Ketchup! (warning: long!)

I've been working a lot lately, both in the sense of long hours and the sense of being busy-busy while I'm at my desk, so I apologize for the lack of updates, for anyone following my blog. :)

So what's happened since the Derby? Well ... turns out I separated my shoulder and sprung my ribs. The shoulder separation was only a class 1, so it was as minor as they get, but boy did it hurt. I ended up taking 3 weeks completely off from riding to let my shoulder heal up. Better 3 weeks now than 6-8 later, if I re-injured the joint, right? My ribs are still sore, but they're healing. They take a while.

So in the last 3 weeks, I've been back in the saddle, working hard at things like canter departs and getting Reveille to accept the bridle better. One of the things that the dressage judge commented on at the derby was that she's resistant to my hand, which is the gospel truth. So we're working on it, and I am proud of the progress we're making in the medium walk and free walk! It's not consistent yet, so that's step 3, and then step 4 is getting the acceptance in the trot. We're approaching the "nose slightly ahead of the vertical" place, woohoo!

Up until last Thursday, everything I'd been doing was on the flat, no jumping. This last weekend, though, was Event Camp part II -- woohoo again!!

So I asked MT if I could have a jumping lesson before camp, just so that I'd not be in the position of not having jumped for a month before a weekend full of jumping. A few weather-related shenanigans later, Rev and I had a lesson on Thursday night. I had a really good time, actually, and I discovered that a lot of my worry and fear had dissipated after Rafter K and 3 weeks off. (Probably because, during that 3 weeks, I spent about 75% of my time thinking about jumping and how to do it better!) We weren't perfect, but we did a lot of things right, and I learned some new details.

Okay, I thought, we were ready for camp!

So. Friday we had 2 cross-country lessons of an hour and a half each. I had an absolute BALL. :) We started cantering fences confidently! I'm really learning how great Rev is to ride over fences, and it was super-fun. It was also super-hot, but ... well, that's summer in Idaho. Friday night, my quads and my core were much more tired than I thought they'd be, though. I'd thought I'd made more progress on the fitness scale!

Um, turns out I'd ridden all of Thursday and all of Friday with my right stirrup an inch shorter than my left. Whoops ... how embarrassing! I *thought* it felt weird!

Anyway, Saturday was more jumping fun, and a couple of other riders joined us. I love having more people in the group lessons (up to a point), because I get to pick up so much from their rides in addition to my own.

But by Saturday late evening, I was absolutely wiped out. I'd pushed past muscle fatigue into ... well, whatever comes after that. Enough that I overslept on Sunday morning and missed my course walk! ACK! Fortunately, the course was simple, and we'd jumped everything on the course over the previous two days.

Turns out, though, that all that fatigue and sleepiness was probably directly related to the fact that I came down with stomach flu about 30 minutes before I was supposed to ride the full course. I tell ya, there's nothing like leaping off your horse, shoving the reins at a bystander, and then bolting for the bathroom. :/ I was pretty annoyed at myself for getting sick right then -- it couldn't have waited an hour? I really wanted to finish camp, but I have a rule about throwing up -- one and done.

Anyway, I'm at work today, maybe inadvisably, but I have to earn money for our next outing next week!

We're heading to McCall for the Jug Mountain Classic, and I'm excited. :) A friend is generously giving Rev and me a ride up there, since I don't have a truck or trailer. I'm thrilled to have another chance to get Rev out and about, and what's more, Karen O'Connor is doing lessons at the show! I can't afford a lesson with her, and at this point it's pretty well over our heads, but I am definitely going to audit everything I can and absorb as much as possible.

So this week -- after today, which is a well-deserved rest day for me and Rev both -- we'll be practicing Training Level test 1 and balance in the canter, and we'll head north on Friday morning.

Squee!

It was only a derby. :)

That went, overall, very well. :D

THE GOOD:

* Reveille was a star. She was pretty calm and quite rideable all weekend, even on Saturday when she was somewhat insecure.

* Our jumping rounds went beautifully -- not a hesitation or a spook at a jump anywhere.

* Stabling was comfortable, and Rev was a good girl with new horses.

* We -- the folks from our barn -- had a great time hanging out together and supporting each other.

* I met a lot of really nice people who I'll look forward to seeing again.

* I got to hang out with a lot of really nice people who I already know and only get to see at shows.

* The weather was beautiful and perfect.

* The facility we were at was gorgeous -- amazing scenery, lovely arenas and jumps, all of it; and the owner is a nice fellow.

* I felt very confident going into our jump rounds on Sunday -- I felt like I had my ducks in a row, and there was no fear. Just knowing what I needed to do, acknowledging that I could walk Rev if I needed to, and confidence that we'd get through just fine.


THE BAD

* I don't think I'll ever clinic with that particular teacher again. She started us off with obstacles way bigger than any of us were ready for, including a solid obstacle -- those aren't really okay at cross-rails level. She's not a bad teacher, I think, but she's not one I want to take more lessons from.

* The solid obstacle I mentioned ... well, it was much bigger than we'd ever jumped before. I decided we'd go for it anyway. Rev jumped it the first time, which was good, but I came way, way off balance after. I should have had my feet farther forward. I would have been able to recover if Rev hadn't started bucking. :/ As it was, I cussed once on the way down, then landed on my shoulder and ribcage, rolled all the way over, and rolled all the way onto my feet. I didn't think much of it at the time, but as it turns out, that hurt kind of a lot. I think I damaged some of the soft tissue in my shoulder, as well as an impressive deep muscle bruise. Go, go, gadget ice/ibuprofen/heat.

* Rev was kind of bratty when we weren't jumping. This taught me a few things: one, I can be much more forceful than I was being, and everything will be okay. Two, I shouldn't start warming her up for jumping so early. By the time we went for our cross-rails round, she was pissed. off. at not really doing anything for so long. She was ready to GO. So that's a good thing to know.

* Dressage ride times at 7:30 AM SUCK. SUCK SUCK SUCK. I'm so much better in the saddle when I've been able to get some sleep.

* I don't think I'll tent-camp at a show again. I'll sleep in the back of the car, in the back of the horse trailer, whatever ... I might even sleep in a much larger tent, but not my little dome tent again.



So ... yeah. A success. I will probably post more later, but for now, must work.

Holy crap, it's tomorrow?!

So, yeah. My original plan didn't work out quite the way I'd planned. I ended up having to work a bit late last night, then had to pick up a cot and a camp chair (which took me two stores to do), then had to get some food put together for the show, et cetera. I didn't get to ride, which is a real bummer.

I'll ride tonight, though, and get my tack and barn accessories loaded into the trailer. Then home to pack up the home stuff, test my tent, pack up the dogs, get the cooler ready, do laundry, pack the laundry, and try to get some sleep.

I doubt I'll have a chance to bathe Rev, but maybe I'll find someone to hold her while I wash her tail at least. She'll be clean enough if I just do the hot toweling bit, especially because this is just. a. derby.

Rev has nice neat feet, and new shoes on the front, too. Cliff decided to put nifty aluminum jumping shoes on her, and it's pretty fun. Very shiny!

We had a jumping lesson on Wednesday, too. I got some things right that I hadn't been able to get right in the past, and MT had some good things to say after the lesson. I did, however, find myself spooked about jumping her out of the canter, even though we didn't have any trouble with it. I just need to jump a thousand more jumps, honestly, and lose the nerves. I WILL get over it. As much because I really want to get over it as anything.

I also discovered that certain movements make my back hurt like a bitch. :/ I jumped ahead of Rev once, and when we landed my back seized up and it felt like things were grinding against each other ... ow. Fortunately, Rev seems to know when things are really wrong, as opposed to me just being worried, and she takes very good care of me then. She just walked slowly to the center, without me having to steer her much, and let me move around until I got my back unlocked and my head stopped swimming. Good horse.

But yes, progress is being made. Mantra: I have time. Mantra: It's okay to be scared. Acknowlege the fear, and then focus on what you have to DO. Feel vs. act -- choose act.

I also decided, while pondering fear, that the important part of the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, as written by Frank Herbert, is not "I must not fear."

No, the important part is: "And when [the fear] has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." I, and the knowledge of things I need to do. Thank you, Paul Atreides.

My assigned blackboard lines:

"I must not be nervous. If I'm nervous, Reveille will be nervous, and that doesn't help."

I need to write this on the blackboard 500 times, and I need to not be thinking of things to be nervous about while I do it!

Meanwhile, allow me to demonstrate my neurosis. I'm listing out the things I need to do/get/pack before the teeny tiny little derby:

THURSDAY

* Get tire fixed
* Get wiper fluid
* Brakes?
* empty cooler
* Ride!!

FRIDAY

* Ride!!
* Clean tack
* Grocery shopping, unless I do it Thursday
* Pack car
* Load trailer with tack
* Bathe horse?


SATURDAY

8 AM leave for Rafter K



PACKING LIST

TACK

* dressage saddle
* jump saddle
* dressage show pad
* dressage fleece pad
* jump fleece pad
* jump show pad
* bridle
* breastplate
* side reins


ACCESSORIES

* white brushing boots
* blue show boots
* brushes, etc
* stud chain
* sit-tite
* longe line
* longe whip
* large blue bucket
* hay net
* small yellow bucket
* dish soap (small)
* towel


MY CLOTHES

* helmet
* schooling cover
* velvet cover
* event cover
* event vest
* show shirt
* show coat
* schooling breeches
* show breeches
* white breeches
* event polo
* bandanas
* boots
* spurs
* gloves
* 3x underwear
* 3x socks
* Smartwool socks
* black polo
* 2x t-shirt
* sweatshirt
* black thermal
* jeans
* jammies
* warm hat

MY ACCESSORIES

* bathroom kit
* bug spray
* sunblock
* tent
* cot
* chair
* sleeping bag
* pillow
* medicines


SHOPPING

* cot
* chair
* bug spray
* Powerade Zero
* water
* Luna bars, 3
* ice
* carrots
* green onions
* steak for fire meat


FOOD TO PACK

* marinate fire meat
* rice/dragon noodles?
* veggies
* hard boiled eggs
* cookies
* tinfoil


Why YES, I'm over-packing a bit, especially with the clothes. Why do you ask? Seriously, it'll be in the high 40s at night and in the morning at the show ground, so I'll need warm clothes for Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Anyway. It's JUST A DERBY. JUST A DERBY. JUST a derby. My horse is five. I'm not a professional. If things don't go perfectly, that's totally understandable. Totally. That's what derbies are FOR.

Relax, self.

Derby planning and excitement

So it turns out that Reveille is a whole 'nother horse under saddle when she's in heat. She's forward, energetic, willing, and listening to me. 0.o This is a surprise, to say the least. She's a pain in the neck on the ground, especially on the way back to her pasture, but under saddle, she's a dream. Effortless to ride. Workable. Strange!! I'll take it, though, and I won't complain.

In other news, I'm getting stupid excited about the event derby coming up. It'll be our first show off-site! It'll be her first trailer ride in three years, too. I hope she loads okay -- I have no reason to think she won't, honestly, except that she hasn't done it in a while. With MT and TD there, though, it shouldn't be a problem. They have experience and authority.

I do have a little trepidation, though, about how she'll be at a new place. The last time I took her to a new place -- three years ago, almost! -- she was more than fine. Then again, whenever we get out into the cross-country field here, she gets really look-y. And she's definitely known to spook at things in the field, even at home. I guess the only thing I can do is ride defensively and pre-emptively, like I've learned to do. Just use the experience I got at horse camp: "Even if you do have a problem, you'll ride through it anyway." And as MT put it, "just remember what you have to do, and do it, and don't think about being scared."

So I'm going in with the assumption that this will be BIG FUN!, and that it won't be scary. :) I'm going to assume that Rev will be a star.

I'm having a good time planning for the event, too, oddly enough. I have a list made of things I need to bring/pack/do. I love the anticipation of events! :)

I do need to find out what TD's schedule is for Monday -- she'll be staying an extra day to teach lessons at a friend's barn near where the derby is, so I'm wondering if she will have time to put a ride on Reveille. Alternatively ... I'm pondering whether I can take Monday off, or just part of Monday, or something, to join in the lesson at the friend's barn. We'll see.

So yes. Excited! *bounce*

The promised pictures!

Pictures from last Sunday's Event Derby!



In the warmup arena. Good trot!



Circling the arena before entering at A. I love this trot and this expression on her face!



About to enter at A, at a nice energetic trot. Energy was the main thing I wanted out of this test, since it's been something we've been working on for a while -- energy and a good trot. I think I got it quite well.



Hey! Wake up, horse! We have a dressage test to ride here! :D




Good stretchy walk! She's stretching down well, and she's just shy of overtracking in the walk. We got a 7 on this movement -- it's even a coefficient movement!



Finished with dressage -- me: "Come on, smile for the camera!" Her: "Can we just go in and have carrots now?"



I love the alertness in this photo -- she wasn't entirely sure about the crowd on the course here, but we did fine with it. This was, I think, our first round, ground poles.



Again with the alertness. Her face sharpens up so much when she's alert -- she loses some of the Quarter Horse blockiness and picks up the warmblood refinement.



Another shot I just love of Rev's attitude. I love her neck in this one, too -- the work we've been doing on the longe line in side reins really shows. Even though it's just a ground pole, she gives it her attention.



Jump! Such a pretty little horse. :)


I'll get a picture of my ribbon collection tonight. :)

Long, but exciting! *

I am just unspeakably excited. :) Rev and I had two good lessons this weekend -- one good because we did well, one good because we learned something new and fun and did okay at it!

Saturday's flat lesson was really, really awesome. Finally, for once, we did as well in lessons with MT as we can do in practice! I was able to get her moving forward, and then push even a little more forward from there at MT's instruction. I was riding well, and my rein contact was good, and overall, it was an awesome ride. I was so pleased with her and myself. :) MT said it was the best he's seen me ride, which I could feel for myself too, so I couldn't do any of that self-deprecating stuff. If I can ride that well and if Rev can go that well in the Derby on Sunday, I can win the class. :) These things are won and lost in dressage, at low levels. Sometimes high levels, too.

After the lesson, I mentioned to MT that I'd signed up for the crossrails class in next weekend's Derby and asked if that was okay with him. He asked if I'd trotted Rev over any crossrails yet, and I said, "Well, no. The rule is 'no jumping outside of lessons,' so I followed the rule." I wondered if the rule had changed or if I was supposed to assume it didn't apply to me -- that sort of thing had been known to get me in trouble as a kid, so I don't do it any more. :) If there's a rule, I assume it means me. Anyway, MT said, "Oh. Right, you're right. Good answer -- I didn't realize that was a trick question! Well, let's pop her over a crossrail. What are you doing tomorrow?"

So it was set -- jumping lesson for Sunday morning, woot! I resolved to not be nervous, because, well, I wasn't. Somehow the prospect of jumping Rev didn't and doesn't scare me at all. It might oughta, but ... it doesn't.

On Saturday, though, we'd put another horse in Rev's pasture, another mare. I was not in any way expecting Rev to act the way she did on Sunday morning -- usually, when she's been in with other horses, she left them with no problem. In her TN home, she lived with a mare and filly, and it was never a problem to take her out of the pasture away from the others. But Saturday morning, you'd have thought I'd taken her away from her mother! She cried and hollered and danced around, all antsy because she'd left the other mare. 0.o I mean, I know this happens to other horses, but it's the first time it's ever happened with Rev. So after she squirreled around in the crossties, I ended up just throwing her on the longe line in her halter, just to get her attention. Run around for a few minutes, then start lots of quick transitions. Get a handle on her brain.

That worked, so I got her tacked up. Bridling her turned out to be a PITA, but I prevailed. And back on the longe line she went, all tacked up. I finally got most of her brain engaged, and got mounted up.

MT started us with some basic flatwork, which was nowhere near as good as it had been the day before. But I prevailed, mostly. Enough to move on to working the two-point.

Two things: One, if there were ever an argument for losing weight, two-point is it. I shouldn't have to support so much damn weight, and neither should Rev.

Two, MT teaches a very different style/approach than I learned as a kid and used as a teenager. He teaches eventing, and I learned hunt seat equitation. Apples and oranges. Not quite apples and moon rocks, but different nonetheless. In hunt seat equitation, my feet were much farther back than MT was having me put them. It's much more about angles, the way MT teaches it, than it ever was before. And every time we jumped, he'd talk about the foot/leg position and how much more secure it was on the back side of the jump.

One thing I did find a use for that I'd learned from Stormy, the sainted Hackney-Arab jumper I rode for several years, was the use of the three-point seat when approaching fences. I had to use it to slow Stormy down, but with Rev, I kind of instinctively used it on our last jump of the lesson, because I needed to ride her forward.

I don't think I consciously thought about three-point, just that she didn't have enough forward to be able to jump well, even over a small crossrail. So I rode her forward. And I'm damned if that wasn't our best effort of the day. MT said she gave me a good, cute jump, and it was the only one where I landed with her, and we cantered off calmly, rather than a step of canter and then trot. Every other time, I'd been a little rigid on the landing and not moving with her.

So overall, I learned a lot -- my takeaways from this are "practice two-point in the trot and canter" and "practice trot tempo and canter transitions in your jumping saddle." I can do that. :)

But most of all? I had a great time. :) I totally want to go do more! *dances happily* Honestly, I've been waiting for this since the day I bought Reveille. I had a strong hunch that she'd be a good jumper, and MT agrees with me that she will. She seemed to really enjoy it, too! She didn't quail, even a little bit. And neither did I. *beam* There was no hesitation (at least, none that wasn't caused by me not getting her forward enough on the approach to the jump). MT said that going in the crossrails class is definitely doable, and we'll have a clinic with him on Saturday, too.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful thing. *SQUEEEEEEEEE!*


* Obligatory: That's what SHE said!