The hardest sport? The quest for consistency continues...
Plantation Horse Trials 2014
Consistency continues to elude me! Plantation's Spring Horse Trials were held April 12 and 13. On Saturday Leo laid down his best dressage test EVER. We only scored a 41.9, but I couldn't have been more pleased. After talking it over with Jen and Becca, I decided to give points away in the free walk in attempt to not give away the next 3 moves after it. Leo jigs if I keep my leg on in the walk. But this time, I kept my leg on and didn't give him the reins so I could get him smoothly transition him into the trot and then canter depart. I scored a 4 in the free walk and a 4 in the medium after but then had a decent trot, canter and 15 m circle. The points are lost somewhere; I just have to decide where to loose them.
Jump School Theme: React quicker on landing
Consistency continues to elude me! Plantation's Spring Horse Trials were held April 12 and 13. On Saturday Leo laid down his best dressage test EVER. We only scored a 41.9, but I couldn't have been more pleased. After talking it over with Jen and Becca, I decided to give points away in the free walk in attempt to not give away the next 3 moves after it. Leo jigs if I keep my leg on in the walk. But this time, I kept my leg on and didn't give him the reins so I could get him smoothly transition him into the trot and then canter depart. I scored a 4 in the free walk and a 4 in the medium after but then had a decent trot, canter and 15 m circle. The points are lost somewhere; I just have to decide where to loose them.
Show jumping was held on the grass and I under estimated the terrain and grade. Fence 3 was moved at the last minute when the TD made a change to the course. They put in an awkward location that required a serpentine-like rollback approach. Leo stopped at it. Maybe he didn't know where he was going; maybe the distance was wrong. I dunno. We re-approached and he jumped it fine. Then I blew the last line which was an oxer, 5 strides to a vertical-to-vertical, 1 stride in-and-out. I misjudged my canter going in and got to the in-and-out on a half stride and Leo had the fence down. I really wanted to lay down a strong round so I was super disappointed in myself.
Later I was talking to Ashley and I was joking about how annoyingly hard our sport is. And how I was obsessing about my poor stadium ride. She had 2 rails herself in stadium and she said the same thing! She couldn't stop thinking and talking about those 2 rails! I guess as riders and trainers our obsessive and over-analytical minds ultimately serve us well but I'd like to get better at pushing the bad stuff out of my mind quicker so I can focus on the next phase and be positive.
Later I was talking to Ashley and I was joking about how annoyingly hard our sport is. And how I was obsessing about my poor stadium ride. She had 2 rails herself in stadium and she said the same thing! She couldn't stop thinking and talking about those 2 rails! I guess as riders and trainers our obsessive and over-analytical minds ultimately serve us well but I'd like to get better at pushing the bad stuff out of my mind quicker so I can focus on the next phase and be positive.
As always Leo showed his prowess at cross country. The speed was 450 mpm and I still have yet to make the time at 450 mpm. (I don't know how I will ever make the time at 520 mpm for prelim!). I was still 9 seconds slow again. Leo left a stride out at the second fence then realized his mistake and tried to put a foot down. We had a scary moment and then I didn't ride as forward as I needed to for the next couple of fences. I was down on the clock at the second minute marker and though I tried, I couldn't make it up. Good news is, Leo is jumping into the water with no issues at all. It's like he never had a water problem!
Jump School Theme: React quicker on landing
We went to Sally's for a lesson on Wednesday and she said all of my problems come down to my slow reaction time. If Leo gets a quiet jump into a forward line, I need to push my reins forward and get my leg on immediately within the first stride. She also said I need to be more exact in my course walks. I need to translate everything into feet and then make a plan for the type of ride I need to make a certain number of strides happen.
Sally always tells me the distances between fences in feet during our jump schools; and she does this so I can take this knowledge to shows with me. A 70 ft line is a long 5 strides for Leo; so if I walk a 70 ft line at a show, I should know from my lessons what type of ride I need into the line or how to correct a less-than-ideal jump in to get the right strides. I just need to be more disciplined in my course walks and my note taking post lessons, so I can be more accurate at shows.
Her jump ring is in a large outdoor grass field with a lot of terrain. She had a 70 feet 5-stride bending line with an uphill approach, which really challenged me to adjust my ride after the first fence to make the 5 strides, versus adding a 6th. I eventually got the hang of it and Sally said she was actually quite happy with what she saw and said there was no reason why we shouldn't still plan on moving up at Plantation. This was great to hear because I keep thinking everything needs to be perfect before I move up - perfect in that I have 4 perfectly, consistent trainings before I make the jump to prelim. I'm starting to realize that may not happen. Stadium and dressage will be a challenge at prelim. I just have to be ready for it.
Prelim Cross Schooling Theme: It takes far more leg and strength than I anticipated!
It's Easter Sunday and Becca took me and a couple other students to Flora Lea Farm to xc school. In the first group of fences, Becca had me jump a novice roll top, novice bench, training roll top, training chevron, to a huge prelim table. Leo took it no problem. In fact, it was the easiest of the 5 fences. That pretty much set the tone for the cross country school. As we jumped the bigger prelim tables I was shocked by how much leg I still needed. The cool thing was I could really gallop up to these fences, but even so, Leo needed a lot of support from me. Who knew this is what it would be like!
We jumped several large prelim fences and then moved on to a prelim corner. It was a right hand corner and we approached on the left lead. This I knew was going to be hard because Leo drifts right and bugles right. We got to the corner on a half stride the first time and I had a runout to the right. These are the gaps in my training that get highlighted when things get technical!
The coolest thing about Leo is he wants to jump the fence. Our run outs are simply because he gets confused or doesn't understand where to go or what is expected of him. But if I fix the problem, he will always jump on the second attempt. I corrected my canter and our straightness on the second approach and he jumped the corner without issue. He had no thoughts at all about ducking out. We were still drifting right so we did it again to get even straighter. Then we jumped the corner in the other direction off the right lead and he was perfect.
We went on to jump some bending related lines and then attempted a skinny 2 stride related line. WAAAAAY harder than I thought it was going to be. Leo didn't get his eye on it the first time and ran out to the right. Then I got him over the first fence but that same right drift got me again and we had a another runout at the second fence. Becca had me practice just jumping the second fence. I had to dig my right spur into Leo to keep him straight. Then we put the 2 fences together. I was really quite shocked by how much leg it took to keep him straight through the combination. I actually rubbed the fur right off Leo's belly I was using so much leg!
It was a really successful schooling. Becca said something about how everything we are seeing now is exactly why Leo was such a great purchase. The first 4 years of training have been hard, but at prelim his heart is really shining through. Good boy, Leo!
Growing up in the dressage ring
So Prelim is also a more complicated dressage test: sitting trot, leg-yields in the small ring; counter canter, lengthenings, etc. During our last flat lesson, we practiced a lot of the components of the prelim dressage test. (Leo and I are doing our first prelim combined test next weekend at Boyd Martin's farm.) Leo is really settling into the sitting trot and producing better work and is more consistent in the bridle. All we can do is push forward. Leo's dressage will always lag the level of jumping he is at, but he gets stronger as we go and it all seems to work out in the end!
Her jump ring is in a large outdoor grass field with a lot of terrain. She had a 70 feet 5-stride bending line with an uphill approach, which really challenged me to adjust my ride after the first fence to make the 5 strides, versus adding a 6th. I eventually got the hang of it and Sally said she was actually quite happy with what she saw and said there was no reason why we shouldn't still plan on moving up at Plantation. This was great to hear because I keep thinking everything needs to be perfect before I move up - perfect in that I have 4 perfectly, consistent trainings before I make the jump to prelim. I'm starting to realize that may not happen. Stadium and dressage will be a challenge at prelim. I just have to be ready for it.
Prelim Cross Schooling Theme: It takes far more leg and strength than I anticipated!
It's Easter Sunday and Becca took me and a couple other students to Flora Lea Farm to xc school. In the first group of fences, Becca had me jump a novice roll top, novice bench, training roll top, training chevron, to a huge prelim table. Leo took it no problem. In fact, it was the easiest of the 5 fences. That pretty much set the tone for the cross country school. As we jumped the bigger prelim tables I was shocked by how much leg I still needed. The cool thing was I could really gallop up to these fences, but even so, Leo needed a lot of support from me. Who knew this is what it would be like!
We jumped several large prelim fences and then moved on to a prelim corner. It was a right hand corner and we approached on the left lead. This I knew was going to be hard because Leo drifts right and bugles right. We got to the corner on a half stride the first time and I had a runout to the right. These are the gaps in my training that get highlighted when things get technical!
The coolest thing about Leo is he wants to jump the fence. Our run outs are simply because he gets confused or doesn't understand where to go or what is expected of him. But if I fix the problem, he will always jump on the second attempt. I corrected my canter and our straightness on the second approach and he jumped the corner without issue. He had no thoughts at all about ducking out. We were still drifting right so we did it again to get even straighter. Then we jumped the corner in the other direction off the right lead and he was perfect.
We went on to jump some bending related lines and then attempted a skinny 2 stride related line. WAAAAAY harder than I thought it was going to be. Leo didn't get his eye on it the first time and ran out to the right. Then I got him over the first fence but that same right drift got me again and we had a another runout at the second fence. Becca had me practice just jumping the second fence. I had to dig my right spur into Leo to keep him straight. Then we put the 2 fences together. I was really quite shocked by how much leg it took to keep him straight through the combination. I actually rubbed the fur right off Leo's belly I was using so much leg!
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| 2-stride combination: it was filled with brush when we jumped it |
It was a really successful schooling. Becca said something about how everything we are seeing now is exactly why Leo was such a great purchase. The first 4 years of training have been hard, but at prelim his heart is really shining through. Good boy, Leo!
Growing up in the dressage ring
So Prelim is also a more complicated dressage test: sitting trot, leg-yields in the small ring; counter canter, lengthenings, etc. During our last flat lesson, we practiced a lot of the components of the prelim dressage test. (Leo and I are doing our first prelim combined test next weekend at Boyd Martin's farm.) Leo is really settling into the sitting trot and producing better work and is more consistent in the bridle. All we can do is push forward. Leo's dressage will always lag the level of jumping he is at, but he gets stronger as we go and it all seems to work out in the end!
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