So it's been a while since an update, and rest assured, we have been keeping busy. Lo and I have been hacking mostly, I've been going crazy with finals, etc. Last week in our lesson we jumped the liverpool like 5 times! So that was exciting. And she continues to go really great in her mullen-mouth rubber pelham with converters for jumping, though we need to get her softer in her loose-ring mullen-mouth for hacking. She likes to lean a little, and I don't like her that heavy in my hands. I would totally put her in a snaffle of some kind if she wouldn't utterly flip a shit haha. She hates snaffles, I don't know why. We have her teeth done every six months, had the vet look at her mouth, all checks out well. So I put it down to her being a mare and a goofball. I may try her in her french link sometime though, to see if there's any improvements.
And last weekend we finally bought a new saddle that actually fits her shoulders! Sadly, we ended up having to go custom, so cost-wise it was a little painful but I think overall it will be lovely. It's a CWD, grain/buffalo, medium blocks up front and small/medium in back, for those crazy high jumps haha. An absolutely beautiful saddle and Lola positively loved it. The Antares I ride her in right now is elderly and while a very nice saddle, has little flocking left and is much too narrow for her shoulders. In the CWD she actually used her shoulders both over fences and on the flat, which I was pleased to notice. So for the next 8-10 weeks while we wait for our new saddle we will continue to use the heavily padded Antares. After the CWD comes my mom is sending the Antares off to be re-flocked, re-seated and re-billeted so she can use it on her new hunter, Excel. So we will continue to get mileage out of Old Trusty haha.
Today for our lesson K taught, and she decided to teach down in the outdoor jump field. Lola has not been drilled and tapped yet so we couldn't put our studs in, so we took it slow and steady. Or, that was the plan. Before Lola pulled . . . Well, before she pulled a Lola. Our hack and warmup went well enough, and K set up a little teensy weensy x-rail for us to warm up over. Well, said teensy-weensy x-rail had a plank under it as a sort of groundline. This plank was red, white and blue. And apparently, the blue block in the middle of the plank looked liverpool-ish enough for Lola to absolutely melt down. Rearing, kicking out, running backwards and sideways, anything she could do to avoid it. Now, I'm not a scratch rider but I am kind of timid (especially in the field - last time I rode out there was Not a Good Experience) so I freaked out maybe a little. I did not want to fall off and have Lola run away and maybe hurt herself, especially with the Theodore O'Connor incident still fresh in mind. K was very reasonable about the whole thing and talked me down from just taking her back to the barn and trying again another day. Because we all know how that goes. There never is 'a good day' for it. You just wait and wait and wait and worry and eventually one little issue has turned into a great big issue and it's a mess. So K talked me through it and finally, thankfully, I got her over it. We went over a few more times, each with less incident than the last (but by no means drama-free) and then walked and relaxed.
The rest of the lesson moved on to a small oxer with blue rails. I was pretty sure I would continue to work over the plank X, or maybe the Ditch and Rails of Wussiness (ironically, Lola does not mind ditches, coffins, or banks). But no, we too were expected to do the oxer. Well I let her have a good sniff of it because I am a wuss and it was more for me than for her. She went over it, of course, incident-free. Same for the ditch, but that wasn't much of a surprise.
Then it was time to put a course together (oh, joy!). The first jump was, of course, the plank, which was now a vertical, because Lola was the only horse in the lesson that was flipping a shit about it - the other two were utterly blase about it, so it was a good first jump for them. K offered me the choice to omit that fence but I have a death wish or something and elected to also jump that as my first fence. The second element was an ABC combo - up the bank, three strides across the top, down the bank, three strides out to a vertical. Then the blue oxer, rollback to the ditch, ten-ish strides to a coop oxer, one stride to a vertical, five strides to a big jump up the bank. So super duper, we get over the first jump with only two refusals and minimum retardedness. I just rode her tough, as straight as I could manage (darn horse is like a wet noodle when she wants to be) and eventually she sort of just puts her head up and goes (I almost want to liken it to a little kid that doesn't want to eat a particular food but closes his eyes, holds his nose and does it anyway). The long ride to the bank gave me a chance to praise her mightily. The bank, of course, was a non-issue, though the first time across we were a little too strong and I had to pull her out before the vertical to prevent wild flailing over the fence or some other unreasonable method she has since discovered of getting out of a bad spot. Next time through was fine, straight as an arrow, but she landed farther off the bank than we expected so a two was better than a three as far as striding went. No problem, though - just a little longer jump down than we had been thinking. The oxer was fine, same with the ditch, and then to the coop. Despit spooking like crazy at it in the warmup she didn't mind it at all, went right over, one stride to the vertical, nice five and right up the bank. Except for the first fence, it was a lovely course, really.
After a breather and the other horses in the lesson went again, it was our turn to do the same course once more. Again, with the drama meltdown at the plank. Finally, K decided she was just being an idiot at this point and suggested that we come to it off a sharp turn on the right lead rather than the obvious long turn on the left. It worked like a charm (that right drift gets me every time - we need to work on it!) and the rest of the course went great (except we put two in from the down bank to the vertical again but that was more because of where she was landing, not really a dangerous leave-out situation). We decided to call it a day at that point. Pats, rubs, praise, a list of things to work on.
Mainly, the right drift is the biggest issue. I cannot let her get away with it even once, especially in a jump field situation where there is no rail. In the ring I can usually rely on a rail or something else to help me (you'd be surprised what can help you out in a seemingly empty ring). So right leg exercises, shoulders-in and other lateral work are on the menu for the upcoming week. Also a lot of without stirrups crap because my sitting trot continues to be dismal and it can only help me in further developing the old independent seat. I'm going to ride her in the loose-ring in the arena tomorrow, see how we do, and then maybe on Saturday, providing it doesn't rain to the point of unbelievable muck, out in the field. We'll see - I have a feeling when K takes her out for her Thursday school she'll be in the field then as well.
The best thing, though, and the thing that I'm grateful for, is that I do not usually show in jump fields. Shows that are capable of keeping a well-manicured jump field are usually out of my price range, so I stick with the cheaper A shows that typically are in a nice, friendly, sand arena. So we have all summer to work her in the jump field and then maybe, next year, brave one show in a field (my trainer goes to Upperville every year, so maybe there, though I'm not sure my bank account can take it). There is really no time limit on it. So at least I can breathe easy on that.
Unless the show next weekend is in a field. It's small and unrated, so who knows? I went there once, years and years ago with my hunter pony, and I can't really remember the facility and certainly don't remember what the jumpers did (my old trainers were sort of ex-jumpers for some reason, God knows why, and ironically all their best students have moved on to show in the jumpers and do fairly well, if not better).
So the question is, if you have a horse and feel like answering upon finding this, do you and your horse have problems with any type of arena or arena situation (jump field, indoor, under the lights, etc) and if you do/did how are you handling it now? If it's a non-issue now, how did you work through it?
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