River Says Hai

This is how a horse is supposed to be caught! ;)



Not much exciting going on at the moment. River Man came down a little lame on Friday so has been enjoying his time off. Seems to be getting better; I think it's perhaps a stone bruise or maybe a little abscess since it does seem to be in his foot. Though from the video (taken this afternoon) you'd never know it!



He will get probably the rest of the week till Friday off, and then we'll start some long slow trail rides and see how he does. At the moment it's hard to tell whether he looks lame"ish" in the round pen because he is lame, or because he's so unbalanced on the teeny-tiny 10-meter circles he insists on trotting (pony would be a pro at the "join-up" thing). We'll see.

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!

Did my two-point on Wednesday, obviously no other day though. Next week I definitely don't plan on having one supervisor in the hospital, interviews coming up in my other job, and two presentations--so it should be a bit calmer and hopefully more productive on the horse front!

Love This Boy

We've been just hanging out this last week and a half, enjoying ourselves, since we don't have any tack (my fault, but I'm loathe to begin saddle-shopping), and since the Boy's feet are sore.

Regarding feet, I decided to hold out a while and see if they improve with proper barefoot trimming. If not, I'll do shoes. We don't plan on doing a lot of competition or such, so that's not a big deal. So far he's progressing slowly but steadily--he's 100% on the grass, even if the ground is hard, and today he was only mildly ouchy on sandy gravel, bark chips, the lumpy arena footing, and the rock-hard barn aisle.  Woo! If he stays barefoot that long, I'll put some boots on his Christmas list just in case. ;)

So we are doing groundwork and hand walks, lots of them. The trails are nice and it's a great experience for him. He LOVES them and power-walks along so that I can hardly keep up, if I let him! Put some steering and brakes on and the boy will be a XC machine someday!

Out for a walk

Also introducing some undemanding time, which the boy currently thinks is nothing worth thinking about, but he'll come around. It's always fun to just chill in the pasture with a herd of horses--you really get insight into the herd dynamics and into the personality of the different horses. Today was the first time for that, and while he stared at me for a very long time from behind a few little trees, he didn't decide to come up and investigate. I think I'll be doing that regularly.

Handsome face

We have an official photographer in the Brother, so that's quite nice. :) I've promised him a ride when River's ready, as payment. Haha. The Brother knows how to ride, so it's not too far in the distance!

I leave for two weeks a week from today, so he'll get a long break. Hopefully he's not a crazy herd-bound maniac when I come back. . .

Second Day

I gave River Saturday off to adjust to the herd and hopefully calm down some. So I headed over again this afternoon before my turn to feed.

The friend who had recommended the barn to me was already there, so I went and caught the boy and brought him in. He called a lot but I had him in the rope halter so he didn't lean on it so much, and he seemed a bit more relaxed. Brought him in and put him in a stall hoping he'd calm down since theoretically he was more used to that. But he just started pacing. So I went and got his grain and fed him, then brought him out and tied him up next to my friend's horse.

Eventually he calmed right down and was very nice. He licked and chewed a LOT, yawned and yawned, and generally let go of a lot of stress. We followed my friend out and hung around while she started teaching a lesson, and I started teaching River the Parelli 7 Games.

Wow.  That is all I have to say.

This horse is SO SMART!

Friendly (desensitizing)--no worries. Porcupine (direct pressure)--yup, got that. Driving (suggestion of pressure)--oh that's the same thing, sure. Circling--okay, great. The only thing we had a problem with was Yo-Yo (backing up and coming forward). He backs fine off pressure, but not off wiggling the lead rope. We'll work on it. I didn't do Squeeze or Sideways because the only fences we had to work on were electric and I didn't want him or me getting shocked!

I feel like I "taught" him nothing. Lol! Either someone else has taught him all this, and done an amazing job (unlikely), or the horse is just crazy smart. It did really help him start using his mind and calm down, though. Eventually we moved away from my friend and her horse and worked on our own where he couldn't see anyone. He called some, then settled down. I put him to work whenever he got antsy, and when he calmed down I told him "Okay" and encouraged him to graze. Pretty soon he was very chill except for the flies--I took him inside the barn and although there was nobody around, he calmed down and let me finish grooming him and everything with no fuss.

He did throw both front shoes sometime between Friday and today. Ugh. But I'm not surprised--it would be a miracle if any shoes stayed on in that pasture. Nice as it is, there are some very muddy spots. It didn't mess up his feet much though, so I weighed my options and turned him back out with plans of calling the farrier ASAP. I think he'll do less damage to himself in the pasture than pacing and being worried in his stall.

Rhapsody Is a Superstar!

Annnd if Blogger will cooperate I took pictures! :)

It's spring break and I have gotten permission to ride pretty much whenever I want, so I headed out early this afternoon to ride or work as many ponies as I could find.

Spring is in the air and the trees are flowering even though it was snowing over the weekend. Lol. Today it was nice and warm and partly sunny though--really felt like spring!

The barn cats got all excited when they saw my car, and as soon as I got out they came trotting over and proceeded to get thoroughly jealous of each other despite the fact that I was petting both of them at the same time! Gotta love the felines... :P

 This is Rafik (well I think that's his name). I call him Rocky. He lives in one of the pastures on the way down to Rhapsody's field. Isn't he the cutest thing? He wanted to investigate my camera.  :) I would take him as a project horse in a heartbeat except that he's owned by a boarder who probably doesn't even know I exist!

 This is a rather bad picture of the girls; they never like to put their ears up at the same time! Rhapsody is far left and Surge on the right. Rhapsody got all prick-eared when she saw me coming to the pasture and headed right over to me, along with Cairo and Surge, yay! I was careful to pet her and "ask" before I haltered her, and she was quite easy to catch today. Surge too, though I don't have to ask her opinion on much...I already know it usually. Lol. I also caught Fringe, mostly to clean her up and make sure her rain rot doesn't recur.

 Grooming time was fun! I ended up with dust all over my eyes, in my nose, and a "dust mustache" on my lip! Ahh springtime. You can see in this picture that Rhapsody was still dusty even after a thorough grooming. And they are all starting to shed!

I took Rhapsody out first since I wanted to have time to do groundwork and ride her. This is my new cheapo rope halter. I wanted to get a picture of how nice the green looks on her, but it was a bit hard as she was being "Velcro pony" and wouldn't get far enough away for me to take a picture!

Our groundwork was great and the ride even better! I took a very light contact (usually I keep a fairly firm hold on her mouth) and stuck a couple fingers in the martingale strap for the sake of hanging on, and she walked round like a trooper, not getting worried or startled except when we unexpectedly came upon a tire sitting in the middle of our path. But that startled me a bit too. I hopped off and we worked with it on the ground, and soon she decided it wasn't to be bothered about.

There was also a new mare in the quarantine pasture running round, screaming from time to time, and acting like a nut. This is of course always somewhat worrying, but to Rhapsody in the past it would've been cause for an all-out nervous breakdown. She was still looky and a bit worried, but listened well and paid attention even so. We did a lot of walk, a fair bit of trot, and some big patterns--circles and figure 8's. Patterns seem to help her relax and start thinking. There were several moments where she really seemed to tune in and begin to "read my mind" as I would think about a move and she would begin it before I thought I'd given any cues! I asked for a little canter at the end, and for once she didn't want to canter! She seemed stiff and didn't get into her usual rhythm at canter, so I didn't push it. We ended with some more walk, pets, and I told her what a good girl she was. Very, very pleased with today!

I did some groundwork with Surge--she still seemed a tiny bit sore and, unlike her buddy, was extremely worried about the new mare--and took all the girls back out. So proud of Rhapsody today! She will get a day off tomorrow, groundwork Wednesday, and hopefully another ride on Friday. Surge will get the week off till Friday, and I'll try to ride Brandi and Fringe on Wednesday. We'll see how that goes!

Learning to Listen...Again!

Well I tried to post earlier today but Blogger was being weird so I gave up. This time I'll leave off all the nice entertaining photos and maybe it'll be better! This is a long post by the way, and no photos because of Blogger's stupidness.  Sad. ;(

I think Rhapsody deserves a better trainer than yours truly. Lol. However she is a very good human-trainer in her own right; I guess we all need the horses that teach us things!

I went out to the barn on Friday and after a little go-round (Rhapsody is still by no means an easy catch) got both Rhapsody and Surge and headed up to the barn.  Well it wasn't that easy. We met the Pony-Eating Gator of Death on the way.  

That was rather a terrifying experience; however Surge was an unexpected trooper so I only had one freaking-out pony. Good girl Surge! On getting to the barn, I belatedly realized I'd left all my stuff (including my rope halter) in the car by the back pasture. Ugh. So I decided to tack up Rhapsody, since she'd been ridden on Thursday, trail ride her to the back pasture, let her go, and drive the car back.  This sounded good except that I forgot two important things.

1. I was still rather tense and emotionally upset from some happenings earlier in the day.
2. Rhapsody despises any kind of pressure, including goal-oriented, high-energy focus that doesn't take her worries into consideration. She's getting much better with this, but I still need to be careful. I know this, but I forgot big-time.

So the whole time I was tacking up I got this sort of look from Rhapsody:

 I was not smart enough to listen however. But then I had my second belated realization--there was nobody around.  Now I may be stupid but I'm not so stupid as to trail ride this horse to the back 40 when no one's in sight. So I pulled off all the tack and decided to do something else. Rhapsody, however, staged a passive revolt. I returned to the stall and what do I see but that she has turned straight around and all I can see is her rear end!

She wasn't eating, wasn't looking out the window--she had her head in the corner and her hiney to me and her whole posture and ear set said plain as could be, "You are being a tense, obnoxious idiot and I refuse to have anything to do with you!"

Oops. 

I coerced her out from the corner with the promise of grain and decided to have a relaxed day. We went out to the arena, did some catching work (with grain treats), and played with the rope around her neck and shoulders--she was starting to get spooky of it again, ugh. Went well, but not much relaxation on her part, though she seemed to have forgiven me at least to a degree.

Then I decided I needed some horse cuddles. Rhapsody is not the usual sort of horse you cuddle with, but she was what I had, so I started scratching her neck and then rested my face against her neck and relaxed, breathed, and tried to "feel" where she was at mentally. 

Almost right off she started licking and chewing--and kept it up for a long time! Then she yawned and yawned and yawned, and licked and chewed some more, and yawned some more, and chewed, and dropped her head way down so that my head was almost on top of her neck! She relaxed her posture, curved her head and neck in toward me a little, and just stayed there. I was astonished to say the least, as I hadn't asked her to do any of this and in fact hadn't even been sure whether she would stand still for me to get that up-close-and-personal with her. We stayed there for a bit, until I stood up and thanked her; then she started grazing. She never, ever grazes in the arena or with a halter and lead on! I just relaxed and we stood there a while until I got cold and she got distracted; then we headed back up to the barn and Surge. 

A very sweet experience though, and reminded me that I have to listen to this horse. She will not take it otherwise. However, that's just what makes her such a good teacher!

Well congratulations to anyone making it to the end of this great epistle. On another note, anybody know anything about endurance? It sounds fun and like a good low-key experience to me, and I think Rhapsody would be good at it, so I'm looking into it but can't find much. Any comments or ideas are welcome! :)

Wild-ish Ride

So on Friday I went and rode. :)  Just Rhapsody because I wanted to do catching groundwork with her as well as riding, and that takes longer. I was super pleased with her catch in the field! She comes right up to me now and isn't shy at all about barging right in with Surge and her big paint gelding boyfriend to get her treat. 

Then we had a great groundwork session.  Took off her halter and everything and did some catching work.  The first couple times I sent her away, she went off in a feisty Arab-y trot, head all arched up, snorting at everything, tail flagged--it was actually kind of cute, lol.  I let her go and after a while backed up to ask her to come in and she came right away and let me put the rope around her neck without any fuss!  She did that a couple times and then decided it wasn't worth it to leave!  I would send her and she'd go a couple yards off, spin around, and ask to come in.  Goosey.  :)  However I don't mind that at the moment.  I really would like to take the catch halter off--it's rubbing her face and making the rain rot on her poll 10 times worse--and I really think I could with no problems, but I'm going to wait till after the farrier comes next Friday.  She really, really needs her feet done--hasn't had them trimmed or even looked at since September or October at least--and I don't want to take any chances. Though I'm 95% sure I can catch her without a halter on, I'm not sure if Coach wants to yet!

I also did some Friendly game (desensitization) at liberty and some Porcupine (direct pressure) and Driving ("air" pressure) games on-line.  Next up is Yo-Yo (backing away and coming back in when asked) and then lungeing/Circling game.  She doesn't understand lungeing very well at all, and I really want to get her lungeing well so I can maybe get some of her jellybeans out before I get on to ride!

However I don't have that option yet, so tacked her up and went out to ride.  She was hot, hot, hot as she hadn't been ridden for a week and a half and the temperature was hovering around 34 degrees F (about 1 degree C).  So she spooked majorly once at the jump blocks--her big spooks consist of a big "teleport" jump sideways, a 180-degree spin, and an attempted bolt, all in about half a second--and she very nearly unseated me; however I somehow stayed on and we went on to trot a lot to wear off the jitters at a faster pace.  She spooks less when she's focused on moving forward.  So we trotted and trotted and trotted--mostly very fast, but now and again more relaxed with a little bit of stretching!--and then cantered a couple times both ways of the arena.  She was in full racing form and making me feel like a jockey with her out-of-the-gate style scooty canter transitions and breakneck speed!  Lol!  It was fun though.  Kept me on my toes making sure she stayed forward and wasn't going to spook at anything in canter. :)

So a bit of a wild ride, but it was fun.  Rhapsody really should get ridden 4-5 times a week at least, to keep her calmer and more relaxed.  Sigh.  If only we could...not even most of the lesson horses get ridden that much.  If I was within bike distance, I'd go over more often, but with a 15-20 minute drive both ways, I can't afford the gas. 

Pictures coming soon!

Rhapsody Week

This last week of break I am designating as my "Rhapsody week" and though I can't really be out there every day (sigh), I'm at least managing to work her three days this week.  So far we are doing really really well!

I went early to lesson on Monday and found Coach had already brought her in (and was quite pleased with herself for doing it too, I must add, lol!).  So instead of trekking 3/4 mile out to the Back of Nowhere pasture where Rhapsody currently lives, I worked her in a groundwork clinic Coach was putting on.  A lot of it was stuff I already knew, but it was nice to have more experienced eyes watching me, and I did learn some new things too.  Then I tacked her up and rode her for my lesson so that if she showed any inclination to do "funny" things, we'd be able to catch them before I'm on my own.  She was rather skittery under saddle, but no major spooks.  We rode walk/trot/canter and even trotted over some ground poles and a little tiny half-crossrail, which she did quite well on considering that she used to trip all over anything on the ground.  Also I got to ride Lucky for one jump, and another girl's new horse, Will, for one jump.  Hehe I think Coach felt she needed to get me over a jump at least a couple times during the lesson!  ;)  It was fun anyway. 

Then today I went back over and caught her myself, after a rather wild time trying to chase off the superbly obnoxious and rather large gelding-that-acts-like-a-stallion that also resides in the Back of Nowhere.  But despite all that she actually came running over to me when I came in!  And she didn't take off for the far corners of the earth when I was chasing Mr. Obnoxious.  Instead I was able to catch her fairly easily and then she followed me happily nearly half the way up to the barn--until the mares came galloping out into their field alongside us and got her all hyper and spooky.  Oh well.  We went up to the barn without any mishap and then I worked her alongside the clinic students again.  This time they were really only doing things we'd already worked on, so I worked with her on lowering her head when I asked, accepting the rope just behind her ears, and lowering her head off light rope pressure behind her ears.  I hope that will help her with haltering; I guess we'll see.  Overall though I was extremely happy with how calm and responsive she was today.  Very nice day of work!

Well my camera battery is dead so no pictures.  Eh I'm going to try and get some more batteries because picture-less posts are boring.  Lol.  Until next time!

Another Project :)

Just can't get enough of them I guess...but at least this one's catchable!

Coach asked me to work Brandy (?? think that's her name??), a little mare just back from the track.  Well, back from training anyway--apparently she did poorly enough in training that they flunked her before she even hit the track proper.  Lol.  Checked with the other instructor, D, just to make sure (since Brandy's officially the project horse of the barn's "junior instructor," J), and she was all for it too.  So it appears that since J is in college and has no time, while I'm in college and create time whether I have it or no, I have myself another of J's project ponies. (Rhapsody was also hers before I came along.)  :)  Here's a picture of Brandy from last time I went out to the mares' pasture...

She's pretty cute, her forelock is all fuzzy like an afro.  Lol.  Also she has brakes like nothing else.  It's crazy.  I close my knees and bam she's stopped.  That took a bit of getting used to, and she's also a bit slow off my leg.  Also I had a terrible time getting her to sustain a canter.  She'd pick it up but break within two or three strides.  Plus she basically doesn't move off pressure (a pet peeve of mine and probably doesn't help the canter issue), she doesn't understand anything about staying on the rail of the arena, she doesn't move off the leg or bend to the rein, and she will not stand still for mounting--I had to kind of jump on midair as she was walking off, since nobody was around to hold her.  Sooo we have plenty to work on.  :)  I rode her a bit on Friday before going and working with Rhapsody.

I'm getting a catch halter on Rhapsody.  Generally I try not to spend money on my project horses, since they aren't mine anyway, but I will buy a catch halter for that horse if I'm to do anything with her!  I'm at the point now where I will do whatever it takes, talk to whoever I have to talk to, get all my friends out to the back field to hold her in a corner while I get her, but she is getting a halter on.  Ha.  I'm tired of playing games; I've got her coming to me and I've got her trusting me fairly well.  She's just spooky of the rope, but I can't desensitize her unless I can keep her in reach.  So that is Major Project #2 for Christmas break.  :)  If I can start second semester with two catchable project horses, I will be a very happy chica.  Lol. 

Oh! and finals are DONE!! YAY!!  I can have a sort of life for the next couple weeks! :D

Self-Torture & Random Pictures :)

First I found the cat in a hay rack...

So having discovered that I have never really had a proper stirrup-less lesson at all three gaits, I decided to invent one for myself.  I headed out to the barn today with the goal of working with Rhapsody a bit and making myself sore. 

And I succeeded!  I also got a whole bunch of random pictures for your entertainment!

Played a different "game" with Rhapsody today, one I pretty much pulled out of the air, though it has some resemblance to the Parelli Catch-Me game and some resemblance to clicker training.  Pretty much I would walk away from her (not very far, 5-10 steps maybe) and if she would follow or come up to me afterwards, then she'd get a treat.  We couldn't have done this before, but after her coming up to me when I went to get Lass for my lesson on Monday, I thought maybe it would work.

It actually kind of did work, I think.

Rhapsody looking grouchy

Okay, you have treats.  Maybe you aren't so bad after all.

Pretty eye

Looking not so sure

We had our moments where she just walked off, when I would follow a little and usually get this face...

Yes, I have decided.  You are evil.  Go away.

 But at the end she seemed to catch on and was following me quite devotedly albeit sometimes with a grouchy face (don't ask me why).  She always put on her nice face to ask for her treats, so I gave them to her.

Then she followed me all the way to the gate without my asking her to at all, and stood there watching me leave.  Everybody say it---AWWWW!

Okay thank you.  That's what I said anyway. 

For as long as I could see her...

It was really kind of sweet though I have no idea what caused it.  Perhaps she likes treats more than I thought she did.  Or maybe, once-in-a-blue-moon maybe, she actually enjoyed our time together.

Then I found le cat again, in another impossible place!

So then I went and caught the Fringe and gave myself my promised no-stirrups ride.  I did start with stirrups just till I figured out what sort of a mood she was going to be in, but dropped them for most of it.  It's good for her training as a kids' horse, anyway; and she was very un-phased by the whole thing.  Proud of her.  :)  Rode walk, posting and sitting trot, and canter with the stirrups crossed over the saddle, and it popped my legs right back to where they were supposed to be and effectively eliminated my bracing on the stirrups.  I think I'm going to ride all my lesson warm-ups without stirrups for a while, till I get my position strengthened up a bit.  I'm quite sure Coach won't mind. 

Sore now.  But happy for it.  Sore is good.  :)

Step Backward

So I followed Rhapsody around the pasture for a good hour on Friday and though we got close to a catch several times, she got progressively more angry with me and with the rope and I ended up just leaving her to her own devices.  Sigh.  Normally I don't say that a horse is "angry" with me but the look on her face was so close to it!  Ha!  It was just her "Leave me alone, I am happy out here, don't touch me" look.  I also am pretty sure she's in heat so that doesn't help much.  Especially since a couple of the geldings in the next pasture are being rather flirtatious with the girls.  I gave them the whole "Give it up, you can't do anything anyway" lecture but of course it did no good.  ;)  Too bad they can't understand what we say!

Rhapsody did let me scratch her with my hand quite a lot though, and let me approach her much more rapidly than before, so I suppose that is good.  Also there were a couple times where she followed me for several steps when I retreated!  Woo!  We'll get to the Catching game yet!

Then rode Lass with a couple friends and she was sound and happy still.  :)  I'm hoping to coerce the Brother out with me to take pictures this afternoon.  I'm supposed to ride her over some baby crossrails and since my general principle is not to jump without a spotter, I'd like someone around if possible.  Besides it's always nice to have pictures. :)

In Which I Act Like an Idiot...

Girls in the field, L-R Lass, Baby, Rhapsody, Dora

I had a brilliant idea for Friday.  Had.  It went as follows:

Rhapsody doesn't like to leave the pasture because she's super herd-bound.
Lass is easy to catch.
I'm supposed to ride Lass walk/trot for 20 minutes to start getting her back into work again after her lameness bout.
Why not catch Rhapsody (provided I can catch Rhapsody), then catch Lass, and take both of them up together?

Marvelous brilliance of me!

Or...something...Halfway down the mares' field with two halters, I thought better of myself.

Rhapsody is spooky.  Lass is spooky (much better than R., but still). 
They're both mares.  They aren't friends any more.
All the other mares will find this fascinating and follow us forever.
Neither leads really really well.  Rhapsody charges forwards/sideways.  Lass just stops and pretends she can't move further. 

Bri, you're an idiot!

Nonetheless, being a real idiot, I decided to try it anyway.  And what do you know but it only took me half an hour to catch Rhapsody!  And only one little trot chase; the rest of it was all walk and while she wasn't happy to have me halter her, she did let me do it.  Woo hoo!! Our trip up to the barn was not too terribly eventful; I only have one rope-burned hand from where both girls suddenly spooked at the ever-evilly-present Invisible Monster while I was trying to fasten the gate behind us.  And I got them both tucked away safely in their stalls without any serious injury to any party.

Now Coach did call as I was halfway to the barn (leading both horses, I might add).  "You're at the barn?"
Say I: "Yeah..."
"Well I'm not going to be there this afternoon."
Me: "Ohhh.........."
"So just--just be careful."
Me: "Right.  Yes.  Absolutely.  YES."
I was very happy to see another couple boarders show up toward the end of my groundwork session with Rhapsody.  I'm not scared of either horse, and perfectly comfortable with Lass, but being all alone at the barn, with only Coach (who is a long ways away) and my family (whose car I have) knowing where I'm at...well it does inspire me to be careful.  Ha! 

Started working with Rhapsody on moving off "air pressure" (Driving game, for any Parelli people), in addition to desensitizing, bending, and direct pressure; and she did beautifully.  Pressure is a bit stressful for her so I do just a little and then rub her for a while, rinse and repeat.  She was much calmer today and I am beginning to teach her to halter/remove halter with her nose bent round toward me so she can't take off quite so frightfully.  It seemed to help as I was letting her out.

Also Lass was going about 98.9% sound even on the footing.  Happiness.  Won't be long before we're jumping her again! :)

Fringe & Rhapsody Work

So I put Fringe over a little jump again last lesson.  She was being supremely lazy which didn't help matters; however I have been having difficulty managing my own energy levels, which doesn't help me much when I need to ride lazy horses!  So we trotted over the baby jump many times and once or twice actually got a jump over it.  Haha.  Coach put her over once or twice and actually managed to get Fringe's feet off the ground both times. 

Ay well I should rather that she be lazy than crazy spooky.  Even got out the crop today and she wasn't much worried by it, at least on the shoulder.  Behind my leg she was a little nervous but got over it quickly.  After half an hour or so of jump practice, we pulled off her tack and I walked and trotted her around the arena bareback.  And she was super good.  She called a lot to the other horses but wasn't worried by the lack of a saddle at all.  Impressive since she's only been ridden bareback once before this (early this past summer).

Then I went off to Rhapsody, who Coach had kept in but hadn't been able to work.  She was a crazy nut having been inside all day, but after a long time of Friendly game in the round pen, she calmed down quite a bit.  Then I worked a bit on moving off direct pressure--she is super sensitive to that; I hope we can make it a good thing--and bending to a stop.  I like to teach all my "babies" to bend to a stop as I'm personally a pretty big fan of the one-rein stop.  No, it's not perfect...but it can sure help!

So we did that a while but then kids started running around climbing trees and horses were going out to the fields and Rhapsody lost focus.  So I went back to Friendly till she calmed a bit, then took her up to the barn, groomed her, and managed to get her out of the barn without killing anyone.  Seriously, I need to come up with some good way to announce to everyone in hearing range that "I'm working with a crazy young horse right now, GET OUT OF MY WAY!"  Ha.  Maybe running over a couple people once or twice would help? Just kidding, I promise...

After that, Rhapsody was entirely un-calm.  So the trip up to the field with Huge Dog (which I've never actually seen but it has a monstrous voice) barking behind the hedge, and the world nearly dark, and hyper pony trying to gallop down the way...was...interesting.  But we didn't die nor did we get hurt.  Then hyper pony decided to run off before I'd finished taking off the halter, which was also...interesting...however I got the sense to let go before she ripped my arms out, and fortunately the (nice) halter fell off of itself.  I have to come up with a way to cure her of that habit!  Any ideas??

Overall happy with the evening though.  And now I shall close this incredibly long epistle and get ready to ride tomorrow!  Hopefully I can catch Rhapsody again and we'll have fewer shenanigans! :)

FINALLY!

I have pictures :D

But! Better than that! 











I at long last CAUGHT this girl! 

In the field!  Okay it took me almost an hour of following her around but still!  I'm pretty sure she hasn't been caught at least since July and maybe longer than that. 

I decided to make things easy and simple so she didn't get the idea she got caught and then got her hiney worked off, so we just did some very simple groundwork...mostly desensitizing (which she needs a great deal of anyway) and moving off pressure.  And I hopped around with my foot in the stirrup as if I were going to mount, and swung half up and then got off.  And then I created a halterish thing out of baling string and put it on her before turning her out.  Now I'm worrying it will hurt her somehow.  But it's baling string for goodness' sake; it will break if she scratches her nose.  I think we'll be okay. 

I also took a few pictures today as I'm writing a children's book and intend to have the ponies star in it. ;)


Lass thinks everyone else is making a big deal out of nothing.  This picture, by the way, hardly does justice to her really; she is much prettier than this but she was a bit obsessed with her grass...as usual. :)  So I didn't get any really good pictures of her.















Rhapsody, Surge, and the baby think they're hiding from me behind the trees.

So a good day.  I am the tiniest, tiniest bit disappointed because I'd been hoping to canter some ground pole courses to get myself back on track for riding real jumps, but Rhapsody took too much time and besides all the jumping horses were either gone or in lesson.  But only a very very VERY tiny bit disappointed.  Mostly very happy. :D

Rhapsody Ride #3!

Well I got over on Friday to discover that the Coach had had Rhapsody left in the barn so I didn't have to catch her!  Yay!!!  So I did get to ride her after all.

Did a bit of groundwork first, just desensitizing to the end of the lead rope, moving off direct pressure, and lungeing.  I tried some free lungeing but she got all skittery and worried on me, so we went back to working on the line.  After half an hour or so of that I got on and rode for about an hour.  Did a lot of trot and a fair bit of canter and some figure-eights and diagonals and big circles at the trot.  Overall it went quite well.  One incident where Rhapsody spooked majorly at something (still not sure what) and went jumping sideways and spinning round, and I very nearly fell off.  However somewhere about the time that the image came to me of myself over to one side with one foot out of the stirrup, I suddenly thought, I ought to grab mane about now! and I did and pulled myself back up where I belonged.  Haha!  And we kept on trotting till the adrenaline jitters got out of both of us.  Fortunately we had no big spooks at canter or I might have fallen off for real.  The girl has a pretty big spook when she wants to, and while my seat has gotten immensely more "sticky" since I started riding with the Coach, I'm not fully invincible yet!

In canter though she will kind of bounce to one side or another but it's like she doesn't know how to really spook when she's going well forward.  I hope it stays that way.  Ha.  And today we did get more of an actual canter instead of half a hand gallop, which I appreciated.  Her leaning in is getting less pronounced also, thank goodness.  Last time I rode her in the small arena I thought I'd end up sitting on her side, she was leaning so much.  

Overall a productive ride, I was exhausted by the time we were done though.  I'm so horribly out of shape since the incident with my foot, it's not even funny.  Hoping to ride again tomorrow but we'll have to see if the weather cooperates!

Paradox Ride

So Friday afternoon I went out, caught Paradox, and went up to the jump arena for some groundwork as they were power-washing the smaller arena and none of the instructors were around yet.  Discovered that her groundwork is not so bad as I thought it was; mostly she just needs to learn to move off of lighter signals.  Right now I have to give really strong cues before she responds and I don't like that.  But it was better than I expected, and I was happy to see that her feet/legs were doing better than they had been on Wednesday.  So after a while of groundwork I brought her back down to the barn, put her in a stall, and let her chill out while I went to see Rhapsody. 

Rhapsody's session went quite well despite the fact that she jumped away like I'd slapped her the first time I went to scratch her shoulder.  But she came back fairly quickly and let me start scratching her neck and chest again by the time I had to leave.  We'll get there...I haven't moved the lead rope or halter off my shoulder yet as they're a bit bigger and more overwhelming than just the little rope, but I hope next week I'll be able to start moving them around while I'm rewarding her without freaking her out.

Then I went back down and waited for one of the other instructors to show up.  After a while she did, and I tacked up Paradox (Western, as my riding tights were still in the wash!) and headed down to the smaller arena.  I had her in the neck stretcher to see how she'd do and was pleasantly surprised.  Our goal with her is to begin to teach her to go long and low, and she was stretching down nicely at walk and trot intermittently, and doing decent transitions between the two gaits without flinging her head around or bucking (usually).  I did have a few moments of crow-hop-bucky-ness when she decided she wanted to be on the grass in the center of the arena and I told her no.  But nothing terrible.

I wanted to canter but by then there were some little kids coming in and I didn't feel comfortable cantering my crow-hopping pony on the inside track (she loves to dive in and lean in), or trusting them to stay out of my way.  So I tried a canter in the round pen, but no luck.  In the end I got off and lunged her at canter and she went with no bucking, but a dreadful leaning in.  Probably why she won't canter in there with me on her--she'd likely fall right over.  I see some walk/trot circle and bending practice in our future while we work on canter on the rail! 

The other thing we need to work on pronto is moving off my leg.  I basically can't steer her without using the reins majorly; she is absolutely clueless about responding to leg pressure.  We ended with a walk on the buckle in the round pen while I worked on getting her to respond a bit to weight/seat/leg cues.  We wandered around kind of like we were drunk, but she did eventually respond to my request to stop although I think part of it was because she wanted to eat! 

Well we will see how this goes.  I'm learning a great amount, if nothing else.  :)  

Groundwork Reflections: Fringe

After my time with Rhapsody on Friday I went out to see what other havoc I could create with the ponies.  ;)  Since most everyone else and their horses were over getting ready for a show on Saturday, and/or horses were resting after chiropractor/farrier visits, I decided to go catch the Fringe for some groundwork.  If I must be honest I am dying to ride her bareback (yes, I am crazy), but decided to leave that for another day.  ;) 

Fringe was very eager to get going, unusual for her.  In fact when I picked up the halter to put it on her, she shoved her nose right into it--she has never done that before and has always been something of a lazy girl (except when she's trying to bolt to kingdom come) so I was delighted! 

We went to the barn, I groomed her lightly, and we went down to do groundwork in the round pen.  Though other people ride her occasionally, nobody else does groundwork with her, so I always have to do a bit of a "refresher course" when we get started again.  She did very nicely on most everything but I can begin to see where my inexperience has caused some problems.  She needs extra work on a couple basic areas--mostly moving off rhythmic "air" pressure--before we can do much more.  I tried doing some very basic lateral groundwork but she got utterly confused and unhappy, so I pulled back and we went over a little jump on-line instead.  Overall though I was very happy with her attitude and it left me very happy.  :)  A nice session and things to work on for next time. 

Groundwork Reflections: Rhapsody

So went out on Friday to Rhapsody's pasture with no idea what I would find.  The first thing I noticed was that herd dynamics have changed up big-time.  Three of the younger fillies have gone (presumably to the racetrack though I don't know for sure) and another mare who came somewhat recently has joined their field.  I think that in itself has kind of thrown everyone off in that pasture; no one was quite as curious or interested as they have been before. 

The second thing I noticed was that I now have a best friend forever (well as long as the carrots hold out) in the Coach's horse Lass!  She will come right up to meet me now that she knows I usually bring treats.  Ha silly girl.  Of course it doesn't help that she hasn't been worked for a week and a half because of her stiffness/soreness that's come about recently, and she is always more in-your-face when she's not getting her workouts.

Third thing was that I think we are back to the beginning again when it comes to catching.  That is good as I would rather go back to the beginning than to keep going downhill as we had been last week.  At first Rhapsody wouldn't let me get near her at all, so I just dropped in behind her and followed at a walk a little distance behind when she headed away.  Until she stopped, when I would stop also and move away.  Eventually she (grumpily) allowed me to come within about 15 feet of her, where I stopped and crouched down and waited.  Suffice it to say it took a while, but she did come up and I gave her a treat.  This happened two or three times and afterwards I could tell she was more relaxed around me though she wouldn't stay very close for a long period of time.  Plus everyone else came up (except for the new girl, who was informed by Boss Mare that she was not to come any closer), which is good for them and I appreciate it. 

So overall I find it a good hour spent.  I brought the regular halter this time, not the little rope.  I can do the rope but it's awkward to lead with, and if I'm going to put all this work into catching Rhapsody "properly" I would rather that she accepts the halter while we're at it.  I want a "no brace" catch, which is to say I want her to be okay with it all the way through.  I know we can do it; we've gotten close before, but I screwed it up last minute.  It will test my skills of being able to read body language but I think it'll teach me a lot too.  Bring it on! :)

Cogitations on Rhapsody

I'm planning on going out tomorrow for a bit of groundwork time before the team riders come in to get ready for their show on Saturday, and therefore trying to figure out what to do with Rhapsody.

I like her.  I really do.  She is cute and curious and I think she's got a bit of a playful streak too.  But lands I do not know how to catch her.

And maybe that's the problem.  I'm thinking I want to catch her enough that it might seem to be chasing/predatory to her.  Maybe?  When we were just playing in the field with non-demanding time and carrots and scratches, when I wasn't expecting to catch her, she did fine; in fact she did more than fine, she did fantastic.  The exact moment I started thinking If I just do this a bit more, I'll be able to catch her, was the moment she started pulling away.  Then of course last week I went out there intending to catch her and it was a royal disaster. 

I don't know how this will end up.  I feel very foolish being able to walk up to a horse in the pasture, pet her all over, toss the rope all over her, but not be able to catch her.  But I feel even more foolish barely being able to get within arm's length of that same horse for no obvious reason whatsoever.  And after all, it is groundwork she needs, and if I can do that in the pasture same as in the round pen, what difference does it make? 

Well I will try to not try.  I'm going to focus on making this fun, just play, getting acquainted, like it is, after all, supposed to be.  We shall see how it goes!

Sometimes We Step Back...

So I went out allll the way to the back of the mare pasture today to find Rhapsody.  And it started marvelously.  I had the little rope and she trotted right up for a carrot and a scratch; then I started where we left off, but was able to move a lot faster as she easily accepted the rope all the way up her neck to her poll on both sides.  So I took the end and looped it over top of her neck and rubbed it up there, slid it off, tossed it gently up and rubbed some more, and again she was fantastic, relaxed and easy going.  Needless to say I piled on the scratches and carrots and was thoroughly happy. 

Then something happened.  I have thought and still can't figure out what it was, but suddenly she was not interested any more.  She came up several times for carrots and scratches, but when I started working with the rope again, she'd move off.  Not spooky any more, and not skittish; just kind of a "I don't want to play that game."  In fact the one time that I accidentally popped her with the end of the rope and she spooked and jumped off, she came back almost immediately.  So being quite exhausted from the week and not wanting to fight any "battles" just on general principles, I settled for asking her to let me approach her softly for a carrot treat (actually rather a big deal for her, she prefers to make the choice to come up herself rather than have me approach her), and made my way off.  Next week I shall have an alternate plan if I need it. 

I found Fringe afterwards and got a bit of a walk-trot ride in--no canter as she is still sore on the footing and the grass center of the little arena is really too small to canter well in.  She was nice in walk-trot though, and afterwards we did a bit of groundwork at liberty before going up, getting cleaned off--well, getting her cleaned off, don't know about me--and scrubbing the mud fever on her pasterns.  It's really sad we get mud fever in the summer here, that's all I have to say!