Roads & Tracks

Sometimes, you get the ride you want and the ride you need.  After an abysmal day at work, and an even more awesome conference call, I got home and decided that I really, really needed a nice, quiet, relaxing ride.  So, I decided that instead of "working", Zigs and I would go for a hack around the neighborhood.  No worrying about him being on the bit, getting canter exactly when I ask, or anything like that, just me and my pony exploring the neighborhood.  I took Ziggy out of the gate from the pasture and he gave me a look as if to say, "What's going on, Dad?  There's no trailer here.  You only bring me out when we're going somewh-Oh look, grass!"  After a quick reminder that he was on the clock now, I mounted up and headed out.  Ziggy was very bouncy, and looky, which I expected.  To make sure he kept his mind on the task at had, I made him do lots of leg yields and shoulder ins.   I veered right from my house, and came to a cul de sac, which looked to be about 20m in diameter, and decided that this was the perfect place to do circles.  I started off on the left rein, and got a few good 20m circles in, so then I practiced spiraling out on the circle, which also went really well.  Why I didn't do any spiral in, I don't know.  I blame my fried brain.  I did, however, remember to change rein and do the same thing on the right.

 

Man, I need to work my horse more on the right rein.  He wasn't nearly as good on the right rein as he was the left.  He kept trying to cut off the circles, and I had to give a pretty strong leg aid to get him to spiral out on the circle.  I know that when I ride him in the pasture, I tend to spend a lot of time on the left rein, so I need to make a concerted effort in the future to fix that, because I ride Dressage, not Nascar, and I'm pretty sure that XC requires right turns as well.  Call it a hunch.  At any rate, I kept after him until he was crossing over behind to sprial out, and not just popping his shoulder and walking to the outside, and then resumed exploring the neighborhood.  We did a little bit of trotting, but it was hard ground and he doesn't have back shoes, so I didn't ask for more than 5 or 6 strides before going down to walk.  There's not too much to report about the rest of the ride other than the fact that Zigs was a very good boy, with one caveat.  He has a bad habit of jigging when he knows we're headed back home.  My strategy for dealing with it was to immediately make him circle, do a serpentine, and then point him back home.  Unfortunately, I don't feel like it was spectacularly successful.  But by this time, it was starting to get dark, and I wanted to get him back in before I lost all the light, so I didn't deal with it as thoroughly as I think I should have.  If any of y'all have suggestions on other things to do when he jigs, I'm all ears.  To compensate for that, once we arrived home and I got him back into the pasture, I made him do three trot circles on both reins, so he didn't think that just because we were home, we were done.  I checked my pager after I'd untacked him, and realized I'd ridden him for almost two hours.  He wasn't hot, or blowing, and the only sweat on him was from the saddle blanket. (I use a puffy saddle pad, and a half pad on top of it, so that gets pretty hot.  Especially in the Texas summer.)  I really enjoyed that ride, and I think it's something I'll be doing on a more regular basis.  Zigs seemed to appreciate the change in scenery, too.  I think part of my frustration with riding him right now is due to the fact that he's a very smart horse, and he gets bored just riding around the pasture.  I'm going to see about building myself some caveletti, and getting some cones so that when I do ride him in the pasture, I can give him several different activities to keep his mind engaged.  

 

I'm not sure if I'll be riding tonight, I'd like to, but I need to do some urgent work on one of the websites I maintain, so it all depends on how long that stuff takes me.  If I don't ride tonight, I'll definitely ride tomorrow, and will probably focus on sprialing in and out of circles on the right rein, and turns on the forehand to see if I can't make strides towards loosening up that right side of his.

Must Be a Full Moon

Well, last night was quite the ride. I decided that last night, I would take a break from working on brakes, and instead focus on turns on the forehand, and canter transitions. The turns on the forehand didn't go so well. I did ok on turning to the left, but when I tried to do them to the right, Zigs kept doing laterals instead of spinning. I tried in vain to figure out what exactly it was I was doing to cause it, but came up empty. Maybe I wasn't giving a strong enough rein cue? Dunno. I kept at it until I got at least a quarter turn on the right rein, and I decided that that would be good enough for now, and put him on the buckle to let him stretch down, which he did quite nicely.

After a walk break, I warmed him up a bit with some sitting trot, and worked a little bit on getting walk exactly when I wanted it. It's not 100% yet, but it's getting better. Once I was satisfied with the results I was getting, I picked up a trot, and asked for a right lead canter. What I got was a rushing trot, so back to walk we went. I've been told that when that happens, it's because I didn't give the right cue, so I decided to try it again. I put my outside leg back scooped with my inside seat bone, and boom, instant canter. I don't think that walk/canter is easier than trot canter, so assuming that's true, I'm the problem. we cantered around for a bit, and I went back to a trot on the left rein and tried the canter transition again. He rushed into it, a bit, but I still got the canter. I did some circles with him, and went back to walk, which took me far too long to do. One of the next things on the list to work on is my down transitions from canter. After I've been cantering and I transition down, I tend to let my horse trot forever before I try to go back down to walk. I don't know why I do that, I'm certainly not feeling like I'm going to fall off, and it is well within my abilities to get a walk from the trot. So, it's going on The List™ of things to work on.

The last thing I decided to work on was a little canter in two-point. So, I picked up a nice, rolling canter and then I got up into two point. From out of nowhere, Ziggy started BOOKING it across the pasture. we went from Canter to a full on Gallop. I think Ziggy was trying to tell me that we could have run the Belmont. In his defense, I think I might have gone up into the ground-covering gallop position, because I remember my stomach being really close to the horse. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun, but my pasture really isn't big enough for galloping. After reminding Ziggy that we were not in fact at the Belmont stakes, I decided I had had enough excitement for one night, and walked Zigs out. While I was walking out, I was mentally re-playing my ride, and I have to admit, I wasn't very satisfied. I know the things that I need to fix with him, and I'm working on them, but I know I'd be able to make better progress with them if I was able to ride him with a trainer on a more regular basis. When the Oracle was here last, I got a lot out of my lessons with her on him. I'd like to figure out a way to ride him more consistently with my trainer, but right now, that would mean either buying a truck, (Which is the plan, just not until later in the year), or begging the Baron to swing by on his way to lessons with Duchess and Lucky, and get Zigs. I really don't want to do the latter, as it just feels like way too much of an imposition. They're already being nice enough to bring Sonata for me, and I do get a lot out of riding her, so I think the plan is to keep riding her and just quit my whining. ;)

From Little Acorns Do Mighty Oaks Grow

Two posts for the price of one! I love that Blogger allows you to post via email. Shortly after I posted the previous post, I headed home from work, and got home a little after 18:00. Since it was still bloody hot outside, I decided I'd decompress inside for a bit before going out to put my Alfalfa addict to work. After checking email and other various and sundry things on the tubes, I changed into my breeches, and went outside at about 19:30, and the weather was perfect. Ziggy must have been ready to work, because he walked right up to the trailer and waited for me to tack him up.

I decided that tonight, I was going to focus on my transitions. Specifically, Canter and stopping, with a heavy focus on stopping. I'm serious about going to the horse trial in October, and right now the thing I view as my number 1 must fix is being able to slow down my horse. If September rolls around and I can't bring Zigs from a canter to a walk in 4 strides, I'm not going to the trial. I do not want the technical delegate walking over to my trainer and asking her, "Why can't your student stop his horse?". I might be being a little too hard on myself as far as this goes, but I have good reason. When I first started riding, I was riding a friend's horse around the arena at the barn, and was having trouble getting him to trot. As we came around the long side of the arena, he decided to teleport sideways over the railroad tie outside of the arena, almost running over one of my other friends, and a girl who was grooming her horse. That's when it really hit home that horses can be dangerous not just to me, but to other people on the ground, and that if I ever lost control, people could get seriously hurt or worse, and it would be my fault. As I'm fond of saying, every horse will teach you something, and that particular horse taught me the importance of remaining in control of your horse at all times. This would be why I'm working so hard on it now so that September comes around, my biggest worry is where I'm going to buy my tall boots, and what color eventing vest I'm going to buy. And as for the canter, there's no deeper reason behind it beyond not wanting to get eliminated in Dressage because I couldn't make my Thoroughbred canter on command. It's a point of pride, or something.

I started out with walk/halt and I'd basically just pick a point and say "hell or high water, his feet will not move past that point." That went pretty well, although I think I'm having to use too much rein for walk/halt. Be that as it may, 95% of the time, Zigs was at a standstill when I reached the point that I'd picked for the halt. The other 5% of the time, he was maybe 2 or 3 strides past it. For now, that's within acceptable tolerances, but by September, I want to have all 4 feet stopped precisely at the point I pick 99.999% of the time. The don't have to be square, just not moving. I'll get stop first, and work on square later. I spent probably 20 minutes working on just walk/halt and after I got three good ones in a row, I put Zigs on the buckle and let him stretch and move out. When I picked him back up again, I did a little bit of on turn on the forehand to give him something for him to think about. I was trying to do the exercise where you walk the short side, turn on the forehand, walk down the short side the opposite direction and turn on the forehand again to go back the way you came, but I can't walk into the turn on the forehand yet. I have to stop, then turn and walk again. If I try to walk into it, Zigs tends to pop his shoulder to the outside and start doing laterals.

Once I was reasonably satisfied with the walking work, I picked up a trot. This time the agenda was trot/walk. I started out by saying, "Ok, I'm going to trot 4 strides, and then walk.". That didn't work so well, as I spent so much time counting my trot strides, I kind of forgot to do things like ride, which made a down transition nigh impossible. So, I went back to picking an arbitrary point in the pasture, and hell or high water, walking once I reached that point. That went considerably better. After several good trot/walk transitions, I upped the ante, and used the same strategy of picking a random point in the pasture, and coming to a complete halt exactly at that point. I'm not gonna lie, the first several were kind of embarrassing. I'd get a halt.... 20' away from where I wanted it, and I had problems with him sneaking forward. Since thinking "halt here" wasn't working so well, I started visualizing imaginary grounding spikes shooting down from my stirrups at the point where I needed to stop, and slowly, things began to improve. After a while, I was trotting him at a pretty good clip the entire length of the pasture, and fairly reliably getting a halt where I wanted it, or at the very least, close. Of the times when my halt did not go as well, I wound up 4-6 strides off of where I wanted. Again, not optimal, but definitely a marked improvement. By this point, I really wanted to work on canter, but I didn't want to move on until I nailed at least one trot/ halt from all the way across the pasture, heading towards the barn. The third attempt was the charm, and I again gave Zigs his head back, and let him walk and stretch.

After a stretch break, I did a bit of shoulder in to get him back into a working frame of mind, and once I felt that he was being responsive enough to leg, I put him back on the bit, and started thinking of my plan of attack for the canter. The most important thing for me as far as today's canter went. was that I got the canter immediately. I started the way we usually do, pick up a trot, and ask for the canter on the circle. I got it, for sufficient values of "immediate". And by "sufficient values", I mean half the circle. I'd ask for canter and get a crazy fast trot. After the third attempt, I got pretty frustrated. I went back to a walk to think for a bit and figure how how to make this exercise easier for Zigs and I both to succeed at. I remembered that while the Oracle was here, she suggested that I do walk/canter transitions, as that would make it easier to make sure my body was in the right position. As I remembered, Ziggy did that transition pretty well when I rode with her, so it was well worth a shot. I'm really glad I decided to do that because on the first time I asked for a canter, I immediately felt what the problem was/is. When I shift my outside leg back for the canter transition, I try to put it way too far back, which throws me out of sync with Zigs, leaving him to say, "Ok, seriously, dude. What the hell?" I then halted for a minute, and practiced feeling the moment when my outside seat bone leaves the saddle, it turns out that it's way earlier than I was thinking. Armed with this new-found knowledge, I immediately tried a canter transition, and got it a couple of strides after I asked. Then it was back down to walk, and another few tries. When the fifth canter transition rolled around, something justt "clicked", and I got it right after I asked for it. Wanting to prove to myself this wasn't just a fluke as well, I switched rein and got the same result on the right side! Of course, tomorrow, I expect to have the same troubles at canter again, because that's just the way these things work.

I was running out of daylight, but things had been going so well as far as the downward transitions, I wanted to at least try canter to halt. This was a big challenge, as once Zigs starts cantering, he really doesn't see a reason to stop unless forced to. He also tends to have a nice rhythm for the first few strides, and then he tries to rush. I had to resort to yanking teeth amore than a few times, and I was starting to worry that I'd just ruined my ride. With daylight fading, I set a very simple goal. I was going to get a canter, canter a quarter of a circle, and halt before I made half the circle. On the second try, I got exactly that, and immediately decided to quit there. I still have quite a ways to go as far as improving my brakes, but I feel like I made several good strides in that direction, and I hope to continue my work this weekend. I probably won't ride tomorrow, but I'll definitely ride Saturday and Sunday. More then!

The Rein of Duchess

So, to continue where I left off last night: I arrived at Duchess & Lucky's house at around 19:00 last night with the intent of putting Sonata through her paces. As Duchess' mom and I were tacking up, Sonata was doing her usual "wake me when it's time to ride", but something seemed different about her. I can't quite put my finger on what it was, she didn't seem to be in any distress, she just seemed to be tired. Duchess' mom informed me that she had been to see the vet that day, and had her teeth floated, so that may have been it. At any rate, Duchess' mom suggested that we take it real easy on her and just walk her around the arena. It was funny she said that, because when she mentioned it, I was just about to suggest the same thing. I don't know why, but something in Sonata's demeanor made it clear to me that she needed to get a pass for the night, and if there's one thing I have learned about horses, it's that you should always trust your instincts. I've only ignored mine twice, and wouldn't you know it, both of those times resulted in a trip to the ER.



But anyway, back to last night. We finished tacking up, and just before we walked down into the arena, I reminded Duchess' mom that she wanted to work with me on longing. So we slipped Sonata's halter over her bridle, and tied her to a pole while I worked with Duchess. Longing went pretty well, except for some reason, I can't make my voice have a rising intonation when I give the trot command. Walk and Canter are no problem, though. The most difficult part of the whole process was managing taking in and letting out slack in the longe line in the same hand I hold the whip in. Cash, the first horse I learned how to longe, didn't need a whip to longe, so I was used to having two hands to manage the longe line. The intent behind this exercise is to get me able to longe Ziggy, but Ziggy's going to be a bit more of a challenge as he really doesn't respond to voice cues, and has a habit of walking around for half a circle, stopping and turning in, which I hate. If I'm longing a horse, the last thing I want is them in the habit of turning in to face me. I know that a lot of people see that as a sign of respect, but if the horse gets a wild hair, and decides to take off, they're pointed right at you! Duchess' mom gave me a few things to work on with Zigs at home, so I'll be trying to set aside at least one day a week to only work on Longing. The longe line I have now isn't exactly ideal, its one of the ones that has a length of chain attached to the clip. I know, I know. I bought it when I didn't know any better. I'll replace it as soon as I have moneys. I promise. I really want to be able to longe Ziggy so that on the days he's feeling fat and sassy, I can get it out of him on the longe line before I get in the saddle, which is quite appealing. It's also another method I can use to condition him on days when I don't feel up to riding, or don't have the time to ride, but still want to work him. Plus, I kind of like being able to stand on the ground and watch a horse move. All of these are wonderful goals, and I will work towards them in the ensuing days, but for now, I'd like to return to last night's narrative.



After "flying the wild mare", Duchess' mom asked me if I would like to ride Duchess, since I did the work of longing, and she'd just walk Sonata around for a while. I believe my answer was something between "Hell yes," and "I'd love to!". I hopped up on her, and immediately the first thing I noticed is that she has a lot of head action when she walks. I also found her to be a bit resistant to bending and flexing, but I largely chalk that up to the fact that I'd never ridden her before, and she was testing me out. She was very comfortable to ride at the walk, and while I was tooling around getting used to her, Duchess' mom teased me, "Isn't it your mission to ride all of our friends' horses?" I informed her that yes, yes it is. Every horse will teach you something different, and plus, I just plain like riding horses. I'll hop up on just about any mount offered me as long as I believe it's within my skill level. Up until that point, I'd ridden Cash, Lucky, Red, Taran, Sonata and Saga, so Duchess completed the set, at least until Zhizhu gets a horse, or the Baron gets a new one. ;) When I went to trot Duchess, I was reminded to give her a steady outside rein so that she wouldn't rush. I took what I thought was a steady outside rein, asked for a trot, and wouldn't you know it, she rushed. It was then that I realized she requires more contact than Zigs does. It took a couple of laps around the arena, but I eventually got a nice sane trot, which was quite good, but would have been lovely if I could have gotten her to put her head down. As a test, I sat back down and asked for a walk, and if I'm honest, it took a bit of doing. I was rather happy about that, because one of the other reasons I like riding other people's horses whenever I can is that I make sure to try out things that I have trouble with on my own horse to see if I have the same amount trouble on the new horse, and see if I can fix it. Or at the very least, get better about whatever my problem is. Obviously downward transitions are something I need a lot of work on, so I worked on those, and made some improvements. Once we sorted out walk/trot and trot/walk, I was asked if I'd like to try to canter her.



It may shock and amaze you, but again the answer was yes. I knew from watching Duchess in action that she has a really nice canter, so I was eager to try it for myself. I was also eager to see if the work I've been doing on my canter transitions has paid off, as it is another area where I am currently struggling. The first trot/canter was a bit rough, but after dropping back down to trot and trying it again a few more times, I was able to pretty much get canter on demand. By that point, the sun was going down, so I walked Duchess out and we untacked. I really like Duchess, and I think if I was 5 years ahead in my riding skill, I would be a lot better with her. I don't think I did that bad, but there were points where I was calling over my shoulder to Duchess' mom, "I can ride, I promise!". On the flip side, there were also fleeting moments of brilliance. Of course, that pretty accurately describes my state of riding now on any horse I ride. Fleeting moments of brilliance punctuated by long stretches of, "I can ride, I promise! ". Some days it's more "I can ride, I promise!", but horsemanship is a journey, not a destination.

ZOMG Sparkly Pony!

Yet another "I'm really tired and it's late, but I want to put some thoughts to keyboard before I fall asleep" entry today, I'm afraid.  In the interest of not walking in to work tomorrow with QWERTY embossed on my forehead, I'll get right to it, if you don't mind.

Actually, since I'm typing this with my eyes closed already, I'm thinking that even an abbreviated blog post isn't going to happen tonight. So, instead, I'll note the key points of the evening, and write a more detailed post during my lunch break. Fortunately, Blogger's post by email tool works like a champ, so I'll use that for the time being. anyway, the main point of the evening is that instead of riding Sonata, like I'd planned, I wound up riding Duchess. More on it tomorrow. The short version is: She's a neat horse, and I enjoyed it. Interested readers may tune in tomorrow. Uninterested readers mayalso tune in tomorrow, but I think they may find the subject matter unappealing. Off to collapse with me.

Must be something in the air...

(Trying out Blogger's post by email function, so if the formatting on this post is weird, that's what's going on.)

Well, it's Tuesday, and since Ziggy got two days off after XC schooling at Pine Hill, I figured it was time to pull him out of his stall and put him through his paces.  Tonight, I decided the ride would be about two-point, up transitions, and practicing the "cruising gallop" versus the collected gallop positions.  I am happy to report that the up transitions went very well.  I had to work a little bit to get the right lead canter, but that's not too much of a surprise, as that's his weaker side.  I was able to pick up the left lead like clockwork, so maybe my problems with the canter transition are behind me??  I can but hope.

The two-point went decently.  I'm still not 100% convinced I have the right form at two-point, and I feel like I'm having to put way too much weight on my hands on the horse's neck.  I'm also having a difficult time reconciling that with the critique I got when we were schooling this past weekend that I hold my hands up too high.  I suppose I could do something radical and ask my trainer: When is it OK to rest your hands on the horse, and when do they need to be off the horse?  Of course, if any of you reading this would like to chime in, feel free.  One of the other things I'd like to do is take a longe line lesson.  I'll probably try to set one of those up next month, as there's several things I'd like to work on without reins or stirrups.  Not that I'm expecting to fix everything in one lesson, but I'm hoping to at least be told what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and what I can do to fix my inconsistencies.  

The cruising galloping position vs. the collected galloping position really didn't work at all.  There were moments this weekend when I could feel it, but today, it just wasn't happening.  Of course, this is something that's apparently three levels above me, so I'm not expecting great strides of progress in it just yet.  I'll keep working at it, and hopefully as I approach that level, I'll get closer and closer to being able to make the switch successfully and consistently between those two positions.  

So, why all of the sudden intense focus on my jumping position?  Thought you'd never ask.  My goal for the summer is to improve my riding to the point to where I would be able to ride GAG at a horse trial, and not embarrass myself, or my trainer.  I looked up the GAG Dressage test, and I think I can do it.  It won't be a sub-30 penalty test or anything like that, but I feel like I can get through it cleanly, and not have people watching saying to each other, "What in the hell is he doing here?".  As far as XC goes, I can make it over all of the GAG fences on the Pine Hill course with one leg on each side, and myself in the middle.  Well, I can make it over the fences one at a time.  I have yet to actually string them together and jump one after the other.  I feel like I need a *lot* of work on both myself and my horse to make sure I can jump XC safely and cleanly.  As far as stadium goes, I've not seen a GAG stadium course, so I'm not sure whether I'd be up to that one as well.  But, at any rate, I will spend the summer practicing as hard as I can, and we'll see where I am come September.  Hopefully, I'll be able to twist Saga's mom's arm into hauling Zigs and I out for another XC schooling sometime soon.I'm falling asleep as I write this, so I think I'm going to go to bed.  Tomorrow I'm heading over to Duchess' house to go ride Sonata.  I was supposed to ride today, but Duchess' mom and I decided that tomorrow would work better for the two of us, so tomorrow it is.  Until then!

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.