26. Academy Driving – 1st of 1
With Whiskey Throttle.
Thank you to Courtney Huguley.
Fourth Class: Into The Thunderdome
The show was moved because Heathermoor has an indoor ring. It’s a lovely ring. It’s not a big ring. The size is fine for schooling or for small show classes. Put in a big horse pulling a jog cart at an extended trot and suddenly you are racing around a paperclip. Whiskey was a star about it. I had to be reminded not to lean around my turns like I was running a Road Horse at Louisville.
The Other Class That Wasn’t
While we debated the possibility of a Hunter Hack class, some genius suggested using Milton for my Academy Driving class. He likes SSF. We could hitch in the ring. I would be the only competitor.
Still no cart. Therefore, no practice. As with the other class, we ended up not being at home anyway. There was no way I would have coped with my show nerves, Milton’s show nerves, in a cart, at place where he’s had proven trouble with marble retention [Victory!: Warmup]. It’s not clear how well I would have coped with the original idea. Talk about derailing my brain for the rest of the show.
Coda
And so, another Winter Tournament comes to a close. My placings at the three of the four shows lead me to believe that I will have a pleasantly acceptable time at the awards banquet. Which is the polite translation for my inner competitor who is running about screaming Ribbons! Loot! Big fluffy ribbons! Prizes! Ribbons!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Advance Horsemanship WTC Adult – 2nd of 5
2. Advanced Equitation WTC Adult (Pattern) – 3rd of 5
With Sultan’s Miracle Man. Thank you to Courtney Huguley for Sam.
7. Pleasure Horse or Pony WTC Adult – 2nd of 4
With Jazz In The Park. Thank you to Natassia Gardner for Parker.
First Class: Show Your Horse
I’m proud of this one. After the last show [Riding Vs. Showing], my eyes-on-the-ground pointed out that I often don’t get it in gear until the second class. This time, I was determined to ride hard out of the gate. I tacked up as soon as possible and sashayed into the ring.
I knew that Sam had a long day of toting littles on his schedule, so I kept the actual work to a minimum. Lots of walking and standing, the occasional brief trot. Basically, what worked to warm him up at the summer show last year [Getting The Band Back Together].
Second to a fancier horse with a suit rider. Go us.
Second Class: Walk of Shame
Sam rocked it. Me, not so much.
After abbreviated rail work, we lined up for the pattern. Numerically, I went first. No problem. The first movement was to trot down the long side with two changes of diagonal. As I came around the corner, I realized I was on the wrong diagonal. I switched. Then did my two required switches. Wasn’t sure if my bad diagonal counted against me. It wasn’t good, but technically the pattern hadn’t started yet. Maybe.
Nailed the canter circle. Halt. Trot back to the line-up. Rats, I’m on the wrong diagonal again. Switch. No, phooey, I was right the first time. Switch back. I was pretty sure this time counted.
It’s a bad sign when the judge talks to you as you leave the ring.
Judge, chuckling: something, something diagonal. I didn’t get the exact words, but the sense was, You know you screwed up your diagonals, right?
Me, nodding and pointing to Coach Courtney: Yeah, and I’m about to get yelled at.
Coach Courtney: No, you are about to get shamed. (Points to outgate.) This is the walk of shame.
There is no excuse. Diagonals are 100% rider. As a feeble explanation, the deep footing changed Sam’s way of going just enough that I had trouble feeling it. Seriously. I had to stare down at this shoulders to get a clue.
I guess this proves it’s hard to be good for two classes in a row.
Third Class: Whiny Little Princess
I want to ride Saammmmm. At all the shoooowwwwws. Waaahhhhhh. What do you mean that’s not possible?! Foot stomp.
At my last lesson, Coach Courtney asked me to try an almost new-to-me horse, Parker, show name Jazz In The Park. I’d ridden him once, years ago. Alright, sure, fine. If I have to. Since Winter Tournament is the time to try new things, I offered to show him in the third class, but only the third class. That way, I could try a new horse, would still have Sam for the Horsemanship Class as planned, and, if Parker and I had a Whiskey-style meltdown [Report], it didn’t affect ALL of my series awards.
I sound so reasonable, don’t I? Let’s be clear. I did not want to ride Parker. I did not want to show Parker. However:
1) I need to get comfortable with other horses in general
2) If I plan to show at the big shows this year, Parker is likely to be the available ride.
3) The last time Coach Courtney asked me to try a horse, it was Tigger. That worked out okay [Elusive].
The second place was nice. I was mostly pleased that I got through the class without clutching at him, or at least not too badly, and not riding like a hyper-defensive sack of potatoes. There was even one moment when I asked him to move on and he zoomed down the long side in proper ASB style. I will deny this if quoted, but I can see why people might like riding a game horse. It was nice to use the accelerator pedal without prompting a debate.
The Class That Wasn’t
Earlier this year, there was vague discussion of adding Hunter Hack class for Milton and one of the ASBs who shows in hunter. The “Hack” means that after the group WTC, the entrants line up to take a jump or two! An alarming thought, but what better way for Milton and me to make our jump debut? A familiar environment, a supportive crowd, and total control over setting the jump.
I don’t know if we would have been ready, but we definitely were not after taking two weeks off in January [Dunno]. As it turned out, the show wasn’t at SSF. Not worth hauling Milton and the hunter ASB over for one class.
Well, it woulda been interesting. Woulda derailed my brain for the rest of the classes.
Getting around to thoughts on the chiropractic appointment last month [Chiro, Dunno].
Before The Appointment
While I am a big fan of body work in general, I am dubious about chiropractic work.
Sessions I have seen in the past have involved violent yanking. It felt wrong to me.
Years ago, I had Mathilda & Previous Horse done. I was underwhelmed, both by the session and by the results.
There is the family anecdote about neck pain leading to surgery. A chiropractic adjustment would have been a dramatically bad idea, according to the surgeon.
Finally, I’ve had a dislocated finger. I don’t understand how a joint can be “out” and still be functional. I’ll allow this one as my ignorance, since I wasn’t interested in finding out more, see above.
Doc was coming to adjust the Stepping Stone Farm horses. I decided to have Milton done. We are still searching for the key to him. I had Rodney done as well. Two horses and a barn call fee as a trade-off for one horse and me having to ship to SSF. Worth it.
During The Appointment
I went over in the am to watch a few of the SSF horses.
Doc patted the horses. I always like that.
Sam had his ears up. Sam is a hard horse to reach. He never stands around with ears up, unless peppermints are involved.
Milton spooked at the portable block. Doc handled it well. He let Milton sniff it, moved it away, moved it back, moved it away, etc. When it became apparent this was not persuading Milton, Doc had me play human blinkers while he stood on the scary block.
Doc was not interest in taking a patient history. I guess he dealt with what presented in front of him? Doc didn’t say much one way or the other. I can be a problematic client. Too little conversation and I’ll accuse you of not being responsive. Too much conversation and I’ll accuse you of not focusing on the job.
Overall, the manipulations were on the order of prodding and pushing. They fit better with my sense of suitable bodywork.
There was a nice energy in the field for the rest of the day.
After The Appointment
Adjustments for Milton: SI on right side. Something else in butt area on left side. Left ribs.
Adjustments for Rodney: generally not much. SI on left.
Results: Hard to say. No miraculous changes to either horse. That would have been nice. As I wrote in the last post, we mostly walked for a long time after that day for unrelated reasons. Since then, both horses have been going well. Nothing spectacular, more on the order of things working out rather than not.
Correlation? Causation? My brilliant riding? Doc’s magic fingers? I really don’t know.
Bottom Line
I am having them done the next time Doc is in town. Still not a complete convert, but I liked it enough to vote with my pocketbook at least once more.
Update, Nov 2023. This was the only appointment with this doc. Don’t recall if we fell off his radar, or he stopped coming to this area, or something else happened. Net net, horses did not see him again.
What is the weather?
Who has the best footing for conditions?
Who will be around to teach?
Is it a weekday or weekend?
If home, which horse? What order?
How much light do we have?
Do we have any interesting obstacles for Rodney?
Ride in the ring?
Walk laps? Ridden or in-hand?
Hill work?
Ground work?
Long-line?
Should I go off to an ASB lesson and give the home team a day off?
Does the obstacle barn have lesson horses?
And so on.
This doesn’t even include driving. Wait until that gets back into the mix.
General Rules
Go somewhere every weekend. Until such time as we can fully school at home, we need to keep moving.
Rodney goes somewhere once a month. Given the trouble we had getting him back on the road [Trailer Training], we want to keep him used to traveling.
Specific Conundrum
Last Sunday, we had a decision to make:
Take Milton to SSF. Work on cantering & trotting small jumps. I’m hoping to line up another jump lesson soon, and boy do we need practice. OTOH, one more session isn’t going to make much difference in our lesson.
OR
Take Rodney to SSF. Get him acclimatized to working away from home. This one’s gonna take time and repeat exposure.
Process notes: In an ideal world, the streamers would be fluttering in the breeze. Currently, graceful curves are beyond my skill set. Geometric it is.
We had several Eeeek-a-bug moments over this, but I went with him (kinda), he landed quietly, and came around to do it again. Part of the problem was steering. I could not get him to turn into it, so we would swerve out to the right and end up over the larger – relatively – side piece. He utterly failed to have a hissy fit on the far side of the jump. Yay!
Canter
I felt the need to massively override this, including biting for the big one on one of the passes. At a pile of poles? Milton said, ‘Ah, sorry Boss, that’s not there. I’ll just trot through this, if you don’t mind.’ Good boy.
The next day, at home, we set a crossrail with lower sides. We got a better line in. He trotted up to, hopped neatly over, and cantered quietly away. I almost believed.
Virtual Brush Box 