Riding With The Stars!

I have had the great pleasure to ride with some phenomenal riders/trainers/coaches this past year. This post is a long time coming, but also constantly developing. When I started taking lessons with big name people I was a bit unsure whether it was a good use of my money or not. The first time I just figured I'd try it out to say I did it and see how it went. It ended up being a very positive experience that I wished to have again. From there I decided to try a clinic and the rest is history!

Joe Meyer
The first lesson I took from a big shot was Joe. One of my trainers had connections with him and brought him down in September 2014 while he was laying over nearby before the AECs. Panda and I hadn't truly mastered the canter, jumper turns, the half halt, keeping our heads while jumping, or turning in a 20 meter circle. If we're being honest, I still haven't mastered any of those things. Nonetheless, I decided to sign up for a semi-private with Joe. The girl I rode with had a beautiful, scopey, aging Warmblood mare who, apparently, wasn't on her game, although I couldn't tell. We muddled through some grid work and moved on to course work. I was advised to do circles when practicing courses at home if Panda decided to get anxious in front of jumps and rush them. We did a lot of circles in our lesson that day. I came away with a bit of a star struck feeling, as well as some homework about teaching Panda to canter and calm down and things like that.

Joe came back again in November, right before Thanksgiving, and I took another lesson with him. Although I'm sure he didn't exactly remember who I was, we didn't get told to go back and learn how to canter. We also didn't get stuck in grid work because he was scared I might die for a giant portion of the lesson. We were able to work on courses and really work on some technical aspects of stadium. We made sharp turns, changed direction, worked on lines, and mastered combinations. All while keeping our heads about us. We definitely needed to keep working, but we had obviously made some improvements since the last time he'd seen us. I don't know if I will be able to take a lesson from Joe again, as he hasn't made it back into our area due to the show season starting up, but if he does, I look forward to seeing him again.

Debbie Bowman
I believe it was the last weekend in November or the first weekend of December 2014 I was able to go to Houston with my dressage trainer and take a lesson from her trainer, Debbie. I have watched Debbie teach clinics and lessons before, but this was the first time I was able to ride Panda with her. This was a kind of dressage milestone for us because it meant our trainer felt that it was worth our time (and her time) and money to lesson with Debbie and that we could both really get something out of it. Debbie is a wonderful and very insightful person who is endlessly knowledgeable. Panda and I were finally able to trot around on the bit and look halfway like a dressage pair but our canter still left a lot to be desired.

So we worked a lot on the canter. On me, sitting like a sack of potatoes. It's been over half a year since that lesson and I'm only just now getting it, but I'm finally getting it. We worked on Panda staying calm in the transitions. We cantered more in that lesson than I had probably cantered all year. I got a lot of confidence from that lesson. Debbie really liked Panda and she and my trainer were able to form a better plan for him in the future. It is now the future, and I can say that the plan really has worked well! I am excited to lesson with Debbie in the future, after the AEC hype is over probably.

Buck Davidson
YES!!!! December 2014. This was my first actual clinic! I mainly did it because I LOVE BUCK DAVIDSON, and I love him even more now. For real. That's the reason I signed up for the clinic. I signed up for the Beginner Novice/Novice section too, so I could get more out of the clinic, and get more practice over the bigger stuff. Let me tell you right now, I got there on Saturday morning to watch some of the more experienced riders go and I was trying to guess which aspects of the exercises were going to be taken away to make it easier for us puny riders. The answer to that is a big fat NONE. None of the elements were taken away. All that was different was the height. So when I hopped on Panda and Buck came into the ring and told us to start by trotting into an X followed by 11 canter poles (some soon to be jumps) and an oxer at the end, forgive me if I heartily laughed and started bawling at the same time. I wanted to raise my hand and say, "Excuse me, my horse can't canter. Can someone please pull an ambulance around?"

But that's the thing about riding with the big guys. You paid them to be there. They don't know you. They don't know your baggage. They DO know how to recognize problems and correct them. They do know what the average event horse is capable of. And they do not put up with crap. Buck was super nice, explained everything, didn't shake his head in disgust all of our first times through the exercise, and was very encouraging. All of a sudden, I was going first! And I felt like I could do all the things! His belief in me made me really believe in myself.

Cross country day started the same way. I watched. Laughed and cried. Asked for an ambulance. And nailed the freaking zig-zag exercise the 3rd time through it.WHAT?! I couldn't believe it. I went first and set my mind to it and did it. Because that's the only option you have if you don't want to lose all the money you just paid and also be the laughing stock of the clinic. There is no making it easier. There is either do or don't. Then, we went off and jumped the ditches that always make me pee myself. Oh and did a double up bank to a giant down bank. I did more in that clinic than I thought I Was capable of.

But the best part was, Buck pointed out at the end that he could tell I was a bit timid but because I went first I grew more and more courageous. Another girl in the clinic was very anxious and he told her to try going first in order to be able to learn the most she could during our lesson, instead of being anxious for her turn the whole time. I thought he was so insightful. He cared that we learned things. He knew our names. The man could watch 4 people on course and talk to a 5th standing next to him and give you a stride by stride run down of everyone's go. I have already signed up and put my deposit down for his clinic this coming December.

Doug Payne
Doug effing Payne. That was the theme of the weekend. Doug effing Payne. And I mean that in the most respectful and enthusiastic way I can muster up. He was amazing too! I had a dressage private with him on Friday where he helped us with, you guessed it, the canter. He was very patient and took a lot of time to communicate effectively. He answered all of my questions with patience and no eye rolling. He liked Panda a lot and said he gave me very good efforts.

The absolutely monumental part of our clinic experience was Saturday. 2 of my friends came to watch and it was sprinkling on and off. We worked on an easier version of his famous circle exercise, a small gymnastics, a skinny, and finally a course. It was not as immediately frightening as Buck's course, but it became apparent that I needed to stay human when I couldn't get my distance or keep my leg on through the gymnastics. Then the crazy part. I cantered up to a green fuzzy roll top and Panda refused. He actually refused about 5 strides before the roll top but I decided to do nothing about it and ended up falling off! My first fall off panda in a bit over a year of riding him. I had really become quite nervous about falling off because I hadn't fallen in quite awhile. So when I landed on my feet laughing out of relief, everyone wanted to know what kind of crack I was smoking. Once that was out of the way we got on with the course and everything went decently smooth from there.

Cross country day was pretty straight forward. Oh wait. Except I was keeping it on the DL about my fear of banks when someone asked if we could work on them. So we went up banks. Then we went down banks. Then we went up a bank to a down bank. Then we went up a bank, bounce, to a verticle. Then we went verticle, bounce, to the down bank. I felt like every time it was my turn I needed a new pair of breeches. But I tell you what right now, Doug was a lot like Buck. He knew we could do it which helped me do it! And I was beaming with delight when we successfully did all of the bank exercises with only minor technical issues. Of course, Doug is always one to up the ante. So we moved to the training level bank. Lord have mercy. He made a little course of novice level houses with the down bank somewhere in between. It was optional. But when is anything REALLY optional? I mean if I had said no, he would've been fine with it. But my first, middle, and last names are competitive, so no was not really a word I could use and sleep well at night after that. So I did the house to the bank and Panda was a rock star. Wow. Anything else Doug threw at us that day paled in comparison to the fact that I just leaped with my horse off a cliff of doom. Seriously. Although we did work on the ever famous scary ditches. Which went well. He's coming back in November but I'm not sure I can swing a clinic with him this year because...

I have signed up for a clinic with Karen O'Connor a month before the AECs for prep!!! It's at Texas Rose, where the AECs will be held! And it's almighty expensive. And I've chickened out a bit and only signed up for beginner novice because I heard she can be tough. I'm so excited and will definitely be posting an article about that after it is over in August. Panda and I need to go school some cross country before that happens so I can regain a bit of my tenacity. I don't have a lot to begin with so I need every bit I can muster up. Stay tuned for lots of exciting AEC updates, hopefully next week!