Blenheim III - Pro Day 2 with an Ammy cameo..

Thursday was another day.  I was having slight heart palpitations over the whole "omg my horse can't hold a lead" thing, but turns out - not an issue.

The new strategy was to step Winds a bit more forward, carry him in a higher frame and make a point of really pushing forward over the jumps - not just softening at the fence. 

The more supportive ride changed EVERYTHING.  Not one swap.  Or maybe one swap... I can't remember now, but essentially a 100% turn around so I was thrilled. 

I mean.  The Best.

Winds rocked his two Low 3' rounds and Pre Green rounds pretty much back to back, which worked well, but definitely saw him get a bit tired in the end. 

I'm going to put all four rounds down, because... I have them.  But they are all pretty much the same.  Cute horse, jumping cute jumps with cute ears. 

So much cute.



This ended up being a 5th place round out of 65


That second Low round snagged a 3rd! Out of 65!! So I was thrilled

Then we moved to the PG rounds:

Which I think looked, pretty much the same as the Lows... maybe a tad less brilliant over the jumps since he wasn't so impressed..  But he was chill and forward and held his leads..


Finally, the last round was also lovely and smooth and abated my fears that my horses is totally broken.

So, You can imagine, that after pinning so well in the Low rounds (against all the PG horses, and other 3' horses warming up...) when we got NOT ONE RIBBON in the Pre Greens. 

Don Stewart was judging, and I know Windsor is not his perfect Hunter type, so I can understand that in a big, competitive class that will happen - but I'm surprised he used him so well in the Low's against the same horses and not at all later on.

But that is the definition of horse showing (in the Hunters...)

Finally, I had spied on the schedule that the 2'6" open division was showing in the big pretty grass field.  So, since I was still a bit unsure what I'd be showing in, I asked if I could enter for the extra experience, but really I just wanted to show in the big pretty ring. 

Winds was not totally thrilled with coming out of his stall (again), but he reluctantly warmed up and politely popped over some fences. 

Windsor picked up *a lot* in the ring and all the sudden a I had a big, uphill, open step that felt AWESOME.  We had a nice first fence (though a tad quiet) and then as I boldly stepped up to the Judge's line, he popped up and out and said "no thank you" to the blue wisteria draped over the jumps. 

I was caught off guard and circled and re presented, only to have him stop a second time which really passed me off. 

The third time I really sat and held him and gave him the full eventer-on-task ride that popped us over.  I rode tight to the oxer out (same damn flowers) but once we were clear of it, we were golden.  The rest of the round was tidy and it became apparent that I'm really starting to be able to feel where I am in the lines on him.  I can gauge where I am and don't have to wait so long to know if I need to move up or wait... last week I had NO idea where I was, and couldn't really tell how big a step we were on.  I'm definitely getting a better sense of the horse and how he goes which makes me feel competent.

The second round was the most fun I've ever had showing.  Winds was bright but not tuned out, and I just really enjoyed the big open space of the field and having some time to think about things between fences. 

It was by no means the most beautiful round I've ever ridden, but I had a TON of fun and it was enough to snag 3rd in a large open class with a lot of trainers on some lovely horses....


With that round some of my PTSD from Prair really started to fade.  I started trusting Windsor being up in front of my leg and moving up to the longer distances suddenly didn't look like a bad idea. 

Plus - the really good news was that since I didn't totally make horrible choices, Trainer let me enter the 2'9" for the weekend - which means... MORE rounds in the field!

Standby for fun!

Blenheim Spring II - Back at It

After last week, everyone got a few well deserved days off.  The Boy and I zipped up to LA to see great friends, and Windsy enjoyed some downtime and lots of handwalks in preparation for his second week.

I was disappointed to see that the Pre-Greens got moved out of the big pretty grass field and into a sand ring, but I didn't realize how sad  I was going to be about that until we saw Windsor go.

We kept him in the 3' Lows (in the name of mileage) and he was kind of a twit.  He was just a bit tense, and was really landing a lot on his crosslead. 



(He kept going in the ring during Taylor swift songs, which YouTube mutes for copyright protection...)

Like enough that I was starting to hyperventilate about him being really ouchy about something....

He was just weird enough that we decided to scratch the 3'3" Pre Greens and knock back down to the 3'.  I was disappointed, but he really wasn't going all that well, and all the fluid awesomeness from the big grass field was gone.

The only upside was some serious empathy from the Trainer on how different he felt in the deep sand than he had been out in the field.  It's always good when she doesn't think I'm making crap up to explain my major mistakes...

Anyway, Winds sort of looked like crap.  The last Pre-Green round was better, but then he smacked the CRAP out of the back rail on the final oxer and decided to express some displeasure about tapping his little tootsies.



So, zero satin on the day.  He even missed the ribbons on the flat, which - wasn't terribly disappointing, but I had him pinned in the middle of the pack and somehow didn't even see the horse that snagged the blue. 

It was a bit of a frustrating day to say the least.  Winds was just a bit more irritable than I've seen him and I think everyone was a bit frustrated after his success last week.  He wasn't the only horse in the barn having an off day, so the energy all around was a bit muted....

Stinker Face

I will say we recovered on day two, but I'll get to that later.... Right now it's time for me to enjoy my hotel room, which is to say that I have sauv blanc in the mini fridge and HGTV going nonstop.

#thegoodlife

Blenheim Spring II - The Ammy Days

The short summary of my three days showing Winds last week is that things went okay, then they were a bit tragic, then they were somewhat better. 

Classic photo-of-a-photo moment

The longer story is that it's really obvious I haven't shown in a year, and haven't ridden Windsor outside since...... germany. 

He is, a god damn saint.  Horse deserves a halo.  (Also, this horse wears his ears WELL, getting good photos is not going to be a challenge... )

I have literally never had a horse who is so frigging easy to manage at a show. 

He is quiet in his stall.

Quiet on hand walks

Quiet in warm up

Quiet at the back gate

Quiet in the ring...

Quiet in the wash rack...

He's just the same god damn horse (gelding!) everywhere, every time.

East, but not always interested...

And that is so EASY, that my poor overachieving brain has to find something else to wig out about.

So I decided those things were going to be reading my distances in the lines (face palm) and left lead changes.  Because why leave well enough alone.

One of Windsor's best features is that no matter where I throw him at the jump, a) he jumps and b) he doesn't get mad.

This is in stark contrast to Prair who was unhappy (and freaked out) if you missed her distance by more than 6" either way.  Her panic attacks have left me with severe PTSD about missing, but I got pretty good at not missing because I always knew were I was with her.

Winds is so adjustable, and so sensitive to contact, that when I go to take a feel and lock in on a fence, he backs off the distance (even though I swear I'm not pulling) and things go to shit. 

Then I get into the lines and his stride is so adjustable I spend all 4 or 5 (or 6) strides changing everything all the time and end up somewhere I shouldn't be on the out.

This is not ideal.

(and maybe led to me leaving a stride out... MAYBE).

So, things were a bit rough on Friday for my Eq rounds (though we pulled a 2nd after we cleaned things up in our last trip) and I didn't really beat myself up because - new horse, so that was great.




Saturday, I had expectations to add some polish to everything and totally self destructed.  I chipped, I pulled, I kicked, I waited, I leaned in on my changes, it was ugly.  I thought my trainer was going to demote me to cross rails.  really. I did.  She had every reason to. 


(I really like the girl at the end telling her trainer I got 5 in the 6... dammit)

Saturday left me really discouraged because, while I'm used to having issues to work out - I'm also used to FIXING THEM and not just repeating the same mistakes. 

By the end of the day, Windsor had finally had enough of my bad decision making and started tuning me out, which led to better distances, but isn't exactly the end goal.

I ended up Reserve in the Eq - mostly due to that one 2nd place ribbon and a win on the flat (thank god).  The other two rounds over fences were... interesting.

Sunday, we started with an Under Saddle which was going great until I let him almost step into the wrong lead right in front of the judge  (BAD) and that killed it for us.  I am figuring out how to find his ideal pace where he swings his shoulder a bit more and carries a nice little hunter frame.  We'll dial that in next week no prob.

Finally, I had two more Hunter rounds which were EXCELLENT (given our new relative scale of tragic to acceptable) and even the parts that felt fast or tense look pretty hunter-y on video.  so yay me. 

Our ribbons were worse (since apparently everyone else also stepped up their game) but at least I finished the week with a solid sense of competency and excitement about what lies ahead.


All in all a great start.  We ribboned in every class, which is something that I sort of expected given his CRAZY CUTE factor, but we've got a long way to go before we're kicking ass and taking names in any sort of consistent manner. 

I just have to keep reminding myself that I really don't know him that well yet - we haven't been outside in big rings EVER before this and Winds also doesn't totally understand his new job description.  I think once we get used to at least one of those things - we'll be a much more consistent team and maybe (just maybe) we'll get out of the baby ring.

See you next week!!!

Blenheim Spring Classic II - Day two

Oh god, it's all a blur!!

Thursday (if I can recall) was a lovely day at the show.  Windsor started with his Under Saddle classes for both the Low 3' and the Pre Greens. 

Trainer rode him in the Low since... well... he's never been in a flat class before and I wanted to video (side note, I forgot to video), but he was a good boy.  no concern over the traffic, or all cantering in a group.  he even stood in line politely until they called his name for a pretty pink ribbon.

I hoped on to ride the Pre Green flat since we had another horse in the barn also in the class and it was really, really fun to hack in the giant open field.  I pushed Winds a little too much and made him tense and rushed instead of open and flowy, but he was relaxed, and chill and squeaked out an 8th in a pretty competitive class of about 16. 

Then it was onto fences, one final round for the Lows, and 2 rounds for the PG. 

If he was a good boy on Wednesday, Thursday he found his literally stride.  Just a bit more relaxed off the ground, and a bigger slower step made each round lovelier than the last. 

In full love. deep.

I did actually remember to take some videos of his last two rounds... so here you go.  Such a stud.




When they finally pinned the class I couldn't believe that I heard Winds called for the win in the Low, then 3rd in his first PG and another WIN in the last round. 

We ended up missing Reserve by ONE POINT which is pretty freaking spectacular given the guy is literally learning on the job.  I already can't wait to watch him go around again.  I'm thrilled.

I love that little man has not only snagged some satin but two blues in the first week.  Plus since I managed some cute photos and videos, I can already call the show a success...

Hang on to your hats... it's on to the am my days (gulp)