A Study in Forward 4: Jumping. Whoops.

attention fear gerbils

After dressage, I stuck Courage in his stall with hay for an hour or so so he could just chill out and I could walk the course. I told myself I was calm, but I was steadily moving into brain-panic-XC mode. Yes, I know they were wee tiny cross rails that we can walk over. I didn't anticipate just how bad taking a green horse XC would kick off the panic function and let all the fear gerbils have a party in my brain.

I mean... Courage does open space and trails, no problem. He's been exposed to all the cross country elements, no problem. He jumps, no problem.

Clearly, I am the one with the problem.

Sigh.

Totally unconcerned

I pulled him out of his stall and put tack on. I had a whole new (normal) horse. He was all "O HAI PLAYING JUMP JUMP I AM THE BEST AT THIS". Seriously. Total 180. We walked out to the jump warm up on a loose rein with no antics and no screaming.

We wandered around warm up.

We watched other horses go by.

I did some walk/trot transitions with him and tried to incorporate the little bit of terrain into my riding plan, but mostly I was in full-on brain panic mode "AHHHH GOING TO DIE DO NOT WANT MORE BROKEN BONES AHHHH GIANT SOLID XRAILS OF DEATH."

No.

HULLO JUMP JUMP WORLD

I can't explain it. I am terrible at emotions and this was a straight-up gut response to fear of bodily harm. Between the deer leaping last week and my on going XC issues, it wasn't pretty. I trotted and cantered over the baby cross rails in warm up while redheadlins said things like "LEG ON" and "DON'T PULL" and probably muttered a string of well-deserved expletives about why the hell she spends so much time helping us if I'm going to show up and not ride, but she's too nice to say those things out loud.

always duck when you re-present

Anyways. It was finally our turn to go. The first jump was going down a slightly inclined plane. Not even a hill. I'd walked the course a couple times with Alyssa and we'd talked about how we needed to ride positively, blah blah blah.

I'd like to say I'm writing a book called "Pulling Your Way to Success: The Way Ammies and Green Horses Don't Get Around XC", but the truth is I just had total brain freeze, took my leg off completely and pulled all the way to the fence.

obviously he was terrified

Shocker, he stopped.

We circled around and hopped over it. He landed cantering, so I pulled some more, though I did manage to kick just in time to get him over #2.

Because this was going so well.

We walked our terrain change (crossing a road) and said hello to our fans, but I never really got him in front of my leg. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

He didn't think it looked dangerous, but I said it was

We made it over the next jump or two, but then we had to turn the corner and head towards a field of cows, which is something we are not the best at yet. He took a hard look at the cows (since SOMEONE was neither steering nor kicking), then decided against the jump.

Oh, and he slipped, which was all "DANGER COURAGE ROBINSON DO NOT ATTEMPT". I presented twice and then was like "screw it, not fighting him over a crossrail and BRAIN PANIC WE WILL SURELY DEER LEAP AND DIIIIIIIIE"

pull, pull, pull your horse slowly to a stop

And yeah, I wish I was exaggerating.

So we skipped the jump. We made it over the next one, then the course doubled back on itself. Here's the thing. If you take a smart, older OTTB and tell him that the little black cross rail is dangerous and then don't ever bother to kick and just let him camp behind your leg, you aren't going to "trick" him into jumping the X the other direction on the basis that he doesn't know it's the same jump. He totally does and you are an idiot.

So we skipped it again.

merrily, merrily, merrily he will bail you out

Not my proudest moment. On the other hand, we were (obviously) not in contention to win and we are trying to accrue calm, positive experiences. Maybe next time we'll go for calm, positive and SUCCESSFUL or something crazy.

So anyways. We trot/cantered the rest of the course and he was a total star even though I continued to not kick and usually pull. I don't know why. I can say quite authoritatively that riding backwards isn't incredibly useful, but I think I'd already done that survey before.

So there you go. If in doubt, kick instead of pull.

I guess I'm not sure where that leaves me. In hindsight, I probably should have put redheadlins in the tack for the weekend because she would have gotten him around and I could have seen him do it and maybe calmed down. I didn't do that and I can't change it.

I'm really frustrated with myself for my total inability to just get out there and ride like I know I can. Courage showed up and did great. I'm not sure what more I could expect from a green horse who was totally guessing on what he was supposed to do... like if I ride completely opposite of how I do at home, is he then still supposed to do the same thing or change?

dat ass

It's a fair question. We'll be addressing it this coming weekend. I signed him up for a cross country clinic at the facility and am practicing my kicking skills in the mean time.

PS If you're asking "wtf sprinklerbandit, don't you want to do hunters? If you suck at XC this much, maybe it's time to give it up. Why are you still trying?"

That is a good question.

I don't know.

A Study in Forward 2: Show Prep

I am the best at stealing video stills off of cameras

Courage got Friday off since both of us (I think) wee sore from leaping. My back needed time to recover, that's for sure. We were signed up to go do an event derby on Sunday, so Saturday redheadlins and I dragged a jump out into the field and decided to spin around out there.

It was good. Magical, even. Courage was slightly invigorated by the new environment and the open space. He gave me the BEST trot work I have gotten--light, engaged, uphill and forward. I was just trotting around smiling and not kicking.

Notice that. It comes up later.

We also cantered around a bit on both leads. Even though I know that Courage runs full tilt through his field and always keeps his feet, I was worried to push him forward for fear of slipping.

I know. wtf.

All was well until we went to jump. I trotted Courage towards the tiny X and focused on steady contact with the outside rein and how pretty and floaty he felt. I never bothered to actually put any leg on...

...which was really obvious when he parked it in front of the jump.

Dammit.

yay cantering!

He's starting to understand what leg is for, but I have to teach and support him and above all BE CONSISTENT so he can get this thing figured out. Sigh. We re-presented the fence and I practiced grabbing my neck strap. I was finding it nearly impossible to grab that strap and do anything else like "steer" or "kick", but we sort of got it together and ended on a really positive note.

I was surprised how nervous I was to jump Courage in the field. I kept expecting him to squirt off and flail or do something naughty, but he never even really offered that behavior.

Still. I coasted on the forward momentum that he generated and didn't worry too much about kicking. It mostly worked out because we were at home and he wasn't stressed, but that's not a really great plan when you are taking a green horse to his first real show in less than 24 hours.

Not that I would know anything about that...

A Study in Forward 1: Lesson

What can he be the best at today?

Lest you think I am completely insane, here's a better write up of our lesson from Thursday. It wasn't all deer leaps and craziness.

We started out trotting through 6 poles set 2.5' apart. If that sounds really short to you, well, it is. The idea was that the spacing between the poles would teach the horses to compress their strides and the number of poles would make the riders actually have to plan ahead.










I'll be honest. I was really impressed that not one single time did Courage leap the poles. That was his MO last year. Hooray for starting to grow up! It was a really interesting exercise because I had to determine the right balance to bring him in with, then figure out how to maintain it without pulling on him. The first three poles were easy, the last three not so much. We did end up nailing it each direction, but it's an exercise I'd love to set again and play with.










Then we progressed to three canter poles. These were to encourage a longer stride while keeping the balance up and bouncy. Not gonna lie, we pretty much rocked them. I felt like a total badass in the saddle. I was like "Courage, go forward! I'm balanced with my leg on!" and he was all "HELLZ YEAH I AM THE BEST AT CANTER POLES!!!"

Of course, then came the grid. It was nearly identical to the one we did in our last lesson with S, except it was a canter in instead of a trot in.

quack quack

We started out with a simple rail to an X. Courage was completely unimpresed. I focused on riding positively to the line, giving with my hands, and keeping my chest up.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to give your hands and not duck your chest. Maybe it's just me?

Anyways. C-rage was being a little rock star. We were cantering in and making some tight turns going to the line and I was THRILLED with how he was able to handle his balance and stay connected through all that. He couldn't have done it two weeks ago.

Our instructor is really big on horses being adjustable. Any time you go to approach the jump, she wants the horse in a place where you are able to send them forward or bring them back at a moment's notice without breaking gait.



Again, I was really happy with how responsive Courage was. He's not all there, not yet, but we had one moment where I was doing a prep circle before going to the exercise and I closed my leg and he just ZOOMED. Go go baby horse!! Obviously (to anyone who read Friday's post) it's not a confirmed response yet, but it's coming along.

I was really pleased with how Courage was able to use his neck and body over the lower jumps. He definitely understood the exercise and was busy being the best at it.







We moved the second jump up to a good sized (for him) vertical, and the little man was still quite debonair. He was straight and committed to the line and forward and rideable. All good things.

Which brings us to explaining the epic deer leaping shots. Once we added the back rail to the oxer, Courage was trying SO HARD to BE THE BEST at... whatever... that he slowed down to look at the question and didn't erspond when I put my leg on. He deer leaped the first time and kind of scared himself. He deer leaped even harder the second time because if it didn't work once, try even harder next time, right?

I totally sympathize with that mindset. Overachiever problems.

We dropped the back rail and added a placing pole on the far side to make the question easier for him.

Jump inspection! Thanks to horselessinhalifax

Then he tried to stop at the X and run out at the vertical.

He wasn't naughty, he was just worried and not understanding how to use his body to answer the question. We were giving him all the tools, but he isn't quite broke enough on the flat for me to tell him how to do it and he's too green over fences to figure it out on his own.

So we made the question even easier. I brought him back to the vertical at the walk and my trainer dropped it to a ground pole. We hop/walked out.

Then she raised it to half a cross rail.

Courage was still unsure and very wiggly, which is uncharacteristic of him. I let him trot in/canter out a few times until he felt more comfortable and confident.

Finally, he started taking me to the jump again. Bold expression, going forward.

We talked about needing to build his comfort zone by starting with easy things, then doing hard things, then doing easy things. He needs to finish every session feeling like King Kong, but he can't always stay there or it will be hard to progress, basically.

Still. We've made a ton of progress in the past few weeks. The fact that I don't consistently ride him forward and he isn't confirmed moving off my leg yet... was just going to bite us in the ass again. Hard.

To be continued...

Progress

Calm and classy

Let's just say it's been a rough few weeks in my world. When I found the time to go for a ride on C-rage,, I was so overwhelmed that I was basically non-functioning. We'd cruise around and he would be very good, but we weren't accomplishing anything.


I took his stunning lunging picture last week and I realized that I wanted that same balance and cadence under saddle.


So I rode a little better.

 And Redheadlins took video.



I appreciated the time she put in to it, and I decided that I wanted to take it up another level. In the video, I just see a horse that could do so much better and a rider who's ineffective. 

Dat face doh

I wanted to cheat and sneak in a trainer ride so I could still just cruise around while he's even more perfect, but the universe foiled my plan.

Instead, I found myself hopping on in arena traffic. He came out a little snarky and even gave a buck when I tapped him behind my leg with my whip. C-rage for sure!

We both took that as incentive. I rode him forward into a steady contact and reinforced my leg with my whip to get him more responsive. We cantered before we trotted to get his back loose.

Every stride, I asked myself, "What about this ride is different because I am in the irons?"

Making a difference

If he got stiff or rushed or fell behind my leg, I would make a change. We circled and did sepentines. We were both actively engaged in the ride.

He did some of his best work ever. Period. Flatwork is so ridiculously easy for this horse.

We wrapped up our ride with a little hack around the field.

When I got off, I was in a much better place mentally. Life will spin out of control anytime it feels like it, but I can take my little corner and actively make it better. With Courage, I don't have to settle for the status quo. Why just let him be my respite when together we can add just a little bit of relaxation and control?

I don't know what I'd do without my little man.

Wherein We Take a Lesson

Wheee!

AKA "Courage is the best at flailing" AKA "WHO LET THE RACEHORSE OUT?"

When S came out to give us a lesson, it was the second time she had ever seen Courage. The first time, he was just a couple weeks off the track and we hauled to her barn and hacked around for some exposure. We never even trotted.

She watched us walk around for about thirty seconds and honed in on our issues immediately. "He needs to be more responsive to your leg," she said. She talked about being very still in the saddle and using my aids effectively vs nagging him constantly. I think redheadlins wanted to hit me with a bat, since she's pretty much said the same thing every ride. Oops.

Anyways. We started out just doing walk/trot transitions on a circle. Because the little dude is a quick learned, he figured it out in about two circles and was all "OMG LOOK AT ME I AM THE BEST AT GOING FORWARD FROM THE LEG". Yeah, it was pretty cute. I had to focus really hard on keeping my heels down and my leg very, very quiet.

Then we did trot/canter transitions. He's always been pretty good at these, but he cross-applied the principles really well and was quite snappy. We did some nice work on the left lead, then changed directions.

We picked up the right lead nicely once. We came back to trot and re-balanced, all very polite. We picked up the right lead a second time and all of a sudden I had C-rage's head in my lap and legs were going everywhere and his butt had disappeared and I had no idea what was happening. I pointed him at the arena fence to get combobulated since obviously reins were getting me nowhere and S shouts "KICK HIM AND KEEP ON GOING!!"

So I did. He got himself put back together and we carried on. Huh.

After the goofy halt

We chatted for a bit while he stood on a loose rein. Then we were off to do a pattern/quasi dressage test. Courage was all "GOING FORWARD IS SOOOOO FUN LOOK HOW FAST I CAN TROT I AM THE BEST AT FAST". He did the classic green horse halt at x, running forward with his mouth gaping and his nose straight in the air. All I can do is laugh and say "Really. He's never, ever done this before."

We go through the pattern, working on managing his rhythm with my posting and staying completely out of his face so he can focus on forward. All is well (and fast) until we come around the corner and pick up the right lead. He sort of launches forward and flings his legs in all directions and his head is flying and I have no idea what's happening.

As per S, I just keep kicking him forward and stay out of his face. I pick a point and ride to it (giving him direction) and just completely ignore his nutso spaz fit. I still had no idea what he was doing, but he's very balanced while doing in it, so I just stayed in the middle. Every time we hit the longside of the arena by the hay barn, he's scoot off again, but slightly less dramatically than the last time. He even threw in a mini buck, which was strange and sort of hilarious.

First lesson complete

Once we got a little more organized and less spastic, I brought him back to the trot. We did some serpentines to get him balanced and focused, then a little more (spaz free) canter, and ended with big serpentines across the arena to engage his hind end.

And then we walked over to chat with S and he stood on a loose rein like nothing ever happened. Goof head.

Lindsey was a little too busy "watching" and "paying attention" to get video of our more epic flails, but here's some lesson video with his first attempt towards the end.

It was definitely a learning curve for both of us and I'm still laughing about his antics. He got Monday off, but I'm looking forward to putting our lessons to use this week and seeing what we can take away. Many thanks to S for teaching and Linds for videoing and taking pictures! 

Learning to Go

Plus I had to wear this cute jacket

After watching the videos and reading the summaries of the William Fox Pitt clinic this week, I decided that the little man and I needed to step things up a notch. My goal is to get him on the lesson calendar and haul him over to the fancy trainer's barn, but before we do that, I thought we needed to address a couple of training holes.

My number one concern has been that I didn't feel like Courage had a solid "go" button. I mean, he's always going somewhere. It's just that I don't feel that I can close my leg and say "now" and have him respond.




So I went the most obvious route and threw redheadlins up on him.

Not only is she braver and a better rider than I am, but she's also spent plenty of time galloping race horses at the track. If anyone can go forward on a Thoroughbred, it's her. They had a lovely warmup and then cantered off.

I did my best to scrape my jaw off the arena sand as she effortlessly opened him up down the long side of the arena and then brought him back to do balanced canter circles in the ends. Hm. Apparently the go button is just fine.

Someday we'll have a tail.

Then it was my turn. I got to learn about galloping position, plus shorten my stirrups. We cantered around while I figured life out.

This is probably the most cantering C-rage has done since he came home with me, but in his normal style, he continued trying 110% to do everything we asked.

He is the best at galloping

Finally, I got myself more or less organized in the saddle. We turned up the long side, I adjusted my position, and his stride completely changed. For a moment, I thought he had spooked and was scooting off. Then I realized that I was riding an uphill gallop. I was nowhere near his top gear, and it felt AMAZING.

Oh yes. He has a go button.

I am excited to continue figuring him out--he definitely told me when I hit galloping position and I didn't even have to touch the reins to bring him back. We definitely aren't ready for WFP and we have more work to do before we go to our lesson. That said, THIS HORSE IS AWESOME.

Seriously. I am so excited for what we're going to do together.

Progress!!!

Stephanie's working students from the summer are back in town for Christmas break, and we've been having a lot of fun. Here we are going for a lovely hack in the mountains. I'm riding Topaz the appy gelding, and directly in front of his ears is Izzy with a senior student up.

She looks good, doesn't she? She was calm and relaxed throughout, as long as she didn't have to lead. It's good to get her out there and good for me to see her behaving herself so I'm better able to try next time.

After such a leisurely Tuesday, I was supposed to have a jumping lesson today. I also have work commitments and a ton of crap to get done before the weekend, so I had to abridge it rather sharply. I got on a walked a bit, then Stephanie told us to gallop. I asked Izzy for her right lead, which she gave me from a walk, and we were OFF!!

Not like falling off; no, mareface went gallopity-gallop down the long side and around the turn and was going faster than I have ever felt her go before.

And I was having a blast. I mean, OMG MY HORSE WAS FORWARD!!! I jumped the pony yesterday, who is a totally different ride, and rode Steph's big grey mare the day before, so I've really been mixing it up lately. Anyways. We galloped one way, then changed directions through the middle (yes Izzy does perfect flying changes. What?) and GALLOPED the other way. Not a canter. Not a hand gallop. Not me sitting there nagging her with my leg. Nope, mare was going.

We trotted and cantered over one of Steph's massive crossrails (if it's not at least 2' in the middle, it doesn't count apparently), focusing on staying straight and balanced and maintaining lines of direction. It was incredibly weird to have to rate Izzy a bit on the circles--usually all I do it kick, kick, kick to keep her going.

Wow. I love forward Izzy. Also, I noticed that our girth was just a tich loose when we went over the first jump. Great incentive to stay balanced over the middle! I have never been so bummed to cut a lesson short. There is a super fun looking course set up that we totally could have rocked if I didn't have to leave.

Finding Our Way

I rode Izzy on Monday night, our first ride in almost a week. We had to ride indoors, so it was dusty and I felt cramped in the small area, plus the footing sucks.

Plus neither of us had worked in 6 days.

I could make a whole list of excuses, but it was a totally lackluster ride. We had a few moments that were ok, but nothing worth talking about. After stewing about it all day Tuesday at work, I came up with a new plan.

So yesterday I put the jump tack on Izzy--not to jump, but just to ride around in. I put her super cute boots on and we went to the outdoor area. Solo's mom had mentioned working over variable terrain get Izzy to watch her footing more, and if the footing in the outdoor is anything right now, it's variable. (Someone tried to work it with the tractor while it was still basically a lake. Now we have ruts! And sinkholes!)

I kept Izzy on a long, loopy rein as we walked, trotted, and cantered around. I focused on keeping her forward. We went through the ruts and over the sink holes. I tried to adjust my position so that I felt secure just trotting around.

And slowly, things started to change. With no rein contact, I had to ride more with my body. Stephanie is always telling me that it's ok if Izzy looks--that means she's attentive, which is good. When Izzy looked at something, I kept her going forward and just turned my body the opposite direction to make sure she was still tuned in to me. She was.

I started putting the reins and whip in one hand, then reaching my other hand up over head or back, to allow myself to move my body without disrupting our balance. Then I'd switch hands while Izzy just kept motoring along.

After I felt like we'd gone forward enough, I dropped Izzy back to walk and we wandered the whole barn area. Around the indoor, past the dry lots, across the road, over the bridge, around the track. I felt more relaxed and in tune with her than I have in two weeks.



On the agenda for today is a trail rider with a fellow boarder who has a nice quiet horse. Watch for the reappearance of the western warmblood.

Unlocking the Secret

As I've mentioned before, I'm really working on riding Izzy freely forward, especially in our warmup. It's doing amazing things for her. Last week, after a good solid warm up, I picked up the contact and started asking Izzy to go to work.

All of a sudden, her back end felt different.

OH SH*T!!!! With visions of career-ending injuries racing through my head, I LEAPED off Ms Mare immediately. Of course, there was no one around to help me move or evaluate her at all. I didn't want her to trot, certainly didn't want to lunge her, but I had to know what was going on.

As I lead her to the arena gate, I anxiously watched her hinds legs move...

...and realized that they were not only tracking up, but overstepping by nearly two hoof prints.

D'oh.

What I had felt was not some horrendous and terrifying injury; it was Izzy actually starting to swing her pelvis and really MOVE. Amazing feeling, really.

Of course, after that, we were not able to recapture the sensation. I think it was new enough for Izzy that when I stopped her, she thought it must have been the wrong answer somehow.

Until today.

It was brisk and breezy and Izzy was looky, so after starting with a lot of loose lateral work in walk, we went into a forward trot. Then a more forward trot.

Like this, only in dressage tack.

And then she kicked things into a whole new gear I didn't even know she had. WOW. Whole body swinging, leg pumping, totally and completely engaged. I just kept a nice light contact and stayed in balance with her. We rolled into canter and Izzy practically barreled around the arena, balanced, cadenced, forward.

I have never felt any horse move like that. It's addictive.

This isn't just a pretty moment for us right now. This is starting to be how she works, all the time.

<3

September Goals

I was delaying writing this post. I wanted Andrea's story to stay front and center for a while and I wasn't really sure what to set as goals with my potentially exciting job-ish-thing on the horizon. However, I decided that I really do know what I need to work on, so there's no reason to avoid setting new goals.

August Goals:

1) Continue lunging/ground driving Izzy to confirm her ground manners, as per current work.

Conclusion: Semi success. I have basically dropped lunging for now because I feel that riding is in general, more productive. That said, she's been doing really well at this stuff if/when I ask for it.

2) Begin riding. 50-70% of undersaddle time done without stirrups. Use full seat breeches and dressage saddle.

Conclusion: Success! I have the bulging thigh muscles to prove it. I felt like it really helped me regain confidence and balance in a hurry. Also, it hurt like h*ll.

3) Stirrups on jump saddle and lots of two point in all three gaits. Might trot over poles, but no jumping until September.

Conclusion: Fail, actually. We did tons of two point, but started jumping about two weeks after getting the go ahead to ride, and even had a muy exciting jumping lesson!

All in all, I was pleased with August. We went from this:

Me watching someone else ride the Wondermare

To this:

Me confidently jumping the Wondermare over low verticals. Yay!!

So, that brings us to September. (In all fairness, the above shot was taken this month, but I figured it illustrated my point best.)

1) Change the warm up. I have found that Izzy actually does best when we start with a forward walk, moving off both legs and starting to loosen up her shoulders with some turns on the haunches. Then we go into a very forward trot on a loose rein, then move into a forward canter on a loose rein. I picked up contact as we come back into trot, and BOOM. That is an amazing feeling. Keep this up. See what (if anything) needs to be added/changed.

2) Keep that forward. I always seem to lose this somehow, and it is so incredibly critical to a successful ride. I need to ride very forward and get comfortable with it.

3) Canter. For some reason, this gait and I always disagree in a jump saddle. I need to work on sitting it without pumping my upper body and getting in two point without touching my rumpus to the saddle.

Hm... can you tell I've spent 80% of my riding time the past week in jump tack? No worries, I think we're having a dressage lesson next week. (And we -are- having a jump lesson tomorrow!)

Hello Blogger World!

We just got back from a lovely vacation on the Oregon Coast. Ahhh.

It may be commonplace to those of you who live close to the ocean, but for land-bound people like myself, it's wonderfully refreshing.

I got out to see Izzy on Saturday. She came with my happily enough, but when I mounted to ride over to the arena, she proceeded to have a massive meltdown fit of near-ulcer proportions. She even backed through an irrigation ditch and almost spun on to the road. I decided it was not the best day to try and ride through it, so I got off and made her stand facing away from her pasture. It took a good 20 minutes of standing, followed by another 20 of lunging to reinstall a brain, but then she was ok.

Yesterday, though...

It's ok to be jealous. She is THAT FABULOUS!!!

I did lunge her briefly, just to see if she was going to be ok. She was fine.

I mounted up and off we went.

Forward.

Engaged.

With impulsion.

WOW.

We're still working out contact issues, but those are probably more my issue than hers. Our right lead canter transition is back with a vengeance. The left lead is improving. Her trot was breath-taking. Her walk was great. Have I mentioned that I totally love this mare? I do. She's the wondermare for a reason.

Folks, I think Izzy is growing up and I love it!

FORWARD!!

As per my goals, this is my weekly post on how Izzy and I are tackling our issue of forward lately.

First off, here's a picture of Izzy all gussied up for dressage. She knows she looks awesome.

And another Izzy picture, this time sporting her fancy climatex wraps.

This is post workout, so she is a little sweaty, but not bad. What a lovely girl.

So we have been doing dressage lately (LOOOOOVE my new saddle), but it's finally quit raining constantly, and the track has at last dried up. Hooray! We tacked up and marched across the scary bridge for our first real conditioning work of the season. I tried to keep it simple--4 laps trot, one lap walk, twice each way. That's .8 miles trotting, or 1.6 each way, for a total of 3.2 trot miles. So far, so good.

Then it was time to canter. We did three laps of canter, then one lap of walk, twice each way. Same calculations--.6 miles cantering per set, so 2.4 total canter miles. The kicker was this: I did almost all the canter miles in two point. It was KILLER.

It was great to be out on the track, though. I got to really focus on keeping my balance even on both sides and getting comfortable up out of the tack. When I first went up in two point, I hated my saddle and thought there was no way I could ever hold my balance in it. 2.2 miles of screaming thighs later, I realized that it was not that bad. Not good, but not that bad.

It was a good workout for both of us. We walked about a mile to cool out and return our heart rates to normal.

In other news, our thinline reins worked fabulously. I'll definitely get a pair for dressage eventually. Our thinline pad showed up yesterday, so I'm excited to try it out this afternoon. I -might- be looking at jumping saddles, too. Wish me (hypothetical) luck!

Forward!

The indoor arena was getting worked yesterday when I had time to ride, so outdoors it was. The only problem is that the arena was super deep and muddy, so I wasn't exactly sure how much we could accomplish.

Fortunately, the outside track of the arena seemed more or less ok, so off we went. Izzy was great. We could only do tiny little baby leg yields because there wasn't space to get off the rail, but she did a nice shoulder-in left and shoulder-fore right. I reminded myself (constantly) to sit up and keep a steady contact, and our transitions were actually pretty good. Funny how consistent contact makes things steadier all around, isn't it?

We're still having some right lead issues in the departure, but I think it's more my issue now. Izzy doesn't hesitate to take it, but she doesn't just give it to me. I have to stay in balance and ask correctly. No leaning forward. No awkward seat motions. No throwing away the reins.

All in all, it's good for me to have these problems because it makes me actually ride correctly. I tried to focus on keeping Izzy forward and ahead of my leg, and magically, everything else seemed to fall into place.

Now I'm am halfpad shopping... are all thinline half pads (with quilt/fleece) shimable? Anyone know?

Hooray Dressage!

Again, I took no pictures. All I can do on my own is pretty much just nose shots. Although I think she's adorable, her nose looks pretty much the same from one day to the next. What to do?

Oh well. You'll survive.

It's cold her. I think it made it up to 30ish yesterday (topical, almost!) but we were both a little stiff. I started off by lunging her, trying to let her warm up and loosen up while we worked on transitions and going freely forward. The transitions were alright, but freely forward was not really in her vocabulary yesterday.

Since we haven't done much concentrated work lately, she was not super balanced. However, since my goals for this month involve focusing on my dressage position, I was prepared. She would get behind my leg and come above the bit--I would drive her forward and hold a steady contact. She would fall and the forehand and dive onto the bit--I would sit deep in the saddle and drive her forward.

I just noticed that both fixes involved forward. Interesting. I suspect that her feet may not be super happy... she's overdue thanks to scheduling issues. I'll have the farrier look at her today and see what we can do. I'd like to keep her barefoot this time and maybe next time too, then go back to shoes for the summer/show/ride the crap out of her season. However, if she needs her wraps again, so be it.

In other news... I'm taking a bunch of stuff to the local tack store today to put on consignment. It's not just that I decided to clean out my stuff--I also bought Izzy a new dressage bridle. I'll take pictures when it gets here. Of course, with the new bridle comes other interesting ideas. I sort of want a new pad, new boots, bell boots, and probably another bit. The bit is because she is so much happier in a thicker bit and I hate changing bits between bridles every day. The rest is purely aesthetic (and on sale!!).

It's not in the cards for now, but the Dover sale goes on through March or April, I think.

Where I'm Thankful for a Naughty Pony

I had a lovely ride this morning. I got Izzy forward, and she stayed soft and balanced almost the whole time. She's still absolutely not allowed to focus both ears on something outside the arena for more than a split second before I change the subject and get her back, and I'm thinking this is something I need to keep. She's a very smart horse and the more engaged she is in what she's doing, the more we both enjoy it. I need to challenge her enough to hold her interest.

It boils down to this: the end result of Izzy rearing the other day is an increased connection between us. Twisted, but true. It's a very aggressive reminder that Izzy is not a horse I can just play around on. She is an athlete, mentally and physically, and I need to respect that by giving her something to do.

Also, while riding today, I realized that my lower right leg is way too loose. I let it slide forward when I post, and then it slaps the saddle... My Ansur is telling on me again. When I focused on keeping my legs underneath me and giving Izzy a little squeeze every time I sat, the problem went away.

Other things:

I cleaned all my tack yesterday and it's gorgeous. I love riding in clean tack. If I had a little more time, I'd probably clean it every day.

Read this post. I stumbled across this blog the other day, and I love what she has to say.

Ugh

It was 40 f here yesterday, which seemed ridiculously warm. I took advantage of the last day of break to ride. Izzy started out well. We went to the right first to mix things up. he warmed up nicely at the walk, then we started trotting. She was pleasantly forward, and after a few large circles, she offered a lovely canter. So far, so good.

Things started well to the left. Walk was good, trot was going well... just as I thought that we would canter and be done, she threw a massive fit. She was bowing her neck to the left and pushing out her right shoulder into the side of the fence that she usually hates. It was strictly locational; only on one side of the circle did she try. I tried changing my balance. I tried circling right and moving her off the inside, then holding that bend for counter-bending circle left which would have shifted her weight onto her inside shoulder and eliminated the problem. She would have no part of that. I tried keeping my outside rein short to keep her from overbending her neck.

Nothing was working. Sh quit going forward at all and just ran sideways out her right shoulder. She absolutely wouldn't cooperate. I could tell she was mad by the way she flipped her nose and threw herself around. Unfortunately for her, I was just as mad, and I wasn't getting off until she trotted forward around that corner without throwing herself at the fence.

Eventually, she did it. It wasn't perfect, but it was ok. I immediately dropped the reins, patted her, told her she was a good girl, got off, and loosened the girth. I don't know why that was so hard. She's done it hundreds of times before. I don't know what I would do differently if she does that again. I seriously contemplated calling my trainer and asking her to ride Izzy this week while I'm tied up with homework, but she knows us too well for that. If I'm not comfortable on a horse, I doubt she'd just leap blindly aboard. I do want to be there if/when Cathy rides her, though. I learn the most by watching. If I had more free time, I'd have Cathy ride her, than I'd do a lesson on her. Hm...

Izzy is getting her feet done this week, so I'll be out to hold her for that. Maybe I can get Cathy to ride her around the same time and do it all in one trip. I want to see her with someone else up, but I have to balance that against the fact that Izzy likes testing new people to see what she can get away with... Any ideas? Exercises that will help? I'm pretty sure I'm not dealing with a saddle fit/pain issues because of the way she manifested her anger. If the saddle hurts, she immediately stops. Besides, with our ansur, it warms up with her and begins to soften and move better, so the longer we go (to a point) the better it should be.

I want to pull my hair out. That may be related to the homework stress I'm experiencing right now, though.

Good Pony

I turned Izzy out this morning before riding her because she'd had a long weekend. That was a pretty good idea. She galloped and bucked and bucked and galloped for a long time. Usually, she'll buck once or twice at most. This was pretty nuts for her.

After that performance, I thought it would be a good idea to lunge her before getting on. She was an angel on the lunge, so I did ride. It was almost a carbon copy of last time I rode. Again, she didn't want to go forward, but once I rode her through the token resistance, she was lovely. We went walk, trot, and canter both directions.

I'm working on making larger circle than I used to. I think part of her leaning problem might be that I'm asking her to do something more than she's ready for. It's easier for her to balance on say a 30m circle than a 20m circle, so I need to mentally adjust and move out for now.

All things considered, we had a lovely day. Also, I took one of my old saddles to the tack store and put it on consignment so it would stop sitting in my house.

Dressage Clinic!

My lovely lil' Corgi is making a trip to the vet this week, so the bridle has been put off for a while. Besides, I'm still waiting on my catalog. It will come, I'm sure. In the mean time, I have actually signed up for a dressage clinic this coming weekend. Woohoo!

I wasn't actually going to do a clinic until next year because I didn't think Izzy would be ready. I'm ok with taking a couple lessons from my trainer who's used to young horse problems, but I didn't want to pay clinic rates for someone to tell me that my horse wasn't trained. Obviously, I know that. The past few days, however, have been amazing. Izzy's been soft and responsive and forward and everything I want her to be. Canter is still a little stressful for her, but we cantered Saturday morning (right lead only) and she got a little excited, but when we went right back to stretching and bending, she settled right down again.

On Sunday morning, I didn't have time to canter, but we did do a little shorten/lengthen at the trot. I have to admit, I swooned a little at her lengthen. Realistically, it's probably just a good working trot that we lengthened out to, but it was so free and flowing and even smooth... beautiful. Izzy is really going to be a fun horse.

It's pretty cool what my girl can do when she's happy with her saddle. So... I'm on the list, and we'll get the schedule tomorrow or the next day.

Another Step

Today was a perfect day to ride. Not too hot, not too cold, and no huge gusts of wind. I'm not a wind person.

I decided to lunge Izzy today because I want to see her work on both sides and make sure she's going forward before I get on her. I used to lunge pretty much all horses as a matter of course, but this year I've realized that there was no particular reason to do that, so I'm using lunging now as a tool that can be picked up and put down at will. I'm really glad that I did so much lunge with with Izzy when we started though, because she lunges quite nicely off of voice commands. We haven't really mastered the trot-halt, but I'd rather she learn to go forward than stop quickly at this point.

Anyways, today was good. I kept Izzy going forward, and we did several trot/canter/trot transitions to the left. She does them just fine on her own, so hopefully we'll get to start working on them under saddle in the next week or so.

As for the actual riding, it was interesting. It took nearly two full circuits of the arena to get her to trot without throwing a fuss or shoving her way through one shoulder or another. I decided to keep things low key today, so we just did figure eights on a 20 meter circle, walking the change of bend in the middle. It took about two circles before Izzy relaxed, reached for the bit, and really started using herself.

I was thrilled. I haven't had this kind of softness in weeks. We didn't even try to canter. After a few more circles, I took her out around the arena once, and then let her be done after a nice, fairly square halt.

I wonder what this says... she liked the routine of the figure eights. Her transitions were softer, her body was relaxed. I'm thinking that she's like her mother enough that she gets bored with just going around. She needs something to think about. If that's true, we should probably do more lateral type work to get her thinking as she goes around. Maybe if we start with figure eights, then move off a circle? I don't know. It's something more to file away, I guess.

Things I Like About My Horse

1) She's really pretty.

She's my first horse, and she's absolutely gorgeous. Need I say more? I love seeing her out in the pasture and thinking, "Wow, that's my girl."

2) She's not spooky

I'm not saying that she's spook-free, but I can ride her on cold windy days like today and she doesn't get all hot and bothered. So she's opinionated, but she's sensible about it.

3) She has a princess complex

As well as adding character to her already complex personality, this ensures that my constant striving to be better and nitpicking at what I know actually does help. Despite my frustration, I actually do like rising to the challenge of figuring out what's going on. I'm getting a little tired of saddle problems, but I think it's finally worked out.

4) She's Cassie's daughter.

It's fun to have the daughter of a horse that meant (and means) so much to me. She's not just the one I happened to end up with, she's something special.

5) I dunno, she's just plain cute?

____

We made more progress on going forward today. I used the new padding arrangement, and she seemed quite happy. I still haven't attempted to ask her for the left lead (a tough one for us right now), but she's more willing about the right lead and her trot has definitely improved.