Today's Ride is Brought to You by the Letter 'L'

I've never really thought about it but "L" is a very important letter when it comes to training/riding horses (same as P: http://journeywithadancinghorse.blogspot.ca/2015/08/putting-3-ps-into-practice.html).

I've been working pretty steadily with Carmen (and subjected my readers to the details). I'm now at a point where we have a good routine going and we're both pretty comfortable with it. I'm getting a handle on what it is that she'll do when upset. Because I know what to expect now I'm not as worried about it and I'm prepared for when she spooks and/or bolts. Her bolts are not what I consider 'true' bolts. She's pretty aware of what she's doing and can be brought up (although she resents it). I don't like riding a horse that has lost it's mind and that is not Carmen- she always has her mind.

Today Cynthia was coming to ride and as I watched Irish I realized that she was in for some fun. He was running up and down the fence line and generally kicking up his heels. Hunting season has started and I've moved them to the front field. They won't go in the back fields now until spring and Irish is not pleased about that. I warned Cynthia that his mood would likely make him stiff and distractible.

Both of us were working on L words today. The first one was 'loose'. When Carmen is worried she tightens poll to tail, her gaits get choppy and she's difficult to steer. On the lunge I worked on getting her to soften and bend even through transitions and generally relax. We worked on the same thing under saddle. However, it's getting easier and easier to get her to bend on the circle. I'm staying pretty clear about what I want and I'm wiling to give a stronger aid if I have to get the bend and then immediately soften. But while we are getting the bend and softening in the gait, we lose it on the transitions. Carmen thinks that it's outside of her contract to bend going from walk-trot or trot to walk (don't even get me started on trot to canter!). I know however, that it's the key to everything else so I stay persistent.  While we were riding we heard a couple shots which got Irish's and Carmen's attention. However, I figure a horse born and raised in Virginia as well as in the Southern U.S. has heard a shot or two and she didn't really get freaked out.

During our rides I have to frequently return to work that gets her loose and relaxed. That's just her and it's getting easier and easier.

The second word is 'listen'. Carmen likes to pay attention to lots of things: rustling grass, flying birds, keeping an eye out for squirrels with grenades, what Irish is doing, the car going down the road, noticing that the lunge line is in a different location then it was before, etc, etc., etc.,. She gets a bit annoyed that I keep intruding on her and asking her to attend to me. But I'm pretty insistent and tell her that listening will make it so much easier for her. Sometimes I feel like the teacher in Charlie Brown

The last 'L' word is 'learning'.  Carmen is very smart and very talented. She does better when things are complicated then when they are simple. For example, I was asking her to go from a trot to a canter and she was a bit resistant but we got the transition. Until we went by the tree with the squirrel. She broke every time (except for the time she bolted but I simply sat up and went with her and then got her back under control and then carried on). Finally I got her to canter a full circle in a relaxed way and it only took 3 tries (go us!). As we came around I half halted and asked for a trot. She came to a perfectly square halt. From a full canter. One second we were cantering and then we were stopped. And she wasn't upset. She just thought she'd done what I asked. She shouldn't be able to do that but she did. I decided to accept it.

The problem is that with a horse like this it would be easy to fall into the trap of training higher level things and ignoring the basics. Like staying bent through a walk-trot transitions. It's easier to keep her attention on those things but she needs the A,B,Cs or else we will hit a major fail in our work and have to start over.

So even though it's simple and it's hard for to listen when it's simple we need to focus on learning the basics.

Once we have that the rest will come and be correct.

stretching into the bridle- a basic that is hard for her

Squirrel!

Since our lesson on Sunday Carmen has been a bit full of herself. Today I rode her early in the morning. It was a beautiful, frosty, still morning. One of my favourite type of day- I love the Fall.

Initially Carmen was quite distractible but I was clear that she was to tune in and listen to me, not anything else. Once I was sure of that on the ground I got on. We were able to go right to work and it was lovely walk work. Once, as we went by the tree at B we both heard a rustle.

'Don't worry about it'I said. 'it's probably a mouse or a squirrel or mole'
'well... okay' Carmen was dubious but decided to give me the benefit of the doubt.

I asked her to trot. She did her usual initial fussing about it. I find that if I'm patient she'll work through that and settle into the work. Roz advised that I stay sitting until the rhythm was established and then post. This was helpful because I was getting unbalanced with her loss of rhythm and it was not helping the situation. By sitting I can provide a stable centre so that as she flails there's a place of stillness for her to find.

We trotted/flailed/bounced around the circle and came by B.

ARGGGGGHHH!!!!! Carmen bounded sideways.

EEEEEEEEEEEEKKK! Screamed a squirrel and ran up the tree.

what the--  I said.

She scared me! Thank heavens I saved us  Carmen shook her head.

Scared you??? I've lost years off of my life. Years! You should be more careful you big louts. The squirrel scolded us roundly.

uh oh. Now she's mad- We better give her a wide berth. She might be dangerous. 

Oh yes. We'll be so ready to show next year. I thought.

you do that again and I will throw my nuts at you! As the squirrel continued to swear at us and Carmen went into high alert, I started to giggle.

it's not funny. I saved our lives and you have no appreciation of it. Carmen began to sulk.

I giggled more.

It's a SQUIRREL. It weighs about 4 ounces. You are the descendent of WAR HORSES. I'm willing to risk it. 

The upside was that we now had a lovely forward trot. So I ignored both the squirrel and Carmen's worry and we carried on working.

And you know what?

She went to work too. Without any further fuss.

Psycho Squirrels be damned.

Today's Lesson

First of all, I realized that this is post #401! I can't believe that I've inflicted the internet with my ramblings that many times.

Now for the topic: the lesson I had with Roz. Remember that things with Carmen have been going really well and I was excited to show Roz how far we'd come?

Well Carmen had a slightly different idea. Today was very blustery and cool. This lead to her being highly distractible. It was a regression on the lunge- it was much harder to get her attention and keep it. Roz was very patient and even took her a did some work with her on the lunge. Eventually Carmen was calm enough to get on.

 The truth is that I worry less about her being excitable these days. But I do want to work on other things. However, the horse you have is the horse you have so I got on and we went to work. I explained to Roz that when Carmen is excited our 'calming' exercise is a figure 8 in the middle of the ring. I like to have a 'go to' exercise that the settles the horse. This is ours. Roz asked me how small the circles were.
"depends on how much calming she needs" I said and Roz laughed. Anyway we went work and Carmen was, as I expected, excitable and felt a bit like a fire cracker. We worked on my riding with my leg on- not off. As we progressed we were able to get some real work done. Roz told me that if she became fast in the trot go to sitting for a few strides to slow her down and then go back to posting. That really worked. The other thing we practiced was getting her to soften her jaw and flex to the inside. As we went along Carmen because quite heavy in my hand. While I want her to take contact and am willing to have it a bit heavy to hold. (Photo credit goes to my friend Mary Anne who came to observe and take photos for me).

the idea was to ask her to bend to the inside and then soften to allow her to carry. Here I'm taking but you can see that she's listening and her steps are getting lighter.

We were able to get her to the point where I could canter. The first one was a stiff and bouncy. We brought her back to the trot and tried again. Roz talked me through relaxing the hand and letting her go. It was okay. We switched direction and I asked again. I really had to focus on letting go the inside hand. I'm fighting my instinct with that one because she felt like she was ready to take off. But I gave a shrug and said 'if I die, I die. Let's go."  Not that I think I'll die, it's just what I say to myself to put it in perspective. Roz had me lighten my seat and she really came up through her back and worked through.

see why I think we might just fly off? 

in a lighter seat- see how her leg reaches under to lift? 

We finished on the canter. I was exhausted and Carmen was pretty quiet too -although it's worth noting that she was not remotely sweaty or blowing hard. She is very very fit, which is a double edged sword. After I realized that our hour lesson went for about 90 minutes! No wonder I was tired. 

So despite Carmen being 'hot' and 'reactive' today it felt like we worked through many things and made real progress.

And I have homework. I love homework.

I Ride Irish

First of all, let me say that I have been riding Carmen pretty regularly. She's really doing well. Not that every moment is awesome but she's trying.
 And I'm trying.
 And we both appreciate that the other is trying.

Yesterday she gave a startle and a scoot forward. Rather than grab with my legs and hands generally being stiff- this time I was able to stay relaxed. As we lunged forward I said: "this is not what I had in mind. Where are we going?"
Carmen: The trolls are shooting arrows at us- something hit me in my nether regions. Thank heavens I save us
Me: That was the leaves blowing off the tree. Not Trolls. 
Carmen: oh. .... Let's never speak of it again. 

And back to work we went. Today she was a bit tenser and more distractible but also more responsive. Later in the ride I asked for a canter and she leapt forward into a tense and scambly canter. My body immediately tensed in result but my brain knows that one of us has to relax and it has to be me. My body, however, thought that my brain was an idiot. So as we cantered along I first engaged my core, that stabilized my seat. After that i could relax my legs to they were following and then, at last, I got my hands to follow her movement and not grab. As soon as I got it all together she relaxed into her canter and we could work on bend and maintaining rhythm. Roz comes tomorrow to give us a lesson and I cannot wait for our next bit of homework.

After we were done I took her back to the barn. Irish was already in his stall. Cynthia has not been feeling well so couldn't ride. When I had two geldings they kept each other exercised. But I've come to realize that mares don't run around for fun like geldings do. At least Carmen doesn't. Irish needs some exercise and I had been planning to go for a run but I realized that instead I could take the old guy out for  spin. Both he and Carmen looked surprised when I brought him out to get him ready.
Carmen: hey. this is weird 
Irish: I know. I hope she's just grooming me. ...Nope there goes the saddle. 
Carmen: but she only rides me! 
Me: It will be fun Irish. 
Irish: *sigh*

It took me a bit to get used to the feel of him. It's VERY different from Carmen. He was stiff, of course. I got to work on getting him to loosen up through changes of bend and some simple leg yields. Right away I noticed that he was quite happy to rest the weight of his head on my hands. Ow. so through the whole ride I kept reinforcing that he was to carry his own head - like he does all the time when not being ridden. Also there was to be no cheating on the outside rein. As long as it stays consistent so does he. Slowly we worked up to leg yielding through trot, carrying his own damn head, and transitioning up and down. I noticed that I had a much easier time sitting his trot than I used to. That meant that he was not tense. We finished up with some beautiful simple changes of lead through trot both ways and shoulder in/haunches in at a walk. Carmen gave a few plaintive whinnies while we  were working but was not too stressed by us being gone.

Given that he's not super fit it was a good work out. I enjoyed being able to get on him and work on some things. I think we both enjoyed ourselves. I will have to ride him more often.

I'm still your favourite, right? quick answer before she gets here. 

Shadow Dancing

The days are getting shorter which means that I ride pretty much as soon as I get home. Yesterday I rushed home and changed and then headed out the barn. I wanted to get their stalls ready first so I carried on with my chores as I usually do. The horses typically wander down to the barn and wait patiently outside until I'm done and then they come in for supper.

Today though I looked out and saw Irish watching me suspiciously.

Carmen: why aren't we going to the barn to supervise?
Irish:  I don't know. I think she's up to something. 
Carmen: really? 
Irish: yeah. Normally she's kinda sneaky about it- she doesn't want us in the stall until she's ready.
Carmen: So?
Irish:  Well she's being really obvious. I think it might be a trap. 
Carmen:  You are imagining things. I'm hungry so going down, 

Irish hung back a bit but came in willingly enough. I closed the outside stall doors and then brought Carmen out to the cross ties.

Irish: HA!  I told you it was a trap
Carmen: Shut up. 

She was a bit grumpy in the cross ties but I gave her some extra strokes on her head and her eye softened. Up in the ring she was with me right from the beginning. The sun was getting lower in the sky and as we headed up the ring I saw her hesitate. I realized that she was eyeing her and my shadow in the ring. We normally don't see that. What was interesting was that she wasn't saying 'NO' but more "um, what's that? Should I worry? ".  I encouraged her forward and she settled down.

As I mounted a child from next door let out a loud yell but she didn't move a muscle. And then we simply went to work. Now that she's listening to me with the occasional gawk outside the ring (a reversal from just a week ago). As we went up to the far side of the ring our shadow was there as well. After a glance and a hesitation she carried on. It was fun to play with our shadow up and down the ring.

The fence also cast a shadow in the ring so I played with shoulder in using the shadow as a guide. Lateral work like this comes so easy to her when she's relaxed that it's not enough to distract her. I've started working on transitions but she's very clear that i have to ask softly or else she get annoyed. If I ask for a canter too strong she will buck.  She doesn't like them close together- it gets her a bit frazzled, so I do a few and then move on. Her leg yields can be good but she's not always clear that she wants to go over where I want her to go.

Once she picked up a canter that I didn't ask for but I decided to go with it. However, she got a bit strong and I tried to bring her back and she got a bit dramatic about it- bouncing and shaking her head. I relaxed my seat and we all settled down. Before I would get worried that she was going to spiral. Now I realize that she has a dramatic personality and likes to express herself. Roz is coming out this weekend so we'll get some new directions.

Carmen is teaching me that I have to be careful as well as clear. But we will figure it out.

Autumn

Autumn has arrived in Nova Scotia. I love riding in Autumn- it's not too hot and there are no (or very few) bugs.

Autumn has also brought back my love of photography. To be honest I hadn't had much heart for it since Steele died. I take lots of photos of the horses but seemed to have lost the desire to go out and take pictures. But recently that is returning. So here are some of my favourites from my neighbourhood.

not my neighbourhood- about 90 mins away

#weeattrollsforbreakfast

***Disclaimer***

No trolls were actually harmed in the making of this blog post. 

********

I was recently reading an old Dressage Today article on increasing confidence in the horse. It was very interesting and there was one thing that stood out for me. The author, Scott Hassler, said that young horses prefer clarity over diplomacy. He wasn't advocating being harsh but he said that many riders (most likely Adult Amateurs like me) think that we're being diplomatic in our requests but the horse views them as unclear. He said that we need to be clear what we want and then give the aids to help the horse understand. That made total sense to me. I've been doing a good job of that on the ground. Not that I'm bragging (I'm not and it took a long time) but I am very clear about what I want. In that saddle I have been trying to be 'careful'. Roz pointed out to me that I need to ride more clearly and Karen told me that I need to focus on what I want and ride it.

I took this idea that crystallized in my head and put it into practice. So for my last few rides I've focussed on being perfectly clear and persisting. In our lunge work I've been asking her to stay out on the circle. When she's spooked or nervous she drops her inside shoulder and falls towards the middle. She does this under saddle too. The problem with her doing it when I'm riding is that I can't really control our direction if the shoulders aren't aligned. So she's been able to fall in and run away. I started fixing it on the lunge by flicking the end of my whip at her shoulder when it falls in and asking her to stay out there. Usually it doesn't touch her, sometimes it does (gently). It's been working- she's figured out how to stay out on line and bend through the circle.

When I ride I start off immediately asking for her attention by figures and changes of bend. I don't give her a chance to look around. This is contrary to what I was taught- which was to let the horse walk out on a long rein and relax. For Carmen this has the exact opposite effect. I think it makes her feel abandoned and that she has to make all the decisions. Since she's warmed up anyway from our lunge work I figure it doesn't hurt to start off working. I've been working on riding her hind end and recently decided to tackle the shoulder problem. My last two rides I carried the whip in my inside hand and as soon as I felt her shoulder drop in I asked her to straighten with the outside rein. When that didn't work I gave her a tap on the inside shoulder with the crop.

Carmen is very offended by being tapped with the crop so I almost never use it. However, this really worked because after a few struggles she started to respond to the rein aid and I didn't need the crop. Being able to control the shoulders has allowed me to work on bending and keeping her focussed on the task at hand. She usually resists this at first because I'm stopping her from looking at whatever she's worried about. However, I stay firm and clear in my request that bend to the inside and keep her head in the game (or ring as it were). As a result of this I am riding her everywhere and while she may scoot or spook it's not a huge battle and I ride the spook and carry on.

Today was a cold and very very windy day. Normally this spells trouble for us, especially since Irish is locked in the barn. I figured I would lunge her and decide to ride based on how it went. Grass and trees were blowing constantly- the trees on the far hill were bending over with some gusts. But not only did we lunge I also rode. And not only did I ride but I didn't feel in danger even once. She gave one spook when she fell towards the fence and my leg brushed it. She jumped away from the fence like she'd been shocked. But because I was sitting up and back and had my legs on I just went with her and we carried on. A few times she tried to gawk out at the trees and grass but I asked her to bring her attention back to me. Her ears were like little helicopters flicking towards what caught her attention and then right back to me so see what were going to do about it.

Irish started to call from the barn and all she did was flick an ear. She didn't even change her pace. We trotted down and halted by the evil asters and I hopped off. I've started giving her a small neck massage when I'm done and she stretches out over my shoulder and enjoys it immensely. She especially loves when I rub up by her poll- she lowers her head and gives a small shake when I'm done. I think her little ear muscles were tired from all the hard work.

When our rides are done she's so mellow and relaxed and she will mosey out to the field after like a grown up horses.

One more thing- check out this website: The Reflective Rider. It's by my friend Karen. She has some interesting articles and I always find something to take away.