Pepsi's Great Escape Plan- FOILED!!

I can't believe that I was actually starting to like my evil human captors! My main captor had been coming out 2-4 days a week and running me in circles in that round arena they have. But it was fun, and we even started playing the 'chasing game'. I liked chasing her around the round arena! And she seemed to think it was cute too, and would give me lots of petting and praise afterwards, especially when I would put my head down REAL low and start to lick. Humans are so silly.

My evil human captor had even started doing this weird thing she calls 'massage' to me. I don't really understand what she's doing, but she lets me graze while she does it, so it was fine in my book!

Anyway, everything was going great...UNTIL they locked me away from my friends! (I guess they had learned about our escape plan, and decided to foil it! Now I'll never be free!)

They put me in this tiny little pasture away from all of the other horses. Oh sure, I can see everyone, but I can't KICK anyone! Where's the fun in that?!

Anyway, the little pasture they put me in has hardly any grass! They said it was because I needed to 'lose weight' but I know it's really a way to torture me until I tell them about our plans! NEVER!!!

Honestly, it had really gotten to the point where I wasn't even trying to escape anymore. But NOW....well, now I'm re-doubling my efforts to come up with yet another good escape plan! And as soon as I get back to my friends, we're outta here!

PS- I'm so hungry! Can I talk someone into getting me some alfalfa cubes????

Shanthi & Kellar - Intro

Hi all,

I've been reading this blog for a while, and finally decided to jump in on the fun. :) I'm a low-level event rider, and dabble in dressage/hunter/jumper when the opportunity arises. I've ridden for over 20 years, and have just bought a 9yo Thoroughbred gelding. He's done foxhunting for the last few years, so now we're planning on working on our dressage over the winter so we'll hit the ground running in the spring when the horse trials start up again.

I'll need some good incentives to ride this winter...my tentative plan is to ride before work during the week, but I'm so not a morning person, so I'm not sure how well that'll turn out.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend, and I look forward to reading/posting more in the future!

For now, a picture. (Not me, by the way, I need to get someone else to take photos!)

Kate & Pro - lesson

Of all the lessons NOT to have a photographer/videographer...*sigh*. Pro was fantastic!!!

I hadn't had a lesson with Gayle in exactly five weeks and one day, I sure was missing it! Pro had some time off in between, which wasn't exactly a huge deal because Gayle said it helps him "think" about what he's learned and process it. Right now he's been on the MSM for about two weeks and Gayle said she could notice a difference. Before I hadn't felt anything different, but today I did!

The first thing she had me do once I got on was get my seatbones plugged in and stop his rushing walk. Within a few strides I "had" him, and she said to be sure to make that a priority from now on, from the second I sit in the saddle. Alright then. Immediately, when I plugged in, he stopped rushing. Took more measured, deliberate steps. I shared what Andrea and I have started noticing - that his "default" neck-set is more down. It used to be that even if he was being a good boy, his neck was set higher. Now, unless he actively lifts his neck/head up to be naughty, it's down!!! This change, while subtle, is so mind-blowingly phenomenal for him. He's finally a real horse. :)

Gayle then decided to attack my position. Wonderful. She did explain that we couldn't do much about my position when we first started with her, since how was she going to help me sit better when Pro gave me nowhere to sit? He was all over the place, and throwing me all over the place. She said we had to deal with his "monkey-man behavior" before we could fix me. Now that he's giving me somewhere to sit, she showed me how to sit better. A few minute changes and WOW!! First of all, she lifted my thigh off the saddle, took what she calls "the generous part of my thigh" (haha, everyone has this) and pulled it back underneath my thigh, if that makes sense. (She explained that men have flat inner thighs, meaning that this is easy for them..%*#@!!) From there, my lower leg naturally lifted OFF his sides. My core ab muscles tightened and he instantly "poofed" underneath me. "Boxing" him with my lower legs became much more easy!! I no longer had to pull my legs off and THEN box him, I just boxed him and they sprang lightly back to their lifted-off position.

Magically, this also somehow did a wonderful thing for my upper body. I felt TALLER, without having to actively sit up straight. Even though I moved my lower leg back so that my ankle was right under my hip, my legs naturally felt LONGER. Gayle had me "stretch my leg down" artificially to feel the difference....yuck! When I pushed my leg down, my seatbones popped up and I was no longer effective on his back, I just floated above his back, totally unable to influence his movement. When I artificially "sat up straight", my legs stiffened and Pro sucked back. But just by sinking deeper into the saddle and lifting my legs off his side, I felt taller, felt longer, felt truly elegant. Gayle said it looked as it should, elegant. Graceful. And Pro was LOVING it...chewing the bit, poofing out in front of my leg, stretching and reaching for the bit, working the middle neck muscles. Fantastic!

Then we worked on answering the question - "Where do you tigthten/brace when you apply your aids?" Seriously - TRY asking this!!! It should be that you apply an aid and then remove it, and nothing else braces or tightens inadvertently. Yet when I was applying the inside rein aid, my inside lower leg was bracing and my ankle was tightening, which made my toe turn out. By calling attention to this, I got my homework assignment: work on consciously RELAXING my tight points when I apply aids. Gayle had me wiggle my toes/ankle around when I applied the inside rein aid, just to keep that joint loose. It was working!

Turns out that I also collapse my inside seatbone when I turn, and that makes my inside hip flexor close. Gayle talked about how our seatbones should move when we ride. Instead of forward and backward, forward and backward...it should be forward, forward, forward, alternating. Like sitting on the ground and "walking" your butt forward. Neither seatbone ever goes backward. Neat, huh? So I tried that. Suddenly, I hit upon the right movement and Pro just POOFED and started stretching more, chewing the bit more, lifting his back more. It felt like my seat was moving more, but Gayle said I looked more still (funny how that works), so that I wasn't moving around. I tried to describe it - balanced. Wherever he moved, I was there, directly over his center. He also felt "there" and "ready" - so that he was there, and I was "here". So very zen-like!! But really, it was amazing.

Then we moved on to the trot, and focused on even posting. Not tilting my seatbones or pelvis out of alignment. Gayle did say that my posting has improved by leaps and bounds, so that was encouraging. It's pushing, lots of pushing forward with my core - as if "the middle of you moves before the rest of you". My legs "hung" down long, my posting was even, suddenly my hands steadied, and Pro just hammed it up. His tail was lifted, his neck was arched forward as he reached toward the bit, he tracked up and he was just floating. Whenever his attention started to waver, instead of using my inside rein to briefly redirect him, I just lightly tapped on his side with the whip, then quickly reassured him with an inside rein pat so he wouldn't get OVERLY worried by the whip. ;) We also worked a little on getting him to move outside, off the circle, without using my inside rein. GIVING the inside rein instead, and just thinking "come over here with me" and gently opening the outside rein for him to fill it. So the "inside leg to outside rein" isn't referring to MY inside leg, but to HIS inside leg. Aha!

Just as a testament to his wonderful goodness...the two dogs who live across the pond showed up, bounding out of his pasture by the arena. He barely lifted his head, and then returned to his working attitude. At one point sirens screamed by on the road...no response from him! Gayle said that I didn't even hear the gunshot close by that was probably the reason for the sirens (followed by people shouting), and neither did Pro. Nor did he/we hear or see Big Horse's owner drive in, back her truck around, throw hay to Big Horse right by the arena, etc. He was just wonderfully elastic and free. Gayle congratulated us - we've graduated from "Pre-sage" to real Dressage!!!! :) :) :)

Weekly Summary

This week I decided it was time for Desi to learn to neck-rein. All my personal horses learn how, I think it is a very important tool. (dressage riders read: outside rein) If my horse doesn't neck rein then I can't REALLY keep thier shoulders up, side-pass, pivot, etc. So I started with getting her to opend up her shoulders.

When I open my right rein I put my outside leg on, I time my "pulls" with her inside front leg. So when she picks her foot up off the ground I lift my rein and pull out. I keep doing this with my outside leg applying similar pressure until the leg goes OVER and not straight. I have been working on this for a while now as part of our warm-up/cool-down and recently started laying my outside rein on her neck. She will now half way neck rein. She doesn't have power steering but I can get a halfway decent circle and can put her back on the rail with the lift of a rein. YAY

Then we had to work on her GO! I refuse to ride a horse I have to kick. Desi is content with a certain level of pressure, she will just tollerate it. I want that to STOP. I want her to get AWAY from any pressure.

For the past few nights I have been riding her in a loping hackamore. It has a braided noseband but is made from grass and has LONG split grass reins. After we warmed up I would ask her to trot with my seat, if I didn't get a response then I touched her with my calves, if I didn't get a response then I would RAPIDLY over/under her with the end of those reins....she started to really JUMP into the trot and started paying attention. She is still confused in the middle of the arena....she really relies on that rail. Last night I went to ask her with my calves and she quickly picked up a very nice trot. We worked on shoulders and hips, and more shoulders last night. We would trot and then quickly stop....pivot towards the rail moving her heavy shoulders over....and then trot off.

Things were going so well I decided it was time to canter.....Desi isn't a horse she is a great dane puppy that flops around. It was horrible! She has a big stride but wasn't confident so every stride felt like she was going to stop. Looks like we are going to spend a LOT of time loping!

Hopefully I can get someone to take pictures on Sunday. It is dark when I ride and I'm off to Clinton, NC tonight and tomorrow.

Kate & Pro are back!

Well, we've been riding for a little bit, but it has been a long break. I had a lesson a month ago and it was great! I'm posting some pictures here. Then Pro had some time off, then back to work last week before the rain, and now back to work again. I took a full month off from running and ran for the first time again last night and was surprised at how well I did - and I say that because I'm realizing that Pro is the same way. Physically, we're both a bit stiff after breaks (my legs huuuurt today). BUT mentally, we both feel much sharper. Interesting...I know everyone needs a break once in awhile, but maybe some people/horses need it more frequently?

The biggest thing that we've been working on is what we've been calling "Barbie arms". I can't remember who said it during the lesson (me or Andrea) but it's the concept that your wrists shouldn't move, your elbows shouldn't move, only move from your shoulders. Gayle gave some great imagery of her friend getting on a warmblood one day and he was strong...so the woman, instead of tweaking her outside rein with her wrist, "threw" her outside shoulder back and the horse sat right back. Barbie can't move her wrists or her elbows, she can only move her arms. It reduces tweaking, reduces irritating the horse, and just elicits a much better response. Gayle said someone once told her to imagine that the reins were attached to her elbows, not her hands. Having all of these images in my head is REALLY helping. Gone is the "sitting up straight" instruction - we think of "sliding our shoulderblades down our backs" - try it, it's neat!!! You sit "up" without forcing yourself into an awkward position.

However, I've found that my shoulders are MUCH weaker than my wrists...ouuuuch. So when I combine this all - sliding my shoulderblades down my back, lifting my legs gently off his sides (no clamping or gripping!) which tightens up my core and plugs my seatbones in, and using my shoulders to manipulate the reins, he really puffs up. However, my body feels like it's going through boot camp.

Lately though, I've been super pleased with Pro. Last night we worked just at the walk to get him all limbered up from a few rainy days off. He was good, but is trying his "you want a Western spin?" trick when I ask for a quarter-pirouette. Then he gets fussy when I block him from spinning, so his head goes up and I have to pick up my reins (to keep the elbow-bit line straight!) and wait. He's become quite frustrated that his giraffe-face trick his now being successfully countered, and usually drops his head within a few seconds once he realizes that I can hold my hands up for longer than he can hold his head up. So when we work through a trouble spot, it's like this:


Me: (request for something that he chooses not to do)
Pro: Trick A
Me: Response A
Pro: Trick B
Me: Response B
Pro: %#*@!!...Trick C
Me: Response C
Pro: (big sigh): (compliance)

It's just a matter of patiently and consistently countering each trick with the appropriate tool or response. I swear, I'll be able to ride any horse once I get past Pro. Oh and he's now on MSM...much to my dismay (do I now have to admit that he's OLD?!?!), but I'm hoping it'll make him feel better and be more willing to work. :)

Quick update and thoughts........

Sorry I haven't updated lately. I have been riding Desi almost daily. Its going REALLY good. I really have her moving off my leg and she is figuring out what outside aides are. Its going GREAT!! She is really settling into her job and feeling more and more solid with every ride.

Can I vent/blog about power and responsibility for a minute? One of the main reasons I have been away is because of a frustrating client. When/if you send your horse to a trainer, have a lesson, participate in a clinic, read a training book, whatever you do to learn and you get that WONDERFUL "ah hah" moment with your horse...... what do you after that? I have recently found people to be like kids with a new toy. They push a button on the toy and something REALLY cool happens so they keep pushing and pushing and pushing it until the toy breaks or the batteries run out. I have found that inexperienced and advanced riders/handlers/owners are just like little kids. They see this neat thing that their horse does and instead of loving it and adding it to the daily ritual or using it responsibly they show friends, over do it, get rough, and abuse it until it doesn't work anymore. So when a horse respects you, gets soft when asked, and moves from minimal pressure what kind of responsibility comes with that new "power"? How do you teach this kind of sense?

Thoughts? Experiences? Do you have a self check to make sure you aren't asking too much of your horse?

Sorry to have such a different post. If you want I can move it to another message board. Thanks for letting me vent though!

Deal or No Deal

So for whatever reason, I always have much better first rides back than second rides. I don't know if it's because I never really ask for that much on first rides or if I ask for too much on second rides, but almost every horse I've ever had/ridden has been that way. Pro was no exception, our ride on Sat was not nearly as nice as Thurs night. He wasn't exactly bad, he just wasn't good either. He wanted to look out on the circle, he wanted to jump sideways at the bunny tree, he wanted to just stop this silly riding business and get left alone. In his defense, it was slightly windy, but it wasn't THAT windy.

Sunday he was better, he was willing to negotiate. If I'd drop my hands then he'd be delighted to lower his head. Oh, and if I could kindly remove all traces of contact with my inside rein then he'd relax his head and neck, but if I dared to ask him to bend correctly then his head would go right back up. I kept at it and didn't cave in on purpose (though I'm sure he tricked me at least a couple times) and finally I was happy with how things were going. I was very pleased with the fact that I got him to stop popping his outside shoulder out on the circle. I read a blog (I think Mugwump Chronicles?) that mentioned that if your horse is dropping it's outside shoulder you need more OUTSIDE rein, because if they're straight they can't pop that shoulder out. So I opened my outside rein another couple of inches while maintaining contact and kept asking for the inside bend with the quick "comeherecomeherecomehere" tugs Gayle recommends to the inside and sure enough, fixed shoulder and eyelashes visible. :)

Kate should hopefully get to ride him tonight, and then we'll be tag teaming all week to try and get chores done and Pro ridden so more Pro-blogginess to come.

Good Pro

So, as I mentioned in my comment, Pro hadn't been ridden in awhile. Last night was his first ride in 12 days and he was incredibly good. Very forward (not surprising) but he was listening so it was actually more useful forward than annoying. I had every intention of just walking him around and getting him to listen, but he picked back up almost where we left off so I was "bad" and added some trot and even a smidge of canter work in. We did the big (20m) circle with small (10m) circles to connect him to the outside aids and he was very responsive to the outside aids. Inside rein was just quick little give-takes to get him to soften his pole and think "inside, inside" since he tends to counter-bend once you get him on the outside aids. I tested both of us with non-pulling halts where I'd just freeze my seat bones and ask him to stop. In Kate's lesson Gayle said that only works if you've actually got your seat connected, so I've started including that as a test for myself. He was never really fully connected, but that was mostly me not asking I think. He was being so nice and soft that I didn't want to push the envelope after he'd had so much time off. Hopefully his MSM is helping and he'll stay forward and loose even once he's being ridden more than every other week.

The weather has been gorgeous so I hope everyone has been riding! The rings may be a bit wet, but unless your horse has plaster feet, that's no excuse!

Just another ride...

Nothing much to report, except I HATE having to scrape mud out of winter woolies. I'm covered in dust!

Skate was a good pony tonight. He had a few days off because he wanted to continue his high maintenance trend and pulled his fancy new shoe. Thanks to my farrier for tacking a shiny new nat. balance shoe back on for free : )

I'm not sure where everyone has gone...but just to entertain you all, here's a pic of Skate and I at our Halloween party. Since its totally not obvious, I was Daphne and he was Scooby...and those are ghost orbs, not dust particles ; )