Adult Rider's Camp - Aspen Farms

On Thursday noon, Kerry came and got me in her truck. we loaded my stuff, then went to go get Olive, her mare, and loaded her stuff.

Imax was turned out when we got to Lakeside, and running around along the fence line with his pasture neighbor. Uh oh I thought. He's keyed up. I put a halter on him and we wanted to load him in the front of the because Olive is too big to fit in the first stall. ( it is a three horse slant) Imax wanted no part of loading, he'd never been in this trailer, and probably never been in a slant. Still, I had never had much of an issue loading him so was kind of unprepared for the level of refusal we were getting. He'd put his front feet in and then violently slam his head into the top of the trailer and go flying out the back. On one of these little episodes, he got loose, and galloped like an asshole all over the farm, tail flipped over his back like an Arab, trailing a lead rope behind him. Disaster was averted though, and he was caught. I decided to put him in his stall to calm down for a minute. Someone at the barn suggested Rescue Remedy (soon to be a theme of the weekend!!) and Kerry asked me to see if we could find some Ace - a sedative. No dice on the Ace, but I seriously dosed him up with the R.R. After letting him calm down, and for the RR to take effect, we got some carrots for bribes and he loaded right in. Imagine, carrots are a good bribe for a horse.

The ride over was uneventful, traffic was light and the weather clear. When we got there, we prepared the stalls, and bedded the horses down. Imax was very keyed up, pacing and calling in his stall. Other horses were going to and fro, many of them calling and acting out - making Imax more tense. We fed and went to set up camp.

The tents went up, people staying in their campers thought we were crazy and we went back to get the horses to walk them around. Imax was very anxious and I wanted to get him out - Kerry took Olive off, and I had to put a lip chain on Imax, just to get some semblance of control; but I couldn't leave him in the stall. People were all asking if I was ok, and did I need some help - Imax was a wall-eyed snorting stomping maniac. I thanked them and said we'd be ok, praying fervently into the atmosphere that we'd be ok. I took him for a walk and hand graze, he calmed down some, but going back to the barn, I had to lip-chain him again. I was thinking I would not be able to ride. He was much too dangerous at that point. Kerry told me to just be calm and everything would be ok.

In the morning we went to grain, and I could still tell Imax was over-anxious - so after he had an hour with his hay, I went to lunge him. I didn't even brush him, just put on his boots -- asking him to stand still for brushing was asking too much. At this point I remembered the Rescue Remedy in my pocket - thank god - and gave him three droppers full. We went to lunge. Again he was a snorting out of control mess, and one man was very concerned for us; so he walked with us over to the warm up area to make sure I got over there and got Imax working without getting killed. I got him to the end of my lunge and he just exploded, plunging and bucking and screaming like a banshee. The man that walked us over was way more scared than I was, but I have put up with this bullshit before, and I think his wife has only had nice trained warmbloods. This was at 7 in the morning and I had a scheduled ride at 9:00; Dressage with Jean Moyer. Kerry said I just needed to make it to that lesson and everything would be ok, because Jean was amazing. She was exactly right. I let Imax run till he wanted to stop, and then ran him a little more, threw his cooler on and walked him out. By that time it was time to tack up.

Imax has a swayed back and has a funky hip attachment that makes him weak behind - so he is hard to collect. We worked on his walk, by far the hardest gait, and Jean had me in full contact and round with my leg fully on him and driving him up in twenty minutes. She is a wizend-gnome of a woman, but so beautiful and generous, you just want to work really hard for her. She is always calling out "Hands down, left rein, left rein BEAUTIFUL! Good girl Yvette, look at that beautiful horse you have, that is it exactly! NO NO NO, don't let that shoulder go, you had it and threw it away, now leg and YES! Perfect, oh he is so cute!" By the end of the ride, I knew I had a weekend of fun ahead of me. Imax was perfect and we never looked back.

At two o'clock I had Stadium Jumping with Jonathan Elliott. Jonathan had us going nice and round in short order, really encouraging me to take a hold of Imax, and insist that he go correctly - I have a tendency that when he softens, I give too; but I give too much, and just let it fall apart. When I insist on correctness, he brings his back up to me and travels so much more comfortably and listens very attentively. We started over some simple cross rails and soon we were riding a very complicate pattern - vertical to the natural, sharp left to the red rails, one stride to the green rails. U-turn inside the course, over another fence, switch leads, canter to to the oxer, another fence and finish again with the cross rail. Imax was a super star and jumped every fence every time. We were going between 2'6 and 3'. They looked big to me!

That was day one.

Saturday I had 11:15 Dressage with Steuart Pittman. He worked on my hand position primarily, take a hold of him, and set my hands. He told me a great story about a sway-backed horse he had that he took to Prelim, and then sold. He said Imax was built a lot like that horse, and told me about articles he'd read and assured me that Imax should have no problems because of it. I knew that already, but to have Steuart freaking Pittman tell me that was really great. Again with the help of the experts, Imax had is back up and was carrying me in no time. Of course I am working my butt of to get there, but it is happening. Steuart also said the most lovely thing - that Imax deserves to have a loving home, and be the best horse he can be. I almost cried. Well later, when I was hand grazing I did. But it was so great to hear that from him, because the snotty women who buy the $50,000 imported warmbloods can be pretty mean.

Later I had Cross Country Ditches and Courses with Stewart at 1:30. At first Imax was not too sure about the three-foot high pile of logs I was asking him to jump, and we had some run-outs. I told Steuart I thought Imax was tired, and the look he gave me was priceless! He just said "that is the least of his worries" and made me actually ride the damn horse instead of just sitting there like I can in Stadium and voila! Imax was jumping the solid obstacles! Huge logs that were not just high but wide - Imax did a classic green horse thing, and over-jumped but he was beautiful doing it and Steuart kept calling out "Good man! what a great jumper! He is a natural jumper!" I loved it. Every time we would go over something I would hear "Wow! Good Man!" Heidi, one of the women at camp got pictures of us jumping in this lesson. I hope she emails them to me. We went on to the ditches, and again Imax was jumping them very big. We incorporated them into the course - over the ditch, big gallop up the hill to the left, over the logs at the top of the hill, gallop down the hill (I forgot to mention this is all in two-point...ARGH!) then over the jump to the left of the tree. Swing around and gallop back up the hill, over the HUGE log, gallop along the top of the hill to the right and finish back over the ditch. Awesome.

Day two down, On to Sunday. I had Water and Gallops with Kyle Carter at 9:45. Water is Imax's big bugaboo, so I took him down early to look at it and walk through and to paw and blow bubbles. I am really glad I did. I was able to get him to relax and walk through, but it did take 15 or twenty minutes. Then in the class, Kyle had us all walk through once, and then trot on in a big circle, all of us together going around and trotting through the water - eyes up 12 feet beyond the edge of the water, short trot, taking advantage of their natural tendency but keep them moving, kicking on. Imax did great! Then cantering through individually and again the key was controlling the speed, having him go on my terms, shortening and lengthening when I say, so I am the one calling all the shots, including the water. It was finally time for the course. We jumped the logs, galloped up and through the water, sweeping galloping turn to the left and back into the water, jump the cross rail out. Gallop down the hill, turn to the left, over the kayak, back into the water, keep in a canter and make a big turn in the water to the left and over the rails again to finish. Imax was getting strong and starting to plunge in the gallop - so I would sit up, and bring him back to me, but still driving him on to keep him ahead of my leg and galloping. He likes to slow down to get in some good bucks - but if I keep my leg on and sit up he keeps forward and comes back to me. I tend to back off when he starts acting up, but he settled great when I insisted. Another excellent jumping experience, with no refusals this time at all.

We packed up and came home. Imax was a little trouble to load, but it only took about 10 minutes and no breaking loose and galloping around, so that was good.

All in all, pretty successful. I am exhausted and sore, and I want to do it again tomorrow.