2013 in Review and 2014 Goals

I've been in LA visiting the boyfriend's family for the last few days so I haven't had any time to do this blog. Today we drove back to the bay area and now I'm enjoying the rest of the day relaxing on the couch and catching up on everything!

Rico was being ridden by one of the trainers at the barn, the same person who rode him while I was in Boston! I hear that he's doing fine and I may go see him tonight. Because I haven't been riding though, I have nothing to post!

The past year has been HUGE for Rico and I. Lots of things in my life changed which at first were very overwhelming! And Rico finally made his FEI debut which was probably a lot bigger of a deal for me than it was for him. I want to go through a few key moments from 2013 and then go over my 2014 goals (including some crazy reach goals that shouldn't happen). I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Key Moments of 2013

At the beginning of 2013, I was at a loss with Rico. I had struggled through 4-1 for the first time in several years at the end of 2012 and we scored okay. It was clear as I came into spring that I needed lessons, regular lessons, with someone who could once and for all fix us.

Hands so high! Horse broken at the 3rd!

In March I had my first lesson with Tracey Lert, a trainer who had intimidated me when I was a kid watching her teach at my childhood barn. She still intimidates me, but less so now. We started working HARD on the very very basics. My first lesson was filled of walk-trot transitions. I got to canter once in each direction. My second lesson involved only a bit more canter. All of this on a 20 meter circle for weeks.

At our first lesson

Improvements :)

In April Rico had a fall and was out until almost June. In June, however, he was going strong and we showed 4-2 twice! We scored a 63 and a 65 for two blue ribbons. (PS, May 2013 I graduated from my undergraduate).

First show at 4-2!

My brother, mom, and I at graduation! 

Second show at 4-2

Throughout July I worked hard to bring him up to par for Prix St George, one of my biggest goals with him this year. But at the end of July he attached his face to his girth, tried to lay down, and ended up injuring his pelvis.

Another rehab and we were back at the end of August (when I entered graduate school). September 8th we showed Prix St George for the first time with a 65% and second in a large class.
We continued working hard and at the end of October we ended up with a 66% at Prix St George and third in a large class.

At our second PSG

In November we headed up to SVE for our first overnight show (we didn't stay overnight) and our last PSG for the year. I was RIDICULOUSLY sick (ended up being bed ridden for a week after) and Rico was a nutcase but we still made it through and ended up with third place out of seven!

The last PSG at SVE

So talented

At the end of November I rode in Rico's first Alfredo Hernandez clinic. This was another one of my big goals with Rico and we had a blast. Rico caught onto the piaffe and passage very quickly which was a shock for Tracey and I. In early December I moved Rico to Woodmyst for the winter, and he promptly injured himself. It was a splint and we're coming back from that now!


Goals for 2014

Show at Prix St George again and improve scores on the pirouettes, extensions, and tempis
- Those three movements are always a tad hit-or-miss for us so I want to get them scoring a bit more reliably.

Qualify for CDS Championships at Prix St George (maybe...)
- CDS Champs are in LA next year, not sure if I really want to spend that kind of money, especially because the open PSG tends to be exceptionally competitive. However, it's only $10 more per show to qualify so I think I might try to at least get qualified and we'll only go if we're very competitive (we won't be).

Show at Intermediare I and score in the 60s
- This level is going to be tricky for us with the full pirouettes, 2-tempis, and the zig zag. I'm hoping to rely a bit on our trot lateral work.

Ride regularly/semi-regularly with Alfredo
- Rico is really enjoying his pi/pa work and I really want to develop them further to see if he'll actually end up being able to do the Grand Prix one day. Right now it's still a pipe dream.

Establish a solid piaffe and passage including pi/pa transitions
- Hopefully with the help of the Alfredo clinics!

Ride in a clinic with someone awesome
- I have a great horse... I dunno why I don't ride in more clinics! I need to talk to Tracey to see who she would recommend first.

Fix the kicking lead change
- Boy does this stupid change irritate me! I want it gone in 2014.

Put the ones on
- I have a secret to tell tomorrow... In 2014 I want to get his one-tempis going really well, ideally we'll get 11 or 15 which are the numbers you need to show I2/GP but just having like 4-5 in a row would be really cool!

Fix my inability to use my inside leg in half passes
- This is also incredibly irritating to me


Crazy Reach Goals (that don't even make sense but I want to have them anyway)

Ride a musical freestyle (and maybe get my USDF Silver Freestyle bar)

- I've always wanted to do one! I'm not sure if this year is the time, though. I don't have access to a court regularly and I also don't know how to cut up music and glue it back together in order (clearly I don't know how to do this, I don't even know what it's called). However, whenever I listen to songs that fit Rico's bpm, I realllllllyyyy want to try!

Debut Rico at Intermediare II in the fall
- if the stars align and I sneak behind Tracey's back, I could totally score really badly at this level!

Jump semi-regularly
- This could happen if I really wanted it to. It makes me nervous to jump my horse because of his legs but he LOVES jumping. If I keep it under 18" or 2', he should be fine. But do I want to risk a possible future Grand Prix horse just because jumping him is fun? I dunno... I do have plans to immediately sign him up for an event after his last dressage show. 

An Unstoppable Passaging Asshole

For the last two days my horse has been replaced with a giant asshole. That may not be entirely politically correct, but it's certainly very accurate. 

Today makes yesterday look good, so I'll go into detail about what I had to go through this morning.

I rode him fairly hard (harder than I thought I would with him being on rehab, the damn horse) last night due to behavior problems. When I got to him this morning, I was expecting to have a really fun ride on him with him being nice and quiet. I was wrong.

I'm speculating here, but it seems that Rico finally mustered up the courage to ask his neighbor out on a date and she rejected him, leaving him to obsess over her during all moments of the day (this is my most entertaining guess as to why I had such weird behavior out of him today). I got there and he had stopped eating his breakfast to stare at her. I said hi and he visited with me for a second, then stared at her. He stared at her the whole time I tacked him up and was reluctant to leave his stall because he couldn't stare at her while walking away, not without trying though. 

"Hey friend, look over here! Look over here!"

"Oh hey mom, have you met my neighbor who I just realized
exists and am now obsessed with?"

When I got on him, he dragged me to her stall and stared at her. I tried to turn him around and he threatened to rear so I kicked him and took him away from her. Once he was convinced that I wasn't going to let him back to his stall and that we were, indeed, going to be walking away from her, he lost his ever loving mind. 

This is very weird behavior out of Rico. My horse is LAZY and doesn't give a shit about anything, including my aids at times. Other horses will gallop around and there's Rico, just staring at them. Other horses will find something VERY SCARY and there's Rico, ignoring it and instead spooking at a leaf blowing across the road. The horse is not the sort of animal that loses his mind over what other horses are doing. But it was gone this morning!

I took him away from her and we walked down the road. I've ridden the last two times in the dark so today I thought he'd be excited to go on an adventure. He pranced the whole time.

He pranced until I got him into the arena and then he smushed himself against the rail leaning over toward her (she's a good forty yards away from the arena) while I took off my jacket. 

I then proceeded to passage my asshole around the arena. There was no trot today, there was no walk today, there was only passage. And... well... a pretty damn good one. Oh and for the first time, there were passage to piaffe transitions! And piaffe to passage transitions! And they were good! And... isn't my horse supposed to be on rehab? Yeahhhh well maybe we were both stir crazy. There was no way I was getting anything else out of him so I went with it. 

We still ended pretty early and we'll see what his leg looks like tomorrow. Based on today though, I think I can accelerate his rehab a bit, lest I fall off of my unstoppable passaging asshole. 

Little Ruby loves my boots

So freaking cute

A Mini-Rehab (ft Ruby Tuesday)

Before I talk about Rico, look at what waddled into my life on Sunday! 

Look at that face!

This is Ruby (Ruby Tuesday, the theme for the litter was Rolling Stones), my parents' new 8 week old golden retriever puppy. She's just the cutest thing ever!

She might be cutest when she's sleeping and not biting legs

"I have this bone but there is also that leaf"

So tired

Sleeping on a cow

She was born in Alaska so she was obsessed
with the lawn!

The cutest!

But this perfect dog (Cooper) hasn't been forgotten!

Alright, on to Rico! So after nearly a week of walking/cold hosing/sweat wrapping/hoping/praying/etc, I've started Rico's mini-rehab. Things are going quite well, other than Rico's poor attitude.

The leg is holding up without any more treatments even though I'm pretty well convinced that it's broken (I had to implement a rule- if I wouldn't notice the swelling just casually glancing at it, I shouldn't think anything of it).

Yesterday I trotted him for the first time since last Tuesday and he was sound (no surprise). I just trotted around and around the ring for a minute at a time. I had him in the snaffle, and in that bit he always rides slightly more on the forehand than he does in his double (also no surprise but for some reason I'm always surprised). It occurred to me that while I shouldn't do any intense lateral work, passage, quick transitions, or anything else that may be hard on his legs, I CAN do piaffe! The piaffe helped the balance a TON so at least we can keep going on that.

What we shouldn't do, I repeat, is the passage.

Today, Rico decided that rehab was over. We wandered around the barn in our warm up walk and then headed into the arena. I was trotting around and admiring a Spanish horse who had been brought in for training when Rico stalled out and started trying to passage. I was so confused, it felt like he had tripped! But no, it was like a very passage-y trot (a bit too quick for a passage but still very passage-like). I put my leg on to get him out of it and he just got more and more elevated. I walked, changed directions, and trotted again. Passage.

Obviously I'm not going to punish him for that! But he needs to knock it off just in case the passage was what irritated his leg...

On our walk!

I'm hoping his leg will be still fine tomorrow and the next day. If it is, I'll be speeding the rehab time up a bit! I really want him back. The passage today, although not planned, made me itch to start working on it again!

The Plan

I'm an obsessive planner.

Actually, much of my behavior can be accurately described by putting the word "obsessive" in front of it. For example, I'm an obsessive baker. Today I've baked 4 dozen cookies. Why do I need 4 dozen cookies? Who in their right mind bakes 4 dozen cookies FOR THEMSELVES? Luckily I'm going to a party tonight so I'll be unloading them there. Yesterday I decided to make a scarf. I knitted for four hours. I now have a scarf and a half done. The half, you ask? Well, I wanted to make another so I bought an obsessive amount of yarn. Why do I need so many scarves?

Rico's leg looked alright today. I could see the swelling but it was VERY small and had I not been looking for it, I wouldn't have known anything was different. I took him on a 30 minute walk bareback, cold hosed him, and left him wrapped overnight. He's pretty pissed off. He's been sound the whole time and thinks he's fine.

But the horse has never *actually* been head-bobbing lame a day in his life. Even when he had a career-ending lesion, the only way you could see that he was lame was that one fetlock didn't drop as much as the other one. What is that? The horse had a big hole in his tendon but he was fine!

Because of this, I'm pretty obsessive about his legs! But what I saw today gave me a lot of hope, so I'm coming up with a rehabilitation plan for him for the 3 weeks or so and if his leg doesn't stay tight and normal-looking, I'll get the vet out in early January (I need to do it anyway to get his hocks done around then too!)


I've done about a million rehab schedules for this damn horse, so here we go:

Sunday Dec 15th-

Walk 45m

Monday Dec 16th-

Walk 45m

Trot 4x 1m

Tuesday Dec 17th-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 1m

Wednesday Dec 18th-

Walk 45m

Trot 10x 1m

Thursday Dec 19th-

Walk 45m

Trot 10x 1m

Friday Dec 20th-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 1.5m

Saturday Dec 21st-
Walk 45m
Trot 6x 1.5m

Sunday Dec 22nd-
Walk 45m
Trot 10x 1.5m

Monday Dec 23rd-
Walk 45m
Trot 10x 1.5m

Tuesday Dec 24th-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 2m

Wednesday Dec 25th-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 2m

Thursday Dec 26th-

Walk 45m

Trot 10x 2m

Then I leave from Dec 27th to Dec 30th. He'll get walked and trotted on the previous time (10x 2m) by a trainer at the barn who I trust. 

Tuesday Dec 31st-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 2.5m

Canter 4x 1m

Wednesday Jan 1st-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 2.5m

Canter 6x 1m

Thursday Jan 2nd-

Walk 45m

Trot 10x 2.5m

Canter 10x 1m

Friday Jan 3rd-

Walk 45m

Trot 10x 3m

Canter 10x 1m

Saturday Jan 4th-

Walk 45m

Trot 6x 4m

Canter 6x 2m

Sunday Jan 5th

Walk 45m

Trot 4x 5m

Canter 8x 2m

Monday Jan 6th

Walk 45m

Trot 4x 5m

Canter 10x 2m

By this point, I should be able to put him back to normal work and emphasize bringing his fitness in the canter back to normal. First lesson with Tracey on January 14th?

Yep I would completely plan my entire life out to the minute if it was practical.

A (Terrible) Early Christmas Present

Rico seemed totally fine on Tuesday morning when I rode him so I was back that evening to take my lesson with Tracey. 

It was a hard lesson. Note to self: taking lessons during finals week is ALWAYS a bad idea. I did it last semester and regretted it. I did it this semester and... well I didn't regret it quite as much but I got my ass absolutely handed to me in the passage work.

I'm just so green at this movement. And so is Rico. Leo allowed me to be lazy in the passage because he was so trained, so I never had to worry about him randomly rearing, cantering, or getting crooked. If Leo did do any of those things (which was never), it would have been a "are you FUCKING KIDDING ME right now, Grand Prix horse?" kind of moment and he'd probably be like "yeah I am, sorry" and we'd have gone on with our lesson.

Leo and I at Grand Prix! 

With Rico I can't just lay into him whenever he makes a mistake in the passage. If you're learning something like calculus and someone is standing by you shouting at you every time you make a small mistake in a calculation, you're probably going to get up and be like "I QUIT CALCULUS" and run off. At least, I would do that. I don't want Rico thinking that the passage isn't fun because it would be easy for him to completely ignore me. Or he could launch me, but don't tell him that.

At the same time, and this is what came up in my lesson, I can't just be happy with anything he gives me. He's already getting slightly irregular in the passage because he tries to canter in it. He also tends to get too light in front, a bit behind me, and then he stands up. Not big rears, but definitely rears. he also gets very crooked.

Tracey wants me to get after him a bit about those things. So we did. It was a hard lesson but by the end, Rico was going very well. He was also very tired.


Wednesday I decided to give him a light hack, we wandered around the property for 45 minutes and walked down the road a ways. He had so much fun. We did our loop backwards and he reared and spun away from the goats a few times (because goats look different from the other direction and are therefore terrifying) but other than that, he was really great.


Thursday was my last final, I went to the barn in the morning planning to do a moderately intense ride and then head to school to take my stats final. Yeah that didn't happen. I mean the final did, and afterward my whole cohort and a few people from the cohort above us went out drinking with one of the professors who I did an undergraduate class with. He not only bought the first round, he remembered me as the kid in the class who always got 100% on tests and totally messed up the curve for everyone. I ended up with 108% in the class and an A+.

Excuse me, is this a graduate school blog?

Oh right, Rico. I'm such a space case today, I blame it on finals.

Yeah I get to the barn Thursday morning and the horse has a lump on his left front leg. Right under where his check ligament injury was! Obviously I FREAK OUT handle myself well and immediately get him over to the wash rack for a cold hose and take him on a 30 minute walk. After another cold hose, the leg looked normal-ish. It looks like a very small splint but I'm not jumping to conclusions. Last time I thought he popped a splint, he injured his check ligament. UGHHH. But the swelling isn't as big this time.

This was the check ligament swelling. Current
swelling is lower and smaller. 

I wrapped it with tighten-up and gave him some bute yesterday and this morning. This afternoon he seemed okay but I did tighten-up again tonight.

So we're out for at least a week, I'm hoping it's super super minor and won't take us out for more than that, but we'll see. Thanks for the terrible early Christmas present, horse. Get better damnit!

Here's hoping we won't be doing this again...

A Chilly German Horse

It's cold!! It hit a low of 18 degrees F last night and California is not used to being quite so cold. My arena froze, the horses' water froze, the arena sprinklers were frozen shut, and my horse, my German horse, was found curled up in his shavings with his little tootsies under his blanket. 

Note the shavings on his nose!

And this cuddly horse refused to get up for his ride this morning until I bribed him with cookies!

It was barely 30 degrees when I rode so I did his trail ride down the road with a fleece cooler on him (which is so obnoxious and bulky but effective). Tracey wants me to get a fleece quarter sheet so I can do the first half of his ride with that on to make sure his super buff ass muscles stay warm. I have a quarter sheet but it's just a rain sheet to keep him and my tack somewhat dry. So I'm ordering Rico an early Christmas present which will probably come in when this cold front leaves...


Despite the cold, Rico has been great the last couple days! I've been pretty much doing what we did in the lesson- lead changes on a circle, passage, and trot half pass. Super creative, I know, but my relentless practice is paying off already!

The lead changes are better, when I keep my body really still and then ask, we either get a VERY good change or no change. Rico doesn't like the changes on a circle... he got a bit frantic (which for Rico just means change-happy) today about it so I had to give him a few extra breaks.

The passage is MUCH better, I'm getting a lot more expression and a lot more reliability on my aid now that I'm being a little more patient and riding a slower tempo. I'm no longer worried that I won't be able to get the passage so that makes me a lot more relaxed about it! Phew. Rico still wants to canter instead of passage, but Tracey says that's normal and will go away as he gets more experience.

Today I didn't have time to do the half passes, but I FORCED my right leg to cease being a dead fish and clamped it onto his side. It felt SO awkward but I was happy that I did something, and honestly the half pass was better.


This weekend I might be moving Rico over to Woodmyst for the winter. I have finals next week so it'd be nice to not fight with watering/dragging/de-freezing my arena and being over there will take my mind off of how terrified I am of not doing well in my classes!

Accuracy

I can't believe how ridiculous finals are in graduate school. We have a MILLION things to do coming up to finals and I'm not actually sure how I'm going to get through all of this without becoming homicidal.

Currently I'm writing a proposal and preparing a presentation for perception. I still have to study for the cumulative final in that class too which is going to actually kill me. I also have exactly five thousand statistics projects to turn in (this figure may be an exaggeration, p < .01), plus the cumulative final for that class. Oh and I need to submit to IRB and finish my thesis proposal. Okay now that I write it out, that doesn't seem too bad. It FEELS like a lot though, ugh!

Piled Higher and Deeper is becoming more and more relevant to my life!

The Penny is Dropping

I definitely had to come home and look up that idiom. 

After such a successful weekend with Rico, I was so so so excited to ride with Tracey tonight. It turned out to be a VERY cold night (keep in mind that I'm located in California so my coldness perception is a tad off) and although Rico has grown back most of his coat, he certainly was feeling about a third his age.

Last winter the horse was much less fit and
much more docile!

I got there and tacked up quickly since my lessons are at 5:30 and it gets dark at 5:15! I arrived early so I sat on the mounting block and watched part of the lesson before me.

I got on and knew immediately that I might hit the dirt. It wasn't as bad as Starr Vaughn but boy the horse was on fire. He kept sticking his head to his chest and charging around. When I brought his poll up, he'd crow hop so he could put it back down and charge some more. Ughhh.

He worked out of it a bit and I got some decent work done before we started the lesson. However, we took too long talking about the Alfredo clinic and Rico was feeling high again. We started in canter with the intention of doing some changes and Rico was NOT having it. Tracey asked me to canter down the long side and I said "I'm going to stay off the rail so I don't get bucked off" and then the horse ducked his left shoulder and spun right away from the rail. Tracey laughed and said "I don't know if that is going to help!"

After some kicking changes (despite me keeping him so straight and not swinging my leg too far back, ugh), Tracey and I talked again. She said she's at a loss for why he's kicking and thinks that there are several reasons why he does it.

Old theories:
- there is definitely a straightness element involved, when he gets too much over his right shoulder (which is his tendency in general), he kicks
- there is definitely a problem with my body, I swing my shoulders and legs too much and throw him off balance

New theories:
- I don't keep him up to the bridle enough
- my timing is too fast with my legs sometimes so he hurries to do his changes and ends up kicking

We worked on a cool exercise that Tracey learned from Conrad Schumacher. We cantered on a 20 meter circle and, maintaining the bend, asked for lead changes at every point (so every quarter of the circle, we'd change). This helped a LOT and showed us that he tends to get behind me and/or on the forehand and then we lose throughness.

I'm so frustrated by this change! I feel like it's slowing us down a LOT in terms of trying to score well at PSG and in moving up the levels. There's no way we can do 2 tempis (I1) or the ones (I2/GP) with this damn change. HOWEVER, I'm glad to be learning SO much about flying changes! After Rico and I get through this, there isn't going to be a horse I can't put a flying change on.


After the changes, we worked on the passage.

I was so pleased with Rico in terms of the passage today!! Tracey was also pleased, she noted that she hadn't had a horse catch onto passage this soon after learning. She also said that he showed a lot of promise in the movement. I'm incredibly bias, but I can really see that this horse has some pretty great talent in the passage. He's always liked to prance around like an idiot, and now I'm praising him for it!

I learned a few things. First, when I ask, I need to slow wayyyy down. I'm rushing him in the passage and am asking for too much ground cover so a lot of the time I'm getting a kind of knee-heavy trot instead. Second, I need to SIT. THE FUCK. DOWN. I tend to do the cha-cha while asking for passage and Tracey said that it's only going to confuse and frustrate my poor horse.

Third, I need to not get impatient about this whole thing. Just like in the pirouettes, I'm holding him to the Grand Prix standard rather than the green-horse standard. Tracey said "the penny hasn't dropped yet, it's in the process of dropping." And I promptly smiled, nodded, and zipped home to look it up online. Basically he hasn't been completely confirmed in the passage yet, so until then, my expectations need to be very low!

Would dropping all these pennies at
once help?

After the passage we worked on a bit of trot half pass, trying to get me to use my inside leg. I'm proud to say that to the left, I can actually use BOTH of my legs! Shocking that leaning off to the outside and flailing about ISN'T the correct aid for half pass.

To the right, however, my inside leg remains completely useless. I literally could amputate my right leg, replace it with a dead fish, and likely ride better than I do now. Ugh! But getting it right to the left gives me hope!! So it's right half pass boot camp for me this week :)

5 Day Challenge Day 5

Last day of the 5 day challenge!

21. Favorite classes to watch

At the dressage shows, I love watching the freestyles! I've always wanted to do one and I think they're just so much fun. I also like watching the FEI but I find that now I'm showing at a higher level, I'm really only enjoying watching the I2 and GP rather than all the FEI. I wonder if I'll hate watching any dressage when Rico and I make it to GP...

I also frequent events and hunter/jumper shows and enjoy classes there too. Prelim + eventing is super fun, especially the 2* and 3* cross country. I also enjoy watching the hunters find perfect distances to everything and watching the high level jumpers gallop around.

This looks like so much fun!

Goooo pony!

I haven't watched many western events but nearby there is a lot of roping and I think that's soooo cool!


22. What's in your cooler at horse shows?

I can barely eat at horse shows! I get pretty nervous. I usually pack some food that's easy on my stomach like crackers and fruit, along with some water and maybe gatorade or juice to get some calories into me. Multi-day shows are always a fight to meet my caloric requirements to continue existing as a person. Ugh!


23. One thing about showing (or riding in general) you wish you could change?

It's definitely wayyy too expensive! I asked Tracey if she thought me doing a CDI was a good idea and she said first that she didn't know how competitive I'd be at this point and second that it was FREAKISHLY expensive. I need an FEI passport for him and the show entries are super expensive and the stabling is super expensive...

I do okay though, my lessons are expensive (that's what I get for riding with a BNT) but I try to stick to the one day shows (those are less expensive than my lessons!).


24. Your ringside crew

I'm lucky that my dad finds my anxiety and neurosis easy to handle and downright entertaining. He's at most of my shows with me, helps me haul the horse and is an "intelligent post" as he likes to tell EVERYONE who walks by. He essentially holds my coat/tie/sugar/hand/etc and then takes pictures when I go in the ring! Such a great dad!

Sometimes I'll show alone or with clients and that is fine too, but I definitely love having my intelligent post there.


25. Best prizes

I love pretty ribbons, I write on the back of them and I just recently put up a string in my room to hang all the ones I've earned on Rico since we came back to the show ring last year (at the moment that's just like 6 ribbons). I also really enjoy getting little prizes for first place.

If I had my way though, I'd love to get big neck ribbons, coolers, halters, etc!! I've never won anything super big and cool so that would be amazing. I'd loooove a cooler with Rico's name on it and something like "PSG Championships" on it or what not :) maybe one day...

Rico and I won a neck ribbon once!

Woo! All done with the 5 day challenge :) Thanks Tracey at Fly On Over for coming up with it!


Stand by for another post on tonight's lesson where Rico thoroughly impressed both my trainer and I with his superb passage skills which may or may not have been enhanced by spooking at absolutely nothing.

5 Day Challenge Day 4

5 day challenge day 4!

16. One thing you'd like to change about your horse

How freakishly injury-prone he is. My god this horse has been injured like crazy over the last few years. To name a few choice injuries:

- In 2006 he sustained a poll injury which took him out of dressage for nearly two years
- Also in 2006 he tied up and we've had to be careful of his diet
- In 2010 he had a lesion in his right front DDFT which needed an MRI to diagnose and surgery to fix
- In 2011 he choked twice which lead to more diet changes
- In 2012 he injured his left front check ligament
- In 2013 he attached his face to his girth and hurt his back/pelvis

AND THEN HE WAS NEVER INJURED AGAIN... right?

Miserable horse gets cold hosed

17. Your horse's future

I'm an obsessive planner. Rico likes to disrupt my plans. But here we go- if all goes well:

2014 season: PSG + I1
2015 season: small tour CDI and/or I2 ending the year with GP
2016 season: full season at GP
2017 season: actually being competitive at GP and competing at CDS Champs! This year he'll be 21 years old though...

I'm also considering doing a freestyle and maybe doing 2015 CDS champs at I1 or I2.

I also have plans to start jumping him again after I get my USDF Gold medal on him (unless it's obvious he's going to be competitive at GP since then I won't risk him). If he can handle it, I want to do some hunter/jumper shows and maybe an event! We'll see, he's going to be kind of old and likely won't get to even half these goals...


18. Your worst show ever

I haven't had a lot of *bad* shows. But I will tell the story of Pebble Beach in 2005 because I left that show with a slipped disc (even if I won reserve champion).

I took young Rico down there in July of 2005. I had owned him for six months and was just figuring out how to ride him at first level. We came in strong on the first test with a 69.7% at 1-3.  I was warming up for my second test when the water truck came into the arena I was in. Rico took this opportunity to demonstrate his bronc skills, which were pretty impressive. He leapt way up into the air and after a few big bucks, catapulted me. I landed ON HIM mid buck and managed to get my knee into my block and stop him, but something was very wrong. My back felt SO weird.

I tightened my back brace and went into the ring slightly hunched since I couldn't sit up straight. I went to bed that night with a lot of advil on board and curled up in a ball since it hurt to straighten my spine. After a restless night's sleep, I woke up unable to move in the morning. I had to pull myself off to the side of the bed and then it was obvious the disc was slipping. I put my back brace on, I went to go get on my horse. I showed the second day and my scores dropped into the low 60s.

It was at that point that I realized riding was a bad idea so I scratched! Not before winning JR/YR high point with my 69.7%!


19. Favorite horse show venue

I did really like Starr Vaughn as a venue, where I was at last month. I also have really liked Woodside, Gilroy Gaits, and Yarra Yarra. Honestly, other than good footing and ample space for warm up, what makes a show for me is the organizers and how well run it is.


20. Your show day routine

I don't have a specified routine, but here's roughly what happens at a one day since I haven't done a multi-day in a while:

At home I usually do as much as possible depending on my ride time. Bathe, braid, brush, clean tack, etc. I try to get to the show with less than an hour to go before my ride time because I usually move at lightning speed due to my nerves! So we'll be pulling in and I'm on in like 5 minutes.

Rico warms up pretty normally. Walk on a loose rein for a bit and then walk trot canter in a stretchy frame. I usually do minimal trot work and no walk work since he's pretty reliable in the court in those gaits. We have to do all the canter work, including a few pirouettes, since he tends to goof off and I need to make sure I press those buttons.

Then we go in! Rico is a "one test horse" so that's pretty much it. I try to unbraid and get him all ready to load by the time I grab my test so it's really just a 2 hour ordeal. Super easy!

5 Day Challenge Day 3

Day 3 of the 5 day challenge! Woo!

11. Critique your horse's conformation

Rico's conformation is pretty good for dressage. He has powerful hindquarters, is built uphill, and has a well set neck. Every now and then I can see that he's built slightly under in the front (like in the picture below) but sometimes he doesn't stand like that. So the only real problem I could find was that when viewing his front legs from the front, his feet are set slightly off to the outside of the rest of the leg. This, in combination with his low heels and long splaying toes, puts pressure on the tendons, and that could have been a factor in his many tendon injuries.

Leaning toward a carrot in 2005 when I bought him :)

12. Horse's favorite riding exercise

If we're being totally honest here, Rico's favorite thing is standing still, followed by trail riding, and spooking at nothing.

But Rico does have a lot of fun doing a few things in the arena. First, if Rico is energetic (doesn't happen too often), he LOVES to gallop. Sometimes I let him gallop a bit around the arena and if he's into it, he gets super excited and runs and bucks and strikes out. Second, Rico loves to jump! He doesn't get to jump big anymore, but he can do little fences and he always grabs the bit, finds a perfect hunter distance, and cracks his back over it. I don't much like the bit grabbing but his jump is quite fun!

Overachiever

In terms of dressage, Rico is having way too much fun learning passage. He also likes to do his pirouettes and he has a lot of fun in the trot lateral work and in the tempis. Really, there isn't much he HATES doing except working harder than he has to.


13. Favorite spa day products

Rico's tail is really thick and tangle-y so my go-to product is Cowboy Magic detangler/body shine. For baths, I usually just use cheap people shampoo, I'm pretty lax about bathing/intense grooming these days since the horse seems to think that being clean will actually kill him.


14. Three best things about your horse

1. He has a great sense of humor. He spooks at the stupidest stuff. We'll be walking down the road that he lives on, and he'll see nothing like he did yesterday. Then he'll (mini) rear, spin, and passage away from it like a lunatic. I'll turn him around and he stands there with his head straight up in the air, snorting. But he doesn't mean it, his heart doesn't race when he's faking it so unless I can feel his heart, he's just being silly. Maybe I'm the only one who finds things like that funny. Good thing he's mine, he'd probably irritate someone else.

Bahahaha love this picture so much

Just ridiculous

2. He's the most laid back horse ever. Okay I know I just went on about how stupidly spooky he is. But it's mostly just playing. If I say "knock it off" firmly, he'll immediately stop. He doesn't get stressed about anything either. At the clinic, Alfredo noted how relaxed he was about the whip. Some of the other green horses would kick or rear or buck, and Rico just did his thing.

So freakishly bombproof

3. He tries REALLY hard and is game for anything. This kind of goes along with my last point about him being laid back... but I couldn't think of anything else off the top of my head. Anyway, this horse lets me do anything to him. Yesterday I threw his boots at his legs accidentally (I usually throw them to the side of him) and he just stood there. A couple months ago I watched a bee sting him and he didn't move. One day last year I dressed him up like this:

So many things right in this picture

15. Favorite picture of your horse

I don't really have a favorite picture so in addition to the ones I already posted, here are a few more LOT of the best ones!

Rico jumping at CF!

LOVE this picture, so silly

Napping at Webb

The cutest couple

Best hand walk ever

Baby Rico at Pebble Beach

Extended trot at our first show in 3 years last year :)

Rolling at Stanford

My rainbow pony 

Looking stoic on a trail ride 

Morning rides

The barn in the winter

So cute

Bird on his back!

My fave from our 4-2 tests

At the beach 

Stoked to be on a trail ride

Second PSG :)

Another from this show

LOVE

A decent pirouette shot!

From Starr Vaughn, extended canter

Another fave from Starr Vaughn

Finally, this one from Thanksgiving :)