A (Surprise) Weekend at LCGT

What started off as a simple family day trip ended up being a completely unplanned visit to the Longines Global World Tour to watch world-class show jumpers up close and personal.

Front row seats for all the excitement! 

W and I had been planning to treat my parents to a fun day trip in NYC as part of our thank you to them for helping us out with the wedding. Despite living so close to the city, my parents dislike the crowd hustle and bustle so they haven't ventured across the river for quite a number of years.

After thinking over several options that would be suitable and enjoyable for my parents, we decided to do a day-trip and picnic lunch at the scenic Governor's Island. This was a date location when W and I first got together and I loved the "mini getaway" feel it had since the island is only accessible by ferry.

We left the house early and swung by to pick up my parents to drive to the train station. All was well for the most part though we had to take an unexpected extra ferry ride from NJ to NY due to a train station being closed for construction work (thanks Hurricane Sandy) but everyone took it in stride without complaints. While on the ferry ride over to Governor's Island, I noticed a girl and her dad all outfitted equestrian paraphernalia and pointed them out to W. Of course that should have been clue #1 that something horse-related was going on haha

The day was absolutely gorgeous and the crowds were light since we got there early. After enjoying a big picnic lunch, we got a 4-person surrey rental and tandem biked our way around the entire island enjoying nearly 360 degree views of city skyline.

Smiles for everyone! We all had a great time trying something new. 

Seeing all the wide spacious paved pathways, my dad joked that they should offer horse carriage rides and trail riding. I laughed, "It'd be quite something to transport all those horses by ferry."

Imagine my utter surprise when we turned a corner and suddenly arrived in a sea of tents, event fencing and horses everywhere. Before I could even open my mouth, W turned to look at me and said, "You want to see the horses." He knows me too well haha

We dropped off our surrey when our rental time was up and walked back to see a full blown top-level international show jumping competition complete with vendors and tent tailgating. It was really quite amazing to see how baseball fields had been so thoroughly converted into a temporary stadium.

All the jumps were NYC-themed, it was FANTASTIC.

A decent number of vendors too.

Ponies for the kids to pet!

Apparently this year was the first time NYC was incorporated into the Longines Global Champions Tour show circuit and it was pure luck that our trip to the island coincided perfectly with the event being held that weekend. W was totally floored since he had specifically looked at the calendar to check for special events and didn't see any mention of the event on the agenda. 

It was the first time all of us got to see a show jumping event in person as well and my parents were happy to partake in the sights and sounds. 

My mom watching a rider taking her horse to the warm-up ring behind the stadium. 

No horse outing is complete without some free swag!
I'm curious to try that rub rag on Quest but the effort may be wasted since pasture lol  

Despite the transportation hiccups, it was really quite a great day and I had a wonderful time with my family. Seeing how my parents were excited about being at a horse show was good to see as well. They weren't fans of me learning how to ride at first and eventually reluctantly realized that my horse thing was not an random whim. They have slowly come to care about Quest as much as I do (my dad supplies the mareface with 75% of her apples lol) and just seeing them curious and interested was an encouragement!

More Trails, More Jumps

I was away last week in Texas on a business trip and made up for lost time seeing Quest pretty much every day this weekend. I think she may be sick of me by now haha

I arrived home Friday afternoon with plenty of time to hit the trails solo for a longer and faster ride. We got in a solid 10 miles using the rail trail I found recently and Quest was booted all around so we flew across the rougher terrain with ease. I've been gradually allowing her to move out on the single track wooded trails if she chooses to do so. It never ceases to amaze me how surefooted she is and I love feeling that power as she surges up hills.

The weekend forecast called for white hot temperatures and high humidity so I decided to hit the barn as early as possible to avoid the heat. Quest and I stayed in the indoor and we finally got to play with baby jumps again! After our first successful foray together, I've been itching to do another jump session but I intentionally held off until we had ample arena space. With summer right around the corner, a lot of boarders have come out of the woodwork for rides and lessons. I don't mind sharing the arena with other people but when I'm trying something new with my horse, I like having just-in-case space for stupid to happen.

Fortunately nothing bad happened and we had a great session in fact!

We started off on the red and white cavaletti set with only one end propped up, essentially making half a crossrail. The plan was to use the entire length of the pole- starting with the lower end and eventually aiming our jump to the higher end to work up to the height of the black and white cavaletti.

The setup actually worked out really well. It was a good mental check for Quest to think and not just throw herself over an obstacle and it forced me to be precise in directing us over specific area of the pole to achieve the desired height. Quest definitely balked at first but got over her angst pretty quickly when she figured out the game. I wanted to keep the entire thing as "unexciting" as possible so we stuck with a working trot. If she cantered off, I brought her back to a trot easily.  We also took walk breaks throughout the session and those worked well to keep everything fun.

We thoroughly schooled the red cavaletti in both directions and moved onto the black set at full height. Quest balked again but eventually figured out this was the same thing as before. After working that in both directions, it was time to tackle our final goal of the day- stringing together the two jumps at height into a mini course. We did it twice consecutively, alternating the jump order and direction each time. Quest was simply awesome.

Overall I am super pleased with how well the session went. I had my GoPro set up to record the entire thing and reviewing video has been immensely helpful for immediate feedback and things to improve next time.  

Quest's first attempts were definitely disjointed- mostly straight up and over which nearly unseated me lol But from the video, I can see we both settled into a rhythm and that mareface really enjoyed herself too- so much that she started to really lock on and pull me towards the jump. I noticed that we tend to drift a little to the right so I need be mindful and support us more to get us straight down the middle.

As for riding posture...first, I need to SHORTEN MY DARN STIRRUPS. Once again, I forgot to adjust from my regular trail length and I'm sure that attributed to some not so pretty riding.  Also I might be putting myself a too far forward when two-pointing. It's erring on the side of caution so I don't get left behind or yank her mouth but I do sometimes pitch forward when we land. I've found a few exercises that will address that though so that's our assignment whenever next time we get a chance to jump. I'm hoping that as I get more comfortable and confident, the improvement in my position will happen as well as long as I keep the foundations in mind...and remember to shorten my stirrups!

Here Comes the Sun

The weather here has finally decided that it will actually behave and we were gifted with a weekend of sun and blue skies. Temperatures even warmed up so much that t-shirts were appropriate outdoor ride attire and the mareface got her first bath of the year.

Bright and early on Saturday, A and I hit up another spring tack sale. It opened at 8AM so we met up a little after 7AM, grabbed coffee and breakfast sandwiches and made our way south. There was already quite a line forming outside the building when we arrived and after snagging a parking spot in the near full lot, we joined the fray. Unlike the last sale we went to a couple weeks ago, this one was crazy…like shark feeding-frenzy crazy with people were grabbing stuff left and right. It was a little intense!

I fortunately had put together a mental list of things I needed/wanted to find beforehand and managed to snag some pretty freaking amazing deals. Of all the things I bought, the BEST find of the sale was a like-new condition English sheepskin saddle cover that was only $1. These things usually go for $65-70.

I’ve always wanted one since I use my Thorowgood saddle for the trails a lot and put in as much/if not more daily mileage on it than my treeless endurance saddle currently. I considered using it for endurance paired with the Supracor pad but I have gotten butt sore after longer rides (10+ miles) and I could never really justify the cost when I had a perfectly good treeless saddle. But no longer shall I pine away in sadness! I was super excited to try it out  and it was amazing as I imagined it to be...much butt comfort joy. I completely forgot it was even there, which is pretty much the idea.

After the tack sale, A and I decided to stop by Horsemen’s Outlet since we were in the area already. The store didn’t open until later in the morning so I suggested doing a detour stop at Round Valley Reservoir.

I’ve been super curious about riding the trails there for the longest time and after seeing them in person, this place is totally going on my list of places to condition for endurance!

On Sunday, I went by the barn after church to get a quick ride and do some spring cleaning/tack organizing. Quest and I did our first real schooling ride in outdoor arena and there was conveniently a baby cross rail jump already all set up for us. We warmed up with ground poles first and then got right to business.

The sand footing was still wet from the rains last week which made it a little firmer to work on but still a little too deep for my tastes so I kept the ride short and sweet. Our first jumps were trot hops but towards the end of the session Quest tucked those front legs right up (not captured on video though...) Since I’m mostly doing this on my own with no real photo/videographer crew, I’ve been relying on “feeling” the difference of her efforts and reviewing video from my fence-propped up phone. Still haven’t adjusted my stirrups shorter though…Oops.

After our jump session, Quest got her first bath in the outdoors wash stall and got tied to a nearby fence to dry off and graze while I did a big tack trunk cleanout. I like things simple and usually try to get rid/sell/donate the excess. Plus I know an endurance ride will be chaos x 10 million so the fewer things keep track of the better too. I pulled out a bunch of stuff that I probably don’t need to keep so will be posting up some things for sale soon.

All in all, a super productive weekend was had. I'm hoping we get more of this good weather so the outdoor adventures continue to ensue!

Jump Baby Jump

Quest and I tried something new this weekend. It's not big or fancy at all but it was exciting for us!

Before the little impromptu jump session, Quest and I took advantage of the dreary, rainy weather clearing up that morning to hit the trails for a quick workout. We did a nice w/t/c warmup in the indoor arena first and set off on the trails. The days of non-stop torrential rain swept away the largest chunks of gravel on the dirt roads and we were left some fantastic footing for decent trotting sections.

We managed to get a solid 4 miles in less than an hour and also visited the mini XC course for three hill sprints. On the last sprint,  I let Quest open up and she immediately obliged, surging up the incline in powerful strides with her tail flagged in the air. When we came to a gradual stop at the top of the hill, Quest looked so pleased with herself haha I have to remember to bring my GoPro out next time so I can get video.

Quest and I had gotten a lot done on the trail by then so we headed back into the arena where we had left A and Mel. While we waited for them to finish, mareface and I played with baby jumps!

The standards were already set up so I just reconfigured the poles for our newbie use. We did a quick ground pole trot review first and then moved up to baby cross rails. Quest wasn't very impressed and trotted over them evenly and neatly each time....Well, at least she didn't rush though or start cantering.

I changed it back to the original set up and added some trot poles for the approach. Our first few attempts were more trotting with much gusto but eventually Quest figured out that she needed to pick up her legs.

Slowly figuring it out together

It was really neat to see how Quest used the steady repetition of a basic pattern to figure out where to put her feet. She never rushed or worried though, just took it like "Oh okay, we're doing this now."

I admit that I've never taken actual jumping lessons so this is me messing around and having fun with my horse. So there are lots to improve on, for starters I need shorten my stirrups from trail length to something more jump appropriate and move my hands higher on her neck. I do believe knowing how to jump properly is an essential, all-round equestrian skill to have though so it'd be well worth the time and effort to learn in the long run.

While I don't think we'll ever go huge or fancy since I'd rather save Quest's legs for endurance, this really was SO fun to see if we could actually do it. We both get super bored in the indoor so I think it'd be good for our mental sanity to throw in a baby jump from time to time during our arena work session days just to get the energy up and going again. Best of all mareface seemed to really enjoy herself with her ears pricked up and brain totally engaged. And I didn't eat dirt either- I say that was a win in it of itself haha

Free jumping

I didn't have a ton of time last night after trimming for a proper ride so we tried something new- free jumping!

I set up a simple half jump using a block and lunged Quest over it without a leadline. After a few false starts and dodging, she caught onto the game and away she soared.

I was half expecting a bit more fumbling and figuring out on her part but Quest looked like a natural for her first time. Her movement was fluid, efficient; she was not afraid and moved boldly with ears perked. We approached it at both a trot and canter. She kept a good pace before and after. It was really good for me to learn how to keep myself a little behind her drive line to move her forward while at the same time keeping just enough pressure on to keep her out to the jump. After about 17 minutes of trotting, cantering, and direction changes, she was huffing and puffing away so we winded down and finished the night with some handwalking (while reviewing some groundwork) to cool down and catch her breath., which she did 6 minutes later.

All in all, I'm thrilled with how she did and more importantly she looked like she enjoyed it. There was no ear pinning, tail swishing, or anything adverse that would suggest otherwise. I think doing some jumping with her is a very real possibility.