Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Walk on

After posting a comment on another blog a little while back, I got to thinking about it and realized how hypocritical I had been in asking that question? How often do you go out for a trail ride and just walk the whole time? When was the last time I had done that with Kat? I couldn't even begin to tell you, because yeah- it has been that long. I think the last time I took him anywhere or did anything with him where walking the whole time was the only thing on the agenda... was back when he had had his epic meltdown at the horse park.

The following day when I hitched him, we did nothing but walk for a few reasons. 1) I wanted him hitched ASAP so he did not get it in his head that this was the way to get out of having to work. 2) We did nothing but walk so it was all low key, no pressure and both of us could get our confidence back. 3) We did not go to the horse show (which I had originally planned to do) because we just didn't need a crowd, other horses or any more distractions to stir things up, set him off or be in the line of fire if he blew up again.

Weekend before last, I hitched Kat and we went for a walk. He was a bit wound and ready for action, I'm sure he thought we would be trucking along on the side of the road, working on his stamina and endurance levels... and he didn't quite understand that all we were going to do that day was walk. He didn't want to. He was ready to GO! I had to check him back a few times and remind him to just walk. Then he started getting a bit mad about it.  I stopped him, backed him up and then let him walk forward. If he started jigging again, stop, back up and back off the bit. We went a little different route out thru the neighborhood and there were 'new' horses to see and show off for, hoping to impress them. Yeah, not so much.

More jigging, more stopping and backing and then walking forward. If he kept it at a walk, he could keep moving, but if it went beyond that, he was stopped and reminded to back off. We finally turned to come up a different road leading back to the house.  We've gone this way before and there is a horse in a roundpen, right up by the road. I think it is a mare, but I'm not sure. Kat didn't care. He was either going to impress her or intimidate him, but either way he was acting like a total jerk. So we did some circles to the left. Tight circles to the left. When we straightened out, if he didn't give me an ear- we did some circles to the right. Again I would let him straighten out and see where he went with it. More circles? Suit yourself then...

It took a while to get past that horse because Kat was not behaving like he knows how to do, but once we did, he settled right down and walked on just as nice as you please. Grumble* snarl* grumble* grumble* snarl*  But what did I expect of him, really? He creeps when I'm harnessing him up and putting him to the cart and a lot of times I am pressed for time, so when the last buckle is done, the excess thru the keeper, I hop on the cart and we GO! Work involves trotting and even some cantering because we need to work on both extensions and collections of the trot besides our working trot, so there it is. There's the cause of the problem.

Before going to Sonoita I had already made plans to start walking Kat in the cones between competitions. We needed to go back and do a lot of walking. I also want to move them in as narrow as I can so that there is little to no room for error. That way, when we get to the events and the cones are set a little wider- it's a piece of cake.  He might be a little wild and might have some serious speed, but he needs to learn how to control when and where he uses it, saving it for when it's needed. Besides, the walk portion in dressage- it's worth double points. If you can nail a good walk portion in your test, the rest comes a little easier. Besides, don't you learn to walk before you can run?

Monday, April 28, 2014

Onward!

Sunday morning and Kat was ready for action. He knew what was up when I harnessed him up, putting him to the cart without lunging him first. I could tell he wouldn't need it and he would likely need to save his energy for the course. It was a bit long and there was rolling hills in between the hazards. Yay we would be getting some hill work in! lol

We headed over to the warm up/holding area and checked in. I was to go after the last of the training level horses that followed the minis and they would actually be putting in a little longer break between us, so that we wouldn't be right on the tail of the horse before us. That was what happened in Coolidge, and although it gave Kat some short breaks of resting between hazards, I would rather keep an even pace throughout. As it was- there would be plenty of time and space between us and no hopes of me running up on the heels of the horse before us.

Kat was amped and when we got over to the warm up area, he knew what was up. I trotted him around a little and after a lap or two he settled down to a comfortable walk. There was another entry, two girls on a cart with a cute red pony and as they circled around us, I could hear the one girl (gator) on the phone telling someone about Kat. "He is the cutest pony ev-ar and his color is a.m.a.z.i.n.g..." Turns out, they are a new competitor and a youth driver. Yay, new people in the sport!

Soon it would be our turn to go. Kat didn't want to stand and wait so we continued to circle around at a walk. I had bend to the left again today so that was good and I was happy with it. We got the signal to start once the horse ahead of us reached hazard #2. Kat was ready and we headed out down to Hazard #1.

We went in and circled around thru A, out of the gate and around to B, thru C and on to D, Kat breaking down to a trot here and there thru the sharper turns. Once we were thru D it was a straighter shot out of the hazard and around to the out gate. Once out, Kat wanted to keep running, but that isn't necessary so we settled on a pretty fast trot and got to Hazard #2 without issue. Hazard #2 has water and for Prelim, Gate D was IN the water. I had an idea of how to get Kat into the water pretty quick and easy, but we all know things don't go according to plan all of the time.

We headed into the hazard and zipped thru A, B and C with no problems. There was a way to go into the water straight ahead thru a narrow opening and I was going to try it. I would let Kat skim along the edge of the water to the left, and then pull him around to the right and pretty much throw him off balance and into the water. Didn't happen. He went all Tinkerbell on me, didn't want to get his feet wet and wasn't going thru the opening at all, let alone along the edge of the water. No way, no how! Okay fine then- Plan B...

I turned him off to the left and went out where we would have a nice big wide open area to work in. I aimed him straight at the water, we got to the edge, he planted his feet and was not going to budge. Well he did eventually budge but then it was exit stage right! "Not a chance buster!" I hauled him in with the left rein and pulled him back around to face the water. Then he decided to try bolting to the left. "I don't think so!" Hauled him around right to face the water again. I cracked him one on the butt with the whip and told him to "Walk on".

Kat- "No freakin way! That's W.A.T.E.R. and I'm NOT going in it!"
Me- Squinting at him in a threatening way, "You wanna BET?"

A few more tries and I turned to the timer and said- "This might take a while." A few more tries, keeping Kat lined up facing the water, a crack on the butt here and there, coaxing, pushing, encouraging and then all of a sudden it's like a light went on. He dropped his head, snorted at the water and cautiously stepped towards it. A few more ever so cautious steps and he was IN the water. I reached forward and patted his butt where I had previously spanked it and praised him so much. We may have walked thru the water, thru gate D, but we weren't going to be eliminated. He may have wussed out on me, but at least he went in the water. WIN!

Our time in Hazard 2? Worst for the day! Everyone else was under 100 seconds, as in times of 70-90 seconds or so. One entry had a time of 130 seconds or so.... Ours? 222.?? ROFL! Once out of the water, he picked up a trot and I was happy to let him roll with it. We headed off to Hazard #3 and I wasn't pushing him for any more. He did trot a lot in #3, but picked up the canter on the way out.

By the time we got to Hazard #4, my plans had changed. So what if he was trotting or running thru them, as long as he was going forward and we were not only under control, but he was trusting me and not fighting it. We zipped along thru gates A, B and C, looped back around to go thru B to get to D and Kat did fight it a little on the turn. We dang near smacked into a pole in the hazard. A quick "Whoa", he stopped dead, backed up a couple steps, moved over to the right and we took off again, thru D and out...

Hazard #5 wasn't too far away and as we approached it, All of my plans for speed went right out the window. If all we did was trot thru it- fine by me and I could care less. There were a lot of logs set up in triangles in this one, a lot of semi-sharp edges out there and I planned to just take it easy. Kat seemed to be wearing down a bit and I didn't want to overdo it. We trotted the whole way thru the hazard and out the gate. No crazy speed there.

Kat was happy to just jog on the way to Hazard #6. He wasn't sure what was next and wasn't sure even what was going on. We did pass one of the training horses coming up out of H#6 and they had gone in and thru the water. The driver was beaming with pride in her horse. She's not sure if she was going to keep up with competing, but if they didn't they would be going out on a high note. We approached the gate and Kat was on alert. He could see the water and knew we would be running, but he wasn't sure about what was about to happen. Gate A you entered the water and Gate B was IN the water. He balked, hesitated and then walked on in. We did manage to pick up a trot as we rounded the corner for B and headed out of the water. Once on dry ground again, he picked up a canter as we came around to C, going back into the water to go thru D. Again at the waters edge, he hesitated and eased his way in to pick up a trot heading thru D and out of the water again.

As we cantered up the hill and thru the 'Out' gate, I leaned forward again to pat his butt. Once we were up the hill, he eased down to a trot and eventually a walk. We were able to see his girlfriend Diva going thru H#5 as we headed back to the barn. I let him walk, we watched them as they wove their way thru the turns and on to the next one. We were content to be plodding along at a relaxed pace. Kat had done a lot and I was happy with his efforts. We were done and there was no need to hurry back other than to unhitch, give him a drink and let him unwind while I packed things up. It had been fun, at least the wind had slowed down to a nice breeze and life was good. Best part about it? He had gone into the water twice and we didn't E out.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Hazards

After untacking Kat and putting him in his stall to relax, I headed back to the truck to make some calls, sit down and unwind a little. More like un-wind, as in to get out of the wind for a while. Although it was still pretty early in the day, I could tell I was already getting sunburned on the lower part of my face. I had worn and brought long sleeved shirts to protect my arms and the gloves cover my hands so everything was pretty much shaded.

Although it wasn't just the sun, I think the wind was doing it's fair share of damage too. One of my friends asked me about this- Isn't it hot wearing long sleeves in the sun like that? Actually no, it's not. The fabric keeps the direct sun off of you and when you do sweat- the fabric absorbs it, making an evaporative cooler effect and it's actually much cooler. Since they live where it is more humid on average, this wouldn't have the same effect there.

Off to find the hazards... I had thought about bringing my bicycle for this part and I am honestly glad I didn't. A lot of people have scooters, quads, gators and an assortment of motorized options to get them from point A to point B and back again. I have my truck and it does the job. Had I brought the bike, I would have gotten a workout worthy of rivaling any torture I put myself thru at the gym. Hahaha

Starting the hazards was to be up where the warmup for dressage was and from there you went down off the hill, slightly to the right and hazard 1 was right there. It was a maze of adobe brick walls, with essentially planter boxes in various areas, set up in a square and each with a notch in it for a place to set the gates for jumping it as a cross country course. I looked at it, scoped out our course, walked it a few times and stood back as I watched others walk it. Some of them were in the upper levels and had a different idea of how to get thru there. Parts of their course made sense to me and others didn't. They had horses, I have a small pony and can get away with more, like sharper turns, cutting thru here when they have to go thru there...

I drove over and parked between hazards #2 & #3. Hazard #2 was in the shade and had a water aspect for gate D. Since tomorrow would be Kat's first time on this course and this was a new water hazard, I looked at two different options at getting into the water to get thru gate D. Getting eliminated for not going thru D was just not going to be an option. I walked this hazard a few times, a few ways, stood back and looked at it, plotting, planning and walked it again.... Drew my way thru the it in the air with my finger and decided I was satisfied with that. Off to walk thru #3, the showjumping hazard. The fences are too high for actual jumps, but everything is bright and colorful as if there were horses to be popping over them.

Again I walked it, looked at it, watched others go thru it, modified my course, walked it again, drew my way thru in the air and walked it again before I was confident that 'This' is how we're going thru here. Then it was across the yard, over the hill and around the log jump to get to #4. I have no idea what this one was called. It was a bunch of log power poles in the ground with heavy boards attached and places to go in, out and thru it as if it were a maze. Another round of Look at it, study it, walk it 3-4 times, draw my way thru it, walk it again, change something, walk it so many more times and move on.

Hazard #5 had a lot of pointy corners with things set up in triangles and plenty of options for impaling your horse or yourself on something. Just kidding! (Maybe?) It was mostly round on the outside and had triangles on the inside. Another round of walking, drawing, studying, changing, walking, thinking, walking, walking, walking... and finally on to #6 the other water hazard.

There wasn't so much walking involved in this one since I didn't have my muck boots or waders, let alone sandals or shorts... This one was optional for all training level horses. They could try it, a lot of them did and I think they all managed to go thru it which is awesome. One of the club members that wasn't competing due to injuries was armed with his camera, loaded for bear and set up in the bed of the truck to get (Hopefully!) some awesome shots of everyone getting their feet wet. Discs with all of your pictures from the event, all three portions, are available thru them for $20 with all of the proceeds being donated back to the club. How cool is that???

Monday, April 21, 2014

Cones

I know everyone is waiting to hear what happened and how this went.... I was probably just as eager to see how it was going to play out, how Kat was going to handle it and if we would be clear, fast and where we would be when the dust settled. Dave, the husband of one of the other competitors told me while walking the course, that it might be tough to see us whip thru the course because of the vapor trails behind us. He had watched us in Coolidge and agreed we were lightening fast and he heard me trying to slow him down the whole time. He would be photographing the events and promised to take some of us. I haven't seen them yet, but I will share them when I get them.

Looking at the course online and printed out on paper? It was tough to get any real straight shots, get some straight lines and plan anything sensible. Walking the course- it just flowed. It was a very nice course, a great design and well laid out. You could see the next cone from this one and there was plenty of room to clear this one and line it up. The footing was equally as good. There was grass on the field for the most part, but there was also some dirt and in some places it was a little loose on top. It was soft enough to provide cushion yet firm enough to provide grip and traction. Walking it, the course flowed so well and was so easy to navigate I hoped for the best.

Kat felt good after the dressage test and I had a positive feeling about things as well, since we had left bend today, a decent walk, a decent lengthened trot and for the most part- we had that out of the way. We headed over to watch the horse ahead of us finish their course. As I checked in, Kat was excited and attentive yet calm, loose and about as relaxed as he could be. The previous horse finished their course, checked back for their time and before you know it, you're up. The judge blew the whistle, we walked over, halted, saluted the judge and we were ready to go. I kissed to Kat and he literally launched into high gear.

He didn't ever feel like he was running anywhere near as fast as he did in Coolidge and I'm really not sure why. He was running almost the whole time and he was amped for it, but it just didn't feel the same. It wasn't OMG! fast and I wasn't asking myself where all of this power was coming from at all. In fact I was talking to him the whole way and telling him to hit the afterburners, kick it into high gear and move it little man. He moved it all right. We went thru the start/finish line, and I was counting down the cones as we went thru them. We managed to go around 12 to the left this time to get to #3 and as I lined him up I felt the wheels on the cart break loose and slide as I drifted thru the turn. I love that feeling.

As we headed into and thru 8, I made the mistake of overconfidence by telling Kat, "I'm not going to slow you down today...." at which point my brain went blank and I had no clue where #9 was. Crap! We made a circle around to the left so I could find the next cone and where we needed to be, besides line up for it, we came back around and went thru 9, 10, 11, 12 and on.... Several of the turns, Kat was firing hard, the cart was sliding sideways, dirt was flying and I was leaning out over the inside wheel to keep them both on the ground. At one point I was leaning so far forward, I was probably close enough to pat his butt.

We ripped thru the semi serpentine of #14 A, B, C and D. On to 15, 16 and 17 were at the far end, circled back to the left for 18, a left circle back around to 19 that was next to it, continue the left circle back around to line up for 20 and the finish line ahead. Kat was sailing along as we crossed the finish line and started our lap around to slow him down. As we went past Dave I leaned forward, grabbed the rein rail of the cart and made a face, acting as if I was scared. I could hear Dave laughing as he was shooting it with his camera.

As it turned out, we were double clear. I thought we had taken one or two down, but since I've learned to just go thru each one and never look back- sometimes I don't know if there were any we knocked down or not. We had a time of 2:17 and change and the time allowed was 3:21 so we were good on that too. I'm finding we are having No problems anymore, coming in under the time allowed and Kat is rarely breathing hard afterwards and often he's ready to go again. He's really found his niche, now we just have to work on and fix some other things. Doing that may also improve his cones more, but I think the biggest part of that is me finding and remembering where the next cone is before we get thru this one.

When I finally got to see the times for the day, once again we had the fastest time for the day, besides being clean. The next entry was 12 seconds behind us with a 2:29 and one ball down, then 2:35 one ball, 2:36 one ball, and so on. There were at least one ball down for the next 5 or so entries. The next clear round wasnt until a 2:45. Um, yeah. We were smokin' in the cones again. We had the hazards tomorrow and I needed to not only walk them, but go find them. So Kat and I headed back to the barns to unhitch, untack and relax a little.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Dressage

I have to start off by saying that the wind blew all day on Saturday and it blew pretty dang hard. It took me a tank and a half of gas to get down there and only half a tank to get back if that tells you anything. One of the other entries said it blew so hard the night before, her trailer rocked all night from it. I don't mind breezes, but I find wind like this is a pain in the butt.

I got Kat out of the trailer and let him settle down. I got him a drink of water, brushed him off, cleaned his feet, put his boots on and was getting him ready to go. Little man was ALL. JACKED. UP! I lunged him for a little while and he didn't seem to be backing down at all. He kept turning one way, ripping around, then turning the other way and ripping around some more. That got old real fast. I had to step it up, get in his face and back him down some. I put the rope over his nose, gave it a tug or two so he knew it was there and sent him off to the end of the line again. This time he had better listen to me. He still went around and around for a little while, but he was much more respectful of me and didn't change directions until I said so. He worked both ways and finally settled down and relaxed. That was more like it. I also kept telling him to save it for the cones.

He was still a bit wound up when I hitched him and driving over to the arena he was trying to jig and jog and just get going. We got over there and I let him work a bit. As we circled left and right, did a few serpentine's a handful of halts and up and down transitions with walking thrown in, he started to slow down and relax. He was still calling a little but nowhere near like he did in AJ, where he screamed constantly. By the time we got over to do our pre-trip inspection, he still wanted to move, but was a lot calmer about it. He was creeping as the TD was looking over our harness to make sure everything was adjusted right, buckled, straps thru their keepers and we were good to go.

Finally it was our turn to go. As we trotted in to X the wind was blowing pretty hard, right in our faces. I knew our halt might be dismal since he may not hear me say whoa. He stopped, but then wiggled and fussed and moved over to the left. I saluted the judge and we trotted into our test. As we trotted our circles I kept reminding myself- Look thru your turns. He seemed to be doing okay. The extended walk went fairly well, or so I thought. The judge did remark that there was some lengthening shown.

We trotted some more, did our serpentine with 3 turns, our extended trot also got us a 'some lengthening shown' remark, and our halt, stand for 3-5 seconds was decent. Then Kat just started to back up on his own so I went with it. Again, I couldn't remember if we were to walk or trot to the judge to halt and salute so I went with the walk this time. He didn't want to halt for the final salute, but stopped squirming around long enough I could manage it and we were done. Whew!

Because of the wind, the judge and the scribe sat in a truck at the end of the arena. This is pretty common at our driving events. There was no horn honking signalling we were off pattern so that was good. I reached forward and patted Kat on the butt as we headed out of the arena. A few times I had to really pull him around to the left to get the correct bend, but he had it and that was good enough to me. We did get nailed for being counterbent on the rail, thru our turns, etc. which is not unusual for us either and I have almost come to expect it sometimes. Now it was on to the cones...

Monday, April 14, 2014

Hello Grass Ridge

I know everyone is eagerly awaiting the news of how we did in Sonoita over the weekend. Welllllllll....

Going down there I had a few ideas in place of things we need to work on but I figured they can wait until afterwards. It's not a good idea to be changing things right before a show or the day of. Things may not be going well or certainly not perfect, but change them at home when you have time to work on it or thru it and let the horse adjust to it before going to a show and expecting everything to have not only sunk in but to work.

 After the blowout speeds in the cones in Coolidge, I have decided I need to work on them in two ways. One I need to practice with them set as narrow as I can and I also need to practice with him going slow. As in walking only then some trotting. No getting jacked up and batshit crazy, just relaxed, controlled speed that we can use when necessary and leave it alone when it's not.

Another thing we need to work on is our dressage. We have never been on top or even close in the standings after our dressage tests. This is where it starts and if you can nail down a great score there, then the rest will help you hang onto it. We cannot have a mediocre test and hope to 'fix' it and move up, by smokin' 'em in the cones and the hazards. It just doesn't happen that way, hasn't all along and the future isn't looking too bright for it to change to our advantage any time soon. Hmpf! One of our biggest problems with this, is I can do it well in the lines, but when I get in the cart, it's like I lose my mind and forget everything we've worked on. I accept less and he delivers. Boy does THAT need to change...

When we got down there, it was like the theme for the day was to "Miss all of your turns."  Going down I-83, I missed the turn onto Curly Horse Road to get to the facility. Now it is only slightly before you get into town and there is a small hill in front of it, but it really didn't inhibit my view of the sign as I looked right at it and we sailed right on by......   I turned around and came back, made the turn and when we got to the host facility- wouldn't you know it? I did the same. damn. thing.

I looked right at all of the horse trailers and went past not just the first driveway, but also the barns and second driveway before we finally reached the third one so I could pull in, back the trailer out onto the street and turn around to go back.  Several people said they seen us go by, watched us turn around and were quite impressed with my backing skills. Some days I can put that little trailer anywhere- other days it seems like its a wonder I manage to go forward with it.  *eyeroll*

As per usual, I left Kat in the trailer and went to find the dressage and cones arenas. We had a little time before things were starting and once the first horse goes, you are S.O.L. and can't walk either test or course. I walked my test twice and figured I had it nailed down.  Then I went to walk the cones course. Looking at it on paper- it looked horribly tough and beyond challenging. Walking it in person was completely different. It flowed and had some nice easy turns to it with the exception of one, but even that wasn't all that bad or hard to do. The only person expecting to have any issue with it was Frank with his pair of Percheron crosses and they are gorgeous to watch. I walked it twice and stood back to draw my way through it in the air with my finger. I might have even walked it again, I don't remember, but it was good in my mind. So now it was time to go back and unload Kat so I could check in and get ready for the day.


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Circling

With the upcoming ADT being a two day event instead of only one, there is sure to be plenty to post about surrounding it. It is a two day event as it will be the last driving event to be held at Grass Ridge. The CDE in October has been cancelled and this is it. There is a potluck on Saturday night following dressage and cones. Hazards will be run on Sunday and it looks to be a FUN event all around.  There will be 6 hazards instead of the usual 4, two of them being water hazards. #6 has no alternative dry route for training level so they can try it if they'd like to, but won't be marked down if they don't complete it. It's all about FUN remember?

Because of the time and travel involved with the next two upcoming ADT's, I will be posting about ground driving over on my other blog, The Well Groomed Horse. I finally have my dressage test for this one memorized (in one day, as of Monday) and have been studying the cones and hazards. One of my good friends looked at the cones course and said- "Holy Crap! How are you supposed to remember all of that?" That's just one part of it.

Moving up has proven mentally challenging since the test at each one changes. We also picked up one more gate in the hazards, have to go thru the water and we are not only timed in the hazards, but it also counts. Am I glad we moved up? Definitely! If I want to be competitive, tougher competition makes me work harder for it. For as little time as I have to put into my pony- I think he's done pretty dang well. Especially since we have been going it alone for the most part, with no real outside help. Will I have the same fire breathing dragon in the cones again? Who knows. Will he be the same in the hazards after getting the afternoon off? Anything can happen. As long as he's under control- I'm just going to let him RUN!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

ADT#2 Obstacles

The last part of the ADT's is obstacles or hazards. They really don't like calling them hazards anymore because hazards sounds hazardous and I'm sure the insurance companies have themselves a heyday over these things. Either way, four hazards to navigate is just never enough. Everyone crosses the finish line and is disappointed that its over and they are done for the day. Unless of course your horse/pony gets out there and goes a bit stupid on you. If you're fighting them the whole way, you might be glad there's only 4 hazards to get thru and you pray you survive.

After the insane speed Kat had in cones, when I walked the hazards... I made sure to leave plenty of room for him to run. Wider turns, straighter shots at the gates- it all meant that if we hit warp speed again, I could let him go with it. And after looking at our scores in each one, comparing them to the rest, well we, wait. Scratch that. I may need to rethink that plan.

Kat was again amped up for the hazards, but he didn't get up to the speed he dished out in the cones. One thing he did want to do was to run from one hazard to the next. Time in between doesn't count, at least not in the ADT's. In the CDE your time on the whole course counts as well as your time in each hazard. This makes it tricky. You want to rip thru the hazards with quick times, but relax and just cruise casually along between them so you don't get time penalties for going too fast.

The challenge to the hazards is that there are just the gates, the proper direction you go thru each one and not much else. I can look at the map and have one idea of how to do it. Several other people may see the exact same route thru it all. Someone else sees it and thinks of another way to do it. Who's idea is better? Well, the fastest one is, but you often don't get to watch anyone really go thru their test, so you stick with your plan and hope it works. You're too busy tacking up, putting to and warming up to be watching anyone go thru them. Even when you're done, you are unhitching and taking care of the horse(s), to see anyone else go and can only ask how it went. Bummer!

Best laid plans and all of that? Yeah, that can and sometimes does go right out the window in the moment of competition. My daughter Robin was my 'gator and she was riding with another entry so I hung out with Kat in the shade, waiting for them to complete their course. They were in training level and only allowed to trot, but also their times in the hazards don't count either. When they got back, she hopped off their cart and into ours and we were on our way. We were behind Ron and his pair of minis and a couple of times we were waiting for them to come out of a hazard so we could go in. It gave Kat a short breather and a chance to relax and get ready.

We went into and thru each hazard saying the letters of the gates as I guided Kat thru each one. As we blasted thru hazard 2 and came out the finish line, the timer and scribe said, "Nicely done" as I thanked them while we sped off to the other hazards. Going thru #2, I did feel the wheels on the cart break loose so we slid sideways thru the dirt. I love feeling it do that. My friend Sheri with her pony Treasure, got her cart up on one wheel going thru there. Her hubby/photographer got it on film and the crazy thing about that pic- they were both leaning into the turn and over the wheel on the ground. How they didn't flip it? Yeah, they were lucky.

We were doing well up until the last hazard. I had walked it with Sharan and gone thru what route I was going to take a few times before I realized by watching her, that I was going thru C the wrong way. Red on the Right! I had to change my plan a little, I walked it correctly a few more times. I stood on the edge and traced my way thru it with my finger in the air. I repeated it a few times, drawing the correct path for that hazard in the air... And when we got into #4, damned if I didn't head right into C the. wrong. flippin. way! As Kat went into it, I looked up at the red C on our left and a few things happened at that split second. Robin said "Uh, Mom?" I had just realized what was going on and said "Whoa" and Kat shut down instantly. Thankfully he stops like he does! I backed him up a few steps, turned him to the left just enough to clear the pole and sent him forward. We went around the pole and thru C the right way, circled around and came back thru D and out the finish line. After stopping the watch and noting the time, as I thanked the volunteers, they told me- "Nice save. You had about 1 foot to go and you would have E'ed out." Whew... That was close.

For having such a fast time in cones, our times in the hazards were comparably s.l.o.w. We were either in the middle or towards the end on every single one. I'm going to have to rethink this one a little... Obviously there is room for improvement there. One of my good friends told me to view the hazards as cones, just without the balls to knock down. This works in a way, since the space allowed in the hazards is not according to the width of the wheels on the cart, but a set width. Because there are no balls to fall down, you can get a little more loose as to how you approach and go thru the gates. We can take them at more of an angle than the larger ponies and horses because of the overall length of the turnout, from the tip of Kat's nose to the back if the cart.

I have also been asked if we win anything for our effort for the day. Nope. There are no ribbons, no prizes and our single scores for this ADT, don't really compare to the single scores from any of the other ADT's for this year or last year. We do get points for each placing that count towards the year end awards. The y/e prizes are usually pretty awesome, so yeah, its definitely worth the effort if you're a points chaser. The length of the cones course changes at each event with the change of the course. They are rarely the same one, but if you are consistently on the top of the board for fast speeds, you're doing something right. Of course fast and clear rounds (no balls down) are what you are shooting for because if you're fast but have multiple balls down, the penalties, 3 points per ball, are going to dramatically offset your speed. What good is fast if you're out of control?

Dressage isn't about speed anyways and if your horse isn't moving correctly to begin with, they aren't submissive or responsive to you as the driver and you aren't in control as their leader, as a competitor you both are more prone to accidents and injuries in the other two parts of the event. It all lends itself to the other parts of the competition. Even the CDE's aren't about the money. You get a beautiful ribbon for your efforts, the scores you bust your butt for and the knowledge of how well you think you did, what you need to work on and of what you learned out there being a competitor. As Hardy Zantke asked me at the end of section E on the marathon at our first CDE- "Did you have fun out there, that nothing anyone ever says can take away from you?" You just can't put a price on that!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

ADT #2 Wow

When we reached the arena for cones, there were a few people lined up around the edge of the grass to watch. There was a few couples who hadn't seen any such type of competitions and boy were they in for a treat. Jim had laid out another challenging course, that apparently tripped a couple of us up on cone 3.

My friend Sharan had completed her course and unhitched her mare so she was standing by to watch and cheer us on. My daughter Robin was my 'gator and she went to stand with Sharan since gators are only required in the obstacles. The pony before us was finishing up and when it was our turn, I trotted Kat into the arena on the grass and could tell he was ready to GO! We trotted towards the start/finish line, halted and saluted the judge and were ready to go. I kissed to Kat and encouraged him on and off we went.

Thru the start/finish and headed to #1 a multiple in a line the width of the arena. This was a breeze since you weave thru it like running poles in a gymkhanna. Kat had picked up a canter and since the cones are set wide enough for horses with their carts, we whipped thru them with ease. Cone #2 was dead ahead and as I kissed to Kat to keep him cantering along, it was like all of a sudden he hit another gear that I. didn't. even. know. he. had! What a Rush! He took off like a SHOT! The only thing I could think of was HO-LY HELL!

Kat was still under control but we were hauling ass, balls to the wall and running like hell. It's like my pony's tail and feet were on fire. We shot thru 2 so fast that I lost track of 3 and went the wrong way around 12 to get to it. We weren't lined up like we should've been and took 3 down but there was no time for looking back or worrying about it. We lined up for 4, when I realized I was sitting on the right headed into a left turn. I had to slide over on the seat to make sure our left wheel was going to stay on the ground as we went thru it.

It was a mad dash on to 5, 6 and so on. Kat was running and we were Smokin Hot as we went thru 7 and 8 at the far end and looped our way around. It was about then that I told him, "I know you wanted to run, but DAMN!!!" BLASTING thru 9, 10 and 11 I still had a slight hold of him and wasn't really encouraging him and said "You can slow down some." Yeah, slowing down was NOT on his agenda for cones. Banish the thought!

We rocketed thru the the course at crazy speed. I know I kept telling Kat easy, easy, easy, and was trying to slow him down, but still allowing him to run. I never once asked for anything more from him, instead I was hoping for a little less! I have never felt him run like that before and had no idea he could even go that fast. After we crossed the finish line I let him keep going and circled him around to make an extra lap of the arena. He did ease up and started to slow down and I even considered letting him make another lap to help him regain his mind, but he came back to me and eased into a trot as nice as could be.

Jim had stepped down off the bed of his truck and was waiting for us. He knows I always come back to hear my time and assess the damages (penalties for balls down) so he was ready with what I wanted to hear. He had this strange grin on his face as we stopped so I could shake his hand as I always do and thank him for another awesome course. I knew we had wiped out #3 in a big way and that turned out to be the only one. Jim was grinning when he said, "You guys did it in under 2 minutes." I asked what the time allowed was. "3 minutes." Our time was 1:59.62 seconds. That made me think again HOLY CRAP!

There have been times we were dang close to going over and getting time faults, so to be that far under? WOW! For all of his speed and whipping around on the course, Kat wasn't even breathing hard at all. In fact he was ready to go again and didn't want to stand still. He may have been able to do it, but I wasn't about to ask him for it. I was still just amazed at his speed and how easy he was to handle thru everything. I'm not sure if anyone got any pictures and if they did, I wanna see them! I'm not sure if the people watching were ready for that, but they sure got to see some action! Lol

Later when I checked the board, we had the fastest time in the cones for the day. The next closest was one of the mini's with a time of 2:03.2 seconds. We were the only entry to do it under 2 minutes. Had I not missed #3 and lined up for it the right way and just let him run, not asking him to slow down at all, I have no idea how fast we could've done it or what our time would've been. I'm not even sure I want to find out.

I know that as we move up, the cones will be narrower and time will still be a factor. As long as he's under control and responding, I can get him lined up and aimed at the cones like he should be- asking for or adding more speed will never be a problem. He sure proved that! I'm still reeling a bit from his performance, even now almost a week later. I have been asked if there is pony racing, if we are entered in the upcoming Kentucky Derby and a host of other similar questions because of his speed on Saturday in the cones. He's definitely a little adrenaline junky and from now on I may have to channel my inner Formula 1 driver for the cones courses. Sheesh!