Unschooling the Horse

My schedule is changing around again, which is a good thing. It does mean that my man C-rage is adjusting to the slightly different schedule. I'm now able to work him more regularly, but I want to keep in the place the concept that was working so very well for him: time off and breaks. Instead of drilling and worrying about a rigid schedule, I want to keep things mixed up and easy to allow him to progress at the speed that works for him. 

Insert cookies here

Monday was a pretty intense ride. We stayed in the arena, but I picked a couple of specific topics and really pushed them. I wanted him to GO FORWARD, USE HIS BACK, and NOT PUT HIS HEAD UP LIKE A GIRAFFE. At this point in his retraining, those topics are pretty earth-shattering. He did well, but both of us had to work really hard.

In light of that, I wanted Tuesday's ride to briefly cover the same things without frustrating him and reward him for progress made.

We started on the lunge line. SOMEONE has been nagging me about lunging, and I figured that since she's been right about everything else so far, she probably had a point here. I still hate lunging. First I let Courage warm up w/t both directions. He giraffed around like nobody's business and I decided that was enough of that. I clipped on his harbridge martingale and we were off.

An aside here: I don't love gadgets in training. I do like side reins for horse schooled to accept contact, but he is not. Side reins do nothing for us just now, but since Courage is completely responsible for the action of the harbridge, it was worked really well for us. Today was maybe his third time in it, and it has definitely helped him understand how to stretch down and go forward without force.

Engagement! 

Back to the story: For the first time, Courage really got what I was looking for. He is so adorable that you can pretty much see the lightbulb blink on over his cute little ears.

I think his bodywork helped so much with allowing him to go forward that now it's becoming much easier for him. It was also the first time he and I have been comfortable enough for him to canter on the lunge line--up to this point, he just hasn't been relaxed enough in the canter to let small(er) circles be a training exercise.

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True to the goals for the day, we kept it short and easy. He went w/t/c both directions for a total of less than ten minutes. He was lovely and forward and listening.

I popped the harbridge off*, put the lunge line away, and climbed on. I didn't fuss too much about his upward transitions, and he gave me the softest, loveliest forward trot I've ever had on him, his head and neck stretched forward and down while swinging through his back.

Check.

I got off. Today, I spent more time grooming and doing his stretches than I did actually working with him. I am sanguine that he comes out tomorrow ever better. I compare it to the growing "unschooling" trend among non-conventional educators. There are certainly benefits to drilling and rigidity, but right now, for where we're both at, I really prefer the loose structure.

Other thoughts? Who holds to a schedule vs free handing the training? How do you think that affects the way you and your horse advance?





*Noted: You can ride in these, theoretically. I am REALLY uncomfortable with sitting on a horse that is restrained by a gadget I can't release, so I don't. I think by the time he's broke enough that I would be comfortable with it, he'll be well beyond the point where we need it. Your mileage may vary.

It's Trailventure Time

After two whole months of being off the track, I finally got a group set up to take Courage out into the hills for the first time. I've been really picky about it, because I want his first few excursions to be very positive. Someday, I want him to be a bomb-diggity trail master like Cuna.

WHERE IS THE ARENA?

We pulled into the trail head and unloaded.Courage did his go-to naughty evasion in new places.

He put his head straight up in the air.

That's it.

There were a bunch of other people around, and they all admired him and gave him cookies.

He wasn't sure what he was here to be the best at, but he was going to figure it out.

The OTAB - she came off the track about when C-rage did

We headed through the gate to keep the seasonal grazing herds in and then I climbed on at a cinderblock. I was glad we discussed standing to be mounted earlier in the week--he stood like a statue and just had a look around.

Our group of four naturally divided into two groups--we had the endurance arabs in one group and Courage and his new girlfriend in the other.

Up the hill

Redheadlins rode one of the Arabs and took some pictures for us. That's Courage and Aspen way out in front.

He felt amazing, still developing post-body work. I was completely in awe as he dropped his head and moved through his whole body. 

Bay ears

I wasn't sure what to expect on his first time out. I don't think it's fair to expect him to be perfect for everything all the time. That said, within about 5 minutes of starting the ride, I pulled out my phone and nabbed an ears shot.

He was fascinated by the world around him. This is a landscape he's never been in before. Given his problems with terrain in the past, I was expecting him to be at least a little silly about the hills, the varied footing, and the strange creatures.

On top of the world

He wasn't. He led the way and powered up the first big hill. The riders behind us were impressed by how well he used himself and his steady, ground-covering stride. I was loving every minute balanced over him.

I think it's so important to make the first ides be slow, easy, and non-exciting but OMG HE'S GOING TO BE FUN TO GALLOP.



We posed for pictures at the top of the ridge. It was the only minor snafu of the ride--Couage was enjoying himself so much that he didn't really want to stand still. He did, but if you're a horse that loves to look around, having the whole world at your feet is a pretty amazing experience.

I was pretty much just grinning like an idiot and pestering my fellow riders about how amazing he was being. I couldn't even believe it.

Of course, the big test was coming up. 







Downhill.

This is what he's had problems with before. At our cross country clinic, it took a good five minutes to figure out how to walk through a dip, after the experienced horses demonstrated how to do it. We don't have good hills to practice on at home, so he hasn't really seen anything like it.

So he marched off.

I had to laugh as I felt him survey the challenge, then shift his weight back and power down the hill without so much as a trip. It was like he'd been doing it his whole life.

We waited for the arabs to catch up, then went down an even steeper portion.

Love these hills

Courage led. Courage followed. Courage walked beside his friend. He let the horses behind catch up. He walked at the back. He went happily wherever I put him without throwing a fuss. Towards the end of the ride, we had to cross through a wash that was basically the grandaddy version of the dip that befuddled him on cross country.

I let his trail buddy go through first, then had him follow her. He walked politely down in, then powered out the other side in perfect balance without even a hint of a hesitation.

The trail master

We met a man with a large loose dog, and Courage didn't even flick an ear. When I hopped off at the trailhead, I had this ridiculous perma-grin slapped on my face.

I know he's been awesome about everything, but I can't even believe how good he was. He took to it like he'd done it all his life. I was expecting him to at least fuss about some things, but he took every challenge in stride and was looking for more when we got back.

He loved every minute as much as I did.

He is the best at coolers

The sun was quickly dropping below the horizon, so I pulled out a fleece cooler and threw it on him. As we picked up our stuff and loaded the horses, I was just blown away.

I told redheadlins to find me baby Cuna.

I hadn't actually expected her to do it.











Even on Saturday, when Courage took a well-deserved day off, he came up and visited with me while I scrubbed out water tanks. He was filthy and happy and wanted some scratches.










Courage and I are still a new partnership. I know better than to impose a preset idea of what I want him to be on top of who he already is, but the truth is that the more I get to know this little horse, the more I realize I'm lucky to have him in my life. He is so kind and enthusiastic about about life. He loves his new life and he is fun to be around.

He is the perfect horse to carry on the legacy that Cuna started in my life.

Home on the Range!!

It's the weekend and I officially have no time to post (hello work schedule. Where did you come from?), but I just had to share a quick shot from my ride on Friday.

Trail Boss

Yup. Epic. Full recap later!!

When It's Time

I want to put these thoughts out there and explain my decision making process. It's really more for myself--I've never fully verbalized what Cuna and I went through. I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone and since I'm a grown up and a horse owner, I can do whatever I damn well please anyways.

That said.

We had an exceptionally hard (for us) winter last year. Layers of snow and ice restricted all movement and limited turnout. Cuna hates cold weather, and his general demeanor was cranky. We pulled his shoes towards the end of the winter because we weren't able to work and his farrier was very concerned by his feet, but their quality and lack of heels.

Two weeks after the shoes came off, the weather finally changed. We worked back to up to normal training. We started out tip toeing around in the arena and worked up to trotting and cantering and hacking out. Cuna needed his shoes back on to prevent further deterioration of his feet.

My valentine <3

In February (Valentine's Day), we started back riding in the hills. Cuna and I would trailer out once a week with a friend. She was conditioning to run some cool eventing tracks, but we started out walking. Cuna is a pretty fit horse to begin with, and getting more fit has never been an issue for him. We matched the younger horse stride for stride, in the arena and in the hills.


All seemed well. He was a little stiff, but since having his hocks done is a significant investment, I was holding off a bit and compensating by not asking him to do any hardcore dressage and really use his hocks.

And then in March we went out in the hills and he tied up. I've read through the literature, talked to people who had horses tie up, and gone over everything about Cuna's care. He had none of the risk factors and was on a great diet.

Several people have suggested that he simply wasn't fit enough to do the job. To that I say these things:

1) He was fully as fit as his friend, who had no problems whatsoever.

2) The tying up episode started almost as soon as we picked up the trot. I didn't know what it was at the time, or I would have pulled up immediately. He kept going forward through the whole thing, but he was nearly crippled at the end. His heart was in it, his body couldn't take it.

It's also been suggested that the "spring weather" contributed. To that theory I say:

1) Bullshit. If 50f is the magic temperature at which horses tie up, we would see a lot more problems.

2) I have ridden this horse in all terrain and all temperatures from 15f to 105f and he'd never presented any sort of problem before. I have talked to everyone who's owned him post-track, and it had never happened before.

So. There's that. Yeah, maybe a one-off situation, definitely weird, no definable cause. I didn't run blood because I was abysmally broke at the time and he recovered ok, albeit slowly.

In April, we moved forward again. We started slowly back into work. I wasn't able to take him in to the hills very much--obviously, I didn't want to throw him back in with the younger, faster horse who hadn't tied up and no one else was regular enough to make a huge fitness difference. We did lots of long slow hacks on the shoulders of the roads around the barn. After I got his hocks done, we stepped up our dressage. We weren't jumping a ton because our instructor was busy with other projects.

Cuna persisted in being a little on/off lame. It was slight and usually went away with a little rest. He was lame before our jumping clinic, but some bodywork helped.

He was lame before our dressage show, but again, it was subtle and a few days off made all the difference.

Wrapped, drugged, and uncomfortable on soft sand

Enter May. I gave him two days off after the dressage show, and then he was unsound. The farrier came out for a pre-scheduled appointment at which Cuna presented as sound. We made a slight shoeing change that we had discussed before.

Cuna felt better for a day, then worse. His only work had been a 20 minute walking hack on flat ground.

I had him checked over by another farrier, who called him unsound in both front feet.

And it spiraled down from there.

By the time we went to the vet, Cuna wouldn't leave his stall to drink or eat his grain. He was in agony, constantly. It can be argued that it came on quickly, but he'd been on and off for over a month at this point. His diet hadn't changed. He wasn't on grass. His legs were cold and tight.

His retirement photos

The vet diagnosed him with "lots of soft tissue inflammation in his feet" and later referred to it as a "laminitic episode". We x-rayed and put him in $$$ shoes, but there wasn't much point in doing more. The xrays showed no rotation, but Cuna couldn't walk. Cuna left the vet slightly less miserable than he arrived. 

He came back, even more slowly this time. We had to give him IV bute because he was too miserable to eat his grain. At the end of three weeks, he was still off. At 8 weeks post vet, he looked sound at the walk and trot.

My show friends were asking when we'd be back in the ring. My instructor proposed tentative plans to bring him back into work gradually.

And I made the call.

Cuna moved to his field to take the rest of the summer off. And now the rest of the year off. Probably more--my farrier says it will be at least a year for his feet to recover.

Once I turned Cuna out, his demeanor changed. He's less grumpy and more interested in life. His soundness hasn't changed--he was on/off all summer in various degrees. I am in consultation with a vet and we will explore options for him at an appropriate time.

That's the timeline. That's the information I have.

I know it's not the decision that everyone would have made in my situation. I don't know that it was the best possible decision. What I do know is that something wasn't working for Cuna. Mysterious and odd things happen to horses all the time, but when those incidents are getting more severe and closer together, I know I have to question what I'm asking them to do.

The bravest horse

At this point, I don't believe that Cuna will come back to work in a substantive way. He'll be 19 in January. He isn't an ideally conformed horse, and dressage does not come naturally to him. I don't think it's right to just keep pounding his feet and body into the ground when he's in this shape.

He is still my favorite horse. I can't explain my connection to him. I would be over the moon if he came back to be sound enough to trail ride again, but at this point, I'm not pushing him. Courage came into my life for a reason. I think that reason is to let Cuna have the well deserved rest that his body craves.

It's heart-breaking. If I think about it for too long, I cry. It isn't what I wanted, isn't what he wanted, but it is the reality that we both have to live with. Yes, older horses than Cuna go out and compete and do just fine. I think that's great. I wish he was one of those horses, but everything I see is telling me that he isn't. His body can't take it, even though his heart is in it.

So there you go. That's my understanding of the situation and the rationale behind the decisions I made.

Here We Go!

As you may have noticed, Hilary and L. Williams are hosting this year's round of the Two Point Challenge. I wasn't going to participate, given that my ride is a whopping two months off the track.

But then I realized that my riding really needs it. Plus I have a buddy to do it with. Plus if there's anything a racehorse can do, it's let people two point over him.

Because we're badass

So we're in. We took our baseline time today in the cold blowing wind. The little man was perfect and I shocked myself by getting 5:38 for my start time. Yikes. I'm going to have to bust my butt to get most improved.





Possibly the most interesting video in the world:


Not only was the little man a star to two point around on, but he's also feeling GREAT post bodywork. The practitioner said it would take him a while to really trust the adjustments, and yeah. He's like a different horse, but his brain is just as awesome as ever. I am loving his new willingness to reach out and cover ground with those long legs of his. Winning!!

Who else is down for the two point challenge? Am I the only one on a green horse?

An Exciting Day

Wouldn't want to make it too easy

In the quest to find a saddle for Courage that fits the both of us (impossible), we tried out a super nice Ainsley xc saddle this morning. My ainsley is way, way too wide for him, so we borrowed a medium. It was amazing. For the first time, I felt balanced over him. I wanted to canter all day.

And yeah, didn't fit him at all. Naturally.

Sigh. Back to the drawing board.

We did do some fun stuff.



We put a little baby course together. That's the highest little vertical he's ever jumped! We had to put it up a hole because he started trotting over it when we practiced. And yes, it's his second time jumping a vertical in the arena and my first time riding him over one.

If you ignore me chucking my upper body at him (someone was excited she could finally get out of the saddle), you'll notice me clucking like a freaking chicken to every fence. Hm. That's partially because I have a tendency to chase horses to jumps, but I usually do that when they aren't FORWARD.

It's been such a tricky balance for us--Courage is put together so much better than Cuna that I have to do a lot less to get him where I want him. That said, I haven't really felt him commit to moving forward yet. His back moves, but the energy just wasn't there.

PART TWO

About 70% more wild than he was for bodywork

After we rode, my favorite local bodywork practitioner came out to see C-rage for the first time. He hadn't been doing anything to raise my suspicions, but I figured that a career change after 6 years on the track warranted a least a thorough look-see.

The little dude was an absolute model patient. Once he figured out that the crazy lady was making him feel better, he dropped his head below his withers, licked and chewed, and closed his eyes. According to our practitioner, he is super sore/locked up in his shoulders and all his front ribs were out on both sides.

Good news? He was perfectly symmetrical. She spent a long time on him and gave me some stretches to do that should help him along. Oh, and she said that the work she was doing would allow him to move much more forward.

Perfect. I'm just hoping she hasn't unleashed a monster!

The Cunafish

A couple of you have asked how Cuna is doing, which is a topic never far from my mind. Last week, he was having a string of good days. He looked mostly sound, he was chipper, and I was starting to day dream about looking between his red ears again, if only for a couple of laps around the field.

I can't even tall you how much I miss that. It's not that I miss riding and jumping--I can do that on Courage. It's that I miss Cuna. His attitude, his abilities, him.









Same as last time, though. As soon as I had myself convinced that maybe I could hop on for a wee bareback ride, the weather changed, he dropped weight, and he went dead lame. Again. This time it was so bad that our fellow boarder called to let me know.

I appreciated the gesture, but I'd already seen him. I added in more fat to his feed and gave him a thorough grooming. He likes coming in to the barn and hanging out with me, but he wasn't moving well.






I'm at a loss for what to do. The standard protocol for laminitic horses is dry lots, grass hay, low starch feed and all the things he had at his last barn. That didn't help. On top of being dead lame, he hated it there. He hated turnout and was cranky most of the time. Now he's at a happy place as far as his brain goes, but it eats me up to watch him hobble around.

For now, I'm letting him be. Our farrier, who seems to be the only one not completely befuddled, has said that it will take up to a year for him to recover, maybe more. He said to give Cuna time to come around.

We have time. 

My next step is going to be exploring to see what's out there to help him toughen up his feet, since he's going barefoot for now. Any suggestions?

Raising the Sticks

In order to give Courage the best shot at becoming an excellent riding horse, I try to make intelligent choices about his education. I can't just ride him 6 or 7 days a week right now, so I work on a new concept, then give him time off to think it over, then pick it up again a few days later. It works for his mind and body--he is progressing faster that I'd hoped for and I haven't had any problems (yet) with physical soreness or mental resistance.

When I took him to grid night last week, I got the same feedback from the instructor that Redheadlins was giving me anyways--I need to get up out of the saddle and let him learn to use his hind end. To this point, I'd been staying in the tack more than is good because I was steering to the jump. Now that he's got that idea down, it's time for me to step it up.

I rode one day last week and trotted over a few wee things to let us both get a feel for it. In keeping with our training plan, he then got a couple of days off.

Getting out of the tack

This week, I set the jumps up a little so I could ask him some new questions and let him figure out how to respond. There was nothing inherently hard about the jumps--a bigger crossrail, a vertical with flowers, the beginnings of a baby grid... hm. I wanted Courage to have a good experience, and the best way to do that was to put someone in the irons who would give him a solid ride.

Redheadlins stepped on and off they went. As they trotted to the bigger crossrail the first time, you could see the wheels start turning in his head. "wait... this is tall... what do I do?" He slowed in front of it, then launched himself over the wee crossrail in the biggest effort he's given yet. Wish I had a picture of that.

They've got this

She stayed on and kicked forward after the jump. They went on to the next obstacle, the little vertical. Again, he slowed down. You could see him looking for the low spot that he was supposed to jump, but there wasn't one.

Hmm. He hopped over it, then cantered away. The lightbulb was coming on. Next they were able to string together the cross rail to the vertical. It wasn't a related distance per se, but it was the closest together that he's had to do two jumps and he looked great.

Check out that back end!

The more jumps he did, the better he looked. Instead of trotting over, he started using his hind end and landing in balance, then cantering off on a loopy rein.

By the time they did the baby grid (of poles on the ground), he had figured out what she wanted and was just perfect. We set up one crossrail in the grid. He trotted in, took a canter stride, and jumped out, then cantered away softly.

My jaw probably hit the floor. We called it a day and gave him lots of neck scratches. 

As much as I begrudge my insane work schedule right now, it seems to be an advantage to Courage. How many days a week do normal people ride anyways?

Product Review: Smartpak Piper Kneepatch Breeches

Smartpak Piper Breeches
List price: $79.95
What I paid: $65.00ish

Since I have a horse to ride again, I thought it was worth my time to own more than one pair of breeches. I have a pair of Rompf kneepatch breeches that I love, but they run about $100 a pair and my local store was out. Instead of getting more of the same, I decided to try the Pipers because they were so well-reviewed in the blogosphere. It helped that Smartpak was running a 20% off promotion and that I qualified for free shipping by buying two pairs.

What I think:
I've waited to write this review because I like to put products to the test before I say too much about them. I purchased them back in August and have a solid month's abuse on both pairs now, so I think I can talk freely.

For $60, I think they're alright. They fit me well, but I am long waisted, so the higher rise actually suits me perfectly. I absolutely love the sock bottoms (no annoying velcro, huzzah!). Either I have freakishly narrow ankles or the sock bottoms are cut pretty wide, because they're loose on me.

I've gotten plenty of compliments on how they look, especially the tan pair with the teal contrast stitching. The belt loops are wide enough to accommodate a 1" to maybe a 1.5" belt. The material is soft and stretchy. I don't think it holds everything in place as well as my thicker and a bit stiffer Rompfs, but it's still respectable. They probably won't be great cold weather breeches, but they are great for summer.

They have held their shape well, and I don't feel like anything is out of place at the end of another long day in the sun. 

Except...

Here's what I don't like:

Cuz that feels really good

The top of the breeches close with two hooks (fine). However, the inside of the loops are inside the breeches, meaning that the metal is cutting into my stomach. That's fine on dress pants, since no one actually does anything in them, but for athletic wear? Ouch. In addition, there is a seam on the outside of the lower leg in both colorways that digs into my skin. My half chaps are pretty loose, but when it's hot, my legs hurt when I take these breeches off, from that seam. That puts them into a tricky weather category--too lightweight of fabric to wear when it's cold, but they take your skin off when it's hot.

I should add that I use the snot out of breeches. I probably spend the least amount of time in them riding--I run errands, feed horses, clean stalls, buck hay, and scrub water tanks. To their credit, they haven't stained or looked ratty, but I noticed that they take snags a lot easier than makes me comfortable as far as long term use is concerned.

The Final Outcome: 

That said, for the casual rider (or someone who only wears breeches to ride, then changes to do chores), they are a great choice for any budget. 


Noted: I was in no way compensated to write this and I had to buy the breeches on my own. I'm simply sharing information to benefit the blogger community.

Also noted: If you want to compensate me to write something, let's chat.

Training Wheels Come Off

When I first started riding Courage, I was just so thrilled that he was quiet and easy that I didn't get too worked up about his way of going. Then he got his first trainer ride.We decided that he needed to go in a martingale for the foreseeable future. It wasn't a long term solution, but his default was a giraffe impression and he had no concept of giving to the bit. 

So for the past six weeks, we've worked hard on contact. I tend to be lackadaisical about it, but I really do want him to grow a topline, so I'm trying to be better. 

And he looks cute doing it

We've progressed in leaps and bounds--he's actually started to offer some really nice stretch and figure out what I'm looking for. He's also learning to move off my leg and go (sort of) straight. 

Demonstrating a very nice stretch

That said, every time redheadlins watched me ride, she'd tell me to take more contact before releasing--basically, I wasn't giving Courage enough of a difference to understand what the question was. I thought that was weird. It certainly felt different to me. 

And then she hit upon the problem--I like really light contact and I was getting it from the martingale. When I thought I was just holding a little bit, he didn't feel a thing. Oops. 

So today, we took a big step forward. I took the martingale off the breastcollar. It accomplished it's purpose--C-rage no longer carries his head among the clouds and I have the security of knowing that I don't need it's additional leverage to handle him. 

The whole feel was completely different. Don't get me wrong--the martingale served a very useful purpose and I may very well pull it out again if I feel the need, but we've taken another step forward. I had the most purposeful and interesting ride today--I made some progress I am really excited to build on. We even started working on cleaning up our walk/trot transitions, which are something of a hot mess. 

I was going to do more, but our favorite trainer was around and some fun baby jumps were set up and THERE ARE PICTURES, but I need to get them from someone else's phone. Sheesh. Are all baby horses this much fun?