Day 202

I was determined to have a good ride today after feeling pretty bad about my rides the last couple of weeks. I marched right into the barn and told Harry who's boss.

Instead of playing around with the rope halter and longe line, longeing without any tack on, I cleaned him up and tacked up, going out to the pole in the arena to longe with him. As soon as we stopped walking he wanted to bolt out and start longeing but I made him wait until I was ready to start working with him. I looped the pisador around the pole (darn, I should've taken a picture) in a way that if he pulled, it would tighten the part of the jaquima that is built around his head, behind his ears and apply pressure, but it was also easy enough for me to release if we got in a dangerous situation without either of us getting hurt.

Today was probably the longest amount of time I've spent longeing him since we had decided that he had the basic idea, way back two years ago. He ran around that pole like a bat out of hell and it was okay for me because he wasn't dragging me with him due to the poll taking the force of him because of the knot. We worked at longer distances and shorter distances, both directions. It was easier for me to get him back out longeing when he fishtailed out and wanted to back away (which he couldn't because of the knot) and continue working. After galloping around for a long time, he calmed back down into a reasonable gait and we stopped.

For the longest, I've been switching between the barbada rein and the bit rein when I ride, using the barbada rein to warm him up and the bit rein when we're ready to perform. Today I used both reins at the same time. I think that it had more of an effect on him because his speed was easier to control. We also worked on flexing while walking, something I've never done with any of the horses before, but I know that it's a good stretch for them while they're warming up. He got the general idea flexing to the outside wall, but more often than not he thought I wanted to reverse when I wanted to flex to the inside.

After getting him collected and right where I wanted him where he was being responsive and performing, about an hour into our ride, I tied up the barbada rein and just worked off of the bit. He was a little jumpy at the transition at first, but settled right into it, with the last 20 minutes of work being fantastic. I could not have been more proud of us! We both ended in happy moods and accomplished what I wanted, which was to longe better and be more collected in gait. I still have to work on finding the exact speed of largo that he likes without pacing or breaking.

When Harry and I were all done, I got on Brie. My ankles were hurting, so I rode her without stirrups. At first I was just  going to walk around with her because I wasn't using the stirrups, but I got up the courage to go through a full session with her, working her corto and largo and everything! She got upset a couple of times when Nick came up behind her with his horse, but she always does this. This is why we can't show, she hates horses being too close to her. I need to figure out a way to fix this, so if you have any suggestions, please tell me!

Eventually, I got enough bravery to canter her without stirrups. It was fantastic! I felt like I was flying and was perfectly able to balance myself. I was literally grinning the entire time. Too bad I never have a camera! Argh, I swear, I need like a personal photographer following me around.

Day 201

Guess who's back!
Yeah, after going to the doctor on Friday, it turns out that I don't have a stress fracture in my foot and am good to go! I have to admit, after not walking on it for about three weeks, it's really sore today.

I guess I just expected Harry to be wonderful and for us to have a magical moment because I was able to ride again. As if! He was absolutely dreadful. I even got so fed up with him longeing that I asked my mom to help me out (imagine that!). Eventually he calmed down for me longeing, but then riding was a trainwreck in itself. I felt like I was fighting him the entire time. Now that we've taught him and encouraged him to largo and go fast, that's all he wants to do. I spend a good 2/3 of my ride trying to collect him and get him to slow down. His passes across the board were awful because he kept going out of gait at the end because he'd speed off of them. To add on top of it, every horse on our side of the barn was out in the arena today, along with the horses that Nick was training, PLUS Nicks' daughter Brianna kept running around and squealing (she's 6). Harry almost fishtailed out into her once and I felt bad and scared and I'm sure Nick gave me a dirty look but I couldn't bear look over at him after that, even though Brianna should have definitely not bolted out into the arena so close to where I was working. Ugh. Chaos.

After all was said and done, I got on Brie. Good old Brie. It's so bizarre, going to her and having great rides after I used to cry about how she wouldn't listen to me either only a year ago. While it's frustrating to be dealing with Harry's quirks still after two years of owning him, I need to look back on how long it take to make real progress with Brie and how much of a change there is in her. In short, it took me, on my own, shoot I can't even remember, at least 4 years and a month's supply of mare hormone balancing supplements to get to where we are now together. And while I may feel some days like today that there is little hope for Harry and I, at least there is hope.

Day 200!

A couple of days late, but Ta-Da! My first ever vlog post, made especially for Day 200 of training!

In short, I only rode on Sunday. I now have to wear crutches and a boot cast because I may or may not have a stress fracture in my foot and I made a horrible decision to ride on Sunday in order to get footage for this, but I'm glad I got to make the video. After this post, I'll be on leave for a while because I won't be able to ride and therefore won't be able to train. But I might be able to get some lessons in with this one girl I want to instruct who hangs around our barn a lot. We'll see!

Basically, I didn't actually train very hard on Sunday because I was more concerned with taping. But Harry was awful. He was so bad at longeing! You can get a glimpse of this from the clip. I think that while I'm sitting out at the barn and watching everyone else ride for the next couple of weeks, I'll be reading up on how the heck to finally get this longeing problem solved, once and for all, because it's one of the most aggravating things on the planet. Other than that, he really was a doll.

I even rode Brie for a little bit too. We cantered (as I show you) =] She's getting better at it with me, although I think my mom asked a little too hard because Brie kept trying to bolt out! Then again, my mom uses double reins on her now and Brie clearly thinks those are for babies, so I can tell she's mad about that too all the time.

Nick and his family are officially moved in! Now they just have to paint and arrange their apartment just the way they like it and Paco is waiting for his new apartment to finish being constructed so he can move out of the downstairs office into a real home! Nick seems super nice, but I'll just be wary of him until I see him ride.

Day 199

And now it's time for my exciting news. Drumroll, please!

Our barn has a new trainer!!!

I've seen Nick at shows but haven't really talked to him, but I'm glad that he's now going to be at our barn. He hasn't officially moved in yet. He will next weekend. I just find it so funny that he's going to be moving in on my 200th day of training! It's amazing how things have changed in 200 training days, 100 weekends, a little over two years!

My foot was really bothering me today, so I went to ride Brie first because my mom wanted to ride Harry again. Nick was watching us ride and then he got on Nina. I was just warming up Brie when my mom called me over to switch so I could show Nick and because Harry was kind of acting up. I started working with Harry and calming him down, but Nick had to leave. It didn't matter to me, he can ride whenever. Harry calmed down very nicely and we got a consistent couple of boards. I'm really pleased with how he's coming along, at least with me. His ground manners still need some work though.

After I was done with Harry, I got back on Brie and we worked on walking and corto some more. Then we went for canter circles and I know now that yesterday wasn't just a fluke! She was just as awesome today as yesterday.

It's funny. It takes moments like this weekend after bad weekends like last week to really appreciate how far I've gotten in this whole journey. I just can't wait to plan next weekend's 200th day of training post!

Day 198

Saturday

You know how last weekend was really horrible for my emotions? How I just felt awful going into it?
Well this weekend was the complete opposite =]

I went into it with the attitude of just trying to make Brie the best Paso Fino that I can instead of trying to turn her into a dressage horse (because I actually don't know how to...) and our ride was spectacular. She longed for way longer than she usually does and that's because she was charging and bucking and overall being full of energy. She started out really dragging, but then she picked it right up and between her bursts of energy, she had a super relaxed trot going and the cutest little bunny-hop canter. She has pretty much no extension in her canter and no upwards leg movement, but just kind of bounces herself up in the air in a cantering motion. I'm not entirely sure how to fix this...but I'll make sure to read a lot about it before I start trying anything!

Then we spent 30 minutes trying to make her stand still at the mounting block, but that's another story and it's a work in progress. It's not that she really...runs away from it. She swings her butt out away from the block so you'd have to jump from it onto her, which is unacceptable. So it's mostly just trying to make her realize she has to stand straight parallel to it.

Anyways, after this we flexed and rode. She wasn't fighting me with the bit at all today and was walking very nicely, which I'm really proud of because as you might remember, she hates walking! Her corto was nice and we didn't go into a largo today, so she was just snorting along happily at a corto. We did reverses and serpentines and a lot of walk to corto to walk transitions and she was taking them all in stride. Her passes on the board were decent. The first ones could've been better, but her ending ones were great. Then we relaxed into cooling when we were all finished with that. Then I got an idea. She was so good today and seemed really responsive, so I'd try some canter work around the pole. I mean, the least I know is how to ask for it properly. So walked around the pole in a circle a few times, then I just ever so lightly asked her for a canter and here's the amazing part...she picked it right up! No charging out or scrambling to go. She picked up the lead and went at a normal horse's pace without taking off! I was so amazed and actually laughing as we rode, it felt awesome. We did it in the opposite direction and she maybe had two missteps and then picked it right up again and a sane pace! I may have been asking her too hard and causing her to scramble before and now that I know just how little pressure I need, I have a feeling we're only going to get better from here!!

**Now, I'm wrote that on Sunday morning, pretending it was still Saturday. But now it's present day time. Harry was god-awful yesterday for my mom. He was trying to rear and everything, overall being a complete brat. I want to ride him first today and see if he's the same as yesterday.

On another note, it's almost Day 200 of training! I should do something special. Maybe a design revamp and some videos. Especially longeing videos of Harry, that way you can see how bratty he is. Though I'm sure that he'll be an angel when the cameras are rolling!

Equestrian Team Winter '12 Day 1

Yesterday was my first lesson out with the team for 2012!! I didn't really know what to expect, especially as I'm not driving the vans anymore and have a real lesson group, as opposed to last quarter where it was usually just me and another girl. I appreciated that, having more time on me, but I really love carpooling with more than one person. And anyways, Stacy has proved herself amazing once again by at least seeming like she was giving me the same amount of attention as usual. I was super flattered when she kept telling me how wonderful I was riding, but I'll get to that.

We show up and I see that I'm riding a mare, Cassie, this huge monstrous horse who I've never ridden before. Stacy said that she was a new horse and that they've been working with her for a while, but she's been out of work for a while as she's pretty old. We tack up and mount, and she seems pretty responsive. I think I may have left my stirrups one hole too long because it was hard for me to post...but I guess that's more of a muscle and balance problem that I need to work on.

Anyways, I was proud of myself because I was able to correctly identify when I was on the wrong diagonal all on my own and switch, and I started going back to feeling the leads and realizing then when I pick up to post, I get the wrong diagonal and have to switch. I need to find a new trick for that, because I was listening to everyone else's advice to sit 3 then post, but that clearly isn't working...maybe I just can't count.

Trotting around is great, but I felt myself leaning forward too much. I think it had to do with stretching for the stirrup rather than focusing on balance, which lead to me putting a ton of weight in my toes and falling more forward! But I was safe at the trot.

I'm the first to admit that Cassie got away from me in the canter and I was not pleased with myself about it. I firmly believed that my reins were short enough, and even when I was trying to get her to slow back into a trot, it wasn't seeming to work and I could hear Stacy getting somewhat panicked as I started to lean forward more and stand on my toes instead of leaning back and digging in my heels along with the reins to get Cassie to listen to me. But she stopped, and we continued on our merry way.

Going over the cavaletti poles? Sucked. I felt like I wasn't holding a two-point, but apparently it didn't look back because Stacy didn't say anything.

Then the jump. This tiny, tiny jump, maybe a foot tall. Stacy says she didn't think that she would jump it, probably just trot over it. We're approaching it and I'm more concerned with not falling off and holding position when BAM! Cassie goes flying over this thing like it was 3 feet and I'm lucky enough that I was so concerned with grip and position that I only slightly fell onto her neck as opposed to rolling off onto the ground. We do this one more time, on replay, and then Stacy says that Cassie is getting too excited, so to just to the cavaletti poles. There she keeps telling me to put my heels down, but I'm always finding myself balancing on my toes. Ugh. I need to work on that.

In the end, it was a good first lesson back. I finally sucked it up and told Stacy that as for jumping, I'd feel way more comfortable if I were on smaller horses or even ponies until I get better at it because they're more the size of my horses. And as for Stacy not coming out to ride over break, her voicemail broke, and I didn't call the office, but she's definitely interested to come out when it gets warmer =] I can't wait to show her the horses I train. It's a completely different world.

Last bit of news. My dear Tommy moved away with his owner =[ We worked well together and I'll miss him. I'll always remember him as the first horse I ever fell off of. Good memory, no?

Days 196 & 197

Saturday

You know how things start out cute and then become really annoying?
Well, a couple of weeks back, Harry started pulling all of our zippers on our coats. He would unzip them and we thought it was the cutest thing. This has now evolved into biting whenever he feels like it and it has to stop. He was awful longeing today, but probably the worst part was when he would come in real close to me, take a bite of my jacket and then run back out! We have to start getting after him for the zipper thing now and prevent this from going any further.

So since my mom has been saying that Harry responds better when weight is more back, I tried that today. He wasn't responding very well at all and kept tap dancing. I was trying my hardest to keep my weight back, but he kept throwing me forward and when I started to grip on him with my lower legs to keep balanced he got really upset and started speeding up, so I finally just settled back into a more forward weight and he was much more responsive. Still fast, but more gaited. His board was very powerful and loud. I hope he keeps it up that way! Now only to work on his manners...

Sunday

I rode Brie today and let my mom have Harry since I rode him yesterday. Today just felt like it wasn't going to be a very good day for me and it was threatening to remain that way. Brie was fighting the bit the entire time and kept trying to run out on me when I started trying to use a light leg contact. I just kept getting aggravated and she just kept going faster until finally I just stopped, removed contact, and rode normally. I was ready to start crying when I decided I had better get off. I keep getting upset because I just have these grand visions of her as a dressage horse, but clearly I don't know how to train her to be one and when I get some tidbit of advice and it doesn't work, I just feel awful about it...I guess I can't really blame myself since I don't know anything about dressage really...so maybe we'll just focus on being Paso Finos...we could always do trail class, I'm sure that desensitizing is a fantastic thing for Brie to learn to keep her brain from turning to mush.

On a non-horsey related note, we went sledding today at the barn! Trust me when I tell you there's no sledding like tractor sledding! And by that I mean being pulled on a sled by a tractor. It's the most fun thing ever! I had such a blast, even though I couldn't feel my hands for a solid 10 minutes afterwards and fell off the sled multiple times going down hills. It was totally worth it though!