hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
I want this to stay on the main forum for educational discussion so I haven't put in one single picture. I provided links instead, hoping that since no one with dialup will be unexpectedly bogged down it will qualify to stay on the main forum. Some of the fun candids are indeed posted separately on the new photo forum for you to peruse. Hope you enjoy! Constructive critiques are always welcomed.
Happ's 2007 might have easily been called "The Californian Invasion." Yes indeed, it was downright disgusting! LOL We had three Californian VSE’s attend our show, one Training level, one Prelim, and one Intermediate, and they swept all three categories.
Californian Invasion
In defense of our Pacific NW competitors I do want to point out that it was not entirely a runaway for the Sunshine State contingent. Training level division was a tie for 1st between Nancy Turner of CA and local competitor Candy Washburn of OR and Prelim competitor Cris Anderson moved up through the ranks with each phase to end in 1st place. Breanna, of course, simply ran away with Intermediate! LOL. It was the first Intermediate competition for local hero Merridy Hance and both she and Breanna were thrilled to death to have another driver in their division. It was definitely a “Meeting of the Mares!”
Meeting of the Mares
For Kody and me this year’s Happ’s held special significance as we finally made the jump up to Preliminary competition. I’d been pondering it all last year but held off on the advice of my trainer (“Don’t even think about it!”
: ) and decided to enter April’s Californian Ram Tap CDE at Training level as well because when we filled out the entry in January we were still definitely not ready. By mid-February we had made so much progress with regular lessons that my trainer was not only not discouraging me from thinking about it anymore but was actively preparing me for the transition. I was flabbergasted when she asked during one lesson when I planned to move up and, hearing that I wasn’t sure which event to aim for, immediately said she thought I should do it at Happ’s instead of waiting until later in the summer. I was like “Are you kidding?!” I thought the warm glow of incredulity and delighted pride would last all day. So we’ve spent months working up to this, hauling in for dressage work with Lisa up to twice a week and teaching Kody to do canter-trot transitions on command instead of whenever he feels like it as we are running cones. It’s been a long road but he’s getting there! So off to Happ’s we went.
Now some things never change. I was, of course, late to vet check as I always am but at least this year by some strange providence I was able to sneak into line just as the horse in front of me was being called so I actually did not miss my time slot. Miracle! Kody was hyper but proved he’s growing up by actually WALKING the walk and TROTTING the trot sections of the vet check for the first time ever. Woohoo! In 2005 I think we galloped the whole thing because I couldn’t hold him back in a halter (the judges nearly died laughing as they proclaimed him “obviously sound”) and 2006 saw some improvement in a bridle as we jigged the walk section and trotted and cantered the trot section. I think this is the first year he’s been in full health and yet still behaved himself.
: We jumped a log in true hunter style a time or two just to show off for Fascination (who didn’t care) then got him all settled in before the exhibitor’s meeting. Mom and I spent some time wrestling with our new canopy and setting up camp, Kody got clipped and bathed and I stayed up ‘til 3AM polishing brass in yet another true Happ’s tradition. Sleep? Who needs sleep?!
One thing that drove me insane about this event was that the schedule got all switched around this year. Training level has always gone first so I was really looking forward to getting to sleep in a little bit and have plenty of time to warm up now that I was Preliminary. Ha! This year Prelim went first so as usual it was “Drag your rump out of bed, barely get the horse fed and everything together then dash to standing presentation and get ten minutes to warm up for your test.” Goody. Oh, and have I mentioned it was raining? I was so glad for that new canopy! I got to harness and hitch under cover for once which was very nice.
: Kody stood politely for presentation without a single attempt to rear so that’s one more thing he’s improved on. He was on his toes and moved out smartly the minute I gave him permission to but as long as he was on a “Whoa, Stand” his feet were rooted to the ground. He may make a real driving horse yet! LOL. Camptown Dave was our presentation judge and said everything looked good (especially the brass
: ) which I was very pleased by considering it was the second time I’d had my new Camptown harness on the horse and as such it should still have needed a lot of tweaking. He did comment that I needed to secure my number holder so it wouldn’t slide around but I simply hadn’t had time to dig out the electrical tape as I usually do. Any day the only thing they can find to ding you on is something you were already aware of, it’s a good day! Of course I found things I really want to fix in looking at the pictures later but that’s always going to be the case.
Kody warmed up okay but our test was a disaster from the moment we hit A. He wobbled up the centerline like a complete drunk, neither responding to half-halts to pick him up or to a lengthening of rein to encourage him to move forward out of it. He did at least stop okay and to my surprise when I asked him to trot off he was perfectly straight again. He’s going through a phase right now where he doesn’t want to touch the rail when he completes the smaller circles you have to do at Prelim so we bounced off B and E like we were magnetically repelled and I know my corrections weren’t pretty. Can you say, “Counter-bent?”
: The circles themselves were irregular too, the whole thing was just ugly. I treated it like a schooling show and simply concentrated on correcting him so he didn’t get in the habit of thinking he can get away with it on show day. At least his lengthened walk was good! We got an 8 from one judge on that. Partway through the test I finally became conscious of the tension in my arms and the feeling of being locked up in my torso and I chided myself because I know better. Inevitably when that horse starts counterbending I will find that his driver is the one making the error, not the horse. (I think the ability to recognize and correct that has been my biggest triumph this year!) Looking down I saw that I had indeed dragged my inside hand across my midsection and was effectively forcing him to be unbalanced so with a sigh I fixed my hands and watched as Kody “miraculously” stopped rebelling against bending the right way. Go figure! 
The serpentine drove fairly smoothly with my new improved hands but our lengthened trot was a joke. He was on his forehand the whole way and showed no more than a stride or two of true lengthening somewhere after he broke into a canter in the middle. Arghhh! He was doing such great lengthenings all spring in our lessons, it bugs me that he won’t show it when it counts. Then again I know the answer to that too- work harder on it at home!
Here are links to some of the better dressage photos Breanna took for me (i.e. the ones where Kody was actually behaving). Please remember it was dark and raining at 8:45AM when I went, and I was at the maximum range of her telephoto lens.
Dressage 2
Dressage 3
Boy I wish I'd given myself enough time to braid him. He looked so messy!
Dressage 6
Showing proper whip posture along with my new hat and cart:
Dressage 5
Resistant, but cute! I need to get the jacket tailored, brighter trim on the new hat, and raise my hands up for a more elegant appearance. (I think I had lowered them as I concentrated on asking for the bend correctly.)
Dressage 7
We were 5th out of 7 when dressage results were posted and our score of 58.70 was much closer to the top than the bottom scores so I was happy enough for our first time out. I missed watching the Training level VSE’s except to help Sandra Carr and her hubby Bruce Carr get hitched up and over there but interrupted a congenial conversation with Dave McWethy to make sure I watched the Intermediate VSE’s go. Merridy’s mare Velvet looks great this year, her black coat was incredibly deep and shiny and I love her new look with the banged tail. That mare shows what bending and lengthening of the frame should look like! Here are some pictures.
Working trot
Gorgeous bend!
Good reach on the hindquarters
Collected trot
Breanna was unhappy with her go (nobody had a great dressage test that day for some reason) but I thought Fas showed definite improvement from Ram Tap on several elements of the test. And I got some great pictures using the burst mode on my camera. Hallelujah!
I loved this shot even though Bree complained that Fas’s lower neck muscles were bulging. She’s right, but I think she looks so elegant!
Pretty pretty Fas
You can see the difference in which neck muscles she is using here:
Fas walking
Pintos look so nice against Happ's scenery!
Scene
Fas trotting
For scale
Here we got at least a little lengthening I think
When we were all standing around discussing the tests afterwards Breanna suddenly looked at me from the driver’s seat and said “Do you want to drive Fascination?” ARE YOU KIDDING?!! Of course I do! I never stop feeling honored and amazed when she hands me the reins. Of course I can’t get anywhere near the performance out of Fas that she does but it’s enough of a thrill just to trot her around and experiment to see which of her buttons I can find. I cadged my mom into taking a picture of me when we were done:
Leia driving Fas
I went out and walked the marathon course in early afternoon for once (learning from Ram Tap where I ended up looking for gate markers by the light from my cell phone LCD after dark) and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Relaxing- what a strange sensation! It was an amazing feeling to go to bed by 11PM and not have to get up until after eight and then just to feed the horse. Here's a picture of the sunset over the trailers:
Sunset
We were initially told that the VSE’s would be going with each of their respective divisions on marathon which would have been great as I could have gone midmorning with the other Prelim horses and still watched Breanna and Merridy go later. But as it worked out they not only sent all the VSE’s together like they have in the past but they then switched things up even more by sending us out after everyone else instead of before! Arghhh! :ugh: The good news is I got to sleep in and as it turns out the afternoon was not hot anyway. The bad news is Breanna was out on course at the same time I was so for the second show in a row I did not get to see her do her thing. This was truly sad, given that from the many admiring comments I heard they were really something to watch.
: Camptown Dave said that Fascination hit everything at a run but never crossed the line to being out of control and that Breanna had an amazing partnership with her mare. (Did you know that for Intermediate level competitors the entire Section E is “any pace?” That means they can canter up to the in-gate and be at full speed by the time they hit the timer.) Merridy’s husband Peter said if you watched all the videos from the Laurels and the other big events back East and picked out the horses that were obviously the best, the most professional and fastest, then shrunk them down to mini size- that was Fascination. Quite the compliment! :aktion033:
Kody’s nowhere near that good yet but I was very proud of the effort he gave me. Ram Tap was difficult for him because we’d been doing all this training on switching easily to and from canter for hazards and then of course we entered Training level and I had to hold him down to a trot. The footing was deep sand so I felt horribly guilty when he’d ask to be allowed to canter/lunge up a hill in a hazard and I had to hold him back to an exhausting trot instead. I vowed then and there that we were going Prelim at the next show no matter what- I will never again be forced to ignore what is best and easiest for my horse!
So this was our first show where speed counted in the hazards. I had walked them all the night before, picking routes where we could canter in and out but trot steadily through short tight turns where the Hyperbike and my agile horse could excel and hoping I'd picked the right routes for good fast runs. I’d had a talk with Kody about what I expected of him and the things I wanted him to work on and had driven the hazards again mentally before going to bed. We were ready! I got him out of his stall and started tacking what felt like far too early that afternoon but as usual we were somehow scrambling to get harnessed and over to vet check at the last minute. (Someday, I swear, I will actually be on time. I am so sick and tired of running late it seems like no matter what I do….)
Caught fighting with the velcro on a support boot
The beastie wriggling because he's picked up my anxiety over being late
Bridling the beast
Breanna was a great help in getting my new harness readjusted for the Hyperbike and together we got me over there in time.
Kody was excited but all our training over the winter came through and he stood quietly for vet check although as soon as he was allowed to move he was cantering and bouncing and completely hyper. He stood quietly through the countdown for start of A, trotted off nicely, made it about twenty feet and then couldn’t stand it anymore and broke into a good solid canter. Thankfully Section A is now “any pace” so cantering is okay and I decided to let him run for awhile to get the goofies out without straining his wind. He spotted the gate for the sharp left turn into the first field, thought “Hazard!” and man he was gone at a gallop. So much for Kody being slow! We did deviations all the way down the path just to test his balance and keep him paying attention and he had no trouble at all with turning at a run. He showed no signs of slowing down as we approached the first kilometer marker but I knew time was going to become an issue shortly so I pulled him down to a walk (okay, a jig at first) and we killed quite a few necessary minutes just walking sedately along the trail.
At least it was a pretty trail! The path was mowed through a field of waving grass with purple seed heads as tall as my horse and lovely Washington greenery on every side. At one point after I’d let him pick up a slow trot again we spotted a large man in the bushes ahead of us. I was thinking “Spotter?” but he had his back to us and when he didn’t turn around I really began to wonder if he was taking a bathroom break by the side of the trail.
: As we approached he put a hand out to try and slow us down (dude, we were already barely jogging!) and finally explained that there was a brown cow in the bushes and he didn’t want it to spook my horse. Given that at that point the guy’s strange behavior was spooking Kody far more than the potential cow I was a bit annoyed, but hey! It was nice of him to try and warn us. Considering it’s Happ’s I felt lucky it wasn’t a yak. :new_shocked: Kody heard the rustling in the bushes just as the scene passed behind his blinkers and took off at a flying trot again, making me wish I had his open bridle on. We spent a LOT of time walking to make up for the cow gallop.
:
I was quite pleased with myself because I found that I had no trouble knowing how long to walk to compensate for going too fast earlier and by about the 4km marker we were back on time and I was able to pick up a working trot again and came in right in our two minute window at the end of A. Yay!
: The walk section was a bit boring of course going at a mini’s pace but Kody did fine and we got a little excitement at the end when the outrider unknowingly came galloping up behind us on her white horse. Poor Kody bolted forward in startlement and that was the first I knew of their presence; I hadn’t heard the footfalls at all until he ran. The rider was highly apologetic as soon as she saw us and realized what had happened. Thankfully my sensible boy pulled up quickly to the right and stood there on his tiptoes with his neck straight up and ears radared behind him until the horse passed us and then he resumed a walk to the finish of D. I was concerned that we would be unfairly penalized for breaking gait or deviating from the trail in the last few meters but the official said she had timed the bolt and it was less than three seconds so they weren’t going to count it as a break of pace. Lucky us I guess. I think I would have lodged an official objection if they had, considering it was caused by one of their officials doing something out of my control and my horse fixed the error quickly enough that it didn’t effect our time at all.
We headed for vet check and Kody passed easily with what the vet called a “good, strong heart rhythm” and I took advantage of the ten minute hold time to quickly braid Kody’s mane, readjust his boots and find a Porta-Potty. Then it was on to Section E! Now keep in mind that we’d already gone almost 6km which is further than the entire marathon has been in the past. Kody was no longer bouncing but he wasn’t out of breath either and as we started E he still felt good enough to launch off into a strong trot and want to canter across the field out of sight. As we reached the newly widened creek crossing he slowed to a walk because of the big rocks but went in willingly and trotted up the other side.
New creek crossing (picture from allowed in-hand schooling the night before)
There was a new hazard lurking behind the creek so we headed back there and I called my number as we came into sight. Intentionally copying something Breanna does that also works for us, I half-halted my lines and said quietly “Okay Kody, are you ready? Let’s go, boy!” Over the last year he has learned what red and white markers on the trail mean and he really gets up in the bridle and trots strong when he sees them and hears me ask if he’s ready. I expected this first hazard to be confusing for him because he’s learned he’s supposed to hold a strong trot in the hazards and not break no matter what and now there I am asking him to canter. It took him half of the long stretch from the gate to A to make the transition but he did canter for me and I praised him strongly. We zipped around A, B, and C, then trotted across the small wooden bridge and looped around the red pole for D then cantered for the outgate where he came smartly down to a trot as soon as his nose passed the markers. It wasn’t fast but it was smooth and steady and I made a big fuss over him as we drove away to reinforce that he’d done as I’d asked. He pricked up his ears and radiated pleasure so we were both grinning as we vanished around the curve.
The next (new) creek crossing had only small pebbles so Kody trotted it, picture of second creek crossing in reverse, in-hand then we came almost immediately to the third (new) creek crossing where the photographer from the hazard was now lurking and of course it had big rocks so we got yet another set of photos of Kody walking water.
: By the time we came to the last crossing, which was originally the second crossing, Kody rounded the bend and you could just see his thought process. As we headed that direction he had been giving me the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe we aren’t going that way. Surely she isn’t going to make me go through the water AGAIN!” As we came to the curve into the trees he pulled himself up to an incredulous jog and gave me one last chance to prove I wasn’t crazy. When I pointed him at the hill down to the ford anyway he came to a dead halt, flicked his ears back at me with his front feet set mulishly and I could almost see the thought bubble form above his head: “You have got to be kidding me.” I almost died laughing- we weren't even in sight of the water yet. Finally I pointed out that we couldn’t go do the rest of the marathon if he didn’t eventually cross the water and he sighed and headed reluctantly down the slope and slogged through. Once up the other slope though he pricked his ears again and picked up a trot and away we went. I couldn’t help but worry though as the next hazard, unbeknownst to Kody, was the new water hazard.
: Wet, much?
I really didn’t expect him to go in, to be honest. Not after his reluctance over the last creek crossing. And I couldn’t even blame him! Four crossings and a water hazard in under one kilometer IS a bit much. But we trotted across the field width-wise on the path towards the new hazard and a palpable aura of excitement became noticeable. As the last entrants to go the VSE’s for once had an audience and it seemed that everyone had gathered on the half-finished bridge above the water to watch the attempts. Most of them know us and know Kody’s die-hard habit of walking water with gravel in it so as we called our number and hit the ingate there was an encouraging cheer and good-natured calls of “Come on Kody, you can do it!” He wouldn’t even touch the gravelly water in the hazards at Ram Tap and I’ve learned from experience that it is no good trying to rush him down a hill in hopes that he won’t be able to stop before he’s in the water; Kody has Super Brakes. So I simply pointed him at the appropriate drop-in, clucked, and prayed.
: And do you know that little horse jogged carefully down the slope, broke to a smooth walk and went right in?! :cheeky-smiley-006: He never even hesitated! I was flabbergasted and calling “Good boy Kody, good boy!” as the audience laughed and cheered appreciatively. Then I asked for a trot, again feeling like I was asking the impossible. Nope, Kody pricked his ears and said “Okay Mom, I can do that!” and picked up a splashing trot through A and around to go up the middle under the bridge. Now he didn’t pick up a canter like I was urging him to but that water was deep going and I think he had his little hooves full just maintaining a lofty trot against all that drag. We hit the bigger rocks on the slope out and I asked him to lunge out at a gallop and again his big heart responded, managing to canter a few strides up the slope and then trotting around through C. You could tell his muscles were tired from the unaccustomed drag so I was proud enough to bust as he gamely picked up a canter again for the long trip around the rim of the water to make it back to D. Down the slope we went with me calling encouragement and wondering if he was going to dodge the water this time, only to have him plunge right in at a trot with barely a pause. Yay Kody!! Of course three short strides later he threw on the brakes at the idea of getting out of the water on the gravel slope for D, but hey! At least he went in.
: Once I got him up on the hill he went back in the water on the other side with no problem and walked sedately to the opposite shore where he climbed out and allowed himself to be bribed into a brief canter up the hill to the outgate. I was so proud of him! :aktion033: He did literally every single thing I had begged him to the night before- he went in the water without stopping, he trotted in the water, he cantered where he could and he dipped in and out of the water without hesitation. I couldn’t ask for more! As far as I was concerned that one hazard just made the whole marathon for me.
He was pretty tired by that point but being able to break into a canter at the Nuke site and the Gulch seemed to give him some relief and he gamely galloped into and out of the Ghost Town hazard in the back field. We were right on time as we came into the Fir Forest and I managed to remember the complicated route necessary to go through all the gates in order without crossing D so we made it out of our first Preliminary marathon without eliminating or making any major mistakes. Kody knew we were nearing the finish so had gotten a second wind but for the first time ever I had done my pacing right and was able to slow him to a walk for the remaining 300 meters so he came into the finish breathing quietly and already cooling down. All the official times were within two seconds of my own times except for the walk section where they had an obvious error, saying I’d taken 44 minutes to walk one kilometer. Um, no? LOL. So we got that ironed out and passed vet check and headed back to the trailer. To my astonishment Kody had not one drop of sweat on him, in fact the fur beneath his boots and breastcollar was as smooth and soft as if it had just been Show Sheened. I guess that water’s good for something after all! Here’s a picture of him right before I untacked him. You’d never know he’d just gone 11km.
Marathon turnout (Hyperbike and Camptown Harness with Ozark bridle)
Unfortunately somewhere between marathon and cones he threw his back out of alignment again so he was not a happy camper on Sunday and could only be coaxed to a fast but front-heavy trot for obstacle. We easily made the Prelim time though and only knocked two balls down so at the end of the show we stood in 4th place out of seven Preliminary VSE’s. Not bad for our first time! Due to his discomfort and the rain there aren't many flattering pictures from cones, but I'll put up these few.
Looks like he's going fast enough to me!
Going
A nice shot of his harness and cart at least. Still need to adjust that breeching!
Trotting away
We even won the Gulch hazard with the fastest time of our division. :risa8: Now it’s just a matter of improving our dressage performances and developing the speed so instead of cantering he’s galloping when I ask him to in the hazards. I know he can do it and I’m glad for all the foundation work we’ve done these last two years so that he is calm and steady in his job even when speed is involved. Now if only my chiropractor could see him sooner than two weeks after the event….
: I think from now on I’m going to set up appointments in advance and cancel them if I don’t need them.
If you want to see some other random non-forum-member-related candids, I did put them up on the Photo Forum. Still hoping since there are no actual photos that this will stay on the main forum....Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Leia
Happ's 2007 might have easily been called "The Californian Invasion." Yes indeed, it was downright disgusting! LOL We had three Californian VSE’s attend our show, one Training level, one Prelim, and one Intermediate, and they swept all three categories.
Californian Invasion
In defense of our Pacific NW competitors I do want to point out that it was not entirely a runaway for the Sunshine State contingent. Training level division was a tie for 1st between Nancy Turner of CA and local competitor Candy Washburn of OR and Prelim competitor Cris Anderson moved up through the ranks with each phase to end in 1st place. Breanna, of course, simply ran away with Intermediate! LOL. It was the first Intermediate competition for local hero Merridy Hance and both she and Breanna were thrilled to death to have another driver in their division. It was definitely a “Meeting of the Mares!”
Meeting of the Mares
For Kody and me this year’s Happ’s held special significance as we finally made the jump up to Preliminary competition. I’d been pondering it all last year but held off on the advice of my trainer (“Don’t even think about it!”
Now some things never change. I was, of course, late to vet check as I always am but at least this year by some strange providence I was able to sneak into line just as the horse in front of me was being called so I actually did not miss my time slot. Miracle! Kody was hyper but proved he’s growing up by actually WALKING the walk and TROTTING the trot sections of the vet check for the first time ever. Woohoo! In 2005 I think we galloped the whole thing because I couldn’t hold him back in a halter (the judges nearly died laughing as they proclaimed him “obviously sound”) and 2006 saw some improvement in a bridle as we jigged the walk section and trotted and cantered the trot section. I think this is the first year he’s been in full health and yet still behaved himself.
One thing that drove me insane about this event was that the schedule got all switched around this year. Training level has always gone first so I was really looking forward to getting to sleep in a little bit and have plenty of time to warm up now that I was Preliminary. Ha! This year Prelim went first so as usual it was “Drag your rump out of bed, barely get the horse fed and everything together then dash to standing presentation and get ten minutes to warm up for your test.” Goody. Oh, and have I mentioned it was raining? I was so glad for that new canopy! I got to harness and hitch under cover for once which was very nice.
Kody warmed up okay but our test was a disaster from the moment we hit A. He wobbled up the centerline like a complete drunk, neither responding to half-halts to pick him up or to a lengthening of rein to encourage him to move forward out of it. He did at least stop okay and to my surprise when I asked him to trot off he was perfectly straight again. He’s going through a phase right now where he doesn’t want to touch the rail when he completes the smaller circles you have to do at Prelim so we bounced off B and E like we were magnetically repelled and I know my corrections weren’t pretty. Can you say, “Counter-bent?”
The serpentine drove fairly smoothly with my new improved hands but our lengthened trot was a joke. He was on his forehand the whole way and showed no more than a stride or two of true lengthening somewhere after he broke into a canter in the middle. Arghhh! He was doing such great lengthenings all spring in our lessons, it bugs me that he won’t show it when it counts. Then again I know the answer to that too- work harder on it at home!Here are links to some of the better dressage photos Breanna took for me (i.e. the ones where Kody was actually behaving). Please remember it was dark and raining at 8:45AM when I went, and I was at the maximum range of her telephoto lens.
Dressage 2
Dressage 3
Boy I wish I'd given myself enough time to braid him. He looked so messy!
Dressage 6
Showing proper whip posture along with my new hat and cart:
Dressage 5
Resistant, but cute! I need to get the jacket tailored, brighter trim on the new hat, and raise my hands up for a more elegant appearance. (I think I had lowered them as I concentrated on asking for the bend correctly.)
Dressage 7
We were 5th out of 7 when dressage results were posted and our score of 58.70 was much closer to the top than the bottom scores so I was happy enough for our first time out. I missed watching the Training level VSE’s except to help Sandra Carr and her hubby Bruce Carr get hitched up and over there but interrupted a congenial conversation with Dave McWethy to make sure I watched the Intermediate VSE’s go. Merridy’s mare Velvet looks great this year, her black coat was incredibly deep and shiny and I love her new look with the banged tail. That mare shows what bending and lengthening of the frame should look like! Here are some pictures.
Working trot
Gorgeous bend!
Good reach on the hindquarters
Collected trot
Breanna was unhappy with her go (nobody had a great dressage test that day for some reason) but I thought Fas showed definite improvement from Ram Tap on several elements of the test. And I got some great pictures using the burst mode on my camera. Hallelujah!
I loved this shot even though Bree complained that Fas’s lower neck muscles were bulging. She’s right, but I think she looks so elegant!
Pretty pretty Fas
You can see the difference in which neck muscles she is using here:
Fas walking
Pintos look so nice against Happ's scenery!
Scene
Fas trotting
For scale
Here we got at least a little lengthening I think
When we were all standing around discussing the tests afterwards Breanna suddenly looked at me from the driver’s seat and said “Do you want to drive Fascination?” ARE YOU KIDDING?!! Of course I do! I never stop feeling honored and amazed when she hands me the reins. Of course I can’t get anywhere near the performance out of Fas that she does but it’s enough of a thrill just to trot her around and experiment to see which of her buttons I can find. I cadged my mom into taking a picture of me when we were done:
Leia driving Fas
I went out and walked the marathon course in early afternoon for once (learning from Ram Tap where I ended up looking for gate markers by the light from my cell phone LCD after dark) and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Relaxing- what a strange sensation! It was an amazing feeling to go to bed by 11PM and not have to get up until after eight and then just to feed the horse. Here's a picture of the sunset over the trailers:
Sunset
We were initially told that the VSE’s would be going with each of their respective divisions on marathon which would have been great as I could have gone midmorning with the other Prelim horses and still watched Breanna and Merridy go later. But as it worked out they not only sent all the VSE’s together like they have in the past but they then switched things up even more by sending us out after everyone else instead of before! Arghhh! :ugh: The good news is I got to sleep in and as it turns out the afternoon was not hot anyway. The bad news is Breanna was out on course at the same time I was so for the second show in a row I did not get to see her do her thing. This was truly sad, given that from the many admiring comments I heard they were really something to watch.
Kody’s nowhere near that good yet but I was very proud of the effort he gave me. Ram Tap was difficult for him because we’d been doing all this training on switching easily to and from canter for hazards and then of course we entered Training level and I had to hold him down to a trot. The footing was deep sand so I felt horribly guilty when he’d ask to be allowed to canter/lunge up a hill in a hazard and I had to hold him back to an exhausting trot instead. I vowed then and there that we were going Prelim at the next show no matter what- I will never again be forced to ignore what is best and easiest for my horse!
So this was our first show where speed counted in the hazards. I had walked them all the night before, picking routes where we could canter in and out but trot steadily through short tight turns where the Hyperbike and my agile horse could excel and hoping I'd picked the right routes for good fast runs. I’d had a talk with Kody about what I expected of him and the things I wanted him to work on and had driven the hazards again mentally before going to bed. We were ready! I got him out of his stall and started tacking what felt like far too early that afternoon but as usual we were somehow scrambling to get harnessed and over to vet check at the last minute. (Someday, I swear, I will actually be on time. I am so sick and tired of running late it seems like no matter what I do….)
Caught fighting with the velcro on a support boot
The beastie wriggling because he's picked up my anxiety over being late
Bridling the beast
Breanna was a great help in getting my new harness readjusted for the Hyperbike and together we got me over there in time.
Kody was excited but all our training over the winter came through and he stood quietly for vet check although as soon as he was allowed to move he was cantering and bouncing and completely hyper. He stood quietly through the countdown for start of A, trotted off nicely, made it about twenty feet and then couldn’t stand it anymore and broke into a good solid canter. Thankfully Section A is now “any pace” so cantering is okay and I decided to let him run for awhile to get the goofies out without straining his wind. He spotted the gate for the sharp left turn into the first field, thought “Hazard!” and man he was gone at a gallop. So much for Kody being slow! We did deviations all the way down the path just to test his balance and keep him paying attention and he had no trouble at all with turning at a run. He showed no signs of slowing down as we approached the first kilometer marker but I knew time was going to become an issue shortly so I pulled him down to a walk (okay, a jig at first) and we killed quite a few necessary minutes just walking sedately along the trail.
At least it was a pretty trail! The path was mowed through a field of waving grass with purple seed heads as tall as my horse and lovely Washington greenery on every side. At one point after I’d let him pick up a slow trot again we spotted a large man in the bushes ahead of us. I was thinking “Spotter?” but he had his back to us and when he didn’t turn around I really began to wonder if he was taking a bathroom break by the side of the trail.
I was quite pleased with myself because I found that I had no trouble knowing how long to walk to compensate for going too fast earlier and by about the 4km marker we were back on time and I was able to pick up a working trot again and came in right in our two minute window at the end of A. Yay!
We headed for vet check and Kody passed easily with what the vet called a “good, strong heart rhythm” and I took advantage of the ten minute hold time to quickly braid Kody’s mane, readjust his boots and find a Porta-Potty. Then it was on to Section E! Now keep in mind that we’d already gone almost 6km which is further than the entire marathon has been in the past. Kody was no longer bouncing but he wasn’t out of breath either and as we started E he still felt good enough to launch off into a strong trot and want to canter across the field out of sight. As we reached the newly widened creek crossing he slowed to a walk because of the big rocks but went in willingly and trotted up the other side.
New creek crossing (picture from allowed in-hand schooling the night before)
There was a new hazard lurking behind the creek so we headed back there and I called my number as we came into sight. Intentionally copying something Breanna does that also works for us, I half-halted my lines and said quietly “Okay Kody, are you ready? Let’s go, boy!” Over the last year he has learned what red and white markers on the trail mean and he really gets up in the bridle and trots strong when he sees them and hears me ask if he’s ready. I expected this first hazard to be confusing for him because he’s learned he’s supposed to hold a strong trot in the hazards and not break no matter what and now there I am asking him to canter. It took him half of the long stretch from the gate to A to make the transition but he did canter for me and I praised him strongly. We zipped around A, B, and C, then trotted across the small wooden bridge and looped around the red pole for D then cantered for the outgate where he came smartly down to a trot as soon as his nose passed the markers. It wasn’t fast but it was smooth and steady and I made a big fuss over him as we drove away to reinforce that he’d done as I’d asked. He pricked up his ears and radiated pleasure so we were both grinning as we vanished around the curve.
The next (new) creek crossing had only small pebbles so Kody trotted it, picture of second creek crossing in reverse, in-hand then we came almost immediately to the third (new) creek crossing where the photographer from the hazard was now lurking and of course it had big rocks so we got yet another set of photos of Kody walking water.
I really didn’t expect him to go in, to be honest. Not after his reluctance over the last creek crossing. And I couldn’t even blame him! Four crossings and a water hazard in under one kilometer IS a bit much. But we trotted across the field width-wise on the path towards the new hazard and a palpable aura of excitement became noticeable. As the last entrants to go the VSE’s for once had an audience and it seemed that everyone had gathered on the half-finished bridge above the water to watch the attempts. Most of them know us and know Kody’s die-hard habit of walking water with gravel in it so as we called our number and hit the ingate there was an encouraging cheer and good-natured calls of “Come on Kody, you can do it!” He wouldn’t even touch the gravelly water in the hazards at Ram Tap and I’ve learned from experience that it is no good trying to rush him down a hill in hopes that he won’t be able to stop before he’s in the water; Kody has Super Brakes. So I simply pointed him at the appropriate drop-in, clucked, and prayed.
He was pretty tired by that point but being able to break into a canter at the Nuke site and the Gulch seemed to give him some relief and he gamely galloped into and out of the Ghost Town hazard in the back field. We were right on time as we came into the Fir Forest and I managed to remember the complicated route necessary to go through all the gates in order without crossing D so we made it out of our first Preliminary marathon without eliminating or making any major mistakes. Kody knew we were nearing the finish so had gotten a second wind but for the first time ever I had done my pacing right and was able to slow him to a walk for the remaining 300 meters so he came into the finish breathing quietly and already cooling down. All the official times were within two seconds of my own times except for the walk section where they had an obvious error, saying I’d taken 44 minutes to walk one kilometer. Um, no? LOL. So we got that ironed out and passed vet check and headed back to the trailer. To my astonishment Kody had not one drop of sweat on him, in fact the fur beneath his boots and breastcollar was as smooth and soft as if it had just been Show Sheened. I guess that water’s good for something after all! Here’s a picture of him right before I untacked him. You’d never know he’d just gone 11km.
Marathon turnout (Hyperbike and Camptown Harness with Ozark bridle)
Unfortunately somewhere between marathon and cones he threw his back out of alignment again so he was not a happy camper on Sunday and could only be coaxed to a fast but front-heavy trot for obstacle. We easily made the Prelim time though and only knocked two balls down so at the end of the show we stood in 4th place out of seven Preliminary VSE’s. Not bad for our first time! Due to his discomfort and the rain there aren't many flattering pictures from cones, but I'll put up these few.
Looks like he's going fast enough to me!
Going
A nice shot of his harness and cart at least. Still need to adjust that breeching!
Trotting away
We even won the Gulch hazard with the fastest time of our division. :risa8: Now it’s just a matter of improving our dressage performances and developing the speed so instead of cantering he’s galloping when I ask him to in the hazards. I know he can do it and I’m glad for all the foundation work we’ve done these last two years so that he is calm and steady in his job even when speed is involved. Now if only my chiropractor could see him sooner than two weeks after the event….
If you want to see some other random non-forum-member-related candids, I did put them up on the Photo Forum. Still hoping since there are no actual photos that this will stay on the main forum....Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Leia
