Full-time trainer for a day.

Yesterday I rode 5 horses and enjoyed every moment of course. :) Here is a round-up:

Hampton: Walk and trot work was good - smooth leg yields and easy shoulder-ins. I really worked on using my outside aids and he was uphill, poll the highest point and forward. His ears were pricked and he seemed happy to be working with me. The canter is ... well, still a mystery to me. On my first canter attempt (to the left), he did this weird thing. He came above the bit and totally cocked his head to the left. I don't mean his neck, just his head. So I was staring at the left side of his face. Weird. I tried it again. Same thing. Lateral canter. *groan* ... he's trying to tell me something. I decided to canter to the right and see if the same thing happened. That went well - pretty much a normal canter. Not super collected, but totally acceptable for a 4-year-old. We trotted a bit more and then I went back to the left lead canter. Much better transition. Better rhythm. It started to get lateral, and then I counter flexed him and it went away. Hmmm ... I still plan on getting some hock X-rays done, but I have to wonder if this canter wonky-ness also stems from being tight in his back right behind the saddle. Which would explain why the chiro fixes the problem. Anyway, I'm just going to stick with walk trot work for a while until I can get the money for those X-rays. We may canter a little bit, but I don't want to canter "badly" because I don't want his muscles to remember that as being the right thing to do. 

Me showing Phoebe a year or so ago.

Phoebe: This is the BO's own personal horse that I ride every once in a while. She was forward and peppy yesterday which makes riding her so much easier. I also took her down the driveway and worked on walk-trot transitions. She was lovely and uphill (she is naturally quite uphill, especially for a Paint). 

Zippy: I'm not sure when the last time this dude was ridden but it took me probably 10 minutes to sort him out. There was head tossing and a few violent spooks and then things clicked with him and he was a good boy. Until we cantered. Dang left lead again - he was going well, then sucked back in a major way. That meant he got a growl and a good pony club kick from me. He answered that with a HUGE buck. I stuck it, gave him hell and went on with it. He never tried it again and was nice and forward the rest of the ride. Green bean moment. :) He was otherwise lovely.

Marisol: (I need to get photos and give this girl a profile soon!) ... This mare is turning into a favorite of mine. I work mostly on relaxation and rhythm with her. And I rarely ride with any contact on her mouth (she has a tongue injury amongst other baggage). We did lots of slow trotting, cantering and even popped over a jump a few times. She LOVES to jump and is really good at it. So I use it as a reward for her. (Plus it's fun). I took her on a short trail ride down the driveway and she was clearly barn sour but held it together decently I guess.

Noah gets kisses from me!

Noah: The big guy is staying with me another month and yesterday I rode him for the first time in the big arena. He was great - we walked around and worked on steering and stopping. He was quiet and well behaved. We had a little drama lunging, but worked through it. He also is not happy when left alone in a stall for more than 10 minutes or so. In fact yesterday he pawed and pawed at the door so hard that it broke open. I caught him just as he was walking out of the stall. Geez.

Tomorrow I have another day off and plan to spend it again at the farm. I might not ride 5 horses again but I will ride a few! Five horses isn't a lot to professional trainers, but it is A LOT when you have to walk out in the big field to catch each one, walk back, groom, tack up, ride, untack, cool out, etc. etc. I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day. But I liked it. :)

Stream of consciousness?

First, I am sure most of the equine & blogger community has heard about the barn fire at Boyd Martin's place. Words cannot describe how heartbroken everyone connected to that tragedy must me. So sad and a good reason to hug your horse today. Eventing Nation has additional coverage and also ways to help with the relief funds.


Denny Emerson is donating half of his royalties from his new book "How Good Riders Get Good" to help with the recovery.  Click on the link below to buy the book and help:



















***


Hampton has been going pretty well this week. He has been a bit foot sore up front, so I have only been riding every other day. I am sure it is because everything is sopping wet and his feet got a little soft. He seemed a lot better when I rode him on Sunday. Yesterday I decided to attempt to have fun like a normal person and I went fishing in a gorgeous state park about an hour away. It was fun and relaxing. And cheap! And the company was good. *wink wink*


Noah will be staying yet another month, which is great because I am just now starting to make some good progress with him (after starting totally over). Tomorrow we are going to ride in the big ring and work more on steering. We worked on trailer loading for a bit yesterday and he walks right on now! This is the horse that would not load at all 2 months ago. I also worked with Hampton and he self-loaded for the first time!


I have tomorrow off so I plan on working Zippy and Marisol as well as the big boys. Busy day! 


Well this was a scattered post. lol. We shall see what tomorrow brings. With 4 horses to work, I am sure some good blog fodder will result. :)

So you want to be an eventer. [fear]

For several years I have wanted to try eventing but have not really had the horse for it. Now that it is becoming obvious that I DO have a horse for it (although he needs to grow up a little bit more), the idea of eventing is starting to become a reality for me.

This both excites and scares the crap out of me.

I know this is a few years away as I of course intend to start at Beginner Novice (or below!), but the idea of galloping. Like, REALLY galloping ... well, it terrifies me. There. I said it.

Yes, I can hand gallop. I can enjoy a nice romp in an open field. But when I watch the Rolex riders ... they are not going for a romp. Even some of the Training level riders (a level I think I could reach with Hampton someday), are cooking around the course.

I am not afraid of my horse taking off. I am afraid he will trip and fall down. That is my fear. It's not the speed, it's that I am afraid of him tripping at a gallop. Weird? I'm not scared of jumping - but I do have a healthy respect for it. And I am certainly confident with the dressage phase. I did ride hunter jumpers in college so stadium jumping doesn't make me super nervous either. In general, I feel pretty prepared to start out at the very lower levels of this awesome sport. But ... what if we get good enough that we need to start galloping?

... Yup, I'm a dweeb.

Shout outs!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging for some plugs and shout-outs ...

• Ashley over at a Process of Learning is hosting a really cool giveaway. Check it out!

• Stacy over at Behind the Bit is also hosting a giveaway contest for Ultrashield GreenGel.

• My new favorite website/blog - Eventing Nation - also has frequent promotions, video clips and updates from the eventing world and the horse world in general.

• Catherine Haddad wrote a great blog recently about teaching and learning. Read it here.

<<< ---- This is one of my favorite books. I use it many times each week!

• LOL catz ... enough said.

• Every Sunday, the Postsecret website updates with new secrets. This is truly one of the most moving websites I have ever encountered.

• For those with a more twisted, sick sense of humor, don't forget:
Texts from Last Night

F My Life

And for those who enjoy e-books, check out the following links:

Up, open, active

Hampton has been giving me some great work all week. I'm not sure if it's because the horses have been having some time out in the grass field, or because I upped his grain slightly (he's looking a bit thin to me again) ... but the boy has has energy to spare!

Yesterday was 85+ degrees and I thought for sure I would be having to push him along. Oh no. Some horses took off in the pasture and Hampton does a little scoot and head shake to express his opinion. Um - ok? I was only going to trail ride but if he had that much energy then we shall work. Boy did I get some excellent shoulder-ins, good leg yields and he was up, open and active. Which I LOVE - especially for a 4 year old. This is different from above the bit. He was on the bit, with the poll at the highest point, nose slightly in front of the vertical. And he was forward and working. We even touched a bit on haunches in (I'm still figuring out the best way to teach him this, it seems difficult for him. Or I am just not communicating well enough what I want) We did eventually go out on a short trail ride which was windy (thankfully) and lovely.

After we came back from the trail ride, I set up a small jump. :) First just a cross rail, and then a vertical! Ok, he did knock it down a couple of times. But it seems if I put something different under the jump, he will jump it like a champ. After a few times over, he gets bored and stops putting in the effort. We did get some lovely little jumps (it was maybe a 2 foot vertical if that). He was calm about the entire thing, which was my goal. I think we are ready to start hauling away for some more formal jumping lessons! yay!

I am also making plans to go on an overnight trail ride. Perhaps to Brown County State Park? I really think Hampton needs to haul to a new place and have a relaxing time and not have it be a busy horse show. Ok. The real truth is that we BOTH need that. haha. The only thing that worries me is that the park doesn't have stalls. Your horse will need to spend the night tied to something ( your trailer, a picket line, whatever). I love Hampton, but I DO NOT TRUST HIM to remain tied all night. He will untie himself and all the horses around him. Because that he now he rolls. lol. Ideas?

EHV-1 virus

The equine world is abuzz with talk about another outbreak of this horrible virus.

The English farm at Findlay.

A year after I graduated from the University of Findlay equestrian program, this virus slammed the English barn. It killed 12 horses in about 4 days. Read another article here. There were so many sick horses, the staff and students (only juniors and seniors were even allowed in the barn), were tying the sick horses to the ceiling with baling twine in the large indoor arena. This is so that when they went down, they were more easily moved. A couple of the horses that died were favorites of mine when I was a student there.

I believe it was traced to a young horse that came in for the Young Horse class who was infected and/or shedding the virus. More than 120 horses developed a fever (about 140 lived on that farm alone).

I'm thankful right now that I live in the Midwest - where we are likely pretty safe from the current outbreak. But you can never be too careful. The majority of the horses at our farm don't go anywhere. Hampton is one of a handful that go to shows and trail rides.

It's a good idea to take your horse's temp for a week to establish what his or her healthy baseline temp is, so you can quickly spot a fever. That's my plan for the next 5 days or so. Everyone should do it.

It's all in the preparation

When you have a young horse in his first show season, there is a certain amount of experimentation that needs to happen in order to determine what sort of preparation is best for that horse before trotting down the center line (or to the first fence, whatever is your fancy).

I think most of our issues from this weekend were a result of bad prep on my part.

At the February show, I took Hampton out, showed him, put him back in his stall. Rinse and repeat for two more tests. At this weekend's show, I took him out, showed him and stayed out (in the warm-up) since there was only 3 rides in between our tests. He never did really relax. I think he is one who needs to school, be put back in his stall and then brought back out to show. Then put back away again before each class. He comes out more relaxed every time. This also gives him a chance to pee and get a drink - both essential to Hampton's happiness. :)

So I am going to try that strategy next time and see if I get a more relaxed horse. I don't have a show in mind yet but hopefully we will get to one in June.

How do you all prep your horses - especially the green beans - for shows?