Our First Show

Not much has been going on the past few weeks (months...). We've been riding, a lot of outside hills and interval sets for trot and canter.

We've been working on turns and rollbacks over fences.

All for this moment.


We had our FIRST SHOW. And it was FANTASTIC.

I was thinking he was going to be more like how we are at the fun shows. Full of energy and little brakes....


Well he was the complete opposite. Cool, calm and did have the oomph when I asked, and listened to my half halts.

We had quite a full class for the 18" jumpers and placed 3rd, 5th and 3rd again. We stayed on, remembered all the courses (each class was a different course!) and rode really consistently.
 The 5th came about because he cross cantered after a jump and couldn't get himself sorted by the turn and we tripped. He was a little lazy jumping but he doesn't really put in the effort at that height.

On top of it all, we got Reserve Champion for the division!

Then he was feeling so good we did one class of the 2' to 2'3 and the jumper monster in him came out. We placed 3rd then too. Our trainer says that we can do the 2' to 2'3 division next time if we wanted. (We mostly did the 18" as we had no idea how he would be nor how I would be remembering all my courses).

I'm waiting on photos, but overall it was a fantastic and awesome day!

Ashe after a hard day's work and fun!

Mimosas for a great day! (After we got home!)

A New Chapter

Well... we're all moved in!

He seemed to settle almost instantly (after the usual prancing, snorting, and showing off for the two other geldings in the fields next to him). The place is nice and I know he'll have good care.

I will have to get used to riding in all kinds of weather as I had to give up the wonderful indoor that we had. I need to get a spring raincoat for riding (all I have that is waterproof are winter jackets).

Beyond that, we're working on how quickly he responds to cues (particularly trot to canter), and changing leads over ground poles. He's doing great so far!

No pictures (Yet). But we'll get some.


No worries!

Turning The Page...

Most people do this around New Years... or maybe Thanksgiving...

But we're coming to a new chapter in our partnership. The current barn we're at is retiring, and therefore we have to find a new place by the end of March. EEK.

I realized how much I adore the place I'm at and the care... and am planning on doing a big Thank You card for the owners. But I'm only a week into searching for a new place, and its difficult!

It also got me realizing just how far in two years we've come as a partnership.

He comes to me when whistled at in the field, he trusts me implicitly, we play together loose in the indoor, and we've gotten over so many of his fears already.

Then I found this, I made it at our 2 year mark... the difference for the both of us is astounding.

I'm so proud of us. And I know wherever we end up, we'll be okay.

Happy Halloween!

We had a GREAT time at the show! My trainer thinks we'll be ready for our first official XC and Combined Trial outing in the spring.

Pictures!

Slowest wins race. He may have lost, but we had some gorgeous shoulder ins!

Just Chilling. Helmet Hair.

Barrel time!

He just kept wanting to canter, and canter and canter...

Heading for the finish line!

Eye (Egg) and Spoon

Eye and Spoon: Engaging Trot

No coffee for you!

What a handsome man!

Turning Difficulties

Bending!

Tight Turn! Pole Bending!

Musical "Stalls"

We Won!

Candy Grab... He wanted to help

Hey that's MY candy!

Enjoying the Slow Days

With training goals and personal goals and dreams of showing... sometimes I forget to enjoy slow days with Ashe. I know he appreciates them, and I always dig a little deeper into his personality. It helps us to bond, and heal over the hard training days and mistakes made prior.

Yesterday he was uncharacteristically lazy, even over the jumps. Two days before we had a hard flat lesson with working on raised cavaletti and serpentines. I guess he wasn't out of being stiff/sore yet.

So today, instead of riding despite the gorgeous weather, I set him up with a pile of hay, and took to grooming every inch of him. As it's chilly, I couldn't bathe him despite the accumulation of dust/dirt he seems to always have on him (I should rename him Pigpen!). So I went with a new technique I had read: The Wet Towel/Brush Method.

Now I know the wet towel method. I use it in the winter to keep the deep urine stains from setting too deeply onto him, but we don't have hot water at the barn, and I didn't decide to do a deep groom until I had gotten there.

What this does, is you wet the towel (bonus if you get hot water, it helps keep things clean) and you brush the horse, then the towel, then the horse.... you get the picture. It keeps the brush clean and in turn dampens the brush to encourage the dirt to cling to it. He was near glossy by the time I was done. I did the same with his tail, and then went to town with his nicks he has from rolling on hard ground (Again, Pigpen anyone??)

Then, to top it off, we went on a long meandering trail walk together in halter. He grazed for a bit here and there, and then all of a sudden started pushing his nose through the tall grass where we walked. At first I was confused and then I realized he was purposely getting the grasshoppers to jump.

I knew they had fascinated him from when we'd ride outside before, his head at his knees jumping overtime they hit him in the face and then he'd put it right back down again. This just had me laughing so hard at the spectacle of him doing it (I wish I had had a camera on me at the time).

By the end we both were relaxed, he was moving much more loosely and we both had a wonderful morning. It reminded me why I love horses, and my boy in general.

So remember to go appreciate your four legged partners and all they do!

Until Next Time. No worries!

Life Rushes By

So I've been negligent in keeping up this log of our progress... Life got hectic for a while with moving, my old car breaking down (and me needing a new one), errors in my student loans causing mass panic in what I owe month to month... Thankfully that all has settled down.

A quick review of the past few months!

1. Clinic:

I realized I never updated from the clinic! Unfortunately we did not get any videos/photos. Ashe trailered well, that's become a regular occurrence which is awesome. When we got there we settled in (He's been to this farm before) and then prepped for our first ride of the day: Dressage.

He and I have never done a Dressage test before, so we went over halting, saluting, etc. On the entry to the dressage portion of the ring (we had it sectioned off with poles) the train went by...

Now, we've been to this farm before. We've experienced the train on numerous occasions. No big deal right?

We spent the majority of the lesson bucking at every request to canter. He was a tight ball of energy, and thankfully I managed to stay on with every buck, hop and strike out that he performed. Some lovely lateral work though!

Eventually he calmed down enough we were able to complete the W/T/C test and it actually looked pretty decent other than the first canter departure and his free walk (which he never drops his head for).

After that we had a "trail obstacles" lesson for the group which he was PERFECT for. Even the new stuff he was very much BTDT.

Jumping was the second day and he was a wonder pony! I really wish that someone had caught our final course on video, it was the best thing ever and we jumped 2'9! So yeah, prefect end :)

2. Tying/Hosing/Clipping

We're slowly progressing in each of these areas :) Recently he allowed himself to be tied while I washed his tail outside. Additionally, I turned on the clippers and he didn't flinch or run away while I ran them around his body. We're still not letting them near his head, but slowly does it. Major win for everyone! Very proud of how far he has come with all these areas!

3. Riding

We're working on the usual: bending, listen to direction over jumps rather than just assuming we're going a certain way, keeping the shoulder up, etc. Thinking of having a few training rides for him to teach him contact while I'm learning it on my trainer's lesson horses.

That's... about it! Hopefully I will continue to update progress more frequently now that life has settled a bit. Halloween show is coming up and while I don't think we'll be doing a costume this year, I'm hoping for some fresh photographs and videos!

Baths, Clinics and Exercises Oh My!

So next weekend we have our first clinic! Our first OVERNIGHT two day clinic at my trainers. We'll be doing dressage and show jumping work. Two rides on Saturday and one on Sunday. So we're prepping and I'm taking notes of what we need to work on and things to ask.

We had our first big bath of the season. He's still panicky but we're getting better, much quicker to come back and much higher toleration of his fear of the hose. It still needs a lot of work but we're getting there.

I think his hind is permanently stained sometimes!

We're slowly getting back into shape, he jumped 2'3 red vertical from a really tight turn (he hesitated but went over) so I'm happy about that as it's approximately where we left off last year with his ability to turn.

We've come a long way with laterals and turning on the hind. He still pitches a fit on occasion, and doesn't entirely trust when we are near walls or barrels, but he doesn't run off when I reach down his shoulder anymore so progress there.

He still doesn't quite pick up right lead canter on cue if we're not in the ring. I'm still working out if it's based on his confusing of my aids, or if he just super prefers his left lead and is being obstinate. Something to work on at the clinic I think.

Beyond that we're just working on rhythm, response to aids and turning.

He still at times really want to take over for me, so we're working on a balance of "Okay I'm in charge.... okay now you make decisions (such as getting us over fences, etc)". It's a matter of building more trust with him I think. He's an extremely guarded horse, and it's taken two years to get this far, but we've come a really really long way.  I've become an active rider and he's learning to trust his rider.