Firewell
Well-Known Member
We have slowly been finding our feet here in California and enjoying the endless days of permanent summer. I have felt very out of touch with the competitons here as it is just SO different from England. The way the shows are structured, how people go about competing and even the way people ride is totally different.
People here spend a lot of time and money training and I think it's because when people do compete they do it properly, to win. There's no popping to unaffilliated (or even affilliated) comps every weekend to give it a bash, they compete much more infrequently, they train and save for bigger competitions and then go all out. I'm also fairly close to LA and the standard is astonishingly high. I'm a bit scared to go out!
There are some local schooling shows (unaffilliated) over the summer, little hunter/jumper shows. They don't get much interest, the eventers use them more actually for practice. The hunter/jumper riders have bigger fish to fry closer to LA. These shows I hope will be a good way to introduce Jae and I, they only have a handful of entries per class (going from last years results) which is perfect. Less of an audience
.
The eventers travel very far to compete, sometimes days as the events are very spread out in distance. This will inhibit me as with a baby, I cannot commit to doing 3 day events far from home very often. All the events are 3 day, they have to be as people travel so far to get to them. They also are not as popular in England, they might get 10-15 entries per class but from what I gather they are well run, very social and I'm sure the standard will be good. Luckily I actually have a USEA event 20 mins from me so I can do the ones they hold there and stay at home overnight, yipppeeee. Theres another one 1.5hrs from me which is meant to be pretty good and I have several XC schooling courses close by (within 15/20 mins) so I'm lucky. This is horse central! Most people are not so lucky. Nobody complain about BE fixtures, you have NO idea how amazing the eventing and competing circuits in general are in the UK.
There are tons of registered hunter/jumper shows here over the summer, so lots to do if you are somebody serious about showjumping! The big guns do the summer shows in California and then fly the horses to Florida for the winter (even though we have no winter!).
Because of all this I haven't gone out yet with Jae!
I have had some lessons with a professional hunter/jumper trainer at my yard which has been very interesting! She is a very good teacher and has basically been getting me to ride much more from my leg and using very little hand (typical of the way hunter/jumper people ride here). It's a very soft, light way of riding, the horse isn't really connected like we tend to have them in England into a contact but none the less it's all about working the horse from behind and having them naturally round, she called it 'leaving the door open'. She didn't want me to use a restrictive contact at all but let Jae move forwards. It really opened up his paces and he started to really lift which was pretty cool even if it did feel strange! I have no idea how the dressage riders ride here as I haven't had a dressage lesson but from what I have seen with others riding at the yard they do use more of a contact to ride into.
When jumping in my lesson with her it was about leaving the horse to it. Pretty much same as what I am used to hearing at home. 3 strides out there's not a dam thing we can do about where we take off anyway so best leave it to the horse! It's all about soft canter rythm, sitting in a light seat, unrestricting then popping over the fence concentrating on a perfect position.
Ha ha quite amusing when Jae likes to fly at his fences, leap over them sending me into orbit and then hoone off the otherside
. The ladies at my yard are trained every time they ride (must cost them a fortune) but they are very slick, even their 5yr olds have perfect flying changes established. They jump small, but they jump perfectly.
There's a mexican guy who comes to ride one of the young horses bred by the yard. This horse, oh my word it can jump! The man said to me he was a Novice rider learning to jump. Yeah right! The horse is only 4 and they float round these courses in the arena, amazing, this guy has no fear! He pony club kicks the horse forwards no fancy riding technique, but he always see's a perfect stride and keeps the horse dead straight. Makes me wonder why on earth I worry so much about what I'm doing when I should just go with my instincts and not over complicate things so much!
Lots of stuff we have been learning and lots of stuff to get used to! Apparently there is this amazing hacking place close to my yard, 15 min trailer ride away which is 1000's of acres of sandy trails up into the hills so excited to give that a go! I'm waiting to find a friend to come with me as bit scared we might get lost and eaten by a Mountain Lion or Coyote!
Sadly no ridden pictures, I have no one to take any but I will try and persuade Mr FW to come to the yard at some point and take some (for some reason he isn't keen?!). However a few pictures of California type things:-
J in the cross ties
Watering the arena:-
Beautiful California:-
J fat and happy:-
and to make everyone jealous, it is hot enough in January/Febuary to do this:-
That's it from me for now, thanks for reading
. I'll post next time when I have some ridden pictures or we have more training or competing things to talk about.
People here spend a lot of time and money training and I think it's because when people do compete they do it properly, to win. There's no popping to unaffilliated (or even affilliated) comps every weekend to give it a bash, they compete much more infrequently, they train and save for bigger competitions and then go all out. I'm also fairly close to LA and the standard is astonishingly high. I'm a bit scared to go out!
There are some local schooling shows (unaffilliated) over the summer, little hunter/jumper shows. They don't get much interest, the eventers use them more actually for practice. The hunter/jumper riders have bigger fish to fry closer to LA. These shows I hope will be a good way to introduce Jae and I, they only have a handful of entries per class (going from last years results) which is perfect. Less of an audience
.The eventers travel very far to compete, sometimes days as the events are very spread out in distance. This will inhibit me as with a baby, I cannot commit to doing 3 day events far from home very often. All the events are 3 day, they have to be as people travel so far to get to them. They also are not as popular in England, they might get 10-15 entries per class but from what I gather they are well run, very social and I'm sure the standard will be good. Luckily I actually have a USEA event 20 mins from me so I can do the ones they hold there and stay at home overnight, yipppeeee. Theres another one 1.5hrs from me which is meant to be pretty good and I have several XC schooling courses close by (within 15/20 mins) so I'm lucky. This is horse central! Most people are not so lucky. Nobody complain about BE fixtures, you have NO idea how amazing the eventing and competing circuits in general are in the UK.
There are tons of registered hunter/jumper shows here over the summer, so lots to do if you are somebody serious about showjumping! The big guns do the summer shows in California and then fly the horses to Florida for the winter (even though we have no winter!).
Because of all this I haven't gone out yet with Jae!
I have had some lessons with a professional hunter/jumper trainer at my yard which has been very interesting! She is a very good teacher and has basically been getting me to ride much more from my leg and using very little hand (typical of the way hunter/jumper people ride here). It's a very soft, light way of riding, the horse isn't really connected like we tend to have them in England into a contact but none the less it's all about working the horse from behind and having them naturally round, she called it 'leaving the door open'. She didn't want me to use a restrictive contact at all but let Jae move forwards. It really opened up his paces and he started to really lift which was pretty cool even if it did feel strange! I have no idea how the dressage riders ride here as I haven't had a dressage lesson but from what I have seen with others riding at the yard they do use more of a contact to ride into.
When jumping in my lesson with her it was about leaving the horse to it. Pretty much same as what I am used to hearing at home. 3 strides out there's not a dam thing we can do about where we take off anyway so best leave it to the horse! It's all about soft canter rythm, sitting in a light seat, unrestricting then popping over the fence concentrating on a perfect position.
Ha ha quite amusing when Jae likes to fly at his fences, leap over them sending me into orbit and then hoone off the otherside
. The ladies at my yard are trained every time they ride (must cost them a fortune) but they are very slick, even their 5yr olds have perfect flying changes established. They jump small, but they jump perfectly. There's a mexican guy who comes to ride one of the young horses bred by the yard. This horse, oh my word it can jump! The man said to me he was a Novice rider learning to jump. Yeah right! The horse is only 4 and they float round these courses in the arena, amazing, this guy has no fear! He pony club kicks the horse forwards no fancy riding technique, but he always see's a perfect stride and keeps the horse dead straight. Makes me wonder why on earth I worry so much about what I'm doing when I should just go with my instincts and not over complicate things so much!
Lots of stuff we have been learning and lots of stuff to get used to! Apparently there is this amazing hacking place close to my yard, 15 min trailer ride away which is 1000's of acres of sandy trails up into the hills so excited to give that a go! I'm waiting to find a friend to come with me as bit scared we might get lost and eaten by a Mountain Lion or Coyote!
Sadly no ridden pictures, I have no one to take any but I will try and persuade Mr FW to come to the yard at some point and take some (for some reason he isn't keen?!
). However a few pictures of California type things:-J in the cross ties
Watering the arena:-
Beautiful California:-
J fat and happy:-
and to make everyone jealous, it is hot enough in January/Febuary to do this:-
That's it from me for now, thanks for reading
. I'll post next time when I have some ridden pictures or we have more training or competing things to talk about.
