Sets

Today I talked my hubby into making, not one, but two coops for me!!! Wow, am I lucky! I had one large peice of plywood. One coop is 2'2" and the other is like 18". Now, they aren't pretty, but they will serve the purpose. I wanted to go out and try them as soon as I got them out there, but decided against it since Olly has jumped two days in a row. And yesterday wasn't that easy for him. He worked really hard and I wanted to reward him by just hacking out and relaxing. So, on that note, instead of the kimberwicke, I grabbed his loose ring and instead of the AP saddle, I grabbed my dressage saddle. I was a bit nervous about the loose ring. I know that is what I have used in the past, but we were doing so good with the kimberwicke and I don't think he likes it. So this, too, was a reward. Today is warmer, so I had on my hoodie, with a few shirts on underneath, of course and forewent the hat under the helmet. BIG MISTAKE! See we are back in the woods, if it feels warm here it will be cold in the field. you would think I would know this by now....
I started my GPS and we were down the road. We sarted at a walk, just to kinda warm up, about 15 minutes. Then we started with the sets. 5 minutes of trotting (which we encountered the huges puddle I have seen in along time. Olly was not so thrilled. He tried in EVERY way to go around, but what do you do when it is all wooded and there is nowhere to go but IN!? He isn't afraid of the water, I mean he will go in and trot and even canter, I just don't think he likes it. If there is a way around then he will find it. We worked on being steady in our pace and not having a high head. Most of the time when he settles into his gait his head will stop being in giraffe mode. The kimberwicke has helped with this alot. Next we walked, mainly to recover. It took us 10 minutes, not to recover, I usually only allow 5 minutes at the most for this, it was because I had nowhere to canter and it took me that long to get to the next field. I hit the Lap button again 5 minutes for the canter. I started thinking to myself, "man we are gonna cover some ground in 5 minutes with his canter," but to my surprise he settled in quickly and we were down the road. No pulling, two-point, or seat shifting. He has a VERY nice canter, the one I know from the hunter ring (not an actualy hunter canter, but Olly's "hunter" canter, which is like a gallop for normal hunters lol). Then we walked for 3 minutes. I only did three minutes because he didn't seem to need a full 5, let alone the 10. Back to a trot. 5 minutes again. Instead og giving he a waslk to recover from the 5 minutes of trotting I gave him a 3 minute canter. Then we walked the rest ofthe way home. It totalled like 4.6 miles. I have the GPS download of all the STATS that I will list at the end of the blog. Oh, and my heart rate monitor is not on my dressage girth so I do not have the HR stats, and even if I were using my AP girth, I am not sure that the GPS would pick up the HR through the wolly mammoth. I have thought about clipping a spot, but I haven't acted on it.
After our sets I looked down and Olly was sweating. Hmmmmmm...I think we need to do more of this type of work. We were only out for an hour and he was spent. Boy is out of shape!!! Time to cross train. We trail ride alot, but not with monitored sets. Walking on a trail is good, but not for the type of riding we want to do. Eventing required alot of different skills. And to just jump 5 days a week is not the way to go. And from what I am seeing walking and trotting occasionaly on a trail isn't doing it either. I run and try to keep myself fit as much as I can, and I should do the same for him. I will be coming up with a schedule that will be applied IMMEDIATELY! Woohoo! More to write about. You just wait, this spring and summer we will be ready for the show ring!!
As always, we went back to the stall to get a good grooming and some love. He ALWAYS has to have the area where his brilde was brushed and scratched.



Garmin Forerunner 305 (with HR Monitor)
Trotting Lap 1 0.58 miles 4m59s average speed 7.0mph
Walking Lap 2 0.66 miles 11m21s average speed 3.5mph
Cantering Lap 3 0.75 miles 3m38s average speed 12.4mph
Walking Lap 4 0.27 miles 5m03s average speed 3.2mph
Trotting Lap 5 0.72 miles 4m55s average speed 8.8mph
Cantering Lap 6 0.29 miles 1m29s average speed 11.8mph
Walking Lap 7 0.67 miles 11m59s average speed 3.4mph

TOTAL
4.61 miles
58m29s
Avg Pace 12.41min/mile
Avg Speed 4.7mph
Max Speed 15.3mph
Total Caloried Burned 2898

Challenge

So yesterday I was looking through my books for a new gymnastic line. I get a messege from Casey telling me to "pick a hard one!" Ok, missy!! You got it. Unfortuneately, I wasn't able to ride that day due to a sick puppy, grocery shopping and a house that needed to be cleaned. But, today....I was ready. I just hoped Olly was too. It was rainy and foggy outside. I hoped the ground wasn't too saturated. We WALKED, yes, you read me right, WALKED to our arena. I set up a line of jumps. I chose exercise 10 from Jim Woffords Gymnastic Line book. It looked easy on paper, but I knew that the distance between the jumps were set it would be difficult for Olly. It was set 20 feet between each jump. That is 4 feet smaller than Olly's normal 2 strided jump. He would have to slow it down. GOOD! I thought. He needs that anyway. the line started out with one jump and 4 ground poles. Easy enough, unless you are rushing. Which he was. We took our time slowing down and tried it a few more times until he got it. Next, pick up the last jump. Now it was more interesting. Ground poles you can just skip over, but a vertical at the end, crap! Again, a few times through and it was over. Lastly, we added the middle jump. I know he was thinking "Oh, Shit!" I mean it does look intimidating. We made a few circles at a trot and then a few at a canter. He never rushes the begining of the jump it is always after the first jump or two. Like a cresendo, just on horse back. So the goal really of this exercise was to stay slow and steady. If he sped up throughout the line, it would be jacked. We worked more on the speed NOT going through the line and using transitions to regulate. If he started to rush at the canter, then we would transition down and the same for the trot. He got it after a fe times. He has a light bulb effect sometimes. By the end of the schooling session, he had done the line with all three elements wonderfully. It took us about an hour and a half to do this, but he did it. He is becoming a very good jumper and is learning exponientally. I can't wait for the next show season.
Tomorrow, I am going to talk my husband into making me a 'real' coop. 2 ft tall and 2ft wide at the base. I also found another 4x4, so there is another set of standards. YEAH!!! And don't be surprised if you start seeing crazy colored jumps now. I am going to start painting. i might even drag out some brightly colored blankets ;) Just to mix it up a bit. He it totally comfortable with the wood-colored jumps. Time to make them look hunter-esk!

After the ride we walked back to the barn and Olly got a total grooming, even his tail brushed and braided. He was in heaven.

Flat Work

Christmas Eve I said that I was going to get some flat work video on here. I really wanted to ride on Christmas and get the video, but my dog ended up having her puppies and I was up all night. So, today was the day! First I had promised Colton he could ride Kiki. She has quite the attitude! The whole family went for a walk and he got to ride. After making it back home I switched saddles and grabbed my tripod and was down the road. Olly was actually calm today. I changed his food and have been keeping him out of his stall. Today we will see if any of it helped. He walked almost the entire way to the field. We started out just walking and trying to move out with out trotting, which is pretty difficult for him. Then to a trot. On parts of the video you can see where he really wants to canter and takes a few canter steps with the front, but the half-halt changes his mind.
I also noticed that my lower leg SUCKS!!!! Guess what the plan is for tomorrow? No sturrips! Stacy will be so proud. I will be taking video of the no sturrip work for sure! I and so curious what that will look like. Another change: standing martingale. Stacy will be sending me her Olly size martingale. What a friend!! That will give me a few days with the kimberwicke and that way we will know what is working and what is not. I try not to change too many things at the same time so I can make decisions accordingly. So tomorrow will look like this: Me- lower leg work lower hands maintain contact with bit Olly- bit change to kimberwicke (he was in a loose ring french link) I encourage anyone reading this to leave any comments on what I am doing wrong. I am totally open to hearing what needs to be improved, and don't worry about being polite. I can handle it!