Jasi and I got up at O-Dark-Thirty this morning, loaded up Daisy and Ferriana, let the dogs hop in the truck so they didn't miss the field trip, and headed into Fort Collins to school cross country at Sunrise before it got too hot. Yesterday was near 100 (I saw a friend post 103 in town), so getting to it early was the best plan for today.
We schooled their lovely course for about an hour and then headed home before it got hot. Neither of these horses is going to the show this weekend, but they both were due for a good XC school.
Here is a 7 min video of Ferriana and Daisy going through the course pair pace style
This video is of both mares schooling the water bank.
Jasi and Daisy did a nice job with the corner on the course.
Here is Ferriana hopping down the bank into the water.
This is a little three jump mini course Daisy did
Then Ferriana did the same course as Daisy after watching her go
Because I was wearing the GoPro there aren't any photos of Ferriana, but I did manage to get this still from the video of her shadow, with tight knees and lovely jumping form over the coop.
I bought a PIVO so I can more easily record my rides when no one else is around. This should make the blog easier, and more importantly it allows me to critique my own rides. Sometimes I can feel the horse doing something odd and can't identify why exactly, but seeing it on video will often answer my questions and allow me to address it in a different way.
This weekend Raven and I are going to the schooling horse trial at Sunrise Equestrian in Fort Collins to work at prelim level, and this week in preparation I've been allotting some time for dressage test memorization. Because of the head injury I have limited short term memory, so it's really important that I memorize my dressage test days or even weeks ahead of a show to ensure it's coded in my long term memory. If it's stored there I can almost always recall it when I get to the show. If I have someone call the test to me at the show my short term memory doesn't usually allow me to hear the caller and then also perform the maneuver. There's nothing so frustrating to me as preparing for a dressage test, and then losing points because I couldn't remember what the caller shouted out mere seconds ago.
Raven and I have been practicing our trot-halt-trot transitions as well as leg yields and smaller circles. As usual the things most challenging for her are remaining soft and relaxed through her topline and moving through her whole spine.
Her canter work tends to be pretty good, she's more likely to be tense at the trot, but everything in this test is work that she's very familiar with. Now we see if she'll remain focused at the show, knowing that Casper is also going to ride at a lower level and will probably be calling to her from the parking area.
Here is her video of the test (with some wonky geometry in order to get around some of the jumps....) from the PIVO. It did lose us when we cantered past and were too close to it, but otherwise did a pretty decent job of videoing and staying focused on Raven. I was curious if it would accidentally switch to tracking the dogs, but so far that hasn't been an issue at all.
A few days ago I messed with the PIVO to get a feel for how it works and how best to situate it in the arena to minimize distractions like large jump standards or the horse passing the camera too quickly. Here's the video of Daisy doing her jump course from that evening.
I went on a ride with my old friend, Charlie, this weekend. I took Zora, who was extremely brave and went up and down hills and over difficult footing like it was no big deal, despite this being her very first real trail ride.
Dewey came back to Bit of Honey last week and was super happy to be reunited with Highboy. Much romping around and lip wrestling ensued, which always makes my heart feel good.
This afternoon Jasi and I took Daisy and Dewey to jump in the arena. We had a brief warmup and popped them over a few crossrails, then set up this little course. I went first with Dewey, who did great. I've got him in a hackamore with very little leverage, and he loves working in it and has good jump form without the bit. He's been working in the arena on the flat, over fences, and out in the back forty and has been moving nicely in all areas. The dogs are enjoying coaching, too.
Here is Dewey's video from his course:
Next Daisy took a turn at the course and she tucked those knees like a pro.
Here is Daisy's video:
Yesterday I rode Casper and ponied Dewey for our
long walk in the back, which was great fun for the horses... Both Raven
and the neighbor's horses were running around like idiots in their
pastures, so of course Casper and Dewey thought they should join in. It
took some work from me to convince them that we were out for a
civilized hack with the dogs, not a frolic with friends. Eventually
they settled down and just walked around on a loose rein and lead rope,
but it took a few laps around the perimeter! Each time we got near the
path back towards the barn both horses got a little over-eager, so then
I'd add on another lap. By the fourth time around both horses had given
up the shenanigans and walked sedately back to the barn. It's all time well spent, everyone can benefit from long walks in the back up and down hills. Butt muscles for everyone!
