Ride: So, I snuck out to the barn on wednesday when I should have been studying (bad, bad Louisa) but honestly I was going pretty stir-crazy. When I got there a lesson-group was warming up and I asked my trainer if I could sneak in - yipeee, she allowed me, and it was a barrel-racing focused lesson. I was pumped. Jingle and I have been working on barrels alone, in anticipation for the upcoming gymkhana season that I want to dip my toes into, but the second I ask him for any sort of speed.. bye-bye-pony.
For not being ridden for a week, he warmed up like a star. "Yes, those of you who remember my horse running me into walls, look how wonderful my horse is now, look at his beautiful headset, suck on this." Then my trainer asked me if I was going to allow her to ask me to lope again, I gave her one of these faces "-__________-" we we're working on slow stuff, ooooo-kaaaayyyy, and told her that yes, she had permission to allow me to lope again. I am a bit of a brat, I tell ya.
Jingle picked up his right lead perfectly and away we went around the arena, he was actually being really nice and listening to my checks and leg.. which is impressive as his right lead generally turns him into a fire breathing dragon of "fun". I've mostly been trotting the pattern but a couple of weeks ago I had Jingle trotting 1st and 2nd and then loping to third, breaking down before the barrel into a trot, turning it, and then loping home. He was actually doing it marvelously, so my trainer thought we should try that to see how he was. Well, it wasn't as marvelous as it had been before, he wouldn't break down into the trot right away, which caused a half-loping mess around 3rd... that's not pretty! regroup.
From there, we attempted 1st barrel, lope to 2nd, lope to third, attempt to break it down, or if not, turn the barrel twice and lope home. After a couple of attempts, including my trainer handed me a crop so I could lightly pop his shoulder when he attempted to take too-wide of a berth around third, my horse turned into that dizzy mess he often does when speed is introduced. My trainer was just laughing and said that we'd lost Jingle's brain again, and that it was time to go back to slow, because clearly we needed to work on the slow stuff before we could ask him for speed. (story of my life) We broke it back down to a nice jog or trot and worked at the pattern from there, and he did really well by the end of it. I was able to regain control of his pea-brain, and he was able to figure out how to pick up his shoulder and nicely turn a barrel. Despite his "Hey mahm, I've seen barrel horses enter the arena sideways from the alley and then gallop off, maybe I should do that across the entire arena?!"
My trainer left me with some homework For Next Time she wanted me getting Jingle's nose following my hand, especially when we were loping, because he does it perfectly at the trot. She told me that first off, when I'm loping the rail, at every corner in the arena she wants me to come off, lope a small, tight circle, and then lope away, at every corner. Second, she wanted me loping half the arena and then coming straight down the centre, and then off again, because Jingle still has a hard time carrying himself very straight at a lope, and needs practice.
Today I went out to see my boy with this homework in mind. My horse was a freight-train at the lope. excellent. but I was determined to keep going. See, with all this slow work and time i've spent on Jingle my horse can now move off my leg pretty damn nicely, we have our pivots, turn arounds, sidepassing, rollbacks.. all of that, is pretty much down, but only at the slower gaits. Now that he knows how to do that, I feel as if we can leave Kindergarten and welcome him back to the world of speed in a nice, calm way. Yep, No, Jingle don't play that game. Jingle is a cyclone, intent on ripping up the arena from within.
It was hard work, I think both of us kept looking at eachother like "WTF are we doing?!" I was sweating buckets and so was he, but by the end of the day, my speed-demon was loping around my hand in the corners, and not being too much of a strung out idiot about asking him for more speed. I was happy.
We left the barn and ambled down the road (I was in my T-shirt, hurray! is this spring in Alberta finally?!) Jingle's birthday is tomorrow and in my family, the tradition is that my mom always tells my birth story to me on my birthday. Well.. Jingle, I'm not your "real" biological mother so I don't know that story (I'm sure it goes... somewhere out in a field during a shitty day in April, you managed to survive the birthing process) but I found myself telling Jingle the "story of us". I am a sap. I know. As we ambled down the road I got to the part of this last summer where he had gone missing and was nowhere to be found and completely choked up and burst into tears. There was a lot of petting and his ears were cocked back and he kept looking back at me. haha poor boy has a psycho for a mother.
Anyways, as I was sobbing and telling my horse how much I loved him and how much he meant to me, two massive dogs came bolting up to the fence line and scared the shit out of both of us. He turned on his haunches and jumped right out of his skin and away from that fence line. It took me a bit of time to get him slowed down and stopped. Great metaphor... As is our life together, one part sappy love story, one part hysterical ridiculousness.
Showing posts with label Lesson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lesson. Show all posts
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Riding Diary - 52
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: I got out of a midterm early and headed down to the barn in beeeeautiful 17 degree weather! in April! No complaints here my friends. When I got there, my trainer had just arrived aswell, and I asked her if I could sneak into lessons and she said yes. So I hung around and waited for Jingle-Pants to come in from his turn out. He hates when I do that. He runs in with the rest of his pals, all amped up for some grain time and wabam! Here I am with his halter! He is never impressed with me.
Our lesson was good, Jingle is figuring out the whole "cadence and flow" idea and is starting to really maintain balance and steadiness at a jog and a trot. He's even starting to stretch out and really find his own collection and contact, and I like that he's able to find it naturally. On the lunge line he'll stay round and collected even longer, so it's just a matter of time before we can start working on some higher levels of collection now that he's figured out he has an abdomen. Horse, you are so smart.
From the warm-up my my trainer we worked on some rollbacks, I need to practice more leg and getting him to really snap around, not just turn in a tiny circle.
Then she set up a pole and we worked on sidepassing evenly over it both ways, as in, his front legs were on one side, and his back legs on the other. He's doing very well with his sidepassing, but does get a bit rushier when it comes to sidepassing towards the left. I need to work on getting him slower and more relaxed so that he's actually stepping properly and not just rushing off of my leg.
From there we did some work with the gate. At the moment Jingle's biggest "issue" is that he's not as independent in the hindquarters as i'd like him to be. However, as the sidepassing exercises demonstrated, he can be when he wants to. This is an issue because we'll work on the gate, we'll come through, and when I ask him to pivot his hinquarters left so that I can position myself to close the gate, and then again, to pivot towards the gate so I can shut it easier, he refuses to listen to my leg, and either jumps forward, or back. He was doing really well, and you could tell he was trying, but at one point with the gate almost closed my trainer and I basically commented at the exact same time we just wanted his hind-end a half step closer, but everytime we almost got that from him - he'd rush off.
We worked on the gate a few times more, one time I even just picked up the end of my left rein and dangled it and he swung right over. Oh.. look at that... you're independent when you want to be.
My trainer has me walk him out between doing the gate so that he has a mental break. Then she asked me to lope him, I haven't loped him for her in a long time, but i've been pleasantly impressed with his cadence at the lope as well lately. She was impressed too, and said she was really happy with where we are lope-wise. Yay.
After a mini "Weeeeee we get to go fast toooo!" break, we worked on pivoting on the forehand. When Jingle is pivoting around himself clockwise, he is wonderful. My trainer got me to open up my hand even more and just get him to really swing around. He was doing wicked! We looked down and sure enough there were drag marks in the arena dirt from his pivoting. What's up now world! Counter-clockwise... not as pretty... rushing occured... things to work on. haha.
Finally, we went back to the gate a couple more times, and then my trainer got me to hang out and just lean my weight on the closed gate, I did this, getting him to just stand there for about 4 minutes. Sometimes, mental breaks are good for both horse and human.
Afterwards we cooled off by going for a bit of a amble down the road in the beautiful sun. Good lesson!
For Next Time: Exercises to free up that sticky hindquarter, and, slow him down and get him to "think" more when doing things like sidepassing to the right, pivoting to the right, etc. My poor left sided horse.
Ride: I got out of a midterm early and headed down to the barn in beeeeautiful 17 degree weather! in April! No complaints here my friends. When I got there, my trainer had just arrived aswell, and I asked her if I could sneak into lessons and she said yes. So I hung around and waited for Jingle-Pants to come in from his turn out. He hates when I do that. He runs in with the rest of his pals, all amped up for some grain time and wabam! Here I am with his halter! He is never impressed with me.
Our lesson was good, Jingle is figuring out the whole "cadence and flow" idea and is starting to really maintain balance and steadiness at a jog and a trot. He's even starting to stretch out and really find his own collection and contact, and I like that he's able to find it naturally. On the lunge line he'll stay round and collected even longer, so it's just a matter of time before we can start working on some higher levels of collection now that he's figured out he has an abdomen. Horse, you are so smart.
From the warm-up my my trainer we worked on some rollbacks, I need to practice more leg and getting him to really snap around, not just turn in a tiny circle.
Then she set up a pole and we worked on sidepassing evenly over it both ways, as in, his front legs were on one side, and his back legs on the other. He's doing very well with his sidepassing, but does get a bit rushier when it comes to sidepassing towards the left. I need to work on getting him slower and more relaxed so that he's actually stepping properly and not just rushing off of my leg.
From there we did some work with the gate. At the moment Jingle's biggest "issue" is that he's not as independent in the hindquarters as i'd like him to be. However, as the sidepassing exercises demonstrated, he can be when he wants to. This is an issue because we'll work on the gate, we'll come through, and when I ask him to pivot his hinquarters left so that I can position myself to close the gate, and then again, to pivot towards the gate so I can shut it easier, he refuses to listen to my leg, and either jumps forward, or back. He was doing really well, and you could tell he was trying, but at one point with the gate almost closed my trainer and I basically commented at the exact same time we just wanted his hind-end a half step closer, but everytime we almost got that from him - he'd rush off.
We worked on the gate a few times more, one time I even just picked up the end of my left rein and dangled it and he swung right over. Oh.. look at that... you're independent when you want to be.
My trainer has me walk him out between doing the gate so that he has a mental break. Then she asked me to lope him, I haven't loped him for her in a long time, but i've been pleasantly impressed with his cadence at the lope as well lately. She was impressed too, and said she was really happy with where we are lope-wise. Yay.
After a mini "Weeeeee we get to go fast toooo!" break, we worked on pivoting on the forehand. When Jingle is pivoting around himself clockwise, he is wonderful. My trainer got me to open up my hand even more and just get him to really swing around. He was doing wicked! We looked down and sure enough there were drag marks in the arena dirt from his pivoting. What's up now world! Counter-clockwise... not as pretty... rushing occured... things to work on. haha.
Finally, we went back to the gate a couple more times, and then my trainer got me to hang out and just lean my weight on the closed gate, I did this, getting him to just stand there for about 4 minutes. Sometimes, mental breaks are good for both horse and human.
Afterwards we cooled off by going for a bit of a amble down the road in the beautiful sun. Good lesson!
For Next Time: Exercises to free up that sticky hindquarter, and, slow him down and get him to "think" more when doing things like sidepassing to the right, pivoting to the right, etc. My poor left sided horse.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Riding Diary - 51
Time: 1 hr
Ride: I squeezed in one last lesson before I am forced to take a lesson-hiatus for about a month due to term papers & finals in April. My friend Sarah came out and took some wonderful photos - so this wont be as wordy as some of my rambles tend to be. ;)
Ride: I squeezed in one last lesson before I am forced to take a lesson-hiatus for about a month due to term papers & finals in April. My friend Sarah came out and took some wonderful photos - so this wont be as wordy as some of my rambles tend to be. ;)
We started off with our regular warm-up, and then went on to practice two-tracking. I need to remind myself to keep my reins much shorter so that I can really use my leg and reins to effectively build that block to keep his momentum forward, but also sideways at the same time, instead of him kind of jumping in and out of it.
From the two-track we went on to practicing roll-backs, every.single.rollback I have to remind myself to bring my arm way more out to "open the door" into the turn. It's working, and he's getting snappier through his turns now, instead of lazily stepping through them.
Then we did some more work with ground-poles, first just a line and then my trainer set up a box, with two of the poles elevated by the two others, so that Jingle really had to pick up his feet while going over and through. Sidenote - tried this by myself and woefully missed my trainer who would pick up the poles after Jingle knocked them off, not a good exercise to do alone.
& then, from there, we practiced the gate!
My trainer walked me through each step quite a few times, and we'd practice one part and then just stop, pet, and wait, and then move on to the next. Jingle's biggest problem is moving his hindquarters over when I need to swing around to close the gate. The gate is a really good exercise because it gives me something to judge against and for something that he can translate into an activity. He's always been "stickier" in moving his hindquarters independently, so this will be a really good exercise to practice to get him to more freely move with his rear
For Next Time: Work on all of our trail obstacles, and work towards more limberness with Jingle's hindquarter movement.
After that, Sarah took some fun photos with our shadows, and we had some good laughs.
This one is my favourite.
Playing with shadows.
Dream team.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Riding Diary - 50
Time: 2 hr
Ride:
50 LESSONS! How crazy. Life sure was different 50 lessons ago..
Jingle and I are back in lessons after our two week "slow-down" intensive, and my trainer being out of town. I spoke with my trainer beforehand about slowing things down with Jingle and focusing more on slow, technical work than the faster stuff we've been doing, and she agreed we can definitely do that.
So, Jingle and I jogged A LOT. haha I was really impressed with his cadence, and balance at the jog. He's really starting to listen to me and transition nicely through walk-jog-stop, and back down. If he speeds up I can just rock back my seat and he'll take the cue now. Whereas previously he would have just rushed off at a change in my seat.
We started to work on two-tracking and Jingle was doing awesome! He really responds to my lateral cues through my legs, he always has (when he's not have a pissy meltdown) and my trainer was impressed with how well he was moving off of my leg. My only issues were getting him to really pick it up and two track, especially when we were tracking to the left - that's when he'd try to slow down and deek into a walk. There was a standard set up that I'd have to pass to get back onto the rail, so I used that as a judge to help me with rate and speed.
After some of that, and more jogging, my trainer set up a keyhole in the arena with chalk to practice our rollbacks using something other than the wall as a crutch. Well, my Chicken Little was definitely afraid of the chalk key-hole, he told me afterwards he was sure it was arsenic and that he was just trying to protect us. Sure Jingle, whatever you say. He was blowing and snorting and side-stepping his way out of it.. what a goof. So, we took it down to a walk and I slowly edged him in. Our rollbacks definitely need some work, without the aid of the wall I get a little too short with him, I need to really open up whichever arm and rein i'm leading with and work on getting him a bit snappier. In the keyhole he was deciding that it would be fun just to stop and then do a small circle... that's not the point Jingle!
After that, and more jogging, my trainer set up some AQHA trail type exercises for Jingle and I to work on. First she set up a box and we practiced walking slowly (something that Jingle sometimes has troubles with) in, and doing 360's, then standing, waiting patiently, walking out - doing that again. Then she set up a wider then regulation "L" for us to walk through, back up, etc. Jingle did really well, didn't less his pissy-side overcome his thinking side (and truly, that's all i'm looking for lately, the fact that he is now starting to understand and think through his problems is making me a pretty proud mama!)
So, overall, REALLY good lesson. Walked away with some ways to make that technical stuff a little more interesting and diverse for him. I think i'm going to look more into AQHA trail and get some more pole-type exercises for us to work on.
For Next Time: Rooooooooooollbacks. (I have that walmart song stuck in my head)
Ride:
50 LESSONS! How crazy. Life sure was different 50 lessons ago..
Jingle and I are back in lessons after our two week "slow-down" intensive, and my trainer being out of town. I spoke with my trainer beforehand about slowing things down with Jingle and focusing more on slow, technical work than the faster stuff we've been doing, and she agreed we can definitely do that.
So, Jingle and I jogged A LOT. haha I was really impressed with his cadence, and balance at the jog. He's really starting to listen to me and transition nicely through walk-jog-stop, and back down. If he speeds up I can just rock back my seat and he'll take the cue now. Whereas previously he would have just rushed off at a change in my seat.
We started to work on two-tracking and Jingle was doing awesome! He really responds to my lateral cues through my legs, he always has (when he's not have a pissy meltdown) and my trainer was impressed with how well he was moving off of my leg. My only issues were getting him to really pick it up and two track, especially when we were tracking to the left - that's when he'd try to slow down and deek into a walk. There was a standard set up that I'd have to pass to get back onto the rail, so I used that as a judge to help me with rate and speed.
After some of that, and more jogging, my trainer set up a keyhole in the arena with chalk to practice our rollbacks using something other than the wall as a crutch. Well, my Chicken Little was definitely afraid of the chalk key-hole, he told me afterwards he was sure it was arsenic and that he was just trying to protect us. Sure Jingle, whatever you say. He was blowing and snorting and side-stepping his way out of it.. what a goof. So, we took it down to a walk and I slowly edged him in. Our rollbacks definitely need some work, without the aid of the wall I get a little too short with him, I need to really open up whichever arm and rein i'm leading with and work on getting him a bit snappier. In the keyhole he was deciding that it would be fun just to stop and then do a small circle... that's not the point Jingle!
After that, and more jogging, my trainer set up some AQHA trail type exercises for Jingle and I to work on. First she set up a box and we practiced walking slowly (something that Jingle sometimes has troubles with) in, and doing 360's, then standing, waiting patiently, walking out - doing that again. Then she set up a wider then regulation "L" for us to walk through, back up, etc. Jingle did really well, didn't less his pissy-side overcome his thinking side (and truly, that's all i'm looking for lately, the fact that he is now starting to understand and think through his problems is making me a pretty proud mama!)
So, overall, REALLY good lesson. Walked away with some ways to make that technical stuff a little more interesting and diverse for him. I think i'm going to look more into AQHA trail and get some more pole-type exercises for us to work on.
For Next Time: Rooooooooooollbacks. (I have that walmart song stuck in my head)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Riding Diary: 45
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: My horse, and his many facets of personality. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - how does one deal with a pissy horse... all.the.time? It's draining. I think ponyboy and I are both drained by dealing with eachother, and that's just no fun. I can't wait for the ice to thaw so I can start venturing outside of the indoor arena, I think we both need some fresh air to blow out all the cobwebs from our brains.
Anyways, the ride started out good, we had a beautiful, slow, workable lope to begin with, and then the zoom-ey side of my horse flung himself about for awhile. Jingle has a rub mark from one of his side-pull's on his nose (even though it's wrapped in vet wrap), I had changed up his sidepull to a softer rope one (Crystal! The one you so wonderfully gave me - I keep meaning to take a photo of him in it! haha), but it was still agitating the rub mark on his nose. So, halfway through the ride, I jumped off and wrapped that sucker in vet wrap too, but, the damage was done, and my poor pony with his slightly ouchy nose wasn't having any of it. (I know I shouldn't judge him, I certainly dont like running with a blister on my heel, but the rub mark is probably the size of pinky finger nail... and he's using it as an excuse to basically fling him self upside down and wail "NO MOM, PLEASE GOD NO")
So, vet wrap in hand, we went back to work. Our stops were lackluster, as they generally are, and my trainer was basically confused. She mentioned that he always looks like he's going to give me a nice big stop, he tucks end her hindend, he gets ready, and then at the last moment he just leaks through it, and attempts to run off. She tried to get me to think about giving him a release before pulling him down into a stop - which, obviously I should be doing, but one does need a reminder sometimes when your horse really doesn't love the whole concept of "stop, and stand here quietly". So, we tried that, bigger release before pulling him down if he doesn't listen, and then moved in to a very, very long time of transition work.
Basically, we just worked on a small circle and every 5-10 strides I'd throw a bit of slack, ask for a big "WOAH", wait a step, and then pull him down into a stop from a slow jog. It seemed to kinda, sorta work... our stop is definitely something to work on. It's frusterating because on the ground during leading exercises he knows how to stop - he'll stop the second I say "woah", and then all of a sudden i'm on his back, and he sprouts his dragon-wings and blows fire in my direction everytime I ask for a stop... even if i'm in a paper bag dress, begging for forgiveness, and asking ever so kindly.
My horse hates me.
Afterwards I gave him his standard Monday grooming sesh (one day I WILL blog about the insanity that is my grooming routine with Jingle). His braids come out of his tail and mane, I brush both out with spray-in conditioner, he get's re-braided, and then I rub MTG into the base of his tail, the start of his mane, as well as underneath. I generally trim everything, just a smidge, every couple of weeks. Then, because I love my horse even though he hates me, I rubbed a ton of Arnica salve on his jaw, cheeks, and poll area, to reduce any inflamation and tension he may be feeling. I like the arnica salve I have because it's thicker than my alternative (Apple Cidar Vinegar), so it's easier to use, and apply with your hands, but it is a mess. It's too thick, and so it globs on to his face, and of course he is shedding, so half of his facial hair come off onto my hands and clothing... sigh. He seemed to like his mini massage though. Then we did a couple stretches with the aided help of cookies, I applied some vetricyn to his nose rub, in an effort to get it to scab over quicker, and he was then allowed to mosey on over to his bed.
My horse likes me...
just not when I ride him.
For Next Time: Traaaaansitttiooooonsssss
Ride: My horse, and his many facets of personality. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - how does one deal with a pissy horse... all.the.time? It's draining. I think ponyboy and I are both drained by dealing with eachother, and that's just no fun. I can't wait for the ice to thaw so I can start venturing outside of the indoor arena, I think we both need some fresh air to blow out all the cobwebs from our brains.
Anyways, the ride started out good, we had a beautiful, slow, workable lope to begin with, and then the zoom-ey side of my horse flung himself about for awhile. Jingle has a rub mark from one of his side-pull's on his nose (even though it's wrapped in vet wrap), I had changed up his sidepull to a softer rope one (Crystal! The one you so wonderfully gave me - I keep meaning to take a photo of him in it! haha), but it was still agitating the rub mark on his nose. So, halfway through the ride, I jumped off and wrapped that sucker in vet wrap too, but, the damage was done, and my poor pony with his slightly ouchy nose wasn't having any of it. (I know I shouldn't judge him, I certainly dont like running with a blister on my heel, but the rub mark is probably the size of pinky finger nail... and he's using it as an excuse to basically fling him self upside down and wail "NO MOM, PLEASE GOD NO")
So, vet wrap in hand, we went back to work. Our stops were lackluster, as they generally are, and my trainer was basically confused. She mentioned that he always looks like he's going to give me a nice big stop, he tucks end her hindend, he gets ready, and then at the last moment he just leaks through it, and attempts to run off. She tried to get me to think about giving him a release before pulling him down into a stop - which, obviously I should be doing, but one does need a reminder sometimes when your horse really doesn't love the whole concept of "stop, and stand here quietly". So, we tried that, bigger release before pulling him down if he doesn't listen, and then moved in to a very, very long time of transition work.
Basically, we just worked on a small circle and every 5-10 strides I'd throw a bit of slack, ask for a big "WOAH", wait a step, and then pull him down into a stop from a slow jog. It seemed to kinda, sorta work... our stop is definitely something to work on. It's frusterating because on the ground during leading exercises he knows how to stop - he'll stop the second I say "woah", and then all of a sudden i'm on his back, and he sprouts his dragon-wings and blows fire in my direction everytime I ask for a stop... even if i'm in a paper bag dress, begging for forgiveness, and asking ever so kindly.
My horse hates me.
Afterwards I gave him his standard Monday grooming sesh (one day I WILL blog about the insanity that is my grooming routine with Jingle). His braids come out of his tail and mane, I brush both out with spray-in conditioner, he get's re-braided, and then I rub MTG into the base of his tail, the start of his mane, as well as underneath. I generally trim everything, just a smidge, every couple of weeks. Then, because I love my horse even though he hates me, I rubbed a ton of Arnica salve on his jaw, cheeks, and poll area, to reduce any inflamation and tension he may be feeling. I like the arnica salve I have because it's thicker than my alternative (Apple Cidar Vinegar), so it's easier to use, and apply with your hands, but it is a mess. It's too thick, and so it globs on to his face, and of course he is shedding, so half of his facial hair come off onto my hands and clothing... sigh. He seemed to like his mini massage though. Then we did a couple stretches with the aided help of cookies, I applied some vetricyn to his nose rub, in an effort to get it to scab over quicker, and he was then allowed to mosey on over to his bed.
My horse likes me...
just not when I ride him.
For Next Time: Traaaaansitttiooooonsssss
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Riding Diary: 43
Time: 1 hr
Ride: Monday I was tired, I honestly almost fell asleep on the way to the barn - that's an issue. haha. I was in one of those moods where I was praying to the horse god's of above that Jingle wouldn't be in one of his "MAHM, I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW" moods.
Jingle was good at the warmup - maybe my horse is a hunter under saddle horse? Just sayin'. Anyways, from there we trotted the barrel pattern, as we went in to the first barrel Jingle balked at something.. apparently he was as tired as I was and didn't see the barrel we were turning ? who knows... and up into the air he went. I was pretty surprised, enough that I lost a stirrup haha. From there I just asked him to be polite in a small circle and we attempted again - he was fine, what a weirdo. My trainer had originally had me really taking my barrel hand up and over the barrel through the turns, however, I've noticed this often results in Jingle deeking his head more down and around than actually following his nose through a turn, and keeping that turn through the hind-end. So, instead, I kept my hands up by closer to his neck, and we had some really wicked turns. Good boy.
From there the bulk of our lesson was jogging and loping a set of three ground poles on a circle. Our jog was decent, I think all of our transition work is helping, Jingle doesn't automatically think "we're jogging a small circle so that must mean I get to lope right?!" however he still was a little frantic and pushy at the jog. At the lope he tried his old tricks - deak to the right, square off in the turns, run me into the wall - but I was there to block his advances. We're like a well oiled machine - him and I.
Once we had our jog and lope all sorted out, we worked on our stop. My trainer got me to "bait" Jingle, meaning if we were loping the circle, she would have me give him a little more rein and see if he wanted to speed up, if he was pushy and tried to zoom off, I would shut him down. This worked really well and after a couple times he was being a lot more consistent through the circle.
Finally, she had me asking for a stop on a curve, generally I stop Jingle on the rail, so it was a good exercise to just get him thinking about stopping, backing up, waiting, forward when I ask him, etc. It was funny though, "waiting" wasn't his strong suite, and so when I stopped him from a lope right infront of the ground poles, he would pitfully paw at the poles. When I asked him to stop he would sheepishly lower his head and then sneakily attempt to paw again. He is such a goof.
For Next Time: Transition work - lots of it!
Ride: Monday I was tired, I honestly almost fell asleep on the way to the barn - that's an issue. haha. I was in one of those moods where I was praying to the horse god's of above that Jingle wouldn't be in one of his "MAHM, I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW" moods.
Jingle was good at the warmup - maybe my horse is a hunter under saddle horse? Just sayin'. Anyways, from there we trotted the barrel pattern, as we went in to the first barrel Jingle balked at something.. apparently he was as tired as I was and didn't see the barrel we were turning ? who knows... and up into the air he went. I was pretty surprised, enough that I lost a stirrup haha. From there I just asked him to be polite in a small circle and we attempted again - he was fine, what a weirdo. My trainer had originally had me really taking my barrel hand up and over the barrel through the turns, however, I've noticed this often results in Jingle deeking his head more down and around than actually following his nose through a turn, and keeping that turn through the hind-end. So, instead, I kept my hands up by closer to his neck, and we had some really wicked turns. Good boy.
From there the bulk of our lesson was jogging and loping a set of three ground poles on a circle. Our jog was decent, I think all of our transition work is helping, Jingle doesn't automatically think "we're jogging a small circle so that must mean I get to lope right?!" however he still was a little frantic and pushy at the jog. At the lope he tried his old tricks - deak to the right, square off in the turns, run me into the wall - but I was there to block his advances. We're like a well oiled machine - him and I.
Once we had our jog and lope all sorted out, we worked on our stop. My trainer got me to "bait" Jingle, meaning if we were loping the circle, she would have me give him a little more rein and see if he wanted to speed up, if he was pushy and tried to zoom off, I would shut him down. This worked really well and after a couple times he was being a lot more consistent through the circle.
Finally, she had me asking for a stop on a curve, generally I stop Jingle on the rail, so it was a good exercise to just get him thinking about stopping, backing up, waiting, forward when I ask him, etc. It was funny though, "waiting" wasn't his strong suite, and so when I stopped him from a lope right infront of the ground poles, he would pitfully paw at the poles. When I asked him to stop he would sheepishly lower his head and then sneakily attempt to paw again. He is such a goof.
For Next Time: Transition work - lots of it!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Riding Diary: 39
Pre-cursor in which I ramble at you guys: I spent four days in Sin City for my birthday, and although I had fun, I was glad to be home. I arrived home Monday at 3 am, and Monday night I was out at the barn after a long day of sleeping, ready to ride in my lesson. I got there early, and got talking to the lady that works at the barn, and Jingle put his head out of his stall and rested it on my shoulder as I talked to her. Awwwh.. ponyboy, did you miss me? It was pretty cute.
When I was grooming him, he was acting pretty chill and relaxed. I took his braids out and went to spray him with mane detangler. Jingle doesn't exactly love spray bottles, but lately I've been spraying him and he's been fine - just gives the bottle one big eyed look, and then is done. He was much the same, until I went to brush out his forelock... he took a couple big steps back and I thought for sure he was about to pull. My heart must of stopped. My trainer yelled for me to get behind him, because I was going to motion him forward from his head, and she told me that if he came forward he could come on top of me. Well... you guys know that I know that all too well, since he has come on top of me before. However, he also is known to pull so big and hard, and unrelenting, that there was no way in hell I was getting behind him. So I was a bit in shock, and then, all of a sudden, he took a step forward, I gave him a scratch on the face, and I resumed brushing - he was totally fine. He's a goof, i'm sure he was thinking about the spray bottle when all of a sudden the brush appeared and spooked him, but... he didn't pull. This is the first time in months he's even offered to pull, and the fact that he started and then decided against it, shows a lot about how much he's really grown and matured this last year.
Time: 1.5 hr.
Ride: Our lesson was really good! I've been focusing on my position at a posting trot, trying to stay a lot quieter, and attempting to slow down my posting, and it's really seeming to work on also slowing zoom-master J down aswell. The only thing is that lately his trot is becoming so much more fluid and relaxed, but it's almost as if he traded that in for his once-really nice, slow jog, which has all but dissapeared. The whole "focus on your body language" thing is really working for me and the big boy.
Our warm-up was honestly, stunningly beautiful, I kept thinking "holy crap, where is demonpony hiding, and when is he going to start breathing fire?" My trainer was even in shock at how relaxed and fluid he was, she told me that perhaps I should always go on vacation, and also joked that she had given Jingle a slight labatomy while I was away. Hahaha, poor Jingle-horse, he always gets subjected to these types of jokes.
We moved into the lope and Jingle was doing really well, now that he has the stamina and the strength to lope his leads, and is moving off my leg way more effectively, I've started to really check him back and get him to slow down and not zoom around as much. I have to really read him, and check accordingly, every once and awhile i'll ask him for too much and he'll transition down into a walk, and so it's a push and pull game to get him to slow down, but not stop, on me. He's also starting to to be able to lope the rail like a sane horse, and not a crazy-adrenaline filled "MAHM LOOK HOW FAR AND FAST I CAN GO IN A STRAIGHT LINE", good boy ponyboy.
He also is starting to nail his right lead and my trainer told me she's confident I can work on his right lead now by myself as well. Awesome.
Finally, she set up a little cavaletti, and had us trotting the rail and then calmly going over the cavaletti and continuing at a posting trot. Jingle wanted to drift from the rail, and speed up once he landed, so she told me to really hold him with the inside rein, keep my leg on him and just tell him "Jog" over the cavaletti. After a couple time he popped over it, nice and straight, and landed and jogged off nice and calm.
Overall, really good lesson. People keep asking me how he's doing, and I almost fear i'll jinx it by gushing over how awesome he's been the last three times i've taken a lesson, but it's true - he's doing so well, and he's maturing and figuring things out so rapidly it hurts MY brain to watch his brain at work. I'm very proud of ponyboy.
For Next Time: Where did our jog go? It's somewhere... we just gotta find it again.
When I was grooming him, he was acting pretty chill and relaxed. I took his braids out and went to spray him with mane detangler. Jingle doesn't exactly love spray bottles, but lately I've been spraying him and he's been fine - just gives the bottle one big eyed look, and then is done. He was much the same, until I went to brush out his forelock... he took a couple big steps back and I thought for sure he was about to pull. My heart must of stopped. My trainer yelled for me to get behind him, because I was going to motion him forward from his head, and she told me that if he came forward he could come on top of me. Well... you guys know that I know that all too well, since he has come on top of me before. However, he also is known to pull so big and hard, and unrelenting, that there was no way in hell I was getting behind him. So I was a bit in shock, and then, all of a sudden, he took a step forward, I gave him a scratch on the face, and I resumed brushing - he was totally fine. He's a goof, i'm sure he was thinking about the spray bottle when all of a sudden the brush appeared and spooked him, but... he didn't pull. This is the first time in months he's even offered to pull, and the fact that he started and then decided against it, shows a lot about how much he's really grown and matured this last year.
Time: 1.5 hr.
Ride: Our lesson was really good! I've been focusing on my position at a posting trot, trying to stay a lot quieter, and attempting to slow down my posting, and it's really seeming to work on also slowing zoom-master J down aswell. The only thing is that lately his trot is becoming so much more fluid and relaxed, but it's almost as if he traded that in for his once-really nice, slow jog, which has all but dissapeared. The whole "focus on your body language" thing is really working for me and the big boy.
Our warm-up was honestly, stunningly beautiful, I kept thinking "holy crap, where is demonpony hiding, and when is he going to start breathing fire?" My trainer was even in shock at how relaxed and fluid he was, she told me that perhaps I should always go on vacation, and also joked that she had given Jingle a slight labatomy while I was away. Hahaha, poor Jingle-horse, he always gets subjected to these types of jokes.
We moved into the lope and Jingle was doing really well, now that he has the stamina and the strength to lope his leads, and is moving off my leg way more effectively, I've started to really check him back and get him to slow down and not zoom around as much. I have to really read him, and check accordingly, every once and awhile i'll ask him for too much and he'll transition down into a walk, and so it's a push and pull game to get him to slow down, but not stop, on me. He's also starting to to be able to lope the rail like a sane horse, and not a crazy-adrenaline filled "MAHM LOOK HOW FAR AND FAST I CAN GO IN A STRAIGHT LINE", good boy ponyboy.
He also is starting to nail his right lead and my trainer told me she's confident I can work on his right lead now by myself as well. Awesome.
Finally, she set up a little cavaletti, and had us trotting the rail and then calmly going over the cavaletti and continuing at a posting trot. Jingle wanted to drift from the rail, and speed up once he landed, so she told me to really hold him with the inside rein, keep my leg on him and just tell him "Jog" over the cavaletti. After a couple time he popped over it, nice and straight, and landed and jogged off nice and calm.
Overall, really good lesson. People keep asking me how he's doing, and I almost fear i'll jinx it by gushing over how awesome he's been the last three times i've taken a lesson, but it's true - he's doing so well, and he's maturing and figuring things out so rapidly it hurts MY brain to watch his brain at work. I'm very proud of ponyboy.
For Next Time: Where did our jog go? It's somewhere... we just gotta find it again.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Riding Diary: 34
Time: 1 hr
Ride: Perhaps I'm posting so much lately because I don't have the time to actually go out and see my horse? Sigh... just keep swimming, just keep swimming.... This meant that I hadn't seen my boy since my last lesson a week earlier. He seemed quite content with that fact. Got to the barn and discovered he had broken one of the snaps on the front of his blanket clear off... sigh.... must.remember.to.buy.new.snap. Other than that he seemed happy, healthy and alive, so that is all that matters isn't it! haha
I was a little nervous that he would be a big flingy ball of energy since he'd had a whole week off. Our warm up was a little "flingy", he was feeling good, and wanted to show me how fast he could trot. "Mahm, stop slowing down your posting - we got places to beeeeeeee, keep up would ya!" I just kept in mind my golden word for the month "RELEASE", and kept firmly reminding him "Hey Mr.FastPants, it's time for some refinement", and it seemed to work. It's funny to look back on my riding (as i've been doing with the equestrian challenge i'm doing on this blog), I've always had an issue with "babying" horses when I should be firmer with them. With Jingle, I think a lot of the time, my babying became me holding pressure, but not enough pressure to do something, but still nagging him, and then never truly giving him any release. Now, I'm really focusing on direct and clear cues; "lope this circle", in the past when he would speed up and I could feel him about to run amuck I would just grab my reins really tight, and just continue to hold, and of course... nothing would happen, we both would just turn to mush. Me = sad, why doesn't my horse love me and why doesn't he listen to me?.... Jingle = Why doesn't my owner love me, and why is she not communicating with me?... nobody wins. Now, if he starts to think about running off I firmly grab my rein, tip his nose back in and remind him that we're going this way, if he doesn't listen, it happens again, quickly, and then a release, and he's started to really figure it out. Yay for clearer communication between the two of us.
We worked on our loping, he managed to lope his right lead a couple times, so there's some progress, and then we worked on loping his left lead over some ground poles. They were set up so that I loped a semi circle and then would come off the rail, lope over two poles, and then back onto the rail. At first Jingle was cutting off the rail too soon, and I was having a hard time trying to move him back over, before then allowing him to move back off. A couple times we missed the poles all-together! haha, however, we got it together and had some really nice circles, with him straightening out nicely over the poles, and moving on and off the rail nicely. I just had to really utilize my left rein and really get him to move over, and then give him a bit of a release before asking him to move off again.
My trainer got me to also work on my body language, he was really rushing around a couple times at the lope, and she asked me just to sit deep, and try to focus on getting him to slown down. Apparently it worked pretty well because she exclaimed, "If only I had a video of you riding when you first came [in February] to compare to now!", I'm going to take that one as a compliment! :)
For Next Time: Clear Communication & starting to refine that wonderful left lead
... I didn't have any cookies left after I put Jingle away, and he proceeded to stick his mouth against the bars and do this every time I touched his lips. It made me die laughing, he looks absolutely insane.
Ride: Perhaps I'm posting so much lately because I don't have the time to actually go out and see my horse? Sigh... just keep swimming, just keep swimming.... This meant that I hadn't seen my boy since my last lesson a week earlier. He seemed quite content with that fact. Got to the barn and discovered he had broken one of the snaps on the front of his blanket clear off... sigh.... must.remember.to.buy.new.snap. Other than that he seemed happy, healthy and alive, so that is all that matters isn't it! haha
I was a little nervous that he would be a big flingy ball of energy since he'd had a whole week off. Our warm up was a little "flingy", he was feeling good, and wanted to show me how fast he could trot. "Mahm, stop slowing down your posting - we got places to beeeeeeee, keep up would ya!" I just kept in mind my golden word for the month "RELEASE", and kept firmly reminding him "Hey Mr.FastPants, it's time for some refinement", and it seemed to work. It's funny to look back on my riding (as i've been doing with the equestrian challenge i'm doing on this blog), I've always had an issue with "babying" horses when I should be firmer with them. With Jingle, I think a lot of the time, my babying became me holding pressure, but not enough pressure to do something, but still nagging him, and then never truly giving him any release. Now, I'm really focusing on direct and clear cues; "lope this circle", in the past when he would speed up and I could feel him about to run amuck I would just grab my reins really tight, and just continue to hold, and of course... nothing would happen, we both would just turn to mush. Me = sad, why doesn't my horse love me and why doesn't he listen to me?.... Jingle = Why doesn't my owner love me, and why is she not communicating with me?... nobody wins. Now, if he starts to think about running off I firmly grab my rein, tip his nose back in and remind him that we're going this way, if he doesn't listen, it happens again, quickly, and then a release, and he's started to really figure it out. Yay for clearer communication between the two of us.
We worked on our loping, he managed to lope his right lead a couple times, so there's some progress, and then we worked on loping his left lead over some ground poles. They were set up so that I loped a semi circle and then would come off the rail, lope over two poles, and then back onto the rail. At first Jingle was cutting off the rail too soon, and I was having a hard time trying to move him back over, before then allowing him to move back off. A couple times we missed the poles all-together! haha, however, we got it together and had some really nice circles, with him straightening out nicely over the poles, and moving on and off the rail nicely. I just had to really utilize my left rein and really get him to move over, and then give him a bit of a release before asking him to move off again.
My trainer got me to also work on my body language, he was really rushing around a couple times at the lope, and she asked me just to sit deep, and try to focus on getting him to slown down. Apparently it worked pretty well because she exclaimed, "If only I had a video of you riding when you first came [in February] to compare to now!", I'm going to take that one as a compliment! :)
For Next Time: Clear Communication & starting to refine that wonderful left lead
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Riding Diary: 32
Ride: Jingle makes me laugh, Jingle is pretty well-mannered in the saddle, despite his annoyed head-tosses, and lack of power steering, he has never bucked or reared (never say never, I know), and although he sometimes runs amuck, he generally stops and listens when I tell him to smarten up. Thus, when I got two big "Mom, I'm jumping over here!" spooks out of him from snow sliding off the side of our arena, I couldn't help but giggle. "But Mom! I am SCARED to go back to that side of the arena!!"
Once he cooled off from those moments, we went into our lesson from a warm-up. Trainer: "lope your right lead, but we're going to work on the other side of the arena" Me: ugh. You see, starting something new for Jingle - even something as small as lope a circle somewhere else, often becomes a "WHAT?! YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?" My horse did not fail me. Sure enough, our lope became a messy, uncoordinated, where is my steering, kinda lope. To the point where my trainer even mentioned that his lack of steering and listening is dangerous, and it's something we need to work on. No shit. However, up-side, he is starting to pick up his right lead - huzzah!
What is so frusterating about my horse and his steering is that, for the most part, at our slow work, he has steering. We can go through poles, we can turn around, we can figure 8, we can do all of that. Then, we lope, and it just dissapears. My trainer mentioned that I should start kind of faking him out, give him less firm direction whilst steering, and see if he attempts to leak on me, and then quickly correct him when he does.
Also, I need to work on my release, it's hard to give your horse a "release" when you feel that you barely have control of the situation. However, as my trainer pointed out, even a slight release for a second while he slows down, or arcs better, will help get him to figure out to stop rushing so much. Honestly, thank the lord he has figured out how to pick up his left lead and slooooooow down or else I might be a lot less positive and optimisitc about the situation!
Our jog is really nice though! So, that's a plus. I joked with a friend that we could always do "walk-jog" classes, except for the fact that his transitions aren't stunning, and we aren't exactly stopping great still... okay, maybe no classes for awhile haha.
Finally, we worked on side-passing, and Jingle picked it up really well. I had him faced up against the wall, and if he passed a couple steps, I released and told him he was a good boy. He did great! Slow work is really our thing.
My poor horse, he does try hard, and I do see improvement - it's just slow in the making. Building blocks right! In other news - Jingle is a sweaty mess after our rides, so sweaty that it takes me quite awhile to cool him off, groom him and then stand him infront of our block heater to dry before I can put his blanket on (and he stays in a stall overnight!) My trainer mentioned we might have to half-clip him... haha Jingle clipped! Does that mean I can buy him a bright red slinky?! =) Any reason to buy more stuff!
For Next Time: Start slow and build from there, work on our "power steering", better vocal cues, and more of a release!
Once he cooled off from those moments, we went into our lesson from a warm-up. Trainer: "lope your right lead, but we're going to work on the other side of the arena" Me: ugh. You see, starting something new for Jingle - even something as small as lope a circle somewhere else, often becomes a "WHAT?! YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?" My horse did not fail me. Sure enough, our lope became a messy, uncoordinated, where is my steering, kinda lope. To the point where my trainer even mentioned that his lack of steering and listening is dangerous, and it's something we need to work on. No shit. However, up-side, he is starting to pick up his right lead - huzzah!
What is so frusterating about my horse and his steering is that, for the most part, at our slow work, he has steering. We can go through poles, we can turn around, we can figure 8, we can do all of that. Then, we lope, and it just dissapears. My trainer mentioned that I should start kind of faking him out, give him less firm direction whilst steering, and see if he attempts to leak on me, and then quickly correct him when he does.
Also, I need to work on my release, it's hard to give your horse a "release" when you feel that you barely have control of the situation. However, as my trainer pointed out, even a slight release for a second while he slows down, or arcs better, will help get him to figure out to stop rushing so much. Honestly, thank the lord he has figured out how to pick up his left lead and slooooooow down or else I might be a lot less positive and optimisitc about the situation!
Our jog is really nice though! So, that's a plus. I joked with a friend that we could always do "walk-jog" classes, except for the fact that his transitions aren't stunning, and we aren't exactly stopping great still... okay, maybe no classes for awhile haha.
Finally, we worked on side-passing, and Jingle picked it up really well. I had him faced up against the wall, and if he passed a couple steps, I released and told him he was a good boy. He did great! Slow work is really our thing.
My poor horse, he does try hard, and I do see improvement - it's just slow in the making. Building blocks right! In other news - Jingle is a sweaty mess after our rides, so sweaty that it takes me quite awhile to cool him off, groom him and then stand him infront of our block heater to dry before I can put his blanket on (and he stays in a stall overnight!) My trainer mentioned we might have to half-clip him... haha Jingle clipped! Does that mean I can buy him a bright red slinky?! =) Any reason to buy more stuff!
For Next Time: Start slow and build from there, work on our "power steering", better vocal cues, and more of a release!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Riding Diary: 25
Time: 1 hr.
Ride: I'm stumbling over my words for this post in my head already, so you know it's going to be a good one. Anyways, basically I had one of those rides where I was already tired and emotional from other activities, and ended up, afterwards, looking at my beautiful, but green, horse and thinking, "maybe I will never be a good enough rider for you." It's honestly so frustrating, and I know I shouldn't have such a negative attitude already - it's only been a month of lessons (so, like 3 or 4), but I just cant help go to that place every once and awhile. I just worry that he'll never excel, or succeed, with me as his rider, and I'll never get better, because I don't have a horse that can teach me - I'm trying to teach him, and sometimes it just feels like a big fumbly mess. You know? Sigh... Another ranch horse came home, and I know he'll excel, because of how good of a rider his new owner is, and then there's me. It just stings.
So on that super positive note, the lesson was alright. I hadn't ridden Jingle in a week because I was so busy, however his farrier finally came out (yay!) and he had his feet done on Thursday. He did really well, he stood better than last time, and he's really only going to get better with his feet. I notice know how easy he stands for me when I pick out his feet, brush his legs off, etc. (Still working on those hinds though...). His farrier commented that he falls heel first, and very flat footed, he also has a slightly clubbed left-front foot, so we're working on correctively shoeing to sort out some of those conformation-errors.
My lesson started off with a posting-trot, he was zooming around, and my trainer made me slow my posting down and work better on keeping him slow, but more alive at the same time. Sometimes if I slow him down, he almost forgets what we're doing. Then we worked on the jog, and then we came to a small circle and worked on the jog and the lope. The entire ride Jingle was tossing his head, and just being a sassy pissy pants, basically being a noodle-horse, with attitude. At the lope he would do well for awhile, but needed a lot of leg and rein to keep his lope up, instead of breaking down, but then he started getting frustrated and half running off on me, head-tossing the entire time. Finally, our ride ended with about 20 minutes of jogging a small circle until he finally would stop and relax into it - he never really did. By this point I was exhausted, and my heads were drenched in sweat from the reins. We then stood for about 10 minutes until he'd relax and just chill out. It's annoying because I KNOW he can jog better than that, he actually has a nice little jog, but when we work in the small circle, he just gets so frustrated, and annoyed, and I don't have the timing, or really know what to do properly, to correct it. Also, I really need to work on my vocal cues - my trainer said I'm not being strong enough in how I cue him, for example, apparently I say, "jooooogggg" all honey-boo-boo-princess-horse-face style instead of "JOG", as in "quit that you pain in the ass".
Anyways, the dentist is conveniently coming out today to check some horses that another girl brought home from the sale of the ranch (!!! yay, some of them came home to my barn!) so i'm going to get him to look at Jingle's mouth again. He has his issues, which I thought were remedied in July when another Vet/Dentist was out to do him, but maybe not. His head shaking really does seem like a pain response to his mouth, and if not, i'm wondering if it's a learned response from previous pain. If he clears his dental exam, I might switch up bits, I was thinking of putting him in an O-ring, basic, basic snaffle, but I know he despises the nutcracker effect from bits I've used on him previously (albeit, harsher bits, when he wasn't mine and I was told what to ride him in). Right now he's in a D-ring three piece dog-bone with a copper roller, so maybe the roller is too much, he is in a noseband, so he can't play with it if he tried. So maybe a really mild french link? I don't know.
Blech, anyways, as you can tell... it was just one of those rides.
For Next Time: Work on my verbal cues, and don't let pissy-pants get away with things as much.
Ride: I'm stumbling over my words for this post in my head already, so you know it's going to be a good one. Anyways, basically I had one of those rides where I was already tired and emotional from other activities, and ended up, afterwards, looking at my beautiful, but green, horse and thinking, "maybe I will never be a good enough rider for you." It's honestly so frustrating, and I know I shouldn't have such a negative attitude already - it's only been a month of lessons (so, like 3 or 4), but I just cant help go to that place every once and awhile. I just worry that he'll never excel, or succeed, with me as his rider, and I'll never get better, because I don't have a horse that can teach me - I'm trying to teach him, and sometimes it just feels like a big fumbly mess. You know? Sigh... Another ranch horse came home, and I know he'll excel, because of how good of a rider his new owner is, and then there's me. It just stings.
So on that super positive note, the lesson was alright. I hadn't ridden Jingle in a week because I was so busy, however his farrier finally came out (yay!) and he had his feet done on Thursday. He did really well, he stood better than last time, and he's really only going to get better with his feet. I notice know how easy he stands for me when I pick out his feet, brush his legs off, etc. (Still working on those hinds though...). His farrier commented that he falls heel first, and very flat footed, he also has a slightly clubbed left-front foot, so we're working on correctively shoeing to sort out some of those conformation-errors.
My lesson started off with a posting-trot, he was zooming around, and my trainer made me slow my posting down and work better on keeping him slow, but more alive at the same time. Sometimes if I slow him down, he almost forgets what we're doing. Then we worked on the jog, and then we came to a small circle and worked on the jog and the lope. The entire ride Jingle was tossing his head, and just being a sassy pissy pants, basically being a noodle-horse, with attitude. At the lope he would do well for awhile, but needed a lot of leg and rein to keep his lope up, instead of breaking down, but then he started getting frustrated and half running off on me, head-tossing the entire time. Finally, our ride ended with about 20 minutes of jogging a small circle until he finally would stop and relax into it - he never really did. By this point I was exhausted, and my heads were drenched in sweat from the reins. We then stood for about 10 minutes until he'd relax and just chill out. It's annoying because I KNOW he can jog better than that, he actually has a nice little jog, but when we work in the small circle, he just gets so frustrated, and annoyed, and I don't have the timing, or really know what to do properly, to correct it. Also, I really need to work on my vocal cues - my trainer said I'm not being strong enough in how I cue him, for example, apparently I say, "jooooogggg" all honey-boo-boo-princess-horse-face style instead of "JOG", as in "quit that you pain in the ass".
Anyways, the dentist is conveniently coming out today to check some horses that another girl brought home from the sale of the ranch (!!! yay, some of them came home to my barn!) so i'm going to get him to look at Jingle's mouth again. He has his issues, which I thought were remedied in July when another Vet/Dentist was out to do him, but maybe not. His head shaking really does seem like a pain response to his mouth, and if not, i'm wondering if it's a learned response from previous pain. If he clears his dental exam, I might switch up bits, I was thinking of putting him in an O-ring, basic, basic snaffle, but I know he despises the nutcracker effect from bits I've used on him previously (albeit, harsher bits, when he wasn't mine and I was told what to ride him in). Right now he's in a D-ring three piece dog-bone with a copper roller, so maybe the roller is too much, he is in a noseband, so he can't play with it if he tried. So maybe a really mild french link? I don't know.
Blech, anyways, as you can tell... it was just one of those rides.
For Next Time: Work on my verbal cues, and don't let pissy-pants get away with things as much.
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