Last post of 2011! Of course I spent the last day with my lovely horses. I couldn't help but have that "holiday" feel while I rode them though -- like even though I was riding, it was a break.
I rode Harry for the longest. As usual, Saturday isn't his best day, but we're getting better at longeing. I think it's partially because Paco is longeing him whenever he gets the chance now, which I appreciate. He wanted to go a bit fast today, so I let him. I wasn't really worried about keeping him in a collected corto as opposed to a relaxed corto. I think he's finally getting comfortable and confident with himself.
My mom, on the other hand, who rode him after I did, said that she was having a hard time. I couldn't really notice because I was trying to keep Brie from flying away with me. Not saying that she was bad, she was just very hyper today. If there was ever a day that Brie wasn't hyper, I would have to be seriously worried about her!
After, we wished them a Happy New Year and said we wouldn't see them until next year. It's so weird saying that, it feels like such a long time, but I can't wait to go out and ride this weekend. It's back to school for me on Tuesday (ugh), so I know I'll need the break!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Day 190
Saturday
As you all know, I was super excited to feed them all their Christmas salads today! I made them with iceberg lettuce, golden delicious apples, and baby carrots. Brie, Harry, and Nina each got their own. I think it's safe to say that they enjoyed them! Harry has found a new favorite food in lettuce =] But before they got to eat their salads, they had to face the big scary tarp in the middle of the aisle. Paco put it up to keep the heat on our side since there aren't any horses on the other end and they all freaked out when they stepped out of their stalls and saw it!
After I fed them their salads, we tried to teach Harry some Bella Forma. For those of you who don't know, it's basically like a confirmation class. The horse has two handlers on the ground and we hold lines attached to his bridle and walk around withe him to show his gait. We did this with Nina when she was little, and my brother wanted to try it with Harry because it was Christmas. He tried with my mom and I could tell they were getting stressed, especially my brother because he was having Nina-like expectations of Harry, who knows nothing about Bella Forma. I went and tried with my mom and Harry I got scared at one point that Harry would kick me because he swung his butt over towards me, so I dropped the rope like I'm supposed to and he freaked, bolted out on my mom and got the rope twisted around his leg. He was running in a circle around her until she managed to get him in close enough to stop and untangle the rope and after that, no more Bella Forma for Harry. We don't want to get killed and we don't want him to break a leg. It's really the sort of thing that you're supposed to start with a horse when they're young.
So after that, we rode for a little bit before we stopped and talked to Paco and Gary for a long time. We cleaned em up, said Merry Christmas, and then left...only to return so I could grab my camera hanging on Brie's stall. So now I can show you pictures!!
As you all know, I was super excited to feed them all their Christmas salads today! I made them with iceberg lettuce, golden delicious apples, and baby carrots. Brie, Harry, and Nina each got their own. I think it's safe to say that they enjoyed them! Harry has found a new favorite food in lettuce =] But before they got to eat their salads, they had to face the big scary tarp in the middle of the aisle. Paco put it up to keep the heat on our side since there aren't any horses on the other end and they all freaked out when they stepped out of their stalls and saw it!
After I fed them their salads, we tried to teach Harry some Bella Forma. For those of you who don't know, it's basically like a confirmation class. The horse has two handlers on the ground and we hold lines attached to his bridle and walk around withe him to show his gait. We did this with Nina when she was little, and my brother wanted to try it with Harry because it was Christmas. He tried with my mom and I could tell they were getting stressed, especially my brother because he was having Nina-like expectations of Harry, who knows nothing about Bella Forma. I went and tried with my mom and Harry I got scared at one point that Harry would kick me because he swung his butt over towards me, so I dropped the rope like I'm supposed to and he freaked, bolted out on my mom and got the rope twisted around his leg. He was running in a circle around her until she managed to get him in close enough to stop and untangle the rope and after that, no more Bella Forma for Harry. We don't want to get killed and we don't want him to break a leg. It's really the sort of thing that you're supposed to start with a horse when they're young.
So after that, we rode for a little bit before we stopped and talked to Paco and Gary for a long time. We cleaned em up, said Merry Christmas, and then left...only to return so I could grab my camera hanging on Brie's stall. So now I can show you pictures!!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Days 188 + 189
Saturday
Worked with Harry again today. I noticed that he had a crack in his hoof...maybe we're making them too hard? We've been using Tuff Stuff on them and since we started using it, he's been cracking. We're going to switch back to Rain Maker tomorrow. I didn't know, but Paco longed him during the week. He was much relaxed when I longed him and only stopped on me twice. Major improvements!
He was good in the gait and even went pretty fast for largo! I'm super proud of him, he's really coming along now that I'm not trying to do everything for him. I know it's only been a weekend, but he seems happier.
Brie was giving Mom a hard time today. She kept hopping and skipping and overall being Brie. I'll get some sense into her tomorrow.
Sunday
Mom rode Harry first and I rode Brie first. We don't know if she's still kicking the stall. I do know that I want to make her a salad for Christmas! I've looked it up and it's not bad for them as long as you don't give them a lot. So I'm going to make them all a small salad with apples and carrots. I hope they like it!
Paco cut off the chip in Harry's hoof today. The farrier's not coming back out until January, so we'll have to make sure it doesn't crack any further up his hoof.
Mom said that Harry was being an angel! I'm so glad that he's getting better, it's like he's growing up. She worked him longer on the barbada rein than I usually do, but she said that when she switched over to the bit rein, he was "as smooth as glass"! He sounded awesome on the board too, so mission accomplished!
Brie was really pulling, maybe because she was a bit confused. I wanted to work on leg contact, since it's something we never do and I figured that since I've only been trying to teach her to canter FOREVER it would be a good idea to get her used to since she jumps in reaction to when I ask her with my leg as opposed to just loosening the reins. If I ever want to teach her flying lead changes, she'd need the leg contact part, not just the reins, so I want to do it the right way. So we worked on maintaining a good speed while I kept contact in the walk and corto. She largo'd a bit, but only after a long time of working at a corto. When I did start asking her at the very end for canter, my main goal was not only keeping it at a sane speed, but picking it up right away instead of pacing and then getting the lead. Every time she'd start pacing to pick it up, I'd slow her back down into a corto and try again at the next corner. She was eventually getting it, but then lost the canter halfway down the long wall, but as long as she's picking it up, our goal was accomplished! I only hope she doesn't think that means to charge the corners from now on, as we've been working so hard to stop from doing that.
I was amazed that it was warm out, well, warm enough out, so we gave them all a hose down. Next time we see them will be Christmas Eve! I can't wait to give them their salads!
Worked with Harry again today. I noticed that he had a crack in his hoof...maybe we're making them too hard? We've been using Tuff Stuff on them and since we started using it, he's been cracking. We're going to switch back to Rain Maker tomorrow. I didn't know, but Paco longed him during the week. He was much relaxed when I longed him and only stopped on me twice. Major improvements!
He was good in the gait and even went pretty fast for largo! I'm super proud of him, he's really coming along now that I'm not trying to do everything for him. I know it's only been a weekend, but he seems happier.
Brie was giving Mom a hard time today. She kept hopping and skipping and overall being Brie. I'll get some sense into her tomorrow.
Sunday
Mom rode Harry first and I rode Brie first. We don't know if she's still kicking the stall. I do know that I want to make her a salad for Christmas! I've looked it up and it's not bad for them as long as you don't give them a lot. So I'm going to make them all a small salad with apples and carrots. I hope they like it!
Paco cut off the chip in Harry's hoof today. The farrier's not coming back out until January, so we'll have to make sure it doesn't crack any further up his hoof.
Mom said that Harry was being an angel! I'm so glad that he's getting better, it's like he's growing up. She worked him longer on the barbada rein than I usually do, but she said that when she switched over to the bit rein, he was "as smooth as glass"! He sounded awesome on the board too, so mission accomplished!
Brie was really pulling, maybe because she was a bit confused. I wanted to work on leg contact, since it's something we never do and I figured that since I've only been trying to teach her to canter FOREVER it would be a good idea to get her used to since she jumps in reaction to when I ask her with my leg as opposed to just loosening the reins. If I ever want to teach her flying lead changes, she'd need the leg contact part, not just the reins, so I want to do it the right way. So we worked on maintaining a good speed while I kept contact in the walk and corto. She largo'd a bit, but only after a long time of working at a corto. When I did start asking her at the very end for canter, my main goal was not only keeping it at a sane speed, but picking it up right away instead of pacing and then getting the lead. Every time she'd start pacing to pick it up, I'd slow her back down into a corto and try again at the next corner. She was eventually getting it, but then lost the canter halfway down the long wall, but as long as she's picking it up, our goal was accomplished! I only hope she doesn't think that means to charge the corners from now on, as we've been working so hard to stop from doing that.
I was amazed that it was warm out, well, warm enough out, so we gave them all a hose down. Next time we see them will be Christmas Eve! I can't wait to give them their salads!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Day 187
Sunday
Whenever I get told I'm doing something wrong, I feel insanely stupid. I feel even worse about it when I came up with it on my own and wanted to believe my hardest that it was working.
Longeing Harry today was kind of hard. Apparently, it made Paco nervous as he watched, so he came over and intervened. Grumbling, I did what he told me to, which was to throw the carrot stick on the floor, tie up the pisador, and longe Harry from his noseband like he had said two weeks ago. Sigh.
Harry is entirely different from Brie and Nina in that he won't longe if you push him from behind and he'll only go if you literally lead him by the nose. It's really weird and I have no idea how to get him to do it the proper way, but if this works, then I guess I'll have to go with it.
Once we got the longeing out of the way, his ride was great. Sundays are (almost) always better than Saturdays because we've had Saturday to warm up and remember "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be working". He was going a tiny bit faster in his largo than yesterday which was great! The only thing is it wasn't entirely in gait, but it was closer to gaiting than pacing, so that's progress. I'm just gonna keep pushing the speed until he's confident that he won't lose his step.
Brie, on the other hand, is still kicking the wall. Jane heard her the other day when she was visiting Taco and said she was going to town on the wall. So we've decided that, if it's okay with Gary, that we're going to install rubber mats around Brie's stall. Oh Brie, she's going to live in a padded cell!
Whenever I get told I'm doing something wrong, I feel insanely stupid. I feel even worse about it when I came up with it on my own and wanted to believe my hardest that it was working.
Longeing Harry today was kind of hard. Apparently, it made Paco nervous as he watched, so he came over and intervened. Grumbling, I did what he told me to, which was to throw the carrot stick on the floor, tie up the pisador, and longe Harry from his noseband like he had said two weeks ago. Sigh.
Harry is entirely different from Brie and Nina in that he won't longe if you push him from behind and he'll only go if you literally lead him by the nose. It's really weird and I have no idea how to get him to do it the proper way, but if this works, then I guess I'll have to go with it.
Once we got the longeing out of the way, his ride was great. Sundays are (almost) always better than Saturdays because we've had Saturday to warm up and remember "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be working". He was going a tiny bit faster in his largo than yesterday which was great! The only thing is it wasn't entirely in gait, but it was closer to gaiting than pacing, so that's progress. I'm just gonna keep pushing the speed until he's confident that he won't lose his step.
Brie, on the other hand, is still kicking the wall. Jane heard her the other day when she was visiting Taco and said she was going to town on the wall. So we've decided that, if it's okay with Gary, that we're going to install rubber mats around Brie's stall. Oh Brie, she's going to live in a padded cell!
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, December 4, 2011
Day 185
Harry worked so much better today! I started out longeing him right from the get go with the carrot stick and using his jaquima instead of the bosal band, just to see how he would react and if he would try to fishtail. He was so calm! He only got a little nervous and didn't really fishtail, more like stop and look at me when another rider went over the sound board, but he was a very good boy longeing today.
Getting on, we worked circles and flexed like yesterday, except today I had a couple of goals. One, I wanted to work only on the bit rein once we were done flexing, and two, I wanted to stop trying to do everything for him and let him figure it out for himself. After reading a bit of Casey's blog yesterday, I realized how is Harry going to perform better if we're always trying to tell him exactly what to do and do everything for him, like he's incapable of figuring it out himself? I'm proud to say that we accomplished both of those goals! I never had to pick up the second rein the entire time we rode and while we started off a little bumpy, Harry worked things out for himself beautifully.
When we first started out, he was tap dancing and skipping and speeding around the corners, and apparently he wasn't looking too show-y according to my mom. But as we worked and as I gave him more freedom to find his place in what I wanted, an energetic and collected corto, he grew right into the part! We even went for a largo that was surprisingly well collected! Even my mom complimented me on what I did with him when she got on him to ride afterwards. I'm so proud of Harry and proud of myself for letting my overbearing tendencies go and letting him figure it out for himself, because he's really a smart boy! I hope that today was an indicator of things to come!
Then afterwards, I got on Brie and we had some fun for a short ride. Going from Harry to Brie is like night and day! Maybe part of it is going from a Passier saddle to a Wintec, but she's like a mountain compared to Harry, and they're only really a hand's height of difference! She wanted to run run run, but I calmed her down and kept her back in a manageable corto. We ended nicely and they got another bath! I thought that the last of them would come last weekend, but it was warm enough in the barn to get them wet. I really do think that this week we need to prepare some vinegar to spray them with to clean them this weekend, since it's expected to snow this week!
Getting on, we worked circles and flexed like yesterday, except today I had a couple of goals. One, I wanted to work only on the bit rein once we were done flexing, and two, I wanted to stop trying to do everything for him and let him figure it out for himself. After reading a bit of Casey's blog yesterday, I realized how is Harry going to perform better if we're always trying to tell him exactly what to do and do everything for him, like he's incapable of figuring it out himself? I'm proud to say that we accomplished both of those goals! I never had to pick up the second rein the entire time we rode and while we started off a little bumpy, Harry worked things out for himself beautifully.
When we first started out, he was tap dancing and skipping and speeding around the corners, and apparently he wasn't looking too show-y according to my mom. But as we worked and as I gave him more freedom to find his place in what I wanted, an energetic and collected corto, he grew right into the part! We even went for a largo that was surprisingly well collected! Even my mom complimented me on what I did with him when she got on him to ride afterwards. I'm so proud of Harry and proud of myself for letting my overbearing tendencies go and letting him figure it out for himself, because he's really a smart boy! I hope that today was an indicator of things to come!
Then afterwards, I got on Brie and we had some fun for a short ride. Going from Harry to Brie is like night and day! Maybe part of it is going from a Passier saddle to a Wintec, but she's like a mountain compared to Harry, and they're only really a hand's height of difference! She wanted to run run run, but I calmed her down and kept her back in a manageable corto. We ended nicely and they got another bath! I thought that the last of them would come last weekend, but it was warm enough in the barn to get them wet. I really do think that this week we need to prepare some vinegar to spray them with to clean them this weekend, since it's expected to snow this week!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Day 184
Harry had a reintroduction to the carrot stick today.
First, let me start off by saying that Taco is now on our side! They were all set up like I described last week, but Paco told us that Brie is still kicking and kicked out a board in the front of her stall this past week, so we moved her back on the end so it's just her next to Harry and a wall. I hope she stops kicking. I don't know what to do! We're gonna look for toys to put in her stall to occupy her from the kicking, and if that fails then we're gonna have to suck it up and buy some rubber matting for the walls. If you have any suggestions on how to deal with this, please tell me!!
Back to Harry. I worked him today. We started out longeing on his bosal (noseband) like we had decided last week and he was doing okay in his usual direction and then started pulling me around the arena in the clockwise direction. After about 20 minutes of being slowly dragged across the arena by his fishtailing, I had enough and got the carrot stick. Using it behind him was such a transformation! He didn't run away from it and he just walked, observant of it behind him. After doing that for a while, we stopped because that's all I really wanted from him at that point, to not drag me around anymore and go about it calmly! Then I put it on the ground and he was scared to step over it. *shakes head* What a strange horse.
Getting on him, we worked lots of circles and spirals and serpentines to warm up first, then we went at a walk. He started out nicely and then started speeding up, but I managed him. Going into his corto, he was tap dancing a lot and I had to play around with my weight and position until he stopped and was happy. Then I started trying to push him faster into a largo and we go faster counterclockwise than clockwise...makes no sense! But we'll keep working at it. I'm so confused as to how to go about this with him. Should I work on collecting his corto or should I keep pushing him to go faster? I don't know. All I know is that I watched a video today of when Paco used to ride him as a stallion and he was sure speeding around (in comparison to how he goes now) without breaking gait! Is it the bit? Is it me? What is going on?! I have no idea. Maybe tomorrow I'll take off the jaquima rein and just work the bit and see how that goes.
First, let me start off by saying that Taco is now on our side! They were all set up like I described last week, but Paco told us that Brie is still kicking and kicked out a board in the front of her stall this past week, so we moved her back on the end so it's just her next to Harry and a wall. I hope she stops kicking. I don't know what to do! We're gonna look for toys to put in her stall to occupy her from the kicking, and if that fails then we're gonna have to suck it up and buy some rubber matting for the walls. If you have any suggestions on how to deal with this, please tell me!!
Back to Harry. I worked him today. We started out longeing on his bosal (noseband) like we had decided last week and he was doing okay in his usual direction and then started pulling me around the arena in the clockwise direction. After about 20 minutes of being slowly dragged across the arena by his fishtailing, I had enough and got the carrot stick. Using it behind him was such a transformation! He didn't run away from it and he just walked, observant of it behind him. After doing that for a while, we stopped because that's all I really wanted from him at that point, to not drag me around anymore and go about it calmly! Then I put it on the ground and he was scared to step over it. *shakes head* What a strange horse.
Getting on him, we worked lots of circles and spirals and serpentines to warm up first, then we went at a walk. He started out nicely and then started speeding up, but I managed him. Going into his corto, he was tap dancing a lot and I had to play around with my weight and position until he stopped and was happy. Then I started trying to push him faster into a largo and we go faster counterclockwise than clockwise...makes no sense! But we'll keep working at it. I'm so confused as to how to go about this with him. Should I work on collecting his corto or should I keep pushing him to go faster? I don't know. All I know is that I watched a video today of when Paco used to ride him as a stallion and he was sure speeding around (in comparison to how he goes now) without breaking gait! Is it the bit? Is it me? What is going on?! I have no idea. Maybe tomorrow I'll take off the jaquima rein and just work the bit and see how that goes.
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