Back to School

My trainer finally returned home this past week and  I was both excited, and dreading my first lesson.

Excited for obvious reasons - lessons are great, I improve a lot, I love the "ah-ha" moments I get in lessons, and in general I like to push myself or be pushed.

Dreading it because I haven't had a lesson in ohhh - I don't know, four months (CRAZY!!!).  Gavin got kicked in December, was off for a month or two, then I built up the amount of work he got, and then my trainer was gone to Cali for 6 weeks.  So - I'm a little lesson rusty.

I tried to keep myself on track as best as I possibly could - by reading books, blogs, visualizing, making goals, etc.  But there are some things I don't even notice myself doing.  I have a bad tendency to curl in to the right (when going to the right), and I also have a tendency to go a little bit on auto-pilot (which means Gavin gets to do some of the navigation!).  So - yep, those were the things we got to work on in my lesson.  We also worked on canter departures (Gavin was awfully confused that suddenly running into the canter to the right wasn't acceptable).  See a pattern - the right is definitely my harder direction.

I have to admit - I feel a little stuck.  I've been riding for a long, long time, but I'm no trainer.  I have a hard time understanding the process of "teaching" a horse something.  More specifically, how to break up a process into little building blocks that the horse can understand.  That way of thinking does not come naturally to me, so I've always found it useful to work closely with trainers.  I don't know why I feel that people can judge me on this fact, but I do.  It's like there is a point of pride in people going out and doing it on their own, but I have a really hard time doing that.

Having said all of that - I'm really excited to announce that starting April 1st - Gavin and I are going into full-time training with my trainer (Glenda Needles)!  I don't know how long it'll last, considering her schedule, and my level of poorness (horse rich, cash poor), but I'm going to enjoy the shit out of it while it goes on.  It is 17 rides in a month (roughly 4 a week).  And that can be any amount of lessons, or her riding him.  I definitely need work, but I think that there is a lot of value to be had in someone with uber-experience riding a relatively green horse.  If Gavin were a school master - I'd say - 17 lessons all for me!  But since he isn't, I think some ride time with the trainer is a good idea.  I've been thinking more and more about it.  My current idea is 2 lessons a week for me, and 2 rides a week for him with Glenda.  I am hoping to watch as many of their rides as possible (because I can learn that way).

The take away is that I'm so excited for April, and to get started with my horsey bootcamp!  :)

Throwback Thursday

Just going with the themed day trend - here is a shout-out to Throwback Thursday.  This video was shot roughly 2.5 years ago on the Grand Mesa near Grand Junction, CO.  Gavin was a real star for the entire trek.

Wordless Wednesday

<3

Sunny Sunday

This week has been hard and sad and awesome all rolled up into one.  This blog isn't about all parts of my life, so I'll skip most of it, except to say that it was nice getting to spend the weekend with my mom, thank god my headache went away, and I didn't get enough riding in (barely any riding happened at all).

I managed to drag my sad self to see my pony this afternoon which I knew would be therapeutic once I got out there.  And of course, it was!  He was shedding like a mofo, which is great because he has the coat of a wooly mammoth.  It was beautiful out, but I rode indoors because the outdoor was packed with people.  When I started off there was only one lady riding, but after about 15 minutes the wind pushed 5 other riders into the arena.  This is not my forte.  I get uncomfortable and just sort of unable to focus.  But hell, I need to get over it!  I decided to make lemons out of lemonade and work on transitions and working on the straightaways (something we need to work on any ways).  Gavin was really good (once I settled down - yes, me - after everyone else came in) except for one spook that turned into a buck at I'm not even sure what.  Everyone was in good spirits and it wound up being fun.  I also got the opportunity to take selfies in one of the mirrors.  :)  

 

Wooly Cobbeth 

I may be a vampire… not sure why my face isn't in focus - witness protection program

The thing that really made my day though, was I was talking to a lady after we were done riding and I mentioned the spook/buck thing and she told me not to worry - that she thought we looked great and that she was jealous watching us go.  I was just beside myself.  It was so nice to hear that!  

I'm going to end today with 5 positive things that happened this weekend:

1. Spend quality time with my mom and family, and my boyfriend and his family
2. Have relaxation time this afternoon - long enough to watch the latest episode of Girls, instagram these pics ;) and write this here blog
3. My pony relaxed on the straightaway after a few reminders that this wasn't some trotting cob race
4. It was beautiful out, and my boy is shedding
5. Tomorrow the new guy who is taking my old position starts at work.  I'm excited to really start my new job at my company.  

Hell - I fit more than 5 good things in there, which I'm pretty sure means life is good.  

Gavin after his post-ride roll

What's in a Name?

I changed my blog name, and I still may change the actual domain name.  I'm more worried changing my domain name since I'd be losing 3 followers.  That's right - 3 whole followers!!!  I appreciate people reading my blog, and when they follow it I feel like I'm not just talking to myself, so those 3 followers are a big deal to me.  Regardless of my impending domain decision, I went ahead and changed the blog title.

Why did I change my blog name?

To be perfectly honest I read all of Viva Carlos' blog hop posts about how people came up with their names, and it made me realize that most blog names were descriptive, and they really told a little story about the rider, the horse, or both.  The Happy Rider is a bit generic, and it certainly didn't have a story behind it.  I am a happy rider, but I think a lot of riders are.  I just wanted to start putting my voice out there, and so I didn't think too long or too hard about the name.  But, after reading everyone's blog name story, I decided I had to change my own.

Why An Optimist, a Pony, and a Pug?

I actually had a lot of other ideas, including:

1. The Accountant and the Cob
2. How To Train Your Gavin
3. Horse Child in the City
4. Girl on the Cob

 But I decided to go with An Optimist, a Pony, and a Pug for a few reasons:

I'm an optimist.  People comment on my cheery mood on the regular.  Sometimes I fall into the complaining rut just like anyone else, but I really prefer to be upbeat and cheerful.  I find it to be much more productive.  I've also found that by focusing on goals and what you want out of life, you're more likely to actually attain those things.

I have a pony.  He's a Welsh Cob and probably of horse height, but I love that he has such a pony look about him.  I never call him "my horse" it's always "my pony".  That pony and my interactions with him are the epicenter of this blog.

I also have a pug.  He is a wonderful dog - a total cuddle bug, a therapy dog when I cry, a dog to take for a run (so long as the run isn't too long), a dog to dress up in silly costumes, a dog to teach new tricks to continuously.  He is my boyfriend and my dog-son and we love him dearly.  So I thought it was fair to include him, especially since I have billions of cute pics of him that'll likely show up on here.

And that's my blog name story.  :)  *sigh of relief* that feels better!

Mama Raised a Test Taker

Hi everyone.  My name is Erika and I'm a circle-a-holic.

Hi Erika.

So, as I've stated many-a-time on this here blog, I want to show my pony at training level this year.  Not to sound arrogant, but before I really knew what I was getting involved in I thought it'd be a piece of cake (preferably of the carrot, cheese, or chocolate variety - yum).  So I was riding around a few days ago when a lady who I was *calmly* sharing the arena with asked if I had ridden the test yet.  Well... no.  I mean, I have copies of them all, but no - hell I had plenty of time to prepare.  But, I thought it was such a good idea that I decided to bring out Training Level Test I with me today.  And I'm glad I did.

It really pointed out the areas we need to work on.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm a circle-a-holic.  Circles are my safety zone and my crutch.  It's wayyyyyy easier for me to get Gavin supple and on a steady tempo on a circle.  But the very first test in Training level has some straight aways at the walk, trot, and canter.  Now at the walk I'm set.  We walk straight lines perfectly fine, but you gear Gavin up to a trot on the straightaway and his giant Welsh Cob trot comes out.  The canter is my fault.  I procrastinated on really working on the canter for a long time out of some nameless fear, and so my boy is a little behind the curve in that area, and thus pretty much just does circles *shame, shame, shame*.

So we worked on it today.  What do I notice?  His head pops up angrily almost immediately and his tempo increases to about 1.5x the rate it is on the circle (and believe me, on the circle it is plenty fast).  I tried a few techniques, all with varying degrees of success.

Technique 1:  I envisioned him trotting along smoothly and calmly (Jane Savoie idea).  This did seem to help with the speed issue most of the time.

Technique 2:  When Technique 1 didn't work I'd circle him and then put him back on the straight-away and then praise him when he kept a slower, more steady tempo.

The angry head in the air - errmmmm I'm not totally sure why he's doing it except that maybe he doesn't understand contact on the straight.  And maybe I don't totally get it either.  I understand that the outside rein is still the solid contact rein, but he should be straight, correct?  And so to push him into one rein and not the other seems odd.  Any thoughts on this anyone?  I did find that by controlling his tempo he was more likely to allow contact.

Technique 3:  I found that if I scratched his neck every few strides with the inside rein hand that helped him relax further into the contact on the straight.

I am proud to say that by the end of the ride he was trotting straight lines at an acceptable pace, and with an acceptable amount of contact.  I haven't really given it a go at the canter, but I want to master the gaits he is more comfortable in first and then move on to the canter.  We did do more canter work today and it went really well again.  He's going to have one badass canter this summer.  :)

Completely unrelated - I punched myself in the face this morning really hard (so hard I heard my nose crunch sickeningly when I made impact).  I immediately burst into tears (1/2 out of embarrassment and 1/2 out of pain).  I was trying to imitate George St Pierre (the MMA fighter) hitting someone with his elbows and I really got myself.  Sadly I have no bruise to prove what a badass (and dumbass) I am, but it still hurts.  :)

I have no pictures from my last few rides, but I do have this funny selfie my boyfriend and I took last night at a St Patrick's day party we went too.  Notice the big dude behind us dancing.  Funny.

Pretend like...

sweet face

*twirling in circles singing the sound of music while smiling and laughing*

This was how I felt after my ride last night.  Just happy!  I haven't ridden since the weekend because the monthly process I'm sorta kinda the lead on at work went to warp speed (happens every month; hell, you could call it "that time of the month" for me, because that's when I'm cranky as shit).  It's hard to get in a workout, let alone see my pony.

I have, however, been reading two of my Jane Savoie books, and it gave me some great ideas for my ride:


1. Issue 1 to deal with - when I ride around other riders, especially dressage riders, I tend to become insecure and for lack of a better word, I choke.  I get so uncomfortable that they're watching me, judging me, thinking I'm a terrible horse person that I wind up riding like an asshole.  Well, Jane has a whoooole section on that.  And it basically goes like this:
1. Say to yourself "I love riding with other riders in the arena!"
2. Say to yourself "I'm so good at (whatever you think your bad at)"
1. in my case I say to myself "I'm so good at sharing the arena, and I'm a very balanced, centered rider with quiet hands"
3. If these two positive brain-washing techniques don't work, literally pretend to be someone else.

So I decided - screw it!  I'll do all three.  I pretended I was my trainer, Glenda.  Oftentimes I catch myself saying "why can't I ride like her; she's so calm and decisive, etc, etc.".  So I was her.  I was calm.  I was decisive.  And since I was Glenda, I also was much more balanced (naturally...) and didn't mind sharing the ring.  It was strangely liberating, and really worked for me.

The second idea for the night, was one of a more practical nature - getting Gavin very light on my aids. Now, he is pretty light already between transitions, but at the walk and canter he tends to bog down after about 3 or 4 strides and then I have to urge him on again.  Well, this is no bueno.  And for ever and ever I've been on auto pilot about asking too much for forward motion.  So tonight we worked on responsiveness to aids, and also staying in the gear I put him in.  This required a couple of swift "corrections", but after that he marched along like nothing could stop him.

More apples PLEEEEASE!

I did more walk breaks then usual, mostly because I get so focused on trot/canter work that I forget and I'm pretty sure I don't give Gavin enough walk breaks on the regular.  Trying to be more concientious of my little guy.

Anyways - the ride was awesome.  He did awesome.  Sure, we didn't ride with any dressage riders, but we did share the ring with two little girls taking lessons - and they looked pretty damn impressed (I like to think).  ;)

post-workout roll