Quiz Rally

Hey! Been really busy lately and haven't had much to say but now I do!

I am a C-1 in my local Pony Club and love it most of the time. Pony Club is an amazing experience for any young rider. Even if they just stick with it for a year. PC isn't for everyone, but it does have something to teach everyone. In just a year I learned the basics of eventing, rode over some of the best cross country courses in the area, trained with extremely high quality trainers, went fox hunting and learned how to more effectivly ride my horse. While this can be learned on ones own with personaly trainers, I doubt it could be done for the prices we paid. $20 dollars to ride in a clinic with a trainer that normally charges a couple hundred per rider. Free use of private cross country courses. Free rides with the local hunt club. Trainers and land owners donate their time and land to PC as a way of giving back to the horse community and it is VERY appreciated. PC also offers many things that cannot be easily learned anywhere else. Discovering your best learning style, switch riding on tons of horses, managing 4 unknown competition horses at a rally/show, teaching younger riders in unmounted and mounted topics, keeping a record book of your horse, learning how to discuss what you feel as you ride and how you think you can correct mistakes, making a plan for riding a course or pattern and sticking to it and, of coursae, studying for ratings. Lots and lots of book learning. It truely is a one of a kind experience and I think any young riders should give it a chance.

Anyway, I was able to partake in one of PC's special, one of a kind events: Quiz Rally. It is designed to test pony clubbers on a variety of horse subjects. They have to know about anything and everything pertaining to horses and pony club. Names of bits along with their uses and where they are legal in competition. Different tack that many girls, including myself, have only ever read about. Parasites, unsoundnesses, conformation, shoes, competition rules, horse management questions. Everything. The competition has between 4 and 5 different phases that test different knowledge and allow the competitiors a chance to earn points with questions at their level or up to two ratings above theirs.

The first phase was the in the 'barn'. This was actually the parking lot of the school where two horses had been brought for the rally. We were asked 2 individual questions and 1 team question. I asked for 2 C-2 level questions. My questions were to name 4 other things needed in lunging besides a bridle, lunge whip and horse. I said gloves, longe line, helmet and boots. A watch was another correct answer. My second question was to locate where side bone would be and to say whether it was an unsoundness or not and what caused it. The team question had a dificulty level of our highest rated team mate (c-3) and it was to name every bone in the front and back legs from top to bottom for 20 points. We got 10 out of the 20. Apparently the shoulder is part of the leg. Ooops...

Next we had the Mega-Room phase. This is all about matching. You had to match the item on the table to the name of the iteam on your sheet of paper. You had 3 minutes at each table. The first table was feed. It had alfafa, coastal hay, staw, timothy hay, feceus hay, flax seed, beet pulp and 3 other iteams om the table. I mixed up timothy with feceus hay. The second and sixth table were pieces of tack. I have never handled any of it. There was a crumper, german martingale, bit guard and other rarely used iteams. I got 3 incorrect at table 2 and 4 wrong at table 5. The third and forth table were bits. Some were common, others not so much. Many were not allowed in competition. Dr. bristols, french links, half moon, curb bit, waterford, double twisted wire, cork screw, chifney rearing bit and even the small snaffel used in a double bridle. I got 3 wrong at the third table and none incorrect at the forth table. The fifth table was boots and pads. Half pads, theraputic pads, riser pads, theraputic pads, SMB, splint boots and brushing boots. I got all of those right. The seventh and eighth table were shoes and farrier tools. Not my stong point becaue I've never owned a horse that was shod and have only handled horses with generic un-special shoes. 4 correct. I did slightly better with the farrier tools. 6 correct.

Team mate at the second bit table in Mage room:

The thrid phase was classroom. They give you 4 different subjects and you get one question on each subject. You choose the dificulty level. It is all about speaking what you know and being able to communicate.

The fourth phase was stations. You work as a team to complete harder tasks. Match what bits or tack iteas are or are not legal in different competitions. Parasites and their scientifc names and where they are located in the horse. Vaccinations and when they should be given. My team did alright. Not amazing but not horrible either.

The possibe fifth phase was a written test that we did not do. Still no idea what it is like.

I finished the day with a score of 108, 4th highest. The highest were 135, 130 and 129 but they were in other divisions. I had the highest score for my division (4 people but one had been studying for months and one was 2 ratings higher and in intense training). My team was the only one in the Senior C division so we got the first place ribbon as well. I took the high score for my team in the classroom and barn phase. The day ended with 2 small awards for the team high scores, 1 team blue ribbon and 1 individual 1st place medal. All this went together to give me a spot at Nationals in the fall. I have a guarenteed place Nationals for Quiz Rally. Still shocked.

I have not aceepted that place and will not until after show jumping rally in a month. I am hoping to qualify for Horse 1 and go to Nationals with Jazz to compete with top pony clubbers in the Eastern US. We'll see what happens!!!

Working at a Horse Show

Hey! I haven't gotten to try out those exercises. Been way to sick to even think about trying it. I did, however, end up working at a local unrecognized hunter/jumper show today. I showed on this circuit heavily for a two years two seasons ago. I did one or two last year but otherwise hadn't been involved till a friend called needing someone to fill in. An hour later, I was signed up to manage the Large Hunter Arena. Physically the largest ring at the show, it contained all the 'big' hunter classes. Manage a ring for a day and make $100. That was it. No problem. Mostly.

The day started off with a bang. Turns out their getting you ready for the job was:
- handing you a binder with class entries
handing you a highlighter and a pen
- handing you a big box of ribbons
- handing you a walkie talkie set to channel 3. Push the button, talk then let the button go
- being told to highlight whoever's name had gone in and strike through whoever scratches. Adds need a pink slip and need to be written under the normal entries
- report to your ring gate at 8:30
It took about 2 minutes. No problem right?

Turns out it would also be nice to know:
- who your judge is
- what information needs to be given to the judge as a rider goes in for an over fences class (which ring, which class, their number, trip number)
- what to do when the ring is over
- how to set people up to rotate through courses without pissed trainers and confusion
- how to get everyone to cooperate for a medal class over two different fence heights
Those would have been really nice to know. Just sayin.

There was some confusion to start with because I didn't know what information the judge needed but that was quickly sorted out. The real fun started when a woman asked to go toward the beginning of the rotation for my first class. Green Hunter O/F. I OKed it and got her in and out of the ring. Then she left. I ran the rest of the class and suddenly realize that I'm missing a rider. I scan the list and realize the girl from before was riding a second horse. And has now disappeared. Completely. I finish up the final rotation and sit to wait for my rider. 20 minutes later my judge is getting annoyed. I let it sit another 10 minutes. Nothing. I start going back and forth with the people around the end gate. No one knows where my rider is. Finally 40 minutes after my last rider the judge and I decide that we're just going to start the flat class and the missed rider will just have to get over herself. By the way, this show is the epotime of unrated hunter show. About 1/2 the judges are actually dressage judges and there has been more than one occasion when mothers of the competitiors have judged. Its not some huge expensive/important thing that someone trained for years/months for and will prosper greatly from showing in. In horse shows, this one is nothing. Anway, 40 minutes late we try to move on. The second I start sticking girls in the ring people come screaming. Literally screaming. If you ever need to find a rider at a show, threaten to skip her if she doesn't show. I turn to deal with the older man and woman that have showed up and get BLASTED. No lie. People screaming in my face about me having no right to move the show along and how I'm screwing everything up. All I remeber was this creepy guy screaming YOU CAN'T DO THIS like 5 times in my face. Finally I just turned away and let them continue trying to tell the people around me how wrong I was. (the rule book reads that a ring is not going to be held for an unreasonable amount of time because a rider won't show). Ten minutes later I am told to get the riders out of the ring (they had just been walking around) because the rider that won't show HAS to do her over fences classes. Twenty minutes later, she shows. We've been waiting on her for nearly an hour and a half at this point. Finally she shows up and does her courses. It is then and only then that the woman who blasted me turns me around and says "She is a trainer. You HAVE to hold the ring for her and tell the judge it is a trainer conflict. You CAN'T just move the show along not matter how long it it. YOU are WRONG. I'm talking to the SHOW MANAGER!" This is a) the first time I find out she is a trainer (she didn't ride or act like one) b) the first time that I've heard that the judges call isn't final and c) the first time that I find out that she wasn't just missing, she had little girls in another ring.
I'm not a mind reader. No one on the show staff is a mind reader. We can't guess what you know. You have to TELL us. I had already held for one trainer that class and had no problem with it. No one did. Judge, competitiors and ring staff was completely OK with waiting when we were TOLD.
Anyway, my old trainer and her daughter were ringside and are watching the other thing. The 22 year old daughter immediatly recognized the missing riders new mount. Turns out the trainer had entered a horse that had shown for 3 years over fences in a green division (a horse is not allowed to compete if it has shown over fences for 2 or more years). She takes a complaint to the show office that the horse that we waited FOREVER for isn't even eligible for the class. Neither is one other horse the trainer had entered. While she was in there someone comes in there to complain about me and the daughter immediatly jumps in and tells the manager that I had no idea where the rider had gone, that she was a trainer and I had given 3 calls over the PA for her with no responce. The woman with the complaint quickly left the office.
I know the situation probably could have been handled better but after a point, I can only run my ring with the information I have.

After that, several trainers came up and told me they saw no problem with my actions and that the woman who screamed at me was known for blasting people that she felt was under her. She also had no relation to the rider/trainer that could not be found. She just felt like informing me that I was doing things wrong. Other trainers were amazingly kind enough to let me put their riders in what rotation I needed them in instead of demanding a spot. People who asked to be put forward in the rotation were put forward while I kept other trainers/riders informed on where we were. Oh, and the man who was yelling with the older woman, no one has any idea where the he came from. Personally, I just think he liked yelling.

About an hour after the first issue two big name/well known/nasty trainers nearly went at it. I just let them figure it out. One was a private well paid instructor that only worked with two riders (who are from a very wealthy family) and the other had a large barn with lots of winning girls. Both are known for being nasty. The private instructor asked me if her riders could go in first. I was good with it and turned to mark off riders. While I was turned away, the trainer with the winning riders opens my ring gate and starts trying to put girls in. I debated on telling her to wait for me to put the other riders in but then the private instructor came up and they seriosuly had a stare off. The trainer with the big barn won and immediatly sent in her first rider. I informed the judge of the rider, class and trip then turn to watch the private trainer walk off bristling. She was pissed. Not at me though, at the other trainer. Had I tried to step in, I would have gotten blasted again but show politics took care of who got the ring without me trying to fix things. I let the trainers drive each other crazy after that. That was the closest call to an outright argument but there were several other face offs during the day.

The day was rather uneventful after that. Trainers directly told me when there would be a trainer conflict and girls told me whether or not they wanted their trainer at the ring for their ride. If I knew at the start of a class who wanted what, I could do it. Just not with people screaming or expecting me to mind read.

Oh and there was huge barn drama but I'm staying out of that. Way, way out of that.

The show was a lot of fun on the whole, hanging out with friends and horses always means a good time. I'm sunburned and tired but $100 richer and happy.

Jumping Exercises

This is the Angled Jump exercise. I would put 1-3 strides in between the center of each fence. Be sure to walk it off from the middle, not sides. The center of the jumps are meant to be taken on a straight line with the jumps being angled under the horse. Its weird to explain but the diagram should show it alright. I'm using this one to practice angled fences and keeping Jazz straight. This exercise does encourage run outs. Just fyi.

This is the Cloverleaf exercise. I am planning on trotting in to the first fence then cantering out. Stopping on a straight line then picking up the trot for the role back to fence two. Cantering out then halting and repeating. I'll then canter in, canter out, halt, canter the turn, canter in, canter out, halt...repeat. Playing with varying combinations of this, I eventually want to get up to cantering the whole thing. I'm also planning on entering the cloverleaf from different sides each time and exiting before or after the three loops to keep it from getting boring. I'm using this exercise to school role backs and maybe play around with lead changes.

First Dressage Lesson

My first lesson went like this:
She had me do some exercises at the start of my lesson to get the two of us warmed up. We worked on turns on the forehands then were given the basics for turns on the haunches. It was a really interesting exercise that I have ended up playing around with a lot. She then put us on a 20 meter circle around her. She told and showed me EXACTLY where she thought my body should best be positioned then let me settle for a minute to make that position useable. This was really important for me. I was able to blend the formal dressage position with my body type, riding style and horse without constant nitpicking. Through the whole lesson I was only corrected for things like: dropping my shoulder, turning my thumbs and other equitation issues that directly affect how Jazz works. I know that classical dressage position is very important for correct riding but after a point if I'm worrying more about 'sucking my belly button in and keeping my back straight and sitting directly over my seatbones and....' then there is no way I can put my thoughts on Jazz like I should. My position seems to work for Jazz and I at the moment so I'm not making any major changes. Just tweaking so we work better together. Anyway, we walked on the circle and she told me to take contact, close my hands and STOP fidgiting with the reins. Never thought of it, but part of the reason I might have had problems in the past with getting him on the bit was I obsessivly fidgit with my reins. Always have done it. I don't keep a firm grip on the reins unless I am dealing with a problem horse. Flat and over fences work is always done with a loose hand and if I accidently give away too much rein then I just pick it back up. Its become such a habit that I have started unthinkingly re-collecting the reins even when I have not let any go. My trainer put it this way "If you take contact, then you are telling him where you want his nose to be. He needs to work towards that spot because you feed him and you're in charge. If you keep your reins steady, consistent and fair then he has something to work toward. If you keeps adjusting the contact then what he has to work toward keeps changing and he's eventually going to get frustrated and zone out." This makes sense to me. If I want him working from behind and filling the bridle then I need to be consistent as to where I want the bridle and in turn, his face. I'll write about my opinions on training fair in a bit. Back to the lesson. I took my contact and worked to hold it while she explained what she wanted next. She wanted me to bump his sides with one heel at a time while on the circle. Hard enough that he knows you mean go forward and that it gets annoying but not so hard that it hurts. This bumping combined with the contact had Jazz shuffel stepping with his nose in the air. My trainer said the goal in this was to make it uncomfortable to do the incorrect action (resist with his nose in the air pulling and strung out) and immediatly make the correct action (soft contact and pushing from behind) comfortable by softening my fingers and immediatly stopping the bumping. If he started pulling again, resume contact and bumb him till he softens again.
We went at this for 20 minutes with no headway before my trainer did the unimaginable. She asked to get on Jazz! I had always wanted a dressage trainer to get on him and feel what I feel. Just so they know what I'm dealing with. I never asked though because many were no longer riding and I thought the ones that were would never agree. My trainer got on Jazz and they immediatly had a spat. She was telling him what she wanted instead of asking like I was and he was not happy. They fought for about 10 minutes before Jazz finally gave and would go back on his circle. When he fights, he just runs backwards and acts stupid. Its nothing major. But he finally went back on his circle and she started working him. As she was going around, she would occasionally tell me what she was doing and way but for the most part she stayed quiet and worked him. After 20 minutes he went from resisting to suddenly softening. The softening and pushing from the backend only lasted for a second or two but it was there. In the next 5 minutes she got him to soften and hold that fame for 1/3 of the circle then 1/2 of it. Finally he went around a whole circle while correctly on the bit. Then she pulled him up and had me get up. She waled me through what she had done and adjusted her instructions to fit my horse. Maybe 15 minutes later he was softening and rocking back on his hindend for me! We quit on that and I had instructions to begin a couple rides a week with these exercises then take him on a trail ride for fun. I guess its working!