Quick Caber wrap-up before bed.

It's late, so ... here are the highlights:

* Apollo finished with one rail and no time in SJ, for a total score of 37.8 and a fourth place.  Hooray!  Go Apollo!

* The other horses, except for the stallion, had some difficulties: total green-bean moments for one, another uncharacteristically lost his ever-loving mind in SJ, a third decided coffins just weren't his thing, et cetera.

* This ended up being a lesson in Grit It Out for me, honestly.  All kinds of stuff, from the stomach flu that dropped half of us over the weekend and horses that decided not to come out to play, happened, and everyone just dug in and did what they needed to do.  Everyone supported each other, and everyone got on and rode at their prescribed times.  Eventers are SO EFFING COOL, y'all.  I was deeply impressed by the attitude everyone showed, and it made me think about my own riding and attitude.

* Next time, I will:

       o   Have studs and stud holes for Apollo's shoes
       o   Not forget my saddle (I don't know why I didn't think I'd need it; I was planning on riding on Sunday all along)
       o   Bring more food to share for dinners. Maybe tamales, a la my best friend's camping tradition, or marinated steak to grill or something.  Chorizo went over well, too.
       o   Not use Expedia for hotel
       o   Probably stay on site, especially if I can arrange a new tent
       o   Braid Apollo myself, just for fun
       o   Actually be entered to ride!   :D



I didn't get any pictures of SJ, but here are a few more of XC, taken by a friend with Sunsprite Sporthorses:

Cantering along between fences 3 and 4.  Apollo is requiring some riding here ...

Love this horse, love this photo! Good ride, Attila!
Note to self: get blue and white XC boots of some sort.

Caber Farm, dressage and XC

Way too tired for words, so I'll keep it short:  Attila rode like a boss today on both the horses.  Apollo put in a lovely test, with some tension issues, and is sitting in third on a 33.8.  Go Attila and Apollo!

XC was not an easy ride for Attila or an easy go for Apollo; Apollo found several parts of it quite spooky.  He managed to cope, though, mainly through Attila's excellent riding.   They came through double clear and are still sitting on a 33.8 going into stadium on Sunday.

Here, have pictures!  Lots of pictures!

The Shot!  I got it!

Lovely canter, neck a bit short

More canter work, looking better (if blurrier)

Motion!  I think this is the best of the canter shots I got

Entering at A riding Sunsprite Tatiana

Fancy mare, no?

Blurry and so fancy!

Fancy in the canter, too

The only shot I got of Apollo and Attila jumping XC, and it's awkward.  Figures!  :)

Motoring away from fence 2 ... the last time on course it was relatively easy and straightforward.  :)

Hi from Caber Farm Horse Trials!

We got in yesterday evening, and everybody settled in beautifully -- horses and humans alike.  Apollo (once he got ON the trailer, the stinker) traveled like a champ.   Camp is comfy.  AR and I are at a hotel off site, which turned out to be a huge blessing for a variety of reasons (as well as a pain for other reasons, but those are resolved and happy now).   Our resident European rode Apollo a couple of times yesterday, and Apollo was going SO well, so strongly, and moving big!  Good boy!  So pleased with him.

Here, have some pictures!  I don't have time for too many words -- dressage starts at early o'clock tomorrow, and then XC in the afternoon for the Beginner Novice crowd. Busy day!!

Barley the vicious pibble. She'll lick you to bits.

Corgi mob!  Sorcha, Annie, Sparky, and Sam

Camp: Resident European, TD, and TW

Handsome Apollo; neck a bit curled and up, but nice

So nice!

I love this shot -- look at that canter!  That tail!

Camp: MT and AR

Beer beer beer tiddly beer beer beer tiddly beer

O I die!  I wish I'd gotten this shot a fraction of a second later, but still. Love this horse.

Another a fraction of a second off, but still okay

Active!

Success!

I am so pleased with Apollo that I can hardly find words.  :)

(SprinklerBandit came out to cheer and TAKE PICTURES!  Everyone cheer for TSB!)

During the warmup day at the show, he was rather up and looky.  When I longed him, he threw a couple of bucks, ran around, and was generally what I'd expect from a horse at a show.  We had some initial agita over the fact that even though the warmup was supposed to be set up at 9 AM, when we got there around 10:15 there were no jumps in sight.  Not even in a clump in the middle of the arena.  But we were nice to the organizers, and ME's husband offered to help set up the jumps if they would just get them to the arena, and things got rolling.   (I mention this because there were a couple of people, at least one of them a trainer, who ended up screaming and yelling at the poor organizer rather than being reasonable and offering to help make things better instead of actively making things more difficult.)   And of course, when MT arrived to warm us up, the organizer exclaimed, "Oh no, MT is here! We have to get these jumps set up!"   Hehehehe.

Trotting along in warmup (on show day, actually); me asking him to flex right a bit

Anyway, after warming up and working both Apollo and me through nerves and focus issues, we walked into the jump arena, and suddenly Apollo knew his job.   :D   He looked around and basically said "Oh.  Right.  I know how to do this.  We're good."   He warmed up like a pro -- it was really just me that needed work.   My mission for the entire show was leg on, shoulders back, look for your next fence, let him go on, and don't jump ahead.

By the end of the warmup, I felt pretty confident about the next day.

Next day, I got to see just how awesome Apollo is: he unloaded calmly, looked around, and when we walked up to the warmup area ... he was just about all business.  A little bit of looking at the new sights, but once I put him on the longe line, he was the same horse I ride at home.  Completely the same.  Maybe a bit tense, but I know that if I'd been working on getting him into a dressage frame, he'd have done it.  Total professional.

Just jumping a little warmup X

Jumped a few warmup fences, generally got myself in order, and it was off to the arena!

I have to say here that I am SO glad I'm an eventer.  We have time and order of go, and if you're not ready at your time without a major reason, well ... the show goes on.  There's no downtime, no stretches of 20 - 45 minutes with perfectly good jumps/weather/footing and no one in the arena jumping the jumps.  (Unless someone got hurt or there's a hold on course for some reason.)   At this show, there were several stretches of time when there was ... nothing ... going on in the arena.  I was there, prepared, warmed up, and ready to go, and ... nothing.  In the middle of my 2' class, they actually broke in the middle of my class to have the Walk-Trot class go!  0.o   Say what?!    Anyway, when they were going to do their break, I basically had to assert myself and say HEY!  I WANT MY ROUND!  Very strange.

The course - the second element of 4 wasn't up for my classes.
Numbers in parentheses are jumpoff course.
Not quite to scale, but you can get the idea.

I'd been worried about forgetting my course and the jumpoff course in the days before the show. I actually used Suzanne's technique of identifying storytelling to help myself get over it -- the story is that OMG I will forget my course and look ridiculous and be disqualified!  The truth is that nothing like that had happened yet, that even if I did forget the course it's not like no one has ever done it before, and if I wanted a second go-round, I could buy in again. It worked -- I didn't forget either the main course or the jumpoff!   Of course, the order was the same in both of my classes, so that helped.  ;)

The 2' class went quite well!  I am sure the judge heard me muttering to myself "leg on, shoulders back" at every fence.  :)  I felt like I achieved my goal at almost all the fences, only getting ahead once or twice, and only losing my leg once.  In the warmup MT had told me that if I have a rail with Apollo, it's because I've leaned forward.  I took that as kind of a diagnostic tool: if I hear him knock the fence, I got ahead, and don't do the next fence that way.  I got ahead, he klonked (but did not drop) a rail, I didn't do the next fence that way!

Leetle tiny fence; looking for next leetle fence

Anyway, we had a good round, and we came up with a lovely third place ribbon.  :D  Seeing as my whole goal was to ride well, rather than get a ribbon, the scrap of satin was a bonus.

I felt like the 2'3 class went much better for me than the 2' class did.  I felt like I rode better, chose better lines, and generally had a smoother, more rhythmic go.  I'm running out of words, so here, see it in pictures:

Fence 1 - Apollo looking good and me looking for fence 2

Fence 7 - I lost my leg a bit because my heels weren't down enough,
but Apollo's looking good in this one. You can tell we came with
enough pace to this fence.

I like this one of me.  A bit forward but not so much as
to interfere, and my leg is tight if not quite forward enough.
This might be a jumpoff shot, judging from my turned head.

What a very, very good boy he is!  The judge agreed;
she said "yes, he IS a good boy!" as we went by.

Love this horse!

Of course, when I went to go ride today, just to hack around and tell Apollo how great he is, he'd lost a shoe.   Alas.  :)   We'll get it put back on tomorrow and get back on track.

As usual, mea maxima culpa

Yes, you're right -- as usual, I'm behind on my blogging.  I've been really slammed with my new position at work, so I haven't had time in the middle of the day to update like I have in the past.  I've also been riding a lot, so no time for updates from the saddle either!

What's over there?  See my muscles?

Anyway, the updates in brief are:

Apollo is looking fit, fat, sassy, and shiny!  I had to bump up his feed again, because a cup of rice bran, 2 cups of beet pulp, and 2 scoops of Cool Calories weren't putting weight on him.  So now he gets 2 pounds of beet pulp (OMG, soaked, that is a LOT of food), 1.5 to 2ish pounds of rice bran, and 4 scoops of Cool Calories, along with salt and U-Gard powder.  Voof.  That's a lot, but he's looking gawjus.   See?





Of course, in the time between when I wrote that last sentence and now, a day has gone by.  In that day, he managed to scrape the inside of his upper right thigh, and apparently -- he tells me -- it's quite tender!   Yesterday our resident European rode him, and his comment was that Apollo was stiff at first but worked through it fine.   I got up for a bit several hours later, and "a bit stiff" was not quite nearly enough description.  He was really unhappy with the idea of moving much at all, so I didn't push it.   Plus, he'd already had a good jump school, so I didn't need much except Horse Therapy and just to get in the saddle.   So sympathy, cold hosing, bucket, and carrots for Apollo after a calm ride.

Come on, human.  Pictures are boring!

He was much less stiff today and barely needed anything more than a good long walk to get warmed up.  We worked on the grass instead of in the arena, and I have to say I really like it.  It's really pleasant to go thundering around the cross-country field, even if we're not jumping!  Plus, it's good for me to ride at speed on terrain.  Not huge speed or extreme terrain, but still.

We have a little jumper show coming up soon -- I'll update when I get back, for sure.  There should also be pictures!  Hooray!   Action shots, even!   Of me in my finally-I-got-them tan FITS.  No jacket, but we'll just be going in the jumper ring, so no worries.

Like, really, really boring.

It'll be our first time off property, so I'll be interested to see how he does.  I honestly expect him to be mostly calm, with some "OMG lookit that!" moments.  He's pretty relaxed, though, so I'm not too worried.  We'll school before the show itself, too, which will help.  Very much looking forward to it!

It's true: I is handsomest pony.

Then the other big news is that he's making his debut as My Event Pony (he did go once with redheadlins, so not his official debut) at Caber Farms at the end of the month.  :D   I am SO excited.  I even get to go!  Our resident European will be riding him, so he's sure to get a good, confidence-building ride before I take him out myself.   Super, super excited.  :)

Go check this post out: Ribbon Recycling!

SheMovedToTexas has a great post about what to do with all those ribbons you have hanging around from all the shows over the years:  Ribbon Recycling.  Go check it out!

I am so going to make ribbon pillows when I can.  I wonder what happened to all the ribbons I won as a kid?  I think I know where they are in my mom's garage, and I bet she'd be delighted if I'd take the box away.  ;)

Something I'd change

Now write a blog about something you could change in the riding world, something that you think is important, maybe its how people don't give horses time off after a big show season, or in the Hunter world how the trainers can ride the horse right before it goes in the ring then the kids hop right on? Or maybe its just how you wish horses pooped less!?

Hmm.  I've been thinking about this for a while.  I can think of a few things I would like to change, but only one of them is something I'm willing to harp on.  There are some habits that I see out there that I'd like to see changed, and mistakes I see happening that I'd like to yell about, but in the end, I can't throw stones because I live in a glass house.  So here's my real pet cause:

HELMETS.  

I have heard all the excuses, rationalizations, and reasons for not wearing a helmet:  you're an adult and you can make your own choices; your horse is bombproof; you're just going ten steps down the road; helmets are hot; you can't find a helmet that fits right; your kid is just too small for a helmet; you're standing right there next to your kid and what can happen; et cetera.

To be perfectly honest, even though I've said I'll buy excuse #1 in the past (you're an adult and you can make your own choices), and even though some of the riders I respect most in the world ride without helmets sometimes, I think it's a bad choice.   I don't want to criticize people I care about, respect, and like, and I certainly don't want a confrontation, but ... damn, I wish everyone would wear a helmet anytime they got on a horse.  Especially the people I care about, respect, and like -- my life would be severely diminished if they were to get a TBI.  

Now, I recognize that most people who read me here agree with my Every Ride, Every Time philosophy.  I also recognize that I have occasionally gotten on my horse, registered "something on my head = helmet obviously," then noticed the pleasant feeling of wind through my hair ... oops.  So I'm not perfect either.  However, that hasn't happened in a while, and when I did notice, I damn sure stopped immediately and went to get my helmet.

The human brain is an amazing organ.  It can overcome damage and create new neural pathways.  BUT, it's a very delicate organ.  Its tolerance for damage is limited, and cumulative damage matters.  Some damage is unrepairable.  And some of that unrepairable damage isn't immediately obvious to the injured person or to lookers-on.  Even if you can walk and talk normally after even a mild TBI, your personality and emotions can change forever.  You might lose some intellectual capacity, you might lose some of your ability to control your temper, all of that.  

In my own limited experience, I can tell a difference in myself after several hard hits WITH a helmet on.  For example, I came off Reveille not last winter but the winter before.  I hit my head rather hard, but not hard enough to make me worry and not hard enough to keep me from getting back on and going back to my lesson.  When I left the barn, still a little dazey but not really worried about it, I stopped by the bank to hit the ATM.  Suddenly, when the machine prompted me for my PIN to start the transaction, I couldn't remember it.  It was just gone.  I knew it was four numbers, I knew it had one of the numbers repeated, but I couldn't remember which number went in twice, what order the numbers went in, et cetera.

That scared me.  I recovered and can now still remember most of the PINs I've ever had, for example, but the fact that it was gone like that, that my brain was that scrambled before it reset?  Holy crap.  Terrifying.  

I don't know about you, but the primary part of my self-image is as a smart person.  My ability to learn, understand, and retain information, then analyze and use it in complex ways is the basis of who I am.  The first adjective I use when someone asks me to describe myself is 'intelligent.'   The idea that I could lose that forever, simply because I made the choice to not protect my head, is the stuff of nightmares.   And even if you don't consider yourself intelligent, imagine this: you can no longer use your voice or your hands to communicate your needs, because you don't have the ability to communicate any more.  It's a brain function, that translation of need and thought to language -- any language.  Can you imagine being locked in your mind without even words to understand or express how you feel?   Or can you imagine having a hair-trigger temper, exploding into shouting and throwing things at the slightest provocation, no matter how laid back you were before?

How incredibly awful.  

And when you think that you're an adult and you can make that choice, consider this: your time in the hospital will cost you and at the very least your insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollars.  If you have family, they'll be taking care of you while you recover -- IF you recover.  If the worst happens and you're paralyzed or in a vegetative state, who will turn you in your bed? Who will help you to the bathroom, modify your house so you can get your wheelchair or crutches in?   Did you talk to those people when you decided to not wear your helmet and make sure that they're on board with your choice as an adult?

And if it's your kid that you're allowing to ride without a helmet, how would you feel if something spooked that pony and your child, your baby, was crippled?  Yes, you'd be there to help your baby through whatever came ... but would you wake up every day feeling guilty?  You could have done a small thing that could have helped.  You'd never know if you could have prevented your child's pain and difficulty for the rest of their life.  Could you handle that?

Yes, that's all worst-case scenario.  Doesn't matter to me.  It's worth wearing a helmet.  There are LOTS of helmets available at LOTS of price points and in LOTS of sizes and shapes.  You can find one that will work for you, I guarantee it.  

What's more, I'll back up my stance.  I'll make a deal with you right here and now: If you don't wear a helmet currently or don't make your child wear a helmet, I will buy you a helmet*.  I buy the helmet and you swear by whatever you call holy that you or your child will wear that helmet every ride, every time.   You can wash your hair, you can adjust the fit, whatever, but you can't get another brain.  That's how serious I am about this.

*: some limitations apply. I can't buy hundreds of helmets right now, though I'd be willing to help set up a foundation or take donations to buy people helmets.  

Answers soon; meanwhile, an update

I'm working on the posts to finish out Katie's questionnaire, but they're taking some time and thought.  Mostly the first one, about what I would change about riding/competing/the horse world, because I've been guilty of a few of the sins that bother me the most, and I am duly ashamed of myself for it.   Plus, I don't want to make anyone feel like I'm putting them on the spot, especially not on a public blog.  It wouldn't be my intention, but we know where intentions lead.

Meanwhile, Apollo and I have been having some fun lately!   I wish I had pictures for you, but not having a husband/live-in-SO/buddy who isn't riding or taking photos of someone else or just doing other things makes pictures really challenging.   Plus, I'm not a picture-taker in general.  I'm generally too busy Doing Things to take pictures of them!   Even on vacation, I don't want to stop doing what I'm doing, even if I'm doing Nothing (tm), to take a picture.  *grin*

ANYway.  The original plan for this last weekend was to compete in the unrecognized horse trials we'd planned to hold at my home barn.  A lack of entries scuttled that plan, so the new plan was to do the cross-country clinic the barn folks decided to do instead and ride Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday turned out to be a very fun day!  I hadn't really done much cross-country jumping of any truly solid obstacles with Apollo, so it was a fun test.  He was, of course, a complete rock star!  :D   We didn't do much in the way of big obstacles, just a simple log on the ground, a slightly bigger log, a slightly-bigger-than-that double log, and practiced over the big mound we have for terrain practice, just schooling the mound and then hitting lines from the mound.   I haven't had that much fun cross-country ... well, ever!  :)  I wasn't afraid at any point, and cantering around wasn't a big deal either.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love that horse?  Cause I do.

The takeaways I have from Saturday are mainly GO ON and keep a steady rhythm to the base of the fence, and keep going through my turns.  Keep going where I can, learn that 350-400 mpm pace.

Sunday was supposed to be the second day of the clinic, and it was ... for everyone else.  Apollo pulled his RF shoe half off and twisted it, so no riding for me that day.  I do have to say, though, that my farrier is an absolutely wonderful guy.  Not only did he pick up the phone at 9 AM on a Sunday, but he came out, in obscene heat, that afternoon at 2 to reset Apollo's shoe and to put hind shoes on another horse -- kind of a "since you was up" kind of deal.

I managed to grab a make-up lesson on cross-country this morning early, to beat the again obscene heat, and it was another unequivocal success.  :)   I'd asked to school the bank, since there'll almost certainly be a bank on the course at a show I'm headed to next weekend, and jump a few bigger jumps.  So we did.  :)  

An interesting note -- at the clinic where I ended up breaking my face, the whole catastrophe started when the clinician had us going down a bank.  I wasn't riding it correctly, and the clinician wasn't doing anything to help me, and things really started to spiral down from there.  I made the same mistake this morning, and MT was able to help me through it, rather than send me off and off and off again and expect me to fix it myself.   (For future reference and cementing of instructions, the way for me to ride a down bank on this horse is to not lean way way back, just sit straight up, be very positive in the rhythm, lengthen and soften my rein, sit several strides out from the drop, and keep my leg on very tight.  The leg and not leaning way back is critical, otherwise I lose my balance side to side. Plus, shortening my stirrups helped a lot.)

We also jumped a couple of larger-ish jumps, which I hadn't jumped with Apollo before and which I didn't show him.  I just ... yknow, set a line, chose a rhythm, and kicked on, and he went well.  I rode well.  :D   That's a feeling I'm not used to, the feeling of a horse that'll go.

So overall, huge success.  I'm looking forward to the derby at Rafter K in a week and a half, and certainly looking forward to lessons and riding before then, too.  :)

Questions from Katie

Katie, after she answered the Liebster questions I set up, put up her own questions, with a spin of her own on them.   So you get to learn more about me in general, rather than What We Did Last Night (trot sets, incidentally).   :)

Answer these questions-

1. What is your main goal with horses?  Ride.  I know it sounds simple and obvious, but really, everything pales next to just being able to ride my horse, hang out with my partner, feel the rhythm of his gaits and follow his interest through his ears.   My less important goals are to compete in recognized events, eventually go to a Training 3-Day, to do a Limited Distance endurance ride someday, and to always keep improving my skills.  But if all the competition was to be banished tomorrow, I'd still love to ride, and riding would be my goal.

2. Is it able to be accomplished?  Oh yes.  I kind of think that goals should be fluid and attainable.  For example, a goal to ride in Rolex, for me, would be unattainable -- I don't have the drive to get there, nor the money, nor the natural athleticism, nor the horse.  It's a lovely goal ... for someone else.  ;)   And if I reach a goal of competing in a recognized event (and finishing on a number, not a letter), then my next goal can be doing better in the next one.  And so on. 

3. What do you do with your nerves before a show etc.?  I don't know any more, to tell you the truth!  Before this last derby, every challenge had me in the porta-john way too many times, wound up, and in need of some kind of external courage in order to face it.  At this last derby and in the clinic before it, I just made sure I was well hydrated and had the amount of time to warm up that I needed.  I tried to not psych myself out, just kind of ignore the little shrieking voice and trust.   And my show-nerves stomach, that has been my pattern since I was in my first hunter show?  Didn't happen.   So I don't know.  I'll let you know what I do and how it works once I start showing.

4. Are you competitive?  Against my best efforts to stop being competitive ... yes.  I am.  I like to win.  On the other hand, eventing is less about competing against other people and more about competing against the courses and yourself.   So despite my lesser self loving the blue ribbons, my better self just likes to ride well, however I come out in the standings.

5.  Are you the kind to Shoot down all the competition type of competitive, or the fun and supportive type of competitve?  Oh definitely the second.  I don't like shooting people down.  I have a terrible tendency to criticize when I think people are making bad decisions or being dangerous, but when it comes to competition, I'll loan you whatever you need, cheer you on, tell you how impressed I am with your ride, tell you what jump is sticky, et cetera.  We're all in this together!

6.What have you done to support your fellow riders lately?  I volunteer to scribe a lot -- I scribed at a dressage show last weekend.  :)   I am a member of the local show organization, etc.  I am supportive and encouraging to folks at the barn and remind them -- thinking of one in particular -- that no, you DON'T suck, that your horse is a GREAT horse, and look how far you've come!  

Now write a blog about somthing you could change in the riding world, something that you think is important, maybe its how people dont give horses time off after a big show season, or in the Hunter world how the trainers can ride the horse right before it goes in the ring then the kids hop right on? Or maybe its just how you wish horses pooped less!?

Stay tuned!   :)

Then write a note to the person/people that have always been there for you, and supported you through riding, and if you have been the person without support, talk about the struggle about doing it by yourself if it was a struggle.

Again, stay tuned!   These two deserve entries of their own.   

Briefly

Two brief canter-related notes:

* I didn't mention this earlier, but during our jump lesson on Sunday, I got a flying change from Apollo from right to left lead.  Heee.  :)   I know you hunters do this all the time and work hard on it, but it's not as big a deal for us eventers, especially at the low levels.  So it was kind of cool to ask for it and get it!

* During my dressage ride tonight, I was working on actually riding the canter, rather than just asking for it and getting it and then being all OMG CANTERING WOO.  I mean, I generally do more than just that, but tonight I was really working on the quality of the canter, getting accurate figures in the canter, and maintaining a good contact in the canter.  All stuff I haven't really worked on so far.   I was asking him to go forward boldly, and he was rounding his neck and actually working, rather than kind of going around a little stiffly.  

Then ... I thought "omg! he's going to throw a buck!  wtf?!"   But I kept riding forward, just because that helps.   And I'll be damned if he didn't keep going in that frame for a long side.  He wasn't croup high, he had rounded up his back and was carrying me in the canter!   His neck was round, his back was up, and whoa.  Neat feeling.   :D   Note to self:  Keep canter forward, leg on, contact even to get him round!

I credit our resident European with the progress.  :)  Apollo does so well with a pro ride every week ... he steps up, and I really benefit from it.  Thank you, resident European!!

Trot sets tomorrow, yay.