DefinitelyDressage.com

Another thread related to the training process: What has your horse surprised you with lately?

For an initial entry:

I did not know that my mare could easily be on a circle at canter, do a change for two strides and change back. Cleanly. Thank you cattle!! (IOW, I think my little mare has a lot in her the I have not demanded!!). I always dreamed of being able to school through 4th level---this gives me hope.

Not the best surprise but suddenly we are doing thevduffucult stuff more easily but seem to have difficulty with the easy stuff.

Congrats on your tempi on the circle with cow aids

I got a diagonalized steps from a halt when I asked for a bit of energy. Did it just for kicks after working him in hand. Worked in hand first at the walk then at the trot asking for SI and HI as a draw. SI is not that hard but HI as a draw, well felt like I had won the lottery!

My surprise is the lovely boo-boo on his inside right front cannon bone
At least he's not off on it, but it gave me a bit of a scare, I'll be watching closely for any signs of infection because of course it was also slathered in a good helping of mud!

Kiwi is a hot tamale. She's always been a bit reactive in the ring, which isn't particularly easy to ride but hey, that's the price you pay for talent (or so I keep telling myself).

So imagine my surprise when I took Kiwi out on a trail ride through a mesquite-ridden prairie with tough terrain, loud quail erupting from the ground, and with a stiff breeze at our backs on a cold day, and she was a champion. She loved it.

Good stories! (except Dresseur--hope he heals quickly)

Today it was quite warm and swollen. Still not markedly off on it. Just a wee bit at the trot. I hand-walked him and cold-hosed. Started a bute regimen and applied a furazone sweat to get the swelling down. I also found a lovely deep cut on his left eyelid. Sigh...

Troubling, dresseur. I'm sure you are on it. good luck and please share updates!

p.s. Chisamba, I love the "cow aids" comment. It will be an evolution when we can do exciting things without cattle!!

This week, he surprised me with lovely canter departs. . . And tromping on my toes when I untacked him. Think I'm going to be losing the nail on my littlest toe; it's very discolored and sore two days later.

I left the half pass alone, then in winter boredom desperation tried it again and it was great!

It looks like everything is healing well. Swelling is way down, just slightly warm, still sound on it. Of course, the bute can mask some of it- but I'm satisfied that nothing catastrophic happened that will surprise me as he weans off the bute. Whew!

I am surprised by how well Rudy and Tio are handling the icy pasture. They are careful but still canter and play throughout the 12 acres. The big guys i had in the past struggled much more in these conditions and got really crabby when more than a week would go by without a good gallop. Both Rudy and Tio originated from the coast where there was no snow but a lot of slick mud i guess.

I'm actually a little surprised that my horse is still such an idiot, and that he hasn't gotten hurt running the fence.

All I did was switch two horses into each others' pens and my Trakehner saw them switch places and went nuts screaming and running the fence. The two horses I switched trotted a few feet away from him to go check out each others' feed buckets and he acted like the whole herd was leaving him all alone forever. They weren't even out of his sight, or even very far away from him, and there were 3 more horses right next to him!

Nothing new, but he'll be 13 this summer and I thought he might be getting over some of this drama over what the other horses are doing, but I guess not.

Oh Kande lol! My nearly 24 yr old has surprised me with his kind and authoritative adoption of the coming 5 yr old PRE stallion we have in training belongs to a friend of mine that is importing some nice horses from Spain.. I was dead freaked out when I brought him (my guy) home after an injury rehab this summer and the stallion had been moved in. But true to his nature my guy simply would not buy into fence running nonsense, they are side by side in large totally hot wired paddocks, and now they nicker for each other if one is inside, give adorable nose kisses with big arched necks (mine still thinks he's a stallion,, late gelded at 7 bred mares) they are stabled side by side at night. If little MIster plays up on turnout on the cold AM's my guy turns away from him with disapproval... so adorable.. WIsh I had saved all that neurotic worry and just trusted my horse to handle things as he always does.. Now, show season is coming, and ugh, I loathe showing but may have to come along as little Mister's show companion..

My good surprises continue. Today it was cold and windy and miss mare felt up but stiff. After a warm-up with lots of transitions, changes of direction, and counter canter, we took a break before doing changes homework. After a couple of flubbed aids from me, it got easier and easier, with lots of clean ones the good way and several the hard way---both on a circle and on diagonals. No cows were involved!

In general, working changes on a circle seems better for the quality and clarity at this point. I think this was the first time I deliberately used counter canter in our warm up to get her straighter, rocking and rolling and then in the next set went to change work. I think we are finally getting our signals straight! My good, smart, patient little mare is such a pleasure.