Today started off with Reggie.
Actually today started off with doing all the stalls in the top barn and three in the bottom barn and some turnouts, but let's skip to the good stuff.

Regg had himself another jumping lesson today, and Trainer continues to chant that I am to put a loop in the reins and let Reggie make a mistake if he is going to make a mistake instead of protecting him. I am much, much more comfortable with the "hold to a quiet nothing distance" ride than the "let go and Believe" ride BUT even though sometimes I am going "Egads! Egads!" at the prospect of following Trainer's advice it does create some pretty sweet jumping efforts from Reggie when I can force myself to Just Do It (Against Every Instinct In My Body.)

Regg was a little explosive again today. He is so funny; he is all quiet, quiet, quiet and then BAM! BOOM! JAZZ HANDS! all of a sudden.


On the approach to one of the jumps I was busy Letting Go And Believing and for this one I actually did Believe because I saw from four out that this one was going to be golden.
Well then Reggie saw something he didn't like behind him (Who is looking behind him when the jump is four strides away? Reggie. Reggie is.) and all of a sudden we were off and bolting.

I was NOT going to "Let Go and Believe" in a bolt, so I pulled out to the side of the jump which happened to be the side where Trainer was standing and Trainer was ducking every which direction to get out of the way as Reggie barreled at him all a-plunging. Five or six Very Big Strides later we were back under control but it was all very exciting for a second there.

Then landing after that same jump a couple of tries later Reggie pulled out not one but TWO major bronco bucks again, causing Trainer to exclaim "Good LORD!," and me to internally sigh, "Oh Jesus not again," but I was determined not to come off twice in two rides so I hung on for dear life and by the grace of Shiva stayed aboard. Phew.

However I do suspect I will probably get tossed a couple more times before Pin Oak and have accepted and resigned myself to my fate.


All in all though amidst all of these theatrics I can definitely feel improvement in Reggie's jumping and I am psyched at the promise he is showing.



Next up was Alph, who got to go for a fun little jumping ride to get a break from the Srs Bznss of dressage. In the beginning he was lazy about his canter, so I had to gallop a little and that set us up for more of a flatter stride.
When we turned to the first jump he started to suck back off the distance and hesitate, causing me to really want to hold to the Nothing but I heard a little Texas voice in my head and I put my hands forward and kicked and while we left a hair long, it was good.
The next jump was the same story and once again I Let Go and BELIEVED and Alph jumped it great.

All in all Alph was a little unsettled in his canter because I think he was a little excited to be jumping again, so I had a little bear of a canter to ride instead of a nice, soft lopey one, but I think he schooled nicely to be better by the end. I think it just takes him a ride to settle in again after a long hiatus from the sticks.


Welt was the last horse on today's list, and he was a good boy.
Once again we worked on our mounting block behavior. Today he merely trotted off from the block in a little spooky circle and once again when he halted, I waited a beat or two to make sure the halt was good and solid and then he got a treat. (diaryofarider I just read your comment this evening and I hear you, but I think the furthest Welt's little pea brain can remember is "halt=treat", so I am hoping that being in Treat Mode at the beginning of the mounting procedure and then learning that halt=treat will make him want to get that treat quicker by halting.)

Under saddle he was a good man and as always we worked on lateral flexibility of the spine. At one point he was getting progressively resistant about yielding to my left rein and I found myself pulling back harder and harder until finally I was like, "Well, this is stupid; eventually the horse is definitely going to win this," so I made myself stop pulling back and use a light opening rein instead and not care about the elevation of his head as long as that shoulder was pressed up to the outside right rein. Eventually this softened him up greatly and I could ask for a little bend with my left hand without having WWIII along that rein.

Let Go and Believe apparently works for bending too.
Who knew?


Of corse at the end of the ride we did two repetitions of dismount and remount, and he was STELLAR for both of those and stood BEEYOOTIFULLY at the block. Yay! Now we just have to make this happen at the beginning too.

Anyway, here is a picture of Welty being cute plotting my demise:

See?
I told y'all he was handsome.
;)

Yesterday Derek didn't come in and Trainer had to take his mother Christmas shopping so I had the whole barn to myself again.
Somehow stalls went pretty quick (but I still need to get fitter. That pelleted bedding gets HEAVY.) so I had time to do three before feeding time.



First off was Welt, who started off working, once again, on his Standing By The Mounting Block behavior.
Initially he was naughty!Welt, cantering off at speed the second my right foot left the mounting block and started to swing over, so I had to simultaeneously jump off the horse and the step stool and didn't hit the ground quick enough to get leverage to stop him. So rather than getting dragged around by the reins I let go and off he zipped bucking around the farm.

*Sigh.*
Everything gets loose on me at this barn. I swear by the time Trainer is back from England MANNERS will be installed.

In the interests of which, I sighed a sighed and trudged off to go get him.
I had ZERO discussion about it with him and simply grabbed one of the reins and walked directly back to the mounting block (if by 'directly' I mean back up the hill, past the pond, up half the driveway, through the barn, and into the arena again, but who's counting).

Upon second attempt, he still cantered off but I was able to get in the saddle and then, after some spooky circling all around the arena, elicit a HALT. Upon halting, Welt got a treat.

Then I hopped off, led him back to the mounting block, and got on again.
He still moved off and didn't halt until after some circling, but he was better and again, upon halting, got a treat.


The ride was, as predicted, more of a Improving The Same Thing ride than a "progress" ride, but Welty was a good boy. We did more trot work and, at the very end, I did experiment with some leg yielding in the trot and he was good. The walk lateral work was once again very nice, especially the haunches-in both directions. I think perhaps I will need to challenge him just a little in the trot work, with some legyielding and later a touch of shoulder-in, not in the interests at this time of doing a text book leg yield, but just in the interests of expanding his comfort zone so the "switching of the spine" and "staying smooth in the contact on large figures at the trot" is easier for him.
I mean, all of this stuff he can do if I just pull and kick hard enough, but a.) I think it is a little bit past his strength and flexibility comfort zone at this point, and b.) I think it will be better for both of us in the long run to school it gently so that he learns to do it smoothly, lightly, and without resistance.

When the ride was done, I hopped off, led him back to the mounting block, and hopped on.
He stood like a rock, (GOOD BOY!) and got a treat.

I hopped off and got on a second time; he stood like a rock again, and he got big pats and went back in his house.

I think today I will longe him a little before I get on to take a little of the nervous energy off to set him up for success better. Then when he is standing nicely after a quick longe he can work on doing it cold. Seems a better idea to help prevent the problem than to get really good at fixing it.



Next up was Carter.
I must admit that I did question the Trainer's wisdom somewhat to drive merrily away down the driveway leaving me to play around solo with his much beloved, huge dressage horse and a double bridle I have basically NO CLUE how to use, but hey, far be it from me to turn down an opportunity. ;)

The double bridle is a real challenge for me, not in the least because Trainer seems to have the hugest hands ever and not only are there two sets of reins, but both reins are really big. The snaffle is a big, wide, rubberized rein with rein stops, and the curb rein is one of those thick rubber reins. This is a big fistful of rein for me to keep track of and I feel like 80% of my feel is gone because just holding the reins is a challenge. I can not for the life of me prevent the snaffle rein from getting longer and longer, and then I have to shorten and that is a whole new Organization Event All Over Again.

Secondly, Mr. Carter finds my attempts at half halting very amusing.
I swear he hears me attempt (after I have flailed to get all my shit together for the umpteenth time in preparation) and his response is something like, "Haha, isn't that cute!" So while he was perfectly obliging to trot where I wanted to trot and to canter where I wanted to canter, any level of organization beyond that was not happening.

I think I basically have to learn how to ride all over again to ride this horse, but in the meantime Carter seems completely unoffended by my flopping around trying to get a word in edgewise, so I have a feeling we will just be careening pleasantly around the arnea until I figure out how to man up and ride.



Last up was Beau, who I didn't ride, but just longed. He was a good man and was a better longer for me than the last time, so I think Trainer's ride on him the day before had a positive effect on his work ethic. I also left him in the grooming stall on purpose to hang out, suck it up, and learn patience while I did the final prep work for feedng time and he accepted his fate without too much protest.
Overall he was much more pleasant to deal with than the last time I worked with him, so I was pleased with him and gave him a big pat.



Today there are plans to jump Reggie again (one hopes one will remain aboard this time), and I think I will leave them up and then just cruise around with The Noodle a little so he can get a break from dressage, dressage, shoulder-in entwickeln all the time. I am sure Noodle will be enthusiastic about this; I am just not sure if this enthusiasm will manifest itself in a "Everybody stand back and watch me ROCK THIS," ride from him, OR if after all of this time in a heralded return to one of Alph's favorite activities I will be getting zipped around the arena jumper style with Trainer going, "Wtf, she thinks that's a hunter...?!"

Haha, Noodle, I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Today I spent the morning doing battle with various TX administrative offices, so I only got to the barn at around noon.

It was wet and muddy, which it has pretty much always been here except for the time it snowed (and let me just say I am feeling severely gypped in the weather department fo realz) and I have told Trainer he is no longer allowed to say, "I am so sick of this mud" because everytime he does it rains more.
Today he was like, "Well it is supposed to rain until tomorrow and then a little the next day but then it is supposed to be fine for the rest of the week!"
I was like, "Ok, how much week will be left at that point?"
"Oh right. Good point."


Anyhoo, the day started with Alph, who gave me some really nice canter work again today so I am starting to think this is developing into Our New And Improved Canter and not just a Hey We Got Lucky With The Canter Today type deal. With the canter I am working mainly on keeping him through in the up transition, which I must admit I have slightly neglected up to this point, and also on doing some more extensive counter cantering. We also did a lead change both directions today to start off so that they don't get too buried under all the counter canter work, and I did note that they matched his normal canter stride better instead of being more of a steeplechasey stride, so the improved canter is also improving the lead changes. Whee!

I need to work on the downward transition to regular canter out of the lengthening. Today on our "on the buckle" warm up laps Alph politely came back to a walk immediately off of a seat aid, but this also means that I need to be more clear coming down out of the lengthening so that he stays cantering instead of transitioning to trot. I don't think he is breaking gait; he is just listening to what he thinks my seat is saying. A light touch with the seat and BOOM! Downward transition!

So I think I need to work on half halting with my seat, but still keeping my leg on, which basically means that from my knees down will be doing a different job than from the knees up.
OR do I put the "whoa" higher up in my back and do a little less with my seat than I would for a full transition?
What is with this eff coordination requirement all the time, dammit?
Either way I will have to experiment.

After the canter work is generally his time to work on lateral stuff, but Trainer came in the arena with Beau to ride him in front of his owner, and Mr. Beau was seriously being a pistol.
This led me to think,
1.) Oh hey, I'm glad he doesn't do all that just with me, and
2.) let's exit the arena and watch from a safe distance, shall we? Have some grass, Alph.


I have to vary Alph's program a little either by jumping some stuff or going on a trail ride. He hasn't been getting a ton of turnout time either because of the incessant slop. The trail rides are allegedly a little tricky here because of the "River People," (?) who are apparently somewhat like that freaky-ass family in the farmhouse on that one X-Files episode. Meth addiction was mentioned repeatedly.
Maybe I will see if I can take him along when we bring Reggie to a nice hunter course to school; I also think there is a state park nearby that I can trailer to.


Reggie was next on the list.
He also worked on staying through in the up canter transitions and not doing the mini-head flip on stride one. I have deliberately let that issue lie up to now because of his tendency to curl behind the bridle. However, his elasto reins really helped him take more of a positive contact (somebody I was talking to about them was poo-pooing them because 'in my experience they teach horses to pull' and I was like YES, I HAVE FOUND THE SAME AND THAT IS WHY I LOVE THEM.), so they were a nice stepping stone for him but now he has been going in the Big Boy reins and I figured it was time to start upgrading the canter transition.
He thought this was Very Hard, but played along, and when the point was made after a few minutes of repetition I did a few laps of "nose poked and low" to reinforce uncurling the neck, and then called it a day.



Welt was the last horse of the day and as promised we began with addressing the Dancing Around By The Mounting Block issue.
I led him up, parked him, and fed him a treat.
I went around to pull my right stirrup down and he backed up.
I waggled the whip at him and he went "OMG GUIZ OMGZZZ" (I would swear he was a Trakehner if I didn't know he was Dutch) and got snorty; I said, "Mmm hmm, Welt, stand over here by the step stool and everything will be fine,"; when he stood there again he got another treat, I hopped on the stool, fed him a treat, put my foot in and swung on; he scooted off acting aghasted and did a snorty dance in a little spooky circle for 15 seconds; I said, "Whoa, Welty, you're fine, you're fine,"; and when he finally stood his ass still he got another treat and some pats and then we walked around on the buckle to warm up.

Welty worked mainly on smooth lateral work in the walk, and carrying himself evenly and softly in the reins while easily moving his spine from one rein to the other in a direction change at the trot.
The walk lateral work was super light and smooth; he kept the contact nicely and softly and did haunches-in utterly without resistance off of a light seat and leg aid, both directions.
It is harder for him to retain that softness in the trot, but he had some really nice moments scattered in there and by the end we were riding bigger figures and just working on switching the bend in his spine from one direction to the other.

I don't think tomorrow's ride will be a "progress ride," I think it will still be a Continuing To Work On Switching The Bend In The Spine Over Large Figures ride. I suspect we will do that same ride at least 5 or 6 more times to really get that fluid before moving on to anything else; but who knows, Welty could surprise me. Or it could take a month.

We'll see.
But he will be wonderful, I am sure, either way.
:)

And while we are boggling at the craziness on the interwebz today, for once in my life I find myself 100% in agreement with harnessphoto.


"Oh hai guize, I can't afford GAS, but I can afford to RAISE ANOTHER HORSE."

WTF, BUTTERCUP.

Holy wowza, cworbanski.


Holy.


Wowza.




That is a whole new level of batshit crazy.
Even for COTH.

Today was Derek's day off, so I did most of the stalls.
I am getting faster at doing the barn but the stalls are huge (16 x 16) and the horses have been in a lot because of incessant rain and mud so it still takes me 3 hours to get everything done.

So I was a little tired before I even started riding today.

First up was Brigand, who ended up being very quick because he is off. There is no heat or swelling anywhere in his leg so Trainer suspects it is an abscess brewing from the recent shoeing and has a call in to the farrier.

Next was Alph, who was a good boy.
I think he was dogging me a little in the beginning, being a little dead to the leg and a little sluggish in the walk leg yields, so I rode him with a little more 'punch' than usual. I questioned myself a little, wondering if I was just wanting him to be easy after I did eleventy billion square feet of stalls, but he did give me some really nice canter work and in general carried himself with a nicer work ethic. He lalalala'ed a little in the trot legyields after the canter work, and uncharacteristically I whomped him once or twice with my leg, and then we had a better leg yields.
Sometimes I think I let him convince me that he is giving 100% when really it is more like 80%, but I would like to get that 100% ride without having to get grumpy with him at different points in the ride.
So, I really liked the canter work, but even though I rode very fair and pleasant, I still don't think mentally I appreciated what he offered as much as I should have. I would like to elicit the work ethic while still being a very positive rider, and I will have to work on balancing that line.


After Alph, Trainer asked me to ride Beau, the 3yo who is in for a week and a half training. Beau will really test a person, and as such he is a difficult horse for me to work with. I AM NOT a confrontational horse person, so there are times where I under-discipline and to handle one that requires a little more "oompf" from time to time I really have to change my brain around.
Meanwhile, I was already questioning whether maybe I was a little grumpy today, and that always makes me prone to NOT ALLOW myself to get pissy, and just move on to the next thing or save it for another day.
Well, that is a hard balance to strike when you have a three year old that is standing up at the end of a longe line acting like he has never longed to the right in his life. I think I underdisciplined in the ground work because I kept just being like, "Whoa buddy, come on, let's go right," and trying again. Eventually he did trot and canter around to the right.

When it was time to get on he danced around at the mounting block (which ALL of Trainer's horses do since he is the biggest pushover in the world and let me tell you on horse #6 of the day that gets fucking old. So, from here on out everyone is getting led to the mounting block with a dressage whip in hand and some treats in the pocket and we will be tapped back into position until we stand politely, and then when the rider is aboard we will get a treat. Honestly.), which after his performance on the longe coupled with the fact that I have this same exact conversation with every eff horse at this barn I was just like, "Omfg I am just NOT going to lose my temper at you, you bleepity bleep." Trainer came and held him and I got on.

He was super three years old and very testy to ride, dancing around, tossing his head, etc etc, and I was at a point where I didn't know the riding history of the horse, so is he just green or does he actually know how to steer? AND I didn't want to get after him because I wasn't sure in my own mental space if I was just being grumpy or if I should get a little firm to get through to him.
A testy horse like that is ALREADY a tough horse for me to ride because I have to "ramp myself up" a little to make it happen, but when I seem shorter-tempered than usual to myself I will NOT ALLOW myself to react even if the reaction is possibly necessary.

So after some riding around where we kinda sorta barely trotted a circle to the right, but he was difficult to keep going and he would drift waaaaayyyy out on the one side and rip at the reins etc etc etc, and with me refusing to allow myself to get after him about it, I was finally just like, "OK, we will walk one more circle so we can get around at least once without you threatening to stand up and then we are calling this a day."



So today basically ended up being more of a mental workout than a physical one. On the one hand I did not lose my temper with a single horse at any point, on the other I feel like riding a three year old around with the lips a thin line and every emotion being held Firmly In Check is not really the way to ride either.

Sooooo, I will have to work on being tough enough without being too tough.

Tomorrow will be an easier day because I have to run errands in the morning, and then I think I will just ride two or three in the afternoon. That will give me some time to recharge, too.

Man am I tired.

Lesseeee...

The day began with Welt, who started off basically where we left off so we were able to move on from very careful trotting to trotting all around the arena snugged nicely up against the outside left aids, and then were able to smoothly change the bend back and forth in the flat loop serpentines. Without getting pully with the hands, or hard in the contact. Yay for Welt!
For tomorrow the plan is to do a little more of that, do some more trot leg yields, and maybe if we're feeling lucky some shoulder-in. The rule is everything has to be off a light aid; if it requires strength from me we go back to a lesser exercise to prepare ourselves more.


After Welt was Brigand, who just did a flat school in the dressage saddle today. He was a good boy and is always so obliging to do whatever you ask. Everything with him is, "Oh, ok."
Oddly, he can do a little canter shoulder-in to the right but to the left it is too hard for him and he just kind of ruefully poops out. So we will work on some more shoulder-in in the trot work.
He has gotten much more even in both reins over the last couple of rides so things are moving right along with him.


Then, Alph was stellar and offered up some really nice canter work. He likes to get his canter a little long and flat and steeplechasey; today he really carried himself nicely. We did a leeetle teeeny bit of shoulder-fore in the canter, and also incorporated a lot of counter canter.
In the trot work we worked on improving the haunches-in and the shoulder-in entwickeln.


Next up was Reggie, who was super stellar as well. We started off with some easy legyielding in the walk and it set Mr. Lalalala up to be a little more attentive. He did some very nice trot work with changes of bend and some down/up transitions, and then cantered smoothly and organized. Good man!



Then came Goodfellow, who didn't do much because his quarter crack is bothering him again. I thought it might because he was hesitant to pick up the opposite leg for a hoof picking before the ride, leading me to suspect, "Uh oh, do you not want to put extra weight on that foot?" So Goodfellow just walked for a couple minutes and then went back in his house.
While we are on the quarter crack subject, if anyone wants to watch a super cool video about repairing quarter cracks, check this out.


After that Trainer let me ride Carter, who is is dressage horse and also His Baby. Carter is definitely the favorite child. Carter also goes in a double, which was my first time riding in one of those so that was a new thing. I always thought you would hold the curb low and the snaffle rein higher but it is the other way around. The snaffle goes between ring finger and pinky and the curb either just around the index finger or around the index and middle. I am sure there are other ways to hold them but this is apparently the deal for Carter, and I liked it because with the reins layered like that the snaffle is on top coming out from under the thumb which makes it easy to grab it and adjust the length.
Carter is awesome to ride and A LOT of horse to organize. He blasted right past me in the trot lengthenings and I quickly realized I didn't have a prayer of holding him together the whole way so I just tried for two sections of three strides of lengthening with some steps of more collected trot in between. I think that will both help me learn to organize him and improve the quality of his lengthenings.
I also worked on holding him together with my seat in the canter (Trainer must have a strong freakin' seat!), which was not so easy on horse #6 and I thought to myself, "Well Good lord if I keep this up staying with Briggs over the jumps is going to be no problemo!"
Apparently I get to ride Carter EVERY DAY, PLEASE, while Trainer is away for 10 days later on this month so I will really be working on doing some simple Second Level stuff with him, but trying to do it really fluidly, lightly and well. He really is a big horse for me to get together and it will be great practice in setting a horse up to respond to really light aids (because I am just flat out not as strong as Trainer, and it will be much more productive in the long run to school the horse down to my level of strength rather than going to the gym to ratchet up my aids) and have everything be quietly and softly organized.

It is really nice to get a chance to ride a more made horse and just practice the things I am working toward with Alph (and now Welt, too).



Anyway, six horses plus night chores later, I am pooped out (not that I am complaining; I personally think that, "Oh, I'll have Derek come in to do the stalls and you can just ride everything in the barn" is like, the sweetsest deal EVER). I will possibly lay in a hot bath if I can find my eucalyptus stuff in my moving gear, but otherwise it is going to be shower and lights out, posthaste.


(And tomorrow Welty is going to be just STELLAR, I can feel it.)

Today I started off with Alph.
I am trying to confirm the Second Level work with him so we emphasized shoulder-in and haunches-in.
He did a nice trot warm up with serpentines and big circles before we did some of the shoulder-in/haunches-in work at the walk and then moved up to the same at the trot.

Then I gave him a break from all the lateral work and moved on to canter.
He was a little lazy in the canter, breaking to trot at the slightest excuse. Normally he is pretty good about not doing that, so when he does I generally think he is honestly tired and let him take a break for half a long side before going again, but by the time he did it three times in short succession today I was like, "Come on, Alph. Off you gallop down the long side and you also get a tap." He was a little aghasted by that but then he got his work ethic back and we carried on with some nice canter moments including some good counter canter.

After that we played with the lateral work again and I got some nice steps of shoulder-in entwickeln both directions, which he was a really good boy about offering at the end of the ride so after that he got big pats and we called it a day.


Next up was Welt.
Welt has a tough time bending to the right, and I feel that just pulling his head around and whomping him with the left leg to get haunches-in is not really an "honest" way to get the movement.
So I dialed it down to something that is easier for him and started off at the walk just doing a loose-ish rein leg yield to the left, focusing on him really moving his shoulder and the base of his neck into the outside rein. At the end of the legyield we did a 10m circle to the right to really confirm the bend and then went up centerline for another legield. Especially at the beginning of the legyield he likes to 'unpop' the shoulder and bend leftish again, so I waited until we had the entry into the legyield smooth as well before moving on to the next thing.

After that we did the legyielding and interspersed some shoulder-in/10m circles up the long side. If it got hard for him we did a little half circle to get the bend back and then legyielded away.

Then I had him trot a little to see if he could maintain the "shoulder pressed up against the outside" feeling in a 20 meter trot circle; when it got hard we whoaed to walk, did a 10m circle and found a place to legyield a little. After a couple of repetitions he could maintain his right bend with a very light feel on the rein and most of the ride coming from my inside right leg and seat.

During the walk out I still had him be every so slightly bent to the right with that shoulder scooched to the outside a touch. We leg yielded gently toward the outside and then I slipped my leg back to ask him to carry on in the same bend, but straight down the quarter line, and he gave me three or four nice steps of haunches in. Yesterday haunches-in was Really. Hard according to Welt, but after the set up today he slipped into it easily. I took my four steps, patted him, and then smoothly turned into a circle so that he wouldn't get vertutzt at the end of the ride.

Tomorrow we'll re-emphasize the right-bend work and hopefully everything will be easier and we'll be able to take it another couple steps further, in a way where it is smooth and feels easy for Welt.



After that it was time for a jump lesson on Reggie.
We continued to work on my letting go of him and teaching Regg to carry a consistent canter on his own and find his own jump.
Trainer bumped up one of the jumps to a little oxer.
Regg loves to land on the left lead, (I am like, well, it must not be me because Alph always lands right...), and we were going right, so at one point after the oxer I asked for a lead change.
He fussed and sassed a little but when he came down again he was on the right lead.
On the next pass, I asked again and BOOM!, suddenly I had a leaping!Reggie on my hands.
For the first second I thought I was going to stick it and then I was like, "...oh, fuck."

And thusly I was firmly deposited into the end of the arena. Reggie did a neat little courtesy circle and then came trotting back to me wearing his ears all cute like, "What, you left?" I was standing there thinking, "Oh hey, he's a cute mover when he trots out like that."

So then I was like, "OK, was that a real buck? Because I am fine if this was a real buck but I don't want to have gotten dumped off of a crow hop."
Trainer assured me that it was a real buck with four feet off the ground inclusive of final twisting kick out, BUT! when he landed he was on the right lead.

So I was like, "Yay, BooBoo you got your change!" and then we worked on cantering up to and away from that oxer without doing unnecessary aerial maneuvers. And you know, me NOT departing the horse in the turn.



After Regg it was Brigand's turn to school over jumps. Trainer kept putting the oxer up two until finally I was internally like, 'Well, that back rail is not going to go up much higher because there aren't enough holes left on the damn standard." Seriously that thing was like, 3'9", which to me is a big jump.
Brigand also likes to crack his back over a jump so I was like, "Ooookay, looks like I need to do some no stirrups work as I ride along six inches above the saddle and land a stride after he does..."
Brigand was a really good boy so I was really happy with him.


So, looking forward to some no stirrups homework tomorrow for sure.


Seriously, who took the glue off the back of my pants today?!
;P




The last ride of the day was just a quickie on Beau, a horse who came in for training and will be at the barn for a week and a half. Trainer just wanted me to hop on after he rode so he could see him go too, which I did. It is a really cute horse who should make up to be a nice hunter.


All in all, they were all good boys today.
A little exuberant, some of them, perhaps, but good boys nonetheless.
:)

Yesterday started off with Reggie, who did another brief jump school. He was a little "Lalalalala I'm sorry you were saying?" when he came out so I had to school the canter a little extra before starting to jump. So, canter-halt transitions (through the trot and walk), a couple of steps of backing, try again, canter-halt...etc. for a few minutes until he was carrying himself around the ring and paying attention.
The jumping was really brief because he gave a couple bona fide horseshow quality jumps so we ended on that while he was rocking the house and still fresh.

This is a new level of jump schooling for me; before it was just "teaching the horse to jump in good rhythm and pace" and now it is "riding a very specific rhythm and pace to teach the horse to jump in a specific style." So I think I am learning just as much as Regg is.



After Reggie, it was Brigand's turn to hop around the jumps. The trainer thinks he would make up to be a nice regular horse eventually and wants him to do Pin Oak as well come March. My ride on him was basically dusting off his jumps and getting to know him, combined with schooling him a little before his lesson with a customer.


I also did a dressage school on Alph, the main highlight of which was schooling the shoulder-in entwickeln a little. It is hard for him so we did a little and then did some canter work (which was lovely btw), and then did a skitch more and then did some canter work and then called it a day.


And Welty just walked, because by then it was getting pretty dark, but we did a lot of shoulder-in/renvers/half pass. He is a little tricky for me to maintain the bend in the half pass, so I just did a couple of steps of shoulder-in to establish the bend, a little half pass, a little more shoulder-in to get the bend back, and some more half pass etc. He was a good boy, and for a horse that can be a little skittish in his stall about blankets or the water hose I was impressed by how attentive he was in the waning light.



Today I basically have the barn to myself because the trainer is off to teach and run errands.

Yesterday I started off riding Welt, who was wonderful as usual (I believe "twice" counts as "usual", no?). He can get a little hard in the contact and lock his neck and jaw against me, so we've been working mainly on circles and shoulder-in with lots of changes of direction and brief loose rein breaks. If he gets too hard at the trot we walk around and shoulder-in some both directions and then get a pat try again.
He is super super responsive laterally, but I don't feel like we can do big figures smoothly and fluidly without losing the connection. "Do little schniggly circles and go sideways" is easy for him, but "Onwards!" is hard. This is a new type of ride for me, because I always emphasize big figures and long, sweeping lines before trying to go smaller or sideways, so I am trying to adjust my ride to a training scheme he feels comfortable in and gradually draw him out to meet me halfway.

So, we try for the big figures but when he loses track of his parts we do a little lateral something (generally a circle into shoulder-in, if anyone is wondering) to put humpty dumpty together again and then try again.

My secondary mission with this horse is to really make him feel special and loved since he appears to have been everyone's red-headed stepchild, so when I do his stall he gets lots of face scratches and kisses before I start and I always try to pat him or at least acknowledge him when I go by his stall on the way somewhere else. He has been absolutely eating. this up., so now when he hears "Hi Welt!" from down the aisle it is not long before a pretty black face emerges over the stall wall for a pat.
It really is kind of heart-melting with his black ears pricked up and his little snip bobbing up and down as he nods hello.



After Welt it was Reggie's turn to have a jumping lesson. Trainer has decided to aim for two C shows that are held at the Pin Oak grounds before doing the real Pin Oak, and the prep starts now. He will be up against some six figure Baby Green horses and after yesterday I am kind of like, 'Holy crap" but trainer assures us all will be well.
Yesterday we worked simply on being slower in the air with the front end, and trying to lengthen the 'hang time' so Reggie can show off his front end instead of being so quick out of the shoulder. The method is basically to ride nice and slow (but bouncy canter, not dead canter) to the jump, give a big release to encourage him, and also to get in two point four strides out and NOT HELP HIM so that he has to find his stride on his own.
After a certain point (like, 15 minutes. We aren't very fit.) Regg got a little pooped out and I could really feel how the deterioration in the canter affected the jump. Trainer noticed it too and said, "No point in doing more if there's no horse left; better to go 2 or 3 times a week for just a little bit than to kill him now."
Plans are to go down the road next week to a farm that has a nice hunter course set up to bounce around a lot of different jumps.

In the meantime, we'll be working on the canter and getting fitter so that we can maintain a better canter, longer.



After Reggie it was Goodfellow's turn to go for a spin, mainly as a soundness check. Goodfellow has been off for a year with a quarter crack and is just coming back into work. The farrier put a cast on his foot the other day, which is there to prevent expansion of the foot and hopefully keep the crack static while it grows out. (He did lift the other leg while the cast was drying so that the foot would be 'max expanded' while the cast set.) Casts are easy enough for anyone to buy, wet, and roll on to a hoof and they can be used on barefoot horses instead of shoes. A good thing to keep in mind, but I realize now that I am not sure how to um, take them off again, so I will have to remember to ask the farrier about that before considering that little tidbit to be filed in my toolkit.

Goodfellow was a good boy. After a year off he is verrrry bent to the left, so we ride mainly to the right and try to do a little walk-shoulder-in and legyield left. He just did some easy trotting around on big circles and a very little bit of canter. He gets a little upset about the right lead canter transition (probably because of that whole 'backwards C' shape he prefers to be in) and this is one of the 17.3 behemoths that feels like an elephant to me so I handle this very tactfully and with a minimum of escalation. In general the resistance involves tossing his giant head and neck around, hopping up and down and swinging his hind end, closely followed by the rest of his body, INTO my left asking leg, so the first order of business changes from "canter depart" to "schooling the response to that leg" so we promptly do a little legyield right. If he gets more upset I say, "OK, walk then but legyield right." A couple of steps of legyield later we pick up the trot again and probably have to repeat the scenario five or six times before he gives in to that left leg, and then we have a canter depart.
His canter, once you get it, is lovely to ride, which the trainer describes as, "It's lahke rahdin' in a old cahr with bad shocks!"



Brigand was the last horse on yesterday's list and he just did an easy little school. He is just starting out and feels so young and green that I keep everything light with him. His job is also to work on going from "backwards C" to straight, and to just be even in both reins with big figures. He was a little bit of a turkey about his right lead canter depart as well, which once again is not suprising when the whole horse wants to be bent left all the time. So we work on being even in the reins and really yielding the spine to the right leg, and hopefully in a couple weeks we will ride like a whole new horse.



Alph's big contribution yesterday was to stand in the paddock and watch the goings on in the arena, but I do have to give him credit for NOT ROLLING the entire day.
I am cautiously optimistic that he will be marginally clean today, but knowing him he probably sought out every last poop pile to lay in in his house after that suprisingly cleanly performance in turnout.
:)