Area VI Adult Camp - So Cal Style

You remember how fun summer camp used to be?  Hanging out with old friends, making new ones and in general just having a blast?  Back in the beginning of August I got the chance to reclaim that simple joy at the Area VI Adult Riders Camp and I have to say that camp is even better in the grown up version. 

Though they’ve had them before in northern California, this was the first year for southern Californians to enjoy this educational and social experience close to home.  Held at beautiful Shepherd Ranch, we were given the option of either roughing it by camping on the property or staying at one of the local hotels.  Since I’m trying to squeeze as much out of my horse money as possible, Carolyn Bahr and I opted to camp out.  Surprisingly, even thought Shepherd doesn’t have the luxury of showers, we weren’t alone.  Of course, our little pup tent hardly compared to the “Teton Suite” next to us – a ginormous three room tent with pink shag carpet and blow up hot pink chairs on the screened in “veranda” – but it was (almost) enough to keep out the unexpected rain shower we got on Friday night. 

Wheee! Me & Reese. 

Considering this month’s heat wave, the weather was amazing for all three days of riding.  Each rider got the chance to work with both Bunny Sexton and Val Owen throughout the weekend, depending on the schedule.  (Click here to find out more about these wonderful riders/teachers.)  Friday was dressage day, Saturday was stadium-jumping day and Sunday we all hit the cross-country field.  Personally, the biggest lesson I learned was that both Reese and I need to up our games, pushing ourselves harder to be the best we can.  (Ironically, I’m going through some of those same issues in my non-horse life so it was inspiring to see how upping your game can pay off, at least on horseback.)  It was amazing to feel and see the difference in both horse and rider when you’re challenged in such a supportive environment. 

Of course, it wasn’t all just about being a serious student.  We had a lot of fun playing silly games on Friday night and were treated to an entertaining and yet useful talk on Saturday by a sports psychologist.  The food all weekend was simply amazing, and it was great sharing a few adult beverages with your fellow riders at the end of the day, exchanging tips, advice, and a few entertaining stories.  There was even swimming with your horse in the lake because, as our friend Darla Opava said, what’s camp without going swimming? 

It was my first foray into the Adult Rider program and I’d encourage everyone, no matter what Area you’re in, to check it out.  The driving idea behind the program is to encourage adult amateurs at all levels of riding to come out and have fun.  They also have fundraisers and encourage more adult team competition and lots of great educational opportunities for adult riders like clinics and the upcoming Worth The Trust Educational Scholarship.  Considering the discounts you get for Adult Rider activities, the $25 membership dues seems a steal at twice the price.  You can also find them on Facebook!

 

Big, huge thanks to Dawn Robbins, the Area VI Adult Rider coordinator, for organizing this great weekend and Suz Roehl for her role in arranging camp and taking amazing pictures from the weekend. And of course Bunny Sexton, for hosting the weekend at Shepherd Ranch.   Oh, and an extra huge thanks to our trainer, Susan Friend, who chauffeured us back and forth while the BWT is on the mend!

November Ram Tap Horse Trials - Friday, 11/18/11

It's freezing, it has rained/is about to rain/just rained and windy -- it must be Ram Tap in November!

When we left LA, it was chilly and foggy so to be fair, crummy weather isn't really Fresno's fault.  On the upside, the Ram Tap showgrounds were, as always, really well organized and the folks who run the show were super friendly when we checked in.  Nahmi and I got Simon the Likable settled in and shortly after, Sherry arrived in the rolling Taj Mahal with his majesty Poznan.

The ladies hacked around a bit while I snuggled in the nose of Nahmi's trailer bundled up in her (purple, of course) sleeping bag on her surprisingly comfy new mattress.  With the shorter days, Sherry and Nahmi both ended up braiding by head-light - literally, with those little miner helmet lights you were on your head. If you show and braid your own horse, this is an invaluable little gadget to have.  Thank God Carolyn owns one so Nahmi could borrow it! :)

Working all day made the steaks that Sherry was gracious enough to grill out on her awesome BBQ that much tastier.  While it looked like way too much food, magically it was all gone by the end of dinner.  (If you look closely you can see Sherry's malibu & firefly lights twinkling - does she know how to do horse shows or what?) Great company and the traditional horse show round (or two) of cocktails almost made you forget how freakin' cold it was!  Well... that and we all piled inside Sherry's warm, cozy living quarters for after dinner toast before Nahmi and I made our way to our hotel.

If you've been to Ram Tap before, you know the hotel choices are either a dump next to a crack house or something that's pretty pricey & farther away.  Behold the new destination hotel for anyone going to Ram Tap -- The Holiday Inn Express on Kathryn Ave.  I shouldn't even be publicizing it for fear that the rooms will fill up all that much faster but who am I kidding, this blog doesn't have that big of a following!  Don't know what the price is since, being a mere groom it came as part of my payment package, but I'm in love with the hotel.  The beds are firm but comfy, the staff really helpful and most of all FOOD!  The gentleman in charge of such things had the continental breakfast ready - and I mean coffee, sausage, eggs, the whole nine yards - by the time we left on Sat. morning at 5:30!!  Usually hotels get kind of pissy when you ask if they can open a little earlier than their 7 a.m. posted time so we can have a little sustenance to face the long days at shows.  Not only was food ready, the young man was pleasant, eager to please and downright chipper!  This happened not just one morning but both days!  I am officially in love...

Show Jump Day at Shepherd Ranch

Finally, the last day of our show at Shepherd Ranch.  The first thing that greeted us was the spectacular prank that someone (who shall remain nameless except I think they spelled Pepperwood out in the prank) pulled on the Mill Creek gang.  All their tack trunks were placed in a very festive pile in the middle of the barn aisle.  It was pretty funny, actually.  Too bad that most of the riders, including their trainer Joe, came down with what we’ve now dubbed The Mill Creek Crud.  Food poisoning, flu bug, or nefarious activity?  Hmmm.  I’m in the clear since all of Joe’s kids already handily beat me in our class.   Or am I?  :)

As with all shows, the big boys – Nahmi and Susan riding training – went at the a** crack of dawn while the rest of us went at the end of the day, right when the sun had melted both horse and rider into submission.  I’m looking forward to both Susan and Nahmi’s move up to Preliminary in the very near future, but dread the thought of how early we’ll have to be at the show for that!  My only hope is that Carolyn and I will continue to move up the ranks (and seriously folks, I can’t really move DOWN the ranks, can I?) so we can close the gap between the rounds to something short of mind-numbingly long. 

Simon ended up taking a rail, but Sparky – as usual – tied himself up in knots to keep mummy in the clear.  It may have been the masterful job that Carolyn did hand-walking Sparky around, lecturing him on distances and speed before his go, who can say for sure. 

And then came the wait.  Yee gods, it seemed like forever.  Let me insert right here before I forget a big thank you to all the folks who kept the show running fairly smooth all weekend long.  The crew at Shepherd Ranch did a great job of keeping it together when all of us competitors were losing it.  An event like this requires an immense amount of volunteers so be sure to at least try to volunteer at the next event you compete in. 

Finally, Carolyn was at bat.  After a looooonnnnnngggg walk warm up (note to self: have someone go down and check where the show stands before getting on the horse, no matter how the math works out) they got their shot in the arena.  Other than one fence that seemed to take Junior by surprise, it was an excellent effort. 

Now it was our turn, the first show jump round Reese and I have ever done.  Would I be as slow as the day before?  By God, not if I had anything to say about it!  And considering my performance the day before, I probably don’t have as much say about it as I think I do… I have to confess to getting a little bit impatient for our round, which probably was for the best.  By the time I got in the arena I didn’t care what happened, I just wanted to be done.  After a tiny little spook at the crowd, I kicked Reese up into a canter and we were in 3^rd gear (for better or worse) the rest of the way.  After a gasp (or laugh if you’re Nahmi) inducing leap over the same fence the Junior was shocked at, we had a relatively good run for a double clear round.  Take that little children who have yet to experience puberty!  I leapt over um… one kid who was sick as a dog to raise my standings.  Doesn’t feel as satisfying when I put it that way…

The show was a terrific experience for one and all, showing us what we need to work on while letting us bask in the glow of our successes for an hour or two at least. 

Next:  The Wofford Experience!

Moving Day by Marla

Sadly, a few of us had to leave the lovely Day Creek Ranch and head for a barn closer to home.  No, we weren't thrown out for bad behavior :) -- it's just the damn economy.  We needed to bring Junior (Mints) and Reese ('s Pieces) closer so we could assume the mantle of riders and ride our ponies ourselves instead of leaving their care entirely in the hands of our trainer.

The day dawned windy as heck on the other side of the hill, but perfect for our new destination, Lakeview Terrace.  Good omens all around. 

Thanks to the help of good friends, the move went smooth as silk and in short order we were popping the cork and drinking champagne toasts at our new digs.



Sherry, victim of silly horse accident #2 couldn't hobble around to help, resting her foot on a bed of ice instead.  (Hmm, darned convenient timing though, eh?)


The boys fit right in, and in not time Junior (how do you spell that again?  :0)  was cozying up to Reese.

Later, Carolyn thanked all the helpers with a fantastic meal at Sherry's house (ours was geographically inconvenient).  Suffice to say, as at any EWAT event, a good time was had by all. 

Sherry had such a good time, not only did she keep her ankle elevated, she got a chronic case of hiccups.  The cure, as seen here, is a bit dubious unless you have someone to help you hold your ears or plug your nose or some such thing.  Or is this just an excuse for Brent to get crazy with his wife?  :) 

Looking forward to all new adventures from our new barn in 2011!

Jimmy Wofford at Eventful Acres: Sunday

Jimmy Wofford Clinic:  Day Three by Dr. Nahmi Jones

Last day of the clinic. Cross country! The fun stuff!! Time to play on the Hisken's beautiful property and sample Rod's creativity in fence building.

My videographer and now professional dog wrangler Carolyn was still hanging in there. Invaluable as a groom, networker and drinking buddy also, I shall forever be in her debt for allowing me to drag her along on my little summer vacation.

Of course since things had been going far too smoothly so far, I had to find a way to complicate things. I spent most of the morning worrying about my double reins...keep the snaffle rein? yes or no? Brian Sabo had suggested them the weekend before. They seemed to be working well and the emphasis so far had been on a softer feel with my hands so far but Jimmy was working on a hand slap technique for shortening reins after a drop. Geez, that was going to be complicated with four reins....

In the end I decided not to change anything but still had the choice on my mind. Several times I thought of asking Carolyn to remove my snaffle reins since Simon was more than high on Canadian goose impulsion. You know that kind of impulsion? The kind where you don't know which direction you're going to go next? Jimmy's generous description of our warm up? "Like a hog on ice".

What happened to my co-operative pony of the past two days? The professor had gotten the memo that it was cross country day...no doubt. Perhaps after 18 months off from cross country jumping, the four XC fences we did last weekend with Brian may not have been enough to knock the rust off.  Perhaps I was just overthinking everything as usual.

Jimmy's sage advice had nothing to do with riding position today. " Are you riding this horse?"
"Yes" I answered meekly, unsure of where he was going with this line of questioning.
"If you're riding  this horse then you're going to be ok"

Clearly Simon, now nicknamed the professor, had earned Jimmy's approval, although I'm pretty sure my abilities were still suspect.

"It's ok to be nervous, after all you do need to feel  something while riding cross country. But try to organize your butterflies so they fly in formation"

After a few bad jokes and a couple of deep breaths, I was able to coax my butterflies all to fly in the same general direction and the rest of the day went pretty smoothly.

Most of what Jimmy was trying to teach on XC day will have to wait until I can practice at home: quiet galloping position without posting the canter, the transition from 2 point to light 3 point in front of fences, slipping and gathering the reins efficiently, proper position on up and down banks.

But perhaps learning to being still in my mind was the most important lesson. After all, as Jimmy pointed out, my horse knows me better than I know myself. Maybe I can control the agitated energy that gets in the way of finding my version of Nirvana, jumping out of stride at 520 mpm now that I've had a glimpse of how being an intelligent passenger leads to a happy horse.

Thank you Jimmy Wofford for your patience and generosity with this duffer. I was amazed by the individual attention I received at your clinic. Your attention to detail and useful insights are very much appreciated.

And a huge shout out to Rod and Karen Hisken for hosting this clinic at their beautiful facility. 

Jimmy Wofford at Eventful Acres: Saturday

Jimmy Wofford Clinic: Day Two by Dr. Nahmi Jones

Day 2 was showjumping, but deconstructed.

We watched the preliminary group go from the comfort of the stands, while we enjoyed yummy french toast and fresh fruit. Have I mentioned yet how fantastic the food was all weekend? Many thanks to Carol Von Brandt, the wonderful woman who slaved over the hot grill all weekend to bring us our gourmet meals.

The emphasis was the same as the day before in the gymnastics. Steady rhythm through the lines, don't build to the second fence, soft in the upper body so we don't influence the horse to have a rail either in front or behind.

Jimmy broke the show jumping down into small logical pieces and the gradually introduced more technical questions.

I started out the day with my usual bad habits, locking my hips and elbows over the first few fences. As we warmed up I was reminded to incorporate the lesson from the previous day. Softer reins, then softer leg so I didn't chase Simon out the front door. Simon remembered also, jumping up more lightly over the fences with a softer neck. Wow Jimmy! This stuff really works! He just laughed "Yeah, the professor is actually simple, now you just have to ride him that way!"

Our deconstructed show jump course was a series of simple lines that progressively became to more technical. We jumped a 5 stride oxer to oxer line, then one stride rails on 45 degree angles then on to squeezes.

Jimmy had me concentrate on softening my arms by straightening my elbows every other stride on the approach to fences. By the time we moved over to the corner, the logical progression from the angle/ squeeze questions, I was slowly unlocking my body and Simon and I jumped the corner easily and accurately on this first try.

Jimmy's final comments after our last line of the day, "See those little adjustments you made to make the oxer come out right? That's what we call riding."  I have the proof on video, I may have graduated from duffer to rider. That's a good feeling.

Jimmy Wofford at Eventful Acres: Friday

Jimmy Wofford Clinic at Eventful Acres:  Day 1

By Dr. Nahmi Jones

I usually think of gymnastics as simple, straight forward exercises. A couple of innocent standards set up as a chute. The instructor sneaks the rails up. The next thing you know, you are jumping a challenging question without realizing what's been built up.


For the Jimmy Wofford clinic at Eventful Acres last weekend things were a little different. Rod Hisken's huge jumping arena was full of freshly painted white rails and standards, laid out everywhere like an albino logging disaster.

As I rode in I thought: Uh oh Simon, you and I are going to have to do a lot of thinking today. There's nothing simple about what Jimmy has in store for us today.

I knew that at least Simon would get the benefit of the doubt from the 3xOlympian from his comments at our early morning lecture/ introduction. Jimmy's amazing enthusiasm for our sport and our equine partners was summed up in his response to a question about selecting a young event prospect. "I'm automatically going to like it if its a horse". 

Jimmy's message for day one, in fact the message for the whole weekend was to teach us to be intelligent passengers.

The goal of his gymnastic exercises was to allow the horse to jump in a way that simulated his natural balanced jumping style unencumbered by the rider.

Through the wide and low oxer/ bounce line Simon had to reach out to stretch and compress his body horizontally. Though the double bounce/ hogsback line he got to reach up vertically to stretch through his bascule.

I was encouraged to ride with a longer rein. Did I lose Simon out the front door this way? You betcha. Jimmy's solution to keep a steady rhythm, to take my lower leg off to prevent driving.

I struggled to keep my position over fences by stabilizing my body with only my upper leg and without using my hands as a crutch. I was thrilled to find Simon responding to my efforts to find the happy balance between a lighter hand and a lighter leg, by jumping with more freedom through his neck and back in a happy relaxed rhythm.

Jimmy Wofford Clinic: Thursday

By Dr. Nahmi Jones

Carolyn and I made the right hand turn onto Yuba Ranch Road. I was careful to check the speedometer and rear view mirrors to be respectful of the neighbors. No Dust! After 8+ hours of being in the truck, we were almost there!

Carolyn had been a total trooper, going along with my crazy plan of getting up at 2 am to make the long drive up to Oregon House.

But what was this? Mere yards from the driveway to the Hisken's playground for eventer, a maintenance truck parked on the one lane bridge!! Really?? Tree trimming?? Captain Jack Sparrow on Carolyn's new garmin did not warn us of this final obstacle. Argh mateys!

Bleary eyed and too tired to argue, I followed the directions of the guy in a hard hat confidently smiling and beckoning me onto the bridge along side his tree munching truck....keep coming...that's right...a little to the left...Simon, think skinny thoughts!

Just millimeters from the ditch, certain death or at the very least an embarrassing tow truck call, we made it, fenders intact. Hard hat dude grinned and gave us the thumbs up signal and we pulled past.

Whew, we made it! What a relief to see Rod jumping off his tractor to give us a welcoming hug and to take over driving the last few feet and park the trailer.

Simon unloaded calmly and immediately settled into his stall. "Is there hay? Then I'm cool" Rather than being upset about being alone, I think he enjoyed being the center of attention all weekend.

We pitched Carolyn's tent and stretched out for some well earned rest. I was too tired to be nervous about riding for the first time with Jimmy Wofford in the three day clinic at beautiful Eventful Acres.

Cottonwood Derby by Nahmi Jones

Tales of the Cottonwood Clinic starting Friday 7/2/10 by our own Dr. Jones....


Hmmm, its almost 11p. I'd followed the clearly marked signs from the freeway off ramp to the Event Derby. But now the road has deadended. I hadn't passed a stabling chart, let alone anything that looks stabling. Turned off the engine. Pitch black. Started to rethink the idea of coming up the night before by my lonesome. tick. tick. tick.

Relieved to see Erin Bridges drive up just then to help me find the barn, the light switch, the stabling chart and Simon's stall.

The Cottonwood Ranch late night welcoming committee set the tone, I knew I was in for a relaxed weekend in a supportive atmosphere.

Simon and I were ready to go early the next morning with the Training group in the jump clinic taught by Brain Sabo. I was hoping to be able to demonstrate our progress since our last lesson with Brian a month ago.

Brian's simple, elegant definition of the half halt is taking a horse's power from extension to compression. In the case of horses like Simon, who solve their problems with extension, the answer to too much extension is a small control circle on the counter bend to engage the outside hind. Eventually, the counterbend translates to a clearer half halt.

Both height in the show jump arena and terrain on the XC field pushed beyond my comfort zone. I was able to see how my excitement/anxiety translated into increased extension and loss of balance as the questions got harder. Being able to focus on our new line of communication: counterbend=halfhalt, led to better balance thru compressing and maintaining our power and improved our jumping technique.

My clinic experience was confidence building and loads of fun. Brian maintained his patience, enthusiasm and humor throughout the whole day. He still had one-liners left at the end of the day for Sherry in the baby beginner group, equating Poznan's first attempt at an up bank to a high school kid coming home from his first party.

Thanks to Wendy Wergeles and everyone at Cottonwood.

John's too sexy for his vest!

Here's the long awaited video of John's maiden voyage on the cross-country field set to music that the collective genius that is Sapphire Eventing thought of as we watched him go. Congrats, John, it was great seeing you out there. Hope you had as much fun as we did watching you go!

Enjoy!