Re: Luca cantering and impulsion: It only really got bad when Reno/Robert were coming close by the ring, and we'd turn away so he couldn't look at them anymore, and then he'd break to a trot. He's also just not a fast-moving horse. Star, especially, but also Keno, have a fairly fast strided canter. The fact that he's not moving super forward, or trying to speed up, is kind of nice- he's not trying too much to compensate for balancing by falling on the forehand and running on it.
Rode Niki, like Gillian said, for the first time in a while on Thursday. We had some rough spots, and she didn't really want to walk for a while, but there were only a few dumb moments on her part. The halfhalts are really helping (which were partially Cari's solution, when Keno was bucking if we turned into the arena), I think, and I'm getting more airplane ears from her, rather than ears back. I get the feeling that these are her concentrating, only slightly pissed off ears. We also got a few unplanned strides of canter. Hers.... will not be comfortable. Ah well. At least I'm getting plenty of practice sitting the trot in a jumping saddle, since she doesn't like it when I post and we're working on one thing at a time.
I was really pleased with Luca on Thursday. Tacked him up and went out to lunge to get his attention on me. He cantered on the lunge for a while, I'm hoping that he just hasn't done it very much, and he'll figure it out a little more. 20m circles may be the answer under saddle, too. He was distracted by Colonel.
This is the part that really frustrates me. I've been riding for 13? years. I *really* should have figured out before now, that the way to get a horse to stop being distracted by something he's not scared of, is to make him work harder. I need to make him pay attention to something, namely what I'm telling him to do. If he has time to stare like an idiot, I need to ask more.
I figured this out, at the latest, summer '07 with Sunny. But I totally forgot this with Luca. I think this is because, last year, he was so bad that I couldn't trust him with anything, except to misbehave. And especially after the show he reared me off at, I'd rather avoid a fight than start one and win it.
But. This saddle seems to fit him nicely, and I think I'm doing most of the right things with him. He's bored with just going out on the rail, that's fine, we're doing transitions and leg yields and circles and serpentines and just generally making him work. And once he realizes that if he stares like an idiot, I make him work harder, he settles down pretty easily.
And Saturday I worked him again. He has this ridiculous thing for Star more than any other mare, as far as I can tell. When we show, he's going to be riding with other horses, and he needs to be able to deal with that. So I asked Gillian to ride Star in the arena with us. He was pretty distracted and show-offy while lunging, which is why I was lunging him. Luca mostly settled down fairly fast, so we started riding. He had no problems riding with Star, the most I could say is that he was a little bit slower to turn, and more likely to gravitate towards her if I provided no direction. He was pretty excited when we were walking about 30 feet behind Star, because she likes to carry her tail cocked to the side. He got a nice view and was a little annoyed when we turned.
Our canters are getting better, by which I mean, we can typically maintain it all the way around the arena. I can also, often, cue it without saying "canter!", which is an important step. We need to work on cantering not in the corners, especially going left lead. Sigh. So much work to do in two more rides.
We jumped a little bit, a ground pole and then 28 feetish later, a smallish crossrail. He almost refused once but then went over, but the jumps before and after that were better. I hope Cari's saddle fits, because the dressage saddle is pretty bad for that sort of thing. I got a pretty, inadvertent canter halfpass after the crossrail the first time. It was interesting. Also, I'm pretty pleased that Luca and I can open the gate. I tried that once before, famously, with Jeff. He headed out before the gate was very open, I snagged my halfchaps on the arena, and fell off. Sigh. Go Luca!
I really need to ride Keno and Niki and Luca on Tuesday. Arrrgh. This is, naturally, the best time for my hips to be wonky, and apparently my elbow/wrist act up when it's cold and rainy. Awesome. Thank god for ibuprofen. I'm hoping my hips are just going "oh god Luca is a wide horse especially with a saddle" and will adjust, but we'll see.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Somewhat demoralized
Tough ride today with Colonel. Alyssa was in the arena with Luca so Colonel and I worked out in the jumping arena. We use the term "arena" pretty loosely sometimes. Its a small field with some jumps in it so that makes it an arena. Robert spread some manure in there so I used the path of the tractor as my rail to follow. Colonel was annoying, and really pulling on me a lot but I got him simmered down to the point where he was tolerable. I thought I'd stop there so I turned to take him across the culvert for our cool down walk. I don't know what I keep thinking that drives me to try to cool out in the field. I'm just so used to it with Star and Papillon. One lap around the field at a walk and I declare them cooled out.
Colonel was mostly good for about 3/4 of the way. We had a little fight about whether or not the goat in the next field was, in fact, the devil. It was kindof an agree to disagree ending on that one, but we walked away from the goat so that was a decent compromise. Colonel splashed through the water in his usual manner and actually walked down the long side of the field towards the barn. Turning towards the culvert, however, Colonel decided we needed to trot that part. We had a pretty substantial fight about this. I wound up taking him to the dressage arena (again not really an arena proper, it didn't even have the rope up around it today) to work him some more. I wanted to work him until he had a somewhat reliable trot but I wound up settling for a few strides of reasonable trotting and a really shitty downward transition.
Walking back towards the culvert he wasn't especially improved but I really wanted to be done so we inched our way over there, walk a stride or two, unauthorized trot, punative/corrective STOP, walk (or trot) depart, repeat. When we finally get to the culvert he actually does walk across it rather than bolt. Pat on the back for me, he actually retained something I tried to teach him.
We walked back to the arena, and I got off him and just stood around for a while. I didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of going straight back to the barn. Colonel was displeased with the waiting around but he knew better than to fight me on the ground, especially when he'd put me in such a bad mood.
The worst part is that I'm not sure what he learned from today's lesson. I think we made some progress on the pulling front. Maybe he even started to figure out that I'll let him go home if, and only if, he walks. Maybe thats hoping for too much. Maybe all he learned is that going out in the field is stressful and to be avoided. Maybe he experienced going out in the field as a punishment for his performance in the jumping arena. I hope not.
After lunch I took Star out in a halter again. Maybe this makes me an excessively touchy feely rider but it upsets me when Star is hard to catch. I feel like I must be doing something horrible to her to make her fuss like she does. I'll get over it.
We walked around in the arena in her halter. She walked very nicely on auto-pilot along the rail while I wove the ends of the lead ropes into a nice little wreath so they wouldn't dangle and bump her sides. She did some really nice trotting. She relaxed her back and neck and it was really smooth and comfy. Whenever something happened and the two of us got tense, I just repeated my new incantation to myself, "Relax your shoulders and tip your chair."
Robert has this way of explaining a proper dressage seat as like sitting on the edge of a chair and then tipping it forward so your pelvis is above your feet. As for the shoulders bit, I think I must have been a turtle in a past life because whenever anything startling happens my head goes down and my shoulders go up.
Anyway, when I went back to sitting correctly Star went back to moving correctly. It was nice. It also leads me to believe that the dressage saddle must be pinching her because I don't get this effect when we're riding with a saddle.
We are definitely going back to a bit though. Star discovered today that she is much stronger than me and without the bit she doesn't feel any particular need to yield to pressure if its at all inconvenient. She did, however, agree that it was supper annoying when I rattled the snap on the lead rope, so I did eventually get my way, but its not a subtle way to do things, and I prefer subtle.
It was rather embarassing to find Alyssa and Niki behind us while Star was refusing to cross the culvert. She went over eventually and Niki followed polite as can be. Alyssa was pleased with herself, which is fair, it was good work. I must point out though that Star probably would have gone across just fine too if another horse had gone first. This is why I like to go first, its a better test of where they are, confidence and obedience-wise. I was going to go around the field but she crossed the culvert so I decided that in a halter that was good enough, and when we switch back to a bridle then I'll be a little more demanding.
I took Papillon out for her first ride of the season. Boy was she shedding. I spent at least 20 minutes getting hair off her. I could have spent longer but I got bored, plus it was nearly feeding time.
She was decent in the arena. Pissed, as always, that we weren't going faster. She is a smooth enough ride that it doesn't bother me too much. We went outside to attempt to walk around the field. Instead we did our traditional trowalk. Its amazing how different her unauthorized trot is from Colonels. Her departs are powerful but smooth and confortable, her motivation is neither fear nor malice. She just trots for the sheer joy of forward motion. Plus its all so smooth. I know this speaks poorly of me as a horsewoman, but sometimes the only way I know she's started trotting is from the sound of her hoofbeats. If I thought she would keep that pace I would let her trot around all she wanted, but Papillon only accelerates. Its just her way.
It was a nice end to a day of lovely weather.
Colonel was mostly good for about 3/4 of the way. We had a little fight about whether or not the goat in the next field was, in fact, the devil. It was kindof an agree to disagree ending on that one, but we walked away from the goat so that was a decent compromise. Colonel splashed through the water in his usual manner and actually walked down the long side of the field towards the barn. Turning towards the culvert, however, Colonel decided we needed to trot that part. We had a pretty substantial fight about this. I wound up taking him to the dressage arena (again not really an arena proper, it didn't even have the rope up around it today) to work him some more. I wanted to work him until he had a somewhat reliable trot but I wound up settling for a few strides of reasonable trotting and a really shitty downward transition.
Walking back towards the culvert he wasn't especially improved but I really wanted to be done so we inched our way over there, walk a stride or two, unauthorized trot, punative/corrective STOP, walk (or trot) depart, repeat. When we finally get to the culvert he actually does walk across it rather than bolt. Pat on the back for me, he actually retained something I tried to teach him.
We walked back to the arena, and I got off him and just stood around for a while. I didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of going straight back to the barn. Colonel was displeased with the waiting around but he knew better than to fight me on the ground, especially when he'd put me in such a bad mood.
The worst part is that I'm not sure what he learned from today's lesson. I think we made some progress on the pulling front. Maybe he even started to figure out that I'll let him go home if, and only if, he walks. Maybe thats hoping for too much. Maybe all he learned is that going out in the field is stressful and to be avoided. Maybe he experienced going out in the field as a punishment for his performance in the jumping arena. I hope not.
After lunch I took Star out in a halter again. Maybe this makes me an excessively touchy feely rider but it upsets me when Star is hard to catch. I feel like I must be doing something horrible to her to make her fuss like she does. I'll get over it.
We walked around in the arena in her halter. She walked very nicely on auto-pilot along the rail while I wove the ends of the lead ropes into a nice little wreath so they wouldn't dangle and bump her sides. She did some really nice trotting. She relaxed her back and neck and it was really smooth and comfy. Whenever something happened and the two of us got tense, I just repeated my new incantation to myself, "Relax your shoulders and tip your chair."
Robert has this way of explaining a proper dressage seat as like sitting on the edge of a chair and then tipping it forward so your pelvis is above your feet. As for the shoulders bit, I think I must have been a turtle in a past life because whenever anything startling happens my head goes down and my shoulders go up.
Anyway, when I went back to sitting correctly Star went back to moving correctly. It was nice. It also leads me to believe that the dressage saddle must be pinching her because I don't get this effect when we're riding with a saddle.
We are definitely going back to a bit though. Star discovered today that she is much stronger than me and without the bit she doesn't feel any particular need to yield to pressure if its at all inconvenient. She did, however, agree that it was supper annoying when I rattled the snap on the lead rope, so I did eventually get my way, but its not a subtle way to do things, and I prefer subtle.
It was rather embarassing to find Alyssa and Niki behind us while Star was refusing to cross the culvert. She went over eventually and Niki followed polite as can be. Alyssa was pleased with herself, which is fair, it was good work. I must point out though that Star probably would have gone across just fine too if another horse had gone first. This is why I like to go first, its a better test of where they are, confidence and obedience-wise. I was going to go around the field but she crossed the culvert so I decided that in a halter that was good enough, and when we switch back to a bridle then I'll be a little more demanding.
I took Papillon out for her first ride of the season. Boy was she shedding. I spent at least 20 minutes getting hair off her. I could have spent longer but I got bored, plus it was nearly feeding time.
She was decent in the arena. Pissed, as always, that we weren't going faster. She is a smooth enough ride that it doesn't bother me too much. We went outside to attempt to walk around the field. Instead we did our traditional trowalk. Its amazing how different her unauthorized trot is from Colonels. Her departs are powerful but smooth and confortable, her motivation is neither fear nor malice. She just trots for the sheer joy of forward motion. Plus its all so smooth. I know this speaks poorly of me as a horsewoman, but sometimes the only way I know she's started trotting is from the sound of her hoofbeats. If I thought she would keep that pace I would let her trot around all she wanted, but Papillon only accelerates. Its just her way.
It was a nice end to a day of lovely weather.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Excuse me, do you have those blue balls?
Cant resist opening with that Robert quote. He did it on purpose, I should mention. He did a very silly thing and bought one of those big 65 inch inflatable balls, thinking maybe Luca would like to play with it. Luca did not want to play with it. He was totally disinterested in it. He shoved it with his nose once so he could sniff the ground underneath it. Robert proceeded to chase him with it, throw it at him, anything he could come up with to get a reaction. I refused to participate in this silliness, siding with Luca I guess. Star was OK with it as long as it wasn't moving towards her. Colonel was ok as long as it didn't move, but he wasn't super interested in getting near it either. Cari rode Xsarena into it a couple of times, which was cute. I was impressed by Xsarena's nonchalance with regards to the ball.
Keno was very entertained by the ball. He pushed it around with his nose, he tried to rub his face on it and just generally had a good time. It made him feel powerful I guess because then he tried to shove Alyssa around in similar fashion. It went poorly for him. Very poorly.
I put Colonel in the long lines. He really wants to resist, and then over-turn in response to the rein aids. When I put the reins through the bit and then back onto the side rings of the surcingle he was displeased. I usually take that as a good sign with Colonel. He went behind the vertical a lot but he didn't pull on me which was nice. He wasn't very forward and I think I need some lower friction reins for this to be really effective. Still, he looked like he was engaging nicely so I didn't make him do it for too long. We did a little canter and he looked beautiful but pissed. Eventually he figured out that he did not need to put his face behind the vertical, and things mostly went better. I think I'll try it again later when I find better reins for this project. And we'll see tomorrow if he learned anything.
I sat around and conditioned tack while watching Alyssa work with Luca. Its a cold, relatively dull job watching those two because mostly Luca is pretty good. Today was a little more entertaining because Luca was doing some pretty extreme haunches-in exercises. A dressage whip helped with that. It didn't help so much maintaining impulsion at the canter. I suspect that practice alone will really help clear that up, since Luca doesn't get asked for the canter much at all in the cart. I'll bet you could get some serious energy cantering around outside, but maybe that will wait for another time.
We had 30 minutes before feeding time and I wanted to ride a horse. So I got my helmet and gloves, then grabbed a lead rope and Star and I went out in a halter. She was very very good. She did a nice, smooth relaxed trot for me. She stopped every time something caught her attention, which was annoying but I didn't really feel like getting after her for it, so I just asked again quietly and I got a quiet trot. Imagine that.
We went outside to the little outdoor arena. It promptly started raining. Star was pretty good showing off and remained pretty relaxed. I was/am super pleased with her. Now I need to teach her to neck rein so we can dispense with the second lead rope. Or not.
Tomorrow, I'm going to haul myself out of bed at a reasonable hour and get to the barn in time to actually ride both my horsies. Star is going to go back to work on her long and low, and on her canter. Colonel back to work on not pulling, especially at the canter and the walk. (He basically doesn't pull anymore at the trot, which is nice.)
Keno was very entertained by the ball. He pushed it around with his nose, he tried to rub his face on it and just generally had a good time. It made him feel powerful I guess because then he tried to shove Alyssa around in similar fashion. It went poorly for him. Very poorly.
I put Colonel in the long lines. He really wants to resist, and then over-turn in response to the rein aids. When I put the reins through the bit and then back onto the side rings of the surcingle he was displeased. I usually take that as a good sign with Colonel. He went behind the vertical a lot but he didn't pull on me which was nice. He wasn't very forward and I think I need some lower friction reins for this to be really effective. Still, he looked like he was engaging nicely so I didn't make him do it for too long. We did a little canter and he looked beautiful but pissed. Eventually he figured out that he did not need to put his face behind the vertical, and things mostly went better. I think I'll try it again later when I find better reins for this project. And we'll see tomorrow if he learned anything.
I sat around and conditioned tack while watching Alyssa work with Luca. Its a cold, relatively dull job watching those two because mostly Luca is pretty good. Today was a little more entertaining because Luca was doing some pretty extreme haunches-in exercises. A dressage whip helped with that. It didn't help so much maintaining impulsion at the canter. I suspect that practice alone will really help clear that up, since Luca doesn't get asked for the canter much at all in the cart. I'll bet you could get some serious energy cantering around outside, but maybe that will wait for another time.
We had 30 minutes before feeding time and I wanted to ride a horse. So I got my helmet and gloves, then grabbed a lead rope and Star and I went out in a halter. She was very very good. She did a nice, smooth relaxed trot for me. She stopped every time something caught her attention, which was annoying but I didn't really feel like getting after her for it, so I just asked again quietly and I got a quiet trot. Imagine that.
We went outside to the little outdoor arena. It promptly started raining. Star was pretty good showing off and remained pretty relaxed. I was/am super pleased with her. Now I need to teach her to neck rein so we can dispense with the second lead rope. Or not.
Tomorrow, I'm going to haul myself out of bed at a reasonable hour and get to the barn in time to actually ride both my horsies. Star is going to go back to work on her long and low, and on her canter. Colonel back to work on not pulling, especially at the canter and the walk. (He basically doesn't pull anymore at the trot, which is nice.)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Expo
Saturday I went to Expo! I got up at 5:45 and arrived at Stoneybrook at 8:30 am. Those three hours right there were where I really wished I had a car- it's a 40 minute drive. Alack, alas. We got there at 10:30 and I was pleasantly surprised to see a jumping clinic going on *right* next to the Canadian stalls, so I sat and watched that for ten or fifteen minutes, since Luca was pointedly taking a nap and ignoring us. Said hi to Ken and Rosine and Michelle and Jeff (right, guess who are people and who are horses) and set to work removing all the hay from Luca's hair, of which there were considerable amounts of each. After his mane and tail were done, we vacuumed him. He was upset about this, mostly because we took his hay bag away. All through this there were people wandering by and admiring him. Chuck showed up and said hi, then wandered off to watch the Extreme Mustang Makeover and subsequent auction. Luca and Robert had a clinic at 12:30, and he wanted to be ready early, which meant we had Luca harnessed and hooked by 11:40. Robert and Luca wandered off to do their shmoozing thing with women and mares and I watched a bit of a reining clinic, then went through the barn. The Kiger mustangs were pretty cute, I'm a sucker for a grulla, and the mini donks were adorable too. I recognized one of them from the State Fair when he did cart barrel racing. I wandered through Stallion Row, and I gotta say, I was more impressed by the stallions who were in with their breeds. The only exception was this gorgeous deep, dappled buckskin, who was a Rocky Mountain Horse (I think!). No one else struck me with that "hey, look at me" attitude I think a stallion should have.
I ran into Colleen by trying to find Robert. The clinic was about "Centered Driving," with Peggy Brown, founded on Sally Swift's ideas of Centered Riding. I wasn't a big fan of it. Partially I don't deal well with all the imagery they use, and also the bits of Centered Riding that I read were virtually identical to the pieces Brown brought up. The only other participant was a woman with a goofy Fjord mare. I think Brown was a little frustrated and impressed at their skills, since both drivers were good enough that I, at least, didn't see a significant difference in their driving by her suggestions. There was one really terrible moment when Luca was standing there and Brown was explaining things, and Luca dropped. That was bad enough. Then he started smacking it against his belly and kicking at it (in Ken's words: SCHWUNG!!!). Sigh. But he didn't do anything bad, and barely looked at the Fjord. I spent a lot of this talking to a man who was struck by Luca and asked me about him. Gradually the realization dawned on him that, oh hey, I actually worked with that stallion, which was why I knew so much about Canadians.
It's pretty funny how tough it is for people to wrap their mind around the Canadian breed. Everyone said "I know he's from Canada, but what BREED is he?"
They did a cones course at the end, right when my cousin, aunt, and my cousin's grandmother came in. The latter two headed off and my cousin, a very shy teenager, stuck around for the horses. I'd mentioned that she might be there to Robert, so when Robert rolled in and I went to halter Luca, he told me to stop and asked my cousin to hop in. She was so taken aback, she actually did! They just did a short parking lot amble, because Luca was very mentally done after two hours, but I think she was pretty happy. Unharnessed, blanketed, and braided his tail, then went off with family, only to be back fortyfive minutes later to do it again.
The demo went fairly well. Luca didn't really want to have the tarp over his head, but mostly put up with it. The girl who jumped her Canadian did really tiny crossrails, so next year Robert wants me to jump Luca instead. If we'd had the time I swear we would've just unharnessed him in the arena and I would've hopped on- heck, I would've gotten on Jeff and we would've done better. He probably spent less than half an hour in the cart that time, but he was very very done with it. As soon as I blanketed him and let him go, he dropped and rolled. Of course, I was still in the stall with him, and he's not a stupid horse. He went as far away from me as he could. That meant he happened to roll directly into the wall behind him. There was a booth there with a shadowbox leaning against his stall (these stalls, incidentally, are made largely of flimsy plywood). So when he slammed into the wall, the shadowbox fell over and the glass broke. The man was pretty upset, apparently, but hopefully they'll think more next year about not putting fragile items against a HORSE STALL.
I wandered through the merchandise areas. Not enough English stuff for my tastes. I saw a basket of stirrups for $20/pair, which I thought was a decent deal. Insufficient English bits for me to look at, thankfully. I was sort of looking for a pony girth for Niki- the one I'm using now is on about the second to last hole on each side- and failed in that mission, as well as a halter because the one she has now just barely fits, too. My cousin etc. headed out, so I went back to the stirrups. I picked a pair up and only then realized something- there were crystals on one side of each stirrup. I was about to put them back when I thought two things: a) I could just put the crystals on the inside if I HAD to show in them, and b) what if there were hot pink crystals?
Yeah, I'm a bad person.
There was one pink pair left, so I got those. If we get Cari's old saddle and she takes the leathers and irons, I'll stick these on, I guess. If not, I think we're still a pair short somewhere. I ran into Robert not too long after that, and he shook his head at me goodnaturedly. Right before we headed out, I ran into Ken and showed them first to him, then to Luca. Luca snorted and turned away from me. Can't say as I blame him.
Robert drove me home down Woodstock- Gillian, Jesse, and Kola were walking on it as we happened by. Robert honked his horn. Jesse wanted to know why that old guy in the old truck was flirting with her.
Got to school at 7:15, worked for an hour, went home and collapsed.
Incidentally, last Saturday Gillian was wearing her super princess hat while I was riding Luca. We were just sitting there, so we put the hat on Luca. This is what he thinks:
I ran into Colleen by trying to find Robert. The clinic was about "Centered Driving," with Peggy Brown, founded on Sally Swift's ideas of Centered Riding. I wasn't a big fan of it. Partially I don't deal well with all the imagery they use, and also the bits of Centered Riding that I read were virtually identical to the pieces Brown brought up. The only other participant was a woman with a goofy Fjord mare. I think Brown was a little frustrated and impressed at their skills, since both drivers were good enough that I, at least, didn't see a significant difference in their driving by her suggestions. There was one really terrible moment when Luca was standing there and Brown was explaining things, and Luca dropped. That was bad enough. Then he started smacking it against his belly and kicking at it (in Ken's words: SCHWUNG!!!). Sigh. But he didn't do anything bad, and barely looked at the Fjord. I spent a lot of this talking to a man who was struck by Luca and asked me about him. Gradually the realization dawned on him that, oh hey, I actually worked with that stallion, which was why I knew so much about Canadians.
It's pretty funny how tough it is for people to wrap their mind around the Canadian breed. Everyone said "I know he's from Canada, but what BREED is he?"
They did a cones course at the end, right when my cousin, aunt, and my cousin's grandmother came in. The latter two headed off and my cousin, a very shy teenager, stuck around for the horses. I'd mentioned that she might be there to Robert, so when Robert rolled in and I went to halter Luca, he told me to stop and asked my cousin to hop in. She was so taken aback, she actually did! They just did a short parking lot amble, because Luca was very mentally done after two hours, but I think she was pretty happy. Unharnessed, blanketed, and braided his tail, then went off with family, only to be back fortyfive minutes later to do it again.
The demo went fairly well. Luca didn't really want to have the tarp over his head, but mostly put up with it. The girl who jumped her Canadian did really tiny crossrails, so next year Robert wants me to jump Luca instead. If we'd had the time I swear we would've just unharnessed him in the arena and I would've hopped on- heck, I would've gotten on Jeff and we would've done better. He probably spent less than half an hour in the cart that time, but he was very very done with it. As soon as I blanketed him and let him go, he dropped and rolled. Of course, I was still in the stall with him, and he's not a stupid horse. He went as far away from me as he could. That meant he happened to roll directly into the wall behind him. There was a booth there with a shadowbox leaning against his stall (these stalls, incidentally, are made largely of flimsy plywood). So when he slammed into the wall, the shadowbox fell over and the glass broke. The man was pretty upset, apparently, but hopefully they'll think more next year about not putting fragile items against a HORSE STALL.
I wandered through the merchandise areas. Not enough English stuff for my tastes. I saw a basket of stirrups for $20/pair, which I thought was a decent deal. Insufficient English bits for me to look at, thankfully. I was sort of looking for a pony girth for Niki- the one I'm using now is on about the second to last hole on each side- and failed in that mission, as well as a halter because the one she has now just barely fits, too. My cousin etc. headed out, so I went back to the stirrups. I picked a pair up and only then realized something- there were crystals on one side of each stirrup. I was about to put them back when I thought two things: a) I could just put the crystals on the inside if I HAD to show in them, and b) what if there were hot pink crystals?
Yeah, I'm a bad person.
There was one pink pair left, so I got those. If we get Cari's old saddle and she takes the leathers and irons, I'll stick these on, I guess. If not, I think we're still a pair short somewhere. I ran into Robert not too long after that, and he shook his head at me goodnaturedly. Right before we headed out, I ran into Ken and showed them first to him, then to Luca. Luca snorted and turned away from me. Can't say as I blame him.
Robert drove me home down Woodstock- Gillian, Jesse, and Kola were walking on it as we happened by. Robert honked his horn. Jesse wanted to know why that old guy in the old truck was flirting with her.
Got to school at 7:15, worked for an hour, went home and collapsed.
Incidentally, last Saturday Gillian was wearing her super princess hat while I was riding Luca. We were just sitting there, so we put the hat on Luca. This is what he thinks:
Okay, it's been a while.
I've been ignoring Niki due to time constraints. Keno and Luca I can stop at any given time, but I haven't ridden her enough, and she's not trained enough, to know if I'll have to press on when I'd rather get off and go feed or something. She's been longlined (VERY unhappily), I've spent some time scratching her in her stall, and I've saddled her and worked on mounting. Not that she needs it. Once she stands for the mounting block (she picks an angle to face first), she stands there. I used the stirrup for the first time and absolutely no response. Unlike, um, every other horse we have, she is rock solid about mounting. Maybe on Tuesday we'll go out and do the working thing again. We worked a little in the arena on Friday. It was particularly windy, and there was a sweatshirt on the open side of the arena blowing around, as well as the dressage letters no longer glued well to their plywood. She's a little hot, and I figured she'd spook at the sweatshirt and prepped myself. Instead, she walked by and turned her head to watch. That wasn't so bad, I thought. Next time around, she insisted on stopping at each of the letters and the sweatshirt to try and bite them. She was a little goosey around the closed end of the arena because there were scary noises she couldn't see. Sigh. She's also developed the lovely habit of half-heartedly kicking at her belly when I tighten the girth, which earns her a smack, and she won't do it again. She is really good about getting the girth tight, and she stands, it's just right after I grab the girth and right before resignation kicks in.
Keno, again, not too much being done. I think I'm in a riding funk right now, which is unfortunate. I've gone back to being scared of horses acting up and being idiots, which Keno quite enjoys. Le sigh. I think he's also bored, so I need to come up with some new stuff for us to do. I'll pull out the 101 Arena Exercises book and flip through to find something fun.
Friday I was by myself (spring break, so I was out all week) since Robert was at Expo. Our tack room was awful- you couldn't see the ground, and there was crap all over, no organization. Kind of like my room. Robert finally got fed up with it and gave me permission to clean it. There were about twenty cans of paint, six jugs of concrete stuff, and ten little folding chairs. I was supposed to move them from the main tack room to the far barn's room, which is probably about 400 feet? I'm terrible at distances. Anyways, I had no desire to carry all of that. I also didn't have much desire to ride horses, but Keno was due for an attitude adjustment. Thursday night I was thinking about it. Suddenly one of Robert's favorite sayings popped into my head, which he usually likes to chuckle over while hauling things to the trailer- "Who's the real beast of burden?"
My decision: fuck it, I'm sure not hauling those things over. A horse can do it! Out of the however many horses we have now I could use, I figured Keno would be the most likely to be a jerk and the least likely to actually be afraid of it. I can deal with him being a jerk, because he realizes pretty fast that giving in is way easier than fighting me, especially on the ground. So I pulled him out and slapped a surcingle (and the high quality saddle pad I have, because I was worried about the large amount of weight on a small area; it just happened to be the hot pink one) on him. I spent five minutes finding the amount of clips I needed (four, very assorted) and put a bucket on the lower clip on each side. He was displeased but settled down pretty fast. I hooked two more up and we moseyed over. Again, pissed Keno, didn't-care Alyssa. That round I did learn that those buckets need to be balanced. From the light post to the far barn I was by his side making sure the buckets didn't slip under him- "walk on" came reeeeeeal handy that trip.
He figured it out pretty fast, stood quietly, and put up with the folding chairs being clipped on too when all the paint was gone. Which was really all I wanted from him. The only thing that would have been better would be if I'd just put a saddle on him with d-rings, and ridden him over with the cans attached to the saddle. Ah well.
The tack room is wonderful, now. Lots of floor, and I swept it so there's no longer the broken glass from the ex-lightbulb. I'm pretty pleased. I can't wait for the two new saddle racks, so my saddles no longer have to be stacked on top of each other. Plus, I found a nice pair of leathers. This was Phase 1 of organization, where I got everything off of the ground. Phase 2, I'm still debating on whether it's worthwhile, is where I try to put all the shit that does one thing in one place (like nosebands. Why do we have so many damn nosebands? And why aren't they in the same place?). We may not have enough hooks for it.
Expo is another post, I've decided.
Keno, again, not too much being done. I think I'm in a riding funk right now, which is unfortunate. I've gone back to being scared of horses acting up and being idiots, which Keno quite enjoys. Le sigh. I think he's also bored, so I need to come up with some new stuff for us to do. I'll pull out the 101 Arena Exercises book and flip through to find something fun.
Friday I was by myself (spring break, so I was out all week) since Robert was at Expo. Our tack room was awful- you couldn't see the ground, and there was crap all over, no organization. Kind of like my room. Robert finally got fed up with it and gave me permission to clean it. There were about twenty cans of paint, six jugs of concrete stuff, and ten little folding chairs. I was supposed to move them from the main tack room to the far barn's room, which is probably about 400 feet? I'm terrible at distances. Anyways, I had no desire to carry all of that. I also didn't have much desire to ride horses, but Keno was due for an attitude adjustment. Thursday night I was thinking about it. Suddenly one of Robert's favorite sayings popped into my head, which he usually likes to chuckle over while hauling things to the trailer- "Who's the real beast of burden?"
My decision: fuck it, I'm sure not hauling those things over. A horse can do it! Out of the however many horses we have now I could use, I figured Keno would be the most likely to be a jerk and the least likely to actually be afraid of it. I can deal with him being a jerk, because he realizes pretty fast that giving in is way easier than fighting me, especially on the ground. So I pulled him out and slapped a surcingle (and the high quality saddle pad I have, because I was worried about the large amount of weight on a small area; it just happened to be the hot pink one) on him. I spent five minutes finding the amount of clips I needed (four, very assorted) and put a bucket on the lower clip on each side. He was displeased but settled down pretty fast. I hooked two more up and we moseyed over. Again, pissed Keno, didn't-care Alyssa. That round I did learn that those buckets need to be balanced. From the light post to the far barn I was by his side making sure the buckets didn't slip under him- "walk on" came reeeeeeal handy that trip.
He figured it out pretty fast, stood quietly, and put up with the folding chairs being clipped on too when all the paint was gone. Which was really all I wanted from him. The only thing that would have been better would be if I'd just put a saddle on him with d-rings, and ridden him over with the cans attached to the saddle. Ah well.
The tack room is wonderful, now. Lots of floor, and I swept it so there's no longer the broken glass from the ex-lightbulb. I'm pretty pleased. I can't wait for the two new saddle racks, so my saddles no longer have to be stacked on top of each other. Plus, I found a nice pair of leathers. This was Phase 1 of organization, where I got everything off of the ground. Phase 2, I'm still debating on whether it's worthwhile, is where I try to put all the shit that does one thing in one place (like nosebands. Why do we have so many damn nosebands? And why aren't they in the same place?). We may not have enough hooks for it.
Expo is another post, I've decided.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Neglecting Star
So, the Colonel mission continues. Star has gotten no work at all lately. I haven't posted in a while and its starting to blur together in my memory. My two top priorities are getting The Calm and getting him to stop pulling on me. My side goal, which will become my main goal once I've got calm and self-carriage, is straightness. I too am going to need to pull out the arena exercises book, for the straightness part.
Going outside has been interesting. We went past the giant new gate/monster that the neighbor had installed. Its still got lots of little orange flags all over it, flapping in the breeze. I assume they function as a mating display to attract other gate-monsters. Colonel and I had a long discussion about whether or not we would be going past that thing. Ultimately after some backing up, some bolting/spinning and a lot of standing around, we decided that we would sidepass all the way down the line until we were clear of it. Seemed like a good comprimise to me. I got to keep his nose on the path, he got to keep his giant rear-end out of harm's way.
We also went through some water. Colonel is so cute and strangely calm going through the water. He splashes a lot and stares at his hooves when we go through the stream. Its his happy place in a world of terrors. Outside the water he is a prancy, trotting bastard.
In the arena, on the pulling front, things have gotten interesting. He seems to understand that casual pulling is not OK. So now he pulls only when he is fed up and feeling rebellious. Its like radiation hardening, but maybe thats not a joke for this crowd. I've upped the anti now. When he really bears down, he gets little half-halts on the reins while I hold my hands high. The more he irritates me the higher I go.
I'm also going to do some long line stuff with him. He needs to work on his transitions, particularly his trot to canter, and his trot to walk. Robert and I talked about (and I think I posted about) some long lining strategies for this guy. Hope it works out.
Sorry for the delayed, crummy, post; but its bed time, and I want to start fresh tomorrow with my usual style logs.
Going outside has been interesting. We went past the giant new gate/monster that the neighbor had installed. Its still got lots of little orange flags all over it, flapping in the breeze. I assume they function as a mating display to attract other gate-monsters. Colonel and I had a long discussion about whether or not we would be going past that thing. Ultimately after some backing up, some bolting/spinning and a lot of standing around, we decided that we would sidepass all the way down the line until we were clear of it. Seemed like a good comprimise to me. I got to keep his nose on the path, he got to keep his giant rear-end out of harm's way.
We also went through some water. Colonel is so cute and strangely calm going through the water. He splashes a lot and stares at his hooves when we go through the stream. Its his happy place in a world of terrors. Outside the water he is a prancy, trotting bastard.
In the arena, on the pulling front, things have gotten interesting. He seems to understand that casual pulling is not OK. So now he pulls only when he is fed up and feeling rebellious. Its like radiation hardening, but maybe thats not a joke for this crowd. I've upped the anti now. When he really bears down, he gets little half-halts on the reins while I hold my hands high. The more he irritates me the higher I go.
I'm also going to do some long line stuff with him. He needs to work on his transitions, particularly his trot to canter, and his trot to walk. Robert and I talked about (and I think I posted about) some long lining strategies for this guy. Hope it works out.
Sorry for the delayed, crummy, post; but its bed time, and I want to start fresh tomorrow with my usual style logs.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Bad ponies
Thursday Keno was a pain in the butt. I had to open the gate to get in the arena and when we turned to close it, he backed up, did a little hoppity rear thing, etc. I smacked him a few times with the crop and he settled down. But it was raining and sometimes the rain would drift in through the open side and he couldn't deal with it. He was resisting the bit and crooked and just generally unpleasant. When he decided maybe the answer was offering to rear, I trotted him a little longer, then lunged him for a few minutes. He turned and faced me a few times, but I got him moving again. Then we trotted around and around and around for probably about twenty minutes until he was relaxed, had his head down and was maintaining a light contact.
Saturday I got there and Robert and I pulled out Luca. Tillie is super-fascinated by him, and her fenceline offers her a really good look when she's in the crossties. She kept calling to him, and Luca is not one to resist a cute girl, so we had some talks about that. He'd fuss, and I'd say "Luuuucaaaa" in a deep voice and he'd stop and stare at me with the "who, me?" look. We put the collar etc. on and he really does look like a little draft horse. Robert took him out to pull the tire (to prepare for plowing). It was on the grass, and the ground was pretty soft, and Luca couldn't get the tire started with Robert on it. He was pretty game though, he'd try doing a pivot turn to get it started, it just wasn't moving. So Robert had to get off and let him drag it onto the gravel, then hopped on. It was clearly a lot of work for Luca, but you could see how much of it was working off his hind end- his front legs were moving freely, but his hinds stayed very underneath him. I went for a short ride with him afterwards with a saddle. He was fine with that, but kind of tired. His left lead is MUCH more reliable, but he has problems not dropping his shoulder in the corners. We're looking at a show in three weeks, in Astoria. Lunging Luca with a rider might be helpful.
Got Keno out, he was much better than Thursday. He didn't want to give me his face at the canter, so I sort of shrugged, and we cantered around until he did give it to me. I'm working on seeing what I do to ask for the canter, because I wouldn't be surprised if his random canters aren't completely based on his whims. Sweaty pony by the end, but not actually breathing very hard after a minute or two of walking. Sometimes I forget he's fit.
Niki had a major case of the crazies today. I'd closed her door because she was going outside and I didn't want her wet. She was bucking and rearing in her stall, even while I was in there, but as far away from me as she could possibly get. I hope she's in heat. She tacked up fine if a little wiggly, and I like how she'll stand very happily at the mounting block until I ask her to move out. We had more trot drama, especially left rein. She also did a little hoppity rear thing, which I wasn't impressed by. We kept trotting until she did it right, then walked. I've developed a policy where if she doesn't want to walk, okay, we don't walk. We trot for a while, then walk again. She's picking up on this. Halt and walking are definitely her happy places, but she's got enough energy she can't always deal with it right away. We spooked once at a corner but came right back. When I thought we were done and walking, she jigged so we trotted. She decided to trot sideways, so I began with using my leg to correct this. She promptly started cowkicking. Again, unimpressed. I figured if she really wanted to work on her lateral work, as long as she was trotting and going the right direction, I could care less. A few kicks later, Niki decided this was way too hard and went straight again. Then we walked.
I have a maybe-bad habit of working her on the far end of the arena because there are definitive corners there, where wall meets wall. As a result, she gets a little excited whenever we walk by the gate. I'm trying to compensate for this by walking all over the ring, and only doing trot circles in the far end. So, we headed outside. She was pretty okay with all of this, very alert but mostly relaxed. We stopped further from the culvert than before- there were power tool noises from the neighbors' archway, but also Shires plowing on the other side. She did remember about the pots with the grass in them, walked up and grabbed a mouthful. We spent a long time standing, going forward and backwards. I just sat there and kept her nose in the right direction. We made it up to the long puddle in front of the culvert, sidepassed over to the tree on the other side of the road, sidepassed back, and thought about it some more. I figured we weren't going to make it over today either, but asked her for a couple more steps. I think the Shires were the deciding factor for her. She took the couple steps, hesitated, and then walked over the culvert. We stopped, I hopped off, we went and untacked. She did another stupid reary thing when the Shires walked past her when I was taking her back to her stall, so we talked about that, and she seemed understanding if entirely unrepentant. I hope she was in heat, otherwise I'm in for a fun time for a while.
Saturday I got there and Robert and I pulled out Luca. Tillie is super-fascinated by him, and her fenceline offers her a really good look when she's in the crossties. She kept calling to him, and Luca is not one to resist a cute girl, so we had some talks about that. He'd fuss, and I'd say "Luuuucaaaa" in a deep voice and he'd stop and stare at me with the "who, me?" look. We put the collar etc. on and he really does look like a little draft horse. Robert took him out to pull the tire (to prepare for plowing). It was on the grass, and the ground was pretty soft, and Luca couldn't get the tire started with Robert on it. He was pretty game though, he'd try doing a pivot turn to get it started, it just wasn't moving. So Robert had to get off and let him drag it onto the gravel, then hopped on. It was clearly a lot of work for Luca, but you could see how much of it was working off his hind end- his front legs were moving freely, but his hinds stayed very underneath him. I went for a short ride with him afterwards with a saddle. He was fine with that, but kind of tired. His left lead is MUCH more reliable, but he has problems not dropping his shoulder in the corners. We're looking at a show in three weeks, in Astoria. Lunging Luca with a rider might be helpful.
Got Keno out, he was much better than Thursday. He didn't want to give me his face at the canter, so I sort of shrugged, and we cantered around until he did give it to me. I'm working on seeing what I do to ask for the canter, because I wouldn't be surprised if his random canters aren't completely based on his whims. Sweaty pony by the end, but not actually breathing very hard after a minute or two of walking. Sometimes I forget he's fit.
Niki had a major case of the crazies today. I'd closed her door because she was going outside and I didn't want her wet. She was bucking and rearing in her stall, even while I was in there, but as far away from me as she could possibly get. I hope she's in heat. She tacked up fine if a little wiggly, and I like how she'll stand very happily at the mounting block until I ask her to move out. We had more trot drama, especially left rein. She also did a little hoppity rear thing, which I wasn't impressed by. We kept trotting until she did it right, then walked. I've developed a policy where if she doesn't want to walk, okay, we don't walk. We trot for a while, then walk again. She's picking up on this. Halt and walking are definitely her happy places, but she's got enough energy she can't always deal with it right away. We spooked once at a corner but came right back. When I thought we were done and walking, she jigged so we trotted. She decided to trot sideways, so I began with using my leg to correct this. She promptly started cowkicking. Again, unimpressed. I figured if she really wanted to work on her lateral work, as long as she was trotting and going the right direction, I could care less. A few kicks later, Niki decided this was way too hard and went straight again. Then we walked.
I have a maybe-bad habit of working her on the far end of the arena because there are definitive corners there, where wall meets wall. As a result, she gets a little excited whenever we walk by the gate. I'm trying to compensate for this by walking all over the ring, and only doing trot circles in the far end. So, we headed outside. She was pretty okay with all of this, very alert but mostly relaxed. We stopped further from the culvert than before- there were power tool noises from the neighbors' archway, but also Shires plowing on the other side. She did remember about the pots with the grass in them, walked up and grabbed a mouthful. We spent a long time standing, going forward and backwards. I just sat there and kept her nose in the right direction. We made it up to the long puddle in front of the culvert, sidepassed over to the tree on the other side of the road, sidepassed back, and thought about it some more. I figured we weren't going to make it over today either, but asked her for a couple more steps. I think the Shires were the deciding factor for her. She took the couple steps, hesitated, and then walked over the culvert. We stopped, I hopped off, we went and untacked. She did another stupid reary thing when the Shires walked past her when I was taking her back to her stall, so we talked about that, and she seemed understanding if entirely unrepentant. I hope she was in heat, otherwise I'm in for a fun time for a while.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Experimenting
Finally got out on Tuesday after being sick all week last week. Star holds up pretty well mentally after a break (although Alyssa points out, correctly I think, I tend to ask her for more than I probably should after these breaks.) Colonel probably should go out 6 days a week and work up a sweat nearly every one of them just to keep him mentally fit, but his ability to recover from downtime has improved.
The first thing I experimented with today was looking at different saddles on Star. I'm not super happy with how the dressage saddle fits her, but it seems to be radically better than basically any of the other ones. I think its probably fine. She doesn't really have any girthing issues so maybe her sourness is because I ask too much of her when shes out there. Its not terrible really, she's just been avoiding being caught a lot more than I'm used to.
I tried listening to music while I ride today. I think that for longer conditioning type rides it might be a nice thing. It distracts me from my psychological fatigue. I dont have much of an impulse (so far) to match the beat of the music like Alyssa does so I can listen to basically anything. I just need one of those thingies that you attach to your upper arm to hold your music player. (I'm using my palm pilot because I'm old school like that.)
Most of all I worked on something I read in the blogosphere. Long and Low. its something I think I had heard of before, but I found a nice explanation of the execution here and here. Basically what I wound up doing (my interpretation of what they were explaining) is riding Star until she relaxed a little mentally. Took my normal contact, then I pushed my hands forward (which dropped the contact) and then pushed her with my legs (hoping that she'd pick up the contact again.) I think it was helpful. She did wind up seeking a light contact about 40% of the time. I'm thinking this might get higher as I get better at asking for it and she gets at doing it. When she did reach for the bit, she took nice light contact, and her trot became more comfortable, which I attribute to her using her back more. When her body is "in a frame" its pretty obvious that she's lifting her back better. With the long and low work its more subtle but its definitely there. I'm not totally sure how this is supposed to be turned into collection, but its obviously helping her use her back properly; and I think the next post at Glenshee e-questrian center might explain this. It will be a while before I'll know whether or not its working.
At work we are now seeing patients only on Mondays, so I think I'm going to start coming out to the barn every tuesday and thursday and probably saturday once I re-arrange a few things. I'm thinking the consistency will help a lot to speed up these already slow processes.
Speaking of slow progress, the next horse I rode was Colonel. I didn't have a whole lot of time for him before feeding. We continued to work on calm walking and trotting without pulling on me. The calm part was going rather well. After a little while trotting around the pulling started. Maybe he really does get bored. I dont think of Colonel as a horse with the intellectual capacity to be bored, but who knows?
As I think I've written before, the current anti-pulling method I'm testing is pushing him forward when he pulls. Once he has stopped pulling on me I use mostly my seat to slow him back down to what we were doing before. Its too soon to tell how its working. In the short run bumping him puts his head back up. Hopefully in the long run it will make him reluctant to pull on me. Once he gets tense then bumping him is way less effective in bringing his head back up.
This I found out after sitting on him for a conversation with Robert, and then Robert leaving, plus returning to working, which also involved leaving the spot where Alyssa and Keno were standing. Poor guys happy place was just ripped apart, and he let me know it. So there was a lot of zooming around the arena at a speedy, choppy trot, getting speedier and choppier every time he pulled on me because he wasn't interested in slowing down once I had pushed him forward. Then Keno left the arena just as we were starting to calm down. This he recovered from much faster than before. Could this be a sign of learning? As always, time will tell.
Robert says we both need about 500 miles of good road. I'm waiting for the ground to dry up so we can get back to riding outside. Summer '07 he was pretty much fine to work out in the field, from a spooking standpoint. I think I can get him that way again, and then work with him on the pulling and speed control issues. Until then its all arena work.
Sigh.
The first thing I experimented with today was looking at different saddles on Star. I'm not super happy with how the dressage saddle fits her, but it seems to be radically better than basically any of the other ones. I think its probably fine. She doesn't really have any girthing issues so maybe her sourness is because I ask too much of her when shes out there. Its not terrible really, she's just been avoiding being caught a lot more than I'm used to.
I tried listening to music while I ride today. I think that for longer conditioning type rides it might be a nice thing. It distracts me from my psychological fatigue. I dont have much of an impulse (so far) to match the beat of the music like Alyssa does so I can listen to basically anything. I just need one of those thingies that you attach to your upper arm to hold your music player. (I'm using my palm pilot because I'm old school like that.)
Most of all I worked on something I read in the blogosphere. Long and Low. its something I think I had heard of before, but I found a nice explanation of the execution here and here. Basically what I wound up doing (my interpretation of what they were explaining) is riding Star until she relaxed a little mentally. Took my normal contact, then I pushed my hands forward (which dropped the contact) and then pushed her with my legs (hoping that she'd pick up the contact again.) I think it was helpful. She did wind up seeking a light contact about 40% of the time. I'm thinking this might get higher as I get better at asking for it and she gets at doing it. When she did reach for the bit, she took nice light contact, and her trot became more comfortable, which I attribute to her using her back more. When her body is "in a frame" its pretty obvious that she's lifting her back better. With the long and low work its more subtle but its definitely there. I'm not totally sure how this is supposed to be turned into collection, but its obviously helping her use her back properly; and I think the next post at Glenshee e-questrian center might explain this. It will be a while before I'll know whether or not its working.
At work we are now seeing patients only on Mondays, so I think I'm going to start coming out to the barn every tuesday and thursday and probably saturday once I re-arrange a few things. I'm thinking the consistency will help a lot to speed up these already slow processes.
Speaking of slow progress, the next horse I rode was Colonel. I didn't have a whole lot of time for him before feeding. We continued to work on calm walking and trotting without pulling on me. The calm part was going rather well. After a little while trotting around the pulling started. Maybe he really does get bored. I dont think of Colonel as a horse with the intellectual capacity to be bored, but who knows?
As I think I've written before, the current anti-pulling method I'm testing is pushing him forward when he pulls. Once he has stopped pulling on me I use mostly my seat to slow him back down to what we were doing before. Its too soon to tell how its working. In the short run bumping him puts his head back up. Hopefully in the long run it will make him reluctant to pull on me. Once he gets tense then bumping him is way less effective in bringing his head back up.
This I found out after sitting on him for a conversation with Robert, and then Robert leaving, plus returning to working, which also involved leaving the spot where Alyssa and Keno were standing. Poor guys happy place was just ripped apart, and he let me know it. So there was a lot of zooming around the arena at a speedy, choppy trot, getting speedier and choppier every time he pulled on me because he wasn't interested in slowing down once I had pushed him forward. Then Keno left the arena just as we were starting to calm down. This he recovered from much faster than before. Could this be a sign of learning? As always, time will tell.
Robert says we both need about 500 miles of good road. I'm waiting for the ground to dry up so we can get back to riding outside. Summer '07 he was pretty much fine to work out in the field, from a spooking standpoint. I think I can get him that way again, and then work with him on the pulling and speed control issues. Until then its all arena work.
Sigh.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Good ponies
Thursday I rode Luca, he was good enough there's nothing memorable about it. I also worked Tillie re: leading because she wanted to be an idiot over everything. There was a marked improvement by the end. I think she's probably like her dad, she knows the rules but doesn't mind a bit if you don't enforce them. I drove Reno with Robert, then helped Chris (I think? Or Colleen) harness Rocky before cooling Reno out and unharnessing. I had enough time to walk Keno around the little dressage arena thing once or twice before it was time to feed.
Saturday was pretty deserted, since Gillian was busy and Robert was at a show with Reno. I rallied my courage and took Niki out for a spin all by ourselves, saddled and whatnot. Cari and her boys showed up so I figured as long as I left the gate open, if Niki killed me she'd probably run back to the barn, and someone would notice and investigate. The ride went pretty well, nothing worse than regular greenie. She was about as upset at any given time as Star gets about cantering, so life could be worse. She really wanted to inspect Mamacat, who is ginormous and looks like she's about to pop. I rode Keno for a while, it was a windy day and he acted up a little bit, but not too bad.
Tuesday I got there and Gillian was tacking up Star, so we played with saddles for a little bit. Imp etc. came back and Robert and Linda and I played with saddles some more, which is fun. They jokingly suggested I jump Imp.... mwahahahahaha. I don't think I've seen him canter before, but his trot is not a jumping trot.
I got Niki out while Robert was at lunch. She was good again. We have a lot of resistance at the trot, between speeding up and headshaking. This is a problem especially around the corners. Saturday she had a little bit of an epiphany where, oh hey, it's easier to do corners if I'm not counterbent, weird! And it got better, but it was pretty bad today too. So we did a 20m squareish thing. I'd half halt a few times before each corner, just with the inside rein, and that cleared everything up a LOT for her. Much steadier pace, and no head shaking. We even did some loose serpentines. She's resistant to the idea of not being on the wall, but we can work on that and it will be fine.
She was walking around on a loose rein, very pleased with herself, and I figured that was the place to stop arena work at. We went outside and my goal was to cross the culvert today. She had a moment of confusion where she clearly asked me why we weren't going to the hay barn, but kept moving pretty happily. There were plastic pots for plants that she was uncertain about until she figured out that grass was growing in them! Om nom nom. We stopped about twenty feet out from the culvert when Niki was struck with suspicion for the water running under the bridge. She wasn't terribly stressed, ears forward, she clearly wanted to go to the other side and go exploring but just didn't have the confidence under saddle. We edged forward until a flock of birds flew out from the reeds and spooked her hard. We backed up until we almost ran into a tree (and I was just imagining the result of that on a mare who can't deal with anything behind her), but I got her turned and moving forward, at which point I hopped off and led her over the culvert a couple times. The first time she was definitely uneasy. I have a fair bit of patience as long as she's uncertain over something, rather than just having a hissy fit. She does go willingly through puddles, which I find way too entertaining.
Rode Luca, he was pretty good. More focused on Rocky and Robert outside than me on occasion, but honest and willing. I think the saddle fit was a big part of his misbehavior, but asking a lot more of him than just "go this gait along the rail for ten laps" makes him think too, which is nice. We worked on opening a rein and leg/seat pressure turning, which is my version of neckreining- dunno how the western trainers do it. I got Luca turning fairly reliably as long as I remembered to use my seat. Gillian and I determined that while it's close, I cannot quite touch my toes under his barrel. Luca was a little offended by this but bore up well.
I sat on Keno for about ten minutes just because I wanted to sit on him. He was pretty happy with this arrangement. Definitely beats working.
Saturday was pretty deserted, since Gillian was busy and Robert was at a show with Reno. I rallied my courage and took Niki out for a spin all by ourselves, saddled and whatnot. Cari and her boys showed up so I figured as long as I left the gate open, if Niki killed me she'd probably run back to the barn, and someone would notice and investigate. The ride went pretty well, nothing worse than regular greenie. She was about as upset at any given time as Star gets about cantering, so life could be worse. She really wanted to inspect Mamacat, who is ginormous and looks like she's about to pop. I rode Keno for a while, it was a windy day and he acted up a little bit, but not too bad.
Tuesday I got there and Gillian was tacking up Star, so we played with saddles for a little bit. Imp etc. came back and Robert and Linda and I played with saddles some more, which is fun. They jokingly suggested I jump Imp.... mwahahahahaha. I don't think I've seen him canter before, but his trot is not a jumping trot.
I got Niki out while Robert was at lunch. She was good again. We have a lot of resistance at the trot, between speeding up and headshaking. This is a problem especially around the corners. Saturday she had a little bit of an epiphany where, oh hey, it's easier to do corners if I'm not counterbent, weird! And it got better, but it was pretty bad today too. So we did a 20m squareish thing. I'd half halt a few times before each corner, just with the inside rein, and that cleared everything up a LOT for her. Much steadier pace, and no head shaking. We even did some loose serpentines. She's resistant to the idea of not being on the wall, but we can work on that and it will be fine.
She was walking around on a loose rein, very pleased with herself, and I figured that was the place to stop arena work at. We went outside and my goal was to cross the culvert today. She had a moment of confusion where she clearly asked me why we weren't going to the hay barn, but kept moving pretty happily. There were plastic pots for plants that she was uncertain about until she figured out that grass was growing in them! Om nom nom. We stopped about twenty feet out from the culvert when Niki was struck with suspicion for the water running under the bridge. She wasn't terribly stressed, ears forward, she clearly wanted to go to the other side and go exploring but just didn't have the confidence under saddle. We edged forward until a flock of birds flew out from the reeds and spooked her hard. We backed up until we almost ran into a tree (and I was just imagining the result of that on a mare who can't deal with anything behind her), but I got her turned and moving forward, at which point I hopped off and led her over the culvert a couple times. The first time she was definitely uneasy. I have a fair bit of patience as long as she's uncertain over something, rather than just having a hissy fit. She does go willingly through puddles, which I find way too entertaining.
Rode Luca, he was pretty good. More focused on Rocky and Robert outside than me on occasion, but honest and willing. I think the saddle fit was a big part of his misbehavior, but asking a lot more of him than just "go this gait along the rail for ten laps" makes him think too, which is nice. We worked on opening a rein and leg/seat pressure turning, which is my version of neckreining- dunno how the western trainers do it. I got Luca turning fairly reliably as long as I remembered to use my seat. Gillian and I determined that while it's close, I cannot quite touch my toes under his barrel. Luca was a little offended by this but bore up well.
I sat on Keno for about ten minutes just because I wanted to sit on him. He was pretty happy with this arrangement. Definitely beats working.
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