Some Video Updates

Good news! Johnny is being awesome and Emmy was sound yesterday! She only took one lame step the whole time I rode her! Woo hoooo!! I think I will continue to pack her foot and wrap it...it seems to be helping!

Tuesday night my friend M and I took some video of Johnny. He's coming along! Here are some of the stills, I'll post the video below:

And here is the video link:

Yay for Johnny! I've got some more good pictures that we took (sale photos) of him and then a couple of Emmy. I will add them later though!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Cowgirl Up!

Johnny and I embraced our wild side last weekend at the SCSHA Contest Show. Johnny got decent times for never having even run the patterns before, let alone train for them! He seemed to have a blast as well!

Moving back to school on Friday, the horses will follow Saturday!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

CVPHA Horse Show

We did it!!! Johnny and I had a wonderful time at the horse show! Friday I hauled him down to spend the night with the barn I work for because they had an extra stall (I was originally planning on just hauling in Saturday morning) Friday night I schooled him in the show ring and he was a PSYCHO...his trot was great but the second I asked him for canter it was like the Kentucky Derby had let loose! He was running around like an idiot, careening around turns and over jumping everything so much that he was literally jumping me off his back (which, let me tell you, doesn't happen very often with how flat he jumps) I took him back to the barn feeling deflated...how were we going to show if he was like this? I planned on an early lunge and a hack the next morning.

Saturday morning D and I got to the show around 6:30 a.m. and Johnny was on the lunge line by 6:45. He was still snorting and looking all around him...complete A.D.D. He couldn't focus to save his life! I tried to get him to canter on the lunge and maybe get some bucks out, but instead his head just went straight up in the air and he went into his crazy running STB trot which I hate so much. I think the entire time he cantered maybe 5 strides total both directions. "This is going to be a disaster" I told D.

A little later in the afternoon when the schooling ring was a little quiet I tacked him up and D set some fences for me. He started off crazy AGAIN...his canter was quick and unbalanced and he was trying to just grab the bit and go. I had D set a cross rail, a vertical and an oxer across the ring. Starting off over the cross rail, he was dragging me and jumping long, dragging me then chipping, dragging me, dragging me, dragging me. I suddenly remembered last year how, at this show, he had stopped at every single jump in the show ring and never even made it around the course. I remembered K's words when we schooled him again after our disastrous rounds: "Stop getting in his way...you're pissing him off and making him nervous. He's not like Emmy, he doesn't want you there with him, holding on to his mouth, micro-managing his every step. He wants you to just sit still and steer with your legs."

I thought of that as he dragged me towards a tiny cross-rail in the schooling area and literally jumped three feet over it. At the top of the ring, I stopped and thought about what K would have told me, to just sit back and let go. The next time around, I did just that. He ran again at the cross rail, but I didn't correct him. On the other side he landed with better balance and a rounder back. We trotted like that a few more times before I we finally jumped, landed and I felt him take a deep breath on the back side as if to say "Thank you! I can do it if you'll just let me." After that it all started to fall into place. I forgot about all of the AA circuit trainers and clients from work who were sitting along the rail watching me ride him, I forgot about the show ring which had been making butterflies churn in my stomach all morning, I forgot about the other horses in the ring that were worth 5 and 6 figures, who did perfect flying changes and jumped like little freaks. For a little while it was just me and my horse and a fence. I sat in the saddle, felt the rhythm and rode it. He was jumping beautifully now, quiet and round and balanced. We schooled the vertical and the oxer off both leads and the distances where suddenly all there. We went back to the barn being a team again.

When it was time to show, D and I talked strategy. After our schooling session earlier, we decided that he only needed a few jumps to be ready for the ring. We jumped a vertical and an oxer off both leads and then went to the ring.

As soon as we walked into the show ring I knew the first trip was going to be a schooling round for him. Trotting down the quarter line, he shied away from a 4 stride with yellow flowers and then spooked again at a jump with red ones. we got our canter at the top of the ring and cantered maybe 5 strides before he spooked at the slanted roll top on the diagonal line and then weaved like a drunken sailor to the single on the quarter line coming home. If he could talk, he would have been saying "I can't do this! I can't do this!" and for a second I thought he wasn't going to. I remembered last year again, and how I had left my stick at the in gate with D, thinking that carrying it would just light him up. "If he refuses," I thought suddenly "I'll have no way to punish him." At the last second I closed my leg hard and clucked. He sailed over the jump and we were off! Our first trip was a lot of repeats of that same scenario, but he jumped every jump! When we came out of the ring, D suggested that I try to canter the entire second trip. "He seems less spooky out of the canter" she observed. I thanked her for her opinion and told her that I would try.

Our second trip was SO GOOD! (Alright, well, good is a relative term...in reality it was terrible but for Johnny it was AMAZING so that's all that matters! He cantered almost the entire thing, made the numbers in the lines and even landed his leads! I couldn't have been happier! Of course, we still broke gait a few times and therefore there was no way we would be in the ribbons at a show like this, but it didn't matter! My $80 entry fees were totally worth it!

Here are some video stills and professional pictures from the show. All rights for the professional photos belong to Anne Gittins and I claim no right to them. They are her rightful property. No copyright infringement is intended.

He spooked at the shadow on this jump and over jumped it by like 2 feet!

Good boy!

Video link coming soon!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Updates

Last night I left the wraps off Emmy's hind legs, although I still did poultice it with a gauze sleeve to hold the poultice paper in place. This afternoon it wasn't really any better, but after 20 minutes of ice and a 45 minute walk some of the swelling had gone down a bit. I jogged her again and she is 100% sound. Temp is still normal, no heat in the hoof and no digital pulse. There is however, still heat just under her hock on the inside of the leg. The rest of the leg seems to be cooling a bit, but no swelling has gone down anywhere else. She is eating fine and seems perfectly normal. I'm still not sure what to do...I've had two outside opinions chime "bone bruise" already, but after two days of 2 grams of bute, ice and cold hosing, wouldn't you think that the swelling would go down a little more? The fact that I can't get the heat or swelling out concerns me. I think I'm going to give it one more day and then call the vet if there is no improvement...tomorrow would be the 4th day (including Saturday when I found it) that is has been swollen.

Here is a photo update from today. Again, sorry for the poultice chunks. The area of concern to me is just below the chestnut on the inside of the hock. You can see the swelling there. It is firm swelling with heat. This photo also gives you a nice comparison of how big the leg is compared to her left hind.

In a little brighter news, I took Johnny next door and used the neighbors outdoor ring to school him last night. He was actually quite good despite being in a new place and wanting to watch everything going on outside the ring. I admit that I did ride him in ear puffies yesterday just to help him focus...it didn't help a whole lot lol.

We did however, have much better canters on both leads, including simple changes across the diagonal :)

Of course it has rained all day today, so no more riding for a while again. Omg spring....s

Keep your fingers crossed for Emmy still :(

Peace.Love.Ponies.

A Short Break

I took advantage of today's weather (cloudy and cool but not rainy) and rode both Emmy and Johnny today. I took them both down to the park for a good hack and a gallop. Emmy was even more perfect than normal and cantered like a pleasant little princess through the park and along side the road without pulling at all! I think a lot of it is that when I sit and relax my elbow and follow her mouth better, she has nothing really to pull against so she doesn't. It's when I tense up my arm that she a hangs on me! Her left lead was better than the right, but that's always been the case with her.

Johnny on the other hand was fresh, fresh, FRESH. He's so fit now that being stuck in his stall all day yesterday with the horrible thunder storms was way too much sitting for him, despite the fact that he was out all day today. With Johnny I worked on keeping the trot temp slow and consistent without getting the "Johnny hop" on the right diagonal. I work on keeping his canter a little loftier and not so flat, which was really difficult in the beginning but got better. I even got his right lead every time I asked him and we GALLOPED for a good long stretch on the bad lead! It's funny because his "bad lead" actually produces a better balanced canter than his "good lead." Weird huh?

Between work and home I rode 4 horses total today and I'm tired! My knees hurt from galloping! I'm out of shapppeee!!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

South Farm Combined Test - Results

The rain stayed away today long enough for us to have a good show outside at South Farm. C and I took the horses up for a Combined Test (dressage and show jumping.) It was Johnny's first combined test ever, as well as his first time showing Dressage and just his second time in the Jumpers (the first was less than successful if you remember my previous posts about it...) After a great warm  up, we headed over to the dressage ring. C warned me that John might be "looky" at the "judges booth" which was really just a horse trailer backed up to the ring with the ramp down and the judge and scribe sitting at a table inside. I waved it off, thinking "he'll be fine...its just a trailer!" We had the chance to walk all the way around the ring before the bell rang to start the test, and wouldn't you know that Johnny was TERRIFIED of the trailer. Poor guy! Since the show is held outdoors in the heart of (what I call) "Amish Land" there were LOTS of buggys going pasting the show ring all the time. Sometimes, horses are spooked by the carts, but not Johnny, he just thought they were FASCINATING and must have been re-living his race days because every time he even heard one he wanted to spin around and STARE at the buggy. Needless to say, about 6 of those buggys came past during the course of our test, so his paying attention factor was functioning some where around 10%, which showed in our test. The judge, however, was more than generous and even though Johnny did multiple pacey-hopy-cantery steps, she still gave us 5's and 6's and a 7 on our last centerline halt, which is far more than I would have given us! Most of the movement comments include things like "head high," "distracted," and "irregular," which were things that I already knew. Our free walk was "active but needing more stretch" and our last trot circle had "improving connection." For our final center line halt she wrote "slightly above the bit but square." Our collective marks had a very nice little blurb which read "A little distracted to really show movement today, time and experience will iron out inconsistencies. Kindly and gently presented by the rider." Our further remarks section read simply "Beautiful head!"
See? I always knew he was pretty! LOL

After our little dressage disaster I was still calm, but less than pleased with Johnny and he was now whinnying his head off and walking ALL OVER me. Now folks, I am a very patience person when it comes to horses. I don't ever yell at Johnny, or hit him or really punish him all that much for things like this at horse shows because I understand that he's nervous or worried...but running into me, bullying past me and spinning in circles when I ask him to stop? After I walked the course and changed for Stadium he almost shoved me over at the mounting block with his head and finally, I'd had enough. I took my stick and smacking him square in the chest. His eyes just about bugged out of his face and his ears shot forward so far that I thought they would fly off his head. Instantly he was perfectly still and didn't move again. His manners were much improved after that!

I had check the dressage postings before walking the jump course and we were 4th out of 6 after the dressage phase. Our Stadium warm up went very well, with him landing balanced and beautiful on the right lead. I didn't do a whole lot because he's one of those horses where you can easily leave your best ride behind in the warm up ring if you over do it. We trotted a cross rail and a vertical both directions, jumped a brick wall jump with ivy, and then cantered the cross rail and went to watch a few rounds. Johnny is so funny at the in-gate. He actually stands there with his ears perked and watches the horses go around the ring. His head follows them and everything! Finally it was our turn and in we went! The only jump that really concerned me was the second fence, which was a vertical with black, orange, yellow and bright green rails. It was quite the color combination! Plus it was one of the larger jumps on the course, probably about 2'3".

The whistle blew and I asked Johnny to trot. Spooking a little at the end of the ring, we came completely counter-bent through the start timers and he was already peeking at the first fence. I clucked and pressed him up over jump one. He landed in a heap on the back side, half running-trot half cantering back down towards the in-gate. I turned him up the diagonal towards fence two and felt him totally suck back. His left shoulder was bulging and he was completely set on running out. I could see it already, a total repeat of the LEC jumper show....over my dead body was that happening again! I opened the right rein, dug down in my heel and got mad. Kicked him off the left leg and growled at him, to which (as usually) he completely over-reacted to when he realized that a) I was angry with him and b) I meant BUSINESS. He leaped forward the last two strides and launched over the jump. From that point on, it all just came together. His ears shot forward and suddenly he was in it to win it. We rounded the end of the ring for fence three and he charged at it, leaped over and landed on his right lead. Three to four was a line and (although I was praying a little because we don't jump a ton off the right lead yet) I dug my heels down, sat back and held on. Johnny FLEW over fence four, we made a tight turn for fence 5 and got a beautiful distance, a beautiful jump and landed balanced on the back side.  He was galloping now, all the way down the diagonal and around the fence 6 and 7, another line, which he attack with so much vigor that I actually found myself pulling the reins to fit in the last stride. From there it was another left turn to fence 8 and a bending line to fence 9, which was the only oxer on the course. I thought he might look at it, but he sailed over that one as well, landed again on the right lead and was galloping so hard back towards the in-gate that I thought I was going to have to circle to pull up. I was literally along for the ride this time! He came out of the ring to a burst of applause from the in-gate crew! He was blowing and jigging out of the ring, lit up and so excited and proud of himself! It was really cool because the announce your horses breed when you go in for your round, so lots of people were looking at him after that!

It was the first time we've ever cantered almost the entire course (save for fences 1 and 2...and briefly in the turn to 3 where we also trotted to re-balance) and the first time I've just sat back and let him run to them. He never got flat or sprawly...when it got ugly, he figured it out and by the time we were to fence 5 he wasn't letting it get ugly...he was fixing himself!

In the end, we had the third fastest Stadium time with pulled us up into 3rd place to finish off! Third out of 6 at out first combined test! I'm so proud of him!!!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Horse Show!

Emmy and Johnny went to Chagrin Valley Farms today to show in their hunter schooling show. E showed Emmy in the Adults and I put Johnny in just two over fences classes of the Limit Rider (not that I'm really a limit rider...but its a schooling show so no one really minds a green horse in there). After a shaky warm up, E and Emmy went into their classes. Emmy pulled a 5th in her warm up...which was really quite the warm up o.0 and after some tears at the outgate and words of encouragement at the ingate, E went back into the ring strong and layed down two more really nice trips of Emmy. Chagrin added Equitation over fences to their prize list for almost every division, (which is really awesome!) so E went in that too. Emmy was super fantastic that they had a good round with just one minor late lead change behind. When the results came back Emmy was 3rd in her first trip, 2nd in the second trip and second in the Equitation. All week E and I have been working on flatting and I told E ahead of time that Emmy would win the hack if she let her and rode her right. It must have completely come together because lo and behold, the did win the hack and were 2nd in Eq. on the flat, making Emmy the Reserve Champion in her division!!

Johnny went next and after a super quick warm up in the show ring we went into our 2' class. Johnny was such a good boy in the first trip...he jumped everything and kept going forward...this is the first time we've ever gotten around a REAL course with flowers, bushes and boxes without stopping. I let him choose his gait and he often close to canter down the lines. For our second trip, I kept him cantering and we cantered the diagonal line followed by the outside line. Wouldn't you know that he actually GOT A RIBBON?? We got 8th out of 10 horses!!! Over all it was a super awesome show!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

The Lead Fairy

The Lead Fairy must have paid Johnny a visit since the jumper show. I've only ridden him twice since then, but suddenly he totally understands right lead canter...it's just about all he wants to do now! In both of our last rides we've been doing neat and clean simple lead changes through a figure 8! It seems like he finally figured out what to do with his inside hind when cantering on the right lead. He's much more willing to reach through with it now instead of just digging it into the ground and leaping through corners. I've changed around our training schedule slightly and I'm only working Johnny every other day now, instead of schooling everyday. He seems to come to the ring with a little better attitude and more energy, which makes accomplishing things like leads and lead changes a whole lot easier. On the days that I don't ride him, I make sure that he gets out while E hacks Emmy. Granted, both of my horses get out every day, but since we are on partial self care they only get out when I put them out. For Emmy, half an hour to 45 minutes is sufficient for her. Of course, she likes to stay out longer, but she won't through a fit if she only gets out for 45 minutes. She's getting old now (23 this month!) and prefers not to stand out in the rain/snow/beating down sun. Johnny on the other hand MUST have his outdoor time. Oh, he won't actively complain about 45 minutes, but he just comes to the schooling ring with a much better mind set if he can have an hour and a half or so. In the summer, when my horses go home, they will spend all day outdoors until it gets too hot, in which case they will spend all night outside, so I make sure they always get ample turnout at home. Sometimes though, with school it's not always possible, although next week I FINALLY will have a car here, so it will definitely increase their turnout time.

Either way though, it seems like the extra time has made a direct impact on Johnny's mind set and willingness in the schooling pen. Hopefully this will keep up! Tomorrow we are going to do some dressage work outside (the ring is finally dry and dragged!!) and then maybe go for a hack down the road. Next week we are going to start working over fences off the right lead and then Thursday I'm heading down to Equine Affaire :) We will see what goodies I can pick up from the clinics down there!

Yay for almost having a "real" horse with both leads established! I would say we are making excellent progress. Who knows...maybe in a few months we will be going Training Level in dressage? It's worth hoping for!

I'll try for videos tomorrow!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Horse Show Preparation!

This weekend is going to be crazy full of horse shows! Saturday I am showing an LEC school horse named Just Cruzin By in the 2'6" hunters. It's his first horse show ever and he's a little spooky, so I'm kind of nervous! Cruz and I have a really great understanding of each other, which is why I choose to show him...I just hope he jumps all of the fences and isn't a total butt about it!

I'm also planning on taking Johnny to his debut jumper show at LEC on Sunday. Today he jumped off his right lead for the first time! He did FANTASTIC! I'm really happy! It's the same thing with Cruz as with Johnny...I just want him to jump the fences and not be a jerk!

Wish us luuuccckkkk!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Dressage and Summer Show Plans

Lately, I've been thinking that it's time to take the next step and start Johnny's dressage training for real. Last week I looked at a friends dressage saddle which she has for sale and I think I'm probably going to buy it. Of course, that transaction probably won't be going through until May because I don't have the money right now (I need to go work a horse show!) but I will in another month or so :) In the mean time, I borrowed a friend's dressage saddle and worked Johnny in it last night for the first time. It is SO much easier to get Johnny to really work correctly when I have the right tools to do it! Just having the different seat of the dressage saddle made sitting his trot a whole lot easier. We worked on some leg-yield and shoulder-in last night (he didn't like shoulder in at the trot...but was very good in the walk) and then also worked for a while on a circle with me taking up and letting out the contact. To finish, I trotted him both direction on a loose rein ans let him stretch. Can you believe that he actually kept his inside shoulder lifted? Even to the right! It was pretty exciting :) I plan on working him a little in the side reins today before doing some more dressage work.

As promised, here is our tentative spring/summer show schedule. I've picked one or two shows a month that I think will be good training and experience for Johnny AND that doesn't conflict with my grooming schedule:
(** marks a show as tentative)

~ March - LEC Jumper show**
~ April - None...lots of schooling because it's our last month up here at school with a nice indoor arena!
~ May - South Farm Combined Test (May 29-30th)
~ June - South Farm Combined Test (June 5-6th) /  SCSHA Open Show**
~ July - Chagrin Valley Classic (goal is to actually just complete the course this time!)
~ August - Brecksville Horse Show (Aug.1st) /  Bath Pony Club Mini Trial
~ September - South Farm Mini Trial** (Depends on my school schedule...but I REALLY want to go!)
~ October - South Farm Hunter Pace** (Oct. 3rd)
(My FAVORITE hunter pace, but this all depends on what my school schedule is like)

Of course, this is all subject to change depending on my financial situation and trailering opportunities. Since I don't have my own trailer, I have to get rides with friends or call J, who usually trailers me almost anywhere. C generally likes to do the mini trials and combined tests, so I will probably try to go with her!

Thats all for now :) Hopefully getting some pictures posted later today.

Pace.Love.Ponies.

The Fast Track to Improving Your Riding

A few years ago, Practical Horseman magazine ran a very funny letter from the editor which was "written" from a horse's point of view. I tore the article out of the magazine that month and hung it on the wall in my room at home. It is still hanging there today and I re-read it often. One section of the article that I particularly like reads something like this:

" As horses, we can distinctly tell the difference between the crinkle of a carrot bag and the spooky blue grocery bag monster which will surely eat us, and we WILL react accordingly. Speaking of which, we horse's prefer that you don't refer to us as "fresh." We are not a loaf of bread. Nor are we "spooky" for we are neither ghost nor goblin. Instead, we prefer to refer to these conditions as "the fast track to improving your riding"

Today, Johnny definitely took me on that "fast track" to improvement. Let me begin by saying, that this situation we found ourselves in was 95% my fault. This past weekend was our IHSA Regional Championship (which my school hosted) and therefore neither Emmy nor Johnny had been ridden since Thursday. We ALSO had nasty spitting, misty rain ALL weekend, which meant that, on top of not getting ridden, the horses didn't get out a whole lot either. Emmy is 23 years old and could basically care less. You could not ride her for 3 months, get on again and have the exact same horse underneath you that you did when you stopped riding three months ago. Johnny, not so much. I knew he was going to be SUPER fresh because he was banging his stall door with his hoof when I came in. When lead him out of his stall, he nearly ran me down. Of course, my first thought was that he needed a date with the lunge line before we did any riding. Unfortunately, there were already 4 horses and 5 jumps in the ring once I got him tacked up. Lunging wasn't exactly a feasible option at the moment, so I thought (mistake number one) "well, I'll just get on a trot for a while and if he's really bad then I'll get off and lunge him."

I should have known when I asked to him to trot and he shook his head, squealed and leaped in the air that today's ride was going to be interesting. I actually think it's kind of funny when he's fresh. Since learning how to canter, he LOVES that he can now use his back to dolphin around and fling his legs all over the place when he's a little high.Generally speaking, I don't mind it much. He never bucks or bolts or does anything bad...it's actually really funny and kind of fun to ride because he comes through is back so well, drops his head down and has this big lofty canter. He's about the smoothest thing on 4 legs, so I just sit back, slip him the reins and ride it out until he's done playing, which is exactly what I did today. After 15 minutes of so, he seemed to quiet down, but he was looking bright eyed at all of the jumps in the ring, so I though "ehh why not?" and decided to let him jump a few.

Mistake number two. There is a grass pasture almost directly adjacent to the indoor area. The garage door at the end of the ring was open and there were three horses banging and splashing around in the mud as their owner brought them in. I pointed Johnny at a cross rail off the left, heading down towards the open garage door (mistake number three.) I admit that I lost my leg a little in the air. It's a super bad habit of mine that happens sometimes. I don't land very well in my heel when I'm not thinking actively about it. Johnny though actually jumped the fence perfectly, happy as a clam, landed his left lead and cantered about three strides away from the fence when the pipe gate to the pasture BANGED shut outside the garage door. Johnny, who has amazing control of his hind end, leaped in the air and spun left. There was suddenly no horse underneath me. This is kind of a normal thing for him...he's almost dumped me off a few times pulling the same little trick when something scares him or surprises him. Each time I manage to grab on and pull myself back into the saddle (it always come right out of the blue with no warning) but this time (with an already unstable lower leg) it was totally unexpected. I lost my left stirrup and realized that I was waaaayyy too far off to the right to save myself this time.

It's amazing how fast the human brain can process information and reason in a situation like this. At least, my brain reasons. Generally speaking (God help me...I've probably just jinxed myself forever for saying this) I don't fall off horses very often. I jokingly (but it's kind of true in all actuality...) attribute it to the fact that I just don't like dirt. Not that I'm a clean freak princess, but I literally can't stand the feel of dirt on my skin. I always wear gloves to set up or change jumps...everyone makes fun of me for it, but I really just don't like that dry, gritty feeling. Needless to say, I REALLY don't like that dry, gritty feeling all over my body. So, in most cases, I hang on for dear life the best I can. Every time I fall/almost fall, I literally weigh out the situation in my head. Like, literally. Today my thought process was "I'm not going to stay on this one. My left foot is out of the stirrup, my right foot is still in. If I don't kick it out, I'm going to land on my back under this horse's feet and I'm not going to like that."

In the matter of a split second, I kicked my right foot out of the stirrup and JUMPED off Johnny's right side. I landed on one foot, holding the reins with a very surprised Johnny standing next to me with a look on his face that said "OH MY GOD. WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?" He hasn't thrown very many people in his career as a riding horse. It always surprises and confused him when one suddenly isn't on his back anymore. The "fall" (or flying dismount...) itself was actually pretty funny. Not a big deal at all. I jumped right back on and jumped him around the entire course of jumps with out a problem.

But let me tell you, I made SURE to land in my heel after every jump. Johnny definitely took the fast track to improving my riding.

New Video

I took some new (and long promised) footage today of Johnny and I schooling. Here it is!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1rFXz1m0WI

(Does anyone know how to embed videos into posts?)

Also, here are a few conformation shots from today. He's looking pretty good I think...a little ribby in the top picture but it's been a long winter and we're going home in a couple months to lots of hay and fat pasture so I'm not super worried! I bumped up his diet balancer grass formula by half a cup just to be sure though.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Form=Function: Finding the "Neutral Position"

Today was really a break-through ride for Johnny and I today. In preparation for the show this weekend I set up a small course of jumps to let him jump around a bit and see where we were at...he hasn't jumped a full course in a really long time and my biggest worry for this weekend is that he's just going to loose his focus.

He was quite fresh starting out. He really has only been hacked once since last Friday because I have been sick. Our ride started off with quite a bit of "dolphin-ing" and leaping in the air at the canter, but I've learned that if I just sit back and slip Johnny the reins he finishes playing much quicker when he realizes that he's allowed to. This was a big realization for me, the fact that Johnny isn't one of those horses who like to be "mirco-managed" around the ring...a big change from Emmy who needed you there for her all the time.

Anyone who rides knows that, as riders, our trainers are always stressing to us the importance of "position" on our horses. With my first trainer (whom I occasionally still take lessons from) I got the dressage aspect of position infused with her unique interest in the mechanics of horse and rider working as one. In the early stages of Johnny's training, we benefited from her lessons because Johnny had so many physical problems to overcome. My first trainer helped me to understand the use of my body as his physical therapist, helping him to balance backwards when he wanted to just throw his weight forward and fall into a running trot. For a harness horse who has only ever known to throw his weight forward into the harness, the concept of lifting the shoulder and rounding the back can be very intimidating.

When I came to college and started riding with M, I began to understand more of the hunter aspect of position...of what she called a "neutral position" in which the rider did not interfere with the horse's natural movement and in doing so, allowed the horse to move freely underneath the rider. This was a concept that I understood well in theory, but could never quite transfer over to my rides with Johnny. Granted, I rarely rode Johnny under the watchful eye of trainer, and although I soon learned how to best influence his trot, I could not find the same happy medium in canter and I could rarely find it to a jump, because I rarely saw a distance on him. If I micro-managed, we chipped. If got into my half seat and left him alone, we went long. There seemed to be no in between. For a long time, I attributed it to his green-ness over fences. His own inability to judge the distance to the jump, his lack of athletic ability and maybe just lack of experience to adjust his stride. In reality, that was only part of the problem. The main problem was that I couldn't find that neutral balance where I could best let him do his job.

That is where today's ride comes in. It was a real break through for Johnny and myself. For Johnny, he LANDED HIS RIGHT LEAD CANTER OVER THE JUMPS (over the jump on the diagonal he landed the right lead every time and he landed it once off an oxer on the quarter line, then another time landed in a cross canter and did a SIMPLE CHANGE to the right lead! WOOOHOOOO!!!!) For me, it was learning to stay out of his way. We cantered into a two stride and literally hit perfection...we got the perfect distance to the first jump, two perfect stride between, a perfect distance out and then landed in a well balanced canter on the back side which he held for two entire laps around the ring. I finally realized the true meaning of a neutral position on him where I just let him do his job. Johnny is happiest on a longer rein, with me an a three point position...not quite sitting, but not quite a half seat, with a supportive, hugging leg. From this position, we can do anything...including simple lead changes! He cantered his right lead so much today...so willingly too! It was one of our best rides to date and I think we learned a whole ton from it too!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

A Short Update

Today was a bit better on the "illness battling front." I couldn't sleep at all last night because I was coughing so much...luckily I only had two classes today. Tomorrow is killer as far as class load goes :( I plan on going to be at like 10 pm tonight.

As usual, I forgot to take my camera to the barn today, so I didn't get a picture of Emmy's leg nor any video of Johnny. Em's hock was swollen today, but not super hot and her lower leg didn't have any filling so that was good. I let her and Johnny outside in the paddock for a bit while I cleaned stalls and refilled water buckets. E tacked up Emmy to walk her around while I hacked Johnny. We didn't rider for super long but we did do a lot of canter work and got simple lead changes across both diagonals which was VERY exciting! I also cantered him around a lot on his left lead and worked on sitting back and just letting him take the reins a bit. He wanted to actually stretch down more when I kept my upper body back to help him balance (bad hunter rider habits...I need to play dressage queen for a little bit!)

Emmy looked good at the walk for  I had E trot her two laps in each direction. She didn't seem lame at all, but she also had two grams of bute in her, so I'm not going to push it. Her cut did look a whole lot better today though. I cleaned it out again after E got off her and bandaged up her leg.

Hopefully going to go some pole work with Johnny tomorrow. I think it's time to have him start cantering a single pole off the right lead and see where we are at with his balance in that direction. I'll let you know how that works out o.0

Peace.Love.Ponies.

A Short Video

Here is a little video of a smidgen of today's work with Johnny. He hopped over a little cross rail for the first time since winter break (aka over a month!) He was VERY excited but also really good! Unfortunately, my friend didn't get a video of his AMAZING canter jump. His rhythm was so perfect and his strides were long and had even cadence...we got a prefect distance and seriously just had a perfect jump, but of course we didn't get it on film :( Oh well...maybe next time. Until then, enjoy the short 45 second clip below lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up9MBP7bu0E

And a few pictures:

  

 

 

Still working to tighten that front end up...can't say he was really trying very hard here though. He doesn't actually start picking his feet up until 2'6" or so.

E also jumped Emmy for the first time since her leg injury this summer (aka like 6 months ago...LOL) she was also CRAZY excited and jumped like a little loony-head. Here are a few pictures of E riding Emmy:

Trotting like the freak that she is...lol sshhh...don't tell her she's 23 years old!!

 

Little chip in...mainly rider error, but Emmy tried to adjust the best she could. This mare's been around the block a few times...she knows her stuff :)

Busy day tomorrow in school requires me to ride FOUR times in one day...gaahhhh

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Heading Home

I've got everything for Johnny packed up and ready to ship home with him tomorrow. E rode him again today while I packed up his trunk and managed to get his right lead canter twice! I coached her a bit on how to set him up for it, but she managed to get it after a few tries. I was so excited because it means that Johnny's actually learning the cue and not just anticipating the way I ask him things :)

More tomorrow when we get settled in!!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Back on his feet...so far, so good

Johnny's had almost a week off now since his first colic episode at the beginning of last week and has shown considerable improvement since Saturday's illness. We made a few diet changes and he's been getting mineral oil out the wazoo to hopefully get his digestive system working properly again. I'm going to start him on some Probiotics but I don't have any up at school (usually Emmy is the one with digestive upsets!) so that will have to wait until we ship home this weekend for winter break.

Yesterday I put him on the lunge for about 15 minutes and let him play a bit. He was getting SO bored not being ridden and it was starting to reflect a little in his sour attitude. He gets exceedingly pushy when he's cranky -.-
Anyway, so I stuck him on the lunge for a bit and boy was he fresh! Usually he is one of those horses that you have to fling a whip at to get him to go anywhere and so I brought one into the arena just in case, but as soon as I picked it up he was adios; squealing and leaping and attempting to buck and kick out. Unfortunatly he's so uncoordinated that it wasn't really working. It was actually really funny to watch because he would canter and then buck and kind of trip himself and have to trot a step or two and then canter again...poor horse lol. The good news is that we cantered on both leads right away and he seemed to have a much fresher attitude afterwards.

Today E and I hacked him a little and he was excellent! E rode first and he looked to happy and relaxed going around that his back was actually swinging and he wanted to drop his head down a bit. His left lead canter has gotten soooo much better! After she trotted and cantered a bit I got on and worked on his right lead, which he gave me easily on the second try. After that he got it right away when I asked him, cantered down the long side and around the corner before breaking. I don't usually push him much...I'll take what I can get at this stage!

He was really, really soft and supple today though. His sitting trot was really good and he was bending right away off my aides and moving away from my inside leg when I asked him (he looovvveeessss to drop his inside shoulder.) His right canter (funny thing...) is actually better than his left lead as far as the quality of the gait goes. Strange that the lead that was so hard to learn is actually the better balanced one... We also got a really nice simple change left to right across the diaganol. I played with him once a while ago to see if he would do it and he did right away, so now I work it into our daily "right lead canter" work. He learns A LOT from repetition and then tries to anticipate what you want, which I'm spinning to my advantage with this whole lead change thing. If I can routinely canter him across the diaganol and ask him for a simple change, we might be well on our way to a left to right flying :)

As for me, I'm getting ready to start packing up the apartment and heading home for winter break. Johnny is shipping home Saturday and I will be right behind him with a car full of stuff. It's back to the farm for us in just a few days! I will miss my indoor arena...lol

Now it is time to start packing!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

One good exercise, two good rides

Last week after our IHSA show we took a break from riding for a couple days to let the school horses have a rest. Instead of our normal riding Hunter class, we spent an hour in a "theory" class, watching videos of lots of different hunters and comparing why we thought some were better than others. For anyone who follows the hunter ring at all, you know that Rumba, ridden by John French just won the Hunter Derby Finals with three STELLAR rounds over some really cool jumps. To see the video, CLICK HERE

Anyway, along with that, we also watched some of the 1998 (?) Maclay Finals. We picked apart the course and analyzed how some riders set their horses up correctly or incorrectly for the questions being asked. Last Thursday, we decided to tackle some of those same questions in our class, and M set up a course of ground poles and flower boxes to see where we all were. Let's just say that lots of people had trouble...including myself, although M admitted after the class that she had been the most proud of the way I handled the very spooky horse that I was riding. We decided to ride the same horses again today and work out some more of the kinks. Todays course was a course of jumps that asked many of the same questions. Here is a diagram below (don't make fun of my awesome Paint drawing LOL)

We started in a two point or half seat at 1) over a single trot pole and then made a left hand turn to 2) three 9ft trot poles. This was to set up our horses tempo and pace and see if they were behind our leg or not. From the 9ft rails we made a LEFT hand turn around fence 5 and continued down center line to fence 3) a single white plank vertical with a 7ft take off and landing rail, which required a more collected trot then the 9ft trot poles. After landing fence 3, we turned inside fence 7 and trotted up to fence 4) a single yellow flower box flanked by two white plank standards. After 4 we were to canter halfway down the line and then bring our horses back to trot to jump fence 5) a brown riviera box with a rail on top. Landing in canter, we continued over pole 1 again and then turned to fence 6) a single white plank vertical. We jumped that and then rode a bending line back over fence 4 in the opposite direction before continuing for fence 7) which was a single red flower box set right against the rail. After that, we cantered down the long side to fence 8) a white oxer with a yellow flower box and then continued back around to jump fence 5 from the opposite direction and rode a bending line to fence 9) another single flower box. To finish we were to canter down the rest of the diaganol and halt on a straight line.

Again I rode Cruz, the spooky little Thoroughbred whom I have become really fond of. We seriously rocked this exercise...he didn't spook or stop at a single jump and our oxer fence was BEAUTIFUL! I was so happy with my ride and so proud of him! I want to set this same kind of thing up for Johnny and see how he does with it :)

Speaking of Johnny, after class I went out to ride him and worked him in draw reins for about 15-20 minutes, just walk/trot/canter so that he could feel them and figure them out a bit. I didn't want him to get sore, so I didn't ride a whole ton off them (not that I ever really do...) but I just wanted to kind of set a "perimeter" for a frame and then softly encourage him to stay with in that perimeter. I will tell you this though...for the first time ever he really kept his back up and underneith him, and his canter had moments of super round brilliance where he actually got BOUNCY. Not only that, but we also got our right lead canter on the first try :)

I'm home now for Thanksgiving break so I wont get to see Johnny again until Thursday (I'm driving up Thurs, Sat and then going Sunday to see him when I go back to school for the week...we are doing our Thanksgiving on Friday because Mom has to work) but I think I'm definetly going to set up some exercises to work through with him. I think that it's time now in his training to start asking him some harder questions. Clearly, since he did so well at the show, trotting over some small verticals is something that he's got under control and it's time to start teaching him some more things. What an adventure this all is!

More tomorrow...I stopped in to see Emmy, who is super fat and super filthy from living out in the field. I think she's getting bored with retirement though...Dad says she's cribbing all the time (she's always cribbed...just never obsessively) and on everything she can. Not a good sign :( Pookie pony wants to be ridden again? I will have to get down and dirty tomorrow to get all of the ten layers of mud off her and take her out for a hack :)

Peace.Love.Ponies.

CVF Pictures

As promised...here are some photos from the show...links to the YouTube videos soon to follow!

Showing off our ribbons!

A blurry Johnny wearing his blue! (below)

Love.

Sleepy baby! He was soooo tired...and yes, that is my girth that he's laying on. I saddled him up and ran to the office to see what split I was in, came back and he was passed out! Turns out that I was riding in the second group, so I just went in, undid the girth, lifted the saddle off and just left the girth for when he got up. He didn't even flinch.

My boyfriend surpised me!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Johnny plays in the hunters!

Yesterday my friend L and I packed up our stuff and our horses and headed out to Chagrin Valley Farms for their hunter show. We decided only to show on Sunday (Academy day) since neither of our horses was really ready for the Saturday show. Since Johnny's only gone over fences twice at a show (both times with stops...the very first time we schooled great and then couldn't even make it around the course) I decided to shoot low...low level class with low expectations of him. My biggest mistake in the beginning of his show career was thinking that he was going to come out of the field and be kind of competitive. Thinking back on the Chagrin Classic and the Kiwanis Show, each time Johnny had a stop to a jump was because he was looking at the people around the ring and not at the jump in front of him. I knew that the big plexiglass "wall of windows" at CVF was going to be a potential problem for him, but I also knew that he's gotten to the point where he's not greenly over-jumping fences any more, so when picking a division I knew I wanted something that was going to make him put out a tensie bit of effort, without being so big that if his mind went ADD we were going to get a stop too it. In the end, I went with (dun, dun, dun....) walk/trot/canter 18" hahaha. It sounds so silly but it was the perfect class for him. Trotting wasn't penalized, nor was cantering, so tracking to the left we could canter, and to the right we could trot if he didn't land the lead (which he hasn't been lately -.-) and it wouldn't be a problem. It turned out to be the perfect idea!

We hauled in Saturday night and didn't get a chance to school until almost 11:30pm when the jumpers finally wrapped up. L and I rode in the warm up ring and Johnny jumped a meduim sized cross-rail, low vertical, and then maybe a 2'3" vertical (all with flower boxes under them) without ever even looking at them...a BIG step up from when I am used to with Emmy! We cantered in to all of these jumps off the left and he was absolutly perfect! He wasn't even trying over the 2'3" fence, and just sailed over it, right out of stride...also a big step up from where we started! He still tends to jump more "up" than "across" the jumps, but maybe some work over low oxers will help tune that up a bit and teach him to reach a little more.

Sunday morning, L and I got up early to school in the show ring. Johnny was pretty tense going in and inspected the "wall o' windows" with great curiosity. It was actually really funny because he just stood there watching people walk back and forth and following them with his head. He's a smart boy though. After a few good sniffs and a long, comtemplative stare, he decided that the windows were just fine with him and so we went along on our merry way. We stratigically schooled at the 2ft height because I wanted him to go into his class and be like "oh! this is easier than we practiced!" He was pretty good...he stopped once at the out of a line and got in BIG trouble for it for two reasons. First of all, it was a dirty stop. Down right dirty. He trotted right up to it with his ears perked, happy as a clam and then SLAMMED on the breaks and did the dirty "duck and cover" spin that Emmy was so famous for.  Second of all, the jump was seriously small enough for him to walk over. There weren't any flowers, nothing scary that he might spook at...just plain white poles in a semi-empty arena. I was like "oh HELL no..." caught him with a left bearing rein, right opening rein, and a jab to the side with my left leg. I seriously think that my quick reaction to it really surprised him, because he stopped mid-spin and bounced a little with his front legs. And then just to make myself perfectly clear, he got a good slap behind my leg with my hand and he KNEW he was in trouble then. He bounced again and when I turned him back towards it he lept into a canter and sailed across it like "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was just kidding...really!" On the back side I let him canter through the corner and then slowed him quietly to a stop so that he wouldn't learn to run away from it. When he was still, I stroked his neck and made a BIG fuss about what a good boy he was. I must have gotten my point across, because he didn't even think about stopping again for the rest of the day. He's old enough now and has enough mileage schooling that its really just unacceptable for him to stop at a stick on the ground and I believe that I made that perfectly clear today. Mind you, I am the first to stop and assess things when there is a legitimate reason for him to be stopping, like if he's a little unsound or the jumps are scary or he's maybe getting pushed a little too far to fast, but thats definetly not the case here at all. He was really just being rude.

After our schooling, he got to head back to his stall to munch hay while L showed her horse in the 2ft Adults. They did really well...2nd in the Warm Up, and 4th in their first and second trips. Then it was Johnny's turn. My goal for the day was for him to just get around the course quietly...I stuck with my low expectation plan and just wanted a clean, decisive ride, and thats exactly what he gave me. Both trips were really great and he only looked at the window once around the first turn, but I quickly got his attention back and we had two nice, quiet, clean rides. I was very pleased! When the placings came out, we got the icing on the cake! 2nd in the first trip and 1st in the second trip out of a 5 other horses (the division got split into A and B groups...so we placed out of the 5 in our split...eleven total in the division.) I was so proud of him! He wore his blue ribbon on his bridle all the way back to his stall and got showered in kisses and cookies!  I'm so proud of him! We're going to try to get to most of the winter schooling shows so that both horses can get some more mileage. It was a great show day!

Pictures coming soon!