Things I've learned

Three days until my first lesson on the horse I'm leasing!!!  I have my first real ride on him on Friday and I've arranged my coach to give me a private lesson. I'm hoping this will help get me started on the right foot and give me some confidence that completely left me in the test ride. I still find it interesting that I completely blamed myself for the test ride not going super well.  While I think it's important to always look to how I am influencing the behaviour of any horse I ride but I also think it's important to be able to recognize when it's something else. It's not always a good thing to blame yourself when it means that you are missing what is really going on. Food for thought.

I had another "duh!" moment last night in my lesson.  The horse I usually ride, the beautiful black gelding, has a very hard time going round. I have learned that I have more success when I don't even think about that at all but just ride him as best I can. Of course, that makes sense because if I am riding properly, well balanced etc., it makes it easier for him. Still, he rarely is truly round but I wouldn't say he is hollow either. Last week, we had some moments that I felt were truly indicative of progress in this regard. We were both so much more balanced and soft. Then, last night, I was having difficulty with a particular exercise. We were cantering 10m circles and then through poles set up in a half-square. The circles were ok but I just wasn't getting the square as balanced as I wanted. He even broke to trot once. Eek.  I stopped to re-group and talk to my instructor. I was asking about my legs, I suspected that was where things were going wrong.

You know how sometimes the things that people say in passing actually ends up being spot-on?  Yeah. I had asked about my outside leg and my instructor commented that she wouldn't use outside leg because that would be confusing to the horse. Oh. ... OH!  I realized I've been way too active with the outside leg. It started because this horse is so long and stiff he tends to bend with his front end only, so I do a little extra stabilizing with the outside leg to keep those hips from swinging out. But there is a big difference between a supportive leg and an active one! I didn't even realize I had started to over-use it. We did the exercise again and it was so much better.  I felt pretty stupid and I am actually a little embarrassed to be admitting it on the internet :)  But what the hell, it's all about improvement, right?  I wish I had photos, but my husband (aka photographer) is out of town again. Oh well, we are back in the indoor and photos don't look very nice in there anyway. A very worthwhile lesson, I'd say.

I also never followed up with some thoughts about Edgar. It's quite simple really. So simple, I didn't really think that it would be something to pass along. Edgar is pretty green and doesn't work under saddle very often. Therefore, he is still learning to balance a rider. On top of that, the riding area is a field with uneven footing. So it's important to go slow and build his balance and strength.  Occasionally at the trot Edgar will start to lose his balance which is evident by the way he starts to rush and get even more on the forehand (yes, it's possible, lol). In the very beginning, it went from increasing speed to bolting pretty quickly. I think the bolting was mostly an evasion of sorts - he would get unbalanced and anxious and bolting was a way out.  (Side note: he also used bolting to try to get out of work. I noted the difference back in the spring but didn't blog about it specifically. You might remember when I made him keep running after a bolt, beating him at his own game, if you will. I didn't do that until I was sure he was simply being a brat, as opposed to me pushing too hard, and I think that is why it worked so well. That was the last time Edgar bolted with me. I do not think it would have worked so well if I did that while the balance was still the root cause.)

All that to say that you need to be patient. I did a lot of walk-trot-halt transitions, varying the order and duration of each. I had worked up to short canter sessions just before I broke my arm. I always made sure to transition down from canter while he was still balanced so that he could stay calm and build both strength and confidence. I suspect that the riders his owner had out to replace me weren't as patient and likely rushed him to trot and canter when he wasn't ready and/or balanced. So, he bolted with them. I honestly think it's that simple. Of course, part of it could have just been his Fjord brain knowing what he could get away with ;)

I also think it's interesting that he didn't try anything like that last weekend, even though I hadn't ridden him since early June.  I was also (again) careful to pay attention to when he started to come undone.  Hmmm, I guess I'm not terrible at distinguishing some rider issues from horse issues. Then again, even my husband could tell when he started to come undone, lol.

Well, that was much longer than I intended!  Tonka has found the container of catnip and is batting it around the house. Guess I'd better give him a little. Off to "drug" the cat and walk Hazel.

The horse does all the work

I am really, really sick of hearing this. I just had one co-worker make this joke as we were standing around this morning. I laughed because I know full well this person knows how physically intense riding can be. But then another co-worker piped up and said “that’s what I think” with such a superior tone as to suggest her opinion is the only one that is possibly correct. I have to admit, someone shamefully, that I was instantly angry. I refrained from showing it as best I could and I managed not to say anything too rude. It doesn’t help that this person was already getting under my skin lately with her my-opinion-is-the-only-truth approach. So I was already sick of it and then that just hit too close to home.

Why do so many people assume riding is so easy? I’d love to see any one of them do squats on a moving “base” for even a few minutes, let alone on and off for an hour. Or maintain core tension for an entire hour while simultaneously not being tense and operating your limbs independently of one another, also on a moving base. Or balancing all your weight on the balls of your feet and calves, using lots of inner thigh, while said moving base throws itself through the air over obstacles. Not to mention helping balance the horse. Or even more challenging (for me) is keeping the horse “between” your seat/legs and hands with a soft, following hand, a relaxed seat, while performing lateral movements. This gets me exhausted faster than just about any activity I’ve ever done, and my usual favorite activities are cross-country skiing and rock climbing!!

I said that it sounded about as silly as saying that riding a bike isn’t exercise. WHOA! That got a strong reaction! But your legs move when you ride a bike, they said. How dare I suggest something so ridiculous? I had to laugh. Then, I couldn’t stop the sarcasm, “Oh, you’re right, your legs don’t move or do any work when riding a horse.”

Ok, so I was at work and had to maintain my cool, but I was really pissed off. To me, it’s simply ignorant to suppose your opinion is right about something you have never experienced. And it’s not just here; a lot of people seem to be very set in this idea. I know, I shouldn’t let it get to me but it just makes no sense whatsoever. Even worse are those who have gone on one trail ride and therefore “know” what riding is like.

Sorry for the rant but I really needed to get that out. Now, I am going to try to turn “frustrated Friday” into “Fun Friday”…I get to go to an interesting presentation this afternoon.

Is verbal reward enough?

I finally got the chance to ride a horse I've been longing to ride for a very long time at my lesson barn. He is an OTTB that I've been secretly wanting to ride for at least 6 months. Last week, I made my desire known to my instructor. It paid off this week. His "usual" rider does well with him but tends to hold him in too tight, a fairly natural reaction to his fast, fast, fast, approach. I was both nervous and excited for this opportunity as I love his build and his expression.

I mostly worked on getting him to relax and soften. The usual "release as reward". I quickly realized that it worked best to give him a fairly strong correction/half-halt and release as opposed to a softer correction more frequently. He is used to being held fairly tightly most of the ride, from what I've seen.

Our warm-up and trot work was very good. He was relaxed and most of the time soft and on the bit. He would occasionally be reactive, fast and high-headed but since I was able to be consistent and calm he would settle fairly quickly. Until the canter work.

He was fast and not all that well under control at the canter. He wasn't super crazy but I had a hard time balancing the aids. It is difficult to simultaneously not hold too tight, keep him from running all out AND prevent him from breaking. It might sound strange that he would break, but he is so used to being "held up" by the mouth that when you try to have 2lbs versus 10+lbs of pressure, his balance is off and he subsequently breaks gait.

There are a lot of issues going on here, for sure. But what I am most interested in right now is whether verbal praise is enough. The idea is that every time he relaxes and softens, I want to reward him. This horse did give me several opportunities during our hour of schooling, which is great. The release is the main reward, but I think it would help to have an additional reinforcement. Do you agree?

Giving treats at this time would be impossible, at least for me. I would not be able to keep the action I want and then give a treat. I would have to stop or walk him first and then I think I would be rewarding the stop/transition, not the soft, on the bit, forward motion. Also, since I ride with 3-4 other people, stopping for treat rewards would be disruptive, I think. This whole issue is compounded by the fact that I will only ride this horse once or twice a week (unless I lease him for the fall/winter...) and I am not his only rider. He is not ridden by inexperienced riders, but there is still variation in approach, no doubt.

Do you think verbal praise is enough of a reward, in combination with the release? Any thoughts on how to approach this situation? He has already shown me that he is responsive to the way he is ridden in the moment. For example, I wondered how he would react to not being held in death-grip because I knew I would not be doing that. He quickly adjusted to my level of contact and improved greatly in his trot work. I am not being arrogant here, it comes from my instructor's feedback. It also just makes sense that helping the horse carry himself will be better in the long run.

I want to go from this

to thisor this

I definitely want some improvement in our canter work if I don't want to resort to holding tight. I just don't think that is a long-term solution, though it might look better in the short term. We did have awesome moments at the canter where I had exactly what I wanted. I want the best way to communicate to him that he has it right, as soon as he's doing it!

Any thoughts?

Mattie the Foster Puppy

We have a new foster puppy who will be with us for the next 3 to 4 weeks. I got the call asking if we could take her yesterday morning and we picked her up in the evening.

This is Mattie. She is very
happy in her crate.

She is a four-month old lab cross...I was thinking Greyhound yesterday and after watching her run off leash today I am quite positive I'm right on that. Mattie is an extremely timid dog and is in serious need of socialization. Hazel is the right dog for the job on the canine front and since we don't have children it's a good environment to slowly ease her into normal noises etc. She has been extremely quiet so far and barely shows interest in Tonka (cat). Tonka actually approached her right away and gave her a good sniffing-over so he must have sensed that she was no threat.

When we first brought her home, she was terrified of pretty much everything. She would look at the wall as if trying to figure out how to disappear into it. It was very, very sad to see. I've never seen a dog try to make itself so tiny.

She figured out she could wedge
herself between Hazel on her bed
and my little laptop table.

Today Mattie was starting to relax a fair bit. I let her run off leash during the evening walk and after the first few minutes she really started to enjoy herself. The tail started coming up, she was sniffing around and following Hazel's every move. She is very clumsy! She bombed through the bush without much regard for branches and tripped a fair bit. She also doesn't watch where she's going and often stops by running into Hazel's butt. Well, Hazel's butt IS where all the Ruckus happens, after all, hee hee. I will have to get some video of her running to show the racing dog gait.

Here she is, starting to relax
and enjoy herself outside.

Canada Day in the Country.

I must have been the only person heading OUT of town yesterday. I had the day off work, so I took the opportunity to go to the farm and work with Cherokee. My brother-in law, his wife and kids were visiting from TO so I was unable to ride on the weekend (the weekend was a blast though, enjoyed it entirely!)

It was a good day, not quite as hot as last week and, best of all, I had a newly mowed hay field to ride in. This is a big deal since little dude is barefoot and a little sensitive on gravel and the only place I've had to ride are the trails through the sugar bush. Great trails, but not great for really working on things. Plus, I felt I had donated enough blood to flies and mosquitos for one month. So, I got to pay attention to my form, dude's form, and work in eights, circles etc. Very useful. I didn't realize before that riding straight was an issue with him since on trails there isn't much choice. More to work on :-/

I wish I could upgrade this guy. Not that he's got it bad at all, but there are quite a few issues that I am just not able to deal with. I've tried, and I'm learning all the time, but working with him at most once a week is just not enough. Sigh. It's a shame because he really could be quite a nice little pleasure horse. Instead his owner is afraid to ride him and I'm the only other person making him think/work etc.

Last night Sasha was a bit exasperated with all my worrying and finally blurted out that he didn't understand why I felt so bad about all these animals that are not mine, nor my responsibility. It's just not about that, you know? It's about the animal. He knows that, he just hates to see me get all worked up about things I can't change.

Plus side? I know at very least little dude has a forever home as a pasture pet. He has plenty to eat, semi-decent pasture (supplemented with hay). I know he will never end up anywhere that would treat him badly or anything. The worst "crime" here is being under-used and hence not very marketable, which would be bad, except that he will never be sold.

Oh, and the standing-for-mounting is going much better. Not perfect, but much better. For the record, smack to the chest worked WAY better than all the longeing in the world. Still, it is very hard to do even basic stuff with no arena of any kind, no round pen or indeed anywhere "safe" to work. Just big wide open farm and lots of cows :)

Enjoy the pics of lil dude after a good workout and shower.


With Hazel, who had an even better workout since she ran beside us the whole time. I W-T about 97% of the time, but that translates to a lot of running for a dog! Hazel still thinks Cherokee is just a big dog. The horse doesn't know what to think, but I can say Hazel has been the best trainer when it comes to de-spooking this crazy horse.



After cool-out, a shower and some "luxury grazing" (i.e., grazing on lawn that isn't pasture for anyone), set free to roll away. He often rolls while I'm still holding him, but he gets distracted by new patches of grass easily! I've noticed he prefers rolling on hills. What's up with that??





Doesn't this just look satisfying?







Hup!










And now for more food!