Having fun with your horse and building confidence...

I'm blessed with a horse that puts up with just about anything I throw at him. Unfortunately, I sometimes shove him to they wayside because he needs to go school dressage or "its not worth it to ride him if I can't get something accomplished" and often, I feel that way, but when Robin asked me today "Whos your favorite horse to ride on the trails?" I wasn't sure if she was talking to Carissa or myself, so I said "mine?" which they both interpreted as "I prefer to ride my own horse on the trails."


Well, thats not true, but then I thought about it, and 99% of the time, if I'm doing something- I'd prefer to be sitting on my own horse. Now, there are sometimes when he is not appropriate, but sometimes I don't give him enough credit. When we did the Harvest Party/trail ride/poker race, I didn't really want to ride, but didn't have much choice. Of course, I had a large group with me to keep an eye on, and I had decided to ride Arizona.

 

Ari playing leader... his favorite position, until things get scary!

Then Amanda started having issues with her horse, Tex, so the option was to send her back or trade horses. I was regretting my decision to bring Ari, but then thought about it- Amanda is a lovely, solid rider and Ari is pretty steady on the trails, especially in a large group, walking only- and then I had not a qualm in the world about putting her up on him. She had a great time on him for the rest of the ride while I fought with Tex.

Amanda, obviously feeling quite uncomfortable on Ari... not.  

Me and Tex, far left, while Amanda leads the crew on Ari in the middle

In November, Julie and I decided to do a Musical Freestyle Pas de Deux at the Stones River Pony Club dressage show. At this point in our lives, we decided we needed a little "Independent Woman" kick and called it "Better Off" and put together a stellar soundtrack (thanks, Vince!) Never happy with normalcy, we donned blond pigtails, spray painted stars all over our kids, put ribbon in their tails, wrapped them in multi colored polos and laughed our heads off while we performed. Neither of our horses so much as flinched at the close quarters with each other, the spray paint and stencils, the PA system... 

 

 

Ari and Gilbie getting worked up before their big show...

 

And since we were the last riders, to make SURE we made our point, we did a dressage victory gallop:

I can open and shut any gate on the farm with him, he's moved cows, will load in any trailer I point him at or turnout with any horse I throw him out with. When he stayed overnight at Amy's for the Poplar Place trip, he hadn't been turned out in four days- he was having a tantrum while she turned her horses out, so she offered to let him go out with one of her perchie crosses, Abe. They ran around like they were best friends and then settled down to eat within five minutes. 

Two or three years ago, we had a games day at the farm. Kelly Wallace (then Schaffer) and I were the only eventer-type folks there. One of our games was musical fence posts. Because of our horses superior gait control, we were the last two in the game. When the music stopped, we were side-by-side across the pasture from the last post. We both performed perfect turns-on-the haunches and were instantly galloping headlong towards the last post. We got there at the same time, laughing hysterically at our horses' handiness.  

When Niki was still at the barn, we would gallop down the trails without a second thought, over hill and dale, and call it "conditioning." Now, I call it crazy.

He gets dressed up for Halloween every year:

 

Ari as the one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater

 

Ari the pirate (he actually still had two eyes in this picture)

Oh, did I mention he only has one eye?

I actually had the photographer from a dressage show I took him to last summer ask if I wanted his eye photoshopped back in when I ordered pics taken from his bad side. 

 

Here's some stills from our last jump lesson, just to round out his abilities:

 

  

Anyway, the point of this whole tirade is because I've heard this from several different people lately, and I feel like I should address it:

"I'm totally brave on other horses, just not my own."

I think people are ashamed of this fact. Guess what? YOU'RE NOT ALONE. 

There are things I will do on the craziest horse on the farm that I will not do on my horse. Why? Because I KNOW what he is capable of. I have ridden him (or not ridden him) through the WORST things I have ever ridden (or not ridden.) I KNOW that he is more than capable of plastering me across the nearest tree/fence/jump/rock and will not hesitate to do so. He is fit, he is smart and he is QUICK.

But you know what? Sometimes we just have to let GO of what makes us afraid of our own horse and deal with it. We worry because we don't want to mess them up, because we don't want to ruin what we have by pushing to hard, by ruining the peace of the comfort zone we're standing in.

As Ari began to lose the vision in his left eye, I had some INSANE falls off of him. I was on my guard all the time with him. I was scared. But guess what- I'd made a commitment to him and now he was mine to deal with.

 

You can see how covered with mud I am- I fell off TWICE at this show! 

I leased Lyra while we dealt with his health issues and she gave me some much needed confidence back. I would tell Amy about Arizona in our lessons, and when Lyra sold and I was debating what to do next, horse wise, I told her I was thinking about getting Arizona going again. Her response, knowing what she knew, was "I don't think thats a good idea- its hard to get past a history with a horse." 

I mulled over that for a little while, but then I had to make a very big decision- I had to LET GO of the past and focus on the future if this was going to work. I had to take my brain, which telling me every time I cantered up to a jump on him "we might crash, we might crash, we might crash" and just totally shut it down. And I made the decision to do that. To give up the fear and embrace the now.

I came off of him in one of our first jumping lessons with Amy. It was stupid- I was worried about the filler on a jump and jumped ahead of him and he stopped. I fell off. I got back on. At that point- I said "I'm not falling off of this horse anymore. This is stupid." He had a runout at another lesson, not far after- I then told myself "We're not running out anymore. If he's going to stop, he's going to stop in FRONT of the jump, with me on his back. Period." 

No, its not that easy, in case you're wondering- I figured out why I was falling off/running out, talked to Amy about what to do to fix it, did/do exercises to help me and study, study, study how to make things better. And they are getting better. The next step is "no more stops," but that has some other pieces to go along with it. 

And while I haven't had any run outs or falls since I "decided" not to have them anymore- am I going to get down on myself if one happens? I'll feel bad, but you can't dwell on it. Dwelling has NO place on horseback. You have to live in the moment, not hold a grudge, don't take it personally. If you ride with me, you'll hear me say that over and over- especially if you ride a mare. 

My good friend Megan told me something at my first away event with Lyra- she is a big follower of Jane Savoie- and she talked about positive visualization. If something scares you, just picture it going well, over and over. Your dressage test, a certain XC fence, your stadium round or even just walking through a certain gate on the farm, past the pond, through the creek- whatever it is, you can't think about what will go wrong- you have to picture it going right. It really does work. 

There was a fence on the course at KY Classique that I was really worried about with Brandy. It was a silly fence to worry about, but it was the first big solid fence on course, headed away from the barn. I could see it from where we grazed and I let it gnaw at me until I KNEW we were going to stop. When Amy and I walked the course, I looked at it and pictured the most perfect, bouncy gallop up to it, and then "1-2-1-2, BOING!" and galloping off. The next time I was out grazing, I stared at it and though "1-2-1-2, BOING!" and guess how it rode? Yep- "1-2-1-2, BOING!" and on to the next. The rest of the course was like clock work.

 

Luckily, Stacy caught it on camera- not the best picture, but it gives me warm fuzzies every time I look at it because I remember the feeling of "that ride."

So, anyway, the reason I posted this today is because this is what I did with Ari today:

 

Yes, I took him on a bareback trail ride. I had actually brought him up to do a dressage school, but ran out of time before I was planning to ride with Robin, so decided to take him out instead.While he doesn't LOVE trail riding, he actually was striding out pretty well for him and had his ears up the whole time.

Sure, he tried to turn himself inside out one time, but I just sat there and rode it. It wasn't a big deal and it didn't effect him five second later (he has a thing about birds, apparently...)

Did we accomplish anything that will help us in the dressage ring? Nah. 

Did I enjoy spending some time with my best buddy today? Yep.

Winter blues...

I'm sick of:

• Mud
• Poopy muddy ice balls in tails
• Mud
• Poopy muddy ice balls on legs
• Mud
• Standing water
• Wiping my nose
• Winter storm advisories
• Numb fingers and toes
• Two pairs of pants, three shirts, winter coat, balaclava, neck gaiter and hat 
• Muddy boots
• Taking twice as much time to get half as much accomplished
• Scraping the mud off your boots in order to walk
• Finding the holes in your boots when you're submerged past the point in mud
• Mud, in general
• Wearing a helmet over a fleece hat
• Scraping the mud off your boots in order to ride
• Scraping the mud off your HORSE in order to ride
• Unblanketing to ride
• The sores on my nose from wiping it so frequently
• Reblanketing after you ride (soon to be followed by shedding season woes)
• Mud under my fingernails and caked on my hands
• Losing boots in mud
• Near falls in mud
• Filling the stupid bucket to fill the toilet tank because the water in the bathroom is frozen
• Mud
• Cold
• Cleaning the mud off stirrups after you ride before you run them up
• Taking boots off in order to go in the bathroom
• Changing out of mud boots into riding boots/half chaps in order to ride
• Trying to find a place worth riding in
• Trying to make it all day at the barn without going to the bathroom so you don't have to fill the stupid bucket 
• Having to go to the bathroom so bad you're crossing your legs because you waited TOO long and then having to fill the stupid bucket!!!
• Mud
• Trying to get warm once you get home
• Finding the motivation to leave the house in the first place
• Last, but not least.... mud. 

Today, Sam and I played chicken with the four wheeler as it was coming down the driveway. Abby veered before Sam did. Sam thought I was insane, but he held his course! Then he stopped for some kisses.

 

  

He obviously has huge issues with fear. 

Bo also gave Abby and I quite a show making sure he was EXTRA dirty for Anita and Jerry this evening. 

I will have to do a whole post regarding the barn dogs some day soon. Send me your best barn dog pictures!

Oh, and here's Jazz with her new haircut! When I get desperate for money bored, I offer to do extra things to make some cash keep myself busy- cleaning tack, trimming manes, cleaning sheaths- whatever. Amanda and Lynette asked me to do Jazz's mane and it came out a tiny bit shorter than Miss Amanda would probably like, but I LOVE it... and it'll grow back!

 

 

Plus, Amanda got a cute, new short hair do this fall, so only right that Jazz should match!

  

Amanda's cute new hair cut a couple months later, and covered by a hat, but I just had to post this adorable picture!

Also, one day, when I'm really bored, I'm going to keep my finger on the shutter of my phone camera all day one day and just snap pictures of things horses have spooked at.

Today I had to convince Skippy that the pond was not going to eat him. The same one we walk by every ride. But today... it had ICE!

I mean, I don't know if you've noticed, but its been really darn cold for a few weeks... that pond has had ice on it for a LONG time...

Some rainy day quotes for you:

From Lynette:

"Women are angels. And when someone breaks our wings, we simply continue to fly......on a broomstick. Flexibility- it's a good thing."

"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says 'Oh Crap, She's up!'"

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ:

"Lauren, What do you do when its snowing/raining/too gross to ride?"

• Nothing. I look outside when my alarm goes off, see that its yucky, turn off my alarm, roll over and go back to sleep. Then I wake up around 9, go sit on the couch with my computer in my PJs, eat breakfast at lunch time, feel guilty for not being at the barn (I have a really, really bad guilt complex- I blame it on being raised Catholic.), play on my computer, watch CMT (usually Nanny 911 and Wife Swap- I call it Birth Control and Why I Should Stay Single), occasionally work on my website/billing/sale ads, surf Facebook and my favorite websites. Then I usually cook something entirely unhealthy for dinner and stay up entirely too late doing the above things, over and over. 
• When "nothing" gets boring, I go to the barn and compulsively organize my stuff, again and again. 
• Two or three times I year, I clean ALL of my tack. (Okay, once a year. Whatever)
• Run errands that I have been avoiding.
• If its too gross to ride, occasionally I make the stupid decision to take my dogs to the barn to hike. Usually this is followed by doggy bath time.

"What are your favorite websites that you check, compulsively, Lauren?"

• Tack of the Day (TOTD)
• Chronicle of the Horse Forums (COTH)
• Pioneer Woman 
• Craigslist
• Cake Wrecks
• Fugly Horse of the Day
• Passive Aggressive Notes
• Facebook (of course)

Blogs that I follow:

• Team Taco!- Taco-the-Wonder-Horse and fellow Panther Springs student, Stacy, blog as they prep for the Training 3 Day this year!
• Paradigm Farms Retirement- Melissa and Jason's daily adventures caring for some handsome retirees and a mishmosh of other animals!
• Hillside Haven Farm- An inspirational and educational blog from one another of my Panther Springs buddies, Megan, about her journeys with Flo, River, Mia and now Pom Pom
• Eventing Nation- Its like the New York Times for eventing
• Small Frys- Facebook has let me reconnect with several of my camp buddies from Camp Lohikan, where I worked in 2003. Aliese was a counselor in the same age group and we've enjoyed keeping in touch with each other- she also has The Cutest Blog Ever, so you should go take a peek. :)
• Misadventures of a Dressage Wannabe- New friend Amanda's adventures with her ever opinionated mare Gracie and her endeavors as an Equine Massage Therapist

Okay, so who's blogs am I missing? What educational blogs do I need to add to my Google Reader? I just recently discovered the joy of Google Reader. Until I found it, I was avoiding blogs like the plague because I had to remember to check them all. Not anymore!

So, leave a comment with your favorite blog!

Comments

I just realized that people have been commenting on my posts! (duh.)

I guess I was expecting a notification, or something! I got it set up so it'll email me from now on. You'd think I never had a blog or something (I had a livejournal for YEARS.)

Thanks for "listening" to my ramblings, guys! It keeps me motivated to write more. ;)

(minor)Miracles...

Second miracle first. Nashville has gotten two inches of snow in the last two hours. I don't know if thats a miracle, per se, more of a giant annoyance, but whatever.

Now, the GREATEST (albeit minor)Miracle (for today, anyway). I rode FIVE horses today. And CANTERED them.

Why is this a big deal, you ask?

Well, I have my horses divided up into three groups, basically, although there is some change over between them.

The first is the ones that I can ride in nearly any weather or footing. They're the sure footed ones who can benefit just from going down the trail at the walk if needed.

The second are the ones who really need some basics, so if the footing is just okay, they can benefit from lots of work that can be done at the walk- bending and moving off of leg, walking over poles and bits of trotting in straight lines.

The last group is the group I don't even bother bringing into the barn if I can't do some serious work.

I managed to get that last group ridden today. THAT is the (minor)Miracle.

Now you're asking yourself, "Self, how did Lauren manage to ride her "event horses" today, including cantering, when it barely got above freezing and the ground never thawed. And what did thaw was mud?"

Well, apparently, when the stars align, the wind blows at just the right angle and a series of various factors are in place, different areas of the farm become "the place" to ride. With 650 acres, you'd think this wouldn't be a huge issue, but given the time constraints of a single ride, its hard to find a place that doesn't take half the ride to get there.

I make do with three areas that tend to drain pretty well- our "arena," the "dressage arena," and the "other place in the Pear Tree Field with three jumps." Well, when you ride in these areas enough, they become worn down and you can't ride in them when its wet. So I find new places. Yesterday, I rode in a slanty area that I usually avoid because it has a sinkhole in the middle. Well, that sink hole made the area around it dry enough to trot circles as long as I didn't cross my own path a couple times. YAY!

Today, I was trying to avoid the mud while riding a horse with only one shoe and happened across a spot, not far from the barn- in fact, closer than the areas I usually ride, that when I started to walk across it, didn't make a slurping noise every time he took a step. I looked behind me- no footprints. I trotted. No slurping. No footprints. I dismounted. I checked the ground. It was phenomenal. I was shocked. I worked that horse (lightly of course, since he only had one shoe, but by golly, he needs some structure in his silly little life) at the walk, trot and canter and gleefully returned to the barn.

Considering that I started my day thinking "I don't even want to BE at the barn today" this was seriously heartening and I was so glad to be able to get a good workout on Sam, Gracie, Shasta, Brandy and Ari today. I couldn't get back into half chaps fast enough, and I actually had to dust off my nice saddles that I ride these guys in.

So, like I said, (minor)Miracles do happen.

Oh, if you're wondering what about that spot made it so lovely to ride in- here's the breakdown-

1. The field had not been mowed this summer, so the grass was long and had been tromped down by equipment and weather. 
2. The frozen ground below made it nice and firm for a base, and the top, thawed layer was not muck since this area was totally untouched.
3. The manure spreader had been run over this area several times, so until that organic material decomposes, it makes for EXCELLENT footing. 
4. That mushed down long grass gave it some serious traction.
5. No, I'm not telling you where it is if you haven't figured it out by the above description. I'm saving it for later.

And for your enjoyment, a greenie story:
As you know, anytime you ride a horse in a new place (GASP!), it takes them a little while to realize that horse eating monsters aren't going to pop out of the woods at any moment. When I'm riding by myself, I have my music playing and get totally in a zone. (Okay, I do this when I'm not riding by myself, too, but thats not the point.)

So, I was riding Brandy. She is a perchie cross with a big ol' heavy noggin that she likes to swing around just to make you feel small and insignificant- usually very successfully. She does this when there is something she sees or hears, and also when you're trying to get her to work on the bit after a week off. Well, I was trying to work Brandy on the bit after a week off and guess what? She kept swinging that big ol' heavy noggin around to make me feel small and insignificant.

Brandy's large pendulous head

I thought back to my last lesson (more outside rein, less inside- give it away! If she throws her head, add leg! Tell her "this is where she needs to be!" Keep that steady outside rein! Sit up and back, ask her to be lighter in the front) and worked. And worked. And worked. She settled a little, but never really softened.

Then she did the unthinkable- she spooked. Well, ok, Brandy doesn't spook, but she did swing her head around to the left and stop dead, breaking me out of my musical revere. I looked up and saw deer.

Not just "A" deer.

Many deer.

Nine, from what I could tell. A buck, a handful of does and a couple fawns. They were slowly migrating over the hill from Anitas house, past the old cemetery, towards the pond in the Pear Tree Field. Apparently she was trying to keep her eye on the flock of deer coming across the pasture as she worked, and I was really ruining that for her.

 

Not my deer, but apparently Pioneer Woman had the same kind of day as me!

What a goober. She could have just said something!

Babies.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, The Red-Headed Step Child Gracie Lu was a champ under saddle today after her workout yesterday.

Ideas.

I have a lot of them. On a daily basis. Some of them are good!
Examples of good ideas:

Home-made saddle pad rack

Spinach dip to eat while watching the Super Bowl

But some of them are not-so-good ideas. In fact, sometimes, I have bad ideas. Okay. OFTEN, I have bad ideas. In my line of work, Bad Ideas always require a helmet.

They often require a protective eventing vest.

They ALWAYS require Anita (the Queen of Southern Promise Farm) giving me "the look" and asking about my health insurance coverage and usually spark a conversation about life insurance and how I should maybe think about getting it.

So, you're wondering... what was today's Bad Idea?

Well, let me just start by saying I ride 16 horses a week, at minimum. These range between rock solid trail horses and silly greenie beanies and low level event prospects.

Often, my rock solid trail horses are involved in my Bad Ideas. Today's partner in crime? Dancer.

 

Me and Dancer hating the cold, together!

 

Dancer is one of the few horses who have been at the barn longer than me. I've been riding her once or twice a week for nearly three years. Suffice to say, I know her pretty well. I obviously trust her pretty explicitly (see bridle in above photo.) She is the one I know I can climb on and go gallop mach 10 across the farm and ALWAYS have brakes. I know she will never spook, buck, bolt. She is also 100% reliable to neck rein. (This is important.)

She has her heifer moments, though, as most mares do. She will toss her head and pin her ears and is horribly girthy. She has to be caught with cookies and tears away from you as soon as you pull her halter off- stall or pasture.

She has belonged to her mom, Nancy Jo, since she was weaned and NJ did everything from the ground up with her as a total novice. I can ride her with a rope around her neck. She's a pretty cool horse. And I can ride her with one hand. Any guesses where this is going?

Dancer and Mom, Nancy Jo, at Spring Desensitization clinc

Well, you see, today's Bad Idea involved not only my trail buddy Dancer, but one of my other "favorite" horses. Gracie. 

Yes, Gracie. Gracie belongs to Jessica, the heiress of Southern Promise Farm. You'll notice that "favorite" is in quotes when I'm referring to Gracie. Gracie and I have a love-hate relationship.

It started when Anita and I went to look at Gracie for Jessica. Jess found her on a craigslist-esque site called Kijiji and sent the link to Anita and I. The ad showed a good grasp of the English language, a horse who was shiny, clean and at a good weight, wearing recently set shoes and the price was right! Whats not to like?

So we went to look at her. She was standing tied when we got there (she ties!), she rode very nicely, walk, trot and canter (woo! Three gaits!), she stood still for mounting and seemed pleasant enough.

HA. Things we didn't notice- She is red. She is a mare. She has smooshy white feet. She is the devil incarnate (okay, this wasn't apparent, but the first three things in this list should have been enough.)

So, we brought her home and put her in training. She thought contact and going forward were horrible, horrible things. We had her checked for all kinds of pain issues, had her adjusted. Floated. Xrayed. Special shoes. Finally we just said "Horse? Its time for work." and on she went. Luckily, she liked jumping. That may be the reason shes not dead yet.

So, slowly we made some progress. She has always been a "light in front" horse. If she gets angry, she threatens or half rears. I hate rearers. Hate. One day, I asked Gracie to canter. She was sullen, behind my leg, no real forward to be had. I cued for the canter, she flipped. No, not like "had a tantrum" flipped, she flipped. Over. Backwards. On top of me. It was deliberate. Not a rear and lost balance flip. I cursed her up, down and side ways and then resigned her to learn FORWARD. FOR REAL.

She is also a kicker. People, horses... whatever. She would like to kick you. This is being reformed, but once a kicker...

She is actually making some real progress, but she has always been wonderful for Jess, honest to jump and definitely a teacher. Hilariously, I often tell Anita she that Gracie reminds me a lot of Arizona when he was younger. This usually warrants "the look" as well.

Gracie continues to wear special shoes and because of her AWFUL white feet. As a result, she has limited turnout when it is wet so she won't tear her shoes off and her feet up, which also means she gets limited riding when its wet, because shes a clutz and pulls her shoes while working. I try really hard to get her enough exercise when she's cooped up in the "corral" as we like to call it, but I can't always ride her due to the footing.

So, I took her out on Thursday, just as it started to rain. She walked out calmly, trotted nicely up the hill and then started this sideway, light in front, head tossing, crow hopping behavior I've become familiar with. I put her to work, asking for flexion and moving her shoulders and haunches and just trying to get her attention. She fussed and fussed and ended up doing what I refer to as her "lethal freeze." When she does this, she has HAD ENOUGH and is getting ready to either fight or flight, and you'd best be ready for the ride.

In the best of footing, I'll stay on, redirect her and gently work her out of it. On the side of a hill, in the middle of a field, in three inches on mud? I remove myself from the situation by dismounting and tapping her with my dressage whip to get her attention. This resulted in her striking, rearing, bolting... exactly what I didn't want to be on board for. I hiked back to the barn with her, put her on the longe line, let her get some energy out and then got back on to ride her and end on a good note.

Fast forward to today. The Bad Idea.

Gracie needs exercise. I don't want to be on her back. The longe isn't cutting it, given the footing. Dancer can be ridden with one hand.

Have you caught up with me yet?

No?

Ponying. I require all my horses to know how to do it. Pony or be ponied, preferably both. As long as the steering is fairly reliable, if you can keep both horses thinking about what they're doing (like going forward) they usually leave each other alone and do just fine. Point in case- I used Arizona to pony Lyra all last winter. Two excitable TBs with attitude. Never had a problem.

Anyway, I walked into the barn and announced to Anita my plan to use Dancer to pony Gracie and have her let off some steam. Remember the look in the above picture? It was worse than that. Much. Much. Worse.

Oh well! I tacked up Dancer, put her in a running martingale so she wouldn't break my nose with her head flinging, put Gracie's bridle on, clipped on the lead rope and went off. They spent the first five minutes trying to decide who was in charge, both being bossy mares. Luckily, between me and Dancer, we got Gracie pretty well buffaloed into thinking we were bigger and stronger and meaner.

We walked. Life was good. Gracie started to get animated. We trotted. Gracie trotted sideways... she cantered in place... she turned herself inside out bucking and snorting and trying her best to convince me she was feral. I kept trotting. Luckily, Dancer is half thoroughbred, so she can out-trot a grumpy paint who is trying to turn herself inside out. We trotted until Gracie quit showing me her best Lipizzaner impression. By then, we were half way across the farm in a huge hay field. So we cantered. Gracie looked really surprised and then laid on the speed- Dancer, never one to back down from a challenge, showed her what galloping really looked like. I prayed.

I prayed that we would
A) stop, one day.
B) not slip in the mud (the footing was great in that particular field, but still).
C) not go into a bucking, kicking frenzy.
D) live.

But you know what? Nary an ear flicked back. No craziness ensued. We lapped the field and then came calmly back to the walk. We jogged back to the barn and I dismounted, untacked, turned the girls out and walked over to Anita to show her that I was still alive and had all my limbs.

What? You thought something bad was going to happen? That maybe I was a little insane?

I told you it was a Bad Idea... not that it had a bad ending. ;)

Stolen...

 from Alise, who stole it from a friends blog.

I thought this was appropriate, given the weather and how miserable I've been because of it.

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it.
You either have to laugh or cry.
I prefer to laugh.
Crying gives me a headache."
-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Running water last week at the gate I have to walk through most. Glorious.

Supporting roles...

I work with some really cool horses and people in my job, so I'm going to run through some of the lesser known ones... probably slowly, but not in any particular order, so NO, that doesn't mean I love any one of my students less than others. Well, maybe some I love more than others... but thats okay. 

The one I constantly marvel at is Skippy. Skippy belongs to an adult trail rider, Anne, and she bought him off of craigslist about a year and a half ago.

Skippy and his mom, Anne

He was living on the side of a hill in a pasture of all rocks, no grazing AT ALL, bad hay- just the typical backyard redneck situation. She went out and rode him- loved him- and asked me to come see him. So I went out there with a badly twisted ankle and hopped on. He was great. I suspect he's probably part gaited horse, but couldn't make him gait, so he has a solid w/t/c. He neck reins, moved off leg, the only place they had to ride was the road- so up and down we went, being passed by a logging truck, school bus- no reaction. She bought him, brought him home, we slowly rehabbed him and can you guess what happened?

Mr. Oh-so-quiet wasn't oh-so-quiet anymore. He RAN. EVERYWHERE. He would not walk. He would not relax. His head was straight up and he was running in place. Riding him required an ace bandage and seven rolls of duct tape to be comfortable and not knock a couple of teeth out.

It was apparent that he was used to riding out with gaited horses- he just did whatever he had to do to keep up. He didn't have a true walk, trot or canter. I tried to teach him to gait since I thought he was leaning toward that, but that wasn't the case. I switched bits, tried longing and all kinds of tricks I'd learned through the years, side reins, gadgets, training fork. We had him adjusted, saddle fitted, massaged.

I. Tried. Everything. He just had no "relax button." I fought, and fought and fought. I began teaching him dressage. We did LOTS of one rein stops to unlock his neck. I could get small responses out of him, it got to where he was manageable. I could walk and trot him. Things were getting better.

And then they stopped getting better and just stayed the same... for a long enough time that I just gave up and trail rode him and delt with it.

On top of this, Skippy started having huge management issues. He was at a good weight coming into winter. At the first cold snap, he lost an extreme amount of weight in a short time. We did all the right things to rehab him again- including blanketing him so he wouldn't waste precious calories trying to stay warm. Well, apparently Skippy had never had a sheet on before. The first time he was turned out with it on, he bolted to the nearest fences and went through it. YIKES. Luckily, he wasn't badly hurt, but it did some damage to his psyche. He then became unreliable and skittish. He was just plain SCARED of life. He became so dependent on his herd that he became dangerous. We had the vet out many times and finally we decided to have a behaviorist come out. As a last ditch effort, we moved him back to the north side of the farm where he could be turned out alone in a 30 acres pasture. He stayed there for four weeks and realized he was OKAY by himself and people were really the coolest thing ever. We moved him back to the south side of the farm and he was a changed man.

I resumed riding him with minimal progress and just worked on keeping him fit for summer trail rides. Then winter rolled around, and  I pulled out what would turn out to be magic. A mechanical hackamore.

 

Don't ask me why, but it switched a light bulb on somewhere in Skippy's head that I had never been able to find. We went back to dressage work and he would actually supple himself. He started using his back end and lifting his back. He stopped fighting every step of the way!! For the first time, he walked AND trotted with his neck relaxed and his shoulders swinging. He was covering some ground and the most amazing thing was that the wrinkles in his skin in front of his saddle pad that he has ALWAYS had due to tension... were gone. GONE. 

He will now walk, trot and canter in a relaxed, low level dressage frame, and even more amazing- he will go BACK to the walk after cantering and RELAX. He finally has two leads! His walk is adjustable- it can be faster or slower, longer or shorter. I have switched him from the hack to a normal snaffle and the result is the same. 

It just amazes me when I get on him and I'm so excited by his progress. His owner appreciates everything I've done for him, but will never utilize what he now knows to its full extent, but it will make her trail riding time with him more pleasant. 

On top of that, sadly, she called me last week to tell me Skippy was going to need to find a new home. She is dealing with some issues with her young son that require her full attention right now and horses just cannot be in the picture. I'm so sad to know that, but I'm glad the Skippy is in a place now that I feel comfortable rehoming him- that he has a future beyond just "trail horse" for the right person, though he is a great trail horse, if that is what his new person wants. 

 

Its bittersweet, my job.

A new year, a little late, but better than never!

This year has started off pretty well, on the horsey front.

Arizona is doing well. We did our first BN at Poplar Place at the end of Dec and he jumped clean and lovely in stadium.

2'6" is once again becoming a very comfortable height for me, a warm up height, if you will. I'm slowly upping the ante on myself- setting all the jumps on our home course at 2'6" just to get used to jumping around at that height instead of letting myself stay at 2' and 2'3" because thats what I have set up. I'm making the oxers wider and the back rails higher. I hope to be comfortable and competent at jumping a 3' course in the very near future- and I need to be, with Brandy's novice move-up coming soon!

I've found that H/J people make a way bigger deal over "height" than eventers. I, obviously, have a hard time letting that go. Not that we don't care that the jumps are 3'- we just focus on the correct ride TO the fence, instead of finding a horse that has the step and style to get there. A cow can jump 4' from a standstill, so a reasonably athletic horse should have no problem with 3'.

Anyway, my current jumping goals with Ari involve riding with more connection, bottling that energy and riding each and every step to the base of the jump. He is not going to give me anything that I don't specifically ask for, so I CANNOT let myself jump up his neck. Brandy and Lyra will "gimme" some bad spots- he doesn't. So, I'm concentrating on riding with a tight lower leg and letting it stay strong instead of collapsing if I don't see a good spot to a fence. He needs to learn to "sit" more and I need to keep from letting him lock his jaw, making him much more ride-able.

Here's his XC school at PPF:


And our last jumping lesson with Amy at Melissa's:




For dressage, we need to work on working uphill. Keep him poll high and jaw loose so he can't pop his nose out. I need to sit up taller (saddle fit issues have helped address this) to keep from getting in a vicious cycle of leaning.

Here's our dressage at PPF- we had a very interesting warm up including little white ponies zooming around at 100mph and Big Fancy Dressage Horses doing airs above the ground (on purpose) which led to us doing airs about the ground (not on purpose.) We got nailed for me not riding him uphill (shock), so that is our goal!




Brandy is doing great. Susan rode her at our last jumping lesson at Melissa's and she and Melissa both commented on how FUN she is. She's such a doll to be around- she just wants to do things right, and her jump just makes you go "weeee!" as is evidenced by Susan's commentary throughout this video!



Susan was hoping to ride her in the Novice group for the Jimmy Wofford clinic at Saddle Springs, but that got postponed. Bummer!

So anyway, Brandy's dressage needs to improve. I need to nag less, more outside rein, less inside. Once she is quiet, I can start to change the shape and ride her more "up." Jumping, I need to work on keeping her "up" and not letting her get strung out and heavy- she will take a half inch before the jump, land with an inch and it snowballs until she could potentially get dangerous- like on XC. I'm debating moving her up at Wolf Gap or MayDaze.

I'm hoping to bring TWO HORSES to MayDaze! Yikes, I need to start shoveling money away now. Luckily, the greatest groom ever, Schap, will be in town for that weekend to help me! Maybe she can take Shasta to Pioneer Valley the weekend of June 5.

Shasta is just a joy to be around. She has decided jumping is pretty cool, but she hasn't YET figured out that a 12" cross rail does not require the effort of a 3' oxer. I think that'll come. Once we can get some consistent work in, I think she'll come around very quickly.

I could go on about my "students" too, but I'll leave it at that to give myself something to write about later...