2 hacks...and some poetry

I had some extra time this afternoon, as I'm post-call from work (so I got to go home at 2pm!), so I got to spend some extra quality time at the barn. As the weather has cooled off a little bit here, and neither of the boys was scheduled for anything very strenuous in terms of workouts, I decided on a day of hacking-out for both of them. 

Huey got his first ride out of the arena since going back to work -- a 20 min tour of the farm, trying to avoid the big hills, and it was quite a success. Huey has always been a fabulous trail horse...totally unflappable...and one of our favorite parts of our old routine was to do our work, then pull off the tack and cool out with a bareback stroll around the farm. I think Huey has been getting bored with walking in the arena...there's only so much you can do to mix it up! I'm a firm believer of hacking out...giving the horses (and us!) a mental break from the arena and doing some fitness work at the same time. The area around the farm is great for riding out -- you can go out for hours through some beautiful countryside. Even during show season, we spend at least one day a week hacking out for at least an hour...and with all the hills around here the horses get quite a workout!

Surf got the big hack today to see how the leg would hold up -- we were out for about 1.5 hours with his buddy, sunny the 22 year old wonder pony -- and he worked out of his stiffness and the swelling was almost completely gone when we got back. Our vet wants us to keep Surf moving...and it does seem to help with the swelling. We had a pretty easy hack...did mostly walking and maybe 10min of trot mixed in. Surf will probably do flat work tomorrow and saturday...and maybe pop over a few fences on saturday if we're going to the horse trial sunday. I'm lucky enough that he knows his job over fences...so as much as I'd love to school a few fences before sunday, if we don't get a chance, it'll be ok :)

On a somewhat tangential note -- but related to Huey's uncatchableness -- here is a poem about Huey and how hard it is to catch him. Seriously, Surf and Huey's owner (and her husband) are full-time poets (and part-time horse people) who've published real books of poetry and such...including one about catching Huey :) Actually she's written a memoir of sorts (largely about Surf Guitar) that will be out in bookstores around the holidays...it's kind of cool to be able to check out a book at the library and read poems about your horses :)

Click here to read the poem "Catching Huey" and see Huey's story about going from OTTB to eventer

Click here to read a poem about Surf Guitar

And Click Here to read Surf Guitar's Story...and to see why he's the soul of our barn

I'll end this rather long and rambling entry with a quote from Huey & Surf's owner's writing that I love but can't explain why...but that I've referred to during the past several months of dealing with Huey's suspensory, Surf's soundness issues, etc as I think it expresses how fortunate I feel to have the opportunity -- however long or short it may be -- to learn from these 2 neat old guys:

"We gave him the time off he needed, and he came sound. I started working him slowly, thinking that he'd tell me when he wanted to quit and that I'd keep riding him until he told me otherwise. From Huey I'd learned that every day is a gift. From Surf I learned that every hour is a gift as well. Every minute is your birthday and your Christmas if you want it to be." ~ Julia Wendell

Good Boy Pepsi!

We had a few breakthroughs last night...FINALLY!

Pepsi had finally quit trying to eat his halter after the clinic, but in the last week or so he's started trying to again. They've been pretty half-hearted attempts, but attempts nonetheless.

He tried it the first time yesterday and got a strong 'eeeenh!' for it. He ignored that and got a slap. Usually this has been enough to make him stop, but yesterday it wasn't. So, he tried it again and got a harder slap right on the muzzle along with KNOCK IT OFF! He STILL ignored this and tried to grab the halter yet again...this time I'd had enough and SMACKED him in the muzzle with the halter. Being the drama king that he is, he SQUEALED like a banshee and cantered off away from me. Ok, fine horse. If this is how you want to play, let's go.

He trots over to the gate and starts to graze. Ummm, I think not! He knows FULL WELL what it means when I go to put the halter on, and running away from me and ignoring me is NOT in the picture! So I make him move. He starts to squeal again, and then decides to take his frustration out on one of his pasturemates- he runs RIGHT up to him and tries to kick him. But his pasturemate is a 16.2 Percheron who kicked right back. ;) Of course, neither of them came CLOSE to making contact- they were just showing off.

So I make him move again since he's still ignoring me and this time I get an ear and an eye. I stand still and he stops completely and faces me! :D Good pony! Then he walks up to me and stands still right in front of me. He gets lots of scratches and a "good boy!" So I go to put the halter on and...you guessed it- he tries to eat it. AGAIN. Another smack, another (though noticeably less shrill) squeal and he trots off. 10 feet. Then stops and looks at me. I walk towards his hindend and he turns to face me. Good boy! He takes a step towards me, and I walk up the other 3 feet to his face. (I probably should have waited for him to come all the way to me, but at this point we were losing light and I needed to get to the barn where we had lights run by electricity, not the sun!) I go to put the halter on this time and he doesn't even move a lip. Just stands there like a gentlemen. Another rub and I offer him some water and to the barn we go.

I give him a quick grooming in the barn (his fungus treatment is starting to work and his scratches/wounds are healing nicely, so he's finally stopped looking like a swamp monster!) and out to the ring we go for some groundwork.

He does BEAUTIFULLY. We drive through cones like a gate, he stops when I ask him to, moves when I ask him to, and generally listens to me. Plus, I got 3 whole steps of sidepass to the right! (We're still having trouble getting them to the left, but that's the harder side for both of us.)

I decide to end on the great sidepass and call it a night. I take him in, hose off his legs in the wash stall, and then take him in the aisle to put on his fungus medicine. (He stood like a gentleman in the wash stall btw.) He tried to say hello to a mare in her stall, and didn't listen when I told him to knock it off. So, he got worked until he went- "Oh, right! I'm supposed to stand still!" and then proceeded to GROUND TIE like a perfect gentlemen.

Oh, and on a side note- I don't know if the deer weren't out there tonight or if he simply ignored them, but I had NO snorting or 'looking' at the scary side of the ring!

Hehehe. I KNEW my Pepsi monster could be good!

The double A team!!

Some things are truly better than......uh chocolate. :)

Apple has been looking pretty good on the lunge so last night I decided to ride. He and I both get bored in the arena without "real" work to do so we went for a mini trail ride. The barn is in the middle of Mooresville so our trail ride consisted of riding by the road(not too close), contruction site(has GREAT hills!), a few small fields, neighborhood, crossing a road or 2, soccer field, gas station, and more.

I have missed riding him more than I thought. It is nice to have a horse that needs little cueing because he can read your mind.

We did a few hills at the construction site and did some shoulder/half-passing work. I let him trot about 50 yards in one of the fields but I think we need a lot more walk work before doing more. I am going to try to ride this loop 4-5 nights a week and lunge him 1-2 nights a week. He got a good Vetrolin soaking last night after the ride. He'll get tonight and tomorrow off and then another trail ride on Saturday hopefully.

The vet wants him in "real" work so that the joint injections can work but I can't work him harder than his muscles will allow. So we are goign to walk......lots of walking.

I had to borrow a friend's saddle pad last night because the damn racoons ATE my good one so it looks like I'm shopping for a pad this weekend. If anyone has opinions on Impact Gel western pads please let me know.

Dare and Mandros 7/30

I rode Mandros tonight at 8 and it was so nice to ride at night. After I warmed him up at the walk, we started trotting long and low, like always. He was super forward.

Once I collected him up, we practiced the piaffe and it still needs some work, but it wasnt too bad. He was still very forward and when I asked him to half pass at the trot, he just got fast and kinda went to the side. So I decided to canter him some and we would come back to the halfpass. The canter was really nice and we tried the counter canter into X and he did it without breaking. We did this several times. I was so proud. When we did it before, it was at the end of our lesson and it was really hot, so he wasnt as willing. I was able to really collect him up in the canter and feel him really sit on his hindquarters.

Back to the half pass... when I tried it again, he was rushing through it so I made him do it at the walk. We picked up the trot again, and I half halted right before I started the half pass, and he did alot better. We kept practicing it and it got better each time. I worked on halfpassing from the centerline to the rail within two arena letters. I was able to do it each time. The half pass still needs work, but its getting alot better!

We had a really good ride today and I was the only one out riding at the barn. Yay for having the arena to myself. He had alot more energy and was more willing to work. Today proved my theory that it was the heat making him not want to work.

Huey & Surf 7/29

I have no idea how I'm going to get both of these beasties ridden on a regular basis! I'm at work, on call tonight...so no riding for me...but a few minutes to update on yesterday

Huey was first...he was left in which was a blessing (as he is IMPOSSIBLE to catch...seriously, when he came home from the track they turned him out for a few minutes to stretch his legs, and they caught him 8 weeks later...). We're up to 18min at the walk...and will up the time to 20 min and walking on hills outside (hooray!) on Thursday. Huey continues to be quite good at the walk...but he wants so badly to go go go and continues to try to sneak in a step or two of trot in the corners or when changing from a longer to a more collected frame. He's engaging his hind end well...but bending continues to be an issue. It was an issue back in march before he went on his forced vacation...but we've now progressed to consistently straight rather than counterbent...so now we move towards a more correct bend!

Surf walked under tack for the first time in a week...he was stiff all over (poor big old arthritic guy) but felt sound on the lymphangitic leg. He was sticky in his stifles, but I'm attributing that more to the time off and the time stuck in his stall. He's really a horse that does better with consistent daily work...as bad as his joints are, moving around seems to be the only thing that keeps him from stiffening up. He felt quite good at the trot...so we go back to full work tomorrow in hopes of being able to make it to our show on sunday.

We did make our move up to Training at Surefire back in June...and it went pretty well. Dressage was, eh, not so fabulous...but he was clean xc at our first training outing, so I can't complain. We'll do Training this weekend at Olney Farm HT, and then see how things are going. At some point I'm going to have to update about the fabulous clinic we did with Becky Holder (who's lovely Courageous Comet is enroute to Hong Kong as I type this) a few weeks ago...if anyone has a chance to ride with her, jump at it (and she's got a farm in NC where she teaches out of in the winter...)

I'll leave you with a link to Surfie's photos from his last show...not bad considering we'd had several days off beforehand secondary to the lymphangitis...
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=3963994&g=0EBK008374

Kate & Pro - 7/29

Pro was fairly good last night. He did throw a fit by Erik sitting on the bench, but only threw his head up once. Then he still wanted to be defiant by prancing and swinging his HQs around...but he kept his head down!!! Obviously I corrected him by booting him forward with my inside leg (pushing my inside rein forward as well) but I was pretty pleased that he kept his head down.

We managed to get a good walk fairly quickly, and he seemed to know that he had to behave. Except for fussing at Erik a few times, he was decently good. I again focused on keeping my outside rein steady in its new role, and only moving my inside rein when needed. I think he's catching on to my inside leg as the "new" form of saying "You will go forward and drop your head - NOW!"

However, due to his fussiness, I did have to put him a little deeper than usual. This is all Gayle approved...she said once that if he's bad, make him work harder. Still fussing, get him rounder, put him deeper, no excuses. He actually seemed to settle a bit once I put him a little deep, so I relaxed it into a little bit longer frame as a reward. Even deep, he got a lot of "inside rein reward" and liked that (chewing!!). His canter was better, more up and balanced. I'm still mystified as to why it changes day to day...oh well.

I also tried to remember something that I didn't think I put in my lesson report...Gayle talked about keeping the "stuffing" in front of my leg. Like to pretend that Pro is stuffed, and I want all of his "stuffing" up and light in front of my leg. Neat imagery, and it helps me keep him really in front of my leg.

Dare and Mandros' lesson July 28th

Sorry for the late post, I'm bad about that. Anyway, I had my lesson on Mandros and it went pretty well.

We practiced piaffing to get him elevated and to get his back up. I wish I had longer legs. Its hard to grab him and lift him up with my short legs. I have to wrap the stirups twice for gosh sakes! We finally got it really well and Im going to keep practicing. His owner wants me to do several steps of piaffe, and then move into the trot.

Then we worked on shoulder-in on the circle, and haunches-in on the circle. That went really well. Then we went and worked on the counter canter. Ive been practicing it so I was pretty confident that it would go well. Well, it didnt. Ive been practicing it where Im on one lead, and then I go across the diagional, and dont change leads. Or Ill ask for the left lead when we are going right and vise versa. His owner asked me to have him canter and move into X or the quarter line, and keep the same lead. I couldnt keep him in the lead, he always broke when we started back toward the rail. So, that goes on my list of things to work on.

Ive decided that Im going to only ride at night now. At least for the next month because the heat is so bad and I dont get as good quality of rides in the heat. The arena is shaded after 6 so even if its still hot, I wont be in the sun. I just hope the arena wont be too crowded.

Hobbes and Gabby....

went for a ride last night. I didn't do too much, since I had ridden him the day before and he actually does better with an every other day schedule. So, we just did about 20 min. of real work. I did a new exercise (thanks Kate) of serpentines down the whole arena with the almost walk immediately back to trot each time we crossed the centerline. I need to work on that. Hobbes managed to turn it into a new way to get MORE on his forehand, if that's possible. Downward transitions are SO hard for me...I can't get the timing of the aids right to get a downward without wiping out into a sluggish slower gait. More leg, less hand, I know....but I can get Hobbes to stop by just using my seat and we STILL get a sluggish transition.

Oh well. Need lessons. Speaking of lessons, I'm now scheduled for a lesson with Lynn Leath Sunday morning on the RPSI gelding. I am thinking for the price of one lesson, I will likely be ready to go Grand Prix immediately afterwards...or at least Prix St. George : )

This will be me Sunday afternoon (actually it could be me,

right as the horse is about to do a giant buck and launch me!) :

Kate & Pro - 7/28

I shared Andrea's good report with Pro and he gave me the horsey equivalent of rolling his eyes like "Yeah right Mom - I was bad@ss as usual. I'm a tough guy - don't believe her!" Silly boy. It was SO humid out today but I'm feeling very accountable to this blog :) so I rode anyway. I spent most of the ride trying to replicate the feelings I had (regarding the separate roles of the outside and inside reins) on Wednesday with Gayle. It actually went fairly well. I still have to laugh as he starts every ride by desperately putting his head up and rushing, in an attempt to see if I've forgotten everything. Nope, sorry. He not only has to put his head down, but he has to get plugged into my seat so he's not rushing me out of place. Similar to Gayle's working student saying that her horse fakes an allergy cough so she can get her off balance, and then she takes off. Ha!

He was a little resistant to give (at first) at the trot, but I really put my focus on the outside rein and it seemed to help. Outside rein stays stable and steady, inside rein is forward and soft 90% of the time and "in play" only when my inside leg kicking isn't working. He did a little dance by the bunny tree but actually (surprisingly!) stayed relatively round as he danced. I don't see *why* we had to prance by it as we did our best passage impression, but oh well. He kept his head down so I wasn't going to argue.

I did some leg yielding at the walk/trot but I think I'll need to lay out a more specific plan for that tomorrow, since he's trying to rush through them. I think part of it is me trying to coordinate all of my limbs - simultaneously be opening and "allowing" with my outside rein but "managing" the scooting with my outside leg, while still not hanging on my inside rein and using my inside leg to move him over. Stupid body...it refuses to listen to me!

His canter still feels unbalanced but I have a hunch that it's due to a whole lot of rebalancing over this past year...he's abandoned his old upside-down way of cantering so now he's not quite sure how to canter. I feel moments of balance, but not an overall sense of REAL balance like he's developed in his trot. That's okay, it will come. :)

Pepsi Has A New Name!

It isn't Pepsi anymore....it isn't even Fred! His new name is (drum roll please!)....

MASTER OF MISCHIEF!!!

Why, you ask? Because I came out today and, along with his slobbers, fungus, scratches, and everything else, he NOW has a giant welt on the right side of his body! GIANT I tell you! Giant!!

Will somebody PLEASE remind me why I love this horse.

Alex, in the next clinic can we please cover "How to Get Your Horse to NOT Hurt Themselves in the Pasture When You're Not There"?

Seriously guys, this welt is the the size of my cupped hand. And of course I have NO idea how he did it. (juby rolls eyes)

Anyway, we did some round pen work today and it went pretty well. I took him off lead for the first time since the clinic (I wanted him to be attached so if he tried to blow past me he couldn't) and that went ok. He warmed up nicely, then tried to blow past me once. I jumped in front of him yelling and swinging my rope and he turned and RAN the other way! Then he started hopping and bucking and generally being a goof because the deer were out there. He even tried throwing a kick at me a time or two. Of course, I was NOT having any of that, so he got put back on the lead and we continued working. Some side-passing, lots of jogging in hand, LOTS of circles and changes of directions. We worked while a scary tractor came out too- he tried to freak out but I just ignored it and made him work. He finally decided that it was MUCH easier to stand still and listen to me in this heat than it was to run around in circles.

In the wash stall I've been slowly winning the battles too. He still has a tendency to move his hind end back and forth a lot, but he KNOWS not to get in my space. If he does, he regrets it. Today I made a big leap with him though- he's been trying to move up when I ask him to stand still and I walk away a few feet (like to grab a brush or something) and he's still attached to the lead. Obviously, every time he does it I make him back up the step or 2 or 3 that he tried to take. Well, FINALLY today after making him back up 5 different times (I'd say he's a slow learner, but it's really just that he's freaking stubborn!) he actually stood still! Rock solid, not-a-foot-moving still. I walked around and got his brushes and treated his fungus and he was still standing still! :D Yay! He got a treat after that once we got back up to the pasture and he did some more haunches and shoulder over.

Yes, he still has his moments, but he IS getting better!

Andrea and Pro (7/27)

Foam! I got foam! :) I know, Kate gets it like all the time now, but this was our first full-fledged foam so I was really happy about it. I wasn't too sure how the ride was going to go because when I got on Pro was adamant that he was not going to go onto the bit just because I kicked with my inside leg. For that matter, he wasn't too sure he was going to go onto the bit just because I cranked his head around to get him to soften his neck, either. He gave in pretty quickly to the right, but there were LOTS of circles to the left before he got semi-consistent with it.

Once we were walking softly in both directions we moved up to the trot, re-established the softness, and then moved from circles and figure-8's to serpentines. We struggled with staying soft through all the bend changes, but we came around. He also was being a little 'sticky' and not wanting to go forward. Gayle says that all horses become push horses when they're going right, but I'm not mentally (never mind physically) capable of leg to soften, leg to hold position, leg to go forward all at once, so I was sort of wishing I'd brought my whip out to the ring. I guess now I've got his mom's permission to try him with a whip more ;).

After we did all that I did some leg yielding and this is where the foam came in. He'd been mouthing the bit quite a bit during the serpentines, but as soon as I asked for leg yield he turned into a whole new horse. Totally soft, forward, very responsive, constantly mouthing the bit. We got some beautiful, effortless feeling leg yields at the walk and I even got brave and asked for a couple strides at the trot. We'll have to work on that some more, he was a little confused about going laterally at the trot. We finished up with some canter work (beautifully balanced) and did a little counter-cantering on a 20m circle in each direction to emphasize the holding himself up. He got a giant carrot and some paddock time while I did chores, so hopefully he knew he was a good boy. :)

Gabby and an update on the RPSI gelding...

Just a quick blurb about Hobbes...I rode yesterday and he was so much fun to ride. I only spent about 10 min. in the ring warming him up and checking his mental state before I took him out for a hack. We did some trotting and cantering on an incline...that is an excellent way to check how balanced you are. We are not balanced and the downhill is a struggle. It forces me to check my own position and how I'm contributing to the problem (leaning, collapsing on one side, etc). I need to do more of that. We then just went for a trail ride on a loose rein. He's such a good boy...makes me want to keep him forever : )

And for the update on the RPSI gelding I tried...I got out there later than I wanted to Friday evening due to traffic. So we rode at dusk, which is a good check for spookiness for any horse! He is friggin big horse. Hobbes is about 16.3 but he just seems small in comparison to this guy, who's a solidly built 17H. He seems to have a good mind, quiet overall yet still happy and alert. He's not the sleep in the cross-ties I'm used to with Hobbes...but at only 7 now, he'll probably be like that when he's 16, too!

We put the dressage saddle on him and his owner rode him for a bit...he's a lovely BIG mover. She said a hunter rider almost bought him, but he doesn't have his changes as he's not hunter trained....they tried to teach him last week, which he apparently didn't like. He did act out a bit when he thought she was asking for a change. Acting out for him was just a kick-out, though, nothing really bad. I hopped on and rode around for a while. I felt like one of those crappy amateur riders dressage people make fun of who is riding a horse that she is not good enough to ride. In comparison to horses I've ridden, he just has so much more suspension...which in some ways makes things easier (less sewing machine-like, as in Hobbes' case) but is also tough to really keep your seat in transitions, etc. I don't know most of his buttons, so I think I confused him a little...but all in all, he seemed content to tote me around.

I'm planning on going back to try him again...I'd like to take him on a trail ride and hop over some little fences, although if I bought him, I'd probably do mostly dressage with him. My goal was to get to 2nd level, but he could do that plus way more. Of course, I'd have to learn to ride him correctly...which means way more lessons. She offered to let me take a lesson on him w/ her trainer...which I may take her up on. I think that would help me figure him out.

So, in summary: I really like him, but I'm nervous that I'm not ready for him yet. On the other hand, I'll never be ready for him if I keep riding Hobbes, who is just not a dressage horse. I've never had a super nice horse and, well, here's a good opportunity...I talked to my mom yesterday who's opinion is, "if you have the money, buy him!" Ha. Thanks Mom for the un-Mom like advice!

And, sorry to dissapoint ya'll, but my photographer/videographer was distracted while I was riding. The owner's husband has a mule...an appy mule. I wonder if we can get a 2 for 1 deal? Ha.

Kate & Pro - 7/25 (lazy again)

I need to learn to just post on the day I ride. Ugh.

Anyway, Dare came out to watch and we took pictures of Pro in his handsome native costume halter. I'm so glad I kept his mane long!!! I think he looks just stunning.

The ride was pretty decent, nothing extra-special but at least I tried to focus on the new purpose of my outside rein. He did have one temper tantrum but was fairly good throughout. I think that after lessons, he realizes how good he's been and feels a deep-seated need to "reclaim his dignity" by acting naughty and testing me. Shame shame, pony.

We tested out a few "no pull" downward transitions and I really feel like we have a good handle on those. Overall, he's sacrificed his need to pull, at least in the downwards. He caught on pretty quickly to the idea and seemed okay to giving it up. Now it's just fine-tuning between the half-halt, release, walk and what he wants to do is half-halt, release, jig. No, Pro - just because I don't continue the seat/hand pressure all the way down into the walk doesn't mean you can pick up your trot-walk mutant combination, the jig. But we're working on it.

Still practicing the use of kicking with my inside leg to correct looky-ness instead of using my inside rein. It's a mental habit that I'll have to get myself to break. I need to switch from thinking "fix with the hand" to "fix with the leg, THEN the hand if necessary". Which of course means that it's making a mental switch in his mind, too. It's keeping the whole "You have two options, Pro. You can put your head back down, or you can continue looking. But if you continue looking, you have to get rammed repeatedly with my inside leg. Very unpleasant."

Gayle did say that we're about to the level where we need to be riding with a whip. Yeah yeah, I know. Thing is, someone in Pro's western pleasure past scared the %#@* out of him with a whip, which I hear is pretty common in the Arabian world in general. So he gets all nervous if I ride with it, and BUCKS if I even tap him. On the ground he gets pretty freaked with it, too. Gayle says we'll have to retrain him from the ground. We'll see.

Just a random thought I had the other day - if anyone is ever in the area and feels like stopping by, just let me know and you're more than welcome to come by and try the Redheaded Arabian. :) It'll be fun!!! Besides Dare of course, who needs to COUGH COUGH bring her riding clothes the next time she comes to visit. ;) It was great having her as photographer but she needs to try him out again!!!

Dare and Mandros July 26th

I had a great ride yesterday!! I rode at 6 so it was cool and the ring was shady. I had planned to warm up in the arena, and then work in the driveway, but he was doing so well that I just stayed in the ring. I rode for longer than I usually do and he did fine. We still took walk breaks, but he was able to go for longer in between them. I guess this means Ive got to work on getting out of bed early and stop staying up until 3 in the morning.

Once I warmed him up, I collected him and we did a couple steps of passage to get his back up. Ive been doing alot of transitions to help with this too. He did well in the collect trot and we canter and he did so well. He only broke when I was trying to push him into the corner, and he thought that I was asking him to do a flying change, and when I held him in the current lead, he broke. That corner is deeper than the rest, so he tries to dodge it. I made him go back and do it correctly. His canter was very nice and we even worked on a flying change. We cantered across the diagional, and did the change. He did well. He loves doing flying changes, and he kept trying to speed up once we turned down the diagonal. I made him slow down and wait until I asked for the change. Im having a lesson on Monday at 11, so hopefully it wont be too hot then.

So I fell off the face of the earth...

I haven't posted in more than a month...but I'm not dead! And I have been riding...7 out of every 8 days...really! Work has just been so incredibly busy that I don't have time to post much at all...be it here, on NCHN, or on CoTH. Between work and the barn I hardly even get to see my husband! But it will get better after July -- the new medical interns start in July, and as a brand-new-big-bad-second-year resident I've been having to do a lot of hand-holding, teaching, and supporting as the new interns make the transition from med student to "real doctor".

But, on to the horses...yes horses with an "s"...which brings me to the most exciting recent riding news -- Huey has returned to work! Huey is the now-20-year-old OTTB that I first started riding when I moved up to Maryland. He's a grand old man -- ex-** horse who knows his stuff...but if he doesn't like you, he won't do squat for you regardless of how correct your aids are :P We had a great partnership going from August 07-March 08 when he had a suspensory tear (actually 2 tears on ultrasound) and has been on stall rest or pasture rest ever since. An ultrasound in May showed good progress, and the vet thought we could start back to work in September...but our ultrasound last week showed amazing progress and he's jogging sound on pavement in hand...so we were cleared to go back to work under saddle. We put some shoes on him wednesday, and Thursday he went back to work. We're on the slow plan -- starting with 10min at the walk (with some hills thrown in), increasing 1-2min per day with the goal of being at 40-45min walking by the end of the month. Then we'll start to trot and the work will go faster...as the vet is very optamistic that Huey will see his first x-rail in September! This horse's heart is in the jumping...so it's fabulous news that he'll likely be able to not only go back to jumping, but to compete again.

So yesterday, we walked for 12 whole minutes...and it was fabulous (though the 10 min walk the day before made me so happy I thought I'd start crying in the saddle). We're taking this opportunity to really work on good basics -- proper bend, ability to stretch out or be more collected, improving the transitions, etc. It's amazing even after 2 rides how I can see what I've learned from Surf Guitar will make a huge difference with my riding of Huey. Surfie is HUGE...with a long neck and very long back...which makes him very very hard to put together and get the hind end going. Huey is much more compact (though still big at 16.3h) and much easier to put together now that I've learned how to ask for it with Surfie and keep being firm in my asking until I get it, without taking no for an answer. I'm amazed at how Huey responds much more quickly, and when I ask him to come together in the same way I ask Surfie -- bam, I have a hind end pushing forward into the bridle and a lovely round neck that is not attempting to perform it's best giraffe impression :)

Surfie has been off this week...we had a bout of Lymphangitis in a hind leg that cleared up and we went to a show last weekend (double clear!) but has now flared up again...so he's getting Gentacin, SMZs, and lots of sweating of that hind leg :P He's sound on it, but we're giving him through the weekend, as we don't show again until 8/3/08. By the way, we made the move up to Training level :) and are going to spend the summer bouncing back and forth between Novice and Training (depending on the venue) while I become comfortable with the new heights and questions asked at Training. 

I'm a lucky girl right now...even with Surfie being off...2 schoolmasters (both very different rides) who are the way schoolmasters should be -- not push button packers, but knowledgeable older gentlemen who will reward correct aids with correct work. Here's hoping for continued soundness and many more years of education from the big red horse and the even-bigger bay smurf-horse :) 

For those of you who haven't met huey, this was huey and I at our first horse trial -- Waredaca fall 07, Novice level...at the ripe old age of 19:

Andrea and Pro (7/24)

Well, my ride wasn't nearly as good as Kate's, but it was much better than Sunday, so I'm still happy with it. :) I think the past couple rides have got Pro thinking that he can ignore some of my commands, so I'm prepared to have an uphill battle about them for the next couple of rides. One thing I really like about Pro is that he'll test you every ride, but he usually only tests once or twice and if you win those tests, you're forgiven for previous failures.

Well, we started off having to really demand giving to the bit. Kate says we're now supposed to use inside leg first, then inside rein only as a last resort. So he'd get several big kicks and if his neck didn't soften I pulled his head around. As soon as the tension left the inside rein it was send him forward and rub with the inside hand. As the ride progressed there was noticeable improvement in that I could just lightly tap with the inside leg to get the softening. What was great was that he'd stay soft, but was honestly, truly collected, not just posing. I could send him forward in a frame or collect him back in a frame all without even really touching the reins. He was a little fussy and sort of tuning me out until I did some leg yielding and as soon as I started asking for lateral work his little brain clicked into overdrive mode. Did some canter work which was decent, but not his best ever.

I got out to the barn on the late side on Thurs so I didn't ride for as long as I would have liked to considering how good he was being. I'm planning to go out fairly early Sun morning, so I'm hoping I can get a good solid hour in and really push things. I desperately need to schedule a lesson of my own with Gayle, but until my committee meeting on Aug 12th that probably isn't going to happen.

Why Mary Hasn't Been Posting (Or Riding)

So, I really was doing groundwork with him. Until I got heatstroke/ heat exhaustion one day and then decided that maybe coming out at noon wasn't the best idea after all! Not a big deal though, right? I just come out at night and work him.

Yeaaaaaah.....I forgot about his promise to get even for the 'extra clean' part of his bath the other day. I came out the next day and what do I find??

His leg wound has opened back up

He has fungus ALL over his hind legs

He has hives all over his hing legs

He has a giant 'scratch' that is bleeding and is attracting ALL sorts of bugs to it on his hindquarters.

AND he has a series of scratches/bug bites (not hives!) on the inside of his hind legs.

(sigh) Next time my horse threatens me with retaliation, remind me to stay away from the barn for at least a week!

Kate's a slacker...7/23

SO anyway, I've been in "girlfriend crisis mode" the past few days and am just now getting to post about my lesson on Wednesday. And it was a really good lesson!!!

Gayle brought her working student again, which is cool because she really likes Pro. :) Gayle started by doing some bodywork on Pro - fixing some tight muscle bands in his hips that she said are normal when a horse is in routine work and developing new musculature. Pro seemed a little confused at first but then really started to lean into her hands and got very relaxed. She worked his hock joints around his hip and said his hocks felt great, and she also stretched his spine through his tail (it was funny to watch his face as she leaned backwards, pulling his tail).

So while the last lesson's theme was Giving the Inside Rein, the new theme from Wednesday was True Outside Rein Contact. Now, Pro is not the only horse I've ever owned. I catch-rode all the way through high school and did intercollegiate dressage, the whole deal. I know the whole contact in your outside rein, outside rein as an anchor, etc. thing. But when we yielded Pro and then stepped over into the outside rein, I actually looked at Gayle with this amazement on my face and said, "Holy %*#@$, that's my outside rein!!!" She had to laugh at me, and said even she has these "outside rein epiphanies" at times where it's a whole new level of outside rein understanding. He was so truly engaged and *through* that it was just incredible. We reviewed the roles of each rein - outside stays STABLE. Which is not hard and rigid, but a flowing stable. Inside is malleable and able to give and also to correct through a quick "inside rein pull reminder", but then it gets put right back. But outside rein is home, a steady constant. Which I'd always known, but never 100% truly felt until Wednesday.

He did have a small meltdown by the poles where he tried to fling himself sideways at 90mph by busting through my outside aids. Ah yes, the Pro we all know so well. Nope - pulled his head to my knee, and then presented him with the option of going ahead and returning to good boy behavior. He accepted. Gayle and I talked about the difference between proactive riding and defensive riding, especially mentally. So it shouldn't be "oh don't spook, let me prevent you from spooking" but "You will go straight, and be forward." We practiced this on some trot figure eights where I focused on doing the figure correctly rather than preventing him from spooking. Just a big change mentally...it was really effective.

He was really coming over his back at the trot and at the end, we had this "big horse" trot where he felt like he was 17hh. He was really powering over his back but staying soft and light up front. The foam was pouring out of his mouth and both Gayle and her student said he looked so pleased with himself and his work. We ended on that.

Before I cooled out, Gayle had me jump down and look at how his whole neck looked differently, just from the lesson. We were admiring his conformation and his progress...she said it's a huge testament to his "horsey soul" that he was able to go from Arab western pleasure (cranking draw reins that actually popped a ligament in his neck, taught to totally back away and suck back from any contact, jig along at a slow trot, etc.) to a real, honest dressage horse. Gayle even got a little emotional about his progress and teared up. :) And all of this in less than a year! Her student reminded me that rapid progress like that is really rare.

<3 my Pro! :)

Hobbes told me...

I suck : )

I rode last night (it was a really nice evening...not too hot!). Hobbes was a little lazy off my aids, but again, I hadn't ridden in a week so what can I expect? I did transitions like mad, until he was annoyingly anticipating everything (ha, serves me right) but at least he was moving!

I kept getting really perturbed in the corners where he would drop his inside shoulder and veer around. Man, that is so annoying and its like there is no combination of aids in the world that can fix it! I tried stronger inside rein, inside leg to push him out - got nothing....stronger outside rein to control the shoulders, inside leg to control the bend - got nothing...tried having a hissy fit and turning him into the corner - def. got nothing! Until I finally listened to what he was saying (as usual he was right...remember the cat incident?) and stopped collapsing my whole inside half and viola - balanced corner.

See...listen to your horse. They're usually right. Well, except in the case of Pepsi...Mary, don't listen to him...you're righter!

And then we took a short hack around the barn and went back to docter his giant bug?snake?tick? bite under his chin. This giant lump has been there for nearly 3 weeks now. Its not bothering him...and it seems to be better. It was oozy and now its just there with two little dots at the peak (that's why I'm wondering if it was a snake??). I'm reluctant to call the vet out since he's fine otherwise and in the past when I ask the vet about a mysterious lump I get a general 'eh, its fine. bug bite.'

And for all of you who need a video...here is Hobbes when I first tried him. Let me tell you, he looks completely different...look at this hay belly!

Apple and Tess updates!

Tess:
Her feet are still really sore so I haven't been doing anything with her. She has had her shoes for over a week now...... Any suggestions? Christy can you email me more details on wrapping with a poultice? I am dying to put this mare to work and see what she can really do.

Apple:
He got his hock injections last Wed. He was kept in a stall for 24hrs and then given days to "rest" in the pasture. I put him on the lunge line last night and can see a big difference. He isn't 100% yet but the vet says that it takes up to 2 weeks for it to be in full effect. He wasn't grumpy about moving forward and didn't try to slow down/stop. I will keep working him on the lunge daily until there isn't any lameness. I just can't ride him when I know he isn't 100%.

I am hoping that if he is ready to go back to "real" work next week he will be in good enough shape to come with me to the September clinic at Lesley's. I missed bringing him to the one in June.

I will try to get some more pics of these 2 this weekend. I have to go ride a boarder's appendix that doesn't want to canter(owner doesn't want to canter).

Dare and Mandros July 23rd

I planned on working Mandros a little harder today, but I ended up getting rained out :(

I rode for about 25 mins, and just got to were I was going to canter him, and it started raining. Normally, I would ride through it, but its not my saddle, so I couldnt get it wet. The trot work we did was ok. Mandros was VERY distracted by the kids jumping on the trampoline. Thats right, the barn owner now has a trampoline about 50 feet from the arena. It was good for me to practice riding him when he was distracted. He did pretty well, Ive never seen him so interested/confused.

His owner came out and helped me for a couple mintues. I like having feedback, yet I hate it. When I have a lesson, I always walk away frustrated and mad at myself. Its because I work so hard to do everything right, and then I have a lesson, and it seems Im doing everything wrong. I usually leave my lesson in tears. Im really hard on myself. I cant sit his trot as it is, and his owner kept saying "more forward, push him". OMG, there is no way I can sit that. I feel like Im about to fall off b/c Im bouncing everywhere. And she says "it looks fine". I cant help to laugh as Im writing this because it couldnt have looked fine, it sure didnt feel fine.

Anyway, Im pretty disappointed with my ride today. Hopefully Saturday will be better.

Tried the 4 yr old

And knew right away he wasn't for me. Besides the fact that she was already on him working when I got there, he was trained in the yucky QH way (no offense to anyone, I just don't care for it). I took Matthew w/ me and he asked later, "what was she doing w/ her hands?!?" Yes, that's the 'ol seesaw method of riding, my dear. Unattractive and how annoying it must be for the horse. As soon as I got on him his head popped right up into normal position! The owner was just cringing, of course, and gave me some pointers on how to 'get it down.' Oh, I showed QH's for years, I know how to do that...but I'm a little more enlightened these days and prefer a different sort of riding.

He was a cute horse, actually, but he had an odd hitch in the front end. I think he needed some farrier work. His feet were very squared in an attempt to move the long toe back (most of his hoof was in front of the frog)...and he was extremely over at the knee, I suspect partly as a result of the odd farrier work.

Plus, he got zero turnout. None! How does a horse live like that? It's not as if he was a show horse...hadn't been shown much at all, really. I actually think he'd probably be a saint w/ some turnout...for a 4 yr old on that schedule he was fairly quiet. A little looky and had a few tiny spooks, but what can you expect?

Anyhoo...I'm going to visit the lovely RPSI gelding on Friday. Hopefully I also can ride my own beastie this week.

Dare and Mandros July 21st

I rode Mandros at about 12 today. It was hot but there was a breeze. I only rode him about 30 mins because of the heat. I tried to get out to the barn early, but I had a migraine this morning.

The trot work was good and we got to work on the sitting trot for a few minutes. I think its going pretty well. Hopefully I can get a lesson soon so I can get some feedback. He did well in the canter to the right, although he did break once. To the left was pretty bad, he broke 4 times. He isnt acting like he is hurting at all and he is doing really well when we stretch his leg. I think Im just babying him. This is another reason I need to have a lesson soon. I need to know when to push him. I give him ALOT of walk breaks. Most of the 30 mins we work is walking, at least half the time or more. I would have pushed him today, but like I said, it was really hot. I gotta get my butt out to the barn earlier!

Once we did the canter work, I asked him to collect up into a very collected sitting trot. We did several circles of that and he did really well. Im still having some trouble with the half pass at the trot. I can sometimes get it to the right, he tries to rush throught it, but I can never get it to the left. Laterals are easier for me to do while sitting the trot, and I dont get alot of time to practice collected work/sitting trot. I think my goal is going to be to get to the barn earlier and miss the heat. Also, to push him a little more. Now that I think of it, we arent doing that much work.

The video is from Saturday. Oh, and his trot is insanely hard to sit. Ask Kate, she knows! Enjoy the video!

Pepsi's Continuing Torment- Part 3: Bath Time!!

My human is SO weird! She came out the other day to work me, and decided it was too hot and humid to work. She kept telling me I was disgusting and dirty (duh! dirt is FUN!) and that I needed a bath. I should have tried to escape right then....

She took me into the wash stall (otherwise known as the "evil place that houses the water-spitting snake") and started hosing me off. I tried objecting at first, but she told me to knock it off, and after that I decided that the cool water actually felt REALLY good so I just stood there without complaining.

She then got out the bathing stuff and proceeded to wash me TWICE! She kept saying how gross and dirty I was, and how much I needed the bath I was getting. Humans just don't understand that dirt and mud are great fun! Plus, rolling around in it is great for scratching those hard-to-reach places!

Anyway, after she finished washing me TWICE she rinsed me off and then decided I needed to get washed DOWN THERE. (sigh) Humans just have no concept of personal space.

I won't go into any detail about that, but suffice it to say I'm clean ALL over, and I'm already planning my revenge. Hmmmm....maybe a nice 'accidental' push into the water trough???

Update on Deuce...and Bo

Poor Deuce was SO sore after his trim, so he got some Bute last Monday and Tuesday. I was SO glad that he finally felt like cantering up for his supper Tuesday! He had been moving like a little old man. His Vitamin C also came last week, so he started that on Wednesday. At first I mixed it into his feed with a little bit of corn oil, but then tried it without and found he will eat it just sprinkled into his food. It smells rather vile, and the vet was not sure he would eat it, so I am very happy that he is. Now I hope it works!

Bo was able to leave the hospital on Friday. He couldn't come back to the barn where he is boarded right now, but his owner has 2 stalls in her back yard. The reason they moved the horses from there is that they were annexed into the city, and a neighbor complained about the horses. Hopefully the owner won't get too much hassle over having her one injured horse there for a while. The wound is healing, but of course will take time.

Andrea and Pro (7/20)

Well, Sunday wasn't any cooler than Saturday I don't think, and the humidity was a killer. I ended up riding around 2:30. We had a very 'menh' ride, I think in part because of the heat. He was good about going forward, seemed to do better at going where I told him to on a slightly long rein, and didn't seem to do the nose-tipping thing. Instead, he just never really submitted to the bit and it just didn't feel dressage-y. Kate's been bragging about him so much I think I just sort of expected a magical dressage ride ;). Apparently it's a magical dressage ride after persistent telling him that it's not an option. Good to know for later this week!

Dare and Mandros, July 19th

Kate was right, Saturday was hot. I usually ride at night on Saturdays, but we had plans that night, so I rode at about 1. While I was riding, it was hot, but it was cloudy, so the sun wasnt hitting us. We actually got rained on for a few mintues.

Mandros was really good. He was a little fussy at first when I asked him to trot. He usually does this. He doesnt want to get round in the trot at first, and he throws his head up during the transition. So we kept re-trying the transition until he did it correctly. Its kinda like he's saying "Im going to see if she makes me do this". After that first transition, he was great the rest of the day.

I pushed him a little harder than I usually do. We rode for 10 mins longer than usual, which included an extra walk break. He did great in the canter and didnt try and break, not even once. Im so proud of him. My husband was out and we remembered the camera!!!

Kate & Pro - 7/19

It was reeeeally hot on Saturday and Erik and I had to get out to the barn around noon, so our ride wasn't long. Actually, holding a conversation with Erik while I rode seemed to help...maybe it was that it helped me keep breathing constantly, and relaxing? I tend to hold my breath sometimes when I get focused. (And no...I made sure it wasn't breath-holding that's causing my dizziness, checked that off the list a long time ago, sadly).

Anyway, Pro was really good. I showed Erik how Pro and I now have disagreements (in a conversation "tone") instead of fights where we "yell". I also showed off our great no-pull transitions. He's still not staying 100% round through the downward transitions, but we'll work on that. My sitting trot feels better these days, so I'm more comfortable pushing him forward. And I'm trying to make a bigger effort to consciously remember to check impulsion more often, so we don't fall into the too slow trap.

We cantered briefly in each direction, and he felt pretty decent. A big buck on the first canter depart, so we had to return to a walk, "chill" for a few seconds, and try again. He tends to anticipate a lot. After a really good canter, we walked out and he got his nice end-of-ride carrot. :) This Wednesday is another Gayle lesson!!!

The old man's got energy...

So we rode this morning, and just went on a trail ride. I was really, really sore from our workout Thursday, so was thankful for an easy ride. But man, today Pat was super energetic... jigging, and hopping around, trotting in place, trying to canter with teensy weensy little bucks. It was funny. His owner asked me a couple times if I needed her to get on, but I was fine. I felt like I had a better seat with him acting crazy than when he is normal. Wish I could have got some pictures. She jumped on him a few minutes when we were done to make sure that he wasn't just acting out, but he was just acting crazy. But boy, he was sure pretty jigging around like that with his little arab tail flying. :-)

And for the record, we did check all of his tack and feet and felt all over him to make sure he wasn't hurting or uncomfortable in any way and that was causing it. I guess it was just a beautiful day!

Andrea and Pro (Thurs 7/17)

Attached a picture from last Sun for people to see. :)

Well, I finally got to test out the "new" Pro. I think I confused him by being too different ;). I started out trying to warm him up on a loose rein. By loose I mean that I was at the 3rd rein stop, not the 2nd, which is hardly asking him to go with no contact. He was obviously a little lost without the firm connection to my hands. Our nice, round circles turned into those dreaded eggs. Luckily the ring hadn't been dragged too recently so I couldn't see just how bad. I tried to ride through it but I gave up and shortened my reins and he immediately got more responsive. So I think I'll make that one of my goals, I'd like him to be willing to listen on a slightly longer rein. One thing I was concerned with is it seemed like when I gave my inside rein on the circle, he'd try to tip his nose out into the outside rein contact instead of rounding out and filling the rein out. I tend to overbend on circles though, so I might be imagining things. Bumping the inside rein every time he started to lose the bend seemed to help and I could drop it for 3 or 4 strides at a time and be happy with how he was going. So I think maybe he's still adapting.

However, I was VERY happy with his willingness to go forward. I think Kate's inside rein break-through is primarily responsible for this new forwardness. He'd go at a good pace, though his default speed is perhaps a bit less forward than it should be. When I asked for forward, though, he immediately moved off my leg and stayed forward until I asked him to collect. He was a little slow to collect and come back in balance, so I think that's going to be goal #2. I think I probably let him get a little too forward so he was running more than lengthening/extending. So I'm going to practice with slight lengthening and collecting back, then slowly start asking for more and more extension.

So, the ride got off to a pretty rough start, but I backed off on what I was asking him to change all at once and he was happy to try to meet me half-way, so I was happy with him.

Gabby and Hobbes (and a pic!)

My ride tonight was pretty uneventful. The footing was a little hard and Hobbes seemed a little more ouchy than usual, so I didn't want to work him too hard, although he usually works out of it. Plus, I sorta need to get him back into shape before I ask for too much.

We worked on forward. Simple concept...hard to execute. How do you keep a horse forward? Really...I ask and he goes...and slows...and we repeat over and over. If I ask and he doesn't go, I back my aid up with the whip. But at what point do I expect the horse to maintain? Why should I have to keep freaking asking to stay the same speed???

Cruise Control? Where is that button?

Anyhoo...for those of you that need pics, here is the RPSI gelding I'm so excited to go see:

Well still no riding...

But does ground work count? I finally got Mr Cowboy into the round pen last night. Considering its been quite a few weeks since Ive asked him to do ANYTHING, I thought he was reasonably cooperative. There were a few rodeo moments and a few pinned ears (WTH) when I asked him to trot to me. That was new.

Ive had SUCH problems with my feet of late, its been too painful to do anything, but yesterday was so pretty I had to do SOMETHING. I kinda paid for it today my feet HURT. :::sigh:::

In other health news, the chastetree berry powder has continued to work MIRACLES for his anhidrosis. Ive never been so happy to see sweat ! lol

First ride since surgery...

Yay, I rode Pat this morning. He's had a long break these last few weeks while I've been dealing with my gall bladder and recovering from surgery. But he did great. I worked on walk/trot transitions, getting him real responsive to me. Gee, I need to learn some terminology here. Instead of just sticking his nose out, I got him well rounded in the neck (on the bit?). I'm sure ya'll know what I'm talking about here, but I don't know what to call it. Where he gives to the bit. I worked real hard on getting full attention on me, and on my position, and I could really tell when I got my position right, and he was getting his body right also. Real basic, but a good workout for both of us lazy bones. Here is a picture of him falling asleep after I'd cleaned him up after the workout (PS. the farrier is coming out tomorrow so ignore his feet).

Tried another horse last night...

and guess what? He had a suspensory injury in the past, too! What a surprise. He wasn't a good match for me, anyway....

I must say, I'm starting to enjoy riding all these different horses. I'm not confident enough to get out there and jump them, but I am feeling good enough about my riding to not be nervous about flatting them and even asking them for a little extra - leg yields, giving to the bit, etc. When I first started trying out horses, I would just do the very basics...w,t,c...b/c I was afraid to 'push' them for fear of pushing the wrong button and causing an explosion! Plus (allow me to have a big head here for a sec) I have gotten some compliments on my riding from the owners/trainers of the horses. Sometimes its good to hear that you don't suck as much as you think you do!

I'm going to see a few horses next week. One four yr old Appendix gelding who is a friggin cute mover. He hasn't done much, though, so I've already sorta figured he'll be too green for me. Two horses that Pam Tanner has for sale...both QH's. And...the one I'm most excited about, a friend's friend's (not a typo) RPSI gelding, 7 yrs, 17 hands, evented Novice, very laid-back, SUPER nice horse...should be priced at way more. He looks like he could be an upper level dressage horse (not that I'll ever want to do that). Plus, he self loads and that right there is worth a fortune. AND, we know his whole history from the first time he was ever ridden until now. That's worth a lot, too.

Dare and Mandros July 16th

I missed my ride on Monday because of the rain. I was also kinda in a "funk" and didnt feel like riding. I guess Ive just been getting bored with the 20 min warmups (he is old and out of shape) and then only 10-15 mins of actual work. If I ride anymore than that, he is dripping in sweat and huffing and puffing. It just takes time to get him back into shape.

Anyway, when I got to the barn today, Mandros saw me and neighed at me, it was so cute! It was like he was saying "hey, I missed you on Monday!". I tacked him up and had to use the saddle that doesnt fit me because Mandros' owner was using "ours". I use her saddle and she was riding her horse when we got there.

The trot work was ok, but I kept getting in the way of the other rider, so I didnt get to do many laterals because they take up alot of the ring. The canter was ok, the right lead was pretty good, it was a little fast and he keeps trying to cut the corners, but overall it was good. His owner said it looked nice. The left lead wasnt good at all. He kept breaking and I kept pushing him back into it and he was fussy. He finally stopped being an idiot and cantered correctly. When I asked him to pick the left lead up again, he did it and then tried to break and I kicked him, then he bucked. I made him continue to canter and he was fine. Dont horses know that if they just do it correctly the first time, they wont have to do as much work? I asked Mandros' owner this a while back and she said "Ive been telling Mandros that for 8 years".

Pepsi and the Beachball, Deer and GUNSHOTS! 7-16

I did more groundwork with Pepsi today and he was excellent! I wasn't sure if he'd even want anything to do with me after the cone incident yesterday, but when I called to him from the gate he winnied at me and came walking up to me!! :D

Anyway, I took him in and gave him a good grooming and then took him out to the roundpen. There were deer across the street though, so after snorting at them and trying to freak out, we did some ground driving until he was paying attention to ME and not the deer! He was very good and it only took a few minutes before he settled down.

Then we went into the ring and I tortured him with the beach ball! I'm sure he thought I was nuts, but that's ok. I kicked it around his legs, hit it in the air, threw it over him, kicked it under him, etc. I even convinced him to 'chase' it by trotting after me with me holding it. He really didn't seem to understand what the point of THAT was, but at least he did it.

We also went over the ground poles a few times and he WALKED THROUGH THEM CORRECTLY!!! He'd stop, look at them, and then *very carefully* put each foot through the 'maze.' I think he's finally starting to get the concept! (He also gave me a nice little jump over them the first time, and then figured out what I was asking for the next time through.)

Finally, to end the session, we were walking out of the barn when more gunshots went off from close by. He jumped (heck, so did I! Those things are LOUD!) but a jump was all he did. He didn't try to run out, or away from me, or anything else. He stayed right by me when I asked him to and walked calmly back up to the pasture without a fuss after they were over with!

I'm so proud of my pony!!

PS- I've ordered boots for him since he's a little sore still, which is why I haven't been riding. Once they get here we'll start riding again, but for now I think groundwork is probably best for both of us anyway!

Kate & Pro - 7/16

Tara and I shared the ring tonight, but we're really good about communicating so there was no "ring sharing" problem like the other night. It was hot, and I wasn't 100% enthused about riding...but I want him to be worked super consistently until my lesson next Wednesday, so I tacked up.

The good news - no more dizziness today!!! Mary, I haven't visited an ENT, but I can probably see one (that's the awesome thing about going to Duke...super student health options!). I didn't wear my riding boots today (which have gotten really too tight) so maybe that was it? Someone suggested once that tight boots could cause dizziness. Hmm.

Anyway, he was really soft at the walk and trot, so I added in some more "forward" to the mix and he seemed okay with that. Actually, I was finding that I could get the "forward" just by sitting up!!! I collapse at my midsection - he slows (not collecting, but slowing). I sit up - he goes! In a powering sort of way, not a "scooting" way. Sweet deal! He was also pretty good with the "no pull" downward transitions. Even better when I add my seat into it.

We tried the leg yielding pattern at the walk and trot and he was soft. He's SO smart (sorry, had to brag!!!!) because when I head across the diagonal in our pattern, his ears prick up, but he waits and continues straight until I open up my outside rein (for him to "fill" with the leg yield) and apply my inside leg. Then he yields over nicely!!!

As for the inside rein...I feel like a neighbor who borrowed something and then forgot to give it back. Yes, I needed to use it in the beginning (when Gayle helped me restart him last September) to gain submission - it was the only way. But I hung onto it for way too long. It's like giving up a crack habit!!!! But now that I've "returned" it to him, he's so much happier. And there's nothing I love more than a happy pony. He's going to be a super dressage horse someday. :) Actually, he already is!!!! :) Another big carrot today.

Oh and here's the Elvis video from the lesson last month (you'll hear me/Gayle reprimand him right at the start for threatening to be naughty!!!):

Morgan and Mister 7/16

Well, today ended up being pretty bittersweet. I'll post the good news first as I'm quite proud. I worked on cantering with Mister today; we (all six of us) cantered at the same time rather than one at a time. One of the times I cantered him, I think I actually did it right. I allowed my lower half to move with him and I stopped bouncing. I think my upper half was leaning too far back but I was glad to feel how cantering's really supposed to be, rather than just bouncing.

I had some more problems with jumping this week. I don't quite understand it; before these past two weeks I've had all the confidence in the world with jumping and nothing has gone wrong. Maybe since I've been nervous the past two times, he felt it and is responding to me differently. Apparently, I took him too slow over the jumps. This week I was intentionally keeping him slow because last week he overjumped when he was going fast. In any case, I guess I was keeping him TOO slow because I didn't give him enough momentum to jump it well. Hence, the huge (at least they felt huge) yet slow jumps. This happened several times but luckily my trainer was very understanding when I changed the exercises up for myself. Most of the kids were cantering over the sets of jumps, but I'm not comfortable with doing that yet as I'm still getting the hang of cantering. They were also especially challenging to me because first we had a small crossrail, then two crossrails in a row (called a bounce I think?). So, we just trotted over the jumps and didn't add the second line that everyone else was doing. After I told her I was nervous, she took down one of the jumps for me so it wasn't a bounce anymore. Things went better after that. She helped me get him moving which proved to me that if he has enough momentum he does it right. At least I know what I'm doing wrong now, though.

After we jumped a few times, we headed out into the field. We just walked around to help cool them down, which was nice and relaxing. It's nice being out of the ring every once in a while. I then sponged him and put him in his stall, which took some effort. Usually he goes in without a problem yet today he gave me a fight.

The lesson wasn't as good as it could have been, and even though I was a bit shook up I did the canter right and learned what I was doing wrong with jumping. We also got the lease agreement to look over. Part of the reason I was nervous is because it's been a while since I've ridden, since last week's lesson was cancelled due to weather. I think that once I have some more consistency I'll do better.

Tess's New Shoes 7/15/08

Well the big TB mare got a few new things today. She got a name...Tess and she got front shoes. I am all for letting them be barefoot if they can be but this girl was SORE. She has typical TB flat and flaky feet.

My farrier is wonderful and had her and everyone else done by the time I got to the farm. He said that she stood really quiet but that her feet hadn't had much care in a long time and he hoped the shoes would help.

I had to teach a lesson last night so I hopped on Tess while I taught. Tess was GREAT. We only walked because she is still a little tender at the trot. She was responsive to voice cues. We worked on moving her hindquarters over, shoulders over, opening her shoulders, stopping with my seat, and we also did a few steps backing. This mare is SMART. She didnt' get upset or worried even when she wasn't sure of the command. She just thought it all out.

We walked for about 1hr and then I put her up and put some hoof grease on her feet. I don't think it will help but it make me feel like I am doing something. I think I will soak her front feet for the next day or so to see if that helps.

Mary & Pepsi- Groundwork: 7/15

Since I didn't have a lot of time today I just pulled Pookie-head out of the pasture to do some grounwork with him. I had a few problems, which led to a few "A-ha!" moments, so overall it was good.

We started by just doing some light lunging and driving over ground poles. He still doesn't seem to understand this concept. He constantly tries to walk AROUND the ground poles! Which, technically, is quite smart...except that's not what I want!! Anyway, he finally went over them with no fuss so we stopped with that and moved onto the next thing. (Side note- my poor horse has the slobbers right now, and when I stopped him next to the orange traffic cone that we have in the ring to use as a marker, he picked it up while my head was turned and got nasty green slime ALL over it!! But hey, at least he's not spooking at it! :p)

Next, I decided to USE that cone to do some de-spooking work with him! (You know, just to make SURE it wasn't going to scare him!!) This is where the really bad part happens! I'd tossed it over his head, and neck, and back once from each side, and am going to toss it over his head area again. (I like that he can SEE it go past his eyes as it comes down.) So, I toss it, it goes over beautifully, is coming down, and a GUST OF WIND comes up and BLOWS the cone into his face!!! He flipped out of course (who can blame him?!?) and freaked out! Poor thing! I felt TERRIBLE!

Now please understand- this cone was NOT being thrown AT him! I was throwing it OVER him, and it was just arcing down when the wind just happened to hit it when it was face level and blew it straight at him! (Because of COURSE it couldn't have blown it beside him, or away from him, or ANYWHERE but TOWARD HIM!!!) :(

Anyway, after I calmed him down I let him sniff the cone and I did some more despooking with it until he was good. Rubbing it on him, tossing it AWAY from him, and then finally tossing it over his back again. I still feel guilty, even though there's certainly no way I could have predicted what would happen!!

From there we worked on sidepass and some walk, trot, halt transitions. He was good with all of those so I decided to set up a jump! (This was the part I had the most trouble with at the clinic, so I wanted to work on it at home!) The jump wasn't big, 2 feet at most (and probably more like 18") but Pepsi cleared it like it was a giant oxer! It took me a few times to get him over it (I kept looking at his head when he got up to the jump when I should have been looking at his hip!) but we finally worked through my miscommunication. Once I got that then he was perfect.

I pretty much ended on that since it took the longest time to get through, and I wanted to end on a really good note. He got lots of rubs and pets, and then got some grazing time before going back to the field!

Oh, and when we got back to the field he pulled up a nice clump of grass with the roots still hanging on it, tried to shake the dirt off the roots, and ended up clobbering me in the face with a giant clod of dirt! I'd say it was an accident, but I'm pretty sure it was actually payback for the cone incident earlier.

You know what they say- Payback's a bitch! :D

Introducing myself...

Hello All,

I am Charlotte (charliehorse on NCHN), and I just recently began riding again. I only get to ride 1 or 2x a week, but it is way better than nothing. Above is Pat. He is a 28 yr old Arab gelding. He has been retired for a while now, but when I met his mom (14 yr old girl), she said sure, come out and ride him. He could use the exercise! So YAY for me... I have a horse to ride. So I am starting at the basics, and starting just working on my seat/posture/etc... you know, all that really important stuff before progressing further. He can't work too hard, so I mainly do walk/trot with transitions and sitting trot, and working real hard to feel like I am in the proper position. I do get to do a bit of cantering just b/c it is fun, but he has coughing fits sometimes, so we stop working when he starts to get wheezy and hacking. I look forward to having more stuff to write about on this blog, and I'll try to get someone to take pics of me on occasion, and MAYBE a video if I get real lucky. :-) Either way, keep up your posting all! I enjoy reading them and learning from your work.

Finally - Ride Last Night

I finally got to ride last night after a week and a half of being too busy. Poor Hobbes...all that free time and relaxation!

He was funny after so much time off - like riding a new horse! He was fussy and rushing and even spooky! The weeds beside the ring were definitely hiding monsters...along with the barrels in the middle. He was like, "See! See! I told you there were things in there!" when the cat came strolling out. Ha.

We worked on regaining some sort of connection the whole ride. Transitions and more transitions to get him listening. I couldn't really get too mad at him since he's had so much time off, but I did lose my temper once when I asked him to canter and he gave me the awful extended trot...infuriating. Of course, once you lose your temper with a TB, you gotta spend the rest of the ride regaining their trust. So we did easy stuff while I apologized : )

At least I had some great, butt-planted and plugged-in sitting trot. Now - on to my rocking at the canter. I've gotta get someone to video me while cantering...I'm not sure how bad it is, but I know I'm rocking! Must stop!

Kate & Pro - 7/14

I always love it when Pro gets six solid days of good work. :) Yesterday was the sixth day. I'm sure he was probably a little weary of seeing me, especially since Wednesday was the lesson so we've been working hard since then. Unfortunately for us, the ring was a bit crowded due to Big Horse having a lesson and Tara and I were riding. Big Horse can't really turn (think, turning radius of a school bus...) so it's hard to stay out of his way. If he cuts in front of us (often!!!) I had to slam on the brakes - very irritating.

Anyway, Pro was good for most of the ride. Big Horse was more distracted by Pro than vice versa, so I was pleased. When passing, Pro would keep his head down and keep focused, and Big Horse would slow to a walk and turn his head like, "Hey guyz...who's that?". So I think Pro and I were a tiny bit distracted by the whole thing, but it was an overall good ride. These days he starts off not by cranking his head in the air like he used to (for 3 seconds until I would put it down), but doing his new thing - rushing so I can't plug my seatbones in. We resolved this within a 20m circle lap, and then he was okay with it. We practiced the no-lean/no-pull transitions at the walk-halt and trot-walk, and some general sitting trot with energy. See Andrea, with energy!!! :)

He's been a little evasive at the canter about letting me plug my seatbones in. He's realized (smart pony) that when I'm able to plug in, there's work and *gasp*...self carriage!!!...involved. And no, we just can't have that! He did give me some good work eventually, so I left that alone and went back to my transitions.

I tried a few trotting poles but mainly Big Horse and his lesson took up so much of the arena (strategically, just where I wanted to go at every moment) that it was difficult to squeeze them in. Pro started to anticipate turning left or right after the poles so I then did the poles, halted from the trot, and THEN turned. That seemed to help.

We did have one minor scuffle at the end but in fairness, Big Horse had just cut him off RIGHT after the poles and he got really flustered because we had to slam on the brakes. Aaargh. So then when I wanted a trot transition, he gave me a big buck. We worked a few more minutes and he seemed to get over it.

The one thing, overall, that concerned me was my dizziness is back...full force, for some reason. More at the walk, sometimes at the trot. STILL can't figure that one out. I've asked everyone under the sun...doctors, biology professors, my physical therapist, riding instructors, trainers, etc. No one has any clue. It was so annoying today that I actually stopped what I was doing, halted, and tried to take big slow breaths. Guess we'll see.

And now Pro, enjoy your rest day today. :)

Intro and TB mare

It took 10 minutes for me to figure out how to post a new topic! Can someone who is good at this PLEASE help me!! I am frustrated with the pictures going to the top everytime!! GRRR

I finally have a horse that I can post about. I ride almost daily but those are on other people's horses and I typically don't share their ride info with others. Apple(my personal horse) is getting hock injections Wed so hopefully in 6 weeks he will be ready for REAL work.

This mare doesn't have a name yet but suggestions are welcome. She is 14yrs old and has been pushing out babies for the past few years. We will work on fitness and whatever her calling happens to be.



She got to the barn on Saturday and Sunday the kids gave her a bath. She was a SAINT. After she was dried and no longer clay RED I rode her. She is flat footed and was a little sore so we didn't ride for long. She is getting shoes tomorrow so hopefully Wed we can get to the real work.

Deuce Update 7/14

Deuce has been one VERY sore pony since his shoes were pulled Saturday. He is sore on all 4 feet, but is especially bad on the right front where his angle was changed the most. I was out of Bute over the weekend or I would have given him some. I talked to the vet today, and I am going to pick up some Bute and put him on that for a few days to see if that will make him more comfortable while he is settling in to his 'new' feet. We are going to try that first so that hopefully he won't have to go back into shoes right now so we can see how his hooves are wearing on their own. His Vitamin C also came today, so cross your fingers that he will eat it without too much fuss!

Bo is also hanging in there. The vet thinks he will come back to be riding sound. We all certainly hope so!

Dare and Mandros 07/12

I rode Mandros Saturday, and although it was really hot, he did really well. I meant to bring the camera out, but forgot.

I was able to work on the sitting trot and it went really well. I used a metronome attached to the saddle to help me keep the same rhythm in the sitting trot as the rising trot. Alot of times the trot will slow down as I sit it. I usually do this because his trot is SO bouncy. Anyway, his owner/my instructor saw some of the sitting trot and said it looked really good.

His canter was really nice but he did break a couple times to the left. When I feel him start to break, I usually just try to push him on, but I realized that he always comes out of the frame to break stride. So the next time he tried to break, I kept asking him to stay round, and he didnt break. It was really hot, so once he cantered a full 20 meter circle without breaking, we stopped and I let him cool out. It was a pretty good ride, but just needs to get back in shape.

Andrea and Pro (7/13)

This'll be pretty short since I spent all weekend at the Equine Extravaganza in Raleigh this weekend and my mom was with me so I was fairly horsed-out (hey, it was like 22 hrs of horse stuff this weekend!).

Since it was pretty hot I just put his bridle on and hopped on bareback.  That was also semi-intentional because so much of the emphasis this weekend was on how important proper posture and position was.  I wanted a chance to work on it without worrying about where the saddle was putting me.  I focused on keeping my weight back over my seat bones and had my  mom tell me when I wasn't staying up straight.  I kept wanting to look down (I have the habit of staring at my horse's ears when I zone out to focus on feel).  He was incredibly good, though I don't know that that's from my position, it's probably more from Kate's work. :)  He stayed soft and round the entire time, didn't even try to protest the transitions.  I did a couple big circles and big figure-8's at the walk and trot and cantered two circles to the left.  I was pretty happy with how he went. :)  We'll see if I can translate that into saddle work on Thursday.

Update On Deuce...and Bo (LONG)

Finally, my update on Deuce! I have a lot of pictures, so I tried to choose the best, but since I have quite a few I will put them in small. Just click on then to see them full size. :)

Deuce's problem(s) really started showing up on June 13th. (My original post about that was June 16th.) When I rode him that day, he would walk a few steps and then park out like he needed to pee. Each time I got up off his back, but he would just stand there and not do anything. I even took him over to the area in the pasture where he likes to pee, and it was then that my husband and a friend told me he wasn't even dropping, and he was even going onto his tiptoes behind. I tried once more and walked him a few steps, and then got off and started trying to figure out what was wrong.

When I untacked Deuce I palpated his back and it didn't seem all that sore. He was not acting colicky. I had my husband jog him out for me, and Deuce didn't appear to be lame. Over the course of the next couple of days I lunged him (he didn't want to lunge to the left but didn't look lame either), I did flexions on him to check for lameness. I cleaned his sheath, and the bean was pretty small. He would occasionally park out, but otherwise everything was pretty vague. Checking the saddle fit was on my list but I had not done that yet. So I let him hang out in his pasture and didn't do much of anything with him for three weeks. I decided to go ahead and get his teeth floated though, especially since I am using a bitless bridle on him.

Monday morning, July 7th, I got Deuce out to go to the vet, Dr. Kim Gemeinhardt. I ran my hand down his back, and was horrified. He was SO SORE, I felt TERRIBLE. I would not have been letting him just stand there and be miserable if I had realized he was getting that much worse!

When we got to the vet and walked Deuce in onto the pavement, another thing became apparent. His feet were shod at different angles! It was hard to see at the barn on a soft grassy surface, but really obvious on the flat level pavement!

The vet did an exam and Deuce was really back sore, of course. I told her about him not wanting to lunge to the left, and she got him to do it although he wasn't happy about it. When he turned to change direction he was obviously lame behind. She did the flexions, and he was negative. She concluded the lameness was coming from his back: each flexion stressed the other side, therefore the flexions were negative. The back lameness is coming from his unbalanced feet.

We then took him in and floated his teeth. She does the really good floating with the McPherson speculum and power floats. Deuce has a mighty fine set of 'chompers' on him now! We got some good pictures, too.

While Deuce was having his teeth floated, I had a realization. The day Deuce started parking out with me, his shoes had been reset. They had been on for six weeks, and it was the first time Deuce had been shod with four shoes. When he had shoes before it was only on the front, and that was over a year earlier with a different farrier. Then he had gotten worse over the next three weeks with NO work. His shoes had been on a total of nine weeks at that point. So the plan was to have his shoes pulled and re-evaluate in four to six weeks. The vet recommended a farrier, and he came out today and pulled the shoes and trimmed Deuce and balanced him properly.

Deuce was lame in the right front tonight, but he had a big change today. I poulticed him in case he is tender from having his shoes pulled. I talked to the farrier, and if he doesn't improve by the first of the week we will re-evaluate and see if he needs the front shoes back on for a while.

Deuce also had blood work done. The vet let me pull the blood! :) I know, relatively speaking it is not a big deal, but it has just been so long since I have been able to do anything, I was excited! We also did a urinalysis, especially after I told the vet how much he tends to drop. He does it ALL the time. The blood work had elevated levels indicating muscle damage, which was not surprising considering how terribly sore Deuce's back was. The urinalysis showed crystals present.

Deuce will be put on Vitamin C to change the pH of his urine to help with the crystals/stones. There is not much else that can be done, because the crystals are due to the water in this area. He will be re-evaluated in three and a half to four weeks for his feet. The farrier wants to see him in four weeks, but if he hasn't improved a lot in three and a half weeks we will plan to re-evaluate at the vet's office to do x-rays also. When he is feeling better, I will take him to have his saddle fit.

There is an outside chance that this all could be due to something worse, so please send good thoughts, vibes, prayers, jingles, etc. our way! Thank you! :) I have really wanted to ride this summer and had great plans to, but sometimes things happen to change our best laid plans.

I have additional news, too. My friend's horse, the Paso that I sometimes ride, Bo (I posted about him on June 24th) got hurt today. His left front got wrapped up and caught in barbed wire. [I HATE that stuff, and it is by far the worst thing about where I board. My paranoia has been re-ignited now. I would move Deuce somewhere else in a heartbeat, except my board is only $50 a month! :0 With the economy the way it is right now, things are SO tight.]

Anyway, Bo cut his left front on the inside above his coronary band, but the cut crosses the coronary band in the back and goes into the frog. It is a bad cut in a bad place. The good news is the vet says she has seen worse, although this one is right up there. So Bo is also out of commission and in the horsey hospital tonight. He and his owner also need all the good thoughts, vibes, prayers, jingles, etc. too! I would post a picture of the wound, but if Mandros's wound was too graphic to post I am afraid I will gross someone out! If you want to see it, PM me with your email address. :)