Thursday, July 31, 2008
Promise not to laugh?
Okay, no, I'm not going to take any pictures of myself, but right now I am wearing my tall riding boots that I haven't worn in at least 13 years (my last show was in 1995). And.. shorts and a t-shirt. LOL! I tried on my old riding shirts & jackets - I have two of each. Let's just say that one of each fit! YAY! That is, if I don't have to breathe anyways. Actually, it's not that bad. If I had to, I could actually wear them today and not look horrible. So the countdown begins! I've gotta lose a few more pounds before Sept. 6 and everything will be just perfect. And I figured I should wear the boots around a little to get them out of their flattened configuration that they have been packed away in for the last 13 years. *sigh* This is going to be cool. So do you think I should try the exercise bike in the boots? Hehehe... well, don't look in my windows, because you just might see something funny!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Lesson 6 - The Best Yet!
Today's lesson was absolutely awesome! I don't know what clicked between me and Simon today, but we were in sync and had a perfect ride over fences - not a bad spot to be found, all the leads were correct, he didn't get overly excited while jumping - it was hard to beat. Now I have set my standard... heheh.. punny... "standard" as in jumping standard... lol.. I crack myself up. Anyways, I set my standard high! I'm getting a reputation out there, and compliments galore from my instructor and another instructor on how well I ride Simon and how much he likes me. He actually nickered today when he saw me coming to get him. :) That was nice. And although he seemed girthy at the beginning, just for a second, he warmed up right out of it and was fine.
So, I am setting myself a goal to ride Simon in a schooling show there at the barn on Sept. 6 (Simon's owner permitting). I'll have to pull out my boots - I haven't worn them in 13 years! Yikes. :) They're still in my tack box in their boot bags just waiting for me. I might wait another week to attempt that one. LOL. I know I can get my riding jackets on - uh, just barely, but I can button them up now! And that's an improvement!
I can't tell you how elated I am to be riding again! I feel so great physically, mentally, and spiritually!
So, I am setting myself a goal to ride Simon in a schooling show there at the barn on Sept. 6 (Simon's owner permitting). I'll have to pull out my boots - I haven't worn them in 13 years! Yikes. :) They're still in my tack box in their boot bags just waiting for me. I might wait another week to attempt that one. LOL. I know I can get my riding jackets on - uh, just barely, but I can button them up now! And that's an improvement!
I can't tell you how elated I am to be riding again! I feel so great physically, mentally, and spiritually!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
We're Building a Barn!
I don't know if I can explain how exciting it is to finally begin the process of building a barn! We have been waiting over 7 years to do it, and it is finally happening! They did the dirtwork today, and while they were here, we had them level the arena and add some Nice fill sand. OMG, it is awesome!
I couldn't just look at it and not try it out the first day! So I had 30 minutes to ride, and I hopped on Sweetie, my first horse, for a test ride! She was excited, mostly because we were riding away from the herd (they were all waiting for dinner on the other side of the house - that will change when the barn is up!!!) The footing is Awesome! And 21yo Sweetie was prancing around like a big dressage horse, full of energy, arching her neck on the bit, huge trot. I didn't dare let her break into a canter because she could quickly get out of hand (and the fall after her buck in January is still burned into my mind). But the trot was awesome. We rode for about 20 minutes, and it was elating to ride in MY ring next to where MY barn is going to be built soon! OH, I can hardly wait!
Now after being exhausted all day from getting about 4 hours of sleep last night, I'm pumped and wide awake from such an awesome ride!
I couldn't just look at it and not try it out the first day! So I had 30 minutes to ride, and I hopped on Sweetie, my first horse, for a test ride! She was excited, mostly because we were riding away from the herd (they were all waiting for dinner on the other side of the house - that will change when the barn is up!!!) The footing is Awesome! And 21yo Sweetie was prancing around like a big dressage horse, full of energy, arching her neck on the bit, huge trot. I didn't dare let her break into a canter because she could quickly get out of hand (and the fall after her buck in January is still burned into my mind). But the trot was awesome. We rode for about 20 minutes, and it was elating to ride in MY ring next to where MY barn is going to be built soon! OH, I can hardly wait!
Now after being exhausted all day from getting about 4 hours of sleep last night, I'm pumped and wide awake from such an awesome ride!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Awesome Trailride!!
Me & Sweetie, my OTTB of 18 years - she 's 21 this year!
Nan & Lady - Lady is now 27 and Nan has owned her for 25 of those years!
Ricke & her beautiful QH mare.
Janeene & Darienne on the lovely arabians!
It has been at least 8 years since I have been on a trailride with Sweetie - the last time was in Oregon, with Harlan riding Aurora when she was still sound. It brought back memories of lots of trail rides, as well as that wonderful ride on the beach back in 2000.
Trailrides are a wonderful way to share an experience with your horse - and today reminded me of that, but also brought on a new feeling - that of enjoying camaraderie with friends. I am not sure if I have ever really been on a trail ride with a group of friends before. It is so fun to hear the stories about all the other horses you're riding with, learning about their history and their relationship with their owner. Nan's stories always amaze me - everything she has done with dear 27 yo Lady. I hope that Sweetie is still around when she is 27 (and I will continue to hope that she has calmed down by then! I thought she would be relaxed today. :) ) But even moreso, I hope that when I am 73 I have a horse that takes as good care of me as Lady takes care of Nan. I admire their relationship, and hope I am as lucky as they are at their respective ages. :)
Nan & Lady - Lady is now 27 and Nan has owned her for 25 of those years!
Ricke & her beautiful QH mare.
Janeene & Darienne on the lovely arabians!
It has been at least 8 years since I have been on a trailride with Sweetie - the last time was in Oregon, with Harlan riding Aurora when she was still sound. It brought back memories of lots of trail rides, as well as that wonderful ride on the beach back in 2000.
Trailrides are a wonderful way to share an experience with your horse - and today reminded me of that, but also brought on a new feeling - that of enjoying camaraderie with friends. I am not sure if I have ever really been on a trail ride with a group of friends before. It is so fun to hear the stories about all the other horses you're riding with, learning about their history and their relationship with their owner. Nan's stories always amaze me - everything she has done with dear 27 yo Lady. I hope that Sweetie is still around when she is 27 (and I will continue to hope that she has calmed down by then! I thought she would be relaxed today. :) ) But even moreso, I hope that when I am 73 I have a horse that takes as good care of me as Lady takes care of Nan. I admire their relationship, and hope I am as lucky as they are at their respective ages. :)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Lesson 5 - "Girthy"
So I have heard of "girthy" horses, and had been warned that Simon didn't like his girth too tight. So each time I've ridden him, his girth has been just tight enough to keep the saddle on - and maybe not quite that tight, or so I've thougth. Today, I again followed the same method for putting the girth on, stretched his front legs to makesure no skin was pinching under the girth, and mounted up - carefully - as to not let the saddle slip. We walked into the ring and I could feel he was very stiff. He was okay walking to the left, but every time I tried turning him to the right, he semi-bucked! I had no idea what was causing it, so I hopped off, loosened the girth just in case, got back on and had the same experience. He was pissed. Every time I tried to turn his head to the right, he bucked (not huge, but enough to rattle me a little in the saddle). So I hopped off. And then I found Kim, who loosened the girth another hole (now we are 2 holes looser than what I already thought was loose), and she hopped on him and he was fine. I got back on, and he was fine. So, Simon is seriously girthy! I had never experienced that before. And he was totally fine the rest of the lesson.
In fact, he was even better since I added a pad under the saddle to help even out the saddle pressure. I had noticed after our last ride, that the saddle had left some pressure spots under the pad - where there was no sweat, and I figured it couldn't be that comfortable, especially since I could loose a few more pounds. This lesson, with the pad, he trotted out bigger from the very beginning, and seemed to have a bigger stride throughout. He again did well getting the correct lead around the corners, except maybe once that we had to slow down and trot to change leads. Simon gets so excited once you start jumping and loves to gallop off. I worked on figuring out a method for getting him to slow down while on course since he gets so excited. There were two ways that seemed to work - the better seemed to be to keep my hands higher - lifting my inside rein in particular, especially around a corner. The other was half-halts, but I have to put a lot into them in order to slow him down. The other thing I had to work on was not slowing him down too much when approaching a fence. It is good to slow him down around a corner, but then let him go and let the fence come to me. So we'll keep working on my confidence.
Overall, another totally fun lesson. I love jumping again - it is such a blast!
In fact, he was even better since I added a pad under the saddle to help even out the saddle pressure. I had noticed after our last ride, that the saddle had left some pressure spots under the pad - where there was no sweat, and I figured it couldn't be that comfortable, especially since I could loose a few more pounds. This lesson, with the pad, he trotted out bigger from the very beginning, and seemed to have a bigger stride throughout. He again did well getting the correct lead around the corners, except maybe once that we had to slow down and trot to change leads. Simon gets so excited once you start jumping and loves to gallop off. I worked on figuring out a method for getting him to slow down while on course since he gets so excited. There were two ways that seemed to work - the better seemed to be to keep my hands higher - lifting my inside rein in particular, especially around a corner. The other was half-halts, but I have to put a lot into them in order to slow him down. The other thing I had to work on was not slowing him down too much when approaching a fence. It is good to slow him down around a corner, but then let him go and let the fence come to me. So we'll keep working on my confidence.
Overall, another totally fun lesson. I love jumping again - it is such a blast!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Lesson 4
Today was another great ride on Simon. It was very busy in the ring with all of the campers - they're so cute learning to trot and post on the ponies. We warmed up in all the madness without any trouble. Simon doesn't seem to care when other horses get close to him - he doesn't flinch or move or anything.
The fences today averaged about 2'3" maybe a few 2'6". After trotting the small blue gate a few times, we trotted in and cantered down the outside line. If you were to canter in, it should be a long 4 strides. If you trot in, it should be 5 strides. But you know Simon - he gets there eventually and the first 2 times we did it we squeezed in 6 strides! Finally I asked with enough leg and he did it in 5. We did another line the same way and it was lovely. At the end, we put a total of 5 fences together: an outside line, a diagonal rolltop, to the other outside line. The first two lines were perfect, and then with the last outside line, we got close to both fences - and made it 5 strides when it could have been four. We tried it a couple times again, but the 4 just seemed too long to me, and we finally did a really nice even 5.
I don't have much to say about flying changes - we just didn't do any today. Every time except once, Simon always picked the correct lead around the corner so I didn't have to ask. The one time he didn't, there wasn't enough straightaway to ask for a flying change, so we broke to a trot to fix it.
The best part was the compliments - "He really loves you!" Well, that's something I hope to hear about my husband, and I certainly have been known to love a horse before, but I've never heard the reverse - the horse loves ME? Apparently, he continues to do really good things for me that he won't do for other riders. I'm not sure exactly what I do differently - other than leave him alone and let him do his thing. But he's also so responsive when I ask him to move up to get a better spot. Apparently he's not always like that. :) I'd like to think that another part of it is the treats and the long grazes after a lesson, but I don't know. The other thing Kim said is that I'm not intimidating, and I don't force Simon to do things my way, but rather let him do it the way he likes. I'm still not sure what that means, but I'll take it!
Kim is taking a well-deserved vacation next week, so I will be anxious to ride again in two weeks! I'll have to "practice" on one of my own here at home. :) Until next time...
The fences today averaged about 2'3" maybe a few 2'6". After trotting the small blue gate a few times, we trotted in and cantered down the outside line. If you were to canter in, it should be a long 4 strides. If you trot in, it should be 5 strides. But you know Simon - he gets there eventually and the first 2 times we did it we squeezed in 6 strides! Finally I asked with enough leg and he did it in 5. We did another line the same way and it was lovely. At the end, we put a total of 5 fences together: an outside line, a diagonal rolltop, to the other outside line. The first two lines were perfect, and then with the last outside line, we got close to both fences - and made it 5 strides when it could have been four. We tried it a couple times again, but the 4 just seemed too long to me, and we finally did a really nice even 5.
I don't have much to say about flying changes - we just didn't do any today. Every time except once, Simon always picked the correct lead around the corner so I didn't have to ask. The one time he didn't, there wasn't enough straightaway to ask for a flying change, so we broke to a trot to fix it.
The best part was the compliments - "He really loves you!" Well, that's something I hope to hear about my husband, and I certainly have been known to love a horse before, but I've never heard the reverse - the horse loves ME? Apparently, he continues to do really good things for me that he won't do for other riders. I'm not sure exactly what I do differently - other than leave him alone and let him do his thing. But he's also so responsive when I ask him to move up to get a better spot. Apparently he's not always like that. :) I'd like to think that another part of it is the treats and the long grazes after a lesson, but I don't know. The other thing Kim said is that I'm not intimidating, and I don't force Simon to do things my way, but rather let him do it the way he likes. I'm still not sure what that means, but I'll take it!
Kim is taking a well-deserved vacation next week, so I will be anxious to ride again in two weeks! I'll have to "practice" on one of my own here at home. :) Until next time...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Walking the Line
After seeing how much trust Kiley has put in me this weekend, I decided it was finally a good time to work with her a little more, see if we could lunge at all.
I brought her into the ring to groom her and she stood very well, still a little sensitive below the hocks/knees, but she was very good about letting me pick out her feet. In the past, she has cowered away from you when you get below the knees, pulling her leg up tightly away from you and towards her body. But for me tonight, she was great. I was very slow, deliberate and gentle, and she was calm and easy to pick her feet.
She has figured out that I usually keep treats around, and she absolutely adores the apple-flavored wafers that Manna Pro makes. I took her to the middle of the roundpen to do a combination of Parelli's circle game and lunging. Using the four levels of "asking" her to do something. The key here is finding the line where you are just firm enough to get her to do what you want without scaring her. Kiley often acts like she is expecting to be hurt - and I don't want to lose the trust we have built.
The best part of our session is that Kiley was completely attentive, and "joined up" with me often - at the circle game she would take a few steps the right direction and then very quickly turn and face me like "was that it?" We did lots of 1/4 circles each direction with Kiley going out on the circle and immediately coming back in to check in with me - which is good! Each time I rubbed her forehead and relaxed for a moment before I asked her to go the other way.
I finally was a bit firmer in my requests, and got a quick trot on the circle to he left. She did go all the way around without any trouble. And she is very sensitive to my signals - it doesn't take much at all and she was out there trotting. But she was also quick to come back to me as soon as I stopped asking for forward movement.
To the right, we weren't quite as good. They say all horses are one-sided to some point. I knew she liked going to the left the first day I met her at the Expo when that's all she would do - circle around me to the left. When we finally got a whole circle to the right and a few yields to the carrot stick, I took off the halter to let her go. She immediately walked away from me to graze and clean up some grain that had been dropped (by another horse) in the roundpen.
Kiley really wants to please, but it is still very stressful for her. Maybe I first learned about giving her a break from Penny Stone when we did Ttouch with her the first time - Kiley was good and well behaved, but didn't really want to be with us - and Penny gave her a break in the middle of our session to let her get away and relax. For me, that was her reward today for being so good. I did go over to my grooming box and pick up some treats and shake the bag - and Kiley did come over and take one treat, but as soon as it was in her mouth, she again walked away quickly (unlike my other horses that would hound me for more). It's just her personality - it's almost like she's holding her breath (not literally) and as soon as you release her she feels safe and can breathe again. It's strange because she tries so hard to be good when she's got a halter on, but it is obvious when you take it off that she feels more secure away from you.
Kiley still stops when I let her go after mealtimes and lets me scratch her withers for her for a few moments before she walks away. It's almost like she's fighting her instinct - wanting the attention and at the same time is afraid of bad things that could happen.
We'll keep working through it. And I'll keep walking the line of just enough pressure to get her to do what I ask, without doing anything to betray her trust in me.
I brought her into the ring to groom her and she stood very well, still a little sensitive below the hocks/knees, but she was very good about letting me pick out her feet. In the past, she has cowered away from you when you get below the knees, pulling her leg up tightly away from you and towards her body. But for me tonight, she was great. I was very slow, deliberate and gentle, and she was calm and easy to pick her feet.
She has figured out that I usually keep treats around, and she absolutely adores the apple-flavored wafers that Manna Pro makes. I took her to the middle of the roundpen to do a combination of Parelli's circle game and lunging. Using the four levels of "asking" her to do something. The key here is finding the line where you are just firm enough to get her to do what you want without scaring her. Kiley often acts like she is expecting to be hurt - and I don't want to lose the trust we have built.
The best part of our session is that Kiley was completely attentive, and "joined up" with me often - at the circle game she would take a few steps the right direction and then very quickly turn and face me like "was that it?" We did lots of 1/4 circles each direction with Kiley going out on the circle and immediately coming back in to check in with me - which is good! Each time I rubbed her forehead and relaxed for a moment before I asked her to go the other way.
I finally was a bit firmer in my requests, and got a quick trot on the circle to he left. She did go all the way around without any trouble. And she is very sensitive to my signals - it doesn't take much at all and she was out there trotting. But she was also quick to come back to me as soon as I stopped asking for forward movement.
To the right, we weren't quite as good. They say all horses are one-sided to some point. I knew she liked going to the left the first day I met her at the Expo when that's all she would do - circle around me to the left. When we finally got a whole circle to the right and a few yields to the carrot stick, I took off the halter to let her go. She immediately walked away from me to graze and clean up some grain that had been dropped (by another horse) in the roundpen.
Kiley really wants to please, but it is still very stressful for her. Maybe I first learned about giving her a break from Penny Stone when we did Ttouch with her the first time - Kiley was good and well behaved, but didn't really want to be with us - and Penny gave her a break in the middle of our session to let her get away and relax. For me, that was her reward today for being so good. I did go over to my grooming box and pick up some treats and shake the bag - and Kiley did come over and take one treat, but as soon as it was in her mouth, she again walked away quickly (unlike my other horses that would hound me for more). It's just her personality - it's almost like she's holding her breath (not literally) and as soon as you release her she feels safe and can breathe again. It's strange because she tries so hard to be good when she's got a halter on, but it is obvious when you take it off that she feels more secure away from you.
Kiley still stops when I let her go after mealtimes and lets me scratch her withers for her for a few moments before she walks away. It's almost like she's fighting her instinct - wanting the attention and at the same time is afraid of bad things that could happen.
We'll keep working through it. And I'll keep walking the line of just enough pressure to get her to do what I ask, without doing anything to betray her trust in me.
Lesson 3
Yes! It really is Lesson #3 and boy, it was great! I was not nearly as sore after my last lesson, and it was even easier for me to keep a posting trot longer today - we went around the ring 2 or 3 times each direction before I wanted to walk and relax a bit. We also cantered each direction at 2 point at least 2 times around the ring, and although I was a bit winded, I still had plenty of energy to keep going! It felt great to know that my body was getting back those "riding" muscles and making it easier to do what I love.
We jumped quite a bit today. Starting over the blue gate, and then turning right to a diagonal line. Fences were about 2' - 2'3" today, no big deal. It took several tries, but I finally had a beautiful course, got the correct leads, and nice spots to all the fences.
What I learned today was to remember that there is so much more to focus on than just the fences. I have to remember to go straight after a fence, no mattter what lead, and then I can ask for a flying change when Simon is straight. When I ask for a lead over the fence, I tend to turn too soon and put Simon off balance enough so that he can't do the flying change. Also, when I am in "fear" mode over fences, especially when I am having trouble judging a distance to the fence, I sometimes let Simon slow down as we approach and end up adding a stride. So the lesson is to keep the momentum, keep leg on him and let the jump come to you - don't let him slow down, and the distance will be there. Once I figured that out, we had a bunch of great jumps!
The other thing I worked on this time was the walk-canter transition that we had so much trouble with last week. I don't know if he's finally understanding me, or if I'm being more clear in my direction, but we had several very nice walk-canter transitions. AND I also got 3 or 4 flying changes from Simon - once he even kicked out with one of his hind legs like a mini-buck that I rode just fine.
Kim again commented on how much Simon likes me - she says he really doesn't do flying changes for anyone else, and he listens to me really well when we're on course - moving up or slowing down when I ask. It makes me proud to hear it, and of course, Simon again got plenty of treats and a nice walk to graze after the lesson. He really loves that.
Overall, a great lesson! I was physically fit enough to do lots of riding and jumping and it felt great!
We jumped quite a bit today. Starting over the blue gate, and then turning right to a diagonal line. Fences were about 2' - 2'3" today, no big deal. It took several tries, but I finally had a beautiful course, got the correct leads, and nice spots to all the fences.
What I learned today was to remember that there is so much more to focus on than just the fences. I have to remember to go straight after a fence, no mattter what lead, and then I can ask for a flying change when Simon is straight. When I ask for a lead over the fence, I tend to turn too soon and put Simon off balance enough so that he can't do the flying change. Also, when I am in "fear" mode over fences, especially when I am having trouble judging a distance to the fence, I sometimes let Simon slow down as we approach and end up adding a stride. So the lesson is to keep the momentum, keep leg on him and let the jump come to you - don't let him slow down, and the distance will be there. Once I figured that out, we had a bunch of great jumps!
The other thing I worked on this time was the walk-canter transition that we had so much trouble with last week. I don't know if he's finally understanding me, or if I'm being more clear in my direction, but we had several very nice walk-canter transitions. AND I also got 3 or 4 flying changes from Simon - once he even kicked out with one of his hind legs like a mini-buck that I rode just fine.
Kim again commented on how much Simon likes me - she says he really doesn't do flying changes for anyone else, and he listens to me really well when we're on course - moving up or slowing down when I ask. It makes me proud to hear it, and of course, Simon again got plenty of treats and a nice walk to graze after the lesson. He really loves that.
Overall, a great lesson! I was physically fit enough to do lots of riding and jumping and it felt great!
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