Clinic and Riding Outside the Arena

Last week I audited a groundwork clinic by Charles Wilhelm at Xenophon, where I volunteer.  It was free and what I found most useful about it was actually just that it reinforced a lot of what Mia has been teaching me - horses respecting your personal space, demanding obedience but not in an overbearing way, the idea of moving away from pressure as a good thing.  He got even the obnoxious Haflinger to ground tie! That was impressive, even coming from him.  He advocated bridling the over-the-head way that I've started doing, and reminded us to be careful unbridling - I really have to remember that! Embarrassingly enough, I don't know if I have ever really considered it.

He explained everything in such great terms that I was really kind of inspired to take up more serious ground work sometime... I don't know when, though, since Radar isn't exactly the easiest horse to do ground work with since he is so dull!  Had a nice little walk around on the roads on Friday, although I didn't put spurs on and paid for it! Thankfully Mia made me go back and grab a whip.  I love all the people complaining about how fresh their horses are on the trail and I still have to wake mine up!  Which is good because I'm a chicken outside of the arena, it's pathetic.  But because he's so darn slow I actually trotted up the road on him and felt confident... haven't done that in forever.

There are three possible horses coming into the barn that I would possibly be riding.  Kind of exciting, but between my general life craziness (was supposed to be in NYC today, cancelled because of the hurricane, etc. etc.) I can't really get that worked up about them.  It would be sad to be all happy and end up leaving after all!

So what discipline do I do, again?

Friday I rode in a western saddle for the first time in forever.  Today I rode in the jumping saddle and popped over a few x's (my first attempt at "jumping" in 5 years!)... all this a) on a Fjord and b) at a "dressage" barn!  I think the fact that I had so much fun doing both of these things really reaffirms to me that my main goal riding will always be to have fun doing whatever the heck I'm doing at that specific time.  No need to pigeonhole myself into one discipline or another.

Ended up riding Radar in the western saddle last week basically because I was curious.  The saddle's owner had finally punched another hole into the stirrups so it was more feasible to ride in, still a bit too long but manageable.  Had a lot of fun just playing around with applying all the Mary Wanless techniques to a saddle that at first feels very different (where are my seat bones here?)  Radar doesn't care what kind of saddle you're in, so we were all good.

Today we worked on getting him nice and in front of my leg... which honestly on him feels a little racy just because he's so naturally not forward and has an insanely short stride!  Mia decided to put up a tiny cross rail and we popped over it a few times, forgot how much fun jumping a bit is!  I have no desire to jump large fences but tiny stuff is fun.  It's hilarious on him with his short neck, you release and you're nearly at his ears! And I'm short - I can only imagine how much more awkward it would feel if you were taller.  But he was perfect and seemed rather happy with the turn the lesson took (anthropomorphizing, but I think I can tell when he's content). 

I'm glad he's in a good place physically and mentally right now, loosing Indy has been a lot easier because he's so much fun right now.

"barrel racing" with a Fjord

Well, it was actually cone racing because we don't have any barrels and our arena is too small for them anyway... but it was fun! Partly to get my mind off of Indy being gone and partly just to have fun, had a group lesson working on getting our turning aids fine tuned through the cloverleaf barrel pattern.

I think Radar has done this in his prior life - Mia thinks he did play days and games at the barn he came from - he definitely perked up. And for him, that's a good thing!  We ended up cantering the outside of the pattern to get him warmed up, trotting the first two cones of the cloverleaf and cantering the last cone to the end.  I was actually really impressed with how responsive he was to cantering not on a circle and at odd places!  I tend to forget that he's in a much better place physically and mentally than he was last year and I can expect more from him.  Fun overall, but I still miss Indy's personality.  Radar's sweet and cute, but I don't think he really cares about us as much as Indy did.  I know, total anthropomorphizing... but I don't care.

On the new horse front, potential barn horse #1 didn't pass the vet, #2 is temporarily lame but hopefully will still work out for a lease, and there's a #3 Appaloosa that will be tried soon.  I'm not even the one doing the looking and it's stressful!

"horses come and go": saying goodbye to Indy

I had my last ride on Indy yesterday, he's going back to his owner to be a trail horse now that his lease is over.  Completely understand why he didn't totally work in the lesson program, but am still sad.

Had a nice relaxing ride with a lot of thinking interspersed. Mia made me articulate every thing I've learned from Indy in the last year... here's what I can remember:

• Don't judge a horse by their physical conformation. Who would've thought that I'd love a huge-strided horse who is about a hand and a half taller than ideal?
• The mind is the most important thing for me.
• I like a forward horse with a great mind. I like Indy's "Go" but with his slower mental energy it evens out and is comfortable.
• Rhythm is important. I like horses with a sense of rhythm about them.
• I can learn to ride a big-strided canter if I have the motivation.
• Just because a horse is thin-skinned and pissy about being groomed doesn't mean they're not happy to be with you in their own way (totally anthropormorphizing, but whatever).
• It's interesting to get to know a rather subdued horse and recognize what he wants after riding more effusive horses. His personality is not that obvious but worth recognizing and becoming familiar with.

I'll miss him.  Two potential horses coming into the barn for other clients, plus Radar and maybe V., so I'll have a few horses to lesson on.  It just won't be the same for awhile.

Commitment

So I struggle with commitment. Not the go out to the barn and take a lesson kind of commitment, but the "I sort of asked you to lower your head five strides ago and you still haven't" lack of commitment. I need to ride stronger and it's something that I've always struggled with, I don't know whether it is just due to me being a chicken or physical stuff, but I'm not as forceful as I need to be.  And the horse is always so much happier when you actually give him clear signals! Poor guy.

Worked a lot on getting him nice and low and releasing without dropping him.  That feeling is sometimes hard to grasp, and the difference between a nice release and "oops! I got too far forward and he dropped me" but by the end I felt it and got a very nice trot.  Ended with a nice canter and I finally felt myself able to change my position and make improvements during his canter.  The "pointing with your knees" - although it sounds so odd! - really improved everything today.

Taking that Leap of Faith

So in my lesson on Friday, when I was preparing for my first canter depart of the ride... Mia just told me to take a leap of faith and go with it.  I have to trust myself and the horse.  And you know what? It worked.  Got some wonderful right-lead canter, left lead a little sticky due to my ridiculous inability to keep my left foot in the stirrup and face outward enough, but it didn't faze Indy one bit.  He's perfect and his canter is actually kind of amazing for working through things like this because his stride is so huge that you have enough time to process things and remember position things while you can fix them.  Love it.  So he might not actually be going... I hope not. But who knows?!

Other horse-related news, I finally got around to seeing Buck, an amazing film that really solidified what I want to become as a rider.  I realize that I have no clue what the future holds competition-wise for me, but I want to become the best horse person possible given my circumstances and abilities.  This film really proved to me that it is possible.  I also have a ridiculous desire to increase my horse knowledge - I want some clinics to audit or (gasp) participate in!  I've never been at barns that hosted clinics, so that whole aspect of riding has been lost on me.  I'm lucky enough to have a trainer who does that, but it might just be time for me to take that bull by the horns, no pun intended, and figure out how to get to the next step.

Cantering ponies and changes ahead

Had a great few rides on both Indy and Radar, working on my cantering and their straightness and throughness.  Indy in the curb, although not ideal, is great because he can get all stretchy and relaxed in a way he doesn't in the snaffle.  He really does have a fun canter even though his stride is HUGE, he's rhythmic enough that it's totally rideable.  I'll be really sad if he goes back to his owner soon... he's fun and I love his personality.  Had a good few rides on Radar, who is in such a better place than he was last year! He actually has a left lead canter that is easy to get! He is fun, too, now.  So I'm in a good place horse-wise, but sad that I don't know how long it will last.  I'm not to good with trusting new horses, so if another lesson horse comes into the mix... we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm bringing out my camera on Friday and hopefully will have some good shots of me on Indy.  I really want some to remember him by if he does end up leaving.  When Ghost was put down a few years ago, I realized how few pictures I actually have recently and realized I need to rectify that.

Bitting up and relaxing down

So I've naively thought for a while that less bit = better for the horse.  Thinking back on it, a majority of the horses I've ridden have been in snaffle bits.  I encountered a few stronger bits (a double-twisted wire, for example) in college at the hunter barn I rode at, but I think those were mainly for the benefit of the tiny lesson kids.  But snaffles have been the default bit overall.

This is changing.  Indy likes to brace and hollow.  And got forbid you get him long and low with a snaffle.  But for some reason, using the curb bit... he figures out that he can actually stretch and everything changes.  It's funny to think that I at least need a slightly stronger bit to achieve more relaxation... but it is what it is.  And everything changes once he gets his head down! Wasn't even the same trot at all.  So that was an interesting revelation for the week and made me think about the expectations we have of what is "best" for individual horses.

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!

Being Wanless-ified

So my trainer audited a Mary Wanless clinic, and has been using all these new tricks to torture me... uh, make that make me ride better.  My stirrups have been shortened one hole (she threatened two, but thankfully reconsidered!) and I've been working on riding in a positions that feels so alien - aiming to ride with almost a permanent "heels away" position.  The key for me, though, is working on rotating what Wanless calls the spiral muscle in the pelvis/leg (actually the sartorus).  Doing that really helps release something in my seat, and allows Indy to expand so much more at the trot... so much so that I can barely sit it, but I'm working on that part!  It's fun and this method seems to really click for me.  Being not exactly gifted in the athletic department naturally, I sort of need all the help and theory and explanation I ca get!

So apparently we can actually bend and leg yield...

In the bitless bridle, Indy is much more willing to do bending and leg yielding exercises.  He tends to become braced against the bit in a bitted bridle, so you have to work against that.  In the bitless, once he realizes he isn't going to accidentally get yanked with the bit, he is much more receptive to this.  Worked on really getting him to bend through the corners and on baby leg yields down the long sides.  The idea that the shoulders have to lead really resonated and helped me be more effective with my outside rein.  It's such instinct to try to prevent a drift towards the rail, you have to let the shoulders lead while still preventing it turning into a drift.  In my next lesson, I'm going to put my spurs on for the first time on him - I'm happy that my legs are secure enough that it's an option!  With a large horse and me with my not-very-strong legs... I think the spurs will be helpful!  Excited to try again on Tuesday.

Another great lesson

Indy looking cute in the cross-ties.

Even though my muscles are burning today, I had a great ride yesterday.  Did a lot of leg yields, baby bends, and some bending into slightly raised walk poles - all things that were difficult to do with a bit because he tends to brace against it, it was much easier to do and he seems a lot more receptive to the bitless bridle in general.  Interesting to learn how I need to ride with it, still a process but definitely coming along very well.  He's just so much fun in general that I sort of feel that we owe it to him to ride him the best way for him right now.

Going Bitless

On Friday I had my first ride in a true bitless bridless (a Micklem bridle)

obviously, not Indy

It was fascinating how easy it was to ride in this and how much didn't change about the way I needed to ride Indy.  Actually, not having the bit for me to interfere with allowed me to work on a lot more lateral work than I have done recently with him because I couldn't over-rely on the bit, thus had to actually correctly apply the leg and seat aids and he couldn't get braced and stiff.  All in all, it is really interesting to explore things with an honest, safe horse.  He obviously liked the bitless option, too, he always seems pretty darn content with life but I really sensed that yesterday.

Saint Indy (seriously)

So today I (and thus, Indy) started off really sluggish.  I was tight and stressed out, hence he was not moving forward.  Once I got him forward, we worked a lot on working on as long a rein as possible, basically at the buckle, and having him respond to seat aids, we did a bunch of lengthenings/shortenings, and just trying to get him to remain on the rail and basically get in the corners even on a very long rein.  He was wonderful and I love how he's so adjustable through the seat.

Mia said something I'd been thinking before: he has a QH personality in a TB body.  He likes to be ridden like a QH: don't mess with my face, I can take care of this, I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing because I think I'm supposed to do it.  Such a good guy, and I'm so privileged to ride him!

Better late then never: photos

 So the orange pony was a pumpkin for Halloween... complete with vine and stem.  For only being on the property a few weeks before this, he was a good sport about everything!

He's being kind of a pill lately so I'm back to just riding (Saint) Indy, who does amazing things for your confidence and abilities!  Working on my two-point a ridiculous amount hoping that I can get strong enough to hold on to his canter stride... I love this horse, but the whole 16hh horse with long legs/big stride and 4'11" rider combination is interesting.

But he's a good sport about everything, even if he does insist on sliming me every ride.  He so is not the slobbery type, and yet...