We had our last 2 shows of the Utah Hunter Jumper Association show season. Rose Ranch was last week and due to rain, they held it in the indoor arena, which is smaller than their outdoor. My OTTB can get a bit worked up in smaller indoor arenas. Worked up = go faster with some silliness. First round, we hit a rail on the jump off. But for the 2'9 class, we took first! He was rather fast but did the job The next show was the UHJA Medal finals and it was so much fun! Our first class, it took 4 fences before he figured out what we were doing. It like a switched turned on and then he was jumping quite nice but we did take a rail on a fence during the first-4-fence-warmup so no jump off. The next class was the 2'9 and he figured out what we were doing. Made it to the jump off and I decided to use his wonderful long stride and speed rather than attempt the odd, quick turns that would be needed to shave off seconds. Since we have only shown in a few 2'9 classes, I did not want him to take a rail by having to do a really tight turn, get too close to the fence and take a rail. I used his stride! We were 8 th to go and after our jump up, we were in 2nd place, but as often is the case, those that get to go towards then have the best chance of the top speed. 3 riders near the end of the class, after watching the others go, were able to shave of seconds by really doing so great, super tight, roll backs. We place 5th and I was thrilled. Video below. The next class was rotating relay rider. My partner was my Instructor and it was also a costume class. We did snow white and the evil queen. I was the later! This class was 3 ', which we have never shown at, and the first rider relay class I have done. We took 3rd and then won Best Costume! Pics to come soon
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Since this is my blog and I get to brag, wanted to add the jumper round from our show last Saturday. Jumper show yesterday. I was my first show in 2 years that my instructor had to be somewhere else, thus I was instructor-less. As first, when I learned I was on my own, I had an 'oh-no' moment but Mace and I have become a team so that worry was short lived. I had my good friend Catherine help me out and be my moral support! I think it is important to have someone come with you to a show. They provide moral support, can set up the warm up jumps, remind you to breath and stay hydrated, and take videos! The show started 1 1/2 hours late due to rain. The rain left 2 very large and sloppy wet spots on 2 sides of the arena. I already started my plan on how to avoid those. For several hours we just watched the show. Mace just hung out with me, munched on grass, fell alseep once. Our first class was optimum time and Mace jumped super. Very calm, took nice wide turns. My deal is I either get right on the opt.time or miss it by several seconds. I missed by several seconds! I felt like we were in the ring forever so I let him speed up the last 3 fences. Opt time was 67, we had 63 seconds. The next class was our division class. For the first round, it was fairly easy to avoid the large wet, slick spots in that you could go wide. But for the jump off, you would need to turn very tightly after the 2nd and 5th fence since you had to do a roll back to get to the 3rd and 6th fence. If you did not turn immediately, you would be in the wet, slick spots so it was turn immediately or go around which would have added several seconds. There were about 15 horse in the class, we were 10th to go. 2 horses before me went into the slick wet spots, went to turn and fell down. So I really had a plan for the jump off. We went clean the first round so on to the jump off. Mace would have to really listen and turn other wise I would have to ride the roll backs very wide. He often is a bit backed off of the first fence so I used more leg but then I had to immediately collect him for the second fence since he had to be ready to turn immediately! He got a little head flippy at the point but still was listening. I leg yeild him a bit to the left as we came up to the fence and then as he jumped it, I told him we were turning right and he did it wonderfully! Tight Right turns have often been a bit of a challenge in the past but he has been doing much better with them since I starting using the Micklem bridle. We did the roll back, avoided the wet spot and onto the 4 the fence. I let him go and use his wonderful huge stride to get there. Then I had to collect him for fence 5 in that we had to again, do a tight right rollback. IF not, we would be in the wet slick spot or have to go wide. He did it with ease and off to the last fence. He was a super star! We placed 1st. Here is the video of the jump off. We have not had a jumper lesson for 1 1/2 weeks. Last week, I had a migraine then sunday lesson was cancelled. I do ride my OTTB at home and we do a lot of flat work since I really only like jumping him twice a week ( and lessons are 2x per week). We did jump at home on sunday and all went super. So tonight, I figured no drama since it is not like he had 'time off'. During warm up, he was rather lazy. We worked on regular trot, then I would speed up my posting and ask him to speed up his trot. Then I would slow and he would slow. We did our usual leg yeilds, 20 m circles at trot and canter. Since he was being a bit lazy, I did ask him to gallop. Took some effort on my part to convince him that he needed to GO but we did it. Jumping started with lower fences and as usual, first pass he was great. The next few pass, got a bit sloppy.
Then we did a course and I got the TB attitude! All of a sudden, he decided to rush, then buck then really rush, then go over fence and kick hind legs out and then buck, buck. What I have learned when he has these 'moments' is to give him something else to do. Obviously, I am boring him so he has to ad-lib thus after the last buck, we galloped and galloped, and galloped. I love his canter so this works for me! As we were canter around, he saw many lions and bears waiting to get him so I had to be ready for the spooking and correct him when he tried to dive towards the middle of the arena. After several laps, the lions left. The other riders in the lesson did their courses and then we joined the group again. We did our course without drama. After every one else rode the course, we raised the fences and he was lovely. These little TB tantrums just need a creative solution. I found that the best thing to do is carry on after the tantrum but do something stimulating such as galloping around. TBs are made to run so lets run. Bored with what we are doing? mix it up a bit. Do not get mad at the TB tantrum, rather re-focus all that energy. I have always had horses in my life so I feel that have 'horse sense' but thoroughbreds have taught me even more. The OTTB is a horse with a huge heart but it must be earned. Once a TB knows that you are on their side and that you 'get it', they will give you everything. They will, of course, have a moments where they think they know it all and then get irritated when you do not completely agree but the key to resolving this conflict with an OTTB, as I have found, is to let them have their 'moment' without reacting negatively. Just ride it out and in a few seconds, when they get no reaction from the rider, they forget all about what they were trying to prove. And continue as you were. The problem that I have witnessed with riders is that they cannot just 'let it go' and continue on. They react which causes the OTTB to become more upset and then really explode! Thus the OTTB is not for an inexperienced rider nor a rider that cannot set boundries. Even though it is good to let the OTTB have their tantrum or 'event', it is best to get them back on track ASAP but do it in a way that does not use force, rather an explanation of what is being asked. Then there will also be days where it is best just to try another day! I have scratched my OTTB from a show in that his brain was just not there that day and I was not going to get it back anytime soon! Better to just stop and try again later than have a real bad day! OTTBs, if treated fairly, do not hold a grudge. In fact, they are very forgiving, which is good since I have know I have had less that stellar days of riding!
Anyhow, with all that said, here is the start of my OTTB blog. |