New Saddle Pad, New Movements

Yesterday I headed out in the morning to go play disc golf on the coast. Unfortunately I had pulled a muscle in my hip on Tuesday last week and it was still killing me. And SIL (who I was playing with) was sick, so we played eight holes and called it a day.

Obviously stopping by the tack shop on my way home was a MUST. I love browsing in tack shops but I'm in between horses right now so I don't usually buy anything. Until the check is written for TC, I'm not going to buy him anything (he'll need a halter and I'll need whatever supplies I don't have left over from Rico) and Rico is just hanging out and doesn't need new things either.

BUT I did realize that I wanted a few more fun saddle pads. I have two non-black/white ones, one is my striped cream colored one and one is the black and yellow daisy pad (seen in the pictures I posted last week).

I found a really cute navy blue with baby blue/cream piping that I just loved so I picked it up. If I buy TC, his color is probably going to be blue, just because it looks nice on him. If I don't buy him, blue is a pretty generic color and I'm sure that whatever horse I do buy will look fine in it. But the damn horse better pass his vet check! He needs more blue things that I refuse to buy for him right now.

He looks good in blue

Once I was back from the tack store, I tormented Rico with standing in the cross ties drying off (the worst thing ever) from a bath (the second worst thing ever) while I cleaned all my tack. I then walked down the road and back on Rico with my dad on Riot. Rico showed off his piaffe and passage skills in the dirt along the road. His passage isn't powerful anymore but his piaffe is still amazing! He was totally even and on the spot, very elevated. Ahhh I love that feeling.

So after a fun time schooling impressive movements on my Grand Prix horse, I went to ride a horse who struggles with equally as impressive movements like being straight and not falling over at the canter.

He's a pretty impressive looking horse, you
have to admit

But TC proved to be surprisingly fun today (not that he isn't fun every day but today was especially fun).

We couldn't go to the neighbor's because they were having some big western event over there so I did my first full ride in the home arena in over a week. If you remember, I used to LOVE our home arena and dread riding in all other arenas due to TC's erratic behavior anywhere but this one sandbox. But over the course of the last week, he's been amazing at the neighbor's and I really appreciate the added energy he has over there.

Today wasn't so bad though. I feel like I finally have my horse back from the clinic. It wasn't that the clinic wasn't helpful, but he lost a lot of confidence due to the whole fiasco. He's been kind of reluctant to be steady in the bridle and forward off my leg, but today I felt like I had my horse with the magical connection and excellent go button back. I love this horse in the bridle, if he doesn't pass the vet check, I'm stealing his connection and installing it in the next one.

This one wasn't always great in the connection, I feel spoiled now

So we legitimately got to work on fun things rather than connection and forward and straight.

I started out with some general circles, working on straightness and getting him forward, but TC immediately wanted to canter on the left lead (we were going left so I went with it). But he didn't want to canter like a normal horse, he wanted to canter like he was jumping bounces all the way down the longside. I appreciate the effort, but I kicked him forward and he actually gave me some excellent balance. One thing I really do appreciate is that he didn't buck at all, he really embraced the no bucking rule, which is good because I don't think I can throw him off balance to stop the bucking like I used to! He's too strong now.

Back to trot, we worked a little on leg yields but there was another rider in the arena which made it difficult to find a good line where I wasn't always in her way. However, the leg yields are definitely coming along, even if they are a bit crooked and he has to really REALLY think about them.

Love the neighbor cows

This one was being so cute!

My main goal today was to start buckling down on a stretch circle at home. I think I'll work on that every day during warm up before we head to the neighbor's (where it will be difficult to get him to stretch) so that he starts using the base of his neck a little more and becomes more comfortable down there.

We had some really good success, I worked on connecting him to the outside rein, then overbending a bit and softening both reins while asking him to be slightly straighter. He definitely understood where to go, but he kept charging off, getting on the forehand, and then not wanting to stretch down. But who could blame him? If he's already charging downhill, the last thing he wants to do is put his neck down, he'd probably sumersault. So this was a good time to remind him of the slow trot from the clinic and it worked!

We did some transitions from stretchy trot to stretchy walk and... back? Kind of. He doesn't really understand walk-trot transitions yet, at least not quick ones. He comes into walk and goes phew now a break so when I ask him to trot again, he gets really wiggly and throws himself into trot. So he learned all about quick walk-trot transitions today and by the end he was really embracing it.

To end, I let him drill the roundness at the canter. He was pretty enthused about it actually. He was quite a bit rounder today than he's been in the past and there were moments where I actually felt like I was on a poorly schooled Training level horse rather than a baby. Progress!

Such a good baby!

And tomorrow... procrastination procrast- procr- thesis!

Introducing Straightness

I've added almost ten pages to my thesis since I last complained about it, which means that I'm closing in on 30 pages. Most of it is still notes, and sure, one of the pages was a table of contents with hyperlinks because this mother fucker is getting hard to navigate, and yeah another one of the pages is a second page of references (which will be expanded even more soon), but STILL. probably fifty pages left or so, too bad I'm not only going for page count.

Before even touching it today, I headed out to the barn (and am writing this blog post... and I might go make food... and don't I need a new saddle pad? From a tack store about two hours away? Wasn't I supposed to be half way to Canada by today? Thesis may need to wait).

Enjoy more pictures from our last ride- I can't remember/am too
lazy to go see what I posted last post so sorry about repeats

The baby horse had made me pretty happy by giving me about 80% of his home awesomeness at the neighbor's arena last time I rode so I had high hopes for today.

Once again, I was disgustingly looking forward to riding there because of how energetic he is when we're there. Just two weeks ago I felt such dread thinking about riding there.

We started at home again. He was still so sticky and fussy in the bridle so I ended up dropping the reins and just getting him to go forward without any restrictions. After he experienced life without connection, he realized that I was actually there trying to help him and started stretching into contact. We had a couple of nice loops around at trot and canter, then headed out.

He's starting to look more steel gray than black, yay

I opted for more walk work than usual when we got to the neighbor's because I wanted to get him stretching down again. He's been so reluctant to let go of the tension in the base of his neck. We got a REALLY nice stretchy walk all the way around the arena both directions before heading into trot. I was so glad that he was quiet enough to actually do walk work for once- normally we get over there and he starts screaming (screaming still present today though, he is so shrill) and ends up getting himself all in a tither before I let him trot it out.

Into trot, he was perfect. Not 80% of what we get at home, this was 95%! Still ever so slightly tense, but I could attribute that to his loss of confidence over the last week rather than us riding at the neighbor's place.

So we did a lot of figures, serpentines, figure-8s, some spiraling in and out. He was great through all of that so we did some trot leg yields (they're bad but they're good enough to be referred to as leg yields) and actually managed a shoulder-in in trot to the left!

Such a good baby

I also started playing with working on the straightness and throughness in the walk-trot transitions. He tends to wiggle and kind of throw himself into trot, and I thought this would be a good way of both a) cleaning up the transition and b) getting him to engage his hind end where it's HIS idea rather than me slowing him down so much.

At first he was confused, but he's so energetic over there that he wanted to trot so he figured it out quickly. None of them were perfect, but there were a few that let me see where they were heading.

Once again, we cantered, and this time we cantered for a long while. I'm starting to put more pressure on him to be round, even if it's not necessarily perfectly correct, at the canter. It's been about four or five months since he started cantering undersaddle, so I think it's time to start cracking down on this concept. He readily accepts contact to the right, but the left is harder for him. I'm primarily just asking him to bend more, and sliding the bit a tiny bit on the inside rein- enough to get a response but not so much to throw him off balance since I do like the balance he brings in the canter.

One day he will relax the base of his neck!

One of the main issues I'm now realizing that we have is straightness. I'm getting paranoid because it feels quite pronounced (although when I watch videos, it isn't as obvious) and I know that crookedness can be caused by a weak hind leg which can be caused by hock spurs or arthritis or whatever other problems may arise that would cause him to fail the vet check and me to lose him.

He essentially falls over his left shoulder all the time. It makes him easy to turn to the left but easy to bend to the right. He struggles to pick up the left shoulder, hence why the left lead canter is better than the right lead- it forces him to pick up that shoulder.

It's bad enough where I notice it while picking his feet- he won't let me pick his left foot for very long before he starts leaning backwards so I drop it or trying to paw it out of my hand. I think normally I wouldn't have noticed that it was specific to one foot (because let's face it, picking feet is an uphill battle with a horse that doesn't stand still while tied and paws like it's his meaning in life) but I struggled a LOT to get him to pick up his left shoulder while riding today so was sensitized to it.

He's so fun

I don't know whether his crookedness is:
a.) totally normal in young horses and will go away soon if I make it a priority in his work

b.) a product of my own crookedness (which makes no sense because Rico was crooked in the OTHER way so you'd think I would encourage horses to be that kind of crooked)

c.) not normal in young horses and indicative of a problem or future problem in his right hind (will definitely tell the vet at his vet check and flex/x-ray his right hock)

d.) mostly all in my head because I'm in tune to riding 3rd level + horses right now who are very straight so the slightest bit of crookedness is very obvious to me while someone else who is not as sensitized to it wouldn't notice or care

So I'm obviously thinking that it's because he's lame and simultaneously because I'm crooked too. Because why would I think that it's just normal for even a young horse to be one sided or that I'm now a good enough rider to feel exactly what is going on under me?


After careful analysis, I helped him out a bit by working on bend and a little haunches in to the left and getting him better connected on the left rein to the right. He definitely improved, and I think it will get better with time. Unless, you know, his right hind leg simply falls OFF of his body.

We walked back to the barn the long way down the trail by the busy road and the whole time, he was on a loose rein! What a grown up baby :)

Also very grown up cantering at a place that isn't his home arena

This weekend is a relaxed one and next weekend is a potential second show for us. But I'm not sure if it's something I want to do or if I just want to go to school. I have until midweek to decide!

Progress Next Door

Yesterday my mom casually mentioned that she'd be driving by the barn on her way to run errands today so I actually have some pictures and video! I'm mildly disappointed in my position, as I always am. I've been out of regular lessons for over six months now and it's taking a toll.

Today I headed out to the barn in the morning after putting a couple of solid hours in on my thesis. TC was equally as happy to see me, as evident by a nicker! Ah I love that he's starting to be more vocal.

He's kind of a derp

Look at that cute face

I started at home again, which actually wasn't all that pleasant. Ever since the Tracey lesson, he's been so stuck behind my leg. I think he just lost confidence and it's going to take some time for him to gain that back. It makes me sad because I don't regret going, I do value her input, but it makes me feel like it was a touch early for him. I don't think he's ruined beyond repair or anything of the sort, just needs to be told how great he is and reminded that he CAN and SHOULD go forward.

So I actually was looking forward to being next door because at least there he goes forward!

If you told me a few weeks ago that I'd end up looking forward to riding at the neighbor's arena, I'd think you were nuts. But here we are.

Love him, so much that I won't look where I'm going?

Still figuring out roundness in the canter

He's slowly becoming the beefcake that he'll be in a few years

He walked quietly around the arena on a loose rein (!!) before we picked up the trot. Once again, the crazy trotting started but he came back to me about 80% almost immediately.

I got to enjoy some great circles and figure-8s at the trot as he slowly started to relax. He still won't stretch down there like he does at home, but to be honest, he hasn't stretched down at home since last week so I feel like I can't say that it's because of the neighbor arena vs just lacking confidence.

The only major mishap happened when two horses came out of the covered arena, walked behind some trailers, and then over to a flapping tarp on some hay. Apparently flapping tarps are only terrifying when other horses calmly stand near them, because TC, who had been ignoring the tarp up until that point, did one of those moves where his shoulders are suddenly NOT under my body and instead several feet to the left. I wasn't paying attention so I actually came close to being unseated! Woops.

Ahhh he can be so pretty at times

He's so sproingy in canter 

Gotta figure out how to stretch down again

We actually got to do some cantering for the first time out there since he bolted with me. He was as relaxed as he could have been given the circumstances, and I got to see both pictures and video that showed me that the quality of the canter is remaining good. He just needs to learn how to use his body a bit better in the canter itself. That's going to take a while because he still won't steer very well so my arms get a bit rigid in trying to keep him from accidentally falling several hundred feet laterally. Once as he's a little easier to steer, I'll be able to direct all of my attention to getting him to stretch down and use his neck more.

I headed home the long way and he remains a little up on the trail since the transformer exploded and spooked him, but he didn't jig at all, just walked with his head straight up in my face, which is fine. I actually felt comfortable enough to post stuff to instagram (ohwellspotted- it's private so if I won't recognize you, let me know!) while we headed back. Good pony!


In not-so-good pony news though, TC has decided that he will not eat grain if it is at all wet. He is okay with it being slightly damp, but the second he decides it's too wet, he will ignore it and beg for more. So I mixed it with some senior feed, which is sweeter (and was dry), and he thought that might be acceptable so he just picked at it. Ugh, he is NOT allowed to be this picky about grain, I miss Rico- Rico scarfs down anything you put within a few feet of his face regardless of palatability or edibility.

At least we got some weight on him

Applying the Takeaway

I had a nice long day yesterday to really digest the clinic and then used my ride today to evaluate the changes that we made on Saturday. 

After really thinking about it, there are some things I still really like about the clinic. First, just seeing that TC can be so chill after freaking out so badly (to the point of falling in the round pen and scuffing my saddle, I'm still sad about that) made me more confident in his ability to come back to me after he goes into crisis super friesian mode. I also liked what Tracey had to say about riding him temporarily short in the neck when necessary. If he's having a moment, I can put him in a place where I have more control, even if it's incorrect. I now have even more faith in my ability to ride him correctly as soon as I have him back to me. 

The new California motto

The one thing I was still feeling unsure of was the slow trot she wanted me to implement.
I understand the theory. In the forward trot, he's not actually balanced and pushing forward, he's a bit on the forehand and probably dragging himself along rather than pushing uphill (I really need someone to take a video, since these are things more easily seen than felt). Obviously at some point he will need to be ridden with more engagement and working toward collection and uphill balance. My question would be, when is the optimal time to do this? And after a lot of reading and after riding today, I think the answer is: not right now.

That's not to say that my ride wasn't excellent, which it was!


I decided to warm up at the home arena and then head to the neighbor's. He was a little behind my leg and had become fussy in the bridle, which he almost never is. Damn. He had likely lost confidence after this weekend (understandable), so I decided to just reinstall the go button that I had worked so hard to put on and that had been broken with all the slow work and terrifying Icelandic horses. He was hesitant at first, but eventually settled into his normal forward trot with a lot of praise and pets and assurances that there would be no more Icelandic horses around him. 

Taking pictures on wiggly babies is hard- note
the rein in the picture!

We cantered around twice in each direction, mostly just to let him canter because I wasn't sure if I'd get to canter at the neighbor's. The quality of the canter was pretty good, even with the fussiness today, he was pretty good about trying to go on the bit. I can't wait until he's quiet enough to canter next door in the larger arenas, ahh. 

After that, we headed to the neighbor's arena. My intention was just to get over there, try out my new ideas, and get him to calm down. Then come home. A total of thirty minutes or less between the two arenas. I wanted him to know that he wasn't always going to be worked to death like he was on Saturday!

He was pretty enthusiastic to go over there. No spooking but a couple of whinnies. 

Wandering back home

Once there, we started the normal crazy trotting- neck short, body rigid, kinda bolty. But today I was able to get him back to me about 50% almost immediately, still looking around and a bit rigid but not ignoring me or charging as much. I did everything we worked on in the lesson- put him on a figure, focused on bend, and slowed him down to a reasonable speed (not as slow as the lesson though, since I still don't think he's ready for that). 

I used what I'm now going to call my whoa-sequence to get him to slow down. It's sort of like my transitions (walk/halt every time he goes too fast) but it's a little more forgiving. I first focused on keeping my posting under control so that when he did think about charging off, I was ready to slow my posting. If he didn't respond to that, I would throw my knee into the block (which puts my thigh on him). If he was still ignoring me, I'd use my reins to half halt, and after that I would come to a walk and then a halt. I never had to get further than pulling on the reins. 

Heading back along our trail

He slowly relaxed and came back closer to 80%. He was still on edge and if something happened he'd get rigid and become unsteerable, but I wasn't worried about having to keep his neck long. I would shorten him, keeping him round, get him back to me, then release and he would get his neck back out. Eventually we were able to use more of the arena we've been able to! 

It only took about ten or fifteen minutes to get to this point, so I let him end and we headed down the path along the road to go home. This was where the terrifying incident happened and he bolted. He was concerned, and I can't say that I didn't get a little on edge too, because he felt like he was about to bolt, but he kept his shit together and we made it home! Even when a herd of bicycles zipped by us, what a good boy. 

This week I have another job interview and a meeting with my thesis advisor. Bleh (no offense, thesis advisor). I did put a few hours into my thesis this weekend but nothing is ever enough, is it? But even slow progress is progress. 

I wish my life was like hers sometimes

TC's First Clinic

Today was one of the weirdest days. First, the weather was way way off, very windy and cold but then suddenly warm and then back to cold and windy. Second, I got into this clinic so last minute that I didn't have time to really think about what I was doing. And third, it was one of the worst and best days I've had with TC.

For those of you not quite following, as I said in my last post, I signed TC and I up for our first Tracey clinic at the very last minute, about twelve hours before the clinic started! The organizer was able to throw us in the end of it.

He is so cute

We arrived WAY early, mostly because Ali likes to be early for her lessons and mine was after hers. I walked TC around the property a few times and then let him graze. He wasn't bad, but he was definitely very loud (whinnying) and very tense.

Ali tacked up about 30 minutes before her 45 minute lesson and I decided to tack up and follow her out to the arenas because TC gets so worried about being left alone and I didn't want to tack him up alone. But this meant that we were tacking up a full hour and fifteen minutes before we had to be on.

Enjoy these pictures from my first Tracey lesson ever
(because I didn't get TC pictures today, so sad)

I thought he'd prefer that, and he did for a while, but when Ali started her lesson, he lost his shit. A few things contributed to this:

1. His trailer friend (Ali's horse) was far away-ish, not out of sight, but further away than he had been
2. Icelandic horses are apparently fucking terrifying
3. Said icelandic horse was in the round pen, the only place where we could longe

So I had to fly my psychotic part-friesian kite around the parking lot while he went back and forth between freaking the FUCK out about the icelandic horse and freaking the FUCK out about the fact that he was alone (he was not, there were so many horses around).

It escalated to the point where he was galloping backwards and sideways away from me.

I finally got the round pen after about 20 minutes of this. Obviously it continued in the round pen. He darted around, not realizing that the round pen was ROUND because he kept knocking all four legs into it and then trying to climb out (luckily it's all plywood). He whinnied and leapt and bucked and shook his head. Then he FELL, yes he fell clear onto my saddle (I'm beyond sad about that, it held up okay but it's definitely scuffed up), leapt up from his fall and galloped off.

Eventually. EVENTUALLY, like about thirty minutes, right before our lesson was to start, he started to come back to me.

I was legitimately scared though. Not because I was scared to ride him, whatever, I can sit anything he gives me and I'm not scared of being fallen on. I was scared of what Tracey would say and how I was going to get to the point of having a lesson- standing and talking to her, standing and putting my radio on, putting my earphones in, and you know, generally being rideable enough where the lesson wouldn't just be about me staying on. He's such a sweet horse, he's so quiet. But this was another side of him, he was panicky and powerful and I had major doubts.

So I got on him. His whole body was so tense and all he wanted to do was run, but we had ten minutes before our lesson was to start. So I tried to quietly walk him around. I did our shitty leg yields and some terrible turns on the forehand.

Then we trotted and... he was fine. And he was fine the rest of the ride. What the actual fuck. I'm so proud of him but like, WHAT THE FUCK?! It's good to know that he can come back like that. I still can't explain it.

Look at young Megan trying to keep her left hand from going rogue

So the lesson started and I talked to Tracey a bit about him while he stood quietly after his couple minutes of trot. I told her that he was four, that he was learning how to go on the bit and steer and generally be horse-like, I also told her that he was a bit wild today (understatement of the century) so I wanted input on how to handle him in new places. She had seen him trot so noted a few things that I already knew- his neck gets short, he looks tense, and he wants to get his hind legs out behind him.

We went immediately into trot because it was what was best at the time, he really can't handle walking too much if he's tense and Tracey said that it would be easier to get him relaxed in trot.

We started on a circle and right away Tracey wanted me to emphasize the bend more and slow him down. She said that we needed the bend to get him to let go a bit in the contact and lengthen his neck and the slow to get him to swing more. Essentially he needs to swing his stifles under him and round his lower back a bit more, and he can't do that when he's too forward.

The slow to me was a bit too slow, but I did feel a difference in his way of going. It took a lot out of me- I have to remain so present with him. I had to keep my posting slow and keep my knee behind the block but then also not lose my lower leg because I had to keep him trotting. He was a little confused and kept giving me a very nice walk transition instead of slowing down. We just ignored that.

After getting the trot a bit slower and rounder, we played a bit with a large serpentine. He was so good and went to each outside rein easily (showing off dem figure-8 skillz). Tracey wants me to stop holding onto my outside rein as much and work to push him out rather than hold him out. I know I've been doing that, primarily in the hopes of keeping him on some semi-decent geometry. But Tracey emphasized teaching him to be pushed out rather than holding him out, she said he'd learn to stay out when he learned to step off the inside leg better, rather than being held out. This was HARD, especially to the right. I don't like the feeling of careening around, and he didn't quiiite get it today, but I think she has a good point.

Rico was so up and down and twisted in the beginning

We then took a short break and she asked about canter. I have never cantered him off the property (except at the neighbor's like twice) but I said I was up for it. She just wanted to evaluate it.

He kind of boinged into it, probably because at this point he was tired, but his canter actually felt pretty good, a bit tense but of decent quality. Tracey said that his canter was not at all lateral, but it was his weakest gait. She wanted me to just focus on going forward on long sides and introducing circles slowly. Basically what I was doing was fine, he just needs miles.

We ended after a bit more trotting, where she emphasized slow again. I feel a touch uncomfortable with that. I understand the theory- he needs to slow down so he can carry himself (to the best of his ability) and swing better through his hind leg while getting his front end out in front of him a bit more. But he was SO SO lazy as a young horse and I like how forward he is now. So we need to work on that.

The other thing that she emphasized throughout was not to worry too much about him getting his neck too short because I was talented enough to work through it (that was nice to hear). Basically the fact that I can keep him round without curling when he gets short is huge. She says not to be afraid to take him a little short in the neck to make a point (such as to slow him down when he charges) because she knows that I can get him back to reaching forward in no time due to my good instincts/talent/other nice things she says. She said he was tricky right now but made it clear that I was doing an excellent job.

In the end, we talked a little about him. I explained the situation- I am on a very tight budget and want a project to take to third level-ish. She didn't want to say whether she thought he could go there, but she said he had a high quality walk and trot, and that his canter isn't as nice but it was not lateral and should be fine. She said that he seemed sweet and that he had a lot of potential, but that he would take a long time to train and needed a lot of miles off the property. But she gave me her blessing to buy him! So happy, now all I need is a job (I have an interview next week), and a vet/farrier check. Oh and a place to board, gotta go get on some waitlists soon.

His canter was "prongy"

And I wasn't even that late to my party! Except that I definitely wrote the majority of this post while I was "getting ready."

Addressing Off Property Behavior

Yesterday I graduated from my MA program! Woohoo! It's a little less woohoo though, because I do still have my thesis to finish. But I'm taking today off. Well. Damnit. Okay I'm at least taking the time to write this post and am writing the thesis while watching Netflix so that counts as a day off, right?

Woo graduation! I fixed my crooked cap after this picture :)

I did get a chance to get little TC out this morning. The last couple of times I've ridden him (Mon/Tues this week), I've been worried about his feet. All of his feet were chipping pretty badly but his right front had two big chips which were situated next to each other so there was a bit of hoof wall sticking out. If that had chipped, he would have for sure been lame. Yikes! So we thought he may need shoes.

Today (Fri- after Wed/Thur off because I was too worried to ride him) the farrier came out and it turns out that he didn't need shoes but if he started chipping again, we'd consider it- basically on a cycle-by-cycle basis. His feet looked great when I came out this afternoon!

His topline is improving, right?!

Unamused by my picture taking

Finally relaxed and I can get something like a conformation shot

With his feet okay and me having a fair amount of time to kill at the barn, I decided to tackle the neighbor's arena again. If you remember, he's been just terrible over there (tense, retracted neck, no steering, bolting, spooking, winnying, etc) while being McDreamy (watching Gray's Anatomy, don't judge me) at home- totally relaxed, giving me the best connection ever, responsive to my seat, staying on the outside rein, and all of that good stuff.

I decided to try a few different methods in getting him to calm down and not be such a bolty piece of shit. There were two main techniques I had- keep trotting and lots of transitions. (I also tried doing groundwork which was a BAD idea oh my god I won't go into it)

Keep trotting meant that I basically just trotted him until he calmed down, lots of circles, lots of changing direction, essentially keeping his brain working and thinking about what was coming next. The idea was that transitions would just amp him up (he does tend to get too excited if he walks too long) and that I don't want to punish him for being forward because that seems to be what is going around after a few Charlotte Dujardin clinics.

TC's baby sister! About a month old now 

Lots of transitions is my go to chill-out technique. When a horse wants to charge around, I do this exercise. First, they have to walk quietly on light contact and when they don't, they have to stand still. Then I let them trot, they must trot at a reasonable pace without me having to muscle the horse around, if they charge, they walk and we go back to the walk requirements- quietly on a light rein or halt. Eventually the horse realizes that just trotting quietly is better than charging and being pulled to a walk/halt. The idea is that trotting around may amp him up and encourage him to only respond to loud aids.

I started with just trotting. He was kind of just a maniac. He stuck his head on his chest and doing harder work (smaller circles, lots of changes of direction) just made him worse.

The transitions DID work, but they did slow him down and I felt bad for having to (sometimes) yank him back to me while going forward. So yes they worked in the short term but I worry for his long term education. He was SO lazy when I started with him. In addition, I did this part second, so it could have just been order effects (thanks, education), where it didn't matter what technique I was using, he was bound to settle after 20 minutes.

And the warmblood baby!

But it was good that he quieted down, he started to relax and I was able to actually get some work done. We did a really nice few figure-8s, maybe not as good as he was at home, but certainly better than he's been off the property. And he was all by himself with only a couple of strange horses near the arena. Yay!

On our way back, we took the long way, which is a nice loop back to his barn along the road. About half way out, I heard a loud BANG (ended up being a transformer exploding!) and he bolted. Like clear down the trail, his entire body tense, head in the air, galloping quite fast! Luckily there was a large fence next to us, so I just turned him into it and he stopped. He stood there, not sure what to make of it, and stared at the pasture next to us where all the horses had taken off.

I told him how amazing and brave he was and got myself to relax a bit. It kind of surprised me too! We walked, quite forward, all the way home with no other incidents and he eventually did relax before we got back. Poor baby!

The barn kitty at one of my teaching barns, he's so fat and spoiled

Back at the barn, I started thinking about his behavior off the property (not even off the property, literally in any arena but home). I've been not wanting to take a clinic on him because of how bad he is in new places, but I started to think that maybe taking a clinic on him while he's being bad will help me understand how best to handle it. I think the transitions are a good thing, as is remaining more present on him, since I tend to want to ride him as light as I can so he takes that to mean that he's all alone. But I do want either validation or a better exercise.

So suddenly, at the very last minute, we're taking our first clinic with Tracey tomorrow morning. And I'm missing some of my own graduation party to do it (sorry mom). Fingers crossed he doesn't make a COMPLETE fool of himself or of me! Last time Tracey saw me, I was an FEI rider on a fancy FEI horse. Now let's see what the four year old has to offer her. Should be fun!

Into the Outside Rein

TC had five days off because of the dressage show and my general need to finish my grading, my work for two different jobs, and my final paper for my final class. But I did manage to get out to the barn this morning to get him out (because if I hadn't, he would have had a week off and yikes).

He probably would have been happier to see me if I didn't ride him at 9am when he was still eating, but he was still happy to see me and happy that I took his food with him so he could eat while we tacked up.

And then he got to eat after, score!

All the way into the barn, he snorted. You know that snort that they do when something horrible is happening to them, it's not your normal blowing, it's like they're thinking holy shit I might die because look at that thing over there, it's just not right! There's a little more sound to it, not just air blowing out of their nose. Yeah he did that the whole way into the barn, the whole time he was being tacked up, and all the way into the arena, during his longe, and only stopped when I got on him.

So yes I was smart enough to longe the four year old I hadn't ridden in almost a week before I got on him. I am sometimes intelligent around this horse, it's rare though.

Lots of pawing, always with the pawing

I had to drag him into the arena because everything was different after turning into a feral horse and he couldn't stop looking at everything around him to actually walk. I threw him on the longe line and expected him to explode. He just walked. I asked him to trot. He did so quietly. I asked for canter and got a head shake. Then we switched directions. THEN he actually exploded, and by exploded I mean that he scooted a couple steps, stuck his head down and porpoised, then quietly trotted away. So yeah I just climbed up on top of him.

For the first five minutes, he was a complete moron. He didn't do anything wrong, but he sure didn't do anything right. He basically tore around the arena at the trot, evidently forgetting all of his education- no bend, no balance, and for sure NOT on the bit.

A couple of stern half halts later and I had my dreamy horse back. He was a bit more INTO the contact today than he normally is, but I actually liked that. His bit is so light right now (thick double jointed bit, think kk ultra but 2x as thick) that if he does end up being a little heavy, I can always throw him in a french link or something a bit more severe (hah) to get him to lighten up. I'm more concerned about him NOT pushing into the bridle because he needs to learn to lift his shoulders.

He's a cute one

By the time I had my horse back, he had already been longed for 10 minutes and ridden for 5. I'm trying to keep my rides under 30 minutes based on my recent reading. I think more rides at 30 minutes or less is better than 3 big long 40+  minute rides each week. So I quickly cantered him.

The canter felt amazing today. He was powerful and forward but much better balanced than the last time I rode him. He went immediately on the bit in both directions, though he's still learning to bound up into contact rather than kind of brace in the part of his neck right in front of the whither and careen around. He struggled once with picking up the right lead, which is good enough. We have so long before cantering in tests that I don't think it will be an issue. I try not to make it a big deal.

Back to trot, I worked on some figure eights. Today these were legitimate 8s instead of some weird boxy figure on the bottom and an odd tear drop on the top. Like I was able to push him out into the outside rein easily from my inside leg and he ACTUALLY CONNECTED TO IT AND STAYED THERE. Finally, this is what dressage is supposed to feel like.

Love his weird face

I was able to ask for proper bend by putting him more into my outside rein and softening my inside rein forward to allow him to stretch into contact. Then I was able to half halt the outside rein and switch my legs as I went to change directions so that he would be momentarily straight, as both of my reins became inside reins for a moment, before he stepped into the new outside rein and connected.

Best. Figure-8. Ever.

THEN he offered me a stretch circle. A real, live, locally grown, organic, non-GMO, gluten-free (did I miss anything) stretch circle. He dropped his poll for a step and I softened to let him stretch down. I kept him more connected/heavier than I normally would expect because he needed my support. It still needs work because he really can't steer when he's down there and we went careening off our line, but it was an amazing feeling to have that feeling in the bridle.

He's definitely still oddly shaped...

I let him walk after that and we ended with some shoulder-in and leg yields. Gosh he's so good in that damn arena. Now it's really time to tackle the neighbor's again. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow but one of my bosses (on a project I'm almost done with) is trying to call me in. I really really wanted to ride! So fingers crossed that he has time on Wednesday so I can ride my pony tomorrow.

I'm all pumped to get him going better in other places so that we can hit the show ring. After coaching this weekend I was itching to get him in a real show. He's going to be so fun once as he figures out that being in a new arena isn't the most terrifying thing that could happen to him.

Round at the Canter and Other Great Things

We did a quick ride indoors again today, primarily because I thought my meeting for work was at 2 and not 3. So I got in my car to make my 45 minute commute only to get half way there and get a call from my boss confirming 3. I did get lots of extra work done, but I thought back to my ride and how I could have ridden for longer!

I ran out the door a bit late to the barn this morning so my plan was to be in and out in an hour. That gave me 15 minutes to tack up, 30 minutes to ride, and 15 minutes to cool down and untack. So into the indoor we went so I could have another enjoyable ride.

Poor rushed baby horse (I really need new pictures of him)

Poor TC let me know pretty quick that his girth was loose. Woops, oversight. He basically didn't feel comfortable trotting, he was really weirdly slow (he normally starts out slightly slow and then immediately starts charging so that was odd). So I tightened it and he was back to normal! Damn picky horse.

We started at the walk, performing the world's most excellent turns on the forehand and then went into the world's most average leg yields. At the trot, I wanted to work on keeping him a little more balanced in corners because he still tends to fall in or out a bit. I primarily just asked him to step a bit more seriously to the outside rein, which he did easily. Every now and then he'd fall off of it, flail a bit, but he's starting to understand when I poke him with the inside spur or tap his inside hind that he needs to get over there. I'm starting to get on his case about little things like this, and he's handling it like a pro.

I miss green things (not green horses though)

The canter was excellent, he's working hard to be round and today I actually got it both ways rather than just to the right. He still struggles with stepping into the bridle at the canter, and letting me ride back to front, but it's progress and he's trying. He still leans pretty badly to the inside in both directions. I don't feel like we're going to fall anymore, I feel like we're just going to trip really badly and I might fall if my knee isn't in the block, but he probably won't crash too bad (it progressed from feeling like we were going to die, feeling like we were going to fall over, to now!).

Back to trot, I decided to play with transitions within the trot, which just confused him. He would be going along at a good pace and I'd ask him to cover more ground, which caused him to tense up a little and want to run, then he was made to come back and be slow, wtf? And then forward again? Poor guy was kind of confused but I was able to carry a bit of bend through his body even on the straight (daaaamn, baby horse, you're learning things) so that he stayed relaxed and round. THEN he kind of got it.

Have I ever stated how much I love the feeling this horse gives me in the bridle? Want. All the time, not just in his sanctuary arena. It's this soft yet solid feeling and he follows my hand wherever it goes and I don't have to do anything other than squeeze every now and then to help set him back on his hocks. Amazing.

I miss when water was still flowing! This drought sucks

I may not make it out to the barn this weekend because we have a HUGE dressage show that I'm coaching FIVE kids at. I don't normally coach that many. I have assigned a few clients/their awesome moms to make sure that I'm eating and drinking all weekend or I just might starve. So TC is probably getting at least one day off.

I'm hoping that Friday will still happen, with two good rides under my belt reminding me of how great this horse is, I'm determined to get his ass in gear at the neighbor's arena.

I Used to Jump

Today is my last day of class EVER. NO MORE CLASS EVER. I have lots to do, so enjoy this post I wrote two weeks ago (look at me acting like a real blogger, setting up content so I don't go too long without a post).

It's hard to tell with all the DQness that goes on around here, but I used to jump!

I've actually jumped for a lot more years than I've done dressage. I've been doing dressage since 2004 (so 11 years) and I jumped from 199something to 2010 (at least 15 years). I did a little jumping in 2012 when I took the paint horse on, but he severed a tendon in his hock before we could actually do anything fun and then had a year of rehab before he could jump again. By then I was competing at the FEI levels and in grad school so no fun eventing horse for me.

Obviously I'm better at dressage than I am at jumping. Much of my jumping training was from not-so-great trainers at a low level and half of my dressage training has come from big name trainers at a high level. I also never put as much effort into my jumping as dressage. I find dressage really fascinating and I find jumping cool, but the level of fascination isn't strong enough to actually want to sink time into it. Maybe one day I'll have a horse that is SUPER fun to jump and I'll actually want to do it. Most of the horses I had (save for the paint horse) were slow off the ground and lazy to the fences = lots of leg. I love those horses on the flat. I hate them over fences.

Whatever horse I end up with though, I want to get some jumping lessons on eventually. I'd love to compete at Beginner Novice in eventing and maybe do a few schooling shows (hunter jumper shows are so confusing to me, I'd have to have one of you guys help me fill out the entry). I do like jumping, especially cross country. Just that on any given day, I'd rather be doing dressage.

Pictures!

Rico and I jumped together in 2007-2008

Rico wasn't the best jumper at first...

Dillon and I jumped a little in 2012, he's a pepperpot

I evented at Rancho Murieta in 2003

A combined test in 2004

Rancho Murieta in 2003, I stuffed him at the base and jumped
up his neck, quality riding right there! *note the difference in
me between 2002 and 2003, that is what a horse change for the
stronger and a trainer change for the worse does to you. 

This was in 2001 or 2002, I did the jumpers on Stretch

Stretch and I never did an event (he went lame) but we schooled
a lot of cross country for pony club

These were in 2007, I was schooling him before one of my clients
took him out in the field

He was so fun to jump, he always found the exact perfect distance

Quest in early 2000, he was great when he wasn't bucking

Pony club camp in 2000

2000 on Quest, note the devil horns! It was our Halloween show
and this was me getting him back for bucking me off all the time

1999 or 2000 on Dandy

2000 I think on Dandy

2002 on Stretch again

2003 I think, I show jumped a Gypsy Vanner!

The cutest connemara pony in 2003

I've shown a picture of this guy in the past on here- Novice at
Galway in 2010

His first event early in 2010