Wizard Ride 262: Teenage Kicks

Tuesday, 7/26/11

17 days without riding really had Wizard feeling like a teenager. He was F-R-E-S-H! Nothing I could not control and it was actually fun, but my goodness! He even threw what I could call his first official buck under saddle. The neurotic rider in me immediately diagnosed him as having ulcers, a badly-fitting saddle, and SI joint issues, but it’s more likely that he was amped up from the time off and good food. I’ll reserve judgment until we have a few more rides under our belt.

We rode in the outdoor arena under the lights, and the bugs were not bad once the sun set. Riding patterns and asking for different exercises really helped, but the thing that helped the most was letting him canter, canter, canter. Once we cantered a while, he was able to trot. I’ve always that it’s a “Thoroughbred thing”, and it certainly worked for this Thoroughbred.

Riding Wizard was a bit like riding a wet noodle, though, and I knew we were not going to get a lot done, so we drilled our simple changes for a little bit. He’s FINALLY improving. Part of it is me finally getting around to putting in the effort and part of it is him getting fitter and more balanced. We were able to do a few simple changes with him picking up both correct leads. I never had issues with Alibar and leads, but if I don’t cue at just the right moment, Wizard falls apart.

I was really impressed with our final result, though we were both a sweaty mess by the end of the ride. I cooled him off and put him to bed with a pile of nice hay.

Wizard Ride 247: Crazy Rhythms

Thursday, 6/16/11

Wizard and I had our first riding lesson since this winter. After warming up, we focused on the goal of the lesson, which was rhythm and adjusting Wizard’s stride while keeping him focused and relaxed.

The FIRST thing Carole noticed was weakness in my right leg. It was loose and I was not sitting straight in the saddle. We worked on adjusting my position and focusing on where I am putting my weight. I need to work on closing my fingers, and using the upper inside of my calf instead of cheating and curling my lower calf on Wizard. My leg is bowing instead of sitting securely on his sides. I need to put more weight on the inside of the ball of my foot to balance out my weight.

We started out trotting two outside lines with two poles each. The poles had about 14 trot steps between them, and when Wizard was loose and I was riding forwardly, we got the strides each time. If I jammed up the trot or Wizard missed the distance, we added a step. Wizard stayed wonderfully relaxed through the trot work. Carole added a few poles and we trotted 3 trot poles on one line.

As we added lines of trot poles, Wizard settled nicely into the work. I felt him sit on the bit contact much more consistently than he did in the past. We are both really getting better with rein contact.

After the trot poles, Wizard and I trotted a cross-rail. For the first time ever, he trotted it!!! Usually he leaps, but all the trot poles seemed to give him confidence to trot the jump. We trotted the single a few times, and then trotted a line of two cross-rails, trotting in and cantering out and then stopping a little before the fence. I worked on establishing my rhythm long before the jump so I was not micro-managing him right before the fence.

Next, we graduated to trotting in to the first jump, cantering out, and then doing a simple change at the end of the line and cantering a single pole on the diagonal. For Wizard, cantering poles is more of an ordeal than jumping. He leaps, he rushes, it’s a production. Our first simple change was not great, either. But he beauty of a lesson is having someone on the ground who can coach you through a sticky patch. Carole worked with me on the timing of my leg aid to pick up the correct lead, and Wizard settled over the pole after a few tries, and a LOT of half-halting on my part. Whew- I got my money’s worth!

Wizard Ride 246: A Change is Gonna Come

“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.

JR Session 38: Dorito Gordito

Monday, 6/1/09

I did a few new portraits of Mary the Morgan. As she becomes more fit, she is filling out nicely. She looks wonderful and it’s fun to chronicle her progress. Photographing black horses has become enjoyable now that I have the perfect practice model mare. There are so many nuances: every type of light makes a different color cast on her coat. The last bit of available light was reaching Mary as I snapped these frames. I particularly like the way she looks in her new Stubben Golden Wings snaffle.

I hand grazed Wizard and put his front legs in standing bandages while I was at the barn. His left front leg is still swollen. He is not lame on it, but the inflammation is still there. He also got a little massage- he seems quite pleased with the pampering. Whenever I massage the muscles near the sacroiliac joint, he does an elaborate yawning routine. Yawning can be a sign of relaxation and released tension.

Did you ever realize that Doritos means “little bits of gold”? That would make JR a gordito dorito since he needs to get his grain cut back a little- he got a little more roly poly when I went to Kentucky.

JR was longed in the indoor arena today. We had another excellent and productive session. I had the happy realization that I had not heard JR interfere at all in the past three longeing sessions! I think that the work has made him more balanced and he is more coordinated so he strikes his own feet less often.

I always start with no side reins and we work toward connection with side reins. Tonight, I experimented with tightening the inside side rein one hole tighter than the outside side rein. I did not see a big difference, but big differences are not what I want to see at this phase of training :^) When we were done with side rein work, I asked for a canter. The canter was easier for him in the indoor arena since the footing is firmer. I only ask JR to canter about 2 or 3 times around in each direction at this point in his schooling.

When we were done longeing, I turned JR loose in the arena. He walked beside me, sans halter, sans tack, and cooled off. His interaction with me has reached a new level and it was apparent when he was at liberty. We’re finally starting to understand each other a little better :^)

I did a little massage work on JR as well- he loffed it.

Wizard Session 74; JR Session 29: The Easter Parade

Sunday, 4/13/09

A sunny, brisk Easter morning at the barn :^)

My barn buddies prettied up their mares Miss Tuesday and Mary and we had a short photo session. Both owners were looking for nice headshots so I worked my magic with my popular black background doorway portraits, as well as a few other pretty headshots on the property. In the morning, the lighting is backwards from the usual evening light so I had to get a little creative. Fortunately, the property has a lot of pretty scenes so it’s not too hard to find a good spot.

Here’s Miss Tuesday, a Thoroughbred mare who is a granddaughter of the mighty Storm Bird:

And Mary, a 7 year old Morgan mare:

Just a day or two ago, Mary’s owner received her order from Simple Change Browbands and Mary modelled it for the camera. Isn’t it lovely? The browbands are strung together on a strong chain with clips on both ends so a rider can change the beads- you can have a different browband for every day of the week ;^)

Wizard and JR (barely) stood for some basic conformation photos, which I’ll post tonight or tomorrow. Both boys were a little wiggly, Wizard wigglier than JR, but I got the photos I needed to monitor their progress.

I longed both horses. JR was good in the indoor arena, and he was way better than he was just a few days ago. He did a few little loopy circles, but nothing bad. Wizard was FULL of run! He broke into a canter immediately and went around several times this way- I think he was feeling pretty silly because he was locked in his stall the day before due to the rain.

After longeing, I dosed Wizard with bute as an experiment and as a diagnostic tool. I’m going to see how he reacts to grooming and work Monday night when he has bute in his system. If nothing changes in his behavior, then I can narrow down a few possibilities.