Search the Clouds

The weather was a little crazy while I was riding this afternoon. All of a sudden a huge black cloud came sweeping across the sky and dumped rain. It was SO LOUD pounding on the metal roof of the indoor arena that it startled both Ben and I. Luckily I had already been riding for 35 minutes and had achieved the goal I had set out for today so I decided I should get off before I got bucked off and let Ben free lunge around the arena. He had a great time kicking up his heels and ripping around the arena at top speed without his saddle and bridle on. It was great to be able to watch him run around free and really made me appreciate what a beautiful animal he is and how thankful I am to own a horse again. I look forward to the time each week that I get to spend with him. It's such a blessing to be back on track with what I LOVE to do!

More paintings by Kim McElroy can be viewed at Spirit of Horse.

Too Much vs. Too Little Energy

Today I was supposed to be riding in this, but due to being sick all last week I didn't have time to prepare for it. I was very sad to miss it, especially since Henrik isn't coming back from Denmark again until March. Hopefully by then I'll be super prepared and Ben will be in better shape than he is now. On the bright side at least I saved myself $200 by not attending!

So instead I took Ben out for a ride to Barnabee today. After 10 days of no work, he was full of energy and I on the other hand am just getting mine back. There were a bunch of construction workers there today driving around in their tractors and making all sorts of noise. A couple loads of gravel and heavy rock were also delivered, which added to the craziness. Under these conditions I figured it was best to not ride Ben the full 45 minutes. Honestly I didn't know if my cough would have even allowed me too anyway. So I lunged him for 20 minutes (10 in each direction) and let him get all of his bucks and silliness out. Then I hooked him up to some side reins for 5 minutes to see how he would react. I have never used them with him before and he looked really sad wearing them, so that didn't last long. For the last 20 minutes I got on him and rode. That proved to be just the right amount of time. Since he was already a little tired at that point he was very easy to handle and performed really well for me. I didn't ask him to do anything too hard or complicated though. Mostly we just worked on balance, stretching, bending and lots of changes of direction.

Warm-up at the Canter

Today I had a riding lesson and since I hadn't ridden Ben since last Wednesday he was very antsy and it was hard to get him to concentrate and relax. Ulla thought it was best to warm him up at the canter and that really seemed to work well. At first we just cantered along the track of the arena a couple of times and then we worked on a figure 8 and changing leads at X through the trot. After he was relaxed with that we changed it up a bit so one of the 20 meter circles was at the trot and then after the change of lead at X we'd start cantering in the other direction. This helped a lot and really got him to concentrate and move forward. We also worked on the large figure 8 the full length of the arena and crossing the long diagonals. At times it was a bit hard since the sun started to break through the clouds and was practically blinding me when I was riding from A to C along the long side.

Ulla also had be work on creating Ben's forward power and keeping it consistent with no resistance by lightly tapping or tickling him with the whip until he would give. At first he was a little annoyed by the whip, but once he gave up the resistance I stopped with the tickling as a reward. This really worked and for the last 10 minutes of the lesson Ben was performing at his full potential. It was a little frustrating to take almost the full lesson to get that far, but I guess I should expect much when he had the last 4 days off, there was a rain storm for the first half of the lesson and I had just given him his Adequan injection while tacking up. Hopefully I'll be able to find someone else to be able to help me ride him more consistently so I don't have to deal with this attitude of his every time I ride.

Ben's New Hair Cut

This afternoon I went over the the island and gave Ben a trace clip. It was the first time I've done one like this before since in the past I've just body clipped horses and that's so much easier since everything is clipped except the legs. I opted for a medium trace clip since I figured the high trace clip would have left him too naked and cold.

Ben was much better than I expected he'd be while I was clipping him. At first he was a little ticklish along his legs and belly, but after a few minutes he settled down and stood very nicely for me. Note, the clippers I borrowed from Ulla are super loud! Definitely NOT to be sure on Jena, since she is even afraid of my quiet ones.

BEFORE

AFTER

The high trace clip would have gone all the way up to the edge of the saddle pad and half of his neck would have been clipped as well.

Hopefully with this new hair cut it will help Ben from over heating while I'm riding him and allow him to cool out faster afterwards.

Back to Back Ds

When I rode Ben this afternoon I worked on a new exercise with him to allow him to collect more and work on his hind end engagement. I rode him on a 20 meter circle at the trot and then turned it in to back to back Ds. This seemed to work really well for him since it gave time while on the center line to be straight before we had to collect and make a turn toward the wall. This allowed more collection on the outside aides and while turning I incorporated swing turns to engage his hind even further. He was very willing throughout this whole exercise.

Afterwards, I worked on his lateral work by leg yielding down the center line toward the wall. If he started to resist at all I would stop and either make him do a turn on the forehand or back up for a few steps until he was once again engaged.

Heather Blitz and Arabella

I was reading the article, "Heather's Toolbox" by Sandra Adair Daugirda, in my magazine "Dressage Today" and here are a few things I want to remember from it so I can incorporate them into my training.

"Consider the balance, coordination, muscle tone, energy and symmetry of the rider and the horse. Add how they read and react to each other, and it becomes clear why dressage is not just a sport but an art."



(Here Blitz rides Arabella, a Danish Warmblood mare by Rambo that she trained from the beginning to Grand Prix. They were a reserve pair for the 2006 World Equestrian Games.)

"Blitz is an elegant rider. At six feet tall, she had "plugged-in" seat bones, a "vertically stacked" torso and rotated thighs that are well-connected to the saddle. In the saddle, she constantly works to lower her center of gravity and access her core strength. To help riders find this same stability, Blitz gives us a peek into her biomechanical toolbox...

• Be Aware
• Create an Authoritative Bumprint
• Train the Horse to React
• Find the Neutral State
• Visualize a Heavy Ball
• Imagine a Thought Bubble
• Be Clear
• Add Isometrics
• Stay True to Yourself

I'll expand more later...

Lame or Not Lame? That is the Question!

On Saturday when I came over to ride Ben, he was acting very strange. While I was brushing the mud off his blanket he started to lift his right hind leg and hold it in the air. After I removed his blanket, I felt him all over his back leg and didn't find any areas of heat or swelling. However, when I touched him around his stifle and the inside of his thigh he would again lift his leg out to the side and shake a little as he held it. This really worried me and I almost wished I had found a wound that I could pin point it to.

I decided to try lungeing him to see if his gait at the trot and canter were affected it was hard to tell. The ground in his pasture isn't level and he was full of energy so he was really jumpy. But at least he didn't seem to be favoring it much while moving.

I'm thinking it may have been caused on Wednesday when I free lunged him after my ride. There was a lot of tractor work going on at Barnabee and they were fixing their retention pond and Ben didn't like all of the noise, so he was a little nervous. Had I not had such a solid seat I probably would have fallen off at least 4 times since he was so jumpy, especially at the canter. Anyhow, after riding for a 1/2 hour I decided I would get off and let him run around the arena. He had a great time doing this and at times was in a full gallop before he had to break and turn a sharp corner.

So he could have strained a muscle then, or possibly it was on Thursday morning when my Dad saw some coyotes near the pasture. The horses were pretty nervous and running around snorting, so he could have easily slipped and stained it then as well. Either way, something wasn't right. Since I didn't have any bute I just gave him the day off and hoped that it would heal with time.

Lucikly it did and when I came to ride him today, he showed no signs of soreness. We had a great ride today! At first I lunged him a just to make sure he was 100% sound. After 10 minutes I got on and we worked on suppling him through the serpentine and getting him to establish the correct bend and be balanced as he changed directions without lifting his head. Then we worked on his canter on a figure 8, changing leads in the middle and also leg yielding down the quarter line at the canter. He did really well during both of these exercises. In the past he has had some issues with leg yielding at the canter to the right and would break out and bolt, which lead me to thinking that something must be pinching him or hurting him, but today he showed no signs of this and was very willing. We also worked on swing turns at the trot and that really helped him to collect more and engage his inside hind leg. All and all it was a great ride!

Old McDonald had a Horse?

For those of you who think that a horse was one of the animals living on Old McDonald's farm, think again. Obviously you have not met my horse. Ben has to be one of the strangest horses I've met. He is chicken when it comes to chickens, thinks a cow laying in a field chewing it's cud is going to attack him and believes that a sheep's sole purpose is to give him nightmares. I wish I knew more about Ben's history. In the past 15 months that I've owned him, I've discovered that he must have only ever lived on a equine farm where the only other animal present besides horses are dogs and cats. Luckily, I'm not a fan of any of Old McDonald's other farm animals, so some day when I'm able to build a house on my property it'll be horses only for me.

These paintings by Kim McElroy remind me of what Ben looks like when he is in the presence of said farm animals. Keep in mind that every time I ride him I have to hand walk him 1.5 miles down the road to the indoor arena at Barnabee. Everyday we pass chickens, cows and sheep. You'd think that over the past year he would have gotten used to them. Ha! Even when he can't see them he expects them to pop out of the bushes and scare him. It's as if he is looking to be scared. Such a funny horse!

New Blog

I've had this idea for quite a while to start a blog about my riding adventures. I'm not sure how many of my followers will really be interested in reading this, but it's mostly for me anyway. I hope to have it serve a a place where I can journal about my rides and the process I'm going through in training my horse. That way I can look back and see our successes and also what exercises we've worked on and how effective they were. So here it goes! Enjoy!