We rode in the green as grass/starter group. I'm glad I picked this group, because Dezi and I haven't gotten much ride time this winter and I can't remember how long it's been since we've jumped.
I took Friday off work, so I could get everything ready. Grain/hay. Wash the pony. Clean tack. It felt like show season, like I was getting ready for a show. It was kind of weird that I was prepping alone, but Harold kept me company. We were all ready with the trailer loaded around 1pm.
After a stop for gas and some lunch, we headed up north to West End Farm. As soon as we got there, Chris helped me get the stall ready and then I started tacking up to ride. Dezi was pretty good. She was responding well to my aides, but I was struggling with keeping her straight on the right lead. Julie, who was running the clinic, was riding at the same time. We've never ridden together, so it was a fun new experience! When she finished schooling and asked if I wanted to go on a trail ride, I couldn't resist! Dezi was so good tooling around a property she's never seen with horses she didn't know. I had a good feeling for Saturday.
When I was finished riding, I braided Dezi, put on her sleezy for the night, and fed her. Then we headed to Lorna's house for our sleepover!
5:30am came quickly on Saturday. We got dressed, stopped at QuikTrip, and headed to the barn. Dezi's sleezy was still perfectly in place and she looked ready for the day... after some breakfast, of course. We cleaned her stall, refilled water buckets, and then headed back to the warmth of the car until the last possible minute.
I wanted to be on my horse about 20 minutes early. We were in the first group (Green as Grass), so we had the luxury of being able to warm up before we had to perform. We walked, trotted a bit, and then Buck had us line up in the center of the ring and talk about ourselves.
I said that I had had Dezi for about 6 months, we did a starter horse trial in the fall, and that it's been a tough winter and I haven't gotten the ride time I would have liked. All true. Chris said I should have added that she's jumped a lot of BN cross country jumps, but I felt like I gave a fair idea of our skill level. I should really practice that little intro speech for when I do clinics. That would have been helpful. Noted for future reference. If I ever remember.
Our first exercise was one ground pole down centerline. At the end of the arena, turn. Next time you get to the end of the arena, turn the other way. Simple enough. Then he added 2 more ground poles placed at 12-foot strides. It took me some time to get the striding right. I think Dezi tends to err on the shorter side of strides. And then it took me a second to actually get to the center of the poles. So Buck did this really helpful thing by adding some narrow cones before the poles and at the far end of the arena to help guide. The cones stayed put for all the groups, because apparently I'm not the only one that struggles with center and straight sometimes.
Next, we did the three canter poles, 1-stride to a crossrail. Then we did the three canter poles, 1-stride to a crossrail, 2-strides to another crossrail that later became a crossrail oxer.
After we mastered the centerline exercise, he had us do several courses with lines of jumps placed just inside the side rails of the arena, including a 5-stride to a 4-stride with a hault at the end of the line, before our horse could turn either direction. After the halt, we were to turn towards the wall (to prep for roll back work). Dezi was a rockstar! She did everything well and actually stopped when she was supposed to without being too fussy. I was very proud!
I watched some of the other groups and then we stopped for pizza on the way to Lorna's house. We spent the night relaxing and catching up before an early bedtime.
Day 2 was another early one. And cold. We got to the barn early to feed and get Dezi ready. There were a lot of jumps set up in the arena but the ones that particularly stood out were 2 stadium corners, a small plastic log jump, and a narrow wall. Most of the jumps were set on 20 meter circles on either end of the arena. I could see where this was going...
Before we did any jumping, we were to canter ground poles on the circle. Dezi stumbled a bit on the first attempt, as we've never done that before, but she figured it out pretty quickly.
After everyone in the group had some success with the canter poles on the circle in each direction, Buck turned to the group and said, "Now! Just trot them up to that wall and continue around the circle jumping everything in your path." Like it was nothing. That's all there was to it. Instead of letting myself think about it too much, I decided to just go first. I knew I would have to sit up to the unfamiliar fences, but Dezi is generally pretty honest with jumping.
We turned the corner to the wall. I knew what to do. Sit up. Leg on. Tube of toothpaste with my hands. She jumped it! No drama. No questions! I was so proud! Oh wait, keep going. More fences. Same sequence. Sit up. Leg on. Tube of toothpaste. Woot woot! We're doing it! We went around and around. No problem. She was absolutely perfect. Buck called me off the exercise. As we picked up the walk and I turned towards him to give me feedback, he just said "we're going to have a lot of horses do this exercise today, and that's the best we're going to see." He then proceeded to talk about how it's supposed to look effortless like a toy car on a track that just keeps going until you make it stop. That's exactly how it felt with Dezi.
Unfortunately, going to the left, we had a bit more trouble, but I think I just wasn't taking the exercise as seriously because we had had so much success with it earlier. I was dropping her before the fences and getting over her shoulder. I'm so lucky she's pretty honest. The draft in her just makes her prone to dropping rails (or knocking over the wall) when I don't ride correctly.
After the jumps on a circle, he started stringing together some courses that incorporated the circle on the other end of the arena with the stadium corners and an angled combination. Dezi was really good for all of it. You could definitely tell when she was getting tired, though, because she started knocking rails and it was harder to get her to pick her feet up over the fences. And after watching all the videos, I have GOT to stop saying "I'm sorry" when I mess something up. That's what clinics and learning is all about. That's why I'm there... To mess up and get feedback. If I don't mess up, I can't get feedback. And what's the point of that?!?
After our lesson, I went to take care of Dezi. I linamented her and put standing wraps on her for while she stood in the stall. Then I watched some more lessons and even became jump crew to try to stay warm. Sunday was much colder than Saturday (or maybe just more frigid), and we didn't have out nifty little log to sit on because it was being used for the jump course. We shivered all day, watching every group go, until it was time to go home. Buck worked on a lot of the same fundamental things in every group, which was cool to see for someone riding in the very lowest group. I think everyone walked away having learned something.
At one point, I was able to catch up with him for a selfie. He also invited me and another girl to course walk with him at Rolex (Land Rover/Kentucky Three Day/whatever it's being called this year) saying that the course looks a lot different from inside the flags than outside. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it. But he also complimented me and Dezi saying that he appreciated how game we were for anything he threw at us. I think he liked us! Buck Davidson liked me and my horse!
Hopefully Buck can make it back to KC soon! I really enjoyed this clinic. It was a total blast!
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