Crazy eights, equestrian style

Tonight Laura set up the fences in an elongated z shape so that we could do a jumps in a figure 8 pattern working our way up and down the fences. Although I was able to do all the fences and got some good practice at doing 12-15 jumps in a row, by techniques still needs a lot of help. I still tend to dip my shoulders into turns, like one does on motorcycle turns. This usually meant that I took turns very sharply, which is not such a great idea especially if there were to be fences straight ahead on a normal course. The problem was probably 60% me and 40% Pet Step though. He figured out that he could cut the corners and fell into the habit. But I let him fall into the habit. Felt good to get a lot of jumping in though. Still jumping 2'9 or so.

Bouncing in a grid on Pet

Had my volunteer stint at UNICEF this afternoon so just had my jump lesson tonight. Laura set up a "grid" for us to jump through that consisted of two fences at "bounce" distance, a vertical a left turn and then another vertical. Pet and I did pretty well but I still have a lot of work to do. Watching Joan jump with Eli was probably the most useful thing for me. I finally got a good mental image on what was supposed to happen at the jump. My problem has been that I lean forward into the jumps rather than letting the horse come to me. I also had two great jumps doing all the right stuff, so with Joan's image and my two good jumps I should start improving my form. I'm still jumping 2'9" or so, another foot to go before my pentathlon height.

Relax, ape arms and eyes on the shoulder

Tonight I attempted a seven jump course with Pet step. Although I finished the course several times, I never really got to the point of satisfying Laura...I still have a lot of detail work to do. In particular, I need to hold my hands/knuckles right - almost in an ape like position, hold my body right (not lean forward) and keep my shoulders back and up as if I had eyes on my shoulder looking over the jump. I also need to get used to keeping the horse under control in a two-point (butt off the saddle) by staying relaxed and trying to get 'responses' rather than 'reactions'. All that said, I felt pretty good about the whole thing. The jumping really highlights what I need to work on in my flat work. I also had a long talk with Laura after the lesson about pentathlon stuff. After the San Antonio camp, I would be able to come back with a training plan of the jumping...something I really need to put in place.

Two nine and climbing

Pet and I had to spend a little time working on a bad habit of his...cutting corners. Once we got it worked out, we had a really great jumping lesson. I did a lot better with hands and body position and made it all the way up to 2'9" easily. I also did a lot more jumps from a canter which rally built up my confidence.

Pet Step jumping

Had a great night jumping with Pet Step tonight. The trot and canter felt better than ever and the transitions went well too. We started jumping with crossrails, moved quickly to a vertical and finally graduated to an oxer. My real oxer jump! My only problem tonight was being confident and in control at the same time...I couldn't seem to get them both to happen together very often. This was primarily due to the fact that Pet was a little hot tonight, he had a little buck in him and he was very strong out of the fences. So, I spent a lot of time and energy keeping him under control, as soon as I did it was time to jump again and I felt a little unprepared...well at least not as prepared as I wanted to be. By the end of the night things were going smoothly though. With the right signals, Pet settled a bit and our last five jumps were picture perfect.

First shots fired and more jumping faster

Today, I took my first shots with an air pistol...a pretty major milestone. I was actually trying out a Steyr LP5 that belonged to a gentlemen I was referred to from Pilkington Competition Equipment. John is a great guy. Not only did he let me use his gun, he gave me lots of pointers for my first shots. I didn't do too bad, I got 4 out of 7 shots in the black circle. But it really made me want to get my shooting going. And now I know that eventually I will buy a Steyr for sure. I may end up going for a Daisy for a while. Remember the BB gun you had as a kid, it was probably made by Daisy. The Daisy air pistol is about a tenth of the cost of the Steyr I will buy, but at least the Daisy will get me started - and - I've been told that people have wond some competitions with the Daisy.

Had another good jumping night with Pet tonight. Had the same old issues of him being really strong out of the jumps, but overall had a really good session. I do need to work a lot on keeping my shoulders up during and after the jump, but Laura gave me a good visual for this so I should be able to correct it quickly. Pet seems to want to jump the fences higher than he needs to...maybe we need to raise the fence.

First track run and Pet jumping

I planned on a swim this afternoon, but the fall schedule went into effect while I was in Australia so the time that I normally swim was now a family swim. So I decided to start my track runs, which I will do once a week, to see how I'm doing for both my mile time and my 3k time. There is a cinder track at a community center/park very near my house so it will be a perfect place to train for the 3k cross country that I will run in pentathlon. Both my mile time and my 3k time were longer than I expected, but this may be due to the fact that its been a while since my last run and I am still VERY jet lagged. Lots of room for improvement here but since I was taking about 30 seconds off each run before I left, it shouldn't be long before I'm getting times that I like.

At riding tonight, I was back on Pet...and back to jumping. I was really excited to start jumping again. For the jumping, we worked quite a bit on moving my hands up Pets neck and shooting my rear out of the saddle at the jumps. All went pretty well, I haven't lost too much since my last training session. I just need to remember to get into two point at the right time before the jump and to keep my knees bent. We got to about 2' tonight on the highest jump. I have another 2 to go for pentathlon height.

Fast swim and a perfect Pet

Had my best swim time yet today, 2'58", still without kickturns and at about 75%. I'm aiming for under 2'30" so still have a long way to go, but should be able to shave the time down at full pressure, turns and coaching...lots of it.

It was back to Pet Step at riding tonight. Its been a long time since I've ridden Pet so I was anxious to see how I would do, I've learned a lot since I last rode him. It went REALLY well. Pets a little more in tune since he's been doing shows, but I think my riding and balance have improved a lot as well. Pet was much more responsive to aids than I remember. We worked a lot on balance, rein shifting and transitions from trot to canter. Pet did a great job and I felt great.

A coarse first course

Oooooh, I was excited tonight! I arrived at the barn to find five jumps set up in the barn...and no one was on Pet yet. The probability was high that I would be doing some more jumping tonight, so I was revved up as soon as Laura confirmed that yes, indeed we would be jumping. It was myself, Kelsy and Lindsey that would be riding the jumps. Kelsy and Lindsey are both experienced jumpers, so I was to set off first while the jumps were still low. I jumped straight poles and cross rails although there was an oxer (sp?) and a fence on the course...little too much for this beginner. I started in on my seven jump course and ended up having to take two or three swipes at each, almost fell off three times and missed several jumps (in the correct order anyway). Don't even want to think about the time faults I would have added up. My feet fell out of the stirrups four times, and I'm sure my whip that Laura gave me to get Pet started up must have been a real mess because she finally asked me to drop it. But, I finished my first jumping course EVER. Wow, do I have a long way to go. I was exhausted, my back was fatigued...but I did it. My highest jump was about 2'6", far from my 4' height, but on my way.

After my round I was able to watch Kelsy and Lindsey ride, what jumping was really supposed to look like. The jumps went all the way up to 3'6". They had some challenges too, as well as Laura afterwards jumping on Mac, so it was good to know that my issues weren't only from being a novice, I'll continue to have the challenges even in the higher levels of competition.

Horsejumping 101

I was so excited when I arrived and Laura said "So, do you want to jump tonight?" I was totally psyched and felt more like jumping out of my skin! I was a little late arriving and a little excited to get started so I ended up putting the girth, anklepads and chin strap on wrong. Pet put up with me though as I got everything corrected out in the arena. The trot felt really good, the canter incredible. We brought the stirrups up a notch and then little work at two point, posting and at the canter. Felt a little strange, my legs being in a different position and all but my balance was feeling really good after the dressage saddle last week. Then, it was time to start the jumping. We started by putting three poles on the ground between the two posts. I rode at the trot, and tried to remember everything Laura told me...look up, put your knuckles on his neck, lift up out of my saddle to the two-point, keep my heels down and stay at two point for a couple strides after the jump...I jumped over the poles on the ground and then brought pet up to canter out of the jump...

YEE HAH!

I did several laps in both directions. It felt pretty good, but I had to keep tinkering with little things here and there. Then, Laura raised two of the poles to form an "X". They were pretty low, but I definitely felt the difference in the way Pet was jumping.


YES!

I had to really concentrate on getting up to my two point, keeping my hands on Pet's neck and keeping my heels down, especially just before and just after the jump. Then, Laura raised a single pole across the posts, a foot, then to 18 inches, then 24 inches.


I LOVE JUMPING!

In the end, I only almost fell once...well twice, but no one really noticed the second one. I'm pretty pleased, as was Laura, that I went to 24" so quickly. I still have a lot of work to do at the two point, so that I don't have to rest my knuckles on Pet's neck, as well as some balance and stirrup work, but...


I'M JUMPING HORSES! I think I'm addicted

Morning weights, evening gates

Did my upper body weights workout this morning. I did go up in weight on several of the lifts, so was pretty happy. I'm going to look for some weight routines that will help with the pentathlon events, swimming in particular.

I picked up my orthotics this afternoon, so soon I'll be running. I also had some (...this is probably more than you ever wanted to know about an athletes real world issues but...) plantar warts medicated which means I won't be running for at least another couple weeks, BUT I'M GETTING THERE!

Had a great night riding tonight. The transitions from trot to canter are getting much better. Laura had me do a drill where I take my feet out of the stirrups and try to maintain my post...not as easy as one would think, you have to really work at holding the horse with our calves rather than your legs. But, the drill did improve my post. The other thing I worked on was going from canter to two-point and back, maintaining the canter through the whole drill. It wasn't perfect, but by the end I was doing pretty well. Pet still has his little quirks, but working through them will teach me a lot.

Leg lugging and saddle seat

Did legs this morning in my weight training. Once again, started with same weight I used...LAST OCTOBER!...when I last did weights. Legs went pretty well and I did a bit of an arm workout too. I noticed in lunges that my right leg lasted a lot longer than my left. Must be a side effect from fencing...hopefully the weights will even it out.

Had a major breakthrough in riding tonight. Worked a lot on trot/canter transitions again, particularly on making it a smooth transition. Not perfect yet, I need to work on my body position when I ask for the canter, but its getting much better. The breakthrough was staying back in my saddle at canter. I have a bad habit of leaning forward especially in the turns. I was finally able to sit back, keep Pet under control at the canter. This allowed my to take a lot of pressure of the stirrups which surprisingly also solved the problem of my boot getting too far back in the stirrup or occasionally even falling out. I was able to keep a light pressure on the stirrup and maintain a great canter...all while keeping good upper body, knee and hand position. YES!

Pet telepathy

It was back to Pet Step this week. Its been a while since I've ridden him and I was really looking forward to it. Pet is such a great horse. Didn't have any of the ususal 'pet-the-pill' problems getting started. He went up the the trot without much effort at all...and a really nice trot after Waco. I was the only one riding tonight so was getting all kinds of extra instruction from other riders. "Isabelle" especially was dropping lots of good hints. The ususal problems came up, closing my hands around the reign, keeping my shoulders back and legs relaxed. Ms. Isabelle, helped me use the half halt to set up my turns and other changes correctly. Pet was more than ready to go to canter. Laura quickly figured out that I was asking way too hard for the canter. So, she had me work at doing a half halt, then 'using my mind' to ask for the canter and finally asking very lightly with the canter aid. Voila! It worked. Now I just have to work on keeping my butt in the sadle.

Swim 0, ride 1

The swim was so-so this morning. I did go up to 5 laps each stroke, and I did feel like I was able to stretch out a lot more, but overall, my cardio still needs a lot or work. The ride was a different story however. Pet was very strong and had a lot of energy. It took a lot of effort to keep him under control, but this skill will come in handy if I happen to get a horse in the pentathlon that is similar. I spent most of the training at the canter and ended up as exhausted as Pet was by the end. A really good night of riding though.

Riding in circles

Started my day with a swim. Its still pretty obvious my cardio/endurance is not up to par, but that will come back in time. I was surprised that my mucles tired out pretty quickly, I guess it shows that its been way too long since I swam last. I did an 8 lap warm up, 4 lap with hand paddle and knee board, 4 just arms and knee board and then 4 laps kicking. Not much, but I wsa still pretty tired. I've got a long way to go here.

I rode Pet again at riding tonight, he actually seemed pleased to see me. I had ridden Eli the previous week and I guess it had been a while since anyone had ridden Pet. I didn't have my helmet with me, so didn't do any mini-jumping or obstacles. Spend a lot of time working on leg yields, especially ina drill where I basically asked for leg yields into a smaller and smaller circle, then the opposite coming back out of the circles...basically spiralling in and out. A great excercise and it allowed me to really work on keeping my heels down during the leg yield. Laura's pretty pleased with my heels, I guess the polo really worked for me. I did a little canter with Pet towards the end to work on keeping my heels down during the canter. These canters didn't feel as good as previous attempts, but I did make some improvement on keeping him at canter and keeping my heels down.

Obstacles ahead

Tonight I made my first steps towards jumping!!! Laura (who we now refer to as "she who sits on heaters") set up a couple poles on the ground in the shape of a big V on one side of the barn so that I could do a figure 8 pattern. I did several rounds of the figure 8s at a trot, then went up to the canter. The problems I had with Pet taking tight corners at the trot magnified doing the figure 8s at the canter, so I really had to concentrate (not always successfully) on keeping my balance back in the saddle and keeping Pet in wide circles. I also need to work on using my outside aids more to send signals, rather than inside aids. I had a few good rounds, and many more "naryly" ones as Laura put it. But you have to start somewhere. There were a couple times when I had a bit of a 'jump' feel to it and these were pretty thrilling...I like.

Hey, nice canter

Pet was responsive very quickly tonight. I was doing leg yield pretty right off the bat. He gave me a little trouble when I switched directions, but we continued to do really well, even into the canter. Canter is going really well and Laura proclaimed that I'm ready to play polo. I fear I may end up signing some agreement not to participate in dangerous activities (e.g. skiing, climbing...polo!), but I still would like to do some clinics to be able to fill in or something. I'll be hanging out at the Tacoma Polo Club again this spring and summer, so we'll see. We lowered my stirrups a little to see if it would get my post to be a little more forward rather than upward and this seemed to work. I wasn't in the jumping saddle, so I'll have to wait until next week to see if this works in that saddle too.

Sister Wendy...Becker and an ounce of prevention

Everyone knows that the true sign of culture is whether a person is familiar with the work of Sister Wendy Beckett, renowned art commentator and historian. Well a sister of athletic sorts has arrived to enlighten my pentathlon world...that would be sister-in-sport Wendy Becker. Wendy will be coaching me in my running and swimming events. Wendy has both competed in and coached for competitive triathlon and biathlon, but I will be her first pentathlete. She also comes with a message therapy, an appreciation for yoga and a much appreciated sensitivity to overall health. The plan for now is that she will spend some time throughout January viewing me in the swim and run, as well as viewing me in some of the other events to get a feel for the big pentathlon picture.

Riding went well tonight. Pet seems to be responding to my transition signals better, but is still taking corners short and it takes several times around the rink to get a good trot/post out of him (this is probably as much my issue as it is his). I finally got a good trot out of him and spent the rest of the time at canter. I still seem to be leaning forward too much, around the turns and in the transition to canter, but after some wisdom from Laura addressed this only to find out the value of "prevention"...keeping control of the rhythm before it...and the speed get out of hand. With some more wisdom on the use of my hands, I was able to pull things together and finish my lesson on another positive note. Laura's gone for the next two weeks, which should provide me with some time to really internalize what I've learned thus far.

Canter Man

It was back to Pet tonight, which is a good thing as it gave me a chance to put into practice the things I learned the week before riding on Eli. Once again, had the usual trouble getting Pet up to the post and when I did it was slow and forced. Not the kind of post you want to go up into a canter with. Laura suggested that I actually take him up to canter to get a better post and it worked well...a little reverse horse psychology.

I seemed to have gotten my canter in the correct "wild thing" motion as Laura calls it, which made my canter much smoother and I was able to get Pet in frame easier as well. When I finally went up into canter things went really well. I was in the saddle, kept things pretty much under control and Laura even commented on my arms being relaxed in the right way. I still need to work on the transitions but I’m pretty please with my progress.

Knuckle neck

Since I got to leave work early due to the WTO situation downtown, I was able to get to Hilltop Stables early enough (6:30pm) to observe other riders. I really do learn a lot from doing this. Its one of the things Jenny Hale taught me early on in my rowing instruction…you can learn a lot by watching. I’ve decided that visualization is really important to me in training. Watching the UW crew guys, watching fencing bouts, and other riders really helps me focus on what I need to concentrate on. The funniest part of observation time was one of the horse’s (Mac) response to a reindeer antler/Santa hat that someone put on top of my UW cap. Mac just couldn’t stop looking at me. He’s a curious horse, but the look on his face was hysterical…not sure if it was worry or disbelief.

I was pretty tight at first and had the usual problems getting Pet to listen to my aides, he seemed to keep wanting to make short turns. Laura had me pull the outside reign along with pressure on the inside leg to get Pet to stay to his full turns. Got a handle on this then worked on getting good flex in Pet. This basically means that I was trying to get him to curve his neck (eventually his whole body) into the turn or path I am taking. I did this by pulling my inside elbow back while maintaining constant pressure on the outside reign. Took me a couple laps in both directions, but I eventually got it. By the end Pet was responding much better to all my commands. Then up to canter where I finally figures out what Laura has been trying to tell my about using my knuckles rather than my wrists on Pet’s neck during the 2-point and canter. It felt 100 times better when I started using my knuckles.