Tails of the Off Track Thoroughbred

A THANK YOU and a pictoral essay

2012-01-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

First things first, a big THANK YOU to all the bloggers that posted on my blog post. It really helped to reassure me that Tiki will live and be just fine:) I have determined after reading up on splints that his seems to be just fine. I unwrapped it yesterday and left it "open", and today it looked pretty good. Still no heat or swelling, and the boo boo seems to be healing up pretty well.

Here's a few pics of how it looked today:

(view today. Note the lack of swelling)

(even the bump is smaller than it was)

(closeup of the boo boo)

(oh so stylish camo vetwrap protecting the boo boo)

(his oh so cool western splint boots)

(nice thick leather protective padding)

(muffin's turnout digs for the next week (note his mare being nosy!))

The verdict is in ... sort of?

2012-01-22T17:58:00.000-08:00

(sporting the injury wrap:( )

Well. Tiki's leg was still pretty swollen and warm by Thursday. He was getting turned out, but I didn't ride or work him despite being sorely tempted to longe him Wednesday. I ended up not, and it turned out to be a good thing. Thursday Tiki was scheduled for Coggins/shots, and he took a look at the leg while he was there. I wasn't there, and the message I got was, "Yep, that's a splint. DMSO, wrap, and stall rest for 5 days. Turnout at the end of that in roundpen, and if it doesn't look any better, plan to x-ray."

How EXACTLY do I determine "better"? As I said, he hasn't been lame. He's STILL not lame. I will certainly say that the swelling is 100% better. I was afraid to wrap because last time he had his splint boo boo and I DID wrap, I irritated the boo boo. I decided to use my brain, and decided to pad it with a gauze pad held in place with Vetwrap, then wrap over it. On Friday, after coldhosing it I inspected the boo boo more in depth since the blood had finally come off, and it looked kind of nasty; moreso than I had originally thought. I don't know how well the vet REALLY looked at it, but I was a little worried about it. Bought some antiseptic cream that claims to prevent proud flesh, and began using that as well. By today, the leg really LOOKS great. No swelling at all, boo boo looks MUCH better, heat is non-existent. There is definitely a bump in the splint area, and he is touchy tender (as per usual), so I'm mildly panicky as to what needs to be x-rayed. It is prohibitively expensive to bring the vet out for a 2 minute peek, but it may have to be done if I determine that bump is too scary to put him back to work.

Does anyone in bloggerland have experience with splint injuries? Anyone deal with a fracture? Anyone know exactly what it REALLY means when a horse "pops a splint"? This is territory I'm unfamiliar with, and I want to make sure I give him the proper treatment so he is sound for a good, long time. TIA for any insights!

(cold hosing)

Not really feeling it

2012-01-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

I have this near insatiable urge to rant against the IEA, and about a few select parents in charge of certain teams ... but I will refrain myself for the moment. I am a professional, and I strive to conduct myself in a professional manner in all areas of my life; ESPECIALLY online. Nowhere will you find nude pics, drunk pics, or otherwise compromising information about me:) But suffice it to say that I am sad, sick, and disheartened with my "team" life right now, and just wondering if a year off of it will do me some good. Maybe I will look into trying to steward some shows next year and NOT actively coach ... Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Moving on! My boy is not, and never really has been lame at all since Sunday. His leg is ugly ... to the point that I was semi-wondering if he's popped a splint. It looks worse I think because it's on that leg with the old bow. It's definitely BETTER looking, but still swollen, and still a little warm. I did loading dose number 2 on Monday, and I have cold hosed the leg every day, and he has gone out every night, but I have NOT ridden him. Today he had his shots/Coggins so I asked my wonderful barn owner to have Mr. Vet take a look at the leg while he was out to confirm that it's just a flesh wound. Sadly, I had my yearly visit with the Dr. today so I couldn't be there for the vet. Buuut ... I haven't heard from my barn owner, so I'm optimistic about the "flesh wound" confirmation:) I would think a popped splint or worse would warrant a phone call.

I hope to get back to riding on Monday because I feel like I'm wasting the loading dose. Got 2 shows this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, but I'm only taking Star on Saturday and nobody on Sunday because they only let in 2 kids on Sat and 1 on Sunday. Not worth it to haul an hour+ for only one kid. I do have kids from my other teams though, so I will be there all day. Yay me.

A third place finish, and a lame horse

2012-01-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

Well, today was bittersweet. My kidlets unloaded the Tiki boy, and I was informed that he had a cut on the inside of his cannon bone, and it was swollen. GREAT. Of course this would occur once I've decided wrapping is a waste of time for a trailer ride.

Upon inspection, I determined it was NOT a trailer injury; he's done his yearly/bi yearly splint injury. His right foot gets crazy twice a year or so, and gouges a chunk out of the left splint area. It's usually a substantial gash with swelling and blood. I then decide to "protect" him with boots in turnout, and all that does is irritate the wound and cause it to keep open and weeping. Because I've decided wrapping is a waste of time, I didn't notice the gash until we arrived at the show grounds (I'm blaming the 3:30 am wake up call). The blood was pretty thick and had obviously run down the leg and stained the hoof. The swelling wasn't too bad, but there was a small amount of heat. He wasn't obviously lame, so I opted to tack him up and allow him to warm up on the flat; he isn't dead lame, but he's certainly uncomfortable so back to the stall he went to hang out while the show went on.

My girls ended up third today out of about 14 teams, so yay for them. My middle school team is already qualified for Regionals, but my farm team isn't yet. 2 more shows to get it done!

Friday was a GREAT day. I set up a pole pattern I learned from Sinead Halpin (an easy bending serpentine line of pole/2 strides/bounce/2 strides/pole.

Also set up a 3 cavaletti bounce.

While I set up the exercise, I allowed Muffin to run around and blow off some steam; and blow it off he did! I've NEVER seen him so wild, lol! Leaping STRAIGHT up in the air, rearing up quite high, bucking, and running like a maniac. Hmmm, come to think of it, he could have hit himself at this point of the day and I just didn't realize it.

The ride was lovely; soft, sensitive, and forward once I got him in front of my leg. Had the stirrups tied to the girth, and they felt GREAT. It's so nice when my leg is tightly anchored; wish I could achieve the same feeling without velcro. I began with the serpentine exercise, and he was RIGHT there for me every time. I set the 2 strides 6 ft short, and they rode perfectly. As he cantered out over the 4th pole, I shifted out and asked him to land left. Only one time he didn't, and when at that point I asked him for a change,he GAVE it to me, woo hoo! I had a random line that was totally not set, and put in a quiet 5 strides each time. I finally came through the bounce, and it rode pretty well. I HATE bounces:) Went through a few more times and worked on his balance and his shape through the corners; I did the random line in both a 4 and a 3 in addition to the quiet 5. He was super adjustable! It felt amazing to finally jump a jump, albeit a small one since our last IEA show on Dec. 4.

I was disappointed for sure that he's off, but hopefully all should be well by Wednesday. Assuming that's the case, I will ride Wed and Thurs, Fri off, then final IEA shows Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow I will give him the 2nd loading shot of Adequan.

Keep your fingers crossed that Muffin's leg looks good with a little turnout tonight and some cold hosing tomorrow!:)

weird week

2012-01-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

This week the weather has been totally wacky. I stuck to the plan and rode the boy on Monday. Sadly, it was a day that has been rare for us lately ... we were arm wrestling a little bit. I remembered to take my dressage saddle pad, but forgot the bridle! I ended up using the regular cavesson/copper ball full cheek. He was NOT soft in it. He was extremely heavy at the canter, pretty stiff at the trot, and did NOT want to flex at the poll and stretch for me. One thing I've noticed in him ... he opens his mouth. Even in a halter with the side reins on ... he opens his mouth and sticks his tongue out. It's annoying, but it's him:)

So blech. I reversed and reversed and reversed and circled and leg yielded and transitioned up and down and still he was resistive and stiff. Out of frustration I hauled on his face a few times to get him back to me, and FINALLY he quit running away with me. I ended when we did a downward transition from canter to trot, then circled and he came up into the bridle and softened.

Yesterday the weather didn't really cooperate, and plus he had a pedicure ( I didn't know farrier was coming then!) so I didn't ride. I did dose him with his first shot of Adequan; not expecting any results from the first week, but hoping to feel a positive change by the time February rolls around.

Today was dressage saddle again, and I DID remember the bridle, yay! The dressage bridle has a single jointed Myler D-ring with no hooks or anything, and a flash noseband. The ring was completely saturated (it STORMED this morning, badly!), but the ring was perfect since our footing is still straight up M10 with no sand on it. I started out with a whole different attitude from the other day; I stayed soft, soft, soft. LOTS of leg, w/t/w/t/w/t transitions, and I had a different horse from Monday. He is so much more supple in the dressage bridle; I just think he needs to keep his mouth strapped shut, because I didn't love the Myler D-ring in the regular cavesson, either.

I did a LOVELY figure 8 at the trot with a fantastic bend. He was very flexed at the poll, he was soft in the neck, his butt followed his shoulders, and he just felt happy all around. I finished by cantering the figure 8 with simple changes through the walk, and he gave me THE most stellar transitions EVER. 180 degree change, yay! This morning I was in short sleeves in the sunshine, and this afternoon I was teaching in gusts of icy wind, huddled in a fleece and a jacket, dodging the sideways blowing rain. Gotta love GA!

Tomorrow it's back in the cc saddle, and I will probably use my cross country bridle with the waterford bit. At the show on Sunday the kids will use my stadium bridle with the figure 8 and the wonder bit. LONG week this week!

I love hacking out!

2012-01-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is a new day. Adequan regimen to begin! I'm excited to see what kind of results I'm going to have. Waiting for a break in the rain so I can get off my lazy butt and do 4 miles. Friday I rode the boy in his pasture. Meandered up the long gradual hill, went back down, back up again, walked across the way over to the other side, then went up and down the steep, short hill twice. We then wandered back across the way over to the long hill, where I guided him RIGHT along the fence line, in areas I'm pretty sure he does NOT hang out in. I was very proud when he squeezed in between a huge dead tree root and the fence. He has issues with tight squeezes, and I was happy when he didn't even so much as speed up. It rained pretty good yesterday and today, so the footing in the ring should be lovely tomorrow. I plan to ride in the dressage saddle for 2 days, then do 2 days of hacking in the cc saddle; will probably do some bounces and some poles, but don't plan to jump an actual jump until the IEA show on Sunday. Got this weekend and the following, and then I'm DONE with the regular season:) My new team qualified for Regionals, so we do have that to get through; not sure what my barn team is going to do. They don't seem into it at ALL this season, so I'm debating taking a year off from my Patchwork team. The boss is 110% on board with that, so I guess we'll just see how this season finishes up. It's disheartening when not a single one of the kids takes ANY initiative to step up and be a leader. Oh well! I will check back in Tues or Wed with an update on the Tiki Monster!! Until then, stay dry:)

Pushing through the pain

2012-01-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

... of not riding in a month! Ouch! I was so sore this morning I had planned to wimp out and head into the pasture to hack and walk up about 4 hills. Usually I do 6, but not when he's had a month off. Be proud of me though, because I tacked Muffin up and headed into the ring to work hard again for about 20 minutes.

We did the COOLEST thing! I dropped the reins completely. Put both hands straight out to the side and also alternated stretching them straight up over my head. I then walked Tiki a full lap around the ring, AND reversed direction ALL with using my eyes and legs, YAY!

He was unbelievably responsive, it was amazing. Tied my irons to the girth; I needed that super badly. Trotted several laps around the ring both ways holding the buckle with my right hand, and keeping my left hand on my thigh. He had some moments where he really took the contact and reached down to the ground, but for the most part, he kept his head fairly high and his back pretty flat and hollow. The good news is his rhythm was SUPER. Big, open, and forward without me having to nag him at all. I did strap on the spurs today, and I'm glad I did.

We did a better job trotting over the 9' cavalettis today, lol. Also threw in the shallow serpentine exercise, working on changing the bend, not leg yielding. I did a couple of turn on the haunches, and those were just average. Worked the canter transition from both the trot and walk, and they were quite nice. Again no cross canter, and today he didn't flub a lead. Yesterday on the straightaway from the trot tracking right he missed the right lead. I would say 98% of the time I ask for the canter transition on the straightaway so he's always in tune to my AIDS, and not the bend of the corner. I am SO glad I tied my stirrups, because I could feel my left leg especially want to get wonky and move like crazy at the canter:( It KILLS me, I wish my legs would just STAY STILL. But they don't, so I do things like tie my irons to the girth!

Approached the cavs from a different direction today and didn't miss a distance. Yesterday I stayed on a bit of a smaller circle and approached them off that. Today, I came at them from the longer side of the ring, approaching them a bit straighter. I held him on the lead, and he didn't land right when we were tracking left. He prefers landing right, so I try and work on him landing left if I want him to.

Finished by cantering right lead from a walk, then made a shallow loop and swapped cleanly to the left lead. THIS is the year of the lead change. I want to work on them, and I want him to reliably change all the way when I want him to. It's time. He's 9 years old now, it's time to grow up and be a big boy. All in all, a fabulous day! Tomorrow I will finish out the week by doing that hack/hills. Monday begins with 2 days in the dressage saddle, muwa haha!

Yay!

2012-01-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

It is SOOO hard to get a good longeing pic of him, haha!

I don't know in how many more ways I can count the ways of how much I love my horse. Yesterday I took him up with the longe line on, and was QUITE happy to see he was sound, sound, sound. Not that I had any doubts, but the last time I hooked up the longe line he was practically 3 legged lame. I clucked and popped the whip, and managed to get him to throw a few half hearted bucks. He showed me his usual cross canter. Grrr, it is so obnoxious that he will not canter CORRECTLY on the longe line. He cross canters both ways.

Today, it was riding day. I picked well! Monday was absolutely miserable; low 30's and wind gusts to 25 mph. Yesterday mid 30's and wind gusts around 10 mph. Today, sunny and high 40's! I shed a few layers of clothes, zipped on the half chaps, and swung a leg over my boy. He was 148% perfect. Not a head shake, not a kick out, not even a crow hop. No cross canters under saddle, no short choppy trot ... what a rock star! I left off the spurs because I figured I would NOT need them ... let's just say I was kicking:) Didn't do a whole lot; walk for about 7 minutes on loose rein, canter both directions about 4 times around ring on loose rein, go back to walk and put him on contact. He was his usual self, NOT wanting to come up and round at the walk. Picked up the trot, and he was lovely on the contact, just a little slow. I had to nag him a little bit, but he finally picked it up and carried me a little bit. I had 2 cavs on the lowest setting set at 9'. Began trotting him through; he and I can NOT trot through cavalettis. We are pathetic! It was embarassing, actually. Cantered left, cantered well through the bounce, reversed with a flying change; it was clean in the front, and I skipped the back. I was happy because he didn't get fast and worried about it. He DID get a little heavy tracking right, so I circled him through the bounce about 8 times until he backed himself off. Finished with a couple of trot/canter/trot transitions and quit when he stayed steady in the contact throughout.

Love him, love him, love him. I will ride him tomorrow in the cc saddle and the copper ball full cheek and plain cavesson again (did that today as well). Fun times!

Alternative therapies

2012-01-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

(One year ago)

More specifically, for the human! My goal this year first and foremost after getting Tiki started on Adequan is to introduce chiropractic care. I WISH I could share with y'all the PAIN I have felt in the last year that has been 100% alleviated by chiropractic adjustments. Now don't get me wrong, I am the first to head to the bottle of ibuprofen when I hurt ... but I haven't been to a "real" doctor since my boss 'made' me after I fell off Audrey and got a concussion.

Most recently, I was battling a near debilitating hip pain. For a few months, I've felt a little stress in it after a long day of riding, working, and walking. Last month at the most recent IEA show I attended, I rode 2 horses that didn't belong to me ... and were significantly wider than my Squeaky boy. From then on, my little hip stress became hip PAIN, to the point where I could barely climb up in my truck. 800 mg of ibuprofen barely touched it, it was that bad. So, off to the chiropractor I went!

My particular chiropractor is also a kinesiologist, which means he uses muscle tests, herbs, and machines to adjust you. He also uses a "cold" laser, foot soakings, and laser accupuncture. He is NOT a cracker type of chiropractor, which is super important to me. Cracking my neck makes it really, really hurt.

So, he did all the crazy muscle tests to determine where the issue was, and realized the joint was out of alignment. He adjusted the joint, adjusted my back and neck as per usual, and sent me on my way. Nearly 2 weeks later, I went back for a follow up, and would say my hip was at about 96%. He had to adjust it again, along with a whole NEW area on my back and neck, and today I'm sitting here feeling 110%. It is amazing. NO pain, no issues, I'm feeling ready to ride tomorrow! If I feel THIS good after an adjustment ... I can only imagine how good my horse would feel. So not only do I want to compete recognized at BN one more time, I want to do a few CT's at Novice and at least one schooling trial at Novice. All of that is after I get him seen by the chiro. If you've never tried it ... I recommend it!

Riding the boy tomorrow after a month off ... wish me luck!:)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T18:39:00.000-08:00

I will not be spending Christmas on my computer, so I will go ahead and wish everyone a Merry Christmas today! I was unsuccessful in riding my boy this week, but I DID get him up to the ring and attempt to make him run around. That counts as something ... right??

My AMAZING barn owner surprised me with yet another amazing Christmas gift. My first year there, it was front and hind Equifit T-boots. Last year, it was my gorgeous leather halter with the chrome hardware. This year, it was Adequan. Yes, the Muffin will be started on Adequan in January. I was a wee bit confused when I peeked in my gift bag and saw mounds of syringes and a pack of needles ... and then I saw the tiny little 5mL bottles. Joyce is just amazing, and I am SO lucky to work for such an amazing person; she and her hubby are 2 of the most generous, and kind people I've ever met. So this year, I will skip the hock injections and load him up for the month of January, then dose him monthly; I will then compare results at the end of the year and determine which regimen did him the most amount of good. Of couse, that means I need to RIDE him:)

My also amazing honorary little sis Nicole is SO good at finding me horse stuff even I had NO idea I really wanted. She knows me very well, and is a MASTER at finding stuff online. I LOVE halters with silver toned hardware, and one of my favorite brands of halter is the Weaver Elite nylon halters. Problem is, the Elites have a somewhat funky sort of pastel color palette suitable for 12 year olds, but not sure I am in love with many of the available colors. I love my chestnut in good 'ol royal blue. It's my favorite color on him, and it's the official barn color (royal, black, and silver) of my imaginary barn. Well, little sis found what I thought didn't exist ... a Weaver Elite halter with the brushed silver hardware in royal blue!

She got me a matching lead rope too, of course! Muffin got to go out yesterday afternoon in the muddy pasture, and had to get in some good 'ol Thoroughbred racing around his pasture. He came tearing around a corner and I mentally began counting down time before wipeout. Sure enough, his left hind came out from under him, he went down on his hindquarters, and slid a good distance. It was both horrifying and hilarious, and when he got up, bucked, farted, and took off up the hill looking sound as a dollar, I allowed myself a good laugh. Of course, he can't escape unscathed ...

(war wound)

I put in some good 'ol elbow grease time and cleaned up his filthy self. The weather has been SO mild, so he hasn't worn a sheet all week. He's for sure engaged in some rolling in the mud this week, enjoying his nakedness. I groomed him, clipped his muzzle and bridlepath, and took him up to the ring for some running around. Well, he was much more interested in eating, but I DID get a few little trots and canters out of him.

Look at the chunky monkey. I'm relieved to see his topline is still intact; must get him back in some good dressage work SOON!!! Anyway, hope everyone in blogger land has a WONDERFUL holiday! Go hug your ponies, eat WAY too much, and enjoy a few days off work:)

Of Christmas and NO time!

2011-12-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

Rode my boy about 3 months ago with just halter and a non tied lead rope ... BAREBACK!

Now that it has been determined the Muffin is sound, I have had NO time to ride him! Agh! I will have time tomorrow and Friday, the question is "Will the weather cooperate?" I will be prepared with longe line and surcingle tomorrow, weather permitting. I forcibly made him sound when I went to Tractor Supply and spent about $30 on abscess supplies;)

Seriously, I have NO idea if it really was an abscess. 2 days, that's how long he was off. I almost think he stepped on a rock running around like an idiot in the pasture, and all the soaking and wrapping made the sole of his foot feel much better. After buying the supplies, I noticed he walked out of his stall looking pretty sound, so I ran him up to the ring with the longe line, and he looked slow and tight as per usual, but sound and even in all 4 legs. I am so ready to not be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Oh well, it never hurt a horse to give him a little time off! Saving his legs and all that.

In other news, I will do a product review! The awesome website www.equestrianclearance.com had a pair of boots very similar to the Dublin River boots. I've never thought much about them, but upon walking my first xc course EVER (at 7:00 in the morning, of course!), I realized exactly WHY the Dublins and Dubarrys are popular ... wet grass! Sad thing for me is ... my calf is 16" on one leg, and a 16.5" on the other. Yup, too fat for any of the Dublins or Dubarrys. Imagine my surprise and delight when I realized these feature a 17" calf in the size 8. Hmmm. I wear a 7 1/2, so I'm SURE an 8 would work!

They only took about a week and a half to arrive from the UK, securely packaged up. I opened the box and was VERY pleasantly surprised by the excellent quality. They were gorgeous. I held my breath as I slipped my leg inside; I have tried on half chaps that were *supposed* to measure a certain size, but all I know is they were TOO small. Woo Hoo!!! They went on PERFECTLY. Downside is they're a little too tall, and the foot is WAY too big, but I'm so delighted they fit my calf, I've been wearing the heck out of them. Right away, I wore them out to dinner and got no less than 7 people complimenting my footwear choice, and where could they get them? Lol. It's fun telling non horse people how to buy horse boots.

I have been wearing them to teach, not trashing them by mucking stalls in them. Even though they are not *quite* as cushy as they appear in the pic, they're strangely comfortable. I did ride in them one time; the big foot made it sort of tough, but the calf was super comfy and the stirrup leather didn't pinch or anything. They've broken in nicely, and I've even worn them over jeans AND long underwear. I think the extra elastic gullet adds versatility to the fit. I've had them now for about 2 months, and they're holding up very well. I think the nu buck leather looks a little rough when well worn, but that's purely cosmetic. I need to find a product to clean them up some; they have dried mud and arena footing on them, but they're fairly warm and only rubbed a blister when I wore short socks with them. When I wear long socks (and the thicker the better), the more comfortable they are.

Bottom line, I would absolutely recommend these boots to ANYONE with a slightly larger calf. They're good looking, they wear well, they're comfortable, and they're functional. Get them from www.equestrianclearance.com. HERE

Of abscesses and best laid plans.

2011-12-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

So, it's common knowledge that I haven't planned anything with Muffin lately outside of IEA shows. I FINALLY planned a Gigi Nutter clinic, despite the fact that I haven't ridden or schooled him very much lately. But I was prepared to do my best and learn something.

Sunday he was at the Chateau Elan show where he was ridden in 2 whole classes; one 2' class and one flat class. He then proceeded to sit all week due to rain (and laziness). Yesterday, I decided that I'd better make sure all is well in the world, and went out to the pasture (GRRRRR) to get him. Lo and behold, he was trotting across the way and there was a definite head bob. Sh!+. I told myself that maybe it was my imagination, and proceeded to groom him thoroughly, pick his feet, run my hands all over his body looking for ANY abnormalities, then put on the surcingle. I went ahead and did my "cheap Pessoa rig" by tying a standing wrap to the rings on the surcingle just above the hocks, and led him up to the ring. I could see he was off at the WALK:( Trotted him both ways to confirm, but he was definitely head bobbing lame. Seems to be right front.

Soaked, wrapped, and repeated today. Will re-evaluate tomorrow. Obviously no Gigi clinic today. Merry Christmas to me.

Watching others ride your horse

2011-12-07T18:40:00.001-08:00

It's interesting watching someone else ride my horse. For the second Saturday in a row, I took Tiki to Patchwork to use in a few lessons. My motivation this time around was to get him quiet before shipping him to the site of our Sunday IEA show, Chateau Elan. Once again, he had not been ridden all week. Rain has played a big part in him and I not sharing each other's company ... not to mention the fact that my barn owner had been turning him out during the day. I had thought it was just to compensate for him being in for a few nights because of the rain, but apparently she was planning to switch him over to day turnout. Um, NO. I like him on year round night turn out because I ride him early in the day, and when he's out at night, he's out for 16 hours as opposed to standing in a stall for 16 hours. So, just another excuse in the land of excuses for why I've been lazy and not ridden my horse.

He was so adorable when the first kid rode him. That trot was short and choppy and looked like a race horse jig, but his head and neck is so much more stable and secure than it used to be. He jumped well; didn't get too fast or strong. I was happy with how the rides went. On Sunday morning, I packed his ears with ear plugs and held it in place with the bonnet. For the first time, I used his stadium set up with the wonder bit and the figure 8 for an IEA show. I was genuinely worried he would get pissed and jiggy during a flat class if a kid hung in his face with that setup, but we would have to see.

He warmed up REALLY well. He need some serious tuning up, though ... the canter transitions sucked. The original course had an end jump, halt, then counter canter the corner to the last jump. Lol. Only in the hosting coach's dreams! The steward changed the course to end jump/halt/trot final jump. I have to brag though; Tiki and I successfully did end jump/halt/counter canter twice:) What I hated about Sunday is (for the second time in 4 years) the fact that my horse was used in one middle school 2' o/f class, and one high school flat class. 4 times as an alternate; 2 of those were crossrail classes. I let them know the crossrails were off limits, and grumbling bad naturedly, warmed him up for his 2'6 alternate position.

His o/f kid loved him. His flat kid probably not so much since I noticed him counter cantering to the right. Ooops. Like I said, he felt like he needs a pretty serious tune up ... guess I'd better get on that before Tuesday coming up! Clinic with Gigi Nutter; SUPER excited!!!

Cleaning like crazy!

2011-12-01T17:22:00.001-08:00

I hate it when company comes over. That means a deep clean on the hacienda. I am more of a "surface" cleaner, not so much a CLEANER. I guess if friends came over more often, my house would be cleaner and it wouldn't need to be DEEP cleaned so much!:)

IEA show Sunday. Warm up starts at 6:30, so shipping over on Saturday afternoon. It's at Chateau Elan, which used to be a big show venue for local and "A" rated GHJA shows. As of late, it's been allowed to go a bit downhill which is sad, but it's still a nice place to show. I'm going all out: ear plugs, ear net, and his stadium bridle complete with wonder bit and figure 8. We'll see how he does!

Got a PLAN, woo hoo! Dressage clinic with Gigi Nutter on the 13th. Super excited! Guess I'd better clean the dust off the 'ol dressage saddle and practice some, huh???

Haven't ridden because the Son has been throw up sick which means he's been at home:( And now I have to get ready for the weekend and for "company" to come over tomorrow, so pony has been braving the rain and the cold in his stall for the most part. At least he's been dry!

Lazy days ...

2011-11-26T13:40:00.001-08:00

Today was a good day:) Tiki man hung out all week long since it was Thanksgiving week and I've been going nuts making all kinds of preparations. This morning, my alarm went off at 6 am, so I went ahead and hooked up the trailer and took the muffin man to Patchwork. He is a hairy beast, let me tell ya!! Can't WAIT to clip him! After Christmas, after Christmas...

He was weirdly in his stall when I got there. I guess Joyce was worried about rain or something. I didn't mind; made it easy to throw him on the trailer! I've recently been trailering him naked-legged. I always go back and forth as to whether I want to wrap or not wrap. What do YOU do? Do you wrap? Why? If you use standing wraps, do you do all 4 legs? Do you use bell boots?

Began the morning with a trail ride. He hadn't done the full trail at PW in about a year, and it was on the buckle the entire time. I took 2 other kidlets, and I enjoyed riding my boy. We had one sticky minute going down a steep wash out area to a creek crossing, but I convinced him it was ok to go first.

After the successful trail ride, I taught 2 of my IEA team kids on him. He was very good; I have NO complaints. The girls rode him very well, and I enjoyed watching him. Took him back home, hosed off his nasty self and sponged him with some apple cider vinegar.

Not sure what the week holds. I will for sure ride him before our IEA show on Sunday; probably in the dressage saddle. Haven't done that in awhile. I'll be glad when I get some more FREE TIME!:)

Riding my horse = pure joy

2011-11-21T18:24:00.001-08:00

(Squeaky at his second IEA show)

Since arriving home from Vegas, I had not sat on my boy at all. We flew in Saturday morning, and then I had exactly ONE WEEK to get our show organized. If you've never put on a horseshow before, it's stressful. Very, very stressful. ESPECIALLY an IEA show because you have to have enough horses to cover all the rides. I had every intention of hopping on the Muffin before Saturday, but I just did NOT have the time to do so:(

Saturday morning dawned chilly and gray. Tiki and Star loaded right up on the trailer no prob, and thankfully the new transmission shifted smooth as a baby's butt. The truck was supposed to have been finished the Monday we got home ... David and I picked it up on FRIDAY. Talk about cutting it close:)

To further complicate matters, David and I picked this particular weekend to buy a new car ... at a dealership an hour and a half away. My car was falling apart; it was a 2007 Pontiac G6, and I was about to have to pour some serious money into it. Sunroof, rear end alignment, wheel bearings, rotors, breaks, air bags, stabilitrak system ... seems like EVERYTHING went wrong right after our 100K extended warranty ran out:( Unfortunately, we arrived at the dealership Friday night around 7:30, and by the time we tried to put a deal together the banks were closed. We had to go BACK down there on Saturday to close the deal. The best part of this whole situation is now the truck is mine. David will be driving the car now so when I need the truck I have it! Yay for me:)

When I settled into the saddle on Saturday, it felt like heaven. He was super for not having been ridden in 2 weeks. The biggest thing I noticed is he was extremely heavy in my hands. He wanted to bear down and pull pretty hard. I worked him for about 45 mins because 2' horses warmed up first., so I had plenty of time. He felt GREAT over the course. I was happy with how the warm up ended up. Once the competition started, his kids won a few blue ribbons! I was pleased that the judge liked him. Because he's jumpery and not huntery, sometimes the kids don't get high ribbons on him. Like I moaned about in my last post, if these kids would just relax and FEEL what's going on underneath them, they would do much better.

Sunday he felt TIRED. I warmed up for only about 20 mins, and actually had to close my leg at the jumps. It went ok. He seemed a little bit irritable. Typical sensitive chestnut. Also, during the warm up, the put his tongue over the bit for the first time ever. Strange. I may have to start using the figure 8 for IEA shows again.

Thinking I may take him to Patchwork on Saturday to give one or 2 lessons on, and then I will trail ride him so long as the weather is good. I'm thinking I will not be doing much with him until after Christmas. Don't know about the horse trial; just depends on how the money flows. As per usual, I just have more "real life" things to worry about right now. Tiki's done a LOT this year, and hasn't had a real break, so it won't hurt him to get some down time for the next month. Hoping to find time to trace clip him soon; he's a hairy beast!

Viva Las Vegas!

2011-11-13T14:02:00.001-08:00

(doesn't even LOOK at this any more!)

(Whoopsie. First fall!)

Well, just got home! The left coast is quite an amazing beast. I've never been further west than Alabama in recent memory. I spent a week in Colorado with my good friend in Middle School, but that was a L O N G time ago, and the most I remember is the amazing Rocky mountains. I've been dying to go back and take the hubby with me, and they did NOT disappoint:)

It has been an eventful 2 weeks. My team's IEA show is coming up this Sunday, and so far not one single entry. Nice. Literally the day before our trip, the transmission in the truck went out. Are you KIDDING me??? Hubby and I can NOT live on one car; we each drive an hour to work one way in opposite directions; one car is NOT an option. Not to mention the fact we'd just spent $1100 on plane tickets to Las Vegas. Who has $2K to spend on a transmission? Uh, NOT me!:( The only reason we made the LV trip is because my sister decided she needed a Marilyn Monroe themed wedding, and where else to find THAT but Las Vegas?

So, we limped the truck to the Mechanic's and headed out to the left coast to try and ~~drink, gamble,~~ forget about the truck for a few days. Lol seriously, I spent $2 on slots, and didn't drink a single drop of alcohol. My self restraint amazed even ME!:) So, no big gamble means no big pay out, but oh well. Our day trip to Bryce Canyon in Utah was worth the trip, absolutely! What a gorgeous, amazing, breathtaking place. Snow on the ground, mountains AND grass, and pure, breathtaking beauty. On the drive back to Vegas, we hit a deer. SERIOUSLY??? It tore UP the rental car. Like, ripped the sheet metal off the quarter panel, broke the headlight assembly, busted the coolant holder ... it was undrivable. 3 hours later, our car rental company had arranged for a replacement vehicle, and we were able to then drive the 3 1/2 hours back to Vegas for the Big Day.

Won't be riding the red headed monster at least for tomorrow and Tuesday because we still have no truck. The mechanic seems to be MIA, so not sure how hubby is going to work tomorrow, but it will probably involve me having to do some driving:( When it rains it pours, right? Not thinking a whole bunch about the pony right now. I have a LOT on my mind with the truck and the show and the holidays coming up. Dressage lessons just aren't that important when you have to figure out how to come off $2K for a new transmission and still make your mortgage payment and your vehicle payments. Oh! And buy groceries, pay your electric bill ... you get the pic. Things will get better, they always do, but until then it's just stressful. I will report back when I get in some riding time.

Feels like forever ...

2011-11-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Since I've posted anything! Mon-Wed, I get home around 8:30, and I have just been TIRED. I fall asleep very quickly on the couch, much to the poor hubby's dismay. Got some non-horsey stuff coming up in the next few weeks. Tuesday we leave for Las Vegas, NV for the FIRST time ever! My 23 year old sister (who does live here in GA) is getting married there, so me, Hubs, and Son are flying out Tuesday night at 8:00. We arrive home on Saturday. I then have a week to be home, and it's time to prepare for the IEA show that MY team has to put on. So far, it's been a nightmare and I will be SO glad when it's over.

The week of Thanksgiving, we are getting out of town for the first time in our lives and spending a long weekend in Jekyll Island. We spent a little time there in Feb when I went to Ocala to get my trailer, and decided a little mini vacation would be super fun, so there ya have it! We'll be gone from Wednesday through Sunday, can't wait.

Red headed pony has been a good boy. Nicole moaned over his inability to potty under saddle in her final "pony swap" ride: Bad pony go potty! I will do a separate post on my final Sparky ride; I hopped on today bareback and in a halter, and it was a fabulous ride. He is like sitting on a PILLOW!

I was sort of "Meh" about the show this weekend. He warmed up fantastic, it was a beautiful day, and the flat classes went much better. Ear plugs are a good thing with him, for sure. His first jumping kid let him get a little quick, and it was just down hill from there:( I SWEAR, my horse is NOT hard to ride! These kids just don't have a clue how to sit softly and use their aids effectively, which is sad because 2'6 riders are supposed to be capable of jumping around 3'3+ on their usual mounts at home. If these kids are jumping that high regularly, I am SCARED:( Oh well, my goal is to make sure my horse has a sense of humor. It's certainly developing, each and every IEA show!

Rode today and had a blast. The first of the week he was just hanging out; Sunday was a big day for him. He is such an amazing horse; I am SO proud of how far we've come!

I have 'that' horse ...

2011-10-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

the one with the NECK! Woo Hoo:) 3 years of hard work has finally paid off. The ear plugs worked GREAT, and he was much improved this weekend. Jumping was again most excellent, and he was much quieter during the flat classes. MVP for sure.

Yesterday off, and today I decided to put him in the dressage saddle and work in the mare's back 15. Last time I did that I was riding with Nicole and Sparky and he was a horrible turd brain. Today, we worked back and forth along the fence line and did a w/t/c, shoulder-in, and some leg yields. He was GOOD. Very, very good. I was super proud. He was steady and well behaved and I was happy with him.

As I walked out the gate, I realized that Tiki is now "that" horse with a gorgeous neck. It has a topline, it has an arch, and it made me happy:)

Today's Tip of the Week; brought to you by Me
When putting hay in a hay net, first put it in a 5 gallon bucket, like one of the Home Depot paint buckets. Place net over the bucket, dump hay in, easy as pie! If YOU have a tip or trick, please e-mail me at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

Hope everyone has a great week! Hope to get in some nice rides this week; got a good start so far:)

Couldn't resist. This pic I took today and it cracked me up!

The Great Pony Swap parts 2 and 3 ...

2011-10-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Training bank

N train

Real live drop

brand new firewood stack

The CORNER!

The other new jump

So, I've had almost a week to process our awesome outing from last Saturday. Gave Muffin Mon off, and Tues went by with me needing to do some work at the house, so he got then off as well. Little sis rode him on Wednesday: Nicole's blog

I hopped on yesterday to walk hills (which it's been awhile since we did that). Today I had an obligation at my church, so no ride today. I plan to actually head over tomorrow and do a nice little hack before the IEA show on Sunday. Going to try little sis' bit which is a full cheek snaffle with a copper ball pacifier.The bit in question She thought she liked it. I think I liked it too, but didn't get above a walk:)

Another lightbulb moment was had: Going downhill (especially the steep one), he tends to flip his head and pull the reins through my fingers ... EXACTLY like he does when we halt. Since hills are supposed to be low stress, I usually let him do it (bad me). Yesterday, when he tried to pull the reins through, I 'floated' my hands, squeezed my ring finger, and he flexed perfectly at the poll and didn't pull. YAY!

Project pony swap days 2 and 3 are not too exciting. Day 2 began with a bit of a 'come to Jesus' meeting about mounting. I spent probably 10 minutes of my ride working on getting on. I witnessed a girl getting bucked off when mounting (suffered a broken hand), so to me it's a safety thing that a horse should stand STILL when you get on. The ride consisted of using his xc setup; a loose ring Duo bit with a figure 8 noseband. Sparky in general doesn't need the figure 8, but the duo isn't QUITE enough 'whoa' on the xc course, so by increasing the pressure on the nose and around the bit was perfect for him.

I just worked on straight with him. He is little (14.2 3/4), but wants to fall in hard core. I worked on keeping that inside shoulder in, so did lots of circles, and shoulder in. He was better in the duo vs. the above mentioned bit Tiki is borrowing. In the steel pacifier, he just got too behind it. The duo allows him to stretch into it, and in fact, he even was more willing to get above it, which is preferable to getting behind it. I thought he worked VERY well. Yesterday, he was PISSY. I was quite honestly shocked. Sparky is so easy going and happy. However ... he DID just get a full body clip ... AND it was about 45 degrees ... when it had been 78 the day before ... AND the wind was whipping like crazy. Poor boy. He did NOT have any interest in working for me, but we pushed through. During the cold months, Nicole doesn't get to ride him outside quite as often because she comes to the barn after work when it's dark, so I thought riding him in his pasture would be good for him. Walked hills like I did with Tiki.

He was just pissed. He could see out of the corner of his eye his buddies, and he kept trying to pop his right shoulder and drag me to his friends. NOT happening. When I put my leg on and took contact, he got behind the bit. Got him in front of my leg, and he tried to get "hoppy". He strained SO hard against my leg and hand, I had to circle right repeatedly to keep from 'arm wrestling' him. I felt like he was inches away from bucking my butt off, so I kept my heels down, and my sweet talking voice going. Each time we made it to the top of the hill, I patted him and told him what a good boy he was. Even the downhill he tried to drag me to his buddies, and he kept snorting and borderline spooking. I just stayed patient, kept my leg on, and worked to keep him focused. By the 6th time up the hill, he was *almost* relaxed; he definitely wasn't fighting me any more, yay. Interesting ride, for sure.

IEA show on Sunday, going to use ear plugs and longe him first. Hope it all goes well! I will be back on Monday with a new tip of the week:)

Calimar video

2011-10-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Jen and Tiki XC schooling

I think I'm riding so much better than I did at the Mud Creek show. Also, I'm riding much better than I did a little over a year ago, schooling at Chatt Hills. You can see the difference in both me and my horse:) Nice fall, huh? Lol.

Finally ... XC time!

2011-10-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

(almost ready!)

(the Novice cabin)

(the beginner novice cabin I was so scared of last year)

The best part of our weekend? I FINALLY got some video from Calimar, woo hoo! Gotten some great pics, but not any video, so super excited about that. I had some major nerves going on. It worked out that I jetted up to Calimar after lessons on Saturday in my car, and Joyce hauled up Tiki, Sparky, and Guilder. We had our own little Spotted Valley Stables crew along with one additional person:) I made it there about 1:45. Our session was at 3, so I got to watch for a bit. My nerves went nuts when a particular horse had HUGE issues over the big ditch. He did great over the little one, but was having NONE of the big ditch. Poor rider had to get off and try to longe him over it for their entire 2 hour session. He never did get it:(

Horses arrived right at 2:15, and I unloaded mine relieved to find him relatively sweat free, but alas COVERED in dirt! Agh! Figures. And of course my brush box was at home in my trailer. Oh well. Used a borrowed hard brush to knock off as much dirt as possible, inspected his cut (which was much less warm than before), and determined he was good to go. Y'all have to understand; my horse swells up and has heat in a FLY bite. He is the epitome of "sensitive chestnut". I have learned what *is* serious, and what *looks* serious. I had purposely left my paddock boots/half chaps at home so I wouldn't be tempted to wear them. Tall boots for clinic lessons! One thing I DID do differently ... I slathered "Saddle Tite" all over the inside of my boots and on the flap of my saddle. My boss gave me some for Christmas last year, and I have yet to use it. I figured xc schooling for the first time since ... May? was the perfect time to use it!

Flat in the stadium ring felt great. Mary Bess had us do a little w/t/c on our own. Nothing hard. Last time, we also practiced going from canter to gallop to canter, working on having a "bouncy" canter, but nothing like that this time. Cantered into a crossrail, and I think it took Tiki by surprise. I had been taking him over poles, and he was great over those, so I think the jump was like "HUH?" We looked like a fool over it, oh well. MB has us go again, and he jumped it fine. She was being super picky about my position, (yay!), and had me go one more time. Our "real" warm up was vertical (from the crossrail), sweeping right turn to a red/white oxer, sweeping right turn to barrels lying down. He jumped everything great, and MB admonished me to make sure I got him straight. I had felt straight, so I was a little puzzled by her comment, but I filed it away.

Our warm up was the same as last year; lincoln logs out of the arena, straight ahead to a hanging log, straight ahead to 'funky' log. He jumped the logs perfect, the hanging log a little wonky, and the 'funky' log perfect. MB wanted me to SLOW DOWN (gee, I've never heard THAT one before!) and keep my leg on slowly, then ride him down to the base. I tend either to have NO leg, or I tend to chase him. Worked on sitting back, sitting lightly, and keeping leg on to the base. Moved on to the ditches, joy. Little one was the best he's ever done. Back and forth over that, then back and forth over big one. Wow, he was PERFECT! I chanted to myself, "Sit up, eyes up, DON'T LOOK AT THE DITCH, and cluck ... stick at the ready". All that feedback worked because he hopped over easy as you please:) Strung together big ditch, new log pile. Then turn around, log pile, big ditch, hanging log 2 stride combo. I was a little unsure as to ride it in a 2 or a 3. Kyle did it in 3, and Guilder is much bigger than Tiki. We USUALLY get 3, but the last time I did it, he surprised me by almost doing a 2. Decided to ride it as it was meant to be ridden. Ditch was perfect, and I rode the log pile great. He'd never seen it before, and I sat back, locked in my leg, and rode right to the base. Turned it around, and he was a little off in the distance to it, but it was still fine, to the ditch a little awkwardly but clear, then I galloped over the 2. Again, MB admonished me to get straight and slow down, and I realized by straight, I was slightly angling the jumps. I've gotten so used to jumping our jumps at home on an angle, I wasn't squaring up his shoulders to the jump, and it's really important to help your horse read a ditch correctly by bringing them in square. One more time, and I nailed it ... and went slow, and he STILL got the 2, good Muffin:)

Next was tiny bank up, tiny bank down, hanging log, big bank up, train, stop. Train, big bank down, new log cradle jump, left turn to corner. Yup, the corner! Then up and around to an actual log drop off the tiny bank. I was nervous, but I swallowed it and went on. Tiny banks were perfect. Hanging log right out of stride. Big bank easy as pie, train he never looked at. Train again and he was excellent, big bank down (easiest it's ever been), log cradle (was a little nervous) he was slow off the ground, but no hesitation, to the corner. A stop at the corner, but it was a question he'd never been asked. He willingly touched his nose to it, and then I came again. He made it over this time well; still slow off ground, but honest this time. Up and around to log drop, and I'd swear I was jumping off the end of the universe! She had me do train, big bank down, log cradle, corner one more time, and they ALL felt amazing. I felt like I was really riding well, thank goodness. The big bank and the corner are Training questions. Don't know about the new jumps; either BN or N I'm sure.

Finally to the water. He trotted in with no hesitation whatsoever. Our task was little bank in, little bank out, canter in ramp, then out over a vertical. Left turn to a triple log coop, to the BN cabin next to the water wheel, left turn to the N cabin, then right hand turn to the big Training level drop into the water. Banks were good, coop perfect, BN cabin not a look or stutter, novice cabin rode GREAT. Then at the T drop into the water he dumped me. Yup. 3 years and I've never actually fallen off my horse at ALL, so this was the first time. I was expecting a stop, I was NOT expecting a stop and his head to completely disappear. Almost landed on my feet, so no biggie. Got back on, then went to medium bank in. He was NOT going. Got his feet wet again, and good. Medium bank again and I had to "beat" him in with my stick and my leg. Once he got in, took him down the medium bank about 5 times, then tried the big one again. Again, he was stopping and shutting down. I was exhausted. I had no leg left. Purposely had left off my spurs, and I was wishing I had them. Did medium bank in again, then turn to big one, and another stop. MB gave me one more try, then she was going to get on. Hit him again behind my leg, turned, and in he went! Woo Hoo! We were done. Truth be told, I was a little scared of a HUGE leap into the water, so I'm not sure I was 100% on asking him to go in. 98% for sure, but I was a little scared. I am SO proud of him!

Well, anyone that has gotten to the end of this novel deserves a medal. I had a GREAT time. I feel like I rode really well, my horse has grown up SO much, and we accomplished more than I had hoped. I feel very prepared for my planned BN event in Aiken in Feb. Going to shoot for Full Gallop, I think. So long as Squeaky and I make it around xc clear, it will be our last BN outing. I feel like most of what we worked on yesterday was N/T, and that makes me really happy. MB had lots of good things to say, and I think I followed directions well and did a good job. I will post video on a separate blog. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the upcoming week!

Continuing the update ...

2011-10-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

As I sit here with the live footage from the USEF Medal finals minimized, I am reflecting on the journey I've had in horses so far in my life. These kids spend THOUSANDS of dollars for this one chance to make it to this class, only to be eliminated at the first fence (2nd to last kid), or fall off (last kid). In a way, I'm glad my entire junior life wasn't about horse-showing. It's hard. Just like making it big in the music industry (like a friend of ours is trying to do), "fame" is hard to come by. I'm grateful for the experiences I've had. I've shown in probably 15 horse shows TOTAL in my life, and I appreciate every one of them. ANYWAY!

This week it rained a good bit. Tiki had Monday and Tuesday off after his long Sunday working at the IEA show. Nicole rode him on Wednesday, and he was a good boy.
Honorary Little Sis' recap of her ride

Thursday, I had a LESSON! Woo Hoo! It's been a fairly long time since I've had a dressage lesson from Susan, and it was about time! I did NOT have high hopes. For one, his last flat rides were less than stellar. For another, he'd just had his fall shot booster the day before, and thirdly he had just had his feet done about 2 hours prior. Walking around to warm up, he felt tight. Susan noticed, and set up a slightly raised grid to get his hind end to unlock. We trotted through it a few times, and it was hard to get him to be straight and NOT kick the poles. He did pretty well with it, and by then he was looking a LITTLE better. Trotted on a pretty small circle working on our transitions, and that was REALLY good. By that time, he was starting to feel much looser and more willing to step underneath himself. Susan was very complimentary of the homework we'd been doing, and was quite happy with his consistency through the bridle, yay!

We FINALLY got some quality instruction for our lateral work. I have been dying to really work on that, but we've just never been truly ready for it. I've been doing my shoulder in left perfectly, but the right one needed a little more work. The leg yields, I tend to overbend. We worked on straightening his body through those, and did an exercise where we leg yielded/straightened/leg yielded, back to the rail. He was moving off my leg beautifully:) Worked on collected canter, and by this point, my leg was just dying, ugh! I'd left my spurs at home (not on purpose), and started out with a dressage whip, but I tend to toss it down because I feel it just makes both of us stiff. Her words, "pretend you're cantering around a tea cup!". I got some LOVELY, balanced canter ... "one step just like the last!".

My hip flexors were numb at this point, but I was game to work on some haunches in. He was pretty dead at this point as well, so the haunches in were pretty good because he was very non reactive off my leg by then. We got several good steps, but it was FAR from perfect. The best part of the lesson is the "light bulb moment" I got. If you have followed this blog for a little bit, you'll know I've struggled with my downward transitions; keeping Tiki from hollowing out during them. I stiffen my arms and brace against him too much, but when I use primarily seat, he pulls down hard on my hands and the transition is NOT good. I know to "carry my hands". I holler it at my students all the time. I try to carry my hands. But when Susan said to "float my hands" during the downward transitions, I did, and he kept his contact BEAUTIFULLY! He didn't try to yank me down, he didn't show any attitude, he was LOVELY. Love some lightbulbs:)

Friday, I'd planned to do some light "long and low", because I was SORE, and I figured Tiki could use a nice, stretchy ride before our xc lesson on Saturday. Good thing I'd planned that because his left hind was swollen with a large scrape looking thing. It was hot, nasty looking, and tight with fluid. I trotted him out and he was sound, so I tacked him up in the cc saddle, the dressage bridle with no noseband, and no boots. He worked well; just lots of stretchy trot, some nice canter work, and that was it. The leg looked slightly less puffy, but it was definitely still hot, so after untacking, I cold hosed for 12 minutes. Gave him a full bath and tossed him in his stall. Could not WAIT for Saturday!!!!!!!!

Lots to catch up on!

2011-10-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

(one year ago, before our ~~first~~ only recognized horse trial!)

Wow. I'm sitting here fairly exhausted from an AWESOME ride at Calimar today:) Last blog update was from Friday a week ago when I rode honorary little sis' boy, Sparky. I promised a Tiki update as well, and I'll be darned if I haven't already forgotten what I did! I want to say that I put on the cc saddle and the bridle I'll be using for IEA shows, and did a nice flat hack; I'm thinking I actually put on the dressage saddle, though. Sad. That's why I have this blog, so I don't FORGET what I do!

I could not POSSIBLY forget about the show on Sunday, though. What I DO remember about Friday is that he was really, really good. He was lazy as heck, but a few well timed squeeze of the spurs, and he was feeling better. Saturday, Tiki went outside during the day and stayed in that night because it was literally 4:15 am when we (Nicole and I) arrived on Sunday morning. The show was 2 hours away, so we loaded up Squeaky and Star Mare and made the uneventful trip north to Dahlonega, GA. He unloaded with a light sheen of sweat, and stood with his usual tail swishiness while I tacked him up. His IEA bit is his dressage bit (a jointed Myler D ring with no hooks) and the hunter bridle. No martingale or anything, because he REALLY doesn't need one, but I do use his fleecy boots in front and polos behind.

Mounted and walked him around outside the ring for about 10 minutes. I was hoping he would really relax in and settle down, but he didn't. He was fine outside, but the SECOND we stepped in the (DEEP) ring, he became jiggy, swishy, and head shakey. Ugh. It's been since February since he's been ridden with OTHER horses working around him, and he just hates it. That's why eventing suits us; it's a solitary sport. That's why my dressage tests have thus far been barely mediocre; group warm up. I TRIED to get him to bend, asking for some shoulder-in. I lost the hind end pretty hard core. Asked him to move off my leg and his head shot straight up and he spurted into a fast, choppy trot. Sigh. The other horses had already jumped around by the time I cantered, so I took him around. He was very pissy and got heavy on me. I REALLY wished I'd had the wonder bit in, but I do not want kids to have those kind of brakes to hit him with if they get left behind. Plus, as pissy as he was, he would only get behind the bit anyway, so I made the most of what we had. The jumps themselves were no problem, but the line that was supposedly a 5, I nearly caused him to flip in. I'm trying to get him to consistently "make the step", so I jumped in and used my leg. He was about 3/4 of a stride too far away, but he jumped anyway, and hung a leg pretty badly. Added and did 6, and it was perfect.

I buried him to the oxer once, but other than that mistake, he jumped around nicely. He had three flat classes and 2 jumping; one of the jumping he was pulled from because he is weight restricted, and an over the weight rider had drawn him by accident. So, one o/f, 3 flat. Well, his first rider BOOTED him in the very beginning, and he damn near bucked her off. It was ugly. In all 3 classes, he was cross cantering, flipping that head around, and actually picked all 4 feet of the ground and bucked a few times. He was JUST not happy:( To top things off, as we held him outside the ring, he was incessantly kicking that right hind ... over, and over, and over, etc. I had no less than 3 people suggest I may want to remove his polo wraps. I just smiled and said thanks, that's not it, but great suggestion. FRESH pony.

Finally, the flat torture was over, and he went in for his one jumping class; GREAT. He was SO much happier to be in the ring ALONE; it's like he was breathing a huge sigh of relief. His kid got a ribbon, and all was well:) Both of my teams (my 'other' highschool team, and a new middle school team) won Reserve Champion, yay! I will try ear plugs at the next show next Sunday, and may even spin him on the longe line for a few minutes before I get on to warm up. Hopefully it was just "haven't been anywhere in months and I'm fresh" syndrome, because when he's bad I take it personally.

And ... the lightbulbs keep coming ...

2011-10-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have become a wimp in my old age. 15 years ago, I literally wrote down the name of every single horse I sat on. It was a mission of mine to sit on as MANY as possible. Up until 3 years ago, I still had this mentality a little bit. I used to go over to a barn that re trained ottb's, and got to ride pretty much whenever I wanted. Weirdly enough, these horses were much more difficult than Tiki, but flatting I felt pretty good, so I was fine on them.

Once Tiki turned into a 'real' horse, and we started jumping 'real' jumps, I lost the desire to ride other horses. ANY other horses. It is so much pressure to get in the necessary rides on my ONE horse that there's definitely not enough time in the day to ride multiple horses. Ok, maybe that's a little bit of an excuse. Ever since I warmed up one of our lesson horses for IEA Regionals 2 years ago, and he literally stopped and jumped every single jump from a standstill to the point that I ended up behind the saddle, voluntarily dismounted while moving, and passed him off to a better rider, I've been a little gun shy about performing in public on unfamiliar horses.

When honorary little sis Nicole suggested Project Pony Swap for the month of October (once a week, not every ride!), I thought, "Why not?" Today was swap day one. ~~The victim~~ willing participant: Sparky, aka Napolean Dynamite. Sparky is a mostly Morgan gelding that stands 14.2 1/2 on a tall day, and is the epitome of "Barbie" pony! He also has a ... um, "Wheee" streak? In the words of Greg Best (yes, THE Greg Best): "Yes, you're right! He IS an asshole!" Let's just say that I took my phone with me up to the ring today;)

I opted to ride in cc saddle even though I was SORELY tempted to ride in the dressage saddle due to the GORGEOUS browband on his bridle. Like little sis, I just could NOT bring myself to mix the black, obviously dressage bridle with the brown cc saddle, so I ended up using his "bad pony" bit. For Sparky, "bad pony" is a full cheek snaffle with a double jointed center that attaches to a tiny round copper ball. I knew he'd spent a little time in a stall lately, so I just wanted to make sure that I had recourse should I need it. Headed up to the ring, raised my stirrups NINE holes, then hopped on. Believe it or not, they were just a hole short, so lowered them to 8 holes up from little sis' length, and took off on a marching walk.

Sparky leans to the inside like he's an 18 hand warmblood. Looks to the outside, leans and pops on that inside shoulder, and makes you work to get him in front of your leg. THE most challenging type of horse for me and my short legs to ride. Spent some quality time at the walk circling, spiraling, and performing shoulder-ins. At the trot, he promptly arched that Barbie pony neck of his and dropped behind the bit. I worked to get him up on the contact, and rode him with my LEGS. He is exactly the type of horse I like to overuse my hands on, and cross my inside rein to attempt to get that inside shoulder STRAIGHT, so I tried hard to keep about 5" between my hands, right on the right, left on the left. Gigi's advice thundered in my brain. "FLEXION ON THE INSIDE REIN! GET HIM DOWN INTO THE OUTSIDE REIN!" So, I flexed him with the inside, used leg, and squeezed my outside rein, and he settled into a lovely contact with a nice, straight free flowing trot. Thinking of his notorious "duck and run" move that he randomly does at random jumps, I set out 2 jumps as poles on the ground between 2 standards. I have no plans to actually jump him, but working over poles and cavalettis are fair game. Trotted over the poles at random intervals, and he did those better than my horse typically does.

The canter transition was VERY "runny". In other words, not clean. It FELT good once I got it. Again, I concentrated on not crossing my inside rein, and kept him on the contact and not behind the contact. Did my favorite exercise from when I was riding Mick (see MUCH earlier blog posts!), which is a 10m circle, reverse across a diagonal. Rinse and repeat a million times. I finally cantered him to a pole, and by GEORGE I think I've diagnosed WHY Sparky does the duck and spin at the last minute. Even though he LOOKS like he's cantering in on the bit, I could feel him suck behind the bit, thus avoiding ALL correct contact. Of COURSE that opens him up to being allowed to go wherever he wants, and since we all now know he can be an asshole ...

Just my theory! The point of the swap is to improve us as riders, and hopefully fill in some gaps and help improve each other's horses as well. I ended up having a great time, but I'm SURE I will have some super sore legs tomorrow. Lessons tomorrow, first IEA show of the season Sunday, dressage lesson Thursday and XC lesson on Saturday. TOTALLY looking forward to this week, woo hoo!

I did ride my pony today, but it's bed time, so I will update that tomorrow:)

Maybe getting back into the swing of things?

2011-10-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

(the boy at an IEA show 2 years ago with a 'Varsity Open' rider)

Maybe there's the possibility that I'm FINALLY able to do a few things before year's end? God willing? I went with Susan (dressage trainer I lesson from every few months) to watch her ride in a Gigi Nutter clinic (BN dressage trainer based here in GA). I ALWAYS learn something when I watch; Gigi has this amazing eye, and a sixth sense that I imagine all the BNT's have when it comes to getting through to a particular type of rider. I FINALLY got to really watch LOTS of lateral work. Basic lateral work, which is what I need work on.

I learned that a half pass is a shoulder-in. And a haunches-in. At the same time.

I learned a pirouette is a half pass on a circle.

I love that dressage REALLY is just a progressive exercise. That's why I've had trouble trying a half pass; my horse doesn't have a very good haunches-in. My canter cue is too similar to the cue to a h-i (identical, in fact), so I need to change my canter cue. Homework! And I didn't even have to spend MONEY! Not even for GAS! This is what I love about my sport:)

I will work on a few things and take a lesson from Susan next Thursday. It's been awhile, and I feel it's time for a good booty kicking. Speaking of booty kicking, the Saturday following next Thursday I will be hauling out to Calimar for a xc lesson from Mary Bess Sigman! Yay! Now, I love dressage as much as the next person, but I'm not NEARLY as excited about my dressage lesson as I am for my xc lesson. It's been over a year; I last rode with Mary Bess last September ... that's the ONLY time I've ever had any type of xc instruction, so I hope I've come a long way and made some good progress.

Speaking of progress, here is the link to honorary little sis' blog about her ride on the Tiki Muffin:
http://laughingdownthelines.blogspot.com/2011/10/commence-project-pony-swap.html

Let's see, what's happened? Monday he had off since little sis rode him Sunday. What did I do Tuesday? Oh! Right, nothing because I went to Gigi. Duh. Yesterday I did trot sets. I haven't done them in a fairly long time, so I patted myself on the back. Dude ... my back was KILLING me. Thank goodness the pony decided not to trip and fall on his face (literally) this time. He was a teeny bit rotten, but not bad at all, yay! Slow and tiny strided at first, I popped him with my crop once or twice, and he got better. I let him stride out into a full on gallop; not a xc gallop, but a GALLOP. He actually swapped out his lead so he could "kick it in" to gear. Fun, fun, yay for nice flat pastures with good footing:)

Tomorrow I'm riding Sparky in my own Project Pony Swap, and will throw Tiki man into the dressage tack one more time for a good schooling before the IEA show this Sunday. Looking forward to seeing my red head cart around some kidlets, and excited about warming him up:)

Fulfilling

2011-10-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Soo, it makes me feel AMAZING when my horse goes well for someone else. Even though I'd hoped for the fairy tale version of horse ownership where he came galloping to me in the pasture to lay his head on my shoulder and nicker softly in my ear, that's just not who we are. I LIKE to share. It is more of a measure of my success as a rider and trainer when my horse goes equally, or BETTER for someone else than for me. I have been stingy about his re-training because I wanted to test my abilities and see how I could do with him on my OWN, but now that we've reached the land of lead changes, 3'3 being no big deal, and trucking around the 2'6 at IEA shows, I'm good with sharing:)

On Friday, I didn't plan to ride my boy because the new addition to the family had a vet appt to check everything out, and formally get adopted (if you're going "Huh?" click on the tab at the top of the blog called "10 random facts"), so that meant my cleaning schedule was messed up. However, I got a phone call late Thursday night letting me know one of my kidlets had a HORRIBLE lesson at the barn for her school's equestrian team, and could I PLEASE restore her confidence on Friday???? Well, I don't teach on Fridays, but I told them if they were willing to come to me, I'd give said kidlet a lesson on Tiki. They did, and I did.

He was a ROCK STAR. Plain and simple. She is a pretty beginner rider, 8th grade. TALL and skinny, you know the typical Hunter/Jumper type;) Just learning how to competently negotiate crossrails, and learn how to pilot around an inside/outside type course. For safety's sake, I put him in the wonder bit (aka, BRAKES), but knowing how quiet he always is at home, did NOT worry. He was GREAT for her! Dead quiet, took nice big slow trot steps, never missed a lead, stayed slow and quiet at the canter. Backed up when I had her try a totf because she used too much hand, but that was not a disobedience, just a "what?" She did her first leg yield, and I was just bursting with pride. Trotted a crossrail about 4 times, then jumped it at a canter one time off each lead, and he couldn't have been better. Friday was more a measure of our success than any of the shows we've done lately, and I am just happy as can be!

Honorary little sis Nicole rode him yesterday, and she promises a full blog report, so when that happens I will link up. Gave him today off since I put in 24 bags of bedding, but will ride tomorrow. Full report then. Thinking I will do trot sets in the pasture because it's been over a month since I've done them, bad girl!

Actually proud of myself

2011-09-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

And the Muffin, of course! ALMOST called it and didn't ride. Joyce has been extremely busy this week, which has meant lots of extra work for me! I did an hour's worth of work before I even touched the first stall, so by the time I was done cleaning, I was done. But, I pushed through, tacked him up, and took him up to the rock hard ring. I dragged out 2 jumps from the enormous pile in the center of the ring, and put them at '6' and '12', perpendicular to the short side. Basically, I had half of the "circle of death".

I eyed the jump cups closest to the rail, and guesstimated them at 3'3. After placing a pole on them and realizing it came up OVER my hip bones, I thought maybe 3'6, but thought, "Nah, 3'3". Pulled out the measuring stick, and sure enough! I set the other jump at 2', and debated dropping the big one down to 2'9. Then to 3'. Then I gave myself a mental butt kicking and said if I'm really contemplating a BN trial in February, it will be the final one barring any problems. Which means that my NEXT outing will be a N. And if I'm showing at 2'11, I need to be comfortable schooling 3'+, emphasis on the +. So I walked away and mounted.

After another good loose rein walk warm up, picked up the trot. He is tough flatting at home in the wonder bit because he is SO quiet, and the wonder bit has a lot of "whoa". I worked my butt off keeping him going forward, and spent about 15 minutes switching between big trot, toth, shoulder-in at the walk, and leg yielding across the entire ring at the walk; that was cool! I didn't drill his contact today since I had already done that yesterday; instead, I waited until I felt satisfied he was working hard, then cantered up to the 2' jump off the right lead. He twisted in the air, knocked the pole, and tried to go left on landing, but I stayed back, stayed committed, and kept him on a circle to the right. To begin, I was working only over the 2' jump on a 20m circle. Did it again, and nailed it. Right lead probably 4 times, then reversed to the left where it felt even better! I drifted a little bit so I could nail the distance, and then without thinking about it too hard, headed up to the "big one". I sat UP, I maintained a rhythm, and I closed my LEG! Yay, me! Did it about 3 more times tracking left, then reversed to the right. Right lead is MY weaker side because HE is a little bit weaker when it comes to jumping. I've always been most comfortable tracking left even though our flatwork to the right is better because my right leg is stronger.

ANYWAY, didn't quite "see" the distances as well as I could have, and only had one "tragic" one, but STILL the boy jumped out of his skin to keep the jump up. He felt amazing. Despite the fact that he almost knocked the 2' jump down the first time, he felt amazing every time over 3'3. I did put both jumps together both directions twice each, and I was pleased with how it went. I was proud of myself for not wimping out and making it easier on myself. I didn't use guide poles, I didn't use a neck strap, I didn't tie my stirrups to the girth, and I didn't lower the jump. I'm trying to train my eye to see the jumps as "No Big Deal", and to view height as being inconsequential.

It's been a slow process, but I'm getting there. Even though I haven't had the $$ to do anything eventing related this year at ALL, I've kept up with keeping Tiki fit, strong, and well schooled, and I'm always working hard on making myself a better rider. Hoping to introduce chiropractic care into the budget before the end of the year, and now working towards a HT in Aiken in February. Until then, I have warming him up for his first IEA show of the new season next Sunday, and a lesson with Susan some time this month:) It's all good!

Dressaging it ...

2011-09-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

Had a really good ride today in the dressage tack. Walked for about 7 minutes or so on a loose rein; did 20m circles both directions and focused on making sure his neck was bent correctly. Picked up the contact, then trotted nice and forward right on the rail both directions. Worked on FORWARD. He actually felt GREAT:) Shoulder in both ways, figure 8 at trot many, many times until he was absolutely steady in the contact and didn't get hollow once. Lots of transitions, focusing on maintaining steady contact. One beautiful, clean change from right to left, one awful, discombobulated half change from left to right. Left the changes alone. I just have this ... need/desire to get an "on command" lead change. Maybe some professional help will help with that, I don't know. Obviously, I suck at my timing, so I'm no good at changes. Oh well, will stick to the things I AM good at.

Planning to ride tomorrow instead of Friday; want to jump something, so I guess I will! Not sure yet what I will set up, but hopefully it will be fun:) Perfect Image Farm is my someday privately owned farm where I will do my eventing thing, and may or may not teach other people anything; depends on how rich I am;)

Another week has flown by ...

2011-09-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

Really can't believe another week has gone by. It was a week ago that I last sat on my boy, and today he couldn't have been any better. I took it easy because I woke up feeling a tiny bit on the puny side, so I hopped on in the cc saddle, no half chaps, no boots, and no bridle:)

We just hacked around the boy's back pasture. I didn't really put him on a hill track, we just went up hills, down hills, through the wooded areas, around the trees, and over ditches made more recently deep by all the rain we've had. The aforementioned rain would be the reason I rode Tiki on Monday, but not the rest of the week. There was a little bit of head shaking going on, but I watched carefully and even though I COATED him in fly spray, there were still flies landing on his neck and biting his delicate little red skin. He was a good boy; I was proud.

Today's tip of the week is brought to you by me ... because I had to use it today! As I was grooming the muffin man, I noticed those pesky little yellow flecks ... BOT eggs:( The easiest way to get those goobers off is to take a cheap disposable razor, and scrape them right off. Cheap, quick, and effective! If YOU have a tip or money saving trick, , just shoot me an e0mail at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com I look forward to hearing from y'all!! Until later on, have a great week!

Tip of the week!

2011-09-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

Sitting here watching "The Singoff". I think this show is head over heels better than American Idol. The sounds these singers make with their voices are just amazing!

Anyway, worked in the dressage saddle today on what we worked on Wednesday; forward, forward, forward! Did a w/t/w/h transition sequence about 10 times, until his head did NOT move. His halt leaves a LOT to be desired. It doesn't matter what bit I'm using, whether I'm bareback or using either of the saddles, or riding in a halter. He hollows his back and raises his head up, bracing on my hands. So today I worked and worked and worked until it got much better. Did a lot on the 20m circle, did some extensions across the diagonal, and did my counter canter/flying change through a figure 8 exercise. The change was LOVELY, so I only did it one direction and let him quit. Nice ride today, I was very pleased.

Tip of the Week!!!
Today's tip of the week is brought to you by honorary little sis, Nicole. If y'all haven't checked out her blog, head on over. She is FUNNY, and has a GREAT style. Here's her tip:

Chestnuts kind of gross me out, as does picking them off. Slather them with Vaseline (and leave it on),

and they'll kind of come off on their own, with minimal picking by the grossed-out. Repeat as necessary.

http://laughingdownthelines.blogspot.com/
Now get over there and read! You'll laugh out loud, promise:)

Thanks for reading:) Will post another later in the week!

2011-09-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Feeling just a touch envious of the children. As this GORGEOUS Fall weather kicks in, they're all out there showing and getting out and about. I'm riding at home. I DO remember to be grateful, though. My horse COULD be lame. Or dead. So I really can't complain THAT much. Anyone care to remind me of blog entries from 3 years ago when I brought Tiki home?

Paraphrasing here: "It's not even like I have boots that fit me, and I would hate to subject innocent bystanders to me in breeches. This horse is just for fun, I do NOT like to compete".

Well, that was BEFORE I had a horse worthy of competing!;) AND before I discovered the world of eventing. But whatever, it will happen when it happens, and in the mean time I will be content to take the Muffin to IEA shows and warm him up personally, which is practically as good as actually competing, right??

Wednesday I ~~conned~~ asked my boss nicely to give me a lesson. Cleaned stalls, groomed my boy, loaded him up easy as pie, and headed out to Patchwork for a "butt kicking eq lesson". Unloaded a sweaty boy (of course!), and hosed him off a little bit before tacking him up. Thank goodness for arriving an hour before scheduled lesson! Dressed the pony, dressed myself, and headed into the ring. It was getting WARM at this point. Put him in the waterford for the lesson; no martingale or anything fancy. Walked on a loose rein, and then Janet came out. Put him right to work. Picked up contact at the walk before moving up to the trot. His neck was nice and round, but Janet wanted him "softer and deeper". So, I would ask with that outside rein to come down and flex.

MORE trot, MORE leg, MORE trot. I kicked until I felt like we were trucking around at Mach 10, and finally the boss was happy:) She was patting herself on the back for taking a "chintzy" and not so great mover and turning him into one that's not half bad! I give her ALL the credit:) It was rather exhausting, but hopefully I got some muscle memory so that when I ride on Monday, I can recreate the feeling. The theme of the day was to increase his range of motion, which unlocks his back and makes him softer and more relaxed. I guess I just need to make sure I keep him forward and in front of my leg at all times, but not fall back into that habit of chasing him. It's certainly a fine line, but one I can ~~walk~~ ride.

Worked on getting the canter bigger in the front end, and covering more ground while staying slow. Good with that. Worked on the clean transitions; those have been cleaner at home, but we got a few good ones. Perfect turn on the forehand; improved on the turn on the haunches. He wasn't a goober about leads at all; good there. Jumping wise, Janet put a few of them up around the 3' mark. Our jumping was the best it had ever been in a lesson. Did a good jumper course and I dropped him at the deep spots a few times. Did some nice "jump and spin" turns; just need to keep my body back a little more effectively through those. Other than that though, we were in general much improved. I was very happy and pleased.

Tiki had about a 2 hour break, and then he had to fill in for one of my lessons. He wasn't too bad, but he was a little quick ... and chintzy. Oh well. I know my horse like the back of my hand; it will take time for the kids to get him going as well as I do. I just chalk it up to more experience.

Friday I longed him in the pasture in his halter just to stretch him out and check his comfort level. Wed was more work than he'd done in quite a while. All looked 100%, so I was happy. Monday will probably involve the dressage saddle. Joyce drug the ring, so all the jumps are piled in the center right now. If I want to jump, I will have to take the time to set something up.

First Guest Post!

2011-09-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

I have had this blog for 3 years now, and y'all have had to deal with all my ramblings/rants/musings exclusively:) Recently, I was contacted by a company called www.equestrianclearance.com to work with them on posting a guest blog and doing a product review. The guest post is going to be on a subject I am interested in learning more about, and I figured my fabulous readers would be interested as well ... long lining! I have never long lined before, and I HAVE given it some thought on trying to "go it alone" like I do everything else, but as of yet I'm a bit intimidated to try it. So, without further ado the guest blog post courtesy of Equestrian Clearance!

Long Lining

Long lining, or long reining, is commonly used in the earlystages of training a horse. It offers more flexibility than lunging, as youhave greater control and are not so limited in the movements you make.

As with lunging and other ground training methods, longlining enables you to teach your horse to respond correctly to your voice aidsand body language. It also allows you to introduce new movements without thehorse having to cope with the additional strain of carrying a rider.

Safety is important when long lining. Therefore it isessential for the handler to wear a riding hat, riding gloves and sturdy boots.Other ways to stay safe include always long reining in an enclosed area,seeking professional help and slowly introducing any new movements.

As always, practice makes perfect. When you are firststarting to long line, it is of paramount importance that you have a helper,preferably experiencing in long reining, on hand and, if possible, a horse thatis accustomed to long lining.

To start with, attach the ‘reins’ (usually lunge lines) oneither side of the horse’s head. This can be done to the bit rings of a bridleor to a lunge cavesson. Then pass the reins through the stirrups (which willneed to be tied down, to stop them flapping and potentially scaring the horse)if you’re using a saddle, or through the rings on a lunging roller. Introducethese reins slowly as it will take time for the horse to grow used to thefeeling of having these reins on his side.

Your positioning is key; you need to stand approximatelyeight feet behind the horse, and slightly to one side. This puts you out of thereach of any danger from the horse’s rear hooves whilst being close enough tobe in control of the horse.

Holding the reins can be tricky, and will require your best‘multi-tasking’ skills! As with lunging, the lines need to be looped, and siton the top of your hand. This prevents them from tightening around your handand enables you to quickly and easily lengthen and shorten the reins.

With a gentle contact, hold the lines at an even length.Using your voice aids or gently tap the lines against the horse’s side ask himto move forwards, whilst reducing the rein contact to enable him to do so.Initially ask your helper to walk with the horse, at his head to guide him.Praise the horse as soon as he walks forward; this will teach him the correctresponse to these aids. It is best to do this along the side of an arena tostart with, as this gives the horse a straight line to follow.

Once you are comfortable with this movement, you can moveonto making changes in direction. To do this, as with riding you will need touse the rein in the direction in which you want to turn, whilst loosening theopposite rein to allow the horse to bend. You will also need to stand on theside of the horse in which direction you want to turn.

As well as being able to work your horse in a straight line,long reining can also be done on a circle, similar to lunging. When you areworking in a circle, the outside rein will pass around your horse’shindquarters, encouraging greater activity in this area. However, it can taketime for the horse to become accustomed to this, and it is important to ensurethat this line does not drop below hock level, as this can result in the horsebecoming tangled in the line.

As you and your horse become more familiar with longreining, a whole world of new opportunities will open up to you! All the www.equestrianclearance.com and horse equipment you need forlong lining is available at great prices from www.EquestrianClearance.com.

Stay tuned for a synopsis of my awesome lesson from yesterday!:)

Nice and lovely ride today:)

2011-09-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Oh, the Muffin man was a rockstar today:) Weather was JUST gorgeous, and I decided to ride in the dressage saddle because Susan MAY be borrowing it for a little bit while hers is in the "shop" for repairs. He started out good; nice and free-feeling. I opted to do my warm up on contact, so after walking both ways on a loose rein, picked up the contact at the walk. Did a bunch of circles, and worked on maintaining the working walk. After picking up the trot, I did the "thread the needle" exercise. That consists of an 8m circle in the center of the short side, go straight along the long side, half turn in reverse, back to the 8m circle tracking the opposite direction, go straight along long side, half turn in reverse, etc. etc. I just KEPT on going back and forth until Tiki softened up and maintained his steadiness at the trot.

I worked on an 8m circle to shoulder-in, and attempted a half pass. I think I really butchered it, lol! He was certainly willing, though:) From that point on, I put him on a 20m circle and kept him there. Dropped my stirrups and worked the transitions. Worked HARD on maintaining the contact and keeping his neck nice and steady. Kept both legs on evenly so his body stayed on "rails" in the circle. Made sure the t/c transitions were perfect, then worked the w/c, and it was LOVELY. Made sure to also work w/t so he didn't anticipate and get jiggy. In the end, he was just super. I felt great once we were done.

Hoping to get in a lesson this Wednesday from my wonderful boss. I told her I want an equitation butt kicking, so as long as I can get hubby to relinquish the truck for a day I have something to look forward to!

Today's tip of the week is from ... ME:) Y'all send me an e-mail at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com with YOUR tips/money saving tricks so that I don't reveal ALL my secrets:) This one is a scratches remedy. You know those nasty, hard scabs? Slather them with cheap conditioner. Leave on for about 15-20 minutes; you can even ride with it slathered on there. Afterwards, pick off the scabs which are now super soft and come off easily. Wash THOROUGHLY with anti-bacterial soap (I like the Eqyss MicroTek), then dry thoroughly. Coat with medicated cream for scratches (dew poisioning), or with diaper rash cream. The ugly, painful scabs should be gone within about a week.

Giving back:)

2011-09-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

Not necessarily trying to play the "blame game" here, but I don't get the opportunity to do things that don't "benefit" me very often. For those of you that read my blog post a few months ago about my Poplar Place volunteer disaster, 'nuff said.

So today, I got to jump judge at the AEC's! I swear, time FLIES when you're sitting by your fence, clipboard in hand and listening intently to the radio chatter. Not gonna lie, I was a little bit disappointed to be relegated to the "back 40" this year. Last year I got the water complex one day and the bank the next day, so to be in the back field sitting next to a simple rolltop, no brush/flowers/nothing ... it was a little bit disappointing. On the bright side, out of Advanced/Intermediate/Prelim riders, not ONE penalty. The quality of horse flesh is AMAZING out there! Stoked about schooling at Chatt Hills next week; wish I could compete, but I have bigger fish to fry right now:) I'll be happy with whatever I can get! Got to see Allison and Arthur, Allison and Burger, Buck and Reggie, Becky and her gorgeous Comet look-alike, Doug Payne and Running Order ... it was COOL! Sat in a saddle that I fell in LOVE with, and brought home T-shirts, a visor, water bottle, umbrella, and a schooling voucher! Maybe some day I can compete in the AEC's. That Training course looked like the BOMB!

Yesterday, I had a fantastic ride. I put Tiki in the Waterford for the first time in forever. He felt good; it isn't the "magic" bit it used to be, but I guess that's just Tiki learning to go in different equipment. Our flatwork felt really nice; forward and bouncy and steady. Turn on the forehand was PERFECT, leg yield was fantastic, and shoulder-in rocked my world. Had the one stride turned into 2 tall crossrails with a placing pole right in between the 2 jumps. Also set up a cavaletti in front of a normal vertical, making a funky looking oxer. He never even turned a hair at it:) Worked on the usual; pace, rhythm ... one thing I am very good at is my track. It's nice to have ONE thing I know I'm going to do a good job at without trying to micro manage my entire ride. Worked on my eye and tried to make good decisions regarding waiting and moving up. Only screwed up one or two distances; everything else he took right out of stride.

Hoping to make it over the Training trakehner at Chatt Hills next week. The new sunken road obstacle would be cool to try, too. In the end, I will be happy with anything we jump well regardless of size. Will report back Monday after our ride. Y'all have a great weekend and ENJOY this fabulous, cool weather!

Rain ... and tornados, oh my!

2011-09-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Goodness gracious, GA has not had rain in SO long, and now that we finally are getting it, getting tornados and bad weather too! It's always eerie and a little bit scary when the weather sirens start going off. Just got confirmation the barn I teach at is fine. According to the weather map, a tornado passed by a little too close for comfort. Glad I decided not to teach this afternoon!

Went out to clean stalls this morning, and picked Tiki's feet then applied some hoof dressing. Going to try applying some hoof dressing 3 days a week and see if it helps his ultra dry-shoe losing- feet. Didn't ride because the rain only paused for about 10 minutes, and last I checked, we don't have a covered ring:) I'm SO excited! For the FIRST time in 3 years, Tiki is wearing a size 1 shoe. He started out in 00, moved to a permanent 0 in the front (sometimes a 00 in the back, depending on what's going on with the hind feet). He's not surprisingly still a 0 behind, but he is in a 1 for the first time EVER up front.

Will DEFINITELY ride Wednesday, and will try to ride tomorrow depending on how soon the rain moves out. Volunteering at the AEC's on Friday, woo hoo! VERY excited about that:) I'm sure the AEC's will be at the KHP before I'm able to actually compete in them, darn;) Revising my plan a little bit ... will most likely try and hit a HT in Aiken next. Haven't seen any 2012 schedules yet, but will try and aim for Feb/March. Starting next month, my IEA shows will kick up with a vengence, which will net me some extra $$, but no time to show! I have time to show at the end of this month, just no $$ for the entry fees:(. I wish horse trials were like hunter shows, where you just fax in your entries, then when you show up, you pay. Much easier for people like me that tend to NEVER have any $$ when I need it. But, it is what it is, and until I win the lottery, it will always be that way.

This week's Tip of the Week is brought to you by another reader, Holly! Here is her tip:
My mom's Tennessee Walking Horse has a very thick, wavy, coarse tail. Although it's full and long (most of the time), he tends to swish it in a circular motion that creates the worst "rat's nest" in the center of it that is impossible to comb out. I have been known, in recent history, to cut out the entire center of his tail hair -- just below the bone -- and simply leave the outer wispies to swat flies with. Now that it's growing long and full again, I have been spraying it routinely with WD-40. Now don't panic......WD-40 is water-based silicone and scientific studies have even said that it is even safe to drink (not as a habit, but if you were dying of thirst). It has a horrible, scary odor, but it is actually not as industrial or toxic as it seems. So, it's perfectly safe to spray in a horse's tail hair. He doesn't chew his own tail, and none of my other horses chew his tail, so I go with that about once every 3-4 weeks and his "rat's nest" has stayed to a minimum. No cutting, no cursing, no combing, no brushing, etc. After I've slicked it up pretty good, his swishing and twirling of the tail sort of self-grooms and he's done great this summer. It sure beats the hackney pony bob he had last year!

Here is a link to Holly's blog: http://4stargazing.blogspot.com/
Thank you SO much for contributing, I will certainly keep it in mind when I run out of Vetrolin Shine;) If YOU have a tip/trick you would like me to publish, please let me know! I am now out of reader tips, so will be back to my own brain next week unless YOU e-mail me at: dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you had a great Labor Day, and I hope to report back later this week with a positive ride report:)

Little bit of a deviation ...

2011-09-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how I haven't had the opportunity to ride since Wednesday a week ago, I'm going to deviate from my usual type of blog post and vent about something common I'm "seeing". I put "seeing" in quotation marks because most of my "seeing" is via blogs and online forums.

I don't understand the obsession with eventers about ALWAYS trying to move up, move up, move up.
"YAY! We were able that time to jump our stadium course with only THREE split legged jumps, and only TWO refusals on cross country! Time to move up to TRAINING!!"

What is up with that? Why can we not be satisfied to remain at a level for a certain period of time without pressuring ourselves and our horses to move up? Coming from Hunter Land, I have to say that once you make it to the A and AA rated shows, the numbers of horses and riders making BIG glaring mistakes at the modified Juniors and low A/O's is much lower than those at the schooling shows. In the 3'3 world in Hunter Land, most of the horses clock around pretty nicely, swap their leads pretty consistently, and maintain a pretty decent rhythm throughout.

I have recently read a few blogs and looked at some pics and videos of eventers ready to MOVE UP! to Training and even PRELIM on horses that do NOT have confirmed lead changes, no cadence to their canter, and a run on cross country where they made it to the end without falling off. Seems to me that maybe you ought to spend a little more time at BN or N and get things SOLID.

I can tell ya Tiki and I will NOT be moving up to N on the recognized level until we have confirmed lead changes, and I can jump around a 3' show jumping course clean and organized. That's my background. We will NOT move up until we can jump around the cross country course with tons of "go", and no stops. That's why it makes me CRAZY when I watch a video of my round, and my leg swings, or Tiki stalls before he jumps, or we miss a lead. I just feel like it's asking for a big problem if you move up to the next level before you're solid and safe at your CURRENT level. I'm reading so many blogs of riders doing 2 shows at BN, one at N, and now they're READY to move on up to Training ... without a HINT of a lead change. And with lots of hesitation during the stadium jumping round ... and putting 2 strides in the one. Just seems a little unsafe, I dunno:)

I love eventing so much, if I NEVER move up to N, I will be ok. BN is SO much fun, and different courses have different questions, not like a hunter show where your course will always be inside/outside/inside/outside. I think our sport would improve DRAMATICALLY if the "little people" would just SLOW down. Why all the time tables? All the blogs I read are written by adults; it's not like a JR rider striving to make it at Pony Finals, or the Junior Hunter Finals, or the Maclay Medal Finals. It looks like my September Poplar trial isn't going to happen. That means my opportunity for a recognized trial in 2011 has pretty much gone out the window. Oh well. Try to live in the moment, and enjoy your horse for what he/she is.

New Tip of the week:)

2011-08-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, Muffin Man has officially lost his slipped back hind shoe. Actually, I'm told honorary little sis Nicole pulled the shoe off for me this weekend so the turd brain didn't impale himself on a nail. Farrier not coming until Thursday, so guess no riding for me this week:( I taped the foot up really well with Gorilla Tape. Will see how that holds up; may be doubling up on Vetwrap and duct tape tomorrow. Guess we'll find out how that goes.

Today's Tip of the Week is FINALLY brought to you by a reader and fellow blogger Becky. http://thestoryofdigs.blogspot.com/

Her tip: You can use Vitamin A & D cream (commonly known as Desitin, or diaper rash ointment) on any wound that has healed but is not growing hair back. It helps hair grow back without coming in a different color, such as white, and at a much faster rate than if you had left it alone. You can also purchase some creams with Vitamin E in it as well, which helps speed up the healing process. Very easy, cheap and effective!

Not only is that tip great for horses, it's SO useful for people too! Ever had "road rash" on your legs at the end of a hot, sweaty day? Diaper rash ointment makes it feel SO much better:)

Thanks Becky! If YOU have a money saving tip or a nifty trick to make life easier, just shoot me an e-mail at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

We can ALL use ideas to help make life easier:) Don't expect much else out of me this week. Stay tuned for next Monday ...

OH! The welt is completely gone:) Like it was never there!

Heading out of town for a few days:)

2011-08-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today was another sigh worthy day. Went to pull the Muffin man out, and not only is his right hind shoe slipped back, he has a HUGE welt on his left side, right where my leg would go if I were bareback. Very strange. He was not painful on it, it WAS very itchy, and I couldn't find any sort of a stinger or anything in it. So I dunno.

Sooo ... rather than ride, I treated a little bit of fungus on his right hind leg around the hock area, put some Sore No More liniment on the welt, de-wormed him, and gave him a shot of Dex. Woo hoo, exciting:)

Wednesday, I had a nice ride on him in the dressage tack. I am still working on his neck and head staying secure and stable within the transitions; basically, making sure his back stays UP and not hollow. I did a couple of rein backs that were good, and a few turns on the forehand. Our upward transitions from trot to canter were really nice, and I got a leg yield that was AMAZING. Best one he's ever done, for sure.

Finally got TWO really nice lead changes:) I did an exercise I've done before where I cantered left, came across a diagonal, cantered right on the counter lead, came back across and circled left, then came across again with a lead change. Rinsed and repeated on the other side, and just worked on steadiness in the canter and across the diagonal, then got a super clean straight change. It felt GREAT, so I stopped there. Guess I won't be riding again until the swelling goes down and the shoes are re-done.

Leaving for Tennessee as soon as the hubs gets home from work. A friend gave us tickets to Bristol Motor Speedway, so we'll be heading to race track to watch the Bristol Sprint Cup race, woo hoo! So excited, we've been dying to see the Bristol race for a few years now:)

3 years ago today ...

2011-08-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

In order of pics (because I'm too stupid to figure out how to put captions under the pics:( )

Track pic
Unloading at 'Crazy Lady' farm
First time working
First trail ride
First hunter class
First jumper class
First "all jumper" show
First clinic
First ditch
First XC schooling
First hunter pace
First time showing 3'
First Horse Trial
A few days ago

Love the Muffin

2011-08-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

I do SO love my Muffin Man. He is so much fun; I can't believe I got so lucky to find him from a PICTURE! Our 3 year anniversary is Wednesday. A picture montage will be on the schedule! Today I jumped him; didn't set up anything fancy. Still pretty much the same stuff that's been set. I DID get brave and finally up the oxer in my xrail/oxer 1 stride to 2'9 in the front and 3' in the back. Still had the corner on the outside, and set the cavaletti oxer a little closer together. Decided to use the hollow D-ring.

He was a GOOD boy:) Flatwork felt very nice with the hollow mouth D. He can get pretty stiff in that bit, and hang on it a little, but because he KNEW we would be jumping, he went around fairly light. I spiraled in and out at the trot both directions; he felt a little looser and softer to the right, but not bad either direction. Did a turn on the haunches/canter depart back and forth a few times, and he gave me some PERFECT transitions:) I mean, not a SINGLE step of walk or trot before sitting down and pushing off into the canter. The canter work itself got a *hair* strong, which is when I enjoy just being able to half halt when he's wearing the wonder bit, and he lifts his shoulders.

Started jumping with a cavaletti. I halted after each jump, moved him over, then picked up the canter on the new lead. I don't obsess over lead changes. We don't have to perform them in any of our dressage tests, and I've found that in general, if his balance calls for him to need to do one, he does:) In my efforts to refine our stadium work, I want him to be able to jump around LIKE a hunter, even if he doesn't jump or move like one. The one stride was GREAT every time. I felt GREAT. My leg felt nice and steady, my release was its usual auto release, and he felt nice and straight and spring over the jumps.

TIP OF THE WEEK:(still courtesy of ME;)) When you go to give your horse a bath, buy a $0.99 loofah sponge from Walmart. Works BETTER than any of the $$ bathing tools you can buy from the tack store:) Soft enough for even a red headed Thoroughbred, firm enough to remove dirt/hair/etc. Please e-mail me YOUR tips at: dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

If y'all don't e-mail me, I am going to run out!!! Help me out here!;)

Dressage work in the ring Wednesday. May do some counter-canter stuff. Definitely will leg yield and shoulder-in. Other stuff, we'll just have to see:)

Sigh

2011-08-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year ... the dog days of summer. I always get a little ... indifferent? I'm not sure if that's the word. Certainly not DEPRESSED, but ... certainly not HAPPY either:( I've applied for a third job. Yes, a third one. It's nobody's fault but my own; not finishing college and going to Pharmacy School so I could be making 6 figures right now. Instead, I'm toiling away at a job that barely nets me over minimum wage. Sure, I only work 3 hours a day on a lONG day, but it IS an hour drive each way. So, sigh. I'm doing what I can to change my circumstances; hopefully something good will come of it.

My indifference caused me to not feel like riding on Friday. I just couldn't motivate myself to spend the extra 30 mins putting all my gear on and fully tacking up, so I longed. Borrowing a trick from Stacey at the "Jumping Percheron" blog, I tied on a standing wrap to the surcingle; I've always been a fan of the "Pessoa" longeing rig, but of course have always been too cheap to actually invest in one. A simple solution? Side reins and something around the horse's hind end above the hocks to keep the hind end engaged. Results, you ask?

Well, at the trot, I couldn't see much difference. He was as lazy as ever, and warmed up with his usual short trot steps. The canter on the other hand? WOW. He's never cantered well on the longe; he cross canters and breaks like he was an 18 hand draft horse and not a red headed Thoroughbred. Well, with the wrap back there, he TRIED to change behind and cross canter, but the feel of the THING back there kept his hind end UNDER himself, and kept him on the correct lead! Definitely a BIG difference at the canter, yay:)

Kicked up the running a notch this evening. I'm doing the "Couch to 5K" program, and completed "Week 1" training, which is run for 60 secs, walk for 90 secs for 20 mins total. "Week 2" is run for 90 secs/walk for 2 mins for a total of 20 mins. It went GREAT. I think my problem with not being able to keep up a running program has been too much too fast, and I burn out. The "Couch to 5K" program begins gradually and builds up. By the time I was finished, I was tired and sweaty, but not aching or dying.

Tomorrow I will try and get my buttocks on the pony and jump a few jumps. Just have to see what this week will hold!

Friday already?

2011-08-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Sigh. Another week has flown by. This is the FIRST weather we've had since ... May, where the temps have dipped below 70. We have had a couple of GLORIOUS mornings:) Joyce thinks Muffin has been enjoying those;)

Had a nice ride yesterday. I did some "field dressage"; last time I did that he was super fantabulous-amazingly so! Yesterday, he started out pretty stiff in the neck and jaw and was pretty tail swishingly fresh. Testing out a head shaking theory, I coated him in fly spray, and tucked the forelock under an ear net. I was feeling sort of silly and cheeky, so I used my sparkly/satiny ear net. It is completely ridiculous and I would never use it in public, but it made me smile:) I have decided, unequivocally that it is his forelock hitting his ears that is causing the head shaking. He has a little bit of a shake as an immediate reaction when I bridle him. He also has a little bit of a shake when he's showing "attitude". But the incessant, irritated shaking is due to ear irritation, I'm sure of it. The only time he tossed his head out in the field yesterday was when flies completely ignored the liberal application of Repel-X, and latched onto his neck anyway.

Star was not cooperating, and was grazing about 50 feet away from mine and Tiki's work space. There were cars driving down the road. Susan's horses kept running around their pasture. Distractions GALORE! I'm so glad I finally recognize what it feels like to have him correctly working in a dressage frame; 6 months ago, I probably would have accepted what I had in the first 5 minutes as "pretty good!", and not gone further. Instead, I circled, flexed, ASKED, kept my leg on, and he got with the program. He did not buck or otherwise act up. His head would 'giraffe' every once in awhile, and he would overflex his neck to the right and drift left towards Star, but outside leg/outside rein fixed that problem. I trotted for about 20 minutes, both in small circles, and in a nice track around a corner of the pasture, and following the fence line, then cutting way across. Basically, I kept mixing it up.

For safety's sake, I kept the canter both directions on a 20m circle. I didn't trust him not to be a little turd, and his canter has been HUGE in the dressage saddle lately; to the point that I have been having difficulty SITTING it. He actually felt pretty nice and uphill, and even though I could hear his tail SWISH SWISHing, he seemed to be happy enough. I finished with a canter figure 8; 2 10m cicles with a straight line simple change through the walk. Must have done that literally 20 times. I just KEPT on going, until my transitions were clean, straight, and prompt. I'm trying to refine his contact THROUGH the transitions; I tend to drop him and not support enough. He tends to hang and pull me down through the downwards, and lift his head and hollow his back/neck in the upwards. Also, my transition from the walk to the canter was consistently slightly disorganized; I quit when I got 2 straight up WALK to CANTER transitions and NO trotting. He does those transitions perfectly in the ring when we're jumping;) Now to apply those to the dressage ring!

Tomorrow I will probably take my stirrups off the cc saddle and work on me a little bit. I would like to hop over a cavaletti or 2, and work on my posting trot. Will probably wing it, and work on some sort of flat pattern to get him bending and relaxing his jaw. Regardless, y'all will read about it here after it happens!

It's ... Monday again.

2011-08-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! For Squeaky Tiki, that means a jump school and an anti-fungal bath. For "Tails" readers, it means another Tip of the Week! PLEASE e-mail me with your tips and tricks at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

This week's tip: Always keep a box of baby wipes on hand at the barn. After riding in the sweltering August heat, you can simply wipe away sweat and grime off your tack with baby wipes. What I really like is the fact that you don't get build up. I used to wipe down all my tack with a damp sponge and glycerine soap, but my tack started getting that "gummy" feeling. The wipes offer a much needed "quick clean" on virtually anything:)

On to today! I've decided to follow in the footsteps of many of my fellow eventers, and take up running. I have tried and failed to start running on numerous occasions. I actually did pretty well when I had a running partner, but I suffered an achilles injury running in her neighborhood, so I had to quit for QUITE some time. It was a pretty nagging, painful injury. The COTH forums had some good advice on how to start and maintain a runnig program, and I've decided to set goals for my running. I will be running a 5K at some point before Christmas:) I have a tentative date of some time in September, but that's awfully soon for me to actually *run* it. I can walk it, for sure, but I suck at running. Which is why I've quit as soon as I've begun. But, my alarm will be going off at 5:48 in the morning, at which point I will hit "snooze", and then get up and go for my run. I did run yesterday, and while I'm not sore from that, I am SO SORE from the lunges/push ups/crunches I did afterwards;)

Tiki was AWESOME today:) Put on the wonder bit and the cc saddle, and he was a happy little camper. I walked on a loose rein, then picked up contact and cantered both ways. Made sure I kept leg on and didn't let him drop that shoulder and fall in. He was SO light and relaxed, and looking for the jumps, lol. Came down to the trot and worked the trot for about 15 mins. Put him on the 20m circle and did transitions. Felt GREAT. Did some halts, trying to keep him from hollowing the back during those, and he did all right.

Still had the x rail/one stride to the 2'9 oxer set. Changed the outside vertical to a real corner jump! Laid down a barrel, and made me my first corner jump. I didn't anticipate any problems because Tiki doesn't care about the barrel, and I'm comfortable over fan jumps, so I felt like we'd be fine. Set a cav on a diagonal, then a cav oxer on the other. I knew it was risky, but I set the oxer a little wider than normal. I was careful not to do it TOO wide, so he wouldn't think it was a bounce, but I DID want it wider than normal for the form benefits:)

He was awesome. Could have cared less about the corner, of course. I did GREAT during the one stride; didn't do too much once;) He felt amazing through that every time! I was glad I'd thrown on his boots today. I don't always use them for jump schools; sometimes I leave him bare-legged. I've gotten to where he's naked for the flat schools, unless we're in the field. I'm so glad I used the boots when he almost wiped out; there was a big chunk of dirt on one of the hind boots, and I'm SURE he would have taken a chunk out of his LEG had I not had them on. So in the field, I always throw them on. My gut feeling was correct, and he did mis judge and make a mistake on the oxer about the third time I jumped it. Caught it HARD with a hind leg and pulled the cav completely over. Glad I'd put the boots on, because he didn't even limp off. I did lots of jump/halt/trot in to get him straight, collected, and focused on ME.

As an aside, he has gotten perfect about not anticipating when I shorten the reins. When I go from no contact to contact, he waits on me to tell him what to do. So proud of the muffin man! Tomorrow I will be running, and Wednesday I'm thinking I will do some "field dressage" in Star's pasture.

Moving forward

2011-08-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the HSS opinions. I think it's a freshness thing, and an ear irritant thing. Yesterday, I had a pretty nice dressage school. Rode for a solid half hour with no walk breaks. The footing was nice; he felt pretty lovely.:)

My trot felt like a great rhythm; he is SO stiff at the walk. He just despises the contact at the walk. I worked hard on myself, trying to keep a good contact in both the hands and the legs. The canter was again very large, lol. It's hard to sit when he's so big and strong and forward. I did a different exercise: the shallow serpentine where I change bend from inside to outside back to inside as a leg yield in, then leg yield back out. I did it at the sitting trot, and after a few poopy passes, got a couple of NICE leg yields.

I got him finally to settle at the canter by keeping him on a 20m circle, then came across a diagonal with a flying change. The change was late, but he got it clean. The left lead canter on the 20m circle was a little lighter and more uphill, so I came across again to flying change back to the right, and it was an UGLY lead change. He got along fine changing by himself on the jump course, but resists and gets stiff, fast, and unresponsive when I actually ASK him for one. I'm sure it's my lack of timing there. Hopefully furthering myself with dressage lessons will fix that eventually:)

Monday will hold a jump school for me so long as rain doesn't mess with the footing. Will set the cavs up somehow, and will remove the perpindicular poles from the vertical. Not yet sure what it will be, but I'll figure something out:)

MAYBE cooler temps peeking through?

2011-08-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Driving down the road this morning with the windows open actually felt a little coolish this morning! Planning a dressage school tomorrow; will probably consult my "101 Dressage Exercises" book for ideas. Yesterday I walked hills. Actually hadn't done that in a while. He was fresh and pissy; and yes, he shook his head. You know what I almost think it is? I noticed that his forelock was touching his ears; I wonder if Mr. Sensitive Red Head is irritated at his hair having the nerve to touch his ears. Lol. That may be it. I had tried to tie a hair net on the noseband of his bridle to try that, but I guess I wasn't doing it right. I did that, and he went NUTS trying to eat the hairnet:) He was a good boy. Looking forward to riding tomorrow!

OPINIONS WANTED

2011-08-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ok blogger land. Decided to post this here before venturing to COTH for opinions. Wondering if anyone might have an idea.

On Wednesday, Tiki and I did trot sets. I've noticed since owning Tiki that every now and then when riding, he will violently shake his head like he's got bugs in his ears. Now, I HAVE read up on Head Shaking Syndrome, and I'm not sure this is it. I mean, maybe? It's such a vague diagnosis! He almost always comes out of it, and will usually begin the ride shaking his head, but he doesn't always do it. It's worse in the summer (when bugs ARE out; flies have been terrible around here). I usually ride him in the mornings before 10:00, which is when I've read HSS can be worse due to the sun being really bright.

Monday, no head shaking. Wednesday, I hadn't even mounted before he started going nuts shaking his head. That's probably one of the contributing factors to his near colossal wipeout. It was BAD. I HAVE noticed it seems to be worse in stressful situations, and when riding in a field.

Yesterday, not a single head shake. Rode him the SAME time (8:30 am) as I did all last week. Ideas? Would HSS be a constant thing? His head shaking is SO random. He lets me mess with (not clip) his ears during baths/etc. He does have a touch of rain rot on them, but isn't sensitive or anything. No ticks down in there. Is it behavior? Any tricks I should try? I know about the net on the nose; some people I know have used hair nets over the nose with similar results. In case it IS bugs, I use an ear net on him ocassionally. He still shakes his head.

Just looking for anecdotes/words of advice. I'm TERRIFIED this could be the start of actual HSS, and from all I've read it's incurable, a pain in the a$$, and progressive:( The only thing that gives me hope is the fact that it is NOT consistent. Hoping it's just a stress thing, or a freshness thing.

Beginning of a new week!

2011-08-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

AND a new "Tip of the Week":) This one is courtesy of ... me. Even though I have quite a few tips up my sleeve, I will eventually run out, I'm sure, so be sure to e-mail me at: dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

Rode this morning, and had a LOVELY ride! Muffin was BACK, woo hoo! The ring was in good shape, nice and freshly drug. I set up 2 exercises; a 2'3 vertical on the quarter line with a pole set perpendicular to the jump on each side. This was an exercise from Greg Best. The point is to stay right side to right side, left to left, right to left, or left to right. You're supposed to stay close to the centerline and use leg to move the horse around; not pull on the reins or jump at an angle. This was my first time trying it, and I must say I nailed it;) One thing I have done well with my boy is teach him to listen to my body and my leg. And one thing I AM good at is my track, and using my eyes. Didn't even miss a distance!

The other thing I set was a crossrail/18' to a 2'9 ramped oxer. That was an exercise recommended by this months issue of Practical Horseman. If you've looked at the hundreds of pics I've posted on this blog, you've probably noticed the fact that Muffin is a bit of a leg hanger. He's not the sharpest with his knees. This exercise was recommended to help clean up a horse's front end, so I figured it wouldn't hurt him to do it. Weenie me set the oxer at 2'6 in front, 2'9 in back. The article actually recommended 2'9 in the front, 3' in the back. Maybe next week;)

First time through, I wimped out, made a big move with my body, grabbed mane ... Tiki still jumped it well in spite of me. In subsequent pass throughs, I worked on maintaining the quality of my trot, sat still, and let him do the work. He never touched the oxer, and certainly FELT good. Obviously, I don't know if the exercise served its intended purpose, but he maintained a nice rhythm, and didn't have any distance problems.

The flat work leading up to the jumping was EXCELLENT. I warmed up at the walk on a loose rein both ways, then picked up contact. Made him walk on contact. Then worked on my w/t/w/t transitions, trying to work on maintaining a steady connection and him NOT inverting his neck. Worked on a lengthened trot, and it wasn't too bad. Put him on a circle and worked the trot on the circle, then practiced t/c transitions on the circle. You would think it would be EASIER, but Tiki had such trouble with his right lead at first that I endlessly worked my canter transitions on straightaways. Therefore, our straight line trot/canter transitions are better than our transitions on a circle. He just felt SO lovely today. Light, forward, and and a nice, jelly-like neck. After each jump after the vertical, I walked/reversed/picked up the canter in the new direction. The transitions was AMAZING, woo hoo! Hills Wednesday, then dressage school Friday.

Tomorrow, I will be posting about an issue I had with Muffin last week that I would like some opinions on. Comments will be appreciated!

TODAY'S TIP OF THE WEEK: After you've bathed your horse, pour about a cup of white vinegar into a bucket of water. Sponge the vinegar/water mixture all over, paying special attention to any ... ahem, funky areas. The vinegar will cut any remaining soap residue, act as a natural fly repellant, help clear up any fungus, and bring out a shine BEYOND the show ring. Don't rinse. Just scrape, and dry:) E-mail YOUR tips to dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

One more day closer to Fall:)

2011-08-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

I figure every day that goes by is one more day LESS of Summer. Ahhh ... cool breezes, crisp air, temps under 95 degrees:) Glorious!

This week is starting to get back into it ... rode twice. I was shooting for 3 times, but on Friday he was already turned out when I got there because Joyce had kept the horses in Thursday evening because of a threat of thunder storms. So, I left him out and didn't push it. I've been desperately fighting off a head cold; Thursday was the WORST day. My nose was running like a sieve, I was fighting a fever, and I was trying not to cough up a lung. So Friday wasn't such a sad day:)

Monday, I rode in the dressage tack. WOW, what a HUGE canter. He came out pretty well; he felt nice and forward but not explosive. I worked him through the center again over the poles and with a little shoulder-in before turning to go down the long side. He did feel strong in the bridle, but very manageable. I got him to come up into my hand pretty nicely; I was happy about that. The canter was about a 14 foot stride. NOT kidding. I couldn't SIT it, it was so huge. He wasn't fast; just HUGE. I had to arm wrestle him a little bit to get him to shorten his stride to a reasonable level, but he did eventually concede defeat.

Wednesday, was trot set day. We ALMOST wiped out. Scared me to death. We were trotting down a hill by the road, and he tripped hardcore. He went down on his knees; to my horror, I saw the ground rushing up to meet me, and looked straight up at the sky. Can you imagine if I'd fallen off? I would have hit chin first and broken my neck or back. STUPID. I should have tucked my chin and looked DOWN. Luckily, the muffin saved my bacon, and used every ounce of will to get back UP. The picture up top is the resulting boo boo on his nose from where he used his nose to help get him back on his feet. Phew.

I got a little bit on to him after that; he does NOT pay attention when we're doing trot sets. He's too busy rushing around trying to hurry to nowhere, and he ends up tripping like that. He's gone down once before, on a trail ride. He needs to SLOW HIS FEET, and assess where he is. When he tried to crane his head around and be a dummy, I got onto him and made him pay attention. We ended up ok. The canter both ways was a little unusual; he cantered about one of the two minutes each direction, then swapped to the counter lead. I then trotted and asked him to change back, and he wanted to stay on the off lead ... BOTH directions. Weird. So, not a great day, but not a horrible day. Had wanted and planned to ride in the ring Friday, but even before I got to the barn I was actually sore from Wednesday, and feeling sick and ooky. When I saw he was out and playing in the pond, I just cleaned the stalls and went home to take a nap.

Next week I will again shoot to ride 3 days, and hope the temps cool off some:) Rain would be nice:)

Reflections

2011-08-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

I always had this picture in my mind of what my first horse would be like ... picture "The Black Stallion". Only me, myself, and I would be allowed to ride him, he would come galloping up to me in the pasture and follow me in, no need for a halter. Ha. The horse I fell in love with came galloping in the pasture, for sure ... AWAY from me! When I groom him, he pins his ears, kicks his hind legs aggressively, and tries to bite me. And yet ...

I wouldn't sell him for 100k. He is my heart horse, a 20 year old dream finally realized. I got him for free; all I had to do was show up at the track with a truck and trailer. He loaded with nary an ear swish, and unloaded covered in sweat, and to a torrential rain storm. He made the drive from Maryland to Georgia without so much as a squeal, kick, or a bump. He had no idea how to jump, had never done a shoulder-in to save his life (neither had I!), and STILL resists me when I ask him to walk on contact. And yet ...

He has saved my rear countless times. When I get left behind because he made an epic leap to clear the chestnut horse eating monsters, he always comes back and jumps it again. I had never jumped a ditch, a bank, or flat out galloped. Together, we have done those things (and WELL, I might add!). He and I have developed our own little bond after 24 days shy of 3 years. It's not that kind of bond where he will lay his head on my shoulder and give me horsey kisses. But it IS the kind where we burst out of that start box headed to fixed, non moving obstacles we've never jumped, and we throw our hearts over and run to catch them. When I ride my boy, nothing else in the world matters. I thank my lucky stars every single day I made that wildly wrong decision to throw caution to the wind, and drive 13 hours to go get my horse. He was free, and yet his impact in my life has been priceless. I look forward to the adventures still to be had! Love you my little Ricochet, formerly known as "Roy's Legacy".

Little slice of heaven

2011-07-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

(sad pic up top. My 3 bridles, covered in dust and cobwebs. The closeup shows how bad it is. Got to ride everyday so that doesn't build up again!)

Finally riding my boy after a little 2 week sabbatical was like heaven. I NEVER feel happier than when I swing my leg over his back and settle into the saddle. I'm optimistic that now that summer time is getting back into school time, I can consistently get back to work with my boy. He felt great today, all things considering. I opted for a nice, solid 30 minute ride consisting of mostly a nice, stretchy trot. I didn't wear spurs, and I put on the cc saddle and the hunter bridle. He felt nice and forward with a touch of sassy, but not stupid or angry. Sometimes when I hop on too outside of our usual routine, he gets a tad resentful. This morning, it was about 7:30 that I got on. Gave him a handful of his breakfast, then headed up to the ring.

He was actually pretty lovely considering the lack of work:) Worked on straight and relaxed. Tried to get him to take the reins and stretch long and low. He did a few times, yay! Had 2 poles thrown in center of ring, perpendicular to "X". Trotted over them, did a little shoulder in, then changed direction each time as I reached the end of the ring. He was a little stiff in the neck and poll, but as I said, the hollow mouth D is not the best bit in the world for him. I need another of the Myler D-rings, but they're $$ and I have other things to worry about right now.

The canter was a little "worse". He felt very enthusiastic and swishy at the canter. I was "up" in my 2-point a little bit. There was a cavaletti on the lowest setting on a long side, and he kept trying to run at it. I cantered up to it, halted, backed, then walked over it. Rinsed and repeated a couple of times until he quit hollowing his back and flinging his head up at the halt. Let him quit when I cantered up quietly, said "WHOA", and he backed himself off and stepped right over.

I felt like it was a great way to gear back up and let him think about it for the weekend. Monday begins "Countdown to Poplar Place"! I've got a xc schooling to schedule, a lesson with Janet, a lesson with Gigi, a lesson with Susan, and hopefully a lesson with a local jumper trainer, Heather Ray. Lots to do!

Deciding to add a "feature" to the blog:)

2011-07-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

So, I think a cool weekly thing to do would be to feature a "Tip of the Week". Whether it's a money saving thing, or a grooming tip, or a riding tip ... if you would be interested in sharing with everyone your cool Tip, just shoot me an e-mail; dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

Today's Tip of the Week:

Instead of spending $$ on fancy anti-bacterial medicated horse shampoo to clear up skin funk, spend $3.48 at Target or Wal Mart and buy the big refill of anti bacterial hand soap (the "off brand"). Works just as effectively (especially when followed up by an application of Shapley's MTG) and saves oddles of $$.:)

Last week was a total loss in terms of exercise. Tiki had his 2 missing shoes put on Monday, and even as late as Friday STILL looked gimpy trotting across the pasture:( Not that I had the time or energy to ride him anyway. So, gave him the weekend, and took a look at what I had today. FINALLY, I saw a sound horse:) Very glad I opted to longe him today instead of hop on and go for a hack like I'd considered. He was bucking and squealing like a wild man, lol. Once I could finally get him to show me a nice trot and quit bucking, he looked nice and even both ways. Not sure I can squeeze in a ride tomorrow or Wednesday, because I will be auditing (and envying) honorary little sis in her Greg Best clinic she's riding in. Hopefully I will come away with a few useful pearls I can use for the Muffin, and get back to it full swing on Thursday. I think I will skip the xc schooling this week. Neither Tiki nor I are fit at all, it is still dangerously hot, and we can go up there ANY time. I think instead, I will try and ride in a Gigi Nutter clinic next week; I think we can be ready for that in time:)

A week of work, work, work ...

2011-07-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sigh. Just working my tail off during this last and FINAL week of camp! Sadly, Muffin went the entire weekend with no shoes. Monday he finally got a pedi, and yesterday he was uber tender footed. Today he looked a little better but still tight and short strided. Therefore, I am not stressing about not riding this week. May get to go cross country schooling at Calimar next Thursday or Friday with a trainer friend of mine and a few of her students. My very loose and flexible "goal" fence is at the bare minimum, a solid novice level hanging log in the fence line. My "we're a rock star" fence will be the Training level baby corner that up until now, I've only stood next to and sat my camera on:) But, since I'll once again be coming off a break and a week's worth of riding, my REAL goal is simply to ride well, stay on, and build the Squeaky boy's confidence.

For those that haven't read my comments on the previous post, Kody (my son) is completely fine. I think much of his reaction was due partially to his dramatic nature. I thank God every day that Kody has remained healthy and never sustained a major, traumatic injury (currently knocking on wood!) so he has no real barometer when it comes to pain or trauma. Which of course is just fine by me! I'm feeling much better about the whole thing; it took a few days but I've regained my equilibrium. Hopefully Muffin will start looking better tomorrow; I knew he'd be tight and sore because he lost some good foot, for sure. Not to mention, the ground is hard as a rock and has a bunch of rocks. Love my pony; grateful these were only lost shoes numbers 4 and 5 in nearly 3 years.

Darkest day of my life:(

2011-07-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how my muffin man still is lacking 2 shoes, I'm going to step away from him for a second. As y'all may or may not know, I am the assistant trainer for a local big name trainer. I run her lesson program, coach the IEA team, and do summer camps every summer.

The light of my life, my 9 year old son Kody, is my entire world. He is the reason I get up in the mornings. He is bright, funny, outgoing, and talented. He is more of an artistic/performer type kid as opposed to an athletic kid. He hasn't shown a HUGE interest in horses ... he's enjoyed the few times he's ridden, but the walking down to get the horse, lead them up through the grass, groom, tack up, etc. hasn't been his thing. I haven't pushed him because horses are MY thing, and I refuse to push my dreams/desires etc. onto him.

So, that said, Kody participated in camp this past week. I decided that since he'd been asking to ride again that it was high time I make him learn to do some things instead of the "playing" around with it he had been doing. This week has been great. Monday, he started out hanging onto the front of the saddle at the trot and leaning over like he was in 2 point. By Friday, he was sitting up, hands low on the withers, posting with his heels down and looking pretty darn good! I even had him try a little canter down the long side of the ring; Red is a saint with a canter that feels not too much different than his trot:) Kody told me "No, no, no!" but I convinced him to try, and he nailed it.

Later that afternoon, the kids hopped on bareback. I put Kody on Ducky because he's a pony and has a trot that's smooth as glass. Long story short, I pressured Kody to trot; I ran with him down the long side, he did GREAT, and that was that. As Kody walked away from me, he was trying to fix where he'd slid off to the side a little bit, and started getting panicky. It escalated to him screeching, Ducky trotting, him screaming, and Ducky getting up to a canter than yanking his head down.

I knew he was going off. I steeled myself for it. He was crying and screaming, and then he hit the ground with a sickening CRACK! When he hit the ground with that much of a noise and then complete and utter silence, I sprinted to his side; I've been teaching for 14 years and made the journey many times. But I have NEVER in my life felt like I did in that moment. I'm crying as I type this. By the time I got to his side, he was writing in pain, saying, "MY HEAD, MY HEAD! OWW, THAT REALLY REALLY HURT". I kept a level head, knowing that he's my dramatic child, and assessed his condition. He was really knocked for a loop. I calmed him down, wiped his tears, removed his helmet, and checked him out. I felt reasonably sure he was just fine, so I once again forced him to do something he didn't want to; I put him up on Red and led him a lap around the ring. His instincts took over and he sat up, still weeping as I led him around, and then I let him off.

After he recovered his wits about him and calmed down, we were finally able to go home after the other campers left. He took a shower, and it was like instant transformation. I had my baby back. I have been beating myself up since it happened. I had a nightmare about it last night. Kids fall; it happens. I KNEW that if he was to continue to ride, he would eventually fall off. I'm kicking myself for pushing him to trot. It was NOT my fault that he ultimately fell; it WAS my fault that I made him trot, then he lost his position. It was then just complete and utter panic that escalated into him coming off. I will never push him like that physically, ever again. In the long run, why did I CARE if he trotted right then? He doesn't love horses; he will never ride for the Team in any discipline. I should have just let him do his thing, and I wouldn't be watching him like a hawk right now. I learned a lesson, that's for sure.

Anyway, I'm sorry! Just had to get the incident out of my mind by getting it on the computer screen. I'm so incredibly grateful he wasn't hurt. I'm so grateful I made sure his helmet fit him perfectly. He is taking it easy for a few weeks and not being too adventurous. I love my child more than I love my self, and I will do anything for him. I'm sure I will stop beating myself up soon.

The power of observation

2011-07-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Anyone living remotely in the south knows how hot and humid it has been. Wow. Since I've had the goal in mind of going to Mud Creek Ranch again on Saturday, I committed to riding Tiki more than 3 times in the month before the show. Last week I did well; rode Tues-Friday; Friday was actually a "2 ride" day.

This week has been much more difficult. I've been waking at 4:30, arriving at the barn by 4:50. I then do stalls/morning feeding/turnout/bring in until 7:50. I then go back to the house, get Kody, pack a lunch, and head to Patchwork where I do camp and then lessons. It's much nicer not to have to go BACK to Joyce's and do that extra hour of work, and I'd intended to go back in the afternoons and ride, but with the temps and humidity, it's actually dangerous to ride:( So, I've held off, realizing that Tiki IS fit. Not recognized horse trial fit, but clinic/schooling show/lesson fit. He can maintain that level of fitness by 2 or 3 rides per week. So, plan was to ride today/tomorrow/hack Saturday at Patchwork before heading over to MCR. This is how today went:

Walk into the sweltering ring and realize the footing isn't actually TOO unbelievably hard. Checked out the gymnastic and saw the vertical was 2'9, and the oxer was somewhere around 2'6/2'9. Decided to got for it. Also, separated the 2 halves of the coop, intention being that I was going to jump one of the halves as a skinny:) Here's where my title comes into play ... I have watched my classes in that last show over and over. I've been watching countless videos of pros riding jump courses. I've been watching countless videos of local hunter pros jump courses. I've been watching the videos my friends post on Facebook watching them jump courses. You get the idea. This is the problem with going at it alone and believing in getting lots of different opinions. I just have to be better at taking in the various points of view and making my OWN system. I knew what needed to be done today, and I was determined to do it!

As he moved up to the trot, I could feel the "fresh swishy swishy" going on:) That was fine; all 4 feet stayed on the ground, so no big deal. I had a nice light contact, kept my leg on, and he took a few minutes to drop down and relax into the contact. After about 4 minutes, I heard, "ker clunk, ker clunk, ker clunk, thud". CRAP! I stopped him, checked the right front, and sure enough, a clean loss. I almost stopped and got off, but the foot was perfect, so I decided to continue on to the small jumps. Cantered both ways, and trotted him for a minute to make sure his foot was fine, then cantered into the outside line, still set as tiny (less than 2') jumps. I sat UP, kept my butt tucked under, leg quiet, and sat lightly with my shoulders a little in front of my hips. That was what felt so much better. Sadly, totally missed to the out jump, so had to come in and actually count my strides so I knew where I was. Did it twice more, and tried really hard to be a metronome. I was actually very successful:)

Decided to canter the single coop section, which is about 3' across. Cantering in, he didn't understand the question and tried to duck out, and ended up jumping air. Stopped, showed him the jump on a straight line, then came in at a sitting trot. That worked perfect, so I came in once more the other way and he was perfect, so I stopped there. Bath, venice turpentine, and a call to the farrier. Not holding my breath he'll make it out tomorrow, so planning to cancel out outing on Saturday:( She'd already told me she may cancel anyway due to low entries, so maybe this is God's way of telling me to stay home this weekend.

Training, here we come!

2011-07-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Jumped a 3'3 jump something like 5 times in a row ... and didn't fall off! 2 out of those 5, it was an awful jump, 2 out of 5 times, it wasn't SO bad, and once it was pretty ok:) You wouldn't think 3" would be such a big deal, but that can be the difference between "easy" and "impossible".

I rode honorary little sis's morgan boy yesterday afternoon. Sparky (AKA Sparkplug, Napolean Dynamite, Spanky, etc.) is an adorable, sassy little morgan gelding with a long barbie doll mane and a VERY athletic hind end:) He isn't particularly YOUNG, but he is GREEN due to a pretty major injury a few years ago. He jumps in beautiful form, is athletic as all get out, but has a bit of an unpredictable stop/runout. Not to mention that sometimes canter transitions involve a little squeal and buck every now and then. I used to keep track of the number of horses I'd ridden. Somewhere around horse #82 I gave up that little habit, and just concentrated on having a good ride on whatever horse I happened to be on. It was a mental competition; I just wanted to ride more horses than ANY of my friends. Since giving birth to a child and FINALLY getting my own horse, the urge to ride other horses has really gone away. Love my muffin; trust him with my life.

Nicole and I set up a gymnastic; trot pole to a cavaletti, short one to a tall crossrail, slightly more 'normal' one to what would become a vertical, 2 'normal' strides to a crossrail oxer (not a swedish oxer; a crossrail on the front set of standards, vertical rail on the back set of standards). Nicole and I switched horses for the flat. Tiki was wearing his hunter bridle with the hollow D-ring, and I had the straps ready to tie the stirrups with! Upon settling into Sparky's saddle, it became apparent how soft and squishy he is! He is WIDE, and he is COMFORTABLE. Figured out his buttons and had a nice, uneventful warm up. I REALLY enjoyed my ride; some horses (like Mick, Audrey, and Sedona) are NOT fun for me. Sparky and Star were both quite fun and enjoyable:)

Didn't waste a second and allow my stance on "flatting unknown horse ONLY" to be changed, so once warm, I hopped off and ran up my stirrups, lol. Climbed back aboard the Tiki man and trotted into a small cav stack vertical, cantered out over the cabinet. AGAIN with the super soft jump and lovely, slow rhythm. Either it's the heat, or my boy has figured out jumping from a relaxed, soft gait is easier than jumping out of a tense, frantic one. He was so LIGHT! Usually "hunter bridle" doesn't really produce "soft and light". Trotted the coop and worked on staying right with him in the air, then began over the gymnastic. Nicole had me grab MANE and HOLD it the entire time, and let him figure out the jumps and distances. Because I know Tiki has a slight left drift, and I'm so used to jumping with an automatic release, I only grabbed mane with the left hand, and kept my right hand out in an opening rein, keeping him in the center. Didn't even realize I was doing that! Finally got through it holding mane with BOTH hands, and he jumped perfect.

Raised the 2nd crossrail to a 2'6 vertical, and opened out the oxer a little bit, making it wider but not taller. As muffin went through, it felt weird jumping up and over the vertical, then out and over a low but wider jump. He felt really great, though. I approached the jump in my 2-point, and kept letting him speed up coming in, so Nicole had me go through a few times until I stayed the same and didn't let go of the mane. Raised the oxer to about 2'6, and the vertical to 2'9 and went through 2 more times ... he was lovely, and I felt pretty darn good. Nicole had quit with the 2'6 with Sparky because he was honest and straight, and he deserved to end on a good note. I let her put up the 2'9 vertical one more hole to 3'. I totally saw her try and be sneaky and put it up 2 holes to 3'3; I let it go. Truth is, I felt pretty good, and it's always nice having eyes on the ground. So I went with it!

First time through, he jumped so high up over the 3'3 that he put in 2 and a chip to the oxer. He landed off that jump and just FELL to the left, very hard. Came again, and again opened my right rein; again Muffin landed short, and scrambled to the oxer. Well, shoot. Again, and my hand slipped off the mane, but he got the correct striding. Nicole finally just said, "If I just shut up and don't tell you to grab mane, will you do it?" Lol, I said yes. So, she stood silently while I came in a 4th time bound and determined to hold mane with both hands and sit still. FINALLY, he landed off the 3'3 jump and went straight ahead and didn't fall left. Nicole was silent, and then told me to go ONE more time, and NOT let him get fast coming in. Haha, I went with it. Regulated my pace perfectly, trotted the cav, one nice stride to the crossrail, one stride to the 3'3 vertical (HELD that mane), 2 forward strides to the oxer. He was straight, he was balanced, and it felt amazing. Quit there.

Analysis? It is super hard for me to just HOLD MANE:) Once I quit opening my right rein, my horse quit falling left. My position felt good; I of course fell back in the air a few times, but not a whole bunch. I only caught him in the mouth once when he jumped through the 3'3 combo the first time. I love my horse; he really does have a sense of humor. I'm not perfect by any means, but he helps me ALL the time to become a better rider. Since I'd hopped on bareback with a halter and hacked him in his pasture yesterday morning before I did stalls, I counted our gymnastics ride that afternoon as my 5th ride for the week and didn't get up at o'dark thirty to ride this morning. I'll do that all NEXT week:)

My boy has come so far:)

2011-07-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

(The first longeing pic is August of 2008, the month I got him! Check out the difference in his NECK and the way he carries himself:) Please ignore the crappy pic I managed to snap today!)

Remember how I said I'd be sore today? Uh ... YEAH! I'm so sore that stairs are quite torturous! Wimped out today and longed the Muffin Man. It was so hot and steamy today that I longed him in his pasture in the shade of a huge tree. It was a good work out for him because there was a nice little incline that he had to work on. I worked on keeping his rhythm consistent, and keeping him working hard on the uphill trot. Had him do some transitions, shortened the side reins until the contact was equivalent to regular rein contact, and made him go FORWARD.

He was very good. Super quiet, yes, but good. I like to use simple, simple, simple for longeing, so I put him in the hunter bridle with the hollow D-ring. Definitely will ride tomorrow, just have to decide if it will be in the dressage saddle or the cc saddle. I SHOULD make myself do cc saddle with stirrups tied, then dressage saddle on Saturday. Debating getting up at O'dark thirty on Saturday to ride BEFORE lessons.

Even though it's worth noting that I HATE cleaning 12 stalls 5 days a week, I do really enjoy doing my ONE horse's stall;) I like keeping an eye on him; I always know if his tummy is fine (had diarrhea at one point; Joyce had put him on beet pulp). I keep an eye on his water intake (He gets Sr. feed and Joyce is now wetting that. His water buckets are now cleaner, and he's actually drinking LESS); I'm able to see he's not dehydrated because he has the same, normal amounts of pee. It's good for me to be out a MINIMUM of 5 days a week, because I get to see him sleep every day (where he got the nickname, "Squeaky Tiki", lol!), and get to make sure he hasn't torn himself up playing in his pasture like a dum dum (he currently has lost his flymask in the pond:(). I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to care for him during the week:)

Humid ... and HOT ... and HUMID ...

2011-07-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Lol, welcome to GA in the summer! I cannot WAIT until we are able to move further north. When we were coming home from VA, you could literally feel the change in the weather as you crossed the TN/GA state line. It was practically instantaneous. Ugh. Rode the boy today; it was right at 12:15 ... utterly miserable! I rode for about 20 mins with frequent walk breaks, and he was dripping sweat by the time we were done.

My legs are going to be S.O.R.E. tomorrow! I typically ride with about a 3 hole difference in my cc saddle. My 'hacking' length, my 'jumping' length, and my 'xc' length. Today, I jacked up my stirrups 2 holes from 'xc' length; I've actually never done this before! It was GREAT to get me in my heels; torture on my thighs! I did a lot of 2-point; I 2-pointed until I couldn't any more. Even my posting trot was so tough; I was spurless again, and he was super quiet today, so I was focusing on keeping my heel under my hip, and keeping him moving forward.

I LOVE that little Beval 'wonder bit' that I use for stadium jumping. It is just enough of an elevator lift to keep him nice and light, but not so much that I wouldn't ride in it every day. His trot felt super amazing today. I kept pushing him forward into my hand, and it didn't take much of anything to keep him on the contact. I wasn't planning to canter much, but I really wanted to work on my hands, so I cantered more than I had initially planned. I kept my reins short and allowed my shoulders to be in 'hunter princess' placing rather than 'dressage queen' placing. He actually felt really nice; he never got heavy, he never got quick, and he was super responsive to ALL my aids.

As I said before, I took frequent walk breaks because I could barely breathe in the thick, humid air, and I was DYING with my stirrups so short:) The canter felt so nice, I decided to jump the teeny cabinet jump out of a canter, and on a circle. I was tracking left; cantered up to it, and he landed left every time. His rhythm NEVER got fast; you could set a metronome by his tempo. I actually felt pretty secure JUMPING in the short stirrups; didn't feel my leg swinging back. Tracking right he landed cross cantering a few times, but those were on the jumps when he got in too deep. I came off the circle and popped over the coop about 3 times, just working on his responsiveness ... that felt pretty awesome every time. After coming around the circle one final time and hitting the cabinet perfectly one final time, I gave him a nice big pat and ended on that note.

Took a walk down the driveway and next to the road to the adjoining pasture that borders Joyce's property. Turned around there and came back. Just hosed/sponged with apple cider vinegar since he got a full bath yesterday. I DON'T like to bathe with soap every day; I find the horses are more prone to skin ailments when you strip away all the natural oils with soap. In nearly 3 years, my horse has had mild rain rot on his ears twice, a light case on the front of the hind legs once, and a pretty "good" case of it on the front of the hind legs once. Treating with MTG and bathing with hand soap for less than a week cleared it right up every time. I think my grooming regiment is pretty good.:) Dressage saddle for my sore legs tomorrow, most likely with some no stirrup work!

^Insert clever title here^

2011-07-05T16:50:00.001-07:00

Haha, I'm just not that creative at coming up with good, eye catching titles! Oh well, I guess my talents lie elsewhere. Had a MUCH better ride on the muffin today. Had a little more sympathy leading him into the washrack today, and even though he was a little booger eyed, he was fine going in. I just took my time and didn't slam around in there, and he had no issues. Tacked up in the dressage saddle again, and carted up the longe line to get out any "zoomies". Footing was GREAT since we had a nice rain shower yesterday.

Absolutely NO zoomies. I could barely get him to GO on the longe line:) I'm pretty sure he was in last night, too, so good on him. Hopped on, and stood straight up in my stirrups to get in my heel a little more than I have been lately. No spurs today. He felt simply divine. I'm so proud of him for figuring out the whole "contact" concept. I'm sure it helps that I've pretty much stopped just dropping him, and I keep my leg on more consistently. He felt nice and light and relaxed; a little stiff in the neck, which is totally normal. Got him to loosen up his jaw and relax the neck a little by flexing his head back and forth. I've figured out where the LONG reins have been coming from. I have short arms. When I get "in the backseat" for dressage, I HAVE to have longer reins so I can still bend my elbows. I just need to get a *little* more forward for my jumping, and it will be easier to keep my reins shorter.

I did my "thread the needle" exercise with a twist; instead of reversing through a half turn, I reversed with a half turn in reverse. This was cool for him; went back and forth until I felt him loosen up even more, then cantered the short side from a sitting trot. Beautiful upward transition, nice downward, and he felt right on the same wavelength as me. Half turn in reverse, then a canter on the short side on the right lead, and it was pretty much identical to the left lead. GOOD BOY. My plan was lots of trot work, VERY LITTLE canter, and all worked out well.

Tomorrow ... don't know! CC saddle maybe. Want to do a lovely pole course, but I don't want to rush it. Maybe I'll work on MY fitness tomorrow and spend some time in 2-point and with no stirrups. Will work some more/longer canter work on Thursday, then probably the pole course on Friday. I've got a hankering to go watch the xc at Chatt Hills on Sunday ... just have to convince the hubby to let me go with no guilt trip!

NEWSFLASH!

2011-06-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

I rode the Squeaky Muffin tonight! Woo Hoo! Now my lower back is paying for it, big time. Thank goodness I have an appointment with my most amazing chiropractor on Saturday. I made the time for my honorary little sis Nicole tonight. I've bailed on her 2 Sundays in a row, so I hung around until close to 8:00 tonight so we could ride together. I fully expected the muffin man to be fresh, and he was. I was figuring we'd ride in the ring, so when I tacked up, I put on the dressage saddle. As we were putting on our bridles, we decide to ride in the mare's pasture. Oh well, I went with it:)

The boy was dripping sweat this morning when I brought him in, so I had to hose him off before I fed him. After I put the hose away, I was doing something (can NOT remember what!), and he spooked and pulled back in the crossties. Tonight, as I led him into the crossties, he spooked AGAIN, and went yanking back yet again. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY HORSE?? WHY HAS HE BEEN PULLING BACK SO MUCH? THIS HAS NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM BEFORE. I would appreciate some feedback as to what could be causing him to sit back so much.

Anyway, I had clipped whiskers and bridle path the other day, and hit the mane today. It was a hot mess, let me tell ya! I'm keeping up with shaving the tail, as well. I've finally got it the shape I really like, so as the sides grow out, I just hit them with the clippers again. Pretty much every time I do whiskers/bridle path, I do the tail too.

So, back to the whole point of this post; the RIDE. We mounted once in the mare's front pasture, then walked up the hill and through the gate to the back one. He was FINE. We walked about half the perimeter while we figured out what we were going to do, then got to work. My plan was some semblance of field dressage. Shortened my reins, and he felt very stiff and tense. My horse does NOT like to be out of his usual routine (riding at 8:30 at night is most CERTAINLY not his usual routine), and he does NOT like riding with other horses. Especially when we pass head on. So Nicole did her thing, and I did mine, and 2 of the mares were turned out up there, but they eventually wandered away. Muffin was really craning his neck, trying to take it all in, semi-spooking just a tiny little bit. He shook his head every time he saw Sparky out of the corner of his eye. I just kept at it, and eventually achieved a LOVELY trot. For about 5 seconds. That lovely trot eventually deteriorated into a pretty dramatic bucking spree. My horse is not a bucker. He will throw a crow hop every now and then, but for the most part, all 4 legs stay on the ground. He really put that head down and got into it this time, so I yanked him up so hard he got a little light in the front end. Because of that, I smacked the top of his head as hard as I could. Made him walk on contact for a minute, then let him relax on a loose rein.

As I said, I expected resistance, stiffness, head shaking, staring, and even a little swishy swishy bucky bucky, but not a full on head down, stiff leg bronc. I let the both of us chill out for a second, then trotted some more. Had a decent trot going, and I rode pretty defensively. I didn't pick a fight, though! Cantered both leads, and got some tempi changes at one point, and on the left lead, he was SO lofty with the front end, it felt as though we were cantering over bounce poles. I finally quit on that semi-good note. As I said, my lower back will pay the price tomorrow, but it should be put back in place on Saturday.

Current plan; ride Tues-Sat of next week. Start with a light hack in the cc saddle and the 'jumping' bridle, then the dressage tack, then a ride in the 'jumping bridle' with a pretty serious pole course, then dressage tack, then something out in a field with the Waterford. I haven't used that bit in awhile, and want to start "tuning him back up" so we're ready to do our best in September. July 16 is the third show of that Mud Creek series I've been going to, so my goal is to get up at 4:30 so I can get to the barn by 5, then ride him before I feed. I have no camp next week, so not a big deal, but the following week leading up to the show, I do. It's only fair to my horse if I give him every opportunity to succeed, so if I'm not fit and he's not fit, we're not going to the show. It may "only" be a schooling show, but every time I'm out in public, I'm representing myself. All you have in this business is your reputation, and I don't want to hurt mine. Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!

Minorly unintentional break

2011-06-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Whelp; no real surprise here. My buttocks has not been on my horse since I apparently walked the hills (and I don't really remember doing it, haha!) Thank goodness for blogs, right? I have a week of summer camp to get through next week, and then hopefully my son will be going to my in-law's the following week. Why is that a good thing? Well, I suffer from "mommy guilt", and am already dragging my 9 year old son to the barn for 3+ hours in the heat/humidity/dust/bees, then driving an hour to the "other barn" to teach for an hour +, then driving the hour back home. And next week will be even worse; get up at 5 am, go to dusty/hot/bee barn for 2 hours, drive hour to other barn, do camp for 5 hours, teach for an hour, drive an hour BACK to dusty/hot/bee barn for another hour+, then back home. His good humor starts to go away at that point, so my 4 legged love is getting a break right now. I have no plans to do more than maybe a light hack one evening with my bud Nicole, then a few light hacks the week my son goes to his grandparents, then 2 straight weeks of camp (the FINAL 2 weeks!), where the muffin will most likely not get much more than a hosing and a rinsing of apple cider vinegar. I'm figuring since standing in his stall causes him to be covered in sweat, so not working his tushy off in the 90+ degree weather doesn't bother him too much. Our HT is end of September, so I'm planning to ramp things up the last week in July, and stick with a 4-5 day a week riding plan with a bi-weekly lesson of some sort thrown in until we make our Poplar debut. After that, I will probably plan to try and do a schooling trial at Novice at Red Horse or Ashland stables before Christmas, and by that point, I will be doing my usual whining about how cold it is. Good thing I'm not trying to qualify for the Olympics, or something!;)

I've figured it out:)

2011-06-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

After obsessively thinking about the weekend and watching not only my 3 videos, but also older videos, I've identified what I need to work on for next time.

1. My fitness. When it's 90 degrees by 8am, it's REALLY hard to get motivated to go exercise. I've struggled with my weight my entire life; I LOVE sweets (well, ANY carb, really). I just have to figure out how to make a lifestyle change that sticks forever.

2. Tiki needs to improve the quality of his canter. I realized that by NOT having my reins short enough, I can see the usual "bouncing" off contact I normally get in a show situation. I DO FEEL like I have a good contact, but after watching the videos a hundred times, I can see that I'm not following his mouth well enough, and the reins are not maintaining a nice, elastic contact between the jumps. I made absolutely NO effort to ask him to come down into the bridle because I was nervous, hot, and tired. I just wanted to hurry up and get it over with.

3. My leg felt weak. I need to ride with my stirrups tied the week before a show so I can get good muscle memory. Also need to embark on a "no stirrup month" again. I've only done that once in nearly 3 years. I really need to do that round abouts twice a year. I also need to be regularly stretching my achilles; it was weird to see me NOT really down in my heel. Upon further self examination, I feel this is probably because I've been making an effort to ride in the dressage saddle and not jump so much, and I'm trying to take Gigi's advice and not have my "knees up to my chin".

4. Finally, and this is related to my weak leg, I was popping up too early again. This has ALWAYS been my go to bad habit. Some people jump down the neck; I pop up. I compared my show from this last time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6ForNy2p20

to the one I did at Oxer Farm in December: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKmQMCXnQd0

I picked the 2'6 course out so I could compare them at the same height. Overall, I feel my Oxer Farm course is smoother and more relaxed. My distances were there; I had one awkward jump at the first oxer and one flat out missed lead, but it was relaxed and I was happy with my body. At Mud Creek, he was more forward and his lead changes were better, but I almost wonder if I was subconsciously rushing him through it. I need to really think about my body and work on my auto release so I can stay down JUST long enough. I don't want to get into a habit of landing low on his neck, and then not be able to sit up on the xc course when I move up to Novice, and there's more (and bigger!) drop fences/water/ditches/etc. I need to get good at doing exactly what I NEED to do; no more, no less.

OK! Enough with the self flagellation, and onto this week! Well ... it's been hot, lol:) Haven't done much at all. Longed yesterday over a pole. He looked GREAT at the trot once the hard footing broke up a little bit. Really stretched long and low into the side reins, and maintained a pretty nice pace. At the canter both ways, he held it BEAUTIFULLY:) I did notice that even without a rider, he really wants to hold his head up and be hollow through his back, so I think I need a little hack session in the draw reins tomorrow to help him understand to keep his back UP and his neck ROUND at the canter. He's got it figured out at the trot, and once I help him figure it out at the canter, I think our jumping will improve 100%. Today, I walked the steep hill in his pasture in the dressage saddle and a halter. That's what I do when I have no time. Tomorrow my goal is cc saddle with the hunter bridle and the draw reins. We'll see if I actually do it!:) Later.

Nope. Not a bad idea at all!

2011-06-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

I learned some things today for sure.

1. I need to lose about 30 lbs.

2. My horse really can be quite the knee hanger

3. We finally are starting to get consistent lead changes

4. 2'9 now officially looks like 2'6

5. 3' is a little bit easier the 2nd time around

6. I'm riding with my reins way too long

7. I am seriously unhappy with my leg right now

8. Coming off a week of summer camp, vacation, and a cumulative total of 6 days worth of riding ... neither of us were at the peak of fitness

9. My horse needs more prep than a total of 6 days worth of riding; 4 of those days dressage, one doing trot sets, and one nice flat school in the cc saddle working over poles.

10. Showing with the 'pasture buddy' maybe isn't quite the BEST thing I've ever done

I really cannot complain. As listed above, maybe the muffin and I weren't at our best today. Ultimately, I decided to go because a friend offered to come with and split gas, AND the show is just so darn cheap and NOT far from Joyce's. It's funny because I actually felt BETTER today than I did at the last one, but our rounds definitely weren't as forward and energetic.

First and foremost, our warmup actually wasn't bad, which is a miracle considering when I pulled into the farm, he came off the trailer literally soaked and dripping sweat. I tied him to the trailer with his water and haynet like usual, and within the first 5 minutes had pulled back and broken his halter. Fortunately, it was nothing major, but it's definitely broken now. He was just acting like an anxious turd, and I think it had to do with his best pasture buddy, Guilder. Even after standing tied for about 45 minutes, he hadn't dried one little bit, so I just gave it up and took him over and hosed him down completely. So much for that meticulous bath yesterday, lol!

Right after his hosing, I had to go get dressed and tacked him up. He was kicking out his hind legs, dancing around, and generally fidgeting so much, I gave up on using polos on the back legs and went for our XC Woof boots (which I ONLY consented to use because I happened to be wearing the royal blue polo shirt today). Made it over to the ring just in the nick of time, and got to watch one person go before it was our turn.

2'6 was ... OK. He was jumping really hard at them; it felt a little sloppy, and he actually had the FIRST RAIL down:( That was the first rail he's had in a jumping course since our horse trial. It was a natural square oxer, and I don't think he just got his eye on it and realized it was an oxer. Out of 4, we finished 2nd:) One had a refusal and a rail, one had a refusal, and one jumped clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6ForNy2p20

In the 2'9, it was just Kyle and I. I didn't expect to beat her because she's just a good rider, her horse loves to "run", and she jumps the BIG stuff. This course felt the best. The jumps rode like they were 2'6 ( which they weren't. Unlike many schooling shows, this one is set and measured for real:) We were clear, and did the jumpoff, and he was a good boy. 2nd to Kyle as expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZWkSBRuf7Y

The 3' was me alone again. He felt really tired. I felt really tired. I didn't help him at ALL, and he made no effort to bail me out. Stalled out to about 3 jumps, AND he pulled the SAME natural oxer rail (same course as the 2'6). To those jumps, I just saw NOTHING, and he basically puttered out then sprung off the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Dakotawyatt?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/0/S0xyt_LNXvg

I am dissatisfied with my leg position. I have never had a heel problem, and analyzing the pics from today show me my heel is NOT down and secure:( More 2'point, no stirrups, short stirrups, and stretching. So, once again, no jumpoff, but I did win, yay! Lucky belt is still helping me stay on my horsey;) I need to stay down longer; I'm popping up again and disrupting his bascule. I just need to s ... l ... o ... w down my body. Next time, I will do more productive work. I am embarking on a journey to change my eating habits; how can I expect pony to be fit and ready to work when I'm a tub of jelly? Doesn't work that way. I need to make some changes, and hopefully I can do it.

Still on track to do Poplar in September. That's my current goal. Will most assuredly do a few more small things before then; this time with better prep. Overall, the trips felt better than last time, but I think we actually weren't as good. Oh well, it was good education! Whatever helps me set up my training plan is a good thing. Tiki was good in the ring; tired, but good. It WAS somewhere around 95 degrees in the blazing sun today, so I'm sure that contributed to his sweating and both our tiredness. Homework ... that's what horse shows are for:)

Good idea? Not so sure about that!

2011-06-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Haven't ridden in a week. This is coming off of riding for one week after a previous 2 week break. What will I be doing? Showing on Saturday:) Back to the same little farm from a few weeks ago; same 3 classes. Next show, I will let go of the 2'6, and start at 2'9. Hopefully, the pony will behave himself.:)

Happier times:)

2011-06-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

OK, enough with the sad stuff! Good things, good things:) It has been 95+ this week, but I have been a good horsey mommy and have ridden the boy this week. Tuesday, after my wonderful ride on Monday, I went for hills/hack in the boy's pasture. He was MUCH better this time:) Started on the right side, and walked up/down twice, trotted across the pasture, then went down/up the hill on the left side twice, then trotted back across the pasture and out. No bucky bucky, thank goodness!

Wednesday I took advantage of sleeping in:) Thursday, it was back in the dressage saddle, and once again he was a rock star. Wow. I love, love, love, love, love, etc. my boy! Our trot work was simply marvelous. It is such a strange feeling to have him so lovely and round. I LOVE it! The canter work was weirdly strong. Like, I had to literally HAUL back on the reins a few times to get him back to me. His stride was just open and HUGE. He wasn't fast, he was just strong and forward. I half halted super strongly, clamped my thighs on, and squeezed my stomach ... it finally worked and the canter became more manageable. Actually cantered a serpentine with simple lead changes, and it was very good. Our trot serpentine was the BEST it has ever been. No more disconnected hind end, yay!

The boy actually the worst case of rain rot on the front of his hind legs ever (spending a week with no grooming!). I scrubbed them really well with anti-bacterial soap, then treated with MTG. As of yesterday, they're clean as a whistle. Today, I didn't ride. Since he was standing in his stall and sweating up a storm, I pulled off his fly sheet, gave him a good bath, let him dry in front of the fan, then put him back in his stall. Had plans to ride tomorrow, but it looks like I will be shopping with a friend instead, so I may ride the muffin man on Sunday.

Bittersweet

2011-06-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take a second and reflect on a couple of defining moments in my life. Both moments involve horses dying. The first, I saw a horse get it's rein hung on the stirrup iron, panic, fall down, hit her head, and bleed out on the washrack floor. The other more recent, the barn fire at Patchwork where I saw a horse engulfed in flames. Both instances have stayed with me. The fire at True Prospect where Boyd Martin lost 6 beautiful and talented horses is sickening and surreal. I can't imagine being Lillian, and being able to rescue a few horses, but NOT my own. I have actually cried real tears over and over; I can't help but read all the news articles and updates and blog posts, and each touching tribute causes me to well up again and again. I spent a few minutes in my boy's stall today, and was simply with him. I scratched his head, scratched his chest, and kissed his velvety nose. No matter what personal turmoil I feel right now, I can allow myself to be overwhelmed with gratitude as I touch my horse and know that tomorrow morning, I will put on the dressage saddle and canter him around the ring.

This link: http://eventingnation.com/home/2011/05/tribute-to-true-prospect.html has ways you can donate and help. I know I will. Go hug your pony.

Love my red head!

2011-05-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

OK. My horse was SO good today. Wow, he was amazing. You would have had NO idea that he's had the last 2 weeks off. What a good little muffin! You'd have thought I'd just had a Gigi lesson, or something!:)

Last minute, threw on the dressage saddle. Let him walk on a loose rein both ways, then cantered in a light 2-point, then got to work. Made him walk on contact; turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, shoulder in, leg yield, and actually worked a little haunches in. He's very reactive to my outside leg, and when I ask him to move his haunches over, he usually tries to jolt into a canter. Since I was working on shoulder/haunches in, I tortured myself with a fair amount of sitting trot. He was SO good. I LOVE my horse. At this point, he was quite sweaty; it was about 90 degrees at 9:30 in the morning.

On the right lead upward transition, picked up the canter from a halt ... on the correct lead:) He did feel very strong at the canter, but not the least bit bucky or prone to airs above the ground. Worked the rein contact, kept my leg on and steady, and got a nice carriage. On the left lead, nailed a BEAUTIFUL walk/canter transition, rode a nice big circle, halted. On the halt, he did NOT yank or pull on me. He stopped with a nice, lovely uphill frame. Quit there. Don't know what I'll do tomorrow; possibly dressage saddle again, not sure! Didn't expect the boy's most excellent behavior today, it was a nice treat.

Nothing to report

2011-05-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted a blog in 2 weeks because I haven't ridden in 2 weeks! Last week, I had TONS to do to get ready for our vacation this past week. And, from Saturday to yesterday, was in Virginia on vacation. It was AMAZING. The Shennandoah Valley is absolutely freaking beautiful. We stayed in a ski resort in Massanutten, just outside of Elkton. Um ... I may have to abandon my dream of living in Tennessee, and move to the Shennandoah Valley instead! They even had sweet tea!;)

Miss my boy; haven't seen him since Friday a week ago. I'm hoping for some really big, life changing decisions to go well soon. I'm at a crossroads right now ... mid life crisis, maybe? I don't know. Not sure 32 counts as "mid life". All I know is a LOT of things in my life need to change, and I'm praying for the strength and wisdom to make the RIGHT decisions. Good thoughts (and prayers if you are so inclined) are appreciated. My vacation was a real, necessary break for me. Now it's back to reality; looking forward to getting my boy back to work this week!

Belts, bats, and other trinkets ...

2011-05-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

When you go to a show where there's jumping involved, you imagine ALL the different ways you could get eliminated ...

-fall off

-go off course

-3 refusals

-missing the start timers

-missing the finish timers

-forget to buckle the chin strap on your helmet

These are all the things that can prevent you winning a coveted blue ribbon when you're the only person riding in the class. Thank goodness I didn't do any of those things, lol!;) Looks like my lucky belt is still holding strong!

Arrived bright and early so I could coach my kid in the hunters this morning. She took home Champion, which is a FAR cry from where she finished in her last show, so good for her. Tiki hung out tied to the trailer most of the day, except when I took pity on him and let him graze for a bit.

Didn't make my usual mistake and rush around. I got on in PLENTY of time and went into the field to warm up. Tiki was a POOP HEAD!:( AGH! He can be really frustrating sometimes. He was chill, chill, chill. Loaded great, unloaded sweat free, and as I said; just hanging around with no issues. As SOON as I set foot in the field, he wanted to start jigging, tail swishing, and shaking his head. Stayed relaxed and didn't pick a fight; just walked 2 laps around on a loose rein. Picked up contact at the walk, and he walked very slowly; the trot was decent, but maybe too slow I feel like. Rode it until he chilled and got a good rhythm. The canter was not as good; very strong, bouncy, and inverted. If/when I have to perform a dressage test in grass, don't look for a good score from us!:(

Cantered a TINY little half of a barrel jump. He jumped it awful; bounced my leg completely off the saddle. Ugh. Cantered into the little brush box; didn't feel too much better. Jumped both jumps as a line, and he literally cross cantered the entire time. AGH!! Lol. My friend Becca put a pole over both jumps (which made them about a whopping 2'), and he was mildly, sort of, a little bit better. Kept at it until he actually assessed the jump and did a good job, then set to walking around the property until it was jumper time! I didn't let him stop, just kept letting him toodle around on a loose rein. FINALLY! It was time.

Becca did rock/paper/scissors with my other competitor, and LOST, so I had to go first:) I'm visual, so I really like to watch the course before I ride it, but I knew it, so in I went! A gray box, left turn to a green vertical, 6 strides sort of down the middle to a ONE STRIDE (that we did in ONE, woo hoo!!), tight right to a blue and white oxer, long bending to a white vertical, left turn to an "end" jump, continuing left to the outside line, finishing with the in green of the other outside line. I rode it JUST like I was warming up an IEA course. I really waited and sat back, and he felt good, normal, got the one, didn't jump HUGE over anything ... I know I missed 2 leads, but I didn't even THINK about them. The jumpoff, I went a LITTLE more forward, then galloped over the finish line, but it was clean:) My competitor had a stop, so blue ribbon #1.

2'9 was WEIRD! A green/green long bending, around the the blue and white oxer to the gray (jumped the gray VERY angled), to the outside line, to the one backwards, yank left and weave around some jumps, to the end jump, to the other in of the outside line going the other way. ALMOST fell off over the red oxer coming out of the outside line. It was a 4, he was forward enough I *thought* he was going, so I went, but he didn't, which resulted in a very ugly jump. Recovered, though, and he was clean. Was VERY forward in the jumpoff, and beat our time by .2 seconds, lol. Competitor had a rail, so we won again.

3'!!! FINALLY! I was nervous as heck!!! Back to course A again, which was definitely a better riding course. He jumped the one HUGE, and I got a little jumped out of the tack, but recovered nicely. Finished the last jump, and I threw my arms around his neck. WE DID IT!!! Even though it was me, my horse, and the jumps, I did the jumpoff anyway. Rode more conservatively, he was clean again, and I was THREE seconds slower than my 2'9 course. I jumped 14 jumps at 3'. I have not done that in 15 years. We did it! I was so proud of my boy:) Going on vacation not this coming week, but next week, and I think he will appreciate the time off. Will probably just goof around this week, then get back to it upon my arrival back home. LOVE my pony! My goal is if my Poplar HT goes well this September, to make the move to Novice next season. I think I won't even notice the change in terms of the xc, but I definitely notice in the stadium, so I will get some cheap mileage at the schooling shows whenever I can!

It's here ... if the rain doesn't spoil it!

2011-05-13T18:53:00.001-07:00

My horseshow, that is! FINALLY showing my own horse 3'. It's been roughly 15 years since I've shown 3' or above. Hopefully I won't make a fool of myself! Possibility of pop up showers tomorrow, but hopefully late enough that we'll be finished. This week has been GREAT.

After the fresh little bucky bucky episode on Monday, Tuesday was MUCH better. I did ride in the dressage saddle down in the front field by the road. Despite Susan working with a difficult horse trying to load right across the street, I would say I had my absolute BEST flatwork I've ever had in that field. He was consistent, soft, relaxed, and responsive. I was VERY pleased by how workmanlike he was about the whole thing.

Wednesday I waited and rode with honorary little sis at 8:30 in the evening. Wasn't sure how that would go, because as I got him out of his stall, he pulled me towards the gate going OUT to his pasture. When he realized I intended to put him in the washrack, he planted his feet and tried to be a turd about going in. I tacked him SUPER quick, and headed up to the ring. I was up there for about 15 minutes before Nicole and Sparky made it up, and we had some actual very nice trot work. The canter was so LIGHT. WOW! It felt absolutely amazing. LOVED IT! Went ahead and trotted an inside vertical single that about 2'. He felt totally DEAD to it. Trotted the other inside single that was now a crossrail. DEAD. Cantered into the bounce to the cabinet (low, no poles on top), and he broke to the trot right in front, which really is pretty rare for him. We made it through and did 4 strides down to the cabinet. By this time, Nicole had made it up and was warming up pretty quick. I went back to the flatwork, and he was not nearly as good with it getting pretty dark, and there being another horse in the ring. The canter was still super light, but the trot was much more stiff and choppy. I worked it until he loosened back up and strided out a bit more, then just jumped around the 2 outside lines and 2 inside singles like I did last week. This time, nothing was bigger than 2'; good thing since he jumped everything like it WAS 3'. FINALLY, he woke up, and took me down to the jumps. They all felt decent; like I said, he put in a little extra effort, but on the bright side, he didn't touch a pole! When I did the inside vertical, popped off a clean flying change, and jumped a nice crossrail, I let him be done.

Thursday, I had an appointment for a haircut (FINALLY! My helmet fits!!:D), so I just cleaned stalls and left. Today, I rode again in the dressage tack. He was a ROCK. STAR. I didn't recognize my horse. He came RIGHT into the contact, he was stretching, he was forward, he was relaxed. I did the shallow serpentine exercise, and he was lovely. Worked on extended trot down the long side, and it felt good. Did a few turns-on-the-haunches, and I *think* they're not bad. Worked some w/t/w/t/halt transitions, and he maintained his topline beautifully, not getting flat and hollow at ALL!:) The canter transitions were prompt and lovely. Did a really nice reverse across a diagonal at the canter with a simple change through the walk, and it was perfect. Tried something I've never asked him for. A halt/canter transition. It was almost a perfect 10. Came down to the trot, worked it for a second, then let him be done. He was SO wonderful today, he earned the stop.

Loading up and leaving out at 6:30 am, wish us luck!

Fresh pony lately!

2011-05-09T19:03:00.001-07:00

I don't know what's been in the air lately, but Muffin has been a FRESH pony! I know he's been going out regularly because there has been NO rain the past week or so, so I'm a bit befuddled. After my "wild ride" on Wednesday, I longed him Thursday in the sidereins. He was good; I worked transitions, which is always a challenge on the longe. No fireworks; he was pretty steady. Friday, I rode in the dressage saddle. He wasn't bad; he felt a little resistant at first, but worked in pretty nicely. Did one lead change, and it wasn't very good. After working some lateral stuff, I gave him a break, then decided to ride my beginner novice test B, which I haven't done since the December Oxer Farm show. He was a little bit of a turd! He totally changed! Whether it was the fact that he felt he should be done, or whether he KNEW what we were doing, I don't know. He was a little crooked down the centerline, got a little quick across the diagonals, got stiff in the neck and shook his head in the corners. TOTALLY bombed the right lead trot/canter transition in the 20m circle. Did that transition again, and it was better. Finished with the 10m half circle to the halt, and that was ok. Let him be done. It was an ok day.

Had the weekend off, of course, then today I decided to take a page from honorary little sis' book, and hacked in the boy's pasture. It is MUCH bigger than the front pasture I usually do my trot sets in, with much bigger hills. That is the pasture I usually walk hills in. Walked one lap; other than being slow, that was fine. Then went to trot; he wasn't GOING anywhere, so I tapped him with the dressage whip I was carrying to ward off other horses. WHA BAM!!! Full on BUCK. TURD! I jammed my finger in his neck and bent my fingernail back, ow!! When I recovered my wits, I shortened my reins, then WHACKED him once really good with the whip, and all he did was go forward, so I patted him and went on. Of course, the first lap was a little rough, since he was still kind of pissy. Reversed and trotted around the other way; better. Reversed again, and he felt strong and did NOT want to round his back up and stretch into the contact. On the last trot lap, he felt marginally better, but really wanted to yank me down and pop the right shoulder out.

For the canter, I actually bridged my reins. Hmmm. That's a pain in the butt, so I just let them go back to normal! The canter was uneventful; the downhills are tough, but he held it together. The other direction, he wanted to get a little bit "flat out" gallopy, but he came back to me when I sat up and half halted pretty hard. Finished up and patted him. He was TIRED. Definitely a big pant going on.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring. This Saturday, I am showing him 3' for the FIRST time! Super excited:) Haven't shown at ALL since December 4, so just happy to be getting "out". I may throw the dressage saddle on again and just try to get him soft and relaxed. I only want to jump once since I will be jumping Saturday, and there will be rain probably at SOME point. Maybe I'll do dressage in the field where I used to flat all the time, by the road. I don't know; just depends on what I feel like tomorrow!

Just sittin' on a firecracker!

2011-05-04T19:33:00.001-07:00

Well. A week of spotty turnout has definitely affected the Tiki muffin! Wow, that's all I have to say! Groomed/tacked him up ... he was a total turd, kicking his hind legs like he thought he was a ballet dancer doing a grand battement. He was all wound up like he thought he was going somewhere. Probably not a bad assumption since Joyce had the trailer pulled up to the barn because she was taking my friend's horse to a show today.

Successfully tacked up the boy and took him up to the ring. Mounted with no difficulty and walked on a loose rein for a few laps. Shortened and picked up contact ... a squeal, tail swish, and a back humping. OK, I'm no dummy. Jumped off, tied the reins up in the throatlatch, and sent him on his way. I stood and watched with amusement as the fat little pony grunted and bucked, galloped as fast as he could, and did switchback turns worthy of a top of the line reining horse. At one point, he was galloping so fast, he almost missed a turn, and took down one of the cabinets. I waited him out, and he finally stopped to snack on a mouthfull of beautiful green grass.

Rinse and repeat. Let him walk on a loose rein for a few laps, then shortened my reins experimentally. No squeal, so swish. Score! Of course, the trot was a million miles an hour, would we expect any different? This time though, I kept my cool, kept the contact, and thought about posting my hips through my hands, which worked beautifully. Circled, reversed, and worked! I had set my course from the gymnastics I had set a few weeks back. Did my old standby of 2 outside lines and 2 inside singles. Tried to mix things up a little; removed the standards from the coop, so it was JUST the coop. The other outside line was 3 bounces, 3 strides to the cabinet jump with the poles on TOP of it in a tall crossrail. The inside singles were a post and rail, and a vertical with a diagonal "filler" pole. Go me, I set every jump I could at 3'. Actually planning to SHOW at 3' next Saturday, so guess I'd better be able to jump more than one jump set at 3' without my heart feeling like it is going to pound out of my chest.

I nearly scrapped my plans to jump. He was still feeling like he could explode any minute, and I was using the hunter bridle again ... that is NOT hardly any brakes, for sure! After the successful canter, however, I was thinking we could probably survive a few jumps. Opted to trot into the coop back and forth. The first one wasn't so good, but coming back it was better ... then better ... then flat out GOOD. I worked on the contact, maintaining the good rhythm, and not changing in front of the jump. Randomly decided to land off the coop and keep cantering the 6 strides to the 2nd jump in the line. The 6 was EASY. Kept going to the inside post and rail ... woo hoo! 3' FINALLY looks small, yay:) I think it was the fact that I jumped the HUGE training level solid jumps last time I was at Calimar, AND the massive coops on the hunter pace at the racetrack. A 3' vertical just isn't that big of deal after all that:)

I just kept on going, again and again. I made DECISIONS. If it was short, I sat and stayed back. If I saw it long, I lightened my seat and closed my leg. He got the actual striding in both outside lines with no issues. No, it wasn't huntery. He was STRONG. But the lines doing the step wasn't fast or frantic at all; it was FORWARD, but not fast. Yay!!! He was a machine. Jumped every jump clean and well, and felt like a barely contained hurricane.

I am just so safe on him. Even though we started out a bit like a bottle rocket, we ended as jumpers. I was very pleased with the work; he was SO good. Gave him an anti fungal bath because his hindquarters are shedding like no one's business, but he's not HAIRY, so I'm not sure what's going on there. As I sponged the water over him, noticed an angry red cut (about 6 inches long) on his shoulder, at the base of where his neck meets his shoulder. Must have been when he took out the cabinet jump. I washed it well, followed up with a vinegar rinse, and tossed the boy out into the area by the ring to mow some tall grass. Will ride in the dressage saddle tomorrow!:)

So, so, so happy

2011-05-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm SO glad my horse loads now with no problems (knock on wood). I went with Susan today, and she took her horse that had a trailer issue 2 years ago, and hadn't hauled anywhere since. She had been working with him on loading, but hadn't taken him anywhere. Today, we loaded him up with minimal fuss, then hauled the hour over to Gigi. I watched her AWESOME lesson, then we went to load him back up to come home. 3 hours later, we had to leave the horse and the trailer and finally go home.:( Wow, it was a frustrating ordeal to have the horse just plant his feet and say "Eff you. Not going on".

Anyway, I rode my boy yesterday. The hock looks perfect, no swelling or heat or anything at ALL. Phew:) He was perfectly sound, as usual, and I simply w/t/c for about 20 minutes. I went back to my hunter roots, and used my old, hollow mouth single jointed D-ring snaffle on my 'hunter bridle'. He was good:) He felt really strong at the canter, but I'm not sure how many nights he's been out because of the pop up showers that have been happening. He is so secure in the contact now. I am SO grateful for my opportunity to ride with Gigi because I have a different horse now, literally. I really need to get to a dressage show soon so we can strut our stuff and see how much we've improved!

Still standing ...

2011-04-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

after all the horrifying tornados this past week. WOW, what a MESS. Thank God we and the horses were all fine. Our county schools have been closed for the past 2 days. Kody's play for this evening was cancelled since the kids haven't practiced since Monday night, but is on for tomorrow and Sunday. I hacked bareback Tuesday, and had PLANNED to ride in the ring Wednesday, but the wind ... WOW, the wind. It was positively scary! Thursday, got the Muffin out to groom/tack up, and discovered some pretty significant swelling on his right hock. There was a spot that looked like it may have been a little puncture, and the area around the inside of the hock area was very swollen and had a definite hot spot. I went ahead and took him up to the ring and got on to walk; closed my eyes and concentrated on his gait; not lame. Picked up a trot ( which actually felt REALLY nice ), and again ... not lame. So, I lightly worked him for about 15 minutes, thinking that may help the swelling go down. I then cold hosed for 20 minutes, then painted with DMSO/cortisone. Today, it looks MUCH better. Virtually no swelling, and no heat, phew:) Went ahead and cold hosed again for 10 mins, and applied the DMSO mixture again, just in case. Hopefully Monday I can get back on track with some sort of a riding schedule.

Advanced level events

2011-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

(pic is of "Razz", a horse at IEA Zone Finals that reminded me SO much of the Squeaky Tiki!)

For anyone that's read my blog from the beginning, somewhere during the first year, I make some comment about finding the right job for my horse, and I mention something about maybe a "baby, amoeba level" horse trial. Well ... I have wondered lately what it would FEEL like to ride an advanced level course. Make no mistake ... I am a wimp. However ... one can always wonder!

I think for me, even PRETENDING to aim any higher than Training means that I have to buckle down and dedicate myself not only to getting fit, but losing weight, and finding ways to get some more meaningful competition. I have no illusions that Tiki will ever run a Prelim; I honestly don't feel that his front end is good enough. I've seen Ashdale Cruise Master hang his leg now in TWO 4* competitions and turn himself over. I have NO desire to ever experience that. But I can't lie and say that somewhere deep inside me, the urge to gallop out of the start box at an Advanced level event is never there.

ANYWAY! Rode the muffin man bareback (Fleece half pad and Thinline) around his pasture today ... in the halter and leadrope ... after he hadn't been ridden in 5 days ... on an eerily blustery day. Can't decide what I want to do this week. Considering taking the stirrups off my saddles and maybe doing 2 weeks with no stirrups? I need to do that again; even though I was MISERABLE riding sans stirrups for a whole month, that needs to be in my future some time soon.

Planning to FINALLY show my horse 3'; ME show him 3':) There's a farm about an hour from here putting on a hunter/jumper schooling show, and they're offering jumper classes from 18" up to 3'6. Since I haven't done straight jumpers in over a year, I thought this might be a fun thing to go to and take advantage of. That will be May 15, the Saturday before we leave for our yearly vacay. Heading north to Massanutten, VA! Scrapped our epic cross country drive because the gas prices are SO HIGH. So, we headed to our local travel agent and booked a week at a ski resort in the mountains of VA:) We've only stayed in VA once, when we took a 5 day vacay to Williamsburg. Good things, good things!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hope all of my friends in Blogger Land have a wonderful easter! My son has his NINTH birthday party today. Wow. He's half way to an adult! I love my boy; he is an amazing kid. Next week, he debuts in his first "real" play. He was in his Christmas play at the elementary school as the lead, but he only had maybe 6 lines? This play, he is playing "Winthrop" from the musical, "The Music Man". It is the High school Spring production; he auditioned for it and was chosen! He has 2 solos to sing and WAY more than 6 lines:) Can't wait for it!

On the horsey front, Muffin had his butt handed to him on Thursday. Had a lesson with Susan; he came down BEAUTIFULLY into the bridle. She was SO excited. My trot/canter transitons were stellar. His right lead canter was LOVELY. So soft and balanced; it was just fantastically amazing:) My spiral in/out at the trot was actually very nice both directions, and he walked back and forth over a blue tarp without much of a fuss:) I wish I could go compete on him; our dressage test would probably be pretty damn good. There was a CT at Poplar Place today I would have loved to go to, but previously mentioned birthday party was a LEETLE more important.

Well, happy egg hunting tomorrow! I will update my horsey stuff as it happens:) Hug your ponies!!

Love, love, love!

2011-04-18T18:08:00.001-07:00

I am so happy:) I am the luckiest girl in the world to have my little muffin man. My boss (Janet) trains and deals with 6 figure horses every day. She actually LIKES my horse. I know for a fact she does, because I've seen her deal with ship in clients where she DOESN'T like the horse. She says he's a "neat little horse!" We discussed his way of going a bunch today. I worked for probably a year and a half on NO contact. I've read back in my blog where I did the loose rein/one rein stop schools. It took me a long time to get him to where I COULD actually ride him with a consistent rhythm and no contact. Janet says some trainers really do believe that philosophy, but she doesn't because it just takes too long.

I made my usual mistake of wiggling my reins back and forth. I didn't post a million miles an hour, but I was still too fast. I was using some of my dressage feedback, and posting higher to help regulate my pace. Janet had me soften up and post lower. Lol. Multi-discipline/Multi-trainer lessons CAN be a challenge, lol! Pitfall of being bound and determined to do this thing MYSELF and not rely on anyone to call my actual "trainer". Vowed to slow myself down and get him where I had him with Gigi last week. Got him there, and then Janet had me get him "3 notches lower" so he could just relax and release his back. It took me about half an hour, but I finally got him there ... on my own:) I actually used my leg effectively, and because I was maintaining a more consistent connection thanks to my Gigi lesson, he kept a great rhythm.

The trot right before my canter work was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. He was in a low, slow, ground covering trot, and it was LIGHT. WOW!!:) My canter work was GREAT. He felt much softer than he had during the dressage lesson, weirdly enough. My transitions were decent; Janet was having me work on keeping his topline round during the transition itself, which as y'all know, I've been working on for infinity;) I did an ok job, yay!

FINALLY got to jump around in the big ring! Haven't jumped around there since the lesson I took right before my horse trial in October. We warmed up over a box/gate set at 2'3. Cantered in on each lead, just working on consistency. Missed a few times, and Janet gave me some feedback. Did a little course of inside single oxer, outside line, inside single oxer set around 2'9. I specifically said how much I hated square oxers, especially ones over 2'6. He jumped the SNOT out of the jumps the first time through, lol! Janet wanted me to work on his rideability between the jumps. He was a little bit wild! Big, open ring, he was like WOO HOO!!! Also, I was sitting lightly vs. sitting down. After a little bit of experimenting, Janet determined she likes me best sitting to the jump. Keeps him the most organized and relaxed. She also gave me some great advice; don't let the "voices" in my head cause me to overanalyze. JUST RIDE, AND MAKE A DECISION. So, on my last time through, I moved up to the first oxer, nailed the line coming in, made sure I got the "step" (AND it wasn't too fast, yippee!), and rode a little deep spot to the final oxer, but all were good because I sat up and rode for each spot.

All in all, a GREAT day:) LOVE my boy! He is the bee's knees. No matter what the content of my lessons are, I always get something out of them to go home and work on. Lots and lots of tools for the toolbox:)

Random musings ...

2011-04-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Ya know ... to some people, a 3' jump is "small". I am NOT one of those people, lol! ESPECIALLY when that 3' jump is a substantial square oxer.

My horse is actually very lazy at home.

I have tied my stirrups to the girth often enough that I feel like maybe my leg doesn't slide back as much as it used to.

Now that I've learned the concept of contact and connection, my horse trots like a rockstar!

Yes, I CAN actually ride with a dressage whip!

I LOVE the smell of Vetrolin liniment.

My horse really enjoys scratching his head on a towel.

For a chestnut, he really is most excellent about NOT getting skin funk (knock on wood!).

I love my Thinline pad.

I love my T-boots.

I REALLY need a haircut so I can wear my 'nicer' helmet!

I wish I could figure out how I can compete more often.

My horse makes me really, really happy:)

Jumped through the gymnastic today. Removed the pole from between the post and rail and the oxer. Jumped through at 2'6. Raised all to 2'9. He was so quiet coming in to the first vertical that the 18' between that and the oxer rode SO long:( He made a flying leap over the oxer, and I yanked him out so he didn't kill himself trying to jump out over the coop. Came through on the left lead instead of the right, and he was a little more forward. THAT time, it rode GREAT! Reversed and came into the coop first, off the right lead, and he felt amazing going through. Hopped off one more time and jacked them ALL up to 3'. I ALMOST had talked myself into leaving the oxer at 2'9 because I'm just a big weenie, but I didn't. I'm GLAD I didn't. Came in on the left lead the one to the two, and he jumped huge and lovely. Reversed one final time and came in right lead the two to the one, and he actually felt MUCH better that way today than he did last week when ALL I did was the triple at 2'6. So, other than the one incident when we came in quiet and he just didn't take me at ALL to the combo, he was a total superstar:) LOVE my boy! Thinking I will actually walk hills "bareback" (fleece half pad with the Thinline;)) tomorrow. Going to try and con a lesson from Janet on Monday, and then I've got a lesson with Susan set for next Thursday.

videos from yesterday

2011-04-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHxzAcP0GC4

This is her initial evaluation. Some great pearls of wisdom there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXUlYxIx6s

The "meaty" trot work. My videographer didn't get the canter work because she had to tack up that adorable gray for her own lesson!

"You have a nice horse"

2011-04-11T17:41:00.001-07:00

Those 5 little words (4? Does 'a' count as a word?) made my entire day. Had my lesson with Gigi Nutter today, and despite my inability to keep my elbows bent, Tiki looked like a rockstar. For those of you that have watched the various videos I've posted over the last 2 years, y'all have NEVER seen him look this good:)

She taught me the REAL way to get a "frame", and gave me some very valuable insights. Timing wise, I have been VERY off. I was taught to hold the outside rein taught, then wiggle, wiggle, wiggle the inside rein to get the head down. I have been taught to spread my hands really wide and squeeze right, left, right, left, right, left, etc. I have been taught to squeeze inside rein when I'm down in my post, outside rein when I'm up. I have used all of these various techniques to get Tiki's head down, which is why 2 years later he still has no concept of really carrying himself and being "through". Because EVERY time he'd get the connection, I would drop it.

Gigi utilizes the 'flexion' rein (inside), where she wants me to use that to position his inside eye in line with the point of shoulder, then squeeze the ring fingers on the outside rein periodically at critical times. When I give, I tend to give TOO much. Even half an inch is too much. I need to SOFTEN, but NOT give him the rein because then he bobbles and loses that steadiness.

She said I have a nice seat, and I sit the canter well:) Yay, I CAN do something right! Definitely a breakthrough day, for sure. I have broken the video up into 2 segments; the "evaluation", and more of a consistent trot and contact. I will work hard and do my homework, and hopefully I can get to another of Gigi's clinics next month. I can't do a ton of them because they're not cheap, but they're absolutely a worthwhile investment! I will post a separate blog with the links to the videos because they're not finished uploading yet!!:)

Ghetto longeing ...

2011-04-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

(sorry for the bad pic!)

Wow. I am so ghetto, lol! Longed in the halter with the bridle sans noseband. Why Halter? So I could attach the longe line to it and not have to switch every time I changed direction, of course! Duh! Pic is terrible; he looks really fuzzy (he's not), and he looks like a monkey. Every time I whipped out the phone to snap a pic, he would slow down and shoot me a quizzical "Wha ...?"

I've been watching the Advanced dressage posted on Eventing Nation at the Fork. I figure Tiki ought to look like that, so I slapped on the side reins, cracked the whip, and sent him in a circle around me. Lol. He does look MUCH better, though. He comes into contact much more consistently, and doesn't get so behind the bit any more. I also don't have to nag the crap out of him to just go FORWARD. He gets it. I made him do lots of transitions both directions. Tightened the side reins 4 notches, watched him with a critical eye, then tightened 2 more notches the other way. Reversed ONE more time, because he appeared to really lay on his side tracking left. Tightened JUST the left side rein 2 additional notches, then made him w/t/w/t/c/t/c/w. He looked much better with that much contact; let him be done from there.

Super exciting news. I'm going with Susan on Monday to RIDE in a Gigi Nutter clinic, woo hoo! This is thanks to my wonderful, fabulous, incredible barn owner. She is the best. I hope that some day I can win the lottery and shower her with lots and lots of fun stuff:) I'm super nervous, but super excited too. I think Tiki and I both will really benefit from her input, and continue to progress forward.

Spring Breakin' it

2011-04-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, my thumb hurts SOOO bad. I jammed it over a particularly ... enthusiastic jump over a large-ish coop on the hunter pace. My general muscle soreness is abating, thank goodness. I didn't ride the muffin man yesterday, but I did palpate his back and he was pretty perfect. I was concerned that if I was so sore I could barely walk, he may have some soreness as well. If he did, it was not apparent.:)

Did a quick, light hack in the dressage tack today. He actually was nicely forward (I would hope so, since he stayed in his stall last night due to bad T-storms), but very agreeable and ungrouchy. The trot is starting to lighten up, but I am still really making sure I sit UP, use lots of leg, and drive him forward all the time into the bridle. I think maybe he's just learning to carry himself better. After trotting and cantering both directions pretty much just around the ring, I put my (almost) 9 year old up there and let him cool Tiki out. The muffin is so awesome; he was a perfect gentleman as he carted around my precious cargo. It was in the upper 50's today, while it had been mid 80's yesterday! Holy cold front, Batman! Fun day, though. I had a semi-day off because my kidlets are on spring break, so even though I did stalls, I didn't have to drive the hour into Canton to teach.

Not sure what I'm doing this week since the son will be with me every day. Probably won't jump much, if at all, since he had a big day Saturday. I may go through the gymnastic once or twice since it's still set. Guess we'll see what the week brings!

Horse Trial

2011-04-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note. Firstly, I wanted to post the link to the pro pics from the Chatt Hills ht. I never posted it here on the blog!

http://www.hoofclix.com/Chattahoochee/2010-10-31-USEA-HT-CCI/JenBishopRicochet166OBN/14406000_pcBNZ#1072839580_yMTKn

Secondly, I wanted to put it out there that I've decided my one recognized ht this year will be Poplar Place in September. LOVE me some Chatt Hills, but if I can only afford to do one ht, I want to do a different one. GORGEOUS day today! I am SO STINKING SORE today, lol:)

AND ... it happened:)

2011-04-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

The hunter pace, that is! Wow. What a BEAUTIFUL track it was! 8 miles of old hunt country on the property of the steeplechase racetrack. I managed to convince honorary little sis to come with me since poor Becca's bun is seriously causing her some back/hip pain. Yesterday I finally got out of the ring and walked hills in the mare's back pasture. He did great until the FINAL one, and he decided to throw a little hissy and kick up a little bit. He was NOT happy that I was making him march up and down on contact. So, since he decided to be a twit, made him do an extra:)

Nicole and I were the 2nd team to head out. The grass felt absolutely amazing; soft and squishy but not too wet. Started with a nice, leisurely walk up and down hills in beautiful, wide open fields. N and I caught up on life and chatted until we got through the woods and sighted in on our first jump! A nice, stout coop with sort of a sketchy takeoff out of the woods. Star tried to be a spook monster and stopped at it at first, but then N circled and she went. Thank GOD I'd put Muffin's neck strap on; grabbed it, and he jumped the coop so huge I got jumped out of the tack. No stop and leap, no stutter, just WAY overjump!

We kept walking and chatting until we found the 2nd coop; it was a little MORE stout, but in a more friendly location. Cantered up, found a decent spot, and he still jumped out of his skin. Weaved in and out of the woods, carried a nice xc type gallop, and came upon a wall of stacked up boulders. It was not hugely TALL, but it was kind of wide with a lot of weeds, and this one had a sketchy landing. Found an ok spot, and he jumped the snot out of it! Rode for about an hour and 40 mins; had a couple of FLAT OUT (my favorite!) gallops, showed off our new and improved trot to little sis, and hung on his face most of the time while he tried to pull my arms out! I will be SORE tomorrow, no doubt:) Found a few excellent distances to the coops, found one AWFUL distance that resulted in a colossal crash on his neck so hard I jammed my thumb pretty badly. All the stone walls felt good (about 4 total), and even one of them had a drop on the back side:) Crossed a few small creeks, trotted in and out of puddles and he could have cared less.

There will be another hp on the steeplechase land in October; I would LOVE to do it again. Really enjoyed myself:) Took the ponies back to the barn, hosed them both, put them away, and headed to PWF to teach lessons. Finally home and fed, and I am EXHAUSTED. What an amazing day!!!!

Wowza:)

2011-03-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

It was super wet again, so I went in and re-arranged the jumps. My honorary little sis, Nicole, would be proud of the fact that I actually did go in and set an oxer. Oxers are NOT my favorite jump ... don't know why, it's just a fact. Even at 2'6, it just looks MASSIVE:) Did exactly as I said; set a vertical, 9' to a pole, 9' to the oxer, 2 strides to the coop vertical. The plan was to do it once off each lead doing the 1 to the 2, then once off each lead doing the 2 to the 1.

Still, when I shortened my reins, the baby didn't try and jig off, yay!!:) Trot was nice; made sure he was nice and deep through his neck, and was really using that engine behind. Trotted through the cavs, and he was steady, but a little hollow. Went through a few more times and he kept his shape a little better. Picked up a lovely canter, then cantered into them ... YES! He was PERFECT:) ba bum, ba bum, ba bum, held the left lead and everything! Left lead was so good, I halted, patted him, and rewarded him with a long rein. Reversed, came through on the right, got a smidge long, so came through again, was a smidge short, so came in one more time and nailed it. It wasn't as beautiful as on the left, but it was still pretty damn good.

Cantered in on the left lead RIGHT next to the first half of the triple, and angled in to jump the coop. He felt nice and bold, but very rateable. Came in right lead, angled in, and he was perfect again:) So, no procrastinating! Picked up the left lead, cantered into the vertical, bounced over the pole and FLEW over the oxer, then 2 even strides and out over the coop. He was SO round, WOWZA! I popped up over all 3 jumps, but didn't hit him in the face or back. Patted, came in right, and he SNAPPED his knees over every jump again. Made myself stay down a little better this time, and it felt remarkably steady and even. Left lead into the coop; he was perfect. The 2 was RIGHT there, and of course the 1 was the littlest bit short, as to be expected. Last time off the right lead; he was bold and confident, and STILL jumped the snot out of every jump:) The pole did it's job, and held him off the vertical nicely, causing extreme roundness:)

So wish I'd had a camera person to snap some pics! He just felt like a rock star, and jumped really, really beautifully. I was most pleased that he stretched and made the stride without being quick. I feel like we made some excellent progress this week. The thing I love most about my boy is his capacity to learn and retain. I just hope I can continue to do the right thing and keep him moving forward all the way on up to Training level:):)

State of mind

2011-03-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

My pony has seriously helped get my head back on straight. Had a few nice rides this week; yesterday I jumped for the first time in a bit. Had a bit of an "all purpose" course set; outside line of cabinet to stack, 2 inside crossrails, outside coop with a placing pole. Coop was 2'3, stack is just under 3', and the cabinet I finally set my "scary" poles up:) I'm a big chicken, I think we've established that. The scary poles are 8' poles stacked in a crossrail on TOP of the cabinets. Measures just over 2'6, but jumps bigger since it's a crossrail. Ring was wet, but no puddles. He felt just SUPERB on the warm up! Trot was big and on the bit. My transitions were just LOVELY:) Through my reverses, really worked on using my legs and bending him; he didn't "motorcycle" a single turn. I worked SO hard on staying back, keeping my butt tucked under, and NOT getting leany or perchy. I am the QUEEN of FORWARD;)

Warmed up with trotting both inside x's, then cantered the coop, then halt. Trot jumps were perfect, distance to the placing pole was spot on, through the halt, he is still hollow and pulls me down. So that was yucky, but other stuff was GREAT. Decided not to procrastinate, and did that again, then added on trotting both x's again, then cantered the outside line in a 5. He did NOT care about my stupid scary jump; didn't even look at it. In fact, the 5 was a little tight because he jumped in well.

Did it again; trot jumps were again spot on. I made sure I SAT for my trot transitions; in my last lesson, I was so forward, I just wiggled and pulled on his face for the downwards. Came in a hair long to the placing pole, so I let go in front of the fence and he got a LITTLE quick. Was glad I had the trot transitions coming up so I could get him back to me. Did the outside line in the 4, and it WAS a little quick, darn. I need to figure out how to get the "step" without him being tense and quick. He HAS the step; I'm sure it's something I'm doing that's causing him to get fast. Went through one final time, and he got quick to the pole/coop:( Sat him on his butt for the line, but he got a little *too* deep and caught the pole on the cabinet. Added and did the 5, and he jumped out over the stack fine. Oh, and my stirrups were tied, than goodness!!

Today, I spent a little time walking on contact. Did shoulder in and leg yields BOTH off and back on the rail. There were TONS of puddles. His royal highness really wanted to suck back and get hollow through all the water, but I kept my leg on and rode FORWARD today:) We're eventers now, baby!:) He was lazy, wow! Some good news, though ... when I shorten my reins and put my leg on, NO JIG. I guess our little fight last week stuck in his head. He did NOT jig or anticipate ONCE today or yesterday, yay! I made SURE that before I did a single upward transition from a loose rein, I made him walk on contact first. He felt really good, despite all the water in the ring today.

What I changed was the outside line. Picked up the cabinets so I could just ride between them, and laid the stack jump down to low cavs 9' apart. Rode the walk through them nice and forward, then FINALLY achieved a few perfect trot throughs!!! What I mean by that, is his rhythm didn't change, his back stayed round, and I didn't move at ALL through them. When I reversed direction to the right, and went to trot the cavs, I was a little tired and allowed my shoulder to drop just a little. Total disaster for the Muffin! He tripped, whacked his legs, and tried to jump out of them. Came again, LEG, BREATHE, DONT MOVE THE SHOULDERS. Wow, what a difference! From then on, every time I came in, I stretched TALL and stayed BACK, and he didn't have a problem again the rest of the ride.

I worked on staying slow and rhythmic at the canter through them; that's hard for us. When I sat, it worked pretty well even though it just felt awkward. When I allowed myself to get in a little 2-point, he rushed through it. So, I sat a final time through, he was quiet, I asked for a change ... nothing. Circled, he sped up, got it, then I cantered until he was perfect, then quit there.

My head has been in a bad place now for about a week, and the boy is slowly bringing me back to my usual "happy place".:) I'm generally a very happy person, so I'm glad he's working his magic on me:) Would love to get outside the ring before Saturday, but it has been SO wet, I'm not sure the pastures can even stand me just walking some hills. If I'm in the ring again tomorrow, will set up a little combination down the center of the ring I think; just a one to a two, set ON the step, that I can do both ways. Probably vertical, oxer, vertical. Not too high; 2'6 I think. It's the mechanics of it, NOT the height. LOVE my boy! So proud of our progress; can't wait until we can get out and do a little show some time soon:)