Scroll back a few posts and you'll see that Soon and I went to Upperville this year. Not only did we go to Upperville, we jumped clear, Soon made his jumper rounds look like hunter rounds, and he seemed very relaxed and happy in the big horse show atmosphere. All that for a horse who had only shown off the property twice before that. Suffice it to say, it was a huge gamble from a training perspective, and it paid off.
I received something today from my wonderful friend, Kim. Something that will have a special place in my house and in my heart.
We only did the schooling jumpers, just to be safe and keep things fun. Basically, if you go double clear (no jumping faults, no time) in the schooling jumpers, you get a blue ribbon. Soonie and I jumped clear, but because I was using this experience as a schooling opportunity, we kept things slower and smoother, and just focused on the experience. That's the verbose way of saying that we had time faults both days, so we didn't get a ribbon. That's fine, because I walked away with a happy horse, good experiences for him, a memorable weekend with my friends in hunt country, and a smile on my face. I didn't need a ribbon to know that was a successful show.
But, it wasn't like I didn't want a ribbon. Because ribbons.
Kim and Scotty went double clear in both their rounds, so they won two blue ribbons! And because of her incredible generosity and thoughtfulness, she gave one of them to me today. It's one of the most important blue ribbons I have ever received, and I didn't even win it.
Soon and I stretched ourselves to get to Upperville. So did Kim and the two horses she brought. It was a hard few weeks preparing, and the days there were long. But we had fun and we all learned a lot. We worked our asses off for those couple of days at Upperville, playing in the big kids' sandbox. And it was worth every second. I felt like because of my job and uncertain future, this might be our one shot at competing
at Upperville. I've wanted to ride at Upperville since I was a kid. This was a real dream come true for me. Soonie made that happen.
So while we didn't win this ribbon, Kim was kind enough to point out that Soonie and I earned it. It is a gift from a friend who I can never thank enough for her kindness, support, and generosity. It will memorialize not just our efforts to get to Upperville and what happened there, but also our time here at this farm. It represents our time with our family here. That means more to me than just a standing in a class or even a horse show ever will.
Soonie and I have been pretty busy lately so here's a quick recap of some of our most recent lessons.
Joe Fargis - 11 Aug
We had our third lesson with Joe, this time it was outside in his jump field. Soon came off his mini-layoff with a couple of hacks, flat rides, and only one (light) jump school at home prior to this, so he was a little "up" for the jumps in the huge field. And by "up," I mean I'm pretty sure he was doing this out the trailer window as we pulled into Joe's yard.
Actual footage of our arrival
Big field, lots of jumps, lots and lots of horses schooling around us,wet grass and no studs (WHEEE!) made for some exciting moments, but thankfully despite some yee-haws, he was still very rideable to the jumps. It maybe wasn't the most productive lesson learning or progression wise, but Joe saw I had a relatively hot horse that day and he kept things to a dull roar. He is such an incredible, calmingi influence. Soon was clearly feeling better, he jumped very confidently all morning. He even did the liverpool with zero drama! He thought about stopping the first time, but I closed my leg and showed him the crop and he went right to it. From there on he felt very solid going to the liverpool. Bottom line, it was a good day. I felt like I had my horse back, and Joe was very pleased.
Linda Zang - 14 Aug
A few days later we hauled down the street for our third dressage lesson with Linda. I have to stop and pinch myself sometimes because the opportunity to ride with her is just so, so incredibly special, and I'm floored that someone like me (not a dressage rider, not even an eventer!) gets to work with her, and she's just has enthusiastic about working with a jumper as she is working with someone at 4th level. She had Soon and I work more on moving him through the shoulder, building on what we started in June. This time, though, we started at the trot and she had me put him into a shoulder-in through the corner. This helped get him moving more freely through the shoulder, as well as stepping more through from behind. His trot work started to feel REALLY lovely, and got a couple of compliments from the auditors and Linda too. An auditor must have asked about Soon's breeding, because Linda explained he was a Thoroughbred...as I trotted around, I heard her say to the auditors that Soonie looked like a warmblood because he had good muscle and a topline (which, I must say, is sadly missing from the average TB folks see out and about).
We quickly refreshed some of the canter work from last time, as well as adding some 10-meter and even 8-meter canter circles, focusing on keeping him engaged behind and straight off the outside rein. We worked on his right lead as well and tried to troubleshoot his recent cross-cantering shenanigans - which are caused by me, of course. She and I talked it through, I tried a few different things, and it's a fun combo of him blowing through the outside shoulder and me sitting too heavily. We got to a good place though, that discussion was very useful. Sadly I did not get video this time, but Linda was extremely complimentary of us, which just made me beam ear to ear. Those sitting around and watching also seemed very happy with Soon as well. We cooled out as Linda and I talked about the upcoming George Morris clinic, and she shared some fun stories and offered some excellent suggestions. Can't wait to ride with her again!
Stephen Bradley - 15 Aug
So at this point Soon was just totally sick of me showing up at non-standard times of the day during the week. He knew he was getting on the trailer again and was not super stoked about it. But, being the polite gentleman he is, he didn't complain.
Him when I showed up for second day in a row to haul him off to a lesson
The lesson with Stephen was straightforward, but super useful as always. I love Stephen's style. He also has to be the nicest human being on earth. Bonus that everything he says is spot on and consistent with both Joe and Linda. Nothing major to report here except that Soon jumped confidently again, I didn't suck too bad, and Stephen was happy with what he saw. He put in a couple little tests for us, including coming off the corner in the counter-canter, jumping a single vertical, and halting nice and smooth. The counter-canter changed the type of canter we had, and the point was to be able to jump from those different canters. He put the jumps up for Soon and I at the end and we did our last two courses at somewhere between 3'-3'6", and Bubba jumped well. Big thing for me was just keeping the pace and balance through the corners. We'll be catching Stephen again at the end of September after the GHM clinic and our jumper show.
Joe Fargis - TODAY! YAY!
I splurged and took another day off to drive out with Kim to lesson with Joe again. Soon more or less had the last week off between recovering from Legend Lesson Extravaganza! and his shoes being loose/falling off. I did manage to get out Wednesday and Thursday evenings to ride him to somewhat prepare for Joe, but still...Soon was clearly feeling great, had a little too much energy, and I wasn't feeling the most confident going into today's lesson. But I went for it, because any day you get to lesson with Joe Fargis is never a bad day.
I mean...how can this possibly be anything but amazing and special?
We were back in the jump field again, this time with studs in, and this time with a horse who was less high on life. I especially enjoyed lessoning on a Friday, as Kim and I had Joe all to ourselves up there on the hill. No other lessons or clients, no other horses schooling around, nothing. Joe took his time and it was like he had all day to just teach us. It was wonderful.
The big issue today was definitely me. I just couldn't find a consistent pace, rhythm, line, or anything really. The warm up went well, Soon was perfectly rideable and less bouncy than the other week, which was nice. But once we started jumping the bigger course I just couldn't make a decision. At one point, Soonie stopped at a simple vertical (into the two-stride), which was extremely telling. I just didn't get him there and he didn't feel like launching. It was a wake up call for me to ride. When he stopped, I didn't react or hit him, because it was entirely my fault, not his. I just sat there for a few moments and tried to get my shit together before coming around at it again. We had a couple stops at the bounce too earlier on, so I wasn't feeling like I was doing well. The doubts and frustrations from the night before were eating at me. I was having those "Dammit I can't ride every day because I have a full time job and the horse isn't in training and I can only do so much" weakness moments. If that's even a weakness. It's just frustrating sometimes.
Joe was perfect here. He saw that I beat myself up over mistakes and that it gets in the way of me getting the job done. He didn't rush, he didn't get tougher, he just said calmly (almost jokingly, he had to lighten the mood!) to let it go and don't dwell. Relax and just ride. I have that pep talk on video and I'm going to keep it so I can refer to it later. He handled that situation perfectly, because afterward I sat up and rode. And Soonie went beautifully as a result.
It was another fantastic day, and I'm thankful that I went despite maybe not feeling like today was going to be our day. As Kim said, what better time to ride with a legend like Joe than on a tough day? He can (and did) help me work through that and actually improve. It's not as useful to show up and be perfect, you don't learn as much. Show up, try hard, and if mistakes are made, Joe can help me navigate the turbulence, as he calls it.
After the Stephen lesson last week, I had to stop and just be thankful for what I have here. And now after today's ride I'm still just in complete awe of being able to take Soon and ride with these incredible mentors. Each ride is invaluable and inspiring. Each person is different, but the fundamentals are all still the same. Three disciplines, three gurus, all with my little Thoroughbred I took
off the backside of a racetrack four years ago. Soonie is feeling so
much better, and we got our mojo back. I
am so grateful for him, for our barn friends, and for the opportunities
here to work with some true legends of the horse world. Nothing is
forever, appreciate it while you can!
