Prescription: Wet saddle blankets

One of my favorite instructors came out to teach me on Hampton today. It was exactly what we both needed. I felt it was the right time to start lessons since the horse has the basics down (whoa, go, steer) and we have been trotting around on light contact, nose out, mostly straight lines. Horse has been happy doing so. Oh but now the program has changed. It's time to start riding him like a big boy (she said Hampton was a "tall drink of water" - referring to his height. heh heh). So she had me start to flex and bend him around my leg and ask him to be round and soft. We are to start a more intensive lunging program in side reins. I had starting him in side reins, but noticed that his walk got lateral when I used them so I quit. My instructor said that this is most likely due to the fact that he is not flexible yet, and it should correct itself over time. With the increased pressure, Hampton started to get somewhat naughty. He wanted to balk a little in his favorite corner, as well as lean on my inside leg. This got him numerous corrections. One canter transition request was answered with a HUGE buck. Yeah for me for not even losing my stirrup. (however, I did yelp "oh shit!") Next time I WILL be wearing my full seat breaches however! BAD pony! However, overall he was good for suddenly having his world rocked. I am sure he thought I had taken a crazy pill. At the end of the session, I asked him to leg yield right at the walk and over he went! yahoo!! both of us were exhausted and sweaty. My homework is more wet saddle blankets - and to start asking more of him. She said he was physically capable and that this teenage attitude was quite normal. She also said that he shows a lot of promise - especially in the trot, which will be easy to develop cadence out of. His canter will take some development for a nice, uphill transition but  that will come. I really don't know if people realize how much it takes to ride a young horse up through these stages - especially those who never ride anything but trained and upper level horses.
Tomorrow will be an easy lunge session for the poneh, and Friday he gets his shots. So he will get the weekend off - unless I feel like taking a trail ride or something on Saturday. Monday it's back to work. I am pooped. Not worried about sleeping well tonight. Good grief.

Riders I admire -- Adrienne Lyle

In the swing of things

Hampton has been doing beautifully under saddle the past few days. Saturday we went on about a 20 minute trail ride and he never spooked or did anything silly. Two cars drove by (thankfully they went slow) and Hampton seemed OK with it all. Our ride today was quite fun - I even tried a little bit of trot lengthening on the diaganol. Although it's note quite strong enough for 1st level - he will easily get there. T-Bone was so frustrating because despite years of exercises, he never got the concept of lengthening his stride. But for Hampton it comes so natural - just lean back, put some leg on and off he goes. If I push too much he gets a little wide behind, but he just needs strength and miles. Nice to know I can add lengthenings to out program now though ... perhaps with some forward and back thrown in.
His canter is also really coming along. The left lead, especially. We made one entire lap around the arena today ... after one failed attempt where he sort of half-heartedly bucked a little and broke into a trot. I shouldn't even use the word buck. It was pretty pathetic - just basically shook his head around. He apparently was having as much fun as I was cantering down the long side. The right lead canter is ... uh, well lets just not talk about it. It needs work. Today I also started trying to teach him some turn on the forehand. He gets it from the ground, but under saddle is a little confusing. He wants to walk foward, which I didn't really want to punish him for. So I had a ground person come to try and help and that went somewhat well. We'll need to continue work on that.
On Wednesday, we have a lesson with my old instructor. So I will have (finally!) a good set of eyes on the ground and some homework to do. I really feel at this point that a realistic goal would be a training level test this fall. So I'm going to start taking regular lessons on him to help make that happen. On Friday, he gets his spring shots and his teeth checked. I think they may be bothering him again (a cap perhaps?). They were done in October, but he's been tossing his head a little on the lunge line lately (but no issues under saddle, weirdly). Also, today when I had finished untacking him - he yawned a few times. This is sort of weird for him, so I watched him to make sure he wasn't maybe a little colicky. Went out to hand graze him, passed that test. Got a good drink of water when I turned him back out. Seemed fine otherwise. But still, another red flag that maybe his teeth hurt. Or, he could have just been "unwinding" from the ride. I don't know. Either way, vet will be out Friday. He's probably get the weekend off because I don't like to ride the day after my horse gets vaccines.
And finally, Hampton gave his first "pony ride" today to my roommate. He was as calm and pleasant as could be. So proud!

The good. The bad. The ugly.

While I have gone on and on about how great my horse is in this blog, I feel it is only fair to also reveal the days in which he is not ... perfect. Today I decided just to have some fun and try some free jumping with Hampton. I have previously lunged him over poles and small jumps, and trotted over poles under saddle so it wasn't totally new to him, but he's still quite clueless. At first I just had ground poles, which he blew over at a gallop. Then I set a small crossrail with canter poles set on each side. Again, he blew through it at a gallop - sending poles flying every which way. The white poles are light, PVC material so he didn't have much respect for them. He was being a pain in the ass and wanting to stop and stand in one particular corner. Since I was the only one out there, I had to chase him out of the corner then quickly run around to make sure he went through the chute. Sheesh. I felt a little bit like a hilljack. Eventually I raised the jump and he started to think about it a little more, although still knocking down poles 95% of the time. So then I decided, if he isn't going to respect the poles maybe I'll try something he WILL respect - and set up a barrel. Boy did that slow him down! He did stop once and snorted at it, but next time around he did jump it. I made him jump it once more for good measure. By this point, he was blowing pretty hard and had worked up a sweat (awww, poor guy) so I walked him out and finished with that. I know that a lot of horses start out jumping this way - clumsy, clueless, etc. So I'm not worried. I didn't get great photos as I was trying to multitask chasing Hampton and taking photographs. lol. As far as his standing photo from today - what do you guys think of his weight right now? He still has some winter coat of course, but I just wanted to get other opinions. I think he has matured some since last fall, although he still somewhat resembles a moose. Tomorrow's plan will be a light ride in the arena - starting some turn on the forehand.

Intermission

Hampton has earned himself a few days off. He's so young, that I feel a 2-3 day work week is enough for him. The other days I just spoil him and spend time grooming, clipping and letting him graze. He's lost weight again - which is maddening to me because he was looking so good for a while. So I've started to add in some beet bulp to his diet which hopefully will help him pack on the pounds. He appears to be growing again, seeing as how he looks like a gigantic yearling right now. I also wormed him (somewhat early for this rotation) since he looks a little wormy to me ... even t hough he's shedding out just fine. He's due for his spring shots, a coggins to be pulled and he teeth checked again. On Wednesday I did finally take him on a trail ride which went perfectly. He seemed to really enjoy it and wasn't spooky at all - even at the mailbox.

Which is more exciting: Phish or Cantering?

I'm not sure which event has made me more happy today: The fact that Phish has announced their summer tour dates, or that Hampton and I cantered under saddle for the first time today (and it went perfectly!). While I was out working Hampton this morning, the BO decided it was the perfect time to rustle around in the woods next to the arena and start breaking branches up. THEN she started a fire which had flames and billowing smoke. Soon after, she went into her house and let out her loud, yappy dogs. Instead of getting irritated, I said to myself "Bring it on" and decided it was a good time to see what Hampton was made of. He was ... perfect.
The cracking branches and fire would have spooked a lot of older horses, but Hampton did exactly as I requested and never got tense or nervous. We trotted, did transitions, loops, serpentines (although a few times I almost hit my knee against one of the gaming poles ... yeah ok so steering isn't 100% all the time yet, lol). He was being so good that I thought, oh hell let's see if we can get a canter. So I pointed him down the long side, "swooshed" my reins at him a little, gave him leg and said "can-TER!" and off he went! No tension, no hint of silliness, just a nice canter transition. I wouldn't even say I had to run him into it ... maybe just a smidge but not bad. His canter seemed a little off balance and wonky, so I slowed him down before we hit the turn. I immediately hopped off of him and made a hug stink out of the fact that we cantered. All the while he is like "Uh, ok lady. You are easy to please."

So my new goals for this week are
• Canter in both directions - increasing length of time slowly.
• Trail ride (I almost did this today but figured he was such a good boy I would just call it a day)
• Start teaching turn on the forehand
No pictures of the historic event, but hopefully next time.

More miles. Miles Miles Miles.

I had wanted to take Hampton on a trail ride today but it was threatening to rain. Plus, I drug my roommate out to the barn to ride and old Pamela (a 20+ year old school horse) was acting up and wanting to buck. I thought it might be a bad idea to trail ride 1) when its cold and rainy, 2) on my green horse with 3) a frisky school horse with an inexperienced rider. Yup. Recipe for possible disaster. So, it was more ring work for us. Hampton was decent on the lunge - he was fresh and wanted to scoot and buck a little, so I used that energy to ask for some canter departs. Many were lovely, a couple included a buck, or striking out with the front legs. I was happy that he at least responded by changing his gait and going forward - even though he could only keep the canter for 3 or 4 strides. He will get stronger and more balanced with time. Since he was fresh, I opted to ride without my whip. Of course turns out he was as calm and quiet under saddle as usual. However, I was happy that I didn't really need my whip. He is responding to my legs quite well now, although he wasn't as forward as he was last week. But I think all the lunging did tire him out some. We worked on walk to halt. Halt to walk. Walk to trot. Trot to walk. Mostly good. There was one time when he didn't halt and I had to give a rather strong aid. Not sure if he just went off into la la land or what. But after that, no problems halting. This week's goals are getting much more foward, and sharper transitions. And a friggin trail ride. Ugh. I also broke down and bought him a new turnout sheet. He was wearing his medium weight blanket which is shredded and gross. He has developed a small patch of ringworm or some type of fungus on his shoulder - probably from that nasty blanket. I have been treating that and figured he's earned himself his own, new blanket.

Riders I admire - Heather Blitz

Heather Blitz.

Oh now I get it!

Today it was sunny and near 70 degrees, so obviously I went out to ride Hampton. I tried a few things differently today. 1) I lunged him for just less than 10 minutes. I have been lunging him for 15-20 minutes up until today and want to try to wean him off the lunging so when summer gets here, I can just hop right on. 2) I lunged and rode him over 2 ground poles. They were no big deal to him whatsoever. Next time I may up the anty and put down 3 poles. Today was the first day where I felt that Hampton has really started to "get" the whole riding thing. He was forward off my leg - almost to the point where I thought "Crap, he's got some energy today I hope he doesn't buck!" ... but I just let him go forward and he trotted around, ears pricked, happy to be doing something I think. He is almost steering off my legs and body now. I barely touch the reins to turn anymore, which I LOVE. He was just so quick off my aids today, and forward. It was wonderful! We have stopped the slow, "slothy" shuffle-like trot under saddle and he now gives me his forward, powerful trot. It feels like I'm floating over the ground. I was almost tempted to try a canter today, but I chickened out using the excuse that he needs his feet trimmed, don't want him to trip. :-) Of course now it's supposed to rain the rest of the week, so I don't know if I'll be able to get a trail ride in. Tomorrow Hampton gets his feet trimmed. He wasn't tripping nearly as bad today as he was on Sunday. Also, his eye cleared up just fine. *whew* I also put him back out in the field nekked ... so I have no doubt I will have a large mud-ball tomorrow.

Changes

I didn't want to jinx it by announcing it too early, but Hampton and I will be moving barns in early May. I will also be moving into a new house. The house is on the farm property and I will be doing barn chores in exchange for rent. Meanwhile, Hampton will have a stall there. We will be able to ride in this arena (mirrors on one end - yipeee!!!)

and our new outdoor arena:

and of course pastures:

and here's an overview of the farm:

I can't wait!! 

Weekend ride roundup

Saturday: Hampton was fantastic. This was the first time I've ridden him with other horses in the ring and he did wonderfully. Thank goodness he steers now, but I did warn the other riders just in case I lost steering at some point. lol. We walked and trotted all over the outdoor arena. I didn't do many circles, but did make some sweeps across the diaganol and many transitions. I can't really ask much more from him ... I mean he's been fantastic. I realize at some point I'm going to have to grow a pair and canter, but for now I feel he's just a little too unbalanced and gangly to go there.

Sunday: The arena, while mostly good footing was somewhat wet and I'm not sure if it was causing Hampton to trip so much, or if his feet are getting a little long. But anyway, he was tripping. A lot. More than normal for an awkward young horse. At one point lunging, his legs got tangled and he fell to his knees, then lept up with a ginormous buck to express his opinion on the matter. Then in true Hampton fasion, right back to work as if nothing had happened. I noticed after I was done riding that he has scraped the cornet band on his back foot just a bit. Nothing serious, but damn, horse. I rode today as well, but kept trotting to a minimum because I was a little scared he might trip and fall again. Did not want that to happen with me aboard. But he was otherwise good. Steering like a champ and we had a couple of super transitions where I felt him really power from behind. *gulp* There is quite an engine in there.

His left eye also came up pretty red today. I think I will call the vet if it is not improved tomorrow. There wasn't any discharge when I brought him in, but there was a big booger in it when I hopped off of him after riding. Not sure what's going on there. I don't see any foreign objects in there, or any obvious trauma - it's just red. But still, eyes or nothing to screw around with. Plus, he needs his teeth checked again anyway. He's acting a little weird again while eating.

Goals for this week (as long as his eye turns out ok) are to try a mini trail ride around the farm. Walk and trot over a ground pole (maybe 2). More miles under saddle.

Stay tuned for some really good news!

The Great Helmet Debate

A recent incident involving a high-profile rider has sparked yet another round of debate on whether or not equestrians should wear appropriate helmets.

When I first began riding, the barn required that we all wear helmets. So for the first few years of my riding career, that's what I did. However, once I switched to riding saddleseat, suddenly it was "uncool" to wear a helmet. My trainer never did, nor did any of the other junior (or adult) riders at this particular show barn. I never thought anything of it. I went off to college and again, during lessons a helmet was a must. This was fine with me, but once I returned home, off the helmet would go. Hell, I even rode T-Bone as a 3-YEAR-OLD around the farm, trail riding, at all gaits WITH NO HELMET. (see photo. This was me and T-Bone during my stage of being totally class-less wearing a skimpy tank top, ratty half chaps, friggin sneakers, and no helmet. Geeez. Not that I'm a total class act these days, but man.) I probably jumped him without a helmet, too. At shows, I would wear what most people call a "hunt cap." Purely for looks, the "cool thing" was to take off the chin strap, which I did. I would guess just about any type of fall or jarring movement would knock one of those off your head, and if not they don't provide any protection. (see photo, T-Bone again)

I'm sure not of the exact moment when I stopped being so apathetic about the whole helmet deal. Perhaps it's just getting older and losing self-preservation, perhaps it was when one of my friends fell off a young horse. She hit quite hard, and her helmet was basically crushed. She ended up ok, but in a neck brace for a week or two. I kept looking at the crushed helmet thinking "that would have been her head." For perhaps the past 2 or 3 years, I have been wearing a helmet every time. Even when I ride the old therapy horses out at the farm. And obviously, when I ride Hampton. (My chin strap was a tad loose in this photo - our first ride ever - but I fixed that).

Wearing a helmet is a personal decision. I don't think any less of people who choose not to wear one, but I have this inner voice in me that says I really should be wearing one. So I do. I'm probably due to purchase a new one - although I love my current one (I think it's an International), it's kinda old. I've had it since college. It's never suffered a fall, but it probably needs updated. Any suggestions?

Off into the sunset

Not sure what Hampton thinks, but I'm pretty thrilled with ride #2 of this week! Again, all alone at the farm with no ground help. He is an angel standing next to the mounting block and walked promptly off with a squeeze of the leg. I had lunged him pretty well, so I decided to just stick with walking today - the arena was sort of muddy and slick in spots anyway. The lesson plan for today was steering. That's it. After a few moments where I had to insist that "Yes, horse, we ARE going to turn right," (we actually mowed down a couple of traffic cones ... and he did not care) ...  he started to catch on and was turning with just light touches on the reins. A few times I added some outside leg and he responded to that, too. I'm hoping he will remember the steering discussions from today and we can go back to trotting tomorrow (if the arena has dried out some). He looked really good on the lunge again today. I asked for a bit of canter, but that didn't go too well. I think he's still a little too unbalanced and gangly at the moment. I'll try again in a couple of weeks. He may be one that just can't canter on a lunge circle - may  have to just bit the bullet and do it under saddle. We'll see.

It makes me laugh when I look back. Last year at this time I was doing flying changes and half pass with T-Bone ... now I plow over traffic cones because I can't steer. lol. Even so, I love young horses. I love the process and the rewards of creating a solid citizen.

All aboard

Finally, the middle portion of the outdoor was good enough to lunge and ride on. The outer ring of the arena though was still icy and slick, so I figured hell ... at least it would give me some incentive to really practice steering. So I tacked up the horse and lunged for about 20 minutes. He is such a funny horse. For the first 5 minutes, he is somewhat of a turd. He bulges in, he bulges out, he scoots into the canter, sometimes it seems like he might buck but he hardly ever does. Eventually I get fed up with the antics and I get after him and then ... it's like *poof* all of a sudden he lunges like he's been doing it for years and years. It's like he has to test me or something at the beginning. Anyway, I hooked up the inside side rein and continued on (trotting only). He had moments where he started to look REALLY good. He is one that really needs to be sent forward. If left to choose the speed, he will pick a slow, slothy, not-very-pretty trot. But once he's forward, the animal is quite a nice mover.

After some lunging, I was pretty convinced he had gotten his antics out (that's the nice thing about an out-of-shape youngster). I parked him next to the mounting block and just got on. This is the first time I have ridden him without any ground help. Nobody standing at his head at the mounting block ... nobody. I did have my cell phone in my pocket, and knew that there were some volunteers somewhere on the property so I was comforting knowing my body would not be left unfound for very long. But of course Hampton was fantastic. Stood quietly, walked off. Steering is still uh ... not really there, but he does have a nice fat happy mouth bit so I don't feel too guilty pulling a little harder on the rein than I normally would. I'm sure he'll start to come around soon. Mostly stayed on a big 20m-ish circle (the dry part of the arena). Did some walk, trot, turns, more circles. Then called it a day. He was very good - just needs sharped up to the aids now. In fact one time I asked him to walk off with my legs and did not get a response so *WHACK* on the ass with the whip ... and he reacted calming and stepped off. lol. He is just so much less reactive than T-Bone it's amazing to me. He will teach me a lot, I am sure.

After our ride, I pulled his mane and clipped up his face some. Now he looks like a horse, and not a yak.