Dawn, Red, Pie and I have been doing some beach riding the past two days. No, no warm oceans or even cold lakes - just a cold indoor arena with new footing. All the old sand was removed and new sand put in. The new footing is deep and somewhat slippery - just about like walking on a sandy beach in an area the tide doesn't usually reach. It's a bit better today - more settled - than it was yesterday, and after our day off on Sunday it might be time to trot - right now I'm not happy with the deepness and don't want any injuries.
This isn't a problem, since there's always something interesting and useful to do at the walk. It's a great place to work on getting fundamentals right, since if it isn't right at the walk, it won't be right at the trot, and so on.
And as usual (Dawn, Red and Pie would say "what else is new?") we worked on me. We worked specifically on my head, shoulder and hip position, both when tracking straight and when doing turns. There's a bit of background to this. I have a long history of lower back trouble and poor posture, and still have to be careful about how I move and how I lift. But my increased level of exercise and core strength from riding have helped a lot. But I still didn't move or stand quite right due to my history of protecting my back.
Then, at the Mark Rashid clinic in June, 2012, Mark got me to let go in my lower back, and allow my hips to move - amazing difference. I was actually moving through my seat with the horse, rather than blocking the motion - and even more amazing, it didn't hurt. Mark also pointed out that a relaxed lower back makes your seat much more secure in the event the horse makes a sudden move - bracing tends to pop you up out of the saddle.
Heather had also been working with me on keeping my eyes and head up, as a proxy for improving my posture, and it did, although it was a partial improvement. I like it that both Mark and Heather don't give you all the answers - they give you a start, and help you acquire the mindset to figure things out on your own. So that's what I've been doing for the past year and a half when it comes to my body position. When I took my lesson with Mark last June, he asked me if I'd had any lessons or coaching since the last clinic - my answer was no, but my horses had been my teachers - and he was delighted with this answer and said that the horses are always the best teachers.
One side effect of letting go in my lower back was that the tense area - and some pain - moved up to my mid-back. So next I had to work on letting go there, and so on. By last summer, the area of tension had moved up to between my shoulders. The final piece was to fix my head and neck position, together with the top area of my back just below the neck. I'm not 100% of the way there yet, but Dawn and Red and Pie and I have made some very good progress in the past two days towards getting things fixed up. Our two days of walk rides have allowed me to practice and begin to make these correct behaviors more automatic - and the walk can be pretty unforgiving in terms of showing up flaws - that's one reason I'm a big fan of work at the walk.
I think I've mentioned the concept of mirroring before - it's a concept Mark introduced me to, and I've found it very powerful. A related concept is "the horse goes the way you ride" - this essentially means that if a horse is having a particular issue or difficulty doing something (and the horse is sound, not in pain and understands what you want because you're clear and consistent), then the problem is almost always with you. What this means in practice is that what you do with your hips, seat and legs has a direct impact on how the horse moves its hindquarters, and what you do with your upper body, neck, head and arms and hands has a disproportionate effect on the horse's shoulders, front legs, neck and head. But Mark says, and I've found it to be true, that the effect is much more direct than just a general correspondence - there can be a remarkable degree of one-to-one correspondence between a particular issue you have in your body and something your horse does. I've actually seen Mark at clinics ask a rider if they have a problem with, say, their right hip, or their left shoulder - an old injury, say - and when the rider is very surprised and asks how he knew, he says he could see it from how the horse was moving - the horse's right hip, or left shoulder, wasn't moving normally.
Perhaps describing what Dawn, Red, Pie and I have been working on in our walk rides will make this "mirroring" concept more clear. Now, horses often manage somehow to compensate for our defects in posture, or for our bracing and blocking, but sometimes they don't. Pie, right now, is my "tell" - he's the one of my three who, if I'm not doing things correctly, will mirror pretty exactly what I'm doing (wrong). Dawn and Red attempt to "read in" what I'm asking them to do, even if I'm getting in the way of a clear signal because of something I'm doing with my body. Pie, on the other hand, is a literalist - if I'm not doing something correctly, well, then, he says he can't do it correctly either - and he thinks he shouldn't be expected to - "so, there" I can hear him say.
So here's what's been happening. Pie can fall on the forehand, and dive with his head and neck - and I will be looking down, dropping my chin or leaning forward with my upper body. He can fall in with his inside shoulder around a turn - and I'll be dropping my inside shoulder and leaning my head to one side. He can fail to step under with the inside hind in a turn - and I'll be failing to open my hip. My issues are far more when tracking right than when tracking left - and lo and behold, all my horses, but especially Pie, have had more trouble moving correctly when tracking right.
And compensating with aids, or fussing with the horse's head and neck position, usually gets you precisely nowhere - all it does is focus your energy down instead of up and out (it's this focus of energy up and out that really creates forward, not leg and certainly not seat) and introduce blocks and braces.
So our work today was about my sitting fully upright, allowing my whole body to move with the horse, while keeping my chin and eyes high and head over my spine - no leaning forward or looking down. On turns, my job was to turn my head - while continuing to look up and out - move my inside shoulder back slightly - without rounding or dropping it - and slightly open my inside hip angle. That's it, that's all. It was very hard tracking right - that head wants to tilt rather than turn - my head doesn't turn to the right as easily - and the right shoulder to drop, and oh boy, opening my right hip is hard. Pie told me when I was doing it correctly - all three did but Pie was the strictest judge. I was sore through my neck and across the top of my shoulders last night, but it felt much better today.
We did lots of circles and figures to give me a workout and lots of practice. Every time I do it correctly - just turning my head, keeping focus up, slightly opening inside shoulder and hip - the horses all responded just beautifully. I also worked on getting more or less bend/turn by varying how much I turned my head and opened my shoulder and hip. No other aids needed - no reins, no leg, no pushing with the seat. Just beautiful, fluid walking - and I noticed that both Dawn and Pie, who can tend to fall on the forehand, felt as if their forehands were marvelously elevated (Red did too but he's more naturally uphill), which isn't that easy to get at the walk. It was just fabulous. Now that the last bit of locked-up-ness in my shoulders and neck is breaking loose, the horses say they're much happier - and I am too.
So remember, your horse will mirror you - if you're having trouble, say, with the horse's right shoulder - look to what you're doing with your right shoulder. If your horse falls on the forehand, are you leaning forward or looking down? If your horse isn't stepping under with the left hind, look at what your left hip is doing. And keep an open posture, head up and focus up and out, with relaxation in your whole body so you move with the horse. And no leaning forward, back or to the side. Your horse goes the way you ride . . .
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
Dawn Does Chiro - With Photos
Dawn has needed some chiropractic work - she has had some cramps and soreness in her neck, which has affected her work on the left rein. This morning she had a session, and I managed to get some photos. These photos show only a small fraction of what occurred, but you may find them interesting and they should give you a feel for how it went.
Dawn's had chiro a number of times before, knows our chiropractor/vet Dr. Alice Marold very well, and was very happy to be worked on, even though she had to leave her turnout pasture. Dawn was relaxed and attentive - she just stood in the aisle ground tied for the whole thing, except for when her ribcage was worked on - this can be briefly painful so I held her halter to keep her from biting - and when Dr. Alice was guiding her head and neck around in stretches. At the very end, after almost an hour, when all the work was done and Dawn was happy with the results, she turned and started to walk off.
Here's Dawn's attitude:
Work started in the sacral area - tightness in this area often affects the neck and vice versa.
A release:
Behind the shoulder:
The large, lower neck vertebrae are inaccessible to direct chiropractic pressure - Dawn is helping by leaning into the pressure:
Base of neck:
Dawn supervises note-taking:
Base of tail:
This is Dawn spam - I was admiring how good her winter coat looks this year - lots of shine and even dapples:
Another release:
A stretch down - while Dr. Alice was working much farther back:
And a big release:
Tail curl:
Work on the lumbar area - Dr. Alice is using her thumb on the other side along the spine:
Dawn was very focussed:
Fetlock and foot:
This picture is particularly interesting - Dawn is offering her right front leg before Dr. Alice even asks - Dawn is asking for her knee to be worked on:
Knee:
Other front leg:
Hind leg:
Starting to work on the neck, asking Dawn to bend her head and neck to the side, while working on any crampy areas in her neck:
Poll:
More neck work - this time working on cramps that were keeping her from bending towards Dr. Alice:
Huge neck release:
More neck work:
Dawn was very satisfied with her chiro session. I'm always fascinated to watch how Dr. Alice and the horse interact to get the results the horse needs. It just increases my already existing admiration for how intelligent and communicative horses are if we only listen to them.
Dawn's had chiro a number of times before, knows our chiropractor/vet Dr. Alice Marold very well, and was very happy to be worked on, even though she had to leave her turnout pasture. Dawn was relaxed and attentive - she just stood in the aisle ground tied for the whole thing, except for when her ribcage was worked on - this can be briefly painful so I held her halter to keep her from biting - and when Dr. Alice was guiding her head and neck around in stretches. At the very end, after almost an hour, when all the work was done and Dawn was happy with the results, she turned and started to walk off.
Here's Dawn's attitude:
Work started in the sacral area - tightness in this area often affects the neck and vice versa.
A release:
Behind the shoulder:
The large, lower neck vertebrae are inaccessible to direct chiropractic pressure - Dawn is helping by leaning into the pressure:
Base of neck:
Dawn supervises note-taking:
Base of tail:
This is Dawn spam - I was admiring how good her winter coat looks this year - lots of shine and even dapples:
Another release:
A stretch down - while Dr. Alice was working much farther back:
And a big release:
Tail pull:
Tail curl:
Work on the lumbar area - Dr. Alice is using her thumb on the other side along the spine:
Dawn was very focussed:
Fetlock and foot:
This picture is particularly interesting - Dawn is offering her right front leg before Dr. Alice even asks - Dawn is asking for her knee to be worked on:
Knee:
Other front leg:
Hind leg:
Starting to work on the neck, asking Dawn to bend her head and neck to the side, while working on any crampy areas in her neck:
Poll:
More neck work - this time working on cramps that were keeping her from bending towards Dr. Alice:
Huge neck release:
More neck work:
Dawn was very satisfied with her chiro session. I'm always fascinated to watch how Dr. Alice and the horse interact to get the results the horse needs. It just increases my already existing admiration for how intelligent and communicative horses are if we only listen to them.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving from All of Us!
All of us: Dawn, Red, Pie and I, as well as the retirees Lily, Maisie and Norman-the-pony, wish you a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
A Thanksgiving Meditation
I am fortunate - I am retired and have been so for a number of years, which means that I am free to choose how I spend my time. But we all, within the constraints of jobs and family or other responsibilities, have choices, and it is those choices - what we choose to do or not do - that shape who we become, day by day and choice by choice. This isn't to invite an examination of our pasts - I'm sure we all have some choices we might regret, but that isn't very productive in the here and now except insofar as it helps us understand how we got to where we are now.
The point is to realize that we have choices now, and to make them, as best we can, with attention and intention, rather than letting life just happen to us.
As I approach 60, I'm very conscious of the shortness of time that is life. If I'm blessed with long life, I might have 30 years or so to continue to become. Making choices about where to spend my time, and where not to spend it, has become more important to me as I get older.
My accident with Pie in the summer of 2011 was a big turning point in my life - being seriously injured tends to do that to you. It might just have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was drifting in a number of ways, including with horses. Sure I was a good rider, and a horse owner who tried to listen to what my horses were telling me, but I wasn't the rider I needed to be, for my horses. I was just dinking around - I had my horses at a self-care barn with no indoor where all my energy went into taking care of their basic needs and where riding was occasional at best due to weather and my level of fatigue from daily care. I was also wasting a lot of time in my life on activities and distractions that weren't really meaningful to me.
So I made the changes that I needed to make - I moved to a barn with daily feeding, turnout and stall cleaning, to free up my energy and time. An indoor means I can ride regardless of weather. I took Pie and Red to my excellent trainer - a student instructor of Mark Rashid's - I'd know her for years - for boot camp for them and me. And I chose to put more time into my riding - a lot more time. I'm a big believer in investing time in things you care about, and spending less time on things that are less important to you, or dropping them altogether. I now have a schedule for my riding, and it's one of my highest priorities - I try to ride each of the three horses 5 times a week. This takes a huge amount of my time, but it's a choice I've made.
And, as I approach 60, I keep in mind Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule - that it takes about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to achieve mastery of a topic or activity. Becoming a master at something - almost anything - isn't just a matter of talent or innate ability - it's more about time invested in a deliberate manner. It doesn't matter much to me if the rule is absolutely true in all areas, since it's still a good guideline and a motivator to action.
10,000 hours, if you invest roughly an hour a day, with some days off - or say 330 days a year - works out to 30 years. If I live to be 90, that means I've got that 30 years left. But even if I don't have 30 years, every hour I spend practicing the things I care about means I'm creeping along on the road. I may not get to be a master, but since there are only a limited number of hours in the day, I try to put my efforts into areas that are important to me. I try to apply this principle as well to things that aren't really skills, but represent choices of how I spend my time.
For example, I've eliminated some things and try to do more of other things. I downsized my living space and possessions - less stuff means less time wasted on stuff. I live very close to my barn, so I can get there in 5 minutes or so. I have a regular schedule for my riding times which shapes my day, although of course there are days I don't or can't ride. Family and friends are a priority - I'm considering taking up real letter-writing again in this age of texting. I try to practice my music - recorder - on a regular schedule, and spend time deliberately listening to music, rather than having it on as background noise. I'm active in my church - it's only a few minutes away - and dedicate regular time to spiritual practice, both practical and meditative. I don't have a television - haven't for years - and rarely watch movies although there are exceptions. I try to limit my internet time (except for blogging, which is a choice for me - I enjoy it and believe it helps me with my riding) and my time with other media - news sites, magazines, newspapers, radio, etc. I spend a lot of time reading books of all sorts - right now I'm working my way through the Booker prize long-list for this year. I try to do most of my own cooking, using real ingredients (I can walk to a farmers' market in season) and avoiding packaged foods - it takes time to do this but it's better for me and for the earth, and I enjoy it.
Keeping in mind the 10,000-hour rule, I've perhaps got the time left to try out some new things and edge my way towards mastery, but even if I have far less time left, new challenges are fun. I'm considering a couple of areas right now, and will give them a try and see how they fit.
Now, these are my choices, and they aren't the same ones you might make. Do you think about the choices you are making right now in your life, about where and how your time should be invested? Does how you spend your time, and who you spend it with, reflect your values and who you want to be and become?
Give thanks! - we all have so much to be thankful for, now and in the days to come.
The point is to realize that we have choices now, and to make them, as best we can, with attention and intention, rather than letting life just happen to us.
As I approach 60, I'm very conscious of the shortness of time that is life. If I'm blessed with long life, I might have 30 years or so to continue to become. Making choices about where to spend my time, and where not to spend it, has become more important to me as I get older.
My accident with Pie in the summer of 2011 was a big turning point in my life - being seriously injured tends to do that to you. It might just have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was drifting in a number of ways, including with horses. Sure I was a good rider, and a horse owner who tried to listen to what my horses were telling me, but I wasn't the rider I needed to be, for my horses. I was just dinking around - I had my horses at a self-care barn with no indoor where all my energy went into taking care of their basic needs and where riding was occasional at best due to weather and my level of fatigue from daily care. I was also wasting a lot of time in my life on activities and distractions that weren't really meaningful to me.
So I made the changes that I needed to make - I moved to a barn with daily feeding, turnout and stall cleaning, to free up my energy and time. An indoor means I can ride regardless of weather. I took Pie and Red to my excellent trainer - a student instructor of Mark Rashid's - I'd know her for years - for boot camp for them and me. And I chose to put more time into my riding - a lot more time. I'm a big believer in investing time in things you care about, and spending less time on things that are less important to you, or dropping them altogether. I now have a schedule for my riding, and it's one of my highest priorities - I try to ride each of the three horses 5 times a week. This takes a huge amount of my time, but it's a choice I've made.
And, as I approach 60, I keep in mind Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule - that it takes about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to achieve mastery of a topic or activity. Becoming a master at something - almost anything - isn't just a matter of talent or innate ability - it's more about time invested in a deliberate manner. It doesn't matter much to me if the rule is absolutely true in all areas, since it's still a good guideline and a motivator to action.
10,000 hours, if you invest roughly an hour a day, with some days off - or say 330 days a year - works out to 30 years. If I live to be 90, that means I've got that 30 years left. But even if I don't have 30 years, every hour I spend practicing the things I care about means I'm creeping along on the road. I may not get to be a master, but since there are only a limited number of hours in the day, I try to put my efforts into areas that are important to me. I try to apply this principle as well to things that aren't really skills, but represent choices of how I spend my time.
For example, I've eliminated some things and try to do more of other things. I downsized my living space and possessions - less stuff means less time wasted on stuff. I live very close to my barn, so I can get there in 5 minutes or so. I have a regular schedule for my riding times which shapes my day, although of course there are days I don't or can't ride. Family and friends are a priority - I'm considering taking up real letter-writing again in this age of texting. I try to practice my music - recorder - on a regular schedule, and spend time deliberately listening to music, rather than having it on as background noise. I'm active in my church - it's only a few minutes away - and dedicate regular time to spiritual practice, both practical and meditative. I don't have a television - haven't for years - and rarely watch movies although there are exceptions. I try to limit my internet time (except for blogging, which is a choice for me - I enjoy it and believe it helps me with my riding) and my time with other media - news sites, magazines, newspapers, radio, etc. I spend a lot of time reading books of all sorts - right now I'm working my way through the Booker prize long-list for this year. I try to do most of my own cooking, using real ingredients (I can walk to a farmers' market in season) and avoiding packaged foods - it takes time to do this but it's better for me and for the earth, and I enjoy it.
Keeping in mind the 10,000-hour rule, I've perhaps got the time left to try out some new things and edge my way towards mastery, but even if I have far less time left, new challenges are fun. I'm considering a couple of areas right now, and will give them a try and see how they fit.
Now, these are my choices, and they aren't the same ones you might make. Do you think about the choices you are making right now in your life, about where and how your time should be invested? Does how you spend your time, and who you spend it with, reflect your values and who you want to be and become?
Give thanks! - we all have so much to be thankful for, now and in the days to come.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
One Thing at a Time
Today this is Pie's post - I also had very nice rides on both Dawn and Red - but today is Pie's.
Today, as usual, I worked on me - to help out Pie. When things with a horse aren't working quite right, or if there's something new to introduce, it helps a lot to simplify things. Trying to do too many things at once sometimes is confusing to the horse. My ride today on Pie focussed on getting only two things - forward, and stepping under and over with the inside hind leg, at both walk and trot - no canter until things are a bit more stable at the trot (if something isn't working at a slower gait, it certainly isn't going to work at a faster gait). My job was to stay off his face and in fact my reins were fairly loose most of the time during our ride. I only used a little bit of opening rein, when necessary, to get an inside bend, or just lightly brushed his neck with the outside rein to avoid bulging when circling. Other than that, no reins - look, ma! no hands!
By doing this, we lost a bit of rhythm and relaxation - he was very forward which is what I wanted but sometimes rushed a bit - and he wasn't always soft or using himself completely correctly. That was fine with me - with Pie, I need to have forward and the basics of bending coming from the rear end without interference from my hands - using my hands at this point tends to mean he loses impulsion and bend and the front disconnects from the back, which means there's no true softness, he falls on the forehand and the elements of forward and bend are absent.
It was a great success. His forward was excellent, and with the addition of more rhythm and relaxation, and a bit of softening through the head and neck (without diving), we'll be there. I had to work much harder than Pie - I had to keep my hands out of the mix, and make sure I was clear and allowing his movement and keeping my focus where it needed to be. I had to maintain a good, neutral body position with my head, torso, seat and legs - no leaning, pushing or pulling - to give him the opportunity to bend through the corners and on circles with only a little inside leg for support where needed.
When we took breaks, we also did a bit of backing work where I asked him not to dive/curl up while backing.
We'll keep working on this together, and as things work more consistently we'll add the other elements back in. Pie seemed pretty happy with our work together.
Tomorrow the footing in the arena is being replaced, so there will be no riding . . .
Today, as usual, I worked on me - to help out Pie. When things with a horse aren't working quite right, or if there's something new to introduce, it helps a lot to simplify things. Trying to do too many things at once sometimes is confusing to the horse. My ride today on Pie focussed on getting only two things - forward, and stepping under and over with the inside hind leg, at both walk and trot - no canter until things are a bit more stable at the trot (if something isn't working at a slower gait, it certainly isn't going to work at a faster gait). My job was to stay off his face and in fact my reins were fairly loose most of the time during our ride. I only used a little bit of opening rein, when necessary, to get an inside bend, or just lightly brushed his neck with the outside rein to avoid bulging when circling. Other than that, no reins - look, ma! no hands!
By doing this, we lost a bit of rhythm and relaxation - he was very forward which is what I wanted but sometimes rushed a bit - and he wasn't always soft or using himself completely correctly. That was fine with me - with Pie, I need to have forward and the basics of bending coming from the rear end without interference from my hands - using my hands at this point tends to mean he loses impulsion and bend and the front disconnects from the back, which means there's no true softness, he falls on the forehand and the elements of forward and bend are absent.
It was a great success. His forward was excellent, and with the addition of more rhythm and relaxation, and a bit of softening through the head and neck (without diving), we'll be there. I had to work much harder than Pie - I had to keep my hands out of the mix, and make sure I was clear and allowing his movement and keeping my focus where it needed to be. I had to maintain a good, neutral body position with my head, torso, seat and legs - no leaning, pushing or pulling - to give him the opportunity to bend through the corners and on circles with only a little inside leg for support where needed.
When we took breaks, we also did a bit of backing work where I asked him not to dive/curl up while backing.
We'll keep working on this together, and as things work more consistently we'll add the other elements back in. Pie seemed pretty happy with our work together.
Tomorrow the footing in the arena is being replaced, so there will be no riding . . .
Monday, November 25, 2013
A Tale of Three Horses
All three of my horses are wonderful to be around and to ride, but they are very different, and have different natural abilities. Part of this is due to the way that they are built physically. Whatever a horse's build and conformation, the horse's ability to move and carry herself effectively - from behind - can be developed and enhanced. But certain things will be harder for certain horses, and some horses are more gifted athletically - things just come easier for them. They also differ in their emotional dispositions.
My three are a spectrum of builds and natural abilities, and I've been working with each of them for different amounts of time. Dawn and I started working together in the fall of 2009, so we've been together for four years now, although we didn't move to the new barn until February of 2011 and our riding was episodic at best before then, and she had a bout of EPM in the spring of 2012. Pie and I got together in November of 2010 when he was four, but I hadn't been riding him for long - we were at a barn with no indoor - when we had our wreck in June of 2011, which resulted in 6 weeks of no riding and severe loss of confidence on my part. He also had bouts of EPM and also Lyme, which set us back. He spent the month of March 2012 with my trainer, and he and I worked intensively with her, which got us back on track. Red and I started working together in the spring of 2011, but he had many issues, most of which were unresolved when Pie and I had our wreck, and he also had an episode of EPM to contend with. I did some work with him in the fall of 2011, but things only really got started in the right direction when he spent 90 days with my trainer - we worked intensively with her - from March through May 2012.
Dawn is now 16, Red is 12 and Pie is 7. (I'll be 60 in a couple of months, for what that's worth.) Dawn when I started working with her was very braced and had great difficulty relaxing or offering softness. She's quite athletic, but is somewhat hindered by being slightly downhill in her build. A lot of her issues when we started were mental ones - nervousness and a tendency to rush. She's extremely intelligent and super sensitive, and tends to be a bit of an over-achiever - you barely have to think something and she's on it. She's quite sound as a rule, and moves well for her build - her softness and self carriage have improved enormously as the relaxation has come through, but her build and age limit her ability to do more demanding work, like true collection and extension, well. She's now capable of true forward together with relaxation, and is generally very soft and not braced. She's getting easier and easier for me to ride. She's a horse who bonds tightly with those she learns to trust, and is very sweet and looks very feminine, but she can be fierce, doesn't give her trust lightly and is a mare of strong opinions.
Red has conformation to die for - he's built uphill and his proportions and angles are just about perfect - the first time I laid eyes on him I could see his potential. He's had some issues with soundness, partly from an injury he incurred in the summer of 2012 and partly from some arthritis in his hocks, but he's perfectly sound right now (knock on every available piece of wood) with our routine of almost daily work and aspirin, and is naturally extremely athletic - if he were a football player he'd be a running back - nimble and fast and very well balanced. He came to me extremely braced, and very anxious and over reactive, and with no personal space boundaries whatsoever. He was completely lacking in confidence in himself and his handlers. He has enormous potential, and some of this is already showing through now that he's learning to trust again and to relax and concentrate. Today's ride was a good example. He was offering me total softness at the trot - he was in self-carriage consistently - the reins weren't even really necessary - and was offering something very close to true collection and extension at the trot, with the greatest of ease. Like Dawn, he's very sensitive and responsive, and riding him is more and more frequently a pure delight. He's also drop-dead gorgeous, which doesn't hurt. He's also very affectionate and really wants to get out and do things - he nickers for me or for Pie rather than for food.
Pie is Pie, and is not as naturally "hot" in temperament as Dawn or Red. He's a big horse, and long in the body and neck, although his legs are in proportion. He looks like a very bulky appendix quarter horse, although he's a registered QH. His neck and head carriage is naturally on the low side. He also has a very big head and a Roman nose - he wears a 5 1/2 inch bit and he's in a one-ear headstall because I've been unable to find a headstall with a throat latch that fits him - his jowl is very deep. And he's a bit narrow through the body. He's got good leg angles and is very sound (once he got over his various bouts of EPM and Lyme). His biggest conformational challenge is that he's a bit downhill, although that's improved some as he's grown since I got him. Engagement from behind doesn't come naturally to him and we've worked hard to develop the muscles he needs to carry himself better. But he's not likely to ever be able to move as well as Red. Even though he's an easy horse to ride in the sense that he's not reactive and his natural inclination is to go slower rather than faster - he's the only one of my three I'd ever remotely consider letting any one else sit on - he's also harder for me to ride than the other two. This is because for him to travel correctly he needs to have true forward - not just speed or cadence, but relaxed, pushing from behind, forward. He tends to fall on the forehand, either because he lacks impulsion, or because he's rushing and bracing against hand or leg. If he's in my hands, that means he's usually on the forehand and starting to brace, and then I lose the body and hind end. He's a solid guy in an all-around way, and just a pleasure to be around - he's got a sweet face and a good sense of humor.
So today Pie and I worked on maintaining forward, and getting bend and steering from the hind end. I also asked him not to "dive" with his head and neck - he sometimes does a fake softness that is really more of a "curl up", which puts him on the forehand. So to get bend, and get that inside hind to step up and under, I worked on activating the hind end and doing as little as I could with the head and neck, other than asking for some softness without diving. The true test was circles. Circles without softness, or where the hind end wasn't carrying the horse in a unified manner, turned into eggs. Circles with good forward and the beginnings of engagement were circles. It was hard work for both of us, but we did some good work by the end. He's improved enormously since I started working with him - he can now carry himself at the canter much more softly and continuously and his trot continues to improve - but as usual, most of the work is about me and how I can be effective and soft with him at the same time.
Three wonderful horses - my teachers - who could ask for more?
My three are a spectrum of builds and natural abilities, and I've been working with each of them for different amounts of time. Dawn and I started working together in the fall of 2009, so we've been together for four years now, although we didn't move to the new barn until February of 2011 and our riding was episodic at best before then, and she had a bout of EPM in the spring of 2012. Pie and I got together in November of 2010 when he was four, but I hadn't been riding him for long - we were at a barn with no indoor - when we had our wreck in June of 2011, which resulted in 6 weeks of no riding and severe loss of confidence on my part. He also had bouts of EPM and also Lyme, which set us back. He spent the month of March 2012 with my trainer, and he and I worked intensively with her, which got us back on track. Red and I started working together in the spring of 2011, but he had many issues, most of which were unresolved when Pie and I had our wreck, and he also had an episode of EPM to contend with. I did some work with him in the fall of 2011, but things only really got started in the right direction when he spent 90 days with my trainer - we worked intensively with her - from March through May 2012.
Dawn is now 16, Red is 12 and Pie is 7. (I'll be 60 in a couple of months, for what that's worth.) Dawn when I started working with her was very braced and had great difficulty relaxing or offering softness. She's quite athletic, but is somewhat hindered by being slightly downhill in her build. A lot of her issues when we started were mental ones - nervousness and a tendency to rush. She's extremely intelligent and super sensitive, and tends to be a bit of an over-achiever - you barely have to think something and she's on it. She's quite sound as a rule, and moves well for her build - her softness and self carriage have improved enormously as the relaxation has come through, but her build and age limit her ability to do more demanding work, like true collection and extension, well. She's now capable of true forward together with relaxation, and is generally very soft and not braced. She's getting easier and easier for me to ride. She's a horse who bonds tightly with those she learns to trust, and is very sweet and looks very feminine, but she can be fierce, doesn't give her trust lightly and is a mare of strong opinions.
Red has conformation to die for - he's built uphill and his proportions and angles are just about perfect - the first time I laid eyes on him I could see his potential. He's had some issues with soundness, partly from an injury he incurred in the summer of 2012 and partly from some arthritis in his hocks, but he's perfectly sound right now (knock on every available piece of wood) with our routine of almost daily work and aspirin, and is naturally extremely athletic - if he were a football player he'd be a running back - nimble and fast and very well balanced. He came to me extremely braced, and very anxious and over reactive, and with no personal space boundaries whatsoever. He was completely lacking in confidence in himself and his handlers. He has enormous potential, and some of this is already showing through now that he's learning to trust again and to relax and concentrate. Today's ride was a good example. He was offering me total softness at the trot - he was in self-carriage consistently - the reins weren't even really necessary - and was offering something very close to true collection and extension at the trot, with the greatest of ease. Like Dawn, he's very sensitive and responsive, and riding him is more and more frequently a pure delight. He's also drop-dead gorgeous, which doesn't hurt. He's also very affectionate and really wants to get out and do things - he nickers for me or for Pie rather than for food.
Pie is Pie, and is not as naturally "hot" in temperament as Dawn or Red. He's a big horse, and long in the body and neck, although his legs are in proportion. He looks like a very bulky appendix quarter horse, although he's a registered QH. His neck and head carriage is naturally on the low side. He also has a very big head and a Roman nose - he wears a 5 1/2 inch bit and he's in a one-ear headstall because I've been unable to find a headstall with a throat latch that fits him - his jowl is very deep. And he's a bit narrow through the body. He's got good leg angles and is very sound (once he got over his various bouts of EPM and Lyme). His biggest conformational challenge is that he's a bit downhill, although that's improved some as he's grown since I got him. Engagement from behind doesn't come naturally to him and we've worked hard to develop the muscles he needs to carry himself better. But he's not likely to ever be able to move as well as Red. Even though he's an easy horse to ride in the sense that he's not reactive and his natural inclination is to go slower rather than faster - he's the only one of my three I'd ever remotely consider letting any one else sit on - he's also harder for me to ride than the other two. This is because for him to travel correctly he needs to have true forward - not just speed or cadence, but relaxed, pushing from behind, forward. He tends to fall on the forehand, either because he lacks impulsion, or because he's rushing and bracing against hand or leg. If he's in my hands, that means he's usually on the forehand and starting to brace, and then I lose the body and hind end. He's a solid guy in an all-around way, and just a pleasure to be around - he's got a sweet face and a good sense of humor.
So today Pie and I worked on maintaining forward, and getting bend and steering from the hind end. I also asked him not to "dive" with his head and neck - he sometimes does a fake softness that is really more of a "curl up", which puts him on the forehand. So to get bend, and get that inside hind to step up and under, I worked on activating the hind end and doing as little as I could with the head and neck, other than asking for some softness without diving. The true test was circles. Circles without softness, or where the hind end wasn't carrying the horse in a unified manner, turned into eggs. Circles with good forward and the beginnings of engagement were circles. It was hard work for both of us, but we did some good work by the end. He's improved enormously since I started working with him - he can now carry himself at the canter much more softly and continuously and his trot continues to improve - but as usual, most of the work is about me and how I can be effective and soft with him at the same time.
Three wonderful horses - my teachers - who could ask for more?
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Skeptical Horses
They're right to be skeptical - I don't have the slightest idea what I'm doing when it comes to photography, but I'm determined to learn. There's a very nice series of how-tos that Mare at Simply Horse Crazy has been posting - check her sidebar - and I've been trying to be brave and just jump right in. I have a decent camera - a Nikon D70 - and it's time I learned to properly use it.
So, since today was a day off for all of us, and the chiropractor rescheduled to Friday due to the cold - makes the horse's muscles too tight for effective chiro work - I tried to take some photos. There are no photos of Pie, although I took a bunch, because I needed the flash for our dark barn aisle, and Pie's not a fan of the flash.
So, without further ado, here's Dawn looking skeptical:
And here's Red, doing the same - are his ears really that big?
And here's one nice profile of Red, looking very alert as he looks out the door:
Small steps . . .
So, since today was a day off for all of us, and the chiropractor rescheduled to Friday due to the cold - makes the horse's muscles too tight for effective chiro work - I tried to take some photos. There are no photos of Pie, although I took a bunch, because I needed the flash for our dark barn aisle, and Pie's not a fan of the flash.
So, without further ado, here's Dawn looking skeptical:
And here's Red, doing the same - are his ears really that big?
And here's one nice profile of Red, looking very alert as he looks out the door:
Small steps . . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)