Wizard Ride 173: Stay Loose

Wednesday, 8/25/10

Wizard was treated to another massage session by my friend. She’s tuning up for her certification exam. She felt some changes and some things stayed the same. There was still some back soreness, but it was on the sides of the back, not up by the spine.

Wizard was all loosened up for our ride and it was great. I felt the same result from the massage that we did last time- he was straighter and stronger than he is without one. Our ride was very mellow and easy, mostly keeping soft and riding easy patterns. Our riding clinic was the following day so I did not ask for a big physical or mental effort.

I rode him in my old Myler Comfort Snaffle (the unported one, without hooks). It’s a bare-bones bridle and Alibar used to ride nicely in it. I tried it a year ago on Wizard but he fussed like crazy with it. This time around, he rode well in it. I’m planning a few more rides in it. Perhaps he is getting a little more advanced as a riding horse and can maintain better contact with the bit.

Wizard Session 31: Trampled Underfoot

Thurs, 1/1/09

Happy New Year! My mom always told me to spend New Year’s Day doing what I want to be doing for the rest of the year. So I went to the barn :^) I also worked during the day, which is fine since I love my job.

The weather was COLD. The ground was pretty hard so I decided to do a longeing session with Wizard indoors. Before I started longeing him, we were standing in the indoor arena and something startled him. He jumped forward a step or two and tripped over my foot with his hoof. The sensation of a COLD human foot getting grazed by a horse foot is not a good one. Owwwwie! It was a little purple the following day but now it’s just a little sore. It could have been far worse. And I managed to never, ever get stepped on by a horse for 31 years so I suppose I was due for a little tap by a hoof. Good thing he’s barefoot!

Wizard is getting a better grasp on verbal commands on the longe line. We still do not canter, since I think that trotting and walking are best for his mental and physical development at this point. Plus, I don’t train with the longe line as long as I like since he needs a shorter line to listen to my cues. As he gets more advanced, I’ll longe him on the longest line possible. My favorite line is the World’s Finest Lunge Line and it’s long enough to do a 20m circle.

We warmed up without side reins and I put them on for a few minutes when Wizard was at the peak of the session. He is still showing evasion to the bit whenever there is ANY contact. Is it his teeth? Is it the bit? I’m not sure. He needs more work done to his teeth so I’m hoping that will help him.

When he works in the KK Ultra, his mouth works very quickly. When he works in the Myler Comfort Snaffle (no hooks), he pulls downward a lot, more than just a stretch.

I’m also in the process of regrouping and trying to figure out exactly what I need to do to take our next step forward under saddle. Right now, I feel him tense up when I prepare to trot. He walks with a VERY LOW head set and he lifts his head much higher to trot, even at liberty. It makes the walk-trot transition a little difficult for me. It feels like he’s going to rush forward so I take a stronger hold on the reins, which I KNOW is the wrong thing to do. Sit up, let go of his face, and go FORWARD. It will be ugly before it’s pretty. Sounds so simple, but my brain cannot let me do it.