Psychosomatic hoof

For the last two weeks, I've been babying Duke's hoof.  I'd ride him - and by ride, I mean I'd walk and walk and then trot, decide he didn't feel any better, give him the next day off, and then repeat.  So I did that from Saturday through last Thursday (12 days), then Thursday evening he felt noticeably worse instead of the same.  So I put magic cushion on his hoof, left it for 24 hours, and then gave him a gram of bute twice a day for 2 1/2 days.
He felt a bit off at the start of the lesson, but as we went on, he felt better and better.  John said that he's not a particularly stoic horse, and so he probably was protecting his hoof, until he realized that it didn't really hurt.  He also said that Duke doesn't push particularly hard off his right hind (that's his weaker leg) and wasn't putting all of his weight on the left front, so posting that way felt like a push up - post - stall - push up - post - stall, which was EXACTLY how it felt.
But then we went on for Duke to work really hard and do really well, and that was cool because he's basically had two weeks off, but he wasn't super stiff or hot or unpleasant.
He had us work on using inside or outside hand, with inside or outside leg, and then give a little, for both trot and canter.  And unfortunately, that's the best that I can do to describe it, because this is the part that's escaping me a bit.
So if he is on a circle going left, I push him out just a little with my inside (left) leg, but when he starts to go too far, stop him with my right leg.  Then I use my inside leg to push him into my outside hand, when I clamp my elbow into my hip to make it stay still and steady.  I have a hard time using one hand or one leg independently (still), although I think it is better than it used to be.
Then I use both legs to ask him to go bigger, but I keep the connection with my hands to prevent him from just going faster.
John he should be able to jump again later this week, and Tuesday is Ashley at Northwind, and hopefully I can get her enough students there that she can come regularly.

Jack Le Goff's horse conditioning

Condition hot horses with long distances at slower speeds; easy going horses get shorter distances at faster speeds.
If not quite sound, replace speed work on flat with slow uphill work.

Condition is four weeks of legging up, then galloping.
  Walk/longe variation for 20 minutes for two weeks.
  Trot for 2-3 minutes, then 3-4 minutes six days a week.
  By end of fourth week, trot is 4-5 4 minute sessions.
  Don't jump or formal train dressage in four week period.

Galloping work for young horse:
  Monday:  Hack/dressage
  Tuesday:  Jump
  Wednesday:  Dressage
  Thursday:  Jump
  Friday:  Dressage
  Saturday: Gallop
  Sunday:  Off

Galloping work for experienced horse:
  Monday:  Hack/dressage
  Tuesday:  Gallop
  Wednesday:  Dressage
  Thursday:  Jump
  Friday:  Dressage
  Saturday: Gallop
  Sunday:  Off

Gallops:
  1 - 1 1/2 miles at 400 mpm
  2-4 minute rest
  If first set easy, do again

Gallops are double distance of competition.
Prelim usually 2 miles at 520 mpm, so:
  375-400 mpm for 4 miles
  Once recovers well, decrease distance, increase speed
  Gallop before competition:  2-3 trot sets for 5-10 minutes, 1 mile gallop at 450 and increase to 500, two minute break, one mile gallop 500 increase to 600 mpm

Intervals can go up to 4
Distance up to 2
Decrease rest length
Increase speed over 7-8 weeks
Don't condition more than test demands

Do hack work day after gallop; can replace gallop with cross country or steeplechase
 
Three-four weeks before major competition, compete.

Rest period of three weeks, can do light hacking but no mental work.

Aids for turn on the forehand

To the left
Turn head slightly to left
Shift weight left seat bone
Left leg, just behind girth, pushes around left front leg
Right rein and leg control movement and bring to halt

Duke off for today's lesson, but some good discussion

After we watched the lesson before us, Duke and I took about three steps at the trot before it was obvious he was lame on the left front.  So, that was that.  It was still interesting to watch the lesson for some of the jumps we jumped earlier this week, and Duke was so quiet and still the whole time, like a good boy.
I followed John around for a while afterwards with my pressing questions, but first:
- He said measure the toe length and compare it to the number we came up with a few months ago, then let my farrier know and then the next shoeing, make the farrier stick to it.
- Put turpentine on his hooves, works better than durasole or the keratase (I forgot its name).  Not watered down.
- 2 grams of bute today.
- Walk him only Sunday and Monday.

For Jumpernite and schooling shows, John said that depending on the course, the jumpernite could be useful, but not enough if isn't the things Duke needs to work on.
For dressage schooling, yes, that could also be useful, but we haven't started working on the rein back yet because it messes with their halt, so he doesn't want to work on it until we have to.
For attitude at the show, someone who is working with him a lot and then slacks off, there is a difference in their riding.  This was interesting, and I hadn't thought about it.  That John could get us up a level, but then we could back slide on our own.  It makes sense, I just hadn't thought about it.  But that yes, I'm a sore loser, and it's ok to go inside my trailer and kick the tires, but then I need to be nicer to the other competitors.
Ashley is working on making money, not going out on her own.  (note to self:  big difference) but yes, ok to be helping her get some students.
For cross country vs. show jumping, we talked about the speed, the distance a canter stride is, and how short show jumping is compared to cross country.  So if there's a screwed up step or two in show jumping, it is - proportionally - way more significant to the total round than cross country.  He said it's anxiety that shuts my brain down in show jumping (and makes me not breathe, and makes me tight, which Duke feels, Duke gets tight, and that makes it easier for him to knock a rail).
He said that it isn't just cross country where things are slowing down, that he can see in my dressage tests now (vs a few years ago) that I am thinking my way through the test - noticing a problem, thinking about how to fix it, and then starting to fix it.  A few years ago I couldn't do that.
John said when he started teaching me, he would use about 40 words a minute, so I had time to process what he was saying.  I was asking about this because of our last lesson where he told me he couldn't tell me every aid fast enough, so I needed to remember to do some of them myself, which is what prompted me to pull out my theory books (also because Practical Horseman had Jimmy Wofford saying that the elite students could ride, but couldn't describe the aids that you use for specific movements).  That's what prompted me to play up my strengths - I may not have good feel, but I can memorize the sequences of aids, and it is high time I refresh myself on theory, now that I've got a few more years of experience riding with him under my belt.
So we're going to try again for a lesson on Tuesday, and this was my wake-up call not to slack on Duke's feet.

Jump lesson with Christa and Anna

Duke and I got to share a lesson with both Christa and Anna tonight, which was pretty cool.  John talked about some of the SSHF show issues, and then we started with a cross rail, which became a vertical, and then we changed direction and went over a little oxer.  We each got rails on the oxer, but when John asked Anna why, she told him exactly; Christa and I both said "dunno" although the answer was the same for both - the difference was between being on the forehand and being engaged behind (uphill).  The distance rode exactly the same, but we got a rail for a forehand jump and no rail for an engaged jump.
Then John had us jump a bigger oxer, then the gate - 5 strides - bigger oxer.  This went ok, which was frustrating because it was basically the same line as from the show, and at the show, we got a rail on the oxer.
Then he made it hard.  It was gate to big oxer, right hand turn, vertical, hard left hand turn in three strides to oxer, right hand 90 degree turn to vertical two stride oxer (and then, finally, right hand turn around to biggest oxer).
The right hand turns slay me.  It doesn't matter how many times we do them, the second I stop riding one, I forget everything and fuck it up the very next time.  To ride a right hand turn on Duke I have to keep my left leg on his left shoulder and Not. Let. Him. Drift.  It's that fucking simple, and yet every single god damned right hand turn I'd forget again.
It was a very educational lesson though, because John pointed out that we'd be tootling along, happy as could be, and in one stride, Duke would go from completely balanced and exactly what I wanted, to bulging out through the left shoulder and drifting.  (he showed me where on the ground that it happens, and it is like the stride before we start making the turn.). So if I have a long approach, I can fix it, because it happens, I feel it, I have a few strides to push him back into place.  But if I am doing a very tight turn, I don't feel it in time to fix it.  So he said anticipate it.
The other big takeaway from this lesson was that Duke has to listen to me.  So two of the jumps were awkward because everything was going ok and then Duke was like "hold on" and accelerated long and flat (his preferred style of jumping) (and actually, mine too).  One of the times he tried this, I told him "no, I've got this" and then we held the speed and balance and it went fine.  So John said at the show, I've got to tell him "no, listen to me about this" and Duke has to respond.
As mad as I am about the two rails, what I really want is to understand why, and John said part of it is that Duke is good at cross country, but that means he's not as good at show jumping, and there might not be much we can do about it.  We can try to show jump the last few fences on xc, and then warm him up loose for show jumping, so he respects the rails, but he is good at cross country because he thinks for himself and goes long and fast, and if he does the same thing in show jumping, we'll get rails.  John said that Anna had horses that no matter what you did in show jump warm up, they just used it to get themselves loose and relaxed before they went into show jumping and clobbered the fences.  So that made me feel a little better.
He said you can jump from a tight turn, or a loose rein, or close up, but some horses will just take care of it in warm up, and then switch the second they get in the ring.
I guess it's worth it, for the confidence and fun on cross country.  He said sometimes they grow out of it and figure it out, but sometimes they figure it out the wrong way.
He said a horse like Duke comes off of cross country super proud of himself - chest puffed out - showing off to the wimpy novice horses, and that when he's a beast on xc, it's harder to get him the very next day to be respectful of the fences.  I think that's maybe why we didn't have problems last year or the beginning of this year - I was going slow and careful on cross country.  But after steeplechase at Rebecca, when I really felt him go fast, I've been letting him go faster and faster to get ready for the feel of prelim speed.
So the silver lining is I figured it out a little bit on my own.  The other thing I figured out - although too late, which is the frustrating part - is that when he grabbed the bit and tried to take charge, I shouldn't have pulled back and wrestled with him, but should have relaxed my hand.  It makes me mad, that John has told me that (over and over), and yet in the moment when I needed it (and knew it), I didn't think to do it.

SSHF wrap up

I should be ecstatic that Duke and I finished 9th out of 29, but I'm not because we were tied for 3rd until show jumping, at which point we blew it.  Two rails.  And an UGLY round.  We blew it less badly than other shows ("only" two rails), but I stewed most of the way home because I don't know what I'm doing wrong in show jumping - at shows.  I don't have any idea what it is, so I don't know how to fix it.
I applied John's theory from last time (he's stiff in the neck) by bending him before we started warming up, had exactly the right length of warm up (and John's help), and then bending him again before we went in the ring.  But when we went in, he grabbed the bit and ran like fucking satan was chasing him.  So I made a mistake there, which was to grab back.  When he's nervous, I have to LET GO.  So, ok.  And then my other theory is he's just not distinguishing me letting him run on cross country from the next day, at show jumping.  And he's all "yippee" and takes off in the ring?  But that doesn't quite work because he doesn't do it in show jump.
For dressage, we applied John's half halt lesson, and also, I was relaxed because I thought there was no chance we'd place in a class of 30, so I was just enjoying the ride.  And Duke was great.  The scores were very fair, as were the comments.  It wasn't perfect, but it was a decent ride.
For cross country, Duke was a rock star.  It was chilly and drizzling, and the first 1/3 of my class sounded like a massacre.  He handled everything like a champ - all the jumps we jumped in the spring we jumped even better (and faster), and he did great with the three new fences too.  He was AMAZING with the "hard" fence - a log with a drop down to a road, and you had to look left in the air to make the turn, and he DID IT.  By the skin of his teeth, but we made the fucking turn in the air in one stride.
He was great in the trailer, in the stall, being braided, in the cold, all that stuff.  So I don't know why I'm focused on the two rails - I think it's because I can't figure it out.  Like if I was making the same mistake every time, ok, I'm a dope.  But I'm not - I change something and then something else goes wrong.
I walked prelim and it looked ok.  About four of the fences were huge, but I thought I understood the technical questions and they didn't look too hard.  But for god's sake- the show jumping ...

Magic

The clouds were amazing tonight, and the angle of the fall light lit up the changing leaves on the trees.  There was even a rainbow against a black cloud for a while; it was pretty amazing.
What else was amazing was how round John got Duke, but that part was kind of just magic.  I struggled the last couple days with Duke bulging out through his outside shoulder on circles, and on crappy canter and canter transitions.
John had us ride in a circle around him, and then he gave me explicit instructions for each moment (outside leg back a bit and aid now- now- now), had me bend Duke to the inside and outside, change the size of my circles, and had me work the bend whenever Duke got stiff.
I could feel it when we made the improvement, but I could barely keep up with John giving me the aids step-by-step.  The idea of being able to feel what is going on, think how to respond, and give the correct aid(s!) is like - I don't know - light years away from me.
What was cool was that *I* can ride it, what was not cool was that a lot of what John said I feel like he's been saying for at least a year (probably 7) and even though I swear I am trying in between lessons, it must be so discouraging to just keep saying the same thing every week for years.
What was a bit of a light bulb to me, however, was his emphasis on the half halt.  He said to make Duke weight his hocks, and I did that by squeezing (and holding) with both legs and giving the half halt aid with the outside hand at the same time.  The first time took a lot of pressure; the next time, Duke was like "oh!" and just did it right away.
This would work for a while, but then he'd just quit and John would have to work us back to that point again.
I bet that Duke is going to be sore tomorrow (probably me too), so this was a great lesson in that it let me really feel just what the two of us are capable of, memorize that feel, and help me hold us to a higher standard while we work alone this summer.
John had us, after working on the circles for a while, jump a few fences, from what felt to me like crazy small circles.  When we switched to jumping, Duke wanted to pop his head up, so I had to really work to try to keep the same round feel we had on the flat.  Maybe because he was so round, if I remembered to look up and over the fence in the direction we were going, we got the correct lead about 90% of the time.
I had a rough day at work, so just getting to Caber, getting on, and then watching the sky while I warmed up was like - I don't know, like a warm blanket on a chilly day.