Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving means cooking, baking and eating....  Mighty preparations..... Fabulous Food.....  Wonderful Family Visiting....

Then, suddenly, its the day after Thanksgiving - the sad day that we bade our friend Christian fond farewell.  We will miss Christian's beautiful barn keeping as well as his horsetraining advice.  Sister owes a huge debt of graditude, without Christian's help last year, I wouldn't have been riding her and Sister would have had to move on down the road.

The weather on Sat. was very rainy and the girls and I went to Patty's for the party lesson together.  We worked on shoulder-in, travers, renvers (very hard for all of us) but we made some progress.  Splash was fairly good; correct canter leads; some bend and pretty good leg yeilds.  Hmmm, hope this trend keeps going.

The YaYa Sisters will gather at Kathy B's for the annual party and dirty santa gift exchange on Dec. 18.  Mark your calendar!  YaYa!

TC Likes to Escape

Every time we take Sunny (TC's pasture mate) or Pico/Splash (next-pasture neighbors), TC walks through the electric tape to see where "they" got to go.  Who knew he would be so restless in his retirement? 

I had another KS trip last week and fritered away Friday w/o any horse play/work.  But, we DID manage a party lesson on Saturday a the Rocking C with LAL at Graham's.  Roxy, Ivy, and Alaina worked their horses at 10 and Mallory and I took the 11 o'clock.  We worked short but the work was good.

It could be that the Clinton Anderson ground work has been influencing Splash.  Or perhaps Splash forgot his main mission (standing still as a beautiful pasture ornament).  Splash was forward, responsive, picked up correct leads, and was relatively "on the bit."  Wow - if I didn't know better, I would think we were making progress.  Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Time Flies When Its the Weekend!

November weather was windy but mild and I played with the ponies three days in a row.  Alas, we didn't get the Saturday Party Lesson since Patty was in Stillwater to help with the equine special olympics but I am hopeful that next week will work out for LAL with my horsey friends.

After a couple of days in Kansas, I had Friday off so Mallory and I met for lunch in Catoosa and then worked some Clinton exercises on Raffles (Mallory) and Sister (me).  Sister was very responsive for ground work including yeilding the hindquarters and forequarters, lunging, backing, and de-sensitizing.  We added flexing on the ground and then I mounted up and tried some "one-rein stops" from the walk and trot - I did not try that at the canter.  Sister was a little snarky with one rump-hop the first time I used the "spanker" end of the lead.  Overall, she seemed to get the concept and we ended the lesson with cruising at the trot.

Saturday morning and - moving like a herd of turtles - the girls and I took Splash, Sunny, and Pico over to Che' Cheval spend the day while Steve held down the OSU football fort at the Wild Orban Ranch as they stomped again.

The girls rode their horses while I worked Splash in the round pen - lunging for respect.  Although better than the first attempt last week, Splash just couldn't bring himself to comply.  So, MUCH later, he finally realized that he better get with the program so we could stop before we dropped.  Whew!  So, THEN we mounted up and went to work in the big arena with Mallory and the girls.  We worked on walk/stop transitions mostly trying for submission and no back / prompt trot-off.  Then to took a lunch break before moving on to the next horse victim - Sister.

Sister is getting much better with her ground work and we breezed though the basic warm-up exercises and then Mallory tried to teach me "yeilding the forequarters."  Sister seems to get the concept although there was a lot of operator error on my part.

More horse torture on Sunday when Ivy started Pico in the Clinton Anderson exercises.  Poor Pico isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.  So I jumped in to help.  We free-lunged in the round pen until he figured out turning in and following.  Then, we concentrated on de-sensitizing with the stick and string and some yielding the hindquarters.  Pico got to stand at the trailer and ponder things while I worked with Splash in the round pen.  We started with lunging and then moved on to yielding the hindquarters and backing.  We finished goundwork with flexing.  Splash is very stiff (especially to the left) and we had to lower expectations a-bit.  But, we did manage a little flex and then mounted up for more work to minimize head-bob in the transitions.  Some progress so, lets hope for more improvement next week at the long overdue PARTY LESSON!  YaYa!

Schooling Show Championships!

Kathy and Call

Kathy B and Call did us all proud competing in the GCC/SSC Horse Show held in Claremore Saturday afternoon judged by "r" judge Amy Jablonovsky - they are the Reserve Champions at Training Level!  Judge Amy's pet peeve?  Spreading and lowering the hands for stretchy circle and free walk - she calls that a fault.

The girls and I rode in the open show portion in the morning.  Alaina and Sunny rode T-1 and recieved a 58.75; Judge Amy says "quiet horse just waiting for directions."  Ivy rode Pico in F-3 for a score of 58.064; they recieved 7's on the first lengthening at the trot, the second canter lengthening, and the last halt.

Splash and I rode Intro C - for a 65.0%!  Since I was only doing one test, I decided to work Splash in the warm-up like I was riding a lesson - aiming for 30 minutes of "lesson" leading into the test without a break.  The show was running on-time so we went right in to the arena and Splash was a good boy.  Our first canter transition (right lead) should have been our good side, but was slow to develop and lacked bend; the second canter was hollow and above the bit (although prompt).  Splash was forward (YES!) and showed good bend in trot circles and was an "8" for the first corner after X-C, "7"s for both trot circles and the second canter circle.  Judge Amy says "Lovely horse has loads of talent - develop differences in the paces, smoother transitions."   Ya!

So - that really was the last horse show of 2011.  No more baths for the equines until next spring.

One more thing to report.  You can dress the girl up....  I bought some Ariat paddock boots last year.  They were zip front and half price (they were brown).  I wear them for shows only, and until this past show, with black half chaps.  A few weeks ago I found some Ariat half chaps on SALE for HALF price.  They were Brown so I was all set for my next show.  I put the new half chaps on over my brown paddock boots for my ride.  They didn't fit the same way my old pair did - they were very bulky under my knees and the zipper seemed to be in a strange place.  I figured I would need to break them in.  My knees got a bit bruised.  Good News!  Mallory pointed out that I had the half chaps on backwards.  They fit a lot better when they are worn correctly.  Whew - operator error.  HeHe.

Happy Halloween!

Diez is dressed as a Foundered Pony for her trick-or-treat cruise around the pasture looking for grass treats.  The trick is on her since she hasn't figured out the one-blade-at-a-time eating technique.  Poor thing.

She is to old to trick-or-treat anyway.

Splash got another Clinton Anderson ground work session on Saturday before I took him to Patty's for our lesson.  Alaina and Sunny joined us and we both had really good lessons.  Alaina and Sunny very worked hard on his bend at the canter since he is very stiff - and made a lot of progress.

Ever since Splash's injury last year, he tends to throw his head up with every upward transition and really braces in the downward transitions - transitions into canter are really bad.  We did lots of halt/walk and halt/trot up and down transitions working to lighten the downwards and energize the upward transitions.  We made good progress in walk and trot and even some improvement in the canter.  I was really happy with our progress and will continue with the CA work as well.  We might even get a chance to ride the warm-up class at the championships next weekend. 

Mallory and I did some more CA work with Sister and Mario on Sunday and we ventured out with the girls to Claremore Lake for Roxy/Trouper's and Ivy/Pico's first public trail ride outing.  The girls did good jobs settling their spirited mounts.  So, Ivy, Roxy, Mallory/Raffles, Alaina/Diez and me/Splash made the trek along the west side of the lake on a beautiful fall day. YaYa! 

Aerobics Clinton Anderson Style

No riding for 3 weeks - the past 2 weekends were filled with the Junior Camp and the L Program/C Session. Splash was pretty sure he had made the jump via golden parachute into retirement. But NO. I got Friday off so Mallory and I decided to play with the ponies at Che' Cheval. With Mallory's help, we worked both Sister and Splash through several steps of the Clinton Anderson (CA) ground work program. Ivy and Mallory gave Sister a good start in 3 sessions several weeks ago and she seemed to retain a lot of the basics and really did well at: lunging/turning into the round pen, following, yielding the hind quarters, desensitizing w/ lead rope, sending, desensitizing with the stick/string (stage 1 and 2), and backing - all in about an hour.

Then we gave the CA method a try on Splash. True, it was his first time. But, he was very resistant to the idea of giving respect or moving his feet. So, we worked with the lunging lesson/turn into the pen for a long time. Splash got sweaty and out of breath. I was sweaty and out of breath - but I needed a cardio workout. We had to stop with baby steps/looking to the inside. WHEW. We worked next with a little yielding the hind quarters and Splash did OK. Desensitization with the lead went fairly well and we finished with 3 backing exercises (tapping the stick, wiggle the rope, and marching). We took a lunch break. Our Sat. lesson with Patty is scheduled for 5pm so I hope to work Splash a little more CA in the morning.

Ivy and I spent last weekend with the L-Judge candidates at Lily Pond Estates in Kellyville. The focus for the weekend, judging Collective Marks and developing scoring methodologies. The collective marks are the frame around the picture of the test.  See the photos at the L Progam photo link.  Kathy and Call did a great job demonstratingTraining Level Test 2 and we watched several of our ODS members ride for the judge candidates.
 
The judge’s task is to place competitors in proper order rewarding training by classical principals, help riders properly develop the horse by giving accurate, helpful comments, and to enhance the quality of dressage riding and training.

The collective marks should be a reflection of the entire test and should be in the same range as the average marks of the test.
• Gaits – the natural athletic ability of the horse. Are the gaits pure – 4 beat walk, 2 beat trot, and 3 beat canter? Is there a tendency to lateral (pace) movement at the trot? Are the walk steps regular and distinct? Is the canter 4-beat or labored? Paces are collected, medium, and extended and should be regular not hurried. Gaits should maintain their purity even in transitions.
• Impulsion – willingness to move forward and to connect (use of topline and thrust)
• Submission – obedience and willingness. Does the horse look happy in his work?
• Rider’s Seat & Position/Rider Biomechanics – from a stable base (seat) the rider’s posture should be vertical when sitting all gaits and slightly forward in the posting trot, shoulders/hips level, hands independent of the seat and with steady, elastic connection with the horse’s mouth. Are the aids effective to accomplish the goals of the test? Is there harmony between horse and rider?

Remember – 8/9/10 are Good, Very Good and Excellent. 7 means Fairly Good and 6 is Satisfactory. 5 is Marginal – 4 is Insufficient.

Purpose of the Levels -
• Training Level - to confirm that the horse is supple and moves freely forward in a clear and steady rhythm, accepting contact with the bit.
• First Level – in addition to the requirements of Training Level, the horse has developed thrust, improved balance and throughness to maintain more consistent contact with the bit.
• Second Level Collection – to develop/increase the horse’s ability to lower and engage its hindquarters and moves with an uphill tendency.

ODS/GCC Junior Camp at Lily Pond

Twenty campers gathered at Lily Pond Estates the weekend of October 14 for the 2nd annual Oklahoma Dressage Society/Green Country Chapter sponsored Junior Camp.  Ivy and Alaina both explored vaulting with Cheryl West and had dressage lessons with Laurie Hedlund and Robin Hessel. 

The short review is:  Great Camp, Wonderful Fun, and Excellent Education.

Both girls won their divisions; Ivy was First Place 12 and Under First Level Rider and Alaina was First Place 12 and Under Training Level rider.

The girls are already talking about next year.

I am off to Kansas tomorrow but I did get to ride last Wed. evening with my girlfriends - yaya.