Okay, I'm overdue for an update. Sorry!

There has been a lot going on lately. UK's been pretty good. I've been alternating between english and western (mostly for my own comfort). After forcing him to work hard in the round pen a couple weeks ago he's been pretty much back to his normal self and less of a rebellious teenager.

The biggest change has been in what bit I use when I ride him over fences. Normally I rode him in the same bit that I flatted him in: a full cheek three piece snaffle with a copper roller. Last week I decided to see how he'd be in my full cheek slow twist snaffle, as when he'd get excited or fresh I felt like he was able to ignore the bit. Boy! What a difference! I swear that a full cheek slow twist snaffle is the ultimate bit for any downhill horse. It's got just the right amount of twist to get their attention and be able to stop them.

The first time I rode him in the slow twist he was shocked. He'd gotten strong after jumping a vertical and tried to pull and demand that I let him do what I want. I closed my legs and my hand and he went "OMG WHAT WAS THAT?!?!" and slowed down and went back into a frame. I actually felt a bit bad for him as he was that surprised. But I wasn't about to go back to less bit as this bit really kept him from trying to sneak sideways.

I jumped him again today, in the slow twist, and he was fantastic!!! I'd flatted him the night before and he'd been a bit off (I found out that he'd had a rough night) so I wasn't going to demand too much from him. I let him know from the get-go that if he was good then we'd be done quickly.

I've been setting up a pole 9feet in front of our verticals to help him not try to always take the "big one". The bounce poles have really been making him think, and he's starting to understand what I'm trying to teach him. He only messed up once, getting distracted and then doing an "oh crap" jump when he realized there was a bounce pole he had to navigate. He jumped from the pole and over the vertical and cleared both, good thing I'm in better shape or I wouldn't have been able to keep up with him! I let him know it was okay and then picked up the canter again and went right back to it, he got it right that time. We finished with jumping an oxer a few times and making him wait, rather then take the big one again. His biggest problem is he knows he can jump the smaller jumps with very little effort and tries to be lazy and take the long distances in order to jump the jumps sooner.

What I realized tonight was how happy he got after jumping something successfully. I'd tell him he was a good boy after landing and he'd be all happy and energetic, wanting to keep going and jump more rather then take a break and walk. He wasn't jigging or anything, but I could feel how ready he was. Really made me proud at how far he has come.

We were only in the ring for maybe 15 minutes tonight, there was no point in making him do more when he kept learning and doing what I asked. We went for a walk outside the ring and then he got to chill and graze for a bit before I put him back in his paddock with LD.

If he could perform at a show like he did in the ring tonight, we could have won every green hunter class I could ride him in.... He was that good. I love that I don't have to fight him or have a lot of contact to get my message through (that was Tess, she always thought she knew better). I have soft hands, and I prefer light contact in the reins at all times, as I prefer to use my legs more then anything. It is so nice to have a horse that is willing to respect that.

Well, let's see what tomorrow brings.... (hopefully I'll be able to take him over some XC jumps before winter!)

Millbrook Horse Trials 2011

Saturday I met with my sister-in-law and we hopped in my car and drove out to Millbrook, NY to watch the crosscountry portion of the Millbrook Horse Trials. I'd made the decision to go when I found out that Peter Atkins was bringing Henny down and competing in the Intermediate division. Millbrook is less then an hour away from my house. 


Amy and I had a blast! It was fantastic to be around so many horse people. All the volunteers (especially the little girls running the raffle tent) were friendly and helpful. It was cloudy and breezy and bug free, you really couldn't ask for better weather. 


It was awesome to watch so many top quality horses and their riders negotiate the XC course. Having Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton, Karen O'Connor, Leslie Law, Doug Payne, Peter Atkins, Buck Davidson and other professional riders so close was a great learning experience. 


Below is a small selection of the photos I took. Over all I took almost 1200 photos. Unfortunately my camera just wasn't powerful enough to get the shots I was trying to get. 

"Millbrook Horse Trials 2011"

(Here's the link to my album)

I also took some video:

There is more video on my youtube channel. 

I shared some of my better shots with Eventing Nation and John has used a couple for today's Millbrook showjumping recap entry. I'm a huge fan of EN and can't help but be tickled pink that my photo is gracing their blog. ^_^

Here's hoping that next year I'll be lucky enough to be competing in the beginner novice with UK! It's a big dream, but it is a dream that was made all the more tempting by walking the course once all the advanced riders were done. 

At least I know I won't have any problems with the show jumping, as that's my thing.... hehe! 

Somebody has a taste for speed...

Nom-ing and looking noble.

I've been working UK pretty consistently this past week. Riding either early or late to escape the heat. I was at the barn a lot in order to cover for Sally who owns the barn. Her sister lost her battle to breast cancer and Sally had her wake and funeral to deal with. 

Wednesday I had a bunch of my fellow boarders helping out, and we all decided to ride before it got too hot. I decided to be lazy and tacked UK up western as it was too hot to wear half chaps. Jean was borrowing my saddle so she could jump Maggie over some small crossrails. We were having a great ride when all of a sudden, a loud noise made us all jump. UK spooked, but stood his ground when I asked him to. Maggie however spun and dumped Jean. The noise was a tree falling in the woods beyond the ring. 

Right before the tree fell.

 Jean was all right and got Maggie settled eventually. As UK seemed to be none the worse for wear I put him back to work. Just for laughs I decided to see how UK would be a turning around a barrel. He did pretty well at the trot, but really couldn't grasp the concept. Then I let him gallop. This is the first time since he had the Lyme disease that he's had enough energy to try.

Boy did he light up like a little kid at Christmas! At first he was reluctant, then I felt him tense up and then release. He's pretty fast! And he is quick to respond too! Right about the time UK and I were having the most fun, he tripped and I realized that I forgot to put on his bell boots... Oops!

Thursday I rode him english and put him back to regular work. He was pretty good, but was having a heart attack about a small pile of dirt just outside of the ring that wasn't there the day before. I got him to work past it, but his spookiness combined with a bit of an attitude was wearing me out. We'd been jumping a bit, including over a jump with planks that UK was hating. The last time over, UK spooked in mid-air, dropped his left shoulder and went sideways. I landed on my hip, and then got back on UK and made him do everything again.

Friday I decided that it was time for UK to go back to boot camp. We did some lunging work, and when he still decided not to respect me we moved to the round pen. Eventually he gave in and admitted that maybe he should listen to me. We wrapped up by going for a nice long hand walk to cool him off.

He got to chill in his pen for a bit and then I let the barn girls practice their braiding skills on him. He was nice and patient, even dozing off for a bit.

Barn girls practicing their braiding skills on UK.

I later hopped on him bareback to do some show and tell. The barn girls wanted some pointers, and I was planning on teaching them how to do an emergency dismount. After wowing the girls with my amazing thighs and my bareback posting ability I taught them how to do an emergency dismount.

UK's had the last two days off, as I was in Millbrook yesterday and had stuff to do around the house today. I'll cover Millbrook in a second post!

Wooo! Crossrails! Woo!

Ok, maybe that was a little bit sarcastic... hehe.

Yesterday, I tacked UK up and hacked him out to the back field, accompanied by Jean on Maggie. I wanted to see how UK would be to ride around such a large and open space. He tried turning around a couple times, but then gave in when I insisted that we keep moving forward.

Five jumps are scattered around the field, four of them crossrails and one small vertical. By small I mean only a foot high, baby jumps. Overall UK was pretty good, and jumped everything. After jumping the first few crossrails, he just started trotting over them and got a bit sloppy.

I learned one very important thing however, we need more bit if we're going to ride out in the field again! As he started to enjoy cantering around, he didn't want to slow down or brake to the trot and even got a bit mad when I asked him to halt. Yup, my three piece snaffle with the copper roller is great for flat work but not so great for getting an excited UK to pay attention. I plan on using my full cheek slow twist next time we go out to the field.

One of these days I'll have some taking pictures while I ride, UK is quite the hotshot these days. ^_^