Saturday
We switched Harry's bit today back to Nina's expensive bit. I went back and read posts from this time last year, when he was doing really well, to try to solve his pacing problem and that was one of the changes we had made and he was gaiting really well. So we did that today and he didn't pace at all in a corto! He had a hard time doing a largo, though. He's not a very fast largo horse, so all we can really do is make sure his corto is super slow, that way there is a difference in speed when they ask for a largo.
My mom and I both rode Harry, plus my mom rode him outside for a bit, so he was super tired when we were finished. I hosed him off and of course the first thing he did was roll around in his stall after that!
I also rode Brie, which was nice to do after not having ridden her for a couple of weeks. She gave me a bit of a hard time trying to mount, and I started getting angry and it wasn't working even more...so I really made myself relax, I pet her for a bit, which calmed both of us down, and after that she let me get on quickly. Just goes to show that anger will not get you anywhere!
Brie is doing really well and I can't wait to show her! I hope she doesn't have any show anxiety, because then we'll definitely win 1st places!
Update: Sunday
We didn't go out today...my mom had a headache and I was too nervous to drive out by myself...
My mom's also decided that we're not going to St. Louis for the show next week...Harry isn't prepared enough. Even though I would love to bring Brie instead of Harry, since I feel confident in her, we're just not going at all...
Now to wait until Michigan.
Showing posts with label showing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label showing. Show all posts
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Days 257 & 258
Saturday
It's days like today that make me realize that the horses aren't getting out as often as they should be, and I wish the sign hadn't been this extreme. We were walking everyone out to the pasture to run around a little bit, and my mom and brother were in front of me with Brie and Nina while I was walking Harry. We were going to split the girls from the boys, because Samantha was there and she wanted to let Tobacco out with Harry. I turn for a second to get the get to the boys' pasture and hear my brother going "MOM!". I turn and look and see my mom face down in the mud in the entrance to the girls' pasture, I couldn't even tell you where Brie was, but my brother ran over to my mom, realized he had Nina still in hand, dropped Nina's leadline and yelled for her to stop and ran over to my mom. Nina didn't know she was loose until she tried to go into the pasture again and my brother yelled at her again, then she turned around and started to walk away towards my dad and walked back towards me so I caught her. I look and my mom's now standing up and Brie is trotting around the pasture with her leadline still on. Samantha and her parents come out with Tobacco and Samanta runs over by Brie, catches her, and takes her leadline off. Once everyone is in their pastures, I get the story: Brie was so obnoxious and she went back around my mom so that the leadline was stretched across my mom's back and before my mom had the chance to switch hands or spin around to not be in the way of the rope, Brie bolted for the pasture and knocked my mom down on her way in through the gate. We were lucky that she didn't get trampled, but she does have a large bruise on her hip where she fell. I blame this incident on a combination of Brie's worsening gate manners and the feeling that they haven't been getting out. I know this is true because Brie is normally so good being lead out to the pasture, but in the past month she's been worse. I think that it culminated with being locked in for almost two weeks while everyone was away at Nationals, but that's no excuse for her behaving like that!
I rode Brie today and she was fine being ridden, not stiff, not limping. Gary decided to keep his massive trailer in the arena for the winter, so everyone bawked at that for a while. My mom rode Harry and I have to admit, he was much better the way she was riding him, the way I was describing last week that I should revert to. More forward seat and hands higher. At the end of the ride, I told her that maybe Harry isn't performance. Maybe he's pleasure. Because being able to watch him and Nina today, there's such a difference in drive between the two of them. Nina looks like a little train, with such determination in her eyes, as she works. Harry meanwhile is very calm, looking like he's taking a basket of fruit to market to sell for the day. And you know what? I don't care if he's pleasure. So what if people say he's "less of a Paso Fino" for being that, or that "we screwed him up" from when we first bought him. If he is able to be that calm and relaxed in what he's doing, I wouldn't want to wind him up just to force him back into a state of mind where he was clearly upset, back in his early days of riding. If he is calm and happy in his work, then I know I did my job, and I can tell that he is happy from the look in his eyes as he works.
We took a ride out to Dover Saddlery today to get saddle pads, but you know we came back with more than that. It was just me and my mom, and as we were in the car, we were talking about the Paso Fino circuit and realized this is the only breed we know of outside of racing Thoroughbreds where the trainers do the majority of the showing. Where's the fun in that? Being able to say that you can afford to support the trainer and buy a top quality horse and then not even be able to ride? That doesn't sound like much fun to me. And the worst thing is that if you aren't someone who pays for a trainer to ride for you in your classes, you get made fun of! You get told either to your face or behind your back that you aren't good enough. Isn't the point of owning a horse to be able to enjoy it yourself?
Sunday
We did a photo shoot for ourselves today! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.
After all that, I rode Harry. I rode him for forward and with higher hands and he was completely different! He was so much better. He wasn't leaning into the bit at all and he felt more collected. He was still a little pokey, but after some circle work, he was doing beautifully. I really think that the deeper seat and lower hands works better on Brie than Harry because she is just going beautifully with that. But Harry likes to be ridden forward and light, so that's what I'll give him. Now we need to get back to our previous goal: largo without breaking or pacing!
It's days like today that make me realize that the horses aren't getting out as often as they should be, and I wish the sign hadn't been this extreme. We were walking everyone out to the pasture to run around a little bit, and my mom and brother were in front of me with Brie and Nina while I was walking Harry. We were going to split the girls from the boys, because Samantha was there and she wanted to let Tobacco out with Harry. I turn for a second to get the get to the boys' pasture and hear my brother going "MOM!". I turn and look and see my mom face down in the mud in the entrance to the girls' pasture, I couldn't even tell you where Brie was, but my brother ran over to my mom, realized he had Nina still in hand, dropped Nina's leadline and yelled for her to stop and ran over to my mom. Nina didn't know she was loose until she tried to go into the pasture again and my brother yelled at her again, then she turned around and started to walk away towards my dad and walked back towards me so I caught her. I look and my mom's now standing up and Brie is trotting around the pasture with her leadline still on. Samantha and her parents come out with Tobacco and Samanta runs over by Brie, catches her, and takes her leadline off. Once everyone is in their pastures, I get the story: Brie was so obnoxious and she went back around my mom so that the leadline was stretched across my mom's back and before my mom had the chance to switch hands or spin around to not be in the way of the rope, Brie bolted for the pasture and knocked my mom down on her way in through the gate. We were lucky that she didn't get trampled, but she does have a large bruise on her hip where she fell. I blame this incident on a combination of Brie's worsening gate manners and the feeling that they haven't been getting out. I know this is true because Brie is normally so good being lead out to the pasture, but in the past month she's been worse. I think that it culminated with being locked in for almost two weeks while everyone was away at Nationals, but that's no excuse for her behaving like that!
I rode Brie today and she was fine being ridden, not stiff, not limping. Gary decided to keep his massive trailer in the arena for the winter, so everyone bawked at that for a while. My mom rode Harry and I have to admit, he was much better the way she was riding him, the way I was describing last week that I should revert to. More forward seat and hands higher. At the end of the ride, I told her that maybe Harry isn't performance. Maybe he's pleasure. Because being able to watch him and Nina today, there's such a difference in drive between the two of them. Nina looks like a little train, with such determination in her eyes, as she works. Harry meanwhile is very calm, looking like he's taking a basket of fruit to market to sell for the day. And you know what? I don't care if he's pleasure. So what if people say he's "less of a Paso Fino" for being that, or that "we screwed him up" from when we first bought him. If he is able to be that calm and relaxed in what he's doing, I wouldn't want to wind him up just to force him back into a state of mind where he was clearly upset, back in his early days of riding. If he is calm and happy in his work, then I know I did my job, and I can tell that he is happy from the look in his eyes as he works.
We took a ride out to Dover Saddlery today to get saddle pads, but you know we came back with more than that. It was just me and my mom, and as we were in the car, we were talking about the Paso Fino circuit and realized this is the only breed we know of outside of racing Thoroughbreds where the trainers do the majority of the showing. Where's the fun in that? Being able to say that you can afford to support the trainer and buy a top quality horse and then not even be able to ride? That doesn't sound like much fun to me. And the worst thing is that if you aren't someone who pays for a trainer to ride for you in your classes, you get made fun of! You get told either to your face or behind your back that you aren't good enough. Isn't the point of owning a horse to be able to enjoy it yourself?
Sunday
We did a photo shoot for ourselves today! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.
After all that, I rode Harry. I rode him for forward and with higher hands and he was completely different! He was so much better. He wasn't leaning into the bit at all and he felt more collected. He was still a little pokey, but after some circle work, he was doing beautifully. I really think that the deeper seat and lower hands works better on Brie than Harry because she is just going beautifully with that. But Harry likes to be ridden forward and light, so that's what I'll give him. Now we need to get back to our previous goal: largo without breaking or pacing!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Days 230 & 231
Saturday
I started off with Brie again and was determined to have as nice of a ride this week as I did last week. It was nice enough out, so I went into the outdoor arena. They did some renovations to the outdoor last weekend. In the outdoor, we only had a sound board going along the length of one of the walls before. Now, we have a pole in the middle of the board, along with a pad of cement shaped in a circle with a diameter of about 20 feet. This is supposed to be used to longe horses. Don't even get me started on it. There are also two poles off to the side for figure 8s and three long wooden mini-fences in another spot. These mini-fences are supposed to be used for serpentines. I saw them as a double-use for cavaletti. So I started Brie off in the outdoor and after I had her longe, I wanted to see if she would go over the cavaletti. She was a little hesitant, but she made it over them. She was walking over with the front feet and then hopping over with both of her back feet. I wanted her to just walk over with her back feet, so I had her continue.
Now maybe this was stupid on my part, but these makeshift cavaletti have a trough in them, like for a flower planter. I didn't think that it would pose any problem. But anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and as Brie was finally going to walk over the fence with her back legs, one of them tripped in the trough. It's not a very wide trough, but still. Her eyes widened and she knew that she had gotten a little stuck, but thankfully, as I was going over to pick her foot up and out, she lifted it up calmly and stepped over. Then she snorted and wanted to back up over it and got a little stuck with her front hooves as she tried to stand on it going backwards, but she backed off just fine. After much snorting, I didn't want her to think that it was scary (even though I'm not going to send her over those again until they're filled or fixed), so I had her go over them one last time and she was okay.
Once that was done, I got on to ride and start out with some wide figure 8s, but she was feeling very stiff, so I decided to let that go and let her loosen up on the rail before I asked her to bend. Usually she likes to charge the outdoor arena, but she was content with a corto before she slowed down to a walk. I only had to check her at the corners to make sure she didn't start into a canter.
I went in because she was getting pretty hot and find my mom having trouble with Harry. After a couple of laps walking around the arena (a miracle!) on Brie, my mom asks if I would see why he's not cooperating. So I get on, do all my pre-ride checks with him like flexing and wide circles, and go out on the wall asking for a walk (since he was fighting my mom about it). She and I noticed immediately the problem -- he was limping. He was favoring his front right leg and even though I got off and stretched him and checked his hooves for any rocks, he continued to limp, so after a walk around, I got off and bathed him and put on some liniment. Hopefully he will be better tomorrow! Poor Harry.
Sunday
Starting off with Brie again in the indoor today. She is doing super well. She's responding so nicely to my legs and my seat and I have to wonder if it's a change in her or a change in me that has caused this nice behavior! I know that I certainly have changed in my riding style since the beginning of this journey and gone from wanting to make the horse do what I want no matter what to really trying to build partnerships and find a middle ground when I can't convince the horse that I'm right for a reason. Because of how great she's been the past couple of weeks, I'm seriously thinking of bringing her to the State Fair this year if we can find a space for her in a trailer. I feel like now that I've changed my attitude about riding, I know more how to approach a competition situation in order to ensure that Brie stays calm. Thinking back on how I warmed her up in the past, I know that everything I did (forcing her to walk, letting her gallop to "get it out of her system", making her longe for an hour, attempting to give her Calmex that didn't end up working...) was insanely wrong and I would like to try again and make the experience a great one for both of us, even if we don't win any ribbons. My goal is to make her comfortable in the show environment and even if we end up scratching the class because she isn't calming down, I would rather do it at State Fair because the classes are cheap enough to scratch!
Harry was doing much better today. No signs of limping! He was acting a bit wonky because he didn't want to ride on the rail. I think that his gait was great today and his demeanor was nice too while I was riding. It's hard to judge how he's doing sometimes when I ride him after my mom because by the second rider, he's usually tired or annoyed. Even so, it's good that he's getting two riders again because it's almost the same as going through multiple classes at show, which he definitely needs to do.
I've also gotten another horse ward. Jane is feeling pretty discouraged about Taco's abilities and he's been a downright brat the past month for her. He does this thing where he sticks his head really far down or flexes it back behind the stirrup and runs to the middle of the arena and stops. So I asked Jane if I could show him at the State Fair. She said yes and that I could ride him whenever I wanted. Today was the first day of preparation. Jane was having a horrible time because Taco was doing his usual tricks. I try to longe him before I ride to see how he's acting and he is absolutely terrible. He's just about as bad as Harry was when we first got him! He has no respect for the human he's working with. I was going to use the carrot stick to help longe him, but I didn't know if he'd be scared of it, so I decided against it. Since trying to longe him was a joke, I did a quick round of the Porcupine Game to try and establish my authority and he was okay with that.
Then I got on him. I wasn't on for two seconds and he pulls me into the middle. My leg is useless against him, he's so strong. I try to get around the arena a couple of times to no avail, so I decide to go out into the round pen. In the round pen, he's just as bad, but has less space to act up in. My mom brings me over a second rein for the barbada and almost immediately he stops trying to pull his head in and spin into the middle of the pen. It takes a long time before he starts listening to me, but when he finally settles down, he walks really nicely. He has a hard time staying in gait because he likes to go into a canter and canters in place. That would be nice for a Trote y Galope class in Puerto Rico or Colombia, but not in the Paso Fino shows in the United States. I have to break him of this habit. I have to check him a lot in order to keep him in gait and it takes a lot of stopping and starting over when he breaks into a canter, but the last couple of laps around the pen are beautiful. He's listening and not breaking and not trying to pull me anymore. I determine because of the stunts he pulled during his ride, he doesn't respect the bit, so I would like to try and change his bit. I'm thinking of the straight bar that Nina had a couple of years ago that made her head set too high up. I think that this might be a good solution to his tendency to always be pulling his head down in an effort to get away from the bit.
Taco is a highly trained horse, once a National champion, so I definitely think he has seen it all. This is also why I think that getting a bigger bit is the wrong answer to his problems because he is very soft in the mouth. I also think that a harsher noseband is the wrong answer because his nose has been so scarred by different bosals that he won't even care that it's there. I think that possible a braided rawhide barbada might be a good answer, but we can only use the bit rein in shows, so we need to start with the bit. I'm not entirely sure if I'll make it to State Fair with him. It depends on how well he responds to the bar bit and how calm I can get him. It would be nice to go to the show and prove that this old coot can make a comeback, but I would rather have him safe and happy for Jane to ride for her own enjoyment.
I started off with Brie again and was determined to have as nice of a ride this week as I did last week. It was nice enough out, so I went into the outdoor arena. They did some renovations to the outdoor last weekend. In the outdoor, we only had a sound board going along the length of one of the walls before. Now, we have a pole in the middle of the board, along with a pad of cement shaped in a circle with a diameter of about 20 feet. This is supposed to be used to longe horses. Don't even get me started on it. There are also two poles off to the side for figure 8s and three long wooden mini-fences in another spot. These mini-fences are supposed to be used for serpentines. I saw them as a double-use for cavaletti. So I started Brie off in the outdoor and after I had her longe, I wanted to see if she would go over the cavaletti. She was a little hesitant, but she made it over them. She was walking over with the front feet and then hopping over with both of her back feet. I wanted her to just walk over with her back feet, so I had her continue.
Now maybe this was stupid on my part, but these makeshift cavaletti have a trough in them, like for a flower planter. I didn't think that it would pose any problem. But anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and as Brie was finally going to walk over the fence with her back legs, one of them tripped in the trough. It's not a very wide trough, but still. Her eyes widened and she knew that she had gotten a little stuck, but thankfully, as I was going over to pick her foot up and out, she lifted it up calmly and stepped over. Then she snorted and wanted to back up over it and got a little stuck with her front hooves as she tried to stand on it going backwards, but she backed off just fine. After much snorting, I didn't want her to think that it was scary (even though I'm not going to send her over those again until they're filled or fixed), so I had her go over them one last time and she was okay.
Once that was done, I got on to ride and start out with some wide figure 8s, but she was feeling very stiff, so I decided to let that go and let her loosen up on the rail before I asked her to bend. Usually she likes to charge the outdoor arena, but she was content with a corto before she slowed down to a walk. I only had to check her at the corners to make sure she didn't start into a canter.
I went in because she was getting pretty hot and find my mom having trouble with Harry. After a couple of laps walking around the arena (a miracle!) on Brie, my mom asks if I would see why he's not cooperating. So I get on, do all my pre-ride checks with him like flexing and wide circles, and go out on the wall asking for a walk (since he was fighting my mom about it). She and I noticed immediately the problem -- he was limping. He was favoring his front right leg and even though I got off and stretched him and checked his hooves for any rocks, he continued to limp, so after a walk around, I got off and bathed him and put on some liniment. Hopefully he will be better tomorrow! Poor Harry.
Sunday
Starting off with Brie again in the indoor today. She is doing super well. She's responding so nicely to my legs and my seat and I have to wonder if it's a change in her or a change in me that has caused this nice behavior! I know that I certainly have changed in my riding style since the beginning of this journey and gone from wanting to make the horse do what I want no matter what to really trying to build partnerships and find a middle ground when I can't convince the horse that I'm right for a reason. Because of how great she's been the past couple of weeks, I'm seriously thinking of bringing her to the State Fair this year if we can find a space for her in a trailer. I feel like now that I've changed my attitude about riding, I know more how to approach a competition situation in order to ensure that Brie stays calm. Thinking back on how I warmed her up in the past, I know that everything I did (forcing her to walk, letting her gallop to "get it out of her system", making her longe for an hour, attempting to give her Calmex that didn't end up working...) was insanely wrong and I would like to try again and make the experience a great one for both of us, even if we don't win any ribbons. My goal is to make her comfortable in the show environment and even if we end up scratching the class because she isn't calming down, I would rather do it at State Fair because the classes are cheap enough to scratch!
Harry was doing much better today. No signs of limping! He was acting a bit wonky because he didn't want to ride on the rail. I think that his gait was great today and his demeanor was nice too while I was riding. It's hard to judge how he's doing sometimes when I ride him after my mom because by the second rider, he's usually tired or annoyed. Even so, it's good that he's getting two riders again because it's almost the same as going through multiple classes at show, which he definitely needs to do.
I've also gotten another horse ward. Jane is feeling pretty discouraged about Taco's abilities and he's been a downright brat the past month for her. He does this thing where he sticks his head really far down or flexes it back behind the stirrup and runs to the middle of the arena and stops. So I asked Jane if I could show him at the State Fair. She said yes and that I could ride him whenever I wanted. Today was the first day of preparation. Jane was having a horrible time because Taco was doing his usual tricks. I try to longe him before I ride to see how he's acting and he is absolutely terrible. He's just about as bad as Harry was when we first got him! He has no respect for the human he's working with. I was going to use the carrot stick to help longe him, but I didn't know if he'd be scared of it, so I decided against it. Since trying to longe him was a joke, I did a quick round of the Porcupine Game to try and establish my authority and he was okay with that.
Then I got on him. I wasn't on for two seconds and he pulls me into the middle. My leg is useless against him, he's so strong. I try to get around the arena a couple of times to no avail, so I decide to go out into the round pen. In the round pen, he's just as bad, but has less space to act up in. My mom brings me over a second rein for the barbada and almost immediately he stops trying to pull his head in and spin into the middle of the pen. It takes a long time before he starts listening to me, but when he finally settles down, he walks really nicely. He has a hard time staying in gait because he likes to go into a canter and canters in place. That would be nice for a Trote y Galope class in Puerto Rico or Colombia, but not in the Paso Fino shows in the United States. I have to break him of this habit. I have to check him a lot in order to keep him in gait and it takes a lot of stopping and starting over when he breaks into a canter, but the last couple of laps around the pen are beautiful. He's listening and not breaking and not trying to pull me anymore. I determine because of the stunts he pulled during his ride, he doesn't respect the bit, so I would like to try and change his bit. I'm thinking of the straight bar that Nina had a couple of years ago that made her head set too high up. I think that this might be a good solution to his tendency to always be pulling his head down in an effort to get away from the bit.
Taco is a highly trained horse, once a National champion, so I definitely think he has seen it all. This is also why I think that getting a bigger bit is the wrong answer to his problems because he is very soft in the mouth. I also think that a harsher noseband is the wrong answer because his nose has been so scarred by different bosals that he won't even care that it's there. I think that possible a braided rawhide barbada might be a good answer, but we can only use the bit rein in shows, so we need to start with the bit. I'm not entirely sure if I'll make it to State Fair with him. It depends on how well he responds to the bar bit and how calm I can get him. It would be nice to go to the show and prove that this old coot can make a comeback, but I would rather have him safe and happy for Jane to ride for her own enjoyment.
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.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Days 207 & 208
Saturday
The beautiful weather makes prime picture sessions! We had a little bit of fun with my hat today.
Surprisingly, they all kept it on!
Since it was so beautiful out, I decided that Harry needed some fresh air and we were going to work outside the entire time. He was good longeing again, which is awesome! He was pretty good walking around the outdoor arena too, but once I started to ask him to work, he was all jumpy. Between the wind and seeing everyone else working, he was totally unfocused. After trying to get him to calm down and get his attention for well over an hour, I finally just settled for a semi-calm walk around the arena both ways and called it a day, but not before making him walk up to Gary's house and back to the barn...all by himself. He might have gotten eaten by a caterpillar or something, but he made it!
Sunday
More pictures! No hat today, though.
Decided against riding outdoor first. Before we left, we uncovered our patio furniture from the winter and I brought along a tarp to play with Harry after our ride. Today I wasn't getting much cooperation out of him either, and apparently his head was not set very well, so I got fed up with the rear end collector and bracelets and took them off and just rode and focused on collection. At the end of a very, very long ride, we had a perfect largo. No skipping, no pacing, just a really great largo. I couldn't have been more proud.
After our successful ride, I decided to take out the tarp. I wanted him to walk on it with me on his back rather than getting off and letting him step on it by hand first. He made a lot walks around it, staring at it apprehensively. Then when he started to bend down to sniff it, he was snorting. He let out a really big snort, the tarp moved from his exhale, and he scared himself, jumped up, farted, scared himself again and hopped over about 8 feet, all without me falling off! Haha, it didn't even feel that bad, but Gary was watching and told me to probably try that from the ground first, so I did just because I didn't want him to say something about my "circus antics" in the future. After about 40 minutes of standing around, he finally stepped onto the tarp, scared himself with the rustle, and backed up. At least he stepped on it! I'm glad we made a little progress, he needs to get over himself.
My mom ordered some new supplements and they're supposed to be calming. She got some for Brie and Harry. We'll see if they work at all! Something else I'm concerned with is showing now. It seems that the pleasure horse is being eliminated in the eyes of the judges, or at least, switched with performance. It's very strange. But apparently now performance is being judged on speed while pleasure is being judged on collection...which would make Harry a pleasure horse instead of a performance, which is what I planned on showing him as, and would make Brie and performance horse instead of a pleasure...I want to start working with Brie more and get her ready for show...I can only hope that she'll get with the program and not want to run everyone down in the show ring like the last time I showed her!
The beautiful weather makes prime picture sessions! We had a little bit of fun with my hat today.
Surprisingly, they all kept it on!
Since it was so beautiful out, I decided that Harry needed some fresh air and we were going to work outside the entire time. He was good longeing again, which is awesome! He was pretty good walking around the outdoor arena too, but once I started to ask him to work, he was all jumpy. Between the wind and seeing everyone else working, he was totally unfocused. After trying to get him to calm down and get his attention for well over an hour, I finally just settled for a semi-calm walk around the arena both ways and called it a day, but not before making him walk up to Gary's house and back to the barn...all by himself. He might have gotten eaten by a caterpillar or something, but he made it!
Sunday
More pictures! No hat today, though.
Decided against riding outdoor first. Before we left, we uncovered our patio furniture from the winter and I brought along a tarp to play with Harry after our ride. Today I wasn't getting much cooperation out of him either, and apparently his head was not set very well, so I got fed up with the rear end collector and bracelets and took them off and just rode and focused on collection. At the end of a very, very long ride, we had a perfect largo. No skipping, no pacing, just a really great largo. I couldn't have been more proud.
After our successful ride, I decided to take out the tarp. I wanted him to walk on it with me on his back rather than getting off and letting him step on it by hand first. He made a lot walks around it, staring at it apprehensively. Then when he started to bend down to sniff it, he was snorting. He let out a really big snort, the tarp moved from his exhale, and he scared himself, jumped up, farted, scared himself again and hopped over about 8 feet, all without me falling off! Haha, it didn't even feel that bad, but Gary was watching and told me to probably try that from the ground first, so I did just because I didn't want him to say something about my "circus antics" in the future. After about 40 minutes of standing around, he finally stepped onto the tarp, scared himself with the rustle, and backed up. At least he stepped on it! I'm glad we made a little progress, he needs to get over himself.
My mom ordered some new supplements and they're supposed to be calming. She got some for Brie and Harry. We'll see if they work at all! Something else I'm concerned with is showing now. It seems that the pleasure horse is being eliminated in the eyes of the judges, or at least, switched with performance. It's very strange. But apparently now performance is being judged on speed while pleasure is being judged on collection...which would make Harry a pleasure horse instead of a performance, which is what I planned on showing him as, and would make Brie and performance horse instead of a pleasure...I want to start working with Brie more and get her ready for show...I can only hope that she'll get with the program and not want to run everyone down in the show ring like the last time I showed her!
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