Learning Lessons: The Sunbeam Solution

In the winter, I ride inside most of the time. Our indoor is enclosed with limited-to-no natural light. The only time we have real light in there is IF it's clear outside AT sunset AND the sun is at the right angle, it slants through the back door of some of the adjoining stalls and makes sunbeams in the arena dirt.

They only last thirty to sixty minutes at best and because of the nature of the solar system, they are constantly (albeit slowly) moving. 

And they are TERRIFYING.

Don't believe me? Ask Courage. 

artistic rendering. not actual events.

Well, ask him six weeks ago. 

Because around that time, we were riding with one of our awesome barn buddies on her super awesome horse and C was like "OMFG ALERT ALERT LASER EYES FROM SPACE" but he's also a self-styled Don Juan/Rico Suave who hates to lose his cool in front of ladies he thinks he might have a chance with (hint: he doesn't. mare hates him). 

So when mare buddy kept trooping right through the sunbeams, so did Courage. By the end of an hour of walking and chatting, around and around, going through sunbeams HUNDREDS of times, Courage actually thought they were fine. (And yes, like you always suspected, Courage and I frequently don't work very hard). 

at all

After that ride, Alyssa came out to visit and take some pictures and wouldn't you know, Courage trotted through sunbeams like they ain't no thang. 

also pretending eq not a thing apparently

But here's the funny thing: I was also pretending the sunbeams were not a thing because I wanted good pictures. 

We tried to repeat the performance later, but Courage was getting progressively more weird about the DEMON BEAMS until I realized something. 

I was staring at them. HARD.

What would happen if I pretended they weren't there and just went about my ride? 

BOOM. I'm not looking, he's not looking. Now that he understood they weren't scary, he just wanted to see if he could talk me in to spooking at sunbeams instead of using his booty and going to work. 

And see, here's the complicated part of Courage: at first, he WAS legitimately freaked out by the strange beams. He's a confident and intelligent horse and NO ONE can tell him something is safe when he doesn't know if it is. Honestly, my life would be so much easier if this horse was a little more insecure and he just listened when I was like "srsly 4 real nbd p0nee". But no.  

He really did need to understand the problem and have his mare friend show him it was ok. 

Until we reached that phase, it did not matter AT ALL if I ignored it, told him he was safe, whatever. He has to understand things for himself. 

Enter mirrors. 

so attractive

When we got the big mirrors put up on the side wall this winter, I was very careful to introduce them to Courage at his speed. As prey animals (especially as prey animals in claustrophobic dark indoors), horses are very sensitive to changes in their environment. Also, I'm really not sure how well a horse can conceptualize what a mirror does and how much is just desensitization and getting used to mirrors. 

I mean, if horses understood mirrors, then you couldn't put them in their stalls to keep them company, right? 

he sure does like looking at himself

Anyways. I let Courage see the mirror. I let him run around. I lunged/rode in front of it. 

And EVERY SINGLE TIME we went by that mirror in the saddle, whether it was ambling on a loose rein or trotting or cantering or doing ground work or ANYTHING, Courage would stare in it. Hard.

what was he seeing?

 I was starting to lose patience with it. I mean. He'd barely even look at it other than the requisite "hey handsome" when I turned him loose in the indoor. He took no notice of it whatsoever when I lunged him.

And I could watch him make googly eyes at himself every.single.time. we rode by the stupid thing because I was staring in it to see how pretty we looked.

Hold the phone.

Oops. Again.

So uh. Guess who is actually totally 100% FINE about the mirrors as long as I don't gawk at them like a stupid tourist?

Courage. Courage is not afraid of mirrors.

 It's definitely a journey with this horse, that is for sure. He's pushing the limits of my knowledge, training, and horsemanship abilities. He's forcing me to think creatively, be flexible, and learn to laugh (more) at our biggest failures.

Basically, I see his board payment as tuition to the school of Important Life Lessons each and every month.

Spooking Theory and the Hot Horse

I try not to write ride wrap ups or do ride journals on here, because horse training is just so incremental. It's painfully slow and meticulous, and while not boring, it's very hard to make it riveting.

But there are some thoughts knocking around my head about fresh horses and cramped indoors and training theory, and while I apologize if that bores you, it's really important to me.

A week or so back, I talked about my light bulb moment of throttling my horse back so much at the trot that I was literally creating my own monster. That's important--A horse can buck you off standing still but he can't (should be able to) buck you off at a gallop. Forward MATTERS.

throttling down

But of course, Courage isn't that simple of a horse. He's not a pleaser. He has OPINIONS and he wants them to MATTER.

I had the lesson from hell the other night. Courage was distracted and leaping and spooking at LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Instead of working on steady contact and correct balance, we mostly worked on staying on and not dying.

Which is something we have to do from time to time.

cherry picked shot that is less-terrible from lesson

When a horse like Courage wants to be idiotic about something determinedly Not Scary, there's more going on. I know Courage. He's afraid of almost nothing. He's not spooking because something legitimately scary happened. He's not even really spooking to get out of work. He doesn't mind working.

But that's my other important theory tidbit--don't let the horse change the conversation.

This is something that Izzy (the Hellbeast) used to do All.The.Time, until my old trainer called her on it. Don't let the conversation be about the scary thing or the weird noise. If you're talking about the right rein and the left leg, keep on having that conversation, even if it means having it somewhere else for a while. YOU decide what to talk about, not the horse.

superhero colors

Obviously, this concept doesn't apply to a greener horse learning about his environment for the first time or something legitimately scary.

But with Courage, that's not the problem. He's seen it all. He's not afraid. If I keep reacting to him, then all I'm doing is riding defensively and guaranteeing I'll always be a step behind him. I'm letting him choose the conversation. I'm setting us both up to fail.  I need to stay proactive. I need to ride through his spook and keep on riding like it never happened.

I'm not punishing him for being afraid. I'm not rewarding him for losing focus. I just keep repeating "right rein, left leg" (out loud, because dorky) and keep riding.

It's not the most fun thing ever, but it's working.

Light. Bulb.

The estimable Alyssa came out to play bridles the other day. Alyssa kicks all the ass at jumping but is new to dressage. I am also new-ish to dressage, so I took the opportunity to talk her through what we're doing right now. It's super riveting--80% of my last two rides have been walk.

Wheee.

We're cementing the freewalk (with stretch! and swing!) and the working walk (with contact! and swing!) and really trying to have a solid, defined transition between the two.

(Dressage nerd aside: I've been watching a lot of a dressage videos lately, and this is a place people just GIVE points away by not having enough of a change or a solid enough walk. Walk may not be our strongest gait now, but I can make it a LOT better. Ha! /end aside)

Anyways. We're talking Alyssa through the super-interesting walk transitions and then demonstrating how much the trot transitions improve when the walk is good.

Of course, then Courage starting demonstrating his very-thorough understanding of dressage, and Alyssa again proved her mettle as a photog by capturing one of our better moments:

such dressage. very wow.

Because I was trying to talk Alyssa (and myself) through the process, I kept breathing and kept talking and kept riding and was pretty well able to rule myself out as a cause of the annoying spooking problem. Doesn't matter if I'm loose and happy and talking--the wall is still sometimes randomly TERRIFYING.

I explained to Alyssa how I couldn't really push him forward at the trot until we got a handle on the stupids and little alarm bells went off in my head.

Then I got home and looked at the pictures she took. This is our best trotting picture:

that's not tracking

Hmmmmm.

Am I right?

I mean, there are nice things about the picture--my position is less jumper-y and more upright. My hands aren't quite in my lap. Courage is accepting the contact well. The overall outline is fairly harmonious.

OH YEAH ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: the horse isn't forward. Not even sort of. Combine that with my realization that 80%+ of our spooks are in the trot and then toss in my statement about not riding forward...

WE HAVE A WINNER.

Courage isn't spooking as much in the walk because his ass is WORKING. He's forward and balanced and NOT BEING THROTTLED TO DEATH.

Cough.

Well that sounds suspiciously like a rider problem.

I mean, he's a fit OTTB in a dark indoor who feels GOOD. He's going to have some stupids. Buuuuut I bet you right now that if I put my big girl panties on, kick him in the belly, and TROT FORWARD, I'll bring our trot stupids right back down to roughly the same level we have at the walk.

Which is really not that bad.

getting so pleasant

Hmmmm yeah so there's that.

Inside is the Wild Side

remember when we could see the ground?

My world is still iced over and not improving. Courage gets turned out every day, but it seems he's not enough of an idiot to play hard on top of ice. I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THAT.

However, that results in a creative effort on his part to burn excess energy without being too excessively naughty. While I applaud this effort (mostly), it has boiled down to me creating a list of entertaining things he's found to spook at. Here's last week's offenders:

innocent horse is innocent

• Trucks outside the arena
• Applause on the radio (3x in one ride)
• Divots in the sand (multiple times per ride multiple days in a row until I finally kicked dirt over the offending divot)
• The mounting block
• Sand when it hits the mounting block
• Ground poles (DANGER)
• A lunge whip on the ground
• His own shadow (complete with a spin and a grunt!)
• His own reflection

DEMON LIGHT DEMON LIGHT

• The wall (no particular section--just it's general existence)
• Sunbeams (full gallop AWAY FROM DEMON LIGHTS)
• The corner (another good gallop)
• An open stall door
• A closing stall door (yes the same stall. his friend lives in it. i don't know.)
• Nothing (horses gotta horse!)

ALERT

And you were wondering why he's back in the martingale? The fact that I'm adding to this list every day is why. The good news is that we're getting LOTS of practice at going back to work after a distraction. Right?

When You're Not Feeling It

not pictured: my coat

We've had some unseasonably cold weather and gusting winds lately (which, wtf, i miss it already), plus my time is double- and triple-booked from now like like.... November? Something.

Anyways. It all equals out to I'm really tired and that's changing the way I ride.

I've had really good luck lately with doing a stretchy w/t/c ride with Courage one day, then an intense dressage ride the next day, then a day off. So I tried that. LOVELY stretchy ride Sunday, but then a cold night and when I got on Monday, Courage was NOT feeling it.

He'd kind of go around in a fake frame and wasn't heavy in the bridle, but he was stiff as a board and just.so.lazy.

bright side: wicked sexy

I know how to ride through that, but ugh. Tired.

So we went for a hack.

Remember the unseasonal cold and gusting winds?

Yeaaaaaaah.

but he looks so quiet

We made it out of the arena, but we weren't even around the corner of the barn before Courage spun and went leaping back because OMG A TARP. I lost a stirrup, but stayed seated. Then I made him work through it. Then we got to the next tarp and that was a party and a half.

And remember, tired.

fanceh

We went back in the arena. Courage was still stiff and undermotivated. I thought about really sitting down and riding and putting him together and working through it. I really did.

And then I climbed off, pulled tack off, and turned homeboy loose in the arena because screw Mondays, man. It was actually hilarious--he wasn't even animated enough to get all that many good liberty shots.

we're on the same page

I'm usually like this in July--I need a mental break from all the focus and hard work of showing and I just want to screw around. I honestly think it's good for Courage to not get overtrained and drilled.

And yeah. Eventually, we'll work hard again.

Just not today.

OTTBs, spooking, and winter riding explained.

he really is adorable

When I first moved Courage to the new barn, the other boarders were blown away by how quiet Courage was and the fact that from his first ride in the indoor on, I've been hacking around on the buckle.

Which is why I thought it was really suspicious that Mr Calm and Cool was all of a sudden losing his marbles and spooking at all kinds of random things. ALERT ALERT ALERT ARENA DOOR AHEAD sort of nonsense.

I recognize that it's winter and the cold weather+sometimes limited turnout can cause some behavior changes, but that didn't really feel right. There was something else going on.

MUST YOU TAKE ANOTHER SUNSET PIC

See, this past fall Courage started being a total dick to ride. Every minute of every ride was me fighting with him about stupid stuff. And then S rode him and was all "IGNORE HIS BULLSHIT COMPLETELY" and you know what, it completely went away.

So what happens when my usually non-spooky horse leaps dramatically away from the in-gate of the indoor arena?

Well, I look for what scared him, which means I take a little leg off and let him drop impulsion and maybe give up the contact and...

Ding ding ding!! We have a winner.



It was so obvious when I put it in those terms. I had just been talking to a friend of mine and remarking how sweet he's been and wondering where his jackass/smart/evasive side was. Yeah, right there on the surface. Where it always is.

Sooooooo.

With that in mind, I put Courage on the bit and made him do ring figures. If he had time to invert and look up, his brain wasn't working hard enough. If he spooked, I kept leg on and rode forward. If he told me he wanted to spook, I pushed the reins at him and rode forward to keep from bracing.

plus he looks great in my cooler collection

And yeah, guess who completely gave it up and gave me a lovely ride?

Yup, Courage.

In fairness, after I hopped off, he had a massive spook in place. Because you know, cold weather+limited turnout really is a thing. It's just not as big of a thing as he wanted me to think it was.

He's such a bastard. It's why I love him.

Testing Boundaries

It was bound to happen sometime.

I made it to the barn in the late afternoon. It was perfect fall weather--sunny and warm with a cool breeze blowing and gorgeous colors just starting to appear.

Courage met me at the gate of his field and dozed off in the cross ties. All was well until I put him out on the line for his once-weekly lunge. He walked and trotted, but when I asked him to canter, he had a mini explosion. Hm.

This pony would never be naughty

Not a huge deal--cantering on the line is still new for him and I'm not crazy about lunging. I take him back to basics that he's comfortable with--walk/halt/walk/trot stuff and he moves well enough. It's the same in the opposite direction. He isn't taking pressure well, even when he's the one applying the pressure.

Still. He looks happy enough, so I put the line away and hop on. After some initial silliness, he stands to be mounted. Then he's leaning through both shoulders and tuning me out and not moving off my leg and giraffing around looking at things that never usually bother him.

Well, that's enough of that. It's time to step it up. I start by insisting that he goes straight. I keep that contact, regardless of whether he giraffes or roots. I push him forward, and wouldn't you know, he gives me some of the nicest work I've ever gotten. We do walk/trot transitions on serpentines and I insist that he hold his line without falling in. He's still a little looky/spooky.

Arena time

I want to just call it a day in the arena, but I refuse to create that same fear I had with Izzy. I will not let myself be confined by the imaginary safety of arena walls when I'm on a perfectly nice horse.

So I open the gate from his back and ride to the field. The water tank is tipped over. He takes a step back.

No. Not on my watch. Izzy did that and I hated it every time.

I kick him forward. He can stop and have a look, but there is no backwards movement allowed. After a few seconds, I ride him past the offending tank and he keeps it together.

Hacking around the field with airplane ears a month ago

We're just walking a lap around the field. The wind is whipping through the trees on the far edge of the field now, but he's never been a spooky one. I'm caught completely off guard as he leaps forward. I catch him with my hands, but then he pogos straight upward. Shit! I hear my instructor in the back of my head, "Give him a place to go. Kick him forward. Give him something to do."

Forward march! Trot on. He's behind my leg, but it's the thought that counts... Shit! We pogo again. This time he's light in the front end. High on the list of things I hate. "KICK HIM FORWARD," shouts my remembered instructor.

Right. Forward.

He tries to leap again, but I'm ready this time. "You can do all those things you just did in the arena out here," I inform Courage. "Ain't nobody got time for this." I push him forward, hold the contact, and insist that he go absolutely straight. I don't take behind my leg for an answer and I insist on quality transitions.

And wouldn't you know, he responded. When he relaxed, I walked him back into the arena and let him stand while I patted them. Then I thought "I don't want this to be his safe place."

So I rode him back into the field. We stood in the scary place on a loose rein and I patted his neck, then slid off his side.

As we walked back to the barn, side by side, the BO says, "You did get off intentionally, didn't you?"

Yes. Yes I did.

It was still a perfect fall day. Courage was testing his boundaries with me, and it went well. He learned about me, I learned about him, and everybody came away with a positive experience.

Wild Thing!

This picture is just before we loaded up on Saturday. That sheet is very revealing, don't you think?

Cuna was completely wild today (for him). It was windy and cold and raining steadily. He always has his ears up and is looking around, but he actually took a good look at three (3, count 'em) different things while we trotted around the outdoor. In fact, I think he may have taken a quick step at one point in an effort to evade a scary monster. (!!)

I laugh, but I can't even express how happy I am with him. It's not that it bothers me when a horse spooks--it's just that I'm so used to not knowing what will happen and being uncomfortable, that having him do stuff like that is almost like having him intentionally desensitizing me. I can almost hear him saying, "Breathe, lady. If you don't ride me, I might take TWO quick steps, and then we'll be even farther away".

He's happy to pack me around over jumps, but he does actually expect me to ride in the arena. It's cool and sort of liberating.

Oh, and after his complete wildness? I took him for a hack on the buckle. Apparently all scariness was over, because he didn't even blink.

Here's the pony mare today. She's back at the barn and in work with Stephanie and one of her more advanced clients. I think we're taking a sales video this week, which is good because we're getting inquiries on her already.

It's weird to be around her--when she's in her stall or going to turnout, she's just another horse to me. I was holding her before she got ridden today though, and got to spend some time with her. She's still her gorgeous, pushy, lovable self. She begs for cookies and I know all her itchy spots.

I've been going through my tack and equipment slowly and making Cuna try it all on. Part of me feels weird doing that now that Izzy is here staring at us, but at the same time, I feel sort of empty about her.

I put so very much into her and pushed myself beyond what I thought I could take, and now I'm just giving up. I'm not sure how I even should feel. I hate to be overly dramatic in a serious way, but it's almost a Romen-and-Juliet sort of thing. She's gorgeous and I love her and I want her, and it just isn't meant to be.

Whenever I think of Cuna or see his adorable face, I smile. His fluffy forelock makes me giggle and his long neck is perfect for hugging. I must say, his face is completely different from Izzy's so I've had to sell a lot of bridles. After all, I got him one of his own before I even knew what was going to happen...

End of Hell Month

October is one of the most beautiful months of the year. It is also completely insane, so I'm incredibly happy to see it go.

Don't believe me? I have been out of town every weekend this month except the last one. I work 30 hours a week at my office job and 10 hours a week at Izzy's current barn. A week ago, I tacked on another 20 hours a week with our beloved event trainer.

Oh, and I have a house, husband, two dogs, one cat, and some rabbits to take care of. Plus, eveything is far apart, so I spend a good chunk of every day in the car.


Beautiful or not, I can't want for tomorrow. This pretty pony face will be moving to the event barn with me, and the crazy will subside a little.

Funny story: I was riding Izzy on Sunday. As we walked to the outdoor arena, she proceeded to have a massive heart attack over 1) a bush 2) a tree 3) the road) 4) a trailer 5) the indoor. All in the space of like 3 minutes.

Ok, moving on... HEART ATTACK!!!! Her roomie, a sweet little morgan mare, was calmly walking over to the outdoor to go for a ride. She was just getting over the drama of there being ANOTHER HORSE in the arena with her when...

ZOMBIES OF DEATH AND FIRE EYES!!!!!! OMG PASSAGE PIAFFE PANIC PANIC PANIC!!!!!!#%^$&@#

Yes, two of her friends were coming back from a trail ride. Clearly a cause for anxiety.

The only thing worse than calm trail horse returning to the barn was OMFG THERE IS A WATER TROUGH!!!!

I have no idea what's gotten in to her, but it was pretty hilarious.

PS This is my 500th post. Cool!

Where I Actually Ride

When I showed up at the barn yesterday, late afternoon, Izzy was already turned out and had been for a while. Nonetheless, when a tumbleweed blew down the road, she took off bucking and galloping and playing. She's really not scared or tense or anything--she's just so freaking happy it's ridiculous. You'd have to see her face. The weather is just cool enough that her fuzzy coat feels good and she LOVES her turnout time (good, since that's why I pay $$ to be here).

It's fun to watch, but my, um, injury was hurting more yesterday and all I could think was, "Shoot. I'm going to get on and she's going to freak and buck and bolt and dump me and I'll hurt myself worse."

Not the best way to start a training session.

I pulled her out of the turnout and she leaped around on the lead line. I could tell she was just playing since again she didn't hit the end of the lead rope or anything and there's just this look in her eye that says, "how fun is this!" Still, I don't want her thinking that behavior is ok when I hanging on to her, so I backed her up and made her stand. She was quite good after that. I had her all tacked up except her bridle when the BO started feeding in our barn. Izzy was ok with that, not so ok with all her buddies charging around going, "Wheee! Feeding time and we feel gooooood!"

She tried to leap forward in the cross ties, so I unclipped one of them and then held the lead rope while the BO quickly fed everyone to settle them down. Then I just lead Izzy over to the indoor and put her bridle on in there. She had a totally relaxed look in her eye, despite all the antics. I did try lunging her, but as usual, could hardly get her to go. She knows when she needs it and when she doesn't. I climbed on, still wary of falling off in some horrible accident.

She was looky in one end of the arena and it was getting dark and cold quickly, so I only rode walk and trot for about 10 minutes, then jumped off. When I turned her loose to roll, she meandered down to the "scary" end of the arena, and leaned over the fence to see if she could reach the haystack. When she realized she could, she just laid down and rolled.

That mare. I was so worried she'd do something, and she just wanted food. Story of our lives, I guess. ;-)

Knee Deep in Euphoria

I think Izzy is settling in to the new place well. I didn't make it out to see her yesterday because the weather was lousy and my grandma was having a good day. Since time with grandma is limited, Izzy lost out. (As a rehash, Izzy was a nutcase on Monday.)

Here is Izzy today:
Why yes, she is knee deep in green grass. If only the pasture fences were in... oh well. One thing at a time.

Anyways. After a week of not riding for various reasons, I got to ride both girls today. Now I'm going to brag about it, because I'm pretty proud of how it went.

CASSIE:
Cassie is an 18 year old OTTB who I've known and ridden for years. She's also Izzy's mom. On Monday, she was actually pretty quiet, so I got her out first today. Today was not as quiet. She didn't like being by herself and out of sight of other horses that she knew. To deal with this, I turned her loose in the (cool big) arena. Galloping is relaxing for Cassie and she has an amazing recovery time, so I'm not concerned about wearing her out. She galloped quite a lot and whinnied at her friends some. When she was a bit calmer, I got on. I noticed that there's a spot in the windbreak by the arena that lets her see her friends pretty well, so we rode in a big circle by that spot.

We started out cantering. I took no contact, since Cassie isn't big on it anyways. We did a lot of shorten/lengthens in the canter, then did a few trot/canter transitions. We didn't go around the whole arena, but when she got strong, I just took her on a bigger circle (maybe half the arena) and let her gallop some. Remember, we're trying to relax in a new place, not do a dressage test. When she settled and was more or less listening to me, I dismounted and took her back to her friends. I think this is important. She needs to learn that she goes to this arena to work, then goes back home. Once she figures it out, I think the anxiety will disappear.

IZZY:
Izzy is cut from a different cloth than her mother. She likes to gallop, but she doesn't have momma's ability to focus or her almost tireless gallop. Thus, I needed to get her accustomed to working in the new arena without wearing her out. I can wear out her body long before her brain and that's a bad situation. Instead of turning Izzy loose to run and look at stuff on her own, I put her on the lunge line. We just started walking the perimeter of the arena together. When she stopped, pricked her ears, and snorted at something, I'd let her look at it. When she looked away, I'd ask her to walk a 5ish meter circle around me and past the scary thing. When she could walk the circle without changing pace or gait, we would continue walking the rail. It probably took half an hour to get all the way around, but it was worth it. We finished that off by lunging both ways, w/t/c just to get her going forward and listening to me.

She didn't offer any real disobedience, so I hopped on. I'll confess that we only went right today because the wind is still ripping through here and I didn't want to push her too hard, but she was really good and almost relaxed, so we did some walk/trot/canter transitions and then I got off. I untacked her at my car (since we don't have the tackroom area set up yet) and then put her halter on and took her out in the field to graze. She only whinnied to her friends once while I had her out in the arena, and not at all while she was grazing.

What a day!

Gusting Winds

I'm serious. The past two weeks have been ridiculously miserable as far as wind is concerned. 40 mph gusts every day. It sucks. The dumbest part is that Izzy really doesn't mind the wind at all. She's no spookier than usual, which isn't very spooky to begin with. It's me. I HATE WIND. It just sucks all the joy out of life.

We have ridden every day, regardless.

Yesterday it was so windy that a massive tarp blew up against the arena fence. When I got Izzy out, she about fell down because something had changed. PANIC!! WE HATE CHANGE!! (At least, she does. I'm ok with change, not ok with wind). I made her walk up to the tarp and sniff it. Then I threw it up in the air and kicked it around a bit. She got over it pretty quickly.

I put her on the lunge line more on a whim than anything. I didn't think she'd need it, since I just rode the day before. I was right... mostly. Then the wind kicked up. PANIC!! THE TARP MOVED!!! Izzy galloped and galloped and snorted and bucked and spooked and spun around and had a meltdown... and then settled down and was fine.

In fact, when I got on her, she was ridiculously quiet. We even had some of our best canter work ever. The wind blew, the tarp moved, whatever. Nothing bothered her.

Today, she was really quiet on the lunge, but when I got on, she realized that someone had picked up the tarp and it was no longer by the fence. Hm. More change. We avoided panic, but she gave the rail the stink eye and we avoided that spot.

PS Denali, the barn is moving from a totally land locked five acres in the middle of new development to a much more rural 40 acres with access to trails. I think it's a good thing.

It's a Long Road Ahead

I've been so excited this past month about Izzy and what we can do this summer. I mean, she was great at the shows we went to hang out at, and the jumper show where we did trot poles, I literally got her off the trailer, tacked up, and went in (to her first ever indoor arena) with no warmup, and she was great.

Then we have days like yesterday. There must have been something wrong, because both Izzy and the horse Cathy was riding were really uptight. Cathy's horse was looking for something to spook at. Izzy wasn't waiting. She had a massive bucking explosion on the lunge line. I was barely on before she had her first under saddle spook. I kept working on the things we've done before; if I lost her focus, I pushed her sideways or changed direction, or something(!).

And then... I didn't see at first that the neighbor girl was bringing her horse over to ride, but Izzy did. She freaked out, slammed on the brakes, bolted forward, etc. I kept spinning her around and smacking her to get her to go forward, but she tuned me out because she was more interested in something else.

Here is our biggest problem right now: I needed to just ride her through it. I needed to keep after her and left her know that while I acknowledged something unusual was going on, it was my job to worry about that and her job to do what I told her.

I didn't. I mean, I stayed on, but I'm not confident enough in my skills yet to really push her when she starts ignoring me because I'm not comfortable with her rearing... A part of me tells me it's normal and natural to not be comfortable with that. Rearing is a dangerous habit, and she has proved that she's willing to go there if she thinks she can get away with it. The other side of me argues that if I'm too chicken to confront her about this, then she has my number and I might as well sell her now because there's always going to be something interesting to look at.

I think that (as usual) the answer is in between the two. I'm just having trouble finding exactly where it is.

And there's another side to this; Izzy has been in from her beloved pasture for over a month now because of the weather. She has a 14'x14' shelter with a small run, but she really does much, much better mentally when she's out all day. I need the rain to go away so I can turn her out and get her brain back. I think that would help our other issues immensely.

How About Them Broncos?!

May I just say, 17-10 win over TCU that came down to the last few seconds? Yes!! This is what I love about football, particularly Boise State.

Ahem.

More directly relevant to my life, Izzy and I ventured to the indoor yet again today. Our lesson Friday ended up not really being a lesson, because Izzy was not happy being by herself. She was galloping and bucking and acting nutty, so Cathy brought in a quiet horse that she needed to ride and gave me some pointers in between schooling the other horse.

Note: I work to pay for lessons, so it's not like there was money wasted or she was disrespectful of "my time". We were just doing what was best for Izzy at that point in time. Plus, Cathy's way more confident in my riding and intuition than I am, so she's pretty sure I'll just be fine.

Anyways. She had us do some spiral in/spiral out and bend/counter bend exercises to get Izzy focused and responsive. We didn't canter, but we had some excellent trot work in which Izzy was light and soft in my hands and pushing from behind while using her back. Lovely, lovely moments.

Today, my usual lessoner friend was back, so we were just going along. It's a symbiotic relationship; Izzy keeps the lesson horse calm, which allows the lessoner to get the most out of her lesson, and I get some time to ride. I moved Izzy in from the pasture this past weekend because it was raining pretty hard, and she doesn't have shelter out there. As a result, her brain was kind of gone. She's much better mentally when she gets to wander around the pasture. She was a nutcase while tacking up; she'd try to kick the other horse, then spin around and almost kick e, then try to bit chunks off the hitching post to relieve stress.

I bowed to the obvious, and decided that we would probably just have a lunging day today, but at least she'd get some of this nervous energy out of her system. She was better while we were walking over to the arena. Once we got there, I took her to the far end and we just did transitions, over and over. Lots of trot/canter/trot, to keep her working and focusing and let her blow through some steam. When she settled a little, I introduced her to shorten/lengthen within the trot, which we hadn't really done before on the lunge. She seemed to pick up on it pretty well.

After 20 minutes or so, I decided to get on. We'd lunged on both ends and she wasn't spooking or careening around, so we would probably be ok.

She was. We did more of what we did in our lesson, and she did some really nice work. We still have our sticky spots, but overall, she's coming around really nicely. Plus, that feeling of comfort and relaxation that we first achieved outside a couple weeks ago is still here. What a good day.

The Bubble of Doom Revisited

Yesterday, we made Izzy's third trip ever to the doom bubble (aka the neighbor's indoor arena. It's inflatable). A friend of mine was having a lesson on Dart, the schoolmaster, so we trooped over together.

To my surprise, Izzy was actually fairly good. She still wouldn't go in the dark 10x10 box we have to enter and close off to keep the arena from losing air pressure, but when Cathy came out and encouraged her, she stepped right in. She managed not to run over the top of me when I opened the door to let her in the arena. She was quite happy that Dart was there.

We lunged for probably 20 minutes. I tried to pretty much ignore the fact that we were in a scary bubble of doom and focus on getting good transitions while on the lunge. She did a couple of aeronautical leaps when launching in to right lead canter, but other than that, she was good. So good, that after 20 minutes, I was actually ready to get on. (You may remember last time, in which we simply lunged for 30-40 minutes and she never really settled down).

Cathy held her for me to mount, but after that, we were on our own. It was no where near as good as when we rode outside, but I maintained that feeling of security I'd had outdoors. We did a lot of walk trot transitions, but the half of the arena farther from the door is where Izzy was comfortable, and that was also the end that the lesson was on. Dart is a good old boy, but he moves really SLOW, even when he's actually excited. After about 20 minutes of trying not to run him over (which he wouldn't have minded, but his rider probably would), it must have started to warm up outside. The snow began to slide off of the translucent roof in sheets. I have to admit, to a frazzled mare, that probably looks like the sky is falling, and she reacted accordingly.

I was staying on all right, and she was being better than could be expected, but I figured that was enough. I hopped off, snapped on the lunge line, and we just stood and watched the rest of the lesson and the snow sliding off the roof. To her credit, Izzy only spooked one more time, and then seemed to realize that the snow wouldn't hurt her. She stood quite well for the rest of the time.

Dart has some pretty serious separation anxiety issues, so the lessoner took him out first. Izzy, the typical cranky mare, could care less if she was left alone. I was impressed. She even walked home very calmly for the most part.

Whew. I look forward to taking her back over there tomorrow.

The Problem Pony Drives Me Batty

I managed to sneak in a ride Saturday morning before having to take off and do other things. Izzy was amazing. She started out with a proper rhythm, maintained it well, responded to what I was asking, and listened to my aids. I was so happy. Thrilled, even. We could walk, trot, and canter both directions, no trouble.

Then there was today. Izzy lunged well. She looked half asleep. As soon as I got on, she decided everything was scary. She spooked at a cone (A), which has been in the arena longer than she has. She had a blow up over another horse being tied up outside the arena. She spooked at God knows what in one of her usually safe spots. I finally decided that I just wasn't going to accomplish anything on this clear, beautiful, non-windy day and got off. As soon as my feet hit the ground, she tried to run off. Thankfully, she's tried it before and I was ready for her, but it was annoying. I remounted and dismounted about four times until she more or less stood. I would have just let her run, but someone had showed up to ride.

It's so frustrating, though. I know baby horses are like this, but still. This level of inconsistency? How can she go from best I've ever seen her to absolutely unrideable in one day? It's a good thing I don't have tons of money, or I really would have sent her to a trainer by now.

Trail Ride!

We took a break from arena work today and went on a trail ride with Iree the Haflinger and a new friend whose name I didn't catch. He was a cute little paint/QH that Izzy towered over.

Overall, it was good. It was freezing outside and windy, but the mountains are beautiful. Izzy did much better about walking down hills instead of trying to trot all the time. Both the other horses spooked twice while Izzy, who brought up the rear, just looked at them. Not to be outdone, though, she had one major spook on the way back. I have no idea what she thought she saw, and I don't think she knew either. After nearly having a heart attack, she just snorted and walked on like it was nothing.

Good pony.

__________________

ALSO

Apparently, you can now look up OTTBs race records online for free. Here's the link to Cassie, Izzy's mom.

http://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorseInfo.cfm?refno=1372552&registry=T

How fun!

Brave Pony

***Added later: I'm really sorry if my comments are not showing up on your blogs. The idiot tech guy did something to my work computer so google thinks I'm a bot and blogger keeps randomly signing me out. So frustrating.****

I'm feeding in the mornings all week because Cathy's out of town. How fun! She's very glad I could help, and said she owes me several lessons to make up for it. Hooray! Usually, we just skimp along on one or two lessons a month, but Izzy's getting to the point where she can do more.

That said, she was a very brave girl this morning. One end of the arena is right next two about a half acre or so of dense cottonwood trees that most of the horses find terrifying. That's what Izzy spooked at when she hit me in the head last week. While I was lunging her today (not by the trees), there was something back there. I know the horses usually pretend there are monsters there, but this time I think there really were. Lots of crashing and heavy breathing, and then just silence. It rattled me a little, what with my hyperactive imagination.

Izzy just stopped and looked very alertly at the trees for about 30 seconds. Then we proceeded with our workout.

As for the workout itself, I'm trying to get her ready for the show. Sunday we started working over multiple trot poles in a row. Tomorrow I'll set a mini course of trot poles and we'll work on going from one to the next. I'm easing her in to it, though. First I lead her through the poles, then I lunge her through at the walk, then I ask her to trot through. She actually seems to enjoy it.

The best part of the morning, though, was when I was tacking her up. She was acting like a twit, so I turned her out in the arena. She galloped and bucked and ran like a maniac. She ever put herself through the chute that Cathy built to take videos of the sale babies. Good news: She's a nice jumper. Bad news: she's not the most careful. I'll see if I can't get some pictures or video this week while the chute is still up.

Desensitization?

I'm curious on this topic. What should we expect our horses to be ok with and and what is too much? At home, I like things to be pretty quiet. I understand that show environments are different, but I just want my horse to relax and focus. At the same time, I get her used to Plastic bags, tents, jumps, traffic, tarps, and other miscellaneous things. All of those are pretty typical obstacles to focusing, and Izzy's pretty used to them. (Don't ask about water buckets next to the arena; she finds those fascinating for some odd reason.)

The other day, however, when I was riding, my barn owner's husband came out of the house and started playing fetch with his labrador. The arena we ride in is shielded by trees on two sides, so Izzy never saw the dog coming. She was trotting along and it appeared out of nowhere running at full speed after a ball. Although the dog never left the yard and came in the arena, it was pretty scary for her. A part of me says that she should be ok with dogs running around, but a friend of mine claims that what this man did was both dangerous and thoughtless. Is it too much to ask a prey animal to continue trotting around while it sees it's predator running full-tilt at it?