STADIUM JUMPING CLINIC with Cori Nichols Sunday May 24, 10am-12pm

Norwegian Wood Farm 15 Old Queens Hwy., Kerhonkson

845-616-3608

All levels are welcomed for a 2 hour jumping clinic! Whether your interests are hunter pacing, negotiating obstacles on the trail, show jumping, eventing, or fox hunting, this clinic can help to optimize horse and rider skills: balance, rhythm, impulsion and overall technique for the improvement and enjoyment for both parties involved!

We'll begin with a review of basic jumping position and set-up, working over ground poles. We'll move on to gymnastic grids to refine position points while improving the horse's technique and confidence. We'll culminate with small courses consisting of different types of fences. The group format affords the opportunity to watch and learn from your fellow riders, and to understand the variety of training techniques that apply to different situations.

NOTE: Participation in this Stadium Jumping Clinic is pre-requisite for the Cross Country Clinic slated for early July.

Stadium Jumping Clinic at Norwegian Wood FarmSunday, May 24 10am-12pm.

All jumping on grass arena (weather permitting)*

$60 per riderAuditors are welcome free of charge. Group size is limited, so reserve your space now! Call 845-616-3608 to register.

*Clinic will be held outdoors-- drizzle or shine. In the case of inclement weather, clinic will be held indoors with stronger emphasis on jumping gymnastics.

Erin Go Steady (TAZ) Wins Rocking Horse Schooling Trial

April 5, 2009 . . . A fine way to end the season . . .congratulations Taz . . winning his BN division on a dressage score of 28.5 He handily ran the cross country with ease and grace . . and marched thru stadium from fence 1 to 10 without blinking an eye. A job well done!

Rocking Horse Horse Trials . .Taz BN

This past weekend, March 6-8 was Taz's debut at a Recognized Horse Trial and I couldn't be more pleased with him. I'd taken him to a few local 3 phases last year for Elementary level stuff, and while he tried his best, he was not very confident to canter round the cross country track and jump everything in his path. AAHHH what a difference time and training makes! He was a superstar in every way: from a gentleman in the warm-up . .careful, bold, obedient, focussed . . to the start box . ."let's do it!" to the way to pricked his ears and locked on the every joint I pointed him at. He peeked only at the Chevron (we don't see many up north . .note to Wally: build one!) and balked a tad at the water, which came up very fast after a fence and a tight turn . .but through it he went and on the next obstacle. While he was winded after 1800 meters, he still had plenty left in the tank. He was as pleased as I was. The only slight technical difficulty was mine . . .rider error!! After jumping fence 14 I realized while cantering toward home, that hey! there's a fence 15 out here somewhere! Not wanting to miss it, I called out the nearby spectators . ."where's jump 15??" and they pointed. . bless their hearts. . . .so errrt . .I turn , see the coop . . .slice it like a pizza pie and cross the finish line. woo hoo. Only to hear my name on the PA : "Cori Nichols please return to the XC Finish Line" where I was met by a very friendly TD, who reminded me that "Outside Assistance" is forbidden and grounds for elimination. OUCH! In my moment, I forgot completely! So I asked if I might still be able to Show Jump the next day, since it was the pony's first outting, and Yes, she said, after clearing it with the PTB. So: note to self: walk the course as many times as possible, be sure you can ride in the dark!

Next day was Stadium: Taz was super . . .cantered around in a lovely balance, within the time allowed, and didn't peak at a thing. Moved up when asked, steadied when asked . .fluid and calm and keen. Video shot shows great action with his knees up to his eyebals over the oxers, but literally just sort of stepped over the verticals . . need some gymnastic work to sharpen up his front end. Next stop: one more BN event before moving up to Novice. Treated him to a day of lounging in the pasture today and a reflocked saddle from the ENGLISH SADDLER who's down here for the winter from Providence.

HITS Level 1 Jumpers: What a Way to Spend a Wednesday!

As I've blogged about already . .I'm shipping over to HITS for lessons with eventer Robin Walker (Level IV USEA). He competes his horses in the jumper classes there between events and cross country outtings, so why not join in the fun?
HITS offers Level 1-6 jumpers (start at 3' and height and spreads increase by 3 and 6" respectively.) These weeks, HITS offers a Level 1 at 8 am on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings, so last week we got in on the action. Unfortunately it was one of those chilly nights here, and there was a coating of ice on the trailer ramp at 5 in the morning when I loaded and left . . tough to see in the "daylight" at that hour . . note to self: leave ramp up over night!
I arrived at Robin's barn by 7 . .we hopped in the Mule and got my entries set (HITS has waived any post entry fees to encourage participants . .still looked pretty bust to me) . . .took my Add Slip to the gate-guy ("don't piss 'em off" said Robin), and we quickly walked the course before heading back to get the horses. 10 fences, 2 combinations: both with distances very similar to the SJ round at events. These courses, however, were a bit tougher than what you'd find at a Horse Trial. For instance, first fence is not a ramped oxer headed toward the ingate, but rather, a vertical with no ground rail pointed right at the far corner of the ring:)) The oxers are all square . .height 3' with 3'6" spreads. All doable for the pony, but made more interesting by the course design. . . coupla roll backs, broken lines, etc. The mare was just super . . jumped out of her skin and really didn't have a peak at anything except for all the mini-bikes zooming around the grounds! This week is the final week for HITS Ocala so we'll be headed back likely Thursday morning. HITS Saugerties starts in May and I do believe I'm hooked.

Time's Flying! March 9, 2009

Woosh, the winter is zooming by. Weather now consistently in the 80s and still barely a fly in sight. The past few weeks have been exciting.

I'll pick up where I left off:

Jimmy Wofford Clinic: Jimmy is a fantastic guy with a great manner . . generous with his information and is happy to offer his explanation as to Why, in addition to How. He ran his Stadium Jumping lesson in a format which included Warm-Up, Ramp-Up, Own-It, New Ideas, Put it Together . . . He emphasized cantering in balance and used circling before and after each fence as a way to school both horse and rider to "get there" before moving on. Toward the end of the lesson the jumps were lowered to work turns and lead changes, giving horses and riders a little bit less to chew in order to concentrate on other specifics. He referenced his book Training of the Three Day Event Horse and Rider several times, which, in the meantime I have read, and find excellent. During the clinic Jimmy made a strong point about horses that stop at fences: "they must be punished" . . explaining that we must teach our horses that they must jump the fence no matter how little we help them or how wrong we get them in. They must not be dependent upon the perfect ride to get from one side to the other. Now, surely we riders must strive to make as few mistakes as possible, and we need continue our best efforts to do this, but our horses have a responsibility to do their part!

The cross country phase the following day started with galloping practice . . .balanced position with a feel for pace . . .mpm . . know what each gear feels like! He explained his view on jumping from a balanced gallop . .. a slight departure from the ICP approach, which emphasizes a "rebalancing zone" and a bigger change in posture. There were several riders in our group who struggled with the "gallop to the jump and let it come up" method . .the author included. By the end of the clinic, tho , I could see and feel the upshot of this approach, but I would ride only certain fences in this fashion (brush and other natural objects, with ground lines and such. . . )there are too many fences on modern day courses that need be ridden differently I think. . .coffins, corners, skinnies, etc. We also worked thru water, in a sunken road and up and down the mound . .and again, he was very generous with his time, attention, information and explanation. Some of his commentaries and course walks can be found on YouTube if anyone out there is interested. I rode Blu Jay in this clinic and she was aptly called "Pocket Rocket" throughout. Next stop: Training!?

Weekend Plans

Weekend highlight I think will be the Jimmy Wofford clinic Saturday (stadium) and Sunday (cross country) with Blu Jay at Rocking Horse. I've never ridden with him before but very excited. Just read his piece in The Chronicle about galloping-in-balance.

Other activities? We'll be crashing a HITS party Saturday night at The Sanctuary . . .a rehab farm in Williston (near HITS) that has all sorts of gadgets and gizmoids to fix a broken equine . . .swimming lanes, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, group therapy . . you name it. If you're curious, I'll bet the website is something like www.TheSanctuary.Com. Forgive me if I'm wrong and you have to google!

Back out to ride Taz and work the trot . . .forward and back and forward and back . . ."Do it a million times and when you have, do it again!", Robin Walker . . Tuesday of this week.

PS - Myron's birthday today, with festivities on Monday. More then! C/H/W

We've found dry stalls on a 400 acre farm with rigns, loads of turnout and easy access to nearby facilities. A rented RV and crockpot, and we're good!

The horse industry is alive and well here in Ocala, where we've come for the winter to continue our work with our Connemara eventing ponies.

There is no shortage of shows and events to attend . . we've been to Rocking Horse Winter I horse trial (Altoona, FL . .about 25 miles to our east). We took Blu Jayne Open BN to "get her feet wet" . . punn intended! The water complexes here abound . .the biggest difference is that the sand here is soooo white there is an almost blinding glare. In any case . . she put out a great first run performance and took 3rd place, finishing on her dressage score. Fortunately her fitness wasn't too too challenged, as there are virtually no hills here . .but the mpm time was a solid 350 in any case. Next week for her will be the Florida Horse Park horse trials where she is aptly entered in Novice.

Speaking of the Florida Horse Park, you've gotta love this place . . last week they held a Dressage and Jumping show on a WEDNESDAY . . oh joy. We took Taz (Erin Go Steady). . our youngster and he turned out a super BN A Dressage test (33) and did two terrific jump rounds . .over 2'6" and 3'. Nothing fazed him even a little . . except when he saw a darling grey Connemara that so closely resembled his barn mate Blu Jay. Turns out the handsome gelding was in fact a 1/2 sister to our Blu Jay . . sharing Landgate Bluebeard as the sire. STUNNING resemblance! Also last week we had the pleasure of attending the Anne Kursinksi Jumping Sypmosium at Longview Farm South here in Ocala. . what a place! (Photos will be posted on my website.. www.EventPonies.Com)

Anne most certainly had some interesting methods. For instance, she asked riders (demo riders were professionals from across the country) . .to do things such as turn over their hands so that the rein comes strait out over your index finger and under your thumb. It was obvious what a difference this made to help keep arms soft and hands fussing less. Anne also requested that some riders knot their reins and "stop fussing". Instead, she insisted that riders maintain soft contact and use their seats and legs effectively to ask the horse to come through. Ms. Kursinski's stride-counting exercise was brilliant . . challenging even experienced riders to really understand where they are in relation to their fences. This is an exercise I will certainly bring home to my own students. We also had the pleasure to watch Anne ride a horse she chose from the group . . a stunning bay gelding being trained by Robin Walker . .and ICP Level IV instructor, who's here from Michigan for the winter with his string of 14. Anne demonstrated how nearly all of her adjustments were made softly, swiftly and accurately through her body whilst in two-point her entire ride. She certainly has perfected that craft.

More wonderful things about Florida? The variety of grain manufacturers and thier use of ingredients . . .Seminole Feeds, Buckeye, Pennfield and numerous other lines each offer multiple configurations of performance grains and many incorporate herb to the extent you'd open a bag and want to eat it for your own breakfast. Numerous varieties cater to low-starch diets but provide enough fat and fiber to balance it out. Perfectly suited to my performance ponies.

We're hoping our friends back home are keeping warm and happy and in touch. Do write us . .we're here til April 5 . .with a brief stint to Aiken, SC early March for the Aiken Event Horse Sale and a visit with Eric Horgan. For information on how you too can do Florida on a Baling Twine, contact me, , ,Cori Nichols at NorwegianWoodFrm@aol.com.

XC Fences at LongwView Farm, Ocala FLA

Hello Ocala!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

After a three-day tour we've arrived in sunny Ocala with our two Connemaras (Blu Jay and Taz), our two Bichons (Dr. Funk and Diesel), our beloved baby (Hattie), our IT/Entertainment/HandyMan and Beloved Papa Wally, and our Sanity(Z)!

The ponies forgave me for the journey the moment they were released into their large, private and sand-soft turf fields. OH THE JOY!!

Our accommodations are set . . . (stalls too) . .tack put away and we've had ample time to meet our new winter friends and neighbors. 70 degree sunny weather has allowed for dreamy warm-up rides around the 400-acre property. Main goal this first week is getting the horses loose and relaxed and comfortable in their new environment. The expanse of the farm and all its goings-on can be very interesting/destracting/spooky, so we'll let 'em have a good look around this first week. Then the real riding begins.

A few hours per day I'm assisting a lady-carriage driver here from Nevada for the winter. Paula has two fabulous Friesans and a beautiful carriage. I'm harnessing and hitching them and accompanying her on her daily drives. A dream gig! Look out Hansel . .you're next when we're back in April!

Will post pictures on another day . .time now to tack up and ride. Rocking Horse Ranch Horse Trials in two SHORT weeks!