Days 230 & 231

Saturday
I started off with Brie again and was determined to have as nice of a ride this week as I did last week. It was nice enough out, so I went into the outdoor arena. They did some renovations to the outdoor last weekend. In the outdoor, we only had a sound board  going along the length of one of the walls before. Now, we have a pole in the middle of the board, along with a pad of cement shaped in a circle with a diameter of about 20 feet. This is supposed to be used to longe horses. Don't even get me started on it. There are also two poles off to the side for figure 8s and three long wooden mini-fences in another spot. These mini-fences are supposed to be used for serpentines. I saw them as a double-use for cavaletti. So I started Brie off in the outdoor and after I had her longe, I wanted to see if she would go over the cavaletti. She was a little hesitant, but she made it over them. She was walking over with the front feet and then hopping over with both of her back feet. I wanted her to just walk over with her back feet, so I had her continue. 

Now maybe this was stupid on my part, but these makeshift cavaletti have a trough in them, like for a flower planter. I didn't think that it would pose any problem. But anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and as Brie was finally going to walk over the fence with her back legs, one of them tripped in the trough. It's not a very wide trough, but still. Her eyes widened and she knew that she had gotten a little stuck, but thankfully, as I was going over to pick her foot up and out, she lifted it up calmly and stepped over. Then she snorted and wanted to back up over it and got a little stuck with her front hooves as she tried to stand on it going backwards, but she backed off just fine. After much snorting, I didn't want her to think that it was scary (even though I'm not going to send her over those again until they're filled or fixed), so I had her go over them one last time and she was okay. 

Once that was done, I got on to ride and start out with some wide figure 8s, but she was feeling very stiff, so I decided to let that go and let her loosen up on the rail before I asked her to bend. Usually she likes to charge the outdoor arena, but she was content with a corto before she slowed down to a walk. I only had to check her at the corners to make sure she didn't start into a canter. 

I went in because she was getting pretty hot and find my mom having trouble with Harry. After a couple of laps walking around the arena (a miracle!) on Brie, my mom asks if I would see why he's not cooperating. So I get on, do all my pre-ride checks with him like flexing and wide circles, and go out on the wall asking for a walk (since he was fighting my mom about it). She and I noticed immediately the problem -- he was limping. He was favoring his front right leg and even though I got off and stretched him and checked his hooves for any rocks, he continued to limp, so after a walk around, I got off and bathed him and put on some liniment. Hopefully he will be better tomorrow! Poor Harry.

Sunday
 Starting off with Brie again in the indoor today. She is doing super well. She's responding so nicely to my legs and my seat and I have to wonder if it's a change in her or a change in me that has caused this nice behavior! I know that I certainly have changed in my riding style since the beginning of this journey and gone from wanting to make the horse do what I want no matter what to really trying to build partnerships and find a middle ground when I can't convince the horse that I'm right for a reason. Because of how great she's been the past couple of weeks, I'm seriously thinking of bringing her to the State Fair this year if we can find a space for her in a trailer. I feel like now that I've changed my attitude about riding, I know more how to approach a competition situation in order to ensure that Brie stays calm. Thinking back on how I warmed her up in the past, I know that everything I did (forcing her to walk, letting her gallop to "get it out of her system", making her longe for an hour, attempting to give her Calmex that didn't end up working...) was insanely wrong and I would like to try again and make the experience a great one for both of us, even if we don't win any ribbons. My goal is to make her comfortable in the show environment and even if we end up scratching the class because she isn't calming down, I would rather do it at State Fair because the classes are cheap enough to scratch!


Harry was doing much better today. No signs of limping! He was acting a bit wonky because he didn't want to ride on the rail. I think that his gait was great today and his demeanor was nice too while I was riding. It's hard to judge how he's doing sometimes when I ride him after my mom because by the second rider, he's usually tired or annoyed. Even so, it's good that he's getting two riders again because it's almost the same as going through multiple classes at show, which he definitely needs to do. 


I've also gotten another horse ward. Jane is feeling pretty discouraged about Taco's abilities and he's been a downright brat the past month for her. He does this thing where he sticks his head really far down or flexes it back behind the stirrup and runs to the middle of the arena and stops. So I asked Jane if I could show him at the State Fair. She said yes and that I could ride him whenever I wanted. Today was the first day of preparation. Jane was having a horrible time because Taco was doing his usual tricks. I try to longe him before I ride to see how he's acting and he is absolutely terrible. He's just about as bad as Harry was when we first got him! He has no respect for the human he's working with. I was going to use the carrot stick to help longe him, but I didn't know if he'd be scared of it, so I decided against it. Since trying to longe him was a joke, I did a quick round of the Porcupine Game to try and establish my authority and he was okay with that.


Then I got on him. I wasn't on for two seconds and he pulls me into the middle. My leg is useless against him, he's so strong. I try to get around the arena a couple of times to no avail, so I decide to go out into the round pen. In the round pen, he's just as bad, but has less space to act up in. My mom brings me over a second rein for the barbada and almost immediately he stops trying to pull his head in and spin into the middle of the pen. It takes a long time before he starts listening to me, but when he finally settles down, he walks really nicely. He has a hard time staying in gait because he likes to go into a canter and canters in place. That would be nice for a Trote y Galope class in Puerto Rico or Colombia, but not in the Paso Fino shows in the United States. I have to break him of this habit. I have to check him a lot in order to keep him in gait and it takes a lot of stopping and starting over when he breaks into a canter, but the last couple of laps around the pen are beautiful. He's listening and not breaking and not trying to pull me anymore. I determine because of the stunts he pulled during his ride, he doesn't respect the bit, so I would like to try and change his bit. I'm thinking of the straight bar that Nina had a couple of years ago that made her head set too high up. I think that this might be a good solution to his tendency to always be pulling his head down in an effort to get away from the bit. 

Taco is a highly trained horse, once a National champion, so I definitely think he has seen it all. This is also why I think that getting a bigger bit is the wrong answer to his problems because he is very soft in the mouth. I also think that a harsher noseband is the wrong answer because his nose has been so scarred by different bosals that he won't even care that it's there. I think that possible a braided rawhide barbada might be a good answer, but we can only use the bit rein in shows, so we need to start with the bit. I'm not entirely sure if I'll make it to State Fair with him. It depends on how well he responds to the bar bit and how calm I can get him. It would be nice to go to the show and prove that this old coot can make a comeback, but I would rather have him safe and happy for Jane to ride for her own enjoyment.
 

Days 228 & 229

Saturday
My mom has kind of taken over Harry since she started riding again, which is okay by me because I haven't had that much riding time with Brie as I would've liked to the past month or so. I'm glad that I get to work with her again, because she's gotten a little lazy. Today we worked a lot on calmly walking and then getting more flexible again. They were doing some construction outside of the arena today though, so everyone got scared of the cranes as they went by the door except for Brie and Nina! I attribute it to their being raised outside as babies. I don't know about the rest of the horses that were riding with us yesterday, or even Harry for that matter, but both Brie and Nina were raised outside from the moment they were born up until they were weaned, and even then they were put out in the pasture with other foals that were weaned at the same time, so they had to have hardened up in that time.

Although, that doesn't explain by Brie gets so anxious going outside. My mom mentioned going on a trail ride. Like a real trail ride. I think that would be a wonderful experience for everyone. I truly believe that once Brie gets out far enough that she doesn't know where she is and doesn't see the barn behind her, she'll settle down and be a great trail horse. Harry, I'm not so sure about.

I got the wonderful chance to ride Nina today since my brother was being generous. She is such a doll! I was just going to enjoy a calm walk on a horse that really WALKS, but then I figured I might as well work her a little bit. So after getting some instruction from my brother (keep my hands low and squeeze squeeze squeeze), Nina had the cutest little corto and a largo that could rival Brie's! I can't wait to show her in pleasure class, since my brother is taking all of the performance classes with her. If I won 2nd last year just hopping on her without practicing at all before, just think of what I could win if I practice!

Sunday
Brie just wanted to go go go today, so I let her, but at a sane pace. She didn't really want to walk and I figured heck, if she's feeling good enough, then I might as well let her corto. She was going along beautifully and setting her head so nicely and eventually she slowed herself to an animated walk. We worked a lot on leg yields, which I'm proud to say she is getting great at! When she starts floating off the rail, I'm now able to just shift my inside leg a little bit back and press gently and she'll move right over, without having to use my reins at all! I can even turn her with just my legs, one pressing on the shoulder and the other behind the girth and she turns on a dime! If only she weren't so anxious for shows, she would take all the blue ribbons.

I really wish that there were more fun shows around my area. I would trailer Brie to all of them and go in all of the classes just to get her used to it and make it not seem like a huge deal. If we had a bigger trailer, I would definitely bring her to the State Fair. I mean, it's cheap enough.

After I rode Brie, I got on Harry because he was being a bit bratty for my mom today after being completely freaked out yesterday over the cranes. He settled down, but he is tap dancing and pacing a lot now and I don't know what that's about. He doesn't need shoes for another 3 weeks, so I don't know what his deal is right now. Maybe this upcoming weekend I'll ride him first to figure it out if I can. We were about to all go outside and ride when there were multiple gunshots from down the street, and while I know that Brie wouldn't be phased by it, I was worried about how Harry and Nina might react, so that cut our ride short. I'm sure they were completely fine with it though and getting their cool bath.

I'm kind of bummed because the past two weeks it's gotten so hot so quickly that we haven't really had time to play any Parelli with them. I'm so eager to send Harry over the tarp! Maybe this weekend will be a little cooler so that we could play. 

Day 227

Today was very much the same as yesterday. I worked Brie first. She was limping a little today, so we took a long time warming up. Outside was a little more crazy than yesterday, but she did walk calmly out the door, so that's a plus. We didn't go up and down the hill today, just focused on calming down and then making it back to the barn.

After Brie, I rode Harry. He is terrible at leg yields and I really need to work on that. I say this because he has this nasty habit of riding at an angle of the wall, so that his butt is swung out a little into the arena. When I try to put leg pressure on him, he just speeds up. He was okay today, a little pushy about what he wanted to do, but overall it was okay. I rode him outside and he had a bit of a meltdown because my mom and brother kept leaving me and he would get upset, so I ended up dismounting a ways away from the barn and walking back because he was not having any walking whatsoever once they left and I didn't want him to rear on me. He hasn't been that far out by himself, even though it's not very far, but he was still upset over it.

My mom had a hard time with Brie. She tried to ride her outside and Brie was just not having it. Hopefully the more I work with her outside, the more confident she gets and as she gets better, the less of a bad expectation my mom will have about riding her, that way everyone is happy.

Day 226

Today was my mom's first day riding after her surgery! So that means she wanted Harry. Logical choice, because I've been working with Harry every week, unlike Brie, who has pretty much had a vacation since late April. So she took Harry (who was wonderfully behaved) and I took Brie.

I was beyond pleasantly surprised by how good Brie was. I think that a lot of it had to do with her getting her arthritis injection because the last couple of times I rode her before her little holiday and before the injection, she was kind of snotty and bratty. But today she rode like a dream! I didn't attempt making her stand at the mounting block to get on though, because there were a lot of people standing around it watching their others ride in the arena, so I just got on her from the ground. She stayed still! So I already knew from then it was going to be a good ride. Not that she runs away, it's just that she usually fidgets or backs up a little before you get on, but she was perfectly still today.

We did a good amount of flexing, nothing too hard for her to handle after her break, and then some circles with leg yields before we headed off at a nice walk. Her decision! I felt like I died and went to heaven. She and I walked for quite a while before she decided it was go time and settled into a corto. She was trying to canter the corners, so she must've been feeling really good, but I couldn't let her get away with that bad habit. We did figure 8's and serpentines and had a lovely go across the board. Brie is never out of gait. Ever. So when she was sounding kind of iffy in April, that was the surefire sign that she needed another injection. She's back to a perfect gait yet again.

We attempted some walking in the outdoor arena, but I feel like the combo of being in the outdoor for the first time in a long while and it being seriously hot out today made her uncomfortable, so we only stayed for a while. I settled for a relaxed corto instead of a walk and we headed back in to take the shortcut through the arena out back into the pasture.

Of course, when she got out she was kind of hyper, but I was determined to have a good ride outside without either of us getting anxious. She tried to jump the little ditch between the barn and the hill, but we walked around it and through it until she stopped trying to jump or rush it. Walking today was not so much of an option at first. She seemed really anxious about hurrying up to get up the hill, which I really didn't want to go straight to, because she kept pulling towards it. We walked to the fence line near the street, turned and walked back, but she was anxious again to get to the hill and kept reaching her head back to my foot. So I figured "Okay, let me hold her here for a minute if she keeps doing that." She was chomping like crazy on the bit while I held her for a couple of seconds until she stopped and let out a huge rush of air, at which point I let go. I held her back a little going up the hill and she was just as eager to rush back down, but I made her stay up on the top for a while. She eventually stopped chomping again and was silent, relaxed under me, and started looking around and I just pet her. After a while, when she seemed really calm, we went back down the hill. She wasn't anxious going down, but a little rushed, so we went back up again. We did this a couple of times until she just walked up and back down.

We were going to go in, but then this little bird by the pond started squawking at us, and rather than go away from it, I went towards it. Instead of flying away, it spun around and started running away! Once I was focused on following the bird without crushing it as it ran away from us, Brie really slowed without me having to hold her back and managed her speed while I followed the bird. Eventually, the bird got the idea that he should fly away, but it was such a cool feeling knowing that she was actually thinking on her own without me having to tell her everything that she had to do.

We walked in and I traded with my mom. Since he looked like he worked fine inside, I took him outside. He was okay until the last point we had reached outside by ourselves, which was the far side of the hill. Then I wanted him to walk to the fence line. He was very concerned about this, but we got there. When I turned to go back to the barn, that's when he wanted to take off, so I had to bend him to a stop. He didn't really stop, he kept spinning, but eventually he did stop and calmed down. We have to work on halting outside and getting the message across that stopping outside is an option, it's not just go go go. So we climbed up the hill (he was also nervous about that, so we had to go up and down a couple of times) and then waited at the top. He was a little more comfortable at the top of the hill, but still shifting his weight and not relaxing, until Samantha came out with Tobacco. Once another horse was out there with him, he calmed down a lot more. I rode with her all out back and then through the front before I came back in and gave Harry a shower.

I did bring popsicles for them, since they like them so much, but they melted in the cooler before I could give them out! Maybe tomorrow I'll have to give them before we ride.

And now for some pictures!!

Brie's favorite activity

I think this is one of the cutest pictures of Nina

Harry was not being very photogenic today.

My three out with Sadie and Taco.

Sadie: "I want a picture!!"

The Bays v The Black (and White!)

Nina mid-roll!

Eating grass while laying down: the epitome of laziness

The leader and her herd!

Day 225

I have some lovely pictures for you all today!

This is Harry's beautiful jaquima!

Sleepy Harry is sleepy.

A close up of the shank of his bit...I should've taken a picture of the port, but I forgot. Notices the double reins!

Our very first saddle. It's from Colombia and is perfect for training.

Harry wondering why I'm taking a picture of his butt. This is the so-called "fruit basket" a.k.a rear end collector

 So as you can tell, I did in fact use the training saddle and the fruit basket on Harry today, hoping that it would get him a little more collected and remind him that he can't just string out like a Quarter Horse (nothing against them, though!) This is the first time that Harry has been very energetic at a longe in a while, since he's pretty pokey, which is okay with me because I'm not getting pulled around. But he was actually very good and responsive.

My brother and Nina exploring.

Brie peeking between the fence while she's eating.

He was a little stiff in this direction, but we worked at it the entire ride and he eventually loosened up. 

 Look at that adorable sashay!

 Now here you can see that he is really collected. He ended up working very nicely. I was able to keep a loose rein on him after the warm up and he was happily snorting along. He stayed pretty collected the entire ride, but he tap danced a little. We didn't work on largo, since we're trying to collect the corto before we can extend the largo at the same time. He was a very good boy and really gave me all he had today. He was definitely listening to me, as his hears were facing towards me the entire ride. He was responding well to my leg and to my reins and while he tried to get away a little bit with his head, after a few quick corrections he settled back like a charm.

Afterwards, we went out exploring without the fruit basket. Once he walked over that little ditch he calmed right down.

We even got to walk near the pond again! So proud of him. Now for some adorable shots of Brie in between bursts of partaking in her favorite activity: eating.

Afterward we came inside, I rode Taco really quickly because he kept pulling towards the door for Jane, so after he calmed down and was able to walk past the doors without wanting to run out back to his stall, I got off and let him go into the stable. Then everybody got a nice, thorough bath and tail scrubbing. Of course, everyone was dirty within 5 minutes, but what can you do.

Day 224

Every time I get disheartened with Harry, I have to remember how far I've come.

So you may remember that he is in a bit of a slump performance-wise lately. He's just not very enthusiastic about gaiting and not doing nearly as well as he was in April or so and I can't figure out why. He just got his shoes done last weekend, so I figured that this weekend there might be a little bit of a change. He's just not having it. He's very stretched out and not collected and despite the huge amount of circlework that we're doing, it just doesn't seem to be helping. He isn't tap-dancing anymore, so that's a plus, but his corto has definitely extended and his largo is more pace than gait. If we make it to the next show, that means I only have five more practice days with him, and I'm not so sure that I can accomplish this big of a goal in only five days, especially when I don't even know where to start tackling the problem.

But I do have to admit, I'm proud of how relaxed he's gotten, even if it seems to be making him a little bit lazy. His whole problem with the tap dancing was because of all this pent up energy and anxiety that he had and now that he's let that go, it's like he has no real steam to fuel his engine, the little train that he is (or was). But today before I rode, I did some more Parelli Games. He let me swish the rope all around him today without continuing to turn so that he was still facing me. He let me twirl the rope like a helicopter and he wasn't even phased by it. He even let me swing the rope over him in an arc from one side to the other without getting scared of seeing it or hearing the hum that it was making through the air! I played the Porcupine Game with him a bit today and he was really good at it. I didn't have to put pressure on either his shoulders or his hinds for very long before he got the idea to pivot away from it. So yeah, our performance might be suffering a little bit, but I would rather be gaining his trust and having him calm down so that he's a sociable animal than being a great performance and absolutely skittish of everything. Now I just need to find a way to combine the two.

After our somewhat depressing ride (only because he was pokey), we went outside with Samantha and Tobacco. I'm so proud of my little Harry! He has been scared of the pond in back for the longest time, and two weeks ago we went out and I lead him around it on foot and we got really close to the water's edge. Well today when we were riding outside, we were able to calmly walk next to it without the fear of being eaten up by the sea demons! In fact, the entire ride outside was wonderful. He's turning into being a great trail horse, but I do still have hope for finding a happy medium between super anxious but good performance and really calm but very pokey. Tomorrow, we're trying the fruit basket.