Pre-Ride Checklist

Whenever I ride one of my horses, we do a good long bit of walking first.  I'm looking for relaxation and forward, both, and usually start with a loose rein or very light contact, asking the horse to stretch down. We may do some large circles or big loop serpentines as we walk.

But I also try to do/feel certain things myself as we walk around, as how the horse is going to go will come from me, and how I'm going.  It's the combination of entering/blending/directing, leading to feel and connection, that I'm looking for in myself.

I start with my own relaxation and forward.  Relaxation, for me, starts with neutral posture - for me keeping my eyes and chin up (no looking at the horse's head) and shoulders open (but not forced back - that would be a brace) makes a big difference.  I try to maintain this posture throughout our work - no leaning forwards or back. Next is relaxation in my body, allowing my seat and back to move with (never drive) the horse, and letting my legs drape softly (never push or drive).  I do a body scan to check for any points of tension, and breathe into them and then breathe out and let them go.  Breathing - it's so fundamental.  As we walk around, I breathe in relaxed rhythm with the horse's footfalls, and try to breathe "into" the horse.

Once we're at that point, I'm starting to be "in" the horse, and blending and feel can begin to happen.  If it's working, I can start using my energy, and the feel of the reins and my seat and thought to direct the horse, feeling the hind legs - we start doing some more challenging figure work at the walk, such as small circles with a nice bend, forward and tracking up with hinds following fronts, and I ask for a bit more softness.  I start asking the horse to bring the energy up - a more vigorous, long-strided walk - and down - a shorter stride - using the feel of the rhythm and my breathing.

Only then do we move on to more work at trot and canter.  I find if I take the time to center myself, mentally and physically, I'm much more "with" and "in" the horse, and feel is possible.  Now this is the ideal - sometimes I just don't get there in myself, or get distracted and off-course, and that shows up in how the horse works.  But since I'm trying to make these things a regular practice, and try to keep coming back to them, particularly if we're struggling with something, I find they really do work.

Must go ride . . .

Freezing Day with the Chiropractor

It was unusually warm for two days - temperatures in the 60sF - but last night the temperature dropped abruptly and today we're in the mid-30sF with a howling wind - brrr!

Today we had the chiropractor - all three horses were worked on.  I tried to take some pictures, but the low light mostly defeated me.  But here are a couple showing how much Dawn (the bay in the first three pictures) and Pie (the chestnut in the last picture) enjoyed their sessions:

I didn't get any photos of Red - I had to hold him as he was fidgety and nervous.  He did need some work on his hindquarters, but otherwise was in good shape.  Dawn and Pie both needed quite a bit of work.  Both were very demonstrative, both when things were sore and also when they got good releases - at the end Pie was lolling his tongue and giving huge yawns.  I've found that good chiro work makes a huge difference to how my horses feel, and how they're able to go for me.

Red Plays Pick-Up-Sticks

Some of these photos are a bit blurry - taken with a cell phone by someone else at the barn - they show Red playing pick-up-sticks.  I've always know he was smart . . .

Here he is, with a large piece of split rail fence - there's an old one, non-essential - along the edge of the geldings' pasture - he's looking pretty pleased with himself - love the ears!:

I love the contrast between little Red and the big warmblood he's offering the rail to:

He's got a firm grip on things, and seems to have figured out the center of gravity of the rail as well:

Just have to love such a smart, playful, horse - he's Mr. Personality Plus!

Back to Basics

Whenever things aren't going quite right with a horse, it's a good idea to look to the basics - there's something there that needs to be fixed.  Recently, my rides with Dawn have involved a lot of bracing on her part, particularly at the canter, or at the trot after she's cantered.  And the result of the bracing is that Dawn isn't able to sustain the canter, particularly on the right lead - she flattens out and falls back to trot.  The solution, as it usually is, is softness.  And for Dawn to be soft, I have to be soft.  Today, we worked at first on walk and trot, with my goal being to maintain a very light contact and to encourage her to stretch down - we needed to have relaxation first - for Dawn this is fundamental - she's always very forward, but I need to be sure relaxation - mental and physical - is there first, and I have to offer it to Dawn for her to be able to offer it back to me.  At the canter, once trot was relaxed (but still very forward), I tried to maintain a very soft contact and just let her move - she was very forward - but I try to maintain the thought that I can ride as fast as the horse can move.  She did very well with this, and was able to hold the canter on both leads (with no unrequested lead changes) for several laps of the arena at a time.  It was very, very good, and I told her so.

Red and I had a good ride in the afternoon.  When we started out, he did some head shaking and one little buck - I had the back cinch a bit too tight (!), so I got off and loosened it, and after that things were fine. His trot work was very good, and we even tried one length of the arena in left lead canter - his easier lead.  He worked hard and I was very pleased with him.  He was tired when we were done, but his rehab is progressing very well.

Pie and I also had a nice ride.  At the canter, he did invert his neck quite a bit, although he did have more moments of softness as we worked.  He had a new bite mark on the right side of his neck that may have been sore.  All three of my horses are getting some chiro work on Monday, which I expect they will all enjoy.

If I offer softness to my horses, I will get it back in return.

Red and Pie Cope (with Different Things)

Red and Pie both got to employ their coping skills yesterday, and both did very well.  It was a cold, windy and rainy day, so all the arena doors were closed - this was new for both of them.  While I was riding Red, we were completely alone in the arena, except for people coming and going, knocking on and then opening and closing either the big overhead doors or the doors to the outside.  Red found this all a bit alarming, particularly when he could hear people and horses moving around outside the now closed outside doors.  And he was by himself - he's happiest when there are other horses in the arena - but he coped with that as well.  His eyes were big, and there was some snorting, but he went right to work and we got in a very good session, with lots of trotting.  He did this for me despite the fact he was still nervous - we had repeated episodes of pooping. Every day we work I try to work him up to the point of fatigue but not past it.  The quality of his gaits tells me how we're doing - as he tires, his trot looses some of its impulsion.  I told him what a fine Red horse he was.

Then Pie had the exact opposite circumstances to cope with - an extremely crowed ring with lessons going on and horses jumping.  He also had to deal with the doors opening and closing, and did very well with that.  He was less worried than Red had been, and we had an excellent walk/trot/canter ride, with lots of obstacle/horse avoidance.  He cantered well in company and was able to navigate a number of pretty tight turns to avoid other horses.  I was delighted with him, too, and told him so.

I'm proud of my boys - they've both come a long ways and just keep getting better.

Pie Perfects the Canter, and Posture Isn't Softness

I had three good rides today - it was cool - temps in the mid 40sF and cloudy.

Dawn and I had a ride where we struggled a bit with softness.  Dawn is one of those horses who will give in the upper part of her neck, while bracing with the rest of her neck - you see a lot of horses who do this - it has a characteristic look, where there is a curve behind the poll and then the neck is straight - and braced - behind that.  Dawn is also built somewhat downhill, which makes self-carriage more challenging for her.  There were also some distractions - a horse that was galloping around in turnout and screaming - that made things more challenging.

What I was getting with Dawn today was posture - the position of her head and neck and body - round, with top line longer and and core engaged - but without mental softness.  She was still tense mentally, particularly after we did any shortening work - she seemed to feel constrained, which made her rev up.  Despite her physical appearance of softness, from the inside she wasn't soft.  I'm not getting that lovely lifting feeling from her right now that indicates true softness.  Posture isn't softness - softness comes from the inside of the horse, and while posture is part of the picture, it isn't the whole thing by any means.

It may be that Dawn, due to her downhill build and relatively straight shoulder, just can't carry the posture that true softness tends to produce.  I need to work with her on a longer, lower carriage that will allow her to move to the best of her physical ability, without her feeling mentally constrained.  The question is, can she do any shortening work or collection, without loosing the feeling of softness - I don't know yet but we'll figure it out together.

Red did a lot of very nice trot work today, with even better concentration - he came right back to me whenever he was distracted.  He's now able to cope with my carrying a dressage whip without being worried, which is very good.  His trot is improving, and he did quite a bit of work today.  Tomorrow, if he's still feeling good, we may essay a bit of canter . . .

Pie worked today on perfecting his canter work - it's coming together very rapidly.  After our very good session yesterday, today was even better.  Pie was able to carry his canter around the ring for a number of laps in each direction, and his softness was even better - instead of a number of strides of soft canter, we had a number of laps of continuous softness.  There is now no appreciable difference between his canter on right and left leads - his right lead used to be more difficult but that is no longer so.  He was also able to carry himself around the corners with ease, and whenever the softness was lost he came right back to it.

I'd call that a good day with horses! (and be sure to vote . . . )

Pie Finds the Soft Spot in Canter, and More on Trust

I had two rides today, on Red and Pie.  They'd both had two days off, and the weather was pretty chilly - low 40sF when I was riding, so they were both pretty energetic.  Red and I worked in both the indoor and the outdoor arenas, and did a fair amount of trotting - it was his first real work session outside and he dealt with the chill and wind very well.  He was distracted from time to time by a horse that was being hand walked around the pasture - this horse is a member of Red's herd, and Red clearly thought he had to keep tabs on what the horse was doing, particularly since it was somewhere it didn't belong (in his opinion).  Red's trot work is going well, although there's still some residual stiffness.  He still tends to slightly drag his left hind toe when walking down steep hills.  He's completely sound at the trot on both diagonals, but still tires quickly and the "push" isn't always there as his fitness rebuilds, and the residual stiffness may be hock arthritis, in which case the regular exercise should be helpful.

I rediscovered yesterday that Red is very worried - afraid would be another word - of lunge whips, particularly if they're making noise.  I knew this about him but had forgotten, since I never work him in hand or on the lunge line using a whip.  Another boarder was lungeing his horses, and he has the (annoying) habit of really snapping the whip.  Red was worried about the noise even when I was grooming him in the barn aisle.  When I took him into the arena, his eyes were bulging out and he was seriously thinking about bolting back to his stall.  I was proud of him that he managed to stay with me, and pay attention to me, even when he was very worried - he did some tail swishing to indicate his tension, but stayed responsive - I'm glad he trusted me that much, and he got a lot of praise.  I don't worry too much if my horses are scared of some things, either because they're new or because of some past bad history before I got them, and I don't do a lot of formal desensitizing - what I want is for my horses to look to me for leadership and be able to trust me enough - I have to earn that trust - to stay with me even when they're very worried by something.

Today Pie and I made a lot of progress with our canter work, and we also had an interesting conversation with another boarder.  The other boarder, who's a thoughtful lady, was doing some groundwork with her horse at one end of the ring, and was also watching what Pie and I were doing at the canter.  While we were taking a break, she said she had a question.  She said it didn't look like I was doing anything, particularly with my hands, which looked like they were staying completely still, but that Pie was clearly moving from having his head up in the air to being round and having a powerful, engaged canter, apparently all on his own.  She wanted to know what I was doing to get him to do that.  I told her that she was right, that I wasn't doing anything - all I was doing was creating a consistent soft space for Pie to find, and since his softness was already well established at the walk and trot, he understood what I was up to and could find the soft spot himself.  When he's soft, at any gait, there is only the weight of the reins in my hand and a live contact - there is no "pull" or tension.

It was nice to have someone actually ask me a question - this is pretty rare and I try to never volunteer information or advice unless asked.  I told her that the first stage in this for me - this goes back a number of years - was to learn to keep my hands and body still - if you're a moving target the horse can't find the soft spot.  The next stage - starting last year - was to develop a following, allowing contact, so that I don't brace even when the horse puts pressure on me.  If I can do this consistently, all it takes is to offer this to the horse and the horse will find it, more and more reliably.  Just by chance, Pie and I made a big leap in our canter work today.  A few weeks ago, he had difficulty even cantering around the ring and struggled with his tendency to invert his neck and stick his head up in the air - his trouble with corners was related to his posture and lack of softness.  Today, he was able to be soft at the canter on both leads for significant periods for the first time, and when he was soft, his canter was amazing - big and round and balanced - and the corners were no problem at all for him.  All it took was my doing nothing - just defining the soft spot and letting him find it.  I was very proud of him and told him so.