BTR 5 of 7, November 2011: Weekend with Wofford

Continuing to repost the entries from my previous monthly blogs Back To Eventing and Back To Riding.

Illustration by Jean Abernethy
Illustration by Jean Abernethy

“It’s simple. It’s just not easy.”
James C. Wofford, Training the Three-Day Event Horse and Rider [Doubleday 1995]

You gotta respect an instructor who can start a sentence with, “When I was teaching [Olympic Silver Medalist] Kim Severson……” At the end of October, I spent two days at Foxwood Farm auditing a clinic by Jimmy Wofford.

Wofford’s Words of Wisdom
(As interpreted by me. Mr. Wofford should be held harmless from however I chose to butcher his ideas.)

Horse and rider need to jump the same jump at the same time.

It’s not against the law to be green.

When reapproaching a jump after a problem, don’t ride faster, ride stronger.

To steer around a stadium course, point your chin at the jump.

Flat jumping comes from increasing speed.

Perfect doesn’t happen. Aim for really good.

The difference between bad riding and good riding? I can‘t see good riding.

The horse hears the aids he wants to hear. Quick horses ignore your hand and overreact to a touch of leg. Sedate souls, vice versa. Therefore, you may have to unbalance your aids to balance your horse.

Punish immediately and reward immediately. Make a fuss over him. Pat him a lot. Tell him he’s wonderful. He’ll start to believe you.

The brief guide to jumping: Canter in a rhythm. If they jump, you kiss ‘em. If they don’t, you kick ‘em.

Clinic Theory
I believe in undershooting when entering a clinic. If I rode at X level, I’d sign up for the X-minus-one group. I’d want to be at a level where I was rock-bottom certain. That way, when the clinician told me to jump a funky gymnastic line at least I wouldn’t be worried about the height of the fences. This weekend, for example, one young lady kept sticking her tongue out when jumping. Wofford warned her and then made her jump with her glove stuffed in her mouth.

Moi
How was life over in my little angst-ridden corner of the universe? I first proposed this clinic back in March (blog posted in June). So I’ve had half a year to adjust to the idea that I wasn’t riding in it. Come the day, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy watching without riding but if I stayed home, I’d sulk. Mostly, at least publicly, I did okay. However, each of the clinic days I did disappear for a quick snivel. Both occasions were after lunch, so blood sugar may have been involved. I subdued my disgruntlement by taking notes as if the clinic were an event to be covered. Occasionally I was pulled out of writer mode by an attendee’s horse misbehaving. At that point, I’d have an anxiety attack in sympathy by imagining the Technicolor fits Rodney would have thrown. That’s the point. I did NOT ride because I was NOT ready. If I ever DO ride in this or any other clinic, it will be when I AM ready. But try telling that to my stomach.

In keeping with my promise of looking on the bright side:
1) I was way more relaxed than had I been riding. Annoyed, frustrated, and depressed, yes. But more relaxed.
2) I was spared the sight of my oversized giraffe in the Beginner Novice group with the pony brigade.
—–
(Admin notes removed. KTW)
~~~
Rodney’s Saga repost locations

Back To Riding
Repost BTR, July 2011: SITREP
BTR 2 of 7, August 2011: SIT[uation]REP[ort] II – The Horse
BTR 3 of 7, September 2011: My Two Horses
BTR 4 of 7, October 2011: Aftermath of an Explosion
Or
The original Back To Riding blog

Back To Eventing
BTE 1 of 9: How I Won the Training Level AEC
BTE 2 of 9: The Cast Assembles
BTE 3 of 9: The AEC, a Realization in Five Phases
BTE 4 of 9: New Horse Blues
BTE 5 of 9: Buying the Horse is Only the Beginning
BTE 6 of 9: Back To Square One
BTE 7 of 9: Getting to Know You
BTE 8 of 9: Spring Fitness
BTE 9 of 9: Forward Planning
Or
List of all nine direct USEA links

Rodney’s Thoughts on My Posing Naked

For those of you who wonder how to take revealing pictures of oneself on a horse. [Challenge]

Have your horses at home. Have a pasture surrounded by dense foliage and fields. Hope none of your neighbors are hunting that day. Wear easily removable clothing – less time to undress equals less time to stress. Have a steady, reliable horse who won’t get upset at new circumstances.

Oh wait, we don’t have one of those.

Day 1: Cognitive Dissonance
Activity! Nerves! Stress! None of it directed at me!

Rodney did not know what to make of the photo shoot. We asked him to stand. He knows couch. He stood like a champ. All four legs solidly locked in park. From the shoulders back, he was a statue.

Rodney is a sensitive horse, particularly to any signs of anxiety in his vicinity. There was a certain level of anxiety in his vicinity. More so on the first day. From the shoulders forward, he was a mess: ducking his neck, pinning his ears, grinding his teeth. After a while, we called it a day. He was on overload. Composing himself afterward required generous pats and a liberal application of green grass.

rather helmet Rodney

Day 2: Happy Horse
I stand. They do weird sh*t. Got it.

Rodney was much more relaxed the next day. Too relaxed. He has a tendency to let it all hang out [Doctor Whooves]. His happy meter does not droop. It is set to ‘Wah-hoo, bring on the mares’. This turned the photos from tasteful to trashy.

[Photo withheld due to shortage of brain bleach.]

The Naked Challenge & My Thoughts On Posing Naked on Rodney’s Saga
Will You Take #TheNakedChallenge? on Horse Collaborative
The Naked Challenge on Facebook

My Thoughts On Posing Naked

Will You Take #TheNakedChallenge? on Horse Collaborative
The Naked Challenge on Facebook

I took the challenge [The Naked Challenge]. How did it go?

rather helmet partial

+ Husband/photographer immediately doubled down. If we were doing this, then we were doing it right: a) I had to be riding & b) it had to be clear I was buck-naked. No possibility of hiding a tank top and bikini bottoms. Eeep.

+ I’m wearing a helmet, I must be dressed. I’m wearing a helmet, I must be dressed. I’m wearing a helmet …

+ Breezes in unexpected places.

+ It’s good to get outside of my comfort zone.

+ It’s exhausting to get outside of my comfort zone.

+ Composing myself afterward required a liberal application of cupcake.

+ I know my friends will be amused &/or supportive. What about acquaintances? Will they be appalled? Amused? Will there be repercussions?

+ I can’t BELIEVE I’m doing this.

rather helmet partial feet

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch. Or Not

It’s been two months since I wrote about Rodney, Milton, and the happenings at home [Summer Suffering]. Within that time period, I have posted on four saddleseat shows, many lessons, and endless saddle seat theory.

What’s up with that?

IF we ignore the screamy voices in my head and IF we ignore that fact the American Eventing Championships will be happening without me again this year, all is well.

They are gorgeous horses. I never tire of watching them: eating, napping, or running around the field like idiots.

Work is moving forward. Slowly, but forward.

Rodney & I are going for walks when the ground crew is around. We have gone back to first principles. Greg leads. I sit aboard. Rodney sorts out how to deal with rider weight. We have done enough body work that he has to relearn to use his back. Sans saddle for now, as the right point of a saddle impacts directly on his injured area. [Daddy Dearest, Piling on the Therapy, The Latest Magic Goo] The rest of the week is easy groundwork exercises to give him successes.

I still want a cowboy to get on Milton first. That requires a truck to get him to Stepping Stone, in order to have an enclosed space, and a saddle to use once we get there. Have saddle [New Equipment]. Finally. As for truck, inertia seems to be winning that battle. Otherwise, lunging & long-lining. Seeing who he is & identifying the body kinks left over from the track. I don’t think the track is a happy place for horses, at least not for ones who don’t run fast.

Quiet progress is the order of the day. Dear Diary: Rode Rodney. Hysteria failed to occur. Dear Diary: Lunged Milton. Hysteria. Over quickly. Exciting if one is the owner of the horse. Not the stuff of gripping narrative if one is the reader of the blog.

On the other hand, saddle seat shows are discrete, self-contained events. They have a beginning, middle, and end. Cause and effect. More obvious results that are easier to write about. In my saddle seat lessons, I am walking & trotting & cantering. More activity gives me more theory to ponder. Overall, saddle seat is new. Retraining an OTTB is not. New is more interesting. This is why a croque-monsieur tastes better than a grilled ham & cheese sandwich. Unless one lives in France, then vice-versa.

Blog and reality. Parallel but not identical.
~~~
Gratuitous Cat Pic, as promised [Why]

Percy Reason car March 11 2015 II