When it comes to the time of the month to really get working and training for Snowfields I always feel bad that I cannot volunteer. It's a 3 hour ride for us, and with gas prices the way they are we're lucky if we can go to the event! But anyway, I took Keiko this year. She was great! It was her 1st real long trip show and her 1st USEA. She had a really nice dressage test scoring a 33.3 and tied for 1st. Then the dreaded stadium came next. It had been raining like crazy all night the night before and during the show. Always fun right? Her balance and footing and warm up was a little hairy scary, but we pulled through our stadium round with no jump penalties or time faults! ( SJ Video ) (STILL tied for 1st) There was almost a 3 hour break between SJ and XC, so that gave us time to walk our cross country :) Warming up was again a little scary. We headed out on to cross country and the Swedish WB side of Keiko came out with a force! She was super forward and "up" it was fantastic. Clear over every jump and over finish fence I glanced down at my watch and we had 30 seconds! I was SO proud of my big Keiko mare! Come to find out the person I was tied with was really smart and after the last jump she walked to the finish flags cause she knew we were tied and she could win it on her time. I was thinking if I did that; 1, We'd have to walk SO slow and 2, I thought there was some kind of penalty for doing that. So I don't really know. Honestly I am not totally worried cause Keiko got 2nd AND the Pony Club award. I was (and still am) so incredibly proud of her. It makes me happy that she is doing so well, because I know alot of people that think that the past few years I was winning because it was all Dixie.Wrong. It's a team effort, and with the right training any horse can be a so called "Winner". This is kind of proof :) I am proud of all my horses and how far they've come.
Next on the agenda was....the Infinity Farm 2-phase! Keiko and Ryn went this time! Keiko did BN and Ryn did Elementary. Yet again, it had been raining the night before and everything was so wet. Dressage warm up was so slick that I didn't get much warm up with either horse. Keiko got a 29.5, and Ms. Ryn got a 33.8. Again, so proud. It was Ryn's 1st 2-phase ever :) They both went clear jumping too! Keiko got 2nd, and Ryn was tied in 1st after dressage and in jumping, so they did a coin toss (Our Collectives were all the same) and I lost. HAHA. I think I have come to the conclusion I am not lucky with ties. :) The day was winding down and people were leaving, everything was quieting down until.....I hear "LOOOOSSSEEEE HOOOORRRSSSEEE!" It was a fellow NER pony clubber's pony. They put a girl on the pony, and he took off and she came off. He headed down a four wheeler trail. So, thinking quickly my friend Keri and I tacked up Keiko and Ryn, and went on an adventure! Now, at the time I was not thinking and Ryn has never been on the trails, or a main road. So, poor Keri is in Danskos and someone elses helmet, and I'm in jeans and muck boots that are too big for me. So safe right? After about a mile and a half we came to a main road in Dover Foxcroft, and couldn't see hoof prints anymore. So we guessed and went right. A little ways down there was a logging road and he was right down it! We saw an older lady holding him, and his owner and another woman pop out of the woods. He was fine, no scrapes and didn't break any tack! The owner popped on Keiko and I got on the pony (Who I didn't know.) and went back to the fair grounds! It was such an adventure but way too fun :) We are just thankful that the pony was not hurt.
Then came the Peter Atkins Clinic! Thanks to Marina (Her Blog) and her mother Mary for offering to bring me! We took the trip to Lyman, Maine with Neil and Duellsa! It only took about 45 mins to get Duelli on a unfamiliar trailer this time :) I took about 3 hours from my house (Though, the DiMarco's had an additional 2 hours from traveling from Houlton) we got a little lost, not bad at all. We actually still ended up getting there early. The lesson was great! He wasn't the kind of instructor that said "Do this, this, and this!" He asked many questions like... "What does a horse need to be on the bit?" And being good pony clubbers, Marina and I way over thought the question. He said " THE BIT." Which, duh, it made sense. Another good one was.
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This was a GREAT one for me, cause I fight with people about it all the time. Stirrup length! I always get talked to about my stirrup length and that it is much too long. Well, what Peter said is if your stirrups are short (like really short, not quite Jockey height) your legs cannot wrap around the horse as easily because your legs are now on the upper part of the horses barrel, and where it starts to go narrow. So when you add leg, it slides your leg up and pops you out of the saddle.
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After Discussing ring work, we headed out to do some XC! 1st up was the water. Duelli was a little hesitant at 1st but once she got a hoof in she was perfectly comfortable. We cantered in and out and did a trot circle in the water, where Marina was on the outside going to the left, and I was on the inside going to the right. The reasoning behind that was most horses do not like the splashing in the water. Another thing we talked about is the hoof flotation in the water. Just like it is hard for us to run in water, it is for them too. When on solid the horse always knows where his/her hoof is going to land. In water they start to put their hoof down and once it is in the water it "floats" a little bit then lands. So the horses are always unsure where their hoof will actually land. After playing in the water, we talked about banks. That was my physics lesson for the day :). He was talking about how when jumping a bank the horse has to get the feel for not having much landing when going up. On a stadium fence, it's just the 2ft fence at 5 ft (in order to get their body over) and land the 2ft fence on the same level ground. On a bank they loose some of that landing spot. When going down a bank, almost every horse jumps it as if there was a 2ft stadium jump right at the edge. It made sense, because if you think of a regular 2ft jump. Your horse is not going to jump only 2ft, if they did they'd collide into it. They have to get their legs and body over it. So that adds at least another 2ft. :) (Banks) (Video 1 Video 2)
Duelli and Neil were great, and I would love to have another lesson with Peter someday.
Now for a week of more Clinics, and show crazy fun!
Pendragon 2phase videos (Dressage Jumping)
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