Well, I did a pretty thorough job with the video explaining how it went yesterday. There are a few additional things I wanted to note, though. I got to see my boys a day early because yesterday was really windy and was supposed to rain off and on. Thank goodness for an indoor arena! I was really excited to work with Flash, so I pulled him out first. I decided I wasn't going to do anything he hadn't done successfully before, so we can get back to where we were before I got Snickers and was focusing on him instead of Flash. I groomed him down really well - I think it's so funny when he feels the curry comb where his neck meets his chest, and he arches his head up and out. It seems like he really likes it! I cleaned out his feet, too - I had to pull out the clicker on his back foot, which I did second, and then he was fine for the rest of his feet. We started out with him "posing" - which he did really well! He actually kept his head a little higher, more like a dressage pose (though I don't know much about English and next to nothing about dressage, that's just the best I can describe it), which was really good. After that, we did some leading, reviewed posing for a moment, and then did some "at liberty" leading. He did so well! I'm glad he warmed up to me again so quickly :) We'll have to keep working on those and add one new thing at a time and master it before moving on. We'll do some lunging maybe next time, and then eventually ground driving again - but I can't start that for now anyway since I don't have the cavesson or surcingle yet and probably won't until next week. Hopefully my saddle stand comes soon so I can start leaving my tack at Dusty Acres instead of lugging it around in my car and carrying it to and from the barn.
Snickers did well, though we got a rough start. He was pretty worked up having four days off, especially with how windy it was. He was terrified of the garage door opening and shutting, too. Flash was nervous and backed up some, but Snickers looked terrified out of his mind and was bracing back against the hitching pole. Oh well. We lunged quite a bit and he seemed to be all over the place loping - I slowed the video down today and realized he was cross firing to the left almost constantly. (I made a video just showing this and breaking it down in slow motion to show when and how often he was doing it). I'm pretty sure I know, now what happened when I fell off - I remember he felt really funny, especially on the turns (cross firing), stuttered and I lost my seat (correcting himself), and then stopped when I lost my seat and off I went. It makes a lot of sense now. He did do a lot better under saddle, though. In the video, it doesn't look like he's cross firing at all, though he did pick up the wrong lead now and then. The only major issue we had was when I bridled him. I had the halter clipped around his neck and he threw his head off. He fought it so bad that, when I tried to put it on again, he shook his head out of the halter and was loose in the arena. I caught him pretty easily with a cookie and a lead rope. Then, I used the lead rope over his poll pulling him down and clicker training to keep his head low like we did before. I worked through him lowering his head even when my hands were messing around his ears - that's when he was throwing his head up just like before. In the end I got it on, but I wanted just to get on and ride him out since he hadn't been ridden since Monday, so I didn't really focus on making sure he was good about getting it on and off. I'll have to make sure I leave some time to focus on that soon and get him to where he was. Oh well - it just goes to show how he needs consistent work and practice!
Working with Flash:
Working with Snickers (see below for cross firing video):
Snickers cross-firing:
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
A week off
I haven't gotten to ride since Monday and I don't think I will until Sunday so the boys are getting a week off. I've been at an out-of-town work conference since Tuesday morning and will finally get home tonight around midnight. I have horse lessons all day tomorrow and then the SWIT&DR banquet, so I likely will not see the boys until Sunday, even though I have a lot to do then as well. It's been a tough week because, not only do I not get to work with them which I have done almost every day for the last couple of weeks, but also because Flash and I left off on a bad note and I still have his raw lips in the back of my mind and hanging over of my head. However, I now have a lunge cavesson and a surcingle on the way to redo the ground driving. First, we're going to take some steps back and work on renewing the relationship and eagerness he had with me before. Once we're back on track, we'll move into ground driving with just the cavesson and surcingle, and eventually add the bridle and bit back in, but not for a while. I'm excitd to get him working again and making progress. And having a better relationship again like we were having before.
I left a message on the group for Dusty Acres for someone to please check on Snickers and Flash, and someone from there messaged back as well as Steve, the other owner, who said I could just text him. I did yesterday and he texted me back today to tell me they were fine and the winds we were supposed to get yesterday never came. It feels good to know my babies are in good hands :) I've been very happy with Dusty Acres!
It'll be cool to go to the banquet tomorrow and meet everyone in SWIT&DR and see all the awards and achievements for last year :) I've eaten out at this conference all week, so we'll see how the dinner works out, but oh well. It should be good :) Can't wait to be home and see my boys (incuding Trevor!)
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Poor Flash :(
Gah, today was both frustrating and encouraging. I'm really upset about Flash at the moment. I'm getting ahead of myself, though...
Earlier I ran by Legacy to pick up my grooming stuff and got the Oster kit (I love the neon green color!) and also picked up a small stiff brush to do their faces (the Oster brushes have a smaller end so I can "finish" their faces with that end if I need to), a shed flower in place of a fine curry comb, a matching green sweat scraper, and a bright blue lead rope to replace the stiff black one I got with Snickers, which I'll use as a backup. Shelley also brought her purple leggings and sold them to me for $20 - I'll still need to get some thinner ones for summer, but I felt like I got a pretty good deal :)
Trevor had work off for President's day and said he'd come with me. He doesn't like the dirt or animals much, though, so he wasn't seem to excited on the way there. However, it wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be lol. When I got there, Snickers and Flash were laying down near each other. By the time we got all the tack inside, They'd gotten up. Because of how Sunday went, I decided to go ahead and work with Flash first. I brushed him down really well and cleaned out his feet - he seems to really enjoy the coarse curry comb and the brushes I got are awesome! I'm very happy with them. However, ground driving went even worse, I think. I had Trevor record some and then he stepped in and just held the lines as I led Flash, but that didn't seem to help at all. Then I got a look at his lips and thank goodness - they were all raw and a little bloody. That was it - no more. Having his lips look like that and having him just struggle was simply not worth it. I'll have to find a new way to go about this. I immediately took the bridle off and unhooked him from the long reins. He followed me back to the hitching post alright, but he still seemed off, kind of in the off put way he's been since I started spending more time with Snickers. Plus he probably didn't feel very good. We did a little bit of following and posing, which he did all right, but not as enthusiastically or well as before. Even though we hadn't done a lot of physical stuff, he was really sweaty so I think he was stressed out from the ground driving. I felt really bad - I could have both cried and kicked myself for the way his lips looked :( They'll heal just fine over the next few days while I'm out of town, but I'm sure they hurt pretty bad :( I brushed him down and gave him some treats, then turned him loose.
While I was working with Flash, Trevor explored the stalls in the arena to look at the horses. He said he wanted to see how big they are. I showed him the cool looking horse (I looked up the breed and it's similar to a Mongolian, but I can't remember the name off the top of my head). The horse next door to him put its lips up at Trevor andI pointed it out and told him it was smiling at him. That was pretty funny :)
Working with Snickers went really well. He was a lot slower than yesterday, both lunging and riding. It was nice to show that off to Trevor, who recored some of that as well. He collected andbowed his head really well, and I think he's even starting to hold it there! I only rode him for about 20-30 minutes, mostly trotting and some loping. It was snowing and he shied away from it coming through one of the doors, so we walked through the snow and out the door and then back in. He's doing a really good job of focusing when I ask him to and proceeding, though cautiously, through what he's afraid of. Good boy :) Our relationship is definitely going in the right direction. For his cool down we took a short ride around the barn. When I took him back out to the pasture, I went and put and gave Flash a few more treats.
I had tried to wear the half chaps, but realized they were in a tall size ratehr than regular. So I ended up stopping by and trading those for some Small regulars - yay! They fit well, and I will definitely wear them from now on. My legs go so raw from those dang leathers! Oh well, I'll live and I could still ride, though I wore skinny jeans to keep them from rubbing up on my leg this time. I'll have to wear Shelly's leggings and the half chaps next time :)
I'm going to start back at square one with Flash when I got home. We're going to get back to all the clicker things he was already doing so well and rebuild that bond, because I feel like I've undone it since I got Snickers. I don't regret getting him - I just need to focus on Flash as well. It makes it a lot easier to have them right there, too, because I simply didn't have the time or the means to work with BOTH of them before, just one or the other. Hopefully it won't take much to get us back on track again. And his poor mouth will be better :(
Monday, February 20, 2012
Lunging, Ground Driving, and Head Lowering
I spend a good four hours with Flash and Snickers yesterday. Susan turned them out on the pasture with the rest of the herd Saturday, so I was prepared for them having plenty of bites and still working out the pecking order. However, when I got there, I was very pleased to see them eating side by side :) I watched them for a while, and it seems that while Flash is at the bottom of the pecking order (no surprise there), Snickers doesn't take crap from the other horses and is somewhat dominant. What's nice about that is, since Snickers and Flash like one another, Flash is like his little buddy and is fairly safe as long as he's next to Snickers :) Yay!
I was going to ride Snickers first and work with Flash second, thinking that Flash would be easier, but since they were just fed and I wanted to do some clicker work with Flash, I grabbed him so he'd still be hungry. Mr. Flash has gotten quite attached to Snickers and visa versa haha. They kept whinnying back and forth and you can hear them both quite well because the barn really isn't that far from the pasture. Anyway, I groomed Flash pretty well and combed out his mane and tail. I think there are more dead ticks coming out, but if there are still some left when I get back in town at the end of this week, I'm going to spray him down again. Since he's such a fluff ball, I may just have to wait until he sheds out some, especially on his chest. Plus, that'll make them a lot easier to see! I'm going to get the grooming kit I want today and I'm way excited about that. Brushing him down yesterday made me want it that much more :)
I picked up a lunge line Saturday so we worked with that afterward. I got him going pretty good to the left, even loping, but he has a hard time going to the right. I kept on having to shorten the rope up and pull his head right and tap him to get him to move, but eventually I just gave up. To the left, though, he's getting better at loping when I tell him to! I was making him lope for a while then clicking, rather than simply clicking for loping right when I told him to. I think he's starting to get it. I'm hoping he does before I get on (this summer??), but if not, maybe it'll be easier then to get him to respond to cues? Or maybe the ground driving will help - it sure should with stopping and backing!
Then on to ground driving, which is what the majority of the video is about because we had a hard time getting going. He fought it quite a bit and had a hard time, but we never got into any real trouble. It was just hard seing him frustrated and confused, especially when he got all the way turned around facing me and so the line was pulling on his back legs. He backed quite a bit, so I know he's got an impressive back haha! The toughest part was just getting him to go straight forward so I could give him slight cues to turn back and forth - he kept getting turned around and confused so I had to keep turning him back and forth and he never really got the "reward" of just being able to move forward. I saw a video for clicker training where someone walks with a target in front and clicks and treats and you phase in the cues for turning and whatnot, but I unfortunately just have me and clicking from behind and not having a target to follow didn't seem to work very well and I eventually just didn't worry about the clicker, especially since about the same time I grabbed the lunge whip to try and simply move him forward, which worked decently. Toward the end he seemed to get it all right. I was glad no one was in the arena at that point because we really needed the whole thing! Trevor is coming out with me today and said he might be able to lead with the target but couldn't feed him, so maybe that will help and I can just click and treat. However, I think he'll probably still be nervous and I told him that if he's nervous at all, I don't want him to worry about helping since that will just make Flash nervous anyway. Anyway, after forty minutes of semi difficult ground driving, Flash was done and I brushed him down. Between that and the lunging, he'd worked up quite a sweat and was ready for a break. I'm going to try to have a shorter session today and not worry about lunging so much since I really want him to focus on this ground driving.
Next was Snickers, who decided to walk away from me at first. It's hard to catch him sometimes because he wants to sniff and greet me so he's directly in front of me, but backs up if I move toward him so I can't get to his neck. It didn't take me more than a minute or two to catch him, though - I brought him a handful of hay to distract him (even though he didn't eat it) while I moved to his neck and got the lead rope around. What's nice about having these two is, so far, even though I can have a difficult time with one, the other one makes up for it and works really well, which is what happened yesterday so I'm glad Snickers ended up second. I brushed him down and lunged him really well - he's a super easy lunger! And he REALLY moves at that trot haha. It's faster than Rocket's lope I'm sure, so I'll have to really get comfortable on it. Seeing him move out like that made me want to focus just on getting him soft instead of slowing him down, because that's how he needs to move for endurance anyway. I should be focusing on that first, anyway, and we can worry about slowing down for pleasure later. Just the basics for now! Come to think of it, we didn't work on getting Rocket to slow down until much later and it took a while when we did. Anyway, maybe because he was out of a stall and able to move around, because he'd been worked there before pretty hard, there wasn't any horses there, it was the afternoon, or whatever, but he was much quieter. I brushed him down and saddled up, and off we went! We walked around the whole arena and he still wanted to look at EVERYTHING but was much less spooky. (He did spook a few times later on, but that was because something moved or flew out or a new noise and then settled down right away). We did a LOT of trotting and he hasn't forgotten his draw rein lesson from Friday, and neither have I. I worked on posting and was a lot more controlled (though I still feel like I'm moving around more than I want to), so I was able to hold his head tight and then release when he dropped it, which he did consistently. He started out really fast and slowed down more toward the end (tired much?), but I worried more about his head than anything. We did lope a decent amount to, and I'm really trying to get my seat for that. He switches leads really easily, though not as consistently as I'd like, so I'll have to keep giving big cues with my weight and reigns like I do with Rocket. It's just hard when he's moving so FAST!! Oh well, we're getting there. I was very happy with our ride :) We did a lot of small loping circles to slow down, too, and even worked so hard my saddle started slipping, but he stood still for me while I readjusted - thank goodness! That's something I really want to get him good at for the endurance trail.
To cool down, we took a ride out and about Dusty Acres. It was probably just because he was tired, but he did a good job staying relatively relaxed and focused on me. We rode past Flash twice (who nickered at us both times!) and all the way around the barn. Then we went a little down the road and found the BLM access, which we rode for a little ways (not out of sight of the barn though), and then back. He really impressed me and I'm very excited about working with him on trails, but after my fall off him, I got a bit of a reality check and would rather not go by myself. I'll figure that out when the time comes, though. I'm a little nervous about trotting on the trails due to all the holes, so I'll have to do some exploring and get familiar with where it would be safe to trot. Most impressive, though, was that he was a little nervous about a giant tumbleweed sitting in the middle of the trail and a very narrow gate at the barn with a big, bright coil of wire and some other stuff sitting around it, but with a little patience and prompting, he walked past them just fine - we even walked past the tumbleweed a few more times and it didn't bother him at all after that first time!
Well, that's about it - I have a decently long video since I recorded all the ground driving work with Flash - I cut out anything you couldn't see too well but that's it. Hopefully he does better today and I'll have a little better lighting for recording. This way I can look back and see the improvement - hopefully even a little today since it won't be brand new and (maybe) I'll have Trevor's help to give him a direction to go. We'll see! I gotta go do some work now so I'll have time to get my grooming set and go ride. I really want to get it in before leaving tomorrow, since I won't be back until VERY late Friday! It'll likely be a week before I can ride again :( Oh well. Later!
I was going to ride Snickers first and work with Flash second, thinking that Flash would be easier, but since they were just fed and I wanted to do some clicker work with Flash, I grabbed him so he'd still be hungry. Mr. Flash has gotten quite attached to Snickers and visa versa haha. They kept whinnying back and forth and you can hear them both quite well because the barn really isn't that far from the pasture. Anyway, I groomed Flash pretty well and combed out his mane and tail. I think there are more dead ticks coming out, but if there are still some left when I get back in town at the end of this week, I'm going to spray him down again. Since he's such a fluff ball, I may just have to wait until he sheds out some, especially on his chest. Plus, that'll make them a lot easier to see! I'm going to get the grooming kit I want today and I'm way excited about that. Brushing him down yesterday made me want it that much more :)
I picked up a lunge line Saturday so we worked with that afterward. I got him going pretty good to the left, even loping, but he has a hard time going to the right. I kept on having to shorten the rope up and pull his head right and tap him to get him to move, but eventually I just gave up. To the left, though, he's getting better at loping when I tell him to! I was making him lope for a while then clicking, rather than simply clicking for loping right when I told him to. I think he's starting to get it. I'm hoping he does before I get on (this summer??), but if not, maybe it'll be easier then to get him to respond to cues? Or maybe the ground driving will help - it sure should with stopping and backing!
Then on to ground driving, which is what the majority of the video is about because we had a hard time getting going. He fought it quite a bit and had a hard time, but we never got into any real trouble. It was just hard seing him frustrated and confused, especially when he got all the way turned around facing me and so the line was pulling on his back legs. He backed quite a bit, so I know he's got an impressive back haha! The toughest part was just getting him to go straight forward so I could give him slight cues to turn back and forth - he kept getting turned around and confused so I had to keep turning him back and forth and he never really got the "reward" of just being able to move forward. I saw a video for clicker training where someone walks with a target in front and clicks and treats and you phase in the cues for turning and whatnot, but I unfortunately just have me and clicking from behind and not having a target to follow didn't seem to work very well and I eventually just didn't worry about the clicker, especially since about the same time I grabbed the lunge whip to try and simply move him forward, which worked decently. Toward the end he seemed to get it all right. I was glad no one was in the arena at that point because we really needed the whole thing! Trevor is coming out with me today and said he might be able to lead with the target but couldn't feed him, so maybe that will help and I can just click and treat. However, I think he'll probably still be nervous and I told him that if he's nervous at all, I don't want him to worry about helping since that will just make Flash nervous anyway. Anyway, after forty minutes of semi difficult ground driving, Flash was done and I brushed him down. Between that and the lunging, he'd worked up quite a sweat and was ready for a break. I'm going to try to have a shorter session today and not worry about lunging so much since I really want him to focus on this ground driving.
Next was Snickers, who decided to walk away from me at first. It's hard to catch him sometimes because he wants to sniff and greet me so he's directly in front of me, but backs up if I move toward him so I can't get to his neck. It didn't take me more than a minute or two to catch him, though - I brought him a handful of hay to distract him (even though he didn't eat it) while I moved to his neck and got the lead rope around. What's nice about having these two is, so far, even though I can have a difficult time with one, the other one makes up for it and works really well, which is what happened yesterday so I'm glad Snickers ended up second. I brushed him down and lunged him really well - he's a super easy lunger! And he REALLY moves at that trot haha. It's faster than Rocket's lope I'm sure, so I'll have to really get comfortable on it. Seeing him move out like that made me want to focus just on getting him soft instead of slowing him down, because that's how he needs to move for endurance anyway. I should be focusing on that first, anyway, and we can worry about slowing down for pleasure later. Just the basics for now! Come to think of it, we didn't work on getting Rocket to slow down until much later and it took a while when we did. Anyway, maybe because he was out of a stall and able to move around, because he'd been worked there before pretty hard, there wasn't any horses there, it was the afternoon, or whatever, but he was much quieter. I brushed him down and saddled up, and off we went! We walked around the whole arena and he still wanted to look at EVERYTHING but was much less spooky. (He did spook a few times later on, but that was because something moved or flew out or a new noise and then settled down right away). We did a LOT of trotting and he hasn't forgotten his draw rein lesson from Friday, and neither have I. I worked on posting and was a lot more controlled (though I still feel like I'm moving around more than I want to), so I was able to hold his head tight and then release when he dropped it, which he did consistently. He started out really fast and slowed down more toward the end (tired much?), but I worried more about his head than anything. We did lope a decent amount to, and I'm really trying to get my seat for that. He switches leads really easily, though not as consistently as I'd like, so I'll have to keep giving big cues with my weight and reigns like I do with Rocket. It's just hard when he's moving so FAST!! Oh well, we're getting there. I was very happy with our ride :) We did a lot of small loping circles to slow down, too, and even worked so hard my saddle started slipping, but he stood still for me while I readjusted - thank goodness! That's something I really want to get him good at for the endurance trail.
To cool down, we took a ride out and about Dusty Acres. It was probably just because he was tired, but he did a good job staying relatively relaxed and focused on me. We rode past Flash twice (who nickered at us both times!) and all the way around the barn. Then we went a little down the road and found the BLM access, which we rode for a little ways (not out of sight of the barn though), and then back. He really impressed me and I'm very excited about working with him on trails, but after my fall off him, I got a bit of a reality check and would rather not go by myself. I'll figure that out when the time comes, though. I'm a little nervous about trotting on the trails due to all the holes, so I'll have to do some exploring and get familiar with where it would be safe to trot. Most impressive, though, was that he was a little nervous about a giant tumbleweed sitting in the middle of the trail and a very narrow gate at the barn with a big, bright coil of wire and some other stuff sitting around it, but with a little patience and prompting, he walked past them just fine - we even walked past the tumbleweed a few more times and it didn't bother him at all after that first time!
Well, that's about it - I have a decently long video since I recorded all the ground driving work with Flash - I cut out anything you couldn't see too well but that's it. Hopefully he does better today and I'll have a little better lighting for recording. This way I can look back and see the improvement - hopefully even a little today since it won't be brand new and (maybe) I'll have Trevor's help to give him a direction to go. We'll see! I gotta go do some work now so I'll have time to get my grooming set and go ride. I really want to get it in before leaving tomorrow, since I won't be back until VERY late Friday! It'll likely be a week before I can ride again :( Oh well. Later!
Friday, February 17, 2012
My personal playground!
It's been a good couple of days for horses :) Thank goodness, after all the stuff last week!
Since last Saturday, I've was trying to find a new place to keep Snickers and Flash. I posted a couple of things on the bulletin boards for the Meetup group as well as SWIT&DR. I didn't get any replies from SWIT&DR, but I got a couple of responses from the Meetup group. One of them recommended checking out Dusty Acres, and I called them that night. They have pasture for $105/mo (cheapest I found!), three round pens, an outdoor arena, and even an indoor arena! Plus, it's got direct BLM access, so I could trail ride whenever I wanted to, though it's mostly just flat desert. But it looked pretty good! Susan, the owner, was going to come Tuesday (the next day) to pick up my boys! However, she ended up running late and I has a bit of a tight schedule, so she came and got them after my lessons Wednesday. Turns out her stablehand, Oscar, is a guy I worked with when I was mucking stalls when I was 15 haha. Small world! But anyway, things worked out really well. She even picked up my strangles vaccine for me and is going to do their vaccinations. The "resident vet" is actually my vet, Doc Woodington - he makes regular trips out there to do stuff for a lot of the boarders all at once and I got on his list for shots on March 4. Susan also took the rest of my hay - a ton and a half - to pay for the first month and a half for boarding, so that was really good. She came and got it tonight :)
I didn't actually go out to see Dusty Acres until last night, a day after they brought Snickers and Flash there. They put them each in their own outdoor stall for now so they could get settled in, and she's going to turn them out in the pasture with other horses tomorrow. I walked flash around the indoor arena and of course he was fine. Snickers did better than I expected him to, but was still a little spooky (little for him haha). I did end up riding him, briefly in the arena, then down the round pens, and we did a little work in the roundpen. As I was making my way around I asked some of the other boarders about where stuff was and how things worked, and I was still a little confused so I called Susan that evening. Turns out I'll need to get all my own stuff, like brushes, a lunge whip, a saddle stand, etc. But that's ok, they're not all that expensive. At least now I know where I'm at!
I went out there again today and spent a lot of time on Snickers. It was about to get dark just when I got there - I love having a lit indoor arena! I was able to ride until well past dark - I'll just need to get a flash light for walking the horses back and forth from the pasture because it's very dark back there. One benefit I didn't think of with boarding was having other people around to help me figure stuff out with the boys. I was struggling to keep my seat on Snickers in the English saddle and getting him to be soft and drop his head at the same time, but there was a girl there, Stevie, that offered to help. She traded me horses and set up my reins like draw reins and worked with him to drop his head. She did a really good job with me and showed me how to hold his head and post. She changed the reins back to normal and showed me a little more, then traded me back. Snickers and I did a lot better after that. I'm going to have to get used to his faster movement (at least for now) and post, but once I get that down, we'll do pretty well together. I was really glad for her help because it could have been pretty frustrating working with him without it.
Snickers does need to calm down, still. Maybe it'll help to have him out in pasture so he can get some more energy out, but we'll see. Definitely some consistent work though! I did work with Flash, too. I was just going to brush him, but since he's been cooped up in a stall I lunged him on the lead rope. I'm going to need to get a lunge line so that I can lunge in the arena after dark. For his first time lunging on a line, he did excellent and figured it out pretty quick :) He was really calm the whole time, though Snickers was whinnying over and over and Flash was winnying back quite a bit - I'm glad they like each other and are excited to see me when I come :) Hopefully that means they'll be easy to catch even when they're in the pasture! Anyway, after I exercised him some I brushed him down really well and took him back to his stall. I'm hoping to get a chance to go see them tomorrow again, but if not, I'll have all Sunday afternoon since I got it off :)
There were two more major events this week. First, on Monday, I went off a horse for the first time in years! I was loping on Snickers in the arena, and he felt really funny under me. I don't think he bucked or anything, but something he did (I'm thinking he slipped) unseated me, and then he stopped cold, and without my seat I went right over the front and landed on my left side. He'd turned right so he didn't come anywhere near me and just stood on the other side of the arena until I came and got him. It took me a bit cuz I was winded pretty bad. The marks on the ground looked pretty funny because you could see the "slip" skid mark, the dead stop marks side by side, and then my body print all in a row. Of course, it was the day my camcorder was dead and the first time I rode him without a helmet. I'm not going to ride him without the helmet anymore! Especially since this was all in Melinda's Western saddle that I stick in really well (usually!) and now I'm in the English that I'm much less more unstable in. It's a good point to tell my students, too, why we don't lope! It's so much easier to have something happen! But oh well, I'm not sore anymore haha. Though it really sucked to get the sand out of my eyes during class Monday night! and my arm... and cheek... and ear..... and everything else on my left side....
The other thing that happened is way exciting - I sold my piano! So now I have the money for my endurance stuff! I called Shelley at Legacy Thursday and, since she was going home before I could get there, we met today to get all my "starter stuff" for endurance. I got straps for my stirrups, a full bridle and reins set that's way cute with flowers and everything, a lunge line, a girth strap, shin guard things that I have to wear, a martingale for training, soft cotton roping reins for endurance..... And I'm sure a few other things. I ended up having to exchange the straps for longer ones later and returning the roping reigns because I'm getting a blue pad (they don't have purple) and I want to get blue reins to match. So they're ordering me blue reins, a blue pad, and a sponge. We decided to hold off on the heart monitor. I'm going to take the martingale back tomorrow, too, since it was $100 and it seems that draw reigns will work really well. For now, I'd rather spend that money on something else - like grooming supplies, saddle rack and the other stuff I need now that I'm all on my own, and a pack for the back of my saddle! However, since it's my birthday tomorrow, I'm going to have to wait to buy anything else so Trevor has a chance to buy my gift haha. I'll go back and get the tack set and whatnot soon, though, if he doesn't get them for me. I just thought I'd give him a chance haha. Anyway, Shelley was awesome and spent an hour and a half with me today picking out tack. She gave me a couple of hugs when we were done and told me how excited she was for me :) I can't wait to get my new pad and matching reins, and especially to get going on endurance!
Anyway, so that's about it! It was a good week, and I really feel like I've got my own little playground at Dusty Acres with my two boys that are everything I could ask for (especially with my budget). I can ride anywhere and do anything, and I've got two very different horses to both challenge me and to enjoy myself with :) Things are good!
Since last Saturday, I've was trying to find a new place to keep Snickers and Flash. I posted a couple of things on the bulletin boards for the Meetup group as well as SWIT&DR. I didn't get any replies from SWIT&DR, but I got a couple of responses from the Meetup group. One of them recommended checking out Dusty Acres, and I called them that night. They have pasture for $105/mo (cheapest I found!), three round pens, an outdoor arena, and even an indoor arena! Plus, it's got direct BLM access, so I could trail ride whenever I wanted to, though it's mostly just flat desert. But it looked pretty good! Susan, the owner, was going to come Tuesday (the next day) to pick up my boys! However, she ended up running late and I has a bit of a tight schedule, so she came and got them after my lessons Wednesday. Turns out her stablehand, Oscar, is a guy I worked with when I was mucking stalls when I was 15 haha. Small world! But anyway, things worked out really well. She even picked up my strangles vaccine for me and is going to do their vaccinations. The "resident vet" is actually my vet, Doc Woodington - he makes regular trips out there to do stuff for a lot of the boarders all at once and I got on his list for shots on March 4. Susan also took the rest of my hay - a ton and a half - to pay for the first month and a half for boarding, so that was really good. She came and got it tonight :)
I didn't actually go out to see Dusty Acres until last night, a day after they brought Snickers and Flash there. They put them each in their own outdoor stall for now so they could get settled in, and she's going to turn them out in the pasture with other horses tomorrow. I walked flash around the indoor arena and of course he was fine. Snickers did better than I expected him to, but was still a little spooky (little for him haha). I did end up riding him, briefly in the arena, then down the round pens, and we did a little work in the roundpen. As I was making my way around I asked some of the other boarders about where stuff was and how things worked, and I was still a little confused so I called Susan that evening. Turns out I'll need to get all my own stuff, like brushes, a lunge whip, a saddle stand, etc. But that's ok, they're not all that expensive. At least now I know where I'm at!
I went out there again today and spent a lot of time on Snickers. It was about to get dark just when I got there - I love having a lit indoor arena! I was able to ride until well past dark - I'll just need to get a flash light for walking the horses back and forth from the pasture because it's very dark back there. One benefit I didn't think of with boarding was having other people around to help me figure stuff out with the boys. I was struggling to keep my seat on Snickers in the English saddle and getting him to be soft and drop his head at the same time, but there was a girl there, Stevie, that offered to help. She traded me horses and set up my reins like draw reins and worked with him to drop his head. She did a really good job with me and showed me how to hold his head and post. She changed the reins back to normal and showed me a little more, then traded me back. Snickers and I did a lot better after that. I'm going to have to get used to his faster movement (at least for now) and post, but once I get that down, we'll do pretty well together. I was really glad for her help because it could have been pretty frustrating working with him without it.
Snickers does need to calm down, still. Maybe it'll help to have him out in pasture so he can get some more energy out, but we'll see. Definitely some consistent work though! I did work with Flash, too. I was just going to brush him, but since he's been cooped up in a stall I lunged him on the lead rope. I'm going to need to get a lunge line so that I can lunge in the arena after dark. For his first time lunging on a line, he did excellent and figured it out pretty quick :) He was really calm the whole time, though Snickers was whinnying over and over and Flash was winnying back quite a bit - I'm glad they like each other and are excited to see me when I come :) Hopefully that means they'll be easy to catch even when they're in the pasture! Anyway, after I exercised him some I brushed him down really well and took him back to his stall. I'm hoping to get a chance to go see them tomorrow again, but if not, I'll have all Sunday afternoon since I got it off :)
There were two more major events this week. First, on Monday, I went off a horse for the first time in years! I was loping on Snickers in the arena, and he felt really funny under me. I don't think he bucked or anything, but something he did (I'm thinking he slipped) unseated me, and then he stopped cold, and without my seat I went right over the front and landed on my left side. He'd turned right so he didn't come anywhere near me and just stood on the other side of the arena until I came and got him. It took me a bit cuz I was winded pretty bad. The marks on the ground looked pretty funny because you could see the "slip" skid mark, the dead stop marks side by side, and then my body print all in a row. Of course, it was the day my camcorder was dead and the first time I rode him without a helmet. I'm not going to ride him without the helmet anymore! Especially since this was all in Melinda's Western saddle that I stick in really well (usually!) and now I'm in the English that I'm much less more unstable in. It's a good point to tell my students, too, why we don't lope! It's so much easier to have something happen! But oh well, I'm not sore anymore haha. Though it really sucked to get the sand out of my eyes during class Monday night! and my arm... and cheek... and ear..... and everything else on my left side....
The other thing that happened is way exciting - I sold my piano! So now I have the money for my endurance stuff! I called Shelley at Legacy Thursday and, since she was going home before I could get there, we met today to get all my "starter stuff" for endurance. I got straps for my stirrups, a full bridle and reins set that's way cute with flowers and everything, a lunge line, a girth strap, shin guard things that I have to wear, a martingale for training, soft cotton roping reins for endurance..... And I'm sure a few other things. I ended up having to exchange the straps for longer ones later and returning the roping reigns because I'm getting a blue pad (they don't have purple) and I want to get blue reins to match. So they're ordering me blue reins, a blue pad, and a sponge. We decided to hold off on the heart monitor. I'm going to take the martingale back tomorrow, too, since it was $100 and it seems that draw reigns will work really well. For now, I'd rather spend that money on something else - like grooming supplies, saddle rack and the other stuff I need now that I'm all on my own, and a pack for the back of my saddle! However, since it's my birthday tomorrow, I'm going to have to wait to buy anything else so Trevor has a chance to buy my gift haha. I'll go back and get the tack set and whatnot soon, though, if he doesn't get them for me. I just thought I'd give him a chance haha. Anyway, Shelley was awesome and spent an hour and a half with me today picking out tack. She gave me a couple of hugs when we were done and told me how excited she was for me :) I can't wait to get my new pad and matching reins, and especially to get going on endurance!
Anyway, so that's about it! It was a good week, and I really feel like I've got my own little playground at Dusty Acres with my two boys that are everything I could ask for (especially with my budget). I can ride anywhere and do anything, and I've got two very different horses to both challenge me and to enjoy myself with :) Things are good!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Good rides :)
I did ride yesterday and today, and even have a movie to show what we did today. Yesterday we did really well in the round pen. His head was low and I got a really nice trot out of him, but he seemed to have a difficult time loping, so we moved into the "arena" (it's very small, but good enough, especially for lessons and with a new horse!). My dad came out and watch, but of course that was right after we moved into the arena. Snickers didn't do so great in there, but it was a new environment. His head was higher and he was having a hard time figuring out where he was supposed to go. Then, when I asked him to lope, he still had a hard time. The lightbulb went on for me when my dad said he didn't want to stay on the left lead - one side of the arena isn't straight and actually makes a sort of serpentine, so he was stuttering and trying to change leads to accommodate it (my dad's horses, two quarter horses and a paint, just stay on the correct lead and don't bother switching). We did small circles for a little bit instead. Then, I asked him to go the entire length of the arena, but we cut the corners on the crooked side short so he was, in fact, loping straight rather than crooked along the rail. That helped a lot, and by the time we were done, he had calmed down and figured things out a bit more.
Today, we stayed in the round pen. I didn't want to get into a pulling match with him or ride him with heavy hands to get him to drop his head consistently (I felt like I was heading that direction yesterday), so I decided to break out the clicker. It took him a few times to figure out what was going on (which you can see in the video when he backs up after he gets his treat), but it really worked well for him. Eventually, he seemed to grow tired of the treats, so I just threw the bag on the ground and we rode from there. I figured if he got the cue and wanted to respond, then that's what we would do and we didn't need the treats. It worked out pretty well and we had an excellent ride. When I did ask him to lope (still in the round pen), he had no troubles and actually gave me a very beautiful and collected lope with his head tucked. I didn't even have to ask him to collect or drop his head. I don't know if that's just from previous training, his personality, or if he just figured out what I wanted more or less, but it was great!
He was good and sweaty when we were done, so I'm glad he got a good workout. I took him back to Jill's (no troubles with spooking along the road, or really at all anymore!) and fed them all. Snickers and Flash were sharing a bin of hay when I left - I'm glad they're getting along :) Now that Flash likes the peppermint cookies too, I feed them both cookies, one in each hand, when I go over there.
So all in all a good day :) I'm going to work more with Snickers to really emphasize keeping his head low and maybe a little more precision for where I want him to carry his head, but that part doesn't really matter much to me. It just looks pretty when he carries his neck all arched :) Next, I think I really want to work on getting his neck reigning down - we practiced some during his cool down and I think he is just beginning to get it, but we'll need to focus on it specifically to get it where I want it to be. We also tried a little backing, but that didn't go so well. We had a bit of tug of war and took a few steps backward when we did it felt like, so I'd like to really get these things down before I go and mess with the backing thing. I guess we'l see!
I'd like to get him out on the trails soon, but I'm guessing with my schedule that won't be for a few more weeks. I need to get my field experience done for school, which cuts into my riding time, and then I'll be out of town the week of Presidents Day. After that, we should be all clear! I think I'm ready to brave the trails with him, but it's probably a good thing I have to wait a couple more weeks. I got invited to a trail ride tomorrow in the sand dunes and I really wish I could go, but I have lessons and I don't think that's the first ride I'd want to take him on, especially since I've never been there before and want to have at least somewhat familiar territory for us to experiment with. Oh well, all in good time. I can't wait for this summer!
Oh, and I got a little more experimental with iMovie ;) This came out pretty sweet!
Today, we stayed in the round pen. I didn't want to get into a pulling match with him or ride him with heavy hands to get him to drop his head consistently (I felt like I was heading that direction yesterday), so I decided to break out the clicker. It took him a few times to figure out what was going on (which you can see in the video when he backs up after he gets his treat), but it really worked well for him. Eventually, he seemed to grow tired of the treats, so I just threw the bag on the ground and we rode from there. I figured if he got the cue and wanted to respond, then that's what we would do and we didn't need the treats. It worked out pretty well and we had an excellent ride. When I did ask him to lope (still in the round pen), he had no troubles and actually gave me a very beautiful and collected lope with his head tucked. I didn't even have to ask him to collect or drop his head. I don't know if that's just from previous training, his personality, or if he just figured out what I wanted more or less, but it was great!
He was good and sweaty when we were done, so I'm glad he got a good workout. I took him back to Jill's (no troubles with spooking along the road, or really at all anymore!) and fed them all. Snickers and Flash were sharing a bin of hay when I left - I'm glad they're getting along :) Now that Flash likes the peppermint cookies too, I feed them both cookies, one in each hand, when I go over there.
So all in all a good day :) I'm going to work more with Snickers to really emphasize keeping his head low and maybe a little more precision for where I want him to carry his head, but that part doesn't really matter much to me. It just looks pretty when he carries his neck all arched :) Next, I think I really want to work on getting his neck reigning down - we practiced some during his cool down and I think he is just beginning to get it, but we'll need to focus on it specifically to get it where I want it to be. We also tried a little backing, but that didn't go so well. We had a bit of tug of war and took a few steps backward when we did it felt like, so I'd like to really get these things down before I go and mess with the backing thing. I guess we'l see!
I'd like to get him out on the trails soon, but I'm guessing with my schedule that won't be for a few more weeks. I need to get my field experience done for school, which cuts into my riding time, and then I'll be out of town the week of Presidents Day. After that, we should be all clear! I think I'm ready to brave the trails with him, but it's probably a good thing I have to wait a couple more weeks. I got invited to a trail ride tomorrow in the sand dunes and I really wish I could go, but I have lessons and I don't think that's the first ride I'd want to take him on, especially since I've never been there before and want to have at least somewhat familiar territory for us to experiment with. Oh well, all in good time. I can't wait for this summer!
Oh, and I got a little more experimental with iMovie ;) This came out pretty sweet!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Meh
That pretty much describes today, though, thankfully, it ended on a decent note. I was going to ride Snickers pretty good today and also spray down Flash. However, when I got to my parents' house, first thing I did was look out the back window to check on the horses (you can see Jill's whole pasture, and there Flash was in the people's back yard in between the two pastures! Two men were out there walking around with him obviously not able to catch him. I grabbed my halter out of the car and ran over there, dress shoes and pants from work and all. It kinda sucked, because he didn't want me to catch him and I had to chase him a round a little, but eventually he turned to face me and let me catch him. Maybe it's cuz he finally got a good look at me to see who I was? I don't know, but it was kind of the pits. It turned out he jumped the fence - he cleared the bottom two rails and knocked out the top (good thing too because there's goat wire up to the second rail and an electric fence wire - not on - that he could have gotten caught in). The rails were fine but he busted the post in half. great. So then I led him back to the pasture and turned him loose. He really didn't feel like following me :( I think he feels neglected and ignored. I'll have to make sure I take time to work with him. He didn't look injured or anything, just his attitude was off :(
I think that the other horses chased him out and he tried to jump the fence to get away from them. There was still quite a bit of hay - it was scattered, yes, but I doubt Flash of all horses would try to jump the fence, especially when he can just reach through it. Plus, there were a lot of scuff marks in the ground in that area and, most concerning, Flash was pretty sweaty and all warm. That did make it a lot easier to see the ticks, though, for when I sprayed him - and there are so many! Gah, at least I'm taking care of them now. By the time I left, he wasn't warm anymore, though his hair was decently matted, especially since he's in his nice fluffly white winter coat. He's actually a LOT fluffier than anyone else - my little fluff ball!
After that I got changed and got ready to spray him down. I had to read the VERY long label for instructions for mixing the tick stuff. It said 8 fl oz for 50 gallons of water. Fantastic. Ugh. I finally figured out that 1/3 tsp would be good for my little 48 oz sprayer, then used a plastic spoon to measure it out (alongside an identical spoon that I'd measured 1/3 tsp water and poured it into lol). I took Flash out of the pasture so at least I didn't have to deal with Snickers getting into the middle of things, but Flash really didn't like the sprayer. Every time I tried to spray it, he moved away and even pulled back - He was pulling back hard enough and moving around enough I didn't feel safe tying him up. I didn't want a second broken post! He still wasn't acting like himself. I got him ok ish but not as well as I wanted to, but I had to let it go.
Finally, I put on my new stirrups and just rode Snickers in the pasture because I didn't really have time to bring him all the way over to my parents' house. The saddle and stirrups felt really comfortable! I used Flash's bride, but I think the bit may be too small. He didn't seem to like it at least. And maybe the leather works better with him than the nylon. Or maybe it was just because we were in the pasture. Oh well - tomorrow I'll get another good ride on him. We tried trotting but I didn't feel like I was sitting in the saddle well enough and didn't really have the time or environment to work on that right then and there.
Then it was time for lessons, but it turns out my lesson at that time is going to have to quit for a while due to schedule changes :( So we talked a while and she's interested in coming to a few endurance rides so I'll have to email her. I used the rest of the time to go back over and spray Flash again, this time with the clicker, which worked wonders. He still didn't like it too much, especially close to his head, but he stood for it. Good boy :) Of course, Snickers was right there wanting treats too, so I gave him a few. After spraying him down REALLY well, I brushed him over just to give him a chance to relax and take care of the matted sweaty hair. Flash got back to his old self, too, so that felt good. He seemed to want to move with me and work for me a little more. I'll have to be consistent with him and bring along the clicker more haha.
Then I had my other lesson, which was nice and easy because they decided they're going to take the rest of the school year off and then pick it back up in summer, so we just did a fun ride and review. When I got done and all cleaned up, Trevor was there to help me fix the post. What an awesome husband :D He'd had a rough day at work, but there he was :) We got started digging, and eventually my dad came and we got it all done just before dark. It was kind of nice to have us all working together :) The horses didn't come over - and Trevor never went in the pasture either. When we were cleaning up, I ran over and gave Snickers some of the peppermint cookies I'd grabbed before I came over, and decided to offer Flash some too. He sniffed and I think he was watching Snickers eat some, and he finally took a bite! Turns out he really likes them and ate as many as I would give him after that. It was neat getting to feed my two boys at the same time and having them be nice to one another :) When I was out, I jogged back to Trevor at the other end of the pasture - I guess Flash isn't mad at me anymore because here he came trotting along right behind me! Snickers was just behind him as well haha. Yay, my boys love me :) I dug around and found a cookie or two more for each of them :)
So at least the night ended on a good note. I feel a lot better that Flash isn't upset with me anymore, or at least seems to be back to normal. Hopefully things will settle down and no more fiascos for a while.
I think that the other horses chased him out and he tried to jump the fence to get away from them. There was still quite a bit of hay - it was scattered, yes, but I doubt Flash of all horses would try to jump the fence, especially when he can just reach through it. Plus, there were a lot of scuff marks in the ground in that area and, most concerning, Flash was pretty sweaty and all warm. That did make it a lot easier to see the ticks, though, for when I sprayed him - and there are so many! Gah, at least I'm taking care of them now. By the time I left, he wasn't warm anymore, though his hair was decently matted, especially since he's in his nice fluffly white winter coat. He's actually a LOT fluffier than anyone else - my little fluff ball!
After that I got changed and got ready to spray him down. I had to read the VERY long label for instructions for mixing the tick stuff. It said 8 fl oz for 50 gallons of water. Fantastic. Ugh. I finally figured out that 1/3 tsp would be good for my little 48 oz sprayer, then used a plastic spoon to measure it out (alongside an identical spoon that I'd measured 1/3 tsp water and poured it into lol). I took Flash out of the pasture so at least I didn't have to deal with Snickers getting into the middle of things, but Flash really didn't like the sprayer. Every time I tried to spray it, he moved away and even pulled back - He was pulling back hard enough and moving around enough I didn't feel safe tying him up. I didn't want a second broken post! He still wasn't acting like himself. I got him ok ish but not as well as I wanted to, but I had to let it go.
Finally, I put on my new stirrups and just rode Snickers in the pasture because I didn't really have time to bring him all the way over to my parents' house. The saddle and stirrups felt really comfortable! I used Flash's bride, but I think the bit may be too small. He didn't seem to like it at least. And maybe the leather works better with him than the nylon. Or maybe it was just because we were in the pasture. Oh well - tomorrow I'll get another good ride on him. We tried trotting but I didn't feel like I was sitting in the saddle well enough and didn't really have the time or environment to work on that right then and there.
Then it was time for lessons, but it turns out my lesson at that time is going to have to quit for a while due to schedule changes :( So we talked a while and she's interested in coming to a few endurance rides so I'll have to email her. I used the rest of the time to go back over and spray Flash again, this time with the clicker, which worked wonders. He still didn't like it too much, especially close to his head, but he stood for it. Good boy :) Of course, Snickers was right there wanting treats too, so I gave him a few. After spraying him down REALLY well, I brushed him over just to give him a chance to relax and take care of the matted sweaty hair. Flash got back to his old self, too, so that felt good. He seemed to want to move with me and work for me a little more. I'll have to be consistent with him and bring along the clicker more haha.
Then I had my other lesson, which was nice and easy because they decided they're going to take the rest of the school year off and then pick it back up in summer, so we just did a fun ride and review. When I got done and all cleaned up, Trevor was there to help me fix the post. What an awesome husband :D He'd had a rough day at work, but there he was :) We got started digging, and eventually my dad came and we got it all done just before dark. It was kind of nice to have us all working together :) The horses didn't come over - and Trevor never went in the pasture either. When we were cleaning up, I ran over and gave Snickers some of the peppermint cookies I'd grabbed before I came over, and decided to offer Flash some too. He sniffed and I think he was watching Snickers eat some, and he finally took a bite! Turns out he really likes them and ate as many as I would give him after that. It was neat getting to feed my two boys at the same time and having them be nice to one another :) When I was out, I jogged back to Trevor at the other end of the pasture - I guess Flash isn't mad at me anymore because here he came trotting along right behind me! Snickers was just behind him as well haha. Yay, my boys love me :) I dug around and found a cookie or two more for each of them :)
So at least the night ended on a good note. I feel a lot better that Flash isn't upset with me anymore, or at least seems to be back to normal. Hopefully things will settle down and no more fiascos for a while.
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