Sunday, January 26, 2014

EPIC XC schooling with Lauren & Andrea

Yesterday, Andrea from Project Runaway,  Lauren from SheMovedToTexas, and I all met up at MeadowCreek Park for a day of cross-country schooling. I'd been planning to go schooling at MCP for a while - I hadn't been there in years but they have a really nice course - if you don't count the train that goes right behind the XC field about every 30 minutes. Going XC schooling was on Lauren's "30 things to do before I'm 30" list, and I'd managed to sucker talk her into coming along with me and taking Reddums. MCP is about equidistant between me and Andrea, and it wasn't hard to talk Andrea into bringing O schooling. Sometimes things just work out perfectly, and this was one of them!

Flying Attack Haffie!

We'd had a "snowstorm" and freeze two nights before, and there were a bunch of jumps with snow on them, as well as snow patches in the shady areas. It was kinda strange - I've never schooled XC with snow on the ground, even when I lived up north!

Yes, there is snow on that jump (!?!?!?). No, we did not jump that one.

Paddington was fantastic. I'm not gonna lie and say that every spot was perfect and every fence was awesome, but he jumped everything I asked him to. We are having really bad issues with falling in on the left shoulder (seems to be getting worse, and we are gonna work on that more in our next dressage lesson) so I focused on keeping him straight and not letting him duck left. Lauren made us an awesome video of the awesome parts of our ride. You can see the train going by at :19, O blasting by us at Mach 8 around 33 seconds (note that Paddy doesn't bat an eyelash at this), and my FAVORITE part - the water - at around 1:00.


 It's funny what you learn from videos - apparently I say "good boy" after every fence! Who knew?


Rockin' the baby ditch.


Haffie in the water! Last time in a water jump he just sort of trotted through it, but this time he really attacked it. Progress!

And just to keep it real, here are our bloopers. Note that they are rated R, for adult language. ;)


I obviously didn't ride the log very well - he was flat and strung out on the approach, and I didn't ride him straight. The ditch at the end was something I shouldn't have asked him to do - I think it was too much for him. He jumped it like a deer the first time, but then refused to go over it again. Eventually I got off and Lauren and Andrea helped me lead him over a few times. He wasn't happy about it, but we made it work. However, since he was a superstar for everything else, we'll just pretend like that never happened!

This ditch has alligators AND lava in it. JUMP FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

Afterwards, we played musical horses. Lauren rode Paddy, then Andrea wanted to try Paddy out too. You'll have to visit their blogs to see vids and pics of that, but they both did awesome and Paddy was very good.

Andrea on Paddy, Lauren on Reddums, and me on... O-Ren?!?! Yep, Andrea let me ride her and she was AWESOME! What a cool mare!

All in all, it was a great day and we all had a ton of fun! It was nice to have such a confidence-building schooling session just two weeks out from our first schooling Horse Trials at Pine Hill on Feb. 16. Hopefully I'll see Andrea at an event, and maybe next time we can convince Lauren to bring Simon out. Woot!!!

I think there are bugs in our teeth!

Thanks to Lauren for all the awesome pics and vids! And be sure to visit both Lauren's and Andrea's blogs for their stories about the day. No spoilers from me, but there are some funny stories to be had. :)

38 comments:

  1. So cool! I some of the photos on Andrea's facebook. Paddy rocked and he is so cute while doing it :)

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  2. Cool! Looks like it was loads of fun!

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    1. XC schooling is always a blast, but having good friends with you makes it better!

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  3. Attack Haffie!! And that is so awesome that you all got to do that together, jealous!

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    1. A little less attacking and a bit more listening is in order, but forward is always good. :)

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  4. Squee! How fun does that look?!

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  5. Yay so glad you put the bloopers up! Haha I love the lava jump. I know just how that feels. :)

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    1. It's funny how you don't realize what you're saying until you hear it on video. Oops. Besides, bloopers keep it real. That way in a year I can look back and see how far we've come!

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  6. Gosh, I love your horse. What a great video and I loved his antics going over the lava filled alligator ditch.

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    1. Unfortunately a lot of horses think ditches are filled with lava and alligators. Definitely something we'll have to work on, because they are everywhere on XC courses.

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  7. Simon is definitely coming next time! Already bugging S to take a group to Pine Hill :)

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    1. That would be awesome! Let me know when that happens, I'll take vid/pics for you!

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  8. So jealous that you can have bloggy-get-togethers!! Paddy looks awesome, and gotta love a blooper reel :)

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    1. It's cool that there are a couple of bloggers within driving distance, isn't it? So fun to meet others IRL!

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  9. Paddington is too cute!! Looks like so much fun.

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  10. Sooooo fun!! Love this whole post/pics/video!

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  11. Replies
    1. Don't you have your own Haffie now? They all fly, you know, so I can't wait to see pics of yours!

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  12. He is so cute and your rode him really well! It's always hard on the green ones to figure out what they are going to do!

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    1. Thanks, Alanna! He's going to make me a much better rider for sure. I'm lucky in that he WANTS to be forward and go to the fence, but I need to get better at keeping him between my hand and my leg instead of thinking that forward will get us over.

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  13. You're going to make your readers faint from overload of cuteness if you keep this up! Just look at those little knees! Squeee! I can't handle it!
    Can you bring him with when you visit Australia?

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    1. Leeshy, I have considered stuffing him in the overhead bin to get him to Australia, but I think no diet will get him to fit. First class tickets for a Haffie are just too expensive - I'd have to get him like 3 seats to fit! Alas, he'll stay home and probably be in training with my dressage instructor. It'll be like Haffie dressage boot camp!

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  14. OMGZZZZ That looks SUPER fun! What a nice way to spend a sunny Saturday :)

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  15. So fun!! :D I have loved all the write ups of this.

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  16. Replies
    1. I'm totally sending you a Haffie squeezy toy. Totally.

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  17. Paddington. You. Are. So. Flipping. Adorable.

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    Replies
    1. Sadly, he knows this and uses it to his advantage. Constantly.

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  18. It's great to see y'all together :) .

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  19. Flying attack pony! I love that photo. You both look amazing!

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