04/23/10 Both Again

Ransom and I muddled around through some hunter flat work. I was trying to settle into straight back & shoulders while maintaining the "in control" feeling in the saddle. I had a few incidents of feeling like I'd fall forward and splat. At the walk, I did a few go's of "airplane arms", and felt pretty secure. I didn't make any attempts at this at trot or canter. I also stayed pretty much out of two-point, hoping the Saturday lesson would resolve any imbalance issues.


Romeo, R, and I headed to the arena. Mo had one thing on his cute little mind when I jumped in the saddle - RUN! And we did. That little fart can FLY when he is encouraged. The new large arena is just right to get a long gallop going down the long sides, and still stay decent on the wider short sides. R was scouring the arena for wire, glass, and other assorted "arena digging prizes", and we met up again at the mounting block.

I let Romeo catch his breath, because while he is out of shape, his recovery after a run like that is amazing. Two minutes or less, and he's right back to normal, standing there calm and quiet. I hopped down to grab a drink, and said to R, "So, wanna take him for a spin? Let him run like a madman with you?!" He actually took me up on the offer, and swung up in the saddle.

And Romeo 100% switched gears. He became the perfect prince, walking, and at any shift in body weight, or balance change, he'd slam on the brakes. R gave him a few hard leg nudges to get him walking, and I had to caution him, "Watch how much leg you use, or he will take you seriously." I only made one habit change in the saddle - Hold the reins, don't just carry them. He had his thumb & fingers barely holding, and all the other fingers all sprawled out like he was holding a china tea cup. "Hold the reins tight, so he doesn't pull them out of your hand." I also taught him that "Whoa" means stop now, and showed him where the "Emergency Brake" is. (That's something I ought to get video of, because it's pretty frigging cool. If you reach forward and rest your hand on his mane just in front of the saddle pad, and tell him, "Whoa", he'll stop - no bit pressure required. At the faster gaits he'll break gait but not necessarily stop. At the walk, it's automatic.)

Including his walking & babysitting, Romeo had about an hour of work. I rode him for about 25 minutes, and R for another 25. He was happy as a drunk punch bowl when we got done, licking & chewing in satisfaction. "How'd I do, Mom? How'd I do?"

04/22/10 Shut Up & Ride

I was tired. I had a long day, got out of work late, getting home seemed to take longer than normal. I got in the door, and muttered a host of excuses for only lunging all the way to bareback hacking, and general equestrian goofing off.

I gathered my riding pants, changed, found Ransom, got him saddled, and got to business. He warmed up free lunge really pretty - taking himself on quite the crazy gallop, ears up, stretching out. He was super happy to be out, moving free, and off that pesky lunge line. It was fun to watch.

I know I'm not going to make any new progress, or reach any show goals if I don't get my bum up there, and darnit he's too fancy & too good to stand in the pasture & be a trail ornament. So I hopped on. I put my practice gloves on, but realized they've reached their final wash of usefulness - they're stiff, uncomfortable, and feel waaay too thick to feel reins in my fingers. So I stripped those off, and got back to it.

Ransom was stiff & a little fussy, but it was to be expected - He really didn't want to collect, since he's had some time off for arena work & his little leg booboo. I got some nice collected work out of him, but it was short-lived, before he started leaning on his front end and trying to pull me down with him. Down the long sides he would extend, but not rush. THAT was a cool feeling.

I got about 45 minutes total on him, then kept my other commitment - Romeo.

Romeo and I ran, for about 45 minutes. Some of that was nice jog work, some of it collected walk, some a little easy canter, but he sure wanted to run. Mo realized how much bigger his new arena is, and wanted to show me that, given a little nudge of my legs and body posture forward, he can still run fast. What impressed me more, was after each set of canter/gallop craziness, it would only take two to three minutes for him to catch his breath and pick his head up ears forward. I was happy he's getting back in shape.

I'm looking forward to more rides this weekend. Jen and I are coordinating schedules for a little time "airplane arms" on the lunge line. I'm also looking forward to setting some cavaletti back up in the arena, and remind myself I am not a terrible rider, and it's got to look bad before it'll look better, way before it'll look awesome.

3/22/10 True Hunters

Ransom was up & nearly dressed when I got home from work. Thank you, R!

I got my clothes changed, polo legs wrapped, and to the arena we go! Warmed him up on a free lunge a little bit, but it took quite a bit of pushing to keep him moving. He's been working pretty steadily for the last two weeks, so I kept that short.

Hopped aboard, and had some FUN! I let him move out out OUT in the trot. Big and forward, just accepting contact. A nice full working trot. His ears were flat out all over the place, and I felt springie bouncy in his strides. The canter was AWESOME! I rode it sitting just a bit, then reached up into two point. I loosened the reins, and whooped & hollered a bit. Wheee! Here he goes! Come on Ransom, stretch out those legs! You're a big horse, get there! His stride was humongous, and felt incredible. That's how he's supposed to feel, and it felt good!

With two cross rails set up, I rode both "facing towards home." Enter at trot, JUMP, depart at canter. Wheeeee! Awesome still. He wasn't over-jumping, and reached out a bit early a few times. I was settled into a full release quite a ways before the fence, just kind of letting him pick his spot in front of the fence. Heading out left over the fence, I started counting strides. With the crossrail set up about half way down the arena, there were six full strides before we had to turn down the short side. That ought to be more than enough for now.

I'm working up the courage to try a canter-to. I don't know when it'll happen. Most of my amazing, "Hey let's try this" stuff has happened lately when I'm alone, and nobody's watching. I have a feeling it's coming very soon. I think I know what my hang-up is about it - I'm concerned he'll take off really early, and I won't be ready. I'm worried I'll whack him in the mouth, and he'll really get ticked off, land, and toss a fit. (Something he's NEVER done)

Speaking of mouths.. I rode the show in the twisted wire O ring. Last night, I got the French Link O ring back out. Happy mouthed pony! Green cookie spit all over. R commented "When you got him going, the spit was dripping out of his mouth after just a little while." Neat O! Happy Pony Ransom!

Tonight, we dressage! Next show in the calendar in my mind is Sienna April 10 & 11. Two day dressage show. Day 1, the 10th, is a judge I rode for last year, that had plenty of compliments for us as a pair. I'd love to see some improved scores from her.

And that reminds me.. Sienna also has Prix Caprilli tests... jumping in dressage... hmm.. Must peek at test patterns... hmmmmm.....

It's Finally Friday

Chewie had a "buck & run" night last night. I intended on a light trail walk, while waiting for the A/C repair guy to come. He instead spooked & shot forward a few times. So, I figured if he had enough energy to keep doing the wrong thing, he could find the energy to do the right thing. He lunged himself in the round pen for nearly 20 minutes, refusing to calm down or do more than gallop & kick out. Leaving him stand still would have only made it worse, so I sat on the mounting block & waited until he was done. Worked on a little trot, and plenty of downward transitions, all the way to halt. He found his calm side, and his brakes, and we called it a night. Total work, 55 minutes.

Today, at work, is a celebration afternoon. I am finally Six Sigma Green Belt Project Leader certified. It was nearly a year in the works, with what should have been an easy project and turned out not to be so simple. I received my certification email today, paperwork to follow. I knew the project was done, but seeing it in print put sprinkles on top of the icing on top of the cake. A large milestone accomplished.