Another perfectly-groomed arena, another day of riding shapes outside in the ring. This time, I set up single poles at the center of each loop of a 5-loop serpentine. Wizard was great through the warmup and all the trot work. We incorporated some lengthening exercises, as well as a little lateral work. At the trot, he went over the poles softly and in a relaxed manner- at the canter, he rushed. I also rode down the center line at each gait, working on straightness, a bugaboo for us both. At the canter, he was tight through his back again, less than he was last time, but still not right. When I groomed him, I noticed that he was a little tight over his right hip. I’m going to have my friend do a massage on him next week to see if she finds any other sore points, and then decide if he need the chiropractor, the saddle fitter, or the vet.
“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backward, or sideways.” H. Jackson Brown
Wednesday, 6/15/11
GORGEOUS weather for a morning ride. Wizard enjoyed a flake of alfalfa hay while I tacked him up, and then we went into the indoor arena for our ride. I warmed him up at the walk, first on a loose rein, then with contact. Wizard has a habit of getting “selective hearing” in the beginning of a ride with leg aids. Usually, I ride without a crop, and simply get him on my leg with lots of transitions, but today I carried a crop for the first few minutes of trot work. Wizard needed the tiniest tap just once to remember what my legs are for, and was light and responsive to leg for the rest of the ride.
At the trot, we worked on circles and along the rail, getting contact and establishing feel. Our circles turned to serpentines, as we practiced degrees of bending. Then, we got to the meat and potatoes of the ride: cantering figure 8s with simple changes at the trot.
Odd duck that he is, Wizard finds simple changes more challenging than flying lead changes. The trot-to-canter transition is still rushy and awkward for him unless we are both totally “in the zone”. I backed off on the transitions for a while and worked on improving his trot and doing lots of transitions to increase balance and power in the hind end. This seemed to help, since our attempts were a little less awkward than previous canter transition sessions. It was still less than graceful. Wizard has more difficulty picking up the left lead than the right lead most of the time, and when he gets tense, the trot in the center is not straight and is not relaxed. We got through a few figure 8s that I deemed acceptable and I ended the ride with a walk around the property to cool him out.
It is tough to decide when to push and when to step back. I always tend to step back as my first instinct, but usually Wizard does well with a gentle push.
I left work and got to the barn around 9pm. I was the only person riding. Selena did not mind being alone in the arena and we had a fantastic ride.
We started with our usual walking warmup, first on straight lines, then a few large circles. We moved on to a long and low trot. When I pushed with my leg and Selena took contact, I rewarded her with a softened rein. She is learning to be guided by leg, seat, and hands and her willing nature is taking us far. The past week or so has been a big one for us- Selena continues to improve her gaits, become more flexible, and learn all the exercises I show her.
When I was getting a consistent rhythm at the trot, we moved on to riding different shapes, from figure 8s to serpentines to skinny loops down the long sides, with walking around the short turns. We then worked on transitions, walk, trot, walk, trot, walk, halt, walk. 6 steps at a time, a circle at a time, straight lines, bending lines. She was bending and the hind end was engaging so we stepped it up a notch and I did a little work at the sitting trot. Posting for 10 steps, sitting for 10 steps. Posting on the long sides, sitting on the short sides. Forward trot when I posted, slower trot when I sat.
We took a brief break so Selena could stretch and mentally rest and did a little walking work, including leg yields and shoulder in. I rode out of the shoulder in into a circle to keep the bend, then we did a little shoulder in work at the trot. When I had a good shoulder in from both directions, we did brief canter work on each lead, just one time around the arena each way. Her canter transition was far better, probably because my timing has improved as I become accustomed to her gaits.
As a cooldown, we did the stretchy circle at the trot in both directions, followed by walking. She just broke a sweat but was completely dry and cool by the time we got back into the barn. The Big Grey Mare is getting fit! And she likes my company enough that she did not feel all alone when we were in the arena. Progress, progress, progress.
Wizard got the night off but I did give him a once-over and a grooming. His left hind leg felt just the slightest bit thick- not stocked up, but not perfectly tight. Hm.
The horses have been spending all day and night outside and I can feel a difference in Wizard and Selena. Both are more focused and settled.
I rode Wizard for about 15 minutes at the walk. We walked around the property with Mary the Morgan. I did not take him in the arena because I’m still trying to figure out if his resistant behavior from a few months ago was more physical or behavioral. He stood quietly for mounting (and cribbed on the fence- little booger!) and was a perfect gentleman for our walk.
Selena was also fantastic- this may have been our best ride yet. This was our ride plan:
– walk on loose/long rein for 10 minutes
– trot on a large oval, asking for contact and asking for a stretch
– walk and ask for leg yield in both directions, using the wall
– trot in figure 8, making sure to make them loopy without too much straightness at the center
– trot in large oval, asking for a longer stride on the long sides and as shorter stride on the short stride (I hesitate to call it lengthening since we are not at that level)
– ask for the horse to stretch and chew the reins at a trot on a large ciecle
– walk to cool out
I got more bend tonight than I’ve ever gotten before and Selena is responding really well to my half halts, meaning that I’m doing them better. Hooray! I did not feel quite as secure in my position as I did last week, but I think it is because I was doing so much hiking and activity last week. I need to keep it up.
As a final exercise, I lined Selena up with Mary the Morgan, horse show style. Selena stood quietly and sighed as if to say, “I’ve done THIS before, silly!”
I asked Mary’s owner to leave the arena before us to work on separating Selena from other horses. We’ve done this exercise a few times and Selena is becoming more and more relaxed.
Progress is a powerful thing. It makes all the difficult days so worthwhile.
I lost Alibar in September 2008 but I still see reminders of him all the time. I bought a bag of hay cubes for Wizard and I just about started bawling when I started making them. We made hay cubes for Alibar for over a decade- it was a signature Alibar dish.
I started the night with JR. First, I turned him out in the indoor arena to let him blow off a little steam and stretch his legs. We worked on some clicker training at liberty. Although JR was a little slow out of the gate with clicker training, he has caught up really quickly. I rewarded him for circling around me and also for approaching me on command. I think that a moderate amount of liberty training really strengthens the bond between horse and rider. I’ve never used round pens- I find a big arena to be just fine for what I need.
I tacked up JR and Sarah rode him first. She rode for about 10 minutes. She worked on adjusting his stride- forward trot, working trot, sitting trot. She also cantered him. For a green horse who has been out of work for more than a year, he was quite balanced. JR has a really nice inner balance and rhythm and I think he has the ability to go really far as a riding horse. JR just barely broke a sweat by the time she was done.
Then it was my turn. JR and I had a workout! Sarah really put us through our paces. We trotted figure 8s, serpentines, and figure 8s down the long side (really skinny figure 8s). Sarah asked us for three trots: forward trot, posting trot, and sitting trot. JR has a remarkable forward trot! He never feels like he is going to break into a canter and he sort of floats along. His natural ability to adjust his gaits will be an asset if he ends up doing any dressage. We rode for about 20 or 25 minutes. By the time we were done, I was sweating! I’ve ridden all my life but since Alibar got sick and before that hurt his leg, I barely rode in 2008. In the beginning of the lesson, JR did a lot of adjusting his head, sometimes up, sometimes out, sometimes down. At the end of the lesson, I could feel JR stretching into the bit and accepting contact. His trot became more rhythmical and easy to ride. I cooled him out, groomed him, and moved onto the next victim :^)
I let Wizard spend about 10 minutes loose in the arena to stretch his legs and so I could see how he was feeling on the new shoes. He looks more comfortable. I tacked him up and Sarah rode him for about 10 minutes. A lot of the relaxation and schooling we did in January has regressed. He was back to being tense and anticipating the trot. Sarah was very patient with him and worked on asking for a quiet trot on a large circle. He did relax a bit after a few rounds. Then, I rode him for about 10 minutes. I think that it will not take as long to get him settled this time around as it did last month. Even though he had a layoff, I find that horses pick up training quickly once they have already learned it at some point. We did a few quiet walk/trot transitions and then walked some more, working on getting him to his “happy place”. Wizard simply needs more physical care and work than JR. I love working with them both and I am beginning to appreciate their differences.
It’s also really nice to be doing actual riding lessons. It feels good to have somebody tell me to put my heels down :^) Part of the comfort of a lesson is that I can allow somebody else to pilot the ride while I work on myself. I can focus more and we both improve. I’m really impressed with the progress we made. Can’t wait for the next lesson!
Rock and Racehorses: Sarah K. Andrew 