Sunday
I rode Harry today! I worked with him the whole time, since we didn't have a whole lot of time. I woke up late...I couldn't help it!
He was a good little boy today. He wasn't pulling any tricks or anything. He was super energetic on the longe and I flexed him on the ground before I got on, just in case. Nick broke my carrot stick...so as soon as I order a new one I want to get back into Parelli stuff, especially because I will be staying here for the next three years. Yep, I'm staying here for law school, which I guess is nice, because then I won't have to stop riding and improving myself and the horses.
He was kind of poopy and kind of pacey riding, but I tried my best to connect with his energy and sit deep, urging him on with my seat and my legs while trying to relax his head through checking and circling rather than holding it down. He settled into it eventually. I just feel like now we're back at square two with him. Not square one, because his attitude has definitely improved, but square two, because he isn't performing as well as I know he can. Maybe I'll see how he does at this show next week and then decide whether or not to take him off of the calming supplement. The key is to get him relaxed but not so relaxed that he's a bump on a log, and that's a difficult balance to get right now.
His largo is pretty pacey again...so I can't really make a huge difference in speed between corto and largo in show without him pacing or getting anxious. I hope that doesn't prevent us from placing. It just kind of agitates me that I can't figure out, after a year off of shows, what to do with him to make him super performance ready. I'm really satisfied with how his attitude has come out and how he trusts us (to an extent. still hates the tarp and big ball), but now I need to get his spirit and confidence up to perform. Despite this feeling, I just have to remember that I'm making progress.
Showing posts with label pacing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pacing. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Day 290
Saturday
Ten more days until I finish writing on this blog. I can hardly believe it. It is going to be so weird to not write what's going on anymore.
It was such a beautiful day today so I rode Brie outside. She was an absolute doll, I am so proud of her. I think she is really coming along in her old(er) age. Now if only she can keep it up in the show ring.
The music was super loud today (ugh), so we put the pom poms in Harry's ears to try to help block it out so that he could focus. My mom was riding him first and then came outside by me, saying that he doesn't want to flex to the right. I wanted to work on that before I got on and got him to flex on the ground after some struggle. When I got on, I wanted to flex before we started moving and he was good on the left, but boy when he got to the right, he went berserk. He just about threw me off, he was trying to rear to avoid the flex. I got off and made him longe to the right and at first he was like a bat out of hell. After he calmed down, I had him stop and worked on flexing to the right again on the ground and he was much better at it this time. Once he was going easy, I got back on and tried again and he was hesitant but better at it. After he was giving his head to me easily, I walked around with him a couple of laps, took a pass on the board, flexed some more, and got off. I can't tell if he's just being stubborn or if there is some pain there. Everyone is now saying that he is not broke at the pole, so we have to work on that too now, along with the pacing, although I think that once he is broke at the pole, he will be more balanced and the pacing issue should work itself out.
Ten more days until I finish writing on this blog. I can hardly believe it. It is going to be so weird to not write what's going on anymore.
It was such a beautiful day today so I rode Brie outside. She was an absolute doll, I am so proud of her. I think she is really coming along in her old(er) age. Now if only she can keep it up in the show ring.
The music was super loud today (ugh), so we put the pom poms in Harry's ears to try to help block it out so that he could focus. My mom was riding him first and then came outside by me, saying that he doesn't want to flex to the right. I wanted to work on that before I got on and got him to flex on the ground after some struggle. When I got on, I wanted to flex before we started moving and he was good on the left, but boy when he got to the right, he went berserk. He just about threw me off, he was trying to rear to avoid the flex. I got off and made him longe to the right and at first he was like a bat out of hell. After he calmed down, I had him stop and worked on flexing to the right again on the ground and he was much better at it this time. Once he was going easy, I got back on and tried again and he was hesitant but better at it. After he was giving his head to me easily, I walked around with him a couple of laps, took a pass on the board, flexed some more, and got off. I can't tell if he's just being stubborn or if there is some pain there. Everyone is now saying that he is not broke at the pole, so we have to work on that too now, along with the pacing, although I think that once he is broke at the pole, he will be more balanced and the pacing issue should work itself out.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Days 286 & 287
Saturday
Yesterday was Brie's birthday!!! She is now 12 years old. It's incredible to think we've had her since she was 3. She truly is the reason for this blog and is the motivation behind all of my efforts to become a better horse trainer and to help others work with their horses. I've learned so much from her and although I've shed some tears over excusals and bad days, I've gained so much more happiness. She is incredibly smart and loving. I only wish that, when I have my own kids, that I will have a horse as special as Brie for them to learn from.
Enough with that before I cry, haha. For her birthday, we brought her a banana and split up the remainder of those Stud Muffins from Harry's birthday last week. It was only my mom and I today, so we didn't ride Nina. Out of the three of them, Nina is probably the only one who will be totally normal with an extra day off. I brushed her off and longed her for a while. My brother never longes her, just hops on and rides, so she was very hoppy and bouncy! I think it made her happy though =]
I rode Brie while my mom rode Harry. She is coming along better, getting way more relaxed walking. I'm finding that having a deeper seat and keeping my hands low is really effective on keeping her steady and her head collected, although it still could use some more work. I might use the draw reins next weekend and see how that goes, but mostly I just do more flexing and circling, but not too much because she gets dizzy easily.
We got ear poms for Harry. Not entirely sure if they worked, because he is pacing again! =[ I rode him and he paced pretty much the whole way, but kept wanting to bolt and go fast, but then we all know that he will pace in a largo too...We really don't know what to do, and it's awful to leave feeling like a failure, especially when you know he's not doing it out of spite. He genuinely wants to do what you ask him, but he just is not gaiting too well. Only in gait over the sound board, and in Pleasure classes they don't have sound boards, so it doesn't even matter. He will never place if he is so visibly pacing.
Sunday
Getting to the end here. Day 287. 13 days left before I officially close this blog. I don't think that will be after show season starts, so I might add a Show Season Summary at the end of the summer. I just can't leave this open-ended! Depending on where I end up for law school, if I end up here I might create a "Notes from a Horse-Trainer (In Training) Part 2", but we'll see.
After some research, we found that Harry is pacing because he has a hollow back. This is fixed by having a slightly lower neck position. Right now his neck is pretty high but his head is tucked and collected so he looks fine, but it's affecting his gait. There might also be some muscle tension, but we can't call out a chiropractor or a massage therapist because they're expensive =/ so we might just put lineament on his back and rub him a little and see what that does.
Brie was fantastic today. Near the end of our work, I felt her really suck herself under and collect, raise her back up and it was phenomenal. I tried to notice what I did differently, if I did anything, but it seemed like I was doing the same as usual! Have to keep noticing the little things until I figure it out.
My brother rode Harry and he was a little upset that he couldn't get him to stop pacing either. My mom used the draw reins and said they worked a bit, but my brother couldn't feel it so he took them off and Harry wasn't much better either.
I rode Nina today instead and she was harder to ride this time than last time! It was hard for me to keep her head set. I guess I should probably add in a ride on her at the end of the days so that I know what I'm doing if I get the chance to show her this season!
After all of the disappointment over Harry, it's hard to be sad when you realize how much he loves us. Some people say it's impossible for a horse to love people, because we're people and they're animals, but you can really tell that he loves us. He was still hot when we were going to put him away, so my mom put a rope around his neck and led him into the arena to walk him around just like that. She dropped the rope and kept walking and he followed her along everywhere! My dad has the video, but didn't send it to me, otherwise I would put it on here. After she got tired, I went in and walked around and he followed me too. I could abruptly turn and change directions and do serpentines, make like I was going one way and then go the other, and no matter what, he followed me! He even stopped when I stopped. And just the look on his face while he was following us was so sweet. Yep, he definitely loves us. That makes up for everything.
Yesterday was Brie's birthday!!! She is now 12 years old. It's incredible to think we've had her since she was 3. She truly is the reason for this blog and is the motivation behind all of my efforts to become a better horse trainer and to help others work with their horses. I've learned so much from her and although I've shed some tears over excusals and bad days, I've gained so much more happiness. She is incredibly smart and loving. I only wish that, when I have my own kids, that I will have a horse as special as Brie for them to learn from.
Enough with that before I cry, haha. For her birthday, we brought her a banana and split up the remainder of those Stud Muffins from Harry's birthday last week. It was only my mom and I today, so we didn't ride Nina. Out of the three of them, Nina is probably the only one who will be totally normal with an extra day off. I brushed her off and longed her for a while. My brother never longes her, just hops on and rides, so she was very hoppy and bouncy! I think it made her happy though =]
I rode Brie while my mom rode Harry. She is coming along better, getting way more relaxed walking. I'm finding that having a deeper seat and keeping my hands low is really effective on keeping her steady and her head collected, although it still could use some more work. I might use the draw reins next weekend and see how that goes, but mostly I just do more flexing and circling, but not too much because she gets dizzy easily.
We got ear poms for Harry. Not entirely sure if they worked, because he is pacing again! =[ I rode him and he paced pretty much the whole way, but kept wanting to bolt and go fast, but then we all know that he will pace in a largo too...We really don't know what to do, and it's awful to leave feeling like a failure, especially when you know he's not doing it out of spite. He genuinely wants to do what you ask him, but he just is not gaiting too well. Only in gait over the sound board, and in Pleasure classes they don't have sound boards, so it doesn't even matter. He will never place if he is so visibly pacing.
Sunday
Getting to the end here. Day 287. 13 days left before I officially close this blog. I don't think that will be after show season starts, so I might add a Show Season Summary at the end of the summer. I just can't leave this open-ended! Depending on where I end up for law school, if I end up here I might create a "Notes from a Horse-Trainer (In Training) Part 2", but we'll see.
After some research, we found that Harry is pacing because he has a hollow back. This is fixed by having a slightly lower neck position. Right now his neck is pretty high but his head is tucked and collected so he looks fine, but it's affecting his gait. There might also be some muscle tension, but we can't call out a chiropractor or a massage therapist because they're expensive =/ so we might just put lineament on his back and rub him a little and see what that does.
Brie was fantastic today. Near the end of our work, I felt her really suck herself under and collect, raise her back up and it was phenomenal. I tried to notice what I did differently, if I did anything, but it seemed like I was doing the same as usual! Have to keep noticing the little things until I figure it out.
My brother rode Harry and he was a little upset that he couldn't get him to stop pacing either. My mom used the draw reins and said they worked a bit, but my brother couldn't feel it so he took them off and Harry wasn't much better either.
I rode Nina today instead and she was harder to ride this time than last time! It was hard for me to keep her head set. I guess I should probably add in a ride on her at the end of the days so that I know what I'm doing if I get the chance to show her this season!
After all of the disappointment over Harry, it's hard to be sad when you realize how much he loves us. Some people say it's impossible for a horse to love people, because we're people and they're animals, but you can really tell that he loves us. He was still hot when we were going to put him away, so my mom put a rope around his neck and led him into the arena to walk him around just like that. She dropped the rope and kept walking and he followed her along everywhere! My dad has the video, but didn't send it to me, otherwise I would put it on here. After she got tired, I went in and walked around and he followed me too. I could abruptly turn and change directions and do serpentines, make like I was going one way and then go the other, and no matter what, he followed me! He even stopped when I stopped. And just the look on his face while he was following us was so sweet. Yep, he definitely loves us. That makes up for everything.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Days 262 & 263
Saturday
I just can't figure out why Harry is acting the way he is. He is lazy and doesn't want to gait anymore. I tried everything I could think of today trying to get him to gait. He'll gait in a circle, but then when we get on the wall, he goes into pacing. He even paced over the board. Does he need a rest? Or does he need more work? I can't help him if he's bored with the arena, as it's going to get very cold this week and I'm guessing it will stay that way until the end of winter, and we won't be going outside as often. Any suggestions?
Sunday
My mom worked with Harry today. She put the draw reins on him and while it made him set his head, she said that he was still fighting and wanting to take off and not wanting to gait. She said he would gait for a little while and then go into pacing. I don't know what his deal is. He didn't pace over the board today, so that was good. Maybe we should put the bell boots back on him.
I rode Brie today and she was absolutely magnificent. It's rides like today that make me think she still has it in her to compete. She was totally responsive, had beautiful boards, and had perfect speeds at the largo and the corto. We even WALKED once we were done working, and for quite some time too, I might add, without stirrups and reins being loose. If she started to drift off of the wall I just needed to nudge her with my calf and she floated right back over. She was beyond good today, I'm so happy with her.
Meanwhile, Harry bit me! That snot! He bit my finger as I was petting his face. I was in too much shock to do anything, but I flicked him on the nose after I realized that he actually bit me! It wasn't very hard, thank God, but it still hurt! He even tore a little skin! He has got to learn manners and respect. Maybe that will fix him up in the arena as well.
I just can't figure out why Harry is acting the way he is. He is lazy and doesn't want to gait anymore. I tried everything I could think of today trying to get him to gait. He'll gait in a circle, but then when we get on the wall, he goes into pacing. He even paced over the board. Does he need a rest? Or does he need more work? I can't help him if he's bored with the arena, as it's going to get very cold this week and I'm guessing it will stay that way until the end of winter, and we won't be going outside as often. Any suggestions?
Sunday
My mom worked with Harry today. She put the draw reins on him and while it made him set his head, she said that he was still fighting and wanting to take off and not wanting to gait. She said he would gait for a little while and then go into pacing. I don't know what his deal is. He didn't pace over the board today, so that was good. Maybe we should put the bell boots back on him.
I rode Brie today and she was absolutely magnificent. It's rides like today that make me think she still has it in her to compete. She was totally responsive, had beautiful boards, and had perfect speeds at the largo and the corto. We even WALKED once we were done working, and for quite some time too, I might add, without stirrups and reins being loose. If she started to drift off of the wall I just needed to nudge her with my calf and she floated right back over. She was beyond good today, I'm so happy with her.
Meanwhile, Harry bit me! That snot! He bit my finger as I was petting his face. I was in too much shock to do anything, but I flicked him on the nose after I realized that he actually bit me! It wasn't very hard, thank God, but it still hurt! He even tore a little skin! He has got to learn manners and respect. Maybe that will fix him up in the arena as well.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Day 232
Sunday
Didn't make it out yesterday, but today we were out super late, so that kind of annoyed me. Either way, I called dibs on Harry first and got really discouraged with him. He was all freaked out in the arena, so I did circlework and it didn't seem to calm him down, so I went in the outdoor where my mom and brother were riding. He was still being uppity and pacing so I tried to longe him in there and he turned into the fishtailing brat that he was a couple of months ago. So I walked over to the round pen and made him longe in there. He was much better and ran like there was no tomorrow! Finally he calmed down and I rode him in the round pen. He didn't want to collect and kept pacing, so when he finally got it right a couple of passes, I got off and walked back into the indoor and my mom wanted to ride him.
Then I got on Taco. Jane said that he was being a little nicer this weekend, but he was still pulling her into the middle. I put another rein on him and got on to try for a pass around the arena at a walk and he did the same thing to me, so I brought him back out to the round pen. After a couple of bad passes in there, he was much more cooperative. He kept breaking into a canter though, so I had to keep slowing him to a walk and starting again. He finished nicely and I figured that we should try to go around in the arena for a bit.
He was just as horrible as he was when we left. He is so spoiled! That's because Jane is scared of him a little and gets off when he starts acting up, so he does that in order to stop working. I was working him the same as he was outside and he was getting better walking, but then I wanted a pass for a corto (which I probably should have just settled for a walk), and he kept trying to canter and take off into the middle of the arena to stop.
During all of this, Nick saw. He came over with a different jaquima completely on his own and changed it. This one had a steel bosal with bolt nuts on it, whereas the one Taco was using was a soft rawhide one. Nick told me that I can't use it all the time (nor would I want to!) and that he should be better once I changed it. He also commented on the size of the bit. I didn't change Taco's bit to Nina's today because Jane had already started riding when we got there, but hopefully I will be able to two weeks from now. Taco was a lot better with that new bosal and I was very light with my hand so I wouldn't hurt him. He was cantering a little, but I kept pulling him back into gait and we had a couple great passes on the board. I finished and got off, when Paco made a remark about how it was a terrible ride and how I let Taco win because at the end we just walked after he cantered. I was not in the mood for fighting with anyone, so I just got back on, corto'd a little without him breaking and then got back off.
People and their opinions. Gotta love them.
Didn't make it out yesterday, but today we were out super late, so that kind of annoyed me. Either way, I called dibs on Harry first and got really discouraged with him. He was all freaked out in the arena, so I did circlework and it didn't seem to calm him down, so I went in the outdoor where my mom and brother were riding. He was still being uppity and pacing so I tried to longe him in there and he turned into the fishtailing brat that he was a couple of months ago. So I walked over to the round pen and made him longe in there. He was much better and ran like there was no tomorrow! Finally he calmed down and I rode him in the round pen. He didn't want to collect and kept pacing, so when he finally got it right a couple of passes, I got off and walked back into the indoor and my mom wanted to ride him.
Then I got on Taco. Jane said that he was being a little nicer this weekend, but he was still pulling her into the middle. I put another rein on him and got on to try for a pass around the arena at a walk and he did the same thing to me, so I brought him back out to the round pen. After a couple of bad passes in there, he was much more cooperative. He kept breaking into a canter though, so I had to keep slowing him to a walk and starting again. He finished nicely and I figured that we should try to go around in the arena for a bit.
He was just as horrible as he was when we left. He is so spoiled! That's because Jane is scared of him a little and gets off when he starts acting up, so he does that in order to stop working. I was working him the same as he was outside and he was getting better walking, but then I wanted a pass for a corto (which I probably should have just settled for a walk), and he kept trying to canter and take off into the middle of the arena to stop.
During all of this, Nick saw. He came over with a different jaquima completely on his own and changed it. This one had a steel bosal with bolt nuts on it, whereas the one Taco was using was a soft rawhide one. Nick told me that I can't use it all the time (nor would I want to!) and that he should be better once I changed it. He also commented on the size of the bit. I didn't change Taco's bit to Nina's today because Jane had already started riding when we got there, but hopefully I will be able to two weeks from now. Taco was a lot better with that new bosal and I was very light with my hand so I wouldn't hurt him. He was cantering a little, but I kept pulling him back into gait and we had a couple great passes on the board. I finished and got off, when Paco made a remark about how it was a terrible ride and how I let Taco win because at the end we just walked after he cantered. I was not in the mood for fighting with anyone, so I just got back on, corto'd a little without him breaking and then got back off.
People and their opinions. Gotta love them.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
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.
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.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Day 221
Happy Mother's Day! My mom got the great present of being able to come out to the barn today. It was nice having someone to watch and correct my riding from the ground.
Everyone is back to being okay. There weren't any after effects of the whole commotion with the vet yesterday, so that was insanely relieving. When we got there, we let them all out to play in the pastures. They ate for a little bit and then we chased them around and played. Harry is so cute to play with. He'd play when I'd chase him and then knew exactly when I wanted him to come back to come inside. His hair was a mess today, so that took forever for me to brush through it all. He was very calm when I went to longe him. I love this calm Harry. It's great being able to longe without him fishtailing or backing up or charging at me or anything. I love it!
We did a lot of circle work today and flexing, since he didn't ride yesterday. I mostly worked on trying to collect his corto better and my mom was helping me with that, telling me that I keep my hands a little too low and too close together on his neck to support him, so I had to change that. After his corto was where I wanted it to be, we worked on the largo. It was pace-y again, but we kept working at it. I had to keep checking him and flexing him with the outside rein. We eventually found out perfect speed and remained in gait, so I was happy with that.
Since he was such a good and patient boy, we wandered around outside by ourselves, since my brother and Nina were already done. I was so proud of Harry! He's scared of walking close to the pond that's in the back of Gary's place, but today we walked around it on our own! Not very close, but still, it's progress! He was such a doll outside and was absolutely calm. He likes to run up the little hill in back too =]
Afterwards, I showered him off and let him out in the paddocks with Nina and Brie, where Brie stayed the entire day today. I also found out that a horse will not see a carrot if you throw it at them and won't sniff it out like a dog and eat it from the ground. It has to be literally in front of their noses.
Everyone is back to being okay. There weren't any after effects of the whole commotion with the vet yesterday, so that was insanely relieving. When we got there, we let them all out to play in the pastures. They ate for a little bit and then we chased them around and played. Harry is so cute to play with. He'd play when I'd chase him and then knew exactly when I wanted him to come back to come inside. His hair was a mess today, so that took forever for me to brush through it all. He was very calm when I went to longe him. I love this calm Harry. It's great being able to longe without him fishtailing or backing up or charging at me or anything. I love it!
We did a lot of circle work today and flexing, since he didn't ride yesterday. I mostly worked on trying to collect his corto better and my mom was helping me with that, telling me that I keep my hands a little too low and too close together on his neck to support him, so I had to change that. After his corto was where I wanted it to be, we worked on the largo. It was pace-y again, but we kept working at it. I had to keep checking him and flexing him with the outside rein. We eventually found out perfect speed and remained in gait, so I was happy with that.
Since he was such a good and patient boy, we wandered around outside by ourselves, since my brother and Nina were already done. I was so proud of Harry! He's scared of walking close to the pond that's in the back of Gary's place, but today we walked around it on our own! Not very close, but still, it's progress! He was such a doll outside and was absolutely calm. He likes to run up the little hill in back too =]
Afterwards, I showered him off and let him out in the paddocks with Nina and Brie, where Brie stayed the entire day today. I also found out that a horse will not see a carrot if you throw it at them and won't sniff it out like a dog and eat it from the ground. It has to be literally in front of their noses.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Day 219
Today was the first day that I've ever driven out to the barn on my own. I drove out with my brother in the rain. My mom had her surgery on Thursday and everything went well, but she's really bummed that she won't be able to ride for a while. My dad stayed home with her today and my brother and I went out because we needed to deworm the horses. I don't know if we'll get to Midwest Classic this year because I don't know if my mom will be able to sit in the car for that long...it's in two weeks. I hope that she feels better, regardless of whether we can go or not.
We got out there and started playing with them first. Harry let me swing the rope by his neck today, so that's progress. He was trying to bite it a lot, but eventually relaxed. We had to take turns playing and handling Brie because, since there were only two of us, Brie was the odd ball out today. I'm sure she didn't mind. I brushed her up first and my brother did Harry and Nina because he's super speedy. Afterwards, I put Brie back in her stall and tacked up Harry to ride.
I'm kind of nervous about how we'll do at the show if we go...he wasn't very collected today or last weekend. He also felt kind of pace-y today too...I have to figure out how to get him back to how he was, and quick!
Nina's nose is all stitched up. The vet came out this past Monday and her stitches need to be taken out next weekend, I think. That's pretty convenient, as the vet is coming back out for spring shots and to float teeth, plus the farrier is supposed to be out. It's good to get it all done in one day!
Once I was satisfied with Harry, I took out Brie just to walk. By then everyone was done riding so Brie had the arena all to herself and she loved it. She's so good by herself or when it's just Harry and Nina. It's when other people come that she gets upset and I don't know what to do about that.
After a little bit of walking just to get her stretching, we put everyone back to deworm them. Brie got to enjoy a banana while Harry and Nina got carrots. Wednesday is Nina's birthday! She'll be 6 years old. We have to get her something extra fancy!
We got out there and started playing with them first. Harry let me swing the rope by his neck today, so that's progress. He was trying to bite it a lot, but eventually relaxed. We had to take turns playing and handling Brie because, since there were only two of us, Brie was the odd ball out today. I'm sure she didn't mind. I brushed her up first and my brother did Harry and Nina because he's super speedy. Afterwards, I put Brie back in her stall and tacked up Harry to ride.
I'm kind of nervous about how we'll do at the show if we go...he wasn't very collected today or last weekend. He also felt kind of pace-y today too...I have to figure out how to get him back to how he was, and quick!
Nina's nose is all stitched up. The vet came out this past Monday and her stitches need to be taken out next weekend, I think. That's pretty convenient, as the vet is coming back out for spring shots and to float teeth, plus the farrier is supposed to be out. It's good to get it all done in one day!
Once I was satisfied with Harry, I took out Brie just to walk. By then everyone was done riding so Brie had the arena all to herself and she loved it. She's so good by herself or when it's just Harry and Nina. It's when other people come that she gets upset and I don't know what to do about that.
After a little bit of walking just to get her stretching, we put everyone back to deworm them. Brie got to enjoy a banana while Harry and Nina got carrots. Wednesday is Nina's birthday! She'll be 6 years old. We have to get her something extra fancy!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Day 218
I have everything, as promised! Here are some more pictures of Nina's cut.
After seeing it today, we've decided to call the vet tomorrow and have them take a look at it. From there, it'll be their decision to put stitches in it or not. My poor Nina. Maybe the stitches will be out before the show.
Once we made that decision, we played some more, since we didn't get to play for as long as we wanted to yesterday. I did some walking around and Harry followed me wherever I went. We got further with the Friendly Game and he'll now let me swing the string at the end of the carrot stick against him. Next goal: getting to swing the string over him and around him. Then my brother set up the tarp. I was pleased that I managed to keep Harry's attention and relative calmness while my brother unfolded and put the tarp out. He made Nina longe over it, which Nina thought was the most fun thing ever, and my mom made Brie go over it, which Brie thought was the biggest waste of time ever. I decided to take Harry over by the poles that my brother had set up and we tried to walk over them. He walked over them once, but then everyone else wanted to, so we started with the tarp.
There are literally 90 other pictures of him sniffing the tarp. He was snorting the whole time. Once in a while, but not often, we got shots like this.
The important thing is that I never forced him into anything. Although this picture shows me pulling him with the lead line to prevent him from rearing, I only pulled this hard in times like this. Otherwise I had a very gentle tug and immediately released when he moved his neck or foot closer.
Finally he stepped on it! I'm so proud of him. It certainly took a while, maybe close to an hour, but next time it will be even less and before you know it, he'll be able to longe over it like Nina!
I worked Harry first, since by the time he stepped on it, everyone else was already tacked up and riding. He was very good on the longe, no fishtailing, and was pretty calm. Maybe a little too calm. He paced a lot when I rode him today, unlike yesterday. Maybe he was tired too from mentally exerting himself over the tarp. But he wasn't bad. He just needed a couple corrections. After much riding, here is the final video!
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| Right after we took her out of the stall. Getting ready to clean it. |
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| Front view. It goes all the way into her nose. |
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| After cleaning it. |
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| This is the blue stuff I'm talking about!! |
After seeing it today, we've decided to call the vet tomorrow and have them take a look at it. From there, it'll be their decision to put stitches in it or not. My poor Nina. Maybe the stitches will be out before the show.
Once we made that decision, we played some more, since we didn't get to play for as long as we wanted to yesterday. I did some walking around and Harry followed me wherever I went. We got further with the Friendly Game and he'll now let me swing the string at the end of the carrot stick against him. Next goal: getting to swing the string over him and around him. Then my brother set up the tarp. I was pleased that I managed to keep Harry's attention and relative calmness while my brother unfolded and put the tarp out. He made Nina longe over it, which Nina thought was the most fun thing ever, and my mom made Brie go over it, which Brie thought was the biggest waste of time ever. I decided to take Harry over by the poles that my brother had set up and we tried to walk over them. He walked over them once, but then everyone else wanted to, so we started with the tarp.
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| Thinking about it |
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| Smelling it |
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| You want me to do what, now?! |
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| Circling around the tarp. |
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| The final sniff |
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| Stepping on the tarp!!! |
I worked Harry first, since by the time he stepped on it, everyone else was already tacked up and riding. He was very good on the longe, no fishtailing, and was pretty calm. Maybe a little too calm. He paced a lot when I rode him today, unlike yesterday. Maybe he was tired too from mentally exerting himself over the tarp. But he wasn't bad. He just needed a couple corrections. After much riding, here is the final video!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Days 205 & 206
Saturday
First, let me show you how I longed Harry last weekend.
I made this little loop around the pole so that he couldn't pull me when he fishtailed out. So that was that!
Here is another picture from last weekend. Nothing too special, just using double reins! His little braid looks so funny =]
Last two pictures from last weekend. We turned walking over the poles into jumping over the poles! At least he was enjoying himself...I remember when he was too scared to even go anywhere near them! And I have to say that I'm proud of my posture, it's gotten way better!
Now, to photobomb you from today! Compared to last weekend, it was beautiful out! I can't even believe that I had to wear a turtleneck last week, today was gorgeous! As it being so beautiful out, we let everyone run around and play before we started to work today.
Harry wins the award for most photogenic today. I have tons more pictures, and he's in the majority of them! He's such a cutie, as soon as I walked into his pasture he ran over to me to see what I was doing.
Then I hopped over the fence to Brie and Nina's paddock. Nina was adamant on playing tag the entire time, so I didn't get very many stills of her. This is my favorite though.
In between chasing Brie to make her stop eating and do something interesting for the camera, I got this one. I'm just bugged that I didn't get her whole face in the frame! She looks so dirty!
Harry looking over at me in the next paddock, sadly. He gets sad when he can't play with Nina, but Brie really doesn't like him, so we generally don't put them together unless we're making a Christmas card or something.
First, let me show you how I longed Harry last weekend.
I made this little loop around the pole so that he couldn't pull me when he fishtailed out. So that was that!
Here is another picture from last weekend. Nothing too special, just using double reins! His little braid looks so funny =]
Now, to photobomb you from today! Compared to last weekend, it was beautiful out! I can't even believe that I had to wear a turtleneck last week, today was gorgeous! As it being so beautiful out, we let everyone run around and play before we started to work today.
Running towards the camera.
Being a model.
In between chasing Brie to make her stop eating and do something interesting for the camera, I got this one. I'm just bugged that I didn't get her whole face in the frame! She looks so dirty!
Doing her favorite activity -- eating!
Finally some movement!
My dad caught a frame of Harry and I. He was following me around the pasture when I walked in. I like how both of our hair looks crazy.
This is my favorite of the two of us so far!
I tricked Harry into giving me a kiss. He is clearly disgusted by it! Girls have cooties =]
Now that the photobombing is over, let me tell you about my marvelous weekend! Harry's 7th birthday was this past Thursday and we planned on celebrating but forgot the apples...oops. Anyways, after tacking him up I thought of longeing in the corner of the arena and using the two walls as a buffer for fishtailing. He was super calm and looked great and never fishtailed. My mom even asked, "Wow, what did you do to Harry?" I think it was probably because he ran around outside first, but at least he has this calm idea in his mind now. Hopefully this will work for a while and we can progressively move away from the corner and into the middle of the arena.
My goal for this weekend was to work on the largo. We had a beautiful ride pre-largo. He was collected and calm and gaiting wonderfully, doing everything I asked of him. I couldn't have been happier.
When we got into the largo, he lost all sense of calm and normalcy and began pacing and tapdancing. I tried everything I could think of ---flexing into the wall, stopping to let him rebalance, slowing and speeding back into the largo, pushing him forward...at the end I even pushed him into a canter and he wasn't having that. I was totally out of ideas and discouraged by that point, so I calmed him back down to a walk and collected him back into a corto, passed across the board, and finished on a good note.
Disappointed, I was talking to my mom about what to do with him. Should we send him to training? I just would hate to do that because I have so much of my own efforts invested in him and even though I can't see it at times, we really have come a long way. Think of those poles, for example! So I made a deal to give me until my birthday next month and if he's not doing better, then we should send him to training, either by Nick here or by Paul who offered it to us last fall at the State Fair. I just hope that we can get somewhere on our own!
Sunday
Today I should have really taken pictures, that way I could have shown you what I did.
While in the car, I started talking to my friend Melody about my situation with Harry and how I've tried everything I could think of. She suggested heavier shoes (but that's not happening) or maybe slightly pulling him off the wall and doing some random shapes to refocus his mind on what he's supposed to be doing and calming him down, then letting him go back into a largo. My mom suggested putting on the rear end collector (a.k.a fruit basket) and the weighted bracelets on his back legs. So I decided to combine the three.
I was expecting hell on legs when I longed him today, but happily, that was not the case! He was just as good as yesterday, and it has me thinking, maybe he doesn't need to be longed before I ride. Maybe longeing is what is working him up with anticipation? As soon as we get the largo down, I'll test out that theory. Until then, our corner will work just fine.
The past two days have been our longest rides since I can remember. They're wonderful. The first part of our ride was him getting used to the collector and the bracelets, so he was pretty bouncy. After he calmed into that, our corto was a little tap dancy. I started the shapes first with circles, but then found that he thinks circles are just the greatest thing ever and loves to spin around and started doing it on his own, so we stopped circles and started doing triangles and squares and stars. He was better with those. His corto relaxed and he was feeling pretty confident and our board was phenomenal.
Feeling good, we started going at the largo. It was tricky and we definitely did more shapes than not, but at the end of our ride, we had an absolutely BEAUTIFUL couple of passes across the board at a largo, no skipping or tap dancing or pacing. He was just giving me all of his effort and it felt amazing. Beyond proud of where we were at, I took off his contraptions and we headed outside, because today was even warmer than yesterday!
I joined everyone in the outdoor and was only looking to have a little fun, so we corto'd around and across the board, where he got a little too excited and danced across it, so I had to refocus him and go across it again, where he did really nicely. Then my mom and I headed out into the front pasture where he was just an absolute doll walking around out there, while my mom was stuck with Brie in her monster mode, trying to run into the trees and fences. Harry was wonderful throughout our whole ride out in front, and after spending 10 minutes trying to close the gate we came out of when we went back into the arena (and failing), we headed inside where my mom was adamant on making Brie walk.
While Brie was trying to walk, Harry and I were cooling down. Feeling especially adventurous because of all our progress today and because I was using the training saddle (which has a horn), I took my feet out of the stirrups and was determined to not fall off. He worked surprisingly well! He didn't get scared that the stirrups hit his side a little bit and walked as if I had them in.
In all, today was by far one of the most progressive days in my training with Harry. These are the days that I need to remember when he's throwing me around the arena and yanking ropes out of my hands. He is beyond willing to learn, I just have to improve my methods to understand him.
At the end of the day, we hosed everyone down and gave out Harry's belated birthday present - golden apples! Brie's birthday is coming up this Thursday, so I wanted to get to the store to buy these granola oat balls that you hang from the stall that they can munch on, although I have a feeling Brie's will be gone in a day. Hope you all had wonderful rides today as well!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Day 186
I knew this day would come, but I was really hoping winter would put off the below freezing temperatures for just a couple more weeks.
I worked only with Harry today. While I was grooming him, he unzipped my coat. Silly horse, I need that to stay warm! I got the carrot stick again and went out to longe him and he was sure feeling the nip in the air when he tried to take off before we even started! I got him back and moderately calm and then Ray came in the arena with Ken, the colt. I mentioned it before and I'll say it again: Harry does NOT like Ray at all. After Ray came in, Harry was a nervous wreck. He finished longeing quietly while Ray longed on the opposite side of the arena. When I got on Harry to do circlework, Ray was also riding around, and Harry was running out from under me and skipping and tap-dancing...everything. I was trying my best to keep him calm and make him pay attention to me. I would be lying if I said it worked, because he was only slowing down as I pulled the reins, but still skipping and jumping. He only calmed down when Ray left the arena.
After Ray left, Harry and I flexed and worked serpentines. We went out on the wall and it took a lap or so to get him in gait without jumping or pacing after we walked, but once he got there, he was beautiful. He felt confident in his step and perfectly in gait! We're trying to work on lengthening his largo now and it will definitely take some time for his confidence to build while largoing, but he was doing well today. He'll to even better tomorrow! Hopefully it's not as cold!
I worked only with Harry today. While I was grooming him, he unzipped my coat. Silly horse, I need that to stay warm! I got the carrot stick again and went out to longe him and he was sure feeling the nip in the air when he tried to take off before we even started! I got him back and moderately calm and then Ray came in the arena with Ken, the colt. I mentioned it before and I'll say it again: Harry does NOT like Ray at all. After Ray came in, Harry was a nervous wreck. He finished longeing quietly while Ray longed on the opposite side of the arena. When I got on Harry to do circlework, Ray was also riding around, and Harry was running out from under me and skipping and tap-dancing...everything. I was trying my best to keep him calm and make him pay attention to me. I would be lying if I said it worked, because he was only slowing down as I pulled the reins, but still skipping and jumping. He only calmed down when Ray left the arena.
After Ray left, Harry and I flexed and worked serpentines. We went out on the wall and it took a lap or so to get him in gait without jumping or pacing after we walked, but once he got there, he was beautiful. He felt confident in his step and perfectly in gait! We're trying to work on lengthening his largo now and it will definitely take some time for his confidence to build while largoing, but he was doing well today. He'll to even better tomorrow! Hopefully it's not as cold!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Days 182 + 183
Saturday
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! While I'm sad that today was probably the last warm day of the year, it's a good thing because it's supposed to be cold in November. Unfortunately, that means that my horses will be quite stinky until it warms up enough to give them a bath. I can only shudder when I remember how dirty they got last year.
I thought that Brie was perfect today. She was responsive, well-mannered, and flexible. Perfect in every way --- until she hit the board. It was the most bizarre experience, being on Brie when she sounded like she was pacing. She's never been out of gait since she finished training 7 years ago. I thought, "Could I possibly be doing something wrong? Could she not really be as flexible as I thought she was being?" So we did circles and she still wasn't gaiting. My mom suggested that I ease up and let her just walk because it might have been her arthritis acting up. I felt so bad after that! It's so hard to remember that she might be in pain...my poor baby is getting old. =[ But after a nice (most likely) final bath of the year, she seemed pretty happy to go back and continue eating, as usual.
The reason why her leg could be bothering her is because she's KICKING THE STALL so much!!! I don't know what's her problem! Is she hungry? Is she bored? She has a salt lick and a Jolly Ball to play with. She gets outside. It's the saddest thing, especially when it looks like we'll have to be replacing the boards on the wall soon!
Mom worked with Harry today. He was being such a brat longeing! Paco had to step in and we've now made the decision that he won't be working off of the pisador when he's longeing anymore. He'll be working off of his noseband. I do not understand him. It's not that he ever wants to go too fast to stop him, it's that he speeds off and then fishtails out and back, pulling you forward. You would think that after a year of working on this, he would get the picture without having his nose held.
Sunday
Exciting news today! Taco is going to move over to our side of the barn! But now the baby has to take his place on the other side. I'll miss him =[ We don't usually go over there because it's where Ray keeps all of his horses and where the Gary keeps his and Ray just generally excludes us, but we'll have to wander over now and then to visit the cutie pie!
So now that Taco is moving over, we have to rework the stalls. Going back to Brie's kicking, Paco mentioned that maybe even though Nina and Brie grew up together, it's just a mare thing. It's funny that we never thought of that before because we humanized them so much. "Oh they love each other! It must be something else." But it's worth a shot. We know that Brie hates Harry from when she first started kicking to make damage to her stall and it stopped when she was on the end next to Nina for a while, but Paco says it's gotten horrible lately. So we're going to try moving Brie in between Taco and Harry and then putting Nina on the end. It might make her mad that she's next to Harry, but she seems to like Taco and hopefully her like for Taco outweighs her hate for Harry.
She was much better today, gaiting like normal. It must've been her leg bothering her yesterday. We worked more on flexibility today and keeping her corto contained after a largo, because usually after she largos she just wants to fly at a corto, but that won't do if I want to convince my parents to bring her along to shows this year!
I also got to ride Harry today after my mom worked with him. We put weighted bracelets on his back legs again to see if they would help with his tap-dancing, but I don't think they did...Anyways, we're figuring out what we want to do with his largo/corto difference and we're trying to collect his corto a little more and push is largo a little bit. Just a little in each direction. Going counterclockwise he works phenomenally, but clockwise is a little harder (just like longeing). After some fighting on the counterclockwise, we settled into a super collected corto and a smooth but not very fast largo. Clockwise, I fought with him the entire time until Paco told me to just walk and then quit after he gave in at a walk. I have a feeling that if Harry were a person, we wouldn't get along very well, we're both stubborn. But he did give me a nice walk at the end, so I'll give him that.
The farrier also came this afternoon. We did Brie without tranqing her, which is what's normal. She's 10, she's used to this, but he wanted her tranq'd every time he came out before this. I'm glad she was able to show what a good girl she is for the farrier. We started Harry but when he got to the front feet Harry started to try and rear, so we had to tranq him. Of course we needed to tranq Nina. I wonder if she'll ever be able to do it without being drugged...maybe we should lessen the amount each time until she can remember that it's okay? They're all going barefoot for the winter time, so I hope they don't get any cracks!
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! While I'm sad that today was probably the last warm day of the year, it's a good thing because it's supposed to be cold in November. Unfortunately, that means that my horses will be quite stinky until it warms up enough to give them a bath. I can only shudder when I remember how dirty they got last year.
I thought that Brie was perfect today. She was responsive, well-mannered, and flexible. Perfect in every way --- until she hit the board. It was the most bizarre experience, being on Brie when she sounded like she was pacing. She's never been out of gait since she finished training 7 years ago. I thought, "Could I possibly be doing something wrong? Could she not really be as flexible as I thought she was being?" So we did circles and she still wasn't gaiting. My mom suggested that I ease up and let her just walk because it might have been her arthritis acting up. I felt so bad after that! It's so hard to remember that she might be in pain...my poor baby is getting old. =[ But after a nice (most likely) final bath of the year, she seemed pretty happy to go back and continue eating, as usual.
The reason why her leg could be bothering her is because she's KICKING THE STALL so much!!! I don't know what's her problem! Is she hungry? Is she bored? She has a salt lick and a Jolly Ball to play with. She gets outside. It's the saddest thing, especially when it looks like we'll have to be replacing the boards on the wall soon!
Mom worked with Harry today. He was being such a brat longeing! Paco had to step in and we've now made the decision that he won't be working off of the pisador when he's longeing anymore. He'll be working off of his noseband. I do not understand him. It's not that he ever wants to go too fast to stop him, it's that he speeds off and then fishtails out and back, pulling you forward. You would think that after a year of working on this, he would get the picture without having his nose held.
Sunday
Exciting news today! Taco is going to move over to our side of the barn! But now the baby has to take his place on the other side. I'll miss him =[ We don't usually go over there because it's where Ray keeps all of his horses and where the Gary keeps his and Ray just generally excludes us, but we'll have to wander over now and then to visit the cutie pie!
So now that Taco is moving over, we have to rework the stalls. Going back to Brie's kicking, Paco mentioned that maybe even though Nina and Brie grew up together, it's just a mare thing. It's funny that we never thought of that before because we humanized them so much. "Oh they love each other! It must be something else." But it's worth a shot. We know that Brie hates Harry from when she first started kicking to make damage to her stall and it stopped when she was on the end next to Nina for a while, but Paco says it's gotten horrible lately. So we're going to try moving Brie in between Taco and Harry and then putting Nina on the end. It might make her mad that she's next to Harry, but she seems to like Taco and hopefully her like for Taco outweighs her hate for Harry.
She was much better today, gaiting like normal. It must've been her leg bothering her yesterday. We worked more on flexibility today and keeping her corto contained after a largo, because usually after she largos she just wants to fly at a corto, but that won't do if I want to convince my parents to bring her along to shows this year!
I also got to ride Harry today after my mom worked with him. We put weighted bracelets on his back legs again to see if they would help with his tap-dancing, but I don't think they did...Anyways, we're figuring out what we want to do with his largo/corto difference and we're trying to collect his corto a little more and push is largo a little bit. Just a little in each direction. Going counterclockwise he works phenomenally, but clockwise is a little harder (just like longeing). After some fighting on the counterclockwise, we settled into a super collected corto and a smooth but not very fast largo. Clockwise, I fought with him the entire time until Paco told me to just walk and then quit after he gave in at a walk. I have a feeling that if Harry were a person, we wouldn't get along very well, we're both stubborn. But he did give me a nice walk at the end, so I'll give him that.
The farrier also came this afternoon. We did Brie without tranqing her, which is what's normal. She's 10, she's used to this, but he wanted her tranq'd every time he came out before this. I'm glad she was able to show what a good girl she is for the farrier. We started Harry but when he got to the front feet Harry started to try and rear, so we had to tranq him. Of course we needed to tranq Nina. I wonder if she'll ever be able to do it without being drugged...maybe we should lessen the amount each time until she can remember that it's okay? They're all going barefoot for the winter time, so I hope they don't get any cracks!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Day 181
Oh Harry. I don't know what I'm going to do with him.
I only rode him today and we worked for a longgggg time. We started out just doing some circle-work and some serpentines around different parts of the arena. I was trying to get him to work off of my leg and he was getting it, slowly but surely. His corto was great, but we've had better. Then we start working on the largo and all he's doing is pacing. He's completely out of gait 90% of the time. I try shuffling my reins to regroup him -- doesn't work. I try pushing him back and forth in rhythm with my legs -- doesn't work. I try gently pulling his head to the side every couple of steps to regroup -- doesn't work. I try stopping and starting, slowing down the gait, flexing...nothing is working. I have no idea how to get him into rhythm when he starts going faster. He seems to completely overwhelm and lose it.
At least we worked on going on the rail straight. We got that down great after a couple rides around. But it's that darn gait that's going to get us. My mom's been working on it since August, but I can't tell any improvement. All we know is that he can't go very fast in the largo otherwise he loses it. So where are we supposed to go from here? Are we supposed to work on collecting and shortening his corto even more, or are we supposed to try and get him to relax and lengthen into his largo? Either way, we need a bigger difference in speed than we have right now.
I only rode him today and we worked for a longgggg time. We started out just doing some circle-work and some serpentines around different parts of the arena. I was trying to get him to work off of my leg and he was getting it, slowly but surely. His corto was great, but we've had better. Then we start working on the largo and all he's doing is pacing. He's completely out of gait 90% of the time. I try shuffling my reins to regroup him -- doesn't work. I try pushing him back and forth in rhythm with my legs -- doesn't work. I try gently pulling his head to the side every couple of steps to regroup -- doesn't work. I try stopping and starting, slowing down the gait, flexing...nothing is working. I have no idea how to get him into rhythm when he starts going faster. He seems to completely overwhelm and lose it.
At least we worked on going on the rail straight. We got that down great after a couple rides around. But it's that darn gait that's going to get us. My mom's been working on it since August, but I can't tell any improvement. All we know is that he can't go very fast in the largo otherwise he loses it. So where are we supposed to go from here? Are we supposed to work on collecting and shortening his corto even more, or are we supposed to try and get him to relax and lengthen into his largo? Either way, we need a bigger difference in speed than we have right now.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Day 179
Happy Halloween everyone! Well, almost Halloween anyways. Harry was sure in the mood today.
We rode for such a long time today. I started off on Brie. I need to work on her flexibility because yesterday when Paco rode her he said that she was very stiff on her turns. This could be something that I had just gotten used to, but I need to work on it. I don't want her to be sore after riding just because she's not flexible. So we did lots of circles, spirals, serpentines and reverses and she was compliant. She had a bit of a fast streak, but she never broke into a canter on the corners, so I was proud of her for that. Apparently she was worse off for my mom later on when we switched, but I think it might've been just that she was angry because she was getting tired.
Before my mom rode her though, my brother and I switched. I just got to walk Nina around, which is all I ever want to do when I ride Nina. She's so laid back and relaxed. I would just bring her out on trails all the time, she's perfect for it. But after a short time on Nina, I switched with my mom who had been working Harry for a good chunk of time.
She's been trying to work on Harry's largo since he paces when he goes too fast because his legs can't keep up with his brain, so he was flying around the arena today. I wanted to get him a little bit more collected so we did our corto and crossed the sounding board and then walked to cool.
While all this is going on, Samantha, this little girl who comes for lessons, was riding Tobacco and Jane was riding Taco, while Kimmy was riding Sadie. Jane insisted that I ride Taco because John was popping in and out through out the day to see how Taco was doing. So I hop on. First thing Taco does is speed away with me and start cantering down the long wall! I try my hardest to remember to not pull on his mouth because he manages to get a hold of the bit between his teeth and pull away with the rider, so I'm quickly pulling and releasing to try to get him to slow down the first lap around the arena and then pull up to Paco, who directs me to pull his head to the wall to get him to slow down until he realizes I mean business.
So after a couple of laps around, I finally settle into Taco and we understand each other. He performs beautifully! This was probably the best ride I've had on him to date. He takes the board perfectly and I'm so glad that John was there to see it. He sent me this picture he took of me and Taco.
I would love to show him for John and Jane. He's so much fun once you know how to handle him. There's a fun show coming up in December and I fully intend on dragging Brie down there to get back in the hang of showing again since we need to beat our nemesis this year!
Before my mom rode her though, my brother and I switched. I just got to walk Nina around, which is all I ever want to do when I ride Nina. She's so laid back and relaxed. I would just bring her out on trails all the time, she's perfect for it. But after a short time on Nina, I switched with my mom who had been working Harry for a good chunk of time.
She's been trying to work on Harry's largo since he paces when he goes too fast because his legs can't keep up with his brain, so he was flying around the arena today. I wanted to get him a little bit more collected so we did our corto and crossed the sounding board and then walked to cool.
While all this is going on, Samantha, this little girl who comes for lessons, was riding Tobacco and Jane was riding Taco, while Kimmy was riding Sadie. Jane insisted that I ride Taco because John was popping in and out through out the day to see how Taco was doing. So I hop on. First thing Taco does is speed away with me and start cantering down the long wall! I try my hardest to remember to not pull on his mouth because he manages to get a hold of the bit between his teeth and pull away with the rider, so I'm quickly pulling and releasing to try to get him to slow down the first lap around the arena and then pull up to Paco, who directs me to pull his head to the wall to get him to slow down until he realizes I mean business.
So after a couple of laps around, I finally settle into Taco and we understand each other. He performs beautifully! This was probably the best ride I've had on him to date. He takes the board perfectly and I'm so glad that John was there to see it. He sent me this picture he took of me and Taco.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Day 152
Brie's cut is looking better. She does not like being out by herself though! When I rode by her near the end of my ride, she whinnied (which she rarely does), ran toward the gate and watched me with Harry. Then she proceeded to do figure 8s around the paddock until my brother came and got her while I was still working. How silly!
My mom rode Harry first today and we still had the problem of pacing. Luckily, I don't think there's a soundboard at Michigan, so as long as we can kind of check him out of pacing and back into gaiting whenever he does, we might still do well. It's far too late to try to minute-fix this, so we'll just have to keep working on it until the next show. Harry had a longgg workout today. After my mom was finished riding him indoors, she went into the outdoor arena to work him then had me get on. I worked on walking around the arena and then tried to start gaiting and largo-ing, but he was not having anything to do with largo-ing correctly, so I ended up doing a lot of circle work, which turned out well, then tried to get him on the rail, which didn't work out so well.
Rather than fight with him the rest of the ride, I moved to the round pen. Good old round pen. I worked on keeping his headset and getting out of pacing in there. We also did a little bit of a canter -- I figured that if he could keep a rhythm at a canter then it might improve keeping his rhythm at a largo. It ended up working, either because I was right or because he was tired. We finished with a short walk around the back pasture and a nice bath.
Then we shaved their ears. Or tried to.
Nina snapped out of her halter. AGAIN. This is the second leather halter she's broken! She gets so freaked out whenever anyone goes by her ears, especially with the clippers. It took a good 15 minutes to do her ears and now we have to find someone to fix the halter or buy a new one. Hopefully it can be fixed, those leather things are expensive!
Harry was such a good boy. He was kind of hesitant, but he was done in a snap. Brie was just thankful she didn't have to participate in the nonsense.
Here's to hoping we have a good show this weekend!!
My mom rode Harry first today and we still had the problem of pacing. Luckily, I don't think there's a soundboard at Michigan, so as long as we can kind of check him out of pacing and back into gaiting whenever he does, we might still do well. It's far too late to try to minute-fix this, so we'll just have to keep working on it until the next show. Harry had a longgg workout today. After my mom was finished riding him indoors, she went into the outdoor arena to work him then had me get on. I worked on walking around the arena and then tried to start gaiting and largo-ing, but he was not having anything to do with largo-ing correctly, so I ended up doing a lot of circle work, which turned out well, then tried to get him on the rail, which didn't work out so well.
Rather than fight with him the rest of the ride, I moved to the round pen. Good old round pen. I worked on keeping his headset and getting out of pacing in there. We also did a little bit of a canter -- I figured that if he could keep a rhythm at a canter then it might improve keeping his rhythm at a largo. It ended up working, either because I was right or because he was tired. We finished with a short walk around the back pasture and a nice bath.
Then we shaved their ears. Or tried to.
Nina snapped out of her halter. AGAIN. This is the second leather halter she's broken! She gets so freaked out whenever anyone goes by her ears, especially with the clippers. It took a good 15 minutes to do her ears and now we have to find someone to fix the halter or buy a new one. Hopefully it can be fixed, those leather things are expensive!
Harry was such a good boy. He was kind of hesitant, but he was done in a snap. Brie was just thankful she didn't have to participate in the nonsense.
Here's to hoping we have a good show this weekend!!
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