Oh what a glorious fall day!
I had arranged to go out with a friend to ride Bear and Lola at the lake today with the idea of doing some trot and canter work out on the beach. At the last minute she had to cancel, but I was still so excited about going out that I decided to take Bear out alone. Its been AGES since I've taken Bear any where with out Lola. She goes out to things alone all the time, but he tends to be the one left behind if I can't take two. So he was a bit vocal about being put in the trailer all alone!
I took Bear because he's been so sluggish in the arena. He's obedient, he'll move forward when asked, he'll trot or canter when asked, but I do feel like I'm nagging him to have a little more energy with every single step. I figure its a twofold problem: I don't feel like I've really gotten him back into good condition since the summer so he tires quickly, but mainly he is getting bored with circles in an arena. So we took the trail ride to help with both of those problems, good conditioning ride, and there's nothing like an open space to make trotting and cantering fun again! It worked like a charm. I can hardly get him to work hard enough to get warm, let alone break a sweat. Today we got hot and sweaty and had a blast!
Bear was calling for Lola the whole way to the trail parking, and he was super jazzed up for the beginning of the ride. He was a little spooky on the trail, but nothing unexpected since he hasn't had to brave the trail solo in a long time. We did spend about 10 minutes slowly approaching a log though. He was convinced it was hiding a monster.
We had spent about a half out on the trail just walking along and getting all the benefits of climbing the big step ups and rocking back on his haunches to go down the hills. By the time we got to the beach he was nice and warmed up, and had settled his nerves a bit. We started out trotting because every time we got to a divot where last week's major rain storm had created streams down the beach. He slowed to look EVERY time! So silly! So we made a point of trotting over these for a while, then started trot over the drift wood and logs out there. He just felt so great! He'd trot up to the smallest logs and gracefully canter away. I had a blast! We cantered around a bit and I'd like him start to lengthen and really stretch into a big stride, but I don't think we are mentally or physically fit enough to go for an all out gallop. I was certainly sitting myself up straighter than usual! The best reminder not to lean in front of your center point is the threat that your trusty steed is going to slam on the breaks suddenly! I was so impressed with my boy. Each time I asked him to come back he'd collect back to his lovely rocking horse canter and then into a great balanced and relaxed trot. Really I'm still floored how much great trot I got today! I mean on the bit, swinging trot and stepping right into the canter! What an awesome horse I have.
We made it a point to walk around a bit on the way back to the trailer. He was all sweat from ears to girth, so I wanted to make sure he was well cooled. The trailer parking has a great wash rack, so I cold hosed his legs and at least washed his sweaty girth area. The rest of the sweat needed to dry before getting brushed away, so we just hung out in the gorgeous fall sunshine and he snacked on grass. What a perfect way to spend a Saturday.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Motivation...
I find as I go through these situations again and again that I'm a bit of an adrenaline junky. Maybe that's not even the right term. I'm driven by goals, that's clear, I love working with horses partly based on all the planning I can do. Little baby steps to meet the goals. But I've seen over and over again in my life that I tend to throw myself at extremely difficult things, not just to see if I can do them, but to give myself something stressful enough to incite some action. I finished my Masters degree this summer. The very first week of my very first summer I was pretty sure I had bitten off way more than I could chew. I finished because I am stubborn. It was insanely difficult for me, partly because it is a high level of education, but mainly because it hit on some of my biggest weaknesses. So why did I throw myself at that? Bigger question, why did I find some much motivation to finish it?
Motivation is a funny thing. There are many days where the only motivation to go through the motions of the day is that some piece of it HAS to, absolutely must, happen. Mornings are not my favorite thing. Without a concrete event to incite action, my morning mode, where I don't quite engage with life, can be prolonged up to the point I go to bed again. I had this happen surprisingly often when I lived abroad. There were vacation days where I didn't have to work and those few people that I knew were out of town, and after a few days I would realize, that I hadn't spoken to a soul, for several days. I read books, I walked, I sucked into an interior life that didn't allow for an outside reality. I found out that I can be an extreme introvert, to the point of being a recluse, and it didn't really seem alarming. I was living without a dog, cat, or horse. I think that made a difference.
My days, most often are incited to action by the fact that I have a job that expects to be in there sometime around 8am. I don't clock in, I don't get written up if not in at a certain time, so the motivator works, just give or take about 20 minutes. Once at work I usually engage in what I'm doing, new things, challenging things, extremely overwhelmingly filled lists of things, they capture my attention while there and then I forget that I need motivation to get things done! Then there are other days, where once I'm there I'm not sure how I can convince myself to do anything other than think about going to get more coffee. The days where everything is easy and simple and straight forward, I hate those days. Somehow I don't end up doing half of what needs to be done, and yet the day before I had twice as much to do and managed to do it all! Apparently I love to be stressed!
So the conclusion drawn here is that if I were left to my own comfortable, unstressed, uninterrupted life, I think I would probably cease to shower, clean, leave the house, then eat. I'm sure it'd be a slow process! But it is the interaction, or even confrontation, in life that motivates me to get out and do something. I think this could be true, except that I have animals. I have people too, don't get me wrong, I would have people coming to pull me out of my smelly unnoticed misery with in a day! But that would be an intervention, not a motivation. I'm sure this will all change when I have kids, but right now, the only things in this world that rely on me for their well being and happiness, are my animals. A dog politely encouraging you to get up because they REALLY need to pee, that's a motivator to start your day! Horses that will be cold or hungry if you don't go out to feed and blanket is a motivator. My horses bring satisfaction in a job well done, they creature to worry over, and tend to. They give you something to care for aside from yourself. Again, this isn't to say that I don't value human relationships, but my perfectly capable boyfriend is not going to go hungry, he doesn't rely on me the way my animals do.
Alright, so I have found my motivator, my catalyst for action, my horses and my dog drive me to get going, start the day, engage in the world. Then what, then I run into the same need for new, the need to be challenged, the need to believe that there's a good chance that what I'm doing could totally fail and yet I'm pushing though anyway. The need was filled by buying a 2 and a half year old gelding, and starting him under saddle. But then he got really too easy! He's so stinking easy! So I bought another horse to break, really honestly, to prove that Bear was a fluke and that I couldn't do it. Low and behold, Lola was tougher at times, but I've done it none the less. Now I have two, and that too many, there will be no third horse. So aside from quitting my day job for the highly dangerous and low paying job of breaking colts, what do I do now? I start focusing on my next goal, my next challenge, my next commitment that will leave me thinking, "Good gracious what have I gotten myself into?"
I'm short on time and energy to focus on a really big goal, but that is what inspires me. In the mean time I'm staying focused on keeping the momentum so that I'm ready. My ridiculously challenging goal for the moment, is keeping both horses worked regularly. Its tough too! I know that my next push with both of them will be getting them jumping so that as soon as show start up next spring, we'll be ready. To jump then need to be fit. To be fit they need regular and strategic work. So that is my goal for now, and it is working terribly well because it hits my procrastinator vein! If I can put off committing to jumping due to Lola's flat work needing improvement, Bear's general lack of condition from the summer, and other minor details that I can tell myself I'm working on, then I can prolong the moment of actually facing the fact that I really want to do something that I'm not terribly good at! So there is my next terrifying, stressful, and utterly motivating goal, I will jump courses bigger than two foot. I will learn to not get launched around with funky green horse mistakes. I will be a better rider, and I will become a better person in the process. That is were the motivation resides, the thrill of becoming something more than you were.
Motivation is a funny thing. There are many days where the only motivation to go through the motions of the day is that some piece of it HAS to, absolutely must, happen. Mornings are not my favorite thing. Without a concrete event to incite action, my morning mode, where I don't quite engage with life, can be prolonged up to the point I go to bed again. I had this happen surprisingly often when I lived abroad. There were vacation days where I didn't have to work and those few people that I knew were out of town, and after a few days I would realize, that I hadn't spoken to a soul, for several days. I read books, I walked, I sucked into an interior life that didn't allow for an outside reality. I found out that I can be an extreme introvert, to the point of being a recluse, and it didn't really seem alarming. I was living without a dog, cat, or horse. I think that made a difference.
My days, most often are incited to action by the fact that I have a job that expects to be in there sometime around 8am. I don't clock in, I don't get written up if not in at a certain time, so the motivator works, just give or take about 20 minutes. Once at work I usually engage in what I'm doing, new things, challenging things, extremely overwhelmingly filled lists of things, they capture my attention while there and then I forget that I need motivation to get things done! Then there are other days, where once I'm there I'm not sure how I can convince myself to do anything other than think about going to get more coffee. The days where everything is easy and simple and straight forward, I hate those days. Somehow I don't end up doing half of what needs to be done, and yet the day before I had twice as much to do and managed to do it all! Apparently I love to be stressed!
So the conclusion drawn here is that if I were left to my own comfortable, unstressed, uninterrupted life, I think I would probably cease to shower, clean, leave the house, then eat. I'm sure it'd be a slow process! But it is the interaction, or even confrontation, in life that motivates me to get out and do something. I think this could be true, except that I have animals. I have people too, don't get me wrong, I would have people coming to pull me out of my smelly unnoticed misery with in a day! But that would be an intervention, not a motivation. I'm sure this will all change when I have kids, but right now, the only things in this world that rely on me for their well being and happiness, are my animals. A dog politely encouraging you to get up because they REALLY need to pee, that's a motivator to start your day! Horses that will be cold or hungry if you don't go out to feed and blanket is a motivator. My horses bring satisfaction in a job well done, they creature to worry over, and tend to. They give you something to care for aside from yourself. Again, this isn't to say that I don't value human relationships, but my perfectly capable boyfriend is not going to go hungry, he doesn't rely on me the way my animals do.
Alright, so I have found my motivator, my catalyst for action, my horses and my dog drive me to get going, start the day, engage in the world. Then what, then I run into the same need for new, the need to be challenged, the need to believe that there's a good chance that what I'm doing could totally fail and yet I'm pushing though anyway. The need was filled by buying a 2 and a half year old gelding, and starting him under saddle. But then he got really too easy! He's so stinking easy! So I bought another horse to break, really honestly, to prove that Bear was a fluke and that I couldn't do it. Low and behold, Lola was tougher at times, but I've done it none the less. Now I have two, and that too many, there will be no third horse. So aside from quitting my day job for the highly dangerous and low paying job of breaking colts, what do I do now? I start focusing on my next goal, my next challenge, my next commitment that will leave me thinking, "Good gracious what have I gotten myself into?"
I'm short on time and energy to focus on a really big goal, but that is what inspires me. In the mean time I'm staying focused on keeping the momentum so that I'm ready. My ridiculously challenging goal for the moment, is keeping both horses worked regularly. Its tough too! I know that my next push with both of them will be getting them jumping so that as soon as show start up next spring, we'll be ready. To jump then need to be fit. To be fit they need regular and strategic work. So that is my goal for now, and it is working terribly well because it hits my procrastinator vein! If I can put off committing to jumping due to Lola's flat work needing improvement, Bear's general lack of condition from the summer, and other minor details that I can tell myself I'm working on, then I can prolong the moment of actually facing the fact that I really want to do something that I'm not terribly good at! So there is my next terrifying, stressful, and utterly motivating goal, I will jump courses bigger than two foot. I will learn to not get launched around with funky green horse mistakes. I will be a better rider, and I will become a better person in the process. That is were the motivation resides, the thrill of becoming something more than you were.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Where has the summer gone?????
Where do I even start? How do you recap after a 3 months hiatus from the blog world?
I think the photos say it all… the first pic is the last day before leaving the boarding place for the summer…
the next is Friday just after getting their new blankets adjusted so the two would be warm and dry for the rainy weekend. 
Same two horses, same paddock, a whole season later!
Let’s see… I am proud to say I have a Master’s degree… and I’m ashamed to say it will be several years before I do anything with it. This is mainly because my current, completely non-major related job, offered me a promotion after I got back from finishing my school program. All these things explain my complete lack of blogs. I have managed to keep playing round with the horses though!
What else… August we spent just getting Bear back into some even remote level of fitness after his lazy summer in pasture. September I found a gal to half lease him! She has ridden a ton in the past but is just getting back into it after about five years off. He’s been a perfect fit for her! She is taking lessons on him with my dressage trainer, and it’s a great fit for me too since I can ride a couple days a week but not feel like I’m neglecting him the rest of the time. For now it’s great. So far in October he’s done a super fun poker ride, and moved back to boarding.
It seems like he grows every summer. I measured him the other day and he was just shy of 16 hands! He’s looking so much better weight wise than he was last spring too. He looks more like a real horse!
He’s been a fun treat to hop on bareback, or take around the arena for a quick ride. He’s so easy that it doesn’t take much mental or physical energy to ride him, just a treat, every time.
In other news, I volunteered as a jump judge at Woodside a couple of weekends ago, and had a blast! I hope to have both horses trained up to compete at Beginner Novice next spring that way if Lola sells before I ever compete with her, I’ll still have Bear semi-ready for the show season. It will be my first plunge into actually competing in the eventing world. I’m oh so excited!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Letters from home
Dear Mom,
How is school? How are your roommates? Are you studying hard?
I'm having fun out in the pasture at gramma and grampa's house. They still have the old red mare, and she still gets too tired to run around as long as I want to, and she still squeals like and elephant to say hi. They still have the dumb brown fur thing that goes crazy with the barking and runs the fence line incessantly. I some times go poke my nose at it when it settles down to see if it has enough energy to start again, yep! It start back up with the obsessive running up and down the drive way. Its been fun.
But I do have to say that I don't like grampa ANYMORE! He was always my favorite because he'd bring interesting things out to the pasture. He seemed to thing they were parts and tools for fixing fences and stuff, but they were so much fun to pick up and carry away that I think they must have been horsie toys! Plus he'd dangle them off his belt, or leave them sticking out of his pocket then turn his back to me. I think he was offering them to me to take! I really do! But then he'd always chase me down and take them back! Not fair! Anyway, I used to love him coming out to scratch me, but now... I just don't know...
So here's what happened. You remember we took the drive to the stinky place where the lady always pokes me with needles and sends me off to la-la land for a while and this time she took the scratchy itchy thing out from behind my eye ball? Yeah, that was kind of a relief. But THEN grampa kept coming out 3 to 4 times a day to squirt gooey stuff onto the inside of my eye lid! I was NOT a fan! I hope its all over with now. My eye feels better! It really does! Then the lady from the stinky place came out to look at it again, and I didn't even get the dose of la-la land. I hope she told grampa to stop torturing me with eye goop.
I don't know if I'll ever get over this... grampa was always so much fun before... Oh look, here he comes with dinner! I like dinner! I wonder if he'll give me some scratches... I like when he gives me scratches... Gotta go!
Love and horse kisses,
Bear
How is school? How are your roommates? Are you studying hard?
I'm having fun out in the pasture at gramma and grampa's house. They still have the old red mare, and she still gets too tired to run around as long as I want to, and she still squeals like and elephant to say hi. They still have the dumb brown fur thing that goes crazy with the barking and runs the fence line incessantly. I some times go poke my nose at it when it settles down to see if it has enough energy to start again, yep! It start back up with the obsessive running up and down the drive way. Its been fun.
But I do have to say that I don't like grampa ANYMORE! He was always my favorite because he'd bring interesting things out to the pasture. He seemed to thing they were parts and tools for fixing fences and stuff, but they were so much fun to pick up and carry away that I think they must have been horsie toys! Plus he'd dangle them off his belt, or leave them sticking out of his pocket then turn his back to me. I think he was offering them to me to take! I really do! But then he'd always chase me down and take them back! Not fair! Anyway, I used to love him coming out to scratch me, but now... I just don't know...
So here's what happened. You remember we took the drive to the stinky place where the lady always pokes me with needles and sends me off to la-la land for a while and this time she took the scratchy itchy thing out from behind my eye ball? Yeah, that was kind of a relief. But THEN grampa kept coming out 3 to 4 times a day to squirt gooey stuff onto the inside of my eye lid! I was NOT a fan! I hope its all over with now. My eye feels better! It really does! Then the lady from the stinky place came out to look at it again, and I didn't even get the dose of la-la land. I hope she told grampa to stop torturing me with eye goop.
I don't know if I'll ever get over this... grampa was always so much fun before... Oh look, here he comes with dinner! I like dinner! I wonder if he'll give me some scratches... I like when he gives me scratches... Gotta go!
Love and horse kisses,
Bear
Monday, June 14, 2010
This is Bear here…
Hey guys…
This is Bear here… everyone else’s mom seems to let them take over the blog once in a while, so I told my mom it was about time that I got to say something! So with my 30 seconds of fame… while I’m standing here on my soap box… now that I’ve got a captive audience… here’s what I have to say to y’all… you gotta help me!!
My foster sis Lola… she’s GOT TO GO! I thought it was a great idea at first. I mean I totally have a thing for red mares you know. Plus she pretty much just follows me around and she’ll do whatever I tell her! It’s been totally fun.
But NOW I hear that she gets to go on some fun vacation to the beach instead of me?!?!?!? That’s just not right… her time is up. Don’t get me wrong, I like the kid and all, but seriously, stealing my vacation? Mom keeps telling me that I wouldn’t like the LONG trailer ride down there. I don’t know what she’s talking about, I LOVE trailer rides! I get to rock out back there creating all sorts of good drum beats on the floor, on the walls, on the divider, even the top when I stretch up and reach it! It’s a blast! I try to entertain her when we stop at traffic lights with the new rhythm I made up. I don’t know why she doesn’t tell me how good a drummer I am… I rock!
So anyway, while Lola gets to go to have the cool ocean breezes all day long, and long gallops on the beach, I have to roast in the NorCal sun. Hmmfff… So here’s my plan, I will take it upon myself to find her a new home! Now it has to be a good one, hear? I do really like the girl, and I want the best for her. Plus I’d really like to be able to see her at some of the shows next year… you know say a friendly hello… catch up on how our winters went… kick her plain red butt in a friendly competition! He he he…
Yep, let’s send her off… I’ll take carrots, oats, apples, and pretty much anything else you want to offer that I can either eat or pick up with my teethies and toss around my pen! My mom might think she’s getting money for my sis, but I know all that is going straight into feed and goodies and giving me new things to destroy.
Well that's all I've got for now... I think its about time for me to kick my bucket around for a bit.
This is Bear here… everyone else’s mom seems to let them take over the blog once in a while, so I told my mom it was about time that I got to say something! So with my 30 seconds of fame… while I’m standing here on my soap box… now that I’ve got a captive audience… here’s what I have to say to y’all… you gotta help me!!
My foster sis Lola… she’s GOT TO GO! I thought it was a great idea at first. I mean I totally have a thing for red mares you know. Plus she pretty much just follows me around and she’ll do whatever I tell her! It’s been totally fun.
But NOW I hear that she gets to go on some fun vacation to the beach instead of me?!?!?!? That’s just not right… her time is up. Don’t get me wrong, I like the kid and all, but seriously, stealing my vacation? Mom keeps telling me that I wouldn’t like the LONG trailer ride down there. I don’t know what she’s talking about, I LOVE trailer rides! I get to rock out back there creating all sorts of good drum beats on the floor, on the walls, on the divider, even the top when I stretch up and reach it! It’s a blast! I try to entertain her when we stop at traffic lights with the new rhythm I made up. I don’t know why she doesn’t tell me how good a drummer I am… I rock!
So anyway, while Lola gets to go to have the cool ocean breezes all day long, and long gallops on the beach, I have to roast in the NorCal sun. Hmmfff… So here’s my plan, I will take it upon myself to find her a new home! Now it has to be a good one, hear? I do really like the girl, and I want the best for her. Plus I’d really like to be able to see her at some of the shows next year… you know say a friendly hello… catch up on how our winters went… kick her plain red butt in a friendly competition! He he he…
Yep, let’s send her off… I’ll take carrots, oats, apples, and pretty much anything else you want to offer that I can either eat or pick up with my teethies and toss around my pen! My mom might think she’s getting money for my sis, but I know all that is going straight into feed and goodies and giving me new things to destroy.
Well that's all I've got for now... I think its about time for me to kick my bucket around for a bit.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Pretty much everything revolves around Lola... hope he's not getting a complex
So Lola is for sale, which means I don't feel like I can even skip a day of her schedule. So again, all the action is on her blog. Check it out though! And if any of you know of anyone who wants a fun little eventing prospect, she'll be a blast! I just want to make sure its the right home! I'll even make this easy... http://mytrainingproject.blogspot.com/
Plus there is an awesome little incident with Bear from last weekend's post... craziest thing I've ever had happen to me on the trail! EVER! If I've been riding since 4... that makes just about 24 years of riding trails, most of those being in northern California, and I've NEVER had this happen to me!
Now you're curious, huh? Go look! But then come back and read more about Bear...
So we had a really good ride tonight. He's so SO different from Lola. Body-wise he's much narrower, so its different to sit on him. He's not that much taller, but he sure feels it. He carries himself very differently, and he'll have a whole different set of challenges to learn to really be on the bit. Although he's greener than her in some ways, he's got a personality (and we have a longer relationship) that makes him very easy to just pick him up once a week and still feel like we're getting somewhere. He's physically less mature than her, but he's so naturally athletic that in some ways they're even, in someways he's better, and in someways he's never going to be a long hard journey to be as good as her. Its been a fun experiment to ride the two of them back to back on my lesson days. I try to apply the same lesson on him, only to find that it doesn't really apply! Its either too advanced because I need to introduce steps 1, 2, and 3 first, or its focusing on something that is not a weakness of his, so I don't need to use the creative steps to get to the goal. Its funny. It does give me the chance to put to action the equitation corrections that I've been hearing for the previous hour, and THAT always helps our ride. It gives me a lesson plan to work with so I don't go crazy trying to do too much in one ride. Its been fun.
He's been a blast on the trail lately. We've been going just about once a week, so he's getting slowly put back into shape. He didn't even break a sweat tonight, and I gave him a pretty solid 40 minute ride, so its not like he's outrageously out of shape. But I always think its important to start the conditioning at the walk. So he's been getting nice long walks on the trail. We've got some really good ups and downs to build muscle, and lots of steps and rocks to teach him to be careful and think about where he's putting his feet. Last Saturday we added in some trot and canter to our ride too. He's so happy and relaxed about all of it, its great. He was pretty tired by the end of a 2 hour ride though!
So that the fun we've been up to. I've got high hopes for him next fall! It will be a lot of fun to focus just on him again. He's come a long ways this spring, and he did it without consistent time under saddle. I really think that giving him the spring off was actually a good thing, not intentional, but good none the less. He's come back into work a much more balanced and steady horse than he was last fall. Its amazing what physical maturity can do for a four year old! I'm ok with the time he had off of training because now that I'm starting to push him, he's much more capable to step up to the plate.
The sad thing is that he had just lost so much weight at the last place. He's starting to look a little better, but its been a month already, and he's still got a little bit of ribs showing. I keep telling myself that once he's back up to weight, it will be easier to maintain, and that its just the process of getting him there that makes it feel like he's eating twice as much as the rest of the horses. I think the problem is that Lola eats twice as fast as him and so he gets less food. Starting last week he's getting his supplements separately, so I think just that will make a visible difference. They get three hay meals a day (plus I feed the "sloppy" mix when I'm out there), so I can't ask for much more!
The summer plan for him is 6 weeks of pasture vacation with the old mare. He'll get grass all day, plus hay morning and night in a separate pen where he can take his precious time eating! He's such a silly boy, I can't figure out if he just likes to savor his food, or if he gets too easily distracted. I can give the two horses the same amount of their "sloppy" in two separate tubs and watch Lola finish before Bear makes the halfway point. Crazy. He will have spread it twice as far as Lola though! If he were human, he'd be the kid that painted the dining room table with his spaghetti sauce instead of eating. I love my silly boy.
I feel good that he'll be fat and happy when I get back. I feel really confident now that I can pick up lessons with him in August and have him ready to hit a couple shows before the winter weather hits. That is if I'm back to one horse by then.... I can only hope. I'm exhausted just thinking about still having two horses this fall!
Plus there is an awesome little incident with Bear from last weekend's post... craziest thing I've ever had happen to me on the trail! EVER! If I've been riding since 4... that makes just about 24 years of riding trails, most of those being in northern California, and I've NEVER had this happen to me!
Now you're curious, huh? Go look! But then come back and read more about Bear...
So we had a really good ride tonight. He's so SO different from Lola. Body-wise he's much narrower, so its different to sit on him. He's not that much taller, but he sure feels it. He carries himself very differently, and he'll have a whole different set of challenges to learn to really be on the bit. Although he's greener than her in some ways, he's got a personality (and we have a longer relationship) that makes him very easy to just pick him up once a week and still feel like we're getting somewhere. He's physically less mature than her, but he's so naturally athletic that in some ways they're even, in someways he's better, and in someways he's never going to be a long hard journey to be as good as her. Its been a fun experiment to ride the two of them back to back on my lesson days. I try to apply the same lesson on him, only to find that it doesn't really apply! Its either too advanced because I need to introduce steps 1, 2, and 3 first, or its focusing on something that is not a weakness of his, so I don't need to use the creative steps to get to the goal. Its funny. It does give me the chance to put to action the equitation corrections that I've been hearing for the previous hour, and THAT always helps our ride. It gives me a lesson plan to work with so I don't go crazy trying to do too much in one ride. Its been fun.
He's been a blast on the trail lately. We've been going just about once a week, so he's getting slowly put back into shape. He didn't even break a sweat tonight, and I gave him a pretty solid 40 minute ride, so its not like he's outrageously out of shape. But I always think its important to start the conditioning at the walk. So he's been getting nice long walks on the trail. We've got some really good ups and downs to build muscle, and lots of steps and rocks to teach him to be careful and think about where he's putting his feet. Last Saturday we added in some trot and canter to our ride too. He's so happy and relaxed about all of it, its great. He was pretty tired by the end of a 2 hour ride though!
So that the fun we've been up to. I've got high hopes for him next fall! It will be a lot of fun to focus just on him again. He's come a long ways this spring, and he did it without consistent time under saddle. I really think that giving him the spring off was actually a good thing, not intentional, but good none the less. He's come back into work a much more balanced and steady horse than he was last fall. Its amazing what physical maturity can do for a four year old! I'm ok with the time he had off of training because now that I'm starting to push him, he's much more capable to step up to the plate.
The sad thing is that he had just lost so much weight at the last place. He's starting to look a little better, but its been a month already, and he's still got a little bit of ribs showing. I keep telling myself that once he's back up to weight, it will be easier to maintain, and that its just the process of getting him there that makes it feel like he's eating twice as much as the rest of the horses. I think the problem is that Lola eats twice as fast as him and so he gets less food. Starting last week he's getting his supplements separately, so I think just that will make a visible difference. They get three hay meals a day (plus I feed the "sloppy" mix when I'm out there), so I can't ask for much more!
The summer plan for him is 6 weeks of pasture vacation with the old mare. He'll get grass all day, plus hay morning and night in a separate pen where he can take his precious time eating! He's such a silly boy, I can't figure out if he just likes to savor his food, or if he gets too easily distracted. I can give the two horses the same amount of their "sloppy" in two separate tubs and watch Lola finish before Bear makes the halfway point. Crazy. He will have spread it twice as far as Lola though! If he were human, he'd be the kid that painted the dining room table with his spaghetti sauce instead of eating. I love my silly boy.
I feel good that he'll be fat and happy when I get back. I feel really confident now that I can pick up lessons with him in August and have him ready to hit a couple shows before the winter weather hits. That is if I'm back to one horse by then.... I can only hope. I'm exhausted just thinking about still having two horses this fall!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Managing to have fun with two horses!
So last Saturday I had a friend come out to the ride with me on the trails at the lake! I figured since she was coming out, I would have her test ride Lola since she needs to have some experience of other people on her back. Then I sort of thought, why not have her just ride her once we got out to the trails too? So I got to ride Bear! A nice treat since I'm used to giving him up since I sort of consider him the safe bet. At this point she's come so far that she's probably the nicer ride now!
We had a blast! Much more challenging trail than I had planned, but they both did well. We even convinced them to go into the lake up to their knees! So fun, and I've already booked another friend to come out this Saturday! If I could spend at least one day a week on the trail between now and when I sell Lola, I will count this whole working to keep up two horses thing as worth it!
Tonight we had another good "post lesson" ride. I cantered him, which was a blast because its the thing that he's so good at and I have to work harder with Lola with that (but then again she stops on a dime...) They all have their strengths and weaknesses.... Anyway, it was fun, and I'm exhausted, so it must be time for bed.
Two big new flashes:
His feet seem to be too big for the "most awesome and too damn expensive" easy boot slip on's that I bought him last fall. Grrr.... He did fine on the trail though without them.
I can't see his ribs anymore!!! I realized today, that although I can still feel them, I can't see his ribs! Amazing what two weeks will do! He'll be a whole new horse in another two weeks. He doesn't seem to have any problems with the fact that he's not in pasture... Although now that I think about it, he did buck some good ones on the lunge line... So I'll start over... With regular turn out in the huge outdoor arena where he can play and be silly like he would in pasture, I don't see any drawbacks to having him in a large paddock instead. Let's hope he stays a happy, healthy, sane, fattened up, and un-injured horse for awhile!
We had a blast! Much more challenging trail than I had planned, but they both did well. We even convinced them to go into the lake up to their knees! So fun, and I've already booked another friend to come out this Saturday! If I could spend at least one day a week on the trail between now and when I sell Lola, I will count this whole working to keep up two horses thing as worth it!
Tonight we had another good "post lesson" ride. I cantered him, which was a blast because its the thing that he's so good at and I have to work harder with Lola with that (but then again she stops on a dime...) They all have their strengths and weaknesses.... Anyway, it was fun, and I'm exhausted, so it must be time for bed.
Two big new flashes:
His feet seem to be too big for the "most awesome and too damn expensive" easy boot slip on's that I bought him last fall. Grrr.... He did fine on the trail though without them.
I can't see his ribs anymore!!! I realized today, that although I can still feel them, I can't see his ribs! Amazing what two weeks will do! He'll be a whole new horse in another two weeks. He doesn't seem to have any problems with the fact that he's not in pasture... Although now that I think about it, he did buck some good ones on the lunge line... So I'll start over... With regular turn out in the huge outdoor arena where he can play and be silly like he would in pasture, I don't see any drawbacks to having him in a large paddock instead. Let's hope he stays a happy, healthy, sane, fattened up, and un-injured horse for awhile!
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