Soul horse

Since it's so friggin cold I haven't been able to ride in about a week (boo!! hisss!) so I have been using this down time to send in paperwork, registrations, memberships for Hampton and I to compete at USDF shows next year - including the 4 year old tests. It has cost me an arm and a leg, but a couple of them are lifetime memberships so I won't have to pay them again. I've also had time to reflect on 2010, on my goals and my accomplishments.

Fellow blogger over at A YEAR WITH HORSES recently wrote the post "Are you like your horse, or is your horse who you want to be?"

I knew almost right away that Hampton was a "soul horse." I have ridden and worked with literally hundreds and hundreds of different horses in my short 31 years on this earth. And I have found probably 2-3 soul horses. Because of my calm nature, I tend to get along with just about any horse. For most of my childhood, I rode very hot, squirrley Morgans. I guess after them, anything seems calm and rational. But what Hampton has taught me, is that while I have the ability and skill to handle hot horses, I don't truly ENJOY working with them day after day.

T-Bone. Ugh ... bracing, no overtrack ...

Hampton ... as a young 3 year old ... swingy .. pleasant

Case in point: My previous horse, T-Bone. Don't get me wrong, he turned into a great horse. He was a great boy to start - not a buck or spook in him. But let me tell you. He has the most gnarly neck and rigid back ever. When I say he never bucked, I mean it. His back was so hollow 100% of the time that in the 5 years I owned him, I NEVER saw him buck even in the pasture. In true Morgan fashion, he was too smart to be naughty. He would be quietly evasive to avoid work. He would seem light in the bridle, but in reality he was just braced in the neck. He would go through the motions of lateral work, but his back legs would just shuffle along never really stepping under and pushing. If you used the whip? He would become so tense he would be impossible to ride. His brain would be gone. Horse shows were hell on earth. He would constantly scream, bolt, brace his neck act like he wanted to rear. I took him everywhere in hopes that milage would cure this.

It did not.

This was simply a case of our personalities did not click. However, he did tend to reflect how I was at that point in my life. I was tense, worried, unsure. And hey, aren't we all smart about avoiding work sometimes? I was frustrated with my life - and then frustrated by my horse. We were no longer a good fit, which made me feel better about selling him. Don't get me wrong, I loved the horse. He had a super personality and was really quite safe to ride. But once I started working with Hampton, I KNEW I had made the right choice. The joy came back to riding.

Hampton

Hampton is very much the "person" I hope to be. He has taught me how to live in the moment. He is calm and is not a "freak out" say in the case of spooks or moments of chaos. He is patient and forgiving. He will work for me, but really only as much as I ask him to. lol. When he gets punished, he accepts it and then it's over. He moves on and gets over it. This is a lesson I need to learn from him. He trusts me. I trust him. And he's no dud. He has a naughty streak, but it's funny and manageable. Instead of getting frustrating by his antics, he makes me laugh.

T-Bone (actually not too bad for him)

So there's my novel for today. Sorry for rambling. You should go read the blog post I linked to above as she has a better way of explaining things. Perhaps post your own ideas? I'd love to read them!

On good news - looks like it's going to warm up in the 30s for Friday and Saturday!! Good enough for me to slip in a few rides! YES!

Footing fail and Hampton becomes a nutcase.

Normal, sleepy, quiet Hampton ...

Was supposed to have a lesson today.

The barn I board at does not have an indoor. I can suck it up. But I don't expect my horse to suck it up when it comes to footing. But both arenas were frozen today. So much so that Hampton was sore when I started out lunging him. Not lame, but when he made a canter-trot transition, his back end did a little hippy-hop. Every time. It wasn't just "Oh he took a weird step." It was clearly a "he's sore and can't make the transition." So we (my awesome instructor and I) made the trek out to the hayfield to see if the footing might be better. I have ridden Hampton out there quite a few times and didn't think it would be a problem. FAMOUS LAST WORDS!

Hampton out in the field today.

He walked out to the field quiet and polite.

(cue scary music)

As soon as I sent him off on the lunge line, he began to snort. Then snort louder. Then passage. Then he tried bolting, bucking, running sideways, snorting, more passage, more bolting. The footing MIGHT have been ok if I had a quiet, steady horse. But it was muddy and thus slick for a wild creature who was basically out of control. It was about as wild and unglued as I have EVER seen Hampton. Normally, I would let him get that crap out of his system. But both me and my instructor were scared he would get hurt. And it's not worth it. We walked back and called it a day. Hey, guess he got a little exercise.

To be fair, the footing out in the pasture is also muddy and slick. So he probably hasn't been moving around much. Plus it's cold. Out in the middle of a open field. He's 3 and getting fed QUITE well. What a recipe for a wild poneh!!

I really, REALLY hope he did not hurt himself out there. His hind end slipped several times before I was able to reel him back in from his antics.

The BO is supposed to work on the smaller arena at some point, so hopefully it won't freeze so easy in the future. We won't get much work done if the arena footing is that terrible all winter. I plan to haul out to a nearby indoor for lessons but I can only do that maybe once a month.

I hate winter. Can't you tell?

Horse shows are not won in June

They are won in December, January and February.

Lady, what do I look like? A jungle gym?

Uh, so that's what I keep telling myself as the weather gets colder. And colder. Sunday I rode at about 10 a.m. and both arenas were still frozen. So, not the best footing. Hampton was a bit short strided and because we were both bundled up (me in my thick winter jacket and breeches, and him in his quarter sheet) ... we couldn't really "feel" each other and so it was mostly just a hack. No real work accomplished.

Today was much better. Yay for nice 50-degree days. Hampton was a bit fresh (as evidenced by a few bolts on the lunge line) but it was good because it made him very forward and responsive. Worked on trot-walk-trot transitions, then walk-canter. They were about the same as last time. As in, maybe 60% success rate. I either screw up and he ends up trotting off, or he LAUNCHES into the canter. Which I don't punish him for because hey, at least he's sitting and pushing off. lol. We did have several nice transitions in both directions. Then we worked on leg yields - making them steeper. Leg yielding right was great, to the left needs a bit more work. He gets somewhat above the bit. I suspect I'm taking up too much contact. Need to work on that.

More of the same planned for tomorrow with some shoulder-in thrown in. I'm thinking just a lunging day for Wednesday and then we have a lesson on Thursday. That will set us up great for a day off on Friday .. then I'll ride one day this weekend. Depending on the weather.

For him.

Thank you.

I try to walk away and I stumble

Here's some food for thought for the holiday weekend. :-)

Stumbling.

So, I'm not going to go into a philisophical post about how I am stumbling through life. I am talking literal stumbling. Tripping over your own feet.

Do you (or your trainer) punish your horse for stumbling? If so, how do you punish him or her? If not, why not? And do you ignore it?

Hampton stumbles a few times each riding session, usually. His toes aren't long and he doesn't even wear bellboots anymore, so I blame it on the fact that he's on the forehand and sort of lazy. My instructor says I should punish him for it - by half halting and using the stick. Up until now, I just ignore it. But I am going to try correcting him when he stumbles to see if it makes a difference. And to clarify, they are just minor little trips. And only in front. He never goes down to his knees or anything. It also helps to walk in shoulder-in.

So, how do you handle stumbles?

Stop being so peaceful

Hampton and I had a super lesson today. (It's been probably close to a month since we've had one). Here are some of the things we worked on:

• Bend. Bend. Bend. Going left it's easy, but going to the right he likes to make an "S" out of his body. Perhaps this is why I found renvers so easy a while back? lol! He will bulge his neck left, tilt his poll right and swing his haunches out. He can be tricky to straighten in this direction, but we worked it out for the most part.

• Canter transitions. While they have improved A LOT ... they still need work to nail the scores in dressage. We might get by at training level, but for first we will need better transitions. The issue is that he gets confused about how to strike off with his hind legs. Like, he sort of has to ponder it. So, we decided to can the trot-canter transitions for the most part, and start doing walk-canter. This will help him strike off with purpose, organize his feet and get his butt under him. I am so happy to say that we got a number of really super walk-canter transitions. Woot! A few were ... uh ... not great. And a few times he picked up the canter and then I stopped riding and then he broke back into trot. Derrrr. But doing those transitions made him really uphill and brought his poll up.

• Leg yields. He needs to be sharper and needs to cross his back legs better. He's got the concept now, so I need to start asking more. Which brings me to ...

• Stop being so peaceful. My instructor said that I like to ride in a very peaceful manner (this is true). This is good in that I create very sane, good-minded horses. They have confidence and don't turn into spazzes. However, there are times in training when you need to rock the boat. Or your progress isn't really going to happen. I need to ask more, jazz him up a little, ride him more like a 3rd level horse then letting him plod along.

So I've got some good homework for this week! I'm  not sure how much riding I'll get in since work is going to get in the way. UGH. Perhaps by the weekend.

Sometimes it's good to plummet

Hampton fall 2010

Thank you to everyone who commented with encouragement. :-) It does help. I took out a loan on my 401K and that will help a lot with getting some things caught up. Annnd buying gas and food. I will be looking for a part-time job to help make a little more money, and keep hunting for a better full-time job as well. You all are right - things do work themselves out.

I was watching this interview last night with Cher (can you believe she is 64?!?) .. and she said "Sometimes it's good to plummet. Because then you really appreciate it when you come back up."

**

I feel a little stupid for complaining about my life, when a fellow blogger is in a situation much worse. Please go to Denali's blog if you haven't already. Denali's owner has been through a LOT with her beloved mare, and now she is making a really tough decision. I'm not sure what is more heartbreaking that losing your horse ... except maybe a close family member.

Remember to hug your horse today.