Working Backwards and Top Down

As previously mentioned:

Rebecca Farm, BN AEC August 31-September 4 2022

Which means I need:
1st or 2nd in any USEA/USEF 3 day or Horse Trials or
2 3rd places in any qualifying event or 
1st-5th at any regional championship
and
I have to complete 3 recognized horse trials in the qualifying time period
I cannot compete at Training or above (not a problem)
I need to declare Amateur status

PHEW

It also means I need a membership in USEA for 2021 AND 2022 ($$)

The above competition qualifiers will likely take place from end of May 2021 through mid August 2022 if the pattern holds steady.

In Washington state I will likely have these rated events available to me:
Spokane Sport Horse Farm Horse Trials  Washington 4.5 hours May and October
Equestrian's Institute Horse Trials Washington 2 hours May and September
Aspen Farms Horse Trials Washington 2.5 hours June
Inavale Farm Horse Trials Oregon 5.5 hours  June
Whidbey Island Horse Trials Washington 2 hours July

Some of them I will have available twice as qualifying opportunities, based on the date range. There will be lots of opportunity to achieve the three completions necessary. The harder task will be the placings. For that I can only do my best. But apparently I -can- appeal if I'm an amateur in an open division and those placed above me are professionals. I'm not banking on that.

So knowing that placings are obviously a huge deal, and some of that is out of my control, the next thing I can do is make sure that Gwyn and I are the best damn Beginner Novice pair ever. There are lots of local schooling shows that will get us some extensive show experience. Plus a cross country course minutes from the barn that barnmates will drag me to (and they know this is a goal of mine)

So, by this time December 2020 I need to have a horse that can:

Maintain a canter around a cross country course
Have a relaxed, controlled canter in a dressage court
Be rateable and on the bit
Be soft and supple in all gaits

We're achieving Forward Down and Out!

If I've got those, the jumping will follow. I already know she can bomb around a starter course no issue.

I, as a rider, need to have:

Better endurance in my cardio fitness
Steadier contact through the bit
Clearer aids

This is all well and great, but now I need to break down those into how I'm going to achieve those December 2020 goals

Goals for me:
Strength training at least 1x a week to start
Cardio at least 1x a week to start
Yoga at least 1x a week (currently at 2x a week)
Track food with intentional weight loss in mind
Save money each month for show costs, figure out budget for what I need to save monthly

Goals for Gwyn:
Riding 3x a week, one including lessons
Lunging 1x a week in addition to riding
Add in core work plan for Gwyn (post on that soon)
Endurance conditioning on hilly trails
3 Limited Distance endurance rides
1 50 mile ride at the end of the season


All of this means I need to commit more to going to the barn with Hazel in tow. If I can, I'm going to get her signed up for a second day of preschool a week but I'm not sure if Eric will be down for that. I absolutely need to commit to the Y more so I can get my other fitness goals.

So I'll likely plan out my January now and break down what I'm doing when and have it planned out.

When you make the same faces as your pony

RIDING LESSON ZOMG

Pardon me while we take a break from the regularly scheduled bloghop for my lesson run down and note review so I can remember what to work on!

My riding lesson was today and there's not much media of it, just selfies while I wallowed in self pity because the weather was slightly nasty.

This is my "I am not impressed, weather" face

"Ewwwww wintry mix! NOOOOO"

Okay, but seriously that's it. I should have set up the camera to record it all but didn't think about it. I was more concerned with dressing warmly.

I wore:

• thick wool socks that were compromised the moment I put on mesh, summer weight paddock boots and stepped outside
• Kerrits winter tight
• merino wool baselayer (I'm still wearing it, it's so soft and warm)
• fleece vest that I got from when I was a volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium (roomy yet warm with zipper pockets!)
• My columbia jacket, rated for super cold weather (I was sweating in the house)
• A balaclava I got from Meijer and wore for the first time today. 
• half chaps
• ariat maxtrax zip up boot (not happy so far with the fit but still breaking them in)

I was SO WARM!  :D :D :D :D :D

But seriously, I was warm enough I didn't need gloves.  The balaclava was perfect. I pulled it down off my head when I put my helmet on, but it kept my neck and ears protected from the wind. I'm a fan!

I think this is my new default for winter riding, barring the shoes, the wind goes right through em. I still need to work on gloves, but this is an amazing start.

It was rainsnowing when I left the house and I grumbled my way across to the barn. Gwyn saw me grab the halter and threw me the middle hoof and left. She knew. She knew. But it didn't take long for her to be amenable to capture (like a minute... haha) I curried the mud off, brushed where she was dry and started dolling her up. I wasn't sure what I'd be doing so I stuck polos on her front legs, partly because I was cold and partly because purple.

Trainer AML arrived as I started to get the saddle. I signed her liability release and we got to know each other. She watched me tack Gwyn up and was pretty much getting the feel for Gwyn's personality and how we worked together.

I hopped on and started warming up. I talked about what my goals were (eventually eventing, but for now solidifying the basics) and what issues I knew we had (dropping the shoulder, bending, feeling very dead to left leg, working on the bit).

Right away we started to tackle the shoulder/bending/working on the bit/straightness stuff.

Good stuff:

• My seat is excellent (FUCK YEAH!), I am well balanced and sit up
• I look where I'm going instead of at my horse
• My hands are soft with caveats**

Basically, I want Gwyn to have self carriage, and that can be taught. I want Gwyn to know that when pressure is released, we relax. To that end, she's having me do some weird stuff to get the feel and overexaggerate the movement.  We started with just the concept of giving to pressure. She had me hold my hands out, palms down and WAY up high and immediately release when Gwyn dropped her head and took a step back. This became the foundation for back up. And by the end me just sitting up and raising my hands was all it took for Gwyn to step. But she's wiggly.

So then we worked on me feeling the connection between the rein and her hind leg. So my right rein should be cuing her right hind leg to step in and under herself. There's a certain swoop feeling when she truly steps in and across, versus sidestepping. The goal there was cue with the rein until I feel the swoop. Then get more and more together.

Again, and I've heard this from so MANY sources, control the feet, control the horse. So there were some deer moving through the woods during the lesson and Trainer AML got to see some of Gwyn's spook scooting and we used those same basic principles to get her focused and get her back and straight and listening to me as the herd leader. I have a habit of pushing or pulling Gwyn where I want her to be, and that just sets me up in a battle of wills with a part appy mare.

Then we did the 90 degree exercise. Basically instead of doing circles, I make very geometric movements around the arena and steer like I have a steering wheel. This is all to give me the feel and I have the suspicion that this will eventually be very subtle but I have to retrain old habits.

Let me tell you, doing this exercise, picking random 90 degree turns to take, all of a sudden I felt Gwyn start to carry herself, she was in a rough frame and we were straight in the contact before and after turns. She wasn't falling in or bulging out. I swear it was like magic and the horse and rider I knew we could be was starting to emerge.

A lot of the stepping under exercises I can do on the ground as well as in the saddle, so this gives me a lot to work on and practice until my next lesson (scheduled for december!)

All in all, I really liked the lady. She was tough but praised when you got it right. Just what I like. 

Amusing Anecdote: Saffron was NOT happy about the new lady and tried to run her down. Trainer AML just used her equid knowledge and sent Saffron off. I have never seen the donkey like that, but I think it's because Saffron knows where she is herdwise with us, and she was trying to suss out the new person, who firmly said "Nope, I'm also higher than you"   Saffron sulked in a corner of the arena for the rest of the lesson. LOL Then, by the end, came over to play nice.

Day 8 - About the Barn

Day 08- A little about the barn/stable you ride at

From Clover Ledge Farm

I ride at home! This has been a dream come true for me and it took some sacrifice to get here. If you want to know more about the farm than what I talk about in this post, please go to my farm blog at Firefly Ranch!

I chose the name Firefly because we're big fans of the show by the same name (It's where we got Kaylee's name, after all). And then our first summer here we were just swarmed by fireflies. The sky is lit up and sparkling all early summer. It's magical.

The property is on 5 acres in southeastern Michigan, minutes from Metamora Hunt Country.  The majority of the property is pasture with three different areas for rotation. There is a 3 stall barn, hay storage, a tack/feed room and a grooming stall. There is a small sand arena that was professionally put in by the previous owners and drains like a dream. Each stall has its own run off the barn, with an overhang, though I need to suss out why the overhang roof is leaking right now. Grrr.

The house is gigantic with a partially finished basement, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths with wonderful vaulted ceilings in the master bedroom, living and dining room. The first time we toured a house in this town, I knew that's where I wanted to be. The original house we saw sold before we were ready to make offers, but then we toured this house and I fell in love. It was still available when we were ready to buy.

Picture from when we went to look at it on a cold late winter/early spring day

Back of the house

The hill in the winter pasture

Stall

Hay Storage

When we went back to do an informal walk through with the owners so they could tell me about everything since they'd set up the horse stuff on this property. Early Summer.

Sand arena

Grooming stall though lately I use it for storage

Plus hitching post!

I've managed to keep the pastures nice, though the winter one could use some improvement. They're good enough that I don't bother feeding hay in the late spring, summer and early fall. It keeps feed costs nice and low. I feel a bit bad though because the property is not as nice as when we got it, but the previous owner literally ran her business out of this property and this was her job. I'm hoping to add more property maintenance in now that Hazel is older.

We do have a big hill (Big for this area of Michigan, lol) so Gwyn maintains a bit of fitness walking up and down it. I'll lunge on the hill for extra oomph and go up and down it while riding. I've set up a small cavaletti in the front pasture and hope to add more. It has the most maneuverability and decent enough footing to be a grass jump field. Otherwise, I'm limited by how the property is set up with the jumps I can have.

I really love this place. It's small and just the right size for us. The commute is a killer to where jobs are, but we had to make a tradeoff in commute time, affordability, and availability of horse property.

LIebster Award Blog Hop

I was nominated by Grace over at The Horseback Artist. Woohoo! Now, I am significantly delayed in writing this, but I blame being sick and also not ever going downstairs to use my computer. As it is, this is being written over several days.

There are rules....

The Liebster Award Rules

1. Notify all nominees via social media/blogs
2. Link back to the person who nominated you
3. Answer the questions given to you by the nominator
4. Nominate up to 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers
5. Create 11 questions for the nominees

The questions posed to me were this:Questions for my nominees: 
1. Why do you blog?

I blog because I like having a written account of things that I do in my life. I use this blog in particular to track the progress I make riding Gwyn and share that progress with a social network of people I'm 'competing' against for a Distance Derby.

2. What is your most popular blog post?

My most popular blog post (with the most pageviews, at least) is the August post where I catalogued every nearby place to ride. It is a handy list!

3. Which is your favorite blog post?  

My last ride in Washington. It was an amazing day and one that I will remember and treasure forever.

4. Which bloggers have you met IRL?

If we include Livejournal, which I think it totally legitimate given that I crosspost things from here to there, I have met several people from the likely now defunct LJ equestrian community. Some of them have moved on from LJ and I've forgotten their usernames, but I'll just list 'em.  Lindsay, Jean, and Cheri.  Cheri was Florida (and who I got Gwyn from), Jean was Washington (and an excellent bodyworker!), and Lindsay is Michigan. 

5. Describe your horse(s)/pet(s) using one image or gif.

6. What is your riding discipline and why did you choose it? 
I suppose right now I'm just a pleasure rider. I'm not actively competing in anything, or even training with anyone. I'm enjoying my dabbling in endurance. I feel it's something I can do on my own without relying on a professional in order to succeed. Broadly I ride english. Broadly. Ultimately I want to get back into eventing. I loved doing it as a kid and I'm working on meeting specific goals that will let me compete again. 

7. What is the most expensive horse-related item you have ever bought?
Probably my Thorowgood saddle. I had a saddle fitter personalize the fit and it was purchased new. At just over $1000 it's the most expensive item. The most I have ever paid for a horsey -thing-, however, was the shipping to move Gwyn from Florida to Washington. That was a little over $2000. The move to Michigan was cheaper at $1400. 

8. What is one tack/horse-related item on your wish list? 
A safety vest! I need to lose weight first, for this, but it's one of the necessary items I'll need if I want to even school for cross country and 3 day eventing. I'm not sure which kind I want, likely tipperary, I'm not sure I want the air canister ones that inflate because knowing me I'd forget when I go to dismount and I'd inflate it every time. 

9.  What is your favorite riding memory?
Riding in my first endurance ride in Spokane, WA. It was exactly a year ago, at this point, that I went to the Mount Spokane Endurance Ride and did the 15 mile trail ride Saturday and decided to do the LD on Sunday. It was an amazing experiene, even if I had my period for the ride, which was a major suck. But I completed! And Gwyn did it too and it was amazing! We were riding on the side of a mountain the whole time and the views were spectacular. 

10. What is your scariest riding memory?
I was pregnant with Kaylee at the time and took Gwyn out on the pipeline trail that my barn at the time was on. It was a gorgeous winter day, the kind where everyone and their mom gets outside because it's a sunny day and a break from the rain. We were out alone, though there were people on the trail everywhere and Gwyn got overstimulated (my theory) and lost it. She bolted for home and was uncontrollable. I could steer, barely, and we topped out at 19 mph (I had my gps running) I had visions of us hitting muddy patches and her breaking a leg or of us crossing an upcoming road and just getting killed by a car.   
I finally got her under control and slowed down, but not after flying by people on bikes, walkers and baby strollers, shouting that I had no control. We crossed the road safely, thank FSM, but then she spooked again at the top of a steep hill. I got off at that point and just lost it, yelling and crying at her. I sent her backwards and everytime she got 'up' I sent her backwards again. I kept yelling, "I AM SCARIER THAN ANYTHING ELSE OUT HERE." 
I didn't ride alone while pregnant after that again. I would not get on unless there was someone else on the ground who knew I was riding. Ever since then I have major anxiety about even cantering in open areas. It takes a lot for me, though Gwyn has improved significantly and we haven't had a repeat, but it's stayed with me.
11. Share one of your riding goals. 
I mentioned it above, but I want to get back into eventing.  I don't care about competition level, I just want to get back into it, even if I never go bigger than Beginner Novice. Just like I'm pretty content to stick doing LDs in endurance!

Three rides over the past week and a half

I've been able to ride three times since we've moved, all of them short, and most have been good. I'm still trying to find my stride with how I want things to flow in the barn with Gwyn and the donkeys and dealing with herd bound critters.

I haven't yet written about how Gwyn settled in when I first moved her. I trailered her up on Friday, June 26th, almost two weeks ago now. She came off the trailer well, but definitely 'up'. I let her out in the back pasture and she was very spooky. She took off exploring the pasture and was very clingy when she didn't see any other animals.

It's long, bear with me....

Ground pole video

I took this video of myself over that first set of ground poles. I'd love constructive critique.

Things I already know: Lose weight.

Anything else is fair game.


I shared this in my other blog for Firefly Ranch, but here's Gwyn's arrival!

Discouraged with this house hunting thing already and we've barely started

Even though this deals with househunting, I'm posting it in the horsey blog because it's more relevant, I think.

Still sick, no riding except in my dreams

Last night I had a dream that I was taking Gwyn on a trail ride for the first time with my new saddle (it arrives the 7th!) We were doing really well going off alone and even in the dream I was excited for the miles it was going to net me for the distance derby. Well, we're off alone and go to cross a road, which we do without any incident. The road was curved so in my dream I was worried about cars coming around too quickly and not seeing us crossing. We get to the other side where I see 3 black bears and 3 grizzlies, some of whom have trekking gear attached to them like pack ponies. At this point I'm not really questioning what I'm seeing, it's just, "oh, okay, stay away from the bears". I tried urging Gwyn up the trail and past the bears but she was having none of it. So Gwyn, of course, freaks out and heads back across the road. At the same time, the bears are coming closer and I shouted to three hikers to watch out, since they hadn't seen the bears. Across the road another group catches up behind us and stops short because the bears are coming closer. Now you can see one even has a western saddle. Gwyn is nervous and spooks and I realized that my saddle was slipping off and my phone had fallen out of my pocket. I hop off to fix the saddle and try reattaching the girth but it's not fitting right. That's when I see that there are TWO girths attached to the saddle, duh, that's the problem. Also one of the billet straps ripped (Uhhh, new saddle!!! Noo!). I fix the girth and reattach it and as I go to get back on Gwyn my dream ended. Even in my dreams, I ride!