Sensitive Wildlife

I didn't realize what I was doing to myself when I signed up to teach lessons on both weekend days this weekend. I taught four hours on Saturday for pony club and five hours on Sunday for my own clients. Previously this would have been a super light weekend for me. But I am so tired, SO TIRED. And I don't get Mondays off anymore. I learned something this weekend.

Every now and then I run across old pictures that I forgot about

Saturday I got great news that TC will be moving to a larger paddock (same barn) in January! Large enough where he can self exercise a bit more and with two playful neighbors to keep him entertained and turn him into a complete asshole when they join us in the arena. I was really pleased, it's not that his paddock isn't big enough already, certainly one of the bigger ones that I looked at when I was looking at barns initially, but I always want him to have more room. The BM said that people will miss having him so close to the tack room, apparently he's very popular.

There's a tie up area right next to his current paddock where he can reach over to the horses being groomed and play with them. Apparently he's made friends with a paint horse who gets tied there, they sit and chew on each other every day. He also stands on a railroad tie in his paddock to be more effective at bothering his 36 year old neighbor, who will probably be glad to be rid of him. And apparently he's experimenting with climbing the fence but slipped off. Um that is information I don't need to know.

So hopefully he likes his bigger paddock just as much.

Almost 3 years ago at the Salinas River Wildlife Preserve

Unfortunately, Saturday was a bit of a rough ride because once again he had to deal with people leaving the arena. Definitely scheduling a lesson with BRH Trainer on this. It even happens if he and the horse are only in the arena together for like 5 minutes! I noticed it when we were showing this last summer, if I didn't wait for the horse before us to leave the arena before I entered it, he would stare and scream at that horse the whole test.

At his breeders barn, he wasn't as bad about it, but I think the move shook him up a bit. I think it's hard on him not having a herd, so he's desperately trying to make a herd. Someone comes in and he's like "okay, you're in my herd and you're in my herd and that paint horse who I chew on is in my herd, and now I feel better" and then they leave and he's like "WHAT THE FUCK WHERE DID YOU GO I SAID YOU WERE IN MY HERD" until the next horse comes in and then the process repeats itself.

On Saturday this happened twice, and one of the horses was his paint best friend from the tie up area and one was his other paint best friend who lives next to him. So he was pretty upset. Other upsetting things happened too, like a horse walking on the outside of the arena, and a cow itching itself on a telephone pole. So upsetting. It's so hard to be four.

I find this sign so funny, TC needs one by his stall

We did get some really great work done though. I can't believe the change in the canter in just a day. We started without draw reins and actually did the majority of our cantering without them. The canter was so much more maneuverable, although still not at the level I want him at. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. At this point having a canter where I'm not at risk of taking out several riders like bowling pins is huge progress. For about 75% of the circle, I had his outside shoulder, which is great. And it's probably my anticipation of losing the shoulder that I lose it the rest of the time. When I really sat up and prepared for the one area where I'd lose it, I managed to maintain the control a little better.

The trot was amazing at times. He is getting more comfortable riding a bit lower towards a stretch circle, and sometimes even offers the pile of bullshit that is his stretch circle right now. But I appreciate the effort, it's not his fault that his neck comes out of his withers. We did some walk trot and trot walk transitions before his brain melted and leaked out of his ears. I love a horse who has never had a bad trot to walk transition. He stays active and into the bridle. His walk to trot could use a bit of work, he doesn't come off the bit anymore like he did when he was younger, but he does get wiggly where he will push off unevenly and weight one shoulder more.

I meant to do more productive work, but after that was when all of the terrible things happened. Both of the horses in the arena left, someone walked by on a horse, and a cow was itching itself on the telephone pole.

Wish it had been less foggy, but that's just
a great excuse to go again! Except that I live
3 hours away

So damage control was lots of figure-8s at the trot and lots of cantering. After a fair amount of cantering, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and stick the draw reins on again. Once again I got the really amazing canter back, I was actually able to RIDE it. The thing that the draw reins do for him is they put him in a place where he is better balanced and rideable, and then I can loosen them. So he really only feels the effect of them for 3-4 strides, then I can push my hands forward, put my leg on, and actually have a HORSE under me instead of some fucked up carnival ride.

I ended up finding a trot circle to end on where he didn't scream and then immediately jumped off of him to walk him out. It was just past the point where anything productive was going to happen, which is fine.

Unfortunately with travel in between my house to the barns and between the barns themselves, teaching on Sunday took up all my daylight hours. I could have gone to ride at night but I opted out of that pretty quick. It's one thing to be made to ride in the dark during the week, it's another to have to do so on a weekend. And he had already had two hard days in a row, no need to work the horse to death.

Birds by the shore

This week I'm going to keep it relatively light. After finding out how much the blanketing is at this barn, I'm opting out of clipping him at least for now. So that means that our evening rides can't be too tough on him. Luckily he seems quieter in the evenings. There are many reasons why that may be, but I appreciate it.

Ten more days until I get an entire week off for Christmas! And twelve more days (maybe, gotta solidify the plan) until our second round of bootcamp in my old town. Really hoping to start the new year off in a great place- bigger paddock, addressing the horses-leaving-the-arena sourness, and another big confidence boost.