am really proud of how well he did. He was in a totally new environment doing something very complex and relatively new to him and he excelled. Seriously, what a good horse! Additionally, I was impressed with how well I did considering I haven't had a legit lesson...ever?

I honestly cannot explain how good it felt and continues to feel to have heard the praises I did from Stephen - a professional - about my riding, my position, and most of all my horse. This little horse I have trained up from nothing. To have Griffin complimented like that was HUGE. It isn't the first time he's been complimented, and I doubt it will be the last, but hearing how wonderful he is will never get old - especially if it is from a professional who doesn't know me or my horse from Adam and has such a huge knowledge base from his many experiences. I paid Stephen to teach me things, I didn't pay him to deliver compliments.

I will work on the concepts I learned in my lesson with Griffin multiple times a week (I already have been). We will get better with time and patience. I want nothing more than to go back to another lesson with Stephen next year with this horse and demonstrate how much better we have become. I'm certain we will have a whole new slew of problems to work then! And that's kind of exciting.

Be more accepting of contact, respect my leg and get in front of it, understand what my seat is asking, more inside bend, stable hands, steady contact, no collapsing the inside shoulder - these are what I'm focusing on right now. Each time I ride Griffin, he gets a tiny bit better! It is such a fun puzzle, dressage. I can't wait to see how far I can go with it.

Thanks to the Maryland Blogger Contingent for your bad influence and support pushing me into this new realm of riding. I love you and hate you for it ;-)

RBTR 2016: Griffin's first LD and many new faces

The short

Griffin completed his first LD. Q carried fellow blogger Austen through her first endurance event. Both of my horses tied for turtle! One of my lesson students completed her first LD also, and much fun was had by our group of 8 riders all day long. 

Tuesday

No stranger to how busy and quickly ride camp fills up for this ride, I headed out Tuesday night to stake out my camp and spots for Nicole and Carlos and Dan. It was a wise decision, as I was able to snag my usual spot with plenty of space for our group before ANYONE was present.

Bonus? Someone mowed it for us before we arrived for good on Thursday. =)

Space-saving, shade-saving

Thursday

I worked a half day before heading home to load my car and head out to the barn to finish packing and get the horses loaded.

Lauren, my 12 year old lesson student, was going to meet me at the barn and help out. She hasn't even been riding a year yet, but she's such a natural, does her homework, and was beyond eager to try her hand with endurance, so when my mentor Mary offered up her 24 year old ½-Arabian decade team horse I arranged for Lauren to come to RBTR and ride him.

Lauren was bringing Q and Griffin in when I arrived at the barn. Once they were in, we loaded the trailer the rest of the way, washed them off a bit (scrubbed poop stains from Griffin. Because grey horses.) and then loaded them up uneventfully and headed to Ellamore!

Dan and his daughter Orion were already at camp when we arrived. Orion joined us last year, but didn't compete. This year, Dan had promised her that if she got her horse, Nell, into shape through the summer, she could come try her hand at it. She did a fabulous job doing just that - Nell looked amazing! And so, our group of riders for RBTR would be eight: Lauren on Shiloh, Austen on Q, me on Griffin, Nicole's friend Jess on Lily, Carlos on Gracie, Dan on Butch, Orion on Nell, and Charlie on Dakota. 4 first-time riders, two relatively inexperienced endurance riders, Charlie, who has past experience but it's been several years (though her brother is more active, he just completed Tevis in 14th place), and me. Shiloh had more experience than the entire group put together (>5400 competitive miles) and of the 8 horses, only 1 was full Arab, 2 were half-Arab, and the rest were non-Arabs (TB, RMH, Morgan/QH, Morgan/Stdbd., and then Griffin, who is god-knows-what).

Dan walked over to greet us as I backed in the trailer, informing me he was all setup and ready to throw shoes on Griffin. You see, we'd have done this earlier, in fact, we'd planned to, but Griffin was lame with an abscess (or two?) for about 11 days and didn't come up sound again until July 31. Talk about cutting it close to the ride!

And so, Griffin unloaded in a new-to-him place, walked over to Dan's trailer, and received his first set of shoes in his life as if he'd been doing it for years. The only mishaps were when he drooled (white clover) in Dan's ear and then pooped without ANY warning while Dan worked on his right hind.

Griffin thinking about sleeping

Totally at ease with this new thing

Backs? No problem. Q, take notes, please.

Orion, Dan, Lauren and I chatted on and off through the whole shoeing process. I, for one, was just so grateful to finally be in a place with no cell service for a few days. I'd been increasingly overwhelmed by the world in the days preceding the ride, so it was really nice to be totally away from any technological stimuli.

Lauren's mom picked her up shortly after the shoeing, and Kenai and I headed down to the swimming hole for a time to cool off - while temperatures weren't too bad, the humidity was absurd!

Once I was cooled off, I visited with club members for a bit before heading out to put up a few more signs to help those arriving find ride camp.

I noticed upon my return to camp that I had new neighbors parked to one side of me, so I spent some time visiting with them (turns out it was Daisy Bicking) before Austen showed up.

Austen and the huskies arrived just in time for dinner, and she had prosecco in tow. And thus the evening shenanigans began! We enjoyed dinner with Dan, Orion, my mom, and club members, then headed back to our camp to indulge in grapefruit margaritas (also brought by Austen) while we chatted with Dan and Orion.

Eventually, Dan headed to bed and we ladies stayed up chatting even longer.

At some point, Austen and I decided it would be a brilliant idea to ride the horses. Because what better time to ride than in the middle of the night, drunk? Nevermind the fact that Austen hadn't ridden Q before. It'd be fine! Orion skipped off to get her helmet and horse so she could provide some supervision while Austen and I stuffed our noggins in our helmets and mounted up. Safety first!

We tooled around the field in camp for awhile, giggling all the while. Orion eventually abandoned us, so we gave up the charade and headed back to camp to talk more before I decided I simply could not sit upright and talk any more, so we decided to go to my big tent and talk more. And thus, 2 girls and 3 huskies crammed into a 5 person tent for the night.

Friday

I nursed a hangover much of the morning, guzzling electrolytes and BCAAs to try to make up for my poor decision the night before.

Dan wandered over to our camp area as I made Austen and I breakfast and we chatted about random things for awhile until Austen and I ran over to the registration booth so I could pay and get the paperwork for my two taken care of. Afterwards, Austen and I prepped to head out on a 5-mile pre-ride.

The pre-ride went uneventfully minus one incident... You see, we let Lyra come along with us. She'd been darting hither and thither all along, and then we stopped dead in one of the many mud puddles for a moment. Griffin was leading, Q was standing behind and slightly to his right (her head at his flank) and Lyra was to Griffin's left taking a dump. Austen and I were laughing at Lyra because we knew being so close to the horses was making her nervous and she couldn't run away in the moment...because poop. Well, I gave Grif a little leg to urge him on by, and the next thing I know, Austen is lying on her back half-submerged in the mud puddle yelling and kicking her free leg at Q yelling, "GET OFF MY LEG GET OFF MY LEG!"

Best guess, Q saw Lyra suddenly where she hadn't realized she was, teleported to the right, and forgot to mention the plan to Austen. Classic Q spook. Fortunately, the mud was deep and soft and Austen wasn't hurt, her ankle was even spared damage other than some minor swelling! She was however, COVERED in mud. Logically, we walked back to the closest river access point where she promptly dropped down the bank to bathe.

But not before this photo:

Heading down to the river to bathe

I apologized profusely, repeatedly, but she assured me she was okay! The rest of the pre-ride went without issue and we spent most of it discussing Q's way of going from Austen's dressage-minded perspective. I gained a LOT of insight into this little horse over the weekend and foresee a lot of homework in my future to help improve her and strengthen her!

Following our ride, we went to the river and swam awhile.

After our swim, Nicole and Carlos arrived and our camp area was a flurry of activity for a bit.

I was distracted much of the afternoon waiting on Lauren's horse to arrive along with a horse that was being dropped off for a friend to pick up later that evening. They finally showed up around 4:30p in a moment when I happened to be wandering around looking (for the 3rd time) and so I darted over to fetch both horses. The give away would stay tied to my trailer for an hour until her new owners arrived, and with Carlos' help, I increased the size of my corral to make a space for Shiloh. (I didn't originally *know* Shiloh would be penned up with us, but it definitely worked out a lot better that he was!)

Sometime around the time Shiloh arrived, but before dinner, Nicole's friend Jess whom I've heard SO much about arrived. Everyone met and mingled for a bit before we headed over to dinner and the ride meeting.

Contrary to past years, the club did not slow cook a whole hog all day this year for Friday night's dinner; instead, they opted to buy pork butt from the same gentleman we typically get the pigs from and have it pre-cooked and brought to camp to serve as sandwiches instead of having to pull the hog and deal with all of that nonsense. It was still delicious, as slow-cooked locally raised meat tends to be.

I admit to not paying much mind at all to the ride meeting. I knew that the blue loop had changed a bit, but I wasn't super concerned about it. Beyond that, I knew criteria would be at 64 with 60 at the finish and knew I knew the yellow loop like the back of my hand. And so, I spent much of the ride chatting with our group and catching up. <3

Following dinner, everyone took the horses on a leg-stretching grass-eating walk for a time before coming back to our camp to talk for a short time. Dom and Mike joined us for a time even! It was really nice to chat with everyone, but ultimately sleep was singing its sweet song and we all left to follow it.

Saturday

I slept well, albeit lightly that night. The camp wake up and Lauren's arrival, both around 5:30a, roused me up for good though.

Once dressed, I putzed around for a bit doing random things as I waited on Austen to rouse herself. Nicole and Co. were already milling about, as were Dan and Co.

Austen and I, with Lauren tagging along, walked over to get some coffee from the registration tent. With a jolt of caffeine in our systems, we sparked to life a little more than we had been, but we still weren't very alert.

As Lauren and Austen had never been to an endurance event prior, I wanted them to see the start of the 50 so they knew what the start of a ride was like (though my plan for everyone was to leave camp after all of the starters for the 30!). Fortunately for all, it was a very, very mellow start. Other than a few horses side-stepping, no one acted out and all walked or trotted calmly out of camp.

After the 50s left, we went back to get our horses ready, though we took our sweet time about it. My head wasn't super focused at all through the process. Lauren kept offering to help and grab this and that, and as much as I appreciated the offers, I just couldn't put to words what I was doing/going to do. After planning and executing the OD 100, a 30 on my "home" course seemed like child's play and I was totally lackadaisical about the entire thing.

Somehow, all three horses, Q, Shiloh, and Griffin, were tacked up and all riders (all 8 of us!) were mounted and ready with time to spare before the start. Despite Dan's urgings, "Let's GO!", I held everyone back away from the start until I was certain most of the 30s had left. Nicole played right into my "make everyone wait" goal, whether purposely or not, I'm uncertain, by taking photos of the group and trying to get our attention.

The posse!
Photo by Nicole

Uncertain beasties
Photo by Nicole

Lauren and I...and probably my new favorite photo of Griffin. SMILE!
Photo by Nicole

Finally, I was satisfied that any potential starting chaos was past, and we headed out on trail at a sedate walk.

We trotted for a little bit, but Griffin threw a bit of a broncing fit (no extreme aerobatics but he was popping up in the front and the back end a lot and squealing). Then I noticed that Lauren's stirrups were incredibly uneven (totally my bad) so we had to stop and fix those at the beginning of the ride. Beyond Griffin's relatively mild antics and Lauren's stirrups though, we didn't have any issues with the start!

Becky Pearman was in the river at the start for photos, and I darted ahead to try to get another epic river photo on Griffin. Without a crop though, Griffin wasn't totally convinced he should canter through the water.

For the next many miles, we'd trade leaders as we went in my efforts to keep us going down the trail at a fair pace with proper etiquette toward other riders. It's kind of nerve-wracking managing so many new riders! Dan and Charlie rode sweep for me the whole time to keep an eye on things. I had Griffin lead as much as I could, let the old pro Shiloh lead with Lauren a fair bit on loop 1, too, and tried letting Carlos lead a fair bit, too, but Carlos was almost always riding too fast for the rest of the group which almost got us in trouble several times. Once Austen and Q settled into their partnership, they led us a fair bit, too, which Q did beautifully at.

The biggest uphill of the first loop was all on a gravel road. The beginning is mild, and so I told everyone we could trot those sections, but we'd be walking in a bit. I don't know what happened exactly, but when we finally reached the steady uphill, almost the entire group took off cantering/galloping. Da fuq?! I think Carlos was in the lead of that charge? All I know is that Dan and I were in the back chatting with other riders and we looked up to see all of them galloping away. Well, Griffin had HAD it at this point and was not possibly going to catch up to them (he was debating why he ever became my horse and why would I possibly bring him to such a ride when he wasn't in as peak condition as he could be), so I told Dan, "Go get them and stop them. Make them walk. Please!" and he and Butch took off to catch and slow our group who was now disappearing around the turn in the road!

Shiloh and Lauren leading

Smiles walking up the hill

Few more smiling faces

Probably my favorite selfie of the ride.

Dan, don't look so scared!

Q had been standing squarer a moment before! And look, Nicole! Electrolyting and hackamore swapping!

"You mean, there's MORE?"

I have no issue with going faster like that, it's how I normally ride. But how I normally ride is also on a horse far fitter than nearly any horse in that group, who is proven at multiple mileages, and whom will pulse down quickly and easily at a hold. The group we had on this day was NOT conditioned like that and NOT capable of pulsing in like that at a hold! We needed to ride smart and ride slow if we had any hopes of getting everyone through.

Dan slowed everyone down one-by-one as he passed them, and Griffin and I did a slow trot to catch up with a bit of time. All was well and good, though when we reached the top of the incline where the spotter was, more than a few of the horses were breathing harder than I wanted to see. Fortunately, at my recommendation to hand walk the last tiny incline before reaching the ridgeline where we'd ride for a couple miles, almost everyone dismounted and hand walked the horses to give them a break for a little bit.

Three more spotters, two moonshine stops, and one grazing stop (I was pretty serious about making sure all the horses were doing the best they possibly could be) later, we were coming into camp for the first check and hold. We'd walked the horses for the last 3/4 mile and had dismounted to handwalk them in for the final ¼-mile of that. Thanks to this preparation and careful management, all were very close to being at pulse criteria once we'd stripped tack. With just a little sponging, all were down at or below criteria and went through the vetting.

Libations.

I can't speak for Dan's horses or Nicole's horses other than to say "they passed the check" but I do know that both Q and Shiloh (½-Arabs) had CRIs in the 40s (48/48 for Q and 48/40 for Shiloh) with all As and the vets asked if either of them was doing anything out there (haha). Griffin and I vetted through with the pickiest vet of the group and he was screaming his head off the whole time. Basically, each time we returned to camp Griffin went into a screaming fury calling for anyone and everyone who might listen. Nevermind that all of his friends were WITH him, he had to talk to the whole camp. -_- So, needless to say, my vetting was a bit nerve wracking. His pulse was 56 when I checked it before the P&R station, 60 at the P&R, 64 when the vet checked it, and his CRI ended up being 64/68. Screaming, screaming, screaming. The vet also called him "off behind" gave him Bs for attitude, impulsion and gait, A- on 3 other criteria, and Bs on all gut sounds. I inquired what I could do to improve all of these scores and was told, "Keep him eating and drinking." Well, he's doing that beautifully, so okay.

The rest of the hold went uneventfully. All horses ate well and drank well and both of mine peed. The latest out time for our group was 11:12a and I think it was more like 11:15a when we all rolled out at a sedate walk once again, only picking up a trot/canter when we passed the photographer at the top of the hill as we left camp.

<3
(Used with purchase.)

The next 3ish miles went pretty uneventfully as we picked our way up the mountain to ride on the ridgeline once more. Carlos was in the lead for this and ended up passing some other riders and leaving our group in the dust for 5-10 minutes before he stopped for us to catch up. Once we caught up, he took off too fast once again which led to Dan screaming from behind, "DUDE SLOW DOWN! TAKE IT EASY!" because he was worried about the group keeping up and Lily in particular as I believe she'd received a lot of Bs during the vetting.

I pushed Griffin to the front after that and wound through the tricky mud puddle section with ease before Griffin told me in no uncertain terms that he. was. done. leading. And so I let Carlos take the lead before, and he was much more cautious about his speed.

We wound along on top of the mountain with minimal issues, Carlos and Austen trading off with the lead for awhile.

I was growing increasingly concerned about Griffin as we went along. Even though he had shoes on, he was mincing his steps really dramatically any time we were on gravel or significant rocks. Dan assured me he saw no reason for Griffin to be so sore when he shod him two days prior. So I tried to ease my mind a bit, but it still bugged me.

When we reached the beginning of the stretch of trail that was new, I dismounted and hand walked Griffin for a time. The trail was pretty laden with gravel bits and I figured he'd rather deal with that without me on board. Eventually, most of the group dismounted to handwalk this section that ended climbing a big incline to a nice grassy section where we let all of the horses graze for a time while we indulged in the first cell service of several days.

To this point, the day had been overcast and very humid with intermittent drizzling rain. The temperature wasn't too bad in the low 80s, but the humidity was oppressive. It made it very difficult for the horses to cool out properly and made me very thankful that the sun wasn't out to make matters even worse! So, taking hills easy and stopping to graze was a really important part of getting the group through.

Selfie attempt

Better photo

I checked pulses on all (Dakota was the lowest at 50 with Q and Shiloh also in the 50s and all others in upper 60s) after we grazed for a time and declared that we should walk all of the ups and significant downs, and trot the flat bits for the rest of the ride. We shouldn't have more than 7 miles left, but as I hadn't pre-ridden the new section (I was supposed to map it but Griffin's abscess ruined those plans) I didn't know what was ahead.

All remounted and set out. I rode Griffin for a time, but when we reached what seemed to be another long downhill (rocky) I dismounted to lead him down it.

I was growing increasingly concerned about time and miles at this point. I was more or less "in charge" of everyone all day - keeping the pace, making certain all of the horses were handling things okay, and getting us in and out of checks smoothly. It was a lot! I was ready for it, but it was still a little nerve wracking - especially toward the end when I realized we were going to be cutting things close time-wise. I HATE racing the clock. Hate. It.

In my head, I separated out the horses who were doing great and could handle any pace, those who needed to be coddled a little, and those who really needed to go slow. As I handwalked Griffin, several of our group noted to me that Lily had taken some off steps. It sounded like it could have just been a rock, but hard to tell. She was walking now on tricky footing and seemed okay.

I shared with Austen and Carlos about my plan to split up and how we'd do it if it happened. It had been amazing that we had all been able to ride together to this point, but it wasn't fair for everyone to have to sacrifice their completions for one weak link, y'know? So, point shared, burden off my shoulders a little bit from internalizing it for so long, I realized my right knee was really bugging me and I decided to jog. Griffin easily picked up a trot with me and downward we descended, passing everyone in the group.

I really had a Forrest Gump moment. I just kept run-nig and run-nig and run-nig. It felt good and it made me hopeful that we'd get to a place I recognized on the trail sooner than later so I could better gauge the time and miles to better manage our group. I didn't exactly tell anyone I was going to run for as long as I did, but I ended up running nearly a mile down that damn hill. Griffin trotted happily along and Austen joined me on Q at some point, too.

At a natural flat spot, I waited to see everyone else, told them sorry for running off, but explained that I wanted to find out where we were so I could pace us better. Dan, Charlie, Orion and Lauren were all together and agreed with my reasoning, so I took off again.

Shortly after that though, the trail took a bit of an uphill turn and I said eff that noise. I don't run uphill. So I remounted then waited for the group with Austen who'd continued along with Griffin and I riding Q.

When the group came around the corner, Carlos and Jess were still absent. We waited for a time for them, but I finally had to call it and say, "Let's keep walking." We simply couldn't sacrifice completions for the rest of us and time was really going to be short.

We walked and walked for a time. Charlie and I even dismounted and handwalked Dakota and Griffin awhile more.

We eventually came to Howell Bridge crossing (where I was suspecting we'd come out after a time because nothing else made sense in my mind) and found out that we had 3.5 more miles to camp. Excellent. It was somewhere around 1:45p at this point. We indulged in some beverages (water and otherwise) and waited for 5 minutes for Carlos and Jess before I urged everyone to move on.

Yay water!

Q still isn't sure about walking through water...

Drinking like a boss

Those remaining 3.5 miles were uneventful and we walked the horses in/dismounted at the same places as before - though I did tell Lauren and Austen to go ahead and ride their horses in. Q and Shiloh were more than capable of pulsing quickly after trotting across the finish.

We all came in around 2:20p and every horse pulsed down pretty quickly. Bonus? Griffin wasn't screaming as badly as before.

Both of my horses and Shiloh vetted through the final check with all As. Griffin's CRI was 56/56 and Q and Shiloh were both (once again) in the 40s. Completions for all!

Orion was unfortunately pulled at the finish for a slight offness of her mare's front left. I could see it later when I trotted her out back at the trailer, but it wasn't very obvious - no worse that Q's offness at the second Laurel Run check of the OD 100! Dan had also been running Butch without hind shoes and he had a somewhat predictable stone bruise that caused him to be pulled at the finish also. Dan's Dakota completed with great scores. (Nell and Butch were fine the next AM.)

As for Jess and Carlos? Well, I'll let them tell their tale over at Nicole's blog.


Following our completions, we settled the critters and changed clothes. Q and Griffin got a watermelon to split between themselves, and I even gave Shiloh a few bites before we took him over to his ride home that was about to leave.

Happy nomz

Mmmm

Austen, Lauren and I grabbed our ride photos from Becky before heading down to meet everyone at the swimming hole where we would spend the next hour cooling off and relaxing post-ride. It was so nice to just sit and chat with everyone in the river. Seriously love these people. <3

Following swimming, we went to the awards dinner. Of 66 starters, there were 40 finishers. That humidity was a bitch and the trail isn't the easiest.

Because it isn't RBTR without ample dogs!
Photo by Carlos

Austen and I ended up tying for turtle!

Woo! Also, my shirt matches the turtle ;-)
Photo by Carlos

It'll be a long while before my horses tie for an award again! How special that we could this time around.

Lauren finished right ahead of us.

Yay Lauren!
Photo by Carlos

Dinner was great, once again, drinks were plentiful, conversations were rich, and laughter was a constant.

Lauren's ride arrived right at the end of dinner, so we got her sent off with words of praise (once again) and then settled in for the night to drink and chat. Per the norm, we had a band (classic rock cover band this year) and bonfire, but we didn't bother walking over to it this year, opting instead to sit near my easy-up and chat.

Except before we could settle in, we had an impromptu hoof clinic with Daisy! Amanda's gelding Elvis was getting a trim and Dan and Nicole and I were interested in geeking out while she did so. But the more and more people wandered over and before we knew it there was a small following gathered around an LED spotlight as Daisy narrated to us why she was doing what she was doing.

I've heard about her clinics for 2 years now, but it was fun to watch her work. 85% of what she did and why was right in line with what I do when I trim my horses. The new-to-me information wasn't anything earth-shattering, but definitely helps pull the bigger picture together and will benefit my trimming skill for sure. Hopefully Dan will get to one of her clinics eventually to pick up some more skills.


Once Elvis' feet were all trimmed up, we settled in to drink and talk for hours. I was definitely the weakest link though and went to bed around 11p. I just couldn't keep my eyes open much longer!!

Sunday and follow-up

I slept great and was hesitant to rise on Sunday. But camp needed to be picked up and the car needed packed.

I manged to get everything broken down and packed in record time and in a neater fashion than I've ever done before.

Our whole group was able to roll out of camp around 9:30a to get on with our travels and our days.

It was a really great weekend. I loved meeting Jess, riding with Charlie, and introducing Austen and Lauren to a new sport. (I think they're both a bit addicted now. ;-) )

I don't have any rides planned for awhile, but the training will continue ever onward. I foresee a lot of dressage in my near future for all horses. Griffin and I plan to clinic with Stephen Birchall in a few weeks and Austen has a lot of homework for me to do with Q that I'm excited about! With time and patience, Q will be stronger than ever and Griffin's fitness is finally getting back to a great place. =)