Goals and progress... August and September!

[Ponichiwa]

Ponichiwa... where the heck have you moved to? The Equator?

Certainly feels like it. Jeez. I moved from the Midwest to outside of Houston, TX. Humidity right now: 91%. I'm breathing water.

[Dresseur]

In other news. I need a new saddle. Sigh. The young man has grown, and my MW tree is not cutting it. Time for a wide. I'm borrowing one now, and he goes beautifully in it, so, the hunt is on.

[Moutaineer]

Kyra, I've got this Heather Moffett Seatbone Saver somewhere that is made of some space age material that was developed for the seats in the space shuttle or something, (according to HM). It has something of a channel down the middle (more than appears in the online photos. If I can track it down later I will take some pix. You are more than welcome to try it and see if it helps you.

[Sue B]

First of all, I would like to commend Dresseur and khall for keeping their discussion civil. I have really been enjoying reading about Dresseur's journey with her youngster, and like many of you, was a tad concerned about her asking too much but didn't say anything. Why? Because, it is also clear from her posts, that she is an experienced rider with a great love and admiration of her awesome pony. I appreciate, Dresseur, that you clarified how much riding you are doing and what your plans are; keep up the good work. Khall, thank you for bringing your concerns to the forefront in a respectful manner that encouraged discussion, not "yelling." You both rock.

I have ridden Tio a few times since my last post, having fixed his feet myself while waiting for the farrier to show up (no sign of him yet!). He has really been having fun going through the little grid I set up, and he has pretty good form too, snaps his knees up quite nicely even though the highest jump is only 18". Unfortunately, i lost my jumping mojo awhile ago, so I do this only from the ground. Under saddle he is continuing to progress in a nice fashion, bending properly on the 20m circle and developing a bit of cadence in his otherwise flat trot. The other day he did a big spook at something in the grape bushes that surround part of my arena, and started to bolt down the long side. Naturally, we had been walking on the buckle, so I was waving the whip around while trying to gather up the reins to keep him from getting his head between his knees and bucking me off. Sweet boy, instead of taking advantage, came right back to a walk and allowed me to reorganize myself. What a good little pony.

Rudy had a pretty hard workout the day before so I took an easy day with him doing a nice stretchy trot and canter, wandering down the road, stuff like that. Just for grins, though, I played around with half steps at the end of our session. He wasn't interested in doing them all that well (kept bracing the base of his neck), so I changed it up a bit and asked for baby passage and wow, did he come through! Did several strides of very nice beginner passage, and then let me transition him into a very active collected trot and on into a really fun collected canter. We quit there.

It is this thread that keeps me pushing on with my ponies. Thank you all for sharing your journies. Demi, I hope the weather breaks soon so Emma feels better; Kyra's mom, I hope the injection makes it so you can ride more; SF, congrats on your youngster and glad you can help Susan; Brydie, so happy you are making a break through; Flight, thanks for helping Brydie and so glad your ponies are going so well; Ponichiwa, maybe you should move again!

[Ryeissa]

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[Flight]

Sue B, are you able to get and share vid of you playing with half steps/passage etc?
I'm playing around with it with my little horse, and I'd love to see others working it out too.

[Sue B]

Yeah, I'd like to have video, Flight. maybe one of these days my son will video me at the right time.

[StraightForward]

Bit of a setback yesterday that was all my fault. A friend of mine came out to the barn to meet Pickle, and I thought it would be a good time to introduce trot, and didn't heed the factors pointing towards just sticking to walk (someone mowing lawn, the other horses just coming in and getting their lunches, and a somewhat breezy day). She got the idea of what I was asking for, but one step in, it was too much sensory input for her, and she went up into an impressive leap, and having witnessed this acrobatic from the ground, I just let myself fly free because I knew I wouldn't last two jumps. At least I was wearing a helmet with the chinstrap done tightly, and an eventing vest, so I popped off the ground and ran out to catch her. Got back on with friend leading, but our nervousness started feeding off each other and I ended up doing a quick dismount and friend went and did a bit of in-hand work with her while I collected myself. Got back on and walked until she relaxed a little, hopped off and called it a day. Later on, I realized that my ankle was sprained, but with lots of ice and compression, I'm getting around pretty well today, but cursing all the stairs in our house. Feeling guilty that I scared my horse, and hoping it's not too much of a setback. She learns quickly, but I need to remember that just because she is doing well at Thing A, she still needs lots of repetition and time before leveling up to Thing B.

Tonight I and a few other boarders are setting up some spooky arena obstacles and doing a bit of de-spooking work, though I'll obviously keep it pretty low-key to make sure I don't stress my ankle out.

[Kyra's Mom]

SF..how did the despooking go?

Sorry about the ejection. BTDT...in an alfalfa field (relatively soft) . Youngsters are fun

Susan

[StraightForward]

The despooking night was fun. Pickle took everything in stride pretty well, and was stopping on the tarp and backing up within a few minutes. Obie was actually much more of a goof at first, but then he culminated his session by ripping up and trying to eat the cardboard box we had them walking over. None of the horses were as scared of the dragging water cooler jug as I thought they'd be. We're thinking up new obstacles to do it again soon.

This morning I woke up trying to workout how to desensitize Pickle to the feeling of things moving on her body. Remembered that I still have my training surcingle, so I brought that out and attached a big duffle bag with a memory foam pillow in it and let her figure out how to trot on the lunge without losing it. Will be slowly adding a smaller bag with a some weight (potatoes?) and maybe make some "legs" to add to it over the next couple weeks until she's much more chill and doesn't lose her crap.

[kande50]

None of the horses were as scared of the dragging water cooler jug as I thought they'd be. We're thinking up new obstacles to do it again soon.

For variety, try driving them over the obstacles, too. Or if you don't want to set up a surcingle and lines try just walking beside them so they have to "go first". Yours may not care, but it changes everything for mine.

Will be slowly adding a smaller bag with a some weight (potatoes?) and maybe make some "legs" to add to it over the next couple weeks until she's much more chill and doesn't lose her crap.

I lunged with a western saddle with the stirrups loose, then with a saddle pad tied on and bouncing/floating around, then a "dumb jockey" so he could see it up above him. The dumb jockey was a shirt and pants stuffed with hay and tied onto the western saddle so it looked like a rider.

Weight never seemed to be an issue for mine, so if they were going to react it always seems to be to movement and/or noise.

[StraightForward]

None of the horses were as scared of the dragging water cooler jug as I thought they'd be. We're thinking up new obstacles to do it again soon.

For variety, try driving them over the obstacles, too. Or if you don't want to set up a surcingle and lines try just walking beside them so they have to "go first". Yours may not care, but it changes everything for mine.

Will be slowly adding a smaller bag with a some weight (potatoes?) and maybe make some "legs" to add to it over the next couple weeks until she's much more chill and doesn't lose her crap.

I lunged with a western saddle with the stirrups loose, then with a saddle pad tied on and bouncing/floating around, then a "dumb jockey" so he could see it up above him. The dumb jockey was a shirt and pants stuffed with hay and tied onto the western saddle so it looked like a rider.

Weight never seemed to be an issue for mine, so if they were going to react it always seems to be to movement and/or noise.

Thanks Kande - yes, I think there is an old western saddle in the tack room that I can borrow. It's synthetic, so it won't add much weight, but at least it has the skirts and floppy fenders. She doesn't mind weight when she's walking, and doesn't seem too concerned about me being up there, it's just when she moves from walk to trot that she's super reactive to the new sensation. She's pretty sensitive on her sides, but not a spooky horse in general. I'll be trying every combo I can think of though, because I'm not in a hurry to get tossed again.

I'm with you on driving them through things. With my ankle injury I wasn't going to get too creative last night, but when we were checking out a lawn mower on Friday, I made sure to drive her towards it to make sure she was comfortable approaching it without the reassurance of having me lead her.

[Brydie]

Sorry about your fall SF - glad it wasn't too serious!

Had two excellent rides over the weekend. Saturday we had just a fun day jumping. My bf was there and said he looks HEAPS better with a lot more energy. He walks around the paddock eith us for our warm up, and at times he had to run to keep up . Red is funny, as soon as my bf reaches his shoulder he'll speed up like it's a race! He was jumoing really well, up to about 75cm, going to jump him every week for some variety. Did about 10 minutes or so and then bf had a ride (he is not a rider). Love my Red horse

Yesterday we had a lesson, did three loop serpentines in canter/counter canter. Holds it well on left lead but finds it harder on right lead and broke into trot a couple of times (right when we were about to start true canter again). First time doing counter canter on a circle. We then did shoulder-fore trot walk trot transitions. He's diving down a lot less in the transition (almost never now ). Did some 10m circles in each corner of the arena with head to the wall leg yield in trot (supposed to be haunches in but not quite there yet in trot). We then did some walk canters and finished with quick trot halt rein back trot transitions which made him SO much lighter. He really likes to get heavy, and this exercise was great in helping with that.

[Chisamba]

I did not realize my first three weeks of August were going to be quite as busy as they were. I had 4H shows, the Fair, a clinic, and and hosted an adult intensive. It all progressed well but my horses did take a bit of a back seat. Kimba did well at the clinic, i am happy to say, ( as posted in a separate thread) and then had a week off as i brought her home so that a visitor could borrow her stall.

She seems to have enjoyed her vacation and is staring suspiciously at my hooked up trailer as i type this. Deneb was pretty good, we went to a fix a test, did First Level test two , since for something like a fix a test i do not mind reaching. She was a lot distracted by the judges table in the leg yield, and her first test was a bit quick, but she slowed down and improved for our second attempt. I honestly cannot remember what her score was, I left the tests at the barn so i will report back. I was well pleased with her honest effort.

[Moutaineer]

Long, hot weekend showing...

Day one, not a great ride, we made two expensive errors that we have not been making at home--picked up a wrong lead in the walk/canter transition--he was distracted by a horse suddenly appearing where it should not have been--and then he changed leads in the canter serpentine because I was wiggling around for some reason. Then there were a couple of other little flubs that cost us, too. My fault of course. We ended up with a 60.9, which was fair enough.

Day two, I'm not sure he got any sleep on Saturday night. He was a really tired puppy, but we had a decent, clean test that felt pretty good, admittedly lacking impulsion. I was pretty happy with it. Lilo Fore gave us a 61.9 for it, which was a bit disheartening. But she creamed everyone all weekend. My (very friendly!) rival, who is a much better rider than I am, usually scores about 6% more than me--not from Lilo. She just squeaked past me by a half percent. (Interestingly enough she is riding a horse that used to belong to Silverbridge.)

So, it would appear I have qualified for Regional Championships. I have to get entries in today and I'm sitting her so darned tired from the weekend (there was a lot of ridiculous drama) that I'm sitting here wondering if I can really manage the effort.

[demi]

Good job, Mounaineer. I think Lilo is going to be judging in Austin next year and I would love to show then...realistically I have no idea if I'll be ready by then. In the meantime, it's exciting to read about your adventures!

[Moutaineer]

Demi, just remember to show in front of her for the immense value of her comments, not the size of the score!

Well, I just signed my life away... going to Regionals in Estes Park, Colorado next month

All by myself, it would appear, as my barn mate who qualified also has decided not to go, and I think I've persuaded my trainer not to come as I would probably stab her through the heart if I had to share a truck with her for two days...(I think I may have mentioned the Never Stops Talking and lack of filter thing back in my early days of working with her. I could cheerfully have shot one or both of us by the end of this weekend's show. So could the other poor people sharing the barn with us. She is a very good, enthusiastic, educated trainer who has helped me a lot, is an excellent horsewoman and the barn is 10 minutes from my house, but Good Lord, just extract your foot from your mouth and STFU, please!!!)

There is a contingent of us going from the area and some of us are looking to share a house so it should be a fun gig!

[Chisamba]

Demi, just remember to show in front of her for the immense value of her comments, not the size of the score!

Well, I just signed my life away... going to Regionals in Estes Park, Colorado next month

All by myself, it would appear, as my barn mate who qualified also has decided not to go, and I think I've persuaded my trainer not to come as I would probably stab her through the heart if I had to share a truck with her for two days...(I think I may have mentioned the Never Stops Talking and lack of filter thing back in my early days of working with her. I could cheerfully have shot one or both of us by the end of this weekend's show. So could the other poor people sharing the barn with us. She is a very good, enthusiastic, educated trainer who has helped me a lot, is an excellent horsewoman and the barn is 10 minutes from my house, but Good Lord, just extract your foot from your mouth and STFU, please!!!)

There is a contingent of us going from the area and some of us are looking to share a house so it should be a fun gig!

Well you are coming off a mountain so i probably do not have to warn you, but we had a snow storm at Estes Park on the fourth if July show. The horses nearly froze. No one had coats, humans or horse. Anyway pack for all four seasons . Its beautiful and a quaint town, quite a mountainous drive. An acquaintance lost her trailer going up the mountain. The back weight and all the horses leaning back popped it off the hitch. It had been riding fine. Anyway, only thing that stopped it from going over a rather steep cliff was her safety brake that pulled when the trailer and truck separated. Just double check all your safety gear.

Best if luck, have a blast.

[demi]

I longed both my mares today. They looked beautiful. Both with long sliding side reins. They worked similarly in some ways. They both took contact with the bit even tho the reins were longish. The both had really pretty self carriage. I just walked Emma, along the wall until she trotted and then a 10m circle saying "walk" until she walked. All along the wall, waiting for her to lose her compulsion to bolt. I tend sometimes to make her anxious because as DH says, I'm "tightly wound". Today I just made myself relax and enjoy her beauty. This is what I learned: her walk feels slow to me because she is carrying herself so carefully. I've been asking her to march when I ride, but I think that was a mistake. She doesn't need me to energize her, and my energizing is probably making her nervous...I really need the Soloshot.

Rocky was high energy today and I allowed her to trot right away because it was a really nice trot and not compulsive. I worked toward getting her to go the whole arena so it was the same thing as Emma only at a trot. Down the long side till she got too fast and then a 10 m circle. She looked like a dressage horse.

I won't be able to work them again till Thursday. I may just longe them again and take some video.

[Chisamba]

sorry i am having the hardest time making my photos small enough to upload so i tried a share and it seems huge and fuzzy, rather then small and detailed as i intended. smh.

anyway, Kimba is back in work, i love that she is cantering in rhythm and tempo, and i love her, especially considering that she spent the first four years of her life pacing, ( and dealing with sore feet). I am asking her to be softer and lighter, and more supple, which i think requires more strength and conditioning so gradually increasing her heavy lifting work ( transitions, collection, smaller circles, shoulder in and half pass) She most of the time tries her heart out, and then every now and again, decided enough is enough and will do a little rear. its not intimidating, but I am trying to be more preceptive to ask myself if i have asked too much, or if she is holding too much in reserve.

Deneb on the other hand, has been unusually aggressive with her pasture mates. Squealing and rushing backward kicking, in a very dominant and somewhat aggressive manner. We had an adult intensive and there was a new gelding on the property, not with her at all, but on property, and i am not sure if that had anything to do with it. As a result of watching her interactions, i have been a little more firm in my riding. Asking or crisper, more immediate response to both leg, and to the half halt. I am also working her a little longer, developing strength. She has not challenged me in hand nor in work, but after watching a morning of what can only be called bullying, I decided to not even give her the opportunity to be challenging.

thoughts on my approach with Deneb? remember that she becomes strangely reactive and frightened when she thinks she is in charge.

[Josette]

Beautiful pic! Your mare looks so smooth, comfortable and relaxed! She looks so enjoyable to ride.

[Chisamba]

Beautiful pic! Your mare looks so smooth, comfortable and relaxed! She looks so enjoyable to ride.

She is a joy to ride, a joy to load in the trailer, a joy to handle, wash, anything really. she is very much her own self, but also seems to like interacting with her human ( aka me). She is pretty cute too, i did clicker training on her, and taught her one "trick" to touch the cone with her nose, yesterday i had cones set up in the R S V and P positions because we were practicing first level on Deneb. She came into the riding ring, looked at the cones and made her way to them, touching each one, and then looking back at me to say, look, i touched the cone, is there a click in it for me? i sent my son to get treats to reward her.

[Flight]

Is she in season, Chisamba? Sounds time like you are handling her well. Lovely photo

[Chisamba]

Is she in season, Chisamba? Sounds time like you are handling her well. Lovely photo

Not showing signs, no.

[Flight]

Has anyone had any personal experience with the Arttoride guy? He's doing a clinic here next year and a friend has asked me if I want to go and watch. He rides them a bit low for longer lengths of time than what I have been taught (my instructor likes them relaxed but up and out, not so much down) but I watched a few youtube vids and had a bit of a play with it with my little horse.
I need to ride my horse 'rounder' but coming from when I used to get roundness with my hands and had my horse quite heavy and dull in the bridle, I've been a bit worried about trying to get it. But this was quite easy in that I could get a stretch down, and then just come up with a nice lightest of contact. Plus he just stayed forward and happy.
My ute is fixed so I'll be able to go and have a lesson again soon. I haven't had one for about a month now so need a check up on what I'm doing. This ride was good for me though, proving that I don't need to hold him with my hands. However, going back to work I've picked up a flu bug, already have to have a shift off!! Too sick to even ride today!! Arghhh work!

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[mari]

Fabulous updates everyone!

We are mostly back in action after a looooooooooooong suspensory rehab. My dressage instructor commented that his neck looks bigger now than it did before the injury. We had a tiny jumping lesson today, just a short warm-up and a pop over a few fences. He was very strong And there was a lot of porpoising and kicking out and shooting off So my instructor is going to get on for the next few jumps, just til he gets over his excitement. Fortunately I stayed on

https://youtu.be/e06BfLpixjw

https://youtu.be/qWDJvKRkTEM

[Chisamba]

Mari, he must have come back great from his suspensory to be jumping already. Hope he returns to training smoothly.

[Brydie]

Aftee writing about Red's history and a good jump session on Saturday, I've decided I want to try eventing again. There is a local derby day in October so going to head to that as well as two dressage shows (busy month!). Will probably try for our first event early next year. Haunches in is coming along (he's definitely stiff!) Still at the walk as he's finding it haaaaard. Need to do so much more lateral work in our sessions. Today we just did leg yield and haunches in at walk. The rest of the session was trying to get him to unlock his poll through flexing.

[demi]

sorry i am having the hardest time making my photos small enough to upload so i tried a share and it seems huge and fuzzy, rather then small and detailed as i intended. .

It's a really, really nice picture, even blurry. I can see the impulsion.

I got a hint from Flight about posting photos that works well...if you have a facebook account. I got an FB account just for the purpose of uploading horse pics to DDBB.

Post the pic to FB.
Open the pic in FB.
Right click on pic and "copy Image address".
Open full editor and preview in DDBB.
Paste link between the two img things. (right click when your cursor is between the two img things for the paste option).

[demi]

I haven't ridden in a couple of weeks and I am still alive. Maybe I have reached the point in my life where I am no longer controlled by the voice in my head that says "YOU HAVE TO RIDE!" The weather is cooling down and I am looking forward to riding again soon. For the next "goals and progress" thread I am planning to include both my mares.

My goal for this thread was simply to work on myself. I will think about that and post a conclusion before Sept. 1

[Ponichiwa]

I will think about that and post a conclusion before Sept. 1

Plenty of days left in this thread! No need to be coming to premature conclusions.

Which reminds me... I'm having a much better run of rides on Kiwi since starting my "difficult horse/difficult times" thread. Go figure, huh? We're now inching our way back into real work. And my boots are fitting better. Victories abound.

[Chisamba]

This morning i switched it up and put one high cavaletti on a 20 m circle. Canter in the 20m circle and over the cavaletti spiral in to 15 m circle and trot, spiral in to 10 m circle in trot, soiral out to 15 m. Canter, spiral out to 20 m and over the cavaletti. Five circles over the cavaletti. Spiral in ti trot. Change direction. Repeat in opposite direction.

It was hard work, so stretch trot breaks .

It was interesting foe Deneb. I am trying to challenge her with changes or routine. My hope is she will become more flexible in attitude and relax.

Kimba i worked on the longe line. Same exercise but no cavaletti. She was very lazy so I touched her with the lash of the whip behind the girth. Wow was she offended. !!

My client horses were easier goung than mine, which is their job so i was happy.

[Sue B]

I have actually been riding this past week, sometimes even 2 days in a row! Since I wrote my goals down, I am even working on trying to achieve them which is a good thing.

Worked on flying changes with Rudy the other day because I could feel the fc's in his collected canter and figured it was as good a time as any. Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it wasn't as bad as it could have I guess. To explain, this horse used to pop changes all the time when we were developing the canter, sometimes cc to true, sometimes the opposite way, but they were always clean or early behind and I always patted him and moved on. Once cc and a nice collected canter was established , he quit changing and has since held fast to the belief that fc's are not allowed. Aaaarrrrgggghhh. So the other day I just bulled my way through in hopes of convincing him that it is indeed ok to do a flying changed when asked. The only thing I would not allow was changing through the trot, because I know of a horse that never did get clean changes for his rider, insisting instead on doing 1-2 steps of trot every time. I'm sure it was a rider thing, but I really don't want to go there. So he threw 1 or 2 late behind changes, then early behind changes then c-w-c changes, but at long last (probably a dozen attempts or so) I finally got a couple real changes with loss of forward. I decided that was where to leave it and will try again later. I really need to get some good ground help.

Work with Tio is progressing, albeit slowly, in a good way. He loves the cavelletti and low jumps but his shoes need reset, so no jumping until the farrier shows up. Our lates task is to get the kid cantering on cue without help from ground person. I have a video of our work but most of it is sideways, since ds rotated my phone while videoing--if you go to the end, you can see 3-4 steps of canter. Doesn't look like much (and I had ds put phone down and help by waving a lunge whip around) but you can see that he doesn't run into the canter nor does he fall on the forehand so he will canter quite nicely once he gets organized. I really like how he's going in the trot and how nice and evenly he bends on the 15m and 20m circles. Still only working on consistent contact and not worrying about true "connection" or being "on the bit." For those who struggle on horses with lack of forward, Tio is the poster child for that, but you can see in the vid, I do not nag with my leg or even the whip. As he grows stronger and more balanced, he finds it easier to stay forward than to lag behind the leg and so, over time, his attitude about forward has changed to one of enthusiasm rather than "laziness." SO here's the link, sorry about the wonkiness.

https://youtu.be/xuV40xpjxPY

[kande50]

https://youtu.be/xuV40xpjxPY

That works, although I did have to stand up and tilt my head sideways to watch it.

Since most of the video is on its side you could probably rotate the whole thing using the youtube editor. Otherwise, you could cut off the vertical part and discard it and then rotate the sideways part, and then reload the vertical part if you wanted to have it on utube, too.

I liked his trot before he started to canter, when he kind of opened up a little more.

[kande50]

My canter-strike-off-in-the-corner experiment to see if I could replicate the "lifting" feel I got in the corner didn't work, but I did get some nice canter departs. I've also been slacking on saddling up, and sometimes on doing anything horsie at all other than feeding and mucking stalls, but it was beautiful day today so I both rode and worked in hand. This is the in hand footage, complete with all the props I'm now using to help him understand what I want him to do.
https://youtu.be/dOphULMvHdk

[Moutaineer]

Just pootling along here. Resisting the temptation to Endlessly Practice All The Things before Regionals, and just work some on throughness.

[Flight]

Tio is cute!! It's cool to watch video and it will be good to watch his progress too
Kande, interesting using the inside 'rail' to keep him straight. I do a bit of inhand, but I don't even have an outside wall so I have to teach them to stay straight or straighten up to stay in the arena. It's good once it's done, but I'm finding it a bit tedious with my 17hh young horse. Love your spectator having a nap in the middle of the arena!!
Mari - nice to see your guy back in good action too!

I had a think and a play with my horses flying changes. One side is fine, and has been for a while, and the other is a massive kick up handstand. I was watching it on the video and he does the trot steps in front (so not even changing there) while his back end is up in the air. I've been told by 3 different instructors now not to worry about it, it will go and just keep working on a better canter.
Our canter is much more supple now, but no hint of improvement and I feel that perhaps he has learned that this is what he needs to do on this side??
Anyway, I set him up for the FC opposite to what I've been taught so far. So CC on right rein (so left lead, it's L to R he has the problem) open inside rein and yield him to the right, then ask for a change to the right. He did what felt was a clean change (possibly late behind, I find that hard to feel when it's that half stride late), but no handstand, no kick up!! So, I stopped the work right then and finished up. I didn't have it on video (bugger!!) and now I can't ride for 3 days because of work, so I'm busting to get the video and have another go. Fingers crossed it's going to work again.

[kande50]

So, I stopped the work right then and finished up. I didn't have it on video (bugger!!) and now I can't ride for 3 days because of work, so I'm busting to get the video and have another go. Fingers crossed it's going to work again.

Don't you hate it when you think you may have gotten something you've been working on and want to see what it looked like, and it was the one day you didn't set up the camera?

I've pretty much learned my lesson, so now set up the cameras just about every time I ride because even though I tell myself I'm only going to walk I always wake up and end up working on something.

A friend of mine was doing a lot of in-hand straightness training with her horses so built a short section of board fence along the side of her ring. It makes a huge difference, and especially once they start putting more energy into the work.

[Chisamba]

Work with Tio is progressing, albeit slowly, in a good way. He loves the cavelletti and low jumps but his shoes need reset, so no jumping until the farrier shows up. Our lates task is to get the kid cantering on cue without help from ground person. I have a video of our work but most of it is sideways, since ds rotated my phone while videoing--if you go to the end, you can see 3-4 steps of canter. Doesn't look like much (and I had ds put phone down and help by waving a lunge whip around) but you can see that he doesn't run into the canter nor does he fall on the forehand so he will canter quite nicely once he gets organized. I really like how he's going in the trot and how nice and evenly he bends on the 15m and 20m circles. Still only working on consistent contact and not worrying about true "connection" or being "on the bit." For those who struggle on horses with lack of forward, Tio is the poster child for that, but you can see in the vid, I do not nag with my leg or even the whip. As he grows stronger and more balanced, he finds it easier to stay forward than to lag behind the leg and so, over time, his attitude about forward has changed to one of enthusiasm rather than "laziness." SO here's the link, sorry about the wonkiness.

https://youtu.be/xuV40xpjxPY

I used to train my father's horses from a young age. Rode all the young stock. My biggest problem was picking up the canter. ( im sharing my story not implying that you have this problem) anyway, once in a lesson my instructor said. You don't believe enough. If there was a lion in the bush and it jumped out that horse would canter immediately.

I laughed and said of course. So the instuctor continued. So ride like there is a lion in the bush.

To me watching this bit of video, i think Tio can canter, he could use a bit of lion in the bush. Inspiration

I still use the term in my teaching. Cannot remember the name of the person who said it, but remember the impact of the thought

He is thoroughly cute, isnt he!

[capstone]

My biggest problem was picking up the canter. ( im sharing my story not implying that you have this problem) anyway, once in a lesson my instructor said. You don't believe enough. If there was a lion in the bush and it jumped out that horse would canter immediately.

This reminds me of a period of a time, back when my mantra (via my trainer, of course) was "Be Committed". This is following a long period of anxiety associated with cantering. If I wasn't committed to the act, then how could the horse commit to it?

Anyway, that was a trip down memory lane.

[StraightForward]

I love watching/hearing about everyone's training in real world situations. I've been doing the HSH work and Pickle decides to make a dive for the weeds, or sticks her head over the arena fence and gets stuck, and I think "well, Fritz Stahlecker doesn't have to contend with these issues in his weed-free, kick-boarded indoor, does he?". One of the long sides of our arena is only about 2' tall, and there's a telephone pole about 3' from the fence (inside the arena), so we really only have one good long side to work with. Then one of the corners has a chunk out of it, so it's all rather awkward. I may just try setting up a wall like that on the inside though. We're having issues with travers since I don't have a "leg" on the side of travel to keep her shoulders in when she's bent that direction.

Since getting planted, we've gone back to some desensitization and more of the in-hand work, and I've put my weight on her, but haven't swung a leg over again. I'm having a trainer come out next week to see us, and I'm hoping she'll be able to take her in November for 60-90 days. We usually get weathered out of the outdoor arena at that point anyway, so it should be good timing, and I can continue to make progress with her in the meantime.

I've ridden Susan's mare twice this week, which seems to be good for my sprained ankle. Kyra is fairly dedicated to weighting her left shoulder, so we are working on straightness there, as well as obtaining nice, relaxed canter where she doesn't get tight and up in the neck in the transition. Yesterday we did some trotting to the left, walk, and then immediate leg yield right, a couple steps straight, and then back into the trot, which seemed to get her more onto her right shoulder and engaging her inside hind. Looking forward to cooler weather and a week off work making it easier to get my rides and training sessions in. If it wasn't for the impending training bills, I'd buy a Solo Shot so I could get some video, but things feel pretty good most of the time.

[Sue B]

Tio is just a big goof. Learning to canter on the lunge followed a similar path to under saddle except it involved some massive bucking as well. So yeah, I might be a whee more concerned about the potential rodeo than the lions. Seriously, soon as they cut and bale the field next door we can head back out there for some real cantering.

I fixed the video, but too lazy to trim off the first bit so you might want to skip that.

[Chisamba]

Had one of those silly barn accidents. Kimba was in cross ties, I was putting the saddle away, Unseen by me the kitten walked under her feet, and the next thing i heard the cat howling and Kimba leaped forward. Halter is a safety halter, and cross ties have silly strings on them, so both are quick release but neither gave way. Kimba stood immediately so i sort of rushed after the kitten to check on it. When i returned i noticed a bit of a bump on Kimbas nose. gave her a pat told her she was a good girl, etc, and hosed her off, blah blah.

Next day a whole strip of skin over her nose, where the halter goes, peeled right off.

I have been putting corona on it and lowered her halter and put vet wrap on it, but decided not to ride, i know i could take the nose band off and ride her, but it looks sore

Kitty kat has been lying around doing not much too, even though he was checked out and seems to be okay.

[Moutaineer]

Oh, ouch, Chisamba. Not much you could have done to prevent that one. I hope all are feeling better soon.

Tio is really handsome I had a trainer who used to say "You really need to take the handbrake off..." but it's easier said than done as a grown up on a potentially rambunctious youngster (or oldster, for that matter...)

On which subject, Laddie reduced the ring to silent awe this evening with one of his truly impressive vertical take-off/levitation moves at the canter. My trainer reckons I would've got a 9 for "rider's position and seat" in a test... It's suddenly a lot cooler here. He apparently thinks he's Superman. Idjit.

Random stuff, but just FYI, Riding Warehouse are having a 20% off everything in the store sale for the Holiday. I just cracked and purchased white breeches for Regionals. I'm guessing my regular tan might be a bit out there for a more formal competition venue than our customary dirt field in Utah.

[Ponichiwa]

Yesterday I learned that Kiwi is extremely sensitive to (read: ticked off by) posting on the wrong diagonal. Which means I'm going to be doing a lot of desensitizing via posting diagonal over the next several weeks.

[demi]

I will think about that and post a conclusion before Sept. 1

Plenty of days left in this thread! No need to be coming to premature conclusions....

My brain wasn't working. Honestly, I think the relentless hot weather makes me go into survival mode I was somehow thinking we were at the end of this thread...

We'll be in the 90's for the next 5 days so I'm not going to ride. I really have force myself to ride in extreme weather and it affects the kind of rides I have. So I'm just going to wait until we are consistently out of the 90's until I start riding again.

[demi]

It's cooler today!!

I am following everyone's progress on this thread and it's keeping me going. thanks for all the updates.

[demi]

I'm thinking about riding.

Mountaineer, that handbrake comment is so important. I know I was unconsciousoly doing it with Emma when I was "hand riding" her and that's why I was blocking her. You made a comment a while back when I posted pics about how I was more relaxed in one picture than another. That's part of it, too. It's a mental thing with me. Age, frisky "new" horse, getting seriously bucked off 2 1/2 yrs ago....all added up to my keeping the handbrake on. We all have our reasons for doing it but still, it needs to be corrected. For me, it takes concentration on simply riding correctly. When I am sitting correctly with independent hands, I am in the best position to deal with the big spooks and even the bucking attempts. I say bucking "attempts" because I don't allow her to buck. I get her head up high enough that she can't buck, and then, as quickly as possible, get right back to whatever we were doing. The big thing here, is getting my independent hands back as soon as possible. In other words, I can only "brake" momentarily, and then I have to take the hand brake off. This takes a lot of concentration for me, so working on myself at this point is so much more important than working on any specific movements...

Oh, and how exciting that you got to buy new white breeches for the championships!!!

[khall]

Trip to FL was a long one! and there were COWS!! Poor Rip was bugged out about the cows, took him a bit to settle so it was quite exciting working with 1400lbs of wild eyed raging maniac. First lesson was a bust pretty much, he could not concentrate. Was better the second lesson but the focus was very different than what I have been doing for almost 10 yrs now having worked with Mark that long. Mark always starts with the head and neck, get the horse relaxed and chewing in the jaw and released in the neck then move to lateral work. FL trainer focuses more on the shoulder alignment and lots of RB. So still contemplating but not sure that is the way I want to go. Rip was pretty much over the cows by the 3rd lesson, that is until they started appearing out of the ground! He was great lunging very relaxed then went to work in hand and OMG had to put the caveson back on for my safety. The cows had been down in the pond where he could not see them and they would just rise out of the ground. He did settle enough each lesson that I could get on and ride thankfully and he never did anything under saddle. He thankfully made the long trip down and back with no issues except maybe dropped a few lbs which he could stand to lose.

My mare was acupuncture and chiro last week, she had just not been feeling quite right last few rides. I told the vet she felt like she had a rib out and she did! 2 on both sides. Rode her this week and she felt awesome! So yeah!

Dealing with hay coming in, rain from Hermine and ortho with DS, so not as much done this week as I had hoped. This weekend is catch up on farm chores which have been neglected over the summer due to excess heat. We are down one zero turn so will take a bit longer to mow on top of other chores to be done. Always something!

Glad all are still plugging but I hear you Demi re heat and riding. It is NO FUN! I have on several occasions ridden, gotten off and felt like I was going to throw up from getting so hot and not good for the horses either.

[kande50]

Age, frisky "new" horse, getting seriously bucked off 2 1/2 yrs ago....all added up to my keeping the handbrake on.

As I'm sure you know, the problem with keeping the hand brake on is that they soon desensitize to it, and then we're left with no brakes--or at least not very good brakes. So not only does it block them from becoming flexible enough to do what we want them to do, but it makes it less likely that they'll respond when we want them to!

I also think that too much pressure on the bit overshadows all the other aids, so then we have to use more weight and leg for them to notice, and that causes us to brace which causes the horse to brace...

So yes, I'm with you that it's important to get the contact right first, because I'm convinced that it's what opens the door for the rest to develop.

n other words, I can only "brake" momentarily, and then I have to take the hand brake off. This takes a lot of concentration for me, so working on myself at this point is so much more important than working on any specific movements...

[/quote]

Years ago, when I finally decided that what I'd been doing was never going to work for me, I had to ride for several weeks with a piece of yarn tied between my rein and the bit before I could finally break the habit of trying to hold my horse in a frame. I set it up so that the reins were still attached to the bit, but had a shorter piece of yarn tied from the bit to one of the braids so that there was slack in the rein. That way if the yarn broke I still had reins, but when it broke I couldn't ignore the fact that I'd used too much hand and needed to get off and tie a new piece of yarn on.

I think what worked for me was that I not only had to interrupt what I was doing, but had to get off and tie a new piece of yarn in.