All the Buzz About Brego

Even though Brego looked like he was slicking out, after the conditioning ride yesterday I could tell he was carrying some extra hair. So I brought out some new blades and clipped the big boy. There's a lot of surface area on that horse.

It took about three hours, but I removed three shovelfuls of clipped hair. I also took the opportunity to re-roach his mane. We don't have any impending shows, except maybe this hunter jaunt, so I was buzzed it pretty rough. He looks a lot better though, all close cut and you can see better muscle definition.

A couple things about this picture, which was taken in mid clip. His mane was not done yet. Yes, he is really that shiny. I blame his diet. And yes, he is that brown. *sigh* He's faded pretty fast from even a couple of weeks ago. He also wanted to show his supreme boredom after standing in the cross ties that long with his dangling lower lip. It's almost like he's part marsupial with his lip pouch, waiting for me to stuff it full of cookies. You know, 'cause that's the way he rolls.

That is the best picture though, because you can really see his coat bizarreness. Along the top of his back is a year old hair that is left from his old saddle-shaped patch. Then below that, you can see the outline of the flaps of the "saddle pad" which had more hair and so did not bleach in the Texas sun. Around the saddle patch, you can see his dead, truly yellow hair which was badly damaged by the sun in Texas. Then along his neck you have new, less damaged hair. But at his shoulder you can see some prominent fading spots where it is a lighter brown. The horse is freeky deeky.

Jumping and Conditioning and Hunters, oh my!

On thursday this week, I took Brego for a spin around the new outdoor arena. It is so huge and so soft and comes complete with many fences and combinations. I was in heaven. Brego however, was already bored.

I was sharing the arena with another rider who was schooling 18" and I didn't want to wait and then raise all the fences. So I decided to focus on my canter and just adjust Brego around the course. Maybe throw in some roll-backs. All with the safety net of knowing you really can't blow an 18" jump.

Well, apparently, Brego can. Instead of adjusting, Brego would not even bother picking up his feet. I swear, of the 10 or so lines or combinations I worked on, he had a rail almost every trip. And let me tell you how embarrassing it is to be riding a draft horse who drops rails at 18".

But no matter, I worked on trying to adjust the canter, staying soft, and not driving to the fence. Finally, when someone asked me what was wrong with my horse (because on the last trip he actually landed on a pole. Like he was aiming for it. ), I asked them to raise the fences to 2'6". Brego never dropped another rail, even when we blew a corner and he had to leave super long to take off when I asked. The big guy had to sit up and pay attention.

So once again, I vow to never school tiny fences.

But we got some good work done. Most of the combinations are set up on pony strides, so two of them were a perfect half stride for Brego. Do it once long, do it once short, etc. I set him up to start on the right lead, squeeze two strides into a one and a half and exit on the left lead. Then a rollback to another fence at 90 degrees followed by a bending line where he either had to change along the line, or get his right in the air. Finally the outside two lines were an easy 4 and then a short 6 or long 5. We did it in 5.

So it was fun to get some technical stuff strung together. If I can focus, Brego is about 70% at getting his leads in the air. I do simple changes if he doesn't.

Today was our conditioning ride. We worked all over the farm, around and through the arenas, down the logging roads, jumping up and down a 2'6" bank if it happened to cross our path. We planned to do 2 five minute trots and 3 three minute canters. Brego did it all fine, although he was started to get really tired and stiff necked on the last canter. After a ten minute walking cooldown, he had mostly recovered.

So I feel like his fitness is improving. My own riding is getting stronger. It was more comfortable for me to stay in two point during the canters and I feel like my balance was less wobbly.

After the ride, I chatted with the very fun barn girls and I am considering joining them next weekend at a local hunter show. Those of you who know me personally know I used to do hunters through college and vowed to never do it again. There's something so... contrived... about the schooling hunter show circuit. I mean how many blue ribbons does one need at 18" cross rails?? Anyway, I think Brego and I might rock out that hunter show (there's a little puddle jumpers jumper class at the end of the show that I might shoot for if I can stay awake that long). If nothing else, I will give all the Hunter girls a good laugh with my tail-less wonder!

Tagged (Again)

Beckz over at I Will Jump Sweet Jumps tagged me again with the latest round of internet viral propagation fluffery. I am still planning my revenge, but in the meantime...

Name 4 jobs you have had-
-Stable Manager for Paso Fino farm in Houston, Texas
-Lead groom for polo guy in Austin, Texas
-Writing software for big company
-Turn coffee into lines of code

4 ways you know you are living your life with purpose-
-I have a purpose?
-I still count the minutes until I get to see my horse. Every day.
-I am still learning
-I know my (soul sucking) job does not define me

4 things you do to take really good care of yourself-
-Stay away from processed foods
-Get adequate sleep
-Quit drinking coffe once a year
-No soda. Ever.

what are the 4 events that have most formed how you live your life today-
-Going to Cornell (i.e., getting the hell out of Texas)
-Going to Oxford (i.e., gettng the hell out of the States)
-Meeting my MUCH better half
-Finding Brego in someone's backyard and kinda liking his goof ball charm

what are the 4 things you do to keep your motivation up to work out and eat healthy or what are 4 careers you have considered-
-Seeing Becky Holder look Ab Fab at Role 2008
-Exercising a draft horse every day, I know exactly how he feels...
-Not getting any younger
-Too much to do to slow down

Name the 4 people that have been the most influential in your life-
-My advisor at Cornell who convinced me to go to Oxford
-My friend/trainer/horsey friend who is rude enough to tell me all the things I need to work on :)
-My MUCH better half for loving me for who I am, not who I will be
-Brego for loving me even when I am a jerk and I am wrong

4 reasons for staying away from refined sugar or 4 foods you will not eat-
-How I feel after a soda is reason enough
-Liver
-Beets
-Pasteurized Milk

4 reasons you blog-
-I couldn't find ANY information on drafts as "sport horses" when I got started
-I am so focused on what I need to do, I don't reflect on what I have done. Blogging helps me look back.
-Inspire others to love the horse they have and not go chasing the next big Warmblood
-Keeps me honest about my approach and motives. I get lots of feedback, positive and negative, when I screw up.

I refuse to pass this along, but my heart is in the right place. :)

Longe Session

I had my trusty riding buddy longe Brego while I rode without hands. The objective was to find my seat and relax my legs down along my thigh. I ended up feeling the best and most relaxed when I crossed my arms behind my back. Wow, did that find my seat bones quick.

It's amazing how you just keep reinforcing bad habits. I had no idea how much I was bracing from my hands to my knees. My whole body was full of tension. It wasn't until I could release it all and just move with Brego, without worrying about steering or holding up that ginormous noggin, that I could see just how bad it had been.

I have always been a "strong" rider, whereby strong does not mean good, it means strength. Some might refer to it as "Brute Strength". I don't mind working way too hard, apparently. Letting it go and just riding was really illuminating. No wonder Brego was bracing, we were battling it out with every step of every ride.

This first part of the video which shows the longing was pretty bad, due to fixed camera on a tripod. I just included it to give people a reference of what we did. I don't expect for anyone to see anything of quality, especially after youtube mangles it.

After the longe session, I took him for a spin and tried to stay soft and relaxed. I kept my hands lower and stiller and although I still have a tendency to "puppy dog" them, I kept them soft. Brego responded by settling into the contact more, and I found myself almost reverting back to holding up his head again. I had to catch myself. I would raise my inside rein to tell him to pick his head up and then we would go back to me trying to be relaxed.

In the video, I can see that when I got bouncy again was when I was trying to get him to do something he was resisting, either pushing him forward or bending in a smaller circle. Everything would get tense with exertion. I can see where we got in the habit of just struggling around each other. Like I said, it was very illuminating.

Relaxing my arms had an interesting effect on my leg. I tried really hard to feel my knee slide into my post, but I think the biggest difference was just relaxing. My leg was stiller.

So Brego wasn't the most dashing horse in the world without me pushing him every step of the way. We were both more relaxed and quiet. We'll get back to brilliance in a more cooperative, sustainable way. I think in time, if I can learn to use my "inside voice", Brego will learn to be less deaf to the noise. And then we will really start to make progress.

In the meantime, I need get a conditioning ride in this week and try to get another longe session in over the weekend. Oh, and there's a new huge outdoor arena, complete with jumps, we need to try out. And of course, I NEED to get him out cross country schooling...

...

After the ride, while Brego was hand grazing. I was checking his tendons, crouching down by his forelegs. We were alone and he was happily munching on some clover. I suddenly dropped my head against his leg and hugged him tight. He is such an amazing creature. I don't know what I would do without him. They are so fragile and so fleeting.

Dressage Schooling

It was another warm day in Maine. I am beginning to think the brochure lied about the mild summers. It was 78 with 27% humidity today, so actually quite pleasant unless you were working. And unfortunately I had a cord of wood to stack, which I think officially makes me a New Englander.

Anyway, I opted to wait a couple of weeks for Brego's next body clip because he seems to be slicking out and it still gets into the 30s at night sometimes. So he got to work in the indoor in some heat and he definitely was feeling lazy. After stacking wood, I was feeling pretty lazy myself.

I decided to start back into small lateral schoolings after focusing on training level stuff for the show. Brego will collect fine, but he lacks the strength and elasticity to really show off laterally. For now, of course. So I would ask for a shoulder in at the walk which is easier for him and if we got two or three good steps, he got rewarded.

At the trot, probably because of my bouncy hands, he tends to brace so it is a lot harder to get him supple and balanced enough for the lateral stuff. Plus, I am still a neophyte at dressage, so I am sure I am not riding him perfectly either. A little like the blind leading the blind here.

Regardless, I think he was more supple with his jaw since the show and although he was not over-full of energy or brilliance, he tried everything I asked and I can't hope for more. We will both improve with schooling. I put together a video showing some of the stuff I worked on. You will need a microscope to see some of the movements, but I thought it might be useful to see how little things turn into great things (in a couple of years). As I like to say, measure progress not perfection.

I am still trying to track down a place to cross-country school, so if anyone knows of any place near the New Hampshire/Maine border, please send me a note.

Poor Pace At the Hunter Pace

Another gorgeous weekend, another fun time with Brego. On Saturday we trailered across the Maine-New Hampshire border to attend a Hunter Pace hosted by the Wentworth Hunt. The pace was a little over 10 miles long and the optimal time for Hilltoppers was 2 hours 10 minutes.

Without knowing the time, or even how fast usual hunt fields go, I set out with two Thoroughbreds on my team. I knew there would be some fences on course. I knew that they maxed out at 3'. And I knew that my one goal of the day was to get Brego forward to fences he has never laid eyes on. I have to tame the looky loo monster before I get eliminated on cross-country from him burying himself into the base of fences. Any loss of forward momentum, once presented, counts as a refusal.

So we set out at a forward trot and I have to say, Brego just kept trotting. The Thoroughbreds had trouble keeping up with his stride! The two other riders were on horses that were much less settled and calm about the whole thing, so we kept cantering to a minimum to keep everyone quiet.

The fences were off the trail a bit, so sometimes you would truck right past them and then notice a coop off in the woods and have to circle back. Not ideal for teaching "FORWARD, now!" Brego was extremely looky. Most of the fences were simple coops, although a couple of them were decorated with tires or other spooky things. I got him over everything though, even some pretty large 3 footers. There were a couple one strides I skipped because we are no where near ready to school combinations in the field.

Brego did get better towards the end, but there were so few jumps, I can't honestly say we have this problem schooled. Over the 10 miles, we had about 3 honest refusals and 1 runout I can only blame on myself and the tree that smacked me in the face on the approach causing me to duck to the side. Brego followed my weight.

So the homework that came out of that is more cross country schooling, which is, of course, the one thing I cannot do at home. I must find a spot, trailer out, and pay a schooling fee. Brilliant!

As far as the pace was concerned, Brego finished the ride tired, but with some gas still. He power trotted the full 10 miles, it seems. He was sweaty, while the Thoroughbreds were dry, so he might be ready for another body clip. And we finished the ride 40 minutes under time. Oops. I never pushed him on. During the short walk breaks, I would simply pick up my reins and off we would go again. So trotting, he can go for days. I need to start conditioning the canter.

He was a good boy, especially considering he worked so hard but stayed handy, all in his double jointed egg butt snaffle. I saw a lot of other horses jigging all the way in elevator gags. What an exhausting ride! I also suspect that Brego's one true calling is foxhunting. He is so much fun to take out since he never loses his brain and is very careful. Once I fix his confidence so he jumps forward readily in the field, he will be a wonderful hunter. I chatted with the Hunt Masters after the ride and got the scoop on capping and membership. If you think I won't be following the hounds through the fields in my canary vest this fall, you're dead wrong!

A Little Love

I am so thrilled to be given the "I Love Your Blog" Award by Beckz over at I Will Jump Sweet Jumps. Her exploits never cease to inspire me to ride better.

I would like to pass the love around to one of my favorite blogs. This blog literally makes me laugh out loud with every entry. The subject of the blog is super cute and it's so original and fun. So I award the "I Love Your Blog" Award to I Is Roxie!



Minor Brego update: We had a nice soft ride tonight. I am really trying to focus on him relaxing his jaw and bending through his neck. This included some in hand work and then some softening at the walk and trot. Finally, Brego carried a new rider today, my usual riding buddy left her Thoroughbred mare to try out Brego. He has a lot to teach newer riders about how to ride a bouncy trot and how to feel balance. All your angles need to work with you to keep you in the saddle. When his 1500 lbs cascades out of balance, it's hard to miss. Anyway, he was a good boy and showed off for the new rider and I was very proud of him. It was also nice to hear from a rather exhausted rider at the end that I make him look easy. That's what it is all about. :)