The professor and the kiddo

Sorry this is the newest media I have of the Porkchop

Finally I am getting my act together for a proper update on the 2 boys.

HAMPTON:

• Working on keeping the flying changes straight, straight, straight. If everything is going well, I can try some (random, no counting) tempis. But most days we just do single changes. OR no changes at all.
• Increasing the steepness of the half pass (trot and canter)
• Ranvers in counter canter (helps both above issues)
• Canter pirouettes are coming along! They are still a little big, and sometimes he gets his legs tangled, but I think as soon as I can refine the aids a bit they will be right there.
• Half pass zig zags (just one "zag" obviously)
• Always always testing the forward and back
• Refining the walk pirouettes. This is a movement we need to be getting 7s or 8s on to make up for the fact that he doesn't have 8 or 9 gaits.
• Always focusing on the suppleness.
• Continuing hill work and trail rides with power walking.
• Recently got saddle reflocked, and massages for both me and the horse. Interesting we are both tight in the same places ...
• Developing the "show trot." He can now maintain this for quite a while. BUT ... we lose it when we try to keep it within the movements. Will def be something we can show off on the short sides in the ring.

ok He is ADORABLE

ROYALE:

• Adjustment to herd life. He is doing quite well actually. He does like to play, and can be a pest but he isn't stupid. When one of the mares pins her ears, he backs off.
• Standing quietly by mounting block. He does well at this for as young as he is. He does eventually walk off and loses patience, but it will come. I expect my horses to stand until further notice.
• Stretching at the walk. Really asking him to overtrack. As a saddlebred, he has a tendency to walk "up and down" with his back feet. Lots of walking and trail riding will help this.
• "Cruise control" at the trot. He likes to start off quick, then when you ask him to slow down he slows down too much. Just needs to learn to keep the tempo I request, until I tell him otherwise.

Baby's first ears photo!

• Canter transitions. These are a hot mess. Like, I have to kick and fling my reins at him and run him into it. That's ok though, he will learn. :) Once in the canter he is quite lovely.
• Consistent contact. I don't really ask him to be on the bit, but he naturally goes there so I am rolling with it. He is quite soft and supple (compared to Hampton who has the most rigid neck evah)
• Trailer loading - CHECK! A really good boy
• Itty bitty baby leg yields at the walk
• Bridling. His only real issue is that he does not like to be bridled. He will throw his head up and back away at the moment you ask him to take the bit. This will just take time to fix. Not sure why he is doing this ... teeth have been checked, but he is young so could be losing caps.

That's about it for the baby. Mostly he is just hanging out and figuring out what herd life is about. Right now he only gets worked maybe twice a week, which is just fine for his age. He has had a lot of change happen in the past 3 weeks. Bless his little heart. :)

Royal and L's second level mare.

Hamps and I are just about ready for our first show of the season.

Next up: Vaccines, worming and coggins day and then we will be set!

The Barefoot Experiment

Today

In November I pulled Hampton's shoes for the winter.

Many people were quite supportive, and I got raised eyebrows from others.

And I will admit, I was a little worried for the first 2 weeks. His stride was shorter, he was a bit tender especially on rocks and pavement. But I stuck it out - helping him with Magic Cushion and hoof hardener. And after almost a month, you never would have known he wore shoes for a year and a half before that.

His feet never cracked, never broke up much.

I felt like he was much more sure-footed especially on trail rides. It was almost as if I could feel the ground beneath him. No more slipping on the road. I never worried about the mud. He self maintained quite well, only needing to be rounded off a couple of times. His work never suffered. Plus, I saved some serious money.

While I know it's not possible to try this with all horses, for Hampton I consider this a major success. I plan on pulling his shoes every winter. The nail holes grew out, and his feet expanded.

But, show season is rapidly approaching. So he has 4 new sneakers now. And his feet look FANTASTIC. He has never had bad feet to begin with but I'm just pleased with how nice they look now. And balanced. He is happy to have them back on, for sure. And I think it is only fair for him to wear shoes with the level of work he is doing this year, and you just never know what footing you will encounter at shows.

Previously unpublished photo of a tired (barefoot!) Hampton,
myself and Lainey Ashker.

But come October or November, off they come again.

Unless of course, we go to Florida. (plans still in the works!)

More updates to come on Hamps and Royale! Both boys are great, although this week has not been productive because rain. Then snow. Then more rain. And storms.

Spring is almost here though!

He's home! Welcome Royale!

 

 It seems it is really official now. I am now a co-owner of a Skaddlebred with my BFF, L.

So, welcome Royal I Am. He is a 2013 gelding (registered ASB). He doesn't even turn 3 until May, so he is obviously immature and has a lot of growing up to do. 

He loaded and hauled like a champ. And unloaded like a perfect gentleman. He was a little nervous in his new surroundings, but he acted exactly like I had expected him to. Just some snorting and prancing around. He was very well behaved when handled. He is super curious, and very colt-like (oral, in your space, etc.). 

On the trip home, L and I had a moment of terror concern when we were looking over his papers and they say STALLION. I said to her, "Um, did we check to make sure he is actually a gelding?"

... *crickets * ...

But his Coggins did say gelding and he is, indeed, a gelding. WHEW.

He is staying with L in Indiana for a little while so that he can make the transition from living in a stall, to spending more time outdoors. We want to be sure he is not a social idiot before he comes to KY to live with me, where he will have to face the likes of Hampton.

He will continue to switch back and forth living with each of us. We both have very similar horse care and training philosophies, so I am not worried about confusing him. 

Plus, he is a resale project so he will need to be used to different people handling him.

#ohyoufancyhuh

I'll be driving up once a week to work with him, and L will be working him 2 more times a week. We both agree that as a 3 year old, he only needs to work 3 times a week. Could be riding, lunging or more than likely just getting exposure to the world via hand walking, hacking, ponying, etc. He is a bit of a spook, but can't really blame him. He has zero world experience. Plus, saddlebred.

NERD

He was loving the snow!

Depending on how broke he is ... he develops, we may take him to a schooling show in the spring and just hand graze him or bop around. I have my eye on the Spycoast Young Horse shows in Lexington (baby behavior is OK there) ... but again he will get to decide if he is ready. 

Say goodbye to that pretty mane!

I'll admit I had some fleeting moments of:

"OH MY GAWD WHAT DID I DO?!"

and 

"THIS IS FINANCIAL SUICIDE!!"

... but L and I are going to make this work. He is too cute and deserves a chance. He was at risk of going to the Amish and I did not want to see that happen.

Royal has a full brother who sold for a preposterous amount of money, by the way.

fresh off the trailer!

His older brother grew quite tall, and via string test we think Royal may get a full hand taller, meaning he will finish around 16.2. 

Right now he is about 15.2, weak and out of shape.

But that is a GOOD thing when you are working with a baby sometimes. We do not want him to get too fit right off the bat. haha.

So welcome to dressage land little guy!

Do you spoil your horse with tack?

So this topic of conversation came up during a clinic late last year. I keep meaning to blog about it, but just haven't had the chance to put thoughts together.

Spoiled horses.

I'm not talking about the peeps who love matching things, blingy helmets, all the leather things and general tack-hos.

This was more about, are you purchasing certain items in hopes your horse will go better in that item? Is your horse resistant, or evasive and instead of looking toward your riding, you buy a piece of equipment to "fix" the problem? Such items may include:

•  Expensive-ass bits (I've gone that route; didn't fix our contact issues. Only going back to the basics did)
• Unorthodox bridles (i.e. Micklem)
• Stupid-expensive, "miracle" half pads (GUILTY here)
• Coddling your horse with fuzzy pads, girths, crown pieces
• Reins that promise "more elastic contact"
• ... you get the idea

Hampton now sports a sheep-skin pad thing on his noseband. It's a crank, and it pinches him just a little.  Interestingly enough, his teeth grinding has just about vanished after I started using that. I'm wondering if that noseband causes his face to go numb? But when he wears it, I always think .... sheesh, I am spoiling him with this! He looks so pampered and ridiculous.

I also bought him an Acavalla gel pad. Yes, the same kind Valegro wears. 

I like the half pad, but it did not magically make him piaffe, passage and spit out one-tempis like Valegro. Hmmm. It's nice, but for sure falls under the "spoiled him with tack" category. A cheaper half pad would have been just fine.

I've been trying different girths lately, and at the moment like the fuzzy coolmax because Hamps is clipped and I did not have the heart to use my grippy PC girth  on him when he is pretty nekked in that area. However, I am in the market for Total Saddle Fit girth. .... I wonder if it will make any difference in his shoulder freedom. Or, perhaps we just need to work more on that in our daily schooling???

I'll never know!

>> Also, there is nothing wrong with spoiling your horse however you see fit. I just found this to be an interesting viewpoint.

Ooops. Now I own a saddlebred.

This is him. NO dressage training, very green. 15.2 and I don't think
I look too big on him?

Those of you who are friends with me n FB may have already read about the leaked news.

My good friend Liz and I went to "just look" at a saddlebred who my old trainers had for sale. He was a total show horse flunk out, and CHEAP.

I should mention his full brother sold for $500,000.

So we made the long drive out to Illinois to see this fellow. He was of course cute right off the bat. I rode him for quite a while, testing him in various ways to see how he would react to pressure, and a rider who was asking him to do things he had no idea about.

He was a very typical, wiggly green baby. (He doesn't even turn 3 until May!). But quite well behaved, very obedient, happy and willing. Even when he got tired, he never got pissy. I was rather impressed with his brain and energy. Here's a short video of some walk and baby trot ...



Of course he has no clue about leg aids, or what outside aids are, or anything really. BUT .. he does have a nice mouth, accepts contact and is quite soft in the neck. He is obviously very weak throughout his body. Which is normal, and to be expected. He's a touch spooky/balky, which doesn't bother me one bit.

So wittle.

But I see some serious dressage and sport horse potential for him. He just isn't a breed show quality. But he will have a career doing something else for sure! Clean legs, sound (but weak). I didn't find any sore spots on him. Friendly in his stall. No health issues, etc.

So we have talked about being co-owners on this little fellow. He is going to need A LOT of time to grow up. And we don't plan to work with him more than 3 days a week. Liz is going to transition him to living more out in the field, and then maybe he will come live with me toward spring where he can learn a little more about life (trail riding, ponying off Hampton, hills, etc).

... It's not 100% official yet ... but .... we all know what happened the last time I went to "just look" at a 2 year old horse ....

LAE clinic: Jumping

... Or, "It was a good idea to wear brown breeches."

The above is my best attempt at drawing out the course. I apologize. I am not artist, despite what my job title may imply.

We started out popping over a vertical with a ground pole on the landing side. Why? A ground pole on the landing side is helping for horses who like to take off long, or rush and leap at the jumps. This obviously does not apply to Hampton (master of chipping in), but it was very helpful for the "enthusiastic horses."

From there we went through the line of verticals - 3 strides in between but again with a ground pole in front of each fence. Hampton was a little sticky the first time through, and thought about leaving to the right - but I help him straight and he figured it out.

From there we added to the course.

Vertical, line of 3-stride verticals, to the set of oxer bounces, to the ouside line, to the oxer and back down the outside line.

Hampton got sticky on me again in the in and out of oxers. In fact I thought I would get jumped out of the tack at one point. BUT - he kept going and we recovered. Lainey had us go through that grid 3 or 4 more times so Hampton could really figure out his feet. He got a great education and so did I. I have to ride more forward - always.

Toward the end, one oxer was hiked up to 3'. I literally gulped and said whisperd "f__ me" under my breath. I have not jumped that high since college, and Hampton has never been faced with much of anything over 2'6 or 2'9 at best.

But we gave it a shot. We came around on a diagonal, over a gate, over the skinny barrel and around to the oxer.

sooooo the first attempt we BOTH were like "DA FUCK?!" and this is what happened:

*screeching tires sound*

Second attempt was also a stop. So, they put the back rail down so we could both get our confidence back. Jumped that fine. After that we were sailing over it! Oh, I was clinging on for dear life but Hampton gained a lot of confidence. I was so proud of him for trying!

Full video of out takes:




Slow mo of our 3' oxer jump:

Some other tidbits:

* The canter to approach the jump with, is the canter you will land in. So don't come at a jump all strung out!

* Stay tall!

* A forward horse is a straight horse

* Always be prepared to halt in front of a skinny. It's fine if they stop, but they must remain straight.

* Teach the horse to land and look for the next jump

* Quick reaction to the leg (hmmm, sound familiar?!?!)

* Contact approaching the jump, and in the air is HEALTHY. Don't be afraid of it.

*If you start losing a shoulder, lift that hand (and send the other one forward). For example, if your horse likes to run through the left shoulder, life your left hand pretty high to help block.

Lainey is coming back in March so I am hoping to have the money to at least do a jump lesson. I think it has been really good for Hampton (and me!).

Cross training for the win.

(and I didn't really poop my pants that you know of, but was eye-bugging for sure)

LAE clinic: Flat

I was lucky enough to ride with Lainey Ashkey again this weekend. I am exhausted (because of course I can never get a damn weekend off work, so after riding it was straight to newspaperland!) ... but here are some tidbits I took away.

DAY 1: Fancy prancing DRESSAGE

Note: There is video somewhere but I don't have it yet. So, you get icky iPhone photos. Sowwy!

Sunrise! Too bad the footing was f-ing frozen.

We were stuck in the tiny indoor since the outdoor footing was frozen, but we all rolled with it and got creative. Here's what we worked on:

* Quarter canter pirouettes (riding a square basically). How many canter strides can you fit in the corner?

* Use your SEAT in the canter. Tuck the tailbone. Lean back a little, quiet upper body.

* Left leg FORWARD. My leg leg is notorious for sliding back. This is because I hang on the left rein. ARGH! I need to stop this obsession with the left rein. It's not special.

* Forward and back (vital to building the ability to maintain the pirouette)

* Couple of flying changes (actually impressed with myself that we did changes in this indoor. It's barely bigger than a 20m circle)

* Developing lift in the trot. Think passage, allow the trot but keep the lift. This is our big homework. This "floaty trot" has to become Hampton's working trot. It has to become his norm. Need to build fitness and strength, but it's in there.

* Control the haunches with the outside rein

Why we prancing so early?

* KEEP REINS SHORT. Honestly someone needs to beat me upside the head. This horrible habit has returned, and even more so in jumping. I keep slipping my reins! Hampton has trained me into "giving" by lengthening my reins. So he really doesn't have to sit, he just lowers his neck. (and up goes his little bottom!)

* Soften with the elbows (no slipping the reins)

* More prompt reaction forward and back!

Other comments:

She is 100% supportive of focusing on 4th level this year. She said PSG is "ABSOLUTELY" in our reach. She was extremely encouraging, and said we should try to compete at shows where there are many horses and riders better than us - because that will make you step up your game.

Hilarious, because there are ALWAYS pairs better than us, no matter the show we go to. But, I get her point. haha.

Then she suggested we come stay with her in Ocala next spring, and shimmy down to Wellington for a show or two.

I asked her how much that would cost and she said "Ocala is cheap." ... I am sure it is, compared to Wellington. And I would love LOVE to spend a few weeks in FL training.

Not Florida.

I am going to crunch numbers and see what I can make happen for next year. But I am not getting my hopes up. I would have to get another part time job at the very least. And even then, I'm not sure I could come up with what is probably $4,000 for the trip. If not more. Has anyone done this? Any advice?

I just need to win the lottery haha.

Overall a very positive dressage ride, despite our less than ideal ring to work in.

After putting Hampton up, I went to watch a few more lessons. And this is when things got interesting.

There was a youngish gal with her adorable Paint cross horse. He was not an easy ride, and had a history of barrel racing as well as pony-ing horses on the track. Which is failed at because he would run off. haha.

Anyway, Lainey got on this pony and it was pretty much one of the finest pieces of riding and methodically training the horse I have ever witnessed. Many clinicians will not get on horses, much less a scrappy, difficult little thing like this Paint.

Things started out a lot like this ....

He tried EVERY evasion in the book to avoid her leg and escape the contact. When those didn't work, he made up his own evasions. Throwing his head around, fish tailing wildly, pacing, racking, hollowing his back, trying to run off, shaking his head. It was impressive.

But Lainey never got mad. She never picked a fight. She kept her leg on, and kept sending him sideways. When he accepted or leg, softened and slowed - he was allowed to go straight.

At the end, she was jog-trotting him on a loose rein. It was quite the transformation. And the horse wasn't tired, he was accepting of the aids. He was finally rideable. I was amazed at what I had just witnessed. And super impressed. I know many horses like this, and people often pick fights, or lunge them to death. It is about accepting the aids. All riding is about accepting the aids.

End result

Next up - jumping day!!! Or, good thing I wore brown breeches. 

A little preview! :)