The Jumping Percheron

Improvements.

2012-01-28T21:07:00.004-07:00

Getting ready to turn the arena lights on.

I really meant to post earlier this week and all of a sudden I realize it's been a week since my last post. Oops.

Our dressage lesson went great last Sunday!! Ann taught Klein and I how to lengthen our stride and come back in the trot and canter. It was easier to learn than I thought. Klein was a little confused the first few tries but then started to get it. She would think I wanted her to canter in the trot lengthening and she thought I was asking for a down transition to a trot when I asked her to come back from the canter lengthening. We got it all worked out and have had two nice dressage rides this week. We also worked on 15 meter circles and other things needed for the Training level test. Ann said it's evident I have really good control of my seat and core strength, which was a nice compliment coming from her.

Both of our dressage rides were bareback this week. Klein seems to have fun with the canter lengthening. She just goes along with it at the trot. It's not very dramatic or anything, because of the type of horse she is. But, it's there. I can feel her kick out in the front is the best way I can describe it and I feel like I'm riding up a hill. For our dressage rides we worked on what we learned and kind of got it together with each other on the half halts before and after. We did some shoulder in, counter canter, simple changes, and worked on our halts and free walks.

After that we went to the xc course with Sarah, Simone, and some other friends that were out there that day. We had a good time as usual and Sarah jumped some of the Training course for the first time and did great. I knew Klein was a little tired from the dressage lesson. She learned to use her body in a new way so I cut her some slack and we didn't go out and school as hard as we usually do.

Thursday evening I set up another 3'3" jump school. This one had some verticals on a bending line, a square oxer, and a ramped oxer. That was kind of a cray ride but it was awesome. Klein was full of it and was a handful to hold on to. She just wanted to blast off around the ring the entire time. She was making me work for everything that evening. I'm pretty sure I worked harder than she did. She jumped amazingly. Handful and all she didn't touch a thing. I can tell 3'3" is starting to get smaller to her and be easier. She wasn't ever really terrible at it, but even with all her crazyness and me constantly trying to reel her in and even her out that evening we were getting some weird distances and angles and she was making ALL OF THEM. A few months ago if we didn't hit it right on with precision she might have taken a rail. Now it seems like she doesn't need that complete accuracy coming into a 3'3" fence. Which does NOT mean I won't try my hardest to ride with that accuracy. It's just that she was a REAL handful Thursday evening. I was trying...but most of that trying went into just getting her somewhat managed.

I wanted to get out for a hack but Tuesday it was a little rainy in the morning, then it cleared up and the sun came out. I thought we'd be good to go but by the time I got off work it was back to this:

The temperature dropped and there was a pretty biting wind so oh well. We'll get out on the hills this next week.

I did make a goofy video of her this week. She just had a granola bar, but you know...she wants a box of granola bars not just one.

Dressage and Stuff...

2012-01-21T13:43:00.008-07:00

This past week we had a recovery gallop, one crappy dressage ride, one good dressage ride, and one outstanding 3'3" jump school.

The recovery gallop was Tuesday. I wanted to get her out and do a slow gallop to stretch her out after she worked hard on Sunday. It was like she didn't do anything for a week. She was SO strong I had to fight her the entire mile and a half. We warmed up with long and low and some lateral stuff at the walk and trot then went for what was supposed to be the slow 1.5 mile. Yeah...didn't happen. I wanted to keep her at like 375 but she fought me up to 460!!! Which isn't lightning fast but it's a good clip and a lot faster than what a recovery gallop should be. She was pretty much trying to rip my arms from their sockets. I've conditioned a monster.

Wednesday she was still in the gallop mindset and it was like she was on a delay, just kind of tuning me out. So we did what we could agree on which was simple things and that was that. I wanted to get Wednesday erased as fast as possible and have a productive dressage ride so we tried again Thursday and it was much better. There were still little delays here and there where I think her mind was wandering, but there were some quality moments.

Leaning forward, yuck.

Friday, yesterday...I set up a fun 3'3" jump school. Some verticals, a triple bar, and a one stride (21ft between) vertical to a wide oxer.

The one stride.

The warm up version, the back rail was raised.

She was BRILLIANT! She was so manageable and happy. She hit the PERFECT distances through that one stride each time we came through. She put in big effort over the triple bar and was super careful to the verticals. Brilliant really is the word to describe her last night because she was just out there problem solving. That is why I try to keep the jump schools filled with variety, it makes her have to pay attention, well and me too. Plus, course designers can put what ever they feel like in there so I want her to school it all.

Tomorrow, a dressage lesson and more xc!

Another gorgeous desert sunset this evening. I'm going to miss these.

Take Notes, Training Level XC.

2012-01-16T18:55:00.007-07:00

This is what mad skills look like:

Look at that form, those knees, the clearance. It humbles me to own and ride her. But to her, I think she's just doin' what a Klein Mare does.

Ok, obviously we went to the xc course yesterday. We went with our friends Sarah, Simone, and Tami. Everyone had a good day! We always have fun! We schooled Training again and it just keeps getting easier and easier for Klein.

Thanks to Simone I have some video from yesterday:

And the stills:

Usually there is more water in here.

I like these pics because it lets me check and make sure I'm giving Klein her head. I see slack in the reins so, I'm happy.

Go me, I'm sitting up haha. Klein has her "THIS JUMP IS MINE!!!" face on.

Usually there is water in here too.

I love this brush fence!!

Another successful day at the xc course.

Earlier in the week we had a nice dressage ride. I am really going to try to get a dressage video soon. Hopefully this week on one of Wayne's days off. She's been going really nicely in her Baucher. We had some nice gallops and hill work Friday evening too.

Next Sunday, a dressage lesson and more xc!

Bounce Video

2012-01-10T11:27:00.008-07:00

Klein in hover mode between bounces. I love how she is in super concentration mode!

I had Wayne come out and take some video for me on Sunday. We schooled the bounces and verticals I had set up from the last time we were in the big arena.

Does anyone else go frame by frame through their video and analyze every second of it??? I sure do. But...there is so much you can learn like for me I still need to keep my damn hands down and SIT UP more. Story of my life. I've gotten better before fences though but between I need to remind myself. I need to give more with my hands too it looks like. But she is just so big that I have to really hold on to her sometimes or she's going to start getting long and flat. I know people say "Well sit up and put your weight down." I don't weight one tenth of her weight so that doesn't work that well. Remember I've did a test one time where I walk, trot, cantered her on the longe line for set amounts of time and had her HR monitor on and recorded it. Then I did the exact same thing, circles like she was still on the longe line and everything. Each gait exactly the same direction for exactly the same time and again recorded her HR. There was NO change in her HR with me riding or without me riding.

You can't blame her for being happy when she's out jumping. We all know the feeling!!

She also is still learning when to auto change as you can see from the video. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't.

Here she is in the middle of a flying change. Switching from right to left.

Here she is landing on the correct lead after a fence.

She's got the strength to counter canter all day, but the good thing is-90% of the time she WILL fix herself and change over a fence as you will also see in the video. Oh and as you'll hear, yeah I like to talk to her a lot.

First some stills:

OMG such a change in her.

Compared to this about 13 months ago:

I like my hands better and I'm sitting up but my heel in the first pic owns the hell out of this one.

3' vertical. Boring.

A team on a mission.

This is Klein anticipating. She knows she is about to take off for a round. I half halt and remind her this is like the game of Simon Says and Simon DID NOT TELL YOU TO CANTER YET. In response to my half halt she has to get all dramatic sometimes. See above.

Approaching another 3' vertical and check her ears out. One is tipped back.

I have SO many pictures of her doing this. Maybe it's cause I talk to her so much so one ear is always tuning in waiting for the next conversation? I'm gonna make a post one day of pics of her doing the one ear thing. See, I sit up before fences, I've fixed that. But between, I'm off to the races haha.

*Sigh* Some pictures just remind me of how grown up she is now. She'll be 8 this year!

And, here is the video:

White Sands

2012-01-08T10:43:00.005-07:00

I had a surprise for Klein yesterday. I've been wanting to ride in White Sands ever since Wayne I went there last summer. It's only about 8 miles from the base too. It is one of the most beautiful places I think I've ever seen. There is a spot specifically for trailer parking and horses are allowed pretty much anywhere off the marked trails, which equals what could be miles of riding. It was a beautiful 60 degree sunny day. PERFECT for a ride in White Sands!

Mom? Did you haul me to another planet??

Unfortunately, we weren't even there for 10 mins when I saw these people in the distance and I saw their dogs weren't leashed like they are SUPPOSED to be. I slowed Klein up and made sure they saw us, and they did and grabbed their dogs. We went by and I guess after a minute they thought Klein and I were far enough away so they let their dogs loose again and one made a break for us. I turned to see the dog at a dead run for us. I was like oh, great. I turned Klein and galloped straight at the dog yelling BAD DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! BAD, BAD DOG!!!!! It freaked, did a 180 and we galloped it back to its people. But of course these dumbasses didn't realize how dangerous the whole situation could have been so they weren't in a hurry to grab the dog. It started circling Klein and jumping and barking and running between her legs. I told them "YOU MIGHT WANT TO HURRY ONE KICK FROM HER AND YOUR DOG WILL DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The guy started yelling at the girl to help him catch the dog. They are SO SO lucky Klein didn't kick the hell out of that dog. I wish she would have. I know it's the dumb human's fault but the dog deserved a kick. Klein is just so damn brave. We have been chased by dogs a few times. Part of the reason I am not a dog person. Yes, their people should have them under control but the majority of dogs instantly want to chase horses and try to get them. Next time I'll have pepper spray and a knife on me :)

Dogs and I just don't get along. I don't hate them, they're just not my thing. I've been attacked by a HUGE English Mastiff that easily weighed more than I do and I still didn't call animal control on it or anything. The people just agreed to pay my ER bills because I did have to go to the ER. It was about to rip my face off when the security guard got a hold of it's chain and pulled it off of me. All I saw was this HUGE mouth open and going for my face. I turned my face and cringed when security came to my rescue. There were two of these dogs at a place of business. They were on big chains by a service entrance. This was a place that was going to rebuild my turbo off my car and they told me to take it around back to the parts counter. So, I also could have cracked that dog in the head with a turbo and knocked it out but I didn't. Even after that, I'm not scared of dogs. Long story short they didn't pay my ER bill, I sued them and the owner committed shot himself in the face and I ended up having to pay anyway. I might have told this story on here before after posting about being chased in Hawaii by dogs while riding too. Sorry if you guys already heard that one.

Back to our awesome day...

Some of the dunes are pretty good size. So it was a constant up and down hill work out. We galloped along the ridges of some of the dunes. The sand is packed down with a soft top cover. It's not very deep so it isn't hard to gallop over. It's actually like a really nice GIANT arena. We galloped by a picnic spot with plenty of people screaming "HORRRRRSE!!!" Klein didn't pay any attention. It was just us.

The only things she did pay attention too was a HUGE kite that was bigger than she was. She saw it at the bottom of a ridge with two guys getting ready to pack it up. The other time we were walking up a dune when a kid with a bright green sled popped up out of nowhere and then started screaming "HORSIE!!!!" at her. She just stopped and snorted at him. We kept our distance from all children. I think she picks up on how much I absolutely DESPISE children, and really, who wants someone's little brats screaming in their face???

I think we're going to go back REALLY soon! It was such a fun, unique ride and we got some conditioning in both mentally and physically. Next time, I'll wear the helmet cam too!!!

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-05T19:07:00.009-07:00

Being dressagey in her baucher.

This year is off to a great start! First I should mention that last week we ended the year on some really nice rides. We had a couple dressage rides last week that were beautiful. Klein is really working long and low nicely at the walk and trot to warm up and cool down, transitions are seeing some improvement too. We also went exploring again in another new area and did another 7.5 mile conditioning ride with long trots and long canters.

Long and low.

On the evening of New Year's Eve I set up a little 2'9" course for Klein. We hadn't jumped for about a month mostly due to the rain and a couple small snow storms trashing the footing in the arenas. It just turns to clay around here. Then it took forever to dry out. Nice weather has returned, arenas were looking good and we were excited. I set up a two stride, a wide oxer, a vertical, and another jump that was a horizontal X. That way she could stretch out and it was only 2'9" because it was meant to be a little confidence builder. AND since she hadn't really jumped for a month. We'd jump a xc jump here or there on the barn property but nothing serious.

The welcome back course. A variety of jumps with a two stride and bending lines.

The horizontal X jump. I believe in variety.

Oh and Klein got a new clip last week too. I also cleaned her face up because I really, really, really do not like when they get any length of goat beard going on in the winter. She is NOT a bearded lady!

You can kind of see her clip.

This past Monday we had another nice dressage ride that worked on serpentines and lots of tight circles and changing direction as much as possible within all gates. She's also really starting to respond with my breathing with the halt. We've been working in the french link baucher lately too. Since she stretches differently in it I want her to use those muscles instead of training the majority of the time in the Kimberwicke for dressage. We're getting better and better with this dressage stuff.

I love these evenings!!

Tuesday evening we schooled the small course again just to reinforce getting back into the routine. I changed the horizontal x into a low wide oxer though. She was EXCITED to say the least. Klein isn't a horse that rushes but one round she put in a couple really pronounced rushes to a few fences. Hmm...eh I'll let her have those as freebies, she was just being a happy girl. I really had to rebalance her a couple times and get her to focus and she did and still didn't touch a thing.

Thursday evening we did some gymnastics. I set up some 2'9" bounces, 4 verticals each at 11ft apart. She can do 10ft apart but since she hasn't done bounces in a while, why make it harder than it needs to be? I also set up 3 other pretty straight forward verticals, but placed them so we could make bending lines easily between them. They also could be made into some tight roll backs.

The low skinny.

Klein was OUT TO PROVE A POINT last night!!! She bounced through that line with such confidence and ease. She flew through them like there was a pile of granola bars on the other side. We pulled off some really tight roll backs too. You could tell she was so focused and determined last night. Her mind was with her every hoof beat. I'm sure you have all heard "ride every step" and sometimes you do, sometimes you space out a little. Horses do the same I think. Sometimes they're not always right there under you and they might have 20% of their attention to their friends in the turnout by the ring and another 10% to the dog running around the barn. Klein was locked in on every second of what we were doing. It was awesome.

Oh and I think she likes Deadmau5. I'll play this on my iPhone at the beginning of our dressage warm ups:

She'll keep one ear slightly perked back to listen. Other songs she won't pay so much attention too.

My whole universe.

2012 Goals.

2011-12-31T19:42:00.007-07:00

One of my favorite pictures from this year. Klein and I over a 3'6".

Ok, so 2011...who can complain? NOT US. We've had a great year and made some significant improvement.

Our 2011 Goals were this:

Of course, keep training and conditioning with a purpose. CHECK!

Compete in at least 2 more horse trials this year. CHECK!

Keep proving the world wrong by keeping Klein mare one of the FITTEST horses you've ever seen. CHECK!

Continue to keep Klein happy, healthy, and interested in her work. CHECK!

Score decent on the dressage test phase of the horse trials we attend. CHECK!

We conditioned throughout 2011 with our eventing goals in mind and Klein was more than physically prepared for each horse trials we attended this year.

We competed in 5 horse trials and a combined training show that was dressage and xc. We traveled around New Mexico, Arizona, and made a trip to Colorado to show this year. Also, we now represent the U.S. Air Force in 3 Day Eventing.

Klein has continued to be absolutely happy, healthy, and very interested in her work!

Not only did we score decent in horse trials for the dressage phase with two 33.5's this year we also got a 28.2 at a local dressage show and had two firsts and a second at that show! This is thanks to lessons with Ann Hayes, she opened our eyes to a few things.

Overall we had a productive year and I couldn't have asked for anything more for us.

On to 2012 Goals. This year I would like to:

First and foremost continue to keep Klein healthy, happy, super fit and interested in her work. Repetitive goal, I know, but it's #1 all day every day.

As always, continue training and conditioning with a purpose. Always have a plan!!

Have a smooth, uneventful move across the country once again. This time to Valdosta, GA. This will be our 3rd state in 3 years. From Hawaii to New Mexico to Georgia. Nothing about our life is boring, that's for sure!

Compete at Training level at least once this year.

Medal with the USEA for Novice.

Continue representing the U.S. Air Force for Eventing.

Nothing too crazy. Hope every one had a good New Year's and that you guys set some goals for yourselves and your ponies for this upcoming year.

Traction Control.

2011-12-26T22:47:00.005-07:00

Heading to our new spot.

It was still a little wet out from a light snow we got Thursday and Friday night. There really weren't many options. The rings aren't dry, they need to be dragged and everywhere else is still a little slippery. The hills would be dry because obviously all the moisture runs down them so we headed to our new spot we found last week.

Can't really tell from here but this is looking down on the small obstacle course we explored last week.

The road we worked on last week for cantering downhill.

We just walked up and down the hills because I didn't want her to gallop up anything and hit a slick spot at high speed. We did some long flat trots and a couple flat canters where I knew for a fact it was dry enough. I just wanted to get her OUT. This week we have some real work to concentrate on.

Why insist on taking Klein out when it's a little slippery?? Think about it. It's a great opportunity for confidence building and conditioning. It's a way to refine her traction control so to speak. By taking her out when it's just a little slippery and deep at a walk the deep spots put more load on the legs and make them work in a different way than normal. Sand automatically puts 50% more load on horse's legs. I'm not sure what percentage mud is but it definitely can be a workout. She wasn't sinking in everywhere we went and when she did sink in it wasn't insanely deep. I wouldn't take her out if she would sink in up to her fetlocks.

The confidence part comes from working on an uneven surface. She has to learn to compensate and rebalance herself. That is both a mental and physical workout.

A couple cages at "The Monkey Farm." There are a ton more behind this building. This place is across from the barn. Sometimes the monkeys go crazy and get REALLY loud. Remember the monkeys that were shot into space? This is their retirement home. I'll be glad when I don't have to see it every day anymore. It's depressing.

Beast Mode.

2011-12-23T19:25:00.005-07:00

Last Sunday it had dried up from the rain and was good enough to really get out for a long hack. We went exploring in a new area with lots of hills. There was also a little obstacle course in the area we went to so we'd jump their little walls and then gallop straight up a hill. We did the usual walk or gallop up and walk down, leg yield up and down hill, back up and down hill. I also had her canter down hill on a not so steep grade. It was just steep enough for her to have to work at going down hill. I always mention that isn't the greatest for them but we only do it every once in a while to reassure Klein she CAN. Some horses want to slow down or break to a trot or walk. You never know when we will be on a course like Goose Downs again and have to canter down hill a little bit.

Klein in the turnout Tuesday morning, waiting for her other 3 friends to get out there.

After hill work we headed to where I knew it was dry and good to gallop. By this point we had already done long trots, long slow canters, long medium canters, and the hill work so she was warmed up and ready for a real sprint. She went into Beast Mode and did two 1/4 mile sprints at 26 miles per hour, aka ~697 mpm. What I had her do is gallop 1 mile and gradually speed up to 26 mph stay there for 45 seconds then come back down to 18 mph or 486 mpm for 30 seconds then back up to 26 mph for another 45 seconds then back down to 480 until we hit 1 mile, which took us 3 mins and 10 seconds. We came down to a trot at 1 mile for 2 mins then walked for 20 mins to cool out since it was in the 40's. Then she got a body brace under her cooler for a little bit while I did barn chores.

Speaking of coolers...I had a custom quarter sheet made for her since I am having a hard time finding one in her size. I'm also worried that if I do find on supposedly in her size it won't be long enough on the sides because it's made for a lighter horse. I'll post a pic of her modeling her new quarter sheet when it gets here but here is a pic of it folded up:

Wednesday evening we did a dressage ride and it was actually a beautiful evening. It wasn't as cold as it has been.

That was a great dressage ride. It really made me stop and think how far Klein has come in a year. She was a whole different horse at this time last year. Not in a bad way, she, wait...actually I should be saying WE, have just learned and advanced a lot overall this year. This next week we'll learn our Training dressage test. I am off from today until the 3rd. Free paid vacation, didn't even have to take leave. I love my gov't job.

It snowed just a little last night, enough to make everything wet again. Ugh. Irritating. Just when things dried up. By the end of next week it will be back up to around 55 though. We didn't have this much moisture last year, not even close. Atleast we are past the Winter Sosltice though!!!!!!

Surgery knee update: Recovery still going strong! I did a light CrossFit workout today, I'm good to go with some stuff. Planning on swimming as much as I can next week too. It felt good to be semi normal in the gym today.

Best Thing For Rehab!

2011-12-17T11:26:00.005-07:00

What?

Two days after my last post I got my stitches out and my surgeon said everything was looking great. No brace needed, no follow up appt needed, off to physical therapy I go. He specifically told me "Now...GO RIDE!" I said I already did and he said "GOOD!" He told me again that it was great that I wasn't sitting around the house being a baby. Ha. Not me.Not.ever. He told me I still can't run for about 3 more weeks and no impact stuff (i.e. box jumps) and no weighted stuff (i.e. squats, power cleans, etc...) so running and CrossFit has to still wait a few weeks but I can ride without fear of damaging my rehab, what more could I ask for at this point?

I did two more rides in my dressage saddle with no stirrups. Klein and I worked on the quality of her canter, the geometry of her circles, simple changes, changes over a pole, shoulder in at the walk and trot, leg yields at the walk and trot, turn on the forehand, and turn on the haunches. I want her flexible. She was full of it, who could blame her? The first ride was great. The second ride, a lot of stuff I asked for she would be a little dramatic about. Example: If I asked her to canter she'd try to jump into it and GO. *Sigh* poor ponyface. It had been raining here and the ground was still a little too wet to really get out and go. But by the next afternoon (Monday) it was dry enough for a gallop.

By Monday I felt like I was ready to see what surgery knee thought about stirrups. I got Klein ready with her jumping saddle hoping to get out and really ride. The knee felt GREAT! I felt NO difference in sitting in my jumping saddle versus standing on the ground as far as my knee. It didn't bother me one bit. I warmed her up with a long walk and trot then started 5 min trot sets with 2 min SLOW canters. She had forgotten what the definition of SLOW was and I really had to stand up and sink my weight down as much as possible. After 3 sets of those we did a 4 min set that was SUPPOSED to be at 400mpm but she kept fighting me up to 470-490. I would be fine with that except that we haven't really galloped for 3 weeks because of her week break after Las Cruces and then two weeks because of my knee surgery. After that we had a long 20 min walk to cool out. She needs to be clipped again. Ugh. Look...

After the ride my surgery knee still felt perfect. I was relieved. I mean in theory it shouldn't hurt, but there's only one way to find out.

More rain this week made us have to wait for things to dry out a little bit again. Irritating, but you really can't complain about rain in the desert. Last year we didn't see rain from September to July.

Thursday I went to physical therapy and they did all their initial baselines to use as a gauge for my treatment. The physical therapist was surprised. I am only 7 degrees from full range of motion. I CAN get to full range of motion but on my own I was 7 degrees short, she pushed it to the full range. It didn't hurt, just a little tight. She said I am looking VERY good right now and am way ahead of the game and to not get excited and go do something that will set me back because I thought I was ready. I won't. I don't want to have to fix this again. It's killing me not to go for maximum destruction in the gym, but I get it. My next appt with them is in two weeks and they will start me on their equipment then. For now I have to continue to ice it with my personal ice/compression machine and I'm on Mobic, and anti-inflammatory to get that last bit of swelling to go away. It's a barely noticeable amount.

Yesterday I got on the spin bike and put out a 40 min moderate effort as a test. Then I did some leg presses, leg extensions and lunges all with light weight. Surgery knee felt fine and then I rode last night, today, surgery knee is still perfectly happy. No increased swelling, no extra pain.

Yesterday evening Klein and I went for an easy hack to warm up. When she was warmed up with did some gradual pickups where we would start with me sitting a quality, upward, energetic canter then I'd stand up and let her go to 420mpm then I'd slow her down, sit back down and get our quality canter back. I repeated that a couple times. We jumped around a couple 3' jumps and then went into one of the arenas and worked on flat work stuff. One thing I've been making her do is turn on the haunches, turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, etc... Like this:

This way she has to keep thinking and not get stuck in one mode or the other. She has to repeatedly shift how she uses her body and pay attention to what I'm asking.

I finally stopped to take some pictures Monday after our ride of the jets. We have drones, F-22's, and German fighter jets here. The F-22's are the fastest, most advanced fighters currently in service. It is so easy for those things to break the sound barrier because they're just so damn fast. It's a daily occurrence here, and I know I've talked about this before, to hear sonic booms. Anyone not hear one before??? Here is one of the best videos I could find that still do them absolutely NO justice at all. This is NO comparison on how loud they are in person and when you are directly below the jets when they do it:

We also hear double booms daily too:

These two videos just cannot convey what it really feels like. The radio stations here even announce when the F-22's will be flying so people know that stuff isn't getting blown up and that they need to keep their pets inside that have heart attacks over loud noises. The newspaper will publish it too.

When I'm at work and we're outside working you will feel the boom in your ears and in your chest. They hurt your ears sometimes. We never get used to them they are just so damn loud and everyone yells obscenities when they go off. We probably should have some kind of hearing protection on when we know the jets are up haha. Inside, stuff falls off walls, computers fall off desks. At home every window in my house will shake, stuff on the counters rattles.

So with that said...the horses have learned to get used to them. I've even been riding Tricky when one went off and HE didn't even do anything. Not only do they put up with sonic booms but our barn is under the pattern and every day the ponies see this:

German jet coming in over the big arena.

Zuli in the turnout.

An F-22 coming in.

This is only the approach pattern for one runway. There's two other runway patterns we are right under.

So here comes the jets and what's Klein doing? Rolling like a little oinker after our ride:

Ugh. PONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6 Days.

2011-12-05T18:33:00.003-07:00

*Sigh* She's just so...beautiful.

Yesterday I felt good enough to go without my crutches and get some work done at the barn, and...ride. 6 days after surgery is all it took. I've been like that with all of my surgeries. Except my wisdom teeth. Out of 4 surgeries my wisdom teeth were THE WORST. I've never been so incapacitated and honestly almost debilitated in my life. I tried to be tough and let the pain medication wear off and use only as needed because I don't really like taking stuff like that. BIG, BIG HUUUUGE MISTAKE. I've never hurt so bad. I would lay there with tears streaming down my face waiting for the oxycodone to kick in. I was on that stuff for 2 freaking weeks. And no, I didn't have dry sockets. When I went back to make sure because of the pain they were like "Oh, no everything looks good. We just really had to drill on your jaw bone to get those lower ones out." The 3 other surgeries I've had, which you would think would hurt a lot worse than a little dental surgery (they were much more invasive), I've been off the pain medicine within 3 days. Anyway, I'm getting way off track.

I'm walking pretty normal. Some barn friends said I wasn't limping from what they could see. I'd say I'm 80% sound right now. Taking care of yourself (diet and fitness wise) pays off when it comes to healing. According to my post-op instructions I should be doing extremely light leg presses starting next week and able to get on the bike. YESSSS!!! I see my doc this Wednesday and the stitches come out. I have this personal ice/compression machine and it is AWESOME! It really makes my knee loosen up after an hour with it on.

So yes, yesterday, I rode. Just a walk/trot bareback ride. There is nothing wrong with that. It put no stress on the surgery knee what so ever. I got on and off from a picnic table.

Ahhhhh, relief.

Klein and surgery knee. It looks normal!!! The swelling is almost gone!

After our ride I decided to put Klein on the longe line for a little bit so that maybe she could get some amount of work in. We still have work to do. I took some video of it. Can you tell I'm not working? I have more time to make videos, etc...

She got just a little lazy, because she knew I had a phone in my hand instead of the longe whip.

Getting that square halt down.

The weather sucks today and tomorrow but by Wednesday it's going to clear up and by the weekend it'll be pretty nice out again.

My Patient, Sweet Mare.

2011-12-04T00:46:00.002-07:00

Klein is so patient with me hobbling around on crutches. I have never had to use them before in my life, and I hope to never have to again. They are REALLY annoying. I lean them up against her to pick her feet, she has to walk extra slow with me, etc... Being that I have a lot of time on my hands right now, unfortunately, I made a quick video from this evening.

Even when we come in from the turn out in the evenings and she knows it's dinner time she walks super slow with me. Some horses wouldn't give a care in the world and still try to drag me to the barn. I <3 my Klein Mare. And I <3 Wayne. He has been feeding and cleaning in the mornings for me. I can feed in the evenings but the cleaning I still can't handle quite yet. I'm getting there. This personal ice/compression machine they gave me REALLY makes my knee feel better. The swelling is almost gone. I'm about ready to ditch the crutches. I took some pretty normal steps this evening after the ice/compression treatment for an hour >:)

Best healing power in the world. Pony Love.

Stadium Round.

2011-12-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here's our stadium round from Las Cruces a couple weeks ago.

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/Rl1JttxM4b4

Another Big Change.

2011-12-02T11:22:00.004-07:00

I've known this for a while, and I don't really have an excuse for why I haven't posted about it yet. I just keep getting busy with other stuff?? I guess??

Anyway, those of you on my FB do know about this. But Klein and I will be relocating again next summer. I have been chosen to retrain into the Paralegal career field for the Air Force and with that comes a new base, which will be Moody AFB in Valdosta, GA.

For those of you not in the military, which is probably 99% of you that read this, it wouldn't make any sense to explain the Air Force's hows and whys of retraining. Yes, we just got to New Mexico. Yes when we leave in May we will not even have been here for two years. But, it comes with the territory. If I wasn't retraining we would be here in New Mexico for atleast a total of 4 years. So normally you don't move around as fast as we are about to. But, you go where the Air Force needs you. Yes, there is a legal unit on every base, so that means Holloman has one but they have manning they have to fill. Currently the legal unit here is fully manned for my rank, which is why I will proceed to a base that needs a Paralegal with my rank. That is about as simple as I can make it.

This is what will happen. March 5th I start Paralegal school at the JAG school on Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama. My very trusted friend will ponysit and Klein will be on a break of doing nothing but hanging out and eating. Which is perfectly fine being that she is in work year round here. While in Montgomery I'm going to take lessons every weekend at Foxwood Farms.

I graduate April 24th. Then I will come back to pack up our house and we will all move to Valdosta. I already have everything worked out for Klein's travels and I already have found our new barn. Moody doesn't have a barn so this will be a civilian barn. It is just as close as Klein is now and it's got beautiful pastures with run ins, a big barn with spacious stalls that all have fans, lighted outdoor, lighted indoor, jumping arena, lots of trails, and a galloping track around the property to name just some of the things they offer. Klein will be on pasture board which I am pretty excited about. She'll enjoy having shade trees and grass to graze on again. They have an option where they can be stalled at night but unless there is a specific reason, she'll be out all the time.

I know it will be yet another 180 from the climate we are currently in. Remember, we came from Hawaii though. It was hot and humid there. I've lived in FL before so I know how the humidity is. We'll just start conditioning as soon as we get there.

A lot of people have said "Oh...Valdosta is kinda out there" as far as events. Not really. It's actually almost exactly central to all of Area 3. I've Google mapped every event on the calendar from Valdosta. Also, Valdosta is only 2.5 hours from Ocala. Some people don't understand just how spread out Area 10 is here. We have traveled up to 6 hours to get to an event. Hardly ANY of the Area 3 events are that far from Valdosta. Most are 3-4 hours. AWESOME!!!! So actually we are PCS'ing to the MECCA (as Andrea put it) of Eventing. So I got a new awesome job in the AF and they're PCS'ing us to the eventing mecca. This is me, NOT COMPLAINING!!!!!!!!

Let me show you guys Area 10's annual calendar:

Now, let me show you Area 3's annual calendar:

THAT'S RIGHT!!! Look at all of those events!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll go at Novice when we first get there to get used to the courses out there because I know everything will be just a little bit harder. But I think we can still move up to Training out there.

I'm looking forward to competing on this course toward the end of next season.

And...the knee. I was able to take the bandage off last night. Here is a picture:

Not too bad for day 3 after surgery. It's still just really stiff. I'm sure once I'm allowed to walk around on it that will help. I tried to walk on it a little bit last night and that wasn't really happening. I definitely need my crutches right now. But as of next Tuesday I'll be free of those and on my way to really rehabbing it.

A Little Down Time.

2011-11-29T19:29:00.004-07:00

All wrapped up after surgery.

This story begins about 7 years ago. The beginning isn't horse related, but the end is.

7 years ago I started having left knee pain out of what seemed to be like nowhere. My knee would hurt after long trips in the car, or flights. Sometimes it took a little longer to extend it fully. Going downhill really bothered it. I remember almost having a hard time coming down a steep mountain trail once. I was NOT a runner at this time. I didn't even really go to the gym yet. I wasn't in the Air Force yet either, so no PT, no obstacle courses, etc, etc...

I was still on my parents insurance at the time so I went to a knee specialist in the area. The knee doc thought there could be a few possiblities one being my IT band. So I was given Naproxen and a foam roller to start with. This didn't do anything so IT band was ruled out. I got a Cortizone shot directly into the knee, that didn't help. After a couple more visits and tests the doctor found I had a torn meniscus in my knee. I have no idea how it happened. To this day I can't think of what caused it. I never had any kind of trauma to my knee or any one incident where I hurt my knee. It was decided that surgery was needed to repair the meniscus.

In July 2005 I had an arthroscopy on my left knee to trim the meniscus. It was an easy recovery. I could have walked out of the hospital but they made me be wheeled out in a wheelchair. I remember I got into my Dad's Range Rover on my own. Within 6 days I was out walking my mom's dogs again.

The next May I left for the Air Force. I was good to go, had no problems with the knee. Fast forward to 2009. My knee started giving me problems again. At this point I still wasn't a real runner yet. I was in the gym but not running any more than 3 miles at a time and that was mostly for unit PT on the days they did actually run. But my knee started giving me problems again. I remember while I was in Korea walking to Osan from the train station it locked on me. I wondered what could be going on in there but I ignored it and figured maybe since it was messed up once I'd always have some issues with it.

In late 2009 I started to become a real runner and triathlete. The knee would bother me off an on. I keep mentioning the running thing because any time I mention I've had knee surgery people IMMEDIATELY go on the defense and try to say "SEE IT'S ALL THAT RUNING." No. It's absolutely not. This is a problem that started a couple years before I caught the running bug. And it also started again before I caught the running bug. I really think people try to use stuff like that as a way to justify why you shouldn't run, because they themselves don't like it.

Anyway...some days I would go run 13 miles and the knee would feel perfectly normal. Other days I could be on a rest day and my knee would hurt. So I kept running and ignoring it. Sometimes I'd be sitting at my desk at work and the area where my meniscus is would just start pulsing with pain out of absolutely nowhere. I started having the problem again of long flights. I had to take 500mg of Naproxen for the long flights to and from England this past October. Some days my knee would just hurt out of nowhere. I could be walking around the compound at work and all of a sudden it would feel like it needed to pop and ache the rest of the day. It started to wake me up in the middle of the night it ached so bad. I started to feel pain all the way into my toes like something was pinched. And there is NO pattern or anything in particular that sets it off!! It makes no sense!!! The one time it has NEVER bothered me, is when I ride! Whew!! What a relief!!! Then last August I did CrossFit before unit PT one morning and the knee locked afterward. That is when I decided I needed to have the docs take a serious look at it again.

I went in to the base clinic, they sent me for an MRI last August. Guess what? Another tear in the meniscus. Oh.yay. I knew it. It was bothering me too much for nothing to be wrong. There was a tear and it was leaking. The leak formed a cyst in the meniscus and doc said everytime I stand up and extend it the knee hurts because it's squishing the cyst. It locks when a piece of the tear flaps over. That's kinda gross to think about that going on in my knee. He said bottom line is surgery needed again. It will never get better, it will only get worse. *Le Sigh* Since the meniscus is cartilage I knew I needed to go through with the surgery so it didn't tear more and force them to trim more later if I waited. I saw the Chief of Orthopedics from the Army Hospital in El Paso last Sept. They wanted to schedule me for Oct 3rd. I said no can do. That was the day I got home from England and I still had Grass Ridge and Las Cruces. We decided on Nov 28th, yesterday morning.

Yesterday morning I had my second knee surgery and everything went great!! They trimmed the meniscus again and cleaned up in there. I will be on crutches for a week but then I can walk on it and in 2 weeks I can ride again. But...I'm going to give it 3 weeks just to be on the safe side. It sucks, but this is why I did it now because our next horse trials isn't until February. Klein can do some long line work and we can go on bareback walking hacks and just mess around. I also get two weeks off from work.

I always bounce right back from surgery so I'm not worried. This was the 4th surgery I've had and a tie for the easiest. As usual I woke right up and started asking if I could eat yet and go home. The doc came and told me that everything else in my knee looks great and they trimmed my meniscus up and it looks good now. He said the tear looked like crab meat. He gave me the pictures they took inside of it. No wonder it was locking and really starting to let me know there was something wrong. I look forward to physical therapy and getting this knee ready to start half marathon training in March.

Good part in my knee.

Bad part, definitely torn up.

More of the tear.

Gimp knee! Not for long!!!!!!

Las Cruces Horse Trials, November 2011

2011-11-24T20:19:00.007-07:00

We went to Las Cruces Thursday evening to get the ponies all settled in.

Friday we did practice jumper rounds and had a dressage lesson with Ann. Klein and I did two practice jumper rounds. One Novice and one Training. She was clear on Novice and we had a rail at #1 on Training (my fault) and the rest of the Training round went beautifully. I was so proud of my girl!

Dad, Klein, and I at jumper rounds on Friday.

Our dressage lesson was AWESOME. Seriously, we love Ann Hayes. Every lesson we've had with her, we learn something. There is a difference from lessons where you just make small adjustments and look a little bit better and lessons where you ACTUALLY learn something to help your riding. This lesson with Ann we learned how to fix our ever annoying transition from canter to trot. Klein likes to fall forward. Wait...maybe it's more like I let her, not so much she likes to but if I let her, she'll do it. Ann told me at the canter to think "gallop" which has gotten rid of our "trantering." It's weird but if I just THINK gallop our canter improves a ton. This time she told me to stick my belly button out at the canter, but do NOT lean back. So, I did and guess what? Our down transition DRASTICALLY improved. It just set me up in an entirely better position for the downward transition. I was so excited!!

Saturday morning our dressage was at 9:06am and Ann was there to warm us up. Klein warmed up nicely and had some nicely engaged trot work. She was picking up the wrong lead going to the left though, which was weird. So we went to the right and she picked it up correctly, went back to the left and she picked the left up correctly. When we went in the ring in the back of my head I was thinking about how she was picking up the wrong lead going to the left. Our test went nicely before and after I had an issue. Our issue was on the first 20m canter circle to the left. We cantered approaching B and were supposed to make a full circle. Ann told me to ride every stride and I gave Klein's lead a second though and she fell off my leg in the canter circle. I had her pick it back up and we got a little crooked. Instead of looking like crap in the middle of the ring I continued down the long side and came around to H to changes reins across the diagonal. They never rang the bell on me, but they did notice and I got -2 for error. But even with that, we managed a 35.2, I'll take it!

Stadium was at 1 and Klein warmed up just a little flat. But after a couple nice jumps she was warmed up and ready to go. We had a double clear round. Not much more to say about that!

Enjoying Stadium!

XC was at 10:40am Sunday morning. Klein warmed up nicely and we were ready to roll. Klein was on FIRE through the whole course. I slowed her a little bit but not enough because by the time we jumped the second to last jump we were still 40 secs too fast and so we circled. I don't know if the circling broke her concentration or maybe she saw a shadow? Who knows but she chipped in to the last jump on course and launched me forward. I just couldn't recover and I came off. Crap. We were in 1st place too. But...it happens to every eventer at some point and if we were in 1st that time, heh...just wait until next time! It was neither of our faults. It was just a random thing. I didn't have a mark on me, Klein just looked at me like "Why did you get off before the finish line??" She was soooo soooo cute afterward. She just kept nickering to me and being all cuddly after I untacked her and gave her a liniment bath and a granola bar. I kept loving on her and telling her she was the best pony out there! And she was!

I'd rather come off for a dumb reason than have her out there refusing stuff. I really am not sure exactly what happened. I can ride some crazy jumps and a chip in usually wouldn't end like that. I don't come off easy either. I manage to stay on some crazy ponies. I have no clue, maybe I jumped ahead? I haven't fallen off Klein for about 2 years, so I knew my number was coming up soon. Thankfully, again, it wasn't serious. All of our "incidents" have been lame and a result of me doing something dumb. They're never her fault. She did what I asked, she jumped! It had no affect on either of us. We would have went right out and jumped the Training course as soon as I got back on.

Bwahahaha. I had just looked at my watch before this jump and she caught the exact moment I was thinking "HOLY CRAP WE ARE SOOOOOO SPEEDING!!!!!!!!!!!!" I slowed her up after this jump and had to circle after the next one. (Oh, and Monica, this pic is for you. Notice BLUE BREASTCOLLAR to match BLUE BRIDLE! I forgot I had it!)

Not an ideal ending, but not the end of the world, and not the worst that could have happened by any means!! Las Cruces in February...here we come!!!

Pics to Prove It.

2011-11-14T21:18:00.009-07:00

Snug as a bug in a...cooler. Body brace and wrapped up. She is a Princess, and will be treated as such. Actually, more like she's an athlete and deserves to be properly maintained.

Since last week Klein and I have done dressage, gallops, and stadium.

Dressage has been going pretty well. She had a REALLY nice, lifted canter on Saturday! I think I even said "WHOA!" out loud I was so surprised, hehe. Let's hope we can bring that out this weekend! Gallops she has been, as usual, feeling GREAT. I was hoping to have more time to write more detailed posts this week. Soon I will. I forgot to mention that Klein was adjusted by the chiro last week and he said that out of all the horses he had touched that day (including 6 at our barn) she was hands down in the best shape out of any of them and needed the least adjustments.

Yesterday I posted the most awesome jumping pic of Klein and I. See yesterday's post. Even though it's a blurry video still, you get the point! I told you a friend was there with her nice camera and I'd post the pics so...here you go!

Warm up oxer.

Wayne and our new pup. We've had him just over a week. Wayne found him shivering at a gas station on his way home from work.

3'3" triple bar with a 4'11" spread.

Flying Perch!

Here's the 1 sec after the video still when her legs are starting to come down.

Get it Klein girl!!

So much fun!

Still clearing it with ease.

Wayne and the pup raising the vertical to 3'6"

Klein over a 3'6"

One of my favorites of the day. Again over the 3'6". Just look at the effort she gives!!

Klein is now in chill mode until Las Cruces this weekend. Hence the spa treatment this evening.

Laurie went to the ATA meeting this past week so she asked if I'd take Niko aka The Antelope out. Niko is a lot of fun, I enjoy every ride on her!

Ha, she's like "Oh please don't tell me you're taking a pic of me jumping this ground rail!"

Niko being bored at 3'.

Skills, She Has Them.

2011-11-13T15:21:00.003-07:00

Klein cracking her back over a 3'3" triple bar today.

Klein's Olinda, YOU ROCK MY WORLD!!!!! That is all.

The above pic is a blurry video still from today. A friend was there with her nice camera, so I'll have real pics to put up later. But, blurry or not. I'm EXCITED over this pic.

I have the most talented draft horse on the planet. Open challenge to the world, tell your friends.

A Truckload of Awesome.

2011-11-08T20:19:00.006-07:00

Ever wondered what a truckload of awesome looks like??? Let me show you...

Truck load of AWESOME, all the way from North Carolina.

Klein and I did some speed work and jumping last Thursday with a longe line workout Friday evening.

Under the lights.

Saturday turned into a hurricane and it was nasty all day. So Sunday Laurie and I went out for a long hack with 3 long gallops and hill work in it. It was beautiful riding weather!!!!

Yesterday was dressage and so was today. We worked on some of the basics. I got some nice square halts and quality trot. We worked on what Ann taught us to keep the energy through the corners too.

Sunday evening the truck load of awesome showed up. It was supposed to get here Monday but xmas came early for the ponies haha.

Klein mare sampling the goods, and sporting her new clip I gave her the night before. She approved.

New Mexico hay prices are out of control. I'm paying as much here as I was in Hawaii. Although, Hawaii is now up to $38 per 3 string bale, it was $22-28 when we were there 16 months ago. So, 4 of us went in and bought a semi full of round bales from North Carolina. Here's the most ridiculous part. Buying a freaking SEMI TRUCK (diesel and all) loaded up with 800-900lb round bales is cheaper than buying round bales from 10 miles up the road. Sad. But...this should last us until next summer.

If you could only smell this stuff! I think they should make incense out of it!!!

Dressage Lesson and Training Level XC.

2011-11-04T20:32:00.008-06:00

This post is late but...last Saturday we had a great dressage lesson with Ann and then went to school XC.

Our lesson helped improve our canter, find better balance in turns and keep the pace through the short side of the dressage ring. We also worked on our bend and shoulder in.

Ann had me start to bend Klein just slightly before our turns into the short side and that really helped. We also got some serious trot work out of her. Some big trot that felt great. I had to really push but she came through and I could feel a difference. I also felt a real difference in her canter. Ann told me to think gallop when we canter to get rid of the potential of "trantering" and that helped A LOT. I really pushed her and rebalanced her and I felt a definite difference. Toward the end Klein was kind of starting to tell me she was done. When I'd ask her to get rounder she'd ignore the first 20 times I'd ask and then finally gave in. That's a big sign of her hitting her limit for the day. I can't blame her. She did a solid hour of dressage work. So we ended on a little shoulder in just as a progress check to make sure I'm still riding it correctly. To my relief, I have been. You never know...just wanted to make sure what I felt was right was still right and we were drifting one way or another.

After that it was Laurie's turn so I hosed Klein off since she was a little warm. I need to clip her again already. Ann's I1 Dutch Warmblood, Macho, was being body clipped where I rinsed her off so I took a few pics of them together. I love Macho, I think he's so cool. And since he's a tank, that's extra bonus points.

So...look at those pics carefully. In some areas Macho is thicker than Klein. He is a successful I1 horse that is still currently competing at I1. As a 4th level horse he sold for $100,000. I wish I had pics of him and Ann in the show ring, they're GORGEOUS! Seeing them standing next to each other just makes me laugh to myself because I think of the people that have told me Klein isn't built to be anything but a cart horse or a lazy trail horse. I love how people forget there are high dollar, successful warmbloods that are the same size as Klein, if not larger than Klein. Just because she comes with the title of "draft horse" she should be pulling a cart full of beer?

Next up was XC. Our friend Sarah and her mare Neumanon (Neumy) met us at the xc course.

Sarah and Neumy!

The 3 of us warmed up then rode the course at a lazy trot and canter and warmed up over the BN stuff. We played on some bigger stuff after that then each of us had a full run on the course. Laurie and I ran the Training course and Sarah rode the Novice course. Training was an absolute breeze for Klein. Keep in mind Las Cruces is a good move up course so there are more challenging courses in Area X. Here's the pics of the course, taken from Klein's back so they look smaller than they already do. I had my helmet cam on and it cut out half way through the ride! I am so disappointed!!!! I have no idea what happened!! I have to double check some stuff on it :(

Laurie brought 3 of her horses so after I rode Klein and she rode one of hers we got her other two ready. She rode her 3 year old Trakehner and I rode Angel, her Paint/TB. Laurie trotted the whole BN course on her baby and we got her in the water too! I rode the BN/N course on Angle. She's a very...um...opinionated mare and I think she expended more energy bucking than jumping. But, I like her! She's a fun little mare! She's learning she can't scare me. I'm not going anywhere. Unfortunately, for her, her bucks are very rideable :)

Klein and Niko, feeding their faces, waiting for us to get back.

Jumper and Dressage Show.

2011-10-30T21:02:00.005-06:00

Today were the two local shows going on at the same spot so Klein and I rode in the jumper division of the H/J show and then rode 3 dressage tests at the dressage show.

In the jumper divisions we got a first, a second, 2 thirds, and a fifth. The classes went from 2'6"-3'3". I don't remember what the 5th was in. It wasn't 3'3" that's all I know. I don't remember what happened with that. I thought it was supposed to be a 4th actually. Laurie picked up my ribbons for me 'cause I was getting ready for dressage.

Klein girl was good, we had one dumb rail where she landed in a cross fire and I didn't fix it when I should have. The next fence was coming up quick and I was like "Meh...oh well" and look what happened. Haha, that's what I get :) There were some stops and refusals, but not from Klein. I can't say it'll never happen 'cause anything is possible, but...she was her usual dependable self. There was another rail that was 110% my fault. We landed over an oxer and I forgot for a second where our next fence was, which was right around that corner, and I got her in crooked and she took a rail. That girl will go for anything. No matter how stupid I get. We had some clean rounds and jump offs. It was a fun, relaxed show.

After the jumper rounds we had to go change tack and head back out immediately. We did two Eventing TOC Open. For those I rode Novice A 2010 and Novice B 2010. Then we did a training level dressage test. We did Training Level 1 2011. That was a fun test. That was the first time we competed in a big dressage arena. I actually didn't realize that the test would be in a big arena until we got there. What can I say? We are used to eventing tests in the small dressage arenas. I just didn't think of it. We have a big dressage arena at home but the letters have been moved closer to form the smaller one to practice our eventing tests in. I was like uh, oh...more letters, then I realized our letters for Training 1 are all the same for our eventing tests so I could just ignore the other letters.

By this time it was pretty hot and we'd already been in and out of a ring 5 times and waiting around for courses to be changed, etc... I gave Klein a free pass at that point. I just wanted to ride the tests. We were going to try our best but I wasn't about to be irritated if Klein was irritated. Luckily our tests weren't too far apart. We were already warmed up. I only did some rising/sitting trot transitions and a couple canter transitions then kept her walking.

For our first test we rode Novice B. I didn't feel like it went that great. I squeezed, and SQUEEZED her to try to get a little more energy out of her trot. But I what more could you want at this point? She puts up with a lot. So I didn't mess with her too much.

Next, Novice A. I felt like this test went better. I definitely felt some better trot and canter.

Training Test 1, I thought some of our best trots were in this test. I carried a dressage whip with me. I didn't have spurs on either. So I knew if I just had the whip in my hand that'd perk her up just a little bit. I still didn't want to mess with her cause she is just so tolerant of everything all day. And if I would have so much as lightly tapped her with the dressage whip she'd be running from it the whole test.

After I got Klein all cooled out, gave her some carrots, filled her hay net, got her some water, and loaded her up I went to check the scores. At first I thought I was looking at the order of go or something then I noticed "FINAL SCORES" on the papers. Holy crap. We were first AND second in the Eventing division and First for Training 1. Whaaaaaaaaaat??????????????? GO.KLEINMARE. I couldn't believe it. This is our first dressage show. I didn't think we'd ever compete in a dressage show to begin with and for sure not EVER have a blue ribbon, let alone two, at a dressage show.

On Novice A we scored a 71.73%. Uh...that's a 28.2 in eventing language. AKA lowest score we've ever gotten. Novice A is what we are riding at Las Cruces next month too. Once again...holy crap. Klein just keeps improving her dressage scores. On Novice B we scored a 68% aka a 32 in eventing language. On Training 1 we scored a 65%, not bad for hoping I didn't get lost some where 'cause of all the letters and riding the test once before that.

We got a lot of good marks for being straight up the center line, square halts, a "well ridden" at the bottom of one test, attractive pair, and some 8's on submission and rider.

Very proud of my girl!

We did take a dressage lesson and school xc yesterday, I'll write a post about that tomorrow or the next day. I wanted to just post about the show today first.

Busy as Usual.

2011-10-25T21:11:00.003-06:00

Getting ready to start our hill work for the morning. For those of you that care, if you look at the mountains in the top of this pic, in the far right corner is where the first a-bomb was detonated. We are still 60 miles from the actual ground zero, but it would have definitely blinded us.

Anyway, we've been busy, as usual, this past week.

Klein went back to work Friday afternoon. We worked on dressage stuff because I needed to learn Training Test 1. Klein was a good sport and we got it down. It's no harder than our eventing tests. The reason is we are going to show in a dressage show for the first time this weekend. I'm going to ride 3 tests, two are Eventing TOC (Novice A & B) and the other is Training Test 1. It'll be interesting to see how she does.

There is also a h/j show that same day and we are going to show in the jumper division only. The classes only go up to 3'3" so that'll be fun. I'm treating that like a test run for Training level stadium (*HINT HINT*). The show is Sunday, but Saturday we are taking a dressage lesson and then schooling XC. We are going to run the whole Training course at speed, and with the helmet cam :)

Saturday Klein and I went to the river bed to do some hill work and that whole ride turned out to be almost two hours. We did about 30 mins of hill work and the rest of it was a couple gallops and some long trots, with some relaxed adventuring. There's weird stuff where we ride. So we went exploring some of it.

Sunday, we went on a long hack with Laurie and Osita. That was Osita's first ride ever that was far away from the barn. It was also her longest ride ever. She did pretty good for a 3 year old. I had planned on doing some gymnastics that day anyway and had them already set up for when we got back. We did an exercise from Jim Wofford's book:

Klein flew right through it. I raised the last vertical to 3'3" at the end. The oxer was 3' with a 3'3" spread. I kept the first two verticals at 2'9".

Yesterday was a bareback ride but we did work on dressagey stuff and jumped a little bit. We jumped some 2'9"-3' after she warmed up then did dressage work and to give her a break we headed out in the middle of our ride and jumped a couple more rounds of the 2'9"-3' stuff then finished up with Novice A to make sure I remembered it. We worked on shoulder in, our cadence, our straightness up the center line and across the diagonals, transitions, halts, serpentines, and lateral work.

My Klein paper cut art from Niamh arrived the other day!!!!!

She even wrapped it all cool, with a card!!!

Going to get it a frame this weekend and hang it up where EVERYONE who comes in the house can see it :)

Moonrise over the barn.

Grass Ridge Horse Trials.

2011-10-19T21:00:00.014-06:00

4th in Novice Rider

Grass Ridge Horse Trials were last weekend. We were entered in Novice Rider.

As soon as we got to the facility Thursday evening Laurie and I were excited. It looked like a really nice, well set up facility. I was super excited for the large stalls. This meant Klein could lay down if she wanted to. So we unloaded the ponies and all their stuff and then pulled the trailer up about 100ft and set up our camp. It was so nice to be so close to the ponies too.

After we got settled we tacked up in dressage tack (except I used my jumping bridle with the Kimberwicke) and headed out to check everything out. Klein and Niko were totally satisfied with their surroundings. We headed into the practice dressage arena and schooled a little bit. Klein was feeling pretty good and I was just hoping that's what I'd get Saturday morning.

The next day we had practice jumper rounds and a dressage schooling round with a judge. The jumper round went well, we were a little unorganized but we went clear. We had 20 mins between our jumper round and the dressage round so I hurried back and changed tack. I put her dressage bridle on for this round, obviously, with the Baucher on it. We had about 5 mins to get into the dressage mindset. There was originally SUPPOSED to be an hour between our jumper round and dressage school but times got moved around. Oh well.

As soon as we did our final halt the judge got up and said "You get a gold star!" I was like...uh oh here it comes the "you're out here on a draft horse" type comment. Nope. Not at all. She threw me wayyyy off! She said we didn't cut the last corner to come up the center line and that we started our last trot exactly where we were supposed to and she said she sees those two things executed wrong all the time. So that was nice to know. Then she told us that Klein was sucking back a little before the upward transition into the canter. She suggested lots of canter before coming in the ring on Saturday. I think I know what it was though. I think I kind of started a habit of hanging on to my half halt before the canter for a tiny bit too long making Klein suck back. She said we needed some more energy in 20m trot circles, I totally agree. But overall we were looking pretty good. We didn't get an actual total score just the marks on the movements which were all 7's and two 6's which would translate into a high 20's/low 30's score. I couldn't believe it. That judge was a tough judge too so I knew we earned those marks. She wouldn't be the judge for the show though.

Saturday morning I actually manned up and braided Klein myself instead of paying someone else to do it haha. I know, I know. Somehow even though we didn't ride till 11:47am I, as usual managed to be hurrying to get up to the warm up for dressage. I have no idea why my time management sucks so bad with getting ready for dressage. I'm good with xc and stadium. As SOON as we got up to the bit check they were calling my name over the loud speaker. We still had 15 mins, so I told them I wasn't going to go early, I was going to wait until my time. So yeah, thanks to me, Klein had a 15 min warm up. But I mean it's not like you're going to fix anything. Klein doesn't need a ton of warm up, she's not one of those horses that has to physically and mentally warm up either. Klein is pretty straight forward with her warm ups. In we went.

I know our 20m circles could be better. We need better bend, when do we NOT need better bend??? I know our first turn straight across the arena could have been more accurate for sure, we were off to the left a little but you know, that's the line we picked so I just kept her straight like that was exactly where we were supposed to be. They couldn't really see that from where they were anyway, I don't think. I was ok with the test up until our last turn down the center line. A truck driving behind the arenas caught her attention. Not like spooked attention just "Hey Klein, look where you're going, not at the truck." So we weren't the straightest up the center line but I just tried to ride it like I owned it.

It took forever for my division's scores to come up and when they did, I didn't believe it. I had to check twice. We sure did get a 33.5 AGAIN! Holy.crap. GO.KLEINMARE. And that was the same judge that we had at St. John's. We got a 43 at St. John's, it was ugly. So to get a 33.5 from that judge felt great. I am so proud of my girl!

Klein being "dolly dressage" as Ann calls it. But please don't look at me! EW! WHY WHY WHY am I leaning forward like that?!?!?!? I will fix that.

Cross country was later that day. We didn't ride until 4:14pm. I couldn't wait. Laurie and I walked the course Friday afternoon and were REALLY, REALLY excited for XC. This course is the longest and most technical of the season. Lots of variety! I LOVED IT! I love variety in courses. I mean look in the USEA rules, there's lots of options for xc jumps why not put them all out there and make it the most fun as possible? I mean if they're in the rules you're supposed to be able to ride them all anyway. Tom Angle told us at Goose Downs that when he designs his xc courses he has no problem maxing out the first fence. That's the spirit :)

Here's the course walk for Novice:

Klein put 2 and 2 together this time. She knows what's up when we start circling through the start box. I stopped her in it when the timer started the 10 second count down and she was ready to LEAP forward!

Cute. Small.

Honestly, this was disappointly small. I wanted to jump the Training #2 instead so bad!

Easy.

A nice incline up to the top. Klein stepped sideways at the top but went on over. She's never seen anything like that so I think she probably didn't know what she was about to go over. BUT, because she's awesome, she did.

Down the back side.

Into water #1.

Nice, easy roll top.

Beautiful course!

A drop. This was fun! Klein went through A and B so smooth! B is off to the right.

Another easy one. Some horses have issues with this one. It has a little statue with beads in the middle.

On up the hill to #10.

This was probably one of her best efforts. She jumped nice and round over this one.

After a long down hill gallop we came back up to this.

And off this side. Klein has never jumped up then right down off of something without a jump in the middle between the up and down. She did look at this for a split second but off she went. Probably just double checking it was the ground on the other side LOL.

Then a bending line to this one, which was another big, round effort from Klein mare.

Over the ditch. She has no issues with these :)

A little Trakehner. Nice and inviting. After this it was a long downhill gallop to the second water.

I thought this would be a problem area for horses. Just because of the sides, and it was. Klein even slowed just a bit and I'm sure the jump judges were laughing 'cause I gave her a tap and said "GET IN THERE!!"

Bench right out of the water.

Then it was uphill to the last jump, #19.

Done, SON.

This isn't my favorite pic but I bought it because of Klein's expression. Check her out...she's loving life out on the xc course!

Oooook so XC. Klein and I were 6 seconds from speed faults. Oops. I had a watch on. I can't really tell you what happened. Time flies when you're having fun? Klein felt great. She was so comfortable out there at that speed. I lost a stirrup over #4. I have no idea why. It didn't feel like a crazy jump. I just lost one on landing. I TRIED to slow her to a trot to get it back and get reorganized but she wasn't having any of that slow bs. I got it back at a canter and pressed the gas pedal again.

Somewhere at about jump #10 I looked at my watch and it said 2:20. Ok, we have 9 more jumps to go and two long uphill and downhill gallops and I remembered slowing up a little to catch my stirrup and thought "OH crap, we gotta go!" Klein was just WAITING for that signal. It was only after I got across the finish and looked at my watch did I realize what I just might have potentially done for us. I was SO mad at myself! But so proud of Klein at the same time for just killing that course. She did EVERYTHING I asked her to do. I told her she could step up the speed and all she was doing is what I told her. Who has the watch and can read a clock? Not Klein. I had only myself to blame and I was disappointed. I thought FOR SURE we had speed faults.

The good news was that in about 3 mins Klein was recovered. Again it took forEVER for my division to post. I had already hosed her off, wrapped her with poultice, cleaned her stall. She was cooled out enough to have her dinner that she had been asking for. She was SOOO SOOOOOO adorable after XC. I don't know what her deal was, I'd like to think she was proud of herself or something. EVERY time I'd look at her she'd nicker to me and she'd want to put her head on me when I was close enough. It was like she was saying "That was fun huh? I was good right? I did good??? We rocked it didn't we??? Can we do it again??" Who knows what was really going through her head but she seemed pretty content.

FINALLY the scores uploaded on Startbox and even better news NO SPEED FAULTS!! We were holding on to 4th. I checked the time, we came in at 4:56. The speed fault time was 4:50. PHEWWWW!!!! Talk about cuttin' it close. Wanna know what our optimum time was??? 6:03. Yeah...oops. Bet you I won't make that mistake again. I learned my lesson because I was SO sure I had gotten us a speeding ticket. We were the fastest time out of our division. I felt like an idiot. People were probably like what were they doing?? Actually people that were watching xc were so, so, so excited to watch us. I got SO many compliments this past weekend it was crazy. More than usual. Also got a couple, "What's she crossed with?" but there was a lady that said "She's full Perch isn't she??" 10 points! Hehe

Stadium was Sunday morning. I got on Klein and hour early to walk her around and give her a long warm up and plenty of time to stretch since xc was the day before. Even though in our area usually we do dressage and stadium Saturday and xc on Sunday I condition Klein with work the day after hard gallops so I doubted that she'd be tired, and she sure didn't seem like it.

The course was a constant left, right, left, right. It was fun!! It was also on a hill so the whole thing was jumping on an incline or decline. Almost EVERYONE was taking a rail...or 5. Klein and I had one. Grrr...I don't even know how it happened. It was fence 3. One of her back legs took down the front rail of the oxer. BUT, it was our best, most organized course yet. I really couldn't complain. And what more could I ask for????? There were people out there just wrecking the whole thing. Atleast we just had one. With that we managed to stay in 4th. If we wouldn't have had the rail we would have been 3rd. Oh well. We are still on track for a silver medal from USEA, that's what I really want for Klein. I was totally happy with our 4th because I was SO not expecting to do so well on dressage and I really had myself scared about speed faults, AND we really did have a nice stadium round. We even had a one stride at the end on a down hill and Klein went through it nicely. It pays to practice stuff like that at home.

Overall, another GREAT weekend!

OH and I'm sure you noticed Laurie and I FINALLY competed in our service coats. I will do it from now on. They LOVED IT! Except there was one guy that asked me if a family member handed down the coat to me. I was like "Oh...um...no, I am in the Air Force!" The ring announcer announced us by our rank and then at the end of stadium they said "We have two heroes riding with us today. Let's give them one more round of applause for Major Laurie Lanpher and Staff Sergeant Stacey Chastain in thanks for their service!" That was very, very nice of them. We got a lot of head turns and thank yous during dressage and stadium.

Waiting for stadium.

Go Klein mare!

Victory gallop!

Another big thanks to Chip and Jill for taking some pics for us!

Oh...you guys will love this. I'm putting diesel in the truck and there's a guy next to me that walks down and looks at Klein and Niko (we had the drop downs open, with the bars of course) and says "What are those, a couple Arabians in there??" I didn't answer for a second 'cause I wanted to laugh, not at him but just because it was hilarious. A Percheron and a Trakehner...Arabians. Yeah. People are SILLY. I swear it's people that don't have any clue about horses and have only HEARD of one kind of horse breed. They feel compelled to say SOMETHING and blurt out the only horse breed they've heard of. I've gotten "Is that an Appaloosa??? Well, she's kinda got a coat like 'em!" before too. *Le Sigh*

To Klein Mare.

2011-10-17T19:17:00.004-06:00

I will start my Grass Ridge post tomorrow. But for now, I just wanted to post this video and dedicate it to Klein's Olinda.

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/fN8cv-Lx4RI

Listen closely at 2:25.

I can't make her do it. I have to look at her next to me, into her eyes. Now I KNOW I'm going to see a horse who will go that inch with me. I see a horse that will sacrifice herself for this team because she knows that when it comes down to it, I'm gonna do the same for her. That's a team.

I'm thankful every.single.day. for Klein. I look at her and think how lucky I am to have her. She is my life.

Amazing.

2011-10-13T07:32:00.004-06:00

Absolutely stunning, talented artwork by Niamh O'Connell. You can find her at Hoofbeats for Heartbeats and Hoof Woof Images.

How cool is the pic above??? Seriously. I wish I had artistic skills of that caliber. But for now I'm honored that Niamh chose Klein for this. Here is her blog post describing how it was made and the picture she got the idea from:

http://kisforkiki.blogspot.com/2011/10/paper-cuts.html

Wow. Unbelievable how she captured every detail of the photo down to the little glints of light off of Klein's browband and noseband.

I received the One Lovely Blog award from Minus Pride recently. I will respond to that one when I come back from Grass Ridge. I've been busy cleaning tack the past couple days and doing Klein's laundry, aaaaaand packing her stuff. Now it's time to pack for myself which of course will take 2/3 less time. We leave this morning :)

Gogo Fatale.

2011-10-12T21:17:00.003-06:00

Andrea and Gogo.

First, there will be a moment of silence for Gogo Fatale.

...

Please visit Andrea's blog if you don't know who Gogo Mare is.

Andrea did the hardest thing a horse mom can do, made the decision to say goodbye yesterday. Please read her post about it here. I admire her for her incredible strength to listen to Gogo and do right by her.

I don't feel I have the place to explain much about it, just go read.

Back to The Star of The Show.

2011-10-09T08:45:00.005-06:00

Let's get back to Klein mare...

This past week we've been working on dressage, had a couple gallops, and some jump schools. We've been busy. We leave for Grass Ridge Horse Trials in Sonoita, AZ this Thursday.

Some mornings I rode before work.

Early morning dressage ride.

Our dressage rides were ok. I feel like she's getting better at a more consistent cadence because I'm riding a little more actively and not giving her a chance to slow up at all. Her walk through trot has more energy too and our halt is getting better and quieter. So, it'll be interesting to see what we can pull off this Saturday on dressage. Her canter....ummm. I just have to get over it for now. She just wants to take off in the snaffle again. It worked ok for a while but now she's starting to flip me the bird in it is again. One morning I got tired of asking her 10 billion times to slow it down that I switched bridles and put her Kimberwicke on and as usual she was great in the Kimberwicke. Such a 180 when I give her what she wants, her beloved Kimberwicke. There's only two canter circles in our test so they're like 20% of the test, so I'm just going to try my hardest to make the other 80% the best we can do.

We jumped around the xc jumps a little on Tuesday then went to do some speed work. After a long canter we did four sets of standing start gallops. We'd gallop up to 535 mpm, hold it for a min then slowly come back down, walk for 3 mins and repeat.

Friday I set up a little course for us with stuff that ranged from 3' to 3'6".

I love these! I think Klein does too.

Skinny corner, this was way wider than it looks in the pic.

This was fun too, a 3'3" square oxer to...

A 3'6" vertical.

Yesterday we had a long warm up hack and watched the airshow that was going on right in front of us. Then we galloped our xc distance of 1.25 miles. She was happy and comfortable hanging out at 465 mpm so, I let her. As we were walking after our gallop the Thunderbirds took off. We stopped to watch them. They were right over our heads because we were next to the runway. Klein was so cute, she TOTALLY watched them! I watched her head follow them all the way up in the sky when they did big loops. Then they'd disappear and catch her eye again when they put their smoke on. At one point they came over us DIRECTLY above our heads at about 500ft off the ground. That was when they were all together in the 6 man formation. So, 6 F-16's with full afterburner directly over us. You could have seen the pilot wave they were so close. Klein just stood there. She is used to F-22's though and they are louder than F-16's and she hears their sonic booms on a regular basis. The sonic booms will shake your entire house. They shake my entire two story building at work. Anyway, that was the best seat I've ever had for an airshow, sitting on Klein's back.

After that we trotted back to the barn and did one round over the jumps again. I had lowered the 3'6" jumps so that the entire little course was 3'-3'3" for one last little confidence boost before the show. She went in and didn't touch a thing and we called it a day after that.

Wrapped up with liniment after yesterday's workout. Yeah she's a fashion statement. She's stylin' with a silver and burgundy fly sheet, gray fly mask, and green polo wraps with cards and poker chips on them.

Today we'll work on dressage and then she'll be on break until the show. Tomorrow she's getting the beauty treatment. Mane thinning, clipped, etc...

Wanna see something funny??? The new rasp my trimmer got JUST for Klein mare.

London Trip, Part 2.

2011-10-08T10:06:00.013-06:00

The first 3 days in London I spent just being a typical tourist. I rode the Underground or walked. I'd leave my hotel and be gone all day, just wandering around.

Trafalgar Square.

This was in Whitehall. I would have went in for some drinks but it was in a 5 star hotel and I saw people dressed in gowns in there. I definitely would not have been minding their dress code.

Part of the barn at the Royal Horse Guards.

A video playing in the Royal Horse Guards Museum. I thought that was cool they start them with no stirrups.

Royal Horse Guards tradtional dress.

Going into the Royal Horse Guards.

There are a couple of these guys standing around the barn on watch.

Haha, this Clyde was napping the entire time.

Their feet definitely look better than the Royal Mews horses. Notice all his feather is shaved.

The Westminster Abbey.

A side view of the Westminster Abbey. I would have went in but they wanted 16.00GBP and I'm not about to give any church any money for anything. Historical landmark or not.

Big Ben!

Crossing the River Thames.

Cool bar in Covent Garden.

Statue man at Picadilly Circus.

Picadilly Circus, was exactly that, a circus. Tons of street performers, people, souvenir shops, etc...

...then you turn a corner and you're in China Town.

Hyde Park corner.

Walking through Green Park to Buckingham Palace.

If you've ever rode the Underground, you get it.

Indoor arena at the Royal Mews.

A Windsor grey getting a bath at the Royal Mews.

Sorry the pic is blurry, zoom isn't the greatest. I was disappointed in these feet. The fronts where shod and looked long too.

Buckingham Palace.

What is that? The other horse had splint boots on this one only had these "knee pads" on?

Yes, this is the cross walk from the famous Beatles cover.

The London Eye.

Tower Bridge aka London Bridge.

Uniformed Services Showjumping Show, London. Part 1

2011-10-04T19:47:00.008-06:00

Highfield and I, my teammate for the day.

Part 1 is going to be just about the show. Part 2 will be about the horsey spots I checked out while in London.

I got to London early last Wednesday morning. That gave me three days to find out where exactly I was going for the show, let jet lag wear off, and be a tourist.

First, everyone there was awesome. This was the first show that the U.S. has attended and the U.S. consisted of...me. This show has been going on every year since 1977. Show officials and competitors were both really, really excited that I was there. People wanted to take pictures with me and just come up and say thank you for coming. They thought for sure I had to be stationed in the U.K. so when they found out I flew all the way from New Mexico they were EXTRA happy.

The roll call included competitors from: The Royal Navy, Royal Engineers, Army Medical Services, Army Technical Foundation College (Winchester), Royal Air Force, The Belgian Reserve Forces, The French Reserve Forces, South Alberta Light Horse (Royal Canadian Armoured Corps), The King's Troop RHA, Royal Logistic Corps, Military Intelligence, Cadet Forces, The Dutch Royal Guards Forces, The President's Bodyguard (India), and The Light Cavalry HAC.

First course of the day. Notice the lack of ground lines. Which was fine with me.

I walked the course and one of my team mates found me. The course was in an indoor the size of a large dressage arena. So the course was tight and twisty, it looked like a ton of fun! I was excited!

I had been placed on a team with a member of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps and the Light Cavalry HAC. Our other team mate found us and then the rider's briefing began. We were informed that the horses we were about to compete on are the property of Her Majesty The Queen and that any level of poor horsemanship will absolutely not be tolerated. That included excessive use of crop or spurs (if you were riding with either), kicking/pulling, dangerous riding, and unknowledgeable riding (basically if they could see you were obviously in over your head). They also said to always keep in mind if something happens it is YOUR FAULT, NOT your horse's! I thought that was great too! Then they told us that these horses are normally worked at a full gallop and pull gun carriages in 6 horse teams. Love it!!

After this my team got our packet and 3 horses were listed on it. I was given the most advanced of the three which was perfectly fine with me. As a bonus that horse was a big Irish Draught (YES! I scored a big horse!) AND a mare! Double bonus! I went to the barn she was in to find her. She was drop dead gorgeous. Her name is Highfield, she is a 14 year old Irish Draught mare that has also been steeple chased.

Meet Miss Highfield:

Silly mare :)

One of the grooms tacked her up and told me that she is big strided and can get strong. Hmmm...sounds familiar. I kind of laughed and told them that actually my horse is a little bigger than her believe it or not and she is just the same. The short description of her in our rider packet also said sometimes she likes to go long and get flat so I planned on keeping her packaged up nicely.

Off to the warm up ring we go...

No mane to grab here...or on any of the horses, they were all roached!

The warm up ring was out of control. The size of a dressage arena with 15+ horses in it. People weren't calling their jumps and weren't looking where they were going when they landed on the other side of a jump. Typical stuff you see at shows every where. Everyone kept going to the left too. So much so that at first I wondered if we had to wait for the officials in the ring to tell us to change direction. I got a feel for Highfield instantly. It helped that I got a big horse so I didn't feel like I was riding a stick horse. I jumped two of Laurie's mares the evening before I left so I could get the feeling back of riding an antelope before I went, just in case I ended up on a TB or something similar. Actually, ALL of the horses there were WB type, big horses!

Baby jump in the warm up ring.

Highfield was great, listening nicely, and we had a nice energetic canter. I wasn't about to keep warming up to the left so I went against traffic, no one said anything. Over the small warm up jumps Highfield was jumping big and you could tell they were toddler stuff for her...wait maybe more like newborn stuff for her. She did like to rush a little at the last second but I learned quick to just let her do her thing. If you tried to hold that rush back at all she'd get in too deep. People were saying we were looking good and that they would expect us to easily have clear rounds. Wellllll...you'd LIKE to think that. But...Highfield had other plans and her behavior in the warm up ring gave me not the slightest hint of what was to come.

Not sure which team this rider was from.

In we go for the first round...fence #2 she SLAMS on the brakes. ???????? I didn't get it. She was so easy in the warm up ring. She's been in that arena eleventy billion times, I wasn't nervous in the least, she wasn't getting away with anything with me, we had it together 2 mins before that. I had no idea what just went wrong. We come around to the fence again, which was a solid fence with a bunch of flag decals on it, and she stops. Maresie, please. I didn't have a crop and she caught me so off guard with that bs! I mean she went right up and at the last millisecond before take off is when she slams on the brakes. That is DIRTY!!!!!!!! I was embarrassed.

My girl and I between rounds.

The second round was a rough ride too. The grooms gave me a crop by then. They apologized to me for Highfield playing tricks on me. Not their fault. They were like "You shouldn't have to come all this way for her to act like this." I'm still riding, so I'm happy, just a little embarrassed. So...second round a stop at 5 and a stop at 6!! I'm like geez maresie...you're killing me!! I did use my crop to get over 5 for the second try. Maybe she needed a love tap before each fence but since they warned us about excessive use I didn't really know what their definition of excessive use is. The last thing I wanted was to get the boot for poor horsemanship, especially being the first American to attend the show. One Frenchman was dq'd for excessive whipping. I didn't see it so I'm not sure what exactly happened, I just saw the Sgt Major telling him that his horses are NOT to treated like that and that he was to dismount immediately and he was done for the day. That eliminated his team as well.

The first and second classes were for the team competition. I felt like I let the other two down. Both of them have competed for consecutive years at this show and assured me it's all in the luck of the draw with these horses. Still though...I can ride, I shouldn't be getting stops like that. She was really slamming on the brakes on me though.

My British teammate, Toby, and I.

The third class a new course was up and jumps were raised. A triple bar and a skinny were thrown in and still, no ground lines.

This was a fault and out competition. Again, Highfield did me dirty and we had two stops and I was out. UGH! Some people were getting stops at the first fence though. But...I still REALLY liked my mare. I wish I could have packed her up and brought her back. She'd be a threat on the eventing scene. This is what happens when you have 20 mins with a horse you've never seen in your life. I'm sure if I had a chance to ride her even one day prior they story would have been different.

People told me they were sorry I didn't have the greatest day and kept repeating that it is just the luck of the draw. One year the unit that hosts the event, each rider on their team fell off twice. The judge refused to give out a team trophy that year because they said there was such a display of poor horsemanship that day since people kept getting dumped. Still, I felt embarrassed. Sorry guys, a bunch of you on here were so full of positive encouragement and some of you said you were proud of me...I don't feel that I made you proud.

Competitors that trailered in. I was SO jealous! Klein mare would have ROCKED this show!

An "own horse" competitor from the Royal Air Force. I REALLY missed Klein mare at this point!

The forge.

A member of Cadet Forces and I.

The gun carriages the horses pull in 6 horse teams.

This particular gun was in Princess Diana's funeral, it has not been used since and probably won't be again because of its significance.

I kind of got the VIP tour of these guns which I was humbled by. If any of you are reading, thank you very, very much for taking the time to show me around!

Overall, I had fun but like I said I was embarrassed by the stops. But several people told me I better be back there next year. I think this is a show you have to go to first to get an idea of how it all works. This is definitely not a beginner show either.

AND, Toby said I could ride with him at his barn for a few days next year. I could have went the next day after the show if I wasn't flying out. He said I could join their Troop ride where I could ride with a sword and a spear and we'll go for a ride through Great Windsor Park. Yeah, I'll be back next year!

Boca Negra XC Course.

2011-09-27T09:24:00.006-06:00

Klein and her new Fjord friend, Orincke.

Last Saturday we picked up a friend's new Fjord near Albuquerque at Four Winds.

Orincke. She was imported from the Netherlands when she was younger. She is a dressage pony, well schooled hunter, and a driving pony.

Since we were up there around the area we decided to school the Boca Negra XC course. In short...Klein kicked ass as usual. We did two full runs on the course and schooled a mix of Novice and Training. On the second run the majority was Training.

Our two favorite jumps of the day were two from Training:

The stone oxer is on a little hill too so you jump uphill over it. It was good times. Klein also galloped off the drops for the first time today too. Usually I slow her up so that there will for sure be no surprises when the ground disappears out from under her but she showed me Saturday that won't be necessary any more. She galloped right off them like she was charging into battle.

I wore the helmet cam. The sound isn't the greatest and you can hear my rambling the whole time :)

YouTube Direct Link: http://youtu.be/wV0VrSfiw18

Looking back toward Albuquerque.

I'd post more but, I have to keep packing for England, I leave in an hour!!!!!

It's Love.

2011-09-23T15:51:00.005-06:00

I went and picked up the sexy mofo truck! It's MINE! ALLL MINE! I LOVE it. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. It's definitely worthy of hauling Princess PonyFace.

I guess I'll just post the whole story...I have mentioned in previous posts that I've been truck shopping for about 2 months but this past month it started to become a super serious search. I'd check Autotrader, Cars.com, Craigslist in numerous states, Cummins Forum, Diesel Trader, etc... every day. Autotrader was usually a twice a day routine. I was being specific and knew I could be waiting a while and I also knew I wouldn't find one in NM. That would just be too easy. Not only did I keep an eye on the Cummins Forum classifieds I put up a "Wanted to Buy" post. Basically I said I was looking for an 99-02 Dodge 2500 4X4 with the high output turbo diesel, a 6 speed manual tranny, 130K miles or less, and that some mods were fine. But, NO stacks and NO lifts. Those were definite deal killers. I want to punch people that put stacks on these trucks.

After talking to several dealers and other private parties I had gotten close to the truck I wanted but something would always be off. It was 2wd, too many miles, an automatic, a 5 speed, damage to the rear of the bed, or the dealer was just plain trying to justify a RIDICULOUS price. Then I got an email from a guy in San Angelo, TX. I asked for pictures, not sure what to expect because this truck had some decent mods, so I was hoping it wasn't something crazy looking. It was GORGEOUS. You saw it in the last post. What a clean truck! And it fit all my requirements! An 02 2500 Laramie edition 5.9 Cummins HO turbo diesel with the 6 speed manual tranny in it, AND the 4.10 rear end. It also has an Edge Juice w/ Attitude chip, Air Dog 150 fuel system, 4" turbo back exhaust, intake, 120K miles, and a gooseneck hitch. I found my truck!!

Tuesday I got my check from USAA and rented a car one way to San Angelo. I got in late that night, checked out the truck, took it for a drive. It was definitely exactly what I had been looking for. A father and son sold it to me. They were super, super nice and they had taken very good care of this truck. It runs SOOOOO nice!! Thank you again to Colton and Robert! Colton told me that none of his friends believed him that a girl was coming to buy the truck. That's pretty funny... They got me all squared away with dropping off my rental car at the airport and showing me the truck at almost 11pm. Fedex didn't show up until 2:15 Tuesday. I was on the road by 3 and rolling into San Angelo by 10:15 (9:30 NM time so it was about a 6 hour drive). After the papers were signed and rental car dropped off I got a hotel then left early the next morning to head home. The truck drives and runs like a dream. I've driven these trucks before, but it's been a while. I was quickly reminded what powerhouses they really are. You can definitely break this truck loose in 3rd. It's so responsive through all the gears too. Even in 6th, you step on the gas the boost comes on immediately and that truck is GONE! It's not laggy whatsoever with boost. A 400 mile drive was a good way for us to get acquainted.

6AM, looking out my hotel room to stare at it some more.

First thing to go on the truck :)

The only not so fun part of this whole thing was paying the excise tax today when I registered it. I paid $436 for the tax and registration. W...t...f...? Oh well. Registration is actually only $70. It was the excise tax that was $366. Whew, glad that's a one time fee. I still couldn't be happier with this truck!

On my way...I will never get over this. I live in the DESERT with cactus' and dust devils and yucca plants and stuff. 25 mins up the road it's green and there's 2 ski resorts. I live in a weird place.

Driving through oil fields in SE New Mexico. I was getting bored so I started taking pics of stuff.

Now Klein mare will have to learn the sound of a diesel. When I have gotten new vehicles before she usually will learn them by the 2nd or 3rd time she sees me in them or hears them.

Last night we galloped. We warmed up with some transitions, trot poles, turn on the haunches and REALLY nice collected canter. She was ON IT last night!!!! She had her showjumping canter ON DECK last night! It was awesome! It was very lifted and powerful. We schooled some 3'3" then went out for two 4 min gallops. She was a handful! She didn't want to keep it under 530 mpm. We compromised at 500. If she's begging to move out at 500 mpm, I have no problem letting her. She cooled out quick and was perfectly satisfied with getting to really move out last night. I wanted her to streeeeeetch out for tomorrow XC schooling. We'll be leaving for Albuquerque tomorrow morning. I will take the helmet cam and make sure it's adjusted right this time!!!

Eventful.

2011-09-18T13:55:00.011-06:00

Stupid storm that cut our Thursday evening gallops short.

Thursday Klein and I went out to gallop and I knew it was supposed to storm so I kept an eye on the weather. There was a pretty good storm forming to the northwest of us. All of a sudden in a matter of minutes the storm had gotten worse and it was headed for the barn pretty quick.

So, boo to that. Stupid storm ruining our speed work. Atleast we got a few in before it came around. That storm stayed too, it got pretty nasty and it actually rained on the entire base, which is rare. Usually the rain here is isolated.

Friday Klein had the day off. I was waiting around on a dealership to send me pictures of another truck, which turned out not to be the one I am getting anyway. BUT...let me show you the one I AM buying:

Sexxxxxy! It's an 02 Dodge 2500 with the 5.9 Cummins HO turbo diesel and the 6 speed manual tranny in it, AND the 4.10 rear end. It also has an Edge Juice w/ Attitude chip, Air Dog 150 fuel system, 4" turbo back exhaust, intake, and a gooseneck hitch. A couple other things I can't remember. I had put a wanted to buy ad on Cummins Forums and THIS is what answered :) It's in Texas, about 400 miles from me. I'm going to pick up Tuesday.

Friday evening I got a text from Laurie asking if I wanted to go to a local trail/obstacle competition the next morning. Sure, we're up for anything. Chanel and Diane, two other barn friends wanted to go so we went to support them and to just do something different, go some where and have some relaxing fun. Diane's mare is green broke so she went for the chance to take her to a new setting, Chanel is up for anything with Zuli, and Laurie took her 3 year old just to get her out. Klein mare went to be a supportive wing man. I knew nothing would phase her. They would literally have to light something on fire to get Klein's attention. I decided to compete bareback. I should have just went in a halter too but didn't think of that till I was already riding around.

Klein mare is famous for drinking anyone's water out of anything, anywhere, anytime. Another one of her priceless qualities.

Standing on the bridge, yes it held her weight haha.

Rope curtain.

The rules for this competition were different too. I really liked it! You were judged on a points system that was looking at how you and your horse worked as a team. If you were unable to complete an obstacle it didn't matter, you were not penalized at all. The judge wanted to see that you knew when to quit and walk away before pushing the issue and frustrating your horse and yourself. They didn't want to see someone spur their horse into the water obstacle, or a whip come out when a horse started to second guess something. I thought that was awesome!

Klein mare and I completed every obstacle no problem. My favorite was the one where you had to ride up to a long western rain slicker on a post, put it on while mounted then take it off and put it back on the post. I liked the log drag too. We had to drag it and back up with it. I tried to do stuff with some style to make it more interesting for Klein mare. We cantered over their log jump, backed through the gate, trotted through the rope curtain thing. At the end we got a loud applause, the first applause from the crowd that day. Everyone loved her as usual. She was adorable as usual too. Falling asleep, putting up with 3 year old Osita's ADD, etc... We ended up 2nd and won a cool water bottle with horses on it.

There was a balloon festival this weekend and we drove right through the middle of all the balloons taking off yesterday morning. I thought it was really, really cool! You could hear their burners too.

This morning Laurie, Chanel, and I went on a trail ride.

We just were playing around and having a good time. I was galloping and knotted Klein's reins so I could gallop with my arms stretched out in a T like an airplane. I took a pic of our shadow galloping with us too:

Then I rode Lacy, Adrienne's reining filly. She had a crazy work schedule this weekend and asked if I'd ride Lacy for her so she wouldn't have 5 days off.

Miss Lacy.

Lacy was a good girl, I had fun riding her. She's a super smart girl too.

Here is Klein's pet frog, I guess I should name him (or her?).

The frog lives in Klein's stall and he hops through my tack room into the barn isle and hangs out. The cats leave him alone too. The other night he hopped all the way down the barn aisle to where Nina, Diane, and I were talking and hopped around us eating bugs then hopped back into the barn, down the aisle, back into my tack room. It's cute.

I have an exciting week this week. I'm going to pick up my truck and this Saturday Laurie and I are going to school the big XC course in Albuquerque, Boca Negra! The helmet cam will definitely go with me!

3'6"

2011-09-14T22:22:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday Klein and I did some more gymnastics. This time we had to 3'6" ft wide oxers set at 2'9" with one stride between them and a ground rail directly in the middle. This idea came from Practical Horseman this month. It sounded like fun and I love oxers for increasing range of motion and quality of form. We started with them as verticals and she was through no problem I made the verticals into oxers and the fun really started. She REALLY stretched over them. What a great exercise, but you have to be prepared to ride a big, round jump. I left them at 2'9" since this was the first time we had done this particular exercise and she was doing so well. Next time they'll go up to 3' and 3'3". But...in the arena that afternoon I also added a 3'3" corner and a 3'6" vertical. That was the first time we've schooled 3'6" and she popped over it each time clearing it with no problem. Didn't come close to touching a thing. Damn, my girl rocks.

Sunday morning we went out and did hill work. We went up the steepest hill we've EVER went up. That thing was damn near vertical. She really had to climb up the last part, but she never hesitated. She'll go anywhere and try anything. She's so much fun! I will take my camera or just wear the helmet cam down there next time so you guys can see just how steep and tall this thing is!!! We walked and galloped up hills, backed up them and backed down them as usual. We also did just a little bit of downhill canter work.

Monday evening it was time to be dressagey. I just wanted to really concentrate on the quality and cadence of her trot and just getting her to really be soft. Mission accomplished. We had a great ride.

Yesterday evening...I saw a FB friend post a pic of her bounces she had set for her jumpers and I thought why haven't WE done bounces for a while????? I mean it's been a year and I have no excuse for that. Bounces are a really valuable exercise, and they're fun for both of us. So I set up 4 bounces each 12ft apart and at 2'9" since she hasn't done them in quite a while. That will change, those will be making a regular appearance from now on.

She NAILED them!!!!! I thought maybe we'd take some out the first time. NOPE. First I started with one vertical up then the others in crossrails then I raised them all. She was super careful and bounced right through them like no big deal. I just had to remember how much riding they require and how quick and following you have to be. Such a great exercise. There was also another 3'6" vertical and a 3'3" square oxer I set up.

Wheeeeeee!!!!!!!!

I love variety and I don't like just jumping one type of jump when schooling, boring... There is variety in the show ring so you have to have variety at home, and to work the entire equine body. This is why I always have oxers, corners, triple bars, one strides, and now bounces. Klein once again floated over the 3'6" and the 3'3" square oxer. WHY did I not wear my helmet cam yesterday?!?!?!?! UGH!!!!! Work has been busy lately so all I can think of when I get off work is changing and going straight to the barn. I was going to have Wayne come and take some video of us at 3'6" tomorrow evening but...it's actually raining (and there is no reason to complain about rain in the desert) today and it is supposed to rain off and on the rest of the week meaning we'll have to wait till it's done, drag the ring and then we'll be good to go. Hopefully Sunday I'll have some video, since hubby is off that day.

Competing in London!

2011-09-10T21:47:00.003-06:00

London...I'll be there in a couple weeks, SHOWING.

My entry was accepted in April to compete in the 34th Uniformed Services Showjumping International Competition in London. This show is a military only showjumping show that is open to military members world wide. It is hosted by the Honourable Artillery Company. The classes go up to 3'3". You can bring your own horse, but obviously that won't be the case for me. I'd LOVE to take Klein mare but 1) the AF won't pay for that and 2) we'd be there less than a week so it wouldn't be worth a trip for her. So, I have a King's Troop royal horse reserved from the Light Cavalry for me to compete on.

I asked the Chief of Air Force Sports if an international competition would warrant a TDY, meaning the Air Force would pay for my trip to London. I don't see why not. I am going to represent the entire Air Force. I have to compete with my service jacket on with all my insignia and ribbons instead of my regular coat I usually wear for stadium. All you can do is ask right? The Chief of Air Force Sports is who has been giving Laurie and I permissive TDY (free leave) for all of our other horse trials this year. He has been incredibly supportive and shown interest in our sport. This last Wednesday I recieved a reply from him saying yes they will pay for my trip with the authorization letter attached. Wow. Just when you thought the Air Force couldn't get any better they pay for my freaking trip to go show in England. Wow.

The show is October 1st in London. I leave the 27th. I am the only one going from the Air Force and possibly from the U.S. I know last year no one came from the U.S. But this show is really popular and military from the entire world come to compete. According to the emails from the show secretary it's going to be a full house this year. This...will be interesting. Of course there will be a photographer there, so I will have pictures!

Thank you Air Force!

Oh...and Klein and I schooled 3'6" today :) She didn't touch a thing! She just flew right on over. I'll post more on that in the next blog.

What We've Been Up To...

2011-09-05T12:41:00.002-06:00

Still in love with the desert sunsets out here.

Back to regular posting. Since Goose Downs Klein had the next week off. I always give her a break after horse trials. She doesn't particularly like it but...it's good for her ;) Last week we went for some bareback hacks. We found grass in the desert. So I rode her down to some grassy spots bareback in a halter and let her graze for a while.

We went on a nice long hack with Chanel and Zuli. We had a dressage ride where we worked over some trot poles with all kinds of transitions before and after them. I laid out 6 poles for her.
We had a nice jump school with coursework and then a gallop out over some xc jumps. She's been on the longe line twice in side reins. Once working over trot poles again and once was yesterday evening just in the dressage arena. She was looking rrrrreally nice. She also got a pedicure Saturday morning. Her last trim was three weeks ago. Yeah, THREE weeks ago. She grew so much she needed a freaking trim at 3 weeks. But her feets look niiiiiiiiiiiiice!

This morning we did some gymnastics up to 3'3".

Start with cantering through each way.

Add a cross rail at one end, continue cantering through.

Raise cross rail into vertical, also raise last pole at the opposite into a vertical. Continue cantering through.

The pics above are what we did this morning. We would canter the line in a big figure 8, i.e. coming in on the right lead and leaving on the left and vice versa. We also would canter through then come to a halt about 5 strides straight out from the last jump, turn on the haunches and canter through to end the same way on the other side.

I liked this exercise. Klein seemed to like it too. She likes to be a little lazy either when jumps are 2'6" and below OR if the first jump in the line is lower than the last. In that case if the first jump is lower she just assumes that the second jump is the same height and she'll take the last one out. Jeffray told me if we're doing something where I think that will happen, don't put her boots on her. Let her learn and start to care about paying attention. Well, today...she did just that, ONCE and learned her lesson. I made sure I had the wooden rails (we have PVC too) up and she came through the first lower jump and the second one was at 3'3" and she took the rail. All it took was once, she didn't touch it again. I eventually raised both jumps to 3'3" but after she proved to me she could pay attention by going through a couple times with the first jump lower.

I think one of my barn friends thought it was a little harsh to let her feel a rail if she took one. BUT...look at the last picture. These are 8 foot long rails. They're not that thick. They are much lighter than a real stadium rail. Klein is a big pony. I don't think her knocking one of those with no boots on would really hurt her, do you? If I did I would never do it. I have heard the stories of BNT's using metal rails, "poleing" horses aka hitting them in the knees as they go over a fence to make sure they get their knees up, putting rail road ties in front of rails so a horse could possibly hit one if they get lazy. THOSE are unacceptable. A thin 8ft long rail in shallow plastic jump cups, is not. And, if she didn't learn I wouldn't do it either. I know there are some horses out there that either wouldn't learn or wouldn't care enough to stop taking rails. It took once for Klein.

Anyway...I'm currently keeping my eye out for a 99-02 Dodge 2500 diesel 4X4, in a manual with around 120K miles. I've been half seriously looking for a couple months with no real luck but now, I'm really keeping an eye out. Coming back from Goose Downs we spotted this one on a lot here in town:

An 02 2500 4X4 sexy beast. It's PERFECT...but I knew it was too good to be true. It's a damn automatic. WHYYYYYY???????????????? UGH. I cringed as I walked up to the window to look in and only see the 4X4 stick on the floor :( Damn it. But...I figured I'd go in and ask about it anyway. It only has 120K miles. My heart sunk even more. It's so CLLEEEEAN. And it's got some upgrades. It's got a massive 5" exhaust on it and I saw 3 aftermarket gauges in it. That could be good or bad. I'm thinking about going back and driving it today. They want $12,995 for it. Wayne says don't settle for something less than what I want. He's right. I've made that mistake before. These trucks are just hard to come by with the mileage I want and the transmission. I'm on cars.com, Craigslist, eBay, and Diesel Trader every day. I'm willing to go out of state for one. Laurie got her new 3500 from a GIANT dealer in Kellogg, Idaho. She said it might be worth my time to give them a call and see what they have or what they can find. The guy at the dealer with the truck in the pic said he tries to stay away from manuals because people don't want them. Huh? Ok. Well, I want one. My truck is out there...somewhere. So, if any of you guys know of one or see one LET ME KNOW! Doesn't matter what state!

Andrea and Gogo.

2011-08-31T16:48:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite Andrea and Gogo pics. You can see the love, happiness, and bond they share together.

I remember reading about Denali last year and the absolute heartbreak Denali's Mom was going through. No horse owner EVER wants to be in that spot. I remember crying as I read the posts and thinking that I don't know what I would do if anything like that ever happened with Klein. All I can tell you is that I would be in the mental health office on base.

Anyway, Andrea, being the wonderful person she is stepped up and got something started for Denali's mom to hopefully help ease some pain and remember the good times. The stars aligned and Denali miraculously healed. I remember crying reading those posts too and crossing my fingers that the improvement would hold out.

Now, Andrea is faced with a similar situation. Again, I cannot even begin to imagine. But I can sure tell you my whole heart is with Andrea and Gogo right now. I think Aimee over at SprinklerBandit described this situation the best:

"None of us thought even for a moment that Andrea herself would be in the same position in just a few months. Gogo's injury, carefully rehabbed for two years by the most meticulous and caring owner imaginable, continues to get worse. Andrea wants the best for her and won't condemn her to a life of pain, regardless of how much she just wants to hang on to her beloved mare. "

Myself, Brooke (Denali's mom), Aimee (Izzy's mom), and Monica (Yankee's Mom) are going to get something together for Andrea. If you would like to help donate to the cause you can donate by PayPal'ing to rehabdenali@yahoo.com

With your donation you will also have a say in what we come up with.

Andrea, I don't know what else to say. I know everyone can say sorry a thousand times each and express their sympathies, and it won't heal Gogo or lessen the pain you must be feeling. But please know my thoughts (and some tears) are with you and Gogo. My fingers are crossed, and so area Klein's hooves.

The Event at Goose Downs.

2011-08-23T20:22:00.021-06:00

We hauled up to Goose Downs Thursday afternoon. We always go Thursday, that way we're all settled in and ready for practice jumper rounds on Friday morning. Except this time we had practice jumper rounds and then we had to get ready for New Event Horse.

Practice jumper rounds went really well. Klein warmed up rrrrrreally nicely. She was jumping GREAT. Best jumper warm up to date. She was being a handful, she was ready for some action. We took one rail in our practice round that was my fault because I cut a corner. I really need to stop with that habit.

After that we had an hour until the conformation and type phase for New Event Horse. General idea for the method of judging this class is:

"Judges are looking for a kind, wiling, athletic, moving horse with a promising jumping technique that, with correct training, will develop physically and mentally into a safe and enjoyable mount for an adult amateur or young rider or at the one star level or below."

I was really excited because I wanted to know what a professional thought of Klein. It says specifically in the rules that "Color, size and gender should not be a factor in a horse's score."
Sweeeeet!

"His conformation and movement should enable him to withstand the demands of the sport in terms of soundness, speed and stamina. Lack of quality and other defects which may prevent him being talented enough for upper level competition should not be unduly penalized, though structural flaws or unsoundness that would prevent a long term career should be considered a substantial flaw. A lack of size or color of the horse should not be held against him, nor should the horse’s gender affect any judgment. Breed should be considered a factor only to the extent that the individual horse may show athleticism, gaits, or conformation likely or unlikely to be a successful eventer at Preliminary level or below; a horse’s breed should not de-facto rule out a particular competitor from placing well."

We walked into the dressage arena and I set her up for the judge.

I heard things like "proportionate, heavy bone, strong topline, nice frame." He then had us walk a long side, trot up the center line, walk the short side then trot the long side and walk out of the arena.

After Conformation and Type.

Next was dressage. The test used for this phase was the 2011 YEH 4 year old qualifying test. It was pretty simple. It was not judged like a regular dressage phase would be. Instead, "this is a modified dressage test judged on overall collective impressions (not by each individual movement)." Klein warmed up nicely for this too. I had the feeling she was as ready as she was going to be.

"In the dressage phase, unlike a normal dressage test, marks are not given for individual movements. Three correct and regular gaits are the qualities that judges will be seeking. Horses should not be marked down for displaying a little exuberance, though a willing temperament should be considered a positive factor. The judge will have to weigh the influence of the rider; a good rider may present a well balanced, smooth test from perhaps a moderate, not scopey horse while a novice rider may even hinder a good horse from showing its true worth."

After that, the fun part! The jumping phase.

"in the jumping we are looking for a kind, safe, athletic horse with good technique and a horse with these qualities should not necessarily be penalized for knocking down a fence providing he learns from his mistake. Nor should a horse be penalized for a rider’s mistake; however, a horse’s reaction to a rider’s error should be used to inform the overall score either positively or negatively. While the majority of the course should be jumped at the canter, a horse will not be penalized for jumping out of the trot."

"In conclusion we could sum up by asking the question "Which horse would I buy to make to make an introductory event horse for my student?"
It was 8 jumps on the xc course. 6 xc fences with two stadium fences in the mix. None are allowed to be over BN height, and there must be a bank, ditch, or water (we had a bank). After fence 8 was a long gallop up a hill. Klein went into Beast Mode and tore that course UP. She was a HANDFUL! I had to really sit up a few times and ask her to please remember I'm up there.

Here we are coming up the bank/log for New Event Horse:

I don't know if the photographer just caught her at a weird second or if her face is because she's being held back. Wish was granted as soon as we landed because that is when the gallop began.

I know that the judge wanted to see how much ground she could cover and Laurie had told me when she had done Young Event Horse the judges wanted a real gallop. Ground covering...gallop. Yeah, definitely got that part. So...I let her GO. And she WENT! When we came walking back down the hill people's jaws were still on the ground. Frederic Bouland was there and he said "THAT looked like fun!!!!" Hehe...someone else said "You guys would be very impressive charging into battle." Then there was a "WOW. She.can.MOVE!!!!!! We didn't expect THAT!!!"

The judge...he LOVED HER!!! So we started with 3 in our 1st Year horse division and one came up lame in conformation and was withdrawn. Only two of us in the class because people just didn't know about the class, what it was or that it was happening that weekend. We won, over one other horse. But, the other horse was a nice little light mare. The fact that we placed over a light horse in a class looking for eventing potential makes me really, really happy. People were really impressed with my girl.

I wore my helmet cam for the jumping phase of New Event Horse, but I clicked it one too far down and mostly got the ground. I'm pretty disappointed I did that. I promise a XC run with it from Las Cruces soon when we go over to school.

In the dressage ring, she's bored...

Next morning dressage...oh, joy. I found braider and I didn't have to roach her mane, w00t! Our time was 9:47 in ring 1. We headed to warm up and she was feeling pretty good. I had this feeling that she wouldn't need much warm up. To warm up we just did some transitions and some nice trot, a little canter and that's about it. She was listening and I didn't want her to start to get too bored. We had the option to go early, so we did.

I felt it was an OK test. Not great but not our worst either. Our second canter/trot was crappy. our 20m circles were too small. I don't know why. I guess I just wasn't paying that much attention?? I don't get nervous or anything. I just...hope it's over quick. So maybe it's my hoping it's over soon that makes me not pay attention to all the details? Her last trot up the center line was crappy. It was choppy and kind of stop and go. Our cadence sucked. I think it is her anticipating. She KNOWS we are halting somewhere on that center line. At the end of our test, you can kind of hear him on the video, the judge stands up and says "Umm, you guys were the ones that won cross country yesterday right??" I said "Yes, sir." He said "You did GREAT! I mean, she was just AMAZING!!" Awwwww!!!!!

After I got Klein untacked and relaxing back in her stall I checked Startbox and hurried back to the trailer and said "LAURIE!!! I don't think the judge had his contacts in!!! We got a freaking 33.5!!!" I was NOT expecting that. AT.ALL. But this guy is a professional that has been doing it for quite a long time, I read his bio, who am I to argue?? A 33.5?!?!?!?!!? We'll GLADLY take it! I have video of our test, so you guys can see for yourselves.

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/vJxLdDP6P-M

You can see she's kind of not really putting 100% of her attention into the ring. Can't blame her :) Eh...one day, one day we'll get it together with dressage.

Can we go jump yet??

Stadium...NOW THE FUN STARTS!!!

Klein warmed up really nice. She was excited. From the second I got on her at the trailer she wanted to trot to the warm up. She's so cute!!!! She was a bit of a handful in warm up. She just gets rolling and wants to go and go and go and go and jump and jump and jump more jumps. We didn't warm up too much, the guy in charge of the warm up ring actually said "You're not done already are you??" I said "Yeah...she doesn't really need much of a warm up." I make sure to do a couple long trots, lots of bending, some transitions, a big, rolling canter to get her stretched out and a couple jumps. If she jumps nice then we're done. That is all she needs.

The course was a blast! The course designer did a GREAT job! I watched Intermediate and Prelim stadium and the course was just tearing people up. Rails all over, one came off in Prelim (they were both fine). Training got a few people too. I think it was because the ring was not flat and people weren't realizing just how much they might have to rebalance before the jumps going down hill. It seemed like those were the ones catching EVERY ONE.

Our turn came, we were more than ready. I told Klein mare "I'm gonna make sure to sit up and help you as much as I can, you...just float girl." I remembered what Jeffray told me, and I sat UP. And...I tried like hell to remember to go wide and do NOT cut ANY corners!! We came to the last fence and I made sure to really pay attention and sit up because that last fence was one that was down hill and just taking people out left and right. I mean it's only a 3' fence, how freaking hard can it be right? It's not for Klein...it's me making sure I don't run her into it, and I didn't.

Last fence...borrrrring.

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/lSDZcnUfUjM

One of our fan club was a timer at the out gate and before we went in he said "Ok, show us how big horses do it." As we walked out I said "See!! Told you she has skills!" He said "Uh, YEAH! She was in there f'in stuff up!" Haha.

So proud of my girl. Look at her face, she's like "What?? You're really gonna make that big of a deal out of little jumps??"

That night was the competitor's party. First was happy hour at the trade fair, and before that, Laurie and I drank a bottle of wine. The competitor's party was really nice. Hats off to Goose Downs. We had a catered dinner from a local mexican restaurant that was really good, even for a vegetarian! I actually got my money's worth. Unlike other events where the party is bbq beef sandwiches, coleslaw, and pie. None of which I'd eat. I end up drinking dinner. They also had a live band. Everyone had fun.

Pony jail?

Sunday our xc time was 12:04. I wanted to wake up, tack up, and HIT IT. I couldn't wait!!! Laurie and I fed the PonyFaces and cleaned stalls then went into town to an organic restaurant for breakfast and I found MORE vegetarian goodness!!

It rained Friday and Saturday night. After Friday's rain the ground was nice and spongy after Saturday night it was just a little slippery. But since we rode at 12:04 and the sun was out that would be to our advantage. Word on the street was there were some slick spots. I walked around where they were supposed to be and I saw some deep hoof prints but nothing crazy. It wasn't overly muddy. Here is the Novice course walk:

The long gallop between 5 and 6. 5 is way down on the right by the two big bushes.

Tom was still filling the water...

Red and green chilis on top!! Cutest jump on the course!

The whole weekend I had been going over our lesson with Jeffray and remembering key points. SIT UP and what she had said about me stopping her over jumps and also the fact she said you should never be slowing down the last couple strides to a fence. You should be set up and kicking on by that point. Remember how I thought Klein was getting looky in CO? After the lesson with Jeffray, I don't think so, I think it was me and I was determined not to do it again this time. I could hear Jeffray yelling "KICK KICK KICK!"

So it went like this...1, easy. 2, jump judge in the chair caught her eye late but upward and onward. 3 easy. Downhill to 4 she started to freight train and get way excited so I had to really sit up and keep a hold on her and get her ready for the down hill jump to 4 which would land with us continuing down hill then up. 5, I got left behind a little, see pic, oops.

6, I let her out on the way to 6 because we had a long uphill gallop and she got a bit of a weird distance into the 2 stride of 6 but she did her job and on we went. 7, easy little ditch. 8, boring. 9 we had to come around a tight turn and I had to really sit up and get her balanced. 10, another long gallop from 9 to 10 and 10 was another jump going downhill, so I sat up. 11 another tight turn involved but we made it nicely. 12 was a drop and we were also coming downhill to that so I sat way up and didn't think I was going to get her down into a trot 2 strides out, she was ROLLIN'! I wanted her to trot just so the drop didn't surprise her, I didn't think it would but you never know when she's in the zone and we had the time. So, off the drop we came around a turn and slipped a little but off to 13 at full bore. 13 was our best jump. She hit the distance perfectly! 14, over the bench nooooo problem! 15, water, boring she went through with absolutely NO hesitation or second though. As we came out of the water we heard a group yelling "GO KLEIN!!!!" 16, cutest jump on the course. The table with red and green chilis. I didn't think the chilis would catch her eye. Stuff like that usually doesn't but, I gave her a love tap for good measure 2 strides out and made sure to squeeze. She didn't give even half a second of thought to that jump. We had another minor slip after 16, this is where everyone else was too. 17, easy and we were home free at 4:33!!!! Optimum time was 4:39! NIIIIICE!!! Very, very, very proud of my girl. That was our best xc run yet! It was so flowing and forward (over the fences we know she's forward between them hahaha), it was amazing.

Afterburner = ON. She's just a LITTLE excited here. Trying to listen to me yet fighting the urge to go all out like a track pony LOL.

We were in 3rd before XC, we moved up one spot to finish 2nd! Only one crappy dressage point separated us and 1st! But, I don't care about that. I could not have been prouder of my team mate. She couldn't have been more perfect. I couldn't ask for anymore.

Finally home after a perfect weekend!

Another surprise when I got home:

Wayne had bought me this beautiful painting for doing well at Goose Downs. I LOVE IT. That is the most sweet and thoughtful gift I've ever gotten.

Thank You Dover!

2011-08-16T19:21:00.005-06:00

Uh, not good.

Last May I bought another pair of Devon-Aire Camden field boots from Dover. This was my 4th pair of these boots. I love these boots. They're really comfortable, don't really have to break them in, they clean up really well. They're around $200 and last about a year per pair, and that is riding 5 days a week and all the barn chores that come with it (reason why I don't buy more expensive ones). Usually at just past a year the zipper will split and that's the end of them. I have never had any problem with the elastic fabric panel in them.

This most recent pair showed up and I was excited to see some design changes with the boot and they seemed improved, better spur rests, higher quality leather, new soles with more cushion to them. Now, here we are not even 3 months in and from the pic above you can see they're in poor shape. The elastic in the fabric has come undone and the boots are loose and look terrible.

I emailed Dover Sunday afternoon with pictures of the boots and the same information I just explained above. I told them I totally understand it is not their fault but I just wanted to let them know in case other customers have the same issues with these boots. They replied back in less than 2 hours saying that the condition of the boots is definitely not acceptable and that they would be happy to send me a new pair with a pre-paid postage label to send the crap pair back to them, or they would just refund me. Wow, awesome. I had no idea they were THAT serious about their 100% satisfaction guarantee!

I thought for a minute about taking the refund and going with a different brand BUT...I can't try another brand on. I know these boots will fit and Goose Downs is this week. So, I didn't want to take the risk of buying a pair in another brand and them not fitting for whatever reason then I'm left with no boots to show in this week. On the other hand, I really do think I got a defective pair of boots from Devon-Aire.

I also emailed Devon-Aire with the pictures and same info I sent to Dover. They said that they have a one year warranty on their boots and that Dover should be able to take care of me (they already had). They also said they were forwarding my pictures to their design department and managers, and said they too think that I must have gotten a defective pair.

So, my new boots will be here tomorrow. Dover even put them on 2nd day express for free. But if this new pair has one problem, they're going back and I'll never buy anything from Devon-Aire again.

As for Miss Klein mare, Saturday she went on a little hack with Osita. Sunday we did dressage. I learned the rest of our New Event Horse test, so we're good to go. The rest of this week she has been on rest status until we leave Thursday. So, tonight more tack cleaning, saddle pad and standing wrap washing, show clothes packing fun.

Oh, one thing I'm kind of stressing about!! Her hawk is out of control right now!! She has a mean, crazy looking mohawk. She has been rubbing her mane. I have tried everything known to man both topical and edible (over the counter and prescription) and nothing is calming her mane down. Some parts are shorter than others. After braids I know I'll have to trim all kinds of loose hairs sticking up. Should I just roach it?!?! I don't want to, I really, really, really do NOT want to do that but if I have to, I will. I guess I'll just have to wait and see after we start braiding how crappy it turns out??

Less Than A Week Till Goose Downs!

2011-08-12T21:15:00.004-06:00

We left off on Monday, so we'll start with Tuesday. I was at work for 11 hours Tuesday. It happens. I got to the barn late and just went straight there in uniform and all so I put Klein mare on the longe line again. This time I put here in her French link German silver snaffle. She seems a little more flexible and relaxed in that. So I'm going to change my mind for the 4,204,589,029 time and say we are going to just man up and stick with the french link snaffle for dressage. After sitting around in a super serious environment for 11 hours, it was so relaxing to hang out with my girl and watch her moving so beautifully that evening.

Wednesday we schooled some 3' stadium and applied what we learned at Goose Downs, and guess what??? It helped. Haha. We had a really nice jump school.

Thursday was dressagey day. This was the first ride in the French link snaffle since June and she did better than I expected. We learned our NEH dressage test and did a lot of transitions and lateral work. So, F it. We'll go with it (the french link). I guess I just need to get rid of my mullen mouth baucher and even my french link baucher so I can't just go in the tack room and get the dumb idea to change it up on my dressage bridle. Anyone want either bits? They're both 6". I'll sell them cheap. Speaking of selling stuff...I bought an XL Kerrits Ride Outside Jacket. I wear medium, I could never wear an XL but I thought "Well for winter when I wear layers..." I got a good deal on it but...the jacket got here and yeah, no...not even with layers. It's only been worn once. I'll sell it for $50 plus shipping (whatever shipping method you choose). You can see the jacket here:

http://www.theequestriancorner.com/kerrits_ladies_rideoutside_jacket

The one I have is in Stone Grid (the main pic for the add). It's a really nice jacket. I love Kerrits stuff. I just bought another pair of their breeches, the Breathe Tight originals. Anyway, if anyone is interested in the bits or the jacket email me at jumpingpercheron@hotmail.com.

Today was another 3' jump school (that went really well again) followed by a 1.3 mile gallop.

A low wide oxer for form and stretching.

Click to enlarge.

Polar Data:

Duration 0:35:00
Sampling Rate 5 s

Number of Heart Beats 4069 beats
Recovery -15 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 60 bpm
Average Heart Rate 116 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 177 bpm
Standard Deviation 35.1 bpm

Minimum Pace 46:09 min/mile
Average Pace 8:20 min/mile
Maximum Pace 3:25 min/mile
Distance 4.2 miles

Minimum Altitude 4072 ft
Average Altitude 4078 ft
Maximum Altitude 4081 ft

After her workout Her Majesty got a much needed pedicure and a spa treatment (poulticed and wrapped). After the recent rains I swear that girl was half a hand taller her feet grew SO MUCH! But Nina, as always, has them back under control and looking gorgeous. Ready to rock for next week!

Real Work.

2011-08-08T22:01:00.004-06:00

Sunday Klein and I did 1.30 miles of hill work. I wanted her to do the equivalent of our xc distance in hill work. After that we had a walk around the bottom of the river bed and a 5 min gallop back to the barn. I decided to wear the helmet cam for that ride instead of on the Antelope. Here are just a couple hills from yesterday:

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/yr46VLUJ2n8

During our 5 min gallop I wanted to keep her around 420 but she wanted to stay around 470mpm. Ok, fine. If she's comfortable with that then I let her go for a little bit then I'd bring her back down a little.

Click to enlarge.

Polar Data:

Duration 1:01:05
Sampling Rate 5 s

Number of Heart Beats 6239 beats
Recovery 28 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 62 bpm
Average Heart Rate 102 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 184 bpm
Standard Deviation 30.4 bpm

Minimum Pace 50:00 min/mile
Average Pace 11:06 min/mile
Maximum Pace 3:24 min/mile
Distance 5.3 miles

Minimum Altitude 3924 ft
Average Altitude 3953 ft
Maximum Altitude 3976 ft
Ascent 220 ft
Descent 243 ft

Yesterday, I drove Miss Angel for her first time. She did really, really good. For being half TB it was impressive hehe.

Today I put Klein mare on the longe for about 20 mins with the standing wrap around her big butt.

She was looking good and when we were done I got on bareback to learn the NEH dressage test for Goose Downs, and we worked on some small details like our halts.

After that I got Angel out again and went for a little drive. She had one minor "But! I'm SUPPOSED to be out with the rest of the girls!!" fit but she got over it fast and we continued on.

She'll go out longer and further this weekend.

Busy Week!!!!!!!!

2011-08-06T21:04:00.004-06:00

Klein with the Chiro Friday.

I have been ridiculously busy this week. I've been riding Klein before work most mornings and then Niko in the evening. Or if I have an evening when I am not going to the gym I will just ride them both in the evening. Laurie was out of town this week so she asked me to gallop Niko while she was gone.

I ride Klein in the morning so that in the evening I can get her ready to go out for the evening and then put her out before I get Niko. That way she's busy eating her dinner, has already worked for the day and won't be too offended if she sees me on another horse. Even if it is her bestest travel buddy Niko.

We did a couple dressage rides this week working on what we learned with Jeffray. She did pretty good. Not our best rides but not our worst either. I did some gallops with her too this week. I did three 4 min gallops at 420 mpm and one day we had a little gallop over some jumps and then did three sets of 1 min all out gallops from a standing start. Here is the helmet cam video from that one:

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/vDj99njtqD8

The sound isn't the best on that camera, sorry about that.

Yesterday Klein was adjusted by the chiro so I rode her before work. The Chiro gave her a clean bill of health :) The doc said he could tell that the 5 horses he adjusted at our barn were very well taken care of because they didn't have any significant findings. He said the worst he sees are roping horses and other types of rodeo discipline horses. He said they're usually pretty tore up and he has to do a lot of work to them. Klein had nothing beyond normal wear and tear. That's always great to hear. It just confirms again, from a professional stand point, that her workload is just fine for her.

Since she was adjusted yesterday I just took her on a short bareback hack with Chanel and Zuli this morning. Tomorrow morning, were hitting the hills :)

Ok, now, meet Miss Niko...

Miss Anniko, 8 year old Trakehner mare currently schooling Prelim.

For Niko, the first day we did a little hack so we could both get used to each other. Niko is a sweet girl. She's a little hot but nothing hard to handle. I call her The Antelope because, after riding Klein...riding Niko is like, riding an antelope. Seriously.

Niko, The Antelope. And as a bonus, she comes with Phillip Dutton's Devoucoux Chiberta!

Second day we did a long warm up and a hack with some slow galloping. Third day we did three sets of 4:30 long gallops at 460 mpm. I had the Polar on her that day. Here's the graph from that ride:

I started it after we warmed up. Don't want anyone thinking we went out and just started these gallops.

Polar Data:

Duration 0:25:05
Sampling Rate 5 s

Number of Heart Beats 3447 beats
Recovery 11 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 91 bpm
Average Heart Rate 137 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 172 bpm
Standard Deviation 24.2 bpm

Minimum Pace 22:13 min/mile
Average Pace 5:05 min/mile
Maximum Pace 3:09 min/mile
Distance 4.9 miles

Minimum Altitude 4032 ft
Average Altitude 4045 ft
Maximum Altitude 4058 ft
Ascent 20 ft
Descent 33 ft

Fourth day (yesterday) we did one slow 1 mile gallop and some long trots and just hacked around. This morning we went to the river bed and did 1.5 miles of hill work, which she LOVED, and then did a 1.25 mile gallop home. For a min she was moving out at about 500 mpm and felt reallllly comfortable. Tomorrow will be a hack and I'm going to wear the helmet cam.

You definitely have to be in a little different mode when riding Niko, compared to Klein. She will bounce side ways at a hole in the ground, random telephone pole in the bushes, etc... She's a wirey thing. At one point I felt like a ball in a ping pong machine as we galloped along. She's a really sweet girl, and a lot of fun to ride. And...she goes in a plain snaffle, and LISTENS to it. I was like "Hmm, so they really do work on some horses?!"

Then, there's Angel. I had to send her breastcollar off for repair and it finally came back this week. So, this evening was her first time being hooked up to the cart and pulling it. Both the traces and the brake strap were on. She did GREAT! I just kept her halter and lead rope on this evening for that, no bridle. I took her for a hand walk with her cart and she did so good! It was impressive, she acted like she's been doing it all her life.

What a good girl!

Goose Downs

2011-08-02T16:53:00.011-06:00

We had an awesome weekend at Goose Downs last Saturday and Sunday. It's about a 3.5 hour drive from us to Galisteo (right outside Santa Fe) so we just stayed the night.

Saturday Laurie and I had a jumping lesson with Jeffray and I loved what she spotted with Klein and I right from the start. First she noticed Klein is kind of falling out behind at the canter. YES. SHE SURE DOES. Especially with dressage lately. She says she calls it "trantering" because it's half canter and half trot. Laurie had the same issue with her mare. Our girls weren't breaking the gait or anything it was just a lazy disengaged canter sometimes. Then she noticed that I don't have following elbows and that I'm locking Klein up in the front.

She went and got a standing wrap and told me that if I regularly rode with her there would be other avenues before the standing wrap but for the time we did have that is what we were going to use first. She tied the standing wrap to each side of the girth and it went around just above Klein's hocks. It definitely gave her a different feel and we got some real quality canter from her.

Next she set up a small fence and we would jump it up and down hill. Again my non-following elbows came into play. I basically was locking Klein in, even over fences and my release wasn't as following as it should be. I was releasing a little higher on her neck that I should be. She busted Laurie for that one too. As usual my forwardness was called out too. I warned her though. I told her that's a major issue I'm trying to unlearn. Stop riding around like I'm out on the freaking track. So she kept after me to sit up and fix my shoulders. As far as the elbows she had me follow Klein's motion and stick my pinky fingers out and let them run along Klein's neck with her motion to a fence. She jumped a lot straighter. I rebalanced before the fence concentrated on following and Klein jumped beautifully.

From there we went out to the first fence of the XC course and worked on that. We worked on getting good canter departs with quality canter and did some figure 8's over the fence. I apparently have a habit of depending on the inside rein a little too much so we worked on that too. Jeffray noticed at this point that what was happening by me not following with my elbows I was essentially stopping Klein over a fence. She is ssssssssooooo RIGHT. I'm SO GLAD we went for lessons with her. She really opened my eyes on a few things. I worked on the rebalance before a jump and following with my elbows and guess what?? Same as when we were working on stadium, great distance and a nice straight jump. About that point a thunderstorm rolled up and cut us short. But, she rrrreally got me thinking by that point.

We just kind of relaxed the rest of the day. Loved on the poines, took them for walks, hand grazing, drank a little bit.

Tom set us up so that the girls would each have their own big run that their stall opened up into. That was so nice of him!!! I HATE having to keep Klein stalled up. HATE. HATE. HATE.

Only downside, automatic waterers. Klein can drink 35 gallons a day. I feel bad when she has to stand there and wait for that stupid thing to refill when she is still thirsty. Almost every time I looked into her stall she was drinking.

Taking Osita for a walk on the xc course:

Laurie and her 3 year old Trakehner filly Osita (FEH!!).

Haha, Osita has no idea she'll be JUMPING that one day, when she grows up.

That evening we went into Santa Fe and watched Buck. Check out the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYV0t46Ny4U

I had been wanting to see this movie but it is a limited release so I was excited to be able to see it. If it is showing around you guys, GO!!!

Next day we did a 30 min flat lesson to work on some things Jeffray wanted to adjust. She had me ride with an elastic neck rope like it was a curb rein on a double. This was I could feel Klein's neck move and start to unlock my elbows. We also worked on me riding with my legs more. I don't really reinforce with my legs. We got Klein going rrrrrrrrrrreally nicely. I could FEEL the changes that we made and they really made sense. I pushed Klein into my outside rein as much as I SHOULD have been. After that we took a break while Jeffray gave another lesson then we tacked up again and went to school XC.

They have a sweet course. Fit horses need only apply. It's allllllll on hills! A lot of jumping down or up hill too. It was originally designed by Captain Mark Phillips, and goes up to Intermediate. Tom Angle is rebuilding some stuff on it. Tom does an awesome job. He did fabulous work on St. John's.

So, we started with the first fence which is straightforward and easy enough and went around to a log drop where Klein was kind of "Uhhh...?" I looked down for a split second. I didn't mean to. Jeffray was like 150+ feet away from this jump and she saw me look down for a freaking SPLIT SECOND. I don't know how she saw it! But she let me know it!! Oops. Yeah I ruined the jump for us. Klein slowed down and got over it pretty lazy. Jeffray told me that was my fault for not kicking on. And that is Klein partly being disobedient to the leg and that when she does something like that gallop her away from it with a QUICKNESS to show her she needs to move out FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD. Ugh, so true. WTF did I look at it for??? Jesus christ it was a simple log with a drop into a little arroyo. How lame. So we came around and did it again, this time I didn't look and I kept my leg on and she jumped clean and straight (gee, imagine that haha) and we were off to the water! At the water Jeffray gave us a little course after we cantered through it a couple times to prove that Klein and Niko had no water hesitations whatsoever. So it went log oxer, log vertical, bench, and 2 strides after the bench we were in the water, then gallop around over a Novice sized table. I think I might have tried to readjust at the last minute and Klein got a weird distance at the bench and I looked down for I swear to you, another split second. I looked at the bench with my eyes only not my head but I'll be damned if Jeffray didn't catch me that time too. I have no excuse for my actions. I know better than that. I'm not afraid of anything, I know we're going for sure there is no doubt about it. So...we repeated and that time we got a little weird to the table so one more time, I made sure to keep my leg on my girl and she was over the table nicely and we were off up the hill to the next set of jumps. This next one was a down hill gallop to a log, turn uphill to a two stride log vertical, over a stone wall, down hill gallop over the log again and on down hill around a sharp curve to the Novice trakehner. We were good except we just kept hitting that trakehner at a weird distance or Klein would get to the left. Jeffray wanted me to really sit up, shoulders back and rebalance around that sharp curve to set up for the trakehner. We had to jump that thing like 6 times. She had me stop Klein from a gallop as soon as we were coming around that curve because Klein didn't want to fully listen to my half halt to set up for the trakehner. Jeffray told me that if she doesn't want to listen "PARK HER." So, I did. She said I should not be feeling like I need to slow down to that jump, Klein should be organized well before we get there. From a halt we took one step into canter, I pushed her into a gallop stride then we went over. I see what Jeffray was saying. It made sense.

"Don't you have enough pictures of me?!"

"Just put my bridle on so we can go already."

I didn't ride with the helmet cam. I wasn't sure just how we were going to school the course and I thought it might be a little rude to be preoccupied with it when we were taking a lesson. I'll take it to Las Cruces in a week or so :)

Overall, a really productive weekend and I'm so so so glad we went!!

*EDITED TO ADD* I forgot to mention that Jeffray's overall impression was "I think you're a very good rider with a really cool horse!" She LOVED Klein! She was really impressed with her. Impressed that she was very capable of everything asked of her and how fit she is. Hehe, that's mah PonyFace!

Klein and her turkey. She wasn't too sure about him when she first heard him gobble.

It finally has rained here this past week! Monsoon season is here for real! Within to days of it raining check out the changes Klein's feet are going through!! YEAH!!

Day after first heavy downpour at the barn.

Third day after heavy downpour at the barn. And as of yesterday those pieces of sole are already gone.

New Event Horse.

2011-08-01T07:56:00.003-06:00

Before I post about how Goose Downs went this past weekend I wanted to post about this. New Event Horse. The trainer at Goose Downs told me about it yesterday. They are going to have it at their event in 3 weeks. It sounds like something Klein would definitely fit in. Have any of you ever seen a New Event Horse division? You can enter it and also enter up to Novice, so we're good there. Here are the rules for it:

http://useventing.com/competitions.php?section=yeh&id=2777

It's $85 for entry. I think it'd be interesting to get a professional's overall impression of Klein. Last day for entry is tomorrow. I think I'm going to do it. We're going to be there anyway, why not take advantage??

Thoughts?

Busy Week!

2011-07-29T21:42:00.004-06:00

Monday...oh...yeah...Monday we did some dressage stuff and took Osita for another trail ride. I rode in the mullen mouth baucher and she was totally agreeable with it. We will definitely ride in that for Goose Downs next month.

Tuesday, jump school! Klein did great!!! We schooled at 3'-3'3" and she was definitely enjoying herself!

Wednesday, another dressage school. We worked on our halts and our trot/canter upward transitions. I think I'm going to ride some of our dressage test at a sitting trot. Especially for the end when we are going up the center line. She seems a little quieter and doesn't anticipate as much and is smoother into our halt.

Thursday I gave her the day off and today was also a rest day for her. We go to Goose Downs tomorrow morning. We'll stay the night and be back late Sunday. We will have a stadium lesson and a xc school with Jeffray. I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm very interested to hear what Jeffray sees and thinks we need to focus on.

Combined Training.

2011-07-24T12:25:00.002-06:00

Click to enlarge. My GPS died right as I turned it on today :( I wish it had a low battery warning. So this graph is HR only.

This morning I set up some fun stuff in the big arena. I forgot to take a pic of it. Basically there were 4 jumps together in an X made of 3 verticals and an oxer. Two more jumps were set up toward one long side. One was an oxer with a barrel, the other a oxer with some little gates. Klein mare was focused...until Niko got there. She lost her focus and took out the oxer in the X. But she was jumping nicely over the rest and we ended with a strong, clean jump over the big oxer. Usually she never has any issues with oxers but this one was set like a swedish oxer, so she really needed to jump in the middle to not hit the raised sides. If it was a square oxer, I doubt she would have touched it.

After that we headed to the river bed with Laurie and Niko. We did a couple gallops. Some with hills, one I recorded with the helmet cam. You can really hear me keeping on her going down hill. Cantering down hill isn't the best on their legs but it's a necessary evil because they have to learn how to do it and carry themselves. But in moderation it's fine. She wasn't sure so I let her know I was sure, and she was fine with that. She just kept truckin'. I guess I still need one click down on it? You still can't see Klein's head! We'll get it right!

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/4BKUrfYYgbI

The first part of the graph is our jumping rounds. Then our walk to the river bed, with our gallops in no particular structure. I wish my GPS would have behaved. That is the only thing that is lacking with the Polar setup. There is no low battery warning, it just won't turn on or it will randomly die. A very minor issue for an awesome set up though. After our last 4 min 400mpm gallop we trotted for two mins in which her HR returned to 130 then we walked and within 30 secs she was back below 100bpm.

I'm pretty excited to go to Goose Downs this weekend. I don't know how I'm gonna make it through work this week. I can already see it now, I'll be dreaming about riding xc on some course I've never seen. It usually happens on the weeks before we go XC. Then Laurie is already planning for the weekend before we go to Goose Downs to go run the Las Cruces course :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

And you know what the best part of this is? Wayne does nothing but support all this horse craziness. He is priceless.

Routine Maintenance.

2011-07-23T11:33:00.006-06:00

I told her..."Klein, you've had enough. You don't need 'one for the road'" but no, she was like "I'M FINE! I'M NOT EVEN DRUNK YET!" I was like "Klein, stop yelling." She was like "I'M NOT YELLING!" Yeah. Last time I take her drinking.
We need the little drunk bubbles photoshopped into this one!!

Wednesday Her Majesty had a vet appointment. She had her teeth floated, rhino/flu, and a Coggins. I also had the doc do a routine blood panel since she pulled a Coggins anyway. She called me back the next morning to let me know that everything was crystal clear with the blood panel. I didn't suspect anything was up, but it is always nice to know for SURE that my Klein mare is as healthy as she looks and acts.

It always cracks me up when Klein is drugged up for her teeth. She's such a cheap date too. It doesn't take much, which is the general rule of thumb for drafts. They take less than a light horse.

I don't think she even knew she was having her teeth done at this point.

Poor girl just could NOT pick her head up (or her ears!) LOLOLOL.

After she made it back into her stall she stared at the corner almost snoring for about 5 mins.

I gave her the next day off :) Yesterday evening we went for a nice hack with Laurie and Chanel. It was a beautiful evening. With thunderstorms around, of course not over us but they cooled the evening down nicely.

This morning we did some dressage work. Klein was kicking ass. *SIGH* I just wish we could ride our test in our Kimberwicke so bad. I better stop wasting my time wishing though cause I know that will never happen. Her canter/trot was just so immediate, smooth, and strong. Such a 180 from where it was. Even in the Kimberwicke, it used to suck. All of this canter/halt, canter/walk stuff has really helped her. We also did a lot of transitions today. We would randomly go from sitting trot/halt/canter/rising trot/walk and be constantly using the entire arena. Lots of different size circles, moving across the diagonal, up and down the center line, and serpentines. Just constantly moving and changing, keeping her thinking.

In the middle of this we took a 30 min break to go with Laurie for a little hack on her 3 year old. The filly loves Klein and we've ponied her all over while Laurie was deployed. She was great with Klein as her wingman. Best ride to date. Then we did a little more dressagey stuff and called it a morning.

Click to enlarge.

I started the Polar a little late. We were 15 mins into our ride when I started it. But, notice how her HR only came close to the LIGHT intensity range once. The flatter part in the middle was our little hack with the filly. On each end was dressage work. Yes, if we actually did advanced movements her HR's would be higher. But I thought it was interesting for what we ARE working on right now.

Duration 1:01:20
Sampling Rate 5 s

Number of Heart Beats 4667 beats
Recovery 8 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 47 bpm
Average Heart Rate 76 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 137 bpm
Standard Deviation 18.0 bpm

Minimum Pace 85:42 min/mile
Average Pace 15:47 min/mile
Maximum Pace 6:07 min/mile
Distance 3.6 miles

Minimum Altitude 3953 ft
Average Altitude 3960 ft
Maximum Altitude 3970 ft

Next weekend we ARE going to Goose Downs Farm in Santa Fe to school xc and take a lesson with Jeffray Ryding. I'm so EXCITED! I am really looking forward to the lesson with Jeffray. That will be a valuable lesson. We can learn a lot from her. The helmet cam is DEFINITELY going out on the xc course!!!!!!!!

Told You Wayne Is An Awesome Horse Husband!

2011-07-19T22:43:00.004-06:00

Klein's read out from our jump school today.

I've been looking at helmet cams for a while now. I was looking at the GoPro cams until today. I had no idea Wayne was keeping an eye out for one around here. Today he found one. I got a text that said "I left the computer on, check it out when you get home." On the screen was a local ad for a Tony Hawk Helmet Cam!!! I called right away and went and got it!!! Yeah it's not an HD GoPro, eventually we'll get one of those too. But this camera works great! *Sigh* I love him.

Of course I had to try it out ASAP, this evening. It fits great on my helmet and didn't move an inch. It is adjustable and I think next time I have to click it down one more spot so you can see more of what is coming up in front of us.

So...here is the first video with the Tony Hawk Helmet Cam:

YouTube direct link: http://youtu.be/2395LRodNF4

I can't WAIT to take this thing out on the xc course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Polar Data from today's workout:

Duration 0:46:25
Sampling Rate 5 s

Number of Heart Beats 4882 beats
Recovery 49 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 53 bpm
Average Heart Rate 105 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 176 bpm
Standard Deviation 34.5 bpm

Minimum Pace 100:00 min/mile
Average Pace 9:50 min/mile
Maximum Pace 4:26 min/mile
Distance 3.9 miles

Minimum Altitude 4058 ft
Average Altitude 4065 ft
Maximum Altitude 4072 ft
Ascent 0 ft
VAM 0 ft/h

Adding Some Speed.

2011-07-18T20:44:00.003-06:00

She's not asking, she's telling.

Klein mare got a pedicure Friday evening and we went on a little, easy, bareback hack after that.

Saturday we did some dressagey stuff in her mullen mouth baucher. I have only rode in that bit once and wanted to give it another try. Her reactions are definitely more clear cut in it. We might just go with it for our test next month at Goose Downs.

After that Laurie and I took up a collection of telephone poles and dragged them to where the Dirt Boyz will be building our bank complex.

Sunday we jump schooled. I had set up a fun little playground for us:

Klein had to wake up a little bit at first, she landed in a cross fire a couple times even though I CLEARLY told her what direction we were going. I think she just needed to wake up. Once we added some more speed to our pace she was jumping beautifully and she was in blast off mode. I think she is learning to tell me when I am not riding at 100%. Sometimes I kind of think we're in cruise control and she reminds me I need to ride a little more actively. As soon as I do, magically we have it together. Haha, thank you, Klein mare, for not letting me get sloppy.

This evening we did some inertial drills. We warmed up with some long trots and easy canters and a couple trips over some xc fences. Then we headed off and galloped the two coops, and took a little recovery break. Next I had Klein do two gallops from a stand still. She would gallop up to 180 bpm then come down easy into a slow canter and then trot for 1 min then walk until she was under 100 bpm then we repeated the gallop.

We MIGHT be going to Goose Downs this weekend for some lessons :)

And, Analise asked what Klein's diet currently is. Her daily total for feed is:

20lbs of Bermuda grass hay
5lbs of Alfalfa
3lbs of Purina Strategy Healthy Edge
3 cups of oil
1.5 cups of Omega HorseShine
1 scoop of SmartLytes Electrolytes

She only gets grain to have something to mix her oil with, that's why it is such a small amount. Purina Strategy Healthy Edge because it's a low starch high fat grain for her drafty self.

Her feed schedule is:

A.M.

2 flakes of grass hay
1 flake of Alf
2lbs of Purina Strategy Healthy Edge with 2 cups of oil and 1.5 cups of Omega HorseShine mixed in

P.M.
2 flakes of grass hay
1lb of Purina Strategy Healthy Edge with 1 cup of oil and a scoop of SmartLytes Electrolytes mixed in

Back To Klein.

2011-07-15T10:45:00.007-06:00

Klein's new fly mask. Free embroidery from SmartPak rocks!

I'm going to get back to posting about what Klein is up to for now. I answered the comments on my last post though.

A month to go before Goose Downs! I'm sending in my entry Monday! Goose Downs will be our fastest xc course this year. Novice runs at 400mpm there.

Last week we worked on some low wide oxer gymnastics. I set up a line of 2'9" oxers that were 3'3" wide. They went oxer-2 stride-oxer-1 stride-oxer. We went through them both ways and she floated over them no problem.

We went on a nice long trail ride with Zuli and Chanel. I also rode Chanel's new little gelding. He is doing great. That was probably his 5th ride I think. He's 3 1/2.

Mr. Zebedee

I have Angel going with the shafts in the shaft loops and the cart rolling behind her. We walk and turn and nothing about any of it bothers her. I think she's ready to actually get hooked up. I've had her drag some heavy chains to see her reaction and she didn't really care much about that either. Her breast collar is being fixed right now but as soon as it comes back, I think we're good to go. She's been great, she has taken everything in stride. For being 1/2 TB, I'm surprised.

Miss Angel and I. Seriously, look at her face, could she care any less?

We did a couple dressage rides and they went nicely. Her canter is improving. It's much more on her hind end and balanced than it ever has been. Video soon, I swear!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday evening I put Klein on the longe line in side reins and worked her over some trot poles. When I was warming her up she started bouncing around, hopping, and squealing. Then all of a sudden she came to a dead stop, perfectly square and just stared at me like "What???" Silly mare!!!!!!!! Then she went on like nothing happened. Such a personality...

Last Monday we ran our xc distance at 450 mpm. After we warmed up I turned the GPS/HR monitor on. I wanted to log just the gallop and recovery. We went 1.25 miles in 5 mins at 450 mpm. Not only did her HR not go above 170 bpm, she recovered insanely fast. After 1:30 of trotting after we hit the 5 min mark her HR was already under 120 bpm. I trotted her for 3:30 after the gallop to help her cool out. At the 3:30 mark her HR was 115 bpm and within 10 seconds of walking her HR was 98 bpm and continuing to drop into the 80's. We walked for 3 mins before stopping to talk to Chanel about something. While we were standing there Klein's HR quickly dropped into the 60's then all they way down to 54. After that we continued cooling out. Yes, her HR had dropped quickly into an acceptable range, but you need to keep them moving to help cool their actual temp down. She needs to keep flushing the lactate build up and keep that air moving to help cool the blood that is circulating. Here is her readout from that gallop:

Click to enlarge. In a true fit horse the HR and speed line should mimic each other, like you see above.

I couldn't find Klein's HR monitor lately so I bought another one. Then of course...what do you think happened two days after the new one showed up? I found the other one. I will sell it if anyone is interested. It is this model. It will work with the Polar RS800, RS800CX and CS600. I will sell it for $60 shipped. Email me at jumpingpercheron@hotmail.com if interested.

Barn/Farm Fit, Part 2

2011-07-10T15:23:00.005-06:00

Me after the Straub 10K in Waikiki. I even got a rose at the finish line haha.

I'm glad to see they started approving people's comments on that article. I was hoping they would. I'm also happy to see the majority of replies are in the negative toward the article.

I'm not sure where I want to start Part 2. There is just so many directions it could go, so many subjects it can cover.

I guess I can start with what was mentioned in Part 1:

"Is barn work good for you? Is riding a workout? To an extent, that can be defined by hundreds of variables (we'll get into that in part 2)."

Variables like how many bales, what types of bales (2 string, 3 string?), how many stalls, how many horses, what kind of riding? A light trail or some real gallop conditioning work that requires you to be in two point for 5 mins or more for a couple sets.

See what I mean? General every day barn chores are not some type of workout. People like to just use it as an excuse to justify not actually putting some time and effort into a real program.

That video I was talking about? I found it! It's Nick Skelton and here it is!

Now for him, riding might be some exercise. I LOVE the end of this video!

Sorry for the long requote but just so we all know what I'm referencing:

"So yes, being active in the equestrian world is much, much, much better than sitting in front of the T.V. or computer for hours. It's better than working in an office, sitting at your cubicle all day. But is it a substitute for a real fitness program? NO. NO. NO. NO. NO!!!!!!! Do NOT trick yourself into thinking like that. That is just as bad as those people that tell themselves they may be a little overweight but they are still winning in the show ring and beating the "skinny girls" so that amounts to them being better riders. Don't laugh, that has been a thread on Chronicle Forums about 10,000 times. I've read and heard a thousand times from people that are slightly overweight "It makes me ride more carefully so I don't hurt my horse" or "I can still beat so and so and I have better balance, etc etc etc." Ok?? So where in your mind is the disconnect that being overweight is bad for your overall health? Walking around with extra weight putting the extra load on your internal organs and your joints has become ok? Anyway, I can cover that in Part 2."

Do a search on Chronicle Forums. You WILL find those threads. There are endless amounts of them. Don't get mad that I post them here or quote them, these people knowingly went onto a PUBLIC forum and posted this stuff. So here is the first example:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259607&highlight=overweight

"He is a 7 yr old OTTB who is about 15.2. I am a little heavy for him right now at 190 and 5'3 and am trying to lose about 30-50lbs. Right now I limit our rides to about 15 -20 min about 4 times a week. I have been riding for about 18 yrs and despite being heavy am fairly fit so I am pretty sure I stay out of his way and off his back as much as possible."

What part of 5'3" and 190 pounds makes you think you are "fairly fit." Fairly fit for WHAT??? Instead of worrying about your horse so much and taking the time to post it on the internet how about you take that time to take care of yourself?? Problem solved, and you are already taking care of your pony's issue as well!! Where are these people learning that "fairly fit" can be 5'3" and 190 lbs? Do you not understand the stressors you are putting your body through physiologically? Not to mention the extra physical stress on your joints, tendons, etc... This is a terrible epidemic among equestrians.

Another one: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93149&highlight=overweight

"I am about 40lbs overweight. I hate the fact that I have 40 extra lbs on me and that my horses have to carry it but I am in great physical shape. "

Really? How can you be 40lbs overweight and still be in great physical shape? I wish this person could ask his/her interal organs how they feel about those 40lbs and if they feel like they're in great physical shape. 40lbs overweight and in great physical shape, that is impossible. Who do these people get their information from??? Because it sure isn't someone with a degree in it or any fitness certifications, that is a promise. This post goes on to say "I can ride 4-5 horses a day and not lose anything." Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding we found our problem. Another one deceived into believing riding/barn work is enough. YOU ARE 40lbs OVERWEIGHT obviously it's not working. This one also says she is working out lightly, obviously you need to up the intensity and talk to a fitness professional because you are not capable of coming up with a good program for yourself. And if any of you want to argue this in the comments you better have some type of fitness credential to back it up and shows you have an education in this area. Yes, the fitness world is just as subjective and opinionated as the horse world but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone arguing this point.

"I'm heavy thanks to genetics but I also have a heavy muscle build from throwing hay (etc) and lunging babies that are always jerking on me. " Another one that has fallen victim to the epidemic that is the Barn/Farm Fit mentality.

"I am somewhat overweight myself but am fit enough I am not a extra burden on top of me being larger." *face palm* So where is it that you the point where you care enough to fix the issue???

And another: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153230&highlight=obese

Holy crap, a fitness professional chimed in, niiiice! "Your thread title caught my eye. I deal with people on a daily basis just like you. They feel fat, tired, lazy, embarrassed. My question is... What are you going to do about it? Are you going lay there and bleed, or are you going to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get busy? I am a personal trainer and life coach and also a nutritionist. I don't mean to be so blunt, but I have learned over the 10 years I have been doing this, people make excuses for EVERYTHING." Uh oh, maybe she should use some "sensitivity" right? Uh, I don't think so. I mentioned in the comments from the last post in regard to a couple of you saying I lack sensitivity...you know why? Because people don't need to hear that bs. They need to hear that they need to get it together.

So, I think we've seen enough examples in this post. You could search Chronicle Forums ALL DAY for this stuff. Here is one that has been dragging on for 5.5 YEARS!

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60308&highlight=womanly+sized+riders

One little thing I'd like to add is I'm not JUST trying to pick on overweight people. But, unfortunately that is the majority of people that aren't fit. Is it possible to be at a healthy weight and not be fit? Sure is! It's absolutely possible to be at a healthy weight and (for example) be seriously lacking in the strength department. Which hopefully we can all understand, will definitely impair your riding if you are doing serious riding or riding a hot horse (just a couple examples).

Another big thing most people miss is DIET. Yes, you might be increasing the intensity and duration of your workouts and not seeing much in the way of results because either A) the intensity is still TOO low (give yourself some credit, it's not supposed to be EASY) or B) You are still eating like crap. For example that one lady "I can ride 4-5 horses a day and not lose a thing." Are you riding like Nick Skelton/Rolex style or are you trail riding and bs'ing around doing flatwork??? And what are you putting in your mouth?

*EDITED TO ADD* One thing that people usually forget too is that ok, maybe you have 11ty billion kids and a job that makes you work long hours, etc, etc, etc. Don't forget that if you don't make it to the gym, you don't need to be shoveling 8,000 calories in a day either. You have plenty of time in your day to pay attention to what you are eating. You don't HAVE to go through that drive thru. I LOVE when people in fitness review panels try to use the "I'm injured/don't have time" excuse in front of the Commander, like we're trying to pick on them. Ok, maybe you are really having some issues with injuries, but you don't have to continue to eat the same amount of calories as if you were still able to be active. You don't HAVE to continue to feed those 260 lbs. But, you lack the self discipline and motivation to control your diet and THAT is no one's fault but YOURS!!! One time I saw a fellow trainer at the gym fire a client on the spot because she called and told him she'd be late to her session because they were just leaving Sizzler. Yes, trainers can drop YOU. It happens. To some of them, the money isn't worth the wasting of their time to watch someone destroy any progress they could make and then whine about why they don't see positive changes.

Here's something for you guys, a reality check. Take a picture of everything you eat throughout the day with your phone. At the end of the day, look back through all the pictures, you'll be surprised.

CREDIT. Most people don't give themselves (or their horses) enough. It's sad. A perfect example is with running. Out of everything said in that last post what did most of you immediately pick out and attack? The running part. Seriously you guys? Running scares you THAT much? WHY? Have you tried it?? Properly?? I can give an educated guess that 90% of you that HAVE tried it have NOT tried it properly. By this I mean the wrong shoes, wrong clothing, and wrong diet. By diet I don't mean DIET I mean you ate a huge lunch or you ate trash for lunch like most people do. Or if you run in the morning you probably ate trash for dinner and it's now sitting in your gut the next morning, ready to bounce around through out your run. That is NOT conducive for a good run. So yeah, of COURSE you're going to hate it. I'm not saying everyone should like it either. Definitely not. I know that it isn't everyone's thing. It doesn't have to be. BUT you can't really say you'll never do it if you haven't even tried. Why don't you think you can? You lack that much faith in your own abilities???? That's too bad. Same thing with some of the CrossFit stuff, not everyone has to or can go in and do 175lb dead lifts and 55lb kettle bell swings. Do you really think that trainers are that stupid? They are not out to hurt anyone. They will DEFINITELY start you at a level you CAN handle and build you up from there. It really can be a fun journey. And it is great to watch people accomplish something they whole heartedly believed was out of their reach.

The key to a good workout? FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT. Like Gray Cook says, "First you move well, then you move often." Moving well is meaning you do whatever it is with the proper form. This is why going out and throwing 100+ bales of hay is not a real workout. Most people lack any time of proper form and they're just physically tearing themselves up. The consequences greatly outweigh any possible benefits. Functional movement is where body builders fail in their fitness routines. Most of the traditional weight lifting movements are not functional and do not cover all 3 planes of motion.

Another very important key to a good workout HAVE A PLAN. Don't just go to the gym and think "Oh I guess I'll do this, and I guess I'll do that next." KNOW what you are in there to accomplish. Have a PROGRAM not a ROUTINE.

I just got certified on the Gray Cook system last month and I am a Cooper Institute Trained Functional Fitness Trainer as well as a USAF Fitness Specialist and Equestrian Fitness Trainer. So please, before you start telling me I'm wrong about this and that, consider where I am coming from. I'm in NO WAY claiming to be any kind of expert. But watch this, I bet you someone will selectively NOT read that part and end up telling me "You don't know everything just because you have certifications" in the comments section. Anyone wanna start a betting pool on that one?? I'm just fitness educated. I'm also married to an Exercise Physiologist that has a degree in Exercise Science, numerous certifications, and has owned two personal training studios.

Barn/Farm Fit, Part 1.

2011-07-03T11:47:00.006-06:00

I might as well warn you all now, I'm getting on my soapbox. This is one of my BIG pet peeves: idiots writing about "fitness" in the Equestrian world and the people that read that garbage and believe it's ok to go happily about thinking that barn chores are sufficient. So...if you would like to educate yourself then read on. If you'd like to continue being lazy and rationalizing why you shouldn't have to take care of yourself then stop right here because HERE.WE.GO.

Exhibit A: http://blogs.equisearch.com/practicallyspeaking/2011/07/01/hunter-a-new-fitness-craze/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sn&utm_campaign=eph

This is absolute GARBAGE. I am embarrassed FOR Practical Horseman for having anything to do with this article.

Let's start here: "Seems like CrossFit is the big thing in fitness these days. According to Wikipedia, 'CrossFit athletes run, row, jump rope, climb rope and carry odd objects.' I think us horsepeople have our own version: FarmFit."

Oh? Since when did Wikipedia become a legitimate source of information? Hmm...ever thought of going to the actual CROSSFIT WEBSITE TO LEARN ABOUT WHAT CROSSFIT IS??? Let me help you: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/what-crossfit.html

"I’ve been known to run sprints when I realized that I left the water on, thought I forgot to lock a gate or heard the new horse whinnying when she’s turned out."

Sprints? Sprints are not a one way trip. Running for the water or running for the gate IS a one way trip. I don't think I need to explain the obvious anymore on this one.

"How about feed-store day? Ten bags of feed at 50 pounds each? That’s not a bad lifting session."

Actually, it is a pathetic lifting session.

"And let us not forget hay day: At my farm, we are “lucky” enough to bale our own hay. Our first cutting this year yielded more than 1,000 bales. Pick them up from the fields, stack them on the wagon, unstack them to put them in the hayloft and restack them again."

Once again, you don't do this one, two, or three times a week. And since you don't believe in a regular REAL fitness routine I would bet you my entire check that you aren't lifting those bales properly and just tearing your body up and preparing yourself to age quicker than you need to. Maybe if you did some CROSSFIT workouts you WOULD have some type of remotely proper form for all those reps.

Guess what these CrossFitters are about to do? They're about to do an exercise where they board a giant freighter full of drug dealers and take it over.

"If that doesn’t earn you a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, I don’t know what does!"

NOTHING earns you a pint of Ben & Jerry's if you have any type of self respect for your body. But, since you refuse to educate yourself about fitness with any quality whatsoever why would you pay any attention to any nutrition education?? Or did you learn it's ok to eat Ben & Jerry's after a hard day at the farm from Wikipedia too?? Way to promote justification for those who shouldn't be going within 10ft of a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Way to cancel out most of the work you put into your "FarmFit" program.

"Then there are the random things like the hour and a half I spent with the backpack sprayer assaulting weeds last weekend. That endeavor left me sore the next day."

You wouldn't be sore if you were on a regular REAL fitness program that strengthened the muscles necessary to carry around that back pack sprayer for an hour and a half.

"My sport of choice is hunter/jumpers, so we can add setting courses and moving jumps to the list."

Wow. Setting a course is absolutely no comparison to a real workout. NONE.

Guess who is a CrossFit FIEND? This guy right here ^^ You think he'd be crying after 15 mins of no stirrup work???

"I’d like to see how FarmFit stacks up to CrossFit after 15 minutes of no-stirrup work."

Squee! I think this is my favorite sentence out of this entire worthless article! 15 mins of no stirrup work would be in the NEGATIVE compared to a CrossFit workout. Here's let's look at some examples:

They stop bs'ing and start the workout at 1:45

Honestly? Think (or research) before you speak could not be more appropriate in this case.

"Then there is the horse show: packing the truck and trailer (tack trunk, hay, feed, shavings, etc.) and unloading at the show. Not to mention all the extra stuff you do once you’re at the competition."

AGAIN, I have to point out, how often does this happen? I'm not even going to pick on the fact that can be in no way be compared to a regular structured fitness program.

"So I say to all you CrossFit fans: Cancel that gym membership and come over to my place any time."

I would LOVE to send this statement to CrossFit to put out to their gyms nationwide. The above statement is an out right, blatant INSULT. If you need a reminder of why or how, check this out:

Here's some elite US Special Forces training with their LIGHT gear on. You think a day of FarmFit could beat these guys up?!

CrossFit is used by elite United States Military units such as the US Navy SEALS, USCG MSST, Army Rangers, US Navy Divers, etc... Not to mention civilian organizations such as SWAT units nationwide. Did you know that to be a SEALFIT coach one of the pre-req's is to be a CrossFit level 1 or 2 instructor???? If I was you, Hunter Messineo, I would write a public apology to all the elite you just managed to insult in a couple very ill thought out paragraphs.

Let's back up a little bit. Why am I trashing a fellow equestrian's article that was posted on a notable, respected magazine's website? Because this train of thought is absolutely unacceptable.

Is barn work good for you? Is riding a workout? To an extent, that can be defined by hundreds of variables (we'll get into that in part 2). So yes, being active in the equestrian world is much, much, much better than sitting in front of the T.V. or computer for hours. It's better than working in an office, sitting at your cubicle all day. But is it a substitute for a real fitness program? NO. NO. NO. NO. NO!!!!!!! Do NOT trick yourself into thinking like that. That is just as bad as those people that tell themselves they may be a little overweight but they are still winning in the show ring and beating the "skinny girls" so that amounts to them being better riders. Don't laugh, that has been a thread on Chronicle Forums about 10,000 times. I've read and heard a thousand times from people that are slightly overweight "It makes me ride more carefully so I don't hurt my horse" or "I can still beat so and so and I have better balance, etc etc etc." Ok?? So where in your mind is the disconnect that being overweight is bad for your overall health? Walking around with extra weight putting the extra load on your internal organs and your joints has become ok? Anyway, I can cover that in Part 2.

So far all I have done is point out what is wrong. Why is it wrong and how do we fix it? I will get to that in Part 2 as well. For now, I want you guys to just think about what has been written so far and watch those videos. Seriously, watch them.

One more great video to check out: SEALFIT<<--Watch the whole thing!! Please!

One last thing for clarification. I've mentioned "real workout" or "real fitness program" a couple of times. As a fitness professional that has worked in the fitness industry 80% of what you see in gyms these days are not real workouts. I'm not talking about pretty boys doing traditional weight lifting. I'm not talking about walking on the treadmill on an incline for 20-30 mins. I'm not talking about being on the eliptical while reading a book or talking to your friend next to you. I'm not talking about the crap you can read in Muscle and Fitness or Shape magazine. I'm not even talking about running 4 miles because 4 miles isn't even a workout. If it is, you have more problems than you had initially imagined.

Part 2 Coming Soon.

USEA Member Story #63

2011-07-01T18:04:00.004-06:00

Found out Klein mare loves watermelon!

Earlier this week Klein and I were posted on www.useventing.com as the member story. Here is the link to the story: http://useventing.com/blog/?p=18170

When Leslie replied to my submission she said she reads my blog and asked if I'd be interested in writing some articles for them about horse and rider fitness and one about Air Force life and riding. OF COURSE! I WOULD LOVE TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week we had a really nice dressage ride. It was very relaxed. We worked on counter canter and played the transition game. We also did canter serpentines with simple changes.

This morning we went out on a conditioning ride early before it got "Africa hot" as Jill says. I had Klein do some hill work and some long slow canters uphill, long slow canters with some steep uphill sprints at the ends. We found some pretty steep ones to play on today. I also had her back up going up hill and back down going down hill as well as leg yield laterally up and down hill. By far the hardest one for her is backing up going uphill. She does it but it's some work, but it's a GREAT little workout. When she's working really hard like that I always tell her that it isn't supposed to be easy and that we have to work hard to be good at the fun part of galloping xc fences. I also tell her to never forget I work just as hard in the gym too. I talk to my horse a lot. We all do right? When we are doing gallops sometimes I do commentary "Klein mare gets out of the gate clean and settles in mid pack...now it's Klein to the inside, around for the final stretch Klein is turning on the heat!!! Klein mare to the front! SHE.COULD.GO.ALL.THE.WAY!! OH AND IT'S KLEIN MARE BY 8 LENGTHS!!!!!!" Haha...I know, maybe it's a good thing I haven't bought that helmet cam yet. Commentary helps you not think of how much remaining time on 5 min gallops with no jumps.

I have another little project I picked up. This one is with one of Laurie's mares. I'm breaking her to drive. She's a sweet little 1/2 Paint, 1/2 TB named Angel.

Ms. Angel

Her cart.

I know I've posted these on here before but it's been a while and Wes is one of the most adorable faces you'll ever see in your life so, here goes some more Wes Spam...

For those that don't know, before I joined the AF I drove horse drawn carriages through downtown Salt Lake City. And yes I know, carriage barn, but ours was nice and every single horse was well cared for. Animal control would regularly come by to say hi and give some treats because they knew the door was always open for them to come and hang out to fend off any typical carriage barn rumors. You all know I wouldn't work at any place that didn't take care of their animals. Anyway, so I drove drafties and worked with 28 different ones and loved every single minute of it, so much I'd work 6 and 7 days a week because I loved it so much. Wes is my special guy and I plan to be his retirement home.

Wes, my big Belgian sweet heart.

Smith and Wesson. I had to give them cool names, even though we separated them and drove them single.

Smith and I on our way out to work for the evening.

Ground driving Wes when he first got to the barn. He and Smith came as a team and it took a little while to get them going single. Separating a team is worse than breaking a baby.

Wes and I at work, of course I had to ruin it by closing my eyes, but just look at Wes. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MISS HIM!