Time: 2 hr
Ride: Remember that one time I dreamt and wished that my horse was one of those magical horses you hear about, that you can just show up and ride once a week and have lovely transitions, calm departures, and beautiful cadence? People tell me about these horses and I wonder if they actually ride unicorns. Let me tell you something, Jingle is NOT a unicorn.
I showed up to another barrel lesson, gymkhana season is coming pretty fast down the tube here, and Jingle has got to get his turning butt in gear. Funny enough, at the sorting our friendly mentor R told me that I was using "barrel turns" way too often, and needed to focus on stopping, rollbacks and pivots. You know whats funny R? that's what we've been working on ALL WINTER and I focus on barrels for legit 2 weeks and apparently forget how to ride cows. uhm, dur. Score a - for your rider Jingle.
We worked on downward transitions, canter to jog transitions turn my horse into a steaming dragon of hellfire and anger. "YOU WANT ME TO GO SLOW AND THEN GO FAST AND THE GO SLOW AGAIN?" weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee we go around the arena at mach speed. This is my life, ya'll. Of course I picked like THE busiest lesson day i've seen in months to show off my horses bratty behaviour. woop woop.
After getting some half-assed transitions we moved on to barrel work, we practiced some slow stuff to begin with, and then my trainer had me trot to the first, and pick up our left lead to second and third. Jingle was doing alright, but his third barrel is still messy and sloppy, and so she had me attempting to teach him rate and check him into a jog before we hit third. Jingle has done this before, Jingle has actually suprised me with how well he will listen to me before we hit that third barrel. On this day - that was all gone, down the spirally drain of horsemanship. To assist with his third barrel, which generally starts out good but then Jingle shoots past it and makes a huge arc around it, my trainer gave me a crop to lightly pop his shoulder over for when we're entering the barrel turn. Jingle hates crops. Jingle looses his absolute mind when a crop is introduced, even when i'm just holding a crop. I have no idea why... it is seriously unfortunate. The crop got tossed in the dirt because Jingle was becoming a rocking horse... and that's never fun.
We kept at it though - even to the point where Jingle decided to gallop home from third and literally almost slammed us both into the wall before narrowly missing it. Jingle, this is why I tell you that if given the choice you would have always been a gelding, because there's no way in hell natural selection chooses horses that willingly slam into walls. So, Jingle and I did some really nice "Hey fuckhead. This is how we stop" work, everyone was giving us horrified looks.. my horse is a freight train.
Then, we went back to the barrel pattern, taking is slow, not asking for a lope to get him slowed down again, and we got some nice turns at the trot, and at the jog, finally, we loped second and third again and it was a bit more controlled and calm, and so we quit on a good note.
After that, I got to jump on one of my old "babies", Soren (now named Parker) that ended up being bought from the sale of my old ranch and brought to our barn. I warmed him up for his new horsiemamaowner and it was lovely. First of all, horse has got some serious Hunter under Saddle AQHA game. He has the floatiest, most expressive trot. Plus he's slow and steady, oh mah lawd. I even got to trot the barrel pattern on him a couple times, he doesn't turn as snappy as Jingle does, so it took me a minute to figure out how to turn the big lug, but we worked it out. It was awesome. Meanwhile, Laura (Team Bitch of LV Horses (that's my new horse team name, i've decided) hahaha) got to cool down the ever jiggy/fast-moving Jingle. She's the best. Everyone needs a Laura on their team.
For Next Time: I know this post wasn't very "good", but afterwards I was talking with Laura about the ride. Sure, it was pretty nasty, and a couple months ago I would have left the barn and probably come straight home and blogged about how my horse is trying to kill me (k, that still rings true) and how we're never going to get the pattern and how I'm a terrible rider yadayadayada. Now, I've seen his potential, I understand and get his issues and I know that we'll get it - it'll just take a lot of work. Similiar to how much work it took to get his leads and now he's banging those outta the park. So now, our bad rides don't really bum me out like they use too, I just chalk them to "that coulda gone better", and move on. I think he's starting too, too. We're growing up guys ! Someone pass me a tissue to wipe the arena dirt out of my eyes.
So for next time? We're still in speed boot camp. Homeboy has gotta figure out that if he's well-mannered at the slower gaits, he has to also act respectfully at the faster stuff. We'll get there.
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Riding Diary: 49 - Cutting
Horse: John Wayne!
Bit: Correctional Bit
Time: 1 hr
Ride: John Wayne was feeeeeelin' good when I went out to ride on Friday. Still working on my position at the warm-up, still not feeling ... right... about it. haha. When I watch Coach he just seems so soft and relaxed, even in that cutter "slumped" position. When I try to imitate I feel like a bracey, bouncy mess. At one point I said, "I feel like my feet are bouncing all over the place and i'm a sack of potatoes!" to which he responded, "I don't see that" and rode off... okay. haha. Guess that's a good thing. I need to find some videos of cutters in the warm-up ring... except they all lope their horses, but still... gotta watch more riders.
My dry work was a bit iffy, due to a some terrible advice in the past, when I ask a horse to stop I have a tendancy to rock back and push my legs forward. I have almost 98% gotten over that ugly habit, but every once and awhile it sneaks up and flairs it's less than pretty head. Coach reminded me to be softer when I ask for stops, and gently reminded me to be softer when I ask for anything when it comes to cutting horses. Yet again, I am faced with the fact my riding translates into the fact my horse is not "soft" nor quick and responsive like cutting horses... we're gettting there!! One of these days!... and so I'm quick to assume I need to guide and help them through things like stops, rollbacks, turn-around etc. where with these horses, I definitely just need to sit there, and "shut up"... as it were.
Our first attempt at the flag was pretty gross to be honest, JW was pretty excited and it resulted it me feeling like a true sack of potatoes, he'd stop, I'd bounce halfway out the saddle. He also didn't have the bend and focus Coach likes to see, and when I'd attempt to get his head and eye more locked on the flag he'd swing his body away. When I attempted to back up, he's jut away from the flag and attempt to run off... backwards. Stuff like this doesn't usually bother my riding much, but because i'm one headed on super loose reins while working the flag I often feel a lack of control (even if I am really in control), and so I scramble to grab my reins, resulting in JW braceing and attempting to try to figure out what i'm asking, when often i'm not intending to ask anything really.
We just weren't translating very harmoniously. So, Coach got on, rode him some and then got me to get back on. He told me I was over-riding, and that for the most part I was using my legs too much and it was causing JW to be nervous and fall apart on the flag. So we practiced and discussed "cow-side" leg theory, Coach said to "ride" less, and then "ride" more when I really needed to. I practiced turn arounds and roll backs, only using my cow-side leg to assist in moving forward, and only bumping slightly through the turns.
When we got back on the flag I hunched right down and got to work, and all of a sudden we clicked again. Afterwards Coach apologized for not riding him beforehand since he was being so fresh, but I didn't mind. Now i've felt how easy JW can fall apart if i'm not coming through with my side of the deal. Cutting horses are deceptive that way, they are so well trained that you almost feel as if you can start to get lazy, but then the second you do - their sensitive sides rear their heads.
I'm starting to get a feel for when something is wrong and when something is right, slowly but surely, and riding "tougher" rides will definitely aid in that sense.
For Next Time: Ride less until you need to ride more.
Bit: Correctional Bit
Time: 1 hr
Ride: John Wayne was feeeeeelin' good when I went out to ride on Friday. Still working on my position at the warm-up, still not feeling ... right... about it. haha. When I watch Coach he just seems so soft and relaxed, even in that cutter "slumped" position. When I try to imitate I feel like a bracey, bouncy mess. At one point I said, "I feel like my feet are bouncing all over the place and i'm a sack of potatoes!" to which he responded, "I don't see that" and rode off... okay. haha. Guess that's a good thing. I need to find some videos of cutters in the warm-up ring... except they all lope their horses, but still... gotta watch more riders.
My dry work was a bit iffy, due to a some terrible advice in the past, when I ask a horse to stop I have a tendancy to rock back and push my legs forward. I have almost 98% gotten over that ugly habit, but every once and awhile it sneaks up and flairs it's less than pretty head. Coach reminded me to be softer when I ask for stops, and gently reminded me to be softer when I ask for anything when it comes to cutting horses. Yet again, I am faced with the fact my riding translates into the fact my horse is not "soft" nor quick and responsive like cutting horses... we're gettting there!! One of these days!... and so I'm quick to assume I need to guide and help them through things like stops, rollbacks, turn-around etc. where with these horses, I definitely just need to sit there, and "shut up"... as it were.
Our first attempt at the flag was pretty gross to be honest, JW was pretty excited and it resulted it me feeling like a true sack of potatoes, he'd stop, I'd bounce halfway out the saddle. He also didn't have the bend and focus Coach likes to see, and when I'd attempt to get his head and eye more locked on the flag he'd swing his body away. When I attempted to back up, he's jut away from the flag and attempt to run off... backwards. Stuff like this doesn't usually bother my riding much, but because i'm one headed on super loose reins while working the flag I often feel a lack of control (even if I am really in control), and so I scramble to grab my reins, resulting in JW braceing and attempting to try to figure out what i'm asking, when often i'm not intending to ask anything really.
We just weren't translating very harmoniously. So, Coach got on, rode him some and then got me to get back on. He told me I was over-riding, and that for the most part I was using my legs too much and it was causing JW to be nervous and fall apart on the flag. So we practiced and discussed "cow-side" leg theory, Coach said to "ride" less, and then "ride" more when I really needed to. I practiced turn arounds and roll backs, only using my cow-side leg to assist in moving forward, and only bumping slightly through the turns.
When we got back on the flag I hunched right down and got to work, and all of a sudden we clicked again. Afterwards Coach apologized for not riding him beforehand since he was being so fresh, but I didn't mind. Now i've felt how easy JW can fall apart if i'm not coming through with my side of the deal. Cutting horses are deceptive that way, they are so well trained that you almost feel as if you can start to get lazy, but then the second you do - their sensitive sides rear their heads.
I'm starting to get a feel for when something is wrong and when something is right, slowly but surely, and riding "tougher" rides will definitely aid in that sense.
For Next Time: Ride less until you need to ride more.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Riding Diary: 48 - Cutting
Time: 1 hr
Horse: John Wayne!
Ride: Was definitely itching to ride again, and he had an opening for me on Monday so I jumped at the chance!
Got to the barn and was told I could ride John Wayne again, yipeee - he has the cutest face, i'll have to snap a photo one of these days. He's also a bit of a personality - very mouthy, haha, as I was taking off his halter I had to wrestle it out of his mouth, and, it turns out, he is a bit of a pest and not too fond of other horses around him - nor were the other horses fond of him. Silly boy.
We warmed up as Coach worked a couple horses on the flag. The more lessons I get the more I can see the subtleties that go into flag work. Back in the day when I watched people work horses on the flag I couldn't really "tell" what they were doing, now I can see the bumps through turns, the back-ups, etc. Plus, Coach was riding a roan that was in for re-training, so I could really see the issues there and watch what he did to correct and try to teach the horse how to be less bracey, and to stop better. He also talked me through some of what he was doing. The horses main problem was that, when heading left up the wall, when the flag stopped he immediately tried to shoot outwards/forward - away from the flag, Coach would completely lose his left shoulder, and the horse would lose the "arc" in his body you want when your working a flag. Coach said this was because whoever had originally trained him, most likely would pull his head sharply around through turns, teaching him to brace, and run away on the stops.
He rode the horse twice on the flag, the first time the horse was exceptionally bracey and was pretty.. well... rude. haha I thought to myself, "Coach sure has a good seat". By the time the flag work was over the horse was drenched in sweat, and making the arena a foggy mess... he had only been worked on the flag for 10 minutes tops. Coach let his assistant walk him out and calm him down, she rode in just a halter, and even got off and walked him a lot until he dried - this took about a half an hour, to 45 minutes. Then Coach rode him on the flag again, he was much calmer this time, you could tell they were just working together better. The horse started to really stop and listen to what Coach was asking on a nice loose rein, it was pretty cool to see them both come together, when an hour and a half ago I had witnessed a horse definitely seeing Coach as an adversary, not a partner.
Anyways, more about "me" :)
Warm-up was good, I feel like i'm getting closer to really achieving that more relaxed position that Coach is looking for, I still need to remind myself to meld more in the saddle, and sitting such an extended trot is still a bit on the trickier side for me, but i'm figuring it out. My body doesn't hurt half as much as it has after the last two lessons so that must be a sign i'm loosening up and relaxing!
We did dry-work before flag work, working on nice stops, Coach really got me thinking about my stop. Sometimes it's hard to do nice, slow, collected stops because the horses work SO WELL off your body that the second I "sit down", I don't have a second to think before J.W. is already parking it in the dirt. We worked on backing, stopping and roll backs some more - the constant reminder was: relax. be more relaxed. relax. Thankfully, Coach is one of those guys that actually inspires relaxation. I've had trainers in the past scream "RELAX" at you and it's like, "oh, okay, let me just freak the f- out while I 'relax'"
Our flag work wasn't as harmonious and pretty as last time but that's okay because that means I get to learn how to work better, and it gets to last a bit longer :) Coach talked to me about where the flag should be, and when I should be asking J.W. to back and when he's in the right position. A couple times Coach had me bump J.W. with both my legs to help him "snap" better through the turn. Sometimes I found that J.W. was really rushing as the flag went one way. Coach said that although sometimes speed is important he would rather have his horses long trotting back and forth and not "rushing" the flag, because, when translated into actual live-cow work that can cause the cow to try to rush off and this isn't cow horse people! haha.
I had to remind myself to relax quite a few times - as did he, it's easy to get pretty amped up doing this stuff. All in all really good lesson, once again Coach told me I was doing a really good job, and I was beaming ear to ear.
For Next Time: More work on that position, reeeeeeelax, and figure out when to let the horse do his job, and when to intervene (i.e. bumping through turns, backing, slowing them down, etc.)
Horse: John Wayne!
Ride: Was definitely itching to ride again, and he had an opening for me on Monday so I jumped at the chance!
Got to the barn and was told I could ride John Wayne again, yipeee - he has the cutest face, i'll have to snap a photo one of these days. He's also a bit of a personality - very mouthy, haha, as I was taking off his halter I had to wrestle it out of his mouth, and, it turns out, he is a bit of a pest and not too fond of other horses around him - nor were the other horses fond of him. Silly boy.
We warmed up as Coach worked a couple horses on the flag. The more lessons I get the more I can see the subtleties that go into flag work. Back in the day when I watched people work horses on the flag I couldn't really "tell" what they were doing, now I can see the bumps through turns, the back-ups, etc. Plus, Coach was riding a roan that was in for re-training, so I could really see the issues there and watch what he did to correct and try to teach the horse how to be less bracey, and to stop better. He also talked me through some of what he was doing. The horses main problem was that, when heading left up the wall, when the flag stopped he immediately tried to shoot outwards/forward - away from the flag, Coach would completely lose his left shoulder, and the horse would lose the "arc" in his body you want when your working a flag. Coach said this was because whoever had originally trained him, most likely would pull his head sharply around through turns, teaching him to brace, and run away on the stops.
He rode the horse twice on the flag, the first time the horse was exceptionally bracey and was pretty.. well... rude. haha I thought to myself, "Coach sure has a good seat". By the time the flag work was over the horse was drenched in sweat, and making the arena a foggy mess... he had only been worked on the flag for 10 minutes tops. Coach let his assistant walk him out and calm him down, she rode in just a halter, and even got off and walked him a lot until he dried - this took about a half an hour, to 45 minutes. Then Coach rode him on the flag again, he was much calmer this time, you could tell they were just working together better. The horse started to really stop and listen to what Coach was asking on a nice loose rein, it was pretty cool to see them both come together, when an hour and a half ago I had witnessed a horse definitely seeing Coach as an adversary, not a partner.
Anyways, more about "me" :)
Warm-up was good, I feel like i'm getting closer to really achieving that more relaxed position that Coach is looking for, I still need to remind myself to meld more in the saddle, and sitting such an extended trot is still a bit on the trickier side for me, but i'm figuring it out. My body doesn't hurt half as much as it has after the last two lessons so that must be a sign i'm loosening up and relaxing!
We did dry-work before flag work, working on nice stops, Coach really got me thinking about my stop. Sometimes it's hard to do nice, slow, collected stops because the horses work SO WELL off your body that the second I "sit down", I don't have a second to think before J.W. is already parking it in the dirt. We worked on backing, stopping and roll backs some more - the constant reminder was: relax. be more relaxed. relax. Thankfully, Coach is one of those guys that actually inspires relaxation. I've had trainers in the past scream "RELAX" at you and it's like, "oh, okay, let me just freak the f- out while I 'relax'"
Our flag work wasn't as harmonious and pretty as last time but that's okay because that means I get to learn how to work better, and it gets to last a bit longer :) Coach talked to me about where the flag should be, and when I should be asking J.W. to back and when he's in the right position. A couple times Coach had me bump J.W. with both my legs to help him "snap" better through the turn. Sometimes I found that J.W. was really rushing as the flag went one way. Coach said that although sometimes speed is important he would rather have his horses long trotting back and forth and not "rushing" the flag, because, when translated into actual live-cow work that can cause the cow to try to rush off and this isn't cow horse people! haha.
I had to remind myself to relax quite a few times - as did he, it's easy to get pretty amped up doing this stuff. All in all really good lesson, once again Coach told me I was doing a really good job, and I was beaming ear to ear.
For Next Time: More work on that position, reeeeeeelax, and figure out when to let the horse do his job, and when to intervene (i.e. bumping through turns, backing, slowing them down, etc.)
Monday, March 4, 2013
Riding Diary: 47 - Cutting
Time: 2 hr
Horse: John Wayne
Ride: Finally I got another lesson with the cutting horse trainer, who for the purpose of this blog, I call Coach. I forgot how much I love riding with than man haha, he is so nice, encouraging and soft spoken - I truly appreciate his training style with both horses and humans :)
When I got to the arena, he asked me if I knew "John Wayne"... Uhm, I kind of stammered, "the cowboy?". He laughed at me, the horse I was going to ride is named John Wayne. Did you guys know I dislike human names for horses? This horse has two first human names as it's name! C'mon universe!
We began to warm-up, I fell into the rhythm of sitting an extended trot a little bit better than last time but I still really need to work on relaxing and not being so rigid. I felt like I was doing better at keeping my hand on J.W.'s neck and only using my reins when I really needed to. I also made my stirrups shorter than I usually do, this way my stirrups weren't feeling jostled around as a sat such a big trot.
Coach reminded me on how he wants me to sit during these warm ups - nice and relaxed, a bit of a curve in the back, legs loose, etc. He suggested that I even look "down", as in tuck my chin, and perhaps that will help get a more curve, relaxed back. He asked me to bump J.W. to get him to extend even more and really work and then we did a bit of dry work.
The dry work consisted mostly of stops and rollbacks, he asked me to really sit down when I asked for a "woah", and only draw up my hand if I really needed to. Coach said that with his cutting horses he wants everything done slow and fluidly, so if I ask for a turn my hand should come out to the side slowly and fluidly so that they aren't jarred into a turn - same with a woah, and a back-up, everything should be calm and relaxed so that the horse isn't knocked into doing something right away. I think that's a really good foundation for horses to be started and trained with - slow, calm, steady, makes for a way less brace-y horse. I'm dealing with so many bracing problems with Jingle that I could for sure feel how fluid and easy J.W. was to ride.
From the dry work we moved onto flag work. Coach had me ride J.W. up to the flag really slow and calculated, almost a step for every deep breathe I took. Then I stopped square and we began to work the flag. It felt wicked, J.W. was where I wanted him to be every.single.time, it was honestly amazing. The only thing I really had to "do" was keep him a little straighter, and not let him drift from the flag a few times, so I kept my left leg on him as he was chasing the flag on his right side. A couple times I had to bump to assist him through a turn, but honestly, I didn't do much.
Coach told me I had done a really amazing job. He said that he has trained J.W. from a baby and has shown him pretty limited, but will be amping up his showing this year. He said that I had ridden him really well and that we both were "hooked onto eachother". Finally he finished by saying he was really impressed with my riding, and that my position on the flag was really natural, and that we looked like I was about to show J.W. tomorrow. Pretty awesome praise. His only "criticism" was that he wished I could sit the warmup like a sit during flag-work haha. I think the flag work clicks in my mind as a different kind of riding, and so I can get down and into that cutting position, where as when I'm warming up - walking, trotting, etc, my mind drifts back into "pleasure riding", and my back goes right up and back, shoulders back, heels way down, etc. etc. He wants me to be way more fluid, natural and day I say it "slumped" haha ;)
As per usual, our flag work was done way faster than I had wanted it to be, and I cooled J.W. out. Then I watched him work a couple clients horses, and his stud. Then he let me cool down his stud - a dual rey roan that is one hunk of handsome, let me tell ya. Also, he is a real sweetie.
It was awesome. awesome. awesome.
For Next Time: Keep working on that relaxed, fluid, "different" cutting position during the warm up.
Horse: John Wayne
Ride: Finally I got another lesson with the cutting horse trainer, who for the purpose of this blog, I call Coach. I forgot how much I love riding with than man haha, he is so nice, encouraging and soft spoken - I truly appreciate his training style with both horses and humans :)
When I got to the arena, he asked me if I knew "John Wayne"... Uhm, I kind of stammered, "the cowboy?". He laughed at me, the horse I was going to ride is named John Wayne. Did you guys know I dislike human names for horses? This horse has two first human names as it's name! C'mon universe!
We began to warm-up, I fell into the rhythm of sitting an extended trot a little bit better than last time but I still really need to work on relaxing and not being so rigid. I felt like I was doing better at keeping my hand on J.W.'s neck and only using my reins when I really needed to. I also made my stirrups shorter than I usually do, this way my stirrups weren't feeling jostled around as a sat such a big trot.
Coach reminded me on how he wants me to sit during these warm ups - nice and relaxed, a bit of a curve in the back, legs loose, etc. He suggested that I even look "down", as in tuck my chin, and perhaps that will help get a more curve, relaxed back. He asked me to bump J.W. to get him to extend even more and really work and then we did a bit of dry work.
The dry work consisted mostly of stops and rollbacks, he asked me to really sit down when I asked for a "woah", and only draw up my hand if I really needed to. Coach said that with his cutting horses he wants everything done slow and fluidly, so if I ask for a turn my hand should come out to the side slowly and fluidly so that they aren't jarred into a turn - same with a woah, and a back-up, everything should be calm and relaxed so that the horse isn't knocked into doing something right away. I think that's a really good foundation for horses to be started and trained with - slow, calm, steady, makes for a way less brace-y horse. I'm dealing with so many bracing problems with Jingle that I could for sure feel how fluid and easy J.W. was to ride.
From the dry work we moved onto flag work. Coach had me ride J.W. up to the flag really slow and calculated, almost a step for every deep breathe I took. Then I stopped square and we began to work the flag. It felt wicked, J.W. was where I wanted him to be every.single.time, it was honestly amazing. The only thing I really had to "do" was keep him a little straighter, and not let him drift from the flag a few times, so I kept my left leg on him as he was chasing the flag on his right side. A couple times I had to bump to assist him through a turn, but honestly, I didn't do much.
Coach told me I had done a really amazing job. He said that he has trained J.W. from a baby and has shown him pretty limited, but will be amping up his showing this year. He said that I had ridden him really well and that we both were "hooked onto eachother". Finally he finished by saying he was really impressed with my riding, and that my position on the flag was really natural, and that we looked like I was about to show J.W. tomorrow. Pretty awesome praise. His only "criticism" was that he wished I could sit the warmup like a sit during flag-work haha. I think the flag work clicks in my mind as a different kind of riding, and so I can get down and into that cutting position, where as when I'm warming up - walking, trotting, etc, my mind drifts back into "pleasure riding", and my back goes right up and back, shoulders back, heels way down, etc. etc. He wants me to be way more fluid, natural and day I say it "slumped" haha ;)
As per usual, our flag work was done way faster than I had wanted it to be, and I cooled J.W. out. Then I watched him work a couple clients horses, and his stud. Then he let me cool down his stud - a dual rey roan that is one hunk of handsome, let me tell ya. Also, he is a real sweetie.
It was awesome. awesome. awesome.
For Next Time: Keep working on that relaxed, fluid, "different" cutting position during the warm up.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Riding Diary: 46
Time: 2 hr
Ride: You know those rides that you just... don't want to talk about? I had one of those rides on Monday. I really don't even want to post about it, but i've never not posted about my rides... sigh. It was potentially the worst lesson I have ever had on Jingle.
haha, I think I have mentally blocked on the scene-by-scene details, as i'm having a hard time recollecting some of it. We started off a bit rough and rocky, and for awhile my trainer has been commenting that perhaps we should try a bit again. I am, at this point, pretty anti-bit when it comes to my horse. It's tough, because his bit-issues are all behavioural/mental, and for two years he was ridden exlusively in a bit, and although it wasn't hard work - he went well. So I waver back and forth on whether or not to include a bit in his training schedule every once and awhile. However, what happens when we add a bit into the combination is a complete and utter stress-ball underneath of me. He becomes worried, anxious, and worst of all - the epitome of pissy, he's almost vindictive (I know i'm placing human emotions on a horse, bad me, but that's honestly the best way to describe how he acts).
So, my trainer was saying let's try a bit again, and I was gently saying "uhm, I don't really know, I'm not super comfor..." and then my horse started to completely and utterly stop moving. Of course today was the day I figured he'd be fine if I rode in my short loop reins. Generally, if I'm riding in split reins I can give him a tiny flick of the rein towards the hip and he's back to normal, I don't even really have to touch him. My loop reins don't provide that luxury. I asked for a crop. One would think that a small crop would be the same as a tiny brush of a rein... nope... Jingle loosssessss it when a crop is introduced. Monday was no different, except for the fact that the second I touched his hip with the crop (please note - I don't even smack him, I literally just move the crop from infront of my knee to my hip so he can see it) he went ballistic. I had a run away on my hands. Not good. My trainer was headed for the door to grab a bridle before I even had a chance to think.
I was stressed. My horse was stressed. & now we were introducing something that makes us fall apart. Well, long story short, it kind of helped, but in the end, i'm still on the "no-bit-for-my-psycho-horse" side. I understand where my trainer is coming from; my horse was acting pretty dangerous, not just naughty, and she can't have me running down children in the arena. However, she's not the one on his back, I am, and I can feel every bit of fried muscle running through him. She also kind of got after me for letting him get away with things, and I was a little hurt. I'm not letting him get away with things - he's a fricken disastor mess, and I'm trying my absolute hardest to make sure we don't kill anyone. The thing is, i've ridden horses that i've had to discipline, they shake their heads, you bump them with your legs, they figure out the pressure, they quit. With Jingle, everything is tied into this big emotional wrecking ball, and so I'll bump him with my legs, he will absolute melt into a puddle, and i'll lose him for the rest of the ride. It's frusterating to say the least.
Anyways, by the time my lesson was over, my horse was jogging really nicely, but it was all fake, and it was all done with aids, and I was pissed at him, and at myself.
For Next Time:
So, what am I going to do about it?
Well, I have a game plan.
First - I need to talk to my trainer about taking a step back. It's just not working. We have to re-evaluate, and figure out a different path that works better for my emotionally-damaged horse.
Second - no bits. I'm done. I don't want to use something that already causes my horse anxiety just to punish him with it.
Third - "Intensive". I have not been riding enough, I've been riding twice a week, maybe. Generally, on my other ride of the week, I fool around, or bring friends out. This is because all my friends have been home for reading week, etc. I'm not getting anything done. I'm not working on anything. So, what happens is my horse gets 6 days off to f-around, even when I do ride, and then Mondays come and I ask him to do a shit-ton. No wonder he wants to murder me. So, this week I'm trying a week-long intensive. I'm going to ride everyday except today (Wednesday), that's 6 days straight, we're going to work on transitions and stops, we're not going to canter a lot, when we do, it'll be our right lead - the one he's more uncomfortable and unbalanced on, and we're going to figure.it.out. Wish us luck. :)
& Finally, things to look forward too... I cannot wait until school is done, so I can ride without feeling this guilt cloud of papers and exams strangling me. However, March is going to be a good (although, very expensive, and very busy) month - we have a better fitting saddle, we're figuring out tack, I have a Chiro/Massage coming March 7, Jingle will have his feet and teeth done and finally, super exciting news - we'll be going to our first sorting!!! - we're gonna get it together, it's just going to take a lot of time and patience, and a total re-working of, "the plan."
Ride: You know those rides that you just... don't want to talk about? I had one of those rides on Monday. I really don't even want to post about it, but i've never not posted about my rides... sigh. It was potentially the worst lesson I have ever had on Jingle.
haha, I think I have mentally blocked on the scene-by-scene details, as i'm having a hard time recollecting some of it. We started off a bit rough and rocky, and for awhile my trainer has been commenting that perhaps we should try a bit again. I am, at this point, pretty anti-bit when it comes to my horse. It's tough, because his bit-issues are all behavioural/mental, and for two years he was ridden exlusively in a bit, and although it wasn't hard work - he went well. So I waver back and forth on whether or not to include a bit in his training schedule every once and awhile. However, what happens when we add a bit into the combination is a complete and utter stress-ball underneath of me. He becomes worried, anxious, and worst of all - the epitome of pissy, he's almost vindictive (I know i'm placing human emotions on a horse, bad me, but that's honestly the best way to describe how he acts).
So, my trainer was saying let's try a bit again, and I was gently saying "uhm, I don't really know, I'm not super comfor..." and then my horse started to completely and utterly stop moving. Of course today was the day I figured he'd be fine if I rode in my short loop reins. Generally, if I'm riding in split reins I can give him a tiny flick of the rein towards the hip and he's back to normal, I don't even really have to touch him. My loop reins don't provide that luxury. I asked for a crop. One would think that a small crop would be the same as a tiny brush of a rein... nope... Jingle loosssessss it when a crop is introduced. Monday was no different, except for the fact that the second I touched his hip with the crop (please note - I don't even smack him, I literally just move the crop from infront of my knee to my hip so he can see it) he went ballistic. I had a run away on my hands. Not good. My trainer was headed for the door to grab a bridle before I even had a chance to think.
I was stressed. My horse was stressed. & now we were introducing something that makes us fall apart. Well, long story short, it kind of helped, but in the end, i'm still on the "no-bit-for-my-psycho-horse" side. I understand where my trainer is coming from; my horse was acting pretty dangerous, not just naughty, and she can't have me running down children in the arena. However, she's not the one on his back, I am, and I can feel every bit of fried muscle running through him. She also kind of got after me for letting him get away with things, and I was a little hurt. I'm not letting him get away with things - he's a fricken disastor mess, and I'm trying my absolute hardest to make sure we don't kill anyone. The thing is, i've ridden horses that i've had to discipline, they shake their heads, you bump them with your legs, they figure out the pressure, they quit. With Jingle, everything is tied into this big emotional wrecking ball, and so I'll bump him with my legs, he will absolute melt into a puddle, and i'll lose him for the rest of the ride. It's frusterating to say the least.
Anyways, by the time my lesson was over, my horse was jogging really nicely, but it was all fake, and it was all done with aids, and I was pissed at him, and at myself.
For Next Time:
So, what am I going to do about it?
Well, I have a game plan.
First - I need to talk to my trainer about taking a step back. It's just not working. We have to re-evaluate, and figure out a different path that works better for my emotionally-damaged horse.
Second - no bits. I'm done. I don't want to use something that already causes my horse anxiety just to punish him with it.
Third - "Intensive". I have not been riding enough, I've been riding twice a week, maybe. Generally, on my other ride of the week, I fool around, or bring friends out. This is because all my friends have been home for reading week, etc. I'm not getting anything done. I'm not working on anything. So, what happens is my horse gets 6 days off to f-around, even when I do ride, and then Mondays come and I ask him to do a shit-ton. No wonder he wants to murder me. So, this week I'm trying a week-long intensive. I'm going to ride everyday except today (Wednesday), that's 6 days straight, we're going to work on transitions and stops, we're not going to canter a lot, when we do, it'll be our right lead - the one he's more uncomfortable and unbalanced on, and we're going to figure.it.out. Wish us luck. :)
& Finally, things to look forward too... I cannot wait until school is done, so I can ride without feeling this guilt cloud of papers and exams strangling me. However, March is going to be a good (although, very expensive, and very busy) month - we have a better fitting saddle, we're figuring out tack, I have a Chiro/Massage coming March 7, Jingle will have his feet and teeth done and finally, super exciting news - we'll be going to our first sorting!!! - we're gonna get it together, it's just going to take a lot of time and patience, and a total re-working of, "the plan."
Friday, February 1, 2013
Riding Diary: 42
Time: 1 hr
Ride: Why is it Monday was only a couple days ago, and yet seems years away? My brain is mush. Anyways, my lesson was... welll... 50/50. Jingle was good at the warm-up, and then my trainer asked me to just post trot a medium circle, with a cavaletti in the middle of it. Okay, easy... nope. Jingle was back to his old trick of swinging in his hip and attempting to run out of the circle. My trainer reminded me to open up my inside hand to the circle and really guide him over the cavaletti, releasing tension on my outside rein. I have a habit of holding too much tension on my outside to attempt to keep him "in" the circle when I just need to work on guiding him through it, and using more leg.
Okay - let's try this again. Again, he stopped, swung his hip out and danced around. So, I got after him, and over the silly little thing he went. After a couple rounds of this he was going over it calmly with a loose rein. Sigh, it felt like it was going to be a pissy day, and indeed it was.
Jingle was beautiful the first time we loped, and I literally got the best stop out of him i've ever had before. He parked it so hard in the dirt that we bounced a couple steps. It was wicked.
The Jog was alright, a bit rushed, but he was transitioning into it really nicely and smoothly. I love his transition from walk to jog, its so effortless, and I still dont really understand why he cant maintain that same level of impulsion - it's perfect.
Then, he started stalling again on me, and started to square off his corners/attempt to run into the wall business he does to fake me out. This is a) dangerous, b) something he should not be doing - he knows better, I wasn't asking for flying changes down the centre line for heavens sake, I was asking for a jog on a small circle, and then a lope - for him, this is a cake walk. So, I picked up a crop (god, I hate riding with crops), and he got a bit of a swat everytime he attempted this "let me dance into the wall, and then stop completely" business. The good thing about Jingle ft. Crop is that I barely have to brush him with it for him to straighten out, and get back to business. A couple little smacks later and he was jogging that circle like a boss. We loped a bit more, and quit for the day.
My trainer was pretty amused for the whole ride, she commented that I own a very weird horse. Sometimes, he's an angel - so well put together, so completely amazing, other times - he's a total wack job (but he's phasing out of that), and then there's lessons like Monday where he is absolutely amazing one minute, and absolutely falls apart the next. Sometimes, owning horses with a personality, and a pissy streak, isn't easy.
For Next Time: More transition work, I want to figure out how to keep that beautiful walk-jog transition going into a slow, put-together jog.
Ride: Why is it Monday was only a couple days ago, and yet seems years away? My brain is mush. Anyways, my lesson was... welll... 50/50. Jingle was good at the warm-up, and then my trainer asked me to just post trot a medium circle, with a cavaletti in the middle of it. Okay, easy... nope. Jingle was back to his old trick of swinging in his hip and attempting to run out of the circle. My trainer reminded me to open up my inside hand to the circle and really guide him over the cavaletti, releasing tension on my outside rein. I have a habit of holding too much tension on my outside to attempt to keep him "in" the circle when I just need to work on guiding him through it, and using more leg.
Okay - let's try this again. Again, he stopped, swung his hip out and danced around. So, I got after him, and over the silly little thing he went. After a couple rounds of this he was going over it calmly with a loose rein. Sigh, it felt like it was going to be a pissy day, and indeed it was.
Jingle was beautiful the first time we loped, and I literally got the best stop out of him i've ever had before. He parked it so hard in the dirt that we bounced a couple steps. It was wicked.
The Jog was alright, a bit rushed, but he was transitioning into it really nicely and smoothly. I love his transition from walk to jog, its so effortless, and I still dont really understand why he cant maintain that same level of impulsion - it's perfect.
Then, he started stalling again on me, and started to square off his corners/attempt to run into the wall business he does to fake me out. This is a) dangerous, b) something he should not be doing - he knows better, I wasn't asking for flying changes down the centre line for heavens sake, I was asking for a jog on a small circle, and then a lope - for him, this is a cake walk. So, I picked up a crop (god, I hate riding with crops), and he got a bit of a swat everytime he attempted this "let me dance into the wall, and then stop completely" business. The good thing about Jingle ft. Crop is that I barely have to brush him with it for him to straighten out, and get back to business. A couple little smacks later and he was jogging that circle like a boss. We loped a bit more, and quit for the day.
My trainer was pretty amused for the whole ride, she commented that I own a very weird horse. Sometimes, he's an angel - so well put together, so completely amazing, other times - he's a total wack job (but he's phasing out of that), and then there's lessons like Monday where he is absolutely amazing one minute, and absolutely falls apart the next. Sometimes, owning horses with a personality, and a pissy streak, isn't easy.
For Next Time: More transition work, I want to figure out how to keep that beautiful walk-jog transition going into a slow, put-together jog.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Riding Diary: 41
Well this is exciting! When I wrote my "Resolutions" I talked about how I really, really want to get into cutting this year. I've tried, time and time again to find someone to coach me. Although I've worked a flag a couple times (only once with a well-trained cutter), and took a lesson with a trainer (he didn't have an indoor arena, and they were so busy that regular lessons were a no-go), i've never been able to find someone to coach me regularly.
Well! I found a guy :) I was searching the Kijiji horse ads (as I do on a daily basis to keep an eye on whats going on in the market) and saw an ad for someone who wanted to exchange stall cleaning for free board/cutting lessons. I replied that I couldn't work for them, but I was looking for lessons, and did they have "lessons horses". They sure do! Excellent. So, I set up a time, and Tuesday night I headed out to meet with him. He's been down in Texas for the last 20 years, and is back in Canada, and is still in the process of moving all his horses/home up here.
His horses are to dieeeee for, their bloodlines are disgusting (in a good way) - absolutely loaded with the big names. He has a stud out of dual rey that is the most beautiful, shimmering red roan i've ever seen. I was smitten.
Anyways, he originally put me on a horse named "Bandit", who he said was his most bombproof, turn-back style horse. Wellllllllll... Bandit was a little excited, meanwhile he told me to be holding my reins one handed, with the slack on one side of his neck, so I was just getting used to that and Bandit is flinging around, all freaked out about the (totally not moving) flag. He was pretty shocked, and apologized profusely, but I didn't mind. Also, I think it gave him a bit of insight into the fact I can actually ride, which was nice.
So then we moved on too....
Horse: Yogi!
- super cute, CD Lights gelding, 5 years old (man cutters are trained early and bombproof young - always shocks me)
Bit: I honestly didn't even notice, obviously a shank bit. haha
Time: 2 hrs
Ride: I guess I'll call the cutting trainer my "coach", as obviously my trainer is my trainer haha. Coach told me he prefers to long-trot his horses to warm them up instead of loping them, as most cutting trainers do. So I most have trotted bandit for like... 30-40 minutes haha. I was tired and so was he. Due to his behaviour Coach got on Yogi first and kind of tested him out, then got me to ride him. He said he was a lot more intuned to my body, and that I really needed to relax and only pick up my hand if absolutely neccesary. Otherwise my hand should always stay on his neck, even turning the warm-up.
He also got me to sit "more like a cutter", but my body was having none of it. I think it's something I'll have to really get used to. He wanted me to have my legs on at all time (which you should anyways, but i've gotten in the habit of "hovering" my legs on Jingle's side because he speeds up the second he feels legs - something to work on), he also wanted me legs loose and more fluid, and my body more relaxed. I hate to call it slumping, or bad posture, because my Coach certainly didn't look like he was riding with bad posture, but it's definitely not as much as an upright position than I am use to. I had to really roll my sitbones back, and sit down, and very deep, and then relax my upper body so I could have a more fluid motion.
I'm rambling, and maybe Crystal can help me out here - how are you suppose to sit?! haha.
He told me we sit like this so that when the horse is performing cutting maneuvers they have an even momentum and your aiding in their energy flow from the front to back, and not disrupting it. Your aborsbing their movement, rather than hindering them.
Once I was getting my relaxed cutter position on (haha) he said we could work the flag. I thought I was "relaxed" in a saddle, but I guess i'm a lot more rigid than I thought. You know what's funny? I bet this guy would have found me a lot more relaxed 3 years ago, with a much worse seat.. what's better? I'm still not sure.
Yogi was awesome!!! To remind myself to keep my hand down and still I kind of pressed into his neck with my hand (something Coach told me to do) and it helped as a reminder that my hand was there, and should stay there - unless he needed correction.
Coach also noticed that he wasn't landed as straight and that my right leg wasn't working as effectively as my left seemingly was. So he had me bumping him with my spur on my right leg to remind him to track the flag and to straighten out a bit more. Towards the end he made the flag go back and forth a little more rapidly so I could actually feel that almost jumping back and forth motion cutters do. So wicked.
I honestly have no idea how long we worked the flag for - for me it felt like not even a minute had passed by the time we quit. I was pretty quiet afterwards, I really love working a flag. I forgot how fricken awesome it is, how amazing it feels, how cool it is that there is a sport based purely around a horse and a cow working against each other, a human and a horse perfectly in-sync. (Even if the sport sometimes diverges from it's roots). I really like how the Coach teaches - he's very nice, and softspoken, and was very encouraging. He told me I was doing the great the whole time, and was good at explaining how to fix my position/legs/what have you when I needed too.
After that we just cooled off the horses and he chatted a bit more about cutting and the theory behind it. He is headed back to Texas for about 10 days to pick up some more of his horses, but hopefully once he's back I can start doing regular lessons with him. He's not exactly cheap, but I really like it, so what the hell.
For Next Time: Focus on being more relaxed throughout my seat and legs, and work on being more straight and correct while working the flag.
Also Sidenote: Holy Hanna I am sore the day after! My arms feel like they took an absolute beating, and they were just sitting there holding the horn and the horses neck, and my legs are pretty gooey. My body, especially my arms, haven't felt like this after a ride in a long time haha.
Well! I found a guy :) I was searching the Kijiji horse ads (as I do on a daily basis to keep an eye on whats going on in the market) and saw an ad for someone who wanted to exchange stall cleaning for free board/cutting lessons. I replied that I couldn't work for them, but I was looking for lessons, and did they have "lessons horses". They sure do! Excellent. So, I set up a time, and Tuesday night I headed out to meet with him. He's been down in Texas for the last 20 years, and is back in Canada, and is still in the process of moving all his horses/home up here.
His horses are to dieeeee for, their bloodlines are disgusting (in a good way) - absolutely loaded with the big names. He has a stud out of dual rey that is the most beautiful, shimmering red roan i've ever seen. I was smitten.
Anyways, he originally put me on a horse named "Bandit", who he said was his most bombproof, turn-back style horse. Wellllllllll... Bandit was a little excited, meanwhile he told me to be holding my reins one handed, with the slack on one side of his neck, so I was just getting used to that and Bandit is flinging around, all freaked out about the (totally not moving) flag. He was pretty shocked, and apologized profusely, but I didn't mind. Also, I think it gave him a bit of insight into the fact I can actually ride, which was nice.
So then we moved on too....
Horse: Yogi!
- super cute, CD Lights gelding, 5 years old (man cutters are trained early and bombproof young - always shocks me)
Bit: I honestly didn't even notice, obviously a shank bit. haha
Time: 2 hrs
Ride: I guess I'll call the cutting trainer my "coach", as obviously my trainer is my trainer haha. Coach told me he prefers to long-trot his horses to warm them up instead of loping them, as most cutting trainers do. So I most have trotted bandit for like... 30-40 minutes haha. I was tired and so was he. Due to his behaviour Coach got on Yogi first and kind of tested him out, then got me to ride him. He said he was a lot more intuned to my body, and that I really needed to relax and only pick up my hand if absolutely neccesary. Otherwise my hand should always stay on his neck, even turning the warm-up.
He also got me to sit "more like a cutter", but my body was having none of it. I think it's something I'll have to really get used to. He wanted me to have my legs on at all time (which you should anyways, but i've gotten in the habit of "hovering" my legs on Jingle's side because he speeds up the second he feels legs - something to work on), he also wanted me legs loose and more fluid, and my body more relaxed. I hate to call it slumping, or bad posture, because my Coach certainly didn't look like he was riding with bad posture, but it's definitely not as much as an upright position than I am use to. I had to really roll my sitbones back, and sit down, and very deep, and then relax my upper body so I could have a more fluid motion.
I'm rambling, and maybe Crystal can help me out here - how are you suppose to sit?! haha.
He told me we sit like this so that when the horse is performing cutting maneuvers they have an even momentum and your aiding in their energy flow from the front to back, and not disrupting it. Your aborsbing their movement, rather than hindering them.
Once I was getting my relaxed cutter position on (haha) he said we could work the flag. I thought I was "relaxed" in a saddle, but I guess i'm a lot more rigid than I thought. You know what's funny? I bet this guy would have found me a lot more relaxed 3 years ago, with a much worse seat.. what's better? I'm still not sure.
Yogi was awesome!!! To remind myself to keep my hand down and still I kind of pressed into his neck with my hand (something Coach told me to do) and it helped as a reminder that my hand was there, and should stay there - unless he needed correction.
Coach also noticed that he wasn't landed as straight and that my right leg wasn't working as effectively as my left seemingly was. So he had me bumping him with my spur on my right leg to remind him to track the flag and to straighten out a bit more. Towards the end he made the flag go back and forth a little more rapidly so I could actually feel that almost jumping back and forth motion cutters do. So wicked.
I honestly have no idea how long we worked the flag for - for me it felt like not even a minute had passed by the time we quit. I was pretty quiet afterwards, I really love working a flag. I forgot how fricken awesome it is, how amazing it feels, how cool it is that there is a sport based purely around a horse and a cow working against each other, a human and a horse perfectly in-sync. (Even if the sport sometimes diverges from it's roots). I really like how the Coach teaches - he's very nice, and softspoken, and was very encouraging. He told me I was doing the great the whole time, and was good at explaining how to fix my position/legs/what have you when I needed too.
After that we just cooled off the horses and he chatted a bit more about cutting and the theory behind it. He is headed back to Texas for about 10 days to pick up some more of his horses, but hopefully once he's back I can start doing regular lessons with him. He's not exactly cheap, but I really like it, so what the hell.
For Next Time: Focus on being more relaxed throughout my seat and legs, and work on being more straight and correct while working the flag.
Also Sidenote: Holy Hanna I am sore the day after! My arms feel like they took an absolute beating, and they were just sitting there holding the horn and the horses neck, and my legs are pretty gooey. My body, especially my arms, haven't felt like this after a ride in a long time haha.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Riding Diary: 37 & 38
I have been super AWOL, but i've been working on this behemoth "year in review" post, and writing these posts in-between, and getting mad at myself for posting other stuff before my resolutions, but then not having time for the behemoth post, yada yada yada, and between all that, life has jumped in my way ft. never-ending car problems, and a birthday trip to Vegas! I will attempt to be a better blogger, soon.
You guys get to hear about two of my lessons today! Woop Woop! My trainer was gone for most of the holidays, meaning no lessons for me. I rode Jingle pretty regularly throughout the holidays, and also tried to do a day of groundwork a week (blogs to follow haha), but towards the end of our trainer/lesson break, things got a little hairy. I rode one night and Jingle was a firey bubble of crazy - he would.not.check, he would not slow down, he just extended trotted his heart out around the arena like a fire breathing dragon. Finally, almost an hour later of jogging and trotting and trying to lope, I got his brain back and we finished the lesson on a decent lope.
Then, the next time I rode, his warm up seemed calm, which is generally a really good sign - wrong. Demonponyboy was back - his left lead that he never, ever, ever misses - gone, buh-bye, can't pick it up to save my life. So, perhaps he'll finally pick up his right lead? Nope. Fuck you Mom, I hate my leads. By this point we were both sweaty and frusterated, so I decided to switch up the ride, try to come back to our happy place and work on some slow stuff. It was going well until I asked for some sidepassing whilst facing the wall. Cue my horses new trick "watch how fast I can run backwards away from this mother-fing wall", no fun. Okay Jingle, you are getting frazzled over the wall - and you are showing me you can sidepass at a fricken run down the wall, so let us attempt a calm sidepass in the middle of the arena - nope. My horse begins to crow-hop when I ask him, then he begins to attempt to rear, then he full out fricken' rears on me! Bad. By this point he was having his head hauled to my foot and the words "QUIT IT" were being growl-yelled at him, It doesn't really surprise me that when he get's frusterated like that his instinct is to go up. I always figured the time would come when he would try a rear, since he's never, ever bucked in his life, but I have seen him rear up before (such as the time he jumped a 7 ft. round-pen to be with his friends - he started that little escapade with strikes and rears at the panels). We finished the ride working on transitions, I just wanted to get his mind back, so we would walk a semi-circle, and either stop, or transition into a jog, and then vice versa. He was okay with that, and we side-passed one more time, no rear, and quit.
So....
37.I went out on a Saturday for a lesson, I had done some groundwork and desensitizing the night before, and was hoping and praying it would help. Jingle was a bit messy, at one point his steering failed me, and he ended up trying to lope on-top of, and over, my trainer. However, overall I felt the lesson was really productive - Jingle is starting to pick up his right lead more and more consistently, and I'm beginning to really not have to even "ask" anymore for his left. With my trainer there she was able to walk me through dealing with his pissy run-away-i hate you behaviour, so that really helped. So although it was a tough lesson, and not the prettiest, I felt like we worked really well together.
38.
Ponyboy got a day off, and then I was out again Monday to ride. Ponyboy was rushing me at the warm up and my trainer reminded me to post slow, and to not rise as much, and just to keep really steady and calm and it helped, and right away I noticed him slowing down and responding to me. In our previous lesson, my trainer commented that Jingle reaaaaally works off of my body language, and so that is something I'm going to really start focusing on during my ride. If I have a horse hyper-sensitive to my body, the second I get tense and frusterated, he's going to do the same. Once Jingle was a bit more calm, we started loping, and opened up our loping to the entire rail-length of the arena, from there, we just really focused on transitions from jog to lope, and picking up his left lead on a straight-away - he did great. His jog-lope transitions are actually coming along so well, like they are beautiful, so smooth and straight - I love it.
From there, we finished up with some sidepassing, no rears this time! and it was super helpful to have my trainer there kind of walking me through what I should and should not do when he starts to get so frazzled and far apart. She had me hold a crop because a couple times he would refuse to move an inch, and reminded me to start small and build - so a little leg, more leg, big leg, little spur, more spur, big spur, and then finally - if he is totally ignorning me - pop him with the crop. He hates the crop, I barely have to even brush his bum with it and he flies away, after one little pop - he was listening much better, and we could side pass really effectively, and he wasn't as frazzled and attempting to avoid whatever I was asking him.
So, all in all, really successful lesson.
Afterwards, a friend, Caron and I got to discussing "Pissy Horses". Her horse, Jager, affectionately known (by myself) as Prince Big Ears, and Jingle are both "pissy horses", but in different ways. I've been thinking a lot about what it means to ride a sometimes pissy horse, and she put it better in words when she said that she has to ride Jager the same, even when he is being a royal pain in the ass. I think that holds true with Jingle, obviously when he is zooming around like a maniac and attempting to run over people, I'm not going to be like "Oh whatever horse, do yo thang", but at the same time the minute i'm like "fuck you, you ass, stop being such an asshole", Jingle generally flips me the middle hoof and keeps on dancin'... sigh. Thus, I generally have to rememeber to ride him the same, i.e. when he is being a big pain in my behind, I have to gently remind him, "hey, remember me, your rider?" and then release, and keep it going until he remembers who I am, and what we came to do.
Things to think about.
You guys get to hear about two of my lessons today! Woop Woop! My trainer was gone for most of the holidays, meaning no lessons for me. I rode Jingle pretty regularly throughout the holidays, and also tried to do a day of groundwork a week (blogs to follow haha), but towards the end of our trainer/lesson break, things got a little hairy. I rode one night and Jingle was a firey bubble of crazy - he would.not.check, he would not slow down, he just extended trotted his heart out around the arena like a fire breathing dragon. Finally, almost an hour later of jogging and trotting and trying to lope, I got his brain back and we finished the lesson on a decent lope.
Then, the next time I rode, his warm up seemed calm, which is generally a really good sign - wrong. Demonponyboy was back - his left lead that he never, ever, ever misses - gone, buh-bye, can't pick it up to save my life. So, perhaps he'll finally pick up his right lead? Nope. Fuck you Mom, I hate my leads. By this point we were both sweaty and frusterated, so I decided to switch up the ride, try to come back to our happy place and work on some slow stuff. It was going well until I asked for some sidepassing whilst facing the wall. Cue my horses new trick "watch how fast I can run backwards away from this mother-fing wall", no fun. Okay Jingle, you are getting frazzled over the wall - and you are showing me you can sidepass at a fricken run down the wall, so let us attempt a calm sidepass in the middle of the arena - nope. My horse begins to crow-hop when I ask him, then he begins to attempt to rear, then he full out fricken' rears on me! Bad. By this point he was having his head hauled to my foot and the words "QUIT IT" were being growl-yelled at him, It doesn't really surprise me that when he get's frusterated like that his instinct is to go up. I always figured the time would come when he would try a rear, since he's never, ever bucked in his life, but I have seen him rear up before (such as the time he jumped a 7 ft. round-pen to be with his friends - he started that little escapade with strikes and rears at the panels). We finished the ride working on transitions, I just wanted to get his mind back, so we would walk a semi-circle, and either stop, or transition into a jog, and then vice versa. He was okay with that, and we side-passed one more time, no rear, and quit.
So....
37.I went out on a Saturday for a lesson, I had done some groundwork and desensitizing the night before, and was hoping and praying it would help. Jingle was a bit messy, at one point his steering failed me, and he ended up trying to lope on-top of, and over, my trainer. However, overall I felt the lesson was really productive - Jingle is starting to pick up his right lead more and more consistently, and I'm beginning to really not have to even "ask" anymore for his left. With my trainer there she was able to walk me through dealing with his pissy run-away-i hate you behaviour, so that really helped. So although it was a tough lesson, and not the prettiest, I felt like we worked really well together.
38.
Ponyboy got a day off, and then I was out again Monday to ride. Ponyboy was rushing me at the warm up and my trainer reminded me to post slow, and to not rise as much, and just to keep really steady and calm and it helped, and right away I noticed him slowing down and responding to me. In our previous lesson, my trainer commented that Jingle reaaaaally works off of my body language, and so that is something I'm going to really start focusing on during my ride. If I have a horse hyper-sensitive to my body, the second I get tense and frusterated, he's going to do the same. Once Jingle was a bit more calm, we started loping, and opened up our loping to the entire rail-length of the arena, from there, we just really focused on transitions from jog to lope, and picking up his left lead on a straight-away - he did great. His jog-lope transitions are actually coming along so well, like they are beautiful, so smooth and straight - I love it.
From there, we finished up with some sidepassing, no rears this time! and it was super helpful to have my trainer there kind of walking me through what I should and should not do when he starts to get so frazzled and far apart. She had me hold a crop because a couple times he would refuse to move an inch, and reminded me to start small and build - so a little leg, more leg, big leg, little spur, more spur, big spur, and then finally - if he is totally ignorning me - pop him with the crop. He hates the crop, I barely have to even brush his bum with it and he flies away, after one little pop - he was listening much better, and we could side pass really effectively, and he wasn't as frazzled and attempting to avoid whatever I was asking him.
So, all in all, really successful lesson.
Afterwards, a friend, Caron and I got to discussing "Pissy Horses". Her horse, Jager, affectionately known (by myself) as Prince Big Ears, and Jingle are both "pissy horses", but in different ways. I've been thinking a lot about what it means to ride a sometimes pissy horse, and she put it better in words when she said that she has to ride Jager the same, even when he is being a royal pain in the ass. I think that holds true with Jingle, obviously when he is zooming around like a maniac and attempting to run over people, I'm not going to be like "Oh whatever horse, do yo thang", but at the same time the minute i'm like "fuck you, you ass, stop being such an asshole", Jingle generally flips me the middle hoof and keeps on dancin'... sigh. Thus, I generally have to rememeber to ride him the same, i.e. when he is being a big pain in my behind, I have to gently remind him, "hey, remember me, your rider?" and then release, and keep it going until he remembers who I am, and what we came to do.
Things to think about.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Riding Diary: 36
Time: 1 hr
Ride: I snuck in a lesson last night (Wednesday) and I sure am happy I did. Before I got on my trainer told me that we should try a bit again, and I plucked up a bit of courage (I hate sounding "know-it-all-ey", and I don't want her to think I don't respect her opinions... although i'm sure she knows I do by know) and told her that I didn't think riding in a bit was beneficial, and that I really hated riding Jingle in one. She asked me why and I told her how resistant and frazzled he felt, and that, at anytime, he felt like he was going to fall apart. I then mentioned that if his steering is lacking, and we're having issues with that, i'm totally okay with just doing lots more slow work in my lessons, since i'm doing a lot of slow work on my other riding nights anyway. She agreed that we should stick with the side pull. I guess it makes sense, although she can tell a whole heck of a lot from the ground, i'm the one riding him, so if something feels wrong, or off, it's my responsibility to tell her and for the two of us to talk about it, and figure out solutions and options.
So, my lesson began. Our warmup was pretty calm, Jingle was listening to me, trotting out really nice, checking back when I asked him. At the jog he was speedier than usual, but my trainer asked me to just keep consistent - instead of holding pressure, check hard - then release. When I hold pressure, Jingle get's frazzled, and that is when his demonface behaviours come out. (I don't wanna listen to you! Watch how fast and hard I can toss my head around in defiance!)
During our warm-up I focused on trotting through the poles (steering seemed to be working), trotting over some ground poles, and working on big and small circles throughout the arena. Ponyboy seemed pretty responsive.
Then... dun dun dun... ponyboy was doing so awesome, and had regained his power steering, (Perhaps his power steering pump wasn't working properly - horses are just like cars, right?), so we began to work at the barrel pattern at a trot. My trainer got me to circle the barrels twice for the first little while but didn't want me circling more than that because she didn't want Jingle to figure out this was yet another circle exercise and begin to get sour. He didn't! In the beginning he was bending really good at the nose, but wasn't following through with his hip. I worked on keeping my hand, and reins, up and over the barrel, and added outside leg to kind of get that added "wrap-around" the barrel we were looking for, and he did great! By the end my trainer said he was really wrapping around the barrel. She also mentioned I shouldn't take my barrels so tight at this slow of speed because horses will want to tuck in to the barrel at high speeds anyway, so if they are taught to get that close, right away, and at slow speeds, they'll do the same when going faster, and barrels are more likely to fall over. Overall, I was really impressed with ponyboy - perhaps our career path is low-D barrel racers?!
Then, we loped, my trainer got me to lope circles at both ends of the arena because Jingle is more comfortable in our old circle than he is working in new areas. I also think that perhaps I get comfortable with the dimensions/area of our normal, routine stuff and when new stuff is thrown at me, I get nervous, and it relays back to Jingle. Stop being a weeny Louisa!
He picked up his right lead right away! Awesome! Then, when we moved back to our "old circle" (i.e. where he wont pick up the right lead to save his life), he wasn't picking it up again. My trainer commented that to the left I'm really good at pushing him into the lope, to the right, I don't really "push". So, keeping the idea of pushing into mind, I used my heel to really push him into it - viola - right lead.
By this point my trainer commented that "that horse is really coming together, it's all starting to fall into place and you can really see you both working it out" - WOO-HOO! That is a pretty great compliment for Mr. and Ms. Crazy. :) I also mentioned that I would like to jump and kind of expected her to do the one-eyebrow "oh yaa?" look, but she said that we need to focus a bit more on steering and then we can forsure start working on some english stuff, and that Jingle will make a really great "All-around" horse, so he should know everything - english and jumping included!. Yaaaaaa.
So, all in all, REALLY good lesson. I was super impressed with my boy. People often ask me why I chose him to be my horse, and the fact is that every once and awhile we just fit perfectly together. Honestly, every once and awhile, we fit together like perfect puzzle pieces, and it is awesome, and wicked. Last night was one of those rides. However, those rides can be rare for us, and sometimes I forget how it feels when we work really well together. I also think Jingle is not a horse that does well with time off, this week I was with him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and each day he did better and better. I'm going to really make an effort to try to ride more consistently, and close together day-wise, and then give him a couple days off in a row, and see if it makes a mental difference for the big man.
For Next Time: Steering, Steering & More Steering!
Ride: I snuck in a lesson last night (Wednesday) and I sure am happy I did. Before I got on my trainer told me that we should try a bit again, and I plucked up a bit of courage (I hate sounding "know-it-all-ey", and I don't want her to think I don't respect her opinions... although i'm sure she knows I do by know) and told her that I didn't think riding in a bit was beneficial, and that I really hated riding Jingle in one. She asked me why and I told her how resistant and frazzled he felt, and that, at anytime, he felt like he was going to fall apart. I then mentioned that if his steering is lacking, and we're having issues with that, i'm totally okay with just doing lots more slow work in my lessons, since i'm doing a lot of slow work on my other riding nights anyway. She agreed that we should stick with the side pull. I guess it makes sense, although she can tell a whole heck of a lot from the ground, i'm the one riding him, so if something feels wrong, or off, it's my responsibility to tell her and for the two of us to talk about it, and figure out solutions and options.
So, my lesson began. Our warmup was pretty calm, Jingle was listening to me, trotting out really nice, checking back when I asked him. At the jog he was speedier than usual, but my trainer asked me to just keep consistent - instead of holding pressure, check hard - then release. When I hold pressure, Jingle get's frazzled, and that is when his demonface behaviours come out. (I don't wanna listen to you! Watch how fast and hard I can toss my head around in defiance!)
During our warm-up I focused on trotting through the poles (steering seemed to be working), trotting over some ground poles, and working on big and small circles throughout the arena. Ponyboy seemed pretty responsive.
Then... dun dun dun... ponyboy was doing so awesome, and had regained his power steering, (Perhaps his power steering pump wasn't working properly - horses are just like cars, right?), so we began to work at the barrel pattern at a trot. My trainer got me to circle the barrels twice for the first little while but didn't want me circling more than that because she didn't want Jingle to figure out this was yet another circle exercise and begin to get sour. He didn't! In the beginning he was bending really good at the nose, but wasn't following through with his hip. I worked on keeping my hand, and reins, up and over the barrel, and added outside leg to kind of get that added "wrap-around" the barrel we were looking for, and he did great! By the end my trainer said he was really wrapping around the barrel. She also mentioned I shouldn't take my barrels so tight at this slow of speed because horses will want to tuck in to the barrel at high speeds anyway, so if they are taught to get that close, right away, and at slow speeds, they'll do the same when going faster, and barrels are more likely to fall over. Overall, I was really impressed with ponyboy - perhaps our career path is low-D barrel racers?!
Then, we loped, my trainer got me to lope circles at both ends of the arena because Jingle is more comfortable in our old circle than he is working in new areas. I also think that perhaps I get comfortable with the dimensions/area of our normal, routine stuff and when new stuff is thrown at me, I get nervous, and it relays back to Jingle. Stop being a weeny Louisa!
He picked up his right lead right away! Awesome! Then, when we moved back to our "old circle" (i.e. where he wont pick up the right lead to save his life), he wasn't picking it up again. My trainer commented that to the left I'm really good at pushing him into the lope, to the right, I don't really "push". So, keeping the idea of pushing into mind, I used my heel to really push him into it - viola - right lead.
By this point my trainer commented that "that horse is really coming together, it's all starting to fall into place and you can really see you both working it out" - WOO-HOO! That is a pretty great compliment for Mr. and Ms. Crazy. :) I also mentioned that I would like to jump and kind of expected her to do the one-eyebrow "oh yaa?" look, but she said that we need to focus a bit more on steering and then we can forsure start working on some english stuff, and that Jingle will make a really great "All-around" horse, so he should know everything - english and jumping included!. Yaaaaaa.
So, all in all, REALLY good lesson. I was super impressed with my boy. People often ask me why I chose him to be my horse, and the fact is that every once and awhile we just fit perfectly together. Honestly, every once and awhile, we fit together like perfect puzzle pieces, and it is awesome, and wicked. Last night was one of those rides. However, those rides can be rare for us, and sometimes I forget how it feels when we work really well together. I also think Jingle is not a horse that does well with time off, this week I was with him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and each day he did better and better. I'm going to really make an effort to try to ride more consistently, and close together day-wise, and then give him a couple days off in a row, and see if it makes a mental difference for the big man.
For Next Time: Steering, Steering & More Steering!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Riding Diary: 35
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: This was an interesting one, demon ponyboy was back with a vegance. We did a little bit of a trail ride on Friday, and Jingle was definitely walking out and ready to go. It was pretty cold out though, and I was feeling the chill on my thighs, so we cut it sort at about 45-60 minutes. However, not a bad little jaunt around.
We did a short little warmup and moved into a jog.... Jingle would.not.jog, he turned into a complete spastic mess. Then, while we were loping, he wasn't listening to me at all. It was like this switch that has been turned on the last couple of rides suddenly slammed right back to "off", and mr. shitforbrains decided that listening to me was just not his perogrative. Cue = out of control horse. So much so that at one point, while loping a circle, I thought he was going to slam me into a wall, we were going left, and to try to correct him and slow him down, I pulled on the reins, but must have pulled too much on the right. He literally dug in, spun on his haunches, and attempted to lope the wrong way up the rail. This caused him to scary the crap out of both the horse infront of us, and the horse behind us - if you guys remember, I ride in what I affectionately call the "jr. class" at my barn, because I ride with two like... 10 year olds. Awesome, we're back to trying to murder children, wonderful.
My trainer was clearly not impressed, I even got a bit of a scolding about the situation, ugh. Of course my horse decides to be responsive to my cues when I actually just want him to motherf-ing stop. My trainer then decided that perhaps it was time to put a bit in his mouth and see what would happen. Perhaps now that he's been softening up, and responding to pressure (... he has been! just not on this particular day), he will be a little more calm and relaxed with a bit. It sounded like a plausible experiment to me, and so, we put a bit in Jingle's mouth. Well, the experiment failed - and honestly I knew it would.
LOTS of people switch from sidepulls/bitless/hackamores to bits, I know tons of people who ride at home in bitless set-ups, and then bit for competitions/outside rides/etc. Lots of people use sidepulls as a training aid, and when a horse is becoming still at the nose/poll, they employ a sidepull to soften them back up, and then move back into a bit. So, going from a bitless to a bit is not the issue. The issue is that my horse associates a headstall, and a bit, with pain, from when he was younger, and frusteration, from now. He literally - loses.his.shit. - in a bridle. He becomes an absolute monster to actually bridle, and then he reverts back to his head-tossing, snorting, dragon horse ways.... but he has more check... so what's the solution?
Well, i've been thinking about it a lot. I understand where my trainer is coming from, right now the big issue in Jingle and I's training is speed. I have a hard time with my leads, he's a horse that doesn't know his leads, has a hard time with one, and also has issues with turning, working with circles, etc. at a lope. The slow stuff, I'm good with. It's the fast stuff where we both fall apart. Thus, because I can only do one lesson a week, I know my trainer wants to work on the stuff that I can't really work on when I'm alone. But, when he's not checking back, just not listening to me at all... is the answer to bit him? Well, we tried, and I don't think it is. I'd rather work on slow stuff, then have a dragon horse beneath me, and that is honestly - no word of a lie - what he becomes when a bit is in his mouth. So, we tried something different, and it failed.
Yesterday (Tuesday) in his side pull, and he did alright. He was kind of checking back, and I worked on lots of bending (pole pattern, around barrels, figure 8's, big to small, and back again circles), and he was starting to listen to me. His lope wasn't perfect, but he kind of figured it out toward the end.
On Monday, my two "jr. class" classmates got to work on the barrel pattern (do you think Jingle & I got to work on the barrel pattern? The answer is hell no we didn't, we got to play the "don't kill anyone or yourselves" game, as we terrified everyone around us), and so on Tuesday, after lots of bending work, and having jogged the pattern, I thought... I'll jog the pattern, and then lope home. Jingle did well, and we loped a decently straight line down the centre of the arena, and then I asked my horse to "Woah". Well... as we know, his woah isn't exactly pristine. He bounced around, but he stopped. I gave him a big pat, told him he was a good boy, and turned to begin his cool-down. Of course, there my farrier, and good friend, was, watching the spectacle that is me and my horse... his words, "well, atleast he does stop...". Yep. Basically.
For Next Time: Everything? I don't know, hope demon/dragon ponyboy doesn't appear, and then work on slow, steady and consistentency.
Ride: This was an interesting one, demon ponyboy was back with a vegance. We did a little bit of a trail ride on Friday, and Jingle was definitely walking out and ready to go. It was pretty cold out though, and I was feeling the chill on my thighs, so we cut it sort at about 45-60 minutes. However, not a bad little jaunt around.
We did a short little warmup and moved into a jog.... Jingle would.not.jog, he turned into a complete spastic mess. Then, while we were loping, he wasn't listening to me at all. It was like this switch that has been turned on the last couple of rides suddenly slammed right back to "off", and mr. shitforbrains decided that listening to me was just not his perogrative. Cue = out of control horse. So much so that at one point, while loping a circle, I thought he was going to slam me into a wall, we were going left, and to try to correct him and slow him down, I pulled on the reins, but must have pulled too much on the right. He literally dug in, spun on his haunches, and attempted to lope the wrong way up the rail. This caused him to scary the crap out of both the horse infront of us, and the horse behind us - if you guys remember, I ride in what I affectionately call the "jr. class" at my barn, because I ride with two like... 10 year olds. Awesome, we're back to trying to murder children, wonderful.
My trainer was clearly not impressed, I even got a bit of a scolding about the situation, ugh. Of course my horse decides to be responsive to my cues when I actually just want him to motherf-ing stop. My trainer then decided that perhaps it was time to put a bit in his mouth and see what would happen. Perhaps now that he's been softening up, and responding to pressure (... he has been! just not on this particular day), he will be a little more calm and relaxed with a bit. It sounded like a plausible experiment to me, and so, we put a bit in Jingle's mouth. Well, the experiment failed - and honestly I knew it would.
LOTS of people switch from sidepulls/bitless/hackamores to bits, I know tons of people who ride at home in bitless set-ups, and then bit for competitions/outside rides/etc. Lots of people use sidepulls as a training aid, and when a horse is becoming still at the nose/poll, they employ a sidepull to soften them back up, and then move back into a bit. So, going from a bitless to a bit is not the issue. The issue is that my horse associates a headstall, and a bit, with pain, from when he was younger, and frusteration, from now. He literally - loses.his.shit. - in a bridle. He becomes an absolute monster to actually bridle, and then he reverts back to his head-tossing, snorting, dragon horse ways.... but he has more check... so what's the solution?
Well, i've been thinking about it a lot. I understand where my trainer is coming from, right now the big issue in Jingle and I's training is speed. I have a hard time with my leads, he's a horse that doesn't know his leads, has a hard time with one, and also has issues with turning, working with circles, etc. at a lope. The slow stuff, I'm good with. It's the fast stuff where we both fall apart. Thus, because I can only do one lesson a week, I know my trainer wants to work on the stuff that I can't really work on when I'm alone. But, when he's not checking back, just not listening to me at all... is the answer to bit him? Well, we tried, and I don't think it is. I'd rather work on slow stuff, then have a dragon horse beneath me, and that is honestly - no word of a lie - what he becomes when a bit is in his mouth. So, we tried something different, and it failed.
Yesterday (Tuesday) in his side pull, and he did alright. He was kind of checking back, and I worked on lots of bending (pole pattern, around barrels, figure 8's, big to small, and back again circles), and he was starting to listen to me. His lope wasn't perfect, but he kind of figured it out toward the end.
On Monday, my two "jr. class" classmates got to work on the barrel pattern (do you think Jingle & I got to work on the barrel pattern? The answer is hell no we didn't, we got to play the "don't kill anyone or yourselves" game, as we terrified everyone around us), and so on Tuesday, after lots of bending work, and having jogged the pattern, I thought... I'll jog the pattern, and then lope home. Jingle did well, and we loped a decently straight line down the centre of the arena, and then I asked my horse to "Woah". Well... as we know, his woah isn't exactly pristine. He bounced around, but he stopped. I gave him a big pat, told him he was a good boy, and turned to begin his cool-down. Of course, there my farrier, and good friend, was, watching the spectacle that is me and my horse... his words, "well, atleast he does stop...". Yep. Basically.
For Next Time: Everything? I don't know, hope demon/dragon ponyboy doesn't appear, and then work on slow, steady and consistentency.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Riding Diary: 33
Time: 1 hr
Ride: After our nice trail ride on Saturday, I crossed my fingers and hoped Jingle's brain would have slowed down enough for a decent ride. It seems that our little foray into the wilderness did the trick. He seemed quite calm, even during our warm up he wasn't trying to run around like a crazy horse. The entire ride I attempted to keep the word "RELEASE" at the very front of my mind. So, slightly calmer horse + more frequent, better releases = better ride. (duh, Louisa) We did some of our normal routine of jogging, and that is something that Jingle has really started to get down pat. I can now just sit and tell him to "jog" and he lightly moves off. He's also really starting to check back, I just have to say "jog" and lightly check, and he'll respond slower. Very rarely does he break down into a walk anymore. Goodboy. He's also transitioning a lot better from walk to jog, and jog to walk, with vocal cues, so that is also a good thing.
Then my trainer told me to lope... our right lead... aka.. the lead of hell and death for Jingle and I. He started off strong, but then, got frusterated and annoyed and began his silliness. It's frusterating for me because he'll lope, but on the wrong lead, and so i'm constantly correcting him, and I can almost feel him looking at me saying, "I'm LOPING, can't you see that?! What do you WANT?". So, I try more leg pressure, leg pressure going into an arc, more notice before the lope, less notice before the lope, counter-bending into the lope - nope, wrong lead. Then, I attempted to jog him in smaller and smaller circles and ask him to lope, hoping this would better set him up for his right lead. It didn't, it just caused him to rush around like a looney toon in a small circle for a couple minutes. Cue crop. Ugh. crops. I get crop-panic the second one comes into my hand. However, my trainer commented that I was using the crop at the perfect moments, and eventually Jingle struggled through his right lead. Whatever, what can ya do, it's coming.
We worked on the left lead and it was beaaaau-t-i-fu-lllllllll. We left our 20 m circle (screw you 20 m circle, get outta here!) and loped the arena. My trainer just had me working on circles where I saw fit. So if I felt Jingle was taking advantage of the rail, and was going to try to gallop off, I'd make him lope a small circle. If he was softening up, he could lope the rail. I made him lope between things. He was doing really well. My trainer commented that he is moving off my leg much better when we went to move around people on the rail, she also told me I was using my legs effectively - yay. She also commented a couple times that I was choosing appropriate times and distances for when and where I should circle, vs. not - yipee, judgement calls!
A couple times Jingle tried to "leak" out of our circles, and my trainer told me that if he even starts to look away from the circle, in the other direction, I need to correct him quickly, not just hold pressure. We both know, and my horse definitely knows, that the second he starts to leak away, that means he's about to a) run me into objects in the middle of the arena b) be a total pain in my bum c) scare others as he careens towards them at Mach speed. So, with the big word of the day "RELEASE" in my mind, as he started to rush and leak out of a circle I would give him one sharp tug and then relase. If he started it again, he would get another sharp pull, and then a release. I only needed to do this a few times before he got it in his head not to try to run the other direction. Then, we moved to the other end of the arena and I tried to lope circles again, and a couple times he tried to run off again and I was firm, and he listened to me, and quit being such a noodlehead-runaway! Good boy Jingle!
Finally, we worked on our sidepassing, when I apply my leg Jingle just kind of runs sideways, so my trainer told me to lightly apply my calf, and then release, to get a more calm step to the side from him. I also need to focus on keeping my heels down, and using my calf, instead of bumping with my heels/spurs. He did well, he likes slow stuff - that's his jam.
Anyways, a good ride was had by both of us - I felt like we were doing what we do best - being in sync!
For Next Time: Workin' on that ride lead, keeping the magic "RELEASE" word in my mind, first and foremost.
Ride: After our nice trail ride on Saturday, I crossed my fingers and hoped Jingle's brain would have slowed down enough for a decent ride. It seems that our little foray into the wilderness did the trick. He seemed quite calm, even during our warm up he wasn't trying to run around like a crazy horse. The entire ride I attempted to keep the word "RELEASE" at the very front of my mind. So, slightly calmer horse + more frequent, better releases = better ride. (duh, Louisa) We did some of our normal routine of jogging, and that is something that Jingle has really started to get down pat. I can now just sit and tell him to "jog" and he lightly moves off. He's also really starting to check back, I just have to say "jog" and lightly check, and he'll respond slower. Very rarely does he break down into a walk anymore. Goodboy. He's also transitioning a lot better from walk to jog, and jog to walk, with vocal cues, so that is also a good thing.
Then my trainer told me to lope... our right lead... aka.. the lead of hell and death for Jingle and I. He started off strong, but then, got frusterated and annoyed and began his silliness. It's frusterating for me because he'll lope, but on the wrong lead, and so i'm constantly correcting him, and I can almost feel him looking at me saying, "I'm LOPING, can't you see that?! What do you WANT?". So, I try more leg pressure, leg pressure going into an arc, more notice before the lope, less notice before the lope, counter-bending into the lope - nope, wrong lead. Then, I attempted to jog him in smaller and smaller circles and ask him to lope, hoping this would better set him up for his right lead. It didn't, it just caused him to rush around like a looney toon in a small circle for a couple minutes. Cue crop. Ugh. crops. I get crop-panic the second one comes into my hand. However, my trainer commented that I was using the crop at the perfect moments, and eventually Jingle struggled through his right lead. Whatever, what can ya do, it's coming.
We worked on the left lead and it was beaaaau-t-i-fu-lllllllll. We left our 20 m circle (screw you 20 m circle, get outta here!) and loped the arena. My trainer just had me working on circles where I saw fit. So if I felt Jingle was taking advantage of the rail, and was going to try to gallop off, I'd make him lope a small circle. If he was softening up, he could lope the rail. I made him lope between things. He was doing really well. My trainer commented that he is moving off my leg much better when we went to move around people on the rail, she also told me I was using my legs effectively - yay. She also commented a couple times that I was choosing appropriate times and distances for when and where I should circle, vs. not - yipee, judgement calls!
A couple times Jingle tried to "leak" out of our circles, and my trainer told me that if he even starts to look away from the circle, in the other direction, I need to correct him quickly, not just hold pressure. We both know, and my horse definitely knows, that the second he starts to leak away, that means he's about to a) run me into objects in the middle of the arena b) be a total pain in my bum c) scare others as he careens towards them at Mach speed. So, with the big word of the day "RELEASE" in my mind, as he started to rush and leak out of a circle I would give him one sharp tug and then relase. If he started it again, he would get another sharp pull, and then a release. I only needed to do this a few times before he got it in his head not to try to run the other direction. Then, we moved to the other end of the arena and I tried to lope circles again, and a couple times he tried to run off again and I was firm, and he listened to me, and quit being such a noodlehead-runaway! Good boy Jingle!
Finally, we worked on our sidepassing, when I apply my leg Jingle just kind of runs sideways, so my trainer told me to lightly apply my calf, and then release, to get a more calm step to the side from him. I also need to focus on keeping my heels down, and using my calf, instead of bumping with my heels/spurs. He did well, he likes slow stuff - that's his jam.
Anyways, a good ride was had by both of us - I felt like we were doing what we do best - being in sync!
For Next Time: Workin' on that ride lead, keeping the magic "RELEASE" word in my mind, first and foremost.
"Hello - people that read this blog, is there anyone out there? PLEASE don't believe her, send help & lots of cookies. Preferably all the cookies you can muster. I am ABUSED. She rides me INSIDE. She makes me do crazy things like lope "leads", what the hell is a lead?! I beseech you!"
"Did I mention I like cookies?"
.... not the best photo, but you can see how disgustingly sweaty my poor boy gets now. I think a clip is coming down the chute for us pretty soon, but I have never clipped a horse before, and Jingle has never been clipped, and all-in-all, it's just something i'm avoiding. However, 1.5 cool down/waiting for him to be dry enough to get his blanket on is ridiculous, & he's inside at night!
Things to think, and care about more, once finals are done --> IN LESS THAN A WEEK.
Excuse me while I go curl up in a corner and cry.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Riding Diary: 31
Time: 1 hr
Ride: Sunday I went out to ride and focused on steering and responsiveness in the side pull. Jingle did really well, I like how more relaxed he seems in it, and just happier to go to work. He still, obviously, has his moments of "hey, remember that one time 3 years ago my Jaw was broken and hurt, well, I'm going to act like your doing that to me RIGHT NOW", but after exploring so many options I know that's a learned behaviour, and not a pain response. However, aside from those moments, his headset is more relaxed, and he's not gaping or fidgeting as much as I expected him too. Hallelujah!
Then, Monday and my lesson happened... Do you ever think your horse has split personality disorder? Because, honestly, I often wonder if my horse is two horses trapped in one body, competing with eachother for my attention/love/anger/pain/sorrow, etc. sigh.
Jingle's right lead is not pretty, and is taking quite a bit of work to get him to pick it up. Right now our stratedgy is while entering into an arc, bend him to the left, add leg, and ask for the lead. However, bending him left just seems so wrong to me and my hands, and we often fumble it up together.
Then.... demonponyboy appeared whilst attempting to lope our circles. Jingle decided that holding an arc through a circle was honestly not what he wanted to do during our lesson, and so he started to jut out to the left. So, I'd correct him. Then, he attempted to run me into our arena wall. No, horse, you can't do that. Then, his "jutting" turned into full blown running through the centre of the arena, whilst everyone else stops and stares at us. His nose was cranked to my knee, he was aiming towards jump standards we have in the middle.... not pretty. Bad boy.
This is where split personality comes into play... my horse would not lope a circle to save his life, instead he'd take me every which way, but where I wanted. This went on for quite some time, and then, all of a sudden after a particularly bad moment, he loped like an angel... what? Who are you Jingle?
After we got back to our normal scheduled loping, we jogged, and ended the lesson with a sweaty horse and a tired Louisa. However, ever-redeeming himself, a little girl who rides at the same time as I do on Monday gave Jingle his first EVER cookie and it was hilarious. (He used to be really nosey and pushy so I never fed him treats, but he's learned to respect my space). He took it and was shaking his head and kept giving her this wild eyed "WHAT IS THIS" look. Adorable.
So of course... I went and bought him cookies and a lick-it, because he needed them.
& then, I went out yesterday to ride, and guess who was there to meet me at the barn? Angelfaceponyboy... I focused on transitions, and jogging for most of my ride, (lots of stopping - as per usual), and he was AMAZING. Beautiful slow jog, was actually stopping for once in his life, would actually listen to me when I scolded him for his pissy pants "I don't want to do this" act. I asked him to lope and he thought about jutting out, but all I had to do was slightly add pressure onto his side and he'd correct himself.
So what does this mean? Well... it means my horse has split personality. So, that's that. :)
In all honesty, Jingle just gets frusterated and completely looses it, he can't focus, or listen, and just becomes my problem child. However, he's clearly learning, and absorbing our lessons, and so it's coming. Patience is a virtue friends!
For Next Time: Woah. The magical word.
Ride: Sunday I went out to ride and focused on steering and responsiveness in the side pull. Jingle did really well, I like how more relaxed he seems in it, and just happier to go to work. He still, obviously, has his moments of "hey, remember that one time 3 years ago my Jaw was broken and hurt, well, I'm going to act like your doing that to me RIGHT NOW", but after exploring so many options I know that's a learned behaviour, and not a pain response. However, aside from those moments, his headset is more relaxed, and he's not gaping or fidgeting as much as I expected him too. Hallelujah!
Taken by a friend, "Mahm isn't here, sew tired, sew happy"
Then, Monday and my lesson happened... Do you ever think your horse has split personality disorder? Because, honestly, I often wonder if my horse is two horses trapped in one body, competing with eachother for my attention/love/anger/pain/sorrow, etc. sigh.
Jingle's right lead is not pretty, and is taking quite a bit of work to get him to pick it up. Right now our stratedgy is while entering into an arc, bend him to the left, add leg, and ask for the lead. However, bending him left just seems so wrong to me and my hands, and we often fumble it up together.
"Mahm, remember when you used to hang out with me and not ride? Let's do that again okay?"
Then.... demonponyboy appeared whilst attempting to lope our circles. Jingle decided that holding an arc through a circle was honestly not what he wanted to do during our lesson, and so he started to jut out to the left. So, I'd correct him. Then, he attempted to run me into our arena wall. No, horse, you can't do that. Then, his "jutting" turned into full blown running through the centre of the arena, whilst everyone else stops and stares at us. His nose was cranked to my knee, he was aiming towards jump standards we have in the middle.... not pretty. Bad boy.
This is where split personality comes into play... my horse would not lope a circle to save his life, instead he'd take me every which way, but where I wanted. This went on for quite some time, and then, all of a sudden after a particularly bad moment, he loped like an angel... what? Who are you Jingle?
After we got back to our normal scheduled loping, we jogged, and ended the lesson with a sweaty horse and a tired Louisa. However, ever-redeeming himself, a little girl who rides at the same time as I do on Monday gave Jingle his first EVER cookie and it was hilarious. (He used to be really nosey and pushy so I never fed him treats, but he's learned to respect my space). He took it and was shaking his head and kept giving her this wild eyed "WHAT IS THIS" look. Adorable.
"Mahm, I love you less when you ride me and get sweaty. No, I dun wanna look at you right now."
So of course... I went and bought him cookies and a lick-it, because he needed them.
& then, I went out yesterday to ride, and guess who was there to meet me at the barn? Angelfaceponyboy... I focused on transitions, and jogging for most of my ride, (lots of stopping - as per usual), and he was AMAZING. Beautiful slow jog, was actually stopping for once in his life, would actually listen to me when I scolded him for his pissy pants "I don't want to do this" act. I asked him to lope and he thought about jutting out, but all I had to do was slightly add pressure onto his side and he'd correct himself.
So what does this mean? Well... it means my horse has split personality. So, that's that. :)
In all honesty, Jingle just gets frusterated and completely looses it, he can't focus, or listen, and just becomes my problem child. However, he's clearly learning, and absorbing our lessons, and so it's coming. Patience is a virtue friends!
"Mahm, today I love you, but I love cookies more"
For Next Time: Woah. The magical word.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Riding Diary: 30
Time: 1.5 hr
Bit: This is no longer a sub-category in my riding diaries (for now atleast) as you will see in a moment!
Ride: We've been having bit/head issues - anyone who has read my riding diaries knows that. Well, now Jingle is becoming an absolute pain to bridle, like attempting to walk on top of me and leave the premises when I bridle him. He used to be an absolute violent terror to bridle, and that has all but dissapeared since the spring, but now he's becoming a bit of a big, overgrown, annoying pest. It's been two weeks since I've had a lesson, last monday I rode in a ported bit with shanks we've been using, Jingle did well. Then I got hit by a tsunami otherwise known as my "early human burials, and emergence of symbolic behaviour" paper in african archaeology, and did not ride my boy until Friday. Friday I went out with some friends, I rode super briefly, let them fool around in his snaffle, and that was basically it.
Monday, Jingle was a terror. Head-throwing, including throwing backwards (watch my nose there ponyboy!), Head-shaking, prancing, not checking back. General disastor mess. My dentist had told me that after a month or two, I will know if Jingle will be more accepting of a bit, and if I wasn't sure - he would give me all the signs. Well, the damn horse has a very well-moving jaw now, after every ride I massage his jaw, TMJ and neck muscles, and we've attempted to under bit, normal bit, over bit, leverage bit, every-bit, well.... looks like my horse is telling me something, hey?
So, we are now attempting the Side Pull!
My trainer lent me her double rawhide noseband sidepull, she covers the noseband with vet wrap so it's a bit softer on their noses, and as she was putting it on him she said, "well... he has a nice forelock." and then, "either this is going to help, or it's going to be like riding around in a halter." I replied with perhaps Jingle and I will just enter "Best Mane" contests... at the walk.
So, the verdict?
Well... Jingle's headset was a lot better, way more relaxed and low. That is a very good thing!
Jingle was still doing his obstinant head-shake-mom don't make me do this-thing. Not surprising, attitude related, not bit/jaw related.
& then... my issue was the steering, Jingle wasn't exactly listening to my subtle steering ques...
During my lesson I almost ran into a girl who was halfway over a jump, also a child who was jogging her horse, very nicely and quietly on the rail, and a couple really pretty - hey, let's go over here! moments. Really embarassing. My trainer, of course, told me to stop that. (yes... I am intentionally trying to kill a child, yes... I love when I underestimate the time I have to move out of the way of an oncoming jumping warmblood. yes... I did infact intend to do a small circle, but here I am, circling half the arena and my horse could care less) More embarassment. Life is good.
I guess, especially in the first steps of this whole new bitless business, over-steering is probably what is going to have to occur until Jingle figures out how this whole new contraption works. However, It's more me struggling with the concept than him, sigh. I'm sure the two of us will get used too it, but, as I was being flung around the arena by my horse I definitely had one of those.... siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhh.... days that I often have when it comes to my horse, his pissy-pants moment, and all his jaw and mouth issues.
So; Side Pull? Well... I went home and feverishly researched bitless options (i've done this before... I love to google), and the side pull looks like the best option for us right now. Jingle seems more... physically relaxed... in it, I saw physically because mentally I think my horse has two elephants in his brain attacking eachother sometimes. So, that's a plus, so we shall continue with this route and see what doors open down the road.
For Next Time: I ordered a sidepull, but it wont come in the mail until Friday. No surprise that none of Calgary's tack shops carry them, and the one that does wont have any in stock for about a month. Secondly, the online options weren't too great. Why oh why dont the big clearance/cheap websites deliver free to Canada? So unfair.
I'll probably just ride him in his rawhide noseband rope halter tonight, and hope he doesn't murder me. Plan of attack for tonight - softening, steering, and stopping - the three big S's!
Bit: This is no longer a sub-category in my riding diaries (for now atleast) as you will see in a moment!
Ride: We've been having bit/head issues - anyone who has read my riding diaries knows that. Well, now Jingle is becoming an absolute pain to bridle, like attempting to walk on top of me and leave the premises when I bridle him. He used to be an absolute violent terror to bridle, and that has all but dissapeared since the spring, but now he's becoming a bit of a big, overgrown, annoying pest. It's been two weeks since I've had a lesson, last monday I rode in a ported bit with shanks we've been using, Jingle did well. Then I got hit by a tsunami otherwise known as my "early human burials, and emergence of symbolic behaviour" paper in african archaeology, and did not ride my boy until Friday. Friday I went out with some friends, I rode super briefly, let them fool around in his snaffle, and that was basically it.
Monday, Jingle was a terror. Head-throwing, including throwing backwards (watch my nose there ponyboy!), Head-shaking, prancing, not checking back. General disastor mess. My dentist had told me that after a month or two, I will know if Jingle will be more accepting of a bit, and if I wasn't sure - he would give me all the signs. Well, the damn horse has a very well-moving jaw now, after every ride I massage his jaw, TMJ and neck muscles, and we've attempted to under bit, normal bit, over bit, leverage bit, every-bit, well.... looks like my horse is telling me something, hey?
So, we are now attempting the Side Pull!
My trainer lent me her double rawhide noseband sidepull, she covers the noseband with vet wrap so it's a bit softer on their noses, and as she was putting it on him she said, "well... he has a nice forelock." and then, "either this is going to help, or it's going to be like riding around in a halter." I replied with perhaps Jingle and I will just enter "Best Mane" contests... at the walk.
So, the verdict?
Well... Jingle's headset was a lot better, way more relaxed and low. That is a very good thing!
Jingle was still doing his obstinant head-shake-mom don't make me do this-thing. Not surprising, attitude related, not bit/jaw related.
& then... my issue was the steering, Jingle wasn't exactly listening to my subtle steering ques...
During my lesson I almost ran into a girl who was halfway over a jump, also a child who was jogging her horse, very nicely and quietly on the rail, and a couple really pretty - hey, let's go over here! moments. Really embarassing. My trainer, of course, told me to stop that. (yes... I am intentionally trying to kill a child, yes... I love when I underestimate the time I have to move out of the way of an oncoming jumping warmblood. yes... I did infact intend to do a small circle, but here I am, circling half the arena and my horse could care less) More embarassment. Life is good.
I guess, especially in the first steps of this whole new bitless business, over-steering is probably what is going to have to occur until Jingle figures out how this whole new contraption works. However, It's more me struggling with the concept than him, sigh. I'm sure the two of us will get used too it, but, as I was being flung around the arena by my horse I definitely had one of those.... siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhh.... days that I often have when it comes to my horse, his pissy-pants moment, and all his jaw and mouth issues.
So; Side Pull? Well... I went home and feverishly researched bitless options (i've done this before... I love to google), and the side pull looks like the best option for us right now. Jingle seems more... physically relaxed... in it, I saw physically because mentally I think my horse has two elephants in his brain attacking eachother sometimes. So, that's a plus, so we shall continue with this route and see what doors open down the road.
For Next Time: I ordered a sidepull, but it wont come in the mail until Friday. No surprise that none of Calgary's tack shops carry them, and the one that does wont have any in stock for about a month. Secondly, the online options weren't too great. Why oh why dont the big clearance/cheap websites deliver free to Canada? So unfair.
I'll probably just ride him in his rawhide noseband rope halter tonight, and hope he doesn't murder me. Plan of attack for tonight - softening, steering, and stopping - the three big S's!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
100 Posts! (& a Riding Diary: 29)
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: Winter has arrived for us poor southern-albertans my friends. 10 cm one day, snow warnings, flurries for three days... absolute madness!
My mother came to the barn for the first time ever, she's met Jingle before but has never seen the barn. First, she commented on how Jingle looked bored and tired when I was grooming. Personally, I love that he's so calm when I'm getting ready to ride now - such a change from a few years ago. She says he must call her "mumsie" (lol), not "grandma". Fine. Deal. She then drooled all over a couple other horses at the barn, poor Jingle, so unloved.
Our ride was really good, we worked on circles at the jog/trot, we're figuring out our circles - I tell ya. Did lots of stop work. (This is getting repetitive, every riding diary is circles-stop-lope-circles-done haha) & then we loped to the left. My trainer seemed genuinley surprised how well Jingle was loping on his left lead - told yaaaaaaa. After that we just did a bit of jogging, and that was pretty much our ride!
My poor mother was freezing her bum off, I later found her sitting infront of one of our massive heaters. I don't quite think she's ready to be a barn girl just yet.
& due to the fact winter has arrived early, Jingle's 'move-in' date was bumped up, so baby boy went in his own stall for the first time ever. I left him with some grain and he happily munched away. I wanted some photos, but he wasn't cooperating, "MAHM, GRAIN!" and neither was my mother who very badly wanted the heated seat of her Jeep. Ugh, family... A friend texted me an hour or two later and said that Jingle was snoozin' happily in his warm stall. =) Good boy.
For Next Time: Lopin' - stops - Lopin' - stops - Lopin', now that we've started to really figure out our left lead, it's time to start slowing down and not zoom around so much, and then of course, maybe the right lead will just fall into place one of these days, and well.. can't forget about the fact that we still must work on our stops at all times. :)
**********
Let us not forget...
Happy 100th Post to Meeeeeeee!!!!
100 Posts... absolutely crazy. This blog has been up & running for a little bit over a year, and honestly... what a year it has been. From last September until now, I've learnt SO much about myself, and I've learnt so much about horses. This time last year I was working at a crummy barn that had me so stressed out I thought I was liable to explode into a bazillion pieces at any moment. I was dreaming about Jingle, I was mourning summer, I was recieving lessons that was taking any natural ability I had and squashing it in the dirt... I was in total limbo.
Now, I am a horse owner, I am at a barn I absolutely love, I have a wonderful trainer. I have a blog where wonderful friends, family, and internet-friends (followers hehe), follow and comment and assist and lend advice!!
Ride: Winter has arrived for us poor southern-albertans my friends. 10 cm one day, snow warnings, flurries for three days... absolute madness!
My mother came to the barn for the first time ever, she's met Jingle before but has never seen the barn. First, she commented on how Jingle looked bored and tired when I was grooming. Personally, I love that he's so calm when I'm getting ready to ride now - such a change from a few years ago. She says he must call her "mumsie" (lol), not "grandma". Fine. Deal. She then drooled all over a couple other horses at the barn, poor Jingle, so unloved.
Our ride was really good, we worked on circles at the jog/trot, we're figuring out our circles - I tell ya. Did lots of stop work. (This is getting repetitive, every riding diary is circles-stop-lope-circles-done haha) & then we loped to the left. My trainer seemed genuinley surprised how well Jingle was loping on his left lead - told yaaaaaaa. After that we just did a bit of jogging, and that was pretty much our ride!
My poor mother was freezing her bum off, I later found her sitting infront of one of our massive heaters. I don't quite think she's ready to be a barn girl just yet.
& due to the fact winter has arrived early, Jingle's 'move-in' date was bumped up, so baby boy went in his own stall for the first time ever. I left him with some grain and he happily munched away. I wanted some photos, but he wasn't cooperating, "MAHM, GRAIN!" and neither was my mother who very badly wanted the heated seat of her Jeep. Ugh, family... A friend texted me an hour or two later and said that Jingle was snoozin' happily in his warm stall. =) Good boy.
For Next Time: Lopin' - stops - Lopin' - stops - Lopin', now that we've started to really figure out our left lead, it's time to start slowing down and not zoom around so much, and then of course, maybe the right lead will just fall into place one of these days, and well.. can't forget about the fact that we still must work on our stops at all times. :)
**********
Let us not forget...
Happy 100th Post to Meeeeeeee!!!!
100 Posts... absolutely crazy. This blog has been up & running for a little bit over a year, and honestly... what a year it has been. From last September until now, I've learnt SO much about myself, and I've learnt so much about horses. This time last year I was working at a crummy barn that had me so stressed out I thought I was liable to explode into a bazillion pieces at any moment. I was dreaming about Jingle, I was mourning summer, I was recieving lessons that was taking any natural ability I had and squashing it in the dirt... I was in total limbo.
Now, I am a horse owner, I am at a barn I absolutely love, I have a wonderful trainer. I have a blog where wonderful friends, family, and internet-friends (followers hehe), follow and comment and assist and lend advice!!
What a difference a year can make - here's too 100 more posts, and getting better and better as the posts go on. :)
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Riding Diary: 28
Jingle cooling down in his Weatherbeeta cooler.
By the way - mini product review, I bought this cooler for him before I actually bought him (crazy horse mom, I know), and clearly I envisioned him much bigger than he was, so it's 2 sizes too big. BUT, this is Weatherbeeta's combo fleece/cooler and it's AWESOME. Highly recommend it - super soft, really good material, high quality, and I think I got it off Chick's for a wicked deal - like $40 or something? Maybe even less.
Bit: Shank bit with roller
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: Jingle was being such a majestic ponyboy for me this last week that I expected some great things from this ride. Welllll.... we did so-so. Remember what I said about putting expectations on my lessons? It never works out the way you want it too.
We started off with our usual warmup, Jingle was lookin' fly with his nice composed, quiet, slow jog. Atta boy! He is continuing to stop better and better at the walk, trot, and jog, which i'm awesome! Steps toward success!
Then we started to lope, Jingle just gets so hot and then starts to become a gigantic pissy pants. I don't work him very hard when I ride him alone, mostly because I never lope him, as I'm still uneasy about my leads/doing something wrong while trying to teach him to learn how to properly lope. So, our rides are usually blissful and, well, pretty easy and un-sweaty. Then my lessons come and he's asked to really work and he does a big "Hell no! Go away!" This generally features running amuck, being sassy, stopping, refusing to slow down, etc. It is something we are working through, and I just need to grow a backbone and atleast "work" my horse once a week. (I don't think he needs to be worked every time I ride him, in fact, I think our calm slow days are good for both of us, but like... I need to be able to lope my own horse... confidence, where art thou?)
However, during our lesson, his left-lead is starting to really come along, I can lope him on a much longer rein, he's starting to slow down and not just zoom around like a cracked out race-horse. So, I'm hoping that now that one side of his loping is coming along really well, his other side (right lead) will just sort of click one day and fall into place because at the moment, the right lead is still a struggle. Picture this ever-stunning scenario, of my horse just trotting around like a chicken with his head cut off, whilst I try to ask him calm and collectedly for the right lead. When that doesn't work I attempt to ask with a bit of encouragement from a spur (my trainer has me wear really mild english spurs). He'll generally pick up the wrong lead, or if he does pick up the right one, I'll lose him in a minute. When that doesn't work I ask with a little bump of my crop, that tends to work for a bit, but honestly I become a totally uncoordinated mess with a fricken crop in my hand, and then I lose him... my fault ponyboy. However, we're working on just getting the right lead out of him and then quitting, moving to the left, and ending on a positive note.
It'll click, I know it will. We're getting there! Both my trainer and the mom of a girl who rides in my lesson said we were doing really well, and coming along nicely. yay. Another lady commented how Jingle has cute markings. (... are you insinuating his attitude isn't so cute? hahaaha)
For Next Time: keep on keepin' on until my horse can lope a circle on his right lead.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Riding Diary: 27
Bit: Well... you'll see.
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: The saga that is my horse and his mouth continues. I rode Jingle a couple times this week and he was just generally being annoying and attempting to ignore me. Freezing up, throwing his head when he gets too hot, his typical issues, however, they seemed more pronounced this week. I'm bad with his behavioural issues though because I know they've come from PAST pain responses, and so I baby him. Then I get into my lesson and say things like, "well... he was shaking his head a lot but maybe he wasn't comfortable", when this time last week we were loping perfect small circles, relaxed, on the left lead and "well I switched up bits so maybe that was the issue", when I tried him in an even milder, comparable to one he already has now, bit. I need to work on getting a back bone with my horse. Sigh. I just worry, but my dentist said to continue riding him in a bit for now, and that I wont see results right away, but over time I will notice quite a difference. My trainer also commented to me last night, "by the end of winter, you two will have all of this down - don't worry." So that's the theme of mine and my horses relationship right now - time.
Okay, so now that I've premised this as if it was the worst ride ever (it wasn't, I'm a drama queen)... We started off warming up with some limited space, so I was working Jingle is some smaller circles and he was doing really well. He is carrying himself better in those smaller circles and I had some friends out who know him from back in the day and they commented on how sleek and muscular he's starting to look. Handome Boy! This was the lesson of the bit drama, I usually ride Jingle in a D Ring snaffle with three piece dogbone copper roller, however, I felt as if the roller was only contributing to his fussiness, and so I thought to move into some more immobile. I then went out with just a basic french link in mind, and came back with something very similar, just not as flat as your traditional french link - more bulbous. (I'm sure there is a name for this bit, but it's early, and i'm tired) Honestly, if anything, I think it made his fussiness worse, so perhaps I was wrong. Horselife said that if I tried it once and didn't like it I could return it as long as I give it a really good cleaning, but that was a young girl telling me this, and I've never heard of a store taking bits back when they've been used... plus I would never want to buy a bit "new" that's been in a horses mouth, so goodbye $40.00.
Jingle is hard-mouthed, like... exceptionally hard mouthed, and the only time it really becomes a problem is his stops. Last week I started to feel as if he was really beginning to use his back end when he stops, but this week we started off with the same weak, leaky stops. This is probably me, once again, babying him, and not doing enough work stopping and transitioning with him - things to practice this week before next week's lesson! My trainer couldn't believe how hard mouthed he was, and got on him herself, well... I wasn't lying was I. She was pretty shocked I think. She commented that it's like trying to stop a brick wall or something, haha, poor Jingle and Louisa.
So, we moved him into the bit we had that worked well last week (double twisted snaffle - not as thin as a twisted wire though). It's such a precarious balance - bump them up into a harsher bit, make sure your hands are soft, don't bump their mouths too much - only get after them if you have too.. I stress out. My pony was NOT responding like he had last week - back to his pissy pants tantrum self.
So then we moved into a long shank three piece with a roller in the centre. Jingle has been ridden in a shank bit, so he knows what leverage is, but he used to really avoid leverage (especially in his turns), and that's why I chose to ride him in a snaffle. However, aside from his stop, he's starting to really work well and understand his cues more and more, so I wasn't too worried about adding shanks. He ended up doing pretty well, he was definitely responding more with his stops, and I didn't have to really yard on him so much, so it was a nice little happy medium.
On a more overall positive note - his jog is really coming along, the other night I must have jogged him 6 laps at a big circle, small circle, serpentines, around barrels, and he was nice and slow and moving really long and low, so there's a gait that we really are starting to get the hang of!
He is still a sticky sticky horse with his right lead, around and around and around we'll go at this like hyper-crazy jog, and he'll pick up a lope but it'll be the wrong lead and before I even attempt to correct him - bam, he breaks down again. We'll get there - I can feel it coming, his left lead is really coming along and starting to be something, but... that right lead will need some work.
For Next Time: My trainer let me keep that bridle for our next ride so I can keep working him in that bit and see if that's the route I want to go. (Thank the lord, I can't keep buying bits - sheesh!) So i'm going to work him a couple more times and see if he's going to actually respond to it, instead of respond nicely once and then fall back on his old ways. Other than that, his stop is my number one thing I want to work on this week.
As for the bit vs. bitless debate it's raging in my mind; On one hand it wouldn't hurt to see if I could try out a side pull or a hackamore or something and see if that's better. However, on the other, my dentist did advise to continuing riding him in a bit, and just give it loooooots of time. & so, for now, I'll continue searching for the elusive bit/tack combination that makes him happy, and if that doesn't seem to work in the next couple of months, I suppose we'll move into bitless. Nothing wrong with that.
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: The saga that is my horse and his mouth continues. I rode Jingle a couple times this week and he was just generally being annoying and attempting to ignore me. Freezing up, throwing his head when he gets too hot, his typical issues, however, they seemed more pronounced this week. I'm bad with his behavioural issues though because I know they've come from PAST pain responses, and so I baby him. Then I get into my lesson and say things like, "well... he was shaking his head a lot but maybe he wasn't comfortable", when this time last week we were loping perfect small circles, relaxed, on the left lead and "well I switched up bits so maybe that was the issue", when I tried him in an even milder, comparable to one he already has now, bit. I need to work on getting a back bone with my horse. Sigh. I just worry, but my dentist said to continue riding him in a bit for now, and that I wont see results right away, but over time I will notice quite a difference. My trainer also commented to me last night, "by the end of winter, you two will have all of this down - don't worry." So that's the theme of mine and my horses relationship right now - time.
Okay, so now that I've premised this as if it was the worst ride ever (it wasn't, I'm a drama queen)... We started off warming up with some limited space, so I was working Jingle is some smaller circles and he was doing really well. He is carrying himself better in those smaller circles and I had some friends out who know him from back in the day and they commented on how sleek and muscular he's starting to look. Handome Boy! This was the lesson of the bit drama, I usually ride Jingle in a D Ring snaffle with three piece dogbone copper roller, however, I felt as if the roller was only contributing to his fussiness, and so I thought to move into some more immobile. I then went out with just a basic french link in mind, and came back with something very similar, just not as flat as your traditional french link - more bulbous. (I'm sure there is a name for this bit, but it's early, and i'm tired) Honestly, if anything, I think it made his fussiness worse, so perhaps I was wrong. Horselife said that if I tried it once and didn't like it I could return it as long as I give it a really good cleaning, but that was a young girl telling me this, and I've never heard of a store taking bits back when they've been used... plus I would never want to buy a bit "new" that's been in a horses mouth, so goodbye $40.00.
Jingle is hard-mouthed, like... exceptionally hard mouthed, and the only time it really becomes a problem is his stops. Last week I started to feel as if he was really beginning to use his back end when he stops, but this week we started off with the same weak, leaky stops. This is probably me, once again, babying him, and not doing enough work stopping and transitioning with him - things to practice this week before next week's lesson! My trainer couldn't believe how hard mouthed he was, and got on him herself, well... I wasn't lying was I. She was pretty shocked I think. She commented that it's like trying to stop a brick wall or something, haha, poor Jingle and Louisa.
So, we moved him into the bit we had that worked well last week (double twisted snaffle - not as thin as a twisted wire though). It's such a precarious balance - bump them up into a harsher bit, make sure your hands are soft, don't bump their mouths too much - only get after them if you have too.. I stress out. My pony was NOT responding like he had last week - back to his pissy pants tantrum self.
So then we moved into a long shank three piece with a roller in the centre. Jingle has been ridden in a shank bit, so he knows what leverage is, but he used to really avoid leverage (especially in his turns), and that's why I chose to ride him in a snaffle. However, aside from his stop, he's starting to really work well and understand his cues more and more, so I wasn't too worried about adding shanks. He ended up doing pretty well, he was definitely responding more with his stops, and I didn't have to really yard on him so much, so it was a nice little happy medium.
On a more overall positive note - his jog is really coming along, the other night I must have jogged him 6 laps at a big circle, small circle, serpentines, around barrels, and he was nice and slow and moving really long and low, so there's a gait that we really are starting to get the hang of!
He is still a sticky sticky horse with his right lead, around and around and around we'll go at this like hyper-crazy jog, and he'll pick up a lope but it'll be the wrong lead and before I even attempt to correct him - bam, he breaks down again. We'll get there - I can feel it coming, his left lead is really coming along and starting to be something, but... that right lead will need some work.
For Next Time: My trainer let me keep that bridle for our next ride so I can keep working him in that bit and see if that's the route I want to go. (Thank the lord, I can't keep buying bits - sheesh!) So i'm going to work him a couple more times and see if he's going to actually respond to it, instead of respond nicely once and then fall back on his old ways. Other than that, his stop is my number one thing I want to work on this week.
As for the bit vs. bitless debate it's raging in my mind; On one hand it wouldn't hurt to see if I could try out a side pull or a hackamore or something and see if that's better. However, on the other, my dentist did advise to continuing riding him in a bit, and just give it loooooots of time. & so, for now, I'll continue searching for the elusive bit/tack combination that makes him happy, and if that doesn't seem to work in the next couple of months, I suppose we'll move into bitless. Nothing wrong with that.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Riding Diary: 26
I'd like to thank you guys for your comments on my last post - I really appreciated it, and it provided me a little pick me up. I must admit, I left the barn feeling pretty down and out about my boy that day, but - it's best to look to the positive right? I gave him three days off to get used to what the Dentist called, "a totally new mouth", and then rode him on Friday. We didn't do much, lots of minimal-contact walk-jog-trot, and lots of turns, and bends to the right and left, and he did well. He was still mouthing the bit incessantly (I didn't have his noseband on), but I asked him to stop numerous times and there was no head-shaking. So I quit on a good note and I think he was kind of confused like, "Hey girl, no fighting for the lope today - why is that?" He got some grain afterwards and didn't seem to be spitting as much as he usually does! (My Dentist said he might even spit more - translate to grain.everywhere.) and I think he's really liking his little Apple Cider Vinegar massages I do with him after his ride to loosen up those tense muscles and draw heat out of his jaw structure. He gets all zoned out and puts his head on my chest and let's me just rub and love all over him.
I worked all weekend so yesterday (Monday) was my first day I could come out and ride again - and it was my lesson! I was pretty apprehensive because I knew that my trainer would be asking me for more contact than I'd used on Friday, and pushing me, and ponyboy, harder than I ever push us. I've detailed before that I am a push-over owner, haven't I?
So, without further ado...
Bit: I don't know the technical name for this bit, but it's a harsher snaffle. It has a straight copper twist bar, as well as your standard jointed mouth piece, so that when you pick up the reins, the bar is acting more as a curb bit would act, but you are also combining the nutcracker effect on the top of their mouth.
Time: 1 hr
Ride: So, with my boys mouth-issues I was a little worried when my trainer pulled this bit out of her bag of tricks. However, now that the Dentist has come out and really detailed every little issue Jingle has with his mouth, I can better discern what of his is (or was) a pain response, and what is learned behaviour. His head shaking I think was a mixture of both, but since he's not doing it as much now (only when he's frustrated) I'm leaning more on the pain response side, especially on his right side. His hard-mouth definitely comes from an early pain response in his life, but has now developed into learned behaviour. Jingle is hard-mouthed with every bit I put him in, and by hard-mouthed I mean like... hard-freaking-mouthed. Plus, my trainer is amazing, and I respect her greatly - she wouldn't put a harsh bit in his mouth just because, she always has a reason for what she does.
In the end, I think the bitting-up for the lesson really helped him and I. I focused more on keeping my hands soft and quiet, and when I asked him for something I could almost feel that lightbulb go off like, "Oh, okay, stop means stop." Plus, he wasn't head-shaking!
To the left, Jingle is really starting to pick up the lope (and he was loping realllllly nice small circles too!), a couple times we were transitioning from a jog to a lope and I couldn't help but think, "woah, this is my horse!" He did really well, and I was proud of him. He also was really starting to stop with his backend, like dig in, and stop. However, he is still sticky to the right, (his bad-mouth side), and that's what the Dentist said was his bad side as well. So, that side will take time I think. He just needs to learn that going to the right wont hurt anymore. We went around, and around, and around, and when he did lope, he'd pick up the wrong lead, and for the most part he would just rush-trot everything. Finally, we quit, cooled down, and picked up from the left, and ended on a really nice note. It'll take time - but we're figuring it out!
To cool off, we went outside and walked down the lane-way. Leaves were falling everywhere and it was quite pretty, I'm not excited for the snow to come. I got off to close a gate and wanted to take a photo of Jingle and he kept following me like "Mahmmm, what are we doing?!", he's cute, I love him.
Oh ya! I went to pick out his feet afterwards, and for the first time in forever he was pulling his foot away! So I held his toe and told him to quit that, and all of a sudden he falls to his knees! Thankfully, I don't tie him (... remember that post I never wrote? ya well...), so he just kind of half laid there and looked at me with his big, "I'm sorry mom, that was dumb" look... yes, Jingle, it was.
For Next Time: My trainer commented that my upper body wasn't quiet enough, and that I was trying to "cowboy" him into the lope. Ahem... so I was flapping my arms and legs like an idiot. I need to focus on being quiet, and trying to use subtle cues, and then increase pressure until he responds to my aids. We're going to make this hard-horse soft damnit! I'm hoping I can get out two more times this week and we can just really work on staying on the rail, listening more to my legs, and working in those small circles he is starting to understand more & more.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Riding Diary: 24
Time: 1. 5 hr
Ride: I went out and rode Sunday, and Jingle was a perfect angel-face. He loped both leads so smooth and was starting to really stop when I said the big "W" word. We rode in the outdoor arena, and I really focused on my body and even leaning to the outside (because I have a tendency to lean inwards) which basically made me sit straight, sigh, bad habits. My saddle wasn't slipping even a tiny bit - waking me up to the realization that I truly am shifting my weight to one stirrup, things to work on. I was pretty pleased and left the barn thinking that the next day (Monday) we would rock our lesson and would surely soon be showing pleasure, and barrels, and cutting, and would definitely be winning money, because we are such an awesome rock n' roll team.
Ya, you know what happens when you think that way? You have a lesson where you and your horse just seem to be completely separate entities, and forget completely to somehow work together, and you walk away with 700 things to work on and think about. Happens to me every, single, time.
So, before I even got on, Jingle attempted to be sassy as I was going to step up. He shook his head and was just being a general idiot, so my trainer told me to get off, tell him woah, get on, and ask him to stand - he did, okay, maybe he got all of his sassiness out? We began our lesson with a warm up, and then my trainer asking me and Jingle for a stop - uhm, not so pretty. She commented on how exceptionally "hard-mouthed" he is, which is very true. She asked me if I had ever lunged him, I hadn't, it's on the list of things to teach my ex-trail pony, but had done lots of round-pen stuff. So, I jumped off, and we added side reins, and my trainer tied him back, on his left, then right, and then back, and asked him to simply move around the outside arena, attempting to get him to soften. She moved him around the arena and I just watched, she told me she wanted him to learn this by himself, and not associate any feelings of struggle or unhappiness with me. I liked that.... I am bad about being too much of a sissy-but this is my baby-I don't want him to be unhappy, mom. I try my hardest to not be, and on the ground I think i'm quite good about being Alpha mare, but when we start to ride, I tend to start to become less and less of an alpha... issue.
He picked it up nicely to the left, but then to the right, his hard-mouthed sassy behaviour really began to show. This is not the first time I've had issues with Jingle and his hard mouth, at one point in his life he refused to turn left on me and it became a massive fight. My trainer spent quite some time working with him to soften into being tied back.
Then I got on. His jog is coming along really nicely, he softens right up and we move along the rail pretty well, I think. However, from all of the gaits, sometimes when I ask him to stop, he shakes his head and stomps around. My trainer told me that the minute I do that, kick him, and quickly reprimand him for his actions. It's a timing thing though, and I often miss the chance to apply pressure. Then, his lope... well.... my trainer asked me to lope in a circle around a half of the arena. Loping in a confined space is not exactly Jingle's thing, I feel him breaking down every second step, requiring a lot of pressure from my legs, vocal aids, hands, everything. My trainer got me to really focus on keeping my inside hand up and out, and also not dropping, or keeping too much contact on my outside hand. Then Jingle stopped loping, completely,... I was handed a small crop, i've never ridden with a crop, uncomfortable floundering abounds! Finally, we got it together, I realized how much contact I was holding. I've never ever ridden with contact with him, obviously I wouldn't on the trails, and no wonder he was freaking out about it. So I tried to really give him more slack, until I needed to ask for something specific. We ended up loping consistently through a few circles, and we quit for the day on that good note.
Then, since 3 other girls were coming in for a lesson and the outdoor arena was getting pretty dusty, my trainer told me cool him out by just walking him down the rode. So, out we went, walking down the rode and a lightbulb flashed in my head. My poor horse, I've been so gung-ho about the arena and all this work, that I forgot about what he loves to do - go out, and see things & I forgot about one of the golden rules of horseback riding - give them a mental break. For Jingle, trail-riding aint no thang, it's like me going out for a nice casual, leisurely hike, but the arena for him is akin to me attempting to read a textbook while doing a hardcore cardio-weights workout - not only am I straining mentally, but I'm going to come out of the gym totally sore because I worked my muscles intensely. So he's probably coming out of this brand new arena setting totally fried. Atleast, that's what I think.
So, I'm going to try to re-work my riding schedule and see how it works. Monday's I have my lesson, and I'm generally out thursday to ride - that should be another arena day, then every second Friday I plan to go out and do a "ground-work" day, and then Sunday's, I think I should just do a bit of a trail ride, no arena stuff, no big-mental stuff for him, just a casual walk down the rode, or up behind the barn, wander around for 30-60 minutes, then quit.
I think that's a really good schedule, but I only have a couple months until the snow starts to really fly and riding outside becomes harder and harder.
Anyways, after the big day for him and I, I walked him outside to cool him off, and sure enough, I looped his lead around his neck and he followed me around with this big 'ol look of love. I love you horse, we're going to figure all of this out.
For Next Time: Oh man, everything? Stops, softening and loping smaller AND bigger circles.
Ride: I went out and rode Sunday, and Jingle was a perfect angel-face. He loped both leads so smooth and was starting to really stop when I said the big "W" word. We rode in the outdoor arena, and I really focused on my body and even leaning to the outside (because I have a tendency to lean inwards) which basically made me sit straight, sigh, bad habits. My saddle wasn't slipping even a tiny bit - waking me up to the realization that I truly am shifting my weight to one stirrup, things to work on. I was pretty pleased and left the barn thinking that the next day (Monday) we would rock our lesson and would surely soon be showing pleasure, and barrels, and cutting, and would definitely be winning money, because we are such an awesome rock n' roll team.
Ya, you know what happens when you think that way? You have a lesson where you and your horse just seem to be completely separate entities, and forget completely to somehow work together, and you walk away with 700 things to work on and think about. Happens to me every, single, time.
So, before I even got on, Jingle attempted to be sassy as I was going to step up. He shook his head and was just being a general idiot, so my trainer told me to get off, tell him woah, get on, and ask him to stand - he did, okay, maybe he got all of his sassiness out? We began our lesson with a warm up, and then my trainer asking me and Jingle for a stop - uhm, not so pretty. She commented on how exceptionally "hard-mouthed" he is, which is very true. She asked me if I had ever lunged him, I hadn't, it's on the list of things to teach my ex-trail pony, but had done lots of round-pen stuff. So, I jumped off, and we added side reins, and my trainer tied him back, on his left, then right, and then back, and asked him to simply move around the outside arena, attempting to get him to soften. She moved him around the arena and I just watched, she told me she wanted him to learn this by himself, and not associate any feelings of struggle or unhappiness with me. I liked that.... I am bad about being too much of a sissy-but this is my baby-I don't want him to be unhappy, mom. I try my hardest to not be, and on the ground I think i'm quite good about being Alpha mare, but when we start to ride, I tend to start to become less and less of an alpha... issue.
He picked it up nicely to the left, but then to the right, his hard-mouthed sassy behaviour really began to show. This is not the first time I've had issues with Jingle and his hard mouth, at one point in his life he refused to turn left on me and it became a massive fight. My trainer spent quite some time working with him to soften into being tied back.
Then I got on. His jog is coming along really nicely, he softens right up and we move along the rail pretty well, I think. However, from all of the gaits, sometimes when I ask him to stop, he shakes his head and stomps around. My trainer told me that the minute I do that, kick him, and quickly reprimand him for his actions. It's a timing thing though, and I often miss the chance to apply pressure. Then, his lope... well.... my trainer asked me to lope in a circle around a half of the arena. Loping in a confined space is not exactly Jingle's thing, I feel him breaking down every second step, requiring a lot of pressure from my legs, vocal aids, hands, everything. My trainer got me to really focus on keeping my inside hand up and out, and also not dropping, or keeping too much contact on my outside hand. Then Jingle stopped loping, completely,... I was handed a small crop, i've never ridden with a crop, uncomfortable floundering abounds! Finally, we got it together, I realized how much contact I was holding. I've never ever ridden with contact with him, obviously I wouldn't on the trails, and no wonder he was freaking out about it. So I tried to really give him more slack, until I needed to ask for something specific. We ended up loping consistently through a few circles, and we quit for the day on that good note.
Then, since 3 other girls were coming in for a lesson and the outdoor arena was getting pretty dusty, my trainer told me cool him out by just walking him down the rode. So, out we went, walking down the rode and a lightbulb flashed in my head. My poor horse, I've been so gung-ho about the arena and all this work, that I forgot about what he loves to do - go out, and see things & I forgot about one of the golden rules of horseback riding - give them a mental break. For Jingle, trail-riding aint no thang, it's like me going out for a nice casual, leisurely hike, but the arena for him is akin to me attempting to read a textbook while doing a hardcore cardio-weights workout - not only am I straining mentally, but I'm going to come out of the gym totally sore because I worked my muscles intensely. So he's probably coming out of this brand new arena setting totally fried. Atleast, that's what I think.
So, I'm going to try to re-work my riding schedule and see how it works. Monday's I have my lesson, and I'm generally out thursday to ride - that should be another arena day, then every second Friday I plan to go out and do a "ground-work" day, and then Sunday's, I think I should just do a bit of a trail ride, no arena stuff, no big-mental stuff for him, just a casual walk down the rode, or up behind the barn, wander around for 30-60 minutes, then quit.
I think that's a really good schedule, but I only have a couple months until the snow starts to really fly and riding outside becomes harder and harder.
Anyways, after the big day for him and I, I walked him outside to cool him off, and sure enough, I looped his lead around his neck and he followed me around with this big 'ol look of love. I love you horse, we're going to figure all of this out.
For Next Time: Oh man, everything? Stops, softening and loping smaller AND bigger circles.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Riding Diary: 23
"I don't like these boots..."
Horse: Jingle (lalalala... :) :)... yipeee..)
Bit: D Ring Snaffle with three piece roller bit.
Time: 1 hour
Ride: My first ever lesson with my boy! Life is so good! Exclamation marks for everyone! Anywaaaaaaaays, to start things off before I even got on my trainer commented what a nice and cute boy Jingle was. (I agree) Obviously Jingle hasn't exactly been "trained" by anyone with expertise (... I've been riding him the last three years, and we haven't done much aside from riding trails, and often running off into trees) so we have a lot to work on. However, the first thing I really wanted to target was his head-shaking. When Jingle feels pressure on his mouth, or decides he doesn't want to do something, he opens his mouth exceptionally wide, and tosses his head and snorts at me, in a, "screw you mom" sort of way. We decided to put him in a noseband, and used "rings" (so, a training fork, or just the rings of a martingale) to curb this problem. Well, it worked, at first he was sticking his tounge out every which way, and just generally unhappy about the predicament he found himself in. But then he settled into it, and the combination worked well - however, he is still tossing his head in defiance, especially at the stop. My trainer commented that I need to be able to feel when he's about to toss, correct it at the perfect time, then release.
We did a lot of posting trot and jogging, and as you guys know, jogging is my fav. Jingle is picking up a jog really well, in the beginning he would break down to the walk quite a bit, and I would have to encourage him verbally which caused him to race off, but now he's keeping a more consistent, slow pace.
Then we worked on his stop, my trainer asked me if Jingle has a stop, wellllllllllll.... he'll stop. Okay, gotta work on that one. I was throwing my weight back more than I should and so my trainer got me to really focus my weight into my stirrups, ask for a "Woah", and then give him a sharp direct "stop" with the reins. He is bad at leaking forward afterward, so I have to watch my release. Then my trainer asked me if he backs, welll..... kinda. Jingle's "back-up" is a bit more of a stall, he will head-toss, snort at me, and just generally not back-up very gracefully. He decided in the lesson that backing up just wasn't happening, and no matter how hard I pulled on my reins he would not back. My trainer commented that he is very good at avoiding and ignoring pressure, especially on his left side, and commented that perhaps tying him back before our lesson Monday, and working him on the ground may soften him up, and get him to respond a bit better to me.
Finally, we loped! He's picking it up. At the ranch this summer I encountered a problem I've encountered quite a bit with trail horses... they won't lope on a curve, only in a straight line. This makes sense, as primarily when trail riding, if you are loping, it is generally in a straight line, in a field, or on a flat, so when you ask them to carry themselves around a corner, they break down into a trot. Asking Jingle to lope in the arena isn't pretty, it requires me to use a lot of strength in my legs, and I realize that my legs are just not that strong when it comes to isolating certain muscle groups. However, he picked it up, and I think we got one or two full laps around the arena from him, and I was really happy with that.
So, all in all, it was a pretty big lesson for his first time, but we pinpointed some really specific things, and afterwards my trainer commented that she thinks he's "going to work out really well." Smiley faces and exclamation marks for everyone!!!! =) Even when I was doing something wrong and my trainer was yelling at me from across the arena, "For heavens sake - stop petting him! He didn't do anything right!" I had such a big goofy smile on my face - I'm riding MY horse, in an arena, in a LESSON. How awesome is that?! He could have probably bucked me off and trampled me, and I bet you I would have still been smiling.
Sidenote - Remember how I rode like, 6 hour days all summer? Ya well... turns out the minute I get in an arena, and have things to actually work on, my body turns to mush. I am one sore puppy, even though it's been two days. My thighs! My poor freakin' thighs.
For Next Time: Stop & Back-Up !!! Work on clearly communicating both of these things to Jingle, and remember to keep constant pressure, and release only when he's given me a backwards step, or a good solid stop. Also, I really need to watch myself while loping, I'm over compensating for him, and it's causing me to put weight into one stirrup, thus causing my saddle to shift - this is something I realize I do, since I had the same issue with Quiz, whose smooth as anything. However, it's something I don't notice until afterwards - gotta work on my body!
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