Making progress!

For the first time in awhile I'm actually feeling like I'm getting somewhere with Cash instead of taking steps backwards.  I'm continuing to ride him in a stock saddle -- which I gotta ask, how is it that it's so much easier to sit the trot in one of those versus my dressage saddle??  It's not fair.  I've also started riding him in a rope halter, I decided either it'd be crazy or it would work, and so far it's working!  It's definitely forcing the both of us to rely more on leg/seat cues.  Also, the roundpen is continuing to be very beneficial in teaching Cash to bend around the circle and stand up and respect my inside leg.

I've also starting using a little exercise that I saw Nicku of (insert blog here) use.  She described it as 10-10-10, that is: 10 strides walk, 10 strides trot, 10 strides canter, repeat.  I loved the idea of really instilling precision in your horse so I adapted it to my own use.  Granted I am not doing canter right now, but still doing the 10-10 walk and trot was plenty!  So far I'm loving the results, Cash is listening much better and it forces me to be very precise yet subtle with my aids.  I also mix up the strides because Cash is a smart bugger and picked up reeeaaally quick on the 10-10 pattern.  So I do something more like 5-10-8-20-10-6-9... and so on.  But I make sure to pick a number in my head right as I'm changing to the new gait so that it's not a "ooohh we've gone 10, how 'bout three more."  Nope!  Gotta be precise.

I'm hoping in a couple weeks, assuming I'm able to keep up semi-regularly with riding, we'll be able to move back into the arena.  I've been really focusing on keeping him in tune with my body on the lunge line.  He tries really hard to get in front of or behind me in the scary area, but when I don't let him do that it's amazing how quickly he drops the game.  Love it.

On a fun note, yesterday my friend and I went down to the Colorado Horse Park to help with the cross country phase for the Area IX Championships.  My friend went and jump judged and I got to be the Warm-up Ring Steward.... THAT was wild!! 

Beginner Novice was some crazy variation of cat herding... if you think riding in those beginner warm ups are crazy, try orchestrating it from the ground... making sure the riders were actually there, calling out their 2 minute warning over the bullhorn (which was interesting as it was a good 2-3 acre warmup area AND the wind was blowing like crazy... I'm not sure how well I was heard haha), letting them know how many riders ahead of them, sending them to the start box, if we had a scratch seeing if they wanted to go early, as well as grabbing pinneys from the riders headed back to the barn from finish. I was a very busy bee all day long. 

The intermediate warm up was decidedly less crazy than the rest of the day

But I thoroughly enjoyed it and despite a gnarly sun/wind burn I will totally do warm up steward again. Go Eventing!

Cheers,
Emily

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Weekend update

First on the docket...

I jumped Cash!!!

Granted it was only a 12" cavaletti, but he jumped it so therefore it counts.  Turning is still a bit iffy, especially when asking him to do an inside turn at the canter on the quarter line, haha yeah that reeaaaally felt like trying to turn a boat!

Our jump!

He's such a natural jumper, he felt awesome, just smooth and fluid with his body in the air.  I can't wait to feel what he's like over a solid 3' oxer.  He's going to be a beast. 

Though, it was so funny, on the other side of the arena I had three trot poles out, which I then moved all together to make one big trot/canter pole.  The first time around Cash took a big look at it, sat back on his haunches and leaped over it like it was an advanced sized ditch... Oh horse!!

the "ditch"

As we were cooling out I was walking him over the cavaletti for more practice picking up his feet, well he wasn't paying attention (hence the practice) and caught his back feet on it and stumbled over it, in the process knicking himself pretty good on one fetlock, it was a teeny cut but he then stood there like a big baby holding his back leg way up in the air.  He eventually walked out of it ok, after I convinced him that his leg was really still functional.

You would've thought he cut his leg off the way he
reacted to this!

I tell you what, I really can't wait till he advances further his training! He's going to be so much fun.

Anyway, well then yesterday my roommate, the baby and I (the older kids were off with family for the day) headed down to Parker, CO to the Colorado Horse Park to hang out and check out the horse shows.  There were three shows going: a dressage show, a hunter/jumper show, and the CHP CCI*/T3DE/Horse trials.  J, my friend was riding her horse in the dressage show, it was her first time riding Intermediare-1. But we got out of the house a tad late and literally got there as she was walking out of the arena, bummer!  It was still fun to hang out with her a bit, I even braided her other horse for her. 

Mid-morning we then headed out to the Cross Country course so that I could jump judge for the Intermediate, CCI* and Preliminary divisions. 

It was a beautiful day! A bit cool and breezy,
but beautiful none-the-less

The dogs thought so too!

I didn't get to watch any of the T3DE just because of the timing and overlap with my friend's dressage ride time, but I'm so excited that it is being offered out here now!! It is definitely on my goals list for the shows around here.  Until last fall the closest T3DE was Rebecca Farms up in Montana (aka a ridiculously long drive away).  So I'm pretty stoked about this addition.

Overall, my weekend was just fantastic! Now I get to sit and study today for an exam tomorrow in my Animal Anatomy and Physiology class, fun stuff y'all.

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Holy Badminton, Batman!

Michael Jung, Jonathan Paget, William Fox-Pitt and Andrew Nicholson.

That my friends is the current top four at Badminton. 'Scuse my french but: Bad-ass.

The difference between 1st and 4th is currently 4.2 penatly points apart.  There are no rails in hand and it's anybody's game going into Show Jumping at Badminton tomorrow.  The afternoon XC session this afternoon was just thriller.  Tomorrow is going to be pure awesomeness and I am going to be glued to the live blog.  Talk about exciting!!!

I am so going to have a horsey hangover after tomorrow... Rolex, Kentucky Derby, Badminton. Oh yeah.

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Making Goals

"Plans are always made in pencil but writing down your goals makes your dreams achievable."

- Sinead Halpin

I just don't think I could say it any better, everybody always tells you to dream big, and sure, we all can imagine we are millionaires with a lovely huge mansion and a barn full of expensive ponies... but, how do you get to that point?  That, my friends, is the million dollar question. 

The above quote was written by one of my Eventing idols, Sinead Halpin.  She narrowly missed out on a trip to the London Olympics but rebounded with an amazing second place finish at Burghley that I'm sure had selectors regretting leaving her off the team... anyway, I digress.  Today a post was put on Eventing Nation about a new syndicate she is putting together for her current 4* horse, Tate, and a new up and coming project horse.  Sinead outlined the plans for both horses for the next few years, but summed up with the above statement.  Essentially saying that no matter the plans you lay, you never know what fate will throw at you... something she got a big taste of this past summer when she was left off the Olympic squad after an amazing season.

It really struck home to me, I've always dreamed big, as a kid I fantasized about riding in the Olympics and had a whole plan in place to get there.  But as I grew up reality began to take hold, I learned that horses cost money, and Olympic horses cost a LOT of money, and that dream of riding in the Olympics has since down graded to simply competing (and completing!) in a CCI* event--something that I know is more than achievable and not just wishful thinking.  That I now have a horse who is physically able to perform at that level makes that goal and dream all the more attainable!  And to be honest, I can't wait.

So here we have it, this is my plan for the next few years with Cash, penciled in of course ;)

2013: Start the year introducing him to showing with a few schooling shows before debuting in the eventing world at the novice levels in May, compete at Novice through the summer with a move up to Training in October.
2014: Continue at Training with the goal to move up to Prelim over the summer, focus on getting qualifying scores at Prelim which will set him up for...
2015: The CCI* event at the Colorado Horse Park in June. Continue at Prelim and try to compete in another 1* event and contemplate a move up to Intermediate the following year.

There we have it. Ambitious? Perhaps, but do-able? If I put my back into it and devote the necessary time and energy (and money), it is absolutely 110% do-able. This of course is assuming there are no lamenesses, accidents, or natural disasters to contend with.

It will be interesting to look back on this blog in a few years and see how far I made it.
In the mean time: 2013 here I come!!

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A Must Read

If you read nothing else today, you should read this: Eventing Etiquette For Dummies

Anybody and everybody who has anything to do with horse showing, even if you don't event, should read that blog. Thankfully in Eventing, stuck-up and rude people are few and far between, but I unfortunately know that in other disciplines that is not the case.

If more people got off their high horse and put a smile on their face and made an effort to help someone ELSE out instead of themselves... the entire horse show world would be a much happier place.

In other news...

Little miss Callie mare threw a shoe, her left hind. And get this. She took it off while leaving every single nail behind. ???? Don't ask me how she did it, it looks like there should be a shoe there, the nails are there, but, the shoe just isn't! I found it in her paddock, flat as can be, she didn't bend it or anything. I have NO idea how she managed that. I took a picture of her foot, I'll see if I can't get it posted, it shows the nails still left in her foot. Thank goodness she had a farrier appointment for this Tuesday. On the downside, so much for getting to ride her, we went for a stroll down the road instead and she got to munch on some grass for awhile. It was relaxing :)

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For once, I want an iPhone

I'm an avid Android user, I've shunned all things Apple for years, just didn't care to get caught up in it, besides... I think they are WAY too much $$ for what they can do. I think iPhones are over-prices, over-hyped phones, and I'm perfectly happy with my Droid. I also much prefer my Sansa mp3 player, it can play video, listen to radio, play music, all the same things an iPod can do, but at half the cost... and a longer battery life!!

BUT.

The Badminton iPhone App has me reeeaaaally wishing, for the first time in my life, that I had an iPhone. I want that app so bad! But unfortunately it's only for iPhones, boooooo. It has live scores, rider profiles, virtual course walks, podcasts, the whole shebang. But... I can't have it!! Grrr.

I think there is a Rolex app I can get on my phone, want to say I got it last year, or... no, maybe that was for the WEG. I forget now. Life is too crazy to remember those little things. But... ROLEX! Coming up fast, weee! Sure wish I could be there, one day, I will!

I will be going down here in a few months to the Colorado Horse Park for the CCI* and CCI** to hang out and volunteer, I love jump judging. It gets me out, lets me enjoy the horse show atmosphere, the energy of the vent. I've been reading blogs about The Fork right now, and jogs, and horse show prep, and training sessions, and lessons. I miss that all so much!!! Can't help but day dreaming about when I'll get to do that again in like 5 years... lordy that is so far away! Maybe I can find a catch ride in the meantime *schemes*

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Not Thrilled...

... at all.

First, I'm sure everybody in the eventing world has heard about the two, and only two, people selected by the USEF for the short list for the Chef d'Equipe/Technical Advisor position for the US Eventing Team.
http://useventing.com/blog/?p=14544
Those two people are David O'Conner and Leslie Law. Any guesses on who is going to get the position? Can anybody say politics? I was reeeaaaaally hoping that Jimmy Wofford would get the position, or at least get to the short list! I mean, seriously??? Ugh. I'm not saying that David or Leslie can't properly run our eventing program, but I just think Jim and his way of approaching things would reeaaally put a new spin on the eventing program. Ah well, I didn't do the interviews or anything... but still. I don't understand why one wouldn't leave Jimmy off the short list.

The other thing I'm not thrilled about: I can't drive. For awhile. In short, medical reasons. What's ironic is that, while going home after learning this from the Dr. I get a call from someone sounding really serious about buying my pickup. Ha, guess it's meant to be! On the bright side, I am going to be riding my bike everywhere, and going to get super fit!

And lastly, In other news, I am currently attempting to come up with some good names starting with H. Haven't thought of or found anything I like, I do have time, so I'm not worried. However... I do know that I will NOT be using "Hydes R Us"

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