Point and shoot?

Pro finally got put back to work last night! Between the weather and Kate being sick, he got another week long break. I wasn't willing to let the beautiful weather last night go to waste, though, so we saddled up and headed out.

Yesterday's pole exercise was going to be a square of ground poles (so 2 on the ground, then 2 on top of those to make the square) but I decided he's been doing so well with poles that I put another on top in the middle. So we had an 8' wide stretch with 3 poles where the middle one was raised ~6-8" off the ground and then we also had the option of going through it the other direction where there were 2 4' wide sections with 2 poles spaced 8' apart. I figured it'd be an extensive "discussion" to get him over the 4' wide section, but he actually went quite happily over it without trying to run off once. He seemed very happy to bounce through the grid in either direction and didn't really struggle with it. He picked his back up going through it really well initially and then got sort of lazy with it after the novelty wore off.

So that set off the 2nd part of our ride where I insisted on back UP. Not however much he felt like giving me (which was probably 33% of what I wanted) but until I said it was up. Gayle has us using the whip as an inside aide for getting him to lift his back so I'd tap with the whip very lightly behind my leg and keep at it until his back was up. Initially his head went up more than his back and there was lots of unhappy jigging and trying to scoot sideways, but I kept up with it until either a) his back was up or b) he was about to explode. Then he got no taps unless he started to drop his back and then back we went. One downside to this was it ended up making him rush, so I swapped to inside-leg taps and outside rein half-halts. I'm not sure the outside rein half-halts are the correct solution (is outside rein ever supposed to be used for half-halts or is it just a steadying presence and the inside rein does the work?) but Pro seemed to understand. I was very excited when I pulled off his saddle and he was standing there with his back mostly up even after the walk back into the barn.

I also have to give him a complement on his feeding manners. They ate outside last night and I expected that leading a hungry Pro while carrying his grain bucket and a giant flake of hay was going to be a disaster, but he did not try to mug me a single time for a mouthful of anything. I guess the barn manager must do that with him every morning so I shouldn't be surprised, but well, how many horses are that polite about their dinners?

Finally - Shoulder In

Yep - we finally got to try something new! I have never actually attempted a shoulder in, until my lesson on Saturday!

The ponies have been in since it started raining, so when I got on I immediately regretted not lunging the nutcase. To top it off, my barn owner's family was there watching. I thought it would be a great time to get dumped and scare the crap out of the four year old : ) At least there would be people there to scrape me off the ground! Anyway, I just went straight to business with a forward trot to focus his squirrelly butt. Amazingly, after a few hairy eyeballs towards the barrels, poles, door, etc etc etc, he settled down.

We got some really nice stretchy trot going, moved on to an equally nice canter, and then came back to the sitting trot. She had me make a small circle at the end and then push him out to a bigger circle and bigger trot and continue the 'circle' straight down the long side - to attempt a shoulder in. The first few attempts resulted in a crappy leg yield...finally, it dawned on me that I was pointing my hips towards the inside and opening the door for Skate to sneak out. Once I understood that I had to be sitting straight and just asking for him to bend around my leg, we got it! My instructor said she didn't think we'd actually get it so soon...but we actually did and it was pretty good! Sweet.

Anyway, I turned in my entry for the TTC show this weekend - Intro B and TL 1. I need someone to call the tests, though! Yikes...

Double Update

Here's my update from Tues and Thurs. I've been very busy at work so blogging hasn't been a high priority. :)

Tuesday Pro gave me the same rushing crap that he'd given Kate on Monday. We didn't ever get into a discussion of who gets to dictate the rhythm though because he was also being very defensive/angry about the inside rein. So I spent most of the ride reintroducing it to him. Biiiiig opening inside rein until he relaxed into it and then hand forward and scratch his neck. If he didn't listen to the 'come here' gentle reminder next time he started to set his head/neck then he got the big reminder again. As he relaxed his head/neck the rushing mostly took care of itself.

Thursday I decided I didn't feel like getting into a pissing match with him so I dragged out ground poles and put them in a "W" shape with the points cut off. So it was 4 poles that angled towards each other. This let me pick the stride-length I needed by aiming for one edge or the other and gave me the option to do 10m circles over half the poles. Pro was certainly looking for a fight 'cause he came out rushing again. And then promptly planted his feet and tried to spin away from the oh-so-scary poles on the ground. It was extra stupid of him since I'd walked him over the poles on the way into the barn to get tacked up. He enjoyed going over them and relaxed himself during the 10m circles over them without me having to do massive inside rein reminders. I've started working him on longer reins (3rd stop on web reins) so he doesn't have to collect as much and am mostly focusing on getting him to stretch down and over. He wasn't going over as well as I'd like, but he was, on average, better than Tues I think. I was mostly just very pleased with how quietly he went through the poles and handled being asked to turn in/out halfway down the line of them. He's very much NOT a point-and-shoot horse about anything resembling a jump so I was happy that I could channel him over an 8' pole set on an angle approaching from an angle!

Still no lessons set up for us and Kate's now out with the flu. With this weather though lessons are nearly impossible. I imagine Pro will get the weekend off and hopefully we can start riding again Tues next week.

Soggy Ride

I rushed out to the barn last night after work to get a ride in before the rain comes. I'm not looking forward to 10 more days of rain!

Andy was super mellow last night. He was super calm during the warm-up. I think he is getting the hang of it. When I crossed my reins over he was ready to work. We worked on long trotting some more and he has started loosening up.

Earlier I had gotten ahold of his last owner and found out about his training and history. I get to meet his sire next weekend and I think I'm going to join their show series.

They had started him as a cutting horse and said he had been worked on cows a bunch. Since there were tons of kids running around the barn I found a volunteer! I got the smallest little girl to run back and forth. OMG what a rush! He wasn't as sharp as some and isn't ready for you to drop your hand 100% but OMG he knows how to work a cow(little girl)!!! I am SO excited.

Right after this it started raining. We worked for a little longer and then took our cool off around the property.

Is it Friday yet??

Pro gets triple tag-teamed

So on Friday, Pro got a big surprise when Andrea and I brought a guest to help with our tag-teaming - our very own Dare from the blog! :) Unfortunately it was just about dusk so we didn't get many good pictures, but we at least had a good time. Andrea warmed him up for us and despite a few pissy moments in the beginning, he settled right down and behaved. We've been really focusing on keeping his back up. Dare seemed to have the magic touch with finding the right spot under his belly, so she made him do a few back-lifts before the ride and also while Andrea was in the saddle. Then Dare got on and we walked her through the routine - she had him looking quite good! I was pleased that we had him working decently over his back.

Then came the fun part - jumping!! I was only brave enough to do a crossrail (haha) but Andrea was bold enough to get back on after me and take him over a small vertical. He's a tricky jumper because you never know if he's going to go over it or not, if he's going to jump it or just trot it, if he's going to launch from a long spot or chip in, etc. Combine that with my rusty jumping skills and my position left a lot to be desired ;) but Andrea was much better.

Monday's ride was more of a 30 minute discussion centering around who has the authority to dictate rhythm. I won, but he was quite insistent on trying to dictate it himself. What helps me a lot is to think back on watching great dressage - where it looks like the rider dictates not only every stride, but every footfall. So I imagine my seatbones dictating, or at least giving a stamp of approval, for every stride. He was much better by the end! Can't wait for our lessons to start again. :)

Patterns and Anticipation

Last night I got started on Andy later than I had wanted to. YAY for sunlight! I have a new horse in for consignment and I had to work him first. If anyone wants a registered QH that is SLOW let me know. HAHA

When I went out to catch Andy he came running up to me. When he first got here he would walk away and tolerate being caught but wasn't willing to go with me. I think he changed his mind after I brought him in during all the snow and ice. He has started watching me brush him and being more nosy. I'm glad to see his personality come out some. Once his bridle is on though.....he is all business.

I have decided to start a warm up procedure that will help keep him steady in the beginning. I'm not one of those that believes all horses need 20 minutes of warm up but I do want the blood flowing and their mind engaged so we can get to work.

I ride in split reins and I start with them crossed over his neck...one hanging on each side. This is how we warmed up the day before too. We do lots of teardrops, moving shoulders, ground poles, stops, etc just to get him ready. Today I kept "warming him up" after I knew he was ready to go. He doesn't get bad but he does start looking for cues instead of really waiting on them.

The day before when I was ready to get to work I slid the reins to one side only and got my hand more situated. Today when I did it I could feel him get ready. We started out with a nice jog. I would really like to get him to pick up a full trot but every time I post he half-halts on all the ups AND downs so it just slows him down more. HAHA We will work on this more.

Since he was looking for cues earlier I decided that we would ride patterns today. I started with figure 8s. I would jog one loop and then bring it down to a walk in the middle. Walk that loop and then jog/canter in the middle. The middle was my transition area and I did something every time. I would put some smaller collected circles and the top/bottom of the 8 periodically but other than that we rode the 8s. He was a little sticky on his left lead at first. He would prefer his right lead but once I corrected it the first time he was solid the rest of the ride. I kept waiting for him to get up or guess what the next gait was going to be at X but he never did. He would ride past it or switch early if I asked him to.

After this we worked on simple changes in serpentines. I could only get 3 good loops in the arena, we would bring it down to a jog and then grab the other lead. He was VERY balanced through this.

We were both sweaty and tired so after we cooled down and helped another rider we headed down to the barn. As soon as the bridle came off he started scratching his ears, I reached up to help and he jerked and froze like he had been caught doing something bad. I hosed him off and when I turned him back out I took his halter off and stood there for a few minutes and scratched his face and ears. He did the lip thing but didn't try to rub on me at all.

It was a great ride!

Ah - the weather is NICE.

I rode last night and even had some daylight left. It was great to be riding in short sleeves, too.

Skate was a very good little pony. I worked hard on making him think forward since he likes to get rushy and quick...my instructor likes me to keep him slow b/c he tends to get so quick, but I think that just makes him get rushier since I have to half halt so much. Last night I just felt like letting him move out instead of checking him constantly. He needs to learn to move bigger, not faster! Anyway, I was actually quite surprised at how much longer his strides were last night - at least in comparison to what he gives me when he's tense and nervous.

We worked on the usual stuff - moving off my leg, spirals, poles. Then we moved on to trot canter transitions. He gave me some lovely lovely cantering - by the end I just threw him the reins and got in a half seat and let him canter around as a reward. He never got quick! I was surprised at how much stronger he is now....He even has a nice butt muscle crease. I'll have to show before/after pics of his butt - it was all fat and dimply when I got him!

Libby and Tango

The good news is that I worked out the half-lease with Tango's owner. The bad news is that between weather and work, I confess I haven't been doing much riding lately!

I finally got out to the barn on Saturday with the hope of riding, but Tango was just plain filthy... I mean, every inch of "white" on his little tobiano self was BRIGHT orange from rolling in the clay. And he stuuunk. I couldn't put a saddle on such a filthy horse, so I gave him a good thorough bath. Of course he rolled as soon as I turned him out, so now he is vaguely calico-colored, but at least some of the white markings are still white!

But I did get to ride yesterday! We worked on suppling exercises, which went as well as could be expected after a hiatus for both Tango and me -- we had the the usual issues with stiffness to the right and overflexing to the left. Also, he stumbled pretty spectacularly on a 20m circle. I think he was just focusing so hard that he forgot to pick up a hoof... so ground poles are definitely on our agenda for Saturday's ride!

I still think a big chunk of our issues can be attributed to tack. The saddle doesn't quite suit either of us, and I think the bridle bugs him. My Stubben bridle would fit him better, but it is so nice that I don't want to use it all the time for schooling. So I am now on the hunt for tack.

Andy and I working hard

What a gorgeous day!! Thankfully another boarder showed up while I was riding Andy so I have tons of pictures to share. I LOVE this horse.

We started on the poles while walking. I wish I had videos of him the first time. He is a COW horse and did NOT know what to do with the poles. He stopped and was shaking and very confused. A gentle nudge had him leaping over it. After that he ignored them and was wonderful.


Then we worked on more shoulder work while warming up. See how far he reaches OVER with his left shoulder? He doesn't step forward he reaches over.
He isn't big on warming up. I'm pretty sure he hasn't gotten much of it at all.......ever. After about 2 min of walking and shoulders he is ready to get going!
Then we took a stroll around the farm. I like mixing it up with him. He has been such a ring horse, I need him to be able to handle all that I throw at him.
Then we headed back to the arena for more work.
Then we worked on me. No stirrups for me to get used to his moving and stopping. I can't go embarrassing myself and getting slung out of my saddle at the cutting show. LOLAll finished and ready to walk cool. I can't wait to ride him tomorrow. Think he'll look good in english tack??

He Finally Has a Name!

Introducing Andy!

These pictures aren't the best but they are all I have. I can't wait to get him fit and muscled up. He is really upright in his feet, I'm hoping my farrier can address that when he comes out. I am SOOOO glad the time changed back and now I can ride later and later.

Yesterday Andy and I worked on go and go where I point. I didn't rate him much or get too picky. There were a ton of other riders in the arena and once or twice he wanted to pull towards his favorite mare but other than that it was a great ride. For a horse that isn't quick he isn't one that wants to stand either. Periodically I would ask for a whoa and stand somewhere in the arena and expect him to stay. When he wouldn't I would spin him or work on his shoulders and then offer to let him stand again. He is a smart guy and picked up on this really quick.

I wish you guys could see how SMOOTH he rides. But since you can't capture that in a picture you will just have to come ride him! HAHA

My goal this week is to ride him as much as possible. I am taking him and the new horse I got in yesterday to a cutting show saturday afternoon. We won't be doing any cutting but we will be working turnback and moving the herd some. I hope to have a friend come with me and a camera so I can share it with you guys!

Pro the jumping pony

For something different, I decided to play with him on the lunge line tonight so that I could jump him. I saw a thread on COTH that talked about how jumping was good for strengthening your dressage horse's back. Plus it was a break from the usual routine for him!

He actually warmed up great on the lunge - I made sure he was tracking up and kept reminding him with the lunge line to give to the "inside rein", so after a bit he was stretching over his back and really tracking up and moving along. Then I set up a crossrail (with a guard pole to the outside so he couldn't run out) and we walked over it a few times, then trotted it in-hand. Lunging him over it is tricky because he has a knack for getting "behind" and then getting nervous and backing up, so it's a lot of patience. When he does get behind me and starts to back up, I just gather up the lunge and stay calm, focus on getting him back moving forward again.

All in all, Pro really did enjoy the jumping, he just didn't want to admit it. ;) He jumped everything from the middle to the blocks side, but he was pretty enthusiastic about cantering it (once I got behind him enough to "chase" him forward). It was actually fun to watch him get a little jazzed up and try out his jumping skills! Too bad I couldn't get pictures...

Also, Not Bad (but not great, either)

Skate had less time off than Pro (thank you indoor ring), but he was in his stall with limited turnout in the indoor for 4 days. I still expected him to be a little less loopy than he was! I opened the giant sliding door at the end of the arena to get some air in and he spied the light shining off the snow and just knew it was going to get him. So we worked worked worked on getting him over that for the first half of the ride. I have to say again, that he is so obvious that he's going to spook that I really have no excuse for getting caught off guard. He gives me a full 2 seconds of head up, ears at high alert - he may as well say, "hang on, I'm going to do a pivot to the left". Always to the left. He only bolts forward a few steps if we're tracking so that the wall is to his left.

Then the barn owner came in to chat and we had a few minutes of just hanging out...and the parade of cats followed the barn owner in and got Skate all riled up again. Off topic: there is a hole from where a horse kicked the indoor wall and the cats LOVE to climb in the wall, then jump back out at the most inopportune times. Most of the time, Skate is fine with this, but last night, he was on the idiot train and was just looking for crap to spook at (yes, I just ended on a preposition). So...we got back to work and had to start all over again with the terrifying snow, made exponentially worse by the cats jumping out of the wall. While hilarious, it was also annoying that I couldn't get Skate off that damn idiot train.

I did decided that my new favorite exercise for nice repetitious calm work is this (out of the dressage exercises book): Pick up a slow sitting trot on the short side. When you get to the center of the arena, do a teardrop back to the other direction. Circle at A. When you get to the center of the arena on the other side, do another teardrop back to the other direction. Circle at A again, rinse repeat. I try to do this all off my outside aids so we almost do a sort of reinback instead of a big teardrop once he's really listening.

Anyway, once we got some decent (not great) canter work in with him not trying to bolt and bulge away from the scary snow, we quit. I did do some groundwork afterwards, trying to get him to move his shoulders away from pressure - a turn on the haunches. We suck at that. He wants to walk forward or pivot his butt around. I can get a step or two of good crossing over in the front, but that's all. I guess I'll take what I can get.

Not bad for a week off

So now that most of the snow has melted, and the weekend monsoon is over, I finally got to ride Pro again! He hadn't been ridden since last Thursday, so I wasn't expecting brilliant work. Considering that it was dark by the time I got on, and quite cold, Pro was good with the bunny tree. While I was falling asleep the other night I had a mini-revelation and realized I haven't been as good about LIFTING my hands when he does his drama llama impression. So when he tried to do his drama llama impression tonight, I lifted my hands right up (which kept the bit in the right place) and he remembered that drama llama is a no-no! He put his head down and moved on. I was pleased with his big steps at the walk, and spent a bit of time really paying attention to the fine difference between big steps and trying to rush.

For some reason he was incredibly pissy about my hands tonight. Which means one of two things - either my hands are doing bad things, or he's overreacting when he shouldn't. Ugh. Or a combination? I worked on walk-halt transitions and he would SPAZZ if I used the reins along with my seat. But if I just stopped the seatbone motion, he halted. Hmmmm. At least it meant I was plugged in.

This all just reminds me of how much I need Gayle. :( She's like a drug, and Pro and I have become quite addicted. More tomorrow, and then Andrea and I are tag-teaming him on Friday. Which means...pictures!!!!! And a tired Pro.

No Name Yet

Well my new horse still doesn't have a name. Nothing fits yet. He is a little distant and his personality hasn't come out and really shown itself. Once it does his name will come to me. Corny I know!

Since I don't have an indoor I don't have progress reports for riding the no name horse or pictures. I decided to post a few pictures of what I do have. These are from the barn monday morning.

Thank Goodness - this lesson was better.

I had two lessons this week! That is the most I have EVER taken in one week. I wish I could afford it all the time.

Skate was a good boy...even though they were all stuck inside due to the crappy weather. I had worked hard on getting him to promptly move off my leg so this lesson was much more productive. We actually got him to start moving on two tracks. When I first starting asking, you could tell he was NOT getting it. We both just ended up getting tense. My instructor hopped on and 'showed him the way' so when I got back on I didn't have to ask so strongly. We ended that with some excellent stretchy trotting - which is major for Skate. When we first starting his stretching consisted of stretching his nose to the sky!

Anyway, my instructor said we're back on track, thank goodness. And, she gave me "Straightening the Crooked Horse" to read.