You know what makes a girl (this girl, anyway) very, very happy and very, very proud?
This. [can't insert the picture because they won't let me!]
And this.
Long-time readers, recognize that face?
Yep, that's my Rhapsody girl! (Click here for all the stories...)
(And yes, I have been sleuthing the interwebs ever since I left that barn to try and figure out what became of her...)
Going off the bright new halter and the girl-riding-who-I-never-met, I'm guessing that's her new owner.
I'm going to go with that anyway.
Because if any of my ponies can sell on to a teenage girl who needs a friend and if they will let her play around in a halter bareback, then I'm very, very happy and proud!
Showing posts with label Arabians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabians. Show all posts
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Three Babies
Sooo, promised an update on my new projects! Well I don't have any pictures (I know, shame shame), but here is the back story!
They belong to a private school for boys with ADD/ADHD and/or behavior problems. I found them by responding to an ad on my college job board for "volunteer horse training and maintenance." Called because I couldn't imagine anyone just posting a random ad for such things, and because I couldn't imagine anyone else picking them up as a project at this time of the semester. Then discovered that there were three babies--and I mean baby babies, the oldest is barely three, the youngest right about a yearling--two of which were (still are, but for a limited time!) stud colts. And there's nobody there who knows anything about horses period, let alone baby horses. Woowweee, fun fun fun.
So a week ago Sunday was my "eval" trip, to see if I thought I could handle this or if it was quite beyond me. Turns out there is one kid at the school that knows a little bit about horses in general and has been working with them. Mostly consisting of giving them treats and petting them and getting them used to halters/picking up feet/etc. Not a bad start, except that now they have NO concept of staying out of one's personal space, or doing anything else in fact except eating. The filly (oldest and most definitely the boss) will tie and lead (sort of, except when she doesn't) and usually deal with having her face pulled into all kinds of contortions with the halter and lead-rope-reins (again, except when she doesn't), but the colts won't do much unless the others are nearby, and don't do a whole lot even then.
But none of them are dangerous, so I said sure, I'll come up once a month or so and help you as long as the boys are gelded and someone's willing to work with them when I'm not there. Will be interesting! I won't be getting anywhere unless this kid, J, and his friend are willing to join in and do the footwork, so we'll see. First day we worked on moving off pressure and handling scary things appropriately. Now we are taking some video of River so they can understand what is supposed to be and to help them remember somewhat of how to get there. Though the Beast isn't perfect, he's pretty good these days, and demonstrates the need for all these skills quite well--nothing like getting run over by a 1200-lb. critter to convince you that your horse does need to learn to move when you tell him to...
He is not impressed by the videoing--thinks it's eternally boring. Lol. I did get his feet trimmed this week, though, and he is sounder than ever before, even on the little (quarter- to half-inch) gravel. Woot!
They belong to a private school for boys with ADD/ADHD and/or behavior problems. I found them by responding to an ad on my college job board for "volunteer horse training and maintenance." Called because I couldn't imagine anyone just posting a random ad for such things, and because I couldn't imagine anyone else picking them up as a project at this time of the semester. Then discovered that there were three babies--and I mean baby babies, the oldest is barely three, the youngest right about a yearling--two of which were (still are, but for a limited time!) stud colts. And there's nobody there who knows anything about horses period, let alone baby horses. Woowweee, fun fun fun.
So a week ago Sunday was my "eval" trip, to see if I thought I could handle this or if it was quite beyond me. Turns out there is one kid at the school that knows a little bit about horses in general and has been working with them. Mostly consisting of giving them treats and petting them and getting them used to halters/picking up feet/etc. Not a bad start, except that now they have NO concept of staying out of one's personal space, or doing anything else in fact except eating. The filly (oldest and most definitely the boss) will tie and lead (sort of, except when she doesn't) and usually deal with having her face pulled into all kinds of contortions with the halter and lead-rope-reins (again, except when she doesn't), but the colts won't do much unless the others are nearby, and don't do a whole lot even then.
But none of them are dangerous, so I said sure, I'll come up once a month or so and help you as long as the boys are gelded and someone's willing to work with them when I'm not there. Will be interesting! I won't be getting anywhere unless this kid, J, and his friend are willing to join in and do the footwork, so we'll see. First day we worked on moving off pressure and handling scary things appropriately. Now we are taking some video of River so they can understand what is supposed to be and to help them remember somewhat of how to get there. Though the Beast isn't perfect, he's pretty good these days, and demonstrates the need for all these skills quite well--nothing like getting run over by a 1200-lb. critter to convince you that your horse does need to learn to move when you tell him to...
He is not impressed by the videoing--thinks it's eternally boring. Lol. I did get his feet trimmed this week, though, and he is sounder than ever before, even on the little (quarter- to half-inch) gravel. Woot!
Friday, October 11, 2013
Crazy
Crazy crazy week! I rode a grand total of once this week, went out to see the Buddy every night though. His back seems a bit sore so perhaps it's just as well I didn't ride too much. I'm worried the saddle might be making him sore but it's not like he's being ridden a whole lot, so perhaps it's just that he's missing his massages or maybe he tweaked it in the pasture...guess we'll see.
Anyway, rundown of the Week in Horses, bullet-point form (more to come later, I hope!):
- Sunday: Went and did an eval visit on three new project babies (YAY Arab babies!) that I've taken on as a volunteer job
- Monday: Fed pony, not much else as I had an evening appointment. Sent off my Christmas wish list to whoever-wants-to-buy-me-stuff. :D
- Tuesday: Fed pony again, again not much else because of evening appointment.
- Wednesday: Lunged to try out a new riding spot, and rode in the arena. Discovered the footing in said arena is now nearly irreparably nasty. So much for that.
- Thursday: River and I had our film debut!...or something. Groundwork video project begins (more on that later). We discovered River is not the most photogenic beast when it comes to standing still for the video camera, haha.
- Today: Fed, not much else--another evening appointment!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
First Pony-Shopping Expeditions!
Yesterday I went and looked at this guy:
He's a 13-year-old Arab who lives at the farm I'd ideally be boarding at.
He has been doing some basic dressage training and is absolutely. gorgeous. despite being a little on the chubby side at the moment!
He was a bit spooky, not too bad, definitely something I could ride out, but I'm not sure I want to bring him home. If I were looking for a project horse, I'd probably pick him up, but as my own horse...? If I were looking for a dressage horse, I'd probably be a lot more interested. He'd be a pretty stunning dressage pony, and really relaxes and settles in when you ask him to give and get on the bit a little. Jumps on the other hand were rather fearful sorts of creations. ;)
Today I went out and looked at another potential board situation. Really, really liked it. You work some and pay some and it really helps the cost. I liked the owner/manager lady and the barn, while not brand-new and high-tech, is nice and clean and has fans (!!) and is generally a nice setup. Plus they have a humongous covered arena!!! YAY for covered arenas! And it's between 10 and 15 minutes from my house, so not far at all. So tentatively planning on that being the new home for the Mystery Horse. :) There's another potential also, but it's further away.
Getting closer, anyway! :)
He's a 13-year-old Arab who lives at the farm I'd ideally be boarding at.
He has been doing some basic dressage training and is absolutely. gorgeous. despite being a little on the chubby side at the moment!
He was a bit spooky, not too bad, definitely something I could ride out, but I'm not sure I want to bring him home. If I were looking for a project horse, I'd probably pick him up, but as my own horse...? If I were looking for a dressage horse, I'd probably be a lot more interested. He'd be a pretty stunning dressage pony, and really relaxes and settles in when you ask him to give and get on the bit a little. Jumps on the other hand were rather fearful sorts of creations. ;)
Today I went out and looked at another potential board situation. Really, really liked it. You work some and pay some and it really helps the cost. I liked the owner/manager lady and the barn, while not brand-new and high-tech, is nice and clean and has fans (!!) and is generally a nice setup. Plus they have a humongous covered arena!!! YAY for covered arenas! And it's between 10 and 15 minutes from my house, so not far at all. So tentatively planning on that being the new home for the Mystery Horse. :) There's another potential also, but it's further away.
Getting closer, anyway! :)
Friday, May 17, 2013
Goodbye, Hello
(and a long catch-up post)
Goodbye: I have left the barn I was riding at. In some ways it was a hard decision and in other ways easy. There are certain things and certain attitudes I will not work with, and when those things aren't changed and I am expected to go along and/or agree with them, I can't stay. Plus my schedule is super busy. I'm working a job and a half this summer, and next school year thinking about working three jobs to get the hours I need. Plus 16 credits of school and an additional 5-plus hours a week of field experience for my education classes. Adding all those up and deciding I was tired (in more ways than one!) was the easy part.
The hard part, of course, was leaving my babies, and leaving the free "miles" I was getting. But Rhapsody, anyway, is scheduled to go into (advanced-intermediate, I hope) lessons this summer, and Brandi and Farewell could do the same (once Farewell is feeling better, but that's another issue). Paradox is staying as a broodmare. Surge is the only one left, but the folks that bought Fringe were possibly interested in picking up Surge as well, last I heard. As far as my riding, we'll find something. Which leads me to the next part,
Hello!
All this time I have been continuing to take lessons with my coach over at her place, just not advertising it to the world. ;) First we were getting ready for my first combined event (cue much excited screaming and jumping around), but then it got cancelled because of too few entries. So then we were going to this great big hunter show two hours away, but then we decided perhaps not the wisest thing to do for our first time out, and besides the horses look kind of rough (Coach kindly did not mention me, which definitely would look a bit "rough" too! lol). So then we were going XC schooling with a couple other people this Sunday, but it's going to rain. Bummer. Lol. So now it's just lessons and maybe we'll go school XC later this summer. I dearly hope so. :) :) I'm jumping around 2'3 to 2'6 now at the highest and it is SO so so much fun. Oh I love to jump. Lol.
Coach also has a horse in training that I could potentially exercise ride, and I'm going to be contacting friends who are "in" the horse world in this area to see if they know of anything.
The really potentially exciting thing is, though....wait for it..........
I CAN AFFORD MY OWN!!!!!!!!!!!!
My accountant mom crunched all the numbers and she says it's possible, so that means it IS possible! Cue MUCH excited screaming and jumping around! And then getting freaked out! Lol, so I called Coach last night and we talked. She is all for it, though she'd like me to take the horse on something of an extended trial before actually buying it, of course. The major problem right now is I don't have a guaranteed place for a horse if we found one. There's a barn nearby (like 10 minutes nearby!) that I would love to board at, but they don't have openings at the moment. However, we are on the edge of the country so to speak, and there is a regular farm just down the road with lots of fields. Also I have a couple friends that have boarded horses in the past and might still be willing to. It wouldn't be ideal but it might be something in case I found Mr./Ms. Perfect Horse and the other barn hadn't opened up yet.
In the meantime I'm "window shopping," so to speak. Post coming soon on what I think I want. Yikes never thought I'd see the day I'd do this. :D
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| Bye-bye babies |
The hard part, of course, was leaving my babies, and leaving the free "miles" I was getting. But Rhapsody, anyway, is scheduled to go into (advanced-intermediate, I hope) lessons this summer, and Brandi and Farewell could do the same (once Farewell is feeling better, but that's another issue). Paradox is staying as a broodmare. Surge is the only one left, but the folks that bought Fringe were possibly interested in picking up Surge as well, last I heard. As far as my riding, we'll find something. Which leads me to the next part,
Hello!
All this time I have been continuing to take lessons with my coach over at her place, just not advertising it to the world. ;) First we were getting ready for my first combined event (cue much excited screaming and jumping around), but then it got cancelled because of too few entries. So then we were going to this great big hunter show two hours away, but then we decided perhaps not the wisest thing to do for our first time out, and besides the horses look kind of rough (Coach kindly did not mention me, which definitely would look a bit "rough" too! lol). So then we were going XC schooling with a couple other people this Sunday, but it's going to rain. Bummer. Lol. So now it's just lessons and maybe we'll go school XC later this summer. I dearly hope so. :) :) I'm jumping around 2'3 to 2'6 now at the highest and it is SO so so much fun. Oh I love to jump. Lol.
Coach also has a horse in training that I could potentially exercise ride, and I'm going to be contacting friends who are "in" the horse world in this area to see if they know of anything.
The really potentially exciting thing is, though....wait for it..........
I CAN AFFORD MY OWN!!!!!!!!!!!!
My accountant mom crunched all the numbers and she says it's possible, so that means it IS possible! Cue MUCH excited screaming and jumping around! And then getting freaked out! Lol, so I called Coach last night and we talked. She is all for it, though she'd like me to take the horse on something of an extended trial before actually buying it, of course. The major problem right now is I don't have a guaranteed place for a horse if we found one. There's a barn nearby (like 10 minutes nearby!) that I would love to board at, but they don't have openings at the moment. However, we are on the edge of the country so to speak, and there is a regular farm just down the road with lots of fields. Also I have a couple friends that have boarded horses in the past and might still be willing to. It wouldn't be ideal but it might be something in case I found Mr./Ms. Perfect Horse and the other barn hadn't opened up yet.
In the meantime I'm "window shopping," so to speak. Post coming soon on what I think I want. Yikes never thought I'd see the day I'd do this. :D
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Blogging Is Great, and Rhapsody Is Too
So first I just want to say y'all are awesome. :) I have really been thrown into the deep end with this exercise riding/basic training; Coach has had to leave (did I say that already?) so I don't get her on-site expertise, and while Instructor D is happy to have me ride, neither she nor anyone else wants to ride or really even touch (lol) the babies. So I am very very much on my own with not a great deal of training in how to train--about six months with the Coach.
I'm not complaining; if you'll tell me how to swim, or if I can figure it out myself, I learn best just getting thrown in over my head. I love the challenge, and it's a fantastic way to build saddle time for free! But sometimes a bit of commiseration, even in the virtual world, is very nice. :) When people have more ideas and/or experience than I do, so much the merrier!
(Everyone at the barn just seems to think I have more guts than brains. Which is most likely true...teehee...)
Yesterday I rode Rhapsody. She was really very good for having had about a week and a half off--even let me get on bareback off the fence! I groomed her a little at the car, rode her bareback up to the barn, gave her another quick once-over, put the tack on, did a walk/trot ride in the arena, and then rode her back out to the pasture again. Brought the tack back up in my car. Yay cars! Haha. It worked well and gave me nearly an hour of ride time instead of the 20 minutes I might have had otherwise. We worked a little over poles. She went nicely over a ground pole, but when we raised one end she thought very hard about running out. Second time was better though she was not what I'd call calm over it. We'll just have to rinse and repeat a lot, get her used to it, and move up the levels very slowly so she doesn't ever feel like she has to run out. She's an honest horse, not one to refuse just on basis of being naughty, so I think she'll end up going well. It'll just take a bit. She has come so so far though! Used to be she went crazy with just a couple days off.
Her pasture is next to a subdivision, and the horses have conned an older couple who live in a neighboring house into coming over to the fence and giving them alfalfa cubes every night before supper! Lol I happened in on it when I went to get her. Lovely couple, and I don't complain--they're helping put weight back on my ponies! :)
I'm not complaining; if you'll tell me how to swim, or if I can figure it out myself, I learn best just getting thrown in over my head. I love the challenge, and it's a fantastic way to build saddle time for free! But sometimes a bit of commiseration, even in the virtual world, is very nice. :) When people have more ideas and/or experience than I do, so much the merrier!
(Everyone at the barn just seems to think I have more guts than brains. Which is most likely true...teehee...)
Yesterday I rode Rhapsody. She was really very good for having had about a week and a half off--even let me get on bareback off the fence! I groomed her a little at the car, rode her bareback up to the barn, gave her another quick once-over, put the tack on, did a walk/trot ride in the arena, and then rode her back out to the pasture again. Brought the tack back up in my car. Yay cars! Haha. It worked well and gave me nearly an hour of ride time instead of the 20 minutes I might have had otherwise. We worked a little over poles. She went nicely over a ground pole, but when we raised one end she thought very hard about running out. Second time was better though she was not what I'd call calm over it. We'll just have to rinse and repeat a lot, get her used to it, and move up the levels very slowly so she doesn't ever feel like she has to run out. She's an honest horse, not one to refuse just on basis of being naughty, so I think she'll end up going well. It'll just take a bit. She has come so so far though! Used to be she went crazy with just a couple days off.
Her pasture is next to a subdivision, and the horses have conned an older couple who live in a neighboring house into coming over to the fence and giving them alfalfa cubes every night before supper! Lol I happened in on it when I went to get her. Lovely couple, and I don't complain--they're helping put weight back on my ponies! :)
Sunday, May 5, 2013
7 Habits
http://watapama.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/the-ten-habits-of-highly-effective-dressage-riders/
It says dressage riders, but I think it applies to everyone. Some thoughts for life in general, too. ;)
It says dressage riders, but I think it applies to everyone. Some thoughts for life in general, too. ;)
Thursday, May 2, 2013
A Funny Thing & a Choice
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| Boss mare says "Back off!" [image from Google] |
Not now! There are about 6 other horses in her field now, and every other time I see her, she is ordering someone else to move here, get over there, and most particularly, "Get out of my way so I can go see My Human" (a.k.a. me)!
Makes you feel loved anyway, in an odd sort of way. :P Once out of the pasture, and always when interacting with me, she is Ms. Perfect Manners.
I have made the decision not to even look at buying her. It was a hard choice to come to but I'm graduating in two years and have no idea where I might be going or what I might be doing or what my pay might be like. I would feel terrible to develop that close of a relationship for two years (because with her, it would be close, I know it) and then have to just sell her on because I couldn't keep her.
It hurts, yeah of course it does. I love that little horse. But it is a good thing to know where I'm headed. Now I can just focus on bringing her up to the best of our ability, and hope and pray the right person comes along to buy her. The time will come for me, it's just not right now.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Dose of Cuteness
Since I haven't had any pictures in close to forever, I thought I would give you this barrage of pictures of the Rhapsody.
Being scared someone would buy her, I took lots of pictures last week. Some of them actually turned out.
She is the most "yawn-ie" horse I have ever met!
THAT FACE!! Adfawelafjsdk I love this horse. I should stop putting up all these pictures. Somebody's going to buy her, and my heart's just going to get torn out. I keep scheming ways to make her seem terrible so nobody else will want her, but I'm coming up with fewer and fewer as time goes on! Two years. Two more years and I can buy her myself, hypothetically. Suppose I can keep her in training that long? Unlikely to say the least, I know...
Being scared someone would buy her, I took lots of pictures last week. Some of them actually turned out.
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| Practicing the cross-ties. "WHAT are you doing?!?" |
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| Oh look, the ears DO come up! |
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| "Umm...this isn't normal groundwork..." |
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| Yawn |
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| YAAWWWNNNN |
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| "Who, me? I'm just Miss Adorable..." |
Brandi Ride
Rode Brandi on Monday. She was overall quite good, though it becomes even more obvious that she really prefers the left lead. We had one right-lead canter in the whole hour we rode (and we stopped on that note as a walk/stop break is a big reward for her). Left lead, though, she picked up right away every time.
We worked on sustaining gait. She has a million and twenty-nine evasions but they're all mostly variations on a theme (I will bob my head! I will throw my head around like a ninny! I will wiggle around like a worm! I will bob my head, throw my head around like a ninny, wiggle, and dive into the center ALL at the same time!), and not too bad to ride. I just brought the jumping crop this time but next time I think I'll bring the dressage whip and really work on moving off fairly light cues. Right now I have to kick pretty good from time to time to get/keep her going, and I don't like that. I do think she will make a great kids' horse someday--she has just that touch of stubborn and smart I like to see for kids, and she's not very spooky even though she's so young and inexperienced--so I don't want to get her too sharp off the leg, but she's got to be better than she is.
Funny girl has already learned where the gate is, and that center = stop (not in my book, but when she's been ridden by others), and after I stopped once to get a drink, she offered to stand at my water bottle every time we passed it on the rail! Haha goose.
But we did get a nice sustained left-lead canter, and that one right-lead canter for a few strides. I think groundwork is in order to teach her to move off the leg, so I can make it easier for her to figure out what lead to take. As soon as I get out of school I want to set aside all Friday afternoon as "groundwork day" for everyone. I'll ride after work on the other days, but that way everybody will get the groundwork they need!
We worked on sustaining gait. She has a million and twenty-nine evasions but they're all mostly variations on a theme (I will bob my head! I will throw my head around like a ninny! I will wiggle around like a worm! I will bob my head, throw my head around like a ninny, wiggle, and dive into the center ALL at the same time!), and not too bad to ride. I just brought the jumping crop this time but next time I think I'll bring the dressage whip and really work on moving off fairly light cues. Right now I have to kick pretty good from time to time to get/keep her going, and I don't like that. I do think she will make a great kids' horse someday--she has just that touch of stubborn and smart I like to see for kids, and she's not very spooky even though she's so young and inexperienced--so I don't want to get her too sharp off the leg, but she's got to be better than she is.
Funny girl has already learned where the gate is, and that center = stop (not in my book, but when she's been ridden by others), and after I stopped once to get a drink, she offered to stand at my water bottle every time we passed it on the rail! Haha goose.
But we did get a nice sustained left-lead canter, and that one right-lead canter for a few strides. I think groundwork is in order to teach her to move off the leg, so I can make it easier for her to figure out what lead to take. As soon as I get out of school I want to set aside all Friday afternoon as "groundwork day" for everyone. I'll ride after work on the other days, but that way everybody will get the groundwork they need!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
One Less Pony
Well Fringe sold yesterday! Pretty excited that my first project now has a home of her own!The folks who bought her were supposed to look at Rhapsody too, but apparently they didn't end up looking at her at all, they were taken enough with Fringe. I've no problem with that. ;)
Instructor D says that they had Rhapsody tied up at the barn for three hours during a very busy lesson time, though, and she was apparently fantastic with the kids and the bustle and everything. Yay yay girly!
Apparently she was hard to catch though. Bad girl. But I am not sure what to do with that as she is stuck like glue to me all the time. She whinnies and heads over to the gate as soon as she sees me approach the pasture. Sooo I don't know how to fix her catching issues myself. At least she is catchable.
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| And I still have this face to see :D |
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Untitled Post :)
Nothing incredibly new on the horse front. :) Apparently instructor D either forgot or decided not to watch us ride on Wednesday, so the girls and I were all by ourselves while her lessons worked in the big pasture and the jump arena. So I put in 45 minutes on Rhapsody, with a nice long walk warm up, a lot of trot, and some canter transitions. I started letting her reach down a fair ways, then gently holding the reins with an elastic contact, and frequently she stayed there "on" the bit (not really on the bit, but accepting it nicely) for several strides. Also discovered that her canter is "lofty" and free-moving enough that I may have been accidentally letting her canter on the wrong lead--just glancing down, you see front hooves on both sides! Oops! Of course I should be able to just feel for the leads, but I can't always. I make excuses that she's too unbalanced, and that's true, but still. I need to improve my feel for both diagonals and leads. But, first of all, make sure she's going on the right lead to begin with! We don't want to start bad habits on both our parts!
Rhapsody did, however, get a nice compliment from my friend R, who although two years younger than me, is a much better rider (or I think he is anyway), and a trainer in his own right. So I was pleased with that. I'm tickled to bits with her progress, but it's nice to hear that other people can see it too! I wonder if that trot will ever get old. I suppose when we "harness" her canter, that will be pretty amazing too, but right now it's a ways from getting harnessed in any way. ;) Think warhorse Arabian thundering across desert sands--flagging tail and all. Hehe silly goose. For now we ride it, and play with half-halts. Happily she just likes to go, and so we have almost no problems with bucking or otherwise goofing off in canter.
Surge got some groundwork and was very good until she spooked and then decided to put on her best snorty-fiery-halter-horse impersonation. Heh. So I turned her loose in the empty arena and told her to get it out of her system. She gallumphed around a bit, snorting at me whenever she stopped (why at me, silly girl, I'm not the one who spooked you!) and then I caught her and we did a bit more groundwork and went up to the barn without running over anyone. I'm still on the fence about how to best get her to calm down--whether to encourage her to run and goof off and get it out of her system (when possible of course), or to focus on calm, steady, "staying-still" work. I'll just have to experiment with it I guess. Probably some of both and I'll just have to figure out how much is too much on either count. Finding things to really keep her mind busy would help too I think.
Rhapsody did, however, get a nice compliment from my friend R, who although two years younger than me, is a much better rider (or I think he is anyway), and a trainer in his own right. So I was pleased with that. I'm tickled to bits with her progress, but it's nice to hear that other people can see it too! I wonder if that trot will ever get old. I suppose when we "harness" her canter, that will be pretty amazing too, but right now it's a ways from getting harnessed in any way. ;) Think warhorse Arabian thundering across desert sands--flagging tail and all. Hehe silly goose. For now we ride it, and play with half-halts. Happily she just likes to go, and so we have almost no problems with bucking or otherwise goofing off in canter.
Surge got some groundwork and was very good until she spooked and then decided to put on her best snorty-fiery-halter-horse impersonation. Heh. So I turned her loose in the empty arena and told her to get it out of her system. She gallumphed around a bit, snorting at me whenever she stopped (why at me, silly girl, I'm not the one who spooked you!) and then I caught her and we did a bit more groundwork and went up to the barn without running over anyone. I'm still on the fence about how to best get her to calm down--whether to encourage her to run and goof off and get it out of her system (when possible of course), or to focus on calm, steady, "staying-still" work. I'll just have to experiment with it I guess. Probably some of both and I'll just have to figure out how much is too much on either count. Finding things to really keep her mind busy would help too I think.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
New Challenge
Instructor D said that she would like to see me ride Rhapsody and Surge on Wednesday, and possibly take some pictures for Rhapsody's sale ads. (Boo... :'( lol) Me being me, I promptly freaked out that the girls would turn into crazy monsters on Wednesday, so yesterday (Monday) I did a "dry run," pulling them both out and hopping on without groundwork or any other such thing besides a thorough grooming.
Rhapsody lived up to her recent loveliness and was a star. We had a nice relaxed walk and quite a lot of stretchy"ish" trot. I'm going to have to start picking her nose up a little before she rubs it raw dragging it in the dirt! ;) Canter is still a work in progress; she knows not to scoot into it like she's leaving the starting gate, but she doesn't know how to transition to canter without scooting. So right now she trots incredibly fast for a long, long time, and then canters rather awkwardly and can't sustain it. Lol. We'll be working on those trot-canter transitions a lot more now that her trot is solid and relaxed. Also I need to work on giving to the bit and backing up. She doesn't back much and I think that's an important skill every horse should be able to do some at least. And she needs to learn to change "gears" in canter, instead of just going as fast as she possibly can. So lots to work on, but she is being really lovely about it.
Surge however is going to be my new challenge. :) She was okay at walk and trot--not relaxed per se, but not scooty or spooky--so I asked for a canter. She transitioned, took about two strides, and promptly bucked. Then she threw her head down, snaked it around, and kicked out/bucked some more before I grabbed her and informed her no mas of that. (Prior to that I was focused on staying on! lol) I brought her down to a trot, waited till she was a bit more relaxed, and tried again--same result. So I hopped off and lunged her to see if it was me doing something--nope, same thing. And I remembered that she'd done the same things without any tack on, so it wasn't a tack fit issue. Well well fun times. I got back on and did some more walk/trot without too much of an incident (just snaking her head around once or twice) and called it a day. Decided if instructor D wants to see her cantered on Wednesday, I can lunge her or D is quite welcome to canter her herself! ;)
Still pondering the best way to respond to that. A martingale of course is a quick fix for the head tossing, and I may yet do that just to help me stay on. But really she is just "pushing" me in all kinds of ways, in the saddle and out, so I think I need to do a lot more groundwork and walk/trot and work on respecting me. And forward work. She was occasionally balking at moving out even in trot. So we'll see just how to implement those ideas. Thoughts welcome. :) For myself, my stupid lower leg was all over the place yesterday. Argh! I tend to lean towards a "chair seat" and my leg has a mind of its own I believe. I need some good two-point, standing in the stirrups, and no-stirrups posting trot to get it back in control!
Rhapsody lived up to her recent loveliness and was a star. We had a nice relaxed walk and quite a lot of stretchy"ish" trot. I'm going to have to start picking her nose up a little before she rubs it raw dragging it in the dirt! ;) Canter is still a work in progress; she knows not to scoot into it like she's leaving the starting gate, but she doesn't know how to transition to canter without scooting. So right now she trots incredibly fast for a long, long time, and then canters rather awkwardly and can't sustain it. Lol. We'll be working on those trot-canter transitions a lot more now that her trot is solid and relaxed. Also I need to work on giving to the bit and backing up. She doesn't back much and I think that's an important skill every horse should be able to do some at least. And she needs to learn to change "gears" in canter, instead of just going as fast as she possibly can. So lots to work on, but she is being really lovely about it.
Surge however is going to be my new challenge. :) She was okay at walk and trot--not relaxed per se, but not scooty or spooky--so I asked for a canter. She transitioned, took about two strides, and promptly bucked. Then she threw her head down, snaked it around, and kicked out/bucked some more before I grabbed her and informed her no mas of that. (Prior to that I was focused on staying on! lol) I brought her down to a trot, waited till she was a bit more relaxed, and tried again--same result. So I hopped off and lunged her to see if it was me doing something--nope, same thing. And I remembered that she'd done the same things without any tack on, so it wasn't a tack fit issue. Well well fun times. I got back on and did some more walk/trot without too much of an incident (just snaking her head around once or twice) and called it a day. Decided if instructor D wants to see her cantered on Wednesday, I can lunge her or D is quite welcome to canter her herself! ;)
Still pondering the best way to respond to that. A martingale of course is a quick fix for the head tossing, and I may yet do that just to help me stay on. But really she is just "pushing" me in all kinds of ways, in the saddle and out, so I think I need to do a lot more groundwork and walk/trot and work on respecting me. And forward work. She was occasionally balking at moving out even in trot. So we'll see just how to implement those ideas. Thoughts welcome. :) For myself, my stupid lower leg was all over the place yesterday. Argh! I tend to lean towards a "chair seat" and my leg has a mind of its own I believe. I need some good two-point, standing in the stirrups, and no-stirrups posting trot to get it back in control!
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Bareback
Rode Rhapsody bareback in a halter for the first time yesterday!
I was burned out and exhausted after the week and decided all I really wanted was to love on a pony. So I pulled Rhapsody out and after I groomed her up we did groundwork a while and then I got on bareback in the round pen.
She did super good really. I wish I had pictures! She didn't like the pressure from the rope halter--kept swishing her tail and pulling against it. Next time I'll try with a regular nylon one and see if that helps. But she stopped, turned, walked both ways, and was good. Afterwards I put a regular bridle on and rode her bareback down to her pasture. We met the farm owner on the Pony-Eating Gator of Death and though she jigged sideways and was jittery for a bit afterwards, we didn't have any major issues. Yay! One step closer to my goal of bareback and bridle-less! :)
I was burned out and exhausted after the week and decided all I really wanted was to love on a pony. So I pulled Rhapsody out and after I groomed her up we did groundwork a while and then I got on bareback in the round pen.
She did super good really. I wish I had pictures! She didn't like the pressure from the rope halter--kept swishing her tail and pulling against it. Next time I'll try with a regular nylon one and see if that helps. But she stopped, turned, walked both ways, and was good. Afterwards I put a regular bridle on and rode her bareback down to her pasture. We met the farm owner on the Pony-Eating Gator of Death and though she jigged sideways and was jittery for a bit afterwards, we didn't have any major issues. Yay! One step closer to my goal of bareback and bridle-less! :)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Week's Rides
I have no idea why Blogger has decided I only want one post at a time on my blog! So frustrating!
Okay. For the training diaries. Last Friday I was feeling quite meh because of my sickness plus it was frigid cold. So I stayed home. This week though I have been out twice and hopefully going out again tomorrow. Monday it was frigid cold anyways! Felt like Christmas and my fingers just about came off!
However I did get quick rides in on Rhapsody and Surge, and a fair bit of groundwork with Surge. She was hyper and super distracted and all she wanted to do was gallop around, throw her head around, and stick her nose over the round pen to scream for her old friend in the next pasture over (who she never was really friends with anyways). Arrgh mares. However with a lot of groundwork on respecting and listening to me, she settled down to the point where I felt comfortable getting on and walking her round, bending both directions, and getting off. Must say I'm rather proud of myself for being able to work her through that. :) Rhapsody was very good; we did walk and trot and though she wasn't as relaxed and stretchy as last time, we still got some nice intermittent trot stretches and went by some scary things--the mounting block where it wasn't supposed to be, people walking around by the arena, and a clipboard on the side of the arena with papers blowing--with nothing more than a sidewise look and an attempt to give them a wide berth. She tried hard in a distracting environment and I was proud of her.
Wednesday was much warmer (thank heavens) and I just rode Fringe as I (thought I) had an evening appointment. Instructor D was giving a showmanship lesson, so staying out of the way of that kept us busy. We still managed some nice walk/trot work though, and then we went on a trail ride out almost to the river. Fringe was very good and only got nervous on the way back when one of the little girls was playing in the run-in sheds and chute area alongside the road. Can't say I really blame her for not being sure of that. We worked through it and she was good. Tomorrow it's back to Rhapsody and Surge again, provided it doesn't rain!
Okay. For the training diaries. Last Friday I was feeling quite meh because of my sickness plus it was frigid cold. So I stayed home. This week though I have been out twice and hopefully going out again tomorrow. Monday it was frigid cold anyways! Felt like Christmas and my fingers just about came off!
However I did get quick rides in on Rhapsody and Surge, and a fair bit of groundwork with Surge. She was hyper and super distracted and all she wanted to do was gallop around, throw her head around, and stick her nose over the round pen to scream for her old friend in the next pasture over (who she never was really friends with anyways). Arrgh mares. However with a lot of groundwork on respecting and listening to me, she settled down to the point where I felt comfortable getting on and walking her round, bending both directions, and getting off. Must say I'm rather proud of myself for being able to work her through that. :) Rhapsody was very good; we did walk and trot and though she wasn't as relaxed and stretchy as last time, we still got some nice intermittent trot stretches and went by some scary things--the mounting block where it wasn't supposed to be, people walking around by the arena, and a clipboard on the side of the arena with papers blowing--with nothing more than a sidewise look and an attempt to give them a wide berth. She tried hard in a distracting environment and I was proud of her.
Wednesday was much warmer (thank heavens) and I just rode Fringe as I (thought I) had an evening appointment. Instructor D was giving a showmanship lesson, so staying out of the way of that kept us busy. We still managed some nice walk/trot work though, and then we went on a trail ride out almost to the river. Fringe was very good and only got nervous on the way back when one of the little girls was playing in the run-in sheds and chute area alongside the road. Can't say I really blame her for not being sure of that. We worked through it and she was good. Tomorrow it's back to Rhapsody and Surge again, provided it doesn't rain!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
In Which I Learn to Go Fast!
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| Boing! (image from Google) |
Disclaimer: I love to go fast. Always have. But I forgot how to do it during my year or so of trying to learn to ride English properly, and generally failing miserably. Now, having regained my confidence and balance, I'm remembering!
Yesterday was nice but I was coming down with a cold (boo colds) so I just took Brandi for a trail ride. I suppose I shouldn't say "just" because it was her first trail ride, she's only 2 or 3, and we didn't have a lead horse. But we all know by now that I'm an idiot, so I did it anyway. :) We went down to Rhapsody's pasture and back (not ready to hit the scaryness of swing sets and arbors and docks by the river yet), and she was super good! She did freeze solid when we saw another horse coming toward us on the road, lol, but after we stopped and talked to them a bit, everything was okay.
Then I thought I would take Fringe out. We didn't ride with instructor D's lesson today because it was during her usual 2'+ lesson, they were up in the jump arena, there was a good wind blowing, and the jump arena has many goblins. So I just set up a little cross-rail on the diagonal in the small arena. We did our usual walk warmup and then we went into trot. And Fringe decided it was much better to race around at warp speeds with her head in the air like a demented llama. So I decided to play with the same idea I did with Rhapsody on Tuesday. She didn't feel spooky, just distracted and fast, so I put her in canter (since she was refusing to just trot) and we cantered.
Okay, I went into half-seat and we galloped. Or went as fast as one can go in that arena (it's rather small). The only thing I insisted was that she stay in canter until I told her to transition down. She couldn't just galumph down the long side and break in the corner. We went what seemed a long time; probably only a dozen laps at most, but I was worn out from PE class and the afore-mentioned cold, so it seemed a very long time! Super fun though! And when we came down she was calm as you please, responsive to the leg but no more zooms. Just had to get it out of her system I guess. We went on to do some walk with nice head position, a fair bit of not-inverted-and-sometimes-even-stretchy-ish trot, and the crossrail both directions--one way was fine and the other way was very spooky and she tried to run out several times. She never got away with it but we ended up popping over from a dead stop more than once! Finally she decided to jump it and we had a lovely jump with a nice canter off on the right lead!
So we stopped there. I was exhausted--not quite the easy, low-key ride I'd anticipated! :P But that's what comes of riding babies, I guess--you have to be ready to play with the horse that shows up. Tis fun though! And I am so far thoroughly impressed by the results of just "riding as fast as the horse can go." Not saying it would work with every horse, but with my girls so far it's been quite promising! Here's to hoping it stays that way!
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