Our 2011 Season

Hi everyone :)

This is Bella and I at a Pony Club trail ride we attended: 

Our 2011 was filled with lots of fun! Unfortunately it is now winding down and the days are growing colder. Once it gets cold enough I plan to give her the rest of the season off for a mental break since she is young and will need it. I will miss her, but my days are very busy with school work and the musical will be starting up again in a couple of months, so my riding has become more inconsistent and I feel it is not fair to Bella to be ridden that inconsistently, especially when she is so frisky in these cold winter months.

One thing I am very excited about doing is assessing our goals from the beginning of this year (they are posted on this blog two posts prior to this one)  and telling you about our big accomplishments. Of course, since I have to cover such a large period of time (silly me for not posting, I will do my best to be better about that next season) I'm not going to tell you about absolutely everything, but I will fill you in as best I can.

Goals:

- Do many cross country schoolings and accomplish a water complex without running into any trouble. (Bella hints often that she's going to be a big baby about water.)

We did two cross country schoolings this year I believe... One at Wheeler Green and one at GVRDC. We schooled mostly Intro and Beginner Novice level fences, but some of the concepts we accomplished (crossing water, larger banks) are more Novice level. I'm very proud of Bella. She was a star at both of these schoolings. Almost no refusals and willing to walk and trot nicely through the water!

This is the group we went with for the GVRDC cross country schooling:

- Do Intro level events as well as (possibly/hopefully) Beginner Novice events.

Bella and I accomplished two Intro level events this year. I don't believe doing Beginner Novice level events would've been good her first two times out, especially since our dressage was not at it's prime and she still isn't *completely* sure about cross country at times. Once she gets out on the course she seems to like it, but when we first start out, she is sometimes unwilling to go. Stadium isn't a problem at all, but we don't want to throw her into something she is not ready for. She's only 6 - baby steps. Anyway, at High Standard Stables Horse Trials (her first event of the year and ever) she placed 2nd! I was very proud of her. She had a nice, relaxed dressage test (relaxation was really all we were going for at that point), a clear cross country (she went around quite quickly!) and a nice stadium course.

This is Bella before our dressage test: (I spend so much time braiding her beforehand!)

GVRDC was an equally as amazing experience. We did Intro level again but it was definitely more demanding at GVRDC, since GVRDC is a USEF Recognized Event. We placed 5th with some pretty stiff competition! Our dressage was.... Lacking, although the judges placed us in the ribbons afterward with around 10 people in our division (I don't remember how many exactly). It was our first walk/trot/canter dressage test at an event, so I was proud we got our transitions! She was a star out cross country with another clear round, and the jumps were definitely more significant here than they were at HSS! After cross country we were placed 3rd, but we pulled the first rail in stadium (partially my fault) because we went out and she was *tired*, and we just weren't quite forward enough to make it over without knocking the first rail. It put us back in 5th place, which I was still very proud of, and the rest of the stadium course was quite forward, although we did get to some awkward spots. What I really loved about that stadium course was that she didn't look at anything! All of the jumps (except for the first one) were small, but definitely colorful, and she didn't even glance at anything.

This is Bella and I with our ribbon after stadium:

- Go to both the Spring and Fall hunterpaces with Bella. (Hopefully I have a horse now that doesn't bolt when she hears other horses coming up behind her... Goodness that was nerveracking.  I was always worried a horse would come up behind us and I'd be off in a heartbeat.)

I did not physically ride Bella in the Spring hunter pace, but I did ride in the Fall hunter pace. For the Spring hunter pace, my instructor at that time rode Bella, so I'm not really sure how that went, but the Fall hunter pace was amazing! Bella didn't spook at anything and we did go over a few cross country fences and through some water. She was very tired at the end of the hunter pace, and draft crosses have a hard time releasing heat as quickly as other horses because of their draft-type "thick skin". However, we did get her cooled down and comfortable again and I felt it was a great experience for both of us. (We didn't encounter any horses coming up behind us so I don't know what that experience would've been like... But I think she probably would've been fine.)

This is the group we went with on the hunter pace; Bella and I are on the far right:

- Establish a good 'woah'... Brakes in cross country as well as stadium! (Bella seems to not want to stop when we've done stadium courses at the farm... I've had to basically run her into fences to get her to stop sometimes.  Oh yes, I can't wait for cross country!  Then again, she is only in a single-jointed loose ring snaffle.)

Really, with the use of our Kimberwick bit for cross country, I don't have any issues with stopping or slowing down. For stadium, I use a Kimberwick, but I don't think it is really as necessary as out cross country because she's gotten a lot better about it. Although, during our GVRDC stadium course, there was definitely a time when I was glad that I had my Kimberwick.

- Minimize head tossing and/or head movement in transitions in dressage and minimize Bella's anticipation from the trot to the canter. 


Head tossing and/or head movement.... This has kind of taken on a different meaning since last year. Last year, what I mean by head tossing and/or head movement was Bella's huge head swing that she tended to do to evade the bit. So, in that aspect, we have successfully completed that goal since she doesn't usually do any head swinging except for on bad days. However, what I would really like to do is minimize the hollowing of her back (and head going up) in transitions. This is a different goal from last year... So it shows that we've made progress.

Anticipation from trot to canter... We had been taking consistent weekly dressage lessons for a couple of months (these just recently ended) and really we hadn't been working much on the canter. We'd been working on balancing and bending at the trot, and cantering wasn't necessary yet because we hadn't gotten there yet. Again, baby steps. I think last year this "anticipation" was at  a different level than it is now. I think she still has this anticipation, but it has improved.

- Equalize Bella's suppleness/flexion/bending to the right and to the left.  (She is currently far less supple/flexible to the left than to the right.)

This has taken on a whole new meaning for me after the dressage lessons I took. I am so much more knowledgeable about how to go about doing this - not just pulling her nose to the inside as some people had been telling me. Now, I know all of the aids that go into bending and suppleness. It is much more difficult and complex than it seems, and each horse is unique in the aids it takes to create the suppleness in that horse that you do in another horse. Anyway, Bella is much more supple in both directions, and I see an immense improvement tracking left. I think since we concentrated so much on the left bend (although really we did do fairly equal work to the right), now Bella is almost more flexible to the left than to the right. I think that is partially because I am riding her differently to the left now because I know how to ride her to get her to bend more willingly, and since the right was always easier for her, I revert to my old ways while tracking right. That is just something I need to improve upon. 

This is a picture of Bella and I in our first dressage lesson with Kathy Wood-Copa, the dressage instructor whom I learned so much from:

- If I go to either the Firecracker Derby or the Pumpkin Derby, have the best costume there!  (Sometimes I can be creative...)

Unfortunately, we didn't make to either of the jumping derbies this year. It is sometimes hard to get places with Bella because we do not own a trailer and must rely on others for transportation. I am very thankful for the people who do transport us to different events, and I completely understand when they are unavailable to transport us somewhere.

So, that's it for the goals I had for this past year! As you began to realize while reading the last few responses to my goals was that I took dressage lessons. I really feel as if I learned a ton during these dressage lessons; they were enormously beneficial to both Bella and I. 

A few other details I want to quickly share:

During these dressage lessons we tried a bit from my instructor called a Myler Comfort Snaffle (specifically loose ring). I'm so glad my instructor recommended this bit to us because Bella responds very well to it, and the first day I rode in the bit I noticed an immediate response and improvement. This bit is unique because both side of it can freely rotate 360 degrees.

Lastly, over the past few weeks I have begun to utilize longeing. My instructor first recommended it to me, and I decided to try using it as a tool. It turned out to be a very valuable one! I use Rebalancing Side Reins from Dressage Extensions (only during longeing of course; I would not ride with side reins) and it helps Bella because she can be so stubborn and evasive. 

She is by no means a perfect dressage horse after these few weeks of lessons. She is still very inconsistent with being on the bit, and I know that will take lots of perseverance, patience, and hard work over a long period of time, but eventually will yield great benefits for the both of us. I feel this longeing is a step in the right direction to enforce that she has to listen to me, which she has issues with. She is definitely a mare, and a chestnut to boot. 

Thanks for reading!