Days 267 & 268

Saturday

I was super exhausted today from staying up really late the past two days working on finals. Finals week is awful.

I only rode Brie today. She was really good, I think she knew I was tired. She wanted to go really fast, so I let her because it felt nice to just let go. Nothing really productive today.

I watched my mom work with Harry. While I was in LA last week, she started working him on the ground. He is taking a break from riding. He was setting his head really nicely and looked like he had to think a lot. He didn't tap dance with his back legs the entire time she was working with him, so I think he's making progress.

Sunday

Today I got to work with Harry. My mom taught me what she was teaching him. We let him go out on the long lunge line to shake off his energy and stretch out before we switch him onto the shorter line. He is wearing bell boots on his front legs and weighted bracelets on his back legs. We're trying to make him remember to keep his legs in rhythm. So on the short line, we work on flexing his head towards us while moving away with his back legs, crossing all of his legs over as he rotates around us. After he does that, we hook him up to our makeshift Pessoa system and lunge him like that with a snaffle bit. He seems to be getting on pretty well. The true test will be when we get to ride him again, and I'm not sure when that will be.

After I worked with Harry, I got to ride Nina! I love riding her since I don't get to ride her that often. She is so cool! Of course since there are such long gaps in time when I get to ride her, she is always different in her progression. She got so fast! She goes as fast as Brie now! She seems really happy too. She is very responsive to the leg and such a smooth ride. Just the coolest little horse ever. If only Brie and Harry could get their acts together like Nina did!

Day 3

So today.
I arrive at the stables and find out our horses' stalls haven't been cleaned. The person who's supposed to take care of the horses, Ken, decided to not come to work today. Already frustrated, I go to ride Brie. Bad Idea. I end up deciding to change her bit. So I go from the snaffle bit to this new Colombian bit that Carmello said I should use.

I guess it was my frustration that made it take so long for Brie to calm down. I ended up riding for about 2 hours. I decided to ride outside. Also a bad idea. She ended up getting more worked up, so I had to walk her more. Finally she calmed down. She walked and gaited really nicely. I just need to work on slowing down her corto (slower Paso gait) and largo-ing(faster Paso gait) her without breaking into a canter(almost a gallop, full out running).

So we're all cleaning stalls. Ugh. We find out that the owner of the stables is gonna fire Ken and bring in Paco to work and live in the apartment above the riding arena after Nationals. Which I can't even go to because I have to move in that week! Bad luck =/ But I really like Paco, he was at one of the stables we were at before. He really loves the horses and knows how to take care of them the right way, always keeps the stable clean. I can't wait to finally be able to go to sleep knowing my horses ate and get out.

Now here comes Jane. She owns Taco, a horse who I rode on a whim at a show once when his trainer asked me to. Apparently Taco has been horrible for Jane and Andre just keeps messing around with Taco and tryin to re-train him. Jane was so angry with Taco she was ready to sell him (I'd gladly buy him). So I asked her about him, how is he acting. He's acting just like Brie was before Dominic told me how to calm her down! Taco's just misunderstood by Andre and feared by Jane. So I offered to work Taco for Jane on the weekend when I'm there an maybe on wednesdays if I can get out there.

So I end this post disgusted with the hired help, disappointed in Andre's lack of patience, eager to work on Brie's gait changes before the state fair, and have myself my first client! Even if it's unpaid =]

Day 2

What started out as a crappy, frustrating day turned out to be a little fun and informative.

I decided to put a snaffle bit on Brie. For those who aren't familiar with the Paso Finos, let me explain. Pasos are Spanish horses from Colombia and Puerto Rico. Hence, they use Colombian style bits. (if you really don't know, bits are the metal parts that go in the horse's mouth) Snaffle bits are mainly for English style riding, like dressage and jumping. Based on the knowledge from Dominic, Carmello, and my mother, who are all trained in dressage, I believe it's worth a shot. Because they offer explanations as to how what the trainers are doing wrong, and how a bit of dressage training would be good for these horses, I believe its worth a shot. And because the trainers in Florida are winning and catching onto the snaffle bit "revolution", I believe it's worth a shot.
And anyways, Brie started out with this snaffle bit. It can't hurt to go back to her roots. And hey, if dressage has been working for hundreds of years on all sorts of horses, why wouldn't it work now to help this Spanish breed have more finesse?

Anyways, I worked with Brie on the snaffle bit. She seems okay with it, but slightly shocked at the difference between it and the Colombian bit. I don't know how it'll work out, it's just an experiment.

New problem: getting Brie to willingly accept the bit.

Now with Nina. She's very unhappy. Andre pointed out that Nina has sores, symmetrical sores, on the inside of her mouth. Hmm I wonder why. Not. She's pacing and not in her natural gait. The only good part about that is that Andre gave us a way to fire him. He suggested giving her time off! His situation's complicated and I don't wish to go into it. But we all at the stable think that he's getting ready to quit right before Nationals because of his situation. That'll leave the stable in peril, but not me!

The fun part of my day? After getting really angry at Andre, I decided "well what the hell." I got out my hard hat, took some cones and a long 2x4, and made a small jump. At first Brie was hesitant, but once she got up to it, she jumped right over it! And she liked it! I think I might've found her calling! The smaller jump circuit. I'll keep it up for a while and see how it goes.

And for those who say a Paso Fino can't jump, I say to you this:
A horse is a horse and will do what makes her happy.