So you remember how proud I was of the Sparkplug after Sunday? Well, in talking to Honorary Big Sister Jen today, Sunday just got even awesomer.
That train? A bit over Beginner Novice. The bridge? Solid BN. The wavy rails? Another solid BN. The dog run cabin? Novice. Yeah, novice. The bench at the end? Also Novice. And the banks we jumped up? Training. Yes, training.
This all means that Sparky, whose poor brain I didn't want to fry by increasing height compared to what he is used, who had previously jumped 2'9" once, has officially jumped higher than I had ever previously jumped with him - while on cross country. Holy crap! I had NO idea! Wow.
(Postlogue: BN = 2'7" max height for non-brush; N = 2'11" max height for non-brush; T = 3'3" max height for non-brush. This means that Sparky jumped up at least a 3'0" bank... and that 2'9" is starting to look small).
Considering that I am now in possession of an injured wrist, a finger that got smashed and is now swollen and impressively bruised, and a very sore back, one would be inclined to think that I had a terrible weekend. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sunday, Sparky and I tagged along with Honorary Big Sister Jen and Tiki to go XC schooling at Calimar Farm and meet up with The $700 Pony (of The $700 Pony fame) and her staff, Marisa. Calimar is a very inviting, nice facility with a beautiful water complex. The owners are wonderfully nice, as well, which makes it all the better. Now some of you may recall that I wasn't sure if I was going to take Star or Sparky. I guess subconciously I always knew that I was taking Sparky - when I left Jen a message on Saturday night, I said something about giving Sparky a bath Sunday morning; but this was before I "decided" to take Sparky!
We arrived at Calimar and proceeded to unload the horses. Well, Tiki, anyway. Sparky decided that he was having pretty much none of this "backing of the straight load trailer" stuff. After trying to convince him otherwise (and getting my finger smashed in the process, hence the swelling and impressive bruising), I decided to use Sparky's driving ability to my advantage. A leadrope on either side, and Sparky was convinced to back off the trailer, just as if he were backing under harness. Brilliant. I was pretty proud of myself for that one.
We started our warm-up in the stadium field. W-T-C both directions, with extra emphasis on the right lead, which he picked up with no problem. Near the end, Sparky had a pretty nice right lead canter. Hopped over some crossrails and applied "the George Morris Method to Schooling Scary Obstacles*" (hence forward referred to as the George Morris Method) to a jump of blue barrels lying on their side. No problem either direction. Then I decided to try a couple more of the stadium jumps - a red and white vertical with a red gate and a pretty decent (for Sparky)-sized blue and white oxer. Sparky hopped over them like it was no big deal.
We then moved on to jump out into the XC field over the Lincoln logs. The Lincoln logs jump was our "oh-my -gosh-wow-that-was-amazing-I-can't-believe-we-did-it!" jump the last time Sparky and I schooled at Calimar. It was pretty much the biggest thing he had ever jumped (certainly the biggest solid jump), and no one was quite sure that he would do it. When he did, we were amazed, and I was giddy beyond belief and absolutely thrilled with my pony. Coming up to it this time, I found myself thinking that it looked small... and Sparky went right over!
Jen and Marisa put their ponies over the hanging log, and I was thinking that Sparky and I would take a pass on it for the day. But then we got closer to it, and it didn't look as big as I'd thought. So I decided we'd give it try. No problem - up and (way) over! Over the little-ish log on the ground, and over to the ditches. Of course, with all the rain we had earlier in the week, there was actual water running through them. Sparky managed to put on his big-boy pants and go over the little one a few times, but wasn't ever comfortable with the bigger one. I had two options: A) Push the issue, and go over it, or B) Forget about it. Since I knew that his insecurity stemmed only from the water, and because he's done that same ditch with no problem without water, I decided that if I was going to fry his brain, I would do it on something more worthwhile. So we walked up to the edge of it, called it good, and went over the little ditch a couple more times.
Jen led the way to the next grouping of jumps - another kinda funny looking log, a biggish bank, and a bridge. Sparky and I did approached each jump individually first. The log was pretty much a no-brainer. The bank up was a bit harder for him - he literally almost climbed up it the first time. And then we came to the bridge. I wasn't sure it was going to happen - it looked HUGE. A few false starts, I was pretty well reconciled that it was just too big, and it wasn't happening. But then, after one "last" attempt, employing the George Morris Method, I felt Sparky actually offer to try and jump. So we approached once more, and over he went. Came back the other way, and he actually trotted right up to it and went over with no hesitation. We then followed Jen's lead, and strung the three jumps together both directions (omitting the bank down - I wanted to do a smaller bank down first). While Jen and Marisa played around some more, Sparky and I tried our hand at the train made of barrels. Sparky had no problem with it, and the log next to it was cake.
Up next were the ramped "wavy logs" that I was never able to convince Sparky to go over the last time we were at Calimar. He did that with no problem, while Jen did a big red coop next to it. Sparky and I took a pass on the coop. It was easily bigger than anything he'd ever jumped, and it didn't seem like the ideal jump for introducing more height. We then proceeded to the water complex. Sparky went right in, and also jumped down a little bank into the water and back out up a little bank with no problem. I knew I wanted to try the cabin right by the water wheel, but the sound of the water wheel can be distracting, so I decided to try another cabin first. The dog-run cabin looked pretty okay, so we did that. Coming back the other direction, though, Sparky decided that now it looked pretty scary. As I was working with him on it, Jen yelled over, "Nicole, this one's smaller!" I replied, "He already did this one the other way!" A little more schooling (again with the George Morris Method), and Sparky went over. We then moved on to the cabin by the water wheel. Silly me for thinking he would be distracted; he went right over! We then played a little more in the water complex, jumping in from a slightly bigger bank, and eventually out the biggest plain bank.
By this time, Sparky was getting pretty tired and was pretty close to the end of what his brain could handle for the day. We all headed back towards the beginning. Jen was determined that to get back out, she was going to jump the bench that always rattles her. The $700 Pony did it first, and then Jen followed with Tiki. It was pretty good... but I know Jen well enough to know that sometimes she has to be pushed just a little bit more... so I told her she had to come back over. Which also meant that she would have to jump it back out again. And she did, with no problem at all. The $700 Pony followed. Now, I had planned on jumping back out over the Lincoln logs... but looking at the bench, it really didn't look *too* bad. So I decided that Sparky and I would just jump out over that. Again, he went right over. What a good boy!
Gave my Napolean Dynamite lots of pats and praise and hopped off. I absolutely could not be more proud of him - he did absolutely everything I asked, and even jumped almost all of the same things as the "big horses." He might get this figured out, yet!
PS - For those of you wondering about the where the wrist works in: I injured it on Saturday helping a girl take off a boot. Yes, you just read that right.
I'm pretty damn excited right now - really looking forward to Sunday. Honorary Big Sister Jen made plans to go cross country schooling with another friend, and she invited me along! Yay! We're going to Calimar Farms, which is where Sparky made his first-ever XC schooling trip. It's a beautiful facility... maybe this time I'll manage to not fall off at the ditch! I still haven't decided which horse to take. Sparky is the DEP - Designated Event Pony - but I also feel like Star might like to go, and have a break from our usual routine. Hmmmm.... The important part here, though, is that Jen obviously understood that I was right when I posted on her Facebook page, "No fair going XC schooling without me!" hee, hee... (nevermind that in reality, I am a good source for gas-splitting needs).
Also in the future (next weekend, that is), Star will be playing at hunter for one of Honarary Big Sister Jen's students at Wills Park. The girl who will be riding her is on Jen's IEA team and regularly takes lessons with Jen. She's an absolute doll, so I'm excited about her showing Star. Jen will take Star to PWF on Monday so her student can ride Star in her lesson. They'll be showing in the Jr/Sr division, with jumps at 2'6". I'm excited to hear how it goes.
Maybe I should actually pull Star's mane...
Last Saturday was the Regional Finals for the PWF IEA team, coached by My Honorary Big Sister Jen. This doesn't really relate to much in my life (other than the fact that Star carts children around at IEA shows). However, what does relate to my life is Star's bitting. I feel like I'm always talking about bits...
Anyway, at the Greg Best clinic, Greg had wanted to try a single-jointed rubber Pelham on Star. One was not available that day, so we modified a loose ring elevator (fitted it with a curb strap) to use, and I used that the rest of the day. And I then proceeded to go on a Bit Procurement Process. During said process, I purchased a Myler jointed Pelham (curved metal mouthpiece), a Korsteel Flexi Mouth jointed Pelham, a JP jointed loose ring elevator (curved metal mouthpiece), and the icing on the cake: a beautiful Stuebben single-jointed rubber covered Tom Thumb Pelham with a 15mm-diameter mouthpiece. Most rubber Pelhams have pretty thick mouthpieces, so I was very excited to find what I thought was pretty close to the perfect bit.
Only not. Just as she tends to do with every other jointed bit, Star pretty much ran through the "perfect" Pelham. (And the modified loose ring elevator, too, once back on home turf). *Sigh* Can't put a crossrail rider on a horse that runs through the bit. So back to a solid, unjointed mouthpiece for Star. Which is fine... it just means that the Bit Procurement Process continues. If anyone can point me to both a Tom Thumb and "normal" (longer) -shanked mullen mouth rubber covered Pelham with not greater than a 16mm-diameter mouthpiece, please let me know.
All three horses (including Kellie here) flatted well last week. I kept Star in the bit she ultimately wore for the IEA Regionals - a traditional Pelham with a ported mouth. I did not, however, ask her to carry herself in a "Morgan" frame. Instead, I asked her to carry herself in a (fairly nice, if I say so myself) lower-level, long-ish and low-ish dressage frame. And I'll be damned if she didn't actually work the bit in her mouth and end up with some "lipstick." I think that in the immediate future, I'm going to just keep her in a Pelham, and not switch back to a snaffle for flatwork. I know there is a danger of a false frame using the Pelham, but really, the bit just works better for her right now. Why intentionally make my poor mare dislike even more something she already doesn't like (that would be dressage, folks)? So we'll stick with the Pelham until she has better built the requisite muscles for dressage-y work, and then we'll try to switch back to a snaffle.
Sparky has seemingly forgotten what it means to bend, so we're working to re-establish that. We've also been working quite a bit on his right-lead canter. I'm not so much concerned with it being a truly quality canter right now... the goal is to build up his "right-lead canter muscles" so that we CAN have a quality canter in both directions. I may actually work with Susan a bit on counter-canter for Sparky, to help strengthen those muscles.
Kellie had a really good work. I did something very different with her than usual: we walked for a good 30-40 minutes before doing ANY trot work at all. Bending, in her mind, is iffy, and staying nice and swingy through the back at a trot is also suspect. So we stayed at the walk for a good, long time, and I slowly took up more contact (while still encouraging her to stretch over her back) and slowly asked her to bend. We did circles, serpentines, spirals-in, spirals-out, baby shoulder-in and baby haunches in... all at the walk. When we finally picked up the trot, she seemed much more willingly to maintain good working form. More circles and changes of direction and then finally a right-lead canter. Just a couple circles, with relatively decent transitions and not much "omigod, I can't hold myself up!" Called it good with that. We were supposed to have a lesson on Sunday with Susan, but with the crappy weather (a cold, windy day with all her pasturemates running around like idiots sounds like perfect conditions to ask an opinionated part-Arab mare to bend, no?), we postponed until Tuesday. I'll definitely try to get on her ahead of the appointed lesson hour so we can walk around again... though, by then, it will have been a week since she was last ridden, so who knows what she'll be like!
The weather has been beautiful lately, so I've been taking every opportunity I can to ride. Last week I was actually able to ride with Honorary Big Sister Jen for the first time in ages. She had set a few jumps in the arena for us to use... I was happy to see that they were set closer to "Sparky height" than "Star height," as I had planned on riding Napolean first.
Fresh on the heels of what I had gleaned from the Greg Best clinic, I had made the decision to try a new bit on Sparky. Sparky is an interesting horse... he will get behind the bit on the flat, but sometimes "makes a bid" for the jumps and gets a little strong. In my lesson with Jen's-Boss-Lady, it was mentioned that the George (that would be George Morris, demi-god of all hunter-jumperdom) would likely suggest a little twist in the mouthpiece for Sparky. Jen's-Boss-Lady said she wasn't sure she would agree with that... mainly it was put out there as an idea to consider. It started me thinking that maybe I would start flatting him in a milder bit, and keep his current bit (JP full cheek with copper rolly-ball) just for jumping. I didn't at all consider putting Sparky in a twist; knowing my horse, I knew that was not the right answer.
In the Greg Best clinic, Greg changed many horses to bits that were softer than their current mouth hardware. He wanted the horses to not be afraid of contact, and he wanted the riders to not be afraid of contact. In other words, he wanted the riders to be able to maintain contact with the horse's mouth over the jump without inflicting pain on the horse due to the horse being overbitted. If the horse is still going willingly forward into contact and not making ugly faces or acting out, then the horse is not overbitted. ("Bit to the horse's sensitivity level, not the horse's energy level").
With this in mind, I tried a loose ring Nathe on Sparky. I had already been toying with the idea of trying it on the flat, but decided that there was value to trying it when jumping, as well. So, new bit in hand, er, mouth, we started out. Aside from the fact that Sparky would. not. bend. at. all., it was a good ride. The not bending was later revealed to have been likely due to my brand-spankin' new Ariat Westchester dress boots and subsequent inability to really use my leg. The first jump we approached was the biggest crossrail Sparky has ever seen (~2' at the center), so of course, he said, "No, thanks." Little turd. I wasn't expecting him to hesitate - I mean, it's a crossrail - so I hadn't done enough to prevent his stop and detour. So we tried again, and it was no problem, except for a little over-jumping. I'm telling ya, 4' will be NO problem for this horse... once he stops jumping 4' over 2', that is.
After the crossrail a couple times, then moved on to the line consisting of the stacked cavaletti and the cabinet. The cav stack was only about 2' and the cabinet is 18", so I knew it would be no problem. The point was to keep Sparky listening to me and going straight. Set on a "regulation" four-stride distance, Sparky did six strides. Okay, well, at least he's listening to me and not running off! We did the line a few times, and Sparky was very good each time. The halt at the end of the line sometimes got wiggly, be overall, he did a good job of staying straight before, between, and after the jumps. And he continued to listen to me, even with the next-to-nothing Nathe bit. We called it good with that.
I jumped Sparky around again on Sunday; this time we did all the jumps (I lowered a couple from where Jen had set them previously). We again focused on straight and listening, but also threw in "no refusing" and "right lead" (as in opposite of left). Sparky was pretty much as perfect as I could ask. He worked his little butt off for me and jumped over everything with no problem at all. We continued to work on straight and on staying consistent. The four-stride line was done in five strides every time on Sunday. I'm okay with this, because you can always ask a naturally forward horse for "more forward;" it's the idea that sometimes "whoa" is needed that is often more difficult. All in all, a very good day for my little Napolean... maybe there's hope, yet!
Long, tiring, WONDERFUL day! Today was the day that I actually got to ride with Greg Best. At the start of the day, Greg basically said that he expected me to try and execute the same things as the others riding with me, even though I hadn't ridden in the previous days' clinic (especially since I *had* been auditing the day before) - no problem. I hadn't intended for the case to be otherwise. He asked me a bit about Star, what we did, and how long I'd owned her. I said that I had owned her for almost 4 years, but that I'd ridden her since she was three, twelve years ago. He commented that I was then pretty much responsible for everything she does, good, bad, or otherwise. I cheerfully (at least, as cheerful as I can be at 8AM on a freezing Sunday morning) admitted that I would have to take full responsibility.
The course was a right-lead canter to a brick wall on a diagonal, followed by a left turn to a line consisting of vertical-oxer-vertical. The distances were set at 58’ and 60’, respectively. This line was followed by a right turn to another 4-stride line that started with a roll-top and ending with a pink oxer. We jumped around and Star was being pretty good. I knew that the lines were not as consistent as I (or he) wanted, but the killer came when he asked me how many strides I'd done in each of the lines. Uhhh... I hadn't even tried to count, and pretty much had no idea. (I never really learned how to count strides, and only recently have begun to figure that aspect out at all... really quite similar to my inability to read music) A few times over the course, me trying to figure out how the hell to properly count my strides... it got worse before it got better. We had 5-4 1/2-4; we had 5-5-4; we had 5-4-4… basically everything but consistency. One time, after trying really hard to count and having a course that had ridden very well, I came back and triumphantly announced that I had done 5, 5, and 5. "Ah, nothing like confident belief you're right" (or something to that effect) is what Greg said. Damn. I never did get it entirely right the first jumping go-round, but I did start to figure it out. He actually noticed when I was counting under my breath - he saw my lips moving as I was mouthing the numbers! He did, at one point, say something about me being a capable rider held back because I didn't have the information I needed (that would be gained only by being able to properly count my strides, because that's the only way to really quantify what you're doing) and therefore wasn't able to use that information to make adjustments. He also said something about being a seat-of-the-pants type of rider... this was not a compliment.
As I watched the other two in my group jump around a longer course, I counted every single stride the other horses took. He spent a loooooooooong time working with the other two riders; I was starting to think that I'd screwed up majorly, and because I couldn't count my strides to save my life, I got to be done with jumping. Finally, however, he did come back to me. He had me start out with the same course as before; I think that time I actually managed to get 5 strides in each of the lines, which was the first time I had managed to get the same number of strides in each place... though ideally, it still should have been 4. That particular time, however, I knew I had a quiet horse from having stood waiting for so long, so my plan was for 5. He then decided to have me do a longer course than the other riders... not real sure why - probably because there was more counting involved that way!
The longer course I jumped was the initially the same as before, but then I jumped the very first jump the opposite way, and then back through the first line the opposite way. After that, there was one more line of an oxer and then four strides to a pair of verticals, set a tight one stride apart (57’ to 21’). Greg said he wanted me to ride the first and second line each in 5 strides again, and then four strides when I came back through the first line the opposite way, and four strides in the last line. I wasn't perfect; I asked Star for too much coming into the four stride lines and fitting the 5 in the second line wasn't as smooth as it could be, but I did get all the correct strides. He had me do it one more time, with the goal of making everything a little smoother and a little more consistent. Last time through, and it was pretty darn near perfect... I wasn't 100% happy with the last one-stride part of the last line, but when I came back, Greg said that I had done the course well ("Nice ride" or something to a similar effect).
As I was on course the last time through, I'd overheard Greg saying something about something I did do, so I was kind of bracing myself for a comment on whatever it was I was doing wrong when I came back. Much to my surprise, he said that he was just commenting to the group that my position was very good and my upper body control was right where it needed to be; I was balanced in the center of my horse, both front to back, and side to side. In terms of overall position, including leg, from his point of view, there were no corrections to be made. Well, hot damn! I guess that's why he never made any corrections to my position prior! Several sources confirmed that there was no one else to whom he had said anything of that nature over the past two days. I was pretty excited about that! =)
He seemed to like Star; he said that she was a machine, and very rideable and willing to do anything I asked. He also said that she was a little overachiever (meant in a good way). He was not at all surprised when I told him I'd jumped 4'3" with her. I jokingly asked if I'd done okay with her over the past 12 years, and he said that yes, I had done very well with her. Another point for Nicole! My day that hadn’t started out as well as I’d hoped definitely ended on a strong note.
So I came away having definitely learned, and I am really going to work to get better at counting strides, because it really is holding me back more than I had ever realized. I will also be keeping in mind all the things that Greg said and really try to keep those things a part of my riding and training. The farm owner is going to try to have him back in August for two days... so I'm definitely going to start saving my money now! At least this gives me a lot of time to decide which horse to take…
I was very fortunate to have the opportunity today to audit (all day) a clinic by Greg Best at a nearby farm. I ended up with awesome windburn/sunburn lines from the trademark sunglasses and probably more information than I will ever be able to fully digest.
First, I would like to say this: Greg Best is an amazing clinician. He's friendly, honest, down-to-earth, and sometimes even pretty damn funny. I like funny people. He is also a very gifted teacher, and it seems that he never loses his temper. He doesn't call people names and he doesn't pretend that he's god and has all the answers. He expects riders to be able to think for themselves and not need to have their hands held through an entire ride.
My roommate audited the clinic yesterday, so I had a bit of an idea of what to expect. Greg emphasizes consistency in every aspect of the ride. "Start with more and finish with less," seemed to be the mantra of the day. Now, this statement may seem quite counter-intuitive at first, but if you think about it, it really makes sense. Typically, as we go around a course or down a line of jumps on our horse, momentum tends to build. My interpretation of "starting with more and finishing with less" is not that the horse should be running out of gas and petering out... rather, it's management to maintain consistency. When you have a pole 60' from a single jump and then another pole 60' away on the landing side, the horse should take the same number of strides between both the first pole and the jump, and the jump and the second pole. If the rider does nothing to maintain consistency, the horse will likely leave out a half or full stride on the landing side compared to the take-off side; this is incorrect.
In order to help maintain this consistency, Greg advocates the use of the automatic release, though he doesn't refer to it in those terms. By his explanation of his theory, "following hand" would be a much more apt term. The correct amount of release over a jump is the amount that the horse needs - nothing more, and nothing less. This means that sometimes you may be reaching a bit more to give your horse freedom over the top of the fence, or that sometimes you may be a bit restrictive in order to properly maintain consistency on landing. He sees no useful reason for the big, long crest release seen so often in the hunter ring (especially when paired with a ducking rider and swinging leg). We watched a horse change from going over the jump like he was shot from a cannon to using himself better and listening to his rider through application of Greg's theory.
Greg says that he has two problems with the concept of "give and take" - the "give" and the "take." When we try too much to "finesse" a horse using give and take, many horses seem to think that "give" means, "I was given an inch... time to take a mile!" and take advantage of the give. The rider then has to "take" more than what would otherwise be necessary in order to re-establish what was previously had. By being consistent initially, rather than "giving" an overly big release, we maintain consistency, rather than always engaging in a discussion to re-establish it. This does not mean that the rider's elbow and shoulder should not remain soft and following.
Greg is also all about straightness. Straight, however, is defined a bit differently for Greg. Straight is relative to your intended course. Everything is also about straight. Our priorities on the landing side of a jump coming into a turn should be first straightness, then collection, then any needed lead change. When jumping off a left lead canter to a right hand turn, our commitment should be to maintaining the left lead, because nothing should change over the jump; we should remain straight and consistent. (Though, when he asked this question on Sunday and I answered that we should be committed to whichever lead would keep the horse straighter, he was okay with that answer, even though technically wrong. "That's a different answer, but I don't mind it.")
In terms of rider position, he wants the rider closer to the front of the saddle, a bit of a deeper seat than the usual "hunter perch." If he could fix one point of the rider, it would be the knee position. This is not advocating a pinching knee at all; we just need to be able to keep our lower leg well under us for balance and support (a bit behind the girth) and still have the ability to actually move our leg around to use our aides. Rather than the traditional "shoulder-hip-heel" equitation alignment, Greg asks for "shoulder-hip-ankle." Upper body control is also very important to Greg: he wants neither an upper body too far forward, nor too vertical. It actually strikes me that much of what Greg seeks in rider position is well-accomplished with a saddle that truly fits the horse and rider. Interesting.
Some of what Greg says may seem to be a bit unorthodox compared to the traditional school of hunter-jumper training in the United States, but it really makes sense. It really makes me wonder what he and the George (George Morris) think of each other and each others' methodologies... anyone know?
More tomorrow... when I actually get to RIDE in the clinic!
