Product Review, Ovation helmets

I'm an eventer on a budget.  A shoestring budget.  Make that a Velcro closure budget, only the generic hook n loop fastener type and not the actual brand name type because I can't afford brand name.  If you're looking for reviews of the latest $600 helmet, please move on.  Although, if someone wants to send me one to review I'll be more than happy to!

Helmets are an important part of safety, and I believe in wearing a helmet EVERY SINGLE time I'm on a horse.  What I don't believe in is that the more expensive helmets are any safer than the cheaper helmets.  There is no safety rating scale.  Helmets either pass or fail.  So when I helmet shop I want something that fits, something that is affordable, and something that doesn't look out of place with what everyone else is wearing.


For my everyday and XC phase helmet I chose the Ovation Protege helmet which runs about $40 from various tack shops.   This helmet looks very similar in design to the popular with eventers Tipperary Sportage helmet for half the cost.  It has a low profile look, an adjustable dial on the back, and comes in every XC color you could imagine.  With the price I don't have to worry about tossing it calressly in my tack trunk, or running into a tree branch on the trail (shut up).  An excellent value for your money.

Here's the helmet in action.

For my show helmet I purchased the Ovation Z-6 Glitz helmet for $67.00 with their perpetual %25 off coupon from Statelinetack.  I fit in the same size as the Protege.

For under $70 this doesn't look like a cheap helmet.  It looks expensive, with the leather brim and harness, and the white stitching.  It has an adjustable dial in the back to perfect your fit, and has a very low profile look from the front and sides.  I like the multiple vents to keep my noggin cool during hot summer show days.   I really like the blingy stickers and I've had multiple comments, both at horse trials, and at hunter shows where hunters tend to have much more conservative helmets.  It even comes with a nice helmet bag to keep it looking its best in between shows.

Hunters, the rebuilding year?

A week after our utter failure of a horse trial I decided on a whim to head to a hunter show.  It was just 45 minutes away, and being a hunter show has the added bonus of accepting on the spot entries, as well as adds and scratches as I changed my mind through the day.  This lead to several hours of frantically googling "current HJ fashion"and seeing if I had anything that wasn't horribly out of date. 

Then we showed up, hit the ring to school over some of the fences (love this about hunter shows). had some issues due to my nerves but didn't have a ton of time to fix those issues before the ring closed so I signed up for some divisions, and waited.  And waited.  And waited. 

I popped over to watch a friend in the 2 foot jumper divisions and was glad I hadn't entered those classes.  They hadn't been able to get some of their filler under 2 feet so the course looked "intimidating" and I suck at memorizing courses on the fly.  This divison was a mixture of normal and terrifying.  When speed wins it's easy to let children tear around at 90mph on their horses since you don't really need to have proper distances to leave such small fences up. 

I also noticed a direct correlation between the turnout and the round.  The students on dirty or thin horses wearing poorly fitting tack and clothing were more likely to be terrifying, to have stops, or to just plain hit the dirt.  I think turnout has a direct relation between the quality of the instruction and I hope that these children don't give up when they've hit the ground one too many times. 

As the morning wore on I felt the need to get out immediately, get over a tiny fence or two, and deal with some issues.  I had initially entered in the (don't laugh) 18 inch division but when warming up over fences produced some serious anxiety I decided to throw in a few X rail rounds (don't laugh).  As morning turned into afternoon and I needed to get back into the ring before dark I decided to add an on the spot ground pole EQ class (ok, you're totally laughing now). 

It was quite humorous as Stella hand galloped down the lines, launched 4 feet into the air over her ground poles but we got 2nd!  I'm not sure that's something to write home about but I'll surly blog about it.  It was eye opening to feel my nerves being back in a ring a week after our fail, especially over such a non event as ground pole EQ. 

During my X rail classes Stella stopped at the first fence.  Was it the flowers or my lack of a backbone?  We will never know.  After that I pulled my head out of my ass and started to think about riding.  One of the things I like about hunter courses are the predictable lines.  I worked on focusing on my strides down the lines and my release and it helped to focus me and calm my nerves. 

We ended up doing one more course, over the X rail course in the other direction (most hunter X rail courses are simply twice around the outside lines, because hunters think at this stage cutting across the diagonal is too much for a novice rider).  This one was fairly nice.  She stayed on the same lead so I didn't have to think about a simple change, and we got the same number of strides in each line. 

I was going to get the heck out of dodge, having promised my recupterating boyfriend that I would be home by noon (we didn't even ride until noon!) but I chatted with a few people I knew then decided to stick around for ribbons.

Imagine my surprise when we took fourth out of 10!  Pretty good for a terrified adult and her unconventional horse.  On the way back to the trailers I bumped into the judge who I thanked for her time at the charity show.  She complimented my horse and said that she was a nice hunter and that if I cleaned up my flatwork (surprise!) I would find myself pinning in decent company!

What a pick me up!

So, still lots to think about.  Are Stella and I a suitable pair for jumping period?  Will I solve the show nerves problem?  How do I fix our XC warm up explosions?  Do we switch to hunters where we can work on nerves over multiple rounds?

Stay tuned for next week! 

October HT wrap up

My BIG MOVE UP at the October show was a big fat fail. 

This is me, dismounting off of Stella in the middle of a massive XC melt down in which she got eliminated the day before and snorted around part of her derby course like she'd never been in a field before, got eliminated the next day in stadium at fence three, and lost her freaking mind when I was stupid enough to think that all our schooling experience would make a difference and we could just treat XC like a schooling day.

This happened a few weeks ago and I've honestly just not blogged about it because, well, it's sad.  I feel like a failure.  I don't feel like I'm riding terribly.  Not as well as in lessons for sure.  But this?  To get this kind of behavior just because I'm nervous?  Is it all me?  Do my nerves cause this dramatic behavior?  Have we just not warmed up for an XC show enough that it had her this on edge?  

So it's hard for me to find a going forward from here point when I'm not sure where here is.  Keep taking lessons and working on my nerves?  Stop showing until I'm comfortable 6 inches over what I'm showing at?  Continue showing at a much lower height until I'm comfortable and confident at that height.  Sell Stella and buy something more suitable?  Hard to wrap my head around when I feel like we've been improving as a team all summer.  

Bleck.

Stella gets her XC groove

I feel like I've made significant progress this summer going schooling, including a second trip to our local horse park in which I jumped a BN fence!!!

My summer program of trail ride XC school trail ride XC school trail ride XC school seemed to be working fantastic. 

After two slightly squeamish XC schools and one another much more positive XC lesson I finished it out with three solid performances.  Zero stops, bolder and bolder.  Jumping strange fences out of stride. 


My last XC school before the October HT was AMAZING!  Stella was game, forward, and brave.  I took note of how well she has been galloping away from the group, an issue I have not had occur the entire summer.  She also didn't have any issues with how busy the place was, there were people galloping all around her and she kept her mind on her job.

She's still fantastic in the water!  So happy my hard work trail riding paid off.  She does want to stop in the middle and have a drink which is humorous but might land me as the only eventer to get dumped in the MIDDLE of the water when she screeches to a halt!

She's also been great on drop fences, something I also attribute to trail riding.  I'm still a bit of a mess, but hey, what's new?

We did our first sunken road!  Love the game face.

Not so much to love about our leap up the sunken road.  Dramatic much?

Our only stop of the day was at this ditch.  We've done natural ditches before no big deal but nothing like an eventing ditch.  This stop was my fault.  I ambled up to this without direction or purpose and Stella had no idea why she couldn't just go around. 

I represented her and no hesitation whatsoever!

Here we are going both directions like real eventers!

Did I mention all the galloping?  Stella did a lot of taking me to my fences, like a real eventer.  She wasn't running away in the gallop, she had good pace and rhythm and listen to my adjustments. 

Finally, Squeeee!!!!!!  Jumped this like a pro and left plenty of air between her and the fence!  I was super proud of myself, this is a little big to me and even though I've jumped it three weeks in a row I'm always EEEPPP it's real fence sized!  But I have been so good about keeping my leg on and building to the base that it jumped great. 

After this school I thought we were more than ready for our big move up at the October show! 

Summer program, trail ride trail ride trail ride

After event camp I had a few ups and downs.  You would think that I would come off a high and progress by leaps and bounds but alas that just isn't me.  I start each lesson by being timid, and end by being confident, but I lose confidence even if the lessons are only a day or a week apart. I do better if the next lesson starts out a bit smaller and easier than I ended the last week then works up.  Even if I'm bored at my current height, a three inch increase has me quaking in my boots.

 Part of it is baggage, I have a hard time being positive and a small setback in a lesson can easily crush my confidence.  Plus, Stella is the type of horse that needs a supportive rider to be brave and isn't the type to be super forgiving and humor me when I'm riding like crap.  I felt like I needed to go to something I'm good at and work more on our forward and group think there.  

So this summer I had lots of time to do what I do best, trail ride!  I feel so much more confident working on forward issues on the trail and I believe that you can work on one problem by fixing another area.  I made it a goal to work on solo trail riding with Stella.  It's a big boost for me, and if I can get Stella to go forward on a strange trail in the middle of nowhere, I can get her to go over a tiny fence!   Plus, my barn owner was out of town for two weeks and if I don't find a way to force myself to ride during that time I get pretty grumpy! 

I'm still picking trails in public areas where I can easily walk back to the trailer, and there are people to find my body.   They still have plenty of nature, and added benefits like people bicycle racing and screaming children.  I do a variety of all three gaits.  Sometimes I let Stella pick her speed and sometimes I pick it for us.  She moves out really well alone, while in groups she has started to get lazy.  Perhaps a sign of being comfortable?  I've had to start working on a forward walk in groups now. 

I also let Stella have snack breaks.  I figure if she's calm enough to graze while all alone she's comfortable doing what we're doing.  She does take advantage of this, and gradually sneaks to a nice looking patch then ducks her head down.  When we ride behind a slow horse she will graze until they are out of sight, catch up, repeat. 

Bad habit?  Probably, but oddly enough she has never once tried to snack when we are out XC schooling on the grass.  She will stand on a buffet on a slack rein.  Maybe she knows the difference?

Usually the only horses we see are their leftovers!  Stella likes to take time to smell the poop to see if she knows them.  I did run across other horses here, and it was a big WHAT IF for me because Stella has been herd bound in the past.  Could I get her to keep going by a group of other horses?  Would she have a meltdown and try to follow them?  She has had issues being buddy sour at other trail rides and shows. We ran into a few groups here and Stella didn't care at all so I think her confidence in me as herd leader has been growing.  Or she felt they were beneath her.

This sign was very spooky.  We were trotting and Stella made a really big zag and I was thankful for the big pommel on my endurance saddle.  We did lots of snorting and she tried to back up and spin around.  I kept my reins short, used my spurs, and would not let her turn away.  We made it past this sign and the 50 other ones some kind person put out! 

This park bench was also a doozy.  In a blind corner (why are spooky things in blind corners?) but I was able to get Stella by this as well.

Overall I have been really pleased with our progress solo trail riding.  I've had to get off and lead her before, either because it was an unsafe area to deal with shenanigans, or because I wasn't making any progress.  Last month she had a meltdown on a ride with a friend.  We were on day two, and the area was hilly and rocky.  It took nearly 30 minutes, her rearing, and me getting off three times and walking before she would go, and this was with another horse!  It really helped that the other horse didn't care about Stella drama, and that his rider was able to move him safely out of our way.  I think that ride was really a turning point.  It was really ugly, but sometimes you need to make a stand.  Stella and I both did and I think I won!  You can either go forward or you can go forward.

I'm also tickled pink that I have a horse I can ride solo, and a horse that I can gallop down a trail and not only not have to worry about not being run away with, but that I am secure enough with to do it in the first place! 

I'm hoping that this helps our jumping in a round about way.  It sure isn't helping our dressage!

Event Camp Part II

Sorry for the delay!  I've been sitting in front of my computer, thinking about writing up about event camp then just not doing it.


I entered Event Camp feeling pretty nervous.  I don't generally ride with different people so I get nervous with them, and I was worried about being pushed beyond my abilities according to past participants.

Then I was pretty disappointed I wasn't being pushed as I felt the fences were pretty small and unchallenged and I was really wanting to get over my fears of moving "up" to Starter and just get there.

Next I totally spazzed out and easily proved I had no business jumping bigger fences.

Then I jumped an "enormous" course and had some spaz induced stops and felt like I really had no business jumping bigger.

Finally I jumped some bigger stuff and ended up being upset that I didn't get to jump anything really big!

Here's a pic of the course I spazzed over.  Certainly not big, but bigger than I'd been jumping consistently and I created my own monsters.

I KNOW that Stella is a brave horse and will jump anything I want her to jump, but I still have issues making myself a brave riding and not sucking back and leaving her up to her own choices, which for Stella, means not jumping because I'm out the window.

So camp was really nice getting things drilled into my head over and over and over and over.  It was nice and a little humiliating hearing the same things in different ways from everyone.

I really enjoyed riding with Sharon White

She's a methodical and encouraging teacher who wants you to get things RIGHT at a slower pace over smaller fences even if you are capable of going faster and jumping bigger.  It's about making sure things look good, are safe, and that the horse understands the question and isn't just jumping because you said so.  When the pouring rain brought us indoors she quickly improvised a course including gymnastics over what she had available.  Her courses, were jump this fence, make a 20m circle, jump, halt, pick up a canter, canter this fence, make a 20m circle, trot the ground poles, pick up a canter, jump the fence, etc.  I really liked riding with her and she was neatly inside my comfort zone.

I also got to ride with Tim Bourke.  I was super intimidated by him at first and I was pretty sure he'd be a no nonsense jump the big stuff and quit your whining type of guy.  The other groups were jumping BIG.  However, he toned it way down for my group while still expecting the same things.  His courses were about being precise in your path and nothing to do about the jump itself.  Get your lead in the right place.  Get the strides, get into the corners.  Plan your path before and after.  I found this really helpful.  It wasn't about getting over the fences, it was about everything in between and I didn't worry about the fence by the time I got there.

We had another lesson indoors due to the rain and it was probably one of the most fun ones.  There were a TON of improvised fences set up, a skinny two stride line, a line of three bounces, poles to canter over, a scary blanket jump, flowers, everything you could imagine.  This was another lesson about getting there right and nothing about the fence itself.  I was really glad that I have to improvise things at home due to a lack of a real course as Stella had no issues with any of these things.

I must confess that I was the one who made the fence with the blanket over it.  Tim was looking for more filler and I've jumped blankets at home so why not?  So sorry to anyone who had issues.  


Oooops my bad.  

At least Stella was around for a friend to help give her horse a lead over the terrifying fence in all of its 18 inch glory.  Again, SO SORRY.  

I also got to ride with Lauren Lambert who was great getting to know everyone in an XC lesson for the first time.   For some reason Stella was super worked up for this lesson and I had a hard time handling a completely different horse.  Lauren said she had a ton of experience with people trying to event arabians and her advice was dead on.  

Looking back I enjoyed all of my lessons and everyone had pretty much the same advice.  Ride forward.  Ride straight.  Make a plan.  For the love of god your elbows!!  Hands down.  Leg on.  

What really made my day were the unsolicited compliments on Stella.  She was an awesome little horse who had a good mind, was willing, had a really nice jump, and was a good match for me.  I also got a great compliment from Tim on my position.  He said I had good balance and was really good at getting out of the way and he felt it looked like I always knew where my body was.  He also thought I needed to be more influential but everyone knows that!

So, I'd love to do it again next year if my wallet allows.  I feel like I came out ahead and the intense instruction really helped.  

Event Camp Part 1

My first Event Camp, with 4 days of twice a day international quality instruction, is over!  I have lots of experiences to write about so I'm hoping to do one blog post a day to catch up with it all so stay tuned and check back often.

First, while it's fresh on my mind I'd like to go over some highlights from the round table discussions with some of the clinicians.  The clinicians were Leslie Law, Sharon White, and Lauren Lambert.  

I asked a question about level creep, as I've seen a ton of discussion about it online in various forums. Level creep is where course designers are trying to make courses more interesting, or trying to accommodate people looking to move up by adding smaller versions of more advanced questions. Drops into water, baby coffins, corners, etc.  I was pretty surprised that none of the clinicians had ever heard of the term.  My theory is that most of them deal with riders going above Novice and their horse/rider combinations are so experienced schooling before they compete that it isn't even noticed.

They all thought that riders should be prepared enough before their level that new questions shouldn't be an issue.  An example would be finding a drop into water at Novice (a recent hot topic on the COTH bulletin boards)  While the rules seemed clear at first that this was not allowed, and actually pretty uncommon, a few course designers believe it is legal and will put in a small drop at Novice level.  

For the clincians, if you have not schooled a drop into the water you have probably schooled a water entrance and a drop separately so it should be no big deal to add them together.  You shouldn't be going Novice any way having a horse that doesn't do those two elements apart.  If you anticipate having an issue you should school through the water first to get the feet wet then drop in.  

If you do have a stop at the water, don't represent to the drop!  You already have 20 penalties and are out of the running anyway, so take the time faults, school through the water, and then represent to the drop.  It's worse to represent again and get eliminated and teach your horse he gets to walk off the course.  

On a side note, some of the clinicians were a bit fuzzy on this, one felt you you would get in trouble for schooling as it was unsportsmanlike but would do it anyway for the horse, the other knew that it was allowed as long as you didn't go through your flags, and the other put so much work into training before hand they had never considered it.  

All three felt that it is difficult as a course designer to decide between giving a lower level rider a fun ride out, and prepping a rider planning on moving their horse up.  They all suggested knowing your course, and researching ahead of time to make sure there were no surprises.  

Another interesting discussion was about air vests.  Air vests have become popular options, and many upper level riders are sponsored by vet companies or chose to wear vests.  I've seen quite a bit of discussions of the research behind them as all research is done by the company and is kept private and not done by an independent body.  The riders were all ambivalent about the vests.  They felt that the vests probably kept your safer but maybe not, and that the vests restricted movement after they went off or if they went off on accident.  Leslie Law said he didn't wear an air vest, and believed it created a false sense of safety with a rider more likely to ride a horse into the ground then attempt to roll free.  He said he would rather step off a horse and jump free if he felt it was going to rotate and eliminate himself then ride it to the ground and hope that it got its feet back and he could continue on.

Other topics were feed (personal preference), fitness (not really a big deal until you hit Training and Prelim), gadgets (either the more the better or none at all), and nosebands.

The riders believed in schooling without or with a loose noseband at home as many issues were training issues, then using whatever the heck worked in competition.  

That's it!  Stay tuned for more tommorow!