Wizard Rides 286 & 287: Is It Magic That Makes You Appear?

Wednesday, 9/21/11 For the first time in a few weeks (months?), I longed Wizard. I did not have a lot of time at the barn, but wanted him to get out and exercise a little. He was a really, really good at all three gaits in both directions.

Thursday, 9/22/11

Thursday’s ride was a little Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Thankfully, it ended really well! In the beginning of the ride, Wizard was a little resistant to the aids, hollow through his back, and a little quick at the trot. But as we warmed up, the Awesome Wizard showed up. At the trot, I asked a few more times for him to reach forward instead of his little “typewriter trot”, and he lengthened. I popped him over a few cross rails, and he began to use himself more. By the end of the ride, he was using himself, and was very balanced and relaxed, happily purring as we trotted and cantered around the arena. Did the jumps improve his mood? Whatever switch flipped was a great one. We did a slow, meandering course of cross rails, with the final jump being the hay bales, turned on the taller side (see photo). I got a little ahead of him, but he looks so game! He’s such a fun horse.

Before our ride, I also led him over a little black pipe jump- it’s probably about 2 feet tall. He hesitated a few times, and then hopped over. Perhaps we’ll jump it soon :^)

Saturday, 9/24/11

Kris and I took a relaxing trail ride, walking the whole way. We rode the short loop behind the barn, and when it was too short, we took the trail across the street as well. Both Wizard and Sunny were their usual wonderful selves.

Wizard Ride 149: Cross Training

Thursday, 6/2/10

Wizard seems to thrive on variety. When possible, I try to spice up the routine. We do a trail ride once a week or sometimes every other week. We ride in the deeper outdoor arena and alternate with the shallower indoor arena, and also ride in the smaller outdoor dressage court. On Thursday, it was time to ride indoors and do a little work over trot poles and a few cross-rails.

The weather was very warm and humid. We warmed up at the walk, followed by some trot work in circles and serpentines. When he was responding nicely to leg and hand, we did a little lateral work, leg-yielding in each direction and starting just a whisper of shoulder-in.

Between the trot work and the canter work, we did a little trotting over poles and X’s. I set up four trot poles, and Wizard trotted through them with style. He is learning to round his topline and relax as he trots the poles. I do my best to keep my hands soft so he can stretch into the bit. After the poles, we took the cross rail a few times. My mom took pictures. The first few times, Wizard trotted the jump and he cantered through it once. I allowed him to canter since I wanted to encourage his forwardness. The top photo is his cantered jump. I hooked my pinky into his mane so I would not punish his mouth when I released over the jump. I’m not thrilled with my release- I like my release much better in the bottom photo. The other thing I see in the photos is that I am pivoting a little on my knee. I need to do some work to stabilize my leg. I was very pleased with Wizard, though!

We did a little cantering in each direction- he picked up the left lead after one try and the right lead after two tries. He is able to move more forwardly in the indoor arena since there is less cushion to the footing. With every ride, he improves.

Once he was cooled out, he got some well-deserved grazing time. And on Monday, the equine chiropractor will be here :^)