Up your hands!

Wow, I've been neglecting this for a long time, haven't I?  Lots of things have happened since the last time I posted about the city kids chasing my horses through the fence on New Year's Eve.  I've hauled Zigs out to California to ride at the Tournament of the Phoenix, a major flood came through and demolished our fence, I switched to a much better job, my mom got breast cancer, fought it, and won, we weathered the worst drought in history, I helped my friend put on two jousting tournaments, the list could go on.  The point is, I've been busy, and while I have been riding, I haven't really felt motivated to blog about it; but today, I'm making a change. 

Why?  For several reasons.  First of all, until recently, it's been hard to get out and ride.  Not only schedule-wise (work, etc.), but also motivation-wise.  I'm not going to go in to any detail except to say I'm getting help with and addressing these issues.  Besides, you read this for the clever pony-related banter, not for insight into my mind. ;)  Second of all, I thought back to when I was blogging consistently and I realized that it was a great help in gauging my progress and helping to reflect on the problems I was having.  And lastly, I enjoy coming up with clever posts.  So now that we're on the same page, let's proceed, shall we?

Marvelous.

There is one notable change I need to mention moving forward, though.  Since I was last updating this blog regularly, I've been riding and training Shadow more often than Ziggy.  Not to worry, though, Zigs is by no means retired, It's just Ziggy's a made horse, while Shadow is still green in some ways, and needs constant attention to stay sharp.  I like to think that I've made some fairly good progress with Shadow over the two years I've been working with him, but there's still a fair ways to go.  So, in the spirit of picking a convenient reference point to begin working from for future reference, let's mark the beginning of the metaphorical tape at Tuesday of last week.  Why last week?  Simple, really; LB, an extremely skilled Jouster and Rider was in town giving a Jousting clinic.  Unfortunately, funds are a little tight due to a recent vacation and truck purchase, so I had to audit the clinic, but I did take a private lesson from him on Shadow, and he was kind enough to do some schooling work on Shadow for me.  Despite not being able to ride in the clinic, I got a lot out of watching L school Shadow, and my lesson. 

However, before I start enumerating lessons learned, I need to set the stage a bit.  After Lysts on the Lake, my riding dropped off sharply due to a combination of working 80 hour weeks on a huge work project, Texas summer and me being in a bad mental state.  All of this resulted in Shadow remaining rather under-muscled.  Since I respect L a great deal, and I know he likes Shadow rather a lot (in fact, at one point during Lysts this year, he threatened to take him back to Norway ;) ), I was rather apprehensive of showing up with my riding and Shadow being in such sorry shape.

Ok, let's not mince words: I was flat-out embarrassed.  I felt like I'd taken a few giant steps back rather than forward from Lysts, and Shadow's conditioning is not where it should be.  So, to stop belaboring the the point, I was wound pretty damn tight when I showed up for my lesson.  And oh Gods, did it show!  After a very tense warm up, and a mini-rodeo (brought on by my nerves, not disobedience on Shadow's part), we worked on getting shadow to relax and stretch into the bit.  While working on this, L identified several problems I'm having:

* I hollow my lower back.
* I'm not keeping my core engaged, which causes me to go all noodly (yes, that's a word now.  Deal with it.) and lose the ability to convert impulsion into collection
* I still hold my hands too low, which will now be easy for me to correct thanks to a saying that L relayed to me from a Portugeuese Bullfighting trainer, which serves as the title for this post: Up your hands!

After a while, Shadow started stretching out and blowing (read: relaxing) and we were able to get to work.  Since Shadow desperately needs strength in his hind quarters, we worked on spiraling in and out on the circle.  As is par for the course whenever you're re-training body position issues, progress came in fits and starts.  I'd have it, then I'd start thinking about what I was doing, and then revert to my old habits.  Happily, the lesson ended much better than it began, and I walked away with several things to concentrate on.

The next day the clinic started, and I helped people get tacked up before the sessions started, and just generally emulated a sponge, and soaked up every bit of information I could by comparing my assessments of the issues the riders were dealing with L's advice, and listening closely when L would give the other riders advice on how to work through the same issues I was having.  I like doing this because I feel like it helps me develop my eye, as well as helping to make another connection to the same piece of information in my brain.  In between sessions, L was nice enough to ride Shadow and work him for me. 

Er

Mah

Gerd.

Shadow can MOVE.

Yes, I am bragging.  Sorry about that.  But for Gods' sakes, he was doing canter pirouettes, flying lead changes, and teleporting to either side in a canter on command.  Impressive no matter which way you slice it.

For the rest of the clinic, I tacked up Shadow after the last session, and would work on the things L told me.  There's still a lot of work to do on my position, but I feel like by the end of the week, I was doing a much better job of not letting my core go soft, and I'm able to change the bend thorough my seat and spiral in and out on a circle much more successfully than I was at the beginning of the week. 

To put the icing on the cake, on Saturday, we loaded up and all went Foxhunting.  I rode Ziggy, and loaned Shadow to L.  As always, Zigs was a total rock star, and didn't understand why we couldn't A) Pass the leader of first flight, and B) Become flight 0.  The day that he doesn't want to do either of the aforementioned activities is the day I'll know it's time for him to retire.  Shadow did quite well for his first hunt, although he didn't particularly enjoy stopping for the checks, and tended to dance around.  But that's to be expected.  Horses ALWAYS get amped up when hunting.  That aside, he didn't have any problems with the hounds, and L rode him very well, as always.  Although I think next time I take Shadow hunting, I'll switch him to a Pelham instead of the mild curb we were using.  Not that the curb was a problem, it's just that it's my preference to start gentle and work my way up as necessary. 

We didn't get any talley hos, but the fixture was awesome, and a great time was had by all.  After the clinic, we loaded up and headed over to a new friend's place for a delicious lunch, and I got a firm reminder on the importance of checking your corners when going through a gate.  Fortunately, trailer, ponies and gate post all survived the encounter intact.

The clinic served as a much-needed kick in the ass to help pull me out of my funk and back into riding.  I don't ever again want to be that embarrassed over the conditioning of my horse, and as was rightly pointed out to me, as a horse lover, I have an obligation to train Shadow to his highest level of capabilities.  He's too nice of a horse to let go to waste.  So, to that end, starting tomorrow, I'll be adjusting my work schedule to 0700 - 1500 so that I can get home with enough daylight to ride in, and will be getting back into lessons as soon as finances allow (hopefully after the holidays).  To further encourage my progress, I'll try to post monthly videos and pictures.  Tonight, however, both Shadow and Zigs will be getting a well-deserved rest. 

In Which it is Discovered that Horses Have Fashion Sense

At long last, I will now relay the events of Monday's lesson, as best I can remember them. Which is to say: not very well. I suppose that is to be expected when one comes into work on a Tuesday morning and learns that the deadline on the Big Giant Project™ they are working on has been pulled in by a week, and proceeds to stay at the office until 0100 crunching trying to finish the work that he thought he had an entire week and a half to complete. Not that I'm upset about this, of course.

No, actually, that's a lie.

At any rate, before I begin, there is an anecdote that must be shared. This morning, I was running late to work due to having overslept. I fed Ziggy, and went in to take a shower and get ready. Once I'd dressed for work, I went to let Zigs out of his stall, just like I usually do. Most days, I'll open the gate and he'll mosey on out, sniff noses with the donkeys, take a drink of water and park in front of the round bale. Today, I opened up the gate, he surveyed his domain and decided, "Ooh, look! I have alfalfa molecules in here!" and then proceeded to clean the alfalfa molecules up. I really didn't want to go to work today, but my over-developed sense of duty kicked in, so I walked into the stall and said, "Come on Ziggy, I'm running late for work." He picked his head up, thought about it for a moment, turned towards me and sneezed on me, getting horse snot all over the shirt I was wearing. The really funny part? I was wearing a Samsung T-Shirt. Efficient, and insightful. I knew my horse was German. The Thoroughbred has spoken, it is time for a new job.

So, here's what I can remember of the lesson: I got the canter pretty much immediately when I asked for it, and I'm beginning to not have to lean back like I'm sitting in a recliner to get it. After cantering, we did shoulder-fore. Although, if I'm being honest, the other riders in the lesson did shoulder in and Sonata and I did, "Shoulder-fore is hard, I'm gonna pop my shoulder and just walk out of it. K?" I know Sonata knows how to do it, and will do it if asked properly, but at that point, my legs were totally shot, so I really couldn't say, "No, mare, I said, lateral. Oh! And, I didn't wind up owing Duchess' mom another breakaway halter. ;)

Tonight, I went out to Zhizhu's lesson and took pictures. It looked to me like she had a great lesson, but I'm sure you can read more about it over on her blog

Are You There Epona? It's me, Foxfire

Bless me Epona, for I have sinned. It has been 7 Months, 11 days, 5 hours, 17 minutes, 31 seconds and 1259 nanoseconds since my last confession. I have coveted horses out of my price range, I have eaten before feeding my horse and I have neglected to give my horse treats when he commands. All of these are grievous sins to be sure, but I fear today, I must confess to a far greater transgression. I hate to mention it, but I must.

I have attempted to hose off a horse's head while it was tied.

A most serious transgression indeed. And what possessed you to commit such an act?

Well... I did it to Zigs while he was--

Stop right there.

But, I didn't think th--

Exactly.

But...

SILENCE MORTAL! Lest I smite your ruin upon the GAG course!

Please don't.

That depends. Will you do it again?

Hell no.

Alright, no smiting for you. This time.

Thank you Epona.

Do not thank me yet, mortal. You have yet to hear your penance.

*gulp*

I demand the following: 10 minutes of sitting trot without stirrups every ride for a week. The training level A and B Dressage tests ridden entirely in Two-Point once per week. And there is one final thing.

Name it, your ladyship.

Clean your horse's sheath. I swear, you men ar--

Not a problem,

..What? No squirming? Not even a flinch??

Already have the Excalibur.

I see.

Um... can I go now? I need to turn Ziggy out for the night.

Run along.

In seriousness, Sonata was wearing a breakaway halter, and neither she nor I were hurt. I feel really stupid for doing that, and I know how lucky I am that was the case. You can rest assured I won't be doing that again.

Now that that's taken care of, I can actually discuss my lesson this evening. It started out a little rough, and I was really having to push her forward off my leg. but that's sort of par for the course. At the walk, we practiced getting our horses to stretch down. Due to the way Sonata was trained, there was only so much I was going to get, and she made me work for every inch I got. ;) The trotting went pretty well, and I think I'm getting a lot better at my half halts and keeping my heel down when I have to give strong leg cues. Canter was also quite good, I got it every time I asked, and I did a much better job at immediately fixing the trot and getting her balanced, rather than what I usually do, which is trot around in a hot mess and try to get a walk.;)

For the last part of the lesson, we did leg yields. I think they went OK, but I think that I was letting Sonata pop her shoulder and just walk to the rail rather than cross over. I do, however, have an epiphany to report. One of the things my trainer is constantly saying to me when I'm doing laterals is to "half halt with the outside rein to fix her outside shoulder". It finally made sense today. I don't quite know how to explain what I did, but I sort of thought of building a wall with my outside leg and rein, and using my inside leg to move her hindquarters over to catch up. Tomorrow, I'm headed down to the Houston area to look at a few horses for Zhizhu... It should be interesting. Of course I will make a full report tomorrow.

A Good Day in the Saddle is Better Than a Bad Day at Work

For the second time in as many weeks, my soulless Korean overlords saw fit to release me from my toils at a reasonable hour, so that I could attend yet another riding lesson. Twice in a row is nice, but it will take three to make a habit, and I have confidence that even now, my overlords conspire against such an event coming to pass. But, the diabolical machinations of a soulless corporation will not sully the triumph of today! No sir! Onward!

As with just about every lesson I take, I once again climbed aboard Sonata. In the warm up, she was taking a lot of leg, and wasn't very round. But today, I would not be deterred. Instead of continually using my legs, I went to my whip a lot quicker, and that seemed to yield significantly better results. I founder her a lot more responsive to the leg, and it was a lot easier to get her round. The primary focus of the lesson tonight was to work on trot transitions. All of us had a different goal, and mine was to keep Sonata round when we transitioned up, and when we were trotting. I had a lot of success getting her to come round once we were trotting, I did have to have some discussions with her about actually going to the corner and staying on the rail, though. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, however. I used all of the techniques that I learned last Thursday,( opening my rein far out while supporting it with my leg, posting my inside hip to her outside shoulder) AND THEY WORKED! Sonata dropped her head, went round, and moved where I wanted her to go. The one nit I can pick is that my heel kept coming up when I was having to put my leg on strongly. Once I noticed it, I started making a concerted effort to keep my leg long, even if I was having to really use it strongly.

Of course, this was about the time that my trainer started yelling at me for over posting. ;) I attempted to focus on doing both things, and I actually was able to do both at the same time a few times. I took special care to try and remember the sensation so that I'll hopefully speed its storage into my muscle memory. To cap off the trot, we did 20 meter circles on each rein, (long my achilles heel), and, while not circles per se, they were at least evocative of a circular shape. Plus, I was able to actually keep her out at 20 meters, which was a marked improvement from Thursday.

At long last, I come to the coup de grace. The Canter. I've made no secret of the fact that my canter transition is a source of continual frustration. I am happy to report that tonight was a notable exception. We started on the left lead, and when I first tried to sit for the canter, I basically forgot to ride, and got a really nasty fast trot. So, I re-balanced, and sat again. This time I actually remembered to ride and got a nice canter. I took the whole arena, and as an added bonus, when I went down to trot, Sonata didn't try to stop. I was pretty happy with that, but I had the right rein to contend with, which is typically the one that always gives me fits, even on Zigs. I switched reins across the diagonal, and in the second corner, i sat, asked, and immediately got canter. I was over the moon. I took her around the arena once, and let her quit on that.

As though it wasn't patently obvious, I am quite satisfied with both my and Sonata's performance tonight. Hopefully, my rides will continue moving in this direction. It would certainly make me more confident about doing the horse trial in October!! No riding tomorrow, sadly, as I'll be going to the Gym to start with a new personal trainer. (My Gym buddy's co-worker is actually a personal trainer and has volunteered to help us out.) Wednesday, however, will bring the Alfalfa addict back into service. More then.

Christmas is Saved

So, I stayed up until about 2:30 checking on Zigs periodically last night. Right after I wrote the post below, I went to check on him, and he was actually up, walking around and took a long drink from the water trough. He still looked like he was still in a bit of pain, but unfortunately, I didn't have any Banamine to give him. I called my vet this morning, and when I take him in for his annuals, she's going to teach me how to give injections, and give me a vial of Banamine to keep in case this happens again. Zhizhu was nice enough to stay awake the rest of the night and keep an eye on him. I feel kind of bad for having to ask her to do that, but I had to come in to work today.

Anyhow, when Zhizhu woke me up this morning, she told me that Ziggy continued to improve throughout the rest of the night, and he was actually grazing at the round bale, and looked like he felt right as rain. I threw on some clothes and went out to check on him, and when I did, he was standing outside his stall waiting for his breakfast. I scooped out about half his normal grain ration, put it in his bucket, and let him in the stall. He happily trotted in and started chowing down. I went back inside and called work explaining that I was going to be late, and laid back down in bed to get some more sleep. At about 08:00, I rolled out of bed and took a shower and then got dressed for work. Once I was dressed, I put on my boots and went out to turn out Zigs. Much to my delight, he had finished all his grain, and was eating his alfalfa from last night. In short, he was acting like his old self. He walked right out of his stall, took a drink, and went to hang out with the donkies. From the looks of it, it seems like it was just a case of us upping his feed too quickly, and giving him a tummy ache. He'll get tonight and tomorrow off, and I'll pick him back up one either Sunday or Monday and see how he's doing. One of the other things I'll be doing is getting him some better alfalfa. The stuff we had to buy the last time around are these little tiny compressed bales, and are very stemmy, and not very green at all. Of course, I'll be keeping a close eye on him in the coming days, (a huge benefit of having my horse at home!) and seeing how things go.

Hopefully, that will be the extent of my excitement for the summer as far as his stomach issues. What I am hoping for, however, is plenty of excitement as far as improving my riding goes! Speaking of which, I seem to remember that I owe you, dear reader, not one, but two rides to document. May it never be said that I do not honor my debts! I shall use conventional chronology, and report the events of my ride on Wednesday, proceeding on to releate the details of my lesson yesterday, finally detailing my plans for my rides this weekend and beyond. I do hope that you will find said chronology an acceptable vehicle for narrative. Is everybody with me? Splendid. Let's begin, shall we?

Wednesday, as prognosticated in Tuesday's post, I resolved to work on my two-point. Before I dove into that, however, I worked on doing round trot and canter circles. On the left rein, they went quite well, I found Ziggy relaxed, forward, and fairly nicely bent. I did notice that I have a habit of wanting to overbend my horses, so I tried to make sure that I wasn't doing that. Satisfied with my progress, I switched to the right rein, and while the circles did not go nearly as well, there was indeed progress. The main problem I had was that Zigs would try to fall to his outside shoulder and try to cut the circle off. Well, I suppose in the interest of not embellishing the truth, one should omit the word "try" from the previous sentence when reading. My other issue, which I am fairly convinced was due to my position, was that my half-halts weren't really all that effective in getting him to round up. But, as mentioned previously, I was getting a shape that was something approaching round in its concept though not necessarily so in its execution. While not precisely my stated goal, I am prepared to call it progress. Since the trot went so well, I decided to try some canter circles in as well. I am pleased to report that I not only managed to get my up transition within a stride or two of when I asked for it, but Zigs was also doing significantly rounder circles at the canter than he was at the trot. I think that as far as Zigs is concerned, it's easier for him to canter than trot. The down transitions were... rough, but for this ride, the objective was two-point, so I didn't sweat it much.

I gave Zigs a walk break so we could both re-organize and re-group, and I then gathered up my reins, and asked him to trot on, going up into two-point. In the spirit of continuing honestly, and constructive self-criticism, I must report that I do not feel like my form was correct. I am fairly sure that I should have been feeling more weight in my heels, and that I shouldn't have been resting my hands quite so heavily on his neck. I also think that I did not have my back in the correct position, as after a while, my lower back began to hurt. All was not lost, however. I did notice that I was allowing my knees an hips to flex and bend to compensate for Zig's movement, and all things considered, I did feel fairly comfortable up there. Although, if I could get someone willing to put me on the end of a longe line, and critique my form, I would certainly not turn that down. Not that I am dropping hints, or anything like that, though.;)

Feeling a little adventurous, I decided to try two-point in the canter as well. It started out well enough, but as I headed towards the gate, he cut a really sharp right turn. If I had my heels down and my weight up off of my horse, this would not have been a problem. Since none of the above was true, my right foot popped out of my stirrup and I nearly pitched myself off over his shoulder. By some miracle, I managed to regain my balance, but I was then in the realm of Cross Country Attack Pony. Eventually, he and I negotiated an armistice, and I decided to work on lengthening and shortening his stride at the walk to finish out the ride.

Those are the events of Wednesday, digitally logged for your entertainment, my entertainment, and future reminiscence. Moving forward in our chronology, we inevitably come to the day known as Thursday by the Gregorian reckoning. Taking cues from Wednesday, Thursday proved to also be an interesting ride. At long last, I was able to take a lesson on Sonata. Since it had been a month since last I had a lesson, I was sort of expecting sub-optimal performance on my part. Sonata had just recently seen the chiropractor and gotten her hips injected, and I must say, she was moving quite nicely. She had a lot more swing in her walk, bounce in her trot, and was a lot more willing to canter on both leads. That being said, I completely lacked the ability to get her to go round,or get her to circle. It was one of those rides where you're telling your training, "I can ride, really! I promise!!" In order to get her to go out to a 20 meter circle, I was having to open my outside rein to well past my knee, turn my upper body completely to the outside of the circle, put my inside leg on strong, and post my inside hip past her outside shoulder.

By the time we stopped for water, my legs had the consistency of something between Cool Whip and Jello, and I hadn't even cantered yet. Fortunately, I got to rest my legs for a bit while my trainer talked. After a drink of water, I went up to canter. First was the left lead. I got the canter pretty much immediately, which was good, but the problem was getting her to do a 20 meter circle. I kept overshooting one set of cones, and undershooting the other. Again, I was having to haul on my inside and outside reins to get her where I needed her to go. I eventually got it on the left rein, so we switched to the right rein. That went considerably less optimally. In the interest of efficiency, the right rein can be summed up in the final 2 minutes of it, during which my trainer was yelling, "I DON'T CARE IF IT'S NOT PRETTY, MAKE THAT MARE CIRCLE! COWBOY HER IF YOU HAVE TO!" It was most certainly not pretty, but I did make her do 3 20 meter circles. After the third one, my trainer told me that was good and we were done, which was good, because at that point, I didn't have any legs left, so you can imagine my shock when I dismounted, and two objects below my waist supported my weight.

I will be riding Sonata again Sunday morning, before heading out to my Dad's ranch for father's day festivities. With any luck, I will keep my legs after the ride is over.

Suck it, Korea

Just a short post tonight, as not too much horsy went on.  I was supposed to ride in a jumping lesson tonight, but my Korean overlords issued a diaboic edict, mandating that I was to attend a conference call at 18:30 tonight. I was... unhappy. At any rate, I got out of my conference call, and booked it out to the barn. Happily, I made it at the halfway point of the lesson. If I couldn't ride, I could at least watch and try and see the comments my trainer was making on everyone's form, and mentally apply them to the areas where I'm lacking. I don't know if that will actually help at all, but it certainly can't hurt.

Anyway, as the lesson wound down, one of the women I ride with from time to time asked me if I would like to hop up on her gray Hanoverian, and pop over a few Xs. I must have been looking rather wistful. This horse is a gorgeous Gray gelding, but sometimes he can be a bit of a goof to fences, so I'll admit I was rather surprised that she was allowing me up on him. She's a really good rider, and as stated before, he can be a bit of a goof. I asked my trainer if it was ok, (Read: Vanessa, am I really skilled enough for this horse?) She said, "wear a helmet". So, I borrowed Gusty's mom's helmet, and went ahead and hopped over a few fences. It was a lot of fun, and he was a very good boy. Just what I needed. I hopped off and tanked her profusely, belatedly realizing that I was still in my work clothes. She told me that I was very nice to watch, and I looked great on him. I'm sure that was just her being polite, but it was nice to hear just the same. ;) Tomorrow, I should be heading over to Duchess' house, and putting Sonata through her paces. Expect a post with more actual substance tomorrow.