Tag Archives for riding

Open up and Say Aaaah

It was dental and shot day for the boys.  Cigar needed the full set of spring shots and his teeth checked.  Ike needed his flu shot, a coggins (in case we actually get on the trailer and leave the farm), and his teeth checked.  And since they get sedated for their teeth and I believe in better living through drug chemistry if necessary, they also had their sheaths cleaned since neither is cooperative in that department while fully conscious.

I will never forget the first time I saw a horse have their teeth floated.  The Medieval-looking mouth clamp, the “wood rasps,”  the blood.  It was an eye-opening event, but a necessary evil because of the domestic lifestyle of today’s horses.  Ike still has a few baby teeth.  It is odd to look in his mouth and see those teeny tiny teeth when the rest of him is so large.  I’m hoping to find one before all the baby teeth are gone – a little sick and twisted, but I’m sure I’m not the only horse owner that wants one or already has one sitting in a box somewhere.

Was not able to get to the barn early enough to ride…but since we seem to be doing fine under saddle, the time was spent doing what?  Take three guesses and the first two don’t count.  That’s right, trailer practice!  Ike was cooperative and walked on and off the trailer three times and stayed on the trailer for a full 5 minutes fully relaxed the last time.  He also spent that time eating the grain strewed on the floor of the trailer.  Hey, if it helps him get over his fear, I say let him eat off the floor.

No ride times yet for Sunday.  Trying not to get too excited or think too much about it  – one step up the ramp at a time, one step.  In the mean time, Ike is going to bed.  It was a big day for the big man.

Square One, Two, and Three

How could anyone stay mad at a face like Ike’s?  Sunday morning we were back at square one with the trailer.  It was 7:00 a.m. and if Ike wanted breakfast, he would have to eat it on the trailer.  The bucket was full and up the ramp I went and waited.  Not ten minutes later he was all the way on and happily munching his feed.  Where was this horse the day before???  Maddening.  Breakfast was over and I backed him off.  Told him what a good boy he was and said, “OK, let’s hop on one more time and you can then head to your morning turn out.”  It was going to be interesting to see if loading would happen with out the enticement of a bucket of food.  Phew, Ike got on the trailer.  Irish luck won out over Polish luck this time.

Helped D muck stalls while Ike had his morning fresh air and visit with his buddy Lady.  No rest for the boy – time to tack up for a ride.  I think he is a morning horse – nicely forward and through, relaxed with spot on up and down transitions.  Such a shame that no one at the clinic got to meet him.  If he could speak, I would have him apologize to the clinician and the club for his silliness.  Since he cannot, I will say that I am deeply sorry that we did not make it.  Ike and I will work diligently and fingers are crossed that it will not happen again.  Holding dressage shows at our barn just isn’t going to happen and hacking to show grounds would be a death wish on the roads around here.

Ms. C and Mr. D were kind enough to practice loading Baby Huey again in the afternoon.  He played mule for just a few minutes before conceding and walking up the ramp.  He also loaded once today without great protest.  Dim light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have a long way to go to reach daylight.

Tomorrow the vet comes for spring shots.  If it is not raining, we will sneak in a short ride and another trailer loading session once the vet is done.  Don’t have much of a choice….we have a schooling show this Sunday and Mom is still learning her lesson in patience.

The Little Engine that Couldn’t

 

As I am typing this I have a BIG glass of wine next to me….I now seriously believe that Ike is part mule, because there was an epic battle of wills today when it came time to load him on the trailer for the clinic.  Like I said, I have a BIG glass of wine….can you guess whether or not we made it to the clinic???  That’s right, we did not.  We are now 1 for 3 for clinics.  Not a good average if you ask me.  We’d even been practicing loading on the trailer this week with no issues, so why today did he decide that no, he was not getting on the trailer?

After two hours, my very patient husband told me that it was time to call the clinic organizer to give her the news.  I knew it, but did not want to make the call.  I was humiliated, mortified, embarrassed, sad, and angry all at the same time.  Breathe, Alison, breathe.  I made the call.  It was like tearing my heart out.  That bad.

We then turned Ike out in his paddock and left.  I came back in time for dinner.  So Ike, you want dinner, you must get on the trailer………………………………………….half the body on, back off,  two hooves on, back off…………….45 minutes later, success.  All four hooves on the trailer.  Seriously?

Another lesson in patience is the best I can tell.  Serenity Now!

Happy Hour

It is Friday, so the weekend is officially here and to many folks that means Happy Hour!  I remember in my younger days planning with my girlfriends which bar to head to based on which had the best free happy hour food.  Sound familiar?  Hey, we were poor, and that free food was dinner to go with our reduced cost beverages.  Now, my Happy Hour is spent at the barn with the horses making sure that their buckets are filled with fresh water and that they get their fair share of peppermints and horse treats.  Of course, that doesn’t stop me from having a glass of wine (or two) once I get home.  My how the times have changed.

Ike and I had a short ride, since our lesson was yesterday and the clinic is tomorrow.  He’d had a bad day because the adjacent farm was cutting hay and had spent most of this gorgeous day in his stall.  I wonder about the boy sometimes.  Anyway, I could tell he was on edge while I rode him, but with Mom astride, he tried his best to listen and be brave.  After 20 minutes and solid trot work and multiple successful canter up and down transitions, we called it an afternoon.  There were two feeble attempts at a stretch down trot——-we will leave it at that.

I’m still trying to find the balance of work and time off for Ike.  I typically ride 4 to 5 days a week right now usually for 20-45 minutes depending on the other demands of life.  Is that too much?  Not enough?  Feel free to weigh in if you have a system that you have found works for oversized four-year-olds.  I’m sure that our progress could be greater if I could devote all my time to the pursuit, but unless there is a miracle and we either win the lottery or some long-lost rich relative appears, my barn time will continue to get squeezed in with the rest of the to-do list.  Of course, not everything on that list is a fun as Barn Happy Hour.  Cheers!

 

Sit, Ike, Sit, Good Boy

Ms. C passed along an interesting observation of Ike.  First picture in your mind a dog sitting, then substitute a 1200 pound horse in place of the dog.  Yes, Ike was sitting like a dog.  Not for a long period of time and of course not long enough for a camera to be located, but long enough for Ms. C to take notice.  It was not an AKC obedience quality sit, but a kickstand-style casual sit.  I still cannot picture where exactly all the leg parts were during this.  But I digress…

Today was lesson day and overall, I am pleased with how Ike and I did.  As Ike gets stronger, we are looking for a steadier connection.  The days of his head being a little higher, a little lower, even lower still, and then back up are getting fewer and fewer as he develops his topline.  His trot work is a pretty solid “7” and we are working on finding the “8.”  It is there in fits and spurts.  And can I just say, where the heck was the canter I rode today when we were at the show??  The right lead was very balanced and I was able to sit back and follow the motion – just like a rocking horse.  The left lead was a little bit less balanced, but it too was better than what I had in my test.  Must be show nerves and green horse nerves.  At least we know it is in that big hulking body.  We started to introduce shoulder in with some limited success.  We also schooled turn on the haunches to help Ike learn to weight the inside hind.

One final note – the countdown has started to our next show – a schooling show at Chestnut Oak Stable (http://chestnutoak.net/shows.html) 10 days from today.  Schooling shows are so much easier on the pocketbook.  I do plan to braid and play beauty shop so that we make a good impression headed down centerline.  I will also wear my show attire since the dressage coat beautifully hides a multitude of sins.  I had some success at their schooling show series with Cigar as well as some embarrassing moments that many folks can still recall.  I’m excited to be headed back with Ike – hoping for the success without the drama and hijinks.

Delayed Gratification

If I was looking for instant gratification, then I should have picked a sport that does not involve another sentient being, especially one as young as Ike.  Even if I had unlimited funds and could afford a horse that already had years of dressage training, I’d still have delayed gratification as I learned how to push the buttons of a horse that knows more about dressage than I do…sad, but so true.

Society as a whole continues to move at a faster and faster pace – more information, more data, and download things quickly.  We want instant results, faster fast food, and a flat stomach at the snap of our fingers. There is planned obsolescence – get the newer, shinier model with more features since you can’t get the parts for the broken model you bought 2 months ago.  If  it is too slow, toss it and buy a faster one.

The dressage training scale is very well established.  If you miss steps and the basics of training, you will pay later as the work becomes more and more demanding.  The judges have very keen eyes and it is hard to sneak anything by them.  I’ve heard it said that it takes 6-12 months to develop a bond with a new horse until you both figure out how to communicate with each other.  With a young horse, it feels like we are starting from square one every time there is a growth spurt.  We unfortunately cannot rush to the top of the pyramid.  Ike and I will hover at the bottom and progress when he and Ms. C tell me it is time for more.  I must wait for the results – is this all part of the lesson in patience?

Got a short but productive ride in today.  Practiced the Training Level canter transitions, and Ike nailed them like a pro.  Attempted the stretch down trot….well, ah, yeah.  Next topic.  Can’t guarantee that we will nail anything on Saturday at the clinic, but that is why we are going.  We have our weekly lesson tomorrow with Ms. C.  Her eyes are as keen if not sharper than a lot of judges – we will have our work cut out for us.

The Next Outing

So we are gearing up for a clinic sponsored by my local dressage chapter this coming weekend.  Ike and I will ride a dressage test of our choosing and the clinician will help us on the parts where we are the weakest.  If you have been keeping up with the recent posts, it is not hard to tell what our Achilles heels are….canter AND stretch down trot.  Here is the promised link with our attempt at a stretch down trot towards the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whk-4aCIjIo.  Don’t blink or you will miss that over-the-back-stretch into my hands (said with a facetious tone.) We will ride Training Level Test 1 to the best of our abilities.  If we find that it is just too much for Ike to handle, better to have found out at a low-key clinic than at a show.

Rode today with no dressage whip to see how our canter transitions would be.  Miraculously, we nailed every one of them; maintained the canter much longer as well in preparation for the Training Level tests.  I worked on sitting tall and following the movement with my hips.  The stretch down trot is still non-existent, but that was not a surprise.  More time and patience, much more patience, and it will come.

After our ride, we went trail blazing through the empty paddocks.  Ike is gaining confidence each time we walk them.  We then had a trailer loading session.  After a couple of false starts, Ike finally walked right up the ramp and into the trailer.  He is a smart boy and now keeps his head down when he backs off.  Thank goodness he learned that lesson quickly to avoid any further dents in the trailer or him having to wear the padded headwear (such a cool look – I’m sure the other horses would have made fun of him).

After a few peppermints, a Stud Muffin, and some ear rubs, I said goodnight to my big, handsome boy.   I will admit, it is hard to leave when you have a face like the one above watching you go…

Greed is (Not) Good

I was talking to my friend D the other day about Ike.  D had just watched the video of our rides from the dressage show last weekend and was very pleased at how well Ike did.  It would be easy to get greedy and push for more and more with Ike since he has such an easy going nature, but with apologies to Gordon Gecko, I will have to say that greed is not good in this case.

Ike just turned four this past week.  He won’t finish growing for another couple of years – eek!  The fear is that if I push too hard, too fast, there might be revolt and that is definitely not what we want to teach him.  We are not aiming to compete in the national 4-year-old-tests; we are looking for a long term dressage partner who happily brings his owner up the levels.

I did ride with the whip again yesterday and found that it does help to keep the hind end more in line with the rest of the body.  I don’t actually use the whip, its mere presence is enough.  Less is more in this case.  I did attempt to record my ride, but most of the recording is of an empty arena with glimpses of Ike.  If I can edit it appropriately, I will add a link to YouTube later so that you can see our feeble attempt at a stretch down trot following a canter.

In the spirit of not being greedy, Ike got the day off.  He has been superb the past 4 days, so a day of rest was well deserved.  Ike was happily grazing when I said goodbye.

Who is that Masked Man?

Humidity, flies, and natty bugs were out today – the trifecta of misery. Fly masks and fly spray were a must. Even with those defenses, Ike was not a happy camper and convinced Ms. C to bring him in for the sanctuary of his stall where I found him happily munching hay when I arrived. I can’t convince myself that the horses can actually see anything with the fly mask in place. I’ve held it up to my eyes before and promptly tripped because I could not see the ground in front of me. The horses must have better eyesight than me since they seem to get around just fine.  As for the humidity, all I can say is “yuck.”  This is mid-summer humidity and I’m still in the spring frame of mind.

Today was lesson day.  Decided to carry a dressage whip for the first time 1) since Ms. C was on the ground in case I got into trouble, and 2) it might help me communicate with the hind end that likes to stray.  The whip did not faze Ike at all whether I used it at his shoulder or behind my leg.  It has been a while since I’ve carried one, so I was a bit clumsy when it came time to switch sides/hands.  The ever patient Ike just kept trucking along.  [Have I mentioned lately how much I love this boy?]

We started schooling the Training Level test movements.  You pick up your canter on the second half of the circle that starts at A…that is a full 10 meter arc to lose our hind end.  If we get the correct lead, we then have to canter half way down the long side without knocking down the ring, and finally another half a circle before the down transition to trot.  But then thing get really hard – when you arrive back at A, it is time for the stretch down trot.  Seriously?!  Evil, simply evil.  Ike comes out of canter with a gorgeous, forward trot.  Trying to get him to stretch into my hands is challenging.  When I give an inch, the engines kick into another forward gear with no stretch.  Worst part is that there is a coefficient with this movement.  Like I said, evil.

We did find that with me holding the whip, I nailed my canter transitions.  Coincidence?  Or just dumb luck?  I will have to try using it a few more times before deciding.  The canter is still quick, but improving.  I still need to sit back;  Ms. C is the constant voice in my head as I try my best to comply.

Hoping for a lower dew point and fewer bugs tomorrow.

 

Whips, Chains, and Spurs

Oh, you sick minded people – minds out of the gutter…As I was cleaning and organizing the trailer after Sunday’s dressage show, I started counting the number of duplicates of various items that I have amassed over the past 7 years.  Four partially used bottles of shampoo, six pairs of gloves, nine white saddle pads, six lead ropes for two horses, four sets of spurs, four whips of various lengths, and six, count them, six stud chains.  Why does anyone need that many stud chains when you are not operating a breeding farm??  I’m fairly certain that every equestrian I know has a similar situation.  I can even guess why certain items multiply like rabbits in the depths of trailers and tack boxes around the world.

The various whips are a necessity.  Short bats, dressage whips, and lunge whips all have different uses.  USEF changes the legal whip length on occasion which then means we run out to the store to purchase one that won’t get us eliminated.

Saddle pads are one of my weaknesses.  As I peruse the 10 tack catalogs that I did not request, I inevitably see a new white pad that I must have.  Oooh, pretty trim on that one.  The stitching on that one is unusual.  I should have a new one for the show with no black stains.  Oh, this one has ThinLine material stitched onto the pad.  I wonder if there are saddle pad support groups to help with this affliction?

The other items, well, they are all relatively small which means they can easily play hide-and-seek.  Stud chains are notorious hiders.  They will start the game without your consent or knowledge.  The game usually starts just as the crazy Thoroughbred decides to misbehave.  There is then the frantic search for the chain. Come out, come out wherever you are!  The search is fruitless, so you borrow one for the moment.  Once the emergency is past, you then run to the nearest tack store and purchase one or two more and declare that you will always have one handy.  Ha!  From my collection, I’d say that I have played the game much too often and lost.

Most of this excess was accumulated due to Ike’s brother’s special needs.  Except for the lunge whip, I’ve not used any whips with Ike.  No spurs, no chains, no shampoo…I’m not one to bathe my horses all that frequently, so the four bottles of shampoo are a bit of a mystery.  At the rate I bathe them, the current stash will be a lifetime supply.

Had a quick and productive ride today.  I’ve started schooling Training Level Test 1.  It used to be that the stretch down trot did not appear until Test 3, now, you are hit with it in Test 1 AND it comes right after the left lead canter.  I can see some 4s and 5s in our future with comments like, “needs to reach more, ” and “curling.”  We have to start somewhere, right?