It’s Been A While

We have been busy around the farm getting ready for the warmer weather and hopefully more riding. There have been a lot of projects to keep us busy. We had a line of new fencing installed down one side of the farm. This particular side of the farm is on a well-traveled road and we just feel better that the horses are safer with an extra fence to shield them from the traffic.  In the past we have had people stop and feed them, which I don’t mind really, except I don’t want to have anyone get hurt. Having the extra fence also helps keep the garbage in one area. The slobs around here throw all kinds of cans and paper bags out their windows when they drive past the farm, which inevitably winds up in the pastures. Nice. Then we have to go out and pick it all up; it’s like being on a prison chain gang cleaning up the highways.

The double-fence also provides a wide alleyway that will let us ride without being harassed by the herd.  It has happened in the past and it’s not a lot of fun.  The alleyway now leads to a gate into the trails in the woods and another gate leads into the grass dressage arena under the trees on the hill.  By the time we walk up to the arena it’s has the added benefit of being a good warm up for us.  I like riding up there in the summer, as it’s a lot cooler.   We haven’t had a chance to ride there yet. As soon as the fence was up, we had a lot of rain and some hurricane force winds that knocked trees down which blocked the alleyway and took out two sections of the new fence…of course it did! Now we’re waiting for someone to actually show up and fix the fence and cut the trees off of it.

New fencing and ,yes, I have to power wash the old fence! That's on the list...

We replaced the split rail in this arena, seems there are a lot of resident beavers who like to snack on wood sometimes! They absolutely wrecked it.

They've got a tough life

As for the herd, during the month of May we started the horses back to work with a gradual training program.  They had not worked basically for the entire winter, so we felt it wasn’t fair to them to drag them out and just hop on and expect them to be fit and ready to go.  They’ve sort of been couch potatoes stuffing their faces with hay most of the winter. So, the plan was for all of them to have as many short longeing sessions as they needed before they were fit enough to ride.  Then we planned to saddle up and see what they’re ready for. 

" Blue"

Blue celebrated his 23^rd birthday March 26^th with carrots and Stud Muffins. He’s now officially the oldest guy in the barn.  Blue is still in very good condition and can benefit from some light work.  Saturday, I longed him at the walk in one direction and then we reversed directions. He went around twice then took himself into a trot then down to the walk, stopped and came in to tell me, “that’s a wrap for today, lady.”  You gotta love him. He probably thought I forgot to longe the trot in the first direction, so he’d have to do it for me. I think he figures I could use some advanced schooling and he’s just the guy to show me how!

I did take him for a walk around the arena and although he’s always good…well mostly good…he just didn’t seem to be into being ridden.  He’s got a bit of a stubborn streak and he put it to full use in counter bending and no steering.  I didn’t push it and we had a short ride.  I think he doesn’t mind longeing for a few minutes and he likes being groomed but he seems to want to punch his retirement card in my opinion.  We’ll have another discussion about it soon.

Blue & Rosie are inseparable, she's kind of a stalker, she won't leave his side

'Rosie"

Rosie has been doing very well with her get in shape program.  She’s been walking and trotting with energy and seems eager to get back to work.  She even took herself into a short canter on the longe. So I decided to ride her at the walk  a few times around the arena and she’s been a super star.  I’m also trying to get myself back in riding shape so I’ve been positioning myself in a half-seat at the walk before we even think about trotting again.  Rosie’s not the only one who could use a little conditioning after this winter!

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and we can all get back to not living in a bad “B” movie sooner than later. 

Quote For Today

Life is short.  Hug your horse.

And So It Begins…

 

Mr. Blue

"Sorry no work today can't you see I'm trying to take a nap!"

Spring is officially in the air and it’s time I started riding consistently again.  This past weekend I decided that Blue and Dusty should start getting back in shape after being virtually on vacation for the winter.  

  
Blue, who hasn’t been ridden all winter and has been an eating machine at the hay nets, is very out of shape and dare I say a little on the pudgy side. Much to his dismay that’s all about to change.  As soon as the grass comes up, Mr. Blue will be sporting a grazing muzzle.

As for riding, Blue’s definitely not a push-button pony. He knows his aids well enough.  Whether he chooses to listen is another thing entirely.  Blue is never dangerous or malicious, but he can be lazy.  And if you let him get bored he will use that excuse to amuse himself at your expense.  He also has an extensive bag of tricks in his arsenal.

As for riding this weekend, we’ve starting back slow because he is overweight and out of shape.  I didn’t want to put him on the longe because circles might be too hard on his joints right now.  Instead, we walked, working on basic steering and bending.  Blue has a tendency to become stiff and tense when the aids are applied (they mean work!) so we've decided to start from the very beginning and working on just getting him to relax and stretch rather than ball up and get ready to resist the non-work we were planning to do. 

When we first started out Blue began by counter-bending and popping his shoulder to the inside. This is his way of letting you know before you even begin that he doesn't feel like doing all of that bending and collecting hard work you probably have in mind. Little did he know I had no intention of doing any of that stuff. My plan was to beat him at his own game. He’s a very strong horse and there is no sense fighting with him. Instead, all I worked on was getting a soft, gentle bend in his neck to the inside with an opening/leading rein. I didn’t care where he went as long as he kept the bend. To avoid the temptation of neck-reining or leading him out to the rail with my outside rein, I just dropped it completely. I actually put my hand on my outside knee so I wouldn’t inadvertently use it.  There was no seat direction from me--only a relaxed following seat; no leg cues either. Just the pressure and release of the opening inside rein to guide him.
  

He corkscrewed a few times but I just led him across the arena, changed direction, etc., and eventually he caught on. He softened his entire body, stretched his head and neck down and sighed. We made a few impressive 20-meter circles with just the inside rein to steer by in either direction and ended with that for the day. I was surprised by how much riding I was able to finesse out of him with just the pressure and release of a single inside opening rein--no neck rein, no indirect rein, no special leg aids other than riding him forward, etc. By the end he was soft, relaxed through his topline, stretching down long and low, tracking up with no resistance anywhere. It was a totally new Blue.  It was surprisingly EASY!

As I said Blue knows his basic cues and if he’s being difficult I know I can make him do what I want. This year, however, I want to try a different type of riding with him.  I would rather he be light and willing, enjoy his job and look forward to our rides.  So we’re starting with the basics as if he’s a green horse and sort of re-training him to a different mindset.  It will take time and patience and I’m hoping he will enjoy his riding time more than he has in the past.  Not that he’s ever done any heavy lifting. I haven’t ridden him much at all through the years so it will be a learning experience for both of us. Who knows, he might even look forward to seeing me when I show up to ride in the future.

Until next time

Quote for Today

A horse is an animal not a machine and is only as good as it's rider.

An Interesting Weekend

Nate Longeing (April)

The weather has been just gorgeous with cooler temperatures.  I even think there are less annoying insects as a bonus.  My daughter and I had an interesting weekend riding and working with our horses:

Nate:  First candidate for a ride on Saturday was Nate.  He’s my daughter’s 17.3hh Dutch Warmblood and I consider him a little in the special category.  Once he was tacked and entered the indoor, any common sense he has pretty much flew out the window, along with his brain.  With his head up in the air, he immediately began rearing and jumping around, looking out the windows and doors.  Needless to say, he was very nervous about being in there.

He shouldn’t be.  Nate has been to numerous shows in his career and a lot of indoors.  He’s also from Holland and has ridden in airplanes on several occasions.  This horse has traveled all over Europe on trailers, planes, been ferried across the English Channel and been in more countries than I have.  Nate also spent a lot of time hacking around the Scottish countryside with my daughter.  He even used to be safe to ride out alone on trails and roads in traffic.  Yet now he’s terrified of the indoor.

She wisely decided not to ride him right away, but to let him loose to explore the indoor at his own discretion.  After some running, bucking and rearing, he decided it was okay to trot around for a while.  I was standing outside the double doors to the arena and each time he would trot towards the opening I would hold up my arms and he’d turn.  We have a longe line strung across the opening; it’s about 3’6” high.  During one of his passes, he was heading straight for me and by the look in his eye and his body language I knew he wasn’t going to stop this time.  Exit stage left,  I dove out of the way and Nate took the jump out over the longe line--magnificently, I might add.  Neck arched, legs snapped up to his chest, back rounded beautifully, his form was perfect, especially considering it's been a while since his last official jump.  He landed in the stones outside about ten feet out.  It could have been an oxer and he definitely would have cleared it.  I only wish I had a camera to record it.  Then he proceeded to canter right up the steep bank on the other side and then up the driveway, coming to stop at Dusty’s paddock to visit with her.

They stood nose-to-nose while he told her how scary it was in there and how brave he was to get out while he could.  She soothed his nerves until my daughter caught him and replaced his bridle with a halter.  Needless to say, he went back into the indoor for some easy longe work.  By the end of the session he had calmed down and was working very nicely.

I should probably mention that since Nate has respiratory issues, allergies and asthma he hasn’t really worked all summer, as the humidity makes it hard for him to breathe.  He's also been dealing from some other health issues, so has been basically retired the last few years, but seems to be doing much better lately, so we were hoping to try to get him back into some light work now that the change of weather is coming.  But it was also a bit chilly and windy Saturday morning to add to the fracas.

On Sunday, discretion was the better part of valor and he was simply longed and was much calmer.  So he’ll be longed instead of ridden for a while until he gets the used to the idea that he’s back in work and the indoor isn’t the horse eating monster he thinks it is.  And truthfully, he didn’t do himself any favors by jumping out of the arena--it just showed us that he’s still got it!

I’ll get to the rest of the horses and this past weekend in the next few post.

Until next time

Quote for Today
Been There... Jumped That!

Poor Mistreated Blue

" That's not a saddle, is it ?"

Have you ever had a horse that really despises being ridden and gives the impression he believes he is being forced against his will to do exhausting work for an excruciating period of time--even if he's only being worked lightly for an hour or so a few times a week?  Well, I do, and his name is Blue.  The worst part of this scenario is that I actually feel guilty about riding him because I know he doesn’t want me to.  He makes his feelings known by making me hike out to get him while he plays the “I can’t see or hear you game,” all the while munching away.   My other favorite is his sighing when I put the saddle on his back.  Blue can be very dramatic if I do say so myself. 

Just the other day I put Blue in the side paddock so he wouldn’t high-tail it to the back pastures.  By the time I got done with some chores, I decided not to ride because it was so hot and humid.  In other words, the governor called and he got a reprieve.  When I released him through the gate to his usual pastures, he took off at a gallop and didn’t stop until he was waaaay out back.  That certainly tells me something.  Whoopee, no riding today and I am so outta here!

The question is how do you get a horse to enjoy his job?  Personally, I think it’s just Blue’s personality.  He’s very smart, very lazy and a horse unto himself.  He seems to need no one, not even the herd.  Blue is a horse that is very comfortable with himself whether completely alone, standing in the middle of a deer herd or on the top of the manure pile in the dumpster (which I’ve seen him do.)  He seems to be oblivious to the world around him until a gate is left open, then he’ll make a beeline and be out of the gate in a flash.  So he does know what’s going on, he just doesn’t seem to care.

I’ve come up with a plan to try and interest him in working and, more importantly, enjoying himself.  From now on after our walking warm-up we’ll start right out with trotting some cavelletti because that seems to perk him up.  His ears come to attention and his pace picks up (Blue only enjoys jumping, but I’m not ready for that just yet.)  Then we’ll dispense with the trotting and canter a bit then maybe move on to some more trotting.  Of course, there can’t be two days in a row of this, so on every other day he needs to go out on a trail ride with some hacking in the field thrown in for good measure.

In my opinion it is very important to keep a horse’s work interesting.  The more Blue finds something that will challenge his mind and talent, the more he will enjoy his time with me.  If I set him up to succeed even with the smallest challenges and offer lots of praise, hopefully he’ll start to look forward to seeing me coming towards him with saddle and bridle.  Then again, we’re talking about Blue here and nothing I do may change his mind.  He was born with his own personality and set of rules to live by.

If anyone has had a horse like Blue I’d be interested to hear how you got him over his “I hate to work” attitude.

Until next time

Quote for Today

The horse thinks one thing and he who saddles him another.

  - Benjamin Franklin-

Weekend Report

" Blue "
"  How do I get myself into this stuff, I should have hidden behind the shed "

Friday was the most gorgeous day, sunny with temperatures in the 70’s.  Of course, due to prior commitments, I didn’t get to ride.  Saturday started out cold and windy with temperatures in the low 30’s.  This is the day I get to ride after not being able to mount up for over two weeks.

" If you want to ride, you better get a brush"

 Saturday

Dusty was pretty well behaved although she was a tad over-enthusiastic and had to be brought down from a trot bordering on canter more than once.  A canter would have been fine except I wasn’t exactly asking for it.  All of the horses need to be brought back slowly after a miserable winter and sporadic work.  Everyone is out of shape, including me.

Next up was Blue.  I asked my daughter to ride him first as my “crash-test dummy,” since he hasn’t been ridden all winter either.  And due to the Wild West rodeo show he put on while longeing him last week, I thought it was in my best interests to have younger bones test the waters.  Turns out he was the Blue we all know and love; he’s one of the laziest, calmest, safest horses in the barn.

" Grady "
" I'll just be good and do what you want "

Sunday

Sunday morning was also cold with temps around 20-25 to start with.  I opted to ride Blue first since you really need a lot of leg to keep him going.  Although he looks like a pudgy quarter horse (and he is at this point) Blue has a big, athletic trot and is prone to throwing you out of the saddle with every stride.  My new saddle fits him like a glove, which is good, but it is still slippery and the panels feel like stiff cardboard. I found it very hard to stay tight with my thighs and drape my lower leg with little contact and pressure.  One of my worst habits when I get tired trying to maintain the correct position is to simply stand in my stirrups, relying on them for balance.  Not the correct way to ride, but I find myself falling into this trap once in a while.

Blue is trained to do just about anything that is asked of him, but he’s no push button pony by any means.  The minute you lose a soft following contact or pull on him in any way he will pull down on you and revert to going on the forehand and relying on you to hold him up (as any horse worth his salt should.)  I was treated to this little idiosyncrasy of his while trying to keep my balance in a slippery saddle a few times. We did a lot of circles and change of bend at the walk and a few trot circles and called it a day.  He was a little winded.  Small steps are the order of the day with Blue until he’s in shape.  When I dismounted my legs were Jell-O, which later turned into outright pain.  Blue is the perfect horse for getting your legs in shape if you can take the agony.

Next I took Dusty in the arena and my daughter rode Grady.  He’s such a good guy.  Well trained and sweet. I’m of the opinion Dusty was showing off for him.  She was an angel (yes, I did just say Dusty was an angel) and never took a wrong step, but did everything asked of her.  Which leads me to believe that she knows exactly what I want, she just doesn’t do it if she’s not in the mood.

We had a good laugh when we realized that, although Grady is 18 hands and Dusty is all of 15-1 hands, she wouldn’t let Grady outdistance her.  Obviously, he’s got a huge stride and was trying hard to keep up, but even at the walk Dusty overtook him with her normal enthusiastic forward walk. 

I’m glad she was well behaved and comfortable because by now my legs were not in any sort of shape for horse antics.  Thank you Dusty.  And thank you Blue for being you.

Until next time

Quote for Today

When riding my horse I no longer have my heart in my chest, but between my knees.