Awesomeness

Yes, it is a word! Well, I'm pretending it's a word :)

Tonight I lunged Greta before I rode her, did some yielding-the-hindquarters exercieses (which she is an expert at now) and relaxed in the saddle. All this = awesomeness. She was in-frame almost the entire time! We even got a squared halt! Still not entirely sure how we managed it, as when we actually tried to get a square halt one of her shoulders dropped or the silly girl landed with her hip cocked to one side. My fault! I didn't lead her up into it right. I felt she was truly in-frame and that her back was up because when I sat a few strides of the trot to either change diagonals or move into a halt, I could sit it very comfortably and flow with it easier: it wasn't a bone-jarring trot!

I focused a lot more on softening my hands, particularly the inside rein when she yielded to rein pressure, and more on using the rate of my posting to slow her down if needed. The only time I could feel her quicken underneath me was when one of the parents was walking along the side of the arena to get some cones for the instructor, for our halting exercise. Greta was probably thinking "People aren't supposed to be there! When were people allowed to be there? I'm gonna look at them!" I moved my inside hip into her and she got back into frame, but her ears were still perked all the way forward, and I could tell she was eyeing the person still! Silly girl!

All of this was rewarded with a good rub down and grazing, especially since they haven't been out for a few days (but they were out all last week and the weekend thank goodness!) because it snowed here! And when the snow melts, what does it turn into? A big watery mess! But by the looks of how sunny it has been, I'm hoping they'll be out by the end of the week or next week. Greta really liked that grass. So much that still showed a little spunk when I pulled her away from it after about thirty minutes. We walked forward and she trotted a little circle in front of me so she could back to that grass!

So what's the moral of the story? The horse is only as good as the rider!

Oh, and we will be going to that Marsh 28 schooling show. It'll be good for Greta, like putting her in the kiddy pool to see if she likes to splash around, or swim, or try and be the next Micheal Phelps. The latter would be nice haha!!! And a surprise tomorrow or Saturday! Be looking for it!

High in the Sky

Greta and her pasture buddy to the left. CUTIE!!

Before I go into other issues, Greta has been doing quite well everywhere else lately. She's been super sweet despite being in heat, even trying to eat my hamburger Sunday! Our bond, though tested right now, has seemed to have strengthened and we feel a lot more comfortable around each other. When she acts up, I'm not afraid or angry, I could never be angry at her, but just overall annoyed. She'll follow me around without a lead or halter even, and has improved so much at keeping her attention on me. She even stood still while I put some ground poles down Saturday! She still loves her barn cats, so I need to get pictures of that. God, she's too cute and sweet! But she can be bipolar as well....

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On the topic of "electric atmospheres" from a Hubertus Schmidt clinic covered in '20 Tips From a Master' by Beth Baumert in Dressage Today:

"When your horse is good at home but nervous at shows, got to neighboring places. Don't work your horse when he's tense. Make sure he is loose first."

I am definitely taking this to heart. Now that spring is almost around the corner, Greta has had her first heat cycle of the year! Leave to Greta to go into super-crazy-pee-every-ten-seconds-heat early, and at nearly 13 years old now! Is that healthy? That meant the Wolfgang May clinic Sunday was a bust as far as learning something new - excessive transitions and circular patterns still did not deter her from being "high in the sky" as Mr. May put it lol and trotting fast little steps with her head up - but on the very positive side, we did have some very good moments on the A side of the arena and she did a lot better about loading and settling in. We were the first to ride, so she didn't have a chance to settle in before the ride, but after the ride while we were waiting for our trailer mate to finish her lesson, Greta settled in nicely in her waiting stall.

I am dissapointed in myself for not being able to handle the situation nicely: I didn't really master the whole "relax your seat" until the later half of the lesson! Instead I had a vice grip on the reins trying to slow her down. FAIL!

Reading that quote from Dressage Today, along with a very wonderfully timed article in Practical Horseman about preparing and desensitizing your horse to new surroundings, whether it be a show or clinic, has gave me some new ideas to cope with Greta's "spring fever" far better than I did last year! It will also spice up our riding routines, make way for some better out-of-stable experiences, and make for less stressful heat cycles (for both of us haha!)

But first, let me proudly announce a breakthrough in previously stated mission. Greta has a new, well, obsession with one of her pasture mates. I had been told about Saturday morning, but didn't actually see it in action until her pasture mate pulled up in a trailer after her owner took her to jumping clinic. Greta flipped. I have never seen her so obsessed over another horse! I didn't really know what to do, so I just let it slide. Monday, when jumping lessons were going on, my instructor's daughter trailered her horse in as usual. But Greta, likely thinking it was her pasture buddy, flipped out again. I had asked for advice the previous day if there was anything I could do about this (as I realized it could be an early sign of some ridiculous separation anxiety) and was told to take her out and free lunge her, to teach that if she wants to be anxious like that then she will have to work, and if she's calm, then nothing happens!

So Monday, when Greta began to flip, I took her out and tried to free lunge her. She would not pay attention at all! So, I clipped the lunge line to her and tried some of the yielding the hindquarters exercises I had been taught until she focused, which was pretty soon. Then I let the line out a bit more and actually lunged her. By the way, the bucking issue is long gone now, yes! The entire session was about ten minutes, so as not to work her hard but just use this as a little reminder, and when she seemed calm I put her back up. She was great until her pasture buddy actually appeared around the corner to join in the lesson. And the ordeal starts all over again. I took her out, did the yielding the hindquarters exercise, lightly lunged her, and put her back up. Now she remained calm! She took the occasional glance to the trailer on once side of her stall, then the arena, but otherwise was very calm. Greta's personality can get her frizzled over some situations, but boy does it make her super smart and a quick learner! Now whether or not her calmness held when I left, I have not heard, but because I have not heard I'm assuming it did. We will keep this up!

So now, the plan:

When we work in the indoor arena, the arena Greta is most familiar with, I'll try to place some unfamiliar things around the side, like her blanket or a jump standard. She's been wary when stuff like that happens, but we're going to make these unfamiliar objects work to our advantage. The outdoor arena, which we haven't been able to ride in much due to either the extreme heat last summer or the constant rain this winter, is fairly unfamiliar to her, so when I can I'm going to try and alternate between the indoor and outdoor arena so she's used to change in her work environments.

Trail rides and hacks: when I can. If there's somebody to go with me, I'll be all for it. There's a large field next to the stables, and I'm sure we can utilize that. But first, we'll try and do some work in the pastures so she can be used to working out in the open and not trying to bolt but instead listening and behaving as if we were in the nice, familiar indoor arena.

Lunging before rides: not necessarily to tire her out, unless she seems to really have a lot of energy that day, but more to get her into focus mode. Greta is very alpha, and according to Hilda Gurney in Dressage Today, "mares, in general, tend to worry more than geldings," so being so distracted is like her way of taking the lead, I guess. I don't want to establish a dictatorship with her - we've all seen what happens to dictators in the history books - but I do want to establish a healthy partnership with me a little bit more on top.

My instructor said jumping would be a great outlet for Greta's energy, and I agree. But we need to get the flatwork down, especially the canter. It's been a year and her canter is still a borderline gallop. If we do any jumping, it probably won't be until next year or even later. And we also need to have a vet check to make sure she's totally clear for jumping, though I'm sure that if she's clear for heavy flatwork, then some small jumps (once again, this would be a fun little activity, not anything competitive) wouldn't hurt. But I've been wrong before.

I know many of y'all have or have had anxious, excitable horses. Beyond overall relaxing myself as I've been instructed, was there anything else you did to bring their focus back into gear at home, shows, and clinics? Greta is awesome at home, but she's something else everywhere else!

I'm considering canceling the March 28 schooling show. Maybe we're not ready for it? I love this girlie so much. I want what would be best for her.

On the other end...

I have actually been frequenting Greta, well, frequently I just really have not had anything extraordinary to discuss on the blog, but I can give an accumulation of our riding so far.

Greta has been doing absolutely lovely under saddle (she's always lovely on the ground) but let me get straight to the thick of it, our one main problem at the moment that I have not found a solution to yet. I don't know how long it's been since Greta was ridden in frame with a knowledgeable dressage rider, but she is quite rusty. She gets the concept, but I really have to rely a lot more on rein aids than seat aids (I'm still grasping the concept of good seat aids anyway) so thus she seems more like I have to hold her on the bit and far from the spectrum of self-carriage. It's hard to get a good glance at us in the mirror, but from the little I've seen she doesn't look as round as she could be. I don't know if it's just because of her bony butt (small world, Greta:) or we are just not getting round yet. Probably a mixture of both!

I will hopefully be getting some pictures/video/whatever tomorrow, finally! I just have not had the guts to drag a member of mi familia to the stable so they could see me trot around for an hour. I admit it myself, it gets kind of old after a while!

Further progress has been made on Greta's Epic Quest of Focus. Major Focus. Details will follow.

So, due to incessant and unusual rain and icky cold weather and muck that has been persisting for nearly a month now and making central Texas look something of a southern version of Seattle, the horses have been in for quite some time! Greta takes it all very well, until I let her trot on the lunge line. Walking? She continues the facade of "I'm the irresistibly passive and calm horse that everyone wants". But I ask her to trot, and she'll do a Standardbred trot for a few seconds then, without even the courtesy of a canter transition that I ask for, proceeds to buck and kick and do some fantastic leaps into the air, followed by a final rear when I bring her in. It's definitely unnerving when you're at the other end. I'm not really scared to be honest, I am really more frustrated. What is this sudden change from a little pent-up buck among a nice cantering to a bronco impersonation?

She's not doing because she's in pain, nor because she wants to hurt me. Greta is just very excited! She will easily come to me once she's stopped and stand there like nothing happened. No sign of excessive excitement.

The first time she did it it was raining outside, so it was expected. We did about five rounds of that behavior (I'd make her walk, and then we'd try it again) before she either A) got the sillyness out of her system, or B) began to listen to me. Dunno. That was Wednesday.

She did it again Thursday (no lessons).

And Friday, she did it during the day with three other riders in the arena. Embarrassing, yes, but she was in my control the entire time. She has yet to deliberately try and pull out of my grasp. It's weird, but good and I'm knocking on wood! She threw her fit once, then the second time one of the riders, friend of my instructor's, asked if she could show me some advice if I wanted. Of course I wanted!

She gave me her share of lunging tips, then I asked if she would like to demonstrate them. She showed me them on her horse, then I tried on Greta. Whoa! It wasn't lunging, exactly, it was "yielding the hindquarters" I believe. It's a fundamental for lunging, and I've seen it done on Chris Reid and Clinton Anderson and multiple other shows on RFDTV, but I only though that was for young, unbroke horses. Here's a good example of what we're doing essentially (music warning).

We graduated to a larger circle at the trot, though smaller than a large lunging circle, for short periods of time so as not to stress her legs, still yeilding the hindquarters and keeping her attention on me! Then I'd motion strongly to her haunches and stop giving the cue to move forward, and she'd halt and face me. She'll lick her lips, which is apparently a sign of understanding.

Another major dealing we will work on, and this will hopefully reflect under saddle, is to keep her attention on me on the ground when I'm handling her or in her direct presence. Not in a scary dominating sort of way, but just saying her name if looks off at the horsey prancing around the pasture when I'm holding her. She does pay attention to me, I just have to give the cue. Essentially: if I let her get way with it on the ground, why shouldn't she get away with it under saddle? This will hopefully help in the long run!

This is my interpretation: because horses are social creatures, and Greta is a mare-ish mare indeed, they need a leader. If no leader is provided, like me letting her get away with getting distracted under saddle and on the ground and with being silly on the lunge line, then Greta will crown herself leader. There's gotta be a leader somewhere, right?

As horrible and dreadful as though issues sound, they could be FAR worse, and when Greta's not acting like a loon on the lunge line, which is relatively short amount of time in total of all the time I spend with her. Most of the time, the girl is amazingly sweet. I think our bond has grown so much since I got her in May last year. She seems to actually enjoy my company now, even if she does pull some of that stuff like I mentioned earlier. I probably overdramatized, but maybe I didn't. It's just my perception I guess.

Even the rider who helped us commented on how much she's seen us progress since our first lesson at the stable. I will admit myself, we are finally having those rides where I think, "God, I wish there were some judges watching us now!"

And of course I always have those moments following a snuggle where I couldn't think of things any other way.

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Now, go over and congratulate Andrea on being the poster child of the USEA awards programs. It's only awesome.

Pin-Ups

It has been terribly rainy here lately. I rode Tuesday, but yesterday and today it has been a constant drizzle of rain, which, when totaled, leads to a flooded over bridge on the driveway to the stable. Poor Greta is probably bored out of her mind, though she's never acted that way when I see her, probably because they are very good about keeping a constant supply of hay when the horses are in all day. And she has her mane-man, Jackson the good ole lesson horse, next door, and both are fond of the occasional nuzzle and greeting. Very cute.

But I thought today, concerning the imagined boredom situation, Greta doesn't care much for those little horse toys. She's too sophisticated for those. She does enjoy her gourmet salt lick, sweet Gala apples, organic raspberry leaves from Romania, Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, and imported hay (and in imported I mean from the hay shed. It's a foreign country to her, so it counts as imported). She needs a more grown-up form of entertainment. And then I came across the photo to the left.

Meet Siglavy Angelica II-1, a Lipizzaner stud, and Greta's new pin-up. I figured that she didn't need anything too racy, just something to admire while she is nestled away in her stall. After all, who wouldn't want to sit there and admire him? He's grey, muscular, and foreign. Not to mention the winner of multiple USDF Horse of the Year awards during his career in the 90s. He's like a George Clooney or Sean Connery for Miss Greta of the Stall Manor. I'm sure he is a great entertainer, what with his performances in the ring. Another aspect for Greta to sit and admire over while the rain drizzles away outside, tucked up in her bathrobe on her velveteen couch, munching on delectable delicacies of green hay and reading her issues of Equine Vogue.

And here is another stud for her to gaze upon: Maestoso II Daniela. One of the few horses I've seen that looks stunning in a drop noseband. This adds to his aesthetic quality. Greta, being a connoisseur of what looks good obviously, likes a man who can pull off odd fashion most fashionably. And look at his face! Such gentle eyes. Very easy on Greta's eyes.

Ah, but then the cruel reality hits. This boredom situation is all imagined, all due to the fact that I have not been able to see the beautiful girl for two whole days. The reality is, I am the one who is bored, and Greta only has eyes for the hay box. Sorry studs.

We lost it!

So this week was pretty much a lost week. Monday is always kind of a no-go for riding because they do jumping lessons that night and because the outdoor arena has been too soppy for jumping for the past, what, month then they ride in the indoor arena until 7:00. So it's packed, just not practical. Tuesday I was helping out a friend, so no riding then, but I have no problem helping a friend out. That's how good of a person I am :) And then Wednesday I had a hair appointment (my hair needed it, my bangs made me look like a sheepdog heehee) and it had been scheduled since my last one six weeks ago, so it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Tuesday Greta also had a farrier appointment, and we have good news: the farrier said her barefoot hooves are tough as nails. She has big, dinosaur hide frogs, and she appears to be standing on all of them quite evenly now. Yay!!!!

Thursday I did actually ride because I had a lesson, and Greta was in frame for almost the entire time when she was asked to be, of course she got stretching breaks. I was very proud of her! We did some exercises with rein aids to try and get her to stay in frame, and some more half halt practicing, and it worked. We did all of the practicing on a 20 mete circle (alas! 20-meter circle, we have become quite familiar have we not?) and then tried out our exercises throughout the entire arena, and though she picked up pace a bit, we still stayed in frame. We also did some canter, trot transitions on a bigger circle at the end of the lesson, and by about the fifth time around or so, I'd just think "trot" and she'd go back to a trot without getting grabby with the reins. It was a trot enough to make a Standardbred jealous, but a trot nonetheless! Then, because she had worked up a bit of a sweat, I put her cooler on and got started on pulling her mane! Supposedly after a work their pores are nice and open so it makes mane pulling more comfortable for the horse. I need to work up a sweat and try it on myself to see if that's true haha! But so far, it is much more even, though thinning it out I haven't quite got the concept, so I haven't started with that. Help?

Friday I was out, and then Saturday I fixed feed in the morning and only had time to lunge Greta, because I was going to see Avatar (4 times now!!) with a friend at 2:30 and then I went to go see our school's production of Oklahoma (I didn't realize how talented my school was!) that evening. Today was a very dear family member's birthday, so I fixed feed in the morning and then lunged Greta again. But today, she was interesting.

Another horse was being lunged at the other end of the arena, so Greta was curious about him. While were walking he was cantering, so when I asked her to trot she did a quick trot. It wasn't anything "ugly", she was still in a nice frame (she's been doing of her own accord in a halter! I am very proud of her!) but it was more of a lengthened trot. When I asked to her canter, you would've thought somebody fired a pistol at her feet. All of that pent-up energy that had been dormant within her in her stall, at the grooming area, walking, trotting, released! She leapt up into the air and did something reminiscent of a Lippizaner doing a capriole and then proceeded to bounce about like a pinball in a machine without a glass cover. This also sent the other horse into a fit, and I apologized as I pulled Greta back into the center of our circle. Then we tried walk-trot-canter again. She still did a few bucks that were a bit more powerful than I would've liked, so I brought her back in again. This third time, she did a nice, controlled canter. We went the other way around and no problems. It was cute, but thank goodness I wasn't riding that!

And lastly, I can letter in dressage, or any other discipline for that matter! USEF is offering a varsity jacket lettering program. The qualifications are at least 100 hours of riding by June 15. No problem. The big problem is this other qualification bit: either 2 USEF-recognized shows by June 15 or 5 USDF shows by June 15. That might be a problem.

I could always just try again Senior year, but it would look really good that I did it two years rather than three. I have found 2 USEF recognized Dressage shows, the problem is finding a trailer because my trainer will be doing eventing shows during that time. So all in all, looks like I'll be jacket-less this year. I was just fine with the fact I wasn't going to letter in school because, well, I'm no school representative! I don't want to sing or run or dance or anything of the like, and AP art doesn't count haha. I am in one National Honors club, but that's one letter, right? I'm not buying a jacket for one letter. Really. But this program just sounded super cool! We'll see how everything works out....

EDIT: Okay, so that sounded a bit self-interested, so I need to clarify: Greta comes first. Riding is a team effort. I cannot just walk into the ring and say to the judges "Hey, I'm just gonna do this on foot!" Even more important than who can trailer who is do I have a happy, willing horse who is ready for the sights and sounds and pressure of a competitive show? At the moment, probably not haha! The High School Athlete program says you can be a non-competing member, so I really must have a maroon jacket of all things, then that would be our route lol!

More Clinic Pictures

Our pre-lesson cuddle routine.

Warming up

Attempting our first rein-back of the day. She was a bit rusty. It looked better by the end of the day though!

Instructions from Wolfgang. Greta liked to suck up to him when we stopped and she kept getting more and more nuzzly. After about the third stop, she actually nuzzled Wolfgang, just a sweet short one, and he patted her and called her a sweet girl. Greta makes friends wherever she goes!

After our cool down. We stopped and Greta stretched her head.

All in all about ten pictures were taken. I prefer video anyway because you can really see things in action. You may have looked awesome in video but just the wrong second in a snapshot and you can look, well... not awesome.

Thursday night lessons went very well, we did a lot of serpentines and a funky teardrop-shaped routine. The routine was very difficult going to the left because, even though that scary board on the ground was taken away, now there's a HORSEATING RAKE there! It's always been there, but Greta's iffy about that corner. Perhaps it's the scary sheep or compost pile and wheelbarrows just around it. And there used to be a horse in a stall behind that wall that liked to kick with his gigantic Percheron hooves at the pony next to him. But that never bothered Greta. It always startled me though!

Anyway... going to the left meant Greta had to be round in that corner, NOT looking at horse-eating whatever-the-heck's-it-is. That took a lot of effort, which means I did some crappy seat compromising. Instructor kept saying "push her into the corner with your hip!" At the walk, sure can do. At the posting trot, no can do. That probably meant I wasn't really doing it right at the walk either!

At the walk I just needed to apply a bit of inside leg and it worked. I thought Greta got pretty round. At the trot, because she wouldn't listen to just my inside leg, I pushed harder with it, which meant I used my outside hip to try and squeeze my inside leg to her side. That didn't work, so in a desperate attempt to get her round I began to use my inside rein more. Poor Greta was confused, so she kept making this wonky dip away from the corner. I thought it was just her fear of the corner. Once again, the instructor kept saying "use you're inside hip!" And I was now thinking "easier said than done." But little did I realize that I was doing it WRONG! I was moving my seat around, sitting crooked in the saddle. I was not using the entirety of my upper body.

Once she realized that I was NOT figuring this, she explained to me to use my ENTIRE upper body. My seat must stay straight in the saddle, and by using my upper body and abdomen I can manipulate my pelvic bones. We did a run through one more time, and this time we really studied. I just couldn't get the concept of entire upper body down, I stopped using body aids once I hit my abdomen. My instructor told me to shift my outside shoulder in the direction I wanted Greta to follow. This in turn moved my entire upper body while still keeping my seat bones straight but making my inside hip put pressure, and also allowing my outside rein to help Greta better follow where I wanted her to go. We gave this a shot and: beautiful corners! Another major tip in my dressage book.

Oh wait, was I using my inside hip and now I'm using my outside hip? Jeez, that's great that I've forgotten the technicalities! I just remember the shoulder shifting and that puts my body in the position it's supposed to be. My instructor would be ashamed haha!

Yesterday I rode Greta bareback for the first time in a long time. That last time I had just gotten her so she was still a bit ribby and hot (of course that hotness could have also been because she was getting alfalfa twice a day. What I wish I'd known then....) so riding her was like riding a wooden rollercoaster: bumpy, painful, and fast :)

Greta was getting a little ribby again this winter, as I mentioned in some other posts, so we started her on a cup of Empower (a really good rice bran with lots of extra minerals) twice a day.

When I went out yesterday, she saw me from a distance and riased her head with perked ears and watched me as I climbed through the fence, then I waved to her, she let out this long whicker like "hey buddy!" and proceeded to graze, her ears still perked up at me. I was flattered. When I saw her from a distance in the pasture, she looked more fleshy than usual. I felt her to make sure it wasn't just her winter coat, but no, she definitely felt fleshier. Awesome, the Empower is working! She let me ride her bareback up to the gate, and then nuzzled for treats when I got off. Of course I had some.

I trimmed her for the first time in the barn (muzzle, ears, fetlocks, coronary band, jawline, throatlatch, and the back of her hind cannons where she gets this funky strip of hair that likes to stick out behind her like fringes on chaps, it's hard to describe) and she was super about it. I did the whole introducing-her-to-the-clippers routine, but she apparently has been well-aquainted with them. She didn't even lip them when I did her muzzle, but she did feel compelled to smack her jaw a bit like she was chewing on something when I did her jawline! And when I trimmed her right ear, that just felt like the best thing ever because she was lowering her head and trying to push it into me! She was absolutely adorable! I told her that she usually looks beautiful, but now she looked more refined, more beautiful than usual. Greta never looks ugly in my mind :)

Oh yeah, I rode her bareback haha! Just her bridle and wraps and we walked around, did some rein backs and I did my sitting trot. Greta really raised her spine up beneath me and reached for the bit at the trot, I tucked my pelvis in to try and ease the bumpiness, which subsided with the trot improvement. We didn't canter, because my bony butt was still hitting her bony back and, er... prominent withers (btw she did a very abrupt walk-transition once and from the way I landed it felt like I might not be able to ever reproduce! Not like I'm worried about that at my age!) But all in all it was just a fun little workout and she did awesome.

Did I mention I love my horse?

Also, check out these two awesome British Eventers! I can see whatever-the-British-version-of-Young-Riders in their future, heck Rolex or Burghley Horse Trials even! Chloe Hall with Al Pacino aka Pepo (YouTube channel) and Katherine Begley with Bourne Belvedere aka Belvedere (YouTube channel has a link to her website). It's always awesome to see some up-and-coming riders. They might be next generation's Phillipa Grant or David O'Conner or Debbie Macdonald.

Dressage Life: Transitions

Dressage Life: Transitions

It stories like these that make that final dream even more amazing to be fulfilled.

I will actually POST a blog soon. I swear!

Wolfgang May Clinic

So yesterday was the Wolfgang May Clinic! It went very well for it being Greta's first clinic. As you can see in the video, she was very unfocused, hiking her head up to see everything around her, but with the help of Wolfgang (transitions, transitions, transitions!) she began to focus and go into work mode and was a lot better at the later half of the lesson.

Before the lesson

I washed her up Saturday, though I didn't get to pull her mane because I put detangler in it. Oops. I lunged her Sunday morning, and she seemed particularly mellow, so I had my hopes up that she would be super awesome and not crazy in a new situation. My trainer was having a few lessons in the hours before her trailer would arrive, so I hung out with Greta and the other students. Once the trailer pulled up and after I put all of my stuff in there, I threw on Greta's purple cooler (she has been known to break out in a sweat from nervousness when we trailer her, but she's only been trailered twice with us before the clinic, so it's still a new thing I'm hoping to get her used to) and her fly mask (she likes the screen to be down so she can see outside, but we keep the bars up because she also likes to stick her head out as well, yikes! Adrenaline junkie!) and prepared to load her up. She was good about getting near the trailer, sniffing the ramp, and sticking her head in. She just wouldn't actually load. We tried repeatedly to just walk her in, but after a few minutes of refusals, our trainer pulled out the stud chain. I'm a bit iffy on those, but once Greta felt it on her, she knew we actually meant business and she loaded calmly. So it wasn't as stressful as her move to the new barn.

Greta did very well unloading and tacking up. She was fidgety, but she wasn't neighing and trying to break loose. After I took her for a walk around the arena, I lunged her in the arena just to cool her nerves a bit more - I also got some lunging tips from trainer after she realized I was letting Greta counterflex. Oops.

There was a llama in the pasture adjacent to the arena and Greta was absolutely fascinated by it. Once she tried to sniff it - I say "try" because the llama didn't return the favor - her interest waned and it was just another critter nearby. The other horses that trailered in, no problem. The guinea fowl that were squawking all over the place, whatever. Cats, she loves cats - one hopped into my grandmother's lap while she was watching and when I took Greta by after the ride all she wanted to do was nuzzle that kitty! Adorable! I need to get a picture of her with the barn cats.

But a board on the ground outside the arena... it was going to eat her. So that was the only thing that she was iffy about. She didn't spook at it, I just really had to push her into that corner and try to keep her from counterflexing as she tried to eye that board. It had her number, she was sure, and it was out to get her. So she had to keep an eye on that dastardly board on the ground :)

I was able to talk a bit to Wolfgang before I tacked Greta up, but Greta did not want me to leave her side for a few minutes - I turned to see my trainer's daughter who is also a student walking Greta around because she wouldn't stand still! - so I introduced myself, shook his hand, and excused myself. Trainer's daughter and I set up a hay bag to keep Greta preoccupied while we groomed her off and tacked her up. It worked very well. I took Greta into the arena and we walked around for a bit while the other lesson was finishing.

The actual lesson

Wolfgang, contrary to the whole strict German clinician stereotype, was very quiet, friendly, and funny. I felt very comfortable riding wit him as I did not feel I had to be amazingly perfect. He allowed for little mistakes especially since my trainer explained to him that this was both Greta and I's first clinic. Ever.

We started off the clinic with some discussing of what our abilities are: walk, trot, canter, rein back, turns on the forehand, leg yields, and stretching circles. From there we proceeded with the lesson. We solved a lot of Greta's "oooooh, what that over there, oh and over there, and ooooooh lemme take a lookie at that!" by doing lots of transitions to keep her focused on my aids and the task at hand. We did lots serpentines where trotted out the curves and walked on the centerline.

Another task was what I called a "bowtie" pattern: you start off at E (or B) go straight and do a half volte at F, just touching the centerline before going back to E, going straight and doing another half volte at (H?) and once again just touching the centerline before going back to E. We got the pattern down by doing it at a trot, then he introduced the real workout: cantering the half volte and trotting everything else. A weighty task indeed since when Greta canters, she wants to gallop. So at first, she wanted to just canter the whole way and it was very hard to slow her up. But after about four tries, I was able to bring her back down to a nice working trot (not a Standardbred race trot!) once we hit the centerline. So now the final pattern went like this: trot at E, do half volte, pick up a canter at E and start half volte. Trot at centerline and trot to E, pick up canter again at E and so on.

By the end of the lesson, Greta's transitions were amazing and she was much more focused, I wasn't resorting to neckreining trying to get her to go deep into the corners (Wolfgang picked up on my barrel racing past!) and my half halts and downward transitions from a canter didn't include sticking my legs forward ("water skiing" as Wolfgang called it) or strictly pulling on the reins. I was starting to use my whole body. It was a 45 minute lesson, and it was totally worth it!

My trainer is hoping to set up a schedule to where Wolfgang May has a clinic for her students every six weeks or so, as long as there are four or more riders. I'm looking forward to it. There's also Sport Horse Versatility clinic that my trainer told me about and is encouraging me to go to, so that might be in place of a Wolfgang May clinic in the future.

After the lesson

My trainer had to go pick up her horse at her place so she missed the lesson, but I did have her daughter who, though she is younger, has shown in eventing for most of her life and is quite capable in the art of horse loading. Beyond just loading, she was a huge help throughout, especially for me, who has never done something like this with Greta before. Greta was better for hauling, but we still needed to show her the stud chain, and she loaded right up and we were on our way. This was a different trailer that we took her home in: a three horse slant with a tack room up front, so Greta was a bit iffy about going through a dark narrow opening. Don't blame her. If I were her I'd be iffy about it too!

She hauled great, she always does, and got a good hosing down once we got back to the stables, and she went for a hearty roll in her stall: there was fresh shavings in there, I don't blame her. She got her carrots and hay and then it was time to go.

All in all, I was very proud of her: she did much better than I had feared she might. The times we went into the center of the arena to talk with Wolfgang she was very sweet and cuddly, enough so to get a "yes, you're a sweet girl" from him. If nothing else, she was social!

So hopefully as we trailer to clinics (and perhaps a show here or there) and other sites more often she'll get better about the whole situation.

Lastly, I learned a lot. If Wolfgang ever comes to an area near you, go to him. He's awesome.