It's thermal underwear time - Jan/Feb goals and progress!

[Dresseur]

And, an update to this morning's post... big day!!!!

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Zero fireworks. I worked him, walked around with him in indoor with super long longe line to assess his mental state and he didn’t care. So I spread some hay, prayed and unclipped him. He literally ambled around from hay pile to hay pile until he started climbing the shavings pile. I under-estimated the power food has over his motivation to do anything other than eat. In any case, this was huge for me mentally. I'm sure he'll run around at some point, but I'm hoping he just does this.

In the riding today, for the first time, I felt like I had my horse back. We just had fun - he was totally chilled out and happy to be moving. Had to take some beauty shots just because. I had braided his forelock so that I could clean up the mop between his ears, and decided he was so handsome that I'd ride like that. I also decided to really spoil him and get a quarter sheet. I figure it's good training for tails

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[Moutaineer]

Great, Dresseur!

(it's so difficult when you are holding your breath the whole time thinking they are going to break again, I know.)

Super lesson yesterday. She agrees that he's going better now than he was pre-injury, and she thinks I am riding better, too, which was reassuring to hear as I've been feeling just a bit "off" recently. We spent the lesson focusing on me and on position tweaks to allow him to move more freely underneath me. I have to work on a softer, more following seat and a "flaccid stomach..." Oy. But it did indeed make a significant difference in the quality of the gaits if I could follow through.

I can feel the burn today.

Some of the position tweaks were quite eye opening. I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle on Tuesday and seeing whether that canter transition was a fluke or not...

[demi]

I'm glad to hear the good reports on Laddie and Miro! It's good you both have trusted trainers.

Dresseur, your noseband is interesting. It looks like it's recessed to accommodate the bit rings. Both of my mares are small horses with relatively little heads and the noseband interfers with the bit rings. It's especially noticeable on Rocky so I just rode without a noseband. Then I started with my trainer and she said I should put it back on. I think I may get Rocky one like MIro's.

One of the things I started doing as I've aged, is to back off on the amount of work my horses do. It happened subconsciously over time, to protect my own body. But now that I am working with the trainer it has become obvious that Rocky needs more work. Besides that, she needs some other training. She needs to develop patience. She stands tied very well, but I just don't make her do it very long. I tack up and get on. So I have started working on both issues.

For the last few rides I have started out by handwalking for 10 minutes to get myself moving, then I lunge her with longish reins (pulled back under the stirrups, so, not real long but short enough for her to feel them). I lunge for 10-15 minutes at mostly canter. Then I get on and do bending exercises at the walk, and trot, with a a few 20 m canter circles here and there. I ride for another 30 minutes, and this has increased my 30 minute rides to 50-55 minutes. If I can do this 3-4 times a week, coupled with an hour trail ride once a week, and then have a lesson once a week, she will be getting a lot more work than I've been giving her in the recent past.

I am also tacking her up first and having her stand tied while I work Emma. I am only doing Emma sporadically right now but I am trying to get her on a 3 times a week schedule. Just for informational purposes, I leave Rocky tied in the aisle standing on 3/4 inch thick rubber mats.

[Moutaineer]

Demi, it's a Passier. I use the same one on Laddie and he's very comfortable in it--well padded and soft.

[Sue B]

It was a beautiful weekend, and although I was still too sick to ride Saturday, I did brave the cool breeze (38F and 15mph) for a ride Sunday. With wind breaking gear on (me) and a brilliant sun, both I and the horses got a little sweaty! Today my upper abs are feelin' the burn a bit and I love it. The arena was in really good condition (considering freezing rain and all) so poor ponies had to work in the arena.

With Rudy, I worked mainly on "sitting" and proper engagement of both hind legs. That means that I really had to focus on keeping my chest up and open and my hips swinging. Waaay too much work. However, what I got in exchange, was a really springy collected canter that I could dial down almost to a schooling canter as well as a powerful medium canter. Had to work through several attempts to avoid work by dropping into trot, but honestly, that was my fault. Every time he'd start to fall out of canter, i would collapse my chest and feed into his "falling." The moment I made myself stay upright, he quit falling out of canter even when he'd briefly get too low in front. So really, it was an excellent schooling session for me! After a nice free-walk break, I put him back to work, this time focusing on walk-trot. The task was go from free walk to medium to collected to almost medium trot with no shuffle on the way up. We ended with an almost counted walk in which he started gritting and chomping a bit, I believe in anticipation of working half-steps. When he finally settled into the highly collected walk, I asked for passage instead and holy cow did he passage! I don't know who was more excited, him or me, but I only let him go for a few strides before easing him down into a stretchy trot and then walk.

Tio, Mr. Bigshot, was once again feeling quite full of himself and really wanted to head out down the road instead of doing arena work. Amazingly enough, however, he threw only 2 very mild fits over it all and then went to work. I even cantered him several times without him devolving into bucking. He also gave me a very nice shoulder fore in the trot going to the left and a pretty good sf going to the right. Leg yields, both along the wall and ql to wall are also starting to look/feel pretty darn good. His bugaboo, walking TOF, was actually easy peasy off the left leg, while off the right leg I got at least 3 good steps at a time. To test his new found work ethic, I gave him a nice walk break after the canter work and then went into trot work again. He felt a touch disgruntled about the whole thing and fussed about his face being sweaty; nonetheless he DID put forth the effort and finished on the very good note of standing quietly in the arena for a few minutes until I hopped off. I love my ponies.

[Dresseur]

Thank you all! Of course, in my excitement in turning him out... and in my distraction in finding another boarder's horse with a nasty scrape and treating that, I apparently forgot to pull of M's polo wraps. I can't $**%*^(&* believe that I did that. I figure chances of injury are slim to none since I don't do the wraps very tightly, and he managed to pull one off in his stall, but still..... UGH. I'm a colossal idiot.

Demi, Mountaineer is right, it's a Passier. I got it from Smartpak and you can get it with or without the flash. It IS a wide noseband though - about 2 inches (which I like, but some people don't. The leather quality is lovely. https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/passi ... ecess-8661

[demi]

DH finally took some pictures today! They were taken with my phone so the only ones that looked fairly clear were the ones that were close to the phone. Unfortunately every time Rocky went close to DH she tried to get a cookie and was not focused on me!

I know there are lots of things that I need to work on, but I can see that I am starting to get back together.

[Anne]

Demi I LOVE your pictures, it is so nice to see you and the lovely Rocky, and you look like you have a super partnership with her. I'm mostly a 'lurker' here on this thread, but I really enjoy reading everyone's updates.

[mari]

Helloooo everyone!

I had a nice long holiday at the beach, but now I'm back at work (uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurgh).

Got on Odin for the first time in 4 weeks yesterday. He felt about as much in the mood for work as me... Just did some trot and canter work to loosen him up, and ended with transitions to test whoa/go. We have a jumping lesson today, so I expect some high spirits. Hopefully lazy Odie will come out of the stable today

I cannot even imagine the temperatures you guys are talking about. It's mid-summer here in South Africa, hot and humid in the Highveld. We hit about 33C to 37C in the afternoon, with thunderstorms.

My goals for the next two months are pretty simple. Basically at the end of February I want to be ready for my last few Elementary shows in the middle of the year, before (hopefully) moving up to EM (3rd) at the end of the year (or beginning of next).

Happy riding everyone!

[Moutaineer]

Demi, you have such a solid position! Great pictures!

[Flight]

Great to see pics of Miro and sounds like he is ready to be back working, it is hard when they've been injured to not be scared about them going unsound again. He' s such a cutie.
Good to hear Laddie is still doing well Mountaineer.
Demi, nice pics too! Rocky looks to be going nicely.
Mari - we have similar temps here at the moment, up to 40 but maybe not quite the humidity.

I've been a bit busy on days off so less riding than I'd like, however it suits my little horse. He is good with about 3x week max 4 times, has a lot more energy. My instructor has had me riding him a lot rounder. It freaked me out a bit at first because I was worried about btv, short necks etc, but it's very much about pushing him into the contact and allowing him to stretch rounder and not pop up too high with his friesian neck. He is getting stronger in his canter which I need for working equitation. You ride quite small circles with lots of transitions so they need a good collected canter.
Yesterday he was so obliging, I had a go at 2x changes and he did them! I doubt I'll ever get them again!
My annoying soloshot was out of focus for them, but I'll share anyway:

https://youtu.be/YeOQLDI9zQo

[demi]

Thanks Anne, Mountaineer and Flight for the encouraging comments! I’ve been really getting a lot out of the pics as I have been pouring over them all morning (there were a whole bunch more than a the ones I posted, plus two short vids). I was doing a flexing/bending exercise and the mistakes I was making were SO obvious from the vid. I want to go right out and try it again but it is 25F with 30mph winds out there!
Any way, the exercise is: 10m circle figure 8’s, starting the first circle with the true flexion, and then keeping the same flexion for the second circle, IOW: circle left 10m flexed left, change direction to the right circle but WITHOUT changing flexion (bend), so the second part of the figure 8 is counter bent. Sounds easy enough but I found that I was doing three things wrong.
1) too much true bend (overbent) to begin with
2) changing my leg position when I changed direction,
3) using my inside hand to move her over on to the new circle because I had changed my leg position from being at the girth where it needed to be.
So when the weather warms up, probably by Thursday, I will try it again, hopefully with much improvement.

[demi]

Flight, how exciting your 2’s were!! When I watch tempe changes I sometimes see a lot of excess motion from the rider and also the HQ of the horse wagging back and forth but yours looked super straight and your position looked really really good! Thanks for sharing.

I am waffling back and forth over getting a soloshot3 or a pixio, or any robot cameraman, for that matter. I don’t know if I have the patience for trying to figure it out. I am getting closer to making a decision. It is such an excellent training tool.

[Dresseur]

Flight, those looked really, really good! They looked downright confirmed!

[Moutaineer]

Wow, Flight!

[khall]

Super Flight!!

Dresseur hopefully your journey with Miro will be smooth and uneventful now! I think we can all sympathize with your fears for sure.

Mountaineer yeah for Laddie! Glad your lesson went well and he is doing great.

Demi nice to "see" you! I totally understand about not having someone to take pictures/video. I rarely do as well. I've looked into the soloshot but not in the budget. I guess I should look and see if there are any other remote operated video cameras out there, just have not bothered to.

Sue, Chisamba and Rosie you guys are hard core with some of the weather you deal with. I think I would be curled up in a corner not wanting to leave the house! I do not do well in cold weather, even our Georgia "cold" weather.

Right now riding and working horses is just hit and miss, between weather and family obligations just not getting consistent time in. Was supposed to haul Rip for recheck (scope) tomorrow but they are predicting some frozen precip and cold (for us) windy weather. Decided to postpone it for a week.
Not sure what kind of goals this time around, trying to get piaffe more confirmed in hand, it helps to have 2 which I rarely do. Working on canter stuff, confirming WC transitions to CC to C. Need some pasture rides, but it has been wet so have been reluctant to. Red clay is slippery when wet.

Heading to go work a horse or two, happy riding all!

[Ponichiwa]

Progress already! Lovely changes, Flight.

I had a great, albeit not goal-progressing, ride on Sunday with Kiwi. It was our 5th straight ride (a 2018 record) and so I took it easy and went out for a stroll in the fields. As recently as 2 years ago, that meant keeping her on the bit for the majority of the ride to avoid teleportation-style spooks. But not anymore! We cruised around for the better part of an hour on a loose rein despite neighboring fields of horses losing their minds, a bonfire at the neighbor's house, and several startling sheep. She's so reliable now that she's the anchor horse I use whenever we're introducing a horse to field/trail riding. What a difference.

The training work is also coming together. I'm getting fewer "stolen' changes although they're still a risk. Always more to work on.

Last goals thread I said I'd take the holidays to think through my work commitments vs. show aspirations to see where I really would focus my energies. I had put together a plan but it got torpedoed a bit this week when my boss asked me to change the entire scope of work that I do. More to come on that, I forecast.

In the meantime, I'm in an icepocalypse down here in the Houston area and am getting 0 time in the saddle until the roads clear up. In other Texas weather news, it's supposed to be 75F on Sunday. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE.

[Rosie B]

Flight - Woot woot!!!! You go girl. Those changes looked super. Can't wait to hear how you make out at your next show.

Demi - nice to see pics of you and Rocky in action. I'm envious of your totally unfrozen arena.

Dresseur - Miro is looking very regal. Thanks for sharing.

Mountaineer - that all sounds so promising!! Are you planning to show this summer?

mari - welcome back! How is your neck?

Sue B - those sound like fantastic rides on both beasts!! I need to try that walk to medium trot idea. I think that would work nicely for Bliss.

khall - hoping the weather gods smile on your area for a while.

Ponichiwa - want to trade weather?? muahahahaaa.

This week has been an absolute kick in the pants for me. Highlights include being evacuated (fortunately to return 24 hours later), having both kids get the flu, dealing with close to 50 episodes of vomit, and losing 4 pounds due to my own vomiting. So I haven't ridden since last Saturday. But I am planning to get out both days this weekend, and next week we'll be back in business. Hoping for a 4x week next week!

[Chisamba]

Thanks Anne, Mountaineer and Flight for the encouraging comments! I’ve been really getting a lot out of the pics as I have been pouring over them all morning (there were a whole bunch more than a the ones I posted, plus two short vids). I was doing a flexing/bending exercise and the mistakes I was making were SO obvious from the vid. I want to go right out and try it again but it is 25F with 30mph winds out there!
Any way, the exercise is: 10m circle figure 8’s, starting the first circle with the true flexion, and then keeping the same flexion for the second circle, IOW: circle left 10m flexed left, change direction to the right circle but WITHOUT changing flexion (bend), so the second part of the figure 8 is counter bent. Sounds easy enough but I found that I was doing three things wrong.
1) too much true bend (overbent) to begin with
2) changing my leg position when I changed direction,
3) using my inside hand to move her over on to the new circle because I had changed my leg position from being at the girth where it needed to be.
So when the weather warms up, probably by Thursday, I will try it again, hopefully with much improvement.

i actually love doing this exercise in shoulder in too

[khall]

Woke up to this yesterday morning: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

You northerners can keep your winter weather please! We do not do well with the frozen precip around here. There were two fatalities due to ice on the roads on I75 just north of where our farm is on the way to my DHs workplace. Ponies stayed in for 36 hours with wind chills in the low 20s and frozen pasture water tanks and frozen water buckets in the stalls which is very rare for us. I know those of you who deal with this weather think we are wimps around here but really we just are not equipped to deal with this stuff. No tank heaters, no insulated barns, no way to plow roads, very little ability to salt or sand the roads, usually just the bridges get this treatment. Miserable stuff. Better today and supposed to be fabulous this weekend with temps into the 60s Sunday. (means I need to reclip Rip! Have held off because of the frigid temps).

Rosie evacuated?

I know nasty sickness is going around, many have been sick with various illnesses from flu to stomach bug to strep.

Hope a warming trend is on for all!!

[Chisamba]

Demi and Flight lovely shares! Demi Rocky looks quite happy.
Flight, Your twos really look relaxed, straight and happy, happy seems to be my theme word, lol.

I have not even had Mikhail video me because of how much work it is to keep things going in the snow, and with the weather being cold enough to actually interfere with how much work i am able to do. It was back to being 6F this morning, it did warm up enough to work harder in the afternoon, but i no longer had enough time to work everyone. Emma, one of my training horses, was frankly shocked when i asked her to canter this afternoon, and took it as if she was leaving the starting gate of a quarter mile.

I pulled Kimba's shoes for winter and she is lovely and sound and I am considering leaving her barefoot for the year, even though i am hoping to show second. Not looking like a dressage horse, at 6F




I also have a couple of bummer lambs i am having to bottle feed, so rushing back from the barn to do a mid day feed is taking up some of my life. here are the two sitting on my lap trying to warm up

[Chisamba]

Khall, the snow is pretty but it makes farm life a bit harsh

[Sue B]

Flight-super envious of you 2's--they look really, really good, so fluid and forward.

Rosie--ain't motherhood grand? Everyone at my place got influenza and I tended to them; now I have it. The fever and sore throat popped up the day after my fun time with the ponies and now my chest feels like an elephant is sitting on it, hoping to be better any day now. Why did you have to evacuate!?!?

Demi, I love your pictures. You and Rocky look very good together. I'm impressed.

Chisamba, I hope the weather warms back up for you guys soon so you can ride more. The lambs are adorable; my friend makes little vests for them out of the polypro blanket remnants WalMart dumps every year after Christmas. For like 2 bucks she can make a half dozen and throw them out when they get too yucky and can't be washed anymore. She has a small 4H flock of about 40 ewes.

KHall, what's up with y'all in the South anyways??? I feel bad for you guys dealing with snow down there; it's much easier for us Northerners who expect this stuff.

Ponichiwa, I am so happy for you and Kiwi; your rides sound like mine with Rudy. It's what I love about good training--that you can hop on your spicy pony and go enjoy the great outdoors without fear of being slammed into the ground. Rudy is the same way now and I can't wait til I get the kinks worked out of Tio too.

[Rosie B]

We had to be evacuated because there is a dam behind our subdivision and there had been so much rain (after a long deep freeze) that the combined pressure of the additional water and the thick ice was in danger of breaching the dam. We are on the highest ground in the subdivision, so the horses were in no danger, but I was given an hour to prepare for a 48 hour evacuation in -15 degree C weather. I spent 20 min packing up the family and dogs, then did the horses. I put all their blankets on, opened up the back of my barn, moved all the tack and feed out of the tack and feed area and left that open to the horses for shelter. I laid out 4 big bales inside and out, and left 35 gallons of water placed along the back wall of the (heated) bathroom to put them in the warmest possible spot. What I should have done (but didn't) is pack hay and other insulating materials around the water, but I didn't think of that. That would have kept the water from freezing much much longer. Anyway, I had a plan to evacuate the horses the following morning but by that point in time I knew there were people around who would be checking the horse's water for me, and that we would likely be back home that night. So it was all fine.

[StraightForward]

What an ordeal, Rosie. Glad your place is OK and you weren't out for too long. And flu babies to boot. Ugh.

Flight, what super looking changes. Following your progress has been really inspiring and encouraging. Ding is such a neat horse!

Chisamba, looking forward to you and Kimba's adventures at 2nd this year.

Ponichiwa, how great that Kiwi is the steady one on your hacks now. I'm sure that was unimaginable a few years ago.

Annabelle and I finally managed to have a lesson yesterday. I've only ever had one lesson with this instructor, back in July, then it's just been one thing after another preventing us from getting another lesson scheduled. She made us really work on a much snappier working trot than I've produced on A myself, and then a couple strides lengthening, and producing a more honest bend to the right. I need to get the video camera set up and try to reproduce the working trot to see if it looks as good as it felt. I'm looking forward to combining this with what we're working on in the Ritter course, which tends to be slower pattern and lateral work. She was very impressed with our TOF in motion, which can definitely be attributed to all the in-hand and Ritter-influenced exercises. Now to get control of her left shoulder in the LY left and hopefully have another lesson in three weeks where we can show some improvement there.

Oh yes, and Annabelle was re-scoped on Monday and cleared to taper off the GastroGard and will start changing over to her new diet plan on Monday. Fingers crossed we can get a few solid months of training without any more issues cropping up.

[Xanthoria]

OK I'm joining in: need motivation!

I started my 5 yr old myself without help, but now have a trainer who visits and am 3 months in with her, and get a lesson 3x a month on average.

My goals are as follows:

* Ride at least 4x a week, preferably 5x: one jump session, one trail session, the rest dressage. Depends on arena closures due to rain...
* Stop blocking my horse and stop pushing him - if he's sluggish, tap tap and sit still!
* Follow his head and neck everywhere - that light contact isn't going away, but there is a reward for head up and open!
* Clicker train better walk/halt transitions
* 10 steps backwards in hand every day
* Forward and back for us means counting strides between two light poles. More, then fewer. See how many we can get.
* On the trail, find a long stretch where we can do a big road trot - work on longer, slower strides vs faster ones.
* Position-wise, always be allowing. Push his head forward and out, imagining reins are sticks.
* Get him on the trailer once a week if at all possible - either to eat dinner or go for a short ride.
* Get trailer vents and camera installed.

[Moutaineer]

Not much to add this week as I've been out of town, but I did take a new picture of Laddie last week (trying to take monthly shots through the rehab process...) and he's actually starting to look like a dressage horse again

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this was the start of November

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[demi]

Xanthoria, glad you're in. I'm looking forward to your posts!

Mountaineer, so nice to see update pics of Laddie.

Rocky had another lesson today and I had the trainer ride her. For the time being, it is more beneficial to have her ride her than me.
She was noticeably improved since her last lesson. This was only the second time trainer has ridden her, but today they started to click together. She had some lovely moments. Of course, there were some moments where hot little Rocky said "No way!" but at the end of the ride, Rocky was relaxed and nicely cooperative.

Some of the problems came about because Rocky isn't used to working that hard. She has a great engine, but she wants to use it on her own terms. She wasn't accepting trainer's leg on her, which surprised me. Her resistance to leg came out in some bucking, some running, some kicking out, and some head tossing. Trainer says Rocky tries 500 different things before she submits. Fortunately, trainer is a self describe "mare person" and she really likes Rocky.

Another issue is that Rocky takes her leads according to the direction she is flexed. When trainer asked for counter flexion at canter, Rocky did a flying change. I trained her to take her leads this way, not knowing better. When trainer wouldnt let her switch leads, Rocky had some temper flares! but she eventually submitted, and as I mentioned, by the end of the lesson, she was relaxed and cooperative. I think she is going to enjoy this new challenge. She seemed quite satisfied tonight when I blanketed her and put her to bed.

As good as these weekly lessons are for her I still worry about the stress she feels from trailering. I have decided to do the lessons every other week instead of weekly to ease the stress a little. She has gotten better about loading, but she still isn't eating in the trailer (this horse normally has a super appetite) and she still has to resist for a minute before getting on...

[Kyra's Mom]

Demi,
I used to ride with an instructor that always called such antics that the horse was "calling the union" because certainly, working that hard wasn't in the contract . They do seem to get it sorted out. Good to have the trainer ride her some as we (generic we ammy rider/trainers) seldom seem to push the envelope.

When I was riding and taking lessons, I did every other week. I like to work on the homework and really discover whether I "got it" or not. I felt that was a good balance since I usually rode 4 days/week (so 8 days/2 weeks). 1 of those being a lesson. I had one that was hard to load. Well, not hard...she just didn't get on promptly. It took me about 6 months of solid work and hooking up the trailer once or twice a week to do trailer training before she got more confident and dependable. It should come.

Mountaineer...Laddie looks great. My horse looks like a white yak .

Susan

[demi]

Demi,
I used to ride with an instructor that always called such antics that the horse was "calling the union" because certainly, working that hard wasn't in the contract :lol

Susan

That’s hilarious!

Your whole post is very encouraging. Thank you! It really describes my situation. I know that I seldom push the envelope. I try to work around that limitation. Rocky has my area code, but I’ve kept her from getting my whole number! I think you’re right, that Rocky will get it sorted out with the trainer’s help. This particular trainer is perfect for her.

Oh, and I’ve been getting a lot out of the Karen Rohlf “dressage Naturally” video library. For $24 a month, I have access to all the vids so I can pick and choose. She puts out new vids every month plus she sends out “helpful tip” emails frequently. I like that she has such a great “traditional “ dressage background, too.

[heddylamar]

Lol. I always say my mare's got a call in to the SPCA — I'm making her work too hard! Ill treatment!!

[piedmontfields]

Love the photos and updates. Demi, you look very effective and focussed! Rocky has a similar build, I think to Sue's Tio? Love the comment on her "calling the union." Laddie looks great for just a few months back in steady work! Miro is so handsome. Glad the work back is going better and better. And a special call out to favorite DDBB mare Kiwi for being an awesome trail guide. Flight, I'm still so impressed with your development. Very inspiring! I think you are on to something with the demands of working eq paying off for you.

I recently learned a bit more about just how much/ or should I say how little training Emi had before I got her. Let's just say it was a lot less than I thought! Apparently I have been training this horse up the levels....so our issues with clarity of some aids (ex. changes) are all on me!! I am in the mode now of studying and practicing (in my mind) very clear change aids, so I can stop confusing my dear mare. And we continue to work on overall quality of gaits and reactions under saddle. I'm lucky that when I am inconsistent, all my mare does is does is mostly nothing and an ear flip (her way of saying, "how I am supposed to do the right thing when you are so unclear?!"). I'm grateful for her attitude...and that she does not call her attorney or the union on me. It would be fair to do so sometimes!!

[Sue B]

Yes, Rocky is similar to my TB, Rudy, except he has a ewe neck--which btw, is not discernible when ridden correctly. Someday, I will post a confo shot of Rudy along side a good under saddle shot to show just how different he looks standing still vs working.

Speaking of work...I rode Sunday again (had to let arena dry out a bit) in our glorious sunny, wintry weather. Rudy does. not. like. cold on his hind end and I was too lazy to apply the quarter sheet, and so he had a few unkind words to say about my choices. Finally had to dismount and carry on the conversation from the ground where I could more easily gain access to said hind end and get those hocks bending better. After a bit of bad language on both our parts he decided to "comply" become my sweet little pony again. Finished the ride with some lovely goofing off and all was well. I should note that, Rudy HATES ground work and is the only horse I have never been able to convince to just soften his front end and go with it. People smarter than me have tried, on occasion, but with them he turns to his old stallion ways, complete with striking, rearing and biting--something he never even gets close to doing with me. With me he just shortens his neck and bulges either his chest or under neck--so I have taken to ignoring the front end and just confirming bendy hocks and forward when I say "forward" and "don't run over the top of me." The moment he softens his body, I gracefully exit the ground work and apply lavish praise, as experience has taught me to not be greedy or overly ambitious. He is truly a tender soul who needs a lot of grace couched within the boundaries of good manners. All that to say there were no aha moments on him Sunday, just old fashioned forward and straight.

Tio, too, was spicy but managed to hold it all together, and so I am again pleased with his progress. With him, ground work is the key to everything ridden. I do not get on him until I have his absolute focus on the ground and he yields shoulders and hind quarters equally well. Getting a handle on him from the ground translates really well to listening to my aides in the saddle, even when what he really wants to do is take off bucking. I swear, Rudy just rolls his eyes at him while we "work".

[Rosie B]

On Sunday I managed to arrange transport to a local indoor for Bliss and I.

I was very pleased with him. He loaded like a complete pro, was super chilled about the whole experience, and was super forward and was beautifully in front of the leg from the word go. YAY!

We worked on transitions and canter mostly. It was nice to have some concrete proof that I HAVE been making progress with getting him to change his default way of going.

The weather is throwing us for another loop. Yesterday we got 5" of snow followed by 2" of rain. Now it's supposed to freeze again tonight. So I'll keep chipping away as weather and footing allow. I am so ready for spring though.

[Dresseur]

We've graduated to the roundpen for turnout for an hour or two at a time! Unfortunately, t/o has still been spotty due to the weather, but so far, he's been incredibly well behaved and is not giving me any heart attacks. The work is getting better and better and he's feeling good. I'm going to start incorporating some very shallow leg yields in the work now that my hell week and a half of getting together an RFP for my real job. Ugh. Work! lol.

IMG_3282.jpg (110.43 KiB) Viewed 26910 times

[Imperini]

Good to see so many lovely horses! Amazing how much Laddie has changed over the last couple of months coming back into work Mountaineer, and neat to have the photographic evidence too.

Sooo ready for spring.. When I got to the barn last night it was +2C and raining and when I left it was -3C and snowing! All the ponies were feeling a bit silly with the rapid temperature change, wind, and the change from rain to snow which also featured a short bit of ice pellets which are rather loud when they hit the roof of the indoor. My rides in the past couple of weeks have almost all felt really nice so having a ride where I was just happy to survive was somewhat of a disappointment but she tried really hard to stay focused on me while there were scary sounds and the other horses and ponies getting scared of every little thing too so I will call it a success. I still haven't managed to get any video but hopefully I won't change my mind on how our rides are going when I can see it

I'm pretty pleased as we're starting to be able to work on different things instead of just spending the ride establishing forward and I feel like we're actually making progress instead of staying the same or going backwards. The forward happens when I get her attention which happens with lots of transitions, changing of direction, and varying the exercises we're working on. Canter has also improved recently because I realized just how much I try to hold the canter together which, especially with Pal who has a pretty nice/easy canter, is not necessary but the release is necessary because then she can actually canter.

[Rosie B]

We had an extremely rare weekend of beautiful above freezing temps. I got some video yesterday and I'm pretty happy with this. I think Bliss looks like he's really starting to use himself correctly. It's nice to have the video to confirm that yes, what feels great also looks pretty darned good. What are your thoughts? Do you guys see any improvement?

https://youtu.be/x1U6RMkfP6E

[Moutaineer]

Good lesson on Saturday. My biggest takeaway was "little thing" that we really all know but often forget. Posture and how your horse mirrors you.

I'm a desk bound person much of the time and as such I'm a bit round shouldered, even though I think I strive not to be.

So there we are, noodling along in a walk break, me working on nice loose hip and butt, and as we go to pick it up to go back to work, trainer reminds me to pick myself up, fire the point between my shoulder blades, etc.

I'm going past the mirror at the time so I can see how much of a wake up and shape up effect it has on him. Hmmm. I need to work on this!!!

[Sue B]

Rudy confo shot 2018.jpg (216.2 KiB) Viewed 26777 times

Sorry for the large photo size...I posted this so you can see the conformational challenges I deal with riding Rudy. You can see the bulging under neck is still present (albeit much less than when I started him) indicating a ewe-neck and you can see his ultra-shot back combined with massive withers. I backed him the summer of 2011, so he certainly has improved over what he was back then. What i like is how he is building muscle ahead of the withers and over his loins. There used to be quite a dip at both those areas.

Anyways, I got my one-ride-a-week in yesterday in the unseasonably gorgeous, warm weather. Rudy got to go down the road (not paved) instead of doing arena work. We walked, trotted (mostly) and cantered for a total of 4 miles. I took my dog, Lucy, along and she too had a blast. Along the way, we did lateral work as well as rubber-band work, taking advantage of the extra forward attitude; while at the same time, schooling for correctness in spite of exciting circumstances. In other words, it was all about having fun but maintaining focus. Excellent show prep I think.

By the time I got back, Tio was pretty ticked off, since he was left behind tied to the fence. This translated into uncooperative ground work followed by explosive lunging. he managed to rip the lunge line out of my hands the first explosion, and drag me around the arena and into a face plant the second explosion. Sometimes I forget just how incredibly strong the kid is. Fortunately, he doesn't go far when he gets loose, because my arena is not fenced in. After the 2nd blowup I put sidereins on and put him to work. Even though they were relatively loose, the sr kept him from being able to get away from me, so he quickly decided work was easier than being a twit. After about 15 minutes, I hopped on and had a really quite nice, but easy, ride in the arena. Silly boy. My back, neck and right shoulder are a little stiff today from all the kid's antics though.

[Chisamba]

Rosie I. Love your videos, and yes the supple willing responsiveness is so lovely to see.

Be careful that you may get a little too passage like behind. I think. It might be sloppy footing, and so not a real. Problem.

[Flight]

Rosie, Bliss looks really nicely forward and active and happy being there. Nice work!! I definitely see an improvement He's still nice and swinging but looks in front of your leg without any hassle

Dresseur good to hear Miro's continual improvement! Same with Laddie's.
Sue B - yes Rudy does have an interesting conformation, but is looking good muscle wise. It will be interesting to see him keep developing. Ouch with the face plant!!

I had my working equitation competition on the weekend, it was just within the club and only one other rider in my class. She was on a borrowed horse so was at a disadvantage from the start. However, it's so easy to get yourself eliminated and I found it so difficult to remember the course!! I was very happy with Ding, when we first started working eq, he was frightened of a lot of the obstacles and hated the side pass poles. Yesterday he hardly hesitated. We are also becoming more balanced with the smaller canter circles.
The level we are at is all canter/walk for the ease of handling phase. The speed phase you just go as fast as you can without getting eliminated (you have to still walk over the bridge).

Here's the ease of handling phase: https://youtu.be/XgozHUlN888
And speed test. https://youtu.be/uC422ChOGkU
I should get some nice piccies soon too.

[Dresseur]

Rosie, definite continued improvement. I also see the tendency to hover a bit behind, but it's dramatically reduced from your earlier videos. If you haven't yet, I'd be doing a lot of trot/halt/trots - pretty rapid fire, to keep that hind leg speedy. But big changes overall, and Bliss looks much more adjustable as a result.

Flight, that looks like such fun, Ding's a natural!

[demi]

SueB, Rudy does remind me of Rocky. They are they exact same color, too. Rocky isn’t ewe necked but she has a shortish neck. The problem I have with her neck is that she goes behind the vertical SO easily. I have been letting, even encouraging her to poke her nose out to try to prevent her coming BTV. But my trainer handles it differently so i am thinking about that...new thread maybe. Rocky was a lot like Tio in her youth! She can still be a whirling dervish on the longe line and I also use sidereins when I think she is in a wild mood. Yesterday was chilly and very windy so I lunged her before I rode her and I’m glad I did. She was snorting like a dragon.

Rosie, I enjoyed watching you and Bliss on the vid. I definitely think he is more connected. I liked how steady and connected he was in spite of the sloppy footing. My horses pick their feet way up high when the footing is like that.

And Flight! So cool! You’ve done a great job with Ding. His flying changes in the speed part were awesome. It was a great example of what good dressage training can do for a horse. And you’re looking very fit and slender these days! You’re inspiring me to get more fit myself.

Today is trail day for Rocky. She needs it. I’ve averaged 5 days a week for all of January and we are consistently doing 50-60 minute workouts, working up a sweat on most days, even in the cold temps. I have also gotten in 4-5 workouts a week myself for all of January and am feeling stronger.

[piedmontfields]

-Demi, that is an impressive wrap up! You have really been working hard.
-Rosie, I liked that Bliss looked much more powered up overall in your video. How did the t-c-t-c transitions feel? They look pretty good. I am sometimes really challenged to keep power on through transitions (it is very easy for us to stall briefly, like an old car, before going smoothly back into gear).
-Flight, you and Ding are awesome!

Well, we've made it through horrid January weather (for us) with 17 rides (instead of the usual 20). I'm noticing that our canter is much more powered up right off the bat these days--that bodes well for getting back into making the changes calm and prompt like Flight's! I have totally been overriding the changes and confusing Emi (and when she is confused, she usually says "nothing can be done here"). So now I am studying/practicing off the horse and reviewing prep work on the horse. I also had the saddle fitter out for a check and re-flocking---I think that will also make our lives better.

[Ponichiwa]

We've made it to the half-way point, and here's what's happened:
- I've been working out in the mornings for 30min before work as a part of a workout pact with my sister. I'm actually feeling more energetic in the afternoons now. Psychosomatic or real? Either way, it's a good thing for getting rides in after work.
- And speaking of, averaging 4.1 rides/wk (inclusive of relaxing trail ride days as well) in January.
- Canter is still a work in progress, but:
- Got my saddle re-flocked and adjusted to Kiwi's new and improved uphill shape. I think this will make a pretty big difference in the quality of the changes, which have deteriorated a bit and have had the timbre of discomfort about them.

I also keep an eye on the horses-for-sale sites because I'm a glutton for punishment. Found a palomino Gelderlander/Hanoverian yearling that I want real bad. Talk me down!

[khall]

Congrats everyone on surviving January! It was a bit of a challenge at times:)

I have ended January with a bang!! Had a friend come and be eyes on the ground yesterday while I rode Rip and she confirmed I'm on the right track for him. I am asking him to stay up and open almost to the point of being above the bit and boy does it make a difference in how he moves. His go to is to stretch and stay down but now he is strong enough with the piaffe/half steps that we have been doing (and all the other lateral work and transitions that encourage engagement and collection) that he can handle the up and open much better now. Mark and I had tried several years ago to go down this road but it just shut him down. Now he is staying active and up. So my plans have been to work more on W, CC, W to W, C, W transitions using bending lines and straight lines as needed. Working towards FCs. Rip's CC is so much better now with him being stronger thankfully. We were doing right lead CC yesterday on a bending line and he threw a FC in! He got a cookie and a good boy!! This confirms to me that this work is where I need to go with him to prep him for changes, so continue I will!! We then went back to right lead CC to confirm that we could keep it and not change and he did it just fine. I just made sure I was careful with my position and not giving him any change aids. Years ago I had a OTTB g that I had to ride so carefully in CC or he would flip a change in a heart beat. Not a bad problem to have:)

[Chisamba]

Happy February everyone

[piedmontfields]

Found a palomino Gelderlander/Hanoverian yearling that I want real bad. Talk me down!

That little description alone makes it hard to talk you down. I think you need to share a photo.

[kande50]

I also keep an eye on the horses-for-sale sites because I'm a glutton for punishment. Found a palomino Gelderlander/Hanoverian yearling that I want real bad. Talk me down!

Do it. Don't wait. Ride as many horses as you can as often as you can so that you'll never look back and regret playing it too safe.

Now that I'm winding down I'm glad I didn't wait until I was retired to start riding more, because I would have lost out on a lot of riding if I had.

[piedmontfields]

kande, you are after my own heart: A day with a ride (or two) is always a better day!

I can't believe I rode 17 times in Jan. We had *awful* weather. Now is is pounding rain which will change to snow overnight. Ugh. But at least it will melt soon.