dancing horses

dancing horses

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Up and Down

Spring in Nova Scotia is always a fickle thing. So far this week we've had rain, snow, sun and wind. It's been cold, warm, and everything in between. It makes any consistent riding darn near impossible. Which makes having no real plans at this point a good thing- I can go with the flow and not feel any stress.

it is pretty when the sun shines though

My vet had recommended that I try adding in a vitamin for Carmen because she wasn't sure that she was getting enough with what I was feeding her of the Fibre Nuggets. I can't give Carmen the recommended amount because she will blow up like a balloon. Her recommendation was to add a little over the months to her feed when I am training and to drop her to just hay and the ration over the winter. I tried to estimate what would be a good balance for Carmen and began to add it. Within 3 days her energy level was over the top. Last sunday we had a stressful ride and were falling into our old habits of arguing.  I decided to cut the amount of vitamin in half and she became more rational within a day or so. It might be coincidence so we'll see.
last sunday I was able to give the horses the first bath of the season
I did manages to squeeze a few rides in. Most of the time I'm just focussing on getting her to relax her topline and reach for the bit. It is coming. Pole work is helping.

my new favourite pole lay out. It has so many possibilities
My quieter seat, hand and, well, attitude is helping as well. I had proof of that yesterday. The weather was clear but the wind was unreal. A rainstorm was moving in and you could feel it in the air. And yes I still decided to ride. My plan was to at least lunge and go from there. I could see that Carmen was trying super hard with the ground work but she was still super tight. I had the thought that I could help her more from the saddle then the ground. 

I mounted with a plan of just walking and asking her to stretch and breathe. She was super tight and her legs were literally pounding the ground. I gave her some rein, supported when she needed, but never ever pulled or tried to force her. Every try was rewarded with verbal praise, loose rein or rest. We did large and small circles and many changes of direction. I asked her to leg yield to loosen her shoulder and to stretch to loosen her back. When she trotted I let her go and then just asked her to come back to walk. If she had cantered I was going to let her do that too but she never did. The trees were blowing and creaking in the wind, it was wild. Gradually I felt her begin to let go and breathe. Then I felt her back release and we began to move better. I let her feel how good that was for a few minutes, then rested. Then we did a little more and I hopped off. 
my daughter turned 30 this year. I always wanted to buy her a pony but she
didn't want one. But look at this- heels down and everything! 

My goal is to have her end every ride feeling better than when she started. I don't always succeed but today I did. I realized that we had made a jump forward because I was more successful in getting her to relax while riding instead of on the ground. 

During this  Covid-19 pandemic what are you working on (whether riding or not)?

18 comments:

  1. Sounds like these rides are a great foundation for relaxation and your relationship with Carmen... Hopefully the weather improves for you over the coming week so you can build up to more rides.

    Guess where I am for the next two weeks? I'm in your beautiful province for work!

    (sorry if this is a duplicate comment - I tried earlier but was having wifi issues)

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    1. Welcome. I hope our weather is nice for you. where are you?

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    2. I'm working out of RCMP HQ in Dartmouth.

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  2. Aw that must have been such a satisfying experience to work thru the tightness despite all that wind. I’m obvi not working on much since it’s a battle to even be allowed to see my horse.... but I’m really hoping something will change soon. Not bc I have any reason to believe something will change.... but damn I am so ready haha. In the meantime riding my friends old retirees has been a lot of fun <3

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    1. It felt pretty good. The next ride after was really good, even with the wind.

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  3. The weather around here has been filled with nasty storms and tornado warning which is highly unusual. Spring isn't being kind. Have you tried a vitamin powder that has no added calories? I used to use one with Gem when she was in intense work but went crazy on actual grain. I used Grand Vite and it worked pretty well as far as I could tell. A healthy, shiny horse that kept her brains installed.

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    1. the idea of tornadoes terrify me. I think that this vitamin is low calorie. It just might be a bit too much for her. Not sure.

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  4. Your end of ride goal sounds right on the money! Sounds like you guys are really progressing.

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  5. As far as my day to day routine—I work on the same kinds of things you do—relationship—work and reward—with Leah and Tweed. With Cowboy, who is perfect, I work on keeping his body going. I ride him bareback all the time now and have to mount from my trailer wheel. He scoots over for me to get on without me even asking. Life with him has shown me just how much our horses really know. They’re extremely smart and they know what we want most of the time—they just might not be giving it. I listen to Cowboy’s needs and adjust. He listens to mine. Now, I wonder if this relationship was possible when he was younger, but I got in the way of it with my expectations or just not being sensitive enough. If so, what a waste of time.

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    1. I try to not look at it as wasted time, but rather time when I was figuring stuff out. I know more now than I did even last year but I can't be upset with myself for that.

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  6. Love the picture of your daughter on her snow pony. So cute. Our weather is hit and miss. Some days its snowing and some days rain. We're averaging about two days a week of sun...maybe. Not doing much with the horses but hope to start soon. Glad you and Carmen are working so well together. I love working with poles on the ground and cavelletti.

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    1. The pole work is fun and definitely part of my repertoire now. Spring in Canada is always a crap shoot (except for maybe BC).

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  7. I've gotten REALLY spooky about wind. So I don't blame Carmen at all! But I'm super impressed with how you handled the ride. Clearly you did all the right things!

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    1. I don't like the wind either. A little breeze is fine but I had strong winds.

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  8. I like it. Go with the flow. No pressure. Spring weather is hard. I can not imagine it there. We have been having some crazy winds in the past weeks where all the horses were lunatics. I am not so inclined to ride during those times! I had a not so good ride on Lito under similar circumstances a few weeks ago. Wind was picking up while I was riding and there was a brewing storm. He decided one of our obstacles was going to kill him to just look at it. So, we have spent the past few weeks every few days working with that obstacle in all the ways. We have had success!

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    1. Crazy winds seem to be the norm these days. Ugh.

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  9. My mare has also been cycling really hard and has been in a mood. Gotta love mares!

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