So, after the disaster that was two weekends ago I went out on Tuesday night to hack Arwen. The plan was a lot of flatwork, with ground poles to work on some of the rideability issues we had. Felt fine at the walk and trot, and cantering on the right lead, but as soon as I picked up the left lead, something felt off. She wasn't lame, but it also wasn't the usual canter. Just kind of shorter in step, bouncier, and she was pulling slightly. Figured she would work out of it, which she kind of did, and then we went to do a left to right lead change. And she missed it. She hasn't missed a lead change in awhile, so I was a little miffed. She isn't an auto changer by any means, but if you set her up decently enough all it usually takes is just sliding that outside leg back and she'll change. I decided to not school it, since that wasn't really my focus for the day. Set up some ground poles and she was fabulous going right, but then pretty horrendous going left. Doing the same thing to me of bearing down on the bit and just charging around, unbalanced and not really listening. Called it quits after trotting over it a couple times because it was getting dark.
I left the arena pretty discouraged at this point. Oh, and she was also super spooky that night. I get off her and start to groom her, and notice there seems to be a bunch of dried mud on the inside of her left hock. The lighting in the crossties isn't the best, so I started currying it to get it off. Arwen jerks her leg up and proceeds to give me the look of death. I stop, and pull off a piece of the "mud" and realize its not mud, but blood. She has about a three inch long scratch on her leg, that had apparently been there for at least a day from the looks of it. I clean it up with a little water, and then put some silver sulfadene on it and text my trainer that its possible she was horrendous because her left hock is a little sore.
Next day, trainer tells me she definitely feels she's favoring that leg, doesn't feel normal, so she just walks her around and has the groom clean it up. Tells me I'm still on for my lesson the next day. I come out there the following day and holy cow, Arwen's leg has blown up like a balloon. So now, she's on antibotics and taking ANOTHER little vacation. I swear, I don't know how this horse does these things to herself.
In the meantime, I've ridden some other horses. Rode Ready on Thursday (who I fell off of, due to my old standby habit of not seeing a distance, and throwing myself and my reins at the horse's head. They of course can't save me, so they stop and I go flying. Second time I've done that in two weeks), then rode a horse named Valentine on Friday, and Goldi on Saturday. All very different horses, which challenged me. A lot. Ready is good for me mostly because he reminds me to keep my leg on at all times. If I don't he sputters out. And he is usually not a stopper, but the fences were at 3ft and poor guy...he can only do so much to save me when we're running at a jump all disorganized. Valentine was good because she's a little like Arwen, just not as sane. So similar ride, but her brain seems to get a little more frazzled than Arwen, so does require a slightly more tactful ride. At one point after some nice trotting flat work, I asked her to canter which she did, and then proceeded to start bucking. So I got off, trainer had her lunged, got back on, and did some small jumps which went great. She's a fun little horse. Goldi was polar opposite from everything I've ridden. Doesn't want you in his face, and is super squiggly and quick to move off your leg. At one point we were weaving back and forth as I was trying to figure out the correct leg pressure. He also carries himself pretty well, and with decent pace, so it was really weird to not have much contact with his face. Totally different jump too, he definitely jumps "up" to the rider, and is much slower over fences, versus Arwen who gets a little fast/flat over the smaller stuff.
All in all though, the rides were okay. The definitely showed some major weaknesses in my riding though, which is both good and bad. Good because it gives me more stuff I need to work on, and bad because HOLY HELL am I ever going to be able to ride? Of course, when I think like that I have to remind myself to take a step back and remember that I haven't really been riding that long.
As for fitness, I did manage to drag myself to CF three times last week. OH and I finally kind of managed a kipping PU. WITHOUT A BAND. And not just one, but two in a row! AND AND AND...did 9 DU's in a row. Pretty exciting stuff. Getting closer to that 6 month goal I set, which is nice. Still need to work on my diet/weight loss, but I'm fairly happy with things fitness wise. It feels really good to be getting back into the swing of things at CF.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Bad week all around
On both the fitness and riding front. My lower back is STILL bothering me so I only went to CrossFit once in hopes laying off it a bit would help. It felt better one day, then I think I slept funny because the next morning both my neck and back hurt. Awesome. The one WOD I did attend was a long, hard one so I ramped down the dumbell weight to 15's (rx'd was 25) which I felt wussy about, but I knew it was going to put a lot of stress on my low back and hey...not trying to be a hero. Putting me totally out of commission is worse than only being semi out of commission, you know?
Riding. Well. Where to start. Had a lesson Thursday night which was LOVELY. Arwen was super responsive and "on". We nailed pretty much all the fences, even a tough bending line of a five stride to a four stride. Went through it no problem. So we didn't jump much, just called it a night.
Mistake number one: Proceeded to go out to dinner with trainer after my lesson where we consumed a lot of wine. There were three of us. We drank two bottles. I was not drunk, but drinking that much even if I don't wake up hung over has shown in the past to be a hinderance to my riding the next morning. Slower reaction times, and just complete loss of brain power. But...since Arwen had been so good, I figured why wouldn't she be good the next morning?
Mistake number two: Assuming I would have the same horse in the morning. I was in a group lesson and running a little late, so we did a quick flat warm up. Did some transitions, a little lateral, but I mostly just wanted to get her warm enough to catch up to the other riders (that was Mistake number three). She started out okay, but then started her old trick of scurrying through the lines and totally blowing through my hand. I've been riding her in a new bit (Mistake number four) that she HAS been good in, but I think has to be the right kind of rideability (and owner has to be the right kind of rider) for it to be successful. Its a pretty strong combination (mullen mouth hackabit with a curb chain. Shanks are pretty long) and I can't get too handsy with it, otherwise she bears down on it. Well...I was already a little off from the alcohol consumption the night before (trainer even told me I seemed really "loose" through my upper body) which I think made her take advantage a little, and it just devolved from there. I got handsy, she got strong. Got three refusals and ugh...this is the worst part...I came off her. GAH!!!! First real come off on a refusal in MONTHS. And in the combo/bending line she did SO beautifully the night before with NO issues. What happened was we came into the line really strong, she charged through the five strides and then was running to do the 4 stride in 3. Of course, at this point my brain is in total overdrive and shutting down-I think I assumed she was just going to take the flyer (again, due to my issues with seeing really long distances when all things go to shit. I think its because with that flailing, fast canter its nearly impossible to see anything). She of course was like "what to dooooo?" and slams on the brakes. I go flying over her left shoulder, totally unprepared. I manage to swing around the underside of her neck, narrowly avoiding the jump standard, and land on my butt. Still hanging onto the reins too. Trainer asks if I want her to get on, and I'm like "no, I'll work this out" and we did. It actually ended on a fairly decent note-after that Arwen decided it was better to listen to me.
So...mistake number 5 (6,7,8? who knows what number I'm on at this point) was not being more "on" that day with my riding. Arwen is like the freaking raptors from Jurrassic Park. You know, always testing the fence for weaknesses? Well...just call me the fence. If I'm not always being really conscious of my body position/placement and what I'm asking of her, she will take advantage. I know I've posted about needing to always "ride" her. Well, again I think I've fallen into the trap of complacency because she's been so good for the last two-three months. Not anymore though.
Well after that disaster, Saturday morning was even worse. Again...a rushed flatwork warmup to catch up to the rest of the lesson (another lesson relearned after this weekend, cannot skimp on demanding excellence from her on the flat) and a different bit since another girl was using the one from the day before. Arwen started out okay, was a little speedy. But...thinking about it I'm pretty sure I spent a lot of that lesson reverting to something of a tense, anticipatory, handsy grabby hunchback. At least down some of the lines. Arwen don't play that game. She was blasting through the lines, and after doing one TINY little vertical to try and get her to listen to me again, she took off and blasted around the arena a couple times in a full on gallop. At this point I'm ready to call it quits, but trainer doesn't want to end on that note. So I trot the same vertical a couple times and bring her to a stop before the turn. She ended feeling pretty good (i.e. not racing at the trot jump, and stopping when I ask her, no bracing) and then we quit. Trainer tells me she thinks she might be going into heat but I think a lot of it was me. No, I KNOW a lot of it was me. I think the hackabit we were using is much less forgiving than the controller noseband. It is a lot of leverage, and if I'm being a good, soft rider its a great bit that really makes her listen. However, as shown on Friday and Saturday if I can't stay soft, it all goes to hell. And I think that applies in general, but its really hard for me to stay soft when she's being this speedy, charging, bracing monster.
Oh, the other thing I'm ditching next ride is the spurs. I think wearing them makes me nervous because I think I'm going to goose her (even though they're super soft, little roller balls) which causes me to take my leg off. And more hand over leg on Arwen is just no bueno.
So we'll see. Hopefully the reset button has been pushed on both of us and we can pick up again where we left off next time I ride her. Hopefully.
Riding. Well. Where to start. Had a lesson Thursday night which was LOVELY. Arwen was super responsive and "on". We nailed pretty much all the fences, even a tough bending line of a five stride to a four stride. Went through it no problem. So we didn't jump much, just called it a night.
Mistake number one: Proceeded to go out to dinner with trainer after my lesson where we consumed a lot of wine. There were three of us. We drank two bottles. I was not drunk, but drinking that much even if I don't wake up hung over has shown in the past to be a hinderance to my riding the next morning. Slower reaction times, and just complete loss of brain power. But...since Arwen had been so good, I figured why wouldn't she be good the next morning?
Mistake number two: Assuming I would have the same horse in the morning. I was in a group lesson and running a little late, so we did a quick flat warm up. Did some transitions, a little lateral, but I mostly just wanted to get her warm enough to catch up to the other riders (that was Mistake number three). She started out okay, but then started her old trick of scurrying through the lines and totally blowing through my hand. I've been riding her in a new bit (Mistake number four) that she HAS been good in, but I think has to be the right kind of rideability (and owner has to be the right kind of rider) for it to be successful. Its a pretty strong combination (mullen mouth hackabit with a curb chain. Shanks are pretty long) and I can't get too handsy with it, otherwise she bears down on it. Well...I was already a little off from the alcohol consumption the night before (trainer even told me I seemed really "loose" through my upper body) which I think made her take advantage a little, and it just devolved from there. I got handsy, she got strong. Got three refusals and ugh...this is the worst part...I came off her. GAH!!!! First real come off on a refusal in MONTHS. And in the combo/bending line she did SO beautifully the night before with NO issues. What happened was we came into the line really strong, she charged through the five strides and then was running to do the 4 stride in 3. Of course, at this point my brain is in total overdrive and shutting down-I think I assumed she was just going to take the flyer (again, due to my issues with seeing really long distances when all things go to shit. I think its because with that flailing, fast canter its nearly impossible to see anything). She of course was like "what to dooooo?" and slams on the brakes. I go flying over her left shoulder, totally unprepared. I manage to swing around the underside of her neck, narrowly avoiding the jump standard, and land on my butt. Still hanging onto the reins too. Trainer asks if I want her to get on, and I'm like "no, I'll work this out" and we did. It actually ended on a fairly decent note-after that Arwen decided it was better to listen to me.
So...mistake number 5 (6,7,8? who knows what number I'm on at this point) was not being more "on" that day with my riding. Arwen is like the freaking raptors from Jurrassic Park. You know, always testing the fence for weaknesses? Well...just call me the fence. If I'm not always being really conscious of my body position/placement and what I'm asking of her, she will take advantage. I know I've posted about needing to always "ride" her. Well, again I think I've fallen into the trap of complacency because she's been so good for the last two-three months. Not anymore though.
Well after that disaster, Saturday morning was even worse. Again...a rushed flatwork warmup to catch up to the rest of the lesson (another lesson relearned after this weekend, cannot skimp on demanding excellence from her on the flat) and a different bit since another girl was using the one from the day before. Arwen started out okay, was a little speedy. But...thinking about it I'm pretty sure I spent a lot of that lesson reverting to something of a tense, anticipatory, handsy grabby hunchback. At least down some of the lines. Arwen don't play that game. She was blasting through the lines, and after doing one TINY little vertical to try and get her to listen to me again, she took off and blasted around the arena a couple times in a full on gallop. At this point I'm ready to call it quits, but trainer doesn't want to end on that note. So I trot the same vertical a couple times and bring her to a stop before the turn. She ended feeling pretty good (i.e. not racing at the trot jump, and stopping when I ask her, no bracing) and then we quit. Trainer tells me she thinks she might be going into heat but I think a lot of it was me. No, I KNOW a lot of it was me. I think the hackabit we were using is much less forgiving than the controller noseband. It is a lot of leverage, and if I'm being a good, soft rider its a great bit that really makes her listen. However, as shown on Friday and Saturday if I can't stay soft, it all goes to hell. And I think that applies in general, but its really hard for me to stay soft when she's being this speedy, charging, bracing monster.
Oh, the other thing I'm ditching next ride is the spurs. I think wearing them makes me nervous because I think I'm going to goose her (even though they're super soft, little roller balls) which causes me to take my leg off. And more hand over leg on Arwen is just no bueno.
So we'll see. Hopefully the reset button has been pushed on both of us and we can pick up again where we left off next time I ride her. Hopefully.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Weekend Lessons:The good and the bad
Lets first start with the good, shall we?
The biggest win of the weekend was I jumped over some legit 3' fences. Two to be exact, but who's counting? They were kind of spaced out in our course that day, but one was the "in" of the line, the other was set as an out/single that we were doing rollback turn to. It was a lot of fun.
Now for the bad (this is a lot more lengthy than the good)
Arwen refused twice on me on Friday. First was because of a horrible deep spot I put her to on one of the 3' fences. She probably would have crawled over it if it were smaller, but at 3' its a little harder and she just isn't that type of horse. Second was because I was riding her like a drunk monkey through a bending line. She had no idea where she was going, and suddenly I point her to the fence two strides out and she slams on the brakes. Fortunately, I stayed on both times (in fact, no where near coming off knock on wood) but I'm disappointed because it had been, up until last week, a REALLY long time since she's been refusing. I'm wondering if her coffins are bothering her again, and really hoping NOT since I just got them injected two months ago. If it is her coffins, I'm going to do x-rays because seriously, this horse should not need maintenance that often. She is jumping little speed bumps and doesn't get worked that hard.
Other bad-Saturday's lesson was okay, but no where near the greatest it has been. I was riding her in a different bit and I think it caused me to get a little handsy because she started rushing a little, and we also just couldn't get the distance to this one particular fence. It was a fence off a right turn, and she kept sticking through the corner so our distance was always a little funky.
Well, of course I had to get out there Sunday and play around with that turn by myself. I know when I have to figure things out, its best if I do it on my own. So we did a little crossrail, off a similar turn. Lightbulb moment for me in 3...2...1...I'M the one who is HOLDING her through the corner. Girl is only sticking because stupid rider up top is simultaneously trying to keep her impulsion through the turn while holding onto that outside rein waaaaaaaay too much as opposed to just putting on more outside leg. Because the first time we did that cross rail, same thing. Crappy, chippy distance. Did it again and realized I was totally holding her through the turn. Third time through, I let go, and just let her naturally flow through that corner with some pace with very little rein, and only added outside rein as we were getting straight to the jump. Voila. Great distance. Oy. One of these days, I think I'll learn how to ride/ride my horse. Or, at least that is what I'm hoping...
This really frustrate mes because I KNOW the holding through the corner is one of my really bad habits. No idea why I do it either. But now that I'm aware I just really need to keep working on it.
The biggest win of the weekend was I jumped over some legit 3' fences. Two to be exact, but who's counting? They were kind of spaced out in our course that day, but one was the "in" of the line, the other was set as an out/single that we were doing rollback turn to. It was a lot of fun.
Now for the bad (this is a lot more lengthy than the good)
Arwen refused twice on me on Friday. First was because of a horrible deep spot I put her to on one of the 3' fences. She probably would have crawled over it if it were smaller, but at 3' its a little harder and she just isn't that type of horse. Second was because I was riding her like a drunk monkey through a bending line. She had no idea where she was going, and suddenly I point her to the fence two strides out and she slams on the brakes. Fortunately, I stayed on both times (in fact, no where near coming off knock on wood) but I'm disappointed because it had been, up until last week, a REALLY long time since she's been refusing. I'm wondering if her coffins are bothering her again, and really hoping NOT since I just got them injected two months ago. If it is her coffins, I'm going to do x-rays because seriously, this horse should not need maintenance that often. She is jumping little speed bumps and doesn't get worked that hard.
Other bad-Saturday's lesson was okay, but no where near the greatest it has been. I was riding her in a different bit and I think it caused me to get a little handsy because she started rushing a little, and we also just couldn't get the distance to this one particular fence. It was a fence off a right turn, and she kept sticking through the corner so our distance was always a little funky.
Well, of course I had to get out there Sunday and play around with that turn by myself. I know when I have to figure things out, its best if I do it on my own. So we did a little crossrail, off a similar turn. Lightbulb moment for me in 3...2...1...I'M the one who is HOLDING her through the corner. Girl is only sticking because stupid rider up top is simultaneously trying to keep her impulsion through the turn while holding onto that outside rein waaaaaaaay too much as opposed to just putting on more outside leg. Because the first time we did that cross rail, same thing. Crappy, chippy distance. Did it again and realized I was totally holding her through the turn. Third time through, I let go, and just let her naturally flow through that corner with some pace with very little rein, and only added outside rein as we were getting straight to the jump. Voila. Great distance. Oy. One of these days, I think I'll learn how to ride/ride my horse. Or, at least that is what I'm hoping...
This really frustrate mes because I KNOW the holding through the corner is one of my really bad habits. No idea why I do it either. But now that I'm aware I just really need to keep working on it.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
WOD 02/01/2012 and Tuesday night lesson
Last nights WOD was another ass kicker. Had to scale down the swings because my back pretty much screamed at me when I picked up the womens rx'd kettlebell. Feel kind of bad about that, but I also have to listen to my body. Still am not sure what is going on with the low back, if it doesn't improve in the next couple weeks might go see a doctor.
WOD as follows:
5 rounds
21 swings (women's RX'd 35lb bell, used 25 lbs which was too light but there was nothing in between)
15 burpees
9 push press (rx'd 25 lb dumbells
Completed somewhere in the sub 16 minutes, I believe, which is what I was aiming for. Would have been pleasantly surprised with below 15 minutes, but thats okay. Burpees kick my ass. Did the first round with 15 in a row though, so that was fun.
Feeling good being back at CF though. I missed having every muscle be sore!
Had a lesson Tuesday night. Rode Arwen in the two ring with the controller again. I like the two ring better, mostly because its a double jointed mouth piece, and its smooth. She doesn't really need the twist that is on the Beval gag, plus its only got a single joint. I got there early enough to warm her up outside, and then we started a little jumping out there. She started out okay, and then steadily got worse as it got darker. I went to take her down one of the lines, where the out jump was a bright white jump, with the blue solid river panel that she doesn't love. Three strides out I felt her spook a little, but pushed her forward. We turned to do it the other way, and wouldn't you know-she refused. The jump was set at like 2 ft! Trainer was like "WTF, she can WALK over that" so we jumped that line about 4 times both ways until she jumped it nicely. After finishing that, she said to me that perhaps its because Arwen can't see the jumps well at night, at least not ones that aren't brightly colored. Plus, the indoor arena lights were on behind the jump, which probably brought Arwen's eye up a little and possibly blinded her a bit (because going the other way away from the indoor was much better). So we decided to try a little experiment and jump a few jumps in the bright indoor. Arwen still had some residual speediness at first, but after jumping a couple and realizing she could see them, she was back to herself. Jumped with absolutely no spook or hesitation. Trainer even bumped one of them up to around 2'11", which I proceeded to bury her to the base on the first one, and she still jumped out fine.
Upon more thinking on the issue (I like to talk things through, so does my trainer) we looked back and realized that most of my REALLY hard lessons have been at night. In the dark. One comes to mind from last winter when all we did was circles around and around the arena trying to get Arwen to do a lead change. She was so amped up though she just wasn't listening. It was crazy. Then there was last Thursday, where she was being a total poop, but then was an angel on Saturday.
So the consensus is if I can't jump when its still light out, we will be jumping inside. Kind of stinks, but we want to preserve my confidence along with Arwens. A more seasoned confident rider who could feel the issue and actually do something about it would be able to ride her through no problem, but for me we just don't want to mess with it. Luckily, daylight savings is just around the corner and its already staying lighter out later, so I won't have to deal with the indoor for long.
WOD as follows:
5 rounds
21 swings (women's RX'd 35lb bell, used 25 lbs which was too light but there was nothing in between)
15 burpees
9 push press (rx'd 25 lb dumbells
Completed somewhere in the sub 16 minutes, I believe, which is what I was aiming for. Would have been pleasantly surprised with below 15 minutes, but thats okay. Burpees kick my ass. Did the first round with 15 in a row though, so that was fun.
Feeling good being back at CF though. I missed having every muscle be sore!
Had a lesson Tuesday night. Rode Arwen in the two ring with the controller again. I like the two ring better, mostly because its a double jointed mouth piece, and its smooth. She doesn't really need the twist that is on the Beval gag, plus its only got a single joint. I got there early enough to warm her up outside, and then we started a little jumping out there. She started out okay, and then steadily got worse as it got darker. I went to take her down one of the lines, where the out jump was a bright white jump, with the blue solid river panel that she doesn't love. Three strides out I felt her spook a little, but pushed her forward. We turned to do it the other way, and wouldn't you know-she refused. The jump was set at like 2 ft! Trainer was like "WTF, she can WALK over that" so we jumped that line about 4 times both ways until she jumped it nicely. After finishing that, she said to me that perhaps its because Arwen can't see the jumps well at night, at least not ones that aren't brightly colored. Plus, the indoor arena lights were on behind the jump, which probably brought Arwen's eye up a little and possibly blinded her a bit (because going the other way away from the indoor was much better). So we decided to try a little experiment and jump a few jumps in the bright indoor. Arwen still had some residual speediness at first, but after jumping a couple and realizing she could see them, she was back to herself. Jumped with absolutely no spook or hesitation. Trainer even bumped one of them up to around 2'11", which I proceeded to bury her to the base on the first one, and she still jumped out fine.
Upon more thinking on the issue (I like to talk things through, so does my trainer) we looked back and realized that most of my REALLY hard lessons have been at night. In the dark. One comes to mind from last winter when all we did was circles around and around the arena trying to get Arwen to do a lead change. She was so amped up though she just wasn't listening. It was crazy. Then there was last Thursday, where she was being a total poop, but then was an angel on Saturday.
So the consensus is if I can't jump when its still light out, we will be jumping inside. Kind of stinks, but we want to preserve my confidence along with Arwens. A more seasoned confident rider who could feel the issue and actually do something about it would be able to ride her through no problem, but for me we just don't want to mess with it. Luckily, daylight savings is just around the corner and its already staying lighter out later, so I won't have to deal with the indoor for long.
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