I think I'll be moving Bear out to the boarding place this weekend. I have one last check to do, and some paperwork before hauling him over there. It will be nice to have an arena to work in finally. So since I've had some holiday time off work we spent Tuesday taking one last ride out on the back roads. I started out riding the old mare and ponying Bear and then switch horses for the ride back. He's such a good boy! Even though I haven't been on him for ages and he was super hyper getting out of the wet mud pasture for the first time in weeks, he was still a good boy once we got going.
We also tried out the new Easyboot Epics I bought. Once we got a replacement for the one he broke playing in the pasture, I've been pleased. He walked perfectly comfortably on the gravels and rock roads, and since I was riding next to him, I could really watch his foot fall in them. So far I think they're great! I just couldn't get used to the muffled thwap-thwap noise that his boots made instead of the tap-tap of his hard hooves.
Its a little bittersweet to be leaving. The old mare will be alone again and she's been such a trooper helping to train Bear. I just finally got her tuned up and into shape again, and although I'd love to use her with this new project horse, she's not going to be convenient to get to. We'll see.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
To board or not to board
So I have been toying the idea of moving Bear for a long time. He is perfectly happy living in pasture with the old mare, but I want to have access to an arena without having to trailer out. It’s worked great so far to have him at my parents, but I think they're getting sick of having another horse to bother with. He has kept the old mare company which was the idea in the first place. Then I was trailering out to take that colt starting class in the indoor arena once a week all last
year and it was only a few miles from the house. While that was great experience for him to load up and trailer somewhere every week, I’m getting sick of always hitching and unhitching the trailer EVERY time I want to get some training done with him! The pasture is too wet to ride in most of the winter, so that means the only option is to take a walk down the back roads, but I’m so bored with them now, and I can only walk. Good for stretching the legs, but not much of a workout.
I had moved to a place where I could board Bear on the property, but decided in the end not to stay there since I changed jobs and the commute was awful! (Plus the trails that seemed close weren’t accessible unless I hauled him out the mile down the busy highway, and
the arena sucked!) So what seemed perfect to start with, didn’t work out. Now I’m looking at boarding for the first time in my life in order to have access to all the stuff that I want to train and ride.
I think I’ve found the place. It’s a good price. In fact it’s such a good price that I’m still looking for the catch! I called to ask some questions today and the guy seems really nice, which is a huge relief, because I really thought that would be the first big deal breaker. Its
pretty rural area, and out the opposite direction of civilization, so it is cheaper than what I’m used to seeing around the area I currently have Bear. But the place is only about 8 miles from where I’ll be living this spring. So I think that is manageable to drive out to see the horse, especially if it means I can go out in the evenings after work and know that I can ride after dark. (Only catch there would be finding him in a 15 acres pasture after dark! But right now he comes
when he’s called; I’ll just have to REALLY positively reinforce him coming to my whistle!)
The place seems perfect. I’ve always heard horror stories about trying barn after barn before finding the right place. I’m not taking a trainer into account, since I can’t afford to board at the caliber of place where I plan to take lessons. So what I want is a good safe facility, without drama, just good care. I’ve heard those are hard to find, and I’m looking for all the problems in advance. The guy mentioned they’ve only been there 4 months and have done a ton of
improvements, with more to come. I hope he’s not biting off more than he can chew. I googled the address and found that it had been for lease, so they must not own the property, but I can’t see that being a huge problem. There were also two other training business names that came up for that address, so the property seems to have a high turnover rate. Should I be wondering why?
Here are the good things that are drawing me to the place:
-It’s a 93 acres property, so plenty of riding on site, plus 5,000
acres across the street that is accessible for riding!
-There is a hunter/jumper barn 3 miles down the road, and a dressage trainer next door.
-Big outdoor arena, and they should be getting all weather footing and jumps.
-Indoor arena (He says its small, but I get the impression its at least the size of a full dressage court. It has lights and rain coverage, so anything bigger than a round pen will do!
-They have pasture board. I really think part of Bear’s easy going personality is that he gets to run off his excessive energy. I think he would be bored and irritable in a stall.
-They offer blanketing service even for horses in pasture for just a little bit more.
-They have no time limits for riding!!! I would love to be able to stay out there late to ride after work, and its nice to not have someone giving you stink eye for not leaving by 9pm!
-They live on the property, and one of them is there pretty much all the time. Plus they have a lesson and training business so I can feel better that they actually know what they’re doing with horses.
Negatives:
-It is WAY far out there. Its close to home, but nothing else. It will never be just on the way, and it will always be the opposite direction when I’m heading out.
-If I want to be more selective about a trainer, it could be a 45 minute to an hour haul.
-It is in an area that I’m totally unfamiliar with, so all my favorite trails will be too far away, and I’ll have to find new places to explore. That and I’ll be hard pressed to find a hill!
-A huge pasture like that with so many horses could end up a being a problem. Right now I think Bear would really like it. He loves interaction with other horses, and this would give him the room to really run. He might turn out to be the pasture pest though.
-It’s a lease, and they sound like they are still just getting started up with their business. If they flop, I’ll be looking for another home for the beast. It’s not a huge deal since I always have my parent’s property to fall back on, and I’ll be looking at moving him again in two years anyways, so it’s not a permanent move.
I’ll be going to see it sometime soon, so I’ll get a better idea then. I’m really excited about it though! We’ll see how I feel after seeing it!
year and it was only a few miles from the house. While that was great experience for him to load up and trailer somewhere every week, I’m getting sick of always hitching and unhitching the trailer EVERY time I want to get some training done with him! The pasture is too wet to ride in most of the winter, so that means the only option is to take a walk down the back roads, but I’m so bored with them now, and I can only walk. Good for stretching the legs, but not much of a workout.
I had moved to a place where I could board Bear on the property, but decided in the end not to stay there since I changed jobs and the commute was awful! (Plus the trails that seemed close weren’t accessible unless I hauled him out the mile down the busy highway, and
the arena sucked!) So what seemed perfect to start with, didn’t work out. Now I’m looking at boarding for the first time in my life in order to have access to all the stuff that I want to train and ride.
I think I’ve found the place. It’s a good price. In fact it’s such a good price that I’m still looking for the catch! I called to ask some questions today and the guy seems really nice, which is a huge relief, because I really thought that would be the first big deal breaker. Its
pretty rural area, and out the opposite direction of civilization, so it is cheaper than what I’m used to seeing around the area I currently have Bear. But the place is only about 8 miles from where I’ll be living this spring. So I think that is manageable to drive out to see the horse, especially if it means I can go out in the evenings after work and know that I can ride after dark. (Only catch there would be finding him in a 15 acres pasture after dark! But right now he comes
when he’s called; I’ll just have to REALLY positively reinforce him coming to my whistle!)
The place seems perfect. I’ve always heard horror stories about trying barn after barn before finding the right place. I’m not taking a trainer into account, since I can’t afford to board at the caliber of place where I plan to take lessons. So what I want is a good safe facility, without drama, just good care. I’ve heard those are hard to find, and I’m looking for all the problems in advance. The guy mentioned they’ve only been there 4 months and have done a ton of
improvements, with more to come. I hope he’s not biting off more than he can chew. I googled the address and found that it had been for lease, so they must not own the property, but I can’t see that being a huge problem. There were also two other training business names that came up for that address, so the property seems to have a high turnover rate. Should I be wondering why?
Here are the good things that are drawing me to the place:
-It’s a 93 acres property, so plenty of riding on site, plus 5,000
acres across the street that is accessible for riding!
-There is a hunter/jumper barn 3 miles down the road, and a dressage trainer next door.
-Big outdoor arena, and they should be getting all weather footing and jumps.
-Indoor arena (He says its small, but I get the impression its at least the size of a full dressage court. It has lights and rain coverage, so anything bigger than a round pen will do!
-They have pasture board. I really think part of Bear’s easy going personality is that he gets to run off his excessive energy. I think he would be bored and irritable in a stall.
-They offer blanketing service even for horses in pasture for just a little bit more.
-They have no time limits for riding!!! I would love to be able to stay out there late to ride after work, and its nice to not have someone giving you stink eye for not leaving by 9pm!
-They live on the property, and one of them is there pretty much all the time. Plus they have a lesson and training business so I can feel better that they actually know what they’re doing with horses.
Negatives:
-It is WAY far out there. Its close to home, but nothing else. It will never be just on the way, and it will always be the opposite direction when I’m heading out.
-If I want to be more selective about a trainer, it could be a 45 minute to an hour haul.
-It is in an area that I’m totally unfamiliar with, so all my favorite trails will be too far away, and I’ll have to find new places to explore. That and I’ll be hard pressed to find a hill!
-A huge pasture like that with so many horses could end up a being a problem. Right now I think Bear would really like it. He loves interaction with other horses, and this would give him the room to really run. He might turn out to be the pasture pest though.
-It’s a lease, and they sound like they are still just getting started up with their business. If they flop, I’ll be looking for another home for the beast. It’s not a huge deal since I always have my parent’s property to fall back on, and I’ll be looking at moving him again in two years anyways, so it’s not a permanent move.
I’ll be going to see it sometime soon, so I’ll get a better idea then. I’m really excited about it though! We’ll see how I feel after seeing it!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Lot's of fun stuff, not much riding...
The weather is making life tough... so much for California's mild winters.
Just after the last post, I did a 5k run the weekend before Thanksgiving and I probably shouldn't have because I felt like I was getting a cold and it was FREEZING out there! Alright, maybe just above freezing, but way colder weather than I chose to run in. I did it anyway, and ended up with laryngitis, I was miserable with no voice for the trip to Portland for Thanksgiving, and then I got a sinus infection in time to have an extraordinarily painful flight home. All in all I spent about two weeks feeling too sick to do much with the horses.
Its been a frustrating week since then too. On Saturday I had the shoer come out and trim Bear's feet and he talked me into buying boots for his front feet since I don't really want to put shoes on him.
They're the type that are kind of like sneakers for horses that you can just put on for trail riding. I'd been thinking about it for awhile, and these are used a bunch in endurance right now, so I figure they must be good. So he tells me to just put the boots on and just turn him out to let him get used to them. I'd like to tell everyone now, if you've just spent 90 bucks on boots, don't let your horse play in them! He ran around a bit, and it seemed fine, and the shoer says, "See what I told you, there great!" And I figure if he can be bucking and spinning in the pasture, they MUST really be great. So I pay him, he leaves and then I go out to take off the boots only to realize that I have no idea how to get them off! The shoer kept taking them off and it seemed easy, but I hadn't tried it myself, and nothing seemed to be working for me! They are the kind that are really form fitted to the hoof, so they are tight and sort of suction on. I think I just don't have the strength in my hands like he did. So I go in to think about it and look for a screw driver (he mentioned you could kind of pry them off) and Bear gets to running around again. So I go out, and sure enough, he rips one boot off while I'm out there, but the leg wrap that goes around the ankle is still attached! So he's continuing to gallop around with his boot dragging off his ankle. UGH! I get him stopped, and undo the Velcro wrap part and he's torn the upper Velcro part halfway off the boot! It didn't last 30 minutes! So I'm frustrated because I had wanted to ride down the gravel road with them on Sunday to test them out, AND now Bear has ONE boot on, and I still haven't figured out how to get it off! I finally pried it off with a screwdriver, called the shoer (who came back and fixed the boot the next day), and hoped the drama was done for the day, but no. I came back out to say a quick hello to him that afternoon, and found his nose looking like this...
I swear it looked nastier in person! I was all freaked out by it! Only thing can thing I can think is that he got it caught on the fence some how. Maybe harassing the dog? He likes to nip at the German Shepard through the fence and make her crazy.
Then Sunday the saga continued. It started with the weather reports saying it would snow that night. It never snows here, so we hardly believed it, but I pulled a blanket out for the old mare anyway. Normally we blanket Bear and just let the old mare grow a heavy winter coat. They get put in a pen with shelter anytime it rains, and its usually 30 degrees at the worst during the winter, so she's fine. Since the reports said 20's and snow, we figured we better be prepared. So Sunday morning I pull out an old blanket to try on her. Now Bear wears a blanket all winter long, and never had an issue with the blanket going on for the first time. But the moment he turned around and saw that the bay mare was now a light blue color and made a rustling noise when she walked, his head shot up in the air and he started prancing and snorting around. They were separated while eating, so he couldn't get up close to smell her. So he ends up getting the old mare worked up with his spooking, and she started running around, which spooked him more! So he ends up slipping and falling on his side! Stupid horse! So I let the old mare down to the pasture with him, he sniffs her and keeps harassing her like she's a new horse now that she has a blanket on, and she finally gets fed up and just lays into him! Double barrel kick to the ribs! So I take off both blankets and get him to trot around to see if he had hurt himself. He looked a little stiff, and how wouldn't? But not lame. So I got little bits of video since my camera was still in my coat pocket. Silly boy just awkwardly hops over the logs in the way! Turn down the sound since I'm not tech savvy enough to mute it! (The camera clicks weirdly.)
REALLY short and not too interesting, I know. He was more interested in me holding the camera, and kept coming back to check it out. You can see he needs a younger playmate since the old mare doesn't buy into the need to gallop around the pasture 10 times a day despite his best efforts to get her to join in! Then they second one is a tiny bit more interesting... a fun half spin and one more pass over the logs! And if you didn't turn your sound off for the first time, you'll get more weird clicking AND me yelling at the dog!
So Sunday I couldn't ride in the morning as planned since we were waiting on the boot to be repaired, but I did sneak in a short ride Sunday afternoon to try them out. They're all fixed, and we did a walk, trot, canter test under saddle in the pasture, and they seem great! I can't wait to hit the rocky trails I've been avoiding! AND I figured out I can pry them off really easily with a hoof pick, so I'm happier.
Then Monday morning, despite all our doubts, we woke up to snow! My corgi Piper LOVED it. She ran around eating it! So cute that I couldn't resist putting a picture up! It wasn't much snow,
but the surprising part was that the snow stuck for the next couple days! We never have snow! My boyfriends house got 8 inches and it stuck until Thursday! So between the snow during the week and the solid downpour of rain this weekend, Bear hasn't done anything, he hasn't even had his blanket off during the day. So he'll be glad for a break in the rain Monday when he'll get his blanket off and get back out to the pasture. Then hopefully we'll get out to do something this coming weekend. Like try to boots out again!
Just after the last post, I did a 5k run the weekend before Thanksgiving and I probably shouldn't have because I felt like I was getting a cold and it was FREEZING out there! Alright, maybe just above freezing, but way colder weather than I chose to run in. I did it anyway, and ended up with laryngitis, I was miserable with no voice for the trip to Portland for Thanksgiving, and then I got a sinus infection in time to have an extraordinarily painful flight home. All in all I spent about two weeks feeling too sick to do much with the horses.
Its been a frustrating week since then too. On Saturday I had the shoer come out and trim Bear's feet and he talked me into buying boots for his front feet since I don't really want to put shoes on him.
They're the type that are kind of like sneakers for horses that you can just put on for trail riding. I'd been thinking about it for awhile, and these are used a bunch in endurance right now, so I figure they must be good. So he tells me to just put the boots on and just turn him out to let him get used to them. I'd like to tell everyone now, if you've just spent 90 bucks on boots, don't let your horse play in them! He ran around a bit, and it seemed fine, and the shoer says, "See what I told you, there great!" And I figure if he can be bucking and spinning in the pasture, they MUST really be great. So I pay him, he leaves and then I go out to take off the boots only to realize that I have no idea how to get them off! The shoer kept taking them off and it seemed easy, but I hadn't tried it myself, and nothing seemed to be working for me! They are the kind that are really form fitted to the hoof, so they are tight and sort of suction on. I think I just don't have the strength in my hands like he did. So I go in to think about it and look for a screw driver (he mentioned you could kind of pry them off) and Bear gets to running around again. So I go out, and sure enough, he rips one boot off while I'm out there, but the leg wrap that goes around the ankle is still attached! So he's continuing to gallop around with his boot dragging off his ankle. UGH! I get him stopped, and undo the Velcro wrap part and he's torn the upper Velcro part halfway off the boot! It didn't last 30 minutes! So I'm frustrated because I had wanted to ride down the gravel road with them on Sunday to test them out, AND now Bear has ONE boot on, and I still haven't figured out how to get it off! I finally pried it off with a screwdriver, called the shoer (who came back and fixed the boot the next day), and hoped the drama was done for the day, but no. I came back out to say a quick hello to him that afternoon, and found his nose looking like this...
I swear it looked nastier in person! I was all freaked out by it! Only thing can thing I can think is that he got it caught on the fence some how. Maybe harassing the dog? He likes to nip at the German Shepard through the fence and make her crazy.
Then Sunday the saga continued. It started with the weather reports saying it would snow that night. It never snows here, so we hardly believed it, but I pulled a blanket out for the old mare anyway. Normally we blanket Bear and just let the old mare grow a heavy winter coat. They get put in a pen with shelter anytime it rains, and its usually 30 degrees at the worst during the winter, so she's fine. Since the reports said 20's and snow, we figured we better be prepared. So Sunday morning I pull out an old blanket to try on her. Now Bear wears a blanket all winter long, and never had an issue with the blanket going on for the first time. But the moment he turned around and saw that the bay mare was now a light blue color and made a rustling noise when she walked, his head shot up in the air and he started prancing and snorting around. They were separated while eating, so he couldn't get up close to smell her. So he ends up getting the old mare worked up with his spooking, and she started running around, which spooked him more! So he ends up slipping and falling on his side! Stupid horse! So I let the old mare down to the pasture with him, he sniffs her and keeps harassing her like she's a new horse now that she has a blanket on, and she finally gets fed up and just lays into him! Double barrel kick to the ribs! So I take off both blankets and get him to trot around to see if he had hurt himself. He looked a little stiff, and how wouldn't? But not lame. So I got little bits of video since my camera was still in my coat pocket. Silly boy just awkwardly hops over the logs in the way! Turn down the sound since I'm not tech savvy enough to mute it! (The camera clicks weirdly.)
REALLY short and not too interesting, I know. He was more interested in me holding the camera, and kept coming back to check it out. You can see he needs a younger playmate since the old mare doesn't buy into the need to gallop around the pasture 10 times a day despite his best efforts to get her to join in! Then they second one is a tiny bit more interesting... a fun half spin and one more pass over the logs! And if you didn't turn your sound off for the first time, you'll get more weird clicking AND me yelling at the dog!
So Sunday I couldn't ride in the morning as planned since we were waiting on the boot to be repaired, but I did sneak in a short ride Sunday afternoon to try them out. They're all fixed, and we did a walk, trot, canter test under saddle in the pasture, and they seem great! I can't wait to hit the rocky trails I've been avoiding! AND I figured out I can pry them off really easily with a hoof pick, so I'm happier.
Then Monday morning, despite all our doubts, we woke up to snow! My corgi Piper LOVED it. She ran around eating it! So cute that I couldn't resist putting a picture up! It wasn't much snow,
but the surprising part was that the snow stuck for the next couple days! We never have snow! My boyfriends house got 8 inches and it stuck until Thursday! So between the snow during the week and the solid downpour of rain this weekend, Bear hasn't done anything, he hasn't even had his blanket off during the day. So he'll be glad for a break in the rain Monday when he'll get his blanket off and get back out to the pasture. Then hopefully we'll get out to do something this coming weekend. Like try to boots out again!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Too much update all at once...
Only a month ago I had nothing to report, and now I have so much to say but no time to actually post!
Bear is awesome! We’ve had a couple of huge events pass, first time hauling out alone to a new (and spooky) arena, first time with a different person on his back, and that person was my absolute beginner rider boyfriend! He’s been a super good sport with everything! Bear, I mean, although the BF is great with this all too, Bear is the one that is surprising me with his patience and good-natured attitude.
First of all, I’ve figured out that although I can’t drag myself out of bed in the mornings to run, I can convince myself to get up and ride. So the last two weeks I’ve dragged myself out before light to hop on for a little bit at least twice during the week. We have a short and sweet training session, and call it good. A half hour on his back is better than nothing at all! I’ve also been lunging him over the trot poles, and a little log in the pasture. It’s kind of a precursor to starting jumping later next spring, but mainly because it’ll help strengthen his body since I don’t have the time to do long conditioning rides. I also hoped on bareback a couple times, mainly to make the half-hour more of a work out for me, but also to save time saddling. We are pretty much just walking though, we are not ready to do much else bareback yet, so I take the time to practice turns and circles.
So two weeks ago, I hauled him out to an arena that offers a monthly haul-in fee to use the facility. It’s a huge indoor arena (so I can ride when it rains), a dressage court, and a smaller warm-up arena with some jumps. It’s not far, and it will be very useful when its too wet to ride in the pasture and I’m forced to haul out just to have anywhere to move faster than a walk. So we were just trying it out to see. We were there alone, it was way past dark, and a totally new place, so Bear was high as a kite to start out. I figured he would be, so we just worked through it. The indoor arena has stall on both sides, one side the open stall fronts face into the arena across and isle, but on the other side it’s the solid backs of stalls that make up the wall. That wall also has the huge full wall mirrors on a quarter of the length. Bear had never seen anything like this, and coupled with the fact that he could hear and smell horses right behind the mirror while seeing his reflection in it made for some pretty humorous reactions! We lunged for a good half hour since it was cold and I wanted to give him some good walk warm up time, and THEN get his kicks out, plus we haven’t have a chance to lunge for awhile, so its still good to work on strengthening his canter in good footing like that. By the time I got on he was happy and relaxed, but pretty hot from lunging (mainly from the prancing caused by the mirror) so we did mostly walk work, mixed with only short spurts of trotting, to dry him off. He was great. Plus by the end he LOVED the mirror, he didn’t want to leave it! He was like a parrot gazing into the mirror. That’s the great thing about him, he is way more curious than he is spooky.
Then last Sunday, I took Bear and the old mare out to the easy trails for the much anticipated “Boyfriend’s First Ride”! I taught him how to groom and tack up, and then how to get on the old mare, and off safely, then finally put him on Bear! Yikes! He is an absolute beginner, one time on a guided trail ride kind of rider, so I had no idea what to expect. He is, however, very athletic, and naturally good at everything he does! (Although I’m super jealous as well, the fact that he’s turning out to be a natural rider makes my life of teaching him on a 3 ½ year old horse a LOT easier.) We started out just ponying him off the old mare, and worked on lots of exercises in the saddle. Then we jogged a little since I can keep Bear really collected next to the old mare, then even moved out to a nice trot to teach the BF to post! They both did amazingly well. Bear didn’t mind at all having a newbie on his back. They were both so relaxed and comfortable, that I let Bear off the lead and let the BF learn to turn and stop him. We worked on some small circles out in a grassy clearing, and taught him out to back. I couldn’t believe Bear was so calm and patient, he’s clearly going to be a great match for the beginner BF, which is great because it will allow me to ride another green training project later on without having to worry about the two of them. I was SO proud of Bear, all the work I’ve done on him totally showed.
Then Saturday we tried a lunge line lesson. Bear lunges really well, but he’s a bit out of practice since I don’t really do much lunging in the uneven pasture, more just trotting him over poles with walking the other (downhill) half the circle. So I lunged him to warm up, and had the BF learn to lunge a little too. Then he hopped on Bear and off we go! I really need to think of good exercises for the rider while lunging, I know I’ve done a ton, but darned if I can remember them now! We were mainly working on him learning to post the trot anyway. Lots of “Stand up in the stirrups, and let all your weight sink down into your heels… Good! Now stay that way!” He was great, and Bear did even better, nice and calm. He broke into a canter once, but he smoothly came back down. Over all it was a great learning experience for them both. Plus it was a huge work out for Bear to trot circles with the weight of the rider in the deep sand.
So he got the day off Sunday, while I worked on setting up some tiny cross country jumps and poles out in the pasture. Some for cantering over, and some for trying some trail stuff: side passing and the like. I even constructed a sort of bridge! The pasture is full of stuff to keep the training fresh and interesting. The funny thing is that the poles are in the way when Bear gets to running around and playing, so mainly he is jumping things while running around! By the time we get to actually riding over them he’ll have jumped everything out there a hundred times! Its fun to see him play, he’s so athletic the way he changes lead and turns so easily; I really think he’ll make a super fun jumper.
My horse is awesome!
Bear is awesome! We’ve had a couple of huge events pass, first time hauling out alone to a new (and spooky) arena, first time with a different person on his back, and that person was my absolute beginner rider boyfriend! He’s been a super good sport with everything! Bear, I mean, although the BF is great with this all too, Bear is the one that is surprising me with his patience and good-natured attitude.
First of all, I’ve figured out that although I can’t drag myself out of bed in the mornings to run, I can convince myself to get up and ride. So the last two weeks I’ve dragged myself out before light to hop on for a little bit at least twice during the week. We have a short and sweet training session, and call it good. A half hour on his back is better than nothing at all! I’ve also been lunging him over the trot poles, and a little log in the pasture. It’s kind of a precursor to starting jumping later next spring, but mainly because it’ll help strengthen his body since I don’t have the time to do long conditioning rides. I also hoped on bareback a couple times, mainly to make the half-hour more of a work out for me, but also to save time saddling. We are pretty much just walking though, we are not ready to do much else bareback yet, so I take the time to practice turns and circles.
So two weeks ago, I hauled him out to an arena that offers a monthly haul-in fee to use the facility. It’s a huge indoor arena (so I can ride when it rains), a dressage court, and a smaller warm-up arena with some jumps. It’s not far, and it will be very useful when its too wet to ride in the pasture and I’m forced to haul out just to have anywhere to move faster than a walk. So we were just trying it out to see. We were there alone, it was way past dark, and a totally new place, so Bear was high as a kite to start out. I figured he would be, so we just worked through it. The indoor arena has stall on both sides, one side the open stall fronts face into the arena across and isle, but on the other side it’s the solid backs of stalls that make up the wall. That wall also has the huge full wall mirrors on a quarter of the length. Bear had never seen anything like this, and coupled with the fact that he could hear and smell horses right behind the mirror while seeing his reflection in it made for some pretty humorous reactions! We lunged for a good half hour since it was cold and I wanted to give him some good walk warm up time, and THEN get his kicks out, plus we haven’t have a chance to lunge for awhile, so its still good to work on strengthening his canter in good footing like that. By the time I got on he was happy and relaxed, but pretty hot from lunging (mainly from the prancing caused by the mirror) so we did mostly walk work, mixed with only short spurts of trotting, to dry him off. He was great. Plus by the end he LOVED the mirror, he didn’t want to leave it! He was like a parrot gazing into the mirror. That’s the great thing about him, he is way more curious than he is spooky.
Then last Sunday, I took Bear and the old mare out to the easy trails for the much anticipated “Boyfriend’s First Ride”! I taught him how to groom and tack up, and then how to get on the old mare, and off safely, then finally put him on Bear! Yikes! He is an absolute beginner, one time on a guided trail ride kind of rider, so I had no idea what to expect. He is, however, very athletic, and naturally good at everything he does! (Although I’m super jealous as well, the fact that he’s turning out to be a natural rider makes my life of teaching him on a 3 ½ year old horse a LOT easier.) We started out just ponying him off the old mare, and worked on lots of exercises in the saddle. Then we jogged a little since I can keep Bear really collected next to the old mare, then even moved out to a nice trot to teach the BF to post! They both did amazingly well. Bear didn’t mind at all having a newbie on his back. They were both so relaxed and comfortable, that I let Bear off the lead and let the BF learn to turn and stop him. We worked on some small circles out in a grassy clearing, and taught him out to back. I couldn’t believe Bear was so calm and patient, he’s clearly going to be a great match for the beginner BF, which is great because it will allow me to ride another green training project later on without having to worry about the two of them. I was SO proud of Bear, all the work I’ve done on him totally showed.
Then Saturday we tried a lunge line lesson. Bear lunges really well, but he’s a bit out of practice since I don’t really do much lunging in the uneven pasture, more just trotting him over poles with walking the other (downhill) half the circle. So I lunged him to warm up, and had the BF learn to lunge a little too. Then he hopped on Bear and off we go! I really need to think of good exercises for the rider while lunging, I know I’ve done a ton, but darned if I can remember them now! We were mainly working on him learning to post the trot anyway. Lots of “Stand up in the stirrups, and let all your weight sink down into your heels… Good! Now stay that way!” He was great, and Bear did even better, nice and calm. He broke into a canter once, but he smoothly came back down. Over all it was a great learning experience for them both. Plus it was a huge work out for Bear to trot circles with the weight of the rider in the deep sand.
So he got the day off Sunday, while I worked on setting up some tiny cross country jumps and poles out in the pasture. Some for cantering over, and some for trying some trail stuff: side passing and the like. I even constructed a sort of bridge! The pasture is full of stuff to keep the training fresh and interesting. The funny thing is that the poles are in the way when Bear gets to running around and playing, so mainly he is jumping things while running around! By the time we get to actually riding over them he’ll have jumped everything out there a hundred times! Its fun to see him play, he’s so athletic the way he changes lead and turns so easily; I really think he’ll make a super fun jumper.
My horse is awesome!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Back in the saddle... but making bad choices
Well, we did it... we got back in the saddle! Well first we got back into the bareback...
Saturday I was determined to ride, but didn't have much time since I was at a church thing until 4:30. So I hopped on the old mare bareback knowing that Bear would run around the pasture and get his kicks out. It works great really. He charges around and bucks, plays, and jumps over the logs that are out there, and generally gives himself a good workout, and as long as he doesn't get to frisky next to us, he's allowed to let loose, because he's quite literally loose! So once he was all warmed up, I pulled him into the round pen and let the mare go. I threw a bridle on and worked him from the ground just a little, bending, moving his haunches and his shoulders, then set in up next to the fence and got on. This was actually the first time I'd been on without the bareback pad, so I was worried my butt bones would poke his back to much, but he didn't react to that at all. We just did some easy turns and halts and then opened the gate and backed out, all pretty snazzy! Then we walked around the pasture and over the logs. His only problem was that he was a little reluctant to go down to the lower pasture and thus out of sight from the old mare. So we went down anyway, did a couple more things down there, and then I hopped off for the day. Over all really good! Especially since I was daring to get on him bareback after three weeks of not even seeing him!
So after our success on Saturday, I got a little too cocky on Sunday. I take all the blame for the frustrating ride we had, I did not really set us up for success. I wanted to ride out from the property, and didn't want to pony the old mare, so I took Bear alone. We've done this before, but its been ages, and he was used to being taken places without the old mare. But with the summer off, he hadn't been out of her sight since early May. So he was that annoying zig zagging horse that is always thinking about home instead of forward. I pushed him forward into a trot a couple times just to get the forward, and he knocked off the zig zagging. Then we get to the gate and I start to ask him to side up next to it, something we've done hundreds of times, with this gate and others, and he starts to have a little tantrum! Let's just say that he got very light in the front!!! He didn't rear, but his front feet weren't fully on the ground either! NAUGHTY!!! So he got to practice trotting around in tiny circles in front of the gate! Then I hopped off and he got to practice going through that gate properly from the ground. After side passing, pivoting and standing quietly at the gate, I got back on and continued riding like nothing had happened.
He was good for a while, but then I had yet another error in judgement! I took him down the tiny trails instead of sticking to the back roads that we know so well. He got nervous and started rushing everything. I let him go along at a loose rein, as long as he didn't break into a trot, hoping that he would regulate his walk himself. He didn't and when I finally paused to really look at the trail, he started throwing a bit of a tantrum again, and started hollering to the mare! Now, we're probably 4 miles away from the mare now, he can't hear her! But he was feeling nervous and frustrated and obviously all my neglect has taken a toll on my alpha horse status! So we happened to be in a spot on the trail that is maybe 5 feet wide and 20 feet long, so I start circling him, and trotting him up and down the length stopping and turn him at the ends, and eventually I stop in the middle and stand on a loose rein. The moment he starts walking off, dancing around, or other wise being crabby I start again. At some points he slid off the side of the flat spot, or tried running up the bank on the other side, all of which threw him off balance and make him work harder to keep his feet under him. If he hollered to the mare again, I'd back him, just to get his attention back. I thought it would only take 5 minutes, it took WAY longer. At then end of sweat dripping eternity, he stood stock still for a whole minute, and I simply got off, took off his bridle and led him graze a few feet away.
Then we started to walk back! These are tricky little trails, and I shouldn't have even been on them. So I made the first good decision of the day, and walked. His issues were not stopping or turning or having me on him, his issue was listening to me and trusting me, and that is something that we can work on from the ground just as well as on top, better on the ground in this case. He had to walk next to me, not ahead, and he had to fall in behind me on the really narrow trails. He wasn't allowed to push past me, pass me on the other side, and if he pushed into me or stepped on my heels, he got a lead rope swat or some sort of thump to the chest for invading my space. Back to learning to lead! I got turned around and we ended up on tiny deer trails, not the actual trail, but we made it out. Once back at the road I put the bridle on and hopped back on. He was very forward now. So we just started the simple pattern of each time he broke into a jog, we'd stop, back a few steps and then carry one on a loose rein. He caught on quick. Funny thing was he was not dead set on going straight home! We all know that horses know the shortest route to home or the trailer, and a barn sour horse will suddenly quicken its pace at the exact halfway mark of a loop like they know they've just begun to head home! He usually is slower going home, like he's sad the adventures over. So although he was being quick, he still wanted to take all the detours like he usually does! Silly boy... so at one point we had a grassy stretch, not heading towards home, but another detour off the road. So I asked him to trot, and allowed him to go into a lope, and for that stretch let him open up and really move out. At the end of the stretch was a fence, so an easy enforcer, but he stopped very nicely when I said whoa, and we went back to walking! Again, if I had even thought of cantering the crabby old mare when she was having a barn sour day she would have pranced, poured sweat and shook her head all the way home! So I have to acknowledge the positives that he was still listening to what I was saying, going forward, stopping, and keeping at a walk.
The problem was that I had created an idea in my head that wasn't realistic for him, and therefor felt like a frustrating failure every step of the way. Overall it was a frustrating ride, but not a detrimental one. Despite the fact that the problems that had to be addressed had been created out of poor judgement, I think we probably accomplished quite a bit in the course of the ride. I don't think that I left him traumatized, I don't think he was left thinking tantrums we're ok either. Its a fine line when you're doing a battle of the wills. At some point you make it worse by creating a battle out of nothing, but some behaviours can't be tolerated. Nervousness is alright, dancing about and considering walking around on two feet is not! But at the end of the ride he was responsive enough to open and close the gate to the pasture, and he was dry. I figure if a horse has had enough time to dry, they've probably relaxed enough to call it stopping on a positive note!
Saturday I was determined to ride, but didn't have much time since I was at a church thing until 4:30. So I hopped on the old mare bareback knowing that Bear would run around the pasture and get his kicks out. It works great really. He charges around and bucks, plays, and jumps over the logs that are out there, and generally gives himself a good workout, and as long as he doesn't get to frisky next to us, he's allowed to let loose, because he's quite literally loose! So once he was all warmed up, I pulled him into the round pen and let the mare go. I threw a bridle on and worked him from the ground just a little, bending, moving his haunches and his shoulders, then set in up next to the fence and got on. This was actually the first time I'd been on without the bareback pad, so I was worried my butt bones would poke his back to much, but he didn't react to that at all. We just did some easy turns and halts and then opened the gate and backed out, all pretty snazzy! Then we walked around the pasture and over the logs. His only problem was that he was a little reluctant to go down to the lower pasture and thus out of sight from the old mare. So we went down anyway, did a couple more things down there, and then I hopped off for the day. Over all really good! Especially since I was daring to get on him bareback after three weeks of not even seeing him!
So after our success on Saturday, I got a little too cocky on Sunday. I take all the blame for the frustrating ride we had, I did not really set us up for success. I wanted to ride out from the property, and didn't want to pony the old mare, so I took Bear alone. We've done this before, but its been ages, and he was used to being taken places without the old mare. But with the summer off, he hadn't been out of her sight since early May. So he was that annoying zig zagging horse that is always thinking about home instead of forward. I pushed him forward into a trot a couple times just to get the forward, and he knocked off the zig zagging. Then we get to the gate and I start to ask him to side up next to it, something we've done hundreds of times, with this gate and others, and he starts to have a little tantrum! Let's just say that he got very light in the front!!! He didn't rear, but his front feet weren't fully on the ground either! NAUGHTY!!! So he got to practice trotting around in tiny circles in front of the gate! Then I hopped off and he got to practice going through that gate properly from the ground. After side passing, pivoting and standing quietly at the gate, I got back on and continued riding like nothing had happened.
He was good for a while, but then I had yet another error in judgement! I took him down the tiny trails instead of sticking to the back roads that we know so well. He got nervous and started rushing everything. I let him go along at a loose rein, as long as he didn't break into a trot, hoping that he would regulate his walk himself. He didn't and when I finally paused to really look at the trail, he started throwing a bit of a tantrum again, and started hollering to the mare! Now, we're probably 4 miles away from the mare now, he can't hear her! But he was feeling nervous and frustrated and obviously all my neglect has taken a toll on my alpha horse status! So we happened to be in a spot on the trail that is maybe 5 feet wide and 20 feet long, so I start circling him, and trotting him up and down the length stopping and turn him at the ends, and eventually I stop in the middle and stand on a loose rein. The moment he starts walking off, dancing around, or other wise being crabby I start again. At some points he slid off the side of the flat spot, or tried running up the bank on the other side, all of which threw him off balance and make him work harder to keep his feet under him. If he hollered to the mare again, I'd back him, just to get his attention back. I thought it would only take 5 minutes, it took WAY longer. At then end of sweat dripping eternity, he stood stock still for a whole minute, and I simply got off, took off his bridle and led him graze a few feet away.
Then we started to walk back! These are tricky little trails, and I shouldn't have even been on them. So I made the first good decision of the day, and walked. His issues were not stopping or turning or having me on him, his issue was listening to me and trusting me, and that is something that we can work on from the ground just as well as on top, better on the ground in this case. He had to walk next to me, not ahead, and he had to fall in behind me on the really narrow trails. He wasn't allowed to push past me, pass me on the other side, and if he pushed into me or stepped on my heels, he got a lead rope swat or some sort of thump to the chest for invading my space. Back to learning to lead! I got turned around and we ended up on tiny deer trails, not the actual trail, but we made it out. Once back at the road I put the bridle on and hopped back on. He was very forward now. So we just started the simple pattern of each time he broke into a jog, we'd stop, back a few steps and then carry one on a loose rein. He caught on quick. Funny thing was he was not dead set on going straight home! We all know that horses know the shortest route to home or the trailer, and a barn sour horse will suddenly quicken its pace at the exact halfway mark of a loop like they know they've just begun to head home! He usually is slower going home, like he's sad the adventures over. So although he was being quick, he still wanted to take all the detours like he usually does! Silly boy... so at one point we had a grassy stretch, not heading towards home, but another detour off the road. So I asked him to trot, and allowed him to go into a lope, and for that stretch let him open up and really move out. At the end of the stretch was a fence, so an easy enforcer, but he stopped very nicely when I said whoa, and we went back to walking! Again, if I had even thought of cantering the crabby old mare when she was having a barn sour day she would have pranced, poured sweat and shook her head all the way home! So I have to acknowledge the positives that he was still listening to what I was saying, going forward, stopping, and keeping at a walk.
The problem was that I had created an idea in my head that wasn't realistic for him, and therefor felt like a frustrating failure every step of the way. Overall it was a frustrating ride, but not a detrimental one. Despite the fact that the problems that had to be addressed had been created out of poor judgement, I think we probably accomplished quite a bit in the course of the ride. I don't think that I left him traumatized, I don't think he was left thinking tantrums we're ok either. Its a fine line when you're doing a battle of the wills. At some point you make it worse by creating a battle out of nothing, but some behaviours can't be tolerated. Nervousness is alright, dancing about and considering walking around on two feet is not! But at the end of the ride he was responsive enough to open and close the gate to the pasture, and he was dry. I figure if a horse has had enough time to dry, they've probably relaxed enough to call it stopping on a positive note!
Friday, October 23, 2009
No time for the poor pony!
Oh, poor and neglected Bear… so right after my last post I trailer Bear out to the really easy trail, and did the “pony him off the old mare then switch and pony her off him” trick. It’s working better and better! He is getting used to her being in a different position, it really frustrated him to have her back by his flank for awhile. We even trotted down the trail a bit and he settled into a nice relaxed trot on a loose rein. Such an nice treat. We also got out to the arena and had a very productive workout both on the lunge and under saddle. We’re starting to get the hang of half-halts to rebalance his trot, but after all this time off and sporadic work his canter is very weak and off balance. He just needs to get into shape again.
That was at the end of September. Then the first Monday in October I started a new job, spent most of my free time doing wedding stuff for a friend, and then spent over a week house sitting. So I have hardly even seen Bear!
Winter is coming, and with that all sorts of new needs to meet. I feel pretty good about his feed and keeping his weight up better than last year, but I still need to figure out a couple things. Firstly I blanketed him last year, and with that blanket he hardly grew any hair. He’s out in pasture full time, but has a shelter to get into so he doesn’t absolutely need to blanket for rain protection. I mainly blanketed to keep the heavy winter coat off since I was working him at nights and wanted to make sure he’d dry easily if he really got worked into a sweat.
Advantages:
~He was almost always clean except his neck and legs, which were covered in mud because he lies down and rolls often.
~He grew very little hair and looked sleek and pretty and never got lathered up from work.
~He is naturally a lean athletic horse and I think the blanket helped keep weight on him.
Disadvantages:
~The extra time and hassle to un-blanket and then re-blanket during the days (as long as it was warm and dry enough).
~He is VERY hard on blankets. His blanket from last year was fixed twice and when he broke it a third time in early spring it got retired to emergency blanket status.
~His shoulders got rubbed.
~He runs around and plays a lot, and blankets, despite being for turnouts, are not designed to be galloped in.
So this year I haven’t started to blanket yet, and it’s starting to get pretty cold at night. So far he is not fuzzy, at least not like the old mare. I’m curious to see what kind of winter coat he would get, but I’m afraid it won’t be much. I think I may have convinced myself to start blanketing again, I just need to see what I can do to address some of the problems.
Secondly, I need to figure out a riding schedule. I don’t have the night classes in the indoor with him until January, I work too far away now to ride at lunch, and pretty soon it will be dark by the time I get home. I am looking for places that let you haul in to use their indoor at nights, but that gets costly on a regular basis, so maybe just finding a trainer that will give after work lessons which I am willing to spend money on. I am seriously considering setting up lights at home, but the pasture is not as flat and safe as arena footing. Night trail rides (in safe, level, non-cougar places of course) would be a good challenge, but really I shouldn’t do that alone.
Thirdly, which really ties right into secondly, I will get out to ride more often if I could take my boyfriend along. The old mare is crotchety and set in her ways, so she’s not actually the best beginner’s horse. She is well trained with me on her, and I feel confident that she’ll do anything I need, but she puts up an attitude when my mom rides her. She also can get very anxious and prance on the trail when we turn towards home. SO in many ways she can make herself a frustrating horse to ride. That leaves three and a half year old Bear as the better beginner option. Of course that seems silly, which is why I haven’t actually made this happen yet! I had been hoping to have my sister get on him first since she’s more of an intermediate rider, but she’s pregnant and not allowed on horses. So eventually I will make Bear and the boyfriend into riding buddies, but I think they are both going to find it boring because of all the safety limits I put on them! To start out they won’t be allowed off of the lunge line or lead rope (I plan to pony them down the trails). Even with these restrictions I want to make sure Bear is 100% mentally and physically back into working mode. (Having a beginner bounce around on his back will be easier if he’s got a strong back and a balanced trot.)
So I have a whole lot to think about! Well I hope to be back on the boy in the next few days
That was at the end of September. Then the first Monday in October I started a new job, spent most of my free time doing wedding stuff for a friend, and then spent over a week house sitting. So I have hardly even seen Bear!
Winter is coming, and with that all sorts of new needs to meet. I feel pretty good about his feed and keeping his weight up better than last year, but I still need to figure out a couple things. Firstly I blanketed him last year, and with that blanket he hardly grew any hair. He’s out in pasture full time, but has a shelter to get into so he doesn’t absolutely need to blanket for rain protection. I mainly blanketed to keep the heavy winter coat off since I was working him at nights and wanted to make sure he’d dry easily if he really got worked into a sweat.
Advantages:
~He was almost always clean except his neck and legs, which were covered in mud because he lies down and rolls often.
~He grew very little hair and looked sleek and pretty and never got lathered up from work.
~He is naturally a lean athletic horse and I think the blanket helped keep weight on him.
Disadvantages:
~The extra time and hassle to un-blanket and then re-blanket during the days (as long as it was warm and dry enough).
~He is VERY hard on blankets. His blanket from last year was fixed twice and when he broke it a third time in early spring it got retired to emergency blanket status.
~His shoulders got rubbed.
~He runs around and plays a lot, and blankets, despite being for turnouts, are not designed to be galloped in.
So this year I haven’t started to blanket yet, and it’s starting to get pretty cold at night. So far he is not fuzzy, at least not like the old mare. I’m curious to see what kind of winter coat he would get, but I’m afraid it won’t be much. I think I may have convinced myself to start blanketing again, I just need to see what I can do to address some of the problems.
Secondly, I need to figure out a riding schedule. I don’t have the night classes in the indoor with him until January, I work too far away now to ride at lunch, and pretty soon it will be dark by the time I get home. I am looking for places that let you haul in to use their indoor at nights, but that gets costly on a regular basis, so maybe just finding a trainer that will give after work lessons which I am willing to spend money on. I am seriously considering setting up lights at home, but the pasture is not as flat and safe as arena footing. Night trail rides (in safe, level, non-cougar places of course) would be a good challenge, but really I shouldn’t do that alone.
Thirdly, which really ties right into secondly, I will get out to ride more often if I could take my boyfriend along. The old mare is crotchety and set in her ways, so she’s not actually the best beginner’s horse. She is well trained with me on her, and I feel confident that she’ll do anything I need, but she puts up an attitude when my mom rides her. She also can get very anxious and prance on the trail when we turn towards home. SO in many ways she can make herself a frustrating horse to ride. That leaves three and a half year old Bear as the better beginner option. Of course that seems silly, which is why I haven’t actually made this happen yet! I had been hoping to have my sister get on him first since she’s more of an intermediate rider, but she’s pregnant and not allowed on horses. So eventually I will make Bear and the boyfriend into riding buddies, but I think they are both going to find it boring because of all the safety limits I put on them! To start out they won’t be allowed off of the lunge line or lead rope (I plan to pony them down the trails). Even with these restrictions I want to make sure Bear is 100% mentally and physically back into working mode. (Having a beginner bounce around on his back will be easier if he’s got a strong back and a balanced trot.)
So I have a whole lot to think about! Well I hope to be back on the boy in the next few days
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
"Ugh!" Seems to be the theme
This post is from Sunday actually, I'm been writing, I'm just behind in posting.
Ugh… that’s the best way to describe life right now… ugh. Lots of good things, but what a roller coaster!
I will be starting a new job next week which will not be nearly as flexible on taking off early to go ride, and is too far away to ride on lunch breaks. So for the next month or so, I’ll still have daylight to ride after work, but once winter hits I’m going to be riding by the light of two measly flood-lights on stands, or only on weekends. Ugh…
I have fallen way behind on my reconditioning training plan, and can’t even remember what I’ve done since the last blog… ugh! So here are some highlights in no particular order: ridden him with a bareback pad at least 4 times now, lunged at least 4 times, been out on the back roads with both him and the old mare (ponied him, then switched and ponied her back), trot poles about three times. All of this is going great considering his age and the total inconsistency that has been our training regime lately. He does have suspicions that mini-donkeys might just be tiny creatures from hell, but at least they’re not llamas!! Of course the llamas didn’t move or stare him down the last time we passed by them, so he didn’t even bat an eye at them.
So today it was hot when I rode, yesterday was hot and although I didn’t get to ride I was still out working in the sun, and Friday when I last rode it was hot! UGH! I am done with the summer heat, REALLY! So today with the heat and the physical and emotional exhaustion from all the other UGHs in my life that I won’t bother going in to, I had a tantrum while riding Bear. I had a tantrum, I’ll admit it. It was dumb, and based on completely unfair expectations from a horse that puts up with all my crap, and still trots up to me in the pasture. Basically I was crabby that he wasn’t acting like an old broke horse, which he’s not. I didn’t come unglued and beat on him or anything! I just got frustrated and fed-up, which is not the attitude for handling a young horse with limited training. I think of all the times I’ve seen him buck in pasture, and I remind myself why I want things to be positive in our training. I’ve ridden sour horses that explode when they get frustrated, and I know that if I screw Bear up and make him into a sour cranky horse, I would have a snowball’s chance in hell of staying on.
Let me be clear here, HE did not have a tantrum, just me. HE was being a green horse that is out of shape and looking for the easy route. He was in general wanting to go back up the hill to the old mare, the place for untacking, dinner, and all other good things in life, but its irritating to ride a horse that is only thinking about going up the hill, and I was getting crankier and crankier, until finally I just roared at him and hopped off! Here’s what we were doing: pick up the trot, go over the trot poles, collect the trot a few strides, halt, turn around and do it again. It’s a simple exercise and the idea was to work on getting him a bit more balanced. We had started out with walk-halt transitions and he had been doing great! He was really stopping off my seat, which was the whole point since I really wanted to work on half-halts, and he was moving out at a nice walk. So we did a few trot to walk transitions using the half-halts, and again good, but that’s when he started veering in the general direction of the hill each time we trotted. So we start the trot poles and first he veers around them, which of course is him being lazy and me not thinking ahead, but added to my crankiness. Then we crossed back over and he just sort of blew threw the half halt and rushed forward falling on the forehand and throwing his head in the air when I really sat down and made him stop, and then he wouldn’t even have the decency to turn around. I think this is about where the roar happened. So I leap off of him, and make him move his shoulders away in a sort of turn of the haunches way, I run down the line of poles with him trotting along side me, I slam on the breaks and stop after the poles, and turn him around and do it again. He followed me step for step, and stopped on a dime each time. So I laugh at myself a little, because he’s being so patient with me, and when I hop back on he does it perfect, like “Oh, is this what you want mom? Why didn’t you say so!”
We did it a few more times and he still rushed a little bit trotting the poles the other direction. It must be sloping down a little going back that direction, or it was still that he was thinking about the hill… but whatever. He could do it perfectly going towards the driveway, so I figured I better quit before got snippy with him again for innocent mistakes. Overall, he was getting the exercise, good trot departure a couple strides before the poles, nice big pushing strides over the three poles, half-halt and sit a couple strides to collect him, then halt. Lots up of down transitions while keeping that forward energy.
Tomorrow he gets his feet trimmed so he’ll get a break, but that means that Tuesday I will probably trailer out for a ride in the arena for the soft footing just to play it safe. So that will be the third training ride in a row. I’ve been trying to go every other with trail riding for just some easy conditioning, so hopefully the fun of trailering somewhere will make up for all work and no play lately.
Ugh… that’s the best way to describe life right now… ugh. Lots of good things, but what a roller coaster!
I will be starting a new job next week which will not be nearly as flexible on taking off early to go ride, and is too far away to ride on lunch breaks. So for the next month or so, I’ll still have daylight to ride after work, but once winter hits I’m going to be riding by the light of two measly flood-lights on stands, or only on weekends. Ugh…
I have fallen way behind on my reconditioning training plan, and can’t even remember what I’ve done since the last blog… ugh! So here are some highlights in no particular order: ridden him with a bareback pad at least 4 times now, lunged at least 4 times, been out on the back roads with both him and the old mare (ponied him, then switched and ponied her back), trot poles about three times. All of this is going great considering his age and the total inconsistency that has been our training regime lately. He does have suspicions that mini-donkeys might just be tiny creatures from hell, but at least they’re not llamas!! Of course the llamas didn’t move or stare him down the last time we passed by them, so he didn’t even bat an eye at them.
So today it was hot when I rode, yesterday was hot and although I didn’t get to ride I was still out working in the sun, and Friday when I last rode it was hot! UGH! I am done with the summer heat, REALLY! So today with the heat and the physical and emotional exhaustion from all the other UGHs in my life that I won’t bother going in to, I had a tantrum while riding Bear. I had a tantrum, I’ll admit it. It was dumb, and based on completely unfair expectations from a horse that puts up with all my crap, and still trots up to me in the pasture. Basically I was crabby that he wasn’t acting like an old broke horse, which he’s not. I didn’t come unglued and beat on him or anything! I just got frustrated and fed-up, which is not the attitude for handling a young horse with limited training. I think of all the times I’ve seen him buck in pasture, and I remind myself why I want things to be positive in our training. I’ve ridden sour horses that explode when they get frustrated, and I know that if I screw Bear up and make him into a sour cranky horse, I would have a snowball’s chance in hell of staying on.
Let me be clear here, HE did not have a tantrum, just me. HE was being a green horse that is out of shape and looking for the easy route. He was in general wanting to go back up the hill to the old mare, the place for untacking, dinner, and all other good things in life, but its irritating to ride a horse that is only thinking about going up the hill, and I was getting crankier and crankier, until finally I just roared at him and hopped off! Here’s what we were doing: pick up the trot, go over the trot poles, collect the trot a few strides, halt, turn around and do it again. It’s a simple exercise and the idea was to work on getting him a bit more balanced. We had started out with walk-halt transitions and he had been doing great! He was really stopping off my seat, which was the whole point since I really wanted to work on half-halts, and he was moving out at a nice walk. So we did a few trot to walk transitions using the half-halts, and again good, but that’s when he started veering in the general direction of the hill each time we trotted. So we start the trot poles and first he veers around them, which of course is him being lazy and me not thinking ahead, but added to my crankiness. Then we crossed back over and he just sort of blew threw the half halt and rushed forward falling on the forehand and throwing his head in the air when I really sat down and made him stop, and then he wouldn’t even have the decency to turn around. I think this is about where the roar happened. So I leap off of him, and make him move his shoulders away in a sort of turn of the haunches way, I run down the line of poles with him trotting along side me, I slam on the breaks and stop after the poles, and turn him around and do it again. He followed me step for step, and stopped on a dime each time. So I laugh at myself a little, because he’s being so patient with me, and when I hop back on he does it perfect, like “Oh, is this what you want mom? Why didn’t you say so!”
We did it a few more times and he still rushed a little bit trotting the poles the other direction. It must be sloping down a little going back that direction, or it was still that he was thinking about the hill… but whatever. He could do it perfectly going towards the driveway, so I figured I better quit before got snippy with him again for innocent mistakes. Overall, he was getting the exercise, good trot departure a couple strides before the poles, nice big pushing strides over the three poles, half-halt and sit a couple strides to collect him, then halt. Lots up of down transitions while keeping that forward energy.
Tomorrow he gets his feet trimmed so he’ll get a break, but that means that Tuesday I will probably trailer out for a ride in the arena for the soft footing just to play it safe. So that will be the third training ride in a row. I’ve been trying to go every other with trail riding for just some easy conditioning, so hopefully the fun of trailering somewhere will make up for all work and no play lately.
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