March & April Goals and Progress

[Rosie B]

Chisamba - that's pretty funny. Smart girl!

Bliss and I are back into the routine. He's not where he was before winter, but I am pleased with how he's coming back. He's feeling nicely balanced and more supple and connected than how he began the year last year.

Pic from today.

[StraightForward]

Looks nice Rosie! Is Bliss 8 this year?

So I actually got on my horse tonight! Just for a quick walk-around after doing her work orders on the lunge (which included some buck/fart/bolt). She was good, so we ventured a trot once around and called it a day. It's been cold and blustery the last few days, so that has delayed things, but vet said we can't add any more work until I can do it under saddle, so it was time to put on my big girl breeches and get it done.

Also rode friend's warmblood again Friday/Saturday since she was out of town. Always interesting to get on someone else's horse, and helpful to reassure myself that I haven't totally forgotten how to ride. She just got a fancy new N2 Cardhu saddle, and much to my relief, I don't care for it. N2 is a branch off from Custom, and they're a very similar style with big external blocks, that are too restrictive for my taste.

AND! Tesla has actually been civilized about picking up all four feet for two nights in a row. Yesterday I thought maybe it was a fluke, but she was good again tonight. Good info because I'm sure this stubborn streak of hers will show up in other instances as we go on, and just require lots of persistence.

[Flight]

Nice to see some Bliss pics again, Rosie

I did a working equitation day yesterday, and me and Ding are very out of shape and rusty. Too much holiday and food! Ding also tried to raid the feed shed and scraped a heap of fur off his forehead, so despite me trying to give him a 'comb over' with his forelock, we were looking pretty rough! Both mine are very fluffy now, and they look like fat ponies in their winter coats. If I'm going to have my aim for PSG this year, I really need to pull my finger out and get back into shape!

[Sue B]

RosieB, so nice to see a picture of you and Bliss. It was certainly a very looong winter for you two.

Yay SF on both Annabelle and Tesla!

Chisamba, I am the master of miscues with Rudy. The horses that try hard are always making associations that aren't necessarily what you intend.

Rudy got the weekend off but Tio did get to go for a trailer ride and visit a new venue. Overall, he was pretty well behaved; as in he loaded and unloaded well, behaved under halter/leadline to and from the tack-up area, and lunged without too much drama. Downsides were 1) The owner of the place had me put him in a paddock next to a dingbat who whinnied the whole time Tio was away and supposed to be working, and 2) Just before I went to get on, Tio noticed the llamas in the pasture next to the arena and I had to put him back on the lunge, subsequently 3) He was a bit of a handful under saddle. I did, eventually, succeed in trotting a 20m circle in both directions with a bit of swing in his back and a nice even bend on the circle. The really good thing was that he had a beautiful, swinging walk with a large overstep the whole time I was on him--something which I have been working on since backing him 4 years ago. So yeah, I think our adventure was successful and I look forward to more.

As an aside, I was proud of myself for going through with the whole Saturday thing given that this is the horse that broke my back last fall. It was a little hard to stay on him and stay "relaxed" those times when he'd get humped up and woofy, especially when he started grunting and squealing, but I DID IT!

[Moutaineer]

Flight, I felt like a complete ragamuffin at the clinic I did a few weeks ago--how people manage to have sleek-looking beasts at this time of year defeats me... we've been scraping off a ton of fur and mud and generally pruning and tidying, and I've got my personal act together somewhat too. The game is being upped before Mette comes in 3 weeks! My trainer (always elegant and perfectly presented) is riding her new GP horse with her too, so she's also on my case to make a good impression.

As a result, I've cracked and am breaking in new boots. My old Mountain horse boots were like wearing socks, and were doing my leg position no favors--and they have worn pretty much transparent on the inner calf. I scored a brand-new pair of Ariat Maestros online for $160--they will fit perfectly once worn in and are nice and stiff so they make me ride better--but ouch a bit at the moment.

So we've had some really good rides here. I'm very pleased with how Laddie is going--and looking We've been focusing a lot on control and collection--Isometric rather than aerobic fitness, while still maintaining "brightness."

[Ryeissa]

First clinic of the year for me too...I am so tired of mud and hair.

I have the luxury of it being a more casual setting. I always bring my show set: brushes, bridle/pad/girth so it's all very clean. I have a lovely new ivory Eskadron pad I might use. Not sure yet.....its too pretty.

[blob]

thanks, everyone--lots of good and sensible thoughts about RP.

Great to see Bliss in action and to hear everyone else's updates.

Chisamba--miscues are so easy to create! When I was starting MM under saddle I would always praise her for halting on the lunge or under saddle. To this day, she associates 'good girl' with 'whoa' and will come to a stop if I say it.

[piedmontfields]

Bliss looks like he hasn't missed a beat. Impressive after your winter!

Here's my recap of goals/performance:

For my work with Emi, my main goals are:
-Keep up/improve clarity of aids (and keep that nice reactivity)
---Generally, this is continuing to go well. When it doesn't go well, it is usually because I am lamer than usual in one hip and am having a bad day for quick reaction/gives myself, or because she is uncomfortable due to whacking herself while itching (a real injury this period that scraped a lot of skin from one hip but did not draw blood...)

-Commit to improving the left canter. We have made tremendous strides on the right canter (which used to be much worse than the left).
---Well, now I want to say commit to improving the right lead canter, because the left really improved in this period!

-Keep incorporating 10 m and smaller circles into working patterns. It really helps us be honest about power and straightness.
----Doing it but need to do more. I am doing more patterns generally and really paying attention to when Emi is too tired to keep her poll high (that is my easy sign that we need a break).

-Keep powering up the lateral work.
---Still a work in progress and we are not yet tapped out.

For my part, I'm aiming to keep going to barre classes 2 x a week and to do a spin cycle session at home at least 2 x a week (if I haven't done other significant cardio).
-- I'm doing pretty well with barre (I still love it!) but spinning has dropped out of the picture as I deal with getting our farm in order (all of the chorse of gardens, etc.).

[Flight]

I don't think I had any goals this time round and I think it showed. I've become a bit complacent and aimless in my schooling etc. Will have to change that!

[demi]

I have a lesson tomorrow after having missed the last two weeks. There are severe thunderstorms predicted after 1 pm but my lesson is at 11am so I willl hopefully get home before the bad weather. I am looking forward to this lesson because I feel that we’ve made progress even since the last lesson.

At lessons we work on straightness which has had a really good effect on both Rocky and me. At home, I school the straightness exercises a little, but not as rigoursly as at lessons. Of course, I have to try to keep her straight, but for me, there is a big mental component to straightness that I have to focus on. It’s hard to explain. I have to really concentrate on the aids so that I don’t have to exaggerate them. I mean, at the lessons the aids seem really exaggerated, and this helps me learn them, but at the same time, exaggerated aides make me lose contact with my seat bones. So at home, I practice being able to give the aids subtly without losing my postition. Its a work in progress!

I have added more trail days to our work. I’ve also increased the hillwork by trotting uphill instead of walking. I started riding trails in my dressage tack again which I havent done for several years. The western type endurance saddle I used on trails made me feel more secure, but it made it impossible to get myself in a dressage position. Now that I am stronger, though, I feel secure in the dressage saddle again. I also got a new dressage saddle a couple of months ago and that has helped a lot. For one thing, it is much more balanced, and for another, the texture is much grippier than my age slickened old dressage saddle!

I love everyone’s pics, and will try to add some of my own in the not too distant future.

[exvet]

We had a lesson yesterday and I was very pleased with Junior's progress with his canter and willingness to lift his front end without speeding up. He's taking half-halts within the canter now. The next couple of months will be working with that and building more strength. We'll be developing relaxation within the lengthenings and really trying to get him over his back and fully coming through into the bridle. We're seeing glimmers of where the passage will be coming from as well as beginning to teach some lateral work. He's quite willing to do SI, travers and renvers at the walk. I empathize with those dealing with their own health issues, their horses' health issues and those of family. It's tough balancing life in general and such things just add more stress to the mix. Brighter days and weather ahead for all I hope.

[Moutaineer]

Well, I didn't kill anyone, though it's been a close run thing at times. I rode in a clinic, and we've made some interesting progress with our regular trainer with collection and muscular development over the past 2 months.

Laddie is looking very buff and feeling really good. I'm looking buffer than I did and riding better than I was...

It snowed here yesterday and today and I'm sitting here in a fleece wondering why I didn't light the fire this evening. I hope it's not going to be one of those summers when it snows in July.

[Ponichiwa]

I'm pretty happy with where my herd ended up. We more or less kept to the goals outlined in the start of the thread:

- Kiwi and I have been touching on the half-steps and the pirouette canter more consistently, generally doing one or the other (sometimes both) at least twice a week. This has come at the cost of some of the relaxation in the topline-- expected, sure, but will be a focus in the coming months to get the collection with some relaxation.

- Other Kiwi news: our 4-tempis are repeatable but the aforementioned topline tension is impairing some of the quality. Will be backing off a bit and focusing on the quality of the single changes or unrelated sets of changes in the near-term.

- Queso is much more stable off of the walls of the arena than he had been at the beginning of March. His connection to the bit is improving, but there's still a ways to go before we're polished and ready for some shows. We're now fully into the wobbly-young-horse phase: he's not so stiff in the neck/shoulders as he was before (when he was unsure about carrying a rider around) but is now rubbernecking in a big way. So we'll be looking at improving that in the coming months as well.

- I managed to lose 5 lb in the last 3 weeks and am hoping to keep this trajectory going. Have been slacking on the 5a workouts the last 2 weeks and it's starting to show... so, time to get back on that horse.

[StraightForward]

Tesla -
Be civilized with her feet
Lunging W/T/C in tack
Take at least one field trip

Annabelle -
Keep fingers crossed that she is cleared to go back to work by the end of this challenge. Currently I'm just trying to get the farrier to call me back so I can coordinate him with the vet to pull the shoe and re-shoot radiographs to find out where we are now, 4.5 months post-injury.

Me - I was on work travel this week with a co-worker who is training for a half IronMan. Her dedication to getting in 1-2 workouts every day was humbling/inspiring.
Work up to running 5 miles/run 10 miles a week
Strength/core 2x a week
Don't eat like a trash panda

Tesla - pretty close on the feet and lunging. I didn't get around to taking her off-property though.

Annabelle - Her radiographs were good, and she is doing 15 minutes of T/C on the lunge line, and some in-hand work. I'll start riding her this weekend.

Me: I was increasing my running and working out, and aggravated my old ankle injury. Then Annabelle spooked and jumped on that foot, which exacerbated the whole thing, so I haven't been able to run for a few weeks, nor lift heavy things. I have been getting some exercise getting the garden in order though. Ended the challenge with a week of eating keto/primal, which has been easy to follow so far, and keeps me out of the candy dish at work, so I'm hoping some weight will start to shift (I think I'm down a pound or two already).