AND! It has been decided ...

Me on a PWF lesson pony during summer camp :)

I have a mare to ride!  Her name is Jade, she's a dark bay ottb, petite little thing too!  All the better for my short leg, lol :)  She's not as narrow as Tiki, but she's a little bit smaller than he, maybe 15.1 or so?

It's always a tossup when you're doing a blind meet and greet.  It has been confirmed that "horse people are crazy", so I was unsure about Jade's owner, S, and she was unsure about me as well.  When we conversed and she mentioned she'd ridden Jade in a western saddle, I asked her if I could ride in her english one.  I am one of those weirdos that feel very uncomfortable and insecure in a western saddle, and I've ridden in all types.  I sold my BdH I'd bought for Tiki because I never loved it for ME, and it really didn't fit much of anything OTHER than Tiki, so it was just taking up space in my apartment.  You just never know what kind of equipment people are going to have, so I mentally crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!

The barn is pretty nice; 2 rings, a roundpen, a nice sized barn.  Pastures are dirt lots of course, but I've come to realize that is par for the course in Cali.  Miss Jade is pasture boarded and barefoot, woop woop!  I tried so hard to do that with Tiki, but he loves his stall too much for that, and his feet just never toughened up enough despite copious applications of pine tar.  We brought her in, knocked the dirt off, and S put the saddle on.  Yay!  It's a lovely saddle, super soft and nice and sticky :)  It even has the long billets; it's a brand I don't recognize, but it seems to be a nice quality.  The bit I rode her in was a kimberwicke, but S is completely cool with me experimenting with a few different ones.  I will try her in the loosering french link next time.  We put her in the roundpen, and nothing happened, so I felt fine taking her into the ring and getting on.

I'm completely grateful that after 5 months of not riding, all your skills don't go away, lol!  I never felt 'off' or awkward at all, I just got to work figuring her out.  The walk work was fine; she isn't fussy at all in the mouth.  I did a few circles, some light leg yield, a little shoulder-fore and Jade was good.  I then picked up the trot and felt right away why S hasn't done much with her.  She's not an easy ride!  She's the type to move fast but not go anywhere.  She tries to fall into the center, she spooks off the rail, she curls up behind the bit, but goes fast and hangs on you too.  Definitely on the sensitive side, but I like them that way.  S has said her struggles are mostly that she's a "do it yourselfer", and when Jade gets difficult, S doesn't feel comfortable picking a fight, so she's been doing just mainly walk and some trot.  I really hope that I can help her out; the mare WANTS to be good I think, but she also is one that works REALLY hard at getting out of work.

I did a TON of circle, reverse, come up centerline, circle both ways, half turn in reverse a bunch, leg yield to and from the rail, shallow serpentine, full ring serpentine.  She tries to just blow off the leg in turns and DRAG you around, will definitely have to work on that little maneuver.  She will be a fun one to chronicle; I really hope to make some real, tangible progress with her over the coming weeks.  Kudos to her, she does canter both ways on the correct lead (definitely a drama queen about it, though), and she has 3 nice gaits, so there's plenty there to work with.  Though she threw lots of avoidance techniques at me, she was never a witch, so I feel comfortable riding her alone.  S was thrilled when I finished up and said I loved her, gave me the green light to ride any time :)  I didn't time my ride, I finished up with a short canter both ways, then a little trot over a single pole each direction.  She felt steady in my hand, responsive, and reasonably straight and engaged.  I think the snaffle will really help with the behind the bit thing, I'm not a huge kimberwicke fan anyway, so we'll see how she goes.  I actually think she's a good candidate for the waterford, but it's only a 4 3/4 which will be too small for her, unfortunately.

So, "Tails" is back!  I'm just riding her once a week, twice on the weeks I'm off on Saturdays.  My goal is to help her be more consistent and steady for S.  I think just insisting on a good work ethic can go a long way towards achieving that goal.  Laters, y'all!

Karma

NOT my little muffin;)

Oftentimes, one sees the word "karma", and thinks negatively.  There's good karma, and bad karma ... obviously, we tend to reap what we sow!  I believe I'm finally about to reap me some GOOD karma :)

When Tiki was my little muffin, I offered him up to several of my good riding kids as an experience for them.  A few took me up on the offer, but not too many.  LR was more of a mutually beneficial thing; she got the experience, Tiki got a fantastic schooling ride.  I now find myself in the somewhat awkward position of being "horseless and broke", which doesn't always bode well for riding.  As stated in my earlier blog post, I'm trying to work out something with a local trainer to exchange lessons for "work", but in the mean time I received a  "pm" in my COTH inbox today.

Lo and behold, it's a fellow CA cother with an ottb not too far from me.  She seems to have found herself in a position similar to mine previously.  Nice green horse that could use more miles under saddle, and a limited schedule that gives her only 2-3 days per week to ride.  I see a potentially mutually beneficial arrangement in the works!  We've made a plan to meet up so we can meet "in the flesh", and I can sit on said horse and see if I'd like to ride her!  Yay, something to blog about!  Lol.  In the mean time, I plan to continue to try and do the 'lesson' thing as well, I'm just sensing opportunity here and intend to jump on it!  I'm glad that by my giving back, and doing things for my students for 'free' (I shipped not only Tiki, but also Star and Sparky out to PWF several times just for the sheer heck of it), maybe I'm getting a little bit of 'cosmic justice':)  Looking forward to finally getting to sit on a horse for the first time since JUNE.

Healing

Tiki loves his kitty

Well, it's been a week since literally laying Timbre in the ground, and my heart has finally stopped outright hurting.  I kept it together pretty well for the most part, and I'm finally adjusting to my "new normal".  I have 2 other "fur babies" that need my time and attention, and I can't dwell on my feelings of loss with regard to my wonderful partner of 14 glorious years.  I HAD that time with him, I got to send him over the bridge on MY terms, and my MIL is concentrating on making his grave a beautiful memorial to his life.

I didn't ride at all last week.  I've been feeling a little bit overwhelmed, and if I'm being honest with myself, a little bit depressed.  I vowed to shake it off this week, and for the most part I have.  Put out a 'paid' ad for Tiki, and lowered his price on my sale blog page, and I'm finally starting to get a few nibbles.  STILL praying as hard as I can for a teeny tiny lottery win so he can continue to be mine, but barring that, trying to motivate myself to market him a little more aggressively.  Soon, y'all will find out the main reason I'm sacrificing a large chunk of my happiness, but first there are still moving parts that need to be finalized.  Soon, my friends:)

I rode the gorgeous red head yesterday and today.  Put on the dressage tack, and employed once again a Jeff Cook type flatwork exercise.  He was out at PWF last weekend, and I audited all day on Saturday.  I just love him.  I WISH so much I could have ridden in it, but hey ... I got to watch!  I focused on using half the arena at the time, paying lots of attention to his straightness and my track, and his bend as I approached the fence.  He felt VERY stiff on the right rein.  Left, all felt light and lovely.  Right, I felt like we both were struggling a little bit.  To be fair to him, I also have not done much at all exercise wise in the last 2 weeks, so I probably wasn't much of a help to him.  I INSISTED that he maintain his flexion through the poll, and closed my legs every step to squeeze out of him as much movement as he could give me.  A friend borrowed my spurs, so I was riding sans any artificial aids!! :0

I rode him for probably 40 minutes, just doing the half arena exercise and going back and forth, and LOTS of circles.  I trotted several poles and worked on maintaining rhythm and power.  Rather than cantering a bunch, I worked trot/canter/trot transitions.  At the end, I was pretty pleased.  He settled into a nice and steady contact, and gradually that right side loosened up and I felt like he was more willing to bend his body rather than tilt that head.  Success!

Today we just walked hills.  Nothing fancy!  He was pretty forward considering I was still spur-less.  I actually dropped my stirrups on the uphill and sat hard, opened my hands to encourage him to breakover at the poll, and used my seat to create as much energy as possible.  On each downhill, I halted and backed a few steps to work on building up that back end, ALWAYS!  Finished with a nice long rein hack through half the pasture, and gave him a bath.  His coat looks so great right now, I love that deep copper color.  Here's to moving forward:)

I half way think maybe a corner has been turned ... sort of.

Conformation pic from today.  Looks good, doesn't he?

First off, I just have to say I have been slightly overwhelmed by the outpouring of support of my friends, clients, and facebook friends in regards to me selling Tiki.  Offers of leases and horses for me to ride have poured in, and for that I am SO grateful.  We'll just see what happens.  I've put him out there, and while he's not outrageously expensive, he's also not "cheap", so I'm hoping to make sure he gets in to a good program where he will be allowed to become MORE than he can become with me.  Simon Eades talked about how, "WHEN this horse goes prelim", as if it were a foregone conclusion.  With ME?  I'm not so sure.  I'm not that brave, or that clever, and I'm always too broke to get in the necessary lessons/schoolings/shows to make that happen.  Maybe this whole situation is just his destiny, and someone buys him with the time, talent, and money to bring him along to his full potential.  I don't know, I'm just going with the flow right now.

So far this week, I've had 2 really great rides.  Honorary little sis Nicole is flying home from NY for the weekend, and we will ride together (YAY!), AND I've ridden twice, so good for me!  Tuesday, it had been 3 weeks since I'd sat on a horse.  LR rode him a few times for me in those 3 weeks, so he didn't sit idle the entire time.  I tossed on the dressage tack and went up to the rock hard ring to get in some good work.  He was amazingly quiet and fabulous.  Honestly, he didn't even feel fresh at all.  No swishies or head shakes.  He DID feel a little bit heavy, but that's to be expected.

There was a random pole on the rail in his track that I went over every time.  It mostly felt perfect, and I simply kept my leg ON him vs. chasing him around the ring.  I did a bunch of circles, trying to concentrate on keeping him big and slow, and to use my leg more than my hand so we got a correct bend in the circles.  TONS of reverses, and I tried just to ride well and relax.  I didn't canter very much, and he did feel a little fresh at the canter, but as usual he was a gentleman.

Today, I slapped on the stadium tack (wonder bit included), and set up a single vertical dead center of the ring, and a cavaletti on the other long side of the pole I'd worked over Tuesday.  For ME, I stretched down in my heel and worked to stabilize my leg.  For him, I just wanted to keep him big and slow like on Tuesday, and I did a bunch of shallow and big serpentines to get him to soften up and bend around my leg.  I LOVE that wonder bit, he is so much lighter in that vs. the mullen mouth loose ring.  I schooled the walk/canter transition, and he really sat down and stepped into the transition BEAUTIFULLY!  LR has been working on those, and I can tell big time.  He has really improved.  Even those downward transitions have been so much better and more balanced.  Having someone else sit on him now and then has been GREAT!  I'm very grateful to her, and I know he is too.

I finally quit procrastinating, and cantered the pole, counting down from 5.  It worked, I got to the pole perfect every time.  5 strides out gives me time to actually adjust instead of sit there paralyzed.  Moved on to the cavaletti, and it was just as good.  Counted down to it each time, and we got there great.  I DID notice that I was a little more accurate off the left lead.  Coming in right, I got just a *hair* deep, but it was still good.  As I cantered into the vertical, I realized that I freeze mentally a little bit.  As I look at the jump, I feel the rhythm in my mind, but I forget to literally THINK 5,4,3,2,1.  Once I finally made myself count down, we got to the jump very well each time.  It wasn't as perfect as our MayDaze xc run, but it was pretty good. No frustration today whatsoever.  I DO wish I had a reliable eye and could nail every jump every time, but I don't.  I just have to work on it!  Muffin was fab, not sure what we'll do this weekend, but it will be something:)

Motivation:)

I set up the gymnastics today!  It was again COLD.  Snow is definitely in the air ... whether it will actually do anything I don't know, but I'm sure glad Muffin has a nice heavy blanket and a snuggly neck cover:)  I worked myself into a good sweat cleaning stalls, and moving jumps, so I actually was a little less bundled up than yesterday!  I opted to tie my stirrups to the girth today since I haven't jumped in 2 weeks, and when I did I could feel the leg slippage a little bit.

I swiped borrowed an exercise from Kate over at Greybrook Eventing which SHE swiped borrowed from Jim Wofford's book of gymnastics.  A trot in one stride crossrail to vertical with 2 different options; a 2 stride bending line to the left to a vertical, or a 3 stride bending line to an oxer to the right.  I used up all the good (and not so good) jump standards, but still had the coop and cavalettis to do something with, so I sandwiched one section of the coop between 2 cavs for a warm up jump.  I had Tiki 'dressed' in his regular cavesson D-ring, and when I went to pick up the trot he actually was nicely forward!  I got him flexed at the poll and kept my leg on, but I didn't have to nag for forward.  Reversed and warmed up the other way at the trot; he swished his tail a few times when the boys in his pasture decided to start running like maniacs.  The pasture doesn't share a common fence with the ring, but there's only about 20 feet between them, so when the pasture horses start running, your horse in the ring has the potential to get a wild hair.

He swapped a few times at the canter, but considering the boys were STILL running around, I honestly didn't care.  Since I'd planned to get up to 3'3 on the jumps, I did just the bare minimum to get him stretched and warm.  I had a crossrail, 18' to a 2'3 vertical.  The left hand vertical was set at 2'9, the right hand oxer was 2' in the front, 2'6 in the back.  I warmed up over the coop oxer and he was just lovely.  Didn't change his rhythm, and I could feel he made a decent effort over it.  Did it off both leads and I couldn't feel any difference going to/away from the barn.  I'm very fortunate in the fact that Tiki seems to be very unaffected by the in gate.  I had to set the gymnastic going towards home, because the footing is a little thin RIGHT where the right hand jump would have to go if I had it set going away.

I went right to the 1 stride, and he jumped it in his usual style; getting a little tangled up in the trot pole coming in, then getting a little long and weak to the out.  I did just that again and he was a little better.  I jumped both side jumps as singles, and he was right there for me EVERY time, so I finally came in as part of the gymnastic.  I think I'm opposite of many people; Tiki can be so inconsistent with the length of his stride that fixed distances send me into a cold sweat on him;)  Just to be safe,  I had both bending lines set 3' short, which theoretically would make the distances easy for him.

I went vertical first, and he did 3.  Of COURSE he did!  Back to trot, then right bend to the oxer, where he did 4.  Lol, such a predictable little Muffin!  I concentrated hard core on ME; auto release, hold the closed hip, eyes up, don't drop him at the base, don't change the rhythm, leg on takeoff, and watch the left bulge.  After successfully negotiating at the starter height, I hopped off and went up 1 hole on the vertical, 2 holes on the oxer.  Again jumped them as singles, he was perfect, then did them as the combo, and I RODE him for the correct striding.  I have GOT to go forward on him without chasing him, that's for sure my achilles heel.  The 2 was riding better than the 3, and I'm sure it was a combo of the gate being to the left, and that subtle left bulge.  When I quit trying to correct the bulge with hand alone and added left leg, the 3 began to improve.  I can finally jump him 3' and not be battling butterflies, he felt GREAT.  Hopped off and reset one more time, so both singles were 3'3.  Tackled the vertical first, concentrating on trying to ride it EXACTLY like I did with my last lesson with Paul Macrea.  Just a nice steady canter, and jump the jump right out of stride.  He jumped out of his skin over it, he felt GREAT!  Came to the oxer and missed.  Like, MISSED.  Got there long and weak, did nothing, he took off and plowed through the back rail.  I slipped the reins to him so I didn't catch him in the mouth, then kept coming straight away back to the vertical.  He jumped that fine, so I decided to do the combo so I couldn't miss so badly again.  Did the 2 to the vertical and perfect.  Came back to do the 3, and even though the distance was RIGHT there, I could feel him hesitate off the ground and I got a little left again.  Decided to go ONE more time to reinforce forward and this time added a little cluck off the ground, and he jumped the SNOT out of it.  Good boy!

I felt great, he felt great, and even though the jumps RODE fairly big, I didn't break out in a cold sweat;)  If I'm going to survive an entire Training level showjumping course, we have to be comfortable at max height, so from now until May I plan to jump him every other week at height.  I see more gymnastics in our future, and some bounces as per Simon Eades, UGH!  I gave him his Adequan shot yesterday, and he for sure felt nice today.  Fresh, but smooth and forward.  Love my boy!  LR will ride on this chilly Sunday, and I will play next week by ear.  I think rain is supposed to be a factor again at some point, yay.

I don't mean to brag ...

Silly satin ear net!

but I am!  I mean, honestly ... raise your hand if you have either an ottb or even a warmblood that can have 6 days off, not get turned out one night, and behave himself with NO fireworks being fully body clipped in low 40's cold and biting wind.  Lol, I know there are plenty of well behaved horses out there, but I'm just so blessed to have found one so ... SAFE.  That's what he is, safe.  He's fiery, he's sensitive, he's hot, but he's safe.

I tacked him up in the dressage tack and headed out to the front pasture (Star's pasture) to do a field dressage school.  Well ... ALL the mares were in her pasture, so I changed course and headed out to the back 15 acre pasture.  It's been quite awhile since I've ridden him back there, and when I do it's usually to walk hills.  I've lengthened my stirrups to the point that I can NOT keep my heels down; my dressage score is usually significantly higher than others, so I guess it's time to QUIT riding like a hunter rider, and learn to ride like a dressage rider!

It was COLD today.  Low 40's, cloudy, and a biting wind that would have cut straight through me had I not been bundled up like the Michelin Man.  I left off the quarter sheet due to the wind; I figured it would be blowing around so much it would just distract him.  What I DID do was put on his goofy satin ear net ... why?  I don't really know.  At the end of the day, I do think it helped him to stay focused.  I'm telling y'all; when his forelock tickles his ear and he's fresh he just shakes his head like a fiend.  Today?  Only once:)  I marched him up a hill to the only relatively flat part of the pasture by the neighbor's fence, and even there it's still pretty rolling.  I put him on a rectangle at the walk, and he tolerated that both directions for about 10 minutes, and that's when he finally got impatient and started sucking back and getting behind the leg.  Rather than lose my temper, I corrected his behavior with a good squeeze of the spur, a growl, then the trot when he reached back into the contact and strided out.

I did nothing difficult.  A simple 20m circle both ways.  I kept my leg on, kept my outside leg back to bend him around the inside, and kept my hands up and floating.  I made sure he was flexed at the poll, and even though it was HARD, he was very forward and willing.  I had to slow my posting significantly and power him forward with the leg, and he finally began to balance on the downhill portion of the circle.  I did a few tiny figure 8's concentrating on changing the bend and keeping the tempo up.  He felt great!  Cantered right, very nice.  Cantered left, and Oh.  My.  Lord.  I have NEVER felt him canter so lightly in a circle in a field with SUCH a nice flexion in his neck.  WOW!  He was SO good, I dropped the reins and walked him out.  It was a little sooner than I'd meant to, I only rode about 16 minutes, but that frickin' canter was so light and lovely, I wanted him to end on that.

Tomorrow I will jump; either the jumps as they're set, or if I'm feeling ambitious I will set a gymnastic.  LR will do a flat school on Sunday, and we'll see what next week holds!

First ride of the New Year!

Looking a little alfalfa like with that silly mane!

Well, didn't go xc schooling today, but I did get to ride my boy:)  It rained ALL day on Tuesday ... like, it was raining when I woke up and it was raining when I went to bed.  Honestly, we can't complain about that, GA is so dry right now.  Makes for some miserable teaching/stall cleaning, but good for the footing!

Speaking of footing, it was picture perfect today.  Wet, soggy, and SOFT.  It was like a little slice of heaven as I swung a leg over Tiki's back; I always feel my tensions/worry just melt away as I wrap down and around and close my leg to go forward.  I love him so much, I feel SO blessed to have that little red headed muffin in my life.

I was watching the live feed of the GHM clinic in Wellington (find it here at www.usefnetwork.com), and of course I wanted to try what they were doing on Day 1.  It was all flat work, and involved shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, counter canter, and lifting your hands up to chest height to get your horse to stretch down into the contact.  Since I've been dying to ride in a simple loose ring snaffle, I put on his old happy mouth mullen loose ring that I retired 3 1/2 years ago.  It's literally been that long since I've used it!

Put it on the dressage bridle and headed up!  Tiki had his brat on a little bit, lol!  He pinned his ears at me and gave me "grumpy face" as I adjusted a line of cavalettis ... he can be a turd;)  I let him walk a good bit before shortening my reins because it was a yucky day; chilly, overcast, and windy.  After walking over cavs and poles and changing bend across a diagonal with my leg, I picked up the contact.  Longish reins, hands up around chest height, thumbs touching.  It was weird!  I've never ridden like that on purpose.  He was going forward very nicely; good marching rhythm with no hint of quickness.  I held the contact and didn't manipulate the bit in his mouth at all; just tried to leg up into the contact and let him flex at the poll by himself.

It didn't work any kind of miracles; he didn't fuss at all but he didn't magically come down into contact either.  I could feel a touch of tension in his neck and back, and he stayed pretty much NOT anywhere near a "frame" of any sort.  Decided to go ahead and pick up a trot since he can be slow coming into the contact anyway, and it did get slightly better but again, not magically 'on the bit'.  I just kept my leg on, alternated between tracking on the rail and on a 20m circle, and trotted poles on one side a cav line on the other.  Lots of back and forth and not staying the same.

After a good 15 minutes of this, I gave up and lowered my hands a fair amount.  I still had a nice bend in my elbow though ... I made sure to carry my hands a LITTLE higher than normal, and did the Gigi 'ask' for the 'frame' and THAT worked.  He finally flexed at the poll, reached down into the contact, and got swingier in the back.  I did the Paul counter-bend on a spiral exercise both ways, the GHM shoulder-fore down the longside, and the Susan leg yield back to the rail spiral out exercise.  He was game for all of them!  He was beginning to feel much more loose and happy, and he didn't touch a pole or cavaletti:)  At one point, all 4 feet came off the ground; it was like a geyser erupting, so weird!  Like I said, just a touch of brattiness today!

On the 20m circle before the canter, I did another Paul exercise; posting trot to 1 or 2 steps of walk, back to trot.  It went well, I was happy with him.  The canter felt super both ways; I SAT, kept my hands higher than normal, and pushed hard to keep his 'frame'.  I didn't do any cantering other than on a 20m circle since he'd only been ridden once in the 2 weeks prior.  Went back to trot and trotted the poles and cavs again, being SUPER vigilant about that subtle left bulge.  Kept contact with the left rein, slightly softened the right one, and made sure he was absolutely 100% straight.  Ended there.

The good news is I'm riding again tomorrow (in the dressage saddle), AND we're still going schooling:)  We'll head out Sunday morning to Calimar, hopefully to nicer weather and picture perfect footing.  Love my boy, glad he's getting a couple of days to work before just going out and running around the field jumping.