Feel the burn

Another day of horse subduing heat!

Colonel is now officially too skinny to ride. We dont have a saddle that sufficiently clears his withers. Robert says they've got him back on his grain, so hopefully we'll be back to riding soon.

Anyway, I decided not to waste a day of training with him, and I got out the surcingle and crupper. Colonel wasn't exactly thrilled. Out on the long lines we practiced our follow your nose routine. I gave him some pressure on the inside rein, as soon as he stepped with his inside leg, release, when he kept turning after the release, outside rein to straighten him out. After a while he got a bit sour on his turns, but he eventually figured out that if he went straight when I released the pressure then he didn't get any outside rein. We zig-zagged all over the arena like this.

We also practiced driving in squares and triangles. Let me tell you, that is very difficult work. Poor Colonel, every time he started anticipating a particular shape, I switched it on him. His desire to do what he's told is admirable. His inability to wait until he's told what to do is annoying, and frustrating for both of us. I'm thinking that if I can get it into his head that he should follow his nose then he can do that without being asked and everyone will be happy. Right? I can dream, anyway.

Next thing we did was something from a book I have. I took the inside rein out of the surcingle so there was just a straight line between my hand and the bit. My theory is that this better simulates and opening rein. Colonel has a nasty habit of massively over doing his turns if you ask with the leading rein, as I've discussed before. We did more squares and triangles, and then I added a spiral in spiral out exercise. Really it was more like a spiral in, walk straight out exercise. He followed his nose in pretty nicely. He still wanted to circle a little, just out of habit, when I straightened him out, but it wasn't bad.

It could easily be my imagination, but he seemed to be getting it. At least, he seemed to be getting the idea that a short pull means a shallow turn while a longer pull means a sharper turn.

After talking with Robert for a while it was time to get Star out. Basically the plan was to do the same things we did on Saturday.

She was a little more reactive to everything than usual. I attributed this to the fact that today we were working her bad direction. She bolted past the hay monster right off the bat, no stopping and staring. (Improvement? Dunno.) It took two loops around but we got a nice comfy trot going. I was very much enjoying myself.

We picked up our canter a little after passing the hay monster, and quickly sped up to a hand gallop towards the barn. I asked her with my voice to take it easy. She basically ignored me. She gave me two slower strides and then was right back up. I decided this was fine anyway. It was smooth and straight and I felt secure. I felt so secure in fact, that we galloped around the turn and all the way past the culvert. The instant we passed the culvert we went from a hand gallop to a relatively relaxed (but still extended) canter. I decided we may as well keep going up the long/scary side. I decided to avoid the gate so that Star wouldn't fuss about it and break gait. Bad move. She remembered it was there and was somewhat alarmed that I was keeping my distance this time. Give 'em an inch... but actually it was only a brief trot interlude before we were back to cantering, and I brought us back to the fence. She was expecting to stop before the curves so gave her a push to let her know we were going to keep going.

I let her avoid the spot she hates through the first turn. I pushed her through the former mud puddle and into the second turn. We finished the second turn but I decided we'd quit before going past the hay monster. As we both caught our breath I looked down and saw that she had worked up a nice little lather on her neck and around her saddle pad. That didn't stop her from bolting past the hay monster. It didn't matter. We had gone 3/4 of the way around the field. At least. I wasn't feeling especially wiped out. (I would have gone around again if Star had been up to it.) My longtime goal of circumnavigating the field at a canter is within my grasp.

I probably would not have been so bold if I had realized at the time that Star was massively massively in heat. I first noticed the evidence when I was rinsing her off. After her bath I led her out to the pasture and she and Luka were both having conniption fits as she passed by his stall. She did all the classic she-whore stuff on our way out to graze, very scandalous.

Niki pitched a fit so I brought her out too. Later she didn't want to be caught, the little vixen, so I chased her around with a rope. Eventually she decided she didn't want to do that anymore. When I went to get Star, she was no trouble at all. She'd done all the running that day that she stand.