Summer Break

Some people have asked if Klein is ok because I have been putting more time into Moch in the past couple months.  Yes, she is absolutely fine.  The reason that Klein hasn't been out and about much the past couple months is because these are the hottest months.  I did compete her here last summer, but in July she was hot.  The humidity here can get pretty gross.  Gross to the point where it rivals South Georgia.  I decided to do what I did in South Georgia, backing off her work during the hotter months.  There is no point to keep her galloping in the heat and humidity.  This is not the way I make my income, I don't HAVE to show for any other reason than if I feel like it.

Sure, Klein CAN be kept fit in the hotter months, but I don't feel like that's really fair to her.  I have worked in heat and humidity.  I have CrossFitted in a South Georgia CrossFit with no air conditioning all through the summer months for a couple years, I've been in full chem gear (chem suit, mask, boots, gloves, gas mask, etc...) rolling around in the woods with a gun for work in NASTY heat and humidity, I've ran half marathons in the desert in the middle of the summer.  I know it's not the most enjoyable of times.  You really can't dull Klein with working in the heat and humidity, she just keeps going, but I'm not trying to see if she can go through another little bout of anhidrosis either like our last summer in the south.

A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on May 17, 2017 at 6:02pm PDT

This was right before her summer break started.

A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on May 21, 2017 at 4:20pm PDT

Water complex right before break.

A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on May 27, 2017 at 6:35am PDT

Warm up from the same day as the water complex video.

However, my problem is that she LOVES to work, which really isn't a problem until you back her workload down.  To avoid this, I pick the least offensive summer days and hack her, do some dressage, maybe a light jump school, if it's a really nice day I'll let her get some galloping in.  This way she still works a couple days a week.

This was one of our quick, easy jump schools before the heat/humidity hit one morning.

Rare cuddle time.  She is very particular about when she WANTS cuddles, so when she wants them, she gets them until she says she's had enough.  When she wants them, she puts her head into my arms like this and just rests on me.

I thought this light workload would be acceptable, but, it's not.  She gets a little stir crazy when her work load is light, and she takes it out on Mochs and Wes.  She doesn't chase them around, she's just crabby.  All of sudden The Fun Police is out in full force, issuing citations left and right for things like unauthorized drinking of water from the stock tank without prior permission.  But, put her to work, and like magic, her attitude adjusts and she's totally zen, The Fun Police forgets that there is a citation quota.  We had a couple weeks of exceptionally disgusting heat/humidity and her workload dwindled then.  It was at that point, I knew...that was unacceptable to her.  She took it out on poor Mochs, and that is a whole other story I will get into soon. 

Now that we are getting some breaks in the heat, I have been gradually increasing her work again.  I've also been making sure to get her out for hacks away from home to keep her mind occupied.  While I was taking Mochs out a lot Klein would nicker to me after I loaded Mochs on the trailer like "Why her?"  Or maybe she was laughing at Mochs saying "better you than me," but I highly doubt that.

Socializing with one of the rare horses that she actually LIKES.  This guy is a sweetheart and she has always seemed to acknowledge his existence.  If she doesn't like a horse, she'll just give them the equine version of the silent treatment and act like they're not even there.

And no trip to this spot is complete without letting her play in the water a little bit.  And since everyone asks, no she doesn't roll.  She has never acted like that thought has ever even crossed her mind in all the years we've been doing this.  Not in the ocean, and not in rivers like this.

A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on Jul 30, 2017 at 5:32pm PDT

From a gorgeous day two weeks ago.  We had to take advantage and load up and go somewhere for the afternoon.

Here are a couple videos from my helmet cam that day of some hill repeats we did.

A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on Aug 13, 2017 at 3:28pm PDT

A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on Aug 13, 2017 at 6:11pm PDT

Relaxing after our hack before loading up to head home.

And that is what Klein has been up to.  She's just fine!

Dressage Work in Progress

      Klein and I have had some enlightening dressage lessons in the past couple months.  In just a few lessons Klein and I have brought our energy up and our scores down.  We have also finally, FINALLY cemented lengthenings into Klein's arsenal.  She is even to the point now where she'll just do them for funsies during trot sets.  I actually need to get her some bell boots because for lengthenings I am now hearing her kick herself she is coming so far under herself to push.  What did we do?  We fixed ME.  We had to adjust my posting a bit and get some exaggerated movement from Klein to get the point across where the light bulb went off that it is that big movement that we want.
       Before, Klein had them but we weren't showing enough difference.  Normally at some point in our warm up I will put her on a loose rein and have her give me as BIG of a trot as she can (Lainey taught me this).  This way she gets what it feels like and knows she is perfectly capable of it.  Sometimes you have to show them they CAN and then it clicks.  Being a fitness professional prior to my current career taught me that sometimes you just have to show people they can do something.  Once they know that they actually do have the ability to do it, they have the confidence and/or understanding to continue it.  I think horses are the same.
       Now there is a very distinct feel to these lengthenings.  This is also how I know she's doing them on trot sets for fun, she shifts into a completely different gear and there is a very different feel, and I'll hear her kick herself.  I feel like I talk about lengthenings a lot on here, but it has been something that has been a struggle for us, but we finally consistently and correctly have them.

Exhibit A.  The pic is not the clearest but, she is completely off the ground in this pic.

       I've also moved her into her loose ring french link snaffle for dressage.  She is going so well in it I forget that's even what she's in.  I have went back and forth between her Boucher and this but this will be staying until further notice.  We have competed in several shows with it now and she's been great.  My instructor fixed my hands as well.  My hands were creeping back on me for no good reason.  Not anymore.

       Our energy and engagement.  We can get in the 20's at Novice and Training but doing the Prelim dressage test requires your energy to come up to a new level, and we just weren't bringing it up to the appropriate level.  After one show where we got a 37 and some comments about lack of energy my instructor said "show me what canter you rode in that test" since she wasn't there and I had no video.  I showed her the canter I rode, which I thought was fine, but my instructor was instantly like "Oh, yeah, ok, I see why you got that comment."  She had me bring Klein up to what felt like a bit too fast for a dressage canter but she said, no THIS is what you need to be feeling.  Ok, problem solved.  The problem was, I didn't have that person on the ground to tell me "yeah you think that feels correct, but its not" and then get us into the canter we needed to be in and confirm, for me, that it was THAT feeling in THAT canter that we need to be in on that Prelim test. 

Bring up the energy, promote more engagement, and here she is stepping into her hoof print.

      Two weeks from that lesson we did another Prelim CT and Training CT.  Klein scored a 29.00 on her Prelim dressage test and a 29.05 on her Training dressage test.  While this is unrecognized, and everyone knows you aren't judged as hard as a recognized show, this was at a very legit dressage facility.  I felt like Klein was judged atleast up to DQ standards, and to get that score with them, I was happy with that.  That show was also in the pouring rain.  We warmed up in their indoor until 2 mins before our ride time.  So not only did she improve her score, she did it in a down pour.  Thankfully the weather cleared up and it was a gorgeous afternoon and the grass footing was fine to jump on.

Here she is scoring a 29.40 at a recognized event at Novice.

We also improved our lateral work.  We got her really pushing through her leg yields.  Prelim A has leg yields in it and you ride the entire test sitting except for the lengthenings which can be sitting or posting.  I wasn't using my seat as much as I could to help her push through her leg yields.  She now has a bounce to them that wasn't there before. 

 This is her tougher side, though I recently found that if I just put my leg on a couple inches further back on that side she responds better.

Stretching down on a hack.  We've improved our stretching down and forward for the free walk as well.  If we're just out for a lazy hack I'll go out in my dressage saddle and throw some dressage moves in along the way.  This is a good way for me to throw something in that may be a challenge for her and then immediately she can go back into chill mode before overthinking it.  I kind of sneak things in on her sometimes if she is struggling with something.

      Lately we have been working on second level movements.  One thing I love is that both of my mares teach me things that help me teach them.  Moch teaches me things that I can use with Klein, and Klein teaches me things that I can use with Moch.  Something Mochs made me more aware of is the connection on the outside rein with a half halt.  Mochs has helped me refine it a bit and when Klein and I were working on Canter-Walk-Canters the other evening that refined half halt had Klein feeling like a accordion that is being compressed.  She compressed and lifted her back with very little contact.  It like she was hovering, it was an awesome feeling.

      We have really made some improvements these past couple months.  I'm proud of Klein and excited to continue this progress.

Radio Silence

       Ok, radio silence is over.  That was the longest break I've ever taken from this blog but there were some things I needed to get done and with The Other Half still out of the country for work, I'm still taking care of our little farm by myself.  I had to reorganize some priorities to get done what I needed to get done.  However, if you follow me on Instagram (jumpingpercheron) and The Jumping Percheron Facebook page, you would see at no time was riding not a priority.  I continued to post on those because they take seconds to post vs writing out entire posts.
       One of these things I had to focus on and be done with already was, my B.S.  Guess what?  I did it, and my degree was conferred TODAY.  I already have two Associate's degrees and have been working on my B.S. in Forensics for a while now.  It has taken me a couple deployments, multiple moves across the country, various TDYs ranging from weeks to months long, mandatory courses required for my job, and every other thing that life brings but, I did it.  I was just tired of being so close and when we got up here I made a goal that before we leave NJ (which will be a year from this December) I will finish it.  Not only did I finish it, but I'll be in my Master's program for forensic investigation way before we leave here.  My Master's I can take as long as I want on, it won't have the pressure that the B.S. had, for various reasons.
       A recap on what has been going on the past 2.5 months:  Klein made significant dressage improvements after a couple enlightening lessons, Klein did a couple more Prelim CTs and did great, after getting Mochs sound barefoot I decided to shoe her in the front anyway for a couple reasons, I got Mochs going the best she ever has by committing to putting more time into her and getting her out more, Mochs went to a dressage show and got 60%+ on both her tests that day, two weeks after that I took her to a CT and she won her division, we had a few shows for August but Klein kicked the living hell out of Mochs and she is currently finishing up the last two weeks of a six week period of rest, Wes continues to look amazing and be his usual happy gelding self.  Oh yeah, and after much demand, Manny got his own Instagram (the_manny_lion).