Sudden Change

Things have been quiet since the weather finally improved and BAM Cupid got an abscess.  It came on very suddenly, mid-ride!  I was finally going to do a jumping lesson, first one in almost a year.  We started warming up and everything seemed normal.  We picked up a canter, it felt good.  Then after about a lap all of the sudden I felt a change.  Subtle at first, Cupid kept going but the balance had changed.  We were on the right lead, and started going down the diagonal to change directions and as we were crossing the centerline and about to do a trot change he just felt clearly lame.  The left front, same as where an abscess burst recently (though he didn't go fully lame then just had some trouble picking up the left lead).

So our lesson ended before we got to jump.  I soaked his feet, and wrapped it with animalintex pads then epson gel for the next week.  He finally seems better, but unfortunately I am out of town on a work trip the next few days.  I am looking forward to riding when I get back!

Training Opportunities

"Training opportunities" abounded in our last few rides - things out of our control I wasn't sure how Cupid would react to.  For instance, on Tuesday I had just gotten on in the covered arena when someone began drilling and working on something behind the mirrors.  Cupid startled a bit, but I asked him to keep walking.  We did some walk work, staying at the other end of the arena and I kept asking him to focus on me.  He was slightly distracted but being good, so we went up in the trot.  We gradually increased the size of our circles/figures to about 3/4 of the arena and I just kept my leg on and asked him to work. 

On Wednesday we were taking what was supposed to be a leisurely walk around the property.  Ahead of us I saw someone taking a horse out from it's pasture, and his buddy who was left behind got upset calling and running around.  I've seen Cupid get pretty excited by this in the past (his tail shoots straight up and he starts prancing!) and I briefly considered hopping off.  But instead I just sat up straight and tried to relax (no clamping with the knees or choking up the reins!), keep my leg on, and continue walking.  No big deal.  It's taken me a while to feel confident doing this, and to switch my thinking from trying to comfort Cupid (patting his neck and telling him it's ok, letting him stop and look) to being the leader and telling him we're just going to keep working. 

We had a great lesson on Thursday.  The outdoor arena was finally open, though it was still a bit wet.  Not slippery, but a bit heavier and perhaps more tiring.  Even though we hadn't been out there in a while, Cupid was great!  We are still focusing on correcting how I maintain contact to increase roundness.  I'm slowly improving, but I still tend to float my inside hand away from the neck, or cross the left hand over the neck when we're tracking right.  I'm working on using my inside leg more for a correct bend, instead of relying on the inside rein.

One of the exercises we did was trot a 5 meter circle, shoulder in when we're back on the rail for several steps, straighten and increase the trot, and repeat.  We also worked on cantering 10 meter circles, which we haven't done in a while and had a little trouble with especially going right.  Cupid felt a bit tired and was drifting out.  My trainer made us repeat, I was starting to feel bad for Cupid and finally pictured a barrel racer.  It wasn't pretty, but good enough that our trainer let us go back down to a trot - for a minute, then we changed direction and did it again the other way which went a little better. 

On Friday I thought we would keep it fairly light - walk around the property for about 10 minutes, then pop into the ring for some trot work.  Unlike the day before, Cupid was spooking at everything around the arena.  These are the same things that are always there - a mounting block, chair, wheel barrow, cavaletti.  Currently it seems like for every 2-3 times he is perfect outside we have one ride when he's just really distracted, though he usually gets over it after about 10-15 minutes.

I made sure my whip was in my inside hand and kept my inside leg on trying to keep him on the rail, and any time he even thought about spooking we did a 5 meter circle.  I could feel Cupid really suck back so I tried to drive him forward.  After about 10 minutes he finally went down the long side calmly, so I gave him a pat and we let him walk, and we finished cooling off walking around outside.

All the scary things

Redemption!

The nearly two weeks since our last show passed uneventfully, as we prepared for the schooling show which was today.  Cupid saw the chiropractor (actually I did too, I try to go about every month or other month.)  I had a few more rides with the Equicube, which seems to be helping with some of my bad habits - I'll have to write about that more in detail.

Our goals for today were to keep Cupid relaxed, and for me to sit up.  My trainer wanted me to get to the showground early and lunge Cupid, and also get on him a bit earlier.  Luckily this show is only about a half an hour away, and my first ride time was 11:20 so it was a relaxed morning.  When we got there Cupid was a bit more distracted coming off the trailer, looking around and not digging into his hay net like he usually does.  But he well behaved on the lunge line.  I did about 3 minutes walk and trot each direction without side reins, then put them on and did about 5 minutes trot and canter each direction.  Cupid did occasionally pick up a canter when I had only asked him for a trot, but also broke to a walk a few times too, and broke from the canter to trot.

We went back to the trailer and changed to get ready for our test, and met our trainer.  She kept our warm up fairly simple.  Since we had already lunged I only walked for a minute before getting Cupid trotting on a 20m circle.  He was a little quick so I changed my posting diagonal every few steps to settle him.  Then we did some 10m circles then into more of a medium trot.  We cantered on the circle both directions, a bit longer to the right (his stronger side).  He was being good, so we took a walk break around the arena letting Cupid see everything.  Luckily there wasn't really anything he found spooky.  Then a few minutes before our test we went back into the trot and did some shoulder-ins.

The tests themselves were largely uneventful, though we did blow the left lead in our first test.  I'm not sure if Cupid was a bit tired after the longer warm-up, because he sometimes struggles with it when he's a bit tired.  Though he got it perfect every time on the lunge and warm up, and our second test.  I felt pretty good about the accuracy of the tests, and Cupid was far more relaxed this time.  I also felt improvement in my riding, specifically the sitting up straight.  It still falls apart a bit in the canter, but I am happy with the progress.  My tests weren't available yet when I left, I suspect most of the comments are along the lines of "could be rounder."  So that's what we'll continue working towards.

Much more relaxed trot, but yes, "could be rounder"

Ugh my elbows though!

Still leaning forward at the canter and his head and neck come up

Halt not quite square, but right at X

Stepping under nicely even though high-headed

Changing bend in our serpentine

More half seat at the canter

Medium walk

Free walk is our jam

Happy to be home

I didn't intend on wearing sunglasses.  Usually I wear contacts, but I just totally forgot this morning and left the house still wearing my glasses, which have the transition lenses!  So apologies to the judge and show organizers if that is a bit of a faux pas, it was not intentional!

Test Breakdown in Photos

Photos are stills from the video I purchased from Smith Videography.

 A enter working trot; X halt, salute; Proceed working trot: 6

Extra points if the horse smiles?

Halt surprisingly not bad

But crooked coming out, see our wavy tracks?

 C track left; X-X-F change rein: 6

Hunchback riding a giraffe

 A-C serpentine 3 equal loops: 4.5

Cupid thinking I know what's next...

we canter in the corner!!

Unhappy he doesn't get to canter, so resumes giraffe pose instead

Wait that's not giraffe-y enough, how about now?

Between C& M Working canter right lead: 5

Extra points if we leap into it and go haunches in?

 B circle right 20m: 5

Let's just bend through our head and neck instead of body

 A working trot: 5.5

Clearly a bit past A

 Before K medium walk; K-E medium walk: 6

 E-M change rein, free walk; M medium walk: 6.5

On the forehand but at least we can relax a moment

 C working trot: 6
C-A serpentine 3 equal loops: 5.5

Cupid thinking if only my rider would sit up, maybe I could be a bit rounder

Suzy thinking if only my horse would settle down, maybe I could also relax and not pitch forward

 Between A-F working canter left lead: 5

Wheeee, off we go again!

Head shake for good measure

 B circle left 20m: 5.5

Maybe if I pretend I'm doing a hunter round it'll be better

 C working trot: 6

I'm surprised we down transitioned in time too

 E 20m stretchy trot; before E shorten reins; E working trot: 6.5

Cupid: I got this one

Suzy: Yay Cupid is relaxed so I can try to sit up a bit straighter

Judge: Best part of this hot mess but don't want them getting too cocky so I'll just say "some stretch shown"

 A down centerline; X halt, salute: 6.5

End on a good note

Big pats for Cupid

Grinning either because I'm crazy and can't wait to do it again, or maybe just glad it's over and can't wait to do it again

And if you're curious about our collectives:
Gaits: 6.5
Impulsion: 6
Submission: 5
Rider's position: 5.5 (probably generous)
Rider's correct and effective use of aids: 5.5

"Appreciate forward ride, but 'less forward' might allow more balance and connection with bit and back"

Giraffe Dressage

I wish this was an April Fools post, but alas this is an actual show recap that happens to be on the first of April.

To set the stage, not too long ago I felt like we were making really good progress and I was optimistic about our upcoming shows.  Initially I even thought we might be ready to try First level, but realized we weren't quite there so I just signed up for one test one day.  The facility is one Cupid had always seemed to like and feel relaxed at.  The new Training 3 is easier, in my opinion, then the previous version.  I had high hopes.

Then we had a few not so good rides.  Cupid wasn't lame, but seemed a little uncomfortable.  We started having trouble with the left lead again, and then he became very resistant and cranky when I asked for it.  I called our chiropractor and scheduled an appointment, but unfortunately she's not available until this week.  So we took it easy, taking a few days off and doing in-hand work during our scheduled lesson.  The next several days we continued taking it easy.  Cupid got a few more days off, I rode him bareback for a walk around the property, and we did a short walk/trot ride which went okay. 

Last Thursday I decided to keep my lesson, and start with lunging so my trainer and I could watch him move.  He seemed okay on the lunge line so I got on him, and he was someone better but still resistant so I resigned myself to scratching from the show.  (I also tried out the Equicube, but that's a topic for a separate post!)  Of course being too stubborn and/or optimistic I tried him again on Friday, in my jump saddle to see if the slightly different weight distribution and ability to get off his back made a difference.  And he cantered both directions on the correct lead.  Saturday he seemed better still, so I decided to go ahead and go to the show.  A small abscess burst through his left front hoof!

So to recap, I went to our first show in about six months with Cupid being in irregular work leading up to it, when our dressage court has been closed because of the rain so we could only ride in the larger covered arena dodging jumps.  In hindsight I should have known this would be a disaster. :p

Cupid seemed calm when he got off the trailer at the show grounds, and contentedly ate his hay while I got us ready.  No looking around or whinnying at the other horses.  We walked to the warm up arena and he stood while I mounted.  Then a switch was flipped and he was ready to go, go go.  I tried all my usual tricks, after just a quick walk getting him trotting on a circle changing my posting diagonal.  Doing a little shoulder in, followed by putting my leg on and asking for a bigger trot.  Usually he settles within 10-15 minutes, but not this time.  So we cantered both directions, then went back to trot work.  We did some transitions between trot and walk.  I had given us 30 minutes to warm up, and at the end of it he hadn't really settled down any.  Not much I could do now just head to the show ring and hope for the best.

Cupid jigged around the arena as we waited for the last horse to walk out.  I tried doing some shoulder-ins and transitions as a last ditch effort to get him settled.  Then we trotted into the arena doing our best giraffe impression.  I was someone surprised to even get a halt at X, though it actually wasn't bad but I think we were off the centerline coming out of it.  I had planned to push the trot a bit on the diagonal, but decided not to when it felt like Cupid was ready to take off any moment.  And in fact in the next move, the serpentine, he did pick up a canter when we should have been trotting.  So I got him back down to a trot but he was very quick, and not showing any of the connection or change in bend we had been working on.

After that was the actual canter, now to the right first which is a change I was happy about.  Not surprisingly he picked up the canter right away, but was a little crooked coming out of the corner.  Our transition down to trot was a bit late, but then the walk work was actually decent.  I was hoping he would be a bit more relaxed coming out of it, but nope he was ready to go off again in a quick, high-headed trot, at least this time without cantering.  I was happy when we got the left lead canter.  Then down transition and actually a fairly decent stretchy trot.  Down the centerline to a decent halt.  Even though it was a bit of a disaster I gave Cupid a big pat and left the arena with a smile on my face.

The show did not go at all how I expected or hoped for, but the sun was shining, no one got hurt, and it's only a horseshow and somehow I just felt happy I am able to do this at all.  Our prep leading up to it was not ideal, but the main thing is I just need to continue working on what I've been working on: steady connection in the reins, staying upright in my body, and keeping my legs long and gently supporting without pinching at the knees even when Cupid is being a bit silly under me.  I let myself get tight and out of position, which is the opposite of what I need to do.

There is a schooling show in 2 weeks so we get to try again.  And maybe my trainer will be there to coach and give us tips so we're better prepared next time we're alone.