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.

Soften the gristle

We had a jump lesson on Friday followed by a dressage lesson on Saturday.  Although a change from normal, this had some benefits.  John noted that Duke would be stiff for dressage, following his hard work jumping, and that gave us an opportunity to work on how to soften the stiffness.  This will be something I'll want to do on show jumping, following cross country.
John said to start with 10 extra minutes of quiet walking around, away from the hustle and bustle of the show ring.  Follow that with some big neck bends - a big wide open inside hand, and giving with the outside hand to give him enough room to bend his neck.  Use inside leg to push him round and let him bend around it.  Duke could bend easier to the left than the right, so keep working with him until he gives in the neck.  John said this will help him loosen up the stiffness he carries in his front shoulders, and in his hind leg - his right hind, I think, mostly.
This took me opening my hand far wider than I was comfortable with and then opening even further.  I know it will be hard for me to trust that process at a show, so it was good to feel it in a lesson.
Duke was good, but it was easiest to feel his stiffness at the canter, where he wanted to stick his neck up, rather than move over the top of his back, so that will be another clue to me that he's feeling stiff and uncomfortable, and needs the time to soften up.
John said that Duke is like gristle; he's wiry underneath, and needs to soften up those kinks to move more freely.
We worked on 20 meter circles and leg yields off the quarter line.  Some of these, Duke crossed nicely, and others we kind of drifted at an angle sort of towards the wall.  I think the difference had to do with the outside (wall) hand, although I'm not sure if it was using it as a wall (a half halt) or giving a little that helped Duke square up his shoulders and cross.  He popped his head a bit on the down transitions, but I was thinking in both lessons how much better balanced and even he feels than when he got here a year ago, and how well he tries to communicate with me.
John had me change my leg aids (more on the inside; forward and more on the outside), but this part is still beyond my grasp.  I can (mostly) do it when John is telling me, but I can't feel it well enough to know when I should do it on my own.

Some big ass oxers in a lesson with Christa

John started the lesson by talking about what happened at Aspen.  The easy explanation:  when I think a fence is big, my childhood lesson ("don't catch him in the mouth!") kicks in, and I throw my hands forward to save Duke's sweet face.  John says we can retrain my hands, but it is the idea of a big fence and that seminal lesson.
For Aspen, I was partly right - the two right hand turns I was probably still making the turn instead of squaring him up to the fence - still using my inside leg to move him instead of getting him perpendicular.  John said I should have used counterbend (I thought I was, but maybe I wasn't, or maybe Duke was ignoring me).  For the left hand turn (the stall), he probably felt forward, but really needed to be pushed forward and then a half halt, and he just didn't have enough go to get through the fences.
Then he showed us how Duke goes over a fence - if he's balanced and not stiff, he touches the pole on top of the cups; if he's stiff, he drags his hind legs over and rolls the rail out of the cups.
It is me - in the sense that I'm nervous at a competition, so I'm riding him stiff, so he gets stiff.
He said for cross country, the fact that I could think about the fences going wrong (seeing it was another long distance coming), then think about warm up, then apply it, was good.  He said on cross country a lot of people can't even think, they're just reacting.  (On the other hand, it might be nice if I could just feel and react, instead of having to think it through.)

So he had us start over a little vertical, that he raised, and my job was to go to it with looped, loose reins.  It was ... hard to do.  Duke jumped it like a steady eddy, but as it got bigger, it got harder and harder for me to leave his face alone and just let him jump it.  John said to warm up like that, let him figure it out for a few fences, then when I pick him up and I ask him to do something in front of the fence, he's going to listen.

From there, we did the vertical, left hand turn to plank and rail, right hand turn to huge oxer, and then eventually the long four stride vertical to monster oxer from last week.
The big lesson for me was to have him forward enough - when we hit a rail it was because he stalled out in the turn and I didn't push him forward again, and to keep him soft.  If he got stiff on the way to the fence, he was more likely to rub it.  I kept him soft by riding him forward and with a bit of counterbend on the turn on the way to the fence.

It was a great lesson, and Duke's a great horse, but I feel like we've moved to the next stage of learning - the part where it makes sense when he says it, but is just slightly over my head so I can't repeat it at home (or here) - and somehow we skipped the part where I get to feel cocky and confident for a month or two.

I'm a sore loser

John warmed us up for dressage and we had what I thought was Duke's best dressage test so far.  I'm not sure it was his worst score, but it was pretty close.  I think he might have gotten a better score the time he bolted into the arena.  He did have two blips - he thought about trotting in the medium walk (but didn't) and his halt was al little crooked - not his fault, something about the way I ride makes him (and Charlie) swing their haunches to the left.  The rest of it he was steady, calm, and obedient.  He did his free walk as slooowww as he could possibly go, but he stretched down to the bit and kept going, just slowly.
So, ok, fine, I can live with that.  He's a thoroughbred, not a flashy mover.  And I'm not that great at dressage.
In warm up, I felt like we were on the edge of a break through - something about the inside leg and outside hand and holding it steady, but then my brain got all panicked about the show and it slithered away.  But hopefully the next dressage lesson it will come back and hit me.
Cross country was fun.  We warmed up, he was jumping perfect, so we walked again (again, with John's help), then a rider to go we went over the table again and it was just crap.  So we had to do it three times before it was slightly less crap.  John said not to hang onto his face, so I tried not to, but then he got all strung out - there were a few fences where I felt us coming in at the wrong distance, and it took me maybe three of them to remember what John said and then do it (sort of successfully) but that meant the last two fences were fine.  At least they felt fine to me.  Some of the ones that felt fine possibly weren't, like Christa said we left a stride out at the trakehner.  I would not have thought that at all.
Our up bank/down bank was crap, but he kind of lurched up (the too long and flat thing), then had one stride to get down, and I had slipped the reins to keep from grabbing him in the face in the lurch up, so he had to steer himself off, and bless his little heart, he did it.
John said that he's kind of an asshole about day to day stuff, but when the chips are down, he comes through.
Except for at show jumping.  Like every fucking lesson we've ever had, he warmed up like a fucking rock star.  And so we walked, and then did a couple more fences and they were crap.  (Theme). And so I went in to ride and I thought I was riding exactly the same way I ride in lessons or at home, but instead we got three fucking rails.
We hit the top of the wall on fence 4, which apparently no one else in the history of the show hit.  John said that was not enough outside rein.  It was a right hand turn, so it needed left rein to keep his left (drifting) shoulder in line, so, ok, maybe.  We made it on the bending line through the one stride, but then the ridiculously easy vertical got clobbered.  Brooke said we came in too close.  But there's nothing I could fucking do about that - I made the turn big and wide and gave him plenty of space.  It was - however - also a right hand turn that needed left hand outside rein.  Then when we made the LEFT hand turn to the two stride combo, he just utterly and completely failed to take off at the first fence, had to spring straight into the air to get over it (which, of course, he did, because why would he risk a rail) but then the striding was all fucked up for the two stride, so on the way out, he hit the fence.  So that one, ok, I get why he hit the second fence, but why didn't he jump the first fence?  I gave him a long approach, it was one he's jumped before, ...
I don't know if we need to go back down to Novice instead of up to Prelim.  It was just embarrassing and it reflects poorly on John and it pisses me off because I don't know what I'm doing wrong to work on it and fix it and get better and improve.
I didn't even want to write this, but I'm hoping that someday a few years from now I look back and remember "oh yeah, ha ha, I didn't know anything then and look how much better I am now."

Jumping on bending lines

I have to work all night tonight, so this post is brief.
We jumped jumps that looked big, over lines that took a lot of concentration.
For warm up, John told me to let Duke figure out the spot - so give him a bit with the rein on the approach.  The other big impact was to make sure I looked up and over the fence instead of down at it.
Then we did some lines that either needed an angle/angle or a carefully timed bend or turn to get the distance right. Duke did very well with these, even though I had a couple where my reaction time was a little slow.  We also went from a regular four to a long four to a regular but even even four, and so I had to think to adjust in between for each one.
My two big corrections were to let Duke do his job on the fences where he could figure it out, but help him get to the next fence on the correct striding - in particular for the long four that was a vertical to an oxer.  And then to pick the line and commit to it.
It was one of the classic John lessons where I looked at the fences when I got in and thought "that's crazy, I can never jump any of those" and then felt all confident and successful at the end.

Jumping between rain squalls

We had a great jump lesson today, and managed to only get drizzled on at the very end of the lesson.  It poured on the drive down and back.
John had us start over a cross rail, then over the vertical heading towards the barn (uphill).  From there, he had me make a right turn after going through the fences, so I had to use left rein to get Duke lined up with the fence.  Using this left (outside aid) was key to getting Duke lined up, and then it helped with the entire rest of the lesson.  Duke was gung-ho, and John had me ride him a bit more forward than I would have chosen on my own, and let the fence back him off.
After doing the vertical and oxer a few times, he made a course.  It was right hand turn to oxer, right hand turn to vertical, left hand turn to a vertical, four stride, oxer, and then after we did that a couple times, we added a triple combination (vertical, one stride, vertical, two stride, oxer) to the end.
The lesson was to change the way I rode the fences to adjust for each fence.  So the challenging right turn to the first oxer needed a lot of outside rein, but keeping him going forward.  The right hand turn to the vertical was a little uphill, so I needed to look up and keep him forward.  But then it was an open canter down a long side, and then give him a bit of a half halt but let him really go forward to make the four strides in between, and depending on how we came to the first fence, adjust what I was doing in between to make the four strides.  I flubbed it the first time but did better after John explained it.  Then to get into the combination, it was get in, one stride, then a quick half halt in between.
From there, we did a corner, first going uphill (twice), then downhill.  The first time uphill Duke thought about bobbing out to the left, but I thought he might since that it is his side he likes to go out on, so I was ready and put my left leg on and we made it over (although knocked the first rail down).  The second time was better.  He seemed to be equally surprised by it when we changed directions though, but thankfully, because he'd given me a heads up he might bulge the first way, I knew to be ready for it the second time.
John said in the warm up at the shows, use that outside rein to control his shoulders, and that should help with the rails, because he doesn't need as much adjustment on the distances as he does on not drifting left.
A jump lesson was just what I needed.  Work has been frustrating.

Draw reins after a flat tire

I got another flat tire on the trailer; this one just a few miles after leaving the barn.  It took a couple hours to get fixed, so I was quite late for my lesson.
John had us ride in draw reins, and Duke was sweet.  We did a bit of lateral work, a couple leg yields and then some canter serpentines (just to the quarter line and back).  John said that he was surprised by how quiet Duke has been, and me too, for how consistent we were all winter and how erratic my schedule has been for the month of August.  It's kind of a relief, so that if my work life gets crazy in the future, it might be easier on Duke than I thought it was going to be.  On the other hand, he was NOT happy about being in the trailer during the flat tire, and then scraped his nose up on the drive home.
During the lesson, John mostly had me work on making him more round, using half halts, an inside bend, and keeping the connection with my outside hand.

My job is to help Duke out

My main takeaway from Young Riders is that I'm not helping Duke enough; this has something to do with half halts; but I'm not quite sure what I'm not doing.  And I think I need to figure it out to be able to ride prelim.
He was ok in dressage; some of our scores were quite good and a few were quite low (but different than the other low scores).  He got tense when it started raining, and I didn't have quite enough time to get him to relax again.  I thought his lengthenings didn't show enough difference, but the judge was ok with the up, just not with the back down.  His trot lengthening was almost nonexistent because I was so afraid of what happened at Whidbey, which of course didn't happen again at all.
For show jumping, he was a little crabby about being ridden again, and then again about the rain.  John said the heat is his delicate skin, I think the rain is the same thing.  When it was raining he stood in the trailer with his nose only just barely aligned with the side, so the rain drops wouldn't get on him.  It was funny and pathetic.
So for show jumping, the course was set funny (John said 9' strides) so the distances were either long or short, but all just a bit off.  John - god bless him - told me just before I went in to get him round and on the bit and to shorten him.  And it made perfect sense, but hadn't occurred to me.  All that I thought of was go long or short.  So that helped tremendously.  We got two rails, but that was still better than at Rebecca, and the ride felt pretty good, AND watching prelim it was just a massacre of rails, so I was pretty happy with that.
For cross country today, Duke was a bit of a pistol in the warm up, just kind of crabby.  I think - maybe - his hind legs are feeling just a wee bit tight.  John worked us a bit, and had us do a gallop so we could come back from it.  Duke LIKED galloping.  For the course, we rubbed several of the fences pretty hard, but he jumped everything on the angle I put him on, and it rode pretty much like I wanted it to.  The sticky fence was #14 (out of the water) and it was just a funny angle in deep footing, and although Brooke told me how to ride it, I didn't get him turned quite as much as I planned, but bless his heart he jumped on out of it.  So this makes every show except Spokane I've felt ok about the fences, felt like I was seeing the lines and tricks and knew what to do, and not getting too nervous.
John said that we were a little too fast and flat at the start, and that I need to work on getting him back on his haunches (not slowed down, just rocked back), especially in the combinations.  He also said that Duke is going to get aggressive and racehorsey after he starts going faster, and so when I'm going back to the barn, take my time and lollygag around so he doesn't get quite so worked up about it.
I'm happy with Duke.  He tried his little heart out, and although we're still figuring each other out, and the being [this close] is kind of frustrating, I think he and I are going to be a good team.
It did not help that I only got four hours of sleep Friday night and had to work Fri, Sat, and Sun instead of being able to focus or do the other 1 million things that need doing.  So that was pretty irritating and frustrating.
Thank god for John.  He just reads me and knows Duke and knows the fences and the course and tells us what we need to hear at the time we need to hear it.  He's awesome.

Jumping in an oven

It was hot today.  Hot and still, so the air was heavy and thick.  Duke doesn't care much for heavy, hot, still, thick air.  He suggested, as we warmed up, that we should take one of the exits out of the jump arena, each time we went past.  I told him it would be worth it to wait and jump in the lesson and it was.
John had us start with just a bit of trot and canter, and he said to work more on getting the inside leg to outside hand connection, and then work on the inside bend.  When I used the diagonal aids, Duke got much more round than when I just used one.
We jumped a cross rail, then went right away to a vertical that had two ground poles and two guiding rails, making a chute.  Duke kind of clobbered his way through it the first few times, but when I didn't help him out, he decided to figure it out himself, and then we rode through it like it was a breeze.  Afterwards, John said that was a good decision to make, but it really felt like the only decision I could make - I'm not good enough to help him with each foot step, and I'm willing to go down with him if he doesn't figure it out on his own.  I'm glad he does though, because it felt great once he got it.
My job was just to count and try to keep the rhythm - 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 - although I did do a little bit of counterbend before the first turn and some teeny tiny half halts on the way in to balance him and keep him uphill and light, instead of letting him dive down and long and flat.
From there, we did a little oxer off the left lead, which rode pretty well.  But when we got a funny distance, John said keep the rhythm but make the canter bigger, and then you can add or you can go long.  So first we went long and then we added.  As much as I prefer to go long, adding felt a bit more comfortable.
From there we did a course - left lead over red oxer, right hand turn to black vertical, decide 7 or 8 to oxer (John made this because of the issues with the 5/6 line at Rebecca), left hand turn around the cross rail to plank vertical, three tight strides to an oxer (the best line we rode), right hand turn back to the ground poles and the chute (Duke scrambled through it again), right hand turn to a roll top with a vertical on it.
John said not to chase him.  That I can use leg and make his strides longer, but don't chase him into a long flat jump, because he likes to dive down and its unpleasant to ride compared to when he's uphill. It's ok to adjust strides when I see the distance is wrong, but keep the rhythm.  It was so easy to tell that John had been riding him because it felt the nicest I've ever ridden him over fences.
He said when Duke was there last week, and what I've experienced this week - he just really doesn't like the heat and gets uncomfortable.  John thinks it's his thin skin, like when you're a kid with the sweat and salt dried on you but you're wearing a shirt so you think the shirt is itchy. Duke kept stomping his left front foot, which I've never seen him do before.
Man, that was some nice jumping.  It made my whole week.

Week with John

Duke spent almost a week at Caber while I was in Florida with the family (and the rain).  I had a lesson before bringing him home, and he felt like he was moving with his back lifted and more quietly on the bit - more forward, I think, because my legs felt like they just had to hang there, not nagging him.
He was good at the trot, but a little bit tense, chewing on the bit and not quite going round and deep (as round and deep as I know John can ride him).  His canter surprised me (and him) - we both went shooting off, and I was grateful John was there to explain his aids, which are not as much leg slamming on as I do.  So Duke is now a delicate Maserati, who can spring forward (or back) without me having to lug on him.  It was pretty cool, and a nice reminder that I should not be as casual and sloppy with my aids.
I asked John what he could feel about the way I ride when he rode him, and he said that it feels like I give up just before Duke gives what I ask him to - as in, I ask him to get round, and he starts to go round, and then I think "good enough" and quit asking, although Duke is ready to give the last little bit.  Super useful.
He also said that as soon as Duke gives with his jaw, I need to immediately soften my hands - reward him immediately.  He said that Saturday they worked on a lot of walk/trot/walk/halt, and Duke got crabby about it (I am betting John's version of crabby is pretty different than mine), and that he also was a bit - I forget the word he used - snarky (?) in the heat.
I thought Duke felt great, and it was amazing to be able to send him forward and back so easy.  I'll ride again on Thursday, after I get my "sea legs" back.
The important difference in the canter aid was a) the sequence (inside bend, outside hand, inside leg, go) and b) the intensity (I slam both legs on casually and ignore his head).  To bring the canter back, all I had to do was a tiny bit of light outside rein.

Rebecca wrap up, "capable but anxious"

I should be happy with how Duke did at Rebecca, but I'm not, and I'm really struggling with why not.
He was 3rd to last after dressage, with a 39.8.  (First was a 26.9, so it wasn't like we were even close.)
however, it was absolutely amazing we even got through the test, because the first two days on the show grounds, he was completely overwhelmed.  I didn't ride him the first day (although with hind sight, I should have).
Let me back up.  Sunday I had to be in Eugene.  I spent six hours (instead of three) driving home, gave him the world's fastest bath, and showed up at Meg's in Ellensburg close to 11 pm.  Monday morning I got up early (before 5 am) and drove to Kalispell.  This would have been genius, had I known about the construction, which took almost an extra two hours in the cooking hot sun (over 90 degrees).
So that's why I didn't ride Monday.  I just felt bad that he rode in the trailer and just cooked all day.
So when I got on Tuesday, he'd had two days off, which is very unusual for us.
And although things were only just getting started, he was overwhelmed and tense and scared and nervous.
So John told me to ride him twice a day, but only briefly.
Well, on our second ride, I ran into Jessica who told me about the cows out on Phase A of roads and tracks, so the next day I wanted to walk past them on one of our rides, and that blew his mind as well.  All I could think about was how we were going to get eliminated on Phase A because we couldn't trot past some cows.
We went and practiced the jog on the track - I thought he'd be scared of the big white tent, but he didn't care about it at all.
So instead of working a few hours every day, I spent that extra few hours riding him a second time and walking him around and trying to get him used to the show grounds and atmosphere.
He was fine for jog 1, even though a few horses ahead of us, a horse got loose and ran away (and Brooke said ran into another horse, which then didn't pass inspection).
We got to do the steeplechase practice that afternoon, which was awesome.  He took off like he was shot out of a cannon and just got faster and faster and was SO EASY to ride over the fences (we got to do the first one, then the first and second one).  We walked back on Phase C of roads and tracks and he was ho-hum about the cows.
For dressage, John helped us a lot with warm up, and watched the test, which I thought was pretty ok, although his face said "meh" and our score was meh.  Given that I didn't think he'd be able to halt or even remotely be obedient, I was just glad we didn't eliminate. Until we got the score and saw our place, and then I was pissed we didn't do better.
Allison and Andrea suggested he might have ulcers - at least stress ulcers - and suggested I try omeprazolone (to take the edge off) and maybe give him one of the two months (?) of treatment, just in case.  That would make sense, with him being girthy, although I thought it was just the badly fitting saddles.  So I got him some ulcerguard and some nerve cookies, and I'm going to up his smartpak to put more gut health supplements in and see if that helps him.  It's not fair to him unless I give him every opportunity to do his best.
For cross country, Duke was a little nervous about Phase A (he trotted with his head straight up, looking for something to spook at), but once we started steeplechase, he was like "oh, ok, fun" and we shot around the steeplechase.  The time said 1:01, but I think it was 2:01 (instead of 2:29).  It was FAST.
He settled a bit in Phase C, and although he was pretty sweaty after steeplechase, the trotting was obviously less work and we cruised into the 10 minute box* almost dry.  And his temp was only 101. Brooke's crew went to town on him, and I just stood around.  So he did great in the 10 minute box.
He was kind of difficult on cross country.  After steeplechase, he just wanted to grab the bit and go, and the course was a little more technical than our other training courses, so it was kind of a jerky ride.  I had to battle with him the first three fences to listen, and then he screeched to a halt at the big hill and then again at the weird water.  Thankfully, neither of those were flagged, and after the two screeching halts, he started listening a little better.
I felt like we got the most technical moves done only by the skin of our teeth - the big table on a bending line to the corner (fences 9/10) and the coffin followed by a hard left to the bears (13 a/b/c?). He had no problem making up the time from the screeching halts and the slow down for the technical parts on the wide open parts, and he jumped every fence like a dream boat.  Brooke's mom said they were watching and he took off long, but I thought he was great.
When we got finished, his temp was only 102, so he didn't have to do a third check.  Also, the vet was a hottie.
For show jumping, I did not go out way ahead of time, and he was just a little stiff.  He got loosened up, and jumped the cross rail twice and the vertical once close to perfect, so I planned to walk five minutes, then do the vertical and oxer a couple times before we went in.
And then the fucking water truck came into the arena next to us and watered the entire rest of our warm up time.  Because the water truck was giving him conniption fits the first three days, I stayed on the far side of the arena, just walking, just trying to keep him calm, and maybe that was a mistake, but I didn't have enough time to try to get near it, have him freak out, and then calm him down again. So we didn't get to jump again, just walk for 10 minutes, and when we went in to do the test, he clobbered the first rail, fourth rail, and seven a and c.  Four fucking rails, out of 12.  It was humiliating.
Brooke said he was long and flat, and I don't know if that was from the big long walk or if he was flat before.  He was smooth, consistent, and obedient; he just doesn't give a shit if he hits a rail.  I don't know if he would have perked up if we'd done the warm up oxer a few times, or if I would have even noticed he was flat.  So this part was really really really disappointing.  The only silver lining is we were already in 13th place, so it wasn't like we had a ribbon and then lost it.
He ended in 12/25, but if we hadn't gotten four rails ...
He did a lot of things very well, and it was better than the last time I was there (eliminated in steeplechase) and better than Whidbey (eliminated in dressage) and I felt like I was the least prepared I'd ever been for a show, and I wanted to scratch because I was so unprepared, so I don't know why I'm so mad about how we did.  He did a good job.  I just wanted to do better.
And more than that, I guess I don't know what I did wrong and what we could have done better.  I think he did the best he could.
One of the judge's comments was that we were 'capable but anxious' which is so accurate about me it kind of gives me the heebie jeebies.
After show jumping, I finally went and talked to Devocoux.  I rode in two demo saddles, which seemed to fit both Duke and I perfectly (poor guy got ridden two more times, I swear he has the patience of a saint), and my Jete went to Schleese on consignment.  I started crying, because it was custom made for Charlie, and then couldn't stop.
I hope that saddles that actually fit him will help us push through this phase and gear up for the next.  I think he is a sweet, generous horse who is trying hard, but is saddled (har har) with idiot me.  And the only cure for idiot me is more time with John.

10 minute box details:
Duct tape, halter with number, extra shoes (and studs), two buckets, two sponges, two scrapers, mounting block, human water
Set up 1 hour ahead
Come in, they want to see him trotting to make sure not lame
Put halter on over bridle, loosen bridle and girth
Get temp, resp, pulse
102-103 is hot - sponges and scrape multiple times
Look for cuts and scrapes
At 6 minutes, vet will ask to trot in lane
At 5 minutes, tighten girth and bridle back up
At 4 minutes, get back on and start walking over to start box

At finish, he'll be checked when he comes in
Take tack off
Check again at 10 minutes (Duke didn't need)
Be careful with studs if you take boots off
Put in stall, let him pee and drink and have some down time to himself

Halt is beyond us right now

The training test A has one halt, at the end.  The three day test has three halts, spread pretty evenly throughout.  Yesterday, Duke could barely manage the halt at home, but during warm up at John's, he was ok.  I told John, and we started, and Duke was pretty ok, but a few halts in he started to panic.
So the silver lining is John was sitting right there, and worked us through it, but the cloudy part is that we spent our last lesson before Rebecca working on the halt.  (Instead of on the "hard" moves in the test.)
John had us do lots and lots and lots and lots of boring transitions of varying lengths.  One gait difference only - so halt - walk - halt - walk - trot - walk - trot - walk - halt - etc.  NOT trot to halt or walk to canter.
He said to do that in warm up at the show.  Just make it not a big deal.  If Duke is starting to get wound up - afraid of what is about to happen next - just be like "dude, chill, you've got this".
And if he gets wound up in the arena, then blow the move and let him relax.
John also said to give him a bit of leg yield if he's wound up.  Even if it's the middle of the test, move him over.
John also had me give a lot with my hands, at trot and at canter.
He said Duke did better than he expected (since last November, when this happened, it took me a month to teach him to halt again), but still, this blows.  I feel like we're going into an exam for a class I never attended and naked.
By panic, I mean he spun, stepped sideways, smashed my leg into the wall, stuck his head straight up in the air, and twisted around.
What's the worst that happens?  we get eliminated in dressage again (and so I'm eliminated 2 out of 3 times at Rebecca). What's better than that?  We finish the show.  Jesus, the bar is low.
But a year ago, I could hardly steer him around a show jumping course and he was so unbalanced at the canter he was hard to ride going to the right.  So this is progress, Martha, try to remember that.

The poor man's rear

John explained everything.
Duke gets nervous when he hears noises and he can't see the source (what we thought was going on in November), so it probably was the horse behind the hedge.
Two things I could have done:
First, when he started getting tenser and tenser, on the long side, going away from the judge, give him the reins a little and let him relax his neck down.  And then, if he's still tense, just give up on the lengthening and just ride the canter (or trot) normal and take the hit on the score.
Second, when he goes backwards, bend my hands - JUST A TINY BIT - and steer him around in a curve.  John said that sometimes when their hip has to move under them, it breaks up the panic.
He said that thoroughbreds do this - they feel trapped and they panic and they freeze and they plant their feet.  It's fear, that's why I could feel his little heart beating under my leg - not being naughty.  And that smacking/kicking will not ever work, and might eventually make him rear, because the running away backwards was "the poor man's rear" which made me laugh for way too long.
Then he told me and Meg about his first Rolex, when his horse got afraid of the motor in a camera, and he did a gallop lap around the inside of the dressage arena before going back to his test (then going home, and buying one of the motors to make the noise at home).
He told me not to use reins/kick because he had three thoroughbreds in a row that reared and flipped on him - he said they're so frozen they just throw themselves down on the ground.
The other silver lining here is that until my lesson, I had completely forgotten that after the November incident, it took me months to get Duke to stand still in the halt again.  John had said I might just have to - really fast - halt-salute-be done, and so he's actually done quite well this whole show season for what we were starting with.
The whole thing made me feel SO much better, and I was so afraid that John was going to tell me I was a fuck up, which he's never done, so I don't know why I was so anxious about what he would say.  I guess I was afraid he was going to say that it wasn't a fixable problem, but instead, he knew just how to fix it, and - I hadn't been that far off in thinking about it.  I *knew* he was getting tense, I just didn't do anything about it earlier, and just knowing that will help us a lot in the future.

I thought jumping would be a good idea, and John said that if I had my dressage saddle, he was going to make us do easy circles out in the field.  We kept it low key and fun for Duke, so it was just going over a little plank a few times.  John said if he stopped I'd be in trouble, but Duke just popped over it like it was not big thing.
Then we did a vertical that had two poles angled on it, and each lap John pushed the tops of them (on the rail) closer together, so that we had to get more and more and more precise.  Duke also jumped this like it was no big thing.
Then we did a five stride plank to gate, and we rode this just fine so John had us stop there.  He said what he liked about that fence was that on stride 3, I saw the distance, and put my leg on so that we would make it.  He said he also would have been ok if we jumped in short and on stride three, I sat up so that we made it a six stride.
Then he showed the levels of riding, and he said the first level is that you just ride through the fences on whatever you've got.  The next level he said is the hardest, at this one, you see the distance but you don't ride it correctly, so you're just flailing.  He said this one is hard on everyone, and it's where I was about two years ago (I vividly remember the months of flailing, and how frustrating it was, and how he told me then that it was part of the process and to trust that we would get through it and then suddenly it would be so much easier).  The next level is being able to adjust about 6' out - you have some adjustability and can fit in that last stride in that six foot window.
From there is about 3', then 2', then 1', then you're at the Olympics.  He said at 1', you can put the horse in place for every fence so that they never knock down a rail.  You just get better and better at seeing where you want to put the horse.
So then I walked Duke around the cross country field where he got scared of a weed blowing in the wind, but other than that, was pretty relaxed.
We leave in a week for Montana, which is a day earlier than I thought, so it's going to be a tight week, and the next week, my timing was bad with the farrier, so he's going to have a couple days off the weekend before Montana, and then a few days off when we get back (!!).

I told John I didn't want to go to Montana and get eliminated and he asked what would Duke learn from NOT going to Montana.  (Nothing) And what does he need? (Experience) So he said the whole thing was why we definitely should go to Montana.  Good points.
I'm so, so, so lucky to be able to learn from John.  Good lord.

Whidbey's lesson was why John said to get a horse you like

Duke freaked out in dressage and we got eliminated.
We got there Thursday, I rode him around, he was a little tense, particularly around the hedges.
So I gave him a Thursday evening walk and a walk this morning through the hedges, eating and having a good time.
He was fine in warm up, but got more and more tense as the test went on.  When we got to the third to last move (F to H trot lengthening) he broke to a canter then froze in place.  Then he did the idiot thing where he turns his head only, but won't move his body.  After I tried to move him a bit, I kicked him and he ran backwards out of the ring.
Anne Appleby was our judge, and bless her heart, she didn't honk the horn while he was frozen.
I jumped off once we were out of the ring, because he was getting ready to bolt, and I didn't want him to screw up someone else's test.
This is the same thing he did back in October, when I went to see John the next day, in a panic.
I think - but do not know - that the person warming up in the cross country field, whose head was barely visible bobbing above the hedge - freaked him out.  But even if it did, he should have still listened to me.
(SIGH)
We had one of the corrals, and I got this rock star parking place, but for future reference, my trailer did not fit out, and the roses scratched the shit out of it on both sides.  I had to creep out past people, but it couldn't have made the turn with or without people.