Herd Dynamics

This is "Goose" nka "Goliath." He was born to our PMU mare "Charlie" who we purchased as a riding horse for my husband 3 years ago. He is a gorgeous, huge, draft horse, that I didn't have enough time to ride, and now that I'm getting into hunters again, he is not exactly "hunter-type." :)

Goose has a wonderful personality - he loves attention and is always alert and brave - and sometimes gets into your personal space which can be intimidating to a novice horseman if you don't know how to get him back into his own space (and it is also dangerous around young children who don't have a clue).

I sold Goose about 3 weeks ago, and delivered him to his new home this weekend. He couldn't have found a better home - his new mom is a very experienced horsewoman and has all sorts of plans for him!

But now, he's gone.

The herd just isn't the same. It's so quiet out there. It used to be that I would call them with a loud "come on" for feeding time and they would all come galloping up from the field. Now I can't get them to even break into a trot! The rest of the herd just moseys on up to the feeding area now - not one of them is in a "hurry" anymore. Goose was the youngest in the herd, and everyone except my foster horse, Kiley, is 9 or older, and Kiley is pretty laid back in the field.

Anyways, I miss him. He is the first horse I ever sold, and I couldn't be happier for him, but I definitely notice he is missing when I'm outside with the horses. He was always up to something.

I hope he's behaving himself! :)

She trusts me!

Yesterday was a fantastic adoptathon for BEHS. I trailered my foster horse, Kiley, to the event, as well as another foster horse "Nike." (My personal horse, Goose, nka Goliath, also came for the ride to his new home).

The experience was great for everyone - but mostly I am struck by how much Kiley has grown to trust me over the last 8 months. When I first met her at the Expo last year, she was very nervous, and wouldn't even look at me. She never turned her head to see me with both eyes - even when I sat outside her stall with the door open for 30 minutes, she never approached me or turned to look at me. When I handled her for our parade of foster horses, she was nervous, would constantly circle around me, and would only turn left.

At the adoptathon, when we came out of the trailer to a new place she had never been, she was a little slow, but she completely trusted me and followed me in to the barn and into her stall with little hesitation. When I walked her for the parade of horses into the ring, you could tell she was nervous, but she stood perfectly in line and waited for all of my cues. She walked somewhat nervously but stayed at my side the entire time - no circles at all. She was very well behaved and kept turning to me to get her cues, and you could sense she trusted me to keep her safe.

It was a very rewarding experience. I knew that she trusted me more, but I didn't realize quite how much until this experience. She's so funny - she has her limits of how much stress she can handle. When we got home and I opened the trailer, she jumped out into the field and galloped away. She deserved it!

How to get a 1400lb draft horse in a trailer...

So how do you force a 1400 lb draft horse in a trailer? You can't. He outweighs you by, oh, say, at least 1200 lbs and he will go wherever he chooses. There is no forcing that big an animal. No whips, or butt ropes, or scary sheets will work (especially when he's not scared of anything). (If he doesn't like the way you are treating him, he will simply rear - straight up - to get away.) Nothing like looking up in the sky and seeing two plate-sized hooves near your head.

You simply have to make him want to. It's a good thing that draft horses always have a hungry stomach. You can coax him in with sweet feed or treats. But always be gentle! And then he will learn to trust you and will follow you anywhere for a treat!

Lesson 2

After my first lesson, it was clear that Simon and I were a good match - he was steady and reliable, and gave me the confidence I needed as I was starting to ride again. Kim was there when I arrived and made sure I knew where Simon's stall was, and left it up to me to do everything this time. No problem.

I brought my own saddle this time - a nice flat panel close contact saddle I purchased back in 2000. I had no idea it was "out of style" in today's hunter ring - apparently knee rolls are the "in" thing nowadays. I've never owned a saddle with knee rolls, but I suspect the next time I buy a saddle, it will have them. I really enjoyed riding in the Stueben (with knee rolls) last week, but the stirrups were too narrow, and if I put my foot where it felt comfortable, my feet started to get stuck, and that is not a safe thing when riding. So, maybe next week we can get some bigger stirrups on the Stueben and everything will be perfect. :)

I got to his stall and you could tell he remembered me - his ears perked foward as I walked into his stall and he lifted his head to take a good look at me. He was already hoping for a treat as soon as I put him in the wash stall - you could tell as he was leaning towards me to see what I might have. Of course I was prepared with a bucket of apple flavored horse treats, and I gave him a few as I groomed him. He wasn't quite as filthy as last week, thank goodness, but still needed a good grooming.

Once we were tacked up, we headed out to the ring. I knew where the mounting block was, at least, but now I had a new obstacle - someone had closed the gate to the ring. They had a summer camp class going on down at the near end of the ring, and I wasn't sure if they would open the gate when I got there for me already mounted or not. But once I was in the saddle, I looked down to the far end of the ring where the other adults were riding, and gratefully I saw that there was another gate at the far end that was wide open. Whew!

The ring was very busy. There were at least 4 campers at one end, and 4 adults at the other end. Well, two 30+ adults including myself and two ~18yo's. Kim was already working with one of the "youngsters" and told me to go ahead and warm up while she finished working with the other young lady. As I was trotting around the ring, I anxiously watched the other instructor raise the fences to 2'3" and 2'6". And the little crossrail got moved up, too. I hoped that Kim would put them back down for me, but I wasn't convinced that would happen.

Simon again has a very slow almost lethargic trot when you first start riding him. He takes a good bit of leg to keep his momentum going, but no trouble. I tried a couple of walk-canter transitions, and realized that Simon didn't know my signals quite well enough to make that happen successfully - I ended up with a quick trot, and then brought him back a bit and asked for a trot-canter transition which worked perfectly. I noticed that my legs felt too long in the stirrups so I raised them a hole - Simon is not nearly as wide as Rocky - and they felt much better up higher.

Thankfully, Kim took the top rail off the blue gate (only about a 1' fence) and we trotted back and forth over it a few times. Then we trotted over the gate and turned right to trot into and canter out of the outside line. We added a stride, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Then we did the same 3 fences a few more times but keeping the canter around the corner into the line. Finally, the finale of the day, we added another diagonal line at the end for 5 fences in a row! It was awesome! We had to trot in to the last line due to some ring traffic, but Simon went up and over no problem - I'm sure the second fence in the last 2 lines were 2'6" - that is crazy! I could hardly believe I was jumping that size fence already - but Simon was smooth and steady. He gets a little excited when you start jumping and is more "exhuberant." He especially likes it when you tell him "good boy" and pat him - I think it makes him go even faster in glee. :) He's so much fun.

Kim again commented how much Simon likes me - she says he doesn't get along with everyone. He did at least 3 flying changes for me. (I'm not really sure that I asked for them, but I must have been well balanced enough for him to do them himself. )

After the lesson, we went for a short trail ride with my neighbor, Jodi, down alongside the fields to cool out. It was really nice to relax like that - I love trail rides, and I it was a special treat to get to do that!

Pain!

I hadn't mentioned yet how sore I was after my first lesson - every single muscle up and down my back, butt, and legs absolutely ached for the next 3 days. But it felt wonderful! I spent the days trying to figure out how I had been missing those muscles during my workouts, but instead decided to enjoy the pain as it reminded me of riding, and I was looking forward to next week!

Lesson 1

I was so excited to go to my first lesson. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, whether I would even get to jump on the first lesson, but I was prepared to practice over a few crossrails. My farrier was going to arrive (for my personal horses) right before I had to leave home for the barn with the kids, (only way our schedule would work - it's the first time he did them without me there), and he was a few minutes late. But we had planned ahead and still managed to get out of the driveway almost on time. Once I dropped the kids off at my MIL's, I suddenly felt the excitement of getting to ride - on my own. No kids to worry about, no rushing back in to the house as soon as I was done. I had about 2.5 hours coming up to myself and I intended to enjoy every minute.

I arrived at the barn and Kim was still finishing up her last lesson. She waved to me and soon came up to show me the horse I would be riding, a 16+hh chestnut TB gelding named "Simon." She pulled him out of his stall, and handed him to me in the aisleway, and showed me the wash stall where to tack him up, and pulled out tack for me to use, and pointed to the brushes, and walked off to finish her lesson. It seems my first lesson would also test my grooming talents, as it had clearly been a few days since Simon had seen a brush. But it didn't bother me at all - I have learned to really enjoy grooming, and got busy currying. I intended for Simon to be gleaming in my lesson, one way or another.

My first impressions of Simon were that he clearly knew his job - he had spent many hours in the wash stall getting ready for lessons before, and stood quietly while I brushed everywhere head to hoof. Kim mentioned Simon didn't like his girth too tight - so I was careful to make the girth just tight enough to keep the saddle on safely.

I lead him out towards the arena looking for a mounting block in the arena. I looked around for at least 2 minutes, in fact, standing near the gate. They didn't really expect me to mount this giant from the ground, did they? I saw a couple of hay bales in the ring, but that didn't look right. Finally, I realized I had already walked past the mounting block about 20 yards behind me - a large hand built wooden block with plenty of room to maneuver. Embarassed, I turned Simon away from the ring and went back to mount up. Thankfully, he stood very still as I mounted, and we turned back to the ring. Kim was there and I thought to myself - the last time she saw me ride I was a mess. Oh, geez. And then a little excitement - because although I told Kim I had been going to the gym, I was the only one that knew I was in much better shape, and she didn't. :)

"When you're ready, pick up a posting trot." And before I had made a large circle she added, "I know you're probably out of shape, so walk when you need to." I wasn't about to take the easy road here. Simon had a slow, steady trot, and needed quite a bit of leg to keep him going (I began to remember a school horse I once knew...) I pushed as hard as I could and when I felt I had gotten around as much as another student would, I came back to a walk. We trotted the other way, and cantered both directions. While I was cantering - at 2 point - Kim commented, "Have you been riding a lot? You look great!" I replied that I had been going to the gym since January, but not riding as much as I'd like. I was so proud, though, to hear that the workouts were finally paying off. Another time around the ring at 2 point and I began to realize there were muscles in my legs that I had not been using in my workouts. But I was determined to push through until I heard Kim say, "When you're ready, come back to a trot." I tried not to do it immediately, and when we transitioned to trot, I confess it was only a few seconds before I asked Simon to walk so I could relax.

There was another woman and her daughter taking a lesson from the other instructor at the same time as I was, and we started chatting while we were walking around. Turns out they are my neighbors and live right down the road from me! Small world!

Kim then asked the ultimate question, "So, do you think you want to jump today?" I nodded in cautious excitement, "Mhmm."

I watched anxiously when I saw Kim moving standards around and set up a crossrail. My neighbors took their turn first. It looked easy enough. Kim said, "Let's try trotting over this crossrail - and don't worry, it will all come back to you." I wondered to myself - was jumping really like riding a bike? What if Simon knew I wasn't convinced we would get over the fence? He had his slow steady trot - but was it really enough to get him over those little crossrails? And before I knew it, we were at the base of the fence, and I automatically gave a squeeze, went into jumping position and prayed, and over the fence we went! No trouble at all! Kim asked, "tell me again how long it has been since you jumped a fence?" I replied, "Oh, about 10 years. Since 1999 for sure." Neither Kim nor my neighbors believed that was possible. :)

We went back and forth over the crossrail several times, getting better and relaxing more each time. And Simon finally started to pick up his trot now that we were jumping - he had more energy! Forward impulsion always makes me more comfortable when heading towards a fence.

Then the other instructor asked her students to trot over the rolltop. I thought to myself - is Kim really going to ask me to go over the rolltop? That might be a whole 2 feet high! Yikes! Would Simon really go over it? And of course, Kim asked me to follow along. I'm thinking to myself how I would feel so much more secure cantering over any rolltop. What if Simon stops? He must have felt my anxiousness, or maybe I purposely asked him for more stride, but he picked up more energy and over we went! We did it!

My final test for the lesson was to canter the rolltop (on a diagonal) and turn to the right to do an outside line. I looked at the second fence in the line, and surely that was up to 2'3". But no time to worry. We chipped in a little at the second fence in the line (I was still learning my distances). But the next time we did it, it was perfect! Kim said, "That was awesome! You can either stop with that or we can chance doing it one more time." I decided it was safer to end on a great note than push it. Or at least that's what I told Kim. My legs were like jelly and I wasn't taking any chances. :)

After my lesson, I hosed Simon down, gave him carrots, and hand grazed him while he dried off. He seemed delighted. I noticed that was not the normal practice around here - most students kept their horses in the grooming/wash stalls to dry. But part of what I loved about my lessons so long ago was the ability to bond with a horse after the lesson - take them out to graze and relax, and that's what we did. One of my first instructors once told me, "You know, the horses remember you when you let them graze like that." And I knew that Simon would remember me.

The non-lesson I had 2 years ago...

Okay, okay, so actually, it wasn't my first lesson in 10 years, but close enough. I had asked Kim (my instructor) to come out to my place about 2 years ago to watch/help me ride Rocky. I can't really call it a lesson, as it was more about Kim watching me attempt to ride Rocky - as I was completely out of shape, only a few months after delivering my daughter, and I could hardly keep him at the trot for more than a few minutes before I thought I would die from exhaustion.

She did give me some suggestions about working through the canter, getting him to do it on the lunge line so that if he did buck at the transition, I wasn't on him. And to work through the issue on the lunge line before attempting to do it on his back.

Overall, it was an embarassing experience. I was SO out of shape, absolutely exhausted after about a 20 minute ride, and I was just thankful for how kind Kim was for letting me pay her to watch me struggle in the saddle. I decided then there was no way I would take another lesson until I was really ready - no matter how badly I just wanted to be riding again.

My History

Welcome to my Blog! I am looking forward to sharing my adventures in re-riding as a 35 yo re-rider taking lessons again for the first time in 10 years.

I started riding when I was 10 at a hunter/jumper lesson barn, and continued through their highest levels until I purchased my own horse and began private lessons and showing. I showed extensively in 1995 in the local circuit, and was Grand Champion Adult Amateur and Pleasure Hunter in two separate local show circuits riding my first horse, "Sweet Persuasion." Sweetie is a TB mare that I have owned since she was 3, and is now 21 years old! Sweetie then took a year off to be mom to "Rocky" who is now 12 and still green... Since then I have gotten married, moved across the nation twice (with Sweetie and Rocky and Aurora), had two children, and been far too busy to really focus on my riding. When I have been riding, I have been working with Rocky, a 16.3 hh DWB/TB gelding who is embarassingly still green.

Back in January, I hopped on Sweetie for a relaxing ride in the field. Of course, I hadn't been riding her regularly (it may have been 6 mo since I had ridden her) and things were going well until I decided to let her break into a canter when the herd started to get silly. Sweetie bucked hard, and then realizing her mistake, immediately came to a halt. As you can imagine, I flipped forward right over her head and landed on my back. It had been years since I had fallen off Sweetie, and I could hardly stand it.

I stood up and realized how out of shape I was. Having two kids had taken its toll, and I hadn't been exercising. So I started going to the gym at least twice a week while my son was in preschool. I have not ridden much in the last few months - my focus has been on getting in shape. But I finally felt physically in control of my body and was ready to get back into riding, so I called a local hunter instructor and set up my first riding lesson in 10 years!