11/3/11

Harley came to me in the pasture last night, nickering. He lowered his head into the halter. Hmm.. I wonder if this is a good sign, or if he's secretly plotting to kill me in the arena. Saddled, and neck stretcher longed, I hopped on.

Amazing again. A bit less give at the trot, which frustrated me. I asked for plenty of canter and transitions after 9-12 strides, hoping to get the give in the trot. Serpentines and circles at trot, and he'd feel pretty good until I'd ask for a straight line and corner. Things fell apart in the corners, so I'd go back to changing direction a lot. After about 30 minutes paying attention, he seemed to be finally alert to the collection, and relaxed. I tried some halt/trot/halt work, and that's improving significantly. The canters were nice again, light contact, sitting securely. Free walk work still seems to elude Harley. He'll stretch out, and down just past neck level, then stop. Every time he's stretched farther, he gets heavy on the forehand, stumbles, and then doesn't want to try it again. Must be a trick to it we're not getting.

Boss was up second, and Romeo looked pretty happy about my choice. He antsed around again saddling up, but stood quietly for polo wraps up front. Odd child. Bridling was easier, as he lowered his head with one tug of my fingers at the poll. Smart ... Smart ... He tried walking off at the mounting block, and after two aggressive responses from me, I mounted ever so slowly, and he stood still. A good pat for praise, and he was off.

Warmup at the walk took about five minutes before he wasn't a giraffe anymore, and was giving to the pressure. Tug, release, Tug, release, walk on. Nice .... His trot was ... LAZY! Slow, unforgiving, and just flat. It felt slower than Harley, which annoyed me. Thinking to myself, "I know the canter wakes Harley's trot up. I wonder if all horses are like that?"

I squeezed for the canter left, and off he went. Boss lept up into his canter, and before I knew it, I was sitting his massive stride with all its knee-action happiness, and he was bent on the circle, collected. How thrilling! I rode two big center arena circles, then let out a heavy sigh to the trot. Love the AirBrakes! Boss still lurched about in the trot, and no matter how cooperative I tried to be, he seemed to be ignoring me.

Then I flashed back to my first instructor in SC. Susan would tell the intermediate students when the horses were lazy, "take your reins at the buckle, and whap him on both sides of the neck. back and forth. That oughta wake him up." And I tried it. Success! Boss immediately perked up into a better trot, and, while it's not tracking up, I don't think I'm physically ready to keep up with a tracking up trot on him. He started giving to the bit, and I felt his back lift under me. Similar work heading right. Lazy trot, beautiful canter, whap-whap on the neck, and a nice trot.

About 35 minutes total work. Finished up again with long&low stretchy trot, and a bit of working walk / free walk transitions. They were better than Tuesday, even. Things are improving slowly, and I'm pretty sure it's mostly me and not that much Boss.

First Week of May so far - Catch Up

Not lazy, just multi tasking. The longer I put these off, the farther behind I'm going to get. The farther behind I get, the more I'm going to regret not catching up sooner. So, here's the first three days after the show, in hi-speed.. Go!

5/2/11 - Romeo and I rode the Julie Goodnight Lesson #2 audio. I listened, gave commands, he obeyed. Well, mostly. All but the whole "canter on command", which became the 5/3 homework.

5/3/11 - Romeo. See above. Enter Speed Racer. I gave him a proper warmup, and his walk work was good. His trot work was good. Transition into canter? First time, squeeze. No response. Second time, kick hard and kiss. Suddenly, he was ready to obey me. We didn't canter far before I slowed to trot, and asked again. Only a squeeze and a kiss. Nice... Much better... Unfortunately, he then thought canter meant near gallop. Romeo stayed in the gait as long as I let him, but was speedily zipping around the arena. Go Speed Racer, Go!

Harley - Tacked him up dressage. He rode nicely in the tack. Very nicely. No rushing, no avoiding my seat contact, steady trot. I stayed mostly loose rein, just to encourage forward, and a nice, relaxing "uber seat contact" ride experience for him.

5/4/11 - Harley. Pretty good. Rode dressage, and asked for a little flex give to bit. Harley didn't want any part of that for the first good while, and then he suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do, and eased his neck down, poll in. Good Job!

Romeo - Less Speedy, More Responsive. He was stopping with his head in the sky, so we backed up a lot. Turn on forehand, turn on haunches, side pass. Backed circles in both direction. Back to trot, back to canter. Heading into canter was much easier, heading out he was easily slowed to a pleasure jog. Good deal.

Tonight is Harley only. Much more of the same. Perhaps very soon I'll slide my rear into my western saddle again, and get him up into cantering. I'm not in a super big hurry, but as long as he will fully trot out on a loose rein, no reason I can't start playing with his canter. Trot collected is going to take a long time, and I don't want to wait on canter until his trot is perfect.

4/24 Romeo in the Arena

Wait, back up a step. I walked Romeo to the wash/saddle tie posts, and remembered, "oop. He hasn't seen the railroad tie flooring yet. This could be fun."

I walked Mo to the x ties just like I walked Harley to it, steady and confident. Mo did just as Harley, only slightly different. When I stepped over to clip him to the Xpost, Mo laughed at me, and walked right on off the ties. Grr! =) Get back here! Back we go, only when he was where I wanted, I warned him, "Whoa!" Second time, he stood still. I groomed, I saddled, I brushed the mud off. He didn't budge, he didn't wiggle, and he didn't bust another Xpost. Good deal.

I gave Romeo a very brief, less than ten minute, longe on the line. I had the whip in hand, and did have to use it once to get him in the canter-left. Mo realized I wasn't playing, I meant business, and complied. Realizing he wasn't going to have a galloping fit, or a bucking tantrum, I put on my helmet, and hopped on.

Walk - good to go.
Trot, loose rein - great.
Trot, collection - really?! Is this seriously the same horse? I shortened up my reins, and Mo rounded his back so much I could feel him lighten underneath me. His trot became slightly springy, a serious accomplishment for such a flat mover.
Canter, loose rein - nice.. I did have to bust his chops going up into it. Something I will personally need to work on. Probably have to carry a dressage whip just one ride. H mentioned he was lazy into the canter, and she whapped him a few times with the whip to get him into the canter before he realized kiss and legs means something. I'll probably give it one more solid effort without the aids before I start trying to carry something.

Either way, Romeo went anywhere I put his feet, and actually cantered with moderate collection. Long & low, but certainly not all strung out and nose out like he left me. Nice...

We ended our work with a cool down, complete with plenty of backing up, turns on forehand, turns on haunches. Mo didn't waste any time thinking about any of my requests, eager to get off of the leg pressure.

Total work? About an hour. I am happy to say I'm satisfied with his month of Hoof Camp. Saturday, he rode where I put his feet, and didn't balk at anything. Sunday, he did as I asked, went when I said "go", stopped by seat and verbal. At no point did I feel like I had to "bust his tail" for anything... After the ride, he stood patiently at the xTies, and when I put the hose to his legs, he didn't flinch. I even hosed off his face without a lot of protest. Fantastic...

Me Thinks I got my little Babysitter Critter back ...

3/24/11 The Trot

I gathered Harley and got him dressed after another busy PT. Looks like there's one more week there yet to go. I have some decisions to make concerning PT - do I think I'm good enough to call it "done", or are there things I still need to improve worth making another dr appointment and asking for another four weeks? I haven't decided. While I am a LOT stronger than I was, there are still a handful of things around the house that are difficult to do on my own. Things to consider ...

Harley first longed out with the bit in mouth, longed from the halter (nothing attached to the bit). He hopped playfully over the poles, but with a few wrong leads heading left. Grr..

Then I tried something different to encourage head down, nose in, use the rear end better. I have a fairly long old rope with clips on the end, and it looks much like Julie Goodnight's Elbow Pull bitting system. Well,,, It sort of works. Harley responded correctly at the walk, but failed again at the trot. I think he was "correct" for a stride or two going right, but that was it. Otherwise, he just lifted his head higher and found the wrong release. Grr! So, it's back to the drawing board, er, tack store catalogs, to figure out what else might work. I need to show him that "good" is head down, nose in. I don't expect him to hold it for hours, but I noticed last night he's getting muscles on the lower side of his neck, not on top. This needs improving. On the longe, his forward is FANTASTIC. He'll over stride at the walk, and he is tracking up nicely at the trot. His canter varies depending how early in the workout it is, as it starts out speedy and short, but he eases into a pretty graceful canter after a little while. However, the quicker gaits are all done with his neck up, nose out. Blech!

I changed his bit from longing french link to the Myler Combo, and walked him over to the mounting steps. Success! In less than two minutes, he was at the steps, and I was aboard. I then mentally prepared for what might come next. When I add leg to ask him to move on, will he burst away from the block, just stand there, or walk away quietly. Again, Success! Harley took about two gentle steps from the steps on a little leg pressure, and hesitated, as if to make sure I was really ready to move. I added leg, and he continued.

With a little walk, turn, and halt, he was responsive and paying attention. I got brave, and squeezed and clucked. Harley hopped up into his trot, and again hesitated, making sure he really did have the right answer. I trotted about a circle and a half, each direction, and found his trot to walk transition isn't the greatest. Ugh. If I sit deep, shift weight back, he drags his feet moving to walk. If I shift my weight forward a little and tip my pelvis behind me, he stops pretty quickly. Hmm.. I wonder where he learned that little habit, and how I might fix it.

So back to the walk we went, where I repeated walk/halt over and over and over, shifting my weight back, closing my knees, and then adding bit pressure. I decided to stop when I had about four in a row that were improved. Finished out the work with a little side to side flexion, and when I added pressure to both sides of the bit (closed both hands on the reins), he figeted a little before lowering his head, to which I immediately released all rein contact. It's not a miracle, but it's a start.

This means we're up to good solid walking work, and a little trotting under saddle again. It felt good. He isn't poking around like he was last year, so the longing work is helping. I do, however, need to set up some poles, cones, and solo rail razors around the arena, and begin work to improve his turns, moving him around things and over obstacles. It'll give us both something to think about, making the rides longer each time.

2/14/10 Romeo's Turn

Romeo and I had a little disagreement about a week ago, and my rear landed on the asphalt at the end of my dirt road. Hurt awful, but reminded me that, if I'm going to hop on him bareback, I better also work some of the edge off on a regular basis. Here's another effort at that.

Romeo and I got about 40 minutes of solid ride time in, at the arena. He's going to stick with his Western saddle for probably long-term, so I also stuffed the western bit in his mouth. He took it well, neck reined pretty solid. That needs more work - I'm in a (good) habit of leg-reining, which is great for a knowledgeable rider, but if I put a newbie up on his back, the neck reining has to be solid enough that he doesn't need leg cues to turn.

We worked out all three gaits, and only had one missed lead. He's getting a little better about keeping a light canter. Those down transitions out of it, UGH. Maybe that just comes with better muscle memory, but they're bone jarring, and awful uncomfortable. Really, his ups aren't much better. I just figure it's an "out of shape" situation.

He was easy enough to ride in all three, and easily settled into a pretty jog that'll be cute on the trails. I didn't spend any time on his brakes, because he was transitioning with just breath and a deep seat. No need to reinforce "whoa" every single ride. In fact, I was exhaling as I realized I was holding my breath, he broke to trot, and I had to reward him. My fault I was holding my breath, but funnier he was that in-tune to my exhale.

I took the lazy way out, and made him carry me back to the trailer, across the puddle-stricken pasture. He wasn't particulary happy about carrying his Momma through the deeper mud, but he didn't refuse. I rewarded by not forcing him through any cold puddles.

06/30 Ending June

Finished up the month in the hot, hot, sun, with Romeo.

Western saddle, french link bit. Ran through the basics - walk, trot, canter, a few turns, backing up straight. All good. I didn't push for much collection, because I know the Little Man is way out of shape, and hadn't been worked hard in quite a while.

We played for about 45 minutes, finishing up on WHOAs on verbal cue only from walk to halt.

I guess I should mention that, last week, Romeo got new feet (reset) on June 25th, and Ransom on June 28th. My regular farrier, Mr Dale, is having some medical stuff taken care of, and is out-of-service for a few more days. Jen and her DH came and finished up the work getting Ransom done on Sunday. Thank you!

06/29 Antici...

...pation! That was the name of the game in Monday's ride with Ransom. I saddled him up but lunged first (on the lunge line, in side reins on 8s). Nearly a half hour, and I kept telling him, "A little too much gas in the tank, my love.. a little too much gas", as he powered around me at a goofy trot & canter. Finally, he decided he was stretched out enough, and warmed up enough from his long weekend break.

I hopped on, and we worked on the key pieces of upcoming dressage tests.
* Circle 20m in the center with 2-5 steps of walk crossing the center line - Those went surprisingly well. He stayed mostly collected, and actually stepped under himself at the walks. Really cool!
* 2-loop serpentines - a bit to be done, as I wasn't looking ahead, and had to almost pull him out of the corners to keep the loops, um, loopy. :)
* Trots down the diagonals - very well, Very straight. Keep my eyes over & past the diagonal letter, and we'll stay straight
* Long free walk down diagonal - again, I need to keep eyes focused (not as good as the trot work)
* Long walk down two diagonals, for example M-X-F - very good. Shocked me how straight the lines were, and that he stayed long & low in the direction change.

Then we took a halt break at the mounting block. I had a quick drink, and we stood, still, dismounted. After a few minutes, I hopped back on.

Worked on a few trot to halt transitions (which were pretty), and a little bit of canter work. Admittedly, I'd left my helmet in the trailer, not planning to do more than trot. But my boy looked so darn good on the side reins, I wanted to see if he was riding that smoooooth. ooh ooh ooh! I love my new saddle. I actually felt my seat pushing him at a controlled stride heading both directions. Cantered circles, and one trip around the arena each direction.

Walked a bit, then halted, and dismounted, again. A few more minutes of "standing and thinking". By now, an hour had passed since we started, including warm up. This would begin the mental test of whether he would hold up and concentrate after an hour.

I got back on, and worked on walk to halt. A few were really nasty. I quickly shoved him into a big trot, let him try to tell me he wanted to walk, pushed him a tad further, and then asked for a halt. Trot to halt was gorgeous! Went back to walk, worked on walks to halt - not so bad now. Repeated trot to walk, and walk to halt, on the circle, both directions. Finished up with lots of long and low walk, a few halts on a sigh & "whoa" to keep his mind active through the cool down.

A much better ride than the lesson day. The plan of "Ride a little, and take a break" was great for me (!), and I think a good teaching tool for Ransom. Lather, Rinse, Repeat! Back to work on Wednesday.

I feel a goof-off day tonight with Romeo ahead.. Haven't played with the Little Man since before "vacation", so I'm looking forward to that.

5/21/09 Ransom

Worked with Ransom on all the same basics, with plenty of effort. I had my mp3 player going in my ears, and it turned out, for the first time, I needed music with more energy! See, for years, I've been leaning on New Age instrumental stuff like George Winston and Enya. I needed the slower music to calm my mind, and focus on my posting energy. Yeah, well, the slower the music got, the slower Ransom got. At one point, I took my earbuds out, and started to post freely with his motion, and he got bigger strided. How funny! So, I pulled out the Daughtry and Fiona Apple, and got back to my ride. His forward motion improved considerably.

We warmed up solid, then sprung into some canter sets. His left canter was a bit ugly, but nothing I can't stick with. Heading right, I didn't have heels-down in the transition, so I dropped my outside stirrup. Laughing, I let go of the left one, and kept cantering. We not only cantered two solid circles without, I made it almost the whole trip around the arena, before legging my inside leg drift loose, and he quickly broke to trot. LOL What a funny! I was giggling at the canter, heading around the arena in collection, without stirrups. I noticed without them going right, I had my upper leg solidly on my horse. Heading left, I wasn't able to capture quite the same feeling.

While I was cantering without stirrups, it wasn't but about three or four strides of trot before I started losing balance and had to retrieve them. Wonder what's going on there... Something to think about for the next ride.

Ransom and I worked for nearly an hour, focusing near the end on lots of transitions. Rather than stay on the circle, I travelled all the way around the arena on the rail. I mixed it up a lot, changing gait from walk & trot often, and in different places. We had some beautiful transitions, and some nasty ones. For the really pretty ones, I'd stay in trot only a short while before transition to walk, and if the down transition was good, too, I'd walk a few strides on collection, and let the reins out completely, with a solid "atta boy" and a pat.

About half way through the ride, we were both getting bored & distracted, so I changed it up a bit. Heading right at trot, heading towards the barn, once, I lifted to 2-point, and Ransom immediatley went back to being a hunter-horse. Cute! His trot stride lengthened, lengthened, and by the first short-side corner, he was nearly in a canter. So I squeezed him up into it, allowing him to canter the circle in 2-point, and it was pretty darn incredible! He wasn't collected by any stretch of imagination, and though not "dressage-beautiful", and quite fast-feeling, I still felt like I had control. It was pretty darn cool! I slid back to my seat, told him, "shhhh buddy..." sat like a rock, and he slid down to a trot, then down to a walk. Licking, chewing, and a big sigh, we rested with a long rein walk.

Finished up the ride with some solid stretching down trot from back in my days riding with Sam. Outside rein contact, inside pulse, and for every stretch down, release inside rein totally. Ransom picked up on the game quick, and we had some awesome long & low stretches to cool down our ride.

04/16/09 Ransom in the Rain

After what proved to be a trying day at work (One of those "Hey, she's off on Friday, and it's 3:00pm. Maybe we ought to ask for that safety review an hour before quitting time, just to see if she'll stay late." Suckers.. I left promptly at 4:00pm

Arrived home to what appeared to be a looming rain storm. Didn't change my mind one bit. I grabbed Ransom, saddled him up dressage + side reins, thinking I would lunge him, add the side reins, lunge some more, hop on & walk him out.

Yeah.. Angel-horse showed up in the arena again. I ended up after a 10 minute warm up, jumping on, and doing walk and trot (on the loose rein then on contact) all the way around the arena, both directions, circles, serpentines, figure 8s, diagonals down the long diagonal.. The works. No nerves, no jitters. Ransom took a long hard look at the neighbor's cows, but with irregular rain showers, and snarly wind bursts, he was "All business".

I tried working on "Air brakes" with him, again with no luck. Wonder if it's a "teach an old dog new tricks"issue.. not quite sure how to instill it in him, because I hate feeling like I'm hauling back on him to get him to stop.

A good 45 minutes of riding. Good for his mental health, and mine.

11/20/08 Chewie

I think the shoulder was a game to get out of work. Anyways, it was an unsuccessful effort with me. I did wrap his legs with polos before work, hoping any scuffle temper fit he'd throw in the round pen would be muted by the leg protection.

I didn't warm him up as fiercely as Les did, but eventually got him at the same high gallop. One thing Les wanted him to do was at "whoa", stop going at the rail, come to the pen center, and stop. I needed to remind Chewie of the game with a lunge line, but after a few minutes, he remembered. He went forward nicely, and on "whoa", came in, licking & chewing. One time he got out there really fast, tearing around the pen kicking up dust. I said, "Whoa!", stepped just in front of his shoulder, and he came in, breathing hard. I let him stand for a few minutes, rubbing him all over and told him what a good boy he was. After he caught his breath, we went back to it. The "whoa"s were easier after that. I took off the line, worked on it some more, and also worked on transitions up & down. Put his french link snaffle in, climbed on bareback, and worked on neck reining at the walk, and rode a while at trot on the rail. I was searching for the lameness Les described, but there was none to be found. I think he was messing with us...

One friend suggested saddle fit. I mentioned it to Les, and commented, "I didn't feel anything bareback, so that might've been it. You have other saddles.. Let's check those out, huh?" He agreed to try others.

Romeo has a busy weekend ahead. Let me dig up some hot coffee somewhere's... I'll find the Friday Fill Ins, get that accomplished. I've got a rant in my head I need to phish out, so ya'll will have to tolerate my temper tantrum. Sometimes society baffles me, and if I don't type it out, someone over the holiday season may hear my opinion too loudly.. that would be bad.

where's the coffee???????

10-17-08 weekend update

Thursday evening
Chewie, round pen. I asked for canter left, he went one circle, and tried to break gait to trot. I pushed him back into it... Got a little bucking fit, head tossing. I sat deep, and laughed at him, and figured he was just annoyed. Not a big deal. Sat deep enough to feel the back of the saddle holding me in.

Friday Friday
Romeo had three days off, and I got to feel what a WHEEE ride was like. He was a bullet at the canter. Galloping about, on the wrong lead. I tried fixing it, head to the outside, outside rein outside leg. He popped up in the air about two feet, landed on the correct left lead. Cantered around a while, and when I checked it again a bit later, it was wrong again. We worked for about 35 minutes, walk, trot, canter, both directions.
When I caught Chewie, I intended on a warm up in the round pen and a quick walk around the property, a few trot circles tossed in. He walked really great for quite a while. He spooked at a deer, which doesn't bother me. Used to, but it doesn't anymore. Spooking at the deer wasn't the issue - it was the bucking carp when I tried to pull his head around to one-rein stop. He hopped a couple times. I grabbed the saddle horn in one hand, reins & mane in the other. Pushed myself back down into the saddle, until he stopped. When he did, I thumped him on the neck with some force. "That didn't work, you little twit. Now, since you've got that much energy, you're going to work, and you're going to work hard. Time to use your brain instead of spooking." Right where he spooked, we worked on trot circles. He kept tripping, unhappy with the uneven footing of the pasture. I kept pushing him forward. If I had relaxed my heart rate to normal, I might've cantered him, but decided against it. I wasn't upset that he spooked,, I was completely ticked at the little "get offa me fit" he threw after the spook. Uncalled for, and won't be tolerated. Total work nearly 45 minutes. It was supposed to be a quite ride.

Saturday Saturday
I cleared the arena in the morning. Completely, totally. Fence line even cleared out. I got all of the weeds pulled, the arena flat mowed near to the ground. Complete satisfaction.
I decided Chewie had enough energy to fight with me, he was going to learn what real work used to be like. I took him to the round pen, let him free run a little bit, then tied on side reins, and put him to work. Walk, trot, canter, and I didn't let him stop until his head showed some relaxation, and he quit fighting the side reins. Watched him relax & loosen up, and I crawled on. I intended just to do long & low trot stretches. He didn't want to mind me, so I put him back at work. Hard work. Extended trot, coming & going at trot and at walk. A little canter left near the start of the ride, when I initially needed his mind off of being mad and on concentrating. He seemed to focus more after the little canter. Ended with long & low trot, turns on forehand & haunches. Worked him for an hour, and he needed it.
Les called, and invited Romeo and I on a ride near his place. Hooked up the trailer, and hauled him to Les' house. Saddled him there, warmed him up at Les' house. He had a nice big pasture to work at. Good footing in the grass. Neighbor's dogs were barking, and he wasn't impressed. One time, he seemed to almost shy at them. I told him as we cantered from them, "Buddy, next time you're not going to do that." I talked to him the entire next circle, and he did better. Les & I strolled out across the pastures, along the roadside a bit. A noisy diesel truck roared past us, and Romeo handled it great. Les' mare, Sugar, spooked at a few things, got bored & played with her bit, and Romeo wasn't bothered at all.

Sunday Sunday Sunday
Caught Chewie, and back to the round pen. I took Romeo's martingale with us, and it ended up being useful. More warm up in the side reins. He was really stiff to the left. When I got on to ride, I noticed the same. Did a little canter with me to try & loosen him, no success. He would trot "long & low", but when I'd gather any rein, he'd hollow out & pop his head up. To the right was beautiful - he was even bent in the circle, putting weight on the front right foot.
Romeo was, um, fun. Fast & fun. Put him in the arena, and discovered that I will have to keep him under control on the short sides. It's a bit narrow (which makes me wonder how am I going to get Chewie to stay under control. I did a canter circle in there once or twice on Chewie, with good results... Maybe Romeo's just not balanced enough for it yet.), and Romeo insisted on shortening the short side, cutting the initial corner. I left him go one time, and felt one of his feet slip a bit on the sand. Whoops! The next time in the same spot, he didn't try to cut the corner. Worked on canter left, canter right (same balance issues. He just felt fast...), and introduced roll backs at the walk. He started to anticipate, backing up a few steps straight, then starting to move his tush to the side. So I did a handful of straight backups, and stopped, then walked on forward rather than rollback. Total work about an hour. Need to do more canter work tonight... Maybe in the arena, maybe in his pasture.. But we need more canter work. Get the fast canters out, and get him into a slower lope I can work with...

Busy weekend, productive weekend. Much of it to myself, with the horses, uninterrupted & unbothered. Need those every so often ...

10/13/08 Quick Rides for Both

I had company coming over for supper, and wanted to show the progress I've made with both horses. So right after work, I hurried to water the dogs, change shoes, and scrambled to the back yard.

Caught Romeo, saddled him up with the old western saddle. Tied him in his stall.

Caught Chewie, saddled him in the new Dakota Barrel, and scrambled to the round pen. He warmed up beautifully, with a little more effort on his own to carry his head on the inside canter-right. I crawled on, walk, trot, canter-left, about 20 more minutes. Friend pulled in the driveway, walking towards the round pen, I thought, "This'll stir him up...", and I asked Chewie to canter left. Stirrups flapping in the breeze, he picked up the wrong lead. I slowed him back to trot, and asked again, head leaning inside. He picked up the left lead, and was going going going! I didn't feel like I was bouncing too much in the saddle, so after about three circles, I "shhh"ed him to a trot, sat the trot for a few circles, and walked him out. Friend said, "Who is that lady in the saddle on that big fast horse?! That's not the lady I saw riding a few months ago!" I laughed... "I have a focus now, and it's on something other than being scared. We're all doing a little better."

Cooled Chewie down, unsaddled, hosed the mountain of frothy sweat off of him (it wasn't terribly warm, but he's terribly out of shape, I suppose), and asked Friend to hand-graze him just outside of Romeo's pasture until he dried.

Grabbed Romeo, put his martingale & bit on, and off we went into his pasture. Walk, trot, figure eights, circles, whoa's. Did a little backing up, he threw his head a bunch, so I trotted some more circles, figure eights, and the sort. Asked for a back up again, and he complied. I figured, "He's warmed up enough. Let's show Friend how hard I've been working, and how smart Romeo's gotten."
Asked for canter, purposely on the straightaway, head tilted a tad outside. I wasn't going to chance the wrong lead (again). Romeo has to have head tilted out for the correct lead, Chewie tilted inside. He picked up the left lead, and we loped and loped and loped. Romeo had about the same gas pedal rate as Chewie. I laughed, and got his attention with a light bit-check. He eased up a bit, and we did some huge circles in his pasture. Biggest ones I've done in that pasture yet. I saw Friend watching dead-stare. When I could tell he was actually paying attention, and Romeo had calmed to a nice lope, I reached for his neck, and said, "whoa". Romeo stopped on his rear end. I rubbed him "good boy", and walked him back to the trailer.
"Well, what did you think?"
Friend, again, says, "I don't know who that lady is up in that saddle, but the horse looks amazing. What a great ride. You've got both of the horses where you want them. It looks fantastic!"
Romeo's total work was about 15 minutes. He's gone over & above for me Saturday & Sunday, so I walked him to the trailer, got off & unsaddled. Hosed him off, as well. Put him in the stall still wet, and he didn't disappoint - rolled about six times, all the way over. Good Boy!

Both horses will get today & tomorrow off. Weathermen say 40% chance of rain today, 60% chance tomorrow. 40% again Thursday. We'll see... I won't hold my breath.

Chewie Back to Work

Sweat is what Mr Don said he needed. And Sweat is what he got. I caught Chewie on Saturday (09/06), tacked him up western saddle, english bridle, and we set in the round pen. I warmed him up with walk, a little trot, and a lot of canter. Trot builds muscle, but I wanted him thinking, "I am going to canter with Mom today", so I got all of the chance of canter-buck of out him before getting on. He threw a little mini fit here and there, and had his head out to the right. I figured that was still a little pain and decided that canter-right lead might not be in the cards under saddle just yet.

When I climbed on, we worked on trot right, with great results. Without a side-rein warmup, he was a bit stiff, but quickly loosened up and relaxed his head & poll. I had his mouth, and his attention, but the reins were still on gentle contact. A nice forward trot, good up & down transitions. I focused on "3s".

Reversed to left. Trot 3, walk 2, trot 3, walk 2. I figured if I was going to canter, this was my chance. Trot 1, canter 1.5. I felt like I had lost a little balance in the canter, so I told him, "Sh", just a little bit, hoping he'd just ease up a bit. Nah. He transitioned down immediately into trot, and softened his face. I laughed, realized he gave me what I wanted from "SH", and if I want an easier canter, I'm going to have to find another way to get it. I can't verbally ask for it anymore.. *giggle* Smart little man.

A little more trot left, and back to the right. Focused the last right and left set on "stretching down" trots. He lifted his back and stretched down a few times, so I walked him out. Total work, nearly an hour. He was very cooperative for a horse that hadn't been cantered under saddle in over three months. I was satisfied he was ready to get back in the game.

Sunday, I warmed him up a bit, saw I had his attention, and his brakes. I walked one circle in the round pen, opened the gate from his back, and walked around the pasture. The wind was fierce, and his ears were everywhere. His head was up a bit, so I had just a bit of contact, just enuf that if I had needed it, I could stop him. Walked around for about 15 minutes, and I hopped off. I wanted to "test drive" my new confidence on him, and I think the best way to measure the level of trust in our relationship is trail riding. Anytime we've had success in an enclosed space, it seems to blow apart in the pasture. Since I'm working on his fitness, I figured it's a good time to work on my confidence.

I'm learning that all my horses are waiting on is for me to trust them, and relax. Both are bright enough (now) that they know what's expected, and they know how to stop if I need it. The only thing holding us back, is me, and my fear. I've come a long way, and there's still more to accomplish.

Adult Rider Confessions

I'm gonna set up a Question & Answer for ya'll readers... I'll even answer them myself to get the conversation going...

1. How many horses own you? Two, Chewie & Romeo
2. What is their current purpose? Chewie, healing lawn ornament; Romeo, trail buddy in training
3. What currently is your favorite thing to do with them? Chewie, walk bareback; Romeo, trot over crossrails
4. What is the best thing your horses do? Chewie - Air Brakes; Romeo - Whoa with reins & hand on his neck
5. Is there anything you really want for their ultimate purpose beyodn what they are currently doing? Chewie, Low-Level dressage, and ultimately, 2'3"-3' hunter eq over fences; Romeo, low-level open show english eq, and western pleasure eq
6. What prevents you from doing what you want to with them? Hooves, and riding ability
7. If there's something that's not being done, is it you, or the horse? Me
8. What's wrong with the party in #6? Big, Giant Chicken
9. Can you change anything to get either party better? More horse training; More rider confidence

There now... that was soothing. I just admitted to every one of you I'm scared to death of canter. Terrified. I've got "splat" too many times in that gait, and I'm 110% determined to get over it. I'm hoping Romeo will come back to me with such an easy neck-reining lope that I can get him out in an open field, squeeze him off, and he'll calmly lope about, hop over a downed tree log, and easily lope me on home. Chewie's got that easy canter.. He just needs healthy hooves, and a rider with a bit more confidence.

What Time is It?

When I got home last night, I noticed the clocks were all blinking... Power must've gone out while I was at work. There was a band of thunderstorms that rushed through the county, I figured I got more storm than I thought the radar showed. I reset the clocks all around, and went on with my evening.

In the middle of the evening at home, saddled Chewie dressage, sacked out in the round pen. A little canter left revealed that my western saddle holds me in better than I thought, and though it might not fit him 100% great, I might need to keep working on canter in it until I can sit my toosh easy in the dressage saddle. Total work near 45 minutes, good side rein warmup with plenty of slobbery flexion. His trot was phenominal - huge tiggery-trot. Transitions weren't as great up & down for walk. In his cool-down stretch-out trot, I was amazingly impressed how he immediately knew it was time to relax his trot, and stretch out. I don't know that I did much different, except that I wasn't quite as assertive mentally. It was neat that he knew when it was working-trot time, and when it was stretchie-trot time. Deer in the pasture, random wind bursts, but he did good throughout.

Went to bed like any other night peacefully. Woke up to the alarm music blaring, put on my bluejeans, put water in the coffee pot & hit start, went to the door, leashed MacKenzie, walked both dogs to potty #1, came back in the house. Turned the warm water on to wash my face, and decided to check my cell phone for any missed calls or messages. Hit a button on my phone... 12:10am.. What the? Looked at my alarm clock to confirm, it also said 12:10am. Hmm.. very bizarre. Then the lightbulb in my brain went off... When I reset the clocks, I forgot to reset the alarm time, so it defaulted to 12:00am, and like a soldier, I woke up & went on with the alarm noise. Took jeans off, shut off coffee pot & water faucet, turned all the lights back out, called the dogs, and went back to bed.

When the alarm went off again on time at 4:30am, I went potty, came back to fetch dogs for another brief walk out, and Kenzie looked at me, still in the bed, and I swear I heard, "Mom, seriously.. We don't need to go out every four hours. Just come back to bed." giggle Good puppies.. now c'mon. I need to get ready & get to work, this time, for real, seriously...

I think I heard dogs & cats giggling when I left for work...

7/15 Lesson

Chewie warmup in side reins in the arena, pulled the lunge line from my hands four times, kicking out, bucking, rearing up, being a complete dork. After multiple circles at canter, he lost his will to fight. I think he was upset that the neighbor's cows, and a few deer were free whiel he had to work, because when he did "lookie see spooks", I pushed him forward.

Cooperated like a saint for a run through of all four dressage tests for Sunday's show. We won't be perfect, but improving over the last time I did a test, and much improved mentally between the two of us over the past seven months. For the first time last night, on the rail, headed "towards the barn", he didn't try to bolt, didn't throw his head up, and I didn't have to "force him easy" with my seat. He was amply rewarded with pats & praise, and had four more opportunities and didn't try it. His up transitions "at the letter" are improving, while his air-brakes are so solid in the down transitions, I will need to ask last minute for the trot-to-walk "at the letter".

On to a more humorous topic...

Okay.... It might be an inappropriate question, but I've always wondered...

Do you keep your home bathroom cleaner than the public restrooms? Who is it that leaves scraps of TP on the floor in the public restrooms? Do they do the same thing at home? And who tosses their hand paper towels near the trash can, but not in it? If they did that at home, wouldn't wife or Mom be hollering?

Have you ever wondered, "Who made this mess!?!" when you were visiting the public restroom? When that's my first thought, the second is always, "I wonder if they'd get away with this at home?"

If you're the one leaving a mess, clean it up, please! :) All meant in humor, but still worth discussion...

6/29 Lesson

Chewie, Western, hour's work. He warmed up great, and I could just about tell it was going to be a purdy neat day.

Robin arrived, I climbed on, and quickly demonstrated all of our hard efforts. Two canters right, two canters left, one horrid cross-fire canter headed left. On the cross-fire, the front legs were on the right lead, back legs on left. It felt horrid, but familiar enough to make me believe he's done that before. Strange... A little break to get his mind back on the game, and he responded with a beautiful left-lead canter.

I am supposed to work on "sliding my hips" at canter. It's a very strange thought, because I can't remember ever seeing a rider "sliding in the saddle" in the canter. They move with the horse, but not move around in the saddle. Must pay closer attention next time I go anywhere... very unfamiliar idea.

After about 45 minutes of me & Chewie work, I walked him into Robin, and said, "Get your helmet." As she mounted, I reminded her, "You've seen how quiet he can be, on a *loose* rein. Don't pull up or back in the transition, and he'll stay quiet." As she asked for a trot, he started to pull his head down & in, almost asking, "Alright, lady. Last time, you tried to pull my teeth out. You gonna let me have some rein today, or am I going to have to pull them from you?" She did a little trot, a little canter both ways. His first canter left, looked good. Robin stayed in the middle of him, and kept the reins loose. She took up a little inside rein, Chewie lost his balance, stumbled a little, and went right to trot, then straight to walk. She caught her breath, admitted she pulled up on the rein, and they reversed. First canter right, she asked a little strong, and he gave about five strides before she got nervous. I told him, "Chewie, sshhhhh", and he gave a beautiful down transition to trot. They talked to each other about it, and she asked for a second canter right. Chewie responded well. I noticed a lot more of Robin's upper body moving forwards & backwards during his canter. After she finished her ride, we discussed. She is finally, the first person, ever, to recognize that Chewie's left & right canter are completely different, much like riding two completely different horses. To the left, he's uphill, balanced, and coordinated all on his own. To the right, he's downhill, pushing from the rear-end, and not as balanced. Riding to the left, it's pretty easy to "keep him together", move with him, push with my seat, and even add a little rein contact. To the right, it's going to be more of a battle to keep me balanced, let myself move with him, not ask for rein contact yet, let him continue to learn how to balance, and hope he'll become more uphill. It's worth nothing, that, both of us believe, within a few years' time, after he gets more balanced & put together at canter, it won't be much effort to get him in a neck-reined, long & low, WP lope. He's almost downhill enough now, with canter-right, his head almost never comes up above the saddle, and to the left, it's only a bit elevated. He's just about doing the work on his own now. It won't take much.

So my boy is gaining coordination, and confidence. He's less worried about keeping me safe, and staying in the gait, and concentrating a bit more about staying moving. He's enjoying his jobs, as every day, he's at least taking a few steps towards me when I'm catching. I am happy, he's happy, and we're enjoying our time riding. There's a switch! Usually by now in the summer, it's a game to catch him, and any time he would canter, I could count on at least one paniced attack each week. Confidence.. the new word of July.

Planning another schooling show practice session, but this time with Chewie. Either July 27th hunters like Romeo did, or July 20th Dressage Intro & GAG. Same location, but different horse. I can only imagine the looks I'll get when I dismount the trailer, Chewie in-hand. Puny pony Romeo got all the looks, plenty of, "She's gonna do *what* with that little Quarter Horse? She's NUTS!", and a little, "Wow, he's pretty colored.. whattdoyou call that color??" I can just guess the comments of a 16.2H, full-muscled, stocky, calm, so-laid-back, can't-believe-he-used-to-race" TB. Bring it on, Chewie.. Bring it on.

Is it Friday Yet?

It's been a stressful week, full of work stress, personal stress... even a little equine stress, which is rare for me.

Monday, I celebrated my birthday by tacking Chewie up hunter. I had full intentions on trot poles in the arena... He lunged in the side reins like a babydoll, and I lost track of time. Lunged him for nearly a half hour. I felt bad. That adorable horse worked on Sunday in the lesson for nearly two hours, and I didn't have the heart to do it again. So I climbed on, and we worked on coming & going at the walk. Set up four ground poles on a 20m circle (on a clock, at 3,6,9,12), walked over them. He was lazy on contact, on a loose rein, and stayed focused on me, despite nature boogeying all around him. I was satisfied. I had a "relationship day" with Chewie. One where we didn't "work", per se, but just enjoyed our parternship.

Tuesday, I rode Romeo, Western, in the yard. Thinking back, it's super funny. A neighbor lady was doing her little exercise walk. Romeo didn't see her as quick as I did. Her figure moving down the road, well, scared him. He spooked at the trot, shot about 3ft away from her, eyes wide, ears pinned on her. Poor guy doesn't see many people that shape & size.. It was funny. We worked on walk, jog, and a little trot, all sitting, all relaxed. Well, except for his uber-spook. Those walking women sure are scary.

After that, caught Chewie, free lunge in halter in the round pen. Fifteen minutes later, he was totally focused on me, even just in a halter. So I got brave. I tied the lead rope to the halter sides to pretend they were real reins, and hopped on. (bareback, no helmet, as I thought to myself, "you're gonna get squashed!") Chewie and I worked on walk, air brakes, a bit of neck reining with a little leg pressure. I finished up his brief work by scratching anywhere I could reach while still up on him. Trying to teach him my moving around him isn't always bad, and he doesn't always have to catch me. :) He was more than compliant, and followed me (no halter) up to the trailer to fetch his reward-cookies for a job well done.

Wednesday, a friend came to the house for a little riding. He's got a roping mare that, well, is hot. There's no other way to describe her. He rode at a wild canter around my arena, I worked on Romeo, Western, walk, jog, and just aimed for relaxed focus. We did a little leg yield walk & trot. My friend decided it was high time for a trail walk around the pasture. I spooked. Romeo got tense. I decided it wasn't worth it, sent friend walking with his mare solo. I walked out of the arena, towards the barn, still on Romeo, and met them mid way in the pasture. While he untacked, I did a little work in the yard again. Romeo was good, until I got upset, then it took a bit to calm him down. Sometimes, I get so many different "Training tips" that it's hard to focus on developing Romeo... need to work on that.

Tonight, Western, Round Pen, Chewie, canter. I'm not feeling 100%, but perhaps after I get home from work, relax, and un-stress, I'll be feeling good enough to ride. I miss my Chubacca.... And besides, I have to have something to show Robin in Saturday's lesson.

*cheer hurray hurray!!!* Comments!! I'm being watched! Somebody other than me and a few close friends are actually reading all this gibberish. :) Hoooo-ray! Hi there strangers! Make yourself at home...

Train the Trainer

06/13, Robin came over, and we caught Chewie, tacked him up Hunter, and headed to the round pen. Worked him through a halter-round pen warmup, and a little warm-up on the bit & side reins. He was his normal self, a little spunky, then relaxed & cooperative.

Robin climbed aboard. She got great trot both directions, and had one decent canter-left. Her second canter-left, Robin lifted her hands about 6" up in the transition, grabbing his mouth. Chewie dropped his head a bit in the transition. She panicked, and pulled back on the reins. Chewie, trying to get the bit relaxed, pulled forward again. One thing led to another, and he did a little bucking. Each time he pulled the bit forward, Robin pulled back & up. I had been sitting on a bucket in the middle of the pen, and I stood up, and said to her, "Just Breathe." Her response was a stressed, "I'm trying." I replied, "Chewie, shhhh", and he came up to me, relaxing, and halted. As soon as the reins went loose, and she quit putting leg on him, he relaxed.

Robin settled after a while, as did Chewie, and they completed their ride with plenty of walk, working trot, and Western jog. She never went "to the buckle", and Chewie never gave her his A-game after that. Both were untrusting of the other. I could see it in her, waiting on each stride for Chewie to buck, Chewie's eyes at each step saying to me, "I hope she doesn't pull on my mouth again, that hurt."

I got on him, did a little bit of work at a working trot, light bit contact, and, after a bit of fuss, Chewie relaxed & gave to rein contact. I rewarded him with plenty of long & low trot and jog. At the end, I asked for a WP jog, on the buckle. He responded with a tiny relaxed jog, reaching for bit contact. He absolutely appreciated the break, and I know he was satisfied to have all the rein he wanted.

We talked about it for the longest time, and there was closure & conclusion that Chewie needs a brief relax on the bit at the canter transition. If he's got tight rein contact the whole ride, he's just going to be bitter. More confirmation for me he's not ready for dressage competition (beyond Training Level), and if he does reach "ready", he won't enjoy it much. The last time I rode Chewie for more than a day on hard contact, he started getting bitter, grouchy, hard to catch, and impossible to work with. As soon as I learned light contact, we became a team.

Learning more about my well-trained horse... and learning things to apply to Romeo so he doesn't get more sour, or grouchy about contact.

Brief Recapture of a Week, and 6/15 Lesson

Week of June 9, we worked on a bit of canter, both directions, and some coming & going trot. Chewie was always agreeable, and, though one day, a bit "lookie see", due to a thunderstorm waking up the neighborhood (but refusing to bring rain to my house), he never spooked with me aboard.

Romeo, a whole nother story. That boy .... GRR is the only way to describe it. My plans for Romeo right now include not putting him anywhere near the hunter saddle, tacking up Western, Tom Thumb bit, and walking about the neighborhood. He's okay at the walk, okay at trot on the flat, even agreeable to lateral work at walk & trot. But set a trot rail or a series of ground poles in front of him, and it's off to the races. Calm to the poles, but speed demon during & from. There seems to be nothing I can do to slow him down. My only last option is to wrangle out my Kimberwick, and force that boy to slow it down. Pull a little Downunder Horsemanship on him, let him commit to the mistake of chasing, then shut 'im down right after the poles. There is absolutely no reason he should chase during & from poles, yet he's doing it. Sour on the work is all I can guess.

Chewie's lesson Sunday was, well, magical. Tacked up Western (reason following in another humorous posting), Tom Thumb bit (chain as loose as it'd go & still have effect if absolutely needed). We accomplished all of the lesson on a loose rein, which was good for Robin to see, and easy for me, since I didn't need to focus on his "face". Chewie, at one point in the working trot, had his little head & neck nice and low, and I couldn't help but giggle at him. He was so absolutely pleased with himself. We also accomplished a new high, six canter transitions. Three left, three right. The left canters were a bit longer, but one right canter was nearly 3/4 a round pen circle - another new high. I was secure in the saddle, and actually able to improve some posture & balance. So many lessons in canter have been, "Well, okay, now that it's over, let's talk about it and try again." In this lesson, there were cues during the canter... "sink into your heels", "shoulders up", "look ahead", "slide your bottom with his movement". Neat to be in the gait long enough to work on it. I wasn't having to kiss or push with my legs to keep him cantering, either. I guess my seat was secure enough, he didn't think he had to break gait to hold onto me. One time, I stopped moving with him, for a split second, just long enough to think about what I needed to change in my middle to move more with him, and he broke to trot. It was almost like he thought, "oops, Momma changed. I better slow down & get back with her, do what she wants and make her happy." All other down transitions, on a loose rein, all with breath. Just fantastic. No yanking on the reins, no hollering "Shhhh" or "Whoa", or "oh my gosh he's gonna kill me." Just pleasurable. It was a day of "pat Chewie on the neck & tell him good boy, then pat myself on the back, and tell me job well done." Total lesson time, including his 20 minute warm up, one hour, 45 minutes. Whatta lotta work for a big horse. :)

Plans for the week include more canter western round pen, loose rein, and focus on all but hands & contact, and trot in the arena hunter over poles.