It's Brilliant But It's Just Useless

If you haven't seen this video by Eddie Izzard talking about dressage, you must. It's probably the most accurate description of dressage ever.

I managed to brush his whole tail today, gah

The work in the chambon from yesterday seemed to carry over to today as well, which was great! We started in our home arena at the walk and a bit of trot until we had to vacate the place due to the water truck coming in. I was already having issues with getting him forward, and as usual, I was in a hurry, so I opted to head out to the field to finish the ride.

In the last couple of rides, I've starting to crack down on him about forward. It isn't that he isn't forward, it's that he doesn't have enough confidence to stay forward without me there every few steps nudging him on and assuring him that it's okay. It's like I'm following him around saying "no it's okay you can keep going" and "yep that's right, just keep going," ugh. I don't like that one bit, and he is getting stronger and more confident now, so I've decided that it's now on him to carry himself forward and I will help him balance but I will not send him to the bridle so much anymore, he can just go there by himself.

My main goal in the basics is to get him incredibly rideable, which involves the simplification of and high degree of responsiveness to the aids.

He's already very easy to get on the bit. Rarely does he come off the bit or go hollow, his go-to evasion is to get short in the neck and ball himself up. I know what Tracey meant at the clinic when she said that it was a very good thing that I could keep him round all the time because this horse would be incredibly difficult if he learned he could go hollow.

This is Roo, she's a warmblood baby born this spring

However, he has always been very lazy. But he's actually NOT lazy, I would say Rico was lazy- always wanting to get out of work, actively trying not to put energy into his work. I also have a client's horse who is lazy but forward, she doesn't want to work hard, actively tries not to do her job, but instead of stopping (like Rico), her evasion is running, which leads people to think that she isn't lazy. Lies.

But I wouldn't say that TC is lazy. TC does want to put energy into his work and seems to enjoy his job, but he gets concerned about his gaits which backs him off and then he gets balled up behind my leg. He doesn't want to push himself over the ground unless I'm there with him every single step and when I'm not there, he slows down. So it's a different kind of slowness to Rico, but it does feel similar and I will be correcting it in a similar way.

Roo loves to be scratched

As I said above, I'm now getting on his case about this. He must stay forward without me asking every other step. And this all started today when he was breaking at the canter. I don't mind breaking if I think that it's because he's getting muscle sore or if he gets off balance or can't make a turn. Like I don't want him thinking that he will be punished for feeling like he can't do something. HOWEVER I do think it's odd that these issues would happen at the very same place in the arena every single time around, so he got a talking to about that.

And that discussion made all the difference. He was so professional after that. He actually started lengthening the canter and trot around that spot, just to show me how dedicated to forward he was around that place. He was responding much better to my calf, no spur was necessary, and we had an absolutely brilliant (but useless) time.

So useless

He was just so damn rideable after that in every way. We did figure-8s, diagonals, serpentines, and circles and not only did I feel like the box was even smaller, I felt like I could be SUPER soft with my aids and he was ready to respond. He easily bent left and right, though struggled a tad with the changeover.

The canter transitions were spot on and the canter was on the bit in both directions, my issues with using my leg virtually gone. The trot was absolutely amazing, he was reaching into the bridle even on both reins, not leaning left or falling right. He connected to the right rein absolutely perfectly and it was just a dream. He's going to be a really nice horse to ride one day.

I really felt like we turned a corner today in terms of rideability and I can't wait to ride him on Wednesday to continue this work. He's trusting me more and more so I feel like I'm able to put a little more pressure on him, giving him more independence, and he steps up to the plate rather than sucking back and refusing to work.

Sunset at the ranch

Now to not take advantage of this too much! He is still young and lacking in confidence, I now need to sit back and let him get used to the new regime, build confidence in it, all that good stuff. This horse is really growing on me (I can tell because I'm getting more and more nervous that he won't pass the vet check. In the past I've thought meh I'll get over it, I'm sure there's another horse out there and now I'm like how important IS soundness anyway, but no if he fails the vet, I will not buy him). He's talented and I mean, the fact that he lets me hug his entire face is pretty damn cute.


By the way, there is a large part of me wanting to go audit the Axel Steiner (ridiculously amazing judge) and/or Alfredo Hernandez (piaffe/passage specialist) clinics up at Four Star Farms in Woodland, CA. They are in mid and late July and then again through the fall.

I sent an email about both, but I think I'm most interested in Axel Steiner (July 23/24- I'd go one of those days, not both) since I can see Alfredo a lot closer to my house and I kind of want to clinic with Axel on TC this winter depending on what he's like, while I'll be waiting for him to at least be 5, if not 6 for Alfredo. Just FYI if anyone local-ish (or not) wanted to join me, Axel is on a weekday so it might not be possible but I'm funemployed right now. I'm not sure if auditing is possible yet though so I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

The moon through some clouds as I cleaned paddocks tonight

A Great Weekend (Blogger Meetup & Canter Breakthrough)

Look at this weirdo (video below):

Love to smoosh the barrel

He will actually drag me over to the barrel to play with it

It's the best toy ever (I will be buying one for him at some point)

But let's back up for a second. Saturday I taught a lesson and rode a horse, then high tailed it up to Woodside to meet L from Viva Carlos and watch her ride in the hunter/jumper show there!

It was a great day! I thought I might not make it out there in time to watch her last class of the day, but it turned out that I got there in time to meet Ramone, accompany her and her entourage on the course walk, watch the warm up/course, and then get some lunch. Excellent!

First things first, Ramone is absolutely adorable (and HUGE), he soon found out that I felt this way about him and somehow convinced me to itch him all over. L is super nice and totally hilarious, we laughed so much throughout the day. Oh and she's an amazing rider, but everyone knows that.

We walked her course and I kept having to shut myself up about how damn big those fences were. Those are some BIG fences. But she and Ramone make them look so easy.

So easy!

Warm up was an excellent way for me to get used to taking pictures of people jumping over fences. For the dressage shows, I basically just put my camera on continuous shutter and take a million pictures, then wade through them and produce maybe eight great ones. For the jumping show though, I actually had to try to take decent pictures. Blasphemy. But I did get some good ones (but I'm going to send them to L so she can post the rest- you'll have to wait).

It was great to see her ride, and obviously I'll let her tell you about that. Overall it was super fun! It was maybe a little ridiculous that we work about ten minutes away from one another and yet it takes a horse show to get us to actually meet.

Ramone is such a nice horse in addition to being very cute

Alright so Sunday (today but you're probably reading this tomorrow) was the day I wanted to longe TC in the chambon and see if it made a difference in the rideability and throughness in the canter. He's never been longed in the chambon, mostly because I had wanted to get him comfortable cantering in general before adding another element.

I brought him out and he was extra cuddly. All he wanted was to stick his face in my arms and have me hug him. Unfortunately I was on a bit of a time crunch, I needed to get him done so that I could go shopping to prep for a BBQ today so the poor guy only got a few cuddles.

His natural state- way retracted in the neck

With no summer camp on weekends, he was terrible with hoof picking again. He really hates having his front feet picked. Or maybe it just reminds him how great pawing is. But either way he immediately starts pawing whenever I pick up his foot. Telling him to "quit it" in a nasty voice doesn't help, which is weird because it stops most of his other behavior and results in a pouty face (seen in the video below).

Hitting his chest/body doesn't help either because he's basically made of steel. So I've had to resort to trying to hold onto the foot while bopping his nose (since he puts his head down when doing it), which seems to help a lot even if it takes a ridiculous amount of coordination on my part.

Once in the arena, I longed him first without the chambon and took some video, then longed him with and took video. *UGH the longeing video is not uploading well, so you can have screenshots instead and the video above which is adorable.

I like how he goes in the chambon. It's not a classic side-reins type longe because, well, the chambon isn't a pair of side reins and it's not going to make him round. But that's okay because I can (well... that's debatable) make him round. What I need is for him to feel comfortable lengthening and lowering his neck. So yeah, he may be a little strung out but I'd rather fix that than fix him being all balled up.

He's definitely quite comfortable at the walk and trot, and actually wasn't struggling too much at the canter.

Warm up sans-chambon

His canter is humongous 

A bit hollow but not the absolute worst thing ever

Once on him, the canter DID feel better and I actually had a small breakthrough in how I'm riding it. A lot of the time on this horse, I feel like I'm just being hauled along for the ride. It's happening less in the trot, but the canter remains so out of control (although like I mentioned earlier this week, I do NOT feel like we're about to fall over all the time- progress, right?).

So today I realized that due to where his canter is at right now- kind of fast and rushing, I was not using my leg properly. I was kind of bracing in my stirrup and not really pushing him over his back into the connection, merely trying to use his natural energy to do that. Um that's not how that works! So I forced myself to ride him a little more forward (very hard for me to do that!) and actually INTO the contact and what do you know, the canter actually slowed down because HE WAS ROUND.

It was such an "oh, duh" moment, I was actually kind of embarrassed about it. But it definitely made me feel like the canter is about to get MUCH better in the next few weeks now that I'm riding properly.

The other thing we managed to do, despite my persistent sciatica (which actually felt great at the horse show yesterday because we walked around so much and I only rode the one easy horse yesterday morning), was some transitions. Specifically walk trot transitions and specifically to the left.

Stretchy trot sometimes exists

I like how flexed the right hind is. I don't like that it's flexed
because he's tipping so far in though... 

He is the world's slowest walker

I had another "oh duh" moment in the trot to the left, well, a couple-

First- I tend to get bracing on the left rein in an attempt to get him to bend that way. I need to NOT do that. It's basically just getting him to lay on that side even more. So today I decided that if he had not responded to my left rein aid after 2-4 steps, I would let go of it and ask again. My biggest fear is that he would start wagging his head, which is why I don't like that kind of riding, but I figured that head wagging would at least be easier to fix than him leaning on the rein and he doesn't seem all too sensitive about things like this. If he was, I'd worry that he'd maintain the wagging down the line. So yes he started to head wag for a circle (ugh, cringe) BUT then he stopped when he started to really bend to the left and connect to the right rein. Phew.

Second- While tracking left, I tend to keep trotting while everything breaks down around me and the trot gets worse and worse. Perfect practice makes perfect, so trotting crappily will only perfect our ability to trot crappily (which is not yet a dressage movement). I realized quickly that he was actually really excellent to the left at the walk, so I started to do walk-trot transitions, using the walk to increase the alignment and then trotting and trying to hold that. Quite successful, and let us work on throughness and alignment in transitions too.

Slowly but surely

So slow, I clucked the whole time ugh

He can only hold this for 2-3 steps but knows that it's what
I want because of how enthused I get when he does it

Both of those exercises together gave us the best left trot work we've had! And I didn't get that oh shit feeling about bending (where you're just so convinced that if you don't hold the horse in bend that the world is going to implode or something) either, which was what was causing me to be so rigid in the first place. New rule for me: no more rigidity. In other words, don't protect him from being shitty, just let the shitty happen and make a correction. He'll eventually be less so and I'll look back, thinking that it wasn't that bad.

What this, and a lot of reading of my own blog last night because sometimes I miss writing about piaffe and passage transitions rather than walk-trot transitions and I miss writing about revelations that involve less "use your leg at the canter you dingbat" and more "finding the trot in the piaffe means no more breaking," lead me to thinking is that I NEED LESSONS. Not a lot of them, but I can certainly try to get one in every month.

The Tracey clinic in early June was great, so I think I may try to go back to another one of her clinics in July. Then I have a clinic with that other S judge in August, and hopefully by September the baby horse will be MINE and I'll have access to regular lessons with Heidi again. Or I may see if September if I don't have him by then (or July for that matter), I can get him down to Heidi's barn for a lesson since that also involves a new place and going by himself.

DAMN, this only happened for this one moment and was a
complete fluke but DAMN

Again only holding this for a step but damn

Blog Hop: Everyday Tack Set Up

Woo I love blog hops! Thanks to Hand Gallop for the excellent hop, which led me to yet another really awesome blog.

My tack is boring. It's all very old or very used (most of it is both), which is a really nice thing when you're riding a four year old who is still learning that he can't rub my bridle all over wood posts or chew on my reins or fling himself against a fence while my saddle is on (!!!). So for this reason and because I'm not a fun eventer and only have one setup, I'll tell you what I'll be replacing a few key pieces with eventually. Like once as this idiot grows up and stops trying to destroy all my tack.

All tacked up this winter- he was so much scrawnier back then

Snaffle Bride: My bridle is a Vespucci snaffle bridle that I bought brand new in 2003. It's nasty. I condition and clean it regularly but there's only so much pretty that a 12 year old bridle that has been used/chewed on babies for years can look. The reins were destroyed years ago so the reins that are on it now are reins that my former boss gave me, these are being destroyed now too because TC grabs them all the time. I have another pair waiting (former boss threw like three pairs at me one day and said "I hate these" so I kept them).

Snaffle Bit: The bit I'm using on TC is a KK knockoff (it's thicker than a normal KK but the material looks similar) that I bought for like 10 dollars about ten years ago.

Bonus- Double Bridle: Obviously TC isn't in the double. I bought the double, which is a Passier, in 2009 and it has remained in good condition because NO ONE touches it but Rico and Rico doesn't destroy things anymore. I did have to replace the noseband because the one it came with was too thin- I think the noseband is an Otto Schumacher.

Bonus- Wheymouth Bit: My wheymouth is a stainless steel mullen mouth curb that I bought for $45. I refuse to have horses that require fancy bits.

Bonus- Bradoon Bit: My bradoon is a stainless steel loose ring french link. I think it was $20-30. I can't find the link to it!

Rico's pretty double bridle

Dressage Saddle: I love my saddle, it's a very old Custom saddlery monoflap saddle (I think a Versailles). It has been repaired 4 times in the last two years that I've had it. It has what I can only describe as bite marks on the cantle. And I'm in a constant battle with it to keep it from turning green. I paid $650 for it (including tax) and am never getting rid of it. TC has run it into several posts, has smashed it against a fence, and continuously grabs the billets and tries to pull it off of him.

Stirrup Leathers: I have no idea what kind of stirrup leathers I have. They are old and turning green as well. But they're even... well, even-ish.

Stirrups: I ride in normal fillis stirrups that I bought probably fifteen years ago at a used tack sale. I've used other stirrups in the past, but I never felt a difference so I ended up selling my Sprengers to a client and my MDC stirrups are on my jumping saddle just because they've always been on that saddle.

Dressage Pad: I have a few- black, white, the black one with the daisies, the tan striped one (currently being used by my cat as a bed, woops), and the new blue and cream one. My favorite pads are the Classics II by Toklat. My saddle is a 17" and very small, so it looks ridiculous with huge pads. I find that those are small enough.

My newest saddle pad

Half Pad: I only have the one half pad since I sold my old one to a student. It's a cheap insert pad. It cost me under $100. I had to cut up yoga mats to put in it because the foam inserts it came with didn't do shit.

Girth: I have an old Albion girth that came with my old Albion saddle and I've been using that on TC because it's too small for Rico. For Rico I use one of those Smartpak neoprene ones.

Boots: On TC I use my old Dover dressage boots left over from Rico. Bought in 2005. They're all ripped up and nasty but when the baby horse goes back and forth between kicking them off and chewing them off, I'd rather not have nice boots for him just yet.

Bonus- Rico's Boots: Rico has Premier Equine Cross Country boots that I ride in every time I ride him. I love these things. They're breathable and have a strike guard. Because obviously dressage horses need that. But he fell a couple of years ago and cut up his legs so I decided that I can never be too careful when my horse is THAT injury prone.

Dressage horses obviously need intense cross country boots for
fancy prancing... 

Over the next several years, especially as the baby horse grows out of his destroy-all-the-things phase, I want to replace some of my old nasty stuff. Here is what I have on my list!

Snaffle Bridle: I really need a new snaffle bridle if I want to show in a rated show. I'm currently in love with the Passier Apollo bridle. I still can't decide if I like the shiny leather noseband, and that awful Salvador Dali browband would be replaced by something else, but I do like it. I love thick nosebands and I want a padded crownpiece. At this point, I'm not using a flash on TC so I will have to make a decision on my next bridle whether to either have the flash removed or find one without a flash. I'm not opposed to putting a flash on him just for the look of it. And maybe one day he will need one.

Half Pad: I'd really like a thinline fleece half pad. My saddle will always be a bit too wide for TC just based on his conformation- he's just not a very wide horse. And I'm not planning on replacing my saddle any time soon (well, see below). I used one a while ago while I was jumping and I really liked it. Whatever I get needs to be pretty thick to make up for the slightly-too-wide tree.

Saddle: Eventually I will replace my old dying saddle. If I had my choice (I won't since I will try to go used again), I would get a Custom again. The seat is just so comfortable, it's like sitting on a cloud. I'm not sure which one, probably one of the Icons, I like the monoflaps. Not for any normal reason, I like that there is less leather to clean. And my current saddle will be Rico's saddle once again, which will be convenient when the horses are not so close to each other.  I guess if I replace the saddle, I'll have to replace the leathers. I have another pair of fillis irons though so no worries there! Except that I'm kind of in love with SB's blue irons.

Just a Flesh Wound

Yesterday I messed up my SI something good at crossfit because I'm dumb and my core isn't as strong these days because I'm not sitting a bouncy trot on a regular basis. My dumbness didn't stop me from trail riding Rico yesterday (with an ice pack in my camelback and tylenol in my body), which was amazing. I feel like the knight from Monty Python. It's just a flesh wound! Where is my horse! I'm fine! It's a scratch! Give me the pony!

He did get a little sore (me too), so he got some bute yesterday and today. He looked so tired this morning, but that's his fault because he insisted on powering up the biggest hill there and then refused to complete the loop, wanting to go further. We did about 5 miles (4.9 miles exactly). His normal trail rides are maybe 3 miles at the most, probably more like 2.5 miles.

Look at his porky butt dimples! This horse is not
the sexy Grand Prix horse he was six months ago. 

Today I woke up feeling very slightly better than yesterday so took that as a sign that horses cure back pain and medicated myself so I could ride TC.

He was once again harassing the camp horses by the fence when I got there. I stood and watched him for a while. There was a girl braiding one of the horses and TC would stick his face in between her face and the braids and just STARE at her. She kept pushing his nose away and he'd wait a few seconds, then do it again. Apparently he has also been trying to unbridle the horses. What am I signing myself up for? He is a terror!

I took him out and he got to watch 14 kids eat lunch in front of him. He's always so good to brush and tack up when there is entertainment. Today he didn't yank his feet out of my hands and he only tried walking off when I was putting his bridle on, meaning that his noseband was a bit looser than normal (which I paid for dearly later, he was a little strong).

I love trail riding him

All the kids were doing their horse show today so the main arena was taken up (we watched a little bit and it's hilarious watching tiny kids ride). I wasn't enthused about going next door though, because my back was so questionable. Ali came out on her western horse (the cutter who lives with TC) and suggested we go out to the field. TC hasn't been ridden out there in a bit because when I don't ride at home, I usually go to the neighbor's.

He was actually really excellent out there. It was just enough of a different place where he was forward but not so exciting that he was too tense. We worked at the trot, but with me feeling kind of blah and no shows coming up, I kind of just focused on big figures and keeping him on the bit. Nothing interesting. I wanted to do transitions but every transition I did resulted in a twinge down my left leg (HATE sciatica) so I kept those minimal.

Ever since my position revamp last week, the left side is getting better. Today I noticed that I wasn't leaning so far off of my right seatbone. This may be due to my SI joint being so shaky on the left side that I couldn't lean into it! Either way I'm taking it. Going left is still tricky, but he's figuring it out. He doesn't seem to ignore my left leg quite as much and bend is becoming less of a far off magical element of dressage.

It's so dry out there, but still pretty!

The canter was pretty good given what I've had recently, more of the same complaints from last time. He's not all that balanced, he gets a little fast, he struggles to maintain roundness, all that stuff. He's still doing better than he was before we played over those poles, but it feels like we're so far away from having a normal canter. I'm sure it's not, because whenever I see video of his canter it's always like "wow not bad" but I don't like the idea of things looking pretty but feeling shitty. So it's time to really tackle the canter.

I'm going to longe on Sunday for sure and work the canter in the chambon for the first time. Then Monday I'll canter him undersaddle again and see how much it helped. I am toying with the idea of trying side reins on the longe or draw reins undersaddle as well. I know that's sometimes a controversial thing (the draw reins, I don't think too many people get all huffy about side reins), but I don't care.

He does get backed off and short in the neck in the canter, but I'm pretty damn good with a pair of draw reins so I may try to see if I can get him to lengthen and lower his neck in them. But first chambon though, then side reins, THEN draw reins since obviously I'd rather not go there if I don't have to. To this date he's only ever had a chambon on him and only on the longe, I think I've done a pretty good job getting him started on the roundness without any real artificial aids to help me (except spurs!! So necessary).

I'm letting his mane grow out because I'm lazy

There were some cavallettis out there that we popped over a little bit and we trotted the logs too. He seems to like jumping a lot. I think next year I'll look into getting some jumping lessons again so that he can actually jump more than just poles on the ground and 12" logs. He seems to like the jumps, but I don't want to mess him up over fences. Plus he's so slow growing that I think another year will be good for him to make sure all those joints are solid. Ugh and his feet. But that's a post for another day.

Overall I was really pleased. Mostly that my back didn't completely break down after riding a bouncy unpredictable horse, but also that he was so good in an arena that wasn't our home arena. Baby steps!

Tomorrow I get to watch L kick ass at her show. This will be the first H/J show I've been at in a while so it should be a blast! I know this post is going out late but if anyone is going and wants my number too, email me (regentanzer at gmail) and I'll send it to you.

Then Sunday my brother and SIL are coming down for a lazy day after I longe/ride TC. Should be a nice relaxing weekend while my back heals up a bit. I'm going to try not to ride any horse but TC. Oh and my client's horse tomorrow. And probably another client's horse on Monday since she's gone this week. But that's it! Unless one of my favorite horses needs a school on Tuesday because he's been being a jerk in the left lead canter. But THAT is it.

Finally got into the shade about 4 miles in

Appropriately Uphill

I wanted to write a little something to acknowledge the horrible situation that Lauren is going through. Reading her blog is always a joy and even through her pain, you can really tell how beautiful a writer, rider, and person she is in every post. I wish her all the best in getting through this hard time. And yet, despite the sadness, it's amazing to see how so many bloggers have come together to support her. I'm so glad to be a small part of this community. 

Here's an adorable bay nose to segway to a
more positive post

After my dissection of the canter, there are lots of interesting suggestions for new blog posts! If I don't make my thesis deadline, I know who to blame!! I really enjoy the discussion that those posts spark and I find that it's a nice change from writing about how TC won't turn right and won't bend left and how cantering on a twenty meter circle is an unreachable goal.

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled baby horse posts. 

Today I headed out to the barn to discover that TC was harassing his roommate (who is a camp horse) over the fence where his roommate was tied. Apparently TC has been harassing all the camp horses (who are tied along his fence) for the last few weeks- grabbing the stirrups on the saddle, biting their halters, and generally being kind of a jerk. He's a lot braver when the horses he's bothering are tied up and on the other side of a fence. He's in for it if any of them get the chance to get him back.

Enjoy some shots from a couple of years ago at the Salinas
National Wildlife Preserve because I'm lacking in TC media

I tacked him up and noticed that he's been very good lately about not running me over while bridling. What a nice change, since most of the time I get dragged around the barn until I get his noseband done up where I can use it as leverage.

Because of camp, we had to walk over to the neighbor's arenas. Of course as I walked out of the barn to get on, we pass a huge herd of campers who are wandering around with pitchforks cleaning paddocks. TC couldn't decide if they were scary or not so he just stared at them and snorted, then wouldn't stand still for me to get on because herds of tiny children are SO interesting. I miss Rico.

When I finally climbed on, he was pretty good walking next door. He thinks that the little gully is the most fun thing ever to ride through, he carefully walks down the hill and then actually tried to canter up the other side today. I think I've got a lower level event horse on my hands here!

Wish it hadn't have been so foggy, there wasn't much saturation
to the pictures so I struggled to edit them

Once in the arena, TC was great. I walked around with Ali and told her about the show (boo) and the clinic (yay) and she was supportive of me taking him. He technically still isn't mine so I want to make sure we're all on the same page about what he's doing and when. 

While we were walking, I worked on keeping him forward to the contact, because TC loves to suck back at the walk and get climby. He felt really good by the time we trotted and that was all ruined by the most horrendous walk to trot transition ever. He kind of hopped into trot and then darted left. So we did it again. And again.

He just struggles with them, I think it's that he struggles with being forward enough in the walk and he knows I want him to be prompt about his transitions so when I ask him to go, he just throws himself at the new gait without thinking.

So foggy! 

We worked on circles and figure-8s, addressing my position problems and his alignment problems. By the end of our trot work, I was feeling pretty good. I was no longer anticipating the bad in that direction and he was responding well. Phew.

Into canter he also leapt. And I mean LEAPT. He kind of leaned back on his haunches, which I appreciated for exactly one tenth of a second because he then used his new found balance to basically jump an invisible 3' fence into the canter. I promptly stopped him and told him not to do that. Then he figured out how to canter without leaping. I do love how uphill he is into the transitions now (despite them being totally crooked and off the bit), but there is a fine line between leaping and being appropriately uphill that he enjoys walking along.

We cantered left first and went around once. We were coming across the arena when Ali passed in front of us and headed the opposite way. TC thought that hanging out with Ali's horse was more fun than what we were doing at that point, so he gave me a gorgeous uphill clean flying change and carried on toward Ali's horse in the opposite direction.

I… I was shocked. Like I know he did it to be an asshole so he could chase after Ali's horse, but it was a freakishly good change. I actually just stopped and gave him a pat. I know that's totally just asking for more antics like that, but if that's how he acts up from now on, I'd be super happy!

We returned to the left lead after that, though a huge part of me wanted to set him up for a flying change and see if he'd offer it to me, but I decided against it. Charlotte Dujardin has said that she plays with changes on her young horses just in case, so I might play with them earlier than I thought I would.

The left lead is getting pretty good. He's slowing down and definitely more balanced. He is struggling with the roundness though, so I think it's time for an artificial aid to come into play. I'll start with the chambon on the longe line and see what that does for him, then we may graduate to something a little more helpful.

These birds were so cool

The right lead is excellent. He was prompt with the transition, stayed pretty well balanced and was easier to steer than usual. In general he's a lot rounder to the right, so I want to start working on a  pseudo canter stretch circle (which used to exist at Second level but was taken out) to get him a little more rideable. Hopefully the longeing in the chambon will help that side too.

In general I think we need to be doing more canter. Honestly there is just so much to work on with him that I get caught up in the trot with the straightness and the connection and the bend and the energy and the balance... 

We only do 30 minute rides 3-4x per week and I know that's good enough for him. He's a young four mentally and physically. He has a lot of confidence issues, he carries a lot of tension in his body, and he gets huffy about stuff (he shuts down very easily when he is pushed too hard). So I do know that going slow is the best thing for him. But ugh it's just not enough time to work on everything. I need to figure out what are the most important things and focus on those things.

As I said above, in terms of trot vs canter, I'm struggling to find out the perfect balance. Part of me thinks that we need to get the trot manageable first, then really drill the canter because if the trot is bad, the canter will be bad. The other part of me thinks that if he isn't used to working at the canter, life is only going to get harder as we go on and he actually DOES have to work. I'm leaning toward the latter at the moment. 

Love taking pictures of these birds!

Overall I was really pleased with him today. Hopefully I can sneak into the arena to longe over the weekend because camp is taking the ring all week and the round pen's footing can be questionable. On Friday the camp is doing their little horse show again so if I can get in there before their show, we can do some more canter poles! 

And tomorrow, because my lessons don't start until the evening, Rico and I are going on a trail ride! I can't wait, he's the best trail partner ever. Hopefully we won't find ourselves wandering through any golf courses this time... 

Climbed atop an old barge

Balls Back

Occasionally (like really occasionally) I get a weekend away from the horses and it's awesome! This weekend was no exception. I headed up north with brother and SIL. We stayed with SIL's family (which is great, because I don't know them well) and got to experience all that is the El Dorado County Fair.

Including this cuddly goat who I bonded with

And baby piggies!!

And a cow!!

And a Rolling Stones vs Beatles cover band competition omg

The fair was amazing, it's totally what you imagine when you imagine a county fair. Lots of 4H animals, drinking, pig races, fried food, carnival games, drinking, ridiculous cover bands (including a Beatles vs Stones competition which was AMAZING), fried food, questionable political groups wanting to split California into states, drinking, pregnant teenagers, and fried food. I feel so freakishly sick after this weekend, yikes. Worth it! Even if I suffered in Crossfit this morning thinking I was going to hurl ugh. 

The highlight of the weekend was for sure the very last thing we did at the fair, which was play a stupid carnival game, you probably know the one. It was essentially beer pong- you took ping pong balls and threw them into cups of water, except that the cups were shaped like mini fish bowls and were very hard to get the balls into.

After watching person after person fail, my brother the champion beer pong player was feeling competitive. SIL got out some money, but the prize was a goldfish and they didn't want to take one home. I volunteered because a.) there's no fucking way he'll make it in, b.) I am so bored in my day to day life and have enough plants to overwater so a fish seems like the obvious choice for a new way to procrastinate writing my thesis, and c.) THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY HE'LL MAKE IT IN NO ONE HAS SO FAR.

Piggies

We paid 2 dollars and 50 cents for nine balls. We all chucked some in and of course, none went in. One did bounce off the little bowl and come straight back at brother who absolutely screams "BALLS BACK!! BALLS BACK!" and I ask whether he's going to toss it from behind his back. Down to our last ball, I gave it to brother so he could try one more time. 

And he fucking makes it.

He yells "YESSSS!!" and then "NOOOOOO!!" and looks super guilty as the lady goes "you made that?", grabs something out of a cooler and SHOVES a fish in a plastic ziplock back into his chest. That's the difference between winning a fish when you're 7 vs when you're 27.

Really man?

So I have a new fish. His name is Balls Back (pending something else because that was a joke but it seems to be sticking). Whatever, he looks kinda sickly so he'll probably die soon but in the mean time, he is enjoying the 5 gallon tank and some other stuff that was on sale at Petco. I'm actively trying not to kill him and SIL says he'll probably live a long and happy life just to spite me.

They've offered to take him on weekends and over holidays (split custody hahaha) because my brother is unreasonably attached to him now. The first thing he said when he came over last night is "um where is Balls Back? Can I see him?" and then "oh look at him! He's so cute!" SIL said they were discussing where the tank would go if they had to keep him for a week if I go away. At least I'm not the only crazy one. 

Obviously no baby horses were trained in the making of this weekend. And I have a horse show early Saturday morning before I book it up to Woodside (if I got in, my entries are kinda late). Two more rides until we do yet another Intro B. Definitely not moving up to Training 1, I don't know what I was thinking, maybe in July or August or next year. Or maybe not until he steers at the canter which will likely happen within the next ten years or so.

Steering is overrated when you're this cute!

Today though, I was able to ride. Once again we were not going to be able to ride in our glorious home arena because of incessant summer camps with children who don't understand that my horse paws like a mofo and they shouldn't go "WOW HE'S BIG" and walk directly in front of him.

So we went next door for the first time since the bolting incident a few posts ago. He was noticeably more nervous than before while we walked over, but luckily I ran into someone from our barn who kind of babysat us on our way over. 

Our normal arena wasn't open but the big indoor's footing was actually surprisingly decent so we headed in there.

Cute little bunnies!

TC is not allowed to whinny when I ride him (which he does in all arenas but the home arena), although there's not much I can do to stop it. Luckily he is ever the submissive horse and just me telling him "knock that off!" and putting him to work is enough to shut him up about half the time. However, he's now taken to figuring out what he CAN do that I won't get after him for.

So he now goes "eeeeeeeeee" while we ride. I can't really describe the sound, "eeee" is the closest thing I can type, but it's like he's about to whinny but stops on the first syllable and drags that out until he blows his nose.

It's so loud. But I put in both headphones and was able to ignore him. Dunno what the judge will think though hah.

Goat!!

The ride itself was great! He's not relaxed there, but he's rideable. I worked primarily on getting him to lower and lengthen his neck a bit at the trot, especially to the left because that side is just so damn hard. I'm noticing a very bad difference in my riding from left to right. To the right, I'm so much more relaxed, softer in my hand, and keep my inside shoulder back.

To the left, I anticipate having such a hard time that I make the hard time  even harder. I am less relaxed, I let my left hand get rigid, I let my right hand zip forward, and I'm twisting away from my right seat bone by pulling my problematic left shoulder back.

Realizing this was a somewhat decent wakeup call and he actually went better to the left by the end of my lesson with myself (I'm mean!) than he had in a while.

This is my dog, not from the fair, although with this face, she
totally belongs at the fair

We then did some walk-trot and trot-halt transitions. The walk trot transitions are getting better. First, ever since our last ride where I finally just kicked him HARD when he ignored me, he's much easier to actually get into the transition.

He is also figuring out the straightness too, I think that's the nice thing about going back and doing this again after Rico- I'm applying so much more to TC as a young horse that I learned when Rico was 4th level+. Like I probably wouldn't be so obsessive over straightness if I hadn't had a solid year with Rico obsessing over getting the walk to trot transition super straight on him.

The trot to halt is super good for his level too! He still walks into it a little and he isn't square ever, but he has been staying on the bit and walking straight out and picking up the trot straight afterward as well. That's pretty damn good given that our first few centerlines and halts were a bit like pony wrestling.

Sleepy little goats

We ended with some canter. The canter was EXCELLENT! Thanks, canter poles! Except that we now need to do the canter in short bursts due to the better quality.

The first time we cantered, he tried to run into it so I said no, then he hops into this gorgeous canter (like the kind of canter where you DON'T feel like you're about to fall over, wow), canters half a circle, then he walks and acts all proud of himself.

Um, I did not ask you to walk. Although yes, he does have excellent canter to walk transitions, mostly because I'm lazy and HATE installing them when the horse is ready for second so I install them as early as possible. But just because he knows how to do them does not mean that he gets to just do them whenever he wants.

So I had to get after him for that and then took the amount of cantering down a notch.

Mischievous goat!

The left lead is certainly more difficult than the right, likely due to the problems I mentioned earlier about his straightness and my propensity to make all bad things worse with my position and anticipation of him being bad. But the quality of both leads was much better. He's slowing down, he's a lot more uphill, and he is sort of on the bit. I think he needs to be more fit to really go on the bit at the canter so I'm going to be focusing on that this summer.

Overall I was super happy! We headed home around the front of the properties (near the road), where I discovered that all motor vehicles are now terrifying due to the motorcycles that we saw last time. So we worked on not running away when cars passed us.

When does he turn six again? Six is a good age. Eight is better but six beats four any day.

The only thing that the number four is good for is
being the number of pigs in this race

Piggies!