That Deserves 100 Cookies

This post is dedicated to Carlos. He is the poster child for the OTTB- talented, full of heart, and the kind of horse every girl dreams of owning. I can only hope that one day Kwik and I will have the kind of bond that L and Carlos shared.

Our jump lesson on Tuesday with Ann was awesome! No surprise there though because Ann is our magical miracle worker. It was hot (probably about 85) and HUMID, and Kwik was lazy lazy. We worked on keeping up the energy at the walk and trot, focusing on looking in the direction I wanted to go and giving Kwik a purpose. Then we moved into the canter. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I think our canter work is better than our trot work right now! Kwik seems to have found his balance at the canter (probably because I am riding much better) and now easily carries himself. The left lead is a little more tricky for us, and he picked up the wrong lead the first time I asked. Our transitions are much MUCH smoother now. We are now able to circle at the canter, do a simple change across the diagonal, and pick up the other lead! It's a great feeling to see the canter becoming something we naturally incorporate into our everyday rides and not just something special we do in lessons. Now it's something we can practice and improve upon with each ride.



Ann set up a little course of jumps: one single crossrail on the rail, one vertical on the rail, a vertical-pole combination on the inside line, and a rail-crossrail-rail combination on the centerline. Ann always starts off with a little course. I actually kind of like this because it gets me and Kwik thinking right off the bat and gives me more practice memorizing courses (which I'm terrible at). We started over the crossrail pole combination, around to the single crossrail, over the pole-vertical combination, and then over the vertical. Kwik wasn't quite sure what to do over the pole-crossrail-pole combo and sort of just walked clumsily through the entire thing. He jumped the single crossrail nicely, and we had a good approach to the pole-vertical combo. Again he sort of ran out of gas at the pole, but I pushed him back into the trot on the approach to the vertical. Again, he wasn't quite sure what he should do and stopped at the vertical. By this time I had finally realized he wasn't going to take off with me and it would be okay to put my leg on and ride him confidently to each obstacle. After that, we didn't have any problems with stopping. He did feel hesitant a few more times over the vertical with the box, but all I had to do was put my leg on and ride with confidence. In addition, I learned to ride with a more relaxed rein so Kwik could use his neck over the jumps. This helped boost his confidence, and he started to jump better as a result - he even had quick (Kwik!) feet on our last trip through the pole-crossrail-pole combo!

My take home messages from this lesson were:

-If I ride confidently, Kwik pretty much jumps anything I ask him to
-Trust a little more and ride with a more relaxed rein over fences so he has more freedom to use his neck
-Focus on maintaining a balanced seat on the approach to and away from a fence and anchoring my lower leg over the fence

Hopefully these things will get easier and easier, just like the canter. I think this lesson makes it about 6 times Kwik has jumped EVER? What a good pony!

Jumping with Anne

Instead of riding in the show jumping clinic last weekend, I took a lesson with Anne on Monday (yay for no work on President's Day!). We started off with some work over ground poles-asking him to do different tasks on the approach (leg yeild to the rail, come to a halt and then move off with energy). Then Anne set up a ground pole course so we could work on steering. I really liked this exercise- I could feel Kwik focusing on me, waiting for direction, and this extra focus really allowed me to concentrate on maintaining the rhythm at the trot.




Our ground rail course


The next thing I knew, Anne had put the ground rails up to tiny verticals, and she sent us back through the course, ommiting the middle jump in the inside line. I wasn't quite sure how this would go, but he hopped right over everything on the first try, and for the most part, we were able to maintain a relatively steady trot rhythm into and out of each jump. He was pretty proud of himself after the last line, and it took a few victory laps to bring him back to the trot, but we did it!!!! Anne changed up the order, and we went back around.

I was grinning from ear to ear by the end of the lesson! This was Kwik's first time jumping at his new home and our very first course! He didn't refuse anything, and I think I gave him a pretty decent ride for the most part. Anne explained that we can improve our rhythm, focus, and steering for jumping just by doing flatwork over groud rail courses so we will start incorporating variations of that exercise into our flatwork.

I decided to do some work on the lunge line with side reins on Wednesday. Up until this point, I've been on the fence with regards to side rein effectiveness. The last thing I want Kwik to learn is to curl his neck away from contact, but he really seemed to respond well to them. I made sure to keep him moving forward with engergy, and by the end of our session, he was stretching down and out, reaching for contact. I don't want to do too much lunging, but I think work like this for 15 minutes once a week will really help him. Overall, good things happening! Happy Friday!

Best. Week. Ever.

Last weekend I took a semi spur-of-the-moment trip down to Jacksonville to meet Adam for the weekend while he was on a business trip. We had a very nice, relaxing getaway, which means Kwik also had a nice, relaxing weekend. I was really excited about getting out to the barn this week, and I had three great rides!

Friday I had a mini jump lesson with A. We hopped over our warm-up crossrail a few times, and then moved on to a small vertical. We ended trotting in and cantering out and over a cross rail-small vertical line! He felt confident, balanced, and never once tried to charge through. I couldn't have been more pleased!

One night on our Jax trip, Adam had a few too many beers, and I got him to agree to come out to the barn with me on the weekend for a lesson. The plan was to put him on Pecker in a western saddle and then let him hop on Kwik when he felt comfortable. We were running short on time, so A and I just threw him up on Kwik in an English saddle. A put him on the lunge line for 5 minutes or so while she explained how to sit and steer, and after that he was on his own! I was so proud of Kwik- he took such good care of Adam! How many green OTTBs can you just throw a beginner on and have absolute confidence that he/she will be a saint!?! Actually probably quite a few since OTTBs rock!!! Adam was a little nervous at first, but he really got the hang of things in no time. I'm guessing he had a pretty good time becuase when he got off, he said, "Next time I want to go fast!" Whoa there, John Wayne, baby steps!

"Don't look down unless you want to hit the ground!" says A



All by himself!

Then I got on to finish my jump lesson with A from the previous night. After our warm up cross rail and vertical, A asked us to canter the line from last night. It was amazing! I know the jumps are small and cantering a small line shouldn't really be a big deal, but after everything that happened with Finn, it just seems wild that I'm cantering a line on Kwik two months after purchasing him. I need to work on my position- my leg has a tendancy to come back over the jumps and my form is just bad, but I can't even imagine where we will be in another two months- maybe jumping small courses!

Kwik and the Baby Jumps




I had a lesson Saturday with A, and we ended with a bit of jumping. This was only Kwik's second jump session, so we're taking things slowly to build good habits and confidence from the get go. We began just walking over a small cavaletti. Once he was comfortable walking over it we picked up a trot a few strides away. He ducked out and gave me a couple of small bucks as he cantered away. I regrouped and sent him around again. He jumped it like it was 5', and I was completely thrown off balance. He threw a couple small bucks when we landed as I tried to regroup. Once I got myself back together, my first instinct was to hop off and let A deal with his shenanigans, but my new-found confidence kicked in! I know this horse gets rattled when I get discombobulated, and he is extremely correct when I am correct. So, my job is to sit correctly and give him the confidence he lacks at this stage in the game. So, I picked up a trot, pointed him at the cavaletti again, sat a bit deeper, and encouraged him forward. Kwik popped right over, trotted politely out, and came right back to a walk when I asked!

After he was comfortably jumping the small cavaletti, we moved on to a very small vertical with some trot poles in front. I could feel him hesitate, and I thought he might try and duck out. I gave him a little more leg, and he jumped right over. After a few more trips through, he figured out how to pick up his front feet, and we moved on to another teeny vertical. Kwik was definitely more confident heading into this vertical (complete with fall wreaths!), and he threw a little party for himself as he cantered out! We ended there and recapped the lesson:

- Kwik is learning to stretch and bend (yay!), but he has figured out that he can overbend to the inside and pop his rear end to the outside rather than traveling straight. My first instinct is to use my inside rein to move him over, which is exactly what he wants me to do. It took a while for the idea to click, but A explained that I need to open my outside rein, bend him slightly to the outside, push his rear over with my outside leg, and use my inside leg as a post. That's a lot to think about and do all at once! It definitely got better, but we will be drilling this all week.

- Kwik is correct when I am correct. That's all there is to it. If he's doing something naughty, its because I am not riding effectively or I'm all nerved up. I have so many little things to check off in my head to make sure I am sitting correctly, and I'm constantly reminding myself when I ride. I'm hoping if I can fix my lower half, my upper half will be easier to adjust.

- A explained that when teaching green horses to jump, she likes to sit a bit deeper rather than assume half seat/jump position. That way, she has her leg and seat aids and can use them to encourage the horse forward and over the jump. When the horse is more confident, the half seat can be incorporated.

I was really proud of myself for this ride. A lot of it was ugly as I tried to fix myself, and I almost lost my brain when Kwik lost his. But I regrouped, rode through it, and ended with a good thing going.





I am handsome in my blue boots



So proud of himself!

Meet Kwik!

Well, I've finally consented that Finn and I just aren't a good match. He is a beautiful horse with loads of potential, but he requires an experienced, confident rider- waaay more experienced and confident than me. I've thought this through over and over, cried quite a bit, and have finally made peace with this decision. I think I've found an excellent opportunity (cross fingers!) for him- so more details on that soon if all goes well.

And...

 I have a NEW HORSE! Kwik is the 9-year old OTTB I have been riding out at the farm. It definitely was not my intention to buy another horse while still trying to figure out what to do with Finn, but sometimes opportunities like this just don't care about your best laid plans. I've spent a lot of time feeling guilty about this as well, but I've decided it's just time to be happy and excited.

The Treat Lady's Here!

H likes to call Kwik "The Most Wonderful Horse in the World," and I agree.  He raced fairly successfully from 2005-2010 with 62 starts, earning $72,603. All of these races, save for 3, were claiming races, and he changed owners quite often. After he retired in 2010, he came to the farm and found a home as a yearling babysitter. Afterwards he went to live with a family. Unfortunately the family was no longer able to keep him due to financial reasons, and he wound up back at the farm a few weeks before Finn and I arrived. He is still a greenie, but this horse has the best attitude!

I had a lesson with A two weeks ago on him, and we started him over some little crossrails. He was a bit confused, but he just popped over anyway. After a couple of goes, he figured out how to jump like a big boy and you could tell he was proud of himself. We've also done some off-site riding as well, and he didn't bat an eye at the deer, dogs, strollers, and cars we encountered along the trails. Riding a horse with this kind of attitude is such a big change for me, and it is so much FUN!! I'm really starting to enjoy riding again, and I'm feeling much more confident. Isn't that what this is all about?