Horseshow Report

The Crystal Creek Piedmont Horseman's Association open horseshow this weekend was a little over an hour away, and it was a blessedly uneventful drive.  Lynx and I entered the English halter class, I wasn't expecting to have eight horses in the class!  That was about how it went all morning, eight to ten horses in each of our classes.  Considering Lynx has only ridden with up to two other horses in the ring at a time, this was a big new experience!

The halter class went as well as could be expected.  I neglected to explain to him about trotting in hand ahead of time, so we just paced in hand.  The judge recognized him as a Standardbred from his pace as well as his brand, which could be seen more easily since I'd braided him.  She said she's a huge Standardbred fan, and was really happy to see I'd brought him today.

After halter we got tacked up and then rode all over the grounds and warmed up in the arena. A large poster flapping on the gate startled a horse in front of us, and Lynx just quietly slowed down and gave the horse the side eye as if to silently judge him for spooking. Of course Lynx would have seen all kinds of things at the track, so posters flapping, the sound system, other horses going all directions, traffic, none of it was a problem for this chill gelding.

I didn't expect the classes to be quite so large for the walk/trot groups, and I didn't realize that they allowed cross-entries.  I'd entered Lynx in walk/trot because he's been cantering at home, but I want him to be more confident and balanced before doing it at a show, especially in a large group.  However, because they had cross entries, that meant every other horse in our classes was experienced with cantering and was also in the walk/trot/canter classes. Considering the large class sizes (for a local open show) Lynx did really well! 

We earned ourselves a fistful of ribbons, and I went back to the show office to pay my tab and get checked out.  I told Mary in the office how well run and efficient the show was, and that we'd had a lot of fun! I was able to shake hands with the judge as well and thank her for the long day judging.  I've done that job and it's a lot of work! Lastly I found the show photographer, and was able to talk to her about how to get the photos once they are posted.

I was just clearing up the last of our stuff back at the trailer when I heard my name being said over the loudspeaker, and something about Son of a Lynx.  I didn't catch what it was about though, so I headed back to the show office. When I got there to my surprise I discovered Lynx and I had won reserve champion for our division for the day, which came with a rather large ribbon!  I'm so glad I heard our names and went back!

It was a great day with a great horse.  Considering he has less than 60 days of riding training on him, I'm wildly impressed and proud of Lynx.  We may have one more local show next weekend, and one more trail ride, then we get busy packing for Nationals in New Jersey!

Trot Sets and a Bath

We're planning to go to an open show tomorrow, so I wanted to just have a fun ride this morning with Lynx, then give him a bath.  The dogs came with us, Pascal keeping up pretty well even during our trot sets and cantering, elderly Mahzi wisely cutting corners when needed.

When we were done we walked back to the barn and untacked, we all had a drink of water, and then I gave Lynx a bath.  Thankfully he's close enough to dirt colored that it's not a big project.  When I was a kid I showed paint and pinto with a medicine hat patterned mare named Docs Bit of Honey, and yes the barn is named after her.  I certainly paid my dues in scrubbing with purple whitening shampoo all summer for years in order to do showmanship...  sometimes I'm surprised my fingers aren't still stained purple!

Anyway, Lynx stood like a champ for his scrub, only moving when those darn humongous horse flies would go after him. Mostly I could hit and squash them once they'd landed on Lynx, which he very much appreciated. There must be something about him that they like extra well, because they don't go after my other horses like they do him. Everyone is about the same color (it really is bay watch around here), eating the same food (just in slightly different amounts), and if anything Lynx gets bug spray and swat applied more frequently because he gets hosed off more often being in training. Another question for the ages.

He's mostly clean now anyway, and his tail conditioned, detangled, and shiny.  We're ready for our next batch of show photos!  He got turned back out with his friends and they all wandered back out to the pasture.

First Oxer and Gymnastic Line

Kathy and Dylan came over this morning to ride and set fences for me and Lynx.  We took a walk around the fields and neighborhood, with Mahzi the dog right alongside us.  Pascal got distracted chasing the barn cats again so he joined us later for the jumping exercises.

Once we were ready to work with the jumps, we started with walkibg over ground poles as our first step in this progression.  The pivo was convinced it should be tracking Dylan, so Kathy went through the gymnastic line of ground poles too.

We went through it both directions at the walk, then we each trotted through.  The basic idea is to start small and go slowly, then gradually raise the jumps and increase the speed. I did make a couple adjustments to the distance between jumps as they got higher so Lynx would have an easier time getting the strides right. 

Lynx had looked at these jumps yesterday during our ride, and I could tell he was interested.  I wanted to wait until I had someone here before tackling this particular exercise, and Lynx was definitely eager to work on this today! 

Once he was cantering through the line accurately we raised the jumps again, making the blue crossrail quite a bit larger on the sides.  It was no problem for Lynx, he jumped right through.  

I did notice that he was getting a little flat over the last fence, though.  This is a common thing as a horse is learning to jump.  He jumps harder to get over the bigger obstacle, but doesn't realize he needs to change the shape of his body in the air.  We want more of an arc, less of a flat back.

The easiest way to teach this body shape over fences is to make them wider, with an increasing element.  So I set up the last fence as an oxer, with a smaller crossrail in front of a slightly higher horizontal pole. This was Lynx's first oxer, but because I've introduced jumping to him so systematically, it seemed to him like the logical next step in the progression.

Here are the videos of the jumping efforts, this is so exciting!  Lynx really does like these thinking exercises, I'd love to get him out on a cross country course!

https://youtu.be/X8gn7Fe7Jic?is=-eaXVCJpeak0PjIR

We have another horse show this weekend, so be sure to follow along for his next batch of fancy horseshow photos!

First Cantering

 

It was a serendipitous first canter - and we had great success!  Lynx and I were out with the dogs riding around the fields and the neighbor's, and we were aggressively followed by one of those horse flies that's gigantic - the ones that are the size of your thumb.  Lynx was upset about it flying around him, so I said let's trot to get away from it.  We trot all the time in the fields, so nothing new there.

As we kept trotting, though, Lynx continued to wring his tail around in a circle, and I figured the bug was still with us.  In an attempt to outrun it, I asked him for a canter.  He has cantered on the lungeline previously, and recognizes a kissing sound as a canter cue, so when I added a little leg and kissed, he picked up the canter right away.  He did a great job and was quite balanced, so we carried on until we were back at the front fence line.  When he came back to the walk he was moving oddly, so I looked back to see the darn bug stuck to him, right next to the base of his tail!  I leaned back and squashed it and then gave Lynx a good scratch.  He was relieved to have the bug finally gone, but he also had figured out cantering under saddle!  

Lynx did so well the first time, that we rode to the back of back field and tried again.  This time he went into his big trot, then picked up the canter going up the hill, and we cantered all the way to the front of that field!  He even gave me a lead change when I shifted my weight around one of the corners.  This guy is a natural.  

Sadly, I managed to forget my gopro in the house, so we were down to the cell phone again.  This smart horse had no trouble, though, since I've spent an inordinate amount of time videoing our rides and talking to the camera while neck reining.  As I described the first couple canters to the video, Lynx knew what I was talking about.  He asked if we could do it one more time, so I agreed.  

 https://youtube.com/shorts/8CNWGJlLDrk?is=pZCM3JrfuCNoQmSe

This was our video capture for the day, with me cantering while neck reining with one hand and holding the phone to video with the other.  At the end of the video he lost his balance since I wasn't able to help him as much while multi-tasking, and broke into the pace.  No big deal, I expect things like that to happen until he is really confident and strong in the canter.  I just brought him back to a walk and reorganized.  He gave me one more good go of cantering to make up for it, and then we walked back to the barn to cool off.  

Tomorrow we'll try the gymnastic with canter strides, and I'll have help so hopefully that will be a great next episode in Lynx's story!

Hacking Around at Home

This morning Lynx and I took it easy, using the bareback pad and going for a hack around at home. He does really seem to enjoy our little jaunts with Mahzi!

I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place with so much space to ride.

Trailride with Dylan at the Farm

Yesterday we picked up Kathy and Dylan on our way and headed over to the farm for another ride.  The cattle were nowhere to be seen, but we had a great time anyway!  

As we headed out away from the trailer we rode over the wooden bridge in the driveway.  Lynx of course remembered it from last time and marched right over with no hesitation, and because he was so confident, Dylan followed easily.  On the way back, Dylan was brave and went over first!

https://youtu.be/fCMHld_qzcM 

Going up into the farm we pass all kinds of equipment form years past, which is great for the horses to look at and helps with desensitizing.  

 https://youtu.be/k3SfXRog5D0

 

We went out through the wooded trail and cruised around the open pastures along the way.  Lynx remembered the pond in which we'd seen the giant birds and cattle last week, but he simply looked really carefully at it, he didn't spook or do anything silly.  In another spot he remembered we'd done some big trotting.  He does enjoy opening up and getting some speed work in when the footing is good!  There was no misbehaving, he just had a little more pep in his step as he politely asked me if we were going to trot again?  Ultimately now that Kathy and Dylan have seen the area we decided to trot and canter work next time. 

One other spot we entered a field through a slightly overgrown area.  Lynx was leading, so had to push his way through the tree branches.  Often I'll teach this at home by setting up a chute with pool noodles a horse has to walk through, shoving the styrofoam pool noodles out of the way with his chest.  However, Lynx has been with me such a short amount of time that I haven't had a chance to set up the whole Bit of Honey Circus for desensitizing.  Lynx didn't end up needing prior exposure, though.  With just a little encouragement he pushed the branches out of the way with his face, neck and chest, and made his way into the field.  

https://youtu.be/CYMbEOJM4CY 

Ultimately we had a great time!  We always enjoy our trailrides, whether we go on our own or with friends.  

We got the one selfie at the end, too!

Working on Wednesday

I'm not entirely sure how Lynx knows what I want when we get to taking selfies, but somehow he manages to turn on the charm and smile for the photos!

We were working at home this morning with some of the gymnastics.  Lynx remembered jumping at Lena's over the weekend and started out strong over the blue crossrail.  

I'd set up a bounce (no stride between the jumps, just land and then jump again), but it was a little confusing for Lynx.  The first time through we did what I like to call "jumping by braille", where he hits every pole in order to determine where they are.  This is super common as I start horses with this kind of work.  

Because his eyes are on the sides of his head, the jump actually moves into the blind spot immediately in front of him, just as he needs to take off.  Sort of gives new meaning to the expression Flying Blind!  You can imagine how he might feel the need to hit every pole if three jumps repeatedly appear then disappear right when he needs to takeoff!  This is why I always try to walk the horse around the jumps first, with his side parallel to the poles, so he can actually see and assess the jumps before I ask him to go over them.

https://youtu.be/adePUhpdsTY?is=jp9mimszKNvLxvJw

As I go back over the video and photos from today it's also remarkable that Lynx tries SO HARD to do this jumping thing right.  He is still determining whether things are cavalletti to be taken in trot stride, or a jump to be hopped over.  He's athletic enough that he can lift individual legs quite high!  Once he figures out that he can canter these jumps much more easily than trotting them, it will be a real game changer.

Look at how high he lifts that right hind to clear the pole!

Check out his right front leg, knee to nose, hoof to chest! And note how high the sides of this crossrail are.  I often set this up so the jump will look bigger to the horse and he'll clear it easily in the center. Lynx is smart and attentive enough that he was trying to get over the oddly angled poles at the trot, not realizing it was ok to canter in and jump.

Here he's stepping equally high with his left front- this is some serious athleticism and try.

This crossrail's sides are a little smaller, and you can see him "sitting" more in his hind end with this jumping effort.

This is the bounce, after I changed it to be ground poles to a vertical because he needed something simpler.  I'm always happy to simplify an exercise for him, I want him to end a session feeling confident and accomplished.

Now he's getting the idea!  Next I'll set some fences on a long straight-away in the fields.  I'll let him pick up a little speed and see if I can get him to break into the canter and go through the bounce that way.  In this little ring it's difficult to get much impulsion before needing to turn, and he happily canters in the pasture all the time.  

This small ring/round pen has been useful for getting him started because the smaller space has made him think about his balance, without him ever needing to pick up much speed. Lynx has terrific brakes with a breathing halt, so if the rider exhales and shifts her pelvis into a more posterior tilt, Lynx will shift his pelvis and slow down then stop in response, doing the same thing with his body as the rider does. He'll quietly halt like this anytime, after a jump, when trotting downhill, it's a great tool to rebalance him when riding on terrain.  I also use a variation of this method to teach my western horses how to slide.

Not bad at all for a horse who's only been under saddle and riding for five weeks!