The Owls Approve: lesson

The Blogger Who Didn't

8:55 PM
By Beka Burke
3 Comments

My normal writing and reading style has been to do it in my down time at work (sorry, work), but then something struck the system and it wasn't safe to use personal credentials on a company device. As a result of the shit hitting the fan, I went from working my normal 40 hours to trucking through 50-60 hours. It wasn't a pleasant four weeks.

Now that things are winding down from we're-all-desperately-fucked to oh-shit-St.-Patty's-day, I'm getting off work at a reasonable time and I'm not fucking exhausted, so I aim on trying to catch up on the month's work of blog posts. Maybe.

So, life now, as a pregnant equestrian?

When I was lucky and not exhausted, the boys got ridden both Saturday and Sunday. I'm still taking lessons with Katy every week. I'm probably jinxing the fuck out of myself, but she said that when Whiskey and I make our rated debut post-baby, we're skipping straight to First Level. I wish I had more documentation, but she said that my smart pasture pony has the movement of a First or Second Level horse, now that he can actually pick up the right lead. Fingers crossed.

This is the good-boy face of a pony who picked up the right lead. 😍 #justalittlejointjuice #whiskeytheappaloosa

A post shared by Beka (@bekaburke) on Feb 25, 2018 at 9:49am PST

I made it to Saturday of this past weekend riding Whiskey myself, but officially bowed out after he started bucking in the trot to canter transitions (okay, so submission needs work!). Katy put the Spotted Dickhead through his paces on Sunday and she'll continue to do so for as long as I can hitch a trailer (maybe longer if I can convince her to come to me).

I'm still trail riding Archie, but the concern now is less about my safety on my rock-solid, ancient trail pony and more about crossing that 20% weight guideline. He willingly waits for me to mount and dismount at the picnic table. He doesn't seem uncomfortable with my change in balance or my weight, but I'm keen on keeping the old man functioning f o r e v e r.

Latest on the weird little teeth. #boldarcher #seniorhorse #ottb #expiredteeth

A post shared by Beka (@bekaburke) on Feb 21, 2018 at 3:29pm PST

lesson

That Time I Barfed.

4:05 PM
By Beka Burke
5 Comments

fail

Whiskey's No Good, Very Bad Day

11:25 AM
By Beka Burke
9 Comments

dressage

Around and Around.

4:01 PM
By Beka Burke
5 Comments

I had another lesson with Katy ~~last night~~ Sunday. These are so informative and beneficial that I'm going to try to be a better blogger and/or rider and do something to retain the information (aka.... empty promises).

I got to the lesson about ten minutes late because someone was a total grumpy shit about getting into my trailer. The same trailer he's ridden in once a week for a few months now. I blame it on last week, when the mats were wet and he slid a little bit.

(Which poses the question - is that one of the reasons that people put shavings in their trailers?)

Anyways, after mounting, we went to her play pasture and started working on a large (40m?) circle. The name of the game is immediately getting him off my leg and into the contact. I can't stress enough how badly I need new video of this guy undersaddle, because he is not the same horse. After warming up at the walk and trot, Katy had me doing some trot pole exercises.

Initially, it was just a clover through a flat box:

Except after one time through, she would yell the direction and I would reroute him from the center of the box. Having a trainer with a bit of ADD actually helps.

After going through the box a few times, she raised one end of every pole, so if you were trotting on a straight line, the first pole would up on the right and the second pole would be up on the left, etc. And then she added two poles at a diagonal from one end, like so:

With dark blue indicating which edge was raised.

Then she added a new pattern - top to bottom, track left, loop around top to diagonal on right, roll back to diagonal on left. It was a hot mess, but it got better every time we did it. She actually told me to stop worrying about bending (!) so much and just focus on keeping his neck between the reins.

All in all, it was super informative. I'm just smitten with this horse and super impressed with his progress. She told me that I couldn't back him until we got to second level*, and then joked that it would be like next month.

*western horses are backed a lot, I guess? so when I halt him, his inclination is to give me a few steps back.

dressage

Two Behind.

3:07 PM
By Beka Burke
7 Comments

I've had two more lessons with Katy, but due to her schedule won't have another until the beginning of November. This is going to be a brief-ish recap because of brain farts, but I want the overwhelming message to be a) how fucking instrumental professional help is (ha ha) and b) my dollar pony is worth millions. (We're at least gonna try upping his insured value..)

Whiskey and I worked hard on our homework from our previous lesson of getting him to move that right shoulder and also to be more responsive to my leg. I think both will be a perpetual work in progress, but by the second lesson we were more focused on forward and introducing contact.

But the first thing my trainer did was switch his low-port kimberwicke (sans chain) with one of hers. Whiskey immediately loved it, but Katy told me to trial it for a week before I dropped the money on his own.

And she adjusted the Micklem.

So the big take away from the second lesson with Katy was pushing Whiskey forward into the contact and not letting him talk me out of maintaining it. Also, keeping a feel in my outside rein. She would simply say, bring your right elbow back, and Whiskey would literally drop his llama nose and lift his back. Fucking magical.

Artist's rendition of before-right-rein.

Katy also gave us guidelines for our work at home, as she said that both of our fitness levels need to improve. No other statement has resonated with or inspire me more than this: When you get tired, your cues get crude. He definitely doesn't deserve that, so the impetus is on me to improve myself for him.

Artist's self-portrait of five minutes of work.

At the most recent lesson, I convinced a friend to come with. Katy and the friend immediately hit it off, because they're both from the midwest. Guys, I can't even tell you where the midwest is.

This time, Katy set up some poles for us.

The first go around, my friend and her horse (who is amazing), just trotted through in a nice straight line, nbd. Whiskey and I followed, like drunken pirates, wobbling this way and that. It wasn't pretty, or straight, but he didn't fall on his face. Win.

Then Katy set up some little red cones. If you knock a cone, you have to bring her baked goods. She said she was more concerned about Whiskey (and the edibility of my baked goods), but my friend actually knocked a cone instead!

...obviously drawn to scale.

After working on that serpentine until we could both kinda-sorta do it, Katy had us graduate to the arrowheads, aka a four-circle serpentine. I actually really, really enjoyed this exercise and totally plan on incorporating it at home. Not only are you circling, changing direction, changing post, changing bend, keeping contact, moving the damn horse forward, but you've got to hit the center of the arrow.

On top of all this, we worked more on pushing Whiskey. She said it's going to be ugly right now, but that he has to build his neck so he can lift his back. So my job is to maintain him moving forward, but keep the contact low and wide and steady. He wiggles, my hands follow. Lots of breaks to praise and let him stretch out. I don't wanna jinx myself...

friends

Katy

12:41 PM
By Beka Burke
14 Comments

I have a new trainer. If you're really stalky-stalky, you can figure out who she is (not a challenge, guys!), but on this blog she'll be Katy.

Katy is a level three certified USEA trainer who once rode Rolex ("many years ago"), has a seven year old Prix St. Georges horse (which seems like a lot of achievement to me), and swooned with me over Denny Emerson (who she's had a meal with!).

After returning from NYC last Monday, I vegged for a few hours and then headed out to the barn with the truck to hook up the trailer. Whiskey and I were having our first official adventure.

Getting him on the trailer was a lot harder by myself, but I managed. Definitely something we're going to work on and something that I'll practice between hauls. Pony needs to self-load like a mofo'ing gentleman.

Fortunately, baby steps, Katy's barn is only about twenty minutes from mine. As I was pulling up her driveway, I saw one of my friends pull in behind me. Yay, an audience!

I was super fucking nervous, so I wasn't as appreciative about having my friends there, especially when the second one showed up. They're invested in me and my horses and my success, so I need to be better about showing my appreciation. I was so worried about everything else, I didn't have time to worry about Whiskey acting like Archie at a new place and trying to kill me. This horse is a freaking saint.

When the lesson actually started, Katy asked about our history and our goals. I want to run BN on this horse and then advance even further in dressage. She absolutely adored him and remarked constantly on his confirmation and movement. When I admitted that I paid a dollar for him, she said we were meant to be. I saw something in this raggedly old Appy, standing in a field with horrible feet and a grass belly.

Lady, save me.
6/15/2016

Okay, so anyways, we worked on walk and trot mostly, with a little bit of canter, all while hanging out on a 20 meter circle. Some points came up immediately:

I drive with my seat. I don't even think about it.
Whiskey is slow to respond to my leg - which I've been using incorrectly. I need to nudge with my upper calves, then my heel. I just jump straight to heel and nag nag nag.
I will forever be riding this horse from inside to outside. When we're tracking right, it's going to be harder and more insistent and that much more important.
He's a beautiful mover with a decent stride, but he's just as lazy as his owner.
Oh and my stirrups, in my jump saddle, are no less than two holes too long. Bummer.

Trying to pick up the right lead canter, it became painfully apparent that he would much rather dive his inside shoulder in and pick up the outside lead. Like, to the point that I thought Katy was going to get mowed over because I just could not move him.

So we stopped with the active work right then and started with some "subtle" lateral work. I faced Whiskey towards Katy and the point was to get him to shift his body while pivoting around her with his neck straight. It wasn't super easy but I felt like he tried really hard to understand my cues and Katy was quick to give him breaks and to tell me to praise him.

After that exercise, we did a few more trot sessions tracking right, the purpose of which was to stay on the 20 meter circle, but to leg yield out on the open end. Did I mention? My pony can leg yield and side pass and turn on the forehand (we're still working on the haunches). We also did some spirals in and out, but I can't remember at which point.

Then she gave me homework:

Watch videos of Chris Burton on XC. She said that this was the best means to see a horse in front of the leg because Chris' horses are so well-trained and so responsive.

This my favorite.

Work on getting Whiskey in front of my leg. Any forward response is a good response.
Work on side passing on a 20 meter circle. Trot the circle. At the first x (quarterline), halt and turn him in. Keeping his front hooves on the circle, side pass him to the centerline, the second x. Turn him back out on the circle, using legs. And alternate trotting a full 20 or working this exercise, so he doesn't get bored or anticipatory. You know, both directions.

After all that painful groundwork, she consented to let me try jumping, so she could "see the whole picture". She had two trot poles set up and had me trot through them in either direction, twice. Surprise, surprise, Whisk tripped before the second set and I fell off. At least I got it out of the way?

It took proving that I was competent and I finally got to "jump" the little crossrail she'd set up.

Since a few of my friends came out, I've gotten a few others excited about riding with Katy, too. My plan is to take a lesson a week, with respect to both of our busy schedules. I'm just stoked. Whiskey is going to be amazing.

friends

The Fetal Flail.

12:51 PM
By Beka Burke
11 Comments

My trail buddy has been giving me jump lessons on Ox over the past couple of weeks. We used to do it on Sundays after we went on a trail ride, but then our trail rides got bigger and we ran out of time. We've met twice before the trail ride to do a quick jump school, which I find is just as effective as a longer one.

She's a retired h/j trainer. We don't see eye-to-eye on the same things, exactly, like chipping versus the long spot (chipping makes me want to barf), but her knowledge and confidence and eye on the ground has been invaluable in my path to becoming a jumper* again.

*not like, literal jumper.

These mini lessons tend to start out the same way, which, though it sucks because it's work, is fucking awesome:
↣ getting the big orange booty moving that big orange booty forward, without his shoulders popping
↣ going from a working trot to a collected, sit-trot and back to a working trot. I'm okay at this, but recent visits to the tattoo parlor have made this exercise particularly ouchie.
↣ some dressage, like leg yielding and shoulder-in. we work on this by ourselves when it's too dark to jump, too.
↣ and canter stride work, which has lately been adjusting between 4 and 6 strides in a five-stride trot pole set up, and counting out five strides before the fence, because it gives me something else to focus on other than my imminent death.

I gotta say, busting my leg did absolutely nothing for my confidence. I will jump everything she sets up, but I am seriously so much more comfortable trotting into a line and cantering out or trotting up to singles. This is ironic because the line that I crashed on was a trot in-canter out line, but the brain makes no sense.

Here's a 43 second video in which she tells me to keep my eyes up seven times.

Over fences, we've been working on courses and getting my body and eye better. I love to curl up on myself with my knees squeezing for dear life when something is scary. This is not a safe position. Brain makes no sense. So we work on getting my tatas out, lengthening my leg and getting my heels down, and sitting up and back to the base of the fence. I forgot for a while that I had hands and should release, but my heels were certainly pretty. We're getting there.