Pro's Blustery Day

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but we seem to be in the middle of a wind storm here in Durham. I headed out to the barn around 10:30 or so and it was breezy, but not that bad. When I got to the barn, the horses were spooking all by themselves out in the field. Just what everyone wants to see when they go to ride, isn't it? I debated lunging vs riding and finally decided to trust Pro and ride. Just at a walk so my butt would be in the saddle at all times.

We got some pretty good walk work in. I think it helped that I was grounded to the walk so I was focusing on it more. I'm still refiguring out my position so I've been trying to mostly leave Pro alone. If I get in the right position he's pretty honest about going correctly. After about 30 minutes a dead tree across the pond came booming down which spooked everybody. Pro took about two hops sideways and then stared it down. I hopped off to make sure Grey Horse hadn't run over her owner (they were tacking up inside) and then we headed back out with them to finish our ride. Pro went right back to work and we even did a little bit of trotting before calling it a day. He spooked leading him back down to his paddock and then ran around like a lunatic for a minute, so I'm very pleased he didn't do that when I was on him.

Happy New Years everyone!

Back to work for Pro

But first, a picture of Lyric (on the right) a 13yo Arabian and Sugar a 29yo TWH/pony cross. Lyric is really Flashs Image which makes him some sort of weird half-2nd cousin to Pro through Magnum Spatz. Lyric is a much more minimally marked sabino. We bought him 12 1/2 years ago to be a replacement to Sugar, who you can see is still going strong. Part of my Christmas involved putting up a round pen for my mom, so hopefully both horses will be in better shape next time I get down. They were dirty, fluffy, and way over due to have their feet done because their farrier had some sort of throat surgery done, so it wasn't really a good time to get conformation shots. Lyric is actually very cute even though he looks funky here.

So, now on to Pro's ride yesterday! I dragged Greg along for more pictures (we got a SLR camera from his parents so this way I got pictures and he got to play with the new toy). I didn't tempt fate with the dark, but asking for good pictures after a week off was probably a bit much. He did fairly well though. He clearly remembered the concepts we'd been working on, but he wasn't really sure he wanted to put forth actual effort on them. So he sort of half-faked them for the beginning of the ride, staying very tight in his shoulders.

So over the poles we went! At the trot he kept trying to fling himself over them like a jump (which I sadly do not have pictures of) which amused me. He did eventually loosen up somewhat. Just in time to decide that he had worked more than enough and we were GOING to stop right then. Umm, no Pro, we weren't. If it'd been more than 20 min of riding I'd be shocked. I'll spare you the giraffe-face pictures, but here's him looking cute again.

In fact, he did so well that I even cantered him in one direction. He's getting much more balanced through his canter from all the trot work. There were moments where his back actually felt round under me. I'm not sure if this is one of those or not, but he had decent suspension at least! All in all it was a pretty good ride and I'm looking forward to another this afternoon. Gotta get him back in shape for his mommy!

Mini-break Over!

As I was getting ready to head to the barn last night, I spied my full-seats, which I never wear. For whatever reason, I decided to put those on. Man, those are some goofy pants - could they come up any higher? If they did, they could serve as both breeches and a sports bra.

So I head out to inform Skate his vaca is over. He comes out of his stall willingly, albeit muddy. (Good news - the new blanket is still holding up) I get him tacked up and decide we'll go to the outside ring since the footing is newly dragged. Nevermind only half of the lights are working - talk about shadows. Still - its good to keep him on his toes.

I went ahead and lunged him first to get the sillies out. He was an angel tracking left and I almost just hopped on him then, but decided I'd better go both directions. Pffffttt - good thing I did! He was a complete fool in the other direction. I'm glad I had gloves on - every WALK command turned to canter - faster - faster - drag damn anchor (me) across ring - have hissy fit - walk. What the hell? I know that is his worse direction - he is much more unbalanced and is always trying to crane his head out and bulge the shoulder in. I think it was my constant corrections on the line for that maneuver that kept pissing him off. Oh well. I finally got an ok trot - walk transition and decided to hop on.

He really wasn't that bad. He certainly needed some reminders - my whip got used frequently as he was attempting the 'ol titanic turns (where the back end seems to swing way out) and at first I was half halting like a water skiier. After the monotony of 4 thousand figure eights, he chilled out. This is where the random donning of the fullseats saved me. We walked down to the end of the ring on a loose rein when both of us saw 'something' flash over to the left. Its funny how you think, "crap - he's gonna bolt" just early enough to be able to get in a second of panic before it actually happens. So he did his spin and bolt - my foot came out of the stirrup and my entire upper body was parallel to the ground - however, my bum was nicely stuck : ) Thank-you, unflattering breeches.

After that we walked past the flashing thing - which was the laminated dressage letter that had torn and was flapping in the wind. Once he realized what it was, he seemed embarrassed and put his head down (in shame, I like to think).

The rest of the ride was uneventful, thank goodness. I can't really complain - he had over a week off and then I come out and stack the odds against him (cold, windy, poor lighting, I was riding like a weeble wobble, etc, etc). So, I'll just say the ride was as good as can be expected : )

Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year, too. Skate is taking a mini-break from working and is probably doing his best to annihilate his new blanket and turnout boots.

The little turdlet now is forced to get armored up prior to turnout due to his amazing knack at wacking his hind cannon bones. How does a horse get that many bumps in such a short amount of time? He came to me with the prettiest cleanest legs - and now they look like mogul slopes. How do you get rid of those bumps that seem to originate from within the bone?

Oh - and I can't give you a long term durability report yet, but at first glance, I'm rather pleased with the SmartPak thinsulate turnout - it's only 1200 denier (was hoping for 1680 ballistic nylon) but it's filled with thinsulate insulation instead of the usual heavy poly-fill stuff. That results in a midweight (equivalent to a 220 g fill) turnout that is as light as a sheet.

Well, I'm back to my Corona and sunshine here in Key West - I hope everyone is having an equally relaxing holiday season.

Silly Pepsi- Levades are for Lippizaners!

So...I know I haven't been on here much lately, but here's an update. ;)

With exams at full-force, I hadn't been able to get out to the barn for over a week, almost a week and a half. For me, that's like not breathing for a week. And for Pepsi, that's like leaving a toddler alone with no babysitter for that long as well. In other words, the next time you go out, expect to have fun. ;)

So, I went out a few days ago and he was surprisingly calm walking to the barn. Once we got there though and he caught sight of all of the geldings running and playing in the pasture he just couldn't take it. I tried for about a minute and half to get his attention back on me before I realized that we needed some SERIOUS round pen work! So, off we went.

I took off his halter (I don't normally, but I just decided to this time) and he went RUNNING AND LEAPING AND BUCKING around that pen like never before. It was really funny and quite adorable, but he was supposed to listen to ME. So, I asked him to move forward and he took off like a shot- hand galloping around the round pen, blowing and snorting. Uh-huh. That's nice horse. Now pay attention to ME. I asked for a change of directions. You'd have thought I chased after him with the Triton of Death. He SLID to a stop, turned on a dime, gave a HUGE leaping buck, snorted, and galloped off.

Ok. So this is going to take a while.

We did some more changes of directions (for his reaction, see above) and then finally after about the 8th time he started to settle and at least pay attention to me. I wouldn't say he was listening, but at least he realized that I was there in the round pen with him. ;)

Next, I started asking for some transitions, which he promptly ignored. So I promptly demanded a nice, forward canter until he got tired and DID start listening. Then we did some transitions and more changes of directions, until his head was nice and low, he was listening to me the entire time, AND he responded promptly. Once he settles, I'm finding that I'm starting to be able to control the SPEED of his gaits now...it's only a little bit at a time, but it's a start. (And compared to a year ago, it's a HUGE thing!!)

Anyway, we came back in, I finished grooming him, and let him graze for a bit before I put him back up. :D

PS- that time spent in the paddock worked! He's lost at least 50 pounds, maybe even 75! Yay! No more pudgy pony!

Pro to Prometeo

Pro was very good for his last ride before his Christmas break. I was hoping to get out today to ride (can we say gorgeous weather?) but I think my preparations for Christmas have gotten in the way. Last night was a good way to end anyway.

During Kate's lesson we asked Gayle about how long developing self-carriage takes (typical horse with typical training and typical gaits: 1 year) and what age she thought Pro was in each of his gaits (5yo walk, 5yo trot, 3yo canter). I think Pro is determined to develop self-carriage in record time. Last night was my first night attempting the poles and while Pro's caught on that he shouldn't chip at them, he wasn't really working as hard as he could have at them. I blame myself, it'd been a week since I rode and I know various parts of my body were all out of whack.

I gave up on the poles for the day and just worked on my 20m circle getting myself readjusted. Pro of course was all like "FINALLY!" when I got my seat bones even and pointing down, shoulders and hips open up front, toes wiggly to avoid squishing him, contact on the outside rein, less contact on the inside rein, etc etc. Took it up to the trot and he was very forward, still round, but he had a little more impulsion than he normally does, so he kept throwing himself off his balance. He was very cute, he'd start to get all panicky about where his feet were until I'd loosen the inside rein so he could chase the bit and then he was like "oh! I have it!" and get super proud of himself. We also progressed from just our normal 20m circle to figure-8s and then to serpentines for a little bit just to up the difficulty a smidge. He handled it like a champ. So then I asked him to try the poles at a trot and he just thought he was the most amazing horse ever for trotting over the poles. No chips, nice steady rhythm... I'll admit it, I thought he was the most amazing horse ever as well.

The funny part about the ride was after he really got going I'd look down and be surprised by how close the ground looked. He had so much power you'd think he was bigger. And... I totally just busted myself for thinking bigger = more power. Big Horse at the barn proves that's not necessarily true.

Anyway, I may give an update on my mom's Arab (and post pictures for comparison purposes) but if not, Merry Christmas everyone!

Reminder of blog rules

Just a gentle reminder...

The purpose of this blog was to be a group where people not only track and celebrate their own personal progress, but also support everyone else with their progress. This blog will not work if people only post about their own progress and never (or very infrequently) comment on other people's progress.

Here's a reminder of the initial rules, from my post on NCHN:
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Here are some rough, premature "guidelines" that I think/hope will help things move along smoothly:

1) One entry per ride. That way, we can keep the "clutter" down so no one's ride gets lost in the mix.

2) As much as possible, try to leave a comment on everyone's entry, even if it's brief or just a "Yay!" quick type comment. It's not much of a motivational help if you type out an entry and it gets ignored.

3) Be encouraging! I know I'm excited for this, and I hope you all are, too!

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I hope you all can understand why these rules/guidelines were put in place. It really IS frustrating to spend a long time typing out a detailed entry and have it be ignored. I know I've been bad about getting to comments promptly (I'll try to be better!!!), but I make sure to read and comment on every single post on here before I post an entry of my own.

I love having everyone here but if you disagree with this guideline, which is fine, maybe an individual blog would be better to track your individual progress. If you have any questions, please send me a PM on NCHN.

Thanks - this blog has been wonderful and I've enjoyed tracking everyone's progress so much! :)

The Old Man Still Has Some Springs :)

Well, as a bit of a break from the ongoing battle of Hannah vs. Surf over stadium jumps, it was old man Huey's turn for a jumping lesson. I've been trying to limit the pounding I put on his legs, as I'd like him to last through several more seasons...so I only jump him in lessons (probably once every 2 weeks or so). I figure that this horse knows how to jump, knows his job, and the part of the equation that needs work is ME...and we can work on me with Surf, since both of us need frequent practice on our issues, that are quite specific to us as a partnership. Huey, really, is not a complicated ride over fences once he decides that he's willing to work with you...apparently if he doesn't like you, forget it. You can't do anything with him (I've heard some horror stories about past lessors...). However, once he's on-board with the partnership, and you figure out his little quirks (developing a tick more canter than you think you need, as he's got more heart than scope, floating him a bit of rein in the approach to give him the freedom to really use his head, again due to the more heart than scope issue, etc.), he's amazing over fences...and a total blast to ride :)

Since Huey is really game for jumping anything, anytime, anywhere, we were the guinea pigs for a new set of exercises...

When Julia says you're the guinea pig, you're always in for a surprise. The jumps set up didn't look like much at first - a simple gymnastic in the middle, and 4 fences around the outside. First we played around over single fences, just getting warmed up and working on Huey not getting super excited that we're jumping again...and working on controlling him from my seat/leg rather than my hands. To help with this, I've been jumping him on the snaffle ring of his bit (he goes in a 3-ring elevator/bubble bit/whatever you call it for jumping...and the leverage action on the lower rings is great for xc!). Next we started to focus on the fact that the 4 outside fences were all set at angles...which has the effect of surprising the horse...and thus setting them up for an added stride if you're not clear with your line and your aids. We worked on having a straight approach to an angled fence...so that your line is straight, but you jump the fence on an angle, since it's at an angle to your line. First we jumped the angled fences individually...taking this time to work on the scary nature of the fences, since there was an oxer over a liverpool, an oxer with boxes underneath, a set of flower boxes, and the scary rainbow jump. Then we worked on jumping pairs of angled fences - first on a bending line riding each fence perpendicularly - so that A to B rode in 5 and C to D rode in 6. Next we worked on making the fences line up with a straight line from center to center...which means you jump the fences on an angle so A to B becomes a 4 and C to D becomes a 5. Huey much preferres to shorten his stride and always add, so it was a challenge to push him into a more open stride. J and I have been working on getting me to the point where I can ask huey for the bigger step at home, but also teaching me to be quiet and let him add if he needs to add when we're at shows to put together a smoother, more comfortable ride. This exercise was good for my eye...as my eye is a big problem. I have a hard time letting go of the hunter mentality to pick a spot, and I have a tendency to look down through turns or at fences I'm worried about, thus causing all the horse's energy to fall out from under me. We worked on the concept of, when you turn onto a line where the fences are not set perfectly straight to each other, finding your line where the standards of the fences line up...then putting your eye back down on each individual obstacle in turn, and riding in the "jimmy style" where you look at each fence until it dissappears between their ears, then look for the next individual fence. The weird thing about this is that you can see the entire line when you line up the standards, but the "line" dissappears when you look back at each individual fence...which makes you set up your line early and commit to trusting the line even when you can't see it anymore...and really riding on feel and riding the good canter that you've hopefully established. It's a strange sensation...try it and you'll see. It's very hard to trust the line when you can't see it anymore...especially for someone like me who likes to micromanage :P

After playing with the angled fences, it was on to the next exercise...which I initially thought was a rather dull x - 1stride -1stride gymnastic. Boy was I wrong! We rode through the gymnastic normally first...then the fun began. Let's see if I can explain. Those little Orange dots in the diagram are cones. 1st, you started at the cone near D, trotting to the left, going between 3 and D and trotting over fence 1 (the x)...which means you had to go between 2 and 1 to get to 1, which is only an average 1-stride amount of space. Then we landed with a R lead canter, went around the cone near C (going between 1 and C) to canter fence 3, the oxer. Then we landed cantering left, around the cone to jump over fence 2, going between fences 1 and A on landing. Talk about having to be good with your eye. We worked on treating the space you had to go between fences as a jump, focusing there as well as on the jumps. Then we went back to the D cone and reversed the exercise - going R, trot the X, left lead canter back over 3, right lead canter over 2. Of course J had to make it harder after that :P Starting at the D cone, you jumped fence 1, R lead canter over 2 landing between 3 and B, left lead canter over 3 landing between A and 1. Of course, we reversed that exercise too. Again, working on sharpening my eye...treating each fence individually, but looking for the line on landing, treating the space between fences like 3 and B or 1 and A through which we had to pass as a separate obstacle.

What a Workout! This afternoon is a flat lesson with Surfie...and tomorrow Surfie jumps with his buddy Paris, but we'll probably have a new set of torture exercises set up by then!

Who bought me a sporthorse???

I no longer own Pro, a 14.3h chestnut Arabian. I own Prometeo, a 16h chestnut sporthorse. :) With huge gaits!!!!!!!!

My lesson on Saturday was great, once we got going. Pro started off very much in an "I don't feel like working today" mode. Well, I was in an "I paid $$ for Gayle to come today, so you WILL work" mode!! Gayle decided to try something new rather than fight through his mood. She brought out two trot poles and made a cross out of them. So the pole that laid across the other pole had one down side, one raised side. She then took Pro's inside rein and helped guide him around and over the poles. Up over the high end, the low end, over the spot where they crossed, etc. At first he was mortified as he stumbled through, kicking the poles and tripping a bit, but then he sorted it out and became fascinated with this new "puzzle". Gayle said it was really beneficial for him, as he had to move his pelvis and shoulders in unique ways, figuring out the poles. He wasn't allowed to shorten his stride and chip before the poles, but he had to be bold and step confidently. Eventually as he got better, I kept mixing it up by asking him to change bend as he walked over the uneven parts and asking him to move off my outside aids as he turned around and walked back and forth.

Here's where the genius part comes in. After about 10-15min of doing this and making it more complicated for him, Gayle had me leg-yield onto a circle and pick up the trot. Immediately, he picked up a forward, attentive trot!!!! I was blown away at her genius. :)

We addressed the usual tricky things - positional things, hands up, not squooshing him with my legs, moving my arms from the shoulders, etc. Then on a large figure-eight at the trot we worked on getting him to fully open up.

Gayle with her usual words of zen - "You don't truly have control until you let go."

I'm pretty sure there's a ton of deeper meaning attached to that. :) But right then I was just trying to wrap my head around it in dressage-terms. Considering his Arab Western Pleasure background, Pro is a SAINT about reaching for the bit. Which he reliably does once I've established a connection. He never reaches for it when he's doing his llama-chicken impression! ;) We're working on transitioning over from an "inside rein fix" to a "leg/whip" fix for dealing with attentional issues. A lot of the time, he gets it! If he starts to pick up his head, the current fix involves a quick reflexing of his poll with the inside rein (not so much that it turns his neck, but just flexes his poll). We're trying to transition him to move forward and pay attention again just from a quick tap of the whip or from the leg.

After a few figure eights, he was moving huge!!! Such lofty gaits, such suspension. :) And being such a good boy attention-wise.

For the past two rides this week I've used the poles to warm up. Tonight, I only needed them for about 5 minutes before he was attentive and on my aids. Hands up, no squooshing! :) It paid off in the trot...he felt so huge. I was talking to Gayle on Saturday about how I feel like he's going to have very expressive gaits that will come out as he progresses. He just feels so sport-horsey! And tonight I was SO proud of him - it was dark and part of our figure-eight was in the part of the arena where the lightbulb has gone out in the light...so he was an attentive, quiet angel, even in the dark! :)

The other neat part of Saturday was watching Gayle ride Gray Horse at the barn - Andrea came too. Gayle lunged her first (stumping us with a surprise pop quiz about the training scale and other such things) and then we got to watch her ride. It was neat, considering how much overlap there was between her ride and the stuff we're working on with Pro. Very educational!!!!

"On the bit"!

I had a lesson Saturday morning and I had requested some lunging help. We started out with that - and added some sliding reins for a few minutes to (as my instructor says) show Skate the way. He seemed to get it...and sorta stretched down, but we suspect it was mostly to avoid the bit, not seek contact.

-Let me interject here with a comment - I don't fully understand why any horse would "seek" contact, really. Yes, I understand that quiet, elastic contact isn't painful, but if I were a horse I would likely spend more time avoiding that metal thing in my mouth than seeking it ; ) That cliche has just never been clear to me -

After he was going nicely on the lunge, we moved on to riding. Worked on spiral in to turn on the haunches back to spiral out to get him moving off my leg. I have great difficulty with this exercise. It requires so many different aids at once that I get frazzled quickly and tense up. Plus, I am not whispering with my leg - I'm screaming, which throws my balance off and pisses Skate off! Must work on whispering. Lord knows that horse is sensitive enough, its not like he needs anything loud.

Once he was moving in and out and stepping under himself nicely, we went back out to the rail and worked on bending - through the corners and in the middle of each side. Lo and behold - Skate turned into super dressage pony with this maneuver! All of a sudden, after a few minutes, we got Skate "ON THE BIT!". He was stretching INTO contact, using his back, and his trot was leap years ahead of what it used to be (short and choppy). This is a huge turning point for the little guy as you all know he has spent the last few months (not to mention his entire career) avoiding the bit like the plague.

We were both bummed that we had no video to document this moment. My instructor swears there will come a time when I will get frustrated with only a few strides of Skate NOT being on the bit out of an entire ride on the bit instead of being thrilled with the few measly strides of on the bit like I am now. Ha. Can't wait for that day!

Skate Redeems Himself!

I went out tonight with low expectations as the horses were all in due to the massive downpours all day long. I took the little horse into the indoor and just prepared myself to have a crazy pony flying around at the end of the lunge line. To my surprise, he was quiet, relaxed, and darn obedient! Only a couple of uncalled for transitions - but even those were quietly done. Ha.

So I went ahead and hopped on...and his good pony behavior continued to undersaddle work. He was gnawing on the bit like a lunatic, but I've learned to ignore that. Otherwise, he was great. Quiet transitions, extremely balanced, and best of all - stretching down! No giraffe head at all! As a side note, his canter has gotten so much better than when I first got him; I actually look forward to it now instead of dreading the wild unbalanced careening of before.

I think whoever commented on consistent riding was spot on - I've been religious about not giving him more than 2 days off recently. I prefer every other day, but sometimes that just ain't gonna happen. Now, if I could just get to the gym as often as I get to the barn....

Anyway, Skate was fabulous. I gave him loads of treats and praise and left feeling much better. Good therapy session : )

Ok, I guess I should at least update...

on Skate's progress, or lack thereof. He has been a bit of a brat lately. I have a bad feeling it is saddle-fit related, so I am trying to get a fitting done. Then again, I'm probably giving him too much benefit of the doubt - he's probably just feeling his oats. His back does not palpate sore at all, nor does he care when you bring out the saddle, shift weight, etc.

I had gotten so annoyed at his giving me the middle finger when I asked him to change gears that I have gone to the lunge line. I am not a terribly patient person (is dressage the right sport for me?) and when my horse repeatedly ignores or acts out at my requests, I can't help but get frustrated. Rather than do something stupid and just setting back our under saddle work, I have decided to work on Skate's brattiness on the lunge. Turns out he thinks he should pick the gait/speed/etc there, too : )

"Walk, you say? Nope...I think trot is in order."
"Trot? No, no, you mean canter!!"
"How about a trot now?....Huh? Walk? I can't hear you! I can't hear you!"

So, we're working on listening. Again, I get frustrated. I have to keep taking deep breaths so I don't snap and undo training. I did once the other day: he continued to walk after I had asked him clearly to trot - so I popped the whip towards him and ended up with a nutty pony zooming around snorting for 5 minutes. Great.

Anyway, I think I need a lesson soon to get back on track. Life has been one giant jumble of stuff lately and I haven't had time to focus on anything. I'm just going through a general frustration with my riding. I really wish I had more people to ride with a bounce info off of...

Hmph

Apparently 3pm yesterday was THE time to ride, as I saw both other people who ride out at the barn. Unfortunately Big Horse's owner was tacking up when I showed up so I could already tell that the ride wasn't going to be super productive.

Pro was very happy to come in out of the cold to get groomed and didn't object to heading back out to ride. When I got on Big Horse was on a like 10m circle on the lunge line because he hadn't been messed with in THREE WHOLE DAYS! ;) Pro ignored him though and we settled into a 15m circle on the other end of the ring. He was going pretty well and I worked on regaining the feel from the lesson. He got a nice rhythmic walk pretty fast so I worked on getting him to un-lock his neck by doing some neck flexions to the inside and outside and some small circles on the big circles. Each time after I unlocked it he'd move out really nice for about half a circle before we had to repeat it. Finally moved up to the trot and he was being good, just needed some time for us to play around with stuff and for him to settle into a good, steady rhythm. Unfortunately about 5-10 min into our trot work Big Horse's owner got on. She cut us off a couple times and I finally just gave up, figuring it wasn't going to work to ask for a regular trot when I kept having to slam on the brakes or do weird figures at the last minute. I think with another 15-20 min he'd have gotten back to where he was on Thurs, so I was pretty annoyed.

On the other hand, he spazzed at one point when we went by the mirror, I'm not sure if it was from seeing Big Horse in it or what, but a few seconds later Big Horse also jumped out of his skin in the same spot. Pro just trotted right back by it without even looking the next circuit though, so I was proud of him for that.

Mini-breakthrough!

So I got out of work a bit early on Friday, in theory so that the management could take us out for drinks to relax...I, of course, figured that I could relax way better in the saddle, so I high-tailed it for the barn. Turns out my trainer was already on Kellar, getting in his training ride for the day. We swapped out, and I just tooled around for 20min or so until we ran out of daylight. Overall, he was good, and I'm getting much more used to his gaits (he feels a lot "bigger" than other horses I've ridden, simply because he's got such a long/stretchy stride, so he covers way more ground than I'm used to). However, he was being really evasive about the bit...either he'd be way above the vertical, or he'd drop below it and fuss/root with the bit. So that was a bit discouraging.

Today (Saturday) I was supposed to have a lesson, but there was a show at the barn, so things were a bit crazy. Kellar and I played musical tack instead...we started out with the dressage saddle and draw reins, which worked well, and then swapped to a different bit, which made a HUGE difference, I think. He still fussed with the bit, but way less in a plain loose-ring snaffle than in the french link full-cheek. (Possible proof that the french link really does encourage "engagement" with the bit...he needs more of a restraining order from it, though!) After that, we ditched the draw reins (which I'm really not fond of, but they are useful in preventing him from doing giraffe mode and just speeding around the ring when I try to do inside leg->outside rein), and then we finally swapped to my jumping saddle. He was still really awesome, and we popped over a few jumps during a schooling break for the show just for fun.

Overall, he and I both did really well. :) I still need to work on canter transitions, because he's reluctant to pick up his left lead canter and instead of sitting quietly and asking (like I do for the right lead), my reaction to him going "nuh unh!" when I ask for the canter is to kind of shuffle around and throw my weight forward, as if that'll make a 1,000+ animal change gaits. ;-) So...homework for me. The vet is coming out next week to check him out and see if he needs hock injections, though, so hopefully that'll help him with his canter depart (once he's rolling, he's awesome). Other than that, more work for me on keeping him light and balanced, and my latest self-project is to work on really *knowing* what diagonal I'm on...I used to be able to feel it, but have lost that talent, so I'm trying to quiz myself when I swap from sitting to posting trot.

Q&A...and Chardonneigh

First, I've been trying to catch up on everyone's posts, as I've been running around crazy with work and horses and not spending as much time as usual online. I'll try to be better about replying to posts! really!

Second, you all should buy my trainer's new book -- it's for a good cause :) For anyone who hasn't seen the post on NCHN, Julia's book "Finding My Distance" is coming out Jan 15th, and all proceeds are going towards the medical and living expenses of Kim Meier, an eventer who was paralyzed in a freak riding accident, schooling over stadium fences in a clinic. Kim is an amazing person...and has given Surf and I some terrible but well-deserved dressage scores this year, as she's judging and teaching from her wheelchair now. It's a neat book...the excerpts I posted about Huey and Surf are from the book...and she'd love to see it raise a lot of money for Kim :)

I've stolen the title of this post from an idea that my trainer recently implemented with some of her students. She doesn't teach a lot of students, and most of the ones she teaches are pretty actively competing and doing a lot of their own horse management/maintenance -- and she'd realized that in lessons how little time there is to talk about peripheral issues such as show scheduling, conditioning, care issues, health issues, life issues, training issues, and the like. So, she's started a regular little get-together at her house where every 2 weeks or so, we come over in the evening (after we're done riding) and share snacks and wine (hence the Chardon"neigh") and talk about a "peripheral topic". The last one was about managing your horse during the winter, both from a health perspective and in thinking about structuring your winter riding with spring showing goals in mind. This week is going to be split between 2 topics - preparing and executing a winter trip south to kick off the season early in South Carolina...and a book swap. One of the things we talked about doing is using time over the winter to further our riding education through reading...and we're all bringing some of our favorite books to talk about and swap with each other.

In terms of the riding, well, it's been busy on that front too. Huey is back to full work, and he recently made his first field trip off the farm since his injury back in March. The old man still cleans up well...and I was so proud that after 9 months of being a homebody, he marched right onto the trailer and was a perfect gentleman at the show. At the show, someone asked how old he was...so I asked them how old they thought he was...and the answer was 8, maybe 9 or so. I had to laugh, as the old man is 26 days shy of his 21st birthday. Perhaps, come January 1, I'll have to buy that horse a beer :)

It's an educational experience riding both horses...but the educational experience is exponential rather than linear. There's the education from Surf, and that from Huey...and the education that's coming from learning to be flexible and adaptable enough to ride two very very different horses back to back. I'm learning a lot about myself and my riding in the process. Yesterday, in my jumping lesson on Surf, we had much discussion about how Huey is self-propelled, and Surf is an exercise in creating forward motion...how Huey will take a rail in order to get from one side of the jump to the other regardless of the approach, while Surf is more dependent on me to set him up until the last stride, then leave him alone in the front end while attacking more firmly with my leg...how Huey likes to be the one making the decisions (and is quick to tell me that I'm asking for the wrong option), while Surf looks to me to make the decisions for him. I've learned that I'm a decision maker in the wrong sense...I tend to pick my spot too far away, and stay committed to my spot when I should be more adjustable...but then when it doesn't work out perfectly I have a tendency to flake out and not ride the correction I need to make my spot happen and leave my horse hanging out in a spot he didn't want without the support from me to make it work anyways. Huey does little to discourage this behavior, as he'll correct my mistakes himself...and come hell or high water, he's getting to the far side of that fence, with or without me. Huey is a perfect example of Jimmy W's ideal horse that jumps the fences not because of what we do, but in spite of what we do. Surf on the other hand needs someone to make the decisions for him, and to support him through the decision. Without the support, he stops, which is the safest option. The big brown horse is going to make me be decisive...which is a good thing for my riding, and a good thing for me in life in general.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the connections between riding, and my work in Psychiatry. Surf in many ways reminds me of my supportive psychotherapy patients. Huey, on the other hand...well he's probably my therapist :)

Amazing Lesson

So, my fears were unfounded, Pro was amazing for his lesson.

Well, first he started out looking like this --->

Then Gayle went through position fix stuff with me, sort of like what she did with Kate last Saturday. Some of this visualization seems like it's success is personal, so if it doesn't work, sorry!

1) My seat bones need to point straight down. That one had me confused for awhile before I realized that it means I should orient my pelvis straight up and down vertically. I over compensated for my "hunter perch" by sitting too far back and rocking my butt underneath me.

2) My hips need to be open and flat. This I think is essentially does the same thing as getting the thigh flab out of the way. Gayle told me to picture a board across the front of me that I was trying to flatten my entire body against, and had me open my hip-flexor. After having her tell me what that was, it helped. It also burned. Feel the burn!

3) Keep my body upright and stretch my shoulders across, while letting my shoulder blades slide down my back. This one ended up being the hardest for me to keep up, my inside arm kept getting lazy and sliding in (and apparently according to the pictures, I was also dropping my inside shoulder a bunch). We did this before #2 actually, which is why the open hip thing made more sense to me, because I was trying to get the same feeling in both my shoulders and hips.

4) DO NOT SQUEEZE WITH MY LEGS! DO NOT OPEN MY FINGERS AND USE THAT TO BE "NICE" TO THE HORSE. If I open my fingers, then Pro doesn't know where the end of the rein is and he has to worry about when it's going to magically appear.

If I managed to do 1-4 then he pretty much transformed in this ->

We spent probably 15-20 minutes getting me to figure out where I should be, and then spent the rest of the ride at the walk and trot on a circle and letting both Pro and myself play around with the feelings. I spent the entire time trying to memorize the sensations, while Pro spent a good bit of the time alternating between doing an amazing lesson-master impression at the trot and trying to unkink his vertebrae...
He was really happy with himself for knowing what his job was and doing it. Gayle, Kate, and I spent some time discussing what our goal was for him at this point in his re-training and just generally talking about how awesome he is. For now Kate and my goal is to get Pro feeling like this every ride as fast as possible and then leave him alone to figure things out. Once he's 100% solid in this, then we'll be ready to take the next step. She also said that 90% of horses and riders never even get this far. Not bad for the little pony who ran around like a spaz a year ago. :D

One last picture... Gayle described his expression as "just like a man after having really great sex." Proof that Pro enjoyed the lesson too!

Update on Deuce, and Introducing JAY!

Finally, the update I promised! Deuce seemed to be showing some improvement, albeit slow, so I have not taken him to the vet school yet. I discussed this with my vet, and the vet at NCSU. His back is not quite as sore, and I can now stretch his front legs forward without him exploding backwards in pain. The farrier, however, still could not put him on a hoof stand long enough to finish dressing his trim. We are planning to give Deuce some bute before he comes out next time to see if that will help. It looks a little exaggerated in this picture, but gives a good idea of the asymmetry.
One reason I am not feeling as stressed out having Deuce worked up is that I found a lovely new horse! I am still keeping Deuce's best interest in mind, but I also admit that I like to actually ride. Deuce is settling nicely into his new role of "pesky little brother," and he and Jay like to play together and get along just wonderfully!

Jay is an 11yo OTTB gelding who has done some eventing with his previous owner. He knows through First level dressage, too. He spent 6 months the first part of this year with a professional trainer. Here are two links to videos of her riding him: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...urrent=Jay.flv and http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Dressage-1.flv

I realized during the process of looking at Jay that I am officially having a confidence crisis for the first time in my life. It really hit me the first time I cantered Jay. I was honest with the owner and her trainer/instructor about what I was feeling, and they still thought Jay and I were a good match. I cantered him a couple more times that first day I looked at him, so that I was on a good note, but have decided not to push myself since then. Jay is also recovering from EPM, so it is probably good for him to work up slowly with me, too.

I did decide that I needed to get back into lessons as soon as possible, especially with the confidence issues. When I really thought about it, I have not had a lesson since the last part of 2001! A lot has happened since then, and then I started back riding a green horse. I have not really cantered a made horse since about that same time. So I found an instructor and had a lesson last week!
We first worked on getting Jay really moving forward and using himself. This also got him softened through his neck and jaw. We then worked on taking the inside rein and really asking him to soften and bend around my leg. When Jay then put weight on his outside shoulder and my outside rein, I would just close my fingers around that outside rein to 'hug' him and give him some support. From there we changed the size of the circle, going straight, adding stride (speed), and slowing, as long as he is soft. I have been doing lots of transitions and giving him a lot of breaks on a long rein, too.

I just got back home from a fabulous ride on Jay. At first, he felt more 'stuck' with me today. I really asked him to keep moving forward, and did lots of transitions. He finally gave me a really nice stretching trot in both directions. I am thrilled! I even found myself feeling very tempted to canter today, so that is a really good sign. I am still planning to wait for now, though. Jay has not put a hoof wrong, though, to cause me to be concerned. I just think I really need some good experiences under my belt, and want to give myself the best chance for that to happen!

Pretty Pony!

I've been riding, I just haven't been blogging. In part because for awhile there before Thanksgiving my rides were only about 15 minutes long because I was constantly running around. I'm back for awhile now though!

Kate met me out at the barn after work so she could coach me through her lesson revelations before my lesson, which is Thurs morning. She hopped on first because I wanted to see what she did before I tried to repeat it. Pro was in full-out Arab mode when we walked down to the ring and she got on. He tried to rush through his walk with his neck up and sucked back. He looked awful. Kate talked me through how she was using her seat to regulate the rhythm of his walk and we discussed the new, milder method of correcting him when he gets looky (just a quick, firm tug to the inside with the inside rein, then release - if he's being responsive then just use a quick tap of the whip and then give him a pat). Within about 5 minutes he was stretching forward for the bit and stepping under himself and was pretty focused.

So I hopped on to try to duplicate things and he was amazing. I realized a ride or two ago and this one really cemented it that I have to be sitting IN the saddle, not ON the saddle. I think this goes along with the thigh-bulk idea, but if I roll my entire leg in so that it points forward rather than my knees pointing slightly out then sit BACK my butt-bones make a much firmer connection to the saddle. It almost feels like I'm sitting on him too hard, but that's probably not the case since his immediate reaction tends to be to puff up, go forward, and stretch his shoulders to his nose when he steps. I'm probably not explaining it right, but it's like if I roll my leg forward then my calf comes off the horse (which makes sense, everyone gets told to make your feet point straight). But typically I'd do that from my ankle or knee, not really my hip. By rotating my entire leg to keep it straight, I can't squeeze with my thighs so Pro has room to move up under me and really use his shoulder.

We decided to be brave and trot and he was moving like a 30k horse, I swear. At one point I got sort of lazy about my outside rein and so he got sort of disjointed, still moving nicely, but without that suspension that was making his trot so insanely nice before. So I took back contact with the outside rein and within a stride he was back to his awesome, balanced trot. I even cantered him, which we don't really do much these days. He certainly does not have an awesome, balanced canter yet, but I think it's starting to improve some as he builds the muscles from carrying himself at the walk and trot better. We're still in the half-seat, opening rein, baby-ing mode so it's hard to influence it much.

So, the final miracle of this entire ride was that it was dark, cold, and Kate hadn't given him his dinner before hand and yet he was still willing to focus! I'm super psyched about the lesson on Thurs, which is in turn making me start to freak out that I'm going to get tense, expect to much, and turn it into one of those awful lessons where you have to relearn stuff you could do just fine a couple days ago... Kate is coming to be our videographer/photographer so hopefully my post on Fri will be full of pictures!