Virtual Brush Box

Show Report: Alabama Charity Championship, Decatur AL

Alvin was enjoying a well-deserved lunch. so I asked recruited stand-ins for the victory photo. LtoR: Courtney Huguley, me, Melissa Croxton. — Alvin was enjoying a well-deserved lunch, so I recruited stand-ins for the victory photo. LtoR: Instructor Courtney Huguley, me, Assistant Instructor Melissa Croxton. Photo by Julie Wamble.

After the accusations of being less than calm at the last show [Report], I spent a lot of time minutely examining the whys and wherefores of keeping myself still when I ride, particularly keeping my head still. I came up with a hatful of theories. I didn’t use a single one.

Bring It On
As I zinged into the ring for the first class, I thought, ‘Eeek, my horse is running away with me.’ With Trump, I have learned that I cannot stop his energy. The best I can do is contain it. I decide to try this with Alvin. To which this veteran show horse responded, ‘Ooooooh, are you ready to party? Let’s rock!’

To the extent that Academy Equitation and Academy Showmanship are judged differently, I was fortunate that Showmanship came first. They are usually the other way around. In the first class, we were jazzin’. On a scale of 1 = lesson horse and 5 = five gaited at Louisville, my instructor says I got it cranked up to a 2, or even a 3 on occasion. In the Equitation class, Alvin was a hair steadier, allowing me time to perform the equitation equivalent of sticking my pinkies out.

Close-up for full impact. — A close-up for the full impact.

At the end of our second victory pass, I finally lost positive control. I was trying for big, expressive trot. I got canter. I didn’t have the heart to haul him back down. I’ve always been a sucker for a victory gallop.

She looked around: the other horses were showing signs of stress as well … Corlath’s Fireheart was standing on his hind legs again; the king could bring him down as he chose, but Harry rather thought the horse was expressing the mood of both of them.
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley [Greenwillow 1982/Ace 2007 p. 187]

My First Step Into a Larger World
Aside from the above, I have no words about events during my classes. As I came around the top of the ring, my instructor patted the ring wall in front of her, indicating that I should head for that point and do a diamond turn [Begins]. The analytic side of my brain registered, ‘Sharp turn. That means I need to keep my horse on the outside rein.’ To which the operational side of my brain replied, ‘Nope. Too busy riding to listen to you.’ I was assessing too much input too fast for my internal word generator to process the data into sentence form. I was riding instead of thinking about riding. People have been trying to get me to do this since I was 15.

Doug Shiflet Photography
View Proofs button or Horse Show Proofs icon > 2013 Alabama Charity > Saturday Morning > 124 – Aca Showmanship WT Adult, 126 – Aca Equitation WT Adult > black horse, blue vest, (only) helmet. Download rant, per usual [Photo Disclaimer Rant].

Photos of note. In the background of photo 124-022-AC13/first class/Showmanship, you can see a woman in a blue Stepping Stone t-shirt. This is Julie W., owner of Alvin. Clearly she is about to tell me, “Chin up” because in the next photo, 124-023-AC13, I have my head tilted so far back that it looks as if my eyes are closed. In the last photo of my day, 126-037-AC13/second class/Equitation, I have a rather happy if goofy expression, I have fallen backwards, and Alvin’s hindquarters have dropped about a foot. This is probably just before he cantered off. We are clearly go for launch.

Alvin sightings in three other classes: with his owner, Rachel, in 110 – 3 Gaited Country Pleas Novice Rider (pink coat) and with another Academy student in 129A/123A – Aca Equitation/Showmanship WT 9 and 10 – Section A (light green vest). Sam is also in the two 9-10 classes (chestnut horse, blue vest). In this show, all juniors in Academy were required to wear helmets. I heard a fair bit of squeaking on the subject. I took a deep breath and stayed silent. Words will not change minds. All I can do is wear my helmet and represent. Every ride, every time.

Final Note
Thanks once more to Rachel and Julie Wamble for sharing Alvin.

Next Stop: Nationals.

Learning Styles

~~Crazy~~ Opinionated Jumper Mare [pictured here and here] learned like lightning. She could scope out the height of an entire course as she trotted through the ingate. The only time I ever felt her unsure of a fence height was at an evening show. The ring was covered, the lights were low-power, and the sun was setting. Result, funky illumination. I could see the jumps. She could see the jumps. I didn’t realize that she didn’t have a grasp of the fine details until we were on course. She could see the standards. She could see the poles, kinda. Her solution was to clear the standards and assume the poles would pass under her hooves. Wheee-ha! Other than that, she was always aware of her surroundings.

Previous Horse never got the idea that jumps could be raised. We would jump a course. My jump crew would reset the fences. We would follow the jump crew around as he set the fences. We would pick up a canter, head toward the fence, and it would come as a complete surprise to the horse that the jumps had changed.

Rodney needs to go back to kindergarten. Always. Every time. When a horse (person, dog, ferret-in-training) has a good day, a trainer has three choices: increase the exercise, stay the same, drop it down. Since he appears to have anxiety issues, asking for more is out. I keep thinking that asking him to repeat what he has just done successfully would build his confidence. Nope. No matter how calm he appears, we have to go back to simple, simple, simple. The parallel in jumping would be if we schooled 3’6″ – a dog can dream -, we would have to drop back to trotting cross-rails on the buckle to reestablish a baseline. I suspect this will always be the case. I suspect I will always be relearning this lesson.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gratuitous Cat Picture

Field Walks

My walks around the field have morphed yet again.

Originally, I walked around our pasture in preparation for jogging around same. It beat jogging on the road. When the jogging habit failed to eventuate, I kept walking. It’s good exercise for body and mind. Often when I get my knickers terminally twisted, I will go for a walk to sort out my head. Or perhaps just to tire myself out. Never underestimate exhaustion as a tool.

Then Previous Horse died and was buried in the far corner of the pasture. It was a month before I could walk into the field without crying. There was no way I was going to walk past that corner alone. Still, I needed to move. I finally used the excuse of exercising Mathilda and the two of us would walk around the field together. [My Two Horses]

Then Mathilda got racked up. [How Do]

Eventually the dog took over escort duty. [Dog Walks]

Now we have Dash. Evenings are so much more peaceful if he has a chance to exorcise his puppy YaYas. So, Lady and I go for two rounds. She runs about. I walk, sometimes mindfully, sometimes letting the breeze blow through my brain. Then, Dash comes out on a leash & the three of us go for two more rounds of the field. These are taken at a brisker pace, but by round three I am generally done with the noodling and am slogging around for the exercise anyway. Keeping up with Dash, keeping him from snacking on field apples, and keeping the whole operation away from the horse all serve to distract me during the part when I’m getting tired.

Reign of the Swan Princess

I am at a horse show today. Another horse show?! Yes, I am quite aware how lucky I am. It’s close enough not to be worth getting a hotel, so I am driving up for the day.

I shall swan in at 8 am for hair & makeup. I shall stand about like a princess while my horse is dressed and presented to me. I shall ride in two classes. I shall graciously accepted such ribbons and adulation as are presented to me. I shall hand my horse off to the next rider. I shall wave farewell to my minions and return home.

I hate this.

While I am more than happy to have folks make tiresome tasks disappear (see Husband, dinner cooked by), I don’t stand around well. I want to be involved, to be helpful, to be moving. Granted I normally stand around waiting for the horse to be tacked up, lest I soil my riding clothes (see Show Report, cost of). At least when I’m around for the rest of the show, I can pretend to participate. Today, I will not even stay for the evening session. Last time I stayed till the end I was exhausted, and that was when I had a driver.

I shall mitigate my cavalier behavior with an offering of doughnuts.

(*Devil’s Panties – It’s Not Satanic Porn: The Princess Escapes. Do you think the judge would be amused if I wore it on my lapel? No, probably not.)

Foto Friday: You Rang?

Mathilda neighs from the barn, asking Rodney where he has gotten to.
(Click on photo for better view.)

On Idle

No lesson this week. Instructor went on Sunday to set up the stalls for the horse show. Horses went up on Tuesday. I will be going on Saturday. This is one reason I don’t see myself committing to big-time saddleseat. [For a more ponderment on the subject, see Suiting Up.] Our menagerie is such that it would be hard to get away for a show that starts on Wednesday. English shows – eventing, hunter/jumper, dressage – tend to be one day, or at most Saturday/Sunday with Friday afternoon for travel. One has to go fairly high up the food chain for an English show that starts in the middle of the week. For example, Penn National starts today and continues through next week (livecast by the USEF Network). For that show, we would figure out a way.

Therefore, I am grateful to the Saddlebred powers-that-be who created Academy. Critics claim that riders get stuck and never leave the division. Possibly true, but I’m willing to bet far more riders use it to ~~get sucked into~~ begin an exciting career in saddleseat. To the point that I think other breeds and/or disciplines could benefit from having school horse/lesson rider division at their shows, even the big ones.

Would an Academy division be useful in your section of the horse show world?

Moxibustion

Our latest therapy for Rodney is moxibustion, a traditional Chinese medical practice of burning dried mugwort. I had moxa sticks around the house, having tried it with Previous Horse and Mathilda. Neither they nor I was impressed. However, Internet surfing informed my medical advisor that moxa can be used on scar tissue. He dug up an old stick. Rodney LOVED it.

Does it work? Who knows. I’ve been doing energy balancing and massage with horses for years and am still undecided on the effectiveness. Clearly the horses enjoy it. I’ve seen licking, chewing, yawning, eyerolling, deep sighs, farting, horse mego, even a sharp kick with two different horses from bilateral balancing across the hips. When I was working on the earth meridians for one of the Saddlebreds (Sam), the horse pitched a fit. He made it clear that I had started on the wrong side. I switched. He calmed down. I have a witness.

Does it have an effect past the short-term gain of relaxation? I like to think so. If nothing else, it fulfills the first principle of medical ethics: Do No Harm. Plus, doing something nice for a horse has its own benefit. The moxa sure smells nice.

I have found that I get more distinct response from Rodney if the moxa stick is a blowin’ and a goin’. In a 45 minute session, I need to re-rev 2-3 times. A lighter is the easiest way to do this. Can we pause to ponder that? One of the defining characteristic of Homo sapiens, the ability to make fire, in my hand for the price of a candy bar. Tell me this isn’t a modern miracle.