Lots of rides

Had a great few days with my boy. Rode Friday and worked him in my 'ghetto' draw reins (they consist of bright yellow boat rope, ha ha). He knows what those are about, and works very hard. Cantered on a 20 meter circle each direction, and did lots of trotting and direction changes. He really felt great. I massaged in Sore no More into his lower back area, because that's where he holds in a lot of pain and tension.

Gave him the absolutely beautiful weekend OFF, then worked today on prompt transitions and going back and forth over the jumps. Had my tall cav 'stack' jump set up again, and jumped a lot of jumps on the diagonal line; sometimes going right, and sometimes going left. Set my long side jump as a very tall crossrail to encourage him to rock back and jump square. He felt very good again today, but my back was VERY tired for some reason:( Untacked and rubbed in some more Sore No More, then turned him out because it's supposed to storm tonight. A hurricane is passing through tomorrow, so I'm sure I won't be leaving the house unless I absolutely HAVE to. Will update at the end of the week!:)

Gorgeous week!

My little corner of GA has been blessed with some BEAUTIFUL weather this week! Rode Tiki yesterday in the field, working on that butt, always the butt.:) He was so much better this time. Walked a large hill 5 times, then hacked on the level area by the road. No gallop today; I don't want him to get it in his little TB pea brain that pasture=RUN. He was quite good. Rode in the ring today, and worked on my little course I had set up from last week. He felt pretty decent. Had a day today where he knocked off a pole twice. Ugh. Such a pain; it's just him being lazy with his front legs; that's why I like him to jump the solid cavellettis because if he hits it, it HURTS. He was good; felt very relaxed today. Warmed up with his nose on the ground, which is wonderful to feel:) He worked hard and got a bath at the end. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow ... whatever strikes my fancy, I guess:)

This weekend

The weekend dawned MISERABLE and cold. Taught lessons in the rain under the covered, then headed to the barn to get the ponie's stuff to load in the trailer. Patted my Squeaky Tiki, then it was home to the hacienda to get ready for Halloween and trick or treating. Sunday morning came way too early despite the fact that we "fell" back an hour. I got the trailer turned around, loaded Star and Tiki with no problems whatsoever, then made the hour and a half drive to Ballground to the horseshow. Saw where we had to park and was SUPER gun shy about parking in the grass since I'd gotten stuck for over 2 hours 2 weeks ago at Patchwork. Backed into the last "good" looking spot, and proceeded to unload both horses by myself since every one of the girls were late. Star did well, but crashed into the butt bar and scraped herself. Tiki came off like he usually does; slightly looky and wanting to longe himself on the end of the lead line. Tied them both to the trailer, and did some serious grooming. Did I mention it's rained ... a LOT? They were both muddy and dirty, and they both have winter coats, so by serious I mean SERIOUS, ha ha.

The overall show is a LONG story, but it ended with Star being perfect for all her flat classes and Tiki getting "excused". What happened is the genuises in charge of horse assignments decided to NOT use my horse at ALL. He was an alternate for 6 classes, but not used in a single one. I was MAD, because when a horse is an alternate, they have to stand there fully tacked up but doing nothing. And he did this all day. And it made him angry. So when they finally decided they HAD to use him, rather than use him in the advanced 2'6, 2' classes, they decided to use him for crossrails, and BEGINNER. He did well for the 2 crossrail riders, but the beginner rider started on a loose rein. I TOLD her to shorten, shorten, shorten, told her trainer to tell her to say "Whoa", but none of those things happended. The end result is during the trot of the class, Tiki got quicker and quicker, and when the canter was called for, he got pretty quick, and then wouldn't stop. Kid lost her stirrup, but stayed on, and we got him whoaed up, and he was done for the day. Threw one of my kids up on him to do a quick trot and canter and make sure he knew he wasn't going home acting like a turd, and he threw a few crow hops on her, but she kicked his butt a little and made him listen to her.

On the bright side, the judge had agreed to discuss a particular student's ride with me, and we got to talking about the fact that Tiki had kind of run off. She asked if the "little chestnut" was mine, and I said that's him, and she said she had really liked him! He was the winner in both of the crossrail classes, but the kids didn't ask correctly for the right lead, and he missed it the first time with both kids, so they dropped lower in the placings. So, a lone bright spot in a pretty, but dismal day.

The loading process took an hour. Tiki got himself all worked up, decided not to load, and made us all wait until it was fully dark before he decided to grace the trailer with his presence.:( That will teach me to DOUBLE CHECK and make sure that after I load him in the morning with the longe line, I make sure the line is back in the trailer before I leave the barn so I can load him to come home. Ugh. A fitting end to a yucky day, for sure:(

Had yesterday off, held horses for the farrier all day today, so I'll ride him the rest of the week.

Yay, something to blog about!:)

Oh, it's just my favorite time of the year ... rain, rain, and more rain. It's so hard to ride consistently without the luxury of a covered ring. I've done better than this time last year, since we DO at least have a ring, but I'm riding an average of 3 days a week vs 5 days a week which I'd prefer. This time last year, I'd go as long as 2 weeks and not ride at ALL so I wouldn't make huge holes in the grass. Longed him yesterday for the first time in awhile, and he was pretty good. For some reason the goober likes to cross canter in the back. Oh well!

Today, I set up an exercise that's been set at Patchwork for the last week. I have been dying to try it, but I was afraid the footing piles would get in my way; fortunately, that was not the case. Had to spend about 20 minutes moving jumps and cavs around, but it was worth it! Tiki warmed up VERY well (had a huge cold snap, and now we're back to the warm 70's again); his canter transitions are getting SO much better. He didn't miss a lead today at all, yay! Trotted beautifully over a cav both ways, then I began the exercise.

Left lead over a bounce to a 2 stride with the cavs. Circle left thru the center of the ring. Trot a 3 loop serpentine, focusing of course on bending and straightness. Trot left up the long side, then turn sharply to a 2'3 vertical set on the diagonal. 4 stride bending line to a 2'6 vertical on the long side, then 4 stride continuing left bending line to another 2'6 vertical. Right hand turn at the trot back to the vertical on the long side, back to bending 4 stride, keep RIGHT lead, circle through the center of the ring, then back the cavs backward: 2 stride to a bounce. He felt rock solid through that. Let him catch his breath, then did it again at the canter all the way this time. The simple changes during the serpentine were perfect, and the bending lines felt good, but over one of them, he jumped with his head straight up in the air for some reason. Finished the exercise, then did just the jumps one more time, and he was so good. Felt AWESOME! Taking him and his buddy Star to our IEA show on Sunday; I'm looking forward to it:) Hope he's as good as he was at the last one; it will be about 20 degrees warmer:)

A good week:)

Well, it's time to start weather-dodging here in GA. It has been *exceptionally wet and rainy here lately; the lake that literally experts were counting down the days until it went dry a year ago is at it's highest levels in YEARS. The news people literally were counting down the days until our drinking water ran dry, and now the lake that's closest to me is almost 10 feet above full pool. Amazing how things change! Rode Tiki Friday, then he got Saturday off, then showed like a champ Sunday. Gave him Monday off, and that turned into a Tuesday off as well since my son had his fall break Mon-Wed, and that meant I could sleep IN! Rode him Wednesday, and he was AWESOME. He felt so good I smiled the entire time I was on his back. He's much more easily coming underneath me and staying straight. He's light off my leg, and quiet during our rides. The canter felt very light and rhythmical, and I worked over some more small jumps. I have 3 jumps set parallel with the long side. Since there's still large piles of footing on the ends of the ring, I jumped the center jump off both diagonals. One side has a tall crossrail, and the other side I piled the cavelletti's on top of each other. He's starting to really listen and wait to the base of each jump. That's what I wanted! I cantered right lead over the caveletti, right lead over the vertical, left lead over the crossrail, left lead over the vertical. Rinse, repeat about 3 more times. I halted each time after the jumps so he stayed straight and listened to me.

Thursday I did butt work in his pasture. The baby was in a BAD mood for some reason. It started when a lone horse took off at a gallop across the pasture to join his herd mates. Tiki tried to take off as well, and didn't take it well when I told him NO. From then on, even though we were walking hills, he kept startling, trying to trot up the hills, and doing his level best to evade my leg. Let him finish with a FAST gallop through the pasture, and it felt ... angry. Sorry, Bud.

Today I managed to get in a ride before the rain; Warmed up fully in my 2-point, then sat and pulled him together. He felt great. Worked trot/canter transitions, and walk/canter transitions. Those are getting MUCH better! Schooled a few changes (which were OK), then cantered him 3 times over a TINY crossrail, asking for a flying change after each time. His canter coming into it was like a metronome, which is EXACTLY what I want:) Much better than yesterday. He'll have the weekend off because I'm training at a horseshow that he won't be at.

Tiki update

It's been quite a good few weeks. The weather has jumped from HOT to COLD. It's only October 19, but last night I had to put Tiki's winter blanket on because it got down to 36 degrees. I've been doing the usual stuff with Tiki. I've averaged riding him about 4 days a week; 2 days flat and 2 days jumping. I've been concentrating on smaller jumps (nothing over 2'6) to try and get him to improve his form and his way of going. I've been working on landing and getting him back and straight rather than bicycling through the turns. Been working on jumping UP and OVER from the base of the jump rather than standing off and jumping flat. He's had a few more massages, and I do think he's moving a little more freely. Still, every single time C massages him, she says he REALLY needed it. Considering putting him on Adequan. It's expensive, but would probably be worth it. Don't know. Depends on how the money flows.

I took a BIG, BIG leap yesterday, and let Tiki participate in his first IEA show. For anyone new to this blog, I coach an IEA equestrian team. I have both highschool and middleschool, and these shows work by several teams converging on a show venue. The 'host' school is responsible for making sure there is enough horses for everyone (the teams each bring as many horses as they can). The kids 'draw' horses for each event and compete in equitation classes ranging from 2'6 all the way down to beginner flat. Our team had 3 horses to take; we needed a 4th ... I decided to try Tiki in that roll. I let him jump 2'6, the most advanced kids, and let him flat 2'6 as well. He was a rockstar ... he did 3 classes total and his kids finished 3rd in every one. That means the judge liked him fairly well! I may take him again in 2 weeks ... depends on what kind of trailer arrangements I can make. He's a big boy now:)

Wowzers ...

Yesterday was so much fun! I rode Audrey (total spook baby, ugh!), then Mick (good, but spooky too, double ugh!), then K and B showed up. Their horses unloaded like angels, and we all tacked up. Hacked up in the ring for a few, and I tried something totally off the wall. Trotted on a TOTALLY loose rein; I mean, NO contact at all. Went both ways, and he was officially lazy. Then decided I'd try the canter. It felt so weird! It was slow and quiet, and he tried to lean in through the turn, but really couldn't because he had NO support whatsoever. Interesting! B and K were impressed at how quiet my little muffin is, ha ha. Headed out the pulp wood forest with me in the lead, scary! Just did the usual loop, though, since I WILL get lost if I attempt any more navigation than that. We walked the whole way with the exception of jumping the little log at the beginning of the trail. Since B was wanting to gallop, I took them across the street by the powerlines; there's a nice little field there perfect for galloping 3 beautiful Thoroughbreds!:) So, we did! I love it when Tiki kicks it into that extra gear; it's so exhilirating! Took them to the pond where Star got Tiki in that one time, and I managed to get him in again, ha ha. Our ponies splashed up a storm and got all of us wet, so we then wandered in the woods for a few minutes and out to the power lines, then back to the field for one more teeny tiny gallop, ha ha. Good times!

Today, I set up a cav triple bar on one outside line, a 2'9 swedish oxer on the other outside line, and a 3' vertical down the center line. Warmed up like I did yesterday, on a loose rein, but I had a crop today, and he just isn't crazy about those, so he really was a little bit of a goober. Put it down, and he relaxed. He kept missing his leads! I think he was just distracted and a little stiff, though. It is time for Celeste to give him another massage; maybe this weekend. Jumped everything like a champ; didn't touch a thing!

Here is almost the last video. This is the exact same course from the last post, but at 2'6 instead of 2'3. This is the one where he rolled the pole off the oxer, but we still managed to win the class:)