August 2, 2012 - The Princess and then Pea, or Goldilocks

In case you don't know it here's The Princess and the Pea  [url]http://ivyjoy.com/fables/princess.html[/url]

And Goldilocks and the Three Bears  [url]http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/goldilocks_story.htm[/url]

Rory is super sensitive about saddle placement (in fact I'm pretty sure that's why he bucked me off in January).  If it's too far back he bucks.  If it's too far forward he bucks.  And by "too far" I mean a quarter of an inch!!  I've been calling him Princess Pea (or Prince Pea) when he does this, but today when I was doing the quarter inch adjustments it occured to me that perhaps Goldilocks would be better - "This saddle is too far back!"  "This saddle is too far forward!"  "This saddle is just right!"  Though I rather like Prince Pea as a silly-boy name.

 

He's getting better.  Didn't actually buck today, but made it clear he would if I didn't fix things.  Then when it was finally just right he was a very good boy!

So what do you think?  Prince Pea or Goldilocks?  

July 27, 2012 - Free Running

Apparently Rory is lacking in running time since the brat and the other horse don't play with him.  Today he just couldn't contain himself on the longeline and bucked and bounced and stopped facing me and so on.  I fiddled with the saddle - no change.  Stripped the saddle - bigger bounces.  So I thought that since I couldn't ride him the way he was acting I'd just turn him loose and let him do whatever he wanted.  

And he ran!  Full tilt, and then faster than that!  Bouncing stops into the corners, then spinning and bolting out again.  He ran into the corner with the sand pile, and when he turned around to run out again he completely missed the ground with his front feet and did a faceplant (sand in the noseband and browband, plus green weed stains on his blaze).  

I had TOLD him not to fall down (the chiro came on Friday last week).  He scrambled up and trotted away sound, then resumed the galloping around with no apparent ill effects.  

Once he settled down I did a little free longe, then a quick longe on the line again to remind him that he does have to listen to me, and then he was still huffing and puffing and very hot, so I saddled up again and worked him at the walk to cool him out.  He was a very tired boy when we were finished.  

If I may quote for a moment... "My eyes just about popped out of my head" when I saw this one! See how high his hooves are compared to the dead weeds?  He's actually running on the sand which is 3-4" lower than the weeds!!!  "He trots the air... the earth sings as he touches it."

Peeking at the mini, but not ready to stop yet...

It doesn't even look like he's putting any effort into this...

Or this - but look at the lean he's got going...

Finally settling down

I think I will be adding a free run session into his routine a couple of times a week.  I might even see if brat is willing to join him.

July 20, 2012 - Sanctioned jumping

So Rory turned four last week and we celebrated by giving him a week and a half off because he'd gone and gotten a bump/kick where the girth sits and the pressure of the girth made him buck (not that I blame him but... :rolleyes: ).  So back to work this week!  I rode my FOUR year old for the first time on Wednesday and he was very good. :grinwink:  I rode again yesterday and decided to start the jumping process (since he seems to think he should jump).

I set up a cavaletti in the planks that we have cantered several times and walked him through the first time.  He lifted each foot way up high to clear the rail.

Then we trotted in and he tripped over the cavaletti.

That's my little jumper!

We tried again at the trot and he managed to lift himself over it

Then we tried cantering and he got his front feet over just fine, but got a bit close behind and knocked the rail again

Rory tripped at the first plank and got a little discombobulated, but he didn't want to knock his legs again so he stretched over the cavaletti.

This one wasn't bad (apart from me jumping ahead. 

We changed direction and cantered it.  Rory had to stretch a little bit and he swapped leads, but managed it quite well.

This one was very good!  Rory kept a good rhythm, the lead and lifted his feet easily over the cavaletti.  I should have quit there.

We had a bad approach to this one and Rory jumped off to the left and banged his front toes (and I'm jumping ahead again).

Then Rory stumbled a bit on the leading plank and the jump was a bit ugly, but he was trying not to bang his toes.

This one was very good as well.  Rory just had a bit too long a stride and rolled the cavaletti a quarter turn with his last foot.

So we tried a trot approach again to see if he could figure out how to use the cavaletti as the transition to canter.  Not quite, but he did manage to canter away.

This time he got it!  Rory very neatly stepped into canter as he stepped over the cavaletti.

He did very well.  When he had a miss it didn't cause him any concern the next time we headed towards the cavaletti and he just tried to get himself over it as best he could.  The planks turned out to be a bit short for him, but most of the time he just adjusted his feet without issue.  I used planks because they don't roll under foot when he steps on them.

If you're wondering, yes that's my dressage saddle.  I'm still riding a hole shorter than normal because of my tailbone so jumping a cavaletti wasn't a problem when I didn't jump ahead.  My tail still hurts!  When they say tailbones take a long time - no kidding!

June 11, 2012 - Not quite Harry Houdini

Every morning I've been putting brat and Rory into the temporary grass paddock for a couple of hours.  I put Totyo with him the other day because I was riding brat.  Afterwards I took brat out and went to put Rory and Totyo back into their regular paddock.  Totyo got to me first, so I put the halter on and took him out.  We got about 30' along the alley to their paddock gate when Rory started whinnying.  I got Totyo into his field and turned to close the gate before taking off the halter and there's Rory cantering up the alley towards us!  I held the gate open and he came right in, turned around, neatly stopped right beside Totyo, and asked me for his carrot.  :lol:  My friend reminded me that he did jump over his mum right after he was born.  Before she'd gotten up.

Today I put Rory and brat out and thought it would be a good chance to swap their older buddy for another horse as we had planned to do.  This way the new boy would only have to deal with one new horse at a time.  Well, Rory didn't like me taking his older buddy away, and started whinnying and trotting up and down the fence.  Totyo was doing the same in their paddock.  Rory seemed okay, so I went and got the other horse.  This is what I found when I got back:

See brat on the left behind the tape?  That's where Rory was supposed to be, but nooo - he'd jumped out and started eating grass since he wasn't sure what to do next.  I quickly stuffed him back with brat and took the new boy up to the paddock.  Rory jumped out again - but only 3/4s of the way (left one leg behind) breaking the "gate" tape before cantering up to us.  This time I left him in his usual paddock with the new horse and Totyo.  No more grass field today!

Rory and Totyo prceeded to have fun tearing around their paddock...

...while the new horse ate the hay...

... an sometimes ran with them too.

Here's hoping I just have a dressage horse who likes to jump... 

June 10, 2012 - Working "like a Sporthorse"

I rode Rory on Wednesday and with Per's admonishment in mind about "working like a sporthorse" I concentrated on really getting him to march in the walk and trot forward without nagging.  Looking at the video it seems like we're going a hundred miles an hour, but when I watch his legs the rhythm is nice and steady - he's just covering more ground.  He was very good apart from one bobble when I wanted a leg yield, and very quickly decided that the giant snake coming out of the ground beside the ring (coil of tile drain) was nothing to be concerned about.

So the major themes taken from the clinic:

Finish the transitions, get the rhythm in the new gait (whether between or within gaits) and make sure the horse is light on both reins before going to the next transition.  Be patient, and wait for the horse to relax.

Priority is a nice rhythm in the chosen gait, make sure it's going forward even in the collecting steps.  Especially with Rory I need to get him going forward in a nice rhythm, then bend, then the shape of the circle or chosen track.

Get a response.  Whatever you ask for make sure you get a response from the horse, then see if you can be light on the rein and quiet with leg and seat, correcting and allowing as needed.  You want the response so you don't have to nag every step.  It's okay to ask often, but try to let the horse carry on without the constant direction once you have him going.

Know what you want.  For example how much bend you are asking for on a circle so you don't get distracted just looking for more bend.  Work towards the best the horse can give, but accept less in the beginning of the ride - a little less bend or impulsion.

Get the horse light and responsive and set up so that you can push a little harder without losing the connection you have - more impulsion on a circle or shoulder in for example.

June 9, 2012 - Day three clinic report

I did have one more lesson with brat on Saturday, but it didn't go nearly so well.  Brat was not terribly cooperative.  I got a bit frustrated, but I think a large part of the problem was that both of us are a bit unfit and after several lessons we were a little stiff.  I kept catching myself holding too much tension in various bits of my body, and even lost my stirrup once.  Brat was holding tension in his body too, which made for a bad combination.  In some ways it was good because we do have days like this, and it helped to get some tools to work through the trouble.  He never did get as supple and relaxed as we wanted, but became more responsive and supple than where we started.  At one point we were trying to do the exercise of transitions within shoulder-in and haunches-in but brat just would not walk in the haunches in.  I got him to transition to walk, but it was a horrible pokey thing and he tried to trot or canter when I asked for more walk.

The interesting thing was that Per had me do a couple of things that I wanted to do to try and break the resistance blocks (in both of us).  He had us do a bit of stretching and picking up in the trot (I had thought of trying that exercise to try and persuade him to relax, but it was a clinic and I didn't want to tear off in my own direction), then into canter.  Brat often finds canter easier to relax into and will bend and relax his jaw when he won't in the walk or trot.  It's an easier gait for me to ride which helped me release some of the tension in my own body.  Brat was better and we proceeded to do some loops, circles and transitions within the canter.  Then we did some of the little longer and lower stretches in the canter.  We did a couple of working pirouettes, but nowhere near as good as the day before.  Then back to trot and some shoulder in and haunches in, adding some transitions to walk and back to trot after a couple of decent passes down the long sides.  We did a bit of transitions within the trot, and between trot and walk on the short sides just to get brat more responsive to the aids so he would be ready to respond within the lateral exercise.

We did work a little on the walk into half steps exercise, though Per did note that with brat being less than his usual self we couldn't expect too much.  But he did very well and I really felt the bounce in the short steps for about three strides at the end.

June 8, 2012 - Per Meisner Clinic report day two - Rory's lesson

This afternoon was Rory's lesson.  I had put Rory and Totyo in the temporary (electric tape and step in posts) grass paddock while I rode brat and afterwards put brat out and went to take the boys back to their field.  Totyo came first today so I put the halter on and led him out of the field.  Rory came to the "gate" (one of those spring handles used on electric tape) and stood back while I took Totyo out.  Halfway up the alley to their paddock gate I heard him whinny ("you took my buddy away!") and start his cantering up and down the fence.  I got Totyo into the paddock and was turning him around so I could close the gate when the sound of Rory's canter changed.  I looked up in alarm and saw Rory cantering up the alleyway towards us, so I held the gate open for him.  He came right in, dropped to a walk and wheeled round neatly into place by my right shoulder beside Totyo as calmly as if this were everyday normal procedure, and politely asked for his carrot.  I was a mix of shock and panic, but laughter won out!  Anyway it didn't affect our ride later, but had me giggling any time I thought of it.  My friend said he was a born jumper and reminded me that he'd jumped over his mum before she got up after he was born.

Rory's very first lesson went quite well.  It was very windy, and there was a thunderstorm booming a little to the south of us fortunately getting blown further south.  Rory wasn't at all concerned about it and was quite willing to go forward during the pre ride 2 minute longe.  We worked a little harder than usual and he was very good.  We didn't do anything exciting, and did canter for much longer than normal - poor Rory was wondering when he was going to be allowed to stop!  He gave me some very nice steps here and there, and I got some clarity from Per on what things to focus on as most important (supple bends being more important than perfect sized/shaped circles for one).  I know what to do with him, but he's a bit different than the brat was in some ways.  It helped that I figured out that he needed the padding under the saddle adjusted and got that worked out on Wednesday.  Now we can get to work "like a real sporthorse."

Rory was tired after his lesson.

One more session with brat tomorrow morning.

June 8, 2012 - Per Meisner Clinic report day two - Brat's Lesson

Brat’s lesson on Day Two - I remembered I had a couple of questions about some things I was wondering about over the last couple of weeks of work, so I asked them today.

The first was about the medium vs the extended trot.  Now brat and I are around Second Level so we won't be seeing extensions for a while.  I knew that First Level's lengthening in trot becomes the medium, but I wasn't sure where medium stopped and extension began.  Brat likes to lengthen his trot stride, especially out in the field, but he will try to give me more with every step, and eventually loses balance/rhythm/etc.  He goes so close to that tipping point that when I try to support him with a little half halt it falls apart.  I've been starting the lengthening on a circle to get him on the aids and balanced before going straight and figured that was getting into medium trot.  At Second the medium is pretty well as much lengthening as the horse can manage (without losing the balance, rhythm, etc).  Over time this becomes a gait that gets stronger and easier for the horse to give and maintain - much the way the collected trot appears a little at a time.  For now I can ask brat to give me everything he can without losing it.

Then I forgot the other question for a minute.  It was about the exercise we got last time to work into the idea of beginning half steps.  Per likes to set the learning up for these very collected works (half steps, canter pirouette) in a way that allows the rider to push the horse forward into them rather than going shorter and shorter to get there.  Back when he introduced us to the start of canter pirouettes the exercise was a loose walk pirouette with the transition to canter in the pirouette (loose meant the hindquarters were travelling a small circle rather than staying in place).  Working down to a working pirouette in canter from a larger circle is something we've only just started.  So back to the half steps.  The exercise was getting the hind legs lifting into the trot rhythm on the spot (or nearly) from a halt (see? pushing forward into it) and then allowing each trot step to get a little longer.  Brat was doing very well with this, but he's started getting stuck about going forward from the halt when I ask him to get his hind feet into the rhythm on the spot first - even with a loose rein (he's trying to figure out what I want).  So Per suggested that we could try bringing him shorter from the trot, or ask for it out of the walk which would allow the push forward into the collected work.  We did try this a bit later when brat was warmed up and working well.  Going from the walk helped a great deal and a couple of times he really got a bouncy, very short stride in his first trot steps.

Apart from that, today we worked a good bit on forward and back within the gaits - not collection, nor lengthening, but more a response to the leg and half halt.  We then pushed a bit further for more collection and in the trot more lengthening up to our current medium trot ability.  In the canter we didn't really lengthen to medium, but did ask for a bigger stride (got some nice ones) and a good response to the half halts to come back.  This was working up to going forward and back within the trot during half pass in order to be able to ask for and get a stronger, rounder trot in the half pass.  The response wasn't as dramatic as in the straight trot, or even what we can do in shoulder in, but it was a good start (homework for next time).

Brat wasn't as supple as he can be today, but he was willing and worked hard for me.  The sun was hidden behind the clouds so it was a cooler ride.  I felt it went quickly and was surprised to see it had been 45 minutes when Per said that was enough for today (I agreed that brat was done, but I didn't think I'd been riding that long).

June 7, 2012 - Per Meisner clinic report

Brat and I had my first session with Per at 8:30 this morning.  The weather cooperated and we were able to ride outside in the sand ring.

We started fairly simply with walk, adding some shoulder-in, haunches-in and leg yield before going to transitions within the walk.  Brat was responsive going forward but a little slower coming back at first.  We got some nice compliments on the shoulder-in and haunches-in work - good angle and rhythm, we need to be a little steadier and rounder over his topline so I can be quieter with the reins.  Per also mentioned that it was nice to see brat facing straight down the track in the haunches-in as he sees many people who get too much bend to the inside through the horse's neck.  This is actually something that Per taught me years ago.  It is too easy to get too much bend through the horse's neck in haunches-in when he is a bit stiff and reluctant to move his haunches in enough.

In trot we worked some more in shoulder-in, haunches-in and some half-pass.  Brat was a little resistant to really giving to the inside rein today and so we did lots of small serpentines focusing on a smooth easy change of bend and getting the new inside hind leg stepping smartly up underneath.  As he got more relaxed about the changes of bend Per had me add some transitions within the gaits - nothing big today, but rather more of a showing a willing response to the aids.  In the collecting steps I had to work on keeping more bounce in brat's hind legs.  We did a few transitions between the working outline and a slightly longer and lower outline to help brat relax and remind him that I can ask him to carry his head and neck in different positions.

On to canter starting with simple circles, straightness and lightness.  Then a bit of counter canter, a few simple changes through walk, followed by some transitions within the gait and more shoulder-in and haunches-in.  Again brat was a bit slow to respond to the collecting aids, but he improved.  We also focused on having him carry his outline consistent through the lengthening (he tended to raise his neck and head a little bit - not hollowing, but just a little higher frame than we wanted right now).  Repeated the transitions between the working outline and a slightly longer and lower outline in canter.  We did a bit of work on our working canter pirouettes.  Brat was pretty good going left, and as usual had a little more difficulty going right until something clicked into place for me.   I rode him in a shoulder-in position as we brought the circle smaller to reach the working pirouette and he really started moving his shoulders more sideways in each stride.  Per had me do it a third time after two nice tries "to make sure it wasn't just pure luck."  Then we changed the rein again and I tried the shoulder-in idea going left with better results.

Back in trot brat was showing me he was getting tired (so was I!) and bobbing on the contact and resisting the right bend a little bit.  We did a little serpentine and I put him in shoulder-in right to get him more solidly on the aids and lighter in the right bend.  Then we finished up with a little alternating shoulder-in and haunches-in on a 15m circle and a little stretching in the trot.  I was ready to call it quits and that was just when Per said that was enough for today.  Brat was a very good boy and we got several "Super!" compliments (Per's highest accord ) today.

I have been riding with Per for six years now and find his teaching style works very well for me.  We are often on the same wavelength now and I will start to do the next thing just as he starts to tell me to do it!  Per lives in Denmark and comes to Canada 3-4 times a year.  His methods are focused on calm and patience, but persistence in getting the horse to respond.  Per explains what the goal is in what we are doing (this can be as simple as getting the horse light and relaxed on the reins so that the rider can be quiet and allow the horse to perform the exercise) and still pushes the student to be their best.  I have seen him ride students' horses, but he is able to explain things to me well enough that neither of us has found a need for him to ride the brat.

I have two more sessions with the brat tomorrow and Saturday mornings, and Rory gets his very first clinic session Friday afternoon!

June 4, 2012 - Planning ahead for winter already

Rory scared me this morning.  He refused to eat his grain despite repeatedly sticking his nose in the bucket while I waited for Totyo to finish eating.  He had his abdomen tucked up, and when I got him inside and took his temperature it was about half a degree lower than what I've seen as his normal.  I thought it might be colic because his gut sounds seemed too quiet.  His heart rate and capillary refill time were in the normal range, and he wasn't breathing heavily or sweating or showing any of the other common colic signs.  I put him in a stall while I put the other horses out, and then tossed him a flake of hay which he tore into right away.  When I offered his grain again a bit later he happily scarfed it down.  I'd have called the vet if he'd refused the hay I was that worried.

He stayed in for a couple of hours and his temperature went up a full degree, and heart rate down 20%, he relaxed his abdominal muscles, and his gut was noisier.  I'm thinking he just got a bit of a chill.  It's been raining off and on (mostly on) since Friday afternoon, and got down to 11 or so last night.  His new paddock doesn't have a manmade shelter (lots of trees for wind break and some to stand under - not that standing under a dripping wet tree keeps one dry :P ) and he wasn't wearing a blanket.  I haven't been out since Friday because I've been sick, otherwise I might have put a blanket on him last night.  There have been times that I've looked at him and thought he looked a little chilly, though he never seemed unhappy or cold (using the ear temperature as my check) when I went to see him.  I did put a rainsheet on him before putting him back out for the day because the forecast was for more rain and a high of 15 (though it's trying to be sunny right now :rolleyes: ).

I bought him blankets two years ago, and I'm planning to buy new ones for him this fall (I want to wait as long as possible to make sure he doesn't outgrow them before he wears them - turning 4 this summer).  I buy the high neck (Wug style) of blanket by preference but I'm considering buying Rory a regular blanket and neck rug (probably Amigo) instead for a couple of reasons.  First I don't want to just use a heavier blanket because the winters here have been getting warmer and even way back when I first started blanketing I found the heavy weight (340gm) blankets often made my QH sweat during the day.  Second horses lose a lot of heat through their necks so it seems a bit silly to pile on more insulation on the lower heat exchange areas and leave the high heat exchange naked.  Third I might have to do a modified trace clip on him if he's working hard enough - which means a partial clip of his neck.

May 21, 2012 - Recent Pictures of Rory

Rory's fast approaching his fourth birthday, and I'm riding again so I thought I'd share some recent pics.

Finally riding again after he bruised my tailbone.  He's starting to look like a grown up horse!

Head to wall leg yield (bad rider raising hands so high!)

Back outside again - I probably should have walked a bit longer first, but he settled down quickly after this.

A nice canter

His group moved to a new (bigger) paddock last week and he and Totyo enjoyed having the space to run.

They ran a bit, found the grass, ran a bit more, stopped for more grass...  Rory was too interested in looking around to keep his face in the grass for long.

A little trot.

I rode later.  He wasn't his usual happy self but he tried and I didn't ask for a lot.  I think he needs a visit from the chiro.

I love the white boots on him!

That ONE takeaway that affects your riding today

Have you ever been to a clinic, either as participant or auditor, and come away with a whole bunch of ideas one of which keeps coming back to you time and again?

I audited a Walter Zettl clinic about seven years ago and at the time I noticed that on average every other direction to the rider was "Let go."  I got a lot of other things out of that clinic, but once I cracked the secret of "Let go" nothing else has had so much effect on my riding (and coaching - my poor students would probably admit to hearing "Let go" a lot!).  "Let go" isn't dropping the horse, or leaving him to his own devices for a set number of strides or seconds.  "Let go" doesn't mean loopy reins.  "Let go" applies to legs and seat and back and abdomen just as much as hands.  "Let go" means "Let the tension out of your muscles so that when you apply the aid the horse feels the difference and can respond because you've taken the block created by tension out of the lines of communication."  It is so simple an idea, and yet so easy to get wrong, while at the same time being so rewarding when gotten right.

The horses love it.  They don't understand that an ounce more pressure on top of the five pounds already there is actually an aid and not just a rider shift.  Take that five pounds back to zero for even a split second and all of a sudden the ounce of pressure gets a big response.  It's hard because humans are terrible judges of how much pressure we are using when concentrating hard on the whole and we think we let go when the horse knows we didn't.

Thank you Master Zettl!!