Transitions

I had a good ride on Pro today. Lately I've been ending with transitions and seeing a lot of improvement from them, so today I decided to start with them and see where that got us. He improved quite a bit, rounding up under me and giving up on his "but it's cold and WINDY" attitude towards the ride. So we moved onto spiraling in and out at the walk and trot. Clearly I need to work on this more because sometimes we'd spiral like 5' when I wanted to just take one step in, but overall it went well. So then I did a couple canter circles and then went crazy on him making him do every transition I could think of. Any gait was fair game at any point. We started with some easy "walk a quarter circle, trot a quarter circle" type and moved up to sitting trot for half to a forward rising trot and even did walk-canter and a halt-canter. Obviously there were lots of downward transitions as well. Pro seemed to be having a lot of fun with the challenges and he handled it all great. Halt-canter was a bit hard and it took about two strides to do a canter-halt, but throughout he passed the test of going right into a lifted back, soft, relaxed trot.

Obviously not all weeks are going to be like this past week, but it's fun getting to throw new stuff at him without being too worried about what he's going to do about it.

Baby's got back!

Yes well, we already know that Pro has a fantastic horse booty. :) However, he finally has another kind of back - his actual back!!! Thursday's ride was great. He softened up quickly and within 10 minutes was chewing and stretching out his neck. I think he's slowly realizing that if he just LISTENS to me (and Andrea), it feels good! He always has the same reaction when he truly gets into a rhythm with stretching and unkinking his neck - he's always got that "yeaaaah, this is good!" look on his face, and he just feels happy.

We did a lot of square turns at the walk, spiraling in and spiraling out, working on getting me to let go of my inside rein. At the trot I repeated the spiraling and letting go of the inside rein and once he felt pretty warmed up, I was just thrilled. He keeps passing the "Pre"-sage stage of dressage so much more quickly these days! Eventually I decided to test out some sitting trot, and I really couldn't believe how much different he feels these days. Remember the comparison pictures and the difference in how much more "up" his back is now? It feels amazing!!! FINALLY, Pro is giving me a place to sit. This is what real sitting trot feels like. He has the musculature and strength to support me now, and it's wonderful.

I'm just SO pleased with him. :)

Awww..Skate skate skate

Skate had 4 days off before my ride last night - but he was generally good. I rode with my barn owner...and we spent a good deal of time walking around just chatting. Ha. This did piss Skate off when I finally got back to work - he thought work was over! I had to do a LOT of circles to get his fussy little butt to slow down, but we ended with some nice canter work.

How's that for a short post? Ha.

Mellow Day

After Kate's glowing report about Monday's ride I figured I better get a ride in before Pro reverted back to pissy-pony so we rode in the mist last night. Pro was remarkably mellow about getting taken away from his hay and didn't make any angry faces at me while tacking up. Once we were in the ring he was still pretty laid back. He tried to fake chasing the bit and for most of the ride he was just sort of very gently up against it. He'd chase it if I put my hands forward, but it took a half-second for him to go after it. I worked on plugging in my seat bones and did some transition work with him and called it quits. He's pretty good about lifting into the trot from the walk, but his downward transitions aren't as sharp with me. Probably because I haven't practiced plugging in my seat bones enough. All in all I was happy with the ride and I think we both enjoyed just chilling out together.

Romeo rewards his mom

I know you're thinking...new horse, what? NOPE! I've been chatting some more with the lady from Texas who knew Pro as a baby - turns out his name used to be Romeo! Which I think is absolutely adorable. Don't worry, I'm not changing his name, I just thought it was cute. She was glad that Pro's doing so well, and said other horses who stayed in "training" longer ended up with badly torn nuchal ligaments and leg problems...several retired before age 7.

So yesterday when I tacked up, brought Pro to the mounting block, and mounted up...I paused for a moment as Pro just stood there, patiently and calmly, waiting for me to get my stirrups/girth adjusted. I just took a minute to pause and reflect on how lucky I am that he's SO forgiving of people. He would have every right to never trust anyone again after the way he was (literally) broken as a baby, and yet he's shown incredible progress in his dressage re-training. Makes me such a proud mom!

He was REALLY good last night. No poles, so we just worked from "scratch". He softened up pretty quickly and we worked on spiraling in and out at the walk, with lots of focus on getting him to turn off my outside aids. I also worked down by the bunny tree but we didn't have any spooks, just some tenseness. I REALLY tried to focus on losing my dependence on the inside rein...instead of giving in to the temptation to pull his head with my inside rein, I gave it forward and kicked him on with my inside leg. And (I can almost hear Gayle saying "I told you so!") it worked!! He's so good to where now it's relaxing him.

From there I focused on really paying attention to details about his relaxation/unkinking status. If he was "faking" by giving me half-way relaxation and not chewing, I used some inside rein "come here" movements to get him to flex a bit at the poll. He would chew, I gave with my inside rein, and then I felt his neck lengthen. Then, rinse & repeat at the trot! He was surprisingly good. I think part of the key to his faking is when he stops chewing and just meets the end of the rein rather than actively chases it. A gentle "come here" with the inside rein and some active encouragement from my inside leg got him to sort of say "oh yeah! I'm supposed to be stretching here!" and stretch, chew, and unkink. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone with giving up my inside rein and using my outside aids to turn him. And...Pro rewarded me with softness and enthusiasm! He was just such a joy to ride last night. :)

Pepsi's Back to Work! Yay!

I didn't do much with him today because we were both so out of the habit and out of shape, but I wanted to see how he was going now that he's had shoes on for a few weeks. Plus, I wanted to see how much he remembered!

He was very good for the most part. He's not as quick on some of the commands as I was hoping, but that will come back with a bit more time. Still, he listened incredibly well and followed me around the pen quite willingly, and we even did a bit of lateral work too!

The one problem we encountered was when I was taking him out of the pen back into the barn. The horses were being brought in for supper, and he wanted to run past me. He actually DID get past me the first time when I had my guard down and was opening the gate. After that though I brought him right back in and we went to work. He threw a temper-tantrum and reared up and SQUEALED while striking out. He was *so scary*. (rolls eyes) Anyway, after we worked his obnoxiousness out of his system, we then walked through the gate, stopped halfway through and then backed up all the way again. Then we walked almost all the way through it, backed up, and walked all the way through it stopping several times through. THEN we drove out of the gate and then drove back in again. A few more steps of lateral work and we walked out nice and calmly and went back to the barn.

Silly horsey. Still, everything else about the work was really good, so overall I'm happy.

And Alex- who knew all those techniques you taught in the clinic would actually work in the real world?! ;P

Big progress

So after a very chilly Wednesday that I deemed TDCTR (too darn cold to ride!), Pro and I finally got tacked up for Friday's ride (and said happy birthday to Andrea!). He was pretty good but still a bit unconvinced that my way of going was the best way. So it was back to the poles to re-direct his attention to something other than gawking at random things.

His new favorite game these days is to play the victim - he'll chip in a stride before walking over the pole, which makes him kick it, so then he acts startled and offended that I would *dare* let that pole kick him. So we worked on taking Big Boy strides up to the poles. Lots of turns, changes of direction. At one point he balked and tried to chip and I asked him to walk on - well, we couldn't just WALK on...he completely launched over the whole thing...of course I was totally unprepared, got left behind and landed half on the pommel, ouch. So then he felt justified in playing the victim again - how *dare* I flop around up there when he was innocent and didn't do anything wrong? Eventually he started to soften up and we were able to spiral out off of the poles and begin work. For some reason he was more concerned than usual about the bunny tree area so we did some 10mc circles there and every now and then, crossed over the poles as we changed direction through our 20m circle. And each time, he pretended like he hadn't seen the poles in weeks. But overall it wasn't a bad ride, just a bit sticky at a few points.

However, I am EXTRA proud about his progress, as I was able to get in touch with someone (via the Fugly horse blog) who knew the trainer who started him...and actually heard of Pro. She said he was owned by two people who just paid the bills and showed up to watch him show. So while Pro was at first sent to one trainer, that trainer sent him to another trainer because Pro was "so hard-headed and high strung". This other trainer starts every horse in a sharp twisted wire snaffle and draw reins, no exceptions. For difficult horses, he throws them down, ties them up, puts a tarp over the, and leaves them in the (Texas!) sun until they give up. Then he gets them up and gets on and rides. This woman also said that both trainers are big into drugging (more than just Ace), numbing tails, tying tongues down, and leaving them tacked up in stalls for hours.
So the fact that Pro can go from THAT upbringing to where he is now - ridden in a snaffle, stretching into contact - is just amazing to me. I have no doubt that Pro was immediately labeled as a very difficult horse when he was young, but how anyone could treat my sweet boy like that is just beyond me. This means that including me, he's had 6 owners in 16 years, but at least that stops with me.

And the only tarps he'll have to encounter these days are ones that he steps on. I just remembered while typing this last part that in the summer of '07 I taught him how to step on a tarp...it took me three days or something ridiculous (he thought he was going to die in the process) but I finally got him to stand. In addition to seeing the changes in his muscle, look at my proud boy stand on top of a tarp that probably represented something awful when he was just a baby!

Gabby's Lesson

I had a great lesson this morning. My instructor is really excited with Skate's progress, as am I! He was such a good pony this morning. The horses were left in later than usual, due to the rain. Immediately after pulling Skate out to tack him up, the other horses started getting turned out all around us. Skate fussed a little when I disappeared into the tack room, but otherwise, he paid no attention to all the excitement. The other horses were acting like fools, too! I'm so excited by his excellent behavior - even Hobbes would have had a meltdown in that situation.

I worked on leaving him alone at the walk, just making him do what I want with only my seat. He's such a sensitive horse, this actually works well and results in less fussiness. We did quite a bit of work on me, as usual...gotta sit back! My new saddle (I'm keeping the Albion) does help, but I still have to work harder on engaging my core. Skate responds really well to me keeping my seat plugged in and my shoulders back. This is difficult at the canter, as Skate likes to trick me into sitting crooked so he can lean into his motorcycle turns. He will only balance after I force him to carry me evenly. Last, we worked on our transitions - which my instructor said were painful to watch at first b/c we just sorta fell into our next gait. Ha. Anyway - my homework is to do correct transitions. I'm not allowed to change gaits until Skate is in front of my leg and in no way hollow. Good luck!

So - there's a schooling dressage show Feb 7th at TTC, which is only 10 min from my barn. I might trailer over there to see how Skate does, and maybe do an intro test. I'm a little nervous about taking a new horse to a show (although I really think he'll be perfect), but I just need to ease my mind.

Ooh - and my instructor said soon we'll start working on fun stuff - shoulder in's, leg yeilds, etc. She thinks we're almost ready : )

Skate versus the Albion

So its not really a battle - he actually seemed to like the latest trial saddle, an Albion K2 Genesis (if nothing else, the name sound cool). It seems to fit him very well and is a great fit for me. Immediately found the balance point, nice long flaps, and it helps with my tipping problem. I wish the seat were a bit squishier - I can imagine it could be uncomfy on long trail rides.

I hadn't ridden the beast in a week, so I expected the worst and was pleasantly surprised. He was relaxed and rhythmic throughout our ride, which was mostly spent on 20m circles in every corner, attempting to get a connection to the outside rein, which was sporadic, as usual (can i get another comma in there?). He did do his usual spook at nothing, which is a given after a week of not riding. I have learned that he always spooks in the same direction- to the left. I'm onto your nonsense, Skate!

His canter was lovely and I got a moderately balanced 20m circle in his bad direction and let him relax. We did some walk spiral ins to a TOF in both directions to end the ride. I started in his bad direction so we would end on a good note, but he hardly fought me at all. Good pony.

He had a chiro cracking on Monday, so that could have contributed to his relaxation. She said he was out in multiple places, although the worst was his lower back and hips, which is probably why he feels so stiff in the hind end. She wants me to do belly lifts and butt tucks with him to get his back up.

Tag Team

Kate and I will be tag-teaming this post, as well as the ride this afternoon. So I'll let her fill you in on her part (as she pointed out, I always make her go first ;)). But here are some pictures of the two of them:

















*****Kate's ride starts here***********
Sitting here in my pajamas watching the snow continue to fall outside today, it's a darn good thing that Andrea and I got to get in a really solid ride yesterday. Pro's definitely getting an unscheduled vacation day today! Anyway, I think he knew something was up when he saw both of us show up. He started off being very irritated and not wanting to do anything. I even tapped him with the whip and he was furious - tried to play the "victim" card and tell Andrea that I was abusing him. We had the poles set up so that was the next task. He didn't settle quite as quickly and got REALLY mad when he stepped on a pole or tripped. Again, more rushing and trying to be pitiful and make me feel badly for him and quit. So we kept at it until he figured out that nothing would get him out of it - he was just going to have to pay attention to where his feet were going.

Once that was done we moved to a 20m circle at the walk, un-squooshing my legs from his sides and trying to let him plug in my seatbones (he did NOT want my seat secure while we were doing the poles). He eventually settled and gave me quite a nice walk and from there we moved to the trot which began to loosen up. Although he was trying to "fake" stretch" by just slightly meeting the end of the rein, I had to use the "come here" inside rein a bit, plus kicks with my inside leg, followed by giving of the inside rein, to get him to honestly stretch over his back. After a few transitions he felt loose enough to hand over to Andrea! :)

******Andrea's ride starts here***********

Once she'd worked out all the kinks I got on and gave the poles my best shot. I haven't had the best of luck with them in the past, but today went better. Kate pointed out that the key is keeping my seat bones plugged in (something I know I'm being too lazy about after the last week or two) and keeping him constantly going over poles.

Then we moved on to the trot, and again he was pretty good. After over an hour of being worked, he was finally really starting to reach across and over his back, no gimmicks needed. :) We were both pretty proud of him. I figured it was worth taking the next step and asked for a canter. He was really good and stretching through to the right. Gave a great downward transition and change of directions before starting the dreaded anticipation. A couple downward transitions and back to the trot to distract him and then canter to the right. He didn't stretch as well in that direction, but I felt like I was leaning in and throwing him off balance. So I rebalanced myself and it got better. After another good downward transition we called it quits, nearly 2 hours after we got on. Some days, you really just need 2 people. :D

Arabs don't DO cold

The temperature climbed all the way to 40 today, but Pro wasn't impressed. Apparently Arabians should neither be expected to walk through water or ride when it's below 50. I'm pretty sure deserts get darn cold at night, but try telling that to him. He did his evasions in the opposite order for me (chicken llama then rushing) but for the first time since Christmas I actually felt semi in control of him despite that. The chicken llama I countered first by lots of leg yields and quarter-pirouettes at the walk to get him listening to my leg (while keeping my hands up) and then I opened my hands wider to funnel him forward. I'm pretty sure I should have funneled first, because that finally got his head down. Once his head was in a workable position I worked on plugging in my seat bones at the walk and his back rounded up under me and he'd reach across and down with his head. I kept us at the walk to keep things simple, but did push him and ask for calm, even figure-8's where he didn't get to revert to a chicken llama because, omg, we're walking in the other direction in a different part of the ring! We quit when we could do a figure-8 with 20m circles staying stretched down and softly chewing for both circles.

Hopefully Kate and I can arrange tag-teaming tomorrow and I can try out the nifty new camera to get some more pictures.

Maybe it's the cold weather?

I know, lazy me for not updating since Wednesday when I rode. I didn't ride last night, or even go out to the barn (stupid department held a mandatory invited talk from 4:15-5:45 on a FRIDAY, grrr) but I did get on Wednesday.

Apparently, the cold really put some frisky in Pro's step. He wanted to go. Go go go, rush! He was at least doing it in a frame, but okay, rushing is not acceptable and he knows this. Technically it's just as much of an evasion as doing his llama chicken impression, because it's a rhythm evasion. By rushing, he knows I can't plug my seatbones in and use my seat. So I used half-halts. Well, I guess that just offended him too much! He was so disgusted that I figured out his rushing that he decided I wasn't "worthy" of getting a nice frame out of him. So out came the llama chicken impression. He just really had a bug up his butt with the cold weather, I guess!!! I did high-hands to counter the llama chicken, which only infuriates him because it keeps the bit in the same spot in his mouth. According to Gayle, raising the head is trying to manipulate where the bit sits in their mouth. Raising your hands to always keep the same "elbow-bit line" ruins the effectiveness of their evasion. So Pro was mad, of course.

Okay so if he can't rush, and he can't put his head up, what's a frisky Arab to do? Well gee, let's try running sideways!!! Nope, that wasn't working either. Finally he just got frustrated and gave in, but I felt like I was doing an ab workout the whole time - each half-halt was like a strong abdominal crunch to get him to sloooow his rhythm. His response was to shorten his stride and get choppy and quick, so it was a trick to get him to slow and stretch out, rather than tighten up all tense-like!!

Hopefully riding in the sunshine today will counter-act the coldness. Brrr!

Pepsi's Non-Update

My non-update is that I have been sick for over a month, and have seen my horse once in the last 2 weeks. I feel horrible, and feel even worse for not seeing Pookie-head. But I know he's safe and warm in his pasture, and he's probably thrilled with his little vacation.

I'll comment on everyone else's blogs tomorrow when I feel a little better and don't have classes to contend with...until then, everyone stay safe and sane and sound, and WARM!!!

~Mary & Pepsi (who is happily munching on hay in his 2 blankies at the moment :p)

Score! Rolex '09

I am lazy and it's cold outside - So Skater Pony won't get ridden much this week, I'm afraid.

Instead, I have managed to finagle an RV spot at the Kentucky Horse Park for the Rolex 3 day this year. I am so psyched! Matt and I went last year and had a good time, but we wasted a lot of money on a crappy smelly hotel room. We said, "next year, we're getting a spot in the campground and bringing the RV." Well, thats great and all, but those spots get booked a year in advance! I called the campground and they don't create a waiting list until the week of the event. So...I had a bright idea that maybe someone would back out of their spot and I could snatch it up if I kept checking back online. Amazingly, this worked! I scored 3 nights at the KHP campground for 80 bucks! No traffic to fight with, no parking in the mud, we are set. We can stroll back for a lunch beer and head back out to watch the action taking our own sweet time. I can shop from 8am until closing (OMG, the shopping is heaven for horse-lovers) and then sleep later because I don't have to leave the hotel 2 hours before start time. Yep, we're living it up this year!

So, if anyone is going to Rolex - come find me and have a beer. Campsite 33 : )

Well, Here I Am!

At the urging of you wonderful NCHN folks, here I am on the motivation blog! I don't have a ride to report on yet, and no pretty photos, so I thought I'd start by just introducing myself. I'm Libby, a Maryland native working on my PhD at Duke. I've been riding for 18 years, in mostly balance seat settings but with some hunters and dressage thrown in. However, for over 3 years now I've been out of lessons, out of competition, and in "hitchhiking mode". I have had the good fortune of knowing many generous horse owners (most recently, Lori from NCHN) who have kept me in the saddle. But I'm starting to feel rustier and rustier, which has really compromised my motivation even though I still love to ride. Given the way my schedule looks for the next few months, I'll probably keep hitchhiking for now, but I'm hoping that before too long I'll find a lesson situation that will help me get back on track. Ok, thanks for listening, and I'll try to have a ride to discuss next time!

Andrea and Pro (Tues)

Just a quick update before I head home from work. Pro was very good on Tues despite the colder weather. I, however, am continuing to struggle. I feel like I'm making progress, but I really wish Gayle wasn't as allergic to the cold, icky months as I am. I think I need a "come to Jesus" meeting of my own ;). I'm becoming far too addicted to the inside rein and getting myself confused about when leg aids are good and when legs should just stay out of the way. But admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it, right? We make progress each ride, but he's still not quite back to his pre-Christmas level of suspension. It didn't help that I was riding in essentially ski-glove weight riding gloves which give me 0 feel as well as my full chaps for the first time in about 8 months. It was too cold for half-chaps on Tues though. Everyone tell me how much I just need to get more hours in the saddle so I will be guilted into riding outside, in the dark, when the low tomorrow is supposed to be 20! Maybe I can find my long underwear in the closet... :)

Kate & Pro

He was pretty good on Monday. It was dark and cold by the time I got out but I've been so good so far about keeping my resolution to ride unless it's bad weather (haha, it's only midway through January). I noticed at the trot he was trying to get away with faking coming through - very interesting. He was like, "Look at me stretch" but he was only just meeting the bit, rather than coming through. If I bumped him with my inside leg and put my inside hand forward he said oh yeah, whoops, I'm supposed to really stretch. So hopefully I got rid of that.

I realized the other day that I never posted his most recent confo shot - here it is!!! I'm including an old one for comparison. I know it's hard to compare without the shiny summer coat in the earlier picture, but can anyone see a difference? ;)

Summer 2007:
















Winter 2009 (after a year and a half with Gayle):

More "Just Do It" for Skate and Gabby

I'll keep this one short!

I got in a good long ride last night. Overall, Skate was very good. We did have some issues tracking left at the trot again - he practically refuses to allow me to set the tempo. I know this is his weaker direction, but goodness. My half halts had to be so strong to get any response at all, I felt terrible. I worked really hard to give as much as possible with my inside rein - but he only got a break once every few strides as he would slow (sorta) from the extreme half halt, then immediately get strong again. After he finally stayed at my tempo for 3 strides, we took a break. I tried it again after a few and he was much better.

I felt like I was waterskiing at times, he was blowing through my aids so much. Any leg in that direction immediately resulted in quicker choppy strides. I know I need to keep my inside leg on to encourage bending and use of the inside hind in this direction, but its difficult since he responds in the wrong way. I find myself nearly holding my leg off his side to prevent the tense rushing thing. Ugh.

Anyhoo - that's what we'll be working on in the near future. Even when Skate gives the wrong response, I can't just stop asking - I just need to find a new way to get the correct response. Maybe my outside aids are in the wrong position or my seat is telling him to go (I think this might be the case).

Just for entertainment, here is the cuteness with a kid before I bought him. See, he does jump!

And, see, he has always enjoyed ignoring his rider : ) Bad Pony!

Skate's Lesson in "Just Do IT!"

I had a decent lesson on Saturday after my crap ride on Thursday. My instructor agreed the saddle on trial is too big for me - so its going back today.

Skate was decent, considering the wind gusts and nutty horses acting foolish in every pasture around us. I just knew he would spook at the tarp over the shavings lifting 10 feet in the air and flapping. Of course, he didn't care about that, but spooked at the cat. He never spooks at cats. Make up your mind on what's scary and what's not!

This lesson turned into a major position adjustment for me. I know these things, but I can't consistently do them: Head up, Sit up. I have got to fix my friggin leaning forward thing. While it's better than when I started, it's still an issue. I find that posting brings out the leaning...I do it during other gaits, but not to that extreme. My instructor is constantly saying "ride his back end". I like this thought, but it seems I can hold it for maybe two strides them I'm back over his front end.

Next lesson - let go of the inside rein. Looks like Kate and I will be fighting the same urge this year - to pull and tug on that rein : ) My instructor had me pick up outside rein only. I was only allowed to use the inside rein as a positioning aid - then let go. Man, this is hard, especially in Skate's weak direction, where he likes to bow in with his shoulder and point his little nose way to the outside. I spent a lot of time trying to keep him at the walk. His reaction when something is hard is to speed up and transition up. Trotting in a smaller circle is hard? Lets canter and see if its easier? Yikes!

Then we moved on to sitting trot. I much prefer a sitting trot to a posting trot as I feel like I have every stride to control the situation as opposed to every other with posting. Plus, I can keep my position much better without the evil urge to lean. Anyway, we did spirals in, while forcing Skate to use his inside hind and connect to the outside rein. We were great in one direction but when we turned around to go the other direction everything fell apart. This is when I learned my most valuable lesson of the day: Sometimes you have to just MAKE the horse do it. Skate did not want to use that inside hind as it's weak - so he fought me every single step. It wasn't until I just sat up and half halted like a mo fo about every stride until he finally gave up his fight and used that lazy leg. We ended on that. Phew - my shoulders are actually sore!

So, we had a discussion about how I have a tendency to stop asking Skate to do something when he fights back as I just assume I'm asking wrong. Still, Skate just has to do it sometimes, regardless of my less than perfect position, b/c he's is an amateur's horse and chances are, it won't always be perfect with me! My instructor was saying that I'm asking him clearly enough for what I want, I'm just not following through with my demands. Skate will never improve if he doesn't do these hard things b/c he'll never strengthen those weak parts. I need to demand the tempo I want, demand the size circle I want, etc. Most of the time, I just have to ask nicely, but sometimes, when Skate thinks something is hard, I have to really demand. I noticed today, that once he quit fighting and realized I would get off his case when he did it, he relaxed immensely. See, Skate - if you just do it the first time, I won't keep annoying you!

Joining on the "I suck" bandwagon...

So I only rode once this weekend...I've been rather lackluster about riding lately, partly because it sucks to ride in the cold/wet, and partly because dressage isn't really my favorite (and it's our default in general, and especially when the ground is hard).

I volunteered at the FenRidge dressage show on Saturday morning, which was pretty cool. So then I went to the barn inspired to get some good dressage work done. Kellar had other ideas, though. First he was a dork because I couldn't find my draw reins, so it was ridiculously easy for him to just ignore my hands and run around like a giraffe. Even after we found the draw reins, though, he was still very unhappy about the dressage thing. I don't mind his fussing with the bit (well, I do, but I know it's unlikely to change, and at least it's a sign that he's interested in it), but every few strides he'd toss his head, or hump his back (not in a about-to-buck sort of way, more in a "ew, this sucks, and I don't wanna" way). So we suffered through that for another half-hour or so before I finally just decided to screw it and just hack around. So we finished on a fairly good note, since 10min of cantering on him = 10 min of awesome. :) His canter rocks.

Still, the dressage thing is possibly a big deal. It's 1/3 of a horse trial, and it'd also be nice to be able to do some dressage schooling shows (like FenRidge, which I decided to skip because we'd both missed a good amount of practice beforehand). I don't mind having dressage be our weakest phase...it's certainly my weakest phase, and as many have said, you'll never die doing bad dressage. Having said that, I would like to get to the point where we can do a semi-pleasant test...i.e. not look like the pattern itself is torture.

Is there hope for us? Have you known horses who have really disliked dressage but learned to tolerate it? I know part of it is probably lack of muscle, so that'll help, but I don't think that'll necessarily fix everything. We've done hock injections and chiropractic stuff, so I don't think anything hurts anywhere.

Sorry for the novel, I just had a semi-grand plan of a bunch of horse trials we'd do this spring/summer, but if we can't even do a 20m circle without head tossing or losing our straightness, that might not happen after all.

Getting out of his way

Well, Pro behaved fine for me today as well. I hadn't ridden in over a week so I was glad that he didn't feel like acting up. Actually, he was incredibly patient with me. I messed with his head and neck too much trying to get him to unkink his neck and he got annoyed (understandably). Luckily his reaction to being annoyed now is to do his giraffe face impression, not buck or spook. Once I realized that it was my fault and then realized that I needed to go back to the beginning. So I put him on a circle at the walk and dropped my reins several inches and let him just walk however he wanted. After a few minutes I picked my reins back up and started over. Pro graciously forgave me and was perfectly welling to work with me as long as I held up my end. I spent about 5 or 10 minutes doing things properly and then quit for the day. I figured he deserved the reward for being such a good minded pony. Gayle was right when she said that the thing that makes him such a good horse is his mind and attitude. And all of this after having been pulled out to have his feet messed with earlier that morning!

Always a Jekyl/Hyde!

Well, the "Come to Jesus" meeting never happened - thankfully, it didn't happen because it didn't need to. I met Dare out at the barn on Friday night and I went to go get Pro from the pasture. For one step he tried to rush through the gate but I snapped on the lead and made him stand, and then try again to walk forward. He led into the barn with his head down, and never tried a thing. I did use his bridle to lunge, no sidereins/saddle, and he was quite good. I'm so pleased that he finally understands how the lunge line acts as an inside rein - I pull on it and release, and he's supposed to drop his head down and stretch over his back (just like when I ride). He was still a bit frisky for a few minutes but then remembered (oh yeahhhhhh...lunge line!) and relaxed. I even got him to stretch over his back at the canter.

So either Pro is knowingly messing with Andrea and me, or he felt REALLY bad for what he did to Andrea. ;) Hmmm!!!

Yesterday I rode, unfortunately just at the walk because scrubbing troughs took longer than expected and I had to get to campus (yuck)...but Pro was really good! Just mainly worked on getting him to stretch and unkink. He was so well-behaved past the bunny tree - Erik laughed because he lifted his tail up like he *wanted* to spook, but knew he shouldn't.

Today Gayle trimmed and found an abscess in his left front, his club foot. Ugh. He hadn't been off, but it was up in the back and since his heel is higher on that foot because it's a club, she said it wasn't surprising that he was still sound. She dug it out and I soaked his foot in Epsom salts. He wasn't thrilled, but considering that he was once REALLY bad for a former owner many years ago (she said he freaked out, kicked the bucket over, and bolted from the barn), I was happy. Thankfully he's still rideable so Andrea should be able to report today! :)

Desi Update and Thoughts

Desi is doing great. I haven't been riding much here lately. For a few reasons.... About 6 weeks ago I noticed Desi was loosing a little weight. Not a ton but enough for me to take notice. It apparently takes more energy for her to stay warm than Apple the air fern. After upping her AP and blanketing her a little more generously she is starting to look great. I am finally starting to feel better than I have in years. I have changed my diet and am dropping a lot weight which is good and started having some Rolfing work done. Its amazing how much I hurt and didn't realize it until I didn't hurt anymore. Desi had her feet done last week and it has POURED ever since. The pasture is soggy, the ring is soggy, the gravel is soggy, there isn't a dry place anywhere.

Cross your fingers that it stays dry for the next day or so and I can ride some this weekend! I would KILL for an indoor right now.

***Blacky is fictional and is not directly related to anyone anywhere.***
Evergreens
Not the tree. Recently I have been getting lots and lots of calls and emails about problems with older horses. Not horses 18yrs or older but older than I would consider the age to be good and broke. It seems to me that in the past 10 years or so it has been more acceptable to have a 15yr old horse that is still green broke. Not because he was started late.....but because nobody bothered to finish him. Why didn't someone teach Blacky not to buck after the first 2-3 rides? Why is he 14 and you still have to lunge him to get all the bucks out before hopping on. Why wasn't this issue addressed when he was 3?

When did we start making so many excuses? Personally I think somewhere along the way working with your horse and coddling your horse were mixed up. Now people say they are going to work with their horse on trailer loading but never get them on the trailer. They ask with a high pitched voice, offer food, and don't expect it to work. When it doesn't instead of trying something else Blacky gets to go back in to the pasture and we'll just forget going to the trail ride/show.

When did the basics of horse handling go out the window? Well Blacky doesn't like to be tied so I lead him around and all the shows, trail rides, around the barn, etc. You know, growing up I didn't like getting up at 6am to go to school and as an adult I hate having to get up at 5:30 to start my day but like being an adult and having responsibilities part of being a broke horse is standing tied, getting in a trailer, not loosing his mind at a new place, pay attention to the rider, don't intentionally HURT your rider, etc.

These seemingly small things lead to horses that aren't settled. They don't know their jobs, they don't know their place, they are confused, and that leads to ulcers, pacing, neurotic behavior, and general spoiledness. They aren't confident in themselves or their handler and that gets people and horses hurt. This is what hurts my feelings the most. Meeting horses that are SO eager to have something make sense....anything. I love helping them and their owners get "it" but it kills me how many that I meet.

Sorry for the small rant.

Where we've been, what we're doing, and where we're going from here

I'm glad the holidays are over...too much working to cover for folks on vacation, and too much time away from the barn due to work and having to go visit the in-laws! Things have been up and down at the barn recently...good jumping (had a blast at a recent little jumper show with Surfie), mediocre flatwork, lots of time stuck in the indoor since it's been raining/sleeting/freezing. Some days I feel like I'm getting nowhere with the flatwork...and it's frustrating because I know these 2 horses know how to do their jobs, which pretty much points the finger at me. I know I'm tired of being inside...and the boys are too. Surf has been a spooky handfull of late...jumping at shadows, water spots, barn cats, anything he can find in the indoor to spook at. Huey just gets cranky...so we're trying to keep the workouts short. I've resolved to get outside whenever I can...hard because I don't get to the barn until around 6:30 durring the week with this rotation. On the weekends, unless it's pouring, we go out. We've done a lot of walking on frozen ground...but at least we've got hills to walk on. To break up the monotony when we're stuck inside, I've been replacing dressage work with conditioning work. Interval work in the arena is dull dull dull...but at least it's a different kind of dull :) Both horses have been doing lots and lots of trot sets...and Surfie has been doing some canter/gallop sets in the ring, which get a wee bit hairy at times. At least the horses are fit...which is a good thing...

Fitness is a good thing because we're gearing up to head south...as I look at the calendar, my first recognized HT of 2009 is less than a month away! Yikes! We'll be in Aiken Feb 1-8, with Huey running Novice at Full Gallop and Surfie running training at Sporting Days, along with trying to squeeze in some good training and devote a whole week to riding! I'm also excited that it looks like some FenRidge friends will be coming down too, so I'm looking forward to my "working vacation" with horsey folks from NC and MD.

Perhaps even more exciting is that I'm hoping to be in NC for the Southern Pines HT the weekend of 3/14-15...hopefully with 2 horses. The bad news is that I'm probably going to be on my own (not that I don't usually go to HTs on my own...but this is new, taking 2 horses and competing them both at the same show!). Does anyone want to come hang out in Southern Pines with me for the weekend and help me groom? I'll do all the icky stuff like mucking and braiding - but it's always great to have company (and an extra set of hands to hold the pony while you run to the port-a-potty!). I'll be a busy bee with 2 dressage and 2 stadium rounds saturday...2 xc courses to walk...and 2 xc runs sunday :P

so who wants to hang out in southern pines?!?!?

Moral Support

I didn't really think this justified a post, but to cheer Gabby up that everyone has bad days... You'd think 23 years of experience with horses would be enough to safely lunge one.

The ring was still soaked yesterday so I didn't really want to ride in it. Pro was an idiot bringing him in for dinner though, so I figured he needed the edge taken off him. I'm probably giving him too much credit, but I think he felt obligated to freak out because of the crappy weather on Wed. So I took off his blanket, snapped on the lunge line, and took him out planning to just have him trot around till he looked less psychotic. Except Pro didn't want to trot, or walk, or even really canter. He wanted to gallop around. In the slippery wet sand mud. With no breaks. Normal solution to that: make the circle smaller. Instead, Pro tried to gallop a 5m circle with me trying to decide if stopping him was worth risking him slipping and going down on top of me. Finally got him stopped with only about 4 heart-stopping slides and took him in. Kate can deal with him today when it's light and the arena is hopefully a little drier. And now I've learned to never, ever, take him out to lunge in just a halter.

Frustrating Ride - I suck.

I think we should rename this blog - Pro and Skate, with guests periodically : )

I had a total crap ride last night. It makes me feel very disappointed in myself. I get the feeling something needs to change in order for us to ever improve.

Skate was just so fussy and perturbed for some of the ride I wanted to give up. I know its my fault, but I just cannot seem to fix it. I know there are so many things wrong with how I'm riding, but with 2 lessons max per month, I'm just not improving.

Here are the things that are going through my head:
- I know I need to ride more - I'm currently on a 3 day/wk schedule...I guess I need to bump it up to 4 or 5. Its difficult, as I'm sure everyone knows!
- Should I send Skate to a trainer to make this process quicker? Part of me really wants to do this, but the other part of me says, why would I? I bought this horse b/c he's fairly simple and I should be able to progress w/ him on my own. I just wasn't ready for it to take so long.
- Should I move to a barn with a full-time trainer? I really don't want to leave my barn. Its so close to my house, so reasonably priced, and I love the owner and care.
- Should I go back to jumping, or some other discipline? Maybe we're just not cut out for dressage. It's friggin hard and can be so annoyingly tedious. I think Skate would really prefer going around on a loose rein jumping crap : )
- Why did I buy this little horse when I was so focused on dressage? He's a cute little all-around type of horse, but dressage horse? Maybe not so much...

And here's a pic of us last night. This is the Baines Reflex - which is super close contact..and my stirrups are really short, huh? And yes, I look like a clown in this outfit, I know. Maybe my ride would go better if I didn't dress like a lunatic! Snicker...

Saddle on Trial for Skate and Me

I sent tracings to Trumbull Mtn Tack Shop in hopes of getting some recommendations for new dressage saddles. Mine isn't a great fit for either of us - too small for me, too downhill for Skate. So, we got a few recommendations from their saddle fitter - one of which was the Frank Baines Reflex. I sat in the Baines Omni at Rolex (and met Mr. Baines, himself) and was very impressed, so I was excited to try this saddle (despite the enormous price tag, even used).

So I sped to the barn and pulled Skate out to ride after UPS finally dropped the saddle off this evening at 6:45pm...he had been in his stall all day due to the rain, so I was really torn on whether or not to lunge him. The decision was made for me when I realized I'd scratch up the saddle with my stirrups if I lunged him - so I decided to just hop on.

At first glance, the Reflex was very level on him, whereas my Prestige tips down badly. The flocking seems super soft and comfy and the buffalo leather is SUPER grippy. No fullseats needed. There was some confusion when I put my stirrups on as the saddle is a monoflap, which I have no experience with. There's no spot for the extra stirrup leather length - no tab or opening. I guess it just tucks back behind the flap?

When I got on - he seemed fine. No noticeable fidgeting or any more fussing than usual (he's generally fussy, so its hard to really guage whether its just the regular quantity of fussing or not!) At the trot, he shook his head a few times when we first picked it up, but didn't continue to do it so I'll chalk it up to something other than the saddle. His trot felt much bouncier than usual to me. It could be the close contact feeling of the saddle, bigger movement on Skate's part, or the larger seat letting me slosh about. The prestige seat is too restrictive (too small) so I think I may just need to get used to the whole extra inch of space. I had to stop and raise my stirrups b/c I felt so discombobulated and sloshy, though - so I'm not psyched about that. The best part of the whole ride, though, was when I asked him to canter. He's always resistant to that transition, but he stepped right into a gorgeous, suspended, collected canter. He's normally all over his forehand and rushy - so I'm very excited about this new dressage canter!

After untacking, I checked the saddle pad for obvious issues. This would have been much easier if the saddle pad was brand new and not sorta stained, but from what I could tell, there might be some bridging going on - although I was surprised to see that as the saddle seemed to be a perfect fit.

Anyhoo - I'm going to ride in it a few more times before I make my final decision. I like the way it fits him for the most part, maybe some reflocking would make it perfect. As for how it fits me, eh, the jury's out on that one. I don't know if when you find a perfect saddle you are magically balanced or not, but that certainly didn't happen here. Then again, I have position issues on my own, so I dont think any saddle is going to fix that in one ride.

I'll get Matt to come take pics/videos for the saddle fitter to check and I'll post some for y'all, too.

A sloppy return to work

...but thankfully only sloppy in terms of the arena! :)

I was QUITE close to skipping the ride tonight but thankfully I was motivated by knowing that 1) it would be pretty bad to skip the first ride of the year when one of my top resolutions is to be better about riding more consistently! and 2) I wanted to make the blog members proud. :) Besides, I was all ready to go with my NEW half-chaps and NEW winter riding gloves! So despite the arena looking more like a lake than an arena, and despite the darkness, I tacked up and headed out.

Within the first minute Pro had a big spook by the fence but we immediately returned to business. I had to laugh at him - I think he was feeling "ew, icky!" about the arena slop because his walk was HUGE. Or maybe it was the time off. Either way, he was stepping big! I tried to transform that energy and big step into something positive, so we worked on un-kinking his neck. Even with the vacation, I'm noticing how much quicker he's able to figure out the un-kinking process. Secretly, I think he likes it! ;) So after about 10 minutes, we were happily sloshing through the slop, stretching out and tracking up. I worked on plugging in my seatbones and most importantly, keeping my lower legs off his sides so that my seat felt deep and secure. He was happy to puff up underneath me and stretch out his neck. He was a bit goosey by the bunny tree for a few minutes but we did some small circles (turning 100% off those outside aids!) and I reminded myself to stay OFF my inside rein, as tempting as it was to try and take it. He was much better (of course) and got over it quickly.

I hope everyone else has a resolution to ride more this year! :) And just for fun, here are my 2009 goals. What are yours?

1) Ride more consistently! No excuses! ;)
2) Continue to reduce my dependence on my inside rein. Perhaps I need an Inside Rein Intervention?
3) Continue to develop a wonderful new relationship with my outside rein!
4) Start lateral work...?
5) Eventually have lessons where Pro and I canter! :)

Giraffe Head to Snow Plow

What happened here? Last month I had Skate's head in my lap - now it's dissappeared to somewhere between his knees! So he was a very good pony...I'm happy to report. I just find it funny that his head has done a 180 down to the ground. Now he's no longer afraid of the bit, he's hauling on it downward. What the heck?

I rode during the day Saturday (daylight rocks!) while the new western pleasure paint was out in the arena. Spurs jingling, silver blinging - Skate had no idea what that was! He kept trying to follow him around the arena with his eye...lots of work on bending is what that got him.

I took him on a short ride down the road for a change of scenery and he was perfect. Even though we left the other two horses in the arena. Nary a whinny or spook.

Good Snow Plow.

Pro Day 3

My goal was to get in 4 rides last week, I made 3 because the ring was soup when I went out so I just helped with chores and worming horses. Yesterday Pro got a very long ride, though, so I think that's ok. He'd been asking for a long ride all week, he just never really settled into a groove, so I went out yesterday determined to ride for awhile.

Everything went really well, he got a little bit rounder through his back as we rode. After I asked him to trot we had to re-establish the nice, round back. I ended up getting annoyed with his half-effort and gave him a little tap with the whip on the inside and he actually accepted his correction and snapped his back up under me. That was very satisfying since the past couple rides when I'd correct him with the whip he'd turn into a drama llama. I decided that since things were going so well there was no reason to not push it and did quite a bit of canter work as well. We got some chewing even during the canter and the transitions up and down were pretty smooth. I asked for more transitions than I normally do in a ride just to keep him on his toes. Unfortunately he still just assumes that canter figure-8's are a prelude to flying changes. It was actually MORE work to do correct simple changes than the flying ones, he'd do a half-beat of trot and then swap leads at the mid-point. I started asking him to canter the outside halves of the figure-8 circles and trot the inside halves, then working towards just trotting the middle point. He probably could have done decent flying changes, he was pretty collected, but I figured that'd be bad to do on principle.

Kate should be back out to the barn tomorrow, so there will be a second opinion on post-holiday Pro soon. :)