rhythm of love

Today was a hot day, but by the time I got on it had started to cool down. Still, I decided we ought to take it relatively easy. Took a long walk warmup while the horses were brought in, then a nice easy trot. She was very good about keeping her rhythm slow controlled by my post...although she wanted to get quicker as we went on. We worked on getting the slight bend, which is hard when she wants to rush in her corners, so we did lots of circles and made sure she kept a consistent pace. I am getting better at moving her off my inside leg, and she is becoming more willing to stretch down into the contact. We reversed a few times at the trot, and I noticed her brakes are beginning to become more selective again, so we did lots of halts and tried to get some nice steps of calm, non-resistant back. Had a walk break, and then on to canter. She must have been feeling the heat because it was a very easy, calm canter despite the fact that she was worked not at all yesterday and only lightly on Sunday. I kept the canters short just to keep an eye on her breathing, and it was nice because she didn't get a chance to build up steam. I am trying to break free of my must-only-pick-up-canter-in-the-corners neurosis so we worked on some transitions on big circles and the long sides. We had some really lovely moments at the canter...so nice and easy and getting much more balanced. Overall, it was one of those rides where I just didn't want it to end, but of course it had to, so we did some trot on a looser rein with some lovely stretchy moments, and then walked out on the buckle. We walked over the crossrail to mix it up, trotted a bit more, then cooled her out and gave her a shower. A fitting end to August.

Went to spectate at barn owner's dressage show, and came back to the barn in the heat of the afternoon. Work was fairly light with lots of walk/water breaks. My lesson helped me to figure out how much I really could ask from her, and so we tried to work on keeping a bend and not letting her fuss with her head as homework. For whatever reason I'd forgotten my spurs, and I noticed she was a bit heavier on the leg and so I had to really work to keep her bulging her body out in the corners. We continued the exercise of starting on a smaller circle and pushing her out with the inside aids and keeping her steady with the outside. Although it felt like we'd be going fine on the circle, she would still want to twist her nose to the outside in the corners, and so we found ourselves going back to circles a lot. Canter was better to the left. We did a bunch of trot-canter transitions on the circle and while they did wind her up, they also got her to sit down more on her back end. Because she was so good and quiet, I let us pop a few jumps at the end. We trotted the X going home a couple times, trotted the pink angle going away, and then we trotted in-cantered out of the X to the angle as a bending line. The jumps felt great, I felt much more relaxed and secure in the tack. We ended on that note. Because it was fairly hot, it took her longer for her breathing to return back to normal and so I walked her out bareback, then gave her a shower and took her to graze.

trust

Although a little late in the game, today I finally got a chance to take a lesson with the barn's trainer. Haven't had a lesson since May, haven't had an intensive jumping lesson since last summer, so my expectations were set pretty low.

Trainer is super nice, we chatted a bunch while warming up. She just loves Pearl (don't we all?) and was excited to watch her go. We trotted around the whole arena first, and trainer talked about how she would like to see me slow P's step a little, to get her more to the point at which she'd be comfortable trotting at liberty. Slowing her down wasn't hard, but just something that didn't occur to me because I've gotten so used to her quicker trot, and don't normally have any eyes on the ground to tell me to slow it on down.

Next, we moved on to working on a small circle in the middle of the arena. We wanted to see what P remembered of her glory days, so we started off by walking a small circle, asking for bend with the inside rein, bumping with the inside leg in time with her inside hind to ask her to move her body. After a little face fussiness we got the message through in both directions, so we moved up to a trot. We worked on keeping the pace with the outside rein, and still insisting on bend with the inside aids. Trainer said that when she got fussy with her head, to just set down the inside rein on her neck so she would just fuss with herself. After a couple circles P had it down and was giving us some awfully nice, rhythmic, fancy, round, swingy, bendy trot. We started out right, and it was even easier going to the left.

We moved back to the whole arena for the canter. We started out to the right, which I was glad of because at the moment that is our better direction at the canter. We attempted to get the feeling of the same bend we had on the small circle at the trot, and came pretty close a couple times. Trainer pointed out that she was surprised the left wasn't our easier direction at the canter. P still prefers to pick up the left lead, but she definitely feels more balanced going to the right and trainer picked up on that as well.

I warned trainer that I was a crappy jumper, so we started off easy. We began by trotting to a pole-flower box-pole on the diagonal, actually the only jump in the arena we hadn't jumped before. We went through the poles off a left turn, then straight line halt in the corner. P was a little looky the first time through, but once she caught on that we would be jumping soon she was awfully perky. We worked on slowing her down in the corners and keeping the bend, which became more challenging the more times we went through and the more excited she got. Then we made it a baby vertical. P was very happy to be jumping, and trainer thought she was just adorable. We went through it quite a few times, keeping the halt in the corner. I got bounced out of the tack as usual, but maybe it doesn't look as awful as it feels because trainer didn't harp on it much. She said that I tend to sit back and ride defensively the last stride, and I should just roll forward and ease up into jumping position.

After riding through the single a few times, we added the outside line of verticals off a righthand turn. We came over the single, trotted in the corner, and since she was a little rushier that I would like we made a circle before trotting the line. Pony popped right over both fences and trainer was impressed that she had a lead change (although she did get a little extra excited about the swap the first time through). We did that a couple times, then added a long run to a single on the other diagonal after the outside line. As expected, she got strong and I got fidgety on the approach, but she sailed over it (trainer exclaimed over how cute she was, and Pearl was definitely on her game and very happy to show off). The next time through, I concentrated on looking past the corner of the arena (straight line halt) and just keeping her stride steady and not too quick and it felt much better. After that, we decided to canter the outside line, but pony had gotten the memo that we were supposed to trot in the corner after the first diagonal, so we just took an extra circle to canter both times through. A far cry from the run-her-into-the-wall pony we had over the winter! We ended on a nice note, with the second time cantering to the outside line and then keeping on to the single feeling much smoother.

Overall, I very much liked the experience and wish I had gotten a chance to get more lessons in sooner. Nice remarks from trainer: she said that P was everything she expected her to be just from looking at her in the paddock, and commented more than once on what a nice horse she was. I'm so glad I'm not so barn blind that I am the only one that thinks that! She also said that she seemed to be more of a one-person horse, and was great about just covering for my mistakes, which she might not do if she didn't like me so much. A very nice thing to hear, and I am so lucky to be that one person.

Poor halfway-shoeless pony didn't get ridden today, but I went down for a visit anyways. It was nice to just spend time with her on the ground (although 60 miles one way is a little far to make that a regular habit). I watched some lessons, chatted with BOs/fellow boarders (they had nothing but good things to say about the beautiful princess), cuddled with the pony (she loved it!), gave the dirty girlie

 a bath

 and handgrazed her along the pastures. If I lived close enough I would definitely do this more often, but unfortunately it's a little hard to justify to my parents. As a once-in-a-while thing, though, I had a great non-riding day and I hope my horse did too.

trail ride...take two!

Saturday afternoon was once again lovely weather, so we went for a trail ride 'round the neighborhood. There aren't really any official "trails," so we went along the roads and stuck to the grassy verges. Pony was a little pokey at first and didn't want to canter down the road going away from home, but that may also have been since we didn't trot as much as we usually do for warmup. There wasn't much traffic on any of the roads, and neither horse minded the few cars we did see. I think we more or less made a big loop around the town.

We passed my very good friend's house

saw more corn and soybean fields than anyone could ever hope to see

Had some lovely canters along the big verges. We had to cross the road a couple times in order to get the best visibility. We stopped off at BO's friends' house for a drink of water. Neither horse was too please about standing still (mosquitoes were awful), Pearl in particular.

We stopped at our good friend D's house for a chat, but he wasn't home (his wife was though).

Right before we crossed the street to turn into his drive, we noticed a truck and a car driving behind us side-by-side on the road behind us. We went towards the far edge of the verge just in case but luckily they went single file just before passing us. Right as they passed us I saw something flying through the air so close to P and I that I wasn't sure she if she had kicked it up somehow...but nope, turns out whatever asshole was in one of the cars threw his open bottle of Coke right at poor Pearlie. Luckily it didn't seem to have hit her and didn't spook her, but it never stops surprising me the depths to which some people will stoop.
After our chat we made it down D's driveway without incident

We finally headed home

Then we untacked the tired ponies, and I discovered that we were missing something

Not sure at what point in our ride it came off, but she didn't seem bothered by it at all, though her hoof was shredded up a bit. She was going to get a trim/reset Wednesday anyways, so guess we'll just wait to ride until then.

rain...again

I attempted to beat the rainstorm Friday afternoon, but of course the second I'd gotten on and we reached the far end of the arena it started pouring. Mareface was less than impressed and tried to bolt for the gate. We took a little moment to get organized and straighten out, and then we walked hastily to the indoor arena. Even with the rain beating down on the metal roof she was still pretty chill. We walked around a bit more to get the antsyness from being out in the rain for all of 45 seconds out, then trotted. I made an effort to make enough circles, serpentines, diagonals, what have you so that we very rarely if ever went around the whole arena at a time. I set up a pole on the centerline but the turn to it was awfully tight so we didn't do much with it so as not to wind her up. We got nice and relaxed at the trot, then did some canter work to the right first. Even in the smaller indoor she felt much more balanced than she did at the beginning of the summer. We took a quick walk break before reversing, and then a couple cars pulled into the parking lot, which made Pearl want to act up a little, so we did some more listening/relaxing trotwork before the canter left. Now that our canter right has been getting better, it seems that our left is not what it should be. I am not sure this is because she is getting tired after we canter right first, or if I haven't been trying as hard to get our act together since that is usually both our "good" direction, or if the canter right gets her wound up and ready to rock. Probably some combination of the latter two. Either way, something to work on for next time.

in balance

Of course now that summer is almost over we are making some great progress. Today was let's-keep-her-guessing-where-we're-going day. We warmed up on a loose rein, picked up our trot. Pony made one decent-sized spook going head-on at the riding lawnmower right next to the arena but didn't mind the rest of the time that BO was mowing further around us. In order to keep her focus on me and not the mower we did tons of circles of varying size, serpentines, figure 8s, diagonals, and trot/halt/walk/back etc transitions. Mare is getting quite responsive to the verbal "whoa" command. It's certainly not a western-horse whoa but I can definitely feel her sit on her butt and think about what I'm asking before I cue using seat/reins. Hopefully she'll retain that for the school year. Doing the lots of transitions didn't seem to get her as wired as it normally does. I got some of the nicest canter I've ever felt from her today, to the right (both of our' bad direction) no less. Did a lead change across the diagonal to reverse and that wound her up some, so we did lots more nice relaxing transitions and she steadied back down. She also is beginning to listen to the command "eeeeaaasyyyy," which I utilized during the corners. We did some trot on a longer rein, then walked out while the lawnmower was moving right up next to the fence.

back in the (old) saddle

Temps were closer to upper 80s again, so it was just a light hack for the princess today. Many many transitions including some backing up. She didn't seem to be moving as freely as she had been the other day in the borrowed saddle, but such is life unfortunately. Trot work was still decently round. We kept our canters nice and short so as to avoid building too much steam, which tends to lead to the motorcycle effect. Trotted big shapes on a light rein, got a nice little cooling drizzle while walking out.

worth a thousand words

Had a friend out on Sunday for a pony adventure of sorts, and among other things she very generously lent us her saddle. Pearlygig moved probably the best I've ever seen/felt her do...and it was caught on camera, yay! It was nice to have some eyes on the ground as well.

Her fat tummy cracks me up!

caught in the rain

Rather than work our butts in the heat, I decided it was time to just take a little hack down the road. I bug-sprayed the living hell out of both of us ad we set out on our walk.

Pony was pretty chilled on a loose rein but the mosquitoes were worse than I'd anticipated so we picked up a trot pretty quickly. I checked that we hadn't lost our brakes by virtue of being outside...they were a little sticky, but she is definitely pretty tuned in to some voice commands. I've felt her mouth before and her lips where the bit goes are tough as nails...poor gal, no wonder she's fussy about her mouth.

We did some basic walking and trotting, transitions every few meters, turning around when necessary, not speeding up when going home, etc. I think she really likes the figure-8 with the d-ring, she didn't offer to toss her head at all at the trot, so that's what we'll be sticking with. She was head-tossy at the walk but I blame the bugs.

Once we got more than halfway down the road, of course the chihuahua came out to play, so we stuck mainly to the far end. We did a little bit of cantering (only going away from home, of course). Pony only wanted to pick up the left lead, so I guess it's time to have a discussion about picking up a certain lead on a straight line. It was starting to smell like rain, so we turned around and headed home. Sure enough, we got about halfway home when it started to pour. Keeping pony at a respectable walk was a bit of a challenge with wet, slippery reins, but we made it back home without having to turn around.

Pony had turned into an Appy with the rain :P

We made it to the edge of the barn

and luckily got inside before the thunder started.

trail ride

So proud of my girl! The weather was supposed to be glorious on Saturday, so barn owner and I made a trail ride date. Miss Mare loaded like a champ into the unfamiliar trailer and stood for quite a bit while her less-experienced companion let us know he wasn't too sure about loading up. She stood quietly tied to the trailer while we tacked up, no dancing around or hollering.

She was great about letting me get on from the little stepstool, and then we were off.

She was content to walk in front or behind, kept to a walk on a loose rein when asked, calmly trotted to catch up when necessary.

In order to get to the trail we wanted to go on, we had to cross a big long suspension bridge. Both horses were adamant that they were NOT going to be the first to set foot on it. Barn owner hopped off and led her gelding across, but Pearl was still not about to step on it. I got off and she followed me just like she would if I were leading her at home, and stood for me to mount her from a fallen tree on the wrong side. The bugs were pretty bad when we were walking through the woods or by the tall grasses but she didn't offer any funny business. 

We took the path less traveled and found ourselves in a humongous field, all the better for cantering in.

We cantered down to the end, heard a dog barking and realized someone's property was on the other side of the treeline, so we cantered the length of the field back to the path. Pony kept her cool during the canter but was not so keen on stopping, so we made a little circle up a hill and she regained her listening cap.

We finished up the loop and made our way back to the trailer. Of course we had to cross the oh-so-scary bridge again. Neither horse would set foot on it first under saddle, so barn owner dismounted again and this time P was happy to follow him across without me having to get off. 

 Note: having two good-sized horses on a long skinny suspension bridge definitely increases the swaying factor, and we were feeling a little drunk by the time we reached solid ground.

We took another loop that went around the quarry lake

and found a nice grassy path to canter along

She did take advantage of my one-handed distracted steering and spooked at a patch with a little different footing, but no harm done. We finished up the loop, including a little bridge that garnered no drama

and then we took a slightly different path back to the trailer so as to avoid crossing the parking lot. We had a little bit of fussing from both parties about crossing through a boggy portion of trail, but made it through eventually. The bugs were getting bad and pony's headtossing earned her a minor wardrobe malfunction

 which her mean mommy thought was super hilarious

She didn't seem bother by it at all, so we just left it til we got back to the trailer. We untacked, loaded right up (on the second try)

and headed home.


I have no idea when the last time she went on a trail ride was, but she kept her cool and took everything in stride. I am so proud of this mare and lucky to be a part of her life.

rainy day

Owing to some brief but intense rain, Wednesday was definitely in indoor day. Today was also a tack change day. I've toyed with the idea of using a figure 8 noseband on the princess and finally got it cleaned/oiled up enough to use. I am hoping that it'll provide a little more stability to the bit, as that might be a factor in her fussiness with contact. Her owners have also discussed trying out a running martingale on her, as she does get into a bit of a headtossing habit, particularly when jumping. I'm hoping that the martingale will give her a little reminder not to stick her head in my lap. In case it presented any problems, though, I wanted to test it out on a non-jumping day.

The rain was pretty loud on the arena roof but she barely noticed. It's the little things that make me realize she's really been mislabeled as a crazypants; she just needed a little faith I guess. We did plenty of circles/ turns, gathering/loosening of the contact, etc. at the walk to get her accustomed to the new garb

Then we started out trotting on a longer rein and picked up the contact as we went along.

Canter was a bit exciting but nothing goofy. I experimented again with giving her a looser rein, then gathering it up and vice versa and she seemed to take it in stride.

Walk break, reverse, more walk and trot to break up the pattern,

 then canter the other direction

Then some more walk/trot transitions, a trot on a loose rein, walked out and gave her a good grooming.

pretty in pink

Had a friend visiting from Colorado for the week, so Tuesday she braved the humidity and went out to the barn. It was a bit hot but not too bad. The footing in the arena looked a little soggy from the rain the night before so we started out in the indoor, but after we did some trotting around the barn owner came along and told us the outdoor would be OK, so we went outside. Pony was good about walking through the various gates while mounted, not that I anticipated a problem but ya never know when horses will have some weird neurosis. Friend and I later realized that the camera was on manual focus when I'd told her it was on auto so most of the pics are a bit blurry.

We'd already warmed up pretty well inside so we did just a bit more trot work and then had a walk break before cantering. The deeper footing seemed to have pony a bit more focused on where her feet were/her way of going and not just go-go-go at the trot but she was a bit fresh at the canter, probably from not being turned out much over the weekend due to rains and not being worked Monday. So, we focused more on work within the canter itself rather than doing lots of transitions, which tend to get her fired up. I do want to do more transition work at another time because a) prompt yet calm upward transitions and smooth downward transitions are something I'd like to get a little better instilled before she goes back into the school program, and b) she needs to grow a butt, but I didn't want to turn it into a battle that day.

We had a brief walk break before doing canter work the other direction and while she was good at the walk,

once I picked up the reins to get ready to canter again she wanted to anticipate.

Kind of a duh moment--of course we all know horses anticipate things once they get into a routine--but not something you really think about until you're the sole rider of a horse for a time and you realize you tend to do things in the same order. So, we did some more trot work 'til she calmed down, and then more canter. Must remember to mix things up in the coming weeks.

Then we did some trotting on a long rein to start our cooldown,

then walked out in the arena, untacked, and gave her a shower. Then we took her down the road for a snack and some asshattery

Then she decided she wanted to play the I'm-going-to-spook-at-nothing-and-gallop-circles-around-you game, so she had to stand respectfully for a bit and then we put her home.