I rode Brie first today, since my mom wanted to try Harry again because of everything that happened with him yesterday. She changed his bit back to the one that he was wearing about a year ago to see if that would make a difference, since he really seems like he's not respecting the bit anymore. I didn't pay much attention to Harry at first, but apparently he was pretty antsy.
Meanwhile, I was trying to walk Brie around outside. I don't understand her. We've gone outside a million times, but every time is like the first time we're going out. I wasn't planning on staying out as long as I did, but I didn't want her to charge the barn. So I would make her stop every time she started to get crazy. Unfortunately, the flowers weren't saved....we were walking by the pond in back and she stepped into the flowers by accident. I tried to get her out of there with both my legs and the reins, but she wasn't having it and ended up side-stepping all the way across the flower bed.
I feel very defeated with Brie. I know she's come a long way in manners in the arena, for the most part, but she still is crazy outside and I'm pretty sure she has the same attitude about shows, but that I can't be certain of. Should I just give up? I don't know what else I could do to try and make her not as excited outside. I've tried everything I can think of and nothing works.
After I managed to get back to the barn without killing myself, I got on Harry for a bit. He's a whole other problem. I don't understand where he went wrong either. Ever since May or April, he has not been the same. He hasn't been as good and I don't know what we're doing wrong, because we're doing the same things. At one point long ago, he got over his aversion to one wall in the arena. Now, suddenly he remembered that he's scared of it and will not for the love of God walk straight on it. When I first got him, he had such a hard time flexing, and we got over that. Now, he won't flex at all easily without giving a fight or trying to rear. Part of me thinks that there's some anatomical problem going on, but I don't know how to find out what it is. Everyone else thinks it's just his attitude, but why would he change so quickly back to being horrible? No one's done anything to him.
In part to end on a good note, I got off of him and walked him outside by hand. We walked around the pond because I know he's scared of it, and he got pretty close to the water's edge by the end of our walk. Then I lengthened his line and ran over the little ditch and he followed me over and although he was hesitant, he jumped right over it. If he couldn't settle his brain inside, I hope that readjusted it outside.
Lastly, I rode Taco outside for Jane. He enjoyed it and after I got back to the barn, Jane got to talking about letting him canter, since he won't be showing for another year, if he even shows next year. Everyone says not to canter Paso Finos, because apparently it messes up their gait, but Taco has a really smooth, slow canter that Jane likes. We wanted to see if it was a 4-beat canter, since there are classes in Colombia called Trote y Galope where the horse trots and canters and they're judged on that instead of the corto, largo, or fino. I took him across the board at a canter and it was in between a 3-beat and a 4-beat, depending on how his back feet landed each stride. Jane's settled on not listening to the people who bring her down and just having fun with Taco. He's had a lifetime of showing and pressure, so now he gets to relax and have fun.
Showing posts with label not so good day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not so good day. Show all posts
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Days 233 & 234
Saturday
It was an excruciating 105 today and all that was set was the farrier coming out. Alas, he didn't show up on time, so we rescheduled it for tomorrow. We did give everyone a quick hose off and I played a little with Harry and the tarp. I didn't try to make him go over it, but I held it folded up and walked around with it and had him follow me, that way he would get the idea that he is supposed to follow me no matter what scary thing I might be carrying. Eventually, we did get to halt and then I inched my way over to him to press the tarp against his nose. When he finally let me do this, I put the tarp down, still folded up, stood on it, and played the YoYo game to make him come towards me no matter what scary thing was around me. At first he didn't want to come back, but after he came close to me, we called it a day. I'd say that was progress!
Sunday
Harry was absolutely miserable today. He hasn't been quite this bratty in a while. He kept trying to buck me off! I got so sick of him that I got off and made him longe like a devil. After that, he calmed down a little, but was no where near where I wanted him to be. I don't know what happened between now and a month ago when he was being such an angel. It's beyond frustrating.
I got to poke around on Nina today, which was nice. We walked around outside for a little bit. She's so nice. I wish that every horse was like Nina. Or that I got to ride Nina more.
Finally the farrier showed up and everyone stopped riding. Nina is getting better around the farrier. We didn't have as much tranquilizer that we normally do for Nina, we had about half of what she usually gets, and I'm proud to say that she was pretty calm for her standards! She didn't even try to kick him.
It was an excruciating 105 today and all that was set was the farrier coming out. Alas, he didn't show up on time, so we rescheduled it for tomorrow. We did give everyone a quick hose off and I played a little with Harry and the tarp. I didn't try to make him go over it, but I held it folded up and walked around with it and had him follow me, that way he would get the idea that he is supposed to follow me no matter what scary thing I might be carrying. Eventually, we did get to halt and then I inched my way over to him to press the tarp against his nose. When he finally let me do this, I put the tarp down, still folded up, stood on it, and played the YoYo game to make him come towards me no matter what scary thing was around me. At first he didn't want to come back, but after he came close to me, we called it a day. I'd say that was progress!
Sunday
Harry was absolutely miserable today. He hasn't been quite this bratty in a while. He kept trying to buck me off! I got so sick of him that I got off and made him longe like a devil. After that, he calmed down a little, but was no where near where I wanted him to be. I don't know what happened between now and a month ago when he was being such an angel. It's beyond frustrating.
I got to poke around on Nina today, which was nice. We walked around outside for a little bit. She's so nice. I wish that every horse was like Nina. Or that I got to ride Nina more.
Finally the farrier showed up and everyone stopped riding. Nina is getting better around the farrier. We didn't have as much tranquilizer that we normally do for Nina, we had about half of what she usually gets, and I'm proud to say that she was pretty calm for her standards! She didn't even try to kick him.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Days 214 & 215
Saturday
I would just like to point out that after I was made fun of for trying to get Harry to walk over the tarp a couple of weeks back, that Paco and Nick tried during the week and in the process destroyed our tarp and had to buy us a new one. Make fun of me again.
My mom wanted to work with Harry first, so I took Brie. Once again we spent quite a bit of time trying to make her stand still next to the mounting block. Eventually I was pushed away from it by Nick's daughter who took hold of it as a chair while I was in the middle of corrective longeing Brie, so I just went to mount Brie from the middle of the arena. She stayed perfectly still. What a strange horse.
After finally get on, she was acting really nice. She was behaving and we worked on flexing and circle work before going into cortoing and largoing. My mom wanted to go for a walk outside, so we went for it. While we were walking along the front pasture's fence though, Harry started acting up really badly and started bucking and rearing and my mom almost fell off...so at that point, I jumped off and we switched horses. But then Brie, who was acting nicely up to this point, started acting up for my mom too! Not so much as Harry was, but she was doing her usual walking sideways and general brattiness. I managed to calm Harry down and we made it back to the barn safely. I wish we would've known what set Harry off.
Sunday
I worked again with Brie first today while my mom worked with Harry. She was acting just as good as yesterday, and I've discovered that she'll stand still by the mounting block, just not on the higher end of the steps. Neither will Harry. I think they have some issue with us not wanting to tower over them, but that's just a theory. At least they stood still for us to use some part of the block to mount.
I worked Brie much the same as yesterday and then my mom handed Harry over to me. He's working wonderfully! I don't know whether it's just him, the supplement, or the bit that is making this great change in his work ethic, but he's really performing wonderfully! I hope that he keeps this up for show.
So we decide to go outside again today. My mom kept on Brie and I kept on Harry after yesterday. Brie was absolutely horrible outside today. She hopped up the little hill in the front pasture and wouldn't approach the barn straight coming back in and slammed my mom into the side of the building. I do not know what her problem is, but she needs to get over it. She was getting so good at going outside last year without acting crazy. I was thinking that maybe I should just start working her only outside and then when she's being good, we can finish in the indoor, rather than starting in the indoor and when she's good, going outside, because she goes crazy outside.
Oh Brie. What to do with her...
I would just like to point out that after I was made fun of for trying to get Harry to walk over the tarp a couple of weeks back, that Paco and Nick tried during the week and in the process destroyed our tarp and had to buy us a new one. Make fun of me again.
My mom wanted to work with Harry first, so I took Brie. Once again we spent quite a bit of time trying to make her stand still next to the mounting block. Eventually I was pushed away from it by Nick's daughter who took hold of it as a chair while I was in the middle of corrective longeing Brie, so I just went to mount Brie from the middle of the arena. She stayed perfectly still. What a strange horse.
After finally get on, she was acting really nice. She was behaving and we worked on flexing and circle work before going into cortoing and largoing. My mom wanted to go for a walk outside, so we went for it. While we were walking along the front pasture's fence though, Harry started acting up really badly and started bucking and rearing and my mom almost fell off...so at that point, I jumped off and we switched horses. But then Brie, who was acting nicely up to this point, started acting up for my mom too! Not so much as Harry was, but she was doing her usual walking sideways and general brattiness. I managed to calm Harry down and we made it back to the barn safely. I wish we would've known what set Harry off.
Sunday
I worked again with Brie first today while my mom worked with Harry. She was acting just as good as yesterday, and I've discovered that she'll stand still by the mounting block, just not on the higher end of the steps. Neither will Harry. I think they have some issue with us not wanting to tower over them, but that's just a theory. At least they stood still for us to use some part of the block to mount.
I worked Brie much the same as yesterday and then my mom handed Harry over to me. He's working wonderfully! I don't know whether it's just him, the supplement, or the bit that is making this great change in his work ethic, but he's really performing wonderfully! I hope that he keeps this up for show.
So we decide to go outside again today. My mom kept on Brie and I kept on Harry after yesterday. Brie was absolutely horrible outside today. She hopped up the little hill in the front pasture and wouldn't approach the barn straight coming back in and slammed my mom into the side of the building. I do not know what her problem is, but she needs to get over it. She was getting so good at going outside last year without acting crazy. I was thinking that maybe I should just start working her only outside and then when she's being good, we can finish in the indoor, rather than starting in the indoor and when she's good, going outside, because she goes crazy outside.
Oh Brie. What to do with her...
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Equestrian Team Spring - Day 1
After not taking lessons for over two months because of my possible stress fracture, today was the first day back with the team.
To say it was terrible would be an understatement.
I was stuck with this little pony, who seemed like she might be annoying based on her ground manners, but I figured I could handle her. I got on, walked around a little bit and then started to ask for a trot.
This demon would NOT move at all. Stacy had me switch crops multiple times during the lesson and even with that, Wonder wouldn't move. She would only swish her tail, flick her ears, and continue on. Kicks, crops, even kisses, she wasn't having any of it. I felt angry when Stacy yelled at me to keep my leg on her because I WAS keeping my leg on her. This horse just would NOT go anywhere!
I literally spent the entire hour trying to get this horse out of a walk. She would only trot if Stacy walked behind us or yelled at me from across the arena, and cantered for half of a lap because Stacy yelled and snapped a longe whip at her.
Basically, I paid $40 for a pony ride.
I felt like crying for the entire second half hour because no matter what I did, it wasn't working.
At the end of the lesson, when everyone came in by Stacy for her little "moral of the lesson" story, her moral today was to believe in yourself and then you'll succeed in getting your horse to do what you want. I can only believe in myself until it's proven otherwise, and it was, so I accepted that this lesson wasn't going anywhere.
Afterwards (in which I untacked and groomed in record time because I was so sick of looking at Wonder), I went to talk to Stacy, and, ultimate insult, she said that I should come back for private lessons instead of group ones for a while. This really knocked me down. Even the girl who doesn't know how to ride, let alone have her own horses to train, was getting her horse to move. I'm trying not to take it as an insult, because I know Stacy didn't mean it that way...she said that she wanted to spend more time trying to fix this problem because my posture is great but it's like my legs aren't effective. She wants to analyze my riding more closely and figure out what I can do to really improve. I guess I should feel honored that she's asking to just spend time teaching me and working on my riding to really be where it looks I should be, both based on my experience with my horses and with my posture. So I have to figure out when I can start private lessons again. I might give next week's group lesson a go and see if it's any better on another horse. If not, I'll do privates for a while. I actually prefer privates.
In other news, I'm pretty sure Stacy is going to come out and ride this month! I'm so excited =] I just know that once she sees me riding my own horses, she'll be able to come up with something to help me better translate that into jumping. I would even love to bring Brie out for a jumping lesson some time, if we have a private lesson, or even a group lesson. I would love it even more if it were a group lesson so I could show everyone what my horses can do, but realistically I'll probably have to have it be private because we'd have to trailer Brie out there.
It can only get better from here, right?
To say it was terrible would be an understatement.
I was stuck with this little pony, who seemed like she might be annoying based on her ground manners, but I figured I could handle her. I got on, walked around a little bit and then started to ask for a trot.
This demon would NOT move at all. Stacy had me switch crops multiple times during the lesson and even with that, Wonder wouldn't move. She would only swish her tail, flick her ears, and continue on. Kicks, crops, even kisses, she wasn't having any of it. I felt angry when Stacy yelled at me to keep my leg on her because I WAS keeping my leg on her. This horse just would NOT go anywhere!
I literally spent the entire hour trying to get this horse out of a walk. She would only trot if Stacy walked behind us or yelled at me from across the arena, and cantered for half of a lap because Stacy yelled and snapped a longe whip at her.
Basically, I paid $40 for a pony ride.
I felt like crying for the entire second half hour because no matter what I did, it wasn't working.
At the end of the lesson, when everyone came in by Stacy for her little "moral of the lesson" story, her moral today was to believe in yourself and then you'll succeed in getting your horse to do what you want. I can only believe in myself until it's proven otherwise, and it was, so I accepted that this lesson wasn't going anywhere.
Afterwards (in which I untacked and groomed in record time because I was so sick of looking at Wonder), I went to talk to Stacy, and, ultimate insult, she said that I should come back for private lessons instead of group ones for a while. This really knocked me down. Even the girl who doesn't know how to ride, let alone have her own horses to train, was getting her horse to move. I'm trying not to take it as an insult, because I know Stacy didn't mean it that way...she said that she wanted to spend more time trying to fix this problem because my posture is great but it's like my legs aren't effective. She wants to analyze my riding more closely and figure out what I can do to really improve. I guess I should feel honored that she's asking to just spend time teaching me and working on my riding to really be where it looks I should be, both based on my experience with my horses and with my posture. So I have to figure out when I can start private lessons again. I might give next week's group lesson a go and see if it's any better on another horse. If not, I'll do privates for a while. I actually prefer privates.
In other news, I'm pretty sure Stacy is going to come out and ride this month! I'm so excited =] I just know that once she sees me riding my own horses, she'll be able to come up with something to help me better translate that into jumping. I would even love to bring Brie out for a jumping lesson some time, if we have a private lesson, or even a group lesson. I would love it even more if it were a group lesson so I could show everyone what my horses can do, but realistically I'll probably have to have it be private because we'd have to trailer Brie out there.
It can only get better from here, right?
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Days 203 & 204
Saturday
Today we had a huge party in celebration of Paco's birthday tomorrow because not everyone would be here tomorrow. It took away from riding time, but it was super fun. But before the party, I worked with Harry. We were doing the same kind of longeing from last week, using the pole, and it was going pretty well. He wasn't running so hard around the pole, but then he started fishtailing out again and didn't want to move back out...sigh. I really don't know what to do with him or why I suck at this so much. But Paco came over and told me to longe him from the bosal like I was a couple months ago, but he still kept fishtailing out, so Paco took him over.
Harry longed perfectly for Paco. =[ It's things like that that make me feel really bad. I don't know what else I could do to get Harry to work for me without thinking I'm a joke.
We bought bell boots for Harry in hopes that they would help him remember his back legs, but it didn't seem like they really did anything at all. He was just okay to ride, but at least he didn't act up. We put down the poles for the figure 8s and walked over them at the end of our ride. He started to even kind of hop over them and I could tell that he really started to like going over them. That made me happy, because the last time that we worked with the poles, which feels like forever ago, he was scared of them. So progress has been made at least in that department.
Sunday
So, the bell boots aren't really working at all. Oh well. At least the set was only $20.
I let my mom work with Harry today while I worked with Brie. We did a lot of bending and flexing and I started trying to teach her to flex while walking, but she more often than not thought that I wanted her to circle. Just tiny flexes is what I'm going for right now. We largo'd a ton and she was just snorting away out of sheer happiness, so I'm glad that she was at least content with what we were doing today. It was overall just a really relaxing ride and makes me so appreciative of everything we've gone through to get to this point. I never thought that I'd be here with Brie!
Nick rode Harry a bit today after my mom did. He basically said the same thing that everyone else did: Harry is a highly anxious horse. And Nick's way of dealing with Harry's anxiety is to circle him on the spot until Harry calms down, even if he's whipping around like a tornado until he calms down. I don't really think this is a great idea, because Harry made himself so dizzy once that he stumbled sideways almost into the wall after coming out of a tornado-spin circle. I'd much prefer to stop and let him calm himself down and continue on the ride. By the end of Nick's ride, Harry was black with sweat, and it was relatively warm enough in the barn, so we decided to wash everyone (with soap!) today. Now maybe they won't be so sticky and stinky! Although I'm sure this hope is futile, especially since the first thing Harry did when he got back in his stall was roll a bazillion times.
But as I was washing him, I got to thinking: maybe we should try a supplement on Harry like we did for Brie. We ordered Brie Smart Paks before (I want to say Mare Magic) when we were out of other options training wise and it worked like magic after only a month. We haven't had to order it again because she's so good now. Maybe something like that would be the way to go with Harry. I know that he doesn't have mean intentions and that he really is just a fearful horse. Maybe if he mellowed out he would be able to focus better.
Today we had a huge party in celebration of Paco's birthday tomorrow because not everyone would be here tomorrow. It took away from riding time, but it was super fun. But before the party, I worked with Harry. We were doing the same kind of longeing from last week, using the pole, and it was going pretty well. He wasn't running so hard around the pole, but then he started fishtailing out again and didn't want to move back out...sigh. I really don't know what to do with him or why I suck at this so much. But Paco came over and told me to longe him from the bosal like I was a couple months ago, but he still kept fishtailing out, so Paco took him over.
Harry longed perfectly for Paco. =[ It's things like that that make me feel really bad. I don't know what else I could do to get Harry to work for me without thinking I'm a joke.
We bought bell boots for Harry in hopes that they would help him remember his back legs, but it didn't seem like they really did anything at all. He was just okay to ride, but at least he didn't act up. We put down the poles for the figure 8s and walked over them at the end of our ride. He started to even kind of hop over them and I could tell that he really started to like going over them. That made me happy, because the last time that we worked with the poles, which feels like forever ago, he was scared of them. So progress has been made at least in that department.
Sunday
So, the bell boots aren't really working at all. Oh well. At least the set was only $20.
I let my mom work with Harry today while I worked with Brie. We did a lot of bending and flexing and I started trying to teach her to flex while walking, but she more often than not thought that I wanted her to circle. Just tiny flexes is what I'm going for right now. We largo'd a ton and she was just snorting away out of sheer happiness, so I'm glad that she was at least content with what we were doing today. It was overall just a really relaxing ride and makes me so appreciative of everything we've gone through to get to this point. I never thought that I'd be here with Brie!
Nick rode Harry a bit today after my mom did. He basically said the same thing that everyone else did: Harry is a highly anxious horse. And Nick's way of dealing with Harry's anxiety is to circle him on the spot until Harry calms down, even if he's whipping around like a tornado until he calms down. I don't really think this is a great idea, because Harry made himself so dizzy once that he stumbled sideways almost into the wall after coming out of a tornado-spin circle. I'd much prefer to stop and let him calm himself down and continue on the ride. By the end of Nick's ride, Harry was black with sweat, and it was relatively warm enough in the barn, so we decided to wash everyone (with soap!) today. Now maybe they won't be so sticky and stinky! Although I'm sure this hope is futile, especially since the first thing Harry did when he got back in his stall was roll a bazillion times.
But as I was washing him, I got to thinking: maybe we should try a supplement on Harry like we did for Brie. We ordered Brie Smart Paks before (I want to say Mare Magic) when we were out of other options training wise and it worked like magic after only a month. We haven't had to order it again because she's so good now. Maybe something like that would be the way to go with Harry. I know that he doesn't have mean intentions and that he really is just a fearful horse. Maybe if he mellowed out he would be able to focus better.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Day 144
Usually I hate waking up early, but I loved waking up early today. I actually got to be relaxed and not rushed when I rode!
I am very worried though -- Brie is a bit lame. She keeps kicking her stall, I don't know what's her problem. It's not like she's cooped up in there all day or next to a horse she doesn't like. All of them go out whenever it's sunny now and she's next to Nina. We're increasing her food now because she's starting to look a little bony. We usually like to keep her a bit underweight because of her insulin resistance, but her hips are starting to noticeably stick out now that it's getting warmer and she's going outside and spending all that energy up from the winter. Maybe that'll cure her kicking, maybe she's just hungry.
I rode her today, because I thought that she would work it out. Usually she's a little skippy when we start working, she always has been, but her skip lasted all throughout the ride, and we just mostly walked the entire ride anyways. When I got off and brushed her and hosed her off is when I noticed how much she was favoring her hind right foot -- she wouldn't even put weight on it for me to clean out her other hoof. So I put some liniment on both of her back legs after I showered her and I hope that she gets better...Mom said that if it's a ligament or muscle damage from kicking too much she might have to have the entire summer off and I'm not looking forward to that possibility. I hope she's okay, but otherwise we'll have to call the vet out tomorrow.
Apparently Mom had a really rough time with Harry today...He wasn't paying attention to her at all and it was like "some ghost was chasing him from behind" and he kept trying to bolt. We should've known...he went in the trailer like a perfect angel, so of course he would give a bad ride! I hope he's better tomorrow. He needs to get his act together tomorrow and next week because the week after that is Springfield! We need to beat some people! Any body! We just need to beat them!
I am very worried though -- Brie is a bit lame. She keeps kicking her stall, I don't know what's her problem. It's not like she's cooped up in there all day or next to a horse she doesn't like. All of them go out whenever it's sunny now and she's next to Nina. We're increasing her food now because she's starting to look a little bony. We usually like to keep her a bit underweight because of her insulin resistance, but her hips are starting to noticeably stick out now that it's getting warmer and she's going outside and spending all that energy up from the winter. Maybe that'll cure her kicking, maybe she's just hungry.
I rode her today, because I thought that she would work it out. Usually she's a little skippy when we start working, she always has been, but her skip lasted all throughout the ride, and we just mostly walked the entire ride anyways. When I got off and brushed her and hosed her off is when I noticed how much she was favoring her hind right foot -- she wouldn't even put weight on it for me to clean out her other hoof. So I put some liniment on both of her back legs after I showered her and I hope that she gets better...Mom said that if it's a ligament or muscle damage from kicking too much she might have to have the entire summer off and I'm not looking forward to that possibility. I hope she's okay, but otherwise we'll have to call the vet out tomorrow.
Apparently Mom had a really rough time with Harry today...He wasn't paying attention to her at all and it was like "some ghost was chasing him from behind" and he kept trying to bolt. We should've known...he went in the trailer like a perfect angel, so of course he would give a bad ride! I hope he's better tomorrow. He needs to get his act together tomorrow and next week because the week after that is Springfield! We need to beat some people! Any body! We just need to beat them!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Day 141
Have I ever mentioned that I hate Saturdays?
Harry got in the trailer so well today! I knew he had it in him =] We even put Nina in there with him. Of course she was happy as a clam, just looking at him like "Oh you'll love this! When they start moving we'll be somewhere new and exciting!" except we didn't even hook it up. But I'm sure she didn't care either way. Harry seemed to immediately calm down when Nina went in next to him.
I tried to work with Harry today and had a little bit of a meltdown. I'm so disappointed with myself, I haven't gotten that upset in a while...and it wasn't even his fault, it was just that we had so little time to ride and that I was stressing out that I wasn't able to work the kinks out for a beautiful ride in time before we had to leave. So after trying to rush and fight my way around the arena, my mom came back from her ride outside with Brie and made me just do circles around the pole until he was turning on the forehand, pat him, and then get off, that way we would both end on a good note.
Tomorrow we're not going out because it's Easter...I'd rather be riding than eating a ham.
I suggest that we leave my brother and dad home on Saturdays and just go out by ourselves, my mom and I, that way we can actually do things.
Harry got in the trailer so well today! I knew he had it in him =] We even put Nina in there with him. Of course she was happy as a clam, just looking at him like "Oh you'll love this! When they start moving we'll be somewhere new and exciting!" except we didn't even hook it up. But I'm sure she didn't care either way. Harry seemed to immediately calm down when Nina went in next to him.
I tried to work with Harry today and had a little bit of a meltdown. I'm so disappointed with myself, I haven't gotten that upset in a while...and it wasn't even his fault, it was just that we had so little time to ride and that I was stressing out that I wasn't able to work the kinks out for a beautiful ride in time before we had to leave. So after trying to rush and fight my way around the arena, my mom came back from her ride outside with Brie and made me just do circles around the pole until he was turning on the forehand, pat him, and then get off, that way we would both end on a good note.
Tomorrow we're not going out because it's Easter...I'd rather be riding than eating a ham.
I suggest that we leave my brother and dad home on Saturdays and just go out by ourselves, my mom and I, that way we can actually do things.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Day 89
We didn't have very much time to ride today. We went to a sale today! We had a 50% off coupon for everything we bought at the Saddle Shop. Harry needed a new saddle pad so I bought him a southwestern looking wool blanket that looks quite dashing on him, if I do say so myself. We bought Nina an Australian stock saddle because her show saddle is getting beat up from everyday use. I didn't get to try it out because we had to cut the underflaps so they wouldn't rub up against Nina's skin, which took up a good chunk of time.
Harry wasn't too hot today. I'm now working on just lunging inside the riding arena like every other horse can do. We had a few pullouts, but he calmed down. We went straight outside in that arena to work and boy was he excited! He rarely gaited, just like in the show. He didn't want to walk either. So everytime he broke into that excited crow hop, I stopped him or made a circle. He raced down the soundboard, so we worked on calmly walking across it and when he did we ended on that note.
It was kind of painful to ride today because yesterday at my lesson I got and then popped a blister all in a half hour on the outside of my ring finger. I had a bandaid and gloves on today, but it still hurt. Now I either have to retrain myself a different way to hold the reins or wear gloves while riding hunt seat. Lovely. If I hadn't listened to Nell's nagging about putting the reins between my pinky and my ring finger and just held them all in my palm like I used to, I wouldn't have had this problem.
Harry wasn't too hot today. I'm now working on just lunging inside the riding arena like every other horse can do. We had a few pullouts, but he calmed down. We went straight outside in that arena to work and boy was he excited! He rarely gaited, just like in the show. He didn't want to walk either. So everytime he broke into that excited crow hop, I stopped him or made a circle. He raced down the soundboard, so we worked on calmly walking across it and when he did we ended on that note.
It was kind of painful to ride today because yesterday at my lesson I got and then popped a blister all in a half hour on the outside of my ring finger. I had a bandaid and gloves on today, but it still hurt. Now I either have to retrain myself a different way to hold the reins or wear gloves while riding hunt seat. Lovely. If I hadn't listened to Nell's nagging about putting the reins between my pinky and my ring finger and just held them all in my palm like I used to, I wouldn't have had this problem.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Days 55 & 56
Saturday
Today I didn't do any riding because the vet came out. We had all three horses' teeth floated and they were given their annual spring shots. I would've taken pictures of them while they were all sedated, but I didn't want to embarrass them any more than they were while they were in our presence. While they were sedated, we clipped all of their ears. This is fantastic because they never let us get to their ears with the clippers (or anything, including fingers) while they're awake. This was especially important for Brie because the tips of her ears were DIRTYYY.
Sunday
It was kind of rainy today. I started off riding Harry in the indoor arena but was easily getting frustrated and upset so I went into the round pen outside to work with him in between rain showers. He calmed down out there while Brie was going pretty berzerk from being outside with mom. Nina looked fantastically calm, as usual, with Antz. After Harry was sufficiently calm, I went back inside.
I started getting frustrated again. So instead of being angry and letting him feel it and then possibly getting hurt and being counter-productive, I just got him to walk around the arena once, even if he wasn't on the rail, and then stopped. He doesn't like the rail because there are flags hanging on the walls. I think he'll get over that as he learns to trust me more because he doesn't have a problem walking next to the rail when I have him on a leadline.
I rode Brie. Immediately angry 1) because she was uppity after being outside and 2) because I HATE THAT SADDLE!! It is the WORST saddle in history in my opinion. Maybe it would be okay if I wore full chaps all the time, but it's for show, and I'm wearing tuxedo pants for show, and I definitely can not be sliding around and compromising my ribbon and safety in front of dozens of people. It's going on eBay this week.
I walked Brie back to the aisle to untack, had a good cry, and went on giving them showers.
In the wise words of Linda Parelli, "Don't get upset at your horse. Cry, let it out, end your session, and the next time you'll have a better day". I'll be watching more Parelli while I'm at work once I've caught up on all my homework.
Today I didn't do any riding because the vet came out. We had all three horses' teeth floated and they were given their annual spring shots. I would've taken pictures of them while they were all sedated, but I didn't want to embarrass them any more than they were while they were in our presence. While they were sedated, we clipped all of their ears. This is fantastic because they never let us get to their ears with the clippers (or anything, including fingers) while they're awake. This was especially important for Brie because the tips of her ears were DIRTYYY.
Sunday
It was kind of rainy today. I started off riding Harry in the indoor arena but was easily getting frustrated and upset so I went into the round pen outside to work with him in between rain showers. He calmed down out there while Brie was going pretty berzerk from being outside with mom. Nina looked fantastically calm, as usual, with Antz. After Harry was sufficiently calm, I went back inside.
I started getting frustrated again. So instead of being angry and letting him feel it and then possibly getting hurt and being counter-productive, I just got him to walk around the arena once, even if he wasn't on the rail, and then stopped. He doesn't like the rail because there are flags hanging on the walls. I think he'll get over that as he learns to trust me more because he doesn't have a problem walking next to the rail when I have him on a leadline.
I rode Brie. Immediately angry 1) because she was uppity after being outside and 2) because I HATE THAT SADDLE!! It is the WORST saddle in history in my opinion. Maybe it would be okay if I wore full chaps all the time, but it's for show, and I'm wearing tuxedo pants for show, and I definitely can not be sliding around and compromising my ribbon and safety in front of dozens of people. It's going on eBay this week.
I walked Brie back to the aisle to untack, had a good cry, and went on giving them showers.
In the wise words of Linda Parelli, "Don't get upset at your horse. Cry, let it out, end your session, and the next time you'll have a better day". I'll be watching more Parelli while I'm at work once I've caught up on all my homework.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Day 26
(originally started at 1130pm last night)
Today was a not so good day.
And thinking back about it, it's been my first not so good day in a while.
It started with trying to get Brie out of the stall. With the Parelli knowledge, I tried the same thing I did yesterday but she kept giving me her butt. Discouraged and thinking my horse hated me, I cried (which was bound to happen when you try something new) and was upset that my mom had to help me get her out. She came out, I brushed her. When I tried to get on, she kept moving. I wasn't even anywhere near the mounting block! She kept fidgeting around and moving, so I made her turn on her front legs, which she was doing when she was moving. Finally she stopped (only because my mom started looking at her ughhh) and I got on. Slightly disheartened, I figured I'd jump because she loved that so much.
Wrong.
She kept refusing the jump, and finally I got her to accept it, only after she reared up before it while deciding whether to spin around and run away or go over it and stood like that for a whole 5 seconds, without moving, which is actually pretty long to be balanced on her back legs. She hop-skipped over the jump and after that she had a better attitude.
I can't really be mad at her. This is the first time that's happened for a while now. And I can't be mad at myself for the whole stall sour issue, because so far, Parelli hasn't addressed that. I guess he assumes you can at least get your horse out of the stall without killing you.
I plan to watch more of his DVDs this week if college doesn't kill me first.
Today was a not so good day.
And thinking back about it, it's been my first not so good day in a while.
It started with trying to get Brie out of the stall. With the Parelli knowledge, I tried the same thing I did yesterday but she kept giving me her butt. Discouraged and thinking my horse hated me, I cried (which was bound to happen when you try something new) and was upset that my mom had to help me get her out. She came out, I brushed her. When I tried to get on, she kept moving. I wasn't even anywhere near the mounting block! She kept fidgeting around and moving, so I made her turn on her front legs, which she was doing when she was moving. Finally she stopped (only because my mom started looking at her ughhh) and I got on. Slightly disheartened, I figured I'd jump because she loved that so much.
Wrong.
She kept refusing the jump, and finally I got her to accept it, only after she reared up before it while deciding whether to spin around and run away or go over it and stood like that for a whole 5 seconds, without moving, which is actually pretty long to be balanced on her back legs. She hop-skipped over the jump and after that she had a better attitude.
I can't really be mad at her. This is the first time that's happened for a while now. And I can't be mad at myself for the whole stall sour issue, because so far, Parelli hasn't addressed that. I guess he assumes you can at least get your horse out of the stall without killing you.
I plan to watch more of his DVDs this week if college doesn't kill me first.
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