Ninja Confidence

It’s a funny thing you have all the bags of confidence in the world one day and the next day it’s all gone…

My Orange Ninja has some diary dates at last. Only down to the local centre where he feels safe but it’s a good start and a massive step from where we were last year. We have finally got his feed and routine sussed; we have also found a calmer he seems to respond to.

I have been dealing with the unexpected for the last 2-3 years and I am determined no returns to A&E will be needed.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but learning from experiences is such a valuable tool. I know now my boy jumps at the silliest of things, normally pigeons!!

So lesson one expect the unexpected: You can’t be prepared for every event, spook or squeal, but, if you know your horse well you can at least prepare. I never go anywhere without my neck strap and luckily my ninja luvs a human on the floor by his side to give him confidence so a groom/helper on the day of a show is an absolute must for him.

Anxiety:boy does this creep up on you when you least expect it. It doesn’t take long after a few sharp spins and those 180 turns with a leap that leave you dwelling on what you could have done or what went wrong.

Best thing you can do is stop thinking about it yes it’s difficult but if you can think of something else and practice your breathing, and you will soon start to convince your body to relax, and you will be less likely to contribute to the next spook.

Last year I had the privilege of being invited to the TSR short listed talent show. I was on my other horse, the ex-racer, but the same principles apply as he was forever getting into hot head mood and not walking round the arena. I was told to imagine a party in my head so I started having conversations with myself and singing silly songs about fruit and veg… yes you need to do what it takes J

Start doing this out loud and you will soon be having your party silently in your head and no one else will know, unless you’re having so much fun and suddenly burst into a mass giggle.

Visualize:When I teach canter to beginners I ask them to imagine a really big hill they are cantering up and there is a far away horizon they are aiming for which has a gorgeous rainbow at the end. I really must take some of my own advice.

This is such a powerful technique for any situation, whether hacking and you see an object that might cause a spook or your schooling in the field and a row of pigeons are sitting on the fence your about to ride past.

This will help you build on your own positive energy and relaxation.

Happy Feet

The wise words we have all read in magazines…. Control his feet.. It is so true but also for my cheeky ninja I have to pay close attention to his head and shoulders. If he is upset he has to lift and then lower his head to buck or leap. Controlling his shoulders and foot direction has been a really big help this year. We had a couple of sessions with Jason Webb and learnt how to put the horse into a controlled small circle/turn and stop exercise to regain concentration. This way they can settle themselves which in turn gives them more confidence to relax and trust the rider.

And one of the biggest recaps from Jason was to assert the ground rules. (that’s a blog all of its own)

Breath 

We took the Ex-racer to RoR camp this year and we introduced him to some music. I have always worked around the yard with the radio on and have it sitting on the fence when I am riding in the field. Whilst we were working on our rhythm and tempo with the music’s help I realized I don’t breathe properly. Such a simple just very important thing. An amazing difference in my horses walk out if I breath naturally compared to holding my breath whilst I anticipate him jig jogging

The other day I was leading the two boys out to the field and checked my breathing at one point I was holding my breath in anticipation of the ninja leaping and lunging on the fresh grass path The moment I started breathing with a relaxed deep technique I noticed he also stopped pulling at me.

Now when I walk up to him with his saddle I work round the corner from the tack room exhaling calmly having taken a deep relaxation breath in.

It certainly seems to work when I approach him with a spray bottle!!

Simples!

Sometimes the simplest things are the best.

Just stand still, reassess your breathing, give your horse time to think and sometimes that’s all they need to realize the world is not against them.

My ninja can over think and if you give him time out he will often take a deep breath himself and a big step forward and relax.

Diary 

Start blogging and/or keep a diary. It is amazing to look back at what you have achieved.

If you are feeling low this is such a powerful tool

Be honest, sometimes you just need help.

Watching someone else ride your horse confidently forward can work by giving you back the ‘I can’.

Be realistic with your goals. Last year was to get back on and ride with confidence myself. We even got round the block and left the safety of the yard confines with the ninja.

This year is to go out and do a couple of intro tests and if we complete the test we have succeeded

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Mumaathel's lesson and show debrief

Very good training day and show debrief yesterday

From the second review of the competition videos I watched me closely and I noticed I was slipping to the side and our overall horse/rider straightness wasn’t the best it could be at times.

Alfie has been compensating a bit lately but now his saddle has been adjusted he does feel much easier to tweak.

With the saddle adjusted I can sit a lot taller, just wish I could control my position at competitions those horrid habits keep creeping back in.

Training session was the other way round compared to show day he was a bit ploddy and croup high to warm up and then he sprang into action and starting running off. 

Once settled we used the session to readdress our straightness and how as I rider I should be able to feel every footfall.

Once we had ‘togetherness’ we moved onto the ¾ lines and starting asking for a bit more trot before half halting to rebalance the turns at each end. Soon we were executing the bigger trot all the way round with balance on the curves and straightness on the long sides.

The improvement at the end of the session did give me pause for thought on the tests the day before and although I preferred the second test as a ride I can now see where he was falling short on the marks.

I need to go into next weekend’s test thinking forward, thinking confidence, thinking tall, thinking horse’s shoulders positioned not quarters corrected. Novice test here we come we can do this!!!!!!!

One thing my trainer did notice from the ground was with the saddle adjusted she thinks the girth is touching too close when the foreleg comes back, so more shopping for a lovely rolled girth sleeve is needed, so we can make the sensitive boy is comfy, so no excuses.

(look at the concentration face planning the corner)

Feel versus scores always a good debate

Today we ventured off to a venue that we have competed at with the RC but today was our first BD there.

OMG the talent was frustrating fantastic but also in a good way something to aspire to

Having competed at our first ever BD regional in the summer we were not put off by the posh pony warm ups. I just kept remembering that somehow we pulled off a decent 12^th place in our Regional section, despite rider going a bit wonky and horse disliking the ornamental trees (but that’s another blog)

Today first test scores came out 68.75 uhmm I thought that’s ok we are staying with Mr consistent. Normal judge comments, we fidgeted the end halt and needed more FW stretch. But I had come out the test thinking he had run away with me a bit. I felt I was struggling to stay calm and relaxed in my own body so he wouldn’t yak against me.

Popped back into the warm up to try and get a deeper stretchy trot and canter to set us back up for the second test with more togetherness.

I came out the second test really pleased with our start middle and end, thought I had maintained my relaxation. Hindsight I probably reined it in too much in the second test and should have just kicked on for the same activity I had in the first test. Alfie can go into tight necked race horse mode if I ask for too much but also at the other end of the scale it can be a fine between under control and being boring. The scores went up, yes a different judge, a different perspective, but, oh dear here comes deflated me with my 64.04%. Where had all my 6.5 and 7s gone?

How did I not feel the quarters swinging down the first CL and certainly didn’t feel like we were on the forehand in his second canter. Couldn’t see either on the video play back, but that was being taken on angle at the arena corner so a different view from what the judge was seeing.  We all know that a Judge at C and a Judge at H and a Judge at E can all have different views of the same move.

My advice. Always look at the bigger picture. No rosette this weekend but I have been on a good roll lately with scores staying reasonably consistent with not too many bloomers.

I am a competitive Amateur that for one reason or the other has let her core and general position get sloppy. Having a super dressage horse in the making has made me realize I need to buck up and step up. I can’t ride him like an Amateur I have to believe I can ride him like a pro and the results will start to shine through.

Confidence is a marvelous thing but when you lose it it’s a bitch to get back !!!

I am very competitive but have learnt not to take the knocks so personally.

I have always used a spreadsheet to track and look back at my horse’s feed/behaviour/work load. Having had tricky horses this has been an absolute must. To be able to look back and see what we did a month/a year ago was an invaluable tool I was able to track trends, see the bigger picture and resolve issues.

I decided to do this for my competitions this year logging results and comments so that I can look back. It has helped me see how far we have come in a short time together.

Confidence is starting to return. Which means I can sit her looking at all the positives from today instead of lingering on the bits that didn’t quite go to plan. 

Saddles and Hoovers

Q: What do you do when you take a day off work?

A: Spend the morning with the Saddler and if you have sycamore trees you spend the afternoon with a leaf blower

I have been very unlucky to see EAM up close and it’s not nice to see your precious boy in so much pain, so sad and helpless stuck on the floor unable to move. Even if they recover the muscle damage is horrendous.

I managed to get most of the leaves blown out the paddock today but with the rain the helicopters are sticking to the mud so that’s back to picking them up by hand tomorrow.

Last year I couldn’t keep on top of two paddocks. One was small so we didn’t use it. The other one had the worst section roped off under the trees.

We have cut a lot of the branches down this summer and so far it has helped to keep on top of the bad areas.

The paddock they are in gets a few helicopters that need collecting so all eyes are open everyone from now on. I am hoping the top paddock with the trees has enough grass cover for me to swap over paddocks next month.

The boys are out 24/7 at the moment but as soon as they go into the top paddock they will come in at night to make sure they have a break from that ground and get plenty of hay

Alfie has been giving me tell-tale signs his saddles needed realigning but we haven’t had him that long and we are still getting used to him. His walk was finally beginning to cover the ground but lately it has turned into a tight almost jig jog from the free into med. I noticed I wasn’t maintaining a good enough seat in the canter and looking at recent videos of my tests I realised I was starting to perch again.

The dressage saddle was lifted from mid to front and looks 100% better on him sitting straight and level once again. Even just sitting in the saddle for a quick trot round the field was enough of a test to know how much that was needed.

Fingers crossed no twitching of the neck tomorrow and a lovely ground covering walk in both tests

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