groundwork day

I worked three horses today.

I got Tilly out and we talked about how a broken fence board does not mean she is free to gallop around like a lunatic. She wasn't the easiest horse to calm down but, I'm suitably pleased with her.

Colonel was quite good. We worked on transitions between trot and canter. Especially transitions that involve no death trotting or head flipping.

I put long lines on Libby. What a mess. She has a neck like a bull and she knows it. She got away from me and ran off to eat grass and pester Tessa. I put a crupper on the surcingle (I had neglected to do this earlier) and then ran the reins through the bit and back to the surcingle. "Power steering" is what Robert calls it. When Libby discovered that pulling on my hands caused pulling on the underside of her tail, she was pissed. Eventually though I had her minding her P's and Q's like a lady.

Rode Colonel

I rode Colonel yesterday at Roberts request. There is someone who might lease him. I gave him a good lunge going mostly to the right. Lots of transitions and cantering until he quit acting like an idiot. It actually went really well. Then the time came to hop on him. I have to say I felt sick. This was faster than I had planned on starting him but I needed to know how he'd be to canter. I can't say he wasn't a jerk, but I also can't say it was especially terrifying. Scary, yes, but terrifying, no. I only cantered him under saddle to the left. It was like riding one of those pennies that you set rolling down those funnel shaped plastic things at the mall. Kept falling further and further in, round and round we went. He was leaning so badly that I couldn't stay in the center of the saddle and still stay straight up and down. I thought I must have rolled the saddle putting too much weight in one stirrup. Nope, he and the saddle were still perfectly in line, just happened to be most of the way sideways. I'm actually pretty pleased with how upright I managed to stay, not that pleased with my inability to feel where the horse is relative to the saddle but hey, it scared me into keeping off the stirrups like a good girl. Not that those stirrups were of much help anyway. I left them quite long.

In the end, he really only threw one buck, and basically didn't flip his head or do that weird cock your head to the side and stick it up in the air at the same time thing. He did pull but not all that violently. He did try to run us into a wall but didn't quite manage it. He was tense and downhill and a little rough to ride but I always had the sense that we could stop if I wanted to, and he wasn't going anywhere near the kind of speeds I know he's capable of, possibly because we just did circles and he didn't get a chance to go straight down the arena.

He didn't break a sweat.

Star is making progress stretching the right hind leg in the trot. I had a huge fight with her about trotting to the right and she cantered an absurdly tiny circle and refused to break back into the trot. I think it goes without saying that she cantered this circle with her head and tail so high in the air they were practically touching. After I won the fight we did some good work and I'm pleased with her progress so far.

I took Tilly out too. The arena was crowded so I just walked her around and reminded her about where she needs to be relative to my shoulder. It was good practice. The other horses were very distracting/upsetting for her but in the end we reached an understanding.

Lame-o trots

Worked Star and Papillon today. Star's trot is terrible. I knew that already, I suppose, but watching from the ground really gave me new insight. Her right hind is so weak its amazing. I try to ask her and bend and use it more and she looks almost lame. I'm going to continue the lunge work to focus on that leg, and continue lots of walking to build the muscle. I've been just getting on her with just her halter (and Alyssa's reins clipped to the bottom of it) after I finish the lunge work and we walk around while I listen to music. This is Star's kind of work out. Minus the trotting on the lunge of course.

I walked Papillon in-hand for 20 minutes and did another 30+ minutes of walking. She wasn't really sound to trot. I'm not that worried about it. This is only the second week of having her out and she'll get stronger.

I need to get Lady and Colonel into the mix somehow. Too bad I cant pony Lady off of Papillon or visa versa.

Banishing the blahs

Ok, I'm starting to feel pretty good about how things are going. I'm still sore from riding a few to many horses. Funny how we'll take care to keep the horses from getting too sore but ourselves, meh. Anyway, Star is slowly slowly starting to straighten out at the trot. She is one crooked horse. Even her fat distribution is crooked. Papillon is getting stronger I think, but I'm taking it slow with lots of hand walking before riding. Colonel and Lady still need more attention. Lady is ready to start her strength training too. Lots and lots of walking. Probably warm her up with handwalking also. It really helps when they start feeling good and therefore start feeling like trotting, if I'm on the ground I can put a swift stop to it without causing any trouble with their mouth.