Playing with Acorn

This weekend I took some time to work with Acorn, since he had been in lessons all week and we're showing on Saturday.  We ran through our tests, he was a good boy, and then I spent some time hopping him over "fences".  I put it in quotes because I haven't jumped him higher than 2' yet, because our standards are in a jump field on the other side of the farm.  This week I might take him out there and try a few 2'3" jumps.  He LOVES jumping and is such a good boy about everything.  I, however, look like a mess and need to figure out how to not jump ahead and let him move out a little approaching a jump.  Acorn is super patient with me, though, and I couldn't really ask for a better partner in this whole "jumping" experiment.

Acorn also won lots and lots of scritches and cookies for playing "boyfriend horse" this weekend:

Playing 'noses' with the super friendly human

I asked Justin to cool out Acorn while I put jumps away.  Look, he's already one of us, texting and riding.

They played a game of "how to steer the pony", too.  Good Corn.

Lesson 6/3/14 - Gali

On Monday, Gali and Acorn got their shots.  Long story short, when I was done at the barn, I knew they were staying down there to eat, so I left them in the paddock that attaches to the barn.  Forgot to close up the door to the actual barn, and they both made a mess in the barn.  Yesterday, I had a lesson.  I guess Nicole didn't forget about that, because it was a TOUGH ride!!

Gali was seriously inconsistent and not really respecting my leg.  I think I need to start riding in spurs again - I don't know why I haven't put them back on yet this year.  We started off doing 15m trot figure eights to get him off of my inside aids and to get him to lift up his shoulders and stretch his neck down.  He kept bobbing up and down in his neck, and it really took a while for me to get him forward enough that his hind legs were actually *moving* and not just dragging along.  It's tough, because I'm constantly fighting his "I'm going to be strong and bolt!" brain when I'm trying to get him to move out.  Yesterday, he was actually quite good about not running off, but he still tried to skip to canter at first, as a way to get out of working hard in the trot.

Trying on his new jammies... a LITTLE tight

We did some leg yields and started to introduce something similar to a half pass... I started by just leading him from F to X with left bend, ~12 m circle around X, and then leading him from X to M with right bend, and then doing the same out of the short side.  As he got better with that, I started adding right and left leg to get his body to follow his head better.  It wasn't a true half-pass, but it was some solid lateral work and I was really proud of a few of them.

We then moved on to some canter exercises, which were similar but with no real lateral elements.  Canter diagonal, canter circle around X, canter diagonal to trot and then back into canter on the other lead.  I had to work really hard to keep Gali soft in his trot-canter transitions, and I almost had to trick Gali into thinking he was just falling into the canter, but it worked and we did get a few good transitions.

It's hard to go from his normal gaits into what need to be his working gaits!  This horse takes all of my energy... but at least he's cute!

Goals and a Snapshot of Where We Are

I like "goals" posts, because they let me reflect on what I'd like to accomplish, and when the season is over, on what I have and have not done, or how my ambitions have changed.  This year, I have a couple of goals with Gali and Acorn.

Gali: I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd get to be showing Gali this year.  At the end of last season, he wasn't fully sound, and I thought it was his ringbone acting up after a pretty busy show schedule.  He had the winter almost entirely off (lameness, weather, and Aiken) and my BO let me know he wasn't fully sound on frozen pasture.  She even caught himself standing with his right leg in an icy water trough - bad Gali being bad, or smart horse icing himself? While I was in Aiken, I made the decision to put him on Previcox and see if it helps, in addition to his SmartFlex and Polyglycan shots.  I think it really did the trick, because he was sound when I brought him back into work in April.

Now that his body seems to be doing well - in fact, he's more sound than he's felt in over a year - his brain will be my challenge.  Gali is a difficult horse, there's no denying that.  Sure, he's up for shenanigans and is generally well behaved, he can be a real pistol sometimes, and he likes to fight me frequently when I'm asking him to actually work.  So far, though, he's been a willing volunteer and we have been getting a lot of quality work in.  During my last lesson, he was particularly stubborn about moving from my inside leg, so we did centerlines to 10m half circles to get him moving.  He NAILED it, and I made the decision right there to start this year off with a First level test.  We entered a local show in Training 2 and 1-1, but unfortunatley the show was cancelled due to lack of entires.  The next show is at the Meadow, and I've never gotten a good ride out of Gali there, so I might only take Acorn, therefore pushing my Gali debut back to the 22nd or so.  Bummer.

My goals with this horse are always, first and foremost, to keep him sound and happy.  I've been trying to "trail ride" him a little more on the days he's not on edge, but he's been really enjoying the work so far.  I can tell he feels good.  My show goals for him this year, though, are to get my ESDCTA and ECRDA bronze medals, which mean pulling in six scores above 60% over four different shows with four different judges.  I'd also LOVE to break 60% at any of the first level tests, and if he stays sound, I'd love to show through the entire level.

Acorn: Corn was my beacon of hope when I thought Gali wouldn't get off the farm this year.  I took him to BCHP last month, and it ended up being a big mistake on my part.  It was my first show with him, his third dressage show ever, both of our first recognized shows, and his first show of the season. That's a lot to think about.  We were with our trainer and her horse, who had an early ride time.  We got there around 10:30 and Acorn didn't have any tests until almost 3:00.  He was a VERY good boy walking around and watching the other horses school, but trying to ride him while his friend was in the trailer screaming for him, when the arena was up on a hill away from everything, and when it's been THAT long of a day, just wasn't going well.  He was bucking and pissed off and it wasn't a good experience for any of us.  We finished the day with mid-50's scores and a sour taste in my mouth for this pony.

I took a few days off riding him after that, bummed that he wasn't the angel he is at home, and wondering if I should even be thinking of him as my next show horse.  He's been teaching a lot of lessons and seems to be okay with that - maybe he's not as fancy as I think he is? Maybe he and I don't get along as well as I had been thinking?  There was a lot of doubt in my mind.  After riding Gali that week, though, and getting back on Corn, I was a little happier.  He's an easier horse.  He's got better gaits and is usually very willing to work.  On Sunday, after a particularly trying ride on Gali, I hopped on Acorn and it hit me that I always forget what a pleasure it is to ride this pony.  He tries and he really doesn't try to get into my head like Gali does.  Corn doesn't threaten to bolt when I get nervous - he doesn't escalate all of my issues and take them on as his own.  Anyway, I ended up setting up a few small (2', 2'3?) jumps in the ring and popping him over those a handful of times.  I also let him stretch his legs a bit, which is something he doesn't get to do in lessons.  I did have to work on reinstalling a slow canter though, after I let him move out into more of a hand gallop.  It was a blast, and I need to remember how much I DO enjoy this pony, every time.

Goals for him include keeping him happy with his work, trail riding him a LOT more, and getting him off the farm as much as possible.  I'd like to show him in the training level tests and also over a few Green Hunter courses at the Meadow.  Also, I think we're supposed to sell him at some point :P

Well over a year later, let me try this "blogging" thing again.

My last post in this blog was February, 2013.  Well over a year ago.  In that year:

• I graduated Rutgers and began searching for a new job (May 2013)
• I broke up with my long term boyfriend, leaving me with a summer completely to myself.
• I rode more last summer than I ever have before, growing tremendously as a rider.
• Ended up taking Gali to a few shows every month, eventually breaking through to First Level by the end of the year (mid-50s, but hey, I'll take it!)
• Agreed to take on Acorn, a pony I have known for years, as a sale project along with my barn owner.
• Showed Acorn over fences!!! (LOL, 2' crossrails... but still!)
• Got a job at an event barn nearby, picking stalls and grooming horses.
• Continued riding a lot, both at the event barn and at home.  Fell off a few times, got back on, yada yada yada.
• And then, I went to Aiken for the winter.

I'll pause there and elaborate a little.  KB, eventing boss, asked me to go with them for the winter.  I'll tell the rest of the story in pictures:

+

The farm was gorgeous and our apartment was right above the barn.  This was the view from my balcony.

The horses (Jackson, above) settled in really nicely

And then Hell froze over.  You know that EN picture of the firetrucks bringing water? That was us.

We didn't have water for over two weeks, but luckily Brooklyn and Drake helped me fill buckets and Jerry cans.

Once we got through that, it was incredible.  I got to ride some CCI** horses and audited PD clinics weekly.

 

I also had the world's cutest temporary puppy, Wilco, for whom I found a home in NJ :)

Three months in Aiken were unbelievable and I learned so much about horses, farm management, and riding.  I've been excited to be home, though, and picked up with Gali and Acorn right were I left off.  I'll try to keep this blog a little more active now that I have the time!

Here's a recent picture of each of my boys:

Galabad looking sharp

The chill pony not caring about anything.

Plans that either come to naught, or half a page of scribbled lines

I've been terribly uncommitted to riding lately.  I wish I could will myself to get up early and ride before classes, but working late nights is getting to me, and I find myself unable to do anything but hit "snooze" at 8 am.  I think I'm going to start keeping a Red Bull on my nightstand - or maybe setting my alarm to that terrible "HONK HONK HONK" Nickelodeon alarm and hiding it in my bathroom.

I haven't ridden since Sunday.  SUNDAY.    On Monday, I worked until midnight.  Tuesday, I had class from 8:25 AM until 5:30 PM, and then had to hike up to Manhattan.  Stayed in the city until Wednesday around 11 pm.  Thursday, class from 8:25 AM until 9:00 PM... and I was just toasted.  I'm heading out to ride today, though, and I think I'm just going to hug my horse a bit, do some walking, and tell him how much I appreciate his patience with my inconsistency.  Starting this upcoming Sunday, my personal schedule slows down a bit, and I think I'll make my goal of riding 4x.

As an aside,

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
                                                                                  Martin Luther King, Jr.

and 

"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."
                                                                                  Socrates

 

Bring it on, winter!

I've been avoiding the blogosphere this week, because I wanted to be careful and not jinx my good luck.  However, since it's been over a week (and four rides), I think I can finally say it out loud: Gali is sound!

Last week, I began using some massage techniques I read about in Practical Horse Massage on his shoulders and back.  I also did some research and found some stretches that are particularly helpful for shoulder stiffness and started stretching his front legs and back legs thoroughly before tacking up.  It looks like it's working, and I'm absolutely ecstatic!

My first two real rides back - all focusing on conditioning, of course - were lovely.  Gali was feeling great and picking up his feet and his back like we haven't had any time off.  Yesterday, however, was a bit of a disaster and he was a total cow.

My biggest challenge right now is getting him over his reluctance (read: straight up refusal) to work nicely on the busy side of the indoor.  I know that fighting him is not the correct way to get him to focus on me when he'd really rather stay away from the scary stuff, but after half an hour of walking past the same mounting blocks, cones, buckets and hoses, you'd think he would realize they are not going to eat him.

I just need to be patient.  It's supposed to be warm this week, so I'm hoping to get out to ride tomorrow morning before class, Wednesday morning before work, and Friday afternoon.   I've been very bad at sticking to a schedule this winter, but now that pony is sound, I'm feeling a lot more motivated to get up and go ride.

Back to school for both of us.

Today was my first day of classes.  My schedule this semester leaves me with two weekdays off, no work on the weekends, and multiple-hour breaks in the afternoons.  I won't know my permanent work schedule for another week, but based on the shifts I requested, I should have a ton of time to ride.  I'm hoping to get out to work with Gali four times a week minimum, and ride at least three times.

Anyway, yesterday, I was talking to a friend about how Gali is really going to be 17 this year, and it got me thinking that I don't really know what direction we're going to head in this year.  I'd love to do some more dressage showing with him, but I'm starting to think about going down some other avenues with the big guy.  Trail riding is a HUGE to-do on my list, and as soon as the weather breaks and the ground dries a bit, I'm going to start taking him out around the property on the farm to see what he thinks of being out in the open.  All of our previous trail riding experience (which isn't much, honestly) has been on cut trails, not open fields, so it's going to be tough for me to step out of my comfort zone and start pushing our boundaries.

I really like competing him, and taking him out and about - but without a trailer, I've always been limited.  I've accomplished a lot with him on the farm over the past four (almost five!!) years, and I really want to make this the year of showing him off.  Luckily, the barn I'm at now hosts a TON of clinics, shows, and events, so it won't be difficult to do some fun things.

I'm also SO excited to be back at school, because that means I'm back at work, and being back at work means I can afford to take regular lessons.  I'm going to try to take two a month minimum, and an extra one here or there when other pony or apartment bills don't drown me.  So, here's to a semester of trying new things, learning new things, and keeping Gali healthy and happy!

Kenny Davis Clinic

I spent the week before the despooking clinic in Maryland visting my sister, so when I returned, Gali had a week off and was certainly fresh.

I decided to try to clip his feathers. He's certainly got the draft genes in his lower legs and feet!  His field is rather muddy right now, and I didn't want to risk him developing scratches, plus no feathers means it's MUCH easier to apply the DMSO gel. I did my best to get the mud off of them and then went to town with my new trimmer, the Wahl Detailer.    It did a fantastic job, despite being smaller than my hand and almost silent, it cut through the thick hair and caked on dried and wet mud without a problem.  If you're looking for a small, quiet trimmer that tackles the tougher small jobs, I'd recommend this one in a heartbeat.

The two days before the clinic were light work days, and I spent a lot of time stretching Gali and massaging his muscles.  I was surprised to find how stiff his right shoulder was - his favorite stretch has always been the shoulder-down-and-out, but this week he was barely able to match half of what his left shoulder could stretch.  One of my big goals for this week is to get that flexibility back, and figure out why he's so stiff on that side.  The good news is it seems like he is finally developing a consistent soundness - it's not 100% all the time, but if he's warmed up and stretched enough, he's sound for most of my ride.  This is a huge change from before, where he'd be sound for most of his steps, but take a few odd ones here and there throughout the whole ride.  I still have to talk to my vet about Pentosan, but I'm waiting until I'm back to work this week, and my paychecks start to come in.

The despooking clinic went pretty well, but it seemed to be more of a de-bolting clinic.  The concept was pretty basic: you aren't going to stop the horse from spooking, so learn how to control their spook, or in this case, bolt.  Kenny taught everybody a basic one-rein stop, which was the way to get the horse to turn towards the object they're afraid of, and watch the scary thing until it's not such a big deal.  The first session was spent working on the basics of a head-down command and installing the one rein stop. By the end of it, Gali was okay walking towards the big scary flapping flag, and understood the head down command.  The second session wasn’t as successful, because Kenny had a giant inflated beach ball. Gali could see the other ponies kicking the ball around from his stall, and he was panic-stricken.  I decided to do the next session in hand - because Gali is MUCH more manageable on the ground, and I'm able to think a lot more on the ground.  In a ring full of kids and horses, I felt a lot safer holding on to him in a halter.  Anyway, I got a lecture from the cowboy about how I’d be safer on him than next to him and that I should use a rope halter instead of a chain, and when he switched the horse to a rope halter, he demonstrated backing up and sidepassing in hand - which is all stuff Gali knows from the work I've done with him.  I did feel like took credit for how responsive Gali was… but Gali got over his fear of the big ball, and left much more confident than he had come in, so I consider that a victory as well. 

I don't think I would do another group de-spooking clinic again, because I don't think the individual pairs got to work on their issues, and it was a one-size-fits-all clinic, which wasn't as effective as I had expected.  I did give me some more confidence and helped me notice some things I should continue to work on.

This week is going to be entirely below freezing, so I don't think I'll do anything more than walk around enough to loosen up Gali, do some more stretching, and put him away with a lot of hay and a cozy blanket.

Book/Blog Recommendations?

I "rode" Gali on Monday and lunged him yesterday - somehow, he didn't get the memo he was supposed to be not feeling great, because all he wanted to do was canter and buck under saddle, and my lunging session was, uh, interesting...

Gali: OHMYGOD ARE WE RIDING AGAIN?
Me: No.  Walk on.
Gali: WHEEEEE
Me: Gali, that's a canter.  Stop that.
Gali: WHEEEEEEEEEEE!
Me: Ho?
Gali: K.  I can do ho.
Me: Trot... trot?
Gali: WHEEEEEEEE!

Our riding sessions are supposed to be more physical therapy than actual work, and I've been able to keep them to a working walk, stretchy walk, and short bits of stretchy trot and canter in both directions just to evaluate his soundness, but I think I might step it up a bit tomorrow and see how he reacts.  He is much more sound on the stone-dust outdoor footing, and his lameness only shows when he's counter-bending to look at something that's caught his attention.  I've been doing some research about ringbone and the best treatments seem to be shockwave and Pentosan - I think I'll give my vet a call tomorrow and see if he thinks it would be a good idea.  I feel like I just need something to get him over this last jump of off-and-on lameness.

Anyway, since I don't have much going on right now and can't really do much under saddle, I'm looking for some book recommendations!  I picked up an equine massage book and Equine Fitness with an Amazon gift card, but would love to hear your suggestions for equine health/fitness or training books.  I'm also looking to expand my blogroll, so blog suggestions would be fantastic.

First rides of the new year!

A few weeks ago, I made a post on my personal blog (a tumblr) about how not really riding has been driving me insane.  A few hours later, Dom had facebooked me and invited me to come out and ride at her farm.    I jumped at the chance, and met her and her friend Christine at the barn on the first day of the year.

We hung around the farm and got all caught up with the latest gossip,  and I got my fill of Ozzy backrubs.  Dom had a new horse coming in, but once the horse was dropped off and settled in his field, we tacked up Ozzy and JR and walked down to the outdoor arena.

Dom hopped on Ozzy first, and showed me his 'tricks'.  He oogled the jumps in the ring like he'd never seen a jump before, and tossed his head back and forth while showing off a few of his (many!) gaits.  I got to see his wariness of the mounting block - but I am hardly able to get on ponies from the ground, so we laughed at Oz as I climbed aboard from the block.

All I can really say about my ride is WOW.  He kept on pacing with me, and hey, I would've let him pace all day.  He was incredibly comfortable and had a huge stride.  His trot was ridiculous - comfortable and absolutely massive.  Gali's a big horse with a tiny stride, and I forget what it's like to ride a horse with actual movement sometimes.  Ozzy was a blast, and I was so impressed with his gaits and his brakes.  I need to teach Gali to 'ho' like Ozzy does... or, at all.

Afterwards, I hopped on JR, Dom's adorable lesson pony, to pop over a few low crossrails.  JR was so cute, but I felt huge on the (not all that little!) pony.  We trotted our first crossrail, and despite myself grabbing mane and exclaiming "That jump is HUGE!" when we first approached it, sailed over it cleanly.  I took him around once more and did the two jump line.  I cantered him into the line once more, and because I got up into my two point a stride too early, JR took a huge long spot and I landed half out of the saddle.  Ha!  That'll teach me.  We took the line once more, and I thanked the pony for forgiving me for being a mess. 

Overall, I had two fantastic rides on two great horses, and I can't wait to get myself down to that barn again to play.

Now, Saturday - oh boy.  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

Lynn sent me a text earlier in the week reminding me that I was supposed to take a dressage lesson at Nicole's with her, and so I set up our lessons for Saturday morning.  When we got to the barn, the arena was still frozen, so we grabbed breakfast and waited for the sun to get a little higher in the sky.  It was great to catch up with Nicole and the owners of Aya, the mare I was going to ride.

We got back to the farm and Lynn tacked up the mare she was riding, Greta.  Her lesson seemed to go very well, and halfway through I walked up to the barn with Aya's 10 year old owner, tacked her up swiftly, and walked her down to the ring.  I figured I'd lunge the mare while catching the end of Lynn's ride.

Now, I've ridden Aya maybe ten times.  I took a lesson on her when I was evaluating Nicole's farm for Gali, and immediately fell in love with the mare.  She reminds me SO much of Cindy, the horse I grew up riding, in that her build is identical and her hissy fits are eerily similar.  I've trail ridden her and schooled her for her owner, and she's never really put a hoof out of line, other than some head tossing and shoulder-popping.  So, when Nicole told me to lunge her before getting on, I figured it was just a standard precaution since the mare's been out of work.

I hooked up the lunge line like I usually do - through one ring of the bit, over the poll, and clipped to the outside ring, and sent the mare off at a lazy walk.  I was half paying attention to Lynn's ride when I clucked the mare into a trot, and she leaped up, kicked out, bucked, and tried to drag me down the ring.  Apparently, she wasn't used to the poll pressure and it freaked her out.  Oooohkay... mares.

After that outburst, I moved her to the round pen and we finished our lunging without incident.  However, since I've barely ridden in months, I decided to bring her into the square pen, just so I'd have walls, for the start of the lesson.

Remember growing up, when all of your trainers told you to run your stirrups up before moving the horse?  Now take a second and remember all of the times you've moved your horse with the stirrups down, and how nothing has ever happened.

Well.

I walked Aya through the gate of the square arena, which is two round pens' worth of panels arranged to fit a small dressage ring.  I guess in her outburst on the lunge, her right stirrup had fallen down, and just as I hear Nicole say "Wait-", the mare explodes forward, dragging the door and the attached panels of the ring with her.  I had no idea what happened and thought that she'd stepped through a panel, and so with dread I tried hard to calm her down, and then I heard the stirrup on the other side and heard the door unhook.  All in all, she probably dragged the ring twenty feet, and she was panting but unscathed.  I took a few deep breaths as I checked her all over, and with Nicole laughing hysterically, thanked me for providing a lesson in why you run your stirrups up to the 10 year old, who was watching me pale-faced.

I thanked the mare profoundly for not panicking, and hopped aboard.  Once I was on, I noticed that the right stirrup was bent pretty badly, but since it was a peacock iron, I felt okay enough to ride in it.  Aya was a handful, and kept trying to drag me around and break into the canter, but she kept all four hooves on the ground and didn't even bat an eye at the arena gate that had nearly eaten her.   I kept on talking about how good of a horse she was, and how steady of a mare she's becoming, when six deer leapt out from behind the ring and ran into the woods, prompting her to take off for a few strides.  Nicole was laughing again, and said that it just wasn't my day!

Despite the arena, the half-stirrup, and the deer spooking the mare, I had an awesome ride.  Honestly, any horse that lets me get up on her after I ran her through the ring, doesn't even look at the gate that chased her, and who comes back from a genuine fear-bolt in three strides, is worth her weight in gold. 

Nicole and Aya's owners invited me to come ride her whenever I'm back in town, and I am SO going to take them up on that.

Year in Review, abbreviated.

For the past week, I've been working on my "year in review" post whenever I've gotten the chance.  However, since I'm done with school until the 21st & busy travelling back and forth between home and New Brunswick to work with Gali and take care of my kittens, I've barely had time to get online.  So, I'm tabling the "year in review" post for a "year in review" bullet list:

In 2012, Gali and I:

• Took some really cool people sledding
• Moved to a barn five minutes from my house
• Started with weekly lessons for the first time in three years
• Got much better about riding outside, went on our first solo trail rides (they were short, but they count!)
• Went to our first* show: Won Intro B, Placed Intro A, Reserve Champion of the Division, Survived.
• Moved to a barn closer to Rutgers
• Survived a hurricane

In 2013, my goals are:

• Keep Gali sound, sane, happy and healthy
• Sled again!
• Participate in as many events/clinics as possible, starting with a de-spooking clinic in 2 weeks.
• Trail ride a little more, which means getting Gali okay with traffic
• Show training level with scores above 60%

Below the page jump, find some of my favorite photos from 2012...