The good news: Larry likes to be groomed
The bad news: He rolls in mud three times a day.
The good news: Larry's shedding out his winter coat.
The bad news: It's now adorning my coat and my sweatshirts.
The good news: Larry can really jump.
The bad news: He hasn't figured out how to get through trot poles without walking or jumping them.
The good news: Larry can canter in place under saddle.
The bad news: He did it while having a temper tantrum and hopping up and down because he thought the ride should be over.
The good news: Spring is here, grass is growing, and Daylight Saving Time means more riding time in the evenings.
The bad news: There is no downside to that!
This blog chronicles the acquisition, training, and life of my second Standardbred show horse.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Goals
I know this is more of a New Years exercise, but competition season is about to begin so I may as well put down in words the various 2011 goals that are floating around inside my head. Some of the goals pertain to Larry, some to Legs, and some to other aspects of my life.
Legs:
Goal 1. Obviously to keep her sound and happy. She's gotten most of the winter off and won't get any legging up until her plastic shoes are put back on later this month. We'll continue to ride and show at a reduced level contingent on this goal being met (she seems to enjoy showing and working), but she is definitely and most deservedly in the "semi-retired" category now.
Goal 2. As I hung her new ribbons and awards from last month's SPHO NJ banquet, I took a moment to tally up her numerous accomplishments over the years. She has won 180 blue ribbons, 25 state and national championships (4 reserves), 6 BGSG gold medals (12 medals total), 12 local championships (1 reserve) mostly from our old hunter-jumper days. Yeah, my little mare is pretty incredible!
Contingent on Goal 1, above, it would be really cool to reach 200+ blues with her. I think we can do it with some smart planning.
Goal 3 STB Nationals. I know she has absolutely nothing left to prove. For my own sake, I would love to take both her and Larry to Nats, but cut down on the number of classes she goes in with Larry picking up some of the slack. It would be cool to try a few different classes with Legs (eg dressage), but I definitely want to reduce her total workload, so maybe I can juggle some of the classes around. This, of course, depends on Larry's training and showing progress this year.
Goal 4 Leadline. Legs will likely be making some appearances with a very new rider this year. I am hoping it will work out for her to do leadline with my friend R's little girl at a few shows.
Work in progress - I'll finish this post later, as I was suddenly called away to work on some control arms!
3/8/11 Sorry about the delay - we had to get the racecar back in one piece asap!
Larry:
Goal 1 Health and happiness. This is always goal one with any living thing. Obviously he needs to be sound, healthy, and happy before we can accomplish anything else.
Goal 2. Cohesion. The foundation for any good horse and rider team is trust and cohesion. A lot of this is simply spending time together in different situations from grooming and groundwork to the actual riding and competing. I definitely haven't spent as much time with Lar as I would like to. I am an admitted wuss when it comes to cold weather and opted more for the (relatively) warm house over shivering in the barn over winter. Now that the weather is starting to warm up and DST takes effect soon (yay!), I hope to change this as much as is feasible given my work, racing, and household obligations.
Goal 3. Showing (In Hand). I am looking forward to showing Lar. He is simply stunning, moreso as he sheds out his shaggy coat, and I can't wait for the obligatory "What breed is he?" and "He can't possibly be a Standardbred" comments. One thing that Legs always lagged at was halter. She is a lovely horse and good mover, but even I can admit that she is not a conformational paragon. Lar, on the other hand, has a very nice build for halter. His body type also means that he will look at home both as a hunter/sport horse in hand and as a stock horse halter prospect. I have a nice western show halter that should complement him nicely, and I just bought a new hunt show bridle for him to match my new saddle. (Funny how that works - the horse may be free, but then you feel like you need to make up for that in accoutrements - new blankets, new saddle, new bridle, it goes on and on!) I know he has a solid foundation in showmanship, so we'll work on that too to try to give the QH a run for their money locally.
Goal 4. Showing (Under Saddle). I think our biggest challenge in the show ring initially will be keeping his attention. He's very curious, and apt to want to look around at all the new sights and sounds at shows and fairs. Besides changing things up at home (eg setting up trail obstacles, jumps, banners, etc at home), just going to shows and getting him used to it all is the thing to do. I know he's shown quite a bit before, though not as much under saddle as in hand, but I'll treat him as a total newbie until I am positive that he's confident in me and comfortable with his surroundings. Of course, I also aim to bring home his first blue ribbon under saddle this year. He has the talent; it's up to the two of us to apply it.
Goal 5. The canter. Despite very sporadic riding, he has some very good days of walk-trot where he stays consistent, focused, and soft. (Of course there are also days where the neighbor's cows, the barn, or nearby traffic seems to be more interesting than going where and how the rider directs.) Whenever I can finally put him on a more consistent schedule, I think the distractability will go away. When he reaches that nice consistency and balance, I'd like to progress to cantering. I try to encourage him to canter whenever I can, primarily on the lunge line and sometimes in turnout, though he still largely prefers to trot when the herd gallops. He has shown me several strides of nice, balanced canter both directions on the lunge line, so I know it's down there for me to find and develop. So our game plan is (a) consistent riding & attention span, (2) consistent and balanced w/t work, (3) intro to canter, (4) development of canter and balance, and sometime in the future (5) advanced work - lateral work, jumping (I want a nice canter before he gets set that jumps are taken only from the trot), and combination work.
Goal 6. Versatility. Part of the fun of a new horse is learning what they have an aptitude for. We'll start with in hand work and pleasure, since those address the basics, but I'd eventually like to branch out and cross-train Lar in a variety of disciplines. I hope to dabble in western pleasure, trail, hunter-jumpers, eq, games, roadster, driving, dressage, combined training. Pretty much anything we can try! I don't mind when horses are specialists in one area or another, but I definitely believe that it's more interesting for both horse and handler to at least try different things.
Racing:
I know this is primarily a horse blog, but sometimes I will address other aspects of my life. My husband and I are heavily into a sport called autocross - a timed competition of driving skill and speed. It's something I tried reluctantly at first, not expecting to have an aptitude for it. Now I'm totally hooked, have a national title (wow, how did that happen!?) and wish I'd started much sooner. I love the technical, mechanical, social, competitive, and adrenaline facets of the sport! Competing regionally and nationally means a big time commitment and lots of travel. It certainly becomes a juggling act trying to fit in horses, showing, and all the less enticing things like work and chores.
1. Car Development and Research. One huge advantage of being a husband-wife team is that we are both committed to the sport (sometimes I think I'm more into it than he is) and willing to spend the money and time on it. A lot of autocrossers have families who may be considerably less scintillated by spending thousands on special tires and shock absorbers and spending holiday weekends standing around a tarmac breathing in brake dust. Our car is very well prepped and we did some things over the winter to improve (I hope!) it further. I would like to have the lightest car of its kind in the class (while staying 100% class legal, naturally) and I think we're on the right track. I also want to make sure we keep up with its maintenance and any other development possibilities as the rule sets change over time. Of course having a well prepped car leaves no excuses for the car and leads me to goal 2.
2. Driving Better. I have good days, I have not so good days. I want to have a lot less of the latter! So that boils down to constructive practice. I am beyond the point where just "throwing the car around and seeing what happens" yields big gains, so improvements need to be made with forethought in addition to guts. Another driving school might be in order for both of us, since we haven't done one since running this car/class.
3. Challenges. I've been really close. I want to win one of the challenges, be it at a pro or one of the states championships. Having a cool head and driving consistently fast is critical here.
4. Regional. I want to win PAX locally. Again, I've been close (top 3), but the win has eluded me to date. Funny, but a top 10 PAX finish seemed elusive just 2 years ago, and now I'm disappointed with anything below the 95th percentile. I also want to continue to jockey with my husband for class wins. He edged me out last year, but I want to turn the tables this year. He's not exactly a standing target, either, as he continues to improve as a driver, too. A couple years ago, he seemed uncatchable. Our goals are always adjusting with our skills, I suppose.
5. Nationals. To be honest, I really didn't expect to win last year. My competition is tough, and I didn't know if I could hang with them. But I was able to drive fast and drive smart, and it paid off in spades. I need to be able to hold onto that combination of factors and tap into it in the future. A repeat win would be awesome, if tougher, since you only have the element of surprise once!
6. Triad. The highest award in solo. Yea, I'd like to win that. It's tough (go figure), but I'll keep working on that.
6. Open class. I want to trophy at the national level in the open class. I think I can do it eventually, but I'm not quite there yet. I'll keep working on that.
Miscellaneous. I have other long-term goals that are more general, but they are beyond 2011. I think that I've tallied enough stuff to work on to keep me plenty busy in 2011!
Legs:
Goal 1. Obviously to keep her sound and happy. She's gotten most of the winter off and won't get any legging up until her plastic shoes are put back on later this month. We'll continue to ride and show at a reduced level contingent on this goal being met (she seems to enjoy showing and working), but she is definitely and most deservedly in the "semi-retired" category now.
Goal 2. As I hung her new ribbons and awards from last month's SPHO NJ banquet, I took a moment to tally up her numerous accomplishments over the years. She has won 180 blue ribbons, 25 state and national championships (4 reserves), 6 BGSG gold medals (12 medals total), 12 local championships (1 reserve) mostly from our old hunter-jumper days. Yeah, my little mare is pretty incredible!
Contingent on Goal 1, above, it would be really cool to reach 200+ blues with her. I think we can do it with some smart planning.
Goal 3 STB Nationals. I know she has absolutely nothing left to prove. For my own sake, I would love to take both her and Larry to Nats, but cut down on the number of classes she goes in with Larry picking up some of the slack. It would be cool to try a few different classes with Legs (eg dressage), but I definitely want to reduce her total workload, so maybe I can juggle some of the classes around. This, of course, depends on Larry's training and showing progress this year.
Goal 4 Leadline. Legs will likely be making some appearances with a very new rider this year. I am hoping it will work out for her to do leadline with my friend R's little girl at a few shows.
Work in progress - I'll finish this post later, as I was suddenly called away to work on some control arms!
3/8/11 Sorry about the delay - we had to get the racecar back in one piece asap!
Larry:
Goal 1 Health and happiness. This is always goal one with any living thing. Obviously he needs to be sound, healthy, and happy before we can accomplish anything else.
Goal 2. Cohesion. The foundation for any good horse and rider team is trust and cohesion. A lot of this is simply spending time together in different situations from grooming and groundwork to the actual riding and competing. I definitely haven't spent as much time with Lar as I would like to. I am an admitted wuss when it comes to cold weather and opted more for the (relatively) warm house over shivering in the barn over winter. Now that the weather is starting to warm up and DST takes effect soon (yay!), I hope to change this as much as is feasible given my work, racing, and household obligations.
Goal 3. Showing (In Hand). I am looking forward to showing Lar. He is simply stunning, moreso as he sheds out his shaggy coat, and I can't wait for the obligatory "What breed is he?" and "He can't possibly be a Standardbred" comments. One thing that Legs always lagged at was halter. She is a lovely horse and good mover, but even I can admit that she is not a conformational paragon. Lar, on the other hand, has a very nice build for halter. His body type also means that he will look at home both as a hunter/sport horse in hand and as a stock horse halter prospect. I have a nice western show halter that should complement him nicely, and I just bought a new hunt show bridle for him to match my new saddle. (Funny how that works - the horse may be free, but then you feel like you need to make up for that in accoutrements - new blankets, new saddle, new bridle, it goes on and on!) I know he has a solid foundation in showmanship, so we'll work on that too to try to give the QH a run for their money locally.
Goal 4. Showing (Under Saddle). I think our biggest challenge in the show ring initially will be keeping his attention. He's very curious, and apt to want to look around at all the new sights and sounds at shows and fairs. Besides changing things up at home (eg setting up trail obstacles, jumps, banners, etc at home), just going to shows and getting him used to it all is the thing to do. I know he's shown quite a bit before, though not as much under saddle as in hand, but I'll treat him as a total newbie until I am positive that he's confident in me and comfortable with his surroundings. Of course, I also aim to bring home his first blue ribbon under saddle this year. He has the talent; it's up to the two of us to apply it.
Goal 5. The canter. Despite very sporadic riding, he has some very good days of walk-trot where he stays consistent, focused, and soft. (Of course there are also days where the neighbor's cows, the barn, or nearby traffic seems to be more interesting than going where and how the rider directs.) Whenever I can finally put him on a more consistent schedule, I think the distractability will go away. When he reaches that nice consistency and balance, I'd like to progress to cantering. I try to encourage him to canter whenever I can, primarily on the lunge line and sometimes in turnout, though he still largely prefers to trot when the herd gallops. He has shown me several strides of nice, balanced canter both directions on the lunge line, so I know it's down there for me to find and develop. So our game plan is (a) consistent riding & attention span, (2) consistent and balanced w/t work, (3) intro to canter, (4) development of canter and balance, and sometime in the future (5) advanced work - lateral work, jumping (I want a nice canter before he gets set that jumps are taken only from the trot), and combination work.
Goal 6. Versatility. Part of the fun of a new horse is learning what they have an aptitude for. We'll start with in hand work and pleasure, since those address the basics, but I'd eventually like to branch out and cross-train Lar in a variety of disciplines. I hope to dabble in western pleasure, trail, hunter-jumpers, eq, games, roadster, driving, dressage, combined training. Pretty much anything we can try! I don't mind when horses are specialists in one area or another, but I definitely believe that it's more interesting for both horse and handler to at least try different things.
Racing:
I know this is primarily a horse blog, but sometimes I will address other aspects of my life. My husband and I are heavily into a sport called autocross - a timed competition of driving skill and speed. It's something I tried reluctantly at first, not expecting to have an aptitude for it. Now I'm totally hooked, have a national title (wow, how did that happen!?) and wish I'd started much sooner. I love the technical, mechanical, social, competitive, and adrenaline facets of the sport! Competing regionally and nationally means a big time commitment and lots of travel. It certainly becomes a juggling act trying to fit in horses, showing, and all the less enticing things like work and chores.
1. Car Development and Research. One huge advantage of being a husband-wife team is that we are both committed to the sport (sometimes I think I'm more into it than he is) and willing to spend the money and time on it. A lot of autocrossers have families who may be considerably less scintillated by spending thousands on special tires and shock absorbers and spending holiday weekends standing around a tarmac breathing in brake dust. Our car is very well prepped and we did some things over the winter to improve (I hope!) it further. I would like to have the lightest car of its kind in the class (while staying 100% class legal, naturally) and I think we're on the right track. I also want to make sure we keep up with its maintenance and any other development possibilities as the rule sets change over time. Of course having a well prepped car leaves no excuses for the car and leads me to goal 2.
2. Driving Better. I have good days, I have not so good days. I want to have a lot less of the latter! So that boils down to constructive practice. I am beyond the point where just "throwing the car around and seeing what happens" yields big gains, so improvements need to be made with forethought in addition to guts. Another driving school might be in order for both of us, since we haven't done one since running this car/class.
3. Challenges. I've been really close. I want to win one of the challenges, be it at a pro or one of the states championships. Having a cool head and driving consistently fast is critical here.
4. Regional. I want to win PAX locally. Again, I've been close (top 3), but the win has eluded me to date. Funny, but a top 10 PAX finish seemed elusive just 2 years ago, and now I'm disappointed with anything below the 95th percentile. I also want to continue to jockey with my husband for class wins. He edged me out last year, but I want to turn the tables this year. He's not exactly a standing target, either, as he continues to improve as a driver, too. A couple years ago, he seemed uncatchable. Our goals are always adjusting with our skills, I suppose.
5. Nationals. To be honest, I really didn't expect to win last year. My competition is tough, and I didn't know if I could hang with them. But I was able to drive fast and drive smart, and it paid off in spades. I need to be able to hold onto that combination of factors and tap into it in the future. A repeat win would be awesome, if tougher, since you only have the element of surprise once!
6. Triad. The highest award in solo. Yea, I'd like to win that. It's tough (go figure), but I'll keep working on that.
6. Open class. I want to trophy at the national level in the open class. I think I can do it eventually, but I'm not quite there yet. I'll keep working on that.
Miscellaneous. I have other long-term goals that are more general, but they are beyond 2011. I think that I've tallied enough stuff to work on to keep me plenty busy in 2011!
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