Signing Books and Neeping Lessons

[dancinghorse]

After yesterday's whine, I'm pleased to report that while shutting down the puter prior to feeding horses, I caught the new chapter opening on the way by, decided it didn't work, and did two paragraphs that do work before heading out to the barn. Under all the jangle and frustration, there's still some first-draft capability. This is encouraging.

The panel/signing went extremely well. In spite of its being a summer evening in Tucson, which is usually dead season for events like this, every chair was occupied and the audience was lively and enthusiastic. janni was there, and Joanna Russ came and had some lovely contributions to make, and I met one of my favorite mystery authors, Margaret Falk, who is another horse nut and a brand-new Pooka fan. My fellow panelists were very pleasant people and we enjoyed ourselves; from what I could tell, so did the audience. We talked about genre crossovers, the market as it is today, and how outside interests feed into one's books. The store asked me back for another roundtable, this one with romance writers. I do so love being a Crossover Writer.

And yes, people bought copies of Queen of the Amazons as well as various earlier releases.

After the panel, some of us went out for dinner. More pleasant conversation--I was sorry to run out at the coffee stage, but I had to get home and batten down the farm for the night, and get up at 6 to get ready for early lessons. I made it to bed at midnight, was good going considering.

This morning's lessons went well. Keed is really getting it--he's started legyield and his trot work is getting more and more sophisticated. He's starting to look like a Real Dressage Horse. He isn't a competitive mover, but he's light and pleasant to watch and Really pleasant to sit, and he's having a ball. He probably wouldn't show well much past third level (versus Pook and Camilla, who have Movement To Kill For), but he has all the movements in him and as long as he's having fun, he can do whatever he wants. He looks awfully pretty doing it, too.

And speaking of Movement to Kill For, Pook was doing great...until we came around on a 20m trot circle and he started to rush and I half-halted and he sat down hard and...pulled off a shoe. Again. I'm tearing out my hair. He had boots on, and he reached right up past the right one and hooked the side of the shoe up toward the toe and rrrriiiipppp!

He did get the outside-aids thing and I was starting to get it myself, so that was good. Now to figure out the engine being too powerful for the chassis thing. His rear wheels run right up past his front wheels, and he isn't strong enough yet, or educated enough, to get his front end out of the way in time. Joni said he scooched when I asked him to balance, sat 'way down behind (overcollected, to be precise), but his front end didn't lift as it would have if he'd been trained to the level a horse usually has to be at to have that much Sitz.

He's too talented. That's his problem.

So now I have yet another call in to the shoer, and a plan to ride him up and down hills in walk so he can practice in slo-mo, and a message in to some trainers online who might have some suggestions. Joni observed that too much talent can be even more trouble than not enough. So much of training presupposes that the young horse can't do this that or the other--but Pook can do it, he just doesn't know what to do with it. Then he gets into trouble. And right now, butt-high and awkward anyway, he's trying to learn to trot a simple, basic 20m circle without falling on his nose, except he's not a normal horse so instead of falling on his nose he revs his engine and strips his front wheels.

And now I have gone Thud and am contemplating a two-week interlude in the bunker. I need to hole up and write for a while.

Comments

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need to duct tape his shoes on (just kidding) I am also having a fantasy about itty bitty bumpers on the toes of his back feet.

Poor Pooks, poor you, rich shoer.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the reading went very well indeed--go you!

Re: Diddle diddle dumpling, my son--Pooka!

[moon-happy.livejournal.com]

Do they still make half-shoes? Can't keep them in them indefinately, but maybe it would help get him past this stage. I hope the blacksmith takes pity on you and gives you a "frequent customer" rate.

Re: Diddle diddle dumpling, my son--Pooka!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Now there's a thought. I'll ask Curt what he thinks.

Icon shows what he can do when he's in the mood. I wish I could leave him barefoot--he'd be fine then--but no can do. Unlike Camilla and her Perfect Feet(tm).

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I have thought of duct tape.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Gracias. It was fun. I enjoy panels much more than signings or even readings--I think audiences do, too.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, panels have so much more scope, don't they?

Re: Ditto--

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Panels offer the possibility of give and take among kindred spirits--I think that leads to a lot of fun for both panelists and audience.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

You say the Keed isn't competitive, though he's bright and "getting it"--what do you plan for him, so to speak? Or is the training only for both your benefits, that a huge, intelligent animal can't be left to get bored and find his own mischief? So you can bond and safely enjoy rides together?

I hope the blacksmith comes up with an idea--maybe he'll use this as a Challenge to find a new way to shoe horses like Pook that do this...

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Dressage means "training" and is not really about showing (though some think it is), in fact as you surmise, its chief goal is to make the horse safer and more pleasant to ride. It started as a way to train cavalry mounts for the general run of recruits, as well as parade and war horses for the gentry. It produces a calm, focused, obedient horse with a firmly installed set of controls. It's also lots of fun for the busy brains like keed, because there's always something new to play with. Keed is learning to dance, and he thinks it's a ton o' fun.

So while keed isn't likely to win any classes at the FEI or international level (he doesn't have the huge, extravagant movement that's needed in order to compete against the big European horses--unlike Pook and Camilla who do), it's really about how much fun he has and what he wants to do with himself. I bred him to be a fun horse to ride up to maybe fourth level, and he was the first horse I ever bred or started. He was also meant to be a guest horse and friend. He's everything I hoped for at the time, and as I told him yesterday, he's a Perfect MooseMonster. He preened.

I'm very happy with my keed. He's a wonderfully ridable horse, with soft gaits and a lovely attitude. Pook and Camilla are specialty items--I don't expect Pook will ever be ridable by anybody but me and maybe Joni, and Camilla may tolerate more riders but her movement is so big she already scares people, never mind what she'll feel like to ride. I have to be at the top of my game with them. With keed I can relax. He's my best bud.

He's turning out right purty, too. He has the Arab prettiness with some Lipp substance added in. It's a nice combination. He's not as Lipp-y as Twix actually--he's more toward the Arab half--and that's fine; I love the Arab and am happy to have this much of one around.

[hippoiathanatoi.livejournal.com]

Do Lipps with good movements do well in regular dressage classes in the US? From what I've heard, those who attempt to compete with Lipps (or Andalusians) at higher levels here in Europe feel that the are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to the judges attitude towards their horses.

In particular, I remember reading some articles after the last Olympics (or possibly the last World Championships) about a Spanish rider who felt that the judges gave the modern dressage horses too much of an advantage. He felt that although it was natural that the standard for extension that the horses were measured against was the kind that the best modern dressage horses are capable of, it was a problem that the judges failed to make the standard for collection the kind which the classical breeds are capable of, allowing the modern breeds to avoid penalties in those movements.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Lipps with "modern" movement do well, especially if they're larger. There's still plenty of pro-Warmblood prejudice but (thanks in part to the Spanish team) US trainers are starting to admit that they're tired of maneuvering monster trucks around the tests, and they're also tired of dealing with minds that aren't all that inclined toward dressage. They rave and rave about the mind of the beast when working with Iberians and Lipizzans. They also are profoundly awed by the Sitz-ability of the Lipp--lord knows I know about that. :P

As for judges and scoring, did you hear about the furore after the World Cup a year or two ago? The judges blew up at the low quality of work they were seeing, and decided to start scoring according to how they really felt versus grading on a curve as it were--expecting lousy work and scoring the least lousy as if it were good. At least for a while, scores plummeted. In the US, riders accustomed to scores in the 60s were dropping as low as the 30s once they were held to the written standard rather than the dumbed-down standard that had previously applied.

I'm not sure how it's all shaken out since. There are still astronomical scores for horses with no discernible collection and a ton of front-end extension.

My personal and highly opinionated view is that the Germans have a hammerlock on FEI dressage and have maneuvered the entire system into favoring their horses and riders. The whole rest of the world has to play the game by their rules. The Spanish team dared to be different and has done well using Andalusians of classical size and build, but the rest of the world has been slow to follow.

However, at the grassroots level, people are noticing. More and more people come looking for Lipps who five years ago would have believed they "had" to have a Warmblood. They always say they want something smaller, sounder (that's a big one), and better adapted mentally and physically to stay the course. My yearling Gaudia is on reserve to a trainer who said she is sick of paying vet bills on Warmbloods who might never make it to FEI level anyway, and she wants something sound, sane, and capable of Grand Prix work.

Pook is actually too short for an FEI passport and I'm not sure he'll make 148cm by the time he's done--but his kids are sizey and he can compete at FEI outside of the CDI's. Camilla will make the height limit. So will Gaudia who is as tall as her dad already. They all have movement that can compete with the big guys. The judges are growing more accustomed to seeing quality non-Warmbloods at higher levels, and if the movement is there, it gets good scores. Camilla is a killer mover in the Warmblood mode, who can also collect.

Oh, and, you know, "Lipizzans can't extend"? We loooove to show this one up for the crock that it is. One of Pook's favorite things to do is a slam-bam-boooom extended trot. Of course he's short and if they're measuring stride length he won't win, but he sure won't get a "not performed" score, either.

[hippoiathanatoi.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I hadn't heard about that particular scoring controversy, although I do know that I have been underwhelmed a lot of times watching some of the horses that keep winning. Clearly, my expectations don't match the judges, and I guess that's the issue with the perception that Lipps can't extend as well. They can't do it precisely like a Warmblood, in terms of stride length and all, so the judges fail to notice they're doing it perfectly well -- or better.

I suspect things will change pretty slowly here (the German school of riding remains very influential, although I do think the Swedes have improved a lot the last years), and when I recently poked around for news about Lipps in Sweden, the breed organization's page noted that they are still relatively cheap here since people haven't realized that they're actually very useful horses. So I don't imagine that I'll see a Swedish dressage rider on anything but a regular old Warmblood anytime soon. Even if they do have a habit of breaking down, as much from being rushed ahead as from a less robust conformation (like those long tendons).

However, baroque riding is apparently becoming very popular, and a lot of people have realized that a slow build-up of the horse's strength is a good way to keep a horse happy and sound. If done correctly, that is. Like western riding, natural horsemanship and other 'new' approaches, it attracts a lot of people who don't really bother to learn it properly before starting to pass it off as the only true way.