60 Days of SCA Equestrian 2021

February 4, 2021

Day 1: Libby

Weaving cones 12’ apart, working in one handed steering and maintaining half seat. You can see we need work at the canter even though we have the trot down well!

Day 1 Bonus: Dulce

Dulce is not my horse but I ride her regularly and her owner is also a SCAdian so while she isn’t part of my challenge, you’ll see her here and there.

Dulce tends to get frazzled when going from one task to another and isn’t exactly quick on her feet, hence why we practiced canter long side -> trot the weave. We’ve overall been working on head down leading up to a virtual dressage show and this gave a change of pace while allowing us to practice her trot/canter/ trot transitions (not her forte). After watching a horrendously eye awakening video of my riding the other day, I was very much thinking “hands up, heels down, hands up, heels down” across all the long sides to hopefully get my lower leg and hands steadier again. They are currently what I call “Yikes on bikes” and what my sister calls “having a party”. These videos will be good for helping me get out of bad habits I developed, be better balanced, look more refined, and cue the horses better. Hence why I ask for no feedback on my position. I wasn’t always this bad and I aim to get back to better.

Day 1: Leo

We did the same exercise as Dulce of canter long sides to trot the cones, then added to do it in a half seat with bridges reins in my left hand. We were basically able to do the thing! I have gotten lazy of expecting timely canter transitions from him, so there is room for improvement there. I again am doing lots of wincing at my position (when did I get so sloppy??)

Repeating statement from album description:

Things I am open to suggestions to:

- Ways to improve my games (ex: Someone said to me last fall to do the games in half seat. Mind. Blown. It really does make it easier)

- Other low effort activities / ways to work on singular skill sets

Things I am NOT open to feedback on:

- My position (if you can see it, I can see it; this is a sore subject right now so PLEASE don’t say things about it)

February 5, 2021

Today is all about making sure I don’t drop my would be lance (Aka broomstick) too early, as I tend to do. I am using a broomstick because I discovered with virtual highland havoc quintain challenge that I after about five passes my arm / elbow really hurt from lifting and lowering the lance (and hurt the next few days, too!), so I want to work up to using the lance. I know timing will be different with a longer weapon, but gotta start somewhere? I am trying to halfseat for this so that I have more consistent aim. The cones are to help me stay on track for the entrance and exit, even if they aren’t a true lane. There are two on each side of the tall pole. They are 12’ apart

Day 2: Libby

Did okay? I think my last pass was my best shot. I think I lowered it at a good time and raised it at a good time after.

Day 2: Leo

A discussion with a friend last night made me want to check his trot tempo and, uh, yeah he’s slow. So we trotted around with the metronome on

I tried to do the run the other direction so people could see my right arm -> feedback on if I’m doing anything weird? It may be too far away to see

Leo has always been iffy about stuff around his head, esp the lances. As we went he was either getting impatient/bored, anticipatory, or some other variety of unhappy. You can see in the second video where he starts going “NO GO STRAIGHT” and how I put the broom handle down to get both hands back, go back to the trot, then go to the canter and he fusses. You can see in the first video how I wanted to practice cantering with it before I went down the lane. What you don’t see is that he got a little forward/I got a little flustered after our first canter lane and I dropped the stick, hence going back to trot to do it calmly again at the beginning of the second video, and overall hence the two videos rather than one

Things I would do differently in the future:

- set up poles or some other visual cue 4.5 feet away from the cones to make a proper lane

- I have fabric reins that are shorter (I think made for barrel racers) that I want to try instead of tying knots

- I am also debating starting a 30-60 day workout routine to get my upper arm strength up so that I can do this many passes with real lances since they’re heavier and last time lots of passes gave me arm/elbow pain. Something something ride like an athlete challenge?

February 6, 2021

Today we have budget heads made out of cups and baling twine. I am lucky that my barn has standards! Not so lucky that the cups don’t fit on top of the standards like I hoped they would, so I had to improvise with jump cups. I imagine this could be done with round pen sides or fence posts, which won’t allow for weaving, but may be useful in their own way since heads can be any height. Standards are 13’ ish apart and I went across the diagonal because I was was tired of centerline. I also used my broom stick instead of a sword because I didn’t feel like getting one out (I feel like there is a witch joke there somewhere).

Things I plan on doing differently next time:

- not wear an open jacket because it caught on things a few times

- get my actual sword out. I held the broomstick closer to “normal” length but it is still unwieldy

- try to better about using half seat because I think I only remembered half the time

- eyes UP. I realized I tend to look down trough the weaving and I should not do that

Day 3: Libby

We’re getting there at the canter! Better than cones on day 1!

Day 3: Leo

He was a good boy! Things to work on with him especially is keeping a forward trot through the weaving. Just because I’m thinking doesn’t mean he gets to slow down!

Day 3 Bonus: Leo

The video from a week ago where I had a hard self reckoning with what I was even doing on a horse means I want to work on my position. Something that stood out to me is I’m not sitting Leo’s canter as much as I like, so I pulled out an old exercise-> holding the cantle while I ride. I’ve done this at sitting trot, canter, etc. The trick is to not get chair seat legs while doing it.

Then I felt lucky and *drumroll* Leo cantered the stands I discovered that we can only do this K-> M, not M-> K, and Leo has no clue who knocked over that stand. No clue at all

February 7, 2021

Honestly I was tired and didn’t want to ride today, let alone do SCA things. But I did a little something. Is riding bareback as an SCA skill set kind of stretching it? Yes, absolutely. But we have bareback competitions sometimes, right? Right?

I tend to ride bareback about once a week out of laziness, getting a better sense of what my horse’s back is doing, and as a low stress /let’s just have fun ride with my horse.

Today I focused on roundness, keeping my leg back and still (i tend to revert to chair seat when bareback), moving away from leg (turn on forehand and leg yield)

Today also reminded me why I like having the arena to myself in the early mornings. I would have liked to do more with each but I got tired with working around people and didn’t want to make the videos too long

Libby:

She REALLY didn’t like that end of the arena today. Rounding was a fight, but we got that some. She also is less good about lateral movement than Leo as a general rule.

Leo:

He was a good boy and I didn’t want to keep working when he was good and someone else had a lesson going on.

February 9, 2021

These will be VERY boring to watch

This feels like another cheat day because I didn’t actually ride or use equipment or or or

I try to remind myself that it’s not all or nothing. The things I’m working on WILL help with tasks

This morning I had an early work meeting hence the no time to ride, then after work I have a webinar with Ange Bean of Straight Forward Dressage about winter riding, so I was tight on time, hence ground work (then I lunged them each)

I used this video (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tBIClN-zlQg ) as inspiration and realized quickly that I had to MASSIVELY lower my expectations because I do not have extensive ground work experience and neither do my horses. We went from “I can do these things in the video!” to “okay, I need to work on using my reins while doing ground work and asking the horse to round and bend while walking forward but without me leading them too much forward”. We also did some turn around the forehand with mixed results

Things to keep working on:

- keeping the horse moving forward with my reins back!

- keeping my outside rein from getting slack and my hand moving too far up their neck

- when the horse stops/gets stuck, asking them to move forward out of the walk. Backing up and stuck lead to rearing / frustration

How I want this to help:

- in speaking with my KEO Zarra Aka Liz the other night, we talked about asking for roundness and the horse maintaining roundness with one hand. I don’t think I can reliably do that with either horse

- building hamstrings/other muscles for the horse / having them step under themselves

- flexibility and agility

Day 5: Libby

We were not so good at the bending at the walk. Mixed results with turn around the forehand

Day 5: Leo

He got frustrated faster, and so we ended up walking out of things a lot. I hope this doesn’t teach him that he can just fuss and back up for a moment and I stop asking for things. I also don’t want to encourage him to be fussy/rearing. Also sorry for awkwardly walking up to the camera at one point my phone had a weird message up and I wasn’t sure if it was still recording or not

February 10, 2021

SCAdian Eqs know I love putting heads and reeds in the round when I design challenge courses

These 8 cones are 15m ish in diameter

Before I got on each horse, I did the bending walk practice on the ground for 7ish minutes. This time was not on purpose, but kind of just what happened. I looked for visual cues with the horse relaxing, lowering their head, and chewing on the bit before I went and got on.

Last night I attended Ange Bean’s (Straight Forward Dressage) and Lauren Annett’s (Bally Vae Farm)  about winter riding, breaking larger things down into individual parts, finding the novel in the nuance, and much more! Ange’s line of “Training doesn’t just mean riding” made me feel a lot better about doing groundwork yesterday. Thank you again to Doucette about clueing me into their webinars!

I had a discussion with Zarra the other day about horses’ roundness, keeping it with one hand, while riding the challenges, which is part of why I did this exercise today. We aren’t totally there yet, but we can work on it!

Basically I walked each horse around the circle on the outside to get to bending and round, then wove, then trotted around the outside with bending and round, then wove

My friend Allison a month or so ago also said to me about getting off the horses in their “scary” corner of the indoor. Even though they see them all the time, each horse has to side eye a corner each time. So we get off in “scary” corners, now! After all, the best reward we can give a horse is getting off.

Day 6: Libby

- she was better than yesterday about the bending and maintaining momentum as we walked and did the bending groundwork

- Ange made a passing joke yesterday about as a red head she understands why chestnut horses tend to not stay in frame and libby is no exception! She has to inspect all of those birds!

- I focused on asking for bending and rounding while in half seat and keeping eyes UP

Day 6 Bonus: Dulce

- I had never done the bending walk groundwork with Dulce before, but I think she’s done it before. That being said, I don’t think it was a good experience. The people who owned her before/“trained” her in dressage probably cranked her in side reins or draw reins so she braces against the bridle, gets behind the bit, has a chunky lower neck muscle, and for over two years we’ve been trying to undo a lot of that training and get her to drop her head and come underneath herself. I think they must have done something with her on groundwork but I think it must have been traumatic/equally forceful because she started really nervous with me and kept freezing when I touched the outside rein. I never really got my hands to where they belonged or got contact with the outside rein, but it was more important to me for her to relax, drop her head, and chew the bit than to have her head somewhere specific since she started so tense

- of course they started working on replacing fence posts in Leo’s field about 150(?) m away behind the indoor right as I went to put the camera on. She had been doing really well with the exercise before then, but then when sporadic THUMPA-THUMPA-THUMPA-THUMP started, she had a harder time relaxing and focusing back to where she was before 

- the cones are a good exercise for Dulce because I mentioned before she gets flustered when asked to do too much at once. I think we did a good job recovering with the aforementioned scariness

Day 6: Leo

- he remains the best at the bending walk groundwork. The goal was still creating and maintaining forward walk when we did this

I had the metronome on while he ate and I tacked up since he doesn’t always like it. Also had it on during the groundwork and as I warmed up at the trot. Lots of doing trot serpentines with it, since he slows down on turns-> 76 bpm

- Again, focus on eyes UP, and keeping him going while asking for rounding and bending in a halfish seat. It was definitely leg day with him lol

February 12, 2021

I set up obvious visual cues for myself Aka cones in each direction, about 20 ft from the last marker, and made the lane 4.5 ft ish wide

Why am I doing this? The last KEO was big on halting sans reins for Eq archery. I cannot practice Eq archery at my farm, but I can practice a lane and halting

Ps, I have a 30 (?) lb horse bow and I haven’t looked at arrows yet (they were supposed to be my Pennsic 2020 purchase, RIP), so if you have recommendations that won’t break the bank, I’m all ears. Surprising no one, I have a short draw length (23 in?) but that was a few years ago and on foot

Things to work on:

Actually being handless. Turns out I’m terrible at it

Keeping my heels down and legs back This is what I mean by “developing atrocious patterns I was unaware of until two weeks ago and have been working on”

We also did the bending walk exercise before getting on today again

Day 7: Libby

She was lame today Lots of people have heard her soundness struggles of the last year, and while her first bit of trot is normally off, she generally works out of it. Today she did not

I am unsure if I’m putting my weight in my left seatbone to make her turn like that when we halt. I tried to focus on being balanced with the other rides going forward

Day 7 Bonus: Dulce

Welp, my phone got full storage as I rode and so it cuts out

She did okay? You see that I ask her to put her head down before going forward each time

Day 7: Leo

He quickly got over this game lol. He is most opinionated and goes “yes I hear your seat and I am pretending not to”. Lots of wiggles as time went on! Definitely something to work on

February 13, 2021

Aka “what is easy to set up as I try to skim time off / stay on track with being online but 10 am”

We threw hula hoops at a bull and walked through a pool while bareback. Ta-Da? At least it was something

Day 8: Libby

Not off!

A champ! Doesn’t really like me cantering and doing the thing. I got one one but it bounced off

Day 8: Leo

I got one to stay on He is notorious for being opinionated about baby pools so I’m glad I didn’t have to get off and go through the sending exercises while he pretends he never has done this before. I did not pretend to be coordinated enough to do this at a canter

February 15, 2021

To work on balance and grabbing while going

I wanted to do something I could do slowly (if Libby was off) or faster. I feel like I could have pushed myself a bit harder with “go faster” and doing more takes but I let myself get distracted by my barn owner coming to watch when on Libby, and other people watching while on Leo.

We had a tarp to grab, a broomstick to grab, cups to grab off the cones, a barrel to grab, a fake garrocha pole, standing on the saddle (boots were cleaned before riding, I promise), leaning weird while Leo walked, etc

Real garrocha demo!  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ARHfM_aa9CI

I need to work on having them be further from the pole as I do things

Also my barn owner just bought me a dowel to use instead of a PVC; she is so kind!

As always, did bending walk on the ground before getting on. I think I’ll be ready to try the other exercises from the vid again soon

Day 9: Libby

Decent! Apparently terrified at cantering with the tarp (you don’t see her take off as we were off screen at the time)

Day 9: Leo

As my old roomie, also an Eq put it, he is more bombproof than I give him credit for!

February 19, 2021

This ended up being harder than I expected! You’ll see that each horse will knock some down as we go.

The cones are about 8 ft from each other. 13 cones (well, 12 cones and 1 pole)

First pass is at walk with one hand and half seat, focusing on eyes up! Second pass is trot half seat with two hands

As always, did bending walk on the ground before getting on. I think I’ll be ready to try the other exercises from the vid again soon

Day 10: Libby

Did decently! Didn’t want to round

Day 10 Bonus: Dulce

Did SURPRISINGLY well. She gets frazzled easily and over corrects when I ask for little changes so I wasn’t sure how the trot was gonna go, but we did it!

Day 10: Leo

Little lazy but okay!

February 20, 2021

Once again, following this video. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tBIClN-zlQg...

We’ve been practicing the bending wall every day before getting on, but not the turn around the forehand and side pass. Turn on the forehand went well, watching for reaching over and in front with the hind leg. Side pass, not so well. Again, as the horses stop, walking forward and trying again. Definitely not ready for half pass.

Day 11: Libby

Turn on the forehand went well, side pass okay.

Day 11: Leo

Side pass is hard and he definitely started getting fussy at the end, but we had some really nice moments after the camera was off

February 21, 2021

I bought this saddle from a friend last fall so maybe I can joust eventually? I am slowly putting my kit together... painstakingly slowly.... (still need gauntlets, horse eye protection, a shield, foam thingies, cardboard tubes, and I’m sure I’m forgetting more...)

It doesn’t fit either horse perfectly but well enough for random usage? I thought it fit me okay, but I have a REALLY hard time sitting the canter, so maybe it’s too small for me? Unsure what to do about it Any input on that front appreciated

Day 12: Libby

She was lame again, so easy day of just walking for the old pony.

Day 12: Leo

I took a 10:30 min long video and broke it into chunks. You can see in the first vid where he bucks It’s around 1:55 as he goes off screen. I go back to “if all his bucks were that small I’d have nothing to worry about”, but, alas, that is a small buck for him

You can also see how TERRIBLE my heels are (which I’ve been working on for a few weeks ugh). I tried cantering without stirrups too see if that helped me sit but I think no dice

I also did some turn on the forehand so you can see what I mean but we’re not good at keeping our heads down around it, and don’t always cross our legs. This is why I’ve been doing the ground work!

February 24, 2021

I have the opportunity to work with Zach Crawford at Crawford Crosstraining, so I can learn to ride like an athlete! Check out his website, Facebook, and Instagram for more info!

Website: https://www.crawfordcrosstraining.com/

FB page: https://m.facebook.com/crawfordcrosstraining

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/zachjcrawford/

Random pony stuff part 1:

Due to my heels problem, I’m doing what my instructor way back when I was a wee Mishee starting to ride ~ 7 or 8 had me do-> I’m wearing my boots, grabbing my step ladder, and practicing heels down for about 10 min a night to stretch my muscles. It’s been less than a week, but I think it’s helping?

Random pony stuff part 2:

I attended the Ange Bean’s (Straight Forward Dressage) and Lauren Annett’s (Bally Vae Farm) webinar last night about being on the bit. At a certain point Ange asked Lauren “if your horse is like THIS, how would you work to get them on the bit?” First example, an OTTB behind the leg. Second example, a Friesian who has a very upright neck whose back legs get behind them. I internally went “ARE YOU STALKING ME??” Because those descriptions may have well been Leo and Dulce As always, it was a very enlightening talk! Ange and Lauren can use way more physiological  words to describe what a horse has to do when, and what they look for as dressage trainers and judges. Always love their insight!

HOKAY, now on to today’s rides-> We were back at the 8 cones in a 15m diameter circle weaving. Feedback from the weaving serpentine was that I was leaning too much, so I tried to not do that, while keeping eyes up, while keeping heels down, while staying in half seat, while keeping the horse bending, while keeping the horse on the bit, while trying to switch to one hand and... yeah I didn’t always hit all those marks at the same time

Day 13: Libby

Sigh, still lame. I was hoping with the warmer weather she would be feeling better, but no dice I feel bad riding her when lame, even if just walking, but the vet said it was important to keep her moving with her arthritis. She definitely did NOT want to stay on the bit

Day 13: Leo

I’ve been riding him with the metronome at 76 for trot a lot in warm up, off camera. I think today it finally clicked! (No pun intended.) We had been doing it a lot with trot, trot serpentines, walk trot transitions, and now will start using it with trot canter transitions as well.

He was better than Libby about frame and bend and such. Going to one hand is still obviously a challenge for maintaining it, but I think I did okay with not leaning too much while one handed, while bending, while somewhat rounded.

February 26, 2021

I never really work at backing up or turning inside a box so that’s what we did today! We had a lane, a L shape, and a box.

The pole box is 12’ across the diagonal so supposedly one horse stride. I also made sure my lanes were 4.5’ across so they could be used as trot poles

This was a pain to set up but convenient for measuring. I am sure someone could do something similar with cones, or chalk lines

All three were a bit discombobulated for the first canter diagonal but worked it out second time

Day 14: Libby

The birds are definitely predators. That is all.

Day 14 Bonus: Dulce

She did okay all things considered. She was NOT focused for warm up and knocked a lot of poles all over and I had to get off multiple times to fix them before taking vid.

Day 14: Leo

We have never been great about backing up and I was expecting him to get, well, uppity around the turn but we did okay! I also neede to use more outside leg and rein on that turn about in the box

February 28, 2021

Sometimes we all need someone to see what we’re doing on the ground and to make us be better. For me today, that person was Liz!

Day 15: Libby

Not in the lesson, but rode her lightly first. The goal was getting her relaxed in the rainy indoor.

Day 15: Leo

I need to bend him more through his body, not just his neck and head. I need to not break the line from the bit to my elbow with my hand turning in, as well as put my hands further forward and shorten my reins. And reach further down with my lower legs and feet as wet noodles to reach around his body. All the things That being said, that was the longest duration of time I’ve ridden him in a long time and he didn’t get fussy!

March 2, 2021

After my lesson with Liz, I’m trying to focus on bending the horse in the body. I may have been mentally going “hands forward, open doorknob, hips like a w*****” (FB gets tricksy about sw terms so I’m just gonna censor that one to make the algorelves happy)

Day 16: Libby

Okay I guess? Stiffness has been an issue for the last year, but I think I felt her back moving?

Day 16 Bonus: Dulce

Welp, the video I took is corrupted or something so no documentation. But she did alright. Definitely bendier in her back than Libby.

Day 16: Leo

I tried to let him move some in the canter and just be a horse. I guess okay at bending in body at walk and trot? Probably overasking, though

March 3, 2021

Liz pointed out that I tend to overcorrect / push too much around cones and I should try to focus and stick closer to them.

I did all these with two hands today, and posting/sitting, to try to focus on the stick close / not over pushing sideways idea

4 cones ~15 ft apart

Day 17: Libby

She did NOT want to get her head down or bend. Death by birbs. A daily concern

Day 17: Leo

Not over correcting him and staying close to the cones will continue to be a habit to build

March 7, 2021

First (?) day riding outside this year since they dragged the outdoor arena yesterday and the new footing is all comfy and nice

Sorry for this being another day of many boring circles

Day 18: Libby

You can tell that she prefers the outdoor I feel like I sat her canter reasonably well. She is smoother than Leo for sure, but I was also trying to think of what everyone else told me about last time with relaxing my legs forward

Day 18: Leo

So many of you know the anxious mountain I have about Leo and outside. His unpredictability goes up and I’m an anxious bean. I was debating whether to even ride him outside since it was a little windy and no one else was at the barn, but also if you wait for the perfect moment it will never come and it WAS the Australian saddle so I’d have more security than my English.

I walked him around the arena, then did ground work, then got on. I stuck to the bottom 1/3 of the arena nearest where the gate was before they ripped that fence out. Don’t worry Liz, the entire time I was doing breathing exercises

I felt okay enough to canter and you see in the vid he did a little buck. I then trotted a bit more then got off because i was alone at the barn and started getting more anxious. I did more ground work with him after that which he listened well to. Trying to not beat myself up for getting off, and trying to internalize that he didn’t “win”. I don’t need affirmation on that. Just brain juju being bad.

March 8, 2021

NOTE: this is not the safest task. My broomstick got tangled in bailing twine on one of my before-camera passes, so be wary and careful! It’s why you’ll notice I kind of side swipe on some instead of hit straight on-> trying to avoid entanglement

No strict distance between the stands, just “under the third light looks like a good distance"

You’ll notice that I practice both across the neck and same side with the broomstick

Thoughts:

(1) I need to be better about picking my far  away distance away to look at and ride too

(2) I need to start practicing with longer weapon

(3) Remember to stay in half seat for “rings”

Day 19: Libby

Always a trooper with my odd requests

Day 19 Bonus: Dulce

Definitely a touch wiggly but we’ll get there

Day 19: Leo

Definitely took time between take 2 and take 3 to chill out, trot circles, etc

Also wiggly boi, but I’m the common denominator and probably the issue

He seems to dislike me crossing over more than simple same side

March 12, 2021

REMINDER: this is the proper way to pig stick /tent peg in the sca as of April 2020

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDrLeQalIQ&feature=share...

Also, real garrocha https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ARHfM_aa9CI...

I’m using a new 10’ dowel my barn owner got me, which is longer than a typical spear but Obvs it cannot spear a cone for the proper stab and lift for pig sticking. I’ve been working with Crawford Crosstraining to build upper body strength for these things and to ease transitioning to the real weapons, and thank goodness for that!

Want to make weapons or games equipment? Atlantia Book of the Horse Supplemental Dec 2017 http://equestrian.atlantia.sca.org/.../BotHSupplemental20...

I also had been somewhat working on shoulder in this winter, and after not doing much about it for a while, figured I’d give it a go today. More impulsion for both, I know

Day 20: Libby

Surprised how well she did at the trot with the garrocha pole!

Day 20: Leo

I, uh, apparently hit the button twice (so start and end recording) when putting my phone down so no vid today

He was fussy for garrocha pole time, and using it really shows where he doesn’t do small circles evenly. He also wanted to turn his head out both ways while doing it, which is partially I need to bridge my reins shorter. We did not trot. Right first was was butts, left was butts, right second time was okay!

March 14, 2021

Due to life I didn’t ride yesterday (too burnt out) and today I hit the snooze on my alarm due to daylight savings time and, welp, I was SOL on riding time. But enough time for groundwork and lunging (off camera)

Since we’re getting the hang of it, I’m trying to ask for more (ex: for the side pass with head down and bending some; we are still not ready for half pass). I think I still physically push them with my elbow too much in this, but we’re working on it.

Day 21: Libby

You can see she is getting better about not stopping. It’s an issue I have while on her, too. Head is okay.

Day 21: Leo

Leo struggles less with impulsion and more with head placement. He likes to fling up when I ask for lateral things. He’s getting better! Hopefully it translates to when on him.

March 17, 2021

Okay, but seriously this was mainly an excuse to jump. We haven’t been jumping because I’ve spent time setting everything else up for months, and the last time I was truly pushing jumping was in Nov for a Dec show that I ended up not doing because then Libby needed a Cushings test so the money went there and I’ve piddled around since then with a lack of enthusiasm due to disappointment but haven’t really even done that in over a month.

And ahhhh getting behind on days, and the chiro coming Friday will just make it worse. Gonna have to push next week to hit the March goal line

Day 22: Libby

Just did this once because my poor arthritic pony with navicular doesn’t really need practice on this

Day 22: Leo

You can see that I used to use cross rails a lot as distraction tactics with him so he doesn’t jump them unless cantering or the jump is higher. We used solid wood for two of them so he actually would feel something if he knocked them (he doesn’t care about pvc without wood reminders). We tried cantering it but he didn’t like canter and jump and hit cup. He also motorcycles HARD when jumping which is a constant thing I fight against, and you can see how that led to some not straight lines. Truly he was feeling some kind of way today and kept bugging out at something at the far end of the arena and threw some tiny little bucks into our first canter so who knows

March 18, 2021

Blah blah blah, done this before, trying to not over exaggerate turning and get good bends around the cones-> first time through each way is two hands, second time each way is one handed

All three are weaker to the right, Aka my weaker side

Day 23: Libby

Doop de doop, did the thing, probs can work on bending more

Day 23 Bonus: Dulce

Oh god this horse and bending with one hand. Uggggggh.

Day 23: Leo

No energy at all-> he was a dickwad to tack, a dickwad walking to the indoor, and a dickwad when I lunged him. He was surprisingly good under saddle but I was nervous (yes I did much breathing, Liz ) and didn’t want to push him forward because WHAT IF EXPLODE then someone came to get me because libby was freaking out in her stall and got caught on her stall guard and broke the buckle and anyway that was that. Short good ride after being a ninkampoop for all the rest of it (ps, libby is fine)

March 21, 2021

Check it out on Virtual Highland River Melees 2021 page! Details: http://highlandfoorde.atlantia.sca.org/hrm-2021-challenges/

Day 24: Libby

This was half an experiment to see how sound she stayed after trailering for an hour since we haven’t traveled since she developed her soundness issues. She was fairly sound? She got less sound as it went on, but hopefully when we get her weight under control, her arthritis will hurt less and we will have fewer symptoms

Apparently hitting 2in reed across the horse is the biggest problem I had.

Day 24: Leo

He did not go with; I did lunge him before going, and look how prancy he is after that chiro visit on Friday!

March 22, 2021

Goal of this was

(1) get Libby to do trot poles (the chiro said she basically has the equivalent of beer belly and needs to do tummy tucks and poles/cavaletti)

(2) practice changing between things quickly (ish) like we do in challenge courses

I think in the future I will add more to each end because this didn’t frazzle any of the horses!

The poles are closer to 3.5 or 4 ft apart versus 4.5 ft for traditional trot poles

I’ve also been trying to do shorter videos so I don’t bore people

Day 25: Libby

She still felt a little sore after yesterday but maybe I was imagining it? She handled this like a champ

Day 25 Bonus: Dulce

The baby pool definitely was going to eat her. Swallow her whole... despite the fact she’s done this how many times now??

I’m glad this doesn’t frazzle her, though. She gets frazzled most easily

Day 25: Leo

Sigh. So when I got on he was already a little tense which made me tense. Cue breathing exercises. 2 min into the ride as we were doing walk warm up, he took off (spooked at birds?). So then I was more tense. Continue breathing exercises when trying to not panic attack or just get off. The entire ride he just was On Edge and out the back door there were horses!! And out the front door someone pulled up with a trailer!! I did lots of chase the bunny (Aka Liz’s name for “change stuff every 6 steps or less”) but the back wall he kept tensing more and I kept tensing more and trying to breathe. Basically I was miserable the entire time and we just did walk/trot for twenty minutes because I wasn’t have fun and on edge and just... ugh.

We did the thing. He is slow to transition which is part of why I wanted to do this. He also used to never walk through baby pools unless forced to with it against the wall, so at least he’s better than he was a few years ago?

March 23, 2021

First of all, I had the moment this morning of “Christ, I’m not even halfway through the two months. I feel like I’ve been doing this forever. Oh noooo” but I guess that’s what makes a challenge, well, a challenge

So goals today

(1) Cavaletti for tummy tucks

(2) I learned on Sunday that reaching across for the 2” reed is hardest so I should practice more reeds (even if I didn’t set up any today)

Day 26: Libby

She was VERY EXCITED today for some reason. Wanna zoom

Day 26: Leo

Blah. I was beating myself up for riding inside when it was so nice out but I didn’t want to deal with him outside. Part of our annual struggle is me regaining confidence outside with him, especially if there and riding by myself, especially right about now as he gets spring fever because I do believe he is starting to feel it.

Bringing him in from the field he spooked a bunch at walking past the construction workers who are re-roofing one of the storage sheds between his field and the barn. So we get past that, feed, tack up, go to the indoor. I have the plan to lunge him a little in the corner by where they are on the other side of the wall and about 20’ away. Of course that is when they take a break so no noises to spook at. So he does fine, we go to the far corner by the back door (open for nice weather) because he struggles to focus sometimes, does fine. I get on, within two minutes we have a spook (birb?) and he scoots forward several strides and wheels to look at stuff. And then they start construction noises again.

I do chase the bunny, then the exercise where you see he does NOT want to turn right afterwards, then work with the metronome because if I’m focusing less on steering and more on “hands up, open door, hips like a wh*re” WITH the metronome then I don’t really have brain space for anxiety as much. Him getting spring fever every year and me just shutting him down is one of the reasons we have such crappy impulsion and pace at the trot, and why I have been working with the metronome so much. I am really trying to break the “shut him down out of anxiety” habit. We do manage to canter each way after and he was good, and I tried to remain soft with loose reins. Again, not really focused on steering or being put together, kind of hanging out in the middle of the arena so I don’t have to worry about the excitement on either side. Yayyyy anxiety...

March 25, 2021

Done this before, this time with not really worrying about hands because bleh. More focused on softness

Day 27: Libby

Always a champ. Only one I actually did no hands on kinda sorta

Day 27 Bonus: Hennessy

Introducing: Hennessy-> he’s a young horse who had a really good training start, then sat in a field for a long time so I’m helping him get back together. I’ve been working with him for about a month and he’s very sensible, even if does little things to go “ugh I don’t wanna do XYZ” and is lazy. I work with him twice a week and honestly he’s picking stuff back up really well!

Day 27: Leo

He was jumping at EVERYTHING today and I was starting to lose my temper. It gets REALLY annoying when every two minutes “OH MY GOD” jump sideways four feet. I don’t think I was nervous tense, but I was probably angry tense. I got off because a young kid was about to have a lesson and I didn’t trust my mouth or his behavior. I hate when he gets like this because it isn’t fun to ride.

March 27, 2021

People are probably tired of these still working on head down during lateral movements and truly crossing feet

I switched it up by lunging before today rather than after to see if that made them better and mixed results?

Both seem to move butt first sideways which makes me think it’s a me problem.

Day 28: Libby

We still get stuck about going forward while lateral

She does reach under and across well with her hind legs for turn on the forehand

Day 28: Leo AM

I was in a rush and didn’t have time to lunge first and he felt really forward? It felt jilted and stiff

Day 28: Leo PM

I had some time back at the barn before teaching a lesson tonight so I lunged then did it again and I think it went better. He felt less forward than this morning. As I said above, both horses lead with their butt which makes me wonder if it’s a me problem...

And at least he got worked, even if just a little, outside twice today?

March 29, 2021

Zarra, Atlantis’s KEO, pointed out to me a month (?) ago that I should work on one handed bending so you’ll notice that I’ve stepped down the intricacies of my exercises to work more on bending. I typically (1) overbend in the neck and not enough in the body, (2) don’t move my hips enough, and (3) get over dramatic in my asking of things. So I’ve also been working on finesse with all this.

The inner cones / circle intersect is about 4.5 ft across. The diameter of each circle is about 10m. I lined up based on the lights and rafters rather than the wall beams, so my exercise is not quite centered in the arena which will drive Zarra and myself nuts if we look at it too much

Overall I think I’m getting better at finesse and bending with one hand? Not so great at not over exaggerating to the right, especially

Day 29: Libby

Very snorty today at the wind, did chase the bunny warm up, bending to the right is harder than the left

Day 29 Bonus: Dulce

This was REALLY HARD for her. She wanted to look at and do everything else, especially with the wind and dogs outside. Right is VERY HARD and finesse is not her strength...

Day 29: Leo

Sigh, welp, this didn’t happen today because while on Dulce I got a text from my coworker that our boss had scheduled a 9:30 meeting and at that moment it was 9:00, so I had just enough time to get off Dulce, untack, turn her out, clean up equipment, catch Leo, feed him, put his tack which was already out away, drive home, and only be three minutes late to the meeting. Hopefully I can set this up and do it with him a later day this week. That being said. He was FILTHY and I probably would have spent more time brushing him than riding him

March 30, 2021

((Whoaaaa we’re halfway there

WHOAAAA

🍋

🐻))

Today was mix of trot poles per the chiro’s recommendation for Libby, and the cone weaving for looking and finesse. Used two hands, more egg shape than true circle. Followed by turn on the forehand each way. Head positions with the latter seems to be our sticking point. I want to do Liz’s pole cross spiral exercise again to see how we’re doing now.

Day 30: Libby

Pretty okay, realized in hind sight I should do my turn on the forehand facing the camera to be able to see y hands and her head position

Day 30 Bonus: Hennessy

We did neither the weaving nor the turn in the forehand. This isn’t me trying to go “oh look I’m such a good trainer” because I’m just average. But this is something he couldn’t do a month ago. Steering is not his forte, whether it is turning or going straight, and he doesn’t like contact, so I’m proud of how he’s progressing, even if we look like a mess. This is also me going “look, you can try it or modify the idea for a greener horse”

Day 30: Leo

Ugh a lot of emotions are about to come out. It was SUCH a nice day out, but I am SO anxious riding Leo, so I keep coming up with reasons for staying inside. “Oh it’s dark when I am setting up so clearly I need to ride inside” (even though I could turn on the outside lights, “oh but that would be too bright in the house windows this early”). “Oh it’s kind of windy today.” “Oh it rained a bunch yesterday so the outdoor will still be messy”. To put things in CBT terms, I catastrophize about riding him outside, especially if alone at the barn, even though by the time I ride him, normally someone is there feeding their horse. I predict the future and assume he’ll be terrible and even if I stay on, I’ll hate every moment of the ride. I jump at nothing (despite breathing exercises) and shut him down/slow down at every moment when he even bats an ear or looks at what is happening elsewhere. Every sprint I struggle to get past this because it is SO nice out. I’m going to try harder to do stuff outside but Ahhhhhhh

He did okay at the poles and cones. Turn on forehand and keeping head down were meh.

April 2, 2021

Sorry, Liz, this is another day of watching me go in circles, but it’s your fault!

8 poles (12 ft?), tried to keep ones with lines on the outside, about 3’ between poles in the center

I was trying to have solid things to look at to turn and spiral. I expect my hands still need to be more forward. I’ve been trying to fix my hands and get them up and forward more since that day. This exercise is hard at the canter! And there is lots of watching my leg do horrible things I’ve been working on not scrubbing, basically zero results I feel, and then when I get discombobulated it’s YIKES. Maybe slightly shorter stirrups would have been better. Maybe with all three with the canter issues it’s a me problem and I need to be more off their backs. Sigh.

Day 31: Libby

She was SO snorty today. Did NOT want to focus. Wanted to listen to people in the hay loft or aisle or omg dog outside. Ugh our canter left (I think that way) was SO BAD and that’s supposed to be her good side. Tbh this is probably the toughest canter exercise I’ve done with her in a year!

Day 31 Bonus: Dulce

Also OMG SNORT. Not coordinated at all, and I probably got fussier at her than warranted which got her even more frazzled. I canter this small of a circle with her fairly regularly, but I guess adding poles in makes her brain go ahhhhh. I even got off before this video to reset poles she tossed around and she was BETRAYED when I got back on to record. Again, yikes with my legs trot felt okay, canter just was a hot mess

Day 31: Leo

I feel like we did well at the trot. I actually asked him for even smaller trot circles than I asked the mares.

I promise I’ve been trying to ask him for looser canter... or at least softer canter... warm ups since the last lesson with Liz (when we did this) and she told me to try to give him some space to move and warm up his back. It’s hard to not prematurely shut down his canter when I’m anxious. I also have been cheating and not going into the corners/ far sides of the arena when I canter out of anxiety because He Excites by some of those corners and ugh. I want to practice pushing myself to get him back in them. I’ve been trying some.

Blah anyway our canters felt like crap. His vid is extra long because I stop cantering regroup and start again. He feels MOTORCYCLING which i don’t have the leg strength to keep him out? Or maybe I need to use more outside rein in addition to inside leg? Ugh, he gets the same way with jumping which causes half our jumping problems. Where even if inside leg is ON and pushing OUT he leaaaaans in. Anyway it all felt terrible and ugh

April 5, 2021

So I think I grabbed the javelin rather than the ring lance because this felt VERY SHORT. I just grabbed the first pointy end object I saw, so I need to verify which it is

I wanted to focus on (1) hit the cone-pig and (2) letting the horse’s movement drive the motion rather than my stabbing forward/down

Day 32: Libby

My very talented pony managed to loose her shoe while keeping her bell boot on...

The field did give back the bell boot she lost a few months ago, though, so I’m pretty sure it’s fae magic balancing out

Either way, text to the farrier sent

Day 32 Bonus: Dulce

Did really well today! I think she isn’t huge about the lance coming back up after dropping by her feet, but not unmanageably so.

Day 32: Leo

Had one of the morning feeders be my safety blanket as I rode him outside. He gets even MORE stuff and behind the leg I tried to do a free walk and loosen him up, mixed results. Only did walk trot and honestly didn’t do much riding. I got distracted talking to said security blanket person about the SCA and Jeremiah's Ulcer Repulser by JUR Equine (JUR) that Leo has been on for a week or so to see if it helps him. But he stood nice and quietly while we talked! And he only kinda looked at the one horse running around and the dog playing fetch!

April 6, 2021

I’m trying to not get too far ahead without Libby

I mainly set this up as a distraction technique for me and Leo

Day 33: Libby

Should get her shoe back on tomorrow

Day 33: Leo

Slow poke Magee. I was trying to focus on my looking. Unsure if succeeded. I still felt not visually focused enough.

I also pushed myself to use half the arena instead of just 1/3

Why my bar is so low: he was okay for first 15 min. After weaving, I decide to do metronome trot with circles in each corner of the half of the arena I’m using because he slows down on turns . Idk if he was just done with the footing (it’s harder work than the indoor) or saw someone pull up or what but he threw a fit and I spent the last 10 min doing figure eights at the walk and trot, eventually also with the metronome even if we struggled to stay with it, while he was fighting me about steering and moving. Uggggh.

Tomorrow is probably ride inside to give his legs a break from pulling up against this deeper footing.

April 11, 2021

Last few days haven’t been productive with depression, weather, and time management.

Today we just played with giant ball, big stick, and some cones

Outside is a swamp so inside it was

See also: canter videos where I hate everything about my riding and apparently can’t sit the canter anymore despite it having felt okay

Day 34: Libby

No longer lame from lost shoe time.

We did lots of running around before the vid because old pony goes zoom. I loosely cantered before this so I was asking her for more collection and rounding

Day 34: Leo

Lazy boi was allowed to be lazy. Less coordinated with big stick poke ball time. Less good at tight circle trot (even at walk he likes to fall in to the right rather than staying out).

First canters of the day and even if I don’t completely give free rein and let loose, I have been trying to ask for less collection at first and give him more head and move my arms more with him, which feels like pumping to me but I was told I needed to move them and have my hands more forward.

April 16, 2021

I was in a rush/waiting for the farrier to put Libby’s shoe back on/ brain fog and unimaginative so we did this again

First time each way, two reins, second time, one hand. Tried to maintain half seat.

Day 36: Libby

SOME-PONY lost her OTHER shoe but it’s back on now. Unfortunately too late in the morning for me to ride before work.

Day 36: Leo

Eh, okay.

I swear I’m trying to look and focus and not over ask for going sideways but I guess I AM over asking because we went out of bounds each way every time. So I need to work on asking less. I feel like I lost all bend and rounding when I switched to one hand.

April 17, 2021

So I am one of the Atlantia /East Alliance riders for The First Bardic War, and I have a feeling that I may get pulled into Martial Relay as well, and I still need to do Lord William’s challenge for Virtual Highland River Melees 2021, and for the Martial Relay, at least, I have to do something five times in a row, which I feel like may be javelin throwing, which if I’m setting that up, I may as well use it for William’s Challenge?

SO ANYWAY that means today I practiced throwing very non-javelin-y things off of horses for desensitization or something, even if I can’t aim for shit with the hula hoops. Then I wove the cones

MORE ON BARDIC WAR BELOW PONY STUFF

Day 37: Libby

She had the ZOOMIES and SNORTS (not as much on screen) and I accidentally hit her in the head once

Day 37: Leo

I think we did better at not over shooting? He seemed kind of stiff/tense. Bending left was HARD

BARDIC WAR MUSIC STUFF:

So I need to ride to something for Bardic War Equestrian Challenge so per the suggestion of my Habitaca SCA guild (lemme know if you wanna join!) combined with stealing THL Arielle’s idea of using Musica Subterranea’s recordings (with permission).

I rode today to one of their albums, three albums left, so far the winner is Rostiboli or Female Sailor. Rostiboli is the right length already, and Female Sailor is simply “as many times as you want” so could easily be cut down from 7 min to 5 min...Debating whether it is worth looking at the other albums! Probably yes.

Then of course the crazy idea of “do I want to perform Female Sailor myself and mess with playing 4-5 instruments, getting the audio tracks done, and meshing them together?” Hit me and like.. maybe I do, but probably not

April 19, 2021

Following another Sonovet idea presented on the SCA equestrian page

I had a discussion with a friend the other day about proper crop usage (which is something I have strong feelings about— it’s a leg aid, people!) which led to me showing her the exercises I was put through of “making sure I can quickly switch hands and way I hold my crop” as a small child. I think these exercises have helped me as a SCAdian. I also show at the end chicken winging which is what I see people sometimes doing with crop usage, which is chicken winging which (1) slows you down (2) puts you more off balance than just bringing your arm back and (3) is not as strong. You can see I’m kind of out of practice with the exercise, too! And doing it with a sword is different than with a crop because hilt is larger than handle. I can do this

We also practiced halting straight after the poles because all the ponies wanted to predict and motorcycle in on the turn after. Also, remember to practice halting in half seat

Day 39: Libby

I realized after riding her I forgot some of the cones (the ones around the barrel) so oops some of our circles got big

Also tried to remember to stay in half seat but forgot sometimes.

I did it both ways with her but thought there was nothing to gain from doing it both ways so didn’t with the others.

Good pony!

Day 39 Bonus: Dulce

Better than expected! Was a little frazzled warming up but got over it. After second run through I dropped my sword and used two hands to do the barrel circle again. You can imagine my internal “babe, c’mon, we talked about this” because she trotted it fine before the camera came on so we had to do it again even if it meant two hands.

Day 39: Leo

Good boy today!

I am tentatively going to say I think the JUR is helping!

Same thing about “buddy, c’mon, we talked about this” with trotting barrel one hand.

Today’s favorite songs from Music Subterranea’s Cornucopia album:

- Canarias (this is up there with the Lady Pirate from the other day )

- Gracca Amorosa

- Oranges and Lemons (but this is kind of short)

April 20, 2021

This is pretty self explanatory; good for checking symmetry and evenness

And I’m finally caught up on April, just in time for me to get my second shot on Friday and get behind again.

Day 40: Libby

She likes to stick her head out when we ride outside rather than round because the ground is hard work. We’re working on it. As always, turn on fore needs work

Day 40 Bonus: Dulce

Also says outside is hard work and what do you mean our butt has to keep up with our front end?

Day 40: Leo

What. A. Jerk.

Caught fine, tacked up fine.

Got outside, got on, and he was fine at the walk. The moment we started trotting I went “okay, either you’re stiff/tense/lazy OR you’re going to explode”

Shortly after setting up the camera he did a baby rear off screen so I just walked the pattern a little. Pushing forward when he’s a stiff spring about to explode leads to, well, explosions

So I got off and took him inside to lunge. Lunged fine.

Took him back outside to lunge. TAKES off. Rips the lunge out of my hand and runs around like a maniac.

Catch him, bring him back inside to lunge. Is going well, about to be done, then people came in the arena to grab the dressage letters for outside and he takes off and rips the lunge out of my hand again.

Catch him, and back to canter circles.

I really wish

(1) I could explain to him if he just behaves he wouldn’t have to work as hard

(2) I REALLY hate that he knows he can rip the lunge line out of my hand. I hate it so much. But at the end of the day I’m 5’2” and 135 lbs and he’s 15.3h and ~950-1000 lbs and I can’t really do anything about it. And I hate it. So much. Especially when he’s behaving beautifully then does it out of the blue, which is often the same crap he pulls when I ride that is problematic.

What. A. Jerk.

April 23 2021

Still waiting to hear back on yay/nay for using Canarias recording by Musica Subterranea 🤞

Day 41: Leo

Actually rode him first today and he felt like SUCH a spring about to pop. I was an anxious mess, probably partially because of the whole “getting my second shot today” and “unexpectedly needing to take my cat to the vet this afternoon”. 

So riding the test was more of a proof of concept than a true test ride. Wrong horse, wrong sized arena, did not do the canter 

I also have feelings about his saddle fit and I’m trying to somewhat problem solve them. Sometimes he is great! Sometimes he is terrible. I feel like the saddle is tight in his shoulders, esp his right one. I rode without a saddle pad for 10 min walk/trot (seriously, do this) so I could look at the dust lines— you’ll be surprised how much you see for if your saddle is sitting unevenly. 

The gullet is def closer to the left side of his spine than the right side beneath my seat. The saddle in the shoulders seemed like even wear in dust lines? But def feels tighter on the right with hands.

The saddle fitter was out in August, and I’ve been shadowing her some, so I’m going to call her to talk about it. I don’t THINK his back has changed that much, but maybe it has and I haven’t noticed because I see him daily? 

Running my hands on his back gets inconsistent results of muscle shiver. He has had white hairs on the right side of his withers for a bit now. He may be losing some hair right there? Or he may just be shedding in patches because he does that. 

Day 41: Libby

Did the test ride thanks to Kristy Walmer Kraynak videoing us! 

I have some time I can add to make it 5 min and I am thinking a left lead canter circle to add a few more seconds. Haven’t watched it with the music to see how it compares yet. The footing outside was really bumpy today so she definitely felt off for certain moments. Hopefully they drag the arena before I record for real next week

April 26, 2021

I got my second covid vaccine shot Friday so didn’t ride this weekend which is probably good because yesterday even just free lunging I was getting dizzy and tired and having to sit down. Redoing the test today was a low bar activity in case I got super worn out from riding.

Got an affirmative on Canarias by Musica Subterranea! Woo! 🥳

Also I have been released from martial relay for The First Bardic War so yay two things off my recording list for this week!

Rode indoors because even if wrong sized arena, it was windy and cold outside 

I added another canter circle to add time and I think it will work well!

Day 42: Libby

You can see why I want to do this outside where she is calmer and better focused 😓

Day 42: Leo

We cantered when we were ready rather than where the test says to 

He felt tense today, probs from not being ridden since Friday. Even though I lunged yesterday it’s not the same. 

I spoke to the saddle fitter Friday (Susie Coffey, who I’ve somewhat been shadowing as able). She and I talked about his saddle fit (yes I know I know not the same as her coming and seeing but the chiro comes out soon so only so much money at once) and I’m going to play around with some shims per her recommendations. I did not do that today, though.

April 29, 2021

This morning the lovely Rebecca and I met up to video for Virtual Highland River Melees 2021 and The First Bardic War!

We videoed things for:

- THL Arielle’s Runway Challenge — which do people like better, riding or walking?

- Lord William’s Madonna Oretta Challenge riding section for me

- Lord William’s Madonna Oretta Challenge schooling section for Rebecca

- Equestrian Dressage War Point

- Brawl War Point/ Pas de Deux 

By the end of it Libby and Sparrow were TIRED but they were champs in that deep footing! 

Day 43: Libby

So over it by the end! 

Day 43: Leo

So by the end I needed to clean up AND get to work AND it was about to rain so he just got lunged today 😅 

Of course, he ALSO has this big hive on his back and while he didn’t react to it, I didn’t  want to press my chances with sitting on it. It looks like bug sting rather than allergy with that raised middle to me

April 30, 2021

I really feel like I need to get better at turn on haunches so we did a little practice for that! 

I need to work on remembering hands up /not in my lap, don’t turn my left hand flat (only ever my left hand; why??)

I want to practice this for the challenges where we have to turn around in a box or move off the leg more than just a side step / back up in an L. It would be nice to do those things faster and transition from doing that to something else quicker.

Day 44: Libby

After such a hard day yesterday / last couple days in the outdoor, we rode indoor and I worked a lot on softening because even though it is less physically hard in this footing she is always on edge and hollows out her back. 

Turn on haunches off my right leg was harder than anything else, it seems

Day 44 Bonus: Dulce

We really struggled with good quality walks today. I haven’t been riding her as much recently and oof I can tell. She always gets more dead to leg and other smaller cues when I don’t ride her regularly 

Day 44: Leo 

Still a big hive on his back but less pronounced than yesterday! So lunged again, then did turn on fore on foot because I have NO IDEA how to ask for turn on haunches on foot.

May 1, 2021

Also, happy 8 year adoptaversary to Leo! 🥳 Picked him up as a problematic 6 year old from After The Races with my mom and now he’s a problematic 14 year old but at least we generally steer now. 

Day 45: Leo 

Ostensibly we were working on extension and collection but truly I was trying to not have a panic attack from riding Leo outside. (Bless Liz for putting up with me.) 

Day 45: Libby 

Rode Libby afterwards and she was more lame and didn’t work out of it the way I was hoping (she got somewhat better than when I first started trotting and I didn’t want to push too much).

May 2, 2021 

Re: we’re bad at boxes -> I’m still bad at boxes even though I’m trying to keep hands down and still and soft / not in their faces as much 

I tried to do the turn and back up opposite leg, but think I forgot with Leo. 

We also are trying to work on the “get in quickly and get out quickly” aspect 

Day 46: Libby

I think we did better at boxes and turning around than last time. 

Day 46: Leo

Much longer video 😓 Very fussy at back up L and unsure where the disconnect is with butt swinging for the L. Tried to break it up with some trot forward to help with frustration.

May 12, 2021

You’ve seen this all before so I won’t explain it.

It was largely to help me refocus after a few days of chaos, where even though I rode, I just puttered instead of Riding.

Also good reference point to do the exercise again.

First time yes hands, second time one hand. Didn’t remember to half seat every time.

Day 49: Libby

I felt like we fought about rounding and def didn’t bend well with one hand.

Day 49: Leo

He was Mr Eyeballs today but I think we did okay. Apparently my camera was focused super upward😅

May 13, 2021

Today was seeing if ponies got flustered going from one to the other and they did not! 

I debated adding something to the middle but thought it would be too much and it turns out it probably would have been fine after all.

Mainly remembered half seat 😅

Day 50: Libby

Did alright! 

Day 50 Bonus: Dulce

She was the one I was most worried about with flustering but she was fine. She kicked the poles a little then realized they were wood and she started picking up her feet 

Day 50: Leo

Also did alright.

May 17, 2021

I didn’t set anything up and instead just worked on some stuff from yesterday, particularly the armband and the canter foot weight pattern

It’s really hard to ask for bending or rounding with your hands in a band. I think this is a lighter band than the one Ange had me use; it felt a little easier to hold, or maybe I’m just getting more used to it.

I’ve realized with the canter foot weight game, I always count the right foot first. I feel like I should count the outside foot regardless first, but I have more trouble feeling it if I need to count left first for some reason. Or maybe just because all three horses are stronger to the left than the right. 

Also Liz always says how stiff my horses are, and I know I’m the common denominator of why they aren’t great at bending beyond their polls, so even more carrot stretches, now while being in the saddle. I want to be better and need to figure out what I need to do better with this! After camera went off, I did lots of opening rein (like exceedingly so), rotate around inside leg, low head walk to try to work on this. Making new habits is hard, esp when I’m unsure what I’m doing wrong or right. 

Day 52: Libby

My legs at the trot look crazy and more of the stand four- post four is in my future (not shown here).

I thought my seat at the canter was going to look better but it still looks like crap 😣 Hopefully as I get more used to the footfall weight in the stirrups thing, it will get better... I know I have to think about the feet a lot and I can imagine that’s part of why my legs are going in front of me and tenseness in my butt which is why I’m not sitting well. 

Day 52 Bonus: Dulce

Talina told me some of how her lesson with Ange went, and I tried to incorporate some of that feedback with how I rode today— which how I asked for better quality walks and such. But oh god our canter transitions... 

I feel like my leg moved a lot at the canter. Dulce esp struggled cantering to the right today, and felt the most awkward doing that with my weight in my feet 

Day 52: Leo

Started with warm up at trot at 76 bpm to get us moving and worked on him being the one to push me rather than the other way around. 

Same things as I said above re canter footfalls. I especially with him tried to move my arms more at the canter when I could remember to help it be softer. It’s hard to think of so many things at once!

Also showing the corner pattern I described yesterday to get him to not motorcycle. The trick will be making sure cross the hind end rather than the front end.

I am also including a video of an exercise that Doucette described to me months ago and I did for a bit, and I am assuming it also comes from Ange-> the M at the trot with the turn on the fore always. Your inside leg always remains the leg the horse moves off of. I think I want to start doing this again as well as the corner exercise for getting him to move off it.

May 18, 2021

Hard to get the set up in one picture! Hopefully it can be figured out from video.

Did warm up with the band; it’s really hard to do the band, have the metronome on, and post four, stand four at the trot 😵

Also more foot fall weight practice at the canter, thinking extra on legs back 

This exercise the cones were substitute corners because I was tired of moving poles. If I was ambitious I would have made PVC pole corners, but you get the idea. I think I should spread them further from the weaving next time so I can get a better pace on long sides and into/out of the cavaletti 

Day 53: Libby

After we did this, we did it with two hands to really practice round/bend since apparently that was impossible when also sword swinging.

Day 53: Leo

Started with just using the cones as markers for halt/go at trot with metronome during warm up (after the band work and post / stand rotation I mentioned above).

Take 1 I laughed my butt off at his trip and got a lot of attention from the aisle 😅 luckily Kristy was nice enough to fix the poles for me. I even ran through this before recording so he knew to pick his feet up!

Take 2 def went better. He was absolutely figuring out the pattern at this point and predicting it 

Ended the ride cooling out with Kristy Walmer Kraynak who gave me some good ideas for moving his neck, shoulders, and hips to try to get him bendier! Libby will have to do them, too

May 20, 2021

After talking to Kristy the other day about moving horses’ shoulders, I’m going to be trying to do that more, plus loosening necks (sans treats 😱) to help with bending since apparently I’m not asking for it appropriately and they’re all stiff. Have to improve them and me 👏

The objects on the ground were supposed to help me aim but I think I forgot to do that a lot of the time. 

The reach around with head is sooo hard when I don’t have a treat 🙄 Have to work on not just going in circles. And translating this to being more limber when I’m walking/trotting/etc. Gauging when to release / how much turn is good is hard. Tried to do it based on when they relaxed; mixed results 

Warm ups included the metronome and post four/ stand four. 

Mediocre results with moving shoulders / asking for it / having an aim when I did it

Leo also played stop in corners and turn out of him to get off my leg 

Still working on improving my seat during the canters via left- right foot weight. I feel like everything else goes out the window (bending) when I think about it. Still focused on leg back when doing this

Day 54: Libby

Canters felt like crap. Unsure how much is me versus her being jumpy and scooting forward. She is more responsive moving her shoulders than Leo. Needs about 3 chill pills 

Day  54: Leo

He doesn’t really like stepping on stuff.

Proved we can canter through the tarp without it eating us. Def likes to just make me carry the full weight of his head in turn abouts

May 22, 2021

Again working on moving shoulders, soccer style

Turning heads is hard without cookies

Both horses were over the walking so slowly for this

Turn shoulders around the pole, and also work to turn and burn

Day 55: Libby

“Thanks, I hate it”-> her opinion

Day 55: Leo

Turn and burn is not his strong suit.

Not nearly as tight with the soccer ball and around the pole

May 23, 2021

Both horses were so good and I love them so much

I always joke that my misspent youth on horseback is finally being used in the SCA, and Linda is responsible for most of the wonky things I did on horses

Reaching for the horse’s poll and dock while in motion are good skill sets. As is reaching for your toes and your toes across the horse. She also used to have us put our chin to our knee, but I didn’t do that today. Most things she had us do faster than I did today, but I am definitely out of practice and bareback adds difficulty levels, right? Right >.>

See also: grab the water bottle over the jump. Extra hard mode that I didn’t do is “put it back as you go over again”

Day 56: Libby

She hates me doing off balance stuff and always slows down so I don’t fall, which I appreciate about her even if I got it best protective pony

Day 56: Leo

I do not trust him / my balance / anxiety for reaching while cantering bareback that will be next time

I also practiced trotting and putting the water bottle back! It’s the first step to doing it over the jump

May 29, 2021

I still feel like butts and decided to be smart and not try to ride today. Let’s pretend these exercises will help in SCA.

This is a bad day to watch for “interesting things” other than Leo being spicy ~0:55 for no reason

Inspiration: https://www.horsejournals.com/.../groundwork-jec-ballou

We did not do the labyrinth

Our mat is too small for turning on

4 raised caveletti for trot, 4 PVC ground poles for walk; our circles are not 20 m — maybe closer to 10 m?

I’m terrible at moving lunging circles and I was too lazy to get bridles out so we just used halters. Also horses aren’t great at walking on lunge lines because often just asked to trot the moment they are let out, which made this exercise harder

Honestly this stuff probably helps with “versatile pony brain” and “responding to voice cues”

Day 58: Leo

Spicy pants MaGee for a hot second. Wish I had a shank on him or rope halter for ground work. I forgot to practice standing on the mat before videoing so it took a hot minute to get him on (I practiced with the girls before videoing to not make you suffer through the same

Day 58: Libby

Did decently; she NYOOMED during warm up and was lower key for videoing

Day 58 Bonus Dulce:

Her under neck bulge still hurts my soul

It’s been almost 3 years and it is slowly getting smaller/maybe one day it will be gone

Her weight is going down with being turned out with a muzzle on, but she really could use more elevated poles to help with tummy tucks and building back muscle, but she also likes bulldozing through poles, aka part of why we use the wooden ones when raised. She kicked them a lot during warm up with her back legs

May 31, 2021

So I wish I had something majestic and triumphant to show you, like doing a full challenge course on Leo outside with no anxiety, but this isn’t the movies.

It’s been 4 months and 60 days of focused riding; I go back to “I don’t struggle to ride that often, but I certainly struggle to focus.” I would like to think I have shown people how working on the pieces of the SCA challenge courses can lead to higher quality rides and that you don’t need fancy equipment to do any of that.

I admit I am not sure what to do next 😅 Open to suggestions!

Day 60: Leo

Redid the first challenge we ever did -> cantering through 12’ spaced cones

Def needed two hands and PUSH to keep going through and not dramatic weave through them 

Then we did the SCA box challenge and you can see we aren’t spectacular by a long shot. What a fussy baby 🙄 we did trot between the attempts 

Day 60: Libby

Trail ride with Liz and Natalie! Without the SCA I never would have made these friendships 🙂