Here we go, slackin' again!

Alright, so I fail at this blog thing. I always remind myself when I'm away from the computer but can't seem to when I'm actually ON.

.. until now!

Sooo. Plenty of updates!

So the summer show season was starting when I last left off. I intended on show Hamilton Hunt and the Ancaster Saddle Club shows, however things did not turn out as planned.

At the barn under some lessons we decided to start our collection work. However, I screwed things up and wasn't able to push Sym INTO the proper collection and in turn, caused him to start sucking back at fences. This created issues. Ontop of trying to find the proper shoe for Sym (his right side hooves are a bit bigger than left, causing fitting issues) it gave him a sore right knee (no outward signs, no heat, no being 'off', nothing).

Add all that together and that gave me a very grumpy horse who started refusing fences. This is a horse who's attitude is usually "YEAH! JUMPS!". Something was wrong.

So I ended up pulling him out of shows after a diasterous second show (wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke, apparently). He got a few weeks off as I just didn't want to deal with him. I felt he had my number and it just wasn't going well. After a few weeks I gave it a second shot. Rode him lightly w/t and took him on some trails. Slowly built him up again. Started doing some small crossrails, slowly built it up.

Eventually I decided it was worth another try at Ancaster and we went to the June show - our intentions were to just get through a course. I was very pleased with him. He was a bit rowdy in the flat classes and didn't want to be a slow hunter pony. Overfences he was great. We had a refusal each course at one particular jump (a jump that ended us at our last show - so it was understandable). But with some extra leg and an encouraging cluck, he jumped it. We received no ribbons that show, however I knew and saw the improvement. He wasn't sucking back to jumps, he was getting his friskiness back and the willingness to jump. Not to mention his form is improving and he's carrying himself MUCH better!

We did not pursue Hamilton Hunt, it wasn't worth it nor was I financially able to do so. However, we schooled religiously at home and now are schooling 2'9" courses. It's fantastic, wonderful, and I'm so glad to have my horse back to normal. Ontop of things, my coach finally complimented me on my training skills so far with him. She was in a bind after her main schoolie was retired from. I let her use Symbah as he's basically a packer and his last rider absolutely loves him. I may end up with a part-boarder - who knows! I think I'm taking advantage here of having my horse worked a bit more consistently and ontop of it, the part-boarder gets 2 rides a week. One a lesson (with my coach) and another one on her own but without any jumping so I know my horse won't turn into a wreck!

I'm just so relieved to have my brave horse back, and now I'm looking forward to the Ancaster show this sunday! We'll be doing the 2'3" division, and if he's feeling good we'll hit up the 2'6-2'9" division! Fingers crossed we can finally redeem ourselves 100% and come home with some ribbons!

I'd say I'll update this blog - but don't believe me! ;)

I'm failing at updating!

Sorry!

I said I was going to update and I lied again. I swear I'm trying to remember to continuously update but I have the memory of a goldfish!

We did have a show on March 22nd. It went fantastic, not counting that I had forgotten my bridle and a friend had to drive back to the barn quickly! I went there mainly for experience as the facility was big and intimidating, and so was the competition. As I said, the show was aimed for Trillium and A riders, not many little schooling show horses there.

Warm up was great to begin with, although it was incredibly crowded. We did get a couple stares as we were the oddest looking team, but it didn't matter.

We ended up going great for the first division, Symbah didn't seem spooky or anything. Usually I have a crop on me to pick up a bit more speed but I had to rein him in a bit more. He absolutely loved it! The arena was much bigger and more room to move about. He went over all the jumps but upon doing the finishing line he got too strong and drifted too far - practically cantered right back the jump. But a simple circle and we finished the last jump just fine.

Didn't do well for that course and didn't place compared to the trilly and A horses there. No harm though, I wasn't there for ribbons.

The second and third course went a million times better and most of my riding pictures have me grinning like an idiot as I was also having a ball. We did end up placing just out of the ribbons but I'm still proud - we weren't dead last. We were just placed behind the top 5 trillium/A horses so I think that's a great accomplishment!

We then finished up the Blacks Equine Centre winter schooling series on April 5th. It was great, probably the best run of courses we've ever done together. A friend of mine came along to show for the first time on a great packer and came out champion for our novice - I was extremely proud for her!

I ended up receiving a 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th for the division. We're still having issues with our lead swaps (he's great for trying but he's trying at the worst moment and becoming disunited.. it's something we're working on!). BUT we were overall Reserve Champion for the winter series.

Definately a proud moment! I've never won a series before like that, and while it's not Champion (we almost beat them) it's just as good!

So now our winter show season is over and we're in a lull. There's no shows until the end of May so we've been trying to work on our flat work, our communication and our form overfences. We have been schooling at 2'6 so far and even have done a mini course of 2'9. He's a lot more tight and cleaner over fences at 2'9 than below though. Which I think is both good and bad. But for now, we're schooling 2'6.

Unfortunately, a little over a week ago Symbah hurt his eye and had been out of commission. On sunday, we were finally able to play around out in the grass field with a flymask on but hadn't been allowed in the arenas. Now he's got the all clear but I haven't been able to get to the barn recently so he's been out for about 1.5-2 weeks. And in his stall about 95% of that time. Poor guy! I'll be bringing him back again though, to prepare for the future show season.

For now, I'm looking at doing the Juniors at the Ancaster Saddle Club this summer (starting May 24th). It's at the 2'3 height which I think is good for introduction. It's still in the air about the second series I'll do. I'm thinking of doing Twinholm 2'6 division however I'm just not sure - it'd make it difficult for me as it's on Saturdays. I also thought about Hamilton Hunt shows as they're on grass (love it) but it's a bit more of a distance.

Grr.

So for now, Ancaster is for certain and everything else is a maybe!

I'll try to keep this updated! Even on our random rides!

The show must go on!

So March 15th came. I made sure we had the trailer arrive earlier incase of mechanical issues.

None. It was a nice morning, clear, soothing.

We got everything ready and away we went. We arrived with ample time to get tacked up, warmed up and warm up over the jumps. Symbah didn't blink at any of them, and went through each line politely.

Again, I was feeling confident!

Flat class went well, and we ended up placing with a 4th. My coach seemed aggitated as one of the horses who placed above me had balked at the canter, and had even thrown a fit. But I wasn't worried, we had redeemed ourselves from last show. Atleast for the flat class.

Then came our first course. Our beginning circle wasn't too smooth (he has an anticipation issue and likes to..er, git 'er done) and I still have the bad habit of leaning forward too much. But we went through that course very smoothly. And received a 2nd place ribbon.

Our second course went nearly the same way. He got a bit stronger since some of the jumps were heading home, but the moment I asked him to come back.. he listened. So I definately couldn't complain. Main issue was our finishing circle, caught the wrong lead as well as became disunited between two jumps at one point. However, we placed 3rd.

Our final course was the Stakes class again. Overall our communication was good however, Symbah decided that if he landed on the wrong lead he'd simply break to a trot briefly then canter again. He caught me off guard twice, but I caught on and correct him afterwards. We did catch the rest of the leads but that breaking really hurt us. We placed 4th in that.

So overall we received a 4th, 2nd, 3rd and another 4th. One placing shy of Reserve champion again. That's okay though, we redeemed ourselves!

We have a show this weekend (dun dun duuuun!) at a different facility with scarier jumps. I work at this show series at the Blacks Equine Centre location so I'm familiar with their jump set-up and how they run the shows. However, they run it as a schooling show for Trillium/A circuit riders, so it'll be stiff competition.

Neither of us have been to this particular facility (they host them at two different ones, I only work at the Blacks one) so it'll be a new experience. And that's all I'm going there for!

So, stay tuned..

and fingers crossed I don't slack on updating this time!

Could we redeem ourselves?

So at the February 15th show, we only came home with a feeble 4th place out of 4 classes. At the previous show we went home with reserve champion. So it was not acceptable.

Our main issue seemed to be the communication between the fences with caused most of the problem, so that's what we needed to fix the most. So I decided for the next 4 weeks, it'll only be flatwork.

For the first week it seemed to go very well. Starting having him stretch and come down onto the bit, then collect himself up. Carrying himself proved difficult but atleast he was trying, so I did not get upset. Happy, happy.

But the second week proved that I had my hopes up. We become increasingly fustrated with each other. Constantly waging wars, fighting and I was just not able to deal with it like I should have been able to. He would "lock up" on me (grabbing the bit) and run through my hands, circles proved to be ridiculous ovals that drifted too close up against the arena walls. I was losing my "fun" of riding, I began to dread going to the barn because it was always a fight when riding. Then, on the last ride when I took off the saddle, I noticed hairs twisted and the saddle pinching. So from then on I took away the saddle.

So week three of our supposed flatwork training, became bareback riding because I refused to ride in the ill-fitting saddle and didn't have funds for a new one at the time. That being said, two and a half weeks until it was the March 15th show.

OH JOY!

So I continued flatwork with him bareback. Now, I absolutely love bareback and ride better without a saddle (per the opinion of my coach) so there wasn't an issue. However, during the second ride he was being incredibly spooky/jumpy. I managed to sit all of them but as we were rounding one corner of the arena at a simple walk, a monster from outside shut a car door.
Now, when my horse spooks.. it's the kind that jumps a little or sidesteps. But that night Symbah pulled the infamous teleportation spook. I was sent into the dirt while my horse had disappeared beneath it and re-appeared near the other end of the arena! At that point I was in tears.
Everything I had been working for and doing was all unravelling, falling apart. I couldn't even read my horse anymore, we were so disconnected. I spent the next few days sulking. I didn't want to go to the barn, I didn't want to fight with him anymore.

I then made the decision that I would give it one more ride, a final ride, to decide if I should continue or if it was best to lease him off to someone who had the patience I obviously lacked.
Again, I rode bareback and put him through his paces like normal. Soft, supple, willing. It was like he knew. I even broke my "only flatwork for a month!" rule and popped him over a few crossrails bareback. I finally "connected" again, and let me tell you.. it's a feeling I don't want to lose ever again!

So on week 3, my mother and I went to a local tackshop. I brought in my old saddle and sold it to them in exchange for one of their new saddles. We paid the difference, received new stirrups and irons.. and went home.
The next day I tried the saddle on him. We had an issue with the girth size but I found one that fit him (since mine no longer did!) and tacked him up. However, I agreed to go on a trail ride with a boarder.

Note to anyone: It isn't the wisest to start breaking in a brand spankin' new saddle on a trail ride, which is the first since last fall. Somehow all went fine and we returned back. The saddle fits him like a glove and during flatwork he moved out so much nicer. Our transitions were better and I had a much happier horse!
So onto the final week. I had only a week to prepare for the March 15th show, making sure our communication was strong. I also finally had a fantastic lesson with my coach (it had been a long time) and I felt confident.

So then came show day..

Boy.. oh boy.

Update much?
Apologizes, again. I try to set some time aside to keep this updated but it seems my mind wanders and does not return!

Anyways!

I left off with the suspense-filled "I have a show next weekend.." and I did on January 29th.
The day went fantastically and we received Reserve Champion!
Symbah behaved wonderfully throughout the day and had that extra "oomph" needed to pick himself up a bit, and made a nice overall picture.
I was very proud of him and we seemed to be doing great afterwards.
We even competed in one 2'6" course and received a 6th place (out of 14th!). Very proud of him.

We did end up working on getting him to pick up his legs over fences, however it didn't seem to go over well. Most horses will go "Hmm, I knocked the pole with my leg.. it hurt a bit so I'll raise my legs higher next time". But apparently not my horse. No sir, his mind seemed to go "Hmm, I knocked the pole with my leg.. it hurt a bit so I don't want to do that again.".
So on that note, he started becoming more cautious to the jumps because I had to let him figure it out for himself. I'm a very controlling person and had "chosen" which spots for him to take over jumps so now that I had to let him figure it out.. he was lost.

So of course with that, we took two massive steps backwards in our training and things became increasingly fustrating. I resorted back to some old defensive riding but I thought we had found a happy medium to the work.
We had yet another show on February 15th. Perhaps I was too cocky from our previous placings, perhaps I had only managed to 'mask' our training issue and perhaps I had become so fustrated with him that our last few rides leading up to this show had not been too good.. but whatever it was, the show did not go well.
I should say the warning was when the guy who trailers us was late due to some issues with the actual trailer. We did make it to the show but missed our actual warm up so our two outside lines were mere 8" crossrails instead of the 2'0 verticals and oxers.

Okay, no problem.. right? During warm up I was having fun, calm, relaxed. We approached a wide grey oxer and Symbah hit the brakes, ducking out. That would've been warning number 2.
So whatever, I get him over the oxer and pretend nothing happened. When we get into the ring for the flat class, he's acting like a firecracker. Again, this is my usual steady-eddy horse.
Nope. But his upward transitions were fantastic, downward were a bit slow but still okay. However we did not even place on the flat. But, the girl who placed 1st had cantered the entire time on the wrong lead. The girl whom placed 2nd, her horse had bucked a few times infront of the judge's booth. And the girl whom placed 3rd, her horse had taken off and temporarily stopped the class. So that would've been warning number 3 about this show.

A note to everyone: Listen to your gut instincts.

Our first course had been disasterous. He charged and lunged over every fence, snatched at the bit and dragged me everywhere. I had no turning power with him and had to try and yank him off his feet to stop a possible trainwreck. Ontop of that, he refused and deeked out of one of the simplest jumps and proceeded to bolt across the arena and refused to slow down until I pointed him into a wall. However, I did turn him back and complete that course! Obviously, no placings.

The second course was a bit better but I spent the entire time in a defensive position, death grip on the reins trying to pull him back as he continued to launch and charge jumps. Made it through, but it sure wasn't pretty. Again, no placings.

Third was our "stakes" class. Depending on your placing, you can get money back. So after a flat class and two disasterous courses, I finally started to figure him out enough to stay somewhat safe. I was able to ride him a bit better through that course, although it was still terrible. We ended up with a 4th place for that one.
I had signed up in the morning to do one 2'6 class so I went in and scoped out the jumps. We tried over one single and he was acting like a monster still, almost taking down that jump. At that point, I called it a day and left. I was not going to endanger my life nor his with bigger jumps when we obviously had some training faults that needed to be fixed.

So we went home defeated with only a 4th.

A learning streak

I'll start with some old history on me.
Back before I ever met Symbah, I used to school 3'3" and showed at the 2'9" height (hunters, of course). I was a gutsy kid and heights didn't faze me. I used to help work greenies and horses with "issues" and never once worried I'd eat dirt. It was fun and I loved it.
But eventually I had crap horses thrown at me constantly, ones whose intentions always seemed to make me want to crash and slowly, ride by ride, my confidence slipped away.

After that, I just didn't have the nerve to pop a horse over 2'3 without tensing up and clinging to the saddle for dear life. So for a while, I just did minimal jumping because I lacked such confidence. And then in came Symbah.
Ignorance really is bliss. Because I hadn't known he wasn't quite halter broke, he apparently had a 'mean' streak in him and was unpredictable with a capital P. We just 'connected' I guess. And thanks to him my confidence has grown and the progress we've made together is fantastic.

I always got a little squeamish with fences over 2'3, and 2'6 made me a bit nervous. But Symbah sure loves to jump, would never stop at a fence and helps me over them. Without him, I think I'd still be a mess!
Well last night I tried something I hadn't done before. I set up a course of a line (first fence was 2'3, second was 2'6), a single fence of just a cross rail to warm up over and then a 2'9 vertical on a diagonal. We went over the fences fantastically, no hesitation, no rushing.. nothing. Then I decided it was time to try that 2'9 fence. So I took a deep breath and cantered him over it.

No problem whatsoever! He was still learning his distances so he did come up fairly close, but popped over it no problem. Another boarder was in there with me, helping me with a neat trick to keeping a steady but forward canter. What I loved most was after the fence, Symbah was doing a flying lead change to swap to the correct lead - no aids asked!
The last time we attempted the fence, we had a nice steady canter and he adjusted his striding himself, and popped over the fence. I had ended it on that - why push for more?

I'm very proud of him, and thankful he's given me most of my confidence back.
And I also have a show this weekend - I'll hopefully post updates on that afterwards! =]

Mooore Updates!

Okay, so I've majorly neglected this blog.

My apologizes!

How about some updates? =]

So I did end up showing Ancaster and thankfully, we didn't end up eating any dirt. Infact, things went fantastic. Warm-up was great, ran through the course without an issue and left it at that.

The show went great as well. We ended up with two fourths overfences but didn't get anything on the flat. I blame it on my poor equitation but still have an issue figuring out how one rider placed above us, yet their horse was doing airs above ground infront of the judge. Oh well though, the past is the past!

Things were quiet through October, no shows. Just plenty of quiet time to work on my many, many equitation issues. Gotta learn somewhere, right? I'll admit that I have improved immensely, hands down to that.

Our next show was at Blacks Equine Centre and simply showed in the 2' division. There's a bit of a backstory to this and is not one of my proudest times. I allowed someone to get to me, and her constant criticizing of my riding finally set me off. I ended up showing in the same division as her on equal ground (aka, we both had green horses who had the same amount of time off). I figured we'd put both our riding skills to the test and the better rider would be revealed.

Well, Symbah and I received a 2nd place on the flat, two 4ths overfences and a 3rd in the Stakes class (so we received $25 ontop of that). The girl didn't place at all and I figured that drama was over. It sure isn't, but there's no point going into detail!

Now, not too much is going on. I found out that I am in 5th place for the Year End Awards for my division. I'm only 20 points behind first place, so I'm very excited about it. BEC has had two shows so far, but I had only shown at one. So I have high hopes! My next show there is in two weeks on January 25th. Same division, going for the red this time! I've got my fingers crossed!