Day 2

Yesterday was jump school day.

We love jump school days. Hehe. It was a gorgeous day too, warm but not too warm, and it cooled off quickly by the time I was turning River back out a little after 7. He was quite giraffe-y and looky at the beginning but chilled out eventually and we put in some nice work over two baby cross-rails. Set up some cavaletti too, but they were too close for anything but walk (I'm still figuring out his stride) and I was too lazy we didn't have time to get off and change them.

I do believe he may learn to be a jumper despite me--it's adorable to watch him already start to prick his ears and lock on as we come onto the line for the baby rails. Right now it's leg, leg, leg to keep him from slowing down and walking over, but he never ever stops. Just very slow and very careful to organize all the legs before we jump over the thing. ;P

I on the other hand am obviously weak in my position and was kind of flailing all over the place. More two-point drill for me. I'm also going to watch a lesson with another instructor tomorrow--she is a hunters and jumpers instructor and we'll see how it turns out, if it's good I will try to start riding with her occasionally.

Overall a good day and we had fun. :)

Hot Mess

Yesterday we rode.

In the interests of time, I decided to do a more dressage-y school ride. Creature thought we should explore the open gate instead (I told him otherwise).

We did lots of walk serpentines to try to warm up; he was wiggly wiggly and either overreacting or underreacting to every little cue. Eventually got up to some fairly nice and balanced trot circles tracking right, but he fell apart when we went left. Sort of got it back together so that at least he wasn't throwing tantrums and wasn't quite as much a giraffe (I do believe left is his worse direction and I'm afraid I don't help that much) and called that good for a break. The very good thing is that he wasn't tripping over himself. He'd had his trim a week ago and was still a little sore (hate 8-week trim cycles), so he had front boots on and it made a difference. Very good because I don't like to die falling off tripping horses.

Did some more trot circles to the left, trying to get him on a decent bend instead of drifting all over Timbuktu. Again, we got better but not yet what I would like to see--I know he can do better. Took another break and then decided to work canter right. He ignored cues for some time and then threw his head down, got corrected, took a giant spooky leap sideways and up, came down and tried to bolt. Fortunately I had the sense by then to yell at him and he listened and stopped. Got the trot sort of back together again, tried again and no jumps but neither would he really think about anything except running into it. Got a bigger circle (2/3 of the arena type circle) and finally he agreed to put in three or four strides. We did that twice and then I called it good. I know he can canter beautifully under saddle on the lunge, so I suspect it's a conglomeration of balance and mental issues causing his problems right now.

He was super sweaty afterwards so he got a nice shower and time under the fans before he went back out. Hard work figuring all this mess out.

Short Version

We finished our second ACTHA ride on October 26, and placed SECOND in our division!!! And that after a ride that I was 90% sure we weren't even going to place in! He tried hard but it was a tricky course...well, apparently it was tricky for other teams too! :D

We finished our first hunter pace (minus the jumps) last weekend, November 2, and placed fifth! Just because of time; we were one second behind our friend, so no big deal. He was a champ at "chaperoning" our less-experienced friend (S and a borrowed horse) and I am super proud of him.

Now we are planning nothing for 2-3 months, because November is his hardest month to keep weight on, December is my hardest month to stick with a schedule, and January I begin student teaching and probably will have next to no time. Hopefully in late January or February we'll be able to get back on a routine to gear up for springtime events.

Maybe I will get some pictures of the rides up one of these days. :)

Rides

Going to try and post maybe once a week these days??

Last week we did actually ride three times! Trail on Sunday, bareback field jaunt Tuesday, and a walk-trot-canter "let's-actually-do-something-productive" ride Thursday.

I knew Sunday would be fun when he started spooking at the bushes walking up to the barn from the pasture. Tacked up, put on his boots, and headed out through the field behind the house. Saw many scary things including a water tub, the mounting block, and the volunteer girls moving a jump. Had to dismount and lead him through the gate up to the gallop hill because he would. not. go. Ugh. Once we got out there he decided it was time to go back home but I got a little firmer with him and he headed up. Once he got moving I was able to get him into a trot and we trotted up and walked down three times before his brain kind of returned. Second time down he started blowing out and relaxing a lot, so we went up one more time and then headed into the woods to do the highest completed trail. Came down the really steep slippery "Man from Snowy River Hill"--fortunately it wasn't muddy--and he was a trooper! He was lathered by the time we got to the back of the fields, though, and breathing hard (for no particular reason other than nerves, I think). Paused and stood and waited for the BO to finish mowing the field. He waited very patiently, blew out a lot and relaxed. Then we headed back to the barn. Perhaps not a relaxing ride, but I felt good that we'd worked through it!

Tuesday he was relaxed and I was fried mentally, so I just threw on the fitted pad, slipped on bareback, and we went out and played in the jump field and the hay field. Chatted with a friend who was leaving for grad school on Thursday, briefly disagreed over whether we should walk or trot round the hay field, and settled for a nice brisk walk around. Perhaps nothing major, but the occasional bareback ride--even just at a walk--does wonders for my seat, so I like to keep it up.

Thursday I wanted to ride him barefoot so he got some stimulation on the tootsies. So we saddled up and went to the grassy spot and did a basic walk-trot-canter circles ride. Nothing special except that I discovered that wonder of wonders, when I get my act together and RIDE, he goes pretty well! Amazing. Even our left-lead canter was good! He will fix my weak canter riding yet--I can't hold his mouth or he will haul on my arms till they come off, so it's a good incentive, ha.

Overall a good week! Then I got sick on Friday. Boo. So I really don't know what's going down this week. We will see!

Radio Silence

Oh yes I have a blog...maybe should write on it!

School started, that's my excuse.

Been actually riding a fair bit though! About twice a week which yes I know it's not that often but comparatively that's pretty good. Ha. This week I think I might hit my three-times-a-week goal, though.

Finally sized him to the EasyBoot Gloves and they came and they fit and they're great!! Especially since back at the start of the summer my "supervising farrier" encouraged me to trim hoofers way too much and he got sore. :( :( He's much better now but I'm still not happy such a thing even happened. Back to what we were doing before (which, though it didn't look so pretty, kept him quite sound!). In the meantime boots are great. Needed them for trails anyways.

Lots of trail rides, did one arena ride and he was greatly displeased ha. Pony gets spoiled by trails. If only the farm's bush-hogging machine wasn't broken, we'd do "arena" work in the fields--so much more fun. But it is broken and so all the grass is about knee-high and you can't see a thing as far as footing. There is one space probably will use--yesterday just went out for a little bareback ride though. Super nice, chill evening. :)

Planning for another ACTHA ride on October 26, maybe sooner if I can find a buddy to go somewhere else with!

New Leaf

The bestest ears

So I have written and rewritten this post maybe half a dozen times and the long and short of it is this:

Nobody wants to hear me try to explain my brain, and

I already know what I'm thinking, so...

Riv and I are officially turning over a new leaf, and going full-time into (competitive) trail and (not-so-competitive) dressage. With maybe a little up-to-25-mile LD endurance stuff thrown in if we can find a friend who does that.

Because:

• We knew from the beginning Riv has some arthritic changes. Why push it?
• I'm somewhat more aware of the importance of living staying mostly in one piece being safe and so jumping is not so much a Big Thing, though I still enjoy it and we will practice little stuff.
• Eventing is just not going to be our thing, for a lot of reasons, and that is the main reason I started and continued jumping, so why go there if we're not going there?
• COLORS. I CAN BUY BRIGHT COLORED STUFF AHHHHHH!!!
• Lower stress (for me anyway it's lower stress)
• Not-boring for our ADD selves ;)
• Riv loves trails.
• I love trails. Whether on horseback or on foot, or any other way.
• Dressage is good for us.
• Did I mention we love trails? And exploring new places? YES.

And anyway, why not?!

Especially when your grandparents have offered to buy you a new saddle (!!!!) for a graduation present! Which is good because current one feels like I'm going to be permanently maimed after an hour's ride (I didn't ride for a week after our 6-mile ride!).

Any suggestions in that area?

We Are Hooked!

So yesterday River and I went to an ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) Competitive Trail Challenge hosted by our barn!

...and this happened:

5th in our division in our first "real-life horse" competition ever (for both of us individually and together), with no coaching and not much exposure to the obstacles ever! I am SO PROUD of my boy!

...and I think I'm hooked! And Riv came cheerfully up to meet me in the pasture today, so he must not think it's too bad either. ;)

More details coming! I'm hoping for pictures from my friend's parents and from the ride photographer before too long. :)

Update in Bullet Points

• I have the best trimmer. Just sayin'. Wish he lived closer so he could do Riv's feet all the time! 

• Summertime barefoot on grass pastures is ROUGH. Especially when you have a mildly sugar-sensitive Beast.

But it's pretty!

• Summertime throwing shoes because of the mud is rougher. (Therefore why my horse is still barefoot.)

• It's SO. hot. Ugh. However, the pony doesn't mind, so I guess I just have to jump in and ride.

• Riv understands transitions now! At least the general concept...now to refine...

• Feeling the need of a lesson at last. I'm quite sure I've gained at least 10,000 bad habits over the last year.

Pretty sure he's fatter yet now...

• Competitive trail ride or no competitive trail ride? Guess it depends on whether I'm going to Missouri for two weeks to be a substitute horse director for a summer camp there... (eeeekks!)

• Field rides/trot sets are the bestest ever. At least according to River.

• Someday I will get my horse a UV fly sheet so his lovely summer coat stays lovely and stops bleaching. Someday when I don't have at least four $150-$200 things I need to buy much more for him...

• Still trying to find a schedule as far as riding that we can stick to. Another reason for a lesson...

Good Rides, New Things, Question

We haven't been riding as much as I'd like (do we ever?) but our rides have been great!

We've been out in the fields, trotting in the fields with no runaway nonsense, on trail rides, and in the arena. River's trot-walk transitions are doing much better and he's beginning to learn walk-halt properly (right now we do a lot of circling!). Canter is still a work in progress--his canter is sooo lovely but he doesn't have the strength to carry himself properly in it for very long, so we don't do a lot of it. He played lesson horse when my grandparents and brother came out to see him--and decided he doesn't like that at. all. ;) He was good though!

Sunday we put him over his first tiny baby crossrail under saddle! He's been over them in the round pen before, but not with me aboard. He was an absolute champ, very brave on the approach, trotted right up and over it, no big deal at all.

The grass sugar has been doing a bit of a number on his feet. :( They're not bad--he's fine in the arena or on softer surfaces--but he is a bit more ouchy than he was during the winter. I may need to get him boots for summertime; we'll see. However, he is gaining lots of weight and otherwise looking fantabulous, so I'm not complaining!

And, finally got a decent sweat mark on him and my saddle apparently bridges on the middle sides. It's not making him sore but still. :( Boo. I'm thinking a shimmed pad may be the way to go since he's still gaining weight and also since I don't have the money for a new saddle right now! Any suggestions? What have you used and like/don't like?

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.

Still Here, Official Hiatus

So I discover that if I'm not riding, I have time for blogging. If I'm riding, no blog time! ;)

We are still alive and River is making great progress. He has figured out his stretchy trot (love it when that happens) and figuring that out has seemed to make a big difference with his trot/walk transitions--they're much much better now! One of these days perhaps we'll even get a walk/halt transition, who knows?!

He's also putting on some weight, which is very exciting! On Friday they go out to the "real" grass pastures, so hopefully that goes well.

However, since I'd rather be riding than sitting here typing on the computer, I'm taking an official blog hiatus for a while. I'll still be posting now and again but not holding myself to any notions of posting regularly. Hopefully we'll come back with even more progress to report! Happy Spring!

Back At It

Well since the dear Beastie broke my reins last time we rode, and my local stores don't have any English anything, we were stuck waiting and doing groundwork (he learned to walk over the bridge this week, good boy!) till the ones I ordered could get here. They finally did today! Yay! So we had a quick ride.

He was very very good actually, super stretchy stretchy even at the trot--which he's never done before. Good boy! Now hopefully he doesn't get "stuck" down there because he still doesn't really understand how to pick himself up, so while long and low is definitely a good stretch exercise for him, I don't want to spend the whole riding time just doing that. Nevertheless he was super good and transitioning up and down with barely a thought and a half-halt from my seat, so we cut it short and gave him lots of pets and goodies and his grain.

It probably helped that I felt like I was actually riding somewhat effectively for once--I'm always better after a break it seems!

I also ordered a new helmet and I'm super happy with it so far, so one of these days I'll do a review. :) Good weekend all!

Can-TER!

So Thursday we cantered in the arena, on purpose and for a reasonable time, for the first time!

River was feeling good and I had set myself a goal to canter in the arena before spring break was out, so I asked for it and he happily (and reasonably smoothly) popped up into his amazing "third gear."

No seriously, it is probably the most amazing canter I've ever ridden. He has a massive stride and it's just unreal. I just want to ride it again and again and again! The one small detail is that I'm apparently unable to sit it to save my life; I have to two-point or half-seat. Haha! I'm hoping to get some video on Sunday so I can figure out exactly why (maybe also a lesson soon); all I can say right now is that I'm apparently totally out of sync with whatever's going on in his hind end because it just springs me right up out of the saddle. Ha. Hopefully we'll figure out why fairly soon! In the meantime, two-point it is.

We didn't do a lot at a time; I let him tell me when he wanted to transition down and we did. Very nice ride though and I can't wait to feel it again! It's addictive! ;)

Stay tuned for what happened today! Hint: It involves getting up close and personal with some good old Southern red clay dirt...but no one's hurt!

Zoomies

Not much riding last week, Wednesday was a great teaching day but I was wiped out afterwards, then Thursday was my huge-ginormous midterm test and by the time I got done with that (found out today that I aced it, yay me) I didn't want to do much. Friday River got his spring shots and a new Coggins pulled, so I gave him that day off plus his normal Saturday. Now this week it's spring break, yay!

So today our first day back and it was super windy, very warm but definite weather change coming. So all the horses were a bit wired, River included. Went out on a half-hour trail ride to warm up and he was very looky but very good. Then we came back and worked in the outdoor, since it has finally dried up enough to ride in! Started out pretty good, then he got a serious case of the zoomies and was whipping around at a mach-10 trot. Haha. Tried slowing down and no such luck. So I just let him go, he had to keep moving though, none of this trot-real-fast-toward-the-barn-then-be-a-pokey-western-pleasure-pony-going-away-from-it kind of nonsense. He tripped a little bit a couple of times, felt a little tired/weak in the hind end, he always gets anxious after he trips but he is learning to get over it. Not too surprised since we did some fairly steep hill climbs on our trail work, he should be a little tired.

Eventually got a bit more under control, and he was getting sweaty with all that hair, so we stopped and cooled out. Probably in an ideal world I would've tossed him in the round pen and let him get all the zoomies out there, but needed to put on his sheet tonight to keep him dry for a quick couple days of blanketing this week, so didn't want to work him too hard. Besides he's not in shape for such things, haha.

Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday, whenever we ride next, he'll be a bit saner and we'll go in the covered and work on some more productive stuff! ;)

In Which We Try Out Suggestions

Yesterday I wasn't sure whether I was going to ride or not, but turns out I was, so yay. This week is midterms but I had already fried my brain studying so didn't feel bad about taking the evening off. ;)

Brought him in and tacked up, chatted with a girl I hadn't met before and her sweet 20-year-old horse, then went in the covered since it was getting dusky. Dropped my stirrups and spent about 15 minutes just at the walk, warming up. Still sore from my tiny bit of trot no-stirrups on Sunday, so wasn't doing that yet! Lots of leg yields, which he picked up on super fast as long as I also opened my outside hip to give him somewhere to go, haha. He still doesn't get the idea 100% but it was very passable. We started off just yielding back to the rail from a couple feet off, then gradually increased the distance; eventually we were even able to leg yield toward the quarter line from the rail! Yay us! Haha. Also someone had set up a mini-circle-of-death ground pole exercise so we walked over that, did lots of circles and figure 8's. Then we moved up to the trot. I didn't ask for a lot, kept a loose rein, let him cruise and try to find his balance while I worked on mine. Trotted about 5 minutes in each direction, with a long walk break in between. Halted and asked for a turn on the forehand in the scary corner, he did good for not really understanding it under saddle yet. After our second trot I half-halted hard and what do you know, he came right down into walk in 2-3 strides! GOOD BOY!! Walked out a bit, half-halted hard again and just barely picked up the reins, and (with a bit of repetition) he actually stopped!

Big pats and praises, took him in for his grain. Blankets tonight--it's chilly a couple days now. Popping back up into the above-freezing-nights zone on Friday, though.

Maybe ride today, not sure, I'll be in schools all day and usually come back exhausted from that, then I have a ton of tests to grade and my fall semester schedule to plan, so we might have today be our lunge day. Friday he gets his shots and check-up, so no ride then. :)

Obligatory Weekly Post, and Question

Lol, my posting schedule has gone to nothing. Exhausted, good grief. And camera still dead, have been running around like a crazy person and haven't stuffed batteries in it. So boring post, no pictures.

Rode three times this last week, plus today, which is something of a world record I think, especially given how crazy my schedule was. River is really doing well all things considered. It's been so very very nice (60s and 70s! The grass is trying to grow!!), and we're still half-heartedly planning on the hunter pace at the end of March, so we've been spending quite a bit of time cooling out on the trails/fields, and Friday we went for quite a long trail ride all by ourselves, exploring. His tripping on the trail is all but gone, as long as I don't let him literally drag his nose in the dirt, and he's getting the hang of picking the easiest way around obstacles. Such a good boy!

Arena work is so-so, some days really good and some days not so good. I am really struggling with working on getting him off the forehand and using himself. Have talked to Coach and she recommended transitions and backing--well, we can do trot-walk transitions pretty well (most of the time), but walk-halt are very very iffy unless I run him into a wall, and backing is nonexistent at the moment. I'm not pushing it because practicing anything slower than trot-walk makes him worse; he gets even heavier and tries to grab the bit. It's okay to do once or twice in a session, but otherwise not. Any other suggestions? I'm planning on making/getting him a Pessoa-type system to lunge in as soon as I get the time, not sure whether it will help this problem but can't hurt. Also looking around for a chiro in the area to see if that would help, see if he has any pain that would be making it worse. . . In the meantime happy for ideas. :)

He has also learned how to drink from the hose, it's hilarious! :D

Wearing Myself Out

I rode, now I am exhausted. Haha. It's what happens when you actually try to ride properly!

I'm feeling like I'm making some progress though, I'm really trying to start from the ground up and get good habits to start with. Working on my more dressage-type seat since it's a bit more effective (for me) and keeps me more balanced in case of pony shenanigans. Plus River deals with being on the forehand enough already, he doesn't need my perchy hunter-seat up over his withers yet. Today he had a pretty good trip and I hardly got unbalanced at all, so that made me feel good. I really need to "hold his hand" all the time or he can't figure out where to put himself under saddle.

We rode quite a lot, he was very good even though the horses just next door were galloping around like mad and the BO's little girl was jumping back and forth in the aisle making squealy noises and there was an accident up the road and we could hear all the sirens going up there. Very looky but good, really no spooks at all. I was proud of him! We had some very nice trot-walk transitions too actually, he was listening to my half-halts off my seat and not running into my hands.

Finished off with a nice trail ride/hill work up to the top of the big huge "gallop hill" and back. Gotta get that hind end of his muscled up!

In Which We Have Valentines' Day and Yada Yada

I have no pony pictures, because my camera battery died on Thursday taking pictures of this:

My house. Almost 10" of snow!!

It was gorgeous! I took way too many pictures. ;)

Magical.

River got a peppermint on Friday for Valentines', of course he is my Valentine for sure. :) Besides that not much been going on. He had almost all last week off and I am not doing that again unless we have to--he is going stir crazy! He still tries to be good, he's not at all dangerous, but the difference between River-in-regular-work and River-on-vacation is definitely THERE. And I think I prefer the exercised version of my pony. He gets spooky instead of hot, and that drives me crazy.

So we are starting back to work tomorrow. Not anything strenuous, of course--just continuing to build his endurance level slowly but surely, and continuing to work on baby stuff. I am hoping to post more (my posting record this month has been terrible!) but we'll see!

Oh and Hillary is having an awesome giveaway! Go check it out!

Back in the Saddle

...and no time for blogging!

They don't joke about this intensive practicum semester being hard for nothing--so much reading, so many lesson plans, and field experience is deadly to my sanity! Haha!

Really it's going good, last week was rough but those happen. I'm riding though! Only a couple times last week but comparatively that is fantastic! And we started out with another good ride today too!

River has been great, we are mostly doing walk/trot although I do lunge him at the canter in the round pen. Our covered arena (the only arena with good footing at the moment) is a bit small, plenty big enough to canter if your horse is well balanced--but the River man is not. He's getting better, but not there yet!

His transitions are coming along; if I am very careful to be fluid and flexible and move with him all the time, he has nice (albeit a bit slow) downward transitions. If (like today) I'm thinking of other things, he doesn't get the seat cues and then he leans on my hands awfully. It lets me know how I'm doing, for sure! Today we did more straight trot work to figure out where his "tired point" is, but Friday we worked on walk/trot transitions every time we circled the arena and he was really good. Letting a lap or two go by before I asked for a transition again seemed to let him be okay with practicing without drilling. We also did some hill work today out in the big hilly field and he was good, if a bit "up."

I was gushing about his marvelousness to Coach today and she decided she wanted one like him. ;) Well perhaps I'm a little biased, but I've got to say I adore this horse like nothing else! He is so good and tries so hard, it is really amazing.

And if you have finished this random epistle so far, I have news! Our first event is scheduled for March 30! We will be doing the walk/trot division of our farm's hunter pace. :) Maybe with Coach! I'm excited! :D

Who Needs a Superbowl When You Have an OTTB?

River in the snow we had last week!

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but while River is very good on the ground, and mannerly under saddle (i.e., he doesn't tend to bolt, buck, rear, or otherwise be totally obnoxious), he is VERY GREEN under saddle. He has three gaits (mostly) but that's about all. ;) I discovered that he's had groundwork but very little actual riding since he came off the track, which explains a lot. He doesn't understand lateral work very well, or that he has variations in speed and tempo within a gait, or that when I go into two-point it doesn't mean that he has to win a race, or even (usually) that he can truly back up under saddle. His downwards transitions are rough and often include a lot of circling when he gets his freight-train mindset on (he doesn't run off, he just keeps going!), and he doesn't understand bending, stretching, or using his body much under saddle at all.

I finally got my mind wrapped around the concept that nothing but time and miles is going to fix any of those issues! And some good lessons, of course, but Coach is in New York right now and anyway is not keen on tackling issues that I have tackled myself before (love her!). So now I am officially motivated to go ride the Beastie. I know, I know, it took long enough!

So today I went and rode. Much to River's chagrin, because I gave him some hay while I tacked up before the ride instead of grain (he'd been munching in the pasture, but I thought maybe it would keep him busy...it didn't). So by the time we got into the arena he was quite put out, tossing his head and being quite feisty. He spooked at the chickens, spooked at the gates, spooked at the barrels outside and spooked at I don't know what else. Fortunately his spooks are not frightening, lol. But with a lot of walking all over the place--big circles, little circles, half circles, straight lines, figure-eights, ground poles, etc.--he calmed down very nicely and we ended up doing some trot both ways in addition to all our walking. I focused on engaging my core, stretching up, breathing (always my nemesis when I'm trying to focus!), and pointing my body and energy the way I wanted to go, with very nice results, I'd say. We even had a couple half-decent halts. Afterward, he got his grain and was very calm and relaxed going out to his pasture. Score!

Now I'm more motivated than before. ;) Lunge tomorrow, rest Tuesday, and another ride Wednesday!