Well, it's official. Everything I own is now completely covered in white hair! Ah, the joys of paint horses.
I got out to the barn last Thursday (? my days are all mixed up) in the hopes of riding before the rain started, but sadly as soon as I had hauled the tack outside, it began pouring. So I splashed out to the field, gave Tango a cuddle, and informed him that he was saved by the bell. I finally got back out to the barn on Monday, and again yesterday.
Monday's ride began well, but about halfway through, Tango's owner came outside and we chatted for several minutes. When I finally picked up the reins again, Tango was of the opinion that his services were no longer required... so he gave me the most head-tossiest, driftiest, choppiest bad-horse trot he could muster. I basically just kept him moving on a 20m circle until I got at least 2 full laps of non-jerk-trot, and called it a night. Ugh.
Things went much better during our ride yesterday. We warmed up at walk and trot on a nice long rein, just to get the motor running and calm him down. If he's not well warmed up, he tends to want to jig at the walk at even the slightest hint of an aid, and his trot is a mess. Fortunately we shook most of that over-responsiveness off in our warm-up. Next, I put him over 3 parallel ground poles at the walk and trot, with the poles forming one long side of an ellipse-shaped figure. He really gave me some nice trot work with this exercise -- he was paying much more attention to his own balance, and he really stretched forward into contact for the first time in weeks. That was a HUGE deal -- he has a tendency to avoid stretching and instead overflex a few vertebrae back from his poll. Someone taught him how to get away with a false frame, and it was great to really feel him stretch forward. I have also begun working square turns into our rides -- Tango is still trying to get the hang of it, but it is beginning to help lighten his front end. All in all, a nice ride.
Still noticing problems with our suppling -- the usual stiffness to the right, and "overflexing" to the left. I think my next few rides will involve a good, long, exhausting work-out under saddle in the round pen. No room to drift, fewer ways to evade... just circle after circle after circle to get him stronger and more supple on both sides. I'm sure Tango won't be nearly as excited about it as me :-D
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7 comments:
I hear you on the shedding! Jay isn't so bad, as he is dark bay and doesn't have much of a winter coat anyway, but DEUCE! OMG, white hair, and lots of it, everywhere!
It is good to hear that Tango really started stretching into true contact rather than going in a fake frame. The strength and suppling will come, too!
Oh yeah...I guess you (all of you, for that matter!) are as "excited" as I am about more rain, and lots of it! Yuck.
Good job riding through the anti-work mentality and it sounds like you've got a good plan for dealing with the suppleness. The round pen has the added benefit of you don't have to worry about dictating the size of the circle.
And Christie, I am OH so thrilled about rain, more rain, and even more rain. Even telling myself that the pastures will be nice and green doesn't help.
Skate will do that annoying jig thing, too, if I pick up the reins too quickly/don't keep my seat 'walking'/etc/etc/etc. I have to be very very careful : ) Actually, I'm pretty sure we did some jigging in our test last weekend!
I'm not happy with the rain OR the cold. Yuck.
a couple summers ago, everytime I would go to the barn, it would pour. Not a drop would fall before I left, but as soon as I got there, or tacked up, it poured. I feel your pain. At least he got a hug!
Yup, full-fledged shedding!
Haha, I get so annoyed when they think a short break means the ride is done. It's always so hard to regain their attention afterwards. Good job being persistent until he gave you some decent work!
I empathize on the struggle to overcome false frames. :P Yuck! But good for you in recognizing overflexion - I really struggled with (and still struggle with!) what true straightness and proper bend feels like...it's a lot less bent than I had originally thought.
Helpful Hint: FURMINATOR works great on horses too! I furminated the boys this weekend.
Sounds like a good plan to work on his overflexing. Can't wait to hear about it.
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