Winter of Breadth

So on Tuesday I got home from a conference on the east coast. Then I rode my horse. Then I'm riding him again today before going to another conference that I'm at for the rest of the week. Oh yay. No but this one is my favorite conference of the year, so I'm stoked. Not as pleased to leave the horse again, but that's what happens.

And besides, now that it's winter time and the weather has started to turn, TC has started to get into winter-TC-mode, which I do NOT like.

I have to remember that last winter was real bad
but we somehow made it through without any
murders (horse or human)

Because of last winter, where winter-TC eventually made me too scared to ride him and made me put him up for sale several times, this winter, I want to prepare. TC is definitely very sensitive to the weather- when it's warm and sunny, he's wonderful, but when it's cold or windy, he starts to get a bit unruly. This unrulyness usually comes out in the form of bolting, though last winter he did have a brief stint of rearing (which was not very high but I also didn't push it).

TC is now living in a large paddock, which means that I don't feel as bad for him when he gets days off. He has plenty of room to trot and do a few steps of canter, plus two neighbors who he hangs out with around the water cooler. Sure, he'd be best in a large pasture with other horses to play with, but he'd also probably rip several more tendons and ligaments out of his legs if he did. Not because of anything wrong with group turnout, just because he's my horse and my horses like to hurt me emotionally and financially.

The only reason to ride every day and keep pressing along is to make progress in the dressage. After my lesson in October, my plan had been to take four lessons in November to give us a boost, then ride once or twice in December, once in January, and then go to the January show. This whole ordeal, just lessons and the show, would cost me a fair amount of money. But scores! But learning! But dressage!

But showwwinggg and getting this canter all the time!

It seemed like a good idea until the first day where it was wintery and TC decided to take off with me every few circles. I was like wow is this completely NOT FUN. I don't want to waste money on lessons and shows if the in-between (or maybe even at these events) was going to just suck. So I decided that instead, I was going to make progress in other ways.

TC is still not great about being left tied, self-loading, not being a spooky asshole, hauling to new places, standing in the trailer while it's parked, and a LOT of other stuff. He's not bad, but he's not perfect yet. He could also use a refresher on long-lining, ground driving, longeing, ground work, and I'd love to start clicker training him for real just for fun.

So this winter is going to be the winter of breadth!

It saves me a LOT of money since I'll be doing minimal lessons/clinics and no shows. It lets me have more weekends free to actually see my friends and family and hang out with Rico (who is the most fun horse ever when it's cold since it also makes him sassy). I can also like... clean my apartment and work on external projects and get all the stuff done on my to do lists.

Here are some of the things I have planned for TC...


Self Loading
TC gets in the trailer just fine, but it'd be nice to just send him in like I can send Rico in. At the last show, TC shifted weight as I was putting his lead rope through the window and smashed me against the trailer, leaving a bruise and a scrape on my arm. He didn't mean anything of it (though I did get after him a little bit because he should have felt himself start to smash me and stop rather than rub me across the door lol) but self loading would fix that for good.

COME RESCUE ME I AM BEING TAKEN
TO THE PLACE WHERE THEY MURDER
HORSES I SWEAR!

Patience
TC is NOT a patient horse (on the ground, he'll stand all day long under saddle). He wants to be the center of attention and if he's not getting attention, he will do whatever it takes to draw your eye. Any attention is good attention. At home, the attention seeking behavior is just wiggling and pawing. In new places, this is the infamous rearing while tied. He also isn't very patient in the trailer either- pawing whenever it slows down or stops. I want him to be like Kate's horses who will happily sit in the trailer for quite some time. The plan is to take him to my parent's house and either leave him tied in the trailer or tied in the cross ties while I hang out with Rico.


Bombproofing
I wasn't going to do their second clinic, but I decided that it would actually be really fun. Knowing now that TC really liked the first one, I'm really looking forward to playing with him with all the stuff again. That clinic really set me on the right path with him, showed me that he was more curious than afraid, and that if I took my time to really introduce things to him in a positive way with patience, he would stop being such a dingbat about stuff. And sure enough, his spooking really decreased after that. Still very much there... especially at home, but it decreased.

Stoked to do this again

Jumping
Well, pole work. I don't know how much I actually want to jump TC. But I do think that he should be able to trot and canter through a little pole course pretty easily as a dressage horse. Maybe jump some tiny fences. He needs to learn how to push through his back for dressage, and what better way to help him figure out how to do that than to put some shit in his way so he has to press to the fences/poles a bit. We did this last week and all he wanted to do was land off of a pole and take off with me, but we eventually did get some good moments where I could feel him actually use himself.


Ground Work & Longeing
This includes the usual ground work (stop when I stop, go when I go, etc) and longeing/long-lining/ground driving. I used to do ground work with TC every day before getting on, and he was regularly longed. But ever since summer hit, we did none of it. Now it's chilly again and I'm wondering why he's been a bit nutty? Maybe all that ground work really helped... and it's just good stuff for him to be able to do! I loved telling people that Rico could do anything, but he wasn't born that way, I was at least a little involved. So TC is going to have a few designated ground work days, especially when it's nasty out. In the mornings before work, no one is around, so I can do some ground work in the covered arena if it's raining.

It was so fun earlier this year

Clicker Training
You guys should see what Kate did with one of her horses. The horse had a very busy mind (like TC) and would get a bit anticipating/over enthused (like TC). Clicker training really helped him slow his hamsters down on their wheels and turn them into what I think I referred to at one point as beach hamsters, happy to do their jobs when necessary but mostly wanting to lounge on the beach. TC needs beach hamsters in the winter, so clicker training will hopefully help him figure out how to slow his brain down and think through problems. He's not the worst at this, but he definitely does have moments where he figures that running away with me is a good solution to problems.


I'm sure I'll come up with other ideas, but for now, this is my list. It's going to be hard to deal with the guilt of letting him come down fitness/strength wise, and I'm definitely delaying our return to the show ring since I'll be waiting for better weather to put him back into full work and then we'll have a while before we're ready for First again... but hopefully at that point, I'll have a much better horse all around. And honestly, to me, that matters so much more right now.

Hi I'd like to order one copy of this animal pls

The thing I loved most about Rico was the ability to trust him in any situation, the dressage was always secondary. With TC, because of my past, I've really put dressage first and not been able to have as much fun with him. Part of this is just who he is, part of this is his injury, and if we're being honest here, I didn't have fun with Rico in the first few years I rode him either. But I wan to put in the time to make TC a really fun all around horse, who also happens to be a great dressage horse.

So we'll see how long my idea of putting dressage on the back burner lasts. I think that the bombproofing clinic will be a good reminder of what I'm wanting to work towards this winter. And I'll talk about yesterday's ride tomorrow and get to share how the first project is going!