Transformation.... Wednesday: The Conformation and Color

In keeping with my theme from yesterday about how much TC has changed (since I'm at a conference and have time only to look at ponies), I wanted to point out how much his color has changed over the last two and a half years! And his conformation/muscling to an extent. 

When I first went out to see TC, I actually thought that he was his cute little Morab roommate that lived with an old ugly black horse whose face had gone gray. Oh... that one is the one you're talking about.

As I rode him, he slowly gained muscle, but he put it on REAL weird at first. Because of his tendency to retract his neck, he put the muscle on the first third of his neck from his poll... then slowly and I mean SLOWLY he started putting it on properly.

Now he's looking like a true steel gray vs a black horse with a white face, and I know I'm biased, but I think he's looking pretty good muscle-wise too. Even if it's just in comparison to what he looked like as a three year old baby horse.

Onto the pictures!

First: oh man look at this dark face! 

Lol this picture cracks me up, he was SUPER awkward at three
with his big belly and his super ugly neck

Like, why did I buy it, his neck is upside down and his back looks
so shitty. He's also downright downhill in comparison to what he is
now, he grew 2 inches. 

From certain angles he started looking better, look how dark he
is though, damn!

I remember looooving this picture for so long

His neck is so weeny in comparison to his gigantic head, also
looking pretty downhill here. 

Finally turning his neck right side up

Now he's more recognizable, he had grown an inch here. 

Suspensory diagnosis day

So then we go into rehab. Obviously he lost all his topline in rehab but then gained some of it back with swimming. I'm going to skip over that just so that this post isn't completely ridiculous.

The day he came home from rehab

Look how light his face got in just a year

About a month in, keeping in mind that he's only trotting like 10
minutes at this point

Almost to full work

Basically in full work

Full work, he looks dark because he's wet

So uh then we had our winter shennanigans. And now we're here today.

Well, he's definitely more dappled, still working on that topline
though! 

Transformation Tuesday: The Training

Having started to ride TC when he was just barely 15 arena rides under saddle, I have a good idea of what his training progression has been like (hey I mean sometimes he seems to learn things without my help). Unfortunately with his injury and the issues we had this winter, it's been a bit start and stop, but I can smooth it out a bit in pictures.

I think our like... second or third ride together? Selective screen
shots for the win, most of this ride had his face in my face.

Dat neck retraction, I forgot how bad it was

Better a month later

Oh god is it a canter or a gallop?

Our first show, at least his neck is longer? But damn look at
that dip in front of the withers lol

Dip was eliminated but we're still so retracted

Yeah not on the bit. And so flat!

His hind leg was getting better for a bit!

So much better oh my god

Starting to bring his back and withers up a bit

Canter is slowly getting under control

So then I moved him to the new barn, where we took giant steps backward in our training. And then he got hurt. So let's fast forward into rehab.

First day back

About a month in

Couple months in cantering

Wow his canter was so flat and downhill

We then had some major problems into winter, unfortunately. For the first month back into work, I didn't get any pictures, so these start in late March or early April I think.

His canter is so much more up

But this was when I was struggling with trot by pushing him past
his tempo and getting him to lean on his knee action

Canter was okay though

At our first show of the year- so very tense but also very uphill

Seriously if I could teach him to not explode mentally or hide
when he has this kind of positive tension, we'd win ALL the
things, oh well

More relaxed at the ranch

Second show of the year showing a lot more relaxation and better
connection into the bridle

Canter still looks pretty good

And currently, our last lesson with Tracey!

Party Animal

Wednesday morning I didn't have time to ride because I was heading down in the evening to ride my mom's possible future unicorn. I had about thirty minutes though, so I still went to the barn and threw TC in one of the giant grass turnouts. He mostly just grazed in there, but he really thought about not being caught by me when I came to get him.

Walking out he was a little high, so I put him on the longe line in the round pen and let him canter around and play a bit.

Wandering around after our Thursday morning ride

Thursday morning I had more time to ride, so that was the plan. I had in mind a conversation I'd had with Kate a few days before about a book/article/something she was reading. Hopefully she'll post more about it because it really hit home for me.

Dressage is all about enhancing the natural movements of a horse, and these movements come out in two different situations in the wild- when a horse is playing and when a horse is scared. I've seen TC cover some serious ground in an extended canter when he is afraid, I've seen him arch his neck and strike out at butterflies when he is playing. The idea of training then, is to incite this play response from the horse, rather than the fear response. It's easy to see in the horse's eye as they are working- are they expressive because they're having fun or are they expressive because they're scared.

We can dig way into it and compare it in different horses, but I want to focus on what this meant for TC and I.

I think I took the fun out of dressage for him a bit- too much pressure and not enough fun. He really thinks that dressage is the most fun thing ever, and I think that's because I find it fun and was always babying him a bit with it- not too much pressure and lots of praise. When he started to grow up, I stopped bothering him so much with praise and put more pressure on. He still felt amazing in the bridle and over his back, but I could tell that he was a lot more focused and working rather than having fun. That's fine, life isn't always going to be fun. But I want him to mostly think his job is fun, and I certainly don't want to push him to a place where he thinks it's NOT fun, because this horse is a party animal.

Trying to get a conformation shot

I wasn't sure what to do though. He's been better every day that I ride him, but I'm still struggling with things that were very easy just a week ago (mostly the canter). We're improving rapidly enough where I think this is all mental for both of us, which is good. I'm still going to get the saddle fitter out, he has a 4 day vacation next week, and we're not hauling out until mid June.

But I don't really know what he finds fun. I rode him on Thursday morning determined to find out what made him happy about working. We did lengthenings, leg yields, transitions, everything I could think of that he wasn't resistant about. He did them just fine, but just seemed to be trucking along like normal.

Hmmm. The only thing I knew for sure that this horse loves beyond all else (well, maybe not cookies) is praise. So I started telling him how great he was every other step, stopping here and there to pet him and make a big deal about him. And wow the difference. He completely changed under me. He was much more expressive and so much rounder without me having to do anything. He was straighter- this week he had been being quite wiggly. He was a lot more tolerant of corrections if they were preceded by and followed by praise.

By the end of the ride he was FOR SURE having a blast. And I had a giant lightbulb moment as we were walking around the ranch. The horse doesn't love dressage because it's dressage, he loves dressage because I love dressage, because I was so excited to do it on him. Because every time he surprised me by being naturally good at something, I would celebrate with him. He learned to love it because of me.

That's better

And with the focus turned to intricate little details and making sure that we get things right, and as I got used to the fabulous feeling this horse gives in the bridle and over his back (on my mom's potential unicorn, I like... struggled to get him on the bit at first because you really have to PUT him there, TC is just always there) I lost some of that awe that I had of him when he was coming back into work last year in rehab and this spring after our tough winter.

He isn't back to the place he was yet, we still have some rebuilding to do, but I think I figured out how to bring the fun back to dressage for him. Easiest behavioral fix ever. Incessant praise and lots of pets.

Unicorn Found

My mom has been shopping on and off for what I've called her unicorn. Seriously her wishlist is ridiculous.

She wants first and foremost a family horse for the grandchildren she doesn't have (yet), who is perfect on the trails with and without other horses, who is very sound, but also over 10 years old and under 14, who is smooth to ride, who is small enough for her to get on from the ground but has enough neck in front of her to feel like she's riding something with substance, who is quiet enough to be left for a few months and then ridden without a longe, but who is also happy being ridden every day if she feels like it, who has a big enough walk to keep up with my dad's TWH but isn't that forward thinking, but isn't lazy either, and who obviously cleans his own paddock and does her taxes for her every year.

I basically told my mom that the horse she wants doesn't exist. And she went off and proved me wrong!

She found a little horse nearby who fit almost all of the criteria. He had been horse camping and trail riding most of his life, and then found his way into an event barn where he had done a couple of events and was giving a longe lesson to a 6 year old every week. And on Wednesday I went to go see him.

His ad said he was athletic and... okay well maybe I'm just biased with TC who is what I would call athletic. This little guy is sweet and kind and we adore him but I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to call him athletic. Which is a major plus in our book! My mom has gotten my hand-me-downs for quite a long time and has had her fair share of athletic horses.

I put him through his paces (I even jumped him, I've jumped maybe four times in the last year so I was real bad) and gave my mom the go ahead. Now we just wait for the vet check. Could these be the weeny little ears my mom gets to look through? And maybe me too, because come on, he jumps!

Fingers crossed, vet check is being scheduled soon

Rebuilding

After Saturday's good ride, TC got Sunday off. I worked all day and by the time I got done, I was an hour and a half away from the barn and it was after 4. So I opted out of riding then in favor of riding on Monday morning.

Unfortunately Monday didn't go very well. Rear threats (balking mostly, some head tossing and bucking at the canter so he can stop cantering and get all boingy about it) and a couple of bolts. I've never had a horse with both a balking/rearing AND a bolting problem. I've dealt with each individually. The bolting can be dealt with by installing a good whoa on the horse, but doing that on a horse whose answer to pressure can be rearing is kind of stupid. And with Rico during his rearing phase, I just rode him REAL forward and it was much better, but that with TC seems to get him really amped up and then he's more likely to bolt.

Smiley pony

So I ended up getting some good work out of him somehow and then walked him over to the round pen and threw him on the longe line. He played a bit and then hot damn my horse looks good. He was super happy to work, seemed like he was enjoying doing transitions and changes of directions and everything.

My head was reeling. The catalyst on Friday was for sure our fight, but was it the only underlying cause? Maybe he was uncomfortable already and working through it, and then our fight threw him over the edge.

So I started going through everything. Teeth. No, he had them done recently. Saddle fit. Definitely needs that done. Ulcers. Possibility, he has been traveling but he really isn't showing classic signs. Lack of ground work. Maybe, we haven't done much lately, but he's quite respectful on the ground. Lack of turnout. I guess, but he does have a lot of space. Not enough work. He has been getting more days off recently. Too much work. Unlikely, he generally loves to work. Not enough variety. Maybe he wants to do more stuff. Too much variety. He is anxious about the back trail that I keep dragging him down.

Guess who are back?

Tuesday I went over to the tack store and took a wider tree saddle on trial to try. I got to the barn that night a bit early since I'm swinging my circadian rhythm earlier for my DC trip next week. I took him out after he'd finished all his alfalfa, did some ground work, and then put the new saddle on him. It was definitely wider. But I decided to ride in my own saddle first to get a baseline. Trying to be a good experimenter here.

We wandered around the ranch like we normally do and ended up in the covered arena. I started out with a nice forward walk. I have a student's horse who balks that we're working on like this- get the walk more and more forward until the horse wants to trot, then aid and give lots of pets. So that technique worked really well and we didn't have any balking from the walk to the trot.

The trot took time to get on the bit, and I rode him much more forward than usual. Even though the bolting is definitely a problem, I find the balking a lot harder to deal with. The bolting doesn't disrupt our rides as much. So I want to fix the balking first. He definitely felt good in that forward trot, though I can see why Tracey had me ride him in the slower trot for a while- he still gets really leading with his chest and out behind. Whatever, he was letting me ride him so, winning.

The canter was... rough. He would pick it up but he felt super behind me and was quite off the bit. I slowly rebuilt the canter over time. First doing a ton of trot canter transitions to increase his confidence and then really riding him into the outside rein. It worked and we had some really good moments. All in all he felt like he did maybe six weeks ago. So not bad, but certainly not the horse I had just a week ago.

Neighbor cows! I love them

I've been thinking about adding a cavalletti/mini jump day to TC's schedule, so I pulled out five trot poles and some standards during our ride to see if he'd like that.

I let him trot through the poles on the ground and he seemed to enjoy it- his trot got all floaty and fancy. But then I put up a cross rail and he didn't seem to understand it at all. He just picked up his legs higher and enjoyed the stopping and getting pet part more than the "jumping."

In the end I cantered him over the jump kind of on an angle after he had knocked half of it down and he seemed more interested in doing that. So maybe some canter cavallettis. Unless he's lame today.


In the end, we wandered around the ranch and it felt like we had some semblance of normalcy. I think we'll take it easy this week and he has four days off next week and we'll see if that helps to reset his brain/body. In the mean time, I'm calling the saddle fitter since it needs to be done anyway. Everything else we'll take our time with.

Blog Hop: May 10 Questions

There was a blog hop going around and since I've been slack-a-lacking blog wise, I decided to jump on it for some filler content. My schedule has been too hard on me to prioritize blogging and I miss it quite a lot, so here's some effort.

Thanks to The Horse is Not Black for these questions!

1. What are your summer goals?
First and foremost, I want TC to remain sane and sound, of course. My dumb animals are dumb enough to get hurt enough where I feel like I have to say that. And obviously we're kind of battling the sanity part right now.

Beyond that (and I know that's a hard ask), I really want to get to a rated show on him. Like really. I've been riding him for two and a half years and we have nothing to show for it. I mean that's not true AT ALL and I'm so so proud of how far we've come and I know that just a few months ago I was certain that he was going to be sold or thrown into pasture... but damn I just want to spend too much money on a jacket and on his memberships and on entries just to get some Training level scores on my record with his show name next to them.

I'm also really looking forward to trail riding a little bit, riding in a few clinics with trainers I haven't ridden with in years, and some more shows!

More please

2. Do you have any tips or tricks for fly control?
Not really. I just use fly spray and continually buy my destructive horse fly masks. Luckily he didn't have a fly mask until he was 4 years old, so he's kind of tolerant of the flies.


3. How often do you bathe your horse?
As often as I can, which isn't very often. Probably once a month, maybe twice. I'd love to give him more regular baths but he kind of deters me from finding the time because he immediately rolls in the dirt afterward. And I'm mostly at the barn at hours where bathing would be a little tricky.


4. Do you have any upcoming travel plans? Equine related or not?
Yes! I'm going to Washington DC for the week after Memorial day, going to Michigan in July, and going to Oregon in August. All non-horse related, unless you count high tailing it to Mackinac island less than 24 hours after landing in Marquette. Because that's for sure happening and there's nothing my siblings or SO can do about it.

Horse related travel plans include just more trips off the property once we figure out what is going on. The only big horsey travel plan I might do is drag TC up to Davis for a Jeremy Steinberg clinic in either August or October. Though honestly that's looking like it might not happen given that I want to show more than I want to clinic and my home instructor is honestly just as good as he is.

More visits here too

5. What is your favorite way to beat the heat?
I'm all for riding early in the morning or late at night, which my work schedule requires anyway. When I was a trainer and was working outside all the time, we used to cold hose our heads before riding, it was disgusting but man it felt amazing. Also save the hot horses for when it's hot and ride the lazy ones early in the morning when they're a bit fresh.


6. Do you do anything to prevent your horse from sun bleaching?
I try to hose him down and then spray him with coat sunscreen when he sweats, but like right now it's hard to do it because it's still a little cold at night to hose down.


7. How hot is too hot for you to ride?
Honestly I'll ride in any dry heat. If it's slightly humid though, I'd rather die than go outside.


8. How important is sun protection for you riding or just in general?
Pretty important since I burn relatively easily. I wear sun shirts and have sunscreen at the barn that I put on if I forget to wear one (or get frustrated and take it off in favor of a tank top).

Sun shirt and covered arena ftw

9. Have you ever gone swimming with your horse?
No but I desperately want to swim with TC this summer because he's an old pro at it.


10. What's on your summer wish list?
I have a few on my needs list- I need to get a damn new jacket because the only thing I have that fits me is my shad and that's super inappropriate at Training level. I also need to buy a lot of memberships for us so that knocks out the entire rest of my shopping list. High up on my wish list is a new browband for TC and a new snaffle bridle because my 15 year old one is disintegrating.