Jump for Joy!

Jump for Joy is an annual jumper show put on by the Fox Hills Pony Club. It happens at the Clark County fair grounds, just on the other side of town from the barn. I decided Warren and I could use some jumping for time experience (plus the show is so darn fun, anyway) so we entered in a few classes. I also figured it would be a good outing to get back into the jumping gear.

Of course Warren was happy as can be when he saw the horse trailer parked outside the barn when I went to pick him up in the wee hours of Saturday morning! He loves going for rides! The show kicked off with the lower fence heights and the young riders. There are some tiny little girls (and ponies) that can really FLY around a course, I was quite impressed.

Warren spent most of the morning in the big white box, munching hay and pretty content. Though he did ask me every time I went out to check on him if it was time to come out yet. He really wanted to be seen. (It became very apparent later, too!)

So it was finally time to get out and warm up. One of my friends from the barn I used to board at was there with her big red warmblood mare. She and Warren were pasture mates. Warren was the only one in the barn who was allowed to boss her around and she is really the only one he would try to boss around. It was an odd thing to see coming from mister passive -easy going. Anyway, he seemed to recognize her immediately when they touched noses and any time they passed each other in warm-up he would softly rumble to her. Apparently I have a bit of a romancer on my hands...

ANYWAY - back to the jumping. We had a great warm up, Warren was on and totally eating up the crowd and spectators. (We had a few "fans" come to watch the rides and he seemed to really eat up the idea of people coming to the trailer saying hi to us as we were getting ready) Of course I was a little worried as usual about learning my course but I had been staring at it all morning so I was feeling pretty good about it. By the time we got in the arena, the music kicked on and away we went, little tail poked out and ears up looking for the next fence! He was on and ready to work! It always feels like we are going faster than we look. Going by the video, I see we are just loping around for the most part, but then I think, wholly cow, that is a plow horse! Not only is he cantering around, he is jumping, making tight corners and he even looks like he is having fun!! I laugh every time..... coming off the last fence he was still looking for more to jump (look at him coming from the white, on the diagonal, towards the camera (the last fence) he would have made the funky corner and hopped over the closest orange and purple, if I asked him to, he was having blast and ready to jump more! We ended up having the cleanest and fastest time so we got a blue ribbon in that class.

Our second class was just as fun and nice of a ride but it was an open class with all the speedy, fearless ponies and riders. We don't really hold a mark to those pairs! So a green sixth is where we landed. We had a few classes to rest and then our final ride of the day, the 2'6" jumpers. When I took Warren out to warm up again, he just didn't feel like he had the same fire he did earlier. We hopped over a few things to wake up again but they were sloppy and he was just plowing through the oxer. It was kinda bad, we had 2 awesome rides already so I called it a day. I think Warren would have gotten out there and come on again, but I didn't really feel the need to put him through that, we had two fabulous fun rides and there was no reason to push him an harder this early in the season. Back at the barn, Warren wanted to be sure everyone saw the blue ribbon he earned for his performance. That's my big ham!

A moment of AH HAAA!

Old habits are hard to break! I have gotten into this nasty one of "holding" Warren with my legs instead of giving him a release. While I was indeed very inspired after the clinic, I fell back into frustration as I couldn't seem to make all my cues happen all at the right time. . So I had a few lessons with Christy the past few weeks for more guidance and wow, we are back on track now! We got him moving his shoulders over at the canter and then moving around 10 meter circles with a change of direction in the middle. I really figured out how to stretch down on my outside leg to bring him around those little circles! After some work in the circles, I sent him around the arena and got the most beautiful, light, round, effortless, trot I have ever had from Warren. It was amazing and extremely inspirational. We got him to sit back on his hind quarters and I figured out how to leave him alone so he could get in a nice forward frame! It was a major AH-HAA! moment for us and now we know what we are working towards!

Another Dressage Clinic with Jessica

Did I mention how much I learn from just one clinic with Jessica? We had another round of lessons Friday night and Sunday morning at Wintergreen this past weekend. I seem to have gotten back into the habit of pulling on the dang inside rein again. All it does is throw Warren out of balance. Bad me! Jessica had us back on track again and then we worked on keeping quite with my over achieving right leg and staying tall and balanced in the saddle while asking Warren to stay soft in the bridle. I have been asking him to stay compressed but then releasing him to where he gets hollow again. It is a bad constant ask and give habit I have gotten into. I did not realise softening could be so subtle and still have the same reward effect without him falling apart. At any rate, we are now on the right track and I have more fine tuned home work to focus on the next few weeks. Motoring the back end up into the bridle, softening the neck and providing a release without letting him fall apart. phew. We are gonna be busy!

First Jumping Clinic of the season!

We, meaning the entire family (dogs, horse, Russ and all), loaded up and hauled down to Springfield, Oregon for a 2 day jumping clinic with Karen O'Neal this past weekend. We had a wonderful time!! The clinic was held at a a beautiful facility on the Willamette River. A nice new barn and a fancy covered arena with luscious sand footing. The original plan was that we'd camp out in the trailer Saturday night, while Warren enjoyed a comfy stall at the barn. However, even thought the weather for January was uniquely sunny for this time of year, the temperatures were still the usual cold bitterness at night. Russ and I opted for a dog friendly hotel instead. It was a much more comfortable decision for all. The organizer was kind enough to accommodate us for a Saturday afternoon lesson so we did not have to leave ridiculously early on Saturday to make the 3 hour haul and a morning ride. It worked out very well. Warren and I rode in a group of 4 in the afternoon. We practiced riding forward to fences and establishing rhythm and balance. Sunday's lesson was to focus on some cross country riding out in the field. The day started cold but clear in Eugene, where we were staying, but in Springfield, along the river, the fog was dense. We knew just above the ground hugging clouds there was beautiful blue sky. The fog dissipated just in time to to give us that clear sky for our mid morning lesson. While we warmed up, we talked about cruising position and sending our horses forward out into a gallop and then using our body to balance them back and set up for a jump. We practiced this a little bit in the arena first then went out to the cross country field to fine tune our techniques. My new jumping saddle made the riding so much easier! I have been jumping in a very comfortable and secure all purpose saddle but I found a deal on a new close contact Wintec. Between the new saddle and the shorter stirrup length, I can get out of the saddle better to allow Warren to get forward. I was surprised how responsive the big fella was when I asked him to go and come back, it is amazing what balance will do for a horse, huh!? We had a great time and learned a bunch from our outing. Russ was a star too, not only did he drive the rig down and back, he took pictures, took care of the doggies and helped me do those odds and ends for Warren too (haul water buckets, move hay, etc). What a man!! He also found some time to keep himself entertained driving his new RC rock crawler over some random rock piles around the farm. Again, it was a positive outing and another great way to get our event season started!!

Preperations for the '09 Season

I must say, I am pretty stoked about last year and looking even more forward to this year. My resolution last year was to get more involved with the events around here and get out and about. I did just that! We had an outing every month during the season and made some eventing friends in the area. We even went to the beach with the gang for a camping trip!


This season's goal is building on last year's and to go to at least one recognized event. My lofty reach for the stars goal is to qualify for the AEC's. How cool would it be to take a Belgian to the Championships!? I think a strong recognized event performance or two is certainly within our range. Warren is so dang steady in Dressage and he has been developing some serious top line and shoulder strength since I have been lunging him in side reins. He can carry himself in a whole different fashion now under saddle. He is most certainly capable, as long as I leave him alone and let him do his job. I still tend to want to micro manage the fella. So my event season has started sooner this year, with more jumping and dressage clinics. I have a stronger horse and a more confident mindset, we have the opportunity to go far this year.
In preparation for the season and all the hard work we will be doing in the months to come, Warren got a sporty hair cut... As a friend said, "I unzipped his coat" .

A Snow Situation

Christmas Eve and there is STILL snow on the ground. In fact, snow has been falling on and off the last 5 days! The Portland/Vancouver area has not had this much snow for this long in 40+ years! Of course I have not gone any where in the mess but Russ has been an absolute sweet heart making sure I get out to see Warren every other day or so. He is in excellent care at the barn where he is boarded. They are having no trouble with the snow and ice, other than having to haul water to the buckets as opposed to having it right at the stalls. Warren is happy as can be standing out in the snow when he has his stall door open. The temperatures have been hovering in the mid to upper 20s so it really hasn't been to bad since the teens we had earlier in the week. It is actually starting to warm up today, we are at 33 and snow is starting to drip off the trees! We've got a long way to go though, there is a good 10" of snow to melt through.

Russ wanted to take warren for a ride in the snow, so I obliged him. Warren got a kick out of plowing through all the white stuff! That boy needs a harness and a sleigh!!!

ARCTIC BLAST...

... as the media has been calling it; cold air masses and wet air masses collide and give us snowy icy conditions.

The first few days of the week were bitter cold, but dry. I went out the the barn Monday all set to put on Warren's heavy blanket, the one I got for him when I body clipped him back in Georgia. I figured I'd not likely need it again unless I decided to do a full body clip. So it was stowed away in the trailer. With the major temperature drops at night, I decided he might be a little more comfortable in a thicker cover. (I would sure feel better knowing he had a more substantial coat on!) The lock was frozen on the trailer, and after some convincing I got it open. Then the door itself was frozen shut. So more convincing and prying and it almost came to a hairdryer to defrost it, but it finally broke lose. So Warren is now snugly warm in his blanket. Given the option he still stands out side in the cold.

Since he seemed to be so comfortable in the weather, I decided I'd take him for a ride on Tuesday. The footing in the arena was frozen, but it wasn't rock hard, just crunchy, I figured it'd be good to get his blood moving. It was after work, the sun was going down and the temperatures were rapidly dropping to the teens (no moisture yet, just dry cold air) I bundled up in my awesome warm and toasty fridgaware suit and got him tacked up and lunged for a good long while to get him warm and forward. When it was time to get in the saddle, I reluctantly peeled off my suit to my fleece lined riding clothes underneath. I rode for about 20 minuets until I started not being able to feel my fingers and toes. As long as you stay moving, the cold isn't too bad, but when you stop you cool off pretty quick. Warren was very content to be plunking around the arena, but I wanted to keep the feeling in my fingers (it is really hard to untack a horse with numb fingers!) so I called it a night and got back into my warm fridgeaware suit.

I must say, Warren was very light, responsive and quite willing through the entire ride, this really is his kind of weather!

Wednesday brought wet to add to the cold so we had some snow and ice and the southerner in me refused to go anywhere. Thursday was more of the same so Russ took me out to the barn and we were greeted with a happy looking fuzzy Belgian standing in the snow with practically a grin on his face. I lunged him for a little while and again, super forward and very nice carriage for being free lunged. He is developing some different types of muscles enabling him to move and carry himself differently. It is exciting to see his development!