Posts Tagged With: NY

In Difficultly, There is Opportunity

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Elizabeth

Let me start off with an apology, it has been entirely too long since I last updated everyone, but oh my do I have some stories for you all! There’s two weekends of shows to catch up on and lots of training and practice to go over. And the best part about this post… Lots of pictures!

 

Let’s start with Maggie and her progress. At this point right now, I’m really feeling on the same page with her and feel that we’re really starting to build a connection together. A lot of it is me being able to relax and trust her, and her settling down and trusting me as well. Two weekends ago she was a fiery ball of belligerent sass and attitude and I was getting worked up to the point that I was fighting tears the entire time. After the first show I completely lost it and Kelly and Dave had to “talk me off the cliff” I was so distraught.

 

I ended up giving Maggie the rest of the weekend off so we could both have a mental break from each other and ended up riding Penny instead. Penny is wonderful and even though she had her sticky spots, the rest of the shows went great. Since Penny is comfortable with shows, I was able to trust her, relax, and not worry, and feel that Penny gave me a wonderful lesson in how great these horses can be when you relax and trust them. I was able to walk away from the weekend feeling extremely refreshed and successful, despite my initial frustration.

 

The past two weeks I really focused on giving Maggie that release and instead of always chocking up on my reins in anticipation of a mistake, giving her the opportunity to make that mistake and then offering a correction. Dave’s mantra has been “Ride the body, not the face” and it really does make a difference. I’m working on slowing down her cadence and showing her that she doesn’t want to put in a lot of work to go fast and get excited, but instead it’s better to go slow and collected. This week I was able to ride at the quintain both directions and get the rings while keeping Maggie calm and relaxed, which is a huge success for her. Today I was able to work on slowing her down and riding her with my seat and not my hands.

 

And practice has really been paying off! By the end of the weekend, Maggie performed the best she has yet. I was able to canter her both directions during the passes, she ran wonderfully for the dry lance passes and for the quintain, and only has one or two panic moments. I felt so relaxed during the shows, and really felt that reflected into Maggie. Her progress over the last 2 weeks has really astonished me, and once again, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with her. Considering how a few weeks ago, I had to constantly back her and do circles to try and settle her because she wouldn’t stand still; to this weekend, where she was standing quietly and very willing to do what I asked. It’s very encouraging to have good days like that and see that much progress.

 


Maggie and I after our show. Extremely happy with her!

Maggie and I after our show. Extremely happy with her!

 

Tara and I figuring each other out. They just love to put the tallest girl on the smallest horses....

Tara and I figuring each other out. They just love to put the tallest girl on the smallest horses….

In other new, I’ve been working with Tara quite a bit in armor and Dave has really been pushing us together in preparation for Minnesota. I really enjoy Tara, and Dave has done an excellent job training her. She’s so very willing and ready to work, it’s been really good for my confidence as well. I have high hopes for us together, and really hope we can connect and have a great future together. I’m working on riding one handed in my armor with my gauntlets and it’s such a challenge! Today I felt we did really well and had some good passes. Wish me and Tara Bear luck with our training!

 

would have to say that the best part about the weekend was my momma being here to visit and getting to see me and Maggie work together. I’m really glad that Maggie and I had such a smashing weekend and now that my mom has seen exactly what I’m doing, my parents will be a little more at ease. I’m still very thankful for their support in my endeavors and am so grateful to them.

 

Unfortunately, my laundry is almost done, so it’s time for me to finish up this post, but enjoy the pictures and I promise I’ll post twice next week! This will be the last weekend with the whole team here, as we have to split to finish up Sterling and start Minnesota. Love this group of people though! Look how good we all look!

 

SterlingTeam

 

Alright, enjoy your evening everyone! Much love!

Categories: Horses, Jousting | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How to Train Your Warhorse

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Elizabeth

Happy Friday to you all! I hope the week has found you well and you are all prepared for a nice relaxing weekend. As for me, I will be headed into the arena aboard Miss Maggie, hoping all goes well and excited to put into action the principles Art taught me. Unfortunately, today we took Art to the airport to send him back to California, however, I am so grateful for the time he spent working with us out here!

The past few days have gone very well, and I feel like I have so much more in my toolbox of horses thanks to Art. I’m starting to get to that point where I can take something I learned from one horse, and apply it to another horse to help fine tune them. It’s truly a great feeling when you can take something you learned to fix one problem and use it to help another problem. I’ve really started to scratch the surface of how much my seat and hands affect my horse, and I know there’s so much further to develop in my riding. When you are able to simply tilt up your wrists and sit with you core to make your horse sit down and stop under you, it’s just an amazing feeling.

The first day Art worked with me, he told me that I need to ride more with my body and less with my hands. Which made me laugh, because it is the exact same thing Dave has been telling me for the past few weeks… I guess sometimes you just need to hear something 21 times before it finally starts to stick! But it’s definitely a concept that I’m working to refine more. The whole notion of pulling back to stop and kick to go forward is thrown out the window here and I’m really working to redefine my riding style. Sometimes when I’m really struggling with something, it takes a hit to my confidence, and I imagine that I can’t be very good at riding horses at all. And then I look at the big picture and see that Kelly is putting Maggie in my hands and Dave is confident that my horse skills will allow me an advantage in learning to be a jouster, and I have to stop beating myself up and realize I must not be as bad as I think I am. But having to essentially re-learn how to ride in the style that Dave and Kelly train their horses in has definitely been a process for me. Ah horse training, such a physically and emotionally trying job…

Speaking of Maggie, she has been progressing well, and I am very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but at the same time it’s so draining to have to work with a slew of different difficulties every day. But I understand that is what horse training is, and every horse is going to have something that needs to be fine tuned. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the difficulty I have with her, but on the other hand, I know that if I was riding a push button horse I would go crazy with boredom. I have to constantly remind myself that Maggie is still learning, and I need to be a positive reassurance for her and not a controlling discipline Nazi. Today Art told me that his goal when working a horse is to make them happy without having them develop any bad habits. I’ve been sitting on that a lot, and really like it, because that’s what riding is about, a happy partnership. It’s also a struggle when I know my anxiety and frustrations are being relayed to Maggie, so in order for her to be happy and confident in her job, I do to. I’ve really learned a lot through working with her, and not just about horses, but about myself as well. I’m very grateful for the opportunity I have with her, and am excited to see what the future holds for us.

There’s really not much to report in jousting news at this time. I know that I probably should of gotten up in armor at least once more this week, but I really wanted to spend as much time focusing on refining my riding with Art that it sort of got pushed to the side. I did practice with a lance the other day, and just doing passes with that left me realizing I need to step up my game. We’ve also had a shortage of horses, due to numerous injuries, so there has been limited mounts for me to get on and practice after I finish my time with Maggie. Next week I’m going to hit the ground running and I promise I’ll bribe Shelby into taking some pictures of me working in armor. I also promise that next week I will spend some time going over the rest of the group here so you all know who is who and can meet my joust family. They really are a fantastic group of people.

With that promise, I bid you all goodnight! Tonight is a school night, and I see a busy weekend ahead of me! Please all do an anti-rain dance so it stays dry this weekend and we don’t have to perform in puddles, and wish us all luck! Oh, and here’s picture of Art with Maggie and I after our ride, he’s actually taller than me! Huge thank you to Art and all that he taught me, I can’t wait to spend more time with him in the future!

 

Maggie and I with the horse-wizard, Art!

Maggie and I with the horse-wizard, Art!

 

Much love to you all!

Categories: Horses | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Breakthroughs and Beatings

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Elizabeth

After being here for just over 3 weeks, I finally feel like things are starting to get underway and I’m so excited for what the future holds. Maggie and I are finally starting to click and I’m getting to spend more and more time training in my armor. Plus the time I’m getting to spend with my new friends and jousting family is really making my experience here memorable. Life is so good right now, and I am so happy with my decisions leading up to this point.

Let’s start with Miss Maggie! Yesterday during our ride, I finally had a light bulb moment and felt like we’d made a serious breakthrough. I’ve been having a really hard time trusting her and allowing myself to add slack to my reins and ride one handed. I finally just told myself that I needed to trust her and let it happen, and like Dave told me, she’s still learning, so if she makes a mistake I can always reach back in with two hands to fix it. Plus we’re practicing on a huge open field, so there’s really nothing terrible that would happen if she took off.

We were working with some exercises to move her shoulders and move more freely when Kelly came over and started working with us on a circle. I had her in one hand and was trying to get her to frame up and round herself out while slowing down. Kelly made the comment to slow her down with my seat, and to slow my rhythm to slow her down. Something clicked and I was able to relax my seat and instantly felt her slow down without my hands having to even move at all. He then said to take a huge exhale out and relax and when I did, she came to a lovely stop. All with my hands staying in one place and a nice drape in her reins!

It really left me excited to have that breakthrough with her and be able to trust her more. We were able to run the quintain both directions one handed with a lance and she ran strait and smooth for me. Today we spent more time getting her used to yelling and the sound of armor rattling, and we were able to work her through it. I’m really hoping to have a good show weekend coming up and have very high expectations for her. Wish us luck!

In other news, I rode Indigo in armor on Wednesday and we did very well! He rides completely different then Maggie, and having to work on lifting him up and really using my leg to motivate him was quite the workout for the day. We’ve had to make some adjustments to my armor to get it where it needs to be, but everything has been a pretty easy fix and it’s all been working great so far. Plus I’m the only one with stainless armor and it has a mirror finish on it so my goal is going to be to blind all who oppose me!

Today I also learned the company’s ground fight, and had it been for real, I would have been beat terribly. I know that I need to get more comfortable in my armor and have it feel like a second skin, so I plan to spend all next week with it on. It’s very hard to act animated and sell a fight when you feel so restricted in your armor. Thankfully strength and cardio are two things that are obtainable with hard work. I plan to push myself to the point where I am able to do the fight without feeling winded and having to struggle to lift up my shield. I was having a bad day today and it was very therapeutic to beat each other with swords though!

Learning the ground fight, I'm the shiny one!

Learning the ground fight, I’m the shiny one!

My big goal is to be ready to joust in the show by Minnesota, which begins mid August, so I have about a month to be prepared. I’m really excited, and am prepared to work my hardest to make it happen. The group here is extremely supportive and really willing to help get me there, and I am ever so thankful for them. Shout out to my joust family, you all mean more to me than you know!

In other news, Harry and I helped work with the camels next door and I ended up riding out a buck on a camel, which is no small feat. I’m slowly getting better at Super Smash Bro’s and am so thankful we made the decision to get a Nintendo 64 for the team, it’s a nice time killer for our down time.

I don’t think there’s much else to say, I’m living life to the fullest and am really enjoying myself. Thank you to everyone who has believed in me and pushed me to pursue this path of mine. Your support is invaluable. Much love!

Categories: Horses, Jousting | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Miss Maggie and Me!

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Elizabeth

One of the best features of this experience is the time spent with the horses and being able to learn and grow with the help of great mentors. There is no time wasted which is spent in the saddle, and I’ve taken as much time as I can to spend riding. So far I’ve ridden 6 of the 11 horses here and have faced challenges and rewarding experiences from each and every one of them. Kelly, who owns the troupe, is an accomplished horseman and has a wealth of experience to share. Dave, the senior jouster of the troupe and an accomplished horse trainer himself, has also been selflessly helping me perfect and refine my technique as well. Both of them have helped me tremendously, and I can’t believe how much my riding has improved in the last week! Huge thanks to both of them!

 

All of the horses used by the company are trained in Western Reining, and we try to have calm and relaxed horses for both the work we do on and off the joust field. The main principles are to get the horse to drape and hang, and be able to work off minimal rein. During the shows, we employ the stops, pivots, and collection that we spend refining during the week. We ride Tuesday through Friday, and perform on both Saturday’s and Sunday’s. So the horses here are in extremely good shape and extremely well trained. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden such beautifully trained horses before, and it’s such a blessing to spend 6 days of the week working with such wonderful creatures!
Just the other day, Kelly informed me that I would begin working with one of the newer horses in preparation to take her through her first show and joust. Her name is Maggie, and she’s an 8 year old Belgian/Quarter Horse cross. Of all the giant horses here, she is the smallest of the lot, and looks tiny next to the massive Clydesdales and Percheron’s typically used. She’s a light chestnut, with a flaxen mane and looks more like a Quarter Horse mutt than a draft mix. But she’s lovely to ride, albeit a tad fast and forward and has a tendency to get heavy on your hands. She’s definitely a lot of horse to ride, despite her small stature, and has been an exciting challenge thus far. With only three days to prepare her for opening weekend tomorrow, I was feeling quite overwhelmed, to say the least! I’ve slowly been progressing with her, starting with dry passes in the lyst and through the quintain, and have gradually moved her up to wearing her armor and doing trotting passes with another horse. Maggie wears a demi-chamfron on her head and a peytrol around her chest, as well as her barding costume. She’s been a bit uncertain about working with the armor, and is still getting used to having other horses in armor riding around her. Thankfully the entire team has been behind us, and I am so grateful for them putting up with my silly requests to get Maggie ready for her debut! Today she amazed me with how well she did during dress rehearsal; so much was thrown at her and although it took us time, we were able to work through a lot of her fears. When you look at the big picture, it really is a work of art to be able to train these horses to ride out in armor amidst a crowd of people and noises in a small space, with an armored knight on their back, and then stand quietly before running directly towards another horse!

 

Tomorrow we will have to contend with a muddy arena full of horse eating puddles, a large cheering crowd, drums, speakers, faire rides, lots of armor, and a cacophony of other distractions. However, I am confident that Miss Maggie and I will be able to work our way through it all. It may not be pretty and it may not go according to plan, but as long as I am there to support her and build her confidence, I am certain we will emerge successful!

 

I plan on writing another post Monday to let you all know how Maggie’s debut went, but want to know what you’d like to see more of. I was debating between going over the warm-up techniques we use with the horses here and going over the training method, or delving more into the people I’ve met and the adventures I’ve had thus far. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to write about both, but would love some input on what to focus on more right now.

 

That’s all for now! It’s a “school night” for me so I’ll be headed off to bed early in preparation for opening weekend tomorrow! Please send Maggie and I good thoughts! Much Love!

 

She is fierce in her warhorse costume!

She is fierce in her warhorse costume!

 

 

Getting used to her costume pieces!

Getting used to her costume pieces!

 

Categories: Horses | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

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