Ride? Did I say “ride”? Yes, I did!!! It’s been way too long- over a month, to be precise. I turned Wizard loose in the indoor arena to let him stretch his legs since he’s been stalled quite a bit due to rain recently. I then tacked him up and longed him indoors. He was a star. He WALKED and trotted like a pro in both directions. I noticed him stretching down into the bit more than he has in the last- it looks like he’s losing some of the tension about longeing to the right. Maybe his brain has successfully rewired itself again about longeing.
After he longed about 20 minutes at a walk and trot, I got on and cooled him out at a walk. He barely broke into a sweat, so it seems like he is getting fitter. It was SO NICE to be back in the saddle. I was dying to trot, but I knew I should take it easy. Dismounting was the toughest part. I did not want to jar my back by landing on my feet with a hop, so I slid down from the saddle as slowly as I could. My barn friend called it “the dangle”.
Wizard had just a little bit of nasal discharge, and I’m watching to see if he has a cold. His temperature is normal. Hopefully it’s nothing- his appetite is good and he is acting like his usual quirky self.
Saturday was my last barn trip before leaving for Kentucky for two weeks. I was unsure of my plans so I played it by ear. I arrived at the barn and it was very quiet. The horses were getting their bedtime hay and nobody was riding. I brought Wizard into the indoor arena and let him trot around. The night air was cool and Wizard was enjoying himself. He rolled and rolled in the arena, and playfully leapt around the arena.
I brought him back into the barn and decided to ride. I tacked him up and hopped on. I was wearing jeans instead of breeches, but it was fine for our ride. Wizard was willing and responsive. During our walk warmup, he put his ears back about three times, but listened to my leg and hand. He put his ears back at the trot a few times as well, but the behavior subsided as the ride progressed. I tried really hard not to change my riding when he put his ears back.
Our ride was a sort of test of all we’ve been working on this month. In the arena, there were traffic cones set up on the quarter line, about six or eight in a row. I used them to work on increasing and decreasing the circumference of my circles at the trot, passing through a different pair of cones with each circle. At the walk, I used them as guides for skinny serpentines, walking all the way to the wall with each pass. Our leg yields at the walk have improved greatly. I did two in each direction at the walk.
I also worked on my hands and how they impact contact with Wizard. He tends to chew on the bit when he anticipates something, so I practiced stretching my arms as lonnnng as I could when he stretched into the bit, never feeding rein through my fingers, but instead keeping my hands elastic and soft. I was able to do several passes around the arena without Wizard doing any chomping at all. His mouth was quiet and his lips were sealed. He even took contact with the bit and held it without champing. He’s an interesting guy, because he is very sensitive, but if he’s comfortable, he becomes a little less sensitive.
It was a really nice ride. After about 30 minutes, I dismounted and remounted again at the mounting block, again to break up any patterns. Then I re-dismounted, walked him back to the barn, gave him a good grooming, and a goodbye rice bran mash. Wizard is officially on vacation for two weeks and he earned it.
It has been said that there is no spring in New Jersey, only winter, fall, and summer. Saturday was the rogue spring day, for sure, with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s. I free schooled Wizard in the indoor arena for a few minutes before I tacked up and rode. We hit the trails and rode for about an hour. At the very beginning of the trail ride, we approached a stream that cuts across the trail- Wizard LEAPT over it when we walked through it in hand a few weeks ago. This time, I was riding. We walked toward it purposefully, but Wizard stutter-stepped and halted before it. I asked again, he stutter-stepped again and stopped. He backed up a few steps. I kept him facing the stream and asked him again to move forward. One foot in the water, and then back out again. I rewarded each forward motion and urged on each time he moved back or stopped. I did not allow him to spin or turn. This lasted a few minutes. I tried my best to keep it as a discussion instead of turning it into an argument. He walks through all sorts of puddles at home, so he is not afraid of all water. Something about the stream made him think it was a major obstacle. He made a few more good efforts, and then I could feel him shutting down a little to my aids. I woke him up by clapping my hand on him behind the saddle. It gave him the forward action that he needed to go forward. I could feel himself gathering his haunches so I gave him his head and grabbed a hank of mane and… BOING! We were on the other side, walking purposefully once again.
Onward and upward. Not five minutes into the ride, I started hearing loud noises in the woods. They seemed too loud to be the usual ATVs. We kept walking toward the sounds. Crashing, whirring, roaring. Hm. And here I thought the creek was going to be the highlight. In the distance, I saw an ATV, and something BIG and WHITE behind it. It was a Bobcat-type piece of machinery, tearing down trees. I’m sure Wizard saw it as a tree-eating dinosaur. To his credit, he stood his ground and simply got taller and taller. I could feel his heart beating through the saddle pad. In a fit of self-preservation, I dismounted and we walked past the tree-eating dinosaur and onto a bank where I remounted. Wizard’s adrenaline was up and he was mouthing the bit and his head was raised. We headed toward the pig pen, where he again tensed up, but gamely walked past when I told him how brave and clever he was. We crossed the road to the other network of trails and did a little trotting. It was not the spontaneous, fun trot set that we got last time. Instead, Wizard was tense and tried to break into a canter several times. I let him canter once, but asked him to keep the trot for the rest of the flat stretch. When we came back to a walk, he was still tense, eyeing objects suspiciously. When I say objects, you must remember that we are riding in Jackson, New Jersey, and there is everything in the woods, from couches to tires to carpets.
Just as we passed a ghoulish-looking piece of furniture, Wizard craned his neck. What now? I wondered testily, and then, WHOOSH! A wild turkey walked into our path, startled at us, and FLEW up into a tree! I knew turkeys could fly, but I rarely see them do it. Poor Wizard’s mind was blown. He had stood his ground, but I could feel his anxiety. We walked the rest of the way home, and I practiced my half seat position, both for my equitation and as a desensitizing exercise for Wizard.
We arrived at the barn, and Wizard was still feeling quite energetic. I rode him into the big outdoor arena and did about fifteen minutes of trot work. He was great, relaxed and softly making contact with the bit. A barn buddy saw us riding and did not recognize either of us because she said we looked so nice :^) After our eventful ride, Wizard got some well-deserved carrots and grazing time.
In other news…
Racing has lost one of the greats. Personal Ensign, the undefeated Phipps homebred, passed away on Thursday. Check out her stunning victory in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She was sired by Private Account, who is Wizard’s grandsire.
Like his friend Indy (pictured above), Wizard is shedding his winter coat. Rolling is helpful, as is grooming. I end up with a mountain of hair every time I groom him. For such a sensitive, sleek, fine-coated Thoroughbred, Wizard sure is a hairy fellow.
After work (Yes, I worked on Easter. When there is racing, there is work), I drove to the barn for an evening ride. Before my ride, I did the usual quick free-longeing session with Wizard for about 5 minutes. I set up a “course” of trot poles, two down each straight line about 15 trot steps apart, one perpendicular, and one a stride apart from one of the four in the “course”.
We worked on carrot stretches, followed by tacking up in the indoor arena. I mounted up and we warmed up at the walk for about 10 minutes. He repeated his ear-pinning behavior and I think I might be extinguishing it by ignoring it. I worry that it was a result of discomfort, but the fact that it goes away is encouraging. For most of the ride, his ears are forward or trained on me, but they do go back sometimes with leg aids.
At the trot, we worked on a variety of exercises. I started by asking for rhythm and contact. Once rhythm and contact was reasonably established, we did a little bending work, first on large circles, then serpentines and finally, a variation on the “string of pearls”, softly bending left, then right, then left, down the center line. When I was getting a reasonable bend both left and right, we straightened out and tested our contact by trotting the poles in both directions. I gave him a pat and we took a quick break at the walk and I re-introduced leg yielding. Once again, Wizard flattened his ears when I applied very gentle inside leg pressure. Instead of reacting, I asked again and he responded correctly with a few steps of green but eager leg yield. I asked twice in each direction and then brought him back to a trot.
We worked on transitions from walk to trot and back to walk. Wizard needs a lot of work on upward transitions, both for balance and for strength. Our transitions were very simple, trotting one long side of the arena, walking the short side, trotting the long side, etc. It takes him a while to establish rhythm at the trot, and he usually rushes and then slows down and then settles into my hands, so I am taking it slowly with him. I then kept the trot and asked him to increase his tempo a few times, encouraging him to move freely and forwardly. He complied, excitedly purring a little through his nose. This horse wears his heart on his sleeve. When he is tense, he makes the “gork, gork, gork” gelding sound and when he is excited, he purrs. I trotted him through the course of four poles one more time in each direction, followed by stretchy circle work, followed by a walking cooldown. Wow, a real workout! Our ride lasted about 35 minutes. Wizard was just a little damp under the saddle pad, girth, flanks, and behind his ears, but he cooled out quickly. We are both getting into better shape. And when I dismounted, I saw that he had a thin layer of foamy “lipstick” on his lips from the bit. When he’s tense, he drools, but then he’s relaxed, he softly works the bit and I could tell that tonight’s ride was very productive. What a great night!
Thoroughbred people, did you ever wish you could ask an honest-to-goodness jockey to ride your horse and tell you how he felt? I am fortunate enough to be in that position. I’ve known Shannon Uske since she was 8 years old and we’ve boarded at a few of the same barns. She is unique in the horse world, since she is a professional jockey and she also rides her own jumpers at home. After I finished my ride, I asked her to take a quick spin on Wizard and tell me how he felt. As expected, Wizard trotted out confidently with his rider, because she has a great feel for a horse and possibly because I far outweigh her ;^) There was no unevenness, but she could feel the action in his hind legs that I felt. She liked how responsive he felt and said he has a nice soft mouth.
My ride was about 30 minutes long, including warmup. First, I free longed him for a few minutes- for Wizard, free longeing has all the benefits of longeing without the wear and tear on the joints that repeated circles can cause. I ask him to trot out in each direction so I can assess his gaits and mood, then I tack up and ride. This was our best ride so far this spring. There was a lot less of the ear-pinning behavior and a more forward, confident trot. Once he was warmed up, he stretched down into the bit, just like he did last year during my lessons with Sarah. His trot was more rhythmic and he was moving forwardly. He did not mind being the only horse in the arena, and all the activity outside did not bother him at all. When our ride was over, I opened the gate to the arena while still in the saddle, and walked out. I rode Wizard up to the gate of the outdoor arena, unlatched it, rode in, and closed the gate. We’re taking the trail world by storm, people!
I’ve gotten ZERO saddle time this month but at least I got to get some fun photos of my favorite horses in the snow…
At Moonlit Run Equestrian Center, the horses strutted their stuff for the camera…
Apollo, a Belgian/Quarter Horse cross and Atlas, a Percheron, storm across the snow-covered pasture.
Atlas always seems to have a little smile on his face.
Ashton is a Percheron/Thoroughbred cross and he also enjoyed some fun in the sun and snow.
On to the next barn…
Mary the Morgan pranced and played in over a foot of snow…
Noodles the barn kitty was happy to be a snow bunny.
On to the next barn!
And Wizard and JR looked like two little kids at recess when they were turned out after being indoors overnight:
OK, now that we’ve all had our fun in the snow, can we please have SPRING?
PS: Product Rave: Ariat’s Bromont winter paddock boots are insulated and amazingly warm, even in snow. I was able to do hours of wintertime shooting in my Bromont boots.
Pole of Inaccessibility: A pole of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach owing to its remoteness from geographical features which could provide access. The term describes a geographic construct, not an actual physical phenomenon, and is of interest mostly to explorers.
Poll of Inaccessibility: The tippy-top of Wizard’s head, where he sometimes allows me to touch him and sometimes refuses to let me touch him.
It’s the strangest thing. I can usually rest my hand on Wizard’s poll with no problem but every so often, he twists his neck away from me rather quickly and will not hold still no matter how slowly I approach him. I did a little clicker work with him (about 3 times) and left him unhaltered for the process. It seemed to work very well. It will be interesting to see if he becomes more tolerant of handling around his poll or if it is a physical issue.
This spring, I noticed something in the way Wizard walks on concrete: he swings his hind legs up a few inches before they set down. Fibrotic myopathy? Hamstring injury? I never got a good read on the cause of it, but I could see it again tonight. He was not as interested in playing in the indoor as he usually is, but here’s a little video of him trotting. He has become quite good at trotting in a circle around me:
Selena is a classy Thoroughbred mare. Tall, scopey, old-fashioned pedigree, and refined. Alibar’s old bits fit JR and Wizard with no problem but they are too big for Selena (see photo above). Alibar was more than a hand shorter than Selena but he wore a 5 1/4″ bit.
I did a little tinkering with bits and tried a 5″ loose ring snaffle and it fit her dainty mouth like a glove. Loose ring snaffles tend to run small since the holes at the end pose the danger of pinching the corners of a horse’s mouth, which means she can probably wear a smaller size in other varieties, like a D-ring.
The first thing I noticed when I rode her in the loose ring was that it felt even milder than my KK Ultra that I normally use. I think this will be a good thing for working on suppling and relaxation.
Our goal was to return to the lovely, huntery trot we had last week. I kept the patterns simple and worked on keeping my hands quiet and my weight secure. We worked on a large oval and did a lot of walk-trot-walk transitions, followed by serpentines and figure 8s. I was careful to ride to the very end of each end since Selena sometimes cuts corners when I am not paying attention.
At the end of each ride, I always ask her for a stretchy circle at the trot. This was the first time I could feel her “get it” and know that it was part of the cooling-down process.
I repeated Sunday’s session with Wizard: a little light longeing, followed by the beginnings of long-lining. He is getting better every day. He is still sticky to the right but developing the ability to work a distance away from me to the left. I ended the session with some free longeing- Wizard is so responsive at liberty and it is always fun to work with him.
The rainy spell is not over yet! It was another chilly night at the barn. I put my quarter sheet on Selena and we rode indoors with Mary the Morgan for a little less than an hour. Some rides are shorter with more intense work and some rides are longer with more walk breaks.
Our barn is hosting a Parelli clinic over the weekend. There are a few of the Parelli obstacles in the arena, like a platform, a car wash, and a pedestal. After investigating the Parelli toys, we began the ride with our usual walking warmup, starting on a loose rein. When she felt loosened up, we began our trot work, stretching, accepting contact, and eventually asking for more impulsion. To get the motor working, I asked for the forward trot on the long sides and a working trot on the short sides, followed by walk-trot transitions. We rode a few figure 8s and serpentines. There were two poles set up next to each other like an equal (=) sign and we rode through them, focusing on straightness. There were also a few traffic cones set up in a line- we zigzagged through them- she has catlike agility and I could feel her gathering herself with each turn.
During one of our walk breaks, we practiced lateral work- leg yields, then shoulder-in. Selena was focused, forward and supple- we did three trot-canter transitions in each direction. With each ride, her canter work is improving- less rushed, more balanced. At the end of the ride, she was just barely breaking a sweat and she was steaming in the chilly night air. I cooled her out, and put her sheet back on, and put her to bed.
My goal with Wizard and JR was to teach them how to stand their front feet on a pedestal. They had never seen a *real* pedestal before. We have a flat wooden stand that is made of a packing skid with wood on the top. This drum-type pedestal was new to them. For safety, it had a rubber mat on the top.
I was not sure if Wizard would be comfortable enough to learn the behavior in one night but I mapped out a plan and gave it a shot. This is how we worked on the pedestal:
– Wizard sniffs the pedestal out of curiosity. Click, treat.
– Wizard paws the pedestal out of curiosity. Click, treat.
– Any forward motion toward the pedestal. Click, treat.
– I lifted his hoof and touched it to the pedestal. Click, treat.
– He lifted his hoof and put it on the pedestal. Click, treat.
*** Gave him a short break so he could process the information ***
– Lifted his foot on the pedestal and pet him as he held it on the pedestal. Click, treat.
– He stepped up and placed both feet on the pedestal. Click, treat, treat, treat, treat!
Once he was up there, he looked around and seemed quite pleased with the situation as if to say, “Hey! I’m 18 hands tall! This is cooool!” His dismount was graceful and he stepped back on when I asked and seemed eager to perform his new trick.
The whole thing took about 15 minutes, no halter, just a clicker, carrots, and my hands to guide the hoof on the pedestal the first few times.
JR picked up the behavior a little faster than Wizard. I think his combination of confidence, agility, and food-motivation worked in his favor.
And Mary the Morgan learned the Pedestal Trick in two clicks!
Four horses, all working in an indoor arena with a radio playing. Another new scenario for Selena :^) When we entered the ring, her ears immediately went to the radio and I could feel her react to it as we rode past it. We did a long walking warmup, followed by a lot of trotting around the full perimeter of the arena since I did not want to get in everybody’s way with a lot of big circles. I used transitions and a little shoulder-fore to keep her on the aids. I got my best trot and contact when “Drop It Like It’s Hot” played on the radio. I had no idea Selena was a Snoop fan. We rode for almost 45 minutes and she was barely sweaty at the end of the ride, which means 1) she’s getting fitter and 2) the weather is cooling down.
I did about 25 minutes of groundwork with Wizard in the indoor arena. We started exactly like we did the session before, with him wearing a saddle and halter. I worked on halt and walking forward, reinforced only with a clicker and a carrot and with no crop. He was much more responsive and relaxed. We did a few circles on the longe (about 3 each way) and then I put the bridle on and did a little more in-hand work, followed by free-longeing in tack. He was a different horse and back to his old self, responsive, curious, smart. It is an unsettling feeling when a horse loses his cool but they are remarkably resilient creatures- it was a relief that we were back on our previous level of communication.
Rock and Racehorses: Sarah K. Andrew 