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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Brought along a long-time best friend today.
I couldn't get out yesterday due to traffic, and the pastures were closed from the rain as well, but Ms. P at least did go out in the indoor for a couple hours yesterday. She hadn't gone out yet today though, and was a bit fresh, especially considering the lovely cool weather.
A little quick at the trot but not awful by any means.
I swear I'm not yanking on her mouth here, she just gets fussy and pulls faces, especially when she is fresh.
Canter was a bit more apparent that she was feelin' good, she certainly wasn't about to take off or anything like that but if I didn't remind her every step (particularly on the long sides) to take it easy she would build up pretty fast.
Walk break in between, little trot to make sure we still have our wits about us. If we go canter-walk break-canter she gets a little yahoo
Then a nice trot on the buckle. If we'd tried to do this this spring, we'd have ended up galloping.
All done
Untacked, etc, then put her in the indoor to hang out a bit. She needs her whiskers done! I will have to see if anyone there has a clippers I can borrow.
I am also working to clear up her thrush, I've been using thrushbuster every few days or so since she got here and it is about gone. I'm going to start spritzing her feet with apple cider vinegar every day and then the thrushbuster every few days until it clears up, but then keep going with the ACV after that. Thrushbuster's too darn expensive to use every day!
