Crossing the Line

Thursday I rode a client horse early in the morning and then got TC out. He's not letting up with the whinnying when I'm with another horse, poor jealous baby horse.

It was hot and so we did a short walk around the barn before doing some in hand work in the round pen. The footing was on the more questionable side of acceptable so I didn't really want to trot him unless I was asked to.

BRH trainer saw how quiet TC was and just offered to hop on. I felt better and told him that I really wanted to stop longeing as soon as we can. He can really get away from me on the line, more so than when BRH trainer is on him. I still do want to longe him if I'm the first one on him for a little bit, but sometimes he's so quiet there's just no reason to longe. And I reminded him that circles were not okay for a suspensory horse, but he sort of disagreed with me.

Gimme attention mam

TC was totally quiet in the round pen other than being a bit obnoxious about falling over his right shoulder. I think he's just not getting consistency, as we're both approaching it slightly differently. It is what it is for now and I manage to get him super straight so I feel like by September when I'm riding more and more (August will be the last month of full training), we'll be fine.

The canter looked great, very quiet and controlled with no breaking or bucking. It's nice to see that it's so quiet. I think it's stagnating a bit in terms of dressage since BRH trainer has a different way of trying to get him on the bit than I do, but that's okay.

I hopped on and worked on the right first, just a couple of laps of canter. I did a decent job of sitting it- his canter is still unbalanced enough where it makes me want to brace against him, which helps absolutely no one. It really makes me want to get in front of Tracey.

The left went super well. It takes some managing but after a couple of circles, I had him on the right rein and could maneuver him fairly well. The canter was great in that direction except for the right shoulder issue. I had to really drive him over, but I did manage to get a few good circles where he didn't fall out.

The best pony

After I was finished, I handed him back over to BRH trainer to ride from the round pen to the covered arena. Once in the covered though, my good time watching my baby horse was ruined by a few things.

First, there was a trainer in there who insisted on legitimately trying to give BRH trainer a lesson on my horse. Normally I just roll my eyes, but this is the trainer who he hires to ride his horses so I didn't know her influence over him. I... am not going to hire her to train my horse for a multitude of reasons. Not only were the things she was saying incorrect- several of them, if applied to TC, would be extremely detrimental to his training. And if I ever saw someone doing that to my horses, I would immediately pull them out from under them. But I held my tongue, mostly because I was shocked that anyone would be saying these things.

Second, there was a lady in there who, while all this was happening, was being very condescending to me about the baby horse. Telling me all about young horses and how they should be trained. Also how I'm "so lucky" to be riding my friend's PSG horse because then I get experience on an older horse while my trainer trains my horse for me. Yeah, I'm training that horse. I'm being paid to ride him because I'm better than him and can improve him for his owner. That didn't bug me nearly as much as crazy trainer coaching my trainer on my horse, but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way.

Third, TC wasn't exactly quiet in there. He bolted twice, once because he saw a horse and was surprised (annoying lady was shrieking LOOK AT HIM LOOK AT HIM in my ear. Yah lady, I see him bolting, he fucking does that) and one because he was asked to trot and he was excited. He came back to trainer fairly easily, and I was pleased about that, but he's been so quiet recently so it feels like a setback. It's very likely not at all a setback, but after crazy people bothering me, I was having trouble thinking positively.

Man I miss having my horse at my parents' ranch, unfortunately TC cannot live there since he will probably jump out and I don't have time to manage the arena.

Even went to the part of the arena I avoid because it's fucking
hot out there

Overall I was pleased. As much as the bolting isn't fun to watch or ride, it's not going away magically. BRH trainer always says that it isn't a bad thing when TC is bad, because that's an opportunity for him to learn. And after watching his bolting and knowing he comes back fairly easy now (vs before where it would ruin rides), I'm not as worried about the bolting. I'm not looking forward to riding it, but I think it will just be a small bobble in a good ride versus the turning point in a bad ride. But I have one more month of full training to go, so for now I don't have to ride it.

In the Covered

Wednesday it was going to be a million degrees so I was both really unexcited about doing anything but sitting inside and really excited because TC is always quieter in the heat.

Sure enough, he looked drugged walking out of his stall, dragging his feet with his head down.

We did one lap through the center aisle barn, where TC walked quietly without spooking- he really hated the barn when he first came in, but now he's totally relaxed in there. I think he's figured out that it's not actually a horse torture chamber. So weird since he was fine with the center aisle barns at the last two places I had him.

Holding my phone up is now a cue for smiling

I'm noticing more and more how quiet he is around the ranch. And at this point walking in small circles in the round pen is just something we do because it's part of the routine. He trotted completely relaxed on the line, except he kept looking at me like he wanted me to chase him or play with him. Sorry horse, I am not interested in your games. Unlike the day before when he kicked at me, he kept all four feet on the ground and just went to work.

BRH trainer got on and got some good work out of him in both directions in trot. He still falls over his right shoulder, though it is improving slowly. We talked a little about how slow going fixing that problem is. Normally it wouldn't be something that lasts two full weeks. But his workout is the equivalent of going to the gym every day for fifteen minutes and then walking around the block. Sure, I mean it's better than nothing and if that's what you want, more power to you, but you're not going to pack on muscle that way. Just like opening a book and skimming half a chapter each day isn't going to make you an expert in the subject. We're simply not doing enough just yet. Which is fine, he's on rehab.

The canter is coming along, and BRH trainer is working to fix TC's natural desire to stop cantering when he feels like it. I never made him canter for toooo long, and certainly not on a circle. So TC will get tired and either try to break (resulting in a tap with the whip from BRH trainer, which often results in a buck or kick and then reluctantly cantering forward) or kick out and swap leads. It's definitely getting better- both his work ethic and the canter itself.

He stopped like this and just stood there hanging
out after I turned him around. Weird. 

Sometimes watching can be a touch difficult for me, not because BRH trainer is doing anything wrong, but because I can see the difference a little more leg here or a little shift of balance there could do for the way TC is going. I'm really not used to watching other people ride my horses. It took me a long time with Rico to get to the point where I didn't get super frustrated at my friends or students on him. And this when I wasn't even planning on doing anything with him anymore. The thought of putting someone on him while I was still wanting to show him... well it would have been easy to destroy friendships that way!

But TC is going to be sold one day, and the worst thing I can do for him is make sure every single butt that graces his back rides him exactly the same as I do. When kids would come to pony club lessons and tell me how special they were because they were the only ones who could ride their snowflake horses, I would tell them "well then you're quite a terrible trainer then, huh?" and I need to embrace that for my own horse. If I'm the only one who can ride him, I'm not a very good trainer. So even though BRH trainer doesn't ride exactly like me, seeing that he can get TC on the aids and straight and forward makes me super happy. Even if I know that with a little more leg and a little lift with the inside knee would unlock a whole new trot.

Look at those grown up teeth

After he rode, I told him that if he wanted, we could just go into the covered arena- not have me ride him. On the off chance that he went nuts in there, I didn't want to have his work out done. I'd rather have the ride be short and pick up more time trotting/cantering today than have him be overworked. He said "are you sure?" and I was standing there dripping sweat thinking that I was really unenthused about getting on that horse.

So off we went with BRH trainer still aboard. We ran into a guy leading two horses and pushing a cart. They went right by TC and he just stood there waiting patiently. Then we headed into the ring. TC was a little nervous going in because there was a lady filling her hay bags in muck buckets just outside the arena near the entrance. You can only sort of see the buckets from under the mirrors. TC kind of dropped six inches and crept into the arena like a weirdo.

That tail is definitely being featured in his sale ad one day.

But then he was fine. They quietly walked around for maybe fifteen minutes. And TC didn't bat an eye. Not about the muck buckets, not about me on the mounting block, not about the other horse who came in, not about cars and trucks heading down the driveway. Not even about the strange conversation behind the netting (so you could hear but not see) about how much a newborn child would be on the black market. Seriously. That got me looking up and around to make sure that this was a joke (very likely but I'm still not sure lol).

Didn't phase TC though, he just wandered around quietly.

We decided to quit with that and do more the next day (today) in there. No need to push him to trot yesterday because he was just so damn good, why push it? I was super proud of him. He's only been in that arena once last fall when we were down for boot camp and both of us were pretty nervous.

I can't stop thinking about what a good idea this all was, to put my horse at this barn. Life is different now, and there are parts that are definitely worse, but I'm doing the best thing I can think of for the horse and it's paying off. BRH trainer said that when we start cantering in the big arena, he thinks TC will be ready for walking around the ranch before riding. I'm so excited for that.

Manageable Shenanigans

Tuesday morning I had to squeeze my ride in between my own lessons and BRH trainer's lessons. It all worked out, although by the time I started teaching, it was real hot. Sorry students!

He wanted to chew on the gate when we got in?
Ugh I'm having trouble finding this bit, need to get
one that's wider than this but want to keep him in it.

TC is getting so quiet around the ranch and just handling him in general. This was something he was definitely okay about at the last barn (most of our issues happened in the arena), but he never really settled. He seems super settled now. I knew this barn was where we needed to be! I want him good in all places, but it's nice when home base is very comfortable. I want to stay at this barn FOREVER.

There was a guy fixing one of the cross ties when I brought TC out, so I put him next to the commotion and made him suffer a bit. He was pressed up against the side staring at the reparations at first. But he eventually rested a foot and ignored it.

In the round pen, TC was a bit obnoxious. He kept shaking his head, which is fine, but often a sign that he wants to play. And boy did he. When we got out onto the larger circle, he spun away from me and double barrel kicked right at me, then took off galloping. I forgot about everything (sorry BRH trainer and the fact the horse was injured) but teaching that asshole that kicking at my face is not okay. We spun in a circle to stop and I immediately smacked his right hind over. He refused to do turns on the forehand in that direction and tried kicking at me again. But I won pretty easily and eventually he was SUPER submissive on the line. Nose down, trotting forward, very soft and sensitive to my aids.

TC loves pats, I love his ears- like "did I do a good thing?"

BRH trainer got on and TC was immediately a bit of an ass about going left again. It's mostly that he wants to look at the horses in the pasture every time he passes them, which then gets him off balance and he can't regain his balance. BRH trainer initially let him look, but then cracked down on him and expected TC to stay with him the whole time. On the one hand, we want him to be quiet enough where when he is on a loose rein and looks at something, he doesn't act up. On the other hand, he needs to just do his work and stop looking around. So Tuesday was about buckling down and working.

After his mild beating on the longe line and then a few smacks on the outside shoulder when he went to look undersaddle, TC was on it and ready to work. BRH trainer said that what he liked about TC was that he didn't seem to take things personally or hold grudges. You could smack him for something and he doesn't overreact or get mad or try to resist all too much. I think this is because he's always had people be fair to him. Even when he annoys me (or kicks at me, ugh), he can always earn pets for being a good boy and I never took anything too far. Same with the trainers who broke him, and same with BRH trainer. It's nice to have started real early with him, even if I am sitting here wishing he'd turn six already.

The canter was great, we're pushing him to do more laps- maybe 3-4 at a time now and in more sets each way. He wanted to break a couple of times and BRH trainer corrected that, which resulted in a kick out and a swap to the cross canter. That is an old problem that was happening a lot last year. He gets tired and he swaps out. Last year it turned into bucking, but this year he's quite a bit more compliant and just picked up the correct lead and tried harder.

When he lifts up through his back I just want to run after him like
a groupie. 

BRH trainer only cantered to the right, so I hopped on to do the left side. I got on his case about the straightness that way first, and it was much better. I'm really excited to get into the big arena to start doing some work on straightness, you know, in a straight line. I can already feel myself wanting to get holding too much, just like in my dressage lesson on my friend's horse, I'm a split second behind where I should be. I worked on that, but the bigger arena and ability to ride my own horse in lessons is going to be very helpful.

We picked up the canter and did about two laps. Man, I don't have any fear on this horse anymore. It wasn't even all that much fear, but it's exhausting to feel like you have to ride in a state of constant vigilance. Now I can get on and just ride my horse (I mean we're still in the round pen and I still like to longe him first- work in progress). So when he shook his head and threatened to buck, I just kicked him forward and made him canter longer.

The canter felt great, but I find myself thinking that it's going to be like his old canter and preparing for that. Not such a good thing. When I finally corrected those issues, he came right on the bit and felt super balanced.

This cat has been way too cute recently

Even though he was bad on the line, I'm really pleased with how Tuesday's ride went. There are going to be days where he's not perfect, and that's fine. I felt though, that even though he wasn't great, he learned some good lessons. And so did I, like maybe I'll double check that the turn on the forehand happens before sending him out on the line and expecting him not to kick at me.

I had to run up to teach, but I hosed TC off and fed him first. Hosing him off and putting sun screen spray on him every day has kept him pretty black! The only brown bits are right behind his ears. I do hose his face off (poor pony, for a horse who loves water, he hates having his face hosed down), but can't get behind his ears because he pins them and looks pathetic. Oh well. At least we're not in horse-of-a-different-color land yet.

In My Head

Monday morning I rode a client's horse first since he struggles in the heat. He was great, but showed me that walking around SF is quite a workout, especially when I accumulated 23,000 steps in just over five hours. It was weird to struggle with the posting trot more than the sitting, although the return of my sciatica (feeling fine now, my lower back was just really upset that day) showed that the sitting trot was hard too. Dressage is hard! So is walking, apparently.

I caught him trying to take off his fly mask!  

The reason we went to the city! 100 Magikarps later and this
guy is controlling a gym in my little town. 

I expected TC to be wild since on Sunday I just shoved food at him and left for the day. But he was fine. He actually stayed quiet in the cross ties while I ignored him and texted with friends. We wandered the ranch but then I got tired so we went into the round pen so I could stand in one spot and make him walk around me. When changing directions, I just let him sit with his head in my arms for a good five minutes. I just didn't want to be spinning in circles anymore. I'm glad the pony consented to cuddling rather than working.

BRH trainer showed up juuust as I was putting him out in the new direction and I confessed that I hadn't done much with him yet.

Luckily TC was great on the line at the trot, so I didn't have to longe him very much. When BRH trainer got on, I sat down on the mounting block that I keep tripping over while longeing. I perked up seeing TC trotting really well with BRH trainer and even getting several laps of canter each way. TC is starting to offer roundness at the canter, but BRH trainer isn't focused on that now, which is fine. I just like that he's really trying.

At one point I wasn't paying attention much and I looked up to see TC scoot forward. Damn, I thought, there it is. I knew that we'd have problems eventually. So I asked BRH trainer whether something happened to cause that or if it was just his five year old brain. He said neither, that TC had tried to stop and he had stung him pretty good with the whip. Good! Well, TC shouldn't try to break, but I'm glad that it wasn't because he was being a spooky asshole.

He thinks me holding up the phone is a cue to
smile now. 

I hopped on and didn't have the patience for the transitions, so I mostly worked on getting him to quit falling out over his right shoulder. It's frustrating that he is doing that, and I kept wondering why it was happening for so long. Normally I can correct something like that pretty quick on him. But I also realized that without the larger arena and being able to ride for longer than 20 minutes, I don't have access to the tools I need. Like normally I'd be working on a figure eight, getting him even in both directions and using the change of directions to help him understand how to stay in both reins. But we're just perpetually on a lopsided circle with pasture horses next door that are so so so so so interesting no they're fucking not.

I did a bit of canter in each direction too, wee! The left felt great, although we had one instance where he went careening into the fence. Same problem as above, and I'll be fixing that in the big arena too. I laughed with BRH trainer and was like "I can just hear my first lesson with Tracey happening right now" and it would be like this:

Put him into the left rein, straighten his neck, use your right leg to send him into the inside rein, sit to the inside of the circle, bring your inside leg back a touch and get his inside hind leg under him, but don't bring your inside seatbone back. And for god's sake, Megan, LOOK UP!

So I did all those things (except looking up, why would I take that away from her) once back in trot and it was much better. I knew all those damn lessons in the last few years with Rico would pay off. Now I just need to listen to the trainer in my head so I can learn NEW things at my first lessons.

The right was amazing! I actually got him on the bit at the canter- not through, but round. It felt wonderful, although he did porpoise once when I got him there. The canter totally transformed when he'd sort of relax over his topline too. I'm really excited to see what I can do with that canter.

This cat is my favorite

SF, such a pretty place

We ended with a bit of trot and a conversation about next steps. BRH trainer said that we'd be in the covered arena as soon as Wednesday! He said that TC was showing good progress and that we were able to work him enough so that going in the covered shouldn't be a problem. The first step is to get him focused and working well in the round pen, then BRH trainer will ride him over to the covered ring and at least walk around in there.

The covered arena is the most important for us. He needs to get in there as soon as we can so that we can really work on the minor issues (getting upset when horses leave the arena, spooky stuff in there, etc) before the time changes and I'm stuck in there for the entire winter. I'm glad to have a covered arena with lights and mirrors (finally! I love them) for the winter, but I'm also glad that we have plenty of time to get him super comfortable in there before winter hits.

Weekend Recap

Another long weekend recap. It was a great weekend for ponies, and I even got to do a couple of non pony things, which is good, because the last few weeks have been all ponies all the time.

Friday

On Friday we wandered to a new place in the ranch- the road on the other side of the covered arena. He was great! Just a little nose blowing and walking very carefully lest he be attacked by monsters. We only have a few more places to go before we've been everywhere- the road by the turnouts, walking through the trail course, walking back on the loop by the riding school, and walking in the trailer parking area. He's generally been quite good about ranch wandering, but every now and then shit hits the fan, and none of those areas are close enough to an arena to shove him into if he decides to really freak out. So we're taking our time. I'm excited to be able to just hop on him at the cross ties and wander soon.

A look back in time today because the internet won't let me upload
pictures! Ugh

In the round pen, he was great! We walked on our small circle and then quietly trotted on the large circle each way. I pushed him forward and TC started out super relaxed. BRH trainer said to look for his hips moving up and down, and I also can really see the relaxation in how much he overtracks. At the walk when he's relaxed, he overtracks by two full hoofprints (and his hooves are big!). At the trot, if he's only tracking up, he's not relaxed enough. I like having something like that to measure his level of relaxation. 

BRH trainer got on and had so much fun on him. After our transitions the day before, and just the fact that TC was a lot less looky (still quite looky) than Thursday, BRH trainer got to ride a really fun horse. When he's like this, he's super super simple to ride. Want straighter? The tiniest input from your outside thigh will send him right into the inside rein. Want bend? Turn your hips and lightly touch the inside rein. Want a downward transition? Sit softly and put a couple pounds of pressure on the thigh block. Everything without micromanaging, he's like clay- you can smoosh him into place and then release the aids and he'll stay there.

BRH trainer said a few really nice things about him. He said that in two years, I'm really going to be glad that I bought this horse. I hope that's true! I'm glad I bought the horse now, for the most part at least. 

He didn't canter him, since he did a fair amount of trot, so I hopped on thinking that this could be my day. I started to the right, which remains the good direction. He wants to get slightly onto that right front leg and to push his left hind out behind him and slightly to the outside, which causes him to fall in a tiny bit. So in addition to the normal outside-leg-slightly-back, inside-calf-lifting aids, I added my inside thigh into the block and trying to pull the block up and back as I posted. That worked wonders and I was able to dangle the right rein, which he had been leaning on a bit, out in front of me. No hand aid necessary (is it ever necessary? lol), just changing his balance. Have I said that I love riding this horse recently?

But then I have to ride better

We did some transitions, which started out only slightly rough and became super good. The upwards tend to be a little explosive, as Tracey would put it, where I put my leg on and he zips forward. I worked to quiet the aid and make sure that I stayed with him, so that during the transition, my seat didn't get any heavier as he stepped forward. I don't get left behind, per say, but if the lightness of my seat changes in the transition, he will react to it. He likes a seat that stays light, he's very much an up ride right now, something that Tracey mentioned the other day that I've been thinking about nearly constantly a bit. 

After that, I asked BRH trainer if I could canter him. He said yes but recommended that I stick with the left lead because of the sass TC brought to the right lead. If he's going to buck, it's going to be on the right lead right now because he's stronger and more coordinated that way. Definitely want to avoid that, although at the time when bucking was mentioned, I thought "meh who cares." My confidence is so high right now, but let's keep it that way. 

So we changed directions and TC already knew what we were doing. He actually picked up the canter from a slow trot out of a walk to trot transition and I let him go a few steps, then brought him back to walk and fixed the walk trot transitions first. The left is so hard for him right now. I put my whip in the outside hand and really drilled the straightness for a bit. Once we had it at the trot, I worked on the trot transitions before heading into canter.

His canter is so much better quality now

Guys. His canter is amazing. I hated it before and thought it was really a terrible canter. But Tracey is right (is she ever not?), there's nothing wrong with his canter other than that it is green. It's so smooth and feels like a rocking horse. BRH trainer told me to put my leg on and keep it on because he's been sticky, but I didn't feel any stickiness. He didn't even try to give me the wrong lead. So there's been a ton of improvement in the canter in the last week. Awesome! 

I was too busy enjoying the canter to work on roundness, and we only did a lap and a half of canter anyway. Once as I can get him over his back (because this canter is with a tight back and on the underneck!), I think we're going to really see what he can do. Can't wait!

After the canter, I did a few more trot transitions just so he doesn't get shitty about working after cantering, and then we let him be done. Another day of absolutely no drama. No bucking, no bolting, no spooking, no scooting, no leaping, barely a head toss on the longe line. I love it. Let me at some dressage now, trainer! 

So downhill, he is so much better now!

Saturday

Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed early to head to the barn. Tracey was teaching a clinic there, so I told BRH trainer that I was going to watch and pop on TC whenever it worked for his schedule. 

When I got there, he said he'd do a horse first so I could watch the clinic. I got to see one of my friends riding before I headed out to get TC. I took TC all over the place and he was great on a loose line and with me messing with my phone. We even wandered out in the field without me having to pay attention, which was great because just a week ago I had to keep a close eye on him.

On the longe line, he was great. We had one issue going onto the large circle at the trot where he picked up the wrong lead and cantered quietly for half a circle. So not really an issue. I'm also pleased to say that I'm helping bombproof him to people tripping over mounting blocks while longeing because looking where I'm going and focusing on the horse at the same time is too much. This time when I did it, he only cantered one step and then kept trotting along, whereas last time it resulted in a bolt. I should advertise my clumsiness as a training tool. 

BRH trainer hopped on him and TC was quite good. He's still really struggling to get off his right shoulder, which is starting to annoy to me since I want it gone. He is worse with trainer, and I'm not sure if that's because we ride him differently or because he's always worse in the beginning. The canter looked great though, both directions are becoming solid, and TC even did a walk to canter transition on the right lead! He was just so eager to go. Not a problem, Second level is far off but if he offers higher level movements, I can't shut that down. I told BRH trainer that he'd probably be the sort of horse who is going to do lead changes CONSTANTLY once as he knows it's something I want. So we'll hold off on those for quite some time.

So cute

I hopped on him and fixed the steering to the left first. I think it's a balance issue, and I ride more dressage-y than trainer does. The only time he got a little over that shoulder is when passing the pasture horses. I think TC thinks they're celebrities, he's really interested in EVERYTHING they are doing or might be doing. BRH trainer and I talked about how he's actually best when things are going on- people cleaning paddocks, horses wandering around- and I told him that TC was the sort of kid who liked to watch TV while he did his homework. When it gets quiet at the barn and then something happens like someone cleans a paddock or a horse moves, TC is more likely to explode.

To the right, he was super good as well, it's just so much easier for him. I started playing a little bit at getting him to engage his hindquarters a touch more. I felt really annoyed that I couldn't work on the lateral work to get him to step under more, but it is what it is. I did do some walk trot transitions to entertain myself. The downwards have gotten so good! I love how he's sitting a bit in the transition and staying out to my hand. It's completely off of my seat. The upwards... are mostly just him using his neck to fling himself into trot. Once as I really get on his case though, he's much better about it.

I cantered him to the right this day, which was awesome. He definitely wants to hesitate a little bit more this direction, which puts us in prime bucking territory, but he was fine. I just let him break and worked on the transitions a little bit. They're hideous. The canter is pretty hideous too. He's not soooo off the bit, but it's for sure on the muscle. BRH trainer said that TC was super weak in his loins. I think TC is super weak everywhere. Maybe not in comparison to last year, where he was ultra weak. But he really hasn't been building muscle for this particular job, and tbh he's only really on the bit for a small amount of his work right now.

I'm starting to get really eager to do more with him. He's really only being ridden about twenty or thirty minutes, much of that being walk. So I can't really do much in terms of training. I know that what we're doing is considered training but I want to get him on the bit at the canter and work on the hopping trot transitions and the lateral work. But I have to be patient. In a year from now when I can work on the walk canter and canter walk transitions bareback in the rain, I'll be glad we spent so much time in the round pen going in circles.

He just didn't understand scope in his canter yet

After riding, I went back to auditing. Tracey's clinic was great! I had a huge breakthrough in how I think about impulsion, which I'm working out slowly in my brain. There were two other things that I understand better that I'm prepared to talk about.

The horse I watched after TC was similar to Rico in that he was lazy and encouraged his rider to run him off his feet to feel like he was forward. Tracey was trying to get the rider to slow down to change the mechanic of the hind legs (from pushing to carrying), and the rider was struggling, feeling like the increased collection was too slow. Tracey said "it's not about more leg, it's about bringing the mass back and changing the balance." And also "being forward and working properly are two separate issues, if he needs a boot in the belly, do it, but running is not going to be the answer to getting him to work properly."

I've heard both of those things on Rico, but it was really helpful to see it within her instruction too. TC isn't ready to start working on collection yet, but he is ready to learn about the different mechanics of the hind legs pretty soon. I feel lucky that he's both sensitive and fairly forward, as he'll be easier to convince than Rico or this horse. 

I am such an up rider

Sunday

Sunday I was scheduled to head into the city with a friend so I just dropped by the barn in the morning to give TC his grain before heading out. 

We're coming up on three full weeks in undersaddle rehab. It feels like he came into the barn just yesterday. I feel like I'm still not used to having him around. Hoping to make some great progress this week, and hopefully even riding in the covered arena by next week! 

Foot Perfect

Thursday morning I taught a lesson before riding TC. He didn't like that I was there and not hanging out with him though. Sorry pony, I have to pay for you. When I went to get him though, I couldn't get his door open. Something had happened (and I do not want to know what) overnight that had shoved the mat under the door. So I went to find BRH Trainer, who helped me get access to my pony.

This tail is insane- equifuse in the background
made it even more insane

After tacking up, we wandered around the ranch with no spooks and then headed to the round pen. TC was great on the longe line. He looked around a bit but absolutely never did anything other than focus on me. Not even a head shake. To the right, he really wanted to canter (side note: this freaked me out at first because this was the one symptom of Rico's lesion in his DDFT- he would avoid putting pressure on the leg by kind of hopping up and trying to canter). Nothing nutty about it, just wanted to do it. I let him take a couple of small steps before bringing him back to trot.

It reminds me of a ride I had with him the day after having a tough time getting a turn on the forehand on him. We worked on it for a long time and I used a lot of praise to get him to understand what I wanted. The next day I came out and he dragged me to the one place in the arena I had been working on it. He proceeded to get all squared up and ready for turns on the forehand. He knew that it was a movement that got praise in the past and he wanted that again. Same thing in canter yesterday.

BRH trainer got on and TC was again looking around a lot, but stayed totally relaxed. TC really struggled to the left to stay straight. He wanted to fall over his right shoulder and almost smooshed trainer into the fence. But they made it through. The canter left remains rough, though has gotten MUCH better since Monday. He offered the right lead, then BRH trainer corrected him and he picked up the left lead right away. He struggles to hold the canter for a whole circle, so for now we're just doing one circle each way.

The right was much easier, TC even started to soften up and go on the bit at the trot. He is a lot more coordinated to the right. I think this comes from his slightly weaker left hind leg. To the right he wants to fall in with his shoulder a bit and so when on a circle, especially a round pen where falling out means that he smashes your leg on the fence, it's a lot easier to pick him up on the right side than push his left hind under and turn his shoulders in. The canter this direction was also quite good, he only broke gait once and even started to come a little round on his own. Good pony!

This cat is so comfortable

I hopped on and put him a bit lower and rounder. I started left and worked on the straightness- turning my hip to change the way he was putting me with his crookedness, putting my inside leg on slightly behind the girth to access the left hind and push it toward the midline, and connecting the outside rein and outside thigh so I had more control over the shoulder. A couple of taps with the whip when he'd bust through the outside aids, and we had a nice straight trot. While I was playing with all of this, BRH trainer suggested I fix his walk trot transitions. They've been a little bit questionable lately. Kate's lesson fresh in my mind where Tracey had her do a lot of the same stuff I need to do with TC, I started working on them.

The big issue currently is that when you go to ask TC for trot, he pops his head up a bit and sometimes wiggles sideways. We worked on this to the left, maintaining the straightness I had developed earlier. He sometimes would use the transition to wiggle out of the straightness, but over time, he figured out that my timing was faster than his. The right was super easy in comparison. I used a little inside leg and thigh to pick up his shoulder a touch, then put my outside leg again slightly behind the girth to activate the left hind leg. This made the trot super fancy and we got some amazing transitions.

I was super pleased because I could actually sit the first few steps of trot out of the transition when he stayed round and kept his back up. TC is still too young and underdeveloped to be sitting the trot on all the time. That is, if I want to maintain his fancy trot, which I do. Because sitting on his back when he can't hold me up will cause him to tire faster, and that will cause him to use other muscles to keep trotting, eventually developing those. I want to keep him building those correct back muscles in posting trot to give me a strong place to sit while at the same time teaching him with a few steps here and there that sitting trot is a thing and it's fine. I was really pleased that I could actually sit it. I've only tried to sit it a few times and found it extremely bouncy, but he's a lot better over his back now!

He was wiggling his nose on my hair

The downward transitions are good, but sometimes too abrupt and he doesn't land in a quality walk. So we worked on elongating the transition and me getting the timing of using my thigh to bring him into walk, but then releasing it at the right time to not block the energy coming through into walk. That was a little tough on me and required a lot of thought.

So much thought, this whole time, that I didn't realize that two horses were playing in the pasture next to us. I laughed about that with trainer, since I didn't even notice that his suggestion at transitions was a sneaky way to get me to ignore everything around me except my horse. Walk trot transitions, they're all consuming.

TC was foot perfect the whole time. The transitions got better and better, he got rounder and softer, and not once did he spook, leap, buck, bolt, or even shake his head at me. The worst thing he did was retract his neck and forget to steer to the left. That's totally fine, he can do that all day long (I'd prefer he did not, but if he'll trade in his bad behavior for that from now on, awesome).

Horse was very curious about phone

We wandered out of the round pen and back to the cross ties, where BRH trainer and I chatted about the next steps. He wants TC to be able to canter four laps each way before we go into the big arena. I think this is a good idea because it will a) allow us to do a fair amount of cantering in the big arena, where he is more likely to spook and b) ensure that TC is fit enough where if we have problems, we can deal with them. I told him on the way back, that I really felt like he was quiet enough to wander around the whole ranch on a loose rein, but that I knew I needed to not push it. Ugh rehab sucks.

TC got a bath that afternoon because he was gross. He really needs to figure out how to not be a disgusting white horse or he'll be for sale even if I do win the lottery and can keep him!

Just Looking

Wednesday I didn't sleep well and woke up tired and absolutely, under no circumstances, wanting to go worry about my dumb horse and his dumb injury and ride on boring dumb circles hoping that his dumb brain didn't make him bolt and drag me around.

But I dragged myself to the barn anyway because that's how we do. There was a time even just a month ago where I would have killed to feel burnt out like this. Interesting how circumstances can so drastically change your opinions on things.

So cute, but so annoying

TC was really annoyed that I wasn't fawning over him as much as I should have been. I just gave him a couple of cookies and quietly brushed him while watching Netflix on my phone, unlimited data is a beautiful thing. TC thought it was quite unacceptable that 110% of my attention was not on him, so he learned to not shove his face in my face when I tried to walk around him, and not to paw the hell out of the railroad tie in front of the cross ties that he loves to stand on and freak me out about.

To add to my irritation, I saw that his leg looked a little bigger after the BOT wraps. I know it's good to get bloodflow down there, but I hate how the legs fill up a little bit. Yeah, legs. Because after walking right up to the edge of mental break down territory, I felt the other leg and realized they were the same. I sort of managed to convince myself they were different, and even now I'm still not sure. I'm trying SO HARD not to obsess over his legs like I did with Rico. Every day I stared at his legs and tried to figure out if one was different than the other or than it had been the day before. I did that for years, and you know what finally clinched his full retirement from dressage? Arthritis in his neck. Something that had never bothered him before! Gah. His legs look perfect all the time now. But it's hard to follow my own advice sometimes. And it's hard when there is so much on the line- I CARE whether this horse stays sound.

I took him once around the barn and saw BRH trainer, who said he'd meet me in the round pen soon, so we walked over there. I was glad to get started quickly. TC was totally fine wandering around the ranch, just a couple of snorts in the barn, because despite the many horses that live in that barn and have never been eaten by anything, TC is convinced that there are monsters in there.

Mam stop taking pictures of me and give me cookies

Longeing was uneventful. There was a guy cleaning the water trough in the pasture next door, and while TC looked, he didn't do anything bad.

BRH trainer got on and that's when TC started being kind of obnoxious. Nothing big or crazy, just some head tossing and a LOT of distraction. I've ridden through that shit a lot at shows/new places and it's very annoying. He wants to look at stuff, so he carries tension in his shoulders and gets his neck all short. Then his back goes rigid and his hind legs go out behind him. All you want to do is pull on his face, but when you do that, he just retracts his neck (or puts it down and shakes it at you).

Poor BRH trainer had to deal with it. It's not very fun. But we talked about how good he was being despite being so looky. Every time he'd pass the pasture horses (who were doing nothing) or the turnout horses (who were also doing nothing) or a worker did anything (even doing nothing), he HAD to stare at them. But nothing else happened. So that's good.

They did one lap of canter each way, which TC really struggled with. The transition to the left is just a train wreck. He really wants to canter on the right lead instead, so keeps picking up the counter canter. He finally got the canter though, and then it was much better.

To the right, the transition is a lot easier for him, though he really didn't want to keep going. BRH Trainer used the whip on him and he porpoised a bit, but just cantered quietly along afterward. Poor pony, it's hard to have four legs. Still awaiting that buck that I know is coming!

Good pony

I was in a better mood by the end of the ride so got on for a short time. I got him a bit rounder in walk and that carried okay into the trot to the left. He was still looking around a lot and was sort of hot off the leg, so I stuck my leg on and left it there so he'd stop taking aids away from me. Once as my leg was on, he started focusing a little bit better and I was able to get him on the aids. He was falling way out over his right shoulder, so I put my outside leg on stronger and directed him inward with the inside rein opening a bit. He straightened out okay but would then look up and get a little drunk as he was trying to look at the pasture horses and stay trotting in a straight line.

The right was much better. He was much more even on both sides and was better about responding to my left leg to straighten him. I didn't do much that way since it was so good.

We walked back to the barn, and I had to keep reminding myself not to drop the reins and look at my phone. And it was really hard not to ask whether we could keep walking toward the covered arena or down to his stall or somewhere else. That really shows me how much he's improved and how comfortable I feel on him now. BRH Trainer is doing a good job of holding me back from pushing too much, since until TC really proves to us that good days aren't outliers, we're just going to stick with the plan. Still, I do enjoy the outliers.

His tail is so pretty

After riding TC, I headed across the hill to Tracey's barn to see Kate and Kat in their lesson! After seeing Kat with Kate's students and getting a good idea of a) how freakishly talented Kat is and b) how sensitive she is, I had to recommend Tracey. She's ideal for the sort of rider Kate is- someone who thinks about their riding a lot and who doesn't mind taking the scenic route- and is also ideal for the sort of horse Kat is- a horse who can't have a ton of pressure put on her. After hearing about their first lesson, I invited myself along to their second one!

It was a brilliant lesson, Kate and Kat look SO GOOD! But I'll let Kate talk about the lesson. Afterward I cornered Tracey and showed her video of TC. She hadn't seen him go in over a year, last time was our lesson with her last April. I showed her the trot video of me riding him (which I want to post here but haven't tried too hard to get out of the internet) and she said he looked really good. And then I showed her a canter video, forgetting that it was one where TC was porpoising. Oh well.

I harassed her about what she thought of his canter. It's not the most brilliant canter, though has improved a LOT since rehab packed a ton of muscle on him. Just based on what it looks like, extensions and changes are going to be easy (he has a TON of suspension) while collection will be hard. I also get it in my head all the time that I think it's lateral. If you slow down the videos, you can see that the outside front leg hits a split second before the inside hind. But Tracey said that it wasn't, and that the change of rhythm at times was caused by tension. Good!

Exceeding Expectations

I'm happy to report that the baby horse stepped of the trailer yesterday at his new home and I was SO glad to see him.  

Making friends! 

Hi pony!

TC was scheduled to come in around 8 so I was planning on leaving the house at 7. I get a text at 6:30 moving the time to 7:30 so I quickly zipped over to the barn, only to get a call as I was turning onto the road the barn was on saying that they were there, damn! Apparently to get to the barn by 7:15, their day started at 3:30. I'm glad that's not my job. They had five other horses going to the vet hospital about 1-2 hours south of the barn and their appointment was at 9 or 9:30. So we got an early start and I was glad for that.

TC unloaded super well and then spooked hard. The owner of the rehab center led him into his stall for me. He really didn't do much other than spook a few times and passage next to us when two horses went nuts in their paddocks right next to him. I thought that was pretty good!

Oooo a friend

So glad to have this face home

Once as the trailer left, I hung out with TC in his stall. He seemed super stoked about having a paddock, though didn't think much of his water trough. He lapped the water like a dog (wtf) and kept dragging his lips over the wire. His neighbor on one side (the other side is empty) is another young baby horse also there for brain installation so they reached over to touch noses. I like these stalls because the horses can reach out to touch noses but can't play very easily over the railing.

TC seemed SUPER happy to be there, but not all that interested in me at first. Oh well. I gave him some cookies and made sure he got food for breakfast.

After making sure he'd be okay, I ran some errands. I had thought I sent him with a pan for his food, but they didn't give me one and I also thought that he still had a salt lick, so both were picked up at the tack store up the road. I also got myself some breakfast since I had run out of the house that morning.

Weird

No more pawing his food!

Back at the barn, it was nice and warm. I hadn't wanted to try anything with him until the fog burned off, setting ourselves up for success, you know.  My goal for the day was to keep absolutely no pressure on either of us. If we sat in the stall all day, we sat in the stall all day.

So we started in the stall with some work on the ground. He was super good and seemed so happy to have something to do. The horse loves to be told what he should do.

I grabbed my groundwork weapon stick, his sports medicine boots, and the rope halter and cautiously led him over to the cross ties. He was fine. He snorted at a trash can so we looked at that for a second, but it was generally uneventful.

Finally got the fly mask on

We spent a while in the cross ties, which he hasn't been in since December. I was answering the phone a lot, talking to recruiters, clients, and my mom, who wanted to know what was going on. TC would very carefully paw whenever I wasn't paying attention to him. When I was paying attention to him, he looked at me the way Tormund looked at Brienne. I felt like his pet, or maybe his own personal entertainer. He was so excited to have me doing anything with him, even pulling the shit out of his mane.

I mostly used the solo comb (and wore out the blade), but did thin it a bit with the pulling comb. He was fine but I didn't want to push it. I got it short enough but over the week and weekend I'll be trying to thin it out a bit more. It's so poofy!

He was super good about a few things that he used to be terrible about. First, he doesn't yank his feet out of your hands anymore. Woohoo! Second, he seems a LOT less attached to other horses. I think 7.5 months in a box stall where he had no direct contact with other horses did that. He only whinnied at another horse twice and didn't care about horses coming near him and then walking away. Third, he doesn't paw nearly as much as he used to. He still does, but it's not the crazy pounding it once was. Apparently he also doesn't paw in the trailer anymore since he had to be on it all day whenever he had a vet check. Progress!!

Before

After!

After getting his mane under control, we went on a walk. My goal was just to go as far as we could without being stupid, then turn around and come back to the cross ties. If that's all we did, great.

We wandered out toward the round pen first since he had been ridden in there a lot the last time he was at the barn and he had already been led by it on the way in from the trailer. He was fine. He wanted to walk on top of me and did spook hard at nothing once, but other than that it was no problem. Once as we did some ground work though, both of those behaviors stopped. He was fine walking out to the round pen, so we did some work in there. Just turns on the forehand and reining back. He is SO good at his ground work and so in tune with me. I just love it.

After being in there for about five minutes, we wandered back to the cross ties and then out to the covered arena. I really want that to be a safe place for him and it was completely open so we headed in. We did more ground work and looked at the mirrors. He was totally fine. I had a moment where a car passed us and I wondered if he was going to lose it. Not sure why he would, but still. I just put him to work and it was fine. I gotta trust him a bit more!

He's so cute!

Cones are fun!

We went back to the cross ties and he stood with one foot rested, just watching everything. He was so good in hand that I decided to keep going! I went out to the tack locker and got his saddle and bridle. I also grabbed longeing and riding stuff just in case. No pressure, but I wanted to be prepared.

The saddle surprisingly fits him quite well! I'm not sure if we'll even need to have the fitter do much to it. I played around with the balance, I'd rather it toss me in the back seat than the front. The bridle obviously still fits, and I got to put his bridle tag on it! He accepted the bit easily and I kicked myself for forgetting sugar. He got a cookie instead. No need to worry about him.

He stood there fine while I was messing with him. I banged the stirrups around on him and fixed the pad. With him being so good, I put side reins on the saddle, grabbed a longe line and my helmet/back brace and off we went to the round pen!

Tack fits!

Once again I just wanted to see what he did. If we just walked in a circle, great! If we actually longed, even better! Side note here: I was super proud of myself for putting zero pressure on us, that's very unlike me.

We started by leading around the outside of the round pen doing ground work because someone was riding inside. When they left, we did some ground work inside the round pen too. Longeing went well, I had him walk for a while, working on the whoa aid since I want him to think that we do a lot of stopping and turning in on the longe line just in case.

He was totally fine so I asked him to trot. And he exploded. But only a little. He mostly really wanted to put his head on the ground and shake it. Then he'd just porpoise. I sort of made a bad decision at that point. If he hadn't been on rehab I would have smacked him forward, but I halted him. Then we tried again. He got better and better with each transition and was eventually fine trotting each way. But looking back I probably should have just pushed him forward, he was just excited.

I put his outside side rein on and he was even better! The inside one came on shortly after and we did a lot more trotting in each direction. Only once did we have head shaking and bronc bucking but I sent him forward that time and it was much better. I'm so worried both on him and off that if I send him forward, things will get worse, but with the side reins giving him a place to go, it got so much better.

A little lazy but so fancy

If he was any more over his back he'd be a fucking beach ball

Just a bit of sass

After trotting I just really really wanted to sit on him. But I knew better. Hah. No I didn't. So I put my stirrups up (forgetting that Emma was the last one to sit in the saddle and we had to raise them a couple holes woops) and brought him over to the mounting block.

He stood fine as I banged the stirrups around again, leaned over him, and shifted the saddle around a bit. I just wanted to make sure that none of that was going to result in a problem before I jumped on him. Nothing phased him. I got on. That was fine. He stood for me to take a behind the ears picture. And then off we were in walk.

My first thoughts were these:

OMG I AM RIDING MY PONY
Hmmm no one is here to scrape me off the ground
Is he going to kill me?
I guess not
Damn he's lazy
I should have worn spurs
I want my whip
Ugh he's over bending
Ugh I'm nagging with my leg
Damn these stirrups are short, need to fix them
Okay that's better
Probably shouldn't have dropped the reins when fixing them
Ugh he is SO LAZY 

The fact that those were my first thoughts shows you how good he was! He was super behind my leg, a bit short in the neck, and kept popping his shoulder, but there were absolutely no incidents. None. Even though a horse across the property (we could see them) was rearing in hand and the horses in turnout next to us were moving around. We did some figure-8s and I nagged him the whole time, trying to remember to sit in the back seat. Whatever. I can fix all that later.

I got annoyed that he was so lazy that I asked him to trot. He immediately threw his head down, shook it, and did one bronc buck before I stopped him. I asked again and he just shook his head and then trotted the world's smallest trot. I smacked him with the end of the reins (who the fuck am I?) and we got a half circle of trotting in before I decided not to push it anymore.

YESSSS

But the day was perfect. He walked quietly back to the cross ties, stood quietly while I sat on the mounting block posting on instagram, and stayed relaxed while I untacked him. He even went into the wash rack and got a little hose down. No pawing, no obnoxious behavior, barely a spook in him. Just quiet, relaxing, super fun baby horse!

I couldn't have asked for a better first day. Fingers crossed today goes well, it's our first lesson with BRH trainer and I'm hoping for me to get him more forward without bucks and maybe for him to pop on to walk the pony around the ranch a bit.

But we're in no hurry. So happy to have him back!!