Tag Archives for equestrian sports

In My Own Words, by Ike

Hi everyone!  It’s Ike again.  I’ve taken over the blog for the day.  It is hard to believe that I’ve been in Virginia for almost a year now.  Mom says that our one year anniversary will be on August 10th.  I’m not sure how we will celebrate, but I have told her that I would like an air conditioner for my stall as an anniversary gift.  It was hot in Florida before I moved here, but this Virginia heat is brutal.  How can anyone be expected to do anything outside when the temperature is over 100 degrees day after day?

I have learned to recognize the sound of Mom’s car.  It makes me very happy when she comes to see me.  She waved when she got out of the car.  I made sure that she knew I wanted her attention as soon as she arrived at the barn.  I ran to the gate to wait for her.  Do you know that she had the nerve to stop and visit with my brother BEFORE she came to get me?  I started pacing and running faster and faster – that made her get a move on and rescue me from the sun.

I was grateful that Mom hosed me down before we went into the barn.  The cold well water feels really nice.  I was hoping that we’d just visit today, but when I saw the grooming stuff come out, I knew that she was going to put me to work.  Shucks, I really just wanted to eat that nice timothy hay in the corner of my stall.  Luckily Mom was kind and only made me work for 20 minutes.  I think she is a bit of a wimp in this heat.  She kept complaining about the sweat in her eyes and on her glasses.  I was a trooper and didn’t even put up a fuss today.  I knew that the more cooperative I was, the sooner we’d be done.  I nailed my canter transitions today and worked hard to keep my balance on the circles and in the down transitions.  Mom is doing a better job with her aids and helping me stay balanced.  They tell me that my topline is getting more developed and that will help my work.  Since I don’t know what a topline is, I will guess that it is a good thing.

Mom took my saddle off right outside the barn and hosed me down right after we finished.  I really just wanted to get back into the barn so I was a bit fidgety.  I guess I was standing too close to that mean chestnut mare because she squealed really loudly and pinned her ears at me.  Mom yelled at her to be nice, but she just gave Mom a mean look.  Man, she is a moody girl.  I still don’t understand why she doesn’t like me.

Mom took this photo right after she rode…That was some serious heat and it was only 11:00 in the morning.  Glad that she left me in my stall with the fan running.  Now I can enjoy that hay that’s calling my name.  Stay cool everyone!

Riding in a Sauna

Conditions at 6:30 this morning:  75 degrees, 94% humidity, dew point 73, no wind.  I was fully expecting sauna like conditions for my lesson today.  By 9:00, it was already in the mid-80’s, but a slight breeze showed up which made the air somewhat “breathable.”  My dear friend Ms. CS came along with me today so that she could meet the big boy in person.  Ike was immediately smitten with her…the Peppermint Plops probably sealed that friendship.

Ike was heavy in my hands this morning and was a bit flat to start.  Maybe the heat and humidity were getting to him as well.  My arms are sore this afternoon from all the half halts I did to try and pick him up.  Ms. C ended up having me bring him back to the walk and had me think of piaffe to try and generate some energy and join the front and hind ends.  (I always need to remind myself that I needs me in that middle section to help connect the front and back over his back.)  It was amazing to see how well that exercise worked.  He came up out of his withers, into his bridle, and the trot transition was seamless.  I could actually sit that rudimentary attempt at a collected trot; I’d then start my rising trot and have much better connection and throughness.  We’d never be able to progress without Ms. C’s watchful eye and insights.

Canter was okay today.  We tried centerline, short diagonal, to canter transition at the rail.  The rider had Ike’s weight in the wrong place for the right lead transition, but bless his heart, he shuffled for a stride or two, and still picked up the correct lead.  Sometimes he is smarter than his rider…we are starting to introduce shoulder fore at the canter.  Ike is ready for it.  he can maintain it for a few strides – it is a start.  Left lead was spot on today.

Had to take numerous water breaks today.  Ike had a hose break and let Ms. C spray the water into his mouth.  He then tried to eat the end of the hose.  That’s my four year old.

Please turn off the Heat

Ugh and double ugh.  This mid-Atlantic heat wave continues and the thermometer hit 99 degrees even before you factored in the humidity.  Since the earliest I could get to the barn today was lunchtime, Ms. C and I opted to wait until tomorrow to have my lesson rather than have Ike and I turn into puddles of salty water…and then I look at the forecast for tomorrow.  Excessive heat warning.  Code Red Air Quality.  Very little breeze.  105 degrees.  What the??  Are they serious?  It will be a challenging lesson tomorrow even in the morning.

Ike, Cigar, and the other horses were all having their mid-day barn break when I arrived today.  Lots of bucket banging, whinnying, and nickers when I arrived.  I guess I was a welcome distraction.  Ha!  Who am I kidding?  Sadly, the truth is that the horses probably think  I’m a giant, walking Kong that they can nudge and have treats fall out.  Even more sad, I am always happy to oblige and provide a special treat for each of the horses along with a pat on the neck.  Perhaps I can be a Kong for Halloween this year.

Ike had obviously been in the barn longer than the other horses.  His coat was dry, and he looked like a salt-crusted beef tenderloin.  Everyone else was still damp from the recent cold hosing.  Such a Weenie boy.  Too Hot!  Too many bugs!  I love the sanctuary of my stall!  Most horses hate being in the barn alone.  Aren’t they supposed to be herd animals and seek out the company of other horses?  Ike is an enigma, but what can I say, I love my neurotic boy.  One could say that all my animals belong on the Island of Misfit Pets, but that is okay with me.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!  Hope everyone has a great holiday.  Please be careful if you have the heat and humidity that we have here in Virginia.  It doesn’t take much to become overheated in this weather.  Ike and I celebrated with an early morning ride to avoid the mid-day sun.  I opted not to ride yesterday and gave Ike and Cigar cold sponge baths to remove the crusty salt layer from their coats.  One odd note from the sponge baths…Ike decided to drink the salty water in my bucket.  Silly pony.  He does love his salt block, so maybe he figured he was replacing the lost electrolytes.

There were no residual issues from the temper tantrum the other day.  Ike’s work today was solid.  I started with walk-halt transitions since that is where we had issues on Monday.  Today – perfect, so I tried some turn on the haunches.  Turns to the left are better than those to the right.  It is still a new concept for Ike, but he is trying to comprehend what I want.  Trot work was also good today.  We are getting better with our connection (read – the rider is getting better at maintaining the connection and throughness.)  I can tell when we are not completely connected – Ike’s head waggles from side to side.  It stops as soon as I reconnect.  He makes me ride rather than cruise.  I’m still focusing on our rhythm on our circles and not losing the forward as we ride the arc of the circle.  Ike has definitely improved his balance and the hind end drifts less frequently on the arc.

Our canter work today was brief, but why overschool when the work offered is solid.  Ike nailed all the transitions and our circles actually resembled circles rather than eggs.  Progress!  I do like that the canter transitions in Training Level Test 2 are in the corners rather than on a circle.  We are less likely to lose the hind end and pick up the wrong lead or be disunited.  I can use the corner to help set up Ike for success.  Now I just need to learn and memorize the rest of the test.  I’ve got 25 days – piece of cake.

p.s. Please remember to keep your animals safe tonight when the fireworks start.  They don’t realize that it is a celebration.

Temper Tantrum

Think back to your elementary school days.  Imagine if the teacher told everyone else that they would get to go outside and relax and play on the playground, but you would have to stay back and have another math lesson.  What?!  No way!  That isn’t fair!  Well today was Ike’s day to throw himself on the floor and declare that he has the meanest teacher/mother ever!

I arrived at the farm after work – after the horses had been fed and had a chance to cool off in the barn.  The other horses were headed back to their paddocks for some late afternoon grass munching, but poor Ike had to stay behind to be groomed and tacked.  Sigh, how awful.  It isn’t like this was the first time that I’d ridden him later in the day, but he wanted none of it today.  He did not want to stand at the mounting block.  Usually, he will stand quietly while I adjust put on my gloves (which for some reason, I don’t do until after I mount).  Today, he decided to march with purpose over to the gate of his paddock.  Nice try, please keep marching past that gate and prepare to work.

My plan for the day was an easy workout since he’d just eaten and it was another hot day.  I read an article with Christopher Hess in my newest Dressage Today magazine where you would ride a square and perform a quarter turn on the haunches in each corner to start the next side of the square.  The exercise would be performed in each direction.  Sounded simple enough, but the exercise assumes that your horse will halt and wait for the rider’s aids to make the turn.  Halts were challenging today.  I’d ask and Ike would giraffe his neck and pull on the reins with those powerful “underneck” muscles.  Pppllbbbttt (the sound of Ike sticking his tongue out at me).  Ike would stomp his hooves, back up, push into my leg with the hind end, walk forward, back up again, anything to avoid halting.  I sat quietly and repeated my request until all movement would stop.  I abandoned the idea of any turns and concentrated on halts – obedient, quiet halts all while being patient and waiting for my next aid.  After 15 minutes of fuss, we had our first halt.  Phew, that was the hardest I have EVER worked for a halt.  Ike finally relented and we made progress.  We then trotted on and tried some centerline halts; Ike’s tantrum was over and Mr. Cooperative returned.  The boy can nail those halts when he sets his mind to it.

Everything else today was adequate – I’d have given us lots of 5’s and 6’s, maybe a 7 for some of the trot work.  We still have miles to go, but I marvel at how far we have come.  Time for me to do my final halt for the day.  Good night!

 

OMG, It Is HOT.

Ike’s favorite place to be in this wretched heat?  His stall, of course.  Can’t say that I blame him.  This early summer heat wave is miserable.  My heart goes out to the folks who lost power on Friday night in the wicked thunderstorm that rolled through the state.  The power companies are telling folks that they could be without power for a week.  Ugh.  Thank goodness that the barn has power so that the young prince can have his fan running and cold water to fill his water buckets.  Ike has requested a window air conditioning unit for his one year anniversary which is fast approaching…if he had one, I don’t think that he would ever leave his stall.

We didn’t ride yesterday, but Ike was tacked up and ready to go by 8:30 this morning.  The temperature wasn’t too bad at that point – 80 degrees, but the 65% humidity made the ride a bit sweaty to say the least.  We lasted 30 minutes.  I have to say that Ike again gave me some great work.  His early days in Florida must have conditioned him for this humid weather.  Ike seems uneffected by the heat and humidity while under saddle.  He cannot stand the bugs, but who can blame him on that account.  It hurts when the green flies and horse flies bite.  Ike’s trot was again balanced and our throughness and connection are improving with every week.  Ike is also hitting the correct canter lead almost every time.  Even Ike’s attempt at a stretch down trot was admirable.

I must be feeling really positive about our canter work or possibly delirious from the heat since I signed up for Training Test 1 and Training Test 2 for our next schooling show.  It isn’t until the end of the month, so we’ve got 28 days to figure it all out and memorize Test 2.  Plenty of time…

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

I could have ridden yesterday, but thought that it was a bit too hot (my car said it was 104 degrees when I left the house).  I would have ridden if I’d realized that there was a nice breeze at the barn and the temperature was really only 94 degrees, but since I’m not Bent Jensen at PVDA’s Ride for Life (http://www.horsejunkiesunited.com/2012/06/24/bent-jensen-silva-martin-and-a-glow-in-the-dark-performance-fun-freestyles-at-pvda-ride-for-life/), I did not ride in my yoga shorts and sneakers.  I should have packed my riding clothing just in case.  Ah, hindsight, how clear you are.

My car said it was only 99 degrees when I left the house today, but the stifling humidity returned overnight, so it felt like 102 degrees with not a cloud to block the sun.  What was I crazy enough to do?  My riding lesson!  The horses were having a mid-day siesta with fans a-blowin’ when I arrived, and Ms. C and Mr. D had hosed them down to help bring down the body temperature.  Grooming was the bare minimum, i.e., the saddle and girth areas and the hooves.  We were ready to go in under 20 minutes.

Ike’s walk was nicely forward which was surprising given the weather conditions.  His trot was lovely, I mean really lovely.  Well connected, balanced and rhythmic.  Ms. C commented that the front and hind ends appeared to be moving as one cohesive unit.  Yea!  Progress.  So that means that either the boy is maturing into his body mass and the topline is getting stronger and/or the rider who sits astride the middle section is doing a better job with her half halts and aids to better help Ike find that sweet spot.  Since most everything is dependent on the rider, I guess we have to say that the rider is finally catching a clue.  Even his canter work was solid.  He hit his transitions and I was actually able to ask for and achieve a shoulder-fore on the right lead.  Ike still tends to get a bit quick to the left, especially down the long side, “Wee, let’s go faster!”  It too shall get better in time.  Total ride time – approximately 35 minutes before the rider cried Uncle, but I will take 35 minutes of the solid work we had today over an hour of, “Are you talking to me?” work with little accomplished.

I have to say that I thought I was in good physical condition, but this heat and humidity kicked me hard in the backside.  The weekend is not looking promising for riding here in Virginia.  We are facing more very high temperatures with heat index values well over 100 degrees by mid-afternoon.  I do so love the cloying humidity that plagues Virginia in the summer.  It will be interesting to see what my car registers as the temperature each day.  Maybe I can use the car as a roaster and slow-roast some of the 8 pounds of tomatoes we received from our CSA share.

All Done

Well, my barn sitting duties are done and I have relinquished control back to Ms. C and Mr. D.  All horses were contentedly eating hay when I said goodbye this afternoon.  You don’t truly appreciate a well run barn until you do it yourself and feel the angst when you close the barn doors for the night and pray that all heads pop out to say good morning the next day.  What a great feeling to walk into the barn and hear every horse nicker and whinny good morning.

It is also fascinating to see the small personality traits of each of the horses when you spend a few days watching over them.  Some are independent, some are feisty when the morning is cool, some will try to bite you as you groom them, some are insecure, and Ike, he begs for my attention as soon as he sees me emerge from the barn.  “Come get me!!”  Why?  Just because I am there and maybe he is a bit insecure.  The weather was ideal today; even Goldilocks would have been hard-pressed to complain – not too cold, not too warm, not too humid, not too windy, and not too buggy.  But Ike wanted to be with me.  It was too nice to hide in the barn all day, so I let him graze around the barn.  Such a Mama’s boy, but it is hard to complain when I look into those big brown eyes.

Had a wonderful ride today.  Forty minutes of fun.  It is a nice feeling when all goes well and you can really just enjoy the ride.  Now I know that my next ride and the ride after that might not go well, that is horses and training, so I’m going to enjoy the “rider’s high” for tonight…at least until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.  Ike and I focused on our stretch down trot for the last 15 minutes of our ride.  I think I’d go as far to say that we had maybe 20 seconds of true stretch.  I’d ask, Ike would snatch.  I’d ask again, Ike would blast through my request and motor along faster.  Maybe it was the weather or the lack of dive-bombing horse flies, but working on the stretch down wasn’t frustrating today.  Enjoyed the challenge and my handsome horse.

The takeaway from the past two days.  If you are boarding at a barn and your horse is healthy, happy, and secure, thank the owners profusely and let them know how much you appreciate their great care of your equine friend.

Barn Sitting

So I am barn sitting today and tomorrow.  Yikes, that is a lot of responsibility resting on my shoulders.  The morning feeding and turnout was peaceful.  The horses don’t seem to care who puts the feed in their buckets.  Just get the feed into my bucket NOW!

It is interesting to see how each of the horses maintains their stall.  Much like people, some are tidier than others.  Ike tends to poop in one spot in his stall and likes to push the sawdust to the edges of the stall to form a depression.  Ike eats all his hay so there is no leftovers to clean up in the morning.  Cigar is a slob; there is no other way to describe his stall other than a pig pen.  It takes twice as long to clean his stall because you are forced to mine for nuggets.  Hay is strewn everywhere including the water buckets.  All the other horses have their tendencies as well.

Once everyone was out and the stalls were mucked, I took the opportunity to clean out my tack box.  Pretty sure I now need some sort of booster shot for protection against mouse-borne diseases from the plethora of mouse detritus that was lurking everywhere.  But the job is done and everything is clean…for now.  At least I did not find any nests.

Popped on Ike for a 30 minute ride until we could no longer stand the dive bombing horse flies. Evil creatures.  We practiced our walk-trot transitions as well as our canter transitions.  Although it is less frequent, Ike still struggles with keeping the weight in the right place in his hind end.  Hoping as he muscles up and the topline gets stronger that the problems will fade away.  We also continue our quest for a stretch down trot.  Right now when I give a little, Ike lurches forward and gets faster and faster.  He tends to ignore the half halts once the giraffe neck is stretched so I resort to a stern, “slow down, slow, Ike, I said slow.”  That doesn’t always work either, but we will keep trying.

All was going well with day one until a small thunderstorm popped up out of nowhere.  Weenie couldn’t cope, so he hid in the barn.   One of the other geldings also had a meltdown, but it sure is challenging to get a halter on a horse that is rearing.  The storm was practically over before he let me get the halter on his head.  Silly boy.  The rest of the crew toughed it out and then promptly rolled to get a good coating of dirt for bug protection.  Pretty ponies.

The day ended well.  One more day.

Volunteering

If you have been around horses and horse shows for any amount of time, you know that barns and shows could not make it without people stepping up and volunteering.  Owners volunteer when barns are short-staffed or when there is a horse emergency – a show of hands of people who have walked friends’ horses who were colicking or waited with a friend for the vet to arrive.  Dressage shows would not be possible if it weren’t for the small army of volunteers who tirelessly plan the shows, set up the equipment, schedule the rides, control the chaos of warm up, run the calculators for scores, clean up and tear down the show grounds once all the riders and horses go home, and the countless other tasks that I didn’t mention.

I tried my hand as volunteer coordinator for my local chapter for 4 years.  I was brand new in the dressage world and naively said, “sure, I will be the coordinator.”  Craziness.  Much like herding cats.  I have had the chance to try every volunteer job myself at one point or another.   Don’t like scoring since you are usually tucked away in a small room with no view.  I’ve  stood in the cold rain on top of a hill in Lexington, Virginia waiting for riders who never showed up – drove home barefoot to warm my ice cold feet with the car heater.  I’ve stuffed competitor gift bags for days and stacked prizes in my guest room.  At one championship show, I had the opportunity to tell a well-known rider/breeder to leave the warmup ring since she was not competing that day – Ha Ha!  Power to the little people!  I spent yesterday afternoon setting up the ring for the schooling show today (how glad am I that the old chain rings are no longer used at the recognized shows).  We do these thing for the love of the sport and for the love of horses.

No riding today – spent the day with my husband and my parents having a belated Father’s Day celebration.  Ike and I did manage a short ride yesterday morning before the humidity got the best of us.  You know it is humid when you turn your helmet over to put it on your head and leftover sweat/condensation drips out.  Yuck!  He was full of himself and most of the ride was spent half halting and half halting and half halting and well, you get the picture.  Ike hit all his trot to canter transitions; he just didn’t want to down transition.  It is days like this that a wide open, well groomed trail would be nice to blow off some of that young horse steam so I might actually have a chance at my aids getting attention.  We ride again tomorrow.

p.s. I want a Dressage is #1 foam finger!!