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?