Some Dress-age.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to practice a "real" dressage test with Jackie. In April she is doing a dressage show to practice for her first event in May (Queeny Park).

I wanted to do work before we both left for a week for Spring Break. I think the pony will enjoy the down time, since he's been worked almost 6 days a week since January, but since the show is the 2nd weekend in April, and we get back on the 30th, time is running out!

Yankee was NOT amused when he heard our plans.

Did I mention it was 82 degrees? Again. in March. I'm dying.

My plan was to watch her warm up and give her some tips from the Claudia clinic last weekend. I don't remember if I ever explained what she had me work on, so I'll give you a quick run down.

Since Yankee is an OTTB he is always crooked and stuck to the right. Even after 7 years, he STILL struggles to the right and gets hella tense in the neck and shoulders, cricks his head, crooked in the barrel, and opposite crooked in his haunches.
Exibit A:

Oh man. What a disaster.

I've tried everything in the book to keep him from doing that. (Look at my header photo. Can you see the crooked head in dressage?) We always get lower scores to the right, and its SO frustrating. Nothing I've tried has worked though, until Claudia came along last weekend.

She had me put him on a circle and take up a very strong (but giving) hold on the outside rein ONLY. The inside rein had minimal contact and was only used for half halts where needed. OK, so on the circle. We started at the canter since that is his easier gait. Oustide rein, STRONG inside leg (full contact, not just calf/heel), encouraging him to pick up that inside shoulder and barrel and counterbend him to the outside. The goal was to use counterbend to straighten/lengthen his frame. Confusing right?

It was at first to me. BUT, since Yankee does not respond to half halts on the inside rein, both rein contact, leg yeilding to straighten, keyhole method, etc etc. The inside leg, drop inside rein, contact outside rein to counterbend was almost like MAGIC. Its very hard to explain and not be able to demo, but basically, using inside leg with the outside rein contact in a pulsing motion, encouraged him to straighten his whole body, lifted his back, lengthened his frame and reeeeally let him stretch into the contact.

The results were crazy good. He responded so well to this excercise, and even though he was only able to lift his back and actually be straight for more than 3 strides, it was a step forward!!

Jackie demonstrating the "Claudia" method. You can see his nose tipped, but he hasnt quite swung his barrel over, however, he is actively moving forward.

We worked on that for about 15 minutes. Jackie got the hang of it! While she finished her warm up, I drug about a million poles in place to make a make-shift dressage ring. I was ridiculously sore from kickboxing the day before (gotta get sexual for FL) and it was basically torture. Oh, what I do for horses/friends. After I got them in place, I realized I made the ring about 15 m too short. Yeah, F that, we went ahead and practiced in a tiny ring.

Gettin that walk sexual

I LOVE this trot :)

Really reaching!


canter lovelies

Active walk: accomplished.

Relax Yankee, reeeelaaaaaxxxxxx

During the practice test, LOVE the uphill-ness here

Can we please talk about how nice jackie's position is here?

Butt muscles!!! Stomach Muscles!!!

Collecting back up from the free walk

Overall, it was a great school. hot, but productive. Jackie got the run down of a basic training level test, and Yankee got used to her riding him in a test. Jackie also worked on her position in the dressage saddle, since she rarely rode in one.

Love mah pohnee

Jump school

Before we dive into the juciness that is this post, I wanted to share this photo with you all!

This is Dolly, my first horse. She was 18 and I was 10 in this picture, fresh off the broodmare farm. Her baby ate her tail, she was fat from foaling and was extremely high spirited. She is only 14 hands, so you can see how tiny I was!


Here she is at 24- we had just won the hunter jumper class in 4H


And here she is today! She turned the big 3-oh.
I love this mare and was so happy that she is still alive and well with her family in SC

OK so anyways. Normally I don't ride during the week. Sun/Mon are my days and Jackie rides T-W-F and sometimes Saturday. He gets Th and Sat off. However, my boss told me not to come in today so I had the day free! And it was 84 degrees. And Hannah wanted me to jump Pronto. And I wanted to give Jackie a XC lesson. UM. ABSOLUTELY.

So we got out to the barn at 5, handy boyfriend in tow. Myself on Pronto, Hannah on her old-man pony and Jackie on Yankee. We were pumped for XC schooling! Even though the fences were tiny and nothing special, better than nothing! One of these days we will legit go schooling somewhere but i'm pretty lazy and hate paying someone.

Shun Yanke. Shunnn-n-n-n-n. He says "Whatevs. All the shits I do not give".

Not 100% sure what I was explaining here

AND I love this picture.

Jackie has never done down/up banks so we worked on that. She did pretty excellent for the first time. All the other fences were cake, but I really need to get her someplace to school combos and tougher, bigger fences.

We did some grid work because we got bored out on the XC. Yankee was a PISTOL. Pronto loved it and I hope next time we can raise them a bit for him.

Pretty good for a first timer


Too easy


Ba hahahaha oh Pronto, so cute

This cracks me up!!


So scenic

So yeah. Thats about it. Not much else really to explain, hope you guys enjoyed that!

OTTB Shopping

I want all of them. ALL.

I REALLY WANT this guy. Ebony Express, 16.2, 5 year old

Final Fitz, 16.1

Hunk O Bernin Love, 16.3 Mare

Chase the Blaze 16.2

Foxy on Sunday, 15.3

Look familiar??

Ringing any bells now?

A direct relative of Yankee. They are half brothers! FATE.

I found him while OTTB shopping. He is adorable! 3 years old, gorgeous and 16.1hh. With one major flaw. An old fracture :( He won't ever be suitable for jumping. Heart. Crushed.

I've been looking for TBs for over a year, and every time I find a nice one, they get adopted in less than a day. NO LUCK for meeeee.

I'm being picky this time and trying to avoid New Vocations (as much as I love them) because you can never re-sell their horses. I have strict requirements: must be at least 17 hands, no older than 5, 3or 4 is preferable, and preferably not a mare. Not a fan of mares. Also, of course, good proportions, sound, etc etc.

Thing that sucks about OTTBs is that most of them are not sound for jumping, barely 16 hands or have horrible conformation. Thus why they are racetrack rejects. FRUSTRATING.

All of these ones are under 17, but over 16.1

Afleet Flama, Afleet Alex baby!


One of the nicest TBs I've seen


Kinda heavy on the forehand, but still cute

I can't win! :(

Learning Changes

I was quite embarrassed this past weekend at the show that my 10 year old event horse did not know changes and seemingly every horse around me did. I also have friends who have much younger horses that know changes. This was unacceptable.

I've tried in the past, but everytime he just gets so uptight (as you can see in the video below) and I don't know what to do with him. Plus, he is perfectly content counter cantering all day. Also, since I've never ridden a horse whose been trained with changes, and I've never trained one myself (Spirit had natural ones), I have NO clue how to do it PROPERLY. I know the gist, but I don't know the specifics.

Enter my lovely lessee :) She has trained several horses changes, since she comes from the jumper world. Yankee will most likely never need changes for the dressage ring, but for jumpers, I think it will make everything much smoother.

First she warmed him up, and I got some pretty good pics.

I adore how relaxed he is here

Presh.

Aren't they just cute

"Look mom, I'm TROTTTTIIIING"
Overzealous.

God. I am in love with my horse.

Then we tried a multitude of techniques. As an OTTB, he has natural tendencies to be on the forehand. So, we backed, then asked for halt to canter transitions. He's pretty boss at those.
From there we did simple changes each way. He is also very good at these. And from there Jackie tried to work her magic...

It may be his OTTB nature, but he gets quite worked up. Poor baby. He wants SO badly to do well and he works his tiny brain so hard to figure out what we want. He can get R to L easily, since he was taught those as a 2 year old, but they are fugly. Must fix. L to R is much harder for him and he never once got it fully. I know he understands though, and was trying. Needs to be a bit stronger too.

Any suggestions??

Halt to canter transition. Look at those muscles :D


Flying change over that pole!


Pats for the worried OTTB


Our boys hangin' out :) Aren't they just awesome? And the Vin Pin blur, Aaron's doggie.


We took him for a gallop to reward him. He LOVED it!!!


:D


Sunset after a successful day

Upcoming news:
*I'm going to FL on the 23 for 6 days and Jackie is headed to VA, so Yankee will get that time off. I'm sure he will be just fine with that.
*This weekend I am riding in the Claudia Minser being held at my barn. I haven't done a clinic since I rode with Darren C. in like, 2007. HOW TRAGIC. They are just so damn expensive though. Claudia is only charging $70 though, and I thought I could swing that.
*March-dressage schooling show?
*April 14-15- dressage schooling show for me and Jackie will do a CT

That Hansen is So Hot Right Now

Can we please talk about how sexual this colt is?

Say hello to Hansen, a 2009 colt out of Storm Cat and Seattle Slew lines. I think I'm absolutely in love with this horse. Not only is he a BOSS (currently undefeated) and raking in the $1.4 million dough for his owner, also named Hansen, but he is basically one of the most jaw-dropping creatures I've ever seen.

Second favorite for the Derby. I WANT TO GO.

I discovered him off the New Vocations website (I adopted Yankee from there), since I am currently OTTB shopping. His owner, Hansen recently donated $12,00 to NV which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. My parents donate every year in Yankee's honor, so I can relate.

NV always needs generous donors since they are non-profit. Last year I believe they helped place over 400 OTT horses and over all over 4000. I adore NV and will always and forever continue to support them through bragging, donations, reppin' and adopting.

Hansen plans to donate a portion of Hansen's winnings to NV throughout the rest of this year, which should be a butt-load if Hansen does as well in the crown as he is predicted to.

Hansen. Helping racehorses find new careers.

1.4 mill
2009 colt
storm cat, seattle slew

Extra Pics From WWU

Myself in 3'6

Jackie in the 3'3

Jumper Show at WWU

What a tiring weekend. Good though, just tiring. Not only did Yankee show all day Friday (8 classes) and I was dealing with taping, and advice giving, PLUS riding in the 3'6 class, but I hauled a few friends to Saturdays Hunter show at WWU and basically groomed for them. Thats a tiring job too. Plus avoided studying for 3 days, and had to deal with the nagging guilt. OH MAN.

First, let me just say I've never been to a more DISorganized show in my life. Giving students free rein to run a show was a faux pas, and should never be done again. Jumper day wasn't as bad as hunter day. I wanted to smack a few hoes. Speaking of hoes, the WWU girls are quite bitchy, very opinionated and apparently like to eavesdrop. I think I got interrupted by a WWU girl opinion in MY effing conversation about 3 times, and their TRAINER had the audacity to butt in on my convo once too, in passing. What the eff. Have some class people.

Also, I've never seen such a bad collective example of poor riding, angry horses and injuries in my LIFE. Over two days, about 13 people fell off, few busted lips (horses rearing and bashing faces) and lots of brusies. One girl got bucked off, thrown against the wall and stepped on. OUCH. Another was riding this GIANT WB, and looked like she was going to fall off at every move he made. Eventually she did. I swear, these horses tripped or took a misstep and these people toppled. Entrance exams to this riding program must have been pretty lax. I was appalled at their lack of riding skills, jumping 3 foot and above. Numerous times I held my breath, watching these riders precariously hang on. Speaking of; their riding was so poor, they needed medieval bits in these poor horses mouths just to control them. These horses hated everything. Reared, bucked, ran through hands, tossed heads. It was so unfair, since they were magnificent animals. Almost all their Jumpers are GIANT WBs, trained like push button hunters. Flippin gorgeous. Pisses me off to see stuff like that. Rant, over.

That aside, I couldn't be more proud of Jankee (Jackie/Yankee); they both were on their game and they got second in every class except for one. Yankee touched a rail and put them out of the running. In the 3'3 speed class they beat out 15 other competitors, to only have one person beat them. Second place in a class that size, first time out together, is fantastical! I am a proud mama over my Yankeeboo, since he was calm as a cucumber. Not once did he get excited, or go crazy. Even in the warm up where there were cray cray horses running around and nearly missing him with kicks. When he wasnt showing, he was calmly waiting his turn outside the hectic arena. the indoor was heated (thank God, since it was freezing), and was contained within a HUGE building. Stadium seating, stalls, and free space filled the area around the arena. Try squeezing 20 horses into this area, it was cray. I was bursting with pride over my OTTB saint. Love that horse.

Hanging out next to the arena, looking snazzy.

The video below shows a few of the classes I taped. The first one they placed 5th. All the other ones they placed 2nd out of at least 8 horses. The jumper pairs is WICKED cool to watch too. Nancy and Jackie BEAST it. Enjoy.

SO yeah. I can gather that Jackie needs to make sure he is moving FORWARD and in front of her leg, or he is gonna drop those rails. Especially at anything less than 3 foot, since those are too easy for him and he barely even tries. The 3'3 class was her best, and they looked great! They are finally getting their turns down and getting their shit together :) I was PISSED about the pairs class. Nancy and Jackie got jipped. I KNOW they were faster than the winning pair, but since they were WWU girls, of course time got slanted their way.

OH FORGOT TO TELL YOU. What kind of show uses hand timers, FROM WWU no less??? What century are we in?? Of course they are going to slant the times towards their own girls, because they can. Thats why I think I lost my round. He was fast, and we were clean, but NOOOO I lost to a WWU girl. I still think we beat her, but whatevs. The girls taping thought they hadnt rung the bell for my round, but they just didnt hear it. Thats what they were discussing in the video, haha.

I would've done the 3'9 class, but that would have been class 9 for Yankee, and the footing was freaking horrrrrible for anything over 3'3. Even at 3'3, it was scary and in the second round, you can see Yankee slip going around a right hand turn. I was worried he would pop a tendon in the 3'9 class. Still BURSTING with happiness over how well he did :)

D'ohhhh how cute.

Can we talk about how AWESOME these Bates boots are? I won them on Ebay for $26. They are over $200 brand new. Um, boss.

I love Ebay so much. Looking for a Vespucci figure 8 bridle right now. It will come along, I know it. I know it.

Best part about this day was that our boyfriends came! Say whaaaa? YESH, they sure did! Aaron was more hungover than I was from his b-day party the day before, and came out and hung around for 7 hours. What a great guy! Ryan, Jackie's man, came too and kept Aaron company. they taped and cheered, just like any horse-show-BF should do. I think I'll keep mine :)

And for funsies, adding this picture of Yankee the couch. Aaron loves the Yankee.



The 3 Amigos, celebrating our successes with our great ponies!

Nancy-far Right, won ALL of her classes on her Saddlebred, Coco. Um, yeah you heard that right, Saddlebred. He is awesome!