Slightly larger XC course schooled!

It's go time baby.  With event camp moving from a "why god why did I waste the money!" to "we are totally going!" to "why god why did I enter I'm so not ready!"  I've been extra motivated to not show up looking like total morons.

So when I found out the Hoosier Horse Park had an open XC Schooling day I begged a trainer that has seem me ride to coach me and away I went!  You can't turn down a chance when the trainer has actually seen you ride and doesn't slowly back away from you.

I showed up a bundle of nerves.  I knew the starter fences were out, but they were MUCH MUCH bigger than the little logs at Dan Hobyn.  So after warming up by cantering around the water area wondering why I was out here (Stella mostly ignoring me) we walked around looking for something suitably tiny to jump.  I passed up the first coop, but it ended up being more inviting than the hanging log I ended up starting over.

Or I meant to stay, stopping over.  I guess when  you trot down the jump, staring at it, observing how large it is, your horse stops.  We also stopped for the first time at the next two fences we jumped, due to the same issues.  Yet when I actually listened to short suffering new trainer she went over!

Who woulda thought?


Here's the main field where we started jumping.  She is playing a bit after the second fence, which is why I came back down to the trot.  I think I'm getting left behind and she is expressing her disdain for my lack of skills.

One thing I had to adjust to, was that when we are on a trail ride we follow the horse in front.  Stella gets a little attached to her trail buddies and when we were out schooling she got a bit worked up when the horse we were out with would gallop away, or when she was asked to move away.  I focused on keeping her busy, and not letting her come back to her new friend right away.

This was a bit tricky for me, although Stella didn't stop at anything.  The first fence was on a hill and it made me a bit nervous, but the added "threat" of meeting this at the wrong distance helped me keep my leg on.  She jumped the rolltop with gusto.

This last clip tickles me pink.  It's so nice having a horse that does water, and knowing that the steps I took when I first got her were the right steps to take.  She happily enters any water, even water she has never seen before and didn't have any compliance issues when asked to trot or canter in it.  It was really awesome to blaze through the water and nail this fence from a gallop.  Even if she did play after, and I wasn't worried one bit by the jump up the bank.

Overall I was just tickled to death by her.  She isn't a horse that takes a joke, and if you have jumped the same coop 8 times in a row and on the 9th time stop riding because you think she's going to react to the horse approaching from a distance, she will oblige you and stop hard.  As I gain more confidence in her ability and willingness it's nice to see that she is a pretty brave horse that requires a brave partner.

World's smallest XC course schooled!

Tuesday, after my general sense of doom and gloom about being able to go to camp lifted, I had a fantastic ride Monday, and I decided it was now or never.  With the prospects of getting lessons with my trainer getting slimmer and slimmer (she's a very busy lady!) I've been stuck with jumping at home in my small arena.  I had not schooled XC since last June?  Or really done a ton of consistent jumping period.

The weather was finally great, it is staying light out until 9pm, and I have a fabulous XC facility 15 minutes away.  So right after work I loaded up Stella, grabbed my ground person, and headed out.

My goal was to re-familiarize  myself with riding in an open field, jumping some small logs, and putting together my own courses.  Stella has shown twice at this facility before and since I was just there two weeks before on Loaner Horse I knew everything was set up.

At first I thought that Stella would have company as there were lessons going on and people flatting in the jumping area, but as soon as I got on everyone left!  Luckily being all alone in the great wide open doesn't seem to bother Stella so away we went.

I kept it short, small, and simple.

Stella stopped at the two fences I assumed she would stop at, thus telegraphing with my body that she should stop.  Self fulfilling prophecy anyone?  Since she easily walked over both fences as soon as I removed my head from my butt it was a pretty good indicator that I'm still wussing out.  Once I came to terms I was much more determined in not making a problem where there wasn't one.

So, on the video you might hear some swearing when I decided that I could canter all the way across the field to a fence.  You might also hear me naming the fences and establishing some determination as a substitute for swearing to a fence.

Overall I had a great ride.  It was more about me doing something on my own, without guidance, and realizing that I was actually competent!  Well, semi competent.

Loaner horse

A couple of weeks ago Stella's now confirmed habit of abscessing in wet weather finally caught up to me big time.  We were going to miss one of my favorite shows.  A local pony club barn always hosts these awesome horse trials and combined tests a 15 minute drive from the barn.  It's a great facility for someone introducing a new horse to the show atmosphere.  The people are fantastic, the courses are always super easy, and I've never had a bad day there.

Alas, Stella wasn't able to go.

Luckily I know some really awesome people and one let me know that she was bringing a spare horse to keep a green bean company.  Spare horse was available to me to do whatever I wanted.

SWEEEETTTT!!!


As an added bonus loaner horse's owner also happened to be a local saddler dealer and came with an entire truck bed (literally, she had like 20 saddles) of demo saddles of which I could try any.

Isn't he adorable?  His name is George (Isn't that perfect?) and he's a foundation QH who used to do contesting and now is a beginner novice champion.  I had to reach way way back to my college days where we would show on catch rides.  You got 30 seconds to meet your new horse and get all the info you could, then it was into the ring.

George was a bit stiff to the aids but was very forward and willing to do whatever I wanted, and I strongly suspect that my decade of riding small bendy horses made getting used to his chunky body a bit of a learning curve.  I could tell right away that George was BROKE so we only warmed up for about 15 minutes before dressage for a fairly decent score (and maybe I ran over a cone because George got rolling downhill in the grass ring but who's counting).

Jumping was exciting and nerve wracking for me.  I can't remember how long it's been since I've jumped something else, let alone jumped a few warm up fences then laid down a course.  Luckily George was all business and once you got him pointed at a fence he took no prisoners.

We had a couple discussions about speed and general things like turning (again, there's a steep learning curve from a George to my soft mouthed turn on a dime bendy arabs) but I had a blast.  He was very honest to the fences and had a comfortable, easy to sit canter.

Overall, despite me really wishing that I was there on Stella it was a great day!