Inavale Derby Report

Hi all - I know you're still waiting for the camp report, but you will have to wait just a bit longer. I want to do it justice with good pictures and video, so it takes larger chunks of time to put the whole thing together. I promise you that by the end of the week you will see material about camp.

In the meantime, let me tell you about the derby at Inavale this weekend!

Going into it, I basically had no idea what kind of horse I was going to have in the ring. Sure, we've been to Inavale and ridden there quite a bit, and I took McKinna to the show jumping rally a couple months ago - but really I haven't done any showing with her in several years, and she's a completely different horse now. Would we see fire-breathing monsters in every corner, or at every dressage letter? Would she be quite displeased with the bright stadium jumps out in the XC field like she was last time? So mostly, I was glad to have this chance to get a better idea of what McKinna's going to act like at bigger shows (i.e., the horse trials).

So on Saturday morning, I tacked up my (sparklingly clean, gorgeous, wonderful) horse for dressage and headed out to the warmup area. I got lucky and the dressage ring I rode in was the one out on grass. It was a little soft from the rain, but good practice for the horse trials since they hold dressage on grass there. Plus, there was plenty of room to warm up, which was a very good thing for my warmup policy.

See, at my dressage lesson on Wednesday, Leslie showed me how to longe McKinna in side reins. I'd never tried it before, but it didn't take long to learn how I could use the side reins and longe line to ask her to soften and supple at the base of her neck just like I do from the saddle. So I headed out to the faaaaaaar corner of the great big grass field, let her warm up a bit at all gaits with her nose poked out as usual, and then stuck the side reins on. I had practiced a few times, so she knew the drill.

I'd say the side reins definitely did their job. McKinna was a little 'up' and wanted to go faster than I really preferred, but better too much forward than not enough. I alternated short periods of side reins on, asking her to round and carry herself, then giving her a break by unhooking them for a bit. It's still pretty hard for her to canter with her back up and the base of her neck soft, but she's getting there. I just asked for a little bit at a time.

Then I hopped on and alternated trotting around with walking on a loose rein, and a few canters here and there to check my transitions without getting her too worked up. It seemed to work. At times she wanted to just power through me at warp-speed trot, but I concentrated on keeping my elbows soft and bent and half-halting with my body, and she responded well.

I hung out and chatted with the arena steward for a moment, a very nice lady, and watched the test a few horses before me to make sure I hadn't memorized anything wrong in the test. Then I went up for one last bit of trotting, where McKinna started off wanting to run through my aids but then came back for some lovely, connected, polite work. Then it was my turn to trot around the ring!

I said hello to the judge and trotted several laps. I admit that on my first one I rode close to every letter, saying, "Look - this is A, it's a friendly letter. And this is F, this is also a friendly letter. And this one is B, also very friendly. Here's M, a nice letter...oh look, here are the judges, they're very friendly!"

I did say these things QUIETLY, at least. And besides, I think it worked.

Then the bell rang and we headed in! My first centerline was a little crooked. But, lo and behold, McKinna's head did NOT shoot straight up in the air as soon as we entered the ring! "Breathe," I kept reminding myself (silently) as we headed down the line. Left turn, where McKinna locked on to the little fence and kind of wanted to jump it. It made for a little bit of an abrupt turn and we walked for a step before picking it up. Okay, so I know better for the next centerline. Trot circle, then up the centerline again, this time much better (we got an 8 on that one!), turn right, and though she wanted to lock on to the fence again it wasn't as bad.

Anyway, we went through the rest of our test and all things considered it was pretty darn good. The canter work was a little "hectic," as the judge put it, but for a horse who could barely put together a decent canter a few months ago, I will take it. At least it had three beats! I was surprised that I had a hard time getting her to come back to me in the canter-trot transitions. Normally she's only too happy to come back, but in this case she got so worked up about the canter that she had kind of tuned me out. So both our downward transitions were pretty abrupt and she threw her head up. Good thing to know: next time, really work for the softness in the last quarter of the canter circle so my aids go through instead of stopping at a braced neck.

Overall I was really pleased with dressage. It's the first time the horse I have INSIDE the ring is actually similar to the horse I had OUTSIDE the ring! And when I was able to soften and relax, like on the long centerlines, she responded very well. I think if we can continue improving the canter and her relaxation, we'll do pretty well. We scored a 38, and hey, I'm happy to break into the 30s.

Jumping was awesome, except when it wasn't. Let me explain.

The course was holding up well but pretty soft in places. Water was actually running through the ditches, if that tells you anything.

McKinna was awesome over the first fence, a black-and-white stadium vertical. Last time I did a derby, she was fine with the XC fences but really spooky about the stadium fences - not this time. Bold and confident. Sweet. Then a turn to a big rolltop, which was fine, and another stadium fence snuggled up perpendicular to the Training trakehner, which proved to be spooky for some horses. McKinna ignored the trakehner and jumped the stadium fence just fine. Then through the extreeemely deep water, which we trotted, and canter forward off a big down bank, McKinna's forte. Then another stadium fence and a turn to...the evil fences.

It was a one-stride combination with the first element set in the ditch like a mini-trakehner. Well, that's no issue for us, but remember how I said there was water in the ditch? The ground around the ditch had a lot of that water in it too. The footing right in front of it was pretty chewed up. McKinna stopped at the first element and slid at least a foot with her forelegs. Not good. Turned around, re-presented, got her over it, but then (I'm not entirely sure what happened) she landed already stopping and moved a bit to the side, where I popped off. I landed fine, had to untangle my leg from the fence but didn't knock anything down and didn't hurt myself.

I remounted and they allowed me to finish the course. I skipped the evil combination and the rest of it rode brilliantly - a big house on top of the hill, long downhill to a big quarter round, then over the Novice ditch and one last stadium fence. McKinna was confident and easy to control, which also makes me think the combination problems were because she was just uncomfortable with the footing. The mud was thick enough that even horses with studs all around were sliding and having refusals.

So, overall, I was very happy with my rides. I still have a brave, honest horse, just one that's not quite used to jumping in mud! And it was a great way to scope out what McKinna might be like at the horse trials.

I just finished my last final this morning. Tomorrow morning I'm headed up to Washington with my boyfriend's parents to help him move out for the summer. I'll stay the night, we'll go out to breakfast, and then boyfriend will drop me off in Yelm on the way home, where I'll stay for the rest of the weekend grooming for my trainer Devin at Aspen Horse Trials. I'm really looking forward to it. Then it's headlong into summer!

My Favorite Picture

Have spent all night writing a report on a serial killer (it's for Gothic Lit - I told you my classes are interesting), but I thought I'd show you guys my absolute favorite picture from the weekend before I head to bed.

I love her relaxed but tidy jump over this fence, and her characteristic wild mane. It's like she's saying "Don't worry, I got this." You can't see from the picture, but to make an "accuracy" question the instructor told me to jump directly over the far left quarter of the fence and we nailed it.

Mmm. So much fun.

Back Home

As I sit here after returning home from the Inavale camp, sunburnt and exhausted and HUNGRY (don't worry, there's a microwave dinner cooking as I type. Parmesan crusted fish with penne pasta and veggies in tomato sauce. Delicious.), I am still as pleased as punch (just how pleased IS punch, anyway?) with how the weekend went. Can you tell I'm tired? When I'm tired I give in to all those little tangential asides that pop into my head as I write, which you now get to see as an excess of parenthetical digressions. Lucky you. I apologize in advance.

Anyway.

This weekend, for the uninitiated, involves two 1.5 hour lessons each day, one XC and one Stadium, for two days. Plus an optional lesson on the third day, which I always decline because by the third day my horse and I are exhausted. It's held at Inavale (they've recently redone their site and it looks lovely!), where the scenery is gorgeous and the people are great. That nice fellow in the picture on the main page - the man, not the baby! - is Luigi, one of the owners of the property and organizers of the recognized event. With his tractor, he helped us get our truck and trailer un-stuck from a squishy part of the parking pasture today. (It's okay, other people got stuck too. Also, this fish is really good. How is it that frozen dinners taste so good?)

Right, so, Inavale. I love it there and it's wonderful. The horses get to stay in open-air corrals or nice temporary stalls, whichever you prefer, and of course we prefer the open-air corral because our horses really like to be out. McKinna gets upset when her vision is really restricted by a fully closed-in stall. Open corral? Totally her cup of tea. We even scored one of the best ones, right underneath a giant tree which protects from sun AND rain.

I am much too tired to try to write up a whole report tonight. It also wouldn't make sense, because all of the (copious amounts of) pictures and video are still on the camera, and what's an eventing camp report without pictures and video? A lame one, that's what it is.

So instead, here's a miscellaneous collection of thoughts to tide you over. Also I apologize for the haphazard nature of this post. Did I mention that I'm tired?

- McKinna rocks. Hardcore. She's amazing. I think she is well on her way to "XC Machine" status, if she's not there already. Everyone thinks she is adorable. She tries her heart out for me, she's as honest as the day is long (here we go with the idioms again), she's fiery but not uncontrollable, she's intelligent and patient with me when I do things like get a horrible half-stride three times in a row to a big Swedish oxer, and in general she's wonderful.

- When getting horrible half distances to a 3' Swedish oxer three times in a row on the second day of intense work when your horse is tired and doesn't have quite enough energy to give 110% like she usually does, consider changing your line. Because, you know, that fixes it and you will get a perfect distance.

- White XC boots are probably not a good idea. I mean, it's fine. But really. Definitely a lack of long-term planning in that one.

- I think I'm too hard on myself sometimes. I forget that McKinna and I have only been in serious schooling since January. I need to remember that even though we've improved quickly we will sometimes hit speed bumps, and that it's okay. It's not that I had a total meltdown or anything, I just get discouraged sometimes over little things. And I feel guilty when I mess up, like when getting those horrible half distances to a 3' oxer etc.

- Almost comparable to the pleasure of a kickass XC ride is the pleasure of a really hot shower after a long weekend of horse camping. Ask me how I know.

- Speaking of horse camping, we know how to do it. Burgers on the grill for lunch, plenty of Kettle chips and cheesy popcorn (so. good.), pork chops and grilled vegetables for dinner, banana boats for dessert....mm. The best part is sharing with fellow campers, because it's fun to get everyone together and hang out.

- Banana boats: slice open the top of a banana peel. Pull the peel out to the sides. Shove in chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Wrap in foil and stick on grill until all melty and gooey and delicious.

- The look on McKinna's face when you go to tack her up for the fourth time in two days is PRICELESS. "You? AGAIN?"

- My trainer is awesome. Devin was one of the instructors at camp, I had great rides with her as always, and everyone I talked to really liked her.

- Sunscreen good. Sunburns bad.

- I think we have more clothing for McKinna than any other horse people I've met. This weekend alone we rotated through a blanket with neck cover, a sheet, and a fly sheet with neck cover. We also brought with us but did not use a second sheet and a cooler or two. These are among the perils of owning a grey horse, only offset slightly by the fact that when she's sparkling white everyone oohs and aahs over her.

- Have I mentioned that McKinna is a rock star? Especially on cross-country?

Okay, that's enough from me for the night. I promise tomorrow or the next day you'll get posts stuffed full of pictures, video, and silly commentary from me. I'm going to bed.

Whew.

Today I turned in THREE final papers for a combined total of 35 pages. If you're curious, I wrote: a short story in the Gothic terror style of Anne Radcliffe (plus critical preface), an original-idea scientific paper that proposed a line of research to determine the proximate physiological cause(s) of post-herd-takeover abortion in feral mares, and a primary-source based history paper on idolatry and saints in seventeenth-century New Spain.

So, you can see why I haven't posted for the last week or so.

I will do my very best to get you a quick post before I head off tomorrow, because this weekend is the camp at Inavale! This is probably my favorite horse thing of the year. Well, I haven't gone to the HT yet, but for now, the camp is my favorite. Unfortunately it has been raining all week - it is supposed to be nice this weekend, but fingers crossed for good footing and good weather.

Anyway. I'm off to take a nap, because I did not do very much sleeping last night.

Another Thought

As I was washing McKinna's legs before my jumping lesson on Monday, I noticed she was in heat. I think this may have something to do with her extraordinarily tense behavior on Saturday. The wonderpony has a history of being really, really cranky/tense/uncooperative for one ride and then being in heat a day or two later. Maybe she gets some sort of cramps or something related to the onset of estrus. I should have thought of that...it's always a retrospective thing when this happens. I think that last summer, as the season went on, she wasn't as bad. Maybe I can just keep a hot pad with me, and if I ever get on and she's really tense, hop off and toss the hot pad on her back to help her relax, since it seems to be her back muscles that are tight? Makes sense...I get kinda cranky when I have cramps too.

Anyway, I'm still looking at everything else. I just bought an Albion Legend jumping saddle off of eBay (what?? I'm a tack junkie, I swear) and will try that on her when it arrives. Even though it isn't a high-end saddle, it's a bit of a step up from the Thornhill so if she likes it I will be quite happy. If she doesn't, oh well, back on eBay it goes. Next on the list to try is a Happy Mouth, which I mentioned in the last post.

The jumping lesson on Monday was (of course) lovely. Our flatwork is still improving by proverbial leaps and bounds. Devin still had me getting her to work by pushing her into a steady outside rein, then closing rein and leg when she tries to hollow and softening and stretching once she complies. I have to say, it does work - the more I can catch her hollowing attempts as they happen, the less frequently she tries to hollow in the first place. In the end I had a quiet, pretty supple, forward horse with a nice positive connection in the outside rein. Looking at the video, she was still more compact in the neck than I would like, though. This should go away as she keeps learning to reach for the bit.


Our canter work was absolutely delicious. We are approaching the ability to quietly, and in balance, transition upward. And the gait itself is SO much better. I was going around my canter circles grinning like an idiot because she was on a soft contact and I could half-halt with my abs. This is groundbreaking territory here, people!


The jumping was also quite nice. My position gets work as always - it's hard because, as Devin has explained, McKinna is short and I have a fairly long torso for my height. But the pony was good. Lots of work on quietly jumping, which we really got towards the end. We are also developing the first glimmerings of true adjustability! Two lines, both set for a 12' stride (McKinna usually gets about a 10 - 11' stride), were set for three and one strides. We aimed for a quiet four in the three, which we got, and a longer step to make the one-stride, which we also got. And she is learning to sit up and balance herself when I sit up and touch my seat down. Awesome feeling.


We ended by jumping the barrel on its side (2' high, 3' across the face). As per usual, the first time trotting in was a bit of a disaster, even with a guiding rail on one side. I feel bad as I know Devin uses this as an accuracy question and after last time (when McKinna clearly didn't understand the question) I decided I would school barrels at home until McKinna understood. But, I didn't. Sigh. Second time I sat down and she jumped, third time (still trotting) she started to rush so I tried to slow her down but I pulled and ruined it so we got another stop. After that we got our act together and I think she started to understand the question, because we cantered it and she didn't try to skitter sideways. She focused on it and jumped it dead center like a real fence - it was pretty nice, actually!


So I do feel bad about that, just because it is my fault for not schooling that question at home even though I knew it would come up again in a lesson. At least she understood after a few tries, which is better than the first time - that time, she would go over if I rode her perfectly but I still don't think she fully understood. But it's also silly that I feel so guilty, because it is a LESSON and that is where we teach things to our horses! I will be sure to practice barrels at home, though. I want to have no problems next time.


Also, we are working on little video to show you some video of McKinna when she's tense and McKinna when she's quiet and relaxed. I will put it up soon. Just watching the clips has given me some ideas, mostly about my position. I love my mother for all the videoing she does while I ride her horse :-) I have footage of almost every lesson, which is an awesome tool.