Hold Your Line!!!

It was a stunning day out on the farm today! So warm and sunny! I arrived at the barn early to help the farrier and left when the sun went down. It's amazing how much more energy I have on a sunny, warm day. I was very sad when the sun went down because I felt supercharged and ready to ride every horse on the property.

The weather was so nice and the ground wasn't too muddy so Hero got to come to work with me today. Poor boy has been couped up in the house most of the winter. He was so happy to be at the barn. And he had some unexpected friends to play with! The farrier's dog and Teeni's dog kept him very entertained most of the morning.

He helped me work some ponies and teach some lessons too...so he will sleep very well tonight!

First up today I had a lesson with Allie on Belle. As always I tortured...I mean...CHALLENGED...poor Allie :) I can't help it, she's so determined! We worked an exercise with three verticals set up at one stride distances, but they are skewed so the first vertical and last vertical are set up further to the right. So if you were to jump all three in a line, you end up jumping the left half of jump one and three and the right half of jump two. It's an exercise that teaches you to concentrate and hold that line, make sure you are straight on the approach and straight in your body the entire way through. It also exposes if you ride crookedly! Allie handled it extremely well with her usual try, try again additude (which is why I like teaching her so much!)

I so wish I had some younger students watching her lesson today, she sets such a great example. While she will admit to some of her own confidence issues at times, she is working HARD to overcome them. Today, we came off our exercise and *someone* didn't sit up fast enough to steer Belle efficiently, they cantered up to a pile of poles and gates stacked on the ground, and we ended up with a wreck. Allie at first started to blame Belle, looked at me, then said "I'm probably just blaming her even though it was all my fault"...I just smiled and nodded, we talked about what went wrong, and she hopped right back on. Not only that, but when I said I'd be nice and move the pile of poles so it didn't happen again, she told me NO. She wanted to have good reason to nail that turn the next time through. She knew she could do it, she just didn't think straight the last time through. The next time through she sat up after the last fence and turned Belle with plenty of room to spare. And at the end of the ride she still gave Belle a good pat and reflected that the fall was her own fault and it would only motivate her to try harder. Awesome. So amazingly awesome. Now THAT is an equestrian.

I rode Bear and Greyson again. I'm really trying to get the miles on these ponies that they need so they can either phase into lessons or sell to homes that will absolutely adore them.

Bear rocked again. Just plain rocked. We cantered around the ring again and had no problems keeping a polite pace on a long rein. I threw in a few jumps to reinforce the idea that they are really no big deal. I still feel like he has a touchy gas pedal, but it's getting easier and easier for me to keep him calm and cool with each ride. We didn't spend much time in the ring, just a quick reinforcing ride, then we hacked out to the track with Hero for some walking and trotting. Bear kept trying to drift toward Hero, and now and then actually tried to make a dive for him...it was pretty funny.

Greyson gave me a good effort as usual. We could get a few more steps of a calmer, more balanced canter today than yesterday. He's finally starting to get the idea that if he stretches out his head and neck, he can balance a lot easier than when it is straight in the air and locked tight. It's just a challenge to stay perfectly balanced and calm while he's whizzing about trying to find his balance and figure out what I want. But like I said, once he stretched out, we managed to get a few more good steps today, which is progress. I'm not happy with the bit I have on him, I think I want to switch. He's currently in a thinner, french link baucher. I'd really like him in a loose ring. He keeps his mouth very dry and locked and it doesn't help matters. I feel like if I had a little more wiggle in the bit he might play with it a little more and loose up his jaw for me. I gave my last good pony sized loose ring to Bear though! I'll have to do some digging to see what I can come up with.

I spent half an hour trying to get Greyson clean for my ride. He's always plastered in mud. When I turned him out after my ride, he promptly showed me how much he appreciated my grooming efforts.

Hero watched on as the naughty pony caked himself in fresh mud.



After Greyson, I had lessons with Alissa, Stephie and Emily. Alissa and Stephie are my two newest dressage converts, and both voluntarily made the switch (well, Alissa still would like to jump, but Stephie wants to be a dressage queen!) Hearing the words "I want to learn dressage" out of ANYONES mouth is awesome, but when it comes out of the mouth of such young girls, now that is just a miracle.

Clem is doing just fine learning a few of the dressage basics but poor little Nikki wants nothing to do with it. Stephie is helping me train Nikki to work for her for some basic dressage work. Nikki has been very sluggish off the leg and fussy when Stephie works with more contact and insists that Nikki shouldn't cut corners and should bend a little...I'm trying to come up with some things we can do to help Nikki learn to  work for us without getting too demanding of my best little lesson pony. The two things we really need Nikki to learn to accept are 1) contact and 2) moving off the leg. Today we made a little more progress and Stephie is getting to learn some of the basics of how to train a dressage pony. First we changed out her normal dee ring stainless steel snaffle for Bear's loose ring french link sweet iron snaffle with hopes that perhaps the sweetness of the iron combined with the wigglier bit type would help get Nikki's mouth moving a little so she doesn't just get locked and stuck. I'm also hoping that maybe Nikki will start to relate the different bit to working with Stephie on dressage work as opposed to teaching a little kid how to post their trot. The bit obviously didn't perform any miracles, but she didn't try to yank as much as she usually does and she would occasionly move her jaw around so it might help in the long run. Then we worked on getting Nikki to respect Stephie's leg aids. Since Nikki has learned to ignore a crop, I thought it was time to help out from the ground. Stephie worked Nikki in a circle around me at the trot, keeping a nice steady contact with her reins. Stephie asked Nikki to move into a more forward trot with her leg, and when Nikki ignored it as usual, I backed it up with a thwak from my whip. Nikki finally woke up for us! She jolted forward a bit too much but Stephie stayed cool and calm and waited for Nikki to simmer down into her nice trot. Nikki definitely seemed to listen much better to Stephie's leg for the rest of the lesson. And Stephie got the chance to learn how horses learn...if they ignore your aids you have to back it up with SOMETHING, or else they will just learn to tune you out. And when you do get your point across...back off. Praise like heck. The goal is to get them to realize that if they just listen to the aid in the first place, you never have to reach for the back up. Sometimes they might over react to the correction, but you just have to stay with the horse, and work with them to help them find the happy medium between too much and too little. It's all about repitition and consistant expectations. Nikkie may never be desitined to be the ultimate dressage pony, but she can learn to help Stephie learn the basics.

I went to ride Moose afterward. She's getting cranky and fussy. I think she is just so terribly bored. Bored with winter, bored with the indoor, bored with going out alone, bored with dressage work. Which stinks because as she is getting bored with dressage work, I am getting more and more excited about it.

She was pretty good, but she really fussed in the contact again. Too soft, too strong, above the bit, behind the bit. At least without the drop she doesn't have full out panic or frustrated moments. Now it's definitely just fussy boredom. I have to occasionally just tell her to KNOCK IT THE HECK OFF STOP BEING FUSSY and give her a good clear GET OFF MY REIN AND ACT RIGHT and she groans or sighs and starts working well again. Oh what a mare. She's like that with everything. If she's being silly or stupid or fussy or rude, she just needs a good clear I'M NOT GOING TO STAND HERE AND TAKE THIS STUPIDITY FROM YOU KNOCK IT OFF NOW...then she gets back in line. That's all it takes almost every time. It's annoying but at the same time I'm glad she's not a drama queen and she's not stupid...I CAN tell her and tell her bluntly what I expect from her and she will just do it for me. She doesn't get all worked up or nervous if I repremand her, and I don't have to hold her hand all the time. So that's a nice quality, but it is still irritating that she will make me have to tell her to knock it off. Ugh.


This Thursday our little herd of four ponies will be arriving at Knights Landing. Two three year olds and two five year olds, all around the 14 hand range. One has been ridden but the other three are barely halter broke by the sounds of it. I'm getting pretty interested in meeting them and figuring out what makes each one tick. I'm hoping to be able to get videos and pictures of them at different stages of their progress...from groundwork to the first ride and beyond. It should be an interesting learning experience for anyone involved.

Although thinking about them reminds me of a pet peeve that I have. One of these ponies is grey and a little taller than the rest. The other three are chestnut or bay with little chrome. We haven't met these ponies yet and know little more than their age and height and the fact that they are not used to being handled. I can't even tell you how many people have already told me that the grey is their favorite one (you kids know who you are :P) Now if you say you like grey horses and you think the grey is pretty that's one thing, but how the heck do you know that the grey one is your favorite one yet? Because she's grey and a little taller that automatically makes her the favorite. Which drives me nuts. A pretty color and a taller horse does NOT equal a talented horse or a kind horse or a fun horse...etc. You see this everywhere in our industry. Everyone wants taller and flashier. Which thoroughbred on our sale list got the most interest? The 16.3 hand one. Why? I promise you that it was only because of his size. Drives. Me. Insane. If you are tall and want a horse that feels more proportionate to you that's one thing. But seriously? How many amazing horses are people missing out on because they aren't 16.2+ hands and aren't grey or full of chrome??? Please, PLEASE stop assuming the tall horse will be an awesome jumper and the pretty colored one is the most awesome. I have preferences too. I like bays. I love chestnuts. I really don't like grey or black horses or paints that much. I like a taller horse simply because I'm 5'11" and all legs. But I've owned two black horses, one grey, and my favorite horses that I've owned were 15.3 hands and 16 hands and visually a bit too small for my leg. But they were amazing horses and super talented with awesome personalities and I wouldn't have traded them for anything.

GAHHH!

Want proof that you can in no way tell if a horse is awesome by color and size? Here yah go. Teddy O'Connor. 14.1 hand plain looking pony competing (and winning) with the big horses.

Please think a little before you judge a book by its cover :)

Sunshiny Day

I'm looking forward to record high temperatures tomorrow! Lotsa pony riding!

I rode Bear and Greyson again today. Bear ROCKED. Best ride ever on him. I was finally able to put him in a canter and go around the whole ring on a loose rein and have him keep a steady tempo. Hooray! To the left he's still a bit stiffer but he's finally starting to get that I really don't expect much from him at all and there's no reason to be anxious. Just listen up, do what I'm asking and that's all there is to it. I popped over a few small jumps as well and while he still feels a little on edge to his jumps, today he was listening for direction rather than just tensing up and taking off when I pointed him to a jump. I could get him to circle or stop or transition before and after the jumps very easily today since he's starting to wait for my instruction now. So we played a little before the jumps so he didn't get too focused on the jump itself. It seemed to help a lot. He didn't treat the jumps like they were a big deal by the end of our ride, he started to treat them like they just happened to be in our way while we were working so he just popped over them and kept doing his job. Good good pony! Hopefully with a little more time he won't even bat an eye at his jumps. He would still get tense and run at his jumps if his rider didn't stay very very quiet and balanced at this point. We are at a very delicate moment in his training.

I want to stop and point out to everyone, RE-training/UN-training a horse is a HECK OF A LOT HARDER and requires MUCH more time and patience than just taking the time to train them right in the first place! While I was in college, I rode as many horses as I possibly could. The college horses were all donated...and there was almost always a reason the horse was donated. Weird quirks, bad habits, poor training...etc. I had such pity for many of these horses. Every horse I sit on tells me a story about how they've been ridden and treated. Horses are tattle tales. My goodness I've been told some horrifying stories by these horses! Some of them get so frustrated from years of impatience and poor understanding and no respect of the training scale. Their poor brains were frazzled and quick to become defensive. It takes a while to get through to these horses that everything is okay now, and get them to start thinking clearly and positively again. Most of them put up their guards and are very apprehensive when they start their retraining. But no feeling compares to the feeling I get when I help a horse have their first breakthrough...I love feeling the huge wave of relief emanating from the horse.

I often wished I had more opportunities to show, or to ride more schoolmasters or higher quality horses...but the troubled and problem horses I have ridden in the past provided me with so much knowledge and understanding and patience and versatility. Plus I can't think of anything more rewarding than helping a horse find contentment in their work again. I need to share the story behind my old horse, Eclipse. He was my most rewarding project and went from very angry and unhappy to very happy...I've never met a horse that loved work and life as much as he did after we got to know each other.

Ok...back on track...can you tell I'm very passionate about training a horse in a sympathetic, well thought out way???

Greyson was very good (as usual!) he just doesn't have a mean or naughty bone.

I worked with him for a bit in the round pen before I taught a couple lessons. I want to work on teaching him to lunge with a rider soon so he can teach some walk trot lessons this year. He's afraid of the whip and still a little anxious when a person is moving around him so I thought I would teach him how to read my body language so we could work smoothly and quietly together. I also wanted him to get used to me holding the whip to send him forward and realize that I wasn't intending to hit him with it. I've already worked with him and the whip...waving it around, cracking it, touching him with it, waving it over his head, swishing it on the ground...and he's still tense about it but hes starting to trust that I mean him no harm and will stand still.

He was a bit quick and tense when I sent him out on his circle but we worked on a few turns and I kept my movement as clear and smooth as possible and he soon began to realize that we were working, I wasn't just chasing him with ill intent. He was a little confused at first and tried to change directions or run through my cues but it didn't take long for him to focus and read my cues carefully. He was very good then, I could get him to turn toward me, walk, trot, canter, and halt straight with little effort. We ended with another quick session desensitizing him to the whip.

After two good lessons with Alexia and Clementine, and Sierra and Belle, I had enough daylight left to ride Greyson. Hooray for daylight past five again!!!

We continued to work on staying straight but laterally soft and flexible. I rode him on a long loose rein today at the canter in an effort to make him stop focusing on staying stuck and locked and start focusing on keeping himself balanced. It actually worked quite well and we had some of our best canter yet. I stayed very Balanced and quiet on his back and kept him forward and only picked up my reins to ask for a little lateral flexion and dropped them after he corrected himself. He FINALLY started to think about what I was asking of him instead of just "OMG I'M CANTERINGGG AND I CAN'T HOLD MYSELF UP!"

We popped over a little crossrail a few times and called it a day.

I gave Moose today off...she's just getting sooooo boooored with this winter business.

I was reflecting on the horses I'm riding right now and realized how drastically different I ride most of them. I'm very traditional and methodical and correct when it comes to the way I ride and train Moose. But with the others, it's a little unorthodox. I'd love to train them all the way I'm working with Moose...but let's face it...the people who will be interested in purchasing these horses or the kids riding them should they become lesson ponies just don't have the knowledge yet to ride a horse trained to respond to very detailed sequences of aids. So I train them in a way that will create a laid-back, contented, confident, uncomplicated equine citizen that doesn't do anything fancy but is very well versed in their basic set of skills. Walk, trot, canter, jump. Hold your line, hold your tempo, respond reasonably quick to aids but not too snappy. Naughtiness isn't acceptable but do your job and everyone is happy. Basic understanding of seat and leg and giving to the bit but not too sensitive about it.

It still requires lots of time and miles and thoughtful training. I also try to train to each personality and figure out what each horse is motivated by and what their calling is.

I keep telling myself that I won't get too off track in my blog posts but then I just can't help it.

Let's end with this video...one of my favorites. It always makes me wonder why in the world I insist on being an eventer when I could be working toward something like this instead. For my non dressage students and those that just started to explore the discipline...notice how quiet the horse and rider are...no pulling, tugging, kicking, wiggling...the horse is forward and happy and attentive. You CAN achieve great things as a rider if you really want it, and you are willing to buckle down and put in quality saddle time! Let's achieve great things girls!

For those who are not interested in dressage...can you imagine just how you would look to a judge during your pleasure class or your hunter round or your jumper round if you had the ability to control and communicate with your horse this quietly?

Pony Love

Time to catch up on some writing!

Let's see...

It was a gross sloppy week so lessons and riding were minimal. I did get to ride Bear and Greyson a couple of times. Bear is feeling frisky lately and his attention span has mysteriously disappeared...so we've taken a step back in his work...but a equestrians we all know that when working with something with a brain of it's own, sometimes we have to take a step or two back before making progress again. He's been a bit too forward again but he'll chill out again.

I do suspect that someone has tried to teach Bear flying lead changes far too early in his development, and it is really making it difficult to keep him calm, cool, straight and balanced in his canter. Whenever he gets fast and flat, and I half halt him, he gets rigid and starts flipping leads in back, then maybe in front, then in back again, etc. When I feel him get tight like he want to flip, I have to drive him forward a few steps and try to rebalance him again, but some days he just gets so tense and it's all I can do to just keep him on the correct lead. And this is a perfect example of why we don't want to rush a horse through their training. Training a horse is a gradual process that spans over years, building up muscle, balance, forwardness, connection, maturity...one tiny step at a time. If you skip steps, you get a Bear...too quick, too tense, mentally fried. Lucky for Bear, he's got a great head on his shoulders and isn't at the fried stage yet.

Greyson is such a trooper but oh so clueless about how to use his body. Surprisingly he has taken to ring work with a positive attitude...he just is clueless about what I want from him. I'm getting progress in his walk and trot at getting him up in front of me an reaching into the bit. He's also figuring out how to bend his body and step up under himself. The canter is where he's really stumped. That head and neck go straight up and he lumbers along, flat and quick, til he can't hold his canter anymore and breaks to trot. He likes to tilt his head inward and careen around on his inside shoulder. I keep him straight on the outside rein and ask for that inside hind to swing into it which is helping, but there's a ways to go. I really ought to lunge him so he can find his balance without a rider first. Maybe put him in a neck stretcher to make it really clear that he needs to relax over his back and at the poll. I bet some canter work straight up a hill would help too...he will have to stretch over his back to get up the hills.

I rode Evil again and attempted to introduce him to gridwork. I chose a really bad day for it...it was horribly windy, and he was very resistant and distracted. We spent plenty of time on polite transitions and suppling his trot before I started jumping. I set up a simple grid with three jumps at one stride distances with a trot pole coming in and groundpoles to guide him straight through the grid since he is still a bit wiggly. I set up the third jump first so he could get the idea, then added the second jump. We never made it to jump three. Evil needs a lot more work on stretching over his back as he will jump completely hollow at times, but he took the exercise pretty willingly. I'd like to free jump him a few times so he can figure it all out. He act like he has ten feet instead of four sometimes, and all of them are left feet!

Moose has been good. She was way too lazy yesterday but the temperature was a little warmer than usual, which seems to make her sleepy. Today she was right back to being hot. When I got on her and let her walk around, she was snorting...I felt like she was gearing up to rocket off. But she does ride so much better when she's hotter...she really pushes forward and reaches for my hand. But, she also becomes jumpy when she's hot.

We jumped today for the first time in a while. I have a small indoor to work in so I only set up two jumps, one on each diagonal with a placing pole in front of each. She was very scrambly with her feet but I'm trying to stay quiet and balanced and bring her to the jump and let her figure out her own feet. The jumps are awkward at times but I want a horse that learns from her own experimenting and experiences how to handle any jump...I don't want a horse that learns to be dependent on me to hold her hand to the jumps. That's when you get a horse that drags you into a jump, leans, rushes, and can't handle it if the rider can't be there to micromanage them to each jump. My horse needs to be able to navigate the jump efficiently, safely, and responsibly on her own. My job as the rider is to guide her an stu balanced and quiet, and let her do her job.

I had to put my jacket on one jump to get her to pick up her feet because she will try to jump too flat and take put the rails. The jacket worked great for a few jumps, then she realized it wasn't a threat and got careless again.

I think I need to be very careful about how I approach training Moose to jump, since she really lacks the natural talent for it! I think I will have to jump only once or twice a week, a few jumps per day. Every jump will have to be set up to encourage a very lofty round jump...so placing poles, different fillers, a frame poles, overs, etc, all of a decent height so she takes it seriously. Jump each only enough times to get a good, large jump effort, then be done well before she gets too comfortable and careless.

At shows, warm up over a cross rail a time or two. That's IT. When she gets tired or too comfortable is when she gets sloppy, so I won't let her get to that point.

We will see how it works out at the next show, but at the Wilson show a few months ago, she rocked her first 2'3" course, didn't touch a rail and gave me a smooth ride. I didn't practice much at home an warmed up minimally at the show.

I finally had two days of lessons this weekend. It was nice to see some of my students I haven't seen in a while. I can't wait til spring when w can all get back to some serious work! I'm especially excited because some of my students are specifically asking to work on dressage...I would die of happiness if I get a little posse of dressage queens together :) I think they will find just how much more there is to riding a horse and all the wonderful things that can be accomplished by taking flatwork seriously! It's an eyeopener for sure!

Bed time!

Another Rainy Day.

Looks to be another day where I am confined within walls. I am so ready for spring. I am getting squirmy from not being able to ride as much as I'd like to. I don't like staring out the window thinking "I COULD be working on Greyson's canter" or "I COULD be introducing Doc to gridwork"...but noooooooo...it has to rain and be cold. That stupid groundhog better predict that winter will come to an end early this year.

I do want to go ride Moose today but I want to wait until the afternoon so she has some more time to relax after a long trailer ride and tiring lesson yesterday. Maybe we will jump today, I'm not sure yet.

Since it is rainy and gross I've already begun to read all the horsey related material at my disposal. I already found a few excerpts I want to share with my students from one of my magazines.

And since it is icky outside, I may get really bored and post a few times today. Or I might not. Who knows. We'll see what I feel like doing today. I do want to do an entry that describes some of my background and one that describes the horses I have had an maybe some memorable ones that had an influence on me too. Those will be lonnnnng posts, but hopefully interesting. I'll make sure I include plenty of pictures to keep you all entertained!

I really ought to do some laundry.

Holy fire breathing dragons, Batman!

I tried to schedule my lesson with Michael for a day it would be raining, so that I wouldn't miss out on a day of nice weather to ride and teach at Knights Landing. But alas, the weather men have been so very off the mark this winter, so today was actually very nice out. It actually made me not want to go to my lesson so I could ride all the project horses and ponies, but I really need to keep taking lessons so I can rock it in the show ring this year. And I think it's important that I keep learning so that I can keep bringing fresh ideas to the table when I teach my own students.

I did manage to ride Eagle and Doc before I had to pick up Moose and head down to Hilltop. Eagle is another of our young OTTB project horses. He's been taking it easy this winter...his brain needs some time to reset...any horse person should know what I mean when I say that! He's really athletic and very alert but easily distractable if you don't keep him on his toes. He seems to do a lot better when he's in very consistent, 4 days a week bare minimum work. And with the weather and ring conditions being sporadically favorable, I can't keep him in that type of work right now. But we had someone interested in looking at him this weekend, so I had to get on and see what I had.

He was exactly how I expected...much too fresh from the time off. I could barely convince him to just walk, so I lunged him a while instead and worked him til he calmed down and focused, then put him away.

Doc was a little grouchy-faced today, but I think he just puts on a show. He never lashes out or bites. I think he's just so laid back that he just wants you to ride him and put him away. He works great undersaddle, no protests or grumpy faces. He just does it in the cross ties pre ride. He likes to fall asleep in the cross ties, perhaps he just doesn't like to be awakened by the tacking up process!

We just worked on walk, trot and canter...continuing to try to teach him to carry himself and go softly into my hand. He still likes to stay too stiff laterally and doesn't like to flex at the poll. Today he seemed to start to understand though and we had some nice, light, well balanced trot moments. Canter needs some work but its easy to work with because he keeps a nice steady rhythm. I think I can only expect so much of Doc as far as how supple I can get him...if you look at his jaw it is quite large, and I think he physically cannot comfortably flex at the poll if I'm riding him in a shorter frame. But since he's built like a hunter, moves like a hunter, and thinks like a hunter...this won't cause any issues. I don't expect him to be a dressage horse. He can work in a longer, lower outline.


After Doc I hooked up the trailer and headed over to pick up Moose, who looked fresh as can be out in her paddock when I pulled in. She's starting to become very snorty. Snort at the clippers. Snort at her blanket. Snort at the mounting block. So today she snorted at everything and walked with a very arched neck and suspicious step. Oh geez. I think winter bores and annoys the tar out of her.

She snorted her way onto the trailer and we headed out. My stupid Garmin took me on some weird back roads to get to Hilltop so our trip was closer to an hour but we got there. She snorted her way off the trailer too. What a goof.

We also snorted our way into the arena.

I was really interested to see if my ride yesterday in the regular noseband was just a fluke. I quickly found that it was not a fluke at all. The ninny really thought she couldn't move forward with a drop noseband on. She wore that thing for two months and never got used to it. Lesson learned: Moose can't stand anything but a regular noseband. Luckily, the drop did get its point across, as she no longer is trying to gape her mouth in response to feeling contact. So I guess some good came out of it all.

But good gracious. For the past couple of months I just couldn't get her to think forward...she'd move forward for a bit then back off and fuss...or move forward and fuss in my hand. Now she's like "I CAN MOVE NOW... OUTTA MY WAY!!!" She is reaching a little TOO hard into my hand and POWERING forward...even though it's a little too much, I'm glad she's finally focusing on the most important thing while riding...forwardness. So now I feel like we can really buckle down and get to work.

Our lesson turned out to be fantastic. We got some really great trot work where I could feel her back really come up underneath me and she too a good steady contact. I was having some trouble getting her to focus on my seat though, since she was too busy celebrating the fact that she could move forward now.

Since she's finally forward and working into my hand we could work on a few new things. We warmed up with shallow serpentines as usual to get her supple and some transitions to try to get her to focus back on me and not so much on pounding herself as forward as possible. Then we worked on her canter a bit again, since I need to work on getting her up in front of me a little more. She had much snappier transitions today, but in her good direction she nearly took off bucking with me! I really do think she's had enough of being in an indoor ring and having to take it easy in her paddock because it's frozen and wearing itchy blankets and whatever else makes her fussy. Last time we saw Micheal I could barely wake her up...and this time I felt like I was riding an even more powerful version of my old horse, Hyde! Those of you that knew him know what I mean...he was always breathing fire when I worked with him. I'll have to do a blog post introducing the horses I have had to those of you that don't know each of them.

I did managed to get her back in hand...after about a full lap around the arena...geez. But then after our warm up we introduced two new things for Moose: the stretchy trot circle and the sitting trot. It's been years since I've been able to practice anything more than walk, trot and canter. I've been riding mostly greenies, spoiled, or young horses since college. So it feels FAN-FLIPPIN-TASTIC to be moving forward in my work again. I am so excited to make some progress.

The stretch circles were okay, I just need to remember not to let myself creep forward in my upper body when I feed out my reins and to put my leg on a bit to encourage her to follow my reins out and down. She did fairly well, but was a little worse on her right side, surprisingly. She got stuck after I fed out about an inch of rein and didn't want to follow further, so Micheal had me hold the inside rein and support with the inside leg a few steps, then relax to try to get her to find the contact. It worked well but I can't get her to follow as far as to the left.

It felt amazing to start to work on my sitting trot again. I used to have a mean sitting trot. It got the point where I hated posting because I could sit the trot all day and I felt more relaxed and effective when I was sitting the trot. And my horses went way better when I sat. But my hips have become tight from lack of practice, plus Moose has way more movement than anything else I'm riding right now. I felt jarred around at first and Moose wasn't happy about it either. I asked Michael to refresh my memory on how my hips should be moving. He reminded me that they should be swinging like a pendulum up and forward with each step, and to stabilize my core. After a few minutes we were able to get into a groove and Moose began to swing along and relax again, and I could feel her back rise up underneath me again which was an amazing feeling. My little quirky mare has a ton more power in her than she tries to make me think.

After we got back home I asked the barn manager where she keeps her jumps. Moose needs to jump. She's bored and she is terrible at jumping so she needs to keep practicing! Tomorrow or Friday I'll set a couple up and let her have a little fun. I'd really like to take her to Swan Lake for one of their winter series Jumper shows in February just to get her out and to let her see some more jumps. Maybe a Blue Goose dressage show too, if she continues to progress like she is now.

Off to wash off a days worth of stinkiness :)

Happy day :)

The sun decided to show it's face again today and melted off most of the snow! Hooray! Everything is extremely sloppy and wet right now but at least it's rideable and I didn't freeze my face off, either!

I spent the morning helping the farrier with our horses, then got some delicious soup at Mollys (I HIGHLY recommend their white chicken chili!) then rode some horses. I hopped on Bear for a quick bareback walk trot, I figure the more I can sit on these ponies an reinforce "the rules" the better...even if it is only for a few minutes.

Doc was next on my to do list today. He's a 6 year old OTTB bay gelding, off the track since spring. 15.2 hands with a substantial build...I certainly do not feel too big on him at all. He's build like a hunter, thinks like a hunter and moves like a hunter. Super level headed and pretty uncomplicated to ride. Put him in the gait and he stays there. Point him at a jump and he pops over it. I'm working on getting him more supple laterally and working down into the bit...as he keeps his neck stiff and straight and can get heavy in the hand if you let him. If you just want to go on a loose rein joy ride though, Doc's your man! He screams packer potential, maybe a foxhunter or kids hunter. And folks, he's for sale. And budget friendly, too :) Just look at this cutie!

Doc says "I want my own person!"

I want to get Doc started with gridwork soon to get him a little cattier off his feet and improve his jump style, I just need to wait for a day that I have a ground person to help (any volunteers???) He's trotting fences politely and will canter a fence politely too so he seems ready for it.

I also found out why he wasn't a good race horse...I took him out to the track and asked for the canter, and he had no interest in perking up and running...haha.

Next up was Evil. Evil is a coming 4 year old OTTB, off the track since spring. Very gangly with a ton of growing to do...he's currently all legs. Sweetest boy, goofy and mischievous and soooo adorable. He's just working on staying straight an keeping a steady calm tempo. It's hard to expect much from him right now since he's at such an awkward stage of development, but he's starting to carry himself on his hind end more now. He's a tricky one to ride right...his current stage of growth makes him all legs, no neck and so narrow, so he wants to suck his neck in like a turtle and stay straight in his body an lean on the turns. He also reaches out too far with his front legs and not enough with the hind, so I have to ride his withers up AND get him to pick up and put his front feet down a bit faster AND try to invite him to reach out for my hand. He's actually starting to get it, today we had a really lovely ride. He seems to be getting more comfortable in his work as he's not fussing with the bit and twisting his head like he was when I first started with him in September. He has a great canter too.

He's a bit of a clutz over jumps right now and throws each leg over haphazardly and clunks rails. Today I set the jumps up higher an used placing poles in front of a few and rode him really forward and up into them and...well...he can jump! He launched over them...but he really pushes his shoulders up into the air but tries to look at the jump at the same time as it passes under him...it's really funny...

He started to jump them normally toward the end. I guess he just needed a few bigger jumps so he would take them seriously, and so its very clear that he is supposed to JUMP them. I'd like to get him and his rider, Hope, started over some simple grids soon so Evil can start to figure his feet out.

Baby horses are so frustrating. I WANT to get Evil over some good sized grids and start on coursework, but he's only 3 and still growing so for now I have to keep the jumping minimal, just enough to let him start to learn where his feet belong. I have trouble being patient while they grow up! Same with Moose. I'm tempted to pop the jumps up, but she's only four and clearly still having growth spurts. *sigh*

I went over to see Moose and clipped her AGAIN. At least she's a doll for clipping. That was my worst clip job ever. I'm usually very anal about lines and perfection, but I've had to clip Moose four times this winter, so I don't care about the perfect clip anymore! Just get the hair off!

I switched to a regular caveson today. At first she actually shook her head and threw it side to side when I picked up the reins. What the heck? But then she seemed to realize that it was just a normal noseband and all of a sudden...voila! She was reaching for my hand, staying steady and powering forward! 10 meter trot circles? No biggie. Lengthen stride? No prob. Relaxed transitions? Absolutely. Huh. I can't flippin' believe that a simple noseband switch made that much difference. I really do think she thought she couldn't move her mouth with the drop. Weirdo. Hopefully today wasn't a fluke.

I let Moose loose in the ring after my ride to try to get some pics of my clip job (actually I just wanted pics of my purdy pony!)

Too bad it was so dim in the barn :(  That is a classic Moose expression! Very "meh". Then I tried to convince Moose to trot around a bit so I could see how pretty she is. Below you can see what she thought of me...

Someone has some major pent up energy! I'm very very glad that my pony seems to like me and doesn't buck like that with me on, because there is NO WAY I could sit one of those bucks.



I also really concentrated on my body today for all of my rides. I have ALWAYS had trouble riding off the right rein. I just can't turn my horses left (Zoolander and I can form a club). Well, I can't turn them left correctly...I can turn left. It's just not pretty.

I found that I leave my right hip behind and too far dropped down and my left hip and thigh block the shoulder from coming around. I also find that whenever I use my right leg (bad ankle leg) I draw it back a bit, which also explains why my horses sometimes fall in tracking right and I sometimes feel pitched forward. I also still fuss a bit too much with my arms and hands, a result, I am sure, of my mismatched hips. So I just focused on stacking my spine up straight, keeping my elbows at my sides and went back to the good ol' "hold the tray" visual for my hands, and made sure my right leg didn't swing and my right side didn't get left behind. And lo and behold my horses turn left.

I think one of the most valuable lessons I have learned when it comes to riding horses is that your horse reflects your body. If your horse isn't doing something you want it's because you haven't asked them to correctly or clearly enough yet...so it's the riders responsibility to think it through and find the kink in communication. There are exceptions of course...the spoiled horse, a retraining project, or maybe just an off day can kink communication even if you are asking all the right things...but more horses I get under my belt, and I've ridden my fair share of all sorts of different horses with different histories and different personalities...the more sure I am about the rider being at fault the majority of the time. Even on a problem horse, I may not induce any miracles in one or even a dozen rides, but I can always make a baby step toward progress each ride if I'm patient and think about what I want from the horse and how to ask for it with my body.

So students, if you're reading...if your ride is going crummy, the worst thing you can possibly do is get frustrated and upset with your horse. Stop. Breathe. Reflect. What is happening? What do you want? How can you better communicate that to your horse? Remember, you're riding a 1200 lb animal. If you think you are going to get somewhere getting angry and bullying them...um...think again. You are aiming for a partnership here, your horse is already trying to understand and work with you, so take a second to try to understand and work with your horse!

Lesson with Micheal tomorrow...goodnight!

Not a great day for riding.

It's gross and foggy and chilly and rainy today, so that meant no pony riding. I'm hoping the rain will melt away some of the snow, but it will probably just make everything gross and slushy instead.

I did manage to drag my not-so-enthused self out to ride Moose though. What a horrible ride we had. She has become so fussy and resistant ever since we started some harder work...I'll be interested to hear what Michael has to say about her persistent resistance. I am thinking that I'm going to try putting her back in a plain cavesson tomorrow to see if it makes a difference. I switched her to a drop noseband when we started working in a shorter frame as she started to experiment with opening her mouth rather than accepting the contact...I felt it necessary to put the drop on to convey the message that opening her mouth was not the response I am looking for. But even though I still have the noseband adjusted quite loose and she can still move her jaw comfortably, I feel like she's convinced that she CANNOT move her jaw. She's a passively sensitive mare, so I wouldn't be surprised if she felt the drop is cramping her style. So we will see what she does in a regular noseband tomorrow.

If the switch doesn't improve her behavior, I might try switching to a more stable bit, like my good ol' baucher. She's currently in a Sprenger KK ultra loose ring, which honestly I've never been thrilled with it on her as she never seems happy to reach out to the bit. She's either too light in it or very fussy and inconsistent. I haven't switched the bit yet because I figured she was just being a baby horse and just needed more education, but now I'm questioning if this bit is just too busy and distracting for her. I'll wait and see how my lesson goes Wednesday before experimenting.

Tomorrow I have to clip the beast for the FOURTH time this winter. She was drenched from our ride today. I have never seen a horse that grew hair this fast before.

I spent most of the rest of the day digging through my old tack that I need to sell and reading some books and articles to help me refresh some of general knowledge of tack and riding basics...my brain has become muddled from lack of use over the past two years. I came across a website I used to reference all the time that details the action and uses for different pieces of tack. I am glad I found this website again, it's a great resource and I think my student ought to read at least some of the stuff on bits...it's time to think about what you are using on your horses and more importantly, WHY you are using it!

www.sustainabledressage.net

Time to go stare out the window and mope.

I. Hate. Winter.

It may be a mild winter and this may be the first snow (well, aside from the crazy snow we had on Halloween...) but I still reserve my right to whine and moan about the sheer fact that it is winter. Those of you that know me well know that I have this unfortunate inability to produce any body heat, so no matter how many layers I pack on and how many of you make fun of me for it, I'm still cold if it's under 55 degrees out. Winter also means an occasionally frozen ring, so riding is simply impossible some days. Not to mention that I feel like I need to hibernate in the winter, so my usually high level of motivation and energy is at an all time low. I just want to eat and sleep. Someone wake me up when it's spring.

Today I drug myself out of my warm house at the ridiculously early hour of 12 o'clock. That's noon, not midnight folks. I figured any earlier wouldn't be productive anyway...the ring is frozen AND covered in snow. I'd only be able to hack out a few of the projects.

My first victim is almost always Bear, a 6 year old fat bay paint Chincoteague pony. I choose him first because:

1) He's already inside.
2) He's pretty predictable so I can have a good ride for my first ride of the day.
3) He's cute and fuzzy.

Bear is currently my favorite pony...he's proving to be a very bright an fun pony to work with. And the two ponies I had previously called my "favorite pony" have been sold...so I'm hoping that there is a pattern here. I focus on one pony, they become my favorite, they sell. So while I'm having a blast with Bear, I hope he too can find his own person, like Teddy and Ava did.

Bear rocks. When I first started Working with Bear a couple of months ago, he was too fast with a bad canter and a frantic jump. The first time I rode him I found him to be surprisingly sensitive to the aids and clueless about  accepting the bit and leg and listening to the seat. I also noticed that he hated walking on hard ground. His trot was stiff and quick and his canter was very stuck and unbalanced.

Karolyn gave the go ahead to try some front shoes on Bear and got us a wintec saddle that I could set to extra wide so Bear wouldn't be pinched by our medium tree saddles anymore.

The difference has been night and day...and this is why I'm a bit obsessed with making sure tack fits and is appropriate for each horse, and for making sure to investigate any potential signs of discomfort before really working a horse. It's simply not fair to expect a horse to be perfect if it's not comfortable.

Before I go off on a lecture about choosing the appropriate tack and fitting it properly, I'll revert my attention back to Bear!

Now that Bear is comfortable, the real work  has begun. I train the ponies a little different than the horses. I try to make them really simplistic to ride, since they will most likely be packing kids someday. But that still requires work on my part. I have to try to teach the ponies to be very responsible for themselves. They need to stay balanced and maintain the same tempo on their own...which I like for all horses but it's a little more primitive work for the ponies. Not so much fancy work. I just want them to stay straight, in the same tempo, until I clearly say otherwise. They need to sit up on their turns and when I give a little pull on those reins, they better drop down to a slower gait right away without leaning on my hands. They shouldn't pull against my hand or lolly gag against my leg. If I drop my reins and pick them up they need to not change a thing, just keep going. If I ask them to stop, they shouldn't move until I ask otherwise. They should take a jump straight and at the speed I put them in. And that's about all I want. And I find that once my message gets across, the ponies are happy to do the work, because it's easy and they get left alone if they just do it right the first time. After they figure it out, then they just need miles so it all becomes second nature.

I've been treating Bear no differently, and he is responding beautifully. He still is a bit more forward than I'd like for a kids pony and he's still a bit wired to the jumps but miles will fix that. He's very smart and very sweet and interested in doing the right thing so he's going to make an awesome pony in no time. Plus he's a Chincoteague, which automatically enters him into the Awesome Club.

Since snow has graced us today, my riding options were very limited. I decided to just hop on Bear bareback so I could get away with wearing my Carhartt overalls and insanely large snow boots...then maybe, just MAYBE I'd stay warm. I was nice and shared my hat with Bear.

I think he actually liked it...

I also remembered to put his bridle in the bathroom while I was getting ready so his bit wouldn't be so cold...aren't I just the nicest? Bear and I are BFFs, and that's what BFFs do for each other. Now if only Bear would give me a cupcake every time I did something nice for him. Why do treats have to be a one way street with horses?

I hopped on him and headed out, walking around the yard and outside the ring. We managed to get a little trot in too and just worked some more on staying balanced in the turns and soft on the bit. We also reinforced being quick to respond to my aids. He did well as usual, he's doing much better at keeping the tempo I set him in, though some days he still gets a little inconsistent.

It wasn't long before I realized the flaw in my plan...which became evident when Bear stepped onto the pavement and was suddenly 2 inches taller in the front. He made himself a nice set of slippery snowball high heels in his front shoes. Ugh. Seven years of being spoiled with an indoor arena made me forget what happens to ponies with shoes in snow. And poor Bear clearly was concerned about his new footwear, which I guess he's never experienced before since he's always been barefoot. So we were forced to end our ride short.

I decided to ride Greyson next since he doesn't have any shoes. Greyson is a 6 year old paint/welsh cross pony. He's incredibly sweet and I have yet to find a mean bone in his body. He's quiet and a little shy and requires lots of scratches and hugs and loving to make him happy. It's not hard to love on Greyson, he's too darn cute.

We bought Greyson a few months ago. He has basically been a pet/trail companion for his whole life, so he's a little behind and underexposed for his age. But Karolyn and I liked his size, build, and temperament, plus due to his very low impact life he is very sound and his interesting markings make for a nice all around package. While he isn't ready to teach kids yet, we felt that he had a good mind for it, so we thought we'd give him the chance.

Greyson is a bit trickier to work with right now than Bear. Because he has never had any proper training and never spent any time doing ring work, he is very unbalanced and hasn't a clue how to carry himself. He likes to go around with his shoulders and sternum down and head and neck up, and lean in on turns. Luckily he's very sweet and has a great work ethic so it is just a matter of getting him to understand my aids and then putting miles on him until his muscle rebuilds in the right places, so he can carry himself in balance on his own. He already has a healthy respect for me and my aids so that makes my job a little easier, and he isn't hot and isn't interested in speeding away so we don't have to struggle with that. I just have to teach him how to sit up on corners and get off my inside leg and rein, and teach him how to pick up his back and shoulders and stop dragging that sternum on the ground (cause it literally feels like he's dragging that sucker!)

Greyson told me he was also cold but wanted to one up Bear. These ponies are clearly frightened and spooky.

He is also clearly not amused! (Sorry Jess, I grabbed Splash's halter by accident!)



I don't ride Greyson bareback yet because he's just too unbalanced, I would be struggling to keep square on him. So we tacked up and headed out into the snow. I walked and trotted him in the yard two, first warming him up both directions and then moving onto figure eights and serpentines at the trot. He is starting to move more in balance at the trot but still has to figure out how to stay in balance through changes of direction. He's also starting to reach over his back a bit and his head is slowly starting to come down to the bit, but I have to ride every single step on this pony right now in order to get that back up. We also worked more on his down transitions. While it's great that he respects the stop aids, he likes to slam on the breaks too fast and puts it all on the forehand. I've been riding his back up and keeping leg on in the transitions and he seems to be starting to understand. The transitions are still a little jerky, but hes carrying more weight over his hind end now, so it's a step.

After a little work I just took him out for a joy hack out on the track and let him look around and enjoy himself. I do wish he'd learn how to walk straight when he looks to the side though!

After I was done with Greyson and had helped out the with evening chores, I headed over to ride Moose.

Moosey has been having some time off because of a growth spurt that made her fussy, but we have a lesson this Wednesday with Michael Bragdell at Hilltop Farm, so we need to at least practice a little! I think he's going to disappointed with how little progress we've made since our last lesson but the last time I ignored Moose's growth spurt and fussiness, she ended up having to take a month off for a sore back. So this time I just let her have the time off when I noticed she grew and became fussy.

Moosey was alright, still a little fussy but now I think she's just getting bored. We are confined mostly to a little indoor until spring and she's a smart mare who can't stand monotony.

I am trying to teach Moose to ride on a shorter contact (Michael said I was being "too nice" to Moosey and I could be demanding a little more from her). She's still fighting it a bit but I try to stay quiet, patient and consistent. I know she'll come around with time.

Off to bed...tomorrow looks like rain :(