And more where pony is doing her best impersonation of a mellow Eq horse...

So Tuesday and Wednesday night I had a couple more lessons with the super good, sensitive, light Arwen that has been making an appearance lately. Tuesday we were stuck in the indoor since by the time I was mounted up and ready to go, it was already dark out. Our outdoor does have lights, but they kind of suck. There were only two jumps set up in the indoor, so we practiced tight U-shaped turns going both directions. Pony face was once again, fantastic. She was listening to me extremely well, shortening her stride when I requested or lengthening a bit to get the distance. We missed a couple times trying to do the U-shaped turn, until I remembered I DO have an outside leg and YES it helps to use it on tight turns. A couple of the turns felt so good. I could really feel her hind end under me, and pivoting on the inside leg to make a nice, square, neat turn without losing impulsion. Trainer also raised the fences a little higher than we have been schooling lately, I would say probably around 2'6"-2'7".

Wednesday I was able to get out to the barn a little earlier, so I quickly groomed in hopes of being able to ride outside. Since she had been turned out for the majority of the day, we just did a super quick warmup, and then trainer had me doing a little cavaletti sized jump a couple times before cantering some crossrails and some larger jumps. Again-awesome pony. We pretty much nailed all the distances, she was listening really well, and only kind of ran off with me when we had to do a jump, then two stride to a ground pole. I'm pretty sure this happened because I got kind of nervous about the ground pole, so I forgot to sit up and keep leg on. Because we were losing light though, trainer just had me keep going...and going...and going...yelled out which jump to take as soon as I finished the first one. It was kind of fun actually, and kept ponyface guessing. Since we were outside, we even jumped a little bigger. One of the jumps was set to a soft 2'11", which was exciting!

I'm just really keeping my fingers crossed Arwen stays this way, at least for the majority of the time so we can keep progressing. I bought her to be a 3'-3'3" horse and I would like to get there with her before she can't (since she is going to be 15 this year). But the way things are going now, I feel like I'm pretty much on track with the goals I set. Lateral work is still a uh...work in progress but its getting better. She just doesn't like to move those haunches over, and/or I'm just not pushing the correct button (my guess is more the latter, less of the first). But rideability has improved so much from when I first got her, its nice. I think a lot of it is I have much better body control (due to CrossFit) and I've been reminding myself every. single. ride to SIT UP and back. Keeping my shoulders above my hips really helps.

Okay, where is my horse and what did you do with her?

Every year, my barn has a little Christmas Eve "show". I use the term show loosely, because all it really is is everyone getting together, eating and drinking, and throwing some riding in there. Sometimes trainer has a pre-established course, sometimes we're just on our own to make up what we want to do. Its just to get out there and have a little fun before the holidays/end of the year.

Well. I know I've been talking about how good Arwen has been lately. Saturday was no exception. She was EXCELLENT. It was funny, because the day before I rode her in my first jump lesson of the week and oh man, I couldn't find a distance to save my life! We took a couple of fliers, one even knocked me loose and I almost slammed my face on her neck. Got better as the lesson progressed and I actually started riding her but damn...I was thinking that the next day was NOT going to go well. So Saturday I get on her, and we do a quick little warm up and then trainer calls me out to do some jumps. They're all set at like speed bump height (probably 2'3"). I trot the first cross rail just as a little warm up. Arwen goes to it super quietly, then canters away almost on a loose rein. The ENTIRE time jumping continued on like this. She was so quiet it was scary. At no point in time did she feel like she was running away with me, even after a one stride which is where she can sometimes get quick. And, we even did a bending line to the new liverpool (which she didn't even peek at, unlike her owner who was staring at it with great big googly eyes on the approach). I quit jumping her after a few jumps at around 2'5" and now I'm kind of regretting we didn't do more! I bet that we could have done a really nice 3' course that day, and I might have even been able to play around a little bit higher.

I'm really liking how rideable she has been lately, and I'm wondering if its the supplements (SmartCalm Ultra, SmartGut) doing any of it. I definitely think the vacation she had helped her brain too. She's much more responsive and willing to listen to me. Also, maybe its me getting a little bit better? I know my posture in the saddle is improving so I'm wondering if its making my aids less confusing. Either way, I was so impressed with my girl on Saturday. We'll see if this week its back to regularly scheduled programming, or Arwen has a future as a hunter ;-)

Here's a short little video of us too. Good times, and man those jumps look so unimpressive! (although from the saddle my brain perceived them as 5ft tall)

Sickness :-(

So I've been fighting some really mild cold thingy for the past week or so. Its so mild its more annoying than anything else because I don't feel 100% but then I also don't feel particularly sick enough to be bedridden. I actually kind of prefer to just be really sick for a couple days and get it over with, as opposed to having this lingering cough and general feeling of crapiness.

I only worked out once last week because of it. It was a WOD that didn't involve any heavy cardio, because I knew I wouldn't be able to do it. I felt good afterwards, but then afterwards its like working out made the cold kick back in. So I'm hesitant to do it this week, but I REALLY need to. I figure I'll stick to ones that aren't super duper cardio heavy and hope that I don't feel like crap.

One thing being sick doesn't prevent me from doing? Riding, lol. Actually had another really nice week of rides with Arwen, the only exception being Tuesday night in the indoor when she was being really forward down the lines. She was listening though. When I actually stopped for a second and thought about my upper body and leg, she slowed down. But, when she starts blasting through the lines my thought process completely grinds to a halt for some reason. On Wednesday when we were inside again, she ended up being really, really good. I think first time riding in the week is always a little bit of an adventure because Saturday she was great. Did some bending lines and she was coming back to me nicely and even did an add in one of the lines. So overall, I'm happy with how things have been going.

This Saturday (Christmas Eve) we have our little barn "show" (which is mostly just eating and drinking, then riding) and I'm hoping to finally get some video of us jumping. Will be interesting to see!

Fitness Catchup and Riding Wins

Last Thursday, did my second day of skills testing at the box. Was definitely not as demanding as the first day, but still tough.

Was as follows:

500m row- completed in 1:50
Back squat- did 185lbs, could have probably done 200 if I really pushed it but its okay...
HSPU- 25 sec hold. Pathetic.
Toes to Bar-28. Hip flexors gave out before my abs did!
Max PU in 1 min- 30. Fairly happy with this. No girly pushups either, all CTD.

WOD "Helen":
 3 rds

400m run
21 swings (rx'd 35 lb kettlebell. Done)
12 pull ups (used the blue band. I suck at pull ups. Truly.)

Did it in 13:30 something I think? I can't remember, but it wasn't horrible. First time doing "Helen".

Felt kind of crummy going in and really unmotivated. DH pretty much had to drag me there. But, I'm glad I went its nice to have those benchmarks that I can now work off of. Overall between the two days, I think I pretty much fell in the middle of the pack for the women. At the higher end for the weighted movements, definitely in the middle for the rest, and maybe low middle for the WOD's. Retesting in 6 months. Yipee?

Riding was AWESOME on all fronts last week though. Oh man. I don't think Arwen and I have had a consistently good week like that in...ever. Usually there is always some day where something goes wrong, or we have a bad last fence, or something. I mean, I guess my first lesson Tuesday night could have gone better but it really wasn't horrible. She was getting a little quick, I was a little out of tune with her, but she was coming back when I asked her to. Which was weird. And it only got better from there. I did another lesson the next day, and she was great. I then stayed and watched a little mini clinic trainer was hosting, which I'll have to write about sometime soon. Super informative and I bowed out of doing it because of the $100 price tage, but also a little out of fear. I'm always apprehensive about riding with new people, mainly because OMG they can pick up on my weaknesses SO.FAST. Am I really that obvious? Its sad. But, I definitely think everytime I've ridden with someone new I've always gotten some totally fantastic to take away...so I think I just need to get overmyself.

The kicker was Friday, when we did the super fun grid I wrote about in my last entry. And then Saturday, we took is easy since I had already jumped three days but she was so great. We did bending lines, in both her bad and good direction, as well as some tight u-shaped turns. Listening well, coming back to me, not getting all crazy through the lines. Then on Sunday, our hack day, I took her through a serpentine (trot) and canter circle exercise (probalby 10m circles) that the clinician did on Wednesday and she was excellent. A little harder on the left bed, but thats pretty normal. I took some short video of myself, and I think I'm leaning my outside shoulder in when asking her for the left bend. Maybe because I'm trying so hard for that left bedn, I'm shifting my hips? I dunno. Either way, I'm going to make sure I'm keeping that shoulder back tonight when I ride.

The main things I was working on was keeping my boobs to the sky, having a soft, but steady feel, keeping leg on, and approaching the jumps with a little more pace. I think all those things helped, plus Arwen has been in a really good mood lately. I rode her in her bridle (the running gag) for the first time in awhile, and she was so soft in it. I barely had to touch the reins at all. We'll see how she is tonight...hoping last week wasn't just a fluke and we can FINALLY start progressing to some more complicated/higher stuff!

Whhhhheeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Today was an awesome lesson. Arwen was being great (with the exception of refusing at one jump that was totally my bad) so trainer had us go through the grid set up in the arena. Four jumps, all one strides. Started with some cross rails and small verticals. Arwen was getting a little quick through them, I think totally unimpressed with the height. So trainer started raising and raising them. I just kept plunking through because in a grid, all you really have to do is get a decent in and then keep leg on and go straight (or, close eyes and pray). Well...I knew they were higher than normal because Arwen was actually jumping them. I'm pretty sure I went through the last time with a big grin on my face. When I was done, I had to ask "so how high are those?". Turns out they were like 3'5"!! Go me and Arwen!!

I Survived!

Day one of my CrossFit's skills testing. I went into this feeling a bit intimidated, mainly because I hadn't done the main strength move in a couple months and because I was a COMPLETE and utter slacker the last month. But, after trying to give the husband sad puppy eyes (which he completed ignored, by the way) to get out of this thing, I decided "EFF IT". I would just suck it up and well, suck if thats what it came down to.

Skills testing as follows:

800m run (had to be done in under 5 minutes)- 3:45 (I wanted to do sub 4, so I was happy with this)
1 RM Deadlift- 205lbs. On par with the most I ever lifted, but in June. Will be working on these.
Max consecutive ring dips (in two minutes)- HAH. Did these with blue band, 10. These are fun.
Max Double Unders (in two minutes, allowed to break up)- 35. Totally proud of this because I did 35!
Max consecutive pull ups (in two minutes)- 15 with blue band. Hands and forearms gave out before anything else

Benchmark WOD "Christine"
3 rounds
500m row
12 deadlifts (RX is bodyweight)- I used 115. At this point, my back was feeling a little tweaked and I didn't want to push it
21 box jumps

Did it in 16:30. Not the best (clearly) but also not the worst. First time I had done this WOD, so nothing to compare it to, unfortunately.

This was long workout. By the time we got around to the benchmark WOD, I was ready to quit. But, I put my big girl panties on and got it done.

One day down, one more to go.

WOD Catchup

After the hard WOD on 11/28/11, I waited until the end of the week to cram in my last two workouts and ended up doing two within a 10 hour time frame. Essentially doubles with some sleep inbetwee, lol. I think thats why I'm STILL sore.

12/1/11

Press 5x5-did 45 lb bar, plus 12.5 on each side. It was a struggle. On the last two sets I couldn't get to 5.

20
16
12
8
4

Consisting of DB snatches (total), women's RX'd was 25, and then pull ups, same number. I used the blue band. Can't do more than 10 at a time, max. My hands start to hurt. Makes me wonder if there is something weird going on with my pullup form, or I'm just really, really weak (I'm going to guess its the latter)

Can't even remember my time. But I'm pretty sure it was around 16 something?

12/2/11

5 rounds
300m row
15 wall ball (women use 14)
200m run

I hit up the 6am class for this one, after doing the 6:30 class the night before. Completed in 20 minutes exactly (although DH says it was 20:02. Whatever. I saw 20 on the clock when I came through the door). Felt pretty good, actually. Even the wall balls. I think I'm a sick, twisted individual who happens to like wallballs and thrusters.

Updates!

So since my last post I've had a couple of really nice rides on the pony! She's clearly been feeling a-okay and even came out pretty spunky last week for our first lesson. Flat work went as usual, just tried to do lots of bending, leg yields, circles and figure eights. Had some really great moments where she lifted her back and went on the bit. I was playing around with the amount of bend/inside leg to get her to use that inside hind and it takes a lot, as well as a lot of consistent feel from me. So we (and by we, I mean me) are going to need to keep working on that because I know she'll slip in and out of being engaged because of my inconsistencies. But, we're getting there, slowly but surely!

I also felt inspired after reading an article by Greg Best in the latest edition of Practical Horsemen where he talked about coming to jumps with more pace than usual, which then allows you to take back after the jump to get on that perfect canter. Its something that trainer has drilled into me for awhile, but I think because of the lesson I had last Saturday (where I was trying to take away *before* the fences) really brought it home for me, and finally stuck in my brain (hey, I'm a slow learner I guess. Give me a break). So going into this past week, I was bound and determined to have a great, slightly forward canter with impulsion to all my fences. And low and behold, it worked. I think when Arwen felt like I was letting her have enough pace to her fences, she didn't make a bid for them, and she stayed fairly soft afterwards. During the week we were only working on singles, but on Saturday we put together a 10 fence course with some lines so I really got to put it to the test. It was lovely. She came back nicely through the lines, we didn't have any ugly spots or rushy jumps. The only thing we messed up on was a right rollback turn where I totally forgot where I was going. We did it a couple more times though, and really smoothed it out (though it still wasn't 100%, we ended on a good note)

A couple other notes on some changes I've tried to make to myself. First, is I'm really trying to focus on not rounding my shoulders. From working at a computer all day long, they tend to round forward even when I feel like I'm sitting up straight. It takes a conscious effort for me to keep those darn things back. Unfortuantely, keeping those shoulders up and back makes a huge difference when riding. I've been playing around with that when riding and wow-it so far seems to make a big difference in how Arwen responds to me. Second, is the release I'm giving her. In my lesson with M a month or so ago she told me to really not release much and I hadn't gotten to practice/play around with it until now. I think thats making a big difference too. And its not really restricting my release, its just keeping that steady contact with Arwen's mouth. Its helping her not scoot off after the fences, and just in general have better control. Both of these things will take some time to sink in, I imagine. I am going to have to make a really conscious effort to keep working at them to be successful, which is hard for me to do sometimes, especially when Arwen has been really,  really good. But...its a vicious circle right? She is usually really really good when I stop riding her like a drunk monkey. And then when she's good, I feel like I can ride her like a drunk monkey, which she protests to, and starts doing naughty things. And then we have to start all over again. Like I said...I'm a slow learner!

Fitness wise, I FINALLY made it back into CF for three workouts last week. I am still sore from that, by the way (which is sad. Very, very sad). So, score on getting in there, but total FAIL on my nutrition. Started out the week well, but then ended on a really crappy note. After a month of gorging and not working out, I can definitely feel a difference in the way my clothes fit and my body looks. And obviously not in a good way. So...time to re-evaluate what I'm eating and get focused.