Kristin's Blog post #5

Winter: finding motivation and structure amidst the snow

While the sane contingent of the eventing community has spent the holidays giving their horses time off and enjoying the warmth and the family offered by such breaks, I have been knee deep in mud (literally) and horses (metaphorically). I have my first show in three and a half weeks in Georgia, and I leave for Aiken with both horses February 1.

I am about to make my second bid at Advanced with Trance. We gave this a shot this time last year, aiming for the same show, but then I ended up scratching because he was “off” and that led to the year being a wash and me being here….again….planning how to make this move up successful. Trance’s plan includes Poplar at Prelim in a few weeks (his first show in over 6 months…), then two weeks later Pine Top Intermediate, then God willing two weeks later Pine Top Advanced. That is my only goal at this point, and that would be more than enough. I just want to put the check in the box for this horse and be able to say we went all the way together, from nothing to Advanced, for both of our first times.

Lizzie is just sorting out her flatwork basics after four months. We can finally walk and trot with a soft lovely contact and rhythmic swinging steps. The canter is calm and composed, but there is still tension there as she works on her balance and strength. She has her leg yields down and can rein back nicely. So, dare I say, she is getting pretty close to broke. Her jumping is fantastic, but we have not been doing it much. I am finally content with her flatwork, so we will now be focusing more on her jumping and overall development as an event horse. While she will be going to Aiken with me for February, she will just do schooling shows. I imagine she will be ready for a debut at Novice sometime in April or May. I have no interest in competing her until I feel she can really do well.

So I have two horses, one prepping for the highest level and one learning the lowest. They are both in work 6 days a week, and in some ways keep the same schedule, in other ways it varies drastically due to their experience. I thought it might be interesting to list their schedules over a typical week, and below each day’s topic to list what I plan for each horse to do:

Monday: light work day

Lizzie – Hack, including three hill climbs

Trance – long and low flatwork, including leg yields all three gaits (this is his best exercise for loosening him up)

Tuesday: dressage “new material day”

Lizzie – cavaletti work, so essentially flatwork with various exercises from poles

Trance – dressage, new exercises assigned from lessons as homework

Wednesday: Jump day

Lizzie – gridwork, everything small, lots of footwork

Trance – gridwork, bounces and larger spreads to help with strength; three hill climbs after

Thursday: dressage, strength or suppleness

Lizzie: longeing and long reining; this helps her sort out her balance, especially at the canter, and build her strength

Trance: dressage exercises to help increase his suppleness– for him this is often half pass to leg yield staircases at all gaits, walk pirouettes, ackerman’s square, etc.

Friday: “complete tours.” This means reviewing everything appropriate for their level. If I feel they need more dressage one week, this would be going through our test. If I feel they need jumping, this would be coursework.

Lizzie: flatwork at all three gaits over cavalettis

Trance: Jumping coursework

Saturday: Fitness

Lizzie: trotting 20 minutes on xc –incorporating hills

Trance: three sets of 5 minute canters – flat ground

Sunday: Off

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One of the problems I have as a rider is that I only ride two horses a day. While I realize for most people that seems like a lot, but for someone aiming at Advanced and competing Intermediate it is on the lowest end. Consequently, I have to think a little outside the box for every ride to make it harder on myself.

What works for each person is different, but my plan includes: yoga three nights a week, strength training in the gym three mornings a week, and riding without stirrups on the flat and over fences as much as possible. This leaves me fit enough to run around an upper level XC course, but without riding 7 horses a day.

Some recent updates that are blurry because I live in the indoor now:

Lizzie through the grid today: