Christian and Skippy

I know how much Joan likes learning about others so to appease her and to keep a small record for my own self, I'm going to try and write this blog for 26 days.

This blog is going to be all about Christian and Skippy and their road to their 1st horse trials together.

Christian is a 11 yr old boy who has been riding since he was a young child. For the past few years it was just for fun for him, he just wanted to do games and play around. This year he joined pony club, I think at the beginning more to please me I took him to the Equine Review in Sussex last may and we watched a clinic on eventing...Was he ever hooked after that. I think the fact that there was a young teen boy taking the clinic helped a lot, as he saw that he wouldn't be the only boy in the world of English riding. Eventing is what I did as a younger person, and it is something that I wish to get involved with again.

He hadn't wanted to jump period till this year. He is still learning to jump correctly, but he is doing well.

Skippy is a 26 yr old ex-eventer. She was one of my mounts when I was younger. She knows her job and does it well. Skippy is a point and shoot kind of horse, very honest, and will get you out of a bad spot with no questions asked. At 26 this will be her last year showing, she is still sound as can be, and has the mind, but at 26 I think it is time to slow down a little. We will still use her for practice, as Christian still needs something that I can count on to get him over a jump.

So up to date they have gone to a couple of on the flat shows this summer, plus a dressage show (which was a learning experience for him and keeping a horse in the ring Like I said she is a point and shoot kind of horse) Also this passed weekend with the hunter show. Their first class didn't go so hot, but he rocked the second one and pull off the win.

T-26 days to go till their first Horse Trials together at Strathgartney Equine Park, on PEI.

The program for the next couple of weeks is to get them to work together more, and work on balancing their canter. I think he'll be having a few lunge line lessons wahahaha. Since he hasn't jump anything solid on purpose in a long time this is also something that is going to be worked on. My husband cut down some smaller trees for us, we also are going to build a jump or two out of railway ties. I'm not concerned about the horse, but the kid needs to learn to jump things that just don't fall down.

I picked Strathgartney for a few reasons, one it is later in the season, so cooler weather for the old girl, but the biggest is they offer a PeeWee division that is really small jumps, around 18" or so, which is a prefect getting your feet wet for a younger rider.

So here is the start to my blog I will try to keep it up dated as much as possible...I wouldn't want the wrath of Joan to come down on me

That's great!!!!! I can't wait to hear how well he does through the whole blog and the show.

Love it! I am excited to follow!

I'm excited to follow this too. I'm an alien to the world of jumping.

me too.. sounds very interesting.. I know nothing about jumping either but knows I don't want to try it.. lol

OH GOOD FOR YOU CHARLO................CANT WAIT TO FOLLOW ALONG.........I loved the pix you posted about the show and I saw a couple of others somewhere in facebook.............YEAH.......NO WRATH HERE GIRLY. :cowboyhound.gi

T-25 days to go

We work on the flat, he is working on pushing the horse onto the bit. He has to work on engaging the horse's hind end, and not letting her run through the bit. HE is doing wonderfully with her, he actually had some really nice head carriage. I think he finally had that break through with the mare.

He practiced his dressage pattern that he has to do at the horse trials. This test has 4 circles in 2 at trot and 2 at canter. 4 circle eek...their circles don't always look like circles...more like eggs or circular triangles. He actually had nice circle shaped circles.

Last bit that they worked on was hill work. He needs to learn to ride a canter on hill. Going up isn't so bad, he goes into 2point and helps keep her balanced. I was getting him to ride her downhill at the canter, except the mare wouldn't canter, till she was at the bottom, she just trotted but hey that's cool.

On to tomorrow...jumping day with grids grid and more grids

I'm trying to picture a triangular circle........hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm??????? try to remember to take your camera out with you.....so we can see what you mean.......no wrath tonight either...... :cowboyhound.gi

I just wrote out this really nice long post about jumping tonight and I deleted it by accident...duh So now you are going to get the quick version because I do not want to rethink or retype what I said. grumble :36_1_38[1].gif

Ok tonight they worked on jumping. I had set up a grid that had a trot pole, trot pole, trot pole, jump, trot pole, jump
____

____

____

|----|

____

|----|

There are many reason why a jumper rider would use a grid. For Christian, since he is just learning to jump we are using a grid to help him find distances, establish a good pace over jumps, and also helps him improve his form over fences, and learn to move with the horse. Grids also help slow down the energizer bunny that we call Skippy...hard to believe sometimes that she is 26 yrs old. Grids also help the horse and ride move as one and work together. Grids can also help the horse to use her body better and learn to rock back onto her hind end.

I also had him work on another grid which was set on a 20 meter circle. I had placed two jumps opposite each other.


|----| 20m |----|

This is also to help with distance finding, but for their case more for pace. He needs to learn to rate the horse's pace better. When he has to do it on a circle, it makes him sit up, and sit deeper into the saddle more, which in turns slows the mare down to a slower pace so instead of hurtling herself at the jumps she takes her time, and jumps cleaner/nicer, which helps him jump cleaner/nicer. As time goes on I will add two more jumps to the mix at each 1/4 point on the circle. Yes I'm a mean mom!

Since we rode later in the evening tonight I didn't get all I wanted to get done, but everything we did do, they mastered it in the end very nicely. I even added some height to his jumps tonight. Next jumping time will be jumping up and down a hill, and some logs.

He cooled the mare down, then bought her in, groomed her, I rubbed her down with absorbine to help her legs and back muscles.

Sorry no pictures...I did bring the camera down to the barn with me. But I worked my own horse before Christian rode, and I didn't think to bring the camera down to the lower field with me, and yes I was being lazy and didn't want to hike back up the hill as it is a 5 acre pasture, and we were at the bottom end of it. Tomorrow is trail ride day unless he goes with his grandparents to their cottage then it will be Mommy working Skippy day...I think a nice lunge session is in order. ;-)

How are you feeling about this trial Charlo...are you excited, worried, what??? I know Christian has been jumping for some time and Skippy is a seasoned veteran, but have you seen the course, how many obstacles are there, will he be in sight at all times or will there be periods not.so much,,,,,I think we should make up his own Cheerleading Squad........WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO :cowboyhound.gi

Me...I think I'm excited. I'm not worry as I know they'll be ready, the horse is pretty good at stepping up to the plate and taking care of her rider. The biggest thing will be for him to remember his course and to ride consistently.

I haven't seen the course, but do know that they are SMALL only 18" jumps, so I would guess mostly logs, and such. He will not be in sight the whole time, but each jump there is someone there, so if anything were to happen there would be someone to help dust off the dirt. In eventing if the rider receives verbal help from anyone it means elimination so it is probably a good thing I can't see it all :-) I have a habit of not shutting up when he is in the ring.

All courses are numbered in a different colour so as long as you remember which colour your number is, everything should go alright. Also each jump is flagged white on left, red on right, so if you don't see your colour number and the flags on the right side then you know not to jump.

With eventing the cross county cross usually opens the night before with an official course walk this is so you can walk the course and plan your route. Usually the whole group goes together. I like to walk it, then rewalk it either that night or the next morning, depending on time.

does your camera do videos Charlo.........sure would like to see him do the course.......I know its a few weeks away, but that would be some cool :cowboyhound.gi

Yes I hope to video at least some of it...

great...and remember your duct tape....for your mouth......hahaha. :cowboyhound.gi

Duct tape is actually used widely in the world of eventing...but yes it is good for taping mouths shut.

Sounds like your going to have them both more then ready for the big day. He'll do great! Will you be riding your mare as well?

I was going to but I decided for his first time doing a horse trials, he should have my total attention.

Back to work tomorrow. He had a fun time at the cottage with his grandparents. Up dates to start again tomorrow.

hey you............wheres your postings??????? I;m waiting!!!!!!

Sorry the kid went away, and all that I have been doing with the horse is lunging her. Nothing to exciting to report. I have been working her in side reins, and have been getting a nice forward working trot, and on the right rein a nice collected canter, still issues on the left, but it is coming.

He had a bunch of friends over tonight for a last party of the summer, so no riding today. I was busy actually working at my job. It is a good thing I'm married to my boss or I would be without a job.

More Christian and Skippy reports tomorrow. I promise!

I'll be watching for it. :cowboyhound.gi

Oh Hi Joan how's it going

So tonight we played around with jumps. I LOVE jumping. We worked on more "grids" or in case of tonight Bounces...awe bounces how I love the. A bounce is a series of jump set so the horse lands, then jumps, then lands, then jumps etc. It was to get her to slow down and him to realize he needs to sit up and help his horse over the jumps.

He was able to get a nice canter away from the jumps, and bring her down to a trot as soon as he asked - yay BREAK through!! We also worked on his riding a small course. He had trotting poles to go over then bounce line, a log and a small jump, plus the two jumps on the circle. Lots of twist and turns, and him having to ride proactively and efficiently. I also raised the jumps up...two of them were hitting 2 ft. For the horse trials Christian and Skippy will only be jumping 18" or so. But it is good to be working above what you are going to show.

Tomorrow is Trail ride day...as it is also putting in the rest of our hay day as well, so I'm sure we'll be to tired to actually do anything else.

GOOD MORNING CHARLO..............so glad you are back on track with the training.....wish you would duct tape the camera to yourself though........my imagination is not that great........

Actually I did have a camera with me last night...just left it in the barn over night. There wasn't any x-rated pictures on the camera so I don't think the horses, cat or chickens found it.

These are not the greatest pictures. It is hard to take pictures and watch what he is doing at the same time...






As you can see he is still trying to figure out what release he wants to do, and sometimes he forgets to release *rolleyes* these jumps are just bumps for Skippy. When I was riding her we jumped up to 4'6. At least now he keeps his reins in his hands...when he first started he would throw away the reins.

THOSE ARE EXACTLY what we wanted to see Charlo.......we will be able to see his progress.........thanks for finding them. :cowboyhound.gi

No riding yesterday, by the time we were done putting in our hay I was to tired and I know Christian was to tired to ride. I had to take his sister to an appointment in town in the morning which is why we didn't ride earlier.

Today he rode on the flat. As you can see from the picture posted the other day with him and Skippy just riding on the flat he has a habit of letting her poke her nose, and not ride on the bit. That was tonight work. I'm trying to get him to bring her onto the bit without pulling, more pushing her into it, but holding her from poking her nose out. With English riding especially Dressage it is easiest to think of the horse as a coiled spring, you want to push the hind end into the front end, and getting the horse to work more under herself. But not let the front end go.

So in the picture you can see he is letting the "spring" fall a part and have the hind pushed into the front end, but not holding the front end and letting it go. Ok that's confusing. Just think of a nice round coiled spring that's what we want.

So in the trot when he is posting, he is pushing with he sits, and holding nice even pressure on the reins, as to not let her go. It's coming he had her carrying herself nicely a couple of times. It is harder on this horse as she is built more on a down hill build then say a TB or Warmblood. So keeping off the front end it a lot harder to do. Also harder because she is 26 and just isn't as flexible as she once was. Older horses are great, but you have to deal with a lot more creaks, and soreness then a younger ones. To combat this we rub her down really good with a liniment, give her a good bushing.

We also worked on cantering. Once he gets her carrying herself nicely the canter work comes. They are pretty good on the left lead, but still needs a lot of work on the right. He is a lefty which is his stronger side, which is why I think he is going so much better with that lead. All well it will come.

We practiced his dressage test tonight as well. With a dressage pattern you don't want to practice it to much with the horse as they can start to anticipate the movements which isn't good. I was really please with how he rode the test. Nice forward trot, that was controlled and not racing. Pretty good canters, circles that were simi circle shaped, and lots of control. In the test he has to ask for a canter between C and H almost at the beginning, it was done well, but the next time he came around C and H to change the rein, Skippy had anticipated the canter, cantered and within 1 stride Christian had her back to a nice trot. Halleluiah major break through for him actually it may of been 1/2 a stride. I was so happy with that. Normally he takes for ever to bring her back, and fights her along the way, but not this time. It was great to see. There was no pulling, no head tossing, just bang right back to a trot.