Although the month of February brought terrible weather and a pesky hoof abscess for Taco, within the winter doldrums have been opportunities to prepare for spring.
Take, for instance, the MSEDA annual meeting in Louisville, where the educational session speaker was Daniel Stewart. He took us through a day-long program that began with sports psychology strategies and ended with a series of fun balance board exercises. He taught us all how to simulate various gaits and positions on our own two feet, and took volunteers to help demonstrate how to unite our minds and muscles in mock dressage tests, stadium rounds, and, finally, a cross county course. I really wanted to try the XC course so I overcame my misgivings about embarrassing myself in public and gave it a shot.
XC dancin' with Danny... I look like a fool, but it was fun! (photo by Hannah Hubsch)
The weekend ended with a lovely awards dinner at the Kentucky Derby Museum and an interesting meeting of members. And I won the Alta Vista Farm XC schooling door prize-- thanks Mary Lowry!
Then Taco's new saddle came. It is a Black Country Tex Eventer, the same one as our old one but a size larger. Oh, and it has a gold stripe on it. It is extremely pretty.
I ordered it through Trumbull Mountain Saddlery in Vermont (which, coincidentally, has our old saddle for sale). After I rode in the new one a little, Kate Wooten came out to adjust the flocking so it is sitting on Taco's back perfectly. So far, I love it! I don't think my lower leg is swinging back nearly so much, which was the point of getting the new one.
Then Taco got a haircut! The weather is warming up, but his coat is still thick and we want to avoid his staying wet and getting chilled. So I de-furred him.
Notice anything on his butt? Look closer...
And, because he is now more nekkid than the day he was born, he has a special suit to wear.
Why me???
Finally, I got myself excited for the season by making my annual volunteering trip (my 5th!) to Pine Top Farm Advanced Horse Trials, February 25-27. Readers of this blog might remember that my trip last year did not go smoothly. After years of an excellent safety record, the event logged several serious accidents on one day-- two of which were rotational falls at fences where I was judging. I was deeply shaken, as were the wonderful organizers, Glenn and Janet Wilson, and many others who were present that day. Like the riders who were injured, however, I felt it was important to go back this year as part of acknowledging that my enjoyment of the event can continue even after an uncommonly difficult weekend.
The Frog Pond at Pine Top
I am so glad that I returned this year! The weather was perfect, the horses were impressive and beautiful, and, as usual, I learned so much. On Friday I scribed the Advanced dressage tests for Sandy Osborn ("S") and jump judged at the coffin complex. I scribed for Intermediate and Preliminary all day Saturday, and then jump judged all day Sunday. The courses rode very well and the few partings-of-company did not lead to injuries. I enjoyed visiting with the Wilsons and friends I see there every year, and I left feeling excited about the start to the season.
Tools of the XC fence judge's trade
Next week we go to Aiken for Spring Break! I will update as much as possible. And, as usual, send your questions to Taco!
I've gotten better, but I still hate wind. When I was a kid I don't remember caring about it. Now that I'm older and more cautious, wind blowing up a horse's tail causes a chill to go down my own spine. I did manage to have a nasty fall a couple of years ago on a windy day, and sometimes the memory returns unbidden. So on windy days I really have to be smart and focused. Taco will instantly figure out that I am anxious and will add his own editorial comments about what we should do that day.
Well, today he got plenty of comments in. The wind was blowing at around 25mph, according to Weather Underground. Maybe it would have been smarter to work on long lining or something else. But the footing was perfect, and in this wet winter and spring that is a rare commodity! And-- I hadn't jumped since Full Gallop. And I felt like such a big shot at Full Gallop, riding around that Training course. Hah!
So I tacked up...
Ready, Stace?
And went up to the jump field. Right away, we ran into problems. The neighbors (the same ones that honked at me from the other side of the fenceline when I was galloping past one day) have a new dog, and they cannot seem to keep the dog on their property. He came joyfully bounding over, and my constant companion Crescent was thrilled to play. That did not last, however, because Amy's dogs had seen him from the porch of her house and came whizzing down to the jump field in an outraged pack. Taco jumped into the air and scooted away. My heart did a tap-dance. I decided that I had better dismount while the dog situation resolved itself. The neighbor did come and scoop the dog into the back of his pickup. Amy saw me standing on the ground and came to check on me, and I assured her I was fine.
Round two: I got back on and picked up trot right away. I thought we had done enough walking, thankyouverymuch. At the trot it is of course much easier to focus for me and therefore I can insist that Taco focus too. We did some passable trot work, and then I picked up canter to the left. And found myself shooting down one of the sides of the field! Taco thought that would be fun, or he was worried the dogs would burst out of the treeline on that side. One of the two. Yeehaw.
At this point I was thinking that maybe I should quit while I was ahead. But I am the pilot, not a passenger, dammit. And I am a Virgo, and I do love symmetry, and I needed to canter the other way. So we went to the right. Not bad-- I maintained the focus and he felt pretty good. So I talked myself into doing some jumping after all. There was a little crossrail I could try.
I trotted toward the crossrail and committed a fundamental error: I decreased my speed and impulsion on the way to the jump. He was still fresh and spooky, and in the back of my mind I was afraid that he would land in a bucking spree and toss me like a ragdoll. No, he has never done this to me before. But I was not being entirely rational. What ended up happening was that he reached the crossrail with nearly zero impulsion. And I thought to myself, "well, I am getting Taco, who never stops, to stop." Wrong! The most honest horse I have ever known jumped from a near standstill, I landed in a heap on his back, and he jogged away from the jump, with a look of exasperation on his face, I'm sure.
Lesson learned. The horse MUST have sufficient impulsion to be able to jump. You will get a far worse jump if you pick down to the base than if you keep your leg on and your hands quiet. With that knowledge fresh in my mind, the second attempt was considerably better. He did overjump it with a good bit of enthusiasm, but the feared bucking spree never occurred. Same with the third and fourth. Then I called it a day. Carrots for Taco and reflection for me.
I get frustrated with myself for not fearlessly riding through whatever happens, as I recall doing when I was in my teens and twenties. Not only do I need to work on my technical skills, but there is this whole other mental layer that I must deal with. I didn't make wonderful choices today, but I learned some things and lived to think about them.
By way of conclusion, here is Taco enjoying the spring sun. We still have to feed hay outside, but you can see the greening grass in the background-- and not a moment too soon!
It's raining today, and Taco has had a light week. He had two days off after getting home on Monday. I did some light flatwork on Thursday and he felt really good-- nice and supple and happy. But the last two days have been just walking for him, since he seems to have banged one of his front ankles with the other foot, leaving it a little swollen and painful to touch. He is a very exuberant guy in his turnout and did this very thing last summer, only to the other ankle. So he has gotten some Surpass and cold therapy and easy walking to get keep the circulation moving. He was sound on it yesterday and the swelling had gone down but today it is raining sideways so he gets another day off.
In the meantime, then, I have been doing some studying. I came across this series of two Lucinda Green clinic videos on Horse and Country TV(a UK site). Each of them is a little under half an hour, so they were easily digestible. None of the concepts were brand new to me, but she explains them in a very vivid way.
Lucinda and Regal Realm at the 1984 Olympics. Image: http://www.olympics.org.uk/
In the first episode, Lucinda teaches a group of riders on fairly inexperienced horses. Two of her points were very useful to me. First, cross-country training is about increasing your horse's ability to read and answer progressively harder questions. At first they take a long time to puzzle over a simple question. As time goes by, they are able to process far more difficult questions far more quickly. While Taco is not green by any stretch, it helps me understand what makes him tick. And I also understand my job as presenting him to questions in a way that allows him to solve them correctly (there is that energy, line, balance thing again-- which, by the way, is a concept that Lucinda constantly emphasizes).
Second, she explains that horses initially get up in the air to jump by lifting their front ends. Then the back end propels the horse upward and forward, but it is the lifting of the front end that is the crucial function at the moment of takeoff. So... it is really counterproductive for the rider to allow her body to tip forward onto the horse's front end at that very moment. Again, another concept that I already was aware of, but the way she put it is so commonsensical and crystal-clear.
In Episode 2, Lucinda uses two groups of demonstration riders to further explain some important concepts. "Fundamentally," she says at the beginning, "a horse that goes eventing has got to believe that wherever you want him to go, he can go and he's not going to get into trouble." This is exactly how Annika trained Taco, by the way. She always asked him to do things that she knew he could and would do. That is, I am sure, one of the main reasons he is so honest and confident today.
She also has good ways to explain the use of aids. I really liked how she explains the use of the legs in steering and supporting the horse. When steering, our legs are like cling film (Saran Wrap) around a sandwich-- not too loose and baggy, but not squishing the sandwich. Or in my case, not squishing the taco! But then when the horse hesitates before takeoff and/or we're jumping something difficult, those legs can go ahead and squish the sandwich (or taco) in order to make sure the horse keeps going and support during takeoff.
At the end, she works with the riders to put together engine, line and balance over some straightforward gallopy fences.
I'll leave the rest of it for you to discover yourself:
The past week has seen part of Team Taco (minus Taco) journey to Kentucky for the MidSouth Eventing and Dressage Association meeting, plus some actual riding here at home in Tennessee.
I bundled Carol and the dogs into the car on Saturday morning and we drove to Lexington, KY in time for the afternoon lecture at the MSEDA meeting. The lecturer was Heather Blitz, an international Grand Prix dressage rider, and her topic was a philosophy of biomechanics and training that she calls Mind Your Riding. I won't try to recall the entire lecture here, which was about two hours long, but I found some of her concepts especially eye-opening. In particular, she described a method of maintaining the rider's center of gravity somewhere between the waist and mid-thigh through core engagement and thigh strength and leverage. She also explained what the horse's forwardness and balance mean to her. Her definition of "forward" refers to the horse's state of mind and means that the horse is "switched on" and that the horse and rider have a mental connection. Good balance for the horse means that a medicine ball would balance in the middle of a seesaw with its fulcrum just behind the horse's girth. She illustrated these concepts, plus several more, with photos and video of herself riding. The entire lecture was fascinating and I would really love to ride in a clinic with her... so stay tuned to see if we make it!
After a lovely dinner at Lexington's Atomic Cafe and the annual MSEDA business meeting on Sunday morning, Carol and I took our seats at the awards luncheon. Taco and I had earned my first-ever year-end award. We were second in the Senior Novice category for 2009.
I will treasure that red ribbon for years to come!
Now that I've returned to Nashville, and the weather has been marginally better, I've been able to ride. The ground is still rather wet, but I can do some long slow distance work. I got on and hacked the other day, despite the snowflakes that were drifting around, because I finally had a chance to ride in between the snow and rain and travel. Taco was a bit fresh but I practiced keeping my center of gravity low and lengthening his strides at the walk, which settled him. I think we both felt a lot better after that.
I rode today, too, which presented another problem: wind. It was about 32 degrees and the wind was whipping down at Panther Springs at around 20 mph! I hate wind. And Taco was, shall we say, a little wired after I tacked him up in the barn and ventured out the double doors into the wind tunnel that was the great outdoors. After leading him to the mounting block I peered at his slightly wild-eyed face. Hmmm. Maybe a little lungeing was in order. So I went back into the barn for the lunge line and we hit the round pen. Wheee! Lots of bucking! After a few minutes his eye had softened right up and I got on. No problemo. Another winter day conquered!
If the weather holds we will have a nice stretch of 40-degree days without rain for the next week or so, and we can get some work done. After all, the average daily high around here in early February is 50 degrees, so is 40 too much to ask? Fingers crossed everybody!
Team Taco has been laying low this week because of the snowstorm (a big deal around these parts) and subsequent soggy ground.
But the slower pace is not altogether unwelcome. It is lovely to spend non-riding time with Taco. He's a pretty fun guy on the ground. He mugs for cookies and carrots and gets fussed over with nice long curries and hugs and kisses. It's not that he doesn't get those things when we ride, but I can dawdle over them on non-riding days. I can't help but think it deepens our relationship.
Here are some snapshots of him in the snow on Monday. A beautiful horse in a beautiful scene!
Let's hope that after this weekend's rainstorm (yes, another one) things dry out and let us get back to it! We are entered at Full Gallop March 13-14...
Well, it snowed. A lot for Nashville-- I read somewhere that we haven't seen this much snow since 1996! Taco was used to it from his Michigan days, of course. Still, he looks a little annoyed here, in this picture that Amy took yesterday:
Our street has not even seen a plow yet, and the city seems to have ground to a halt. It seems unlikely that I will be able to visit with my Handsome Guy today. However, it is always fun to relive some memories. So I've copied and pasted some of my competition notes from 2009. Here is my USEA online competition record (you can click on "Cat Burglar" to get earlier shows he and Annika did), but the stories behind the numbers are so much more interesting!
Our first show last year was Jumping Branch in Aiken, SC, which was a fabulous experience for both of us (link to video). Then Taco was hurt for a few weeks with a bruised hoof and a new cut on his left hind's scar (both caused by a sprung shoe that I should have prevented, ay yi yi). But he recovered and we went on to May Daze, where I rode a mediocre dressage test and showjumping round and we smoked the cross country (link to video). Then Champagne Run was next. It was my first win ever at a recognized Horse Trials. Here is what I wrote right afterward, with pictures.
Taco and I had a great show at Champagne Run. He is a truly lovely horse.
In dressage Jim Graham was our judge, and he gave me the familiar comment that I need to energize his hind end more. Also I let his poll get a little low. But a respectable 34.7, tied for 4th.
Then XC he just came out ready to roll! Actually, it was a little interesting getting to the warmup because we had to go up the steeplechase track and something Very Scary was blowing around on the fenceline. I was a little worried that he would explode in warmup but he got better and better as I jumped some fences. Amy was there and encouraged me to create more energy when I wanted to be a little tentative. We left the start box just cicking along and he was really looking for the next fence after we did each one. I loved the two brush fences on course-- practice for steeple chase! He was a little exuberant off the drop and I had to regroup some, but we had lots of room to get down the hill to the logs before the water (see below pic) and splash through (link to video). Double clear and we moved up to second.
Then in showjumping I got him more forward, as I have been working on. He stepped up and helped me in a couple of places and I did my best to help him do his job.
Double clear, and it turned out that we had moved up to first! It is my first time winning a recognized H.T. so that is kind of nifty. I won a Moxie saddle pad and a director's chair. Yay blue ribbons and swag!
We did it, Taco!
We had a couple of good events later in the summer, too. I took him to Penny Oaks in Indiana in early August. I had improved the energy in the dressage but lost some of the steadiness and consistency (link to video). Our jumping was awesome-- a blast on cross country and a solid showjumping round. I was especially proud because Amy could not be there to coach and I did it all on my own!
Then we went to Kentucky Classique and had our best dressage score to date, a 26.3. What made a difference was a bit of unorthodox but effective advice from Amy: "trot as fast as you can!" By golly it worked. He was swinging through the back and steady and wonderful (link to video). We cruised around the cross country-- the biggest and most complex I had done yet, I think (link to video). In showjumping I was pretty nervous, and he saved my @$$ a couple of times (link to video). What are friends for? We finished on our dressage score, which was good enough for first place. This was also the Chronicle of the Horse Central US Adult Team Challenge, and our team came third (that's what the big yellow sash is for).
KY Classique was the perfect prep for Jump Start, my first Training level event ever. We had worked up to schooling some Training level jumps over the summer, as in this video from August at Percy Warner Park here in Nashville.
Now it was time to see if our preparation had paid off! To say I was nervous is a bit of an understatement. But I knew I was on the best horse in the world. So off we went! Here is what I wrote afterward:
This past weekend (Sept 26-27) was my first Training Level event! Taco the Wonder Horse and I went to the Kentucky Horse Park for Jump Start Horse Trials. Training level is the level that has jumps 1 meter/ 3'3" high.
I was quite miserable on Saturday morning, a bundle of nerves, rain pouring down and a huge puddle in front of our stalls, Carol not there yet (she arrived later in the morning), and having walked what looked like a huge stadium course the night before. Taco was his usual easy show self as I braided him and got myself together. We did dressage around noon and went down to the complete mud pit of the dressage warmup, where he did not bat an eye at the other horses splashing and cavorting around him. Amy helped me with some turns and transitions (we got a couple of killer lengthenings!) and then it was into the arena. Right after the judge blew the whistle, he must have seen something on the road because his tail went *over his back* and he started to prance. He was still prancing a little when we went down center line and we think it helped his trot wrok, which was quite nice! 31.6 which we thought was quite respectable for a first Training test (link to video). Our lengthenings were not as good as in warmup, of course. But we will work on them and on keeping his poll up in the canter work.
Showjumping was what I was the most worried about. I have had trouble all season developing an energetic canter inside the arena, and the jumps looked so big in there! But I kept telling myself that Taco would find them easy, especially if I got him to them with enough energy and in a good balance. We warmed up great and went on in. And I survived! After letting him get crooked to the first fence, I had trouble getting my lead to the second, then had a nice big jump over the third (a maximum oxer) that landed us a little too far inside a two-stride line. Oh well-- he fixed it for me (good boy Taco!). At the next two fences, both oxers, I started to let him get flat, and he tried hard but we knocked a rail off the second. Then I ran around the next few fences with him in a bit of a flat canter and getting a few chips as he compensated for me (thank you Taco! sorry Taco!). We jumped the last, a triple bar, very nicely and I was done! Coach Amy was very constructive with her comments, noting that I was forward enough but then needed to harness that energy into a springier, not longer, canter. I was so happy with Taco and thrilled that the fences seemed easy for him, despite my mistakes (link to video).
Cross country (link to video ) was just fantastic. The rain had let up during Saturday afternoon, but there was more rain overnight. Still, the turf at the KY Horse Park had been able to absorb an amazing about of water and the ground seemed fine. A few fences with bad footing were taken off the course and warmup (thankfully) was moved from a mud wallow near the start box to one of the arenas. I was nervous, but felt ready and excited about the challenge. My biggest worry was the fence crossings and trying not to fall down. Taco seemed to know that I was especially excited and when it was time he leapt from the start box and over the first fence before I had a chance to take a breath, it seems! Then, running along between the first and second fences, a grin broke out on my face. He was just sailing over things-- he took an amazing leap over a max table, did not even look at the trakehner that had been causing some problems, and was full of enthusiasm. He was just like a Border Collie: " where to next? This one? OK! " We came in with a clean round and about 30 seconds over time. I was thrilled with how wonderful Taco was and I had really enjoyed myself. I wished I had pushed for time a little bit more, because Taco was still full of running at the end, and I think I never got going fast enough again after trotting through the especially icky spot in the fenceline that I was the most worried about. But that all will come! We came in 7th in a division of 20-25 people. And we got a qualifying score for the Training Level Three Day, our goal for 2010!
We go to Middle TN PC in two weeks, which will be our last event of the year. And what a year it has been. Taco is the best!
Then Middle TN, where we finished on our dressage score of 27.0 (link to video). This is an excerpt from an email I wrote to Annika afterward:
I think this was my best XC yet and the most difficult course I have ever done. I had never asked him to go faster before today, and he was very willing to do so! We came in just a few seconds under optimum. I did my first angle combination, my first coffin with terrain (ditch at the bottom of a dip)(link to video), my first bank up-bank-down-2 strides- house combination, and my first time jumping into and out of water with a log two strides after. We flew over all of these, plus the fly fences, trakehner, etc.. Then when he was done and I washed him off he just stood with the look of eagles and surveyed his domain. We are now joking that we are "King Taco" and "Countess Curwood" (because I count audibly to all of my jumps).
I also had a great SJ round-- even Amy was happy with it! It just flowed and felt easy. We were in perfect sync (link to video).
Shannon Brinkman got some great pics, and I spent way too much money ordering some....
I drove him home and led him into his field and told him "well done" and he acknowledged me with "thank you kindly, it was no problem." Then I slipped his halter off and he trotted away like he hadn't done a thing today.
Weekends like this one don't come very often... I am savoring it and feeling that life is good.
Our score was good enough for first place. That qualifies us for Area III Championships, and with one more clear round cross country, we will be qualified for the 2010 American Eventing Championships.
It's hard to top a year like that, but I am excited to begin the 2010 season... which will start at Full Gallop Farm in Aiken March 12-14. I sent the entry this week!
And, just to show we do have fun besides prepping and doing competitions, here's a video from one of our grooming sessions last summer.
Wintertime is a mixed bag, especially this year. At the end of November, I realized that trying to finish a big project at work, traveling to Boston for Thanksgiving, attending the USEA convention, and wrapping up the semester were more than enough for me to do. So I asked Amy (our "provost" from my previous post) to ride Taco for four weeks.
It's not as if Taco needed extensive training-- we had, after all, pulled down some nice scores at last year's events. I just wanted her to evaluate him, keep him in work, and be better able to help me in lessons. But it really seems to have brought us to a new level.
What happened was this: after two rides, Amy texted me. "You can get so much more from him than you're getting!!" she said, and then, when I got back home after Thanksgiving, she showed me what she meant. Wow! Taco looked amazing. He floated around looking like the fancy dressage horse he is. The next time, I got on. I was having some fear issues, I will admit. I hadn't been on him for two weeks, it was windy (I HATE wind), and there was lots of activity at the farm that day, including Tidbit the miniature horse stallion (since gelded) running along the fenceline.
Oooh, scary Tidbit (scary to me, at least!)
I struggled along trying to do the suppling exercise that Amy had found useful on him. Then she made me get off and showed me what she wanted. Then I got back on... and I got it! I sat up tall and pushed him out in front of me. Amy suggested I try a lengthening and Boom, Boom, Boom!! I found myself riding the biggest trot I have ever sat on! Woo hoo! Taco had another gear that I just didn't know existed.
At the end of the four weeks I got the ride back and kept practicing my newfound dressage skills. Things were going very well until The Cold Snap of 2010. Nashville is in the South, and most people do not have indoor arenas. Winters are mild and we do sometimes lose a few days to wet footing but those days are not too frequent. Unfortunately, this year we tied a record of the longest period of sub-freezing temperatures-- two weeks-- set in 1942. Great. The footing was frozen solid.
Then we had a gorgeous weather week. We got back to where we had been in the dressage. We also had a fabulous jump lesson in which I thought we were at least as good as we were last season, if not better! And then the rains came. It rained for about a week. A few times, I hacked around the farm to warm up, then rode in Amy's all-weather round pen, which had the driest footing on the property, and then cooled down hacking around the farm again. To break things up, I lunged in the round pen too. Not so bad.
Finally, this week things have started to dry out. I escaped from work early yesterday so that I could have a lesson. I brought Taco in and began to remove his mud mask (a favorite beauty tratment that he uses often). And then I saw it. The outside branch of his right front shoe was bent. Aaaaargh!!! Amy took the shoe off and I spent the day fussing over his grooming.
Todd, our farrier, was kind enough to come by this morning and put the shoe back on, but I generally cannot ride on Tuesdays and Thursdays because they are my teaching days. Even if I had left work early, I had to go to the dentist immediately after work. So there Taco was, ready to go, and the footing was good, and I am sitting in the dentist chair getting worked on with that awful drill.
There is a winter storm forecast for tomorrow, and temperatures will not return to the 40s until Monday.
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