Updates and good lessons

Last week: Had two very good rides on Radar.  He really makes you ride every. single. step. which is challenging in a way but also good feedback because it's what a rider should be doing on every horse.  He's in a really good place, and we had some fun with cantering and that sort of stuff - things that were quite difficult last year when he was in his pain cycle.

Today's lesson: Indy's back in action! Had a good lesson after some initial weirdness of going from a 14hh to 16hh horse!  Worked on really bending him and getting his hind end moving.  He's interesting because he's subtler than Radar in his evasions - he'll hollow or brace, but he will still keep going forward (just not as well).  It's easier to get complacent, which we definitely can't have!  But by the end of the lesson I got some great trot work in almost a training level frame... for me, that's a great accomplishment.  So I'm sore but it was worth it.

Lesson horses: the good and the bad

The bad: Indy is still off.  The abscess might need further draining.

The good: Radar is doing excellent and we had another great lesson with good canter work at the end!  Riding other people's horses is hard.  Radar can get into pain cycles (like he was in last spring/summer) that make him really heavy and difficult for me to ride.  Right now, between his management and the other riders who ride him, he's in a great place and is pretty willing and able.  Started out really sore from my last ride but worked through it, then went on to some basic bending, sitting trot, and canter work!  Cantered both directions multiple times and actually made it more than one time around the circle.  Sadly enough, on Radar this is an accomplishment!  Overall, a very fun lesson.

Of abscesses and trail rides

Abscesses: poor Indy turned up dead lame yesterday with an abscess.  Luckily the vet was able to find it pretty fast, but the poor guy looked pretty miserable today.  This is actually good news because he's been doing this weird hopping thing in the short ends over the last few weeks and we were worried it was more serious - hopefully it was abscess-related only.  So he was obviously out of commission today.

Trail rides: actually more like a country road ride, but same idea.  Rode Radar up and down the road today for something different.  It was actually good because I hurt my foot taking a walk yesterday (seriously, only I will do that!) and it was a light ride.  For as much as some of Radar's qualities in the arena are sometimes frustrating (such as being rather sluggish and dead to the aids) those qualities make him a great trail horse for a chicken rider like me.  You have to love it when a huge truck comes by and you spend more time making sure the pony doesn't sneak some grass than concerned about the truck!  This convinced me that I think Radar will be my first foray into Briones in about 4 years this year.  Hopefully there will be room for me in the trailers when I'm still inspired!

Pony funny of the day:
Poor Radar is not the brightest pony in the world, to say the least.  I was coming around the back of the run out for his stall, and went ahead and put an apple into his stall.  He didn't move an inch.  I could not get his attention at all (meanwhile the horse next to him is throwing a fit at said lonely apple).  So I give up, go around the barn, retrieve apple from the floor, show it to him, and place it in his feed bucket.  He STILL doesn't move an inch.  We try not to hand feed in general, but as my instructor is watching this all go down she determines that I should just give the poor pony his apple by hand.  Pony gets apple right in front of his face, eats, is happy.  Who said ponies were so smart?

Expectations of Obedience

So today Mia had me working a lot on changing my mindset when it comes to how I ride.  Coming from 15 years of riding predominately school horses, you tend to get a bit lax about things. (I said trot. How about a trot? Five strides later... you finally get the trot you asked for) But that isn't how it's supposed to work and I'm a decent enough rider that I can expect my horse to respond to my aids and get after him when he doesn't.  He's a lot happier, too, when it's clear what exactly he's supposed to be doing!

After that little discussion, we worked on some circles/turning them into serpentines whenever possible.  Our arena isn't huge, so it involves a fairly quick change of bend between half-circles which sometimes proved difficult but by the end of the ride I managed to get him moving and changing nicely.  Definitely ended on a good note.

And apparently his owner dropped by for a surprise visit/check after Mia had made the offer... and was so happy to see how well he's doing that she cried.  I'm glad our appreciation and admiration for him shows.

Lesson today (I was up all night and can't think of a more inventive title...)

So yes, I am crazy enough to keep my scheduled 11 am lesson after being up from 2-5:15 to watch the Royal Wedding and then going back to sleep!  But I'm glad I did because I had a really good lesson.  First of all, I'm apparently not allowed to use the mounting block anymore :) Slight exaggeration, but Mia wants to keep Indy's mind sharp and test me with the fence mounting technique.  We were successful on the first try today!  Since I'm 4'11" and he's 16 hh, a fence or block is the only way I'm ever getting on.  Not that I'm flexible enough to mount ANY horse from the ground that isn't a 13 hh pony, but still.

This is the first day back for lots of trot work post-hock injections, and he was great.  I love a horse that can be on very light work for a week and just be so ho-hum about being asked to do more.  Worked a lot on my seat bones and keeping my weight on my right seat bone and my pelvis facing right.  When I do that, his hopping and missteps go away.  Then we did a bunch of circles and quarter-lines (because the rail covers a lot of faults!) and some ground poles.  He was wonderful.

Rode in the jumping saddle today again, and had a really interesting discussion about saddles and what is important to me.  In theory, the jumping saddle that makes me work every fiber of my being (and wears me out quickly!) is best because it really gives me a great workout and strengthens everything... but what if I can do more now (i.e., trot for 10 minutes at a time like I used to be able to) in the new trail saddle that rides much more like a dressage saddle without the ridiculous knee blocks?  I'm willing to give it a shot and hopefully it will improve my riding.  It might also be a bit better for his huge canter stride!

Other big news is that Mia formally proposed an amount to buy him from his owner!  He's been on lease to one of her other students who is going away to college and we want to do everything possible to keep him in the barn.  Hoping with every fiber of my being that it works out.

Cantering, Climbing Fences and Other Miscellany

So... random update.

We cantered! Did a few half circles a few weeks ago and felt good!  Between him and me we haven't done it again and I can't wait to try soon after he's healed from his hock injections.

Today Indy needed to walk around a bit because he's recovering from having his hocks injected, and I needed a groundwork/mounting refresher.  Indy's adopting more of a "school horse" mentality which means he knows which ones of us mean business... and I would rather be in the group he pays attention to!  Worked on mounting at both mounting blocks, dismounting at the high block... and finally mounting using the arena fence.  My first few attempts at climbing it were lacking, but I got the hang of it and was able to actually get on twice that way.  You never know when it will come in handy, so I'm glad I have that skill.  Mia's threatened to only let me mount from the fence for the next few weeks!  Sounds ridiculous, but I think I'm up for the challenge...

Working On My Hand Position: The Corridor

Lessons have been sporadic due to vacations etc. over the last few weeks but what I have been able to work on has really helped me.  Last week Mia started to introduce the idea of conceptualizing the reins as a corridor: my job is to keep that corridor straight, even, and stable.  Now Indy is basically a rather stiff horse, so one would think this wouldn't be that hard... wrong!  He does indeed like to bulge, but the idea of keeping the corridor stable really helped me use my leg aids to get him off my rein instead of reverting to over-bending him.  Continuing the focus on the reins and hand position (since a lot of the leg position exercises and ideas are becoming so much more second-nature now after a few months of this) the idea of pushing down into the reins with your knuckles - not getting my hands too low, but lower than I had been riding.  This helped stabilize them and also allowed me to not have my hands unintentionally post with my body.  It's interesting at the walk, though, because when you're connected through the corridor (and, I guess, when you're really on the bit), your hands follow so much less than on a loose rein.  Have to re-acclimate to that kind of following after working so many years ago to achieve a following hand!  Always something new and better to work on!