MCTA - Senior Training

May 05, 2013

MCTA - Senior Training

Saturday was a beautiful day for a competition. I can't say I wasn't nervous; I was. I thought the course was challenging. Jen told me afterwards she thought the course was as hard as Waredaca last fall (which was the hardest training course I walked last fall - Jen rode it, not me). I'm gad she waited until I was done to tell me!

Leo was a total rockstar. He knows his job now. I never felt any hesitation on xc. If anything, I can feel him take a little time to study the obstacles. Even in stadium, I can feel him take a moment to prepare for the jump now, versus charging the jump. Dare I say he is getting quite smart now?

Dressage Warm-up Tips for Tense Horses (from Sally)

To get Leo to relax through his topline, I need to ride him slower. If I ride him forward to begin with, I'll never achieve the relaxation or steadiness in the bridle I need because he won't loosen up through his back. She said this is pretty common with thoroughbreds. Warmbloods need a totally different ride.
I should use lots of changes of directions and circles, combined with the slow steady trot, to help loosen and relax the muscles.
I should be constantly moving the bit in Leo's mouth with very slight movement of my fingers. I shouldn't use my whole arm, just my finger tips.
Right now, Leo always raises his head in the right lead canter depart. Sally said, he's not being difficult. He is just have a hard time stretching his right hind leg under him. Raising his head, gives him more room to make the step he needs in the depart. As homework, I need to focus on strengthening and suppling that side (ex: more leg-yields).

I followed this advice and Leo improved throughout our warm-up.

Dressage Test

Our scores are still a mix of 7s, 6s, 5s and we scored one 4 because Leo trotted in the medium walk. I felt like the trot work was more relaxed, the canter work is still very tense and resistant. We scored a 40.9 and were third from last after dressage. We are almost always third from last so this was no surprise :) Judges comments were: Cute Horse. Not very relaxed today. (Jen laughed and replied "or any day." tehehe.)

Stadium Warm-Up

Sally helped me warm-up for stadium which is super helpful because I'm at this place with Leo where I'm never sure if we're going to fast or too slow. If I think we are too fast, Sally will tell us we're too slow. If I think we're just right, Sally will tell me I need more canter or that I am too fast! I just don't have the feel yet! So it's great to have Sally correcting me on the ground. We just practiced adjustability in warm-up. If I caught a long distance to the fence, I had to find a shorter distance to the next warm-up jump. We simply cantered figure 8s over the warm up fences practicing that. Sally also had to remind me not to lock Leo with the inside rein on the turn to the fences. It's outside rein, opening / forward inside rein to free up the horse's shoulder.

Warming up with Sally

Stadium Round

The stadium course was on the grass with related lines going up and down hill. There were 2 doubles set on a 12-ft stride: a 24 ft 1-stride going down hill and a 36 ft 2-stride going up hill. Leo was jumping me out of the tack again in stadium but our round was much smoother than past events. In my lessons, Sally reminds me: don't panic in the turn to a fence just because I don't see a distance. If I have the canter, the distance will work out. Kristy tells me the same thing, but it's so hard to believe I don't have to do anything but get the right canter (which is hard enough for me). So I didn't panic in my turns, I didn't cut my turns and all my distances worked out fine. Leo had 1 fence down in front because I had too much steam going into it. I got left behind over one fence, lost my reins, got my reins caught in my crop and Leo just charged ahead into the second double. He's such a good horse.

Last fence on stadium

I haven't run xc since last November and this was my first recognized event in a year. I walked the course and thought it was big. The bogie fences in my mind were fences 4 and 5A/B. There was a sharper left turn to 4 which was a big narrow step jump. Straight to a large table, 2 strides to a down bank. The run outs we've had xc have been with fences that have left turn approaches. The water also had a short, left turn approach followed by another short left turn to a table. I walked the course by myself, then with Jen and then Sally walked just 4 and 5A/B with me.

Sally said if I was concerned about the left turn, then I should go a long way around a jump from another course so I could get straighter sooner and eliminate the left turn question. As far as the bank combination (I was concerned because we had never jumped anything like before) she said to get my show jumping canter and just ride straight over it. So simple.

The speed was slow for training 420 mpm. Leo loped around from fence 1 to fence 2, and I was enjoying him not pulling, but it was novice pace I'm sure. He had no problem with 4 or 5A/B. We had a great jump over the corner, then totally missed our distance to a galloping fence in the middle of a field. Leo jumped an up bank, 1-stride to a log like a total pro. He was great to the water, though I think I was a little too handsy. Then on the jump out of the water, I didn't appreciate how much the ground dropped off. Leo landed way down the slope and pulled me out of the saddle. I managed to get my butt back in and my reins back for the next left turn and table but I can't wait to see the video to see how bad it looks! Time to hit the gym and build my core strength again!

We finished just inside the optimum time of 5:40. Final score was 44.9 (8th out of 17 - not bad!) I also stalked some of the horses that placed above us (what can I say, I had some time on my hands!) and 5 are preliminary horses!

Jumping out of the water

Goals

I think Leo was awesome on xc and I was rusty. For Fair Hill, I want to smooth out my xc round and ride at a more forward pace. I'm going to mark off some distances and practice learning my speeds. What does 420 mpm feel like versus 470 mpm? Sally says I shouldn't worry about time faults; it's more important that I have an educational round both for myself and Leo. Leo needs to be rideable and adjustability xc so its better for us to take more time to ensure I'm not running headlong at a fence. But I'd still like to get a better feeling for what speed I am galloping.

Fences from the xc course: