Emotional Availability

 So I've been getting to ride a Grand Prix stallion.  No big deal.

That's Muffin, Trainer Z's retired GP mount during his competition days.  Quite the stunner, right?  He's everything mere mortals wish they could ride with those gorgeous looks and huge gaits.  When Trainer Z suggested I ride him for a couple lessons, I jumped at the chance.  Who wouldn't want to do that?

Retired Muffin is now 23 years young and a school master for various lesson students.  Plenty of people want to take a lesson on a horse with every single button.  He does tempi changes for fun and loves to passage.  The magic of Muffin is that he also loves to be a school horse.  If the rider is uncertain or losing their balance, he just walks because clearly this is not going well.  If he suspects the rider is not ready for stuff, he will jog around like an ancient pony and refuse to canter because they are clearly not ready for it.  He is quite happy with that kind of lesson.

If the rider can hit the right buttons and convince him that they are a real rider?  Another horse shows up.  A 16.1h Grand Prix stallion that knows these moves like the back of his hoof.  He has a trot that feels like it travels up more than out and damn near bounces you out of the saddle as you try to post slowly enough to go with the loft.  Oh, you think you should sit?  By all means, you can try.  I managed to sit a whole long side and woke up the next morning thinking I'd been hit by a train.  Every part of my body hurt from riding his collected trot.  It was still so dang cool.  

So tired.  So sore.  So happy.

He's so much fun because he loves his job and because he doesn't get ruffled.  As Trainer Z described it, he's emotionally available.  He doesn't get upset over mistakes or miscommunications.  He either does what you said to do even though it's wrong or he walks because he thinks you're going to fall off.  If something is going on outside the ring, you can just ignore it and keep working.  He can't stare at the farrier and do laterals at the same time so he stays focused and doesn't fall on his face.

I'm learning that it's the mind that makes the GP horse, not the lofty gaits or being 'born on the bit'.  Muffin made it to GP as a sound, happy stallion that hated retirement and came back as a school horse so he could keep doing his job.  Per Trainer Z, a GP horse needs to have the mind to handle the sport.  They need to be smart, curious, and playful enough to think that they're playing a game.  They need to be able to handle pressure that's physical, mental, and emotional.  Plenty of stallions that are making people gasp as four year olds never make it to the FEI levels because they don't have the rest of the equation.  19 year old Schrodie is like Muffin, he comes out of his stall with his ears pricked, looking for the arena.  It's a game and they want to play.  Muffin swaggers when he knows he got something right.  I usually make it very clear with lots of mane scritches and verbal rewards, sometimes there's even cookies.  There's a reason he likes me.

Muffin made me aware of how emotionally sensitive Theo is.  Theo will get overwhelmed and either shut down or try to leave the situation.  It's not that he's being bad, he just can't deal and his fight/flight kicks in.  Theo is unusual for a gelding because he's totally down to fight if he feels trapped.  It's taken years to get him used to the idea that he can cope with some pressure and stay with me mentally.  He's certainly improved a lot, we were doing counter canter circles and he managed to stay with me even as he did something that really bothers him mentally.  Riding Muffin made me realize that's what will hold Theo back.  Not his gaits, conformation, even his age.  His challenge is that he isn't emotionally available.  It's difficult to keep him with me mentally when he gets emotional.  He boils over and strikes out.  It's not his fault, some idiot gelded him too late and never taught him how to cope, but it's there.  When Muffin has emotions, he stays with his rider.  Good, bad, or indifferent, he's going to stay with his rider and the task at hand.  It might be because he's half TB, he has that TB work ethic.

We have also had some truly glorious miscommunications. I damn near fell off when I leaned forward into a canter transition and Muffin politely stopped rather than canter with me in the wrong spot.  Same when I first started trotting with that big, lofty movement and could not stay in the center for love nor money.  And poor Muffin was trying to keep me on top by adjusting while I was trying to adjust to his gaits and, well, I think we entertained Trainer Z a bit.  And when I couldn't freaking canter because I've always asked wrong?  It was exactly why I was put on Muffin.  I got it right or I didn't get anything.  When I get it right?  Passage/piaffe/passage and nice, straight flying changes.

And then we go for a little trail ride because Muffin loves to walk in the woods.

And yes, he's available for breeding in case anyone loves the idea of a GP stallion that's trusted to carry fragile adult ammies with wonky discs while they learn how to ride collection and the canter correctly *cough donttipforward cough*.  Carried his owner at GP while she was four months pregnant.  His dam is a TB and his sire did some jumping and eventing as well as dressage, Muffin tested quite well for his jumping.  His kids do dressage, eventing, jumping, and hunters.  His five year old son is utterly charming and is Theo's neighbor, they like to play grab face.  You know, just in case that kind of referral is interesting to anyone.

Redeeming the ratbag

It's really unfortunate that such a cute pony got dubbed Ratbag, but it's been appropriate way too many times.  When his brain breaks and he suddenly gets stuck going backwards and crashes into a beginner lesson, he gets called Ratbag.  It's just the way that works.

Dolce, like most horses, thrives on routine.  Since I've taken him under my wing, he's been put on a schedule where the same thing happens over and over.  I get him out of his paddock, take him to the same cross ties, groom, tack, take him to the ring for work, then back to the cross ties, then back out to his paddock.  Nothing bad happens to him, he gets so many scratches and pets that it's actually kind of enjoyable.  He's starting to think this isn't such a bad deal.

He's still pretty damn sure the entire world is trying to kill him, but he's decided I'm probably the exception to that rule.  He used to shy away when I pet him with a loose rein in my hand because clearly, it was time to beat the pony with the reins.  So I spent quite a bit of time trotting around with loose reins and petting his entire neck.  It's fun to mess up his mane while trotting a figure eight.  He doesn't care anymore.  He also doesn't care about me mucking around with my stirrups, patting his butt, throwing my jacket on his head, etc.

I think he's actually starting to like me.

Took the green bean for a long walk down the road to start getting him road safe.  Cars are not demons from hell, pony.

I dumped his ugly bridle and put the High Jump on him.  Fits him perfectly and is quite flattering on his little face.  Noseband is loose because I'm me, but I did notice him being less evasive with his mouth.  So there's that.  I also swapped him to Theo's spare Verdinbend bit so he would quit laying through my hands.  Yeah, full cheeks are nice for teaching steering, but that fat, single joint bit was making it way too easy for him to get a hold and drag me wherever he wanted to go.  This bit is lovely and he likes to work it with his mouth.  So much drool.  So.  Much.  Drool.  And the more he's thinking, the more he chews and drools.  It's pretty ridiculous.

The tack change was well timed.  When Trainer A surprised me with a request to record my ride for a sales video, the Ratbag was looking very nice.  Trimmed mane and tail, all matching and well fitted tack, and my outfit matched his white saddle pad with blue trim.  There's a reason I go down to the ring like people are watching!  He's still ridiculously fluffy but it's winter in NH, people will hopefully understand.  I'm pretty proud of him in the video.  He looks green but pleasant.  The canter departs are awful but the actual canter looks like something someone could ride.  Walk, trot, canter, reinback, trot over a pole, dodge some beginners in a lesson, it's a pretty good display for the all around pony.  I think we should add video of him walking over the little bridge and being an absolute rock star on the cross ties.

I'm taking Denny Emerson's advice to heart and spending a lot of time walking under saddle while working on correct responses.  One leg, move over.  Two leg, go forward.  None of those cues is for scooting.  Repeat until he just does it without thinking about it.  As he gets comfortable with his routine, he's settling in.  He will now stretch for me in short bursts, can trot around without looking like a giraffe, and canters in something approaching a civilized manner.  It's going to take a bit more time to get that canter depart sorted, but at least it's a quick canter instead of a frantic bolt with his tail clamped down and eyes rolling in terror.  Progress!

Still not my personal cup of tea, but he's making me more confident of my first assessment.  There's a cute, fun all around type pony under the fuzz and ratbag routine.  Hopefully I can keep getting him out as the cold of winter closes in.  We're getting down to 5* for a couple days this week.  Ew.

Meet Dolce

I had my third ride on Dolce today and the good news is that he's showing some improvement.  My shoulder certainly doesn't hurt as badly today.  I was loving life with mi papi being so soft in the contact, but now I have a certain strawberry making sure that my left arm remains a problem.  Thanks, Dolce.

He's very good at the apprehensive look

So what's Dolce's deal?  I'm still figuring that out.  He seems to be very insecure combined with being overreactive when you push him.  I push with my leg to make him move back to the rail, he ignores because he would rather twist and look for the other horse in the ring.  I bump him with my leg to get him to listen and he loses his little pony mind because I beat him.  Beat.  Him.  He tucks his tail like a frightened dog and scoots out from underneath me.  I don't like the running away so I end up with him hard up on his single joint full cheek snaffle.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

After two rides of 'so help me, pony, I will bring hell down on you if you don't stop trying to scoot out from under me any time I ask for something', I had made the appropriate impression.  I am not to be ignored and rude behavior will not make me stop whatever I'm doing.  I'm not scared of you, pony.  It's the weird combination of genuine insecurity and learned behaviors to get me to take my leg off and leave him alone.

I discovered on that second ride that, under the twisting and evasion, the pony has buttons.  He has a frame button, a stretch button, and even a leg yield button.  I was so pissed.  Here I am riding him like a total green bean when he's got training under all that rust.  So I pushed a bit more and found some nice moments.  Between the spooks and rooting and turning into a pretzel.  His contact feels like it will be fine, but his response to the leg is all wrong.  Rebuilding that response will be my goal.

Today I went in with the mind set that now I need him to see me as a positive thing in his life.  Nice long grooming session with the curry comb and ridiculous amounts of praise during his walking warmup.  We did a lot of leg yield back and forth, working on him reacting appropriately to my leg.  Move when I push, do not flip out and overreact.  Every time he crossed his legs, I verbally rewarded him and scratched his crest.  Ten minutes of this and the light bulb started to turn on.  Step over promptly without slamming into the bridle like a loon and you get loved on!  Who knew?!

Yet another horse with a fantastic tail

It did transfer to the trot once he was settled.  I put on my inside leg and instead of him trying to bolt into the center of the ring, he would tip his nose in and step away from the pressure.  Oh hallelujah! We were able to trot around the ring with lots of turns and changes of direction without tearing up my shoulder too much.

The canter?  Oh, that thing is awful.  So awful.  The first time I tried to canter him, he ran off in the trot.  Fine, fine, reset.  Takes off in the trot.  Ugh, fine, now I absolutely have to get this done.  I gave him a bump with my heel and he freaking bolted with his tail clamped down.   She beats me!  She beats me!  The actual canter is a headlong bolt that is constantly trying to break down to a frantic trot.  He's not that weak, it seems to be lack of experience and training.  Right now I'm doing almost all of his work in walk and trot with a tiny bit of canter just to desensitize him to the idea.  One 20m circle in each direction, much loving on, call it done.  It's working, today had a few strides of actual canter in the midst of the bolting as he realized nothing terrible was happening to him.

He got a mini spa day because I could not cope with his overgrown mane and tail

I think there's a perfectly nice pony under the current ratbag routine.  His ground manners are very good, he'll stand on the cross ties all day while I groom and fuss.  He likes the attention and comes up to the gate to see me.  I think with some routine and miles, he'll be happy to have a job.  I'm hoping that if I spend a couple weeks getting him to the point of w/t/c like a gentleman, I can hand him off to the teens and they can finish the work.  His conformation is kind of wonky but he fits Theo's jumping saddle.  It's nice to be able to ride in my own saddle.  I've got to do something about that bridle of his, it's so ugly and several keepers are broken. 

I do have that size 3 High Jump bridle hanging around . . .

Project pony

I think this is the third Christmas where Theo greeted me with a missing shoe. 

if you don't want to be in prison, QUIT THROWING YOUR SHOES

Fine, fine, take a holiday.  See if I care.  And to make matters worse, we were supposed to have a jumping lesson.  I got carried away building jumps on Sunday and left the course up so we could have a nice break from being serious business dressage types.  Theo decided one day of course work was enough and there we were.

At least we got to jump them one time before I had to take them down

And we had such a nice jump ride on Sunday.  Dang it.  I chucked him in a stall and Trainer A gave me some options if I still wanted to ride.  I picked the new resident green bean, a red roan named Dolce.

Hello, apprehensive pony

Dolce is ten and has very little in the way of career skills or experience.  He walks, trots, kinda canters.  He was originally marketed as a trail horse.  He had some jumping training at some point, or so the story goes, but it's clearly long gone.  Mostly he's cute and has been trading on his potential for a long time.  He's on a free lease while his mom welcomes a new baby and changes jobs.  He's also on the market, but it's harder to sell cute with no career skills, especially when they're ten years old.  This is how he ended up at the barn as a free lease.  He is used in some lessons but he's mostly there to get some miles and learn a job.

He has a very delicate little mind.  Everything new is just not okay.  His world is rocked very easily.  He's mostly hung out at a private barn with no activity.  I brought him into the upper barn and that was enough to get him snorting.  He's used to the lower barn!  His ground manners are fine, but he's convinced he's going to die all the time.  Quite herd bound.  A motorcycle came by as we were heading to the ring and he completely lost his mind.  Like trying to bolt down the road and drag me with him lost his mind.  Ugh.

The crazy part is that he's being priced by his owner at upper 4 figures.  He's cute but come on, he can't do much more than trot around looking cute.  Today we worked on trotting on the rail like a gentleman and not diving toward the center at any opportunity.  Or dragging me toward any other horse in the ring.  At 10 he's starting to age out of the 'prospect' category.

While discussing Dolce's price, one of the teens who rides Baby Pony asked what that pony would be valued at.  I shrugged and said I'd price him at $15,000 and take the best offer over $10,000.  He's a solid Beginner Novice pony that will jump anything, pops over 3' fences without batting an eyelash, goes for gallops on the beach, hunter paces, jumps in the ring all day, takes a joke, works great for a kid, is a total cuddle bug with lots of cute points, and has uncommonly nice movement.  If he wasn't an appy and 15h he'd be worth more.  He's also only seven so he's in the prime age.

 Can you believe the Baby Pony is all grown up and taking beginners out to jump cross country?

I saw her face fall and I felt terrible.  The teen is in love with him, has been leasing him for over a year and taking him to three phase shows.  Afterward I heard her bitterly saying to a friend that she'd never be able to own him.  It's rough, but the fact is that he's more valuable than my fancy dancy dressage pony.  He's versatile, could excel in several disciplines, and is half Theo's age.  He would easily sell as a BN packer with room to move up.

Baby Pony is not on the market, he's too hard to replace, but I understand the teen's feelings.  Of course she wants a horse of her own and she wants it to be the fun, sweet pony where she's built such a great relationship.  But that's what he's valued at in this area.

This whole price discussion and the green bean ride resonated with me because lately I've had the urge to take on a project.  Not as a Theo replacement, absolutely not.  We have things to do and he is my love.  I enjoy just hanging with him, giving him attention and letting him play with my hair and huff in my ear.  He's so much fun to ride now since he has a very complete set of buttons.  The urge to play with a project stems more from not wanting to forget how.  Some day, hopefully far in the future, I'll need my next horse.  It'll be a prospect.  I, like my teen friend, can't afford the finished product.  It would be terrible if I forgot how to take a prospect to a finished product.

Still a work in progress

Dolce may be a practice project for me.  I'm still discussing it with Trainer A to see if it makes sense.  There's also a school pony in the wings that needs to find his own child.  He's not happy as a school pony anymore.  He'll need some polish so he can land a good home, some show outings, etc.  He's a cutie, it could be fun.  I haven't prepped a pony for sale in a long time.  I'll have to get on top of my diet again, he's not a big pony.  I look fine on him, but I sure won't want to put any extra weight on him.

 It'll be good to ride something green and totally different.  I'll certainly appreciate Theo more after riding a horse so damn clueless.  Seriously, pony, it's called steering!  Don't run into things!

Buddy

I might be expanding Theo's circle of friends a bit.  My friend that's been sharing Theo with me in her lessons is interested in a quarter lease on him.  She'd ride him in one lesson and one free ride a week.  She'd also have the option to do some shows.  She wants to do 18" hunters and Intro/Training level dressage.  This came up after Trainer A watched her canter all the way around the ring, completely focusing on herself, and Theo marching along like a trooper.  They were both content, relaxed, and having a good time. 

My friend did get a bit of a caution since she found Theo's second gear today.  She usually keeps Theo in first gear (plopping pony) since she rides with no spurs, no whip, and no real desire to get after him.  In her canter work, she was working on pushing more with her seat and less with her legs.  That's how I ride my canter so when she got it, he shifted gears.  Nothing dirty, just lifted his shoulders up and stretched out.  She enjoyed it, but Trainer A suggested she stay in second and not try for third just yet.  Third is a lot of pony.  I love third gear, but I'm weird.

So what was I doing while she was cantering around my saint of a horse?  I was riding my new paint friend, Buddy.

It's a rare horse that I actually call by name, but with a name like Buddy, what else do you need?  Buddy is very handsome, super smart, and can be a bit of trouble.  He's a former western pleasure horse that joined the lesson program when I bought Theo.  He was actually purchased using the funds from Theo and he took on the students that needed a w/t/c horse.  He's got super smooth gaits, is solid on the trails, and though he's just started jumping with me, he's figuring it out fast and is good with his shoulders.

The problem with being a smart horse is that they learn bad things as quickly as they learn good things.  His canter was never very strong and he had some bad rides that left him with a bucking canter depart.  It's kind of alarming watching him fling himself into a racing, downhill canter with some bucks thrown in.  And then he starts racing around at the trot, trying to canter in every corner.  Ugh.  Beginners freak and stop asking, so he wins.  He doesn't have to canter if he acts up like that.  I think he was feeling fresh one cold day and figured out that he could be scary.  So Trainer A has been throwing some advanced riders on him, including me, to straighten that out.

The bucking to start has been easy enough.  I lift my hands up high enough to almost shove the reins up my nose during the transition.  He's not agile enough to bronc with his head up.  After a couple of transitions where he had no choice but to be a gentleman, he got the idea and I could start bringing my hands back down.  The other trick was to show him that he can in fact go around a corner without falling on his face, panicking, and racing.  The first couple of half halts weren't pretty, but he's so darn smart.  He figured it out on our second pass and settled in to a quiet rhythm.  We ended with him calmly stepping into his canter, going around the ring twice with a quiet, steady rhythm, and then trotting when told.  I jumped off of him, shoved a cookie in his mouth, and called it a day.

He's a smart boy, he'll remember that.  I never give Buddy treats because his leaser spoils him rotten and his ground manners can be terrible.  It's a good thing he's so handsome and really quite sweet because man oh man, the smart ones are such pains in the butt!

And I found out Baby Pony is being leased by my copilot starting next month!  He hit the jackpot!  They'll be flying around at three phases this summer, I'm certain.  She really wants to be an eventer and Baby Pony is everything sensible and steady.  After jumping him through some grids and feeling for myself how clever he is with his feet, I think they'll be a match made in heaven.  I'm so happy for the both of them.

All of this reminds me that show season is just around the corner.  Everyone is picking out their dance partners for the summer.  I went shopping at the tack shop and the show stuff is out while the winter stuff is on clearance.  YES!

We're getting more snow tonight.  NOOOOOOOOOO!

Seeing spots

A school horse with a twisted shoe led to me having a happy reunion tonight.  Baby pony!

My friend's chosen mount was out due to his footwear problem, so I gave her Theo and I stole the baby pony from one of the teens.  He's gotten so big, all the way up to five years old now.  He's filled out a lot and I no longer feel like I might capsize him.  His head tossing temper tantrums from the summer have also abated, at least for riders that know what to do with their hands.  His questionable brakes have him in a slow twist, but I somehow doubt he'll need that once he's done being a teenager.

We spent a good ten minutes discussing the fact he should stop and stand with a minimal request from me.  Once we had that, we started trotting.  I had to keep my inside leg on until he quit flailing at it and collapsing in on the circle.  Once that happened, he magically dropped down and stretched out his neck instead of bracing and holding his head up like a giraffe.  These poor ponies, all so shocked to discover I'm not easily intimidated.  Flail all you want, once you're tired, we'll do it the right way.

We did figure eights with him stretched out, transitioning between walk and trot like a gentlemen.  He's a horse that takes very well to positive chatter.  When I made a big fuss over him, patting him with both hands and loving on him, it really locked a behavior in.  There was licking and chewing once he figured out he could chew the reins out of my hands.

He's finally cantering in lessons, though it's still a bit wild.  His barrel racer roots like to come up when the speed turns on.  He tends to anticipate, rush, and generally flail about at the canter.  We got good work in both directions.  I've been doing this long enough that I could get the leads on the first try, control his shoulders enough to keep him from diving around, and control the tempo while letting him have his neck.  It wasn't easy, far from it, but Trainer A was very happy to see him cantering around in a calm way.  He doesn't get a lot of practice cantering with experienced hands.

She also said she was happy to see me on another horse again.  I suspect Wednesdays are going to become the night where I play the pony parade game.  It's good for me, but ugh, I hate using school tack.  That saddle was horrible!  And those web reins, how does anyone work with those?  I wonder if my saddle would fit on the baby pony . . .

Dorkzilla

Dorkzilla might as well be a costar on this blog.  He's been in cartoons, he's been in lessons, he's been at shows and clinics, he's been everywhere.  He's shown up almost as much as Fi, Theo, and Ben.   He was there at Fi's first horse trial and he was there at our sanctioned dressage show in June.  I feel like anyone that's been reading this blog knows and loves Dorkzilla, the 17h German import Hanoverian with unorthodox jumping that loves everyone on sight and has a talent for being a lazy ass and charming temperamental chestnut TB mares.

I got some bad news today.  Dorkzilla had an accident and had to be put down. 

 Mary Wanless clinic, November 2016

 UNH at the show where we both debuted at Novice, 2011

He wasn't my horse, but I adored him.  His big, goofy nose and very kind heart.  Both the Princess and mi papi had adventures with him and saw him at dressage shows.  Dorkzilla was there at almost all of Fi's eventing outings and every single one of her dressage shows.  I saw him at the UNH show just a couple weeks ago and the Walnut Hollow kids couldn't believe I knew that gorgeous, fancy horse.  He was practicing his changes before going in and winning Third 1.

BFFs (sorta), November 2016

Seriously BFFs, July 2013

Six years I've been watching his career as an eventer, a dressage horse, and a foxhunter.  I watched him go from a sour dressage horse with a dangerous buck to a loving life jack of all trades that would jump anything, dressage with the best of them, and roam anywhere.  I don't know of another horse with a career like his.  He won ribbons at Third Level dressage, Training level horse trials, and Hunt Trials all in the same summer.  He could out gallop most of the field and steal a mouthful of grass during his extended walk in a dressage test.  He's the kind of horse most of us lay awake at night and dream of.  Oh, and he was a cuddler that wanted attention and affection at all times.

UNH dressage show, pulling every bit of hay out of the trailer and looking very proud of himself, July, 2013

 

 Super fancy show horse, Winter 2011

I got to ride him several times.  He was huge, heavy, powerful, and endlessly kind.  He never gave me a problem, but made my abs ache.  He gave me a taste of what a real dressage horse felt like.  I loved jumping him, I loved flatting him, I loved everything except the way my arms would quit working and I couldn't really sit up afterward.  His owner is a strong lady.

Dorkzilla and the Princess on a trail ride, September 2012

 

Trail ride, 2011

I can't imagine going to UNH and not seeing his ridiculous white nose in the warm up ring.  I don't know how I'll deal with going to the Wanless clinic and not having him there.  I don't understand that he won't be there when we go to the town forest to trail ride.  I'm bawling my eyes out. 

Filthy, filthy fancy pony, September 2013

Good night, Champers.

Mr. Cadillac

As part of our month of slacking, I've been riding with the adult ladies on Wednesday nights as one of my two lessons.  Rather than having a private, dressage focused lesson on Fridays, I hang out with a group of ladies that are practicing correctly getting into the canter and learning what a half halt is.  It's very low pressure and we're known to escape for trail rides with no warning.  Or heckle people on their dating life.  Or have poor Trainer A throwing her hands in the air because she's completely lost control of the group.

Come August I'll go back to my high intensity private lesson, but for now, we slack.

Last week was hot as hell so Trainer A set up a lesson on leg yield at the walk using poles to give us markers.  Theo can leg yield at walk, trot, and canter.  He leg yields well enough to do it in shows.  This was not exactly a challenge for us, so Trainer A decided we should play musical ponies.  The three of us traded ponies every twenty minutes.  I started on mi papi, then moved to Baby Pony who I haven't ridden in months, then finished up with an 18 year old TB mare that used to be a hunter.  This also gave the other two riders a chance to try it on a horse that knows it and will do it for them easily enough, so long as they ask correctly.

Theo was a complete non-issue.  I messed with him and did stuff like run the exercise backwards or side pass over the poles.  I also took off to shoulder in at the trot between runs through the poles because I wanted to break up some of that stiffness. 

Baby Pony is now all of five years old and having his first summer as a camp pony.  He's not a fan.  He was definitely giving me a round of teenage angst as only an appy pony can do it.  I basically had to set my hands and ignore him while he had his baby temper tantrum about not being able to trot around with his head next to mine.  By the end of our turn, he was leg yielding over politely enough and keeping his head down where it belonged, which was all I could hope for.  He's such a good baby, just having some teenage angst.

The older mare, now that was interesting.  It took me a bit to get settled, Trainer A has beaten a lot of my old hunter habits out of me, but once we were both settled in, she was a blast.  I cantered a bit in my half seat and she set her head like an old pro.  It was like putting on a comfortable old glove.  We both knew the same language and she seemed happy to have a rider that understood her.  Trainer A wanted me to sit down, but her saddle was super uncomfortable and I kept my keister out of it.  Thanks, but no thanks.  We only cantered for a minute due to the heat, just enough for me to play around.  And when I got off?  All of the pony cuddles.  She's such an affectionate mare.  It really is a pity that most of the kids don't appreciate what a good girl she is.  If I wasn't already in a very committed relationship, that mare would have my interest.

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As for Theo?  He was dubbed the Cadillac by the other two riders.  While Baby Pony had no clue what a leg yield was and Hunter Mare had no idea what bending was, Theo can leg yield as easily as breathing.  He can also trot around with no fuss and sitting his trot is a breeze compared to most school horses.  It helps that I have a fantastic saddle.  And calfskin covered reins.  I had him dolled up in white polos and blingy browband.  They really enjoyed a chance to get on him after I'd warmed him up so he was in working mode.  Little squeeze and you were off.  With a light contact, he now stretches forward into it, nose poking out a bit, and trots about as steady as a drum.  Nothing fancy, nothing powerful, just steady, comfy, and pretty. 

Cantering was another matter entirely.  Seems you still have to be willing to work to get that.  First he offered a haunches in since she didn't know to keep the inside leg.  That was confusing for both Theo and his rider.  Then he did the transition, cantered two strides, and trotted again because she wasn't riding the canter.  Whoops.  Not that I'm going to do a damn thing to fix either of those.  I want him cantering off my seat and not my legs.  Even with that little mix up, both of the ladies agreed that he was fantastic and they both wanted to ride him again.

And he's aaaaaall mine.

Baby brain

This is Tuck.

He is adorable.

Tuck, (or Tuckaronni, I take the blame for that one) is the four year old appy that I mentioned that managed to bite someone's finger recently.  He's been my partner for a couple lessons while I got Theo's feet sorted out (which happened today! but that's for another post).  Trainer A and Trainer R evidently had a talk and decided that he was the one that would teach me the best habits.

I usually call him baby pony as a reminder to myself that he is, in the end, just a baby.  He doesn't currently canter under saddle, he's that green.  I haven't ridden a baby in a long while, so it's good for me.  There are some basic differences when working with a horse that's both green and young.  You expect a short attention span, very distractable, and a lot of question marks.  You also have a very soft touch with corrections, since you're usually working with confusion as opposed to learned defiance.  When he decided to baulk and not walk down to the ring politely, my correction was "Don't be so four!"  What else can you say to a baulky baby?

Baby pony knew just about zero when he showed up.  He was supposed to be a barrel pony, so that's all he knew.  Gallop and turn.  Trainer A got him going at a trot and it turns out he has a fantastic brain.  Many of the teens are now cleared to ride him at the walk and trot.  He's solid on the trails and was a saint on his first trip to the beach, even when galloping with a group.

He also has a freakin' ridiculous trot.  He's a stereotypical down hill appy that stands about 14.3, but his trot stride is as long as Theo's.  He shares trot pole sets with mi papi and Miss Thang.  They're the only three in the barn that can handle trot poles set long.  Miss Thang is about 16.2 and Papi is about 16.1, for the record.   He's so loose through the shoulder and back that it's ridiculous.  It's no effort for him to stretch out another 6" through the shoulder and make a distance work.  He wears bell boots due to his combination of downhill build and big overstep.  The first time I got on I felt completely lost.  What the hell was going on with this pony and all of this movement?  Just walking around as a green bean, he had so much movement through his back, hip, and shoulder.  He's going to be a hard core toe flicking monster when he's strong enough to fight against his conformation and sit on that beast of an engine behind the saddle.

If his conformation was anything near a horse that could do collection, I'd be tempted.  Very tempted.

The first time I rode him, I was pretty unnerved.  His body wiggles and wobbles all over the place.  Three horses had taken off with riders already (cold snap after the heat of Christmas) and two riders had fallen.  Not my favorite day for meeting a new four year old.  Trainer A was trying to manage Juice Box who was on his third hour of riding after dumping a little girl and was still jigging.  After letting us get to know each other, we went out for a trail ride/trot set.  He was lovely, aside from trying to chew on Juice Box's tail.  It made me much more confident in him.

Today we had lesson #2.  With the recent snow and ice, everyone had to stay indoors.  I tossed the baby on the lunge to start with due to him being very busy on the cross ties.  Turned out to be a good call, he ripped a couple of big bucks.  I did notice that the athleticism does translate to bucking potential.  Hurk.  But with a couple out of his system, he went to trotting with his nose in the dirt.  I hopped on and we had a very productive ride.  He's still learning to step off of the leg and he gave me some of his first steps of leg yield at the walk.

The reason Trainer A and Trainer R put me on him was because he gets offended by busy hands and likes a rider that really sits on him (hello, former barrel racer).  For a rider that tends to perch and play with the reins, it's a good lesson.  I had to ask for those downward transitions from my seat or get a four year old reaction with bracing and neck twisting.  Since he's also naturally forward, I didn't need to worry about pushing him along, I could really focus on preparing for and riding the downward transition.  It worked, since I was able to isolate the parts of my body I use for sitting trot, sitting heavy, and transition down.  It was a very interesting revelation for me.  The sitting trot requires most of my core, giving me stability (the bear down from the Mary Wanless clinic).  The heavy sitting feels like I'm pushing my center of gravity down around my hips.  While sitting heavy, I resist right around my diaphragm, front and back.  Boom, walking.  A big exhale helps.

It wasn't the muscles I thought I was supposed to use, so that was a breakthrough for me.  I think it's going to help me with Theo.  Not that he struggles with downward transitions.  He quite loves them.

Trainer A suggested that I sprinkle in some lessons with baby pony to keep pushing forward with my progress over the last two lessons.  I think I'm on board.  He's fun to ride and is a completely different beast.  After I put him away, I had mi papi on the lunge.  Theo is a completely and utterly different animal.  He's built to take weight back and push.  Baby pony is going to be someone's bff and win everything in low level eventing while Theo and I chase that Bronze. 

Some little girl is going to be very, very lucky.

Shoes, glorious shoes!

After spending nine hours at the barn, I'm exhausted.  How did I even spend that much time at a barn when I don't own a horse and I don't work there?

First I gave Theo a groom, then I grabbed the bambino for a jumping lesson.  He was wonderful, as usual, and the two of us are starting to really figure each other out.  Trainer A hammered me on my position some more.  We're now working on getting my toes pointed forward in order to let my legs wrap around the horse more effectively.  Ow.  Bob gave me some nice stretches over his back and did a good job jumping through the grid over something a bit bigger than he's used to.  It was a 2'3" oxer by the end and he had to actually jump.  I gave Bob a good groom, turned him out, then started helping the girls around the barn prep for a show tomorrow.

I helped braid Miss Thang and then helped shorten another mare's mane.  I noticed Miss Thang had loose nails in her shoes and, with closer inspection, found they were half off.  Emergency call to the farrier time!  After helping the mares primp and duct taping Miss Thang's shoes for safety, I got mi papi out for some exercise.  Today I put him on a lunge line so he could start feeling like he had a job again.  We worked for about 20 minutes, mostly at a nice swinging walk with a short trot in each direction to check for soundness.  He looked good!  On the way back up I let him graze while I enjoyed the amazing weather.

Word got back to me that the farrier would be out at 4:30.  No way I was leaving before that, so Theo grazed, got soaked, and got wrapped.  Now that it's just protecting the spot on his heel, it's not his whole foot being wrapped anymore.  More vet wrap, less diapers.

At 4:30, the farrier came out.  The masseuse was there at the same time, and the trailer was up next to the barn to load for the show, so there was nowhere for the farrier to set up shop.  That's how I ended up spending the better part of two hours holding horses.  All four of the horses going to the show had to be checked and two of them got their shoes done.  Theo also got his feet done, including his front shoes going back on.

I almost danced a jig.  His shoes are on!  No more cracking and shredding!  I can start trotting him again and maybe, just maybe, ride!

By the time I had Abby the abscess covered and Theo tucked in bed, it was almost 7pm.  Damn, that was a long day.  My Fitbit step count came in at over 20k steps for the day.  My feet are killing me.  But that's all secondary to the fact that Theo has shoes and is looking very sound!  Tomorrow, lunging!

Pic spam

And just when I thought I was all caught up from my week off, I got a swarm of pictures!

Me and Theo at the little schooling show where he was a complete dork in the flat but very nice over fences.  Once he was done bucking and spinning through the warm up.

And here are the ones from last weekend with me and Bob doing the cross rails.  The best part about having both sets of pictures side by side?  I can see how much weight I've lost since I got back into riding seriously.  Go me!

I reemerge

Work travel sucks.  Flying sucks.  All day meetings suck.  There's a reason I've been so quiet.

Way back on Sunday, I took Bob the QH school horse to a schooling two phase.  It was supposed to be an outing with Theo, but someone has decided they like being shoeless and out of work.  More on that later.  In the interest of not throwing my entry fee out, I took the bambino and we did the pre-elementary level.

Side note, I haven't done cross rails in competition since I was about 8 years old.  It felt very, very odd.  A walk trot dressage test and 18" fences. 

It was a blazing hot day with a high of 95 degrees.  Thanks, Mother Nature.  With minimal requirements and a well schooled horse, our warm up for dressage was about 15 minutes long.  I wanted to make sure we could stop without him throwing his head in the air and that I could, you know, turn.  He's got some odd buttons due to being a former western pleasure pony and sometimes we get our wires crossed and the steering fails.  To be fair, we'd only worked together for one lesson before the show.  That's not a lot of time to figure someone out.

I took Bob into the ring with a complete lack of nerves.  I didn't really care about the score, I was just there to knock off some rust and give the school pony a good trip with an experienced rider.  He was nervous in the indoor that he'd never seen before, but settled in to give me a nice ride.  We got a 35, not bad!

I spent most of the day playing support crew.  Trainer A was there with another school pony (Juice Box), putting miles on him.  He completed his first ever cross country test and we were all very proud of his achievement.  He definitely had the swagger coming back from the finish.  I also met a lady doing her first cross country with her OTTB.  She had the most amazing spurs I'd ever seen, custom blinged out and matched her saddle pad.  I need them.  NEED them.

At the hottest part of the day, I tossed my saddle on Bob and went to the ring to jump.  They were pinning classes in the ring, so I let my pony doze while waiting for our turn.  I didn't want to do much of a warm up in the heat.  Evidently other people wanted out of the heat and they decided to skip the last two pinnings and just run straight through.  All of a sudden I was next in the ring!  I trotted off on Bob and did a one minute warm up with two cross rails, then went right in the ring to jump around.  Bob was, of course, a saint and we had a nice trip around the ring.  He seemed very happy to go out and do things with a confident ride and he certainly put in quite a strut with his second place ribbon in the victory trot.  Pre-elementary riders don't get to do a victory gallop.

There were a lot of pictures taken and they should be available soon.  My white horse was so white he looked pearlescent, I was very proud.  His braids also came out nice.  He tends to dive down in the front which lures me into leaning forward.  The consensus was that I'm very good for Bob, but he's terrible for me.  I was very tippy.  Overall, it was a good day and I enjoyed it.  Low stress, no nerves, mostly an occasion for me to find all of my showing stuff and get back into the groove.  The ladies from the barn were pretty new to showing and appreciated having some experienced advice on things like putting numbers on bridles and using hairnets.

 L to R:  Me and bambino, Trainer R, a young lady at her first show, and Juice Box with Trainer A

As for mi papi, he is still the king of the foot soaking.  While I was gone, the farrier looked at him again.  He stands by the 'knocked himself in the field' story.  Whatever.  The important part is that Theo is coming sound.  The pocket of pus that showed up  at the heel bulb has not erupted, but has also gotten softer and appears to no longer be putting the same type of pressure on Theo's heel.  My horse Allen had a neck abscess that dissipated rather than erupting and draining, so I know that's a possible outcome.  There was enough trauma to the hooves that finding a starting point to see if it drained out the other way is pretty much impossible.  It's nothing but holes and mess at this point.  I'm heading out this afternoon to see the state of things for myself.  I'm not sure if Theo has shoes on or not.  So long as it's not a pocket of pus trapped in his foot and it's found a way out, we should be good.

 Taken just before I left on my trip, showing the swollen spot and discoloration at the heel bulb.  Don't mind the poultice stuff all over the place, this was from rewrapping his foot.

I got a text yesterday that Theo managed to bust out of his stall and take six working students on a merry chase through the fields, bucking and snorting the whole way.  I think he's just about had it with stall rest.  I know I'm ready to be done with it.

Temper tantrum

Now that my little temper tantrum is over, life continues to chug along.  The vet's been called to check out Theo, since this is looking like more than a passing bruise.  I'm still thinking abscess and it would be great if the vet could open it up and relieve that pressure.  My horse Allen once blew out an abscess at the coronet band and it was a mess, so I'd rather not have it go that way.  But no matter what the mystery issue is, professional help is on the way.  I'm optimistic that it's just something that needs some TLC and we'll be back in action soon.

In the meantime, I have an entry fee and such for this weekend with no pony.  Rather than just write it off as a sunk cost, I'm taking a school pony to go flop around and have a good time.  His name is Bob.  He's a very light gray nearly white quarter horse that I usually call Bambino (Italian for baby).  We've gotten to know each other over the months because he's a bit of a squirrel on the ground.  He's head shy and I've helped a lot of beginners get his ear net on.  He will also be a jerk at hoof picking when the kids are timid.  In the saddle, though, he's a super star.  He's a younger horse, probably 10 years old or younger, with a solid work ethic.  I think we'll have fun.

Bambino with one of the beginners he lovingly carts around

Small problem:  WHITE.  I am going to have my hands full getting this school pony back to some color that I'll feel comfortable taking out in public.  I'm going to zip out today and pick up some Quick Silver to help me in my fight.  I'll also pick up some black yarn.  I said I was going to braid for this show and by golly I'm going to braid!  Bob's got a cute neck, I think some braids would really set it off.  One of the other adults is bringing Miss Thang and we are both going to braid on Saturday afternoon/evening.  I wonder if my neck cover will fit the bambino . . .

I've got a lesson with him tomorrow so we can get to know each other before I do a dressage test and jumping round with him in public.  He and Theo trade saddles, so I bet my jumping saddle will fit him.  Since the dressage saddle in the picture is the one that's still out for repairs, it would be nice to have my own saddle fit him.  Just one less thing to worry about having ready.

It's a good thing my base personality is very laid back, occasional temper tantrums aside.  Nothing is a certainty with horses.  I'll have my fingers, toes, and occasionally my eyes crossed while I wait to hear what the vet thinks is going on with Theo.

Psychic

Today's riding lesson had all of the markers of being a fun and important one.  First up, the demo saddle going out for round two and seeing if it was a winner.  Today was also forecast to be a lovely day with some clouds and a high of 73.  Trainer A texted me this morning to see if I could ride at noon so we could go out in the field and jump mi papi over some of the natural obstacles.  Of course I said yes and pulled my jumping vest out of storage.

It's funny, but it felt weird to get my vest out and dust it off.  The last time I wore it was when I did the Training level cross country with the Meathead.  It was a tough period for me and I had to take some anti-anxiety herbs to help me get around that course.  Ben was a saint for a lot of things, but cross country was not one of them.  I still get a little muscle weakness thinking about galloping down to that corner and feeling him drop off my aids and dive onto his forehand.  When I went back to riding, I didn't intend to go back to jumping and I certainly never wanted to go back to cross country.  Theo was supposed to be my dressage partner.

But adrenaline addiction is a hard thing to break and I have been happily jumping in the ring.  It doesn't bother me at all.  With Theo's little spooky issue and lack of confidence when facing something new, of course we need to get him out and challenge him.  It was my idea to have our lesson out in the jumping field.  The reality didn't hit me till I got my vest out.  I'm back to cross country.  I can only hope that it's a smoother trip than what I had with the Meathead.

Armed with the demo saddle, the jump vest, and my resolve to get back out in the open,  I retrieved my mighty steed.  Lo and behold, it started raining and I noticed something was a bit off when Theo stepped on the asphalt . . .

No front shoes.  He managed to pull them both this morning in turn out.  He must have heard us planning his jumping and galloping lesson and decided 'well, I'll just take care of that!'.  He is out of work until the farrier can come out, hopefully tomorrow.  Today was the Fourth of July, so no farrier available.

Papi went back into his field and I grabbed the one and only Miss Thang for my jumping lesson.  She recently had a career change from dressage to hunters and it made perfect sense for us to have some quality time together.  We did grid work and practiced her stretching out and doing a nice, smooth jump instead of collecting up and launching over things.  While Theo is unbalanced from back to front, Miss Thang is unbalanced from side to side.  It takes a lot of muscle to keep her steady between the aids unlike Theo, who takes a lot of muscle to keep his shoulders up.  My stabilizing muscles are killing me now, but we had a good ride. 

I do think Miss Thang and I would have eventually learned to work together well, but even Trainer A seems to prefer the way Theo and I work together.  We just jive well and that's not true for everyone that rides him.  He has a long list of riders that have fought him and either lost or ended up hating him.  He's an opinionated pony.  I recently discovered that there are specific people he can't stand and will try to bite if he thinks they're not looking.  I'm taking it as a compliment that when he sees me, I get cuddles instead of being nipped.  I don't think he's in any danger of losing me to the beautiful warmblood mare, even if he does completely disrupt our plans by losing his shoes.  We'll just try again in our Tuesday lesson.

Crush

You know when you get a crush and it finally dawns on you, but you're not sure what your friends will think because he's really not your type?  But you keep thinking about him and can't seem to logic your way out of it?  So you wait, and you debate, and finally you confess to everyone because it might get serious?

I think I have a crush on a draft.  I'm scandalized.

I had my first jumping lesson with Big Papa today and was pleasantly surprised when he took me to the jumps.  It was a substitute teacher since I had to reschedule my lesson and I don't think she expected me to find it hilarious when he left a stride out.  I asked him to move up and he said 'yes ma'am, that stride's gone, ma'am'.  Nice!  Of course he also trotted pretty sedately when I asked him to wait for the short one but we both liked the longer ones.  The teacher was a bit confused, but I didn't give her the run down on my background.  Cross rails and two foot verticals?  Pfft, I was just goofing around and so was Papa.  He's one game pony.

We did have some time on the flat to work on his self carriage.  I was trying to explain to someone why I kept giving him breaks despite the fact he's ridden almost daily and is considered fit.  The average lesson is a lot of walking, a lot of trotting, and some bursts of canter.  Almost none of it requires self carriage and quite frankly, a horse really carrying himself would scare the pants off of a kid learning how to trot and steer at the same time.  When I got Theo to lift his back and carry his own weight, he was out of breath after one time around the ring.  Canter?  We can manage about three quarters of a twenty meter circle before he starts to fall on his face.  It's like the difference between someone that jogs every day and someone that cross trains at the gym.  He can jog forever, but he can't lift.

Seriously, do you even lift?

The bro joke wrote itself, I'm not ashamed.  The tablet is too old to work with Windows 8, though, so I'm back on the market for a new one.

So Big Papa and I rocked around the lesson, dodging ponies and doing his weight lifting sets.  I think there's a serious First Level horse hiding in there.  His canter needs a ton of work, but he's pretty decent over fences, too.  I asked the trainer what the odds were that he'd be available for a half lease and she said 'pretty damn good'.  That's a direct quote.

I might be going steady with a draft.  I'm still in shock.  I see that big ol' booty and wavy tail and every instinct tells me to run the other way!  I haven't been lucky enough to have a lot of drafts in my life with a work ethic.  Most of them tell me I can do it myself, and it would be easier to get off and just shove them along.  I was told he's a Percheron Chevelle or some such nonsense.  It's French, so I immediately think Canada, which makes me think PMU foal.  We're swimming in them here in New England.  His confirmation isn't bad. 

I swear his head isn't that massive, I just couldn't get a decent angle and he was taking such a nice nap after our lesson.

So yeah, it's getting pretty serious.  I even caught myself looking at ear nets for him, since he's sensitive to black flies and that season is starting.  Is that like asking him to wear my ring?

Odd tastes

After Miss Thang, you'd think I'd be eager to hop back on the big fancy girl.  Today, I was back on Big Papa.  I was going to be spending a lot of time on the lunge line while learning how to actually sit down, so he was a better choice.  He'll trot around in a circle and basically ignore me while I execute odd gyrations in my attempts to actually put my butt in the saddle.

The nice part about lunge lessons is that I can be up there fiddling around and paying no attention to things like steering.  I'm grabbing onto the cantle, lifting my legs off the saddle, and overall looking like a total doofus and he just keeps trotting around.  I can appreciate that while I'm feeling like a bowl of jello with my legs flopping around.  We made some progress with getting my butt under me and my shoulders back behind said butt.  My legs are also getting longer which is a weird sensation.  I start out feeling my stirrups are a little long, then they start to feel short.  Maybe, finally, I can learn to sit a trot.  I've only been riding 30 years, it's about time I learn how to actually sit in a saddle!

While I was going around and around, we got some time to gossip about horse shopping.  I'm glad I'm not the only person in the world that thinks horse shopping is horrible.  The trainer has been out looking at horses for her program and man oh man, do I feel her pain.  Half broke horses with blown out tendons being sold as w/t/c mounts for kids?  Ugh.  I think I'll stick to lesson horses for right now, thanks.

Though I did see a listing for a really pretty gray TB gelding that was being sold as a dressage prospect, already restarted, already going to shows, must be awfully sweet with a name like Buddha . . .

Right, back on topic.

I like Big Papa.  Our personalities suit.  He doesn't mind when I try to micro manage him and I don't really care when he starts to get looky with random things.  I'm a bit of an electric seat so we don't have a lot of issues with him going forward now that we're getting to know each other.  There's a visiting dressage trainer coming to the barn soon and I think I'll do the clinic with Big Papa.   The pony has potential, he just needs to learn to carry his own big ol' butt around the ring.

I've also started riding Rhodie, the 17 year old coming back into work.  He's a smaller guy, can't be much over 15 hands, and has a very sweet eye.  He's not too happy to be giving up his life of leisure and is probably feeling achy.  He likes to show his displeasure with a buck, so that's a bit of a problem right now.  Not very beginner friendly like that.  He'll be getting some supplements to help ease him back into work and see if he'll be good as a walk/trot pony for camp life.  He seems agreeable enough, he has a very soft eye, just not sure he wants to give up the retired life.  We're mostly doing walking right now and it's good for him to get out and move whether or not he has the makings of a lesson pony.  I think he'll loosen up once his body gets used to it and the joints start moving around again.

He's a bit of a pocket pony in the sense that he knows I have cookies in my pocket and he wants them.  His delicate little nose just slips right into my pockets without any trouble.

I'm also noticing that I need to do something about my nail polish in that last picture.  How embarrasing.

I've got my first jumping lesson on Friday with the other instructor at the barn, the eventer.  We'll see what Big Papa thinks of getting all four feet off of the ground.