Cavaletti Arithmetic

I've had 2 lessons in the past 3 days - a new record for me. The second was a private 45-minute lesson and my muscles may not have been entirely up to the task.

In any case, the first lesson was a group lesson and we jumped three low jumps positioned on a circle. The last jump was eventually brought up to 2'9". I had a lot of trouble getting the path to the jump right, but got it eventually, if not gracefully.

The second lesson we actually worked on a lower jump (and on a different horse) and focused on my position. Thank god. It's fun to say, "I've jumped 2'9"!", but what's the point if you can't do it well, let along string more than one together? If I can work up to smoothly completing a 2'6" course over the next few months, I'll be very happy.

To be honest, I still have some steering issues, depending on what horse I'm riding and if said horse is hungry/tired/had it for the day. It's funny to feel like you're making progress and then struggle to get the horse back on the track and not cutting corners at the canter. It's funny how on one horse, you can do it all easily, and then another horse reminds you that you still need to fine-tune your aids.

Snaaaaake ...or whatever you'd call it

We fixed my falling off problem, more or less.

In some ways it was obvious - do more of those 2'6" jumps heading into a corner where I have little time to sit up and decide for the horse where he should go. As mentioned before, it came down to staying up right as much as possible, and it also helped to focus on going slooower after the jump. My instructor had a lot to say about "checking the breaks" before a jump, especially on this thoroughbred, because he will gets faster and faster unchecked. It was a lot easier when I focused on rhythm all the way from beginning to end ("end" being a few strides out from the jump until we're ready to break into a trot).

Being in a group lesson with people of different levels, we worked on a little more than that.

1-minute diagram of the jump setup

We did this weird snake-shape where we had to find the center of each next jump with 2 strides in between, ending heading into the corner. She built up the jumps over time. First pass, they were all 9", but then it was built up so that only the first was at 9"and the last one was 2'6". The ones in the middle were set uneven, so one side was 2'6" and the other was 15" (I guess I just take the average?).

A fun activity that focused on broken lines, getting the the middle of jumps and keeping a good rhythm!

Oops, I spilled

Brought my husband to a lesson and on the way there he joked, "You haven't fallen off in a while, might be time to do it again!"

Your wish is my command:

That video has been nicely cropped and put to music on my Instagram, much to the delight/horror of my non-horse-inclined friends and family. Our approach to the jump wasn't very good, he lost his footing a bit on the landing, while simultaneously turning away from the wall. I went one way, he went the other. In short, I had zero control over that jump. Lesson learned (hopefully).

And here's when I 'fixed' it.

Things to work on (summarized - there's a lot):

• Having a clear path to jumps (and generally being organized)
• Sitting up to jumps
• Pulling myself back up after the jump
• And I cringe when I watch the 'fixed' video because I still need to work on my release, etc.

Trot trot and ya don't stop

Haven't blogged much but I've  managed to get to lessons almost weekly despite all the summer weekend trips. At this point, I've ridden almost all the lesson horses and have realized they all teach me different things:

Delilah: She can clear a jump no matter if you don't have the path, power or position right. She's a show pony that builds confidence and got me through a horse show without an ounce of sweat. I don't take many lessons on her because there are other horses that offer challenges for me to learn more from.

Tony: He's an OTTB/Quarter horse mix and the goofy, kind sort. He needs confidence towards jumps or he'll run out. He also gets stronger through out the lesson. I rode him last lesson and we worked on trotting to the jump, up to 2'6" (more my limit than his, I'm sure he could trot and get over higher). My major struggle with the trot to the jump is not getting left behind - how do you know where the distance is going to be??
(I had a special moment with him where he twitched as the lawnmower went by and we stayed calm while everyone else went to shit. Pardon my French.)

Katie aka "Ms. Perfect": My instructor jokes that she doesn't like Katie ("There's nothing special about her") and has attempted to sell her, only to have the students protest. Katie is one of those horses you learn steering from - you realize how your instincts are wrong and you need to fine tune the how your reins and legs work together. There's probably a more eloquent way to describe it, but she will completely ignore your leg and wander of the track if you aren't being absolute with where you want her to go. I've never had a horse person tell me they don't like a horse, but I kinda get it with Katie. She could be someone's forever horse. As a lesson horse, she's a total struggle bus.

Traveler: A bulldozer. He will sprint at every jump and then go galloping around the indoor for a few laps if you let him. He doesn't want to stand still. He was trained to rush jumps as some key point in his life and will seemingly never change. It's like a Pavlovian response: see jump - bull doze. He does frame up really nicely at the trot though, and he's taught me to sit up before jumps to keep him under control. Once I get him where I want, he's actually quite beautiful, despite having the unfortunate conformation of a cow.

Calvin: My first love at the barn, he's just a lovable OTTB who is still learning how to be a jumper. I have previous posts from when he would trip every few feet. Now kids are winning ribbons on him. He will still chicken out at certain jumps, or at least drift, so he teaches me to use correct leg and rein to get him over the center of the jump.

Braiden: Still green, but my instructor has been training him in dressage and I had a lot of fun doing a intro dressage lesson on him. Looking forward to learning much more in the future.

There are still 2 horses I haven't ridden - a mare and a very green baby. Both, apparently, are very different rides. I wonder if you could learn something different from every horse on this planet??

Second place, hell ya!

I hadn't done a horse show since I was a true beginner and had done the w/t division at a schooling show. This was my first one in 3 years and my first jumper show (also a schooling show). I did the cross rail and the 18" verticals, both the same course. The cross rails was optimal time and the verticals had a jump off. It wasn't as exhausting as I thought it would be getting to the barn and then to the show, but then, I only did two classes.

The first class I did well, but I didn't wait for the horn (that's how newb I am, I didn't know to listen for it), so I ended up in 4th. The second class I got 2nd! I was happy to end there, though I could have added classes. The pony I rode was being ridden in about 20 classes, so I would have felt pretty guilty to do that!

Me and Delilah after the cross rails

I'm looking forward to showing a different horse (that is less popular) next time, and moving up in the classes! I'm on a 2 week hiatus because I'm getting married Saturday, so I'm missing a 2-phase, but I can have my debut in dressage later in the summer :)

Above all, I loved the camaraderie amongst the students and the parents! So fun to work as a team to reel in the ribbons!!

Incredible horse, incredibly sore

In my group lesson on Saturday, I got to ride this rather stocky pinto who "does not respect the bit." That means he likes to ignore subtle pulling on his mouth so he can steamroll right through to rejoin his friends on the other side of the ring. He likes to spontaneously canter, can't stand still, and, relatedly, was trained in his early years to rush fences with all his heart and soul.

When I was more of a beginner this would have been sort of terrifying. But I was very secure on him because he has this lovely swayback that holds you in place no matter what (you just never know what unique gifts how a horse might offer). At one point, I got him framed up really nicely by doing a bunch of half halts and had the most glorious sitting trot of my life. I also got to practice sitting back when approaching fences (and generally sitting back all the time to get him to slow down).

It was true that he required serious pulling on the reins if you tried to slow him down that way , which is sort of unfortunate. Sometimes, if I did it right and the stars were aligned, I could literally sit back and tighten my abs and he would slow down. It just goes to show, they can be sensitive to your body language even if they "don't respect the bit"...Anyways, now I'm suffering from a soar neck and upper back because he would pull the reins out of my hands whenever we were standing still.

The Uneven Bars

Had my first real experience with gymnastics in my lesson on Saturday. It was a group lesson with varying skill sets, and the best rider in our small lesson program was in it with me so I kept an eye on what I could learn from her. Of course, we were all on different horses (and ponies) so it is hard to make an apples to apples comparison of yourself to another rider, but we all showed our varying strengths and weaknesses.


The first part of the lesson we worked on simple lead changes going down the center line. I'm still trying to learn which lead I'm on (I only guess that it's the one I asked for!), but I managed to get a a change in while feeling organized the whole time.

We then did a gymnastic with a mixture of cross rails and a couple jumps built up to 2'. It was my first time getting over multiple 2 foot jumps, and it definitely made jumping feel like less of a big deal. As my instructor pointed out, we need to focus more on what happens after the jump. I tend to lean as the horse is turning at the end of the arena, and if the horse make that turn sharply, it has caused me to actually fall off before.

I think I'm leaning to the side I apply leg pressure on - I'm not sure if other people do this, rather than keeping your body centered while adding leg? It was the sort of thing that I improved a lot just by thinking about staying centered. Love when that is the case!

Also, I added a vid to my last blog post - I was so excited when my instructor sent video of me jumping!

Make it clap

From the beginning of our Saturday morning lesson, we tied our reins in a knot and worked on steering with our legs at the trot on the rail. What I find hardest about this is not the steering itself but the way the horses love to run up on the butt of the horse in front of him. Hi guys, personal space is a thing. I'm sure someone with excellent equitation could avoid this, but I had to cheat a little and pull Calvin away when he did this.

We then worked on going over jumps without reins, while clapping. Once we were trotting straight to the jump we'd drop the reins and, while popping over, clap our hands. It helped us keep our back straight, staying up instead of collapsing, as well as not rely on the reins for balance. On the cross rails I had no issue and it wasn't until we were at 2'6" that I found myself grabbing mane at some point over the jump out of cowardice. But overall, this exercise gave me HUGE confidence over "bigger" jumps. If I could stay on without holding on, I really wasn't going to go flying off! Ok, duh, but awesome!

The one thing I do need to work on is to keep the horse straight after the jump. They all fall into a pattern of circling back after to re-join their friends (and because it becomes a pattern) and it means I'm not in control. It's also they way I fell off last time, going over a jump, not sitting back up soon enough, and flying off when the horse abruptly turned left.

Oh, I like mares.

Group lesson on Sunday was rather busy and included a beginner with a working student running her over crossrails. I have to say, I admire my instructor's ability to give people of different abilities lessons together. That's how kids thrive best (not that I'm a kid) - by learning from people of different abilities.

Anyways, I can't tell you how little I've ridden a mare. The only one I can honestly remember was my friend's sweet, sweet percheron. So when my instructor asked if I'd be up for riding the mare pony with a "crazy trot" I was pretty pumped. The only word of advice I was given is keep her a few horse lengths away from anyone else. No problemo. I myself have been known to kick out when people cramp my style.


We worked at the trot a bit: Posting without stirrups (I'm still waiting for the magic ahah! moment on this one, but I DO like how it helps me really sink into my seat, even when my feet are back in the stirrups after. Okay, the mare's trot was only a little wacky when you first got her going. I think what she was doing was moving her little legs very quickly to catch up with her friends (that she hates, just to be clear). So a few half-halts let her know we can go smooth and easy and it was really quite nice!

We did some jumping, actually, four jumps which alternated cross rails and 2'6", one of which was an oxer that I kept looking down at. I couldn't help it! When you're flying over the Eiffel Tower you look down, don't you? Give me some credit.

Anyways, this mare did everything I asked, was really fun to jump (point and shoot, as they say) and taught me a lot in just one lesson. My instructor doesn't put me on ponies much, she likes to give me the bigger horses, which is fine, but between you and me, I'm pretty sure this little lady can make me look better than some of the big boys, at least at the level I'm jumping.

The "Jumper Turn"

There were a lot of things I couldn't do at my old barn because the horses had a demanding schedule. They were in too many lessons for me to get to jump all the time or take tight turns, or really, which was totally reasonable. But at my new jumper barn, the horses aren't ridden half as much, and my instructor is determined to turn us into show jumpers.

Today's lesson went as follows:

Warmed up posting without stirrups at the walk and then at the trot.

Practiced square halts.

Practiced cantering from the halt.

Then did the following starting at the trot:

The short lines are cavaletti blocks that my instructor made "parking spots" with. Then from the halt we cantered immediately into a turn and popped over a cross rail and, later, small jump. I did it okay on Calvin going both ways. It probably didn't look beautiful, but we got through it. My instructor pointed out how trotting to a halt and then asking for the canter created this great rocking motion that got the horse going.

It got tricky when the jump was at 2' 6". Calvin could tell I wasn't as confident and wouldn't do it. We ended up taking the jump straight on from a trot just to end on a good note.

A really fun exercise overall, and I got a taste of what those jumper turns feel like.

On the bit, for a bit

Sunday's lesson ended up being a private - something I haven't had in a long time. My instructor put me on a youngster who I have ridden once before, outside, who kept plunging into the forest during my lesson (ah, but that's another story). We worked on getting his head down and on the bit. My instructor has been training him to do this, which basically means he'll do it for her, but he wont automatically do it. Probably the perfect lesson horse for me to learn it on.

We started off with warming up and getting a nice forward trot. We kept to a 20m circle to work on this. I made sure my reins had even pressure and then he was bending properly around my leg and I was keeping him from falling in. The inside rein was only very lightly used to keep him properly looking where he was going.

For the outside rein, it was all about half-halts. Squeezing and releasing my grip. If I was doing everything I was supposed to, his head would go down for a few glorious strides. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at doing all of this at once and usually he'd start to spiral into the circle and all would be lost, or I'll try to widen the circle and his head would pop up. But at least I know what it feels like to do it correctly!

Oops...my hands aren't very thoughtful yet...

We also worked on leg yielding right, facing the wall. Since he's young, we didn't make him deal with my struggles for too long before letting him take a break and walk it out. I learned that I was doing it the lazy way before, just pushing the horse over with my leg, rather than make sure I can see his left eyelashes and shifting my weight in my left seat bone. The most important thing for him to understand me, though, was to look where we are going, which is so obvious, but when your instructor is point out things to you, it's kind of the last thing on your mind.

Overall, we squeezed a lot into a half-hour lesson. I even popped him over a cross rail and he was super smooth. My two point is a little more sturdy as I've been thinking of bring my seat up and back rather than just out of the saddle and collapsing forward.

The helmet works!

I got to ride Tony yesterday in a lesson with just one other rider. Tony is an appendix mix of some sort - no one's really sure. He's a great jumper, a little over 16 hands, and spoiled (in a cute way) by his owner who is a 20-something woman that was on vacation. The other person in my lesson was somewhat of a beginner, but quite a good rider all things considered. She was put on a pony named Delilah that is ridden in a hackamore and is more than a little sassy. Delilah will do anything if she is following closely behind Tony, but she is not easy for a beginner to convince to do much else.

In any case, it was kind of fun to be the "leader" for the day. The other rider told me I rode "beautifully" which just shows that I'm somewhere along the spectrum of progress. Let me just describe what wasn't so beautiful about my riding:

Cantering: as my seat and leg improve at the canter, I find myself wondering what to do with my arms. It used to be that I could just sort of rock with the horse (looks terrible, I know) and that was good enough, but now that I sit back more and keep my leg on properly, I have to follow the horse's neck without pumping my arms. So right now, that looks noticeably awkward.

Gymnastics: I'm getting better at not just leaning forward over low gymnastics when it's unnecessary, and Tony tried to refuse a few times as my instructor raised a jump in the middle of it, so I also got better and making him go through with it! However, my leg still slides all over the place and when I'm going over the jump, I'm just as likely to lean on the neck by accident as not.

Jumping: I did manage to recover after a jump, sit back and drive him forward to the next jump, but I failed to keep Tony straight after the jump. We were approaching the wall and he took a sharp turn left while I was still in two point and...that's why the title of this post is The helmet works! Because I ate it big time. And there was nothing beautiful about that fall, I'm sure.

So I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am grateful for all the focus on equitation that my first (almost 4!) years of lessons got me, but I think it's time to focus on core strength and mechanics. I really need to figure out a way to ride more than once a week because the things I'd like to work on are piling up!

I'll end with some shots of me on Calvin, my usual lesson horse.

Kneez up and shoulder rollz

In this Sunday's lesson it was a pretty big group of different abilities. We did very low bounces, some of us worked up to maybe a foot off the ground, and the best jumper popped over something around 3ft at the end. I'd never done bounces before, and I realize a tiny jump is not the same as real jumps, but the feeling of going up and down was new to me and I really enjoyed it. It also really showed how Calvin picks his feet up now. I first started riding Cal as my practice ride and he would trip all of the time, even at the trot. He would barrel through crossrails, but somehow my instructor knew he had potential. Well, not 'somehow'. She's explained to me that years of training horses with her husband and working in partnership with an awesome farrier has created a "dream team" of seeing potential in horses. Calvin was a 'companion pony' to racehorses for the first few years of his life, so he is technically off the track, but not from racing, from being the chill guy in the tense environment. And he just needed to get some weight on him and to learn his new job.

He's an amazing ride now. Not only was the bounce easy, I don't get nervous jumping him, so I focus on other things other than, "OMG We're heading for that jump! OMG we  just went over a jump!" Instead, I can focus on keeping him from drifting out, and focusing on improving my position. My instructor had me put the reins in one hand and pop over a jump while making a rolling motion with my shoulder. The idea was it set you in the correct position over the jump. I think it was also a great confidence tool. Just realizing the reins aren't helping me with my position and to literally let go with one hand was great. My confidence over jumps has been sky rocketing lately. To be honest, I'm lucky I don't own my own horse and can't go in some backyard and see how high I can jump because I'm feeling rather reckless ;)

A firm grip on Calvin so he doesn't drop and roll on his fresh bedding...He dropped and rolled mid-lesson while some poor beginner was riding him!

Cavaletti Creativity

There's something about following a long driveway to a barn with horses grazing on the left and a meticulously kept ring to the right with beautiful jumps and planters arranged in the sort of hunter course I yearn to show my 10-year-old horse-deprived self.

Yeah, that's great, but my instructor really knows how to get creative with cavaletti blocks. Today she slowly built up a jump by adding block and poles, including two blocks towards the middle of the jump, that served the same purpose as a cross rail, giving a narrow space to jump over. We did oxers, and she even simulated a ditch of sorts. I had to work on slowing Cal down (leaning back and lots of half-halts) otherwise he'd miss a stride.

We may have also needed a cone a couple strides after the jump to help me stop Calvin from cutting the corner after jumping. Special me! That was another thing we worked on: cantering a straight line, before and after a jump. And we started by going down the centerline, at which point I'd make it almost to the end and the have a spaz moment and not know what lead I was on (and therefore which way we should turn). And when I say spaz I mean, body almost going one way whilst horse goes other way. In this moment I could feel how keeping my heel down was keeping my feet in the stirrup and my leg from swinging wildly and...my body flying off. If that's not improvement, I don't know WHAT is.

The other thing we worked on was sitting trout on a bouncy horse. My instructor had me slow the trot way down, put the reins in both hands, get my leg and lower back as loose as possible and hold on to the back of my saddle, to really pull my butt down. It was amusing and, while I didn't feel like I was making progress, for the rest of the lesson my leg felt nice and long.

I'm also noticing how fatigue can cause you to quickly regress. By the end of the hour I didn't have quite the focus to keep Calvin cantering around the ring without cutting corners again. I'm not understanding why riders are all about ending on a good note.

Catching up on happy changes

I have been doing a sorry job journaling my riding and it's probably because it's been very choppy. I ride once every two weeks now, which doesn't sound like enough to make progress, but surprisingly, I have. Because I fully switched over to the instructor who I used to take practice rides and occasional lessons with. She moved her operation to a barn 28 minutes from my home. I didn't think that was physically possible in Boston but there it is. An instructor with great horses and an indoor and flexible lesson scheduling and really great prices 28 minutes from my home. It  makes me wonder, will it last?? Does anyone have a perfect horse situation forever?? Feel free to weigh in on that.

My lesson is a group of 2-3 young students of mixed capabilities and the focus is on jumping. I get a lot of compliments for my equitation, thanks to the hunter barn (RIP), but she points out how it can be unforgiving when jumping more difficult horses.

She does a lot of fun activities, like setting up a jump with a cone on each side. I rode a horse that was quite good at barrel racing, so when the idea was to jump and circle the cone, jump, circle the other cone and go back and forth, the horse was getting pretty amped. This used to terrify me, but I'm getting braver the more we jump and make tight turns. And vice versa.

She also points out that my leg slides all over the place when I'm jumping. I'm not surprised, since she's been getting me over jumps as high as 2'3". I think my leg strength needs to catch up! And probably, it would help if I was riding more than I currently am. But I'm having fun, and I'm not falling all over the horse (too much) or pulling on his mouth, so hopefully my form with follow function!

I do miss my weekly lessons, and I could probably go back to them, but I also find it makes it less stressful to squeeze riding into my schedule (and my finances) and makes the time I am there really, really fun. Sometimes I just do other stuff - I've been playing quite a bit of flag football and am I preeetty good wide receiver, but that's a story for a different blog ;)