First Training HT a success!

First, let me just say I am one lucky girl. Leo is a far better horse than I am a rider. He is tries his heart out all the time and even though I can't stay with his jump and don't always get him to the fence right; he just keeps going. What a horse!

We traveled to Windridge Farm in Mooresboro, NC on Friday. I'm still trying to figure out the right show management for Leo in order to keep him as calm and relaxed as possible. This was our process this weekend:

Calming Management

• On Thursday, Leo had an acupuncture session and got a couple of B12 shots in 2 acupuncture points. My vet, also my acupuncturist, said it would help level him out. 
• Friday morning, before we left for the show, I lunged Leo in Vienna Side Reins - working long, low and relaxed. Then I didn't ride on the show grounds until we warmed up for dressage on Saturday morning.
• Leo got So-Kalm in all of his meals from Friday night through Sunday morning along with Equine Chill in the morning feed. 
• I also made sure he was stabled away from all of his barn mates. Leo is the type of horse that gets very worried and anxious when his buddies are coming and going. This worked out especially well at Windridge as I was at one end of the farm in temporary stabling while the rest of the Oak Hill gang was in the main barn at the other end of the property.
• At the Lucinda Green Clinic he was off his grain, so he got dosed with Ulcer Gard on Friday and Saturday and I reduced his grain. 

All this seemed to work! Leo was happy and relaxed. No screaming, no prancing around on the lead line, no tantrums. Whew!

Dressage
Leo is definitely improving in dressage. Our scores are not getting better but his focus and attention is better. The show was in the back country of North Carolina and the local southern hill-billies were shooting firearms somewhere in the woods behind the dressage arena. Despite this, Leo went to work in his test. Our up transitions need the most work; along with our trot lengthenings and general relaxation. The judge once again pointed out that he is very tense in his back. For our stretch circle Leo needs to learn to stretch his nose out, versus going down and then behind the vertical. We scored a 45.9.

Stadium

The stadium course may have deceived some people because it wasn't a dolled up course like you would see at the Carolina Horse Park. It was all colored rails; no fillers, gates or walls. But it was in a grass field on the side of a  hill so terrain was a big factor. The training course had a triple bar, skinny and triple combination. It was by far the biggest stadium course I have ever jumped in my entire life! Forward positive rides were the most successful and Ashley wanted me to use the turns to balance but ride forward to all my fences. 

Leo was jumping huge and yet again I could barely stay with him (Ashley told me I need to seriously hit the gym!). Coming around to fence 8 (before the triple combo) I was having a hard time getting Leo's head up. With 2 strides left he finally saw the fence - a big over - and damn near jumped me out of the tack. Then his head was too low around around the turn to the triple and I was having a hard time getting his head up and keeping the forward pace. The triple was a vertical, 24 feet to a vertical, 36 feet to an oxer. I thought we got a good distance in, but he stalled a little at the second fence and jumped up instead of across the fence. I didn't react fast enough to get the impulsion going. This made the 2 strides to the last fence very long and I came out of the tack when he jumped out over the over. I barely landed in the saddle and my center of balance was way to the left. I had no stirrups and was sliding out of the tack. I was determined not to fall off in stadium and got back in the saddle and jumped the last fence on course. By some miracle we didn't knock down any rails! 

Cross Country

On Saturday I sat down to do a positive visualization of my cross country ride. It took me 3 tries to be able to visualize the perfect ride versus thinking about all the potential problems that could arise. Who knew visualizing success could be so hard! I was nervous. Part of it stems from simply wanting to do well. Part of it was knowing that Leo and I had never ridden a training level course before. You never know what you and your horse are capable of until you do it. It's hard to channel the adrenalin into positive thoughts. 

Terrain was an issue on cross country too. The course itself was a quintessential cross country course - long galloping stretches, through woods, up and down hills. It is a really lovely facility. The first 4 fences were nice galloping fences, the 5th was a skinny log in the woods. Fence 7 was the first combination: two oxers 2 strides apart that were had to be jumped at an angle. Leo was brilliant here! Fence 8 was a big brush fence before the coffin. The approach was downhill and the log in was quite large and imposing, 2 strides downhill to a large (but not deep) ditch, then 4 strides uphill to another log. I was worried about the turn into the coffin and the downhill approach but Leo was just awesome here. 

The whole middle part of the course was the toughest. From the coffin we galloped uphill made a right turn to a large table and then immediately had to make a left turn and start going downhill to a bank down. From here we made a left turn to a corner. This was the other part on course I was concerned about. First, Leo has never jumped a xc corner. Second, the whole approach was down hill and I was worried about getting Leo's head up. The bank drop rode well even though it looked huge when you walked it. Leo came back pretty well and I easily made the turn to the corner, but then Leo didn't get his eye on the corner. I under estimated the fact that it was set in the trees and we were coming from light to dark. I evidently also didn't give clear communication about where we were going. Leo thought he was going past the fence on the right, between some trees. Leo tried to jump the corner or his momentum carried him forward; either way he landed on top of the corner. His front legs on top of the fence and his back legs on the ground. Scary moment! He managed to get himself off and I took a moment to compose ourselves and then re-approached. He jumped it no problem! What a good boy! 

The course moved along to the water which was a big table right before the water, 2-3 strides into the water, up a bank, 2 strides over a roll top. Once again, Leo was brilliant here! The last 3 fences were all galloping fences and then we were home! First training complete. We ended up with 20 jump penalties + time faults. Optimum was 6:08, we came in at 6:29. Not too bad considering we had to get off a jump and I took some time to settle Leo before approaching again. 

I am really happy with us! This weekend was a total success! 

The corner - wish I had ridden it better!