Back to work!

I put the boys back to work today.  They came home with a surprising amount of energy!  Normally they are a little lethargic for at least a couple days, but not this time.  I turned them out Wednesday morning (we got back Tuesday night) and you'd have thought they had had an entire week off with how goofy they were in turnout.  Majek ran laps around his paddock while Victor jumped straight up in the air and tried to levitate above the ground (punctuated by caprioles).  Evidently the guys couldn't catch Victor Wednesday afternoon to bring him in.  Ernie said he would walk up to you cautiously, you'd walk towards him with the halter, then he'd spin around and run off, leaping through the air.  I was happy they felt as good as they did, but then thought they should probably go back to work sooner rather than later!

I also put Bolero back to work.  He had the week or so off when I was in California.  He was also feeling his oats on the lunge line yesterday but today was much more civilized.  Since I'll be gone longer this time he's coming with us to San Juan where hopefully he will learn to behave himself again at shows.  He's very, very big (17.3, although some argue he's 18 hands), super powerful, and spooky.  When he settles down he's awesome.  Incredible.  When he's not settled it's like driving a Mack truck with not much brakes and really bad steering LOL. I signed him up for a couple Third level tests.  On a good day I can do a PSG, but on a bad day I'll have the before-mentioned steering/brake problems which would make PSG a trainwreck LOL.

I worked on Majek's piaffe and passage a little today since it wasn't that great in California.  His piaffe was much better, leaving me to think he forgot to pack it in his suitcase before we left.  With Victor I did a lot of walking and walk-halt-walk transitions.  I find that the better I can get him giving in his back and solidly on the bit in the walk, closing up from behind into the halt and moving promptly forward off a light leg aid, the better everything else is.  Plus it is a little less high stress for him and me.  Then we went for a little trail ride outside.  The outdoor arenas are very dry and ridable, which is unusual for this time of year up here.  But I think it's supposed to snow or get super cold again next week.  Yuck!

Finally home again

Just finished up the 11 hour drive from Bishop to Boise.  I could tell Majek was getting mighty irritated with being in the trailer for so long but they settled in well once we got them out and into their "home" stalls.  Truck ran like the champ it is, I guess I should include the truck in the next press conference when I have to thank everybody who has helped get me to where I'm at LOL.

The weather was just wonderful for traveling, a little chilly but sunshine and no clouds or precipitation.  Dry roads all the way.  Very nice for traveling this time of year.  It's hard to believe I'll be making a return trip to So Cal in about 3 weeks, yikes!!

I'm very encouraged by Victor's scores down in So Cal.  In his International GP debut, he earned several 8s on his piaffe (including an 8.5 from one judge) and 7.5s on the zig zag and trot half-passes.  He also earned a 7.5 and 8 on his one-times in the freestyle, and he is capable of 8s on the extended walk (when he's looser and stretches more) and the canter pirouettes (when I can figure out how to ride them really well).  ALL of those are coefficient movements in the GP.  If I can get 8s on those (and sprinkle in a few in the collectives, I did get a 7.5 and 8 on rider from a couple judges in the GP), and keep everything else at 7s, I'm at close to 75% in International GP!!  SO COOL!!  Now I just have to figure out how to make that come about.

I also have some ideas for warming up for the freestyle next time.  I think I miscalculated my warm-up, he actually needed a little more suppling and loosening work, as some of my problems resulted not from him being a little lazy, but rather from him being a little tense and locked up against the hand.  It's hard to gauge with him when he needs a little "kick in the pants" and when I need to ride him a little longer and looser.  Because he is a little lazy behind, it is easy to make sure he stays in front of the leg, when in fact he's tensing his back and needs to become a little looser.  I had anticipated him being lazy for Sunday (since it was the end of a long show and trip), but that's not the horse I had.  Ideas for next time!

On the way home!

Today we drove back to Bishop for the first leg of our return trip.  The trip was uneventful although the mountains around Los Angeles definitely got a little snow from the little storm that rolled through last night.  We had a little bit of head wind going up Highway 395 but not bad.  I would have preferred to have an overnight stay that was closer to Boise, as today was short (5 hours) but tomorrow will be long.  It would be better to do the long day the first day.  However there's not much in the way of civilization in the area of Nevada where we're going.

The boys settled into their "hotel" much quicker this time.  They're getting used to this whole traveling thing.  It's hard to believe I'm driving back down again in about three weeks!  It would have been preferable to stay in California between the three shows but I felt that I couldn't be gone from my business for that long.  The boys will get at least a week off, maybe more or less depending on how they're feeling.  It normally takes about a week for them to recover from a trip like this.  I always know when they start tearing down the barn or going bonkers in turnout that it's time for them to go back to work!

GP Freestyles!!

Today was the last day of the Mid-Winter CDI and the rain moved in!  I started Majek in the Intermediare II again, and this time he went in the Indoor (which I hadn't actually gotten him into before this test).  He was wild in the warm-up, another location which I hadn't gotten him into, but it gave me the opportunity to work through his tension problems in the warm-up.  It took me a good 15-20 minutes to settle him down and get him focused, he kept spooking and leaping around at the people and horses walking behind the bushes next to the warm-up.  I was a little worried I may have to scratch, but he settled down enough that I decided to try it.

The test went actually better than Saturday and Sunday in many ways.  He was very good in the arena, despite having not seen the inside of the Equidome before the test.  I had problems in the piaffe again, and make a silly mistake (totally my fault) in the ones.  He ended up with a 60% from two CDI judges.  I was pretty happy with that, as I knew those big-time judges would be much more picky about his balance and engagement.  He was more uphill in that test than he was all weekend, but it's still not enough for what those judges want.  I was happy with how he rode though given the circumstances.  It is important that competition horses learn to deal with unexpected circumstances like that, so I figured it was a good training opportunity.

Victor's freestyle went fairly well.  Unfortunately he was a little on the hand today and not quite as good on the leg.  We had a few bobbles in the beginning piaffe/passage work and he didn't have quite as much activity in the piaffe today.  I also got dinged quite a bit because he had his mouth open in much of the trot work and some of the canter work.  When he gets strong he sometimes does that and the CDI judges really get after you for it.  I also had some mistakes in the 2s although the ones were really nice and I scored a couple 8s on them.  I was able to stay pretty good on my music and hit all of my transitions.  We finished with a 69.1.  I was a little disappointed to not break 70, but I shouldn't be too hard on myself as this was the first GP freestyle I've ever done, and we really only got it finalized a couple weeks ago.

I didn't get to see any of the GP freestyles as I was getting ready to ride.  I did hear Guenter's music when I was cooling Victor out and it was really, really well done.  Evidently one of his clients is a pianist and composed the whole thing.  It was very different but really interesting to listen to.  I couldn't see what he was doing to it though.

Unfortunately some rain moved into Southern California so I spent some time watching the weather.  We plan on leaving first thing tomorrow morning to drive to Bishop, where we'll overnight, then finish the drive back to Boise on Tuesday.  It's been a long week, these shows are a surprising amount of work!  I think some of it is just the stress.  I'm going to need a couple days off after I get back to recover!

Majek's first GP and schooling day for Victor with Robert Dover

The morning started early with Majek's first GP at 8:09am.  He warmed up fairly well, but I wanted to try for more engagement and power, and I started to piss him off later in the warm-up.  He displayed his displeasure by getting testy in the piaffe and bucking in the one-time changes.  Getting after him generally only makes the situation go from bad to worse, so I changed the subject and worked on something else for a while.  His test was ok for where he's at.  The piaffe didn't work very well at all, although the last one on the center line was better.  I did get a 7.5 on my two tempi changes and would have scored high on the ones as well except he had one change that was short behind.  He broke 60% but just barely.  I was happy to get his first GP done, and that it went reasonably well despite being on the verge of giving me the horsey-finger in the warm-up.  Tomorrow he will do another I-2 then be done for this weekend. 

I schooled Victor today under the supervision of USEF technical advisor Robert Dover.  Robert has tons of experience in top level dressage over decades (he's ridden in 6 Olympics I think!!) and has a real passion for improving American dressage at all levels.  He is also very gracious and kind in person.  I'm always a little leery about having someone help me at a show who doesn't know me (or the horse) well, as I have a system that pretty much works (although imperfect) and hate to screw too much with it.  However, Robert had some very good ideas about improving the presentation, some little things that I tend to overlook (like riding into the corners, having my leg lie flat on his side, keep a steadier contact, stuff like that).  He also wanted me to ride a little more aggressively forward and uphill in the changes (which I tend to let him be a little flat).  I was interested to hear what he had to say about Victor's hind leg in the trot and passage (he tends to be a little out-behind).  He said that since he piaffes so well, that he can close his hind leg up, I just how to figure out how to carry that shape forward into passage.  So when I was in piaffe, he wanted me to keep him in that shape then push him forward into passage but with his legs more under him.  It did make him harder to get forward into passage (as then he wants to get a little stuck) but I think directionally that's where I'll need to go with the passage to get him more engaged.  Also he wanted me to think of the passage as being more "up and down" than forward.  That was a little backwards for me, as I'm always thinking I have to ride him forward to get him more engaged.  But sometimes that only makes him longer.  So riding it like he described felt better and ironically more underneath himself.

I also did an interview with Axel Steiner today for the Live streaming on the CDP website, which was a lot of fun.  I've done interviews before but never a live one.  It's a side of high performance dressage that I'm not very familiar with but is interesting to experience.  I've shown in front of Axel many times but it was interesting to actually talk to him about my horse and his history, my goals, etc, providing background information that the judges oftentimes don't know.

Tomorrow Majek goes early again at 8:38 and Victor does his freestyle at 1:09pm.  Then we will start packing up and leave Monday morning for Bishop and the long drive home.  This week sure has gone by fast!

SUPER awesome first day here at the Mid-Winter CDI

Very, very happy with my rides today at the Mid-Winter CDI.  Majek started off the day with a very nice, if conservative, ride in the I-2 (his first I-2) to score 63%.  His piaffe still needs a ton of work but it is much improved from last year.  I scored 5.5's in the test today, much better than the 2s I was getting this time last year!  Tomorrow he will do his first GP, so it will be a big day for him!

Victor was just a rock star today in his test.  I rode him for 20 minutes or so first thing in the morning, before Majek's test, just to get him loosened up and worked through some of his stiffness issues in the pirouettes.  Then I did a 15 minute warm-up before the actual test.  I've found this strategy works really well for him, as I can get him supple and going forward but save our energy for the test.  He's a little lazy so energy management is really important for him. 

I rode the test for pretty much the maximum for where we're at.  And it worked!  He was really, really good, lots of energy, piaffe was super active and on the spot, and even the canter tour worked really well.  No major mistakes.  Even Leslie, who is super picky, couldn't find much wrong with the test outside of a little unsteadiness in the extended walk.  I think for where we're at, it's the best we could have done.

And the judges liked it!!  He finished with a 69.6, by far his best GP score to date, with 8s across the board on his piaffe and even an 8.5 from one judge.  He finished 4th in a very competitive class (Steffen Peters won, Kathleen Raine was second, Guenter Seidel was third), and we just missed 3rd by .06 percent.

It was one of those days that makes it all worth it!  When everything goes the way you'd hoped and planned.  Not often we get days like that in the horse world, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts!! 

Final schooling day and FEI jog

Started the day off early with a lesson with Leslie on Victor.  She was very helpful for dealing with some stiffness and activity problems I've been having throughout the work, which becomes particularly obvious in the pirouettes.  She had me ride some leg yields in a long angle, in both trot and canter, and supple his neck quite a bit more than I usually do and keep him much more in control of the tempo (he tends to slow down when I bend him and she wanted me to speed him up).  Also especially in the left pirouette she wanted me to ride him lower in the neck and keep him quicker behind, keeping the pirouette larger for schooling.  She felt that the loss of control in the left pirouette is because he stiffens as I prepare, so approached it from that angle.  His canter especially felt much better after we worked through those issues.

We had a scary moment in the warm-up when he got his legs tangled up in a pirouette and smacked himself hard on his right front and came up 3 legged lame for a few moments.  It is always a very scary feeling when your horse is 3 legged lame, whether you're at home or at a big show!  Luckily he walked out of it fine, then we gave him a quick brake and trotted him a little just to make sure.  He was fine, thank god.  I think he must have hit his ankle bone with the opposing shoe on the front leg, which stings like hitting your shin bone on a table.  Ouch!!

Majek was much, much, MUCH better today.  Instead of acting like a wild 4 year old, he was able to impersonate a budding GP horse!  I applied a few of the ideas from my lesson with Leslie to Majek and felt that it improved his suppleness and activity behind.  I also ran through a few of the movements out of both the I-2 and the GP.  I particularly have trouble with the zig-zag in the GP and Leslie's approach really helped there.

The rest of the day was spent preparing for the jog.  Which mostly involved waiting LOL.  Victor passed the jog no problem.  We have unfortunately drawn the 3rd ride in the GP, at 1:28pm.  But I guess we get to set the tone for the rest of the class!  The heavy-hitters are later in the class (Steffen, Guenter, Kathleen, etc), because I think the times are drawn in order of World Ranking List, as this is a CDI-W (a World Cup qualifier).  In other words, if you have more experience in CDI GP you get to go later in the class.  I'm not exactly sure on the details; these CDI rules are downright overwhelming at times!  Majek will do the I-2 at 11:49, so I have plenty of time between tests.  Wish us luck!!

First ride in Burbank

Today was a light day for us and the boys.  It was nice to have an easy day after the drive and before the show starts!  Most of the CDI competitors also arrived today and got settled in.  The smog is continuing to be horrible, and it is very difficult to see the mountains around us from LAEC.  Not to mention the traffic is horrible too!

Majek was an idiot, which wasn't a surprise.  He actually started ok but then got himself all wound up about something and then started leaping around and even took out the arena rails.  So I spent my ride on a circle riding basic transitions until he settled down.  He ended pretty well, luckily I have tomorrow to help him settle down some more.  I will also probably hand-walk him around the arenas and hopefully that will help.

Victor was better than Majek, but a little tense in the back and on the hand.  After doing some loosening work I worked a little on the pirouettes.  I didn't want to kill him but did need to work through his tension some.  I have a lesson with Leslie (Reid) early tomorrow morning, and my goals are to improve his throughness a little, particularly his activity behind in the trot and passage, and get some ideas on improving the pirouettes as they are in the GP (on the centerline).

It's always a little difficult to gauge how tired or amped up the horses are going to be after the long trip.  They are typically always a little dehydrated, as they don't get as much water as they normally would when they're traveling.  Plus they don't generally eat quite as well.  Standing in a trailer is actually relatively stressful for them, particularly when the ride is bumpy or involves a lot of noise or stopping/starting.  So I don't want to work them too hard on the first day after such a long trip.

Tomorrow we get serious about the show!  The jog is at 3pm so after my morning lesson I'll ride Majek, then get Victor cleaned up, braided, and ready for the jog.  The draw is after the jog so we'll know ride times for the GP then.  We did give the boys baths today so they're at least somewhat clean.

Safe Arrival in Burbank

Whew, we made it!  Horses are all settled in at LAEC and we got everything unpacked.  The weather here is pleasant, mid 70s or so and lows in the upper 50s.  But the smog is very thick.  You don't really notice it so much when you're in it, but when you come down into it from the mountain you can see how it just sits around LA.  You can barely see the mountains around LA in some places because of how thick it is.  Yuck!

After feeding the horses and stopping at the local Starbucks, the day started off with a somewhat unscheduled trip to the local Ford Dealer in Bishop, after a somewhat scary incident coming down a grade in Nevada that I thought involved my brakes (scary mostly meaning "involving loud grinding noises under the truck when brakes were applied").  I was afraid something was wrong with the truck brakes and that is a BIG problem when you are going down any kind of grade with a heavy load pushing you down it.  So after consulting my panel of experts (you know who you are!) I stopped in to the Ford dealer and asked them to check it out.

Thankfully the mechanic said the brakes looked great.  I'm thinking, they should, since I just had them replaced a few weeks before this trip!  However, he asks me, when did you have work done on the driveshaft?  I'm drawing a blank, I know I've heard that word before but it's been at least a year.  Turns out, the carrier bearing on the driveshaft was on backwards.  I had to appreciate the guy's dry sense of humor..."I'm just a Ford mechanic, but when "FRONT" and an arrow are printed on it, and it's facing towards the back of the truck, that's probably not right".  LOL  Because it was on backwards, there was too much play in the driveshaft and it would make occasional noise when I was driving it.  He thinks there was enough play in it that when I pushed on the brakes going down hill it shoved the carrier bearing forward into the driveshaft hence the loud grinding noise.

Thankfully there was no major damage to either part, and it only took him a half-hour to take it off, clean it up a little and put it back on right.  He also noticed I had a new transfer case, and I told him that yes, I'd had that replaced about a month ago.  He's like, you know they have to take the carrier bearing off to replace the transfer case?  So now I know why the truck started making funny noises after I had that transfer case replaced.  Sometimes it would clunk a little, sometimes even grind, in varying levels of noise and at various times.  I knew something was wrong, and I knew it had something to do with the transfer case, as it was a noise I had never heard before I had that work done.  I had taken it in to my mechanic a couple times to try and figure out what was going on, with no success.

So now I'm pissed at my mechanic in Boise for screwing up, but thankfully the truck is fixed, no major additional damage was incurred, it didn't take long, and we're ready to get back on the road.  Plus I feel a whole lot better knowing the brakes are good as that was my main concern.

The rest of the drive is without incident.  The truck hauled great and had no problems the rest of the route.  We have one light day tomorrow where we can all get a little rest (although I will ride the boys) before the FEI jog on Thursday.

Arrived safely at overnight location in Bishop, CA

Today was a pretty long day of driving but we arrived safe and sound in Bishop, CA, after about 11 hours.  The weather was perfect the entire way, relatively warm and dry and no precipitation or wind.  Good weather conditions make the drive so much easier!  We did see some wild burros on the way, out in the middle of Nowheresville, Nevada (actually off of highway 360).

Once we arrived, the boys settled in very quickly at the Tri-County Fairgrounds and I gave them their evening beet pulp/rice bran smoothie (I had been soaking the beet pulp on the drive down).  It wasn't super warm here but pleasant, low 70s in the late afternoon and sunny with a light breeze. 

I do have a little concern about my truck brakes as they slipped a little at one point coming off a hill.  I just had new brake pads installed before this trip (both front and rear) so I'm wondering if the brakes shimmied because previous residue wasn't cleaned off the rotor surface.  At least that's what it sounded like based on my Google research.  Nevertheless there's a Ford dealer here in Bishop and I'll take it in first thing and have them check out the brakes.  Unfortunately there's no Chevy or GMC dealer for 100 miles or so (my truck is a GMC).

Tomorrow the drive is quite a bit shorter, only about 5 hours or so to Burbank.  It will be nice to finish traveling and be settled in at the show grounds.

Last minute preparations for tomorrow's DEPARTURE!!

Today I had one final ride on the boys before I leave tomorrow.  Majek started off very good, his passage was much better and he had some very nice canter work.  Then I went to run through the GP in the outdoor arena.  He started out great, much improved cadence and rhythm in the trot work, a little tense into the second piaffe/passage sequence and resulting kick in the passage/canter transition, but well recovered for a very good line of 2 time changes.  Then he saw the neighbor and his dog out doing something beyond the arena, and then, well, he was an idiot.  I mean, really an idiot.  He's never dangerous or anything like that, and I can't blame him for getting wound up about something out in the distance that he couldn't quite make out.  But really??  I tried to continue the test but his attention was totally gone and focused on whatever it was scared him.  We even had running sideways and blowing through the nose aka Arabian moment.  I had to give up the test and then ride basic transitions until he started relaxing and paying attention again.  Not a good way to end before a big horse show, but I know Majek very well and I'm sure that won't be repeated.  Plus we'll have plenty of time down there to get acclimated before we have to ride a test.  Hopefully...

Victor on the other hand was great.  I ran through the freestyle yet again and although I was a little off the music (I was having a heck of a time hearing the cd player over the wind outside today), he stayed on the leg very well and I was able to clean up a few technical issues from yesterday.  I also rode the GP again today and was very happy with how it went.  I made a few corrections for him wanting to come behind the leg in key places but overall I was better able to stay relaxed in my body and not push quite so much all he time.  The piaffe/passage was MUCH improved today, and also the pirouettes (although the second one was too big because he misinterpreted my aid to stay in front of  me as "go out of the pirouette").  But I was very happy with the improvements over yesterday's trial run.  Much, much better.  Thankfully.

We finished packing and Lana's husband Bruce showed me how to change the tire on my truck and how to put tire chains on.  Useful information for us road warriors to know.  It wasn't complicated, just a matter of running through it once to get familiar with the process.  I like to have a basic understanding of these procedures in case I end up in Nowheresville, Nevada (I go there a lot) and need it.  Also good to make sure you have all the right equipment and that your tire chains fit your current tires (thanks Bruce!).  Lana also put together a basic tool kit for the truck.  Before we only really had my square nose shovel (which was very handy when needed, that sucker helped me get the fender off my trailer on the last blow-out!), now we have all sorts of handy tools.  Including a crowbar.  Which would have been really helpful in that fender-removal situation. 

I'm planning on leaving tomorrow at 7am.  It's about 11 hours to Bishop, California, from here (which is where we're overnighting), so we should arrive around 5pm if all goes well (includes time change from MST to PST).  The horses will be staying at the Tri-County Fairgrounds which is right off Highway 395.  Bishop is a very cute little touristy town near Yosemite, nestled in a valley between the Sierra Nevada and another impressive mountain range that I can't name off the top of my head.  However being a tourist town the restaurants and grocers are a little pricey.  Since this is the off-season hopefully a bag of ice won't cost us $6.  The drive down looks great.  I'm looking forward to getting started!

My Valentine's Day gift to myself

My Valentine's Day gift to myself: a 15 hour trailer drive to Southern California in two days!!  Not exactly the most romantic of gifts.  That said, there's not much I'd rather do than be at one of the top CDIs on the West Coast watching our top riders be awesome and inspiring the rest of us to be awesome too.

Today's trial run through the freestyle with Victor went very well.  Then I ran through the GP which, well, sucked.  Admittedly I did push a little more than normal and put more expression in the passage, more activity in the piaffe, more uphill carriage in the changes and so on.  The resulting test was pretty rocky, as he misinterpreted my aids for more activity in piaffe and lurched forward into passage, had mistakes in the ones, and got stuck in the pirouettes.  Plus he was wandering all over the place on the diagonal in the extended trot.  Yuck.  I'll run through it again tomorrow and see if I can ride it a little more cleanly. 

The freestyle went very well though, I was slightly off the music starting both pirouettes but was able to get back on the beat very quickly.  Otherwise it is a much easier test for Victor than the GP, I can't decide if it's just because the test itself is a little easier, or because I ride a little better to music.  I'm really looking forward to riding it in competition, I think it is just a cool freestyle and I think the spectators will love it (hopefully the judges will too LOL). 

Majek schooled his passage and some passage-trot-passage transitions to add more lift and cadence in his basic trot.  Tomorrow I'll run through my tests again with him.  I have been very happy with how he's been in the tests I've schooled, unlike Victor, he stays better in front of the leg and so I feel more confident riding the tests.  However he also doesn't piaffe anywhere near as well as Victor does and I know better than to try and push it too much.

In other news I found out I entered the wrong tests at the show next week.  The ride times came out and there Victor is, in the PSG/I-1.  One frantic phone call later and it's all better now.  How embarrassing, but oh well.  I'm hoping that's the only major screw-up I'll have this coming week!

On the plus side the driving conditions for Monday and Tuesday are looking downright glorious.  It's been in the mid to upper 50s here in Boise during the day and just hitting freezing overnight, and dry as can be.  It's been looking equally dry and warm for the entire west coast for the next week.  Perfect, perfect, perfect weather for driving through the sometimes sketchy areas of Southeastern Oregon and Nevada that we have to go through.  No snow in sight.  And in mid-February.  Yay!!

Thursday, Feb 12

Today I ran through the Grand Prix on both Majek and Victor.  Majek's GP went reasonably well, considering he had a short break last week and today was his first day back to full work.  Ernie helped me some, and corrected my perception of his warm-up tempo (I was riding him too quick and flat), which helped tremendously.  His passage has improved considerably, much snappier with more elevation.  His piaffe is still pretty weak, but it's far, FAR better than it used to be so I'm happy.  I'm sure the big-time judges won't be very impressed, but if I consider that this time last year he was running backwards if I tried to do too much and was scoring 2s on it in tests (because it didn't look like anything at all), it is much better.  The rest of the test was quite reasonable.  If it goes at the show like it did today, I'll be happy.

Victor's test went quite well except for the pirouettes.  I warmed him up by pushing the passage for more impulsion (lots of transitions forward and back there) and then pushed him for quite a bit extra impulsion in the test itself.  It paid off well in many ways although it was a little rocky.  The pirouettes on the centerline have always been tough, as he loves to get behind the leg and stuck.  Also I put the piaffe on the spot and wanted maximum activity and he didn't much care for that so I had bobbles there.  However I have to ride close to full power though to get the scores, so if I go a little over-the-top at home it gives me some space to back off at the show slightly.  Still I can't back off much, otherwise he looks a little sluggish and behind the leg.  Those CDI judges don't cut you much slack LOL.

Afterwards I schooled a few different configurations of pirouettes on the centerline, for instance starting the pirouette then 3 strides in yielding out in haunches-in position.  Also I played with the tempo in the pirouettes, trying to make the pirouette a little quicker or a little slower.  And since I only have 6-8 strides I have to get those tempo changes to happen immediately but without changing the pirouette itself.  I was very happy with what I got.  I have to school it on the centerline because the c-line presents problems that don't happen when I ride them in other locations.  Also I'm hoping Leslie (Reid, who will be helping me some when I'm down there) will have some useful tips for those pirouettes.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I will run through my freestyle again in the outdoor arena.  It's been remarkably dry and warm for this time of year (mid to upper 50s during the day) so although we had quite a bit of rain earlier in the week I think it will be dry enough by tomorrow.  I've pretty much got the freestyle memorized, but since our indoor is a slightly different size from regulation, I'd like to ride it in a regulation arena again before traveling south. 

Earlier this week I upped the feed the boys were getting.  Both horses look very good right now (particularly Victor looks like a lean, mean dressage machine) but they could stand a little extra weight before the 15 hour drive south.  Already they get a large feed scoop (probably 4-5 cups) of Purina Ultium for lunch, one cup of rice bran, and a multivitamin in addition to good quality grass hay 3x a day.  So I added beet pulp to their evening feeding; each horse gets 2 cups of beet pulp soaked, then we add 2 cups rice bran (for Victor) or 1 cup rice bran (for Majek), then a little bit of Ultium to top it off.  Then stir it altogether.  Basically it's a calorie-dense horse smoothie.  They both love it.  I will keep them on it for the next couple months with our heavy show/traveling schedule.  My vet prefers this supplementation to alfalfa because it adds water and doesn't increase the risk of gas colic like alfalfa does.

Tomorrow morning is my last gym work-out before I leave.  Twice a week I work out with a personal trainer and it has done a ton for my overall suppleness and fitness.  I originally started because I sustained several muscle injuries in my early 30s and decided that if I wanted to continue riding professionally, I was going to have to do something to improve my flexibility and overall muscle balance.  We riders tend to overuse certain muscle groups and under-use others (likely this is true of other sports as well).  It is exhausting, and not exactly something I love getting up super early to do, but something that I view as necessary to my overall health.  Plus it has improved my body awareness, control, and endurance in the saddle. 

T minus 5 days until departure for Burbank!!

After being gone last weekend (in Portland, teaching a clinic), I worked Victor Monday and Tuesday and rode the freestyle both times.  We're in the fine-tuning process, I'm very comfortable with the choreography and the music, so now it's just getting the two to synch up reliably.  Cindy is pretty fussy about getting it right and tweaks it just a little pretty much daily, then I ride it the next day.  We've basically got it done except for a few minor tweaks.  I'm comfortable with this process, despite being this close to the show, as I have a very good idea about how to ride a freestyle now.  A few years ago this would have made me super nervous.
Today (Wednesday) Victor had a light day and only walked for a 1/2 hour.  I would have taken him on a trail ride but it's so wet and muddy outside that I opted to stay inside.  I schooled some of our canter pirouette issues in the walk, something I hadn't thought of doing before but dawned on me today while I was wandering around.  He wants to get a bit stuck sometimes in the pirouettes so I ride in and out, making the circle smaller then bigger (sometimes in haunches in, sometimes not), making sure he stays in front of the leg. 
I worked Majek for the first time since he had his hocks injected a week ago.  Last couple days were only very light work, and before that he was being hand-walked some.  He felt ok, not great, more on the forehand than I want for a horse who will do his first GP in a week.  Luckily I have a week to get him back going again!
I have a hard time getting both Majek and Victor going equally well at the same time, I think partially because they are so different in reactivity.  If I have Victor going really well, I typically have him really good off the leg (and because he's lazy, I have to be a little strong and quick), but that tends to make Majek quite tense.  He's more sensitive, so he works better if made very loose and supple, then activated, but in a slightly quieter way than Victor.  I have to be careful not to be too aggressive.  But if I ride that way on Victor he kind of half-asses it around the arena.  I've gotten pretty good about being able to shift from one horse to the next but at this level the nuance is so important that I can easily get it wrong.
So far preparations are going well for the trip.  Lana's on top of it, and has the trailer well-organized.  I have to make sure I check the oil in the truck over the weekend, and check tire pressure in both truck and trailer and pump up the truck tires.  I typically keep the fronts at a cold pressure of 55 ppi and the backs at 80 ppi when hauling my trailer (a 5 horse Sundowner), plus I have a set of air bags over the rear wheels that I pump up to 40 ppi which helps level the truck.  Those air bags have done more to even out the pressure on my truck than anything, which really helps save my tires.  With such a heavy trailer I have to watch the tire pressure and balance of the rig much more closely than with my old, smaller trailer.
Lana's husband Bruce is going to come over this weekend and show me how to change a truck tire.  I'd rather never have to do that, but it is a useful skill to have.  I'm super handy at changing the trailer tires, thanks to a couple of blow-outs in the middle of NowheresVille, Nevada, but don't have any experience with the truck.  When traveling distances such as these, and through desolate areas (I had no idea how big our country was until I drove through Nevada!), I think it is important to know how to change tires.  There are areas of Nevada where I have no cell phone service and don't see another car for an hour.

T minus 7 days until departure for the Mid-Winter CDI

Next Monday Lana and I will be off on another great adventure, this time a trip to Burbank, California, for the Mid-Winter CDI-W (February 20-22).  We'll be taking Victor, who will compete in the CDI GP and GPF (his first GP freestyle), and Majek, who will compete in the National I-2 and GP (his first GP) classes.  Bolero will sit this one out, as he is still at a funny place between 3rd level and PSG, and I'd rather wait until he is confirmed FEI to show him.

I've had just a ton of things to think about and do the past month, partially in preparation for the trip and partially for my clients at home.  As seems to be typical for these trips, not only do I have a bunch of the usual preparations but unusual preparations come up as well.  For instance I had a few issues crop up with the truck that needed to be resolved.  We like good working brakes.  The truck also decided it needed a new "transfer case", I don't really know what that is, but I know it's flippin' expensive.

The boys have been going quite well.  Since it's difficult to have the horses going at their peak for GP for very long (I worry about burning them out, but I also worry about burning myself out LOL), I've been gearing them up since mid-to-late January for these shows.  Before that I was schooling much of the work, but it was not quite as intense.  I actually spent much of last fall doing very basic work with both of them, improving suppleness, self-carriage, and straightness in the basic way of going.  I also did some trot poles, jumped them a little, that sort of thing. 

I had a couple clinics in late January, one that I rode in at a local barn and one at our barn which I organized.  I haven't organized a clinic in a while and I forgot how much work it involves.  Between scheduling and figuring out the lunch situation and the inevitable schedule changes it was a ton of extra work.  However both clinics went very well, and gave me a bunch of ideas for where I need to go in my training, despite adding more things to do to my already overloaded plate.  

Of course the Monday after my clinic (two weeks before we leave for CA) I realized I had forgotten to get a current Coggins and Health Certificate for the boys.  Somehow that hadn't made the priority list, but luckily it was easily remedied.  Thankfully I had remembered to get the required influenza shots for the boys on their FEI passports and all those goofy memberships required for CDI competition.

Victor's GP freestyle has been a ton of work, and I haven't even been doing much of it.  Cindy Seburn has done aall the work finding appropriate music and doing the difficult and tedious job of editing it so it fits together.  I did the choreography, which was harder than I thought it would be.  Since Victor is still a relatively green GP horse I didn't want something too complicated, I'd rather show a logical and fluent choreography than something too difficult that is hard to follow and hard to execute.  Once we got a rough draft I've been riding it almost daily in an attempt to get the timing right.  I know it pretty well and the little tweaks we've done have helped make it much more ridable.  The freestyle is pretty much finished, and it is cool.  It will be fun to debut in California! 

This week the goal is to get the freestyle completed and memorize it.  Also I need to make sure I have everything I need packed and ready to go for the trip.  Plus I need to take care of all my clients before I leave!  Luckily I can count on Lana to know what we need to bring.  On previous California trips I'd do all the packing as well as everything else, which was downright overwhelming!