A Week With My Horses

This past week I've been house sitting on Bainbridge so I've been able to come over everyday and either ride or spend time with my horses. It's been great! Monday and Wednesday I rode over at Barnabee and like Christmas Eve, it was really quiet. I think all of the construction work must now be done there and I'm so excited. It's making all of the difference in my riding. Ben isn't as antsy anymore and I'm able to ride him for the full 45+ minutes instead of lunging him for half of it. It's been nice to be able to have more saddle time again and be able to work on different exercises.

On Tuesday I took Hyrum for a little trail ride on Jena. We also clipped her "Santa beard" off and spruced her up a bit. Hyrum had fun making her look pretty and decided her new name should be "Butterfly Princess Pony." He's so funny! Afterwards I trimmed Ben's mane and also clipped his bridle path and throat latch. He looks very sharp now, especially when he is wet and all of his long winter coat hairs are laying down. It reminds me of how beautiful he is in the summer. Ahhhh, I can't wait!

Thursday my dad and I cleaned up all of the manure in the pasture and we took out 6 wheelbarrows full. We couldn't believe it! It rained the whole time we were working and with the ground so wet a lot of soil was mixed in with the manure, which made it really heavy. I was glad to have my dad help to push the wheelbarrow. I owe a lot to him since he cleans up the pasture each week. If I was over here more I'd do it too, but all my time on the island usually just gets spent in riding. After picking up the manure, I cleaned all my tack and organized my tack room.

What a great week it's been to be able to spend everyday with my horses. I can't wait until I am able to live closer to them and have them on my own property someday. Even if you can't ride everyday, it's still very fulfilling to be able to be in a horse's presence. They are powerful creatures and I love the special bond that we have.

Peace and Quiet

I had a great ride today! It was so peaceful! It's been over 6 months since it's been so quiet at Barnabee. I guess with it being Christmas Eve, no one else was at the barn riding this afternoon and all the construction crew must be done with their projects or just had the day off as well. It was great to be able to ride Ben for a full 45 minutes and not to have to spend half the time lungeing him. Even though he was a little resistant at first, he was quick to comply and we had a good workout doing lengthenings across the diagonals, transitions within the gaits, square turns, and leg yielding. We also worked on his canter and it's really coming along. He's really balanced to the left and is getting much better to the right as well. I'm not sure why he was having problems with the right on the lunge line the other day or even in my lesson last week, but today he was really relaxed and didn't spook at all. Thanks for the great ride Ben!

Too Bad I Can't Lunge My Kids!

When I arrived at Barnabee I decided that after my tough morning with my kids, I decided that I really didn't want to fight with my horse either, so I was sure to lunge Ben before I got on him. I lunged him for a good 20 minutes and worked on increasing and decreasing the size of the circle to get Ben to reach with his inside hind leg under his body more which in turn allows him to lift his back and carry himself in a more balance frame and strengthens his back muscles in the process. He was doing really well to the left but when we switched to the right he started bucking and jumping all over the place at the canter. I remember him doing this the last time I lunged him so I'm wondering if something must be going on in his right hind leg. Maybe he is experiencing some sort of pain so he's acting out because it hurts? I don't know. I just need to pay more attention to it and do some trail and error and then the next lesson I have with Ulla I need to be sure to bring it up with her and see if she notices anything.

After lunging I rode him for about 25 more minutes and Ben was really relaxed and preformed well for me. He collected very nicely and also stretched very well. I worked a lot on transitions within the gaits of trot and canter from collected to medium. We also did a lot of square turns which helped to engage him as well. While riding his canter in both directions was smooth so I don't know why he exploded like he did on the lunge line. Maybe he was just having a bit of fun?! Hopefully I'm just over analyzing things, since I'd hate to have give him any more time off. Two days a week of riding already seems like nothing at all, but at least it's something. And days like today, it's certainly a breath of fresh air as I'm able to take a break from the kids.

Reevaluation and Transitions

Ben was a little feisty when I rode him this afternoon. I have really started to see what a difference 2 days a week of riding vs. 3 is doing to him. Last year thought 3 wasn't enough but was glad to be able to do it, but 2 just really isn't working for him. It almost seems like a waste of time, at least as far as his training goes. There are so many days in between his rides I have to refresh everything and spend so much time in his warm-up so that he will get over his stubbornness in the beginning of each ride. Maybe I just need to lower my expectation of him, I don't know. It's just really hard because I ride to train. I want to see progress. I want to obtain a true balanced connection with him. I've had glimpses of this with him and so I know he has the potential, but it's just not going to get there with such infrequent riding. The next time I have a riding lesson, I think I am going to discuss this with my trainer and reevaluate some things.

This being said, today when I rode, I was getting frustrated and Ben's lack of progress and unwillingness to cooperate. I tried to keep calm and just keep asking him for what I wanted him to do until he submitted. Eventually he complied, but I felt like we were just fighting the whole time and that's not how I want to ride.

Once I had him working forward and willing I worked on lots and lots of transitions:

Walk - Halt - Walk - Halt.

Walk - Trot - Walk -Trot.

Trot - Canter - Trot - Canter.

Walk - Canter - Walk - Canter.

In between each transition I would only allow him to move 3-5 strides in the new gait. This kept him very alert so that he would anticipate what I was asking of him. It also allowed me to diminish my aides so at times all I would have to do was to think about the transition and it would occur. This is how a well-trained horse is supposed to preform. Horse and rider and in such great communication with each other that to an on-looker it would seem that the rider is doing nothing, but in actuality what they are doing is a culmination of many many patient days in the saddle schooling the horse to become sensitive to the aides. All of this take a great deal of time and effort on both parts. But I guess, that is what I love about riding. There is always room for improvement when aiming for perfection!

Kids vs. Horses

I was finally able to meet up with my trainer Ulla for a lesson today. It's been over a month since my last one and it was great to get some insight again. Ben was acting really scared of the east end of the arena today. Especially in the corner where Ulla usually sits, he was shying away every time we passed. A few times it was really bad and he didn't even want to approach it and I had to keep all of my aides on and not loose any contact as I passed. He jumped and shyed, bucked and kicked, twisted and bounced all over the place. Luckily I have a very good seat and stayed with him the whole time. A few times I felt like I was riding in a rodeo! But there was NO WAY I was going to let him get me off. Sorry Ben, I'm stuck to you like GLUE! It's a good thing too, because I really don't want to fall off. The last time I slipped off was about 7 years ago when I was still into jumping and I twisted my wrist in the process. That was no fun! But since then I've had a very solid record for staying in the saddle....knock on wood!

While Ben was throwing his fits today, Ulla mentioned that I needed to view him like a child throwing a tantrum. I've definitely got experience there! She said to just ignore him and keep asking him to do what I want him to do, be consistent and don't give up. Don't reward him by responding to him verbally, even if you are saying "NO!" or "STOP IT!" because he's looking for a response, even if it's a negative one. Only until he starts to relax and give you what you've been asking him to do is it okay to reward him by lightening up the aides. Ben has two ways of evading: resisting by throwing a fit or rushing. Both show that he is not willing to listen and trying to avoid what I'm asking of him.

Despite his tantrums today, we were overall successful. By the end of the lesson I had managed to keep him forward in all of the gaits and calmly move past all of the "scary" things at the end of the arena. I just have to remember when riding Ben to always be one step ahead of him, not only with my eyes and focus, but in everything that I'm asking of him. Don't just anticipate him acting out, but think about what he will be like afterwards so that I'm not sending him a tense or nervous message.

Ulla also commented that I'm lucky that I'm so patient. I had to laugh under my breath, because this seems to be an on-going battle with me. In riding I can be patient, but with my kids, sometimes I just loose it. Owning a horse requires a lot of commitment, which I love to give, but so does raising kids. It's no wonder most horse women have to choose "Kids vs. Horses." They both take a life long to raise and you have to take one step at a time. Who knew that while riding (which was supposed to be my break from my kids) that I would be learning so much more about how to be a better parent. I guess it all goes hand in hand, like it says in Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child [horse] in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

All Bundled Up

I actually stayed warm today even though it was in the upper 20s while I rode! On top, I wore a ribbed turtleneck sweater, fleece vest and a fleece jacket. On the bottom I wore long under ware under my breeches and wool socks in my riding boots. What really kept me toasty though was Ben's fleece quarter sheet. Normally I would take it off while riding him, but being so cold out, I didn't want him to catch a chill either. So I kept it on him and draped it over my legs and it was great! This is about what I looked like when riding, only this photo was taken out of the Dover catalog. At least we don't have snow on the ground yet!

This is the best invention for winter riding!

A Real Dressage Test - Galloping at Gazzam

This morning while I was on the ferry my riding instructor, Ulla, called me to cancel my lesson. Apparently they are still doing heavy construction over at Barnabee and working really close to the indoor arena and it's freaking out all of the horses. Plus since it's been in the uppers teens at night lately the ground is frozen and so the outdoor arena wouldn't have been an option. I was sad to have my lesson cancelled since it's been about a month since my last one, but if we would have had one I'm sure it would have been a disaster. Probably a bit like this:

A Real Dressage Test

BASIC LEVEL


A Enter extraordinary serpentine.

X Halt.

G Try again.

C Freeze in horror at Judge's stand. Take opportunity to salute hurriedly.

C Track to left in counterflexed bolt.

E Irregular polyhedron left, 20 meters, plus or minus 5 meters.

FXH Change rein unextended jig.

H Canter, or counter canter, or crosscanter.

M-F Working out-of-hand gallop.

A Just try to walk.

KXM Tesseract, stopping at each corner to rub nose on foreleg.

C Down center line, working trot bouncing.

X Pulley rein. Halt. Salute, exhale.

Leave arena in free walk, loose language under breath.

Sadly, all equestrians have probably all been there. But that is what bonds us together, right?

So, to make up for the cancelled lesson and to get out and enjoy a bit of sun despite the freezing temps. I took Ben on a trail ride up to Gazzam Lake. Well, maybe I should say I took Ben for a walk, since I had to walk him 1/3 of the way before he would let me get on him. Ever since he encountered a coyote on the trail last year, he's been really goofy and resistant to trail riding. He thinks something is going to pop out of the woods at him and in order for him to be confident enough to move forward I have to hand walk him. I feel a little silly doing so, since I feel like I'm walking a 1100 lb. dog that is a complete scaredy cat. But luckily about 1/3 of the way into the trail he's calm enough and I can convince him to move forward and then we have lots of fun galloping through the trails. All the extra adrenaline is actually nice, since it allows him to carry his back higher and arch his neck. Even though we weren't in the dressage arena today, we practiced lots of shoulder-in, haunches-in and half-pass along the trail. The perfect combination, DRESSAGE ON TRAILS!!