So, uh, as a follow-up to that last post…

I swear I had all good intentions of updating, like, 2 days after the last post. Somewhere between grad school apps, job interviews, transitioning someone into my current role, homeschooling, randomly riding Leo, and holiday prep, that post got pushed down to last priority.

So anyways.

The biggest change has probably been not having P in my life. But financially, having him on the back burner to do some dressage lessons with just wasn’t working out. Another boarder whose horse is injured had asked if she could take him to a local dressage show, so started riding regularly and P just flourishes when he’s the main man. I had no idea how he’d act at the show, since he hadn’t been to one in 2 years, and he was just a pro. That’s when I knew it was time to find him a new home.

He always knew when to turn it on

And one just fell in my lap. He’s at a hunter barn in VA and being long-term leased to a teenage girl who just thinks he walks on water. And we all know how P feels about kids. The trainer posted a video of him popping through a little grid with her and it gave me all the feels. He gets so much attention and love, and while I miss his face, it was the best thing all around.

P’s preferred ride

And it’s been great for my relationship with Leo. Leo is an awesome horse to ride, but I still felt like I didn’t really know him- I was always so rushed at the barn to try to get two horses ridden that I never spent any extra time with him. And financially it’s been quite relieving. Extra lessons and training rides never hurt anyone.

Since Trainer B is currently in FL, I’ve been riding him with Dressage Trainer K. K, who had to put up with this mess on a weekly basis:

Oh P…

…LOVES Leo’s work ethic (and canter). The tentative plan is for Leo to head down to Florida next month to get some more showing under his belt, and then come back in March while Trainer B does a couple big shows and then comes back to NC for the rest of the year. Hopefully another pandemic won’t hit and we can get back to the showing at a normal time.

Making Novice look like Green Bean

My next task is to get on y’all’s blogs and see what in the world everyone else has been up to. Unless we’ve talked via text, I’m pretty much clueless as to what’s happening anywhere else. But I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday, and no one jinx 2021!

Gah, he’s so cute

Big Changes

I didn’t actually do it like this, but it was too funny not to share

Novice, baby!

And perhaps the biggest change (yes, even bigger than quitting my job)…

2020. What a year.

Discussion Board: Riding During ‘Rona

It’s been forever and a day since I did a any sort of post, let alone a DB post and I HAD to break the cycle of horse show posts!

Gah, I love horse shows

Pre-Pandemic, my routine was gym from 6-7, work from 8-4, then ride from 4:30-6:30, then home. Then two days before the shutdowns, we moved from 20-25 minutes from the barn to across the street and everything came to a standstill.

Hard to sit and do 1st grade school work when you know the horses are RIGHT. THERE.

Except riding. Being that in that close proximity and having literally no other place to go saw me riding like I’d never ride again. Since I just could now just pop over and I was working from home, I started taking 2 lessons/week with Dressage Trainer K in addition to going up to Trainer B’s to take 2 lessons/week on Leo, who was staying with him until the end of May for a smooth transition.

Someone turned fancy during the pandemic

So many lessons at Trainer B’s

So then my schedule looked more like:

5:30-7:30: Work

7:30 Wake up kids and get them started on school

8:00-10:30: Work

10:30-12:00: Lesson or ride P

12:00-2:00: Work

2:00-5:00 Drive to Trainer B’s for Leo

5:00-7:00: Work

7:00: Dinner, bed, etc.

Now things are a bit more tricky. With the kids having to do live virtual classes, it’s impossible for me to leave or to get my own work done during the T.D.’s 1st grade block of 8:30-10:10. And with Leo back at my home barn , going to Trainer B’s requires more time than it took me to zip up there in my little car. So now my day looks like:

5:30-7: Wake up, either work or crossfit; depending on deadlines

7:00-8:30: Work

8:30-10:10: Tiniest Dictator’s school

10:10-12:00: Work

12:00-1:30: Ride*

1:30-4:30: Work

4:30-7:30: Kids taekwondo (M-Th; I have to take them if Husband’s out of town, which he usually is)

* Lessons at Trainer B’s require Husband to be home

So that leaves me with basically one slot per day to ride. And Leo typically takes that slot, except on days off, which means he gets worked 5-6x/week and P gets ridden 1-2 days, unless Husband is in town. But Husband has been traveling so much (these last 2 weeks he’s been gone 7 out of the last 10 business days) so the weeks P gets more happen, but not frequently.

How I feel doing 1st grade “school” and sitting through 3 hours of taekwondo

It’s kind of a bummer, watching my riding time dwindle down, but I guess it’s really no different now than it was when the kids were in school and I was at the office, though seems like a distant memory now.

Back to riding under lights, I ‘spose

So how has COVID impacted your riding? Better, worse, or the same?

Windridge HT: Cross Country!

So there we were, sitting dead last after show jumping (even though that was due to a scoring error on their part, but I figured I’d deserved to be in last…totes rational), but thankfully the fun part was coming.

Until there was mishap after mishap on XC (at all levels) and BN rider after BN rider came off of XC looking dejected after one or more stops. Even Trainer B came off course on a client’s horse and looked quite grim as he described how spooky the course was. The CD had set a few jumps right in the woods, when the horses go from full sun to darkness and then immediately have to jump and horses were backing off right and left- no pun intended.

Horses were spooking like crazy at jump 1 with the mulch, but this was pretty much the replica of Jump 1 at Chatt Hills so I wasn’t really worried

2 was just a ramp. We like ramps.

3

You jumped 4 and then immediately turned right to an up bank- my first up bank with Leo ever!

He nailed this

We’ve never jumped anything like this before with all the brush, and people were freaking out about it, but I had the feeling Leo wouldn’t care (spoiler alert: I was right)

Now this one, I was a little worried Leo would back off to since there’s water right behind it. And then we had to take that land bridge on the right and I had no idea how he’d react

I couldn’t believe these cute little rolltops claimed so many victims but the woods/light made it spooky (for some…wait til you see the helmet cam). We actually did 4 this time instead of 3!

This was another one that went from full sun to dark

Then an easy jump out of the woods

Lil cabin

12

The water…dun dun dun!

Then a little table was second to last

I’m told horses don’t like these mushroom jumps because of the gap at the bottom, but check the helmet cam to see Leo’s reaction

Warmup was quite busy so Trainer B had me trot a jump 3 times and then sent us right to the start box.

My friend took a video of us in warmup and sent me this screenshot with the caption “Majestic” bahahaha. Warmup Leo at his finest!

And we were off!

Jumps 1-3:

Jumps 11-13:

Jump 14:

Helmet cam!

We were ONE second away from getting speed faults, so that gave us a double clear round and moved us up to 8th (aka, NOT LAST).

Now…to work on show jumping…sigh.

Would rather do this

Windridge HT: Dressage & SJ

I swear I do other things besides show. I’ve started at least 6 different posts about non-show things, then I get busy, then I go to a show, and, well, here we are.

We headed on up to Windridge last Friday (yes, I’m a week late with this) afternoon, with Husband, kids, and the dog in tow. Since my trailer sleeps one, we rented this RV through rvshare.com and 10/10 recommend. It’s like AirBNB for RVs, and this one did not disappoint.

Leo settled in much better than he did at VA, Husband made best friends with everyone around us (it’s what he does and why he’s a kickass salesman), we had a cookout with everyone on the team at our RV, and then got some shut eye because it was going to be a long day with 7 horses going the next day.

Husband brought the grill and had a serious spread going for breakfast and dinner. And how adorable is Adele at her first horse show?

Saturday morning, I did a pre-ride on Leo, then he had some bodywork done by a friend of Trainer B’s. I don’t know what voodoo he performed, but Leo went from super tight from his jaw to his hip, to fluffy, bouncy muscles (serious scientific terms there).

Relaxing with his ‘Merica mask on

The test wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful. The footing in all 3 rings was absolutely horrendous, as they had just been put in and way too much sand had been added. The ring I was in was the best of the three, at least, but the corner by M was trashed so I lost some points because when I went into the corner, Leo got angry and when I bypassed the corner, it showed a “loss of bend.” Trainer B and I have been working on a specific ride for the right lead canter, and he warned me the judge was going to hate it…and she did (5.5, lolz). But whatevs. We survived.

Gaits: 7.0 “Lovely type” (Duuuuhhh)

Impulsion: 6.0 “Needs bend for smoother test.” (And not boggy footing. That would help, too)

Submission: 5.5 “Some resistance today.” (Ya think? We were in a sand pit)

Rider position: 6.0 “Work leg to create more supple connection.” (Uhhh, ok…)

Final score: 36.1

Next was SJ, and it was going to be first time we’d done SJ on grass, as Windridge sets up on the XC course. I was more than a little nervous, especially when Rabid Antelope Leo tried to come out over the few jumps we quickly did in warmup before it got crazy in there.

So I go in, and I just feel like we’re bolting around. I came out going, “He was so wild!” and Trainer B looks at me and says, “Watch the video.”

Then he came back over and said, “Still think he was wild?”

They did screw up and give me 4.0 time penalties instead of 0.4 for the one second I was over, but I was to distraught by my horrible riding to care. All I know is that Warmup Leo totally psychs me out. And I had no good answer for Trainer B when he asked, “How come you ride so slow in show jumping, but you ride so fast on cross country?”

Because I ackshually LIKE cross country…which, thankfully, was next!

Virginia International: XC

I’d be totally lying if I didn’t admit to being way nervous about XC, but for totally a different reason than in times past. Virginia is extremely hilly and Leo doesn’t have stud holes (that’s about to change), so we figured he’d be fine as long as the course was on the drier side. Which it was when I first walked it. Then it poured two days before and the whole Virginia Horse Center was sloppy. And the one day divisions ran and TORE UP the ground before and after all the jumps. Then it poured AGAIN the night before. Trainer B and I were scheduled to walk it the morning of my XC, and I steeled myself for the possibility of having to scratch.

But while it was definitely a bit slippery, it wasn’t as bad as it had been before, so we decided to go ahead and run. And I was puuuuumped.

Just a log to get going

A little rampy thing at the top of a hill

Downhill to this table

Then left to this vertical

I so wanted to jump the N jump to the right of this one

S curve to this thing

Little ditch and wall

Then up a steep hill to this (alleged) 4 stride

With a sharp left and straight downhill to this table

Then up the hill to this water

Over another ramp

And a right hand turn to the ditch

Up the hill and over this bench

I wished this was more of a mini version of the N one to the left, instead of just a vertical

And a plain rolltop to cap it all off

Leo knows when it’s XC time. As soon as we turned the corner and he spotted the course, he was like YAAAASSS QUEEN and put on his fancy pants. We warmed up mostly alone on the flat across from the crowded jumping area, then when that cleared out a bit, headed over to jump a couple. Where Leo promptly tried to run away with me 3 times. And then flip his lid when another horse decided he couldn’t EVEN deal. So it wasn’t the greatest feeling on the way to the start box, but as soon as we were on course, Leo was ALL business.

The horse was so perfect there’s not even words to describe how much fun I had. He went right into the water, didn’t so much as blink at a single jump and our real only imperfection was doing the 4 stride in, um, 3.

We had one speed fault, but an otherwise amazing clear round!

No problem over 3

High knees

Ramps are zero problem

And my awesome people got some great video

He definitely came off XC strutting his stuff and almost as proud of himself as I was of him. And while he definitely loves some XC, when I got him home and he dropped to his knees to roll, then got distracted by all the grass and tore off mouthful after mouthful until I forced him to get up.

Literally have never seen a horse do this

Until next time, Virginia!

❤

Virginia International Horse Trials: Dressage & Show Jumping

So, I did a thing and went to another horse show without telling anyone. I have this super weird hang-up where I don’t really share my plans with anyone- likely from the days of P where I would tell everyone, then I’d get a big ol’ E and have to explain it. But LiveScores always outs me in the end!

Me responding to all the texts of “Are you in Virginia??” that I got

Anyways, so I entered Leo in the BN Rider two-day division, since that didn’t have too many entries in it (I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be disappointed to qualify for AECs), but due to a lack of entries, they combined us all into one giant Open division. Le sigh.

We were stabled in Barn 7, which has stalls lining the sides of the barn, and a small arena in the middle, and is connected to the Reel Arena, an indoor sandwiched between barns 7 & 8. Our division’s dressage happened to be assigned to the Reel Arena and I thought, “Yes! I’ve got an advantage.”

This place is seriously massive

Except…no, I didn’t, as Leo HATED the barn, hated the covered arena, and everytime I’d walk him past the chute that led to the indoor, he’d freak. He repeatedly refused to go in his stall after walks/handgrazing, and I had to resort to sending him forward with a lunge whip to get him in. Literally the only time the horse took a deep breath was when I would take him outside and away from the barn. He was clearly so unhappy that I actually considered withdrawing and taking him home. And this was with a tube of UlcerGard per day.

But I figured I’d take it one phase at a time and see what happened. We’d start with dressage warmup and if he didn’t lose his marbles, we’d do the test. Rinse and repeat for each phase. While he was definitely more tense than usual for warmup, there were no explosions, so we headed down the chute and into Leo’s first indoor experience! Where he took one look and went:

BUT the horse pulled himself together and obediently did everything I asked (except the free walk…still non-existent), to score us a 35.3. Unfortunately I never got around to picking up my test so no idea what the breakdown of scores ended up being. I can pretty much guarantee all the comments are about tension though.

We only had about an hour before SJ started, so Leo went back into his stall (willingly, for the first time) to stand in front of the fan while I switched out his bit (he goes in a loose ring KK Ultra for dressage and a nathe for SJ/XC) and pulled out his braids. Trainer B’s awesome groom had done a beautiful job braiding but I figured I’d need some mane to grab. AND put on my new-to-me Lund grippy reins that Mandy oh-so-generously sent to me so I could actually hold onto my reins in the air (seriously, thank you, girl! Lifesaver). Then it was time for….dun dun dun…SJ warmup. Trainer B and I had discussed how to avoid Rabid Antelope Warmup Leo, and Virginia had just the answer for us. While the main jump warmup was being held in the Wiley Arena, the actual SJ courses were all in the Dee Dee Complex. The end of the Dee Dee Complex was fenced off as a “holding area” for the rider who was next to wait in while the rider on course finished up. There was a single vertical in the holding area, so we ended up w/t Leo in the Moore Arena, which is the covered next to the Dee Dee Complex, then when I was on deck, going to the holding area where I jumped the vertical 3x before cantering straight in to do our course.

No shenanigans, no explosions, just a perfect warmup that led straight into the most rideable course I’ve ever had on him. A little TOO rideable, ackshually, as when I half-halted between jumps 3 & 4, which was supposed to be a seven stride, he came way back, then we put in 8 and the distance out just wasn’t there. But the line from 5 to 6 worked perfectly, he jumped 7 beautifully, then I did what I do best and buried him to the oxer into the 2 stride. Because of course I would.

Still, I was thrilled with him, thrilled with me, and maybe a bit weak with relief that Rabid Antelope Warmup Leo hadn’t reared (literally…no pun intended) his ugly head.

Even though I totally chased him over jump 1, look at those knees!

XC, aka the whole reason I love going to Virginia International, was the next day!

Chatt Hills HT: Cross Country

After our disastrous (to me, because I overthink things) SJ showing, I spent the night questioning if I should run Leo XC. Maybe I just needed to go home and work on stuff some more. Maybe he needed to get “fixed” by Trainer B before I attempted to jump him again. If you can’t tell, I desperately don’t want Leo to be a stopper.

My XC time was 12:47 so I spent the AM packing, helping the team and trying not to think of how a couple fences would definitely get me eliminated on P. Old habits die hard, yo.

Jump one had a lot of horses peeking at the mulch below

2 was straightforward but P has stopped at Windridge’s replica of this

Jump 3 was the same for T and N, and caused issues at all 3 levels, though I’m not exactly sure why

The only filler that consistently seems to spook Leo is straw at the base. So great that straw was the filler for the only combo on course

5 strides to the out

Then you crossed a road and jumped this. It was next to the T version and looked teensy

So…neither Leo nor I have ever jumped this kind of jump before

Oh the water. Wait til you see the helmet cam

And a little boat jump a few strides out of the water

I had to walk all the way to the back field a second time because I could not for the life of me remember where this jump was, it was so nondescript

Another little table

I’d be lying if I said this jump didn’t give me some pause. I was wishing it was next to the T version

This was another jump that had N and T versions and caused all sorts of issues.

I accidentally took a picture of the N one, and didn’t realize until my photographer friend told me yesterday that BN had the option of jumping the hanging log on the left of the BN ditch. Booooo.

2nd to last jump was a little boring, TBH

I don’t think Leo has ever jumped brush, but otherwise it was similar to jump one

Luckily on my way down to XC, which was quite the hike from the barn, I rode with another adult ammy in my division and we got to chat about our horses, which made me way less nervous about the potential for Warmup Leo to return. And thankfully warmup wasn’t super crowded and I was able to nip in the bud a few antics and have a not-so-bad warmup, despite the announcer saying things like “elimination” and “jump 3 has ANOTHER stop,” and “a big spook at jump 12” (the table with wings). I was wishing for some ear plugs at that point.

Then it was our turn and we were off for our first BN together!

This was the 3rd time ever that I can remember having fun DURING the course. The first time was of course with C, the horse that started the plan for Leo to begin with. The second time was Leo and I on XC in VA last October at the starter level. This horse just really seems to love XC.

With Trainer B back in FL. He just has this expression all the time on XC.

Except…that water. Oh my, the water. I was SURE they were going to give me a 20 for that. Leo’s always been a little iffy about water, but has seemed to be ok with “regular” looking water, aka, not dyed. He’s given me no issue in either waters at Carolina Horse Park, and gave me no issue in Virginia. But he HAS taken hard looks and/or done the sideways thing at Trainer B’s water, and at both HTs in Florida- all which are dyed turquoise. He jumped that oxer thing so well that it didn’t even occur to me that he wouldn’t go, so it really took me by surprise.

One second all is well and we’re heading straight into the water

And 4.2 seconds later, we’re behind the water

The rest of the course? In love with my horse. Jump 3, which claimed all sorts of victims at BN-T, Trainer B proclaimed to be perfect. The winged table? He didn’t look twice. He’s always seemed good with ditches, but has never seen one like this where it was wider at one end and narrower at the BN side (still kicking myself for not realizing the hanging log was an option), so I sat back and squeezed and he was like, “Oh, faster? Okie dokie.”

Now, it wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and here’s why. I have NO IDEA how fast I’m going on this horse. Like, none. He’s floaty so I think we’re zooming, then I see video and we’re moving in slow-mo. I didn’t wear a watch on course and I thought for sure we were going to get speed faults (I always did on P). WE WERE THE SLOWEST PAIR IN OUR DIVISION/SECTION.

And I guess because we didn’t go BACKWARDS at the water, they didn’t give me a 20, which saw us move back up to 6th!

The most handsomest rabid antelope there ever was

 

Chatt Hills HT: Show Jumping

We were scheduled to show jump at 6:15 PM Saturday evening, but the heavens opened up around 3:30 and this massive storm hung over us for what seemed like forever, pushing everything back by 1.5 hours. It was a mess- stalls had lakes in them and the arena footing was just slop. Something I’ve never ridden Leo in until that point.

Trainer B and I were able to walk about half the course before they started sending riders in, so I stayed to watch a few rounds to know where I was going. And then I had to walk away. I watched about 7 rounds, and in all 7 rounds horses and riders were slipping, pulling rails, and just generally not having a good go of things.

Watching SJ so I know where to go while simultaneously feeling REALLY bad about watching riders have a tough time.

Like, one pair came into the arena as the previous pair was finishing up and the horse ENTERED REARING. Lucky for the horse and rider who were ending their course, that horse didn’t seem to notice. Then the rearing horse jumped jump one and, oh ya know, RAN AWAY with the rider. Legit ran away and they galloped three laps of the entire arena before she managed to pull him up. Then she just left the arena. I felt so bad.

Since the schedule was so messed up, they were just putting riders in order as they came to warmup, so I threw Leo’s tack on to get in line. And wondered if he was perhaps a bit tired, because this is what he was doing the entire time…

I mean…I dunno

But I quickly found out when we stepped foot in the SJ warmup arena that that whole “stall-licking-because-I’m-so-calm-and-bored-with-this-whole-thing was a LIE.

If there is any footage of the first half of my “warmup,” I’ll pay through the nose for it. I didn’t even recognize the horse under me…as he was flinging himself (and me) around like a lunatic. Yes, I had THAT horse. I wished I could trade for the horse that *just* reared and galloped. At one point, when he took a nanosecond of a break from ping-ponging around, a trainer on the rail said with incredible sympathy, “I’ve been where you are. You’re doing great.” The look of pity in her eyes was touching, but I had no time to dwell on it because Leo had caught his breath and off we went for round 6? 7?

And there’s Trainer B in the middle of the arena going, “Ok, now canter!”

But he was right. And Trainer B had already warned me about “Warmup Leo,” but after dressage warmup, I thought he’d been exaggerating and Leo clearly loved me too much to put me in harms way. So…lesson learned. Once I stopped just trying to survive and started making him do things my way, he was like, “FINE,” and we got down to work. Plus, by then the warmup area had calmed down quite a bit (not sure if everyone else had just went to do their rounds or if they left to avoid Leo and I), and Leo got a bit more chill.

But then I found I had a different problem, in that I couldn’t keep a grip on my reins. My Lund ones had finally gone to their death and since they are apparently no longer in business, I went with a type that looked similar…BUT IS NOT. I had gloves on and it was honestly like I had greased my reins.

So here I am, already in my head because I can’t grip my reins, I’m riding a rabid antelope, the footing is a mess, I’ve seen multiple horses slip and slide, and oh yeah, have I ever SJ isn’t really my thang?

Needless to say, Leo is a saint (yes, I’m aware that I just called him a rabid antelope like one sentence ago) because I had NO steering and he still jumped everything. I spent at least 5 strides after every fence trying to get my reins back, and pointed him at fences all wrong. I had explicit instructions to never move him up to a fence- to either sit or whoa a little so he learns to back off fences- and to fences 4 and 5, all I could see was the long one. So while, umm, ewww, at least I didn’t let my (incorrect) instincts take over. But the 2 rails were 100% my fault. I was most disappointed in how I rode the 2 stride. One and two strides are so hard for me, but in the SJ lesson we had the day before leaving for Chatt, I absolutely NAILED the 2 stride. Womp womp.

So the two rails knocked us down to 9th and I spent the hours between 2:00 AM and 4:30 AM watching the above video in slow motion and beating myself up because I definitely, totally ruined my horse forever and it’d be better for him if I didn’t take him XC the next day. And maybe I should sell him to someone more deserving. Ya know. All rational things that one thinks in the middle of the night.

He really did try so hard. Shocked he had energy left after SJ warmup tho

But at the same time, I was the teensiest bit proud of myself. Show jumping has always been my worst phase and I still went in and did the thing, despite being more than a little suspicious of my horse’s mental state.

Leo: Who, me?

XC next!

 

 

Chatt Hills HT: Dressage

So as I mentioned, Leo and I had a great ride around the grounds the evening before. He was surprisingly relaxed and I was happy to get on for dressage warmup on Saturday to pick up right where we’d left off.

After a 20 minute or so warmup, we headed down to the rings, where Leo took one look at the XC courses in the distance and went:

Luckily the judge gave us a little bit of time and a couple laps around the arena gave me 90% of Warmup-Leo back. Which, as you can see, was still AH-MAZING.

Gaits: 7.0
Impulsion: 6.5
Submission: 7.0 (this one made me laugh)
Rider: 6.5
Score: 30.3

Now, I will say, I thought a couple of the marks were a bit generous. I’m not sure I would’ve scored his canter transitions as an 8 and 7.5, respectively, but then again, I’m not a judge so what do I know?

His free walk has always been pretty non-existent, but also something we haven’t worked a ton on at this point. I was so proud of his medium walks, because he has a tendency to fling his head in the air randomly at the walk, but held himself together. And I could feel the halt wasn’t perfect, but I also wanted THAT halt on the books, before it devolved into this:

So plenty to work on and improve…as always. But considering his average score over his show career of four events is 35.95, I was over the moon with the 30.3.

4th place, baby!